Evening star., 1923-01-12
Autosuggestion Vital Factor
In Child Education, Says Coue
Declares Teaching May Begin EUen Be
fore Birth and Should Be Kept Up to
Insure Irstilling Proper Precepts.

dotes appropriate to the subject and
by explaining the difficult points
with a smile and conveying the i'm
preston that 1t is all quite simple.
The educators ideal should be to
make his pupils look forward to the
next lesson.
Teach Love of Labor.
Naturally, one must instill the love
OF labor, with the idea that labor
is natural and Indispensable; that
tdleness rs abnormal, unhealthy and
conductive to every kind of physical
and moral evil A child's pliable
mind easily assimilates such sug-
gestions. which become permanent
and will mold and build his char
acter.
1t is unnecessary. and< not in the
scope of these articles. to enumer-
should possess. What 1 want to ex-
plain is the employment of sug-
seSuon and RutoSuggestion in his
education and training. We all
know that example is better than
precept," but we realize the truth
of it with greater force after Study
ing the power of autosuggestion. And
children are particularly sensitive to
suggestion; they are always ready
70 70 copy what they see. good or bad.
30 tne nrst duty of parents and edu-
Gators is to set only good examples.
suggestion may be practiced with
Wonderful effect to correct any de-
Iects In a child's character and to
develop missing qualities. Every
night, just as the child is about to
fall off to sleep. or when it is al
ready asleep, stand about a yard
away from the bed and murmur in
low undertone what you wish to
OBTAIN, repeating fifteen to twenty
provoke and the defects to be cor
rected' Do not be afraid to repeat
the same phrases monotonously: that
is the most powerful means of
reaching. the subconscious. The lat
ter needs no eloquence to be i'm
pressed. A plain statement of the
ldea Is sufficientA More than that de-
1eats the ends to be attained.
Use in School Room.
In schools remarkable results should
be obtained by teachers practicing
suggestion on their classes every day
Pefore beginning lessons. The pupils
should be told to shut their eyes. and
then they might be addressed some
thing after the following fashion: !:
"Children, I am sure you are all go
ing to be good, polite and amiable to
every one and obedient to, your pa
rents and teachers. You will always
take note of their observations, be-
own good. You are intelligent, so
you love your work, even the sub
jects which you used to dislike. In
class your attention will be always
alert and attentive to what your
teacher says. You will only be sorry
for other children who may be fool
ishly wasting time and playing dur
Ing the lesson. So, as you are very
intelligent, you will have no diff
Guilty in understanding the lesson,
will remember everything you are
told. 1t will all be stored away in
your mind ready for use directly
your knowledge is called upon"
OF course. the above is merely a
sample of what might be said in the
way of suggestion. 1t can be modified
and certainly improved by teachers to
suit their particular needs. The i'm
portant' point is to practice sugges-
tion in this form. 1t does not matter
if the children laugh little at first
or If their attention wanders, or if,
when the morning suggestion (it is
not desirable, naturally, that they
should know the purpose of it) has
become regular thing, they. listen
automatically to the words without
hearing them. The words reach the
subconscious mind all the same, and
the IDEAS conveyed do their work just
as efficiently.
In a. word. it is essential that a
child should be impregnated with the
right kind of suggestion. Everything
depends upon it. Play upon the imagi-
nation. Character is formed. by
imagination, More often than not
that which is attributed to he
redity, in the moral domain as
well as in the physical, Is the
consequence of ideas germinated
by example. 1t is impossible to be-
lieve child is born a criminal. He
becomes one by autosuggestion. just
as he may become a valued member
of the community as the result of
autosuggestion guided in the right
direction.
Copyright, 1923, United States, Great
Britain, Canada and South America, by North
American Newspaper Alliance and New York
World (Press Publishing Company. An
full or in part expressly prohibited.l