[Dissertation] The Child-Study Movement in American Education, 1880-1910: A Quest for Educational Reform through a Systematic Study of the Child

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THE CHILD-STUDY MOVEMENT IN AMERICAN EDUCATION 1880-1910:

A QUEST FOR EDUCATIONAL REFORM

THROUGH A SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF THE CHILD

BY JAMES DALE HENDRICKS

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in the School of Education Indiana U niv ersity May, 1968

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A c cep ted by the faculty of the School of Education, Indiana University,

in partial fulfillment of the r e q u i r e ­

ments for the Doctoi. of B h i l o s o p h y degree.

of Thesis Doctoral Committee:

Chairman

) ? v cy^an-a4 *5 i .

May 28,

1968

ii

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AC KNOWLEDGMENT

The author wishes to acknowledge his indebtedness to the following persons for their assistance in making possible this dissertation. director, cisms,

To my teacher and thesis

Dr. Stanley E. Ballinger for his helpful criti­

suggestions,

and encouragement.

To Dr. Philip G.

Smith for his encouragement and persistence.

To my

Professors W illiam W. Lynch and Richard M. Dorson for their valuab le assistance in the planning and writing of this dissertation. Heidi,

To my wife,

for their sacrifices,

To my typist,

Mrs.

Sandra,

patience,

Janice Hedin,

and daughter, and e n c ou rag em ent .

for her work in preparing

the final manuscript.

J.D.H.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter

I.

II.

Page

INTRODUCTION

...................................

Statement of Purpose ......................... State of Knowledge About The Child-Study Movement in American Education ........... Methods and Organization .....................

3 9

A PRECURSOR OF CHILD-STUDY IDEAS: CHARLES F. ADAMS, JR., 1870-1880 ............

14

Acceptance of the Common School Idea . . . . Attacks on the Common S c h o o l s .............. Adams' Attacks on the S c h o o l s .............. - Adams' Plea for Child-Study in the U n i v e r s i t y ................................... S u m m a r y ....................................... III.

A PUBLICIST OF CHILD-STUDY IDEAS: G. STANLEY HALL, 1880-1890 Hall's Conception of Child-Study .for E d u c a t i o n ................................... 1. Child-Study as an Empirical Study of the Child's Psychological Nature . . 2. Proposed C h i l d - S t u d i e s ............. . Hall's Child-Study Role in the 1880's . . . S u m m a r y .......................................

IV.

ORGANIZATIONAL PROMOTION OF CHILD-STUDY AMONG EDUCATORS IN THE 1 8 9 0 ' s .............. Clark and Stanford Universities as Institutional Centers of Ch ild-Study . . . The Appearance of Child-Study Associations . S u m m a r y ..................................... .

V.

1

THE CHILD-STUDY MOVEMENT'S BASIC IDEAS ABOUT SCIENTIFIC CHILD-STUDY IN THE 1 8 9 0 's . Child-Study Knowledge as the Key to Progress in Education ..................... Root Ideas About Scientific Child-Study for E d u c a t o r s ..............................

iv

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1

15 17 24 40 47

48

49 52 68 76 80

82

83 104 122

124

126 137

Page

Chapter

1.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

E. H. Russell, Non-directed Obser­ vation of the C h i l d ................ 2. G. Stanley Hall, Directed Obser­ vation of the C h i l d ................ 3. Earl Barnes, Study of the Child's Compositions and Drawings ......... 4* E. W. Scripture and Joseph Jastrow, Laboratory Tests for Child-Study . . S u m m a r y .......................................

163 170

THE CHILD-STUDY MOVEMENT'S NATURISM IN THE 1890's: KNOWLEDGE OF THE CHILD'S NATURE AS A NORM FOR E D U C A T I O N ..............

173

146 15 3

The General Idea of Naturism in Western Educational Thought .............. The Child's N a t u r e ............................ The Child's Nature as Norm for E valu­ ating the Schools and for Proposing R e f o r m s ..................................... S u m m a r y .......................................

205 225

CRITICS OF THE CHILD-STUDY MOVEMENT IN AMERICAN EDUCATION, 1895-1905 ..............

2 31

Charles A. M c M u r r y ............................ William T. H a r r i s ............................ John D e w e y ..................................... Hugo M u n s t e r b e r g .............................. William James ................................ Edward L. T h o r n d i k e ......................... Summary ..............................

232 237 244 249 259 262 268

THE CHILD-STUDY MOVEMENT'S PASSING AS AN ORGANIZED MOVEMENT FROM THE EDUCATIONAL SCENE, 1901-1910 ................

2 70

The Waning Prominence of State Child-Study Societies ..................... The Pedagogical Seminary and the N.E.A. Child-Study Division: Purveyors of New E m p h a s e s ................ S u m m a r y ....................................... IX.

140

174 183

2 70

2 77 286

C O N C L U S I O N .....................................

287

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

292

....................... v

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1

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

Between 1880 and 1910,

a large number of American

educators sought to promote a set of ideas and practices designed to contribute to the reform of American education. These men and their ideas have come to be known generally as the Child-Study Movement. movement,

Certain aspects of this

as set forth in detail below,

are the subject

of this dissertation study.

Statement of Purpose

Succinctly stated,

the esential purpose of the study

is to identify and describe the "Child-Study Movement in Education" in the United States during the period 1880-1910, with respect to its rise and decline as an organized m o v e ­ ment,

including its key figures,

its leading ideas,

and its

basic assumptions about the child's -nature as the normative guide for education. This brief and general statement of purpose requires amplification.

Because movements often involve numerous

individuals who are working in different parts of the country and who are working through numerous organizations,

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leading

ideas which form a movement's ideological p erspective are often not discernible until a comprehensive investigation is conducted into its various spokesmen.

This dissertation

will attempt to make discernible those basic ideas among the Child-Study Movement's spokesmen regarding the childstudy which they sought to promote among educators.

Atten­

tion will be directed to the Movement's beliefs about how conclusions from studies of the child should be used by educators.

By centering the dissertation u pon identifying

and delineating those pervasive ideas concerning child-study and concerning the us e of child-study conclusions for edu­ cation,

it is hoped that greater understanding will be

achieved as to what the Movement's spokesmen regarded as their major thrust or emphasis with respect to child-study in edu­ cation.

Also by such a purpose,

a number of points upon

which there was consensus in the Movement will be ascertained so that it will be seen that there was consensus not just in name but in ideas among spokesmen of the Movement. With the central purpose being to set forth basic ideas in the C hil d- Stu dy Movement's ideological perspective with respect to child-study ip education, setting forth a causal analysis.

the study is not

The pr es entation of a

causal explanation is outside the central concern of the dissertation.

Causal claims and their defense with respect

to the origins of the Movement's ideological perspective, the effects of certain events in the organizational history of the Movement upon its ideological perspective,

the effects

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3

of the Movement upon future developments in America n ed u­ cation,

etc. will be avoided assiduously. Furthermore,

the dissertation does not purport to

present an evaluation of the Movement's ideological p e r ­ spective.

A historical study could take as its central

concern the evaluation of the Movement's ideological p e r ­ spective.

For example,

an attempt could be made to set forth

and defend various claims about the contribution of the Movement's ideas to the future advancement of American edu­ cation.

An evaluational study of the Movement's ideas is

not the central purpose of this study nor included indirectly in the above stated purposes for this dissertation. With respect to the surrounding cultural milieu, only incidental attention will be paid to the relations between the Movement and developments tural milieu.

in the general social and cul­

Wher ei n the Movement's ideological perspective

becomes more discernible by such matters,

attention will be

given to the Movement's continuity or discontinuity with its milieu.

State of Knowledge About The Child-Study Movement in American Education

Historians of education in this country refer to the group of individuals who were concerned with child-study in education between 1880 and 1910 as the Child-Study M o v e ­ ment.

While historians

continue to refer to the Movement,

extensive scholarly research into the Movement is not

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4 available to the historians.

There is almost a total lack

of scholarly research into the Movement's ideas about the nature of child-study to be promoted among educators

then

and about how that knowledge was to serve educators of the period. Only one historical monograph is available which takes as its central subject the Child-Study Movement.'1'

Wilbur

Harvey Dutton's monograph

identifies for the historian a

number of the key figures

involved in the Movement.

A brief

biographical

account is given the key figures identified.

Furthermore,

Mr.

Dutton's

study identifies a small portion

of the writings and studies which those figures involved in the Movement prepared.

His monograph gives some chrono­

logical details about the formation of the child-study societies.

This material is combined in his study to form

Wilbur Harvey Dutton, The Child-Studv Movemen t in American Education from I t 's Origin (1880) to the Organization of the Progressive Education A sso ci ati on (1920), unpublished doctoral dissertation, Stanford University, 1945. Ernest Belden's A History of the Child-Study Mo ve m e n t in the United S t a t e s , 1 8 7 0 - 1 9 2 0 , unpublished dissertation, University of California, Berkeley, 1965, appears on the basis of title to be a study which is related to the concern of this dis­ sertation; however, Mr. Belden's study is concerned solely with the study of infancy in this country. In selecting study of the child during infancy, his study dealt with a group of persons not directly concerned with the reform of American formal schooling. The persons with which Belden was concerned were Millicent Shinn, James M. Baldwin, George Dearborn, Louis Hogan, Mary B. Thompson, and their European precursors. The Americans studied by Belden were not a part of the organized effort to promote a child-study for educators in the hope that A m eri ca n formal education might be reformed.

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5 at best a very general account of things done as well as persons involved in the Movement.

For having provide d what

appears to have b een the first initial monograph on the Child-Study Movement,

historians of education should be

indebted to Mr. Dutton.

While Mr. Dutton did much

toward

identifying some of the key figures and toward p roviding a chronological account of their work and organizations,

he

did little toward identifying and delineating the pattern of ideas which the Movement's members were emphasizing about child-study among educators. of the Movement,

The ideological aspects

in particular the pervasive ideas which

possibly served to unify and characterize the M o v e m e n t as a whole,

were not identified and delineated by Mr.

This appears

to have not been his purpose.

particular purpose set forth for this study,

Dutton.

By taking the it is hoped

that this dissertation will be a contribution toward making discernible a number of the pervas've ideas in the M o v e ­ ment's

ideological orientation. As a number of the figures in the Child-S tud y Movement

were prominent figures among educators,

researchers might

well have enhanced our state of knowledge about the Movement's ideas as studies were completed upon these indi­ viduals and various

aspects of their work.

For example,

G. Stanley Hall's work during the years from 1880 to 1920 has received considerable attention from historians. In the various works which are concerned with Hall,

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a

6

prominent figure in the Movement,

little attention is given

to the ideas of other members of the Movement in relation to Hall's own ideas concerning a child-study for American education. Almost all works which have referred to the Movement have approached the Movement almost entirely through Hall's life and work.

2

Though Hall was indeed a prominent figure with

respect to the study of children and thus warrants considera­ ble attention,

he was by no means

the only prominent spokes­

men for a study of children among educators in this country. By approaching the Movement largely through Hall, many other important spokesmen for a child-study among professional edu­ cators are ignored repeatedly. a number of effects.

This in turn appears to have had

One is to prevent the formation of some

2

Sara Carolyn Fisher, "The Psychological and Ed u­ cational Work of Granville Stanley Hall," The American Journal of Psychology, XXXVI (January, 1925TJ pp"I 1-52; Merle Curti, The Social Ideas of American E d u c a t o r s , Paterson, New Jersey: Littlefield, Adams and Company, 1959, revised edition, pp. 396-428; Wayne Dennis, "Historical Beginnings of Child Psychology," The Psychological B u l l e t i n ,XLVI (1949), pp. 224-232; Lawrence A. C r e m i n , The Transformation of the S c h o o l : Progressivism in American E d u c a t i o n , 1 8 7 6 - 1 9 5 7 , New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1961, pp. 101-105; Robert E. Strickland, Child and the R a c e : The Doctrine of Recapitulation and Cultural Epochs in the Rise of the Child-Centered Ideal in American Education 1 8 7 5 - 1 9 0 0 , unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Wisconsin, 1963, p p . 201-259. Charles E. Strickland and Charles Burgess (editors), H e a l t h , Growth and H e r e d i t y : _G. Stanley Hall on Natural E d uca tio n, New York: Teachers College, Columbia University, 1965, pp. 1-26.

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7

idea as to the size or magnitude of this so-called Child-Study Movement.

A second is that almost nothing of

the sense in which this Movement was a movement is known. A third is that the extent to which Hall's ideas were shared by others is not known.

For example,

since Hall's ideas

and work are repeatedly linked with the Child-Study Movement and since other members of the Movement have repeatedly been ignored,

little is known about whether or not Hall's ideas

such as his theory of psychical recapitulation was shared by other members of the Movement.

By focussing upon the

writings of various other figures as well as Hall,

this

study hopes to contribute to an understanding of the M o v e ­ ment's magnitude and its character as a movement as well as ascertaining what the Movement's ideological perspective was with respect to child-study in education. Another prominent figure in the Child-Study Movement was Francis Wayland Parker. subject of researches;

3

Parker like Hall is often the

however,

the works which concern

themselves with Parker do little more than cite the Movement and the fact that Parker was an approver of Hall's'work at Clark University.

Investigation into the historical studies

of Parker reveal no attempts

made to identify for readers

the Child-Study Movement's particular perpective when 3

Robert Eugene Tostberg, Educational Ferment in C h i c a g o , 1 8 8 3 - 1 9 0 4 , unpublished dissertation, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1960; Jack Kenagy Campbell., C h i l d r e n 's C r u s a d e r : Colonel Francis W. P a r k e r , unpublished doctoral dissertation, Columbia University, 1966.

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8 Parker is cited as a spokesmen for the Movement. The same state-of-affairs

is to be found in the

historical studies completed on educators who w e r e prominent during the 1890's though not traditionally regarded as members of the C hild-Study Movement. of Thorndike,

Rice, Dewey,

etc.

The available studies

indicate that historians

have not attended directly nor indirectly to the Movement's root ideas about child-study for professional educators. From time to time general histories of education have had something to say with respect to the Movement. rule,

As a

the general histories refer oniy to the appearance of

a child-study movement in the late 1890's. h i s tor ia n will do a little more.

Occasionally a

H. G. Good provides the

mo st extensive treatment of the Movem en t to be found among general histories.

4

His treatment does

identify a few important Americans the Moveme nt in education.

little more than

traditionally linked with

As with most treatments,

attention is largely upon Hall and Clark University. his study does

little to indicate,

Good's Also

except in only an oblique

way, w h a t the Movement's basic ideological thrust was con­ cerning child-study in education. On the whole,

the state of k nowledge with respect

to the Child-Study Moveme nt among educators quate.

is greatly inade­

Despite the lack of available scholarly investigations

into the Movement,

the historians of education regard as a

4

York:

H. G. Good, A H istory of American E d u c a t i o n , New The Macmil la n Company, 1962, pp. 208-211.

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rule the Movement's ideological orientation and its efforts at promoting its orientation as having been quite s i g n i f i ­ cant in the history of American education. tion attempts

This d i s s e r t a ­

to make a contribution toward providing a

scholarly study of the Movement's

ideological perspective.

Methods and Organization

This study in its execution has followed the usual methods of inquiry followed by historians. tation of results,

For the p r e s e n ­

the procedure has not departed in any

radical w a y from those found among historians of ideas. Ch ap ter II will

indicate that the Child-Study M o v e ­

ment in A me r i c a n education when it set about to promote certain ideas among educators had, ideas,

like other movement's

precursors of its ideas in this country.

as this was thrust was

the case,

in

In so far

it will be seen that the Movement's

to give prominence and to nourish ideas already

present in the scene of American education rather than i nt er­ jecting totally novel or alien ideas for the i mprovement of American education.

Rather than pursuing a general survey,

this will be done by focussing upon the educational writings of Charles Francis Adams,

Jr., which appeared during the

years immediately preceding the Movement's appearance in this country.

The chapter will show that in the context of .

common school attacks Adams'

writings were setting forth both

a criticism of the common schools and a plea for a scientific study of the child in the university as a key for common

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10

school reform. While child-study ideas among precursors such as Adams appeared largely in u ndeveloped form, beginning in the 1 8 8 0 ’s, child-study ideas assumed more determinate form as a result of the delineation and publicity of educators in the 1 8 8 0 's and 1 8 9 0 's.

Chapter III will

treat child-study

ideas as those ideas were delineated and publicized during the 1880's,

the years prior to the decade in which recourse was

made to organized means for promoting child-study ideas delineated in the 1 8 8 0 's.

Because G. Stanley Hall's work with

respect to a child-study for educators was basically the major work completed during these years, be directed upon Hall's writing.

the attention will

From this will emerge a

picture of Hall's role during these years as that of delineator and publicist of ideas for education which were found only in rudimentary form among precursors such as Adams. The fourth chapter will center upon indicating the appearance of a movement in the 1 8 9 0 's devoted to promoting and nourishing child-study ideas organizationally among edu­ cators, Here,

ideas which were delineated and publicized in the 1880's.

'movement'

is used to refer to deliberate and concerted

efforts on the part of numerous

individuals

tional means such as institutions

through organiza-

and societies to effect the

acceptance and fruition of ideas thought to be b e n e f i c i a l .^ The chapter will identify the more public means by which 5

C. Wendell King, Social Movements in the United S t a t e s , N ew York: Random House, 195-6, pp. 2 7-59.

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■

11

a number of- i-ndividuals across the country sought to spread and nourish child-study ideas organizationally among educators. The result,

it is hoped, will be that a more complete idea

of the sense in which this so-called Child-Study Movem en t was an attempt on the part of individuals at effecting a movement will be provided the reader.

By identifying the

more visible means by which child-study ideas were to be promoted, ness,

a general picture of the deliberateness,

conce rte d­

and magnitude will be conveyed. Chapters V and VI are concerned with two clusters of

root ideas found in the body of literature emerging from the child-study centers,

societies, etc.

Chapter V will be

concerned with setting forth the root or basic ideas about the nature of a scientific child-study for American education which the Movement's major spokesmen were urging before teachers,

normal professors and superintendents.

The matter

will be in sufficient detail so that the Movement's ideas will be seen as continuous with child-study ideas as d e l i n e ­ ated by Hall and by Adams. Chapter VI will

turn to the bod y of root ideas about

how knowledge of the child

was

the improvement of education.

being used by educators for This chapter will attempt to

indicate that in the 1 8 9 0 's the Movement's

emphasis of a

number of ideas constituted a form of naturism in education the general idea that some aspect of nature

is to serve

as the norm or standard for determining the soundness of

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12

educational practices and the excellence of an educator's performance.

The ideas which comprised the Movement's emphasis

upon naturis m will be treated in sufficient detail. result, ment's

As a

the emphasis upon naturism in the Child-Study M o v e ­ literature will be seen as continuous with Hall's

many pleas of the 1 8 8 0 's that some aspect of Nature be made the norm for education

(schooling)

in this country.

In the hope of more precisely delineating the M o v e ­ ment's ideas as well as indicating who among the prominent educators were not advocates of the Movement's

ideas,

the

seventh chapter will set forth the claims made by various critics about the Child-Study Movement's ideas in the 1890's and early 1 9 0 0 's.

This treatment of the Child-Study Moveme nt

critics will focus primarily u po n those critics who were prominent educators at the time and who presented at the same time something of their perspectives for evaluating the Movement.

This,

it is hoped, will do much toward making

more d iscernible the Movement's ideas,

especially with respect

to the scientific study of the child.

Chapter VIII will

attempt to indicate the passing of The Child-Study M o v e ­ ment as an organized movement during the years from 1900 to 191b.

This will be done by attending to certain aspects

of the work completed during the decade and by indicating certain developments and the means which were used to promote child-study ideas among educators.

A number of

details about the passing of the Child-Study Movement during

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13 the years from 1900 to 1910 should likewise contribute to making the Movement's root ideas about child-study in education more discernible.

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CHAPTER II A PRECURSOR OF CHILD-STUDY IDEAS: CHARLES F. ADAMS,

JR.,

18 70-1880

The idea of a public common school system had gained considerable acceptance in the 18 70's, the decade prior to the beginnings of the Child-Study Movement in Ameri can educa­ tion.

Though the common schools were becoming firmly estab­

lished in this country during the 1870's,

they were incurring

extensive criticism from prominent Americans favoring the common s ch oc1 idea.

Varied proposals for the improvement of

the common schools appeared expressing dissatisfaction with the common schools' Adams,

Jr.,

work.

In this context,

a prominent American,

Charles Francis

set forth a number of ideas

which became root ideas in the Child-Study Movement.

The

central purpose of this chapter is to delineate those ideas which Adams expressed and which the Chdld-Study Movement was to make central among its concerns.

Some attention will be

given to the context in which Adams expressed his ideas con­ cerning education.

In later chapters,

it will be shown that

certain ideas expressed in A d a m s ' writings became root ideas of the Child-Study Movement. were:

Succinctly stated,

those ideas

the common schools as instituted in the 18 70's were

basically ineffective and repressive to children;

education

must be recognized as a science in the uni versity if the common schools were to be reformed;

through initiating the study of

the child's own modes of thinking and developing mentally

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15

and. through--using the knowledge obtained as a norm for e d u c a ­ tional reform, a science.

the university was to recognize education as

As the Child- st udy Movement in American education

was to make these ideas root ideas,

the Movement had a p r o ­

minent Amer ica n precursor in Charles Francis Adams,

Jr.

Acceptance of the Common School Idea

In the 1880's, can education began,

when the Child-Study Movement in A m e r i ­ the idea of a common school education

for all at public expense had gained considerable acceptance in the various states,

especially outside the deep South.

This acceptance came only after a long struggle,

a struggle

which began at least as early as the 1820's and only after involving the leadership efforts of numerous individuals pre­ paring pamphlets,

presenting

lectures,

and writing reports.

Besides the commonly cited efforts of James Carter and Horace Mann of Massachusetts were such individuals, Mercer of Virginia, Mills of Indiana,

and Henry Barnard of Connecticut, too infrequently cited,

there

as Fenton

Calvin Wiley of North Carolina,

Caleb

Calvin Stowe and Samuel Lewis of Ohio,

Ninian Edwards of Illinois,

Robert Breckinridge of Kentucky,

John D. Peirce of Michigan,

and John Swett of California.

The degree of success of these men and many others evidenced itself in several 'ways.

The series of state c o n ­

stitutional revisions following 1830 contained provisions for

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16

the legislative branches to encourage a system of common schools to be supported by a public tax or a public education fund derived from the sale of public lands.

A second way in

which success was evidenced was in the constitutions of states entering the un ion following 1830.

The ne w states also pos­

sessed provisions for the encouragement of a system of free common schools.

A f t er a long campaign in some older states,

the abolishment of the rate bill was achieved by 1870,

addi­

tional evidence that their ideas had gained some acceptance. In the years preceding the Civil War, candidates foj; public office occasionally won or lost elections

largely in terms of

their support or lack of support for a system of free common schools, but by 1870,

this had passed.

Following the Civil War,

some Americans gave further

evidence of their acceptance of free common schools.

State

legislatures b e gan to pass compulsory common school atten­ dance laws.

Enforc eme nt was attempted not without d i f f i ­

culties in many parts of the country.

By 18 70, the idea of

compulsory common school education was accepted in theory in two states.

The first state was Massachusetts passing its

initial law in 1852 with Vermont following in 1867.

The num­

ber of states with compulsory education legislation on the books climbed from 2 to 15 between 1870 and 1880. reached 32 before the end of the century.

This trend

The last state

to pass its first compulsory attendance law was Mississippi. The date was 1918.

The outcome of the passage of compulsory

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17

education laws b e t w e e n 1870 and 1880, factors as economic depressions

combined with such

and strikes, was apparently

that more and more children were being committed to the charge of the common schools.

The increased enrollment was reported

by the federal department of education.'*'

Attacks on the Common Schools

Despite signs of growing acceptance of the public com­ mon school idea

in the 18 70's,

the idea presented vigorous ing deficiencies

a number of persons favoring

and sharp criticisms of the exist­

in the common schools.

The critics came from

among the ranks of the clergy, college and uni versity presi­ dents,

newspaper journalists,

Rather than through books,

and normal school professors.

the characteristic means by which

they circulated their attacks were through articles for lead­ ing journals and newspapers or through speeches before groups of professional educators. The one point of agreement among the critics was that the schools could be doing a much better job than they were

■*"The percent of population between 5 to 17 years old enrolled in public day schools was supposedly 5 7.0 for 1870, 65.5 for 1880, 68.6 for 1890, 72.4 for 1900, 73.5 for 1910, and 77.8 for 1920. U.S. Bureau of the Census, Historical Statistics of the United S t a t e s , Colonial Times to 195 7 , Washington, D . C . , 1960. Apparently, the length of school years was usually quite short with very meager attendance in m a n y areas, thus, leaving much to be achieved in the way of acceptance of this' institution in m any areas.

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18 doing and that they should be doing a much better job toward educating the children in the common schools.

And so,

they

set about to identify why they were not being effective and to recommend certain things improve the situation. the public,

that might be done in order to

In short,

they sought to enlighten

especially about the common school situation which

was judged deplorable. Charles W. Eliot was an example of a line of prominent Americans in this decade to point a critical finger at the schools.

His charge was directed largely at the school boards

across the country.

In the New-Enqland Journal of E d u c a t i o n ,

appearing for the first time in Boston during the winter of 1874-1875,

Eliot castigated school boards for practicing

what he considered unwise economy and admonished them to change.

2

According to this young Harvard president,

the

school officials knowingly assigned far too many students per teacher.

In order for the schools to be more effective,

it was necessary to assign fewer students per teacher.

The

schools, he charged, were also becoming too large' to'be e f ­ fective.

Though big schools were cheaper to build rather

than several smaller schools,

they were more costly in the

long run since the effectiveness of the teachers posedly reduced. school officials

was

sup ­

A third charge was brought against the comprising the school boards.

This third

2

Charles W. Eliot, "Wise and Unwise Economy in Schools," The New-Enqland Journal of E du c a t i o n , I :2 (May 29, 1875), p. 253.

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19

charge was considerably more severe.

Inexperienced and in­

competent teachers were sought deli ber ate ly and were sub st i­ tuted for the experienced teachers because their salaries were c on siderably less.

Thus,

was informing his readers, at other times,

Eliot

expl ic itl y at times and implicitly

that the schools could and should be more

effective than they were. noticed.

through the article,

Eliot's article did not go u n ­

Some stir was evoked,

and reactions to E l i o t ’s

article appeared in successive issues. how missed the point.

Those reactions some­

The point at which attempts were •;iade

to discredit Eliot's remarks was his observation that too many females were employed as teachers in the schools,

too

many in order for the schools to be effective. Following Eliot's article in May, the schools appeared in August,

1875.

another attack upon

This time the attack

was by a person who was prominent among normal school The person was Anna C. Brackett, normal school

in this country.

3

the first woman to head a In the 1860's,

years assisting in various normal schools,

after several

she became the

principal of the normal school in St. Louis. Louis in 1870,

Leaving St.

Anna Brackett left for New York to p artici­

pate in the founding of a private school for girls. New York,

leaders.

While in

she became the corresponding editor from New York

for the New-Enaland Journal of E d u c a t i o n .

3 . • D ic tionary of American B i o g r a p h y . New York: Scribner's Sons, 1928, Vol. I, p. 546. * .

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Charles

20

Unlike Eliot, which teachers, this country.

she attacked the method of recitation

she stated,

used in the common schools across

The recitation method,

she said,

was the

teacher's requiring the students, to "read and re-read a lesson till by successive repetitions fixed in his memory."

4

the facts are mechanically

The students,

then,

awaited the teach­

er's questions which came, from a list of questions in the stu­ dents'

books.

While awaiting the teacher's questions,

the

students rehearsed to themselves the answers to the questions taken from the books.

The method,

she claimed,

resulted in

a state-of-affairs in which "students could learn the answers

. . . and stand at the head of one's class,

none the w i s e r — nay, be much the more stupid. leaving schools,

and be

. .

After

Miss Brackett further stated that the stu­

dents remained incapable of discerning the significance of things occurring around them and incapable of making good judgments in reading materials, comes which

etc.

Because of these o u t ­

she attributed to the recitation method,

criticized teachers for relying on the method. tion as a substitution was that the lecture

she

Her sugges­

system be employed r

which the Germans followed in their common schools. essence of the lecture method,

The

according to Miss Brackett,

4

Anna C. Brackett, "Recitation vs. Lecture," N e w Enaland Journal of E d u c a t i o n ,11:7 (August 28, 1875), p. 87. ^I b i d .

g Anna C. Brackett, "Hearing Recitation," The N e w England Journal of E d u c a t i o n ,I I :11 (September 25 1875), p. 133.

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21

was the teacher preparing a presentation on a topic,

pre­

senting questions to elicit responses from the students, permitting them in turn to present questions.

and

A change to­

ward the lecture system in the c o mmo n schools was supposedly the way of putting an end to turning out students capable of memorizing' but incapable of doing anything else upon leaving the schools. At Minneapolis, 'the same month,

August

(1875),

another

example of a direct assault upo n the public schools was heard. Professor William F. Phelps of Winona

(Minnesota) Normal

School gave an address entitled "The Country-School Problem" at the annual meeting of the National Educational Association. His speech was one of the first vitriolic attacks on the p u b ­ lic schools to be delivered before the N.E.A.

Hearing a live

presentation of an attack on the public schools such as the one by Phelps was indeed a rare occasion at the N.E.A. ings.

The speeches before the N.E.A.

gather­

tended to be glowing

accounts of the common schools. According to Phelps,

many Americans had come

to b e ­

lieve that a common school education of all its citizens was necessary if their democracy was to succeed.

For this and

other reasons,

the common schools were supposedly established

in communities

across the country.

The question,

stated

7 . William F. Phelps, " Th e Country-School Problem," The Addresses and Journal of P r o c e e d i n g s : National Educational A s s o c i a t i o n , 1875, pp. 7-15.

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7

22

Professor Phelps, was whether or not these schools were a blessing or a curse. system was "weakest districts."

8

According to Phelps, . . .

the public school

in its application to the rural

County schools "must yearly send forth in the

community multitudes of children and youth, well-directed study and self-denial, edge which is of most worth, problems of daily life,

undisciplined by

uninformed in that k n o w l ­

unprepared to grapple with the

and just suited to become an easy

prey to crafty demogogues or the obedient subjects of tyrants.'"

9

The result was that "ignorance,

’mitred

inefficiency,

thriftlessness and lax morality"'*'^ in public as well as in private affairs continued to be existent in society. public,

he believed,

The

had not apprehended a basic truth,

truth which could not be realized too soon.

a

That truth was

that "a school in reality and a school in name are two very different things."

American country schools in almost all

cases were schools "in name, shadow without substance."

with a form without power, As such,

a

they became instruments

for promoting the very evils that schools were intended to rectify.

Thus,

Phelps concluded that the schools were more

a curse to society than a blessing.

He felt

hi's

was to urge Americans to be attentive to quality;

obligation the quality

^ I b i d ., p . 7. ^I b i d .. p. 9. ^Ibid . , p . 10.

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23

of the schools was ultimately the basic question to attend at once,

especially the country schools.

Phelps'

proposals for improvement were not novel

though his assault before the N.E.A. was. recommendations were rather common. he urged,

In fact,

The district

his

system,

ought to be replaced by the township unit.

teacher institutes supposedly would he lp matters.

More

He urged

competitive examinations for all school officials without professional

training in the normal

school board members. thought,

schools from teachers to

Proposed changes

such as these, he

were adequate to handle the problem of quality e d u ­

cation in rural schools.

The question of what is a quality

education was treated as settled and known by all attending the conference.

The problem was seen as essentially one of

implanting quality education in areas in which it was not established.

The cities supposedly were possessors of quality

education. In time, so restricted. school boards, This time, cans;

attacks on the common schools were not to be Eventually,

things other than recitation,

and country schools we re to come "under fire."

the attacks were to be by more prominent A m e ri­

the effect was even a greater stir

among Americans who

were involved with American education.

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24 A d a m s ' Attacks on the Schools

Following the speech by Phelps Eliot and Brackett in 1875,

and the articles by

other individuals criticized the

schools directly or indirectly.

Sometimes the charge was * that the schools destroyed the health of children by a c om ­

bination of too much cramming and o v e r - s t u d y i n g . ^

At other

times the common schools were criticized for graduating stu­ dents supposedly incapable of understanding even the simple directions

involved m

a classroom assignment.

12

Though

critics appeared repeatedly and though individuals came forth to present a defense of the common schools,

no individual's

criticism of the common schools was as sharp,

direct,

and ex­

tensive as the criticism delivered by Charles F. Adams,

Jr.

His attack on the schools created by far the greatest re­ action among educational leaders

and professional groups.

Perhaps the stir that Adams created was due largely to the fact that he was a member of a politically prominent New England family,

a family whose prominence extended b eyond the

borders of New England and well beyond the confines of the upper class in the country.

Adams had already achieved con­

siderable prominence in the country through his critical

■^A. D. Mayo, "What Next in the Common Schools?," The New-Enqiana Journal of Education, I I :16 (October 30, 1875), pp. 193-195. 12

Frances H. Turner, "Errors m Our Systems of T e a c h ­ ing," The New-Enqland Journal of Education, I I I :25 (June 17, 1876), pp. 290-291.

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25

investigations of the American railway system. reports were published in leading

The critical

journals and newspapers

across the country as well as eventually in book form.

Most

of these studies on the railway system in this country were •v completed prior to his brief but important excursion into American education in the late 1870's.

Besides having come

from a prominent family in the history of our country and besides having become prominent in his own right on the basis of his work on railroads,

Charles Francis Adams,

Jr. possessed

two qualities which were likely to assist him in acquiring the attention of many persons connected with education in this country.

He possessed an affable personality according to

some contemporaries and a lucid and cogent style. to be precise,

sharp,

He was able

and direct in his attack without being

excessively divisive.

As a result,

Adams was capable of c o m ­

manding respect and admiration while also being critical. contrast to Adams, the common schools,

Richard Grant White,

another critic of

did not command the attention of educators

when he wrote articles. writings offensive.

13

In

A number of educators found White's

Besides the ability to command greater

attention from the public than other critics, ideas were occasionally quite different

Adams'

own

from other critics

13

Richard Grant White was a well-known writer who was living in New York. He wrote political articles and editorials for The Morning Courier and The New-York E n q u i r e r . He also wrote for P u t n a m 's M a g a z i n e . G a l a x y . Atlantic M o n t h l y , e t c . Besides political writings, he prepared numerous articles and books relating to music and l i t e r a t u r e ,

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26

and suggested more novel approaches to the matter of Improv­ ing the common schools. The first attack by Adams to circulate definitely be­ yond the borders of Boston and Quincy (Massachusetts) came in 1877.

