THE EDUCATION OF THE LITTLE CHILD[25]
“Education should lead and guide man to clearness concerning
himself and in himself, to peace with nature, and to unity with
God; hence, it should lift him to a knowledge of himself and of
mankind, to a knowledge of God and of nature, and to the pure and
holy life to which this knowledge leads.”
—F. FROEBEL.
“Between educator and pupil, between request and obedience, there
should invisibly rule a third something to which educator and pupil
are equally subject. This third something is the right, the best,
necessarily conditioned and expressed without arbitrariness in the
circumstances.”
—F. FROEBEL.
“The mother, with her monotonous daily round of cares and tasks,
wishes that she could give more time to instructing her children.
She forgets that her industry, fidelity, cheerfulness, hope,
courage, faith, reverence, calmness, kindliness, and courtesy, are
all reproducing themselves in the minds of her children. This is
education for health, vigor, power, and efficiency, not merely for
learning. It builds up instead of puffing up.”
—J. M. TYLER.
=The Purposes of Education.= Education is as comprehensive as life
itself. The education of the child begins as soon as he is born.
Every moment thereafter is bringing influences that are shaping his
character and his mental life. The educator is the person who acts
as a mediator between life and the child, selecting the environment
and influences that will give the largest values, helping him
utilize, discriminate, and interpret his own forces and those of
the universe. The work of the educator is analogous to that of the
physician or hygienist, who cannot give or increase life, but can
help the individual find the conditions that will increase his own
organic efficiency. Education by trial and error, which is the method
by which the race has had to learn, is a slow, painful process. The
purpose of education is to reduce the wastage of life through errors
and to give all-around efficiency, valuable habits, vision (ideals,
ambitions, perspective), and command of methods for continued
learning. It should be a preparation for larger living, not merely
for intellectual examinations or artificial tests.
=Froebel, Hall, Dewey, Montessori.= The following foundation
principles are emphasized by these educational leaders:
1. The function of education, serving to meet vital problems and to
increase both efficiency and richness of life
2. The comprehensiveness of education, dealing with the whole life
of the child—his thinking, feeling, doing—during every moment of
his life
3. The moral purpose of life and therefore of education
4. The self-activity of the child as the method of education
5. The daily life of the child in the home and family and with
nature as the natural environment for his education
6. The interest of the child as the basis of the curriculum
7. The study of the child as furnishing the key to his interests,
his development, his ways of thinking, feeling, doing; and
therefore the key to the methods of education
8. The development of the child as an evolution, progressing
through a series of ascending stages which, in the main, follow the
same general order in all individuals
9. Adaptation of education for the individual child, according to
his nature and needs
The stages of development, the study of the individual child, the
outlines of the curriculum, and special methods in selected phases of
education, are discussed in other chapters. The present discussion
therefore is devoted to the principles of educational psychology and
of pedagogy,—how to conduct the process of education.
=Education, Instruction, and Training.= Education, in the large
sense in which the term is here used, includes three pedagogical
processes: (1) instruction;[26] (2) training; and (3) education[27]
in its narrower meaning,—the developing of the child’s innate
powers. Instruction is the easiest, but the most superficial and
least valuable; development is the most vital and most difficult.
Instruction is static; education is dynamic. Training is the method
for habit-formation (which is a most essential phase of education
through infancy and childhood), the method for drill and technical
skill. The teacher must be able to discern when each of these phases
should be utilized. In general, training should begin at birth, and
habit-formation should be continued unremittingly until about the
teens, although habits are fairly well fixed by seven years. During
youth and adolescence, training is needed for acquiring of finer
muscular and motor skill. Instruction, directly, is easily overdone,
and the best general principle is not to give information that the
child could obtain directly for himself by a reasonable amount of
searching, use of his own observation, experimentation, or reasoning;
and not to overload the child with a superfluity of unrelated
information. Certainly he should not be crammed with a mass of facts
in which he has no interest, much less those for which he has actual
distaste. There is danger that the book will come between the child
and the realities of life. Such instruction as is given should be in
response to a real hunger or interest. Education, the developing of
the self-activity of the child, should begin in the first few days of
life, and should be naturally fostered through the careful selection
of every factor in his environment as well as through consistent
cultivation adapted to his stage of development.
=The Biological Basis of Education.= Education is possible only
because the baby is born so helpless and plastic, with many
instincts, with the nervous system great in its possibilities but
incomplete in its development, and with few habits formed.
Every stimulus that comes to the child is carried by an incoming
(sensory or afferent) nerve to the brain, either directly or by
way of the spinal cord. The stimulus may come from an object, from
an organic sensation within the body, or from a thought. That
sensation or nerve impulse is carried to a nerve center in the
brain or the spinal cord, and there is transferred to some one of
the many outgoing (motor or efferent) nerves, which conveys the
impulse to some muscle, producing a muscular action. For example:
the rays of light from a shining, moving object are the stimulus
to the child’s eye, and the optic nerve carries this stimulus to
a center in the brain. The little baby must receive this stimulus
many times before he begins to interpret it. At a few weeks of
age he will simply stare, attempting to coördinate both eyes, or
later, to follow it with the movement of his eyes; later still, to
grasp for it with his hand. The optic nerve is here the sensory or
afferent nerve, bearing the sensation; the nerve to the eye muscle
or the hand is the efferent or motor nerve. This circuit is what is
meant by a sensory-motor coördination, also called by some authors
a neuro-muscular coördination, or the reflex arc. Many hundreds of
these coördinations are to be made in the course of each day.
