JANUARY, 1918 THE VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE-MOVEMENT: By JOHN M. BREWER, Head of the Department of Psychology and Its $1.25 A timely study of educational problems from the vocational point of view, covering all the phases of the vocational movement! (1) The Problems of Vocational Guidance (2) Beginnings in Vocational Guidance (3) Vocational Guidance through Educational Guidance (6) The Young Worker The Problems of Employment (8) A Program for Vocational Guidance In form and substance the book is suited to the needs of students of education. It will find a place in classes in education and in the hands of teachers, superintendents, and school administrators. It is the first complete treatment of this subject. THE PRUSSIAN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS By THOMAS alexandeR, Ph. D., Professor of Elementary Edu- $2.50 Germany has been able to accomplish certain definite results through the Prussian elementary school system. (1) In a large measure, through the medium of these (2) She has organized the system with the express pur- Stenotyped lessons in geography, history, and other subjects taken in the classrooms in Prussian schools on the eve of the Great War, reproduced in this book, reveal the aims of the system. There are good features in the Prussian Elementary School system -organization, courses of study, general methods, in which every school teacher and administrator will be interested. Boston San Francisco THE MACMILLAN COMPANY New York Chicago Devoted to the Science, Art, Philosophy ana Literature VOL. XXXVIII. of Education FEBRUARY, 1918 No. 6 The Deaf and Psychic Development. SUPERINTENDENT RICHARD O. JOHNSON, INDIANA SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF, INDIANAPOLIS, IND. - || N our daily life as generally regulated today there is probably no need for acute hearing of super-sensitive nature such as would be demanded by one living in a wild and dangerous environment, at least, we do not find it so, generally; on the contrary, however, there is very often imperfection of the ordinary sense, ranging from slight to more serious degree, which quite often is difficult of detection so largely do we unconsciously depend upon sight, action, and other varying modes of interpretation of sounds and of the spoken word. Among young children especially, for physiological and pathological reasons, the prevalence of defective hearing is very great as repeated examinations have shown; and no doubt, there has been much retardation with its evil results due to such recognized deficiency,in the latter case, and sometimes in the former, attributed to weak mentality, or inattention, carelessness, or delinquency. Because of this condition it is hoped that this article may be of interest generally to those who would know something concerning the deaf, and especially so to teachers in the public schools who meet with such cases quite frequently in their various classes,-and who would probably discover additional cases upon closer observation and examination. The problem of educating the deaf who have not been able to attend the schools for the hearing, has presented, and is still presenting, many difficult questions since the first regular school for them was established in this country at Hartford, Conn., just one hundred years ago; the same complicated questions that have ever been presented to those engaged in the education of the hearing,— and then, additional intricate ones because of the isolated and peculiar nature of the deaf and their natural lack of language ability when entering schools established for them. A marvelous advance an evolution and a revolution-has been made in every phase of the work due to the wise and unselfish endeavors of hundreds of noble-minded men and women who have devoted their lives and talents to the ceaseless efforts of giving light and expression to the fettered minds of those who heard not and, consequently, spoke not-to those who, in early times, because of their affliction, "were practically outside the pale of human thought and activities; who were believed to be without reason and were little less than outcasts in society; but, who, today, have become active components of the state, possessed of education, on a level with their fellowmen nearly everywhere in the scale of human employment, capable of all the responsibilities of life, and standing in the full stature of citizenship.