Part 19 (1/2)
_Tell a story of how the wild animals were taught to let the woolly rhinoceros alone._ _See if you can find an animal that has both an inner and an outer coat._
x.x.xIII.
_How We Have Learned About the Tree-dwellers_
The Tree-dwellers lived such a long time ago that we do not know all that they did.
But they have left some things to tell their story.
A few of their bones and stone weapons have been found in the gravel.
We have learned something about the Tree-dwellers from studying these.
Bones of animals that lived then have been found in the caves.
They tell something more about the life of the Tree-dwellers.
Marks of plants have been found upon the rocks.
They, too, help to tell the story.
Wise men have studied all these things.
They have tried to learn all that they could about these people.
We have written their story in this book for you, so that you may know how our forefathers lived before they learned how to use fire.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS
[Ill.u.s.tration]
The test of a book is the service it can render. The character of the service demanded by it is determined by the needs of those to whom it is devoted. This book was not written for the child of five or six years, although children of that age have shown an interest in it. The child of five or six is absorbed in the activities of his own home and his immediate environment. His own neighborhood may well const.i.tute the chief source from which to draw the subject-matter in these early years.
Even though many of the processes that he observes are complex, it matters little to the child at this time; for so easily do they lend themselves to dramatic play that they cause him little difficulty. The child at this time, therefore, has no need of this book.
But there comes a time when the ideal and the real world begin to separate. No longer content with a ”make-believe” process, and unable to control the complex processes of modern life, he feels a need that cannot be satisfied by the resources of his neighborhood alone. There is need of looking elsewhere in order to find experiences that are sufficiently related to his spontaneous activities to enlist his attention, and sufficiently related to what is best in the society in which he lives to form legitimate subject-matter for this period of development. The materials which const.i.tute the subject-matter of this book have been selected and arranged with reference to the needs of the child at such a time. It is the child of six and a half or seven years for whom this book is intended.
Were it not true that so many books that are written for children have little regard for real facts, it would seem unnecessary to state that in no case has material been introduced into this book which cannot be justified by reference to a recognized authority in anthropology, paleontology, or geology. The story-form by means of which these facts are conveyed is merely a literary device for bringing home to the child the truth that has thus far been ascertained regarding the fundamental steps in the development of our industrial and social inst.i.tutions.
The portrayal of the situation which caused our early forefathers to rob birds' nests and kill young animals will no doubt shock the sentimentalist who orders eggs or veal as a matter of course. There might be good ground for his feeling were there not present in the child the instinct to do similar deeds even though living under social conditions that do not justify such acts. Any one who will take the trouble to recall his own childhood, or to make the acquaintance of children of six and a half or seven years, will realize that such instincts are present, and that they must find expression in one form or another. Is it wise to ignore the facts of the case and allow the child to form the habit of gratifying his blind instincts, or shall we recognize the situation and meet it with all the wisdom at our command?
Is it not the better plan to tell the child frankly of the way in which people lived at the time when they did what he would like to do now, and lead him to discover the changes that have taken place that lead us to disapprove of actions which, under different conditions, were considered good?
The teacher who knows that she has good ground for her convictions is not afraid to look upon a question from all sides. The fact that the teacher is willing to look at a question from the child's point of view is a means of establis.h.i.+ng sympathetic relations between her and the child, who thus becomes willing to look at the question from the teacher's point of view. A sounder morality can be developed by honestly facing the facts with the child and by giving him the benefit of a broader experience, than by leaving him to face the situation alone in the light of but part of the facts. The problems with which the child at this time is grappling are so similar in character to those of the race during the early periods of its development that they afford the child a rich background of experience suited to his own needs. The successful solution of these problems is as important with reference to the development of the individual to-day as then in determining the welfare of the race. A firm basis for the development of the intellectual, the moral, and the physical life can thus be laid at this time by a wise use of the experiences of the race when it was laying the foundations upon which our civilization rests. It must be remembered that there is as wide a difference between the real situation in the hunting life and the scenes depicted in this book as there is between the real att.i.tudes of primitive people and those of the child, which are idealized forms of the same att.i.tudes.[1] The child would shrink in terror from the real conflict. His interest is in the dramatized form. If this dramatic interest of the child is satisfied, it can be made to pay tribute to the sciences and the arts. If it is ignored or repressed, it is liable to find expression in acts of cruelty.
[Footnote 1: See Katharine E. Dopp, ”Some Steps in the Evolution of Social Occupations,” _The Elementary School Teacher_, May and September, 1903. The University of Chicago Press.]
METHOD
The subject-matter is presented with the view of economizing the energy of the teacher as well as that of the child. The attempt has been made to base each lesson upon the experience of the child or at least upon that which he may be enabled to experience if he has not yet done so.
This experience is so treated as to secure problems for advance thought.
The purpose of ”_Things to Think About_” is to awaken the _inquiring att.i.tude_. It is at this point of the lesson that the child is given the opportunity he prizes so highly of telling what he has seen, heard, or done. Here he meets with the new problems which compel him to reconstruct his experiences. The printed questions, which map out the main features in the development of the lesson, should be discussed freely. Care should be taken to avoid mechanical answers. It is much better to leave questions unsettled, or to leave the subject with several different solutions that the different children have worked out, than it is to secure uniformity by imposing upon the child the judgment of the teacher or of the author of the text. In case of a necessary delay in answering a question on account of a lack of related experience, the teacher should use the means that are available for supplying the child with the necessary experience. If the printed questions are discussed before the story is read there will be less danger of a mechanical use of the book than might arise from the habit of reading the story first and making answers to the questions so as to fit the story.