[Illustration]
THE INFANT SYSTEM,
FOR
DEVELOPING THE INTELLECTUAL AND MORAL POWERS OF ALL CHILDREN,
FROM ONE TO SEVEN YEARS OF AGE
BY SAMUEL WILDERSPIN, INVENTOR OF THE SYSTEM OF INFANT TRAINING.
"Whoso shall receive one such little child in my name, receiveth me."
_Matt_. xviii. 5.
"Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones." _Matt_.
xvii. 10.
EIGHTH EDITION, CAREFULLY REVISED.
1852.
PREFACE
In again presenting this volume to the world, I trust I feel thankful
to God for the favour with which the Infant System has been received,
and for all the aid I have enjoyed in my course of labour. Had the
measures I originated for the development of the infant mind, and the
improvement of the moral character, been sanctioned at first, as many
now think they should have been, their progress would, undoubtedly,
have been far greater; but when I consider what has been accomplished
under the divine benediction, and amid greater difficulties than ever
beset the path of an individual similarly occupied, I know not how to
express the gratitude of which I am conscious. It seems proper and
even necessary to remark, that the system explained in this volume, is
the result of many years of labour. Thousands of children have been
attentively observed, and for the necessities that arose in their
instruction, provision has been made. Others have doubtless reached
some of the conclusions at which I have arrived, but this is only
another instance of the coincidence in judgment and effort, often
discoverable in persons far apart, whose attention has been directed
to similiar subjects; but with the exception of the elliptical plan,
devised by Dr. Gilchrist, I am not aware that I owe an idea or
contrivance to any individual whatever. Upwards of twenty-five
thousand children have been now under my own care, in various parts of
the United Kingdom, whose age has not exceeded six years; myself, my
daughters, and my agents, have organized many score of schools, and
thus I have had opportunities of studying the infant mind and heart,
such as none of my contemporaries have ever possessed.
Still I am aware I have much to learn. I am far less satisfied with
the extent of my knowledge, and far less confident of its perfection
and completeness now than I was in the earlier part of my course.
The whole energies of my mind, however, having been thrown upon the
subject, and the whole of my time for the third of a century having
been zealously devoted to it, I trust the volume will contain
knowledge of a more plain, simple, and practical character than is
elsewhere to be found:--perhaps it may not be presumption to say than
_can_ elsewhere be found. Should I have the pleasure to labour for
years to come, I trust I shall have much more to communicate on the
subject.
Two editions of this work in its former state have been printed in
German; and it has also been reprinted in America. I have, however,
felt it due to the friends of education, to make this volume as
complete as possible, and though still occasionally engaged in
superintending and organizing schools, I have felt it necessary to
revise this eighth edition very carefully throughout, and commence it
with a new and additional chapter.
_Moor Cottage,
Westgate Common,
Wakefield,
Nov. 1552_.
A FEW TESTIMONIALS TO THE INFANT SYSTEM.
It is said that we are aiming at carrying education too far; that we
are drawing it out to an extravagant length, and that, not satisfied
with dispensing education to children also have attained what in
former times was thought a proper age, we are now anxious to educate
mere infants, incapable of receiving benefit from such instruction.
This objection may be answered in two ways. In the first place, it
should be observed, that the objection comes from those very persons
who object to education being given to children when they arrive at a
more advanced period, on the ground that their parents then begin to
find them useful in labour, and consequently cannot spare so much of
their time as might be requisite: surely, that, the education of the
children should commence at that time when their labour can be of
value to their parents. But the other answer, in my opinion, is still
more decisive: it is found even at the early age of seven or eight,
that children are not void of those propensities, which are the
forerunners of vice, and I can give no better illustration of this,
than the fact of a child only eight years old, being convicted of a
capital offence at our tribunals of justice; when, therefore, I find
that at this early period of life, these habits of vice are formed, it
seems to me that we ought to begin still earlier to store their minds
with such tastes, and to instruct them in such a manner as to exclude
the admission of those practises that lead to such early crime and
depravity. A Noble friend has most justly stated, that it is not with
the experiences of yesterday that we come armed to the contest: it is
not a speculation that we are bringing forward to your notice, but an
experiment.'--_The Lord Chancellor_.
"In leaving poor children to the care of their parents, neglect is the
least that happens; it too frequently occurs that they are turned over
to delegates, where they meet with the worst treatment; so that we do
not in fact come so much into contact with the parents themselves as
with those delegates, who are so utterly unfit for the office they
undertake. Infant Schools, however, have completely succeeded, not
only in the negative plan they had in view, of keeping the children
out of vice and mischief, but even to the extent of engrafting
in their minds at an early age those principles of virtue, which
capacitated them for receiving a further stage of instruction at a
more advanced school, and finally, as they approached manhood, to be
ripened into the noblest sentiments of probity and integrity."--_The
Marquis of Lansdowne_.
"I am a zealous friend, upon conviction, to Infant Schools for the
children of the poor. No person who has not himself watched them, can
form an adequate action of what these institutions, when judiciously
conducted, may effect in forming the tempers and habits of young
children; in giving them, not so much actual knowledge, as that which
at their age is more important, the habit and faculty of acquiring it;
and it correcting those moral defects which neglect or injudicious
treatment would soon confirm and render incurable. The early age at
which children are taken out of our National Schools, is an additional
reason for commencing a regular and systematic discipline of their
minds and wills, as soon as they are capable of profiting by it; and
that is at the very earliest opening of the understanding, and at the
first manifestation of a corrupt nature in the shape of a childish
petulance and waywardness."--_The Bishop of London_.
