care of pigeons, chickens, ducks, etc.; the preparation of artistic and geometrical forms with paper in folding, cutting and mounting, pricking, weaving, interlacing, etc.; the use of pasteboard in the making of stars, wheels, boxes, napkin rings, card baskets, lamp shades, etc.; play with splints, tablets, sticks and peas; the whittling of boats, windmills, waterwheels, etc.; the making of chains and baskets from flexible wire; modeling with clay; drawing and painting; and many other things. (1: 38.) This plan included practically everything (except forging and machine work) that has been organized in the manualtraining work of recent years, for which it was one of the most influential models. The development of manual training will be traced later in the chapter. The foregoing discussion of Froebel's ideas concerning education through motor expression has included such a wealth of quotations, with some repetition, in order to enable the student to appreciate how important Froebel considered this principle to be, how thoroughly recent educational theory has adopted his phrases, and how definitely he suggested subsequent practice. We shall now take up his third important principle. Education through social participation. Froebel's first principle, namely, symbolism, was an expression of his own mystical temperament. His emphasis on motor expression, the second principle, was but a reiteration of one of the fundamental points of Rousseau's "Émile." Froebel's third principle, namely, education through social participation, was, on the other hand, the exact opposite of Rousseau's theory of nonsocial education. Although this principle is very fundamental with Froebel, it is not repeated as often in his writings as are the other two that we discussed. Some of the quotations made above in connection with motor expression emphasized also the development of the child through his participation in the activities of his father and in other social situations. Further expressions of Froebel's idea are contained in the quotations which follow. Coöperation a fundamental social necessity. — In 1845, when he was advocating the organization of a general union to provide better educational facilities in Germany, Froebel wrote: The purpose of the Union is to accustom men to coöperate with each other in a conscious and mutually profitable manner. Such a custom is best started in infancy, of course, but, if neglected at the proper time, it may still be produced at any subsequent time. Man should develop in harmony, peace, and joy within himself and with those around him, in accordance with human nature and destiny; and this should continue through all stages of development, and in all the various circumstances of life, in the family and school, in domestic and public life. (23: 43.) Froebel described coöperative group play of boys. — Froebel found this element of coöperation to be a prominent natural characteristic of the plays of boys at a certain age and discussed these at length in his "The Education of Man." Describing their play with building blocks, etc., in which individual children had constructed a castle, a chapel, and a village, he said: Now each one has finished his work; each one examines it and that of the others. In each one rises the thought and the wish to unite all in a connected whole; and scarcely has this wish been recognized as a common one, when they establish common roads from the village to the ruin, from this to the castle, etc. (1: 100.) Emphasized social training secured in coöperative play. – Further description of the same sort is followed by an evaluation of the educative elements contained in these natural group activities, as follows: It is by no means . . only the physical power that is fed and strengthened in these games; intellectual and moral power, too, is definitely and steadily gained and brought under control. . . Justice, moderation, self-control, truthfulness, loyalty, brotherly love, and again, strict impartiality—who, when he approaches a group of boys engaged in such games, could fail to catch the fragrance of these delicious blossomings of the heart and mind, and of a firm will? . . . Thus, the games directly influence and educate the boy for life, awaken and cultivate many civil and moral virtues. (1: 113.) These statements indicate Froebel's theory of training through social participation. To summarize, he maintained (1) that coöperation is a fundamental social necessity and virtue; (2) that it should be cultivated even from infancy; (3) that the instinctive equipment of the child includes a natural tendency to coöperation; (4) that this is manifested in coöperative games, which are a fundamental factor in the child's social development. We shall now take up a discussion of the kindergarten as organized by Froebel to embody these fundamental principles of symbolism, motor expression, and social participation in the training of little children. The kindergarten. Practical necessity for organized training of little children. - In the discussion of Froebel's career it was stated that he organized his first "school for little children" in 1837, thirty-two years after he had begun his work as a Pestalozzian teacher. The practical necessity for organized training of children less than six years of age, under the direction of women, was emphasized by Froebel in these words: Womanly love as well as manly strength are necessary for the child's perfect development. Women of the middle class do little for the allsided and highest life of their children; and women of the lower classes do a great deal less. What we want is a band of earnest, noble-minded women who will form a national association for the benefit of infancy. Their object should be to surround children with conditions favorable for perfect education. . . . Whatever has to be done for the human being should be done in his earliest years, and that persistently. Intermittent and casual training is of little service. (9: 160.) Froebel's system of infant training more significant than other systems. Froebel was not the originator of the organized care of children below the ordinary school age. Infant schools had been generally established in England and Scotland during the first third of the nineteenth century, and the Home and Colonial Infant School Society, which we noted in connection with the Pestalozzian movement, was organized in 1836. This society introduced certain Pestalozzian modifications in the technique of training little children, which, in England, was generally patterned after the methods of Samuel Wilderspin, who began his work with infant schools about 1820. For our purposes, however, Froebel's work is more important than these other enterprises for two reasons: first, the theoretical educational foundation is more significant and far-reaching; and second, it has been the basis of the dominant practice in the education of little children in the United States in recent years. Organized children's games as an educational form of motor expression. As noted above, the kindergartens in the early years were sometimes known as "play schools," a name which suggests their chief characteristics. The moral value which Froebel found in boys' games has also been described. In connection with the kindergarten age he said: Play is the first means of development of the human mind, its first effort to make acquaintance with the outward world, to collect original experiences from things and facts, and to exercise the powers of body and mind. The child indeed recognizes no purpose in it, and knows nothing, in the beginning, of any end which is to be reached when it imitates the play it sees around it, but it expresses its own nature, and that is human nature in its playful activity. (6: 67.) Kindergarten systematizes mother play. In 1843 Froebel published a small book containing fifty little games or songs, each accompanied by an appropriate picture and explanatory notes. The book bore the title "Mutter-Spiel und Koselieder" and is usually known in English by this title or by the abbreviated translation, "Mother Play." The theory of the book was thus expressed by Froebel : What the natural mother does incidentally, intermittently, and disconnectedly we must learn to do with conscious intent and in logical sequence. We must recognize the reason implicit in [maternal] instinct, learn its methods, and, without losing its naïveté, develop into a systematic procedure its incidental suggestions. (5: 125.) |