and the other three,

and 'occupations.'

Superficial faults,

making possible original constructions, such as armchairs, benches, thrones, doorways, monuments, or steps. The three following 'gifts' divide the cube in various ways so as to produce solid bodies of different types and sizes, and excite an interest in number, relation, and form. From them the children are encouraged to construct geometrical figures and 'forms of beauty' or artistic designs. Beside the six regular 'gifts,' he also added 'tablets,' 'sticks,' and 'rings,' sometimes known as 'gifts seven to nine.' This material introduces surfaces, lines, and points in contrast with the preceding solids, and brings out the relations of area, outline, and circumference to volume. The 'occupations' comprise a long list of constructions with paper, sand, clay, wood, and other materials. Corresponding with the 'gifts' that deal with solids, may be grouped 'occupations' in clay modeling, cardboard cutting, paper folding, and wood carving; and with those of surfaces may be associated mat and paper weaving, stick shaping, sewing, bead threading, paper pricking, and drawing.

The Value and Influence of Froebel's Principles.For one pursuing destructive criticism only, it would not be difficult to find flaws in both the theory and practice of Froebel. In the Mother Play the pictures are rough and poorly drawn, the music is crude, and the verses are lacking in rhythm, poetic spirit, and diction (Fig. 43). But the illustrations and songs served well the interests and needs of those for whom they were produced, and Froebel himself was not insistent that they should be used after more satisfactory compositions were found. Other criticism of his material has been made on the ground that it was especially adapted to German ideals, German

Fig. 43.-Der Zimmermann (The Carpenter). (Reproduced by permission of D. Appleton and Company from the Eliot and Blow edition of Froebel's Mother Play.)

local ideals,

discipline.

children, and the relatively simple village life of Froebel's experience, and that it needs considerable modification bondage to to suit other countries and the industrial organization of society to-day. Also the argument of 'formal disci- and formal pline' for care and accuracy in the use of the gifts, and the insistence upon the employment of every part of each gift upon all occasions in the exact order mentioned by Froebel, have been shown to violate the principles of modern psychology. His more liberal disciples, however, realize that it is the spirit of his underlying principles, and not the letter of his practice, that should be followed, and have constantly struggled to keep the kindergarten matter and methods in harmony with the times and the environment.

weakness in

mysticism.

A more serious hindrance to the acceptance of Froebelianism has arisen from his peculiar mysticism and Greatest symbolism. Since all things live and have their being symbolism and in and through God and the divine principle in each is the essence of its life, everything is liable to be considered by Froebel as symbolic in its very nature, and he often resorts to fantastic and strained interpretations. Thus with Froebel the cube becomes the symbol of diversity in unity, the faces and edges of crystals all have mystic meanings, and the numbers three and five reveal an inner significance. At times this symbolism descends Fantastic and into a literal and verbal pun, where it seems to a modern trines. that Froebel can hardly be in earnest. Further, he holds that general conceptions are implicit in the child, and each of these can be awakened by 'adumbration,' that is, by presenting something that will symbolically represent that particular 'innate idea.' Thus, in treating the gifts and games, he maintains that from a ball the

vague doc

Notion that

nature may illumine mental and social laws.

Most essential to conservatives.

Effect upon pupils.

Borrowed from others,

pupils gather an abstract notion of 'unity.' Moreover, because God is the self-conscious spirit that originated both man and nature, and everything is interconnected, he believes that each part of the universe may throw light on every other part, and constantly holds that a knowledge of external nature,—such as the formation of crystals, will enable one to comprehend the laws of the mind and of society.

Unfortunately, this mystic symbolism, vague and extreme as it is, is regarded by the strict constructionists among the kindergartners as the most essential feature in Froebelianism, and they expect the innocents in their charge to reveal the symbolic effect of the material upon their minds. There is no real evidence for supposing that such associations between common objects and abstract conceptions exist for children. But such an imaginary symbolic meaning may be forced upon an object by the teacher, and pupils in conservative kindergartens soon learn to adopt certain phrases and attitudes that imply such mystic meaning. This often tends to foster insincerity and sentimentalism rather than to inculcate abstract truth through symbols. Had Froebel possessed the enlarged knowledge of biology, physiology, and psychology that is available for one living in the twentieth century, it is unlikely that he would have insisted upon the symbolic foundations for his pedagogy. His excellent practice is heavily handicapped by these interpretations, and might as easily have been inferred from very different positions in modern psychology.

But Froebel has had a most happy effect upon education as a whole. In some respects he utilized features from other reformers. We can see that he adopted many