Omaha daily bee., 1908-08-30
Young BOY Proves Marvel.

This boy, Ivan julius Collins, was exam
ined by the magistrate, and 1t was his
proficiency that forced the London magis-
trate to decide In favor of Collins system.
He is now IA years old and his upbring-
ing Is evident both in his physical and mem
tai equipment. He is as tall and sturdy
as an ordinary English lad OF II and he
can converse intelligently on most subjects
thai would do credit to many grown men.
He has written articles on the current po-
liticsl and educational problems which
nave been accepted on their merits by
leading English newspapers and maya.
zines, and he has also written verses which
display considerable merit.
Collins explained to me that he had been
asked to open a school in the country by
a number of persons who wished him to
undertake the education Of their children
and he will start with enough pupils TO In
sure the financial success of the under
taking.
eve will have children from 8 to IS
years old" he said, and practically all our
teaching will be done out of doors and by
the peripatetic method. No class will have
more than ten children, for no teacher can
give individual attention to more. We will
have our classes In the gardens and fields
which surround the fine cid country house
that / have taken and we will adopt the
kindergarten method as much as possible.
l do not mean by this the formal kinder
garten method which would shock Froebel
almost as much as the old system did, but
we will adopt his principles TO our sur
roundings. Our class gardens and fields
will be well supplied with large black
boards at which the teacher can stop in his
walk and illustrate his talk.
Something of the system.
The children will be encouraged to ask
questions. ! want to encourage the natural
development of IDEAS. For instance, II we
are having a history lesson and some one
suggests a geographical question growing
naturally out OF tho history, there is no
reason why We should not drop the history
and follow that line Of thought. Geography
may lead us into mathematics and so on.
The reason for this is that the children
should rca'ize the essential relation OF all
branches Of knowledge to real life. In the
old-fa shioned school each subject is taught
by rote and the children seldom realize
that one has any relation to another.
For the same reason 1 have always
taught my children both arithmetic and
geometry by means q matches or little
sticks. They learn by laying two sticks
beside two other sticks that two and two
make four and that simple addition and
multiT LEGATION have some reference TO real
things. The geonetrical forms and their re.
lat.on to realities can be taught IN the
same way. After they have mastered the
principles In this way the formal learning
comes easily 10 them. II Is simply teaching
them TO express In words what they al
ready fully understand.
The religious teaching In my school will
be very broad. l believe in giving each
child the essentials Of religion and letting
the parents themselves nl In the details Of
whatever creed they believe In, Ny prin-
cit al assistant win be a clergyman in holy
orders. but / will not object to Noncon-
oImist or Roman Catholic %cleTgymen visit
ing the children OF their faith under my
charge"