The first time a specific sensation is conveyed to a center, it is
problematic which efferent or motor nerve will carry the outgoing
impulse, but the choice is of great significance, for a habit is
thereby begun. The second time the same sensation is conveyed, it
will be easier for the same outgoing path to be followed. Thus habits
are formed. Each repetition fixes it more firmly and makes more
difficult the forming of a new manner of reaction to that stimulus.
Every sensation and thought tends thus to express itself in action.
The little child is therefore especially susceptible to suggestion.
Inhibition is the intervention of a second thought or stimulus which
sends a counter impulse that prevents the action. If the expression
of the action is continually prevented, or if through weakness of
will or low vitality the expression is deferred, or not made, the
power to express may become weak, and the individual thus degenerate
into a mere dreamer. In extreme cases this becomes a condition known
as dementia praecox.
Nerves completely developed (and therefore efficient for functioning)
are covered by a sheath of tissue which may be compared to the
insulation cover of an electric wire. At birth, few, if any nerves
involved in voluntary action or thought are completely sheathed.
This process requires many years, some nerves becoming sheathed
earlier, others later. A regular evolutionary order is apparently
followed, those nerves that control the racially older sensations
or movements becoming sheathed and mature before the racially
younger. This is the biological basis of the stages of development,
and of the manifestations of different interests. It is useless,
often injurious, to attempt to train a muscle or an interest before
the nerves are ready. When they are ready, ample exercise must be
permitted; this is the nascent stage of that interest. If exercise is
now neglected, the golden opportunity for its education is passed.
For instance, there is a stage, from about ten months to six years,
when the special senses, as hearing, touch, sight are ripening. This
is the time for training in sense accuracy and discrimination. The
child’s spontaneous interests and activities furnish the best clue we
now have to this development of nascent interests and the time for
their exercise.
In the brain there are apparently special centers which receive the
sensations from any one part of the body and which send back to that
part the motor impulse. Thus there is a center for the arm, the hand,
the fingers, another for the ear, another for the eye. Language has
its special centers. This is the localization of functions in the
brain. At birth these centers are undeveloped. In a right-handed
child the language centers develop in the left hemisphere, and in
the left-handed child in the right hemisphere. Ambidexterity is
frequently found with stuttering and with low-grade mentality, and is
not considered advantageous to foster.
At birth, also, there is little or no development of association
fibers between the centers in the brain, or between related
centers in the brain and in the spinal cord. These centers and
the association fibers develop through attempted use, as the baby
receives stimuli from without and attempts to respond. As a matter of
experience, the child learns to associate the several qualities that
are found together in one object, as the taste, odor, color, “feel”,
shape, of a piece of bread. He also associates with an object his
emotional states at the time, as bread with the comfort of feeding, a
hot iron with the smart of pain, a ball with playful moods, a church
with awe or reverence, a thunderstorm with fear or confidence. These
early associations become ingrained and remain with him throughout
life or with great difficulty are supplanted; they form his
prejudices, his basis of morals and religion, his subconscious self.
The reference of a stimulus from a spinal nerve center to a brain
center, and its transference in the brain to a motor nerve, requires
thought. Thought is necessary for mental development, but it would
be very exhausting if every sensation had thus to be consciously
responded to. Nature is always working out short cuts. When a
response is uniformly through one motor nerve, and a sensation is
therefore uniformly followed by the same action, the stimulus,
instead of journeying to the brain, transfers to the efferent nerve
directly from the center in the spinal cord,—that is, the action
becomes automatic. Not only thought but time and nervous energy are
thereby economized.
The time required between stimulus and response is the reaction time.
In an individual of phlegmatic temperament the reaction time is
slow; in the active temperament it is quick, often impulsive. By a
tonic régime (involving cold baths, laxative diet, vigorous physical
exercise) the too phlegmatic may be developed into more alert
responsiveness. By a quieting, sedative physical régime (increased
sleep, rhythmic exercises, freedom from stress) the too active
temperament may be toned down. Other temperamental changes may be
developed, especially during infancy and early childhood, while the
nervous system is still plastic.
The nervous system needs the stimulus of environment for its
development. If the eyes of a normal baby were bandaged and his ears
stuffed with cotton, so he could receive neither sight nor sound
stimuli, and his arms and legs were kept bound tight so he could
not move, his mental development would be hindered. If too many or
too severe stimuli are presented, the nervous system is irritated,
confused, overworked, and development is retarded. The child himself
will select from a normal environment the stimuli that he needs.
Others should not be forced upon him.
