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The Importance of Developing Attitudes
Of all the areas of learning the most important is the development of
attitudes.
Emotional reactions as well as logical thought processes affect the
behavior of most people.
“The burnt child fears the fire” is one instance; another is the rise of
figures like Hitler.
Both these examples also point up the fact that attitudes come from
experience.
In the one case the experience is direct and impressive, in the other it is
indirect and gradual.
The class room teacher in the elementary school is in strategic position to
influence attitudes.
This is true partly because children acquire attitudes from those adults
whose words theyrespect.
Another reason why it is true is that pupils often search somewhat deeply
into a subject inschool that has only been touched upon at home or has possibly
never occurred to thembefore.
To a child who had previously acquired little knowledge of Mexico, his
teacher's method ofhandling such a unit would greatly affect his attitude toward
Mexicans.
The teacher can develop proper attitudes through social studies, science
matters, the veryatmosphere of the classroom, etc.
However, when children come to school with undesirable attitudes, it is
unwise to attempt tochange their feelings by criticizing them.
The teacher can achieve the proper effect by helping them obtain
constructive experience.
To illustrate, first-grade pupils, afraid of policemen will probably change
their attitudes after aclassroom talk with the neighborhood officer in which he
explains how he protects them.
In the same way, a class of older children can develop attitudes through
discussion, researchand all-day trips.
Finally, a teacher must constantly evaluate his own attitudes, because his
influence can beharmful if he has personal prejudices.
This is especially true in respect to controversial issues and questions of
which children shouldbe encouraged to reach their own conclusion as result of
objective analysis of all the facts. |
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发表于 2018-6-2 19:54:00