The man or woman who has been
led to react to the Madonna of the Chair, the Plow Oxen, or the ceiling of
the Sistine Chapel will experience a revival and recurrence of the
reaction at every sight of the masterpiece, whether the original or a
reproduction. That masterpiece has become this person's standard of art
and neither argument, nor persuasion, nor sophistry can divorce him from
his ideal. The boy's mother is one of his ideals. He believes her to be
the best woman alive, and it were a sorry fact if he did not. Hence, when
her good qualities are assailed his spirit explodes and commands his right
arm to become a battering-ram. The kindness of the mother has caused the
boy's spirit to react a thousand times, and his reaction in defending her
name from calumny was but another evidence of an acquired spiritual habit.
Hence it is that we find loyalty enmeshed in these elements that pertain
to the province of psychology. It must be so, seeing that these elements
and loyalty have to do with the spirit, for loyalty is nothing other than
a reaction to the same external stimuli that have induced reactions many
times before. In setting up loyalty, therefore, as one of the big goals of
school endeavor the superintendent has only to make a list of the external
stimuli that will induce proper reactions and so groove these reactions
into habit. His problem, thus stated, seems altogether simple but, in
working out the details, he will find himself facing the entire scheme of
education.
Pages:
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112