Prior to this time, Adams'

remarks concerning the

schools were restricted apparently to Quincy and its vicinity. The National Journal of Education carried in 1877 his first series of written pronouncements on American schools, par­ ticularly the common schools.

The article was taken from a

speech delivered by Adams to a meeting of Quincy teachers. Both the speech and article had the revealing title of "The Public Library and the Public Schools."

14

In this article, Adams was attempting to set forth what he thought was more fundamentally wrong with the American common schools.

Unlike other critics,

Adams'

attack was not

the charge that children annually were being released from the schools totally ignorant and incapable of doing anything else other than memorizing.

His major criticism was not that

unwise economy was being practiced by school board members. In fact, his attack on the schools expressed a secondary charge that the schools were practicing no economy. dition,

In ad­

his attack was not an attack on the teachers for not

being properly trained in the normal schools nor for failing

14

Charles F. Adams, Jr., "The Public Library and The Public Schools," National Journal of EducationjV.:12 (March 22, 1877), pp. 133-134. The article was continued in the fol­ lowing issue:. V:13 (March 29, 1877), p. 147.

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27

to attend teachers' their attacks. of education,

institutes as some critics had based

His charge succinctly stated was that the aim all education for that matter,

gotten by the teachers,

parents,

had been for­

and school board members.

Most basic in his efforts at analyzing the common school situation was his conception of the true aim of a com­ mon school education.

The true aim 'of a common school educa­

tion, wrote Adams, was "to prepare the children of the community for the far greater work of educating themselves." In other words,

the aim of the schools,

15

according to Adams,

should be to produce in the student a love of learning, capacity to learn on his own after leaving school,

the

and a

willingness to utilize those resources available or to make resources available when unavailable.

Thus,

the true test

for evaluating the worth of the common schools,

according to

Adams, was what students could do and did do at the time of and in the years following their departure from the common schools.

He urged that people ask whether or not the common

school students continue their education by going on to higher grades or by reading books made available by libraries— public libraries, addition,

such as the one begun by his family in Quincy. adults in communities across the country,

he urged,

should ask whether or not students could read accurately at sight from books when they departed from the schools and whether or not the students could v \ite ordinary letters

~^I b i d . T p. 133.

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In

28 expressing their ideas lucidly, of Adams,

legibly,

etc.

In the opinion

the common schools could not be praised if students

left the schools without a desire to further their education by formal or informal means,

without the necessary reading

and writing skills, etc. Since the supposedly true aims of education were for­ gotten, what conception of aims was now present?

Adams'

answer to this question was that the means which had developed over the years to attain the true ends of education had b e ­ come the end of education in this country. the rudiments of geography, etc.

arithmetic,

grammar,

through memorization was the end.

cans believed,

so alleged Adams,

The mastery of spelling,

As a result, Ameri­

that an individual was judged

educated if the individual could show to th _• community at a public examination by teachers and school board members that he had committed the rudiments to memory.

Accompanying this

belief was purportedly another belief which was that addi­ tional education of the higher grades was valuable only if one wanted to enter a learned profession. Because of this conception of education,

according to

Adams, memorization of the textbooks had become the great end in the common school classrooms.

After the memorization

of the textbooks, Adams wrote that "the result was that the scholars acquired with immense difficulty something which they forgot with equal ease; when they left our grammar schools they had what people were pleased to call the

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29

rudiments of education."

16

Continuing,

Adams wrote that

"yet not one in twenty of them could sit down and write an ordinary letter, pressed,

in a legible hand, with ideas clearly ex­

in order correctly spelled;

and the proportion of

those who left school with either the ability or desire, further themselves was scarcely greater."

17

to

Also the alleged

inability and desire of students to further their education through books and other means was, cause the teachers, parents,

according to Adams, b e ­

and school boards equated educa­

tion with the memorization of previously fixed answers to questions about the rudiments of certain subjects.

Adams'

plea was that the public turn to judging whether or not a child has received an education in the common schools by raising questions about what a child does on his own to further his own education through reading,

writing,

There were almost no reactions to Adams' and article in the journals; however, case for his future speeches.

etc.

first speech

this was not to be the

Following this article, Adams

delivered two additional speeches on education which also re­ ceived publicity.

The earlier speech along with the two

later speeches were printed together in a paper edition in 1879, giving them additional circulation. appeared under two titles:

The paper edition

New Departure in the Common Schools

of Q u i n c y , and Other Papers on Educational Topics and The

.d.. Ibi

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30

Public Library and the Common Scho ols :

18

cational T o p i c s . of Quincy,"

19

Three Papers on Edu-

"The New Departure in The Common Schools

the title of one of the two later speeches, was

prepared for the spring meeting in 1879 of the Association of School Committees and Superintendents of Norfolk County (Massachusetts), located.

the county in which the Quincy schools were

The other paper, "Fiction in Public Libraries and

Educational Catalogues,"

was read before the third general

meeting of the American Library Association at Boston on July 1, 1879.20 In these additional papers, Adams turned to Quincy schools to illustrate many of the ideas found in the first sp> ■ ch and article.

Besides repeating many of his former

charges, Adams became considerably more sharp and direct in his indictment of the common schools of Massachusetts and other states.

The experience of the Quincy school committee

was cited as evidence of his charges. mittee in 1873,

When the school com­

according to Adams, had pupils read passages

from readers which the students had not seen and write spon­ taneous letters,

he and his fellow committee members were dis­

mayed with the results.

Adams stated that the students could

"parse, construe sentences,

interpret parts of speech with

18

Boston: Estes & Lauriat, 1879. Both editions were published in Boston by Estes and Lauriat. 19

Adams, pp. 31-51'. 20

The Public Library and The Common Sch ool s,

I b i d ♦. pp.

16-30.

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31

great facility and repeat readily rules of grammar but could not write an ordinary letter where rules were to be applied." Reading was the same.

21

The conclusion was that the "students

could not speak well their own language nor spell it well" besides being unable to write it w ell — "that is, with ease and elegance."

The situation, Adams claimed, was extremely

distressing since his community as well as other communities had invested more and more money into the schools, ingly to little avail with respect to quality.

but seem-

22

Adams suggested that the way to improve the situation was to do what the Quincy school community d i d — find a super­ visor of the schools who could use more effectively the funds appropriated to the schools.

In order for this to be done,

Adams told his readers that the man selected must have a thorough understanding of "the process of mental develop­ ment,"

an understanding which was far more complete "than most

superintendents who come from ranks of grammar school teach­ ers,

or retired clergymen,

or the local politician out of a

job who also becomes superintendent."

Finding a person avail-

able with greater understanding than typically possessed by

^ Ibid .. pp.

32-33.

22

Adams suggested m a number of places that he regarded thfe situation as distressing also because of the problems of maintaining the Republic in an age of growing industrialism and corruption. Adams appeared to be suggesting in a number of places that improving the quality of education was necessary if future citizens were to discern and support policies which rectified political, economic, and social ills appearing in their modern society.

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superintendents was, he claimed,

almost impossible.

Though

almost impossible, Adams informed his audience that an u n ­ usual superintendent was the only thing which was able to put an end to the situation in which "the blind [superintendents] are made to lead the blind [the teachers], plunge deeper into the mire."

and naturally both

These were strong words for

describing superintendents and teachers across the country to an assembled body of superintendents from Norfolk County (Massachusetts). Adams cited Quincy's superintendent, Parker,

Francis Wayland

as an example of an unusual person who revolutionized

the schools.

This man, Adams asserted, was the one who had

brought life into the schools of Quincy.

Several things im­

pressed Adams about the revolution which Parker had produced. New bases of promotion were instituted, ence,

so he told his audi­

such bases as reading at sight and writing unrehearsed

compositions. drawing" school,

The "drudgery of the alphabet"

were gone.

Children no longer had to be dragged to

so proclaimed Adams;

was "cheerful."

and "listless

attendance not only improved but

Unfortunately,

as far as Adams was concerned,

the terms which no longer described the child in Parker's schools still described the child in schools of other com­ munities across the country, tured," "terrified,"

such terms as "listless," " t o r ­

"restrained,"

and "lymphatic."

As Adams directed the credit for the changes in Quincy schools to Parker,

he directed to Parker the attention of

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33 those Americans interested in the future of education. a result,

these articles and others by Adams,

exceedingly prominent American,

As

an already

possibly did much toward

launching Parker's career as a leading educator in the nation. Prior to this time,

Parker's reputation was restricted pri­

marily to those areas of the mid-west or New England in which he had either taught or served as a superintendent. siderably more importance,

Of con­

Adams through these articles was

directing the attention of those interested in education to the state-of-affairs in education,

a state-of-affairs which

he thought was deplorable and demanded urgent reform. Quincy schools and Parker,

Through

Adams set forth a sharp indictment

of the public schools. Such an indictment of public school personnel across the country by a prominent American was not likely to go un­ noticed this time, especially since the indictments were pub­ lished in a paper edition and given extensive circulation in the country.

The National Journal of Education reviewed the

papers by Adams in its October 9th issue,

1897.

23

The un­

named reviewer saw fit to state that Adams did not know the state-of-affairs in the common schools in this country, pecially outside of Quincy, Massachusetts.

es­

The schools,

stated the reviewer, had undergone considerable improvement which Adams did not know about, and consequently the reviewer 23

"Mr. C. F. Adams, jr. and the Quincy Schools," National Journal of E d u c a t i o n .X:12 (October 9, 1879), p. 197.

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34 charged that Adams dealt unjustly with the teachers and superintendents when Adams said the situation was one of the blind leading the blind. can school-keeping,

"Of the great revolution in Ameri­

especially in New York and the West during

the past twenty years;

of the rapid progress of New England,

notably Massachusetts in the best methods of instruction dur­ ing this period;

of the work actually being done by numbers

of admirable teachers and superintendents in his own portion of the country," the reviewer charged, monumental."

"his ignorance is

Without stopping at this point,

the writer

went on to conclude in sharp language that Adams'

criticism

of school-teaching and the teachers of Massachusetts was grossly unjust that nothing but

'invincible ignorance'

"so

could

plead his apology." In the following year, of Education

1880,

the New-Enqland Journal

(formerly the National Journal of E d u cat io n)

announced Adams'

appointment to the State Board of Education,

an appointment which was made by Massachusetts'

Governor Long.

The editors of the journal took the opportunity to tell its readers that Adams would now be able to rectify his "misap­ prehensions concerning the school-world outside his native township,

and make amends, in the frank Adams style, for the

injustice done.

..."

24

Such were some reactions to Adams'

speeches and writings on the common schools. 24

Editorial Page, New-Enqland Journal of E d u c a t i o n , X I : 24 (June 10, 1880), p. 377.

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35

Critical remarks such as those from the New-Enqland Journal of Education seemingly did little to deter Adams. If anything,

the comments probably encouraged him to some

extent to press further his attack on the common schools of Massachusetts and elsewhere,

especially after George A.

Walton's report on Norfolk County schools was completed and made public early in 1880. The Norfolk County School Committees'

Association

appointed a committee in the fall of 1878 for the purpose of examining the children who were enrolled in the common schools of the county and who had completed four years. to those completing the first four years,

In addition

the committee was

directed to examine those who had just completed eight years in the schools.

To assist them in their work,

the committee

sought the aid of an outsider to formulate the tests, minister the tests,

and to summarize the results.

ticular outsider selected was George A. Walton, the State Board of Education. was

212,

to ad­

The pa r­

an agent for

The number of schools visited

and the number of pupils tested

was 4,961 pupils.

Mr. Walton was directed by the committee to evaluate the stu­ dents on their ability to read orally, simple arithmetical problems.

25

to write,

and calculate

As several observed,

this

was an ambitious attempt on the part of a school committee 25

George A. Walton, Report of Examinations of Schools in Norfolk C o u n t v . Ma s s a c h u s e t t s , Boston: Rand, Aberg and Co., Printers to the Commonwealth, 1880. This particular edition was published as part of the 43rd Annual Report of the Massachusetts Board of Education.

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36

and particularly for George Walton and his wife.

He and his

wife completed tests and submitted the report late in 1879 with reportedly 5,000 copies printed. For the fourth year students,

Walton stated in the

report that in evaluating oral reading their emphasis was upon pronunciation,

fluency,

expression,

rate,

and pitch.

26

To

test ability to write, he employed the device of a letter. The students were told to write a letter home from a place the students were visiting.

In the letter to their parents,

the students were to describe their visit, would be returning, were evaluated etc.

27

etc.

The letters,

in terms of the form,

indicate when they

according to Walton,

spelling,

For those completing eight years,

punctuation,

a silent reading

test was given rather than oral reading tests.

The students

were to read silently in.-six minutes a paragraph of 25 short lines.

The students were then to place in narrative form what

they recalled from their reading. ated on accuracy. ing ability.

28

The narratives were evalu­

This, Walton claimed,

indicated their read-

Besides the spelling in the narratives and

letters being evaluated,

short sentences were dictated to

both groups of students as well as a list of words. arithmetical problems,

29

fourth year students were given

26I b i d .. pp.

125-126,

27I b i d .. pp.

126-127.

128.

28I b i d .. p. 124. 29I b i d .. p. 127.

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For

37

multiplication, bers.

30

addition,

and subtraction of "one place" num-

The students completing the eighth year were given

problems involving addition, multiplication,

and division

along with a problem involving the computing of interest.

31

Besides the tables indicating low average scores for the various communities in Norfolk County,

the noticeable

exception being Quincy, Walton wrote an extensive conclusion. Many of his summary remarks in the conclusion attracted con­ siderable attention in newspapers and journals.

Adams and

others took seriously Walton's remarks in the conclusion and brought them to the attention of listeners and readers:

1) And out of 1,122 pupils who used the adverb "too" in the narrative, 859, or nearly 77 percent of the whole, spelt that wuid incorrectly; . . .32 2) . . . far too much reliance placed on oral spelling. . . .33 3) The writing in many schools is limited to what is done in the copy-books; . . .34 4) The pupils of some schools, after the ma­ terials were placed in their hands and the directions were given, sat in apparent amazement, as if the most unreasonable demand had been made upon them: to some indeed, the directions^ were at first incomprehensible, and had to be many times repeated. Nor was this con­ dition limited to the lower grade of pupils. Some even of the grammar grade, after dipping the pen in ink, had nothing to write, and finally returned the paper, except for a few broken sentences, as blank as when it was given them. Very many of both grades 30I b i d . 3lI b i d . , p. 130. 32I b i d . , p. 150. 33

I b i d . , p. 148.

34... .. 7.bid., p. 146.

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38

gave evidence that they had never been taught even the mechanical part of any composition exercises: their spelling was poor, capitals were wholly wanting, and no punctuation was attempted; there was no idea of the arrangement of parts of the letter or of the narrative.35 5) These errors ["He come to school," "Who teached him," etc.], which are repeated, one or other of them, hundreds of times in the papers examined, show that the study of grammar fails to teach pupils "to speak and write the language co r­ rectly." 36 6) Again: there is much study of book arithmetic, but a great neglect of training upon miscellaneous problems outside. The arithmetic is of the schoolroom not always of practical life. The pupils work to get a certain answer, which is ap­ pended to the problem. Failing to obtain this, they erase and cipher again; again . . ., till this play with figures makes arithmetic a farce. . . . Con ­ fined to the book and its answers alone, the pupil is often unable when he leaves school, to do the simplest practical problems; . . .37

Armed with the conclusions of the Walton Report, one of the first of its type, Adams renewed his attack on the schools of the nation.

This time Adams went before that pro­

fessional body of educators, ation.

the National Educational Associ­

The title of his paper for that evening of July 14,

1880, was "The Development of the Superi nte nd enc y."

38

Though

the title for his paper before the N.E.A. described to some extent his concern for that evening,

the title dicUn-o-t express

^^I b i d ., p . 158. ^^rbid.,

p. 158.

^ ^I b i d ., p . 166. 38

The Addresses and Journal of P r o c e e d i n g s : Educational As s o c i a t i o n . 1880, pp. 61-76.

National

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39 the fact that he felt vindicated by Walton's report. now, he thought,

For

there could no longer be charges of misrep­

resenting the facts.

The Walton Report, he told the N.E.A.

members in attendance, was unique. ferences,

39

opinions,

of raw material,"

40

It did not present in­

nor conclusions but rather "a mas

[s i c .]

permitting each to draw the obvious and

uniform conclusion of extensive common school failure.

And

when Walton wrote that Norfolk County schools were no better and no worse than schools in other counties, Adams told his audience that this was most unflattering to all communities in the nation,

especially to Massachusetts'

Norfolk County

schools which had come to be regarded among the best in the nation.

Though injurious to Massachusetts'

reputation as a

leader in education, Adams said that he would have all listeners of his speech have copies of this report. port,

The Re­

the people were told by Adams, was final proof that

reform of the schools in the nation was badly needed.

Adams

also thought that the Report vindicated the controversial new departures in Quincy schools which Parker had made. 39

Other persons thought the Walton Report fully con­ firmed Adams' charge of great failure in the common schools, failure to train children in their own language and in arith­ metic. See B. G. Northrop, "The Quincy Methods," E d u c a t i o n , 1:2 (November, 1880), pp. 122-137. Also see Richard Grant White, "The Public-School Failure," The North American R e v i e w , CXXXI:239 (December, 1880), pp. 536-550. 40

Adams,

"The Development of the S u p e r in te nde nc y,"

p. 61,

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40

Adams'

Plea for Child-Study in the University

Adams agreed with Walton that several factors contri­ buted to the low state-of-affairs in the common schools such as insufficient equipment for the teachers, tion, poor methods,

etc.

poor organiza­

Adams agreed still further when

Walton cited as the key factor the lack of supervision in the schools.

Unlike some, Adams did not believe that increasing

the supervision, schools,

thus bringing on greater control of the

was the answer.

must be of a new type, teachers, ministers, charged,

The supervisors or superintendents

no longer from the ranks of school

or politicians.

From these ranks, he

came people who had often gone to seed.

they came with an intellectual orientation, to the scientific age.

In addition,

he thought,

alien

The superintendent of the future, he

told the N.E.A.,

must be a person who had studied diligently

over many yecrs

the operation of the child's mind,

the

natural processes of growth and assimilation which goes on in it, its inherent methods of development and acquisition. This,

he told the audience,

be "a Baconian in his philosophy.

methods.

all tradition,

41

meant a new type of superintendent.

This new type of superintendent,

mechanism,

. ."

claimed Adams,

must

He rejects at once all

all a priori theories,

He treats the child's mind as a living,

all military growing

41I b i d .. p. 69.

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41

thing;

not a mere plastic man."

42

The first and most basic

characteristic of this superintendent of the future was that he was to be a good student of the child and was to follow the c h i l d ’s nature when it came to educating h i m — "not as heretofore to invent a system and make the scholar fit him­ self to it as best he may."

His study of the child was to

be scientific or inductive.

In short,

the new superintendent

prior to assuming his responsibilities "sits humbly down a grown man,

at Nature's knee and patiently cons the alfabet

f sic .1 of her methods. Before the new superintendency was to be a reality in this country and provide the stimulus for reforming the com ­ mon schools, university,

the universities must undergo a change.

so he told his audience that evening and the

Ha r p e r s ' readers,

must recognize that a new field of scien­

tific inquiry is possible. tion.

To them,

The new field of study was educa­

he was proclaiming that it could become a

science in the modern sense, further,

The

an inductive science.

Still

this new field of study was essentially the scien­

tific study of "the development of the average human m i n d . " ^ He deplored the fact that the universities as such "pay no attention to it— make no provision for it." he continued, 42 43 44

The u ni versities,

have developed medical schools for the purpose

Ibid. I b i d ., p . 70. Ibid.

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42

of studying the human body, dental schools for the study of man's teeth. mining,

The country has attempted to make a science of

law, divinity,

agriculture,

etc. but no attempt to

make a science of training the child's mind. must change immediately. this science of education,

45

But this

The universities must set forth i.e.,

scientific study of train­

ing the child according to Nature's methods. grounded in this science at the university,

Thoroughly the superinten­

dents would come to be both a professional group and a v e ­ hicle for. the reform of the common schools— making them more scientific. child was

This emphasis upon scientific training of the

indicated

rather well in the title "Scientific

Common School Education," which was given to his speech b e ­ fore the N.E.A. when it was printed in Harpers New Monthly 46 Magazine. Besides the caustic criticism of the common schools, Adams presented,

through his speech before the N.E.A. and

its publication in H ar per s. one of the most vigorous appeals by a prominent American for the scientific study of the child's mind.

His appeal was not for unrestrained speculation about

the mental nature of children.

It was an appeal to observe

children by the best means available— to observe how child­ ren develop mentally on their own.

In short, most basic in

45x, . . Ibid.

1880),

46 Harpers New Monthly M a g a z i n e . L X I :366 pp. 934-942.

(November,

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43

Adams'

appeal was that first and foremost the universities

were to study the c hi ld — promote extensive and systematic observation of children's mental processes.

Not the adult's

but the child's mental processes was the subject of attention. As Adams put it, "children are not grown people,"

47

and thus

they must be studied just as carefully as adults are studied in the u n i v e r s i t y . Adams'

speech was also an appeal to use that knowledge

to reform the common schools.

Adams was convinced that chil­

dren have ways of developing on their own and that these ways were efficient.

These ways, he claimed, were the natural

processes which the school should employ. processes were known,

If these natural

reform of the schools would be forth­

coming— reforms in methods,

content,

etc.

Once the uni­

versities set about to discover these natural processes and to provide opportunities for men becoming superintendents to do likewise,

the universities could then send forth young

men for the superintendency with knowledge of scientific c o m ­ mon school reforms.

It was an appeal for the future reform

of the schools to come through men who had studied directly the child in the universities. And so, as Adams identified child study with the study of the child's mental operations and as Adams sought to commit the reluctant universities to the study, he also sought to 47

Adams, New Departure in the Common Schools of Q u i n c y , and Other Papers on Educational Topics, p. 11.

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44

commit child study and the universities to the reform of the common schools.

Rather than overt opposition or indif­

ference toward the common schools,

the universities through

child-study were to be the leaders of reform in the public schools.

It was knowledge of the child that the university

was to seek— not the adult but the child, not for its own sake but for the purpose of common school reform,

not philosophi­

cal knowledge of the child but scientific knowledge of the child's mental development.

Supposedly without this,

school could not be "the ark of the national

the

salvation.”

48

As Adams committed child study to the mental opera­ tions of the individual child's mind, schools, and to the universities,

to the reform of common

he also did something else.

He committed the common schools to the child's happiness. He did this indirectly.

Through interjecting from time to

time comments on the common schools of Quincy

(Massachusetts),

Adams paraded before his listeners and readers certain phrases which signified supposedly characteristics of an ideal school. The phrases were not new but the publicity which the phrases received from the pen of Adams was new for this country. the terms were paraded, child study.

As

they became indirectly linked with

Repeatedly terms such as "full of interest,"

"excitement," "cheerfulness,"

etc. were found in his speeches

to describe the Quincy schools.

For Adams,

the years of

childhood were precious years and should be happy years.

4^Ibid., p . 51.

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The schools should not be the instrument by which chixQ.-x. are tortured and made miserable.

Not only must schools

attempt to make students capable of educating themselves and desirous

of doing so, but the schools ought to provide an

atmosphere at the same time which the children find unarbitrary,

cheerful,

and interesting.

To Adams,

the child was

entitled to a happy childhood as well as a productive adult­ hood.

The schools were not only to be reformed in order to

make sure that children come forth knowing what they should know but also reformed to make sure that children found their schools pleasing, listlessness,

interesting,

and pain.

exciting,

and free of drudgery,

The child had certain rights.

Child

study was to assist the schools in becoming interesting, cheerful places, developing,

etc. by identifying the child's own mode of

modes which were assumed to be efficient and

exciting if the schools adopted them. The cause was"the child. cover the child,

The university was to d is­

do so scientifically,

to the reform of the school.

and thereby contribute

The goal was to prevent the

school from being a blight to the child as well as to make them more effective and efficient.

The concern about saving

the child in the school had its counterpart at this time in saving the child from the evil effects of the city, tory,

etc.

But first,

child must be had,

the fac­

according to Adams, knowledge of the

scientific knowledge.

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46

By the end of the century,

G. R. Glenn,

state super­

intendent of public instruction rose before the N.E.A. to tell the members that though much work remained in the years ahead,

the greatest discovery of the century coming to a

close was the discovery of the child. engine,

the steam-ship,

It was not "the steam-

the ocean cable,

the telegraph,

the

S

wireless telegraphy,

the telephone,

the phonographs.

. . .

Above and beyond all these the index finger of world progress, in the march of time,

would point unerringly to the little

child as the one discovery of the century."

49

A few years

later before the N . E . A . , G. Stanley Hall appeared.

Hall told

the N.E.A. membership in attendance that "men realize,

. . .,

that the school is for the child and not for the school and that everything from kindergarten to the university must be plastic and subordinated to the nature and needs of childhood and growth."

50

to child study,

This new realization,

he told them, was due

the discoverer of the child.

Whether or not the child had been discovered and whether or not men realize that the school was for the child in Hall's sense are questions almost impossible to settle. One thing which these men,

Hall and Glenn, were aware of and

expressing was that between the time of Adams'

appeal and

49

G. R. Glenn, "What Matter of Child Shall It Be?," The Addresses and Journal of P r o c e e d i n g s : National Educa­ tional A s s o c ia ti on, 1900, pp. 176-177. ^ G . Stanley Hall, "Recent Advances in C h i l d - S t u d y ," The Addresses and Journal of P r o c e e d i n g s : National Educational Association, 1908, p. 948.

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47

their appearances before the N.E.A. never had so many edu­ cators sought with so much enthusiasm to study the c h i l d f to bombard teachers with their findings,

to reform the

schools according to the child's nature,

and to organize groups

to study the child,

particularly his mental operations.

Summary

In the context of common school criticism and proposals for their reform,

Charles Francis Adams' writings embodied

an appeal for the reform of the supposedly ineffective and repressive common school in the Nation.

In addition, his

writings expressed an appeal for education to be recognized as a science in the university through the study of the child's nature in the university and through making the knowledge at­ tained the norm for the reform of American education.

In

so far as the Child-Study Movement in American education made the ideas expressed in Adams'

appeal basic in its work,

movement thus was giving emphasis

the

to ideas already present in

the American educational scene rather than adding new ideas to that scene.

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48 CHAPTER III A PUBLICIST OF CHILD-STUDY IDEAS: G. STANLEY HALL,

During the 1880's,

1880-1890

the years following Adams'

attacks

on the schools and his appeal for child-study, G. Stanley Hall,

who is cited frequently as a key figure in the Child-

Study Movement,

prepared a number of articles concerning

child-study in education.

The purpose of this chapter is

to delineate the leading ideas expressed in G. Stanley Hall's early writings as those ideas may be seen to constitute the root ideas of what came in time to be known as the ChildStudy Movement in American education. his writings are identified,

Once those ideas in

Hall's role with respect to

child-study in education during these years can be better understood. Tersely stated, Hall's leading ideas concerning what child-study ought to be were:

child-study ought to be an

attempt on the part of people in normal schools and univer­ sities to acquire knowledge of the child's nature in order that education might be reformed and ultimately become a science in this country;

the knowledge of the child's nature

needed was knowledge of the child's psychological nature (i.e.,

the child's ideas,

collections, vocabulary,

interests,

superstitutions, play,

sense of justice,

etc. from one

age to another); knowledge of the psychological nature was to be derived solely from empirical studies of the child;

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49 the data for the empirical studies were to be contributed by parents,

teachers,

normal school students,

etc.

Hall

expressed these ideas concerning child-study in education through his reports of studies on Boston school children and through articles presenting appeals for additional studies of children.

These writings which elaborated Hall's

ideas concerning child-study and its contribution to childstudy will be described in considerable detail. be shown later in the chapter,

As will

Hall's role was not orig­

inator of these ideas nor organizer of child-study organ­ izations during these years.

His role, was publicizer of

child-study ideas in this country during the 1880's.

Hall's Conception of Child-Study for Education

G. Stanley Hall returned to this country from Germany late in the summer of 1880.

It was in a suburb

of Boston that Hall settled to await an academic appoint­ ment.

According to his C o n f e s s i o n s , prior to leaving

Germany, he decided that his future lay with putting his interest in psychology to work for education.

It was the

practical applications of experimental psychology to edu­ cation which interested him.

Several years were to pass

before an academic position appeared which permitted Hall to pursue his interest in the applications of experimental psychology to education.

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50 In the meantime,

Charles Eliot, president of Harvard,

asked him to deliver that winter of lectures,

(1880) in Boston a series

twelve in total, on the subject of pedagogy.

The lectures were to be attended by superintendents, princi­ pals, and teachers.

The fee was to be $5.00 per person

with Harvard renting the building and issuing the tickets. According to both Hall and the newspapers,

the lectures

attracted quite a crowd with attendance increasing.

The

crowds purportedly reached several hundred from time to time. During this period, Hall was in contact with a n u m ­ ber of leading educators who were commenting upon the educational scene in this country such as Eliot, Parker, and Philbrick,

to mention a few from the vicinity of Boston.

Another person with whom Hall had contact during this period was Charles Francis Adams, contact with Adams;

Jr.

however,

Hall"'was quite proud of his

little is known about the n a ­

ture of their acquaintance with one another in Boston. According to Hall as well as Miss Wiltse, who as­ sisted him,

the initial work for Hall's famous report on

Boston school children was underway while he lectured on experimental psychology and modern pedagogy at Harvard and other schools near Boston.

This study being pursued during

the fall of 1880 and following winter was reported by Hall in 1883 as being an "experimental inquiry" in "quest of a natural basis of the first school instruction."

The study

cited in Hall's report was probably the first of its kind

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to be done on Boston school children and for that matter probably the first of its kind on school children in this country.

If it were not the first of its kind to be pub­

lished in this country,

it certainly was among the earliest.

Others had studied Boston children, but their studies were different according to both Hall and Wiltse. classed as purely physiological studies.

They were

Hall was definitely

aware of these so-called physiological studies of Boston school children by H. P. Bowditch. was conducting his studies,

At the time Bowditch

Bowditch directed H a l l ’s grad­

uate work on the topic of muscular perception of space. Besides having direction from H. P. Bowditch,

Bowditch

along with James served as examiners of Hall for the first Ph.D. degree in psychology to be granted in this country. Bowditch's work at measuring the height and weight of school childre

in Boston was an effort to arrive at norms covering

height and weight changes and "to ascertain whether dif­ ferences of race or differences in the mode of life affect the rate of growth."1

Bowditch's work was conducted w i th­

out any concern with the goal of improving the ineffective common sch ol system in this country.

A multitude of

studies in the same vein as Bowditch's work appeared in the 1 8 8 0 ’s, studies by such men as George Peckham, T. Porter,

Dr. William

and many other individuals.

1*i. P. Bowditch, "The Growth of Children: A Supple­ mentary Investigation," Reports of the Massachusetts State Board of H e a l t h , 1879 (January) pp. 35-62. See also Report of the Commissioner of E d uc at ion , 1897-1898 (Washington, D.C. U.S. Government Printing Office, 1899), Vol. I, pp. 1897-98.

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52

(A)

Child-Study as an Empirical Study of The Child's Psychological Nature Despite the example of his teacher and those follow­

ing Bowditch's example, Hall chose not to follow the fashionable trend but chose to promote a different set of concerns in this country during these first months and years after his return from Germany. of American education,

With respect to the future

to him the more productive work

was in promoting the study of the child's mind or, sometimes put it,

the child's mental life.

as he

In the 1880's,

Hall was almost alone in promoting an alternative type of research to the type of work which Bowditch and others were pu rs uin g. In order to promote inquiry into the child's mental life, one of the first things Hall did was to initiate a study of Boston school children and to report that study. That study which he began in 1880 and reported in 1883 was an attempt on Hall's part to show that a study of the child's mental life was possible and to show that a study of the child's psychological nature could provide knowledge valu­ able to the educator.

As Hall described various child—

studies in education and urged educators to repeat those studies for the reform of American education, Hall informed his readers about what he thought child-study in education ought to be. In order to initiate what he called an experimental inquiry in "quest of a natural basis of the first school

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53 instruction," Hall stated that in. the fall of 1880 he formulated a list of questions.

The use of a list of ques­

tions for data-gathering was to be a common practice in the years ahead among child-study leaders.

2

The list of ques­

tions once administered to children, he said, was expected to provide an "inventory" of the contents of children's minds,

"upon entry to the first year of schooling."

to Hall,

According

the children studied were of average intelligence

and from "homes representing extremes of either culture or ignorance."

The knowledge of children's minds

(i.e.,

their

ideas about certain things) upon entry into school was then to provide an answer to the "strictly practical" problem: 2

Either shortly after or during the time Hall was formulating his list of questions for his interviewers, Mrs. Emily Talbot formulated a circular or list of ques­ tions by which to gather data. Her circular was published in the March, 1881, issue of the Journal of Social Scie nc e. Through the use of a list of questions, Mrs. Talbot sought to acquire the facts which mothers supposedly possessed about the physiological and psychological development of their infants. She sought from mothers at what age infants as a rule first smile, notice their hands, creep, etc. Nothing came of this work by Mrs. Talbot in the American Social Science Association's Education Department. Though nothing came of the questionnaire in the Association, her work did indicate that Hall was not alone in this country in the use of a list of questions by which to gather psychological facts about children. See Mrs. Emily Talbot's "Appendix," Journal of Social S c i e n c e , XIII (March, 1881), pp. 189-192. Also Mrs. Emily Talbot's "Report of the Secretary of the Department," I b i d . , XV (February, 1882), pp. 5-52; Dr. W. T. Harris' "Address of the Chairman," I b i d . , XVII (May, 1883), pp. 145-155.

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54 "What may city children be assumed to know and have seen by their teachers when they enter school?"

3

The list of ques­

tions, he stated, were to deal with those ideas which teach­ ers and textbook writers as a rule suppose or desire children to possess upon entrance into school.

4

From interviews with

teachers and groups of children and from perusing primary grade course materials, 134 questions.'’

he evolved eventually a list of

Hall next employed by the hour the services

of what he regarded as the four best kindergarten teachers in Boston,

judged supposedly on the basis of training and

experience.

With Hall's

list of questions in hand,

the four

teachers then interviewed children in groups of three.

At

this point, Hall was indicating that he thought that it was possible for the teachers which would be valuable.

to gather data on the child

Each teacher in the small groups

asked questions of each child,

asking,

for example,

if he had seen a familiar object such as a cow. responded by saying yes, tion.

the child

If the child

the teacher then asked for a descrip­

On the basis of the description and possibly additional

questions

about the child's description,

the interviewing

teacher judged whether or not the child possessed a clear idea of the objects and concepts involved in the questions.

