Price 25 cents. ^ztkxtl iCeatriit PUBLISHED BY A. D. Steinbach Press New Haven, conn 1908. ly iEHfktfl foamtt. &* WORKS OF EZEKIEL LEAVITT. i. Money, Money Above Everything, a comedy in 4 acts, (in Russian.) 2. Deborah, an epic poem in 4 parts, (in Russian.) 3. One Truth, a story, (in Russian.) 4. Poems (in Russian.) 5. Tales and Sketches (in Hebrew.) 6. Between Pressure (in Hebrew.) 7. These Lights (in Hebrew.) 8. Songs of Zion (in Hebrew) with music. 9. Fables and Poems (in Russian.) 10. We shall not go to Uganda, a poem, (in Hebrew.) n. To My Nation, a poem, (in Yiddish.) 12. The Jewish Marseillaise (in Yiddish) with music. 13. Silhouettes (in Hebrew.) 14. Songs of Grief and Gladness (English.) EZEKIEL LEAVITT. COPYRIGHT 1908, BY A. D. STEINBACH PUBLISHED BY A. D. Steinbach Press 150 State St., New Haven, Conn. EDUCATION AND PSYCHOLOGY. "The world is only saved by the breath of the school children.'" — Talmud. "No education deserves the name unless it develops thought. A true teacher should penetrate to whatever is vital in his pupil, and develop that by the light and heat of his own intelligence." — E. P. Whipple. Psychology is a science describing and explaining men- tal phenomena. Now since Education aims to train the mind, the science of Education ought to make fullest possible use of every branch of Psychology. There is a close interdependence between these two sciences, the purposes of Education still supreme in determining what is to be taught, yet depending upon the results of Psy- chology to show how and in what order the different subjects shall be taught. Before proceeding further with my views of the rela- tion between the two sciences, I wish to disclaim any at- tempt to show that with a full knowledge of Psycholog- 6 Education and Psychology. ical theories, would come a full solution of all the per- plexing educational problems of the clay. I do not expect to attain any formulas tending to simplify and mechanize the work of teachers. Far from this is my position; for I strongly urge that a full appreciation of the relation of the two sciences would tend more than anything else to vitalize the increasing interest of teachers in their pupils. The fad of the last few years, the great pretensions made for the good derived from the application of Psy- chology to Education has been extravagant. We ought not, however, to condemn utterly this wild enthusiasm for a fad, if you will ; for much good can be seen resulting from it. We must point out its extravagances and abuses, and then more diligently make use of its great truths. When, in the early eighties of the nineteenth century, it was perceived how widespread was the discontent with the methods of the Normal School, investigation showed that a knowledge of the principles of teaching- was necessary to get teachers out of their mechanical rut into vital originality of teaching. Psychology was looked upon as being able to give the recpiired help to flexibility and adaptibility. Everywhere throughout the country came this tremendous enthusiasm for a science, which dealt with those aspects of mental life connected with the production of changes in human beings by consciously Education and Psychology. 7 directed human influences. This was the hope entertained of the educational psychology, which it was believed would provide the teacher with methods obtained from ai consideration of psychological laws of learning. There was, however, little practical return from this new enthu- siastic attempt. There are many reasons for this. First of all the psy- chology taught was erroneous, unfit to bring any prac- tical results. It was the "old faculty psychologv," the training- of the imagination, the memory, etc. The mind was conceived as made up of so many faculties ; and learning dates for instance meant cultivating the memory faculty, learning poetry the imagination. These faculties were supposed to be unified by the self. This was the one great fault which brought about a reaction against the study of psychology as a factor in education. Another difficulty and a more serious one was our discoverv that we knew in reality very little about psychology. It was just beginning to get out of the metaphysical and into the scientific field, and was not sufficiently advanced to give man, engaged in the control of human forces, much more useful knowledge than he could obtain by observation of his own special problems, and by common sense infer- ences from what he sees in. daily life. The man who has brought out clearly and forcibly that the field of educa- tional psychology is small, yet very important, is Pro- 8 Education and Psychology, fessor James, of Harvard University ; but many new facts have been urged since the appearance of his book. I will now point out what I think educational psychol- ogy can and is doing in helping us to improve our school systems of teaching. The aim is (a) to get students to look upon the mind as working according to definite laws. The student is to be the observing naturalist, and the teacher is to look upon the pupil as a reacting mind, working according to definite laws. In (Other words the aim is that the interest in the human organism would arouse the habit of recognizing laws of mind as well as of matter ; (b) educational psychology aims to stimulate in- terest to find these laws. We are to learn to introspect to find that the important law of association, for instance, will interpret the causes for the sequence of ideas in a revery as well as in conscious memory. We are to recog- nize that education can make most important use of this law of association in helping the training and develop- ment of the pupil ; (c) educational psychology can teach at what period memory for crude facts is best, when the power for abstract thinking comes, what are the periods for the peculiar mental traits of scepticism, melancholy, and the like. It is the business of the psychologist to investigate, the duty of the teacher to know what has been found out Education and Psychology. 