"The claims of this Institution were of such a nature, that they
required no recommendation but a full statement of them. The
foundation of its happy results had been pointed out to exist in the
principles of policy, and of religion paramount to all policy--a
religion that appealed to every feeling of human nature. He would
recommend this charity, as one less attended with perplexity in its
operations or doubt as to its utility, than many, which, though
established with the best possible motives, frequently failed in
effecting the good proposed; but in this the most acute opponent could
not discover any mischief that would arise from its success."--_Sir
James Mackintosh_.
"I have always thought that that man that would be the greatest
benefactor to his country who did most for the suppression of crime;
this I am sorry to say, our legislature have neglected in a great
degree, while they have readily employed themselves in providing for
its punishment. Those acquainted with our prisons must know that those
found to have sunk deepest into vice and crime were persons who had
never received any education, moral or religious. In the Refuge for
the Destitute, an exact account was kept, and it was found that of the
great mass of culprits sent there by the magistrates on account of
their youth, two-thirds were the children of parents who had no
opportunity of educating them. By this institution they would at once
promote virtue and prevent vice."--_Dr. Lushington_.
"The real fact is, that the character of all mankind is formed very
early--much earlier than might be supposed: at the age of two or three
years, dispositions were found in children of a description the most
objectionable. In these schools the principles of mutual kindness and
assistance were carried as far as could well be conceived, and it was
most delightful to regard the conduct of the children towards each
other. Instead of opposition, they displayed mutual good-will,
inculcated to the greatest degree, so as to destroy in the minds of
the children that selfishness which was the bane of our nature. Such
effects appeared almost to realize the golden age, for the children
appeared always happy, and never so happy as when attending the
schools."--_W. Smith, Esq. M.P_.
"I feel, having witnessed the happy effects produced by these schools,
a warm zeal in support of such institutions. We cannot begin too soon
to impress religions principles on the minds of the young; it is an
affecting consideration, that while great statesmen have been busied
in their closets on some fine scheme or speculation, they have
neglected these salutary principles which the Almighty has given to
mankind. It is remarkable how eagerly the young mind receives the
histories of the Bible, and how well they are fitted to work on their
dispositions; and when I consider the miserable state of the poor, I
cannot but feel that the rich are in some degree, the authors of it,
in having neglected to afford them the means of education."--_W.
Wilberforce, Esq_.
"I am much delighted with what I have seen and heard. I confess I
entertained doubts of the practicability of the Infant School System,
but these doubts have this day been removed. If in _one month_ so much
can be done, what might not be expected from further training? I now
doubt no longer, and anticipate from the extension of such schools a
vast improvement in the morals and religion of the humble classes. I
conclude with moving a vote of thanks to Mr. Wilderspin."--_Lord Chief
Justice Clerk_.
"Sir John Sinclair, rose, and in addressing Mr. Wilderspin, said, that
he was astonished with the results of five weeks training in these
perfect infants. He had never seen a greater prodigy. He too had had
his prejudices--his doubts of the possibility of infant education;
but these doubts had now vanished, and for ever. The arrangements
for bodily exercise, connected with mental and moral improvement,
especially delighted him. He was amused as well as instructed by the
well-applied admixture of diverting expedients to keep the children
alive and alert. It was 'seria mixta jocis,' but there was practical
sense in the seemingly most frivolous part of the plan. He trusted
that the time was not far distant when there should be many such
institutions. He called on all present to join him in returning
cordial thanks to Mr. Wilderspin."--_Scotsman_.
"The grand secret of the improvement found to be derived from these
establishments, is their constant tendency to remove evil example and
misery from the little creatures during almost the whole of their
waking hours. Consider how a child belonging to one of these passes
his day. As soon as he is up, the indispensable condition, and the
only one of his admission to the school, that of clean face and hands,
is enforced, and the mother, in order to be relieved of the care of
him during the, day, is obliged to have him washed. He then leaves the
abode of filth and intemperance, and squalid poverty, and ill-temper,
for a clean, airy place, pleasant in summer, warm and dry in winter;
and where he sees not a face that is not lighted up with the smile of
kindness towards him. His whole day is passed in amusing exercises, or
interesting instruction; and he returns at evening-tide fatigued and
ready for his bed, so that the scenes passing at his comfortless home
make a slight impression on his mind or on his spirits."--_Edinburgh
Review_.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
RETROSPECT OF MY CAREER.
_Days and scenes of childhood--Parental care--Power of early
impressions--School experience--Commencements in business--Sunday
school teaching and its results--Experiment on a large
scale--Development of means and invention of implements--Heavy
bereavement--Propagation of the system of education in the
neighbourhood of London, and ultimately in most of the principal
places in England, Wales, Ireland, and Scotland--Misapprehension
and perversion of the principles of infant education--Signs of
advancement--Hope for the future_
CHAPTER II.
JUVENILE DELINQUENCY.
_Teachers of theft--Children the dupes of the profligate--An effort at
detection--Afflicting cases of early depravity--Progress of a young
delinquent--Children employed in theft by their parents--Ingenuity of
juvenile thieves--Results of an early tuition in crime--The juvenile
thief incorrigible--Facility of disposing of stolen property--A
hardened child--Parents robbed by their children--A youthful
suicide--A youthful murderer_
CHAPTER III.
CAUSES OF EARLY CRIME.
_Degraded condition of parents--Dreadful effects of
drunkenness--Neglect of children inevitable and wilful--The tutorship
of wicked companions--Tricks of pantomines injurious--Mischiefs
arising from sending children to pawnbrokers--Fairs demoralizing--All
kinds of begging to be repressed_
CHAPTER IV.
REMEDY FOR EXISTING EVILS.
