In The Classroom

With Children Under Thirteen Years of Age

Towards World Understanding - V

UNESCO Publication 356

Georges Lang, Paris

D.L 3 Trim. 1949 B2388

Table of Contents

(This document was provided by D. L. Cuddy, Ph.D.,
and formatted for web use by the Environmental Conservation Organization.)





Introduction

International Seminars, or study conferences, have become one of UNESCO's most important educational activities. In 1948 three were held under the general title of "Education for a World Society." One of them met at Podebrady, Czechoslovakia, from 21 July to 25 August, and was attended by 44 participants from 16 countries, who had been selected by their governments to make an intensive study of "Childhood Education from 3 to 13 years of age." The director of this Seminar was Mrs. Aase G. Skard, Professor of Psychology at Oslo University, Norway.

The most valuable feature of these Seminars is the small informal group in which information is exchanged, ideas and methods are discussed, and solutions to problems are suggested. At Podebrady, four groups were formed to consider different aspects of childhood education, including the influence of the home the school, and the social environment on young children.

One group, consisting of 14 members from 10 different countries, met under the Chairmanship of Mr. Louis Meylan, Professor of Education at the University of Lausanne, and concentrated its attention on education in the classroom as a means of developing international understanding.

After the Seminar was over a full report of the work of his group was drawn up by Professor Meylan from detailed notes made during its meetings. The report was then submitted for comments to a number of the participants, and was subsequently revised by Professor Meylan in order to meet all the suggestions made to him. The version printed here is an abridgement of the original since some omissions, other than those suggested by the participants, seemed necessary if the report was to be read with interest by those who were not members of the Seminar. For instance, after twelve days of work the group divided into two sub-groups in order to facilitate its work, and in the Chairman's full account this reorganization was clearly shown. As, however, their discussions followed roughly parallel lines, the reports of both groups have not been reproduced here.

The report often has the flavour and style of a travel story. It is in fact an exploration, for, although education for international understanding is a territory which educators believe they know, few have troubled to name and to exploit all its resources. Therefore, the reader should not expect to find in the following pages an analysis of a system of education or a treatise on comparative methods. During their daily meetings, the members, working together in complete freedom of thought and speech, attempted first of all to find answers to questions which they thought would inevitably face their colleagues in schools all over the world. The discussions brought into view differences of opinion, which are reflected in this book, but each participant was much more concerned with placing his knowledge and experience at the disposal of the entire group than with defending any particular doctrine or method.

The views expressed are not, of course, the official views of UNESCO, nor are they necessarily acceptable to all members of the group. It is hoped, however, that they will arouse interest and stimulate discussion among teachers in many countries.

The report will give readers some impression of the working method of a UNESCO Seminar. But the success of a Seminar should not be judged solely by reports of this kind. The final test is the effect on the participants of living and working in an international community, and, through them, the effect on educational practice in the countries from which they come.

The Problem in General

Toward Education for World-Mindedness

The task to which the group applied itself was a study of the role the school can play in developing among children a sense of international understanding. Before the child enters school his mind has already been profoundly marked, and often injuriously, by earlier influences; but the process of schooling may exercise a decisive effect, for it is through the experience of schooling that the child applies and develops the rudimentary sense of community he has first gained, however dimly, in the home.

The Role of Education Today

In most countries, especially at the secondary level, schooling lags behind the times. It does not equip the child with the adaptability he requires in a world of rapid change and development, nor does it help the child to become internationally-minded by giving him enough information and interest concerning the life of other nations. Every political, economic or social change, wherever it occurs today, must finally affect the lives and fortunes of people in other countries; and if, in the face of this, our schools attempt to prepare the child only for the way of life in his own particular country, they are failing in their function.

In our time, we need to dedicate education to the service of the human community as a whole. The ideal to be pursued is that, whether in the home, the social environment or the school, our children should be educated to live with others and to prepare themselves for citizenship in a world society. With that kind of education they will be protected against selfish individualism and indiscriminate sociability, both of which are a misdirection of human effort. So far as the school's part in this process is concerned, we may summarize its object as being to secure in the child a sense of community, first in the class, then in the successively larger groups comprised by the school, the neighborhood, and the nation, in a progression of loyalties which will enable him later to reach the climax of membership in the world community. As the corollary to this effort, the school must also equip him with a wider knowledge of the nations and peoples who make up that community.

The "Integral" School

The school in which progress was measured by the unity of textbooks "mastered" in a certain time is giving place to a school where the individuality of the child is allowed scope for development, where he assimilates knowledge to nourish his interests, and not for its own sake. Here he comes into contact with all the arts which have emerged from civilization, the sciences and the experimental method by which they advance, and the history of civilization; in short, he makes his first acquaintance with those examples of human excellence and aspiration which may kindle in him a sense of the meaning of humanity.

In this environment the child also takes his first lessons in human living. he develops such faculties as attention, criticism, coherent expression of meaning, awareness of beauty, and moral values. He begins to grasp the meaning of sincerity, tact, and sensitivity, and learns to transform self-interest into willingness to serve. All these ends he pursues in a little community of his own kind. They are the preparatory lessons he must learn in order to take his place in the adult community.

The kind of school described in the foregoing paragraphs -- the "integral" type as we call it, because it embodies the best of the traditional school as well as the ideals essential to the school of today -- is able, of course, to impart that knowledge of the Three R's which has for centuries constituted the curriculum of the traditional schools. But it is far better able than the latter to familiarize the child with the social geography of his time and to foster in him those interests and concerns which will make him able and willing, in due course, to collaborate with people of different races and traditions in the fulfilment of the obligations of a world citizen.

Furthermore, such a school is able to reconcile the need of children for adult supervision, recognized by the older type of school, with respect for the individuality of the child, in such a way that he is conditioned for liberty under laws freely accepted. In the matter of intellectual discipline, the integral school chooses the best from old and new systems of education. The school of the past concentrated upon drilling the child in a series of mental exercises in which "learning by heart" was a favorite operation. Educational reform then went to the opposite extreme and denied all virtue to memorizing. What mattered, it was declared, was not to know but to comprehend, a point of view which tended to turn the child's mind into a mill without grist. Our integral school, rejecting both extremes, acts on the assumption (a) that memorization is valuable if the ideas to be committed to memory have first been grasped, and (b) that definition and classification are excellent mental exercises so long as they are applied to specific creative activities in the classroom.

The wider outlook

The school which present times demand is not one planted on the outskirts of life, but one which faces the daily realities of group-living. It is in the school that the child can be trained to identify and serve the group to which he belongs at each stage of his life, and thus to realize his social responsibilities. Only such a school as envisaged here can make the child capable of understanding and acting upon the reciprocal, give-and-take relationship which should exist between himself and the world society in which he lives.

The place of Kindergarten

The kindergarten or infant school has a significant part to play in the child's education. Not only can it correct many of the errors of home training, but it can also prepare the child for membership, at about the age of seven, in a group of his own age and habits -- the first of many such social identifications that he must achieve on his way to membership in the world society.

Should attendance at kindergartens be compulsory for all children? Such a policy might antagonize parents by seeming to encroach upon their rights and duties, and we therefore, doubt its advisability, but we affirm the opinion that, between the ages of 5 and 7, attendance at kindergarten is most desirable.

Co-education

Next we consider co-education. Does it, or does it not, encourage habit of thought which promote a world-outlook in children? In so far as co-education tends to eliminate such drastic generalizations as "This is a matter for men! This isn't the concern of women!", it turns the young mind from prejudice towards understanding and tolerance, and to that extent is a desirable influence in education for world citizenship. The objections to the system are that some times it clashes too sharply with local custom, and that it does not recognize that some subjects, such as mathematics, require separate teaching methods for girls and boys. Co-education, however, breaks down barriers and encourages collaboration between girls and boys; and, thus, from the point of view of this enquiry it has much to commend it.

A new approach

It is not by adding new subjects to the curriculum, we concluded, but rather by animating the whole school with a humane and co-operative spirit that will develop the world outlook. It is of course true that certain "subjects" can contribute very effectively to creating this outlook. History and geography, particularly, may be taught so as to give the child a sense of unity with other times, people and places. Science, too, can serve the same end. The study of modern languages, moreover, may encourage awareness of other countries, and the study of Greek and Latin can no less powerfully stimulate this awareness, for there are few civilizations on which the Greeks and Romans have not left their mark in science, philosophy and the arts. In short, all the subjects, as such, can play their part in developing a world outlook, but it would be idle to suppose that any selection of subjects can of itself produce this attitude. What is required is not only the right subjects, but also the proper spirit in the school, the appropriate personality in the teachers, and the consciousness among pupils of a group relationship. Only a combined operation of this kind can achieve our end.

The influence of the teacher

There remain certain general attitudes to be created if we are to achieve success in making our children world-minded. We have accepted the fact that knowledge of the world can be a force in this direction, and that geography, history, and foreign languages help to provide such knowledge. But we must find ways and means to develop a moral approach as well: that is to say, we must cultivate among pupils such attributes as justice, tolerance and a sense of service. How can these attributes be cultivated by the school? No matter how carefully we plan the curriculum nor how much we provide opportunities for our pupils to cultivate the group sense, we come back in the end to the incontrovertible fact that it is the teacher's attitude towards the world society which has the strongest influence on the pupil's mind.

The Teaching of Geography

In the schools of the United States, history, geography, and civics are grouped together under the heading of social studies, a fact which illustrates their bearing on our particular problem. These studies seem to us inseparable, at least up to the age of 13, from education in social-mindedness. We confined our enquiry at this point to the effect of geographical and historical studies on children 3 to 13 years of age.

In our view, history and geography should be taught at this stage as universal history and geography. Of the two, only geography lends itself well to study during the years prescribed by the present survey. The study of history, on the other hand, raises problems of value which are better postponed until the pupil is freed from the nationalist prejudices which at present surround the teaching of history.

The study of universal geography, in some of its aspect at least, can profitably begin about the age of 8. It would need to be planned on a very different basis from the present customary practice. One method much in use now is to teach geography in a series of widening circles, beginning with local geography (i.e. the classroom, the school building and its surrounding, the village, the country) and proceeding to a study of the nation and the continent. Only when that routine has been accomplished is the child introduced to the rest of the world. This progress from the particular and the immediate to the general and the remote may be logical, but does it serve our purpose? One is reminded of Socrates' assertion that most errors of judgment are really errors of perspective. Does not this system of study lead pupils to the mistaken conclusion that what is nearest to them is the most important, and what is remote is relatively insignificant? The child's country is made to appear in his atlas equal in size and importance to a hemisphere, from which he may conclude that its affairs are at least as decisive as those of the whole of Asia. In some atlases the child's country is shown on every page on the same scale as the map to which it is to be compared. This is an admirable device, but would it not be better still if the first map constantly before the eyes of the child were a map of the world? On it he could see his own country in its proper perspective; and he would get into the habit of regarding the earth as his habitat, and his country as part of it, instead of considering the rest of the world as an annex to his own country.

This seemed to us so important that we were led to hope that UNESCO might persuade a publisher to prepare a world map that would really touch the child's imagination. It should depict the flora and fauna of other regions, the spectacles of art and nature. It should summarize the splendors of the earth; and when, later on, the child began the study of national geography, he would be already partly immunized against an exaggerated sense of the importance and beauty of his own country, that is to say, against that error of perspective which is at the root of jingoism and nationalism. We propose, further, that there ought to be a UNESCO atlas, in the form of a portfolio containing unlettered maps and over-lay sheets of transparent paper printed in the various languages with the names of mountains, rivers, and towns. The study of their common habitat from the same atlas would constitute an additional bond between all the children of the world.

Enlarging the imagination

We strongly recommend that the study of geography proceed from the general to the particular: from the earth to the continents, from the continents to the countries. It is only at about the age of 8 that a child can begin a study of the general geography, that is, of the distribution of land and water, of air and sea currents, hydrography, climate, occupations, etc. Even before this, every opportunity should be taken to enlarge the child's imagination and encourage him in an interest in all that is remote and strange; and to engender such an esteem for "theirs" as will counteract the exclusive regard for all that is "mine." It will not be difficult, for example, to interest him in countries that produce some of his food and clothing: Brazil, India, China, Australia, Egypt. He should, at the same time, be told about the inhabitants of these distant lands, their children's games, their occupations, their tools, their domestic animals, their daily dangers and their skill in circumventing them.

