2o8 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



grow forever, that they grow most rapidly in early years, and that 

 true growth in childhood is the only basis for the highest devel- 

 opment of maturity. Therefore it makes the child and his uni- 

 versal tendencies and activities the chief study of the educator. 

 The highest function of the teacher is not to select the knowledge 

 most appropriate for children, or to decide the best plans for fix- 

 ing it in their minds ; his greatest study is the child and the 

 ways in which he educates himself in those most prolific years 

 before he goes to school. Some teachers claim that the teacher's 

 duty is to teach the child how to " go." The child was set going 

 long before he went to school. He was kept going before he 

 went to school more rapidly than he ever goes after that time. 

 Others say, the teacher's duty is to start the child to groiv. How 

 he had been growing before he went to school ! How he grew 

 physically ; how his mind unfolded and defined itself ; how his 

 spiritual nature recognized the Creator in the wondrous material 

 creation, and reached out to the mysteries of the unknown ! He 

 was ever going before he went to school, and growing because 

 he was going. The reason he stops growing rapidly as soon as he 

 goes to school is that his teachers interfere with his going. They 

 stop his going altogether during school hours, and the reason he 

 does not stop growing altogether physically, intellectually, and 

 spiritually is that he is fortunately not kept in school all the 

 time. How full of gratitude we should be for the fact that the 

 blighting processes of the schoolroom last but six hours of five 

 days in each week ! We should be even more grateful when we 

 remember that the school hours may become the most productive 

 of the day in real growth. This is a part of the revelation which 

 the kindergarten bears to all teachers who study it with sym- 

 pathetic spirit. There is no good reason why the child's develop- 

 ment should be checked after it goes to school. It should con- 

 tinue to improve with accelerated speed throughout life. Teach- 

 ers will do vastly better than they do now when they keep up, 

 after the child goes to school, the rate of advancement attained 

 before he goes to school. They can never hope to do this until 

 they study and understand the fundamental principles that under- 

 lie the motives of children, and guide them in the infinitely varied 

 activities of their childish work and play. All their activities are 

 in harmony with a divine purpose in the accomplishment of their 

 fullest development. Man can best learn how to teach from the 

 greatest teacher. His power and the unequaled success of his 

 plans can be learned by the careful and continuous study of child- 

 hood. The teaching profession has been learning this fact from 

 the kindergarten. There are several organized agencies already 

 in existence for recording and comparing the characteristics, the 

 tendencies, the habits, the activities, the capabilities, and the pro- 