_Means long in operation important--Prisons awfully
corrupting--Deplorable condition of those released from
jail--Education of the infant poor--Its beneficial results--Cases
of inviolable honesty--Appeal of Mr. Serjeant Bosanquet--The
infant school an asylum from accident and a prevention of
various evils--Obstacles in the way of married persons obtaining
employment--Arguments for the plan of infant training--Prevalence of
profane swearing--The example often shewn by parents--Anecdote in
illustration--Parents ill used by their young children--Christian-like
wish of George III.--Education for poor children still objected
to--Folly of such objection illustrated--Lectures on the subject of
infant training_
CHAPTER V.
PRINCIPLES OF INFANT EDUCATION.
_Moral treatment--Importance of exercise--Play-ground
indispensable--The education of nature and human education should
be joined--Mental development--Children should think for
themselves--Intellectual food adapted for children--A spirit
of enquiry should be excited--Gradual development of the young
mind--Neglect of moral treatment--Inefficacy of maxims learned
by rote--Influence of love--The play-ground a field of
observation--Respect of private property inculcated--Force of
conscience on the alert--Anecdote--Advantages of a strict regard for
truth--The simple truths of the Bible fit for children_
CHAPTER VI.
REQUISITES FOR AN INFANT SCHOOL.
_The master and mistress should reside on the premises--Interior
arrangements--A school and its furniture--Lesson-posts and
lessons--The younger children should not be separated from the
older--Play-ground arrangements--Rotary swing--Its management and
advantages_
CHAPTER VII.
QUALIFICATIONS FOR TEACHERS.
_Teachers should practice what they teach--Necessity of patience--Mere
automatons will not do for infant teachers--Disadvantage of using
excessive restraint--A master and mistress more efficient than two
mistresses--Objections to the sole government of females--Too frequent
use of the divine names should be avoided--General observations_
CHAPTER VIII.
HINTS FOR CONDUCTING AN INFANT SCHOOL.
_Classification--Getting the children into order--Language--Lessons
on objects--Rules to be observed by parents--Daily routine of
instruction--Opening prayer and hymn--Object or developing
lessons--Synopsis of a week's instruction--Cleanliness--Never frighten
children--Guard against forgetfulness--Observe punctuality--Be
strictly accurate in your expressions--Guard against the entrance of
disease--Maxims for teachers--Resolutions_
CHAPTER IX.
GALLERY TEACHING.--MORAL AND RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION.
_Original intention of the gallery--What lessons are adapted for
it--Its misapplication--Selection of teachers--Observations--Gallery
lessons--on a feather--a spider--a piece of bog turf--a piece of
coal--Observations on the preceding lessons--Scripture lessons in
the gallery--The finding of Moses--Christ with the doctors--Moral
training--Its neglect in most schools--Should be commenced in
infancy--Beneficial effects of real moral culture--Ignorance of
teachers--The gallery most useful in moral training--Specimen of a
moral lesson--Illustrations of moral culture--Anecdotes--Simpson on
moral education--Observations--Hints to teachers_
CHAPTER X.
REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS.
_Necessity of some punishment--Rewards to monitors--Trial by
jury--Illustrative case--Necessity of firmness--Anecdotes--Playing
the truant--Its evils--Means for prevention--Devices for
punishment--Sympathy encouraged--Evil of expelling children--Case of
Hartley--Difficulty of legislating for rewards and punishments--Badges
of distinction not necessary_
CHAPTER XI.
LANGUAGE.
_Means for conveying instruction--Method of teaching the alphabet
in connection with objects--Spelling--Reading--Developing
lessons--Reading lessons in natural history--The arithmeticon--Brass
letters--Their uses_
CHAPTER XXI.
ARITHMETIC.
_The arithmeticon--How applied--Numeration--Addition--Subtraction
--Multiplication--Division--Fractions--Arithmetical
tables--Arithmetical songs--Observations_
CHAPTER XIII.
FORM, POSITION, AND SIZE.
_Method of instruction--Geometrical song--Anecdotes--Size--Long
measure--Observations_
CHAPTER XIV.
GEOGRAPHY.
_Its attraction for children--Sacred geography--Geographical
song--Lessons on geography_
CHAPTER XV.
PICTURES AND CONVERSATIONS.
_Pictures--Religious instruction--Specimens of picture lessons
on Scripture and natural history--Other means of religious
instruction--Effects of religious instruction--Observations_
CHAPTER XVI.
ON TEACHING BY OBJECTS.
_Object boards--Utility of this method_
CHAPTER XVII.
PHYSICAL EDUCATION.
_Exercise--Various positions--Exercise blended with instruction
Arithmetical and geometrical amusements_
CHAPTER XVIII.
MUSIC.
_Infant ditties--Songs on natural history--Moral lessons in
verse--Influence of music in softening the feelings--Illustrative
anecdote_
CHAPTER XIX.
GRAMMAR.
_Method of instruction--Grammatical rhymes_
CHAPTER XX.
THE ELLIPTICAL PLAN.
_Method Explained--Its success_
CHAPTER XXI.
REMARKS ON SCHOOLS.
_National schools--British and foreign societies--Sunday
schools--Observations_
CHAPTER XXII.
HINTS ON NURSERY EDUCATION.
_Introduction to botany--First lessons in natural history--First
truths of astronomy--Geographical instruction--Conclusion_
THE INFANT SYSTEM.
* * * * *
CHAPTER I.
RETROSPECT OF MY CAREER.
_Days and scenes of childhood--Parental care--Power of
early impressions--School experience--Commencement in
business--Sunday-school teaching and its results--Experiment on a
large scale--Development of plans and invention of implements--Heavy
bereavement--Propagation of the system of education, in the
neighborhood of London, and ultimately in most of the principal
places in England, Wales, Ireland, and Scotland--Misapprehension
and perversion of the principles of infant education--Signs of
advancement--Hope for the future_.