~*G. Stanley Hall, "The Contents of Children's Minds," The Princeton R e v i e w , 1883 (May), pp. 250-252. 4I b i d . 5Ibid.

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55 If the child did not possess a clear idea, he was thought to be ignorant of the object or concept involved in the qu estions. Many of the objects concerned rural life.

The list

of objects contained in the questions were comprised of g animals, plants, etc. from rural life. Other items associ­ ated with farm life were equipment such as the plough, spade, hoe,

axe,

etc.

Among other items, he sought to

ascertain whether or not city children were ignorant of such things as pond,

island, hill,

river brook,

etc.

The

list also included small numbers and simple geometric figures. Through the list, Hall also sought to know if the children could locate their ribs,

lungs, heart,

ankles, waists,

cheeks, etc. Approximately two-thirds of all the items inquired into were closely identified with country-life.

7

Hall

stated that the inclusion of so many items concerning rural life as not arbitrary.

According to him,

the subject matter

of most primers in use by city schools still dealt with rural life rather than city life.

In addition to this, he

^I b i d . , p. 255. 7 Several of the items were taken from the lists of questions employed in the European studies. This type of study was performed several times in Germany. It was probably in Germany that Hall first learned of this type of study. A pedagogical society in Berlin sponsored the first study, according to some historians, which was supposedly reported by F. Bartholomai in 18 70. The data were collected by a questionnaire in 1869. Over 2000 children

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56 interjected the remark that the material of country life g was of superior pedagogical value than that of city-life. From the data which he thought provided an inventory of the c h i l d r e n ’s minds, Hall stated that a number of con­ clusions could be drawn.

One conclusion concerned the

presence of a defect in the famed Boston schools.

During

the winter of 1880-1881, Hall claimed in his Confessions that John D. Philbrick, Boston schools,

the world famous superintendent of

challenged him to find something wrong with

the Boston schools.

It was a defect which Hall thought

and approximately 75 topics or questions were involved in this study. In 1879, K. Lange did a study quite similar to the Berlin study Apparently, Hall was also aware of this study by Lange. Taking comparable questions to those in the Berlin Study, Lange presented the questions to 500 children entering the schools oi Plauen, Germany and to 300 children entering nearby rural schools. Taking seriously the hints found in the previous studies which were completed in Germany, Hall improved on the methods. Instead of sending out circulars, questionnaires as they were called in later years, Hall solicited the services of only four persons to administer the questions and gather the data. The four persons were permitted to consult with him when help was needed. This was to achieve greater stand­ ardization in the data gathered. Besides the use of four teachers, Hall had the students interviewed in smaller groups. Instead of groups of 10 to 12, he reduced the number to three as a rule. He sought to reduce the opportunity that some students might have to influence unintentionally the think­ ing of so many of their peers at the time the children were being queried. In large groups, the responses of many students were thought to be shaped by other members of the group. The contrast of H a l l ’s study with its European prede­ cessors is dealt with only slightly in Wayne Dennis' article "Historical Beginnings of Child Psychology," Psychological B u l l e t i n , XLVI:3 (May, 1949), p. 280. Unfortunately, the article is restricted almost exclusively to the historical beginnings of child psychology in Europe and to the studies of the mental life of children from infancy to their third year. 8H a l l , I b i d . , p. 255.

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57 this study established beyond any doubt.

The defect was

that children of average intelligence were entering the primary grades of Boston schools without the mental content 9 which educators assumed the children possessed. The chil­ dren, Hall stated, were thought by educators to have clear ideas about certain things such as cow, hill, plough,

etc.

According to Hall,

island,

the data reported in the

study of 200-250 children was proof of extensive ignorance of the things which educators assumed the children knew. The children, Hall stated in effect, were not fitted to the first year of schooling which the Boston educators had developed.

Educators, Hall informed his readers,

could

safely assume little as to the contents of children's minds upon entry into the first year of schooling in B o s t o n . ^ Because of the great disparity between what educators assumed children knew and what children actually knew, word-cram and bookishness occurred in the primary grades of Boston schools. Besides the conclusion that Boston children did not have the mental content for the course materials,

Hall b e ­

lieved the study indicated how the situation ought to be rectified..

His proposal was in essence that the schools

be fitted to the child in order to become more effective and to avoid the evils of word-cram and bookishness.

If

the schools were fitted to the child, Hall thought that the

^ I b i d . , p . 2 72.

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58 schools would cease to be a place where children learned words without meaning. The first thing that Hall had in mind was that the school begin where the child is in order to become more ef fe ctive.11

Hall's claim at this point was based upon

the data obtained from a group of Boston kindergarten chil­ dren.

The group of sixty-four children,

according to Hall,

were from the free kindergartens which drew children from the laboring class.

Hall stated that the children in these

schools were instructed about the objects which the other children did not know.

In those schools,

the children

were exposed to the objects through excursions into the country or through pictures of the objects which the first year of schooling assumed children knew.

The results,

so

Hall reported, were that these children when interviewed displayed considerably less ignorance than those 200-250 Boston children who had not attended the kindergarten schools. These results were considered to be proof that this lack of mental content among children of the laboring class was not irreparable. to Hall,

13

Also the kindergarten revealed,

according

that the schools could become quite effective once

the schools were fitted to the children's mental content as the kindergartens had done.

11

, Ibid.

On the basis of this, Hall

••

1^r b i d . , p. 270 and p. 272. 13I b i d . , p. 2 70.

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12

59

urged that the schools in the primary grades be fitted to the child's mental content in order to be more effective. The need was more attention to objects and less to books, at least in the beginning.

14

In other words,

the content

of the curriculum should begin with the actual mental con­ tent of the children in order to avoid the dangers of wordcram and bookishness. Hall did not stop here.

Hall also urged that the

schools at the primary level follow the mode of development. This mode at the stage of entering school and for several years later was to think visually, of pictures,

images of gestures,

i.e., to think in terms

etc. but not verbally.

At this point, objects or pictures of the object ought to go hand in hand with words,

especially new w o r d s . ^

early stages of school instruction,

At the

learning words for things

not seen leads only to confusion for the child.

Children

learn first the thing and the word for it in the presence of the thing.

At another stage, much later, words can be

interjected for things not seen as is done in adulthood. Because of this law of development, visual period first and the verbal-thinking period later,

children in the country

and children in the city have different mental content. For Hall,

if children did not think visually first,

14I b i d . , p. 212. 1^ I b i d . , p. 212. ^ I b i d . , pp. 264,

268,

and 270.

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16

then

60 the children from country and city life would not be radi­ cally different in performance since all had heard repeatedly such words as axe, cow,

etc.

But he stated that this was

not the case, i.e.,

the children did not have the same

content.

therefore, more attention to the visual

He urged,

at this stage on the part of schools.

To fit the school,

not only begin with the children's mental content but follow his mode of mental development.

Eliminate the phonic

system for teaching reading since such a system was much too complex and abstract for children in the primary grades. Since children think visually, whole word,

17

teach them to picture the

and do so in conjunction with the thing or a

picture of the thing.

Because fairy-tales involve the names

of things which can not be seen by children,

children can

not be interested in them and also can not form clear ideas about the things in the fairy-tales.

According to Hall,

they should be put off until much later time. in the schools were intimated by Hall,

18

Other changes

always with a view

that those things rather than current practice better fitted the children's nature of mental development. According to Hall, ishness and word-cramming,

the study indicated that book­ were to be found in the schools

and were not due to the children being born with defective minds.

They were due to the schools,

particularly the teachers

1 7I bid . , p. 265. 18I b i d . , p. 268.

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61

and superintendents. primers.

Hall's attitude was not to save the

It was not to hope that the children of the future

will automatically come better fitted to the schools; tough luck for the children.

if not,

The idea that the teacher can­

not do anything was not Hall's posture.

To the contrary,

Hall was placing greater responsibility on the school o f ­ ficials,

from school boards to teachers,

for the students'

failure to master the content of the primary and intermedi­ ate school years. to the colleges.

Later, Hall was to extend these remarks The failure of students to master the

content was because the schools were not fitted to the pupils.

The schools h-\d not followed the example of the

kindergarten schools of Boston nor the best primary schools of Germany. possess.

They assumed content which the student did not

They also proceeded to develop readings skills,

spelling skills,

and other skills by methods and content

alien to the child's own way of learning, more often than not methods and content more appropriate for another stage, the adult stage. In addition to describing the study, the educational implications,

the data,

and

Hall's "The Contents of

Children's Minds" set forth a number of appeals.

One appeal

concerned the duplication of this kind of inventory across the country with older children as well.

In the hope of

improving schooling, Hall told his readers that similar inventories should be administered by teachers in other areas.

Boston schools were not to be the only schools.

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All

normal schools, he continued,

should train teachers how to

take an inventory of the c h i l d r e n ’s mind such as the one which was illustrated in his report.

19

As Hall issued an

appeal for its duplication and for the normal schools to train teachers for taking an inventory of children's minds, Hall was suggesting,

in effect,

to the readers that teachers

might find other schools outside of Boston which were not fitted to the children entering the schools.

Hall was also

suggesting that the teachers should reform the schools to fit the child's mental content and mode of development when the schools were found not fitted to the children. Another appeal appeared in Hall's report for the Princeton R e v i e w . At various times in tha article, Hall set forth an appeal that other studies be initiated either by universities or by normal schools, professors of pedagogy.

either by teachers or

For example, he stated that inquiry

into the vocabularies of children at all ages ought to be made to find out what words children "most readily and surely acquire,

their number and order in each thought-sphere - and

the attributes and connotations most liable to confuse them." Studies of children's sense of time, of tone reproduction, etc. were recommended by Hall m To recapitulate,

this report.

21

as Hall described and endorsed this

study of Boston school children,

through urging its dupli­

cation as well as urging similar studies of other aspects

^ I b i d . , p. 272. 2^I b i d . , p. 258. 21I b i d . , p. 266.

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63 of the child, Hall informed his readers about his conception of child-study.

The report informed Hall's readers that the

child-study which Hall thought ought to exist in this country constituted an inquiry into the child rather than the adult. Hall believed that the child and the adult were different. In addition for Hall, the differences were qualitative as well as quantitative differences.

So, in order to study

the child, one ought to study the child rather than the adult.

Hall illustrated this belief through this report

on the children's minds.

That report described and endorsed

a study which turned its attention to children in order to acquire knowledge of the child rather than the adult,

and

his report urged others to follow the example of studying children rather than adults. Another aspect of Hall's conception of child-study was conveyed through his report.

Child-study ought to be

the study of many children ratnar than one or two as some famous students of the child in the past had purportedly done.

This study of Boston children which Hall reported

involved data gathered from more than 400 students in total. Child-Study ought not to be drawing its conclusion about the child's nature in general from a study of one or two children only.

Child-study,

in short, ought to base its

conclusions upon studies of many, many children. Hall was also indicating to the public through this report that child-study in education ought to be empirical studies of the child's psychological nature.

Hall was not

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64 pressing for analytical studies of theories concerning the child's psychological nature.

When urging educators to follow

the example of this report, Hall was presenting an appeal for studies of the child's psychological nature which were based upon observation.

Now as Hall urged that his lists

of questions and others to be developed Hall was suggesting in effect that his reader regard the questionnaire technique and its use by relatively untrained laymen as adequate for empirical studies

(inventories)

of the child's psychological

nature. To recapitulate further, Hall was setting forth the idea that child-study as he envisioned it was for the purpose of educational reform.

Child-study for Hall was not a study

which was to be pursued for the sole purpose of finding out more about the child.

For Hall,

the purpose of child-study

was to provide the educator with valuable knowledge.

Hall's

report was more than an attempt to show how knowledge of the child might be acquired from data which a relatively untrained layman such as a teacher might collect. stating in effect,

Hall was also

that the knowledge attained from empiri­

cal studies would suggest aspects of the schools which needed reforming and also would indicate the needed reforms.

The

appeal for child-study was an appeal for educational reform based on empirical studies of the child's psychological nature. Between the publication of "The Contents of Children's Minds" in 1883 and the termination of his Hopkins University professorship in 1888, Hall accomplished little toward

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65 fulfilling any aspirations of engaging in studies of chil­ dren.

Hall reported one additional study during these years.

The report,

appearing as an article for the Nation in 1885,

concerned children's collections.

22

Once again, Hall pre­

pared a report which illustrated what he thought child-study ought to be and what its relation to education ought to be.

The

data for the study was collected by Miss Wiltse from 22 7 Boston school-boys between ages of 15 and 16.

23

The replies

to a-series of questions about their collections in the past and present constituted the data for the inventory. The list of questions,

its application to children by a

layman such as a teacher,

and the collection of numerous

responses to the list of questions were the same techniques which Hall in his earlier report thought should be employed. Summarizing the data, Hall stated only a few boys had no collections and that these boys were among those of lower intelligence.

The more intelligent children possessed the

most collections. children,

The first things to be collected by

according to Hall, were marbles with coins and

stamps appearing later.

24

Hall told his readers that Miss

W i l t s e 's data established a fact about the child's psychologi­ cal nature.

The fact which Hall thought hei data established

beyond any doubt was that children possessed a collecting 22

G. Stanley Hall, "A Study of Children's Collections," The N a t i o n , XLI:1053 (September 3, 1885), p. 190. 23 24

Ibid. Ibid.

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66 instinct.

The instinct, Hall stated, was quite strong and

was an "universal force in human nature."

25

Her data indi­

cated supposedly that the instinct went through stages. Besides setting forth in effect a claim that childstudy through these techniques could establish facts about the child's psychological nature, Hall's report presented again the claim that the knowledge attained from child-study would be valuable to the educators.

Hall urged that addi­

tional inquiry be made into the collections of children in school,

especially by teachers and superintendents.

If more

knowledge about this instinct among children were acquired, Hall stated that the result would be automatically "a valuable as well as for the most part a new chapter in pedagogy." Knowledge of the child's collecting instinct, Hall,

26

according to

suggested that the schools encourage children to col­

lect, give expression to the instinct.

The schools, he

claimed, would become more interesting places to the children and would 'reflect "the local characteristics and local pride."

27

Since children like to collect, he urged teachers

to have them in the science classes to tour the countryside to collect plants, birds, For reading,

animals,

etc. which interest them.

the collecting instinct could be used.

The form

was the scrapbook containing their own stories or stories which they read and found interesting.

In so doing,

25xv. I b i^ d. 26t, . , Ibid. 27

Ibid.

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the

67 teacher permitted the student to express his collecting instinct,

possibly increased learning,

and perhaps more im­

portantly made the school an interesting place to the students. As Hall described and endorsed simultaneously studies in his reports for the Princeton Review and the N a t i o n , Hall was relating something perhaps even more astounding than some of the conclusions which he related to his readers. That something more astounding was essentially that the child was not well-known.

The child had yet to be vliscovered

through direct study of the child. normal schools,

the church,

etc.

The universities,

the

had for years made pro­

nouncements about the child's nature,

psychological nature

as well as philosophical nature, but,

they had not discovered

the child.

Ideas about the child v.ere formed without per­

sistent and systematic attempts at observing children.

The

result was that men knew basically very little about chil­ dren.

By formulating questions on various topics and by

interviewing children or watching them with these questions in mind, data could be acquired about the child's psychologi­ cal nature which ultimately,

after many years, would elimi­

nate our ignorance about children. schools,

To tell the normal

the churches, universities,

little knowledge about the child,

etc.

that they possessed

that much of what they

thought they knew was erroneous was indeed an attack.

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(B)

Proposed Child-Studies H a l l ’s reports of studies were not the only occasions

that he urged the study of children as if the last word about the child had not been said by C om eni us, Locke, Pestalozzi, F r o e b e l , Herbart,

Rousseau,

and others and as if the normal

schools also did not possess the last word on the child. Hall was even more explicit in other writings.

Hall's

"Educational Needs," published in the North American R e v i e w , suggested that the conception of mental philosophy given in t*

the normal schools was from another age when children were not studied systematically.

28

From his judgment of the

mental philosophy in normal schools,

an educational need,

Hall asserted, was that "we must study and follow the child's nature as it actually is;"

29

all educational improvement

depended upon "deeper insight into children's psychic growth and activity."

C o m m e n i u s , Locke,

Rousseau,

Herbart,

and

others had deepened our insights but by no means had said the last word nor had they studied hundreds of children. Though they had deepened our insight, Hall's position was that they had only touched the surface. Hall went further into detail. the study of children meant was institutions,

What this need for

that Americans must have

normal schools and universities,

from which

students are sent to observe systematically children in the Op

G. Stanley Hall, "Educational Needs," North American R e v i e w , CXXXVI:316 (March, 1883), p. 289. ^ I b i d . , p. 286.

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69 style of physiologists in laboratories.

30

This study of

children must provide "careful inventories of what children of successive ages may be safely assumed to know; what they can do; what sets of impressions their minds are busied with most and least hours per day;

classifications of common

errors in articulation,

in understanding the material ob­

jects about him;

Had Hall's list stopped at this

... "

point, he was already recommending guite a task; however, his list did not stop.

The studies in these institutions

were to provide an inventory of "which senses are most teachable;

what tastes, beliefs, habits,

children and primitive man; nationality;

etc.

are common to

the influence of sex,

how the religious,

social,

age,

and

and moral instincts

grow; when each successive interest may be assumed to be at its height and most available in instruction;

how chil­

dren feel toward each other; when does animism towards flow­ ers, dolls,

stars,

etc. cease... How does Nature teach and

learn is our problem."

31

The need of the hour was not just

the study of the insights set forth by the giants of edu­ cational history,

though that be of value.

The need of that

decade as Hall viewed the situation was to gather more and more facts about children's interests, habits,

etc. from

their entrance into school until the end of adolescence. Children have their own ways of developing psychologically,

30I b i d . , p. 287. 31I b i d . , pp.

287-88.

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70 and these must be assiduously obeyed.

Child-study or the

study of children was for Hall essentially the discovering of the children's ways of developing and the reform of the school so that it could be said that the schools emulate Nature's way. If this were done, science.

education could then be called a

As far as Hall was concerned,

the education of

children in this country's public schools was not a science, i.e., not according to the way Nature teaches and learns ways which were discovered or known through the "laboratorytype" inventories of many children.

As long as there were

no empirical studies of children's own nature,

as long as

there were no attempts to apply the knowledge attained immediately to the reform of the schools in order to make them more effective,

no science of education existed.

The

attempt to deduce methodologies from the psychological theories of F r o e b e l , Herbart, of education.

Thus,

or anyone did not make a science

the work of W. H. Payne, Hailmann,

and

others did not constitute child-study to Hall and also did not yield a science of education. The study of the child in an attempt to make edu­ cation a science was not to have students study the mental philosophy of Froebel,

Rousseau, or Herbart,

and then to

make prescriptions accordingly for methodology and curriculum. This was part of the emphasis Hall was building into child-study.

To Hall,

child-study was to be first and

foremost an attempt to reform the school by studying the

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71 child as the biologist or physiologist supposedly does in the laboratory and to prescribe educational methods and content which conformed to the generalizations yielded by the studies.

Thus,

many others,

in Hall as it was to be the case for

child study and science became synonymous.

The clue for the science of education was the route of all the other sciences,

the laboratory - approach children as

objects to be observed and objects whose psyches are varied. The psyches were thought to be so varied that numerous observations must be made, over many years, ent circumstances. observations,

in many differ­

From the observations reported,

numerous

generalizations should then be formulated.

The

questionnaire inventory employed in his study of Boston children was one instrument by which observations could be made and recorded.

But for Hall other devices or instru­

ment s could be developed and ought to be soon. Not only did Hall present an appeal to the readers of The Princeton Review and The North American R e v i e w in 1883, he published at his own expense in 1883 a document 32 entitled The Study of C h i l d r e n .

As was done before, he

uttered an appeal for child-study in this country.

This

time, unlike before, questions were prepared to suggest and to guide the observations.

Parents,

teachers,

and friends

were invited to select one or more topics, one or more

■^G. Somerville, bility that edition, an

Stanley Hail, The Study of C h i l d r e n , North Mass.: n.p., 1883, 13 pp. There is a possi­ this edition was a revised edition of an earlier earlier edition dating back two or three years.

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school-age child,

and record their observations and reflec­

tions on a given set of questions along with indication of sex,

age, and nationality.

Miss Wiltse,

a Boston k i n d e r ­

garten teacher who had assisted Hall in the study of Boston school children, was to receive the recorded observations. Again the emphasis was deepening our supposedly shallow insights into the child's feeling."

33

"needs and modes of thought and

In order to know their needs and thoughts, Hal],

believed it necessary to investigate the child's life out­ side the classroom and family.

And so Hall urged that

detailed and direct observations of "the constant play instincts of children" be made.

34

Their "free, undirected,

spontaneous play whether games or improvised,

alone or

together" was one way to discover what the child's needs and modes of thought and feelings were.

The best way to do

this was first hand observations and no questions to the children.

The next best was to question the children or

the mothers.

Records of Ma y-D ay celebrations,

games, April Fools' chasing,

Day jokes,

the apple-bee,

of kissing wrestling,

and play-ground rounds were among a few of the

things he sought when he urged the study of the play instinct. Not only was there a play instinct to be observed, children had an "instinct of justice,

squareness,

and fair

33I b i d . , p. 1. 34

I b i d . , p. 3.

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73 play."

35

To study this, details were sought about children's

"grudges,

insults,

spite, persecution, rules,

apologies, ridicule,

their umpires,

resentments, bullying,

cuts,

etc.

slanders,

... "

36

mutual rights and duties - all,

The accord­

ing to Hall, were expressions of their own thinking on these matters.

To this was added inquiry into truth and honesty

among children,

into the children's conscience - "manifes-

tations of regret for wrong doing," affections,

opinions of self,

superstition,

etc.,

37

imitations,

parent end,

passions, humor,

to mention a few of the topics which he

thought ought also to be investigated. end for study,

friendship and

As topics were without

so likewise the questions were without ap­

from "What are the favorite

coys of children?"

to""What are their ideas about wedlock?," ultimately to "Do children observe eyes or mouth in imitating?" only thing that remained untouched was sex.

About the Before the

Movement itself came to an end even that topic would be raised.

But the

topics,

the questions,

and the detailed

records of direct observations from teachers and parents w e r e ’ultimately to discover the child's own ways of de­ veloping his mind and ultimately to change public schools' curriculum accordingly and also the methods.

33I b i d . , p. 4. 35

., Ibid.

3 7I b i d . , p . 7.

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74 Though implicit in what Hall stated, but worthy of direct attention and emphasis, Hall's plea for child-study was also an expression of his commitment and those who were to follow him.

Hall was committed to increasing educational

opportunity - not by building more and more schools but by making the schools more effective.

His suggestion was not

to destroy the system, not to remove students from it, not to reduce the public appropriations, intendents,

not to add more super­

not to move from a district system to county

unit system, not to put more and more women on the school boards, not to change school board economy policy,

etc.

His proposal was to make in the schools more effective use of present resources.

The more effective use of the school

could come only through change in the teaching methods, curriculum,

etc.

The changes themselves must be toward

Nature's way of teaching,

i.e., following the same procedures

and content that most children follow on their own.

To

increase educational opportunities in this country was to see to it that greater numbers of pupils succeeded in the school,

a success made possible according to Hall only by

following the child. was not the answer.

The addition of more and more schools The addition of more and more super­

intendents was not the answer.

The problem was that of the

schools' relationship to the children's own way of growing not a problem of the school and its relationship to the community.

If the supposed discrepancy between the school's

methods and content and those of the child did not exist,

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75 greater numbers of pupils would succeed in the school, an increase of educational opportunities. a union was formed under the rubric

Thus,

'child study'

i.e.,

for Hall, or 'the

study of c h il dre n, ' a union comprised of gathering and summarizing thousands of recorded manifestations of the children's psyche and reforming the public schools accordingly in an effort to increase the numbers who learn and succeed in the schools. Once hundreds of his suggested studies were completed in this country and once the schools were reformed to fit the picture of the child emerging from those studies, culmination was to be a science of education.

the

No science

of education existed when so many children were not succeed­ ing in the institution to avoid the evils of word-cramming, bookishness, Pestalozzi,

or evil of being classed as dull, Froebel,

even though "s or some other giant was assiduously

- studied by the teachers in the normal schools and followed by the teachers once on the job.

Teaching would be scien­

tific when changes in the public schools could be suggested which resulted in greater and greater numbers of children avoiding the common evils - bookishness, word-cramming, thy,

etc.

Thus,

education,

apa­

child-study was committed by Hall to making

public schooling,

a science.

Science of education

appeared to mean to Hall at this point a matter of increasing the number who succeed in the schools through reforming the schools,

i.e.,

through substituting a curriculum and methods

in which the child was the norm - not the community's ideals

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76 and stage of development, but the c h i l d ’s "feelings and modes of thought as norm.

Hall's Child-Study Role in the 1 8 8 0 's

After having probed deeply into Hall's work of the 1880's, it is possible now to turn to consider the role of Hall's writings during these years.

By noting the continuity

and discontinuity between Hall's writings and those writings of a precursor such as Adams, emerges.

a perspective of Hall's role

This section of the study makes central the conclu­

sion that the role of Hall is to be seen as delineator and publicizer of child-study ideas in American education rather than organizer of child-study associations or originator of ■-M

child-study ideas. Hall and Adams as well as others were agreed upon the need or reform in American education.

Both men charged the

schools with being ineffective and urged that change take place soon.

They each denounced the schools for bookishness,

for word-cramming,

etc. on the part of children.

Both men

were agreed upon the proposal that education must be recog­ nized as a science in this country if education were to be improved.

Hall as well as Adams urged that education could

and would become a science through study of the child's mental life, and through using the knowledge attained as a norm.

They claimed that the public schools'

ineffectiveness

was due to its failure to use the means which the child employed in its own life.

To both,

the cause suggested the

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77

cure - make the children's feelings, modes of thought and mental development,

etc.

the norm,

for the c h i l d ’s ways of

learning and developing on their own were judged painless, exciting and efficient.

Further accord existed upon the

observation that this making of the child a norm required the study of the child.

An additional agreement was present

upon the point that child-study or study of the child's m e n ­ tal life and development was to be a supposedly scientific study in a modern sense, ies of children. earlier,

i.e., inductive, observational stud­

In so far as Adams expressed these ideas

the role of Hall's work was not that of originator

of novel ideas in the American educational scene of the 1880's . Unlike Adams,

Hall did not simply restate the ideas

which Adams had expressed.

In the 1880's, Adams did not re­

peat his pronouncements to the public nor did he attempt to illustrate in considerable detail some of his assertions, however, Hall did reiterate those claims, did give them pub­ licity,

and at the same time illustrated those ideas.

Through­

out his writings, he was making those ideas which Adams had expressed more explicit. than Adams.

Thus, Hall went somewhat further

By taking the lead or going beyond Adams, Hall

became in a certain sense the leader.

Hall initiated late

in 1880 what was certainly among the earliest studies claim­ ing to be an empirical and psychological study of children in this country,

a study which also purported to deal with

the natural bases of first-year instruction.

Whereas Adams'

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78 appeal was before the N.E.A.

and the readers of H a r p e r 's ,

Hall carried his appeal to the readers of The Princeton R e v i e w , The North American R e v i e w , and later the N a t i o n . Besides being the first to illustrate child-study, Hall went so far as to prepare a pamphlet on the study of chil­ dren which was circulated at his own expense. his other work, he specified the topics, be raised,

Here as in

the questions

and the observations desired.

to

In so doing, he

delineated the range of interest for child-study in America. Nothing of the public and private lives of school pupils outside the classroom and the home was unimportant.

In

principle, not one aspect of the child's feelings and styles of thought were to be exempted from child-study. Besides delineating the range of concerns, he also chose not'to see child-study exclusively institutionalized in the university.

The normal schools were to be involved,

the teachers on the job and,

if need be, the parents.

Anybody who had anything to do with children were to make observations,

record them,

and then send their reports to

the normal schools and the universities.

Unlike Adams, Hall

was not prepared to exclude the normal schools.

He pur->.

portedly induced Russell at the normal school in Worcester (Mass.)

to begin gathering observations from his students. During the years from 1880 to 1888,

almost exclusively with Hall.

child-study resided

Hall was basically the only person

during these years who was emphasizing publicly Adams'

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appeal.

79 Besides engaging in the first studies of c h i l d r e n ’s mental development, Hall was also attempting to outline,

in effect,

the study of children by specifying topics and questions as well as indicating the data desired. But Hall's efforts in child-study were scattered during this time.

Though he stated his prime interest was

with the application of psychology to education,

he did most

of his work with pure laboratory psychology rather than attending to the applied aspects of psychology to education. This was due probably to the kinds of academic positions open to him.

The giving of child-study an academic home in

the university and possibly permitting more concerted action on Hall's part did come eventually.

The occasion was when

the presidency of a new university was offered to Hall, university to be founded by Jonas Gilman Clark.

a

The of fi ­

cial offer was made in April of 1888 and was accepted by Hall in May of the same year. Before Hall could give much serious attention again to child-study through actual studies, establishing journals,

training students,

etc., much had to be done by Hall.

A plan for the university was necessary, buildings,

departmental arrangements,

cruitment of faculty and students,

a plan encompassing

curricula,

etc.

the re­

This was indeed a

demanding task and was to consume approximately three to four years of Hall's time.

But being president of the new

university with facilities,

the opportunities for promoting

child-study were to appear after the initial university

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80 problems were resolved. Though Hall's efforts were restricted to some extent by the academic opportunities available to him, Hall did give emphasis on several occasions between 1880 and 1888 to ideas which were expressed by Adams.

Through articles for

prominent journals in the 1880's, Hall gave those ideas considerable publicity.

As Hall reported studies and issued

pleas for more studies, Hall delineated explicity before the public what he thought child-study ought to be,

an endeavor

not assumed by Adams in the years between 1880 and 1888.

Summary

A leading idea concerning child-study which Hall delineated and publicized in the 1 8 8 0 's was that child-study ought to be a quest to know the child's mental

life in order

to make education a science and to bring about the reform of education in this country."

Hall also set forth the idea

that child-studies in education ought to be empirical investigations of school-aged children,

i.e.,

summarization

of data supplied b y relatively untrained laymen about chil­ dren's interests,

instincts,

etc.

The idea that this kn owl­

edge should function normatively in education was a prominent idea which appeared in conjunction with Hall's other ideas about child-study.

Universities and normal schools were

recommended by Hall as centers for the institutionalization and promotion of the quest to know the child's mental nature.

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81 Insofar as Hall,

almost alone, was delineating and publicizing

child-study ideas in the 1880's, no organized movement had appeared.

The Child-Study Movement in American Education

was in an incipient phase.

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82 CHAPTER IV ORGANIZATIONAL PROMOTION OF CHILD-STUDY • AMONG EDUCATORS IN THE 1890's

The preceding chapters concerned child-study ideas for American public education as those ideas became manifest through the writings of such early figures as Adams and Hall during the Movement's incipient phase.

During the 1890's,

the Child-Study Movement in American education entered an organizational phase.

The purpose of this chapter is to

relate in a historically developmental way the more public means by which child-study ideas and work were disseminated and nourished organizationally among educators during the 1890's.

Through such an account,

it will be seen that the

Child-Studv Movement among those concerned wich public edu ­ cation in this country became in the 1 8 9 0 's a deliberate and concerted effort encompassing numerous individuals w ork ­ ing through institutional centers and organizations.

A

first major means by which the development of child-study ideas and work was attempted in this country was through two newly created institutions, University.

Clark University and Stanford

A second was through various organizations,

particularly the American Association for Child-Study Child-Study Division) Study.

(N.E.A.

and the Illinois Society for Child-

It is to these institutional centers and organiza­

tions that the attention of this chapter will be directed.

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83 Clark and Stanford Universities as Institutional Centers for Child-Study

Hall may have thought his conception of child-study left much to be desired with respect to clarity, etc.;

precision,

if so, Hall neither indicated this publicly nor appeared

to find it terribly restraining.

In fact, Hall as well as

those who were to follow him in the quest to promote childstudy among those concerned with public education acted very much as if the clarity, ideas referred to by limitations.

precision,

'child-study'

To Hall,

and soundness of their presented no insurmountable

the effort at a movement dedicated to

child-study ideas among educators - and at that an organized movement - was not premature. attempts occurred,

And so, between 1890 and 1895,

attempts at increasing the number of persons

interested in doing studies of children,

psychological studies,

and to increase the number of people interested in assisting those performing the studies.

The initial efforts at organ­

izing and expanding child-study in this country were taken with remarkable vigor and enthusiasm.

Furthermore,

these

organized efforts were marked with unrestrained optimism. Child-study was presented as the panacea for American edu­ cational problems.

All those who joined the promotional

efforts thus tended to view themselves as making one of the greatest contributions to the progress of American schooling and eventually to the progress of American society.

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84

The beginning of the organizational phase occurred at Clark University under the leadership of G. Stanley Hall. Hall,

it appears, had nothing to do with selecting the site

of Clark University.

It must have been to some extent pleas­

ing to Hall that the site chosen was Worcester. was in Massachusetts, first study.

Worcester

the state in which he had done his

This fact could nave been significant to Hall.

But of significance to the future was the fact that Worcester was near Boston,

the city in which Miss Wiltse had resided

and had gathered data.

With guidance and direction,

she

continued to provide Hall with data as well as to assist him in the endeavor of keeping track of the Movement. Miss Wiltse served in the decade of the 1 8 9 0 ’s as the Move­ ment's unofficial historian.

Besides being near Boston,

Worcester had a state normal school which was under E. H. Russell's leadership.

Upon Hall's request in 1885,

Russell

began collecting the reports of observations made by students at the normal school in Worcester.

The number of reported

observations of children which Russell collected had become immense by the 1 8 9 0 's.

In 1891, William Burnham stated

that the number of reports reached 14,000.

Thus,

Russell's

collections meant that Hall and his future students would ‘have access to a vast reservoir of data besides that collected by Miss Wiltse,

a body of data which could and did become

the basis of future, studies by Hall's students.

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85

Since the first three years as president of Clark University was involved in adminstrative details, Hall's opportunities for pursuing his own interests were restricted. Hall was fairly accurate when he observed in his autobiogra­ phy that at the end of the first three years he was free to return to his own work.'*'

Financial and policy problems

with Mr. Clark were finally resolved by 1893.

President

Harper's raid on Hall's faculty and the resulting migration to Chicago University had all passed by 1893 with the Uni­ versity surviving.