Everything may be a source of interest for the child, but not at one and the same time. The teacher must be on the alert to satisfy, at each stage of their development, the successive interests of his pupils, and in determining this succession he will get useful clues from the questions they put. In answering them, the teacher should speak the language of the naturalist or of the ethnologist or of the economist, as the occasion requires. At all times he must speak the language of the poet so that his pupils may visualize what he describes to them, and identify themselves in their imagination with people different from themselves. It would be remiss of the teacher to let slip the opportunity of firing the child's imagination at the appropriate moment with a description of Niagara, the great Colorado Canyon, the fishers of Iceland, the South Sea sponge and pearl divers, or the appearance of New York, Rio de Janeiro or the Table Mountain.

Though the cinema is not indispensable to this way of teaching, good documentary films may be of great help; but they are rare, and it will be a long time before schools generally are equipped with projectors. We should like to remind teachers that the spoken word has a magic power of suggestion, and that the old-fashioned slide is sometimes as effective as the film. Gramophone records may also be used, so long as they and the instrument on which they are played are good. Folk-lore is an inexhaustible mine of interest, but one which the teacher should exploit with discrimination: games, dances, festivals, and ceremonies of marriage and baptism will furnish useful materials.

It is not enough, however, to tell the child about distant countries and different cultures, and to delineate their characteristics. He should be encouraged to read on his own, and to collect objects representative of the peoples that stir his interest. Thus he may be stimulated to play at being a fur hunter, or an Eskimo in his kayak, and so identify himself with the joys and sorrows of these people. In this way the strong collecting and playing urges of children at this age may be used to cultivate their world-mindedness.

The teacher should take every opportunity to put his pupils in contact with men who have lived or traveled in distant parts, for the tales of an eye-witness and the sight of the things he has brought back will make those countries vivid to the child.

Certain delicate problems, however, will arise in these studies and explorations., Not everything in foreign ways of living can be presented to children in an attractive light. At this stage, though, the systematic examination of countries and manners can be postponed, and the teacher need seek only to ensure that his children appreciate, through abundant and judicious examples, that foreign countries, too, possess things of interest and beauty, and that many of them resemble the beauty and interest of his own country. A child taught thus about the different countries of the world will gradually lose those habits of prejudice and contempt which are an impediment to world-mindedness.

Encouraging tolerance

Professor Andre Rey, in one of his lectures, made a point of great importance: "We must be on our guard," he said, "against forcing the child's sympathy for certain kinds of behavior in other lands which differ from those of his own people." The feelings of hostility which we might for the time being repress are liable, in later life, to break out in most unpleasant forms. The best we can expect is that the child will be tolerant of ways of living different from those he knows in his own land -- beginning, perhaps, with a tolerance for the many possible ways of holding a knife and fork, or eating a melon.

An illustration of this problem is to be found in the tradition of rights of primogeniture. Where this custom obtains the eldest son inherits the title and the family property, and the younger sons leave the ancestral home to join the army or the priesthood. The first reaction of a child in a country where the patrimony is equally divided between sons and daughters would probably be to consider such a practice monstrously unjust. "But," the teacher might say, "let us look into the question more closely. What can possibly be the reason for such a proceeding?" It is probable that at least one pupil will hit on the answer, namely, that the intention is to preserve the patrimony in its entirety. It may occur to another that the division of the property between all the children would make the shares of it so small that none of the heirs could live on the produce of the land, and all would be obliged to sell their portions and go to work in an office or a factory. Analyses of this kind will help the child to realize that solutions to a problem may be as numerous as the cultures in which the problem arises, and that each one of these solutions has its advantages and shortcomings. He will acquire the habit of seeking the reason for a custom which at first sight may seem ridiculous. Even though he does not always discover the reason, he will be inclined to admit that it exists, or at least to suspend judgment until he is more fully informed.

There is another relevant consideration. To like everything indiscriminately means, in the end, that one loves nothing properly. Living, like creating a work of art, involves expression of choice and preference. Without this choice there can be no style; and just as the work of art stands or falls by its style, so different cultures will demonstrate their fitness only in so far as they reveal a well-defined style. The child accustomed to consider in this light the various solutions applied to the same problem by different cultures will more easily understand, later on, that the formula valid in the work of art, that is to say, unity in diversity, is also valid for a humanity which is conscious of its unity, yet also aware of the diversities which compose the unity. The success of the teacher in bringing up his pupils to be good citizens of the world will depend on the extent to which he makes them capable of tolerance in this positive sense.

The Teaching of History

The study of history may also usefully contribute to the development of world-mindedness, but precautions must be observed, especially in modern history. Sennacherib and the Roman Triumvirs earned universal obloquy by their mass executions and tyrannies, but these horrors were not wreaked upon us and those we love; they are so antique as not to stir us any more, and they consequently do not prevent us from feeling amicably disposed toward the present inhabitants of Iraq and Italy. But modern history is our history. To the Swiss child told about the wars of the Empire, the Austrian and Russians are the ogres who laid waste his own countryside. To a Spanish child studying the same period, the French are the brutal invaders who shot down the patriots. For the child of Lorraine reading about the Hundred Years War, the English are the people who burned Joan of Arc. We therefore repeat the recommendation that the study of modern history should be undertaken only with young people whose critical objectivity and world-mindedness have already been well developed. It is impossible to expect young children to regard events from which they have suffered vicariously to display a serenity which even the adult finds hard to attain. Therefore, it is fortunate that the prolongation of compulsory attendance at school in many countries permits postponement of the systematic study of modern history until such time as it may be pursued under the best possible conditions.

The problem of textbooks

There is another danger to be faced in teaching history.. School textbooks have, as a rule, been written with so little objectivity and integrity that history, as generally taught up to now, has been an obstacle to international understanding. The child has been led to conclude that perfidy and oppression are always and solely the characteristics of the enemy. The need is urgent for a general revision of textbooks, both national and general, along the lines recently followed by the Scandinavian countries, who have come to an agreement about how best to present the conflicts which divided them in the past. This revision, another task worthy of UNESCO, should carry much further the elimination of events which, from the world-education point of view, have no value, such as the endless catalogues of wars. It is not to these accidents which have periodically jeopardized and distracted civilization that the child's attention should be drawn, but to the constructive activities which help to advance civilization, materially and spiritually: the great discoveries; the inventions which make life more secure and happy; the methods for putting the resources of the globe at the disposal of all people. These things make the child feel that he belongs to the whole of humanity, and impel him to discharge his debt to the past by working with all his skill for a better life. History must cease to be military history and must become the history of civilization.

There is need above all for universal history. Just as the child should grow used to considering the earth as his habitat, so he must learn to consider the whole of humanity as the fatherland in whose service the particular fatherlands, his own and all others, are enrolled. Until quite recent times world history was not taught in any school, whether primary or secondary; only the history of part of the world was studied. Before P. de Coubertin's Universal History, and H.G. Wells' Outline of History, there was no available general account which included the Arab, Indian, Egyptian, Chinese, and the pre-Columbian civilizations.

The teaching of history, therefore, should proceed, as should that of geography, not from the particular to the general, but from the general to the particular. Yet in many countries, as we have seen, not only is national history studied at great length without regard to the universal context which alone can give it meaning, but also even the study of general history )general, not universal) is reserved for the secondary level. In the elementary school only national history is taught, and that often with the narrow view already discussed.

Some specific suggestions

The stage of civilization which the world has reached makes it imperative that from now on all children be taught some measure of international, or universal, history, and that they should study the history of their own country only in relation to its part in the development of the whole of humanity. We could not hope to examine all the problems raised by the conception, and so limited ourselves to the following remarks.

1.Within the prescribed age limits, all we may expect to do is to teach the child to consider the history of humanity as a great adventure in which he himself has a part to play. The task of the teacher (using methods similar to those we recommended in the teaching of geography) is to awake in the child a sympathetic interest for the men of former times, an admiration for their achievements, and a sense of what we owe to their courage, their sacrifices, their perseverance and their intelligence.

2. An effort must be made in the first place to establish a framework that will give order and coherence to particular events. The child must be given, by means of concrete examples, a sense of time; he must be made to realize the meaning of the terms "century" (three generations of man), and "millennium;" to understand that scarcely 2,000 years have elapsed since the opening of our era, that the history of Egyptian civilization alone covers a period three times as long, and that the pre-historic period is much longer than any of which there is a written record. In order to instil in the child this sense of historical dimension, some teachers are in favor of the synoptic table, or time-chart, divided into periods of 100 and 1,000 years, and showing in chronological order the great events and figures of humanity. These charts usually display, as the entries for pre-historic times, such items as the invention of the roller and the wheel, the millstone, the art of fire; in historical periods they show the construction of the Pyramids and the Parthenon, the expedition of Alexander; Buddah and Confucius; the Vikings, the Crusades, Magna Carta, Christopher Columbus, the American Declaration of Independence, the French Revolution, the Red Cross, the League of Nations. In the way the children get used to "seeing" history as a series of parallel movements, all tending towards the same thing, the unity of peoples, and each one contributing its share to the common cause of civilization.

To build up such a synchronized chart is no easy matter: some columns remain half empty, while in others there is not room for all the important events which should be included. For this reason many schoolmasters have abandoned this device, in spite of its attractions of clarity and simplicity. UNESCO would be doing a great service if it were to appoint a committee of educators (rather than historians) for the purpose of compiling a satisfactory table of this kind. There would then be in every classroom, beside the UNESCO map, a UNESCO Time-Chart of the History of Humanity, constituting yet another bond between children throughout the world.

3. The study of universal history, then, should begin by showing the child, on a reliable time-chart, the key events which mark its general trend. These should lead straight to a study of the pre-historic period, and of the first material signs of civilization: pottery, the needle, the canoe hollowed out from a tree-trunk, together with the effects of these achievements on the minds and spirits of men.

These are things which correspond to the natural interest of the child, and which he is capable not only of understanding, but also of"acting." When, at a later age he comes to the study of more complex civilizations, such as the Egyptian, the Chaldean, the Aegean, the Chinese, or even the pre-Columbian, he will bring to them the benefit of intellectual habits and an emotional maturity more precious to learning than anything to be found in the premature and bookish teaching of history as practiced until now.

The Teaching of Foreign Languages

To know a language other than one's own undoubtedly promotes international understanding. In the first place it makes possible the direct contacts with peoples of other cultures which are most valuable. It is through language, moreover, that we acquire a true understanding of the essence of a given culture. Poets, whose expression of cultural values is more faithful than any other, yield up their secrets only to those who read them in the original.

The simple fact of understanding a language other than one's own has the further effect of modifying one's attitude toward other cultures, for the man who speaks only his own language is inclined to consider all those speaking a different one to be more or less inarticulate barbarians, in the Hellenic sense of the word. It would seem, therefore, that the study of modern languages, made part of the secondary school curriculum in the eighteenth century mainly for utilitarian purposes, should now be incorporated into basic education for a quite different reason, namely, to modify the child's attitude toward foreign civilizations.

It may, however, be argued that this study is beyond the reach of the majority of elementary school pupils. Experiments have, however, been made and from these it appears that a considerable proportion of elementary school children are capable of assimilating quite satisfactorily at least one foreign language. In South Africa, for instance, all children learn the two languages in current use there -- Afrikaans and English. The same thing occurs in certain small European countries where almost everyone speaks and understands the language of his neighbors as well as his own. Thus, the Welsh understand English, and the Danes and Luxembourgers understand German

International Schools

Another interesting experiment is that conducted in international schools. These institutions are indeed attended as a rule by pupils with a polyglot background, but it is non the less striking to see how, in a few months, children of so many different nationalities speak and understand two languages, and in some cases, three. It thus seems feasible, by adopting the means employed in the countries and schools just mentioned, to give a great majority of children the benefit of at least one language other than their native tongue. The fact is now established, thanks to the international school, that young children, after mixing for three months or so with children whose language they do not know, are capable of understanding and speaking the language of their school-fellows without any consciousness that they are speaking a foreign tongue. They acquire this second language without any teaching in the ordinary sense, simply through usage, just as they acquire their mother tongue in the first place. It would seem from this that young children, at a certain stage in their development at any rate, are particularly apt at learning a foreign tongue. In towns where a sufficient variety of foreign families live an experiment might well be made with international classes in which the languages of the pupils would be freely spoken.

