Errors in school : their causes and treatment / by John Adams.

  • Adams, John, 1857-1934.
Date:
1927
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Errors in school : their causes and treatment / by John Adams. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    33/344 (page 21)
    view the medical parallel in order to get what¬ ever light it may lend to our investigation, we must content ourselves with the treatment appropriate to our own subject, retaining only an occasional side reference to the sister science to show that we are not neglecting her teachings and warnings. Some of the terms we use where they prove con¬ venient, but we retain our freedom to arrange our order of presentation in the way most suitable for our purposes. Returning now to the assthetic aspect, it would seem that in the vast mass of commonplace errors, amidst which the teacher must spend the greater part of his professional life, there is no aesthetic element at all. Yet they create an atmosphere which certainly has its aesthetic aspect, that affects both teachers and pupils. The general effect is depressing; dampening for the teachers, and irritat¬ ing for the pupils. The prevalence of errors and the need to deal with them have the effect of pro¬ ducing a special attitude of the teacher. By being continually on the alert for errors he acquires a peculiar sensitiveness to any deviation from the narrow path of accuracy. He is apt to become too touchy in this direction, and to develop into a professional fault-finder. He may have the best motives possible, but there is a clear danger that his attitude may introduce into the school-room an atmosphere that is, to say the least, unattractive. Outsiders are probably more keen in sensing this depression than are professional teachers. This is perhaps why Gentile and his fellow directors of Italian elementary education have taken special note