MENTAL DISCIPLINE AND EDUCATIONAL \ALUES W.H.HECR THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE MENTAL DISCIPLINE AND EDUCATIONAL VALUES MENTAL DISCIPLINE AND EDUCATIONAL VALUES W. H. HECK, M.A. PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. LONDON: JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD MCMXII NEW YORK: JOHN LANE COMPANY Alliance Press /v/ /// TO MY MOTHER v. > \W\vy TABLE OE CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I The Problem 7 II Review of Discussions 12 III Review of Experiments 63 IV Observations 118 V Localization of Function 128 VI General Concepts of Method 137 VII A Standard of Educational Values .... 160 VIII The Elementary Curriculum 182 IX The Secondary Curriculum 190 Bibliography and Index 199 MENTAL DISCIPLINE AND EDUCATIONAL VALUES CHAPTER I THE PROBLEM It is time that recent modifications of the hon- ored doctrine of formal discipline should have more effect on our practice. Though a great many teachers still believe in the old theory, whether or not they have carefully thought out their belief, the American students of educa- tional psychology have been approaching a new point of view. They are reaching an agreement upon the inadequacy of "the doctrine of the ap- plicability of mental power, however gained, to any department of human activity," or "the gym- nastic theory of education that it does not matter upon what the mind is exercised, provided only the exercise be vigorous and long-continued." (De Garmo.) 1 Most of the recent American 1 De Garmo, Dictionary of Philosophy and Psychology, 1901-2, "Formal Culture." 8 MENTAL DISCIPLINE and a few of the recent foreign books on educa- tion suggest some modification of the doctrine of formal discipline, but the discussion of the sub- ject is still in the polemical stage. General destructive criticism is not sufficient. We must come to realize in what specific ways the doctrine of formal discipline is false and in what specific ways it affects unfavorably present aims, curricula, and methods. But even then our position would still be negative and therefore, at best, only a means to some positive conclusion. We must also establish a standard for the disci- plinary value of studies and then apply that stand- ard to the different elements in the curriculum. If we do not, we have accomplished little. Why and in what ways should a pupil get mental dis- cipline from this or that study? To show why and in what way he does not get it is valuable only as a process of elimination in working toward a positive diagnosis. But even then, we have a third problem, the practical modification of courses and methods so as to gain from each and every part of each and every study its real, not to strive for its imagined, disciplinary value. These three large problems are discouraging when seen together in their significance. The practical changes involved are so far-reaching THE PROBLEM 9 and the need for them so difficult to prove defi- nitely that both profession and laity are skeptical. In contrast to these difficulties, the doctrine of formal discipline has the momentum of tradition, it is emphasized by influential authorities, it has a powerful hold upon many teachers, it is easy to understand in its superficial meaning, it seems to explain many evident results of education, and it has long been the cause and the defence of dominant phases of curricula and methods. One should not be surprised, therefore, that the doc- trine continues to make itself felt throughout our school system and that the opposition to it is dis- organized, timid, and bookish. Can educators afford to allow this opposition to remain unproductive? If the doctrine of formal discipline were of little influence in present prac- tice, they might content themselves with theoretical objections, but the prominence of the doctrine necessitates definite, practical suggestions and at- tempts to modify it. If mental discipline is specific, not general, there is a pressing need to recognize the fact and to reorganize school courses and methods. Popular and professional misunderstanding will yield in time to a clear presentation of the value of a course based upon a theory of specific disciplines, of specialized io MENTAL DISCIPLINE habits, rather than a theory of general discipline, of generalized habits. 1 The time is ripe for working out and testing the actual disciplinary value of the subjects and parts of subjects in the school course. The experiments so far made are suggestive, though not conclusive, in regard to the changes needed, and they point the way for further theory and practice. Testing theory and practice in order to prove the comparative disciplinary value of the ele- ments in the curriculum is very difficult, due to the number and subtlety of the factors involved; yet no one can gainsay the truth that studies ought to prove their worth before they are ac- credited with an undisputed place in the curri- culum. If educators can work out no proof of the comparative disciplinary value of studies, they are doomed to wander in the dark, with no clear ideas to guide them in planning courses and methods intelligently. This book is but a tentative effort to modify the doctrine of formal discipline and, upon such a modification, to establish a standard of educa- 1 As a good illustration of how the doctrine of specific disciplines has affected recent books on special methods, reference is made to Huey, Psychology and Pedagogy of Reading, 1908, pp. 363-5. The mental discipline emphasized by Huey, though far-reaching in its effects, is kept within the limits of reading, the special activity by which it is to be developed, or is applied to similar activities. THE PROBLEM n tional values. There has been no attempt to make a full discussion of the subject but merely an out- line for further study, a syllabus for individual or class use. The problems of mental discipline are too unsettled at present for any one to be dogmatic or to attempt more than brief sugges- tions. Our secondary purpose has been to sum up and organize the discussions and experiments in regard to the disciplinary value of studies, in hope that our readers will get a first-hand idea of how far students of education have advanced in their thought on this subject. It is also hoped that the numerous quotations will save them the time and trouble of searching through the widely scattered material from which our summary has been made. Most of these quotations are grouped together in four parts of the book, and we trust that their value and interest will atone for our giving them so much space. In class discussions of the doctrine of formal discipline, we have felt the need of such a symposium of opinions to put in the hands of students as a source-book for parallel reading. CHAPTER II REVIEW OF DISCUSSIONS The doctrine of formal discipline was implied in the educational practices of the Greeks and the Romans, gymnastics, music, and oratory being used to furnish a general physical and mental discipline applicable to all the needs of individual and civic life. The doctrine was at the basis of the ascetic discipline of the mediaeval monastics, who sought a complete development of the soul at the expense of bodily desires. It dominated the ideals and methods of scholastic education, with the drill upon the trivium and quadrivium culminating in the barren formalism and logical subtleties of University disputations, the ideal example in the Middle Ages of general reasoning power. But the doctrine was first clearly formu- lated as an educational theory in the seventeenth century, especially by Locke. Though it served as a defence of mathematics, its special purpose was to uphold the classical studies, when their in- trinsic value had been greatly reduced by the use 12 REVIEW OF DISCUSSIONS 13 of the national vernaculars in literature, govern- ment, and education, and when the current empha- sis upon them had been criticized by the growing spirit of realism in educational thought. Monroe gives an interesting account of this movement and of its influence in the next two centuries, especially upon the English secondary school and the Ger- man gymnasium. "By the seventeenth century the linguistic and literary curriculum had become traditional, with the authority of the learning of two centuries be- hind it and with a scholastic procedure which in details of method and of curriculum, in the entire technique of the schoolroom, had never been- equaled by any previous system of educational prac- tice Since this narrow humanistic education no longer had any direct connection with the practical demands of the times and no longer offered the sole approach to a knowledge of human achievement and thought, a new theory must be found to justify its perpetuation. This new theory was, in a word, that the important thing in education was not the thing learned, but^- the process of learning. In respect to this prin- ciple, the new education was but a revival of the formalism of mediaeval scholasticism." "The mind as a bundle of faculties was to be i 4 MENTAL DISCIPLINE developed by exercising these various powers upon appropriate tasks whose value consisted in the difficulties they offered. These faculties were considered to have no necessary connection with one another, hence these disciplines were separate and distinct things; though some faculties were higher than others. The highest was the reason- ing power to be developed by appropriate disci- pline in mathematics, logical disputations, and the languages ; but the faculty upon which all the oth- ers depended, and upon the successful develop- ment of which depended the success of the education, was the memory. Discipline of the memory then took precedence above all other exer- cises. The best training for the memory was afforded by the mastery of material which had no inherent interest for the child." 1 In a similar way Graves 2 discusses Locke's formulation of the doctrine of formal discipline and its subsequent influence upon education. "This doctrine of the formal discipline has had a tremendous effect upon each stage of education in practically every country and during every period almost up to the last decade, when a decided reac- 1 Monroe, Text-Book in the History of Education, 1905, pp. 505, 506, S67, 568. 'Graves, History of Education, Vol. II., 1910, pp. 306-311. See also Vol. I., 1909, pp. 196, 213. REVIEW OF DISCUSSIONS 15 tion began. The formal classicism of the English grammar and public schools and universities, and of the German Gymnasien, afford excellent exam- ples of the influence of formal discipline. While in the United States a newer and more flexible so- ciety has enabled changes to be more readily made, but a quarter of a century ago Greek, Latin and mathematics made up most of the course in high- schools, colleges, and universities, and until very recently the effete portion of arithmetic and the husks of formal grammar were defended in our elementary education upon the score of 'formal discipline.' But, with the growth of science, the abandonment of the 'faculty' psychology, and the development of educational theory, the curriculum has everywhere been broadened, and the content of studies rather than the process of acquisition has come to be emphasized." The first definite rejection of the doctrine of formal discipline was that by Herbart in the first ^ quarter of the nineteenth century. This counter- influence is thus described by Henderson : — "According to Herbart we have, not the mind and its ideas, but rather just the ideas. The ideas do the thinking. The interplay of thoughts upon each other is the activity of consciousness. Hence, there are no faculties left. Herbart saves the ter- r \>* 1 6 MENTAL DISCIPLINE minology that refers to them, but with the caution that it is intended to indicate various phases of the interaction of ideas upon each other, and not in any sense separate powers of a mind to the ener- gies of which this interaction is supposed to be due. With the faculty theory departs the notion of formal discipline, which has no place in the pedagogy of Herbart, or in that of his disciples. For them the fundamental educational conception is not discipline but apperception. The important thing for a teacher to know is, not how well drilled ,a child is, how well his faculties may be expected i to work, but what experience he has assimilated. ' This exploited, it can easily be seen what material the child will be interested in, understand, and as- similate. Mental power is a function of the or- I ganized experience of the individual. Organiza- tion is inherent in the material itself, and not a result of its manipulation by a mind, or of the imposition upon it of a priori forms. Since form is dependent upon content, all studies are really content studies, and it is idle to talk of the dis- ciplinary value that their form possesses inde- pendently of their subject matter." * The direct influence of Herbart is shown by 1 Henderson, Text-Book in the Principles of Education, 1910, Chap. X, "The Question of Formal Discipline," pp. 291, 292. I > REVIEW OF DISCUSSIONS 17 the following quotations from his followers. The German Herbartian, Rein, thus disposes of the doctrine of formal discipline: "The fiction of 'formal education' must be given up. In gen- eral, there is no such education at all; there exist simply as many kinds of formal education as there are essentially different spheres of intellec- tual employment." x The English Herbartian, Adams, has a delightful chapter on "Formal Ed- ucation," satirizing the emphasis upon form re- gardless of content by showing the superiority from this point of view of Fagin's school of crime in "Oliver Twist." "In short, the soul is not a mere knife that may be sharpened on any whet- stone, and when sharpened may be applied to any purpose — to cut cheese or to excise a cancer. The knife takes character from the whetstone." "Since we cannot have the knowing ego by itself, and since each new fact is acted upon by the facts which then form part of the apperceiving soul, it follows that the more facts that have been or- ganized into faculty, the more readily will the mind act, and the greater will be the range of facts upon which it will act easily. There are here two different qualities — readiness and range. The former is acquired by practice in apperceiving the 1 Rein, Outlines of Pedagogics, 1892, p. 61. 1 8 MENTAL DISCIPLINE same or closely allied facts; the latter by apper- ceiving a large number of facts of different char- acter." 1 Here we have an over-emphasis upon apperception. This chapter is applied by Hay- ward to the problems of instruction in moral train- ing. "Power and skill and the other qualities de- sired by the advocates of formal training depend on apperception masses, and are limited by them." "Habits do not seem, to any important extent, to become generalized; the generalizing factors in conduct — though our author does not expressly say this — are not habits, but ideas." 2 Space should be given here to the following quotation from an early reply to the Herbartians by Hugh, who upholds the doctrine of formal dis- cipline, though recognizing "that the disciplinary value of studies should be sought, as far as possi- ble, in those that have a value on account of their content." "It seems, then, that formal education is to some extent a reality, according to the teachings of physiological psychology, both in the perma- nence of the acquisition derived from studies apart from their knowledge value, and also in the general application of this increased power for 1 Adams, Herbartxan Psychology Applied to Education, 1897, pp. 126, 131. 2 Hayward, Education and the Heredity Spectre, 1908, p. 107. REVIEW OF DISCUSSIONS 19 other forms of mental activity. Intellectual train- ing stands on very much the same basis as physical training. A man's physical nature can be trained by doing useful work or the exercises of the gymnasium, which have no value whatever except their effect upon the physical system of the per- former. So one's brain system can be trained in studies that have a knowledge value for the in- dividual, but also in those that have none. In both cases, of course, it is best that the gymnastics should be secured in the performance of useful work, as in this case two ends are gained at the same time ; but as, perhaps, all kinds of work only partially develop one's physical powers, so that it is necessary to have recourse to gymnastics to complete the physical training, in the same way it may be necessary to have special exercise to develop particular brain functions, though such exercises have no knowledge value in themselves. In fact, it may be found that many physical ex- ercises, that usually are not classed as mental training, have no less value for the training of the mind than the study of the classics or the sciences, that manual labor, foot-ball, and other forms of athletics are just as potent factors in intellectual development as many subjects of the curriculum; as they not only train the muscular system, but 20 MENTAL DISCIPLINE also the brain cells by which the muscles are con- trolled." 1 Although the doctrine of formal discipline was based on the "faculty" psychology and although its dominance was doomed when the latter was re- futed, it continued dominant long after its basis was destroyed, the close connection between the two was generally overlooked, and even now many people hold to the doctrine, who would resent an intimation that they were also holding to the "faculty" psychology. During the third quarter of the nineteenth cen- tury the doctrine of formal discipline was vigor- ously used and its validity was impaired in the con- flict between the classics and mathematics on one side and the natural and social sciences on the other. Spencer and Huxley were the great pro- tagonists for the sciences in this conflict. In 1867 there was published in this country a collection of essays by prominent scientists on the "Claims of Scientific Education." These essays illustrate stages in the evolution of thought from the tra- ditional doctrine of formal discipline to the present doctrine of specific disciplines. The main argument for the disciplinary value of the sciences 1 Hugh, Pedagogical Seminary, April, 1898, "Formal Education from the Standpoint of Physiological Psychology," p. 604. REVIEW OF DISCUSSIONS 21 is based on both the superior formal discipline and the superior specific disciplines and knowl- edge to be derived from them. The authors vary in their emphasis upon the former or upon the latter superiorities, but in general they emphasize a combination of both. This combination is well stated in the following extract from Youmans' introductory chapter on "Mental Discipline in Education" : "Let it be remembered that this culture does not deny the importance of mental discipline, but only the wasteful policy of vicarious^ discipline. The question has three aspects. The ancients employed the useless fact A for disciplinary pur- poses, and ignored the useful fact B. The adher- ents of the current theory propose to learn first the useless fact A to get the discipline necessary to acquire the useful fact B ; while a rational system ignores useless A and attacks B at once, making it serve both for knowledge and discipline. The ancient view was more reasonable than that which has grown out of it. It wanted one acquisition, and it made it; the prevailing method wants one, and makes two; and as it costs as much effort to learn a useless fact as a useful one, by this method half the power is wasted." * 1 Youmans, Culture Demanded by Modern Life, 1867, "Mental Dis- cipline in Education," p. 23. 22 MENTAL DISCIPLINE A further advance is represented by the fol- lowing quotations from Bain, written in 1878: "Most definitions of training are obscured through the mode of describing mind by faculties. We have seen that to train 'Memory' is a very- vague way of speaking. Equally vague is it to talk of training Reason, Conception, Imagina- tion, and so forth. Moral training is much more intelligible; there is here a habit of suppressing certain active tendencies of the mind, and foster- ing others; and this is done by a special discipline — like training horses or making soldiers." "The element of Form, Method, Order, Organization, as contrasted with the subject-matter viewed with- out reference to form, has a value of its own; and any material that displays it to advantage, and enables it to be acquired, is justified by that circumstance alone. The targets used in learning to shoot, the wooden soldiers that are aimed at in the sabre drill, although unreal, are effectual." "It depends partly on the teacher and partly on the scholar whether the element of method shall stand forth and extend itself, or whether the sub- jects shall only yield their own quantum of matter or information." 1 The first definite discussion of the specific char- 1 Bain, Education as a Science, 1878, pp. 139-141. REVIEW OF DISCUSSIONS 23 acter of formal training, which we have been able to find, was a short paper read by Hoose before the National Educational Association in 1890. This paper has been entirely overlooked, but the fol- lowing extracts will show its importance : "Form in mental activity means that peculiar activity which the mind exerts when it does any particular thing, or thinks any particular thought or word." "Form is given to mental activity by the form of the subject-matter that is cognized, seized, known, thought, or done; this proposition is true in the most general sense. Each and every form of the thing to be done or thought requires its own (pe- culiar) form of mental activity to do it or to think it." "Exercise and repetition in the activ- ities of one faculty lead to mastery in those par- ticular forms only." "Mastery of one subject stands for itself alone in so far as the subject dif- fers from others in form." "When the forms of different subjects are similar, the habit acquired upon one of the subjects will be conserved in greater or less part to aid one in learning the other subjects." "The teacher gives form in the school-room to all the subjects that are not natural — i.e., to nearly all that the child studies. As the forms of the subject condition the forms of mental activity, the teacher (author) has great 24 MENTAL DISCIPLINE power and responsibility in the school-room." * Students are indebted to Ruediger 2 for calling their attention to a valuable discussion of the prob- lem of mental discipline by Brown (E. E.) in 1893. Brown's discussion was called forth by the arguments of Ziller, the prominent Herbartian, against the claims of the formal disciplinists. "Starting from his general principle that the thought circle in which the power is first generated must be brought into close connection with that into which such power is to be carried and applied, Ziller proceeds to lay down three particular con- ditions on which the possibility of such carrying over of power necessarily depends. These condi- tions he describes as follows : "'i. Thoughts, feelings, and other mental products which have been cultivated in one depart- ment are extended to another and assure to it their aid when both departments are brought into so close connection that the culture of the first is actually reproduced at those points and in those members where the connection is established; and not until then is such aid assured. To be sure, the culture must not only reach over from the first department into the second; the connection of the second de- 1 Hoose, Report of the National Educational Association, 1890, "Men- tal Effects of Form in Subject-Matter," pp. 754, 755. 2 Ruediger, Principles of Education, 1909, pp. 97-9. REVIEW OF DISCUSSIONS 25 partment with the first must be accomplished quite independently. " '2. But a second condition must have preceded that already mentioned, if formal culture is to be certainly attained; the material in question must have been wrought out ideally. " '3. But even when this logical elaboration of material is secured in one department and likewise the connection of the first department with the sec- ond, in one direction as well as in the opposite, the formal effect is secured, thirdly, only on condition that the material on which it is to be realized is sufficiently well known in its full extent.' "Ziller sums up these three conditions in the fol- lowing statement: 'Formal power and efficiency nowhere arises from an isolated concept-mass; it never arises unless at least the concept-mass has been logically wrought out, and even then it does not arise unless the content of that sphere in which the logically wrought-out material is to be repro- duced and made good, is sufficiently well known.' "Ziller's enumeration of three ways in which the knowledge gained in one department becomes power for other departments, is highly suggestive and valuable. But is Ziller right in asserting so absolutely that there is nothing more? Does labor and attainment in any one sphere leave be- 26 MENTAL DISCIPLINE hind it no residuum of power available in other spheres? Is mental power wholly specific; never and in no aspect generic?" Then follows Brown's criticism of the Herbar- tian exclusive emphasis upon knowledge as the basis of mental life. Brown opposes this with an equal emphasis upon the significance of will: "If rudimentary knowledge and rudimentary will are both fundamental facts of mental action, and the one the necessary complement of the other, it would seem as if we might look for formal cul- ture along the line of will as well as along the line of knowledge. Will finds its bearing en the purely intellectual processes in the form of voluntary attention. Another result, then, of thorough in- struction in any one field of knowledge, which may be carried over into other fields and find fruitful application there, is increased power of voluntary attention. And this result answers to common ex- perience. For men unfamiliar with psychological terms will say that sound education increases one's power of concentration, which is the same thing expressed in a different way. Furthermore, the most of the general results supposed to flow from education appear on careful analysis to be at bot- tom simply this. The exercise of one kind of memory may in fact increase the ability to remem- REVIEW OF DISCUSSIONS 27 ber anything, if it adds to the strength of voluntary attention. "Another element of formal culture may be added to Ziller's list; though in last analysis it may not be essentially different from that already presented. Sound education in any one depart- ment of knowledge leads to the formation of me- thodical habits, or perhaps better, the habit of method. The habit of close observation, associa- tion, induction, and deduction, acquired in the handling of one kind of thought-content, may be applied, not so perfectly perhaps, but effectually, to the treatment of any other thought-content, how- ever remote from the first. "There are results in feeling that are carried over readily from one sphere to others, no matter how remote. Note how a general tone of self confidence once established in the mind of an otherwise diffident child braces up every form of mental activity thereafter. There are moral qual- ities that, once secured, react on intellectual proc- esses, and acknowledge no such bonds as Ziller imposes. The ardent love of truth and the sense of intellectual responsibility that may be aroused through instruction — what mental activity do they fail to touch with vivifying power? "So we shall thank Ziller for having moderated 28 MENTAL DISCIPLINE some unreasonable claims and having at the same time pointed out some neglected principles, which it is important for us to observe in instruction. But we are not ready to accept in full the negative side of his argument. We shall still have faith in the far-reaching results of instruction to defy the attempt to confine them within narrow theoretical limits, and shall continue to believe that some of the best things in education are of this kind." * The direct stimulus to the present-day contro- versy was given by the addresses of Hinsdale in 1894 and 1895 before the National Educational Association. These addresses were widely read and have become, so to speak, a part of our edu- cational inheritance. The following extracts sum- marize Hinsdale's position: "The law appears to be this: in so far as the second exertion involves the same muscles and nerves as the first one, and, particularly, in so far as it calls for the same co-ordination of muscles and nerves, the power created by the first exertion will be available. In other words, the result is determined by the congruity or incongruity of the two efforts." "Through repetition, the energizing 1 Brown (E. E.), Public School Journal, December, 1893, "How is Formal Culture Possible?" pp. 194-6. See also Brown's address, Con- gress of Arts and Sciences, St. Louis, 1904, Vol. VIII., "Present Problems in the Theory of Education," pp. 76, 77. REVIEW OF DISCUSSIONS 29 process becomes easier and more rapid. Re- peated activity in the same direction tends to groove the mind, or, to change the figure, the stream of activity digs out for itself a permanent channel of discharge. Mental power is of two kinds, specific and generic. In other words, the power that is generated in any activity can be fully used again in the same kind of activity, but only partly used in other kinds — the measure of the difference being the relative unlikeness of the two activities." x The present opinion of the subject is what more closely concerns us here. To illustrate this opin- ion we quote both from adherents and from op- ponents to the doctrine of formal discipline. Such a group of quotations seems the most direct and useful way to represent the many-sided dis- cussion of this problem. Out of the wealth of material illustrating the former position, we con- fine ourselves to five recent quotations, written amid the growing demand for a modification of the old doctrine. 2 1 Hinsdale, Studies in Education, 1896 (Addresses 1894, 1895), PP- 47. 73- 2 Further references (two from American and two from British sources) on this side are White, Elements of Pedagogy, 1886, pp. 119, 120; Roark, Economy in Education, 1905, p. 207; Dexter and Garlick, Psychology in the Schoolroom, 1905 Ed., pp. 211, 169; Collar and Crook, School Management and Methods of Instruction, 1900, pp. 129, 130. 3 o MENTAL DISCIPLINE "The practical aim of a general education is such training as shall enable a man to devote his faculties intently to matters which of themselves do not interest him. The power which enables a man to do so is obviously the power of volun- tary, as distinguished from spontaneous, atten- tion In other words, whatever interests people commands their spontaneous attention, and accordingly such power of concentration as is nat- urally theirs. But if a man is to make anything whatever out of a matter which does not interest him, he must concentrate his powers on it by a strenuous act of attention controlled by the full power of his will The elder education, to be sure, cultivated voluntary attention, not be- cause it specifically insisted that pupils should un- intelligently devote tedious years to grammar and dictionaries of Latin and Greek, or to lifeless var- iants of the extinct vitality of Euclid; but, un- knowingly, it cultivated the faculty well. Through daily hours, throughout all their youthful years, it compelled boys, in spite of every human reluc- tance, to fix their attention on matters which, of themselves, could never have held attention for five minutes together. No doubt, plenty of sub- jects other than classics or mathematics could have been made to serve this purpose and could REVIEW OF DISCUSSIONS 31 be made to serve it now. You can hardly imagine a subject, essentially uninteresting, which would not reward plodding work with a similar result — with substantial ignorance of the matter studied, but with increasingly and lastingly muscular power of voluntary attention." 