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only subconsciously, of the earlier experiences; ordinarily there might be no disagreeable effect, but in his weakened condition a channel of discharge is found and the mental and physical results manifest themselves.

Fourth. It is recognized by the medical men of to-day that all forms of dreaded organic disease may first be simulated, and finally engendered, by the after-effects of such fears. Nothing is more destructive of physical tone and vigor than fear; nothing is quite so persistent in its influence as suggestion; and when, either within or below the field of consciousness, there is a persistent dread, the ground is well prepared for the thing to come to pass.

Fifth. Although, fortunately, early fears with the majority of people are overcome by later experience training or exercise of will, and therefore do not usually result in phobia or other functional disease, yet it still remains true that all these fears are apt to make their influence felt upon the later life. "In some men they may engender lack of self-confidence, and even a despicable cowardice; in others they may breed superstitious terrors and usages. Always, in some way, one may depend on it, they will affect the intellect, the character, the whole mental and moral make-up."

Whatever, therefore, awakens fear, develops dread, destroys confidence, or even cultivates discomfort or distress in the presence of that which is desirable, should be religiously kept out of the life of the child. Parents who in the presence of their children discuss accidents, crimes, and other sensational things; who betray fretfulness, dissatisfaction, anxiety, unrest in their dealings with their children; who even go so far as to use fear as a means of coercing into good behavior; or who are so reckless of parental duty as to subject their children to the morbid tales of ghosts and demons in which ignorant and superstitious nurses so often take pleasure, are sapping their courage, filling their young lives with fear, and are sowing in exceedingly sensitive soil the seeds of future dread and disease. And the harsh unsympathetic teacher who by her words and manner destroys confidence in the ability to do, magnifies difficulties, and suggests distaste for knowledge, is unworthy the name and place of teacher.

MIND AS A SPIRITUAL FORCE.-There is good ground for believing that the advocates of a purely physiological psychology which maintains that mind and brain are practically the same thing, the former being even in the human being just a necessary result of the latter, have reached a point where they are willing to acknowledge the possibility of mental and spiritual agencies not to be accounted for by mere sense-organs and brain-cells. No less an authority than J. S. Macdonald, in his recent presidential address to the physiological section of the British Association, clearly manifested this attitude. As quoted in the London Lancet, he admitted that the physiological explanation of all spiritual acts is not satisfying to many who, through introspection and after careful consideration of the possible explanations of various types of experience of a large number of people, feel that the physical school is not quite convincing. He says that "in those departments of biology which deal with actual facts, and draw up theories afterwards, there has been of late the exhibition of a tolerant attitude towards inquirers who, finding themselves face to face with what they cannot explain, are willing to weigh the feasibility of theoretical considerations which might, if they could be proved to be realities, show the real connection between the psychical and the physical."

The essential point, as the Lancet says, is that the scientists are coming to see that there is sound reason for the view that the mind is not directly associated with life, or controlled by living matter, but only indirectly through certain conditions or tendencies that accompany the activity of central nervous substance. And having taken this new view, many of them stand ready to investigate the existence of the soul, mind, force, or whatever it may be, not so much with the hope of proving its existence and its nature as in the hope of discovering the laws under which it is apt to act, and through experiment and observation to get more convincing proof of its existence.

PUNISHMENT. The old torture idea for wrong doing lingers long in the common thought of punishment. The traditional feeling is that severe and painful punishment exterminates wrong thoughts and acts. A hundred years ago there were in Great Britain no less than 200 offences

that were punishable by death. And, because severe punishment was regarded as a deterrent of crime, executions were public. They did not then know, even as we do not always now fully realize, that through the power of suggestion brutal revengeful punishment always arouses thoughts of violence and blood. Severity and torture are not necessary either to protect society or to cure the criminal, and, although Great Britain has abolished the death penalty for all but a few of its former 200 instances, there have been none but good results from the change.