9 and to apply such knowledge as it fits his own peculiar conditions. There is a tremendous lot of work to be done to show the importance of the problems, to show how little we know of them, and therefore how important it is to investigate. This, however, is the work of the psy- chologist, the educational theorist, and not of the teacher The possession of laws already worked out, the habit of looking upon the child as a living thing working accord- ing to laws will give new interest to the teacher in the children as individuals, with their own peculiar traits in conjunction with the characteristics of all. The teacher needs interest in the mental life of his scholars, from the point of view of interpretation and appreciation of their mental states. The teacher must learn to understand the individual desires and ambitions and characters of his pupils ; for without this sympathy there is no interest, and the work is necessarily routine. Psychology offers general recommendations concerning the best ways to get girls and boys to study, to observe, to attend, to understand, remember and apply knowledge. It gives help on how to form habits, develop power and capacity. It forces the teacher to consider the physical conditions, if he wishes the best mental results. The teacher must consider questions of hygiene, of light, of air, of refreshment, of fatigue and other questions of the same bearing, which show that the condition of our io Education and Psychology. health is a great determining factor in the comprehension of the mental life. Psychology teaches us not to project our own state of consciousness into the child and imagine that we know the child. We want to get what the child is, not what we think it is. Psychology will help in point- ing out the true method for the development of the mind of the child. There are three ways, three special lines of psychologi- cal knowledge which can influence the practical working of education. I. The psychology of children shows facts about in- stinctive tendencies, the gradual maturing of capacities, tendencies useful and harmful in children's habits of ob- serving, associating, and reasoning, facts concerning the kinds and amount of knowledge children may be expected to possess at different ages and under different condi- tions. It points out the relation of the mental to the physical well being. Psychology furnishes us with the results of inquiry into nature, and the amount of indi- vidual differences. We learn to consider the relative shares of original nature and experience in the formation of human intellect and character. Those who plan educa- tional systems and construct programs of studies for schools and select methods for teaching, now find it to their advantage to take account of the relationship be- Education and Psychology. n tween various factors in education and certain traits of the human mind. The increased knowledge of individual differences makes the attempt to get every one in class on the same level of achievement futile. II. The knowledge of psychology teaches the educa- tor the great guide he can be in shaping the characters of scholars. Each one is able to shape mental life; for man is more nearly master of his own intellect than of anything else in nature. The mind is readily influenced for the nervous system is very modifyable. This general law of the modifiability of the mind by every thought and feeling and act of man's life is the most important of practical lessons of psychology. What we are depends on what we were in the past. Psychology shows that every thought, and act of life counts, that we build the ladder by which we climb, that nothing happens by chance. Man not only creates his own future ; but in some measure his own present by his power of selecting what features of his surroundings shall influence him. The psychology of attention then teaches that we are as trul}- rulers as victims of circumstances. III. Another of the practical problems is to conduct life so as to think and act rightly with as little effort or strain possible. Psychology offers help in two ways: (a) Tension and effortare lessoned by arrang-inof circum- '&"■& i2 Education and Psychology. stances that undesirable ideas and impulses will seldom appear. If the child, for instance, finds it hard to study and concentrate the mind in the midst of the family circle, he should have a room where no distracting noises could serve to disturb him. (b) Intelligent workers soon learn that discretion is the better part of valor — that to avoid temptation is wiser than to resist it. Then it is not always true that the harder work we make of our mental tasks the better we do it. Success is measured by the amount done, not by the feelings experienced in doing it. The best men mor- ally are those who do right without a moral struggle. Again the relation of psychology to education makes its best practical application, when a system of education finds its best results in making use of the powers of the child according to the order and the strength of their de- velopment, and in endeavoring to direct those powers into right directions. Psychology shows the educator that from its first years until the ages of six or seven the child is more or less the sport of circumstances, that the mind is passive, that there is wry little voluntary attention From this time until about fourteen the mind becomes more and mur-' Education and Psychology. 13 active. It is not only acted upon by environment, but reacts upon it. Sensation and perception are now stored in a working memory. A thing well learned at this age is rarely forgotten. The judgment gradually becomes more reliable, the reasoning begins, and the feelings are kept more under control. The will develops rapidly often causing self assertiveness at this age. From this time until the ages of twenty or thereabout, the mind becomes more subjective, it systematizes the knowledge of previ- ous years. The verbal memory is weak. The aid of judg- ment is now invoked to memory. The spontaneous feel- ings are more and more subject to will and intellect. Alan is less ana less influenced by environment. Development leads from dependence to independence. Education in promoting the development of the mind will accomplish most by following the path of least resistance — that is by making use of the psychological analysis of the develop- ment of the mind. This leads us to a consideration of the educational value of voluntary and involuntary attention ; for herein lies the difference between the old and the new school of education. Once effort was everything, interest nothing; but it is found that will power implied in effort is lacking in young children. Keeping this in mind, teachers now relv on interest for securing attention, because little chil- dren, it is found, have little will power, and are incapable 14 Education and Psychology. of prolonged effort. We also know that the feelings of children are fairly well developed, and it is therefore easier to excite the feelings bv interest than by trvinsf to make them put forth effort. It is the degree and not the cause of attention which, gives the depth, of an impression. It is seen that we now attempt to make our teaching in- teresting by working in harmony with the characteristics of the child's mind at the respective stages of develop- ment. 1 will grant, however, that man}' have embraced the new system too thoroughly and are overlooking the fact that we must inculcate habits of attention. We must always guard, therefore, against the dangers of the too cas} education winch excludes effort. Psychology shows us that interest may be promoted by a changing or enlarging environment, and by increasing the knowledge of things already in the environment. It is then a problem oi discovering at what age the pupil is sensitive to certain phases of his surroundings: and to determine what methods would increase the knowledge of things in his environment. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 021 762 666 3