1 This general value of specific training in volun- tary attention is also emphasized in the following discussion by Angell, though the author's point of view is somewhat different from that of Wen- dell. The article from which the extract is taken does not argue for the transfer of acquired abil- ity beyond the common elements in the processes involved, but it does argue for the very general usableness and importance of many of the com- mon elements in specific training. "The persistent and voluntarily directed use of attention, especially when the subject attended to is lacking in interest, speedily becomes acutely distasteful. Voluntary attention involves some strain, and this strain, if long continued, is certain to become unpleasant. We first become bored, then restless, and finally find the thing intolerable and abandon it. Now no small part of the dis- cipline which comes from the effortful use of 1 Wendell, The Privileged Classes, 1908, "Our National Superstition," 17 '174- 32 MENTAL DISCIPLINE attention in any direction or on any topic is to be found in the habituation which is afforded in neglecting or otherwise suppressing unpleasant or distracting sensations. We learn to 'stand it,' in short. This fact has been pointed out at times by writers on these topics, but it is rarely given the importance which it properly deserves. Any- one can attend to things which interest or please him as long as his physical strength holds out. But to attend in the face of difficulties which are not entertaining is distinctly an acquired taste, one to which children and primitive people al- ways strenuously object. From this point of view it may well be that such studies as the classics and certain forms of mathematics have a peculiar value in affording the maximum of unpleasantness diluted with a minimum of native interest, so that a student who learns to tolerate prolonged at- tending to their intricacies may find almost any undertaking by contrast easy and grateful. The actual mental mechanism by which this intellec- tual and moral acclimatization is secured, is ex- tremely interesting, but we cannot pause to dis- cuss it. Certain it is that something of the sort occurs and that it is an acquirement which may presumably be carried over from one type of oc- cupation to another. If each form of effortful REVIEW OF DISCUSSIONS 33 attention had a wholly unique type of discomfort attached to it, this inference might be challenged. But such does not seem to be the case." 1 As early as 1878 Bain had expressed the same idea : "There is a form of mental efficiency that attaches more or less to every productive effort — the giving attention to all the rules and conditions necessary for the result intended This is a discipline that we learn from everything that we have to do; it is not a prerogative of any one study or occupation, and it does not necessarily extend itself beyond the special subject." 2 The doctrine of formal discipline has recently been restated more or less in its old form by Miinsterberg, Cole, Sihler, and Shorey, and in a modified form by Judd. "The child tries and tries again to grasp and to fixate and to whistle, to read and to write, to jump and to throw a ball, and at a later age to perform complex activities such as typewriting and bicycling. The development is specific; the for- mal training of the will is general. The will which has learned to resist distractions can hold its own in any field. To be sure, to learn whistling 1 Angell (J. R.), Educational Review, June, 1908, "The Doctrine of Formal Discipline in the Light of the Principles of General Psychol- ogy," pp. 9. io- 2 Bain, Education as a Science, 1878, pp. 141, 142. 34 MENTAL DISCIPLINE with accuracy does not help to ride the bicycle or to run the typewriter. Yet this specific character of the training must not be exaggerated. It is, after all, not only the one specific kind of move- ment which is trained but the whole group of movements which involve similar activities. In training for baseball, we do not train for football and still less for piano playing. But by training for baseball, we secure general alertness in our motor responses." "Training of mental activity must be acknowl- edged as a function of the school certainly equiva- lent to the mere acquisition of knowledge and the development of inspiration. Moreover, our psy- chological study showed clearly to us that every mental function can really be developed. Apper- ception and observation, memory and imagination, attention and interest, imitation and reasoning, feeling and emotion, effort and will, in fact, every function can be rapidly strengthened through sys- tematic training and can degenerate through neg- lect. One side of mental life must not be crippled in the interest of others, as long as general educa- tion is in question." "A study which is throughout emotionally wel- come and naturally interesting may indeed be serviceable for the quick acquisition of a large REVIEW OF DISCUSSIONS 35 amount of material but it neglects the develop- ment of that mental function which is most essen- tial for a life of high aim, the voluntary attention. There is no doubt that through the tendency of our time to yield to this demand for interesting in- struction, we already feel the dangerous results of the crippling of the voluntary attention. The su- perficiality which makes so much of the work of our day inefficient has its origin here." * "In our examination of the power of choice between good and evil, we saw that failure to choose wisely is always due to a failure to see straight, to feel truly, to think logically. The aim of education, then, since it can only begin where heredity stops, must be to cultivate these three powers. If education is to help the coming gen- erations not only to get out of the past the best that the past can offer, but also to use this in living their own lives, it should be concerned not only with the handing down of mere facts acquired from the past, but also with the cultivation of power to use facts It is true, indeed, that the brain needs a large equipment of ready facts to keep it from unconscious error; but these facts are only to support the application of power: they are absolutely valueless without the power to make 1 Munsterberg, Psychology and the Teacher, 1909, pp. 192, 264, 265. 36 MENTAL DISCIPLINE use of them. They are subordinate to the rea- soning faculty. A large part of the teaching of facts in recent years has assumed that facts are valuable for their own sake, and has been con- ducted in such fashion as to prevent the develop- ment of the power of reasoning. The facts have been made unduly easy to learn, and the power to see, to ponder, to reason, has been stagnating from disuse. Our young people have been left without the power to apply their learning to their own problems, to see things in wholeness and in due re- lation one to another, and to distinguish a reason- able proposition from an absurd one. To remedy this must be the first educational reform, and for- tunately it seems already to be coming." l "Another fatuous and evil thing was the arti- ficial creation of educational, academic, cultural equivalents, counting, mainly, by equivalents of time. Now I do not claim all virtue for difficulty and labor per se, though the simple truth must never be left out of sight that sustained exertion creates strength, and that there is the phenomenon of 'soldiering' in college life as well as among artisans." "If, in the domain of physical train- ing, a handful of youth only were to be seen exer- 1 Cole, American Hope, 1910, Chap. I., "The Training of Powers," pp. 99, 100. REVIEW OF DISCUSSIONS 37 cising at the parallel bars, while veritable mobs were playing mumble-the-peg on the green, we would have a fair analogon to illustrate the ear- nestness and strenuosity begotten by this glorious elective system." "Excellence (not easily attainable mediocrity or mere passing) has become rarer among our youth, as the numbers in the colleges increase. To sum up, in conclusion, we must return to the clear and definite precincts of liberal education; and the deeper meaning of the same would seem to be this : not in training for a trader or a broker, not in the great and useful lines of technology, not in aestheticism or in the contemplation of the beauti- ful; it is concerned, intrinsically, with no ulterior form of power and profit, but with the training and forming of the higher, nay, of the essentially human, powers, viz., to think, to reflect, to reason, to argue, to weigh, to recall, to review, to com- pare, to marshal in order, to arrange and coordi- nate, to utter and prove, to appeal and to lead." 1 "The education of those who can afford time for non-vocational study is not in the narrower or more immediate sense of the words a 'preparation for life,' but, from the point of view of the indi- 1 Sihler, New York Evening Post, October i, 1910, "The Elective System." 38 MENTAL DISCIPLINE vidual, a development of the faculties; from the point of view of society, the transmission of a cul- tural, social, moral tradition. It must be a broad discipline of the intellectual powers that shall at the same time attune the aesthetic and the moral feelings to a certain key. No study but that of language and literature can do this, and it is best done through an older and more synthetic form of language and literature, that is, in relation to the student and his environment, classic. This is the meaning of the late W. T. Harris's somewhat cryptic Hegelism that self-alienation is necessary to self-knowledge. Or to put it more concretely, the critical interpretation or translation of such a language supplies the simplest and most effective all-round discipline of the greatest number of the mental faculties." "To-day there is no science of psychology, so- ciology, or pedagogy that can pronounce with any authority on either the aims or the methods of education. The confident affirmations of our col- leagues in these departments are not, then, to be received as the pronouncements of experts, but as the opinions of observers who like ourselves may be partisans There is no proof by scientific experiment and ratiocination that mental discipline is a myth, and no prospect of it. There REVIEW OF DISCUSSIONS 39 are in general no laboratory experiments that teach us anything about the higher mental proc- esses which we cannot observe and infer by better and more natural methods. Still less are there any that can even approximate to the solution of the complicated problem of the total value and effect of a course of study. There is no authentic deliverance of science here to oppose to the vast presumption of common-sense and the belief of the majority of educated and practical men." * "We have been in the habit of saying that this or that kind of knowledge is valuable, and we have not really meant this or that kind of knowledge, but this or that subject-matter. I be- lieve it is time for us to take an entirely different view of what is meant by the term kinds of knowl- edge. The ability to reason independently, the ability to retain the essentials and neglect the non- essentials, the ability to carry on certain types of inquiry in any subject-matter, all these forms of ability are more important than the ability to re- produce a body of particular information. The meaning of this last contention may be made some- what clearer by saying that what we need in our examination of the high-school course of study is a 1 Shorey, School Review, November, 191 o, "A Symposium on the Value of Humanistic, Particularly Classical, Studies: The Classics and the New Education: III. The Case for the Classics," pp. 598, 607, 608. 4 o MENTAL DISCIPLINE complete restatement of the value of these courses in terms of the mental habits which are cultivated as distinguished from the information which is gained. We are just at the beginning of a period of study of the effects of education. We should begin this study by getting some comprehensive notion of the different faculties or different types of mental life which can be regarded as advanta- geous. Instead of making the general sweeping statements about the value of certain subjects of instruction we ought to ask how the power to rea- son can be cultivated, how observation can be improved and widened in scope. In short, we ought to have some classification of our achieve- ments in the educational world which would make it possible for us to talk intelligently about the traits of mental character which have been cul- tivated. The moment I put the matter in that way I am sure you will all recognize my position on the much-discussed problem of formal discipline to which I am referring It is very inter- esting to note that the assertions which have been made regarding the non-existence of formal disci- pline have been based very largely on studies of simple elementary-school subjects. The examin- ation of neatness in arithmetic work has been one of the matters of discussion. The question REVIEW OF DISCUSSIONS 41 whether arithmetic and geography are related or unrelated has been another one of the subjects of discussion. If anything is clear with regard to the problem it is that the final answer to this ques- tion will relate not so much to the work, of the elementary school as to the work of the high- school. There is no doubt at all that the child in the elementary school is very dependent upon the new information which he acquires in any given subject. Furthermore his interests are relatively unsettled and his powers of concentration weak. The result is that the conflicts which exist between the various subjects of instruction in the elemen- tary school are so great that the information which can be gathered with reference to that period of education is of relatively small importance in solv- ing for us the broader general problem of educa- tion which presents itself to the high-school teacher. Formal discipline is and always will be a matter of very much greater concern to the high- school teacher than to the teacher in the elementary schools. If this statement is true it follows im- mediately that we must solve this problem through an examination of high-school subjects and their interrelation The problem can never be solved except by a re-examination of the subjects of the high-school with reference to the general 42 MENTAL DISCIPLINE faculties which they are supposed to train, rather than with reference to the subject-matter itself." l Our second group of quotations is from authors who emphasize the specific character of mental discipline, although granting the wide usableness of the effects of training through the identical ele- ments, in many functions, of subject-matter, meth- od, etc. "The mind is by no means a collection of a few general faculties, observation, attention, memory, reasoning and the like, but is the sum total of countless particular capacities, each of which is to some extent independent of the others, — each of which must to some extent be educated by itself. The task of teaching is not to develop a reason- ing faculty, but many special powers of thought about different kinds of facts. It is not to alter our general power of attention, but to build up many particular powers of attending to different kinds of facts "Training the mind means the development of thousands of particular independent capacities, the formation of countless particular habits, for the working of any mental capacity depends upon the concrete data with which it works. Improve- 1 Judd, School 'Review, February, 1910, "On Scientific Study of High-School Problems," pp. 93-5. REVIEW OF DISCUSSIONS 43 ment of any one mental function or activity will improve others only in so far as they possess ele- ments common to it also. The amount of identical elements in different mental functions and the amount of general influence from special training are much less than common opinion supposes. The most common and surest source of general improvement of a capacity is to train it in many particular connections." "Identity of Procedure. The habit acquired in a laboratory course of looking to see how chem- icals do behave, instead of guessing at the matter or learning statements about it out of a book, may make a girl's methods of cooking or a boy's methods of manufacturing more scientific because the attitude of distrust of opinion and search for facts may so possess one as to be carried over from the narrower to the wider field. Difficulties in studies may prepare students for the difficulties of the world as a whole by cultivating the attitudes of neglect of discomfort, ideals of accomplishing what one sets out to do, and the feeling of dissatis- faction with failure." "In the case of the fea- tures of attitude and method, taking special pains that they are taught means in practice requiring their application to varied situations, for we can never be sure that a general idea or ideal or atti- 44 MENTAL DISCIPLINE tude is gained until we test it in application. Moreover in nine school children out of ten the only way that an ideal or attitude does become gen- eral is by being derived from and again applied to many different particular cases. To make ideals and attitudes operative in all fields the teacher must give them exercise in at least several fields." * "It is agreed that wherever practice in one exercise leads to improvement in another certain specific elements in both are identical and call forth identical responses which promote success in both exercises. The identical elements that are thus distinguished may be divided into two groups, those of content and those of form. As examples of content elements we may mention sounds, colors, letters, nonsense syllables, words, objects, kinds of geometrical figures, standards of measurement, ideas, etc. As one grows familiar 1 Thorndike, Principles of Teaching, 1906, Chap. XV., "Formal Dis- cipline," pp. 240, 248. Similar opinions have recently been restated by Thorndike in his Educational Psychology, 1910 Ed., Chap. IX., "The Relations between the Amounts of Different Traits in the Same Individual," pp. 186-8. "Modern psychology has sloughed off the fac- ulty psychology in its descriptions and analyses of mental life, but unfortunately reverts customarily to it when dealing with dynamic or functional relations. But it is just in the questions of mental dynamics and of the relationships of mental traits that we need to bear in mind the singularity and relative independence of every mental process, the thoroughgoing specialization of mind. The mind is really but the sum total of an individual's feelings and acts, of connections be- tween outside events and his responses thereto, and of the possibilities of having such feelings, acts and connections." REVIEW OF DISCUSSIONS 45 with such elements, the power to remember them and to attend to them when they appear in new situations and to do what they suggest increases. The elements of form may be said to consist of the characteristics that the various situations present as problems for the attacking mind. Thus we recognize one situation as a problem of mem- orizing where from the nature of the material a particular method of committing to memory may be especially useful. Again, we recognize the need of particular adjustments of perception, such as movements which we have already practised. All situations demand adjustments of attention, some of which may invariably be necessary, while others may suit especially specific kinds of material. "We observe that elements of form and ele- ments of content are equally specific, equally capable of definition. Moreover, both are capable of generalization — that is, both are capable of appearing in a variety of settings. The problem of general training is, then, quite as much one of discipline in content, as it is of discipline in form. A better division of mental discipline for our pur- poses would be into two phases which we may denominate specific discipline and general disci- pline. Specific discipline consists in the analysis of the specific elements which are to be found to 46 MENTAL DISCIPLINE be critical in determining certain reactions, and in the practice by which the appropriate reaction is made the habitual response to each element thus discriminated. General discipline consists of train- ing in the recognition of these critical elements in a variety of situations." x "By a discipline of body we mean that through exercise of function and experience of a given sort a tendency or potentiality for action in that direc- tion is produced Correspondingly the mind when habituated to given ways of functioning is trained or disciplined in those directions Inasmuch as any physical work, no matter how complex, is made up of simple elements, it also fol- lows that these elements can be woven into mani- fold new combinations. Whenever a new activity involves an element already learned that part of the process does not need to be again mastered. However, it must be recognized that not only the element, but also its connections have to be con- sidered Similarly with mental operations. Almost any study involves elements that have been mastered in other connections. These elements are immediately serviceable But it must not 1 Henderson, Education, May, 1909, "Formal Discipline from the Standpoint of Analytic and Experimental Psychology," pp. 609, 610. These paragraphs are repeated in Henderson, Text-Book in the Princi- ples of Education, 1910, Chap. X, "The Question of Formal Discipline." REVIEW OF DISCUSSIONS 47 be forgotten that the combination of old, and even perfectly familiar, elements is a difficult matter in itself. Old combinations may even be a hin- drance, especially if too fixed. Bad habits of walking, talking, writing, singing, or thinking are harder to modify than new ones are to inculcate. Most subjects of instruction have a great many similar elements. As far as they have sim- ilar elements they are valuable for each other. The greater the number of identical elements in the two, the greater the value. "Next in value to the elements of old knowledge which are utilized in learning new things there are certain ideals and attitudes toward work. There are no general faculties of attention, memory, and reason, which attend, memorize, and reason about one thing as well as another by simply 'connecting them up.' But there are habits of attending to things, of trying to memorize, trying to reason; in short, habits of striving for excellence, which are no mean possession. In fact, oftentimes the ideals of excellence and of application to duty are among the most valuable assets which the school- boy acquires." 1 1 Bolton, Principles of Education, 1910, Chap. XX VIII., "General Discipline and Educational Values," pp. 757-9. An informal article by Bolton in the School Review, February, 1904, "Facts and Fictions Con- cerning Educational Values," foreshadowed this lengthy discussion. 48 MENTAL DISCIPLINE "In any event, it is desirable that the teacher should rid himself of the notion that 'thinking' is a simple unalterable faculty; that he should recognize that it is a term denoting the various ways in which things acquire significance. It is desirable to expel also the kindred notion that some subjects are inherently 'intellectual,' and hence possessed of an almost magical power to train the faculty of thought. Thinking is specific, not a machine-like, ready-made apparatus to be turned indifferently and at will upon all subjects, as a lantern may throw its light as it happens upon horses, streets, gardens, trees, or river. Thinking is specific, in that different things suggest their own appropriate meanings, tell their own unique stories, and in that they do this in very different ways with different persons. As the growth of the body is through the assimilation of food, so the growth of mind is through the logical organiza- tion of subject-matter. Thinking is not like a sausage machine which reduces all materials in- differently to one marketable commodity, but is a power of following up and linking together the specific suggestions that specific things arouse." This article might well have been represented in the quotations in our first edition; but when we first saw the article we had already outlined our discussion and had selected quotations expressing in a more compact way the main ideas discussed by Bolton. REVIEW OF DISCUSSIONS 49 "The so-called faculty-psychology went hand in hand with the vogue of the formal-discipline idea in education. If thought is a distinct piece of mental machinery, separate from observation, memory, imagination, and common-sense judg- ments of persons and things, then thought should be trained by special exercises designed for the purpose, as one might devise special exercises for developing the biceps muscle. Certain subjects are then to be regarded as intellectual or logical subjects par excellence, possessed of a predestined fitness to exercise the thought-faculty, just as certain machines are better than others for de- veloping arm power. With these three notions goes the fourth, that method consists of a set of operations by which the machinery of thought is set going and kept at work upon any subject- matter. "We have tried to make it clear in the previous chapters that there is no single and uniform power of thought, but a multitude of different ways in which specific things — things observed, remem- bered, heard of, read about — evoke suggestions or ideas that are pertinent to the occasion and fruitful in the sequel. Training is such development of curiosity, suggestion, and habits of exploring and testing, as increases their scope and efficiency. A 50 MENTAL DISCIPLINE subject — any subject — is intellectual in the degree in which with any given -person it succeeds in effect- ing this growth. On this view the fourth factor, method, is concerned with providing conditions so adapted to individual needs and powers as to make for the permanent improvement of observation, suggestion, and investigation." x "Thinking power is not an abstract and gen- eral power of the mind to be applied equally well in all sorts of situations. It is rather a function of some larger whole, varying with the degree of development of that larger whole. That larger knowledge includes special knowledge of facts and special training in the technique of the subject. The good thinker in mathematics may be a very poor thinker in economics or sociology, and vice versa. The habit of care in the examination of data, in the analysis of a situation, etc., may be carried over from one department to the other, but the special knowledge and the training in the spe- cial technique of one may be of little or no use in the other. The thinking process falls within sys- tems of organized fact, as well as being a factor in the organization of material." "If these things are so, we delude ourselves when 1 Dewey, How We Think, 1910, pp. 38, 39, 45, 46. Dewey's ad- dress in Science, January 28, 1910, on "Science as Subject-Matter and as Method" leans a little toward formal discipline. REVIEW OF DISCUSSIONS 51 we think of such a thing as training children to think apart from the process of building up a body of knowledge. Again, there may be subjects of study which we feel are valuable because of the fact that they are specially adapted to the train- ing of the child to think. But if the stock of ideas in which this subject deals is one which will seldom or never be drawn upon in his thinking in any other connection than as a subject of study, of what value does this training in thinking become to him? If we are to train children of any age to think, one of the factors in this process is the building up of a system of definite and exact knowledge of facts within the sphere in which the problems of thought are to arrive." 1 The following scattered references for the year 19 10 show that the theory of specific disciplines is becoming more and more influential in educational literature, even when the problem itself is not definitely discussed. Snedden 2 makes it the basis for a plea for special vocational training as dis- tinguished from the so-called cultural education, "vocational efficiency being something to be at- tained by specialized endeavor, and along lines de- 1 Miller, Psychology of Thinking, 1909, p. 149. 2 Snedden, Problem of Vocational Education, 191 o, "The Relation of Vocational to Cultural Education," pp. 71-7. See also Main, Educa- tional Agriculture, 1910, Western State Normal School, Hays, Kansas. 52 MENTAL DISCIPLINE termined by its needs." Arnold x inveighs against the influence of the theory of formal discipline in over-emphasizing some subjects as "essentials" for the classification and promotion of school-children. His own conclusion is that "by the 'essentials' is meant basic elements in all subjects rather than amplified matter in a few." In outlining some experiments on memory, Whipple 2 says that "the transfer of practice from the specially trained form of memory to other forms of memory would ap- pear, from theoretical grounds, to be limited to those cases in which the material, content, or form of procedure of the other forms were related to the material, content, or form of procedure of the trained form." In outlining experiments to be carried out in teaching educational psychology, Dearborn 3 gives the following directions for experiments on the "transference of practice." "Further tests on the general influence of spe- cial practice of the sort indicated in the pre- ceding experiments may also be made in memory and by repeating the usual experiment at first employed by James. Before beginning the prac- tice with vocabularies or other matter — which 1 Arnold, School and Class Management, Vol. II., iqio, "The Theory of Formal Discipline," pp. 59-65. See also Colgrove, The Teacher and the School, 1910, pp. 125, 350. 2 Whipple, Manual of Mental and Physical Tests, 1910, p. 384. •Dearborn, Journal of Educational Psychology, September, 1910, "Experiments in Learning," p. 387. REVIEW OF DISCUSSIONS 53 is usually spoken of as the practice series — the student may commit to memory a limited amount of other sorts of material and by learning a similar set after the end of the vocabulary prac- tice — this is the test series — may note the effect of the practice on the latter. These results should be checked by having another class or a part of the same class learn the test material at the same in- tervals of time, but without doing the practice series. It may thus be at least roughly determined how much of the improvement is due to the test series itself and how much to the practice." Finally, we make a third group of quotations, those from authors who combine both adherence and opposition to the doctrine of formal disci- pline. These authors take about the same posi- tion as do those of the second group, but they lay greater emphasis upon the extended usable- ness of the common elements of subject-matter and especially of method in many functions. There is little reason for the third group to be considered as upholders of the doctrine of formal discipline and as opposed to the doctrine of speci- fic disciplines. And there is also little reason for one group to criticise the other. They both really modify the old formalist doctrine for the same reason, limiting the transfer of acquired ability 54 MENTAL DISCIPLINE to the common elements in the processes involved. However, the critics of the third group have done good service in cautioning against extremes and in suggesting many relations between functions, which were not thought of before. "Each of the numerous habits of the brain means tendencies to the excitement of localised tracts and paths under given physical conditions. An excitement passing over one set of paths leads to one system of external movements, e. g., from eye centre to hand centre, when one sees and then grasps. If circumstances vary the paths, they vary the motor results Whatever has hap- pened to the brain in the past has meant some definite and usually sharply localised interchange of induced activities among its elements. Every such interchange has altered the minutest structure of all the elements concerned, has established localised paths between them for future inductions to follow. They can never act again precisely as they would have done had they not acted once in just this way. And this is what is meant by saying that the brain forms its habits. One must now, in addition, note that this formation of habits may occur in the most subtle fashions. Parts that have often functioned together tend to function more REVIEW OF DISCUSSIONS 55 easily together again. This is true down to the minutest detail of localised functions. But what is still more significant for all our higher mental life is, that general forms or types of ac- tivity, however subtle their nature, when once they have resulted from a given exchange of induced activities {due to sensory stimulations) , may tend thereby to become henceforth more easily re- excited, so that habits of our brain may come to be fixed, not merely as to the mere routine which leads to this or to that special act, but as to the general ways in which acts are done. A given 'set' of the brain as a whole, that is, a given sort of preparedness to be influenced in a certain way — yes, even a given tendency to change, under particular conditions, our more specific fashions of activity — may thus become a matter of relatively or of entirely fixed habits It is indeed true that, owing to the localised character of the phenomena which determine single habits, the training of one specialized cerebral function, in any particular case, may not result in the training of some other specialized function, even where we, viewing the matter from without, have sup- posed that these two functions were very inti- mately connected. The question as to what effect 56 MENTAL DISCIPLINE the training of any one special function will have upon other functions, or upon the general ten- dencies of the brain, is therefore always a question to be answered by specific experience. This the teacher, in estimating the effects of new educa- tional devices upon the pupils, must always re- member." (Royce.) 