sincere recognition of the psychological identity of child and adult in
these respects can with difficulty be realized.
[2] I owe this point specifically (as well as others more
generally) to my friend and colleague, Mrs. Ella Flagg
Young.
Here again it is not enough that the educational commanders should be
aware of the correct educational psychology. The rank and file, just
because they are persons dealing with persons, must have a sufficient
grounding in the psychology of the matter to realize the necessity and
the significance of what they are doing. Any reform instituted without
such conviction on the part of those who have to carry it into effect
would never be undertaken in good faith, nor in the spirit which its
ideal inevitably demands; consequently it could lead only to disaster.
At this point, however, the issue defines itself somewhat more narrowly.
It may be true, it is true, we are told, that some should take hold of
psychological methods and conclusions, and organize them with reference
to the assistance which they may give to the cause of education. But
this is not the work of the teacher. It belongs to the general
educational theorist: the middleman between the psychologist and the
educational practitioner. He should put the matter into such shape that
the teacher may take the net results in the form of advice and rules for
action; but the teacher who comes in contact with the living
personalities must not assume the psychological attitude. If he does, he
reduces persons to objects, and thereby distorts, or rather destroys,
the ethical relationship which is the vital nerve of instruction
(_Psychology and Life_, p. 122, and pp. 136-8).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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