The experience of the bilingual countries

It is true that children, having learned a language in this way, forget it rapidly as soon as they no longer have the opportunity to speak it. It is important, then, to supply them with such opportunities until the systematic study of the written language comes along to fix it firmly in their minds.

In this connection we may find guidance in the example of bilingual countries. In Johannesburg and Pretoria the children who speak Afrikaans at home learn English at school, while those speaking English at home learn Afrikaans at school. This means that they are grouped, to begin with, in parallel classes, one composed of children who have to learn Afrikaans, and the other of those who have to learn English. Before they leave school, all of them understand and speak the two languages equally well. How is this achieved? Once the first notions of the unknown language have been acquired, part of the syllabus is taught to the pupils in that language. The children who know only English study first one subject then two, then three, four, or five, through the medium of Afrikaans; with Afrikaans-speaking children the procedure is reversed.

In the light of these experiments it would seem possible to speed up the study of modern languages. The linguistic abilities of the child should first be exploited to endow him, perhaps as early as the kindergarten stage, with a language other than his mother tongue. Then from 10 onwards he should be taught partly through the medium of the language he has already almost instinctively acquired. Nothing could better serve this purpose than the organization of an exchange of teachers between the counties. The pupils would acquire not only the use of a foreign language, but also the benefit of personal and prolonged contact with representatives of the culture employing that language.

It remains to decide what foreign languages the child should learn. In present practice the language chosen is usually that of the nearest or most important neighboring country, for example, Russian for Czeckoslovaks, English for Norwegians. It would seem desirable, in all countries which are Member States of UNESCO, that the foreign language to be acquired by the child should be one of the two working languages of UNESCO: English or French.

In learning to speak and understand a foreign language, the child runs some risk of adulterating his usage of his mother tongue. While it is true that knowledge of a foreign language is indispensable to full understanding of one's native language, it is also true that this linguistic consciousness can be obtained only through a course of long and careful study which will always remain beyond the reach of the majority of pupils. Those who acquire only a smattering of a foreign language may indeed speak their own less well than if they had learned no other. Does this mean that the teaching of foreign languages should be recommended only to those pupils who may be relied upon to carry it to the point where there is no further risk to the best usage of their native language? Yet how can these pupils be identified in advance? These questions raise a difficult problem.

Two recommendations

We return now to safer ground in the two following recommendations, which are valid in all circumstances and likely to increase the benefit derived from the study of foreign languages, regardless of the method employed.

1. One must, in the first place, define exactly the object in view. To understand a foreign language, to speak it, to read it, and to write it correctly are four different things. All that can be expected from very young children is that they speak and understand a foreign language. One useful procedure is to teach them folk-songs of various kinds, a process which enables them to grasp the rhythm and music of the unfamiliar language.

Learning to write a foreign language correctly can begin only at a considerably later stage. To pupils who already possess a good vocabulary and a sound sense of idiom, the rules of grammar will come without effort, and this conscious grasp of their subject will clarify and consolidate the habits of speech already acquired. The foreign language should continue to be spoken as much as possible throughout this second stage as well. A suitable method is that adopted by educational authorities at the beginning of the century (at the same time as the direct method) and consists of giving English and French lessons in an English and French atmosphere respectively, so that pupils become familiar with the climate and life of the country whose language they are studying. A slavish use of the direct method is not to be recommended. Explanations, grammatical and otherwise, can properly be given in the child's native language, as the occasion arises. Besides composition in the foreign language, the child should practice translation from his own language into the foreign tongue, and vice versa.

2. The teachers should be men and women whose native language is that which the pupils are learning. However, attempts to apply this principle have sometimes not produced the happiest results, as the teachers who have gone abroad to practice were not always the most capable, but this difficulty can be avoided. Ministries of Education will certainly be anxious for their countries to be represented abroad by the persons best qualified to make a good impression, and it is to be hoped that they will assume responsibility for a regular exchange of language teachers. Good results might also be obtained from the exchange of teachers of manual trades, drawing, singing, or physical culture. It does not greatly matter if these have only a slight acquaintance with the language of the country in which they are to be guests for a term or a year. Gestures often make up for deficiencies of speech, and the contacts made will be appreciated by both the pupils and the staff of the schools in the host countries.

Schools oriented to the world view will employ the teaching of languages to create favorable conditions for international understanding, and to provide intellectual experiences which will arouse the pupils' sympathy and interest in a different civilization. This reinforces our basic premise, that it is neither the subjects in the syllabus nor the academic knowledge acquired which will cultivate a sense of world cooperation, but rather the spirit in which the teaching is done. A foreign language can be taught so as to erect barriers between peoples, instead of removing them; its effect lies largely in the hands of the teachers.

The indisputable truth forced upon us at every stage of our enquiry is, we repeat, that the all-important factor is the personality of the teacher. We cannot better conclude this part of our report than by underlining that point once more.

At this stage the delegates decided to re-group themselves for the study of the following three questions:

1. How can skill in critical thinking and the feeling of belonging to a world community be developed in children?

2. What existing common elements of an international culture constitute the basis of world-mindedness, and how can these be made vital in the education of children?

3. What are the obstacles and forces outside the school which mitigate against the world-mindedness of children? How can these be neutralized and modified?

The group found it convenient to divide itself into two sub-groups, maintaining regular contact for comparison of results. The first sub-group devoted itself to general principles, and the second to practical applications. The following report is that of the second group, which was composed of:

Miss Yvonne Forgeot (France)

Miss Hazel Gabbard (U.S.A.)

Mr. Obaji-Abdul Hadi Hachem (Syria)

Mrs. Suzanne Herbiniere-Lebert (France)

Mr. Alexander Lukacs (Hungary)

Miss Rebecca Simonson (U.S.A.)

and the author of this report.



Part II - The Crux of the Problem

The Education of the Critical Sense

The ability to distinguish between truth and falsehood, and between the constructive and the destructive, is vitally necessary to clear thinking on international subjects.

Our first finding in this regard was that certain methods which are perhaps the most effective in cultivating a critical sense are hardly suitable for pupils under the age of 13. Methodical training in experimental reasoning by means of laboratory work (manipulation of instruments of mensuration; simple experiments in physics and chemistry) is not begun in European secondary schools before the age of 15 or 16. As for discussion of newspaper articles and debates on historical, social, political or moral problems, teachers in the Old World have held until now that they are suitable ony for students of some maturity. But in other countries, notably in the U.S.A., teachers think differently; they do not wait for their pupils to attain intellectual and emotional maturity before giving them the benefit of exercises calculated to help them towards such maturity.

It may be that such discussions and debates are begun too early in the U.S.A. and too late in the schools of western Europe, and it may also be that we encounter here one of those irreducible differences between two cultures that we have to be content simply to note. If this is true, we may expect no change in these contrasting procedures. In any case, it is not our intention to treat of such exercises until we have described certain educational aids which must at all events precede them.

Let us first try to define our problem more clearly. The critical sense is a very complex conception in which it seems possible to distinguish an intellectual component (the need to see things clearly, implying accurate observation and resistance to suggestion) and a moral component (the will to be just, that is to say, to judge circumstances or actions with reference to the motives behind them and the means used for their accomplishment).

From another point of view the education of the critical sense has a negative function, in that it should eliminate those obstacles, intellectual and emotional, that militate against the child's understanding of a phenomenon, an action, or a way of behavior; and a positive function, in the strengthening of the child's intellectual and emotional disposition toward understanding ways of life different from his own. It is not impossible to imagine certain exercises calculated to act simultaneously on these two components, the intellectual and the emotional; but it is perhaps preferable to cultivate them alternatively. The synthesis will come of itself with the conscious grasp of the habits thus established.

Creating an objective attitude

For the sake of brevity we shall call the intellectual component of the critical sense "objectivity." To be objective is to be capable, for example of describing accurately a circumstance or an act that one has witnessed, and of noting all its aspects in their true proportions and mutual dependence.

Objectivity is more or less difficult, depending on whether we deal with (a) things or physical facts, (b) the way of living and the behavior of other people, (c) ourselves. Objectivity with regard to himself is the last to be acquired by the child, because it implies a dividing of the mind into subject and object, an attitude of which he is hardly capable before the age of 12; and also because he is affected by such disturbing mechanisms as self-justification and self-accusation.

Objectivity about other people is more difficult that objectivity about events and things. Sympathy and antipathy, much more marked in the presence of persons that in the presence of things, enter into conflict with the will to see clearly; a certain natural aggressiveness may, moreover, predispose the child to see things in the worst light; and the will to power, particularly if he suffers from an inferiority complex, may incline him to belittle the value of others in order to increase the sense of his own.

If objectivity with regard to things is less difficult than other kinds, it nevertheless runs counter to the very structure of the child's outlook. In the child, feelings and perceptions are inextricably mingled, with the result that he tends to be attentive to details only. We must also consider what difficulty he has with analysis and synthesis, as well as with other mental operations that come more easily to the adult.

It will be a long time before he frees himself of these shackles. Until the age of about 13 he will tend to relapse into indiscriminate ways of thinking every time he finds himself confronted with an unfamiliar problem. The development of objectivity in the child will thus be a long and difficult undertaking, requiring from the teacher not only a knowledge of the laws of child psychology, but also and above all an untiring patience, ingenuity, and sympathy.

Some exercises in objectivity

How may the child be helped most effectively to overcome these difficulties? He should be given numerous exercises in measurement, not at first with the standards at present in use (metre, litre, etc.) but, for example, with a length of wood or a string, a bucket, a footspan, a pace. When a child says, "My tower is higher than yours" and is contradicted, he should be encouraged to compare the heights of the two towers by means of a length of wood or a ruler. "The aquarium holds a lot of water," one may say. "A thousand times more than the bucket," cries another. "We'll soon see," says the teacher. Then the children may count how many times the bucket can be filled with the water contained in the aquarium.

But long before numerical precision is brought to these judgements the children should get into the habit of comparing shapes and dimensions by building with cubes and other solids. They will see, for instance, that a tower collapses if its base is not sufficiently broad, that between a small heap of sand and a large one there is a difference of so many barrow loads, that the nasturtium seeds required for the flower-bed are so many times those required for the window-box. These first experiments should be commented on by the teacher in such a way as to prepare the child for exercises in strict measurement.

By the time the children have finished with these manipulations and approximate measurements, they will have acquired the habit of seeking for a norm on all occasions. They will realize, not theoretically, but as the result of their experience, that the only way to see things clearly and to reach agreement among themselves is by recourse to a norm. Big, small, high, much -- what exactly is meant? The best way to find out is to measure or to count. They will thus be prepared to understand that any given technique is in reality only a coherent system of operational norms; that grammar, for example, is a system of conventions enabling people to understand one another when they speak, and that spelling is a system of conventions enabling people to understand one another when they write.

They should be trained from a very early age to describe accurately the events that they have witnessed. These exercises in testimony, immediately following or some time after the event, may at first be organized in the form of amusing games, and will not only stimulate the children to observe more closely all they see, but will also make them aware of the difficulties of being an exact witness. After an excursion, for example, they should be induced to draw by memory an object along the way, with which they should then compare their drawing; to make a plan of the garden in which they have played; to reproduce with their blocks the building they have visited. Or they should be encourage to dictate to the teacher and, when they are able, to write by themselves an orderly account of all they have seen and done during the day. Each will remember something different and all will correct one another's assertions. These exercises, frequently repeated, will accustom them to distinguish between what they know and what they think they know, to affirm nothing of which they are not certain. Ultimately they will come to admit the possibility of being mistaken in good faith.

Another method, which is used in French schools, has the advantage of being suitable for very young children as yet unable to write or speak with any degree of precision. Some event has greatly impressed them -- the ceremonies of the Fourteenth of July, for example, or a juggler's tricks. They arrive at school in a great state of excitement, all eager to relate what they have seen. But each speaker is soon contradicted and his description is rectified by an expressive gesture or by a sketch on the blackboard. The teacher may then suggest a collective drawing, each child contributing his share. The work soon takes shape; the details, duly criticized, fall into place; and the final result is a document accepted by all as a more or less faithful reproduction of the event.

