Part 7 (2/2)
Their Report of the Experiment bears, that ”these individuals had been taken without any regard to their abilities, and former acquirements, and formed a fair average of the usual prisoners.” In endeavouring to ascertain the grasp of mind which these individuals possessed, and the readiness with which they received and retained whatever was, even for the first time, communicated to them, ”it was mentioned, that a gentlemen on the previous day, in order to try the capacity of mind which they had attained, desired Mr Gall to catechise them upon a section, consisting of fourteen verses, which they had not seen before, and that, after just ten minutes' examination, one woman, who could not read, repeated the whole distinctly in her own words. Dr Brunton proposed, for a similar experiment, the parable of the 'talents,' with which none was acquainted except one woman, who was consequently not permitted to answer. With its being only read to them, and with a few minutes' catechising, they perceived its various circ.u.mstances, and were able to enumerate them in detail. This exercise demonstrated the capacity of attention, and the power of a.n.a.lyzing and laying hold of circ.u.mstances, which they had reached, as well as the indisputable superiority of this System, in unfolding and strengthening the mental faculties, even in adults.”
”The writer of the Report,” it is added, ”was not acquainted with the extent of their acquirements when Mr Gall commenced his operations; but judging from the examination, and from his knowledge of the contents of the books taught, he has no hesitation in averring, that the answers which they gave, arose entirely from information communicated by them.
And when he reflects that their answers, being clothed in their own words, guaranteed the fact, that it was _the ideas_ upon which they had seized, and that their knowledge partic.i.p.ated in no degree of rote, the conviction to his mind is irresistible, that the universal application of the Lesson System to Prison Discipline, and to adults everywhere, would be followed by effects, incalculably precious to the individuals themselves, and to the improving of society in general.”
Numerous other instances might be adduced in proof of the efficiency of this method of attempting to imitate Nature in this first part of her educational process, who will always be faithful in adhering to her own laws, and countenancing her own work. These however may suffice;--and it ought not to escape observation, that in two of the cases first alluded to, the young persons enjoyed only two hours' instruction in the week, and these not divided, but continuously given at one time. For this reason, it might have been feared, that the benefits then received would have been lost, or neutralized, by the variety of objects or amus.e.m.e.nts which must have intervened during the week between the lessons. But it was not so. And we may here remark, that if with all these disadvantages, so much good was really done in cultivating the powers of the mind by this exercise, what may we not expect by the enlightened, regular, and daily application of the same powerful principles in our ordinary schools, when the teacher shall know where the virtue of the weapon which he wields really lies, and when the nature of the material he is called to work upon is also better understood. Every exercise and every operation in the school will then be made to ”tell;” and every moment of the pupils' attendance will be improved. In these circ.u.mstances, we are far within the limits of the truth when we say, that more real substantial education will then be communicated in one month, than it has been usual to receive by the labours of a whole year.
From what has been already ascertained, we are fully warranted in making the following remarks.
1. From the above facts we can readily ascertain the cause, why some exercises employed in education are so much relished by the young, and so efficient in giving strength and elasticity to the mind; while others, on the contrary are so inefficient, so irksome, and sometimes so intolerable. Every exercise that tends to produce active thought,--the ”reiteration of ideas,”--is natural, and therefore, not only promotes healthful mental vigour, but is also exciting and delightful; while, on the contrary, whenever the mind is fettered by the mere decyphering of words, or the repeating of sounds, without reiterating ideas, the exercise is altogether unnatural, and must of course be irritating to the child, and barren of good.
2. By a due consideration of the above principles, we see the reason why mental arithmetic, though it may not communicate any knowledge, is yet productive of considerable mental vigour. These exercises compel the young to a species of voluntary thought, the reiteration in the mind of the powers of numbers; and although the result of the particular calculations which are then made, may never again be of any service to the pupil, yet the consequent exercise of mind is beneficial. It should never be forgotten, however, that this exercise of mind upon _numbers_ is altogether an artificial operation, and is on this account, neither so efficient nor so pleasant as the reiteration of moral or physical truths. The same degree of mental exercise, brought into operation upon some useful fact, where the imagination as well as the understanding, can take a part, would at once be more natural, more efficient, more pleasant, and more useful.
