The science of the mind applied to teaching

Front matter

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Dedication

To the Children and Young Ladies and Gentlemen whom it has been his pleasure to serve as teacher and who by their friendship and their appreciation oj the good and the true, have encouraged him and caused him to love his work, this volume is Affectionately Dedicated by THE A UTHOR.

Preface

It is an almost universally accepted truth that a right education will secure virtue and power, and that virtue and power are the essentials of individual and national well-being. Education is then the supreme interest of the age. It is only recently, since republican principles are accepted as the true foundation of right government, that the education of all the youth has come to be regarded of prime importance. The proper interest in the cause of education is just beginning to be felt by all classes of people. And although in the last twenty-five years much has been written, yet we are a long way from the " Science of Education." In the mean time it is fitting that teachers should help one another, by the exchange of ideas. It is because the principles which are presented in the following pages have been very helpful to me, and the hope that they may be so to others, that I present this volume to my fellow teachers. It has been prepared in the spirit of broadest liberality, appreciating the high aims and valuable thoughts of others. I have freely appropriated what I thought good from all sources ; and I ask only the same from others — take the good and reject the spurious. Even though all do not ag'ree with me in all that is here said, if my work tends to arouse a higher purpose, and to quicken a desire for a better knowledge of the truth, my labors will not be in vain.

As far as possible authors have been given credit in the proper place. But I am especially indebted to the Indiana State Normal

Vi PREFACE.

School, at Terre Haute, Ind., for ideas on the Theory of Education and the School. Were their views published, I would gladly give the name of publisher that all might see to what extent I have drawn from them.

The mental philosophy here employed is the system known as Phrenology. I have satisfied myself fully as to the correctness of its principles, and think that any one laying aside prejudice and investigating by observation will also be satisfied. Saying nothing as to its value as an index to individual character, yet as explaining mental manifestation it is so simple and so accords with human nature and the experience of mankind that it commends itself at once to the student. The facts pertaining to the human mind and charcter as set forth by this system are so eminently practical that they will be gladly accepted by teachers who have never studied mental philosophy, and by those who have striven in vain to get some useful ideas from the speculative systems.

This work has been prepared while doing full work in the class-room and caring in part for the interests of a large school. It is, no doubt imperfect in many respects, and I solicit correspondence from teachers asking for criticisms and suggestions of improvement, that shoidd a future edition be called for, it may be much improved.

With the hope that my labor may be helpful, especially to young teachers, I am Sincerely,

Your co-worker, U. J. H.

Jennings Seminary and Normal School, Aurora, III., August 12, 1885.

TABLE OK CONTENTS,

Chapter I. First Principles

PAGE.

Mental and Physical nature

of Man 13

The Educator 13

Influence of the Physical

upon the Mental nature . 14

Chapter II. The Temperaments

Motive Temperament 20

Physical Characteristics. 20

Mental Characteristics. . 22

Boys and Girls in School. 22

The Vital Temperament. . . 23

Physical Characteristics. 24

Mental Characteristics . . 25

Bovs and Girls in School 26

The Mental Temperament. 27

Physical Characteristics. 27

Mental Characteristics. . 27

Boys and Girls in School 28

Combination of the Temperaments 29

What makes a Great Man . 30

Effects of Temperament on

Judgment 32

CHAPTER in.

BRAIN AND MIND.

Mind Defined 34

Faculty Defined 34

A Power not a Faculty. . . . 35

PAGE.

Relation of the Brain to the

Mind 35

Relation of a Mental Faculty to the Brain 35

How to estimate the relative strength of each

Faculty 38

Chapter IV. Classification Of The Mental Faculties

The Feelings 39

The Self-relatives 42

The Selfish Propensi- .

ties 42

The ^Esthetic Faculties 45

The Socials 45

The Domestic Propensities 48

The Governing Group . 49 The Conforming or

Moral Sentiments ... 50

The Intellect 51

The Perceptives 54

Classification 54

The Reflectives 55

Chapter VII. The Socials

Domestic AflVctions 97

Amativeness 97

PAGF.

Cultivation OS

Love for Children 101

Friendship 103

Inhabitiveness 106

Remarks on the Ali'ec-

tions 108

CHAPTER VHI.