It often happens that a child uses the wrong term to describe something he has observed accurately. When he is corrected he exclaims, "That's what I meant!" In this way the pupils will learn that speech may be untrue to thought and will want to acquire that precision of language which is an indispensable stage in the development of the critical sense. Thus the principal concern of the school should be, up to the age of 7 or 8 to train children in the manipulation and measurement of objects, in being sure of what they have seen, and in describing it precisely.

As schooling continues these exercises should be carried on more systematically through a flexible use of the old-fashioned "object lesson." For example, the theme of the lesson having been given, the pupils may first be allowed to tell all they know, or think they know, on the subject. The result will be a mixture of correct, approximate, and absolutely erroneous observations. Let us suppose the subject of the lesson is: "The principal buildings in our town," and that one pupil mentions the church and another the town-hall as the highest building. They may be told to go and pace off the shadows cast by these buildings at the same hour of the day. Thus pupils will learn to distrust their first impressions and to check the subjective impression by repeated observation or exact measurement whenever possible. Conducted in this way, the object lesson will provide them with a model for rigorous and methodical analysis.

Faithful reporting

Later on, when books begin to take up more and more room in the life of the child, exercises in summarizing will help considerably in the development of objectivity. The teacher may ask "What does the author say on this page about the different species of ants? What opinion does he express, in this paragraph, on intelligence of the fox?" The child thus questioned will often-confuse his own reminiscences or feelings with the author's; he may then be referred to the text; and litle by little he will learn how to read, that is to say, how to improve his mind by intelligent contact with another mind. The pupils may also be invited, when occasion offers, to write an account of a film, a concert, or a lecture. Nothing is more rare than a faithful report, but would be perhaps less rare if children were systematically trained in this exercise, instead of being asked, before they are capable of analyzing their feelings and impressions, to ape the famous writers of natural description or the master of character analysis.

Children do not flatter themselves that they know everything and they readily acquire the habit of obtaining their information at the proper source. For every strange word encountered in the course of reading, for every question left in suspense, the appropriate book of reference may be recommended: the textbook of zoology for information about an exotic animal, the atlas for the exact position of a town, the dictionary for a term in current use. They should also be encouraged to consult persons with authoritative knowledge. to find out where coffee and tea come from, they may be told to ask the importer who has an office in the next street; to learn how many pints of milk a cow gives in a day, they may be referred to a farmer. The habit of going for one's information to the best source is one that would dispel a lot of misunderstanding.

Guarding against misinformation

Another useful device is to interpolate some flagrant error or absurdity in a dedicated text after having told children what to expect. When they have heard a description of the place where they live or the account of an event in which they have taken part, containing, as is only too frequently the case, a number of more or less serious inaccuracies, they should be asked, "Are there any mistakes in what I have just read out to you?" Thanks to numerous exercises of this kind, the children will begin to suspect that the things they hear, even those they read in a newspaper or book, are not always necessarily true. They cannot be given too many exercises of the sort calculated to put them on their guard against all forms of auto-suggestion and hetero-suggestion. Every effort should be made to accustom them to that suspension of judgment, that insistence on evidence, against which all the wiles of propaganda are unavailing. In an epoch such as ours when the tendencies of the majority and a number of truly diabolical techniques conspire against the integrity of the individual, the school cannot take too great pains to develop in the child a resolutely critical attitude towards everything he sees, hears, or reads.

The teacher, then, should constantly strive to give his pupils a regard for accuracy and a determination to accept only such propositions as are true and such judgments as are adequate. It is hardly necessary to point out the relation between this attitude and world mindedness. Every time, for example, that the child formulates one of the faulty generalizations about nations or races which are perhaps the worst enemy of international understanding, he should be given forthwith the opportunity of convincing himself, unaided, that such remarks are foolish and therefore unworthy of an intelligent man. "All Frenchmen are frivolous!" This is the moment to speak to them of the labors of certain French thinkers to whom the epithet is hardly applicable, such as Michelet or Louis Pasteur. It is by neglecting no opportunity to arouse the admiration and sympathy of his pupils for the most distinguished men of all nations that the teacher will encourage them to the inseparable attitudes of objectivity and world mindedness.

Encouraging self-criticism

In certain schools, in France for example, an attempt has been made to develop the pupils' critical sense by inviting them to mark their work themselves. This implies, obviously, that a system of grades may be employed, which is not always the case (in Norway no marks are given before the age of 11). This method, however, did not meet with the unreserved approval of our group. Nevertheless, it seems right that the child should take an interest in the result of his efforts, and it is certainly an excellent thing for him to assume a critical attitude towards what he has produced. Those in favor of this system hold that the best way of bringing the child to such an attitude is to invite him to evaluate the work of his school-fellows. Given an atmosphere of co-operation and good fellowship, there is probably much more to be gained than lost by training the pupils to discuss and evaluate objectively the work of their fellows. As to the advisability of giving marks, this is a matter that every teacher must decide for himself.

Such procedures may also be used to draw the children's attention to the fact that in certain cases it is desirable to apply not only objective, but also subjective, criteria (to take into account, for example, the peculiar difficulties experienced by certain pupils), andd this will help them to realize how complex the problem of evaluation is. They should begin with those forms of work that lend themselves most readily to criticism, such as judging the accuracy of a drawing. The little composition that children can be taught to write as early as the age of 10 may give rise to similar exercises: Is the dialogue natural? Is the description well constructed?

It will be found that children often succeed in assessing correctly the value of the work submitted to them provided it is not their own. They are so bound up with their own work that it takes them a long time to consider it with any degree of detachment. But in the meantime they can grow used to hearing it criticized by others. The skillful teacher will not have much trouble in getting them to admit, if necessary, that their drawing, their gestures (in a dramatic game), and their narration are better when corrected in the light of a schoolfellow's criticism. Some children, of course, will be found morbidly intolerant of criticism and incapable of frankly admitting their mistakes; but if the atmosphere of the class is a cordial one, this resistance will finally be broken down. Then, for all the pupils without exception, the exercises suggested will have the happiest effect on the development of the critical sense and social-mindedness.

Value of group activities in school

Certain functions of the critical sense indispensable to all forms of cooperation will best be learned by the child in the course of work performed with other children. We touch here on educational possibilities that have not been fully exploited in all countries. Those teachers who have never encouraged their pupils to work out for themselves a problem in geography, natural science or practical behavior cannot possibly realize the resourcefulness of young children when left to their own devices, or recognize their ability to consider a problem from every angle, to distinguish the essential from the accessory, to set aside all that is irrelevant to the subject, in a word, to exercise constructively their critical sense. Of great value to this kind of development are the free study groups to which such importance is rightly given in all schools concerned primarily with the training of children for community life.

It is through these activities that the child will progrss most rapidly towards the objectivity with regard to himself which is the most difficult to attain. Self-criticism is born of the criticism of others. In the study groups, children criticize one another with complete frankness. At the age that we have in mind (from 6 or 7 to 12 or 13), the child values the approval of his fellows more than that of any adult. In order not to lose it, he will be careful to reflect before speaking, which is a necessary step towards self-criticism. Also, it often happens that the child, struck by another's unbecoming conduct -- his over-sensitiveness, temper, high handedness, obstinacy or sulkiness -- will say to himself: "Am I like that too?" Gradually he will become capable of seeing himself as he is.

Educational treatises contain an impressive amount of information on study groups and on the innumerable purposes for which they may be organized, for example, to collect information on an historical event, a country, a civilization, or a problem in natural science. A group of pupils may be invited to put down what they know of the way of living of the Laps or the Tuaregs, as described in a work they have all read. Afterward they may be given different material on the same subject, and thus they may learn for themselves how one's ideas about human beings and civilizations vary according to one's sources of information.

Problems of value

Groups of pupils can also be entrusted with tasks of quite a different nature. They may be invited, for example, to draw up the program of literary or musical recital, choosing from among the poems, songs or records at their disposal those that seem most suitable for the end in view. Later, the performance may be reviewed in detail; one item may be judged a success, another a failure. Still another exercise in evaluation is to prepare an exhibition of pictures by great artists using reproductions selected by the pupils themselves.

In small groups, or in the class itself, the pupils may also discuss certain problems suggested by the incidents of school life. This experiment has produced conclusive results in nearly every country. Whether it is a matter of drawing up a set of rules to procure a desired result (tidiness or cleanliness of the classroom) or of taking certain disciplinary measures, the understanding master will usually meet with touching good will and surprising practical sense on the part of his pupils.

The direct participation of the pupils in the life of the school (self-government) and, more particularly, the discussion of certain disciplinary problems (pupils' courts), constitute an excellent means of drawing the child's attention to a fact of great importance for the development of the critical sense. We have already noted that children who are encouraged to evaluate one another's work have sometimes occasion to realize that there are certain cases, identical in appearance, to which the same criteria are not applicable. The problems constantly raised by school life will contribute much to the flexibility of attitude against which their mechanical and rigid sense of justice at first rebels.

It should not be difficult for the teacher to induce them to extend this experience and to realize that all criteria vary according to the nature of the fact or action that is being considered; that in the case of works of art, for example, other criteria must be applied than those of magnitude and precision, namely those having to do with emphasis, balance, line, color, etc.; and that human actions must be evaluated in terms of ethical or moral criteria. If he succeeds in teaching them to distinguish the physical fact lending itself to precise measurement, the work of art subject to aesthetic criteria alone, and the human action to be judged according to moral standards, he will have helped them to take a decisive forward step.

The discernment of motives

This brings us to the second component of the critical sense, namely, the emotional one. To see that fairness is different from strict justice and consists in the application of different criteria will make the child aware of the fact that the same standards are not to be applied to all things indiscriminately. By way of preparation, the children's attention should always be drawn to the motive for an action or a manner of behavior, for until about the age of 6 the child considers the result only; the intention does not interest him. The educator will have to make him feel, with the help of simple events taken from everyday life in the school, how one and the same action (the same in the sense that they produce the same result) can be dictated by very different motives, and how the same action can be good or bad according to surrounding circumstances.

Individual differences

By such methods the teacher can progressively clarify the essential difference between an action, its result, and the intention that prompted it. With a similar end in view he may draw the attention of the pupils to the individual differences that make it impossible for everybody to do the same things. For instance, difference in perception: not everybody sees in the same way; some people are color-blind, and others do not see at all! It can thus be brought home to the children that an infirmity modifies one's life and makes certain adjustments impossible. It has even greater effect to point out the results of certain transient infirmities (whether of physical or psychological origin) to which everybody is subject. When one day a pupil who is usually good in arithmetic appears to be incapable of doing a sum correctly, the teacher (without embarking on an explanation of the mechanism of this obstruction) can draw the attention of the class to the fact that one is not always one's usual self, and that there are moments when the individual cannot do what he is perfectly capable of doing, nor say what he knows perfectly well.

It is more difficult, but of the greatest importance, to bring the child to understand that from an intellectual point of view there are qualitative differences between individuals, or differences of form, and not only quantitative ones, as the child is inclined to think. For him people are either stupid or clever. That there are different forms of stupidity and cleverness is a fact that requires demonstration by striking examples. The teacher should point out that one of the pupils, who is very bad in arithmetic, can make excellent drawings, and that he is by far the best of the class when it comes to relating an event at which all have been present. The teacher should also give pupils who are weak in most curricular subjects an opportunity to show their capacities in other fields; the class may admire this child's carpentry, that child's playing of the violin.

Of course it will be much easier to persuade the children that the differences among them are those of form and not of degree if the class is relatively homogenous, that is to say, if it includes no mentally deficient pupils or children with serious character defects. On the other hand, circumstances will later bring them into contact with all sorts of people, and they will be all the better prepared to understand them if they have had occasion at school to meet as many different kinds of people as possible. This, of course, does not apply to very backward or neurotic children. We do not intend to go into this problem of school organization, but it is one that should not be neglected.

