Evolution of Expression — Volume 1Emerson, Charles Wesley
Science
Evolution of Expression — Volume 1
Emerson, Charles Wesley
Elocution; Recitations
The revised edition of the "Evolution of Expression" is issued in
response to frequent requests from teachers and students for a
formulation of those principles upon which natural methods in the
teaching of expression are based. It is hoped that the brief
explanatory text introducing each chapter may aid teacher and
pupil to avoid arbitrary standards and haphazard efforts,
substituting in their place, psychological law. Growth in
expression is not a matter of chance; the teacher who understands
nature's laws and rests upon them, setting no limit to the
potentialities of his pupil, waits not in vain for results.
No printed text, however, can take the place of a discerning
teacher. A knowledge of the philosophy of education in expression
avails little without the ability to create the genial atmosphere
conducive to the development of the student. The teacher is the
gardener, his service--his full service--is to surround the young
plant with favorable conditions of light and soil and atmosphere;
then stand out of its way while it unfolds its full blossom and
final fruitage.
The tendency of modern education is towards the discovery and
perfection of methods. The thought of leading educators is turned
from the what to the how; to the development of systems of
progressive steps through which the pupil may be led to a
realization of himself. This trend is best shown in the
multiplicity and excellence of recent pedagogical treatises and in
the appearance of carefully graded and progressive text-books. The
ancients believed that their heroes were born of gods and
goddesses. They knew of no means by which the mind could be
developed to the compass of greatness. The ancient theory to
account for greatness was preternatural birth; the modern theory
is evolution. To-day the interest of the child is awakened, his
mind is aroused, and then led onward in regular steps.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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