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CHAPTER XII

CHILD STUDY

I-ITS NATURE AND PURPOSE:

Educational thought in recent years has become increasingly conscious of the importance of understanding, as perfectly as possible, the nature of that being whom we are endeavoring to teach; and this in order that we may the more efficiently teach him. The man who purposes devoting himself to the work of training any of the lower animals, or even to the culture of plants, feels at the outset the necessity laid upon him, of studying animal nature, or plant nature, as the case may be, in order to the attainment of the highest success in his calling. Even the worker in the inorganic world, the builder of bridges, vessels, or houses, finds it absolutely necessary, not only to have a clear conception of the end at which he aims, but also to possess a thorough knowledge of the nature of the materials with which he works, and the effects produced upon those materials by climatic and other conditions. But those who are engaged in the supremely important work of teaching human beings have too frequently taken it for granted that they required no further knowledge of their pupils than that which had already come to them by virtue of incidental association with the children of the community. We are learning, however, that the qualifications of a thoroughly efficient teacher are many and varied. He should possess not only a clearly defined ideal (i.e., a conception of the completely developed personality which is the goal of all his efforts) and a thorough knowledge of the subjects which it is his business to teach; he requires

also an intimate acquaintance with the nature and laws of development of that juvenile personality whom he is striving to educate in the direction of his ideal. And this is what we mean by Child Study, the nature and purpose of which may therefore be very briefly defined as the careful and systematic observation of child nature, for the sake of the most rational and effective methods of child training.

II-ITS SCOPE:

The above definition assumes that all Child Study is undertaken with a pedagogical end in view. Whether this be really the case or not, at any rate, for our present purpose, the pedagogical motive may be regarded as the dominant one. In the hands of an enthusiastic teacher, Child Study can hardly fail to become at once applied Child Study. Treating it then, from this point of view, as subservient to education, the question as to its scope may be answered by considering the scope of education. Many definitions of education have been given; but however we define the term, there are three points which no sound definition can omit. In the first place, education must take cognizance of the nature of the individual in its entirety; and secondly, it must adjust itself to the laws and conditions of growth or development, the constant unfolding of a never-resting psycho-physical organism; and thirdly, it must take into account the action and reaction of the individual and his surroundings. In that case Child Study will have reference to the entire concrete being of the individual child; and it will consider that complex being from every relevant point of view, including its relation to an infinitely diversified and constantly changing environment, and the relation of any given set of conditions to the causes by which they have been determined, and the consequences to which they lead. This means that Child Study is simply the effort

to know all that can be known about the actual child, at least all that can have any bearing upon the solution of the educator's problems. To indicate in some measure of detail what and how much this involves, as well as to suggest how best it may be done, is the purpose of the following pages.

To anticipate those pages in outline, we may say that Child Study includes, in the first place, an enquiry into certain circumstances and conditions more or less external to the individual himself, and yet exercising an important influence on his development, as, for example, ancestry, hereditary tendencies, pre-scholastic environment, and the like. It includes, in the second place, a thorough study of the child's personality, taking account of the physical conditions affecting that personality, as well as mental characteristics, temperament, disposition, predilections and preferences, emotional and volitional qualities; and these, always and everywhere, not as isolated phenomena, but as inseparably blended in the total concrete life and personality of the individual. It includes, in the third place, the history of this personality; the manner in which it develops in constant interaction with its environment; the significance of present reactions on that environment; and all ideas, hopes, expectations, ambitions and resolves, regarding the future. This is a large field, but there can be no doubt that every part of it has a bearing on the work of the educator.

III-ITS METHODS:

Before discussing in further detail the field outlined above, we may briefly consider the principal methods employed in the observation of childhood. These methods vary according to the circumstances, opportunities and purposes of the observer. The methods most commonly employed may be described with sufficient accuracy under four heads, as follows:

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A. The Individual Method.-If one has sufficient leisure and opportunity, nothing produces better results than the constant, daily observation of one and the same child, on all sides of his being, and from every point of view, throughout an extended period of time. Professor Preyer, Miss Shinn, and others, have in this way made daily study of a single individual during the first three years of his life, and embodied their results in exceedingly valuable volumes. In order to insure accuracy, observations should be recorded as soon as made, or as promptly as possible. Notice, for example, with what persistence a child of one year tries to get a key into a lock and open a drawer. Observe the facial contortions, and the useless muscular adjustments. Notice, also, the imperfect command of those muscular movements that are relevant to the matter in hand; the inaccurate judgments of distance, size, etc., by the eye; and write down at once your description of what you see. A very similar example from the school-room would be furnished by the pupil who is just learning to write. Observe all his movements, not only of the hands, but of the head, body, and lower limbs; and describe these movements as accurately as you can. For the teacher's purpose, observations of school-children are even more valuable than those of infants.

This method possesses the obvious advantage that it gives us something like an all-sided view of a complete personality, instead of partial views of a number of personalities. And this is an important matter, since every individual is, in spite of the complexity of his organization, nevertheless an individual; that is to say, every faculty and power of his being is intimately and vitally related to every other, and should be studied in that relation, and not independently. No single fact requires more emphasis than this, that every child in the world is a unique personality, possessing his own peculiarities and distinguishing characteristics; and if we would completely

understand any individual, we must study these characteristic qualities in their mutual relation. If, for example, a given individual is peculiarly pensive or melancholy in temperament, we may expect to find that this characteristic of his emotional life has left its mark upon his habits of thought and will, upon his desires and affections. To take account solely of his peculiarities of thought or will, without any reference to his emotional idiosyncrasies, even if such an abstraction were possible, would be to read him incompletely, and to that extent falsely. The human being is not an aggregate or bundle of loosely-related faculties; he is a single, living organism, and must be studied from that point of view.

B. The Normal Method has been so called because it was first employed in schools where teachers were being professionally trained for their work; and because it is peculiarly adapted to their circumstances and opportunities. Teachersin-training are encouraged to make memoranda of any facts that may come under their observation as they come into contact with children, at home, at school, or on the street. These memoranda are afterwards made the basis of lectures or discussions at the school; the most valuable points receive special emphasis, and in this way the young teacher is trained to be a careful and discriminating observer. The observations may be afterwards classified under appropriate headings and kept for future use.*

C.-The Statistical Method may be considered, in some respects, as the opposite of the individual method. Instead of seeking to discover many things about one child, the object now is to learn one thing about many children, by means of extended inquiries. These inquiries may be carried

*As has been done, for example, in the volume entitled Child Observations; Imitation and Allied Activities. Edited by Miss Ellen M. Haskell; with an Introduction by E. H. Russell. Boston, 1896.

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