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HERBART
Che Great Educators
Epitrep By NICHOLAS MURRAY BUTLER

 

HERBART

AND THE HERBARTIANS

BY

CHARLES DE GARMO, Pa.D.

PRESIDENT OF SWARTHMORE COLLEGE, PENNSYLVANIA

NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
1896
A-\od&\d

COPYRIGHT, 189s, BY
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS,
PREFACE

THE purpose of this volume is to give a bird’s-eye
view of Herbart and his doctrines of education, both
as presented by himself, and as developed by his suc-
cessors. In English-speaking countries his system of
educational thought is for most teachers still in the
stage of exposition ; furthermore, the beginner in every
well-organized, far-reaching system “is_always in-need.
of an introduction. To the teacher, therefore, who
inquires for the leading purposes of this school, and
the methods whereby it is sought to realize them, this
book attempts an intelligible answer. It concerns
itself but little with Herbart’s metaphysics, and
rigorously refrains from introducing confusing refine-
ments of doctrine. It confines its attention strictly
to essentials. Only epoch-making men and their chief
contributions are considered at all. If, therefore,
among so many men worthy of mention, so few are
treated, and even with these the discussion confined
to essentials, the reason must be sought in the pur-
pose to make clear to the inquiring teacher what the
Herbartians are trying to do and how they are trying
to do it.

The ultimate purpose of the Herbartians may be
said to be the development _o of character, not in a nar-

a ae eens matte

 

 
vi PREFACE

row subjective sense, but in a broad social one. They
seek to fit the child for every i important phase of
family, social, civil, religious, and economic life, — to
develop, in short, the whole boy or girl. In this broad
aim they are, perhaps, not peculiar; but they have
certainly made some contributions as to the means for
accomplishing this end, so devoutly to be desired for
public education. The strength of their position is,
that they show how under favorable circumstances
this result can be achieved with the agencies already
at the command of the school; namely, the common-
school studies as they may be taught, together with
the ordinary discipline of the school. They believe
that, properly selected, articulated, and taught, the
common branches of an gistcabusrietng tan are
potent influences i in training the . child's. moral _ insight
and disposition.

But this training must be in full harmony with the
nature of the child’s mind, and especially with his
moral and intellectual apperception, or assimilative
power. We find, consequently, that the burning
questions with this body of teachers pertain, first, to
the selection and sifting of suitable subject-matter
in the various studies; then to its rational articula-
tion or coérdination; and finally, to the truest and
best methods of teaching it to the child. Every
teacher will recognize that this purpose and these
means are the important things in education.

CHARLES De GARMO.

a

SwaRTHMORE COLLEGE,
October, 1894.
CONTENTS

PAGE

PREFACE . qi . - . < . ie ‘ fs Vv

PART I

HERBART’S CONTRIBUTION TO EDUCATION

CHAPTER I

Wuat PEstaLozziI LEFT FOR HERBART TO DO 3 z 3
CHAPTER II

Herpart’s Lire anp Works . . ‘ ‘ " » BF
CHAPTER III

Hereart’s PsycHorocy . ‘ F s ‘ ‘ « 23 ;
CHAPTER IV

Herearr’s Eruics—A Guipe to EpucatTionaL Enps . 47
CHAPTER V

Tue Doctrine oF IntEREst — Irs BEARING UPON KNowL-

EDGE AND VOLITION . - : j # ‘ . 6T

CHAPTER VI

Instruction —Irs Marerrats, Course, AND METHOD ._ 67

vii
viii CONTENTS

CHAPTER VII PAGE
Scnoo.t DiscrpLiInE — GOVERNMENT AND TRAINING . 83
PART II

EXTENSION AND APPLICATION OF HERBART’S
EDUCATIONAL IDEAS IN GERMANY

CHAPTER I

Toriskon ZILLER AND Kari Votxmar Story . a - 101
CHAPTER II

TuISKON ZILLER . : ‘ ‘i a % r : 103

CHAPTER HI

ZiLLER’s THEORY OF THE HistoricaL Stages or CuL-

TURE . ; ‘ : ‘ ‘ fi a ‘ . 107
CHAPTER IV
ZILLER’S THEORY OF CONCENTRATION OF STUDIES . - 118
CHAPTER V
Mertnop in Teacutng—TuHe Format Sraces or Iny-
STRUCTION . 3 é 2 ; 3 3 . . 1380

CHAPTER VI

Dr. Witt1am Retin—Repucinc THErory To PRACTICE
in ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS . F , . - 141

CHAPTER VII

Dr. Karu Langer — APPERCEPTION ‘ : - 166
CONTENTS ix

CHAPTER VIII PAGE
Dr. Kart Votkmar Story — LEADER OF THE CONSERVA-
tive HERBARTIANS . . : ‘ 7 z . 180
CHAPTER IX
Dr. Orro Frick, LATE Director OF THE FRANKISCHEN
STIFTUNGEN IN HALLE : Fi : q 3 . 187
PART III

HERBARTIAN IDEAS IN AMERICA

CHAPTER I

Tae HERBART CLUB 4 ‘ : ‘ ‘ e . 205
CHAPTER II

THREE PLANS FOR THE CORRELATION OF STUDIES . . 215
CHAPTER III

A New Era in Epucation . "i , a . 228

CHAPTER IV

Prorosep BasES FOR THE COORDINATION OF StupIEs . 240

APPENDIX . - ‘ ° . < % A . 257
Part I

HERBART’S CONTRIBUTION TO
EDUCATION
HERBART AND THE HERBAR-
TIANS

CHAPTER I
WHAT PESTALOZZI LEFT FOR HERBART TO DO

Wuart the labors of Pestalozzi have done for Ger-
man education were long to tell. It concerns us more
for present purposes to know what he left undone.
The world has read the history of Germany’s brilliant
educational development, whose initial stages are
found in the work of the Swiss Reformer, his disci-
ples and successors. The story need not be retold.
The schools of the United States, so far as educational
theory is concerned, trace their origin in large part to
the same primal sources. But because these men did
so much, it does not follow that they did everything.
Like all great reforms, that begun by Pestalozzi was
emotional rather than scientific in its initial stages.
Exact and logical thought does not stir a nation into a
great movement for the educational uplifting of the
masses, but serves rather to give direction and effi-
ciency to what has been set in motion by moral forces.
Pestalozzi was a true reformer. He could see the end
to be reached, he could rouse all Europe to the sore
need of the people, he could expose the barrenness of

formal teaching, he could announce universal princi-
3
4 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

ples; but in directing his pupils over the long road
that leads from ignorance to knowledge, from untu-
tored natural disposition to moral freedom, he could
indeed rely upon the guidance that comes of faith,
but not so surely upon that which comes from sight.
This for him was doubtless best, but for the generations
of teachers to follow, who could not be fired with his
divine enthusiasm, it became as necessary to see as to
believe.

For a very good reason, however, Pestalozzi is ex-
cusable for not establishing his instruction upon a firm
psychological basis. At that time, no psychology in
the modern sense of the term existed. It is true
that Immanuel Kant had developed his system of the
rational presuppositions that make mind and expe-
rience possible, but he had studiously neglected ex-
perience itself, so that his work had little or no effect
in determining how the mind of the child shall be
trained. The current psychology of the day was, for
the most part, that of Aristotle plus a good many
misconceptions that had gradually accumulated in the
common mind. This, added to the fact that Pesta-
lozzi’s reform had its sources in the heart rather than
in the head, enables us to understand that there was
something left for Herbart to do; namely, to give
scientific precision to instruction and moral training
by founding them upon an adequate system of psy-
chology and ethics.

Bacon describes three classes of thinkers, com par-
ing them to three insects, the spider, the ant, and the
bee. Some men, like the spider, he says, spin all their
knowledge out of themselves; some collect it indis-
4

WHAT PESTALOZZI LEFT FOR HERBART TO DO 5

eriminately like the ant; while others gather facts
wherever they can find them, and from these facts
bring forth new products by means of their own
thoughtful elaboration, just as the bee produces honey
from the sweets he has gathered from the flowers.
Pestalozzi’s method of investigation seems to have
been the kind mentioned first. He looked into his
own heart and mind for the laws of mental growth,
formulated them, and forthwith began to spin his

\ theories of instruction. Thus, in one place he says:

“In these laws I believe I shall certainly find the
threads out of which a universal psychological method
of instruction can be spun. Man! say I to myself,
in dreamy search for these threads, in the ripening of
every species of fruit, you recognize in all its parts the
result of the wholly perfected product, and you must
regard no human judgment as ripe that does not
appear in all its parts as the result of complete ob-
servation of the object considered.”

The following are examples of these general princi-
ples of instruction, empirically received, from which
Pestalozzi seeks to evolve the methods of teaching: —

1. “Learn, therefore, to arrange thy perceptions,
and to complete the simple before proceeding to the
complex.

2. “Further, bring together in thy mind all those
things which essentially belong together, in the same
connection in which they are actually found in nature.

3. “Strengthen and intensify thy impression of im-
portant objects by bringing them nearer through art,
and by making them act upon thee through the differ-
ent senses. <
6 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

4. “Regard all the effects of physical nature as
absolutely necessary, and recognize in this necessity
the result of the power with which they unify their
apparently heterogeneous elements to the realization
of their purpose; and let the art with which thou,
through instruction, workest upon thy race, as well as
the results which it effects, be elevated to a like phys-
ical necessity, so that in all of thy doing, all means,
however heterogeneous in appearance, work together
for the accomplishment of their great purpose.
5. “But richness and variety in environment and ex-
citation cause the results of physical necessity to bear
the impress of freedom and independence.”
“From these individual principles,” he again re-
marks, “we may spin out the threads of a universal
and psychological method of instruction.”
Like an impetuous leader with an army before a
river, Pestalozzi does not wait to build a bridge, but
bids all rush in. Many get over; yet some are lost,
and all are wet.
Looking at the query, What was left for Herbart to
do? from another standpoint, we shall see that one of
the main results of the labors of Comenius, Rousseau,
| and Pestalozzi is the firmly fixed conviction that
oe observation, or the use of the senses, and in general
: the consideration of simple concrete facts in every
; field of knowledge, is the sure foundation upon
‘ which all right elementary education rests. This
: truth is now the acknowledged starting-point of all
\ scientific methods of teaching, yet the fact of the im-

portance of observation in instruction does not carry

with it any information showing how the knowledge
WHAT PESTALOZZI LEFT FOR HERBART TO DO 7

so obtained can be utilized, or what its nature, time,
amount, and order of presentation should be. In short,
it does not show how mental assimilation can best
take place, or how the resulting acquisitions can be
made most efliciently to influence the emotional and
volitional side of our nature. Perception is, indeed, |
the first stage in cognition, but its equally important.
correlative is apperception, or mental assimilation.
It is Herbart and his successors who have made us
distinctly conscious of this fact. The following para-
graph from Dr. William T. Harris confirms the view
here taken: “The progress of education is in a zigzag
line, from extreme to extreme. This appears through-
out all history. But were it not that succeeding times
profit by the experience of their forerunners, the prog-
ress would not be assured. ‘The history of the good
and bad incident to one extreme is sufficient to pre-
vent its repetition. The extremes are new ones at
least in substantial features, and not a discouraging
survival of past issues. At one time the schools have
tended almost exclusively to memory-culture, with
very little attempt at verification by original research
and observation. This was the case with what is
called the old education, and if we are to believe the
critics, this ought to be called the prevailing system of
our time also. But Pestalozzi exploded the theory on
which it rests and substituted another. He laid stress }
on sense-preception, verification, and original research. ~
The practice of our time may not correspond to its
theory, but certainly all writers uphold the Pestaloz-
zian doctrine of instruction by object-lessons. But
while this reform is progressing towards its extreme,
8 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

another tendency has begun within a few years, and it
promises to force a new departure on our zigzag line.
This is the doctrine of Herbart, which holds that it is
not so much sense-perception that is wanted in educa-
tion as apperception —not so much seeing and hearing
_ and handling things, as recognizing them and under-
_ standing them. The Herbartian trend on our zigzag
of progress helps to reénforce sense-perception by
the memory, through the use of the causal series of
ideas. It therefore combines the two former trends
ina higher. Doubtless there will be new trends on
the zigzag of progress to correct the extremes and
errors of Herbartianism, but, compared with Pesta-
lozzi’s theory of intellectual instruction, or with that
other and older theory of memory as the sole intellec-
tual faculty, there can be no doubt that the Herbar-
tians are right.” }

Closely allied to the fact that Herbart gave the
initial impulse to this combination of memory and
perception in apperception, is another of almost equal
importance. “The natural harmonious development
of all the powers of a human being for the sake of his
true moral nature” is a principle to which Pestalozzi
ever recurs. “It is,” says Vogel, “the new principle
of Pestalozzi’s pedagogics. True, Comenius and Rous-
seau declared for an education in accordance with
nature. But whereas Comenius by ‘nature’ under-
stood the external world of plants and animals and
physical forces, and Rousseau meant nature as op-
posed to art, Pestalozzi penetrated to the depths of

1 Dr. William T. Harris, U. 8. Commissioner of Education, Edu-
cational Review, May, 1893.
WHAT PESTALOZZI LEFT FOR HERBART TO DO 9

human nature, since he found this principle in moral ©
feeling, in the freedom that is guided by duty.”

Herbart fully accepts Pestalozzi’s statement of the
ultimate end of education, but attempts to show how
‘the daily activity of the school may bring about this
desirable result,—a problem that Pestalozzi never
solved for others. It is a cardinal doctrine with all
followers of Herbart, that instruction itself should |,
consciously work toward moral ends. The watch-
word upon their banner is Erziehender Unterricht ; that
is, instruction that makes for character. It is to a
scientific study of psychology and ethics in their
application to teaching that they look for guidance
in the matter.

Briefly summarizing, Pestalozzi, his contemporaries,
and successors, left a threefold work for Herbart to |
do, as follows: 1. The development of a psychology |
capable of immediate bearing on the problems of |
teaching; 2. The scientific application of this psy-
chology to education; and 3. The revelation of the —
possibility of making all the activities of the school- |
room, including especially instruction, bear directly
upon the development of moral character.

We should not regard Herbart’s contributions as
additions, however important, to an educational mo-
saic already existing. Such a view would be most
misleading. His work is fundamental, compelling a
new elaboration of the whole theory of education.
~ Whenever the world has discovered a new principle
or method of thought, all its work has been done

1 Dr. August Vogel, Geschichte der Paidagogik als Wissenschaft,
p. 161.
jp eee So eee

10 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

over again. Bacon’s revival of the inductive method
was not an addition to science, but a revolution in
science. The results wrought out in the Middle Ages
were discarded or wholly revised. Since Darwin and
his fellow-workers established the theory of evolu-
tion as a standpoint in thinking, the whole field of
knowledge has been reéxamined in accordance with
the new principle. Not only the natural sciences, but
ethics, religion, psychology, and even metaphysics,
have felt the leavening influence of the evolutionist.
It takes a large volume to record the progress of the
last ten years in bacteriology. No student of this
science regards it as a mere addition to the sum of
medical knowledge, but it is to him a new standpoint
from which to reéxamine all medical and surgical
science. The psycho-physicist does not dream of re-
stricting his investigations to the interaction between
mind and body, but claims the whole dominion of
psychology, if not of metaphysics, for the application
of his method; that is, he too must open up again in a
new way all that other methods claim to have settled.
Copernicus did not add new circles to the already com-
plicated system of Ptolemy; he wrought out a new
astronomy with the old stars. In a similiar way, Her-
bart, using the same facts of human nature and experi-
ence, the same materials and means of instruction and
training, brings forth new products through the appli-
cation of new principles. As Dr. Harris says, the
two old stages of education, memory and perception,
are united by him into the higher one of apperception,
or mental assimilation. The laws of mental develop-
ment are examined anew; each branch of instruction
WHAT PESTALOZZI LEFT FOR HERBART TO DO 11

is studied in its relations to the pupil’s needs, under-
standing, and interests, and all the studies of the cur-
riculum are considered in their double relations to one
another and to the apperception of the pupil. Finally,
the truest and best methods of uniting these two
factors, the mind of the child and the materials of
instruction and training, are investigated. This treat-
ment is comparable in kind to that of the modern
astronomer, bacteriologist, psycho-physicist, or evo-
lutionist ; it is creative work.
CHAPTER II
HERBART’S LIFE AND WORKS

Tue times in which Herbart and Pestalozzi lived
were at once the age of heroic speculative thought in
the universities and the age of economic and political
degradation among the common people. The heart of
the reformer, Pestalozzi, responded to the one, the
mind of the thinker, Herbart, to the other; for the
native forces of the mind exert themselves in accord-
ance with surrounding intellectual and moral influ-
ences. Furthermore, minds become fertilized at an
early age by the spirit of the times. Lectures on
philosophy were given at the gymnasium attended aby
the youthful Herbart, and we find him at the early
age of fourteen writing essays on the moral freedom
of man. At the age of eighteen, when most boys are
in these days just entering upon their freshman work
in college, Herbart was a diligent student of German
philosophy under Fichte at Jena. To gain recogni-
tion, Fichte had introduced himself to Kant at Kénigs-
berg by means of an Essay toward a Critique of all
Revelation, which was for a time ascribed to Kant

himself. In a somewhat similar manner, Herbart
12
HERBART’S LIFE AND WORKS 13

attracted Fichte’s attention, by handing him essays
concerning certain doubtful statements in the Science
of Knowledge. During his second year at the univer-
sity, he gave Fichte a critique of two of Schelling’s
works, in which he broke away from the ruling Ideal-
ism of the times, and laid in some measure the
groundwork of his own future system of philosophy.

John Frederick Herbart was born at Oldenburg on.
the 4th of May, 1776. He died a professor at Gét- ;
tingen in 1841. His life-span reached over the
period of great political revolutions and threugh that
of the evolution of great systems of thought. The
turbulence of the times does not seem to have modi-
fied essentially his course of life. Fichte, his teacher,
was caught in the grip of the age, and besides being
the Idealistic philosopher became the firebrand of
German patriotism; but Herbart fought only the
spectres of the mind. His field of labor was the
university classroom ; his companions were, not armed
soldiers of the camp, but spectacled students and
professors of the halls of learning. While Pestalozzi
was dealing with the unkempt urchins of poverty, and
Froebel with the children of the kindergarten, Her-
bart was in the university instructing the future
leaders of thought. Herbart’s experience as a teacher
would seem too small a thing to mention — some two
or three years in a private family in Switzerland
w'th three children aged respectively eight, twelve,
and fourteen. Yet to a man who can see an oak tree ‘
in an acorn, é.e., who can understand all minds from *
the study of a few, such an experience may be most
fruitful.
14 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

At the close of his university career, Herbart, then
a young man twenty-one years old, accepted an in-
vitation to become tutor to.the three older children
of Herr von Steiger, Governor of Interlaken, Switzer-
land. ‘The most helpful thing to him about this ex-
perience was that he was required to make a written
bi-monthly report to his employer concerning the
study, conduct, and progress of his charges. Five of
these reports have been published ; nothing is known
of the others. An extended biography would doubt-
less warrant a careful analysis of these reports,
since they are full of anticipations of the educational
ideals that Herbart afterward elaborated. Yet, though
“coming events cast their shadows before,” a brief
exposition must content itself with the essentials of
Herbart’s developed system, leaving the tracing of
these anticipations to those who have time and incli-
nation for the task.

After resigning his tutorship in Switzerland, Her-
bart went to Bremen to prepare himself for an aca-
demic career in the university. He stopped at Jena
for a time, and then visited his parents at Oldenburg,
to whom he showed his consideration by offering to
yield his preferences by taking up the law. They
perceived, however, how much his cherished ideals
would be disturbed by such a course, and generously
allowed him his own free choice. About this time
his father and mother separated on account of domes-
tic difficulties, the latter settling in Paris, where she
died some three years later. Being free to continue
his chosen career, Herbart now continued his journey
to Bremen, where he spent two years more in prepa-
rc
i

HERBART’S LIFE AND WORKS 15

ration for his life-work. Incidentally he tutored a
young man for the university, and unfolded his
pedagogical ideas to some appreciative mothers be-
longing to the higher ranks of society. He also
wrote several articles and lectures on educational
topics. Two of these articles, that on Pestalozzi’s
recent work — How Gertrude taught her Children,}
and that on Pestalozzi’s Idea of an A B C of Obser-
vation,? gave a more scientific form to the thought
of the Swiss reformer. The latter essay was after-
wards extended by one of Herbart’s most important
contributions, that on The Moral or Ethical Revela-
tion of the World the Chief Function of Education,’
the most important thought of which is that,|through
school experiences, and especially through instruction:
in the common branches, the teacher can reveal the
world of moral relations between the individual and
his neighbors on the one hand, and organized society
on the other, thereby developing a keen moral insight
and a right disposition, and insuring reliable moral
habits; in a word, developing strong moral character
in his pupils.{ Yet during his stay in Bremen, educa-_
tional thought was rather a recreation than a serious
labor. His chief efforts were expended upon Greek
and mathematics. But the question of means where-
with to live began to press upon him, as it has done
with many another intellectual benefactor to the
world.

1 Pestalozzi’s neueste Schrift: Wie Gertrud ihre Kinder lehrte.

2 Pestalozzi’s Idee eines A B C der Anschauung.

3 Ueber die asthetische Darstellung der Welt als Hauptgeschift
der Erziehung.
“16 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

As his parents were convinced that philosophy
would yield no bread, and were filled with anxiety
for his future subsistence, Herbart held it a duty to
make no mention of his needs. Not being able to live
on air, however, he turned to his friends, especially
to Johann Schmidt, with whom he was living, and
they out of personal regard and confidence so supplied
his wants that he was able to live in a humble way
at Bremen, and thence to proceed comfortably to
Gottingen. Here, however, his care was increased
in a distressing manner. At Jena he had enjoyed
good health, and in Switzerland he had become very
robust. In stature he was not above middle height;
the upper portions of his body were proportionately
larger than the lower, so that he was more imposing
when sitting than when standing. He was strong
and muscular, his movements being decisive and vig-
orous. But after a long winter journey, in which his
emotions were excited to the highest pitch, his health
began to fail. He long suffered from the baleful
effects of the anxieties and over-exertions arising
from his state of poverty. During the first years at
Gottingen his health was so shattered that he ex-
pected every winter to be his last. Yet in spite of
these drawbacks, he resolutely pursued his course.
Of his academic studies in Bremen but little public
record remains. He left with Schmidt two brief es-
says upon The Difference between the Idealism of Kant
and that of Fichte, and A Critique of the Conception of
the Ego.

Upon going to Géttingen he soon qualified as
privat-docent in pedagogy, not being in touch with
HERBART’S LIFE AND WORKS ( _17

the idealistic philosophy of the day. Seeking a firm
basis on which to rest his educational theories, he
soon began to lecture upon ethics, or practical phi-
losophy. It is said that his lectures were so fine that
he soon attracted to his class-room the whole phil-
osophical activity of the university. In consequence
of this success he received a call to a full professor-
ship at Heidelberg in 1805, which, however, he de-
clined, though the beautiful spot greatly attracted
him.

It is a tribute to the earnestness of philosophic
thought of those times that it went on vigorously
under the most depressing influences of war and sub-
jugation. Hegel finished his Phenomenology of Spirit
to the thunder of cannon at Jena, and Herbart out
of his slender income was forced to contribute a quota
of 1500 francs to the expenses of the war. \With
Fichte the warmth of philosophic thought burst into ”
flaming zeal for universal education as the surest
means of securing national freedom.

1802 to 1808, Herbart published a number of impor-
tant works, the principal ones being: A second edi-
tion of the A BC of Observation, in 1804, to which _
was added (The Moral Revelation of the World as the
Chief Function of Education.| In 1804, was published
also Standpoint for Judging Pestalozzi’s Method of"
Instruction ; in 1806, he issued General Pedagogics
(his chief work on education), Chief Points of Meta-
physics, and Chief Points of Logic. In 1808 he finished
his General Practical Philosophy.

The position to which he had attained in Géttingen
18 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

was that of extraordinary, or associate, Professor,
with a salary of 300 thalers a year. The alarms of war
and the increasing difficulty of providing sustenance,
gradually led to a diminution of philosophical study
among the students. They drifted largely into more
practical departments, so that when the flattering offer
of Kant’s chair at Kénigsberg, coupled with a salary
of 1200 thalers, came to Herbart, he was ready to
accept it. “How happyI was,” he writes, ‘to receive
the offer of this, the most renowned chair of philoso-
phy, the place which when a boy I longed for in
reverential dreams, as I studied the works of the sage
of Kénigsberg.”?

Herbart removed to Kénigsberg during the spring
of 1809, to occupy the academic chair of Immanuel
Kant, which had just been vacated by Krug, the latter
having accepted a call to Leipsic. During this year
Herbart’s father died. ‘The latter had lived to ex-
perience the fact that not only had philosophy sup-
plied his son with bread, but that it had yielded him
honor as well.” In addition to lecturing upon phi-
losophy, Herbart was required also to take charge of
pedagogics, which had hitherto been cared for by
several professors, who took turns in lecturing upon
it. In a short time he became personally acquainted
with William von Humboldt, the commissioner of
education for Prussia, who soon appointed Herbart a
member of the school commission having in charge
the interests of higher education. Opposition began
to arise, however, as soon as any serious school refqrm

1 Science of Education, see Felkins’ translation, p. 16.
HERBART’S LIFE AND WORKS 19

was urged, the professors dividing into two parties,
the young men being mostly for Herbart, and the older
professors (who enjoyed certain prerogatives not con-
sistent with the highest welfare of the schools) being
opposed to his ideas. All joined heartily with him,
however, in the establishment of a pedagogical semi-
nary connected with which was to be a practice school
in which a few children should be instructed accord-
ing to the most scientific methods, and in which the
students might participate as instructors under critical
observation. ‘'wenty children was the limit set for!
the practice school, which never, as a matter of fact,
however, had more than thirteen members. The
parents were required to grant to the teachers the
general privileges of private tutors, and were not
allowed to interfere with the instruction, at least for
one year. The actual teaching was done by from four
to six members of the seminary, who at the same time
received philosophical and educational instruction in
the university. The professor of pedagogy stood in
.the most intimate relation to the student-teachers,
directing, advising, and criticising them. Should a
difference of opinion arise between the professor and
the student teacher, the latter was required to listen
to the advice of the professor, but was not bound to
follow it, provided he gave reasons for his own view.
Each year the teacher was required to write an edu-
cational essay based upon his own experience and
observation. This essay was first handed to the pro-
fessor of pedagogics, who sent it with his comments
to the school commissioners. ‘The design was that
these student-teachers should become superintendents
20 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

of educational institutions upon the completion of
their course. One of these young men, Karl Volkmar
Stoy, afterwards became the leading exponent of one
school of Herbartians at Jena, where he long con-
ducted a seminary and practice school in accordance
with the plans instituted by Herbart at Koénigsberg.
The same seminary is now ably continued by Pro-
fessor William Rein; it is the most noted institution
of the kind in Germany. The seminary was fully
established in 1810, Herbart lecturing in the uni-
versity four times a week upon education. tx.

In the house in which he lived, Herbart made the
acquaintance of Mary Drake, the eighteen-year-old
daughter of an English merchant who had _ been
ruined by the war. Dr. Bartholomii, in his biog-
raphy of Herbart,’ tells the following anecdote of
their first meeting. The company were playing cha-
rades, when the name Herbart was given. The first
syllable was described as a man (Herr = Mr.), the
second as the ornament of a man (bart = beard), and
when the whole was to be characterized, Mary Drake
exclaimed without hesitation, “The whole is the or-
nament of the university.” Herbart sought the hand
of the young English girl, and they were married..
Their union proved to be a happy one, the wife enter-
ing most heartily into the plans and ambitions of her
husband.

The Kénigsberg period of Herbart’s activity was
most fruitful in published works. The prominence
of his position gave occasion for numerous addresses

1 Biography of Herbart, p. 73.
aS.

HERBART’S LIFE AND WORKS “91 \

and minor contributions to philosophy and education,
many of which were published. Outside of his meta-
physical writings, his most important work was the
development of psychology, based anew upon meta-
physics, mathematics, and experience. A brief expo-

sition of his psychological ideas and their significance. __

for teaching, is given in the succeeding chapter. | His
System of Psychology was completed in 1814, and his
Text-book of Psychology in 1816. The main work,
however, Psychology as a Science, did not appear until
1824-5. His Generas Metaphysics was published in
1828 and 1829 in two volumes, and his Brief Cyclo-
pedia of Philosophy, in 1831,| The best edition of his _
pedagogical works is Willmann’s scholarly edition in
two volumes of about 600 pages each. An English
translation of The Moral Revelation of the World as
the Chief Function of Education and of the General
Principles of Education (Allgemeine Péddagogik) has
been prepared by Mr. and Mrs. Felkin.’

Hegel died in 1831, leaving vacant a chair which
next to Kant’s was the most celebrated in Europe.
Herbart fondly hoped to be his successor, and, indeed,
there were not a few voices raised in his behalf; but
instead of the coveted position, he received an Order.
It would have been too much, however, for one man
to occupy the vacant places of the two greatest
thinkers of modern times. Worthily to have suc-
ceeded one of them should have satisfied any reason-
able ambition.

But now, restricted by petty officialism, and vexed

1 Boston’: D. C. Heath & Co., 1893.
22 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

by misrepresentations, Herbart determined to seek
work outside of Prussia, in which the reactionary
spirit was dominant. When in 1833, at Schultze’s
death, Gottingen sought his services, he gladly ac-
cepted the call. His time was now fully occupied
in preparing and delivering University lectures, so
that his published works were few. The students
flocked in masses to hear him, often breaking out in.
cheers. In 1835 he issued Outline of Pedagogical
Lectures, a work that bears the same relation to his
system that Rosenkranz’s Pedagogics as a Science!
does to the system of Hegel.

On the 9th of August, 1841, Herbart gave his last
lecture with unimpaired ability. Two days after-
wards came a stroke of apoplexy that ended his earthly
career. His widow lived to see the one hundredth
anniversary of his birth. His grave is in Gdttingen.
It is surrounded by a tall iron fence, inside of which
is a cross bearing the following inscription : ?—

“To penetrate the sacred depths of truth,
To strive in joyful hope for human weal,
Was his life’s aim.
Now his spirit free hath perfect light,
Here rests his mortal frame.’’

1 Philosophy of Education, by Rosenkranz, with explanatory
Paraphrase by Dr. William T. Harris. New York: D. Appleton &
Co., 1886.

2 Science of Education, Herbart, Felkins’ translation, p. 23.
CHAPTER III
HERBART’S PSYCHOLOGY

1. Current EpucatTionaL PsycHoLoey

Ir is not to the technique of psychology that edu-
cation looks for guidance, but rather to its point of
view and its methods of procedure. The latter are
consequently the factors that determine a teacher’s
professional interest in various psychological sys-
tems.

American and English ideas of education are now
unquestionably adjusted to a theory of mind that
regards our mental constitution from aggregative
rather than from organic standpoints. {The mind,
according to this theory, is an aggregation of facul- |
ties j it is the sum of what we call sense-perception, \
memory, imagination, reason, feeling, choice; volition, ~
and the like. | Nor is it sufficient to reply that no real
psychologist to-day regards the mind as other than 2
unit, that these so-called faculties are merely conven-
ient classifications of the methods according to which |
the mind works; for this does not alter the zou

that our educational literature as well as our prac-
23

lesa
)

24 - » HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

| tice, is completely adjusted to the notion that the
mind is an aggregate of more or less independent
faculties.
n witness of this assertion, we have the frequent
‘ allusion to the training of the faculties) the adjust-
P nent of our courses of study in such a way that the
various faculties will receive the appropriate subject-
matter and method of training, as they appear one
by one in the order of their unfolding. Accordingly
‘’ we must at first train the senses; whence observation
in the form of the object-lesson becomes a distinct
department of school work; then the memory must
be trained by its appropriate exercise, and must have
a subject-matter adapted to this end. It is well,
therefore, to cram the mind with the largest possible
number of facts in geography, history, and language,
it mattering little whether the facts are concrete or
pbstract, related or disparate, interesting or stupid,
‘ince, forsooth, they all train the memory. By and
by, we must, in accordance with this idea, teach
arithmetic because it trains the reason, and so on to
the end of the chapter. That good teachers avoid
these extremes is due, not to the merits of the the-
ory, but to the common sense of the individual.
+ Curiously enough, we have never introduced any-
thing into the curriculum for the discipline of the
will, though we have made feeble attempts to train
the disposition and to inform the understanding re-
specting moral relations by teaching somebody’s ethi-

.cal system.
7 Another natural result arising from considering
the mind as an aggregate of faculties is our favorite
HERBART’S PSYCHOLOGY 25

ni

ception assumes, first, that the mind can be well
trained with a minimum of concrete knowledge; and, *
second, that the power gained in one department of~
knowledge may be transferred unimpaired to any
other. An extreme illustration of the first point
is that if we train the mind thoroughly upon the
abstractions of Greek and Latin grammar, and upon
those of pure mathematics, we shall sufficiently culti-
vate the faculties; that is, the recipe for developing
digentiyg power is the chewing of rubber, not beef-
steak. | The second point is commonly urged in dis-
cussions upon higher education, where it is usually
claimed that a thorough drill on language and mathe-
matics will develop a power that can be used with
like facility in any department of thought or in any
calling in life. | A contemplation of the ancient gods_
portrayed in Homer is just as good a preparation for
dealing with the complex industrial forces of the
present, as any concrete study of the actual deter-
mining conditions, the argument being that the power
developed by Greek is like so much mechanical en-
ergy, which may be made to do one kind of work as
well as another. No one can question the old-time
schoolmaster’s faith in formal discipline as the main
objective end of education, but the world at large
refuses to accept this view, evidently regarding for-

1Dr. B. A. Hinsdale of the University of Michigan has brought
American thought down to date on this subject by his article upon
The Dogma of Formal Culture, found in the Educational Review,
September, 1894.
26 | HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

mal training as a myth, or at most as a special prep-
aration for a few professional callings. ‘The publics
as a whole insist upon the concrete knowledge studies
for their children, and will pay little for a higher
education that has not visible relations to the ac-
tivities of life.

The fact that the conclusions of the current edu-
cational psychology are not in general accepted by
the people or by scientific students of education, is
sufficient warrant, if one is needed, for the exposition
of a method of thought leading to radically different
educational results.

2. Turererotp Basis or Hersart’s PsycHo.rocy

Much of Herbart’s psychology is of mere historical
interest, while its more fruitful aspects have under-
“gone important changes since his time. ‘In his
heeae, psychology has a triple basis, — metaphysics,
mathematics, and experience. | ,.

(A.) Metaphysics — The Soul and its Ideas

Of Herbart’s metaphysical system, in which the
soul as an essence finds a place, we need say but
little. The method of thought is pre-Kantian, rather
than post-Kantian; yet even the metaphysics of psy-
“chology has important consequences. {The way to
arrive at a sound philosophy, Herbart thought, is to
take the common notions derived from experience
and elaborate them in thought until all their contra-
dictions ee Thus, examining the ideas of
substance and quality, we have such difficulties as
HERBART'S PSYCHOLOGY ul

these: sugar is sweet, is white, is soluble: What is it
that is sweet—the whiteness, the solubility, the
weight, aml the like? Is the substance the sum of
the qualities ? is each quality a manifestation of the
sum of all the qualities or of all of them except
itself? Oris there, on the other hand, a substratum
that is not quality or the sum of qualities which yet
supports the qualities? If so, what is its nature?
How must it be thought? Does it occupy space?
Is it, perhaps, a force or system of forces? is it real
or ideal? ‘These, and many similar difficulties, must
be rejolued, if thought is to be made consistent with_
itself.\, Herbart’s method is to make any assumption
whatever that will bring harmony and consistency
into our thinking, without regard to the explicability
of the assumptions themselves, =-§ -___— a
Being free, therefore, to make any kind of presup-
position whatever regarding the ultimate nature of
matter or mind, |Herbart constructs an unseen en uni-\
verse as a metaphysical explanation of the seen uni-'
verse that forms the basis of our experience. From
Leibnitz he takes the notion of the ae or the |
metaphysical atom, calling it a real] at the same time, _
Owever, depriving it of its most fruitful principle,
that of self-active development. The monad has with
Leibnitz no windows or doors through which any out-
side influence can affect it, all activity, growth, and_
development coming from within; but|Herbart makes
the monad single in quality, and aside from a sort of
mechanical reciprocity existing among the reals, capa-
ble of but one kind of activity; namely, the capacity .
of self-preservation against the annihilation with

 
28 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

_which other monads threaten it.The being of the
universe is a plenum of these monads, or reals, con-
ceived as in partial interpenetration, and in more or
less mechanical interaction. These monads, or reals,
are the noumena of which the events of our experi-
| ence are the "phenomena. \ As smoke points to fire,
; even though the latter is unseen, so the phenomena
| of the universe point to a metaphysical substratum,
which we are not at liberty to deny just because it is
hot seen. | One does not expect, even in the domain of
physical forces, that causes will be like their effects.
They are simply adequate to produce them; conse-
quently, it should not appear unthinkable that time-
less and spaceless reals should produce the phenomena
of space and time.
(Phe soul is a monad| doubtless indeed superior to
the myriad other monads with which it is in eternal
‘interaction. “The varying states into which the soul
\ monad is thrown by its efforts at self-preservation are
ideas. These conditions or states called idéas have
permanent existence in the | soul. They appear first
lin consciousness, but give place one by one to other
‘ideas, oF acts Of Self preservation. \ Under favorable
conditions they may return again and again to con-
sciousness.
The one important point to note at present respect-
ing this pre-Kantian method of speculation, is that
\ there is no room in the soul for separate faculties. It
is not a complex, but a simple in which nothing but
ideas, their relations, and interactions exist.\ The soul
“has only ideas, which are its one form of activity ;
namely, its self-preservation n against otl other reals. With
: “
HERBART’S PSYCHOLOGY 29>

this basis, Herbart could confidently declare that his
contemporaries had turned psychology into mythol-
ogy, since they had transformed the various typical
internal states of the mind into objective existences
called faculties. In his thought, Olympus with its
numerous independent gods became the prototype of
the psychology which even to-day colors our educa-
tional thinking.

But it matters little to us, and is of small con-
sequence for the ultimate validity of Herbart’s edu-
cational notions, whether this supposed universe of
monads, souls included, is a sober reality or a phan-
tasm conjured up by speculation; for his system, after
all, depends not upon the constructions of abstract |
speculation, but upon verifiable facts of experience.

(B.) Mathematics — Psycho-physies

If to Herbart’s metaphysics we can attribute only
indirect or remote influence upon psychology and edu-
cation, we are justified in ascribing great fruitfulness
to the remaining phases of his investigation. As be-
fore stated, he sought to form psychology anew upon
metaphysics, mathematics, and experience. It is to
the second of these that we must now turn. :
<Thoiigh considered in their primary siguineanca, |
ideas are simply passive states, or “ self-preservations
of the soul,” resulting: from the influence of other
monads, yet ultimately through their relations to o
another these ideas become Fors6s] Some will fuse,
or coalesce, partially or completely; some are an-\

tagonistic, counteracting or repelling one another; |
, 80 ~ HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

some are strong, some weak, and hnone able to sustain
_themselves for any considerable length of time in
consciousness. [Tdeas, moreover, become associated in
series and complications, so that the strong help the
weak to reproduction, especially when sense-percep-
tion acts as a stimulus to ideas that are below the
\ threshold of consciousness. From all these facts, as
well as from the fact that this mental movement per-
_ sists, whether we will or not, and largely according to
, laws over which we have no control, Herbart has a
warrant for considering ideas as a system_of mental
ces, /whose statics and dynamics may be subjected,
ideally at lee quantitative determination. “He

ideally at least, to quant

therefore applies calculus to mental moveme movement and
e uilibrium, a, (which, af fanciful ‘in itself, has : has at least

\ led to important developments in modern psycho-

physics and physiological psychology in the hands of

‘ such men as Lotze, Fechner, Helmholtz, and Wundt.)

 
    
  

‘i (C.) Eaperience— Apperception
But however important for education the quantita-
tive method of psychological study may prove to be
\ Wwe are not now especially concerned with it, sinodithe
specific impulse that Herbart gave to the theory and
practice of teaching in Germany has been confined to
the remaining aspect of his psychology; namely, that
; which is founded specifically upon experience, and
publ has been brought under the general term apper-

ee

1 A concise account of the development of psychology from the
quantitative standpoint is found in Ribot’s German Psychology of
To-day. New York: Charles Seribner’s Sons, 1886.
HERBART’S PSYCHOLOGY 31

That the assimilative functions of the soul should
be the chief study of a psychologist like Herbart is to
be expected. So slight an original equipment is as-
signed to the soul—merely the capacity of self-
preservation —that the chief source of its activity
must necessarily be experience. The soul becomes
enriched with a content, not through the development
of any germ-like faculties, but solely through the
growth of the ideas that experience creates within
us. The attempt of the teacher to train the mind
without imparting a thought content is therefore as
foolish as was the attempt of the professor in Swift’s
University of Lagado to extract sunshine from cucum-
bers. There is no sunshine in cucumbers to extract ;
and even if there were, it would not repay the labor of
extraction. This thought is so subversive of current
educational doctrine, that it may be worth while to
examine it more closely in order to see precisely what
validity it does have. Men do not object upon occa-
sion to readjust their thought, but few are willing to
destroy an old system merely for the sake of construct-
ing a new one.

“To recognize the importance of Herbart’s contribu-
tions to educational psychology, it is by no means
necessary to accept his metaphysical presuppositions
as to the nature and original equipment of the soul.
Because experience is a matter of great, not. to say
supreme, importance in education, it does uot follow
that,nothing else is true or important, Locke, indeed,
declares that all the furnishing of our minds has its
origin in sensation and reflection, which is perfectly
true as to content, but not at all true as to original
es Past HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

constitution, unless much is smuggled in under the
term reflection. Had the mind no original power of
activity’ antecedent to experience, one does not see
why a camera should not have perceptions as well as
a mind has. Here is the dividing line between the
investigations of Kant and Herbart. Though both
assume to cover the whole field, each really covers
only half. Kant’s well-known doctrine of appercep-
tion is an investigation into the original constitution
of the mind, antecedent to all experience. His con-
stant query is, “What mental equipment must be
presupposed in order that perceiving and thinking
and willing may be possible?” The content and
importance of our perceptions do not enter into his
problem. Everything is viewed in its formal aspect,
in jts validity as a law of activity; nothing is examined )
as to its concrete worth.

~~ Herbart, on the other hand, neglecting entirely the
constitutive equipment of the mind, fixes his atten-”
tion solely on the production, reproduction, fusion, —
arrest, and general interaction of ideas.) While Kant
approaches the study of mind from the critical a priori
standpoint, Herbart sees only the concrete a posteriori

, side. “JApperception with Herbart, therefore, is the

~ + assimilation of ideas by means of ideas already pos-

{ essed,/not the Kantian original synthesizing power

_-of the mind.

