Principles of Teaching Part 9

Since these tendencies are the result of responses to stimuli they may be modified by attention either to the stimuli or to the reaction that attends the stimulation. Four methods call for our consideration:

1. The method of disuse.

2. The method of rewards and punishments.

3. The method of subst.i.tution.

4. The method of stimulation and sublimation.

No one of these methods can be said always to be best. The nature of the person in question, his previous experience and training, together with the circ.u.mstances attending a given situation, all are factors which determine how we should proceed. The vital point is, that both as parents and teachers we should guard against falling into the rut of applying the same treatment to all cases regardless of their nature.

1. THE METHOD OF DISUSE

This method is largely negative. It aims to safeguard an individual against ills by withholding stimuli. The mother aims to keep scissors out of reach and sight of the baby that it may not be lured into danger.

Some parents, upon discerning that the pugnacious instinct is manifesting itself vigorously in their boy, isolate him from other boys--keep him by himself through a period of a year or more that the tendency may not be accentuated. Other parents, observing their daughter's inclination to be frivolous, or seeing the instinct of s.e.x begin to manifest itself in her interest in young men, send her away to a girl's school--a sort of intellectual nunnery.

Frequently teachers follow this method in the conduct of their cla.s.ses.

The tendency to self-a.s.sertion and verbal combat, natural to youth, is smothered by an unwillingness on the part of the teacher to indulge questions and debate or by a marked inclination to do all the talking.

It is clear that this method of disuse has its place in the training of children, though grave dangers attend its too frequent indulgence.

Children and others of immature judgment need the protection of withheld stimuli. But clearly this is not a method to be recommended for general application. The boy who is never allowed to quarrel or fight may very possibly grow up to be a man afraid to meet the battles of life; the girl, if her natural emotions are checked, may lose those very qualities that make for the highest type of womanhood and motherhood.

Fortunately, in these days, it is pretty nearly impossible to bring boys and girls up in "gla.s.s houses." Doubly fortunate, for they are made happy in their bringing up and are fitted for a world not particularly devoted to the fondling of humankind.

2. THE METHOD OF REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS

This method is clearly ill.u.s.trated in the training of "trick" animals.

These creatures through innumerable repet.i.tions are made to do phenomenal "stunts." In the training for every successful "try" they are rewarded with a cube of sugar, a piece of candy, or some other pleasure-producing article; for every miss they are punished--made to suffer pain or discomfort. This same sort of procedure carries over into human affairs. Witness the hickory stick and the ruler, or count the nickels and caresses. Ridicule before the cla.s.s, and praise for commendable behavior or performance, are typical of this same method. If it is followed, and it clearly has a place in the training of children, care should be exercised to see that in the child's mind in any case there is clear connection between what he has done and the treatment that he receives. With some parents it fairly seems as if their one remedy for all offenses is a tingling in the epidermis--it is equally clear that with some teachers their one weapon is sarcasm. All too frequently these measures grow out of unsettled nerves or stirred up pa.s.sions, on the part of the parent or teacher, and have really but little connection--remote at best--with the offense in question. There may be an abuse in the matter of rewards, too, of course, but as a rule few cla.s.ses suffer from too much appreciation. The real art of discipline lies in making the reward or the punishment naturally grow out of the conduct indulged in.

3. THE METHOD OF SUBSt.i.tUTION

Because of the fact that some stimuli inevitably lead to discomfort and disaster--that some conduct is bad--there is need of a method of subst.i.tution. The child's mind needs to be led from the contemplation of an undesirable course of action to something quite different. Frequently a child cannot be satisfied with a mere denial, and circ.u.mstances may not be favorable to punishment--yet the correction must be made.

Subst.i.tution is the avenue of escape. A striking ill.u.s.tration in point occurred recently in a cafe in Montana. A trio of foreigners, father, mother, and two-year-old son, came in and sat down at one of the tables.

Soon after the parents began to eat, the child caught sight of a little silver pitcher for which he began to beg. Whining and crying, mixed in with the begging, created a good bit of disturbance. The only attempted solution on the part of the parents was a series of: "Don't do that!"

"No! no!" "Keep quiet, Marti!" a continued focusing of the child's attention on what he ought not to do, and an added note to the disturbance. Then an American across the aisle having surveyed the situation took out of his pocket a folder full of brightly colored views. The charm worked beautifully--the meal went on free from disturbance--and the child was happy.