THE GOVERNING GROUP.

Self-Esteem 112

Restraint 115

Love of Approbation 117

Firmness 122

Conscientiousness 125

Chapter IX. The Conforming Groups

Veneration 132

Fund ion 132

Kindness or Benevolence. . 136

1 local i<>n 136

CONTENTS.

PAGE.

Hope 140

Imitation 142

Faith or Credensiveness . . . 146

Chapter X. The Intellect

Analysis 150

To what objects related... 150

Consciousness 151

Language an index to Intellect 152

Classification of Faculties. 153

Perceptives 154

Reflectives 155

CHAPTER XL

THE PERCEPTIVES.

Individuality 157

Form 160

Size 161

Weight 162

Color 163

Order 164

Tune . 170

Time 172

Locality 172

Eventuality 173

Chapter XII. The Reflectives

Comparison 175

Causality 177

PAG1 .

Chapter XIII. Powers Of The Intellect

Laws of Activity 180

Perception 182

Conception 183

Imagination 185

Abstraction 185

Generalization 186

Synthesis 187

Analysis 187

Concept Defined 187

Kinds of Concepts is?

Concrete 187

Abstract 188

Particular 188

General 188

Division 188

Description 189

Definition IS!)

Memory 190

Reason 191

Kinds of Reasoning 193

Deductive 193

Inductive 193

Hypothesis and Theory ... 194

Chapter XIV. The Theory Of Education

Source 199

Mental Nature of the Lower Animals 199

Mental Nature of Man .... 201 The Harmonizer of Man's

Nature 202

The Right 204

What Man Must Do 205

The Ideal Man 206

The Purpose of Man's Being 207

Education 207

Instruction 207

A Process of Liberation. 208

A Directing Process 209

Man a Social Being 210

X

CONTENTS.

PACE.

The Place for Education. . . 211

Social Unions 211

The Family 211

Home Education 212

Society 213

The State 213

Chapter XV. Scholarship

Restraints on the Intellect. 215 Liberation of the Intellect. 216 Studies that are Fundamental 218

Physiology and Hygiene. 222

Natural Sciences 223

Summary 224

When to Study the Rudiments 224

Objective Period 226

Time of Objective Period 225

Studies of Objective

Period 225

Subjective Period 226

Time of Subjective Period 226

Studies of Subjective

Period 226

Transitional Period 227

Studies 227

Demand and Supply 228

Chapter XVI. Conduct

Conformity 229

Order 230

How to Secure Order. . . . 232

Duty of the Teacher 233

Silence 234

Politeness 235

Duty of the Teacher in. . 2:17 Stn.lv 2:i7

Duty of the Teacher in. . 237

CHAPTER XVII. Principles underlying

Methods 241

CHAPTER XVHI.

HOW TO TEACH LANGUAGE.

The Alphabet Method 252

The Word Method 253

Points to be Remembered. 255 Advantages of Word

Method 256

First Reader 256

Second Reader 258

Third Reader 259

Advance Reader 260

Fourth Reader 260

Fifth Reader 261

Auricular Method 202

Occular Method 202

Primary Spelling 263

Spelling in Secondary

Classes 265

Oral Spelling 265

Written Spelling 265

Orthography for Advanced

Classes 268

The Mother Tongue 271

How to Talk 274

How to Write 289

How to Teach Grammar. 305 Objects to Gain by the

Study of Grammar. . . . 306

Outlining in Grammar .... 309

Chapter XIX. Science

Primary Geography .... 316

Oral Geography 316

Text-book Work 319

Advanced ( j-eography . . . 319

Topic-list in Geography 320

Particular Geography. . . 324

CONTENTS.

XI

PAGE.

