THE PROFESSIONAL TRAINING OF TEACHERS. 80 1 



work, be learned in the logical principles and divisions of mind 

 activity, yet he does need to become acquainted with the action of 

 the mind as it is manifested in the many concrete cases which are 

 constantly before him in his daily work. He must come to feel 

 that the mind acts according to law, definite, exact, and unerring, 

 as well with reference to the subject-matter by which it is dis- 

 ciplined in the schools as to its reaction upon sense stimulus. He 

 must be trained to observe the effect of all external conditions, 

 bodily and otherwise, which do in any way modify or affect the 

 mental and moral condition of the child ; and it certainly can not 

 be maintained that this study leads the teacher to become imita- 

 tive and formal in his own class room. 



Throughout all this work an effort is usually made to have the 

 prospective teacher discover for himself the more obvious prin- 

 ciples of mental activity, both by reflection upon the activities of 

 his own mental life and by the observation of mind phenomena 

 in the world about him. He is led to discern the intimate relation 

 between body and mind, to discover for himself the law of mutual 

 affection, and to trace the application of this fact in educational 

 procedure. So it will be seen that the purpose is to initiate him 

 into the habits of careful, intelligent observation of the facts of 

 mental activity as displayed under the ordinary conditions of the 

 class room, and to lead him to make correct, serviceable interpre- 

 tations of what he observes. As an aid toward this, many normal 

 schools include in their curricula special studies of child-nature 

 in the concrete, in order to train teachers to habits of exact, scien- 

 tific study of individual pupils under their charge, and also these 

 individuals when they are combined into classes. The value of 

 this work, when it is carried on intelligently, can not be overesti- 

 mated ; for it leads the teacher into those habits of trying to find 

 some remediable cause for every undesirable manifestation of 

 child-nature in the class room which constitute the most praise- 

 worthy and serviceable attainments that those who deal with chil- 

 dren can become possessed of. Such study is usually of great 

 benefit to teachers by pointing out to them defects in vision and 

 other physical imperfections in pupils, which render them incapa- 

 ble of the highest and best work which they could otherwise suc- 

 cessfully undertake. The pupil teacher is made to realize that the 

 environment of his own pupils will be a potent factor in deter- 

 mining the mental and moral effect which the means of stimula- 

 tion in the school will have upon them ; and he is further led to 

 appreciate the maxim that in a great measure a teacher's success 

 will depend upon his ability to perceive clearly the effect of 

 external conditions, and to be able to arrange and modify them so 

 that they will all operate toward the accomplishment of those ends 

 which he is consciously seeking. It seems that such study as this 



VOL. XLV. 58 



