EDUCATION 



1932 



EDUCATION 



self to read by means of this good fairy by 

 copying simple lessons from interesting chil- 

 dren's books. It is essential that everyone 

 learn to do things for himself, and a typewriter 

 encourages a child to dig out words and to learn 

 their meanings. It teaches concentration and 

 observation. It teaches accuracy. Children 

 rapidly learn to find the punctuation signs, 

 to know them by name, and to use them. 

 Later on, when the child has learned to write 

 with more facility, he may copy thoughts in 

 verse and prose from the great masters, and 

 thus he gets a mental picture which will never 

 be forgotten. In the same way, and without 

 studying in the regulation manner from a 

 spelling book, he will learn to spell. He will 

 probably enjoy drill of all sorts on the machine. 

 And if he makes a mistake in English and his 

 mother or teacher calls his attention to it, the 

 task of writing the correct sentence ten times 

 on the machine will fix it in his memory so 

 that he cannot forget it. 



After a child has learned to know the printed 

 letters he can be taught the script letters very 

 easily. Set him to copying the letters singly, 

 just as he would copy a picture, until he has 

 them fixed in his mind. When he begins con- 

 sciously to learn to write he will find it much 

 easier than will the child who has never become 

 familiar with the picture of a, b, c, etc. 



Hurry, worry and fear should be driven from 

 the schoolroom, and, in fact, from all paths 

 leading to knowledge. Children should be 

 given fewer tasks, and that relic of inquisi- 

 tional torture, the examination, should be abso- 

 lutely banished. Who knows how many nerv- 

 ous wrecks it has been responsible for? If chil- 

 dren learn to study for the sheer love of gain- 

 ing knowledge and not for the sake of winning 

 deportment cards and bits of sheepskin, exam- 

 inations will have no further usefulness. Let 

 a teacher only arouse a child's thirst for^knowl- 

 edge, show him how to travel to the "knowl- 

 edge fount," and he may safely be left to his 

 journey. No prodding will be necessary. 



As we study Nature and people, education 

 seems to narrow down to two real objects 

 self-control and the joy of service. Tiny babies 

 can be taught to control themselves. Alex- 

 ander the Great conquered worlds and died 

 without having learned self-control. No wise 

 mother had trained him from the first for the 

 conquest of himself. All children get their 

 first lessons by imitation. How then can they 

 learn to master themselves if those about them 

 lack poise and perfect control? See to it that 



your children have before them a splendid 

 example to imitate. 



Tiny children soon learn the joy of service. 

 They scarcely need to be taught, rather they 

 only need to be encouraged, to do little acts 

 which will bring pleasure to those around 

 them; and by giving joy they make gladness for 

 themselves. Let us all learn that one of the 

 joys of achievement is the realization that we 

 can do more for others; and let children learn 

 to do a variety of things. To master one thing 

 is essential, but, in addition, let them be "jacks 

 of all trades." Thus and only thus can an 

 all-around development be secured. 



All languages should be taught to children 

 in that same memory period, between the ages 

 of two and twelve, and through the natural or 

 direct route that is, through the ear rather 

 than the eye. Children under twelve years 

 learn to speak foreign languages very quickly, 

 whereas, if they wait until the high-school age 

 before they make the attempt, and in addition 

 try to learn languages through the grammar 

 route, interest vanishes and the work brings 

 weariness and unhappiness into the student's 

 life. Children should get their first impressions 

 of music in the same way through the ear. 

 It is absurd to imagine that the music reaches 

 the soul through the eye, yet this is what many 

 a music teacher seems to believe. 



Mathematics, the bete noir of many chil- 

 dren's lives, can also be made a joy, by treat- 

 ing it as the science of quantity, not in separate 

 divisions of arithmetic (through many prob- 

 lems), algebra (more problems), and geometry, 

 a stern, brain-nagging study. Children should 

 be given some idea of all branches of mathe- 

 matics from the beginning. Teach them to 

 observe the geometrical figures that adorn 

 many public buildings; let them become fa- 

 miliar with various geometrical forms by play- 

 ing hexagon tag, pentagon tag, and similar 

 games. Point out the fact that their hop 

 scotch pen is made up of rectangles. Tell 

 them that their balls are spheres and their 

 blocks cubes. Do not make them work out 

 problems in arithmetic. Give them a typical 

 problem, and after they have mastered the 

 principle let them make their other problems 

 for themselves. 



Develop their imaginations, that gift of the 

 gods, by giving them all sorts of imaginative 

 play. Let them tell stories and act them out. 

 Let them make plays out of the stories of 

 history or invent their own plays to fit the 

 music and poetry and dancing that they love. 



