The Kindergarten and Its Educational Value

The Kindergarten and its Educational Value BY MRS. IDA DUSENBERRY, OF THE BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY

"Beware!" says Emerson, "when the great God lets loose a thinker on this planet, then all things are at a risk." A little over a century ago Immanuel Kant, a little old bachelor by whose punctual walk his neighbors set their watches, spent many hours during sleepless nights and anxious days troub- ling over theories with regard to the nature and source of human knowledge. Today we live in a world where everything is affected by Immanuel Kant's influence. Perhaps his first and greatest disciple was his pupil Fichte, who, becoming enthusiastic over the spirit of his great teacher, cre- ated the national school system of Germany, and was a leading fac- tor in establishing the solidarity of her political government. Through the influence of Fichte's successors, came a modifi- cation in the religious domination of Germany, England, and Rome. Goethe and Schiller, impressed with its living truth, sings its rhythm in German literature. We follow it with Carlyle and Coleridge, in English verse. Through the music of Beethoven and Wagner it has lifted souls to greater heights and loftier aspirations, finally entering the realm of childhood and, using as its instrument the mind of Froe- bel, is influential in the infant schools of all civilized lands. The above educational progression is recorded as following — the declaration by Immanuel Kant that "Reason is present in the subconscious activities of intelligence." In every phase of Frederick Froebel's educational philosophy we can see the influence of this educational doctrine. Impressed by the power of its purpose he proclaimed to pro- moters of child welfare that "Deep meaning oft lies hidden in childish play." Froebel studied childhood and motherhood in their inmost union. He sought for the point of contact between the mani- fested needs of the one and the instructive efforts of the other. This he found in the nursery rhymes, and the unrhymed games which have been nursery favorites for unknown ages. The Mother Goose melodies give types of characters and found in higher literature. situations Dr. Harris says, "The meager and abstract outline is given

346 IMPROVEMENT ERA in the nursery tale, and the deep comprehensive grasp of the situa- tion with all of its motives is found in Shakespeare." Take for instance something of the life of Solomon Grundy. How does it compare with Shakespeare's "Seven Ages," "The three men of Gotham," the oft repeated story of human disaster through rash adventure; "Little Boy Blue"— effects of slothful neglect of duty, a cause for some of the world's greatest disasters ? "There was a man in our town, and he was wondrous wise. He jumped into a bramble bush and scratched out both his eyes. And when he saw his eyes were out, with all his might and main, he jumped into another bush and scratched them in again." — Lesson the record of the deed saves the doer. In our every day walks in life how often we meet "Jack Horner," reaping the advantages of deeds not his own, and pluming himself on their fancied achievements. And here comes the old woman who couldn't keep quiet on victuals and drink. Can you read in that life the yearning of a soul which may not dare to live on bread alone? Examine the rational content of the old nursery rhymes and you will not be surprised that they have endured the test of time, and merit the name of genuine literature. If mothers understood what comprised true story content, and would select children's books accordingly, there would not be so many children with a destroyed and perverted literary sense. Even simpler than the rhymes which furnish types of char- acter and situations, are the nursery plays. Games like "Knock at the door, peep in," "The little pigs that went to market," or "Pulling baby's nose," and showing it with the thumb between two fingers, are attempts to call attention to the different parts of the body and give some idea of their unity. "Bye, Baby Bunting," "Father's a Nobleman, Mother's a Queen," interpret to the heart of the child his own love for father and mother and their love and care for him. "Pat a Cake," "The Miller of Dee," "Here I Bake and here I Brew," are crude pictures of the busy world of labor. "The Church and the Steeple" responds to the wonder of church bells and the people all hurrying to worship. Such games as "Hide and Seek" satisfy the craving for rec- ognition. Miss Susan Blow and others have figured out long lists of rhymes, games and stories explaining their lasting moral content in such a clear, simple way that it would be well for every mother to become familiar with their interpretation. Considering the above mentioned plays, with many others, we have before us the reasons from which Froebel drew the material for his "Mother Play" book. It was after many years of close observation that Froebel _

