Ontario Normal School Manuals: Science of Education | Page 7

a pin-prick may apply this, without actual
expression, in interpreting the danger lurking in the thorn. In like
manner the child who has fallen from his chair realizes thereby, without
giving it expression, the danger of falling from a window or balcony. It

is in this indirect, or theoretic, way that children in their early years
acquire, by injunction and reproof, much valuable knowledge which
enables them to avoid the dangers and to shun the evils presented to
them by their surroundings. By the same means, also, man is able to
extend his knowledge to include the experiences of other men and even
of other ages.
=Relative Value of Experiences.=--While the value of experience
consists in its power to adjust man to present or future problems, and
thus render his action more efficient, it is to be noted that different
experiences may vary in their value. Many of these, from the point of
their value in meeting future problems or making adjustments, must
appear trivial and even useless. Others, though adapted to meet our
needs, may do this in a crude and ineffective manner. As an illustration
of such difference in value, compare the effectiveness and accuracy of
the notation possessed by primitive men as illustrated in the following
strokes:
1, 11, 111, 1111, 11111, 111111, etc.,
with that of our present system of notation as suggested in:
1, 10, 100, 1000, 10000, 100000, 1000000, etc.
In like manner to experience that ice is cold is trivial in comparison
with experiencing its preservative effects as seen in cold storage or its
medicinal effects in certain diseases; to know that soda is white would
be trivial in comparison with a knowledge of its properties in baking.
=Man Should Participate in Valuable Experiences.=--Of the three
forms of human reaction, instinctive, habitual, and conscious, or ideal,
it is evident that, owing to its rational character, ideal reaction is not
only the most effective, but also the only one that will enable man to
adjust himself to unusual situations. For this reason, and because of the
difference in value of experiences themselves, it is further evident that
man should participate in those experiences which are most effective in
facilitating desired adjustments or in directing right conduct. It is found,
moreover, that this participation can be effected by bringing the child's

experiencing during his early years directly under control. It is held by
some, indeed, that the whole aim of education is to reconstruct and
enrich the experiences of the child and thereby add to his social
efficiency. Although this conception of education leaves out of view
the effects of instinctive and habitual reaction, it nevertheless covers, as
we shall see later, no small part of the purpose of formal education.
INFLUENCE OF CONSCIOUS REACTION
=A. On Instinctive Action.=--Before concluding our survey of the
various forms of reaction, it may be noted that both instinctive and
habitual action are subject to the influence of conscious reaction. As a
child's early instinctive acts develop into fixed habits, his growing
knowledge aids in making these habits intelligent and effective.
Consciousness evidently aids, for example, in developing the
instinctive movements of the legs into the rhythmic habitual
movements of walking, and those of the hands into the later habits of
holding the spoon, knife, cup, etc. Greater still would be the influence
of consciousness in developing the crude instinct of self-preservation
into the habitual reactions of the spearman or boxer. In general,
therefore, instinctive tendencies in man are subject to intelligent
training, and may thereby be moulded into effective habits of reaction.
=B. On Habitual Action.=--Further new habits may be established and
old ones improved under the direction of conscious reaction. When a
child first learns to represent the number four by the symbol, the
problem is necessarily met at first through a conscious adjustment. In
other words, the child must mentally associate into a single new
experience the number idea and certain ideas of form and of muscular
movement. Although, however, the child is conscious of all of these
factors when he first attempts to give expression to this experience, it is
clear that very soon the expressive act of writing the number is carried
on without any conscious direction of the process. In other words, the
child soon acquires the habit of performing the act spontaneously, or
without direction from the mind. Inversely, any habitual mode of action,
in whatever way established, may, if we possess the necessary
experience, be represented in idea and be accepted or corrected

accordingly. A person, for instance, who has acquired the necessary
knowledge of the laws of hygiene, may represent ideally both his own
and the proper manner of standing, sitting, reclining, etc., and seek to
modify his present habits accordingly. The whole question of the
relation of conscious to habitual reaction will,