The Valentine Democrat. [volume] (Valentine, Cherry Co., Neb.) 1896-1898, 1897-05-20
NOTES. ON EDUCATION.
MATTERS OF INTEREST TO PU-
Pill AND TEACHER.
Prof. Henderson on Cause and Effect
in Education - Stubborn Natures
Must Be Led, and Not Driven-Gen-
eraI Educational News and Notes.
cause and Effect in Education,


complex thing than we are wont to
think. 1t is plastic and general; fol
the most part mere bundle of posi-
bilitieS And we stand to 1t i'll re]a-
ton of Fate OF Destiny. We have given
to us a tiny organism with little in
dividual will or intelligence. The in
fiuences to which we subject this or
ganism constitute the educatiye proc
ess. There are two elements to be
considered First of all, there is wrap
ped up in this tiny ball of organized
matter an inherent tendency more in
exOrable than the predestination
taught by Calvin. We call it heredity.
1t is the gift, for good or ill, of fathers
and great -grandfathers, of mothers
ana gfeat-5raaa dr.aathers, for many
generations back. The rairy godmoth-
ers who come in the story book to ey-
cry child's christening represent sci
entific fact The talents they bestow;
the fatal limitations they infiict, are
not by chance. They are the quail
ties of ancestry. A system of educa-
neglects a determining cause, and is
fundamentally unscientific But it is
an element largely beyond the control
OF the teacher. All he can do is to
develop these germs, OF discourage
them, as heredity seems good or bad
Even in this very moderate function
he blunders, for the most part, ter
ribly.
The second element is the one with
which we have practically to deal 1t
includes all post-natal influences. In
science we call it environment 1t is
a long standing debate as to which of
these elements is the stronger. We
need not enter the controversy. The
balance of present evidence seems to
support that view Of the matter which
gives the greater influence the environ
ment In this Lies the hope of the edu-
Gator We mean to get the best of
the dead great-grandmOther Mr.. Fiske
has pointed out that in the increased
helpleSsness of the human infant, in
its greater freedom from Unborn in
stincts, in the lengthening days of the
plastic period of infancy, are to be
found the possibilities of far greater
Individual advance This, then, is the
problem set before us as educators
so to shape these influences that the
developing human spirit may approach
perfection. 1t is not new problem.
1t was before the Greeks 1t was be-
fore the men of the Middle Ages. 1t
has been constantly before our own
people. But it never has been very sat
isfactorily solved. The extent of our
failure can be better realized when
we remember that nearly all educa-
tional reforms have been forced upon
the schools from without. They orig
mated with men and women who were
so fortunate as to escape the pedagog-
ical blight. When we remember fur
ther that the men of mark in the great
world Of action and creative thought
have either been educated in an irreg-
ular fashion, or, if they have gone to
the academies and colleges, have never
taken the courses too seriously, these
facts are significant. They mean that
education has often been a thwarting
Of the spirit, an attempt to fit square |
plug into a round hole, pressure, a |
dead weight, rather than an unfolding. |
They mean, in short, that education |
has seldom, in practice at least, been |
reduced to a science.
We fail as Ptolemy failed, as the al
chemists failed. We fail because we
do not observe the true sequence of |
cause and effect in the life of the child. |
We must part company with that fatal |
duality which separates body and spir-
it. We must look upon the child as q
unit. We must see in it an organism
which includes both body and spirit. |
an integer. Little Margaret is very
in her quaint gown and |
big hat. They conceal the fact that |
her poor little body is stunted and un-
developed, and will but i'll withstand
he emotions and functions of woman
hood. Brother Jack is also a lively
igure in bright kilt shirt and velvet
Jacket. His neck is thin, but it is
by very broad linen col
ar. We look at that and find him
charming. His little legs are slender
Us broomsticks. but they are in thick
black hose, and the red kilt attracts the
,ye. We look at that and are salts
led. He is active and noisy. We take
t for granted that he is getting on fine
y. Were he in the bath-tub. we should
hink otherwise. Later, Jack goes to
.ollege. He breaks down. His moth
Il says it is from overwork. But this
S not the truth. The truth is that he
las not the brain-power to cope with
formal intellectual tasks. The fauIt
S elsewhere than with the curriculum
II all this, the image cast by pruderv
makes us horribly unscientific. Worse
till, it makes us hopelessly vulgar. |
'heSe are but two out of large and
ad company of images which to-day
bscure the reflection of science in ed |
cation. They make difficult the rec ,
gnition of the simple fact that the
hid is an organic unity, and they
lake practically impossible the devel-
pment of any system Of education .
ased upon this truth. SO long as we ,,