Up through childhood; a study of some principles of education in relation to faith and conduct; a book for parents and teachers

Front matter

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Introduction

Fifty years ago Herbert Spencer made complaint that after-dinner conversations in England dealt with the regulations of the kennel, stable, and sheep-pen to the exclusion of rules touching the rearing of children. The same complaint might well have been made in this country also. But a half century has wrought mighty changes, so that now many mothers, and even some fathers, are as much concerned in the hours, ventilation, and dietary of the nursery as in the condition and treatment of their pet animals. This interest extends into the school also, and both the subject-matter and the method of school instruction are topics of daily conversation in multitudes of homes. Teachers, too, are given a recognition and a salary that place them upon a dignified plane.

But the wave of educational enthusiasm that has swept over this country during the last generation has limited itself very largely to skilled instruction in the commonschool studies. In spite of much talk about moral and religious education, our plans for securing moral development are still vague, and those bearing on religious training are fully fifty years behind the times. Most of Sunday-school instruction must be declared an absolute failure, if judged by the standards of a good vi Introduction

day-school, and most preaching would fare no better if measured by the norms adopted in the better trainingschools for teachers and colleges. Religious teachers, as a class, have not yet learned to regard themselves as subject to psychological law, the same as any other teachers. As a class, they do not read educational treatises, nor share in discussions of educational problems. This tendency of non-identification with teaching is well illustrated in the teachers' institutes held in all parts of the country, where, as a rule, some minister leads the devotional exercises at the beginning of the day's work — and then disappears.

The seriousness of this state of affairs is clearly seen when we reflect that morality is largely based upon religion. It is true that day-school teachers are doing far too little for the moral and religious growth of children, but it is difficult for them to do much, when the specialists in the field of religion, the preachers themselves, are novices in educational matters and are accomplishing next to nothing.

In my opinion, if the religious instruction of young people were radically improved, the day-school would see its way more clearly to introduce a greater amount and a better quality of moral teaching. Thus far, however, the day-school has had to be the aggressor in effecting educational reforms. On the basis of psychology, it has been making demands on the Church and on the Sunday-school, while the truer course would be for the rehgious leaders, on the basis of approved

Introduction vii

educational principles, to make demands on the day-school.

Probably the main reason why so little educational advance has been made in the field of religion — in the age of educational advance — has been the fact that people in general have not been sure that religion is a field where progress is a virtue. But another important reason has been the fact that educational books dealing with moral and religious questions have revealed only a hazy body of thought, or have expressed their ideas in a form too technical for the average person. This author seems to me to have avoided both evils. The thought is always clear, and it is presented as much from the point of view of a parent as of a teacher. The bearing of well established educational ideas on moral and religious education is largely the theme, and in tracing this bearing the valuable suggestions are innumerable. But the statements are always so clear, so free from dogmatism, and so sensible that their readers are likely to be well rewarded for their pains.

F. M. McMuRRY.

Teiach^rS Qoi,i,^G^, N. Y., May, 1904.

PRKFACK

This is an era of education. There is no branch of knowledge, no rehgious cult, but has its schools. In the days of Horace Mann intellectual culture was believed to have strong moral worth, but we have already discovered that one may have fine intellectual training and yet be a rogue. Every year adds to the popular belief in the value of moral education. There are still many doubters, but patient and thoughtful men and women are now seeing more clearly than ever before, that there is ''an art of bringing up to virtue." This art has its principles and methods and is as reasonable in its requirements as any other. Education has taken a new trend and has a wider range than ever before. It has come to mean the training of the whole being, so that he ma}^ be able and gladly willing to meet all of life's responsibilities. The cause for the growth of this wider meaning of education is found in two conditions: (i) a recognition of the long period from infancy to adult life, in which may be unfolded the child's possibilities as he grows to the needs of his time and people; and (2) the deep religious instinct which has in every age clearly manifested itself among men. This book deals definitely with the principles and problems of this broad development, and while it may scarcely be called

ix

X Preface

a book on moral education, it is the conscious aim to discuss the questions of education always from the moral point of view. For years I have been studying these questions from the various standpoints of Sunday-school teacher, Sunday-school superintendent, and school officer in every grade from common school to college.

