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may know this, if you will acquaint yourself with the circumstances of his earlier childhood, and put to him a few carefully selected questions with regard to the qualities of familiar objects.

VIII.-MEMORY:

To remember a thing is to retain the impression made by it in sense-perception, to reproduce or recall it when required, and to recognize it, or reinstate its apperceptive relations. Now, if the thing is to be retained in the memory, it must be thoroughly received in sense-perception. And a prime requisite of this perfect reception of the thing is attention, as every teacher knows. And attention, in turn, depends on several conditions. Physically, there must be vigor and freedom from fatigue, as far as possible. Mentally, there must be interest in the object. Observe whether your pupil manifests all the outward signs of alertness, or whether he seems fatigued and listless, with a dull expression in his eye, drooping form, indifferent demeanor. Perhaps, instead of taking recreation at recess, he remains in the school-room, or sits reading a book in some quiet corner. Observe how he spends his recess, and encourage him to spend it in play. Then observe, in presenting a new object, whether each member of the class is interested. If one pupil betrays a lack of interest, try again, presenting the subject from a different point of view, and, from your knowledge of that pupil's predominant interests (for you have studied him, and know what his interests are), seek to connect the subject in hand with something in which you know him to be interested. Then you will gain his attention, and the subject presented will be understood, retained, and readily recalled.

Does your pupil remember a thing best by its spatial location, or by its logical connection with something else? E.g.,

in recalling Cromwell's words when expelling the Long Parliament, does he say "I know these words occur on the lefthand page of my history, near the top," or does he seek to connect the incident with the events that led up to it? Which is the better of these two forms of memory? If you find a pupil excessively prone to a merely local memory, what can you do to cultivate in him a logical memory?

IX.-IMAGINATION:

Do you find that all the pupils in your school are alike in respect of the imagination? If you have studied them, you have discovered that some are strongly gifted in this respect, while others are very slow to conjure up images in the phantasy. Children of the former sort are apt to be proficient in lessons on literature, poetry, history, geography, and the like, and possibly somewhat dull in arithmetic, though this is by no means necessarily the case. But the child gifted with an active constructive imagination, reveals himself probably at his best in play. Observe your pupils on the play-ground; take notice of the make-believe that enters into their amusements, and note how some pupils seem to be leaders in this respect. Some are master-hands at story-telling, while others seldom invent a situation or weave a plot. Tell a story to all the children together, and then, on the following day, ask them to write down the story from memory. Read these written reproductions, and observe how some pupils are strong in literal reproduction, giving you back your story with surprising accuracy; while others, perhaps somewhat deficient in memory of details, will enlarge upon your story, weaving about the nucleus of remembered material a veritable halo of romance.

It is well, too, in memory training, and in cultivation of the imagination, as well as, in a lesser degree, in the educa

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- fallacies of thought to which you find the • auereptible? When he believes a thing ience, in what particular is the evidence Do you find him too ready to accept authority of older persons, or of books, into the character of such authority? Do

you look upon this as altogether undesirable in a young child? Do you find that he looks upon his parents as practically omniscient and infallible? Do you think it would be wise to interfere in any way with his filial confidence? Do you find that he argues a great deal from analogies, and often very loose analogies? Does he apparently take it for granted that the future will resemble the past, and the unknown the known? At what age does he finally get rid of the illusion that because his pet dog is gentle and harmless, therefore all dogs are so? (A child who had had but two teachers, the one a cross person who happened to be small of stature, the other a kindly teacher who was tall and thin, declared that he was sure the new teacher who was coming to take charge of the school would be cross; and when asked for his reason, said he had seen her and she was small). Do you find that in classifying objects he proceeds according to their relation to other objects, rather than according to the qualities they possess? A careful study of your pupils in regard to these and a multitude of other things connected with mind growth, will greatly assist you in the work of teaching.

XI.-EMOTIONAL CHARACTERISTICS:

If the teacher is to deal skilfully and successfully with the growing child, he must understand him as fully as possible as regards his sensibility or emotional disposition. And perhaps nowhere else will the teacher find so much individual difference as here. And certainly nothing else is more essential to successful discipline, than a thorough acquaintance with each pupil in this respect. If all children were alike emotionally, then possibly one and the same method of discipline might do for all. But such is very far from being the case. We have all varieties, from the child who seems to have no nerves, to the one who seems to be composed of but

tion of all the other faculties, to take notice of the forms of association of ideas, that appeal most strongly to the pupil's mind. Here again you will probably find individual differences of an interesting sort. One child may be especially sensitive to resemblances, another to differences, another to spatial or temporal contiguities, etc. The teacher will find it greatly to his advantage to take careful note of all these things.

X.-DISCURSIVE THINKING:

Nothing is more interesting in the development of the child-mind than the growth of the power of thinking in concepts and general notions. We have seen how the general notion lies implicit even in the activity of sense-perception. As the powers of mind unfold, however, the general and conceptual becomes explicit. Judgment and reasoning become conscious activities. The order and direction of progress here are of great importance. Ask your pupils to define a number of familiar objects, as knife, house, horse, railway, and observe what qualities are prominent in the child's mind, as shown by the definitions. Does he think chiefly of the material out of which the thing is made, the class to which it belongs, or the purpose which it is intended to serve? Do you not think it worth while to learn in what order the qualities of objects tend naturally to impress themselves upon the mind of childhood? Will not this give you some clue to the best order of procedure in the work of instruction?

What are the fallacies of thought to which you find the average child most susceptible? When he believes a thing on insufficient evidence, in what particular is the evidence usually insufficient? Do you find him too ready to accept statements on the authority of older persons, or of books, without inquiring into the character of such authority? Do

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