So far as the educational value of Herbart’s theory
of concrete apperception is concerned, it is a matter of
indifference whether we accept his notions or Kant’s
as to our original mental constitution, for{the teacher
has no power to create or to destroy these original
HERBART’S PSYCHOLOGY (ss

powers; he can merely work with what is given.) He|
must, in short, utilize old experience in creating new.
His primary function is to impart knowledge in such
a way that it can be most rapidly, securely, and profit-
ably assimilated, and this is a problem of concrete ap-
perception. { Whether the mind be a germ or a series
of germs to be developed, or whether it is a structure
to be erected, the process is still the same\from the
teacher’s standpoint. He must know something of
the child’s previous knowledge and interests in order
to utilize them; he must select his material of instruc-
tion with respect to ultimate purposes and the pupil’s
comprehending power rhe must arrange the subject-
matter not only with respect to the pupil’s acquired
experience, but also with respect’to that which he is
going to acquire, ¢.e, the studies must be brought
into the best codrdinate relation to one another; and
_ he must adapt his teaching processes so as to secure
the quickest apprehension and the longest retention
of the matter taught. All this has to do with the
acquisition of new experience upon the basis of that
already acquired. | It matters little, therefore, whether
with Herbart we conceive the ideas to be psychical
forces, or whether we regard the mind itself as a force
or system of forces working upon the ideas as so much
passive raw material. - The two theories point to the
same line of practical activities for the teacher. The
advantage is on the Herbartian side, however, since
’ Kant investigates that over which education has no
control; namely, the original capacities of the mind,
whereas Hetbart shows how instruction may best sup-
ply and utilize experience. This is precisely the

   
  
    
  
   
 
  
  
 
  

are
34 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

teacher’s field of labor. Herein lies the significance
of the whole Herbartian school of educational theory
and practice. }The Herbartians examine all the prob
lems of instruction, school government, and moral
training, from the standpoint of a concrete psychol-
. ogy of actual experience. Herbart laid the theoretical
foundations ; his followers have been and still are en-
gaged in constructing upon these foundations a self-
consistent system of educational practice.

Only an illiberal mind would pretend to limit all
progress along this line to the tenets of Herbart’s
specific system of psychology. The point of view is
alone important; and this, though ascribed to an indi-
vidual, is necessarily universal. Any psychology may
put the emphasis upon the processes of knowledge and
of character growth, rather than upon logical presup-
positions or unfruitful distinctions. By doing this it
will acquire the essential merits of Herbart’s method,
retaining, it may be, all of its own specific advantages.

With this general survey of Herbart’s psychology
in mind, we may turn now to a more specific account
of the doctrine of apperception.

Every simple-or complex perception (or sensation)
which enters consciousness through the gates of the
senséS, acts as a stimulus upon the ideas possessed by
the mind. It repels everything contrary to it that
may be in consciousness, and attracts or recalls all
similar things, which now rise with all their connec
tions. This complex perception (or sensation) in-
vades several other groups or series simultaneously,
and thus induces new conditions of fusion or arrest.
While thus it causes a lively movement of ideas, it
HERBART’S PSYCHOLOGY Gc

may be compared to a light casting its rays all around
it. The stimulated mass of ideas raised simultane-
ously may be likened to an arched vault extending in
all upward directions from the centre. As long as
this arching continues, the central perception has, by
virtue of its stimulating power, the controlling influ-
ence in consciousness. -But_the more it checks less
similar ideas,which were called up _48 opposites, the
more they recede and allow older, quite similar ideas
to rise, and staduaily-form-the-apex-of-the arch} this
becomes the more raised or pointed the longer the
entire process lasts. Now when a fusion takes place
between the new perception (sensation) and the repro-
duced ideas, which stand high in consciousness, the
latter assert and usually maintain a controlling influ- */
ence, or supremacy. For, as a general rule, the ideas
coming from within are, by virtue of their established
connections, more potent than the single new percept,
especially since the latter diminishes in power as its'
stimulating effect subsides. \The new perception takes
the place that its relative importance demands, being
made an acquisition of the older series of ideas. In
‘ other words, the new element of knowledge is adjusted
into the system of ideas already in the mind, and is
thus assimilated or apperceived.?~
Says Lange: “The same relation presupposed be-
tween sensations or percepts and older ideas may be

\

   
  

1 Compare Lange’s Apperception, pp. 256-7 (Boston: D. C. Heath
& Co., 1893). This book, translated by the Herbart Club, contains
an excellent exposition of the nature and educational significance of
the process of apperception, together with a good historical account
of the term as used by Herbart, Lazarus, Steinthal, and Wundt.
ments, repelling it at other points.

36 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS.

repeated between the weaker and the stronger ideas
that reproduction brings into consciousness. A weaker
series of ideas, one that is less deeply rooted \ withtin
the whole body of thought, may be excited and de-
veloped in its own way in the mind. Through its
stimulating influence a related--mass of thought is
reproduced, #.¢., one that is stronger and deeper-lying.
At first the former, more active series of ideas presses
back the second series with reference to its opposing
elements. This second series is thus brought to a
tension and presses up all the more powerfully.
Now it determines the first series in accordance with

its own form, holding it by its similar and fusing ele-
1

 

Herbart develops these ideas at length, and shows
moreover the conditions under which apperception
most readily takes place. His thought has been much
extended and freed from contradictions by his succes-
sors, notably Lazarus, Steinthal, and Wundt. Lazarus
calls attention to the importance, for apperception, of
ideas of which we may for the time be unconscious, as
well as of feelings, interests, affections, words, and
volitions. In doing this he offers a valuable addition
to Herbart’s contributions ; “for, the forces that in
the act of apperceiving awaken and guide the masses
of ideas are the secret powers of the emotional soul;
to understand them means to recognize the deepest
motives and causes of apperception.”’?

Steinthal further develops the theme, classifying
the various types of apperception as follows : ?—

1 Lange’s Apperception, p. 257. 2 Thid. p. 268.
3 Ihid. pp. 271, 272. 4
HERBART’S PSYCHOLOGY

    
   

“1. If the object and subject of apperception are
perfectly alike, that is, if the impression corresponds
to a picture in the memory, both will be fused] not
only with reference to the cognition, but also with
reference to the conditions of the mind under which
the process. takes place. This is identifying apper-’
ception. ,

“2. While at times individual things are apper-
ceived by individual ideas, at other times the individual
is acquired by the general, the idea of a single being by
the idea of the species, the idea of the species by the
class, order,and so on. This classifying or subsuming
apperception embraces all classifying and arranging, |
all proving and inferring, all esthetic and ethical |
judgment.

“3. Often a definite fact may be classified among
certain ideas when one is incapable of harmonizing it
with related groups of thoughts that are the seat of
lively emotions and desires. | When, for instance, a
person whom we have loved dies, we understand the
event well enough; but we cannot reconcile ourselves
with it, cannot bring it into harmony with the con-
dition of the soul; that is, we cannot apperceive it.
When at last an adjustment takes place between the
opposing groups of ideas, it is not a case of subordina- /
tion or superiority, but a case of codrdination of ideas; :
that is, the proper relation is found between codrdi-
nate ideas or such as belong to different classes. This
is the object of harmonizing apperception.

“4, The creative or formative apperception, finally, |
is found in all those combinations on which the

progress of science is based, in the creations of our i

/
38 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

poets and artists, in the thinking process of indue-

tion and deduction, in the guessing of riddles, but
| also in illusions and hallucinations. There is one
, characteristic which is peculiarly its own; namely,
, that in every case it first creates the apperceiving

Wundt’s specific contribution to the subject of
Apperception is in showing the function of the will
in this activity.

Since there is no need of confining this account of
Apperception to the initial contribution made by
Herbart, the following general summary of the pres-
ent status of the subject will be in place:? (1) The

- mind must possess an original, inherent power of re-
acting against the physical stimulus that comes to it
through the medium of the senses, else we should
never have any experience at all. |

The result of this reaction is, ultimately, the pro-

| duction of ideas. “"Wundtcalls-thts-originat reacting
power the will; since itisthe-function of the will to
manifest its activity—i=-the realm of ideas, the out-
wardly directed physical effort being an accompany-
ing index. Hence we may say that, in order for
knowledge to get a start, the self, in conformity to
the will, becomes a necessary element in every sen-
sation, so that if asked, What is a sensation apart
from all apperception ? we should be compelled to
answer, Nothing at all for consciousness, since with-
out apperception we should never have a sensation.

_ This first volitional response of the mind to outward

1 Compare the author’s Essentials of Method. Boston: D. C.
Heath & Co., 1893, pp. 34-36.
HERBART’S FSYCHOLOGY 39

physical stimuli coming through the senses, and‘

resulting in sensations and ideas, is the primary or

initial form of apperception. | It is such because it
involves no previous knowledge. 'The phase of
apperception most important in education, however,
involves knowledge, and may, therefore, be termed
the cognitive apperception.

(2) To have sensations and ideas, however, is to .

have what we call consciousness. ; This may be viewed
in two ways. Comparing it figuratively with the image
formed upon the retina of the eye in vision, we may
distinguish, first, the whole field of illumination, and
second, the central focus of light, from which the illu-
mination rapidly diminishes to the periphery of the

image. ‘If we call all activity within the field of con-;

sciousness perception, then the activity within the focus!
of consciousness, or the point of greatest clearness,
may be distinguished by the name apperception.

(3) The elements of mental life, as they are pre-
sented by the senses, have a varying value in con-
sciousness, those of most subjective worth coming
into the focus, and others remaining in‘outlying por-
tions of the field. The primal activity of the mind
in responding to these stimuli has been called the

will, so that_the ideas ae et into the focus of
consciousness must have e_greatest st momentary

worth to the will. But a which has value in
relation to the will is a motive, so that we may speak

 

of the soliciting power that an idea has for the will \’

as its motive value. This changes from moment to
moment and from stage to stage in the development
of the mind. What is a strong motive to us at one

vw
40 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

i time or in one condition ceases to be such at another
{ time, or when the state of the mind has changed."

(4) It is because the original activity of the mind
in its response to sense stimuli is conceived as will,
that it is proper to regard the worth that each idea
has for the mind as a motive value. This value is to
be expressed in terms of feeling, whether having
its origin in the body or in the contemplation of
intellectual or moral truths. To have the motive
value arising from perceived knowledge relations, an
idea must enter the field of consciousness, when it
may be quickly elevated into the focus, provided it
possesses, enough motive value. This will depend,
not so much upon its actual value considered in itself,
as upon the subjective worth it has for a mind that
is constantly changing its tone in obedience to alter-
ing content of consciousness. We may say, in general,
that the motive value of an idea at any given time
will depend upon the worth the idea appears to have
for the well-being of the self. It may range from
the satisfaction of the simplest physical want arising
from the bodily organism, up to the realization of the
impulses of the self in the loftiest realms of intel-
lectual and moral life.

(5) Though the mind through its will activity
(power of “self-preservation,” Herbart would say)
Vi, creates ideas, it does so in obedience to stimuli com-

ing from sources independent of itself. On this
account the original content of mental life depends

\
\
t

1 That this view of the will is not Herbart’s, will be seen later in
the present chapter. It is by no means the Kantian conception,
however, since it is primarily determined by ideas.

 
\ a

HERBART’S PSYCHOLOGY 41

in large degree upon causes over which the mind has
no control, but it may be said that all ideas have
been more or less perfectly apperceived before they
are recognized as old and familiar. Recurring ideas
that have been apperceived are recognized as such,
and no longer command the attention necessary to
bring them to the focus of consciousness, unless they
possess a motive value sufficient to call for a more |
complete apperception. They, it may be said, usually —
constitute the main body of ideas in the field of con-
sciousness —they are perceptions which may, however,
be called into the focus at any moment.

(6) New ideas entering consciousness, whether occa-
sioned by physical or psychical processes, usually pos-
sess a sufficient motive value to raise them into the
apperceiving centre. They can obtain significance,
however, only when they are consciously related to
other ideas. In order to establish these relations, the
mind must hold in the focus of its attention, not only
the newly entering idea, but also those to which it is
to be related. The impossibility of holding one of
two related ideas in the focus of consciousness, and
keeping the other in the ba¢kground at the moment
of establishing the relation, seems to substantiate this
view. We may say, therefore, that in an ordinary act
of apperception the mind holds under the focus of its
attention, not only the new notion, but also the other
ideas to which it must be related in order to have
significance.

‘One of the most distinctive features of recent Her-
. bartian thought is that all instruction, even in what
42 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

we regard as non-moral subjects, such as science,
mathematics, linguistics, profane history, and litera-
ture, should tend directly and powerfully to the forma-
tion of moral, not to say religious, character. If this
view has more than a sentimental validity, it is worthy
of the most serious attention; for it is evident to
every thoughtful man that our public schools have
been intellectualized beyond what is best for the in-
dividual, and the general moral welfare. In our anx-
iety that) the schools should not become sectarianized
we have allowed them to become secularized to an
unwarrantable extent. Nothing, therefore, could be
more welcome to the friends of public education, than
a system of school training that will tend strongly to
develop the moral character, without having recourse
to conflicting religious doctrines. Such a system, the
Herbartians claim to offer. It remains for us briefly
to examine its psychological basis.

A logical consequence of our “ faculty” psychology
is the notion that the will is potentially free, that
any man can do as he pleases irrespective of circum-
stances and education. This is a convenient doctrine
while we are administering a criminal code, but it is
not stimulating to the teacher, either as an induce-
ment to try to educate a child into goodness, or as an
indication of his ability to do so. The first arraign-
ment that Herbart makes of Kant’s intelligible or
transcendental freedom, is that a will 1at_a will which is inde-

pendent _of experience except in capacity to in capacity to ‘control
experience, cannot be educated. If we will, we Wwe will;

if we won’t, we won’t; and that is an end of the aihicle
matter. The Bible injunction, “Train up a child in
HERBART’S PSYCHOLOGY (8)
i
sot’

the way he should go, and when he is old he will not
depart from it,” has no applicability to a will that
sits serene and high above the influences of space and
time. Transcendental or original and absolute free-|
dom of will is accordingly inconsistent with the idea] ‘*”
of moral education.

Here again we must assume the judicial attitude
and inquire into the validity of these notions. While:
Kant, on the one hand, was so busied with a priori
phase of mind that he took no time to show how
this potential moral freedom might become actual
through experience, or to distinguish sufficiently be-
tween the mechanical freedom of caprice (which in
the end is no freedom at all) and that rational free-
dom which is founded on the highest morality; so
FEtexbart, on the other, hampered perhaps by his meta-
physical presuppositions, and engrossed with the a
posteriori, or practical, side of the problem, empha-
sizes solely the development of character through the
concrete growth of knowledge and ideals. This again
is the domain of the teacher ;)for no more in char-
acter than in intellect does hé make or unmake the
original powers of the soul: he can only develop ideals

through ideas. {It is, therefore, a matter of in aber

   
 
 
  

ence to the teacher whether the mind has this abso-
lute freedom or not, since in either event it must have
the same education. Again Herbart has the gdvatie|
tage, as in the intellectual realm, for he deals with
character as a growth. :
Since, according to Herbart, the soul possesses noth-

ing but ideas, it became necessary for him to explain
those states which we call feeling, desire, and voli-
"44 } HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS |

tion without the aid of any innate mental machinery.
Feeling is represented as arising from the relation of
ideas. |“A feeling is the consciousness of a further-
ing or an arrest of the movement of thought: when
a furthering, a feeling of pleasure; when an arrest, a
eae of pain, } The life of the soul is one of ideas;
every furthering of them is at the same time a pro-
motion of the life activity of the mind; every arrest
of ideas is also an arrest of soul life.”
{—* Desire is in general a state of mind which strives
| to bring about some other state of mind not now pres-
ee It is always directed toward some particular
; object; but of course only the idea of the object, not
the object itself, can penetrate to consciousness — not
gold, for instance, but the idea of undisturbed posses-
sion ; noe the water, but the sensation of satisfied
thirst. | Yet the idea of the object is already in con-
, sciousness when desired.) He who does not know the
quenching power of water, or who cannot imagine
the pleasure of its possession, would never desire it.
efore possession, the idea is arrested, afterward it is
freed from arrest. \ Impulse strives, therefore, to shake
off the undesirable state of arrest from the idea of
the desired object, and to exchange this state for that
of freedom from arrest in order to be complete mas-
ter of the object so far as can be through the medium
of ideas.” ?
“ But desire, in accordance with its idea, seeks gatis-
faction, If this appears impossible, the impulse re-
mains mere wish{ and has no further significance ; but

  
 
 

1 Lindner, Empirical Psychology (Boston: D. C. Heath & Co.,
1889), p. 170. 2 Lindner, Ibid. p. 213.
HERBART’S PSYCHOLOGY as }

lit to the desire there is added a belief in the attain-
ability of the desired object, the desire passes into
will and reveals itself in action and deeds. An object °
of desire is attainable when it appears as the final
member of a series of changes which. are. related .as
cause and effect, the first member of the series pro-
ceeding from the @g0 that wills. If such a causal
series comes to the support of any desire, the desire is
transformed into will; the object is not only desired,
it is willed. Will means, then, the desire for a certain
result_and the certainty, or at least-a belief in the /
certainty, of its attainment. { The impossible may be}
willed as soon as it appears to us as possible; and for
the same reason we may desire without willing that
which is really possible and practicable, so long as we
are lacking in insight as to ways and means of reach-

ing it. The clearer the insight as to the ht he TW,

pte eee

 

of an object, the more conscious a man is that he can
attain what lie desires, the stronger his will is.”}
According to this view our will activities are the
natural accompaniments and logical conclusions of our
thinking; i.e. they result from the content and rela-
tions of our ideas.. \Character-building is will-training, —
and this in turn is the apperception of ideas.) neve. /
ing the order, the teacher imparts ideas in such order
and manner as to secure their proper apperception ;
also so that transient and permanent_ desires shall
awaken from them, which in turn seek their satis-
faction in the deeds arising from volition. ‘The ques-
tion of absolute freedom is one of metaphysics, not |

1 Lindner, Empirical Psychology, pp. 238, 239.
46 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

of pedagogics. The teacher is concerned alone with
that psychological freedom whose development he can
direct and-stimulate, if not actually determine. Fur-
thermore, since the great mass of volitions that man
has occasion to execute pertain to his relations to
nature and his fellow-men both as individuals and
as organized in institutions, it follows that these voli-
tions arise naturally from the ideas thet the school
imparts, such as those pertaining to science, history,
literature, civil government, and economics. All that
need be left to the Church is the cultivation of adequate
emotional and intellectual attitude towards specific
systems of religious doctrine. Subsequent chapters
will show the direction along which the followers
.of Herbart have sought to make all the activities of
the schoolroom focus in the development of moral
character.

 
CHAPTER IV
HERBART’S ETHICS—A GUIDE TO EDUCATIONAL ENDS

THE mere exposition of a system of ethics might,
in a work of this sort, prove to be of small interest,
yet so great is the emphasis laid upon this depart-
ment of philosophy as a guide to teaching, not only
by Herbart, but by all his adherents, that any account
of his educational contributions would be very defec-
tive were the subject passed over in silence. , The
idea that the deeper purpose of education is the
development of moral character rather than intellec-
tual acumen is by no means new. Centuries ago Soc-
rates maintained the teachableness of virtue, claiming
that right doing is the necessary result of complete
knowing. As we-have seen in the preceding chapter,
Herbart finds the roots of volition in the ideas arising
from the various sources of experience. Moral insight
gained from a moral revelation of the world as it is
effected, partly through home experience, but chiefly
through school instruction, may easily pass into moral
ideas through cultivation .of.a_right spirit or disposi-
tion. | By means of careful oversight and discipline
tempered by love, moral ideals may become permanent

(47)

  
  
 
  
  
’ 48 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS
rules of action through the formation of reliable moral
habits. That-is~to_say, moral character is a growth
arising from the soil of experience as gained through
knowledge and social intercourse, not a mystical fac-
ulty born in us.

In order, therefore, to develop moral ideals and to
transform them into rules of life through a moral rev-
elation of the world, the teacher must have a clear
consciousness of the fundamental ethical ideas, or
moral principles, that find their embodiment in con-
duct.

Herbart’s theory of the manner in which we arrive
at moral judgments may or may not satisfy the mind
of the student; yet this is a matter of small conse-
quence, for all ethical systems arrive at substantially
the same rules of life, however varied the derivation
of these principles may be. The important thing for
the teacher is to see how these ethical results can be
utilized in education to secure moral insight and dis-
position. To the solution of this problem Herbart
makes the following contribution : —

| Feelings are states of the mind arising from the
\ Telations of ideas. Certain harmonious relations give
| rise to inevitable feelings of pleasure, and their oppo-
\ sites give us equally inevitable feelings of displeasure
or pain. From this fact our moral judgments arise,
just as our judgments of harmony or discord in music

\ arise. We do not ask why a certain combination of
\ tones pleases; we decide that it does. | In the same
| manner we condemn a discord. Morality necessarily
' has to do with the will, since only this can be good or

Tail, {Herbart addressed himself to the task of mak-
HERBART’S ETHICS , 49

ing a final reduction of all possible will selations; § in 7
order thus to arrive at the irreducible moral or ethi- |
cal conceptions. In this way he arrived at five moral
ideas, two of which are formal in their nature, and |
three conerete. | Each of the ideas is valid in its indi-
vidual and in its institutional aspects ; that is, between
man and man and between the individual and the
organized groups of society, such as the family, the
school, the civil community, the state or nation, and
the codperative groups of business. The ideas in
detail are as follows : —

   
  

1. Tat Inca or INNER —)

This idea arises from an inner relation between our
deeds and our insight as to what is right or wrong;
‘that is, between volition and ideas. Itis founded on |;

the pleasure arising from inner harmony. If the two
are in accord, then the mind is at peace with itself,
the conscience approves.; A man who has deliber- |
ately acted in accordance with his firm belief as to ~
what is right is internally or subjectively free. His
conscience approves, and he is at peace with himself,
even though at war with others. ‘The teacher rightly ,
tries to cultivate the conscientious spirit, but it is no
less his duty to inform the understanding as to the
moral relations that are valid in the world, and to
enlist the interests and affections of the mind in
their behalf.

—

2. Tue IpEA oF ErFiciENcy oF WILL

This idea also is formal, but of great consequency.
It implies, first, a certain positive force of ca
: 50) HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

tion and vigor of execution. Everybody knows what
a weak will is, and how hopeless is the case of a man
who cannot be counted upon to reduce his good reso-
lutions to practice. "The efficient will is the strong
will. But it is more. It must, also, be reasonably
concentrated in its action; that is, it must make all
its efforts work together for the accomplishment of
eading purposes. [ All this, however, is purely formal,
and holds of evil as well as of good men{ No man
can be positively bad whose will is not strong and
concentrated. jx truly efficient will, however, must
be consistent in its main lines of action, and to be
consistent it must be right; for deeds that are consis-,
tently evil are wholly self-destructive in the end, |
whilst there can be no idea of really efficient volli-
tional life where one action contradicts its fellow,
as must be the case where one’s deeds are partly
right and partly wrong. |It appears to follow, there-
fore, that to be truly efficient one’s will must be
strong, concentrated, and consistent with the real
_ethical order of the world.) But even granting that
@ will cannot be efficient that is not rightly directed,
the fact still remains that this principle is purely
formal, since it throws no light on what is right or
wrong. The basis of this idea is the pleasure we
have in the perfection of power.

, e Tue IDEA oF Goop-wILu

It is the natural impulse of each individual to make
himself the end and center of all that he comes in
contact with, to make himself the master to which
HERBART’S ETHICS 61.

everything else must be subordinate. \ This is a nat-
ural impulse, because each self is in reality the center
to which all its own mental experiences must be
related. But this same experience soon teaches him
that there are other selves with claims equal to his
own, and that if he would have his own selfhood re-
spected, he must respéct that of others. There thus
arises practically-im-the world the idea that Chris-
tianity calls Good-will. It is that state of mind in
which the validity of a foreign ego is recognized, or
in which the good of another is willed as if for self.
-Its opposite is ill-will, a feeling whose impulse is to
injure or destroy or subordinate a foreign ego. Good-
will is the key to a long list of virtues, such as kind-
ness, benevol nce, charity, fidelity, goodness 2O8-
ity ; while its opposite, ill-will, gives rise to an equally
extended list of faults. Exercise of the virtues of
good-will pleases us unconditionally, while a manifes-
tation of their opposite meets our unquestioning dis-
approbation.

 

 

7

—

4. Tue Ipra or JUSTICE, OR PREVENTION OF STRIFE

a —T

he idea is founded on our natural displeasure in
contention. It comes to light when two individuals
strive for the possession of that which, in the nature
of the case, only one of them can have. It is the idea
of rights, which lies at the basis of most of our laws
regarding property.; A large part of the judicial sys-
tem of every oe is devoted to the securing of |
justice in the acquisition, possession, and disposition of
wealth.
3

a HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

C6. Tue Ipea or Equity or REQUITAL

a

This idea arises whenever existing will-relations are
altered either for good or bad. It is the notion of re-
quital for good or bad actions, and it demands that
the requital shall be adequate to the deed.| This idea
is the basis of the system of rewards, and especially
of punishments, that society has gradually evolved.
Institutionalism takes the requital of evil deeds out of
the hands of the injured person, and places it in those
of the state. The effect is to ward off from others the
blow of the evil-doer, making it return upon his own
head. This conception is expressed in Michael An-
gelo’s Last Judgment, where each shows by his looks
that he is but facing the result of his own deeds,
which carry their own requital with them.

Such, Herbart thought, are the root-ideas of moral
life. It is the business of education to keep them in
touch with instruction throughout its course, to make
them the guide to social intercourse, and the disci-
linary requirements of the school. In this way the
child may reap the benefit of the accumulated experi-
ence of the past, just as he inherits the wealth stored
up by his immediate ancestors. In the impression-
able years of childhood and youth, while the heart is
tender, the imagination vivid, and the apprehension
quick, it is possible so to enlist these faculties that
the moral victory may be won before the real battle is

  
 
 
  
   
 

fought. We do not hesitate to-have the child enter __

into the inheritance that the past has left us in knowl-
edge. No child is asked to start a thousand years
behind his time in any great field of human endeavor,
HERBART’S ETHICS 53

Our children now accept the electric light as freely as
our grandfathers did the oil lamp or the tallow candle.
The same is true in every realm of science and practi-
cal life. We seize the advantage gained, and go on
to new conquests. Why should it be otherwise in the
moral world? Why may not the bitter lessons of the
past in the struggle with ethical principles be turned
quite as fully: to account as the results in the intellect-
ual world? What a weary round of scourgings the
race has gone through to arrive at its present state of
material, political, and moral freedom! The child is
born now, as ever, with all his experiences before him.
Must he, for want of proper education, retrace the
thorny path of his forefathers? We do-not ask it
with regard to his material or intellectual welfare. |
Why should we with the moral ?

Not only do the five ethical ideas pertain to individ-
uals as such, but as we have seen they have also an
institutional bearing. Thus the fifth idea, that of }
equity, gives rise in society to a system of rewards of’
a negative kind; that is, punishments for the al
ance of ethical balance... If a rich man offers the life-
guard a nickel for rescuing him from the ocean
breakers, our moral sense is outraged, but the law
inflicts no penalty; but if one person defrauds another
of property or of some personal right legally his due,
then the law prescribes penalties. On behalf of the
idea, Justice, society institutes a legal code, together
with a legal machinery for the hindrance of strife.
The business of the lawyer should be as much the pre-
vention of contention as the establishment of equity.
Furthermore, in order to realize the idea of Good-will
Ce
Nat) HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

in its institutional aspects, society organizes a system
of administration aimed at the greatest possible good
ofall. To make all wills efficient so far as may be, soci-
ety sustains a system of culture in its schools, colleges,
and universities aimed at the greatest possible power
and efficiency. Finally, the idea of inner freedom in
the large sense involves the conception of the state as
a personality having a volition, or power of acting,
and a constitution, together with its accompanying
statutes. As an individual, the state is free when its
actions and its laws are in harmony; progress is se-
cured by the gradual change of fundamental or statute
law through legislation. When the legal status of
the nation collides with the ethical ideas that rule
the individual (slavery, for instance, compelled men to
refrain from natural impulses of good-will, as in
obeying the fugitive slave law), then a conflict arises
\ between the conscience of the individual and the con-
' stitution of the state. This discord continues until
_the conscience is seared or the constitution altered.
Grasping the ideas together in their individual and
in their institutional bearings, we have for the indi-
vidual the conception of virtue. Virtue, therefore,
_ involves goodness, clear conscience, efficiency of will,
ae and equity in private and in public life. |
There is a double reason why Herbart’s thought of
moral training is important for us. In the first place,
the public schools are debarred from any sectarian use
of the Bible as well as from all religious ceremonial,
because of the simple fact that these schools are
for all sects. It is, therefore, practically impossible
for them to make distinctively religious doctrine the
HERBART’S ETHICS 55

basis of their moral training, however desirable such
a procedure may be deemed. In the next place, it
should be recognized that the moral problem in its
concrete filling changes from age to age. The Golden
Rule has indeed eternal validity, but the deeds that I
would that my neighbor should do to me differ with
the changing ideals of different ages. Furthermore,
ideals of morality arising from the relations of indi-
viduals to society as grouped into civil, social, educa-
tional, charitable, and family organizations are sub-
ject to still wider variations. In ancient Greece, moral
conceptions were focussed about the art ideal. In
Rome, the boys were taught to swim (that the Roman
armies might not be stopped by rivers) and to know the
table of the laws. Thus virtue was first esthetic, then
military and civil in its essence. During the Middle
Ages, when the Church was both the spiritual and the
temporal power that ruled the world, morality neces-
sarily fused with the religious idea, hence obedience
to church authority and strict conformity to her or-
dained ceremonial was naturally esteemed the basis of
moral character. In our own age, however, science
and political evolution have changed the point of view.
In theory, at least, every individual has political '
freedom and equality. All are alike in the liberty to
influence the social, educational, economic, and polit-
ical policy of the nation. Science has at the same
time made it possible for many more people to live
much better. Not only are larger populations now
possible, but public hygiene and medical science enable
even the feeble to survive; civil equality has raised /
the demand for universal education, and this in turn

@
56 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

lifts the ideals of the people as to what belongs of
right to human existence — a high standard of life —
good, wholesome food — decent shelter and clothing —
and some leisure. The scholar has long been able to
make his recreations conduce to the vigor of his body ;
the laborer now demands leisure to make his recreations
contribute to the cultivation of his mind. In spite,
therefore, of the fact that there is much in morality
that is unchanging and eternal, the emphasis, perpet-
ually changing, is now economic, social, and civil, as it
was once esthetic, then military, then ecclesiastical.
Who that contemplates modern society with its few
masters and many men, its concentration of capital
and division of labor, its strikes, its lockouts, its
bloody encounters, and its systems of arbitrations, can
doubt that the institutional phases of morality are
different from what they were inthe past? Universal
political liberty has also brought new problems, which
in our great cities are sharply accented, while the
advancing moral sense of the people reveals in. new
light the bane of intemperance and social impurity.
. With this prohibition of the use of religious doctrine
as the basis of moral teaching, on the one hand, and
the growing importance of what we may term public
E institutional morality on the other, we may the

more warmly welcome the thought of Herbart that
school discipline and instruction in the common
branches, if illumined by the fundamental moral

| ideas, may be the adequate means for developing

moral character.\ The thought that there may thus
“bea moral ¥évelation of the world to the child through
discipline and instruction in the school will be more
fully exemplified i sequent chapters.

¢
i

>

ay)
CHAPTER V

THE DOCTRINE OF INTEREST—ITS BEARING UPON
KNOWLEDGE AND VOLITION

A coMPLETE chapter on the subject of Interest
would be an exposition of the greater part of Her-
bart’s theory of instruction. Indeed, the caption
Many-sided Interest is used throughout his discussion
of that topic. Ziller in his Grundlegung devotes
two hundred and nine pages to an elaboration of the
educational significance of the idea. All Herbartian
writers attach great importance to the subject, for
reasons which will now be briefly stated.

( The Herbartian psychology rejects as a pure a
the idea that there is in the human mind any inde-
pendent, or transcendental, faculty whose function is
to will, and which is free in the sense that it can
originate actions that are independent of all ideas or
of thought processes. On the contrary, with Herbart’s
system, volition is strictly dependent upon ideas, —a
product of them either as they originally appeared
in the mind, or as they have come to be through
repeated returns to consciousness. Ideas become
adjusted into apperceiving masses, with which are
associated interests, ae and _yolitions. (A volition
57
58 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

\ is therefore only an idea which has passed through
4a complete development, of which interest is an essen-
itial stage. hat being the case, it becomes of the
greatest importance that the child should conceive an
inherent, abiding, and growing interest in the subject-
matter through which instruction is expected to fur-
nish a moral revelation of the world, Unless the
’ teacher can succeed in exciting such an interest, he
cannot make knowledge yield more than an intel-
lectual theoretical morality, which is perhaps little
better than none. The teacher desires that ideas of
virtue should develop into ideals of conduct; he hopes
that the heart will be warmed for these ideals; but of
such a consummation there is small prospect so long
_as the child regards the content of his studies with
indifference, it may be with aversion. Instruction
cannot, therefore, remain a dry, perfunctory drill
upon forms of knowledge and accomplish its highest
mission. We see now why all Herbartians make so
much of apperception, or the assimilation of ideas
through ideas; why they insist that the subject-matter
shall be selected, arranged, articulated, and presented
in strict accordance with the stores and processes of
the children’s minds. Only in this way can knowl-
. edge become rich in meaning to the pupil, revealing
' ever-widening relations to life and conduct.

We often conceive of interest in study merely as a
means for securing attention to lessons, hoping that
the knowledge will remain after the interest has

— departed ; whereas, the other conception is that
- through a proper presentation of the right amount of
knowledge in the best manner and at the right time,

 
  
  
THE DOCTRINE OF INTEREST 59

we may incite an interest that will abide even on
the knowledge has faded from the mind. Each of
these conceptions of interest has a certain validity,
but the latter goes much deeper; it is one of the
abiding results that instruction should reach. A
harmoniously developed, many-sided interest of this
sort is, on the one hand, a sort of graduated scale by
which we may measure the success of our efforts as
educational artists; and, on the other, the grand
initial stage in the formation of moral character
through the development of ideals, the cultivation of
moral disposition, and the acquisition of moral habits.
We see a new reason for rejecting the doctrine of \
formal culture of the mind as a desirable educational
process. The moral world is not fully revealed
through language and mathemetics, even when these ,
are as concrete as possible, much less when they are
formal and abstract. —

The following quotation from Kern! shows that
interest is regarded, not alone from the standpoint of
temporary expediency, but from that of its bearing
upon the future of the individual: “In a many-sided
interest the pupil should find a moral support and
protection against the servitude that springs from
the rule of desire and passion. It should protect
him from the errors that are the consequence of idle-
ness; it should arm him against the fitful chances
of fortune; it should make life again valuable and
desirable even when a cruel fate has robbed it of
its most cherished object; it should enable one to find

1Kern, Grundriss der Pédagogik, 12.
“a
60, HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

a new calling when driven from the old; it should
| elevate him to a standpoint from which the goods
and successes of earthly striving appear as accidental,

by which his real self is not affected, and above which

the moral character stands free and sublime.”
That the subject of interest should be regarded
, Specifically also, Herbart divided the various kinds of
\ interests into two groups or classes; namely, (a) in-
-terests arising from knowledge, and (b) interests
| arising from intercourse with others, as in the family,
\ the school, the church, the civil community, society.

Sasa

  

oc

\
\ (A.) IntEREsts From KnowLEDéE

Of interest as related to knowledge, we may dis-
tinguish the following phases : —

1. The empirical interest, or the pleasure excited

in the mind by the changes and novelty that arise
(_from a presentation of the manifold and variegated.)
\. Wonder is one of its manifestations, and is, as Plato
long ago told us, the starting-point of knowledge.
The exciting of empirical interest is, therefore, the

’ beginning of education; it explains many of the
“devices of the kindergarten, and most of the concrete
objective work of the primary school. } A large part
of the devices regarded as methods of teaching are
invented to catch the wandering attention of the
children until it can be fixed on more serious things.
These devices are perfectly legitimate, and even
necessary, unless, passing their proper limit, they
become hysterical or sensational. One sometimes
finds schools in which the children will ignore every-
THE DOCTRINE OF INTEREST 61

thing but the most dramatic efforts to attract their
attention, and will give but transient heed even to
these. That every earnest purpose of education is
thereby destroyed at least for the time being is self-
evident.

2. The speculative interest, or the search for the
causal connection of things to which the dark, or
problematical, or mysterious impels the mind.) “He
who rejoices upon looking into the starry heavens
has the empirical interest; he who reflects upon the
conditions of stellar origin has the speculative inter-
est.” It is the speculative interest to which we ap-

peal when we teach pupils to perceive the reasons of!

things; when we lead them to look beyond the facts:

to the laws that unify them, and make them appear
in their rational connection. This interest is of the
utmost importance for education. Its beginnings are
found in very young children, and not until a mind
has become atrophied by age or occupation or bad
teaching does it cease to be the mainspring of intel-
lectual life. So long as spontaneity remains, the
causal and other rational relations of things will be
sought. It is in the discovering of these relations
that thinking chiefly consists. It needs no argument,
therefore, to demonstrate that an interest so vital to
mental vigor should be developed to the fullest ex-
tent by the teacher.(. The man is intellectually dead
whose mind is not continually challenged to investi-
gation, who like the stolid ox plods ‘on, unmindful of
all that does not promise to minister directly to his

1Ufer, Introduction to the Pedagogy of Herbart, translated by
J.C. Zinser. Boston: D. C. Heath & Co., 1894.
(=) HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

physical profit. How can a man be a good citizen
who cares nothing for the causes that produce mis-
rule in the land? How can he be a useful brother
who cares nothing for the social and economic forces
that produce weal or woe to his fellows? What
to him are railroads, steamships, telegraphs, news-
papers, and all the great instruments of industry, if
he is not stimulated by their presence to investigate
their function? The Macbeths of the mind are those
who silence its cry for the knowledge of origin and
causes. The speculative interest is the gateway to
all progress that rests on the apprehension of logical
relations.
i: The esthetic interest, or that which is aroused
\ not by the manifoldness and variety of things or their
causal relations, but the contemplation of an ideal
through a sense medium, as, for instance, the charac-
ter of Moses (an ideal) through Michael Angelo’s
statue of him (made of marble). It is the interest
aroused by the beautiful in nature, in art, or in
'morals.{ In the case of moral beauty, an ideal is
manifested, not through stone or canvas, but by
means of conduct—action. This interest —a passion-
% ate one with most persons of some races, and with
wy some persons among all races—is often neglected
through contempt for its utility or fear of its in-
fluence. That art has sometimes been debased to
ignoble uses is no more an argument for its neg-
lect, than the fact that religion has often been used
to inflame hatred is a reason for its abandonment.
The soul has a right to symmetrical development;
but this it cannot have if a part of its natural inter-
THE DOCTRINE OF INTEREST 68

ests are ignored. It must therefore be asserted, in :
spite of Puritan teaching to the contrary, that the |
esthetic sense of the children must be cultivated as |
the source of much pure joy. The time should come
when even the artisan will be an artist in his work,
when beauty will be everywhere a sweetener of life.
To these ends, as well as to the idea of beauty as an
end in itself, the teacher must turn a part of his
attention.

(B.) INTERESTS ARISING FROM ASSOCIATION WITH
OTHERS

Of the interests arising from human relations, the
following points may be distinguished : —

1. The sympathetic interest, or that which is
aroused by the joy or sorrow of pe The culti-
vation of this species of interest should begin in
the family, though as a matter of fact it is very
frequently repressed by a collision of selfish wills,
giving tise to all sorts of bickerings and petty heart-
burnings. It often happens, therefore, that children
first learn in the kindergarten what satisfaction there
is in the spirit of codperation. Miss Harrison of
Chicago relates an incident of a pretty young miss
who came to the kindergarten dressed in silks and
spangles. The children began a play in which the
girls were to represent the housewives and the boys
the out-of-door laborers. When the part of prepar-
ing dinner for Tommy came to the new pupil, she
flung herself into a chair with many airs, saying,
“My mamma doesn’t get dinner; she leaves that for
the servants.” “Very well,” said the teacher, “we
a
c

fs HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

will excuse you, if you like.” The play went on with
much pleasure to all except the little girl in silks,
who sat debarred from all the fun. The next day
she dismissed her foolish pride, and, after that, en-
tered heartily into all the occupations of the kinder-

| garten. The school, too, has constant opportunity to

' develop the spirit of brotherly kindness, ideally in
such studies as literature, history, zodlogy; really in
the daily intercourse of the pupils.

If this feeling of individual sympathy is extended
by a knowledge of the wider relations of society into
feelings respecting the welfare of large numbers, we
have: —

2. The social interest. It is in laying the founda-
tions for this species of interest that the kindergarten
is preéminent. Its games, plays, songs, occupations,
involving the codperation of all the members, are
an ideal epitome of social codperation in its highest
form.; The school should continue to develop the
| spirit so admirably generated in the kindergarten, for
' out of these beginnings grow the great institutional
interests of the Anglo-Saxon race. It lies at the
basis of public spirit, charity, public reform, patriot-
ism, commercial reciprocity, and their kindred virtues.
The studies that give preéminent opportunity for
the development of this interest are literature, civics,
‘and commercial geography. ‘This last study, more
than any other, reveals to the child his own present
and possible future relation to the business world.
Even the barefooted urchin of the country crossroads
may be led to see that his parents cast their mite
into the world’s commerce to have it returned to

 
 
  
 
    
THE DOCTRINE OF INTEREST (o_

them, not after many days, but at once, enriched and
magnified. ‘The heart of the youth is fired as he
beholds the possibilities of a life of codperative har-
mony with others; he sees the possibilities of his
own worth enhanced a thousand fold, his petty self-
hood infinitely enlarged, his dignity exalted, through
the reinforcement that the race brings to him when
he learns the supreme lesson of serving himself |
through service to his fellow-man.

3. The religious interest. f This interest may be to
considerable extent ee in the school, even when
not a word is said about the subject in the form of
direct instruction. As Ufer says, “\When interest is
directed to the history and destiny of mankind, when
it is as clear to the understanding as to the feelings
that the ordering of the history of man involves some-
thing more than mere human power, and that, there-
fore, the history of each individual does not lie entirely ;
in his own hands, then fear and hope gather in the
heart.” }

The foregoing exposition is designed to show that’
Herbart meant by interest something of vast 5
tance to the development of the individual, not a'
mere tickling of the mind for transient ends.) In the/
words of Staude, “Interest is the light with which
Herbart has once for all brought the dark and tortu-
ous course of didactics into the clearness of day. It
is the charmed word which alone gives power to in-
struction to call the spirit of youth and to make
it serve the aim of the master. It is the lever of

 

   
 
 
 
   
     

1 Ufer, Introduction to the Pedagogy of Herbart.
ho a per

66 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

education, which, lightly and joyfully moved by the
teacher, can alone bring the youthful will into the
desired activity and direction.” ?

