atliolidt of time and energy may be made to yield much more definite results and, at the sattifi 

 time, greatly strengthen the child'-s love and sympathy for Nature. 



The advantages of having a course of study based upon the interests and needs of the 

 child, elastic enough to permit adjustment to various localities and variable grades of pupils, 

 will be apparent to the practical teacher. There is thus permitted an orderly development of 

 the various topics along pedagogical lines, the teacher has an opportunity to make all needed 

 preparation, each teacher may know what has been done in the preceding grades and what is 

 intended for the grades following her own. Too much repetition is thus avoided, which 

 would prove fatal to interest, and the keen edge is not taken off of topics to be treated later. 

 The teacher may make use of expert knowledge in the difficult task of planning her schedule 

 of work and may soon be master of the topics selected. The course of study is to be in the 

 mind, or in the desk of the teacher and not presented to the pupils. If the topics are of fund- 

 amental interest to the children and closely related to the season, the out-door observations 

 and collecting will be just as spontaneous and as enthusiastically done as though no schedule 

 had been attempted. The small amount of system introduced into the work will intensify the 

 interest and lead to more thorough exploitation of the region. 



The almost overwhelming task of framing a course of study for the elementary grades is 

 greatly lightened by the application of the principles of the Culture Epochs. This doctrine 

 explains the nature of the child, the topics necessary for his development, the ideal results to 

 be secured, and the proper method of presentation and the interrelation of subjects. Could 

 anything be more beautiful? From the world's greatest educators cull out those principles 

 and practices that modern pedagogy accepts as sound to-day and they will be found in entire 

 harmony with this doctrine. Upon the other hand pick out those "fads" that have flashed 

 into prominence and have been discarded, such as the Grube method, Speer method, spiral 

 method, first grade Shakespeare, etc., and note how forcibly they violate the fundamental 

 principles of the recapitulation doctrine. Any method that does this should be viewed 

 with the greatest distrust. Although accepting more or less fully the value of the 

 principles involved the modern Herbartians, following the lead of Ziller, endeavor to develop 

 the thought and expression work from history and literature. This is not the historical order, 

 is consequently unnatural and the result can never be fully satisfactory. In the course of 

 study submitted in the following chapter an attempt has been made to plan a course of Nature 

 work, so-called, from which it is possible to develop the science, geography, literature and 

 history of the primary school and upon which may be based the various forms of expression. 



In order that the course may be as flexible as possible, so that it may be readily adapted 

 to different localities and ihe variable capacities of pupils, there has been selected a central 

 thought for each season, which serves as a correlating thread for binding together the various 

 topics. In case the material mentioned is not available in the locality, a substitute equally 

 good, possibly better, may readily be found for developing this thought. The teacher knows 

 what to look for. These central thoughts have been derived from those problems that were 

 uppermost in the minds of primitive man and hence must appeal strongly and naturally to 

 children in the corresponding stage of development. These vital problems were the securing 

 of shelter and protection by means of the /tome, the making of clothing, the obtaining of food, 

 the production and use of fire and means of transportation. To the Herbartian these central 

 thoughts will not be acceptable because the ethical element is apparently lacking. This ap- 

 parent lack is necessitated by the historical order of development of the ethical traits them- 

 selves. We secure the result that all good teachers desire above everything else by indirect 

 means. The lower nature of the child, inherited from the race, can not be plucked out by the 

 roots and discarded, but upon it there may be "grafted" or "budded" thrifty scions that will 

 bear better and more abundant fruit because the stem and roots are naturally grounded. 

 When in her enthusiasm for universal peace Mrs. Mead pleads with the mothers to keep from 

 their children the toy cannon and the tin soldier, she makes the same mistake that the music 

 and art teacher would if they sought to eliminate rhythm and gaudy color from the life of the 

 child. The ideal preparation for to morrow's living is ideal living to-day. 



The child can be most simply and completely adjusted to this highly complex environment 

 by briefly retracing the path that was trodden by the race. We plead for the "obsolete pro- 

 cess " because of its simplicity, its interest to the child and the insight into human progress 

 that it affords. A person set down upon a strange road with no idea of where it conies from, 



38 



