KINDERGARTEN 



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KINDERGARTEN 



fully made, will doubtless confirm certain con- 

 clusions that she has already reached from the 

 observation of her own children, namely, that 

 development is an unfolding from within 

 which follows a law of its own; that the un- 

 folding divides itself into stages or periods, 

 each of which has its own characteristics and 

 makes its own contribution to the process as 

 a whole ; that if development is to be complete, 

 the conditions for that development must be 

 met during each period; and that if it is to 

 be directed, the mother must have a knowl- 

 edge of the whole. 



These conclusions Froebel reached nearly a 

 hundred years ago, and it was from them that 

 he derived the idea of education as a process 

 of directed development. He therefore set 

 himself the task of working out the principles 

 and methods of an education thus founded. 

 Realizing that upon this basis much would be 

 required of the mother, he wrote his greatest 

 book, The Mother Play Book, to aid her in 

 seeing and meeting the child's varying needs. 

 It was because he thought that neither the home 

 nor school adequately met the needs of chil- 

 dren between the ages of four and six years 

 that he devised the kindergarten and made it 

 the embodiment of his new conception of edu- 

 cation and the methods of carrying it out. 

 That education is a process of development and 

 that mothers must understand the process, in 

 order to cooperate with nature to make it 

 complete, was the burden of his message and 

 one of the chief sources of his influence. 



How Development Can Be Directed. Since 

 the mother must cooperate with nature in the 

 child's development, if that development is to 

 be complete and directed, it is essential that 

 she should understand the nature of the co- 

 operation that she is to give. An illustration 

 from the physical side is in point here. That a 

 child's food must be adapted to his digestive 

 power at different ages no longer needs arguing. 

 The providing of this suitable food is the kind 

 of cooperation needed at this point. The child 

 has other needs also social, intellectual and 

 spiritual. These must be met as they arise, 

 in the same manner, if the conditions for his 

 complete development are to be complied with. 



But the cooperation on either plane requires 

 knowledge. The mother can only know what" 

 food is appropriate by knowing the nature of 

 the food adapted to it. To know what intel- 

 lectual or spiritual nourishment the child needs 

 at a particular period, she needs a correspond- 

 ing knowledge of his development on these 



planes. The mother must, therefore, be a 

 student of childhood and an observer of her 

 own children. By knowing the general trend 

 of development at a given period, she can 

 discern his needs and meet them as they arise. 

 The evidence of a new need is found in the 

 awakening of new interests. When he makes 

 an effort to \yalk, for example, he is ready for 

 help in that direction. Had she tried to make 

 him walk before he showed that readiness, she 

 would have hindered his progress instead of 

 furthering it. This illustrates another point in 

 the law of cooperation that the effort to 

 further development in any line must be based 

 upon a knowledge of the development already 

 attained. 



These conclusions, drawn from a study of 

 the child's development namely, that he has 

 varied needs which must be met if his develop- 

 ment is to be complete ; that instruction should 

 be adapted to his comprehension; that help 

 should be given in response to his interest; and 

 that' effective help can be given only on the 

 basis of a knowledge of his capabilities all 

 these, recognized and applied at first in the 

 kindergarten, are now being applied also in the 

 home and in the school. 



Their application in the school has already 

 occasioned important changes in its procedure. 

 In the past, the children were taught the "three 

 R's" only. The introduction of drawing, music, 

 handwork and games is a recognition of their 

 more varied needs. In the past, they learned 

 as best they could the things the teacher gave 

 them. At present, she plans their work on the 

 basis of the children's capabilities at a given 

 period. In the past, children were assumed to 

 have the same knowledge of right and wrong 

 that adults have, and they were judged by the 

 same standard. At present, parents and teach- 

 ers recognize that the moral sense is a matter 

 of development, and that they must be judged 

 on the basis of the insight possible to their 

 stage. As a result, children's interest in their 

 school work is much more vital, and their 

 conduct has a firmer basis than mere authority. 



Direction of Development by Habit Forma- 

 tion. Thus far, development has been con- 

 sidered from the side of the child's needs only ; 

 but there is another side that merits attention. 

 The child has a right to an education suited to 

 his needs, but society has a right to demand 

 that the standards of conduct and intelligence 

 which civilization 'has built up shall be a factor 

 in his shaping in other words, that the child 

 shall form habits of kindness, courtesy, truth- 



