The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1893-02-02
The Possibilities of the kindergarten.

How TO save the children. and how to reach the
homes of 1.-The other half" are the two questions
most prominent before the philanthrOpiStS of the
present time. careful consideration of the
means at hand for the accomplishment of these
two inclusive purposes disclose the fact that there
is no other available agency that in the least COM
pares with the kindergarten. Apart from its
philanthropic aspects, it is also recognized as an
educational institution. and the idea of introduce
ing it into our public school systems has for
some time been gaining ground. 1t is true that
the kindergarten has possibilities which aily it
to the school, and it is claimed by some that
when public kindergartens shall have been es-
tablished there will be no further need of those
whose object is purely phiIanthrOpic. However
d consideration of the methods employed IN the
attempt to adapt the system to the schools leads
to the conclusion that they fail fully to apprec-
ate the requirements of the true kindergarten
and that, under their administration. society will
not realize its fullest possibilities. One reason
for this conclusion is that the school regards the
kindergarten as mere preliminary to the estab-
hShed course of school work. whereas view of
the present state of society must convince the
careful observer that what is needed is not mere
~ more school. but something different from the
school. In proportion 10 the population, the
number OF criminals in this country is greater
now than it was twenty-five years ago. and. fur
thermOre. statistics SHOW that the average age
of criminals is decreasing. each succeeding year
adding list younger than any of the preceding
years. The cause of this alarming state of
affairs may. to great extent. be traced to the
neglect of childhood. 1t must be conceded that
the public schools fail in not making charac-
ter building their primal duty. as. theOretic-
ally. the chief reason for their existence is to
make good citizens. Their failure to do this
necessitates. in many instances the establish
ment of juvenile asyltimS and refOrmatory prS-
Ons, the object of which is to reclaim dangerous
class. who. had they been properly trained in ear
~ childhood. would have required no. reclaiming
An important failure of the schools in their
adoption of the kindergarten is in not utilizing
the two years between three and five; for if the
kindergarten were to be.merey preliminary to
the school. with its present standard of purely
intellectual training it would be mistake to
overlook these years in which the child develops
intellectually more than in any subsequent two
years of his life and to which the kindergarten
is perfectly adapted. Before 1.-THE development
Of the kindergarten there wasEnO systematic
course of intellectual training available for chill
dren below five years of age, the infant schools
of two generations ago, with their forcing pro.
eesses, having beeni abandoned as entirely i'm
practicable. Important as these years are for in
tellectual training, the kindergartenivalues them
especially a time for moral and spiritual nur
ture-an opportunity for doing both preventive
and upbudng wOIk. Even should the public
school take the child at three.years of age, these