The Lexington advertiser., 1908-02-21

Inc l0th annual convention or the
International kindergarten Union,
which will be held at New Orleans
March 80 to April 2, will attract many
prominent kindergarten workers from
practically every civilized country In
the world. The idea of Union officials,
of which Miss Fanniebelle Curtis, OF
Brooklyn, is the head, is to turn the
annual conventions to the utmost edu-
cational account, and with that end in
view the fifteenth session will be held
in the Southern states in order that
superintendents of education and
school teachers generally may take ad-
vantage of the opportunity to acquire
a working knowledge of the most
scientific child training yet developed
The invitation, to attend the conven-
tion is broad and is intended to reach
all teachers who care to avail them
selves of it. All railroads have offered
specially low rates, and the various
committees have made provision for
the comfort of a record breaking at.
tendance. The headquarters of these
committees is at No. 606 Commercial
Place, New Orleans, and the chairman
of the executive committee is Hon.
A. Trigg Moss.
DR., CraIghead, president of Tulane
University of New Orleans, an ardent
believer in tn far reaching benefits de-
rived from the modern kindergarten
method of training the youngsters in
to wholesome paths and to become
good and useful men and women, dis
cusses the coming convention and the
work of the Union as follows
The International kindergarten
Association, which will meet in New
Orleans March 30 to April 4, should
draw hither, not only thousands of
teachers, but also men and women en-
gagged in other pursuits who are inter-
ested in the training and developme ent
of the coming generation. The kin
dergai ten event, which began in the
Old World, has found a favoring at
mosphere in the New. For many
years, st. Louis was the pioneer in the
kindergarten movement, but now
there are kindergartens in all the great
cities of the United States.
The kindergarten movement has
reformed the curriculum alike of
school and university. That 1t has
made childhood fair; that it has made
o. education saner-all
thoughtful critics admit. Whoe yer
plants kindergarten is helping to
reduce the cost of juvenile courts.
Fifty years ago in this country nearly
all university instruction was given
by text books alone; the laboratory
method of Instruction was almost mn
known. President Eliot of Harvard
attributes this change in educational
methods to the influence of the kinder
garten.
The influence of the kindergarten
has been felt in other ways
Dur Mothers Clubs, or Cooperative
Clubs, vacation schools, play grounds
Ill have been greatly stimulated by the
'ame influence Education has become
more practical manual training and
domestic sciences are taking their pro-
Der place IN the curriculum of the
Ichool. We no longer think it the
principal business of the educator to
ram the mind, To train the hand as
veil the head, the heart as we'll as |
he mind that is today the work of |
he school teacher.
In this great gathering of educat- |
RS will be found many men and wo-
nen of international reputation. A |
profound educational awakening may
low be witnessed in the South. It is
0 be hoped that this great convention
will be source of inspiration and
lelpfulness to all grades of teachers. -