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Page 5 text:
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THE NORMAL ADVANCE 3 1?: forces of selection in racial evolution, the 'xge'repared-those without ready-made reac- s to the stimuli of racial experience, have n eliminated, while those that were able to und fittingly to these stimuli survived. 4!in the partridge family this preservative at- de is even more marked than in the chick, w the selective forces have been more per- nt. The young of pheasants and quail ct quickly and with precision in the presence '. an enemy. You that have observed the mug of these birds have noted that they are ' 1y able to evade a foe. Young quail when urbed disappear in the leaves with great rity. They are perfectly educated in so ' as coping with such an experience is con- ed. iThe young mouse needs no coaching to better ble it to evade an enemy. A sensory stimu- ex motor impulse suiiiciently strong to h ch it into a hasty retreat. These definite inborn reactions to stimuli are nerally called instincts. Instinctive acts are her definite and immediate, as the chick tching the fly; or serial and mediated as the gets of the bird in returning from the south, lding its nest, sitting upon its eggs, and ding its young. Whether single or serial, se reactive tendencies have persisted and ac- ulated in succeeding generations because ey have been preservative. When the off- ring falls heir to an environment similar to at of its parents the chances are that it will Vive. Should the environment change rapid- the young will be extremely embarrassed be- use of its ready-made reactive attitude. The use reacts poorly in the presence of a trap; e fish acts badly in the presence of a hook; d the pond-lily inadequately adjusts itself .. the absence of water. A radical change in 6 environment of organic life insures its de- n yuction. The elimination of the mastodon, uli'alo, wild turkey, and the wild pigeon, in he animal world, and of the arctic plants that chompanied the glacier, in the plant world, are illustrations of a convincing nature. from an enemy is sufficient to generate a . 'Because of these persistent instinctive ten- dencies, fixed as they are in nervous tissue, it is hard to educate the lower animals. It is only thru continuous effort in an appeal to the pre- servative feelings of pleasure and pain that new habits are initiated. In all cases the spring to the act is a sensory motor stimulus. The train- ed horse never walks on his hind feet until he receives a cue from the trainer. It is thru con trolled sensory motor stimuli that the reproduc- tion of a desired act is made possible. It is disheartening, indeed, that these ac- quired reactive tendencies, either in man or in the lower animals, are not transmissible. The only transmissible quality is the ability to ac- quire the desired reaction. Dan Patch and Hamburg Belle would have lost nothing in speed had their ancestors never seen a sulky nor heard a ttstarterisil gong. Seemingly, the young child is less fortunate than the lower animals, since it has fewer re- active tendencies in response to its environ- ment. Its reactive ttcapitalll relative to the welfare of the body, such 'as the tendency to control the beating of the heart, to raise the thorax, to move the walls of the alimentary canal, and to secrete digestive fluids, is relative- ly as well organized as in the lower animals. But because of manis rapid social and economic progress his oifspring has few reactive in- stincts that especially'iit it for this new inherit- ance. It must build a reactive behavior for this new environment. Thru reflexive responses to the stimuli of these relatively new surround- ings it acquires its first feeling of social worth, secures its first sense of economic value. Thru reacting to stimuli that give pleasure and in- hibiting those that give pain it acquires a ten- dency to behavior that is in keeping with its environment. It seems incredible to the casual observer that this acquired reactive behavior which is so hard to secure is not transmissible to succeeding gen- erations and yet the investigations of biological science have convincingly demonstrated that it is not to any marked degree, if at all. The truth of this conclusion is inferred from our
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Page 6 text:
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4 THE NORMAL ADVANCE common experiences. One hardly expects the son of a skilled marble player to possess a more 'skilled thumb than the other boys of the com- munity; nor the son of an expert billiard player to have more skilled eyes and muscles for di- recting the billiard one than his fellows; nor the'child of a blacksmith to have a right arm decidedly larger than the left. Examples are legion in support of this contention. This bio- logical hypothesis seems to strike at the very heart of progress. It calls our attention to this problem: how can the race increase in voca- tional skill and civic insight, if each generation sinks to the same level as that of its predeces- sors? If acquired nerve paths were the only factor involved there could be little or no ad- vance. Fortunately there are other factors to be considered in human progress. That effort is not accumulative is only true biologically, certainly in no other sense. Biologically speak- ing the child of today has inherited nothing of the tendency and habit acquired by his ances- tors either thru accidental or purposed applica- tion. In this particular the race has gained nothing by its long experience. Barring this, the child is their of all the ages? Tho he has not inherited the particular literary skill ac- quired by Shakespeare and Browning, yet he has inherited ttHamleth, and tiMacbethf, tiPippa Passesih and ctRabbi Ben Ezra? and tho he has not inherited the artistic skill of Turner and Landseer, he has inherited ttThe Mouth of the Seinell and ttThe Fighting Tem- erariefi tiShoeing the Bay Mareih and ctThe Monarch of the Glen? And tho he has not in- herited the power in statesmanship acquired by Franklin, J efferson and Hamilton; or the mili- tary skill acquired by Washington and Grant, he has inherited the government projected and protected by these men. He has not inherited the skill in Socratic questioning acquired by Plato, or the pedgogic ability acquired by Froebel, Pestolozzi, and Horace Mann, and yet he -has inherited our great school system which has been materially influenced by the teaching of these men. Tho this phase of biological re- search denies the inheritance of acquired ten- dencies to react to stimuli, it in no way bars i us from inheriting a highly organized social structure with its varied interests and.responsi- bilities. Nor does it bar us from the possibility of inheriting a higher degree of nervous energy and a more eliicient co-ordination of nervous elements, both of which may be transmitted thru chance variation or thru the combination of accented qualities in the parents. The spe- cific social accomplishments that are crystal- , Zized in and thru institutional life, plus a plas- . tic nervous system with strong individual and generic tendencies, is the Heritage of Formal E ducation. . The problem of the teacher is here tentatively a suggested. He must take these elements-the immature child with strong individual and gen- , eric tendencies on the one hand, and the mater- ials of education telements of social progressi 0n the other, and so stimulate the one by the correct presentation of the other, that thru self- ' activity this. immature child frees itself from the limitations that these materials naturally i impose upon it. Such a process, when intelli- I gently directed, is method in teaching. To se- cure an intelligent control of this process is the function of educational theory and practice. It involves, first, a thoro knowledge of the aim of education. Without a definite notion of the needs of the society of the near future, the teacher cannot intelligently lead the child to an adequate realization of its social responsi- bility nor to a reactive behavior that will meet that responsibility. ' Efficient teachers must be 'idealists, since it is their function to prepare children to fit into a social and economic struc- ture that is notably dynamic in character. But worthy ideals are the outgrowth of present reals. This imposes upon the teacher the re- sponsibility of acquainting herself with the. civic and economic life of the present in view of- its future bearing. A knowledge of subject- matter alone is not sufiicient for the teacher. She must know the social bearing of such sub- ject-matter when acquired. She should know whether it will prepare the child for a life of dreaming or a life of doing.
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