1 " Training in any exercise that requires skill undoubtedly increases more general habits of ac- curate perception and methods of eliminating use- less movements that are transferable to other movements with other parts of the body. So, too, with memory, in the usual logical learning the fac- tors involved are in large measure common to memories of related subjects. You cannot be sure that any fact is absolutely unrelated to any other, and so far as they are related, learning the one makes easier learning the other. In both rote and logical learning there are definite habits and capacities of attending to be acquired, and these may apparently be acquired in one field, and used in another. We have to do in memory, then, with a large number of fairly distinct physiological capacities, but their use has become so dependent upon habits common to the different capacities that they are functionally parts of a common 1 Royce, Outlines of Psychology, 1903, pp. 67-70. REVIEW OF DISCUSSIONS 57 whole. Training one part thus trains related parts, and the whole in some degree." (Pills- bury.) 1 "To affirm that when the mind is trained in one direction it is first of all trained in that di- rection and not in some other is one thing; to affirm, however, that the training in one direction has no influence in other directions is quite a differ- ent affair. No one, I think, would be quite so rash as to make the latter assertion; but many would believe that such a transfer of training is in most cases slight, and in some cases such a transfer is not probable, even in the slightest degree Such persons may try to bring definiteness into their conceptions as to the extent of this transfer, by saying that such a transfer can take place where there is a similar situation, and where like elements are involved; but it must be remembered that sim- ilarity and likeness are not primarily objective categories, but that they are constituted by the mind of the person who finds such similarity or likeness, and that it is never certain beforehand just where this similarity and likeness is to be found." "Transfer of training is possible in the ways in- dicated : ( 1 ) Where a single element to which a 1 Pillsbury, Educational Review, June, 1908, "The Effects of Train- ing on Memory," pp. 26, 27. 58 MENTAL DISCIPLINE specific response is made functions under various environmental conditions because it is a common element in these various, and otherwise to a greater or less degree, dissimilar environments; (2) When a dominant mood or emotion so colors vari- ous environments that a characteristic response is obtained without identity of any one objective con- dition; (3) Where a single response in reality in- volves other and more general adjustments; (4) it is also possible, as Bagley suggests, through making the end of the activity a clearly conscious ideal. In this case the transfer takes place by a di- rect carrying over by consciousness not of the activity itself, but of the purpose of the activity, to another field." "I believe that it is possible in the light of all the evidence presented on the subject of transfer to lay down with tolerable certainty a few rules of procedure. (1) The first rule should be: Make those specific activities which you wish to transfer the object of thought. Let the signifi- cance of the habit and its general bearings become known to the person who is the subject of the training (2) Train the child in the tech- nique of learning and in the processes that make learning effective and economical. Nearly all the investigations emphasize the value of properly REVIEW OF DISCUSSIONS 59 adapted attention, of satisfactory physical and mental attitudes in securing transfer. Sustained attention should be developed in the school train- ing, not merely for the sake of the object attended to (perhaps not primarily for the object's sake), but rather for the sake of attention itself (3) In seeking to secure transfer, especially where purpose does not play an important part, see to it that the stimulus which is to call forth the desired reaction is such that it may be a common element in many objective situations (4) Educa- tion should cultivate through specific training gen- eral emotional attitudes. Moods and feelings often are the dominant elements in a situation and these can be readily transferred, I believe." The author then makes application of his the- ories in discussing the comparative disciplinary values of pure and applied science. "My own conclusions would be that pure science is of greater disciplinary value because (1) through the facts which it presents, ideas of procedure and of truth may be developed which function in a wider human experience, greatly to the uplift of the race; (2) the content and method of pure science is such that it has a broader field of application than has ap- plied science, and can function as an identical or similar element in more situations than can applied 60 MENTAL DISCIPLINE science; (3) the emotion which the pure seeking after truth arouses is higher and less likely to be deadened by other emotions than are the ideals of economic improvement and social betterment, which are the aims of an applied science." x "Three points will show the possibilities of benefit from special training beyond the specific line of reaction subjected to practice. 1. The habit pathways may altogether or in part be com- mon to two or to many operations perhaps exter- nally very different 2. The method of procedure in a special habit may evidently be ap- plicable to a much larger field 3. Mental attitudes or ideals tend by chance variation and by suggestion to extend their sphere of action. "With this threefold possibility in mind, it is evident that there are three principles for the teacher to follow, each with a retinue of many corollaries, (a) He may select in a given field habits fundamental or common to the widest range, and drill on similar applications of these habits, while at the same time avoiding the habits that would interfere, (b) He may secure valuable methods of procedure and emphasize the attitude of mind as generally important in life. Narrow- 1 Colvin, Some Facts in Partial Justification of the So-Called Dogma of Formal Discipline, 1909 and 1910, University of Illinois. REVIEW OF DISCUSSIONS 61 ness, formalism, dogmatism, and a host of unfor- tunate elements in the method of procedure are to be avoided, while breadth, organization, criticism, and others advantageous are to be retained, (c) Finally he may not only develop definitely the ideals of action as generally applicable and to be applied, but may also increase the suggestibility of the habit taught, by substituting for chance sug- gestion specific applications in as many directions as possible, thus extending the likelihood of future application. Breadth of knowledge and of train- ing will count very greatly in widening out a teacher's work and filling it with suggestion. It is evident that reviews from varying points of view, and other schemes for assisting the child to generalize or organize, all add to the possibility of suggestion." 1 A doubtful middle position between theories of general discipline and of specific disciplines is that shown by Charters in discussing "the spe- cific and tonic functions of subject-matter." "Just as quinine has a specific function in its selective ac- tion upon poisons of the blood in malaria and kin- dred diseases, and has also a tonic action upon the whole body as a result of this specific action, so the 1 Rowe, Habit-Formation and the Science of Teaching, 1909, pp. 243- 250. There is confusion here between (b) and (c). 62 MENTAL DISCIPLINE study of subject-matter has both a specific and a tonic function. 1 Each unit has a specific point of attack, a particular problem to solve, or need to satisfy, and in addition, the acquisition of the unit produces a certain exercise of the whole mental system somewhat general in its action and elevat- ing to the tone of the system In all these cases we are able to discriminate between the value which is being consciously pursued and the wider, more indefinite systemic values which flow from the effort necessary to carry out this specific func- tion, values of which the one putting forth the effort is, perhaps, quite unconscious For the most part, the term 'tonic' refers to the fact that the way in which some of these values are gained and, particularly, the disciplinary value, is by the exercise of mental processes which are heightened in tone by the very fact of being exercised." 2 1 Hut the effects of mental training do not circulate in the blood as do the molecules of quinine taken as medicine. 2 Charters, Methods of leaching, 1909, pp. 37-9. CHAPTER III REVIEW OF EXPERIMENTS Space will not allow descriptions of all the ex- periments so far made, which furnish evidence in regard to the doctrine of formal discipline. Rather than give a brief summary of each experi- ment, we have deemed it more profitable to de- scribe typical and important ones, using as far as possible the words of those who conducted them. We have not considered it wise or even just, at this stage of the investigation, to enter into a de- tailed criticism of these experiments; but we have tried to select the most valuable experiments, have let the experimenters speak for themselves, and have left to the reader the responsibility of weighing their evidence. Care has been taken to describe experiments which seem to favor the doctrine of formal discipline, as well as those which seem to oppose it. The results of the other experiments are briefly stated in the sum- maries mentioned. We are not specially con- cerned with the large number of experiments on 63 64 MENTAL DISCIPLINE the effect of practice and the formation of habits is only one function. The reader is referred to the recent summaries of these by Ellison, 1 Bag- ley, 2 and Whipple. 3 Our special concern is with experiments on the transfer of the effect of practice from one function to another. Sum- maries of most of these latter experiments are given by several of the authors mentioned in our bibliography. Although the experimenters variously interpret the bearing of their results on the doctrine of formal discipline, they differ mainly as to the ex- tent to which the effect of practice in one function can be transferred to other functions having elements in common with it. This transfer re- sults in either improvement of or interference with the other functions, according to whether the com- mon elements are used in a similar or in a different way in the associations of these functions as com- pared with those of the first. As some elements are common to many functions, practice with them results in abilities of wide usableness. This wide- spread transfer has caused many students to over- look or even deny the specific character of 1 Ellison, Pedagogical Seminary, March, 1909, "The Acquisition of Technical Skill." 2 Bagley, Psychological Bulletin, March, 1909. "The Psychology of School Practice." 3 Whipple, Manual of Mental and Physical Tests, 1910. REVIEW OF EXPERIMENTS 65 the habits thus usable in many associations. Especially is this true in regard to elements of method, because they are usually common to more functions than are elements of subject-matter, the number of distinct methods being more limited and their range and applicability wider. There have been several experiments on cross- education, or the improvement in an activity, in- volving one part of the body, as the result of im- provement through practice in a similar activity, involving a bilaterally symmetrical part of the body. The results of most of these experiments have been summarized by Davis * and the writers previously mentioned. The improvement in the second activity in such experiments can be ex- plained as due to two causes. In the first place, both activities are very similar and probably in- volve in part the same centres in the nervous sys- tem. Though bilaterally symmetrical parts of the body are controlled in part through cortical centres in different hemispheres, they are also 1 Davis, Yale Psychological Studies, 1898, "Researches upon Cross- Education." We have not considered it necessary to refer separately to the several American and German experiments on cross-education, as they are all more or less similar in principle. They can easily be found by reference to the bibliographies and summaries mentioned. The allusion in the Pedagogical Seminary, January, 1910, to German experiments on transfer must have referred only to those on cross- education, as those by Ebert and Meumann are the only ones on other phases of transfer that we have been able to find. We know of no French experiments on these other phases of transfer. 66 MENTAL DISCIPLINE probably controlled in part through lower centres which serve for both sides of the body. The im- provement in the second activity is therefore probably due to the use in part of the same centres in both activities. In the second place, the improvement is due to the working out, in con- nection with the first activity, of a method of how to perform the act, and then to the use of this method in guiding the second activity. 1 The use of this method in guiding the second activity is as different from the transfer of acquired ability as the knowledge of how to do is different from the ability to do. Such knowledge may lead to abil- ity, but in itself it is not ability. (See our later discussion of both these points.) The first five experiments here described represent the methods and results of all those on cross-education. i. The following experiments were conducted by Smith at Yale University, under the direction of Scripture: "The measure of accuracy was the ability to insert the needle into a single hole 0.1285 i ncnes in diameter. The vertical metal plate containing the hole was placed directly in front of the ob- server; the right fore-arm was rested on the edge of the table; the stick was grasped like a pencil 1 Book, Psychology of Skill, pp. 109 (note), 166. REVIEW OF EXPERIMENTS 67 and by a steady movement of the hand and wrist the metal point was inserted in the hole. Any contact of the point against the side of the hole was counted an error. The per cent, of success- ful insertions was considered the measure of accuracy "The first set consisted of twenty experiments with the left hand; the result was 50 per cent, of successful trials. Immediately thereafter twenty experiments were made with the right hand, with a result of 60 per cent, of successful trials. On the following day and on each successive day two hundred experiments were taken with the right hand, the same conditions in regard to time, bodily condition and position in making the experiments being maintained as far as possible. The per- centage of successful trials ran as follows: 61, 64, 65. 75> 74, 75, 82, 79, 78, 88. "On the 10th day the left hand was tested with twenty experiments as before, with 76 per cent, of successful trials, thus showing an increase of twenty-six per cent, without practice in the time during which the right hand had gained as shown by the figures above "From the results of these two thousand ex- periments the following conclusions seem justi- fied: 68 MENTAL DISCIPLINE (i.) Steadiness of movement can be increased by practice. (2.) This increase of steadiness is not limited to the control of the muscles immediately trained but affects the control of the corres- ponding muscles on the opposite side of the body. (3.) This training seems to be of a psychical rather than of a physical order and to lie principally in steadiness of attention." x 2. The following experiments were conducted by Davis with six graduate students at Yale University: "At the initial test the subject's clothing was removed from the upper part of his body. His weight was then taken and his strength of fore- arm, or grip, measured by the usual spring dyna- mometer. The following measurements were then made: right and left upper arm both flexed and extended; right and left forearm with and without the hand clenched. These measurements were taken at the largest circumferences of the arm above and below the elbow. The weight (a 2^2 kilo, dumbbell) was then given to the subject, who was instructed to lift it from a position where 1 Scripture, Smith, and Brown, Yale Psychological Studies, 1894. "On the Education of Muscular Control and Power," pp. 115-118. REVIEW OF EXPERIMENTS 69 the arm hangs extended downward and the weight is supported from the shoulder, to one where the arm is flexed and the weight close to the shoulder. In this movement the elbow remains stationary. Hence, to accomplish this act, the biceps is employed almost wholly, though the muscles of the forearm are also used to a lesser extent in gripping the dumbbell. This gripping was intensified toward the end of the test, when the subject became fatigued "The subject then entered upon a practice ex- tending from two to four weeks; this consisted in simple flexions of the right arm with the weight "At the final test the same data were obtained in the same way and under the same conditions as at the initial test. Additional data were also ob- tained." The following summary gives the results of several tests made of the right and the left arm, before and after practice of the right arm with the dumbbell. The six subjects averaged 26^ years of age, 14^ days of practice, and 310 flex- ions of the right arm in daily practice. The aver- age girth gain in mm. of biceps, contracted, was — right 6 1/3, left 2 5/6 ; the average girth gain of forearm, contracted, was — right 4 5/6, left 2 1/6; 7 o MENTAL DISCIPLINE the average gain in number of flexions made with the dumbbell was — right 757, left 178; the aver- age gain in strength of grip as measured by the dynamometer, in kilos, was — right 5.56, left 5.41. The author gives the following conclusions from his own experiments and those made by others : "a. The effects of exercise may be transferred to a greater or less degree from the parts prac- ticed to other parts of the body. This transfer- ence is greatest to symmetrical and closely related parts. "b. There is a close connection between dif- ferent parts of the muscular system through nerv- ous means. This connection is closer between parts related in function or in position. "c. Will power and attention are educated by physical training. When developed by any special act they are developed for all other acts. "With conclusions b and c established the ex- planation of the transference is probably reached. There is no doubt that the most important effects of muscular practice are central rather than peri- pheral. The central effects may be distinguished as : ( 1 ) those dependent on the development of motor centres, that is, their improvement through exercise; (2) those dependent on the development REVIEW OF EXPERIMENTS 71 of physical factors, notably attention and will power. Of these two effects we would emphasize the first as the most important." ! 3. With three or four subjects Bair made a large number of experiments in typewriting and various other movements in order to measure "the interference taking place when a sense impression or a series of sense impressions to which we have previously responded with a movement or series of movements are now responded to by a different movement or series of movements." The author's conclusions most pertinent to our problem are as follows: "If after the responses have been re- peated many times to a certain serial order of stimuli, and then either the order of the stimuli, the order of responses to stimuli, or both, are changed, there will be a considerable rise in the practice curve, of errors when the time is kept con- stant, or of increased time when the errors are kept constant In none of these three cases, how- ever, when, in one order, a number of practices sufficient to approach the proficiency limit were made, did the curve rise as high, when the change was made as it started in the first practice." This difference between the rise due to supposed in- 1 Davis, Yale Psychological Studies, 1898, "Researches upon Cross- Education," pp. 18-29, 49, 50. 72 MENTAL DISCIPLINE terference and the greater rise in the beginning of the first practice, Bair attributes to the transfer of the effects of practice. "If our results justify us in drawing any conclusions, we might say that special practice or training gives general ability, or learning to do one thing gives us capacity to do other things, or the same thing in different ways." 1 4. The following experiments were made by Swift with five University students in "keeping two solid rubber balls going with one hand, catching and throwing one while the other is in the air." "The daily programme consisted of ten series, the subject in each case continuing the throwing until he failed to catch one or both of the balls. This constituted one series. The number of catches made in each series was immediately re- corded, with any data obtainable as to the method pursued and the cause of failure All the subjects knew their daily score, and they always kept track of their progress during each test as well as from day to day The daily training was continued in the case of four subjects until the average number of catches for each series exceeded 100, or, what amounts to the same thing, 1,000 catches in ten series, for two days in succession." 1 Bair, Psychological Review Monographs, 1902, Vol. V., No. 19, "The Practice Curve," pp. 39, 45. REVIEW OF EXPERIMENTS 73 "The throwing and catching of the regular tests was with the right hand (all the subjects were right-handed), but in order to ascertain the effect of right-handed practice upon the skill of the left hand, a preliminary test was made upon each sub- ject, on the first day of his practice, of his un- tutored skill with the left hand. This preliminary test consisted of ten series as usual; and after this the left hand was not again tried until after the completion of the whole period of work with the right hand, when the left hand was again tested and a record of its progress kept for a number of days." "1. The record of the first day of regular left- hand training is in all cases higher than the prelim- inary test, though in no case had the left hand been practiced with the balls during the interval. More than this, the score never drops to the level of this preliminary test, which shows that the gain was permanent. "2. The left-hand curves bear a striking re- semblance in general form to the corresponding right-hand ones, with this difference that in all but one case they ascend much more rapidly "3. All of the subjects made a better score with their left hand on the first day of its regular 74 MENTAL DISCIPLINE practice than they had been able to do with their right at the beginning of the work." "The conclusion is unavoidable that in the ma- jority of cases the training of the right hand was somehow effective upon the left also. The same general result has been noticed by many observers engaged in different lines of investigation. The chief point of interest is to discover how the effect is produced. Is it due to some purely peripheral change, or to some alteration in the central nervous system, or, finally, to some method or plan of work that may be applied equally well in the case of either hand, as, for example, the knowledge of spelling which a man could use as well in writing in mirror script as in the ordinary way? It is not impossible that cases could be found that would exhibit the co-operation of all three. In the ball- tossing there was evidence, certainly, of the last two. All the subjects were able to make use with the left hand of the methods of handling the balls, and of recovering control of them after an ill- directed throw, which had been developed in the right-hand practice. In all the cases but one a good deal of less conscious facility (of a sort that might indicate some kind of symmetrical training of the central nervous system) was probably pres- REVIEW OF EXPERIMENTS 75 ent. The subjects were able at once to build in the sub-structure of central (or neuro-muscular) skill, and so to learn the art of left-hand throwing much more quickly than the right. The mental element, the power to comprehend and meet a situation, is evidently, then, in most cases, the more difficult part of the complex muscular feats of skill, since the right hand, if taken first, needs so much more time for the learning than the left, notwithstand- ing its greater general facility in such movements in right-handed people." "It would be a mistake to suppose that such ex- periments in cross-education give support to the doctrine of 'formal education.' There is no evi- dence to show that training has general value. Indeed, it all argues strongly for the influence of content The right hand has had a great variety of training that ought to bring it along rap- idly in ball-tossing on the principle of formal training, but this investigation shows just the re- verse. The right hand learns it very slowly, but the special training that comes from doing a spe- cific thing, enables the left hand, awkward and stiff as it is, to get control of the situation in about one-third of the time required by the right. Skill in certain lines may be serviceable in other similar 76 MENTAL DISCIPLINE processes, but its value decreases as the difference between the kinds of work increases, and in many cases it is probably reduced to zero." x 5. A recently reported experiment on cross- education is that by Starch: "The experiment consisted of tracing the outline of a six-pointed star as seen in a mirror The experi- ment as performed by the students is as follows : (a) Tracing one-half of one outline with the left hand. (b) Tracing ten complete outlines with the right hand, (c) Tracing another half with the left hand. The results are then tabulated to show the exact time and number of errors of each tracing." "The effect of practice with the right hand upon the left hand is very considerable. One tracing was made with the left hand before and one after the practice with the right hand. The improve- ment with the right hand from the first to the last record (100) was 84 per cent, in time and 92 per cent, in errors, average 88 per cent. The improve- ment of the record with the left hand, made after, compared with the one made before, the right hand practice, was 85 per cent, in time and 81 per cent, in errors, average 83 per cent. Another sub- 1 Swift, Mind in the Making, 1908, Chap. VI., "The Psychology of Learning." REVIEW OF EXPERIMENTS 77 ject who made fifty tracings with the right hand showed an improvement of 82 per cent., and in the before and after tracings with the left hand 68 per cent. Ten laboratory students who made ten rec- ords each with the right hand improved on the average 53 per cent. In the before and after rec- ords, tracing with the left hand half of one outline each time, the average improvement was 49 per cent. Taking these results together they show that the left hand profits to the extent of 90 per cent, of the gain made by the right hand. From this, however a small amount must be subtracted which is due to the practice derived from the first left hand tracing." x Other recently reported experiments are those by Wallin on the transfer of the effects of practice from one eye to the other and from the fovea to the peripheral retina. The closeness of the nervous connection between the parts used, the large number of similar nerve elements involved, and the evident effect of learning how to meet the requirements of the tests are sufficient to explain the results without recourse to Wallin's statement that "the doctrine of formal discipline, all but repudiated in this day of educational vandalism, is 1 Starch, Psychological Bulletin, January, 19 10, "A Demonstration of the Trial and Error Method in Learning." 7 8 MENTAL DISCIPLINE still good pedagogical doctrine under certain lim- itations." 6. The following experiments were conducted by Thorndike and Woodworth at Columbia Uni- versity : "Individuals practiced estimating the areas of rectangles from 10 to ioo sq. cm. in size until a very marked improvement was attained. The improvement in accuracy for areas of the same size but of different shape due to this training was only 44 per cent, as great as that for areas of the same shape and size. For areas of the same shape but from 140-300 sq. cm. in size the im- provement was 30 per cent, as great. For areas of different shape and from 140-400 sq. cm. in size the improvement was 52 per cent, as great. "Training in estimating weights of from 40-120 grams resulted in only 39 per cent, as much im- provement as in estimating weights from 120 to 1800 grams. Training in estimating lines from .5 to 1.5 inches long (resulting in a reduction of error to 25 per cent, of the initial amount) resulted in no improvement in the estimation of lines 6-12 inches long. "Training in perceiving words containing e and s gave a certain amount of improvement in speed and accuracy in that special ability. In the ability REVIEW OF EXPERIMENTS 79 to perceive words containing i and t, s and p, c and a, e and r, a and n, 1 and o, misspelled words and A's, there was an improvement of only 39 per cent, as much as in the ability specially trained, and in accuracy of only 25 per cent, as much. Training in perceiving English verbs gave a re- duction in time of nearly 21 per cent, and of omissions of 70 per cent. The ability to perceive other parts of speech showed a reduction in time of 3 per cent., but an increase in omissions of over 100 per cent." * 7. The following experiments were conducted by Squire and others at the Montana State Nor- mal College : "Careful experiments were undertaken to de- termine whether the habit of producing neat papers in arithmetic will function with reference to neat written work in other studies ; the tests were confined to the intermediate grades. The results are almost startling in their failure to show the slightest improvement in language and spelling papers, although the improvement in the 1 Thorndike, Educational Psychology, 1903 Ed., Chap. VIII., "The Influence of Special Forms of Training upon More General Abilities," p. 90. These experiments are described in detail in three articles in the Psychological Review, 1901, "The Influence of Improvement in one Mental Function upon the Efficiency of Other Functions." They have been criticised by Coover and Angell (F.). American Journal of Psychology, July, 1907, "General Practice Effect of Special Exercise," p. 308. 