Whatever stimulus is exerting the strongest impression will hold the
child’s attention and direct his emotions and action. If a child is
himself absorbed with some normal object or interest, it is tactless
to attempt to divert this to some imposed academic interest. If
he is in physical discomfort, it is a waste of time to attempt to
give him instruction until the discomfort is removed. On the other
hand, if a discomfort cannot be removed, or if the object of his
attention is morbid or unworthy, the supplying of a more attractive
counter-stimulus (as the telling of an absorbing story or the
observation of activities out of the window, or doing some other work
with his hands) is the natural and constructive method.
=The Psychological Basis of Education.= Self-activity is the natural
method of education. This is Froebel’s term. Rousseau called it
learning to do by doing; Dewey calls it education by development;
Montessori’s term is auto-education. Free play is the child’s
self-activity, when he chooses what he shall play, how, and with what
implements. Montessori calls this work, when it is doing something
useful or intellectually educative.
The chief guide in the child’s self-activity is his interest. In this
connection interest signifies not a passing whim or fancy but the
child’s needs, the inner urgings of his instincts, his nerves, and
muscles. Probably no one can know so well as the individual child
exactly what his needs and interests are at any given time. The best
the teacher can do is to know the typical interests of children at
the same stage of development, and then to supply an environment
that will provide stimulus and the most valuable means for exercise.
For instance, at the noise-loving stage, providing a great range of
instruments, suited to his muscular development, that will give
good qualities and range of sound, and accustom his ear to melodious
sounds.
Liberty, as Montessori means it, is freedom for self-activity. Her
meaning is often misinterpreted and distorted, as will be noted
from the following statement, quoted directly from her “Method”:
“The liberty of the child should have as its limit the collective
interest; as its form, what we universally consider good breeding.
We must, therefore, check in the child whatever offends or annoys
others, or whatever tends toward rough or ill-bred acts. But all the
rest,—every manifestation having a useful scope,—whatever it may
be, and under whatever form it expresses itself, must not only be
permitted, but must be observed by the teacher.... If any educational
act is to be efficacious, it will be only that which tends to help
toward the complete unfolding of this life. To be thus helpful it is
necessary rigorously to avoid the arrest of spontaneous movements and
the imposition of arbitrary tasks. It is, of course, understood that
here we do not speak of useless or dangerous acts, for these must be
suppressed, destroyed.”
The child’s life is a constant unity of physical-mental-spiritual,
of thinking-feeling-willing-living-doing. Only for purposes of
discussion should we attempt to separate these. In education there
is danger of overemphasizing some one, especially the thinking, of
neglecting the spiritual, the feeling and willing, and of ignoring
the doing, the motor expression of the thought.
In teaching anything new, build on what the child already knows or
is interested in or can do. Begin with simple processes and proceed
by gradual steps to the more complex and difficult. The child thinks
in concrete terms, therefore let his instruction and education be
chiefly in concrete terms, at least up to nine years. Let his
learning come through living experience, at first hand, so far as
possible. Especially avoid mere forms of words, without meaning and
appreciation. Cultivate initiative by following the child’s problems,
rather than by substituting your problems for his and thus leading
him to depend upon others for such initiative.
It is a great responsibility of early education to cultivate and
plant many centers of normal interest, both of thought and feelings.
The wider the range of the child’s normal interests and feelings, the
greater the scope of richness in his life. Intensive development of
interests has its period in youth and in later adolescence.
Any effort to force an interest is likely to result in a reaction
against the subject; an effort to force any motor activity, as
speech, walking, dancing, is likely to result in strain of muscles
and nerves, and ultimate retardation. Too early an intellectual
interest, of a bookish sort, needs careful watching, to see that it
does not result in overstrain and later mediocrity. Such a child,
especially of the nervous, slender type, may need to be diverted to
wholly motor and outdoor interests, for the sake of his future good.
Genius develops early, especially artistic genius, and needs much
physical life to maintain a balance. Mental precocity often is not
genius but a morbid development. Infant prodigies are not the ideal,
and it is a false ambition to attempt to produce one. The mental
powers should not atrophy, but they should be exercised in personal
exploration, experimentation, construction, getting acquainted with
the natural world, learning how to do motor work, and thinking
leisurely on the countless problems that present themselves to the
child’s own mind.
=Sensory and Motor Training.= These begin almost at birth and should
proceed much together. The sense of touch should be cultivated
by having a variety of shapes and sizes to handle from infancy;
sound by a variety of musical toys and agreeable noise-producing
implements; color and form by varieties of color in toys and fabrics.
Sense discrimination begins consciously in the second and third
year, and the child should then have graded series of sizes, shapes,
colors, and sounds, to compare, match, discriminate between, and
arrange in order. The child should learn to discriminate direction
of sound, to judge of distances and relative weights. Every possible
advantage should be taken of material about the house and in
everyday life; many simple games should be invented for testing
of sense discrimination and accuracy. Taste and smell deserve but
little attention. With a very sensitive child a limited amount of
sense-discrimination work should be done; with a phlegmatic child
much of such training may increase his sensitiveness. Sensation
should never be stimulated as an end in itself but as a means to
perception and action.
