Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1883-11-16
Friday Morning s.. November 10. 1888
MATERNAL SCHOOLS.

Friday Morning November l6, 1883.
MATERNAL SCHOOLS.
Noquestion has been SO thoroughly dis
cussed in this generation as that of educa-
ton, and reform work in no other direction
has made such progress as in the matter of
schools Not in one country but in all, the
subject has been treated as the important
factor in the solution Of many knotty social
problems, and it commands from all classes
if not equal, their earnest attention. The
poor consider it from the standpoint of their
experience, and in so doing consider it the
only way by which their children may es-
cape the conditions that encompass them.
The educated classes study the subject as
enthusiasts, believing that the right school
system, and the educational advantages that
may be secured to the young of this and
future generations through it, will put the
world forward as nothing else would As
educators experiment they learn, and every
little while some new suggestion is made
that shows how thoroughly the workers in
this field are treading their way over difficult
ties once considered insurmountable.
The old feudal idea, not yet obliterated
from mems minds, that the public has no
right TO interfere with family government,
even if the latter is carried on to the injury
of the best interests of the community, has
been perpetual stumbling-block to the ed
ucator's work. Children accustomed TO the
careless management of busy, oyer-strained
or Indifferent parents, sent to school at eight
or ten years of age, with all their faults TO
overcome, and some Of them so engrafted
into their natures as to be wholly impervi-
GUS to the influence of the teacher, and with
habits of idleness so strong upon them
that long effort is required to overcome them,
lose half their beneficial results that should
accrue to them in the few years Of school
life.
Toavert the evil Of neglecting the training
of children until they are ready to go TO the
public school was the effort of the originator
of the kindergarten system of instruction,
and great advance in the right direction
was made when these schools were started.
The French have gone nearer the root of the
evil described than the Germans, in their
maternal school, which term signifies the
care and education of young children by
the mother until their sixth or seventh year,
These maternal schools in France, which
have been in existence since 1926, are de-
signed to afford the combined protection
and instruction TO children which are or
should he enjoyed by children who have
home advantages of the proper kind.
Judicious parents instruct their children
in right ways, but unfortunately the pro-
portion of judicious parents is SO small that
the majority of children grow up FESTIVE and
fretful of restraint, and without having the
primary lessons of neatness, order, truth
telling and right dealing impressed upon
them.
The maternal schools are not schools in
the ordinary sense of the word, but are de-
signed TO meet the wants of children in the
transition age, and while securing to them
tho affection and indugent care of the fam.
lily initiate them into habits of work and
regularity of the school. The teacher is not
expected TO impart instruction, but to exert
good influences, TO inculcate habits of order
neatness, politeness, attention, and above
all, obedience The different faculties are
developed without wearying application
and the end is attained If children are in
spired with the desire to be well pleasing in
the eyes of their teacher at school and their
parents at home.
In France the effects upon children rightly
"Sound heart, hearing, sight, and touch al
ready somewhat trained by graded series
of the plays, games and little experiments
which are calculated to educate the senses,
ideas OF the rudiments of what will subse.
quen,ly be the subject of primary instruc.
ton, the beginnings Of habits and DISPOSE
tons favorable to public education, an earn
estness to observe, question and answer, the
power of attention, generally quickened
intelligence and mind open to receive good
moral influences"
The main object in view, as seen from this
paragraph, quoted from the manual issued
by the Bureau Of Education at Washington
on the subject of maternal schools, is to give
exercise to all the faculties equally, to de-
velop them tremendously and with the OBJ
ject of bringing out the leading tastes and
characteristics of each child.
To teach children the first ideas of right
and wrong is by no means an easy matter.
The instinct TO do is sufficiently strong and
need not be cultivated. What should be in.
stilled into the minds of the young is the
great necessity Of being rather than of doing
of character building rather than the un.
dertnking of tasks or the training of the
mind in the direction in which American
children require no preparation. Let us
have such system of education in this coun.
try. and begin with the education OF chill.
drcn where it should begin-in the cradle