The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-07-15
THE KINDERGARTEN.
Outline Address on Its Reform and Recon-
structlon by Or. Hall.

Outline Address on Its Reform and Recon-
structlon by Or. Hall.
Dr. Hall, in the evening lecture, spoke
on an Outline of the reformed and re-
constructed kindergarten" He said in
part: l speak on the kindergartens with
fear and trembling. In the first place,
l am a firm believer in the kindergart-
en- and in Froebel. The kindergarten
| teacher is often the best teacher we
have There is, think, really more love
in the kindergarten than from there
up to the university. There is too
great deal of inadequate training in the
training schools for Undergraduates,
What has Froebel really contributed?
In the first place, Froebel said that the
child repeats the history of race. In
the second place Froebel was the iirst
to say that the feelings are the great
est things in the world. Third: He
| first emphasizes the necessity of self
activity. Fourth: He was a monoist
and rot troubled by the double book
keeping of the dualists. Fifth: Froebel
insisted that there was an original
soundness in children, and that if we
could live in such a simple, holy life
as children, mankind would be we'll
nigh perfect Sixth: He wished that
every child should be all that each
stage calls for. Play should not be
made as a preparation for future in
dustry. Seventh; There must be har-
| mony, love. Between parents and child
there should be sympathy Eighth: We
should live for the children. The child 8
soul is a seed in the ground, and there
is not a single ray Of light or a bit Of
moisture in the world that does not
touch it,
Froebel says that the most solemn
thing in all this world is the laying
down of the sleeping child from its
mothers arms into a cradle. A grave
objection, to Froebel was that he APP
piled all his energies to gifts and act
ivities, which he called the grammar
of play and the alphabet of industry.
AS the kindergarten is much strong
er in America than anywhere else, it is
really strange that 1t has never had
any logical examination. The disciples
of kindergarten are most all women,
and very few of them are mothers.
There is no movement that represents
the very heart of Froebel more than
the present child study. Perhaps the
worst is the emphasis which has been
put on the mother-plays. / think that
the mother-plays are the imbecility of
a great mind. In them we have a very
unfortunate degeneration.
Another fault of the kindergarten, as
it is practiced, is its hygiene. Hygenic
laws are disregarded in many kinder
gartens. Kindergarten children are
found to have that nervous twitching
of the muscles that shows fatigue.
Froebel said that the child should live
outdoors. Children Of that age are
animists. They want TO play with
plants and animals. The exercises EN-
phasze the arms and hands, but the
body movements are neglected.
The kindergarten age is the age at
which modern language should be
taught through the ear. The child is
more important, however, than the
material. Should not the kindergarten
do something for language? 1t seems
to me that 1t would be well to teach the
children to talk. The kindergarten is
too sentimental. Children are not such
delicate things they are thought to be
They like to hear about battles and
bloodshed. The danger is that the
sentimentalized woman will demas-
culize the child's mind. The kinder
garten should not inoculate the mind
from battles and cruelty but should
show things as they really are. The
principle is that we have to deveion
these barbaric characters in the child
or 1t VIII not develop the higher char
acters. II Is the experience OF these
harder facts Of life that is necessary in