The Child under Eight Part 18

The development of industries.

The growth of spinning and weaving from the simplest processes, bringing in the distaff, spinning-wheel, and loom.

The making of garments from the joining together of furs.

The growth of pottery and the development of cooking.

The growth of roads and means of transit.

[This will involve a good deal of experimental and constructive handwork.]

CHAPTER XXVI

EXPERIENCES RECORDED AND Pa.s.sED ON

Reading and writing are held to have lifted man above the brute; they are the means by which we can discover and record human experience and progress, and as such their value is incalculable. But in themselves they are artificial conventions, symbols invented for the convenience of mankind, and to acquire them we need exercise no great mental power. A good eye and ear memory, and a certain superficial quickness to recognise and apply previous knowledge, is all that is needed for reading and spelling; while for writing, the development of a specialised muscular skill is all that is necessary. In themselves they do not as a rule hold any great interest for a child: sometimes they have the same puzzle interest as a long addition sum, and to children of a certain type, mechanical work such as writing gives relief; one of the most docile and uninteresting of little boys said that writing was his favourite subject, and it was easy to understand: he did not want to be stirred out of his commonplaceness; unconsciously he had a.s.similated the atmosphere and adopted the standards of his surroundings, which were monotonous and commonplace in the extreme, and so he desired no more adventurous method of expression than the process of writing, which he could do well. Imitation is often a strong incentive to reading, it is part of the craving for grown-upness to many children; they desire to do what their brothers and sisters can do. But _during the first stage of childhood, roughly up to the age of six or even later, no child needs to learn to read or write, taking "need" in the psychological sense:_ that period is concerned with laying the foundation of real things and with learning surroundings;--any records of experience that come to a child can come as they did to his earliest forefathers--by word of mouth. When he wants to read stories for himself, or write his own letters, then he is impelled by a sufficiently strong aim or incentive to make concentration possible, without resorting to any of the fantastic devices and apparatus so dear to so many teachers. Indeed it is safe to say of many of these devices that they prove the fact that children are not ready for reading.

When a child is ready to read and write the process need not be a long one: by wise delay many tedious hours are saved, tedious to both teacher and children; they have already learnt to talk in those precious hours, to discriminate sounds as part of language training, but without any resort to symbols--merely as something natural. It has been amply proved that if a child is not prematurely forced into reading he can do as much in one year as he would have done in three, under more strained conditions.

With regard to methods a great deal has been written on the subject; it is pretty safe to leave a teacher to choose her own--for much of the elaboration is unnecessary if reading is rightly delayed, and if a child can read reasonably well at seven and a half there can be no grounds for complaint. If his phonetic training has been good in the earlier stages of language, then this may be combined with the "look and say" method, or method of reading by whole words. The "cat on the mat" type of book is disappearing, and its place is being taken by books where the subject matter is interesting and suitable to the child's age; but as in other subjects the book chosen should be considered in reference to the child's surroundings, either to amplify or to extend.

Writing is, in the first instance, a part of reading: when words are being learnt they must be written, or in the earliest stages printed, but only those interesting to the children and written for some definite purpose should be selected: a great aid to spelling is transcription, and children are always willing to copy something they like, such as a verse of poetry, or their name and address. As in arithmetic and in handwork, they will come to recognise the need for practice, and be willing to undergo such exercise for the sake of improvement, as well as for the pleasure in the activity--which actual writing gives to some children.

We must be quite clear about relative values. Reading and writing are necessities, and the means of opening up to us things of great value; but the art of acquiring them is of little intrinsic value, and the recognition of the need is not an early one; nothing is gained by beginning too early, and much valuable time is taken from other activities, notably language. The incentive should be the need that the child feels, and when this is evident time and pains should be given to the subject so that it maybe quickly acquired. But the art of reading is no test of intelligence, and the art of writing is no test of original skill. _The claims of the upper departments must be resisted._

CHAPTER XXVII

THE THINGS THAT REALLY MATTER

The _first_ thing that matters is what is commonly called the personality of the teacher; she must be a person, unmistakable from other persons, and not a type; what she has as an individual, of gifts or goodness, she should give freely, and give in her own way; that she should be trained is, of course, as indisputable as the training of a doctor, but her training should have deepened her personality.

Pestalozzi's curriculum and organisation left much to be desired; what he has handed down to us came from himself and his own experience, not from anything superimposed: records of his pupils constantly emphasise this: it was his goodness a.s.similated with his outlook on life and readiness to learn by experience, that mattered, and it was this that remained with his pupils. The teacher's own personality must dominate her choice of principles else she is a dead method, a machine, and not a living teacher. She must not keep her interests and gifts for out-of-school use; if she has a sense of humour she must use it, if she is fond of pretty clothes she must wear them in school, if she appreciates music she must help her cla.s.s to do the same, if she has dramatic gifts she must act to them. Her standard of goodness must be high, and she must be strong enough to adopt it practically, so that she is unconscious of it: goodness and righteousness are as essential as health to a teacher: for something intangible pa.s.ses from the teacher to her children, however young and unconscious they may be, and nothing can awaken goodness but goodness.