Uses of the Study of History 326

Ends to be Sought 326

Preparatory History .... 327

First Course 328

• Second Course 330

Systematic History 331

Outline of History 333

How to Teach Number. . 338

The Number Five 342

Five as a Whole .... 342

Discoveries in Five . . 342 Exercises for Review 342

Facts in Five 343

Comparison of Five with Numbers

known 354

One-half 355

Advanced Arithmetic . . . 356

Objects sought 356

Analysis 359

Outline in Physiology . . . 364

Chapter XX. Gradation

Course of Study 367

The High School 368

Programs for Daily Recitation and Study 368

Successive Transformation 369

Course of Study for a Grammar School 370

Course of Study for High School 071

Program of Recitation for a Country School 372

Programs of Recitation and Study for a School of Two Departments 374

Programs of Recitation for a School of Three Departments 375

Table showing Successive Transformation of a School 378

THE MIND.

THE SCIENCE OF THE MIND.

Chapter I. First Principles

The Mental and Physical Nature of Man.— Man has two natures : the mental and the physical. By the latter term is meant all those functions and activities which are not engaged directly in the production of thought and feeling. Anatomy and Physiology are the sciences which treat of the physical nature.

By Mental Nature is meant all the activities which constitute thought, feeling and will. Psychology is the science which treats of the mental nature. These natures are not independent of each other, but each is so closely related to the other that they must be studied together. The difference which exists in the mental nature of two individuals, not the result of different training, is the result of bodily difference. The difference is either in the perfection of its structure or the size of the organ.

The Educator. — In Education a change is sought to be made in the mental nature. The Educator seeks to regulate, strengthen and facilitate the action of the mental activities. It is therefore apparent that a knowledge of the mental nature is of the greatest importance to the teacher. A knowledge of the mind is to the teacher what a knowledge of navigation is to the sailor ; and without this knowledge there is as much uncertainty about his work as there was in the voyage of Columbus. The average teacher is too ignorant of man's mental nature to be in the highest degree successful in its cultivation. He works as the unlettered farmer does, according to a model which was set before him, without any definite knowledge of the adaptation of means to secure certain ends. In many of our Normal Schools teachers are taught simply to imitate. Learning methods and then repeating them is mere machine work. The best method will fail unless the teacher understands how to adapt the method to the mind of his pupil. The teacher should do as does the intelligent physician, who studies the human body and its activities until he understands them perfectly. He next studies remedies for bodily ills. Then he is able to prescribe with some degree of certainly as to good results. The teacher should study the mental nature until he understands that perfectly. Next he should study methods for improving it. Quack teachers, like their brothers in the medical profession, have one method warranted to cure every ill.

Influence of the Physical Nature upon the Mental Nature. — There is a great difference in the quality of the material and the perfection of the structure which is to be found in individuals of the same kind, whether among men or among animals.

The butcher can tell at a glance whether the live animal will yield fine-fibered and tender meat, or whether it will be coarse and toiurh. It is not difficult to distinguish a perfectly from an imperfectly organized horse. In the well-made animal the head, the body, the hind and fore-quarters, legs and feet are in proper proportion to one another. There is also a fineness and compactness of fiber which indicate good quality. The imperfect animal is loose-jointed, the large legs out of proportion with the slender hindquarters, the hair and bones are coarse, the muscles slender and flabby. No amount of care, good feeding and training' will make him equal to the one that is well made. A little observation will convince one that among- men there is as g'reat a difference.

Take for example the " poor whites " of the southern States. They are generally the descendants of the helpless and vicious class who were transported by England in the early colonial days. They were kept in slavery for a few years and then set at liberty. Their descendants have since lived in poverty and degradation. They are ill-shaped, coarse and ugly almost beyond belief.

In the slums of New York and Chicago there are human beings who bear a greater resemblance to the gorilla than to man. The low quality of their organisms makes them almost incapable of rising- out of their deplorable condition. Education can work wonders among many of these in time, but it would take centuries of good feeding and training to bring the average up to ordinary intelligence, refinement and morality.

On the other hand, the religious and political persecution in Europe separated a class of people from the rest. Many of them sought refuge in the wilds of America. The best material is now to be found among the descendants of the Puritan, Quaker and the Huguenot.

The superiority of these over the "poor whites" and the low class in our cities is the result of superior quality in bodily organization. This high quality is produced by union in marriage of those physiologically

Fig. 1. — Motive Temperament. (Strong - .)

adapted, by correct living, education and climate. The quality of one part of the body is also the quality of all the other parts. Coarse skin and hair indicate coarse muscular and nerve fibers. Soft, flabby skin and hair indicate similar properties of brain. Illlira lfh of any part has a deleterious influence upon the

APPLIED TO TEACHING.

i;

others. The bodily conditions are most influential upon three qualities of mental manifestation : Strength, acuteness and energy.

