Youth and the Race: A Study in the Psychology of Adolescence

Edgar James Swift

Jan 1912 · C. Scribner's Sons

About this ebook

"The role which racial instincts play in the emotions, intellect, and will of children has been the subject of many investigations in recent years by those interested in the psychology of childhood. These studies, however, have had but slight effect upon the methods of the schools. This book is an attempt to show the possible application of some of these results to the education of children. Teachers have followed the traditional methods of education which were adopted before the knowledge which we now have was available. The ideas and practice of the old English grammar-schools were brought to this country by those deeply imbued with belief in the natural depravity of children, and our educational methods have never recovered from the affliction. The author has tried to indicate how the schools may help to transform into intellectual and moral forces the racial instincts which, as manifestations of original sin, distressed our forefathers. Effort has also been made to fix the responsibility for conditions that cause these primitive impulses to continue dominant beyond the age when they should yield to social and ethical principles of action"--Préface. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).