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DIVISION V PAGE CASES ARISING OUT OF THE ADAPTIVE INSTINCTS 361

DIVISION VI CASES ARISING OUT OF THE EXPRESSIVE INSTINCTS 577

DIVISION X AN ILLUSTRATIVE CONTRAST BETWEEN FAILURE AND SUCCESS 859

DIVISION V

Adaptation may serve either of two ends. It may fix the child in a life of indifference, of inefficiency, of crime, or it may fit him into a world of noble acts and lofty endeavor.

CASES ARISING OUT OF THE ADAPTIVE INSTINCTS

Fortunately the long period of plastic infancy offers constant opportunity for readjusting one's habits, tastes, accomplishments, etc. Three chief means for making such readjustments are found in the child's tendencies, to imitate, to play, to satisfy his curiosity.

"Example is usually far better than rule and imitation more effective than explanation...."

Betts defines imitation as "the instinct to respond to a suggestion from another by repeating his act." This is simple and entirely covers the ground. He goes on to say that the instinct is one of the earliest to appear, being very plainly discernible before the normal child has reached the age of one year. It often reaches its height by the time the baby is two or three years old, but is never lost and sometimes persists strongly into old age. When a child imitates the same thing several times his imitation becomes a habit, and so two powerful factors unite to form a customary type of behavior.

Footnote 1:

The Mind and Its Education, 170.

One might think that imitation, being strongest in young children, would appear almost exclusively in the lower grades of school; but in fact it plays an important part all the way through the high school. The things imitated change, but the instinct remains. In treating cases which are caused or influenced by this powerful instinct, which the great French sociologist Tarde considers the greatest factor in human conduct, there are four methods which can be used:

The first and second of these four methods are two degrees and modes of the general means of opposition. They are sometimes effective, and they are sometimes necessary and wise. If a very great evil is going on, for instance, it is fully justifiable to use any means to stop it, before its harmful effects cause too great suffering and injustice. If a teacher finds a bully imposing on a small child, even although he may know that a good example to the bully is the means for his ultimate conversion to kindness and justice, he should stop the bullying first by the best means at hand, and afterward set about the character conversion of the bully.

Moreover, with very young children, in whom habitforming is largely a matter of pleasure and pain in the reactions of their deeds, punishment that is swift, sure and wise should follow the imitation of a bad act after its evil nature has been made clear. With older children, however, who have passed this early stage, the third and fourth means are usually more effective. Common sense, supplemented by a fair knowledge of child nature and the rudiments of psychology, will dictate where one set of methods ends and the higher set, which trusts more to the child's developing judgment, begins.

Imitation begins, as has been said, in infancy. Its forms will be found to belong to one or another of the following types:

Of course the most common of these types of imitation is that of the common customs of the people who surround the young child. Otherwise it would mean little to a child to be born into a family in which gentle manners and kind deeds set a daily example fit to be followed closely. The manners of most children are those of their homes; only with a certain degree of maturity will they see the manners of other homes and elect to imitate them instead. Next in importance to this imitation of the social example, is that of some strong personality.

This imitation usually comes through admiration, although most people will also recall the disgust with which they have realized that they have unconsciously imitated some mannerism of an acquaintance, of which they heartily disapproved. This shows that it is not necessary to admire an act in order to repeat it. It is necessary only that the act make a vivid impression on one, an impression which may be received by some persons just as readily through strong repugnance as through strong liking. Twists in pronunciation are thus imitated in spite of one's dislike of them, as an involuntary tribute to the strength of the impression made upon the hearer.

Another strong stimulus to imitation is the desire for the praise of others. John wins father's enthusiastic praise for the thorough way in which he cleaned the motor-car, and his brother Carl cleans it the next time it is muddy, not because he likes the work but because he wants to be praised also. Winnie makes a face at the teacher and wins the praise of her schoolmates in the shape of an approving laugh, and Jennie imitates her at the first opportunity in the hope of winning a laugh also. That is one reason why successful people are so much imitated; in addition to what comes to them through the admiration of the crowd, there are many who hope to win similar rewards through similar efforts.

And then there are those who imitate others because they want to surpass them at their own game. This is emulation, usually classed as a distinct instinct by psychologists, and yet so closely related to imitation that the same general principles of treatment apply to both.

Faults which have been learned by imitation can rarely if ever be cured by didactic instruction. They have been learned in a far more vivid way, and their unlearning is best accomplished through the substitution of other habits, imitated from some attractive and vivid model. If the process of substitution can be made a pleasant one, the work goes faster. In general, the dramatizing of the proposed new order of things is the surest and quickest way of teaching it, with children who are young enough for this method. Merely to condemn old habits, without suggesting a new and better way, is usually pure waste of time.

Footnote 2:

O'Shea, Social Development and Education, p. 422. Houghton, Mifflin.