80 MENTAL DISCIPLINE arithmetic papers was noticeable from the very first." * 8. The following experiments were carried out by Ruediger in the seventh grade of three schools to prove whether "the ideal of neat- ness, brought out in connection with, and applied in one subject, functions in other school subjects." The outline of the methods used in these experi- ments is too long to be quoted here. Neatness was emphasized in the written work, etc., of one subject, until the pupils showed decided improve^ ment in that subject. The ideal of neatness was continually discussed by the teacher in connection with that one subject and with life generally, though no special allusion was made to the other school subjects. Then the written work in these other subjects, before and after the experiment, was compared to see whether the ideal of neat- ness had been carried over to them in such a way as to produce similar improvement in them. The results are summed up in the following paragraph : "Evidently neatness made conscious as an ideal or aim in connection with only one school subject does function in other subjects. Directing our attention to groups [schools] I and III, the most 1 Bagley, Educative Process, 1905, Chap. XIII., "Formal versus In- trinsic Values of Experience: The Doctrine of Formal Discipline," p. 208. REVIEW OF EXPERIMENTS 81 marked improvement of the papers occurred re- spectively in geography and in arithmetic, the subjects in which neatness was emphasized, but there was unquestionable improvement on the average also in other subjects. In group I the average grades [in neatness] in geography show an improvement of 5 points, and those in arith- metic and grammar respectively 4 and 3.4 points; while in group III arithmetic improved 4.5 points, and geography and history respectively 2.9 and 2 points. The number of pupils showing improve- ment is about the same in all the subjects. In group II the improvement was in no case very marked, but it is significant that the averages show nowhere any decline." x 9. The following experiment was conducted by Judd at Yale University: "A person who was to be tested was seated in such a position that his right hand and arm were entirely hidden from view by a large screen. Whatever he did with this right hand would, therefore, be unseen by him. On the left side of the screen and in full view, nine different lines were shown in succession, and he was required to place a pencil held in the unseen right hand in the 1 Ruediger, Educational Review, November, 1908, "The Indirect Im- provement of Mental Functions through Ideals," p. 369. 82 MENTAL DISCIPLINE direction indicated by the several lines seen be- fore him. The errors made in placing the pencil were accurately measured and recorded. A standard of comparison was thus gained by which all later results could be valued. The next step in the experiment was to train the person being tested to more accurate localization of one special line, which for purposes of our description we may call No. 5. With this one line, No. 5, the reactor was given fuller visual experience and the error which he at first made with this line gradu- ally disappeared. After this clear improvement with No. 5 the original conditions were restored, and the reactor was again tested as at first with all nine lines. Every line in the series was effected. This means that there had been a transfer of effects under the conditions of the training de- scribed. "This, however, was not all. Some of the lines had shown in the first series of tests an error in the same direction as line No. 5 ; others showed an error in the opposite direction. The transfer of practice differed in the two kinds of cases in that those lines which had a like error with No. 5 improved with No. 5, while the lines which had errors in the opposite direction to No. 5 grew worse as a result of practice with No. 5. The REVIEW OF EXPERIMENTS 83 transfer of practice was no less real in the case of the lines which increased in error than in the case of the lines which improved. Both kinds of cases show that the functions involved are inter- dependent, and that transfer of practice is a com- plex process which must be studied from a variety of points of view if its different modes of opera- tion are to be fully understood. Joint improve- ment is only one of the possible forms of transfer; reciprocal interference is just as significant a type of transfer as is joint improvement. "The experiment was carried a step further. After practice with No. 5, a new practice series was instituted with another line, which we may designate as No. 2. It was found that the person being tested was now very much less affected by practice with No. 2 than he had been during the first practice series with No. 5. The amount of practice given with No. 2 was much greater in quantity and more radical in type, but the reactor remained relatively unaffected. This means, of course, that when the reactor first came to the ex- periment he was open to all kinds of suggestions. He was in the habit-forming attitude; he easily took on the effects of practice. But after the training which he received with the line No. 5, he was less capable of acquiring new adjustments; 84 MENTAL DISCIPLINE he was no longer in the habit-forming attitude. "This is a third phase of transfer of practice. It is no less significant than joint improvement or reciprocal interference, for surely any influence which renders an observer immune to the effects of new practice is not to be overlooked in dis- cussing the relations of various forms of experi- ence to each other. The closing up of possibili- ties of future practice is much more important a consequence of any practice series than the direct transfer of effects to other functions." 1 10. Of the few experiments on the transfer of the effects of memory practice, two are described here in detail. But mention should be made in passing of the well-known experiments by James "to see whether a certain amount of daily training in learning poetry by heart will shorten the time it takes to learn an entirely different kind of poetry." James and four others tested them- selves as to the time required to learn by heart parts of selected poems. Then, for varying periods of time, they practiced memorizing parts of other poems. No statement is made of the amount of improvement in this practice series. Then the experimenters returned to the first poems 1 Judd, Educational Review, June, 1908, "The Relation of Special Training to General Intelligence," pp. 28-30. See other experiments outlined in same article and the general conclusions drawn from them. REVIEW OF EXPERIMENTS 85 — the test series — to test the improvement trans- ferred by or from the practice series. The re- sults showed very little improvement in the test series; and James concluded that whatever im- provement there was consisted "in the improve- ment of one's habitual methods of recording facts." x Mention should also be made of the experi- ments by Ebert and Meumann on the transfer of acquired ability in memorizing nonsense syllables, both after one and after two months of practice, to ability in memorizing other nonsense syllables, stanzas, prose sentences, numbers, let- ters, visual signs, etc. The considerable amount of transfer noticed in these experiments was prob- ably due to the similarity of the material used in the different test and practice series, and to the development of better methods of memorizing, and, as Dearborn 2 suggests, to "direct practice in the test series, and not to any 'spread' of improve- ment from the practice series proper." The au- thors suggest, however, that there must have been some general ability developed by this specific training. 3 1 James, Principles of Psychology, 1890, Vol. I., pp. 666, 667. 2 Dearborn, Psychological Bulletin, February, 1908, "The General Effects of Special Practice in Memory." 3 Ebert and Meumann, Archiv fur die Gesamte Psychologie, IV. Band, 1. u. 2. Heft, 1904, pp. 1-232. 86 MENTAL DISCIPLINE The following experiments were conducted by Winch with London school girls: — I. "The first series of experiments was made with girls of the average age of 13 years. The first step was to divide the children into two groups of equal ability as to memory. This was done, partly on an actual test and partly on the opinion of the class teacher. The test set was a passage from a historical reading-book, which was not in the ordinary way accessible to children of this class. Ten minutes were allowed for memorizing; the work was mainly visual, articu- lation, however, being permitted, provided that it w r as not audible. The girls were then required to reproduce in writing as much as they could remember, fifteen minutes being allowed for this. One mark was allowed for each word rightly re- membered and correctly placed. There were ninety-eight words in the exercise. "With the aid of the teacher, the girls were now placed in two equal groups. The members of the A group, during the next week or two, were practised in learning poetry, the B group mean- while working sums. With this exception, the school work of the two sections was the same during the progress of the experiment. After four practice exercises had been worked by group REVIEW OF EXPERIMENTS 87 A, the two groups were placed together and a final test given in history. The time allowed for each test and exercise and the method of marking were the same in all cases. The general result may be more clearly indicated by the following summary, showing the pupils arranged in sections according to the marks they obtained in the pre- liminary test in history and giving the average marks of the different sections in both the pre- liminary and the final history tests. GROUP A A GROUP B Marks in Preliminary Test No. of Chil- dren Pre- liminary Test Final No. of T * Chl1 " Test dren Pre- liminary Test Final Test Full marks 3 98.O 133-0 2 98.O I3I.O 95-98 5 96.4 I3O.6 7 96.O 121. 1 90-95 4 9i-5 123.2 3 9I.O in. 6 80-90 2 82.0 H3-5 2 85.O 92.0 Below 80 3 63.6 94-3 3 62.O 87.0 II. "A second series of experiments was made in another school, with girls of the average age of 13 years 3 months. The whole class, as in the previous school, was divided into two approximately equal groups, and one was prac- tised in memory exercises, and the other not. The preliminary and final tests were, however, exer- cises in geography instead of history as in the 88 MENTAL DISCIPLINE former school; and the poetical extracts given were simpler in meaning. Group B was occupied in writing whilst Group A was memorizing. The time allowed for memorizing and the method of marking were as before. GROUP A GROUP B Marks in Preliminary Test No. of Chil- dren Pre- liminary Test Final Test No. of Chil- dren Pre- liminary Test Final Test 90 and over 3 90-3 98.6 3 90-3 95.O 85-90 6 88.O 92.0 6 88.2 93-i 75-85 5 80.0 94.6 5 80.4 85.2 Below 75 3 71.6 8l.O 3 71.0 61.6 III. "A third series of experiments was car- ried out in the third school, with girls of the aver- age age of 12 years 8 months. The general scheme of tests and exercises resembled that of the two previous experiments, history passages being used for the preliminary and the final tests. GROUP A GROUP A B Marks in Preliminary Test r No. of Chil- dren Pre- liminary Test Final Test t No. of Chil- dren Pre- liminary Test Final Test 98-IO8 7 IO3.8 IO4.6 7 102.6 I00.6 68-98 8 84.5 77-3 8 82.5 64-3 48-68 8 58.3 64.0 7 58.8 46.7 O-48 4 28.5 64.71 5 27.4 4I.6 REVIEW OF EXPERIMENTS 89 "The conclusion from these three series of experiments seems definite and clear. Improve- ment, gained by practice in memorizing one sub- ject of instruction, is transferred to memory work in other subjects whose nature is certainly diverse from that in which the improvement was gained. "This, at least, is true as far as children of these ages and attainments are concerned. I ex- pressly add this limitation as to age, for infer- ences from adult psychology to child psychology and to pedagogical practice are extremely unsafe, and I am anxious to avoid the opposite error." 1 1 1. Fracker's experiments "on the transference of training in memory" are even wider in scope than those by Winch or by Ebert and Meumann. Only a brief account of them can be given here, in sentences selected from different parts of Fracker's monograph, with the essentials of the author's con- clusions. "The experiments given before and after train- ing may be called the test series, and the other set, the training series. The test series is made up of several experiments, some of which are like the training series, while others differ. The object of these two sets of experiments is to discover what effect practice in the training set has upon the test 1 Winch, British Journal of Psychology, January, 1908, "The Trans- fer of Improvement in Memory in School Children." 9 o MENTAL DISCIPLINE set in which the observer is not trained. This effect is measured by the difference in the results between the test series given before the training, and the test series given after the training. In order to measure the amount of training in the test series itself, two sets of observers are used: one set who take both the test and training experi- ments and another set who take the test experi- ments only. The difference in the gain between those trained and those untrained indicates the influence of the training experiments. The ob- servers composing these two sets are selected on the basis of similarity in age and ability. "The training series consisted in practice in memory for the order of four tones. The test series consisted of eight experiments, as follows : memory for poetry, for the order of four shades of gray, for the order of nine tones, for the order of nine shades of gray, for the order of four tones, for the order of nine geometrical figures, for the order of nine numbers, for the extent of arm move- ment. "Each observer was asked to write a careful in- trospection at the close of each day's training, after each experiment of the test series, and a general introspection at the close of the experiments giving his observations and conclusions concerning the REVIEW OF EXPERIMENTS 91 essential elements in improvement and transference. At the beginning of each test, observers were given written instructions describing just what they were expected to do in response to the stimuli, but conveying no information as to how to do it. Re- sults in both the test and the training series are estimated on the basis of the per cent, of correct responses." Eight observers took both the tests and the training experiments, and four took the test ex- periments only. All observers had had some training in psychology. The first group of ob- servers made an average of 21 per cent, in the training series and the following gains in the test experiments: four grays 36, nine tones 22, nine grays 19, four tones 10, geometrical figures 13, nine numbers 4, movement o, poetry 7. The second group of observers (untrained) made the following average gains in the test experiments: four grays 4, nine tones 11, nine grays 10, four tones — 2 (loss), geometrical figures 8, nine num- bers o, movement — 1 (loss), poetry 2. The difference between the gain of the two groups, which "indicates the influence of the training ex- periments," was as follows: four grays 32, nine tones 10, nine grays 9, four tones 12, geometrical figures 5, nine numbers 4, movement 1, poetry 5. 92 MENTAL DISCIPLINE "Three significant features are noted in the above table; first, the difference between the im- provement of the trained over the untrained; sec- ond, the difference in the improvement in the tests similar to the training series in trained observers over their improvement in tests dissimilar; and third, the greater amount of improvement in the tests than in the training." "The central or most essential element in im- provement and transference is individual imagery. Improvement seems to depend upon the consistent use of some form of imagery, whether it is the most advantageous form or not. Imagery may be sub-consciously developed, but if it comes to be con- sciously recognized, the improvement is more rapid. The rate of improvement seems to depend directly upon the conscious recognition of the im- agery, and upon attention to its use. A change of imagery during practice increases the rapidity of the improvement if a better form is adopted and adhered to. It may prevent improvement if a change of imagery is frequent, or if a less ade- quate form is adopted. Individual differences are clearly shown in different types of imagery by the rapidity with which the imagery develops, and by the clearness or definiteness of the imagery. The habit of guessing interferes with the formation of REVIEW OF EXPERIMENTS 93 imagery and, therefore, results in lack of improve- ment." "When the acts are made up of quite different elements, there is a distinct breaking up of the habit of responding, by the intrusion of different elements, which raises the whole act into active consciousness so that the transfer of elements from one act to another act, other than the identical ones, is a conscious transference. It seems, there- fore, that a conscious effort to use the elements of training in a different task assists in making the transfer." "If, in the mind of the observer, the imagery is capable of adjustment to different tasks, it can be used in both improvement and transfer- ence, for the elements of the training act are thereby made the same as those of the test act." * 12. The following experiment was conducted at the Speyer School, Teachers College, with six- teen children of about eleven years old. The pur- pose was to test the effect of acquired ability to discriminate between shades of blue upon the abil- ity to discriminate between shades of red, of yel- low and green, and black and orange. The great transfer of ability shown by the experiment was probably proportionate to the similarity between 1 Fracker, Psychological Reviezv Monographs, 1908, Vol. IX., No. 38, University of Iowa Studies in Psychology, No. 5, "On the Transfer- ence of Training in Memory." 94 MENTAL DISCIPLINE the test with blue and those with the other colors. The amount of error was calculated according to the grade of difference between the two shades used in each experiment, which the children failed to recognize. The results are given in averages, before and after the training with shades of blue. 1 Tests with red and white. Boys. Before After 4-5 4-5 3-° .6 .7 .9 3-2 2-3 Girls. Before After 3.5 6.0 4.2 .48 .75 .65 3-4 2.4 Tests with yellow and green. Boys. Before 6.7 5.3 4.0 After 2.0 2.0 1.3 3-o Girls. Before 5.0 5.2 5.0 5-i After 2.8 2.6 1.7 i-7 2.1 Tests with black and orange. Boys. Before 3.0 2.8 3.4 After 1.2 1.6 .8 •9 1.0 Girls. Before 2.7 2.7 2.2 After 1.8 1.3 .9 •5 •5 1 1 Bennett, Formal Discipline, 1907, Columbia University. See other experiments reported in this thesis. REVIEW OF EXPERIMENTS 95 13. The following experiment was conducted by Coover and Angell: "Four reagents were trained in discrimination of intensities of sound for 17 days during an in- terval of 57. Each reagent made 40 judgments in each day's training. "Before and after training the reagents were tested in the discrimination of shades of gray, each test consisting of three series, each containing 35 judgments, delivered on 3 separate days. "All the test reagents with one exception show a gain in Right and loss in Undecided judgments after training The per cent, of gain for the 4 test reagents was 4, 4, 6, 6, o, o, and 27, 5, making an average of 9, 1 "Improvement seems to consist of divesting the essential process of the unessential factors, free- ing judgments from illusions, to which the un- necessary and often fantastic imagery gives rise, and of obtaining a uniform state of attention which is less than a maximum "Our conclusion from the experiment, there- fore, is that efficiency of sensible discrimination acquired by training with sound stimuli has been transferred to the efficiency of discriminating brightness stimuli, and that the factors in this 96 MENTAL DISCIPLINE transfer are due in great part to habituation and to a more economic adaptation of attention, i. e., are general rather than specific in character." x 14. The following experiments were con- ducted by the Dartmouth Pedagogical Depart- ment, under the direction of Lewis: "First, two test papers were prepared, one con- taining originals in geometry and the other ques- tions in practical reasoning." The papers are given in the article from which these extracts are taken. Three questions were given in each paper. The second paper dealt with the value of high school education to the individual and to the com- munity. "These tests were submitted to twenty- four different groups of high-school pupils. The students of each group belonged to the same class and were on an equality with respect to mathe- matical preparation. Each group took both tests. The results of these tests were carefully corrected and the pupils of each group arranged in two series, the first according to their ranking in math- ematical and the second according to their rank- ing in practical reasoning. "If we take the first five mathematical reasoners 1 Coover and Angell (F.). American Journal of Psychology, July, 1907, "General Practice Effect of Special Exercise." See also the de- scription of their inconclusive experiment on card-sorting and type- writer reactions. REVIEW OF EXPERIMENTS 97 from each of the twenty-four groups, we have in all one hundred and twenty pupils most excellent in mathematical reasoning. Of this number seventy-six, or 62 per cent., are at the foot of the practical reasoning series, conspicuous for their inefficiency in practical reasoning. Of the num- ber of pupils at the foot of the mathematical rea- soning series, fifty-seven, or 47 per cent., are con- spicuous for their positions at the head of the prac- tical reasoning series. "As a supplementary test, and one precisely the same in principle, one man examined the records of Dartmouth students who had taken mathe- matics and certain law courses which required a good deal of reasoning. The records for ten different classes were examined, and tables were formed as in the previous test. "The results of this test were found to be strikingly parallel to those of the earlier test. Fifty per cent, of the best students in law were conspicuous for their poor showing in mathemat- ics ; and 42 per cent, of those poorest in law stood at the head of the series in mathematics." * 15. The value of the Dartmouth conclusions 1 Lewis, School Review, April, 1903, "A Study in Formal Discipline," pp. 289-291. For criticism of these conclusions, with some indefinite studies of correlation between ability in mathematics and ability in other subjects, see Collins, School Review, October, 1906, p. 607. 98 MENTAL DISCIPLINE has been challenged by Rietz and Shade, as the result of a recent statistical investigation made by them at the University of Illinois. The reader is referred to their pamphlet for explanation of their methods. 1 Coefficients of correlation were computed for the grades of several hundred stu- dents in mathematics, foreign languages, and ele- mentary science (chemistry, botany, and geology). The conclusions of this investigation are stated in the following coefficients of correlation, with their probable errors: for mathematics and foreign languages, r— 0.476 — 0.015 or -f-0.015; for mathematics and natural science, r=o.440 — 0.015 or +0.015. "Two characters are said to be cor- related if to a selected series of sizes of the one, there correspond sizes of the other whose mean values are functions of the selected values." "The probable error in any result may be defined as that deviation from the determined value, on either side, such that it is an even wager that the true value lies within this amount of the deter- mined value." Although the coefficients of cor- relation are surprisingly small, the authors claim to be "justified in saying that efficiency in mathe- matics and efficiency in foreign languages go to- 1 Rietz and Shade, Correlation of Efficiency in Mathematics and Effi- ciency in Other Subjects, 1908, University of Illinois. REVIEW OF EXPERIMENTS 99 gether in general to a high degree, and that to substantially the same extent do efficiency in math- ematics and in natural sciences go together." As this investigation is typical of others, it de- serves further discussion. Even if the above co- efficients of correlation were considerably greater than they are, we do not believe that they would give strength to the doctrine of formal discipline (as the authors would have us believe), because they do not prove that the ability derived from the study of mathematics is transferred to and thereby increases the abilities derived from the study of foreign languages or natural science, or vice versa. The way to prove the transfer of ac- quired ability from one subject to another is (1) to measure the ability in each subject at the begin- ning of the test, (2) to concentrate on increasing the ability in one of the subjects, and then (3) to measure again the ability in the other subject to see if there has been any increase following the in- crease made in the subject concentrated upon. The investigations by Rietz and Shade do not meet any of these requirements. In the first place, there is no test, comparative or otherwise, of in- crease of ability in the given subjects. It must also be remembered that most, though not all, of the courses were taken simultaneously, not sue- ioo MENTAL DISCIPLINE cessively. In the second place, there is not the slightest proof that the marks in the different sub- jects had any relation of cause or effect to each other. A student might have received exactly the same marks in two subjects without there having been any relation of cause or effect between them. In the third place, the pamphlet states that there had been secondary school training in the different subjects or in allied subjects. This specific prep- aration in each of the subjects, based upon the na- tive ability or lack of ability of the student, was sufficient to account for the correlation of the marks in the given subjects, without any transfer of ability from one to the other. But if there really were any transfer, it could easily be ex- plained by the common elements of the given subjects. We conclude, therefore, that this inves- tigation and others like it may invalidate the ex- tremes of the Dartmouth results but that they have little or no value as a support to the doc- trine of formal discipline. Similar investigations on the correlation of abili- ties furnish proof against the doctrine of formal discipline by showing greater differences between abilities, even between those that seem very much alike, than the doctrine would lead us to expect. "For instance, the correlation in adults between REVIEW OF EXPERIMENTS 101 (i) memory for figures and (2) memory for un- related words (memory being used to mean the power to keep a list in mind, after once hearing it, long enough to write it down) is not over .8; the correlation of pupils in the highest grammar grades between ( 1 ) quickness in thinking of the opposites of words and of the letters preceding given letters of the alphabet and (2) quickness in thinking of the sums of figures is not over .7. Yet the first pair of tests would commonly be used indiscrim- inately as tests of 'memory,' and the second pair as tests of 'association,' upon the supposition that the two members of each pair were practically iden- tical traits. Even so apparently trivial a difference as that between drawing a line to equal a 100 mm. line and drawing a line to equal a 50 mm. line causes a reduction from perfect correlation. The resemblance is, for 37 young women students, only .77." * Although a small amount of correlation neces- sarily shows that there has been little transfer of ability, even a large amount of correlation does not necessarily show that there has been great transfer of ability. In the latter case, proof must 1 Thorndike, Educational Psychology, ioio Ed., Chap. IX., "The Relations between the Amounts of Different Traits in the Same Indi- vidual." For further studies and references on the subject of cor- relation, see Whipple, Manual of Mental and Physical Tests, 1910, "Correlation" in Index. LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA R1VFRSIDE 102 MENTAL DISCIPLINE be shown that the increased correlation is due to this transfer and not to native ability or to ac- quired ability in both subjects. The burden of proof rests upon those who have a positive cor- relation to explain, but a negative correlation is sufficient proof in itself of the absence of trans- ferred ability. "Finding correlation between two functions need not mean that improve- ment in one has brought about increased efficiency in the other. But the absence of correlation does mean the opposite." (Thorndike and Wood- worth.) 1 On the basis of some studies in correlation be- tween accuracy of London school children in numerical computation and accuracy in arith- metical reasoning, Winch comes to the following conclusion: "It seems to be possible to find highly correlated functions which appear to have very little relationship with pedagogical value. We cannot conclude, without further inquiry on other lines, that two highly correlated mental powers are causally related. If they have a com- mon factor or a common cause, it may be one which our methods cannot influence, and its de- termination has then little value for practical di- 1 Thorndike and Woodworth, Psychological Review, May, 1901, "The Influence of Improvement in One Mental Function Upon the Efficiency of Other Functions," p. 248. REVIEW OF EXPERIMENTS 103 rection, except in a negative sense. Two quanti- ties may be highly correlated but their ratios of growth may not be; nor may we be able to pro- duce increase in the one by producing increase in the other. I understand that these empirical con- clusions are quite in accord with correlational theory, but it is well to state them here, as it is quite possible that educationists will regard an established high correlation as justifying several inferences which do not properly flow from it." 1 16. The following experiments with school children were conducted by Norsworthy to test the amount of correlation between selected func- tions: "Tests were given in multiplication, in observ- ing misspelled words, in marking words con- taining e and r, in observing the word "boy" wherever it occurred, and in marking semi-circles scattered amongst all sorts of geometrical forms. Differences of the same individual had been measured in arithmetic, spelling, and in ability to mark certain forms. One of them was taken as a standard and the other tests correlated with it. "The conclusions reached from this study are in line with those already quoted, namely, that it 1 Winch, Journal of Educational Psychology, December, 1910, "Ac- curacy in School Children. Does Improvement in Numerical Accuracy 'Transfer'?" p. 587. io 4 MENTAL DISCIPLINE seems probable that certain functions which are of importance in school work, such as quickness in arithmetic, accuracy in spelling, attention to forms, etc., are highly specialized and not second- ary results of some general function Accuracy in spelling is independent of accuracy in multiplication, and quickness in arithmetic is not found with quickness in marking misspelled words; ability to pick out the word boy on a printed page is no guarantee that the child will be able to pick out a geometrical form with as great ease and accuracy." x 17. The following experiment was conducted by Stone to determine the arithmetical abili- ties of the sixth-grade pupils in twenty-six schools. The pupils were given under similar conditions the same problems in "fundamentals" (addi- tion, subtraction, multiplication, division) and in "reasoning" (practical application of the fundamental operations). The results showed marked variation of pupils in (1) ability in fundamentals as compared with ability in rea- soning and (2) ability in any one of the four fun- damentals as compared with any of the other three. These variations are shown by the coeffi- 1 Norsworthy, New York Teachers' Monographs, December, 1902, "Formal Training," pp. 98, 99. REVIEW OF EXPERIMENTS 105 cients of correlation between these abilities. The author concludes that "the net result of the arith- metic work of the first six years is several prod- ucts rather than a product. The study of arith- metic makes demands on a plurality of abilities. Hence it is inaccurate to speak of the arithmetical ability of pupils, and it is bad educational practice to treat the subject as though it were a unity in- stead of a plurality." 