To Hall's pleasure,

did not migrate was Dr. Sanford, sity student.

the one man that

a former Hopkins Univer­

Sanford was the man to whom Hall delegated

the experimental laboratory.

With Sanford's decision to

remain at Clark University and with Hall's delegation of responsibility to Sanford for the psychological

laboratory,

Hall had more freedom than ever before to promote his own interests in this country,

especially child-study.

Though

Hall perhaps was more free in 1893, he did not wait until then to promote the cause of child-study in education. One of the first things Hall did as president of Clark was to arrange for a professorship of pedagogy within the depart­ ment of psychology.

To this position was appointed William

H. Burnham in 1890.

Burnham was to some extent another of

■*■0. Stanley Hall, The Life and Confessions of _a P s y c h o l o g i s t , New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1923, p. 303 f.

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86 Hall's products at Hopkins.

Burnham studied Psychology-

under Hall at Hopkins finishing his degree the same year that Hall resigned his position there. It was at Hopkins * supposedly that Hall learned of Burnham's interest in edu­ cation, cation.

especially in the application of psychology to edu­ With Burnham coming to Clark in 1890,

child-study was enhanced considerably.

the cause of

The training of stu­

dents in child-study thus did not depend entirely on Hall's freedom from university details during these early years of the decade.

In addition to teaching classes at Clark for

Hall, Burnham gave directions to students engaging in studies of children following the pattern which Hall outlined in the preceding decade.

Beyond

the assistance in training students,

Burnham assisted Hall with The Pedagogical S e m i n a r y , a jour­ nal which Hall initiated in 1891.

Though Hall was the origi­

nator of the journal and wrote the editorials,

Burnham as­

sisted Hall in editing manuscripts for the journal and in doing other editorial work.

Burnham also wrote articles

for the journal. The Pedagogical Seminary became an important means by which Hall attempted to promote child-study among edu­ cators in this country. 1891.

The first issue appeared in January,

In this first issue, Hall stated that in the various

European countries reform in education had begun at the top and not at the bottom.

The major source of vitality was to

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87

be found at the top and that vitality eventually worked its way down.

2

And so, Hall stated in the editorial preface

that the new journal,

issuing forth from Clark University,

addressed itself to "the few and not the many."

3

Among the

few to whom it was dedicated were roughly four classes. The first were laymen, prominent laymen among those serving as trustees,

legislators,

editors,

etc., men who wished

according to Hall to see the best methods applied in edu­ cation.

The prominent laymen in these occupations,

according

to Hall, were the ones from whom "most of the best educational 4 reforms" had proceeded m this country and other countries. The second class of persons to whom the journal was dedicated were the administrators of universities,

colleges,

and school

systems, men who because of their responsibility had, claimed Hall, their own.

so

insufficient time to gather information on

The third group comprised professors of pedagogy,

principals of normal schools,

and the teachers of normal

schools since according to Hall,

they were rarely capable

of reading the foreign languages or lack access to the liter­ ature in the other languages on education, they would most profit by."^

"the literature

And so, in his opening editorial,

besides stating those to whom the journal was to be directed, people to whom many child-study people in the years ahead

^G. Stanley Hall, "Educational Reforms," The Pedagogical S e m i n a r y , 1:1 (January, 1891), pp. 1-12. o Hall, "Editorial,” Pedagogical S e m i n a r y , 1:1. (January, 1891), p. viii. 4 Ibid. 5Ibid. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.

88 were to direct their literature, Hall also took an occasion to present an unflattering judgment of the literature availa­ ble in this country for the normal schools.

In H a l l ’s mind,

the literature available for training teachers,

especially

on the nature of the child, was far from being the most profitable body of literature and ought to be improved.

His

journal set about to make available a better literature,

a

literature in part dealing with European developments in education.

The fourth group of persons to whom the journal

was directed was the professors and students in Clark Un iv e r ­ sity's department of education.

For Hall,

it was on the pro­

fessors and students at Clark University that the future progress of education in this country depended. providing them with valuable reading,

Besides

it was also important

that they be given an outlet for their ideas and researches. In time,

the students as well as the faculty of Clark became

important contributors to the journal. From the beginning, improvement of education.

the journal was dedicated to the In order to achieve this, Hall

delineated in the opening editorial two lines of approaches. The first was the "comparative study of institutions and literature in all leading countries."^

Hall thought that

in order to improve American education,

it was helpful,

if

not necessary, to have educational ideas of foreign countries reviewed.

An obstacle to reform in this country's system of

^ I b i d . , p. iv.

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89 education,

so Hall observed, was "the undue prevalence of

hard and settled dogmas of both philosophy and method of education."

7

Hall cited as examples of this in the United

States those who debated and formed commitments to "education from the standpoint of Hegel, Spencer, and lately in this g country Herbart." In order to prevent the going "to seed 9 in dogmas, formulas, abstractions," he was suggesting the bombardment of American educators with educational ideas and practices from other countries.

The Pedagogical Seminary

was the journal dedicated to such a bombardment in the hope of loosening the hold of dogmas, about education.

formulas, and abstractions

Excessive dogmas, he asserted,

education from sparsity of ideas among educators.

arose in By bombard­

ing them first with a vast range of ideas from other countries, one weakened their dogmatism thereby providing a basis for the eventual acceptance of newer and better ideas on edu­ cation. There was a second line for the improvement of edu­ cation, so Hall proclaimed.

The second also became a part

of the journal's dedicated purpose.

The educational ideas

presented from other countries were to result in printed treatises which proposed plans for educational reform in this country.

These plans must" then be studied.

But perhaps of more

^I b i d . , p. v i . 8I b i d . 9Ibid.

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90 importance at this point was his idea that the plans which were formulated must be studied "with constant reference to the natural history of the child and the yo ut h." 1n ... is now being placed upon a scientific basis."

19

W hat was in the process of putting education on

a scientific basis?

Child-study pursued scientifically!

Educational theories, he said, were giving way and must continue to give way to knowledge about how children develop.

Root Ideas about Scientific Child-Study for Educators

In order that the "school will no longer be a blight to child life, but a fostering institution in which our TO

G. W. A. Luckey, "Child-Study in its Effects Upon Teachers," Child-Study M o n t h l y .1:8 (February, 1896), p. 2 32. 19 I b i d . , p. 231.

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138 boys and girls will bloom into full manhood and womanhood, fitted to be citizens of our country and to succeed in the pursuits and occupations that await them," E. W. Scripture,

20

so wrote

the quest to study children's minds must

become fully scientific.

Others as well as Scripture in the

1890's set about to do scientific studies and thereby reveal that it was possible.

Besides doing the work,

from time to

time, others stated just what must be done if child-study were to become scientific. t

The constant theme with respect to expressed by such terms as 'inductive,' 'observe the facts,' 'deductive,'

etc.

'speculative,'

'theoretical,'

were terms used to characterize older con­

ceptions of science, studies of children. Study Movement,

'gathering the facts,'

At the same time, words such as

'rationalistic,'

and 'abstract,'

'science' was

especially science of education and older According to members in the Child-

the tradition of the West had been to assume

as self-evident that the child possessed essentially the same characteristics as the adult with differences being in degree of perfection.

And thus,

it was thought that to

study the adult was to be studying the child also. Movement assumed the child was different, quantitatively,

from the adult.

about to prove this.

The

qualitatively and

The new child-study set

The new child-study was to be based

upon observations of children - thousands and thousands of

20

E. W. Scripture, "Methods of Laboratory Mind Study," Report of the Commissioner of Education 18 92-1893, V:I (1895), Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, pp. 378-382.

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139

observations.

This was the emphasis in Bryan's appeal that

child-study of the future move out of the laboratory. Observation was to be basic but observations of many chil­ dren of all ages, especially schoolage.

Bryan in his pleas

for this kind of child-study indicated the need of patience. For it, he remarked, had taken almost thirty years for Darwin to make his many detailed observations.

Thus, he as

well as others urged people to beware of those "most ready to give generalizations."

He emphasized that first we must

collect,

collect data, and the process is

collect,

collect,

sometimes almost interminable." Bolton and Bryan,

21

In the case of both

this was the key to modern science.

It

was inductive or observational as well as an attempt to build 'generalizations,'

as they were sometimes called,

generaliza­

tions which summarized literally thousands and thousands of observations on a given topic or subject.

In so doing,

the

generalization would tell the educators what the average child thinks,

can do,

and does do, etc.

from one age to

another. As was indicated in earlier chapters, upon observation was not new to the 1890's. emphasis had reached an all-time high.

the emphasis The degree of

Hall emphasized in

the 1 8 8 0 's the necessity of direct observations of children in this country.

The article "Educational Needs," 1883,

21

Thaddeus L. Bolton, "Scientific and Practical ChildStudy - Their Scopes and Limitations," The Child-Study Monthly.V :1 (May, 1899), p. 10.

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140 expressed this emphasis on observation when Hall urged the appearance of centers in this country where children could be systematically observed, vocabularies,

interests,

i.e., inventories made of their

fears,

etc.

In his writings of 1885,

he repeated this when he urged teachers to study the chil­ dren as naturalists do insects and animals.

To Hall, the

significance of people such as C o m m e n i u s , Rousseau, Preyer, and others was in their effort at and plea that children be observed as naturalists observe things around them.

,As

for Hall and many others to follow him in the 1890's, the observations of the future were not to be limited to a few children and to only a few aspects of the child's mind as people had done in the past.

The new child-study was to

study all aspects of the child's mind and to study as many children as time and money permitted.

(1) E. H. Russell,

Non-Directed Observation of The Child

With more and more participants in the Mo ement in the 1 8 9 0 's and with a more intense desire that this study be scientific,

a number of prominent spokesmen came forth to

present their ideas about what was ne cessary for child-study to become fully scientific.

In 1892,

E. Harlow Russell,

describing his child-study method at Worcester, Mass.

to the

readers of the Pedagogical S e m i n a r y , quoted the following from Darwin's autobiography:

"I worked on true Baconian

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141

p r i n c i p l e s , and without any theory collected facts on a wholesale scale.

... "

22

geology, biology,

This,

it was thought, was the way that

etc. had become sciences - truely scientific.

"If this great science [the study of psychological nature of children]

is to be changed over from the deductive to the

inductive side,

and thus

'fall into line in the great

Baconian change of base,'" wrote Russell,

"then we may be

sure there is work cut out for more than one generation." What was this work? of facts."

23

The work was collecting "vast masses

24

Russell stated that because of "their multitude" or abundance tne facLs "can be collected by an array of observers and investigators working in many quarters, under various conditions,

and through a longer period of time."

the facts to be gathered,

claimed Russell,

25

Among

are those having

to do with "the ordinary every-day life of the children of every community."

26

I.t is from these daily affairs of

children that "thousands upon thousands of significant facts"

22 E. Harlow Russell, "The Study of Children At the State Normal School, Worcester, Mass.," Pedagogical Seminar y, 11:3 (1892) p. 352.

23

Ibid.

2 4 I b i d . , p.

346.

2 5 Ibid. 2 6 Ibid. 2 7 Ibid.

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27

142

can be gathered according’to Russell,

about the child's mind.

The child's mind - the facts about his mind - were the child's overt behavior.

Since the child's overt behavior was open

to everybody's notice,

Russell wrote that the facts for

child-study were open to everybody's notice were "ripe enough to be plucked and used as data for valuable generalization,"

28

generalization about what "goes into the manifold activities of children's lives." child's life,

i.e.,

29

The manifold activities of the

the child's beliefs from one age to another,

his inferences, his collections,

etc. were all expressions of

the child-'s mind. This work of collecting the thousands of facts ripe

for the formation of generalizations was the

task

he set for

himself prior to the 1 8 9 0 ’sand continued to

do

in the 1 8 9 0 's. the 1 8 9 0 's.

Others in normal schools did likewise in

Russell's approach wo n the approval of many

during the early 1 8 9 0 's. Russell recognized that his efforts at Worcester fell short of science since these facts were never summarized into generalizations by himself nor by his students.

This

task was left to Hall and his students at nearby Clark University,

however,

once the generalizations were formed -

derived from the observations or facts,

then child-study

could call

itself a science.

In other words, when the facts

were being

collated then one was being scientific.

The

2 8 - .. Ibid. 29

Ibid.

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143 collation was itself to be determined by looking at the facts,

i.e., ordered by age,

cal ideas,

interests,

sex, and most common or typi­

etc.

It was always kept in mind among the leaders of the Movement that one's facts or observations must be objective. Consequently,

Russell said that he urged his students to

make no efforts at drawing inferences nor generalizing.

In

an attempt to assure no prejudice, he deliberately avoided proposing a topic fir guiding a student's observation. Russell's quest was supposedly for facts - not opinions, reports - not interpretations.

The facts or reports of

observations were to be about the spontaneous activities of children in their native haunts. In his article,

Russell reprinted several samples

from the thousands and thousands of brief reports

("facts")

made by his normal school students:

[Series I., No. 6107. Child observed, Henry, aged 7 years] "Henry told me confidentially that Alice __ was 'awful smart' and the 'best reader in school.' Winnie (10 years) over heard this and asked if he liked Alice better than any other girl. He grew red, and was so confused that he did not answer." [Series I, No. 6081. Child observed, Stella, aged 9 years] "Last night my sister woke up and said to me, where did I drop it?" I . 'Drop W h a t ? ' Stella. 'My bird; give it to m e . ' The cat killed her bird four months ago."

30I b i d . , p. 350;

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144 These so-called factual reports or accounts of observations, claimed Russell,

"were in no wise impaired by the medium

through which they have passed in being observed and recorded. No amount of scientific training in the observer could improve the results so far as they go."

31

. . The only step remaining

was their being collated into generalizations.

He claimed

that from the universal accumulation of such facts were built all sciences which were observational sciences.

Through

these facts and many more along with their collation, study was to become scientific.

child-

For him as for those to

follow., collating was forming generalizations which accurately summarized the thousands and thousands of reports or facts as they were sometimes called.

It must be kept in mind that

the facts or reports were or could be easily gathered by students. But Russell was not alone in his equation of scien­ tific child-study with observation of the child's behavior (observing and gathering vast numbers of facts) formation of genetic generalizations

and the

(summary statements)

which were supposedly found within the collected ob ser va ­ tions.

Others joined Russell:

Normal School of Trenton,

Lillia A. Williams

New Jersey),

Will S. Monroe

(Westfield State Normal School, Mass.), (Kansas State Normal School,

Emporia,

(State

Oscar Chrisman

Kansas),

and many

others.

31I b i d . , p. 351.

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145 Miss Williams,

as others had done and were to do,

began with a denunciation of what she called the "meta­ physical speculations concerning the laws of development of the child's mind."

32

She claimed that what was needed

mobe than anything was "knowledge of the facts as can be reached through the study of children."

33

The study of

children was to be basically the same as any of the other sciences according to Miss Williams.

What this meant was

that the people "must begin with the accumulation of facts," 34

as she said,

"vast mountains of fact."

her students

to follow Russell's plan for building "the vast

mountains of facts."

And so, she had

Once the vast mountains of facts were

attained, valuable generalizations could be formulated, she wrote.

The vaster the mountains of facts became,

more accurate supposedly became the generalizations, use the most frequent expression, generalizations. Bryan,

so

the or to

the more valid were the

People such as Miss Williams, Hall, Monroe,

Chrisman, Krohn,

and otheis in the universities and

normal schools were to be the persons to summarize the data gathered - not the students in the normal schools, teachers in the public schools,

not the

nor the parents who were

gathering the facts to be summarized.

32

Lillie A. Williams, "How to Collect Data For Studies in Genetic Psychology," Pedagogical S e m i n a r y .I l l :3 (June, 1896), p. 419. 33

Ibid. Ibid.

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146

(2) G. Stanley Hall,

Directed Observation of the Child

Now, not all members of the Movement employed the same techniques by which to gather their data for studies. Though Hall had recommended to Russell that students supply reports of their casual and non-directed o b se rva tio ns , Hall himself preferred another method because R u s s e l l ’s method imposed the task of sorting the reports for the ones relevant to certain topics before summarizing the thousands of reports. Hall turned to publishing leaflets on which were printed a list of questions or requests pertaining to one topic. These leaflets were sometimes referred to as questionnaires, at other times,

topical syllabi

they were referred by the word

(or 'syllabi').

Sometimes

'circulars'

This practice was not new to the world nor to this country.

In the 1870's,

the American Social Science A sso c i a ­

tion had issued circulars or questionnaires in order to acquire information which in turn could be summarized in order to settle some factual questions.

Examples of such questions

which were to be settled by the circulars were:

"What are the

effects of teaching on the general health of teachers?," "What are the effects of schooling on the bladder, system,

nervous

etc. of children?," and many more such questions.

In Europe,

the questionnaire was employed in the 1 8 7 0 's to

study the content of children's minds.

Fechner, Darwin,

and Galton were among a few of the famous persons who had

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147

employed the questionnaire or circular technique for gathering data presumably to settle some factual question.

Galton

himself had employed the technique to deal with several ques­ tions about the clarity of mental images, hereditary factors among geniuses,

etc.

In fact, Galton had probably done much

to make the questionnaire popular. The first questionnaire to come out of Clark University was printed m

the Pedagogical Seminary of 1894.

Hall had employed the device in the 1 8 8 0 's. chose for the first syllabus, was anger.

35

Of course,

The topic, Hall

The first topical

syllabus began with an attempt to indicate to the reader the phenomena wanted.

"The phenomena wanted," wrote Hall,

variously designated by the following words: wrath, temper, madness, crossness, out with." appeared.

indignation,

cholor, 36

grudge,

sulks,

sours,

"are

ire,

putchiness,

fume, fury, passion to be or fall

Following this beginning,

a list of ten items

There were requests for descriptions of "vaso­

motor symtoms" such as flushing,

tremors,

etc.,

requests

for descriptions of overt acts for revenge, and other similar requests for descriptions.

He asked for reports of how

children speak of their past outbreaks of anger. the list of items sought, descriptions

Now,

Hall appended several pleas:

"ought to be photographically objective,

35

111:1

to the exact,

G. Stanley Hall, "Editorial," Pedaqoqical Seminary, (Oct., 1894), pp. 6-7. 36-r, . , , I b i d . , p. 6.

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148

minute, life,

and copious in detail;"

temperament,

37

that the age,

sex,

family-

rationality of every child be told;

that

the reporter add descriptions of his own experience with anger,

that the reporter gather adult friends or organize

a circle of friends, concert.”

38

teachers,

etc.

"to talk and observe in

Hall closed his leaflet or first topical syllabi

with the claim that "This is a subject of obviously great importance for moral and even physical education." nately," he said,

"the topic was one on which no literature

was available worth reading."

39

Since this state-of-affairs

existed along with the topic being so vast, Hall closed,

"Unfortu­

"Let us try,"

’'the concerted method of work and in some way

pool its results for the mutual benefit of teachers and for the good of the children we all live for."

40

This first syllabus was published and circulated extensively throughout the country by various societies and normal schools in this country.

child-study Miss Williams

had her prospective teachers at the normal school to supply Hall with thousands and thousands of reports to this circu­ lar on anger and the others which appeared between October of 1894 and October of the following year. Hall issued fifteen questionnaires.

3 7I b i d . , p.

Within that year,

The topics ranged

7.

38 -

. , Ibid.

39

Ibid.

40 — .,

Ibid.

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149

fantastically:

dolls, crying and laughing,

things,

feelings for animate and inanimate objects,

fears,

toys and play­

affections, moral and religious experiences, among children, etc.

"folk-lore"

The form did not change nor did the goal.

The following year Hall and his students issued from Clark University twenty-six topical syllabi.

By 1903, Hall claimed

that the data supplied had become the basis for over fifty books and articles.

41

Some books and articles were pre­

pared exclusively by Hall while others were done either by a student or in conjunction with his students.

Especially

in the minds of teachers in the public schools and normal schools across the country,

Clark University and Hall,

if

not the entirety of child-study among educators and psy­ chologists, became almost synonymous with these topical syl­ labi . Though Clark University was the university to issue the most syllabi and studies based on this procedure, Hall and his students were not alone in utilizing this procedure. Various normal schools and state universities along with state child-study societies emulated Hall.

Hundreds of

syllabi appeared in an effort to get at the real nature of the child by gathering information on those aspects of the child's nature which had supposedly been so long ignored by adults.

Syllabi appeared asking for photographic

41G. Stanley Hall, "The Next Step in C hi l d - S t u d y ," The Journal of Childhood and A d o l e s c e n c e ,111:1 (July, 1903), pp. 48-50.

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150

descriptions from teachers, parents,

and superintendents -

descriptions of children's and youth's imaginary companions, ideals,

interests in natural objects,

tions, lies, chums, vocabulary,

stories,

games, collec­

secret language,

For Hall as was the case for others,

etc.

they considered

this the application of science to the study of the child. The quest to know the child - really k n o w his psychological nature - carried the requirement that the study be scientific. To be scientific was essentially to be inductive, collecting thousands of detailed observations were occasionally called)

i.e.,

(facts as they

and summarizing those facts.

To summarize those facts,

for Hall as was the case

for Russell, meant that the data were counted and then ordered according to age and sex.

As a rule, nationality and socio­

economic backgrounds were not specifically used as a basis for ordinary data.

For example, with respect to fears,

objects reported as being feared such as ghosts, water, mals were enumerated.

Then,

a count was reported,

indicating how many six year olds feared ghosts,

the ani­

a count

etc.

Then

the facts in turn were summarized by statements such as children between certain ages fear natural objects more while children of another age tend to fear unnatural objects. When Hall referred to child-study as the introduction of Darwinian evolution into the study of the mind, things were being indicated by this remark.

several

Besides indi­

cating that biological evolution implied a study of the

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151

child's mind as well as a study of the adult, Hall was stating in addition that the data of the studies must be collected always from children of different ages and reported on the basis of age in order that changes could be noted from one age to another. ambitions,

The fears, play,

ideals, -interests,

etc. for each age were thought collectively to

comprise the real nature,

psychological nature,

child, and the changes in fears,

of the

etc. indicated the pattern

of development which children followed in becoming an adult. Another implication of Darwinian ideas was the necessity of gathering data on a n g e r s , fears, play interest of children,

etc.

Introducing evolution into child-study

meant that one took a different view of the child's mind. Hall as well as the other leaders of the Child-Study M o v e ­ ment in American education were not faculty psychologists. Darwin's theory, view.

they thought,

spelled the doom of such a

Mind was viewed as man's attempt at and successes at

adapting himself to his environment in order to insure sur­ vival.

Man's attempts at achieving survival now were differ­

ent from those in the past;

therefore,

now different from mind in the past.

the mind of man is For Hall and others,

mind of his age was linked with reasoning as exhibited in modern science, both pure and applied science.

This meant

that these characteristics would not characterize minds of earlier ages.

Mind was something else.

The mind of man

millions of years ago was characterized by'different sets of

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152

adaptations or tendencies.

Hall, believing himself in line

with Darwin, claimed that the mind had its vestiges of the past just as certain biological vestiges of the past were found present in the body and were gradually disappearing since no longer functional. such things as fear, angers, fears,

These mental vestiges were

interests,

interests,

and anger.

The spontaneous

etc. were vestiges of man's mind

in the past, i.e., inherited modes by which man adapted hi m­ self successfully to his hostile environment.

Mind,

thus,

became identified with the appearance of certain vestiges or inherited tendencies

(instincts),

aroused by our environ­

ment and with the attempt to find ways of handling the adapt­ ive mechanisms from the past. fears,

angers,

inanimate),

Among those vestiges were

certain feelings for objects

certain story interests,

found among children.

(an:mate and

and play interests

It was through the investigation of

the vestiges or mechanisms in the child's native haunts that Hall and other members of the Movement sought to inductively discover the real nature of the child's mind.

As the child's

objects of anger as well as modes of expressing his anger differed from the adult,

as his fears differed,

tern of reasoning differed,

as his pat­

as his interests differed from

the adult, his mind likewise was thought to differ since mind at any time was a term which referred to the f e a r s , interests,

etc. of an individual and the ways of manipulating

them.

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153

The study of anger,

fears,

interest,

etc. of chil­

dren was an almost unwritten requirement in order for child-study to be scientific, explicitly with the word

though almost never linked

'science* when science was being

discussed by Hall and his colleagues.

Even though members

of the Movement thought that they were being gloriously atheo re tic al , non-speculative, ’completely inductive

(in

other words, working along "true Baconian principles and without any. theory" by collecting facts on a wholesale scale), Hall, Chrisman, Krohn,

Barnes, Miss Williams,

and others

were employing a theory about the implications of Darwin's ideas for the psychological study of children in American education.

That theory me ant the belief that the child had

his own psychological nature,

long hidden from the adults,

and that the nature was revealed in his fears, angers,

feelings,

interests,

etc.

(3) Earl Barnes, Study of the Child's Compositions and Drawings Hall, Chrisman,

Luckey, Kirkpatrick,

Scripture,

and

others were not the only ones to explicitly identify modern science with inductive studies,

i.e., observing and gather­

ing the facts followed by the formulation of generalizations supposedly found in the data.

Outside of Hall,

Russell,

and Miss Williams, Barnes was perhaps the most vociferous spokesman of such a view of science.

He expressed such a

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154 view in the volumes of his Studies in E d u c a t i o n , 1896-1897 and 1902.

His articles expressing his position were dissemi­

nated through other journals devoted to child-study in this country and other countries, England in particular. In 1896, while at Stanford, Barnes expressed his view of science, a view that identified science exclusively with observing facts and forming from those facts "large generali­ zations" to use his phrase.

"All strong advance in science,"

he claimed,

"has so far been made through the direct study

of reality.

... "

42

For child-study,

this meant that we

must have "direct studies of children"

Direct studies of

children for him involved gathering of data (facts) which were secured from- either direct observation of or questioning of children.

These observations were then to be used as the

bases for forming all generalizations.

"Indirect observa­

tions" such as one's reminiscences of childhood or diaries and letters from childhood and youth, he claimed,

could

not be sources for data and still be considered scientific. Studies employing such data are likely to involve error. Direct studies on children - "on masses of commonplace children" - must give us, Barnes wrote,

"whatever of

final knowledge we achieve concerning children."

43

42

Earl Barnes, "Methods of Studying Children," Studies in Education, 1:1 (July, 1896), p. 11.

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155 To Barnes,

the fact that he along with others were doing

direct studies of hundreds and hundreds of children - gather­ ing data directly from children to form generalizations ("the methods of modern science") - meant they comprised a new movement. Even as late as 1902, when he prepared his second volume of Studies in E d u c a t i o n , Barnes reiterated these ideas which appeared in his first volume of 1896-1897 and in his articles w ritten prior to the first volume. not changed his position.

He had

"Today we are approaching all

the phenomena of life through the method of direct inductive inquiries,"

44

asserted Barnes.

"Inorganic matter,

lower

forms of organic life and man himself" were all being studied scientifically, life of m a n . '

especially the mind of ma n or

'subjective

Not only was it a characteristic of the age

to approach things scientifically, but Barnes viewed the ap p r o a c h i n g .of the subjective life scientifically a major characteristic of his age.

In the case of child-study,

the

study of the psychological or subjective nature of the child b y direct,

inductive methods of inquiry was to him inevitable.

According to Barnes,

child-study was no accident,

"no passing

fad in education;" it was all part of the general movement of his age to approach things scientifically and in particu­ lar the mind of man. best of his age,

In an effort to be in line with the

the Studies in E d u c a t i o n , he wrote,

44

11:1

Earl Barnes, "Introduction," Studies in E d u c a t i o n . (March, 1902), p. 3.

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A?

156

"are a slight contribution to this new scientific interpretation of the subjective life of man."

45

In his attempt to make child-study scientific,

i.e.,

inductive, he too sought to gather data or collect what he sometimes called the facts and then to generalize the facts (put the facts into the form of generalizations revealing what was typical of children from one age to another). must be kept in mind that facts to Barnes as to Hall, Chrisman, Williams,

It Russell,

and to the others were nothing more than

the various individual details of observations.

Many, many

details of a vast number of observations were being sought by Barnes,

all in the effort to "make great progress in our

treatment of children."

46

Barnes, however,

different procedure from Hall's procedure.

chose a slightly Though slightly

different, Barnes was in agreement that child-study must be direct inductive inquiry of children and also be directed inquiry rather than the undirected direct observation of children,

i.e.,

Russell's approach.

In agreeing with Hall,

Barnes also employed a questionnaire procedure. Both men regarded their procedures as comprising an experiment.

The sending out of questionnaires or topical

syllabi and the forming of generalizations from the data gathered constituted what was referred to as a scientific

AC

Earl Barnes, "Methods of Studying Children," in E d u c a t i o n , 1:1 (July, 1896), p. 11.

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Studies

157

experiment.

Barnes'

procedures as a rule depended on

teachers or one of his assistants at Stanford for its exe­ cution.

Barnes prepared a questionnaire which was designed

so that certain questions were directed to the children. The students responded to the questionnaire in writing compositions or drawing pictures; collated.

In other words,

these responses were then

the students'

responses to the

questionnaire comprised the data or facts to be collated on basis of what was most common among children from one age to another.

Noticeably absent were any questions about

whether these responses were "factual" or "accurate data." They assumed these responses comprised the facts of the child's

"subjective life," the child's mind, which in turn

organized collectively formed the laws of the child's mental life and development. One of Barnes'

earliest topical syllabi was printed

in the Pedagogical S e m i n a r y .

The syllabus was an attempt

according to Barnes to "learn something of the way in which he

_ Lthe childJ

thinks and feels."

47

Since "we can never

get inside of him to study his subjective activity,"

48

we

must either wait for overt expressions from him or do some­ thing to elicit a series of overt expressions from him about h o w he thinks and feels. sitions,

It was through drawings and compo­

so claimed Barnes,

his thoughts and feelings.

that the child expresses himself Since drawings and compositions are

a means of expressing thoughts, Barnes thought 47

Earl Barnes, "A Study of Children's Drawings," P e d a g o g i c a l .S e m i n a r y , 11:3 (1892), p. 455. 48Ibid. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.

158

they also were potential devices for child-study.

But in

collecting drawings and compositions, he stated "that they should have some common element that would enable us to compare them and reach some large generalization."

49

As a

result, he suggested in the topical syllabus that a particular poem be read to all the pupils, for children.

a poem written particularly

After one reading only,

the students with

their pencils were directed to draw on the paper supplied them one or more pictures suggested by the story. 6,393 pupils, he received over 15,000 pictures. few came from pupils in the Midwest and East, of them came from California school pupils. from six to sixteen;

From Though a

the majority Their ages ranged

each age, Barnes stated, was equally

represented. The collation of the data, he stated "was with a view to determining what scenes were most often drawn,

at what age

the children drow the greatest number of pictures,

whether

the girls followed the same lines of interest and develop­ ment as the b o y s , and whether or not there was any law gov­ erning the drawing of full faces and profiles."

In other

words, Barnes sought through this procedure to determine what parts of this story and other stories interested the children from one age to another and what parts did not interest the children.

For example,

are children more

interested at one age rather than another age in the parts

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of the stories which tell the action

(what is occurring)

as distinguished from the parts describing details of the scenery in which the action occurs?

Do the parts of a story

in which details of scenery are described interest adolescent children more than children during the period of childhood? Such questions were to be answered by gathering the drawings of the pupils and by collating their drawings.

He also

sought to ascertain if profiles prevailed more in one period than another period or age.

Do children of certain ages

prefer to draw profiles more than full faces while at another age or at other ages the reverse is the case?

Is there a

transitional period in which the number of profiles and full faces are equally drawn?

Does the transitional period

correspond then to the transitional period between adolescence and childhood?

These were the kinds of questions that

Barnes sought to answer by the drawings of children - the socalled expressions of their feelings and modes of thinking. Barnes was not prepared to stop .with close to 7,000 students having supplied him with pictures. Barnes,

Repeatedly,

along with others emphasized that child-study must

be scientific, and to be scientific child-study must acumulate vast masses of facts or data on children's thinking and feeling.

And in this case, these drawings for Barnes were

facts of children's thinking and feeling - facts about their mind;

therefore, vast collections of these drawings were

necessary.

In short,

the 7,000 pupils'

expressions did not

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160

reach the requirement of "vast masses."

Thus, Barnes urged

that more and more teachers read the poem to their pupils and supply him with their pupils' pictures. more facts gathered, more accurate

After all, the

according to Barnes and others,

the

("valid") would be their generalizations

about what was most common of children at various ages. Thus,

it was that child-study was becoming scientific - a

supposedly true reflection of the scientific age. From Stanford to the public schools of California and other states,

Barnes and his students sent topical syllabi -

instruments for "directed and direct inductive inquiry" into the child's mental life. ings from children.

Some syllabi required draw­

Others required brief written statements

or compositions from the students.

All were interpreted as

expressions of children's modes of feeling and thinking. A n example of the use of written statements by Barnes was his inquiry into children's thoughts about punishment b e ­ tween the ages of 6 and 1 6 . ^

He requested that teachers

or his assistants at Stanford have students prepare a com­ position in which the students described a punishment regarded as just and a punishment regarded as unjust.

They were to

state why they thought the just punishment was just and the unjust punishment was unjust.

Barnes'

concern was to find

out what thoughts or feelings of justice and injustice chil­ dren have from one age to another with respect to their

^ E a r l Barnes, "How to Study the Subject," Studies in E d u c a t i o n . 1:3 (September, 1896), pp. 110-111.

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161

own acts and the punishments given for their own acts.

Did

children possess a very clear sense of justice and injustice with respect to their own conduct? acts performed,

On the basis of the

the punishments received,

and the reasons

given for the acts being just or unjust, do the children from 6 to 16 possess reasons for judging their acts just or unjust or is it a matter of feeling exclusively? words,

In other

is justice and injustice for children at particular

ages more a matter of feeling rather than reasoned judgment? To Barnes as was the case for his students,

these questions

could be answered quite easily by such a gathering of the compositions of students if supplied by teachers from thousands and thousands of students.

Since only a small

percentage of younger students supplied reasons,

Barnes

concluded that justice and injustice were for children prior to twelve primarily a matter of feeling and nothing more. This was interpreted by Barnes to mean that most children did not have a clear sense of justice and injustice. From Stanford,

Barnes sent out other topical syllabi.

Sometimes the syllabi were about children's sense of time, sometimes about children's interests as judyed by the written responses to a list of vocabulary words,

and on other

occasions the topical syllabi dealt with the ideals of chil­ dren.

At Stanford,

Barnes was not alone in this work.

Clara Vostrovsky did a study of children's superstitions via a syllabus sent to schools in California.

Estelle M.

Darrah studied children's attitude toward law via Barnes'

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162

syllabus procedure.