3. From the nature and operation of the above principle, also, we can perceive in what the efficiency of Pestalozzi's ”Exercises on Objects,”
consists.--When a child is required to tell you the colour and the consistence of milk, qualities which have all along been familiar to him, it conveys to him no knowledge; but it excites to observation and active thought,--to the ”reiteration of ideas;”--and for this reason it is salutary. But it is still equally true, as in the former case, that the same degree of mental exercise, brought into operation upon some useful practical truth, would be at least equally useful as a mental stimulant, and much more beneficial as an educational exercise.
4. From the nature of this great fundamental principle in mental cultivation, as consisting in the reiteration of ideas, and not of words, we have a key by which we can satisfactorily explain the remarkable, and hitherto unaccountable fact, that many persons who, in youth and at school, have been ranked among the dullest scholars, have afterwards become the greatest men. An active mind, in exact proportion to its vigour, will powerfully struggle against the unnatural thraldom of mere mechanical verbal exercises. The mind in a healthful state will not be satisfied with words, which are but the medium of ideas, because ideas alone are the natural food of the mind. Till the powers of the mind, therefore, are sufficiently enfeebled by time and perseverance, it will struggle with its fetters, and it will be repressed only by coercion. Minds naturally weak, or gradually subdued, may and do submit to this artificial bondage,--this unnatural drudgery; but the vigorous and powerful mind, under favourable circ.u.mstances, spurns the trammels, and continues to struggle on. It may be a protracted warfare,--but it must at last come to a close; and it is not till the pupil has emerged from this mental dungeon, and has had these galling fetters fairly knocked off, that the natural elasticity and strength of his mind find themselves at freedom, with sufficient room and liberty to act. The impetus then received, and the delight in the mental independence then felt, have frequently led to the brightest results. Hence it is, that the reputed dunce of the school, has not unfrequently become the ornament of the senate.
Lastly, we would remark, that from the facts here enumerated, we derive a good test by which to try every new exercise proposed for training the young, and for cultivating the powers of the mind. If the exercise recommended compels the child to active thought,--to the voluntary exercise of his own mind upon useful ideas,--that exercise, whatever be its form, will, to that extent at least, be beneficial. And if, at the same time, it can be a.s.sociated with the acquisition of knowledge, with the application of knowledge, or with the ready communication of knowledge,--all of which, as we have seen, are concomitants in Nature's process,--it will, in an equal degree, be valuable and worthy of adoption. But if, on the contrary, the exercise may be performed without the necessity of voluntary thought, or the reiteration of ideas by the mind, however plausible or imposing it may appear, it is next to certain, that although such an exercise may be sufficiently burdensome to the child, and cause much labour and anxiety to the teacher, it will most a.s.suredly be at least useless, if not injurious.
FOOTNOTES:
[9] See the Fifth Public Experiment in Education, conducted before Sir Thomas Kirkpatrick, and the clergy and teachers of Dumfries, in the month of October 1833.
[10] Note K.
[11] Note H.
[12] For the methods of employing this exercise and the books best adapted for it, see Note I.
CHAP. II.
_On the Methods by which Nature may be imitated in the Pupil's Acquisition of Knowledge; with a Review of the a.n.a.logy between the Mental and Physical Appet.i.tes of the Young._
The second step in the progress of Nature's pupil is the acquisition of knowledge.--This has always been considered a chief object in every system of education; and the discovery of the most efficient means by which it may be accomplished, must be a matter of great importance.
In our remarks upon this subject in a previous chapter, we have shewn, that Nature in her operations employs four distinct principles for acc.u.mulating knowledge, for retaining it upon the memory, and for keeping it in readiness for use at the command of the will. There are, _First_, the ”reiteration of ideas” by the mind, without which there can be no knowledge; _Secondly_, the principle of ”Individuation,” by which the knowledge of objects and truths is acquired one by one; _Thirdly_, the principle of ”Grouping,” or a.s.sociation, in which the mind views as one object, what is really composed of many; and, _Fourthly_, the principle of ”a.n.a.lysis,” or Cla.s.sification, in which the judgment is brought into exercise, the different portions of our knowledge are arranged and cla.s.sified under different heads and branches, and the whole retained in order at the command of the will, when any portion of it is required.--Our object now is to consider, what means are within the reach of the parent and the teacher, by which Nature in these several processes may be successfully imitated, while they endeavour to communicate the elements of knowledge to the young.
