There was a current belief at one time that object lessons should form
a _special study_ for a particular period of school life, namely, the
first years. It was thought that sufficient sense-materials could be
collected in two or three years to supply the whole school curriculum.
But this thought is now abandoned. Children in the earlier grades may
properly spend more time in object study than in later grades, but
there is no time in school life when we can afford to cut loose from
the real world. There is scarcely a lesson in any subject that can not
be clarified and strengthened by calling in the fresh experiences of
daily life.
The discussion of the concept and of the inductive process has shown
that _concepts cannot be found at first hand_. There must be
observation of different objects, comparison, and grouping into a
class. A person who has never seen an elephant nor a picture of one,
can form no adequate notion of elephants in general. We can by no
shift dispense with the illustrations. The more the memory is filled
with vivid pictures of real things, the more easy and rapid will be the
progress to general truths. Not only are general notions of classes of
objects in nature, or of personal actions built up out of particulars,
but the general laws and principles of nature and of human society must
be observed in real life to be understood.
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