CASE 62

Miss Burch was from Massachusetts, and had an exquisitely soft voice and unimpeachable pronunciation. She came to Peoria, Illinois, to teach in the public schools, and found these two assets very much in the way. Mabel Gulliver, a little girl whose cleverness was largely the product of much running of streets, turned both to account in a series of imitations that "delighted crowded houses" whenever she chose to hold forth. As she did this frequently, poor Miss Burch soon found herself helpless and ridiculous in her own school-room.

"Authah, will you ausk the janitah to give us a little moah heat?" Mabel would flute, with inimitable saccharinity. "And I want you all to cease lawfing at once, foah this is the clauss in correct pronunciation, and if youah to be cleavah like me you'll learn how to do it properly." Miss Burch's manner was the perfection of simplicity, but in Mabel's imitation it appeared with a simpering ingenuousness both funny and untrue.

Miss Burch realized the situation and wept over it. She did not know what to do. Realizing she was the subject of ridicule, she became self-conscious and timid, and her discipline grew worse and worse.

CONSTRUCTIVE TREATMENT

Things were in this bad shape when Mr. Nearing, the superintendent, came to visit her one day. He was so kind and sympathetic that after school Miss Burch told him the whole story, and asked his advice.

"The trouble with you is," he said, "that your most prominent characteristic is one which lends itself to ridicule here in the Middle West, where we don't know an Italian "a" from a mud-pie. Now, don't think of changing your pronunciation; to do so consciously would be to be affected. But make the children forget it in something more exciting. If you'd start a museum for your nature study, or get up a little play for Christmas, and make Mabel its chief factotum, she'd have an outlet for her energies, she would still lead her crowd and have their admiration, and your pronunciation would fade into the background of the Things That Are. It's all a matter of relative emphasis."

Miss Burch did try this plan. She had her room dramatize and then play The Birds' Christmas Carol, and in the intense interest of this project the teacher-mocking was forgotten. When Mabel remembered it again, she and Miss Burch were such good friends that it was out of the question.

COMMENTS

When the imitation takes place in the school-room the matter is much more under the teacher's control, for there is no end of ways in which the child can be kept too busy to indulge in histrionic performances. But whatever is done, the teacher should not appear to notice that a pupil is disrespectful to her.

ILLUSTRATION

George Henderson was dubbed by his classmates "the clown" because he was always doing something laughable. Usually his fun was of a harmless type, but occasionally his pranks overstepped the bounds of propriety.

His teacher, Miss Stanton, had unconsciously fallen into the habit of making nervous little gestures when she was explaining lessons to the pupils, and, indeed, when she was talking with the pupils outside of school. Several times during recitations she had noticed George entertaining the pupils near him by imitating, under the shelter of the desk, of course, all the little movements of her nervous, energetic hands. She resolved to overcome the habit of emphasizing her words by gesture, but the more absorbed she became in her teaching, the less could she think about her hands. If she concentrated attention upon her hands, her teaching suffered and the whole class became listless. Resolved not to sacrifice the class for the sake of one fun-loving boy, Miss Stanton next tried another plan.

"Mary, you may name all the capitals of the countries of Europe," she said.

When Mary was about half through with her list of capitals, Miss Stanton interrupted her with,

"That is far enough, Mary; George may finish."

Now George knew the capitals perfectly, but he had been busy behind the desk with a particularly successful imitation of Miss Stanton's movements, and suddenly surprised, could not recall where Mary had left off.

Miss Stanton waited just a moment, then said, gravely, but without any indication of resentment,

"I am sorry to have you fail on anything so important as this, George. Jack may go on."

George sat quite demurely for several minutes, for he was a little disappointed at losing a chance to recite a lesson which he had really prepared with considerable care. However, he comforted himself by thinking: "Well, she called on me once. She won't do so again," and after a short time he went serenely on with his dramatics.

Miss Stanton also went on apparently oblivious to what was taking place behind the desk. After a few minutes she said,

"Stephen, beginning with the northern countries, tell us what the farmers raise in each of these countries."

Again she stopped the recital in the midst of it, with

"That will do. George, go on."

Again George lost his chance to recite, not because he did not know the lesson, but because he had not been listening to Stephen. In his confusion his face flushed, especially when Miss Stanton said, in a low tone:

"How is this, George? Two failures in one day? I shall expect a better lesson than this tomorrow. Wilbur, will you finish the recitation?"

George sat quietly for the remainder of the recitation, thinking to himself:

"Well, if she has called on me twice, she may get around again. Gee! I knew all that."

Miss Stanton did not call upon him again, however, that day. On the following day George decided that it would be well to give enough attention to the recitation, at least to "keep tab" on what the others were reciting, and gradually he learned that he was likely to be called up at any time that he allowed his attention to wander far away from the work of the hour. Not a word had been said about his pranks, but they ceased to be troublesome to teacher or class.

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