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.