Part 11 (2/2)
3 TRAINING IN assOCIATION
Since association is at botto but habit at work in the mental processes, it follows that it, like other for Certainly, no part of one's education is of greater importance than the character of his associations For upon these will largely depend not alone the _content_ of his anization_, or the use ht material at hand In fact, the whole science of education rests on the laws and principles involved in setting up right systems of associative connections in the individual
THE PLEASURE-PAIN MOTIVE IN assOCIATION--A general law seehout the animal world that associative responses accoer, while those accompanied by pain tend to weaken and fall away The little child of two yearsthe leaves out of books, but if its hands are sharply spatted whenever they tear a book, the association between the sight of books and tearing them will soon cease In fact, all punishment should have for its object the use of pain in the breaking of associative bonds between certain situations and wrong responses to the trained to perforht response has been thened through the use of pleasure All , enthusiasm, or a pleasurable sense of victory and achievement not only tends to set up more permanent and valuable associations than if learned under opposite conditions, but it also exerts a stronger appeal to our interest and appreciation
The influence of mental attitude on the ning the co of so es of a literary masterpiece as a punishment for some offense How many of us have carried away associations of dislike and bitterness toward so our learning of it linked up with the thought of an i! One person tells ht of Tennyson because this was the volues to commit in atonement for her youthful delinquencies
INTEREST AS A BASIS FOR assOCIATION--associations established under the sti interest are relatively broad and per are more narrow and of doubtful permanence This statement is, of course, but a particular application of the law of attention Interest brings the whole self into action
Under its urging the mind is active and alert The new facts learned are coistered, and are assimilated to other facts to which they are related Many associative connections are formed, hence the new nificance and
assOCIATION AND METHODS OF LEARNING--The nuree on ourWe may be satisfiedit uncritically as so many facts to be stored away as a part of our education We rasp the sis, but not seek for the deeper and more fundamental relations We may learn separate sections or divisions of a subject, accepting each as athese sections and divisions into a logical whole
But all such methods are a mistake They do not provide for the associative bonds between the various facts or groups of facts in our knowledge, without which our facts are in danger of becos, relations, definitely recognized associations, should attach to all that we learn Better far a se than any quantity of unorganized and undigested information, even if the latter sorades In short, real mastery demands that we _think_, that is _relate_ and _associate_, instead of _ as we learn
4 PROBLEMS IN OBSERVATION AND INTROSPECTION
1 Test the uncontrolled associations of a group of pupils by pronouncing to the class so the members write down 20 words in succession as rapidly as they can, taking in each instance the first word that occurs to thee, of associations, can easily be studied by applying this test to, say, a fourth grade and an eighth grade and then co results
2 Have you ever been puzzled by the appearance in your ht of before for years? Were you able to trace out the associative connection that caused the fact to appear? Why are we sometimes unable to recall, e need them, facts that we perfectly well know?
3 You have observed that it is possible to be able to spell certain words when they occur in a spelling lesson, but totheation or a declension in tabular form, and then not be able to use the correct for Relate these facts to the laws of association, and recommend a method of instruction that will remove the discrepancy
4 To test the quickness of association in a class of children, copy the folloords clearly in a vertical colunal; then display the chart before the them to write down on paper the exact _opposite_ of as many words as possible in one minute Be sure that all know just what they are expected to do
Bad, inside, slow, short, little, soft, black, dark, sad, true, dislike, poor, well, sorry, thick, full, peace, few, below, eneot by each pupil
5 Can you think of garrulous persons a your acquaintance the explanation of whose tiresomeness is that their association is of the _complete_ instead of the _selective_ type? Watch for such illustrations in conversation and in literature (eg, Juliet's nurse)
6 Observe children in the schoolroo in association Have you ever had anything that you otherwise presumably would enjoy rendered distasteful because of unpleasant associations?
Pass your ownin review, and also inquire into the methods used by children in study, to deter in the best possible use of association
CHAPTER XI
MEMORY
Every hour of our lives we call upon memory to supply us with some fact or detail from out our past Let memory wholly fail us, and we find ourselves helpless and out of joint in a world we fail to understand A poor memory handicaps one in the pursuit of education, hampers him in business or professional success, and puts hie in every relation of life On the other hand, a good memory is an asset on which the owner realizes anew each succeeding day
1 THE NATURE OF MEMORY
Now that you come to think of it, you can recall perfectly well that Columbus discovered America in 1492; that your house is painted white; that it rained a week ago today But where were these once-known facts, now remembered so easily, while they were out of yourof them? The common answer is, ”Stored away in my memory” Yet no one believes that the memory is a warehouse of facts which we pack away there e for a time have no use for them, as we store away our old furniture