Strength is given by largeness, compactness of fiber ; acuteness is given by fine quality of fiber; and energy is given by good health. The highest mental qualities are the result of a proper combination of these

Fia. 2.— Mental Temperament, (Acute.)

three bodily conditions. Where there is an absence of fineness, the person may be strong and vigorous but is deficient in acuteness, delicacy and sensitiveness. All his faculties are obtuse. He fails to appreciate the finer shade of thought and feeling. If there be a deficiency of size and compactness he will be wanting in strength, but may possess great refinement and delicacy of perception and feeling-. If the health of even a good organization be poor, none of the functions can be performed energetically. Some organizations arc analogous to cloth made of hemp. These are strong. Others are analogous to cloth made of fine silk. These are deficient in strength, but have great acuteness. Still others are analogous to cloth made of a

Fi«. 3. — Strong; and Acute.

coarse and a fine material in proper proportion. These possess both strength and acuteness.

Fig. 1.— Strong. Fig. 2.— Acute. Fig. 3.— Strong and acute. Fig. 4. — Low quality. Fig. 5. — Energy.

Corresponding to these three properties of the body and mind there are three systems in the human organism upon which those properties depend. They are

APPLIED TO TEACHING.

all necessary to the existence of the body, but the relative strength of these systems is not the same in two individuals.

The Motor System. — The bones and muscles form the motor system.

The Nutritive System. — The alimentary canal, the circulating- and respiratory organs, the secretory or-

Fig. 4. — Very Low Organization.

guns and absorbents, and all the organs which are engaged in transforming food into living tissue or keeping the system in repair, form the nutritive system.

The Nervous System. — The brain, the spinal cord and all the nerves form the nervous system.

Chapter II. The Temperaments

The preponderance of one of these systems over the others gives rise to a peculiar physical condition which we call a Temperament.

The Motive Temperament. — The preponderance of the muscular and osseous systems in the human organism gives rise to the physical condition which we call the Motive Temperament.

Physical Characteristics. — The chief physical characteristics of the motive temperament are large and usually long bones, slender but firm, compact muscles ; causing a heavy, tall, angular frame. The features are prominent; large nose, high cheek bones and heavy jaws.

The hands and feet are large, the joints being prominent. The complexion is usually dark and the hair stiff, and sometimes coarse. When the nutritive and nervous systems are deficient this temperament is marked by extreme angularity and awkwardness.

Mental Characteristics. — This temperament gives great physical strength and it also imparts strength to the mental nature. If a man of this temperament has intellect it will be noted for great power and force, but not for brilliancy and acuteness. His mental operations will be slow, but his thoughts will have vigor.

If he have temper and will, they will be slow to act, but once awakened, they will act with a force that carries everything- before it. It puts iron into the will and force into passion. Such a man is not easily offended, for his sensibilities are so blunt as not to be moved by slight offences. Though he loves his friends with a devotion which would cause him to make great sacrifices for them, yet he lacks that delicacy of feeling which is responsive to finer touches of affection.

All other conditions being the same, the man with the most of motive temperament can bear up under greater responsibility ; can conduct successfully greater undertakings ; will have greater solidity and positiveness of character. He loves large affairs and spurns all work which requires little effort and strength. He loves farming on a large scale, railroading, steamboating, manufacturing, the hardship and vast responsibilities which attend life in the army and on the sea. Such men find their greatest happiness in such callings, for lighter emploj^ments fail to give full action to their great powers.

Orators of this temperament present arguments and thoughts which compel rather than pursuade. Their eloquence possesses a force that carries away the hearer against his will. Webster and John Quincy Adams are examples.

The motive is the masculine temperament. A woman having the features of this temperament will lack the rotund and sjinmetrical form, and the delicacy and quickness of mental activity, which are peculiarly feminine. But if she be well endowed with the other temperaments, with a preponderance of this, she will

22 THE SCIENCE OF THE MINI)

possess the delicacy and sensitiveness of woman and much of the strength of man. All women who have been great in literature, in art, or in the world of action, have been women with strongly marked masculine features.

