A FEW PRACTICAL PRECEPTS.

This is not a treatise on psychology but a practical hand-book for young teachers. Before entering on the special subjects, it may be well to say something of the application of the principles which are familiar to all who are trained, and dwell upon a few of the most important.

(1) There is the fundamental precept, awaken interest. Have you seen the Medusa spreading its tentacles idly on the waves? Have you watched the change as it fastens on its prey? So does the mind grasp that which is suitable for its nourishment. As the intelligence of the child awakens, it no longer perceives in the lazy, dreamy way in which the infant is conscious of a light; it apperceives, takes into itself the object, the word, the thought, and grows thereby.

(2) Avoid distractions. The senses and the mind must be fixed on the subject of instruction. When a bird is to be taught to speak, he is placed in a dark room, shielded from the distractions of sight, until the words are acquired, then the use of other senses than hearing is permitted; so little children require more quietness and isolation than older ones.

Distractions are not all of sense. The mind is distracted by fear. How dreadful are the old pictures of the dame, teaching rod in hand, or the master with his cane; some may remember the music teacher ready to rap the knuckles, and know how all sense of harmony was destroyed. And it is so also with the seeking of rewards. I hope place-taking and prizes and scholarships will one day follow the rod and the cane, and children be led from their earliest years to feel, what is really natural to them, that knowledge is in itself a pleasure and a good.

(3) Proceed from the known to the unknown. Observe the laws of association; for this a teacher must be in intellectual sympathy with her pupils—know and feel by an inner sense, when mind is responding to mind. I have heard some so-called teachers, who spoke like a book, who were lecturers; they saw their own thoughts, but not those of their pupils, and were therefore unable to lead them on. E.g., if a sum was wrong, they would say, “Do it thus,” instead of inquiring into the cause of the mistake. In questioning they would not try to see into the child’s mind.

It is more difficult to enter into intellectual sympathy with very little ones, hence we need specially able teachers for them. It is also better for class teachers not to change too often, as it takes time to get into sympathy with a new class. Of course specialists have to do this; it is one reason why cæteris paribus they are less successful than class teachers.

(4) Proceed in classifying by noticing first the likenesses, then the differences—in other words, proceed from the genus to the species. There are some excellent chapters on this in Rosmini’s Method of Education, translated by Mrs. Grey, p. 15.

(5) Make lessons pleasant. This does not imply that the act of learning should be always easy or amusing. Children like to feel they are making progress, and a teacher wearies them who is always trying to be amusing, but does not really get them on. Porridge has a very plain taste, but for everyday fare even children prefer it to tarts for breakfast. A London confectioner was asked, if he did not find the many boys he employed make depredations. “No,” he said, “when first they come I tell them they may eat what they like; in a few days they make themselves sick and eat no more.” There was a book called the Decoy, a story mixed with conversations on grammar; children always managed to get the story without the grammar. They like sums and history for regular meals, fairy tales for dessert.

(6) Teaching must be adapted to the mental state of the pupil, and be just a little above his unassisted intelligence. It is a worse fault to teach below than above the powers of the child. I shall never forget my indignation at having a book given me, which was below my powers, nor the stimulus of trying to do what was hard. One who was afterwards a distinguished teacher, told me how the Maurice lectures helped him, by making him feel there were regions of thought on which he had not yet entered. Knowledge quite within reach does not promote progress. A friend who had a night school was told by its members, “We want to be taught something as we can’t understand”. They meant something they could not learn without help; they wanted to overcome difficulties.

(7) Form right habits. We should as far as possible prevent the making of mistakes even once. A child when reading the Bible miscalled the word patriarch, reading it partridge; when an old man, he never saw the word without recalling his error. Hence we should not give children misspelt words, or bad grammar to correct, or let them write exercises before the ear has been cultivated to know what is right. I knew a music master who would anticipate mistakes, and stop the pupil, saying: “You shall not play that wrong note”.

On the other hand each repetition of a right action makes it easier, and the prime work of the educator is to form right habits; these should become instinctive, and so set free thought for ever higher and more perfect performance.

(8) Awaken and sustain the spirit of inquiry. We need, however, to be very careful not to ask questions, which the child cannot possibly answer. This encourages mere guessing, and the habit of deciding upon insufficient data. We should question the pupils, and build on their knowledge, but as they get older the viva voce questioning may be overdone—and for the highest classes it would be simply a distraction. For these it is well to give questions to be thought out, and answered in writing. Pascal’s father shut him up alone to find out the translation of a classical author; there are so many helps now, that people rely upon them when they might gain vigour by grappling with difficulties. No intellectual habit is more essential than the habit of patient, sustained inquiry, that described by Newton when he said: “I keep the subject of my inquiry continually before me, till the first dawning opens gradually by little and little to the perfect day”.

(9) Foster intellectual ambition. Help the child to feel the joy of surmounting difficulties, of climbing the heights. This invigorates the intellectual life. Some can remember how, e.g., they grappled with the dull work of early mathematical study, that they might one day learn to solve the problems of astronomy, or went through the labour of learning irregular verbs, that they might read the poetry and philosophy of Greece.

(10) Put before pupils the highest ideals which they can appropriate. These are not the same at each stage of development. The little child desires first to have something, and this is not wrong. Later it feels more the need of love, of approbation, and this is a legitimate and right motive; it is generally his best guide, until he can exercise himself, irrespective of the outward voice, to have a “conscience void of offence”. We have to teach him to discriminate voices which are in harmony with, from those in discord from, that inward voice, and to make this ultimately his supreme law.

