The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1875-07-15
BRIDGES AND WINGS.

AND all my dreams have angel-wings,
Made up Of smiles and signing;
Lighter than air, on which my love
To thee, dear heart, comes flying.
-Getbsl.
EXTENSION OF THE KINDERGARTEN
SYSTEM.
There is a rumor in educational
circles that the London School Board
is intending to extend its use of the
Kindergarten system. We shall be
heartily glad if this news is true.
With bits of paper and balls of clay
and q few sticks, the German instruct
ors teach children to devise endless
combinations of form, by which, at
the same time that they derive amuse-
ment, they unconsciously learn the
elements ofthe sciences. These sports
develop tastes and impress facts on
the mind in a way that no mere dry
lesson could possibly do, but they re.
quire teachers of more than usual in
intelligence to plan and vary them.
Take for instance, the figures on prick
ed paper by which a German master
in the Kindergarten will sometimes
teach the delighted children the group.
ing or position of the stars. If you
merely require a class to learn the
names Of the chief stars and their dis
tance from the earth, you may op-
press young brains with a few barren
facts; but if you take a sheet ofbl.ck
paper and prick out Orion as a big
warrior, and mark his belts with stars
of red gelatine, you have impressed
for life the character and name of
the constellation on the minds Of 80
many children. In the same way,
with pricked paper held against the
light, the German master teaches his
kindergarten classes the shapes Of
rivers and the outline and character
Of the celebrated monuments of the
world. Years afterward when one
of those children hears Of the Pyra-
mids, of st. Peters in Rome, or St.
Paups he will remember those lines
of light with all their curves and
arches. There can be no doubt that
the kindergarten system of Germany
develops a child's mind sooner and
wider than our own old "A B g sys:
tenn. Children are not born students.
Their young brains work slowly, and
require constant change of thought.
They like to be doing something, and
here the German master with his puz.
zles and card baskets, toy houses, cut
paper and pierced paper, meets the
child's necessities. After all, the
main object Of early instruction is to
rouse and gradually inform the fac
ulties. If folding slips of black and
white paper into all sorts of fantas.
tic patterns teaches children neatness,
patience, and ingenuity, and makes
them handy and dexterous, there is
surely something gained and so much
acquired for any future employment,
whether it be handling a rein or
holding a pen. To do the smallest
thing with perfect conscientious ex-
actitude is in itself a moral lesson of
the first Importance. 1t is something
to have taught a child to mould a pig
of clay, and to have enabled him to
initiate the exact curve and symme-
try Of the original. An eye for form
can be educated by cutting out figures
in black paper, like the crows and
tigers Of the kindergarten, better
than all the strippled chalk French
heads which fashionable drawing-mas-
tiers bring as copies to London
schools.
There are critics Of The Kindergar.
ten who think its puzzles and lumpa
Of clay and paper flowers are Rirlish
and trivial, and prefer the dry, hard
monotony of our own old system.
We strongly disagree with them.
Children must be led, not driven, up
the steep hill Of knowledge. If you
can lure them through the Kinder
garten pass, the first rough stiles and
plashy places, the ascent becomes a
pleasanter Chamber. Presently they
will find flowers among the crags, and
kindly voices to urge them on, and
friendly hands will reach out to them
and there will be rivals struggling
by their side, who will rouse their en-
ergies. The Kindergarten's motto il
an excellent one, "Play and Work.
Children fresh from the nursery re
quire more play than work, and the
more they can be taught playfully tht
better. How much the mother teach
es child without one apparent effort.
It learns thenames of all familiar oh
jects as an amusement, and is tri
umphant over every freshly acquired
word. Why should a similar aequi
sition become painful to him whe,
seated on form with half 4 doze,
companions7 The ordinary elemen
tary knowledge, such as the simpl'
rules Of grammar, the multiplicatio,
table, &C., if learned with enjoyment
would taken time. It must be learn
ed and learned thoroughly, but ther
is no reason why it should be taugh
with pain, or be beaten in with
cane.