THE SUNDAY. OREGOXIAN, , PORTLAND, SEPTEMBER
1913.
TRAIN OUR CHILDREN .AS :;SEMDr
An Hour a Day of Study Is Held to Be Enough by
Dr. H. G. Kribs, Who Says That There Is a Simi
larity Between Training Lower Animals and Human
Beings Lessons Taught by Animal Training
Application of New Ideas in Portland Schools.
AS ." VE DO OUR DO(?S
" l' ' ' , . lustres. dLrJ lmPy -5a
-
WVIEI" we learn to tra
VI dren as sensibly
IEN we learn to train our chll-
we do
our dogs, we will quicken
their attention for a brief period each
day on the subject we would have
them learn, and then allow them to give
physical expression in some practical
way."
The speaker was Dr. H. C Kribs,
who occupies the chair of comparative
neurology and psychology at the Uni
versity of Pennsylvania. His father,
David Kribs, lives In Medford, where
he visited, stopping; In Portland for a
day recently on his return East He
Is a cousin of Fred A. Kribs, of Port
land, and of Mrs. O. II. Plummer. -
Dr. Kribs has made many remarka
ble biological desearches, on the re
sults of which he bases his educa
tional theory. He Is one of the four
men In the world who have used the
ultra-violet rays In photography. With
their aid he took a picture of a single
brain cell, magnified 16.0uw.000 diame
ters. The ultra-clolet rays are only
about half as Intensive In their action
as the X-rays, but their use in this
achievement nearly cost Dr. Kribs his
eyesight.
The new school of education, of
which Dr. Kribs is the 'enthuslaastlc
evangel, contemplates the shortening
of the study period to perhaps an hour
a day, and holds that knowledge is
only properly impressed on the brain
by some practical application of It at
the time It Is received.
"This employs both the head and
hand, and with a short study period
the interest Is so accelerated that the
heart Is In the work as well," said
Dr. Kribs.
"I was most dellgted to learn," he
continued, "that- this .dea is rapidly
being applied to your school system In
Portland. In a brief talk with Super
intenent Alderman I found that be Is
clples which we have discovered Into
deeply Impresed with the absolute ne
cessity of co-ordinating the ideal with
the practical in the development of the
child mind. It is a wholesome thing to
see a most earnest effort being pro
moted to quicken the minds of stu
dents with books that can only give the
"three R's." and then supplement the
mental stimulus thus attained by
sme practical application of the hand
and eye.
"la the past people have had the
Impresion that the mind of man and
the minds of animals were separated
by a very wide gap, but we have
learned that there is little if any dif
ference in their method of function
ing," aid Dr. Kribs. "For Instance,
we Jehow that animals' ability to adapt
themselves to altered environments are
strikingly similar to the processes un
dergone by human minds as they develop."
Dr. Kribs. however, hastened to ex
plain that this does not mean that the
ultimate crystalizatlon of mind in man
and animal are exactly alike.
"It does mean." he said, "that they
do develop along the same lines, and
this discovery has given us a tremen
dous impetus In our appreciation of
what should be the correct training of
human beings.
'In other words, we have learned
from the animal kingdom how mind
has arisen in nature, and also the prin
ciples under which mental development
has progressed.
'Of course we cannot experiment
with human beings as with animals,"
Dr. Kribs went on, "but our experi
ments with animals have taught us so
much that already there is a world
wide Interest toward putting the prin-
practice so far as our own human
mind Is concerned."
The rise of the kindergarten move
ment is regarded by Dr. Kribs as per
haps an unconscious expression of the
tendency to make education, a thing not
only of the head, but of the hand, the
two employed In co-ordination.
. "Instead of merely teaching the lit
tle tots their formal A-B-Cs," he said,
"we now know that the mind grows
tenfold when Its effort to learn is
Associated with some achievement o
the hand."
Asccording to Dr. Kribs, the hu
man mind is so constructed that only
a certain amount of mental concentra
tion is possible for a given length of
time, and then in order to give the
mind its proper growth a change to
some physical example provided in the
very environment of the study place if
possible Is necessary.
"This we have learned most thor
oughly in our study of animal life,"
said Dr. Kribs. "Among, the mam
mals we have discovered that if
the animal in consideration Is given a
rigid task for, say, two hours, the
brain cells show a large loss of vital
force and require considerable time for
recuperation."
Dr.-Kribs declares that the brain
cells In the human mind or in
any mind, for that matter are very
like little storage batteries, capable of!
delivering a certain amount of poten
tial energy for a given time, after
which they must have a period of rest
and recuperation. Hence, the problem
of modern education is to determine
the proper amount of time that the
brain-battery can deliver thought-current
and cease the demand: for power
after that period has expired.