This book is a growth. It represents the results of a number of discussion classes and lecture courses conducted under the auspices of the Young Men's Christian Associations in Brooklyn, and before training classes for teachers under the direction of the Sunday-school Commission of the Diocese of New York, together with a course of lectures delivered before the Friends' General Conference at Asbury Park, N. J. The statements have been turned and winnowed in keen discussion, until they represent the best thought of many minds, and nearly every idea has, in some regular form of work, been submitted to the test of actual experience. I give hearty thanks to the many friends who have had part in the discussions and who have by their cordial approval of my work given me confidence in its value. Such approval is my warrant for putting this material into a permanent form where it may be of use to the great company of men and women who feel the responsibility of the teaching office in home and school, and who are striving to train the young to be Godfearing, earnest, and efficient citizens of this land and of the Kingdom which we believe to be eternal.

G. A. H.

Contents

PAGE

PARTI

Thk Schooi. of I^ifk Chapter I. Lii^K is Opportunity 3

Part II

Chapter V. The Teacher and his Work . . .77 The teacher's work — The ambition for excellence — Head enough — Heart enough — Time enough — Liberty enough — Too little time — The reward — The other side — Natures that repel.

Chapter VI. The Teacher's Preparation . . .86 Importance of preparation — The hurtful comparison — The child and the Bible — A profound problem — God has not left himself without testimony — How to learn

Contents xiii

PAGE

how — God in our history — I^iterature and art — Teachers' books — How to study children — The stock in trade — A teachers' training class.

The open mind — A useless labour — Truth is many-sided — Many roads to truth — The truth-seeker should be free — Old truth in new forms — The real record of the Eternal— The Bible— The Bible a library— It is a book of inspiration.

The two relations— Sympathy — Patience — Love gives patience — Aptness to teach — The child is a problem — The teacher before the class — Lesson plan.

PART III The) I^karnkr

ChapTe^r IX. What Is Man? 121

What is man ? — Soul and body — Relation of mind and body — Freedom to grow — How shall we grow ?

CHAPTI^R X. SEIyF-ACTlVlTY AND ENVIRONMENT . . I36

The many hungers — The climbing soul — Struggle and character — Right relation to environment — Open the prison-house — Relations to environment — Our inheritances: Literary inheritance — Scientific inheritance — Esthetic inheritance — Institutional inheritance — Religious inheritance — Applications of this inheritance to the development of self-activity.

Chapter XI. The Senses 146

Introduction — Touch — Taste — Smell — Sight — Hearing — Summary

Chapter XII. Attention 155

Kinds — Attention must be taught — Involuntary Attention — Expectant attention — Dispersed attention — Attention determines the current of mental life — Attention and inattention — Genius and attention.

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PAGE

Chapter XIII. Apperception 164

Definition — Every one carries his own spectacles — The struggle — New classes for knowledge — P repare the mind to receive — How apperception acts — Education a permanent interest of life — Summary.

Chapter XIV. Interest 173

Interest — The personal element — Interest and aim — Right age — Right time — Right material — Points of contact — Special hungers — The office of interest — Illustrations — Heart power.

Chapter XV. Memory 182

lyocation of memory — The three heads — Recall and recognition — Conditions of remembering — Repetition — Begin early — Memory and the higher powers — Memory a treasure house.

Chapter XVI. Imagination and its Cui.ture . . 192 Definition — Culture value of imagination — Materials for imagination — The practical value of imagination.

Chapter XVII. Thought and Thought Cui^ture . 202 Definition — The fundamental condition — Abundance of thought-material— The time — A ccumulation of material — Talking as a method of accumulating material — The use of the will — Units of measurement — Methods of reasoning — Deduction — Practice in thinking — Keeping one's temper — Writing as a step in the thought process — The concrete and the abstract— Intellect as a means of obviating our faults — Stability of character.

Chapter XVIII. Motives— Kinds and Vai^ue . . 214 Definition — Importance of motivation — Kinds of motives — Good and bad incentives — The hidden motives — Illustration of hidden motives — ^Things worth while — The expulsive power of the higher affection — Cultivation of right motives — The test — The place for emotion — Relation between effort and accomplishment.

Contents xv

PAGE

Chapter XIX. Habit— Gene^rai, Laws . . . .228 Theory of habit — Practical value of habit — Physical habits — Mental habits — Moral habits— How habit enslaves — The sub-conscious field — Nothing is ever wholly lost from the mind — Shield the young — Habit forming: Conditions — For the formation of a new habit — Personal habits — Business habits.

Chapter XX. Training the Wii,i< . . . .242 Irresolution— The will — Types of decision — Apprenticeship in right living — How to reach a child's will — Trained, not broken — Wilfulness — Uses of the will — Training the will — Liberty and will — Business and will — Religion and will.

