PART III
‘HABIT IS TEN NATURES’
I. EDUCATION BASED UPON NATURAL LAW
1. Show that a healthy brain and outdoor life are conditions of education.
2. Show that habit is the instrument by which parents work.
II. THE CHILDREN HAVE NO SELF-COMPELLING POWER
1. Show that education is commonly a _cul-de-sac_.
2. Name three great educational forces.
3. Why are not these forces sufficient?
4. Why are children incapable of steady effort?
5. Why should young children be, to some extent, saved the effort of decision?
III. WHAT IS ‘NATURE’?
1. What may we state of the child as a human being?
2. Show that all persons are born with the same primary desires.
3. And affections.
4. Name affections common to us all.
5. What does the most elemental notion of human nature include?
6. What have you to say of the strength of nature _plus_ heredity?
7. What manner of differences may physical conditions bring about?
8. Of what is human nature the sum?
9. Why must not the child be left to his human nature?
10. What is the problem before the educator?
11. Show that divine grace works on the lines of human effort.
12. Why must not the trust of parents be supine?
IV. HABIT MAY SUPPLANT ‘NATURE’
1. Show that habit runs on the lines of nature.
2. How must habit work to be a lever?
3. Show that a mother forms her children’s habits involuntarily.
4. Illustrate the fact that habit may force nature into new channels.
5. To what end must parents and teachers lay down the lines of habit?
V. THE LAYING DOWN OF LINES OF HABIT
1. Show that parents initiate their children’s habits of thought and feeling by their own behaviour.
2. Does education in habit interfere with free-will?
3. Show how good it is that habit should rule our thoughts.
4. Show that habit is powerful even when the will decides.
VI. THE PHYSIOLOGY OF HABIT
1. Illustrate the fact that growing tissues form themselves to the modes of action required of them.
2. Show fully and exactly why children should learn dancing, swimming, etc., at an early age.
3. To what fact is the strength of moral habits probably due?
4. Show the danger of persistent trains of thought.
5. What does the incessant regeneration of brain tissue imply to the educator?
6. Show that to acquire artificial reflex action in certain directions is a great part of education.
7. What are the aims of intellectual and moral education?
8. Show that character is affected by the acquired modification of brain tissue.
9. Show the need for care with regard to outside influences.
VII. THE FORMING OF A HABIT--‘SHUT THE DOOR AFTER YOU’
1. What remains to be tried when neither time, reward, nor punishment is effective in curing a bad habit?
2. Show that habit is a delight in itself.
3. Show that misguided sympathy is a hindrance in the formation of habits.
4. What are the qualities necessary in the mother who would form habits in her children?
5. What are the stages in the formation of a habit?
6. Which is the dangerous stage?
VIII. INFANT HABITS
1. Show the necessity for cleanliness in the nursery.
2. How do cleanliness, order, etc., educate a child?
3. Why is the training of a sensitive nose an important part of education?
4. Why should nurses know that the baby is ubiquitous?
5. Show that personal cleanliness should be made an early habit.
6. How may parents approach the subjects of modesty and purity?
7. Show how the habit of obedience and the sense of honour are safeguards.
8. What manner of life is the best safeguard?
9. Give some suggestions with regard to ‘order’ in the nursery.
10. Show how and why the child of two should put away his playthings.
11. Distinguish between neatness and order.
12. What occasions are there for regularity with an infant?
13. Show that irregularity leads to self-indulgence.
IX. PHYSICAL EXERCISES
1. Show the importance of daily physical exercises.
2. What moral qualities appear in alert movements?
3. Suggest a drill of good manners.
4. How would you train the ear and voice?
5. How may the habit of music be cultivated?
6. Show that the mother who trains habits can let her children alone.
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