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McMurry, Charles Alexander, 1857-1929

"The Elements of General Method Based on the Principles of Herbart"

"
Herbart says, "The treasure of advice and warning, of precept and
principle, of transmitted laws and institutions, which earlier
generations have prepared and handed down to the latter, belongs to the
strongest of psychological forces." That is, choice historical
illustrations produce a weighty effect upon the minds of children, if
selected from those epochs which correspond to a child's own periods of
growth.
The culture epochs imply _an intimate union between history and natural
science_, the two main branches of knowledge, at every step. The
isolation between these studies, which has often appeared and is still
strong, is unnatural and does violence to the unity of education
historically considered. Men at all times have had physical nature in
and around them. Every child is an intimate blending of historical and
physical (natural science) elements. The culture epochs illustrate a
_constant change and expansion of history and natural science_ together
and in harmony (despite the conflict between them). As men have
progressed historically and socially from age to age their
interpretation of nature has been modified with growing discovery,
insight, invention, and utilization of her resources.


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