1 As the author suggests, such a conclusion antagonizes the doctrine of formal discipline because it disproves the com- plete transfer of abilities from one phase of the same study to another. Even within the limits of the same study there are variations in abilities, according to the nature of the different activities involved in the study; even within the limits of the same study there is a decrease in the transfer of abilities, proportionate to the difference in the ac- tivities involved in the study. 18. The following experiments were conducted under the supervision of Winch in three London municipal schools for girls and one school for boys. The purpose of the experiments was to seek an answer to the question, "Does improve- ment in accuracy of numerical computation 'trans- fer' to arithmetical reasoning?" 1 Stone, Arithmetical Abilities, 1908, Teachers College, p. 43- io6 MENTAL DISCIPLINE "The general method adopted was the same throughout, though there were minor modifica- tions as to the number and difficulty of the exer- cises in different schools. In each case a whole class, working according to the same syllabus of work and under one teacher, was divided into two equal groups. The division was effected on the results of several tests in problematical arithmetic. In order that the natural ability of the children rather than their memory of recent teaching should be tested in these exercises, it was arranged that no problems should be given in a form with which the pupils were well acquainted. The tests were marked solely with reference to the accuracy of the arithmetical reasoning and entirely without reference to the accuracy of the numerical computation. No attention was paid to the right answers; marks were given with reference to the process only. "When the two equal groups had been ob- tained, one of them was practised in a series of exercises in 'rule' sums which every child knew how to do; the other group being meanwhile en- gaged in some other branch of school work. In every other respect the curriculum for both groups was precisely the same during the period of the experiment. I need, perhaps, hardly say that no REVIEW OF EXPERIMENTS 107 other arithmetical work was done during the time the experiment lasted. "Finally the two groups, namely, the one prac- tised in accurate numerical computation and the one not so practised, were placed together again, and final tests were given in arithmetical reason- ing. There had been, in all cases, a considerable improvement in the accuracy of numerical com- putation during the series of practice exercises. How far was this improvement of accuracy in arithmetical computation transferred to accuracy in arithmetical reasoning? Did the practised or non-practised groups do better work when the groups worked the same test exercises at the end?" "The following tables summarize the results for the four schools: School "S" NON-PRACTISED GROUP A PRACTISED GROUP B Av. Mark Av. Mark Av. Marks in No. of per Child Av.Mark No. of Per Child Mark Preliminary Chil- in Pre- Final Chil- in Pre- Final Exercises dren liminary Exercise dren liminary Exer- Exercises Exercises cise 30 and over 1 33.0 15.0 25 to 30 5 27.4 14.6 20 to 25 2 20.5 7.5 15 to 20 4 18.0 9.2 10 to 15 4 14.2 6.0 I 32.0 16.0 4 28.7 13-5 3 22.0 7.0 4 18.0 9.2 4 14.0 4.2 108 MENTAL DISCIPLINE School "B" NON- PRACTISED GROUP A PRACTISED GROUP B Marks in Preliminary Exercises No. of Chil- dren Av. Mark Per Child in Pre- liminary Exercises ■ ■ ■ *\ Av. Mark Final Exercise No. of Chil- dren Av. Mark Per Child in Pre- liminary Exercises Av. Mark Final Exer- cise Over 35 2 37-o 33-5 2 36.O 35-o 3S to 30 2 32.5 32.0 3 32.7 32.7 30 to 25 5 29.0 28.8 4 28.7 28.0 25 to 20 3 24.0 23-3 4 22.5 27.7 20 to 15 5 18.6 18.8 4 17-5 16.0 15 to 5 5 9.0 12.2 5 9.8 15-4 School "I' 19 4 6-3 7-5 5 6.3 7-i 18, 17, 16 7 5.6 6.4 6 5-5 7-7 15) H, i3» 12, 11 4 4-5 4.8 5 4-3 5.2 6, 5> 4 4 1.9 School 1.2 "O. K." 3 1.6 1.6 35 to 40 4 37-8 38.3 4 37-8 38.8 30 to 35 3 34-o 38.7 3 34-o 37-o 25 to 30 6 28.0 28.2 5 28.0 32.8 20 to 25 4 22.8 23.8 5 22.6 28.6 15 to 20 8 17.8 i9-5 8 17-5 20.3 10 to 15 5 13.2 18.8 4 12.0 13.8 5 to 10 5 8.4 8.6 4 7-8 13-3 REVIEW OF EXPERIMENTS 109 "It seems possible to improve the accuracy of numerical computation without any certainty that we shall thereby improve the accuracy of arith- metical reasoning. "For the present, therefore, pending more con- clusive experiments, numerical accuracy should be sought for because it is valuable in actual life, and not because we can feel confident that an improve- ment in it will transfer to accuracy of arithmetical reasoning. "But if improvement in accuracy of numerical computation is not transferred, how shall we ac- count for the general trend of the final results in reasoning (in all schools except "S") in favor of the practised groups? "There seem to me two possibilities. I have judged the children's reasoning powers in arith- metic by problems numerically worked out, though the accuracy or inaccuracy of the numerical so- lution has not affected the mark for reasoning. Might not the greater facility in numerical compu- tation, such as was obtained by most of the prac- tised groups, set free, as it were, more mental energy to deal with the rational solution of the problems? "Also, since, in school, the functions of numerical computation and of arithmetical reasoning are no MENTAL DISCIPLINE often exercised together, the continuance of nu- merical computation by one of the groups and its discontinuance by the other might well maintain in one case a greater readiness for the associated operations than in the other, and the former would on that account do better work in arithmetical rea- soning than the latter. "But if either of these hypotheses were true, ought we not to expect more regular results ; though not perhaps such regular results as if there were a direct transfer of accuracy?" 1 19. Ruger has made some valuable confirma- tions of the theory of specific disciplines and of the possibilities of transfer through "ideals of method" in his "experimental study of the proc- esses involved in the solution of mechanical puzzles and in the acquisition of skill in their manipula- tion." As these experiments bear so closely upon our problem, considerable space must be given to them in our summary. "Mechanical puzzles were chosen as the material to be employed. The term mechanical is used to indicate that all the puzzles involved actual manip- ulation of the materials. No trick puzzles were used, i. e. y all the puzzles were possible of solution 1 Winch, Journal of Educational Psychology, December, 1910, "Ac- curacy in School Children. Does Improvement in Numerical Accuracy 'Transfer'?" REVIEW OF EXPERIMENTS in and all the physical materials required were sup- plied to the subject. The puzzles might be roughly classified into analytical and synthetical, and, again, into tridimensional and bidimensional. Most of the puzzles were analytical and tridimen- sional. They were for the most part made of wire, and involved the removing of some part of the apparatus, such as a ring, star or heart, from the rest. Some of the puzzles were of the syn- thetic or construction type, such as the familiar jig- saw puzzles or rarer forms involving three dimen- sions. The movements required for solution were, in general, rather complex. In certain cases the degree of complexity could be indefinitely in- creased, and yet a single rule be developed for so- lution in the various resulting forms." "The method of conducting the experiments was very simple. The subject was seated comfortably at a table, on which the puzzle was placed. The puzzle was covered by a screen. After the warning signal a starting signal was given, and the screen removed. When the manipulation for the given trial had been completed, the puzzle was immedi- ately removed by the operator and prepared for the following trial. The subject was given no opportunity to examine the puzzle except during the actual trial. The number of trials for a given ii2 MENTAL DISCIPLINE subject for a given puzzle varied from I to 1,440. The standard number was 50. Fifty-one series were taken in which the number of trials compos- ing the series equaled or exceeded 50. The num- ber of trials at a given sitting varied with the sub- ject and the puzzle. The sittings were usually of an hour and a half in length. In some cases an entire series of 50 trials was completed in this interval. In others several periods were consumed in gaining the first solution." "All except five of the subjects had done work, in psychology and had some special interest in it. Five of the subjects were women There were, altogether, twenty-seven subjects. Nine of them completed long series on at least six puzzles each. The remainder were given fewer puzzles and shorter series." The experiments and discussion on transfer are given here at length. The author says that "the term, transfer, is used rather broadly to include both the specific and general effects of a given ex- perience on succeeding experiences. "a. Specific Motor Habits. — (1) A given subject was tested with a puzzle thrown in chance positions. He was then trained to approximately the physiological limit in handling four special but important positions. He developed no general REVIEW OF EXPERIMENTS 113 rule to include his treatment of these special posi- tions. He was then retested with the puzzle in chance positions. Another subject was trained en- tirely with chance positions, in a series approxi- mately half the length of the first subject's series. The second tests of the first subject showed no im- provement over the initial results and were inferior to those of the second subject. This failure to profit by the highly specialized training seems to have been due to the lack of a generalized rule of procedure. As it was, each chance position was first reduced to one of the four special positions and then the solution was proceeded with instead of being performed directly. "(2) A certain puzzle was so arranged that it could be presented in various forms. The manipu- lations for these various forms could all be com- prised under a single formula. This general for- mula could be deduced from any one of these special forms. A number of subjects were tried with this puzzle. As soon as skill was acquired in dealing with one form of the puzzle it was changed to another form. The subjects who de- veloped the general formula during the solution of the first form were able to use the specialized habits built up in the first form in the second. Those who formed merely the special habits with- ii 4 MENTAL DISCIPLINE out developing the principle, attempted to carry over the habits without modification and were greatly embarrassed by the change. "(3) A subject was tested with a puzzle in a given form. Then all the motor habits neces- sary for the rapid solution of this form were built up by practice on the separate acts of manipulation involved. The elements were organically related in the successive forms of the practice series, so that the practice was not on the separate elements merely but on their connections. At the close of the practice series the subject was given the com- plete form, which was identical with that of the initial test. This form was not recognized as be- ing related to the practice series, and the habits built up there were not brought into use. "In general, the value of specific habits under a change of conditions depended directly on the presence of a general idea which would serve for their control. "b. Concrete Imagery. The mere presence of imagery, although vivid and of closely related puz- zles, was no guarantee of its efficiency. Very often attention rested on some superficial point of similarity and progress toward solution seemed to be delayed instead of hastened. The value of the REVIEW OF EXPERIMENTS 115 image as well as of the motor habit depended on the precision of the analysis. "c. Attitudes and Attention. As has been pre- viously stated, the first success often brought a complete change of attitude toward the puzzles. This transfer or extension of mood seemed at times to be almost reflexly accomplished, so direct did it appear. A change in the subject's idea of himself, from that of one incapable of solving such a prob- lem to one capable of doing so, probably played a part in the change of mood. A similar but less decided change of mood was at times accomplished, in the absence of success, by the suggestion that the subject was doing as well as others. An attitude of self-confidence was at times self-induced through an idea of its value, and subjects were able by this means to avoid a state of confusion when in diffi- culty, to which state they had previously fallen victims. "No evidence was secured in favor of an auto- matic change in level of attention, but there were indications of its indirect control by means of ideals of what constituted an efficient state of attention. "d. Ideals of Method. The great significance of ideals of method has perhaps been sufficiently n6 MENTAL DISCIPLINE emphasized. This significance was especially striking in proportion as the situation in question was distinctly novel. The idea of efficiency as a goal to be reached, the ideals of scientific method, and the deal of an optimum personal attitude were among the most important of these." 1 20a. Scott experimented with a group of twenty students to test their comparative suggesti- bility as to color and as to heat. He found such differences between the tests that he was led to the following conclusion, for which his tests do not seem to give a sufficiently wide basis. "At all events the inference from a study of these two experiments (and others not here de- scribed) is that degrees of suggestibility as deter- mined from one test cannot be inferred as holding for suggestibility in general. Before individual A can be said to be more suggestible than individ- ual B they must have been subjected to many and diverse forms of tests. Otherwise different de- grees of suggestibility should be affirmed as pres- ent only for the particular form or forms as tested." 2 - b. Whipple made two sets of experiments to determine the "effect of practice upon the range 1 Ruger, Psychology of Efficiency, 1910, Archives of Psychology, No. 15. In Chap. VI, Ruger gives a detailed analysis of these experi- ments and a further explanation of the results. * Scott, Psychological Review, March, 1910, "Personal Differences in Suggestibility." REVIEW OF EXPERIMENTS 117 of visual attention and of visual apprehension." "In the first set of experiments (range of atten- tion), 5, 6 and 7-place series of isolated letters were exposed for 0.08 sec. with a tachistoscope. The observers were six college students In the second set of experiments (range of apprehen- sion), groups of dots, pictures, drawings, non- sense syllables, and stanzas of poetry were ex- posed for 3 sec. with the tachistoscope, and collocations of 10 objects were exposed without instrumental aid for 6 sec. The observers were three adults." The author concludes that the ef- fect of the practice was specific in both sets of experiments. 1 c. Foster made similar experiments to test the "effect of practice upon visualizing and upon the reproduction of visual impressions." "Real ob- jects, pictures, and nonsense-drawings were shown to three observers for moderate times (10 to 60 sec). Exact reproduction by drawing, sometimes supplemented by written description, was then re- quired." The observers were advanced students of psychology. The author concludes that his "re- sults show that the ability gained is very specific." 2 - 1 Whipple, Journal of Educational Psychology, May, 1910, "The Ef- fect of Practice Upon the Range of \ isual Attention and of Visual Apprehension." 1 Foster, Journal of Educational Psychology, January, 1911, "The Ef- fect of Practice Upon Visualizing and Upon the Reproduction of Visual Impressions." CHAPTER IV OBSERVATIONS The following observations are those which seem to us to militate most strongly against the doctrine of formal discipline. Though based upon general experience rather than upon labora- tory experiments, we believe that these observa- tions are strengthened by the results of the experiments on transfer. i. The training of one part of the body re- sults in a specialized development of that part, rather than of other parts or of the body as a whole, except in so far as a generally increased circulation and metabolism increase the vigor of the whole organism. The way to train a particu- lar muscle or organ is through the proper exer- cise of that muscle or organ rather than of others. In so far as related muscles or organs are involved in the same training exercises, they will also be trained by these exercises. But muscles or organs cannot be trained unless they or the nerve centres controlling them have in whole or part under- 118 OBSERVATIONS 119 gone exercise and training. Each one of us is more capable in those parts of the body that have been better trained in the course of our lives. And even these parts act better for some special pur- poses than for others, because they have been trained to act in these specific ways. 2. The training of the mind in regard to one subject results in a specialized ability to deal with this subject, rather than with other subjects. In so far as other subjects are similar in matter or in method to the first subject, the mental ability to deal with this first subject can be used with the other subjects. But ability to deal with any sub- ject cannot be developed unless the mind has been exercised directly with it or indirectly on account of some of its elements being included in the other subjects with which the mind has been directly ex- ercised. Furthermore, from the standpoint of psychophysics, mental exercise in connection with any part of the brain will tend to increase the cir- culation and metabolism in the brain as a whole, just as physical exercise in any part of the body will tend to increase the circulation and metabol- ism in the body as a whole; but this generally in- creased vitality is far different from the specialized ability acquired through specific training. 3. Most of us recognize that we are special- 120 MENTAL DISCIPLINE ized in our mental abilities, showing more accu- racy, concentration, reasoning, endurance, etc. in dealing with those matters with which we have had most to do. We know from experience that we cannot transfer these abilities to other matters without loss. We think better about some par- ticular things than others, we feel more keenly about some particular things than others, we do more easily some particular things than others. In many cases it is easy for us to trace out those past experiences that have produced these special- ized abilities; and on the other hand we can jus- tify our lack of ability in other lines by showing how little opportunity we have had to develop these other specialized abilities. We are more or less a bundle of specific abilities and of specific inabilities, doomed to our efficiencies and our in- efficiencies by the activities which have made out of our native tendencies whatever we are to-day. 4. We also notice in those about us a similar particularization of ability to lines of activity which have become habitual. We notice this most strikingly in the narrow abilities of many special- ists (doctor, merchant, housekeeper, etc.), who appear at an increasing disadvantage the further they digress into fields dissimilar to their own. 5. The business and professional world relies OBSERVATIONS 121 more and more on the superiority of specialized ability resulting from special training. Men are thereby becoming more efficient specialized work- ers but less adaptable, less transferable, more dependent upon the specialized demand for their work. Thus is being produced an economic de- pendence which is almost fatalistic. The way to overcome this fatalism of specialization is not by claiming the transfer of acquired ability, a dogma that the employer and the public will not accept as a wise business principle. Either the ability of the specialist must be related in matter or in method to other abilities (and this is not often the case at present), or the specialist must be trained in the broader activities, if not in the de- tails, of two or more specialties. This is one of the arguments for manual training courses as preparation for industrial work of any kind. It is no exaggeration to say that the necessities of economic competition have shown the fallacy of the doctrine of formal discipline. 6. The ability displayed by some people in two or more lines of activity may be due to their having been specially trained in these lines and not to a transfer of acquired ability from one activity to another. Or the activities may be so closely related that ability in one is in part ability in the 122 MENTAL DISCIPLINE other. Or these several abilities may be due to the general native ability of the person, resulting from the innate structure and vitality of the brain. There is often a failure to distinguish in thought between native ability, which is either general or special, and acquired ability, which is special. The former is due to the superior nature of the brain, in whole or in part; the latter is due to the action of stimuli upon a specific part of the brain, according to the nature of the stimuli as well as of the brain. No one doubts that some people have unusual native capacity for receiving and holding impressions, for sustaining close atten- tion, for making clear judgments, for exercising vigorous and precise muscular control, etc. A person may thus be talented in one or in several lines. His initial superiorities will render more efficient and rapid his development in one line of activity or in several; but, in the latter case, the development in a subsequent line of activity is not due to a previous development in a different line of activity, but to a singular native superiority of intra- or inter-cellular organization or metabolism in the different parts of the brain connected with the different lines of activity. The ability of school pupils in several studies is often used to support the belief in the transfer of acquired OBSERVATIONS 123 ability from one subject to different subjects, whereas no such explanation seems needed or justifiable in these cases. 7. Furthermore, the ability of pupils in one study after they have acquired ability in another study may be due to general growth processes at that period of physical and mental development, regardless of particular studies and acquired abili- ties. The different stages in the growth of a child represent the birth of new tendencies, interests, and abilities, which greatly affect his school work. This is often seen in high-school pupils, whose general adolescent development of secondary sex characters and of the association centres of the brain will largely account for their increased ability in successive studies of different kinds. These factors of constitutional growth are generally over- looked, not only in the curricula and methods used at different stages of growth, but also in our ex- planations of the progress made in school work at these different stages. 8. The variations shown by the same pupils in their class standing in different studies are puzzling to the formal disciplinists. These varia- tions may be due to differences in application, in native ability, or in acquired ability for this or that particular work. In so far as they are due 124 MENTAL DISCIPLINE to acquired ability, the doctrine of transference does not seem to hold, for the abilities acquired in one study do not spread uniformly to other studies. The greater amount of uniformity often noticed in the class standing in related studies seems to show that in so far as studies are simi- lar there tends to be a similar ranking of the pupils in these studies. 9. But what is more serious is the generally recognized fact that pupils who excel in school are often beaten in professional or business life by fellow-pupils who ranked below them in class standing. The school abilities acquired through school activities are not in these cases carried over to the environmental activities outside the school. This is due to the difference between the matter and the method of the two activities and to the consequent inability of the pupils to make success in the one issue into success in the other. If there were such a transfer of acquired ability as the doctrine of formal discipline implies, there would not be such a difference in the ranking of individ- uals in the two activities. 10. Closely related to a recognition of this fact is the popular demand for more "practical" courses in the schools. This demand is based upon a belief, not only that the kind of training OBSERVATIONS 125 derived from these courses is different from that derived from others, but that this kind of train- ing is the one needed for practical efficiency, be- cause it is derived from materials and methods similar to those used in practical life. The doc- trine of democracy in education and the doctrine of formal discipline cannot be well harmonized. When only the favored few "took" education, the doctrine could be cherished as a cultural ideal and the waste involved in its application could be over- looked or tolerated without economic hardship. But when the masses of limited means determined to educate their children, they questioned some of the school's circuitous methods of promoting mental development and exerted their power to eliminate indirect and wasteful ineffectiveness in preparing boys and girls as soon as possible for independent service. This is one of the reasons why the doctrine of formal discipline is retiring from the elementary schools and is showing signs of increasing discomfort in the secondary schools, as the latter become democratic in sympathy and usefulness as they have become democratic in sup- port and control. 11. Finally, we notice that adherents of the doctrine of formal discipline shrink from carry- ing their doctrine to its logical conclusions, namely, 126 MENTAL DISCIPLINE the exact equivalents of studies for mental disci- pline or, if a distinction is made between them, the concentration on a single superior study for the training of a given power or set of powers. In practice, if not in theory, these adherents ac- knowledge a variation in training of a given power or set of powers as related to a vari- ation in content of study. A case in point is the inconsistency of the Committee of Ten on Secondary School Studies in stating what seems to be a belief in the equivalence of studies and then specifying elaborately varied curricula, repre- senting different phases of the environment, dif- ferent subject-matter and method. Baker dis- sents from the doctrine of equivalence in his mi- nority report. Schurman seconds him in a maga- zine review, declaring that "the Committee of Ten, and some of the conferences as well, have fallen victim to that popular psychology which de- fines education merely as the training of the mental faculties." 1 Taylor, a member of the Committee, replies in an article of defence that the word "equivalence" was used "in relation to college requirement. The thought of the com- mittee was surely equivalence of results, in this aspect, rather than equivalence of value, intrin- 1 Schurman, School Review, February, 1894, p. 93. OBSERVATIONS 127 sically considered." * This is not exactly the point at issue. Are studies equivalent for mental dis- cipline, even though we recognize their difference "of value, intrinsically considered"? The prac- tical influence of the Committee's report has been to strengthen the current belief in this disciplinary equivalence, though the Committee's real intention is better shown by its suggestive curricula. 1 Taylor, School Review, April, 1894, p. 196. CHAPTER V LOCALIZATION OF FUNCTION A strong theoretical objection to the doctrine of formal discipline is implied in the generally ac- cepted theories of localization of function to spe- cial areas of the cerebral cortex (visual, auditory, motor, association, etc.), of the division of the motor area into sub-areas (leg, hand, face, etc.), and of the division of the sub-areas into very small areas representing movements (opening of eyes, closing of eyes, opening of mouth, protrusion of tongue, etc. ) . It seems reasonable to draw from these theories the hypothesis, which seems to us consistent with the results of the experiments on transfer, that for every specific function there is a concomitant stimulus of specific parts of the cerebral cortex and their specific connections with other parts of the central nervous system. Of course, it is recognized that neural activity is not absolutely limited to these parts in concomitance with a specific function; but it is held that neural 128 LOCALIZATION OF FUNCTION 129 activity centers in these parts in concomitance with the specific function. It would follow then that, as every stimulus modifies the specific parts in such a way as to make the succeeding stimulations of them easier (the law of habit formation), a suc- cession of similar functions synchronizes with a succession of stimulations of specific parts of the central nervous system, which so modify these parts as to produce the physiological counterpart of a specific acquired ability. If, in the course of time, the acquired ability becomes so great as to re- quire little or no conscious control in its function- ing and to approach the automatism of a habit, its specific limitations become more and more decided, because the habit becomes more and more difficult to modify in other directions. Acquired abilities and habits are specific on account of their bases in localized and specific modifications of the central nervous system. As was previously suggested in discussing the experiments upon cross-education, ac- tivities which are in part controlled through differ- ent centres in the cerebral cortex may also be in part controlled by the same centres in the other parts of the central nervous system. The only way to get the benefit of previous training is through a use of the modified parts, all or some, in former associations or in new associations. i 3 o MENTAL DISCIPLINE The extent of the benefit derived is proportionate to the number of these parts used and to the ex- tent of the previous modification of them. How- ever, if effort is made to use these previously modified parts in different ways in different as- sociations, the tendency of the stimulation of these parts to issue into activity in the previous way and association may interfere with the latter activity. This interference will be proportionate to the difference and the comparative strength of the two associations. 