Ontario Normal School Manuals: Science of EducationOntario. Department of Education
Science
Ontario Normal School Manuals: Science of Education
Ontario. Department of Education
Education; Educational psychology
=B. Feelings Weakened.=--A second serious danger of neglecting
expression lies in the field of the emotions. To have generous emotions
continually aroused and never to act upon them, to have one's sympathies
frequently stirred and never to perform a kindly act, to experience
feelings of love and never to express them in acts of service, is to
cultivate a weakness of character. A classic instance of this is that of
the lady who wept bitterly over the imaginary sorrows of the heroine in
the play while her coachman was freezing to death outside the theatre.
If worthy emotions are ever to be of the slightest moral value to us,
they must be expressed in action. The pupil frequently has his emotions
stirred in the lessons in literature, history, and nature study, and
there are situations constantly arising in the school room, on the
playground, on the street, and in the home, that afford opportunity for
expression. To give a single instance, there is a story in the _Ontario
Third Reader_ by Elizabeth Phelps Ward, called "Mary Elizabeth." No
pupil could read that story without being stirred with a deep pity and
yet profound admiration for the pathetic figure of poor little Mary
Elizabeth. The natural expression for such emotions would be a more
kindly and sympathetic attitude towards some unfortunate child in the
school.
RELATION OF EXPRESSION TO IMPRESSION
=Knowledge Tends Toward Expression.=--On account of the evident
connection between knowledge and action, the law of expression has
formulated itself into a well-known pedagogical law of method--no
impression without expression. Like many other educational maxims,
however, this law may be interpreted in too wide a sense. The law of
expression in education claims only that valuable experiences, or
valuable forms of new knowledge, should not be built up in the child's
mind without adequate accompanying expression. In the first case, as
already seen, many impressions come to us which are never seized upon
sufficiently by our consciousness to become intelligent rules for
conduct, or action. It is true, of course that, so far as such
impressions stimulate us, they tend toward expression, and to that
extent the maxim is true. For instance, when a child is impressed, say,
by a sudden strange sound, he has a tendency to express himself by
straining his attention, and when the man imagines an enemy is before
him, he finds his arms and fists assuming the fighting attitude.
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