Chapter XXI. Feewng and the Inner Life . . 252 Value of feeling — Feeling and progress — Feeling not an unmixed good — The cultivation of feeling — The heart as an organ of insight — The inner and the outer life — Place of ideals in character — The great ideal.

Chapter XXII. Training a Chii^d's Faith . . . 260 Faith rests on the few — Guard the child — Faith moves from a lower to a higher plane — The faith of a child and the faith of an adult — Zones of brotherliness — Knowledge and faith — The element of wonder — Summary.

Chapter XXIII. From Boyhood to Manhood . . 266 The play spirit — His religious life — An impulse, then a deed — Truthfulness — A boy's feelings — Grief seems to him holy — Physical changes — Mental changes — Spiritual changes — Summary.

Chapter XXIV. From Giri^hood to Womanhood . 277

Diflference in the standards to which boys and girls are required to conform — Sensitive to atmosphere — Value of ideals — The right motive — Business training — The ministry of sorrow — Summary.

xvi Contents

PAGE

PART IV The^ Graduate

Chapter XXV. The Rounded Life .... 289 Summary— The individual — Development of the body — Development of the spiritual nature — Development of society.

Index 297

Chapter I Wfe Is Opportunity

Many a mother, as she presses her child to her

bosom, sends up a prayer for its safety, and looks with

joy and hope to the future. Hers is not _.

The

the child that shall go into sin; it shall win Parents' success, shall improve its opportunities. Hope for Many a father, as he leads his little son by the hand, plans for him great things, and feels sure that though others may meet disappointment, doubt, and defeat his son will surely accomplish remarkable things. But these parents have need to hope and pray with reverence and with fear. The thousands in prisons all were children once, and many of these rested their heads on loving breasts and were led by tender hands. The tramp that you see from the car window and the loafer on the street corner may one day have been children of hope and promise; but the education of the world and of the home has failed, life is passing, and the achievements of these have been other than love could wish. But hope springs eternal in the human breast. Every generation looks for better things than those which have happened to the last. Ours is no exception. We are sustained by an optimism which rises above all discouragement. Here, we wait and hope and go the round of life, and our generation will sink into the grave with its thousands who have been disgraced, and other thousands on whose faces there is the deep stamp of sorrow, disappointment, sin, or shame. How many press for food about charitable institutions, and how many in houses of refuge and places of retreat bear in their faces the marks of the great world-struggle: Failure! Failure! Failure! Despite this record, every one knows in his own heart that life is opportunity.

Life gives time and place to grow; it calls out powers

and possibilities within, making man more in quantity

and finer in quality. Its varied experiences

Life Is Op- jjjake a thousand rifts in his nature, through portunity.

which shines out the inner glory of the divine. From the reactions of life there spring in heart and mind ideas, impulses, and aspirations, which time only serves to rouse more fully, and which will require eternity itself to satisfy. Man's life from the cradle to the grave is one long round of preparation and development. New powers are discovered; budding powers are brought to maturity; and through the varied experiences of life the child comes step by step to youth, manhood, middle life, and then to old age. In this process he is adapting himself to the civilisation which surrounds him. He is in the School of I^ife. Environment and Self are acting and reacting upon each other;

Life Is Opportunity 5

this process of reaction we term Education. Viewed in its larger aspect, it must continue as long as life itself; and it will be extended by every agency that contributes knowledge or power. The work of education has not only the whole period of life for its scope and activity, but it has a special period, when every force of nature and every element of the surroundings are contributing directly to the great work of development and adaptation.

When the little stranger comes into the world he is in the midst of mystery; and if the truth were told, he brings an organisation which is to him as Purpose

great a mystery as the world into which he °^ ^^^

Long^ comes. It is not without purpose that the Period of

young being is so long a child. The mar- Infancy, vellous adaptability of his nature and the long period of infancy are needed that he may be fitted to the civilisation into which he is born. But there is more than that: the child must have time to grow. There is no patent method of making a child into a man; the long difficult pathway is the only track that he can pursue. And he must go alone; all the help parent or teacher may offer, all the experience and advice that may be tendered, must be worked through his own mind and transformed into his own coin; otherwise he cannot use it. Mr. Fiske's great contribution to Evolution was the teaching that the complexity and importance of individual development depend upon the length of the period of infancy.

