5 o8 TEE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



to learn. He ought to get toys not too realistic, for he loves to weave 

 romance around his toys, but still things to observe and experiment with. 

 He has most complex problems in physical science when he is only a few 

 weeks old, the solution of which involves much labor, but it is pleasant 

 labor and he is happy. And he will remain sweet-tempered and happy 

 and unspoilt if there is real affection from his teachers. If, however, 

 somebody teases him by playing practical jokes, or if a selfish mother 

 who was unreasonably kind to him yesterday is unreasonably unkind to 

 him to-day, he gets, because of his reasoning power, a sense of injustice. 

 Man, woman, or child with a sense of injustice may be said to be pos- 

 sessed of a devil. During the first six years of a child's life the creation 

 of its power to reason is more wonderful than anything else, and this 

 reasoning power comes altogether by observation and experiment. An 

 affectionate parent easily finds methods of helping nature in this process. 

 The unspoilt boy of six years seems to forget nothing that he hears ; he 

 has gathered a most wonderful vocabulary; he knows endless nursery 

 rhymes and simple poetry; he is as active and adventurous as a kitten, 

 and everything he does is cultivating his senses. This is the time when 

 he fills the smallest playground (which to grown-ups seems bare and 

 desolate) with giants and fairies and Indians and pirates, with forests 

 and mountains and rivers and oceans. His imagination is so extra- 

 ordinary that the most uncouth creation of his own gives him exquisite 

 pleasure. Why do I dwell upon this stage of a boy's development? 

 Because it has been so perfect ! Nature has learned to do this to children 

 during perhaps hundreds of thousands of years, and it has been the 

 most important time of a boy's life, the time when, if parents will only 

 give the boy their love and greatly let him alone otherwise, he develops 

 mentally more than during all the rest of his life. Speaking broadly, 

 he has done nothing in all this time except what nature and affection 

 made pleasant to him. I have studied the science of education and 

 practised the art of teaching all my life, and I say that all our failures 

 are due to our neglect of nature's methods, and our schools destroy the 

 good effects which nature has produced. 



As a rule I do not like to be told that certain subjects must be com- 

 pulsory, but surely every child of eleven must have some such qualifica- 

 tions as these: (1) The power to speak and read and write in his own 

 language. (2) To be able to do easy computation. (3) To have an ex- 

 act knowledge of the simplest principles of natural science from his own 

 observation and experiment. I think that every observer must acknowl- 

 edge that these powers are possible for almost every boy of eleven. Some 

 of us have for many years been endeavoring to show how the child of six 

 may acquire these powers by the age of eleven if nature's methods — that 

 is, kindergarten methods — are followed. For example, he plays at 

 keeping shop, selling or buying things by weight and measure, and pay- 

 ing or receiving actual money and giving change. He weighs and meas- 