Children's ambitions were the topic

of a syllabus and study by Hattie Mason Willard. Kohler,

also of Stanford and later Barnes'

Anna

second wife,

did studies following similar procedures. Others in California followed Barnes'

procedure of

using a syllabus which in turn provided facts to be col­ lated.

The facts in turn were to determine supposedly the

generalization.

But numerous individuals outside of Cali­

fornia followed Barnes'

method - people such as John A.

Hancock, P. W. Osborn, C. H. Thurber, Will S. Monroe, many others. Barnes'

and

Though their studies were not published in

Studies in E d u c a t i o n , they were printed almost

always in the Child-Study Monthly or the Pedagogical S em in ary . Sometimes they were printed in E d u c a t i o n , The Journal of E d u c a t i o n , or the School J o u r n a l .

Several studies by O'Shea

and Monroe were carried in the latter named journal. regardless of where published,

in Barnes'

But

serial, Hall's

Pedagogical S e m i n a r y , or the Child-Study M o n t h l y , the many studies following Barnes procedure comprised an immense portion of what was regarded as the new Child-Study Movement, "the direct,

inductive,

quantitative study"^1

of children's

minds during the periods of childhood and adolescence. supposedly "direct,

inductive,

employed by Hall, Barnes,

The

quantitative procedures"

and their followers were being

executed on the belief that they provided us with knowledge 51

Earl Barnes, "Intellectual Habxts of Cornell Students," Studies in E d u c a t i o n .I:5 (November, 1896), p. 163.

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163

about the child's real psychological nature - a knowledge which was thought so necessary for the improvement of edu­ cation in this country.

The pursuit of the child through

such direct inventory type studies of his ambitions, collections, fears, ions,

superstitution,

angers,

sense of justice,

story preferences,

sense of property,

games,

ideals,

sense of time,

imaginary compan­

etc. were thought to provide k nowl­

edge of the child's nature,

his real nature which was

supposedly never before systematically or scientifically pursued.

(4) E. W. Scripture and Joseph Jastrow, for Child-Study

Laboratory Tests

Though still emphasizing as others had done the importance that child-study be inductive in its approach (i.e.,

engage in laborious digging and piling up of mountains

of facts and then generalizing these), Bryan, Scripture,

Jastrow,

Bolton and Hancock along with others employed

different procedures from those procedures used by Barnes, Hall,

and their respective students.

were different,

Though their procedures

they did not cease to regard and to emphasize

before various child-study groups that ctild-study in its quest to gather facts and generalize those facts was b a s i ­ cally for the purpose of benefiting education. Both Bryan and Scripture suggested that child-study could well take certain techniques evolved in the psychologi­ cal laboratories and administer those to great numbers of

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164

students.

Once a person or group of persons had administered

to hundreds of children a test or technique originally evolved in the laboratory and then generalized the facts acquired, he was said to have completed a scientific experiment.

In

the second issue of the Transactions of the Illinois Society for Ch il d-S tud y, Scripture supplied sample questions and examples of generalizations.

Scripture suggested that

one question which could be handled by educators was how large must the difference be between two weights in order to be noticeable to children between-^ and 17.

52

The results

for this question and the others raised were given in averages for about a hundred boys and girls.

Besides giving the total

averages for the entire group, he gave the average for boys and the average for girls. decrease of this difference, accuracy of judgment, Of course,

His conclusion was that "a steady i.e.,

a steady increase of

is indicated for advancing age."

53

administering this test to only a hundred students

was recognized as an insufficient number.

Another question

and test proposed for educators was how accurately can chil­ dren of certain ages distinguish between ten colors almost alike.

He found that with age there was a steady gain.

Another question was "how rapidly can a child act?"

54

He

5? 'E. W. Scripture, "Scientific Child- St udy ," T ransac­ tions of the Illinois Society for Child-Study. 1 :2 (1895 ) , pp. 32-37. 53I b i d . , p. 33. ^ I b i d . , p. 34.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.

proposed that the child be permitted to tap on an electric button for five seconds.

He averaged the results for all

and also for each sex indicating that the boys made the most taps.

Another question, he suggested, was about mental

fatigue in children.

As a measure of fatigue, he suggested

that the children tap for forty-five seconds.

The differ­

ence between the number of taps in the first five seconds and the last five seconds, These were then of a graph.

if a loss, was the amount of fatigue.

averaged for each age and put into

the form

In so doing, Scripture, Bryan, and others

thought child-study was being scientific in its pursuits of the child's own mental

life.

Prom time to time, questions quite similar,

for these questions and other Scripture as well as others published

lists of simple but supposedly accurate tests suggested by the laboratory which would be given by teachers to large numbers of children of all ages from six to seventeen without the necessity of a laboratory setting. to hundreds of children, of averages

Once administered

the data were to be put in

and possibly graphs in order to reveal

from one age to another,

changes in averages.

the form the changes

These men

emphasized the importance of these tests being given to • large number of children in order for the generalizations to be valid.

The concern for evolving all kinds of tests

of memory, fatigue,

rhythm, motor ability,

etc. to be applied

to children annoyed some such as Bryan, Hall,

and o t h e r s ,

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166

because it was thought to be unnecessary to perfect addi­ tional tests.

All that was necessary was to apply the tests

already available to masses of children and formulate the norms. Though the techniques for acquiring data or facts had originated in the psychological laboratory and were thought to be the most accurate techniques,

the emphasis upon the

importance of child-study being scientific in order to b en e­ fit education did not change nor did the emphasis upon a particular meaning of science change. Hancock,

Jastrow,

For Bryan,

and others in the 1890's,

Scripture,

science in

meaning remained very much the accumulation of generaliza­ tions,

the formulation of which was supposedly not determined

by the formulator but determined by the vast b od y of facts or oata accumulated. Child-study,

according to Jastrow, was first and

foremost concerned with the child's mental development. went on to inform the readers of the Transactions

He

that the

account of the mental life of a single child was of little value.

What must be done in order for child-study to be

genuinely scientific was to study the mental development of large numbers of individuals.

As Jastrow put it,

"the study

of mental development ... is of very little interest if we take into account but the single individual."

It, he stated,

"can only be carried on by taking individuals collectively."

55

■^Joseph Jastrow, "The Statistical Study of Mental Development," Transactions of the Illinois Society for ChildStu dy. II ;2 (1897), p. 101.

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167

The old child-study of Preyer,

Darwin,

Pestalozzi,

and others

had studied the development of single individuals.

This had

been indicated repeatedly during the 1 8 9 0 ’s by Scripture, Hall, Barnes, and others.

The new child-study was to study

masses of children and just about any aspect that could be thought of and at the same time be permitted by society. This was what Jastrow called the statistical study of mental development. Barnes, Hall, and Scripture also referred to their work as the statistical study of mental development in the child.

The differences were variations in technique, a

variation necessitated according to Barnes, Hall and others because some aspects of the child's mental life could not be investigated by the various tests of memory, etc.

Jastrow,

Hall,

Barnes,

Krohn,

Scripture, Bryan, Russell,

fatigue,

and many more along with

Chrisman, Miss Williams,

O'Shea,

and

all sought to study or lay the basis for the study

of the child's mental development.

What they were seeking

was a massive assault upon the child, i.e.,

the gathering of

hundreds and hundreds of facts about what were the common or typical characteristics among children at various ages from the beginning of childhood to the end of adolescence. Though there was diversity among children,

the Move­

ment's leaders in agreement with Jastrow when he observed that there was always a grouping around an average.

Certain

mental characteristics were to be found among most children,

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168

and certain changes in characteristics were common to most children between the beginning of childhood and the end of adolescence.

These common characteristics and common changes

was what the Movement was seeking to know - common charac­ teristics in fatigue, memory, fears, preferences,

etc.

angers, ideals,

story

These common characteristics and changes

in them supposedly revealed the true psychological nature of the child.

The common or typical characteristics and averages,

according to Jastrow as well as others,

comprised what we

have in mind when "we speak of the normal child, the normal individual.

The fact that this was the case, he said,

meant that there were lots of common people in the world and lots of common work in the world; thing,"

57

"a rather fortunate

so added Jastrow.

Though Bryan,

Jastrow,

Scripture,

Bolton and Hall were

never members of normal school faculties nor identified exclusively with an university's department of education or pedagogy as was the case for Williams, Chrisman,

O'Shea, Luckey,

Russell, Barnes,

Patrick, Kirkpatrick,

Yoder,

etc.,

these men did contribute a large body of speeches and articles on child-study in this country as well as assistance from time to time at organizational gatherings.

Through organ­

izational publications and meetings rather than through normal schools and university departments of education,

56I b i d . , p. 104.

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169

these men urged that child-study be primarily concerned with the "real" psychological nature of the child;

they also

urged that this study be genuinely scientific - not spec­ ulative, not theoretical, not _a priori but truly scientific.' And in speaking of science,

they too emphasized that the

implication of modern science was the gathering of thou­ sands and thousands of directed observations and generalizing these in order to find what is typical of children from the beginning of childhood to the end of adolescence. Bryan, Bolton,

Scripture,

Jastrow,

and others urging

that laboratory tests be administered to children also promised that if child-study were pursued scientifically, education would be one of the chief recipients of the benefits.

The benefit for education was its transformation

into a science - a genuine reflection of the modern spirit. The scientific knowledge of the child's nature was not sought for its own sake but rather for the sake of changing American education, making it more scientific.

To these

men as was the case for Chrisman, Krohn, O'Shea, Luckey, Patrick,

and others,

the only true norm in education was

the child's nature, his psychological nature. more knowledge

More and

(scientific knowledge) of that only true

norm in education,

the child, was being acquired supposedly

as more and more generalizations were accumulated about what were typical or average performances of children on tests for fatigue, memory,

rhythm,

etc. from one age to another

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170

as well as about what were most common expressions of anger, fear,

ideals, purpose,

sense of justice,

etc.

nature interests,

plays,

collections,

As generalizations about the c h i l d ’s

nature were being based upon the "direct,

inductive,

quantitative study" of thousands of children,

education as

a science was also becoming genuinely scientific,

i.e.,

inductive and quantitative.

Summary

The Child-Study Movement in the 1890's was an organized attempt to transform American education it a science!

(schooling) by making

The idea of education as a potential

science

in a purportedly modern sense had gainejd the support of numerous persons since the 18 7 0 's. ' The claim that educa­ tion could and should become a science in the modern sense ("inductive" or "Baconian") was heard frequently among the child-study spokesmen.

It was child-study,

if pursued

scientifically, which was thought by Child-Study leaders to be the ke y for transforming American education into a science. From a detailed examination of various writings by prominent child-study leaders,

a number of ideas emerged as

root ideas about scientific child-study.

One idea was that

scientific child-study must be itself a thoroughly inductive study ("naturalistic" or "Baconian" study) of the child's mind in order to provide the knowledge for effecting this

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171

transformation of the schools. Second, by inductive study,

the emphasis was upon

gathering the facts prior to the formation of theories, generalizations,

and hypotheses;

the facts about the mind

were disclosed in the child's beliefs, touch discrimination,

interest,

motor co-ordination,

etc.

games, From this

almost interminable gathering of facts were to come automatic­ ally insights into the child's psychological nature.

For

proof that this could happen, Charles Darwin's work was cited. The facts to be gathered were basically observations of what was believed to be overt expressions of the child's mind. As has been indicated,

these observations were to be conducted

under what would be considered as relatively uncontrolled circumstances. ground,

The facts were to be gathered from the play­

classroom,

etc.

The facts

(i.e., observations)

came from relatively untrained laymen using syllabi or labor­ atory tests.

The gathering and reporting of facts

(observa­

tions ) by the teacher or parent were thought to be quite separable from training in considerations of psychological theory. A third component in their conception of child-study was that all conclusions or generalizations must be based upon a cross-sectional gathering of data.

The gathering of

facts for generalizations was not to be from one child but thousands of children.

T h 2 cross-sectional approach was

thought a necessity for valid conclusions or generalizations

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172

about changes in the child's mind ambitions,

(his beliefs,

etc.) from one age to another.

interests,

The belief was

that as the collection of facts upon which generalizations were based became enormous the more valid became the conclu­ sions.

The fourth idea was that the ordering or collating

of facts about the child's mind bitions,

(his beliefs,

angers, am­

etc.) were to be according to age in order to have

genetic norms emerge.

From these genetic norms was to

emerge a detailed and grounded picture of the child's changing nature from the beginning of childhood to the end of adolescence.

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173 CHAPTER VI THE CHILD-STUDY MOVEMENT'S NATURISM IN THE 1890's: KNOWLEDGEOF THE CHILD'S NATURE AS A NORM FOR EDUCATION

During the 1890's,

the various child-study serials

published hundreds of studies which followed the root ideas about scientific child-study outlined in the previous chapter. The results attained from these studies in conjunction with material drawn from other sciences combined to form their conception of the child's nature and needs from one age to another.

As the results of their studies were reported and

as the general picture of the child's nature took shape among the leaders,

the Movement's literature contained greater and

greater emphasis upon naturism in the 1890's and early 1 9 0 0 's. The purpose of this chapter is to set forth the cluster of ideas in the Child-Study Movement's literature which may be seen as constituting the Movement's emphasis upon naturism. For this purpose,

a number of steps will be followed.

First,

the general idea of naturism and some of the various forms of naturism will be set forth.

Here,

the focus will be upon

naturism as it appeared among a few prominent educational theorists in the history of Western education.

The second

is to set forth the general conception of the child's psycho­ logical nature and needs which were expected to function normatively for education.

The summary will then recapitulate the

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174

major components forming the Movements'

naturism.

The General Idea of Naturism in Western Educational Thought

A recurrent idea in Western educational thought is n aturism.1

This recurrent theme referred to as naturism or

the "nature-is-right" idea is, to state briefly,

the claim on

the part of educators that the desirability and excellence of educational practices and policies consist in their conformity to a norm or standard expressed by the word 'nature'

or one of its various derivative forms.

Naturism

is expressed through a variety of rubrics by educational writers.

Among the more common rubrics or sloganistic

phrases for expressing various forms of naturism are: cation according to nature," "nature as the norm,"

"edu­

"follow

Nature's plan for the child's education," and "obey Nature." Of course as one might well expect, pressed inthe word

'nature'

the standard ex­

can vary from writer to writer

as well as within a single work by a writer.

An example of

an educational writer to emphasize various forms of naturism

'''Though this discussion centers upon naturism in edu­ cational thought in the West, naturism as an idea has appeared in a rich variety of forms in ethics and aesthetics. For a discussion of naturism in ethics and aesthetics as the idea appeared in the form of primitivism, see Arthur 0. Lovejoy et al (ed.), A Documentary History of Primitivism and Related I d e a s , Baltimore: John Hopkins Press, (1935 ) and Arthur 0. Lovejoy, Essays in the History of I d e a s , Baltimore: John Hopkins Press (1948TI

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175

in a single work was John Amos Comenius in his The Great Didactic

2

(1657).

The word

'nature' was used by Comenius

to refer to the ideal condition of man.

This ideal condi­

tion of man was the condition for which man had some potential and toward w h ic h his education ought to be directed.

In

Comenius' writings unlike later writings emphasizing naturism, this ideal condition— the natural condition of m a n — referred to by the word

'nature' was man's original condition, i.e., 3 man's condition prior to the Fall. An education according to nature,

that is, a natural education, was for Comenius an

education w hich was directed toward as well as having the efiect of'recalling man to that original condition. however,

This,

does not exhaust all the ideas involved in Comenius'

delineation of an education according to nature.

'Nature'

was also used to refer to the processes of the external world not directly or indirectly affected by man.

It was Comenius'

belief that order was the dominating character found in the processes of the external world.

Comenius believed that

order must become the dominating character of all the arts, especially the art of teaching.

By order, Comenius had in

mind certain principles or patterns which processes in the external world followed.

According to Comenius,

the principles

2 M.W. Keatinge, C o m e n i u s , N.Y.: McGraw-Hill Book Co., I n c ., (1931) . ^I b i d . , p . 25.

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176

which were embodied in the processes governing the behavior of plants, animals, etc. were basically uniform throughout the universe and ought to be embodied in the art of teaching. In so doing, the art of teaching like other arts would be brought in conformity with the "voice of nature," i.e., Divine providence operating in the universe. teen to twenty of Comenius'

Chapters four­

The Great Didactic were attempts

at identifying those principles found operating in nature and to interpret those for the art of teaching in order that the art of teaching will be in conformity with the principles of nature.

a* An example of Comenius'

attempt at identifying and at

delineating these principles in the processes of the universe was his discussion of the seventh principle: no l e a p s , but proceeds step by s t e p ."

4

"Nature makes

Comenius stated that

this principle was implicit in the operations of nature.

He

illustrated its operations in the development of a chicken from its embryonic stage until the time the animal leaves the other.

According to Comenius,

a sequence of immutable changes. is graduated quality.

the development comprises The character of the changes

The changes were slight and not sudden.

The seventh principle in his opinion was found throughout the external world.

This principle or pattern of nature was a

basic principle for the artful execution of the art of teaching.

^ I b i d ., pp.

68-69.

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177

On the basis of the pattern in nature, for the art of teach­ ing, Comenius* recommendation was:

(1) "That all studies

should be carefully graduated throughout the various classes, in such a way that those that come first may prepare the way for and throw light on those that come after," time should be carefully divided,

(2 ) "that the

so that each year,

each

month, each day, and each hour may have its appointed task, 5 . . . ." Once education— the art of teaching— was brought into conformity with the principles underlying processes of the external world

(i.e., Nature's principles), Comenius be­

lieved that the art of teaching would be greatly improved. In short, Comenius was emphasizing through his concern with nature the idea that an education according to nature was in part the art of teaching brought into conformity with Nature's principles— the principles by which all natural processes operate. Another individual

in the history of the West to place

great emphasis upon naturism was Jean Jacques Rousseau.

The

work which illustrated this most extensively was his E m i l e . Rousseau's naturism was considerably more complicated than Comenius'

naturism.

Rousseau's naturism involved many more

i d e a s .^

^I b i d ., p. 70. g The delineation of Rousseau's various forms of natur­ ism is based upon an unpublished paper by Dr. Stanley E. Ballinger, Indiana University, "Special Aspects of Rousseau's Educational Thought." For a less detailed treatment, see Stanley E. Ballinger, "The Natural Man: Rousseau," The Educated Man, edited by Paul Nash and Henry J. Perkinson, New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1965, Chapter IX, pp. 225-244.

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178

Like Comenius, one idea comprising Rousseau's emphasis upon naturism was his concern with man's natural state or condition.

Rousseau appears to have been emphasizing by

'education according to nature'

the idea that education must

be directed or aimed at man's natural condition or state. Rousseau's Emile was an attempt to delineate a program of education directed toward the natural order, thought man could and ought to be ideally. this in Emile when he wrote:

i.e., what he Rousseau expressed

"In the natural order men are

all equal and their common calling is that of manhood,

so

that a well-educated man cannot fail to do well in that call­ ing and those related to it.

It matters

my pupil is intended for the army,

little to me whether

the church, or the law.

Before his parent chose a calling for him, nature called him to be a man.

Life is the trade I would teach him."

7

The

following pages and chapters were Rousseau's attempt to out­ line an ed ucation— a natural education,

i.e., an education

aimed at Nature's calling for man to be first a man. course, Comenius'

Of

conception of man's natural condition

differed in some details from Rousseau's conception of man's natural condition.

For example,

in the case of Comenius,

the natural condition had existed prior to the Fall.

Rousseau's

natural man was not identified with man's condition in the Garden prior to the Fall.

Rousseau's natural man was

still

7

E m i l e , New York:

E. P. Dutton and Company,

p. 9.

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(1911)

179

in the future though Rousseau's opinion was that man in past ages appeared to have been closer to the ideal man or natural man than men of his age. been present; however,

Other differences appear

to have

those differences at this point are

not particularly crucial. Rousseau like Comenius used

The more important matter is that 'nature'

to refer to an ideal

state toward which men ought to be educated. A second form of Rousseau's naturism concerned Rousseau's judgment concerning the appropriate setting for the child's education.

Rousseau displayed a preference for conducting a

child's education in a rustic or rural setting.

This rejec­

tion of an urban setting for the child's education prior to adolesence was an indictment of contemporary urban life.

The

setting of country life was considered to be closer to Rousseau's conception of the natural state or condition of man than urban life. was more simple,

In so far as the rural or country life

less artificial,

and less corrupting,

etc.

Rousseau regarded the country setting as the most natural place for Emile to receive the natural education i.e.,

the

education directed toward Nature's calling for Emile to truly be a man.

Rousseau's preference for the rural setting was

not an attempt to fit children to rural life in an effort to resist the growth of urbanization or to promote a return to a completely agrarian society.

In short, his emphasis

on naturism was a statement of what he regarded as being the best setting or most natural setting for achieving the best

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180

potentials for which a child of his century was equipped. This aspect of Rousseau's naturism in education is some­ times referred to as his arcadianism or rusticism.

His

preference for a rural setting and life was not equivalent to an adulation of the peasant's country life.

Passages

in his Emile are found in which R o u s s e a u ,indicated that rural life was far from being free of vices. Rousseau's naturism incorporated another form.

A

third form of naturism emphasized in Emile and other writings was developmentalism.

For Rousseau, education according to

nature was an education which was not only directed toward the natural condition or state of man but also was an educa­ tion which pursued the natural condition of man according to Nature's plan.

Nature's plan for the child's attainment of

the best of which he was capable was basically developmental. Nature,

according to Rousseau, would have the child pass

through a sequence of stages between infancy and adulthood. Each stage possessed its unique set of needs and capacities. The task of the educator was to bring his conduct as teacher or tutor into conformity with the needs and capacities of each stage.

A natural education

(an education according to

nature) was directing the child so that the needs and capa­ cities of each stage were fully realized rather than thwarted in their fullest expression.

Rousseau expressed this form of

naturism in his Emile as he wrote:

"Nature would have them

children before they are m e n ............. Childhood has its

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181

own ways of seeing, thinking,

and feeling; nothing is more Q foolish than to try and substitute our ways." A natural education comprised the educator bringing his work in con­ formity with Nature's plan for the child's development,

i.e.,

the sequence of changes in needs and capacities which Nature apparently intended for the child from infancy to adulthood. An education following nature was,

in short, an education

in which the art of teaching— its curriculum and method— from one period to another were in accordance with the order of nature.

If Nature's order or plan for the child's de­

velopment were not followed, Rousseau was of the opinion that the result was an individual at adulthood without full possession of his powers.

The substitution of needs and

capacities which were not possessed by the child for those actually possessed by the child resulted not only in powers being lost but also in eventual vices, etc. through the attempted substitution, deceptive.

For example,

the child learned to be

The educator was to find ways whereby the child's

development was given opportunity for its fullest expression from one stage to another. Other forms of Rousseau's naturism can be cited in IT-*

the Emile to further illustrate the statement that naturism in education has assumed a variety of forms in the history of Western educational thought and that a variety of forms

® I b i d . , p. 54.

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182

can be found within a single writer. mentioning.

Not all are worthy of

Among these remaining forms of naturism,

one

form of naturism worthy of mention was Rousseau's attention to the uniqueness of each child's nature.

Rousseau -as well

as numerous educators in later years set forth the idea that an education according to nature was an education according to each child's nature.

The meaning of this, though unclear

in its interpretation, was that an educator's prescriptions for the child's education had to be designed in conformity with those uniquenesses in each child's nature. Rousseau was by no means the last figure to set forth an education according to nature in the history of Western educational thought. lowing Rousseau.

Pestalozzi continued the emphasis fol­

Pestalozzi was in turn followed by Froebel.

Pestalozzi and Froebel were joined by a host of other figures whose names have not become as well known in later years. This appeal to a referent of the word

'nature'

or its deriva­

tive expressions as a norm by which educational opinions and practices are to be judged

(an appeal to nature) has per ­

sisted in a variety of forms down to and into the twentieth century.

The Child-Study Movement among American educators

gave its impetus to this strain of thought in the history of Western education. The form of naturism which the Child-Study Movement emphasized most extensively was that form of Rousseau's naturism which concerned developmentalism.

The Child-Study

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183

Movement among educators was an organized attempt in the 1 8 9 0 ’s to enlist educators from the normal schools, schools,

and university departments of pedagogy

public

(education)

in a quest to discover by purportedly scientific means what the child's psychological nature was like from one age to another.

From such inquiries,

it was thought that a more

scientific and complete picture of the child's na tu r e — his psychological needs and capacities— from one age to another would emerge.

In addition the Movement was also an attempt

to integrate as part of that picture of the child's chang­ ing nature and needs relevant knowledge from the physiolo­ gists, neurologists,

pathologists,

and anthropologists.

Once

a purportedly more scientific and completed picture of the child's nature from one age to another emerged,

the Child-

Study Movement urged emphatically that the picture or knowledge be used as a norm by which educational practices and opinions of teachers,

superintendents, educational theorists,

etc.

could be evaluated for their soundness or excellence and by which proposed reforms might be evaluated for possible en­ dorsement or rejection.

The Child's Nature

In the 1890's,

a picture of the child's nature emerged

in the child-study literature.

The idea of developmental

periods and the idea of instincts were fundamental

ideas in

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184

the conception of the c h i l d ’s nature which the various childstudy publications presented. The psychological development of the child from birth to adulthood was thought to fall into periods. Hall, Russell,

Prior to 1890,

and Miss Wiltse discussed little the concept

of development as comprising a cluster of periods.

But dur­

ing the 1 8 9 0 's, the idea of development as comprising periods — discrete pe riods— made its appearance in almost every article written for the child-study periodicals and childstudy meetings.

This idea of periods received great emphasis

in the writings of Hall and his students as well as in the writings of Barnes, O'Shea, Will S. Monroe, In the 1890's, new; however,

and many others.

the idea of stages of development was not its degree of fashionableness among scientists

of various disciplines such as in geology, biology, history,

sociology,

and psychology was indeed new.

Among the child-study p e o p l e ,developmenta'lism

with

respect to the child's nature was the fashion of the day. No theory of child development was scientifically acceptable without the idea of stages or periods.

The idea that it

could be otherwise was stoutly rejected as unscientific,

i.e.,

contrary to the implications of Darwinian ideas as well as unsupportable by any studies.

All the scientific studies of

children were regarded as support, scientific support, for the thesis that a child's development comprised a series of stages or periods.

And so among the child-study leaders,

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the

185

terms

’infancy,'

'childhood,'

and

'adolescence'

or the word

'youth' became common jargon to a degree never before ex­ perienced,

at least,

in this country.

These terms were not

only common as organizers in their studies, they also became common terms when it came to the point of indicating the ed­ ucational significance of child-studies.

Numerous articles

appeared with the expressed purpose of indicating the educa­ tional significance of the stages or periods in the child's develop men t. Almost as early as the organized Movement to promote child-study began,

articles also began to appear which pur­

ported to describe to some extent ficance for American education.

these stages and the signi­ Bryan and Hall were among

many leaders who cautioned the lay public to be cautious of those who formed quick generalizations or pictures about the child's development.

These men as well as others who were

filling key positions of leadership emphasized the importance of waiting for perhaps several years before framing generali­ zations and offering those generalizations as authoritative to the public,

especially the public school teachers.

De­

spite the many words of caution to people about those form­ ing premature generalizations and prescribing for education, these men themselves and others following them went almost immediately about forming generalizations and attempting to spell out the educational for education.

significance of the various stages

Whether this was due to insurmountable pres-

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186 *»

sures from without and within the Movement or due to u n ­ controllable excitement and inspiration from their findings, or due to a combination of these is not particularly import­ ant.

The important thing was that they did attempt to form

a general picture of the typical c h i l d ’s development,

even

on studies which as a rule presented a plea that more r e ­ sults be gathered before being taken as conclusive.

Had

they been considerably reticent at the forming of a general account of the c h i l d ’s development for the evaluation of ed­ ucation,

the emphasis upon naturism might well have been

almost non-existent. the studies,

Despite the claims of tentativeness in

they displayed almost no restraint at publiciz­

ing on many occasions a general picture of the c h i l d ’s de­ velopment and at spelling out its implications fox' education. Wi th so many persons involved in the Movement, variety in views about development might well have been expected; however,

diversity in the conception of c h i l d ’s nature and

its significance for education was not extensive by any means.

The reason for this may have been due to the fact

that Hall along with his colleagues and students at Clark were among the key leaders in the Movement.

Some diversity

in the picture of the child which emerged in the 1 8 9 0 ’s was found but only as a rule in minor details.

As a rule the

differences were about when a certain stage supposedly began and ended,

and those differences were treated as insignificant.

The differences on matters about when a period began and ended

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187

never became points of debate.

No attempts were made pub­

licly at meetings and in articles to compare such differ­ ences,

to make timing more precise, nor to reach a consensus

about the beginnings and endings of developmental periods. The development of the typical child was thought to involve approximately four discrete stages. infancy;

the second was childhood;

and the fourth was adolescence

The first was

the third was pubescence;

(youth).

The period of infancy

was thought by some to terminate at two; others thought at three.

For the choice of two over three, no justifications

were given.

Among those putting the end of infancy at two,

two was cited occasionally as the beginning of a transitional period prior to the advent of childhood which was thought to begin around the third or fourth year in the child's life.

The second period,

childhood, was thought to end

some time around 8 for most children. pubescence,

The next period,

ended supposedly around 12 or 13.

The period

of adolescence or youth never had a very definite limit. Sometimes the period was extended well into the twenties. Many children,

according to Hall and other,

either did not

reach this period or reaching the period did not complete the period.

In other words,

their development Was thought

to be arrested. The periods which interested the child-study leaders in education were the three covered by formal schooling— childhood,

pubescence,

and adolescence.

The period of infancy

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188

was almost totally ignored.

From time to time,

an individual

did present observations or notes on his own infant to the readers of one of the child-study journals. infrequent.

But this was

The study of infancy was conducted by another

group of persons with almost no connections with the normal schools and with the universities.

In the case of a few that

had some connection with an university, they made no attempt as a rule to prescribe for American schools.

Among those

studying the period of infancy were such people as Mrs. Louise A. Hogan, Kathleen C. Moore, Milicent M. Shinn, George V. N. Dearborn, J. Mark Baldwin, and a few others.

These

and others making detailed day to day recorded observations of the infant's movements,

sounds, etc. were never found as

leaders in the child-study organizations among educators and indeed rarely found as contributors to the child-study jour­ nals directed to teachers.

In addition, it was indeed rare

to find their names among the list of speakers at childstudy conferences.

Also, the work of those studying infants

were not being discussed as was the work of Bryan, Hall, O'Shea, Chrisman, Bolton, Kirkpatrick, Krohn, Luckey, Barnes, Burnham, Monroe,

Scripture, Williams, and Patrick.

The var­

ious child-study organizations and journals as well as meet­ ings were dominated by persons who believed first and fore­ most that c h i l d -st udy 's basic contribution was to formal ed­ ucation and at the same time by persons who sought to study children during the periods of childhood,

pubescence,

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and

189

adolescence--the years covered by formal schooling. As indicated, the child-study people sought to acquire knowledge of the child's psychological nature,

i.e., what

characterized psychologically most children from one age to another.

Though they sought first and foremost to know the

child's psychological nature,

this was not interpreted to

mean that the typical physiological changes were to be ignored in formulating their picture of child development as well as in their study of children.

Though they never completed

studies on the scale which B o w d i t c h , Boas, Hartwell, Porter, and others did,

the studies of physiological factors were

never ignored.

Mind and body were not treated as highly

separable entities.

The statement, no psychoses without

neuroses, was frequently heard among psychologists during the last quarter of the century.

Among child-study people,

the statement was taken seriously.

Any psychological activ­

ity or events were always accompanied by certain neurological events and physiological events in an individual,

and at the

same time all neurological and physiological events were also accompanied supposedly by psychological activity or events. This dictum or doctrine,

as it was sometimes called, was

interpreted to mean that as certain changes in the develop­ ment of nerve fibres, muscles,

etc.

occur almost immediately

changes in the psychological nature of the child occur. Since psychological and physiological nature of the child were thought to be inextricably interrelated,

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the

190

members of the Child-Study Movement were greatly interested in the various changes in children's head-size, heart, brain,

teeth,

"large" and "small" muscles, height, weight,

eyes, ears, etc.

Changes in these matters from the end of

infancy to the end of adolescence were of interest. quently,

lungs,

through the work of Hall, Chrisman,

Conse­

Barnes, Burnham,

and others, the changes reported by Boas, Bowditch, Donaldson, and others were filtered into the Child-Study Movement in American education.

Studies of physiological and neurolog­

ical changes were reported to teachers,

and their significance

for the child's psychological nature was related to teachers by Hall, Burnham, Lancaster, Bryan,

and many others who were

a part of the Child-Study Movement among American educators in the 1890's. Lancaster,

The result was that Hall, Burnham, Bryan,

and others interpreted the significance of this

knowledge for education. The period of childhood was identified as a period of steady, even growth. means sudden.

In other words,

changes were by no

The brain was supposedly reaching its m a x i ­

mum size and doing so gradually and evenly.

The large muscles

or fundamental muscles were supposedly also developing grad­ ually while the smaller muscles

(sometimes called accessory

muscles) were not at their stage of development. of pubescence,

The period

supposedly beginning around the eighth or

nineth year in the "typical" child's life was a period in which the size of the brain had ceased to change noticeably.

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191

It was also noted by some to be a time in which changes in the growth rate period,

occurred.

At the beginning of the

the rate of change in height, weight, etc.

seemed

to slow down but toward the end of the period of pubescence a sudden change in rate was noted.

Because of this slowing

down in rate of growth only to be followed by rather sudden spurt in growth rate, the period of pubescence became known as a period of sudden and rapid physical change as well as a transitional period.

The emphasis was almost always upon the

rapid physiological and neurological changes.

This time was

a time when finer co-ordinations were possible since finer or small nerve fibres and muscles were beginning to grow after a period of being dormant.

It was also emphasized that in

girls this sudden acceleration in growth began earlier than for boys but supposedly of shorter duration.

This difference

was thought to account for mental differences between boys and girls during this time.

The onset of this sudden growth dur­

ing the period of pubescence was supposedly around eleven to twelve for girls and around twelve to thirteen for boys.

Fol­

lowing this sudden growth change in pubescence, the rapid rate of growth in weight, height, muscles, etc. was steady and continued for several years supposedly. Paralleling these changes in the physiological and neurological make-up of children were certain mental activi­ ties and changes in the child during the periods of c hi ld­ hood, pubescence,

and adolescence.

