The Hawaiian gazette., 1912-10-11
MODERN WAY OF
TRAINING CHILDREN
Professor Horne Explains and
Compares Montesorrl aho
Other Methods

the Kamehameha Schools, delivered a
scholarly address upon ...e training of
children, dewlling particularly upon
the Montessori method. HIS address
was as follows:
| Education is a social process, the en-
riching the life of the individual pupils
by the life of others. To accomplish
this, schools were established; to be.
gin the process as early as possible in
the life of the child, the Kindergarten
was conceived to give the child wider
! circle of interest and activity than the
/ home could furnish. And, as play ac.
tvities and interests predominant in
child life. these were utilized bv group
ing children for the social participation
in these activities and interests.
Let me quote, 'The kindergarten
may be defined as a society of cnlidren,
engaged in play and its various forms
of self.expression, through which the
| child comes to learn something of the
| values and methods of social life, with
out as yet being burdened by its intel.
lectural technique
Doctor Montesorri IS view of child.
hood differs little in some respects from
Froebel S, except being decidedly more
radical. Both claim the right of the
child to be active, "to explore his en-
vironment and develop mis- own inner
resources through every form of in
| vestigation and creative effort. The
starting point in the experiences, the
attitudes, the interests of the child -
To educate is to guide this activity, not
repress it.
MnntacSnrf ~
child, the individual, with little atten.
ton to group work, each child doing
| about rs he pleases SO long as he does
not do wrong or in any way iniure 9th
ers. Any grouping Is largely free and
unregulated. The Montesorri system
carries out the principle of umestrict.
ed liberty. 1t develops the pupils men
tai capacities separately. The direcc
and formal training of the senses is
sought. Much of the apparatus used is
designed especially for the purely ply
| steal development of the children.
Much of the time is spent in handling
things, largely according to individual
inclination and under individual guild
| ance.
Organizes Experiences.
The kindergarten organizes the ex-
periences, attitudes, interests and ac-
tivities of the child and develop within
the group many of the typical and uni
versal experiences of the wide social
life or better, perhaps, the ideal of So
cial life toward which we strive.
The initiative quality is strong in all
children, and this is utilized. The
! grouping of the children is often form
al and prescribed. Group teaching is
developed, leading the children to def
mite activities. The imaginative and
creative faculties are especially sought
The MOntesorri method lacks the rich
| imaginative quality of the kindergar-
| ten.
Still few of the imaginative social
| plays are used by the directors. But
! on the whole the Montesorrl system
seems to lack the stimulus and the op-
| portunity for the "adequate exercise
of the imagination in constructive and
creative self-expression. - Stress is rath-
er upon forms of Knowledge than
upon "forms of beauty and even of
life. Sense perception and nomen-
clature are emphasized. The "me-
chanism of language seems over-esti-
mated.
quote from Doctor Hailmann:
Naturally, the child has deeper in
/ terest in events and meanings, in the
| sympathetic and logical side of speech
! than in its mechanism and even in
sense perceptions. 1t wants to live be-
fore it analyses the tools of life."
The Group System.
Teaching the individual without the
group system does not seem to have
general favor in the United States.
We believe in the great leveling infiu-
ence of the public school system, where
children can be taught only in groups.
| have not felt that the average Ameri
can child needed SO much an added OPP.
portunity to develop his individuality,
but rather training leading him to re-
spect the individuality of others. Lit.
tie children should be seen and not
heard - is not the slogan of family life
today in America.
The preliminary training of the home
and of the kindergarten should be an
introduction to the subsequent train
ing, preparation for it, not a system
opposed to it. "Give me the first seven
years of child s life and l will shape
his career, is not an idle boast.
In some ways it seems to me that
the Montesorri training in toto is I'M
fitting the child for his subsequent
training. AT the school he is free, witt
few if any social restraints. True, h,
has some duties to perform, some regu
lations to follow, certain lines of con
duet to avoid, certain others to pursue
but beyond this he is a citizen of thu
little republic in which he lives. HI
! is rarely interfered with. He has hi
! own purposes and can carry them GU
as he pleases.
This cannot hold true of the chill
in his home. There he is a member o
family and, rightly, a subordinate
! member, whose interests and plans ar
, livery easily set aside for the adult Iii
! sensitive nature may be shocked, bu
J the child must conform, whether he vii
I or no. Family life anywhere praeti
> eally prohibits any such freedom as
. Exercised by the child in the MontesorI
school Aud this is even more true o
the school 70 which the child mus