Ideas being the only proper food of the mind, Nature has created in the young an extraordinary appet.i.te and desire for their possession. There is a striking a.n.a.logy in this respect, between the strengthening of the body by food, and the invigorating of the mind by knowledge; and before proceeding to detail the methods by which the parent or the teacher may successfully break down and prepare the bread of knowledge for their pupils in imitation of Nature, it will be of advantage here to consider more particularly some of the circ.u.mstances connected with this instructive a.n.a.logy. By tracing the likeness so conspicuously held out to us in this a.n.a.logy by Nature herself, we shall be greatly a.s.sisted in evading the bewildering and mystifying influence of prejudice, and the reader will be much better prepared to judge of the value of those means recommended for nouris.h.i.+ng and strengthening the mind by knowledge, when he finds them to correspond so exactly with similar principles employed by Nature for the nouris.h.i.+ng and strengthening of the body by food. We shall by this means, we hope, be able to detect some of those fallacies which have long tended to trammel the exertions, and to prevent the success of the teacher in his interesting labours.
The first point of a.n.a.logy to which we would advert, is the vigour and activity of the mental appet.i.te in the young, which corresponds so strikingly with the frequent and urgent craving of their bodily appet.i.te for food.--The desire of food for the body, and the desire of knowledge for the mind, are alike restless and insatiable in childhood; and a similar amount of satisfaction and pleasure is the consequence, whenever these desires are prudently gratified. That the desire for knowledge in the young is often weakened, and sometimes destroyed, is but too true; but this is the work of man, not of Nature. It will accordingly be found on investigation, with but few exceptions, that wherever the general appet.i.te of the child, either for mental or bodily food, becomes languid or weak, it is either the effect for disease or of some grievous abuse.
Another point of a.n.a.logy consists, in the necessity of the personal active co-operation of the child himself in receiving and digesting his food.--There is no such thing in Nature as a child being fed and nourished by proxy. His food must be received, digested, and a.s.similated by his own powers, and by the use of his own organs, else he will never be fed. In the same way, the food for his mind can benefit him only in so far as he himself is the active agent. He must himself receive, reiterate in his own mind, and commit to the keeping of his memory, every idea presented to him by his teacher. No one can do this for him;--he must do it himself. In a family, the parent may provide, dress, and communicate the food to the child,--but he can do no more; and similar is the case with respect to the mental food provided by the teacher. He may no doubt select the most appropriate kinds,--he may simplify it,--he may break it down into morsels;--but his pupils, if they are to learn, must learn for themselves. When a pupil, to save himself trouble, tries to evade the learning of a preliminary lesson, or when the teacher winks at the evasion by performing the exercise for him, it is as absurd as for a parent to eat the child's food, and expect at the same time that his boy is to be nourished by it. If the mental food be too strong for the child, something more simple must be provided for him; but to continue to administer knowledge which the pupil does not comprehend, and force the strong mental food of an adult upon the tender capacities of a child, is an error of the most mischievous kind.
It prevents the mind from acting at all, without which there can be no improvement. The mind must wield its own weapons if ignorance is to be dislodged; and if the child is to advance at all, he must overcome the difficulties that lie in his way by the exertion of his own powers. His teacher may no doubt direct him as to the best and the easiest way of accomplis.h.i.+ng his object; but that is all. The pupil must in every case perform the exercise for himself.
This leads us to notice another point of a.n.a.logy in this case, which is, the necessity of adapting the food to the age and capacities of those who are to receive it.--There is in the mental, as well as in the physical nourishment provided for our race, milk for the weak, as well as meat for the strong; and it is necessary in both cases that the kind and the quant.i.ty be carefully attended to. In the case of the strong, there is less danger; because, with regard both to the mental and bodily food, Nature has so ordered matters, that the food which is best adapted for the weak, will also nourish the strong; but the food adapted for the strong is never suitable, and is often poisonous to the weak. There must therefore be, in all cases where the young are concerned, as careful a selection of the mental food, as there is of the food for the body; and the parent or teacher should, in all cases, present only such subjects, and such ideas to his pupils, as the state of their faculties, or the progress of their knowledge, enables them to understand and apply.
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