* * * * *
Be it a weakness, it deserves some praise,
We love the play-place of our early days;
The scene is touching."--_Cowper_
"What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under
the sun?"--_Ecclesiastes i. 3_.
* * * * *
How came you to think of the Infant School system of teaching?--is
a question that I have often been asked; and my friends think it
advisable that it should, in part at least, be answered. I proceed
therefore, in compliance with their wishes, to give some little of
the required information in this place, as perhaps it may throw light
upon, or explain more clearly, the fundamental principles laid down
and advocated throughout this volume. In few words, then, I would
reply,--_circumstances_ forced me to it. Born an only child, under
peculiar circumstances, and living in an isolated neighbourhood, I had
no childish companions from infancy; I was, consequently, thrown much
on my own resources, and early became a _thinker_, and in some measure
a contriver too. I beheld a beautiful world around me, full of
everything to admire and to win attention. As soon as I could think at
all, I saw that there must be a Maker, Governor, and Protector of this
world. Such things as had life won my admiration, and thus I became
very fond of animals. Flowers and fruits, stones and minerals, I also
soon learned to observe and to mark their differences. This led to
enquiries as to how they came--where from--who made them? My mother
told me they came from God, that he made them and all things that I
saw; and also that he made herself and me. From that moment I never
doubted His wonderful existence. I could not, nor did I have, at that
age, any correct idea of God; but I soon learned to have elevated
notions of His works, and through them I was led to adore something
invisible--something I was convinced of within, but could not see. My
mother, to my knowledge, never deceived me, or told me an untruth:
therefore, I believed her implicitly; and to this day I never doubted.
So much for the implanting an early _faith_ in the Unseen. But the
beautiful world and the things in it which I saw, and with which I
came in contact, Oh! how wonderful they appeared to me! They were my
companions! Other children were strange to me, and they were not nigh
either to help or to thwart me.
My mother was my oracle during the first six years of childhood,
resolving my difficulties and answering my questions. I was
happy--very happy! and still look back to those days with
indescribable pleasure and satisfaction. I had no tasks. I was not
pestered with _A.B. C_., nor _ab. eb. ib_. From _things_ my parents
chiefly taught me my first lessons, and they have been as durable as
life. For days and weeks did I study such lessons. My parents waited
till I asked for information, and when it was required it was never
denied. The world and the wonders in it formed as it were a heaven to
me. I am told I gave but little trouble at this age. In the beautiful
fields and wild coppices about Hornsey, as yet unencroached upon by
suburban extension; and by the side of the then solitary banks of the
New River, I was always to be found. In cold and wet weather I had
a stock of similar lessons in my home. Small live animals were my
constant companions; they taught me that love begets love. I did love
and delight in them, and when they died I mourned their loss. Every
day brought me new information, which my parents perfected. At length
the alphabet was mastered, and afterwards spelling, reading, and
so forth. My mind _being thus previously filled with ideas_, the
acquirement of words and abstract terms became less irksome, and I
cannot remember that thus far it cost me any trouble, much less pain.
Information of every kind fit for childhood then really gave me
pleasure. No doubt I am greatly indebted to my parents for their
judicious management. My father always in the evening, took great
pains to explain things to me; he nurtured but never crammed; he knew
when to teach and when to let alone. Unfortunately, through very
peculiar circumstances, I was removed from the immediate care and
superintendence of both parents rather early in life; and, at an age
the most dangerous, was left to grapple nearly alone with the wide
world and the beings in it, with little of either parental guidance.
It was then I saw the immense importance and advantage of early
impressions. To me they were of incalculable benefit, and no doubt
led, when I became a man, to the thoughts which ended in the
development and practical working of the Infant System and method of
education.
Schools for infants then existed, but what were they? Simply
dame-schools, with the hornbook for boys and girls, and perhaps a
little sewing for the latter. Their sign was--"Children taught to read
and work here," and their furniture the cap and bells, the rod in
pickle, and a corner for dunces. The finishing stroke was seen in the
parlour of the inn, or the farm-house, in the shape of needlework as a
samplar;--"Lydia Languish, her work, done at ---- school, in the year
of our Lord, 1809." Such were the schools in country places then in
existence, the little ones doing nothing. In after-life, I thought
a remedy was required and might be found, and therefore set about
working it out. How it was done shall be hereafter explained.
I knew my own infant state had been a happy one, and I wondered to see
children crying to go to school, when learning had been such a delight
to me. But I soon ceased to wonder when I was sent there myself. At my
first school I can truly say I learnt nothing, except it be that I had
especially the sense of feeling. I often had raps with the cane on the
head, across the shoulders, and on the hand, and I found it was mainly
for not learning what the teacher had _forgotten to teach me_. The
terms used were "master" and "mistress," and they were tolerably
appropriate as far as I was concerned, for to me both became objects
of terror, so much so, that for the first time in my life, I really
fretted when the hour of teaching came. My parents were not long in
perceiving this although I did not complain. They told me it was for
my good that I should go to school, and I thoroughly believed them.
Yet I could not understand why it should be associated with so much
dislike and pain on my part, when my first school,--the beautiful
world of nature, had been so lovely, and my first teachers had always
increased the delight by removing my difficulties, and this so much
so that I now longed for evening to come to have fresh light and
instruction given. My father now decided that I should not go to
school, and he became my teacher as before, the world being my great
book. I was delighted with Robinson Crusoe, and this work became my
companion, and to which was added the Pilgrim's Progress. After these,
my great favourite was Buffon's Natural History. I used to go alone,
taking a volume at a time, to read amidst the pleasant country around,
but most frequently in the quiet nooks and retreats of Hornsey Wood.
