The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1895-06-28

must close, the little red building at
Algeroba Place fastens the large side
shutters and locks the pretty entrance
at the corner. But is it, too, school
house? Over its palm filled window
we read "Child Garden" This, then,
is no time-honored district school,
where boys learned rule and ferrule,
alphabet and table of three. No;
piano replaces the old stove of New
England, and benches high and stiff
have given place to tiny chairs.
Birds, goldfish, pictures, flowers and
vines are there, but no birch rods,
switching stools or Ounce caps.
Children are there at play in the
Child Garden" yet they prattle of
their "schOoE,' their teacher and their
1UOrk.
The name "Child Garden" suggests
the amazing change of thought with
regard to early education. Here
children are not schooled but allowed
to grow. Planted in this nursery for
few years they are to be developed
into beauty of life.
"Has this garden a right to be?"
says one. "Is it not conservatory,
where growth is forced, where life be-
comes weakened from too much
shielding, where struggle is unknown
and from which transplanting to
other fields will be harmful"
Here in Honolulu the Free Kinder
garten as healthful and saving agent
among the street children of our five
natiOnalities has come to be q recog-
niZed fact. But it is still a question
in the minds Of many people whether
or not it is q needful or wise train
ing for the children of our choice
homes.
Many people look on it as pleas
ant way of entertaining children,
keeping them out of mischief and
giving busy mothers a few hours of
respite from their care. But this is
not the object of the Kindergarten.
Froebel would teach us that "Na-
ture, as we'll as all that exists, is the
declaration and revelation of God"
He would show us how we may take
the child made SIN the image of
God, and so guide all his faculties
That he may Increase in wisdom as
in stature, and grow unto the meas
ure of the stature of the fullness of
Christ" He would have US lay hold
of the natural, the spontaneous ele-
ments, before the artificial mOulds of
being are sought. He would begin
with the alphabet Of letters, he
would open wide all the doors of
the senses to the child that he may
first receive the good gifts OF Gods
natural world, The powers of obser-
walton, too often turned to base uses,
oftener dulled by want of training,
are in the kindergarten made life
long servants of good.
Says Professor Eugene Pappenheim :
@ History tells us OF strong, able men
who arrived at mature years before |
they learned to read and write. We |
have records of trades, industries, and
even forms of government being car |
ried on successfully without this |
knowledge. Many people all about US !
today are living useful, honest lives |
without much of the knowledge gained |
through the reading of books. These |
same men and women may teach the |
bOokwOrm many deep things, such as |
are only to be learned from life. The |
kindergarten utilIzes the time of active
children preceding regular school life /
and aims to fill this time after the
same manner that these unschoOled
men and women were taught, without
the aid of reading and writing. The
man who makes steam engine knows
vastly more of the engine and of life
than he who reads many books and
studies many illustrated plans.
Through doing we learn the relative
place of each part to the whole. In
dustriousness is the immediate result
of children's doing, and soon follow
knowledge of self power, the respect
for labor performed, respect for the
possessions of others because earned !
by them, self-government, endurance
and q strong body balanced by a
strong mind"
Not to dwell longer on principles
and essentials of the kindergarten
idea, it will pay every father and
mother interested in the best teaching |
of their children to look into the prac-
teal workings of the kindergarten
schools in our city. Alas, like every F
thing else in the world, the true kin
dergarten has its counterfeit. False
flowers are found in child gardens
produced by deft artificers, not by true
cuItiVators. 1t is worth the trouble
to see whether the games and the
tastes are in harmony with the prIn-
ciples, and whether the results IN IN
dividual children are all to be desired.
Go, then, into the little red school
hou e. Take with you an appreciation
of the kindergarten idea, take with
you a love for the little learners, |
Svmpathy with those who have in | I
hand this most d fficult, this most I'M
portant grade of teaching. Go, listen,
look and think, then ano "er Tor your
selves honestly the question Whether
is or Is not the oes1 au-
iunct TO your home, the best prepara-
ton for the first school years.
NJ. E. d. F.