Opportunity for exercise, and the simple exercises given elsewhere,
are all the child needs for motor training during the first year.
During the second year he should be taught how to go up and down
stairs, to feed himself; and in the next year to dress himself, the
fastenings of clothing being in front or on the shoulder, and the
apparatus adapted to his fingers, using snappers or buttons that he
can manage. By teaching rhythm, as elsewhere directed, marching and
skipping can be done as soon as the necessary muscles and nerves are
sufficiently developed. Swimming can be learned at about four years.
Muscles of trunk, limbs, and hands (the fundamental muscles) should
be trained early; the accessory muscles—fingers, eyes—are not ready
for fine adjustments and training until about seven years. Space and
apparatus are the chief needs in motor education, with occasional
help in technique.
=Language.= After the babblings of the first year, with their
natural voice gymnastics, language becomes a matter of observation
and imitation. Provide all through childhood accurate examples of
articulation, grammar, and accent. The first impressions and speech
habits are relatively fixed. “Baby talk” to the child, as incorrect
articulation and pronunciation, may retard normal speech a year or
more, and give incorrect words that will be a cause of embarrassment
and cost great effort to eradicate later. At one year the vocabulary
will include about four words. The child who hears a wide range of
vocabulary and who has his share of stories, will naturally acquire
a vocabulary of several hundred words in the second year and about
a thousand in each succeeding year. Sentence formation begins in
the second year and should be cultivated in the third. Sounds
incorrectly given by four years should receive special attention
through brief imitation games, or have the attention of a specialist.
The simplest rudiments of grammar may be given in youth, but correct
grammatical speech is chiefly a matter of good examples in childhood.
A large store of good adjectives and exclamations will be the
surest preventive of slang. It is considered wiser to wait until
about five years, when the child has mastered the accent, practical
grammar, idioms and feeling for his native tongue, before cultivating
intensive acquaintance with a foreign language. Such additional
language teaching should, of course, be by conversation, songs,
stories, games, following as closely as possible the natural method
of learning the mother tongue. A few conversational phrases from
a number of different languages will broaden the child’s horizon.
They should be given by some one who speaks the language with native
accent.
Reading and writing are further use of language through symbols. They
are slower forms of expression than speech, and their acquisition at
too early an age impedes the freedom of thought and may retard the
natural growth of thought and language powers. The eyes and fingers
are not ready for fine work until about eight years of age. The child
needs the outdoor life and first-hand experiences. As a matter of
general observation, normal children with a natural environment,
who do not enter the traditional school until about nine years, are
able to proceed with children of their own age who have spent three
years in school. The former children pick up reading at home, and
have acquired the physical development, power of initiative, and
expression, which enable them to cope fully as well as, if not better
than the earlier entering children, with the problems of the school
curriculum and of life.
=Attention.= This is chiefly voluntary during the first six years.
The child is capable of intense and long voluntary concentration.
Avoid, so far as practicable, interrupting the baby’s staring or
the child’s absorption in his play. The power of concentration thus
developed will remain to be utilized with any interest. For necessary
situations later, instead of attempting to force involuntary
attention in an uninteresting problem, the more pedagogical way is
to find the phase of interest in the problem; then concentration
will follow automatically. To divert attention, provide some more
absorbing interest. The child whose attention is absorbed should
be spoken to only when his attention is required. From babyhood he
should be trained to look directly at the person who is speaking to
him, to obey the first time spoken to, and to follow a direction or
command promptly without its repetition.
=Observation.= Children naturally observe action and striking or
unusual characteristics. The range of objects and qualities they
observe may be greatly increased by suggestion and by increasing
their range of interests. Definiteness and accuracy of observation
are increased by drawing, painting, modeling, and by any creative
work, whether making a wagon or telling a story, particularly after
six years of age. Alertness of observation is increased by games
requiring quick action for defense, protection, or to win a point,
as in “Drop the Handkerchief.” Observation of a larger number of
details, as well as quickness and accuracy, are increased by asking
for a description of persons or objects, of articles in a store
window or on a table, or the imitation of a complex movement or
series of movements seen only once.
=Memory.= Vividness of impression, variety of associations, and
repetition are the factors in memorizing. The object or incident
therefore must be clearly defined and must have the child’s full
attention. Fewer repetitions will then be required. Obviously
the child’s interest is a chief factor in attention. Energy is
therefore economized by presenting data for memorizing when the
child is interested and consequently ready for it. This applies very
practically to formulæ, such as the alphabet, new words, mathematical
tables. Rhythm and rhyme are easily memorized in childhood, and
valuable facts put in this form will be retained longer. Such verbal
memory is especially strong from two to seven years. This period
should be utilized for teaching great thoughts, in poems and songs,
especially those with emotional value, great songs and stories,
chiefly in terms the child understands. The facts will be forgotten,
but the emotions and ideals will remain with him through life. The
period from nine to twelve is the time for much rote learning.
