In view of these internal impulses, what is the duty of the educator?
To make himself acquainted with the springs of action in a human being, and to touch them with such wisdom, tenderness and moderation that the child is insensibly led into the habits of the good life.
Name some of these habits.
Diligence, reverence, gentleness, truthfulness, promptness, neatness, courtesy; in fact, the virtues and graces which belong to persons who have been “well brought up.”
Is it enough to stimulate a spring of action—say, curiosity, or the desire of knowledge, once in order to secure a habit?
No; the stimulus must be repeated, and action upon it secured over and over many times before a habit is formed.
What common error do people make about the formation of habits?
They allow lapses; they train a child to “shut the door after him” twenty times, and allow him to leave it open the twenty-first.
With what result?
That the work has to be done over again, because the growth of brain tissue to the new habit (the forming of cell-connections) has been disturbed. The result would appear to be much the same as when the flesh-forming process which knits up a wound is disturbed.