1 The doctrine of formal discipline, on the other hand, seems to imply that the modifications pro- duced by successive similar stimulations and ac- tivities are not localized in specific parts of the cen- tral nervous system but are distributed to many different parts and can be used in connection with entirely different activities. Or, the doctrine might imply that these modifications are localized in specific parts of the central nervous system but that these parts with their modifications can be used again with entirely different activities. Both of these implications seem untenable. Mental discipline results from such a modifica- 1 See Bergstrom, American Journal of Psychology, June, 1894. "The Relation of the Interference to the Practice Effect of an Association"; for different opinions, see Henderson, Text-Book in the Principles of Education, 1910, pp. 306-8, and our quotations from Judd and Bair. LOCALIZATION OF FUNCTION 131 tion of specific parts of the central nervous system as will render future action along specific lines easier and more efficient. The aim of education is the control and direction of activity in the pur- suit of certain ideal ends, and this aim is partly realized through discipline in the control and di- rection of activity toward these ends. In other words, the individual is educated through such re- sponses to specific stimuli as will modify the spe- cific parts of the central nervous system that he will use in adjustment to his environment. These modified parts represent the subject-matter of ac- tivity, the content in regard to which the activity has been controlled and directed, or the method of activity, the form in which the activity has been controlled and directed. Though these parts can be used again in new associations of subject-matter or of method and the benefit of the previous mod- ifications can thus be transferred to a partially new activity in so far as it makes use of these parts, there is a probability that such new associations and new uses of these modified cells will not be made unless the associations are worked out or suggested by or for the individual. The parts of the central nervous system representing subject-matter may not be the same as those representing method in regard to this subject-matter, but the close associa- 132 MENTAL DISCIPLINE tion formed by practice between the two makes it difficult to use the one without the other. They tend to form a closed circuit. Therefore, it is necessary in education to break or enlarge this cir- cuit by using in whole or in part the same subject- matter in association with different methods, and by using in whole or in part the same methods in association with different subject-matter. And even when several associations have thus been worked out or suggested, there is a tendency for the older or stronger associations to assert them- selves and interfere with the newer or weaker as- sociations, especially if the latter are radically different from the former. Consequently, effort should be made to develop as the strongest associa- tions between specific subject-matter and specific method those that are of the most environmental value. The wide transferability of many specific disciplines can thus be proved a reality in educa- tional practice comparable in extent and value with the unrealized claims for formal discipline. Experiments have shown that children and adolescents break up old associations and form new ones more easily than do adults. Therefore they show more quickly and to a greater extent the transfer of the effects of practice from one associa- tion to another. The common elements in the two LOCALIZATION OF FUNCTION 133 functions are more readily usable in both. This is due to the greater plasticity of the nervous sys- tem of children, to their limited experience, and consequently to the smaller degree of fixity and strength of the earlier associations. This fact is of great importance in the education of the young, because childhood and youth are the golden pe- riods for associating and using the elements, mod- ified by special training, in the various functions in which the transfer of the effects of practice will be of great value. Most modifications of the doctrine of formal discipline are based upon some theory of localiza- tion. But Thorndike is the only author who car- ries this theory to its extreme conclusion: "There seems to be no structural arrangement by which the changes wrought by practice in one set of nerve cells could infect other cells with a similar quality." "By identical elements [in two func- tions] are meant mental processes which have the same cell action in the brain as their physical cor- relate." l O'Shea gives in one sentence a similar but more cautious reason for modifying the for- malist doctrine: "We should infer from current theory respecting the methods of neural action, that exercise of any special kind would furrow out 1 Thorndike, Educational Psychology, 1903 Ed., pp. 30, 81. i 3 4 MENTAL DISCIPLINE channels for the discharge of energy in support of just this kind of activity, but not an activity of a different sort." * Wardlaw has expressed the same idea in a striking analogy: "If I have broken a path through the weeds, I can cross that field more easily thereafter. This fact does not mean that the muscles of my legs are bigger than before, but simply that I am using the same path again — not that I have more strength to work with, but that there remains less work to do. And so, with the mind, there is a great difference be- tween increasing a general power and increasing facility by using acquirements already made." 2 Bolton has recently discussed the problem more fully: "The theory of the localization of function and all the facts supporting it are arguments against the theory of formal discipline. Special localized areas and special functions could never have been developed had not the effects of exercise been cumulative at certain points rather than evenly diffused. Nourishment was supplied to the particular parts in excess of that supplied to any other parts. Consequently growth and devel- opment followed in the particular directions If the doctrine of general powers were true, it. 1 O'Shea, Dynamic Factors in Education, 1906, p. 75. 2 Wardlaw, Educational Review, January, 1908, "Is Mental Train- ing a Myth?" p. 28. LOCALIZATION OF FUNCTION 135 would be inconceivable that localization and special- ization should ever have taken place. Any organ ought, according to that theory, to be able to con- trol any function, and an undifferentiated, homog- enous structure would have served equally as well as the exceedingly complex, specialized brain which we possess. With the gradual isolating, in- sulating, and specializing of functions, however, efficiency has arisen." x On the other hand, Colvin warns against the arguments for extreme localiza- tion: "The faculty psychology assumed a number of fabulous entities which worked out the des- tinies of the individual, while the doctrine of abso- lute localization of nervous function has made the brain a machine of relatively unrelated parts and has created a doctrine of psychic atomism which is as untrue as it is impossible of practical applica- tion." In a second edition of his monograph, Col- vin adds this further criticism : "If we try to overthrow the doctrine of transfer on the ground of absolute localization of nervous functions, we are doing so on dubious theoretical grounds and holding to a theory which runs counter to what we know of mental elements and mental organiza- tion. If, on the other hand, we accept the doc- 1 Bolton, Principles of Education, 1910, Chap. XXVII., "General Dis- cipline and Educational Values," pp. 753, 754. See also, Henderson, Text-Book in the Principles of Education, 1910, p. 43. 136 MENTAL DISCIPLINE trine of relative rather than absolute localization, of colligation of remote functional areas, and of vicarious functioning (as does Wundt), we find that such an hypothesis, instead of making against the possibility of transfer, gives a clear basis and reason for such transfer. Indeed, a rational hypothesis of cerebral localization suggests co- operation and transfer of the widest possible sort." x And finally, Ruger even goes so far as to say that "the definition of identical elements in terms of common cell action in the brain is of value only as a demand for explanation." 2 1 Colvin, Some Facts in Partial Justification of the So-Called Dogma of Formal Discipline, 1909 and 1910, University of Illinois, pp. 6, 23. See also, reviews (listed in Index) of our first edition by Bagley, Cousinet, and Dearborn. 2 Ruger, Psychology of Efficiency, 1910, Archives of Psychology, No. 15, p. 85. CHAPTER VI GENERAL CONCEPTS OF METHOD If acquired abilities are specific, not general, does it follow that there are no general results from spe- cific mental discipline? The experiments on trans- fer suggest not only the transferability of the ef- fects of practice from one function to others which are similar in greater or less degree, but also the transferability of the effects of practice from one function to others which have little recognizable similarity in their specific subject-matter or their specific method. Is it not possible to be consis- tent with the results of these experiments and with our previous emphasis upon the specific character of training and still grant that there is a general benefit to be gained from this training over and above the possibilities of wide transferability, not the general benefit claimed by the formal dis- ciplinists but one of great value in mental develop- ment? If so, how can such a general benefit be 137 138 MENTAL DISCIPLINE gained? The quotations in chapter II by Thorn- dike, Bolton, Colvin, and Rowe and those by Ruediger and Henderson at the end of this chapter are suggestive answers to this question. We add here a quotation from Bagley, which has had great influence in directing thought to this phase of the problem. "The doctrine of formal discipline assumed that the mastery of a certain subject gave one an increased power to master other subjects. It is clear that there is a certain amount of truth in this statement, provided that we understand very clearly that this increased power must always take the form of an ideal that will function as judg- ment and not of an unconscious predisposition that will function as habit. In other words, unless the ideal has been developed consciously , there can be no certainty that the power will be increased, no matter how intrinsically well the subject may have been mastered An ideal is a type of condensed experience. It is the upshot of a mul- titude of reactions and adjustments, both individ- ual and racial. Because it is a type of condensed experience, it is commonly formulated as a propo- sition or conceptual judgment. Or it may be attached to a single word The devel- opment of an ideal is both an emotional and an CONCEPTS OF METHOD 139 intellectual process, but the emotional element is by far the more important." (Bagley. ) l While agreeing in the main with the points of view expressed by these authors, we prefer to state the matter thus : A general benefit can be derived from specific training in so far as the person trained has consciously wrought out, in connec- tion with the specific training, a general concept of method, based upon the specific methods used in that training. The building of such a concept fol- lows the same laws as does the building of other concepts. The common elements in a number of specific methods are abstracted and bound to- gether in a general concept of method, a general rule or principle of how to do, how to act, in situations of a certain general type. These con- cepts may be held in the mind in one or more sentences, in a single phrase or a single word, in a metaphor or a line of poetry or some traditional maxim, in a formula of mathematics or chemistry or engineering. In all cases the symbol stands for a method of activity, be it in the realms of pure or applied natural science, of social science or practical civics, of business or professional life, of personal manner or social relations. The mind 1 Bagley, Educative Process, 1905, Chap. XIII., "Formal versus In- trinsic Values of Experience: The Doctrine of Formal Discipline," pp. 216, 222, 223. i 4 o MENTAL DISCIPLINE stores up by means of this symbol the rules and directions to guide its activity in adjustment to those phases of the environment to which such an activity seems applicable. It is necessary at this point to emphasize three important distinctions. The first is the distinction between what to do and how to do it. The former is subject-matter, the latter is method. The ideals of the what and the ideals of the how ought not to be confused in thought, though they may be closely related. The second important distinction to be em- phasized is that between a widely transferable acquired ability in the use of some specific method and a generalized acquired ability in the use of several methods. The former is the result of activity in dealing with a concrete situation in a specific way and can be transferred to another situation only in so far as the method used is common to both. No matter in how many situa- tions a given specific ability may thus be used, it still remains specific; it never becomes generalized and usable in situations which do not have ele- ments of method in common with it. As has been suggested before in this essay, there is frequent confusion at this point, especially because some specific methods have elements in common with a CONCEPTS OF METHOD 141 large number of other methods and therefore the abilities developed by the use of the former are widely transferable. But this transferability is far different from general mental discipline, from generalized abilities, powers, habits. The third important distinction is that between a widely transferable acquired ability and a gen- eral concept of method. The one is power and efficiency to perform specific activities; the other is an intellectual proposition or judgment as to how activities of a certain general type should be performed. The one is ability to do; the other is knowledge of how to do. These are often spoken of as one and the same thing, but a little reflection will make evident the great difference between them. To know how to do, how to apply one- self, how to reason, how to control one's desires, is part of the victory, but it is only the initial part. It guides us in developing an ability, it eliminates much of the trial and error otherwise necessary, it focuses attention upon the required steps, it short-circuits the process; but it does not bestow ability. Ability can be developed through the application of the general concept of method to a specific situation, but it is only by specific activity and neural modification that we can acquire an ability. We may know how to be good, reason- 142 MENTAL DISCIPLINE able, efficient, but we do not actually become good, reasonable, efficient until we have practised, in specific situations, these virtues and incarnated them in specific deeds. It is the doing that makes us what we are. In fact, our knowledge of how to do, our concept of method, is really never com- plete until we have thus applied and tested it in specific deeds. Can the formation of such a general concept of method from specific methods be explained on the afore-mentioned hypothesis of localization of function to specific parts of the central nervous sys- tem? The conscious formulation of the concept into words or sentences synchronizes with stimula- tions and consequent modifications of specific parts of a word or a concept centre of the cortex. Only in some such way does it seem possible for the con- cept to be registered in the brain. The modifica- tions in these specific parts cannot, of course, be generalized, but they can be made generally usable through their associations with different parts of the cortex and the central nervous system, con- nected with different specific activities. These specific activities include those which, through their common elements, formed the original basis of the concept and also those which, through their common elements, will be subsequently guided by CONCEPTS OF METHOD 143 the concept. A general concept of method is, therefore, a centre, a clearing-house, connecting the previously used specific methods of a certain general type with the subsequently used specific methods of that type. This does not mean that the parts of the central nervous system used and modified in a previous activity need be used again in a subsequent activity, unless it is necessary to vitalize the central concept guiding the second ac- tivity by reference to the concrete basis upon which the concept was built. As the general concept of method can be used for guidance in several activ- ities, it can be considered a common, transferable element in them all ; but this common element, this connecting link, is one of knowledge of how to do, not of ability to do. It can be a central guide even when the activities and the abilities derived from these activities are different and non-t^ns- ferable. We repeat that it is through general concepts of method, not through general discipline, that spe- cific methods and training can be made generally beneficial over and above their use in functions in which they form an essential part. The more nu- merous and varied the specific methods from which the common elements have been consciously abstracted, the more widely applicable is the gen- i 4 4 MENTAL DISCIPLINE eral concept of method for the person who formed it. Of course, all these specific methods need not be worked out or observed at the time when the concept is formed. The specific methods used at the time may be limited in number and variety, but subsequent experience may add other methods and thus extend the applicability of the concept. Fur- thermore, all of these methods need not at one time or other be worked out or observed in the concrete; some of them can be imagined from a knowledge of other situations to which similiar methods would apply. The essential thing in forming a general concept of method, with vital meaning and wide applicability, is to work out, or (in a less degree) to observe others work out, the specific methods from which the general con- cept can be formed. Then, after comprehending th: value of the method in dealing with the spe- cific situation or situations, the pupil should work out, or, if that is not possible at the time, he should think out, its application to other situa- tions. Upon such a wide basis in reality he should consciously build and hold his general concept of how to deal with these and other possible similar situations, applying and enlarging it as later ex- perience gives him opportunity for so doing. General concepts of method can be formed CONCEPTS OF METHOD 145 without as systematic or elaborate a process as is here suggested. Many are derived by pupils from their school work without any realization of the steps taken. However, some such process is nec- essary, and upon its care and thoroughness depend the validity and extension of the general concept. Furthermore, ability to use the specific methods from which the concept is derived is not a neces- sary basis for the formation of the concept; only an understanding of the specific methods, only a knowledge of how to act in the specific situations, is essential. This understanding of methods is often gained at school without ability to use them, and, on the other hand, ability is often gained in the use of methods without an understanding of them. But an understanding of specific methods is never complete without ability to use them, and ability to use them is never complete without an understanding of them. Therefore, it is well to urge a careful, systematic procedure both in spe- cific training and in the formation of general con- cepts of method. What are the steps by which a teacher can lead his pupils to develop a general concept of method. First, he can lead them to recall and explain the methods previously used, which are similar to those to be worked out. Second, he 146 MENTAL DISCIPLINE can lead them to work out and understand the specific methods used in connection with the sub- ject-matter that is presented. Third, he can lead them to analyze and compare these specific meth- ods in order to abstract their common elements. Fourth, he can lead them to bind together these common elements into a general concept of method. Fifth, he can lead them to apply, con- cretely or imaginatively, the concept thus formed to other subject-matter. Here we have the "five formal steps" used in developing a general con- cept of method, just as they should be used in developing other general concepts. Of course, these steps are only suggestive, not binding as some books would have us believe; but they do outline the successive stages in the mental process of forming concepts. With allowance for all the variations necessary under special circumstances, it must still be reiterated that these steps are a good guide for any teacher who strives to make his pupils derive general benefit from their specific activities and training. Concepts of methods should be associated with sufficient emotional valuation and impulsion to make them effective in practice. But all voluntary acts need to be directly or indirectly motived by the emotions; the necessity is general and needs CONCEPTS OF METHOD 147 no special emphasis here. The stress put by Bag- ley upon "the emotional element as by far the more important" in his "ideals" shows that he is thinking especially of those concepts of method for the application of which great emotional motiv- ation is needed, as, for example, the general con- cept of how to be courteous to those we dislike or of how to deny ourselves in social service. But there are a large number of concepts of method for the application of which little emotional motiv- ation is needed, as, for example, the general con- cept of how to test the logical steps in an argument or of how to sift source material. Furthermore, emotions generally centre around the object in view, the subject-matter, rather than the method; it is what we should do, not how we should do it, that is usually the centre of our emotional strug- gles. But the general concepts to be derived from specific training are those of method, over and above subject-matter. Of course, the method can be made an end of action, not a means, and we may like it or dislike it; but it has then been mis- placed and misvalued. Its real value is to guide in the doing of what we have decided to do, after such motivation and choice as the situation de- mands. 1 1 Bagley says in reply, Journal of Educational Psychology, January, 148 MENTAL DISCIPLINE In this connection it is interesting to compare a few discussions of the elements of method, or form, in mental discipline. In addition, reference should be made to some of the discussions and experiments previously outlined, which emphasize either the transfer of ability acquired in the use of certain elements of method or the formation of general guiding principles of how to memorize, how to pay attention, how to pick out the essentials in a test, etc. Some of the authors fail to make one or more of the three distinctions which we have pointed out as necessary for clearness in dis- cussing the elements of method. "For the empirical science of logic the term form, as applied to our intellectual processes, in- dicates a common element, or series of common elements, in those processes, which makes the theory of formal discipline at least intelligible 1910: "The concepts of scientific method, for example, can be more readily transferred from the high-school laboratory to the situations of later life if the pupil has a strongly emotionalized belief that the scientific method is really 'worth while.' Merely recognizing from the point of view of intellect that the scientific method involves un- prejudiced observation and careful induction is one thing; feeling the worth of this method as the best known means of attaining truth is quite another." We have never doubted the value of emotional mo- tivation in getting people to apply the principles they have; but we claim that the problem of giving emotional color to the formation and application of concepts of method is part of the general problem of emotional motivation in all instruction that looks to its outcome in action, as all instruction should. We argue against there being any unique emotional need here. CONCEPTS OF METHOD 149 and apparently tenable as a doctrine of intellec- tual training. In other words, formal training is discipline in certain discoverable forms of intel- lectual activity." "Formal discipline is the prac- tice of the mind in certain forms or methods of thinking which are 'common elements' in wide ranges of experience." "The one word which sums up the theory of formal discipline is method, or, rather, methods. It is the theory that the mind can be trained to do' well certain kinds of work, to follow successfully certain methods of procedure." "For the carrying on of any pur- suit, we need not only talent, native or acquired, but also information, interest, practice, before the work can be successfully done. Exercise in one function should not be expected, therefore, to give equal facility in the carrying on of another. Obviously it does not, and the degree of the diffi- culty of transfer is determined, not only by identity or difference in the formal elements, but also by differences and similarities in the contents as well. That such a position is in accordance with the results of investigation thus far will not, I think, be denied." (Meiklejohn.) x "What are these formal elements? I am 1 Meiklejohn, Educational Review, February, 1909, "Is Mental Train- ing a Myth?" pp. 132, 134, 136, 138. 150 MENTAL DISCIPLINE tempted to call them laws — the laws of nature, the laws of composition and succession of mental states, the laws of human intercourse and of human advantage." In any discussion of formal discipline, the forms of human activity, not the forms of the outside environment, are to be dis- tinguished from content — the material with which or upon which the individual acts. Both the con- tent and the forms of the environment furnish the subject-matter elements in mental discipline; the forms of dealing with this environment furnish the method elements in mental discipline. We must distinguish between forms of the environ- ment, as we interpret them, and forms of human activity in relation to that environment. Later on, Delabarre makes this distinction and discusses those formal elements which we have preferred to call methods of activity. "There is still an- other class of what, I think, can with equal jus- tice be called formal elements, to which I desire to direct your attention. These are the general forms, not of our apprehension of the world, but of our conduct toward its situations. We know them commonly as the fundamentally desirable moral qualities, the components of good char- acter. We can easily see that included among them are sympathy, kindliness, fearlessness, truth- CONCEPTS OF METHOD 151 fulness, justice, courage. These seem almost like the names of emotions. But they are more than that. They are desirable elementary forms of our attitude toward the world, our reactions upon it. Any one of them is a form, whose possession gives us good judgment in dealing with a wide variety of situations, and perhaps slow but finally firm acquirement of any one of them is of enorm- ously more importance to us than the learning of any number of specific facts." Here we have an emphasis, which we also noticed in Bagley's dis- cussion, only upon those methods of activity which require great emotional motivation for their ap- plication. "The formula of common elements is true, but of no practical value. Practically all mental processes have elements, formal or struc- tural, in common. Not only does good training in any subject improve methods of learning, of attention, of work, of comprehension; but it is also true that all knowledge possesses some ele- ments in common, and the number of these may be very considerable even in case of subjects that appear at first sight little related. The structural, technical, content-elements are very important, but they can be left more safely to individual need and individual endeavor. The formal elements are universal, or at least of wide application, and 152 MENTAL DISCIPLINE hence are more helpful and more difficult to ac- quire. To them education should surely give its best attention. No one can be a mere specialist. Everyone needs formal material for correctly judging a wide variety of experiences and rela- tions that are essential to life." (Delabarre.) l The following quotation illustrates well a popu- lar confusion on the subject, a confusion even implied in the quotations from Meiklejohn and Delabarre. Raymont makes a distinction for mental discipline between the matter and the method of instruction, but he gives general dis- ciplinary value, general mental training, to the method, although denying it to the matter with which the method was used. He is really up- holding the doctrine of formal discipline in regard to elements of method. "Mental discipline de- pends, not so much upon the subjects taught, as upon the method of teaching. Bad science-teach- ing will not improve the reasoning powers, but will leave the learner still under the thumb of au- thority and prescription; whilst good science- teaching will avoid this evil, and will also exercise the imagination, by opening out won- derlands as glorious as those of literature. 1 Delabarre, Education, May, 1909, "Formal Discipline and the Doc- trine of Common Elements," pp. 591, 593, 599. CONCEPTS OF METHOD 153 On the other hand, bad literary and historical in- struction will leave the imagination barren, whilst sound instruction in these branches will not only avoid this mistake, but will also furnish the means of abundant exercise in cautious judgment and valid inference." "Though the method of in- struction should be carefully devised with a view to mental discipline, it is misleading to say that the choice of the matter of instruction depends upon considerations of discipline." 1 "If we have analyzed the doctrine of for- mal discipline correctly, it is evident that its ex- treme advocates and its extreme opponents are both wrong. Knowledge and training are not merely specific in their application, but they also have a general value. This value arises through the factor of identical elements, of which there are at least three types [aim, method, and content], and it declines rapidly as the similarity of the ma- terial of instruction or training decreases. Be- cause of this rapid decline we can conclude that this doctrine is valueless as a criterion for the se- lection of subject-matter. To depend or retain a subject on the basis of its disciplinary effect is to take a stand on an extremely slender support. Only intrinsic values serve as valid bases for such 1 Raymont, Principles of Education, 1906 Ed., p. 100. i 5 4 MENTAL DISCIPLINE retention and defense. But after a subject has once been admitted on this basis, the formal values that exist should be given their full emphasis. This means no more than to say that the subjects should be taught as well as we know how to teach them. No subject has a supreme or peculiar value in developing methods of procedure or ideals that are of universal application, but all subjects may be so taught as to yield their quota in these re- spects; and it is to be especially emphasized that we get little of these formal values without defi- nitely aiming for them. The general relations of aim, method, and content must be brought definitely and attractively to consciousness, and ap- plied to the activities at hand. Only in this way can we make sure that these values will to a certain extent be generalized; and they will in addition vitalize our teaching." In another chapter Ruediger discusses "the rela- tion of form and content values." "The thesis here maintained is that the formal values never take rank above the intrinsic values, but that, while they may be quite coordinate with them, they are usually subordinate to them In life, method is for the sake of content, for the sake of results, and not for the sake of the method itself Valuable though method is, it cannot stand alone. CONCEPTS OF METHOD 155 It is necessarily subordinate to content and cannot be taught except through content. This relation holds also in regard to the formal value that we have designated 'identity of aim.' Aims and ideals are relative to the concrete activities of life in school and in society, just as method is relative to content The transfer of mental function through identity of substance is not a gain through a formal value, strictly interpreted, but through a content value. This element accounts in part for the transfer of educational effect from one study to another, but the gain is received from the direct application of previously acquired knowl- edge." » This argument is of doubtful validity. If the specific elements of method are kept in mind as specific and are not generalized by their essentials into general concepts of method (see our previous discussion), then their general use would be lim- ited to the general use of the specific content with which they first developed, and their value might be considered coordinate with or even subordinate to, the content with which they were first associated. And any future specific transfer or application might be similarly valued in com- 1 Ruediger, Principles of Education, 1910, Chap. VI., "The Doc- trine of Formal Discipline," and Chap. IX., "The Elemental Educa- tional Values: Formal Values." 