It seems, however, that I was always watched and superintended by my
mother during these readings and rural rambles, for whenever danger
was near she generally appeared, but seldom otherwise, so that I had
perfect freedom in these matters. I have every reason to believe that
the first seven years of my life laid the basis of all I know that is
worth knowing, and led to the formation of my character and future
career in life. Of my schooling afterwards it is unnecessary to say
much, as it was the usual routine such as others had, but it never
satisfied me, and I even then saw errors throughout the whole, and
this strengthened my first impressions, and tended to mature the
after-thought in me, that something wanted doing and _must be done_.
It is not my intention in this introductory chapter to write an
auto-biography; but my object is simply to show, how one impression
followed another in my case, and what led to it; to point out briefly
the various plans and inventions I had recourse to in carrying out my
views and intentions; and, finally, to allude to their propagation
through the country personally by myself, on purpose to show, in
conclusion, that although infant education has been extensively
adopted, and many of its principles, being based on nature, have been
applied with great success to older children, yet especially in the
case of infants, that strict adherence to nature and simplicity which
is so fundamental and so requisite, has been often overlooked, and in
some cases totally discarded.
It will, I trust, appear from what has been already said, that even
from early childhood I both saw and felt that there was a period in
human life, and that the most important period, as experience has
proved to my full satisfaction, not legislated for, that is, not duly
provided with suitable and appropriate methods of education. To see
this was one thing, to provide a remedy for it and to _invent plans_
for carrying out that remedy, was another. The systems of Bell and of
Lancaster were then commencing operations, but were quite unsuitable
for children under seven years of age at least, and therefore took
little or no cognizance of that early period, which I had been
inwardly convinced was of such eminent importance. I was destined for
business, and served the usual apprenticeship to become qualified for
it, and also continued in it for a short period on my own account.
Even at this time the thought ever haunted me as to what should be
done for young children. At length the germ was developed at one of
the Sunday Schools, which were then rising into general notice. For
years I attended one of these in London, and here circumstances again
befriended me, regarding the matter so frequently in my thoughts. The
teachers mostly preferred having a class to superintend that knew
something, and I being then a junior, it fell to my lot to have a
class that knew little or nothing. I mean nothing that it was the
object of the Sunday-school to teach. It soon appeared clear to me,
that such a class required different treatment to those more advanced,
and especially the _young_ children. Nobody wanted this class, it was
always "to let," if I did not take it. The result was, I always had
it. Others looked to the post of honour, the Bible-class. I soon found
that to talk to such children as I had to teach, in the manner the
others did to the older and more advanced children, was useless, and
thus I was forced to simplify my mode of teaching to suit their state
of apprehension, and now and then even to amuse them. This succeeded
so well, that in the end my class became the popular class, and I
became still further convinced of the desirableness of an _especial
plan for teaching the very young_. I, however, still thought that the
alphabet should be taught first, with the usual things in their order.
At length, shortly after my marriage, which was rather early in life,
an opportunity presented itself for trying an experiment on a larger
scale; from having explained my views on early education to a friend,
I was solicited to take the superintendence of an asylum for young
children, about to be formed in a populous part of London. Having thus
an opportunity of carrying out my wishes, thoughts, and feelings, in
a way that I could not have anticipated, I gave up my connexion with
business, and devoted myself to the object. Great and unforseen
difficulties however had to be encountered. The first week was
dreadful. I began with too many children, and we had six whom the
mothers afterwards confessed they sent to _wean_. These not only cried
themselves, but set all the others crying also, and we regretted
having begun the experiment. At length, driven almost to despair, it
became evident that something new must be done to still the tumult. As
an expedient, I elevated a cap on a pole, which immediately attracted
their attention and occasioned silence. Thus I obtained a clue to
guide me, and my mind instantly perceived one of the most fundamental
principles in infant teaching, in fact of most teaching, and which
long experience has proved true, and that is, to appeal to the SENSES
of the children. After this, every day developed something new to me,
the children became happy beyond my expectations, and my course
onward was gradually progressive. Children and teachers became happy
together; difficulties vanished as we proceeded, and at length my wife
and I made up our minds to devote our whole lives to the perfecting of
our plans, and the carrying them out extensively. The novelty of the
thing drew numbers of visitors to a district, where the carriages of
the nobility and gentry had not been seen before; but the labour to us
was so greatly increased by this, that my wife sunk under it, and I
was left with four young children, to prosecute my plans alone in the
world.
From the day I caught the idea, that a great secret in teaching the
young was to teach through the _senses_, the various implements now in
such general use in infant schools, were step by step invented by me.
Objects of all kinds were introduced, and oral lessons given upon
them, to teach their qualities and properties, and amongst the various
visitors most frequently present at such times, was the gentleman who
has acquired fame by publishing "Lessons on Objects," which little
work has elsewhere been highly commended by me, albeit it came forth
into the world several years after the period I now speak of. To give
such lessons I found it requisite to have the children altogether, so
as better to attract their attention simultaneously. This was first
attempted by placing them at one end of the room, but it was found
inconvenient; then parallel lines were chalked across the floor, and
they sat down in order on these; but though attention was gained, the
posture was unsuitable. Cords were then stretched across to keep them
in proper rank, and various experiments tried with seats, until they
ended in the construction of a permanently fixed gallery of regularly
ascending seats. This implement or structure has now come into almost
universal use in infant schools, and, in fact, they are considered
incomplete without one; and also they are in much request in schools
for children of every age. To give an idea of number through the eye,
I had recourse at first to buttons strung on strings across a frame,
and this led to the substitution of wooden balls on wires, and other
improvements through experience, until the arithmeticon, hereafter
described, was fully formed. It having been found a useful instrument,
the credit of contriving it has been impugned, by liking it to the
Roman Abacus and Chinese Swanpan; but were those instruments like in
structure, or designed especially to teach the multiplication table?
