KINDERGARTEN 



3248 



KINDERGARTEN 



WINTER 



Denver, Cleveland, Washington, Kansas City, 

 Buffalo, Pittsburgh and many smaller cities 

 were added to the list. Progress in this direc- 

 tion has continued since the new century 

 opened, the increase covering the number of 

 cities adopting kindergartens, and the number 

 of kindergartens opened in the cities in ques- 

 tion. Statistics collected for 1913 showed that 

 during the decade ending with that year, public 

 kindergartens had doubled in New York, New 

 Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, 

 Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa. At that time, 

 the number of cities and towns having public 

 kindergartens was estimated at 1,100. This is a 

 good showing for the states mentioned. There 

 are others, however, in which the kindergarten 

 has gained but a very slight foothold. In 

 twelve of these, the number of children en- 

 rolled in kindergartens forms but one per cent 

 of the number of kindergarten age. The high- 

 est percentage of children in kindergarten is 

 found in New Jersey, where it is twenty-eight. 

 The movement in Canada shows similar in- 

 equalities. In Ontario the kindergarten is well 

 established. Toronto adopted the kindergar- % 

 ten as a part of its school system in its early 

 years, and its example has been followed by 

 London, Montreal, Ottawa, Hamilton, Kitch- 

 ener, Peterboro, Gait and North Bay. In the 

 other provinces the kindergartens are still 

 largely private or charitable, and one finds only 

 an occasional public institution. The reorgani- 



SCRAP BOOK 



zation of methods resulting from kindergarten 

 influence, described elsewhere, has not been 

 confined to the localities in which the kinder- 

 garten has been adopted. In helping to effect 

 that reorganization, the kindergarten has ren- 

 dered a lasting service to children in the United 

 States and Canada. 



Some Results of Kindergarten Training. In 

 addition to its influence upon the methods of 

 the grades, the kindergarten has exercised ah 

 influence upon the training of teachers. Before 

 the kindergarten came, little, if any, training 

 had been considered necessary for the teachers 

 of the youngest children. The contrast be- 

 tween the work with children by those without 

 preparation, and that of the kindergartner 

 trained for her task, was so great that no argu- 

 ment concerning the importance of training 

 for those who were to work with little children 

 was necessary. The result of this new standard 

 is seen in present requirements for primary 

 teachers and in the nature of the training for 

 primary work now very generally given in the 

 normal schools. 



Kindergarten training has done more than to 

 show the necessity of training for work with 

 little children, however; it has shown also 

 what the nature of such training should be. 

 Normal school courses have emphasized subject 

 matter what to teach, and how. Kindergarten 

 training courses concentrate their attention 

 upon the child and the needs of his progressive 



