ABSTRACT
A group of young students were discussing their reactions to their teaching practice experiences. One described her experience in deeply disappointed tones. Among her complaints was that the programme director refused to let the children have small animals in the nursery. I listened appreciatively for a while to the righteous indignation only the young and inexperienced can enjoy. I then asked her as gently as I could: ‘What are the chances that a child can develop into a competent adult without having had animals to play with in the nursery?’ ‘In other words,’ I said ‘what do you believe is really basic for young children?’ A lively discussion followed, leading all of us to search our own assumptions for answers to the question: What does each child have to have for optimum development? My answer to this question is outlined below by offering six interrelated propositions that I hope will be helpful to you as you inspect your own answers to the same question.
