The Principles of Instruction as Derived

from the Nature of Instruction

 

         The previous two lists of ten principles each (first and second classes) are drawn from the first and second elements of the problem of education -the nature of mind and the nature of knowledge. The third class is derived from the third element of this problem

-the nature of instruction. We give the following ten principles as among the most important of this class:

         1. Primary Instruction should proceed from the known to the unknown. A pupil should begin to learn the new just where his knowledge of the old ends. He should be led to understand the new by seeing its relation to the old, and, if possible, its method of development from it. The known should be the stepping‑stone to the unknown. What the child knows should be the light in which he is to see and understand that which he is to know. The elements of even the higher branches should be taught in this way. Algebra should begin in arithmetic, analytical geometry in algebra and geometry, etc. This principle was first announced by Aristotle, and is one of the most important in the science of teaching.

         2. Advanced Instruction may sometimes proceed from the unknown to the known. A pupil may sometimes fix in his memory what he does not understand, and afterward obtain a clear idea of it. A definition may sometimes be committed to memory before its meaning is understood. An unknown hypothesis is often assumed in an investigation, from which we trace our way to known facts. A law, or method of operation, whose relation to the known is not at present understood, may be accepted as correct, with the expectation that the future will make it clear to the mind. It is in this manner we reason in algebra by tracing our way from the unknown to the known; and the same method is sometimes used in geometry. We should, therefore, sometimes, in teaching and in study, proceed from the unknown to the known.

         3. Primary Instruction should be given in the concrete.  All primary instruction should begin in the concrete. Knowledge at first must pass through the senses into the mind. The child must go from things to ideas and thoughts. The child's first lesson in numbers should be given with objects. The measures of denominate numbers should be presented so that when pupils talk of ounces, pints, etc., they may have definite ideas of them. The things defined in geography -capes, bays, isthmuses, etc.- should be learned through pictures or by some tangible representation of them. The elementary ideas and truths of geometry are to be taught by diagrams and models. From these concrete ideas the pupils can gradually pass to the higher abstractions of the several sciences.

         4. Advanced Instruction should be more abstract. The mind at first uses the concrete thing to aid it in rising to the abstract thought. At first it hobbles along, as it were, on the crutches of sense; but at last its wings become plumed, and it can soar unaided in the higher atmosphere of abstraction. The concrete is then no longer needed; the thought is grasped without the illustration or representative object. Concrete instruction should therefore not be continued too long. Of its very nature, much knowledge is abstract. To depend always upon a concrete thing for the thought will be to weaken the mind and lower its appreciation of the pure ideas of science. To teach moral philosophy with apples and potatoes is a degradation of truth, as well as a source of weakness in mental culture. The mind grows strong in its wrestling with and its grasp of the principles of abstract truth.

          Although "learning by doing" may be appropriate in certain circumstances and for certain children, it should not be generalized. Must the child actually build a wigwam in order to learn how a nomad tribe becomes domesticated? There is no doubt that doing so will help him to understand the tribe's way of life, but learning through such experiences would cause just the rudiments of education to take decades. The child should be taught essential concepts, even if such concepts have to be adapted to his own psychological level.

         5. Primary Instruction should be both analytic and synthetic. Some subjects should be presented analytically and others synthetically; and in many subjects, both methods should be combined. In teaching reading, we begin with words (Word Method), and after the child becomes familiar with a number of words, and can read little sentences, we should analyze the words into their elementary sounds and characters (Phonic Method). Pronunciation also proceeds by analysis and synthesis; first a synthesis of the sounds in the word, then the analysis of the word into its elements, and then again the synthesis of the elements into words. Grammar should be taught first synthetically and then analytically, and then the two methods should be united. In geography we would begin with the elements found in and around the school‑house, pass out to the fields and farms, the map of the township, etc., which is synthetic; and then subsequently begin at the world as a whole, and come down by analysis to the details of the subject. In primary arithmetic we begin with synthesis, but in a short time we begin to reverse the process and proceed also by analysis. Thus addition precedes subtraction, multiplication comes before division, etc.; and an arithmetical solution contains both analysis and synthesis.

         6. Advanced Instruction should be both analytic and synthetic. Some of the advanced studies should be presented analytically and some synthetically; and often the two are united in different degrees in different parts of the same study. In one class of studies, analysis seems to precede and synthesis to follow; in another class, this order is reversed. In the natural sciences, the pupil should be led to analyze for the elements, and afterwards to synthesize these into the science: facts are to be put together into classes, and phenomena to be combined so as to reach their laws and causes. In the mathematical sciences, the lower stage seems more synthetic, and the higher stage more analytic: the advance is from arithmetic to algebra, from the ordinary synthetic geometry to the higher analytical geometry, from plane trigonometry to analytical trigonometry, from synthetic mechanics to analytical mechanics, etc. The tendency of all the higher studies is towards the analytical methods of thought and investigation.

         7. Primary Instruction should be inductive. Little children should be led from particulars to generals. They should proceed from special examples to general rules or laws which embrace them. In arithmetic, they should learn particular solutions before they learn a general rule; and be required also to derive the general rules from the solution of particular cases. In grammar they should learn the general laws of speech by first seeing them presented in particular instances. In geography they should know the detailed facts before they begin to generalize them into classes and inquire after their laws and causes. So in learning the definitions of any branch, pupils should be familiar with the idea to be defined before they attempt to express it in a definition. Definitions when stated in the inductive form are more appropriate to young pupils, than when presented in the deductive form.

