This 19th-Century Book Is Still Timely for Teachers

—Jori Bolton

By Peter Gibbon

In the mid-1890s, the philosopher and psychologist William James took to the road, traveling from Boston to Chicago to Colorado Springs, Colo., lecturing to thousands of teachers. He later condensed his ideas into a small book, Talks to Teachers on Psychology , published in 1899. It drew on his influential textbook Principles of Psychology, published nine years before, that brought him fame on the world stage, but Talks to Teachers is rarely talked about today. Although much has changed in American education since the late 19th century, Talks to Teachers remains a remarkable and still relevant book.

The volume, which blends an appreciation of the hands-on and the purely intellectual, anticipates evolutionary psychology and celebrates the curiosity of the young. The author examines the contradictions that humans face every day in the classroom and outside it.

"Deep in our own nature the biological foundations of our consciousness persist undisguised...