In most children,

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the

192

mental changes seemed to be about as automatic as the changes in the physiological, neurological, muscular aspects of the child.

sexual,

and

Sometimes the mental changes

did not occur, of course, because the changes in physical growth had not occurred or because the conditions in the environment were not right for the changes to occur.

Basic

in understanding their idea of mental changes in the child was the idea that these periods of rapid physiological changes meant also periods of rapid mental changes or development in the child.

Periods of slow changes in the body were also

periods of slow mental changes.

Because of the period of

rapid change, they thought that these times were most crucial. The arrestment of development was thought to be more likely at these points than at the times of slow change in the child. Also basic to their picture of the child's mental development was the concept of instinct. Hall, Krohn, Bryan, Burnham,

For Kirkpatrick,

O'Shea, Chrisman,

and many,

many others, instinctive movements were thought to be auto­ matic responses of the whole organism which were acquired hundreds and hundreds of centuries ago.

These responses

were transmitted from one generation to another much as many biological characteristics were supposedly transmitted from parents to their children.

Certain acts or movements

were first found to be useful apparently to individual m e m ­ bers of the species,

and they became habits among most members.

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193 Since presumably useful,

the habits were repeated and re­

peated by many members from one generation to another; these habits were so extensively practiced habits that they became so firmly implanted in man as to be transmitted or inherited from one generation to another.

Kirkpatrick, Barnes, Hall,

and others were struck by the fact that man had more in­ stincts than any other animals.

Because of this, man's de­

velopment was considerably longer than the length of develop­ ment found in other animals. With such a view of instincts, men could speak in terms of a natural history of instincts in both the species and in individual members of

the

species. Hall was the one

who spoke most vigorously onthis matter, but Hall no means alone. about a

was by

He had colleagues at Clark who spoke often

natural history of the instincts in the species.

From time to time, Hall issued appeals for anthropologists to gather evidence for a historical picture of instincts in the specie.

The anthropologists, he thought,

could do this

through the study of primitive groups, however,

this was a

form of child-study which was not directed at the teachers. By some individuals,

some attention was given to dis­

cussing the matter of whether or not the order for pearance of the instincts in

the

the ap­

individual were identical

to the order of their appearnce in the species. Hall was the one most concerned about this matter.

Hall was given to

discussing the matter most explicitly after about 1900.

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194

Prior to 1900, Hall was considerably less outspoken on the matter of recapitulation.

Not all members of the Child-

Study Movement in the 1890's were very fully convinced that the order of their appearance

(appearance of instincts)

in

the ontogeny was identical to the order in the phylogeny. Barnes was an example of a man who displayed considerable restraint at this point.

On several occasions,

Barnes told

his readers that Hall and his students were proponents of psychological recapitulation as well as biological recapitu­ lation.

Barnes, however,

with Hall.

would not state that he concurred

Barnes regarded this as a still unsettled matter.

Also for Barnes,

the important question was their order and

mode of developing in the individual members of the species. Whether or not this pattern was identical to the order in the past history of man was not,

as far as he was concerned,

extremely important question for the educator. as well

as others,

an

For Barnes

consensus on the recapitulation theory

among child-study people was not as important as the view of the scientific child-study and their ideas of periodicity in development and instinct.

Psychological recapitulation

was never made a point of consensus among people doing childstudy work nor did various members seek publicly during the 1 8 9 0 's to win converts among child-study educators to the idea of psychological recapitulation. Though the degree of emphasis upon recapitulation var ­ ied considerably among members of the Movement,

there was

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195

agreement that the instincts in the child were not equal in strength.

Some were supposedly stronger than others.

addition, the instincts underwent development.

In

Many in­

stincts did not make their appearance at birth, they un der­ went many changes between the birth of the child and the advent of adulthood.

Furthermore,

there was speculation that

the intensity of some instincts which were undergoing develop­ ment varied according to the time of the ye'r. instincts were stronger than others,

Although some

the instincts which com­

prised the child's psychological nature were thought immense and powerful.

Dr. Colvin A. Scott of the Chicago Normal

School told the meeting of the N.E.A. stincts or hereditary passions were

in 1897 that the in­

"immense forces," so 9

immense that "they could not be stamped out by educators." Repeatedly in journals carrying the child-study literature, the instincts were described by such phrases as 'powerful,'

'strong,'

'immense,'

'intense,'

etc.

Not only were the instincts thought of as being im­ mense and powerful when awakened, but the individual child was a possessor of numerous instincts or hereditary impulses or hereditary interests as they were sometimes called.

That

bundle of instincts with which the child was equipped was 9

Dr. Colvin A. Scott, "The Psychology of Puberty and Adolescence," Journal of Addresses and P roc ee din gs; National Educational A s s o c i a t i o n , 1897, p. 851.

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196

thought to be so numerous that many years would be required before a complete or exhaustive list could be presented. Though no purportedly exhaustive list appeared before the decade of the 1890's had passed, non-exhaustive lists and descriptions did appear from time to time.

Indeed, various

members of the Child-Study Movement had set forth quite a number of instincts which collectively formed an enormous list.

To mention a few examples,

among the instincts or

hereditary impulses were the following: stinct,

the animistic in­

the migratory instinct, the c ol l e c t i n g 1in s t i n c t , the

constructive instinct,

the teasing or bullying instinct,

the

showing-off instinct, reverie instinct, curiosity instinct, chunming instinct, instinct

social instinct,

truth

(instinct for certainty or sometimes called the

reasoning instinct), stinct,

imitative instinct,

sex instinct, property

(ownership)

superstitious instinct, and many others.

ies of the child's beliefs

in­

Their stud­

(i.e., the typical beliefs from

one age to another) were regarded as proof for the presence of these instincts in the child. Besides the above named instincts, there were emo­ tional responses which were instinctual such as fear, laughing,

love, etc.

anger,

These latter tropisms were thought to

possess in some cases instinctual objects.

For example,

fur

was thought to be an hereditary or instinctual object of fear. Others were thunder and lightning.

Another instinctive ob­

ject of an instinctive emotional response was nature.

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Nature

197

was a kind of implanted and inherited object of interest or love in the child.

Children seemed to have according to

members of the Movement an instinctive love for nature as revealed -through plants,

animals, etc.

Now the various instincts which were mentioned plus the many not mentioned thus far were thought to comprise the child's mind.

When talking of the child's mind .fr om infancy

to adulthood, G. E. Partridge stated rather forcefully that "It /the mind/ is a patchwork of survivals of psychoses."'*'^ To him as for others the survivals of psychoses were the in­ stincts which were being discovered by himself and many others.

The members of the Child-Study Movement were in ef­

fect rejecting a faculty psychology interpretation of the child's m ind and the idea of mental discipline in education. In addition,

they were rejecting a Lockean view of the child's

mind which likened the child's mind solely to a blank tablet on which impressions were made and from w hich concepts arose on the basis of certain principles tinuity,

and repetition.

such as contiguity,

con­

The view of the child's mind being

substituted for the traditional views was that the child's mind comprised a cluster of instincts— hereditary tendencies or interests.

From this, the mind of the child from infancy

to adulthood came to be regarded not as a receptacle into

■^G. E. Partridge, (April, 1898), p. 446.

"ReVerie," Pedagogical Seminary. V:4

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198

which teachers pour information nor some entity to be im­ proved by the exercises found in certain s u b j e c t s . Not only did the c h i l d 's- mind or psychological nature comprise an immense bundle of instincts, the child's mind

the development of

(unfoldment of the hereditary tendencies

and powers) was "by epochs and stages rather than by steady unfoldment,"

12

according to Krohn and others.

This idea of

the child's development being by epochs or stages was some­ times referred to as the nascent stages idea or theory of development.

Certain propensities or instincts became in­

tense at certain times or periods while at another period or time they subsided and remained almost dormant for a while. Each period— infancy,

childhood, pubescence,

and adolescence—

was characterized by its combination of awakened instincts. Just as there were times when physical growth was steady, but then followed by decline and sudden accelerated growth, the same was the case for the various instincts or inherited psychoses.

They too became intense drives gradually for

G. Stanley Hall, "Child Study," Journal of E d u c a t i o n . XLIV:30 (March 19, 1896), p. 344.; G.W.A. Luckey, "Child-Study in Its Effects U po n the Teacher," The Child-Study M o n t h l y . I: 8 (Feb. 1896), pp. 232-233; M.V. O'Shea, "Educational Values in the Elementary School," Popular Science M o n t h l y . XLVIII (Mar. 1896), pp. 675-686; M.V. O'Shea, "Some Aspects of The Training of Childhood," O u t l o o k . L V I :2 (May 15, 1897), p. 164; Dr. Maximilian P.E. Groszmann, "Language-Teaching From A ChildStudy Point of View," The Child-Study M o n t h l y , I V : 5 (Nov. 1898) pp. 268-269; Cephas Guillet, "Recapitulation and Education," Pedagogical S e m i n a r y , V I I : 3 (Oct. 1900), p. 429. ■^William 0. Krohn, "Results of Child-Study Applied to Education," Transactions of the Illinois Society for ChildS t u d y , 1:4 (1895) , pp. 42-43.

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199

awhile, diminution following, ation occurring.

and then with sudden acceler­

The mental development of the child fol­

lowed basically the same rhythmic pattern as found in the physical development of the child.

In a rather lengthy

speech before the child-study section of the Illinois State Teachers* Association, Bayard Holmes gave considerable empha­ sis on this matter to teachers.

His speech was published in

the Transactions of the Illinois Society.

Holmes was by no

means alone in stressing the correlation and interdependency between the growth epochs in the mind and growth epochs in the body.

G. Stanley Hall, John A. Hancock, O'Shea, E.B. Bryan,

and many others joined Holmes and Krohn in stressing that de­ velopment in both mind and body was not gradual at all times but rather at times accelerated and at others slower. the unfoldment of an instinct or cluster of instincts

When was

most accelerated and sudden, this was the time supposedly when the instincts were most intense and when the instincts exerted potentially the greatest iifluence upon the child's pe rs ona lit y. p

In the case of each instinct, besides undergoing va r­ iations in rate and intensity of development,

a pattern r e ­

peatedly appeared in the development of that instinct. example,

For

in the case of the collecting instinct, both Hall

and Caroline Frear Burk suggested that the pattern of its development was first quantity of objects with things like rocks, glass,

insects, etc. without much emphasis upon

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200

classifying them according to quality.

Following this

attention to quantity which was the case as a rule in c hild­ hood,

the instinct underwent a change in the individual.

More attention was given to quality or classification. fact,

In

this was thought to prevail during the period of p u b ­

escence and during the early years of adolescence. ing to Caroline Frear Burk,

Accord­

principles as a basis of classi­

fication in collections began to exert greater influence than ever before in the child's collections.

13

The child,

in

short, became more discriminating in the things being collect­ ed.

The construction instinct also underwent a similar p a t ­

tern of development,

from the construction of things like

caves while at play to carpentry and quite possibly in the case of some children to engineering.

In the case of girls,

the instinct reached fuller expression in cooking and homemaking during pubescence and adolescence. In the case of instincts,

the development of each was

supposedly capable of exerting considerable influence on the other instincts.

For example,

the unfoldment of the collect­

ing instinct could be influenced and was upon occasion in children influenced supposedly by the child's instinctive love and interest in nature. opportunity,

The result was that given the

the collecting instinct found expression to

some extent in the various collections of natural objects

■''^Caroline F. Burk, "The Collecting Instinct," Pedagogical Seminary, V I I :2 (July, 1900), p. 204.

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201 such as rocks, plants,

leaves,

insects, etc.

14

Since dur­

ing childhood the imitative tendency or instinct was strongest and the reasoning instinct was weak, mentary,

rudimentary,

and frag­

the child's collections were also greatly influenced

b y the peers than by principles of classification which were thought to involve reason. The vast number of studies of children provided sup­ posedly the empirical bases for the general characterizations formed of children during the various stages of development, physical and psychological development. tions for each period,

In the characteriza­

so claimed the writers of numerous

speeches and journal articles,

the child was active.

15

The

14

I b i d . See also the studies by Hall and by Barnes on children's interests. "^See C. C. VanLiew, "Results of Child-Study Applied to Educ at ion ," Transactions of Illinois Society for C h i l d - S t u d y , 1:4, (1895), pp. 33-36; John A. H a n c o c k , "The Motor Ability of Children - A Preliminary Study," Journal of Addresses and P r o c e e d i n g s : National Educational A s s o c i a t i o n , 1897, pp. 851-85 7; Reuben Post Halleck, "The Bearing of the Laws of Cerebral Development and Modification on C h i l d - S t u d y ," Journal of Addresses and P r o c e edi ngs ; National Educational Association^ 1897, pp“ 540-841; William H. Burnham, "Adolescence," Pedagogical S e m i n a r y , 1:2 (1891), p. 195; G. Stanley Hall, "New Phases of C h i l d - S t u d y ," The Child-Study Monthly, I V :1 (May, 1898), p. 35; E. B. Bryan, "Nascent Stages and Their Pedagogical Significance," Pedagogical S e m i n a r y , VII:3 (October, 1900), pp. 365-394; Cephas Guillet, "Recapitulation and Education," Pedagogical Sem i n a r y , V I I : 3 (October, 1900), p. 440; E. G. Lancaster, "Psychology and Pedagogy of A d o l e s ­ cence," Pedagogical S e m i n a r y , V:1 (July, 1897), p. 127; Frederic Burk, "From Fundamental to Accessory in the D ev elo p­ ment of the Nervous System and of Movements," Pedagogical S e m i n a r y , V I :1 (October, 1898), p. 63; G. T. W~ P a t r i c k , "Should Children Under Ten Learn to Read and Write?" Popular Science M o n t h l y , LIV (June 1898), pp. 382-388; M. V. O'Shea, "Some Aspects of the Training of Childhood," O u t l o o k , V I : 2 (May, 15, 1897), p. 166; M. V. O'Shea, "Spare the Rod and Spoil the Child," O u t l o o k , LVIII:2 (January 8, 1898), pp. 128-129. As several references will be taken from Journal of Addresses and Pr o c e e d i n g s : National Educational A s s o c i a t i o n , the abreviation N.E.A. will be used.

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202 child was "proverbially active" as some writers put it. Repeatedly,

the emphasis was on the fact that from infancy

to the end of adolescence the child was being propelled by immense forces or instincts to be active— to seek outlets for these immense impulses for various types of action. Some impulses were seen as psychological ones such as the instincts of collecting,

ownership,

constructing,

etc. while

others were purely physiological impulses coming from mus­ cles, arteries,

lungs,

impulses were awakened,

nerve centers,

etc.

When

these

they propelled the child to be

active. Though all periods shared in common these immense drives for activity,

the differences between the periods were

emphasized in their descriptions of the various periods. Burnham, Lancaster,

Hall,

and many others described the period when

new forces or instincts seemed to awaken and war within the child.

Such instincts and emotions as love,

bellions,

etc.

sprang up suddenly,

as well as the child were shocked.

altruism,

re­

so suddenly that parents Added to this was sup­

posedly the appearance of the doubting instinct causing an eruption of the mental balance which was derived from the myths and fantasies of childhood.

The outcome in overt be­

havior was extreme fluctuations between despondency and ela­ tion,

spontaneity and passivity,

anger and love, etc.

Burnham and Lancaster as well as others told parents that these extreme shifts were natural rather than bad; only when

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203

they persisted over many years sh.ould they be concerned. In contrast to the individual during the period of adolescence, stable.

the individual throughout childhood was quite

His interests, excitements, fears,

angers,

love,

etc. did not border on pathological extremes from time to time.

The supposedly accurate and normal psychological

picture of the child was that of an active, ture.

imitative crea­

He was supposedly a great lover of myths, nature,

games, plays, etc. gullible.

The child was thought to be exceptionally

For truth, it was purportedly the adult teacher

or parent that was the source of authority. the case for moral conduct.

The same was

Right was a matter of what a

parent approved or the teacher approved.

It was not a matter

of principles or ideals and on^s conscience as it was. pur­ portedly for the adolescent.

During childhood, reason mat­

tered little in the pursuit of truth, factual or moral.

The

opinion of the parent or the teacher was the source of author­ ity.

In short, factual or moral truth was what the teacher

or parent approved.

In addition,

the child in the pursuit

of his collecting, play, aesthetic, dramatic, animistic,

social, nature,

and constructing instincts was fundamentally

imita tiv e. On the basis of their ideas about the child's nature, the leaders of the Child-Study Movement in American educa­ tion were quite convinced that the child during childhood and adolescence as well as pubescence was fundamentally

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204

different from the adult.

Repeatedly,

statements appeared

setting forth the claim that these differences between the child and the adult meant that educators could not continue to consider the child a miniature adult.

16

Those differences

between the child and adult expressed in the stereotypes of childhood, pubescence,

and adolescence supposedly ruled out

the old faculty psychology and mental discipline in educa­ tion. Armed with their conception of the child's nature during the various developmental periods, lating to instincts,

the concepts re­

and the beliefs about developmental

patterns for instincts,

the members of the Movement turned

to American schools in this decade.

The Movement's leaders

sought to evaluate what was going on in the schools with these ideas about the child's nature, as Hall stated it.

the only true norm

Not only did the journals indict Ameri­

can education for its indifference to the child's nature

16

For examples of persons making such a statement, see the following: Oscar Chrisman, "The Results of Ch i l d - S t u d y ," E d u c a t i o n , X V I I I : 6 (February, 1898), p. 328; Frederick L. Burk, "The Kindergarten Child Physically," N . E .A . , 1899, p. 5 71; Maximilian P. E. Groszmann, "Language-Teaching From A Child-Study Point of View," The Child-Study M o n t h l y , I V :5 (November, 1898), pp. 268-269; W. S. Christopher, "Our Future Leaders - The Children of To-day," The Child-Study M o n t h l y , 1:7 (January, 1896), pp. 192-193, 204; John A. Hancock, "The Motor Ability of Children - A Preliminary Study," N . E . A . , 1894, p. 1003; E. G. Lancaster, "The Adolescent At Home and In School," N . E . A . , 1899, p. 1039.

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205

but also the journals sought to endorse and promote the acceptance of proposed reforms or changes in American educa­ tion on the basis of these beliefs about the child.

The

child's nature was set forth as the norm for deciding what parts of American schooling must be changed as well as what proposed changes ought to be substituted.

The Child's Nature as Norm for Evaluating the Schools and for Proposing Reforms

Under the usual variety of r u b r i c s , the general idea of naturism was emphasized repeatedly in the child-study publications.

The interpretation of naturism was essentially

education in conformity with the various stages of the child's development.

The child's nature at the various stages of

development was to be the norm for evaluating the soundness of educational practices and of proposal for educational reform.

Taking as the standard or norm the above conception

of the child's nature,

numerous articles appeared in which

schools were evaluated as to whether or not the schools were repressive or conducive to the development of the child's nature;

articles were published in which the child's

nature was used to recommend changes in the schools and articles in which previously proposed changes were endorsed. The education occurring in the schools of the 1 8 9 0 's was described as being repressive or restraining to the

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206

children's impulses for physical and mental growth, of course,

this meant the education was thought by members

of the Movement to be inappropriate.

The schools were

criticized for keeping children inactive, silent.

and,

The inactivity,

immobility,

immobile,

and

and silence of children

was thought to be repressive and restraining to the forces and impulses which were seeking development at the various stages in the child's life. Though by no means the only passage to state this forcefully,

a forceful and rather complete statement came

from the speech and article by Bayard Holmes in 1897. wrote:

He

" ... schoolrooms are still fitted with iron desks

and our children are still under iron restraint.

They must

keep still and get their lessons and not make noise;

they

must sit up straight and not swing their feet or hitch about, or put their elbows on desks or look around behind them;

they

must not whisper nor mumble their lessons, and they must walk on their tip-toes and not slam the doors nor speak aloud nor knock anything on the floor."

Holmes went on to

tell the teachers that "All of this restraint makes children awkward,

artificial,

self-conscious and unattractive, and

interferes with physical, he told the teachers,

mental growth."

17

This situation,

could and must be changed.

His

17

Bayard Holmes, "Order of Physical Growth m the Child," Transactions of the Illinois Society for Child-Study, 11:2 (1897), pp. 208-709.

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207

audience and readers were told by him that "the teachers have it in their power to make our public schools schools,'

'free

free for the normal activities of the child."

To Holmes'

18

charge of repressiveness were added other

voices reiterating the same charge along with other charges. In a speech read before the National Educational Association's general session in 1898 and later published by the Illinois Society, William 0. Krohn asserted that the school caused minor mental abnormalities in children by following erroneous schools methods.

19

The erroneous methods to which

Krohn referred were methods which did not follow Nature's way or order of development for the child.

Through methods

employed in the schools, the child was not permitted, ing to Krohn,

accord­

to express himself in his own instinctive ways

or patterns of development. abnormalities among children.

The effects of this were mental The minor mental abnormalities

which Krohn had in mind were basically nervous disorders in children.

It was his opinion that these nervous disorders

contributed to the arrestment of physical and mental develop­ ment in children.

Thus, the schools, Krohn as well as others

concluded, was a dangerous institution for the child to attend. 1 8 I b i d . , p. 2 1 1 .

19 .

William 0. Krohn, "Minor Mental Abnormalities in Children As Occasioned by Certain Erroneous School Methods," The Child-Study M o n t h l y , IV:4 (Oct., 1898), pp. 201-202.

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208

Besides the repressiveness of the child's development and the ultimate effect of arrested development, Krohn went on to inform his readers that the schools were in his opinion very dangerous institutions for additional reasons.

Krohn

told the N.E.A. gathering that the physical health of the child was endangered by the schools; poor sanitation, poor lighting,

the poor ventilation,

seating, etc. endangered

the child's physical well-being and thus ultimately his mental development.

Despite this concern, his central con­

cern was with reforming the schools'

erroneous methods in

order that the child's development in the school might pro­ ceed in Nature's way and in

so doing p r e v e n t minor abnormal­

ities . The effects of the schools' methods and other condi­ tions were not always described in such language as "minor abnormalities."

Some became considerably more dramatic in

their charges of the effects upon children from the schools' erroneous practices.

Francis W. Parker in his President's

Report to the Illinois Society for Child-Study stated

chat

the schools through their blind faith in traditional methods, impure air, etc. undoubtedly "hurry great numbers of little ones to premature graves."

20

Parker,

as did Holmes and Krohn,

issued his pleas for reform.

20

Francis W. Parker, "President's Report," Transactions of the Illinois Society for Child-Study . 111:1 (Apr il, 1898), p . 63.

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209

Repeatedly,

the pleas came forth t o reform the

schools in the direction of permitting the child to be free, expressive and spontaneous— to follow his normal activities in a healthy environment. Krohn,

Others joined the ranks of Holmes,

and Parker to attack the schools for being repressive

and causing abnormalities, physical and mental abnormalities, and also for causing arrested development in many, many child­ ren.

Among others forcefully attacking the schools were C.C.

Van L i e w , M.P.E. Groszmann, M.V. O ’Shea, W.H. Burnham, Hancock, A.C. others.

Scott, G.S. Hall, G.T.W. Patrick,

J'.A.

and many

The Child-Study M o n t h l y , The Pedagogical S e m i n a r y ,

and the N.E.A.'s Journal of Addresses and Proceedings carried articles making explicit criticisms of the schools as well as implicit criticism of the schools through the recommenda­ tion of changes.

Repeatedly,

the charge was made that the

children in schools were forced to be inactive.

At the same

time, educators were told that the child whether in childhood or adolescence was active. tive— moving about.

His nature was that of being ac­

And the schools,

so went the articles

and speeches, must permit him to fulfil his nature.

It must

be kept in mind that permitting the child to be active was interpreted to mean permitting the child to fulfill the im­ mense impulses which Nature had implanted in the child. restrain the child from being active was, in effect,

To

prevent­

ing the child from developing in the appropriate way those forces at work in the child during infancy, childhood,

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etc.

210

As an agency of adult society, schools through their r e ­ pressive measures causing arrested development, minor mental abnormalities, premature deaths, etc. was somewhat analogous to Rousseau's adult society which through formal education prevented the mental development of many children as well as endangered their health. For the quest of improving American education, numer­ ous articles by prominent figures in the Child-Study Movement attempted to set forth to educators recommendations which would make American schools more fitted to the child's nature — the supposedly true norm.

Taken collectively, quite an

enormous cluster of proposed changes in American educational practices were suggested.

These proposed changes were all

part of the Movement's effort to make the schools conform to the child's nature.

The changes which were proposed varied

considerably; however,

the one thing underlying the changes

proposed was the theme that Nature's way way) was the guide or standard.

(i.e., the child's

What Nature would have the

child be first should be what the school would have the child do or be first.

If Nature would have the child be essentially

an imitative child first and a reasoning child later then this the school should follow. of the child's development,

With ideas about the pattern

educators turned to making recom­

mendations for changes in the schools. Groszmann, O'Shea,

and others recommended that read­

ing, writing and arithmetic be introduced much later.

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Some

211

suggested that these traditional three-R's be delayed until i.v as late as the tenth year in the child's life. This delay was believed to permit greater freedom for activity on the part of children to pursue other activities which the child supposedly desired and which were at the same time more fit­ ting to the child's powers at this period.

Reading, writing,

and arithmetic were subjects which required capacities not yet awakened in most children prior to ten.

During primary

schooling the brain had not reached its full size and weight. In addition,

the reasoning instinct had not awakened in ch il­

dren prior to this point. manding from the child,

Consequently,

the schools were de­

if the three R's were introduced b e ­

fore eight or nine a highly abstract pursuit for which his brain was not prepared to handle as well as being without the awakened instinct to provide the drive. If the child remained attentive and persistent in efforts to master the three-R's prior to eight or ten, outcome was cram which itself was judged bad. outcome of cram was arrested development.

the

The inevitable

The children as a

rule who did not take the dangerous and somewhat better path of inattention ended in a bad case of mental and physical fatigue from being mentally and physically overtaxed even though they eventually mastered the content. resulting from overtaxing the child

The fatigue

(expecting things from

the child for which Nature had not prepared the child)

ended

in physical and mental abnormalities in the child's develop­

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212

ment which Krohn and others thought were so prominent and prevalent in their decade.

21

Besides being without the

support of brain develop­

ment and the reasoning instinct, the child was without the benefit of muscular development and co-ordination for m a s t e r ­ ing ths three-R's.

The finer or accessory muscles were not

developed at this point nor were they in the process of developing rapidly.

22

The only group of muscles purportedly

in the process of developing were the large muscles or funda­ mental muscles as they were called. forces of various instincts,

Besides the propelling

the large muscles were develop­

ing and to'some extent propelling the child to be active. These large,

developing muscles,

it was thought, ought to be

developed in formal schooling rather than the finer muscles, that is, during the first years of an individual's education prior to eight or ten.

The result was that what ought to be

transpiring in the schools during the period of childhood was not the arithmetic, reading,

and writing which had been

going on and still continued in the schools.

The things to

21

See W.O. Krohn, "Minor Mental Abnormalities in Child­ ren As Occasioned by Certain Erroneous School Methods," pp. 207-208. Also see as another example Rueben Post Halleck, "The Bearings of The Laws of Cerebral Development and M od i f i ­ cation on Child Study," N . E . A . , 1897, pp. 840-841. 22

See John A. Hancock, "The Motor Ability of Chi ld ren — A Preliminary Study," N . E . A . , 1894, pp. 1008-1009; see also articles by Bryan, Dresslar, Burnham, and Hancock in the Pedagogical Seminary during the 1 8 9 0 's.

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213

be substituted were those things permitting the child to be physically active and moving in order to use the large muscles demanding growth and at the same time permitting the child to express those natural interests or instincts which were awakened in the child during childhood and demand­ ing action. Numerous writers suggested that if writing were begun in the late primary school years, the large muscles being utilized.

it was to begin only with 23

Large strokes using the

entire shoulder muscles on unlined paper should be permitted. But this was to be preceded by many months of work at the blackboards.

The w riting of small "letters" and printing

were definitely to be prohibited from the lower levels. same was the case for such things as pasting, threading needles, etc.

The

buttoning,

This work could result in no good

for the individual, not even mental discipline, not even training of the will could result, the muscles.

and not even training of

Only harm would come to the children as it had

in the past decades if the demands of writing continued.

23

John A. Hancock, "The Motor Ability of Children— A Preliminary Study, N . E . A . , 1894 , p. 1008-1009; John A. Hancock, "A Study of Motor Ability," Pedagogical S e m i n a r y , 111:1 (October, 1894), pp. 26-27; F.B. Dresslar, "Fatigue," Pedagogical S e m i n a r y , 11:1 (1892), pp. 105-106; Oscar Chrisman, "The Results of C h i l d - S t u d y ," E d u c a t i o n , X V I I I :6 (Feb., 1898) p. 330; G.W.A. L u c k e y , "Practical Results Obtained Through The Study of Children's Interests," N . E . A . , 1897 , p. 286; G.T.W. Patrick, "Should Children Under Ten Learn to Read and Write," Popular Science M o n t h l y , L I V (June, 1898), pp. 382-392.

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214

In short, Nature or the child's nature sanctioned for the educators a better course of action.

That course of

action was leaving the child free from the three-R's which had traditionally been demanded of children in the primary grades, free from restraints such as these in order to pur­ sue other things supposedly more normal or natural for children.

The schools through the three-R's and through

keeping children immobile,

silent, and inactive were demand­

ing of children things which prevented Nature's own efforts at producing a normal, healthy,

and productive individual.

As Hall put it, any thing at variance with Nature's way or the way

(order) of development within the the child was "false

24 and wrong" while human nature was true. Nature's efforts at educating the child, her order and demands, were essentially better than those which the schools had established.

Nature

in the child provided a better order and way to make a happy, healthful, moral,

and capable adult.

25

Refusing to follow

that way ended in the destruction of the child's normal 24

11:2

G. Stanley Hall, (1892), pp. 185-186.

"Editorial," Pedagogical Seminary,

25

Reuben Post Halleck, "The Bearing of the Laws of Cerebral Development and Modification on Child Study," N . E . A . , 1897 , pp. 199-200— originally a speech at the May, 1896 Illi­ nois Child-Study Congress; G.T.W. Patrick, "Should Children Under Ten Learn to Read and Write?" Popular Science M o n t h l y , L I V (June, 1898), p. 385; A. Caswell Ellis, "Suggestions for A Philosophy of Education," Pedagogical S e m i n a r y , V:2 (October, 1897), pp. 184-186; Cephas Guillet, "Recapitulation and Educa­ tion," Pedagogical S e m i n a r y , V I I : 3 (October, 1900), pp. 42 7, 435-36. Other examples may be found emphasizing the excell­ ence of Nature's way over man's way of educating children.

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215

development.

The child's development became arrested and

even perverted in some cases because adult society attempted to follow another program. Others criticized the schools not only for the teach­ ing of reading,

arithmetic,

and writing in the primary and

intermediate grades but also for teaching English grammar. This too, it was thought, Certainly,

should be delayed until much later.

if the attempts were made to teach good English in

the schools,

it too must be according to Nature's way, i.e.,

the child's own nature.

According to Dr. Groszmann,

the

child's imitative and dramatic instincts were at their height at this point. good English,

If one desired to get children to practice it was suggested that children be taught to

imitate good language.

26

Imitation of good English was essen­

tially having the child repeat orally phrases,

committing to

memory passages of fine prose and poetry which was read to them, passages in which correct English is followed.

It was

suggested that passages from plays in which good English was used be presented by students.

The most important thing to

26

Dr. Maximilian P.E. Groszmann, "Language— Teaching From a Child-Study Point of View," The Child-Study M o n t h l y , IV:5 (November, 1898), pp. 274-275; John A. Hancock, "Mental Differences of School Children," N . E . A . , 1897 , p. 852; T. S. Lowden, "Pedagogical Inferences From C h i l d - S t u d y ," Education, X V I I I : 2 (October 1897), p. 116; G.T.W. Patrick, "Should Children Under Ten Learn to Read or Write?" Popular Science M o n t h l y , LIV, (June, 1898), p. 391; G. Stanley Hall, "The Line of Educational Advance," Outlook, LXII:14 (August 5, 1899), p. 769.

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216

be eliminated was the grammar books with their elaborate definitions and rules to be memorized and applied by the student.

According to him, grammar was an exercise in logic

which if taught could only result in cram.

This in turn

ended in mental waste and arrested development eventually. If one wanted a child to speak correct English, memoriz­ ing the definitions and rules of grammar and learning to apply them correctly was not the child's way or Nature's way.

The

imitative instinct was Nature's way if English grammar had to be taught at this point.

Put the child in a situation in

which he hears good English and is encouraged to repeat the phrases comprising good English. to speak good English.

Eventually, he will come

This was Nature's plan for the child

during childhood and early pubescence.

If the grammar teach­

ing of rules and definition must be introduced, he urged that they be delayed until the advent of the reasoning in­ stinct in the period of pubescence.

Even if a way could be

found for the inclusion and mastery of rules and definitions prior to the advent of reasoning, movement, nature.

to many members of the

this would inevitably be contrary to the child's For Groszmann and others,

to be imitative.

it was the child's nature

This was Nature's way.

Nature to repress the imitative instinct.

It was contrary to M astering defini­

tions and rules was not the child's way or Nature's way of teaching the child his language.

The child was first imi­

tative and only later was the child a "reasoning" creature.

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217

"The young child is by no means a logical being," so stated Groszmann,

"but pre-eminently imitative."

27

Because of this

pattern in nature of children first being imitative and later creatures who follow the instinct of reason,

Groszmann and

others suggested that English grammar be discarded until much later.

To include it during early and intermediate elemen­

tary education was to reverse Nature's plan. Partly in lieu of these subjects during the child's first years of formal education and in place of the text­ books,

a number of things were endorsed as substitutions.

Through various periodicals carrying the child-study litera­ ture,

a vast range of suggestions were endorsed because they

were thought to be Nature's means for developing the legacy of awakened forces within the child. Study" was acclaimed b y Hall,

"Nature

Parker, Hodge, Hoyt, Lancaster,

and many others as ideal for children, childhood and pubescence.

For example,

especially during

Lancaster and others were prepared

to extend Nature Study on into the period of adolescence. Nature Study was not interpreted as a science.

What was

being endorsed here was the opportunity to make excursions into the countryside to observe plants and animals in order that children would have direct acquaintance with Nature, have an opportunity to express their instinctive interest or love for Nature,

and express their instinct to collect things

^ I b i d . , pp. 268-269.

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218

accordingly.

28

From time to time writers also indicated

that Nature Study excursions gave children an opportunity to commune with nature,

a communion which offered potential

character training and aesthetic training to the child.