         8. Advanced Instruction should be deductive. With advanced pupils the deductive method is preferred. They should be taught to reason from general principles. They should be required to grasp general laws of a subject and apply them to particular cases. In mathematics, the demonstrative method of reasoning should be employed. Thus, in fractions, the rules for all the various cases may be derived from the principles of fractions. In geography, the classification of the facts should be learned, and their causes and laws explained, as we have them treated in Physical Geography. The fundamental principles of grammar are to be understood, and to be applied in correcting and constructing language. In higher mathematics, we should proceed from the comprehending principle to the truths contained in it. Joseph Louis La Grange (1736-1813), in his great work on mechanics, puts the whole doctrine of the physical universe into an equation, and unfolds the science of mechanics by a discussion of this equation; and this is the spirit of the modern system of mathematics.

         9. Primary Instruction should proceed from the practical to the theoretical. Young pupils should be drilled in doing rather than in thinking. In arithmetic, they should have abundant practice, and, at first, but little theory: they should be drilled in doing the work, and not in explaining it. In reading, the drill should be in the art of expression, rather than on the principles of elocution. In grammar, the primary object should be to teach pupils to use correct language, rather than to understand the principles of grammatical construction. The practice of rhetoric should precede its study as a science. The pupil should know how to think before he studies logic, the science of thought. From a correct practice in these branches they can be led to the laws which govern this practice.

         10. Advanced Instruction should proceed from the theoretical to the practical. While younger pupils depend on imitation for their practice, advanced pupils should be required to derive their practice from principles. They will thus see the reason for their practice, and be able to direct it independently of the teacher or textbook. In arithmetic, they should be required to give a reason for the method used, and present a logical explanation of their work. In grammar, the principles which govern the construction of a sentence should be clearly understood, and the pupil should endeavor to guide his practice by these theoretical principles. In algebra, there should be a discussion of the theoretical principles of the science, as well as a solution of problems; and the science of geometry should precede the practice of surveying. A mind educated only in practice will never know anything but practice; a mind familiar with principles can originate and direct his practice as the circumstances may require.

         The Teacher, the Student, and the School. The teacher must be at the center of the educational universe. He must have a liberal education, a scholarly knowledge of the field of learning, a deep understanding of the psychology of children and of the learning process, an ability to impart knowledge and ideals to his pupils, and a serious devotion to his work.

         The teacher must have a profound knowledge of the human constitution, corporeal and mental. A physician finds it necessary, in order to attain professional skill, to study carefully the human body; and, for the same reason, a teacher must study that upon which he is to operate -the human, mental and corporeal, constitution. Alexander Pope (1688-1744) said, "The proper study of mankind is man;" and the teacher has much more reason to engage in this study than others, because without a foundation of principles gained in this way, all teaching would be mere guess-work. 

         A school is always evaluative. Going to school means living under a constant condition of having one's words and deeds evaluated by others. Given the way in which evaluation is usually handled -in the evaluations of course performances, in the administration of discipline, etc- this in turn means a sharp demarcation of power and authority between student and teacher.

         The initiative in education should lie with the teacher rather than with the pupil. The teacher has been specially prepared for this task, and is, therefore, much better qualified to guide the growth of his pupils than they are themselves.

         To accept the American progressive educators' doctrine that "The teacher's role is not to direct but to advise; he is important as stage setter, guide, and coordinator, but he is not the sole source of authority" is to destroy learning. With his qualifications, the teacher is the only kind of agent to perform the main functions of education. Without his knowledge and experience, all education would be mere guess-work; therefore, he is the sole authority in the classroom.

         It is true that learning cannot be successful unless it is based on the capacities, interests, and purpose of the learner, but those interests and purposes must be made over by the skill of the teacher, who is master of that "logical organization" called subjects and who understands the process of educational developments.

          His attitude must be that of Miss Meta Schuts, a legendary Brooklyn College professor of ancient history in the 1950s, who, reportedly, used to tell new students right off, "You're entirely ignorant on this subject" and add "Ignorance is not a shameful condition, unless you allow it to persist."

         To argue that "Learning should be directly related to the interests of the child; thus school must be 'child‑centered,' in which the process of learning is determined mainly by the individual child as he engages in projects that spring from his natural curiosity to learn" is to deny the whole nature of both child and learning. Before the graduate level, students can not be allowed this freedom because they are not yet intellectually mature and can not recognize where their true interests lie. The self‑discipline necessary to intellectual maturity can not be self‑taught and it should be developed through external discipline. Since the ability to discriminate between essential and nonessential knowledge is largely an adult achievement, the teacher himself should impart the bulk of what the child learns.

         There is no such dichotomy as "child‑centered" versus "subject‑centered," or "child‑centered" versus "adult‑centered." Child is the being to be educated; and there must always be something with which to educate him, some material to be used in the educational process. Education is "child-centered" in that it is based on child's nature, his susceptibilities and powers which need to be trained and developed. It is "subject-centered" in that training and developing child's powers can not be done in a vacuum but through subject matters. Also, child needs those subjects for him to function in life. It is "adult-centered" in that agents of education are adults -primarily parents before school age, and teachers during.

         Nor should "child-centeredness" be understood as pandering to caprices of the child as was done by modern educators in the form of "teaching children to have self‑esteem and to feel good about themselves." Let alone the fact that "to have self-esteem" can not be taught as it is a consequence of worthy achievements, inducing a person to feel good about himself regardless of his achievements is to encourage him to be in self-deception, to be arrogant, to be vain; and a person of vanity robs himself of motivation, and limits what he can accomplish.

         Schools must be places of mental economy. No useless word should be heard in the school; thus the train of understanding should never be interrupted. The teacher must speak steadily to the children unless they are waited to return from assigned work; the wrong letters, sentences, diagrams, formulas should be immediately rubbed off the blackboard or notebook, so the student can never linger over his mistakes. There must be no deviation from the true course; therefore every moment must be one of progress. Everything which might mitigate the seriousness of school life should be scornfully banished.