"Our modern school systems are now
being rapidly readjusted in the light
of these facts," said Dr. Kribs.
"We now know for a certainty that a
child can exhibit with profit a finer
mental reaction after 15 or 20 minutes
of effort than before was assumed
could be exhibited after hours of study.
We have learned that the education of
the child, just as with the training of
animals, can only be accomplished
where the Interest is quickened and
the whole mind attends.
"We must find how to keep up this
quickened attention to the best ad
vantage for the child," he continued.
"Heretofore this has been done only
incidentally, as Illustrated by the ex
amples of William R. Harper and the
son of Professor Boris Sidis, of Har
vard." Dr. Kribbs has a son, 2 years
old, with whom he has been making
experiments similar to those which
were made with the Harper and Sidis
children. With careful training of only
20 to 30 minutes a day, the training
partaking of the nature of play rather
than of work. Dr. Kribs' baby
has rapidly learned the alphabet, can
count with accuracy to 60, and readily
recognizes the printed names of all the
domestic animals' and fowl.
-
"Our theory in his development," said
Dr. Kribs, "has been to help him put
his mind thoroughly upon the subject
In band for a brief period each day.
and then later to help him find expres- j
Eion iur me mens no uas ijaiucu in
some physical achievement."
This method was anticipated In the
kindergarten movement," said Dr.
Kribs. "and it seems most wise that
the same application should be made
to primary schools, grade schools, high
schools and colleges."
At the University of Pennsylvania,
in the courses of comparative anatomy
in which Dr. Kribs has been an in
structor for some years, there used to
be a work-period of six hours a day
This period has now been cut in half,
and Dr. Kribs is so certain that the
results have been beneficial to the stu
dents that he proposes to cut it in two
again, which would give only an hour
and a half of mental effort a day, or
one-fourth of what under the former
system was considered necessary.
"Since we have cut the work-period
in half," said Dr. Kribs, "the grading
of the students has increased 25 per
cent, and the amount of work accom
plished, not for the time consumed, but
for the day, has Increased over 40 per
cent.
"This brief Illustration shows con
clusively that our old Ideas of educa
tion were most erroneous. What the
child needs most la an earnest appli
cation for a brief time, and then some
occupation that will shift the mind
from the ideal to the concrete. By thus
applying both sides of our mental
make-ups a well-rounded, well-balanced
life must result.
According to Dr. Kribs, Ger
many has gone far in advance of the
United States in the training of her
young. The principles of education
that are 'Just beginning to be applied
in the United States and It is proposed
to give the "half-day" schools a trial
in -Portland, by the way are so well
worked out in all their pedagogical
importance In Germany that the aver-
SI.
age German child, when ue graduates
I rrom tne gymnasium or me mgn scnooi,
is better equipped for the struggle of
life than most of our college graduates.
"Perhaps it is because the Germans
love their animals more," said Dr.
Kribs, "but whatever the reason, it be-
hooves us to take a few lessons in
educational methods from our trans
Atlantic friends.
"The deplorable fact of the matter
Is," ha said, "that in times past we
have tried to grind knowledge Into the
brains of our children, instead of ap
plying the common-sense principles
that surround us in all nature.
"These principles show us unequivo
cally that mental or nervous concen
tration endures only for a brief period
of time, but that during that brief
period more can be absorbed by the
growing mind than by hours of hap
hazard effort where the wits go wool
gathering.
The great lesson of the new method
of education Is that the things we
really learn are only those that we
learn when our minds attend.
'If the mind of the child cannot con
centrate on any given subject for more
than an hour or two a day, why should
we torture the child with hours of rest
less inaptitude?
By giving both mental and physical
faculties an opportunity to develop
simultaneously, the mind and body will
grow together in harmony.
This means, of course, said Dr.
Kribs, smiling, "that ultimately there
will be no such thing as a 'high-brow
or 'low-brow.'
But this means," he added earnestly,
"a complete Inversion of our whole
modern school system that we have
built up with such infinite pains and
of which we are so proud. But it must
come, and It will come, as soon as we
appreciate fully the needs of the child.
"Twenty minutes of attention Is
worth more than a whole day's mere
sitting in the classroom.
"The. Idea of interweaving the mental
and the physical in a child's education
is new to nearly all oi us, and we are
somewhat at a loss to know Just how
it may best be done.