if not, they are no more similar than "a hawk to a hand-saw." The
former I have never seen, and the first time I saw one of the Chinese
instruments was some five or six years ago in the Museum at Hull. The
clapping of hands, the moving of arms, marching in order, and
various other motions, all of which are now become the especial
characteristics of an infant-school, were gradually introduced as
circumstances or nature dictated, partly to obtain simultaneous action
and obedience, and partly to provide that physical exercise which
beings so young perpetually require, and which they are constantly
taking when left free and unrestrained. It is not requisite to make
mention here of the swing--the play grounds--the flower borders--and
various other matters which are fully treated of in the following
portions of this work, further than to add, that they are now
generally adopted in schools, and especially in some of the principal
training establishments in the British Empire. As these plans and
instruments are used by a certain religious infant-school society,
which professes to have imported its system from Switzerland,
where such things never had their origin, I feel it necessary most
emphatically to repeat, that they are entirely of my own invention.
After the severe bereavement mentioned above, I still persevered in
my favourite study, and learned more from my own children than I did
before, having to act in the double capacity of father and mother. I
am well aware of the loss my children sustained by the above calamity.
In the matter of training, nothing can replace a good mother,--and
such indeed she eminently was! I felt the heavy stroke more severely,
and my children did also; but I consoled myself with the reflection,
that my loss was her gain, and that she had lived to witness fruits of
her unparalleled labours, to the thorough abandonment of self, and the
glory of her Maker. "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of these
little ones, ye have done it unto me." Night and day, when I had time
to think, such promises as these cheered and sustained me in doing
what I could for my own motherless children, and more and more
cemented my affections on the children of others, and, finally,
enabled me to mature my plans, and gave me strength and courage to
carry them out, first in the villages and places near London, and,
ultimately, single-handed and alone, through more than a quarter of
a century, in many of the chief cities, towns, and villages of the
United Kingdom. Simply to state this fact is all that is requisite
here to answer my present purpose, and to enlarge more upon it is
needless, as a full detail of the whole career is given in my "Early
Discipline Illustrated; or, the Infant System Progressing and
Successful," third edition, published in 1840, and to which much
more would require adding to bring it down to the present time, if a
further edition should be called for.
That prejudice should assail me, and objections be started as I came
more out into the world, was to be expected. I knew my own intentions,
but the world did not, and I came in for a full share of obloquy and
persecution. This did me much good, and was a preparatory discipline,
to make me careless of the opinion of mankind in the matter, so long
as I felt that I was in the right, and had the approval of my own
conscience. The more I was opposed, the more were my energies lighted
up and strengthened; opposition always sharpened my faculties, instead
of overcoming and depressing me. The whole gradually prospered from
the first, under every disadvantage and notwithstanding the strenuous
efforts of the short-sighted and bigoted. These things laid my first
patrons prostrate, and the Society of great names which followed, was
soon dissolved. Every effort was made by the enemies of true training
and education, to crush the thing in the bud, and not only the thing,
but also the man who developed it and worked it out. Thank God, these
inimical aims did not succeed. Though worldly patrons failed, I had
one Patron who never deserted me, but Who upheld and encouraged me
from first to last, until the end was gained. Not, however, all that
was aimed at, but much of it, and the rest will follow or I am greatly
mistaken. I have in various places seen things that I earnestly
contended for, but which were rejected at the time, at length
established and their value seen. Look at the schools in existence
now, bad as some of them are, and compare them with those which
existed a third of a century ago, and it will be found that they have
progressed, and it may safely be anticipated that they will still
further progress, for there is much need of it. The system pourtrayed
in this book is intended to act on all the faculties of a child,
especially the highest, and to strengthen them at the time the mere
animal part of his nature is weak. The existing schools were not found
fit to take our children when they left us. The dull, monotonous,
sleepy, heavy system pursued, was quite unadapted to advance such
pupils. At this point of the history much damage was done to our
plans. The essence or kernel was omitted and the mere shell retained,
to make infant schools harmonise with the existing ones, instead of
the contrary. There were and are however two great exceptions to
this rule. The Model Schools at Dublin under the Government Board of
Education, and the Glasgow Training Schools for Scotland. At Dublin
all is progression. The infant department is the best in Europe,--I
believe the best in the world. The other departments are equally good
in most things, and are well managed, as far as regards a good secular
education being given, and better I think than any similar institution
in England. At Glasgow the same master whom I taught still exists. I
have not seen the schools for many years, but I hear from those who
have been trained there, that nothing can work better. The Glasgow
Committee, with Mr. Stow at their head, deserve the thanks of the
whole community for having applied the principles on which the Infant
School System is based, to juveniles, and carried out and proved the
practicability of it for the public good. I told them this in lectures
at Glasgow long ago, and exhibited before them children to prove the
truths I promulgated, both there and in other parts of Scotland,
to convince a doubting and cautious public that my views were
practicable. I may add, in passing, that I found the Scotch took
nothing on trust. They would listen to my lectures, but it always
ended in my being obliged to prove it with children. To David Stow
much credit is due, for having written useful books and performed
useful works. I am not the man to deprive him of this his just due,
but I have such faith in the honour of his countrymen in general, that
I believe the time is not far distant when some one of them will give
to me that credit which is fairly and justly due to me with respect to
the educational movements in Scotland. No class of men are better able
to appreciate and understand the principles on which a system of true
education should be based than Scotchmen, and hence, though cautious
in taking up new things, or new views of things, they can do justice
to, and appreciate, that which is worthy of their attention.
At the time I have been speaking of there were no lessons published
suitable for us. I searched the print shops in the metropolis, and
with the aid of drawings from friends, supplied this deficiency. Next
I had suitable lessons printed to accompany them, and also spelling
lessons of such words as could be _acted_ and _explained_. Then
followed suitable reading lessons, prints of objects, and the simple
forms of geometry. When a demand was created for all these, the
publishing trade took them up, and thus the numerous excellent plates
and lessons now published for the purposes of teaching, had their
first origin.
