WOMEN TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION.

Taranaki Daily News, 31 May 1916, Page 3

WOMEN TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION.

ANNUAL MEETING. The animal meeting of the above as- ; sociatiim was held on Saturday, May 20, ill the West End school gymnasium hall. The delegates to the Annual Conference, held in Wellington jn Thursday, April 20, gave a report of the year's work. Officers for ensuing year were elected as follows:—President, Mrs. Dowling; vice presidents, Misses Lilley and McCarthy; secretary, M.!ss Andrews; committee, Mrs. Martin, Mrs. Harrison, Misses Dempsey, Jemison, and Tobin. A paper, written "oy Miss P. Myers, president of the N.Z. Women Teachers' Association, was read, of which the fol- . flowing Is an abstract:— I THE UNFIT—AN EDUCATIONAL PROBLEM. "Which God made me, that mttst I be," the answer given by a 4-year-old boy when asked why he was not a little girl, strikes the lominant note of the chord that should harmonise the themes of heredity and environment. Into the world with him, the babe brings his life-equipment in the shape of possibilities. With him, also, he brings the love that is necessary for his well-being. In the world- he must find the wisdom that will prepare for him suitable surroundings. This combination, wisdom and love, is needed in order that he may grow to his full height. With his first breath his education begins, and it continues throughout life* Inharmonious development will result from an impel - fect education, and this is likely to produce inefficiency in some capacity. Consequently, if the child is to achieve his possibilities, he must be placed in a suitable environment. It is the inefficient —from whatever cause —who become what are known as the 'unfit," and who are a burden on society. This unfitness may be due to inherent weakness, malnutrition, accident, or to imperfect development; but the result is in every case the same—the inability of the unfortunates to look after themselves without inflicting hardship on the community. In accordance with the findings of the Royal Commission, appointed to enquire into the matter, those who are unable to fend for themselves have, for the purposes of detention, been classified, in the "Mental Deficiency Bill" submitted to the Imperial Parliament, February, 1913, as follows:—ldiots, imbeciles, feebleminded, and moral imbeciles. Dr. Davidson's observations on 221 children who had appeared before the Juvenile Court, Sydney, during the months of March, April and May, 1913, go to show that many cases were due to physical ailments. A fairly large percentage are dull and backward mentally; but this is not due to gross mental defect, but to physical ailments, and te unhealthy surroundings. They should, under favorable circumstances, if taken in time, arrive at normal standard. The mental development, and not the age, must be taken a 9 a test of their condition. , The last English Royal Commission, which sat for more than four years, and undertook special investigations in order to obtain reliable evidence, learned, among other things, that mental defectives account for (50 to 70 per cent, of habitual inebriates in England. The results of recent research have proved that the number of defectives is increasing. After describing the phenomenal success of Scguin who, in 1837, began to instruct an idiot child, reference was made to the following conclusion arrived at: "Idiots have been improved, educated, and even cured. Not one in 1000 has been entirely refractory to treatment; not one in 100 who has not been made more happy or more healthy. More than 30 per cent, have been taught to conform to moral and social law, and rendered capable of order, of 'good feeling, and of working like the third of a "man. More than 40 per cent, have become capable of the ordinary transactions of life, under friendly control, of understanding social and moral abstractions, or working like two-thirds of a man; and 25 per cent to 30 per cent, have come nearer and nearer to the standard of manhood till some of them will defy the scrutiny of good judges when compared with ordinary young men and women." The mantle of Seguin fell upon Dr. Marja Montessori, who gratefully acknowledged him as her master. For some years she worked on similar lines with the idiot children in the asylums at Rome, and then turned her attention in the. direction of the education of normal children. She was induced to do this by the remarkable success which had attended her efforts with the" idiots whom she prepared for the public tests set for normals. These they were successful in passing. Goddard, of Vineland, New Jersey, tested 400 inmates of the institution and 2000 school-children of a public school, with the following result: 78 per cent, worked out at their own age, or a year above or below, 'ls per cent, two or three years below, four per cent. were three or more above, three per cent, were three or more below. One remarkable result of the use of these tests has been the discovery that there exists a large number of feebleminded persons of a high grade, and to them Binet has given the name of "morons:" They may be described as mental dwarfs, for they cannot pass a higher mental test than that for twelve years. Such persotis can do perfectly whatever a child of that age can do, but with a man's.strength, and with the skill born of experience. Under favorable circumstances they may pass through life without mishap; but should misfortune overtake them they cannot rise to the occasion because mentally they are children. It is from the ranks of the backward and feeble-minded classes that the "mis- ' fits" of society arise, because, if neglected, the backward become deficient. Therefore it is of the utmost importance that they should be developed to the fullest extent. They are above the idiot and imbecile in mental power, and it is for this very reason that they are dangerous. The psycho-physiological educational methods of Seguin and Montessori have demonstrated that the idiot is edncable. In the home, weak children are made more dependent by having everything done for them. Consequently, the weak or undeveloped nerve centres, through disuse, will fail to develop. Therefore the longer the training is delayed, the more difficult will it be to attain the fullest possible development. THE MONTESSORI SYSTEM. The Montessori system is peculiarly interesting because of the application of its principles to feeble-minded children. "The fundamental ideal is that of mental liberty and subjective development. It aims at realising its object through leading children with as little direction as possible, largely through the use of their senses, into the knowledge and use [of taeir intellectual gowers. as well as