The greater the number of senses on which an impression is made, the
greater will be the number of associations, and the more tenacious
the memory of an object or incident. Different senses vary in the
degree of retentiveness. Things heard about are forgotten soonest;
things seen are remembered longer; things repeated or actions done
remain longest in memory. A few repetitions on successive days are
more effective than many repetitions on one day. Repeat as wholes, in
units of stanzas or paragraphs, instead of lines or phrases.
=Imagination.= Develop vividness and wide range through exercise.
In stories, put in colors and sounds. Ask questions about a story,
to bring clear pictures of details. Encourage drawing, painting,
and modeling of illustrations, and the dramatizing of stories. This
is better training of imagination than to have stories already
illustrated. Fanciful imagination is poetic, and some types of
children are lacking in this. The child should be trained not only
in visual, but also in auditory and motor imagery. Creation, whether
of a story, song, building, picture, or game, requires and therefore
trains imagination. Emotional imagination can be trained in part
through dramatic play, in part through story-telling with this
purpose. To be able to put one’s self in another’s place is a basis
for sympathy, justice, and altruism. Between three and six years,
when imagery is vivid and exact knowledge of the world is limited,
many marvelous tales are told, with no intention of deception. This
is normal and to be treated as fiction, in dealing with the child.
Care should be taken that it does not develop into intentional
deception for self-protection or vanity.
=Reasoning.= A regular and consistent régime is an early training in
reasoning by association. Irregular or inconsistent régime brings
confusion of thought. At five or six years of age, reason can be
exercised by the allowing of choice, in situations where the child
has some basis for passing judgment. Catering to the child’s choice
in food or clothing, on the other hand, tends to develop whimsicality
and dissatisfaction; asking him what he would like, or if he wouldn’t
like, in any phase of his régime or play, has the same unfortunate
result. If his choice is to be served, ask him directly to choose,
and thereby let him use his own initiative in thought. Experimenting,
taking things apart, are natural exercises in analysis, and therefore
to be given widest possible opportunity. Building and constructing
require synthetic reasoning, and finding the reasons for failures.
Classifying of collections is an exercise in reasoning. The brain
centers of abstract thought and reasoning are not developed until the
adolescent period. Frequent exercises in judging what would be the
best thing to do, or the best way to do, should be made a training in
practical judgment in later childhood and youth.
=Moral.= Precepts and laws can be taught through stories, proverbs,
and authoritative quotations. The child needs some of these, as
a part of worldly wisdom. Much of this should be given during
childhood. Every story and situation should be analyzed to see what
will be its effect on the moral standards of the child. Moral action,
however, further requires the training of the emotions, which are
the springs of action, and the will, which holds emotions within the
dictates of reason. The child’s moral ideals will be gathered more
from the character he sees about him, and the stories told him, than
from precepts. Good examples and daily practice are the chief methods
of teaching morals and developing strong character. Respect for
property and law can be taught by providing the child with property
of his own, and regulating his life by an orderly régime. The care of
his own property and responsibility for its orderliness will augment
this.
Social virtues should be inculcated from infancy. The baby’s cry for
attention is a deep-seated individualism. If encouraged, it makes
later altruism more difficult. Self-reliance and self-dependence,
for physical care and for amusement, should be systematically
developed, instead of constant care, waiting upon, and amusement
from others. Thoughtfulness for others can begin when the baby
bites and slaps, though in play, by showing him how it feels; in the
little child, by encouraging him to make little gifts or surprises
as daily events. Courtesy, kindly criticism, loyalty to friends,
freedom from gossip, he will learn by imitation of those about him.
For training in generosity, he needs two or three other children
about his own age, from the time he is three years old. Quarreling,
which is an effort toward social adjustment, is to be expected
throughout childhood, and many quarrels should be ignored, left to
the children’s sense of fairness and generosity to adjust. Tattling,
bullying, and resentful criticism should be shown in their own ugly
light and thus discouraged. Group games, which the children naturally
begin to play at six years, are a good schooling in the practice
of justice, fairness, and social coöperation. Civic responsibility
should be cultivated from early childhood by the practice of things
that the children can do, such as keeping the sidewalks clear of
litter instead of scattering that about. Patriotism should be taught
chiefly as a responsibility, rather than a form of excitement or
vanity. International sympathy can be cultivated through sympathetic
acquaintance with children of other countries, through pictures and
stories, dramatizing of their ways, through personal acquaintance,
either directly or by correspondence. The roots of international
peace, or of strife and militarism, are planted in the nursery.
[Illustration: Learning Self-Reliance and Regularity.
At the School of Mothercraft Summer Camp.]
Emotions need training in expression, control, depth, and
genuineness. Submission and easy contentment are not a virtue in
childhood but a weakness. In a strong character, emotions are strong,
and their expression strong, but needing guidance and poise. Any
emotion,—for instance, love of country, of friends or parents,—should
not be permitted to stop merely with the pleasurable sensation of
excitement and emotional glow, but the child’s attention should
be called directly and also by stories to the necessity for putting
a generous emotion into active expression, by doing some helpful
deed, or by carrying responsibility. This is the completion of the
reflex arc. Tantrums and temper should be prevented whenever possible
by forewarning the child, for instance, that play must end when the
next block house has been finished. The new adjustment of emotions
and expectations is slower in the child than in the adult, and
needs forewarning. Some children develop an unpleasant forwardness
or gushing, the former an overdeveloped individualism, the latter
a childish sensualism, both superficial. Meeting these with
indifference and inattention will usually reduce them automatically.
