The Saint Paul globe., 1897-10-17
NOT A REGULAR GROWTH.
Miss Lawrence Addresses Teachers
on ''Brain Building"

Miss Isabel Lawrence, for several
years teacher in methods and superin-
tendent of the model department of the
st. Cloud Normal school, addressed the
teachers Of the st. Paul city schools at
their meeting yesterday, hers being the
first of a series of addresses by prom
inent educators which the teachers
have in contemplation. Brain Build
ing" was the terse topic which Miss
Lawrence presented. She said, among
other things:
Brains are being studied of late as brains
were never studied before. There is now an
accuracy and precision in our statements con-
corning brain development and function which
but short time ago was impossible. 1t would,
indeed, be strange, if all this research did not
affect the work of the teacher, since brain
building is the single purpose of all teaching.
There is certain rhythm in brain growth
which produces periods of rapid advance and
periods of seeming rest Every biologist will
tell you that no really vigorous and healthy
growth is ever harmonious. 1t is always lop-
sided, now accented here and now there
This interferes with that conception of the
harmonious growth in all directions proceeding
without interruption from first grade through
the high school which seems to be the ideal
on which our courses of study are construct
ed. The only factors usually considered to
be responsible If the child doesn't gain. a
certain measurable per cent on her previous
knowledge of every study, every day.. are
her idleness, the teachers incapacity or
neglect, or the fearful alternative that the
little one is not as bright as she should be.
Little Betsey is in the third grade. She
reads beautifully, and for a child has a
most sensible little brain full Of ideas and
well-organized thoughts, but she fails if you
hurry her on the number work She is
blamed both at home and at school.
If the brain is delicately constructed the
scar will never be outgrown. Somebody should
know that brains grow differently-in different
individuals, that the energy has been used
up in a somewhat unusual development in
breadth through the language and reading
studies-that enough exercise in the right way
in arithmetic will soon result in clearer ideas
coming all at once, as it were
There is provision in growing brain
which adapts it wonderfully to the formation
of new brain paths. Mechanically we know
that if an electric current were sent through
matter altering It's structure, and If the en-
ergy had to be renewed before another cur
rents would be lost in establishing the
change. Not so with the brain path. 1t
takes great amount of energy to form a
new one. and we cannot Immediately repeat
the current. We are exhausted and must
rest, but wonderful to say, while we rest,
the growing brain replaces the worn-out
nerve elements with fresh ones and actually
emphasizes our brain path for us. We learn
while we sleep. We know more in the morn
ing than We knew the night before Some
times more than nights rest will pay.
Many a child after long rest from a sub
ject, comes back to it, knowing more than
he would, had he continued. There are
periods in every study, of very slow progress,
followed by rapid advance. Every teacher
has noticed such periodic work in learning to
read, to write or in learning a new language.
1t is natural condition in brain building
Sometimes a teacher receives whole grade
who can do nothing better than recuperate,
and make permanent old brain paths Next
year they will advance rapidly, as a result of
her Iatient workout it isn't always without
misgivings that she hears how much better
the class did for Miss - and are doing for
the next teacher.
Beside these periodic changes, the growth Of
brain has It's relations to the growth of other
parts of the body, to general health and nu-
triton. The physical condition of the indi-
vidual frequently necessitates a rest period
for the brain. Puberty almost always pro-
duces such condition. Keeping up to grade
may thus be interrupted or purchased at the
price of physical health or retarded brain de-
velopment in the future.
What remedy can there be? The remedy
will come with the advent of parents who
can watch brain growth without depending
on the monthly per cent card, who consider
grade promotion only incidental, and in the
advent Of teachers whose BRAIN building is
carried on with an intelligent appreciation
of the condition of the individual brains
affected, the advent of corporation between
teacher and parent brought about by meet
ings for the purpose of studying conditions
Of brain growth, and individual children.