decided mothers should be made conscious of the underlying prin-

THE KINDERGARTEN • 347

ciples of the life they were unsystematically but instinctively nur- turing unobserved. He was an interested spectator at many little love-inspired dramas between mother and child. Finding the same universal, instinctive tendency, even among mothers of different nationalities, he knew there was an under- lying philosophical truth, a knowledge of which would be of great educational value to the world. As a result of this investigation and persistent, intelligent study we have his "Mother Play" book. In it he has attempted to preserve what was good and omit what was bad in the instinctive plays of motherhood, at the same time trying to present a series of games wherein each is organ- ically related to all the others, and by means of dramatic repre- sentation, poetry and music, to win for the ideals embodied in these games a controlling power over the imagination. Froebel said, "The aim of education is a correspondence be- tween the individual and his spiritual environment, and to fit him for participation in the universal life." It was because simple mother wit had tried, however blindly, to accomplish these purposes that Froebel was able to learn from mothers how to educate the child. He has aimed to lift their in- stinctive procedure into the light of clear consciousness that they in turn may be directed by the use of their reasoning faculties instead of continuing to blindly follow their inherent tendencies. He says in his chapter on the weather vane, "What adult deed is there that children will not at once imitate ? Therefore, be care- ful, you grown-up people, what you do in the presence of little ones." Continuing, he claims "the tendency to imitate in children should be most carefully cultivated. Such culture will lighten by one-half, the work of education. The mother who utilizes imita- tion at the proper stage of development will accomplish by a touch, light as a feather, what later she could hardly do with a hundred weight of words." "If thy child is to apprehend another's deed, then he must' repeat that deed." During the last few years the attention of psychologists has been directed with increasing interest to the study of the nature and scope of imitative activity. Prof. James says, "In young children this instinct often knows no bounds. For a few months in one of my children's third year, he literally hardly ever appeared in his own person. If you called him by his name H you invariably got the reply, ,

"I'm not H I'm a hyena," or "horse car," or whatever the ,

feigned object might be. It is an odd fact that all of us come by our own developed personal self-consciousness, through very decidedly imitative processes. For the child to be his real self is to him the same as being no body, but to be a horse, soldier, hero of a favorite story, or

348 IMPROVEMENT ERA perhaps a fairy, that is to be some body. His interest is centered on some fascinating object from without, and his one thought is to make this over .into his own definite comprehension, through imitative personification. One of the most realistic performances I ever witnessed, was a recent imaginative encounter with Lopez in the Apex mine. The scene of attack was under a back porch. The participants were officers who ranged in age from three to six, in cow-boy and Indian suits fully armed with sticks for swords and guns, they ;

crouched down with all the anticipation of a real and fierce en- counter. We must realize that nothing less than the child's person- ality is at stake in the method and matter of his imitations. "For the self," says Baldwin, "is but the form or process in which the influences surrounding the child take on their new individu- ality." Educators claim it is inevitable that the child make up his personality, under limitations of heredity, by imitation, out of the copy set in the actions, temper, and emotions of the persons who build around him the social inclosure of his childhood. In other words, the child creates himself by reproducing his environ- ment within himself. If we believe the statements of Prof. James Baldwin, Dr. Royce, and other great psychologists pertaining to this subject, our conclusion must be that imitation is the true point of de- parture, both for educational psychology and from the wise nurture of childhood. From this, then, we find the plain duty of parent and teacher is to protect the child from bad models, and to supply him with good ones. We should observe with care what special objects and actions are most frequently imitated, for in such imitations the child reveals the native bias of his temperament he indicates the line of ;

his possibilities and suggests the dangers to which he is prone. They should divert attention from persons or things which monopolize imagination and threaten to derange the balance of character. Froebel says, "Divine energy must be communicated to each individual by the association of his fellow man also through the ;

realizat on or significance of the world of nature, as these things :

bring to light the knowledge T just as that T grows into the image of God." Froebel's "Mother's Play" book has long been recognized by his students, disciples, and admirers, but unfortunately for the cause of child study, it is written in such a manner that the beauty of its themes and the underlying life principles it portrays, is to the majority of readers but mystical illusions and ofttimes, mis- understood sentimental expressions.