Part 8 (2/2)
CURVE OF WORK
OF A VERY POOR CHILD, ALMOST ENTIRELY NEGLECTED BY ITS PARENTS, AND VERY TURBULENT
[Illustration: _Period of Disorder_]
The child in question (O) seemed to have a tendency to learn from others; he ran away from work or was attracted by it only for a briefIf any atteri his companions, and seemed quite intractable; but he listened attentively to the lessons the teacher gave to the other children
[Illustration: _Advance towards Order_]
When he began to work, after having learned how to do so, he persevered, and the norra which the child relapsed slightly andhis coreat application, and of final repose (during which, however, he again relapsed into his characteristic defect) The suram show not only interest in the work, but a marked kindliness; the child was not only calentleness; when at the height of his labors he frequently looked round at his coers, but without relaxing his attention It see up from the fulness of his internal satisfaction, froh and uncouth
[Illustration: CURVE OF WORK OF A WEAKLY CHILD]
The diagram is made up of curves that fall upon the line of quiescence; unity of curve is lacking, hence unity of effort The cul point of work is reached after a preliminary task of an easier kind; and the suprereat impetus has been exhausted The phase of rest is not clearly defined; the child turns to a very easy task (solid insets) A certain feebleness of character seems to manifest itself in the half-hearted mental processes The child makes many successive efforts to rise; but he can neither orous effort, nor co The child is calm, but his state of calm has no variations; he is neither lively, nor serene, nor does he show strong affectionate impulses
COURSE OF PROGRESS
When the whole class is disciplined, the course of development of the internal activities may be observed
It raduated exercises passing from the , calculating, and reading The children are free to choose the exercises they prefer; but of course, as the teacher initiates them in each exercise, they only choose the objects they kno to use The teacher, observing them, sees when the child is sufficiently matured for more advanced exercises, and introduces theins the other children more advanced
We ress” in work
[Illustration: Course of Progress]
The two curves represent stages of greatest development as coe of unrest between the easy and the more difficult work tends to disappear; the child seeoesexercise
Consequently, two successive phases of uninterrupted work are left; one may be called the _phase of preparation_, the other the _phase of serious work_ The phase of preparation lasts a very short tier duration; it is noteworthy that the period of _rest_, with its characteristic air of _comfort_ and _serenity_, sets in after the _maximum effort has spontaneously spent itself_ On the other hand, it happens invariably that any external interruption of the effort causes the child to show signs of fatigue (restlessness), or to become inattentive
In the first curve, the initial work consists of two easy tasks, carried on for a short time, and from these the child passes directly to the serious work The finale is a spell of rest full of thought; the child ceases to work, but conte ti to put it away, or, after having conteoes quietly to watch that of the others
In the second curve there is a very noticeable parallelism with the line of repose; the child pursues his labors almost uniformly, and the sole difference between the initial work and the serious work is in their different duration The contemplative period becomes henceforth an obvious ”period of internal work,” almost a period of ”assimilation” or ”internal maturation” Observation of the work of others becoly frequent, as if it were a spontaneous ”comparative” study between the child himself and his companions; or as if an active interest in the conte: the period of discovery We may say that _the child studies himself in his own productions and puts himself into communion with his coe the completion of an entire cycle will exercise an influenceon the personality of the child
Not only is he spurred on to a work of inti effort; he preserves a perht, of internal equilibrium, of sustained interest in his environree of evolution This is the period when the child begins to be ”master of himself” and enters upon that characteristic phenomenon I have called the ”phenomenon of obedience” He _can obey_, that is, he can control his actions, and therefore can direct them in accordance with the desires of another person He can break off a piece of hen interrupted, without becoue Moreover, work has becoer bear to be idle When, for instance, we call soe to the lessons for teachers, in which they are to serve as the ”subjects of study,” they lend themselves with ready docility to that which we ask of theht, heads, etc, and they perfor alith _interest_, and not nation, as if they were conscious of collaborating with us But when they have to _wait_, seated on one side till they are called forward, they cannot sit idle; they work at so
Inactivity has beco the lesson, the children take the lacing or tying frames, or cover the floor ords made with the movable letters; and where this is feasible, some of the children will draw or paint in these s have now becoent activity, which foranism
But to ensure the continuance of this attitude and of the development of personality it is essential that _some real task_ should be performed each day; for it is from the completed cycle of an activity, from methodical concentration, that the child develops equilibriu power to perforher actions, such as those which are termed acts of obedience This ion for the preservation of the forces of spiritual life: that is, a period of ”spiritual concentration,” which opens up the possibility of acquiring ”moral powers” It is from methodical ”meditation” that moral personality must draw its powers of solidification, without which the ”inner man,” incoherent and unbalanced, fails to possess itself and dispose of itself for noble ends
Children have always need of the period of concentration, and serious work from which they derive the capacity for final development