TheImportanceofDevelopingAttitudes
Ofalltheareasoflearningthemostimportantisthedevelopmentofattitudes.
Emotionalreactionsaswellaslogicalthoughtprocessesaffectthebehaviorofmostpeople.
“Theburntchildfearsthefire”isoneinstance;anotheristheriseoffigureslikeHitler.
Boththeseexamplesalsopointupthefactthatattitudescomefromexperience.
Intheonecasetheexperienceisdirectandimpressive,intheotheritisindirectandgradual.
Theclassroomteacherintheelementaryschoolisinstrategicpositiontoinfluenceattitudes.
Thisistruepartlybecausechildrenacquireattitudesfromthoseadultswhosewordstheyrespect.
Anotherreasonwhyitistrueisthatpupilsoftensearchsomewhatdeeplyintoasubjectinschoolthathasonlybeentoucheduponathomeorhaspossiblyneveroccurredtothembefore.
ToachildwhohadpreviouslyacquiredlittleknowledgeofMexico,histeacher'smethodofhandlingsuchaunitwouldgreatlyaffecthisattitudetowardMexicans.
Theteachercandevelopproperattitudesthroughsocialstudies,sciencematters,theveryatmosphereoftheclassroom,etc.
However,whenchildrencometoschoolwithundesirableattitudes,itisunwisetoattempttochangetheirfeelingsbycriticizingthem.
Theteachercanachievethepropereffectbyhelpingthemobtainconstructiveexperience.
Toillustrate,first-gradepupils,afraidofpolicemenwillprobablychangetheirattitudesafteraclassroomtalkwiththeneighborhoodofficerinwhichheexplainshowheprotectsthem.
Inthesameway,aclassofolderchildrencandevelopattitudesthroughdiscussion,researchandall-daytrips.
Finally,ateachermustconstantlyevaluatehisownattitudes,becausehisinfluencecanbeharmfulifhehaspersonalprejudices.
Thisisespeciallytrueinrespecttocontroversialissuesandquestionsofwhichchildrenshouldbeencouragedtoreachtheirownconclusionasresultofobjectiveanalysisofallthefacts.