I ant thoroughly convinced that the first seven years of a child's
life is the _golden period_, and if I can induce mankind generally to
think with me, and to act on the principles humbly laid open in the
succeeding chapters of this book, I may feel some consolation that I
have not lived in vain. Sure I am that if the world will only give
man a fair chance, and train him from the beginning with care, with
prudence, with caution, with circumspection, with freedom, and above
all with _love_, he will bear such fruit, under the blessing of God,
as will make even this world as a paradise. From childhood up to age
has this truth been perfecting and strengthening in me, and I have no
more doubt that it is a truth, than I have of my own existence. Who
can look upon a child without admiring it, without loving it? With
my feelings it is impossible! When I compare the Revealed Will of
God,--the Scriptures, with His other Great Book, the book of nature,
which I read so early in life, and read with delight to this present
hour, I see the one illustrates the other. I see that the _best_
ground produces the _rankest weeds_--but not if cultivated. What does
not care do for all things in nature, why not then for man? Let him
run wild through neglect, and undoubtedly he produces weeds; but this,
to my mind, is an argument in his favour, and shews the ground is
capable of producing rich fruits. When we study the true nature of his
mind, with the same assiduity as we now do study the nature of his
body, then will mankind see it in this light, begin at the right
end, and cultivate from the first the beautiful faculties of his
own species. I say beautiful! and are not the budding faculties of
childhood both beautiful and lovely? "Feed my lambs," saith the Lord
Jesus. But, reader, are they all duly fed in this rich, wealthy,
and christian country? How many, on the contrary, are fed with evil
influences, street associations, and are thus poisoned at every pore,
until their being is thoroughly contaminated through neglect, public
and private, and, when not orphans, even parental neglect also; and
then after having increased our county rates, enlarged our prisons,
and built union workhouses (with respect to morals and training for
the young, I say pest-houses) we add ragged schools. We allow them to
become contaminated, and when that is accomplished, we go to work to
undo what has been done. If this does not succeed we punish by law the
poor neglected beings for taking the poisons we really offered them!
Oh, rare consistency in this boasted age of light, and science, and
learning! Let us, therefore, first seek an education worthy of the
name, and then find the best means of carrying it out. What exists at
present is fundamentally defective, especially by beginning too late,
and as regards the plans and principles laid down for infants in many
cases, much has been merely travestied, and many of the most essential
parts entirely set aside or overlooked.
The amount of solid information that may be given to an infant by a
wise and judicious mother, during the first two years only, would
appear to many persons astonishing. I have as clear a recollection of
what my mother taught me at two years old, as I have of that which she
taught me at the age of six. The facts crowd upon me so fast that
I scarcely know where to stop. Those lessons were the germs of the
inventions and babyisms--the hand-clapping, arm-twisting, and the
like--with which the infants are so delighted in their schools, and
which, at the time they were developed, about a third of a century
since, were scouted, and the inventor looked upon as a good natured
simpleton, or a well-meaning fool. I have a rather vivid recollection
of this fact, but in the end, as we proceeded, many who came to sneer,
went away with very different feelings. The plans were for infants,
for infants they answered well, but I wish I could say that no
excresences had grown upon them.
Now the ends to be answered in Infant Education, as intended by me,
are as follows. First, to feed the child's faculties with suitable
food; Second,--to simplify and explain everything, so as to adapt it
properly to those faculties; Third, not to overdo anything, either by
giving too much instruction, or instruction beyond their years, and
thus over-excite the brain, and injure the faculties; and, Fourth,
ever to blend both exercise and amusement with instruction at due
intervals, which is readily effected by a moderate amount of singing,
alternating with the usual motions and evolutions in the schoolroom,
and the unfettered freedom of the play-ground. If these rules be
attended to, the following results are certain,--a higher state of
physical, mental, and moral health. Physical health is essential to
mental vigour if it is to come to manhood. If the physical, mental,
moral, and spiritual constitution be properly acted upon, fed, and
trained, it adds to the happiness of the child; but if this is
not done, it becomes miserable, and as a consequence restless,
troublesome, and mischievous. Such facts were made very evident to me
by the infants under my care in the earlier part of my career, and
also have been fully confirmed throughout it, and they have forced
me as it were to that more lively, interesting, and amusing mode of
instruction, which I have through life endeavoured to propagate.
I found children to be highly delighted with pictures and
object-lessons; hence their value and high importance is so strongly
insisted on in all my books, and the best methods of using them
distinctly laid down. The trouble of rightly using such lessons has
caused them to be almost entirely laid aside in very many existing
infant schools, and in too many instances the mere learning and
repeating of sounds by rote, or what may very properly be called the
"parrot system," has been introduced in their place. But I yet hope
that the good sense of the public will in the end remedy such defects.
In such cases the memory is the only faculty exercised, and that at
the expense of those that are higher. Where this is persisted in, the
infant system is rendered nugatory, and my labours are in vain. It
therefore cannot be too strongly insisted on, and too frequently
repeated, that one of its most fundamental principles, as regards the
unfolding, properly and easily, of the intellectual faculties, is to
communicate _notions_ and _ideas_ rather than words and sounds, or at
least to let them be done together.
As before stated, the gallery had its origin in my desire to teach the
children simultaneously. It enables a teacher more readily to secure
their full attention in all oral lessons, and establishes a sympathy
between them. More real facts may be taught children simultaneously by
the master, than can be taught by all the monitors in a school. The
little infants should always sit at the bottom, and by no means be
confined to another room. They can see and hear all that is going on,
and understand it far more than you would suppose, though they cannot
yet tell all they learn and know; but when the power of speech comes,
they will surprise you with what they have learned. It is therefore a
great error to separate children and cut them off from the advantage
of all object-lessons, and gallery-teaching, because they are the
youngest. They learn more through sympathy and communion with their
five or six year elders, than the most clever adult can teach them. An
infant-school, is, in many respects, a community in a state of nature.