*' The lower animals are born with an almost cotn-

plete adaptation for the performance of their life func-

Period of tions. The colt stands when only a few

Infancy in hours old. At the age of three, he can do

^"j °^L almost all he can ever do in his lifetime. It pared with

that in is not so with a human infant. For years it Animals, jg absolutely dependent upon others for the continuance of its existence. No living creature is more ignorant, more defenceless, more entirely at the mercy of beings other than itself. Destined for the highest attainments of intelligence, the infant possesses the least automatic adaptation to the conditions of life. Everything has to be learned from the beginning. Instinct is at the minimum; intellect, undeveloped, but potential, is at the maximum. Almost everything done by the child is done by conscious physical reaction . ' ' — Hii,!,' s Psychology.

The following story, condensed from Jane Taylor's Mysterious Stranger, will serve to illustrate :

Some years ago, in the streets of a certain Oriental city, there was seen a man of peculiar appearance. He The Mys- seemed enterprising and intelligent, but the terious inhabitants very soon discovered that he was

^^.nger. ^ stranger, and on investigation learned that he was unacquainted with their language. A benevolent nobleman invited the stranger to his home and made him comfortable. The association of the nobleman and stranger proved of advantage to both, and in a few days the foreigner was able to express himself

Life Is Opportunity 7

with a considerable degree of ease on many of the commoner things of life. In short he was learning the language and adapting himself to the civilisation into which he had come. lyater, when his story was told, it transpired that he had come from a distant planet, pledging to take upon himself the obligations and to share in the pleasures of the inhabitants of our earth. The story of his adaptation to the new civilisation on which he had entered and of the long and painful effort he, as a man, made in adapting himself to our manners and customs, thoughts and ideals, need not here be recounted, but it will help us to feel more strongly the advantage that comes to the child from the long period of infancy, when his tastes, ideals, and habits are forming, and when he reaches out to take new things with a welcome and an earnestness which rapidly make for his successful initiation into life.

The little boy has intentionally hurt his playmate, and first experiences and recognises remorse; with the pride of a good marksman he has brought ^.

to the earth a bird, fluttering in its death Unknown agony, — pity is born into his life. He is World, older, and one day his father introduces him to a stranger with a conscious pride, and the boy has a sense of manhood which is new to him. He attends a party or a reception, or at the house of a friend meets a girl who seems to him different from all others; she casts over his thought and life a nameless charm which sooner or later he recognises as love. He attempts some great undertakings and, after striving long and manfully, finds that he cannot succeed. In this he learned a lesson of his own insufficiency that no preaching and no books could ever tell him. He goes to a foreign land, and, after the exhausting travel of the day, comes to a quiet hamlet where his country's flag is displayed; there springs unbidden a new joy at the thought of the native land, and patriotism has been born into his life. In these or similar ways, step by step he experiences life and comes into a recognition of new powers and new activities. All through the age of adolescence budding powers show themselves, and are nursed into strength or are neglected and fail through lack of use. Life is opportunity.

With the great end of life before us, we need to plan wisely for the development of every soul; and there needs to be such planning that at the end there shall be rejoicing and satisfaction, and not remorse for opportunities neglected and time unused.

There is a story of a maiden on the shore of a tranquil lake. She stepped into a richly furnished boat, seated herself, and, gently dipping her oars into the water, passed out on its smooth surface. In a dreamy mood she rested her head on the luxurious cushions and presently fell asleep, while the boat drifted on the glistening surface of the lake. As she moved in her sleep her necklace was unfastened, and one by one the pearls came off and disappeared in the hidden depths. Still she slept on, and with every motion another pearl

Life Is Opportunity 9

was lost. Not unlike this is the slipping away of the moments of the young life, and presently old age comes, and we look with sadness at the hours that have been wasted and the opportunities that have passed unused. They are the treasures of youth; alas! too often they slip away!

*'Lost, yesterday, somewhere between sunrise and sunset, two golden hours, each set with sixty diamond minutes. No reward is offered, for they are gone forever! " — HoRACK Mann.

There is no one of us who might not use with truth this advertisement. But there is a sadder side than the waste of time; it comes from storing up those things which bring us only pain and remorse.

A boy who had reached the age of twenty-one, in a

fit of anger and impatience, struck his mother. She

upbraided him for his undutiful conduct,

and he retorted: ''You have aimed to he^^^^^^^Z

sponsible ?

kind to me, but your kindness has been silly and fatal : you urged me to eat when I was not hungry, to drink when I was not thirsty; sweetmeats and pastry have ruined my digestion and have made me a misery to myself and a curse to my friends. You have never required me to govern my temper, I have had my own way since childhood, I grew up a wilful, impatient, and high-spirited boy, and every one was compelled to dance attendance to my wishes. Is it my fault that at twenty-one I have no digestion, and that I am a slave to every whim of impulse and passion ? And is it my lo Up Through Childhood

fault that I am impatient, with no power to govern myself, and that I am tormented by a remorse which never rests ? Is it my fault that you, who were my guide and guardian, have neglected every restraining influence and allowed me to go untrained, so that I am the victim of a weak will and the slave of a perverted taste ? You upbraid me for the results of your own work." Scenes like these put in a strong light the parents' duty and their responsibility!