The child of very intense or poorly controlled emotions needs
careful attention in a regular, outdoor physical régime, the daily
nap, rhythmic exercises and games which train in relaxation, and
constant examples of even-tempered, well-poised character. The fear
that commonly develops in the third or fourth year may be somewhat
forestalled by teaching confidence through walking in the dark,
acquaintance with living creatures, trust in a kindly Providence.
Many stories of bravery should be told in the fearsome period, and
poetry or verses taught that inspire courage and confidence. Fearsome
stories are a crime against childhood, although later childhood and
youth may thrive upon them. Control of emotions is gained in part
through determination of will, in part through change of attention;
the latter is the more natural and pedagogical method. Sense of humor
should be cultivated for its moral value in relieving tension and
carrying the individual through emotional stress, as well as for
giving a clearer view of comparative values.
Will-training includes exercise of free choice in matters not of mere
taste or whim but of reasoning and moral choice; and of continued
effort against the call of inclination. Stubbornness is a refusal
to yield, notwithstanding the evident reasonableness or the greater
moral value, and is evidence of a weak will. It is now recognized
as immoral to attempt to “break a child’s will”, compelling him
to yield without attempting to show him the reasonableness. The
burden of reasoning and moral choices in daily life should be placed
upon the child as rapidly as he is able to exercise this wisely
and with firmness, and he should be praised for his good will and
shown the weakness of failure. Confidence expressed in his good
will, especially when he is on his own honor, will strengthen this
ability. Training in control of appetite for food, by regularity of
meals, no eating between meals (especially of sweetmeats when on
pleasure trips), the waiting at meals for the saying of grace and the
serving of others, all strengthen the will for greater demands upon
it in later years. Development of concentration in play and games
is a training of will-power. Special exercises in motor balance and
equilibrium, in endurance, in self-denial, can be devised as further
will-training.
=Eugenics and Sex Education.= This is an education in social ideals
and relations. Consideration for the child’s own future children
is an instinctive ideal that can be naturally fostered in early
childhood, and thereafter accepted as matter of course. Modesty,
self-respect, respect for his or her own person, needs to be
cultivated from infancy, in all the details of physical care and
régime. As childhood develops into youth, the expression of affection
needs to be increasingly circuited into thoughtful deeds of service,
and away from mere direct sense pleasure and expression. Social
relations between boys and girls at all ages should be treated
sensibly, without silliness, emphasis of class distinctions, or
morbidness. In both boys and girls should be cultivated a spirit of
reserve, of chivalry and helpfulness. With youth, this may naturally
be based on the ideal (which needs the merest suggestion) of worthy
preparation for the future home, and the treating of other boys and
girls as the child would have his or her future mate meantime treated
by others. The significance of real monogamic marriage should be made
clear, in its greater confidence and happiness between parents, and
especially in the better care and training of the children. The child
needs to be provided with inhibiting and controlling ideals before
the stress of adolescence.
The child’s natural biological questions, which begin about
three years, should be answered naturally, both poetically and
scientifically. Through the study of plants, gardening, the care of
birds and pets, enough of the principles of heredity, anatomy, and
physiology should be given the child before seven years to satisfy
his curiosity, to give him a scientific attitude toward reproduction
before the development of sex-consciousness, and to enable him to
classify the development of a new generation among the natural
processes of nature, instead of overemphasizing and distorting its
perspective. Emphasis should be placed upon the care of the young
and forethought for their protection, rather than upon organs and
processes. Scientific knowledge of biology gives necessary clearness
of thought, but only training of emotions and will are effective for
assuring conduct.
=Economics.= Thrift is taught by the toy bank, by the orderly care
and repair of toys and clothing, the orderly saving of possibly
useful odds and ends; in early childhood by a weekly allowance,
even of a few pennies, with freedom in use, and with occasional
discussions of what might be obtained with a stated sum. Promptness,
accuracy, and thoroughness in obeying or in performing the tasks
assigned in childhood, are preparation for industrial efficiency. In
early childhood action is necessarily slower and movement awkward
because of incomplete motor development. In later childhood a vision
of engineering efficiency, a habit of working for reduction of time
and energy cost, can be developed through competitions, direct
reduction games or problems, discussions of the value of time and
energy and of simple, fundamental ways for economizing. Through
tracing the source of his own food and clothing, as well as through
his own manual efforts, can be fostered respect for all labor and the
ambition to work efficiently. Respect and appreciation for workers,
especially those who serve his needs in the household, are developed
chiefly through example of his elders.