Boys and (l iris in School. — This temperament is rare among girls, and when it occurs, unless it be accompanied by a good development of the other temperaments, it forms rather a hopeless case. It is not susceptible of much culture. Boys of this temperament are slow to learn and very restless under the confinement and petty tasks of the school-room. They long for out-door sports and work. Study is irksome to them, which makes it difficult to get them through the little tasks in the beginning of school life ; but when they are once interested in History, Science and Mathematics, the studies which reveal the power in nature and man, they push their work with an energy that soon makes them the best and most reliable students in their classes. They care little for literature and art. Their organization is not delicate enough to* appreciate these. To expect superiority from them in these studies is like expecting the quick movement and delicate touch of the skilled pianist from a blacksmith.

The teacher must labor patiently with these dullards until he gets them into more difficult work, when, if they have brains as well as bone and muscle, they will make sure progress.

Cultivation. — The Temperament is inherited but may be improved in those in whom it is deficieiii by a plain diet, consisting principally of cereals and lean meat, and by much vigorous out-door exercise.

Fig - . 1 is a good example of the Motive Temperament.

The Yital Temperament. — The Vital Temperament is the physical condition which is the result of a preponderance of the nutritive organs in the organism. Large, well organized and healthy digestive organs,

Fig. 5.— Vital Temperament.

a strong circulation, good breathing, assimilating and excretory organs, keep the organism in repair and supply it with vitality, or life force. And where there is sufficient of this life force there will be great activity of every function. Size and perfect structure gives an organ the capacity for great work, but vitality is the force which separates the organ. A

4 J4 THE SCIENCE OF THE MIND

person may have a magnificent brain, but when vitality ceases, it stops for want of a propelling' force. A person may have a small brain and much vitality, then the brain is able to manifest all its power. The nutritive system may be compared to the engine in a manufactory. The coal is transformed into heat, the heat changes the water into steam, and steam furnishes the force which moves the machinery. Food and air are taken into the body, the food is transformed into blood, and from the blood is obtained the life force which enables the organs to perform their function.

The Vital Temperament gives activity to every physical and mental power.

Physical Characteristics. — When the Vital organs preponderate over the others in the organism, more nutrition is produced than is used. This is stored away in the form of fat. Every space in the body which can be spared is used as a receptacle of this surplus material. In consequence, the person becomes plump and rotund. The trunk is enlarged, the limbs are round and taper gracefully toward the small ankles and wrists. The hands are small and plump, the fingers tapering. The features are not prominent, but the face is round and full. The head is large in the basilar region, being full between and behind the cars. The hair is soft and usually of a light color.

All except the nutritive organs are usually free from disease and when there is a diseased condition of the nervous system, it is usually because of disease in some of the nutritive organs. When the nutritive organs are free from disease persons of this temperament are pictures of perfect health. But it is a mistake to suppose that because people are fat that they are necessarily healtlry. When the digestive and assimilating- organs are strong, but the circulation weak, the person will be fat and pale. If there is added to this a weak action of the Lymphatics, it gives rise to the old Lymphatic Temperament. The flesh is soft and flabby and all the energies are weak, lazy and sleepy. If there be a torpid liver, the complexion will be yellow. The weakness of any of the nutritive organs will modify this temperament and produce quite a different effect on the mind from the healthy Vital temperament.

Mental Characteristics. — The healthy vital temperament overflows with activity and good feeling. It impresses one with the fact that it is full of life. It cannot remain quiet but must be moving about, doing something to work off the surplus energy. It is fond of all the physical pleasures. Exercise, rest, eating and drinking, sleep, and every animal gratification. It gives a warm and impulsive nature. Loves and hates with intensity, but is easily thrown from one mood into another. It is free from care and worry ; for it possesses the felicity which only good health can give.

There is a disposition to avoid work which is hard and continuous. It likes activity and change. It will never tire of work which accords with its nature, but cannot take pleasure in work which requires close and hard application.