For the purpose of driving home the fact that there are different but equally valid forms of intelligence it is extremely useful to give children, particularly those from an intellectual milieu, the opportunity of watching manual workers. Visits to an artisan's workshop, to a factory, and to the fields should be organized. Thus the pupils may discover for themselves that merit can be found in many different places. The movements of a workman's hands are simply another form of intelligence; and the swift reactions and presence of mind of a traffic policeman are a form of intelligence too. Quite a number of pupils, especially if they have been brought up in the cult of words which often characterizes "intellectual" circles, will show a certain resistance. The teacher should expect this and act accordingly. If, moreover, he himself is free from prejudice, and if he has obtained the confidence of his pupils, the mechanism of identification will reinforce the observations made by the children, and they will get a presentiment of some truths that are essential to understanding in general. They will learn that not everybody has the same capacities; that these capacities are not superior or inferior in themselves, but are to be assessed only in reference to how they are used, and that the value of a man is to be estimated by the way he does his job, whatever it may be. Nobody excels in everything, and therefore, human beings are complementary. When the child becomes an adolescent, he may comprehend that cultures are complementary in the same way.

The positive attitude

Certain other considerations that we touched upon during our discussion of the critical sense are also worth mentioning here. It might be feared that an education focused on the development of the critical sense would regrettably increase the number of adults inclined to be finicky and to disparage everything, which would be diametrically opposed to our aim of world understanding. However, the critical sense as we have defined it seems to exclude such development. We have distinguished in it the need to see clearly and not to be deceived by appearances; and the desire to be equitable. As thus understood, such education would certainly not contribute to the forming of critical minds in the negative sense, but to the forming of just minds.

This will more surely be the case if the teacher himself always sets the example of positive, constructive criticism, for the child, especially at the age we are considering, has the tendency to identify himself with the adult he admires or loves. Thus it may be said that the success of this training depends largely on the teacher and on the affective relations existing between him and his pupils (which also determine to a great extent the relations that develop among the pupils themselves). In a congenial atmosphere the child will become aware of the fact that criticism is an indispensable condition for progress in every domain; he will feel that those who criticize with this intention are real friends, and that one should criticize someone else only to help him overcome his imperfections. When critical thinking is thus associated with the spirit of service it will contribute not only to comprehension but also to collaboration in every field.

Hazards to be avoided

One of the members of our group was very much preoccupied with the harm that training of the critical sense could do to certain non-rational values indispensable to personal and social life. We agreed that this was a very important point, but we thought that the danger was not very great so long as the difference between the various criteria of objective truth, aesthetics and morality and between their fields of application was fully understood. The same member was also afraid that once the children were accustomed to criticism they would quibble indiscriminately, and be inclined to lay down the law on every subject of conversation. However, we considered it the common and essential purpose of many of the exercises described to make the child aware of what he knows (because he saw it himself, heard it from a competent person, or found it in a reliable book) and of what he does not know (because it is only hearsay or because he did not look closely into the matter himself). It may be assumed therefore that the children who receive this kind of education will not venture to judge matters that lie outside their scope.

The Feeling of Belonging to Humanity

To feel toward mankind in general as one does toward one's family, comrades and country is what may be called "the feeling of belonging to humanity." If critical thinking is one of the components of world-mindedness, this feeling is indeed its very essence.

Here we encounter a difficulty: the smaller the social group, the stronger is the insularity of its members. The feeling of belonging to humanity can be made vital only by imparting to it the emotional content of preceding group identifications It is thus the last of a series of transfers or extensions of emotion. First, the group-feeling is extended from the family to playmates or schoolmates and their parents; next the child begins to feel that he belongs to the village or district. Progressively, contacts in the secondary school, in youth organizations, in university, and perhaps in military service, set up personal relations between the individual and some of his fellow countrymen which will give something of the warm emotional quality of the preceding identifications to the feeling of belonging to the national community, a feeling which hitherto may have seemed abstract and remote. He will begin to see his country as a large family, a vast group of comrades, a "great friendship," as Michelet said. Similar contacts, then, with people of other countries will serve to extend the friendship he feels for the men of his country to humanity as a whole. The feeling of belonging to humanity, seen in this way, is the extension of the same sentiment from the family to the local group and the nation, and finally to all nations.

The importance of direct contacts

The feeling of belonging to humanity can be based only upon emotional experiences; that is to say, not upon what one knows, but upon what one has felt. The human values closest to the heart of man are those perceived in men. The child should consequently be brought into close contact with minds representative of all civilizations, with men he will be able to love, either through the medium of their work, or through sensitive biographies.

Nothing, however, can be more effective than direct contact with living men. Only in this way can the feeling of belonging to humanity acquire the warmth and immediacy of the feeling of belonging to a family or to a social milieu. This implies that only those adolescents who have reached a certain emotional and intellectual maturity will be capable of experiencing this feeling to the full, that is to say, only those who have passed the age studied by our group. What the teacher can do with children up to the age of 13 is, on the one hand, to help the child integrate himself into a group of his peers, and afterward into the local and national community, in such a manner as to make it possible for this feeling of belonging to various groups to extend itself to humanity at large without encountering resistance; and, on the other hand, to initiate this process of extension by creating favorable predispositions in the child..

Exchanging visits

The most effective method for bringing the children into personal contact with adults of other cultures is the exchange visit. It is not impossible to transfer the children of a class or a whole school for a period of six months or a year to another country, where they may become familiar with ways of living different from their own. However, such prolonged visits are admittedly difficult to carry out, and there is the risk that children thus transplanted in groups will keep to themselves instead of trying to get inside the life of the schoolchildren in the foreign country. Collective visits will undoubtedly produce the best results if organized after the fashion of "jamborees" lasting only a few weeks.

A system of individual exchanges, which is a more flexible arrangement, seems preferable. Especially effective is the successive exchange: an English or a Scandinavian child, for example, is received in a French or Canadian family where there is a child of his age. The two children leave together after a certain time, and the French or Canadian child is received in turn by the family of his English or his Scandinavian friend. In this way contact is more intimate, the children spend most of the day together, and the parents have no need to occupy themselves constantly with the children.

Because so many parents fear, frequently without justification, that an interruption may retard the child in his studies, these exchanges as a rule must be limited to the summer holidays, and a stay of one or two months in another country, though by no means a negligible period, is not long. School officials or parent associations can assist by collecting useful information concerning the life and customs of the family, the age and character of the children, etc. If, in the future, school curricula differ less than they do now, it will be possible to let children attend a school in a foreign country for a year without losing ground. Not only will the children have benefitted by their contacts abroad, but they will also have advanced in the knowledge of a foreign language, a most useful adjunct to international understanding.

The sense of human kinship

Children are curious about the origin of things and creatures. With this in mind, we asked ourselves whether the educator might not make use of this curiosity in order, for example, to bring the pupils to the conclusion that families who seemingly bear no relation to one another, have genealogical connections all the same, and that nations who now believe they have nothing in common did in fact share the same habitat and manner of life ages ago. Considerations such as these will accustom the child to regard the divisions of mankind in groups and nations as accidental rather than inevitable; they can prepare him to become conscious of the close kinship that underlies differences of name, nationality, and culture.

Let us take, for example, the Vaudois name Rey or Roy. There are also Reys in France, and certainly elsewhere too. Let us then suppose that a Vaudois family Rey can trace its lineage back to the time when one of its members established himself in France, or inversely, when a Frenchman Rey came to found a family in the canton of Vaud. On hearing this, one of the pupils will possibly exclaim: "But then they are the same people, Frenchmen and Vaudois!" and he will feel something that might otherwise forever have remained an abstract notion, namely that the inhabitants of the different countries of the world are, in fact, the same people adapted to different conditions of life. It will not be difficult for the educator, especially in a country like Switzerland or the United States, to find someone among his pupils whose name may be taken as an example. In this way he sets a flow of ideas and feelings in motion that will tend to bring home to the children the common origin of all human beings.

When they come to study history, the children will have a better grasp of the mechanism and importance of these relationships and their connection with invasions, and with emigrations for economic or spiritual reasons. When the teacher thus draws the attention of the children to the composite character of modern nations, he helps to eliminate one of the most powerful obstacles to international understanding: the nationalist ideology which has poisoned international relations since the beginning of the nineteenth century.

The problem of national differences

At the age when children are passionately interested in everything exotic, the teacher can satisfy their curiosity (as we saw in dealing with geography) by telling them, for instance, about Indian elephants and all the useful things they do for man, about the strange animals of the Australian continent or the polar regions; but he should, above all, speak about men. Before the age of 5, children are really interested only in children, but from then on, the teacher can tell them about adults of their own nationality, and, when they have reached the age of 7 or 8, he can speak about adults of other countries. From this time onwards they should be told how foreign people live. The teacher can describe their clothes and weapons, what they eat and drink, and their customs and celebrations.

However, there is a pitfall to be avoided here. The child is primarily interested in what is different: certain oddities are capable of leading him to think that the inhabitants of other countries belong to a different species, an effect which would be contrary to the end in view. People of certain tribes greet each other by rubbing their noses together. Mandarins let their nails grow till they roll up. Negro women wear bracelets round their ankles. Such facts might be enough to smother a budding sympathy. Travel films often commit this mistake by emphasizing local color in such a way that few of them suit our purpose. The educator should draw the children's attention rather to similarities between the different cultures: "These mothers love and look after their children just as your own mothers do. Their way of doing so may be different but the love is the same. Small Negro children, little Chinese boys and girls play hopscotch just as you do." A collection of dolls can be a great help in illustrating the similarity of games in different countries.

Once the child's sympathy for other cultures has been awakened, the teacher can start pointing out the differences between them. There are, indeed, very marked contrasts, but most of them can be explained by climate or, generally, by conditions of life. Thus the Eskimoes are clad in sealskins, but the inhabitants of the Happy Isles wear only a loincloth.

The teacher can go further and draw attention to the fact that, just as the child is amazed or shocked by pecularities in the life of other peoples, there are ceertain things in the life of his own country that are amazing or shocking to foreigners. This wil be the occasion for reading out to him what foreigners say of his country, for instance, what a citizen of the United States writes about Switzerland: "In Switzerland at every step you see a notice on a wall or a fence: It is forbidden to touch electric wires," "No admittance," "Keep Out," "Do not touch." In the United States we count on the common sense of adults, and we reckon that they will warn their children of these dangers."

Swiss children may think that their system is better, but they should at least know why things are done differently elsewhere. All this will help in the long run to develop certain attitudes which we have recognized as components or conditions of the spirit of international understanding.

In answering his pupils' questions about the life of other peoples the teacher will find ample opportunity to make them understand that men satisfy their common needs by different but equivalent means. He can show how nomads in their tents, Greenlanders in their igloos, and Arabs in houses with all windows opening to interior courtyards, have only devised different means to the same end of protecting themselves against the weather. Also, the palanquin, rickshaw, elephant, camel, horse, and covered wagon are simply different means of transport. These are merely alternative solutions to the same problem.

Mankind's common enemies

If all people possess a common heritage they also have common enemies. The sense of belonging is, in fact, ambivalent -- pro's imply cons's. To love beauty implies to hate what destroys it. For our special purpose this means that to love humanity means to fight and suppress everything that threatens to injure it. The child will feel much more united to the human family when he has become aware of the dangers that threaten all its members.

The teacher will have occasion to suggest, without insisting on it, that men have natural enemies on which to exercise their aggressiveness, and that they would be better advised to declare war upon natural scourges such as famine and plague than to fight their fellow men; that they would do better to encourage the invention of new industrial methods which would eliminate dangerous trades than to devise new weapons of destruction.

The teacher should show how, when facing a common peril, men forget their differences of nationality or race. He could tell the story of the 600 French miners, buried in the mine of Courrieres near the German frontier, who got help from the firemen of the hereditary enemy, or of the first-aid brought to the inhabitants of Messina, devastated by a terrible earthquake, by the crew of a Russian man-of-war cruising in the Mediterranean; and he can relate how all civilized nations contribute their supplies of serum or vaccine when a country is ravaged by an epidemic. "What if the inhabitants of Mars should declare war upon the whole earth?" one of his pupils may whisper. There would be no need to reply to the remark, for this child will already have had an inkling of a universal truth.