=Obedience.= Commands and prohibitions should be the fewest
necessary and chosen carefully. Given as a request or suggestion
rather than a direct command, the form carries a sense of courtesy
that develops sympathy, self-respect and more ready, whole-hearted
compliance. Commands, when necessity requires, then have greater
force. Any request or command should be given distinctly, definitely,
kindly, firmly, with the requirement of the full attention of the
child and complete, prompt obedience. Repetition of a command
fosters inattention and disrespect for authority. Indifference to
disobedience, yielding to teasing, permitting petty arguing, all
foster evasion, falsehood, carelessness, disrespect for authority.
Unnecessary, unreasonable, or inconsiderate commands develop
contrariness, stubbornness, contempt, and weaken the child’s
sympathy and comradeship. Inconsistency in commands, discipline,
or punishment, or dogmatic stubbornness that will not consider the
possibility of a change in the command or allow any discussion,
brings contempt. Use positive, affirmative suggestions, telling the
child what to do. Studiously avoid negative discipline, prohibitions,
don’ts.
=Discipline.= The purpose of discipline should not be revenge or a
cultivation of humiliation, or breaking the will of the child. It
should be devised to lead the child to prefer the right; to think
before he acts instead of acting merely upon impulse; to exercise his
will-power and courage in obeying his conscience instead of following
the line of least resistance by yielding to his whim, his appetites,
or even to his instincts out of due season. Therefore a rational,
consistent discipline must be well thought out for different
typical situations before these arise, that it may be administered
wisely, not impetuously or in anger. It must be just, firm, kindly,
foresighted. As nearly as circumstances will permit, the child
should learn through his personal experience and observation
the consequences of action; and punishment should be, as far as
practicable, a natural consequence of the act. Artificial rewards,
especially in the form of material things as money, toys, candy, are
demoralizing, developing a spirit of graft and discontent, dulling
the moral and spiritual sense, and having the effects common to any
artificial stimulants. Nagging, scolding, threats of punishment
without its execution, cultivate a disrespect for all law and
authority, as well as for the person thus weakly failing to exercise
poise and authority. There is also a type of sentiment that easily
becomes sentimentality, which is no less repugnant to the child.
Cultivate the child’s self-respect, self-confidence and ambition.
Avoid calling him bad or naughty.
Discipline should be adapted to the child’s temperament, to his
stage of development, and to the particular offense. A sensitive,
high-strung, imaginative child must be dealt with gently though
firmly, with special care that his self-respect, his confiding, his
expressiveness are not weakened. A sturdy, matter-of-fact, phlegmatic
realist usually needs more concrete, vigorous, physical form of
punishment to make him perceive the significance of events. The
stubborn child may be benefited most by being given opportunity to
prescribe his own punishment.
=Some Natural Consequences as Punishments.= Quarreling,
disagreeableness, selfishness: being removed from play with other
children. Temper: put quietly to bed, or left alone, or placed in
bed with a cold cloth on the head; with some children, spanking,
calmly administered. Biting, slapping or other personal injury: doing
same to the offender, to demonstrate how it hurts. Impudence, vulgar
words: mouth washed with soap and clean cloth. Lack of promptness:
loss of consequent pleasure. Neglect in care of toys: temporary
deprivation of toys. Careless work: repetition until satisfactory.
Wanton injury of property: work, or giving of some valued personal
property to pay for loss. Disobedience: putting to bed; deprivation
of consequent pleasure.
Reprehensible and unnatural forms of punishment include putting child
into dark closet; striking on head or hands; punishing in presence
of others; social humiliation or other needless mental suffering;
depriving of a meal (although bread and water may be substituted).
Punishing without definite cause, or if the justice is not clear to
the child, is immoral. Punishment should never be administered in
anger but calmly, firmly, with a spirit of regret but inevitableness.
To be effective, punishment should follow promptly on the misdeed.
Bedtime should not be a time for scolding or discussion of faults
but of happiness and inculcating of ideals. To maintain due respect
and sympathy for father, as well as for the mother’s own self and
authority, there should be no threats of telling father of misdeeds,
or leaving punishment for him to administer.
The problem of discipline is reduced to a minimum when children
have a regular, healthful physical régime and diet, freedom
from unnatural excitement, abundant play space and material,
consistent moral training from infancy. Many little pranks and minor
misdemeanors should be overlooked. When, however, the child has
committed a serious wrong, or when one form of misdemeanor (as lack
of promptness) is becoming frequent, or when the child has evidently
done something which he knows to be wrong, discipline should be
prompt and definite.
=Habits.= Habits are formed by repetition of the same action, in
the same way. The first time the response is made it makes a deep
impression on the nervous system, and change from the first doing
is most difficult. Every exception allowed or permitted causes a
hesitation or doubt that delays complete formation of the habit.
To prevent the formation of a habit, prevent the first doing. The
first time not only establishes a path in the nervous system; it
establishes a mental attitude of familiarity and ease with the
action and its environment. To break a habit, break it off abruptly
and completely. Every time the action is done, it is harder not to
repeat it; if it is a moral problem the moral fiber is weakened by
each yielding against conscience. A complete change of environment,
calling for a new adjustment of action, is the greatest help in
breaking an old habit. Some constructive outlet for the energy should
be provided. The child’s sense of humor or disgust are moral avenues
of appeal in the formation of habits.