But

the most important thing was that Nature Study was natural since it permitted expression of natural or inherited instincts and since it permitted that expression in the child's own way. Rather than thwarting the child's nature, Nature Study en­ couraged the child's nature. prised excursions,

The Nature Study which com­

opportunities for ecstasy over the harmony

in nature, opportunities for animism,

etc. in the early years

of elementary education was never to include any emphasis upon trying to instill a critical attitude toward beliefs about nature nor mastering a taxonomy for the various aspects of nature.

Nature's plan for educating the child about the

world of nature did not begin first with mastering systems 28

William Hoyt, "The Love of Nature as the Root of Teaching and Learning the Science," Pedagogical S e m i n a r y , 111:1 (October, 1894), pp. 60-86; William Hoyt, "Children's Love of Nature," N . E . A . , 1894, pp. 1010-1015; Katherine Chandler, "Children's Interests in Plants," Studies in E d u c a t i o n , 1:6 (December, 1896), p. 222; Clifton F. Hodge, "Foundations of Nature Study," Pedagogical S e min ar y, V I :4 (December, 1898), p. 536-553; Hodge, Pedagogical S e m i n a r y , VII:1 (April, 1900), pp. 95-^10; Hodge, Pedagogical S e m i n a r y , V I I : 2 (July, 1900), pp. 208-228; T. S. Lowden, "Pedagogical Inferences From Child-S tu dy," E d u c a t i o n , XVIII:2 (October, 1897), pp. 115-116; G. Stanley Hall, "The Line of Educational Advance," Outlook, L X I I :14 (August 5, 1899), p. 768; G. T. Patrick, "Should Children Under Ten Learn to Read and Write?" Popular Science M o n t h l y , LIV (June, 1898), p. 387; E. G. Lancaster, "The Adolescent At Home and In School," N . E . A . , 1899, p. 1043.

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219

or a system of classification and then moving to their appli­ cation in the laboratory bu t rather evoking that instinctive love of nature which the child possesses and would desire to express. When teaching about objects in the elementary school's later years

(objects such as natural objects in Nature Study),

Oscar Chrisman,

Earl b a r n e s , G. Stanley Hall and G. W. A.

Luckey recommended on the basis of the study of children's interest in things that teaching focus primarily upon the use of things.

According to their studies,

interested in the use of things first.

children were more During pubescence,

their interest in things or objects in nature such as horses, birds,

etc. was the category into which these things were to

be put.

Within a few years,

the child in adolescence devel­

oped an interest in the structure and form of things. recommended that this be followed in the schools.

Hall

His recom­

mendation was that common schools cease the attempt to arouse interest in classifying things and in the structure of things when attempting to teach about things. terested in these matters first.

Children were not in­

Nature's plan for the child

was to begin first with an interest in the uses for things r a t h e r .than their class membership. came in pubescence.

The latter interest

The attempt at teaching a system of

classification and the attempt at teaching structure and form,

so stated Hall,

"may be well for college students but

it is radically wrong with children." Continuing, he stated,

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220

"Here again human nature must be accepted as true, and everything at variance with it as false and wrong."

29

Another proposal for change frequently heard in the latter part of the 19& Century was Manual Training.

This

proposal for change a]so received endorsement in the childstudy literature since Manual Training supposedly made the child in the elementary school and high school less sedentary. After all it was proclaimed that the child at all stages was proverbially active and seeking outlet. involved action.

30

Manual Training

By making children active,

the introduc­

tion of Manual Training into the schools, elementary and secondary schools,

provided children an outlet for the con­

structing instincts or interests which demanded an outlet. Manual Training was to be part of the child's early education. After using blocks and other things,

the child could move to

simple tools around 7-9 years of age

(hammer, needle,

saw,

etc.) and eventually move to other more difficult tools and materials during pubescence and adolescence.

Child-Study

29

G. Stanley Hall, "Editorial," Pedagogical S e m i n a r y , 11:2 (1892), p. 186. Regarding the emphasis on use of things over classification as well as form and structure, see the endorsements by the following: Oscar Chrisman, "The Results of Child-Study," E d u c a t i o n , X V I I I :6 (February, 1898), p. 330; G.W.A. Luckey, "Practical Results Obtained Through the Study of C h i l d r e n ’s Interests," N . E . A . , 1897, p. 288. 30

John A. Hancock, "A Study of Motor Ability," Ped a­ gogical S e m i n a r y , 111:1 (October, 1894), pp. 26-27; G. Stanley Hall, "The Line of Educational Advance," O u t l o o k , LXII:14 (August 5, 1899), pp. 768-770; G.T.W. Patrick, "Should Children Under Ten Learn to Read and Write?" Popular Science M o n t h l y , L I V (June, 1898), p. 389.

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221

articles were not endorsing Manual Training as a means of adjusting the school's curriculum to industry.

In addition,

Manual Training was not being endorsed by means of disci­ plining faculties of the mind.

Manual Training was endorsed

because it permitted the child to express a strong hereditary interest,

an interest which was part of Nature's way of mak­

ing the -child an adult.

As the schools made provisions for

work with hands and tools,

the schools began supposedly to

become places intended for the child rather than "intended for an entirely different being."

31

For art, changes were proposed.

Concerned with what

was called the "grammar of art" like the grammar of English, many leaders in the Child-Study Movement urged that technical art instruction be removed from the education of children during the period of childhood and early pubescence.

Con­

cern with developing representational skill should be forsaken for expressive concerns only.

32

Art in the elementary

31

John I. Jegi, "Children's Ambitions," Transactions of The Illinois Society for C h i l d - S t u d y , 111:3 (October, 1898), .pp. 139-140. •a;2

1 Herman T. Lukens, "A Study of Children's Drawings in the Early Y e a r s ,""Pedagogical S e m i n a r y , IV:1 (October, 1896), pp. 98-99; John A. Hancock, "A Study of Motor Ability," 'Peda­ gogical Sem i n a r y , 111:1 (October, 1894), p. 27; Earl Barnes, "A Study of Children's Drawings," Pedagogical S e m i n a r y ., 11:3 (1892), pp. 455-463; Arthur B. Clark, "The Child's Attitude Toward Perspective Problems," Studies in E d u c a t i o n , 1:8 (Feb. 1897), p. 294; Oscar Chrisman, "The Results of Child-Study," E d u c a t i o n XVIII: 6 , pp. 329-330; F.L. Burk, "Curriculum of Applied Child-Study for the Kindergarten and Primary School," N . E . A . , 1899, p. 1057; G.W.A. Luckey, "Practical Results Ob­ tained Through The Study of Children's Interests," N . E . A . , 1897, p. 286.

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222

schools,

it was claimed,

should be first and foremost an

opportunity for the child to express freely his interest in the life occurring around him such as circus parades, excursions, etc.

fires,

Greater freedom in subjects and methods

was urged for art in the elementary school. teaching the "grammar of art"

Attempts at

(i.e., the rules for representa­

tional art) were to be prohibited from the elementary school's program during the first five or six years. in the child its own order.

Nature again had

The first stage is expressive.

And so, art education must in its first stage be expressive if the education in the lower grades are to be "fitted to the child's nature and needs." Sara Wiltse, Clara Vostrovsky, children stories, readers.

and others turned to

those read to children and those for the

As with art, changes in readers were recommended.

Clara Vostrovsky's work was among the most widely circulated work in this area.

After examining children's own stories,

Clara Vostrovsky told the readers of Barnes'

first is.sue of

Studies in Education that "the stories for children should be true stories of child-life,

dealing with the holidays,

and other unusual events within the reach of children.

The

story should be mainly confined to action with little d e ­ scription of persons or feelings."

Because children dis­

played in their own stories no interest in "aesthetic details, and moral distinctions," these matters, Vostrovsky,

according to Clara

"should play an insignificant part in the

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stories."

33

Children in their stories,

more interested in names and actions. way of developing the child.

she claimed,

are

This was Nature's

The first stage was through

an interest in names and action rather than

"aesthetic"

details;

should be intro­

aesthetic and moral considerations

duced later when Nature had made provision for these consid­ erations.

Pubescence and adolescence were the periods for

introducing stories which involved "aesthetic details" and "moral distinctions." In the so-called child-study literature of the 1890's there seemed almost no end to the prescriptions for educa­ tion being made on the basis of the order in the child's nature,

an order to which all things at variance were bad,

and things which followed the order were good. Barnes,

Mary Sheldon

on the basis of her study of children's themes,

34

concluded that the children did have a natural interest in history as judged by their questions about who made them and from whence they came.

She stated that from their themes

an order for the development of this natural interest was found to be present among children.

Children are first

33

Clara Vostrovsky, "A Study of Children's Own Storie Studies In E d u c a t i o n . 1:1 (July, 1896), p. 17; Earl Barnes, "Young Children's Stories," The P a i d o l o q i s t . 11:1 (April, 1900), p. 19.■ 34

Mary Sheldon Barnes, "The Historic Sense Among Children," Studies in Education, 1:3 (September, 1896), pp. 89-93.

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t 224

interested in men of action.

The second stage is when their

social interest begins to appear or be awakened.

The latter

stage was thought to appear in late pubescence.

On the basis

of this natural order present within the child,

she suggested

that in the study of history biographies be used— biographies of men "who fight and hunt and build, write or think or legislate."

rather than of men who

Political,

literary,

and in­

tellectual heroes were to come when the natural interest for that sort of things appeared. philosophy,

Men of science,

politics,

etc. ought to come when the child's nature or

own way of developing had reached the stage of "widening social interests." others,

Of course,

this did not come until

among adolescents emerged.

to Mrs. Barnes as well as the altruistic tendency

The first stage is when the child

is without the altruistic tendency, interests;

i.e., widening social

and so, in the first stage, Mrs. Barnes urged the

use of explorers and fighters rather than the so-called men of i d e a s . Going beyond curricular content,

Estelle M. Darrah

thought there was a kind of natural order in discipline which the school ought to follow. children's themes,

According to her study of

children supposedly do not consider laws

and rules with respect to their conduct and the punishments received for their conduct.

35

Punishment is supposedly viewed

35

Estelle M. Darrah, "Children's Attitude toward Law," Studies in E d u c a t i o n , 1:6 (Dec. 1896), p. 216; Estelle M. Darrah, "Children's Attitude Toward Law," Studies in Education, 1:7 (Jan., 1897), p. 258; Barnes, "Child-Study: General Con ­ clusions," Studies in Education, 1:10 (April 1897), pp. 366-367.

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225

by the child prior to the twelveth or thirteenth year of his life as arbitrary and without connection to any rules or laws.

Later, the second stage appears in adolescence where

punishment is connected with laws and rules and with the latter viewed as deterrents for culprits.

Her recommenda­

tion for children in the first stage was that schools decide the punishment for each case on its own merits. stated,

"Rules," she

"should not exist in the discipline of the school."

Later, rules and laws could be introduced for purposes of discipline, but not in the first stage as schools were sup­ posedly doing.

In short, the use of rules and laws with

respect to children prior to twelve when disciplining them (deciding the penalty) was contrary to the child's nature.

Summary

As the schools and proposed changes in the schools were being evaluated on the basis of their conformity to standards of excellence and soundness in education,

the

child-study organisations and centers through their jour­ nals circulated among educators a particular strain of thought.

This strain of thought is referred to as na t u r i s m —

the "nature-is-right"

idea.

While in quest of promoting a

scientific study of the child among educators in this country, these centers and organizations were also promoting an empha­ sis upon naturism.

Naturism in education as delineated earlier

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226

refers to the idea that within Nature is to be found a standard by which educational practices and ideas may be judged as to their soundness.

In the case of the Child-

Study Movement in the 1890's, it was the child's nature which was to be the norm.

The child's development

(the

nature and needs of the child's various periods of develop­ ment) was to be the norm. Through sloganistic phrases such as "education ac­ cording to nature," "the child's nature as the only true norm," "education fitted to the child's nature and needs," etc.,

several ideas which constituted the Movement's empha­

sis upon naturism were being set forth.

A first idea was

that the child first and foremost was not an adult, a miniature adult.

i.e.,

An individual prior to twenty was thought

to be radically different from an adult,

so different that

the adult's nature could not be thought to serve as a model for understanding the child's nat ure — physically, logically, nor morally.

psycho­

Not only did the child possess dif­

ferent levels of muscular strengths and co-ordination,

the

child was thought to be totally lacking in some capacities, physical capacities.

Also he was thought to be totally lack­

ing in certain biological capacities found in the adult such as the capacity for parenthood. biologically,

Besides being physically,

and neurologically different,

thought to be psychologically different.

the child was

The child at the

various stages of development was thought to be characterized

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227

by a different set of dominant inherited instincts from those found among adults and in the case of common instincts by a different level of development.

The adult was supposedly

under the influence of considerably fewer instincts and sup­ posedly had learned to integrate those.

All in all, the

child was supposed to be so different that few commonalities between the adult and the child existed according to the Movement's spokesmen.

As occasionally pointed out,

the

normal child was more akin to animal such as a dog or to the savage than akin to the normal adult.

As W.S.

Christopher

phrased it in the Child-Study M o n t h l y , "Children are not little men and little women, elders physically,

intellectually,

in degree but in kind." acting,

... they differ

learning, etc.

36

from their

and morally,

not only

The adult's ways of thinking,

are not those found in the child.

The child's modes of thinking and development constituted another style.

It must be emphasized that this was thought

to be the case for the adolescent.

Because of this,

sup­

posedly the model for understanding what forces are operating in children and how those forces become developed could not be the model used to understand the adult mind;

and it was

thought that the analogical models for understanding the W.S. Christopher, "Our Future L ead e r s — The Chilren of Today," The Child-Study Monthly, 1:7 (January, 1896), d d . 192-193.

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228

adult mind

(clay tablet, mental faculties, etc.) must be

replaced by another model or conception when confronting the task of prescribing educational practices and policies. In conjunction with the preceding, concerned the substitute model.

a second idea

The model or conception

which emerged from the child-study knowledge was supposedly that of a creature with a bundle of inherited impulses or forces and with a pattern to be followed for the development of those impulses or forces when awakened by certain forces within the child.

Once the child was permitted outlets for

those impulses in his own way of developing them, he arrived automatically at adulthood without arrested development and abnormalities— physical,

mental,

and moral abnormalities.

The third idea being emphasized in the Movement's naturism was that it was possible for society to make chil­ dren act in such a way that they were unable to pursue that pattern of development with which they were equipped. other words,

it was possible to make them pursue another

pattern of development such as how adults learn, act,

In

think,

and

as evidenced supposedly by what the schools were doing.

In the schools, children were doing things purportedly contrary to the impulses which they possessed and required to follow a pattern of development for those instincts which was the reverse order found in their nature. The fourth idea was that the child's own ways or patterns of development were good (or true,

to use Hall's

way of stating the idea) while pursuing other patterns were

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229

basically "bad and wrong," as Hall stated the matter. child's impulses, ways of developing those impulses, as timing were regarded as the best. ing" or "repressing")

Thwarting

The as well

("suppress­

those impulses and the patterns for

their development was regarded as wasteful and harmful to children.

The outcome of repressing these impulses and their

development in the child's own way was arrested and perverted development. Now the fifth idea forming a part of the Naturism in the child-study literature of the 1 8 9 0 's was that this model of the child's Nature,

i.e., the new knowledge about the

child's own impulses and beneficial modes of developing those impulses was to function

as a norm for evaluating the

schools and for evaluating or suggesting changes.

Now since

the schools followed patterns basically found in the adult's but not in the child's nature,

the schools were charged with

repressing the normal development of children.

On this basis,

the schools were described as a blight to children and as a contributor to the ills of adult society. schools were considered.

Changes in the

The child's nature

(his instincts

and their pattern of development along with physiological and neurological development) was to be the norm. to ascertain the desirability of changes

In order

(their naturalness

or unnaturalness) the child's nature or Nature's way for the child was to be the standard. formed to the standard

If the proposed changes con­

(the child's nature— the common

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230

pattern of development followed by most children), were judged sound for American education. budding and waning instincts,

interests,

they

The patterns of etc. which com­

prised the various periods were to be the norm for deciding what were repressive or unnatural practices and what were expressive or natural practices in American education.

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231

CHAPTER VII CRITICS OF THE CHILD-STUDY MOVEMENT IN AMERICAN EDUCATION,

1895-1905

This chapter will treat the criticism delivered against the Child-Study Movement in America.

The criticism

to be treated within this chapter will be largely external criticism,

i.e.,

criticism delivered by persons outside the

Child-Study Movement in American education.

The reason for

the focus upon external criticism is that records of internal criticism could not be found.

This treatment will focus

upon identifying a number of prominent individuals who criticized the Child-Study Movement and upon specifying in some detail the line of criticism which the critics presented. The treatment will deal only with the more obvious and direct forms of criticisms and, while ranging broadly, will not be exhaustive. Such a treatment,

it is believed, will contribute

simultaneously to several purposes.

The criticism of the

Child-Study Movement will not only provide additional support for the claim that certain ideas were components of the Movement's ideological perspective but also additional u n de r­ standing into the Movement's

leading ideas.

A treatment of

the more visible lines of criticism should sharpen consider­ ably our understanding of the Movement's orientation being presented in the 1890's and early 1 9 0 0 's.

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232

Since critics evaluated different aspects of the Movement from quite different perspectives and since the varying perspectives are thought to make more vivid the Movement's ideological perspective,

this treatment will be

organized around individual critics.

The order for their

appearance in the chapter will be chronological, the case of each individual,

in

the first step will be to identify

the particular aspect of the Movement's ideological orienta­ tion which the critics attacked.

The second is to set forth

the intellectual perspective presented by the critics for his evaluation of the Movement.

The individuals

sidered are Charles A. McMurry,

John Dewey, William T.

Harris, Hugo Munsterberg,

William James,

to be con­

and E. L. Thorndike.-.

Charles A. McMurry

While the scientific study of the child's psychological nature on the part of educators was heralded by Hall, Chrisman, Barnes,

Russell,

and many other figures as being the key

to progres.s in American education,

there were several promi­

nent individuals among professional educators and psychologists who were outspoken in their skepticism about the Child-Study Movement's major ideas.

Other were outspoken critics of

the Child-Study Movement's claims. Charles A. McMurry,

a student of Herbart, was one

prominent figure among professional educators who took it upon himself to criticize certain aspects of the Movement's

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233

ideas.

In 1895,

the National Educational Association held

a round-table discussion on Herbart's ideas concerning the common school course.

Charles A. McMurry,

known as an

interpreter of Herbart's ideas, was the central figure at the discussion.

In order to initiate discussion, Mc Mu r r y

presented a succinct report on Herbart's ideas with respect to-the common school's program.'*' Herman Lukens confronted M c M u r r y

It was on this occasion that with the question as to

what the attitude of the Herbartians was toward child-study in this country. In response to this question, McMurry

told his listeners

that child-study was of limited value to the educator. Child-study work, according to McMurry, keeping the educator close to children, difficulties,

had the effect of their needs and

as those pervade education.

2

For this effect,

child-study deserved a place among educators. McMurry value.

Beyond this,

regarded the Child-Study Movement's work of little The Movement's studies and findings were not the

key to answering all educational problems in this country. For example, with respect to the formation of the common school's program of studies, "is very narrow m

"Child-study," M c M u r r y stated, 3 its suggestiveness." M c M u r r y was not

^Charles A. McMurry, "Round Table Report to the National Council of the Influence of Herbart's Doctrine on the Course in-the Common Schools," N . E . A . , 1895, pp. 475-481. ^ I b i d . , pp. 480-481. 3I b i d . , p. 481.

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1

234

prepared to agree with the claim that a scientific study of the child would be rich in its contribution toward shaping the school's c o u r s e .of study.

At the time McMurry was

called upon to state an attitude toward child-study,

child-

study spokesmen among educators were proclaiming that the findings from their studies would transform the child's education

(its curriculum,

methods,

etc.) by making his

education scientific provided the results were made the norm.

Once the child was made the norm,

the results of the

investigations into the child's nature were to be unlimited in their suggestiveness to American education.

Changes in

all aspects of the child's formal education were to be suggested by the child-study investigations.

These beliefs

about the great suggestiveness of child-study to produce a transformation in the schools was certainly not shared by McMurry particularly at the point of forming the common school course of study. McMurry told his audience that the greatest contri­ bution to the educators confronted with the formation of the school's program of studies was to come from another kind of study.

What was this other study?

According to McMurry,

the study of the history of education on the part of edu­ cation would contribute more to the formation of the school's program.

For assisting educators in determing the school's

course of studies, McMurry's

belief was that there was "much

greater variety and depth of suggestiveness in this history of education in different countries and in the works of classic

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235

writers on education than in a whole school of people devoted to child-study in a purely experimental way." continued McMurry,

"have you to think,

"What reason,"

friends,

that,

fron

your little child-study, you can outweigh what has been established b y our seers and prophets?"

4

McMurry*s own

work was illustrative of his belief that a study of the past's seers and prophets was of more value to shaping the school's program.

McMurry illustrated this by his devotion to the

study of Herbart's ideas in relation to the school's program of studies in this country. as Barnes, Hall,

Unlike McMurry, people such

Scripture, Krohn, and many others prominent

in child-study centers and organizations were not prepared to accept as established Herbart's ideas nor those of his German successors.

Hall,

Scripture,

and others also urged

educators not to accept Herbart's ideas about the child's nature and his education as beyond questioning. posture was taken toward the ideas of Pestalozzi,

The same Rousseau,

and other so-called educational giants of the past. into the child and the child's education was, of the Movement's spokesmen,

Insight

in the opinion

to come from a scientific

study of the child himself rather than from what classic writers on education had said in the past. this claim,

In setting forth

the Movement's leaders were pitting themselves

against some of the most prominent figures in the 1 8 9 0 's who were of the opinion that Herbart or some other figures

^Ibid.

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236

had provided already the clues for forming the common school program and that basically the matter was discovering those clues in their writings.

Hall, Scripture, Barnes,

and others

were of the opinion that one factor deterring the progress of education in this country was the extreme devotion of educators to some figure such as F r o e b e l , Herbart,

Rousseau,

or Spencer as if these and others who were regarded as "seers and prophets" had already provided the clues for shaping the school's course of studies. study of the child among educators,

Through a scientific

individuals at child-

study centers and organizations sought to remove this factor deterring educational progress in the country.

Scientific

child-study was to provide a body of knowledge for educators wherein the "theories" and "speculations" by Herbart, Spencer, Froebel, or Rousseau and their American campfollowers might be rejected or reformulated defensibly. McMurry's

belief that a study of classic writers on

education and the history of education in other countries were more valuable to educators in shaping the school's program was somewhat comparable to his belief that "the history, literature,

and other culture products of the past supply

the materials of instruction."

5

Just as the past provides

"the great inspiring ideals of political,

social and religious

5 Ibid.

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237

life"

and provides the materials of instructxon,

same was the case in McMurry's

the

opinion with respect to the

educator's task of shaping the common school's program. The study of the past (i.e.,

educational history in other

countries and the classic writers on education) was to pro­ vide the greatest insights for the task of shaping the school's program.

In McMurry's

judgment,

scientific child-study was

of little value here despite their claims. claim,

To repeat his

a whole "school" of child-study workers could not

provide the "variety

and depth" of insight which a

study could possibly

provide.

historical

William T. Harris

In 1897, William T. Harris was given an opportunity to state his pedagogical creed in the School Journal as Earl Barnes,

John

section of his creed

Dewey,

and others did earlier

7

just

in the year. One

was entitled "The Field of Child-Study."

It was in this section of his creed that Harris issued his complaints against the child-study work among educators in this country.

During the two years which elapsed between

M c M u r r y 's

discussion before the N.E.A.

of Harris'

pedagogical creed,

Movement continued to appear.

and the publication

criticisms of the Child-Study As a rule,

these criticisms

6Ibid.

7 William T. Harris, "My Pedagogical Creed," The School Journal.LIV:26 (June 26, 1897), pp. 813-815.

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238

were often quite brief.

For example, Nicholas Murray B u t l e r ’s

editorial for the November,

1896,

issue of Educational Review 0 contained his critical remarks about the Movement. B u t l e r ’s editorial remarks were quite brief and uninvolved in compari­ son to those complaints issued by McMurry

and by Harris.

Butler expressed his dismay that the N.E.A. had received child-study with open arms and had given it a prominent place by forming a child-study division especially since at that time "the ideas of its leading representatives were 9 extremely vague and uninformed." The situation, M cMurry added,

had not changed by 1896.

Their ideas were still in

his opinion "extremely vague and u n i f o r m e d ."1(1 ideas were vague and uninformed,

As to what

Butler did not state.

He

did state that their modes of research were most u ns ati s­ factory.

The questionnaires, he said, were "silly."

The

raking together of alleged facts was according to Butler not "research."

The so-called facts were very doubtful

since they were supplied "by persons of little scientific training."

The result in his opinion was that the child-study

work being promoted among educators was "not worth dignifying with the name of c h i l d - s t u d y ."11

As to what kind of inquiry

0

Nicholas Mur ray Butler, "Editorial," Educational Review . XII (November, 1896), pp. 412-413. ^I b i d . , p. 412. i O -I rv b-i^d .

11 I b i d . , pp.

412-413.

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239

would be worthy of the name child-study, Butler did not state. Unlike Butler, Harris through his pedagogical creed informed his readers as to what he thought child-study people ought to be doing in order to improve the child-study work in this country.

Harris'

comments were not directed

at the Movement's methods of inguiry nor at the Movement's claim that scientific study of the child's nature was to be more valuable to shaping the curriculum of the school than other studies.

His criticism was directed at the failure

of the Movement's workers to direct their attention to the central problem. The kind of child-study which Harris thought ought to be pursued by educators was the study of arrested mental development among children in the schools.

Harris stated

that "a thorough investigation of the question of arrested development"

12

was the thing which he had hoped for in the

past and was still hoping for when he prepared the statement of his pedagogical creed.

"To the schools," Harris wrote,

"is due very much arrested development."

13

If child-study

were to pursue a study of arrested mental development in school children, Harris thought that educators might be able to explain "why certain children stop growing at various 12

Harris,

"My Pedagogical Creed,"

p. 815.

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240

points in different studies and require patient and perse­ vering effort on the part of teachers to help them over their mental difficulties."

14

For answering this question,

Harris recommended that child-study people inquire into the effects of all "sort of training or method of instruction upon the further growth of the child."

15

For example, he

stated that educators should know whether or not the use of blocks,

objects and other things "advance the child or retard

him in his ability to master the higher branches of mathematics."

X6

Another example was whether or not "great thorough­

ness in arithmetical instruction" effects the student's understanding of "motives and actions in history." Apparently by thoroughness,

17

Harris had in mind the number of

lessons.

It was at this point that Harris gave an illustrative

question:

did one lesson a day or two a day in arithmetic

make a difference on the child's understanding of motives and actions in history.

At this point, Harris sounded much

closer to the struggling kind of inquiry which Joseph Mayer Rice was attempting to promote in the 1 8 9 0 's than to the Child-Study Movement.

Joseph Rice, whose work was greeted

with considerable criticism,

indicated through his study

on the teaching of spelling that he was interested in the 14T, . , Ibid. Ibid. Ibid.

17

Ibid.

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241

effects of teaching upon the child's mastery of spelling; however, Rice did not study the effects of teaching spelling upon the child's other work. Concerning his proposed line of inquiry, Harris was of the opinion that little could be expected from the childstudy enthusiasts in this country since so many of these people did notknow "the alphabet of rational psychology."

18

By rational psychology, Harris had in mind three kinds of thinking or stages of thinking. perception.

At this stage,

The first was that of sense

according to Harris,

is thought to be independent of other objects.

each object The second

stage or type of thinking is where all things are thought to depend upon each other and nothing is independent. third and final stage, wrote Harris,

The

is where the individual

"arrives at the insight that true being is self-active or self-determined."

19

The task of the school, Harris'

creed

stated, was to take the child safely through each of these stages.

The task of child-study was to find out what aspects

of the school's program caused many children to become arrested at either the first or second stage. Indeed,

the Child-Study Movement was not focussing

upon the concern which Harris thought was most valuable for American ed u c a t i o n . . The Movement began with the study of hundreds of children first in order to ascertain what was

~^Ibid. , p. 814.

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242

the most common pattern of development among children with respect to their beliefs,

interests,

etc.

The findings

with respect to what was typical was taken as the norm for education.

The particular aspects of the school which did

not conform to that norm,

the c h i l d ’s pattern of development,

were judged as unsound educational practices, rents to the child's development.

i.e., deter­

Practices which followed

that pattern of development were not judged as unsound prac­ tices in the schools.

The Child-Study spokesmen as well as

Harris regarded the school as a cause of arrested mental development in children.

The child-study spokesmen, however,

were not going on to inquire into the actual effects upon the child's development which accrue from those things not conforming to the child's nature.

This was thought unneces­

sary since Nature's way as found in the child's own order was thought much better than what men could devise and since the norm was thought to be sufficiently definite.

Their

line of inquiry was thought to eliminate the necessity of finding out whether or not certain aspects of the schools actually had the effects of preventing the child's future development. Unlike the wa y in which Child-Study workers were proceeding, Harris bagan with an already prepared conception of what the child's psychological development ought to be. Harris then proceeded to assign to child-study investigators among educators a study of the child which focussed upon

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243

identifying what aspects of the school caused the develop­ ment of some children to become arrested.

Not only were the

child-study officials possibly moving towards radically different conceptions of the c h i l d ’s nature from Harris' conception but also the officials were not prepared to assume that the child's psychological development was established beyond all questions.

Throughout the 1890's, the child-

study spokesmen were informing the public that the child's psychological nature was something not known but was in the process of becoming known.

For this,

and possibly other

reasons the Movement was not prepared to pursue H a r r i s ' study of arrested mental development as produced by the school's educational practices.

Harris'

position about the

kind of child-study which he thought ought to be pursued was restated upon later occasions.

20

When Dewey reviewed

H a r r i s ' Psychologic Foundations of E d u c a t i o n , Dewey criti­ cized Harris for suggesting that child-study among educators should be turned into a study of arrested development - the study of "the negative and pathological sides" of the child's mental d e v e l o p m e n t . ^ In 1900, Harris indicated another point of difference present between himself and the members of the Child-Study

20

See William T. Harris, Psychologic Foundations of E d u c a t i o n , (New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1898), pp. 143144; William T. Harris, "The Study of Arrested Development in Children as Produced by Injudicious School Methods," Education, X X :8 (April, 1900), pp. 453-466. 21 John Dewey, "Harris's Psychologic Foundations of Education," Educational R e v i e w , XVI (June, 1898), p. 5.

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244

Movement. Harris*

This difference was quite possibly implicit in

creed.

For education, Harris stated that the b e g i n ­

ning point was not the child.

Harris believed that one

begins first with "finding the great branches of human learning." m

"We do not begin,

our school education."

human learning,

22

therefore, with child-study After finding the branches of

one'turned to the study of those things which

serve to advance or retard the student's mastery of these great branches of learning.

His opposition was directed

at the study of the child first and the attempt to shape the school's program upon the child's nature and needs for each stage without having first determined what the great branches of learning

("ideal of civilization")

are and

without having determined the effects of certain factors upon the mastery of those branches. difference,

In indicating this

Harris was suggesting his rejection of the

Movement's emphasis upon naturism.

John Dewey

In July of 189 7, the month following the appearance of Harris'

pedagogical creed, John Dewey spoke to the N.E.A.'s

Child-Study Division..

As suggested by the title,

"Criticisms:

Wise and Otherwise on Modern C h i l d -S tud y," Dewey's brief paper presented his evaluation of the criticism delivered 22

Harris,

"A Study of Arrested Development m

p. 466.

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Children,"

245

against the Child-Study Movement.

23

The point at which

Dewey thought criticisms were justified was the promise made by Child-Study spokesmen that the Movement through its work was to "afford f new,

certain positive [,] and

scientific basis for education replacing all the supposedly tentative and speculative foundations hitherto built upon."

24

This proclaiming of a transformation in the basis for America n education was in Dewey's opinion a "premature assertion"

25

and that criticism of the Movement's promise

was quite justified. According to Dewey, because the promised revolution did not come forth immediately,

many educators became indis­

criminate in their condemnation of the Child-Study Movement's work after having been indiscriminate in their extreme devotion "at the shrine of c h i l d - s t u d y ."

26

Dewey told the

gathering that considerable time was required for the appear­ ance of scientific results which would be valuable to the educator.

"It takes time," Dewey stated,

scientific method, retie conclusions."

collect and sift facts, 27

"to develop to derive theo-

It was not reasonable for educators

23

John Dewey, "Criticisms: Wise and Otherwise on Mod ern Child-Study," N . E . A . , 1897, pp. 867^868. 2 ^ I b i d . , p. 86 7. 2 5 Ibid. 26Ibid. 2 ^Ibid.

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246

to expect the Child-Study investigators to provide immedi­ ately "usable recipes, agogical emergencies."

ticketed and labeled for all ped28

In short, though criticism was

justified in the case of the promised revolution in American education,

according to Dewey,

criticism of the Movement

for failing to provide immediately usable results for the educator was not warranted. Dewey was of the opinion that some Child-Study investigations could possibly provide valuable knowledge for the educator.

Generalizations about the order of the child's

growth were valuable in determining "the whole scheme of education."

29

In addition,

Dewey told his audience that

knowledge of the child's development was valuable to the teacher for the task of understanding individual children's needs,

temperament,

etc.

While these were some of the possible contributions which could come from child-study, attending the N.E.A.

Dewey indicated to those

Child-Study Division's meetings that

these contributions in his opinion would not be forthcoming as long as child-study in this country continued to follow its present pattern of isolation from the "larger sciences." Child-study as viewed by Dewey was dependent up on certain sciences such as psychology and physiology.

It was from

28-.,, Ibid. 2 9 I b i d . , p. 8 6 8 .

30— . , Ibid.

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30

these sciences that a scientific study of the child could acquire valuable theories, hypotheses,

and other things

for guiding studies of the child's mental development. For child-study investigators among educators to disregard these larger sciences in their studies of the child and expect to acquire valuable conclusions, he said, was "quackery,

and the outcome confusion."

31

In Dewey's opinion,

scientific findings about the child's development was not to come from the mere gathering of facts indiscriminately without the aid of theories,

hypotheses,

etc.

To express

forcefully his criticism of child-study among educators, Dewey quoted the following remarks about child-study investigators which he attributed to William James: "'

... there is a fear of theory, of speculation, of

hypothesis which is as absurd as pure speculation divorced from fact.

The mere collection of facts, uncontrolled by

working hypothesis, unenlightened by generalization, made a science and never will.'"

32

never

Because their isolation

from the "larger sciences" as exhibited in their fact-gather­ ing without the aid of theory and hypothesis,

Dewey did not

think that child-study could provide the above contributions. In this paper before the child-study gathering, Dewey was indicating his awareness of a belief among childstudy workers.

