The work of reading is play to a child
whose eye has been thus trained. As to writing, we precede it by
drawing, which is the sensible and natural plan. The child will have
had a good deal of practice with slate and lead pencil; will have
drawn all sorts of lines and figures from dictation, and have created
numberless designs of his own.
If, in short, our children could spend two years in a good
kindergarten, they would not only bring to the school those elements
of knowledge which are required, but would have learned in some degree
how to _learn_, and, in the measure of their progress, _have nothing
to unlearn_.
Let those who labor, day by day, with inert minds never yet awakened
to a wish for knowledge, a sense of beauty, or a feeling of pleasure
in mental activity, tell us how much valuable school time they would
save, if the raw material were thus prepared to their hand. "After
spending five or six years at home or in the street, without training
or discipline, the child is sent to school and is expected to learn at
once.
Pages:
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195