For our readers, a summary of the valuable lecture delivered by the educator Mrs. Widad Maqdisi Cortas, president of the Ahliah National College for Girls and secretary of the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts, in the series of educational studies organized by the Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of Education.
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Man was and remains the pivot of the universe, 'and the development and completion of his personality is existence's loftiest aim.'
What is this personality which man enjoys and no other creature?
Among its happier definitions is this: that it is composed of the whole of the spiritual, intellectual, and psychological values that spring from the hidden recesses of the creative human mind and take harmonious shape in his practical and sensory life. Personality thus embraces all the sensations and feelings, all the talents and inclinations, all the inner powers by which this wondrous being differs from all other creatures.
How do man's mental powers, of which his personality is composed, come into harmony:
The experiences of life have proven that the mind alone, however much knowledge it holds, cannot by itself lift the veil from the secrets of our wondrous being and take charge of the growth of our integrated personality. Personality has no value unless a blending takes place between mind and heart, for among the marks of the complete man is that he be a builder, not a destroyer; growing, not standing still. This vitality
demands a positive, ordered effort in which man's pains embrace his joys, his venturing his caution, his impetuosity his deliberation, his restraint his self-sacrifice.
When do the first signs of the human personality appear:
Most psychologists tell us that the child is born with its senses complete and awakens to the use of its inner powers in the first year of its life. It is scientifically established that the child at the age of seven is a miniature of the mature man, and that if we tend this miniature with wise, natural care, it grows harmoniously until its personality is completed through the interweaving of its intellectual and practical life together. However much a man's mind may grow, it has no value unless this mind takes flesh in production and creation.
What are the chief spiritual qualities with which the builders of the human personality must be adorned:
First, appreciation: it is the fuel that must never be absent from the heart of the loving parent or the responsible educator. By it the fires of self-confidence are kindled, and without it the strongest and firmest resolves die down; by it souls rise to the summits of glory, and by it others sink to the depths; by its magic power the possibilities of the creative mind unfold, and without it they shrink away, lost and defeated.
Second, guidance: and here I do not mean only the theoretical guidance the pupil acquires during his years of regular study, discovering with his teacher's help his par
ticular inclinations and capacities and training himself along the path that suits these inclinations. That is one part of the greater guidance — the real, formative guidance which the student touches with his full human senses, observing the world that surrounds him and feeling the pressing duty that binds him to this world. So he wishes to become a doctor, not because the doctors of his city are rich and influential, but because he feels the delight of public service toward the suffering; he chooses to be a lawyer, not because the law demands easy study and yields a government post, but because he desires to defend the sanctity of the law, feeling in the depths of his being the attainment of justice and equality; or he presses toward teaching, not because he was slow in finding more suitable work, but because he stands in awe of the mission of education, grasps the essence of its responsibilities, and believes it the noblest and most splendid mission in the world.
Third, humility and purity of intention:
I know of no arrogant teacher, or pretentious parent, who has had a good effect upon his pupils or his children.
It is the teacher's duty to employ friendship, familiarity, and gentleness in place of violence and the assertion of a stern egotism. The pupil becomes confident in himself and believing in himself only in an atmosphere of frankness and affection, and only at the hands of an educator who shares his hopes and desires, his wishes and dreams.
Fourth, loyalty: that virtue which is indispensable in raising the generation of a compact, close-knit society and in creating a living, believing nation.
Every pupil's soul yearns for loyalty to something greater than himself, and he looks up, seeking the inspiration for it in his father or his teacher. Loyalty is like the green seed: