DEMONSTRATION PLAY SCHOOL—HETHERINGTON, 683 
be educated; and play, as has been said, is the primary form of 
this activity. 
So striking is the child’s expression of his energies, so broad his 
curiosity, and so intense his delight in his activities, that the most 
conspicuous thing about him is his struggle to gain an education; 
and his struggle is rational. He is as much ‘‘interested”’ in activities 
that develop his organic, nervous, and character powers as he is in 
getting information, and vice versa. 
The child wants a real education; and he wants to get it in the 
only satisfactory way—just as the race got it, through experience. 
For years educators have been going to the child with their ‘‘priceless 
products of racial experience,’ and the child has said (by his reac- 
tions): ‘‘Go to; I don’t want your canned goods. I want the fresh, 
juicy fruit of experience gained through my own activities’’—and he 
gets it, though frequently it is of indifferent quality and often posi- 
tively bad. 
In his play, which is his real life, the child educates himself, even 
without instruction or aid. The result, however, depends always 
upon the character of the activities, and this is determined partly by 
the individual child’s temperament, partly by his opportunities, and 
largely by the example and leadership supplied in his environment. 
Through these forces comes development, and character and ideals 
are formed. It is the duty of education as a social effort to feed 
the spontaneous life-hungers of the child with the wisdom of the race. 
Cooperation must be given that the play life may be broad, rich, and 
wholesome. Hence, individual leadership is essential. 
Leadership means study, suggestion, direction. It may mean con- 
trol in which discipline in work and duty have a place; it never means 
mere domination. This cooperation and leadership in the child’s 
struggle for activity, experience, and self-expression, the play school 
proposes to give completely. 
(b) RELATION OF PLAY AND WORK IN EDUCATION. 
Disagreement concerning these principles may arise through old 
misinterpretations and confused notions about the relation between 
play and work. The fact that the child must learn to work can not 
be overemphasized, for he has needs, supplied during the early years 
by the home, that later he must satisfy through work. Moreover, if 
he is to become an efficient social bemg he must learn to perform 
duties that frequently are not pleasant and his adjustment will be 
flexible and complete in proportion as he masters the essential culture 
of the race. Born into a complex social order that is the product of 
long ages of social evolution, he must not only learn to work but 
acquire the capacity to work according to the conditions of modern 
society. 