Relief projects for children

These deliberations brought us to the subject of relief work undertaken by children, independently or under the auspices of the Children's Red Cross, to assist others in countries laid waste by war or by natural disaster. A typical project may be to send paper and pencils to children in a foreign country. To supply the money needed one class may perhaps organize a literary or musical recital, another a raffle; some pupils may work as errand-boys, while others grow vegetables or flowers which they sell to their acquaintances. Soon cases are filled with paper, pencils, notebooks, plasticine, and colors. A friendly message may be added, with, perhaps, a recording which will enable the foreign children to hear the voices of their unknown friends.

All this has unquestionable educational value, but there was lively discussion as to whether relief work undertaken now by children of countries spared by the war really contributes to international rapprochement. We had to concede that it has its dangers. It is in fact possible for children of lucky countries to become accustomed to considering the others as their proteges, and for the latter to have the same feelings concerning the former as Labiche attributed to Monsieur Perrichon. Would it be better if the gifts were all collected in an international pool? In this way both the feeling of self-righteousness and of inferiority would be avoided, but it was pointed out, children will not give so spontaneously nor so generously when they do not know who is going to receive their gifts. They often consent to real sacrifices and give away things they value, but only when they can imagine the pleasure these things will give to certain children in a certain place. Only in this manner can the direct contacts that are of such vital importance be established.

So much for the donors. What are the reactions of the recipients? A French teacher told us how in his school the unpacking of a big parcel of clothes and shoes created at first a certain coldness. Fortunately, the parcel also contained some toys and puzzles, and when these were found, the tension relaxed. One pupil suggested sending some puzzles in return, and the suggestion was greeted with delight.

This is indeed the right solution. Relief work will promote international understanding only if it is organized on a reciprocal basis. Of course, one can give only what one has, and at the moment, children of devastated countries do not have very much to give. However, nearly everywhere children can contribute a puzzle or some drawings, or a poem; and such gifts can mean as much as a great deal of clothes or school equipment. Even supposing that for the moment some children can give nothing, later on they will be able to give back everything they received, probably to different children, but that does not matter. Thus there will be no question of proteges and protectors, but only of human beings who express their feelings of friendship by small or large presents.

Correspondence schemes

Correspondence between schools, whether collective messages from one class to another or individual letters, is really the most natural form of exchange, and the most flexible one. Hundreds of classes have corresponded in this way, especially between the two wars. Millions of letters have been exchanged by children of nearly every country. However, many teachers have encouraged correspondence only because they thought it would help their pupils to practice their English or their Spanish; and for some children it has been mainly a means of improving their knowledge of geography or their stamp collection. Correspondence between schools will contribute to international understanding only if it is conducted consciously and expressly with this end in view. It is doubtful, however, whether many pupils will undertake it in this spirit unless they are encouraged. The teacher should take this to heart and show a discreet but firm interest.

An international language

In connection with these exchanges of letters, we discussed the problem of an international auxiliary language. At the age when they are capable of reading and writing a foreign language, pupils of secondary schools do not have much free time, and are often not disposed to write letters. They would be much more ready to do so at the age of 10 to 13 if they knew any foreign language sufficiently well. An international auxiliary language would enable children at this age to correspond with children in a country of their own preference, whereas up till now correspondence has been limited mostly to English, Spanish, French, or Italian, the languages usually studied at school. Letters would become more interesting and more frequent if an auxiliary language could be used.

Undertaken in the spirit defined above, such exchanges seem to us highly suitable for initiating, between children of all countries, those personal relations that give blood and life to the sense of belonging to humanity.

The foregoing are some of the innumerable expedients by which the school can initiate in children between the ages of 3 and 13 a widening sense of belonging to the human community. Integration into the world community can become finally effective, as we have seen, only during adolescence; but it will be all the more complete if it has been carefully prepared.

Values Common To Mankind

What really is this humanity to which the child should be made to feel that he belongs? Is it an abstract idea drawn from a comparison between men and between civilizations, or is it a psychological and biological reality? This question arose immediately in connection with the second problem formulated by the members of the Seminar: i.e. "What are the existing common elements of an international culture which constitute the basis of world-mindedness?"

If humanity exists only as an idea, then it is possible to lead the child, or rather the adolescent, to a clear conception of it; but there would be little possibility of awakening a real feeling of "belonging." Such a feeling, indeed, can be experienced only toward a living being or organism. Can humanity e considered as a sort of collective being about which the individual can feel the same as about other social groups of which he has become an integral part?

The answer is that humanity today does present the essential characteristics of any organism. In the first place, all its parts are inter-related. The analogy of the stomach and the limbs applies now not only to the national community, but to the human community in its entirety. To recognize the fact of universal interdependence no great perspicacity is required: unfavorable weather in Canada or Australia increases the price of wheat or wool in the European market; industrial disputes in the United States produce a shortage of lorries or agricultural machinery in Africa. Thus the material prosperity of each part of the globe is geared to the prosperity of all the other parts.

The interdependence of humanity

The interdependence is evident not only in economic matters. People are joined by common psychological characteristics as well. Without claiming to have made an exhaustive list of these we have noted the following:

1. The universality of certain intellectual behavior-patterns, precisely, those that constitute the scientific method.

2. The universality of certain needs of an ethical order; that is, the need for coherence in moral behavior and moral values, implying the existence of certain principles accepted by everybody.

3. The universality of certain needs of an aesthetic order: all peoples have an art, and all are capable in some degree of appreciating the art of other cultures.

4. Finally, the universality of the religious need, perhaps not felt by all men but experienced by some in all countries.

How can the child's attention be fixed on some of these facts in order to bring home to him the essential unity of the human species that overshadows all differences of clothing, language, behavior, and sensibility? In the same order as the preceding list of psychological characteristics, some suggestions for accomplishing that purpose follow.

The scientific methodIf children from 10 to 13 years of age have encountered a practical difficulty in some individual or collective task, it seems possible to get them to understand that there is ony one method for resolving concrete problems of any kind: the method of stating the problem clearly, formulating a hypothesis, and verifying it. It is also possible with children of this age to go over observations and experiments which have led to the explanation of natural phenomena.

Fairly young pupils can be made aware of certain examples of international-cooperation in the field of scientific research. For example when the children begin to learn about the solar system they can be told (or, better still, brought to see for themselves) that our present conception of the subject was first of all proposed by way of hypothesis, and then demonstrated and expressed in mathematical form by a Pole (Copernicus), a Dane (Tycho Brahe), a German (Kepler) -- the two latter live in Prague -- an Italian (Galileo), and an Englishman (Newton); the name of Einstein can be reserved for later. In the domain of applied science, which for children is more accessible than pure science, many opportunities can be found to illustrate the fact that the various techniques for extracting and processing raw materials, and for producing food-stuffs, are the result of numerous discoveries made in different countries, and that we consequently owe our material comfort to men of many nationalities.

The desire to assemble a "Museum of human co-operation," expressed by one member of our group, may conveniently be mentioned at this point. There is no doubt that co-operation between men and cultures has also been active in other than scientific and technical work; but human collaboration is most evident to young children as illustrated in those activities. This does not mean that the proposed museum should neglect all other endeavors. The museum we have in mind would be in many ways similar to the Palaise de la Decouverte in Paris, and it should be planned by a commission of educators and scientists under UNESCO auspices. Branches of the museum should be established in the principal cities of every country in the world. The exhibits should be varied and should graphically illustrate the fact that modern scientific and technical development depends on world-wide co-operation. It could be shown how an experiment undertaken by a Russian enables a Frenchman to formulate a theory whose applications are worked out in the United States and taken up by other countries, until finally a new method is adopted everywhere. The child could see for himself that scientists may come from many countries and yet be concerned with the same problems -- vaccination, the fight against tuberculosis, the defense of orchards against insects; steam, electricity, the conquest of the air -- and that every culture contributes to their solution. Furthermore, it would be desirable to publish a book describing the museum and illustrating the exhibits, so that teachers in the remotest places could to some extent give pupils the benefit of its work.

On the ethical level

After the children have seen the similarity of rules of conduct expressed in the proverbs of all nations, the teacher should try to persuade them that although the same virtues are not everywhere held in the same esteem all the nations on earth have nevertheless certain ethical principles in common. Everywhere, for example, children are the object of great care; in every country mothers and children are the first to be saved in case of fire or shipwreck. Everywhere, in a world, as Peguy says in his Mystere du Porche de la deuxieme vertu, everything that is done is done for the children. The child represents the possibility of a better humanity, and all men feel more or less consciously that he is their raison d'etre, the common end of their complementary efforts.

Other principles merely tend toward becoming universal, and here the school can play a part of primary importance in inspiring the pupils with a determined desire to work for their acceptance. In this connection we noted the respect for labor in all its forms. There was a time when work was considered degrading and was forced on the slaves by their master. There are still nations where it is considered more honorable to live on income, that is, in the last analysis, on the work of others, rather than on the fruit of one's own work. Only yesterday many men considered certain kinds of work as dishonorable. However, the child may now be taught to attach an equal value to any useful and well-done labor, whether manual or intellectual, artistic or practical.

The educator can also point to the progress of tolerance in certain directions. In others, alas, -- recent events speak only too clearly -- the twentieth century incontestably shows retrogression. One must be resigned, no doubt, to see humanity advance towards its goal like a ship tacking to port and starboard. Nevertheless, men have learned to be tolerant in some ways (as we shall see later on) and in every country tolerance has had its martyrs and its heroes.

The condemnation of war

It is to be hoped that soon the evolution of international politics will again permit the teacher to tell his pupils that war has been outlawed, as it was during those moving years of the League of Nations. An international declaration condemning war as an ineffectual, archaic, and universally abominated means of political action would constitute without question the most potent of those universal principles without which it is idle to speak of moral values common to all men. Among the universal principles indispensable to unified mankind, it is quite possible that the first to be expressly formulated will be this unqualified condemnation of war. In the meantime the teacher can hardly be expected to get children to realize that, just as hypocrisy is a homage paid to virtue, so the aggressor's attempts to lay the onus of hostilities on the adversary constitute an implicit admission of the illegitimacy of war.

Respect for life

We had noted, as essential to our inquiry, the examination of another fundamental moral value: the respect for every form of life, and most particularly for human life. We soon agreed that the contempt for human life which characterizes the behavior of too many so-called civilized states (and is flaunted in a certain kind of film, where sudden and violent death is a trivial occurrence) is one of the most striking aspects of that regression in present day morality which the teacher must have the courage to stigmatize. We also remarked the fundamental paradox in scientific work, which perfects on the one hand means of extermination that imply the most cynical contempt for human life, and, on the other, multiplies the most ingenious therapeutic techniques and lavishes on the new-born such effective and attentive care that in certain countries infant mortality is extremely rare.

However, it seemed to us that the attention of children should be drawn, in pursuance of an educational rule already noted, not to the numerous facts which bespeak this contempt, but rather to those which will instil in them a profound respect for human life: the careful nursing of the sick, the devotion of doctors, the improvement of hospitals, the progress of hygiene, and the vigilance at factories and work-yards against accidents and industrial diseases.

Particular attention should be given to all that is being done by schools throughout the world to ensure the good physical condition of children. The teacher may mention gymnastics, school canteens, dental clinics, regular examinations of children for bone disorders and tuberculosis, and assistance to children who, because of the war, have suffered the consequences of undernourishment and of living in the cold and damp of cellars. Here are facts in abundance that can be used by the shrewd teacher to awake in his pupils the feeling that human life is a value for which it is impossible to have too great respect. (The problem of capital punishment may be kept for a later stage.)

Respect for plant and animal life, which may be considered as one of the bases of respect for human life, does not come naturally to the small child. This is explained partly by the fact that he has not yet established a very clear distinction between the animate and the inanimate, and partly by the fact that his curiosity is stronger than his sympathy. He wants to perceive and to enjoy, and cannot see any reason why he should be deprived of the pleasure of pulling off a fly's wings or trampling down a flower-bed. At a certain age he seems to find his most lively pleasure in destruction. Here again, the teacher should use the positive method, and, should try to arouse in him a sympathetic interest in trees, flowers, birds, wild animals, and, most especially, in domestic animals, the friends and servants of man.

The role of art

What we have said about the "universality" of the aesthetic emotion implies that art must now be given a much larger place than it has found in the traditional school. This is already admitted by all progressive schools in the interest of general education alone. As Dr. Herbert Read has pointed out, the work of art reveals the fraternal message with which it is charged only to those who know, by personal experience, what the specific function of art is.

