March 2, 1900.] 



SCIENCR 



323 



The full recognition of this distinction 

 means of course the selection and arrange- 

 ment of all school materials and methods 

 for the facilitation of full normal growth, 

 trusting to the result in growth to provide 

 the instrumentalities of later specialized 

 adaptation. If education means the period 

 of prolonged infancy, it means nothing less 

 than this. But look at our school system 

 and ask whether the 3 E's are taught, 

 either as to subject matter or as to method, 

 with reference to growth, to its present 

 demands and opportunities ; or as techni- 

 cal acquisitions which are to be needed 

 in the specialized life of the adult. Ask 

 the same questions about geography, gram- 

 mar and history. The gap between psy- 

 chological theory and the existing school 

 practice becomes painfully apparent. We 

 readily realize the extent to which the 

 present school system is dominated by 

 carrying over into child life a standpoint 

 and method which are significant in the 

 psychology of the adftlt. 



The narrow scope of the traditional ele- 

 mentary curriculum, the premature and ex- 

 cessive use of logical analytic methods, the 

 assumption of ready-made faculties of ob- 

 servation, memory, attention, etc., which 

 can be brought into play if only the child 

 chooses to do so, the ideal of formal dis- 

 cipline — all these find a large measure of 

 their explanation in neglect of just this psy- 

 chological distinction between the child and 

 the adult. The hold of these afifairs upon 

 the school is so fixed that it is impossible 

 to shake it in any fundamental way, ex- 

 cepting by a thorough appreciation of the 

 actual psychology of the case. This appre- 

 ciation cannot be confined to the educa- 

 tional leaders and theorists. No individual 

 instructor can be sincere and whole hearted, 

 to say nothing of intelligent, in carrying 

 into efiect the needed reforms, save as he 

 genuinely understands the scientific basis 

 and necessity of the change. 



But in another direction there is the 

 assumption of a fundamental dilference : 

 Namely, as to the conditions which secure 

 intellectual and moral progress and power.* 

 No one seriously questions that, with an 

 adult, power and control are obtained 

 through realization of personal ends and 

 problems, through personal selection of 

 means and materials which are relevant, 

 and through personal adaptation and ap- 

 plication of what is thus selected, together 

 with whatever of experimentation and of 

 testing is involved in this effort. Practi- 

 cally every one of these three conditions of 

 increase in power for the adult is denied for 

 the child. For him problems and aims are 

 determined by another mind. For him the 

 material that is relevant and irrelevant is 

 selected in advance by another mind. And, 

 upon the whole, there is such an attempt 

 to teach him a ready-made method for apply" 

 ing his material to the solution of his prob- 

 lems, or the reaching of his ends that the 

 factor of experimentation is reduced to the 

 minimum. With the adult we unquestion- 

 ingly assume that an attitude of personal in- 

 quiry, based upon the possessionof a problem 

 which interests and absorbs, is a necessary 

 precondition of mental growth. With the 

 child we assume that the precondition is 

 rather the willing disposition which makes 

 him ready to submit to any problem and 

 material presented from without. Alert- 

 ness is our ideal in one case ; docility in the 

 other. With one, we assume that power of 

 attention develops in dealing with problems 

 which make a personal appeal, and through 

 personal responsibility for determining what 

 is relevant. With the other we provide 

 next to no opportunities for the evolution 

 of problems out of immediate experience, 

 and allow next to no free mental play for 

 selecting, assorting and adapting the ex- 



*I owe this point specifically (as well as others 

 more generally) to my friend and colleague, Mrs. 

 Ella Flagg Young. 



