Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1900-06-07
TRAINING THE WILL
Subject of Address by Miss Helen
Elliott, at Milwaukee.
SPOKE At MORNING SESSION TODAY
Color VIII Not Down-Iowa Delegates
to the Meeting of tie National Fed.
Grafton of Women's Clubs
Champion the Cause.
From Wednesdays Daily.

From Wednesdays Daily.
Miss Helen Elliott, teacher of math-
ematics in the Ottumwa high school,
left last evening for Milwaukee to at
tend the meeting of the national Feder-
alton of Women's Clubs, before whom
she delivered an address this morning
on the subject: "The Training of the
Will" Miss Elliott is,one of four wo-
men from Iowa who will appear on the
program at this great meeting of the
progressive and cultured women of the
NATION, and Ottumwa is honored and
justly proud of the distinction thus
conferred upon one of her representa-
tive women. From the convention
Miss Elliott expects to go to her home
ut LeClaire, Iowa, where she will spend
4 . portion of her vacation.
The morning session of the conven-
ton was held at the Alhannbra theatre
under the auspices of the educational
committee. The general topic for dis
cussion was Moral Training in the
Public School" Miss Elliott spoke
without notes and discussed the SUBJ
ject assigned TO her, "The Training of
the Will, under three heads: ''Neces-
ssity for Training the Will" ''The Ma
turc of the WILL" and ''The Methods
of Training the WILL saying in part
as follows:
The powers of the human being are
under control of that imperial power,
the executive of the faculties, the soul
in movement, that we call will; so we
5 'uppn 6n hot ha oil
tributory cause of crime is weakness
or peryersion of the will, manifesting
itself in instability on the one hand
or in obstinacy, pertinacity, indocility,
contrariety and rebellion on the other.
For educators then, it becomes inn
peratiye that they must understand
the. nature of the will and the means
for proper}and symmetrical training
of the samef = = y
There isfa profound contradiction
in current educational discussions re-
garding thd most effectual methods of
training THE will. One school of think
/. ers advocates self-abnegation, believing
q that discipline of the moral nature is
acquifed only thru effort to act for
Nuties sake. They claim that life is
too serious to be reduced to the salts
faction of personal interests.
ION the other hand, the opposite
school advances the thesis that interest
is the sole guarantee of good results;
that training, according to the theory
of effort gives narrow and bigotel
or a dull and mechanical character.
s'Dr. Dewey says: The great fallacy
of the so-called effort theory is that it
identified the exercises and training OF
the will with certain external activities
and certain external results, that inter-
nally we have random energy or mind
wandering, a sequence of ideas with no
end at all, because not brought to a
focus in action
TN the healthy will, vision will be
right and the action will follow the Vi
sion's lead; in the unhealthy will the
vision may be right or it may be
wrong but the action will be explosive
or impulsive.
The psychic state before action is
one of inward unrest, one of indecision
ideas favorable and ideas antagonistie
combat with each other for supremacy
upon the field of consciousness, ther
one idea will become intense, Other
ideas will vanish and volition will inn
moralize. X ): X
"The function of the school is tc
lead, not drive the boy or the girl ou1
into the broad fields and clear atmos
phere of life, to enlarge his range OF
vision and to lift him above the finite
into the realms of infnitude.* 4
When SO much of life's conduct de
ponds upon early culture and so much
of this training is the teachers respon
sibility, we conclude from the present
conditions of society that the teacher
has not met the demand society has
made upon her. She has not met the
demand because she has lacked prepa
ration. She has not prepared herself
for her life work with due diligence be
cause the incentive has been INSULT
Gent.
What would be sufficient incen
tive?
q "a social position compatible with
education and innate refinement; re