Before showing to the child the most significant works of art of various cultures, it is desirable to give him frequent opportunities to express himself by means of activities that amount to art in so far as they are the ingenuous expression of his personal reaction to his impressions, and it is therefore for the art of the child himself that room must first be made in the school. At the kindergarten and elementary school the child must be encouraged to express himself by all kinds of artistic activities, first by modeling, then by water-colors, finally -- because more abstract -- by drawing. (We had occasion to see, in one of the halls of the building where we held our meetings, a remarkable exhibition of such works executed in the Paris nursery schools.)

It is not only by means of plasticine, brush, or pencil that the child should be encouraged to express himself. Rhythmic exercises will train him to express himself through gesture and attitude (we saw quite charming exercises of this kind, in a kindergarten at Podebrady). From the expressive recitation of children's poems one may proceed gradually to dramatic games of various kinds. Only lack of space prevents us from dwelling at length on the virtue of these games (psychodramas, sociodramas) which psychologists have shown to be an effective safety-valve for aggressive impulses. If it is naive to think that individual aggressiveness is the only root of international conflicts, there is, nevertheless, no doubt that it constitutes one of the multiple causes; and hence everything that tends to control aggressiveness in the child must be considered as important.

As soon as the child is able to discern the message of art (which will depend on the extent to which he has expressed himself on the artistic plane), he may be shown the most characteristic masterpieces of every civilization in sculpture, painting, music, poetry, and dance. In the case of the figurative arts, slides and films may be of great service. Generally speaking, however, it is preferable to use reproductions which the child can examine at his leisure until their secrets are revealed. It is most important, in view of the decisive value of this first initiation, that school authorities should make it possible for every classroom to have its collection of good reproductions of drawings, sculptures, frescoes, easel pictures, and fine architecture. Only the best should be put before the eyes of children. In this connection it may be noted that UNESCO is now publishing a catalogue of fine color-reproductions.

The place of music

The music that speaks most directly to the child, at all events to the very young child, is the human voice. He should hear and sing himself as many as possible of those traditional songs which express what is most essential in the human spirit and which constitute thereby an authentic international language. (There is still no general collection of the most characteristic popular songs of every civilization translated into the language of every country). Later on, the child should be given the opportunity of hearing, by whatever means are available, instrumental music suitable to his age. The pupil who plays an instrument should be invited to interpret for his comrades a characteristic page of Grieg or Smetana, de Falla or Moussorgsky.

The use of recordings to familiarize the child with the music of the world is to be recommended, but, here again, teachers must turn to UNESCO. It is in fact extremely difficult, at the present time, to obtain good recordings of authentic folk-songs, and of Arab, Jewish, Indian and Chinese music. Let UNESCO undertake the recording of the purest examples of folk-music of all countries, and of the antique music of all civilizations, and let teachers draw up a catalogue showing which among these records are suitable for the kindergarten, which for the elementary school, and which for more advanced pupils. Wireless will also enable children to hear national songs sung by the children of different countries in their original language. Certain stations already broadcast good programs of this kind.

An international anthem

Just as every nation has its national anthem whereby the feeling of belonging to the national community is asserted, would it not be desirable for all the children of the world -- and, tomorrow, all the inhabitants of the world -- to have an anthem expressive of their feeling of belonging to the human community? We have noted that certain folk-songs equally affect men of all cultures. The musician and the poet entrusted with the composition of this anthem should, therefore, employ the style of popular poetry and music. We have also remarked that children take pleasure in singing in a foreign language, and hence instead of translating the anthem into all the languages of the world, an almost insuperable problem of adaptation, it might be sung throughout the world in one of the two UNESCO languages, French or English.

Poetry and ballads

With regard to poetry -- in the widest sense of the term -- we considered only that which is within the reach of children from 3 to 13 years of age. We shall, therefore, confine ourselves to remarking that the poetry to which the child has easiest access is that of legend and ballad. Some time ago the French poet Maurice Bouchor published, in three charming little volumes, the French, Nordic, and traditional versions of the tales of Mother Goose. A large collection of popular tales of all countries has been published in the United States of America, and might, with advantage, be translated into other languages. However, the influence of these first readings on the child is so decisive that we venture to reiterate the hope that UNESCO will entrust to a commission of poet-educators the task of collecting in all countries, and of translating into all languages, the most perfect popular tales of the most poetic legends. Another desirable collection would be a smaller miscellany containing such examples of world poetry as are within the reach of children from 3 to 7, from 7 to 10, and from 10 to 13 years of age, namely, lullabies, roundelays and marching songs. (We are aware that a committee of experts under the auspices of UNESCO is busy with the translation, into the principal languages of the world, of the masterpieces of universal poetry; and we were delighted to hear that the Index Translationum, formerly published by the Institute of Intellectual Co-operation, is to re-appear under the auspices of UNESCO.)

The place of religion

The secular school is dispossessed of what is perhaps the most effectual means of awakening in the child the sense of his belonging to humanity. Faith in a divinity who is the principle and end of human growth is probably the best foundation for a real understanding among men. The conviction that the essential object of humanity is to take cognizance, with ever increasing clarity, of its unity in this common vocation creates the best climate for the development of world-mindedness.

Actually, we find in most schools a place reserved for religious culture side by side with secular education. Let us see how this circumstance may be used by the teacher anxious to imbue his pupils with the spirit of tolerance, respect and sympathy which is the foundation of understanding in all its forms. In the vast majority of schools, at least in town areas, there are pupils of different confessions, and even of different religions (Christian, Jewish, Moslem, Buddhist). Religious instruction in these schools is generally given by the ministers of the various creeds. Granting that these classes are held at the same hour, with the pupils separately grouped according to their respective faiths, the education received by them at other times will tend to make them aware of the same fundamental realities -- that all creatures and all races have their place in the universal plan, and that social institutions are valid only in so far as they enable the individual to do justice to his spiritual vocation. It will often happen, then, that the children, in talking about their religious classes, will be struck by the essential similarity of what they have been taught. It will then be possible for the master to confirm their impression and to cultivate and strengthen this universalism.

Obstacles Outside the School

Each of the identifications by which the human being becomes an integral part of successively wider groups is based on the preceding identification. If, therefore, one of them is not effected normally, it will be impossible for the succeeding ones to be effected normally. To expect the feeling of belonging to be extended automatically from the family to the world-community would be taking too much for granted. We have obviously not yet reached that stage, and certain attitudes adopted by individuals towards the smaller groupings are in fact incompatible with that world-mindedness which should be the final, culminating attitude. Teachers must endeavor by every means to remove the obstacles created by these tendencies, and to modify the "natural" environment so as to favor their purpose; for the influence of this environment on the development of world-mindedness is usually much greater than that of the environment constituted by the class.

Family pressures

Psychology has clearly revealed the decisive influence of the family environment. The development of the child deprived of affection or showered with it, and of the child brought up too severely or too leniently, has been studied. Analyses have been made of the influence exerted on the child's intelligence and character by the family structure, by brothers and sisters, and by restricted or extended family groupings. Housing and the effects of material circumstances, whether opulent, comfortable, straitened or wretched, have likewise received attention.

Under the pressure of profound economic changes, but also, it seems, for reasons of personal preference, the family tends at present to become a very small group. Far too frequently there are only three members, who have little to do with other branches of the family, and who see only a small number of people "of their own sort." Under such conditions world-mindedness is indeed not given much opportunity to develop. When the only child or the two children thus brought up enter school they are ill-prepared to become members of the group formed by the class. In many cases, however, Nature would assert itself and they would unite with this richer, more varied group if their parents did not intervene by saying: "I don't want you to play with those children; they are not our sort." The integration of the child in the school group then becomes impossible for the same reason that makes his integration in the local community impossible, i.e. the narrow family spirit of the parents.

The influence of the family on the development of world-mindedness is exerted also in other ways. The family may, in fact, not only compromise indirectly, and in some degree unconsciously, the eventual integration of the child in the human community by preventing him from joining the group of his peers in a normal way, but it may also cultivate attitudes running directly counter to the development of international understanding, such as the feeling that being a stranger means "to be strange;" that something which is different is always despicable. If every judgment pronounced on the way of life of other nations is dictated by narrow-mindedness; if pleasure is taken in pointing out everything unpleasant and reprehensible in the manners and customs of other countries, then the way to world-mindedness is obstructed. Even a rapid survey in kindergartens and elementary schools is enough to show that in every country such summary opinions are frequently all the children hear at home about other nations and civilizations.

We shall come to nationalism later on. For the moment, it is sufficient to note that it is most frequently in the family that the children are infected with nationalism by hearing what is national extolled and what is foreign disparaged. As chauvinism, this may be more ridiculous than dangerous, but it must none the less, be regarded as the complete negation of world-mindedness. We shall presently recognize in nationalism the major obstacle to the development of world-mindedness.

The methods suggested in earlier chapters for awakening the child's sympathy and comprehension for other civilizations can be successful if the parents collaborate or at least assent to their use. In other words, the school can cultivate world-mindedness only if the parents support and continue the work, or in any case do nothing that runs counter to the intentions of the school. Those who will be mothers and fathers tomorrow must be educated during and after their school years to assume their responsibilities with a deeper understanding. It is surprising that an institution which, in roughly ten years, disposes of more than 10,000 hours, has never thought until now of reserving some of these hours, let us say ten, to a subject of such obvious importance and urgency.

Only during the last years of school is it possible to discuss some of the problems that will bring home to boys and girls the decisive influence for good or evil that parents can exert on their children. When dealing with children below the age of 13 the educator will acquit himself most effectively of his duty in this respect by always setting the children an example of behavior inspired by wisdom and love. From the first years onwards it is, of course, possible to introduce certain exercises or reading matter that will awaken fatherly or motherly feelings, and that is about all that can be done directly. However, even if the aim of preparing pupils to be intelligent, world-conscious parents has not been inscribed in so many words in the curriculum of the elementary school, educators cannot think of it too often or too seriously.

The school cannot fully acquit itself of its tasks without the collaboration of the family. All that the school can do will be largely ineffective unless the parents set the child an example of the critical sense, sound judgment, and love of justice which are the prerequisites of international understanding. The school can do little if parents infect the child with the sclerosis of the mind which makes so many men and women incapable of appreciating the worth of anyone not belonging to their class, confession, political party or country.

The teacher-parent relationship

How can parents be persuaded to adopt an attitude so different from that of the great majority of adults? It has been said that it is the children who educate the parents. Let the school then make use of this leverage. It implies, in fact, that the school influences the family to a certain extent by the very action it brings to bear on the pupils. In other words, if the child is influenced by what his parents say, the parents may in turn be influenced by what the child tells them of what he has seen, done or heard in class. The deeper meaning is that what he has seen, done or heard in class. The deeper meaning is that the years during which the parents feel themselves directly responsible for the education of the child are also the years in which they themselves are most liable to progress intellectually and morally. In so far as they take their child in hand, they must also take themselves in hand. More frequently than he thinks the educator will find the parents of his pupils preoccupied with the same problems that preoccupy himself.

If the teacher can persuade a parent that the child's interest is at stake (that the parents should, for example, give up saying certain things in the presence of the child, or that he should be permitted this or that game or activity) the odds will be greatly in the teacher's favor. The well-being of the child is in fact the common objective of home and school, and when collaboration between the two is in doubt this must be borne in mind. On this basis, the relations between the teacher and the parents of his pupils would be established unambiguously. Feelings of rivalry and jealously between the home and the school would be removed, and they would be able to exert a greater and happier influence on the child by combining their efforts.

At the infants' school such contacts are made quite simply. Mothers bring their children into class, have a chat with the teacher, and a meeting is arranged. In small towns also the teacher gets to know all the parents very quickly. In the larger communities things are different, and it would be useful if the headmaster would establish on an official basis the framework within which teacher-parent relations are to develop. When the parents come to enroll their children, the principal may tell them the day and time when they can call on the teacher, or, if that does not suit them, he may suggest a special appointment, explain the desirability of visits by all the parents, and add that, in accordance with general practice, the teacher will call on them after three months to report on the work and development of their child.