The child must not only acquire a great stock of knowledge, but he must gain skill. There is the skill

of the body by which he is to manage him- Adaptation self. He must learn to use his hands. Even to Con- a little child cannot feed himself gracefully,

but with the spoon half full of food makes a dash for his mouth, and in the early stages of his practice strikes nose, or cheek, or ear. When he tries to walk he cannot find his balance, but frantically plunges from chair to chair in his effort to get across the room. There is need for a host of impressions. Sensations and perceptions must be collected in multitudes. The material for thought must be stored, assorted, and classified, not of course in any exalted or conscious way most of the time, but definitely, steadily, and instinctively. The judgment must be trained, that with many a mistake and many a correction he may come at last to speak correctly and soundly touching the points of daily experience. Kvery year should adapt him more fully to the surroundings in which he lives, and

Life Is Opportunity ii

every experience should do something to qualify him to meet the new demands which advancing life offers to his growing powers and developing intelligence. One should go forward step by step into a larger life and into the realisation of a fine, noble, and beautiful character, which assures satisfaction to himself and joy to all who are touched by his radiant and uplifting influence. He can fulfil the measure which his place requires and acquit himself of the full demands of society ; but how slowly and in what unexpected ways he comes into his inheritance!

I have said that each must tread the long dark path of life alone. But there are a thousand ways in which a kind and wise parent or teacher may give help. It must be given with q^ Alone wisdom, and it must come in the spirit of kindness, and gentleness, and service. But only to a degree can one person profit by the experience of another. The mistake is often made of thrusting upon the youth the wisdom of age with a frantic impatience which urges acceptance; but the youth does not accept. It is not that he will not, but he cannot. He must learn life's lessons for himself. However, just as he is strong, just as he has insight and power and self-control, the child will be wiser than those who have gone before, and will succeed where they in some measure failed. He may in part interpret what they have seen and suffered, as from his heart he understands and knows their life, and is able to incorporate in his life many a lesson whicli caused them tears. Happy is the growing child who, by the guidance of the teacher or parent, can himself go from experience to experience, gathering for use the nectar and leaving the poison ! With a clear insight and right understanding of the aim of education, the willing child and the open-minded teacher may work together toward the accomplishment of a true and well rounded life, developing a character which is fine and strong in all its parts. If they see that life is opportunity, if they recognise the great principles which govern it, there is no reason why these may not be used with joy and satisfaction; but teacher and parent must never forget that the child is to work out his own destiny. How often they grieve in their narrow way when he chooses a course of action which they do not approve, or seeks surroundings which they cannot admire!

Many a parent who has been made strong and earnest by a life of struggle refuses to allow his son the very -pjjg elements by which he himself has been

Sheltered made great. He even refuses to allow him Child. |.j^g opportunity of the vision of life and its

duties; refuses to allow him the complete consecration to a purpose which would go far toward making his life a success; and last but not least, refuses him an opportunity to try his own strength. The little oak is required to grow up under the shade of a great tree, which keeps it in the shadow and prevents its growing strong and sending down great roots into the subsoil,

Life Is Opportunity 13

there to take a hold which will make it strong to withstand the storms of the centuries. Thus many a boy has been so sheltered from the storms of the world that it was impossible for him to develop those sturdy elements of character which made the Duke of Wellington a tower of strength standing four-square to every wind that blew. The child must solve life's problems for himself; he must bear the responsibility, he must carry the treasure. Life is like a jewel entrusted to the traveller; he comes to his destination with every part burnished and shining, or he comes with shame to confess duty neglected and work undone. Pity the man who looks upon fond hopes and high aspirations which have lost their morning glow! Alas! that experience should rest like a blight upon the thousands who started out in the morning of life bright with hope! But we can never accept this defeat. It is not human destiny. Still the soul of man rises and will not stay in the shadow. For individual and society there must come a brighter prospect. We shall do better. Every one has his field of strength — a side on which he surpasses his normal self; and in time we shall be wise enough to place men and women where they may be strong both to resist and to accomplish.