All the children would like to be the flowers in
the garden, perhaps, but it is obvious that some must remain in the
circle, in order that the fence be perfect, and prevent stray animals
from destroying what we love and cherish. So there is constant
surrendering of personal desires in recognition of the fact that
others have equal rights, and that, after all, one part is as good as
another, since all are essential to the whole.
In cooeperative building, the children quickly see that the symmetrical
figure which four little ones have made together, uniting their
material, is infinitely larger and finer than any one of them could
have made alone. If they are making a village at their little tables,
one builds the church, another workshops and stores, others schools
and houses, while the remainder make roads, lay out gardens, plant
trees, and plough the fields. No one of the children had strength
enough, time enough, or material enough to build the village alone,
yet see how well and how quickly it is done when we all help!
The sand-box, in which of course all children delight, lends itself
especially to cooeperative exercises.
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