to moral physical control." A school |for feeble-minded boys, on Montessori lines, has been established at Miltagong, N.S.W., and the results so rVr are highly encouraging. The most important features of the Montessori system are the rcogeiiion of the evolutionary stages of man and the attempt to make his environment conform to his requirements. The stages of men are: (1) The individual; (2) the social unit; (3) part of the universe. Because lie is an individual, i.e., a biological specimen, he develops along certain definite lines according to physiological laws. Consequently, his education must he based on these. Therefore she begins sense-training with children of three years, because "correct sensations are the ground of correct images, images are stored as simple ideas, the contact of which produces comparisons, whose abundance leads (o generalisations." During this period the child must be interfered with as little as possible, because an attempt to force him to do what is beyond his powers would defeat its own ends, since frequent failures would tend to produce a hopeless Condition. Suitable exercises for the training of the affected parts, when the points of deficiency had been located, would increase their efficiency, and probably lead to normality. If neglected, the opportunity to repair the defect might be entirely lost. Moreover, other senses might become affected by the disuse of the one. Each function is psycho-phy-siological, i.e., sense plus intellect, and therefore each sense must be taught as a function, as well as a faculty. Hence the need of the psychobsgist as well as the physiologist in education. According to Monressori, nothing should be done for the child that he can do for himself. His powers increase with use, and if he is allowed to become independent, he resents any attempt to interfere with his desires to develop his resources. Moreover, he does not need to be bribed, because the satisfaction of having overcome a difficulty is its own reward, a moral one, and increases the desire for further conquest. The physical development of the child is also carefully looked after; for an anthropological study is made of him; and his mother possesses a "Biographical Chart" which is filled for her by the directress and doctor. This gives her the most practical knowledge of her child's growth and condition. Every detail of the child's life is carefully attended to by the,, Directress, who live? in the same building, and has charge of him during the Whole of the time that he is awake. ! GENERAL PRINCIPLES. Under this wise regime—child, parent, educator, physician, the social organism itself—all the. elements that make up the child's world, co-operate to provide for him a suitable environment. The study of plant physiology has proved that .every plant thrives best when it has the food it needs, and the surroundings that suit it. Similar results have been obtained by breeders of animals. The human physiologist has learned by experiment that the young of man, brought up under natural conditions, has the best chance of becoming a healthy adult. As a result, we have the Karitane Home and the Plunket Nurses. The combination, love and wisdom, has produced these results. It now remains for the experimental psyschologist to do for the baby mind what the physiologist has done for his body. Then mothers of young children would have an opportunity of learning how to care for their mentally backward children, as they now have of doing for their physically backward ones. The early discovery and treatment of mental feebleness would he the surest way of effecting a complete cure. That is the first step. Then would follow the development of muscular and motor activities and the prgans of speech, the next stage being the cultivation of the senses and the study of natural history by looking after pets, growing plants. Then follows the development of intellect and the inherent capacities of the child in the direction his talents lie, thus fixing the boy's walk in life. All who are found to be backward should undergo medical inspection. If physical defects are found to be the cause, medical treatment will probably meet the case, and the child will be able to go back to his class. The others should be tested mentally and, if found to be mentally deficient, be placed in a special class, under a carefully selected teacher, and/ given work suited to their needs. ! The teacher, if the right kind, would take an interest in the child outside the school, and in time such children might become normal, or at the least, would bo able to be taught some means of earning a livelihood. In some of the farm colonies for mental deficients, those who cannot be taught to speak can learn to do farm work without supervision. The special classes in the ordinary schools obviate the necessity for segregation, .which is undesirable, unless there is no other course open. CURE FOR THE EVIL. In the future, the directors of education will need to have a first-hand knowledge of the material 'with which they are dealing. Therefore they will he practical physiologists and experimental psychologists. They will train, in their laboratories, those who are to carry on the work of education. These will he selected , not merely for their mental qualifications, but for their personal ones also, and for their fitness. Their duties will he to guide, observe and record. Examinations as now known, will be impossible, for their aim is to test knowledge, not development. They will be superseded by mentality tests and antlnopologieal charts. Then will every child be considered as a problem, the key to the solution of which will be the combination, love and wisdom. When the whole community is quickened to a sense of its responsibilities, and realises that whether the child is to he an asset or a liability depends largely;, on his environment, ( which is formed by the individuals of the nation taken collectively, we shall find all the elements that form the child's world cooperating to produce -the suitable environment. Thus will be born the spirit that will enable us to solve our problem. Any extension of the period of education means an increase of expenditure, but under present oircumstances, the community has to support those who are unable to maintain themselves. This is only just, because evidence proves concl':.'vc!y that an unhealthy or unsuitable environment is largely responsible for the production of defectives. Now the social environment, under modern conditions, is made by the collective body of the people. Therefore, all, individually and collectively are responsible, and they must either improve the condition" or be prepared for the consequences. T is merely retribution. The cure for tinevil is suggested by Dr. Montessori: methods of dealing with the social rro blent,