We are coming to see the advantages of both curing and preventing crime through the discipline of kindness and trust, rather than endeavoring to do so through suspicion and severity. In other words, it has been found far better to build up self-respect and to appeal to the better instincts than to destroy self-restraint and appeal to the worst within the life. Even in prison discipline the best results are being secured by recognizing that there is no distinctly criminal class and that all belong to the fellowship of the common life. The so-called criminals are like the rest of us only for various reasons they were unable to resist; or possibly they differ from us more because they did things bringing them within the pale of the law than because they were more inclined to evil than we are. At all events, the most effective way to bring them back into law-abiding ways is through normal conditions of life and work, rather than through "outcast" methods. And there is no more wholesome lesson for the teacher than for her to see that often she is "outcasting" her "bad boy" and, through the very influence of her methods of separating him from his fellows as well as from herself, she is simply aggravating his "badness" and preventing his reform.

The Organization of the Teaching Profession.

The apparent helplessness of teachers and school executives under the tyranny of adverse conditions and personal wrongs has often suggested the possibilities of presenting a united and well-organized front to the enemies of the cause of education and an effective alliance to stand for the personal rights of the teacher and the school executive. The thought has been that the half million teachers of the

United States could, through closer organization, present a bolder and more effective opposition to the things menacing the welfare of the schools. They could also more effectively protect themselves from the more glaring acts of injustice so often perpetrated against individuals of the teaching profession by trustees, boards of control, the public press, and personal enemies who for the time possess sufficient influence to menace the work and even the position of competent and faithful school workers. Such an organization could, according to this thought, also be made an effective check against unprofessional practices on the part of school workers themselves, as well as a tremendous influence for the general improvement of the entire teaching profession.

Against the forming of such an organization it has been. urged: 1. It could have no authority to enforce its demands and only such influence as could be built up through campaigns for support, publicity, personal denunciations, and suits for damages. And in personal matters these things would react to the ultimate disadvantage of the individuals involved. 2. In the estimation of the public the organization would usually appear to be pursuing its own selfish ambitions and the personal welfare of its members, rather than to be actuated by the highest ideals of public service. 3. An imposing membership could be secured and retained only through the evidences of material advantage in belonging to the organization. Although many would join and work from higher motives, they would not constitute a sufficient number to exercise any great weight of control over the situation. 4. The organization would inevitably degenerate into a dictatorship in educational affairs that would be resented, especially in what the public would often regard as its personal and local rights. This same arbitrary dictatorship would be manifested toward all nonmembers of the organization in their efforts to secure place or recognition. 5. It would soon be rent by internal dissension because of the claims of rival candidates for preferment and promotion. 6. The teaching profession deals largely with the spiritual forces of life and is dependent upon public interest and public enlightenment for its real support; and none of these things yield to any other domi

nation than that of general social progress. Any effort to force issues which the public is either unwilling or unprepared to accept merely produces artificial and temporary conditions. Hence any form of trade-unionism among teachers is both undesirable and impractical.

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However, an able article bearing upon the desirability of closely organizing the entire teaching force of our country was written by Doctor Henry Suzzalo, of Columbia University, for the Sierra Educational News and well deserves thoughtful consideration. "With adequate organization of the half million teachers in the United States, he says, we can force commercial concerns into fair dealing, compel boards of education to recognize expert judgment, and force out of existence the teachers' agencies which thrive on our professional neglect." We can also bring about proper attitudes toward each other in our professional work, curb the educational demagogue, check the reactionary, and awaken respect for our word in legislative bodies. At present only about ten or twelve thousand of the entire teaching body of the country belong to any existing national association, and even these are more or less transient in their interest and activity. This makes our voice weak in the councils of the mighty. Even State organizations, as they are operated at present, are more or less transient in their interest and membership and there is no adequate existing method for securing coöperation among them. Both State and national associations are organizations with a merely occasional purpose. The chief function of the permanent officers is to arrange for the annual meetings, at which the main business of members is to listen to addresses. Such organizations usually have no power over practical educational affairs in the interim, and even the resolutions of such meetings have few consequences. The need is for a more adequate national organization of all American public school teachers upon a permanent basis which will insure a day-to-day influence upon school affairs." The existing plan of holding annual conventions must be replaced by such organization as will provide for frequent local business and professional sessions. To maintain a democratic spirit the organization must be from the bottom to the top,-i.e., local teachers'

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