Psychology applied to education : a series of lectures on the theory & practice of education / by James Ward ; edited by G. Dawes Hicks.

  • Ward, James, 1843-1925.
Date:
1926
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Psychology applied to education : a series of lectures on the theory & practice of education / by James Ward ; edited by G. Dawes Hicks. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    labourer. The man who turns aside to fashion a plough and harrow does not appear to be making such practical preparation for his food as the man who grubs up pig-nuts and takes his first meal on the spot; but the roundabout way secures the better dinner in the end. The man who studies psychology and the kindred sciences may appear to be taking anything but the directest way to pro¬ ficiency as an educator, and yet, with the same stock of informa¬ tion, will far excel the ‘hedge schoolmaster,’ as Herbert Spencer called him, who has nothing but his mother-wit to aid him. Of course, the study of theory will not infallibly make any simpleton into a first-rate teacher, any more than gymnastics will convert a dwarf into a lifeguardsman. But out of a hundred teachers, fifty of whom have and fifty of whom have not made this preliminary study, we may, I think, safely affirm of the former three things: (i) that they will be on the whole the best teachers, (ii) that they will see most clearly wherein and why the current traditions of educa¬ tion are good or bad, (iii) that they will be most likely to improve existing theory and so to advance future practice. Assuming, then, that a science of education is possible, and that if realized it would be of the greatest practical importance, not as superseding personal experience but as quickening and enlight¬ ening it, we may face the question: Are psychology and the related sciences at present sufficiently advanced to justify the attempt to deduce and formulate a system of educational principles ? I should answer in the affirmative, and I hope in the course of these lectures to do something towards making my answer good. At the same time, I hasten at once to say that it is not my intention to attempt the construction of a theory of education. I do not at present feel competent to do this; and, even if I were, I should prefer to explain the elements of psychology on which such theory must largely rest. The teacher who has a fair knowledge of psychology can see the ‘why’ and ‘wherefore’ of any theory that is offered him, can even to a large extent make his own theory, or, at any rate, intelligently apply and, by and by, supplement out of his own experience the theory with which he starts. Still, although for my part I believe that, if teachers are to be trained at all, they should be trained thoroughly, I am compelled just now to a compromise; and, in consequence, shall treat only of those parts of psychology which bear most directly upon education. And I shall do this rather with the hope of giving you a sample which may induce you hereafter to make the bulk your own, than with any expectation that you