1Dr. R. Staude, Pédagogische Studien, Hrsg. von W. Rein, Heft
IL.
CHAPTER VI

INSTRUCTION —ITS MATERIALS, COURSE, AND METHOD
1. Matreriats or InstRucTION

Tue materials of instruction are the literature and
science that constitute human knowledge. It is to
Herbart’s successors that one must look for detailed
directions for the selection and articulation of the
subject-matter of instruction. Herbart himself dis-
cussed these topics for the most part in principle
only. Of literature and history he says, “Periods
which no master has described, whose spirit no poet
breathes, are of little value to education.”! Guided
by the doctrine of apperception as an index to the
child’s natural interests, he insisted that Greek should
come before Latin. He found his boys ready and
eager to read the Odyssey at a period at which Latin
was highly distasteful to them. The following testi-
mony as to his own experience gives his point of view :

“T am indebted to the Odyssey for one of the hap-
piest experiences of my life, and in a great degree for
my love of education. This experience did not teach
me the motive; that I saw before, clearly enough to

1 Herbart, Science of Education, Felkins’ translation, p. 74.
67
68 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

begin my work as a teacher by allowing two boys, one
nine, the other not yet eight years old, to lay their
Eutropius aside, and requiring from them Greek in-
stead, even Homer at once, without any so-called
preparation by the hotch-potch of text-books. I erred
in keeping far too closely to the routine of schools,
exacting accurate grammatical analysis, when for this
beginning only the principal signs of inflection ought
to have been taught and explained with untiring rep-
etition, rather than demanded again and again from
the boy by pressing questions. I lacked all prepara-
tion in history and mythology, so necessary to make
exposition easier, and so easily furnished by a student
who possesses true educational tact. Many an inju-
rious breeze from afar disturbed me much in my sur-
roundings, which, I can now but silently think, was
favorable to me. But nothing can destroy my hope
that the good natures of healthy boys are not to be
considered such rarities, but will stand the greater
number of educators in good stead as they stood me.
And while I can easily imagine a much greater art in
carrying out the task than my first attempt can boast,
I believe I learned from my experience (for which the
reading of the Odyssey required a year and a half)
that this commencement in private tuition is as prac-
ticable as it is wholesome, and that it must ordinarily
succeed in this sphere, if teachers who approach the
subject not only in the philological but also in the
educational spirit, will lay down some rules by way
of help and foresight, more minutely than time and
space at present permit me to do. I cannot deter-
mine what is possible in schools, but were I in the
INSTRUCTION—ITS MATERIALS 69

position to do so, I would make the attempt with
courage, and with the firm conviction, that even if
the result were failure, the evil could not be greater
than arises from the customary study of Latin gram-
mar and Roman authors, of which not one exists even
passably suitable for guiding a boy at any period of
his childhood into the ages of antiquity. They may
conveniently follow, if Homer and a few other Greeks
have gone before. /But a considerable amount of
learned confusion is shown in the manner in which
they have hitherto been used, and in tolerating for
the sake of an instruction so wholly wanting in all
educational value, so much labor for so many years,
so much sacrifice of good humor, and of all free move-
ment of the mind. I appeal to many educational
reviews more easily forgotten than confuted, which at
any rate exposed this great evil, even if they did not
at once point out a suitable remedy.

“The preceding is sufficient to afford a preliminary
‘acquaintance with this proposal; it is not sufficient
to exhibit it in its infinitely numerous relations. It
would be but a beginning, were any one inclined to
grasp the whole of the present volume in one thought,
and carry that thought about with him for many
years. I at least have not given expression hur-
riedly to my experience. My attempt began more
than eight years ago, and since then I have had time
to consider it.

“ Let us rise to a general consideration of the subject.
Let us look on the Odyssey as the point of touch in a
fellowship between pupil and teacher, which, while it
elevates the one in his own sphere, no longer depresses
70 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

the other, and while it guides the one farther and
farther through a classical world, yields the other a
most interesting picture in the imitative progress of
the boy, of the great development of humanity, and
lastly prepares a store of recollections, which, asso-
ciated with this eternal work of genius, must be re-
awakened at each return to it. In like manner, a
familiar star recalls to friends the hours when they
were wont to observe it together.” }

Further directions as to choice of material are given
in the Science of Education,” as follows : —

“Without wasting time I merely mention that of
Homer’s works, the cruder Iliad is not suitable, but
the entire Odyssey is, with the exception of a single
long piece in the eighth book (individual expressions
can be easily avoided). The Philoctetus of Sophocles
in early years, then the historical writings of Xeno-
phon (not, however, the essentially immoral Mem-
orabilia, which owe their reputation to the greatest-
happiness doctrine), and in later boyhood, after a few
easy Dialogues, the Republic of Plato can be read.
This last is exactly suited to the awakening interest
in wider society; in the years when young men seri-
ously devote themselves to politics it is just as little
satisfying as Homer to a youth who is just at that
period when he throws everything childlike behind
him. Plato, as the teacher of idealism, and Homer,
as the poet, always remain for riper age; but do not
these writers deserve to be read twice? Has not the
teacher of youth the choice of spending much or little
time in his own hand ? ”

lHerbart, Science of Education, p. 91. 2 Herbart, Ibid., p. 168.
COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 71

It is to Ziller and Rein that we look for detailed
selection and arrangement of studies upon the basis
of apperception and a moral revelation of the world
through their thought contents.

=

2. CoursE oF INSTRUCTION

Looking upon the educational procedure in a broad
way, Herbart, in the Science of Education, distin-
guishes three methods of procedure; viz. (1) the
merely presentative, (2) the analytic, and (8) the
synthetic.

1. Only that can be presented according to the first
method which is sufficiently similar to that which the
pupil has already observed ; as, for example, pictures
of strange cities, lands, and costumes, with the pict-
ures of other well-known objects; historical descrip-
tions reminding of the present. A mere explication
loses in clearness and penetration the further it is
removed from the experience of the child. Its rule
is, “so to describe that the pupil will imagine that he
has a direct sense-perception.”

2. Analytic instruction, however, resting on its own
strength, has to do more with that which may be sepa-
rated, that which has reached some degree of univer-
sality. That which is simultaneously present can be
separated into its parts, and the parts into character-
istics. ~The masses of ideas which course through the
mind may be separated, in order to bring clearness to
them. Events may also in similar way be separated
or analyzed. In all this one comes upon that which
cannot be separated, which is law-giving for the specu-
lative intellect, and upon that which should or should
72 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

not be separated, which is based upon esthetic rela-
tions, the taste. In analytic instruction we make an
analysis of that which the child knows in a general
way, in order that he may become conscious of that
which is really implied in his knowledge, but not con-
sciously perceived ; thus, if we analyze the line, “ Art
is long, and time is fleeting,” which the student under-
stands well enough in a certain way, we shall discover
a wealth of implied meaning not at first seen. We
may find that “art” means any kind of human activ-
ity in which there is productivity —useful arts and
fine arts; that “long” refers to the past and to the
future; that the present status of any art (paint-
ing, weaving) is the product of all recorded progress
in the past; that if aman would advance in art, he
must master its past to start with, and manage to get
his advance embodied in some tangible form (a dy-
namo, for instance) ; that, indeed, all machines are the
records of arts that are so “long” that they may
extend over centuries, and that what we call institu- --
tions are the spiritual machines of the race; finally,
that all education is the process of making the indi-
vidual master of these “long” arts. But the advan-
tages of analytical instruction are restricted by the
limitations of that which can be given only in experi-
ence. Analysis must take its material as it finds it.
3. Synthetic instruction, however, “which builds
out of its own stones,” reaches much farther. It can-
not, indeed, be richer than the science and literature
‘of the world, but it is incomparably richer than the
‘individual environment of the child. Within its ter-
_ritory lie mathematics and science, together with that
COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 73

which precedes and follows them, and the whole ad-

vance of mankind through the steps of culture from
the old to the new. Synthesis has two functions: to
give the elements, and to contrive their union. To
complete the synthesis is impossible, for this is an
unending process.

Herbart now applies the analytic and the synthetic

' methods of instruction to each of the chief classes

of interest. The group of interests arising out of

knowledge is developed from such subjects as mathe-

matics and natural science, while that arising from
human association (Thetlnahme) comes out of those

subjects which relate to man, such as history, litera-

ture, and religion. We cannot at present follow him |
through these applications, though: they are highly
suggestive to the teacher.

In view of certain developments in the Herbartian
school, it will be interesting to note Herbart’s attitude
toward religion. He says: “The youth is likely to

_ lose himself in opinions. His character must guard

af
ti
4
4
|
Hl
i

him from ever thinking it desirable to have no relig-
ion; his taste must be too pure ever to find the dis-
cord bearable which necessarily arises in a world
without moral order; that is to say, which arises out
of a world of realities without the reality of God.”
He thinks the religious feeling of childhood should be

\| cherished, for it is impossible suddenly to restore a

lost religious sensibility through speculative convic-
tion. “Yet positive religion as such does not belong

' to the school, kut to the church and to the parents.”

The followers of Herbart, seizing upon the fact that
Germany is a unit in demanding the teaching of relig-

\
a
74 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

ion in the schools, have made this the pivot about
which everything turns and to which everything is
related. ‘This may be regarded as purely accidental,
and by no means necessary to a thorough application
of Herbartian principles.

3. Metruops or InstTRucTION

Here again Herbart discusses the subject in prin-
ciple rather than in concrete detail; while the brief
exposition he gave has, in his successors, grown to be
an important chapter, under the general title of the
Formal (or rational) Stages of Instruction (Die for-
malen Stufen des Unterrichts).'

Antecedent to a consideration of the four steps to
be observed as a principle of instruction, we shall need
to examine briefly Herbart’s view of attention as a
phase of apperception, and his very suggestive dis-
tinction between mental absorption and rational reflec-
tion.

We have seen that all mental life consists in the
reciprocal actions, relations, and conditions of the
ideas; that the business of education is to supply
ideas, to assist in their arrangement, and to bring their
‘proper relations before consciousness. An ideal sys-
tem of pedagogics must show how this is to be done.
We are indebted to Herbart, perhaps, more than to
any other man, for a series of fine observations giving

1 The following works may be cited at this point: Wiget, Die
formalen Stufen; Rein, Outlines of Pedagogics, Van Liew’s trans-
lation, Syracuse, N.Y.: C. W. Bardeen, 1893; DeGarmo, Essentials
of Method, Boston: D. C. Heath & Co., 1893; McMurry, General
Method, Bloomington, Ml.: Public-School Publishing Co., 1893.
METHODS OF INSTRUCTION 75

clearness and certainty to the procedure of instruc-
tion.

The first step in this direction is the doctrine of
Attention, a subject that has received its most ex-
haustive and fruitful treatment at Herbart’s hands.

Voluntary and involuntary attention are the two
parts into which the subject naturally falls.

(a) Voluntary Attention— This is brought about
through the effort of the will in obedience to some
remote purpose of the teacher in government or train-
ing. In this case the representations are given to con-
sciousness and are not spontaneous ( freisteigend).
At this point one of the greatest and commonest
mistakes of teachers is made. They imagine that |
when they are forcing attention or inducing it by |
means of remote ends, such as good marks, emulation, |
high rank in school, prizes, etc., that they are best
serving the child and the school. They do not con-
sider that they are losing sight of the main purpose, |
which is the excitation of direct interest. This can }
arise only out of the subject itself. The voluntary:
attention, however, is by no means to be rejected in
those cases where self-control is necessary, as in long-
continued direct perception, in learning by heart, etc.
For this latter procedure, Herbart gives a number of
practical hints. We should not begin with learning
by heart even when this itself is the end to be reached.
First must come clearness in single perceptions; then
their association. There should be no hurry; the be-
ginning must be slow, especially where great difficul-
ties are to be met. Bodily movements, oral recitation,

often in concert, writing, drawing, are all helps which
es

~~

76 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

are not to be neglected. Even where the memorized
matter is to be always held by the memory, perpetual
repetition is a questionable means, for it may easily
lead to overpressure. It is preferable to exercise the
mind by constant application of the matter in hand to
that which actually interests the pupil.

(b) Involuntary Attention —Involuntary attention
is divided into primitive and apperceiving. In primi-
tive attention the idea arises solely through its own
individual power; in apperceiving attention it is
assisted or reinforced through its connection with
ideas already present. For the primitive attention,
Herbart lays down four rules :—

1. The sense-impression must have sufficient
strength; hence the need of direct sense-perception
of things. This failing, a picture is preferable to a
description.

2. Excess of sense-impression must be avoided, so
that receptivity may be prolonged.

3. A rapid piling up of one thing upon another
must be avoided. There must be singling out, separa-
tion, procedure step by step, in order that through the
opposition of the ideas a hindrance or mutual arrest
shall not arise among them.

4. There must be intermissions, or resting-points,
so that the aroused ideas may have time to restore
their equilibrium, or, in other words, so that the child
may have time enough to apprehend, in its proper
connection, what has been given to him. It is not
advisable, therefore, to hold young children to recita-
tion for long periods at a time.

The apperceiving attention is that state of the mind
METHODS OF INSTRUCTION 17

in which each new representation is brought into
proper union or relation with those already present. |
It is of the greatest importance in education, and |
although presupposing and depending upon the primi- |
tive attention, it is observed very early in life.
Apperception must constantly be exercised in all
instruction, for instruction is given in words only;
the ideas upon which the interpretation of the words
depends must be supplied by the hearer, or learner.
When this kind of attention is once properly pursuing
its course, it should not be disturbed. The teaching
must go on until it has satisfied the expectation that |
it has aroused. The solution must plainly answer to

the problem. Everything must be connected, -
tion is disturbed by unti auses or by the intro-
duction of foreign matter. It is disturbed when that |

is brought into the light which should have remained |
in shadow. The same is true of oft-repeated words,
set forms of expression — everything that emphasizes
the language at the expense of the subject-matter ;
this is true even of rhymes, stanzas of poetry, and
rhetorical adornment when used in the wrong place.
A fundamental rule is that, before being set at work, ;
the pupil shall be led into a field of consciousness
similar to that in which his work is to lie. This can
be done at the beginning of a recitation hour by giving
a short review of the work of the preceding lesson or
by a general review of that which is to be attempted,
or by both. This thought is more fully developed by
Herbart’s disciples. Instruction builds upon the foun-
dation of experience already gained in or out of the
school, ‘he fact that that which is already possessed
78 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

es to be widened and strengthened and arranged, ex-
‘cites attention and expectation. If that which is
‘already possessed is not strong and vivid enough, it
‘taust be reproduced in order to lead the pupil into the
field of thought where his work lies. The right care
for the apperception, t.e., the proper distribution of
the masses of ideas as they exist in consciousness or
come into it, is of the greatest importance in method-
ical instruction. For, only by a vital and consistent

| uniting of new ideas to those already present, can the
: compass of thought be continually extended and made
_@ permanent acquisition. This is the reason why

the teaching of great numbers of unrelated facts, in
geography and history, for instance, is such a fatal
blunder.

(c) Mental Absorption and Reflection—In the ac-
tivity of the mind in taking on or apprehending the
ideas in their manifoldness, we meet with the notions
of Absorption (Vertiefung) and Reflection (Besin-
nung). Absorption is the giving up of one’s self to
an object in thought. It is the special care that one
gives to a subject in order to apprehend it fully and to
enter into it. But absorption should not be distorted.
A single, habitual frame of mind that would falsify
and minimize all other impressions, must be avoided.
“The mind should manifest itself clearly in many
directions.”

But again, the personality that rests upon unity of
consciousness would not obtain in continuous absorp-
tion, if the collecting power of reflection did not step
in to unite the manifold that absorption has given.
Reflection must, however, avoid the synthesis of the
METHODS OF INSTRUCTION 79

contradictory, for where this occurs confusion follows,
or the mind is lost in doubt and irrational desires.
“But the true significance of reflection (Besinnung)
‘is not that what we call inner synthesis, consists
merely in a uniting of ideas in general, but that we
simultaneously gather them about the focus of our
self-consciousness, and make ourselves aware of them
as our possessions, or mental states.” But since the
two notions, absorption and reflection, exclude each |
other, each must pass over into the other. Herbart
calls them the inspiration and expiration of the soul.

It is in this connection that we come next to the
logical distinction of four steps, or stages, in instruc-
tion and method. They are: (1)clearness; (2) -asso- |
ciation ; (3) system; (4) method,

(d) The Formal Steps of Instruction— Taking up
the four notions in order, we have: —

1. Clearness —By this term Herbart means the ap-
prehension of the individual, or single object as such.
The manner of instruction _is simple presentation on
the part of the teacher and reception on the part of
the pupil. It may, according to one of Pestalozzi’s
methods of elementary instruction, consist in the
teacher’s presenting a word or a sentence to the class
and having the latter repeat the same, singly or in
concert. In general, it means the perception of any
concrete or individual fact by the pupil. This step
is one of absorption. -

2. Association — This consists in a progress from |
one absorption to another, as opposed to the non-pro-'

1§$chmidt, Encyclopddie der Pidagogik, art. ‘‘ Herbart.’’
80 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

gressive absorption of the first step. It appears as a
uniting that is determined through the imagination,
“which tastes every compound and rejects only the
tasteless.” Association is not complete when, in that
which is learned, there is not force enough to bring
the imagination to the front, or when that which is
learned checks its action. The method for this step
is conversation, which gives the pupil an opportunity
to investigate, to change, to make consistent the acci-

dental union of thoughts, and to assimilate, after his

‘own fashion, what is learned. This step, although
characterized as absorption, seems to contain elements
of reflection. - It is an elementary stage in the process
of apperception, or assimilation of knowledge.

3. System. —This is the step in which each part of
that which is learned finds its proper place in relation
to the other parts. It evidently belongs to the non-
progressive reflection (ruhende Besinnung). It is the
rich arrangement of a rich reflection. “Its essential
condition ts clearness of the individual elements; its
method is the connected discourse. The bare state-
ment of an all-pervading principle does not suffice to
bring its importance into view, except to him who
reflects. To see the importance and bearing of this
principle one need only consider what a chaos instruc-
tion is when codrdination does not come in to unite
and articulate any given manifold.” Just as the mind
‘synthesizes the manifold of sensation into significant
‘unities, so the teacher should synthesize the manifold
‘given in instruction, in order that each factor may
‘find its place in an organic whole. This stage com-
‘ pletes the association of the elements of knowledge,
METHODS OF INSTRUCTION 81

and brings about the highest scientific organization of [
which the pupil is capable.

4, Method —By this term Herbart understands the
well-ordered self-activity of the pupil in the solution
of tasks, and in investigation under the leadership of
the teacher. He sees in this step the progressive re-
flection. The mode of procedure is to assign tasks
and problems whose preparation is the duty of the
pupils, and which the teacher corrects.

As before remarked, it is one of the chief merits of
the Herbartian school to have further developed these
thoughts of the master." We may therefore defer a
more minute discussion of the subject, and close this
department of our topic with a few quotations of gen-
eral import.

Herbart says: “In general, absorption should pre-
cede reflection, but just how far it should do so re-
mains undetermined. Certainly the two must be
kept together as closely as possible, for we wish no
absorption that would be harmful to personal unity,
the condition of which is reflection. We can desire
no reflection whose long and unbroken continuance
would create a tension under which a sound mind
could not exist ina sound body. In order, therefore,
to keep the mind in balance, we prescribe the general
tule: give equal prominence to absorption and elles)

1 The most elaborate application of these four ideas, now known
in Germany as the formal stages of instruction, is found in Dr.
Rein’s Theorie und Praxis des Volksschulunterrichts nach Her-
bartischen Grundsdtzen. In these books all the work of the eight
school years is laid down in great detail, and a large number of
model exercises worked out according to the formal steps. This
epoch-making work will be considered in Part II.
82 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

tion in every group of objects, even the smallest;
that is to say, emphasize equally clearness of the in-
dividual perception, association of the manifold, co-
érdination of the associated, and progress through
exercise according to this codrdination. Upon these
conditions depends the charm which should rule in
everything that is learned.”

In this connection Herbart’s protest against tedious-
ness in the school-room is pertinent. He says: “ Ex-
perience often brings a tediousness that we have to
bear, but which the pupil should never have to suffer
at the hands of the teacher. Tediousness is the great-
est sin of instruction. It is the privilege of instruction
to fly over steppes and morasses; if it cannot always
wander in pleasant valleys, it can at least exercise
in mountain climbing and reward with broad fields
of view.”
CHAPTER VII

SCHOOL DISCIPLINE — GOVERNMENT AND TRAINING

‘

1. GovERNMENT

THis chapter is an important one for those who
would grasp the whole significance of Herbart’s system
of education, in which instruction in knowledge, even
that apparently non-moral in kind, performs an im-
portant function in the development of moral charac _
ter. | Arthe outset Herbart makes a sharp distinction —
between-mere repressive governmental, or police, reg-.
ulation, whereby heedlessness, or ‘youthful impetu-
osity and boisterousness, is held in check without
regard to any specific moral effort; and “to those more
serious, far-reaching efforts that involve the forma-
tion of moral habits. /By g government, then, he means
the immediate maintenance “of ow outward order through
enforced authority, the holding in check of youthful
perversity, partly that education may succeed, partly
to secure the safety of the child in many kinds of
danger, partly to protect society against childish love
of destruction and mischief. { Training is moral edu-_| i
cation itself in so far asit. works directly upon the
mind. It seeks to build the will, whereas govern-

= 83
(84 ) HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

ment attempts only to hold it temporarily in _re-
straint. Training is here ‘related and united to
instruction, and together with it comprises the whole
of education proper. Government works for the pres-
f ent, training for the future. ITt is the business of
\/_ | government to hold youthful impulses in check until
“| training has time to form a will that shall be able
| to control them.j Great harm ensues when the teacher
eee sins Bi ae eee when he imagines
that older and shrewder pupils need only shrewder
government. The following from Herbart’s own
words makes perfectly clear the occasion for govern-
ment, together with its scope and function : —

“The child enters the world without a will of its
own, and is therefore incapable of any conscious moral
relation.| Consequently the parents (partly spontane-
ously, partly agreeably to the demand of society) can
make themselves master of the child as of a chattel. It
is true they know well that in the being whom they
now, without asking, treat as they like, a Will in the
course of time will put itself forth, which they must
win over to themselves if the incongruity of a con-
flict unseemly to both is to be avoided. But it is

ee before this takes place. At first, instead of a
true will, which renders the child capable of deter-

\-| mination, there is only a wild impetuosity, impelling
| st-hither and thither, a principle of disorder, dis-
turbing the plans of adults, and placing the future
personality of the child itself in manifold dangers.

This impetuosity must be subdued, or the-disorderly
character will be put down as the fault of the child’s

J guardians Subjection is brought about by force, and
GOVERNMENT i 85 )

the force must be sufficiently strong, and often enough
repeated, to compass this subjection before any trace
of a true will is manifested in the child. ( The prin-
ciples of practical philosophy require this.

“But the germs of this blind impulsiveness, these
crude desires, remain in the child, and even increase
and grow stronger with time. ‘To the end, therefore,
that they may not give to the will growing up in
their midst an anti-social direction, {it is necessary
to keep them constantly under an ever-perceptible
restraint.

“An adult trained to reason undertakes, as time goes
on, to govern himself. / There are human beings, how-
ever, who never reach this point, and society keeps
such under perpetual guardianship, calling some
idiots, some prodigals. Some there are who actually
cultivate in themselves an anti-social will; with such
society is inevitably at war, and generally they are
justly worsted in the end. But the conflict is a
moral evil for society itself, to prevent which child-
government is one among numerous necessary pre-
cautions.

“Tt is obvious that the aim of child-government is
manifold — partly avoidance_of harm both for others
and for the child himself in the present and the
future, partly avoidance of strife_as an evil in itself,
finally sroldencorot Tolltion, i atioh society finds
itself forced into a contest for which it is not perfectly
authorized.

“Tt all amounts to this, that such government aims
at producing no specific moral result in the mind
(Gemiith) of the child, but only at creating a spirit of

sa

    
 
 
 
  
‘cae HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

order. Nevertheless, it will soon be clear that ihe
cultivation of the child-soul cannot be altogether a
matter of indifference to government.” }
These childish offences arise out of desires having
a bodily or mental origin. The wise teacher seeks to
remove theircause/ For example, if disturbance arise
tom physical restlessness, this is an indication that
' seats are uncomfortable, or that the air is bad, or the
temperature too high or too low, or that the recita-
tion periods are too long. Disturbances arising from
mental conditions must likewise be traced to their
source, that the disturbing cause may be removed.
The impulse to mental activity is one of the strongest
in the child. If school work is not properly planned,
some children will receive no food for mental activity
from the teacher, and will, of course, supply their own.
It follows naturally, when the teacher has been able
to excite only indirect or transient interest, such as
results from mere government or unworthy incentive
to study, that disturbances arising from mental dis-
satisfaction are always imminent. In such cases
the disturbing cause is the teacher.

The watchful attention of the teacher is a means of
government to prevent disorder. Again, the teacher
may demand obedience to his directions. If the obedi-
ence is to follow as a result of the teacher’s authority,
without inquiry into reasons, then any means taken
to secure obedience belong to the department of gov-
ernment. The obedience that follows the directions
of the teacher, because the pupil in consequence of \

    
  

1 Science of Education, pp. 95, 96.
GOVERNMENT “St.

reflection has agreed to their correctness, falls, not,
under government, but under training. The means of |

    
 
 

punishments, at the end_of which stands corporal
chastisement. Yet more fundamental to government
are two ruling, complementary ideas, AutHoRITY and
Love. Of them Herbart says: “The mind bends to
anthony y its peculiar movements are constrained by
it, and” it may thus be of considerable service in sup-
pressing a growing will which tends to perverseness.
It can be least dispensed with in the case of the most
energetic natures, for these make trial of the bad as
well as the good, and pursue the good if they are
not lost in the bad. )But authority is obtained only
through superiority of mind, and this, as is well known,
cannot be reduced to rules. [It must act indepen-
dently, without reference to education. A logical and
far-reaching course of action once prescribed, must
openly and freely take its own straight course, regard-
ful of circumstances, but undisturbed, untroubled by
the likes or dislikes of a weaker will. If the careless
boy breaks rudely into the prescribed circle, he must
be made to feel what he might spoil. If the wanton
desire to spoil arises in him, the intention, so far as it
becomes or could become an act, must be richly pun-
ished; but the teacher must scorn to take any notice of
the bad will, together with the insult implied therein.
To wound the desire to do evil, which the government
of children is as powerless as the state to punish, with
the deep disapproval it deserves, is the business of \
education, which begins only after government has |
done its work./ For the way to utilize authority once_,

 
 
   
  

 
( 88 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS
= i,
attained, we must look beyond government to educa- )
tion proper. For though mental culture gains nothing
directly from passive obedience to authority, the raark-
ing out or enlargement of the circle of thought which
depends upon it, and in which the pupil moves freely
‘and builds up himself independently, is of the highest
importance.
Love depends on the harmony of the feelings and
The difficulty a stranger finds in winning
it at once becomes apparent. He who secludes him-
, self, who speaks much in hard tones, and becomes ex-
‘ cited about trifles, will assuredly never gain it; nor,
on the other hand, will he who makes himself familiar
—who, when he should be kind and yet at the same
time maintain his ascendancy, seeks his own pleasure
by taking part in the enjoyment of the children. The
harmony of feelings that love demands, may arise in
two ways. Hither the teacher enters into the feelings
of the pupil, and without permitting it to be noticed,
joins in them with tact; or he takes care that the
' feelings of the pupil can approach his own in some
particular way; this is more difficult, but must, never-
theless, be combined with the other, because only
when it is possible for the pupil to unite his activity
in some way or other with the teacher’s can he con-
tribute force of his own to the relationship between
them.
ee a boy’s love is transitory and fitful unless suffi-
cient strength of habit be added. \, Time, tender care,
intercourse alone with the individual, strengthen the
relationship. We need not say how much this love,
once won, lightens the task of government; but it is

 
 
  
TRAINING 89

so important to education proper (since it imparts to
the pupil the teacher’s bent of mind), that those de-
serve the severest blame who so readily and so fatally
make use of it to gratify themselves by the exhibi-
tion of their power over their children.”

2. TRAINING, OR DiIscIPLINE IN THE LarcEr SENSE

To sbow more fully, however, what relation train-
ing, or discipline in the wider sense, bears to the
formation of character, Herbart offers the following
trenchant remarks upon the attempts that many make
to form character through repression or by harping
upon the chords of sensibility : —

“Direct action on the youthful mind with a view
to habit, is discipline, or training. It appears, then,
there is a possibility of forming the character by
merely acting on the feelings without reference to
the circle of thought. It might indeed appear to be
so, if we were wont, without further search, to give
ideas logically put together out of properties the credit
of reality - -

“But it will appear quite otherwise if we interro-
gate experience. At least, whoever has noticed into
what an abyss of pain and misfortune a human being
may fall, and even remain for long periods, and yet,
after the time of trouble has passed, rise up again
apparently almost unchanged, the same person, with
the same aim and opinion, even the same manner —
whoever, we say, has noticed this, will hardly expect
much from that swaying of the emotions, by which
mothers especially so often believe they are educat-
90 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

ing their children. Besides, when we see what degrees
of paternal strictness a robust youth will endure, and
remain untouched, what incentives are wasted on
weak natures without making them stronger, how
temporary is the whole reaction which follows the
action, we way well advise the educator not to pre-
pare false relations, for himself, which are usually the
only residue of mere discipline!

“To me all these experiences are but confirma-
tions of an extremely simple psychological conviction,

namely, that all—feelings are but passing modifica-

tions of the existing-presentations, and then when the
modifying cause ceases, the-circle of thought must
return_by itself to its old equilibrium. The only

result I should expect from mere stimulation of the
emotions, would be a fatal blunting of the finer feel-
ings, the place of which would be taken by an artifi-
cial sensibility which in the course of years would
but foster pretence with all its troublesome offshoots.

“The case is indeed entirely different, when the
circle of thought receives additions as opportunity offers,
or when endeavors pass into action and thereby become
will, These conditions must be taken into account in
order to interpret experience correctly.

“At this point, we can judge what discipline may
be to education. All changes of feeling the pupil must
suffer, are only necessary transitions to determinations
of the circle of thought, or of character. And thus

the relation of discipline to formation of character is |

twofold —indirect_and_direct.. __It_partly._helps to

make that instruction possible which will influence
the subsequent { formation of the character of the fu-
——————————

TRAINING 91

ture independent mi man;, it is partly a means even now
to create-or fot to nie through. action or ‘action,
as the case “may be, | a “beginning | of character. It is
impossible to instruct am-ungevernable boy, and the
boyish tricks he plays are to be taken in a certain way
as indications of his future personality, though, as
every one knows, with considerable limitations. An
unruly boy acts mostly from fleeting fancies; doubt-
less he learns thereby what he can do, but the first
element necessary to fix the will is here wanting —a
firm, deeply-rooted desire. Only where this forms the
basis, do boyish tricks help to determine character.
The first relation of discipline to the formation of
character is thus the more important — that, namely,
which clears the way for such instruction as will pen-
etrate the thoughts, interests, and desires. Still the
second ought not to be neglected, least of all in sub-
jects who are less mobile and act with firmer purpose.
The concept of discipline formulated in the beginning
is, taken merely in itself, completely empty. The
mere intention to form cannot enter into, or directly
act on, the mind in such a way as to become a power
really able to form. Those who by means of such an
empty discipline show their good intentions, work, they
know not how, on gentle natures through the specta-
cle they themselves present; their tender, anxious,
urgent manner gives the observant boy the idea of the
great importance of the thing which an otherwise
honored person has so much at’heart. Such teachers
then need only be careful not to mar this spectacle in
other ways, not to stifle respect by passion or petti-
ness, or, even worse, lay themselves open to the criti-
92 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

cism of the child, often as true as it is sharp. Thus
they will be able to accomplish much for impres-
sionable natures, without, however, being for that rea-
son safe from committing greater errors with less
willing ones.” ?

The most important thought in Herbart’s peda-

gogics is that training shall unite with instruction to
' form character. But character- building is will-build-

ing. To understand more fully, therefore, how train-
ing is to affect the will, we must make a summary of
Herbart’s doctrine of the formation of the will as pre-
sented in Chapter III. “ Will arises out of desire when
coupled with a conviction of the possibility of its at-
tamment.” The idea in its strength and completion
is will. But along with every action of the will there
is present in consciousness a mass of ideas concern-
ing motives, duties, considerations, etc., all of which
together form a “ picture” of the willaction. When
the will a second time has occasion to make a similar
decision, this “picture ” of the former action at once
rises into consciousness. If the second decision coin-
cides with the first, the total representation is much
strengthened and vivified. | Later repetitions continue
to deepen the impression. If now, upon a later occa-
sion, a desire arises which contradicts and opposes the
decisions already made, there at once begins a mental
strife or struggle between the opposing ideas, the old
and established group, which has been made strong
and vivid by repeated actions of the will, on the one
side, and the new and opposing desire on the other.

1 Science of Education, pp. 229-231.
TRAINING 93

If the latter idea falls in with the former, the hind-
rance is removed, union takes place, and mental peace
and comfort follow. If, on the contrary, the decision
is opposed to previous right ones, the opposition re-
mains, and a mental discomfort ensues, the highest
degree of which is called remorse. Out.of single acts
of will, then, grows the more general will. Every new
similar action strengthens the tendency already at
hand: ~The inemory of the will, or reproduction of
the will —“ pictures,” becomes important in this con-
sideration. If the reproduction is to be rapid and
clear, the representations of which these “ pictures”
are composed must be intimately a and “strongly - united.
This would be the case, for example, when a will-
action arises from energetic and thoroughgoing reflec-
tion. The latest series of ideas, then, are examined
by the apperception, or synthesizing power of the
mind, to see if they can be harmonized and united to
the former. The result is a judgment on the matter,
out of which rises a command or prohibition. When
such a judgment is extended so as to include not
merely a single case, but a whole class of similar
cases, we call it a practical principle of conduct, or
maxim. “If these maxims are to hold good for life,
they must arise through and out of life; true maxims
are always the expression of a portion of the life his-
tory of an individual. Maxims which have their
origin in the thinking reflection, as, for example, in
instruction, must be practised in life to become real
maxims.”! It is the business of training to see that

1Volkmann, Lehrbuch der Psychologie, ii., 454.
94 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

/all classes of will-action are brought under the do-
minion of moral maxims, in order that a “symmetrical
passion for good” may be created. “ Character is, in
general, uniformity and fixedness of the whole of ; |
will.”

Children have at—first-no-real_moral-chavaeter. It
arises gradually, and begins when here and there
single moral volitions arise from the union of similar
acts of will. These more general determinations of
will-action which, through the apperception, begin to
accept or reject the new will-actions, form the begin-
ning of the subjective side, or subjective foundations of
character. Over against this stands the objective part,
or the single will-act which results from a manifold of
desire. The subjective part of character is that which
determines; the objective part is that which is deter-
mined. In regard to the subjective side of character,
it is the task of instruction, in company with training,’
to see to it, not that several lines of thought, existing
alongside of each other, come to validity, “ but that
there be secured that unity of a ruling habit of
thought upon which rests the energy and consistency
of will peculiar to character, and through which a
limit is set to the rule of the passions.” With these
general remarks about the nature and growth of will,
we may turn to the more individual phases of train-
ing.

Empty training, the mere playing upon the chords
of sensibility, is by all means to be avoided, for it
merely deadens feeling without effecting anything
more.

It is the duty of training to care for the deed,

oo,
TRAINING 95

through -whose.courage the will is strengthened ; of

course to further the good, to suppress the bad.

There are two characteristics of the will-furthering
deed: (1) It must have an aim of real, earnest sig-
nificance, and (2) it must proceed from an earnest
desire of the child; must spring from a direct rather
than an indirect interest. It is the business of train-|
ing not to suppress disorder, but to cultivate that,
habitual right tone of mind so essential for instruc-
tion. It seeks to remove disturbing influences, so
that no matters of overpowering temporary interest
fill the mind. It seeks to secure a collected state of
mind in pupils. It works to the end that the same
docility, willingness, and openness be ever present or
newly awakened, and if the pupil has reached the
point where his self-activity suffices as impelling and
guidimg force, training seeks to give him the needed
quietude. In its direct influence upon the will, ed
ing has for its end fixedness or firmness of character.

The factors of its activity are as follows : —

1. It limits and enlivens action according to its own| ~~
sense. In that it limits, it meets the closely related
government, but its “accent” is very different,— not
short and sharp, but measured; of slow penetration
and gradual withdrawal. It limits harmful action
through diverting employment and through punish-
ment. This last, however, belongs to training only
when the action is seen to be deliberate, and where
new excitations break forth, which, continued, would
impress false features upon the mind. It enlivens
action where the present tendency of thought gives \
hope of a correct determination of character.

 
96 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

2. In reference to what has been called the objective
side of character, i.e., the volition resulting from a
manifold of desire, training must support and deter-
mine (halten und bestimmen). By the first of these is
meant the correct procedure of training in order to
effect the memory of the will. This is brought about
when the teacher always conducts himself toward the
‘pupil with quiet and fixed certainty, never losing pres-
ence of mind, and always answering to the tone of
fain in which he has placed his pupils. The teacher
must be so won for education that he himself is largely
determined by the pupils, and then, through a natural
reflex influence, will determine them. The teacher
,must press the naturally determining feelings so pen-
-etratingly upon the pupil that he will early perceive

the true relation of things. Here is the place for the!
punishment which is to train. It is distinguished

from the purely police punishment, in that it is not

adjusted by any measure of retribution, but must be

so measured as always to appear as well-meant warn-

ing, which does not excite ill-will toward the teacher.

It avoids as much as possible the positive and arbi-

trary, and limits itself where it can to the natural

consequences of human action. Rewards are to be

given according to the same principle.

3. Invelation to the subjective or determining side of
character, training should be regulative and supporting.
Here the principles of action which the pupils them-
selves have, are taken into account. ‘Training lets it
be felt that it does not understand an inconsequent
action. Furthermore, it calls attention to the crudity
of hap-hazard principles of conduct, but it never treats
TRAINING 97

slightingly what springs from earnestness of purpose,
even though it may deserve and receive reproof.
Training gives support in the struggle of principles to
assert themselves, provided, of course, that they de-
serve support. Here authority and an exact knowl-'
edge of the pupil’s mind are important. “For it is
precisely the inner authority of the child’s own prin-
ciples of action which must be supplemented and
strengthened by an external but exactly similar
authority.”

This in general is the application of training to the
work of education. Herbart adds some important
remarks, however, in reference to morality. The
memory of the will is not always desirable, for the
bad may be remembered as well as the good. ‘rain-
ing must seek to put to confusion and shame that
which is evil. ‘The estimate of the good-will is not to
be determined by the result of the action. In early
youth, when instruction and environment invite to
the first apprehension of moral truth, Herbart de-
mands the preservation of a quiet, clear frame of
mind, and the preservation of a child-like sense.
That is harmful which opposes a natural forgetful-
ness of self. Just as the healthy body is not felt,
so the care-free child does not feel its existence, for
it should not make itself the measure of the impor-
tance of that which is external to itself. All, then,
which continuously and actively calls attention to
self is harmful for moral training. These disturb-
ances may arise from pain, pleasure, sickness, and
exciting temperature, bad treatment, frequent teasing,
neglect of needful care, or from anything which feeds
98 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

) vanity and self-love. Further, in this period the ten-
der feelings of the child must be protected and favored
by the removal of everything which can accustom the
imagination to the morally hateful. This excessive
care would with growing years and moral power be a
mistake, for in the moral as in the physical world,
long-continued tenderness is a poor means of protec-
tion against rigor of climate. It is only with the
negligent educator that the child takes up and imi-
tates all he sees. The making glad through deserved
approval is the fine art of training.
Parr II

EXTENSION AND APPLICATION OF HERBART’S
EDUCATIONAL IDEAS IN GERMANY
CHAPTER I
TUISKON ZILLER AND KARL VOLKMAR STOY
Tue Two ScuHoons

THEsE two men are the pioneers in the application
of Herbart’s theories to the work of the schools.
Herbart himself, whose teaching experience was con-
fined to tutoring, a form of education that seems
always to have hovered before his mind, had little
opportunity in his university career to put his system
into actual operation in the school-room. This was
left to his successors.

Born about the same time and coming alike under
the influence of Herbart, both Ziller and Stoy began
earnestly to reduce his theories to practice. Each
became the representative of a specific interpretation
of the doctrines. In this way two schools arose.
The Stoy school held to Herbart’s theory mostly in
its original form, making their chief work the appli-
cation of it to the various elementary and secondary
schools. Dr. Stoy himself gave most attention to the
working out of the system in the elementary schools,
while his most renowned coadjutor, Dr. Otto Frick,
late Director of the great Orphan School, or Frankesche

101
102 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

Stiftungen, established by Francke in Halle, did a
monumental work in applying it to the secondary
schools, or gymnasiums.

Professor Ziller, on the other hand, struck out more
independently, giving a wider and freer interpretation
to Herbart’s ideas. He applied Herbart’s principles
for the selection of the subject-matter of instruction
with a freedom that caused the more conservative to
gasp with dismay. Not content with one master-
stroke, he made another equally startling to orthodox
educators, by proposing in all seriousness a remark-
able method of articulating, codrdinating and unifying
instruction. This is known as his theory of Con-
CENTRATION, an exposition of which will be found
in the chapters on Ziller, and his most aggressive
follower, Dr. William Rein, of Jena. ‘

We may now turn to a detailed study of the leaders
of the two schools, treating first Ziller and his fol-
lowers, then Stoy and his adherents, it being under-
stood that in some cases the classification is a loose
one.
CHAPTER II
TUISKON ZILLER
1. Lire anp Works

ZILLER was born on the 22d of December, 1817, at
Wasungen, a village in Saxe-Meiningen. He first
attended the gymnasium in Meiningen, and after-
wards studied philology in the University of Leipsic.
He then became a teacher in the gymnasium where
he had once sat as a pupil. In 1853, however, he
returned to Leipsic to qualify as privat docent in law.
But his teaching experience in Meiningen had given
him a fondness for educational questions, and in
1856 he published his first pedagogical essay, Intro-
duction to General Pedagogy.' In the following year
he issued his treatise on The Government of Children,?
which is an extension and application of Herbart’s
idea, already described. These works soon attracted
public attention. With the assistance of Dr. C. Barth,
he now founded in connection with the university at
Leipsic a pedagogical seminary and practice school,
modelled after that of Herbart at Kénigsberg. This

1 Einleitung in die.allgemeine Pddagogik.
2 Die Regierung der Kinder.
103
104 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

seminary ceased to exist upon the death of its founder
in 1883.

In was in 1865 that Ziller’s epoch-making work,
Basis of the Doctrine of Instruction as a Moral Force,
appeared. By many this book was looked upon as a
stroke of genius. At any rate it marks the begin-
ning of popular interest in the philosopher Herbart,
who in his lifetime, though occupying prominent
positions, had been thrown into the background by
the more dazzling philosophical systems of idealism
founded by Kant, Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel. As
an index of the newly awakened interest, the Her-
bart Association, under the title, Verein fiir Wissen-
schaftliche Ptidagogik, was founded in 1868, with
Professor Ziller at its head. The Verein has since
spread all over Germany, and numbers many hundreds
of adherents. It is, for the most part, broken up into
local clubs for the study of educational problems from’
the Herbartian standpoint. Lectures on General Ped-
agogy,’ a text-book on educational theory, appeared in
1876; and in 1881, Ziller’s last work, General Philo-
sophical Ethics,’ was published. He died in 1883 at
the age of sixty-six years, having been for a long time
a sufferer from severe physical ailments.