This method involves a good bit of resourcefulness, calling at times for what seems an impossible amount of ingenuity. As someone has said, "It is beating the other fellow to it." It merits the consideration of those who have to handle boys and girls who are regularly up to "stunts."

4. THE METHOD OF STIMULATION AND SUBLIMATION

This method is rather closely akin to that of subst.i.tution, with the exception that it capitalizes on tendencies already in operation and raises them to a higher level. Stimulation, of course, merely means the bringing of children into contact with desirable stimuli on every possible occasion; in fact, it involves the making of favorable occasions.

Sublimation involves building upon native tendencies to an elevated realization. Educationally this method is most full of promise. It is seen in kindergarten methods when a child is led from mere meaningless playing with toys to constructive manipulation of blocks, tools, etc. It is seen admirably in football where the pugnacious tendency of boys is capitalized on to build manliness in struggle and to develop a spirit of fair play. It is seen in the fostering of a girl's fondness for dolls, so that it may crystallize into the devotion of motherhood. It is seen when a boys' man leads a "gang" of boys into an a.s.sociation for social betterment. It is seen when a teacher works upon the instinct to collect and h.o.a.rd, elevating it into a desire for the acquisition of knowledge and the finer things of life.

Whatever our method, let us give due consideration to the natural inclinations and apt.i.tudes of boys and girls--let us help them to achieve fully their own potentialities.

QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS--CHAPTER VIII

1. Point out the essential differences between boys and girls at the age of six and seven and those of sixteen and seventeen.

2. Discuss the significance of the following phrase: "The grain in human nature."

3. How can the hunting instinct be appealed to in religious stimulation?

4. Of what significance is the "gang spirit" to teachers of adolescents?

5. How can rivalry be made an a.s.set in teaching?

6. How can the fighting instinct in children best be directed?

7. Why is biography so valuable in material for teaching?

8. Why is it so essential that we put responsibility upon boys and girls? How should this fact affect teaching?

9. What are the dangers that attend an attempt to keep children quiet for any length of time?

HELPFUL REFERENCES

Those listed in Chapter VII.

CHAPTER IX

INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES

OUTLINE--CHAPTER IX

Fundamental significance of individual differences.--Typical ill.u.s.tration.--The truth ill.u.s.trated physically; in range of voice, in speed, in mental capabilities.--The same truth applied spiritually.--Some cases in point.

Everybody is like everybody else in this--that everybody is different from everybody else. Having discussed how all men enjoy a common heritage by way of native endowments, let us now turn to a consideration of how men differ.

Two of the terms most frequently met in recent educational publications are statistical methods and individual differences. There is nothing particularly new in this latter term--it merely represents a new emphasis being given to the old idea that no two of us are alike. Every parent is aware of the very marked differences in his children. Even twins differ in disposition and mental capabilities. In fact, one of the difficulties that attaches to parenthood is just this problem of making provision in one household for such various personalities.

A member of the stake presidency in one of the stakes in southern Utah, in discussing this matter a short time ago, remarked that in his family of four boys one very definitely had decided to become a farmer and was already busy at getting acquainted with the details of the work; a second boy was devoted to music and voiced a very vigorous protest against farming; the third son was so bashful and reticent that he hadn't given expression to any notion of preference; the fourth, a happy-go-lucky sort of chap, free and noisy in his cutting up about the place, wasn't worrying about what he was to do in life--he just didn't want anything to do with strenuous effort.

"How can I drive a four-horse team such as that?" was the interesting query of this father.

Practically every family presents this variety of att.i.tude and practically every parent is trying to work out a solution to the problem, so there is nothing startling about the term individual differences. Educators have just given the matter more careful and scholarly attention of recent years.

If the matter of differences in children const.i.tutes a problem of concern in a family of from two to ten children, how much greater must that problem be in a cla.s.s from thirty to fifty with approximately as many families represented. The problem has led to some very interesting investigations--investigations so simple that they can be carried on by anyone interested. For instance, if we could line up all the men in Salt Lake City according to size we should find at one end of the line a few exceptionally tall men, likely from six feet to six feet six inches in height. At the other end of the line would be a few exceptionally small men--undersized men from three feet eight or ten inches to four feet six inches. In between these two types would come in graduated order all sorts of men with a decidedly large number standing about five feet six or eight inches. This latter height we call the average.

Practically we see the significance of these differences. No manufacturer thinks of making one size of overall in the hope that it will fit each of these men. He adapts his garment to their size, and he knows approximately how many of each size will be called for in the course of ordinary business.