What one does, the other almost involuntarily learns. The merest
infants are not an exception to this rule, and therefore the
separation in many infant-schools of the children, invariably into
two classes, sometimes in two rooms, is a great mistake, and can only
arise from ignorance of the laws under which the young mind
unfolds itself, and a misunderstanding of the first principles of
infant-teaching.
Perhaps one reason that infant-school teaching has not been kept up to
its proper point and true standing, is, the desire to make a striking
shew before the visitors in a school. I fear the grounds for this
opinion are not slight. Perhaps nothing has lead more to the
multiplication of singing, even to the injury of the children. The
ease with which they learn a metrical piece by _rote_, and the
readiness with which they acquire a tune to it, is surprising, and as
the exhibition of such attainments forms a striking sinew, in many
cases little else is taught them. But to a sensible and thinking mind,
one single piece _understood_, that is, one where clear ideas are
annexed to the words in the minds of the children, is worth a hundred
where this is not the case. Intellectual improvement, and moral
training, are not thus easily exhibited, especially, the latter; but
on dilligent attention to these, the real and permanent utility of the
schools depends.
Many things have been taught most unsuitable for young children, and
that simplicity which is so absolutely requisite, both as regards
matter and language, seriously departed from. Let but the great
principle of teaching through the senses be borne distinctly in mind,
and of giving ideas in preference to sounds, and it will have a strong
tendency to put an end to the evil complained of. How much may
be taught by the simplest object, such as a stone?
Form--weight--hardness, colour, sound, and numerous other qualities
and properties, all of which must be clearly understood, because they
are demonstrated by the sight and other senses. Once give to the mind
a store of clear ideas in regular and natural order, and a series of
words that are distinct and definite in meaning, and you have laid a
firm foundation whereon to exercise the higher faculties of reflection
and reasoning. Still more is it of paramount importance to educate and
bring out the moral faculties, to cultivate the sense of right and
wrong, to enlighten and strengthen the young conscience, to teach the
love of good, and the hatred of evil, and to strive to bring the whole
being under the new commandment of Christ, "that ye love one another."
The golden rule, "to do unto others as ye would that they should do
unto you," is one of the most powerful precepts that can be applied to
awaken just moral feelings; and innumerable instances must occur,
in the varied events which happen in a school, to bring it home
powerfully to the heart, and illustrate it appropriately.
Perhaps in nothing has that simplicity of teaching so requisite for
the young, and so earnestly contended for by me throughout, been
so much disregarded, neglected, and preverted as in the matter of
religion. I taught from the first, by means of pictures properly
selected, scriptural truths and facts, histories and parables; and
also suitable texts, and simple hymns and prayers were added. This
surely was enough for _infants_. I thought so then, and I think so
still, for an overdoing always ends in an undoing, and the mind of a
child should never be crammed with that which it cannot understand, to
the neglect of that which it may. I have opened schools for many sects
and parties, and have been sorry to find them so prone to bind the
"grevious burdens" of their own peculiar dogmas on the feeble minds of
little children, to the neglect of the "weightier matters of the law,
justice, mercy, and the love of God." I hope a time will come when the
distinct precepts of Christ, in this respect, will be more faithfully
regarded. The religion for infants should be a simple trust in "the
love and kindness of God our Saviour," a desire of grace and strength
from Him, and an aim to live thereby in love and duty to their parents
and teachers, and in kindness and affection with their brothers,
sisters, and schoolfellows. Such things as these, their young
minds may apprehend, feel, and apply, and thus be strengthened and
benefitted, but scholastic subtelties, and controverted dogmas, such
as the grey-headed are perpetually disputing about, surely should
never be taught to infants by any one who has carefully considered the
subject, and properly studied the nature of the infant mind.
In all probability advancing years will prevent me in future from
personally labouring much in the cause, and from personally overcoming
objections, by presenting publicly, facts that cannot be refuted. It
is out of my power now to employ agents and pay them. I cannot
take infants by sea and land to convince unbelievers, and silence
gainsayers. Neither circumstances nor remaining strength, will allow
me to repeat these things. I must trust then to my pen, to the
thinkers amongst us, and above all to the good Providence of God, for
further success in behalf of the rising generation. Those who doubt
what I assert about children should recollect one fact--twenty-seven
thousand have passed through my hands, and were for a short time under
my training, and have then been examined by me to convince a doubting
public, on the spot where they happened to be in each town and
country, all this for the period of one-third of a century. Ought not
this to entitle me, as respects the education of children, to say such
a thing is right, or even such a thing is wrong? The abuse of a plan
is no argument against its use. That it has been abused I am well
aware,--that the _parrot-system_ has been revived and also applied in
infant-schools. It was never intended to injure the young brain by
over-exciting it, or to fill the memory with useless rubbish; yet this
is done. I cannot help it. I have done and will do my best to prevent
such a violation of the very first principles of infant teaching. To
conclude, there is much to be thankful for! Since the infant-system
was evolved, a very great improvement has taken place in the character
of school-books, and also in prints. The graphic illustrations and the
simplicity of style, on a variety of subjects, is admirable. The same
may be said with respect to nursery books; I see a great improvement
in all these. This is comforting to one situated as I am, and leads me
to hope much from the future. I trust the intellectual character of
the age will advance, and not only the intellectual but also the moral
and spiritual, and "that truth and justice, religion and piety may be
established amongst us for all generations."