(11) The ultimate ideal or final cause should be implied in all that we teach, viz., the attainment of the perfect development of the individual, through bringing each into harmony with the environment, the universal, and thereby on the other hand helping to perfect the whole. For this, wisdom and self-denial and sympathy with the noblest and the best are to be sought, and above all with the One, the Infinite Wisdom revealed in Nature, in the world of thinking beings and in the self-conscious mind. All should feel in their inmost soul what Milton has expressed:—

How charming is Divine philosophy,

Not harsh and crabbed as dull fools suppose,

But musical as is Apollo’s lute,

And a perpetual feast of nectared sweets,

Where no dull surfeit reigns.

Name of Work.	Author.	Pages.	Price.	Publisher.		Remarks.
Psychological Foundations	W. Harris	400	6s.	Appleton		An excellent book by the Commissioner of Education, U.S.A., showing the correlation ofthe Philosophy of Education with Psychology and Ethics.
Philosophy of Education	Rosenkranz	280	6s.	Appleton		Well translated. Notes by Dr. Harris add much to its value.
Handbook of Psychology	Sully	400	6s. 6d.	Longmans
Education of Man	Fröbel	330	6s.	Appleton		Well translated by Hailmann.
Educational Laws	Hughes	300	6s.	Arnold		Should be read by all teachers. A very clear exposition of the ideas of Fröbel and other reformers.
Pedagogy of Herbart	Ufer	120	2s. 6d.	Isbister		Not too difficult for beginners.
Herbart and Herbartians	De Garmo	270	5s.	Heinemann		A clear account of Herbart’s thoughts and application of his principles by others.
Essentials of Method	De Garmo	130	2s. 6d.	Heath
Herbart’s ABC of Sense-Perception	Eckhoff	300	6s.	Appleton		Not an easy book. Gives much insight into Herbart’s theories and practice, especially in mathematics.
Application of Psychology to Education	Mulliner	360	4s. 6d.	Sonnenschein		Introduction gives a full exposition of Herbart’s psychology.
Apperception	Lange	120		Isbister		Very clear. Suitable for beginners. On Herbartian lines.
Herbartian Psychology	Adams	200	2s. 6d.	Isbister		Excellent for beginners. Full of apt illustrations.
Primer of Psychology	Ladd		5s. 6d.	Longmans
Leading Principle of Method	Rosmini	360	5s.	Heath		A thoughtful, religious, sympathetic writer. Translated by Mrs. Grey.
Vocation of the Scholar	Fichte	130	2s. 6d.	Chapman		Will kindle enthusiasm and lift the thoughts to the higher aspects of learning.
Metaphysica Nova et Vetusta	Laurie	300	6s.	Williams & Norgate		Clear and full of interest.
Outlines of Pedagogics	Rein	200	6s.	Sonnenschein
Educational Theories	Oscar Browning	192	3s. 6d.
Elementary Psychology	Baldwin	300		Appleton		Very systematic. Not a book for the general reader, but for the serious student. Many good diagrams.
Psychology	Kirchner	350		Sonnenschein		A very thorough book, suitable for those who have some knowledge of philosophy.
Psychology Applied to Education	Compayré	220	3s. 6d.	Isbister		Useful and well arranged.
Education as a Science	Bain	450	5s.	Kegan Paul	-	Contains much of value to teachers. With a good deal the editor is not in sympathy.
Education	Herbert Spencer	170	2s. 6d.	Williams & Norgate	-
L’Education des Femmes	Gréard	300		Hachette		A very interesting book.
Rousseau’s Emile Extracts	Worthington	160	3s. 6d.	Heath
Les Pères et les Fils	Legouvé	350	3s.	Hetzel		Short chapters giving in the narrative form the way a father deals with his son. Delightful reading.
Hist. Critique des doctrines de l’Education	Compayré	500		Hachette		Several volumes. Very judicious and interesting.
Educational Reformers	Quick	330		Longmans		Very good.
L’Education Progressive	Necker de Saussure		7s.			Three vols. A mine of original observation. Rosmini depends much on it.
Home Education	Mason		3s. 6d.	Kegan Paul		A very helpful book for parents and teachers.
Lectures on Teaching	Fitch	430	5s.	Camb. Univ. Press		Should be in the hands of all teachers.
Teaching and Organisation	Barnett	420	6s. 6d.	Longmans		A very valuable book. Contains 23 papers on different subjects.
Aims and Practice of Teaching	Spenser	280		Camb. Univ. Press		Very good. Contains 12 papers by various writers. An excellent one on modern languages by the editor.
Thirty Years of Teaching	Miall	250	3s. 6d.	Macmillan		A series of brightly-written practical essays, which all teachers may read with pleasure and profit.
School and Home Life	Rooper	480	1s.	Brown		Original and suggestive.
Educative Psychological Foundations	Holman	530	6s.	Isbister		Not too difficult for beginners.
Teaching and Teachers	Trumbull	400		Hodder
Religious Teaching	Bell	180	2s. 6d.	Macmillan		A very good book.

The Bureau of Education, U.S.A., issues valuable reports each year, which are presented to the Teachers’ Guild and a few favoured places. They always contain a great deal of interesting matter.

The Pedagogical Seminary, edited by Dr. Stanley Hall, should be studied by all who desire to keep in touch with the new scientific methods. No. for Aug., 1897, is specially good.