2. ZILLER’s INTERPRETATION OF HERBART

Whatever may be thought of the ultimate outcome
of Ziller’s work, it deserves respect as the most thor-

1 Grundlegung zur Lehre vom erziehenden Unterricht.
* Vorlesungen iiber allgemeine Paédagogik.
8 Allgemeine philosophische Ethik.

’
TUISKON ZILLER 105

oughgoing attempt ever made to answer the ques-
tion, How may instruction in the common school
become an instrument for the development of moral
character? It can scarcely be denied that Ziller is
thoroughly Herbartian in his foundations. He asks
three questions as follows :—

1. What must be selected from human knowledge
as the subject-matter of instruction ?

2. How must these studies be codrdinated so as to
conduce to the most perfect mastery of knowledge,
the clearest insight into moral relations, and the for-
mation of the highest moral ideals, the best moral
disposition, the best moral habits ?

3. What method of teaching will best further the
above-named ends ?

About the investigation of these three subjects one
may, with unimportant exceptions, group all that
Ziller wrote. His guiding principles, taken directly
from Herbart, were as follows: —

1. The conception of moral training through in-
struction in the common-school branches, keeping the
five moral ideas in close touch with the content of
the various studies.

2. The apperception of children, or their natural
thought-processes ‘founded upon acquired knowledge
and social experience, as the only reliable guide to
the selection and arrangement of studies, together
with the best methods of teaching them.

3. The necessity of developing in the pupils an in-
herent, far-reaching, and abiding interest in study as
a moral revelation of the world.

These are the basal ideas from which he proceeds
106 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

and to which he ever returns. Through the 524 pages
of the Grundlegung and the 428 of the Allgemeine
Piidagogik, aside from a few incidentals, he labors at
the solution of the three problems from the stand-
point of the three fundamental ideas.

The contents of the Grundlegung are as follows : —

(a) The Relation of Instruction to Government and (moral)
Training.

§1. Government and Instruction.

§ 2. Two Kinds of Instruction.

§ 3. Social and Religious Associations in their Relation to
Instruction.

§ 4. The School as a Place for Moral Training.

§ 5. The Compass of Instruction.

§ 6. Relation of Instruction to Moral Training in General.

§ 7. The Art of Instruction.

etc., etc., etc.

(b) Specific Ends of Instruction.

§ 12 & § 13. Interest and Desire.

§ 14. Direct in Relation to Indirect Interest and to Love.

§ 15. Many-sided Interest as a Protection against Passion-
ate Desire.

§ 16. As an Aid to Occupation.

§ 17. Asa Means of Rescue against the Storms of Fate.

§ 18. As a Means of Perfection.

§ 19. As related to Personality.

§ 20. As related to Individuality.

The importance of each of the three lines of investi-
gation regarding the choice, arrangement, and treat-
ment of the various studies warrants a presentation
in separate chapters.
CHAPTER III

ZILLER’S THEORY OF THE HISTORICAL STAGES OF
CULTURE

WIrtHovrT considering in detail the contents of the
separate chapters of the Grundlegung, we may proceed
at once to his treatment of the first of the three great
questions of. teaching : —

1. What shall be the subject-matter ?

2. How shall it be articulated ?

3. What shall be the method of instruction ?

Taking up the first of these topics, Ziller begins by
classifying the school studies into two groups, those
that pertain to man, and those that pertain to nature.
The humanistic group comprises (1) history, sacred
and profane, (2) literature, (3) art, as drawing and
music, (4) languages, native and foreign. The group
of nature studies consists of (1) geography, (2)
natural history, physics and chemistry, (3) arith-
metic, (4) geometry, (5) practical exercises, and (6)
gymnastics.

Ignoring for the time being the nature studies,
Ziller seeks a principle of selection and development

for the humanistic, or culture branches.
107
108 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

The first factor in the problem appears to be the
fact that we have to do with a developing mind. In
no two years of his life are the knowledge, appre-
hending power, ruling interests, or educational needs
of the child the same. He goes somewhat rapidly
through a succession of epochs in his mental develop-
ment. It is not sufficient to demonstrate merely that
the child passes through a succession of stages in his
mental unfolding; we must have some idea of the
nature of the development he goes through if we are
to succeed in finding the best possible adjustment of
subject-matter to these stages. The current concep-
tion of this matter is that it is the faculties that un-
fold in succession, — perception, then imagination, then
memory, then reason, etc.,—so that our American
pedagogy, in so far as it has any doctrine at all upon
the subject, teaches us in a general way to follow this
order in the presentation of topics. It is conceivable,
further, that the stages of the child’s development
follow the natural unfolding of the subjects of study
according to some logical principle, as, for instance,
the order of evolution in biological sciences, or that of
increase in complexity of numerical relations, as in
mathematics. Were this the case, the key to the
presentation of studies would be the most logical un-
folding of the various studies as relatively completed
sciences. This view, however, meets with serious
difficulties. The philosophic order of complete systems
may not correspond to the natural psychological order
of learning, especially with children. What naturalist,
for instance, wishing to give a child a knowledge of
nature and love for the study, would begin with a
HISTORICAL STAGES OF CULTURE 109

microscopic investigation of undifferentiated proto-
plasm, or monera of scarcely distinguishable forms ?
Nothing in the child’s former experience, interest, or
knowledge would throw a particle of light on the sub-
ject. Would he not, rather, begin with the familiar
animals of field and forest? The child’s develup-
ment is at all events psychological, and it is plain
that the logical order of developed sciences is not
parallel with it. We must, therefore, look further for
the true principle of apperception in the mind of the
growing child.

The thought over which Ziller most loved to linger,
and for which he cites a host of witnesses, is the some-
what poetic idea, which certainly has biological anal-
ogy, that each child in his development from infancy
to manhood passes through the same general stages
that the race has passed through in its rise from
savagery to civilization. This is the argument: Just
as the embryo of one of the higher animals shows
unmistakable evidence of passing through all the es-
sential stages of development manifested by lower
orders, so the child in his mental evolution passes
through, in little, all the great culture epochs that
have marked the development of the race. This is
Ziller’s famous doctrine of the historical stages of
culture. If, therefore, one would appeal to the under-
standing of the child, or touch the springs of his in-
terest, or portray to him ethical relations capable of
claiming his attention, one should be mindful of these
epochs. We are fond of thinking of education as the
process of realizing in each individual the experience
of the race, but we have not emphasized the idea that
110 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

the child can best get this experience in the same
order that the race obtained it.

The following from Dr. Rein’s Outlines of Pedagogics*
gives a clear view of the matter as conceived by the
Ziller school. “These considerations turn us back
from the complicated relations of the present, which
are more difficult to grasp, to past times, which are
more simple, more easily understood, and, at the same
time, more easily adaptable to the conceptive power of
the young mind. From this standpoint the material
for the instruction that is to mould character should be
sought in the development of the national culture, which
is to be followed in its chief epochs. It should be
presented from its very beginnings, z.e., from the point
at which a constant progress is apparent, up to the
present. ‘This idea, which, agreeably to its content,
we may call the principle of historical culture, also
harmonizes, as we shall see at once, with the psycho-
logical requirement that the subject-matter in each
case correspond to the child’s stage of apperception.
The material and the formal points of view coincide.
A people does not rise at once to a definite height of
culture ; centuries of zealous, universal labor are necés-
sary before the height can be reached. It must climb
from lower to ever higher stages; must pass from
simpler to ever more complicated relations in order
to satisfy the bent for improvement and the realiza-
tion of the kingdom of God upon earth. And the
individual, the same as the people, rises in his de-
velopment from lower to ever higher stages, from

1 Syracuse, N. Y.: C. W. Bardeen, 1893.
HISTORICAL STAGES OF CULTURE 111

simpler to ever richer mental contents, if only his
ideal tendency be not smothered by material sensual-
ity or by the feeling that he has already attained a
fine height. Thus we must accept on the one hand
historical, on the other hand individual, stages of
development, or apperception. It is obvious that if
the two series —the historical, with its various cult-
ural materials; and the personal, with its manifold
ideas, wishes, and desires —can be brought success-
fully and accurately into harmony with each other,
one can undoubtedly get control of the scholar’s inter-
est, because by this means the psychological conditions
would be best established. The development of the
individual is nourished on the development of the
whole. Whenever a subject can claim the height of
interest, it enters into the thoughts of the child ; being
expected, it is welcome, and the.direct interest makes
its appearance provided the teacher possess the neces-
sary art of instruction. As a matter of course, the
most careful selection of material is useless when
there is a lack of skill. But this careful selection of
subject-matter will give the teacher unsuspected assist-
ance as soon as he understands it.

“We find that this idea of the analogy between the
individual and general development of humanity is a
common possession of the best and most noted intel-
lects. It appears, for example, in the works of the
literary heroes Lessing, Herder, Goethe, and Schiller;
with the philosophers Kant, Fichte, Schelling, Hegel,
Comte; with the theologians Clement of Alexandria,
Augustine, Schleiermacher; with the Darwinists Hux-
ley and Spencer; with the classical philologists F. A.

?
112 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

Wolf, Niethammer, Dissen, Ltibker; with the educators
Rousseau, Pestalozzi, Froebel, Diesterweg, Herbart,
Giller, and others.

“ From the large number of voices let us select but
two, Goethe and Kant. The former said: ‘ Although
the world in general advances, the youth must always
start again from the beginning, and, as an individual,
traverse the epochs of the world’s culture.’ The latter
points out that the education of the individual should
imitate the culture of mankind in general, as developed
in its various generations.” !

If, therefore, we are to regard this principle as sub-
stantially true, if there is in reality such a parallelism
between the successive stages of the child’s mental
growth and the culture epochs of the race as this
theory claims, then, as Ziller and Rein declare, a
striking advantage at once comes to view, the psy-
chological principle coincides with the historical one
of the material of study, so that without further
search we have a common guide to the development
of the several culture branches.

What shall be done with the nature-studies is an-
other story, which can be told only when we con-
sider the subject of correlation, or CONCENTRATION, as
Ziller calls it.

This idea of the culture-stages was foreshadowed
by Herbart when he insisted that Greek should come
before Latin because it corresponds more closely to the
child’s comprehension and interest, also when he said:
“Periods which no master has described, whose spirit
no poet breathes, are of little value to education.” ?

1 Outlines of Pedagogics, pp. 96-98.
2 Herbart’s Science of Education, p. 74.
CHAPTER IV
ZILLER’S THEORY OF CONCENTRATION OF STUDIES

THE progress of the thought will now be best com-
prehended by taking up the second grand topic: —
WHAT PRINCIPLE SHALL GOVERN THE ARTICULATION,
OR COORDINATION OF THE VARIOUS STUDIES ?

Why, first of all, should we strive for any codrdina-
tion of studies? Chiefly for three reasons, say the
Herbartians, two psychological and one ethical.

1. Instead of regarding the self, or “I,” as an
empty point of personality, the same whether rich or
barren in experience, whether ignorant or learned, we
may think of the self, or ego, as a constantly growing,
developing somewhat, whose true unity, or individu-
ality, depends upon the unity that exists in its knowl-
edge and experience in general. Abstracting the
content of my mental life, I am J only in the sense
that an unrealized possibility is equal to nothing else ;
but not abstracting from what I know and feel and
do, l am I to the extent that conscious unity exists
among the various elements of my mental life.. If
my ideas cannot be related when they pertain to
related things, to this extent I fail to realize my true
being. One of the forms of insanity is plurality of

113
114 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

mental existence. But this unity depends upon
proper correlation of ideas. The elements in the
content of our mental life must be so organized that
unity of knowledge and consistency of feeling and
volition may arise. Our interests grow out of our
knowledge ; our feelings, desires, and motives are the
natural consequence of our interests; our wills strive
to realize the good to self revealed by motives based
on knowledge. Symmetrical character is hardly con-
ceivable aside from symmetrical, codrdinated knowl-
edge. A man may indeed rule powerfully within a
small range of concepts of which he is master, but put
him into situations that he does not understand, and
his customary strength becomes weakness. Much of
a proper correlation of knowledge comes to us spon-
taneously in spite of teacher or text-book, yet it is
easily conceivable that a proper progress in the
sequence of topics in each subject, together with a
happy juxtaposition of the related parts of all sub-
jects, might aid materially in bringing our knowledge
into a substantial unity. If each subject is to be an
errant comet, pursuing its path independent of the
others —if, in other words, disorganization and isola-
tion of topics is to rule in our instruction — itis plain
that the desirable unity of knowledge will not only not
be promoted, but will actually be hindered ; that con-
sequently the teacher, in spite of his pious wish for
the highest welfare of the pupil, may aid in making
him a dependent being, whose unrelated knowledge
does him little or no good. Our desire to develop the
individuality and power of the pupil can find its best
realization, so far as instruction is concerned, in the
CONCENTRATION OF STUDIES 116

best possible codrdination of all the subjects that we
teach. The first purpose of the codrdination of studies
is, therefore, the promotion of true unity and con-
sistency in our mental life through instruction.

2. In the next place, knowledge gained at school
may mean much or little for our subsequent careers.
According to the formal-culture idea, the result of the
training is largely independent of knowledge retained
or interests awakened. If the urchin only “buckles
to” and learns his lesson, he may forget it as soon as
he likes: the advantage is still his, for he has had the
discipline. There is, however, another way of looking
at these matters, and that is this: if the lad remem-
bers little of what he learns; if having learned to read,
he cares little for useful reading; if having been
forced to acquire a certain mass of knowledge, no
permanent effect remains upon his interests, tastes,
or pursuits, then this formal training upon which we
pride ourselyes is practically worthless. It would
have been better to let the boy pursue those occupa-
tions in which he had some interest, for only where
there is interest in things learned can profit result.
This is Ziller’s view. Now, the codrdination of
studies means their correlation; that is, it means that
it shall enable the pupil in one way or another to
become conscious of useful and interesting relations
among the various topics of the various studies.
Every child is sure to be interested in something, so
that if he can see that other things are related to his
favorite ones, life at once broadens before him. This
basis of interest in study is laid when the child finds
inthe subject-matter of instruction that which appeals
116 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

to his own thinking as valuable. He must under-
stand it, therefore, primarily, in its relation to him-
self. The richer the content in his eyes, the more
varied and intimate the relations that are revealed to
him, the warmer is his interest, the more willingly
he pursues study for its value in promoting the things
of which he is most fond. Is it not plain, therefore,
that the more knowledge is knit together, the more
light one subject throws upon another, the richer
will be his apprehension and the warmer his interest ?
For the reason, consequently, that coérdination of °
studies promises to increase rapidly the pupil’s power
of apprehension and to promote his direct interest
in what the school has to offer him, it seems worth
working for.

3. It has been stated that there is one ethical rea-
son for the codrdination of studies. This, too, is an
outcome of the new way of looking at psychology. A
favorite notion with Germans, and perhaps with all
Christian people, is that the school ought to develop
the moral and religious character of pupils. The old
way took but little note of the studies of the school
as implements for this training, but relied mainly on
authority, first of the Scriptures, and then of teachers,
parents, etc. This is the natural outcome of a psycho-
logical system of independent “faculties.” But Ziller’s
view of which I am writing, not underestimating the
value of the old training, adds, as we have often seen,
the important thought that the common school studies
themselves may become no mean instruments for ethi-
cal culture. This idea is a natural outcome of the
notion that interests, desires, and motives are formed
CONCENTRATION OF STUDIES 117

in consequence of ideas gained through study and ob-
servation, and that consequently the will itself is
directly dependent upon ideas, or knowledge, for its
field of activity. To bring about unity or consistency
in our volitional acts, therefore, it would seem that
the body of knowledge in which volition has its roots
should be unified to the greatest practicable extent.
If knowledge lies in isolated tracts, it has in the first
place little cumulative effect upon the motives of the
child; and in the second place, even if each separate
tract should give rise to its own little round of inter-
ests and motives, there is small probability that the
resulting acts of will would of themselves drop into a
codrdinated line of consistent actions. Dr. Rein sums
the matter up as follows: “The ethical need demands
that the teacher shall endeavor to concentrate the
spiritual forces of the pupil, so that they shall not be
dissipated, but shall in their union call forth strong,
effective action. Without such concentration of men-
tal forces no moral character is conceivable. But if the
pupil is to be able to effect this concentration of his
powers, the greatest care must be taken that his men-
tal store be not broken up into disconnected parts, but
unified to the greatest possible extent.”

There is, in addition to these theoretical grounds, a
practical reason for the proper codrdination of studies,
that should cause us to listen to all serious proposi-
tions looking to that end. It is universally acknowl-
edged that our present curriculum, if not already badly
congested, is likely soon to become so. Subject after
subject has been added, not from any demonstrated
pedagogical need, but in obedience to popular demands
118 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

or to the professional zeal of specialists. The process
is still continuing. Not only each newly-developed
branch of useful knowledge, but even every popular
social reform (scientific temperance, for instance) de-
mands a representation in the school-room. The result
is often a detrimental atomization of the pupil’s time
and attention. Not having time to digest any subject
thoroughly, he soon becomes a mere taster in all learn-
ing. The initial stages of our educational progress
were brought about by men like Comenius and Pesta-
lozzi, who were impelled more by their sympathies and
instincts than by clear, analytical thinking; it would
seem that we are still following our instincts to put
into the school everything good in itself, but that we
are taking little heed of the effect upon the child.
Nothing appears more essential to our further advance,
therefore, than a rigid examination of the curriculum,
that indispensable parts may be properly related and
needless ones eliminated. :

Some of the reasons why codrdination of studies is
desirable having been examined briefly, the interesting
question now arises, How is the codrdination to be
effected ? Ziller’s plan is one of concentration about
a core of culture material. This core about which the
work of each successive grade is to be concentrated is
to be composed of the studies that have the greatest
moral content, or practical value in bringing about the
moral revelation of the world in the mind of the child.
' They constitute the material that serves best to culti-
vate ideals and disposition, being called, indeed, Gesin-
nungs-Stof.| History and literature naturally consti-

1 That is, material that serves to cultivate right disposition.
CONCENTRATION OF STUDIES 119

tute the core of concentration, the one narrating the
actual progress of the race, the other picturing ethical
conflict in imaginative forms. Both are concrete, al-
lowing direct access to the ideas they portray, whereas
languages have a bar of grammatical and other forms
separating the student from the ideas.

Taking advantage of the fact that Biblical history
is everywhere taught in German schools, Ziller elabo-
rated a double historical course for them, the one
Jewish, the other German. His only serious attempt
to utilize literature proper, as a factor of this course,
is found in the early years, where he selects twelve of
Grimm’s fairy tales for the first grade, and Robinson
Crusoe for the second. The followers of Ziller still
adhere somewhat rigidly to his selections. Later, the
Niebelungen Lieder and some of the Thiiringer Sagen
are used, but after this, not much attention is paid to
literature as such. In the double historical series,
effort is made to adjust the work for each year to the
corresponding epochs in Jewish and German history.
The following is the order of topics: First year,
Grimm’s Fairy Tales; second year, Robinson Crusoe;
third year, (1) Bible Stories from the Time of the
Patriarchs, (2) Legends of Thuringia (Thtiringer
Sagen); fourth year, (1) Bible Stories from the
Time of the Judges, then of the Kings, (2) Niebelun-
gen Tales; fifth year, (ay Bible Stories from the Time
of Christ, (2) History of Henry I., Otto I., Charle-
magne; sixth year, (1) Bible Stories from the Time
of Christ, continued, (2) Migration of the Nations,
Roman Empire and the Popes, the Crusades, the Mid-
dle Ages, Rudolph von Hapsburg; seventh year, (1)
120 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

The Original Congregations of Churches, and the
Apostle Paul, (2) Discovery of America and its First
Settlement, History of the Reformation, the Thirty
Years’ War; eighth year, (1) Instruction in the Cate-
chism, (2) Frederic the Great, the Napoleonic Wars
for Independence, the Restoration of the German
Empire.

Having decided what the core of concentration shall
be, Ziller has now to show how the remainder of the
instruction can be grouped about the topics in the
leading studies from grade to grade. In the first
place, how shall the languages be disposed of? If
human deeds, both real and ideal, must of necessity
be the expression of the ethical forces at work in the
world, it is clear that language is essential for their
preservation and transmission. In language, there-
fore, we find the embodiment of the ethical, so that
language study is merely the formal aspect of this
culture side of the curriculum, It ought consequently
to lend itself, at least to some extent, to the same
principle of development. Language being only the
vehicle of thought, may naturally be made to follow
the development of thought. In this case language
would have to be studied as a means for the expres-
sion and comprehension of thought, not as an end in
itself. Except for minor culture subjects, like draw-
ing and singing, this, for the present, disposes of the
first or humanistic group, so far as the principle of
concentration is concerned. For a detailed program
arranged in harmony with this idea, we must wait for
the man who now wears Ziller’s mantle, Dr. Wilhelm
Rein, Professor of Pedagogy at the University of Jena.
CONCENTRATION OF STUDIES 121

We come now to what may prove the Achilles ten-
don of Ziller’s system. At all events, itis the most
critical point —What shall be done with the nature-
studies ?

Having confessedly no moral content, they can at
best be used only as instruments for moral training.
Yet they must be concentrated about the historical
epochs of culture. The performance of this task,
though seemingly artificial, is not impossible. The
second group constitutes geography, nature-studies,
and mathematics. The difficulty now with concen-
tration is, not only that nature-studies have no moral
content related to the core of concentration, but also
that they have no useful historical principle of devel-
opment. These are difficulties to the Ziller school,
yet not insurmountable obstacles.

The path of the progress of science has been that
which leads out of darkness into light, from error
to truth. Who would, for instance, seriously teach
alchemy before chemistry, or astrology before as-
tronomy? We are fond, indeed, of telling our pupils
about these beginnings of science, but we speak of
them rather as items of interesting information than
as necessary to an understanding of science as it exists
to-day.

Something can be done, however, in the way of
practical concentration. If, as was seen above, the
logical order of science as a relatively completed sys-
tem of knowledge is not a safe guide to its presenta-
tion, we may fall back on the psychological principle
of apperception, and present it in any way that will
appeal to the child’s interest and understanding.
122 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

It has long been a favorite idea with teachers that
geography should be correlated with history. Not
only must history have a place in which to unfold,
but the unfolding itself has to a large extent been de-
pendent upon the geographical features of the country
—its mountains, plains, rivers, seacoasts, forests, and
climate. Geography as a basis for history is now
becoming an important subject of study in German
Universities. It may be added also that it is of much
importance in the biological sciences. Thus one might
study the Alps as a seat of history, at the same time
devoting a part of his attention to Alpine flora and
fauna. In a sense, then, geography forms a link to
bind together the deeds of man and the facts of na-
ture. Ina still larger sense, geography unites nature
and man. In these modern times, commerce binds
the whole world together. A man in the Northwest
may exchange his wheat for the product of any land
under the sun. He contributes to the world what he
raises, and the world stands ready to give him some-
thing of everything in return.

It is geography that first makes the child conscious
of the reciprocity that exists in the world, for it shows
him in a concrete way, through a study of productions,
populations, transportation, and the like, how each
man, by the division of labor, works for all men, and
is in turn served by all men to the extent of the value
of his own contribution.

Geography, then, connects history and science, also
revealing the most concrete modes of human reciproc-
ity. It is, therefore, the natural link binding purely
humanistic and purely scientific studies. Following
CONCENTRATION OF STUDIES 123

this hint, Ziller does not find it difficult to discover
some sort of connection between the leading and the
subordinate subjects. Dr. Rein calls attention to the
fact that the will puts itself into relation to nature in
order to bring it into the service of man; that human
action is limited by moral rules and by the nature of
things. Obedience to moral ideals limits the will as
to ends, while obedience to the nature of things limits
the will as to means. The ends for which men work,
and the means whereby they do it, should be brought
to the mind simultaneously.

Finally, mathematics bears the same relation to
science that language does to the humanistic studies.
It is their formal side. If its real function is made
apparent, and its application sufficiently concrete,
enough correlation can be brought about to hold the
pupil’s interest for number and to enhance his interest
in that which number measures.

That the Anglo-Saxon teacher who may be curious
to know how this arrangement of culture- and nature-
studies would look in English, may be gratified, the
following outline of single codrdinated groups is in-
serted. It is from the pen of Dr. Frank McMurry,
formerly Professor of Pedagogy in the University of
Illinois.

First GrapEe

Literature: The Fir Tree, Andersen.

Science: (a) White Pine as a type of evergreens, since it is
more common here than any other evergreen tree.

(b) Austrian Pine.

(c) Scotch Pine.

(d) Norway Spruce.
124 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

(e) Balsam Fir.

Reading: *‘A Pine Twig’ and ‘Story of a Pine Tree,”
in Nature Stories for Young Readers. Also sentences on the
board taken from the Science and Literature work, like those
immediately following : —

Written Language: Sentences based on Literature, thus: —

The fir tree lived in the forest.

It was not happy.

It wished to be tall.

A little rabbit sometimes jumped over the tree.

This made the tree ashamed.

Or based on Science, thus: —

The fir tree is green all winter.

Sometimes the snow covers it.

Then it is a white tree.

The snow does not break the limbs. They bend down.

See how they are fastened into the trunk.

I cannot break off the twigs.

Writing: (All the small letters this year.)

If the children are ready to study r, take the words jir,
rabbit, green, tree.

If some other letter should be studied, similar groups of
words bearing on the study of the fir will suggest themselves to
the teacher.

Drawing: (a) Drawing of pines and firs, with colored chalk
or crayon.

(b) Drawing, and sewing in perforated board, of evergreen
trees, of cones, and of rabbit.

(¢) Moulding —trunk of evergreen, tub in which it was
placed, toys that adorned it.

(d) Drawing of different scenes in the story, as of wood-
cutters hauling the trees from the forest, etc.

(a, b, ¢, are from Science, d is from Literature.)

Number: Number of needles in a bundle of White, Scotch,
or Austrian pine; in two bundles of White pine; in two, four,
five of Scotch or Austrian pine.

Number of wings on two, three, etc., seeds.

Number of pairs of legs on rabbit.
CONCENTRATION OF STUDIES 125

Number of wheels on wagon that hauled the tree away.
How many span of horses ?

Music - ‘‘ High in the Top of an old Pine Tree.”
Poems: ‘+ Pine Needles.’’

‘The Little Fir Trees.”

‘¢ The Pine Tree’s Secret.””

Sreconp GRADE

Literature: ‘‘ Louise, the Child of the Western Forest,’’ in
Seven Little Sisters.

Science: The squirrel (the animal that Louise loved to
watch). The quails (of which a beautiful description is given).
If squirrels cannot be secured, or are not familiar, the rabbit
may first be taken as a type; then the squirrel by comparison,
So also with the quail, the hen may first be studied as a type
form. .

Reading: ‘‘ The Little Chickens,’’ and ‘‘ The Chicken Hen,”’
in Easy Steps for Little Feet. ‘‘ The Squirrel,’’ in Parker's
Second Supplementary Reader. ‘Story of Chicken Little,”
and ‘* Two Naughty Chickens,’’ in Stickney’s Second Reader.

‘¢ The Rabbit’s Party,’’ in Interstate Second Reader.

‘« Rover and the Squirrel,’’ in Barnes’s Second Reader.

“What the Squirrel Said,” in McGuffey’s Alternate Supple-
mentary Reader.

Written Language: Stories written by the children about
Louise, and also about the animals studied.

Writing : If the children are ready to take up capital L, they
will write Louise ; if it is C, they will write Christian (Louise’s
brother) and Christmas (the gala day for them).

Many other capitals can be introduced from the story, and
short sentences, or phrases be written, as Little Gretchen, ‘The
beautiful river Rhine, Louis loves Fritz.

Drawing: (a) Illustrations of scenes in the story drawn on
blackboard or on paper.

(b) Drawing of rabbit, squirrel, hen, and quail; of the ship
(on which Louise sailed).

(¢) Moulding —log houses, Christian’s flute, the axe with
126 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

which the father felled the trees, the linen chests (their only
furniture), the vegetables (that they raised to sell).

(d) Paper-cutting ; quails, squirrels, vegetables, etc.

Number - (a) How many baby quails has a mother quail ?

Various stories derived therefrom, or if they were to go in
couples, how many couples would follow the mother ?

(b) Examples based on the nuts that the squirrels used,
measures, pint, quart, etc.

(c) On the number of eggs, how many dozen ?

(d) On the number of logs it takes to build one side of a
house.

(e) On the number of dollars Fritz received for a load of
wood ; for three or four or five loads.

(f) Children measure and sell vegetables (going with Chris-
tian to market).

Song: ‘*Bob White.”

“Little Gay Bunny Goat.”

“The Queer Little House.”’

Game. ‘Hop Little Rabbit” (small chickens represented).

Poems « ‘‘ Wanted, Twelve Pairs of Stockings.’’

“The Mountain and the Squirrel.’’

“ Old Squirrel Gray.”’

TuHirD GRADE

Literature - Robinson Crusoe — ‘‘ Robinson's Harvest.”’

Science - Wheat — following it from time of sowing until it
is taken from the oven as a loaf of bread.

Reading: ‘* The Mill Wheel,” in Easy Steps for Little Feet.

“How the Mill Wheel was Turned,’’ Harper’s Third Reader.

“ What Comes from Seeds.’

The Miller’s Methods,” ‘‘ The Staff of Life,’’ ‘*‘ The Machine
Baker,’’ Information Reader, I.

Written Language - Chapter on Robinson’s harvest repro-
duced in writing. Story of a tiny grain — following a grain of
wheat as indicated in the Science lesson.

Writing: Based on sentences taken from the above.

Drawing: (a) Picturing of Robinson, showing his field of
grain, his harvest.
CONCENTRATION OF STUDIES 127

(b) Drawing a stalk of wheat, a sheaf of wheat: a saber
used as a scythe ; pestle and mortar used in pounding wheat ;
baskets in which it was held ; clay dish on which it was placed
after being fashioned into loaves; the loaf itself.

(c) Moulding of saber, pestle, mortar, basket, plate, and loaf.

(d) Paper-cutting ; saber, basket, mortar, pestle.

Number: (a) Measure stalks of wheat.

(b) Measure wheat by peck, one-half bushel, and bushel.
Examples like the following: If I have a bushel, a half-bushel,
and a peck of wheat, how many pecks have I ?

(c) Weighing a bushel of wheat. How much does a half-
bushel weigh ? A peck? A quart?

(d) Selling wheat at various reasonable prices—the work
not to be beyond the pupils.

(e) How many grains in a head of wheat? (choose a head
within their possibilities) measure grains in a one-half gill cup.
How many such heads will it take to fill it? To fill a gill cup ?

(f) How many bushels can a steam thresher thresh in one
day? In one-half day? In one hour ?

(g) How many bushels of wheat can the Bloomington mill
grind in one day? Ina half a day? ete.

(h) What part of a bushel of wheat becomes fine flour ?

(i) How many pounds in a sack of flour? A half-sack ?
How many pounds in asack of graham flour? In two sacks ?

(j) How much does one sack of flour cost? A half-sack ?
‘Two sacks ? etc.

Songs: ‘* We of the Farmer now will Sing.”

‘¢ When the Corn begins to Sprout.’’

Poems; ‘‘ There was a Jolly Miller.”

FourtH GRADE

History - Fremont’s Expedition.

Geography: The country to which the class is introduced
through the history, t.e., St. Louis, Mississippi River, Platte
River, prairies of Kansas and Nebraska, animals, plants, and
products of these states, Fort Laramie, Rocky Mountains in the
region of Fremont’s Peak, mountains, lakes, etc.; wheat farms,
128 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

cattle ranches, new Western cities, railroads, frontier facts, gar-
risons, Indian tribes, prairie fires, blizzards.

Science: The wheat plant, grasses of the West, rocks, fishes,
birds, deer, buffalo, etc. If these animals are not all at hand,
those most nearly related to them may be studied instead ; for
example, the sheep in place of the deer. Also instruments used
by Fremont, i.e., the barometer, thermometer, compass (air-
pressure and pneumatics).

Arithmetic - Problems suggested by Geography and Science ;
compare lengths of rivers, for examples in division ; value of
wheat farms, quantity of wheat raised and its value at a certain
number of bushels per acre ; the values of hides and income of
trappers from that source ; value of cattle.

Language. The thoughts expressed on paper are taken from
History, Science, etc.

Spelling : Words necessarily introduced by the other studies.

Firth GRADE

History: Story of John Smith (his struggles with the shift-
less colonists, his adventures with the Indians, and his expedi-
tion of discovery).

Geography: Chesapeake Bay and vicinity; oyster-beds,
tobacco-raising ; coal and iron mines and fruit-growing in ad-
dition to study of climate, relief, soil, etc.

Science. Tobacco plant, oysters, clams, snails, with other
native plants and animals of Virginia.

Arithmetic. Quantity of tobacco chewed by one person per
year, in a lifetime ; quantity smoked ; its value.

Weight of ashes of cigar compared with weight of cigar; one
is what per cent of the other, etc.

Language. Compositions on the history of an oyster, the
production of iron, John Smith’s adventures, etc.

SixtH GraDE

History - Causes of the French and Indian War.
Desire of France and England to secure the fur trade — dif-
ferences in religion, etc.
CONCENTRATION OF STUDIES 129

Geography. Valley of St. Lawrence, the Great Lakes, Ohio
River, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, Lake Champlain, and
Lake George, pineries of West and North, fisheries on coast.

Science. Fur-bearing animals— beaver, otter, mink, bear,
buffalo, raccoon. Also deer and moose.

Arithmetic: Relative size of the lakes, expressed decimally ;
of the states in the once disputed territory ; relative worth of
various kinds of furs, and so forth.

The third grand subdivision of Ziller’s work, that
of Methods of Teaching, is based on Herbart’s four
distinctions, CLEARNEsS, AssocIATION, System, and
Meruop, as already explained in Chapter VI of
Part I.

This topic is discussed in the next chapter.

ea
CHAPTER V

METHOD IN TEACHING—THE FORMAL STAGES OF
INSTRUCTION

ZILLER has given an exhaustive treatment of the
principles laid down by Herbart’ under the terms.
CLEARNESS, Association, System, and MertrHop as
explained in Part I, Chapter VI. _He has, however,
given a special function to the processes Analysis and
Synthesis, in that analysis works upon present stores
of knowledge ‘and experience, in order to prepare the
mind for the best possible apperception of the new
material that is synthetically offered to it by instruc-
tion. Recognizing this separate function of analysis
and synthesis, most followers of Ziller now divide the
step clearness, as defined by Herbart, into two steps,
thus making five in all. Dr. Rein names them as fol-
lows: (1) Preparation (analysis), (2) Presentation
(synthesis), (3) Association, (4) System, (5) Appli-
cation.

The fgll@ving translation fran Sein’s Bas Erste
Schuljahy (The First School Year), made by Dr.
Charles A. McMurry,’ gives a perfectly clear idea of
the subject as conceived by the disciples of Ziller: —

1 General Method, Bloomington, Ill.: Public-School Publishing

Co., 1893.
180
METHOD IN TEACHING 131

The Formal Steps in their Outlines ae Proceeding
now to the act of instruction itself, we notice first of
all the subject-matter of every study like arith-
metic or\geography is to be divided up into a number
of smaller parts, units of instruction, each of which
will gccupy from one to four, or even more, recita-
sons These divisions of a term’s work in history or
geography are what Ziller calls methodical unities, and
each one of them is to be carried through the succes-
sive steps of a systematic recitation plan, namely, the
formal s eps.\

For if the single topics which go to make up the
great variety of school studies are to be clearly un-
derstood and thoroughly assimilated, each must be
worked over by itself. For this purpose sufficient
time must be given so that the details of each object
can be absorbed, and this absorption with the details
must be succeeded by 4 period of recollection, a brief
survey of the situation, a glance backwards and for-
wards, so as to fix the relations of this object to
others. Suppose that the instruction in a class begins
with one of these methodical unities. \ The first thing
to do is to make plain to the pupils the great object or
aim of the lesson.\ In a primary class, for instance,
the aim may be so expressed: “To-day we will hear
the story of a little girl that lost both father and
mother.” For a more advanced class as follows:
“We are acquainted with the earth as a great ball
hanging in space. We will next see whether this ball
is at rest or in motion.”

Reasons for stating the Aim at First — There are
several important reasons in favor of the plain state-
132 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

ment of the purpose of a recitation at the beginning.
1. It pushes aside and out of view those irrelevant
thoughts which chance to occupy the mind before
the recitation, and it accordingly makes room for the
ideas about to be developed. 2. It transplants the
children into the new circle of ideas which are to
demand their attention, and it encourages the rise in
the child’s mind of those older and kindred thoughts
which will be most welcome supports to the new ideas
about to be presented. 3. It excites expectation, and
this is the most favorable disposition of mind for the
beginning of instruction. 4. It gives the child a
strong incentive to an exercise of the will, and impels
it to voluntary codperation in solving the difficulties
of the proposed lesson.

The last point is of fundamental importance, and
worthy of a special consideration. | The pupil should
know beforehand what is coming if he is to bring all
his powers to bear on the work of learning, and it is
easier to call out all his effort if he knows beforehand
what is to be gained. \ To conduct a child along an
unknown road toward an unknown object, by means
of questions and hints, the object of which he does
not see, to lead him on imperceptibly to an unknown
goal, has the disadvantage that it develops neither a
spontaneous mental activity nor a clear insight into
the subject.

Having reached the end of such a line of thought,
the pupil looks about bewildered. He cannot sur-
vey the road that he has just gone over. He does
not comprehend what has happened to him. He stands
at the goal, but does not see the relation in which the
METHOD IN TEACHING 133

result stands to the labor performed. He does not
rise to that satisfactory mental activity and favorable
disposition of mind which are stimulated by the pur-
suit of a clearly set purpose. No aim, no will! ! Now ©
since instruction that aims at moral character finds
its highest purpose in the development of will power,
it follows that a lesson should develop the will just
as much as the understanding. But to develop will
power, instruction must pursue plainly set aims, and
to reach them the pupil must be called upon to throw
all his mental powers into the effort.

The general purpose of a lesson having been made
plain, the real work of teaching then begins, and in
every methodical unity this work runs through a suc-
cession of five steps. ad

First Step — The first step in this process consists
in a preparation of the ground for the reception of
the new lesson. This is done by freshening up and
calling clearly to the mind such older ideas as bear
upon the new, such as by their similarity explain and
assist the understanding of the new. It is only when
a troop of old familiar ideas come forth to meet the
strangers that they are received easily into the mind.
It is in this way alone that they can make a lasting
impression upon the thoughts and feelings. If these
forces which lie asleep in the background of the child’s
thoughts are not called into activity, he will remain
dull and indifferent to the recitation, and the instruc-
tion reminds us of a learned discourse which shoots
over the heads of the listeners. Instead of interested
attention and participation, it produces only weariness
of mind.
134 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

This result will always follow when that which is
said awakens no chords of sympathy in the minds of
the hearers. If nothing springs forth from within
to greet that coming from without, the lesson will be
meaningless and the pupil unreceptive. Things new
and strange can only be appropriated by means of 4
wealth of old ideas, and the plan of recitation must’
see to the preparation of these old materials during
the first step. =

Second Step—The second ‘step begins with the,
presentation of the new lesson, which will vary in man-
ner according to the age of the pupils and the nature
of the study. A story will be related to a primary
class, or developed according to the conversational
method. A reading lesson for older pupils would be
read. A geography topic would be presented by the
teacher while talking and drawing, and a subject in
physics while experimenting and speaking. If the
preparation has been of the right kind the lesson
will be appropriated with ease and certainty, and the
teacher will not be compelled to talk and ask and ex-
plain all around the subject. Whenever this is neces-
sary the preparation, the first step, must be regarded
as a failure. What has been learned is not only to
be momentarily understood, but permanently appro-
priated. It is necessary to close up this step with rep-
etition and drill, and these must be: continued under
varying forms till the lesson has been firmly fixed.
In this manner the first great act in the process of
teaching and learning has been completed, namely,
the presentation and reception of the subject-matter,
and it consists, as we have seen, of two steps, prepa-
METHOD IN TEACHING 135

ration of the ground and presentation of the lesson.
The second act within the limits of a methodical unity
is the process of building up and bringing into dis-
tinct form the general or abstract ideas which are to
be drawn from the concrete materials already collected,
and this second act is brought to a conclusion in the
three following steps.

Third Step —Inu the third step we are to bring to-
gether in the mind the newly won ideas, to compare
them among themselves and with older ideas, and
when necessary with additional new ones still to be
presented; in short, to compare and to combine the
new and the old. Such a comparison and union of
ideas is necessary for two reasons: (1) in order that
connection and harmony be established in one’s range
of ideas, and (2) that what is general and essential
in the midst of special individual things may be ex-
tracted from them. Nowhere should heterogeneous
heaps of knowledge, like piles of gravel, be brought
together. Always and everywhere there should be
an effort towards well-associated and systematized
knowledge. “Our whole personality rests in the end
upon the unity of consciousness, and this is disturbed
and injured when the mind is driven through a con-
fused conglomerate of knowledge in which uncon-
nected ideas are piled up together.”

But every concrete individual thing which is treated
as a methodical unity contains or embodies a general
truth, an abstract notion, which may be separated from
the concrete thing in which it is embodied. But it
can only be brought to light by bringing this object
into comparison with other well-known concrete objects
136 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

which contain the same essential idea or truth, by
bringing together in the mind things similar but not
identical. That which is common and essential to all
is strengthened by repetition, while accidental features
and differences drop easily into the background. The
common truth which all the objects embody springs
forth as a new idea of higher potency, as a general
notion, as a rule or law.

Fourth Step —But the abstract idea is still bound
up with the concrete thing; a complete separation of
this abstract or general notion from its clothing in
particulars has not yet taken place: and this is the
purpose of the fourth step. By means of a few well-
directed questions we call out into pure and simple
relief the general truth or rule, freed from its particu-
lar applications. We reduce this idea to definite lan-
guage expression, and finally bring it into systematic
connection with our previously acquired knowledge.
It only remains to impress the abstract ideas thus ac-
quired upon the mind by repetition, so as to convert
them into a real mental possession. With this the
process of abstraction is complete, but teaching can-
not afford to end the matter here. <A fifth step is
needed to convert the knowledge acquired into use.

Fifth Step — Knowledge and ability to know have
of themselves no value either for the individual or
for society. Knowledge must first step into the ser-
vice of life. One must know how to apply his knowl-
edge. Knowledge and power must be changed into
use; they must be transformed into conscious ability.
But will not this take care of itself? Not at all.
Hundreds of children have learned how to estimate
METHOD IN TEACHING 187

the surface of a triangle, and many of them can give
the proof of the rule with ease and precision. But
put the question to one of them, How many acres
does a triangular garden with sides of a given length
contain? he will stand helpless, unconscious of the
fact that he possesses in his own mind the necessary
elements for the solution of the problem. How is
this explained? He has not learned to employ his
‘knowledge. It is a dead possession. And are there
not plenty of such cases? ‘The conclusion is, that
even the application, the use of knowledge, has to be
learned. “Here also it is only practice that makes
the master. But drill which aims only at mechanical
habit is not sufficient. Even during school life that
which is learned should be applied as often and in
as many cases as the narrow limits of the child’s
life permit.”

