Arizona republican., 1917-03-25

1 hours should not be too long. and ] there should be great freedom of 1 movement and variety of interest. l Many mothers criticize this method 1 and think these changes from one | study or occupation tO another will ] prove disastrous, while We are striv- 1 ing for concentration and thorough ness However. l believe it as com
 plishes it purpose and the child has wider knowledge of things in gen. eral and may decide better for him. self or herself what talents he or i she possesses or the inclination for some special work It is not what 1 the scientists know. it is what the people apply. that really marks our { prosress One lesson should he to realize that our intuition cannot be
 relief upon when it comes to under
 standing the chi;d's minG the mean ing of his various activities and how best to guide his me tai and moral
 development. Mistakes that parents
 (and teaeEers) make in dealing with the cnild's mind are not often fatal. . Nor can one always race the evil effects of such mistakes in the later character of the child. But there can he no doubt that many heart l aches and misunderstanding and es
 arrangement between parents and , children are due to mistakes that could have been avoided by knowI- edge of the nature of the child's mind
 "The world has been straining every nerve in late years 10 provide schools for the children. No country eXpends so much for the education of its children as does the United States. It was a Missouri governor who carried the phrase. Parsifnony towards education is iheralty toward crime
 We are only learning by slow de. %rees how to train children to be educated men and women. Once z. hools were carried on mainly to fill the ppDl's mines with facts. now f2ds too often take the place of facts The new education, with it's child tsudy and eXperimental psychology, it's rrohing of the very recesses of the mind, i steaching revised and prac- tical pedagogy, which bids fair to rightly combine facts and fads
 The significance of modern elu- ] catioral movements is to leave un- trammelled in his response sto what i goes on around him. We have learn i cd that some children will become i tali and that others will never reach i beyond certain height. We seek | merely to keep them healthy hy | suitable feeding exercise rest bath | ing. etc. But in the matter of | mental development we have not vet , yearned that it is impossible for all children to reach the same degree of i linguistic or mathematical or artist ic development. The thing we need { to find out is, what particular | child can do. and then we must give ! him the Cpportlnity and the en- ccutagemert to do his best The thing the cnild learns to do well will determine what kind of person he I will te when he grows up The great mass of children vary from each other. not so much il. the directions along hich their special abilities Il" as in the degree to whch they are capable of developing the ordn- cry abilities which thev do have. Fer such children the choice of an occupation cannot wisely he made very ealiy in life TOT should q very special choice he made until there n nee 9 n" ODpol unity to try out
 T.e '''i .et'' Of activities and pro cesscs. l. would be the height of
 ~'o ~ lno injustice to insist upon Y alters preparing for, or entering his fathers business just to keep up the farnily tradition. when a little at tentiOn to the boys work in scnool and to his play and to his personal preferences and tastes would show that he was eminently -insUited for lHe DuSlncSS, and dt the same time well suited for some technical pur- suit such as engineering. Untold misery and failure springs from our negligence in these matters. no less than from our direction of the child's development in accordance with the child's discoreIa )le abilities and dis abilities. The childs need is for practice in doing. and in choosing what he will do.
 
 pEce upon obedience? The will which is at the heart of moral con- luct and which is so mucn in need of training cannot he trained as a thing by itself All training all edu- cation must contribute to the train inc cf the win There are some