Part of her personality is her att.i.tude towards religion. It is difficult to think of a teacher of young children who is not religious, _i.e._ whose conduct is not definitely permeated by her spiritual life: young children are essentially religious, and the life of the spirit must find a response in the same kind of intangible a.s.sumption of its existence as goodness. No form of creed or dogma is meant, only the life of the spirit common to all. But of course there may be people who refuse to admit this as a necessity.

The _next_ thing that matters is that all children must be regarded as individuals: there has been much more talk of this lately, but practical difficulties are often raised as a bar. If teachers and parents continue to accept the conditions which make it difficult, such as large cla.s.ses, and a need to hasten, there will always be a bar: if individuality is held as one of the greatest things in education, authorities cannot continue to economise so as to make it impossible. It is the individual part of each child that is his most precious possession, his immortal side: Froebel calls it his "divine essence," and makes the cultivation of it the aim of education; he is right, and any more general aim will lead only to half-developed human beings. If we accept the principle that only goodness is fundamental and evil a distortion of nature, we need have no fear about cultivating individuals. Every doctor a.s.sures us that all normal babies are naturally healthy; they are also naturally good, but evil is easily aroused by arbitrary interference or by mismanagement.

The _third_ thing that matters belongs more especially to the intellectual life; it might be described as the making of right a.s.sociations. More than any other side of training, the making of a.s.sociations means the making of the intelligent person. To see life in patches is to see pieces of a great picture by the square inch, and never to see the relationship of these to each other--never to see the whole.

The _fourth_ thing that matters is the making of good and serviceable habits: much has been said on this, in connection with the nursery cla.s.s, and it is at that stage that the process is most important, but it should never cease. If a child is to have time and opportunity to develop his individuality he must not be hampered by having to be conscious of things that belong to the subconscious region. To start a child with a foundation of good habits is better than riches.

The _fifth_ thing that matters is the realisation by teachers that _opportunities_ matter more than results; opportunities to discover, to learn, to comprehend all sides of life, to be an individual, to appreciate beauty, to go at one's own rate; some are material in their nature, such as the actual surroundings of the child in school; others are rather in the atmosphere, such as refraining from interference, encouragement, suggestion, spirituality. The teacher has the making of opportunities largely in her own hands.

The _sixth_ thing, that matters is the cultivation of the divine gift of imagination; both morality and spirituality spring from this; meanness, cowardice, lack of sympathy, sensuality, materialism, quickly grow where there is no imagination. It refines and intensifies personality, it opens a door to things beyond the senses. It makes possible appreciation of the things of the spirit, and appreciation is a thousand times more important than knowledge.

The _last_ thing that matters is the need for freedom from bondage, of the body and of the soul. Only from a free atmosphere can come the best things--personality, imagination and opportunity; and all are great needs, but the greatest of all is freedom.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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FINDLAY. School and Life. (G. Philip & Son.) SULLY. Children's Ways. (Longmans.) CALDWELL COOK. The Play Way. (Heinemann.) E.R. MURRAY. Froebel as a Pioneer in Modern Psychology. (G. Philip & Son.) Edited by H. BROWN SMITH. Education by Life. (G. Philip & Son.) MARGARET DRUMMOND. The Dawn of Mind. (Arnold.) BOYD. From Locke to Montessori. (Harrap.) KILPATRICK. Montessori Examined. (Constable.) WIGGIN. Children's Rights. (Gay & Hanc.o.c.k.) BIRCHENOUGH. History of Elementary Education. (Univ. Tutorial Press.) MACMILLAN. The Camp School. (Allen & Unwin.) HARDY. The Diary of a Free Kindergarten. (Gay & Hanc.o.c.k.) SCOTT. Social Education. (Ginn.) TYLOR. Anthropology. (Macmillan.) KINGSTON QUIGGIN. Primeval Man. (Macdonald & Evans.) SOLOMON. An Infant School. (The Froebel Society.) FELIX KLEIN. Mon Filleul au Jardin d'Enfants. I. Comment il s'eleve.

II. Comment il s'instruit. (Armand Colin, Paris.) E. NESBIT. Wings and the Child. (Hodder and Stoughton.) WELLS. Floor Games. (Palmer.) RUSKIN. The Two Paths.

DOPP. The Place of Industries in Industrial Education. (Univ. of Chicago Press.) PRITCHARD AND ASHFORD. An English Primary School. (Harrap.) HALL. Days before History. (Harrap.) HALL. The Threshold of History. (Harrap.) SPALDING. Piers Plowman Histories. Junior. Bk. II. (G. Philip & Son.) SHEDLOCK. The Art of Story-telling.

BRYANT. How to Tell Stories. (Harrap.) KLEIN. De ce qu'il faut raconter aux pet.i.ts. (Blond et Gay.) The Eurhythmics of Jaques-Dalcroze. (Constable.) FINDLAY. Eurhythmics. (Dalcroze Society.) WHITE. A Course in Music. (Camb. Univ. Press.) STANLEY HALL. How to Teach Reading. (Heath.) BENCHARA BRANFORD. A Study of Mathematical Education.

Fielden Demonstration School Record II. (Manchester Univ. Press.) PUNNETT. The Groundwork of Arithmetic. (Longmans.) ASHFORD. Sense Plays and Number Plays. (Longmans.)

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