EDUCATION 



EDUCATION 



DUCATION, ed u ka' shun. Ever 

 since man appeared upon the earth the race 

 has struggled to overcome its environment, 

 and the progress from savagery to the present 

 state of civilization of the most enlightened 

 peoples is due to this struggle. Education, in 

 the broadest meaning of the term, means the 

 development of all the powers of man; in the 

 restricted sense in which the term is ordinarily 

 used, it means the training of children, youth 

 and adults in educational institutions common 

 schools, colleges, universities and professional 

 schools. In the broadest application of the 

 term, education extends through life; in its 

 restricted application, it is confined to the 

 school age r which may extend from four to 

 twenty-five years, if the kindergarten and pro- 

 fessional schools are included. 



A study of the definitions of education shows 

 that theories and systems have undergone rad- 

 ical changes during the last century. The 

 older definitions emphasize the idea of educa- 

 tion through external conditions and powers. 

 The modern definitions, while recognizing the 

 value and influence of these conditions and 

 powers, place emphasis upon the necessity of 

 the self-activity of the learner. In other words, 

 it is only as the learner himself uses these 

 conditions that he becomes educated, through 

 their influence. The educational system* of 

 the past are of interest only to iln..-,- who 

 desire to study the evolution of educational 

 systems; there are many volumes devoted to 

 this phase. The modern tendencies of educa- 

 tion are of present interest, and are set forth 

 in the subtitles which follow. 



Natural Education 



The term natural education is applied by 

 Winifred Sackville Stoner to a volume in 

 which she gives in detail the methods employed 

 in the early instruction of her daughter Wini- 

 fred (see STONER, WINIFRED SACKVILLE). It has 

 attracted widespread attention because of the 

 very early age at which the child mastered 

 the studies taught in the elementary and high 

 schools, including several foreign languages, 

 and also a number of accomplishments such as 

 playing the piano and violin, painting, and box- 

 ing and fencing. The term is now used by Mrs. 

 Stoner to designate her methods, which she 

 holds are better adapted to child nature than 

 those ordinarily employed in school instruction. 

 She has established several schools in which 

 her methods are being applied, and she has 

 thus summarized these measures: 



The name natural education has been chosen 

 deliberately to designate a new sort of educa- 

 tion, the kind which Nature surely intended for 

 all her children education through play, di- 

 rected toward a definite end throughout life. 

 All children and all grown people love play, but 

 they restrict the word to a much narrower 



meaning than is either necessary or desirable. 

 Play is a word that should be made to include 

 anything which one does under the loa<ici>liip 

 of interest. To be compelled to study or to 

 engage in certain occupations when interest is 

 utterly lacking, is work. If the interest is 

 sharply engaged, it is play. The pathway of 

 knowledge for children should be one of joy 

 and not one of drudgery. But in order to ni\ < 

 little ones a thirst for knowledge, in order to 

 stimulate and not to dull the eager curiosity 

 which every normal child has from birth, train- 

 ing can hardly begin at too early an age. 



And since the schools do not r;irr for children 

 during the earliest and probably the most im- 

 pressionable years, this, their first education, 

 is in the hands of the parents. Now, parents 

 need to be trained for the task. They cannot 

 go at it blindly or they will falter. Thcro 

 must be schools for parenthood so that both 

 young men and young women may Icnrn how 

 best to care for their babes. There should be 

 parenthood training classes in even* high school 

 and every college, where all young people 

 could be trained to realize the joys and rich 



