Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 17.djvu/27

 ADOLESCENOE H ADBAA

times extreme, of the old school; that it has Intellectual education, however useful or desirable

contributed to broadening and enriching a it may be, is secondary to religious and moral

curriculum which had become extremely narrow; education, which looks to the formation of good

that it has helped the teacher in gaining a better habits. Such at least is the position of the Catholic

understanding of the problem of attention; that Church. She has ever consistently taught that

it has brought about a better adaptation of the man's worth is not to be found in what he knows

teaching process to the capacities of the growing or thinks, but in what he does; that a virtuous

mind. However, when all has been said in the life in not only the logical preparation for eternal

favor of interest, the fact remains that there is salvation, but the best guarantee of happiness in

in the school and still more in life much of an this life; that a sound moral education is impos-

uninteresting nature that must be done and on sible without relieion.

the other hand there are many things in themselves The means to be employed for moral training

alluring that must be avoided. Life for most of are many, but they can all be brought under one

us is no path strewn with roses; it is full of diflS- or the other of the following headings: example,

culties, setbacks, disappointments, hard knocks, and supervision, ethical and religious instruction, and

on the whole more bitter pills to swallow than certain means provided by the Church, such as

sugar plums to taste. If the school is to be a the Sacraments. The first two only will be briefly

preparation for life, the motto of its work should considered here, the others havinz been treated

not be interest but effort, for the chances are at length in the first edition of this work. The

that the child who has been fed on the diet of in- educative value of example can hardly be over-

terest will be found sadly wanting when con* estimated; it has been recognized in all ages;

fronted with the realities of the workaday world, it has been insisted upon by all leading educators;

Much has been said, and rightly so, on the it has found its way into the language of every

necessity for the teacher of appealing to and train- civilized nation in some such adage as: "Verba

ing the senses of his pupils, of proceeding from the movent, exempla trahunt," ''A man is known by

concrete to the abstract, from the particular to the company he keeps." Example is the great

the general, from the empirical to the rational, teacher of all of us throughout life, but its influence

This signifies that in learning his mother-tongue is perhaps nowhere felt more lastingly than in the

the child will approach grammar through the liter- home. The mother, burdened by cares, regrets

aiy product; in the study of a foreign language, that she cannot give more time to instructing her

that he will start with a maximum of conversation children. She forgets that in the example of her

and a minimum of formal grammar; in mathematics virtues they are taught a lesson a hundred times

that he will proceed from the concrete example more valuable than any instruction she may give

to the general definition or proposition; in geogra- them in the school branches. This influence of

phy, that he wiU study first the particular features example has its explanation in the deep-rooted

of the locality in which he lives as a starting point human tendencnr to imitate whatever captivates

for wider and broader generalizations: in history the attention, be it good or bad or indifferent,

that he will first be acquainted with the great Hence follows the sacr^ duty of parent and teacher

national personalities and events; in science, that to set none but good examples before their charges,

experiment and laboratory will illustrate and sup- to guard them against all evil influences, to supervise

plement the lecture; in the teaching of every suo- their readings and relationships. Neglect of watch-

ject, that the pedagogue will try to appeal to the fulness in tms regard is indeed sad enough, but

assumption

most successful application in the elementary school of growing to be a respectable citizen, is a folly

but it has also been adopted with good results that passes all description.

by the high schools and the college. What is F^svuos, T6Umaque; Education de» FiUea; Baldwin,

not always realized however, or at least not suf- ?2r*°' 5"! ^iH^ 'S'^!2!?'*?? in Mental Dtvdopment

c^i^^^Ut a»«<«r»»^ ;« ♦!,«* ♦k^ .r^^^^^-^i^ ;- u«* » (New York, 1906); Bbackett, The Education of American

fiCiently stressed, is that the principle is but a oirh: Bushnill. Christian Nurture (New York, 1916); Cot,

means to a higher end. Knowledge of the con- The Spiritual Life (New York); Fiskb, Boy Life and Self'

CTete is but a beginning, c. stepping-stone to con- ^^l^.'JS'f. ffifr-^S i.!?*^^' ^T?i2?"v'*u*^uJS''* aSf^

-.^■i^* u,,;i^;««» ;.,J»»«»«f ^..^ •Jr»c.^;.«» «»u;^k „«^ York. 1904); Mahb, Paychologv (New York, 1909); Swift,

cept building, judgment and reasoning, which are youth and the Race (New York, 1912); Thorndike, Educa-

the real prerogatives of man and should therefore tional Ptycholoav (New York, 1914); Tracy, Psychology of

receive the greatest attention from the teacher ChadhoodmewYotk,m9);imuPavcholog^^^^


 * .♦ ^,r^»«r ^»^ ^f 4U^ ^^,,^«4^;,r<^ *^*«>^<,«> U„* «o«^ ^^ew York, 1920); Ttlb. Growth and Education (New

at every stage of the educative process, but espe- York. 1907); Waonb, Youth (New York. 1918). cially durmg the penod of which we treat. p, Mabiqub. Adolescence, as we have seen, is a period of ex- pansion of the entire being, nowhere more striking Adoption (cf. C. E., I-147c).— The canon law now perhaps than in the intellect. The youth is ea^er conforms to the civil law in each country regarding for vigorous mental exertion, eager to tackle with the effect of le^ adoption on marriage. Where, genuine difficulties, and he finds great delight in therefore, the civil law looks upon the legal rela- the solution of any question calling for keen intel- tionship as rendering a marriage invalid, adoption lectual insight and close reasoning. The natural is a diriment matrimonial impnediment; where the manner of dealinig with the young intellect is not civil law considers the marriage valid but illegal, then to burden it with a mass of concrete facts, the impediment is merely prohibitory ; in any ot^er but to develop by appropriate exercise its powers country adoption has no effect on marriage, of abstraction, generalization, judging and reason- ing. And after all that is the best preparation Adraa, a titular see of Arabia, suffragan of Bostra for intellectual leadership. The master mind in in the patriarchate of Antioch, identical with the any field of human endeavor is not the walking Biblical city of Edrai, one of the two capitals of encyclopedia, but he who can analyze any given Og, King of Basan, near which he was defeated by situation, abstract its essential elements and from the Israelites (Num. xxi, 33-35; Deut. i, 4' iii. 1-10), these reach a sound generalization, be it law or when the country passed to the half-tribe of principle or decision. Manasses. Prior to this time it was inhabited by