The movement in educational reform at present is in the direction of unification. It is held that in framing the programme for any grade the interest not only of the next higher but of all higher grades must be considered. This is done not solely that those who are to enter the higher grades may be directly prepared for their more advanced studies, but especially because it is felt that better work will thus be done for those whose school training is soon to terminate. For the child's education is never finished and a mind rightly directed at the start will gather from its practical experience that with which it may develop and augment the resources and the ideas already received. No education can be sound which teaches anything that is inconsistent with the more advanced truths, however complex and profound those truths may be. There should be no unlearning in the course of an education nor any expenditure of time on that which has no permanent value.
It is of importance therefore to consider in connection with the study of any special subject what the problems are which lie at the end of the educational journey and what basis will be needed in the child's maturer thought. There will thus be the inspiration of the goal to be attained and guidance in the selection of the most helpful methods.
There is scarcely any subject that has so many practical and scientific aspects as the subject of color. Its great importance in the arts and its contribution to the enjoyment of life are matched by the multiplicity of problems in the physical and philosophical sciences with which it is connected. Without attempting to enumerate all of the scientific problems related to this subject, it may be of interest to briefly summarize those which are most prominent. At the outset we have such purely physical questions as the nature of light, the cause of its emission, the mode of its propagation, the difference in the waves which give rise to the various color sensations, the principles of absorption, of reflection and of refraction, and the nature of material surfaces whereby they acquire their characteristic colors. Then comes the physiology of the eye, including its structure and its function and involving the much discussed questions of primary and secondary colors, and these are closely related to the psychological or psycho-physical study of the nature, duration and delicacy of color vision and color judgment. Next to these comes the study of pigments and of the chromatic effects of their mixture, essentially a chemical and technical question, and finally, the most important of all, the purely psychological or æsthetic problem touching the harmonization and grouping of the various colors and their modifications. The recent advance made in experimental psychology has given an impetus to the study of the whole subject and we may reasonably expect that rational explanations may be found for questions in æsthetics hitherto considered purely arbitrary.
It will be readily seen that there must be a well developed and carefully trained color sense at the basis of an education which is to lead to the consideration of these and similar chromatic problems. As in the development of any special perceptive power, a great deal depends upon making a beginning early in life, when the mind is most receptive and there are no preconceptions to be overcome. Every means should be employed that will help the child to distinguish between principal colors and between modifications of principal colors. His attention should be directed at as early a stage as possible to the analysis of composite colors and the effects obtained by the combination of colored lights and the results of irradiant light. The principles of chromatic harmony are perhaps not simple, but a child, before whom right standards of color combinations are constantly presented, will acquire a correct æsthetic judgment that may become intuitive. The effect of such a training on the higher development of our people and on their appreciation of true art would be of the greatest value.
If the instruction in color is to be systematic and efficient, it is unquestionable that there must be a simple nomenclature for the standard colors; and for the teacher's guidance at least as well as for the use of the older pupils, a scientifically accurate system of describing any required modification of these recognized standards. The system presented in this book is based on the well-known principle of the Maxwell wheel and has been elaborated by one who has had in view not only the theory of the subject but also the practical possibilities of its use in preparing educational material. This fact, I feel sure, greatly enhances the value of the conclusions at which he arrives.
Henry Lefavour.
Williams College, December 20, 1894.