Visual Education (Jan-Dec 1922)

Visual Education Touch Memory Man Sound Memory Man Sight Memory Man Visual Education Based on an Intellectual Classification Hugo Westeebebg Consultant in Industrial Valuation of Men LIFE itself is the best school and experience may be considered the best teacher. It is also, from an individual's point of view, the field of battle where the decision of personal success or failure is rendered. Therefore some artificial preparation always has proved useful before prospective participants are left to their own resources. The education of this young humanity probably should have for its aims the developing and improving of such native abilities of man as contribute to the welfare of himself and his kind, and at the same time the controlling of such tendencies as might injure. In the beginning of social life, when desires were satisfied in the simplest way and needs for comfort were few, the training of the young was a comparatively simple proceeding. Modern "civilization, on the contrary, is of an extremely complicated nature ; the time, gifts and powers of a single individual are not sufficient to master it all and then do his share. It is now clear that in order to get the best results, the purpose and methods of education should vary according to the qualities of the individual. Tests for Vocational Selection This is being m-ore and more clearly realized, as is shown by the many revisions of Binet's scale for intelligence tests which are being devised, not only for pedagogical guidance but also for vocational selection in trades and professions. These valuations, however, all refer to the general intellect and therefore miss essential problems of conduct. In order to draw attention to their existence, the writer presents a system for the valuation of man intellectually, which perhaps will indicate the true meaning of "visual education," and at the same time the extent to which motion pictures may prove useful in connection therewith. "Touch, Sound and Sight Memory" Types In this system an intellectual classification based on sense memory is the foundation for three synthetic human types: the touch memory, the sound memory, and the sight memory man. A study of the relative ability to acquire knowledge and to perform work in the case of a man equipped only with the sense of touch, a second man with the senses of touch and sound, and a third with all three senses at his disposal, will probably demonstrate the practical importance of the classification. The task at hand is that of a ditch digger who by means of bis sense of touch alone is able to learn to use a spade and dig in a fairly straight line and at about the same depth. When he reaches a point where an outcropping rock blocks the progress of his spade, however, he has to stop or follow its outline, when he will soon have lost his original direction. A ditch digger who is a sound memory man — that is, who in addition to the sense of touch has the sense of sound as well — is able to dig a more complicated ditch. When he arrives at the rock a command to turn to the left will reach him and he will go on, changing direction each time according to instructions, until the obstruction is passed and the original direction of the ditch is resumed. Another man who has not only the senses of touch and sound, but the sense of sight as well, can perform work that is possible to neither of the others. His ability to see makes it possible for him to supervise the work of the two others or of any number of men co-operating for a certain end. Classification Applied to Art The three classes are still more easy to discern in the field of art, where the workers all receive their raw material through the eye and in the reproduction are free to choose