El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-10-27
A Strong Statement of Their
Claims AS a Part of the
School System.
PROPER AGE DISCUSSED.
And Reasons Brought Forward Why
1t Is a Mistaken policy 10 Cut
of the public Schooling OF the
Children At This End.
ritten especially for the HERALD.

, a department of the city schools. Ell
Paso is up to the present time. l be-
! lieve. the only city in the state that
. has taken this advanced position in
l the training of very young children.
There are many people in FL Paso
, who feel that in raising the & of
admission to he kindergarten at the
beginning of the present school year
from hve to six years. the school board
took a backward step. Whatever the
cause. and however necessary such ac-
ton may have seemed to the board.
nevertheless il was a backward step.
The school board is unquestionably i'm
favor of doing everything that the pub
lie interest demands and the available
funds permit. Now that the general
public school question has been
brought to the front by the school bond
election. the people of the city who be-
lieve in the kindergarten. and espe-
cially parents who are directly inter
ested. should make all practicable and
proper effort to secure the early res
toration of the kindergarten to the
position which it occupied last year.
by restoring the 9 of admission to
five years.
The best authorities fix the limits
or K for kindergarten work at three
to six years. Many children at the
age of six years have reached a stage
of mental and physical development
that units them for the special meth
DDS of the Kindergarten. Probably the
majority of children are ready to enter
the kindergarten when between four
and five years of age. Granting that
in the public schools the only practi-
cable plan is to adopt some minimum
age limit. the limit should certainly
not be fixed above five years. All ad-
nit that to classify children in the kin
dergarten according to age is artificial.
The natural classification. as in the
public schools. is and must be accord |
ing to mental development and attain
ments. Whenever "A child reaches the
stage of development for kindergarten
work. II ought To be put n the kin |
dergarten. whether the child is three
years old or five years OLD.
Broadly speaking. kindergarten work
includes every form and means of turn
ing the play instinct of the child to
account in training it. The play in
stinct. the instinct of activity. ecom
available for this purpose. with kim
~dergarten methods. as soon as the
child's physical and mental self-control
enables il to perform the simplest
tasks. The child that is big enough
to make mud pies. or to form the tail
end of a marching play. or to lay
sticks across one another and build a
make-believe house. or to select and
arrange colors. is old enough so that
it not only can but ought to be placed
in the kindergarten.
e To debar it from available kinder
garten training after it has reached
this stage of development. is to with
hold a part of its %birthright and to
stunt its growth physically. mentally
and morally.
The kindergarten is essentially a
school of industrial. moral and mental
training. without the scholastic or
10 training CT the public schools.
The kindergarten takes the child be-
fore its mind is ready for books. and
trains it t. use it's hands. its eyes. all
its organs and senses; trains it to
think and to draw differences: trains
it to a healthy SubOrdinatiOn of its
individual will and movement to the
guiding will of the kindergarten teach
er: caches it to understand and love
the elements of order. beauty and So
cial law.
Moreover. the kindergarten lays the
foundation of that discipline which is
a prime requisite for successful work
later in the public hoo For this
reason the expense of the kindergar-
ten is not to he viewed as so much
added to the total cost of the public
school system. 1t is rather to he
viewed as n measure of economy. A
child that has had a good kindergarten
- - f"' B',f1a
tering the public may be eX-
pected to make better and more rapid
rogress after entering the public
schools. with less emand O the
teacher for discipline and instruction.
with less danger of failing to
make the successive grades. and with
less prospect of completing the public
school curse n year or two sooner
tina if he had not had such kinder
garten training. Thus is eX-
pended on the child in the kindergar-
ten is repaid. often two or three fold.
by the saving in the primary. interme-
diate and high school grades.
In other words. the limit of attend
anCe upon the public schools will thus
he placed. as it naturally should he
placed. not at the beginning hut at
the end of the child'S school course.
Let the child he admitted TO the kin
.dergarten when he is ready for it. Let
him go on to the first grade hen he
is ready for that. and to the other
grades as rapidly as his development
warrants and demands. This is the
natural and therefore the proper meth
Any attempt TO set metes and
bounds by the artificial method of fix
ing age limits. is unnatural and sub
versive of the very purpose for which
the public schools exist. Six months
a wear of kindergarten at the age
of four or five years will in most cases
more for the physical. menta and
moral development of the child. than
three times that length of time in pub
lie school work later.
The transfer of the child from kim
to first grade and from one
to another should be determined