In the thirteenth talk James discusses the different stages in life when ideas are acquired. He also talks about how experiences are important in the development of ideas.
The passage that I liked the most out of this talk was “Feed the growing human being, feed him with the sort of experience of which from year to year he shows a natural craving, and he will develop in adult life a sounder sort of mental tissue, even though he may seem to be ‘wasting’ a great deal of his growing time, in the eyes of those for whom the only channels of learning are books and verbally communicated information.” (p. 73) I love this because it is so true. I had several experiences in school that have stuck with me forever and I sure do wish I had more. The majority of they were related to what we were learning academically. However, there were other experiences, not related to the course work, but were just as profound. The one that stands out the most was when I was a freshman in high school. No one knew what my teacher was doing but she did. She taught us how to manage several projects at one time and to get them done by the deadline. It was an English class and she taught all of us time management.
He talks about how you need to do these activities in the proper place. He states that, “it is not until adolescence is reached that the mind grows able to take in the more abstract aspects of experience, the hidden similarities and distinctions between things, and especially their causal sequence.” Well, how do we know when a child is ready and able to take in more abstract experiences? Every child is different from one another.
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