maxim. Whatever knowledge is taught a child should be so taught
that the act of acquiring it shall be of greater value than the know
ledge itself.
Principle VII. In the teaching of any school art, clear and
correct ideals should inspire and guide practice.
The first step in teaching any art is to lead the pupil to form
correct ideals of what he is to do or produce, and to this end, he
should be presented with the best of models and examples.
The next step is to give the pupil a knowledge of the processes,
by which his ideals can best be embodied.
The processes of every art are based on principles which, when
formulated become rules, hence a complete knowledge of an art in
cludes a knowledge of its guiding principles. The principles and
rules of an art are most helpful in practice when, they are so famil
iar to the artist as to be observed without being consciously kept in
mind. It is only when ideals and principles become unconscious
guides that true art appears.
This principle explains the interaction of mind and hand in
manual processes, and shows how the hand assists the mind that
guides it. The movements of the hand have a reflex influence on
the mind, provided the mind attends to and guides the hand. But
an involuntary and automatic action of the hand or other part or
organ of the body has very little if any influence on the mind. The
mind is developed and trained only when it controls and acts with
the body. Mere physical labor has never uplifted and educated any
people, either intellectually or morally. Thus we see that the say
ing. "We learn to do by doing is only a half truth. Simple doing,
without the guidance of knowledge, never made an artist or an art
isan. The poorest teaching is often done by teachers who have
grown gray in the school room. "What is needed to transmute ex
perience into teaching skill and power, is the inspiration of true
ideals and the guidance of correct principles. Blind experience is
always and every where a plodder.
13.