Since the value of knowledge culminates in use,
instruction should cultivate its use so far as possible
in a closing step called application. For this purpose
the child should be held to a diligent use of its stock-
of ideas as rapidly as they are acquired, to go from
the particular to the general, and back again from the
general to the particular, to traverse his circle of ideas
from a given standpoint in all directions, and to make
use of the results reached for the solution of moral,
theoretical, and practical questions. In this manner
a child’s acquired ideas may be so develcped, so
welded together in firm, systematic, comprehensive
association, that all his knowledge becomes a reliable,
personal possession. It is clear and systematic as well.
as practical.,
138 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

To recapitulate: In the work of instruction each
methodical unity should be carried through the fol-
lowing steps : —

1. It should introduce the new lesson by means of
a preparatory discussion.

2. Present the new lesson.

8. Compare the new in its parts and with older
ideas and their combination.

4, Draw out the general results of this comparison
and arrange them in systematic form.

5. Convert the knowledge acquired into use.

This topic, more than perhaps any other from the
Herbartian school, is now accessible in English. The
reader is referred especially to the following-named
works for an extended discussion: McMurry, General
Method; De Garmo, Essentials of Method ; Lange,
Apperception, pp. 200-245; Rein (Van Liew’s trans-
lation), Outlines of Pedagogy ; Herbart (Felkins’ trans-
lation), Science of Education, pp. 122-128. Concrete
illustrations will be given in the next Chapter, where
Dr. Rein’s contributions are discussed. ‘The varying
terminology used by writers’ with respect to the for-
mal steps of instruction is well presented in the fol-
lowing table, compiled by Van Liew in his translation
of Rein’s Outlines of Pedagogy.)

1 Page 145.
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CHAPTER VI

DR. WILLIAM REIN—REDUCING THEORY TO PRACTICE
"IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

So long as men merely lecture at the universities
or write their opinions in their books, the world at
large does not know whether their theories will work
in actual practice or not.

When Dr. Stoy died at Jena in 1885, it was exceed-
ingly fortunate for the cause of education in general,
even if it was not for the specific doctrines of Professor
Stoy himself, that Dr. William Rein, Director of the
State Normal School at Hisenach, was called to be his
successor. Dr. Rein has made the pedagogical semi-
nary at Jena the most noted of its kind in Europe, to
which students resort from every civilized country. ‘

His specific contribution to the Herbartian cause lies
not so much in the promulgation of new ideas, as in
the practical application of the important ones that
had remained mostly untried. Ziller’s opponeuts
were inclined to regard him as a pedagégical senti-
mentalist, who would sacrifice any number of rich
educational inheritances for a poor mess of pedagog-

ical pottage. Few teachers thought that his plan of
141
142 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

concentration, with its scheme of culture epochs, and
its subordination of the greater part of the subjects of
study to Biblical and profane history, would stand the
test of actual practice. It was the unrivalled work of
Dr. Rein, aided by two of his colleagues in the nor-
mal school, to show in eight single volumes corre-
sponding to the eight. years of the common schools,
just how Ziller’s plan for the selection and concen-
tration of studies, could be carried out in practice,
revealing at the same time in the most elaborate detail
the methodical treatment of each subject according
to the formal steps. These eight volumes‘ are a
monument of patient labor, such as only Germans
are capable of executing.

As will be seen from the succeeding citation, Dr.
Rein adheres closely to Ziller’s exposition of Herbart.
Concerning the principle of the culture epochs as a
guide to the selection of studies, he announces the
three following principles : —

1. By following the order of the national culture,
and presenting it in the light of ethical judgment, we
shall call forth permanent interest in the developing
child; hence, chronological progress from older and
simpler, to newer and more complicated stages and
conditions.

2. Asa basis for this material we must use child-
like classical, religious, literary, and historical matter
(Volks Stories and Robinson Crusoe in the first two
grades). ‘‘Periods which no master has described,
whose spirit no poet has breathed, are of small value

1 Theorie und Praxis des Volkschulunterrichtes (Die acht Schul-
jahren) by Rein, Pickel, und Scheller; Leipzig: Heinrich Bredt.
DR. WILLIAM REIN 148

for education” (Herbart). Only classical presenta-
tions invite the pupil to constant and profitable repe-
titions; they alone furnish nourishment for the
interests and aspirations of children. Only through
these does the past speak in full tones to the present.

3. Only large, connected unities of subject-matter
are able to arouse and keep alive the deep sympathy
of the youthful mind, thereby contributing to the
development of character. ‘‘Great moral energy is
the effect of entire scenes and unbroken thought
masses ” (Herbart).

As a result of the application of the idea of Concen-
tration to the work of the first year, Dr. Rein exhibits
the following program : —

Studies: ber, Reading, and

.(1. Core of Concentration ) Drawing, Singing, Num-
Writing.

2. Nature-Study

1. Ethical Core of Concentration (Gesinnungs-Stoff);
Grimm’s Fairy Tales. These form the center, or core,
of instruction. The other branches are concentrated
about them; and by them the remaining topics are
largely determined.

2. Nature-Study — All the subjects that are sug-
gested by the Fairy Tales, receiving a special illumi-
nation from them and thereby awakening an intensified
interest, are first chosen for treatment. School life
and individual experience furnish much supplemen-
tary matter. (See list of object lessons below. )

3. Drawing— For this purpose the objects men-
tioned in the Fairy Tales and in the nature-study are
used.

4, Singing — The choice of songs is determined by
144 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

the moods developed by instruction and by school
life. ‘The various songs must express emotion at fit-
ting times.

5. Number Work —This is connected closely with
the things that are considered in the various culture
and nature subjects.

6. Reading and Writing —The material is chosen
from the topics treated during instruction in Fairy
Tales and Nature Study.

“For the following grades, also, we seek to apply
the foregoing principles, even though the growing com-
plication of the studies makes it more difficult than
during the first year. The more the studies threaten to
diverge, the firmer must the fusion of the individual
parts be made, so that through all multiplicity and
variety, there shall never be lacking the fundamental
condition for unity of consciousness, for identity of
personality, and therefore for the development of moral
character.” }

A noteworthy peculiarity proposed by Ziller and
carried out by Rein and other members of the Ziller
school, is that the ethical core of concentration for
the first year shall consist of some dozen Fairy Tales
from Grimm; and for the second, of the story of
Robinson Crusoe. This is done for the reason that
they represent still more elementary culture stages
than the simplest stories of the Bible, being, therefore,
more perfectly adapted to the child’s elementary stage
of comprehension. This proposition was at first vio-
lently opposed by most teachers as a caricature on

1 Das Erste Schuljahr, 5th edition, p. 87.
DR. WILLIAM REIN 145

the religious teaching given in these grades of most
schools where the Bible itself was used as the basis of
all moral and religious instruction. The plan is,now
more calmly considered, though it has found but little
practical application in the schools, the chief cause,
however, of all the slowness of reform in German
schools being that the curriculum is prescribed by
state authority. :

The stories are carefully edited before being pre-
sented to the children. A good idea of the general
method of treatment may be seen from the following
examples, translated from Das Erste and Das Zweite
Schuljahr : —

Tue WonvEeRFUL KetTrLE
I
Once there was a very poor little girl, who lived
with her mother near a great wood. They had noth-
ing to eat, and grew very hungry. Then the little
girl went out into the woods. Here an old woman,
who knew already that the little girl was hungry, met
her. So the old woman gave the little girl a kettle,
and said to her, “If you say to the kettle, ‘Kettle,
cook,’ it will cook you good, sweet rice. But if you
say, ‘Kettle, stop,’ it will stop cooking.” Then the
little girl took the kettle home to her mother, and
told her all about it. After this they did not need to
go hungry, for as often as they pleased they ate good,
sweet rice.
II
One day the mother went away from home, and left
the little girl all alone. Soon she became hungry, and
146 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

said to the kettle, “Kettle, cook”; but she had for-
gotten all about saying, “Kettle, stop.” ‘The kettle
kept on cooking more rice, until it ran over. Then
the kitchen became full of boiled rice, then the whole
house, then the street, and at last all the houses.
Nobody knew what to do.

At last the mother came home, and called out,
“ Kettle, stop.” It stopped cooking at once; but
whoever wanted to get into that town had to eat his
way in through the rice.

MerHopicaL TREATMENT

A. (1) I have told you about a little girlk Who
had died? Could they give her food any longer?
The poor girl must have often suffered hunger, why ?
What must she have had, not to be hungry any more?
Children name many kinds of food. There are warm
foods and cold ones. How are warm foods prepared ?
(Kitchen, stove, fire.) How long must rice cook?
May it cook forever? What would happen ?

I will tell you of a little girl who often had to go
hungry.

(2) Story to “as often as they pleased, they ate
good, sweet rice.”

B. (1) What did the old woman give the girl ?
What was she to say to it? Could the mother say
this, also? How did she know about it? What
would the kettle do? How long would it cook? Do
you suppose the girl had thought of this? If she
had not, what would happen ?

(2) Story to “and nobody knew what to do.”
DR. WILLIAM REIN 147

C. (1) How long will the kettle go on cooking?
Who could stop it? Where is the mother?

(2) Story to the close. Repetition by children.
Uniting of the three sections. Questions on the
whole. Several pupils tell the whole story-

(3) The child had not remembered what the old
woman had said. Whohad? MHas any one ever told
you anything that you ought to notice and remember?
(The teacher, parents, brothers, and sisters, ete. Chil-
dren give examples.) Who had not forgotten what the
old woman said? What could the mother do when
the rice ran over? Who had forgotten it? Who did
not know what todo? If you have forgotten some-
thing, what can you not do? But if you have remem-
bered, what can you do? What does the teacher
(papa, mamma) say when you have forgotten some-
thing? What should you not do? What should
you do?

(4) “We must not forget what we are told to do.”

(5) Application: eg. What should you do when
you meet the teacher? (Greet him.) When you
meet people on-the street ? When your mother goes
away and tells you something, what must you do ? ete.

Robinson Crusoe is recast as is seen in the follow-
ing translation of Rein’s version, the original form
not being regarded as important, since it must in any
event suffer translation for German children. As
soon as a section is narrated, it at once undergoes
treatment according to the five steps described in
Chapter V. All the studies of the second year are
related to this ethical core as to the fairy tales of
148 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

the first year. Following the story of how Robinson
settled is a delightful account of an actual lesson on
Robinson Crusoe told by Dr. Klemm in his European
Schools It gives a vivid picture of the manner in
which this material is utilized.

Roginson SETTLES

Among the things that Robinson brought from the
ship were a spy-glass, a Bible, and pens, paper, and
ink. He folded himself a book, in which he wrote
everything that happened. At the same time he pre-
pared an almanac. He set up a cross as a monument
at the place where he had been cast upon the shore.

Robinson now began to build himself a secure
dwelling. His tent stood on swampy ground, so he
sought a better place and found one on high ground
near a spring. Here there was a cave in the rock
large and dry enough for him to live in. He first
carried all his things to the cave. Then, wishing to
protect himself, he made a strong fence by driving
tall stakes close together in a half-circle. The fence
reached from the rock near the cave around to the
rock on the other side, and enclosed a space twenty
paces long and half as wide. He left no opening, but
climbed over the fence by means of a short ladder,
which he always drew in after him. The fencing of
his dwelling-place was a severe labor, and lasted from
the 3d of January to the 14th of April.

Robinson now began to enlarge his cave into a kind
of cellar. This took a long time, for he had neither

1 New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1889.
DR. WILLIAM REIN 149

pick nor shovel. But he found a piece of firm, hard
wood from which he made a very good shovel. Tltis
took him three days.

Within his fortress Robinson now built a hut, for
his tent let the water through when it rained. He
drove stakes into the ground in front of the cave, put
a eross-bar on top of them, and then used poles for
rafters, which he placed standing against the rock
above the cave. He covered the roof with branches
of trees, leaves, and whatever he could find that would
keep out the rain. The sides he covered with wood,
plastering up the cracks with clay. The doorway he
covered with a piece of sail cloth. But there was still
plenty to do within. He had no bed, no chair, no
table, and no fireplace. It took a long time to make
these. Then he put his things in order. The most of
them he put into the cave and the cellar.

To know the time of day, he made himself a sun-
dial. After this he could divide his time regularly.
Every morning he took a walk in the open air with his
gun, then he worked until 11 o’clock, at which time he
prepared and ate his dinner; from 12 to 2 o’clock he
slept, since the heat of the sun was then unbearable.
The remainder of the day he worked, writing in his
diary at the end of the day.

One morning he shot a goat. At first he rejoiced,
but how sorry was he, when he saw a kid by the side
of its dead mother! He took the goat upon his shoul-
ders and the kid followed, but would eat nothing,
however much he might try to induce it to do so. At
length he had to kill the kid to prevent it from slowly
dying from starvation. At another time, he shot a
150 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

young goat in the leg, caught it, carried it home, and
béund up the wounded leg. The wound healed, and
the animal became so tame that it never ran away.
Afterwards the goat gave him rich milk.

At first when night came on, Robinson sat in dark-
ness, or had only the light of the fire on the hearth.
By and by he began to study how he could have a
light, and found a way. He used the fat of the goats
for oil, prepared a wick, and could now keep a small
lamp burning, which he had brought with him from
the ship.

A Lesson on Ropinson CrusoE+

Teacher. “ Well, my children, we heard that Robin-
son had at last found means to return home. He was
ready to embark in the ship, the captain of which was
willing to take him across the ocean. What do you
think he took along with him ?”

Pupil. “I think he took his parrot.”

Teacher. “Why?”

Pupil. “Oh, he liked the bird, and he thought it
would be a nice present for his mother.”

Teacher. ‘Indeed, my child, he was sure to have
taken his parrot, and I am glad he thought of that
dear mother of his. Would you have thought of your
mother first, if you had been in his place?”

Pupil. “Yes. Don’t you know he had nearly
broken his mother’s heart by running away from
home ?”

Teacher. ‘ Well, what else did he take with him ?”

1 Reported by Dr. L. R. Klemm in his European Schools, pp.
199-206.
A LESSON ON ROBINSON CRUSOE 151

Pupil. “I think he took Friday. He could not
have left him alone on the island. He owed him
thanks for being his companion.”

Teacher. “True, we must never forget a debt of
gratitude. He who forgets a friend is not worthy to
have a friend. What else did he take ?”

Pupil. “He took his self-made clothes and para-
sol, to show how he had helped himself.”

Teacher. “Yes, it is likely that he took them.
Anything else?”

Pupil. “I think he took the tools he had made, and
some of the pots he had formed and baked.”

Teacher. “The tools, yes, but hardly the pots, for
he would have found it very troublesome to travel
with them. So, then, they took leave of the island.
The sun shone brightly, and the birds sang as though
they meant to say good-by to Robinson and his black
friend. They both went on board the large sailing-
vessel, where they were well received. Now the an-
chor was wound up.” (Teacher draws an anchor,
pupils explain its use.) ‘The sails were hoisted”
(sails were drawn on the board, by pupils likewise on
slate), “and the wind began to move the vessel on-
ward. Robinson stood on deck and looked back to
the island where he and Friday had spent so many
weary months. Both remembered the many hardships
they had suffered. Now some one may tell the story
so far.”

Pupil. “When the captain of the sailing-vessel had
agreed to take Robinson with him to Hamburg,! Rob-

1 Remember this was a German school. Another deviation from
Defoe’s original is found in the substitution of goats for llamas.
152 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

inson said to him: ‘Let me take my friend Friday.
He has been my companion for many months and
years, and it would be ungrateful if I should leave
him here alone on the island.’ The captain was will-
ing to take the black fellow also. Then Robinson
took on board what was dear to him, his parrot, his
tools, his clothes of goat-skin, and other things which
he had wanted to showat home. He intended to give
the parrot to his dear mother, the poor lady who had
grieved for her bad, runaway boy. Both Robinson
and Friday took leave of the places on the island
where they had found shelter, and by taking the cap-
tain along on their tour of leave-taking they showed
him the island and many of the objects that had served
them. When they stood on the deck of the sailing-
vessel they looked back upon the island. The sun
shone upon the gently swaying palm-trees, the goats
were capering among the rocks, and the birds sang
and twittered as though they meant to take leave of
Robinson,” . . . etc., with delightful childish particu-
larity.

Now another child told the story somewhat differ-
ently, a proof that each pupil thought his own
thoughts. Then this part of the narrative was en-
‘titled “ Robinson’s Departure from the Island.” This
heading founda place on the blackboard under I.

Teacher. “For the present, children, we must leave
Robinson on the ocean, and let us hope he will not
meet with another storm such as had wrecked the
ship on which he had left home. We have a gentle-
man with us who has been on the ocean several times.
He comes all the way from America. Ask him how
long it took him to cross the mighty ocean.”
A LESSON ON ROBINSON CRUSOE 153

Pupil. “Oh, no, he cannot have come from there;
he is not black or red like Negroes and Indians.”
Some boys laughingly agreed that the teacher’s state-
ment could not have been right. But others looked
sober and one of them said: “ My cousin went over
to America some time ago, and when he comes back
I hope he will be white yet. People don’t get black
there who are not born black.” That sobered the
others at once, and now they believed that there might
be white people in America. After this fact was ac-
knowledged the boys said to me, “Do tell us how long
it took you to cross the ocean.” :

“It took me thirteen days and ten hours, but you
see, I came in a large steamer. Had I been in a
sailing-vessel, it would have taken me much longer —
at any rate, several weeks.”

Pupil. “Why, that’s nearly two weeks! Did you
not see any land on the way ?”

“Yes, on the tenth day we hailed the coast of Eng-
land, and after that we hardly ever lost the coast out
of sight, till we reached Hamburg.”

Pupil. “Well, how long does it take a sailing-vessel
to cross the ocean ?”

“Tf the wind is favorable, about five weeks. But it
may take seven weeks.”

Pupil. “Hooh! seven weeks; why that’s forty-nine
days, just think of it! Did you see any fishes?”

“Yes, my dear, we saw large fishes, called tumblers,
who jumped from one wave into another, following the
steamer to eat what was thrown overboard. They are
called hog-fish, because their flesh looks like fresh
pork, rosy and fat.”
154 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

Pupil. “Did you have any storms on the sea?”

“Yes, a storm that lasted three days, and we had
much fog, in which we could not see the bow of the
steamer when standing at the stern.” Other questions
with which I was pelted I will omit here and proceed
with the lesson.

Teacher. “Let us see, boys; our story tells us that
Robinson had a passage which lasted nine weeks. If
you remember where Robinson’s island is situated, west
of South America, the voyage was very swift.” (Map
is shown, and distances are compared.) “The vessel
met with no storm or fog, and the weather was fine.
The fishes in the sea could be seen playing in the sun-
shine. Robinson and Friday made themselves useful
on board by helping to set sails and doing other things.
At last they reached the coast of England, but did not
land. The vessel glided along the shores of England,
France, Holland, and Germany, and finally up the river
Elbe, and entered the harbor of Hamburg. Some one
may tell the story of ‘Robinson’s Voyage across the
Ocean.’ ”

First one, then two others, told the story, mention-
ing time of voyage, comparing it with that of a
steamer. The fishes, sunshine, wind, sails, work on
deck, and other points were touched with a faithful-
ness truly astonishing.

Teacher. “Let us proceed. Tell me what was done
when the ship was fastened to the dock ?”

Pupil. “The people left the ship and went on
land.”

Teacher. “ Leaving everything under deck they had
brought with them?”
A LESSON ON ROBINSON CRUSOE 165

Pupil. “No, they unloaded the freight.”

Teacher. ‘‘What may that have consisted of?”

Pupil. “Well, the ship had been in the South Sea,
and may have been loaded with oranges or other
Southern fruit, perhaps with cocoanuts.”

Teacher. “ What other things are brought from for-
eign countries ? ”

Pupil. “Petroleum, wheat, dye-wood, wild animals,
hides, dried fish.”

Teacher. “Think of some things that do not grow
in Germany.”

Pupil. “Coffee, rice, tea, cane-sugar, cotton, to-
bacco.”

Teacher. “Very well. Our story does not say with
what the ship was loaded; but, when it was fastened
to the dock, all the freight was carried out and wheeled
into the big magazines along the dock, where the mer-
chants came to buy. Shall we stay at the dock and
see the freight unloaded, or follow Robinson and
Friday into town?”

Pupil. “Let us follow Robinson.”

Teacher. “ All right; it must have taken several
days to unload the ship, and Robinson wanted to
hurry home to see his dear old mother. How do
you think Friday behaved when they reached the
harbor ?”

Pupil. “Oh, he must have been very much aston-
ished, for he had never seen a city. The many ships,
the high houses, the many white people, and the
smoking chimney-stacks of the steamers, the cranes
for unloading ships, all of it must have looked very
queer to him.”
156 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

Another pupil. “The strangest things the savage
saw must have been the horses drawing wagons.
‘Look, Robinson,’ he cried, ‘look at these animals!
did you ever see such strange things?’ And when
they entered a horse-car and noticed the long rows of
houses with the many, many windows, the thousands
of people on the streets, and all the many objects
of interest flitting by, he sat in dumb amazement.”

Teacher. “Very well told, my boy. I see I need
not tell the story myself; you can tell it as well as I
can. What happened when they left the street-car?”

Pupil. “Oh, Friday saw so many new things he had
never seen before that he stood still every minute to
ask Robinson to look at this and that.” Other pupils.
“Yes; and when they came to a big shop-window he
wanted to know what everything seen there was for.”
“He reached out his hand to take some of the things,
to look at them closer, but was much astonished to
find he could not do that on account of the thick pane
of glass between him and the articles.” “I wonder
how often he cried to Robinson, who was urging him
on, to stay and look at a new article he had never
seen?” “T believe he was afraid when he saw the
first dog. He may have thought him to be a wild
animal, such as a panther.”

Teacher. “We will call this part of our story ‘ Their
Arrival in Hamburg and Friday’s Astonishment.” Some
one may tell me the story.” It is repeated in a con-
nected manner by several pupils. Then the teacher
said: “Before we hear what Robinson found at home,
let us repeat the three parts of our story. This sec-
tion shall tell us of his departure froin the island; the
A LESSON ON ROBINSON CRUSOE 157

second section may tell us all about his voyage across
the ocean; and the third of their arrival in the harbor
and Friday’s astonishment at the new sights he be-
held.” It was surprising to see how faithfully they
recalled the different incidents spoken of and how well
they expressed their thoughts.

Teacher. “At last they reached the house where
Robinson was born. He looked at the door-plate,
which used to bear the name ‘ Daniel Crusoe,’ but now
bore another name. Robinson rang the bell. A ser-
vant opened the door and asked him whom he wanted
to see. He said, ‘I want to see Mr. and Mrs. Crusoe.’
‘They do not live here any longer, but wait a minute,
I will call my master. He may tell you where to find
them. The gentleman came and looked at this strange
couple, Robinson not having had time to shave his
long beard and cut his hair, and Friday, the black
fellow, must have looked odd enough in this city of
white people; and then remember they were laden
with queer-shaped things and a jabbering parrot.
Robinson asked anxiously after his mother. The
gentleman of the house asked them in, offered them
seats, and told them all about the old couple.

“Robinson’s mother had grieved so much over her
runaway boy that she fell ill, and when news reached
her that the ship in which he had sailed for foreign
lands had been wrecked, she died of a broken heart.
Think of the bitter tears of repentance Robinson cried
when he heard that that dear, gentle, loving mother
of his had died of grief! He was a strong man now,
but the hot tears trickled down into his long beard,
and for some time he could not control himself. Fri-
158 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

day, seeing his friend’s great distress, began to weep
too; but the parrot that was intended for a present to
the old dame did not know what to make of it. At
last Robinson controlled himself enough to ask after
his father.

“‘He was still alive, the gentleman said, but he had
retired from business and lived in a small house near
the harbor, where he sat, lonely and forsaken, to
watch the ships coming into and leaving the harbor.
Robinson thanked the gentleman kindly for the infor-
mation, and left the old house to look up his father.
After many inquiries along the wharf, he found the
house where his father lived. They hurried upstairs,
and in a tidy little room they found the old man.
His hair had become white, his eyes dim, and his voice
trembling. Robinson threw himself on his knees
before him and told him he was that bad, runaway
boy. He had been saved and had come back to him
never to leave himagain. The old man laid his hands
on his son’s head and thanked God for having given
him back his boy.

“My readers may believe me if I say the pupils sat gy

there spellbound, tears in their eyes, and many of
them sobbing. The teacher had told the story so
touchingly that the children’s sympathy had been
aroused. Not an incredulous smile, not a sneer was
seen, not a word was heard from them for some
moments after the teacher had closed his narrative.
It was one of those moments in which it is said an
angel walks through the room. At last the teacher
roused the children from a deep reverie by asking
them to repeat this part of the story, which he termed

%
A LESSON ON ROBINSON CRUSOE 159

‘Robinson’s Bitter Repentance. It was done with
touching simplicity and great accuracy. Again the
entire lesson was reviewed, partly by questioning the
class, partly by allowing them to narrate portions in
aconnected manner. Many new incidents were added,
and when at last the lesson closed, the story of Rob-
inson Crusoe was finished to the satisfaction of all
concerned.

“This narration furnishes the ‘Gesinnungs-Stoff’
(material for the sentiments) of this class as other
tales do in lower, and as Biblical history does in higher,
grades. Besides ‘offering food for the sentiments,
these lessons increase the pupils’ knowledge, give
opportunities for employing their hands, and polish
their language. Much of what is offered in a con-
nected manner in the above account was given in
conversation, but a verbatim repetition might have
been tedious to the reader.”

The following outline of nature- (and object-) study
as it is concentrated about the ethical core, shows that
the principle of presentation is by no means to be
sought in the subject-matter itself, but that it owes
its place to suggestions arising from the fairy tales,
about which everything is to be concentrated. The
sequence of topics is determined wholly upon psycho-
logical grounds, the apperception of the pupil as in-
fluenced by instruction in culture subjects being the
sole guide. Professor MeMurry’s plan of concentra-
tion found in Chapter IV, Part II, will fully illustrate
the manner in which these object lessons are related
to the central culture study.
160 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

OBJECT LESSONS FOR FIRST YEAR

Room. 4 walls (names), ceiling and floor. Protects from
rain, wind, and cold.

Bed. We lie in bed when tired—sick. Soft and warm in bed.
We will not be sluggards.

Clothing. Names of parts of clothing. We wear clothing, (1)
that we may not freeze, (2) that we need not be ashamed,
(3) for adornment, (4) for carrying things.

Food. (1) There is much that we can eat. (2) We eat many
things raw, many boiled, roasted, baked. (8) There are
foods from flour, flesh, milk, fruits, leaves, roots.

The Garden. (1) Shape of the garden (some particular garden).
(2) Cannot live in the garden, for there are no walls and
no roof. There are vegetables, grass, fruit, pleasure gar-
dens. All gardens should be well kept.

The Field. (1) There are cultivated fields and meadows. (2)
The field gives the field-animals living-place and food.
(8) In the field grows also food forman. (4) But we can-
not live in the fields, for we should not be protected from
rain and cold.

The Wood. (1) Many trees stand close together. (2) In the
woods it is pleasant and cool (in summer). (8) The trees
keep off the rain. (4) The trees keep off the wind. (5)
Berries and nuts grow in the woods. (6) One can easily
hide in the woods.

The Heavens. (Sun, moon,stars.) Form, color, height, clouds.
Sun by day. Moon and stars by night. Sun, round like

a shield —shines — makes light, warmth — setting, rising.
Dawn. Twilight. Moon, like sun — rises, sets — light —

_ no warmth, changing forms—man in moon. Stars, like
sparks —some larger than others —cannot count them —
some men know them and their places (children know the
OBJECT LESSONS FOR FIRST YEAR 161

evening star and the Pleiades, the North star, and the Dip-
per) — twinkle.

Directions. (1) Towards where the sun rises is East. (2)
Towards where it sets is West. (3) Towards where the
sun stands at midday is South. (4) Towards where the
sun never goes is North. (The children turn and point to
various directions.)

Schoolhouse. (1) Our schoolhouse has three stories. (2) In
the first story are 4 rooms, in the second 3, in the third 2, etc.
(3) School is held in the school-rooms. (4) We learn in
the School.

The Well (Hydrant). (1) Well gives us water to drink, to wash,
and to cook with. (2) The well gets water from the earth.
(8) Fountains, wells with pumps, windlasses, etc., and
hydrants.

Flock of Sheep. (1) The sheep is a mammal, for the little lambs
suck milk from the mother sheep. (2) The sheep a good
and patient animal, for it does not kick or bite, and does
not become angry even when beaten. (3) The sheep is a
useful animal, for it gives us its wool and its flesh.

Coal. (1) Coalis a fuel. (2) With coal we heat the room —
cooking-stoves. (3) We have charcoal, soft coal, and hard
coal. :

The Bean. (1) Shape of the blossom of the bean. (2) The
beans oval shape and sharp-pointed. (3) Beans grow in
pods. (4) The pods open into two parts. (5) Beans serve
us as food.

Waters of the Neighborhood. (1) The river is a great flowing
water. (2) The Prook is a small flowing water. (3) The
pond is a still-standing water. (4) The river has two banks,
the pond a bank all around. (5) Bridges are built over
rivers. (6) In the water are fishes. (7) The river drives
mills and floats ships and boats.

Chickens. (1) Chickens are useful animals. (2) They give us
their eggs and their flesh. (3) The cock crows when the
162 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

day begins to break. (4) The hen is a good mother to the
little chickens.

The Squirrel. (1) The squirrel is a lively little animal. (2) It can
jump and climb well. (8) It is a gnawing animal. (4) It
lives mostly in trees. (5) It likes pine seeds and nuts best.

The Duck. (1) The duck is a swimming bird. (2) It is use-
ful. (8) It gives us its eggs, feathers, and flesh.

The Mouse. (1) The mouse is alittle mammal. (2) Isa gnaw-
ing animal.

The Goat. (1) The goatis a useful animal. (2) Has two
horns and a split hoof (cloven hoof). (3) Is a ruminant
(chewer of the cud).

The Wolf. (1) Is a wild, ravenous beast. (2) Is a beast of
prey. (3) Sometimes attacks man.

The Fox. (1) The fox is a sly, cunning animal. (2) He
catches poultry and kills other small animals.

The Farmyard. (1) Yard, (2) house, (3) barns, (4) granaries.
In the house the farmer and his family live, the animals
in the stalls, in the loft is the hay, in the granary the grain.

Snow and Ice. Winter —cold—ice glittering, first thin then
thick, sliding, skating. Don’t go on ice too soon. Ice
flowers on the windows.

Christmas. (1) Christmas tree, presents, etc. (2) Christ wishes
all little children to be good. (3) He desires to have them
come to him when they die.

The Bear. (1) The bear is a beast of prey. (2) He is a car-
nivorous animal. (3) He is a cave-dweller. (4) What
tricks he can perform.

The Wren. (1) The wren is the smallest singing-bird. (2)
Likes best to stay in hedges and thickets. (8) Eats flies,
spiders, caterpillars, and berries. (4) Sings his little song
in summer and in winter. (5) Is a cunning bird.

The Hunter. (1) What animals does he shoot? (2) How
does he load his gun? (3) Guns dangerous for children
to handle. (4) What good do his dogs do?
OBJECT LESSONS FOR FIRST YEAR 163

The Church. (1) The Church is a large house. (2) Many
benches, altar, steps, organ. (3) In the Church people
sing, the preacher prays and preaches. (4) On Sundays
people should go to Church.

The Donkey. (1) The donkey is a useful animal. (2) Hasa
single hoof. (8) Used for drawing and carrying. (4) Is
slow but sure. (5) Brays.

Dog and Cat. (1) Useful home animals. (2) Are mammals.
(3) The dog is a watcher, our servant, companion, play-
fellow, trickster ; The cat is our mouse-trap. (4) The dog
is true, the cat treacherous.

The Horse. (1) Horse our largest home animal. (2) Has
a whole hoof. (8) Is a beautiful, clean, and wise ani-
mal. (4) His food is grass, clover, hay, oats, and corn.
(5) Used for drawing and carrying.

Though the Acht Schuljahren, containing elaborate
expositions of the Herbart-Ziller theories of selection,
concentration, and methods of presenting the various
studies of the curriculum, and at the same time setting
forth the entire content of what is to be taught, are to
be regarded as the masterpiece of Professor Rein’s
activity, yet he has published many works of a less
comprehensive nature.!

In connection with a report of the Practice School
at Jena, Dr. Rein gives us a detailed program of con-
centration for the sixth grade of an elementary school,
a sample of which is given as follows: —

1 One of the latest, his Grundriss der Pidagogik, has been recently
translated by Dr. C. C. Van Liew, of the Illinois State Normal
School at Normal, Ill., under the title Outlines of Pedagogy. It
may be obtained of C. W. Bardeen, Syracuse, N.Y.
HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

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CHAPTER VII
DR. KARL LANGE — APPERCEPTION !

Ir is the incomparable service of Dr. Karl Lange,
Director of the Higher-Burgher School, at Plauen,
Germany, to have shown in a genial, concrete manner
the close dependence of education as an end upon psy-
chology as a guide. To him belongs the credit of
elucidating a psychological method by which every
problem of the school-room can be directly examined.
Hitherto most of our attempts to make psychology
applicable to teaching have been at the best formal
and mechanical, because we have presented psychology
as a sum of more or less isolated theories or doctrines
of special phases of mind. Going into the school-room
with a schematized body of psychological distinctions
(true enough it may be, but unimportant as a guide to
education), our teachers for a time try to be psycho-
logical; but they soon abandon complicated systems

1 Apperception, a Monograph on Psychology and Pedagogy. By
Dr. Karl Lange, translated by Elmer E. Brown, Charles De Garmo,
Mrs. Eudora Hailmann, Florence Hall, George F. James, L. R.
Klemm, Ossian H. Lang, Herman T. Lukens, Charles A. McMurry,
Frank McMurry, Theo. B. Noss, Levi Seeley, Margaret K. Smith,
and edited by Charles De Garmo. D.C. Heath & Co., Boston, 1893.

166
DR. KARL LANGE— APPERCEPTION 167

for simple common sense. But Lange opens up new
possibilities by sending the teacher into the class-room
with all his psychological knowledge concentrated —
focussed upon one point, —the mental processes of the
living child. All learning is apperceiving. How shall
I select the subject-matter of the studies? Study the
ends of education and the manner in which the child
best apperceives. How shall I articulate the instruc-
tion? Study the same problem for the relations of
knowledge. How shall I present the lesson and con-
duct the recitation ? See what order will best conduce
to understanding and interest. What means shall I
take to impart high ideals, or to secure right disposi-
tion, or reliable habits of conduct? Go to the same
fountain of pedagogical guidance — the apperceiving
mind of the child.

More successfully than any of his fellow-workers,
perhaps, Lange has succeeded in showing how this
pedagogical insight may be acquired. How important
it is that modern teachers should have this truly sci-
entific guidance in their work is set forth in the fol-
lowing extract from the introduction to the translation
of Lange’s Apperception : —

“Tt is now evident that if we are to make further
progress in education we must add to this initial im-
pulse given by Pestalozzi something of the scientific
spirit of the age in which we live. A number of facts
point to this conclusion. In the first place, the curric-
ulum of studies is no longer the simple thing it was
in Pestalozzi’s time. Study after study has been
added in obedience to some popular demand or because
of the esoteric interest of the schoolmaster. What
168 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

now constitutes our curriculum is a chaos of isolated
subjects, which are allowed, not from any demon-
strated psychological need, but because of some popu-
lar or professional demand. The only proper way to
determine which shall be eliminated, which abridged,
is to submit the whole to a thorough investigation
according to the well-developed psychology of the
present time, since the primitive systems are wholly
inadequate to the task. Such an investigation will
necessarily take into consideration the educational
value of each subject, when it has received the best
possible codrdination with other branches; it will con-
sider the natural interests of the child, his power of
comprehension, the effect of his present acquirements,
disposition and leading purposes upon his acquisition
of new knowledge, for all of these things will help to
decide how the curriculum shall be made up. This is
a problem not to be solved by efforts aroused merely
by emotion or instinct, for the problem is essentially
scientific in its nature.

“We meet this same need for the scientific applica-
tion of psychology to education in another direction.
As long as only the well-to-do classes were educated,
there were many influences to which we could appeal
to obtain the desired results. Were the child in-
clined to evade our instruction in order to follow his
own devices, we might appeal to his ambition, to emu-
lation, to pride, to shame, to regard for the reputation
of family, and the like; but when the streets, the
mines, the factories; the tenement districts, send their
children to school, these indirect means of securing
attention to study are mostly futile. We stand face
DR. KARL LANGE —APPERCEPTION 169

to face with naked ignorance and indifference, and
must make our impression in a few short years or
suffer defeat. We can no longer rely on indirect
means for arousing the mind to educational effort, but
must contrive to awaken a deep, permanent, and grow-
ing interest in the acquisition and possession of knowl-
edge itself. This is a psychological problem involv-
ing the child’s acquirements, his natural instincts
and interests, the content of the studies, together with
an investigation into the time, order, and manner of
presenting them. It appears self-evident, therefore,
that to the primal inspiration for the uplifting of
humanity, we must now add the intelligent direction
of psychological science.” 4

The Monograph consists of three parts: 1. The
Doctrine of Apperception; (a) Nature and Kinds of
Apperception ; (0) Conditions of Apperception; (c)
Significance of Apperception in the Mental Develop-
ment of Man.

2. The Theory of Apperception in its Application
to Pedagogy. (a) The Object that is apperceived
(Choice and Arrangement of the Subject-matter of
Education) ; (6) The Subject that apperceives (In-
vestigation, Extension, and Utilization of the Child’s
Experience) ; (c) The Adequate Union of these Two
Factors in Instruction (Methods of Instruction).

3. History of the Term Apperception. (a) Leib-
nitz, (b) Kant, (c) Herbart, (d) Lazarus, (e) Stein-
~ thal (f) Non-Herbartian Psychologists, (g) Wundt.

The following citations from the discussion cf
the nature and kinds of apperception show to some

1 Lange’s Apperception, p. 6.
170 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

extent the spirit and method of the investiga-
tion : —

“Man enters life as a stranger; he knows nothing
of the world that receives him: it is to him a new,
unknown country, which he must explore, which he
must conquer. How is this to be done? Nature
assails his senses with a thousand allurements; she
sends the rays of light that she may open his eyes
to the innumerable things of the outer world, she
knocks upon the door of the human spirit with exci-
tations of tone and touch and temperature and all the
other stimulations of the sensitive nerves, desiring
admission. ‘he soul answers these stimuli with sen-
sations, with ideas; it masters the outer world by
perceiving it.” }

“This activity of the perceiving mind, however,
explains another important fact. It is a well-known
experience that one and the same object seldom occa-
sions precisely similar perceptions in the minds of dif-
ferent people. Of the same landscape the poet’s image
would differ greatly from that of the botanist, the
painter’s from that of the geologist or farmer, the
stranger’s from that of him who calls it home. In
the same way, one and the same speech is often
understood in as many different ways as there are
hearers. What does not the child see in his toys, the
devout mind in the objects of its devotions! What
does not the experienced reader of human nature see
in the wrinkles and folds, the wilted and weather-
beaten features of a human face! How much do the
gestures, the play of features, the glowing or fading

IPL
DR. KARL LANGE— APPERCEPTION 171

fire of the eye, tell him of the battles and storms of
the soul! And the artist, does he not perceive in a
work of art a thousand things that escape the closest
attention of the ordinary observer? Has not each of
us the sharpest kind of an eye for the objects with
which our calling makes us best acquainted? In the
voices of nature the youthful lover of birds, like
man in the state of nature, hears the emotional and
volitional utterances of related beings, while the
Malay says of his bamboo forests, from whose
branches the wind entices the most manifold tones:
‘The forest organ plays for each his favorite tune.’?

“Tn order that a sensation may arise, there is, as a
rule, a fusion or union of its content with similar
ideas and feelings. With the assistance of the latter,
the sensation is held in consciousness, elevated into
greater clearness, properly related to the remaining
fields of thought, and so truly assimilated.

“We call this second act in distinction from that
of simple perception or the reception of a sensation,
APPERCEPTION, or mental assimilation. This is a
psychical process which has a validity beyond mere
subjective perception, and is of the greatest signifi-
cance for all knowledge, yes, even for our whole
spiritual life? Let us see, therefore, the laws accord-
ing to which this process is completed.

1P. 3.

2 The inquiring mind is likely to ask at this point: Is it possible
to have perception without apperception? We may say in general
that knowledge is necessary for the assimilation of knowledge, and
this is the side of apperception of most importance to us as teachers,
but some are curious to know how, according to this, knowledge
getsastart. The author has shown at the beginning that a spon-
172 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

“Suppose we have the rare phenomenon of an eclipse
of the sun. Rays of light of varying strength come
from the lighted part of the sun’s disk, and fall upon
the retina of the eye. A physical process arising
outside of the body affects at once our nerves of sight.
Hereby the peripheral ends of these nerves are stimu-
lated to an activity that is conducted as a nerve
excitation to the central ends of the nerves and there
causes a specific change (excitation of the ganglion
cells), which is characterized as the release of the
nerve-excitement. This is a physiological process,
which in time and cause seems bound up with the
physical one, but which is in its nature entirely dis-
tinguished from it. To these external processes, and
conditioned and occasioned by them, is now added a
pure inner activity, which seems to have nothing in
common either with vibrations of ether or with nerve

taneous activity on the part of the soul in accordance with its own
nature must be presupposed in order that we may have any expe-
rience at all. In the case of the bell, for instance, the vibrations of
the air are contributed by the object, but the mental response that
we know as sound comes from the mind itself. In this way it is
possible for a knowledge of sounds to start, without there having
been any previous experience of sounds to serve as interpreting
ideas. We have thus in distinction from the apperception in which
knowledge is involved a primary apperception, without which we
should never know anything. As a rule, Herbartian writers
emphasize the cognitive phases of apperception, in which new
knowledge is assimilated by the products of our former experience,
in the form of knowledge, feelings, purposes, interests, etc., partly
because these are the phases of the subject of practical importance
to pedagogy, and partly from the implications of the Herbartian
system of psychology. A careful study of the historical sketch at
the close of Lange’s book will reveal to the reader the attitude of
the various thinkers in respect to this topic.
DR. KARL LANGE — APPERCEPTION 178

currents ; it is the reaction of the soul, a sight-sensa-
tion. This is the psychical act with which the
perception closes. We naturally receive from the
continually changing disk a variety of sensations,
which, united and related to the same object, give us
a picture of the eclipse of the sun; this is a subjective
perception.

“Only a new-born infant, in so far as it may be sup-
posed to see at all, could stop at this stage in the
perception of the outer impression. During the first
months of life a human being would perceive this rare
celestial phenomenon with dulness and indifference,
and without understanding or interest. He will at
this stage have nothing to add to the given impres-
sion; he will indeed not be aware of all that is to be
seen, so that he can take away none particularly.