156 MENTAL DISCIPLINE parison with the specific content to which it were applied. But if specific elements of method are worked up into a general concept of method, the concept need not then be closely dependent upon the specific content with which its constituent ele- ments were respectively and formerly associated, and it could be applied to new content, which might or might not have little or any similarity to the former content. In other words, the generaliza- tion of the common essentials of specific elements of method into a general concept of method gives these elements far wider and greater influence than they otherwise would have; it thereby gives them far greater value than the content with which they were first associated. The number and variety of such general concepts of method that would be worked out in education are small as compared with the number and variety of the content used in school and of the content with which the con- cepts might be used in the future. The conse- quently larger range and applicability of these con- cepts make them of supreme value in education, especially in secondary schools and colleges. If Ruediger's second formal value, that of "aim," is considered apart from method, our same argument would apply for the superior value of general con- cepts of aim or purpose. CONCEPTS OF METHOD 157 The following quotation from Henderson is very valuable : "It is evident that formal elements are relational in character. When one speaks of classes of situations, he has in mind usually, if not invariably, groupings according to form, such groupings as are based on the relation of the situations to our prac- tical life. Neatness is a requirement of a form of situations, because it cannot be defined apart from the relation between its material and the persons who inspect or use it. Such relationships may be very general. Indeed, it is likely that they are far more general than are the content factors which they relate. The need of memorizing is more commonly encountered in experience than is any fact that one needs to memorize. It is diffi- cult to draw a hard and fast distinction between the relational and the related factors, the form and the content, of experience. However, it is evident that where emphasis is thrown on relation, there we have form, and that there are certain fundamental forms that constitute typical prob- lems, the power to deal with which is a constant asset throughout life. The acquisition of this power may properly be designated as formal dis- cipline. Thus we may speak of training to at- tend, by which we mean to assume the physiologi- 158 MENTAL DISCIPLINE cal or mental adjustments of attention, some of which are more and some less general, as being formal discipline in so far as it is independent of the content to which attention is given. More- over, as the adjustments become more and more adapted peculiarly to one content, the merely for- mal character of the discipline would seem to be lost If it seems natural and appropri- ate to designate one phase of a situation as its form, and another as its content, it must be remem- bered that the part of discipline in reference to each is the same; i.e., to establish associations and reactions which these factors, when they recur, may invariably suggest. Moreover, discipline in adjustments to a few type forms would not be of any value if it were not sustained by familiarity with the treatment of a multitude of facts. "But education, whether in form or in content, does not sum itself up in specific discipline, in the establishment of definite associations. It includes also general discipline, or the training of power to recognize the occasions for the use of habits or knowledge Habits, like any resources, are made available, not alone by being shaken aloose from dependence upon a narrow group of accidental associations, but also by the acquisition of a great and varied mass of connections, acci- CONCEPTS OF METHOD 159 dental or essential, so that their recall in a new concrete situation may not depend on too tenuous a thread." * 1 Henderson, Text-Book in the Principles of Education, 1910, Chap. X, "The Question of Formal Discipline," pp. 312-14. See also, our quotation from Henderson in Chap. II. CHAPTER VII A STANDARD OF EDUCATIONAL VALUES The doctrine of formal discipline, in its extreme form, implies that the mind is made up or pos- sessed of certain general powers or faculties — memory, imagination, reasoning, etc. These powers are developed by exercise to a degree pro- portionate to the force and duration of the exer- cise taken, but the stimulus which calls forth this exercise of any power affects but little the kind of exercise and consequently the kind of development of that power resulting from such exercise. This development in strength, breadth, accuracy, etc. of the power involved can be used in response to any other stimulus than the one by which the power was previously exercised, with little change in na- ture or diminution in amount. The different pow- ers are considered like different tanks or reservoirs with many pipes emptying into them and many draining out of them. No matter through what pipe water gets into the tank, it can go out by any other pipe and continue almost unchanged through 1 60 EDUCATIONAL VALUES 161 the entire process. The practical problem of men- tal discipline in education then resolves itself into (i) deciding what are the power tanks (memory, reasoning, etc.) to be filled by school education; (2) selecting the largest usable pipes to carry water into each tank; and (3) forcing water through these pipes into the tank until the supply is considered sufficient to meet any and all de- mands. When any given subject, say mathema- tics, is defended on this doctrine, the implication is that it is the largest usable pipe for carrying water into the tank of reasoning or accuracy or some other power, and therefore more of the desired power can be accumulated through this pipe than through any other. Or a given sub- ject may be defended because it consists of a number of pipes carrying water to several power tanks, reasoning, accuracy, attention, etc. Of course the doctrine of formal discipline is not held in this extreme form by many of its present ad- herents, but the above analogies represent roughly the traditional and logical conclusions of their po- sition. Whatever modifications and limitations these adherents make seem to us to be in the di- rection of an emphasis upon the specific nature of mental discipline. The doctrine of specific disciplines, on the other 1 62 MENTAL DISCIPLINE hand, claims that there are no such general pow- ers or faculties — memory, imagination, reasoning, etc., but that these names stand for vague classi- fications of mental responses to stimuli. The mind develops in a specific manner by practice in response to specific stimuli, and the bene- fit of this development can be fully used only in future similar responses to stimuli similar in whole or in part to those which called forth the previous responses. This benefit de- creases just in proportion to the amount of dis- similarity between the future and the previous stimuli. To refer to the afore-mentioned analogy (which, of course, is in no way exact), the oppo- sition holds that there can be no tanks or reser- voirs of general power, with many pipes emptying into them and many draining out of them. Each pipe collects, holds, and discharges the water flow- ing into it, though there may be many connections with other pipes. The practical problem is to choose pipes of the most specific value and then force water into them. Mathematics, for instance, would be defended on this doctrine because of its great specific value in developing ability to reason, to be accurate, etc. in regard to the mathematical elements in the environment. EDUCATIONAL VALUES 163 As the following standard of educational values is based upon the doctrine of specific disciplines, supported, we believe, by experimental evidence and general observation, its main emphasis is upon the specific or intrinsic value of each ele- ment of subject-matter or of method in the school curriculum. 1 This value is determined by the environmental importance of the element and con- sequently by the environmental usefulness of the specific ability developed by the element. As a specific element of subject-matter or of method may appear in various combinations in the en- vironment, the specific ability developed by it can be used with as many of these combina- tions as are recognized as containing the given element. The value of these elements is there- fore determined objectively and sociologically, but when brought into the school they should be so arranged and interpreted as to appeal to the pupil at successive stages of growth, and also to 1 Colvin makes a valuable suggestion as to the possibilities of transfer "when the reaction is under the dominance of a mood or emotion that so colors the objective environment that several different stimuli may call forth the habitual response." It seems to us that here we have common elements of emotional response in two or more functions and that these elements might well be considered one of the three common elements — subject-matter, method, and emotional response — which make transfer possible. The "aim" emphasized by Ruediger might be con- sidered a fourth common element, but we would prefer to include the element of aim as one of the elements of method. 1 64 MENTAL DISCIPLINE reveal to him their significance in the various com- binations in which they appear in the environ- ment. Out of the specific elements of method can be formed general concepts of method, but these concepts should be derived from methods of the most specific value in the environment. Thus can be realized two educational aims — training in the use of valuable specific methods, and the formation and application of valuable general concepts of method. To seek these aims separately, giving one study for its specific value and one for its general method value, is clearly a waste of the most precious asset of the school, namely, the child's energy. It may be that in one study one value will be emphasized and in another study the other value will be emphasized, but with few ex- ceptions the studies of the most specific value will be those of the most general method value. Therefore, it is certainly the wisest policy to base a criterion of studies upon the specific value of their elements of subject-matter and of method. The elements of studies that are common to the present or future environments of most of the pupils are the elements to be studied and tested in working out a school curriculum ; the other elements are to be eliminated, no matter what EDUCATIONAL VALUES 165 traditional emphasis may have been given them. As even the important elements in the environment are far too many to be included in elementary and secondary curricula, also among them must there be a rigid and relentless selec- tion. Every included element must have proved its supremacy over the competing elements that might have taken its place if such a test were not carefully enforced. "The question which we contend is of such transcendent moment, is, not whether such or such knowledge is of worth, but what is its relative worth?" (Spencer.) 1 In how many and in how Important ways (quantity and quality of usefulness) can the specific element be used by the pupil in adjustment to his environ- ment? Here is our basis of comparison between elements, and there is no reason why each and every element of each and every study should not be subjected to such a comparison. To select the most valuable elements and organize them into a graded curriculum ought to be the chief purpose of school administration. "As the edu- cational aim is the unfolded and capable mind in the concrete social and natural situations of life, and as we are efficient in those situations in pro- portion as we have developed ourselves earlier in 1 Spencer, Education, 1861 Ed., p. 28. 166 MENTAL DISCIPLINE similar situations, it follows that those subjects have the greatest educational value which have the greatest number of identical elements with the situations of life A new problem is pro- posed to educational theorists at this point, viz., to go through our subjects of study with a view to determining what and how many elements they have in common with life." (Home.) 1 Of course, our standard is a utilitarian one. 2 It would be wasteful and wrong to have any other. But this standard is by no means that of a nar- row, materialistic utilitarianism; it simply stands for the test of usefulness to the whole person in relation to the whole environment, emphasizing especially those ethical, intellectual, and aesthetic ideals that minister to the best uses of the human spirit. A general development can be promoted by useful responses to important phases of the environment far better than by the hypothetical all-roundness of an arbitrarily chosen group of cultural or of formal disciplinary studies. It is 1 Home, Education, May, 1909, "The Practical Influence of the New Views of Formal Discipline," p. 616. See also, Home, Psychological Principles of Education, 1906, Chap. VI., "The Theory of Formal Dis- cipline"; Tompkins, Philosophy of Teaching, 1891, p. 266. 2 Cousinet, L'Educateur Moderne, April, 1910, p. 190: "II y a dans ces formules une tendance bien americaine a l'utilitarisme, M. II... le reconnait volontiers (p. 115), que je juge dangereuse et con- traire a une bonne discipline intellectuelle. Encore est-il juste de reconnaitre que M. H... echappe un peu a cette critique par l'im- portance qu'il donne a la methode." EDUCATIONAL VALUES 167 a sad commentary upon our educational abstract- ness that we often fail to realize the high and noble inclusiveness of the ideal of use in our preparation of boys and girls for efficiency and service in society. We sometimes run away from the real test of real things and cry out for culture, as if culture had any meaning apart from its use in adjustment. It is especially important in teaching to lead pupils to recognize the various environmental re- lations and uses of the elements of subject-matter or of method which are brought into the school. If pupils are not thus guided they may fail to see these relations and uses and consequently may fail to apply the knowledge and abilities devel- oped in school to those phases of the outside en- vironment to which they should be applied. Of course, no relation is to be brought into the school which is not in the environment; to trump up arti- ficial relations between elements for school pur- poses — to stimulate interest, etc., — is misleading and almost dishonest. But as a given element of subject-matter or of method may be environment- ally related in a number of different ways to a number of different elements, the limited time and energy of the pupil necessitate a comparative test and a rigid selection of these relations, so as to 168 MENTAL DISCIPLINE bring into the school only those that have the greatest quantity and quality of environmental usefulness. The test will therefore be similar to that of the elements themselves; in fact, it is but part of the latter, because the values of the ele- ments cannot be comparatively determined with- out a comparative test of the values of their rela- tions. This is why many teachers do not know the subject-matter or method they teach; in knowing the elements apart from the environment which gives them value they really do not know what their value is. This is probably the weakest point in our teaching force, — the ignorance of teachers regarding the environmental relations and values of school studies. Their training should be more in practical sociology and less in hypothetical pedagogy, and a far greater emphasis upon the social relations of the curriculum is needed both in normal school and in university courses for teachers. However suggestive may be the various schemes of concentration or correlation, they can never be widely accepted, because the centres of their circles are not the centres of the environ- ment. The elements are not thus centripetalized in actuality. Therefore, in school they should be interpreted only in those inter-relations that rep- EDUCATIONAL VALUES 169 resent, explain, and emphasize their comparative environmental nature and significance, the same elements, if necessary, being brought into the course again and again to reveal new relations and to help in apperceiving new elements. It is not denied that elements and relations not directly useful in themselves must be included as a preparation for elements directly useful, but this indirect usefulness may be of more comparative value than the direct usefulness of some compet- ing elements. It is also not denied that logical consistency and completeness sometimes require the introduction of elements and relations not directly useful in themselves, in order to bind to- gether those elements of a subject that have been selected as of the most comparative value. The elements thus introduced would then have to stand the test of their usefulness in binding together directly useful elements. Furthermore, the logical consistency and completeness of a text or course must in themselves be tested. They should not exceed the logical consistency and completeness necessary for the proper use of the elements of that text or course in their environmental rela- tions, or for the proper illustration of specific methods which are to be worked up into valuable general concepts of method. 1 7 o MENTAL DISCIPLINE Thoroughness is another untested school ideal. Thoroughness has no meaning in the abstract; it must be judged by some standard, for some purpose. Elements of school work must be taught as thoroughly as is necessary for their proper use in the environment and for the proper illustration of specific methods. In other words, thoroughness must be valued according to its functional significance. Let it not be supposed that the standard as out- lined interferes in any way with the adjustment of the curriculum to successive stages of the pupil's development. There is no essential opposition be- tween the selected elements and relations of the environment, which are brought into the school, and the developing capacities and interests of the pupil. The present opposition is one of the arti- ficialities of school work. Dewey argues power- fully that "the child and the curriculum" can be vitally related, that the experience of society rep- resented by the curriculum can be arranged, in- terpreted, "psychologized" for the child in such a way as to be assimilated by him and become his own experience. The outside environment must be made into the meaningful school environ- ment of the pupil, and there is no need why, in this process, the elements of the outside environment EDUCATIONAL VALUES 171 should be misrelated or misvalued. On the other hand, it is only in so far as these two environments are similar that the child lives in school a life that has a functional value outside. And this is the way to develop a true, educative interest, rather than an artificial interest, in school work, by arousing in the child a desire to express himself in response to those phases of his school environment which he recognizes as also important in his out- side environment. With this limited outside en- vironment as a starting-point and a constant source of reference, the school should continue to enlarge the child's experience through the knowledge and activities of a larger environment, the epitome of that outside environment for which he is being prepared. Thus will his school environment and his outside environment together grow into that of the intelligent adult citizen, and thus will his specific abilities to meet the opportunities and re- sponsibilities of his adult life be developed by meeting the opportunities and responsibilities of his constantly enlarging school life. It may be objected that both the present and the future outside environment of each individual pupil are so different from those of any other pupil that it is impossible to select, by any comparative test of an environmental usefulness, elements with 172 MENTAL DISCIPLINE which to organize a uniform course of study for the masses of children in the public schools. Such an objection really denies the possibility of mak- ing any suitable uniform course of study at all. If we cannot make one by selection according to environmental values, we certainly cannot make a better one by selection according to any other kind of values. The public school system is based upon the belief that at least the great majority of pupils have now and will have in the future a community of need, interest, and responsibility. This com- munity is represented by the minimum require- ments in the course of study, representing the es- sential elements in the common present or future environment of most pupils. Opposition to this common ground of school work is due to a failure to realize that the like-mindedness of the citizens, as Giddings suggests, is a fundamental necessity in a democratic society, and that our public schools, through their common courses and inter- ests, ought to lead in developing this like-minded- ness. Above a minimum course there should be room for individual variations in advanced and parallel work and, even within this minimum, al- lowances should be made for individuality of response to the subject-matter and methods given. But if there is to be no common course for our EDUCATIONAL VALUES 173 public schools, in city, county, or State, our educa- tion will carry individualism to an extreme and will lose its great mission of being one of the principal cohesive forces in society. This standard of educational values also applies to school management. The motives, routine, discipline, etc., of school life can be analyzed into elements of subject-matter and of method and can be tested for their environmental values. It is wasting a great opportunity to compel pupils into an artificial regime, when the very organization and processes of the school community ought to prefigure and prepare for the community outside. If this ideal is introduced into school manage- ment, it will become a great force for social effi- ciency and for ethical training by developing through social relations those specialized habits and general concepts that will make for good in the individual and in the environment. What is needed is not necessarily a "school city" or a formal copy of some social organization, for these may or may not interpret the spirit of society and therefore may or may not be educative. The community life of the school must emphasize the standards, responsibilities, and methods of the community life outside, in so far as the school can use these for educational purposes. The doctrine 174 MENTAL DISCIPLINE of formal discipline cannot apply here any more than elsewhere. Specific subject-matter and method, specific training and abilities, general con- cepts of method — these are the materials, methods, and results of the ethical training that should come through school motives and discipline. If these materials and methods are those common to both the school and the outside environment, the results will be of untold value; but if the materials and methods of the school are artificial, the results will be of limited value. Through society are we educated for society. Before the standard developed in this essay is applied, for the purpose of illustration, to some phases of elementary and secondary school cur- ricula, it will be profitable to compare a few standards of educational values, set by writers op- posed to the doctrine of formal discipline. Four are by educationists and two by sociologists. "The ability to deal with any situation depends upon one's having had experience with some simi- lar situation. And the educationist will so plan it in view of this principle that the individual will in his educational course be made ready for those general and special duties which he will perform as a member of a community He will exclude everything which does not give very good EDUCATIONAL VALUES 175 proofs of its suitability to assist the learner in his relations with men and things, by presenting to him now situations which he will encounter, though it may be in a more complex form, in later life. In the matter of studies purporting to be of social value, for example, the educationist will proceed upon the doctrine that if the individual can be got to react in desirable ways to social sit- uations actual or ideal during the developmental period, then he will acquire modes of reaction which will be serviceable to him in all times and places. The educationist will cast out everything which cannot return an affirmative answer to the question, Will the individual in mastering you be making in the best way adaptations which he will be required to make as a member of a social or- ganism?" (O'Shea.) 1 "The educational values of different subjects, i.e., their efficiency in promoting the realization of the aim of education as defined above [to pre- pare for complete living], consist (a) in the scope, kind, strength, and permanence of the incentives to activity; and (b) in the kind, degree, and permanence of the power to think and execute that those subjects may develop The kinds of incentives to activity, whether intellectual, aesthe- 1 O'Shea, Education as Adjustment, 1903, pp. 288-291. 176 MENTAL DISCIPLINE tic, moral, or constructive, derivable from the course of study, depend on content (the nature of the subject-matter). Since incentives are impulses to activity growing out of interest in the subject- matter, they will develop strength and permanence when interest in the subject-matter is strong, real, and permanent Power means ability to do something — to bring about results. The re- sults achieved will always be in some one field of activity, however; and the kind of power de- veloped through the pursuit of a given subject will consequently be usually restricted to power in dealing with data of a particular sort There is no such thing as power in general that can be cultivated through the pursuit of any one subject, and can then be drawn upon at any time for successful achievement in other subjects. The power developed will always be chiefly specific: but if, through correlation, the mutual ramification and interdependence of sub- jects are traced; and further, if the method of one subject is explicitly carried over to other subjects to which it can be legitimately applied, the power developed will also be to some extent general." (Hanus. )* "With the abandonment of the dogma of 1 Hanus, Educational Aims and Educational Values, 1899, pp. 7-10. EDUCATIONAL VALUES 177 faculty discipline, which assured us that all the powers of the mind could be acquired by formal exercises in dead languages, school mathematics, etc., there clearly remains but one alternative — to train the pupils for the specific goal it is desirable to reach. This alternative permits no compro- mise. The exercises which prepare for life are the duties, knowledge, and emotional attitudes of existing life itself, which the world's workers are currently using. The alternative recognizes that like produces only like, and, therefore, repudiates those exercises such as Latin or algebra, which in themselves are acknowledged to be unused, except as mental trapezes of the schoolroom. It requires that the pupil's energy shall be centred upon the mastery of those things which existing world life requires of its active and productive journeymen; anything less is insufficient, and anything of a different character is irrelevant. How shall we obtain such a course of study, and who shall sys- tematize it? Manifestly, the first step in the task is to catalogue the essential duties, items of knowl- edge, and emotional attitudes current in the world's usage. This material must then be set up and arranged in the schools as goals of instruc- tion, and the business of the pedagogue will be to enable the pupil to acquire these world-used ma- 178 MENTAL DISCIPLINE terials to an effective degree as readily as pos- sible." (Burk.) « "The implication intended is that subjects should be studied because they are intrinsically valuable; because the possession of a knowledge of them is distinctly worth while. One of the highest arts of the pedagogue is to make the pupil see and appreciate these values and conse- quently to be so attracted by the acquisition that he is unsatisfied without them." "A critical consideration of formal discipline leads to some very important conclusions concern- ing the purposes and arrangement of a course of study. ( i ) Education is a process of adjustment of the individual and the race to varying situations to secure their highest welfare. (2) Particular adjustments demand particular experiences which cannot be furnished by any sort of general gym- nastics. (3) Therefore, each type of adjustment must be secured through special appropriate forms of experience. (4) As life is so complex, a great range of experiences is demanded to fortify the individual for his multiform situations. (5) The curriculum should represent prevised or preparatory 1 Rurk, The World's Work, July, 1909, "The Bankruptcy of 'Edu- cation,' " II., pp. 1 1764, 1 1765. See Burk's interesting but exaggerated attack on the doctrine of formal discipline in the June number of the same magazine. EDUCATIONAL VALUES 179 experiences as well as permanent life experiences and hence must be varied. If limited in scope it denies experiences necessary for the varied devel- opment of each individual, and also fails to pro- vide equally for all. (6) It is necessary to bear in mind that the education of the human race which produced the high degree of development which it now possesses was nearly all secured be- fore schools and formal studies were invented or arranged. (7) Racial education was nearly all gained through intensely practical and utilitarian means (8) In our scheme of education we must not forget the basal primitive means of culture. Schools and the formal school arts are not absolutely necessary (9) My meaning is now, I trust, clearly apparent. All school arts should be developed out of life's pursuits and in turn contribute to the better accomplishment of these activities." (Bolton.) 1 "The prime problem of education, as the sociologist views it, is how to promote adaptation of the individual to the social conditions, natural and artificial, within which individuals live, and move, and have their being Sociology has no tolerance for the pedantry that persists in 1 Bolton, Principles of Education, 1910, Chap. XXVIII, "General Dis- cipline and Educational Values," pp. 768, 769, 770. 180 MENTAL DISCIPLINE carpentering together educational courses out of subjects which are supposed to exercise, first, the perceptive faculty, then the memory, then the lan- guage faculty, then the logical faculty, etc. On the contrary, every represented contact of a per- son with a portion of reality sooner or later calls into exercise every mental power of that person, probably in a more rational order and proportion than can be produced by an artificial process. Our business as teachers is primarily, therefore, not to train particular mental powers, but to select points of contact between learning minds and the reality that is to be learned. The mind's own autonomy will look out for the appropriate series of subjective mental process. In the second place, our business as teachers is to bring these percep- tive contacts of pupils' minds with points of ob- jective reality into true association with all the remainder of objective reality, i.e., we should help pupils first to see things, and, second, to see things together as they actually exist in reality. In other words, the demand of sociology upon pedagogy is that it shall stop wet-nursing orphan mental faculties and find out how to bring per- sons into touch with what objectively is, as it is. The mind itself will do the rest." (Small.) 