Habits of mental activity, of method of work, of attitude toward life
and people, of moral action, as well as of motor action, are being
formed from birth. Life is conserved by training in good habits from
the start.
=Religious.= No phase of education is more important. Religion
is a matter primarily of emotions and conduct, rather than of
philosophical thought. Little children are religious, but their
religion is naturally very different from that of the adult; they
have much religious feeling and thought, but little respect for
ecclesiasticism, creeds, rites, which mean nothing to them. The
child’s ideas of God are concrete, personal, related to himself, as
is all his thinking. He naturally thinks of every object as being
like himself, having power to think, feel, and do; therefore he is
easily a nature-worshipper. Training of the religious feelings can
begin in infancy, in the development of sympathy between parents
and child, in confidence and trust in his parents (who represent
Providence to him), in gratitude for their care, in obedience and
respect for their authority, and in wonder and awe for natural
phenomena. The child from four to nine years of age responds readily
to examples and suggestion of reverence.
Training in the performance of religious rites, such as the saying
of grace before meals, prayers, attendance at religious services,
participating in religious worship, are motor habits readily acquired
at about the same age, which then remain as lifelong tendencies.
If neglected in this period, they are less likely to be formed
later. Even the motor attitudes of worship bring some feeling of
reverence and worship. Religious worship, however, is not to be
forced. To compel a child to say a prayer or participate in any form
of religious worship against his inclination will foster a revolt
against all religion. When religious worship is a natural and sincere
part of the family life, the child will naturally ask for a prayer to
say, or for the privilege of attending a service, when this interest
is ready for exercise. To allow a child to rattle off a prayer, or
say it inattentively, flippantly, or to show off, or to permit him to
treat any sacred place, objects, or rites flippantly, is to foster
irreverence and weaken the religious sense. Service to God, to an
ideal, to people, as an integral part of religion, is an association
that is not instinctive, but one that the child needs to be taught
by example, precept, and training.
The child’s natural questions about the cause of natural phenomena,
the purposes and meaning of life, the possibility and nature of death
and immortality, the nature of God, provide opportunity in due season
for the parent to answer these according to his own conscience. The
child demands definite, positive answers, and has absolute confidence
in the omniscience of the person who answers his questions. How to
answer these so as to give the child a constructive basis for thought
and action, and yet not to be so dogmatic that he will revolt when
the questioning years of adolescence arrive, is a problem requiring
tact and careful preparation.
Stories from Bible history, acquaintance with the geography, customs,
individuals of the Bible, are of religious value because they develop
centers of interest and a personal acquaintance with the Bible, the
textbook of western religion, thus making it a living book which he
will naturally read for its moral and religious content. Many Bible
verses and hymns should be taught during childhood and youth. These
should be very carefully selected to have some interest and content
of meaning for the child at his given stage of development, although
the depths of their meaning he can only appreciate after more life
experience. There may be real danger of giving too early such
significant quotations as The Lord’s Prayer, the Ten Commandments,
the Beatitudes, so that the words are memorized but the child never
receives the impress of their full significance. Somewhere between
six and twelve years they are probably most appreciated. Doctor
Hall considers that to teach the child that there is a power which
makes for righteousness at the helm of the universe, and that
therefore right and wrong eventually have their own deserts, is
one of the most valuable factors in moral training. Certainly the
stimulus of religious inspiration, the inhibiting power of religious
commandments, motives, and ideals, the fortifying of will-power by
religious discipline and sources of strength, are foundations for
strong, efficient, well-poised living.
Education, like Christianity, is a spiritual process with physical
forms of expression. Just as church rites, ceremonies, and equipment
are meaningless and wooden without the inner life, so are educational
“systems”, rules, and apparatus, without the spiritual vision and
understanding of education. There is no virtue, for instance, in
Froebel’s gifts or Montessori’s didactic material, or any other
mechanical devices, merely as apparatus. The mechanical bringing
together of the child and the apparatus, without skill or knowledge
in their interpretation, is not educational; and such irrational
though well-intentioned effort is unfair both to the child and to the
inventor. No less unfair and superficial is the seizing upon some one
principle and emphasizing it out of proportion to other principles;
or misinterpreting, through lack of careful study, the significance
of some principle, or the author’s intent, as is so often done, for
example, with Froebel’s statement of play, Dewey’s statement of
interest, or Montessori’s statement of liberty.
The preparation of the child’s educators must begin many years before
his birth, that they may be ready to meet this responsibility as soon
as it comes. An adequate preparation should include: (1) careful
study of the principles and purposes of education, that these may be
discerned clearly and applied with consistency and discretion; (2)
long schooling in habits which will fit them to be worthy examples
in character, in social and mental traits, in tastes and languages;
(3) some experience with little children in daily life, in order to
learn to interpret and sympathize with child nature, to acquire some
facility in their education and discipline, and to collect some fund
of nursery lore.
FOOTNOTES:
[25] See Preface, page xiii.
[26] Literally “to put into” from the Latin _in_ and _struo_.
[27] Literally “to lead out of” from the Latin _e_ and _duco_.