“Tt is very different with the adult. He gains from
the same phenomenon of nature a far richer, sharper,
and clearer perception. We notice not only the grad-
ual eclipse of the sun, but we recognize also its cause.
We see a dark disk enter the sun’s field of light, and
say to ourselves that this is the unilluminated side of
the moon, which in its passage around the earth, is
now passing between us and the sun, and whose cone
of shadow hides from us the star of day. To this we
add the comforting certainty, that all this has to do
with right things, that the eclipse is proceeding ac-
cording to known and fixed laws—a thought that
goes far to remove a large part of the emotion-stirring
power of this unusual occurrence.

«Whence comes this perception, so rich in content
and clear in outline? It has evidently arisen under
174 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

the influence of the related thought content, with
which we have met the outer impressions, and under
the influence of the observations and knowledge that
we have formerly gained through instruction, read-
ing, and personal observation of the heavenly bodies
and their movements. It was with the help of what
we already knew of this keenly expected natural
event, and of similar reproduced ideas, that we cre-
ated this new perception and placed it in an orderly
position in the organism of our knowledge, so that it
now forms a clear and definite part of the same. WE
APPERCEIVED 1T. Not unessential is the service ren-
dered by the will, which is here led by intellectual
feelings. As we were viewing the astronomical
event with close attention, it not only correctly ad-
justed the sense organs for the observation, but it
removed disturbing ideas as far as possible from con-
sciousness and admitted only such as were favorable
for the assimilation of the new. This was accom-
panied by a corresponding physical effort, viz., that of
tension, which made itself felt in the sensation. At
the moment of successful apperception, as would
appear from Wundt’s investigations, the sensory
nerve current was transferred from the central ends
of the nerves to a region lying in the front part of
the large brain, which is reckoned to be the apper-
ception center. From here the excitation was partly
directed back to the sensory centers, whereby there
was a strengthening of the perception, and partly
conducted further to the muscles of the eye, in
which certain feelings of tension arose.

“Reviewing now the parts of the process to be ob-
DR. KARL LANGE — APPERCEPTION 175

served in the act of perception, we find an extraordi-
nary number of them: sense and motor stimuli,
sensations of sight and muscles, reproduced ideas,
activities of feeling and will —all these are exercised
in the production of an apparently simple result with-
out our being conscious of the action simultaneously.
There are, however, two chief activities to be distin-
guished in the whole process. We perceive in the
eclipse, first, just what the original constitution of
our minds necessitates, even if they were no more
developed than the mind of an infant. In this way
@ PERCEPTION arises. But through the ideas and
skill obtained by former experience, we observe much
that remains hidden to the inexperienced, and we add
to the subjective perception numerous psychical ele-
ments from our well-stored minds, which were not
immediately given in the observation. The mind ap-
prehends outer impressions in accordance with the
wealth of knowledge gained through former activity.
THE PROCESS OF PERCEPTION BECOMES ONE OF APPER-
CEPTION.” }

Even the moral nature is largely dependent upon
the apperception of ideas, as the accompanying cita-
tion shows : —

“While the child is growing intellectually, he is
making progress ethically as well. We have already
seen that the ruling sphere of ideas and emotions
determines in the main the moral insight of the
human being. He usually judges his own moral
worth and that of others according to what he him-
self loves, or what he wishes and longs for for himself.

1 Pp. 5-8.
* 176 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

There is, therefore, no doubt that in early youth,
as well as in infancy, the feelings and interests of
sense influence to a considerable extent the moral con-
sciousness of man. Indeed they can become the one
controlling group of ideas among bad and uneducated
children; with these anything is permissible that
pleases. On the other hand, in the case of the well-
trained child, they are subordinated more and more
to the ideal example of the parents. He no longer
follows blindly this authority, to which he has always
been subject. But by comparing them with other
persons and with his own imperfect being, he comes
gradually to feel an unlimited reverence for his
parents, which makes voluntary obedience toward
them a duty, and causes their example to be regarded
as a model. And soon other authority is associated
with theirs; namely, that of teachers, near relatives,
leaders among school companions, and masters with
their servants. Especially in sacred history does
God, the Perfect and Just One, appear as the highest
authority, whose supreme will and control impress
themselves indelibly upon the pupil’s mind. These
are the examples which especially determine his moral
conceptions, and hence control his apperception on
moral questions. ‘They are vividly in mind when he
acts; they are his conscience. Not as though he were
unable to distinguish for himself what is good or
bad. He knows unworthy deeds or worthy motives in
themselves very well, entirely apart from all thought
of what his parents, or teacher, or God would say on
the matter. But such pure, independent moral feel-
ings and judgments do not appear at this stage of
DR. KARL LANGE— APPERCEPTION 177

development in the abstract, but rather in connection
with certain model examples. Just as the thought
of a child in all spheres of knowledge deals in part
with very imperfect general pictures, not with general
concepts, so in the field of ethics his morality does not
show itself effective in the abstract form of the idea, —
the principle, — but in the concrete form of the ideal.
When one observes closely what guides the moral
judgment in early youth, one finds that, in most
cases, the example of some real person closely re-
lated to the child consciously or unconsciously exerts
a deciding influence in the apperception, and thus
largely determines the will.”

In his ‘discussion of the selection and arrangement
of the studies Lange gives a thoroughgoing critique of
Ziller’s position, differing from him in important par-
ticulars, yet acknowledging much truth in his presen-.
tation. The following citation summarizes Lange’s
position : —

“Tet us now sum up briefly the requirements that
have revealed themselves in reference to the object of
apperception. In general this direction holds good:
Offer to the child always that knowledge for whose
thorough assimilation the most favorable conditions
are present or easy to create.

“How can this be done ?

“1. Such materials of knowledge must be chosen as
lie close to child experience in general, and likewise
to the consciousness of the people, ze., the subject-
matter of national culture.

“2. They must, as regards content and form, take

1 Pp. 79, 80.
178 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

into consideration certain peculiarities of the child’s
intellectual development.

“3. They are to be arranged in such a manner that
every topic shall create for the following ones numer-
ous strong aids to apperception; ¢.e., according to his-
torical sequence (Law of Propzdeutics).

“4, The various parallel subjects of the curriculum
are to be arranged in such a manner that in each grade
as many as possible allied topics may be associated,
so that what is related in fact, may be related in the
consciousness of the child (Law of Codrdination, or
Concentration of Studies).

“Tn so far as the simultaneous realization of the fore-
going requirements does not meet insurmountable dif-
ficulties they may be regarded as valid. And indeed
in most cases they will support and confirm one an-
other. Yet the possibility is by no means excluded
that one or the other of these requirements will clash
with the rest. Certain material may be chosen in
accordance with the historical principle, which in con-
tent and form expects too much from the child at a
certain epoch of his development. Or the unequal rate
of historical progress in the different branches does
not admit of a useful concentration in the instruction.
And the case is also conceivable that, in the realiza-
tion of the third and fourth requirements, the intrin-
sic value of the subject-matter for instruction might
not receive its full due. In all these cases it is advis-
able to limit one requirement by another, as far as is
necessary, and not to lose sight of the chief principle
while considering special applications. This refers to
the last two directions; while the first two, which
DR. KARL LANGE — APPERCEPTION 179

have reference to given, unchangeable facts, cannot
be subjected to any limitation. It does not lie within
the province of this discussion to sketch a complete
curriculum of studies in accordance with the foregoing
principles, even for one grade of school. Only a few
practical conclusions may be permitted to us in con-
nection with these general requirements.” !

With the Herbartian conception of certain necessary
stages in all rational methods of teaching Lange is in
substantial accord, though his fine perception of the
eternal fitness of things warns seriously against allow-
ing teaching processes to be conducted mechanically
according to formulas, however excellent in them.
selves. His book closes with a brief history of the
term Apperception as it has been used in the history
of philosophy.

Were there no other useful book among the myriad
Herbartian publications, this one gem would justify
the existence of the whole number, so genial, so true,
so helpful, so inspiring is it in its treatment of the
main problems of education.

1 Pp. 132, 133.
CHAPTER VIII

DR. KARL VOLKMAR STOY — LEADER OF THE CONSER-
VATIVE HERBARTIANS

Proressor Story was born in Pegau, Saxony, in the
year 1815. He attended school in Meissen, and stud-
ied at the universities of Leipzig and Gottingen, At
the latter place he attended the lectures of Herbart,
who inspired him with a love of philosophy and peda-
gogy. After closing his work as a student, he began
teaching in Weinheim in 1839, going to Jena in 1842,
where in the following year he qualified as privat
docent in Philosophy. About the same time he took
charge of a local private school, which under his lead-
ership attained a high reputation. Pupils gathered
to it from all over Europe, the survivors among them
rejoicing even yet in the thoughts of their school
days under their beloved principal’ In the year
1845, Dr. Stoy was made a Professor at the univer-
sity. In 1865 he moved to Heidelberg; during the
year 1867 he established a normal school at Bielitz
in accordance with Herbartian principles, returning
to Jena in 1874, where he remained until his death
in 1885.

1 Compare Wiessner, Herbart’s Padagogik, p. 105.
180
DR. KARL VOLKMAR STOY 181

The greatest monument of his work in Jena is the
pedagogical seminary, with its accompanying practice
school, now so ably presided over by Dr. Rein. One
of the peculiarities of this seminary is that itis an
organic part of the university, receiving a yearly sti-
pend from the state.

The Professor of Pedagogy is the real head of both
seminary and practice school, though there is a: head-
master in the practice school who presides in the ab-
sence of the Professor. There are three distinct meet-
ings held each week at which the presence of all the
students belonging to the seminary is required. The
first is called a Pratikum, which consists of one or
two model recitations conducted by student-teachers
of the practice school. This exercise is not to be an
examination of the pupils, but a typical illustration of
the art of instruction. Each member of the seminary
makes full notes upon the exercise, one of the num-
ber being appointed to bring in later a written critique
of the whole performance. The Pratikum is held on
Wednesdays.

The second meeting, called Theoretikum, is held ina
classroom of the university, being conducted by the
Professor. At this conference the time, usually one
hour, is devoted to the discussion and elucidation of
such technical or special questions as have arisen in
the practice school during the week. Many of these
concern the principles of methods, the treatment of
special difficulties in discipline, the mental condition
of individual pupils; further, the examination of
special books on methods, of school text-books, and
the laying out of programs of study. Often a student
182 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

is appointed beforehand to bring in a written paper
upon an assigned topic.

The writer well remembers the first task Professor _

Stoy set him, when as a student with small knowledge
of German, he entered the university of Jena. It
read as follows: “Psychological Analysis of the
Observation of Natural Objects.” After long labor
over English psychologies, and the greater labor of
putting the results into German, even with the assist-
ance of Herr Theo. Storch, a charitable fellow-mortal,
the paper was at length read before the wondering
students. The Professor was very kind in his total
rejection of the whole.as a mechanical and valueless
piece of work. He finally dismissed the paper by
saying that it was merely an observation about a psy-
chological analysis of the observation of natural ob-
jects, not an analysis at’ all.

The Theoretikum was held from seven to eight p.m.
on Fridays. Immediately upon adjournment, the sem-
inary reassembled in a room of a neighboring hotel,
where an apartment was always held in readiness for
it on this evening of the week. This meeting was
called the Conference.

In Dr. Stoy’s time, some twenty persons were
usually assembled at that hour, seated about long
tables arranged in the form of the capital letter T.
Behind the cross-table at the head of the room sat Dr.
Stoy upon the inevitable German sofa. The purpose
of the Conference was to hear the reports of the critics
upon the recitations that had been conducted on the
previous Wednesday at the Pratikum. After a few
preliminaries the person who presented the model

Naseses
DR. KARL VOLKMAR STOY 183

recitation read a written self-criticism of the effort, tell-
ing what he had tried to do, his methods of procedure,
and his own judgment as to the degree of success he
had obtained. This was followed immediately by the
report of the appointed critic, who usually went into
details, fortifying his conclusions by facts and argu-
ments. As soon as the reading of this critique had
been concluded, the person whose work was under ex-
amination replied to his critic, either acknowledging
the justice of his criticisms, or showing reasons why
he did not regard them as valid. At this point, the
discussion was thrown open to students and teachers
alike, each speaking upon whatever point seemed to
him most worthy of comment. The Conference lasted
until 11 o’clock, when it was closed by Professor Stoy
himself with a masterly review of the whole dis-
cussion.

The Encyclopedia of Pedagogics is Stoy’s chief
work. The first edition was issued in 1861, and the
second, enlarged and amended, in 1878. Besides
these may be mentioned School and Life,’ House Ped-
agogy in Monologues and Addresses,? House and School
Police (Government)? Two Days in an English Gym-
nasium (1860), Organization of the Normal School,*
Home Geography and Instruction in Language,’ and
many articles in the Schulzeitung, whose editor he
was from 1870 to 1882.

Stoy’s service to the cause of didactics is more a

1 Schule und Leben, 1844.

24 Hauspddagogik, 1855.

3 Haus-und Schulpolizet, 1856.

4 Organization des Lehrerseminars, 1869.
5 Heimatskunde und Spruchunterricht.
184 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

vigorous restatement of Herbart’s doctrines than a
contribution of new ideas. The subject of instruc-
tion he treats under three heads, — Statics, Propadeu-
tics, and Concentration.

1. Of the Statics of instruction, he says that there
must always be provision made for intellectual, ethi-
eal, and religious training, and that food for these
three chief interests must always be provided in the
program. We must care for soundness of heart quite
as much as for soundness of head. A certain propor-
tion must consequently always be observed among
the three kinds of material —a static consideration.

2. Propedeutics. Since only by the utilization of
present stores of knowledge and experience can any
instruction hope to succeed, it follows that he who
instructs without heeding this law of apperception
“ plays on a harp without strings.” Every step taken
must, therefore, be a preparation for the next one,
forming its indispensable basis. Everything that
could lessen the activity and association of ideas
must consequently be vigorously avoided. The spe-
cial principles of this forward (dynamic) view of in-
struction must be sought in the psychological study
of apperception and apperceiving interest.

3. Concentration. If the statics of instruction de-
termines the juxtaposition of studies, and the pro-
pedeutics the succession, both together constituting
“the two dimensions of instruction,” there yet lies
in the enormous extent of possible and even needful
subject-matter a necessity of a peculiar kind, at first
of a negative character. There arfses the necessity
of repelling everything that could disturb the re-
DR. KARL VOLKMAR STOY 185

awakening, the facility and connectedness of ideas, so
that the problem arises of promoting to the great-
est possible degree, unity of basal knowledge, connec-
tion of that which is related, and the association of
supplementary ideas, so that time and strength may
be economized. ‘To explain how this can be done is
the business of concentration.

But with concentration in Ziller’s sense, Professor
Stoy, with the partisanship known only to rival German
professors, would have nothing to do. He regarded
the whole plan as an exaggerated and visionary
scheme. To his friend Dr. Bartel in Gera he wrote:
“T should be thankful to you if, in the interest of
truth, you would take occasion to say that I have
nothing to do with Ziller’s novelties. I regard them
as harmful exaggerations, as wrecks from the great
structures of Herbart. I am in harmony with you
when, in conclusion, I express my final judgment:
Everything new in this Ziller business is not good,
and everything good in it is not new.”

As a summary of Stoy’s position, together with
that of his sympathizers, the following points may be
recapitulated : —

1. He holds fairly to the Herbartian basis of meta-
physies, psychology, and ethics.

2. He accepts in the main the idea of historical
development as a guide to the presentation of the

, culture subjects. .
| 3. He rejects unconditionally Fairy Tales and
ie | Robinson Crusoe; which with the disciples of Ziller
form the core of concentration for the first and
second years.
186 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

4, He rejects with even greater emphasis Ziller’s
scheme of concentration, whereby all the other sub-
jects of the curriculum are to be grouped about an
ethical core of concentration, consisting for the most
part of Biblical and profane history, with an introduc-
tion of Volks lore and Robinson Crusoe.

5. He believes in the formal steps of instruction as
a rational guide to teaching.

Stoy himself was small of stature, homely of
feature, eccentric in behavior and dress; but kind of
heart, earnest of purpose, and helpful always to those
who sought him,— a man whose memory is held dear
by many hearts.
CHAPTER Ix

DR. OTTO FRICK, LATE DIRECTOR OF THE FRANK-
ISCHEN STIFTUNGEN IN HALLE

APPLICATION OF HERBARTIAN IDEAS TO SECONDARY
EpucatTion

Ir to Dr. Rein and his co-workers belongs the credit
of applying Herbartian principles to the work of the
elementary schools, it is to Dr. Otto Frick and his
fellow-laborers that we must ascribe the credit of
applying them to secondary education. What Rein
does on the Ziller basis for the Volks schools, Frick
has done on the Stoy basis for the gymnasiums.
Nor is it strange that Dr. Frick should with Stoy
reject the Ziller plan of concentration, for in the ad-
vanced classes of the gymnasium, to conduct natural
science as subordinated to literature, history, and
religion, would be to caricature the whole subject of
science, making it conform to principles not its own.
Men made a dismal failure of science when they
taught it by literary methods; if in addition to this
they had selected and arranged it according to the
laws of literary selection and sequence, it would have
presented a sorry spectacle. Natural science, at least

187
188 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

in its higher stages, is not amphibious, living as well
in one element as the other.

Dr. Otto Frick was the son of a preacher in Bran-
denburg, and. was born at Schmitsdorf in the year 1832.
After completing his university education at Berlin and
Halle, he became Director of the Gymnasium at Burg.
In 1880 he was appointed Director of the Frankischen
Stiftungen at Halle, a most responsible position and
one offering a wide range for pedagogical observation
and experiment. This school, founded for the poor,
especially orphans, two hundred years ago by Francke,
now comprises a series of schools having some four
thousand pupils and students of all grades and condi-
tions of life. Almost every variety of school known to
the German system is here represented, —Gymnasium,
Real Gymnasium, Normal School, Volks Schools, Bur-
gher-schools, Higher Girls’ Schools, Orphan Schools,
and the like.

It was the writer’s good fortune to be associated
with Dr. Frick for two years in a local branch of the
Verein fiir Wissentschaftliche Ptidagogik, which met
two evenings in each month for the discussion of
pedagogical topics from the Herbartian standpoint.
He was a large, fine-looking man, of grave demeanor.
Whenever he spoke, one listened as to a master.
Although independent in thought, he was yet generous
to opponents, and not slow in recognizing their strong
points. From Herbart he differed mainly on psycho-
logical grounds. He could not join him in regarding
the soul as the empty meeting-place of ideas, but was
disposed to ascribe a considerable content to the soul
itself, aside from ideas gained through experience.
APPLICATION OF HERBARTIAN IDEAS 189

There is, he thought, a distinct constitution of mind
itself, which should be recognized in education. It
was a serious loss to the teaching profession when
this able, industrious man was cut off in the prime of
his usefulness by sudden death, in January of the year
1892.

In educational theory Dr. Frick agrees so-nearly
with Professor Stoy that aseparate exposition of their
views is hardly needed. His opinions may, however, be
found in his two monographs, Didactic Principles, and
Unity of the School.? Dr. Frick’s service to the cause
of education is not to be measured, however, by these
monographs, but rather by the quarterly magazine,
Lehrproben und Lehrgtnge aus der Praxis der Gymna-
sien und Realschulen,? which he and Gustav Richter
established in 1884, and which he edited until his
death in 1892. This magazine, as its name indicates,
is devoted to the selection and arrangement of studies,
and to extended expositions of the methods to be pur-
sued in every variety of subject. It constitutes a rich
mine of didactic treasures, all bearing more or less
clearly the Herbartian stamp.

Dr. Frick’s contributions, especially upon historical
and theoretical topics, greatly enrich the magazine.
After eight years of constant discussion, he presented
in the twenty-eighth number what he calls the outline
of an organically arranged course of study for a clas-
sical gymnasium, in which each subject or group of

1In wieweit sind die Herbart-Ziller-Stoy ’schen Didactischen
Grundsatze fiir den Unterricht an den hohern Schulen zu verwerten.

2 Hinheit der Schule.

3 Verlag der Buchhandlung des Waisenhauses, Halle, Germany.
190 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

subjects has a rational development, and in which
there is as much coordination as the age of the pupils
and the nature of the subjects demand. In his view
the gymnasium is an institution whose domain lies in
the three great fields of education denominated with
us as elementary, secondary, and higher. Dr. Frick
divides the gymnasium course of nine years as fol-
lows : —

1. Exementary. First two years, age of pupils
‘from 10 to 12 years.

2. Seconpary. Next four years, age of pupils 12
to 16 years.

3. Hiauer. Last three years, age of pupils 16 to
19 years.

The Elementary stage is looked upon as a prepara-
tion for the more serious work involved in the Sec-
ondary one, while the Higher stage is regarded as the
proper one for the systematic, rational codrdination
of related studies. It is hardly worth while to try to
make infant philosophers, the task being not only im-
practicable, but also undesirable. Children readily
form a network of associations among various studies
if the connections are brought to consciousness; but
we must wait until the stages of higher education are
reached before there can be any intelligent grasp. of
far-reaching interrelations. This being the case, the
course of study laid out by Dr. Frick, though by his
wish to be regarded as tentative and illustrative, may
be regarded as one of the most carefully planned pro-
grams ever printed. It purports to be rather an or-
ganization than an aggregation of studies. In it he
has had three things constantly in mind, viz.: —
COURSE OF STUDY FOR A GYMNASIUM 191

1. The Selection of Material.

“2. The Sifting of Material.

3. The Articulation or Coérdination of Material.

The courses as arranged by Dr. Frick will now be
represented. It will be noted that form studies, like
mathematics and grammar, are not inserted, not be-
cause they do not have to be taught, but that they
muy-not obscure the view of the other subjects. Fol-
lowing the course will be found some expository re-
marks.

COURSE OF STUDY FOR A GYMNASIUM

A. Exvementary Stoupirs—Two Years— Ace 10 ro 12
SEXTA — FIRST YEAR

Geography. — (1st Semester.) The typical geographical con-
cepts illustrated by the home environment. Introduction
to understanding of Relief, and the reading of a map.
General lessons upon the globe.

(2d Semester.) Division of the earth into land and*
water. General descriptive view of all the continents.
Natural History. — First introduction into systematic obser-
vation of plant and animal life, according to chief types
as found in the child’s environment. (Biological home
studies.) In summer the plants, in winter the animals,

are brought to the front.
Enlivening of the geography heretofore presented.
Opening up of the home environment. Theawakening and
cultivation of the feeling for nature and home surroundings.

History. — Preparatory introduction into the chief typical forms
of historical life. (The simplest social communities.)

(1st Semester.) The Odyssey (Grecian heroic age).
First opening up of the antique world and its geographical
theatre.
192 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

(2d Semester.) Niebelungen Tales (German heroic
age). First opening up of the German ancient world and
its geographical theatre.

German. — (The center of instruction.) A National Reading
Book, Part I (with an appendix of the local or home en-
vironment), for extending and deepening the impression
and concepts obtained in local geography and natural his-
tory. Pictures illustrating local traditions.

Latin. — Meurer, Pauli Sextani liber (that is, connected read-
ing material concerning home regions ; extension into the
Roman world or connected lessons from Roman History,
perhaps a history of the kings, standing midway between
tradition and history, or between patriarchal and heroic
times).

Religion. — Biblical History of the Old Testament. (Time of
the Patriarchs, Heroes, Judges, Kings.) Personal relation
of the same (the community) and of the whole Israelitic
people to God. The most general facts of the Catechism
are learned from the Bible History, especially the first
Article and the Ten Commandments.

QUINTA — SECOND YEAR

Geography. — Lands. More minute description (with an em-
phasis of geographical types).

(1st Semester.) Home province, and state, and the whole
of Germany.
(2d Semester.) The remainder of Europe.

Natural History.— Extension of observation to neighboring
regions in order to enlarge the observation of plant and
animal life according to important types. Extension of
study to foreign lands.

In summer and winter as in Sexta.

History.— A closed circle of typical pictures from ancient,
middle, and especially modern national history. (Prepara-
tory excursion through German history for a general con-
ception of the whole ; essentially the history of kings and
emperors, with pictures of cities, state, and national
organization.)
COURSE OF STUDY FOR A GYMNASIUM 193

German. —A National Reading Book, Part II, corresponding to
Part I for Sexta, but with stronger emphasis upon national
history, legends, and historical poems from ancient and
medieval German history. Characterizations of great his-
torical personalities therein considered.

Religion. — Bible history of the New Testament, the middle
point to be the life of Jesus as well as his personal relation
to God. General conception of the kingdom of Heaven as
the highest social community. The Catechism as in Sexta,
especially the second Article, the Lord’s Prayer, and the
formulas used in baptism and at the communion service.

B. Seconpary Srupres— Four Years—AGE 12 To 16
QUARTA — THIRD YEAR

Geography. —Land divisions. Extended description (with em-
phasis of types) of non-European countries. Especial
study of German colonies.

Natural Science. — Elementary and General. (1st Semester.)
Physical geography.

(2d Semester.) Geology (according to the scope and
treatment of the subject in the books of Geikie-Schmidt).

History. — Grecian history in thoroughgoing manner. A care-
ful selection and a rounded period of the elements of
historical life. (Types of historical observation and con-
ception.)

German. —The Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, in a form
prepared for schools. A few of the most important war
poems ; then furnished with material from Grecian history
and culture, e.g. Geibel, Schiller (Ring des Polykr., Kraniche
des Ibycus).

Latin. —Cornelius Nepos. Chosen lives of warriors and states-
men, particularly of Grecian history (or a suitable prepa-
ration of the same material).

Religion. — Characteristic types of heroes, evangelists, apostles,
in accordance with evangelical and apostolic history, in the
194 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

center Paul (his personal relation to Christ and God). The
beginnings of the Church and a general idea of the same.
Catechism, third Article. Systematic treatment and elabo-
ration of the first three.

TERTIA B—FOURTH YEAR

Geography. —From General Geography. (1st Semester.) The
atmosphere, air currents, temperature and rainfall. Cli-
mate. The sea currents— most important lines of com-
merce (from Commercial Geography).

(2d Semester.) Plant and animal distribution according
to characteristic types and differences.

N.B. Always (1 and 2) with repetition and utilization of
previously obtained knowledge of the various countries.
Natural Science. —Systematic connected view of the most im-
portant organisms and laws. (lst Semester.) Plants.

(2d Semester.) Animals.

History. — Roman history as in Quarta. As a new type for
observation and study we have the forming of the empire
(Imperium Romanum).

German. — Reading Book with complete selections. The Ger-
man Napoleonic Wars (with especial utilization of local
traditions), and the songs of this period.

Latin. — Cesar, Bello Gallico (the personality of Cesar, the old-
est conditions of the Gallic and German races in their con-
nection with the Roman world). Struggle for independence,
with a background of geographical and ethnographical
facts. (Preparation for Tacitus, Germanica and Annals.)

Ovid, Metamorphoses. Choice of complete selections with
a view to historical and culture epoch.

Greek. — Xenophon, Anabasis. Background of military and
world’s historical view —interest in individual personali-
ties ; geographical and ethnographical pictures of civiliza-
tion (as in Cesar), involving regions through which the
pupil is led in Bible and apostolic history, the Trojan
legend, Herodotus, Curtius, and the Crusades.
COURSE OF STUDY FOR A GYMNASIUM 195

French. — A reading material as in the French Reading Book
upon the history of the German Napoleonic Wars, by Chr.
Ufer, Altenburg, 1887. Illumination of the epoch through
French sources.

Religion. — (1st Semester.) The history of the Apostles read.
(Elaboration of the matter presented in Quarta.)

(2d Semester.) View of the wider extension of the Chris-
tian Church (Augustinus, Bonifacius, Luther). The Cate-
chism completed and review of the organization of the
whole (compare L. Schlutze, Katechetische Bausteine, 1887).

TERTIA A—FIFTH YEAR

Geography. — From General Geography. (1st Semester.) Miner-
alogy, where possible, with utilization of home observations,
together with an introduction into the most elementary
ideas in chemistry.

(2d Semester.) Consideration of the earth as a seat of
life ; its relations to the other heavenly bodies.

Natural Science. — Introduction to Physics. Employment of
knowledge acquired in Quarta.

History. — (Through Secunda B and A.) German history in
elaborate presentation. Elaboration of the separate epochs
presented. The historical observations and conceptions
obtained in Quarta and Tertia B are enlarged and
deepened through careful elaboration in the develop-
ment of the German people. The opposition between
Church and state is new, as is also the growing world-
commerce ; the entire instruction has intimate regard for
the geographical background.

German. — Archenholt’s Seven Years’ War. Frederick the
Great (a group of selected situations and types), exhibited
through materials chosen from the history of this war
Schiller’s Ballads (in arrangements and groupings as con-
nected wholes).

Latin. —Curtius, Rufus. Alexander the Great (individual per-
sonalities of world-wide renown; geographical and ethno-
196 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

logical background). Ovid, Metam. Selections (pictures
of inner life; psychological motive, cosmogony and age of
the world).

Greek. — As in Tertia B, the preceding class (in all events a
glance through the whole up to the arrival in Trebizond).

French. — Michaud I and (or) III, Croisades (selections).
Further elaboration of the preceding. Mceurs et Coutumes
des Croisades.

Religion. — Synthesizing outline. (1st Semester.) General view
of the divisions and subdivisions of the Scriptures, the
Church songs (species and origin), the important religious
ideas, doctrines, and dogmas.

(2d Semester.) The idea and essence of God’s kingdom.
Its embodiment in the Church (organization of the Church
year of divine service; extension and activities of mis-
sions), always with temperate treatment based upon written
testimony.

SECUNDA B-—SIXTH YEAR

Geography. — Not a subject to be taught, but a principle to be
observed at every opportunity.

Natural Science. — Physics with the closest possible association
with the geographical conception to be further impressed
or newly learned.

History. —See preceding class.

German. — (1st Semester.) Goethe, Hermann und Dorothea.
Schiller’s Wilhelm Tell.

(2d Semester.) Schiller, Jungfrau von Orleans, and Maria
Stuart.

Latin. — Livy, History of the Kings and the beginning of the
Free State (the development of a state).

Cicero, de imperio Cn. Pompeii (the first preparations
for the monarchy), pro Ligario (Cesar dictator).
Virgil, neid. Selection (Fall of Troy).

Greek. — Xenophon, Hellenica, chosen selections. The begin-
ning of Athenian power. The Odyssey. Selections for an
outline of the whole.
COURSE OF STUDY FOR A GYMNASIUM 197

French. — (1st Semester.) Jeanne d’Arc, by Borante (as a
preparation for Schiller’s drama and for introduction into
a significant era of French. English history. Wars for
freedom).

(2d Semester.) Maria Stuart, by Lebran (for the same
reason).

Religion. — (1st Semester.) Lessons from selected historical
portions of the Old Testament (the personality of Abraham,
Moses, Joshua, the Judges, and the Kings).

(2d Semester.) The Gospel of Luke in the original, with
synoptical side views of the other Gospels.
N.B. Compare with Secunda A, the next class.

C. Hicuer Epucation— AcE From 16 to 19
SECUNDA A— SEVENTH CLASS

Geography. —Not a subject to be taught, but a principle to be
observed at every opportunity.

Natural Science. — (1st Semester.) Elements of Chemistry.

(2d Semester.) Physics.
History. —See Tertia A.
German. — (1st Semester.) Niebelungen Lied (und Gudrun).
(2d Semester.) Heliand, Walter von der Vogelweide
(selections — natural feeling, knightly service, Kaiser songs,
God’s service).

Latin. —Livy. Selections for an outline of the Second Punic
War. Cicero, pro Archia, de Amicitia; Virgil, Atneid.
(Selection, Shield of Aneas. Outlook into the Rule of
Augustus. Eclogue IV.)

Greek. — Herodotus. Selections to give an outline of the whole
Persian War. Odyssey. Selections for an outline of the
whole.

French. —Suitable selections for an introduction into the
history of the French Revolution (Mignet) and of Na-
poleon (Thiers, Bonaparte en Egypte, etc., and from Lan-

frey).
198 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

Religion. — (1st Semester.) Lessons chosen from poetic and
philosophic portions of the Old Testament.
(2d Semester.) Lessons from the easier Epistles of Paul.
N.B. As in Secunda B, careful presentation and associa-
tion of fundamental Biblical and Christian ideas.

PRIMA B—EIGHTH YEAR

Geography. -— None taught. See preceding class.

Natural Science. — (1st Semester.) Outlines of Mathematical
Geography.

(2d Semester.) Physics.

History.— (For this and last class.) Medizval and modern
history. Synthesis of the important conceptions of his-
torical life. Use of the preceding treatment, together with
various lessons from original sources, supplementing of the
latter. Constant review of geographical knowledge.

German. — (1st Semester.) View of the inner development of
German literature. Parzival. Klopstock’s Messias, and
Odes (selections).

(2d Semester.) Lessing.

Latin. — (1st Semester.) Tacitus Germania, and Selections
drom the Annals, Lib. I and II (the German struggle
for liberty). Germanicus and Arminius. Horace, Odes
(selections).

(2d Semester.) Cicero, de Oratore (selections: nature
and purpose of oratory) ; Horace, Odes (selections).

Greek.—- (1st Semester.) Thucydides. Pictures from the Si-
cilian Expedition, Funeral Oration of Pericles, and as
contrast and reverse, glimpses of the downfall of the Hel-
lenic world, III, 82, 83. Writings of Thucydides con-
cerning his conception of the end and purpose of history.
The Iliad.

(2d Semester.) Demosthenes, the Iliad, Sophocles’
Antigone.
French. — (1st Semester.) Montesquieu, Considérations.
(2d Semester.) Racine, Athalie.
COURSE OF STUDY FOR A GYMNASIUM 199

Religion. — (1st Semester.) Lessons on the Gospel of John
(the personality of Christ).
(2d Semester.) Lessons upon the Epistle to the Romans
(personality of Paul).

PRIMA A—NINTH AND LAST YEAR

Geography. — Not taught. See remark in Secunda B.

Natural Science. — (1st Semester.) Physics.

(2d Semester.) Conception and nature of the Cosmos
(‘Nature as a whole moved and quickened by an inner
power’’).

History. — See preceding class.

German. — (1st Semester.) Goethe.

(2d Semester.) Schiller. Impressive gathering up of the
important fundamental ideas presented in the instruction
in German.

Latin. — (1st Semester.) Cicero, pro Sestio (Fall of the Roman
Empire). Tacitus, Annals, Selections from Liber I (Rise
of the Casar rule. Augustus, Tiberius, and the royal
house). Horace, the Roman and Kaiser Odes.

(2d Semester.) Cicero, de Natura deorum, Somnium Scipi-
onis, Horace, Ars Poetica.

Greek. — (Ist Semester.) Plato, Apology and Crito (the peda-
gogical mission of Socrates to the people), the Iliad.

(2d Semester.) Phedo, the Iliad, Sophocles’ Ajax.

French. — (1st Semester.) One classical comedy (Moliére).

(2d Semester.) Oratorical prose and an article on the
history of literature. Outlines of the development of French
literature.

Religion. — (1st Semester.) Selections from Luther’s writings.
His Catechism.

(2d Semester.) Careful review and synthesis of matter
already learned, particularly Biblical and Christian funda-
mental conceptions.

.
200 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

REMARKS ON THE CouRSE OF STUDY

1. The historical interest is the backbone of the
whole body of higher education; the interest in
national history being of first, and that in ancient
history of secondary, importance. This being the case,
it is natural that the environment of the pupil, local,
state, and national, should receive the chief emphasis ;
and that next to this the Greek and Roman culture
should be emphasized. It is to the instruction in
history and to that of native and foreign literature
that we are to look for the cultivation of this interest.

The reading matter in the mother tongue is de-
pended upon to preserve the unity of the course
through the studies touching the home environment
of the child. Literary selections first emphasize the
last great German war (1870-1), and then go back to
the Napoleonic, the Seven Years’, and the Thirty
Years’ wars, the Reformation, etc., the object of the
whole being that a clear understanding of German
manners and customs, German homes, history, legends,
and poetry, shall be placed in the center of the whole
realm of instruction. ‘This, it will be remembered, is
the substance of the demand of the German Emperor,
when he said the schools should produce young Ger-
mans, not young Greeks and Romans; yet Dr. Frick
advocated this plan long before the Emperor spoke.

2. A thorough sifting of the material of instruction
can be obtained only by confining it to that which
pertains to great periods and epochs, to really great
personalities, to the typical and characteristic, the
REMARKS ON THE COURSE OF STUDY 201

truly classical. Such a limitation results in dropping
whole subjects at certain stages; thus, for example,
Geography is omitted after Tertia A, Latin Grammar
after Secunda B, and Greek Grammar after Secunda A.

3. In addition to the codrdinating influence of his-
tory and literature, the following aids to the same
end may also be named : —

(1) Unity of treatment is preserved within each
important subject or groups of subjects. Thus, for
instance, the whole of natural science is to be taught
with its manifold relations clearly in view, a technical
isolation of the various topics, like botany, zodlogy,
geology, etc., being avoided.

(2) The natural intimacy existing between such
subjects as geography and natural science, and be-
tween these and literature, and that between physics
and mathematics, is continually brought to the con-
sciousness of the pupil.

(3) The favoring of such subjects as involve at
once a wide range of events and a broad stretch of
country, the Odyssey, the Niebelungen Lied, the
Seven Years’ and the Thirty Years’ wars, for illustra-
tion. Almost every part of Germany has a local
interest in some phase of the Thirty Years’ war.

(4) The search for and the selection of organic
bodies of knowledge pertaining to individuals, to
communities and states, are to be constant; so, too,
is the emphasis of middle or turning points in the
events pertaining to individuals or communities, to
whole historical epochs; or even to the development
of important ideas.

(5) The constant regard for the mind and feeling
202 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

of the pupil, which is the true center of instruction,
is to be ever held in mind. His apperceptive capacity
must be observed, his permanent inherent interests
developed.

Scores of prominent German schoolmen and profes-
sors have done Germany service in the work of adapt-
ing the Herbartian pedagogics to the needs and
conditions of the German schools. It would not,
however, add to the value of this exposition to con-
fuse the typical work of the leaders already presented
with a host of variations. It must suffice to mention
in the appendix the chief works of others who have
become noted on account of contributions to the cause,
whether in psychology, ethics, or general and special
theory of education.
Parr III

HERBARTIAN IDEAS IN AMERICA
CHAPTER I
THE HERBART CLUB

Tus Club was organized at the Saratoga meeting of
the National Educational Association in 1892, and
consists, for the most part, of teachers who have made
a special study of Herbartian principles of education.
The purpose of the Club is to facilitate the spread of
these ideas, and to promote their rational application
in school work under American and English condi-
tions. The Club has made a beginning by the trans-
lation of Lange’s Apperception,! already mentioned in
Part II, Chapter VII, and by the translation of Ufer’s
Introduction to the Pedagogy of Herbart.? These works
are translated by members of the Club, and edited by
the writer of this volume.

Previous to the formation of the Club, however, the
present writer issued two books based on Herbart.
The first, Essentials of Method, an analytical treat-
ment of the formal stages of instruction, was issued
in 1889; while the second, a translation of Lindner’s
Empirical Psychology, appeared in 1890.’

1 Apperception, a monologue on Psychology and Pedagogy, by
Dr. Karl Lange. Boston: D. C. Heath & Co., 1893.

2 Boston: D. C. Heath & Co., 1894.

8 De Garmo’s Essentials of Method; Lindner’s Empirical Psy-
chology. Boston: D. C. Heath & Co., 1893.

205
206 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

Other important translations are as follows :—

1. Herbart’s Psychology, by Margaret K. Smith,
Oswego, New York State Normal School, 1891.1

2. Rein’s Outlines of Pedagogics, by C. C. and Ida J.
Van Liew, Illinois State Normal University, 1893.?

3. Herbart’s General Pedagogics and Moral Revela-
tion of the World, by Henry M. and Emmie Felkin, of
England, 1893.

A beginning has been made in the work of adapt-
ing Herbartian principles to American conditions. A
course of illustrative lessons arranged according to the
Ziller plan of Concentration, prepared by Dr. Frank
McMurry while professor of pedagogy in the Univer-
sity of Illinois, has already been presented in Chapter
VI of Part II.

The most extensive contribution of this kind has
been made by Dr. Charles A. McMurry, of the Illinois
State Normal University, at Normal, Tl. In 1892, he
published The Elements of General Method. This
work is a sympathetic exposition of the principles of
Herbart as interpreted by Ziller and Rein, with co-
pious use of fitting illustrations drawn from Anglo-
Saxon history and experience. In his discussion of the
relative value of studies he has the following to say of
the fetish of formal culture, or discipline of the mind
by a few studies like grammar and arithmetic: —

1International Education Series. New York: D. Appleton &
Co., 1892.

2C. W. Bardeen & Co., Syracuse, N.Y.; also Swan Sonnenschein
& Co., London.

8D. C. Heath & Co., Boston; also Swan Sonnenschein & Co.,
London.

4 Bloomington, 0l.: Public School Publishing Co.
THE HERBART CLUB 207

“The second article of faith is a still stronger one.
The better class of energetic teachers would never
have been won over to formal studies on purely utili-
tarian grounds. A second conviction weighs heavily
on their minds. ‘ The discipline of the mental faculties,’
is a talisman of unusual potency with them. They
prize arithmetic and grammar more for this than for
any direct practical value. The idea of mental disci-
pline, of training the faculties, is so ingrained into all
our educational thinking that it crops out in a hun-
dred ways and holds our courses of study in the
beaten track of formal training with a steadiness that
is astonishing. These friends believe that we are tak-
ing the backbone out of education by making it inter-
esting. The culmination of this educational doctrine
is reached when it is said that the most valuable
thing learned in school or out of it is to do and to
do vigorously that which is most disagreeable. The
training of the will to meet difficulties unflinchingly

is their aim, and we cannot’ gainsay it. These stal-
yy, Wart apostles of educational hardship and difficulty
are in constant fear lest we shall make studies inter-
esting and attractive and thus undermine the energy
of the will. But the question at once arises: Does
not the will always act from motives of some sort?
And is there any motive or incentive so stimulating
to the will as a steady and constantly increasing inter-
estin studies. Itis able to surmount great difficulties.

