ABSTRACT
ENGLISHWO~IAN'S REVIEW. (NEW SERIES)
ART. I.-THE KINDER-GARTEN SYSTEM. * " Der bfenltchengeist ist ein Bichewig Entfaltendu, in immer neUft
Gestaltungen."-FlIoBEL.
THE question is now under discnssion in Germany, what kind of instruction or training should be given to children below the age of six. From six to thirteen they are " schulpflichtig," but below six no provision is made for them by the State, and no compulsion respecting them is exercised over their; parents. Thus it has arisen that their proper training has become a theme for the warm discussions of German pedagogues, the old school being content to receive children at six years, withont any previous systematic training j 'Whilst the importance attached by the new school, or the followers of Frobel, to the KinderGarten system, has led to the rece'nt establishment of an influential society called the ., Universal Educational Union," having for its main objPct the promulgation of Frobel's theories of teaching. The application of these theories is not confined to' tbe nursery and the KinderGarten; the followers of Frobel also wish to reform the
• "Der Kindergarten" von Frau Marenholtz niilow. Bruhn, Br.aunsch~('ig .• , Frlibel's Erziehullg's-lehre," von Dr. Schlicph1\ke. IAiwcllstem, Berlin. "Die Griilldzlwe der Jdeen Frobels," von Henrietta Breymann. Schwetschkc, Br:unschweig •
an empty formalism which gives no insight into either constrnction or purpose. They maintain that school should not be only a place for learning, but also a " practising school ,. where both mind and body can be developed, in preparation for future culture. With this end in view, a few large private schools have been already established, in which Frobel's theories are adapted to the whole period of education, from the Kinder-garten onwards. The plan is to carry on development in harmony with the natural law of work, such development to begin unconsciously to the child, and to rise through increasing consciousness to know ledge. "Thu-s work is elevated to knowleuge, and, in union with knowledge, to true art." Teaching to teach also forms a lea(ling part of the system.