1 1 Small, American Journal of Sociology, May, 1897, "Some Demands of Sociology Upon Pedagogy," pp. 842, 843. EDUCATIONAL VALUES 181 "The only thing that can 'develop' or 'strengthen' the faculties or the mind is knowl- edge, and all real knowledge is science. The ef- fect of this on the mind is to furnish it with some- thing. It constitutes its contents, and, as we have seen, the power, value, and real character of mind depend upon its contents. Without knowledge the mind, however capable, is impotent and worth- less. But there is a great mass of knowledge in the world. It does no good unless it is possessed by the mind. It is a power as soon as it is pos- sessed by the mind. It is as useful to one mind as to another. It is the only working power in society, and the working power of society increases in proportion to the number possessing it, — prob- ably in a greater proportion. Only a few minds possess any considerable part of it. All are capable of possessing it all. The paramount duty of society, therefore, is to put that knowledge into the minds of all its members." (Ward.) 1 1 Ward, Applied Sociology, 1906, p. 312. There is a failure here to distinguish clearly between knowledge and ability. CHAPTER VIII THE ELEMENTARY CURRICULUM What are the elements of subject-matter and of method which are repeated over and over again in such important ways in the environment as to necessitate their being included in the school preparation of the great majority of people in that environment? Germany and France have answered this question with far more national unanimity and success than we can hope to attain in this country, because our local control and di- versity of conditions render such uniformity unde- sirable and impossible. Is it not possible, how- ever, for our States, individually if not collectively, to select a minimum of elements in language, arithmetic, geography, etc., which will be common and valuable to the present or future environ- ments of the great majority of their elementary school pupils? These elements will be selected on account of the superior number and importance (quantity and quality) of their uses in the environ- 182 ELEMENTARY CURRICULUM 183 ment, in comparison with other elements competing for their places in the curriculum. A glance at many text-books used in our schools reveals a collection of elements of all degrees of value, from zero up to the highest. Especially is this true in arithmetic, geography, and history. And, far more significant, these elements are often not graded or emphasized so as to show their value as compared with each other; on the dead level fact versus fact both teacher and pupil be- come bewildered in interpreting the usefulness of the elements presented. The amount of space and time devoted to this or that element is often dis- proportionate, above or below, their real value as judged by a true environmental standard. The emphasis put upon a given element in school should reflect the emphasis put upon it in the en- vironment. The difficulty in mastering an ele- ment of subject-matter or of method might cause it to take up more time and attention in school than its comparative value would justify; but this would be unusual, if the element were properly placed in the curriculum and the proper prepara- tion were made for it. However, if the time and attention required to master the element would still be far in excess of its real value, then there 1 84 MENTAL DISCIPLINE would be doubt as to its right to a place in the cur- riculum at all. McMurry has well criticized the lack of proper emphasis in courses of study and has outlined a topical scheme based upon the comparative use- fulness of the elements. He also shows how such a scheme would eliminate many elements of com- parative uselessness, now emphasized on account of their supposed disciplinary value. "The idea that the discipline gained will make up for all losses is one of those long-lived myths which is at last rapidly disappearing before a more rational view of education. A large proportion of the time of children is now wasted by excellent teachers in gaining a formal excellence in studies which is beyond the present needs of the children, and has no defence except on the basis of the exploded doc- trine of formal discipline." 1 The present necessity is for an elimination of the less important elements and a graded scale of emphasis upon the more important. The over- crowded curriculum would then be reduced in amount, confusion, and strain. Room would be made for those new elements that by their com- parative value deserve places in the curriculum; 1 McMurry, Course of Study in the Eighth Grades, 1906, Vol. I., pp. 47. 48. ELEMENTARY CURRICULUM 185 nature-study and manual training would be repre- sented proportionately to their environmental usefulness; domestic, industrial, and commercial elements would be free to assert their value and rights in elementary education. Progressive changes in the environment would cause progres- sive changes in the curriculum, by the elimination of old elements, the introduction of new elements, or a redistribution of emphasis upon the elements. And, over and above the minimum requirements for any State system, or even for any local system, there would still be room for elements of special usefulness to individual pupils or groups of pupils according to their abilities, tastes, or future occu- pations. There is no overwhelming difficulty in working out an agreement as to the elements of arithmetic, geography, history, etc., which will identify the school environment with the outside environment. What are the most important present uses of deci- mal fractions ? These certainly can be determined. Then put these and only these uses in the curricu- lum. What are the elements of knowledge about the German Empire most often required of our citizens generally by our present relations to that country? These certainly can be deter- mined. Then put these elements and only these 1 86 MENTAL DISCIPLINE in the curriculum. What are the facts about the Louisiana Purchase necessary for the mass of our citizens to know? These certainly can be deter- mined. Then put these facts and only these in the curriculum. And so on through the elementary school studies. We claim that these elements can be selected after careful appraisal by experts and that only in such a way can a curriculum be formed that will have the most functional power for the largest number of pupils. To claim that it is im- possible for any group of people to realize an environmental standard of comparative values in making out a curriculum is to deny the possibility of intelligent guidance in education. We do not claim that the elements of most comparative value can be selected by this or that text-book author or publisher, however good he may be, for such a selection requires a broader, deeper knowledge of environmental values than one man can pos- sess. Through expert committees, appointed by States or by professional associations, the best and most comprehensive knowledge available should be brought to bear upon the selection of elements for courses of study in the public schools. Rather than have these courses blindly conform to this or that text-book, which may or may not ELEMENTARY CURRICULUM 187 have any creditable or consistent selection and valuation of elements, the courses should repre- sent and realize the best standard that the special- ists can make. Then, to this standard text- books should be made to conform. The choice of the mental food and exercise of hundreds of thousands of children is far too important a prob- lem to be left to a text-book author, to a pub- lisher, to an official, or to a lay board of trustees. The lackadaisical way in which the selection of the curriculum is left to anybody or everybody is cause for a serious indictment of the educational profession. No wonder we are skeptical about ever knowing the value of this or that element, when we take so little care about the selection of it and rely upon a crude empiricism to test it. The contest between content and form in the elementary school is often confused with the con- test between the adherents and the opponents to the doctrine of formal discipline. But an em- phasis upon the form studies is not inconsistent with the doctrine of specific disciplines. The problem now is to control this emphasis according to the need of these specific forms in the outside environment, to give only such attention to them as will be required for their mastery and for their use in that environment. That a form is often over- 188 MENTAL DISCIPLINE emphasized, we agree, especially as it is sometimes taught apart from the content and relations with which it is environmentally used. But, as Dewey says, form is of as much value as content and should receive its due emphasis "in subordination to an end." The building of general concepts of method from particular methods is not the work, of the elementary school to a great degree. The pupil is not ready for such conceptualizing. The con- scious abstracting of the common elements from particular methods and the generalizing of these into a general concept of method require a men- tal development that rarely comes before adoles- cence. Therefore, the mastery of particular methods, of special forms, is the methodological aim of the elementary school; and this means, of course, particular methods of the most compara- tive value in relation to particular subject-matter of the most comparative value. In many sub- jects and especially in the realm of "morals and manners" there are opportunities for the teacher to suggest other particular applications of a method than those actually applied in particular situations in school or home or playground. These suggested applications extend the conscious- ness of the method's applicability, and tend to ELEMENTARY CURRICULUM 189 make widely transferable the specific ability de- veloped through use of the method, even though general concepts are not formed. In the last two years of the elementary school, when many pupils have reached the adolescent period, some specific methods can be worked up into general concepts; but care must be taken not to force this process prematurely. 1 The high-school furnishes the great opportunity in public education for forming gen- eral concepts of method, and it is to this aspect of the secondary curriculum that we will devote most attention. 1 Bagley, Journal of Educational Psychology, January, 1910: "The assumption that the elementary school is not important in building general concepts of method has not as yet a satisfactory basis in experimental tests. In the reviewer's opinion, there is a strong prob- ability that the specific training of childhood may be made to issue in general attitudes or prejudices that fulfill the same function as the logically-developed concepts of method." This point is well made. Though we believe that the systematic formation of concepts of method cannot be a part of school work before adolescence, the sug- gested substitutes for the pre-adolescent period are of great value. CHAPTER IX THE SECONDARY CURRICULUM The most generally valuable elements of the environment having been introduced into the ele- mentary curriculum, there is not as much need for a large body of prescribed elements in the second- ary curriculum. The basic representativeness of the elementary course, even more than the age and nature of the adolescent pupils, allows election in the high-school. It must never be forgotten, how- ever, that a general, all-round development of high- school pupils necessitates their mastering such simi- lar elements of subject-matter and of method as will prepare them to meet the general and funda- mental needs of the environment they will have in common with each other. Specialization in the high-school should be based upon a minimum of definitely and uniformly prescribed studies, such as English, geometry, United States history, and either biology or physics. Over and above this limited prescription, 190 SECONDARY CURRICULUM 191 studies with similar elements of subject-matter or of method can be grouped together and elected by pupils according to their individual capacities and careers. The group system can be defended on the principle that similar elements in group studies, rather than exactly the same elements in prescribed studies, are sufficient to promote a simi- lar general development in all pupils, while allow- ing some freedom of choice. The system can fur- ther be defended on the principle that, even though the subject-matter in a group may be different, the similarity of the methods used with this different subject-matter is sufficient and far more important in promoting a similar general development in all pupils. This is especially true if the common elements in the specific methods used by the pupils are consciously abstracted and generalized by them into general concepts of method, applicable to the entire group. If studies have little similarity, either in subject-matter or in method, they should not be grouped together and pupils should not be allowed to substitute one for the other, except as a free elective. And finally, over and above definite prescrip- tions and group electives, there ought to be some room in the secondary curriculum for free electives, to allow individuality free play without any con- 192 MENTAL DISCIPLINE sideration of uniformity or similarity as compared with the other pupils. As to what proportion of the entire course should be given to each of the three divisions — definite prescriptions, group electives, and free electives — few will agree. But, as Dutton and Snedden show, the practical agreement on this problem is really greater than might appear at first thought. "At present it may be said that throughout the secondary schools of the United States there are prescribed: a foreign language, algebra and geometry, English, a science, and one year in history. This makes about two-thirds of the course, leaving certain possible alternations, to be made according as the student aims to enter this or that college, or to go into active life." Of the six prescribed studies, three (algebra, geometry, and English) are definite prescriptions, and three (foreign language, science, and his- tory) are group electives. Of course, in many high-schools the foreign language or science or history is definitely prescribed, but we may con- sider it the present tendency to put these studies into groups. The authors also emphasize the in- fluence upon this course of the doctrine of formal discipline. "Latin and mathematics occupy promi- nent places in all secondary school curricula be- SECONDARY CURRICULUM 193 cause of a general belief in their value as agents of mental training. This is illustrated by the fact that in almost all high schools mathematics is a prescribed study for girls as well as boys, al- though the former will very rarely follow the sub- ject up and apply it to cultural or vocational stages. This theory has also affected the charac- ter of the teaching of other subjects not originally introduced for disciplinary purposes. Modern languages, science, and even history have been modified along lines supposed to be suited to mental training." * Although the criticisms made against the hap- hazard selection of elements in the elementary cur- riculum apply with equal force to the secondary curriculum, we will not repeat our former discus- sion, but will confine our attention to the pre- scribed and the group elective system and to the general method aim of the high-school. Does the present secondary course, as sum- marized by Dutton and Snedden, include for the majority of pupils the elements of the most com- 1 Dutton and Snedden, Administration of Public Education in the United States, 1908, pp. 366, 362. A similar discussion is to be found in Brown (J. F.), American High School, 1909, Chap. VII. Brown expresses a belief in the specific character of mental discipline but fails to make a consistent application of his belief in his program of studies. See also the outline of definite prescriptions and group electives in De Garmo, Principles of Secondary Education, Vol. I., "The Studies," p. 177. 194 MENTAL DISCIPLINE parative value of the environment? As to the specific value of subject-matter or of method, it does not. Algebra and geometry are of compar- atively little specific value to most high-school boys and girls, except as a preparation for advanced work in similar subjects, which only a few will take. The need of algebra and geometry in physics has probably been over-elaborated, and the need of them in some vocations is a special (elective) not a general need. The subject-mat- ter of English is, of course, of supreme value in giving an acquaintance with the best uses of our language and the best ideals of our literature, though there is a doubt as to the environmental value of some of the linguistic and literary anat- omy now required. The three group electives (foreign language, science, and history) vary in specific value according to the subject taken in each of the three groups. Some studies in a group may rank above others in that group in the com- munity of their elements with more frequent and more important elements in the environment of most pupils. Therefore, a pupil may elect from a group a study of less value, and this loss in his general development may not be compensated for by advantages to his individual capacity or career, because in the same group a more valuable SECONDARY CURRICULUM 195 study for general development might also have had just as much value for him individually. As has been suggested, the group system is justified by its efforts to combine general representative- ness with individual freedom, but many efforts of this kind fail by sacrificing the former to the lat- ter without compensation. It might be wise to increase the number of definite prescriptions and still leave a surplus for group election. However, for both the definite prescriptions and for the group electives in the secondary curriculum, there is great need for a more careful study of the speci- fic values of subjects than has yet been at- tempted. In the secondary school, far more than in the elementary school, studies have a general method value in addition to the value of their specific sub- ject-matter and method. The rationalizing ten- dency of adolescent pupils can be guided to form, from the specific methods used, general concepts of method of great environmental value. But we repeat that concentrated effort on the part of both teacher and pupil is required to do this. The most wasteful weakness in high-school teaching is the failure to work out and apply general con- cepts of method — from mathematics, concepts of an exact and universally valid method ; from natu- 196 MENTAL DISCIPLINE ral sciences, concepts of the inductive and deduc- tive phases of scientific method; from languages, concepts of how to interpret and master forms of expression; from history, concepts of how to un- derstand and deal with social conditions. What are the kinds of general method to be prescribed, definitely or by groups, in the curricu- lum of all high-school pupils? First, the method of pure mathematics; second, the method of the mathematico-physical sciences; third, the method of the biological sciences; fourth, the method of the psychological sciences; fifth, the method of the sociological sciences. The first method is exact and universally valid — the ideal of all the sciences; the second approaches the first in so far as our knowledge of the data and their causes allows us to use exact quantitative forms; the third includes life variations, and, therefore, con- not use exact quantitative forms; the fourth in- cludes the psychic in addition to the life varia- tions; and the fifth includes the social in addi- tion to the life and the psychic variations. There is a decrease in exactness and validity as we go from the first to the fifth. Every high- school pupil should know and use each of these five divisions of method, for one method cannot take the place of another and even within these SECONDARY CURRICULUM 197 large divisions there are subdivisions with im- portant differences in method. In the secondary curriculum, geometry is a good example of the first method, physics of the second, botany of the third, psychology of the fourth, and history of the fifth. Physical geography uses mainly the second and the third methods; language, literature, ethics, and art the fourth and fifth. At present, the second- ary curriculum is weakest in the fifth method, — the most important of the five. It should be specially represented by history, civics, economics, and commercial geography. In addition to these five divisions of method, emphasis should be given to the methods of manual, domestic, and industrial training. If all high-school pupils are required to work out and apply each one of the methods here mentioned, they ought to be well educated, espe- cially if the methods have been derived from studies of great specific value. Our brief mention of elementary and second- ary curricula serves only to illustrate the standard of values previously outlined. We have confined our discussion and our references almost entirely to the one problem of mental discipline, with a few of its applications. Though we have pur- posely omitted any discussion of college education, on account of our skepticism regarding it, we be- 198 MENTAL DISCIPLINE lieve that the principles emphasized in this essay will apply to it also. Mental discipline is the most important thing in education, but it is specific, not general. The ability developed by means of one subject can be transferred to another subject only in so far as the latter has elements in common with the former. Abilities should be developed in school only by means of those elements of subject-matter and of method that are common to the most valuable phases of the outside environment. In the high- school there should also be an effort to work out general concepts of method from the specific methods used. Through courses which develop valuable specific abilities and, in addition, valuable concepts of method, the school can become a vital, direct means of preparing boys and girls for en- vironmental usefulness, especially if the school com- bines, simultaneously or successively, with the gen- eral course such vocational training as will make its graduates independent economic factors in society. BIBLIOGRAPHY AND INDEX {Page numbers refer to place of reference in this book.) Adams, Herbartian Psychology Applied to Edu- cation, 1897, pp. 17, 18. Angell (J. R.), Educational Review, June, 1908, "The Doctrine of Formal Discipline in the Light of the Principles of General Psychology," PP-3I-3- Arnold, School and Class Management, vol. II, 1910, p. 52. Bagley, Educative Process, 1905, chap. XIII, "Formal versus Intrinsic Values of Experience: The Doctrine of Formal Discipline," pp. 79, 80, 138, 139. Bagley, Journal of Educational Psychology, Jan- uary, 1910, pp. 136, 147, 148, 189. Bagley, Psychological Bulletin, March, 19 10, "The Psychology of School Practice," p. 64. Bain, Education as a Science, 1878, p. 22. Bair, Psychological Review Monographs, 1902, 199 200 MENTAL DISCIPLINE vol. V, No. 19, "The Practice Curve," pp. 71, 72, 130. Bennett, Formal Discipline, 1907, pp. 93-94. Bergstrom, American Journal of Psychology, June, 1894, "The Relation of the Interference to the Practice Effect of an Association," p. 130. Bolton, Principles of Education, 19 10, chap. XXVIII, "General Discipline and Educational Values," pp. 46, 47, 134, 135, 138, 178, 179. Bolton, School Review, February, 1904, "Facts and Fictions Concerning Educational Values," p. 47. Book, Psychology of Skill, 1908, p. 66. Brown (E. E.), Congress of Arts and Sciences, St. Louis, 1904, vol. VIII, "Present Problems in the Theory of Education," p. 28. Brown (E. E.), Public School Journal, December, 1893, "How is Formal Culture Possible?" pp. 24-8. Brown (J. F.), American High School, 1909, p. 193- Burk, World's Work, June and July, 1909, "The Bankruptcy of 'Education,' " pp. 176-8. Charters, Methods of Teaching, 1909, pp. 61, 62. Cole, American Hope, 19 10, chap. V, "The Training of Powers," pp. 35, 36. BIBLIOGRAPHY AND INDEX 201 Colgrove, The Teacher and the School, 19 10, p. 52. Collar and Crook, School Management and Meth- ods of Instruction, 1900, p. 29. Collins, School Review, October, 1906, p. 97. Colvin, Some Facts in Partial Justification of the So-Called Dogma of Formal Discipline, 1909 and 19 10, University of Illinois, pp. 57-60, i35> J 36, 138, 163. Coover and Angell (F.), American Journal of Psychology, July, 1907, "General Practice Ef- fect of Special Exercise," pp. 79, 95, 96. Cousinet, UEducateur Moderne, April, 19 10, pp. 136, 166. Davis, Yale Psychological Studies, 1898, "Re- searches Upon Cross-Education," pp. 6^ 68-71. Dearborn, Journal of Educational Psychology, September, 19 10, "Experiments in Learning," PP- 52, 53- Dearborn, Psychological Bulletin, February, 1908, "The General Effects of Special Practice in Memory," p. 85. Dearborn, School Review, December, 19 10, p. 136. De Garmo, Dictionary of Philosophy and Psy- chology, 1 901-2, "Formal Culture," p. 7. 202 MENTAL DISCIPLINE De Garmo, Principles of Secondary Education, vol. I, 1907, "The Studies," p. 193. Delabarre, Education, May, 1909, "Formal Dis- cipline and the Doctrine of Common Elements," PP- I49-I5 2 - Dewey, How We Think, 19 10, pp. 47-50. Dewey, Science, January 28, 19 10, "Science as Subject-Matter and as Method," p. 50. Dexter and Garlick, Psychology in the School- room, 1905 ed., p. 29. Dutton and Snedden, Administration of Public Education in the United States, 1908, pp. 192, 193. Ebert and Meumann, Archiv fur die Gcsamte Psychologic, IV Band, 1. u. 2. Heft, 1904, pp. 65, 85. Ellison, Pedagogical Seminary, March, 1909, "The Acquisition of Skill," p. 64. Foster, Journal of Educational Psychology, Jan- uary, 19 1 1 , "The Effect of Practice upon Visual- izing and upon the Reproduction of Visual Im- pressions," p. 117. Fracker, Psychological Review Monographs, 1908, vol. IX, No. 38, University of Iowa Studies in Psychology, No. 5, "On the Trans- ference of Training in Memory," pp. 89-93. BIBLIOGRAPHY AND INDEX 203 Graves, History of Education, vol. I, 1909, vol. II, 1910, pp. 14, 15. Hanus, Educational Aims and Educational Values, 1899, pp. 176, 177. Hayward, Education and the Heredity Spectre, 1908, p. 18. Henderson, Education, May, 1909, "Formal Dis- cipline from the Standpoint of Analytical and Experimental Psychology," pp. 44-6. Henderson, Text-Book in the Principles of Educa- tion, chap. X, "The Question of Formal Dis- cipline," pp. 15, 16, 130, 135, 138, 157-9. Hinsdale, Studies in Education, 1896 ("Dogma of Formal Discipline," 1894, and "Laws of Mental Congruence," 1895), PP- 2 ^» 29. Hoose, Report of National Educational Associa- tion, 1890, "Mental Effects of Form in Sub- ject-Matter," pp. 23, 24. Home, Education, May, 1909, "The Practical Influence of the New Views of Formal Dis- cipline," p. 166. Home, Psychological Principles of Education, 1906, p. 166. Huey, Psychology and Pedagogy of Reading, 1908, p. 10. 20 4 MENTAL DISCIPLINE Hugh, Pedagogical Seminary, 1898, "Formal Discipline From the Standpoint of Physiological Psychology," pp. 18-20. James, Principles of Psychology, 1890, vol. I, pp. 84, 85. Judd, Educational Review, June, 1908, "The Re- lation of Special Training to General Intelli- gence," pp. 81-4. Judd, School Review, February, 19 10, "On the Scientific Study of High School Problems," pp. 39-42, 130. Lewis, School Review, April, 1905, "A Study in Formal Discipline," pp. 96, 97. Main, Educational Agriculture, 19 10, Western State Normal School, Hays, Kansas, p. 51. McMurry, Course of Study in the Eight Grades, 1906, vol. I, p. 184. Meiklejohn, Educational Review, February, 1909, "Is Mental Training a Myth?" pp. 148, 149. Miller, Psychology of Thinking, 1909, pp. 50, 51. Monroe, Text-Book in the History of Education, 1905, pp. 13, 14. BIBLIOGRAPHY AND INDEX 205 Miinsterberg, Psychology and the Teacher, 1909, PP- 33-5- Norsworthy, New York Teachers' Monographs, December, 1902, "Formal Training," pp. 103, 104. O'shea, Dynamic Factors in Education, 1906, pp. 133, 134. O'shea, Education as Adjustment, 1903, pp. 174, 175- Pillsbury, Educational Review, June, 1908, "The Effects of Training on Memory," pp. $6, 57. Raymont, Principles of Education, 1906 ed., pp. 152, 153- Rein, Outlines of Pedagogics, 1892, p. 17. Rietz and Shade, Correlation of Efficiency in Mathematics and Efficiency in Other Subjects, University of Illinois, 1908, pp. 98, 99. Roark, Economy in Education, 1905, p. 29. Rowe, Habit-Formation and the Science of Teach- ing, 1909, pp. 60, 61, 138. Royce, Outlines of Psychology, 1903, pp. 54-6. Ruediger, Educational Review, November, 1908, 206 MENTAL DISCIPLINE "The Indirect Improvement of Mental Func- tions through Ideals," pp. 80, 81. Ruediger, Principles of Education, 1909, pp. 138, 153-5- Riiger, Psychology of Efficiency, Archives of Psy- chology, No. 15, 1910, pp. 110-116, 136. Schurman, School Review, February, 1894, p. 126. Scott, Psychological Review, March, 19 10, "Per- sonal Differences in Suggestibility," p. 116. Scripture, Smith and Brown, Yale Psychological Studies, 1894, "On the Education of Muscular Control and Power," pp. 66-8. Shorey, School Review, November, 19 10, "A Symposium on the Value of Humanistic, Par- ticularly Classical, Studies : The Classics and the New Education: III. The Case for the Clas- sics," pp. 37-9. Sihler, New York Evening Post, October 1, 19 10, "The Elective System," pp. 36, 37. Small, American Journal of Sociology , May, 1897, "Some Demands of Sociology upon Pedagogy," pp. 179, 180. Snedden, Problem of Vocational Education, 19 10, p. 51. Spencer, Education, 1861 ed., p. 165. BIBLIOGRAPHY AND INDEX 207 Starch, Psychological Bulletin, January, 19 10, "A Demonstration of the Trial and Error Method in Learning," pp. 76, 77. Stone, Arithmetical Abilities, 1908, pp. 104, 105. Swift, Mind in the Making, 1908, chap. VI, "The Psychology of Learning," pp. 72—6. Taylor, School Review, 1894, pp. 126, 127. Thorndike, Educational Psychology, 1903 ed., chap. VIII, "The Influence of Special Forms of Training upon More General Abilities," pp. 78, 79, 133. (This chapter is omitted from the 19 10 ed., but a similar discussion is promised for a second volume). Thorndike, Educational Psychology, 19 10 ed., chap. IX, "The Relations between the Amounts of Different Traits in the Same Individual," pp. 44, 101. Thorndike, Principles of Teaching, 1906, chap. XV, "Formal Discipline," pp. 42-44, 137. Thorndike and Woodworth, Psychological Re- view, 1 90 1, "The Influence of Improvement in One Mental Function upon the Efficiency of Other Functions," pp. 79, 102. Tompkins, Philosophy of Teaching, 1891, p. 166. Wallin, Journal of Educational Psychology, 208 MENTAL DISCIPLINE March, 19 10, "The Doctrine of Formal Dis- cipline: Two Neglected Instances of Transfer of Training," pp. 77, 78. Ward, Applied Sociology, 1906, p. 181. Wardlaw, Educational Review, January, 1898, "Is Mental Training a Myth?" p. 134. Wendell, Privileged Classes, 1908, "Our National Superstition," pp. 30, 31. Whipple, Journal of Educational Psychology, May, 19 10, "The Effect of Practice upon the Range of Visual Attention and of Visual Ap- prehension," pp. 116, 117. Whipple, Manual of Mental and Physical Tests, 1910, pp. 52, 64, 101. White, Elements of Pedagogy, 1886, p. 29. Winch, British Journal of Psychology, January, 1908, "The Transfer of Improvement in Mem- ory in School Children," pp. 86-9. Winch, Journal of Educational Psychology, De- cember, 19 10, "Accuracy in School Children. Does Improvement in Mathematical Accuracy 'Transfer' ?" pp. 102, 103, 105-110. Youmans, Culture Demanded by Modern Life, 1867, "Mental Discipline in Education," p. 21. Ziller, Public School Journal, 1893, Quotations by Brown (E. E.), pp. 24, 25. o o Date Du AA 001 144 990 i APR 9 "59 JUN b APR ?. 6 \ C M APR 9 OCT a Z Wr^h mw SEP 3 3 \m — 6 1962 1S$ 3) Library Bureau Cat. No. H37 H 3 UNIVERSITY OF CA RIVERSIDE, LIBRARY 3 1210 01851 7837