If the person be fat and pale and the flesh soft, it is caused by weak action of the lymphatics and the heart. The vivacity and enthusiasm of the healthy vital temperament are entirely wanting, and all the activities are sluggish and sleepy. Laziness is the mental disease accompanying' this physical derangement. There may be talent, but the languor of all the activities lulls them to sleep. In an educational point of view, one of these fat, soggy persons is as hopeless as the one who is alL bones and joints.

Boys and Girls in School. — Boys and girls of this temperament are usually bright-, and learn easily and rapidly. They, however, are so intensely fond of fun and a good time generally that it is difficult to get them to apply themselves to study. Make the school a kind of play and get them interested in their work and they become good students. Their propensity to have a good time is frequently too strong for them, and they leave school as soon as possible ; the girls to enter society with all its pleasures ; the boys to engage in some work where there is greater opportunity for activity and pleasure. Boys of this temperament are most given to the follies of youth. They are so full of animal spirits that they rush headlong into every pleasure. The activity and enthusiasm of this temperament is very valuable in the work of life and to turn them to good account should be the teacher's aim. Make a good man of one of these wild boys and you have done more good than by educating a dozen half dead ones, who can do neither good nor harm. Such temperaments lack depth of thought. Their work is all on the surface. They can make a good show of knowledge although they have but little. Their delight is in doing something and not in deep thought. They love the concrete, not the abstract. They dislike mental Arithmetic, but like solving problems on their slates. The teacher must profit by this disposition and give them something to do that requires the use of the hand.

Cultivation. — Every thing which tends to increase the health will improve this temperament. Good fcod, sufficient exercise and rest, pure air and freedom from care.

Children who are deficient in it should be so reared as to develop it to the utmost : for in the degree in which they are deficient do they lack the life force which is essential to life's work.

The Mental Temperament. — The nervous system is connected more closely with mental operations than any other part of the organism. A preponderance of the brain and nerves gives rise to the mental temperament.

Physical Characteristics. — The most striking physical characteristics of this temperament are a large brain, particularly in the upper part of the cranium, the bocty is slender, the muscles are thin and soft, the features are sharp and delicately fashioned. The skin is soft and delicately organized. The hair is fine. The expression of the face is intellectual. The forehead is high and wide at the top, and the base of the brain is deficient.

When the other temperaments are also well developed, the fine classical face is accompanied by a well-proportioned body. But when they are deficient, the body is small and weak and the head too large.

It is the temperament that gives fineness to the organism.

Mental Characteristics . — The mental characteristics of this temperament are acute, active, intense, mental faculties. Delicacy of feeling and acuteness of intellect. The tastes are active and the tendency is strong 1 toward refinement and beauty. Such persons live more in the mental than in the physical world. Their desires crave that which satisfies the mental and emotional rather than the senses and the appetites. Although the minds of those of this temperament are very quick and sensitive, and though they possess superiority of intellect, taste and feeling, they are not always the best : for they lack practicality and force of character. They dwell too much upon the ideal and cannot appreciate practical affairs. They dwell too much above the clouds to be of much practical service in this prosaic, selfish business world. They can appreciate the abstract and the poetical, but not the real and distinctly human. They have genius in certain directions, but not enough common-sense for any calling which requires an accurate comprehension of things as they are in the world. They are speculative and dreamy, and not matter-of-fact and observing. A flight of fancy often has more weight with them than a stubborn fact. They become great in literature, theology and art.

Boys and Girls in School. — Children of this temperament are precocious. At ten 3 f ears of age they are as mature as those much older. They are predisposed to study and to sedentary pursuits. Their mental nature needs to be restrained and their physical developed. A great mistake is made by parents by putting these children into school early and crowding them along as fast as possible, in order to give them a good education in childhood. They think that the child being so talented will soon reach a high position in literary pursuits. If the child is not absolutely killed by over-study it never-the-less fails to accomplish what was prophesied by its early brightness. Its vital energies have been so dwarfed that the large and well-trained brain is like excellent machinery propelled by an engine of inadequate power. One can more safely predict a brilliant future for the dullard than for one of these over-educated, precocious children. Many children are hurried into their graves by being crammed to their utmost.