isua-isnscatalog-1887-1888-033

Description:	32INDIANA STATE NORMAL SCHOOL.But mental activity, without the guidance of a rational end, and not in obedience to the proper laws of the faculty exercised, may produce a distorted and abnormal growth.The human mind, in its natural and leading forms of activity, with their conditions, laws and products, bears a relation to the art of teaching similar to that of the bodily nature and functions to the physicians art. For the teacher to attempt to pursue his art, with all its complicated and responsible duties, without a clear knowledge of the processes and laws of mind, is hardly less irra¬ tional than would be the practice of medicine without an adequate knowledge of the principal organs of the body and their laws and functions.Moreover, the teachers methods of instruction, if based upon reasons or principles, and not derived from mere authority and experiment, must spring largely from the study of mind. The mind is to be educated. The instruments of the process are the various subjects of study. These two, then—mind and matter of study—must be the main factors in a rational or scientific method of instruction. In this thought the stndy of mind in all its manifestations occupies a prominent place in the course of study in the Normal School. The effort is made to study mind itself, in its conditions, activities, laws and results. Too often the study of mental science is made the mere learning of text, without verification by appeal to individual and personal mental experience. The true method of pursuing this subject is by in¬ trospection, using the text mainly as a guide. For the teachers purpose, it must be chiefly a direct study of mind. It is only in this way that the study of mental science can become an efficient aid to the teacher.It must ever be admitted and emphasized that knowledge of the subject is of the first importance to whoever would teach the subject. The teacher must know that which he is to teach. Nevertheless, it is probably true that more failures in the school¬ room are due to ignorance of child nature than to any other cause. The chief weakness in the public schools to-day is on the side of mind, not ignorance of subjects. Knowledge of motives, conditions, processes and laws of mind activity is the key to scien¬ tific instruction, and it is not held by the majority of teachers.
Source:	http://indstate.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/isuarchive/id/32950
Collection:	Indiana State University Archives

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