The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-01-01
SOCIALISM
In the Kinder
g,arten
ABLY DISCUSSED.
Mrs. Briggs Reads a Paper
on This Question.


read an interesting paper upon So
cialism in the kindergarten. The club
holds weekly meetings at the houses of
the members with weekly paper.
Mrs. Briggs is a we'll known binder
garten school teacher, and has given
the question of socialism much study,
with practical application. Her paper
which takes a broad and liberal view
OF the question, is as follows:
A comparatively few years ago the
WORD kindergarten" stood to American
people for some visionary German
scheme concerning which little was
known on this side of the water Today
the word stands for a practically work
! ing organization, providing increased
! opportunities for true education, espe-
cially for very little children. Some of
you have doubtless sent little ones to
the kindergarten and have seen it in its
practical workings and helpful effects.
/ others OF you are doubtless more or
less Informed on the subject from an
outsiders standpoint, Permit me as
| one of the working staff to present it
to you tonight, viewed in the light of
socialism and bear with me if much of
what | shall say is already familiar
ground to you
| bGl uS DISH uTSl what is lnCfe ABOUT
| this movement which in so short a
| time has caused it to. gain so wide
popularity among the thinking moth
erS and fathers of America, which has
caused 1t to be Incorporated in many of
our largest cities as an integral part of
! the public school system; which has
caused it to stand to the four year old
| child as an embodiment of helpfulness
and happiness? 1t is surely something
more 90 Of
sticks or general attractiveness of the
material; something more than the
merry jingle of the songs and games
or the brightness of the room where the
children gather. 1t is because back of
all this outward appearance lie simple
fundamental principles which find
response in the universal man and
child. kindergarten and socialism have
| become almost synonymous words to
me. They are but different expressions
OF the same principles. The scientific
laws which Karl Marx deduced from
| ms observation of society and applied
to society's reconstruction, Froebel had
| already discovered for himself and an
Piled to the reconstruction of educa-
ton.
The principle of unity which forms
perhaps the basis of modern socialism
was the main law upon which FroebeI
based his theories and practical appli-
cation of them. The methods by which
he applied his principles may be made
clear by few words concerning the
dlf1erent gitts-and gifts by the way,
| is simply term applied to a part Of
the kindergarten material, the term
| occupations being applied to the re-
malnder To return to his principle of
unity and his embodiment of it in
material form. The first gift given to
the child consists of six prismatically
colored balls. The ball to Froebel was
the complete embodiment of this law
OF unity, A unit in form yet of end
less variety as well, for at every point
in the surface of the sphere we find a
constant change. Not only for it's
unity and variety in unity did Froe-
bells CHOICE rest upon the ball for the
chllds first plaything, but also on ac-
count of its activity. Unity and acti-
Vlty-tWo great fundamental principles
which he seeks to impress upon the
child through this plaything-a play
thing which has always appealed to
children and to children of an older
growth as well. Do not misunderstood
me and think that Frobel has any de-
sire to insist upon the childs swallow
ing pedagogic pills. Far from it. He
wishes him to play with the ball, but
to play with it in the kindergarten
guided by the experienced mind and
band of the Kindergarten. Her in
sight sees in the ball not only a play
thing but the embodiment of a prin-
ciple, and while to the child it is only
a plaything, unconsciously from his
experiences with it, he will acquire
his first impressions of what in later
years he will formulate in words. We
are apt to underestimate the value of
childish impressions in forming the
character and ideas of later years
AS Emerson says, we little know how
much of the tirmness of the sea beaten
rocks has been wrought up into the
character of the fisherman who has
gazed on them from childhood.
The second gift consists of a wooden
sphere, cube and cylinder. The two
apparently diverse forms of the sphere
and cube are first presented to the
child for work and play. Apparently
no connection exists between them.
The ball can roll. The cube cannot
The cube can slide; the ball cannot.
The ball is constantly active. The cube
stands more firmly. The ball has one
curved surface. The cube has six flat
faces, and so on. But now the third
form is presented-the cylinder. Here
is a connecting link between the two
The cylinder possesses not only the
activity of the ball in rolling, but of
the cube in sliding; has not only the
curved surface of the sphere but the
fiat faces Of the cube.
Thus we find this second gift to be
an expression of this same law of unity
and unity in variety, but that it
goes a step further than the first Gift
in his demonstration of the variety in
unity.
The third. fourth, fifth and sixth gifts
consist of cubical boxes of blocks and
typify to the child the principle of
unity as applied to organisms. The
third gift, which consists of a wooden
cube sub-divided into eight small cubes
is symbolic of the lower forms of or
ganic life. He may divide into parts
but in each of these parts, he still sees
his cube. The complete cube is an or
ganic whole. 1t is always presented TO
him as a whole at the beginning of each
lesson and reconstructed as a cube or
complete organism at the end.
The fourth, fifth and sixth gifts. con-
Sisting also of cubes sub-divided in diff
ferent ways, are symbolic of. the higher
organisms, each succeeding gift becom-
ing more complex, more differentiated
in its parts and the parts consequent
ly more dependent on each other far
the construction of the whole or cube
form.
other gifts follow, such as the sticks
rings and tablets which l will not take
up in detail.
The gifts form but a small part Of
the kindergarten material and work
Songs, games, talks and occupations ali
unite in instilling still further these
principles of unity, organisms and CO.
operation into the childs heart and
mind Through these different chan
nels the child is impressed with his
threefold relationship to God, nature