Education; Educational psychology; Moral education
Knowledge wielded by love is what the educator needs and what his
pupils should acquire. In earlier years, love towards the pupils is the
most important kind; in later years, love of the knowledge imparted
becomes increasingly necessary. The important knowledge at first is
knowledge of physiology, hygiene, and psychology, of which the last
more especially concerns the teacher. The instincts and reflexes with
which a child is born can be developed by the environment into the
most diverse habits, and therefore into the most diverse characters.
Most of this happens in very early childhood; consequently it is at
this period that we can most hopefully attempt to form character.
Those who like existing evils are fond of asserting that human nature
cannot be changed. If they mean that it cannot be changed after six
years old, there is a measure of truth in what they say. If they mean
that nothing can be done to alter the instincts and reflexes with
which an infant is born, they are again more or less in the right,
though of course eugenics could, and perhaps will, produce remarkable
results even here. But if they mean, as they usually do, that there
is no way of producing an adult population whose behaviour will be
radically different from that of existing populations, they are flying
in the face of all modern psychology. Given two infants with the same
character at birth, different early environments may turn them into
adults with totally different dispositions. It is the business of early
education to train the instincts so that they may produce a harmonious
character, constructive rather than destructive, affectionate rather
than sullen, courageous, frank, and intelligent. All this can be done
with a great majority of children; it is actually being done where
children are rightly treated. If existing knowledge were used and
tested methods applied, we could, in a generation, produce a population
almost wholly free from disease, malevolence, and stupidity. We do not
do so, because we prefer oppression and war.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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