The tact shown by the teacher will do the rest. He should bear in mind, for example, that to suggest is better than to affirm, and that the best way of obtaining something frequently is to let the other propose it first. Pursing the conversation, the teacher may tell about his difficulties, which, broadly speaking, will coincide with those of the parents, and often will have been caused by an educational error committed by the latter. The only road to success lies in getting the parents to admit the error of their own accord. The teacher, however, cannot approach the parents in the right way unless he is prepared to admit his own errors when necessary.

Personal relations between teacher and parents are indispensable, and this is yet another reason for regarding the problem of the teacher-pupil ratio as being a fundamental one. These personal contacts take a great deal of time, and if the teacher meets a new class of forty pupils every year he will find it physically impossible to maintain close contact with all the parents. In our opinion a class ought, therefore, to be limited to between twenty and twenty-five pupils who should stay with the same teacher for at least two or three years.

Meetings of parents and teachers

The teacher should also bring the parents of his pupils togther, even if it is only to obtain their consent to activities outside the traditional school curriculum, such as correspondence with pupils of other schools or relief work. For example, the children can give nothing to help the children of devastated countries unless they obtain it from their parents or earn it by some activity that only the parents can authorize. In any case, such meetings will provide a valuable opportunity for the teacher to interest the parents in various activities, as well as an encouragement for the children.

These meetings can also be used to inform parents of changes in study plans or of new instructions given to the teachers. Problems requiring the consent of both family and school can also be tackled, and under this heading comes the question of the children's reading and recreation. During such discussions the teacher may pick up useful information. He may learn, for example, that a certain book, which, perhaps, he has not even heard of, passionately interests children of a given age, or that such-and-such a documentary film has given them food for thought. However, since all this can usually be found out directly from the children, it would be better to devote the meetings to questions of what reading matter, films, and broadcasts are suitable for children. It is, in fact, of the greatest importance that the teacher be able to rely on the vigilance and discrimination of the parents in allowing their children access to only such books, films and radio programs as are best fitted to awaken taste and judgment, a sense of morality, social awareness and world-mindedness. It may also frequently be necessary to occupy meetings with the problem of children's clubs, since certain of these foster a clannishness that may threaten the child's integration into the group of his fellows. There is, in short, no end to the issues that may be usefully discussed.

Furthermore, it seemed to us that these meetings among parents could serve an even more useful purpose than those considered so far. Let us suppose that a mother and father have been brought by talks with the teacher to admit, in theory, that their narrow family spirit, which restricts their esteem to people of their own class, threatens the integration of their child in the school. Then, when they meet parents of all the other children they may be able to see for themselves that a craftsman, for example, may have sound common sense and moral judgment, or a workman extensive knowledge of literature and a fine sense of beauty. The child's integration in the class will be much more effective and subsequent integration will be given a much better foundation if his father and mother speak kindly about the parents of his school-fellows and take pleasure in meeting them.

So that these meetings may usher in the revolution (the expression is not too strong) by which a collection of individuals will become a social group, it is of course not enough to seat the parents side by side on benches and have somebody give a lecture, even a very good one. The parents will have to be given the opportunity to listen to one another, to talk, and, above all, to do something together. When, therefore, one of the parents has something interesting for the children, for example, the account of a long journey, or a film taken during a voyage, all the parents should be invited. They should also be asked to the musical and theatrical performances given by the children, and efforts should be made to get them to participate as actively as possible in the planning and preparation of these school activities. It is by working together for the benefit of their children that they will form close bonds of friendship.

Nationalism

As long as the child breathes the poisoned air of nationalism, education in world-mindedness can produce only rather precarious results. As we have pointed out, it is frequently the family that infects the child with extreme nationalism. The school should therefore use the means described earlier to combat family attitudes that favor jingoism. Lucid analysis, the study of the lives and public activities of some statesman, and the comparison of certain critical periods of ancient and modern history will illustrate with what regularity the nationalistic attitude has led people to final disaster and has delayed the advent of international understanding and co-operation.

We thought with cautious optimism that educators could also try to influence public opinion to a certain extent, as teachers' associations did in the period between the two wars. At the end of national and international congresses of teachers, statements of international faith were often issued. The following are typical:

"We want no more of those history or reading books that every day introduce young children of France into the chamber of horrors of war; we want no longer a travesty of history that contains the germs of mistrust, contempt, hatred, and war; we condemn authors who in their writings have betrayed truth and obeyed the voice of hatred." (Sydicat national des Instituteurs Francuis, 1926). "The child must learn that civilization has been, and remains, the work of all people." (Declaration of the Comite d'Entente des Grandes Associations Internatilnales, ratified by the Congres de la Paix par l'Ecole, Prague, 1927.) "The teachers' associations belonging to the international federation assert their determination to direct their teaching towards international solidarity and understanding, to eliminate tendentious words, to edit works of their respective countries that are fit to be translated into all languages and introduced into the schools of all countries, to concentrate on the publication of an international work to make known the contributions of every people to universal civilization."

(Bellinzone Resolution, 1929.)

It will be seen that though such an action implies first of all the discussion of the problem among educators, it also presupposes the existence of powerful cooperative organizations. These organizations already exist within most countries, and on the international level there are such bodies as the international Federation of Teachers' Associations and the International Federation of Secondary Teachers. These organizations should take the offensive.

Professional educators do not, at the present time, enjoy a position permitting them to voice their opinions with much authority. This is one of the reasons, no doubt, why resolutions such as those we have quoted have not prevented certain European countries from pursuing the nationalistic policies that led to the second world war. Considering this state of affairs objectively, as citizens and not as professional educators, we could only find it paradoxical.

What the teacher can do: Two Attitudes

What must the teaching profession do to change this state of things? On this point our group was sharply divided into two camps. One considered that the teachers must do all they can to win public confidence and patiently wait for society to grant them the status without which they cannot possibly fulfill all their duties. The other side maintained that the educator himself must energetically claim the social position demanded by his duties; that he may do so in as much as he is not thereby defending his own interest but those of the child and the country, and that the very reason that public opinion shows him so little consideration is to be found in his accepting an in acceptable position. Let him, therefore, demand an adequate salary, conditions of work that give him time to attend to each child individually and to keep up the necessary relations with his fellow citizens, and complete liberty of action.

On two of these last three points some measure of agreement was reached, but on the first point opposition proved irreducible. Certain members of our group felt that educators might now besiege the authorities with material demands in the manner of a trade union. Perhaps the root of our disagreement is to be found in our different ways of estimating the value of man. In some cultures a man is judged according to what he earns; in others, according to what he refuses payment for in a spirit of service and in obedience to his vocation. The author of this report, however, is not one of those who wish to see questions of salary injected into discussions of education for international understanding.

The area of agreement

On the other hand, we agreed on the following points, which define our position on the last of the problems examined.

Education for world-mindedness at present encounters obstacles outside the school. The principal one certainly is nationalism. If the feeling of belonging to the human community develops normally by an extension of the feeling of belonging to the national community, it cannot possibly develop from that caricature of patriotism which is extreme nationalism. If the integration of the child in the national group takes place in the atmosphere of pride and contempt characteristic of this attitude, the efforts of the teachers, no matter how judiciously concerted they may be, will in most cases remain barren. Education for world-mindedness is not a problem that the school can solve within its own walls or with its own means. It is a political problem even more than an educational one, and the present position of teachers does not, in general, permit them to intervene in the field of politics with the requisite authority.

In our opinion it is essential that, on the one hand, a Children's Charter should secure for all children such education as is summarized in this report, which alone can create the atmosphere in which development of world-mindedness is conceivable; and that, on the other hand, a Teachers' Charter should secure for all members of the teaching profession the liberty to provide such an education by the means they decide upon, as well as the right of access to commissions and councils responsible for the organization of public education.

Finally, we expressed the wish that UNESCO would persuade not only governments, but also public opinion, that the most urgent problem in the political field is the educational one, and, more particularly, that an intellectual and moral attitude favorable to international understanding and co-operation (which is civilization's only hope) can be promoted only by a school reorganized to this end and equipped with everything that is indispensable to its effort; that, consequently, the cost of such an enlightened education is a wise investment of the national income; and that the activity of the school cannot bring about the desired result unless, repudiating every form of nationalism, the policy of the nation itself is one of international understanding and co-operation.

Appendix

List of staff members, participants and consultants

Director,

Aase Gruda, Mrs. (Norway) Professor of Psychology, Oslo University

Member of UNESCO Secretariat in charge of Seminars,

Guiton, Jean William (France), Department of Education, UNESCO

Study Group Chairmen,

Bowley, Agatha H., Miss (U.K.) Psychologist, Psychological Service, Education Department, Leicester

Chen, Ho-Chin (China), Director and Professor, National Kindergarten Training Institute, Municipal Girls Normal School

Meylan, Louis (Switzerland), Professor, University of Lausanne.

Prescott, Daniel Alfred (U.S.A.) Director, Institute for Child Study, University of Maryland.

Administrative Assistant,

Ambros, Milos V., (Czechoslovakia), Official of Czechoslovak Ministry of Education

Social Director,

Ambrosova, Liba, Mrs., (Czechoslovakia), Czechoslovak Fim Industry

Librarian,

Tydeitat, Barclay (Czechoslovakia)

Participants

Baastad, Eve, Miss., (Norway), Teacher-in-Training

Bartuskoya, Marie, Miss, (Czechoslovakia), Head of the Pre-School Department, Ministry of Education

Blatchford, Catrina, Miss, (U.K.), Senior Lecturer in Infant and Nursery School Eduation, Liandrindod College

Boafo, Grace, Miss, (U.K.), (Gold Coast, West Africa) Student-certificated Teacher at University College, London

Cigerova, Viola, Mrs. (Czechoslovakia), Secondary School Teacher.

Cohen, Samuel, (Australia), Lecturer, Teachers' College, University of Sydney

Dolmage, Grace, Miss, (Canada), Supervisor, Child Guidance Clinic, Winnipeg Public Schools

Dutta, Bhabananda, (Indian Uniion) Indian Government Scholar in Child Psychology, Assam.

Forgeot, Yvonne, Miss (France), Teacher at the Lycce attached to the Centre International d'Etudes Pedagogiques at Sevres

Gabbard, Hazel, Miss (U.S.A.), Specialist, Extended School Services, Elementary Education Division, U.S. Office of Education

Gnaedinger, Esther, Miss (Switzerland), Student

Hachem, Obaji-Abjuul-Hadi (Syria), Teacher

Herbiniere-Lebert, Suzanne, Mrs. (France), Inspector-General of Kindergartens

Iversen, Beret, Miss, (Norway), Teacher.

Kettles, Pearl, Miss, (U.K.), Head of Infant Department in large Primary School, Scotland

Logan, Elisabeth, Mrs. (U.K.), Education Officer, Herefordshire.

Logan, Robert (U.K.) Director of Education, Worcestershire.

Lukacks, Alexander, (Hungary), Secretary of Teachers' Trade Union.

Panchaud, Georges, (Switzerland), Headmaster of High School for Girls.

Rasmussen, Edgar Tranekjaer, (Denmark), Professor, Copenhagen University.

Sedlackova, Vera, Mrs., (Czechoslovakia), Secondary School Teacher

Simonson, Rebecca, Miss, (U.S.A.), Vice-President, American Federation of Teachers

Soucek, Jan, (Czechoslovakia), Member of the Educational Research Institute

Spitzel, Anna, Mrs., (Austria), Secondary School Teacher

Stoffel, Nicolas, (Luxembourg), Inspector of Primary School Education

Thomet, Mauriso, Miss, (France), Inspector-General of Kindergartens

Thompson, Doris Vera, Miss, (Union of South Africa), Inspector of Nursery Education, Union Education Department

Zazzo, Rene, (France), Professor, Institute of Psychology, Paris University

Consultants

Benedict, Ruth, Mrs., (U.S.A.), Professor of Anthropology, Teachers'College, Columbia University (Deceased).

Brosse, Therese, Mrs., (France), Head of the Section for War-Handicapped Children, Department of Education, UNESCO.

Ilg, Frances L., Miss, (U.S.A.), Research Associate in Child Development, Yale University.

Rey, Andre, (Switzerland), Professor of Psychology, University of Geneva.

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