“We wish to assure our stalwart friends that we still
adhere to the good old doctrine that ‘there is no royal
road to learning.’ There is no way of putting aside
the great difficulties that are found in every study, no
208 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

way of grading up the valleys and tunnelling through
the hills so as to get the even monotony of a railroad
track through the rough or mountainous parts of edu-
cation. Every child must meet and master the diffi-
culties of learning for himself. There are no palace
cars with reclining chairs to carry him to the summit
/of real difficulties. The character-developing power
that lies in the mastery of hard tasks constitutes one
of their chief merits. Accepting this as a fundamental
truth in education, the problem for our solution is,
\/how to stimulate children to encounter difficulties.
_ Many children have little inclination to sacrifice their
ease to the cause of learning, and our dull methods of
teaching confirm them in their indifference to educa-
tional incentives. Any child, who, like Hugh Miller
or Abraham Lincoln, already possesses an insatiable
thirst for knowledge, will allow no difficulties or hard-
ships to stand in the way of progress. This original
appetite and thirst for knowledge which the select
few have often manifested in childhood is more valua-
ble than anything the schools can give. With the
majority of children we can certainly do nothing bet-
ter than to nurture such a taste for knowledge into
vigorous life. It will not do to assume that the aver-
age of children have any such original energy or
momentum to lead them to scale the heights of even
ordinary knowledge.” 3
The chapter is summarized as follows: —
“ History in the liberal sense surveys the field of
human life in its typical forms and furnishes the best
illustrative moral materials. Nature study opens the

1 General Method, pp. 45, 46.
THE HERBART CLUB 209

door to the real world in all its beauty, variety, and
law. The formal studies constitute an indispensable
part of useful and disciplinary knowledge, but they
should occupy a secondary place in courses of study
because they deal with the form rather than with the
content of the sciences. It is a fundamental error to
place formal studies in the center of the school course
and to subordinate everything to their mastery. His-
tory and natural science, on the contrary, having the
richest knowledge content, constitute a natural center
for all educative efforts. They make possible a strong
development of will-energy because their interesting
materials furnish strong and legitimate incentives to
mental activity and an enlarged field and opportunity
to voluntary effort in pursuit of clear and attractive
aims.” 1

One of the most suggestive portions of the General
Method is the part of the chapter on “ Culture Epochs ”
that discusses the function of history in an American
program constructed on the Ziller plan. The follow-
ing is a citation : —

“ The Jewish and German historical materials, which
are made the moral-educative basis of the common
school by the Herbartians, can be of no service to us
except by way of example. Neither sacred nor Ger-
man history can form any important part of an Amer-
ican course of study. Religious instruction has been
delegated to the Church, and German history touches
us indirectly, if at all. The epochs of history from
which American schools must draw are chiefly those
of the United States and Great Britain. France, Ger-

1 General Method, pp. 47, 48.
210 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

many, Italy, and Greece may furnish some collateral
matter, as the story of Tell, of Siegried, of Alaric and
Ulysses, but the leading epochs must be those of our
own national history.

“Has the English-speaking race of North America
passed through a series of historical epochs which,
on account of their moral-educative worth, deserve to
stand in the center of the common school course? Is
this history adapted to cultivate the highest moral
and intellectual qualities of children as they advance
from year to year? There are few if any single na-
tions whose history could furnish a favorable answer
to this question. The English in America began their
career so late in the world’s history, and with such ad-
vantages of previous European culture, that several of
the earlier historical epochs are not represented in our
country. But perhaps Great Britain and Europe will
furnish the earlier links of a chain whose later links
were firmly welded in America.

“The history of our country since the first settle-
ments less than three hundred years ago is by far the
best epitome of the world’s progress in its later phases
that the life of any nation presents. On reaching the
new world the settlers began a hand-to-hand, tooth-
and-nail conflict with hard conditions of climate, soil,
and savage. The simple basis of physical existence
had to be fought for on the hardest terms. The fact
that everything had to be built up anew from small
beginnings on a virgin soil gave an opportunity to
trace the rise of institutions from their infancy in a
Puritan dwelling orin a town meeting, till they spread
and consolidated over a continent. In this short time
THE HERBART CLUB 211

the people have grown from little scattered settlements
to a nation, have experienced an undreamed-of mate-
rial expansion, have passed through a rapid succession
of great political struggles, and have had an unrivalled
evolution of agriculture, commerce, manufactures, in-
ventions, education, and social life. All the elements
of society, material, religious, political, and social, have
started with the day of small things and have grown
up together.

“There is little in our history to appeal to children
below the fourth grade, that is, below ten years; but
from the beginning of the fourth grade American
history is rich in moral-educative materials of the best
quality and suited to children. We are able to distin-
guish four principal epochs: 1. The age of pioneers,
the ocean navigators like Columbus, Drake, and Magel-
lan, and the explorers of the continent like Smith,
Champlain, La Salle, and Fremont. 2. The period of
settlements, of colonial history, and of French and
Indian wars. 3. The Revolution and life under the
Articles of Confederation till the adoption of the Con-
stitution. 4. Self-government under the Union and
the growth and strengthening of the federal idea.
While drawing largely upon general history for a full
and detailed treatment of a few important topics in
each of these epochs we should make a still more
abundant use of the biographical and literary materials
furnished by each. The concentration of school stud-
ies, with a historical series suggested by the culture
epochs as a basis, would utilize our American history,
biography, and literature in a manner scarcely dreamed
of heretofore.
212 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

“We shall attempt to illustrate briefly this concen-
tration of studies about materials selected from one
of the culture epochs. Take, for example, the age of
pioneers from which to select historical subject-matter
for children of the fourth and fifth grades. It com-
prehends the biographies of eminent navigators and
explorers, pioneers on land and sea. It describes the
important undertakings of Columbus, Magellan, Cabot,
Raleigh, Drake, and others, who were daring leaders
at the great period of maritime discovery. The pio-
neer explorers of New England and the other colonies
bring out strongly marked characters in the prepara-
tory stage of our earliest history. Smith, Champlain,
Winthrop, Penn, Oglethorpe, Stuyvesant, and Wash-
ington are examples. In the Mississippi Valley De
Soto, La Salle, Boone, Lincoln, and Robertson are
types. Still farther west Lewis, and Clarke, and the
pioneers of California, complete this historical epoch
in a series of great enterprises.

“Most of them are pioneers in new regions beset with
dangers of wild beasts, savages, and sickness. A few
are settlers, the first to build cabins and take posses-
sion of the land that was still claimed by red men
and still covered with forests. The men named were
leaders of small bands sent out to explore rivers and
forests, or to drive out hostile claimants at the point
of the sword. Any one who has tried the effect of
these stories upon children of the fourth grade will
grant that they touch deep native interest. But this
must be a genuine and permanent interest to be of
educative value. The moral quality in this interest
is its virtue. Standish, Boone, La Salle, and the rest
THE HERBART CLUB 213

were stalwart men whose courage was keenly and
powerfully tempered. They were leaders of men by
virtue of moral strength and superiority. Their deeds
have the stamp of heroism, and in approving them the
moral judgments of children are exercised upon known
material. These men and stories constitute an epoch
in civilization because they represent that state which
just precedes the first form of settled society. In fact
some of the stories fall in the transition stage, where
men followed the plough and wielded the woodman’s
axe, or turned to the warpath as occasion required.
In every part of the United States there has been such
a period and something corresponding to it in other
countries. We are prepared to assume, therefore, that
these historical materials arouse a strong interest,
implant moral ideas, and illustrate a typical epoch.
These are also very real. These men, especially
the land pioneers, were our own predecessors, trav-
ersing the same rivers, forests, and prairies where we
now live and enjoy the fruits of their hardihood and
labor.” ?

Following the outline of his historical material is a
general scheme of concentration for remaining branches.
Dr. MeMurry has exemplified his theories by com-
piling two volumes of pioneer history stories, and pre-
paring the first two numbers of a series of monographs
on Special Methods.?, His monograph on Geography
is noteworthy from the fact of its full recognition

1 General Method, pp. 95-98.

2 Special Methods, (1) History and Literature, (2) Geography,
also Pioneer Stories, Public School Publishing Co., Bloomington,
Ill.
214 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

of the value of commercial geography in elementary
education.

A bibliography at the close of this volume gives in
detail most of the contributions that have thus far
been made in the effort to adapt Herbartian ideas to
American conditions.
CHAPTER II
THREE PLANS FOR THE CORRELATION OF STUDIES

Tuart the rational articulation of studies is a press-
ing problem in American education cannot be doubted.
It is a consummation everywhere demanded but no-
where achieved by the celebrated Report of the Com-
mittee of Ten on Secondary Education.’ Why there is
no coordination in this Report it is not difficult to see.
Nine independent bodies of specialists meeting in
different places and having no correspondence could
not be expected to produce a course of study in which
the various branches should be organically connected.
Dr. Frick and his hundred or more associates upon
Lehrproben und Lehrgdnge worked upon the special
branches for eight years before they ventured to offer
an organic course of study. The problems arising
from the attempt at rational articulation being so
difficult, it would be a cause of astonishment, had
these independent conferences been able by intuition
to do at a stroke what can only be effected by much
reflection andexperiment. The central committee did
not attempt to modify the reports of the specialists

1 This Report, made to the National Council of Education in
1894, is published by the Bureau of Education, Washington, D.C.

215
216 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

except to the extent of diminishing the time demanded,
so that a workable program might be obtained. But
though the final work of codrdination remains a pious
wish so far as the Report is concerned, it must not be
inferred that the conferences have made no progress
in this direction. There has been an honest attempt
to fix upon a rational selection and sequence of topics
for each important study or group of studies. And it
may easily be conceded that a rational unity of treat-
ment for each branch is preferable to a crude, one-
sided, or visionary concentration of all subjects.
Furthermore, each important group of related sub-
jects is justified in presenting its claim for its own
principle of sequence, unless, indeed, according to
Ziller, we grant that some subjects are so important
that they form a Procrustean bed to which all others
with conflicting principles of development must be
fitted. If this claim is not admitted, it follows that
most important progress has already been made
toward the codrdination of the studies of Secondary
Schools.

That the importance of codrdination is seen also in
the department of Elementary Education may be in-
ferred from the following questions put to hundreds
of leading superintendents and teachers by the Com-
mittee of Fifteen from the Department of Superin-
tendence of the National Educational Association : —

CoRRELATION OF STUDIES

1. Should the elementary course be eight years, and
the secondary course four years, as at present? Or,
CORRELATION OF STUDIES 217

should the elementary course be six years and the
secondary course six years ?

2. Has each of the grammar school studies — lan-
guage (including reading, spelling, grammar, composi-
tion), mathematics (arithmetic, algebra, plane geom-
etry), geography, history, natural science (botany,
zodlogy, mineralogy), penmanship, drawing, etc., a
distinct pedagogical value ? If so, what is it?

3. Should other subjects than those enumerated in
the second question, such as manual training (including
sloyd, sewing, and cooking), physical culture, physics,
music, physiology (including the effects of stimulants
and narcotics), Latin, or a modern language, be taught
in the elementary school course? If so, why ?

4. Should the sequence of topics be determined by
the logical development of the subject, or by the
child’s power to apperceive new ideas? Or, to any
extent by the evolutionary steps manifested by the
race? If so, by the evolution of the race to which
the child belongs, or that of the human race ?

5. What should be the purpose of attempting a
close correlation of studies ?

(a) To prevent duplication, eliminate non-essen-
tials, and save time and effort?

(6) To develop the apperceiving power of the
mind ?

(c) To develop character? A purely ethical pur-
pose ?

6. Is it possible on any basis to correlate or unify
all the studies of the elementary school ?

7. If not, may they be divided into two or more
groups, those of each group being correlated ?
218 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

8. Is there any way of correlating the results of
work in all the groups ?

9. What should be the length of recitation periods
in each year of the elementary school course? What
considerations should determine the length ?

10. In what year of the course should each of the
subjects mentioned in questions 2 and 3 be introduced,
if introduced at all ?

11. In making a program, should time be assigned
for each subject, or only for the groups of subjects
suggested in question 7 ?

12. How many hours a week for how many years
should be devoted to each subject, or each group of
subjects ?

13. What topics may be covered in each subject, or
each group of subjects ?

14. Should any subject, or group of subjects, be
treated differently for pupils who leave school at 12,
13, or 14 years of age, and for those who are going
to a high school ?

15. Can any description be given of the best method
of teaching each subject, or group of subjects, through-
out the school course ?

16. What considerations should determine the point
at which the specialization of the work of teachers
should begin ?

17. On what principle should the promotion of
pupils from grade to grade be determined? Who
should make the determination ?

Not only do we have these indications of the drift of
thought in the National Educational Association, but
we have Col. F. W. Parker's inspiring volume of 491
CORRELATION OF STUDIES 219

pages on the Theory of Concentration'!— perhaps the
most thoroughgoing and extensive work ever written
upon this subject. Although Colonel Parker makes
no claim of being a Herbartian, his theory of concentra-
tion reminds us strongly of Ziller’s in its purpose of
unifying all knowledge. The principle on which this
is to be effected, however, is totally different from
Ziller’s. Like the Herbartians, he takes the strongest
grounds against the idea of formal discipline, especially
when sought through form studies alone, such as lan-
guage, grammar, and mathematics. Actual, concrete
knowledge of the same sort that has constituted the
ante-school experience of the child, shall be the mate-
rial through which all form is to be taught. In the
center stands the child surrounded by energy working
through matter. This matter is studied under the fol-
lowing heads: mineralogy, geology, geography, as-
tronomy, meteorology, botany, zodlogy, anthropology,
ethnology, history. This is a hierarchy of sciences,
and each is to be taught in its relations to its fellows.
Universal law is to be the principle of unification of
knowledge in the mind of the child. Next, we have
the modes of attention called observing, reading, hear-
ing-language. Then come the modes of expression
called gesture, writing, speech, drawing, painting,
modelling, making, music. Lastly, we have the modes
ot Judgment — called form and numbev. Through
the expression of concrete related knowledge (chiefly
of the natural world, it would seem) we are to develop
all needed skill in the use of forms. Formal studies
as such should not be taught, for this is an inversion
1 New York: E. L. Kellogg & Co., 1894.
220 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

of nature and a perversion of every sound educational
theory. No group of subjects such as history and
literature on the one hand, or natural science on the
other, is to form the core about which the other sub-
jects shall be concentrated and to whose principle of
development the others shall be subordinated; but
every subject shall have equal validity with every
other, except that thought shall precede expression,
the principle of unification or concentration being the
rational, philosophical relation that exists by nature
among the various departments of human knowledge.
The following citation from pp. 27-8 illustrates this
natural codrdination: “The first definition of geogra-
phy that I give is this: Geography is the knowledge or
science of the present appearance of the earth’s surface.
This definition premises that there have been count-
less other appearances in past eons, that constant
changes have been going on in the crust of the earth,
and that changes will be continuously made in the
future. The present appearance of the earth’s sur-
face is the result, or present effect, of countless changes
in the earth’s crust. Geologists teach us that the
earth’s creation is going on to-day in precisely the
same way and by the same causes as it has been going
on for countless ages. To know geography is to
know the present appearance of the earth’s surface.
This definition gives geography a place as a branch of
study and shows its relation to other studies. Any
definition more comprehensive than this would include
other subjects. Thus the study of the surface of the
earth is a study by itself, excluding by its definition
all other branches.”
CORRELATION OF STUDIES 221

Concentration based on the philosophic unity of all
knowledge is a distinctly American contribution to
the theory of education. Some of its limitations will
soon be pointed out.

We have before us two general plans of Concrn-
TRATION, Ziller’s and Colonel Parker’s, and one for
codrdination, that offered by Dr. Frick. Granting to
each of the theories of concentration its strong points,
it is still obvious that both have serious limitations,
some of which may be mentioned : —

1. Ziller’s scheme of concentration assumes, in the
first place, that the past is always simpler, hence more
interesting, to the child than the present, and that
consequently the culture epochs are the invariable
guide to sequence in the culture subjects. This as-
sumption, notwithstanding the unquestioned advantage
presented by a historical sequence, can hardly be suc-
cessfully maintained as an invariable principle. To
begin with, only the finest historians are able to make
such a picture of past conditions of life that the child
can have any adequate understanding of the events
narrated in history. Pioneer life, in spite of its seem-
ing simplicity, may be really complex to the young
because of its poverty of the means now surrounding
every child. Think of the devices and roundabout
methods that had to be resorted to because of the
limitations of the people in the means for transporta-
tion; for obtaining and cooking food; for erecting,
heating, and lighting houses; for manufacturing
clothing; for obtaining books, papers, magazines,
works of art, and other means of culture. To por-
tray the conditions under which ancient or for-
222 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

eign peoples wrought is a correspondingly difficult
task.

Again, it may be that the elements for the explana-
tion of even complicated social or material relations
lie in the environment of the child, so that there is
no need to go to the developments of history for an
explanation. Suppose one wished to make a ten-year-
old boy understand something of a self-binding har-
vester. One might indeed go back to the Book of
Ruth for a lesson on the use of the hand-sickle, and
then show the development into the scythe, then into
the cradle, then the back and forth movement of the
McCormick sickle, then the self-raker, the Marsh Har-
vester on which the binders rode, and finally the self-
binder itself. But though this tracing of the historical
evolution would be interesting and under some cir-
cumstances very valuable, it is not necessary to an
understanding of the machine in question. Hand-
sickles, scythes, and rakes are used for some purposes
to-day. In fifteen minutes an instructor could illus-
trate the whole process with the elements at hand —
the cutting of the grain, the use of the reel in place
of the hand for holding the grain to be cut, the plat-
form for carrying and elevating the grain instead of
the old process of gathering into bundles, the binding
by means of a steel arm and a twine, instead of the
old method of binding with straw by hand, and finally
the grouping of bundles into winrows for shocking.
The elements necessary for explanation are right at
hand, and for clearness need no excursion into his-
torical epochs. In the same way, the elements for
the proper comprehension of legal, social, governmental,
CORRELATION OF STUDIES 228

and economic organizations may all lie in the environ-
ment of the child, making it quite unnecessary to trace
their development from antiquity through the various
culture stages of the race. Why, for illustration, can-
not the modern German boy with his knowledge of
railroads, steamboats, and bridges; of gunpowder, can-
non, and breech-loading rifles, understand the last war
with France, as well as the guerilla warfare waged
with antiquated weapons by his savage ancestors
against the legions of Rome? Is not the progress
through the culture epoch of more value as a stimulant
to the imagination, as a means for touching the fancy,
for enriching the social life, and for broadening the
sympathies than it is as a necessary means for under-
standing? If this is the truth, then we must grant
to the environment of the child as great a value for
apperception as is contained in progress through culture
epochs, even for culture subjects.

The second limitation to which Ziller’s plan is sub-
jected, is that it is a scheme for suBORDINATION for most
branches, and not one of codrpination. Non-culture
subjects, like the natural sciences, are compelled to
accept a principle of development not their own, pro-
vided they are so fortunate as to be granted any at all.
It is to incidental suggestions arising from history
and literature that the nature-subjects owe their ap-
pearance at any given point upon the program. It
might perhaps be granted that, in the first years of
school life, when scientific sequence is a matter of
small moment, such a method for selecting nature-
topics is open to the least objection. But if the study
of nature is to be seriously undertaken, it seems in-
224 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

evitable that, just as it has developed for itself the
laboratory method of verification and inductive obser-
vation, releasing itself from the shackles of literary
treatment, so too it must be granted a correlated
sequence arising from its own constitution, not from
that of subjects naturally alien to it.

2. Fascinating as Colonel Parker’s scheme of con-
centration may appear at first sight, it involves two
chief difficulties, one physical and the other psychical,
together with any number of undesirable tendencies.
The two great difficulties involved arise from the fact
that to make the philosophical unity of knowledge
the principle of concentration it is necessary to have
an adult philosopher to teach and an infant philoso-
pher to learn. It is a physical (and economic) impos-
sibility to prepare two hundred thousand philosophers,
more or less, to do the teaching; and it is a psychical
impossibility to produce any infant philosophers to do
the learning. Simple associations of facts children
can make, but they can see no far-reaching unifying
principles. To make them appear to do so leads to
worse formalism than any we seek to avoid.

Among the undesirable tendencies of this plan the
following may be mentioned: —

(1) There seems an undue emphasis upon the mate-
rial facts of knowledge, and a corresponding neglect of
the culture side. The topics in which inherent thought
is to be developed are mineralogy, geology, geography,
astronomy, meteorology, biology, zodlogy, anthropology,
and history. How different from this is Ziller’s em-
phasis of the culture subjects history, literature, and
religion, which in his view are so important for the
CORRELATION OF STUDIES 225

spiritual and moral development of man that they are
worthy to be the core of study to which all form and
nature study should be subordinated. ‘The savage,
even, learns much of nature, but his savagery exists
because he knows so little of man and his institutions.
The history of the world indicates that civilization has
been possible without natural science, but that it can-
not exist without culture knowledge. Were we forced,
therefore, to abandon either in elementary education,
we should keep the culture and let the science go.
For this reason a scheme of concentration that appears
to lay such heavy stress upon the facts of the material
world is open to serious objection.

(2) Another practical difficulty at once arises when
the attempt is made to teach all modes of expression,
such as writing, speech, drawing, painting, modelling,
and naking, incidentally, as the natural method of ex-
pressing the inherent thought gained in the knowledge
subjects. Such modes of expression as arise naturally
and inevitably in expressing thought may perhaps be
left to incidental care, but those that occasion great
mechanical and mental difficulties, like writing, draw-
ing, spelling, etc., are in most cases likely to be neg-
lected if taught incidentally. In the long run and
with the majority of teachers, what is incidental
comes to be regarded as unimportant, and suffers a
corresponding neglect.

(8) A philosophical unity of knowledge as a basis
for concentration leads inevitably to an emphasis of
the LtogicaL at the expense of the PsYCcHOLOGICAL
principle of sequence. It is only after the separate
sciences are well developed individually that their
226 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

philosophical interrelations are clearly perceived. In
making these late-seen interrelations the basis of con-
centration, the natural tendency would be to make
the various sciences take the direction and sequence
of topics indicated by their development as logically
completed wholes. The apperception of the child is
not scientific, however, but depends upon the limits
and tendencies fixed by environment, experience, and
childish tastes and fancies. The.sequence of topics
in knowledge must, therefore, be psychological before
it is logical.

The only scheme of true codrdination of studies
furnished by the followers of Herbart is that offered
by Dr. Frick. Its chief features are (1) that it places
the present environment of the child at least on a par
with the culture epochs as a guide to the selection and
arrangement even of culture-studies; (2) that it allows
the nature-studies to have their own principle of
development so far as selection and sequence are
concerned; (3) that it provides for the greatest pos-
sible unity in each important subject; (4) that it
takes advantage of natural and simple relations exist-
ing among the studies, so arranging and presenting
the various topics that these relations may appeal with
full force to the child. In short, his plan is to depend
upon simple associations among the ideas presented
by instruction, leaving until the later stages of educa-
tion all attempts to bring to view that unification of
knowledge which comes through a grasp of under-
lying philosophical principles.

Like other Herbartians, Dr. Frick divides studies
CORRELATION OF STUDIES 227

into two groups — Cunture- and Narurrstudies,
each group having both form and content branches.
Languages are, in general, the form side of culture-
subjects, and mathematics the form side of nature-
studies.

This classification has for the past half century been
a good one, but a new spirit is coming into our civiliza-
tion, which even if not yet recognized by the teacher
will, however, soon force a recognition. Education has,
in its elements, at least, now become universal, and
the conditions of life for the masses are rapidly chang-
ing. We cannot multiply populations indefinitely
without at the same time abandoning whole groups of
old ideals in every important field of activity, educa-
tion included.

Before the final chapter of this book can be written,
setting forth the author’s conception of a practicable
principle of coérdination of studies for English-speak-
ing peoples, there must be an exposition of the new
ideals that should follow from the new conditions of
life. This exposition it is the business of the uext
chapter to set forth.
CHAPTER III
A NEW ERA IN EDUCATION

Noruine is older than hostility to new ideas.
When, in important aspects of life, they have tended
to dominate large numbers of men, their christening
has not unfrequently been a baptism of blood. This
has been the history of religious and governmental
changes.

Every significant proposition to abandon the beaten
path of the fathers in whatever realm of thought is
sharply challenged by many people both as to purpose
and method. Not only is this true in Church and
state, but it is equally true in education, which is at
once a cause and a result of both.

To a large extent educational ideals arise from the
conditions under which men worship their Creator,
provide their food, and secure their civil liberty. But
these conditions constantly change, sometimes rapidly,
sometimes slowly, whereas our ideas of education are
periodic, rather than constant in their corresponding
advance. Our imaginations become completely ad-
justed to one set of conditions, so that we find it diffi-
cult if not impossible to readjust them to a new order

228
A NEW ERA IN EDUCATION 229

of things. How slowly and reluctantly, for instance,
have we reconstructed our religious imaginations to
meet the truths revealed by the new astronomy, the
science of geology, and the demonstrated portions of
the theory of evolution! For 1350 years the develop-
ment of the Christian religion had been side by side
with the Ptolemaic theory of astronomy, in which
the earth was the stationary center around which
revolved sun, planets, and stars. What more natural
than that Heaven should be above, and Hell below ?
But if the sun is to be the center, the image con-
structed by the imagination is distorted if not de-
stroyed. Our youthful minds become adjusted to the
literal Mosaic account of creation, but the imagination
will not accord with the science of geology as we
know it to-day. Our early conceptions of primeval
life come into conflict with the idea of an orderly
evolution. Slowly, reluctantly, and sometimes only
in our children do we revise these old constructions
of an active imagination to make them conform to
demonstrated laws.

Belated ideals are more to be expected in education
than in government and religion, for the antithesis be-
tween inherited educational conceptions and the new
conditions under which men must work are not so
sharply accented here as elsewhere. Men have ample
freedom to follow their notions in the higher educa-
tion of their children, so that they do not feel called
upon to defend their educational faith as they do their
faith in civil and church affairs. For this reason it
often comes to pass that those who should be the
leaders, become the retarders of educational thought,
230 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

leaving the direction of it to practical men of the
world, whose lives are in close touch with the economic
activities of the present, and whose minds are not
arrested by ideals that were the products of an older
state of civilization.

Plato and Aristotle sought to get to the heart of the
material world, to find the stuff of which things are
made and the primal forces that produce them. Build-
ing upon the foundations laid by Aristotle, Thomas
Aquinas and Duns Scotus sought to demonstrate to
the understanding the truths of revelation, that is,
to rationalize the Christian creed. Descartes and
Kant have changed the basis, and instead of founding
philosophy upon the lowly earth, or suspending it
from the vaulted sky, they rest it upon the funda
mental truths of human consciousness. The stand-
point of philosophy has thus shifted from material
to miracle and from miracle to mind, each stage
summing up and including all that had gone before.
Closely analogous to this movement has been that of
education. The oldest yet perhaps the most common
ideal of higher education to-day is that liberal train-
ing of the mind consists chiefly of ancient languages
and mathematics. The entrance requirements of our
colleges are mostly adjusted to this idea.

Vast indeed is the debt that civilization owes to
these incomparable instruments of education. Once
they were wholly adequate to the educational needs
of the world. But should we forget that since the
days when the classics obtained their ascendancy the
world has become democratic, that higher education
from being the privilege of a small class has become
A NEW ERA IN EDUCATION 231

a necessity for the leaders of all classes? Shall we
ignore the fact that at that time the mother-tongue of
most countries was the vehicle of little or no learn-
ing? It was near the middle of the last century be-
fore Wolff first taught philosophy to speak German.
Previous to that time Latin was the almost universal
language of learned works. The rise and growth of
science is almost within the memory of men now
living, while the wonderful development of industrial
enterprise, with its concentration of capital and or-
ganization of labor, is confined almost to the present
century. In short, the classics took their rise when
they were the only receptacles of knowledge, when no
natural science existed, when industry was undevel-
oped, when education was the prerogative of priests
and literati, and when the surging masses had not
yet risen to assert for.themselves the rights of man.
Under these circumstances it is not strange that the
imagination of the scholar should have constructed a
picture of classical education in colors so bright that
they still endure.

Mathematics won its prominent place in our cur-
riculum largely through the brilliant results obtained
by Newton and his contemporaries. ‘To it chiefly we
owe our modern scientific development. The latter
half of our own century has seen the rise and per-
fection of the natural sciences as instruments of edu-
cation. Taught at first by literary methods, they
made but little impression, but during the last twenty-
five years they have developed a method of their own
—that of inductive research and verification in the
laboratory. So vast have been the conquests of
2382 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

science in our own times that a large part of our
educators have reconstructed their educational ideal,
yielding to science an honored place side by side with
the older linguistic branches.

The second grand movement in the history of edu-
cation since the Renaissance has now taken place.
The first represents the supremacy of the humanities
in the form of ancient languages; the second, the ad-
mission of the natural sciences as codrdinate branches.
To-day we are preparing to inaugurate a third and
grander period, which shall be in itself the synthesis
and final culmination of the other two.

Man, with only an introspective knowledge of him-
self, is what the medizval monks thought him — a citi-
zen of Heaven wretchedly stranded upon this desert
island in the sea of Eternity. This means for the
learned, alternating ecstasy and despair, and for the
masses, ignorance, poverty, disease, together with their
attendant forms of wretchedness. Universal educa-
tion, high standard of living, and at the same time
dense population, are not to be thought of under such
conditions.

On the other hand, man can never know so much of
nature that he needs to know nothing of himself. In
a broad sense Pope’s dictum, “The proper study of
mankind is man,” is still true. Not man simply as
an introspective being, or man as smothered in the
dust of science, but man as a universal being whiose
spiritual ends are realized through the means that
science puts at his command. The classics were the
beginning of modern education; natural science has
been the contribution of more modern times. Both
A NEW ERA IN EDUCATION 233

of these enriched and focussed on life are to form a
new era in education, that which in a broad and lib-
eral sense may be called economic. This term may be
easily misconstrued to mean a narrow utilitarianism,
a restricted physical aptitude and skill obtained by
the perpetual iteration of mindless exercises. Such a
conception of the function of education, however, is
unworthy the times in which we live.

The economic culmination of the humanistic and
the scientific sides of our training, broadly considered,
means the conscious direction of thought, power, and
knowledge to the ends they are designed to accom-
plish.

To see how this is possible, it is necessary to point
out a current illusion, generated by the old classical
education. Many teachers have long thought, and still
think, that a liberal education consists not in master-
ing knowledge, but in developing power through the
medium of grammar and pure mathematics, the idea
being that if we can once develop the power, it may
be applied, like a mechanical force, to any desired end.
Reflection will show that this supposed formal disci-
pline of the mind by two kinds of study is largely
mythical, but that if properly directed they are rather
rich and concrete as far as they go, being, however,
exceedingly narrow in range. What is gained by this
grammatical drill? A keen, discriminating knowl-
edge of the laws of thinking, and a power to distin-
guish the most subtle phases of thought. Every page
of the text abounds in concrete illustrations of the
things the classicist is trying to learn. Any sentence
may illustrate the use of the dative case, or the intri-
234 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

cacies of the subjunctive mood, and this process of
illustration and verification of the laws of language
goes on day after day, month after month, year after
year. Were natural science half so persistent in the
discovery and exemplification of her laws, she would
have new triumphs to boast. Latin and Greek may in
the same way be concrete and practical. Their seem-
ing formality is due to their psychological character.
That alone is formal and abstract which is divoreed
from the purpose it should serve. The same richness
and concreteness are found in pure mathematics, thou-
sands of problems being solved to exemplify a few rules.
This explains to us the admirable results of classical
training for those whose future callings are largely
introspective in character, such as the preacher, the
teacher, the statesman, and even the physician. On
the other hand, the psychological or subjective out-
come of such an education explains the instinctive
hostility that practical men of the world have long
manifested for this training. Instead of the old
maxim, “discipline first and knowledge afterwards,”
we must adopt the truer watchword, “ discipline
through knowledge.” The chief defect of the old
education is not that it is good for no practical pur-
pose, but that it is for so many callings in life a
partial and one-sided preparation. For the profes-
sional man or woman it may be economic in the true
sense, since it has direct bearing on future occupa-
tion; for all but the learned professions, however, it
may be subjective and esoteric; it may leave the mind
steeped in the antiquated conceptions of by-gone ages,
which taken as stages in a progress would be valu-
A NEW ERA IN EDUCATION 235

able, but which as a substitute for the ruling ideas of
to-day bear the same relation to developed truth that
the child does to the man. In the words of the Ger-
man Emperor, this age needs young Germans, young
Englishmen, young Americans, not young Greeks and
Romans.

The truth is, as has been intimated, the old educa-
tion was practical and economic for a small class to
whom a concrete introspective training was the best
preparation for life. Our problem, however, is the
education of all classes. The introduction of the nat-
ural sciences has immensely broadened the scope of
the usefulness of modern education. But the concep-
tion is comparatively new that, not only can science
minister to the wants of a new class of our population,
but that by a proper adjustment of subject-matter and
the employment of right methods of teaching, all
minds can be trained, and at the same time be pre-
pared for the best possible success in their several
callings. The powers that we have can be trained
through the knowledge we most need; as in the binoc-
ular microscope, trained mind and acquired knowledge
are focussed in the economic activities of every calling
in life. Is drawing less educative when applied to
the plans for a mighty temple, than when sketching
the bust of a Pallas Athene to adorn one of its niches ?
Is botany less noble when discovering the laws of
plant organization and investigating the conditions of
healthy growth, than it is when it leads the youth
of our land into field and forest in order to gather and
name the flowers? Are not chemistry and physics
quite as interesting, instructive, and educative when
236 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

developed to the point of their economic application,
as they are when arrested at their abstract stages out
of all felt relations to ultimate ends ?

In addition to the old narrow curriculum of classics
and pure mathematics we have on the humanistic side,
the English language and literature, modern foreign
languages, modern history, together with the study
of the rise and development of constitutional govern-
ment and other democratic institutions. On the side
of science, we have the marvellous development of pure
and applied mathematics, of chemistry and physics,
besides the modern biological sciences, whose princi-
ple of evolution has given new life to every great
interest of the human mind. Besides these two lines
of study, enriched and fertilized as they are by appli-
cation to practical ends, we have another large group
of studies applicable to the economic activities in the
narrower sense. They are such branches as manual
training, industrial drawing, industrial art, civil, me-
chanical, and electrical engineering, and the still
greater subjects, finance and administration, together
with economics, or the study of the laws that govern
the production, distribution, and consumption of wealth.

What have we to expect from the new spirit that
is animating the educational world? Everything that
education can contribute to the progress of civilization.
Once the world was in the hands of the monks. We
know their ideals and their deeds. For a hundred
years it has been in the hands of the scientists.
We know what they have done. They have made
it possible for many more people to live much bet-
ter; but at the same time they have also made it
A NEW ERA IN EDUCATION 237

possible for a few men with large brains and great
capital so to dominate the people that though pros-
perity and high standards of living may in some
measure be within the reach of the masses, yet under
adverse circumstances the most wholesale misery may
result. The future, therefore, belongs neither to the
humanist, nor to the scientist as such, but to both
combined in the economist. The mental effort once
lavished on the logic of the schoolmen, and now on
the development of science, must in the future be set
to work in solving the economic problems of life.

I have said that the human element, represented still
in large measure by the classic languages, is an indis-
pensable element in any comprehensive modern educa-
tion. One of the prominent results of the old studies
is the appreciation of the beautiful generated in the
soul. Beauty, if not the religion of the Greek, was
its invariable attendant,— beauty not as an adorner
and sweetener of life, but beauty as an end. Thus in
the words of Emerson : —

“Tell them, dear, if eyes were made for seeing,
Then beauty is its own excuse for being.”

One has, however, but to consider what has been
accomplished in many new institutions of learning
where industrial art is studied, to find that in this
respect also there has been a new combination. Not
only is weary toil sustained by the hope of ultimate
rewards, but it is sweetened and illumined throughout
its course by artistic ideals. Beauty, therefore, from
being an idol before which we may bow, becomes a
cheering spirit whose wand transforms drudgery into
238 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

pleasing labor. Why should not every workman be
an artist? A dinner-table with only potatoes and
bread for food, and water for drink may still be the
center of pleasing intercourse. It need not be a stall
for feeding. The coarsest material can be made into
becoming garments, humble homes may enjoy the
gladness of beauty. All this is attained, not through
the elimination of art as such, but by an application
of it to common things. Knowledge, thought-power,
artistic taste, are no longer isolated and held aloof
from daily living, but are blended, harmonized, and
utilized to make life more worth living.

At the beginning of Western civilization, under
favorable climatic conditions and with the minority
able to enslave the majority, it was not unfitting that
art should become the supreme end for which the
educational forces of the time were organized. This
stage of society may fitly be symbolized by the Apollo
Belvidere, the classic repose of whose well-rounded
form suggests nothing of the modern spirit. The
symmetrical limbs are made, not for work, but for
entrancing the eye. The placid features betoken no
moral struggle, no resolution to overcome difficulties ;
they indicate rather a being made for sensuous enjoy-
ment, not for thinking or volition.

During the great middle period of our civilization,
when men were busied with revelation and subjective
analysis, educational agencies were directed to these
ends. The symbol of those times is the Madonna.
Her upward straining eyes proclaim the renunciation
of earth, the aspiration for heaven. Sense and will
are dissolved in religious sentiment.
A NEW ERA IN EDUCATION 239

The antique brings the god to earth, the medieval
translates the mortal to the skies, but the modern man
uses his godlike powers to realize the heaven within
himself. His symbol is Michael Angelo’s statue of
Moses, the man who works out the destiny of his race
upon earth by means of his heaven-lent powers. On
his brow there are written both thought and resolution.
His rugged form, his starting tendons and swelling
muscles betoken the man of action. His is the modern
spirit that focusses thought, sense, and sentiment upon
the vital problems encountered in realizing the will
of God upon earth. It is to these ends that our
modern education must be consciously organized. Un-
less the thinking forces of this country are turned
from the subordinated ideals of the past to the vital
ones of the present, hunger and economic servitude
will cause the masses to change evolution into revolu-
tion as they have done before, when those who should
have been their leaders became their masters.

We shall, as in the past, need the poet to solace the
soul, and the artist to delight the eye, but most of all we
shall need to have all the power of learning applied to
the elevation of man. Like the whirring dynamos pro-
pelled by the hitherto unused power of Niagara, which
loses no beauty in being useful, this new educational
influence, brought to view by the necessities of an
economic age, has begun to generate a life current,
which in the fulness of time is destined to warm, to
move, and to light the world.
CHAPTER IV
PROPOSED BASES FOR THE COORDINATION OF STUDIES

THE critique of the THREE PLANS FOR THE CORRE-
LATION OF StupiEs in Chapter II of Part III leads
inevitably to the conclusion that the codrdination of
studies is greatly to be preferred to their concentration,
whether we consider culture-studies or nature-studies
as the center about which all other branches should be
arranged and to which they shall be subordinated, or
whether, with Colonel Parker, we accept universal
natural law as the guide to presentation. Codrdination
allows each important subject, or group of subjects, to
have its own principle of development, contenting itself
with natural and easy associations in the lower grades,
and not attempting to give a philosophic grasp of the
highest unity of knowledge until the pupil is sufficiently
mature to comprehend this phase of thought. Fur-
thermore, codrdination permits us to present one sub-
ject at a time, thus relieving us from the need of
abandoning important studies to the hazard of inci-
dental treatment. The same discussion leads, too, to
‘the conclusion that the historical principle of sequence,
though of unquestioned value, need not be followed

240
COORDINATION OF STUDIES 241

blindly, but that the environment of the child is just
as potent an influence in his understanding and in-
terest as any adaptation of culture epochs to his
periods of development can be.

The discussion of A New Hra in Education in the
preceding chapter calls attention to a fact often for-
gotten by the teacher, viz., that the highest function
of education is to fit the pupil for life, —mnot the
esoteric life of the recluse or the dreamy idealist,
put the life of the man of affairs, who takes an ac-
tive part in all that pertains to human welfare and
advancement. Such a man is not merely subjec-
tively but also objectively moral; he is a good parent,
a good citizen, an efficient man of business, who is
able to advance his own interests through honest
promotion of the interests of others. Too many of
our educational ideals are medieval in their origin;
they take as their model some worn-out conception
of culture, or they fix their gaze upon some special
calling, forgetting that education is no longer the
prerogative of the few professional classes, but has
become the just privilege of all classes. If, then, we
are in earnest about universal education, we must
abandon these one-sided ideals, and, once for all,
recognize that our education succeeds just to the
extent that we make it focus upon the real activities
of life. Rosenkranz is fond of emphasizing the idea
of self-estrangement as a necessary means of culture.
He says, “All culture, whatever may be its special
purport, must pass through these two stages— of
estrangement and its removal. Culture must in-
tensify the distinction between the subject and the
242 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

object, or that of immediateness, though it has again
to absorb this distinction into itself; in this way the
union of the two may be more complete and lasting.
The subject recognizes, then, all the more certainly
that what at first appeared to it as a foreign existence
belongs to it potentially as its own possession, and
that it comes into actual possession of it by means of
culture.”+ This view, exaggerated it may be, is one
of the evils of modern education. The pupil is so
sunk in the distant, foreign, and alien, and submerged
for so long a time, that he often fails to come to him-
self at all, continuing to live in a land of dreams long
after he should have been in a land of realities. What-
ever truth there may be in this theory is more safely
expressed by Herbart in his doctrine of absorption and
reflection, in which at one moment the pupil becomes
lost in the absorption of new experiences, but in the
next comes to himself, and makes the alien his own
through reflection. But these stages should not last
for long periods of time, as Rosenkranz implies they
may, for in that case the student is in danger of be-
coming a citizen of the alien land, and an adherent of
its dust-covered ideals.

For all these reasons, it is urged that modern
schools should distinctly recognize in their curricula
the presence of the economic idea, not only as a prin-
ciple influencing the choice and pursuit of all knowl-
edge, but also as a distinct center for an important
group of school activities. In addition, therefore, to
the traditional human and nature groups, we shall
need to add the third or economic group of studies.

1 Rosenkranz, Philosophy of Education, pp. 27, 28.
COORDINATION OF STUDIES 248

Instead, therefore, of adopting Ziller’s plan of using
literature and history as a single core of concentra-
tion to which all other subjects shall be made subor-
dinate, and from which they must derive their prin-
ciple of sequence; or, on the other hand, of attempting
a similar concentration about the nature-studies, the
proposition is here made to have three codrdinate, but
more or less distinct cores or centers of unification, hav-
ing constant cross-relations wherever the nature of the
subject-matter and the convenience of the class-room
make them advisable. Literature and geography as-
sume the nature of universal correlating studies, since
the concrete matter of all three cores has both literary
and geographical aspects. ‘The three cores appear as
follows : —

1. The humanistic group of studies having a dis-
tinct ethical content in literature and history, and a
historical development as seen in the culture epochs
through which civilization has passed.

2. The nature group of studies having no specific
ethical content and no long progression from primitive
to higher and higher truths, since for the most part
these studies have all been developed during the
present century.

3. The third core represents the two factors man
and nature in interaction, and is at once a principle of
application for all studies, and a specific department,
as seen in such subjects as manual training, industrial
art, mechanical drawing, commercial geography, and
the like.

Each of these groups must now be briefly discussed.
244 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

1. Tue Humanistic Core

However much the ultimate theories of education
may differ, it may fairly be asserted that in elemen-
tary education our best thinkers unite in the opinion
that concrete, interesting matter is far preferable to
the dry bones of purely formal and mechanical instruc-
tion. In place of the old motto of discipline and
knowledge, we have really adopted in practice the new
one, viz., discipline through knowledge. Furthermore,
the present almost universal interest in ethical train-
ing leads to the conclusion that our former standpoint
of mere intellectuality in school education is being
gradually shifted to one that takes far more cogni-
zance of the need of developing moral character.
From these facts it may be presumed that the propo-
sition to make literature and history one core of uni-
fication, with which more formal linguistic studies
may be associated, will be received as seasonable and
practicable.

