Education should be a continual
repetition of these cycles. Each lesson in its minor way should form an eddy
cycle concerning in its own subordinate process. Longer periods should issue in
exact attainments, which then form the starting-grounds for fresh cycles. We
should drive out the idea of a mythical, far-off finale of education. The
pupils must be continually enjoying some fruition and starting anew, if the
teacher is inspiring in exact proportion to his success in satisfying the
rhythmic cravings of his pupils.
An infant's first romance is its
awakening to the apprehension of objects and to the appreciation of their connections.
Its growth in mentality takes the exterior form of occupying itself in the co-ordination
of its perceptions with its bodily activities. Its first stage of precision is
mastering spoken language as a tool for classifying its contemplation of
objects and for strengthening its apprehension of emotional relations with
other beings. Its first stage of generalisation is the use of language for a
classified and enlarged enjoyment of objects.
This first cycle of intellectual
progress from the achievement of perception to the acquirement of language, and
from the acquirement of language to classified thought and keener perception,
will bear more careful study. It is the only cycle of progress which we can
observe in its purely natural state. The later cycles are necessarily tinged by
the procedure of the current mode of education.
There is a characteristic of it
which is often sadly lacking in subsequent education; I mean that it gets complete
success. Finally of it the child can speak, its ideas are confidential, and its
perceptions are sharpened. The cycle achieves its object. This is much more
than can be said for most systems of education as applied to most students. But
why should this be so? Definitely, a new-born baby looks a most unpromising
subject for an intellectual progress when we remember that the difficulty of
the task before it. I suppose it is because of nature, in the form of
surrounding circumstances, sets it a task for which the normal development of
its brain is exactly fitted. I do not think there is a particular mystery by
the fact of a child learning to speak and think as a result all the better; but
it has to think about.
Into further education, we have
not sought for cyclic process in a finite time their course and their own
limited sphere get a complete success. This is the end of an exceptional nature
in the natural cycle for infants. Later, we start a child on a topic, say Latin
at the age of ten, and the hope of a uniform system of formal training to
achieve success at the age of twenty. The natural result is failure, both in
the interest and acquisition. When I speak of failure, I compare our results
with the brilliant success of the first natural cycle. I do not think it's
because our tasks are inherently too hard when I remember that a child's cycle
is the most difficult of all. This is because our tasks are defined in a
natural way, without rhythm and without intermediaries’ success and without
concentration stimulus.
The whole being of the infant is engrossed in
the practice of its cycle. It has nothing else to divert its mental
development. In this respect there is a striking difference between this
natural cycle and the subsequent history of the student's progress. It is
perfectly obvious that life is a very different and that the mind and brain
naturally develop so as to adapt themselves to the many-hued world in which
their lot is cast. Still, after making allowance for this consideration, we
will be prudent to preserve some measure of concentration for each of the
subsequent cycles. In particular, we should avoid a competition of diverse
subjects in the same stage of their cycles. The fault of the older education
was unrhythmic concentration on a single undifferentiated subject. Our modem system, with its emphasis on a
preliminary general education, and with his easy tolerance of the analysis of
knowledge in different subjects is a collection unrhythmic equally troublesome
waste. I am importunate that we shall endeavour to weave in the learner's mind
a harmony of patterns, by coordinating the a variety of elements of
instruction into subordinate cycles each of intrinsic worth for the immediate
apprehension of the student. We must garner our crops each in its due season.
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