This belief among child-study workers was

32

An examination of several works by William James did not reveal any published work in which James wrote this statement attributed to him b y Dewey.

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248

that scientific knowledge of the child's mental development could be had by following the inductive or "Baconian" view of science.

After citing examples in other sciences

such as Darwin's work,

child-study leaders had told teachers

and parents along with superintendents that a science of the child's mind would emerge automatically from a gathering of all the facts or observations about the child's mind.

With

respect to gathering the facts, Child-Study workers told teachers that it was not necessary for a person to have studied psychology of the adult mind nor to have studied physiology.

Theories and hypotheses were not judged as

necessary for deciding what is a fact and what is not, for differentiating such things as fears, ideas, etc., fact,etc.

interests,

for differentiating relevant fact,

instincts, irrelevant

All that was necessary for a scientific study of

the child's mind was to begin observing children and gather­ ing vast masses of the reported observations for collation on the basis of age and sex.

For Dewey,

this was not science

and would never become science in this manner.

The issue

at this point which Dewey had with the Child-Study M o v e ­ ment among educators was with the belief that the Baconian approach to child-study would make child-study scientific and in turn provide the educator with scientific knowledge. 33

33

Dewey's position with respect to the Child-Study Movement's work was reiterated upon at least one later occasion. See John Dewey, "Introduction," The Psychology of Child Develop­ ment by Irving King, Chicago:The University of Chicago Press, 1903, pp. xi-xx. It is here once again that Dewey expressed his concern for the lack of theory in child-study investiga­ tions in order that the data-gathering and data-gathered might have meaning. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.

249

Hugo Munsterberg

Hugo Munster ber g was indeed a prominent critic of the Child-Study Movement in American education.

His criticisms

created the greatest reaction among leaders of the Movement as judged by their published rebuttals;

however,

his promi­

nence existed prior to his attacks on the ideas which were basic to the Child-Study Movement.

William James invited

this German-born student of Wundt to come to Harvard Univ er­ sity.

While at Harvard, Munsterberg achieved prominence as

an authority on modern psychology.

His laboratory work won

for him great respect among experimental psychologists in this country.

And so when he turned to criticize the so-

called psychological studies of the child among educators, he carried with him a well-known and highly respected name. From time to time, numerous persons approving his attacks reminded their readers that this was a man who was b y no means an amateur but an authority in the field of modern psychology. Munsterberg attacked the Movement on several occasions during the 1890's and those criticisms appeared in well-known journals in this country.

A n early critical article was

published in the Journal of Education

(1895);

carried in the Atlantic Mont hl y for February,

a second was 1898;

in the Educational Review for September,

1898;

appeared in the Atlantic for May,

The titles

were quite suggestive; New Psychology,"

1900.

a third

and a fourth

respectively the titles were "The

"The Danger from Experimental Psychology,"

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250

"Psychology and Education," and lastly "School Reform. These articles appeared at a time when the Child-Study Movement's

leaders were most vigorous at presenting their

ideas about psychological studies of the child among educators and at presenting their ideas about the contribution of child-study to the reform of American schools. Of all his articles,

the article "Psychology and

Education," was the most direct statement of his criticisms of the Movement's emphasis on child-study in this country. Because of this,

the attention will be centered largely

upon that article

rather than the other articles.

M u n s t e r b e r g 's attack in this article was far more extensive in comparison to other articles which he wrote,

and this

article was far more extensive in comparison to articles by other critics.

The ba^ic issue which Munsterberg raised in

this article centered around the psychological character and scientific character of the work which the Child-Study Move­ ment was attempting to promote in this country among edu­ cators . Munsterberg as well as others was aware that the Movement had made as its basic quest knowledge of the child's mind.

In addition, he was aware that their quest for

"^Hugo Munsterberg, "The New Psychology," Journal of E d u c a t i o n , XLI:20 (May 16, 1895), pp. 332-333. Munsterberg, "The Danger From Experimental Psychology," The Atlantic Monthly LXXXI:484 (February, 1898), pp. 159-167. MOnsterberg, "Psychology and Education," Educational Rev i e w , XVI (September, 1898), pp. 105-132. Miins t e r b e r g , "School Reform," The Atlantic M o n t h l y , LXXXV:511 (May, 1900), pp. 656-669.

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251

knowledge of the child's psychological nature from one age to another was through particular means.

His claim was that

the studies which the Movement's leaders were doing and attempting to promote were not psychological studies. Because these were not psychological studies, his conclusion was of course that the results of their studies were not providing psychological knowledge of the child's mind as the Movement purported.

Munsterberg was prepared to and did

acknowledge that the Movement's workers were studying the mental life of the child in its work but he was not prepared to say that those people were engaging in psychological investigations of the child. This conclusion was derived in part from his concep­ tion of psychology.

Psychology was not a synonym for the

study of mental facts

(mental life).

As he put it,

"Psychol­

ogy is a study of mental facts, but not every study of mental facts is therefore psychology." "Psychology," he wrote, "considers the mental life as an object which must be analyzed and explained,

analyzed in elements and explained b y laws."

35

The basic presupposition of psychologists, he added, was that "the mental life is such an object and that those objects are combinations of elements controlled in their connection by causal laws."

36

Continuing,

"Psychology thus presupposes

for its purposes a most complicated transformation of the 35 .. Munsterberg, "Psychology and Education," Educational Review,XVI (September, 1898), p. 112.

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252

reality,

and any attitude toward the mental life which does

not need or choose this transformation may be anything else, but it is not psychology."

37

Once this presupposition is understood and firmly kept in mind, Munsterberg claimed that no longer could there be any doubt about most of the Child-Study Movement's investigations being outside the domain of psychology.

"We

cannot indeed doubt any longer that most of the so-called child psychology is partly history, ethics,

partly physiology,

not psychology."

38

partly economics and

partly nothing at all, but decidedly

He further

added an illustration.

He

selected what he regarded as one of the best investigations in the field:

"the extended statistical studies about the

stock of ideas which a child has when it enters the school." The study which he had in mind was Hall's study and those repetitions of Hall's study. study,

This was not a psychological

according to Miinsterberg, because "we do not learn

anything about the psychological structure and origin of an idea"

40

from this type of study.

Such work did not provide

insight into the workings of the child's mind.

Munsterberg

also cited the work in the Pedagogical Seminary as examples of supposedly psychological investigations which in his

37 I b i d . , p.

113.

38-,., . , Ibid. 39

Ibid.

40t, . , Ibid.

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39

253

opinion were not what they purported to be. cal work on teasing and bullying, dolls,

41

. The statisti­

love poems,

etc.,

••

according to Munsterberg, were not psychological studies even though they were studies of the mental

life of children.

No insights into the child's psychological nature came from such work since the mental life of the child was not "being analyzed and explained by laws." investigations,

42

To have b ee n psychological

those investigations required an additional

component - "the analytic study of its ceptions and associations, instincts and volitions,

[the child's] per­

its feelings and emotions,

its

its apperceptions and judgments to

be described and explained with regard to their elements , , ,,43 and laws." Continuing,

he warned teachers,

parents,

and others

about exaggerated hopes from the work being done by childstudy workers in American education.

"Even if the stuff is

reliable and truly psychological," he wrote,

"even then we

ought not to exaggerate our hopes for real information."

44

As long as no theory exists about the basic elements of mental

life and the laws of their connections,

the thousands

of statistical facts gathered by child-study people in edu­ cation were "dead masses" or "mere gossip without

4 1 I b i d . , p.

114.

4 2 I b i d . , p.

112.

4 3 I b i d . , p.

114.

44

Ibid., p. 116.

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254

psychological interests."

’5

This for him was cause for ex­

pecting little in the way of real information from these studies.

Facts and facts would not yield a theory for giving

those facts meaning.

Continuing,

if the theory is known,

then "the material teaches us no more for the psychology of thought and reasoning."

46

Munsterberg stated,

"It will

be an exceptional case that a new insight into a law can be reached through this chance way;

physics has certainly,

spite of Bacon's recommendation,

never reached anything

in this way."

47

in

From this gathering of facts about the

child's mental life, Munsterberg told his readers that the most to be had was more and more illustrations and psy­ chological commonplaces about the known theory.

The develop­

ment of new insights into the psychological nature of the child and thus the refinement of the theory depended, ing to Munsterberg,

on trained persons,

accord­

people who possessed

"associations and theories" to guide their finding and per­ ceiving of important facts for insight.

He criticized the

leaders for claiming that "the guileless teacher may collect the facts of the young souls like the wanderer who brings plants and stones home which the naturalist will use later as material.

No, psychological material cannot be put in

4 5 Ibid. 46Ibid. 4 7 Ibid.

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255

the pocket like a stone."

48

Thus, he thought that the

discovery of the unknown c h i l d ’s psychological nature which the child-study people expected and promised its supporters was an exaggerated hope. Mu n s t e r b e r g 's criticism did not stop here. Munsterberg in his article "School Reform" attacked the idea that the true reform of American schools would be forthcoming once the teachers acquired knowledge of the child's psychological nature.

He noted that at educational

gatherings people were presenting the claim that the b ook ­ ishness,

drudgery,

apathy,

etc. were due to the teacher's

lack of knowledge about the child's mental life,

i.e.,

the

true workings of the child's mind from one age to another.

49

Munsterberg also noted that these educators were pressing normal schools, universities, to improve the teachers' edge of the child's mind. come,

and teacher organizations

preparation with respect to k nowl­ Of course,

the anticipated out­

as Munsterberg observed, was to be that teachers

would automatically become better teachers. ments about course material,

methods,

etc.,

Their judg­ it was thought,

would become more exact and interesting to the pupils. Munsterberg informed his readers that this idea of im­ proving American education through normal schools and universities along with t e a c h e r s ' organizations engaging

4q L X X X V :511

Munsterberg, "School Reform," The Atlantic M o n t h l y , (May, 1900), pp. 656-666.

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256

in child-study and disseminating their results among teachers was a pseudo-reform.

50

To him,

the great danger m

all this

was that the idea of reform through child-study was misleading to the p u b l i c .^1

In his opinion,

for American education.

this was not the panacea

He also told his readers

that the

educators supporting the elective system was also supporting a pseudo-reform.

The proposals of child-study along with

other typical proposals such as the elective system idea, etc.

caused Americans to overlook the true source of reform.

The true source of reform, he said, came from improving the preparation of teachers in the subject-matter which they taught.

52

. . It was his opinion that the drudgery in the schools

and the effective teaching would come to an end in all prob­ ability once we placed persons in the capacity of the teacher who were experts and enthusiastic about their subject-matter. As evidence for this claim,

he cited the German schools in

which he was educated. His reasons were quite involved for rejecting the idea that reform would come once teachers and the teacher of teachers acquired psychological knowledge of the child's mental life.

One reason was the present state of psy-

chological knowledge and its future development. as Munsterberg was concerned,

53

As far

the knowledge now possessed

5 0 I b i d . , p. 667. 5 1 Ibid.

^ I b i d . , p. 666— 667. 53

Munsterberg, "The New Psychology, cation , XLI:20 (May 16, 1895), p. 333.

Journal of Edu ­

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257

was so incomplete and likely to remain so for many years. Thus,

to him it was unreasonable to expect reform in the

schools to come from inducting teachers and superintendents into the so-called psychological knowledge which was avail­ able. A second reason for -rejecting the claim of school reform via acquiring and disseminating knowledge of the child's mind was what he regarded as a basic difference b e ­ tween the psychologist's approach to the child and the teacher's approach.

The latter's approach was that of a

person who was involved in the concrete world, values,

free-willing individuals,

etc.

a world of

Here the teacher

was shaping individuals and this was the world of the artist, the one who attempts to treat the real world or some part of the real world as a whole.

On the other hand,

the psy­

chologist's approach and knowledge was basically that of a person viewing a subject to be analyzed or decomposed into its basic elements and laws.

Because of the difference

between the two approaches to the child,

the results of psy­

chological inquiries into the child could not be translated directly into prescriptions for the reform of the teacher's work.

54

Much intervening work was necessary,

he stated,

work which involved integrating systematically the psychological findings with teleological concerns.

^Munsterberg,

55

"Psychology and Education," pp.

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127-128.

258

A third reason for rejecting the idea that disseminat­ ing among teachers psychological knowledge of the child would yield reform was that teaching for him was an art and not a science.

The improvement of that art depended on other

things than the possession of the psychologists' about the child.

findings

In fact, Munsterberg stated that the pos­

session of the psychologists' knowledge about the child was likely to be harmful to the work of a good teacher, artist.

i.e.,

The knowledge and approach of the psychologist if

adopted by the teacher would do more harm than good.

It

was his opinion that the teacher's natural instincts of love, tact,

sympathy,

etc.

for the child,

supposedly so necessary

for the art of teaching, would be inhibited by the psychological approach and study of the child.

56

For this reason, he

viewed with alarm what he called the great rush to psychology on the part of educators in normal schools, zations,

and universities.

teacher organi­

This was also his alarm with the

Child-Study Movement's great quest to get educators of all levels to either study the child's psychological nature or to absorb the knowledge of those who had studied the child's mental nature scientifically. In so far as Munsterberg did not think that psy­ chological investigations of the child on the part of

"^Munsterberg, "The New Psychology," p. 333; Munsterberg, "The Danger From Experimental Psychology," Munsterberg, "Psychology and Education," pp. 125-126.

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p. 165;

259

educators would yield direct reform of American schools and also thought that such investigations and their results might do more harm on the part of the teachers who were practioners of the art, Munsterberg was in fundamental dis­ agreement with the leaders of the Child-Study Movement. Munsterberg did not agree with those child-study enthusiasts who promised that through child-study teaching in this country would be reformed and emerge as a science. Munsterberg was an art,

and most important for the improve­

ment of that art were the instincts of tact, patience, mind,

etc.

Teaching for

sympathy,

love,

Scientific investigations into the child's

according to Munsterberg,

in that art nor could

it

did not generate improvement

make the art of teaching more

scientific.

William James

M u n s t e r b e r g 's colleague, William James, was also a critic of the child-study enthusiasts among educators in this country.

James'

criticism appearing in his Talks To Teachers

and Students in 1899 had a different emphasis from the criticism delivered by Munsterberg.

James attacked the

vigorous promoters of child-study for enlarging the teachers' burden.

What was this enlargement of the teachers'

It was, according to James,

burden?

the idea that teachers could

and should become contributors to psychological investigators

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of the child.

James was quite aware that the Child-Study

Movement's leaders and supporters were exerting considerable pressure upon teachers for data.

It was James'

opinion that

the teachers were a lr ead y overburdened in this country. "Every one who adds a jot or tittle of unnecessary weight to thexr burden is a foe of education," so wrote James. thus to James,

57

And

these child-study enthusiasts pressing the

teachers to accept child-study work as part of their, responsibility for becoming good teachers as well as profes­ sional teachers were a foe of education. sake,

for Heaven's

let the rank and file of teachers be passive readers,"

stated James,

"if they so prefer and feel free not to

contribute to the accumulation." said,

"But,

58

To the teachers James

"Least of all need you, merely as_ t e a c h e r s , deem it

part of your duty to become contributors to psychological science or to make psychological observation in a methodical or responsible manner."

59

James was of the opinion that child-study leaders had produced in many teachers a "bad conscience" for failing to make contributions to psychological researches into the c h i l d .88

Many teachers,

according to James, did not do

child-study work because the teachers did not possess

the

57 . William James, Talks To Teachers and S t u d e n t s , New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1900, pp. 13-14. 58 I b i d . , p.

59

13.

I b i d . , p. 12.

8 8 I b i d . , p . 14.

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261

interest or the training.

Because of this, ma ny teachers

were inclined to think badly of themselves and their work as teachers.

This in turn, wrote James,

weight of their other burdens.

increased the

As a consequence,

James

stated that he was pleased to make any remarks which might dispel any bad consciences if any of his readers possessed a bad conscience about their lack of interest or inability to contribute to child-study. It must not be thought that James was opposed entirely to teachers doing child-study work.

James was never attacking

those teachers "who take a spontaneous delight" in filling syllabuses,

inscribing observations,

and computing the per cent." delight in the work,

&2

compiling statistics,

For those finding spontaneous

James thought that the work would

"enrich their lives," even though the work when treated statistically value."

63

"would seem on the whole to have but trifling

James'

attack was directed at the wholesale

assault upon teachers for data from child-study enthusiasts in this country.

Child-Study leaders such as Barnes, Hall,

Scripture, Williams,

Chrisman,

and many others had urged

that teachers contribute their data.

These same people along

with many other figures in the Child-Study Movement told teachers that the improvement of their profession and their 6 1 Ibid. 6 2 I b i d . , p.

12.

6 3 Ibid.

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262

work as teachers depended on their contributing researches and observations.

This kind of pressure upon the teachers

to become contributors of psychological investigations on the child or their observations was the very thing which James was attacking.

For teachers to refuse such appeals

for contributions on the child was like refusing to become a contributor to the improvement of American education. Therein arose bad consciences among those many teachers lacking the interest and training for such work,

so thought

William James.

Edward L. Thorndike

While other critics presented their views of the Child-Study Movement in the 1890's , Edward L. Thorndike's views came primarily during the first five years of the new century.

Thorndike was undoubtedly one of the most prominent

critics of the Movement during the first years of the 20th century.

Thorndike,

a former student of William James and

James Cattell, presented a judgment of the Movement while professor at Teachers College, Columbia University.

His

first critical remarks were published in his Notes on C h ild -St ud y, a book containing lecture notes to his students at Columbia University.

64

64

Through its publication in 1901

Edward L. Thorndike, "Notes Columbia University Contributions to and E d u c a t i o n , VIII:3^4 (June, 190lT7" Thorndike, Notes on Ch i l d - S t u d y , New 1903, second edition.

on C h i l d - S t u d y ," P h i l o s o p h y , Psychology, PP* 5-157; Edward L. York: The Macmillan Co.,

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263

and the revised edition in 1903, Thorndike indicated that he had little regard for the work called child-study.

In

so doing, Thorndike indicated to his readers that he was disassociating himself from what was identified as childstudy in the 1890's and early years of the 1900's.

The Notes

gave the reader an explicit idea as to what Thorndike thought was important for educators to be studying if reform of the schools were to occur and if education

(schooling) were to

become a science. The "Preface"

to his first and second editions referred

to the materials for teaching child-study courses

to teachers

as most unsatisfactory.

so

The materials available,

Thorndike asserted, were "either limited in their scope or quite u n s a t i s f a c t o r y . " ^

Successive chapters informed the

reader as to what Thorndike had in mind by these remarks. His second chapter,

"Limitations of C h i l d - S t u d y ," was direct

and explicit. Thorndike criticized the quality of the statements found in child-study researches among educators.

The lack

of quantitative work in the studies made the statements of c /r

results in the studies most unsatisfactory.

The state­

ments made by child-study w o r k e r s ,-according to Thorndike, were imprecise and untrustworthy.

Because this was the case,

the conclusions in the child-studies were of little value to

55 Thorndike, "Notes on C hi ld- St udy ," Columbia University Contributions to Philosophy, Psychology, and Education, V I I I : 3-4 ------------------------(June, 1901); p 7 T. -------6 6 I b i d . , p.

19.

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264

the educators.

To improve the situation,

Thorndike urged

that the investigators give "the numerical probabilities in any statement of _is_ or ijs not g e n e r a l l y , is more or is_ l e s s , etc. etc."

67

The quality of the conclusions

(their p r e ­

ciseness and their value to the educator) were to be greatly improved if the extent of variation from the average were stated by the i n v e s tig ato rs .88

To this, Thorndike added the

plea that their statements be based upon representative data.

69 '

The representativeness,

the numerical probabilities,

and the variations from the average were matters which the Movement's workers were not considering.

Because of the

"lamentable fact that the literature of child-study is almost bare of statements thus carefully made," Thorndike stated much to his dismay that "this book Ethe N o t e s ] will have to be largely bare of them."

70

coming from Barnes, Hall,

As a consequence,

Scripture,

the appeals

O'Shea, Monroe,

and

others for the duplication of their studies were of d oub t­ ful value as far as Thorndike was concerned.

In their appeals

to teachers to follow their questionnaires or laboratory tests,

the teacher's attention was not being directed toward

these matters such as stating numerical probabilities, attending to representativeness of the data,

6 7 I b i d . , pp.

and stating

19-20.

5 8 I b i d . , p. 2 0 .

Ibid. 70T, Ibid.

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265

variations from the average. in their appeals,

Not only were these missing

those matters were also missing in their

work. These critical remarks and others found their way into his Educational P s y c h o l o g y , published in 1903,

the

same year that the second edition of his Notes on Child-Study appeared.

In his Educational P s y c h o l o g y , Thorndike was some­

what more direct.

This time, Thorndike cited examples for

the reader and suggested that the reader examine these. The ch il d- s t u d i e s , he charged,

"start with a list of general

topics for study rather than with definite questions to be solved.

Their material", he added,

tion not direct observation,

"is almost without excep­

but either the answers written

in reply to a printed list of questions or the papers written by school children as a school excerise in response to 71 some question or suggestion." Thorndike reported to his readers that the studies of children's interests, opinions, ideals,

instincts,

fears, etc., were purported to be

important to the field of educational science.

At this point,

he indicated considerable reservation about such a claim. ■One reason for not making such a claim was that the studies were not scientifically pursued.

As to whether or not

scientific means could be devised for studying the child's fears,

instincts,

ideals,

etc., Thorndike had no doubt that

71

Edward L- Thorndike, Educational P s y c h ol ogy . (New York: Lemcke and Buechner" 1903) , p T 152.

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266

scientific investigations of these matters were possible. Now with respect to their immense importance for making edu­ cation a science in this country, Thorndike would not say.

once pursued scientifically,

The claim that a scientific investi­

gation of the child's psychological nature feelings,

(his interests,

ideals, etc.) would transform American education

was not Thorndike's claim.

To the question "what profit will

accrue to educational science from stich investigations?," Thorndike wrote,

"we can not tell until the investigations

have been made and can not tell fully until the complete course of science and life has been run." Thorndike,

72

in effect, was telling his readers that

with respect to their goal,

child-study leaders and organ-

izations were not realizing their "laudable goal" making education a science.

73

of

Their methods of inquiry were

not capable of providing reliable findings.

Since their

studies still remain to be done by improved methods,

their

claim about the great value for educational science of such inquiries into the child's feelings, beliefs, quite premature, be premature,

according to Thorndike.

etc. was indeed

Though their claims

Thorndike did indicate that the study of these

aspects of the child's nature should be pursued in order that we might find out what the importance of such a study is toward making education a science.

72 I b i d . , p.

156.

73 I b i d . , p.

162.

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267

Thorndike indicated less directly another point wherein he differed with the Child-Study Movement among educators.

Thorndike was not prepared to ignore the study

of the effects of teaching upon the child.

Thorndike was

definitely of the opinion that one line of inquiry was extremely important in terms of making education a science m

this country.

74

This line of inquiry was in the

scientific study of teaching.

The scientific study of teach­

ing was according to Thorndike the scientific study of the effects of teaching.

As examples of the people who were

doing this kind of work, and 0. P. Cornman. scales,

Thorndike cited Joseph Mayer Rice

Through his own penmanship scales and other

Thorndike illustrated his claim that the scientific

study of teaching,

to use his phrase, was extremely important

for making American education a science.

This was a matter

which the Child-Study Movement's leaders were ignoring.

The

work which they outlined for themselves was the study of the child's nature rather than the study of the effects of teaching upon the child's mastery of certain studies.

The

child-study spokesmen were suggesting that their studies would transform American education into a science. Thorndike 74

Ibid., p. 141. On this page of his Educational P s y c h o l o g y , Thorndike wrote: "It is a common habit of pse ud o­ scientific writers about education to decry one thing or another in school practice on the ground that it causes arrested development. Such speculations lack any adequate basis of fact. We do not know whether any school methods can, much less whether they do cause special or general arrest of mental growth." See also Thorndike's E d u c a t i o n : A First Book (New York: The Macmillan Company, 19121 and The Principles of T e a c h i n g ,(New York: A. G. Seiler, 1906).

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268

was of the opinion that other studies were quite important in making education a science.

Summary

The Child-Study Movement, chapter,

as pointed out in this

incurred criticism from a number of prominent persons.

The individuals issuing their criticism of the Movement directed their attention toward those particular ideas in the M ov e­ m e n t ’s ideological perspective which they regarded as ex­ tremely unacceptable. opinions,

And as these critics presented their

they indicated wherein the Movement differed from

their own view.

In one form or another,

the Movement's

belief that their psychological studies of the child could transform American schooling into a science was an important point of contention which the critics had with the Move­ ment.

Many were not prepared to agree with this Movement's

major claim often for one or more reasons:

(1) the Move­

ment's view of scientific child-study was too Baconian, (2 ) teaching is an art rather than a science and as such is dependent upon other factors for its improvement than scientific knowledge of the child's mind,

(3) the claim itself

is without any evidence and thus premature,

(4) the purport­

edly psychological studies are not psychological studies of the child,

(5;

trio 'tudy of educational history provides

greater insights than a scientific study of the child for

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269

shaping the school's program,

(6 ) a scientific study of the

effects of teaching upon the student's mastery of certain things must be made rather than ignored if education is to become a science,

(7) the sources and methods for gathering

the facts are too inadequate for forming conclusions which are reliable and precise. Other points of contention arose.

Contention arose

over the desirability of the teachers being encouraged to become contributors.

Another point of contention was

evidenced over what ought to be the central focus for the field of child-study.

An example was Harris's appeal for rhe

focus upon the study of the school's effect upon advancing or retarding the child's "normal" mental development.

The

child's nature as norm was also a point which did not go unnoticed.

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CHAPTER VIII THE CHILD-STUDY MOVEMENT'S PASSING AS AN ORGANIZED MOVEMENT PROM THE EDUCATIONAL SCENE 1901-1910 What effects these critics had upon the Movement's organizations would be an exceedingly difficult question for which to provide a defensible response when taking into account the resources available. nite:

One matter is rather defi­

simultaneously with Thorndike's criticisms and im­

mediately following his attacks,

the Child-Study Movement

was undergoing changes which by the end of the first decade in the new century meant the passage of the Child-Study Movement as arT organized movement from the American edu­ cational scene.

This chapter will set forth those changes

between 1900 and 1910, which indicated that the Movement as an organized movement, had passed from the educational scene by 1910.

The chapter,

it is hoped, will provide some idea as

to the chronological limits of the Movement as an organ­ ized Movement.

In addition,

some of those changes should

further delineate the Movement's major ideas with respect to child-study in education.

The Waning Prominence of State Child-Study Societies During the first five years of the new century, child-study workers on the state and local levels began

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271

evidencing very public signs of difficulty.

Child-Study

publications which were formed in the preceding decade became extinct.

Others were attempted and likewise vanished

during the early years of the new century.

In the various

professional journals reports were heard that the organ­ izations were passing from the scene. At the summer meeting of the National Education Assoc i­ ation's Child-Study Division,

Frederick E. Bolton,

a prominent

figure in child-study groups, was the opening speaker. Bolton directed the attention of his audience to the situa­ tion at child-study gatherings.

Concerning the enthusiasm

witnessed in the ^,890's, Bolton stated immediately that "at the present time child-study enthusiasm ... is mani­ festly on the decline."'*'

As illustrations of his claim,

he pointed out that "at the state associations it is diffi­ cult to, secure an audience, ished m

number."

2

and local societies h a v e -dim-in-

Because of this lack of enthusiasm for

child-study as evidenced by the lack of attendance at gatherings,

the audience was told by Bolton that the

child-study societies

"have ceased to flourish and now con3 tinue only a devitalized existence. ... " Furthermore, the

number of investigators, he stated, were steadily declining.

"''Frederick E. Bolton, "New Lines of Attack in Child-Study," N . E . A ., 1902, p. 703. 2I b i d . 3 Ibid.

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272

This growing situation on the local and state level a situation of languishing societies and fewer investigators for data-gathering - was in his opinion most unfortunate and thus required action.

In the hope of improving the

situation, Bolton made a number of recommendations for child-study groups among educators.

His basic recommenda­

tion was for a new child-study for these organizations. Rather than suggesting that these groups continue to place the greatest emphasis upon making contributions to the sci­ entific study of the c h i l d ’s nature, Bolton's recommenda­ tion as a new approach was for child-study people to direct more and more attention to "the most pressing problems for child-study." study?

4

What were these pressing problems for child-

They were about securing "better child-labor laws,

the establishment of juvenile courts, offenders from confirmed criminals, laws in every state, dren per teacher,

segregation of juvenile

compulsory education

the execution of such laws,

...

According to Bolton,

fewer chil­

it was the

failure of child-study groups to provide results for these matters and others named which caused the child-study associ­ ations'

growing loss of appeal. Whether or not his analysis of the cause was sound

is open to question;

^I b i d . , p.

however,

there is no doubt that Bolton

710.

“’ibid.

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273

himself thought a change in the organizational support of child-study in this country was occurring.

His recommenda­

tions for attention to the more pressing and practical problems was an effort to stem the tide and change toward little or no support. Bolton's observation about the

waning enthusiasm

was not the last such observation to be heard nor the first. His observation was, however,

one of the first prominent

statements to be heard before the N.E.A.'s Child-Study Division.

Reports in journals not directly affiliated with

any child-study association carried similar reports of diminishing support and enthusiasm.

The School Journal

carried an editorial about child-study, Child-S tu dy."

6

"The Passing of

The editorial observed that the organizations

and the type of studies which were promoted by the organiza­ tions w e r e •definitely on the decline. added that "These

'child-study'

The editorialist

people will be missed;

their little crotchets, while they we:e fresh and novel, contributed to the interest and later to the amusement of the discerning."

"In the main," continued the editorialist,

"they were sweet-tempered souls who took themselves seriously ... optimists all, viewing the world as it is to be thru rose-colored spectacles."

7

The readers were told that they

g

"The Passing of C hild-Study," The School Journal, L X I I I :23 (December 21, 1901), pp. 664-665. 7 Ibid.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.

2 74

could expect these child-study people, nomenclature,

their organization,

and typical programs to persist for a few years

before becoming fully defunct. The Educator-Journal told g its readers much the same. The Movement's organizations in the various states were passing.

Strong reactions against

the Movement's work was in evidence. Aley,

As a result,

Robert J.

the editorialist for The Educator-J o u r n a l , claimed

that the Movement's organizations and their work no longer held "the center of the stage"

9

on the American educational

scene. As reports in editorials and other parts of journals asserted that the child-study organizations and their work were on the decline,

fewer and fewer reports about child-

study organizations in the various states were to be found in the journals.

During the 1890's,

journals such as

The Journal of E d u c a t i o n , The School J o u r n a l , The EducatorJournal , and many other journals devoted numerous pages to reporting on child-study organizations and their work. the advent of the new century this began to change.

With

By 1905,

journals such as these were no longer publicizing the efforts of the organizations.

Following 1905,

the reports of child-

study associations in the various professional journals were a rare thing.

Indeed,

they no longer attracted the attention

of the journals as had once been the case.

^Robert J. Aley, "Child-Study Results," The EducatorJournal ,IV:11 (July, 1904), p. 504.

q

'Ibid.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.

2 75

As suggested by these reports,

the organizations and

their publications did exhibit signs of being on the decline in support and enthusiasm. Society for Child-Study.

A salient example was the Illinois Beginning in 1900, the Illinois

Society displayed signs that their work was entering difficult times.

This situation was serious for the Movement

since the Illinois Society had been the strongest in the Midwestern area incorporating Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota,

and Iowa.

In November,

1900,

the Society proceeded

to publish its trans-actions through its journal, The ChildStudy M o n t h l y .

The Society's transactions being quite

extensive in the 1 8 9 0 's had constituted a separate serial publication, but beginning in 1900 the Transactions of the Illinois Society for Child-Study merged with the other serial. This decision was one of several measures to alleviate the Society's growing financial burdens.

This society which

had an active membership which exceeded, according to the Society's reports, 1600 in 1897 had declined so greatly that the organization could not sustain two serials.

Recom­

mendations repeatedly appeared calling for efforts to attract former child-study enthusiasts back to active membership in order to improve the Society's situation. In the hope of continuing their work, were taken in February,

1901.

additional steps

This time the measure involved

the merger of The C h i l d -Study Monthly with the Journal of A d o l e s c e n c e , a newly formed journal.

The resulting journal,

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.

The Child-Study Monthly and Journal of Adolescence under the editorship of Albert H. Yoder, months.

lasted only a few

The last issue appeared in May of 1902.

emerged the Review of Education with its firs^. coming in June,

1901,

practical purposes,

From this umber

and the last in May of 1902.

For all

the Review of Education bore no similarity

to the Child-Study M o n t h l y .

In both content and purpose,

the journal was a review of reviews of education.

The Review

of E d u c a t i o n , Unlike the earlier journals, was not devoted to a scientific study of the child during childhood and adolescence for educators nor was it a reporter of the activities of any child-study work or societies, the Illinois Society.

including

For all practical purposes,

the

Illinois Society's serials for promoting child-study came to an end with the appearance of the first issue of the Review in June,

1901.

Besides the events surrounding the Illinois Society, there were other conspicuous or salient examples of childstudy societies incurring difficulties.

Events such as

these surrounding the Illinois Society and those of other societies were in all likelihood among the particular signs which Bolton, Aley,

and other writers had in mind when they

referred to the diminishing enthusiasm and support for childstudy organizations and work in the various states.

If

these were not among the events which they had in mind,

those

events surrounding Illinois Society's serials and membership

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.

277

as well as the same for other organizations would certainly provide support for their claims.

The Pedagogical Seminary and the N.E.A. Child-Study Division: Purveyors of New Emphases

Though there were increasing signs during the first five years of the new century that the child-study associations were no longer commanding the prominence which they had in the 1 8 9 0 's, child-study work for education as outlined by Hall, Barnes,

and others in the 1890's had by no means passed

from the scene.

There remained Clark University's Pedagogical

Seminary and the N.E.A.'s Child-Study Division.

Stanford

University by 1902 had ceased to be a prominent center for promoting the work.

Barnes'

second volume of Studies in

E d u c a t i o n , appearing between March,

1902, and December,

was not published at Stanford University.

1902,

This was to be

one of the last major efforts by Earl Barnes to gather studies of the child for education. While Stanford University was no longer as productive a center in the work which Barnes had pursued, University was. interests,

Hall's Clark

Cross-sectional studies of children's beliefs,

games, fears,

etc.

continued to be conducted at

Clark and published in the Pedagogical S e m i n a r y .1^

The

1