Kansas City daily journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1892-1897, 1896-04-23

Punishment Never Required.
Punishment In n nationally conducted
| infant school viii never be required and
should be avoided as much az giving poison
in their food
This IS enough OF ouotation from owen.
Briefly. II may be stated that what ne
introduced IN practice at New Lanark was
"First-No scolding nor punishmsnf 81
children and no study In books for chil-
dren under : years.
"Second-Juceasing Kindness IN tone,
look. word and action so as to create con-
hdence and affection between the teach
ers and pupils.
tions by Offering to the child subject matter
which would elicit questions and stimulate
'Fourth-The school had no regular in
door and outdoor hours but wholly de-
pended on weather and circums stauces. out
door exercises and natural objects for sub
tccts Of conversation always having the
preference
"Tifth-Thoy were trained in dancing.
singing and military exercises, as these
were considered as valuable means TO be
used IN the formation of character. TO
take the child out to become familiar with
the productions of gardens orchards. fields,
woods and with the domestic animals and
natural history generally Is an essential
part OF the instruction to he given chill
! dren'
"The elaborate system Of Froebel includ-
ed more work and play work. as nearly
as can be judged from the accounts left
of owens infant school, but the central
idea of both was that the principal bust
ness OF education IS development Of the
child by culisting the playful activities in
the direction Of acquiring knowledge and
placing the development Of character ahove
the acquisition OF mere book knowicdgo.
owen held that the character OF child IA
largely established for good or bad betore
the age OF and that the opportunities Of
molding q child's character by Kindness
and affection were greater in the first seven
years than in the second seven.
4 Transformed yommuuity.
Tt, nf 10 n
strated by transforming a low. miserable
degraded community to which had been
bbdy body IN n EnrPard ni nrindnE the We'' 'rond6n
Times and Sir Robert Peel. admitted was
devoted his time and large part OF his
fortune. AS a unique experiment In cdu-
cation in Illustration Of owens great teXt.
circumstances and not by himself the
story OF New Lanark will always be real
profit II lei to the establishment Of IN
fant schools in many places IN England
SnVeionmcrt INV g,,s' of inc Cotton snlnning and
the name OF being one OF the ablest man-
ufacturers OF his day. OF starting and de-
gland. which has continued to grow stead
iy 70 our own time. He has also wholly
to his credit the Introduction Of the Hrst
factory legislation OF the civilized world.
passed by. parliament in lslH and 1865, eN-
than 70 years and limiting their labors to
ten hours per day over or as long as they
could stand. owen has also To MS Creult,
a. herein claimed. the establishing of the
first infant school in the world nearly on
kindergarten lines. in fact, embodying all
its essentials.
4 Curious Incident.
"A curious incident also leads TO the
question IL Froebel was directly indebted
TO owen. Froeb"l was pupil of Pcsialol'
ri In Switzerland. from 1Sn 10 1911. Fclcn-
berg had also been "A partner OF PestalozEl'
but was carrying on school in HotWye,
Switzerland. In 1911 In that year owen
visited PestaloZzis and Felcnberg's schools
and tried to convert them To his new views
years. II properly conducted. Pesialo2zl
rejected the idea. Felenb"rg appeared con,
Niuced At this time owen spent several
weeks I'm Switzerland trying 10 impress the
Importance Of national infant education on
all the leading teachers OF Switzerland, and
| respect. owen left his two sons with
FelenbeTg 10 be educated. The former Re-
lations or pestalozzi FelcnberE and Froe-
bel had been such that ~ IS probable "a
suppose that Froebel had not heard oi
owens new ideas Of the value OF infant
| schools Froebels first kindergarten was
opened in 1897. twenty years after owens
visit 10 pestaloZ2is and Felenherg
! schools, and twenty-One years after owen
opened his institution for the formation
of character which included the infant
| school already described
'But whether Frcebe be Indebted "a
owen for the idea or not IL can IN no way
detrart from his fame for the mastery
| way In which ne developed the system IN
an its possibilities. and this account Is
| written not that Froebel should be loved
| ana admired less. but a. Nndtcatlon OF
| thr claims Of owen TO our gratitude for
| his efforts and successes IN the same
field