* MISCONCEPTION OF THE Deaf. Notwithstanding this wonderful advance so well known to those having to do with the deaf in school, business, and social affairs, and who form so small a part of the population, the general public, seldom coming in contact with them, knows little concerning the class and possesses a vague idea that they are a "queer" signmaking people lacking in speech, therefore in mentality and the power to succeed as "normal people" do. This is not surprising when we consider that the education of the deaf has not always prevailed, that it was not until the fifteenth century that authenticated accounts of educational efforts were given, and that the ill-conceived and ignorant opinions of many centuries still cast their baneful shadows. References to the deaf were made and theories advanced and discussed as to their intellectual, moral, social, legal, and industrial status by the ancient philosophers and physicians, by the writers of Roman and medieval laws, and by the Church since the fifth century before the Christian era. Hippocrates and Galen, Aristotle and Pliny, the Fathers of the Church, and the noted jurists of ancient times, all discussed the status of the deaf Harry Best-"The Deaf: Their Position in Society, etc." only to recognize them as without intelligence and incapable of instruction. The Talmud classed them as not responsible for their actions and as exempt from the ordinances of the law, and the code of Justinian required that they should live under perpetual guardianship. Tempora mutantur. PSYCHIC DEVELOPMENT. Now, the psychic development of those who hear, and of those who do not hear, is along a common natural line except that, lacking hearing and therefore speech, special efforts and methods of education are required with the deaf who naturally present the same general varying normal and abnormal conditions as to mental capacity as are presented by those with hearing and speech. Preyer claims that it was not language that generated intellect, but the reverse; that the human being brings with him into the world far more intellect than talent for language; and that the height of culture a deafmute can reach proves that the existence of intellect is not bound up with the hearing or the learning of articulate speech. As to the values of hearing and sight, upon the latter of which the deaf must almost wholly depend, he further says, "the great superiority of the ear to the eye, from the psychogenetic point of view, is but slightly prominent upon superficial observation of the child that does not yet speak; but we need only compare a child born blind with one born deaf, after both have enjoyed the most careful training and the best instruction, to be convinced that, after the first year, the excitements of the auditory nerve contribute far more to the psychical development than those of the optic nerve." In line with this observation is that of Pyle:+ -"Another thing to be noticed is the complete dependence of mind, at least in man, upon sense organs. These organs are specialized nerve endings, each type capable of receiving a certain sort of physical impression. They are the means through which the environment brings about brain changes, the necessary accompaniment of mind. This fact makes the hygiene of the sense organs of the greatest importance to the teacher. A child without any sense organs would not have enough mind to quarrel about. And a child's mental life is incomplete if any sense organ is defective or *W. Preyer-"The Mind of the Child," Part 1-"The Senses and the Will"Trans. by H. W. Brown. †Wm. Henry Pyle-"The Outlines of Educational Psychology." abnormal." As to the soundness of these views there can be little question, and educators of the deaf know from experience that they are true; in combination they may well serve as an exponent of difficulties met with in the education of the deaf by and through any method, or combination of methods. To emphasize in some degree the particular and peculiar difficulties presented when dealing with those bereft of hearing, which possesses the greatest educational value of all the senses, and the loss of which results among other things in inadequate comprehension and use of language the key which unlooses all knowledgeit may be well to refer briefly to the one problem of mental capacity as presented in children generally, regardless of the degree of hearing, that is, the problem of congenital, or innate ability, susceptible of improvement, and the improvement thereof within decided limitations, through educational processes. This innate ability, or capacity, which we may call intelligence, is probably a complex of elements of both body and mind- nerves, muscles and brain structure-difficult of differentiation. It is pretty well established, however, that all men are not endowed alike by nature (heredity) and that the "gifts" vary greatly as to neuro-muscular and brain structure, between which there is more-or-less close reciprocal relation. In the consideration of mental capacity and its development, it is almost needless to state that within the scope of this article it is possible to refer only briefly to a very few impressions by way of suggestion; and the writer hopes that what is written will prompt the reader to further thought and research in the matter, and especially to earnest study of the child's mind-views, actions, instincts, impulses and instabilities-and natural causes therefor; and with further hope that what is written will lead to more individual work rather than general class-work with children who need to be approached from their own immature point of view rather than from the mature view-point of the adult otherwise, there results a lack of mutual sympathy so necessary between child and adult, between pupil and teacher. EUGENICS AND EUTHENICS. Two great subjects of scientific nature engrossing the attention of thinkers today are Eugenics and Euthenics (Nature and |