OCR Text |
Show The beneficial influence of this work is shown very strikingly in the rapidity with which Indian children in our kindergartens acquire the ready and fluent use of English speech. The timorous mumbling and scarcelv audible half-whisner which are so often criticised in schools that have not yet learned the art of the kindergartner, never develo~. From the start, almost, the little childl.en, not thinking of thems61ves but wholly engagedin the achievement of interesting tasks apparently of their own choosing, do their very best to make them wishes known an8 to announce their successes to the kindergartner in tlie only idiom which sheunderstands and with the help of which she can impart to them the il~formatiou and give them the help which they require. At the same time, they gain, coustantly, much new knowledge of things; learn much about number, form, and the prop-erties of matter; learn to dram, to sew, to weave, and to do many other things with nimble fingers; gam the love of song and of graceful rhythmic motion. In all these things, however, English speech 1s a nec-essary concomitant and the one opeu door through which they gain admission without comnnlsion and without weariness to the treasures and ncl~ie\~cmenwtsh it& they l~old( leal.. 3loreover. all ( o f this is 11o11e i l l 1111 stmoal,hrre \\.llitth, while it 8ti1unli1tet~h e grratest l~ossihletl rvel- O I J I I I ~ IuIf~. i~~divid~~:~l(:h~ract~r~h.is. ~cl~1~narrndetse ra~1ai11tsht cevil;l of s&lfishness and greed and devei<ps a spirit of eager, luitual helpfulness, 1 a growing sense of mutual gratitude and good will. At eveFy step the kindergartner is conicions of the important part which her view of child nature and her consequet~t attitude toward the child has npou tlre outcome of her work, both as to its general aspect and as to its influence upon the character development of each child with whom she luav have to deal. The fatber mho looks nuon his child as a hopeless in&rior vill fail to sho\v hi111t llnt te~lder~e.b r d vl~iehI ~ringsf ilrth selCrrspcrt i l l the child. Tile ~not l~ewrh u views her rhil~~l uerelya s a no\%l*~ odyto be tkd aucl sheltered \rill. \r.l~enit is tno 1:1rr,l ook iu \.:tin filr the lose wl~icls~h e so 1nuc11c herishes. Himi-larly the teachcrsor killder~~rtnewrdl ~nse e in their jlupiln o111.vn fresh set of ve3srls to 11et ille~lm -it11 old al1d lnuIrrfor~nnl;l.iw, i!l in dnr ti~ue wonder how it Ilappel~st hat r l~ey o~itl~swh<gtoil rtll ~ I O I r~lI~ e~rschools hnve grown to be 60 empty of thought.; :lnd tileliugs :an11 r;o Iva~re11 of asuirationn :ind deeds. It l~n1:esa v:~<dt~ t i e r en~ine t hr onteullleuf educi t io~~waol rk whether t l l ~er lucaror 1vok.1 nptJrl tile rllild ~uerelya n :I c:onrenie~~cto ~~glu~r~eorfa itnci url. hodg. and YOI I ~ .U L. a i DU org::~nic trinity of what has bee11 aptly called "life, light, and love;" whether he views the child simply as an indioidualwhoseevery purpose of existence ends in self; or, also, as an organic part of society, as a pulse in the life of humanity; whether he sees the child only in his finite external relations. or has an adeouateconcention of his kinshin with the infinite a~ltli ~i*b ssential n.l:~tid~tro t~i n(l ltirle. In all tilest. thugs the l;inrlcrg.~rrner is on the right side, and her a t t ~ t n ~tlter~ nrdti le child iu not t l ~ ;o~f ro ue ~ h foorce s or coirres them for convenience sake into stolid or hypocritical submission to the arti-ficial and purposeless machinery of the schoolroom, but one who, as the kindergarten formula expresses it, "lives with the children." This living with the children implies on her part sincere sympathy with childhood and what I am tempted to call a scientific knowledge of child nature. The true kindergartner takes a genuine interest in all that interests her children, rejoices and grieves with them sincerely and in the measure of their own joy or grief. She suits her speech and bearing to their needs and moods, feels, as it were, these needs |