The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-03-09
SCHOOL OF
PSYCHOLOGY
Of Value to Teachers, Doc
tors and Lawyers and in
Social Work

social wv DIRK
We look with great confidence to
| the new science Of applied psychology
| for many discoveries about the hui
| man mind and it's operations which
will have great value in teaching, in
medicine, law and social work. In the
Clinic Professor Lightner Wilmer of
| the University Of Pennsylvania gives
an account of the applied psychology
which has been developed during the
past fifteen years at that institution.
He thinks that psychology has won its
! iginal investigation, but also as a de-
| partment of instruction in colleges
and graduate school, and more parti-
cularly in special courses for teachers,
school superintendent, educational ex-
perts, school nurses, social workers,
bers of the medical profession gener-
ally. He claims that through the
work of the Psychological Clinic in
studying individual Eases of back
ward and defective children and through
their investigations of the general
schools, the University of Pennsyl-
yania now has what may fairly be
called a school of Psychology. In his
article he gives an outline OF the
courses in psychology that are offered
| to teachers, physicians social workers
and others, at the Summer school of
the University of Pennsylvania. These
courses represent the distinctive fea-
lures of the Psychology" for which
the University of Pennsylvania has
come to stand.
DR.. Wilmer has a high opinion of
the Importance of the profession of
teaching. He says, ''The profession
of teaching has now entered the path
that will lead to it's recognition as
the greatest of all professions. During
the last twenty years a new element
new spirit has come into the teach
ing profession. It is no longer the
textbook and the blackboard. but the
child himself who is occupying the
center Of attention. This platte hui
man material committed for so many
years to the moulding influences of
systematic school system-what is
it? Where does it come from? Out
OF its heredity what immutable per-
sonal traits does it bring? What traits
Of character does it acquire? What of
its memory. its reason? What in
stincts and impulses drive it blindly
onward? What of it's spiritual ma
ture? Has it physical defects? What
of its home life and environment?
Merely putting these questions,
simple and elemental as they are, has
started countless investigators upon
painstaking efforts toward their solu-
ton. Answering them will revolu-
tionize educational theory and proce-
dure. The break between the old and
the new is so decided that 1t is SAFE
to say that a new profession OF teacn-
ing is about to be born. One of the
| first fruits of this progressive move
ment is an insistent demand for the
adequate training of teachers of all
ranks to be undertaken before and
continued after they have entered up
on their professional career"
By means of copious illustrations
Professor Wilmer shows the kind of
instruction which he thinks should be
given to teachers as part of their pro-
fessional training. There is the Psy-
Geological Clinic and course IN Clin-
ical Psychology where children are
pointed out and the proper remedies
suggested. There is a course on Alb
normal Psychology dealing with hyp-
| notism, hysteria, mental and moral
degeneracy. and insanity. Other
courses deal with the mental and
child hygiene. and the many problems
of school medical inspection New
courses are offered on the Social as
poets of School Work and an oppor-
tunity is given students for practical
work in the study of children in their
laboratory investigation.
Moreover, a special class for back
ward children is conducted during the
six weeks of the Summer school.
These children will be selected from
those who give promise of receiving
the largest amount of benefit from
six weeks of special training and who
at the same time will serve as in
structive types Of retardation for OBJ
servation and study Last summer
the class was organized for trouble
some adolescent boys During this
summer it will be organized for boys
and girls of the re-pubescent period.
These courses seem to provide the
right kind of instruction, not only
for those who intend to become in
structors in colleges and normal
schools, but also for those who will
become clinical psychologists in insti-
tutions for the insane and feeblemind-
ed, psychological experts for the pub
lie schools and in special training
schools. The lecture courses also pro,
vide an opportunity for teachers, edu-
Gators in positions of supervision,
grade teachers, special teachers. pro-
baton officers. school nurses and Wis
itors, and social workers. to select
those courses which contribute most
to their professional equipment; and
for lawyers, physicians and clergymen
who have found that their profess