472 



SCIEJ^CJE. 



[Vol. IX., No. 223 



grown, till in the last year the numbers who 

 presented themselves for the college certificates 

 amounted to more than fifteen thousand, repre- 

 senting over four thousand schools. This num- 

 ber considerably exceeds the sum of the Oxford 

 and Cambridge local candidates for 1886. Not 

 only was the college first in the field of examina- 

 tions, but it also took the lead in admitting girls 

 to equal privileges with boys. Nor, as far as we 

 can judge, is there any ground for the prevailing 

 belief that the standard of the college is lower than 

 that of the universities. Certainly this is not the 

 opinion of the best judges, masters who prepare 

 pupils for both examinations ; and there can be 

 no doubt that the examination syllabus of the col- 

 lege is more scientifically constructed, and insures 

 a better curriculum for students, than that of 

 either university. The explanation is obvious : it 

 was originally drawn up, and has since been modi- 

 fied, not by university dons, but by practical 

 school-masters . 



A few words may be added as to the future of the 

 college. In the past the main energies of the col- 

 lege have been expended on the examination of 

 pupils ; and probably few of its members are 

 aware that there is not one word in their charter 

 referring to such examinations, and that it is only 

 by implication that they are authorized in con- 

 ducting them and granting certificates. Now that 

 the preceptors have built themselves a house, it is 

 hoped that they will set to work in earnest to 

 carry out the main intention of their founders. 

 To offer examinations in the art of teaching is 

 something ; to provide lectures for teachers by 

 such competent professors as Mr. James Sully, 

 Canon Daniel, and Mr. Fitch, is more : but both 

 these provisions combined fall far short of the 

 training of teachers. This hope, we are glad to 

 say, is likely to be fulfilled. At the last general 

 meeting of the college, two resolutions were car- 

 ried unanimously, — "that for the next three 

 years a sum not exceeding three hundred pounds 

 a year be devoted to scholarships for intending 

 teachers, male and female;" and "that part of 

 the surplus funds be allowed to accumulate for 

 the purpose of establishing a training-college, or 

 for promoting some other scheme for the training 

 of teachers." These proposals appear to us most 

 reasonable and prudent. The experiment of the 

 Finsbury training-college proves that a superior 

 normal school for men must for the present de- 

 pend mainly on external support, and to launch 

 out on such an undertaking without svifficient 

 funds would be again to invite failure. 



There are various other objects included in 

 the charter of the college, to which it will doubt- 

 less hereafter apply itself. Such are a benevolent 



fund for teachers, a pedagogic library, a bill for 

 the registration of teachers ; but, useful as all 

 these objects are, they are subordinate to the pri- 

 mary aim of the college, the promotion of the 

 training of teachers. 



INFANT-SCHOOLS AND THE KINDER- 

 GARTEN.' 



. Now that the universal necessity of education 

 is recognized throughout the civilized world, the 

 contest that remains is that concerning methods ; 

 and of this, the most important branch is that 

 which relates to the very earliest period of educa- 

 tion, namely, to the choice between the old sys- 

 tem of the nursery or the infant schools, and that 

 of Froebel, known as the kindergarten. 



It would be obviously impossible to attempt here 

 to give any thing like an exposition of this 

 method, which was elaborated by its author as 

 simply the first step and foundation of a syste- 

 matically progressive education, extending from 

 the earliest dawn to the ripening of the human 

 faculties. The utmost that can be hoped for, in 

 these brief remarks, is to bring into clear relief 

 some of the most salient points of difference be- 

 tween the old and the new methods of infant- 

 training. 



First, then, apart from the inevitable effect of 

 any school discipline upon the habits and conduct 

 of children, the former aims mainly at instruc- 

 tion ; the kindergarten, at harmonious develop- 

 ment of the child's whole natm-e, instruction being 

 a portion only of the training required for that 

 purpose. 



Next, as to the nature of the instruction given. 

 The infant-school, which is bound to produce at a 

 given time a certain proficiency in reading and 

 writing, laboriously teaches the child to recognize 

 and reproduce certain symbols, the real impor- 

 tance of which he naturally cannot realize. The 

 kindergarten trains the child first to observe form, 

 dimension, and number, in a great variety of 

 amusing ways, with the help of color and of ob- 

 jects he can handle and examine. It teaches him 

 to reproduce the forms observed, whether of nat- 

 ural objects or geometrical figures ; to copy or 

 combine out of his own fancy a variety of sym- 

 metrical designs, thereby giving a facility of ap- 

 prehension and execution which makes the subse- 

 quent effort to recognize and trace letters and 

 words comparatively easy. Thus the kindergarten 

 system enables the children to attain the same 

 proficiency in reading and writing, while much 

 else has been learned on the way, and while the 

 foundation has been laid for that accuracy and 



1 From th.e London Journal of education. 



