Evening star., 1934-06-16
THE LIBRARY TABLE
BY SARAH C. BOWERMAN.
NEW HORIZONS FOR THE CHILD.
BY Stanwood Cobb. Washington,
D. c.: The Avalon Press.

NEW HORIZONS FOR THE CHILD.
BY Stanwood Cobb. Washington,
F D. c.: The Avalon Press.
The organizer of the Progressive
Education Association and head of the
Chevy Chase Country School, where
he puts into practice his advanced
theories of education, finds that the
child's old horizons have expanded to
such an extent that they have dis
appeared from view and that it is
necessary for educators to lead the
child in his quest for new FL Dorados.
Character education, for which the
District of Columbia public school
system has recently received
special appropriation, is consid-
cred by DR.. Cobb of prime i'm
portance in time when the
authority of family and church has
been rapidly diminishing. To educate
q child's intelligence and leave his
moral nature to chance is to allow
one-sided, often disastrous develop
ment. Progressive methods Of char
acter education include the stimula-
ton of intellectual honesty and earn
estness through the elimination Of the
d-fashioned marking system, the en-
couragement of children to think for
themselves. with an ideal Of honesty
and courage kept before them, the
promotion of co-operat-veness through
the social quality Of the school. and
instruction in right methods Of Gov
ernment through cooperative student
and teacher discipline.
The first step in teaching, whether
by parent or teacher, Is the under
standing of the child, not just the
genus child, but the individual child,
who Is more than likely to have pc
culiarities. Progressive educators study
the child as an individual, as an ac-
tive being, as a creative being. They
study him from his behavior, which
can sometimes be explained b7 his
parentage, home conditions and
health. The childs behavior should
not be judged according to the degree
of its interference with the life OF the
adult, as has been customary In the
past. The chapter Training Children
to Think" is especially suggestive and
is practical, not vaguely general. In
fact. DR.. Cobb's whole book may be
recommended for its definite quality
which should give 1t value for those
parents and teachers who have often
sought bread and been given a stone
in the shape of some of the books on
child training which never get beyond
hazy theories.
CHILDREN OF THE NEW DAY. BY
Katherine Glover and Evelyn
Dewey. New York: D. Appleton
Century Co.
Looking at the frontispiece. Of a
child playing with alphabetical blocks,
we are impressed that here the only
difference between the child of the
old day and the one of the new day is
that the former played with MS
blocks on the floor, by himself or with
another child, and the latter plays
with them on a table, with teacher
handling the blocks. Perhaps this Is
significant, perhaps not. The world
into which the child of today must
soon make his entrance as an adult
is certainly very different from the
world which confronted the child OF
fifty years ago. The authors attempt
to present a brief OF chllonooo
flashed against the screen of the
changing social picture" Their start
ing point is the White House Con-
ference on Child Health and Protec-
ton of November, 1880, at which
many of the facts and ideas en-
bodied in this book we're brought to-
gether by the experts Of the commit
tees. Katherine Glover, free-lance
writer, handled the editorial work for
the conference. Evelyn Dewey, daugh-
ter of John Dewey, has written
number of books on educational
subjects and was director of the psy-
Geological survey of New York City.
l9l8-20.
General principles. rather than spe-
cific recommendations. characterize
the material of Children of the New
Day." but principles which impress
us as fundamental The present day
background of American children, the
new type of educated parenthood.
physical, mental and emotional de-
velopment of the child, the making
of habits, the changing home, the
community as the child's foster par
ent, the school as a place OF explora-
ton and discovery. social by-products
in the form of handicapped children
and social rebels. and children OF to-
morrow are some of the major sub
jects discussed. The conclusion OF
the authors is full of hope. The
first and most fundamental change
which we may expect In the world in
which children of today and tomor-
row will find themselves is clarif1-
cation of values, a return Of the spir-
itual motive to life . Perhaps the
only real gift we can pass on to chill
dren today is an awareness If we
sit still enough. we may be able to
sense the wonderful tomorrow that is
to be born of today's clamor. of which
we are privileged to touch the
threshold"
ONE DAY WITH JAMBI IN SU-
MATRA. Told in Words and Pic
lures by Armstrong Sperry. Phila-
delphia: The John c. Winston Co.
Jambi's house in the jungle OF
Sumatra is perched on stills and he
has to climb to it by ladder. The
space under it, which might be called
an open-air cellar, is occupied by
Wang, the elephant, Jambi's tenant
and best friend. Wang starts Jambi's
day for him by acting as alarm clock
with a funny noise that sounds like
'sK,ir.,lnnnhi K,r-ynphl" When this
alarm clock goes off Koko. the
monkey, Jambi's other house COM
panion and friend, stops snoring and
rubs his eyes and then tries to go
to sleep again, but Jambi makes him