"There Is a general opinlen, how
ever, among our most advanced edu
cators that the grouping of our chil
dren and youths in little social centers,
where the thrust of their Instruction is
diverted toward mild athletic exercise.
the building of little flower-beds and
the development of little gardens is the
thing. Seeing things grow under the
perfect control of your own activities
never fails to develop character
which, after all, is the true aim of edu
cation. "The sum of all our educational ef
fort lies right here: To teach our
boys and girls to think the thoughts
of the great minds that have gone be
fore, but, more than all, to teach them
how nature will respond to the ener
gies set forth by the little, receptive
minds which. In turn, we are trying to
help grow, like the tender young
plant, to maturity and perfection."
An attempt will be made to have
Dr. Kribs come to Portland next Jan
uary for a series of lectures on "The
New Education."
Get A thr To Breed
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BT RENE BACHE.
ROYALTY has hit upon a brand new
fad.
Only a few weeks ago, at Pots
dam, the Princess victoria Lulse, eldest
daughter of the German Emperor, at
tracted surprised attention as she was
driven through the streets In her auto
mobile. Her whole booy seemed lit
erally to shimmer as with a golden
light.
"What is that our princess wears
this day?" aske-d one citizen of another.
"It is some kind of Celestial fabric,
surely," was the reply. -
Yet the notion was a mistake. At
all events, what the Princess Victoria
Lulse had on was not a fabric at all.
In the ordinary sense of the word. It
was a coat of silver fox fur "tipped"
with gold; and she carried a muff to
mutch.
This Is a new ami quite remarkable
invention, one should explain gold be
ing applied by an electrolytic process
to the tips of the long black hairs of
the fur. Thus Is produced the peculiar
"shimmering" effect described.
It is a curious fact that, so far as
known, silver fox is the only kind of
fur which can be treated in this way
successfully. The hairs of no other fur
will hold the gold. Hence It appears
that this particular and latest touch
In costume Is obtainable only by very
wealthy women silver fox being by
far the most costly of all furs.
As a matter of fact, however, the
available supply of this kind of fur is
almost entirelv monopolized by royalty.
Ermine Is out of fashion nowadays
with kings and queens, save as a trim
ming for robes of state. Peraps this Is
because it has been imitated so exten
sively by the skillful manipulation of
ordinary pussy-cat A first-class skin
of a silver fox, on the other hand. Is
worth 12000 today, and to counterfeit
It is impossible.
The Government Bureau of Animal
Industry reckons that at least 1250,000
Is paid annually in this country for
furs of all kinds. But It is very diffi
cult to obtain sliver fox fur at any
price. Not long ago one skin of great
beauty was sold In London, at auction,
for $2825. No such price has ever been
paid for the pelt of any 'other kind of
animals.
And yet the American multi-million-
i W, iXV &:iA iP'AyiTAu,: : t:::
aire is always ready to bid against
royalty for anything. Whence It comes
about that a few of our richest women
are able to boast the possession of sil
ver fox furs. At the last horse show
In New York was seen one set of black
fox, consisting of only three skins,
which Is known to have coBt $16,000.
Another lady, on the same occasion,
wore a coat of Siberian marten (com-
monly known as Russian sable) which
cost $22,000. But the marten is a much
smaller animal, and the number of
pelts that went to make up the garment
was considerably greater.
One naturally asks, from what source
Is the rare and precious silver fox fur
obtained? The answer is that the bulk
Prince Edward Island, off the Canadian
coast. That is the only place in the
world where sliver foxes are reared
under conditions of partial domestica
tionthe business being so profitable
that up to now its very existence has
been kept carefully secret by the few
persons engaged in it.
If the pelts are costly, the living an-
of the small market supply comes fromiimala are much more so, being useful
for breeding purposes. Silver fox ;ups
born In 1912 have a value of $3000 to
$4000 apiece; but to get one at even
that price would be extremely difficult.
To kill one for its lur would be like
wringing the neck of the goose that
laid the golden eggs save only where
there are superfluous males, which
furnish the furs that are sent to mar
ket. These skins, so few and so costly,
are shipped to London, where they are
disposed of at the treat auctions of
furs that city beinj, as everyone
knows, the fur market of the world.
Thence they find their way almost In
evitably into the hands of the royai
families, which have standing orders
with agents to buy them at almost any
price whenever they are offered. The
Empress of Russia has a magnificent
set of silver fox furs, which is rivaled
perhaps only by another set in tn
possession of the morganatic' wife of
the heir to the Austrian throne. Prince
Franz Fedinand.
A mother fox is able to bear young
ordinarily for nine years, and, averag
ing four pups to the litter, may be rea
sonably expected in her lifetime to
rear at least 30 offspring. This allows
for some loss by death from accident
or from disease. Reckoning the skins
as worth from $1500 to $2000 apiece,
it Is easy to see that a pair of the ani
mals might be expected under favora
ble circumstances to yield an annual
Income of something like $5000.
(Concluded en Pag 7.)