Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1882-08-24
80 m other GOOse- ON FraebeI and His
kindergarten Syssssss---.---

Mother GOOse'' FrsebeI and His
Kindergarfer Syssssss---.--
Friedrich Froebel, the founder of the kim
dergarten system of education, was destined
to mingle the bitters of inappreciation with
the sweets OF applause for the novel
system which he introduced, which, Judged
by its results, may be regarded as a happy
inspiration. The innovations upon the older
methods of instruction with which his sys-
tenn abounded subjected him TO many at
tacks and interpretations. In this respect
he but shared the fate of almost every great
originator or advanced thinker. His object was
10 give a wise direction TO the mind of the
child from its earliest awakening, and by a
happy blending of work and amusement to
accomplish full and harmonious develop
msnt OF all its faculty. The great freedom
which his plan granted to its benefciaries
was considered dangerous, and his schools
were denounced as nurseries of socialism and
atheism-the PrussiaR government at one
time going SO far as to prohibit all kinder
garens in which the Froebel system of edu-
cation prevailed. No longer ago than 1887
he founded the school or kindergarten for
little children at Blakenburg, Thuriugia,
which has been taken for the model of SINH
lar institutions in many parts of Germany,
as well as in foreign countries. The forty
five years that have interviewed since tie es-
tablishaaent OF that Blankenburg kindergarten
have been essentially liberal years in the
matter of intellectual progress and mental
expansion. So far from being subject to
illiberal citicism aud narrow legislation at
this day, Froebel's system of education is
coming more and more into favor with all !
those who have lifted themselves out of the
rut of the old-beaten paths, and we are will
ing to Irvine the roses of Imagination about
the sharp thornes that 80 BEST the tree OF
knowledge as to render it a terror to the
young and tender.
e IL .l... Z
school-books extant and forever on the in
crease; of the variety of systems and cmricui
perpetually being advanced as the best posi-
ble combination of training and study for
the young; of the methods by which learning
is 10 be made easy and Languages acquired
without any prerequisites of time or labor;
of the hodge-podge with which the young |
are crammed, as mental courses, in some of |
the most widely popular institutions of |
Tearing III the country, one wonders that |
they ever acquire any correct ideas |
OF any subject, and the sweet-girl |
graduate often tempts one 10 quote |
Involuntary: "And still the wonder grew |
that one small head could carry all she |
knew" To my way Of thinking, the perfec- |
ton of educating child lies npot in cram |
ming 1t with go many hard facts and so many |
indigestible dates, bat in training il 10 do lis |
own thinking, its own observing, and TO draw |
its own conclusions from cause TO effect. |
Once train the bright, inquisitive mind of an |
intelligent child into habits of thoughtful |
observation on the commonplace things of |
the everyday world about him, and it's pow
ers will develop with 4 strength and fresh |
ness calculated 10 astenish the mere memory
trainers OF the young.
This is TOO essentially wide-awake, OBJ
serving, acting age for any teacher, be he or
she pre-eminently erudite, 10 hope to coax
their charges to wander contentedly with |
them amid the classic sh AIDES of dead centu-
ries, coming by rote the achievements of by |
gone ages, emulous of the bravery of |
Cesar or the exhaustive victories of an AL |
exander, before their minds have been trained |
to appreciate such. By all manner of means
give our young people a classical education |
where time and means will permit, for, for |
refining and devotipg the mind, there ia |
nothing that can compare with it; but the |
system herein advocated is more exclusively |
meant for the very young, to beguile them |
into thinking, as it were, about these harder /
tasks and more glittering nights, there are
no clashing interests between the two posi-
BILE.
/ think one of the most universal mis-
takes made in training the young is in con-
timing that training too exclusively 10 the
memory. One can srain a parrot to memoir
lie; we educate our dog and our horse |
through their powers of recollecting. Teach |
4 child how 10 think and how 10 observe,
and by lis own unaided conclusions it will |
assimilate and digest the facts presented to
it with a thoroughness that will absolutely |
prevent the possibility of forgetfulness. This
training of the child's mental powers is what
constitutes the chief excellence of Froebels |
system.
If 1 express myself warmly on this SUBJ
ject it is because / feel so. 1t is no I'M
thing to see a child spend the first,
and perhaps its second, year at school with
no profit 10 itself, but considerable expense
to its parents simply acquiring the rudi-
which il will repeat at
your demand with lack luster eye and
monotonous intonations indicative of all |
all hardly acquired tasks. There has been
no unfolding of the tight little bud
Of mind, no awakening to the
meaning of anything, no bubbling eager
ness to drink yet deeper draughts from
the spring which has so far offered only
brackish and bitter waters to be quaffed, and
the blame for this sluggishness should be
placed at the door of those rigid
who can see no virtue in the
newer and more liberal ways of doing things. /
"Come let us live for our children" said
FroebeI, the kindly benefactor TO the little
ones. Not to coerce them through gloomy /
and merciless years of examining into
stolid knowledge of what is worth their
knowing, but let it be proven that whole
'ome and thorough mental training may be
acquired more joyously. Surely it may
be said of knowledge that all her
ways are pleasantness and all her paths are
peace, or should be, If they are not.