In the studies of this core, and with proper respect
to experience under modern conditions, Ziller’s prin-
ciple of following in the main the chief epochs of
civilization is a workable one. Literature should be-
gin with the fable, which is of Asiatic origin, and
which presents the economic or utilitarian standpoint
of action. The fables represent virtuous action as
paying larger dividends of pleasure and advantage than
vice or wrong-doing. These should be accompanied by
folk-lore and fairy tales, which have taken their origin
in the primitive stages of society, and which intro-
COORDINATION OF STUDIES 245

duce moral ideas as ends of action. It should be
noted that modern works on primitive life may be
most admirable material, as, for instance, Longfellow’s
Hiawatha; the content, not the time of action or liter-
ary record, being the important thing. Following this
stage, literature should show, in gradually broadening
relations, the chief situations in which the individual
may stand to organized society. Besides the literature
already described we have also a literature of nature,
and to some extent of economic life. An illustration is
found in Robinson Crusoe, which, according to Ziller’s
plan, is taught in the second grade ostensibly as the
center of the ethical group, whereas it is not essen-
tially ethical, but economical. It develops in reality
the industrial instincts of the child, while the ethical
element is dragged in or magnified out of due propor-
tion in order to fitan artificial scheme of codrdination.
The effort to attach a moral to those things not inher-
ently moral in their nature is harmful rather than bene-
ficial; character is not promoted by perpetual tinkering
on the part of the teacher. Alongside of this ideal
presentation of human acts and its results should stand
the historical, and by following a like principle there
will be no serious difficulty about unification. Early
history will, as. recommended by the Report of the
Committee of Ten, begin with mythology, which will
easily blend with the early literature, and will pro-
ceed to biography, which will assume largely the
literary coloring in the mind of the child. This will
gradually merge into history proper in the upper
grammar grades.

Human deeds, both actual and ideal, are the expres-
246 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

sion of ethical forces, but language is necessary for
their preservation and transmission. Language study
becomes, therefore, merely the formal part of literary
and historical study. In the elementary grades it is
the mother-tongue that we must deal with, so that a
sufficiently close codrdination with these studies may
be brought about. Were instruction in this branch of
elementary education nothing more than lessons in
composition, spelling, and penmanship, it might be
made purely incidental to the other work. This is,
however, not the case. The mother-tongue has a
system of grammatical forms which represent the
method of Anglo-Saxon thought. To master these
forms is to be able to perceive the thought distinc-
tions they represent. The approach to a perception
of these distinctions, or grammatical ideas, must
be slow, and to the child almost unconscious. By
means of carefully graded concrete language exercises
whose content shall be taken from the material of
literature, history, and nature study, it is possible to
make an easy approach to English grammar. Nearly
all the material for composition-work proper may
likewise be chosen from the same sources.

According to the view here presented, the literary
and historical treatment of men, both in their individ-
ual and in their corporate or institutional capacity,
together with the literary aspects of nature, are, in
large degree, fitted to reveal to the child the moral
order of the world in which he must live. They form,
therefore, the most natural core for direct efforts to
impart moral ideals and to inculcate right moral dis-
position.
COORDINATION OF STUDIES 247

2. Tue Screnriric Corz

In the case of nature-studies, the leading purpose
and unifying principle must be presumed to be scien-
tific rather than ethical in the narrower sense of the
term. That it may be clearly understood in what
sense science is and is not ethical, we should clearly dis-
tinguish between an ethical instrument and an ethical
content. It is quite possible to give a boy a training
in science that shall be ethical in a high degree, since
he may be taught to be careful, diligent, painstaking,
and truthful in all his mental operations. Blacking
boots or sawing wood might also yield the same ethi-
cal lessons, yet we should not ascribe ethical content
to the blacking, the brush, the wood-pile, or the saw.
It is the boy’s action that has the ethical quality, and
in this case the things used are only the instruments
of an ethical deed. In the same way science studies
have a high value as instruments in the training “of
character, but since their content is scientific, material
fact, having no quality of good or bad will, they cer-
tainly are morally quite indifferent. Whereas, then,
the content of literature and history is ethical, since
these exhibit the good or bad will of men, the content
of nature-studies is in the last analysis non-ethical or
scientific, since it pertains solely to the facts and laws
of nature.

For reasons already given it is clear that the his-
torical principle has little or no applicability to this
group of subjects. We must therefore find other and
more practicable bases for unification. It can hardly
248 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

be said that scientists themselves are a unit as to
what should constitute the proper selection, sequence,
and correlation of topics in nature-studies ; indeed,
not very much thought has been given to the sub-
ject. Twenty years ago teachers were declaring that
science has small value for education or discipline in
any field. Its knowledge value was conceded, but
since nearly all sought to teach it in accordance with
the methods common in languages, mathematics, and
philosophy, its own peculiar excellence as an instru-
ment in education did not appear. In the higher
education all this has been changed, so that science is
now valued by liberal-minded men as much for its
educational discipline as for its useful information.
Science has become a clear exemplification of the prin-
ciple of discipline through knowledge. The most, per-
haps, that we can claim regarding nature-studies in
elementary grades is that men are now ready to grant
the priority of psychological grounds in sequence of
parts and codrdination of branches. The tendency
has been to a tandem arrangement of subjects and a
logical sequence of parts. This position has been,
or is destined to be, abandoned. The environment
of the child, his psychological needs, and the oppor-
tunities of season and situation, must determine in
large measure the selection of material in the earlier
grades. The Report of the Committee of Ten is rich
in suggestions as to the selection and sequence of
topics, though for reasons already given little or no
codrdination has been accomplished

Just as language constitutes the formal aspect of
humanistic studies, on the one hand, so mathematics
COORDINATION OF STUDIES 249

is the formal aspect of nature-study in its quantitative
relations, on the other. Hitherto our elementary work
in number has been largely divorced from any con-
siderable concrete matter and taught chiefly as an
abstraction. While nothing can make mathematics
easier than it is by nature, much can make it easier
and more interesting than it has been in practice.
Professor Jackman points out that about the only con-
crete matter we have used has been the idea of value,
while Colonel Parker, in his Theory of Concentration,
shows very clearly how numerical calculations may
be associated with distances, areas, volumes, weights,
densities, and sizes, to say nothing of time and forces.!
The chief reason, perhaps, why so many arithmetics
limit their concrete illustrations of numerical rela-
tions to considerations of value, is that heretofore so
few content studies have been taught in the school.
With their advent, however, arithmetic need no longer
stand as an unrelated part of the curriculum.

It appears evident that number and culture sub-
jects are practically incommensurable, beyond the
barest beginnings of numerical relations. Three per-
sons may be mentioned in a story, and it is not absurd
that the primary teacher should use this fact to verify
the idea of the number involved. Yet, at the most,
this helps merely to associate number with objects.
Any attempt to establish important numerical rela-
tions by means of such material would be far-fetched
and ineffective. The case is different, however, with
natural science and with economic and business affairs.
Here quantitative relations force themselves upon us,

1 Theory of Concentration, Chapter IV.
250 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

being often essential to complete comprehension of
a subject. It is for these reasons that attempts to
correlate mathematics with literature and history seem
fantastic, while efforts to do the same with the sci-
ences as well as with economic values appear natural
and rational.

3. Tue Economic Core

The third core of instruction, here called the eco-
nomic, has been but partially recognized in our course
of study. Itis the purpose of the preceding chapter
to show how significant for the welfare and progress
of mankind this phase of education is. A child not
trained for the social and economic environment in
which he must live is by no means rightly educated.
Should we insist upon clothing the inhabitants of
warm countries with bear skins, and upon feeding them
with blubber, we should commit no greater breach of
the eternal fitness of things, than we may now easily
commit by failing to adapt the child’s education to the
needs of modern life. Universal formal education
into the years of manhood as a basis for the special
preparation for callings is a schoolmaster’s dream,
unattainable even if desirable, and undesirable even
if attainable. Education must fit for living, all along
the line, and the better it is adapted to this end the
more the people will cherish and promote it.

The economic trend of education must be observed
both as a principle for all study, and as a department of
special work. As a principle, it seeks to focus all
instruction upon the practical ends it should serve.
COORDINATION OF STUDIES 251

As a department, it has a double aspect, the adapta-
tion of nature to man, and the preparation of man for
his conquest over nature. There are, accordingly,
two phases of its appearance in the curriculum. The
first is the direct physical training the child needs for
mastering and utilizing the forces of nature; and the
other is the more contemplative study of economic
manifestations, such as are seen in industries, com-
merce, agriculture, and the like. The first of these
two sides is the very important practical education
now known in the elementary schools as manual or
industrial training, and the second is the view brought
to light through economic and social literature, rein-
forced by the commercial and social aspects of geog-
raphy. |

Many manuals describing the sequence and conduct
of manual training work of all grades have been pub-
lished. The principle of sequence depends for the
most part upon psychological and practical grounds.
It is evident that no sequence, however philosophical
in itself, can be adopted that plainly transcends the
capacity of the schools with respect to teachers, ma-
terials, and appliances.

But little serious attempt has been made to select a
body of literature to stimulate in the mind an interest
in the correlation between man and nature, and in fact
it is only in very recent times that a literature has
begun to grow up that takes full account of modern
economic and social environments. Robinson Crusoe
is a classic upon the imaginative treatment of indus-
trial evolution. Robinson Crusoe’s constant thought
is how he shall preserve his life and add to his com-
252 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

fort by mastering nature with the slender means at his
command. ‘The surest evidence of the economic trend
of this work is that most children are at once stimu-
lated by their reading of Robinson Crusoe to dig caves,
and to construct boats, pottery, huts and the like, the
ethical element remaining mostly in the background.
The greatest obstacle to the use of this book in the
schools has been its labored style, its heavy vocabulary,
and its introspective analyses. A carefully edited edi-
tion has now been prepared for the use of pupils in the
third and fourth grades.'’ More advanced imaginative
literature of this type may be found in Jules Verne’s
books, the Swiss Family Robinson, More’s Utopia,
The House that Jack Built, Lawrence’s Adventures
among the Glass Blowers, Rutledge’s Every Boy’s Book,
and the like. A literature fitted to the modern con-
ditions of social and family life is also growing up, a
type of which may be seen in the books of Louisa M.
Alcott for children.

Just as language is the formal side of the ethical
core, and mathematics of the scientific, so mechanical
drawing is the formal side of manual training and
industrial art, with which it may be closely associated.

We have now three parallel-lying and somewhat
independent cores of unification about which closely
related subjects are grouped. The chief idea of the
first, taken in a broad sense, is ethical, representing
the deeds of man as a free being, the principle of
sequence being to considerable extent the historical;
the spirit of the second group is scientific, not ethical,

1 Robinson Crusoe, edited by Mrs. Lida B. McMurry, Public
School Publishing Co., Bloomington, Ill.
COORDINATION OF STUDIES 253

and it represents nature in its independent aspects,
the principles of sequence and correlation being deter-
mined chiefly by psychological grounds and outward
circumstances, and only secondarily by the logical
order of developed sciences; the third core of unifica-
tion represents man and nature in interaction, and
lays the chief emphasis upon preparing the child
through industrial training the better to master and
direct the forces of nature, providing at the same time
a literary or imaginative contemplation of the eco-
nomic field, and also a study of actual conditions in
commercial geography.

Before concluding, it may be well to add a few
practical considerations regarding special means for
coérdinating the various subjects of the curriculum.
We have already seen how the reading in the form
of literature pertains alike to culture, nature, and
economies. It becomes, therefore, a possible means
for bringing about close associations among the vari-
ous realms of knowledge. The most universal content
subject, however, is perhaps geography, whose mani-
fold relations to the subject-matter of the curriculum
may be briefly considered.

Heretofore geography seems to have been taught
mostly from the political standpoint; that is, it has
been used to show the present resultant of all the
historical forces; but our conception of the function
of geography is at once broadened when we look to
it for a partial answer as to how the facts of political
geography have come to be as they are. In other
words, while we study the processes of history we
look to physical geography to show us the conditions
254 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

and determining natural forces that have brought
results to pass. This aspect of geographical science
is forced upon us in a measure when we consider such
events as Napoleon’s disastrous Moscow campaign,
but history as often taught is as unconnected with
the earth as if all its events took place in the upper
air. Since history must have a place in which
to unfold, and the unfolding itself is largely de-
pendent upon the physical features of the country —
its mountains, rivers, sea-coasts, forests, and climate,
we have an explanation of the fact that geography,
as the physical basis of history, is now becoming
an important study in the curriculum. The ele-
mentary aspects of this relation should appear in the
teaching of history and geography in the grammar
schools.

Geography has also the most intimate connection
with the biological sciences, since conditions of soil,
climate, elevation, and contour determine the char-
acter and extent of the flora of a country. At the
same time they determine the food supply of animals,
thus forming the main condition for their multiplica-
tion, distribution, and migration. In other words,
whereas science treats of plants and animals as indi-
vidual things, we find in geography the chief external
conditions of this existence in its manifold variations.
To no small extent, furthermore, do we find in physical
geography a support for other phases of science
study.

Finally, what is perhaps one of the most important
fields of geography has been almost wholly neglected
in the ‘schools, viz., commercial geography. This
COORDINATION OF STUDIES 255

shows in a remarkable way the interaction of the
two factors, man and nature, and forms an important
function in the economic education of the child. The
foundations for this study are easily and fairly laid
in the early home geography. While the child is out
of doors gathering the elements of his geographical
concepts, he may at the same time study the forms
of industry at his doors, even if it be no more than
the industry of the farm. A line of questions as to
what is produced in the neighborhood and what be-
comes of the product, what is received in return for
it, will open up a new world to the child. Then when
he comes to study the productions of other lands and
the geographical conditions that make them possible,
following this up by an investigation of the means
whereby the productions of one land may be exchanged
for those of another, he not only gets an enlarged
conception of his own place and function in the
world, but he learns practically the great ethical
lesson that every part of the world, and every man
in every part, is trying to serve self through service
to others.

The codrdinating value of home and commercial
geography is admirably developed up to the fifth
grade of the elementary school in Dr. C. A. McMurry’s
manual of Special Methods in Geography.’

The specific detail-work of correlating a curriculum
of study must be done, for the most part, in the
school itself. The effort to do this is most stimu-
lating to all the teachers engaged in the effort.

1 Special Methods in Geography, Dr. Chas. A. McMurry, Public
School Publishing Co., Bloomington, Il.
256 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

Upon the basis already laid down, and with the
example of such men as Ziller and Frick, each super-
intendent of schools will find the way open, not only
to the immediate improvement of his schools, but to
the invigorating of his whole corps of teachers.
APPENDIX

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF HERBARTIAN
LITERATURE!

GENERAL PEDAGOGICS

Ackermann, Formale Bildung. Langensalza.

Ackermann, Pidagogische Fragen. 2d series. Dresden.

Frick-Meier, Sammlung piidag. Abhandlungen. Halle.

Herbart, Pidagogische Schriften, hrsg. v. Willmann. 2 vols.
Leipzig.

Kern, Grundriss der Pidagogik. 4thed. Berlin, 1887.

Lindner, Encyklopid. Handbuch der Erziehungskunde.
Vienna, 1884.

Rein, Pidagog. Studien ; alte Folge. 2 vols. Vienna.

Schiller, Handbuch der prakt. Piidagogik. 2d ed. Leipzig, 1889.

Stoy, Encyklopiidie der Piidagogik. 2ded. Leipzig, 1878.

Striimpell, Psychologische Pidagogik. Leipzig, 1880.

Strumpell, Das System der Pidagogik Herbarts. Leipzig, 1894.

Waitz, Allgem. Pidagogik, hrsg. v. Willmann. 38ded. Bruns-

* wick.

Willmann, Didaktik. 2 vols. Braunschweig, 1882-89.

Ziller, Einleitung in die allg. Piidagogik. Leipzig, 1856. Allg.
Piidagogik. 3d ed., hrsg. v. Just. Leipzig.

Ziller-Vogt, Jahrbiicher des Vereins fiir wissenschaftliche
Pidagogik. 24 vols. Dresden.

1 From Van Liew’s Translation of Rein’s Outlines of Pedagogies.
257
258 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

I. PRACTICAL PEDAGOGICS
(A) Tue Forms or Epucation

1. Home Prepacoeics

Ackermann, Die hiusliche Erziehung. Langensalza, 1888.

Stoy, Hauspiidagogik. Leipzig, 1855.

Triiper, Die Familienrechte an der Erziehung. 2d ed. Langen-
salza, 1892.

2. SpecraL EpucationaL InstTITUTIONS
Education of the Deaf and Dumb

Oehlwein, Meine Erfahrungen u. Ansichten tiber das Wesen der
Vier- und schwachsinnigen, etc. Weimar, 1883.

3. ScHoot Epucation
(a) The People’s Schools

Dérpfeld, Zwei pidagogische Gutachten. Giitersloh, 1877.

Leutz, Lehrbuch der Erziehung und des Unterrichts. 2d ed.
Tauberbischofsheim, 1887.

Ranitzsch, Der Unterricht in der Volksschule. Weimar, 1888.

(bv) The Middle Schools (Burgher and Real-Schools)

Dérpfeld, Der Mittelstand und die Mittelschule. Barmen, 1853.

Mager, Die deutsche Biirgerschule 1840. Ed. by Eberhardt.
Langensalza.

Otto, Der deutsche Biirgerstand und die deutsche Biirgerschule.
Leipzig, 1871.

G. Wiget, Theorie und Praxis des Realschulunterrichts. St.
Gallen, 1889.

(c) Gymnasium
Frick-Meier, Lehrproben und Lehrgiinge. Halle.
Kern-H. J. Miiller, Zeitschrift fiir das Gymnasialwesen. Berlin.

Schiller, Handbuch der prakt. Pidagogik. 2d ed. Leipzig,
1889.
APPENDIX 259

(d) Girls’ Schools

H. Grosse, Zur Reform des héh. Madchenschulwesens, in:
Richter, Der prakt. Schulmann, vol. 37, 1888. Leipzig.

Krusche, Uebersicht der Litteratur tiber weibliche Erziehung
und Bildung in Deutschland von 1700-1886. Leipzig,
1887.

(B) Scuoot ADMINISTRATION
1. Scuoot LecisLation

Barth, Die Reform der Gesellchaft durch Neubelebung des
Gemeindewesens. Leipzig, 1885.

Dorpfeld, Die freie Schulgemeinde und ihre Anstalten auf dem
Boden der freien Kirche im freien Staate. Giitersloh,
1863.

Dérpfeld, Die drei Grundgebrechen der hergebrachten Schulver-
fassungen, etc. Elberfeld, 1869.

Dorpfeld, Ein Beitrag der Leidensgeschichte der Volksschule
nebst Vorschligen zur Reform der Schulverwaltung.
2d ed. Barmen, 1883.

Dorpfeld, Das Fundamentstiick einer gerechten, gesunden,
freien und friedlichen Schulverfassung. Hilchenbach,
1892.

Herbart, Ueber, Erziehung unter 6ffentlicher Mitwirkung. 1810.

Mager, Pidagog. Revue. VI.— XVII. Band; XIX. Band.
(Bruchstiicke aus einer deutschen Scholastik.)

Mager, Die deutsche Biirgerschule.

(Ed. by Eberhardt, Langensalza. )

Rein, Zur Schulgesetzgebung. Deutsche Rundschau. April No.
1892. (Comp. Grenzboten: Erziehung und Sozialis-
mus. No. 24, 1891.

Rolle, Die Selbstindigkeit der Schule inmitten von Staat und
Kirche: Paidag. Studien of Rein, 1889. No. 4.

Trtiper, Die Familienrechte an der Sffentlichen Erziehung. 2d
ed. Langensalza, 1892.

Triiper, Die Schule und die sozialen Fragen unserer Zeit. 3
Nos. Giitersloh, 1890.
260 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

2. EquirmMENT oF SCHOOLS

Piltz, Thiiring. Schulmuseum. Jena.

38. SUPERVISION OF SCHOOLS

Dorpfeld, Leidensgeschichte der Volksschule. 2d ed. Barmen,
1882.

4. PREPARATION OF TEACHERS
(a) Seminaries for Teachers in the People’s Schools

Andreii, Zur inneren Entwicklungsgeschichte der deutschen
Lehrerbildungsanstalten. Kaiserslautern, 1890-91 to
1891-92.

Rein, Ueber die Organisation der Lehrerbildung in Deutschland.
Pidagog. Studien, 1881. 4th No. Dresden.

Stoy, Organisation des Lehrerseminars. Leipzig, 1869.

(b) University-Seminaries

Brzoska, Die Notwendigkeit pidagog. Seminare auf der Univer-
sitét und ihre zweckmiiszige Einrichtung. 2d ed. by
Rein. Leipzig, 1887.

(For Bibliography v. p. 205 sqq.)

Frick, Seminar. praeceptorum. Halle, 1883.

Rein, Ueber pidagog. Universitiits-Seminare. Neue d. Schule,
4-5 Nos.

Rein, Die Ausbildung fiir d. Lehramt an hoéher. Schulen,
Grenzboten, 1890. 8th No.

Rein, Aus dem Pid. Univers.-Seminare zu Jena. Nos. 1-4.
Langensalza.

Von Sallwiirk, Das Staatsseminar. Gotha, 1890.

Schiller, Padagog. Seminarien f. d. héh. Lehramt. Leipzig,
1890.

Vogt, Das pidagog. Universitits-Seminar. Leipzig, 1884.

Zange, Gymnasial-Seminare und die piidagog. Ausbildung der
Kandidaten des héh. Schulamts. Sth No. by Frick-
Meyer: Sammlung piidagog. Abhandlungen. Halle,
1890.
APPENDIX 261

Il, THEORETICAL PEDAGOGICS
(A) Tue Fonpamentar Sciences or Pepacoeics

I. Eruics

Fliigel, Das Ich und die sittlichen Ideen im Leben der Volker,
2d ed. Langensalza.

Fliigel, Die Sittenlehre Jesu. 2d ed. Langensalza.

Hartenstein, Die Grundbegriffe der eth. Wissensch. Leipzig,
1844. ;

Herbart, Allgem. prakt. Philosophie. Ed. by Hartenstein,
vol. 8; Gesamtausgabe, by Kehrbach, vol. 4. Langen-
salza.

Nahlowsky, Praktische Philosophie. 2ded. Leipzig, 1885.

Steinthal, Allgem. Ethik. Berlin, 1885.

Ziller, Allgem. philos. Ethik. 2ded. Langensalza, 1886.

II. PsycuHotocy

Ballauff, Die Grundlehren der Psychologie. 2ded. Céthen,
1890.

Dorpfeld, Denken und Gedichtnis. 3ded. Giitersloh.

Drobisch, Emp. Psychologie. Leipzig, 1843.

Fliigel, Die Seelenfrage. 2ded. Céthen, 1884.

Hartmann, Die Analyse des kindl. Gedankenkreises. Annaberg,
1885.

Lange, Ueber Apprezeption. 4thed. Plauen. See English
References, page 198.

Lazarus, Das Leben der Seele. 3ded. Berlin.

Lukens, Die Vorstellungsreihen u. ihre pidagog. Bedeutung.
Giitersloh, 1892.

Mannel, Ueber Abstraktion. (iitersloh.

Nahlowsky, Das Gefiihsleben. 2ded. Leipzig, 1884.

Schoel, J. Fr., Herbarts philos. Lehre von der Religion. Dresden,
1884,

Striimpell, Gedanken tiber Religion u. relig. Probleme. Leipzig,
1888.

Volkmann, Lehrbuch der Psychologie. 3ded. Céthen.
262 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

(B) Aiw-Scrence oF Pepacocics: PuysioLoey
(A) TeLzoLoey (see Eruics)
(B) Metuopvotoey (see Psycnoiocy)

I. Generat Dipactics

Dérpfeld, Der didakt. Materialismus. 2d ed. Giitersloh.

Dorpfeld, Grundlinien einer Theorie des Lehrplans. Giitersloh.

Willmann, Didaktik als Bildungslehre. 2 vols. Brunswick,
1889.

Willmann, Padagog. Vortriige. 2ded. Leipzig, 1886.

Ziller, Grundlegung zur Lehre vom erz. Unterricht. 2d ed. by
Vogt. Leipzig, 1884.

1. Arms or InstRUCTION

Grdssler, Das vielseitige Interesse. isleben, 1883.

Vieth, Darf.vielseitiges Interesse als Unterrichtsziel hingestellt
werden ? Rogasen, 1886.

Walsemann, Das Interesse. Hanover, 1884.

2. Means or InstRucTION
(a) Choice of Material

Rein, Gesinnungsunt. und Kulturgeschichte: Pidagog. Studien
1888. 2d No. Dresden.

vy. Sallwiirck, Gesinnungsunt. u. Kulturgeschichte. Langensailza,
1887.

(b) Connection of Branches

Ackermann, Ueber Konzentration: Pidag. Fragen, Ist series,
Dresden.

Dorpfeld, Zwei dringl. Reformen im Real und Sprachunt.
Giitersloh, 1883.

Loos, Der 6sterr. Gymnasiallehrplan im Lichte der Konzentra-
tion. Vienna, 1892.

Merian-Genast, Ausfiihrungen zum Lehrplan. Jena, 1892.
APPENDIX 263

Rein, Pickel, Scheller, Theorie u. Praxis. 1st vol. 4th ed.
Leipzig.
Willmann, Piid. Vortrége. 2ded. Leipzig.

(¢) Treatment of Material

Gleichmann, Ueber Herbart’s Lehre von den formalen Stufen.
2d ed. Langensalza, 1892.

Reich, Die Theorie der Formalstufen. Langensaiza, 1889.

Th. Wiget, Die formalen Stufen. 4thed. Chur, 1892,

II. Specrat Dipacrics

Frick-Meier, Lehrproben und Lehrginge. Haile.

Jahrbiicher des Vereins fiir w. Pidagogik. Dresden.

Rein, Pickel, Scheller, Theorie und Praxis des Volksschulunter.
richts, etc. Vols. i—viii. 4thed. Leipzig.

Schiller, Handbuch der prakt. Pidagogik. 2d ed. Leipzig.

Ziller-Bergner, Materialien zur spez. Pidagogik. Dresden, 1886.

1. Instruction 1n RELIGION

Dorpfeld, Ein christl.-piidag. Protest. Giitersioh, 1869.

Reukauf, Philos. Begriindung des Lehrplans des ev. Rel.-Unt.
an hoh. Schulen. Langensalza, 1892,

Staude, Priparationen zu den bibl. Gesch. des alten und neuen
Testaments. 3 vols. 5Sthed. Dresden.

Thrindorf, Die Behandlung des Religionsunterrichts. Langen-
salza, 1887.

Thrandorf, Kirchengeschichtl. Lesebuch. Dresden, 1888.

Thrindorf, Der Religionsunterricht. (Priiparationen.) Dres-
den, 1890.

2. History

D6rpfeld, Repetitorium der Gesellschaftskunde und Begleitwort.
2ded. Giitersloh, 1890.

Eberhardt, Ueber Gesch.-Unt. Pidag. Studien. 4th No. Vienna.

Staude-Gopfert, Priparationen zur deutschen Geschichte. Dres-
den, 1890.

Willmann, Der elem. Gesch.-Unt. Leipzig, 1872
264 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

Wohlrabe, Praparationen zu profangesch. Quellenstoffen. Gotha,
1887.

Zillig, Der Geschichtsunt. XIV. Jahrbuch d. Vereins f£ w.
Padagogik.

3. Drawine

Menard, Der Zeichenunterricht. Neuwied.

Otto-Rein, Padagog. Zeichenlehre. 3ded. Weimar, 1885.
Rein, Geschichte des Zeichenunt. 2ded. Gotha, 1889.
Rein, Der Zeichenunterricht im Gymnasium. Hanover, 1889.

4, Smncine

Helm, Gesangunterricht in ‘‘ Theorie und Praxis.”? Vols. i-
viii. Leipzig.

6. Instruction In LANGUAGE

Mager, Die genet. Methode des schulmissigen Unterrichts in
fremden Sprachen und Litteraturen. 3ded. Ziirich,
1846.

Mager, Moderne Humanitatsstudien. 3 Nos. Ziirich.

(a) German

Bliedner, Schillerlesebuch. Dresden.

Eberhardt, Die Poesie in der Volksschule. 3 vols, 3d ed. Lan-
gensalza, 1886.

Stoy, Der deutsche Sprachunt. 3ded. Vienna, 1868.

(6) Other Foreign Languages

Batgen, Zur Neugestaltung des franzos. Unt. Hisenach, 1886.
Giinther, Der Lateinunt. XIII. Jahrbuch d. V. f. w. Pad.
Dresden.

6. GEOGRAPHY

Heiland, Das geographische Zeichnen. Dresden, 1887.
Matzat, Methodik des geogr. Unt. Berlin, 1886.
APPENDIX 265

7, Narurau Scrences

Beyer, Die Naturwissenschaften in der Erziehungsschule. Leip-
zig, 1885.

Conrad, Priparationen f.d. Physik-Unterricht. Dresden, 1889.

Dorpfeld, Repetitor. d. naturkundl u. humanist. Unt. 3d ed.
Giitersloh.

Schleichert, Anleitg. zu botan. Beobachtungen, etc. Langen-
salza, 1891.

8. MATHEMATICS

Falke, Propideutik der Geometrie. Leipzig, 1869.

Fresenius, Die psycholog. Grundlagen der Raumwissenschaft.
Wiesbaden, 1868.

Fresenius, Raumlehre. Frankfurt, 1861.

Hartmann, Handbuch des Rechenunterrichts. Hildburghausen,
1889.

Pickel, Die Geometrie der Volksschule. 16thed. Dresden.

9. Manuva TRAINING

Barth-Niederley, Desd. Knaben Handwerkbuch. dthed. Lezp-
zig, 1882.
Barth-Niederley, Die Schiilerwerkstatt. Leipzig, 1882.

10. Turninc

Hausmann, Das Turnen in der Volksschule. 4th ed. Weimar.

THEORY OF GUIDANCE

1. TRAINING

Barth, Ueber den Umgang. 3ded. Langensalza.

Kindergottesdienst, Ev. Schulbl. von Dérpfeld, 1887 u. 1888;
Erziehungsschule von Barth. IL, 9.

Scholz, Schulreisen. Aus dem pidagog. Universitits-Seminar.
8d No. Langensailza, 1890.

Striimpell, Die pidag. Pathologie. Leipzig, 1890.
266 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

2. GOVERNMENT OF CHILDREN

Nahlowsky, Ueber Herbarts reformator. Beruf. Zeitschrift f.
exakte Philosophie, VII., 391-97.
Rein, Regierung, Unterricht u. Zucht. Padag. Studien. 1st No.
3d ed. Vienna.
Stoy, Haus- und Schulpolizei. Berlin, 1856.
Ziller, Regierung der Kinder. Leipzig, 1857.

THE ENGLISH LITERATURE ON THE HERBARTIAN
SYSTEM

Tue following references contain most of what has been
written in English upon the subject of the Herbartian peda-
gogics. No attempt has been made to refer to works outside of
this field. The English-speaking teacher will, of course, have a
more or less thorough acquaintance with the already extensive
English literature on the subject of Pedagogy in general. He has
but to refer to such sources as the Bibliography of Education
(Boston, 1886), by G.S. Hall and J. M. Mansfield, and the “ Bib-
liography of Pedagogy’ in Sonnenschein’s Cyclopedia of Edu-
cation (8d ed. 1892), to obtain the most comprehensive and
accurate directions to the literature of every possible depart-
ment of education, or to Dr. W. T. Harris’s Teachers’ Course
of Professional Reading for Home Work and Reading Circles,
for a general, profitable course of reading. The following list
will be of service to those who desire to become more familiar
with the rising Herbartian views : —

Brown, G. P.: What is Interest ? in Public School Journal,
vol. xii., No. 1., Bloomington, Ill.

De Garmo, Dr. Charles: Essentials of Method, Boston, 1889 ;
Ethical Training in the Public Schools; Am. Academy
of Pol. and Soc. Science, publication No. 49, Phila-
delphia; Language Work below the High Schools,
Bloomington, Iil., since 1887 ; The Herbartian System
of Pedagogics, in the Hducational Review, New York,
vol.i., Nos. 1,3, and 5; The Relation of Instruction to
APPENDIX 267

Will Training, in the publications of the Am. Nat. Ed.
Assoc., 1890 ; What does Apperception Mean ? in the
Public School Journal, vol. x., No. 11, 1891, Blooming-
ton, Iil.; A popular View of Apperception, Public
School Journal, vol. xii., No. 8, Bloomington, Ill. ;
Codrdination of Studies, Educational Review, vol. iv.,
No. 5; The Educational Value of Natural Science in
Elementary Schools, in Hd. Papers by Illinois Science
Teachers, i., 1889-90.

Donaldson: Lectures on the History of Education in Prussia
and England, Hdinburgh, 1874, mentions Ziller’s work
briefly and favorably.

Douglas, C. H.: Certain Views of Herbart on Mathematics and
Natural Science, Educational Review, vol. iii., No. 5.

Findlay, J. J.: Herbartian Literature in English} School and
College, October and November, 1892. |

Hall, Dr. H.: Notes of the German Schools, contains refer-

~~** ences to Herbart.

Harris, Dr. W. T.: Apperception Defined, and Apperception

“~==--——yersus Perception, in the Public School Journal,
vol. xi., Nos. 2 and 5.

Herbart « The Science of Education, and The Asthetic Revela-
tion of the World, translated by Henry M. and Emmie
Felkin — Swan Sonnenschein & Co., London, 1892.

Herbart: Psychology, translated by Miss M. K. Smith, Inter-
national Education Series, New York, 1891.

Klemm, L. R.: European Schools, mentions the Herbartian

Pedagogics, and gives some criticism, International

Education Series, New York.

Lange: Ueber Apperception, translated by the Herbart Club

_ in America, Boston, 1892.

Lindner: Empirical Psychology, translated by Dr. Charles
De Garmo, New York, 1890.

Lukens, Dr. H. T.: Herbart’s Psychological Basis of Teaching,
Part II. of Th. B. Noss’s Outlines of Psychology and
Pedagogy, Pittsburgh, 1890.

McMurry, Dr. Charles A.: The Elements of General Method

 
268 HERBART AND THE HERBARTIANS

based on the Principles of Herbart, Bloomington, Ill.,
1892 ; A Geography Plan for the Grades of the Com-
mon Schools, and Pioneer History Stories for the 3d
and 4th Grade, Bloomington, Iil., 1891; How to Con-
duct the Recitation, Teachers’ Manuals, No. 13, New
York and Chicago.

McMurry, Dr. Frank: The Moral Value of Fairy Tales and
Imaginative Literature for Children, in Public School
Journal, Bloomington, Ill., vol. x., No. 11, and vol. xi.,
No. 3; Relation of Sciences to the other Studies, in
Ed. Papers by Illinois Science Teachers, i., 1889-90,
Peoria, Iil.; Value of Herbartian Pedagogy for Nor-
mal Schools, in Proceedings of Nat. Ed. Assoc. for 1892.

Prince, J. T.: Methods in German Schools, mentions the Her-

 “partian Pedagogies briefly, and gives some criticism.

Ribot, T.: German Psychology of To-day, contains a digest of

~~~ Herbart’s psychology, New York, 1880.

Salmon, Lucy M.: The Teaching of History in the Elementary
Schools, Educational Review, New York, vol. i., No. 5,
contains brief reference to the principles of the histor-
ical stages of culture and concentration.

Smith, Margaret K.: Herbart’s Life, three articles in the New
England Journal of Education, 1889.

Ufer: Introduction to the Pedagogy of Herbart, translated by
J. C. Zinser, edited by Charles De Garmo—D. C.
Heath & Co.

Van Liew, C. C.; Life of Herbart and Development of his
Pedagogical Doctrines—Swan Sonnenschein & Co.,
London, 1893.

Ward: Article in the Hncyclopedia Britannica, on Herbart,
important psychologically.

Norhyood Press :
J. 8. Cushing & Co. — Berwick & Smith.
Boston, Mass., U.S.A.
Lhe Great Zdrucatovs.

Edited by NICHOLAS MURRAY BUTLER.

 

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on the theory of education.’’ —Hon. W. T. Harris, U.S. Commisstoner
of Education.

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Davipson, M.A., LL.D. remo. $1.00 net.

ALCUIN and the Rise of the Christian Schools. By Prof. ANDREW
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Colleges in England.

PESTALOZZI, the Friend and Student of Children.

HORACE MANN and Public Education in the United States. By
the Editor,

The history of great educators is, from an important point of view,
the history of education. These volumes are not only biographies, but
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THE SERIES.

ARISTOTLE.

The whole of ancient pedagogy is Professor Davidson’s subject,
the course of education being traced up to Aristotle, —an account
of whose life and system forms, of course, the main portion of the
book, — and down from that great teacher, as well as philosopher,
through the decline of ancient civilization. An appendix discusses
“The Seven Liberal Arts,” and paves the way for the next work
in chronological sequence, — Professor West’s, on Alcuin. The
close relations between Greek education and Greek social and
political life are kept constantly in view by Professor Davidson.
A special and very attractive feature of the work is the citation,
chiefly in English translation, of passages from original sources
expressing the spirit of the different theories described.

ALCUIN.

Professor West aims to develop the story of educational insti-
tutions in Europe from the beginning of the influence of Christian-
ity on education to the origin of the Universities and the first
beginnings of the modern movement. A careful analysis is made
of the effects of Greek and Roman thought on the educational
theory and practice of the early Christian, and their great system
of schools, and its results are studied with care and in detail. The
personality of Alcuin enters largely into the story, because of his
dominating influence in the movement.

ABELARD.

M. Compayré, the well-known French educationist, has prepared
in this volume an account of the origin of the great European
Universities that is at once the most scientific and the most inter-
esting in the English language. Naturally the University of Paris
is the central figure in the account; and the details of its early
organization and influence are fully given. Its connection with
the other great universities of the Middle Ages and with modern
university movement is clearly. pointed out. Abelard, whose system
of teaching and disputation was one of the earliest signs of the
rising universities, is the typical figure of the movement; and
M. Compayré has given a sketch of his character and work, from
an entirely new point of view, that is most instructive.

2
LOYOLA.

This work is a critical and authoritative statement of the edu-
cational principles and method adopted in the Society of Jesus, of
which the author is a distinguished member. The first part is a
sketch, biographical and historical, of the dominant and directing
personality of Ignatius, the Founder of the order, and his comrades,
and of the establishment and early administrations of the Society.
In the second an elaborate analysis of the system of studies is given,
beginning with an account of Aquaviva and the Ratio Studiorum,
and considering, under the general heading of “the formation of
the master,” courses of literature and philosophy, of divinity and
allied sciences, repetition, disputation, and dictation; and under
that of “formation of the scholar,” symmetry of the courses pur-
sued, the prelection, classic literatures, school management and
control, examinations and graduation, grades and courses.

FROEBEL.

Friedrich Froebel stands for the movement known both in
Europe and in this country as the New Education, more completely
than any other single name. The kindergarten movement, and the
whole development of modern methods of teaching, have been
largely stimulated by, if not entirely based upon, his philosophical
exposition of education. It is not believed that any other account
of Froebel and his work is so complete and exhaustive, as the author
has for many years been a student of Froebel’s principles and
methods not only in books, but also in actual practice in the kin-
dergarten. Mr. Bowen is a frequent examiner of kindergartens, of
the children in them, and of students who are trained to be kinder-
garten teachers.

HERBART.

In this book, President DeGarmo has given, for the first time
in the English language, a systematic analysis of the Herbartian
theory of education, which is now so much studied and discussed
in Great Britain and the United States, as well asin Germany. Not
only does the volume contain an exposition of the theory as
expounded by Herbart himself, but it traces in detail the develop-
ment of that theory and the additions to it made by such distin-
guished names as Ziller, Stoy, Frick, Rein, and the American
School of Herbartians. Especially valuable will be found Dr.
DeGarmo’s careful and systematic exposition of the problems that
centre around the concentration and correlation of studies. These
problems are generally acknowledged to be the most pressing and
important at present before the teachers of the country.

3
NOTICES OF THE SERIES.

‘¢ Admirably conceived in a truly philosophic spirit and executed with
unusual skill. It is rare to find books on pedagogy at once so instructive
and so interesting. . . . I hope to read them all, which is more than
I can say of any other series.’? —Wittiam Preston Jounston, Tulane
University.

“*T am very glad to see this excellent contribution to the history of
education. Professor Davidson’s work is admirable. His topic is one
of the most profitable in the entire history of culture.’’ — W. T. Harris,
U.S. Commtssioner of Educattion.

“«Thave examined with much interest Professor West’s work — ‘ Alcuin
and the Rise of the Christian School.’ I cannot doubt that the series of
‘Great Educators,’ under the general editorial supervision of Professor
Butler, will be of much value.’? —Georce P. Fisuer, Vale University.

“«The Scribners are rendering an important service to the cause of
education in the production of the ‘ Great Educators Series.’ ?’ — Fournal
of Education.

“*We have not too many series devoted to the history and the theory
of education, and the one represented at the present moment by the two
volumes before us promises to take an important place —a leading place
—amongst the few we have.’’ — London Educational Times.

‘«¢ Aristotle’ is delightful reading. I know nothing in English that
covers the field of Greek Education so well. You will find it very hard
to maintain this level in the later works of the Series, but I can wish
you nothing better than that you may do so.’’ —G. Stantey Hatt, Clark
University.

**T have had great*pleasure in examining the advance sheets of
Davidson’s ‘ Aristotle, and the Ancient Educational Ideals.’ It is a
book that appeals to the rank and file of teachers, and its reading is
sure to give inspiration and pedagogical insight.’’ — Wit S. Monroz,
California.

‘Please forward at once twenty copies of ‘Aristotleand the Ancient
Educational Ideals,’ by Thomas Davidson. It is a great book, and I
must give my Senior Class a taste of it before they graduate.’’ —J. C.
GrEENOoUGH, State Normal School, Westfield, Mass.

‘“ This volume on St. Ignatius of ‘ Loyola and the Educational System
of the Jesuits,’ by the Rev. Thomas Hughes, will probably be welcomed
by others besides those specially interested in the theories and methods
of education. Written by a member of the Jesuit Society, it comes to
us with authority, and presents a complete and well arranged survey of
the work of educational development carried out by Ignatius and his
followers.’’ — London Saturday Review.

‘No one, in England or America, is fitted to give a more sympathetic
or lucid interpretation of Froebel than Mr. Courthope Bowen. ... Mr.
Bowen’s book will be a most important addition to any library, and no
student of Froebel can afford to do without it.’? — Kate Douctas Wicein,
New Vork City.

‘« Professor West’s ‘ Alcuin’ —a very interesting and scholarly treat-
ment of an attractive and important theme.’’ — Epwarp H. Grirrin, Johns
Hopkins University.

‘*T take pleasure in saying that ‘Alcuin’ seems to me to combine
careful scholarly investigation with popularity, and condensation with
interest of detail, in a truly admirable way.’’— Professor G. T. Lapp,
of Yale.
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