The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1912-06-04

learned. These are the instincts.
which man shares with. and II grtt
measure inherits from. the anIu..l
world. Nursing. graspins. sn.l.ue.
crying. curiosity. anger. rivalry. SYM
pathy. fear-the list might b. lnGo-
finitely extended-are all forms of -
haTior which occur in advance OF a.
p~erlence. before they can by any pas
sibillty be le%ned by the individual.
James was the first TO call attention
TO the importance of these Instructive
factors IN human life and to Their
value in education.
The instincts with which the pupil
is equipped cannot be neglected. Ike
all other mental functions, they tend
to seek expression Of some sort. and
the teacher must see TO il that the
expression they do take is IN the Serl-
ice Of worthy ends. For the great
characteristic of instinct IN man is It's
Elasticity: il may lead alike to con
duct of the highest or Of the lowest
kind To take one Illustration. that
of the instinct of rivalry. ITO veto
and taboo all possible rivalry Of one
youth with another. because such
rivalry may degenerate into greedy
and selfish eAcess, does seem to SAVIOR
of se~ntlmentality and ever Of fanati-
cjsm. h feeling Of rivalry lies at
the very basis of Our being. all So
49, oSiiA q sly LIZ
70 it. Can the teacher afford to throw
such ar ally away? Instincts rlpen
and decay. What we are interested in
at any given time is largely due TO
the Instructive tendencies hich are
uppermost in us. The teacher must
then strike while the iron is hot"
he must crowd in the athletic OPP
~portunities, the mental arithmetic. tho
ver~se-learning. tho drawing. or what
not. the minute you have reason to
believe the hour is ripe. The hour
NAV not last long. and while it ON
tinues Q nay safely let all the chill
dren's other occupations take a sec
ond place"
But instructive behavior. SO plastic
and easily moulded at first. soon tends
to become specialized along habitual
lines. Instinct give rise to habits. ten
denotes to behavior which are ac-
Quired. not innate. Our sys-
tens grow to the way in which they
are exercised. Just as a sheet Of pa
per or a coat. once creased or folded.
tends to fall forever a~fterWard into
the same identical folds Action. 50
muItifold in its possibilities in early
life, becomes Stereotyped along def
mite ines. SO that the adult is little
more than a mere bundle OF habits"
"Nlnety-nine hundredths, or, possibly.
nine hundred and ninety-nine thou
sandths Of our activity is purely auto
matte and habitual. from our rising
in the morning to our lying down
each night
Such a general law Of life is Of
first importance in education. A great
part Of the work Of the efficient
teacher must concern itself with the
forming of DrOper habits, and the
breaking Of wrong ones. For not by
mere good resolutions, not by knowl-
edge alone. is character shaped.
Gould the young but realize how soon
they will become mere walking
bundles Of habits, they would give
more heed to their conduct while
in the plastic state. We are spin
ming u own fates, good or evil, and
never to be undone. Every smallest
stroke Of virtue or Of vice leaves its
n~ever-so-little scar. Nothing we ever
do IS. in strict scientific literalness,
wiped out"
But James, chapter on habit must
be read for itself. The maxims he
lays down, the applications to every
day life that he makes. these have
been preached from a thousand pull
pits And then hen one turns back
TO Herbart and sees hat IN his sys-
tenn the word habit" hardly occurs.
one IS struck afresh with the i'm
D~ortance of the psychology Of James
for education.
The problem Of character. then. is
in the first instance the problem Of
forming right habits.
action, exercise of the power of the
Will. these mean in the last analysis
Ordinarily a choice between two sys-
TENS Of habitual action. But none
the less. there is choice. All has not
hardened and set beyond power to
change. The will Is free, after all.
and so we are not mere automata,
but in all Of US there is still some
Elasticity, some power of different
responses. But what is it that enables
our choice to incline, now to this side
now to that? Since all ideas tend TO
pass over into action. the problem re-
duces itself to this: How is it possible
that an idea can be held before the
mind long enough to pass over into
expression? The solution Is to be
found in the effort of attention by
which We hold fast to an idea which