doing. When high standards are coupled with interesting things to be done, children grow in power and rejoice [in their growth]. (Swarthmore.)

Freedom in the selection of things to do and of ways and means for doing them helps children develop a greater appreciation of good and beautiful things, materials, and workmanship. Another means for changing children's attitude toward beautiful things is to help them "develop appreciation of the beauties of nature and cultivate curiosity in the wonders of nature." (Stamford.) (Stamford.) This can be done by presenting varied and definite nature experiences.

Through all these activities the kindergarten protects the child'semotions from the regressive tendency toward anger, self-feeling, suspicion, isolation, sullenness, and nervousness, and fosters good nature, open-mindedness, sociability, cheerfulness, and the habit of being happy. (Honesdale.) Social adjustments.-Democratic ideals are the result of education and not of inheritance. (Radnor.) A good kindergarten helps children learn self-control through whole-hearted purposeful activity in their plays, games, rhythms, music, art, language, constructive work with materials, and regular duties. (Swarthmore.)

Several surveys state that

self-control can be developed in the kindergarten with no more effort than that necessary in training the children to automatic response and will be a much more useful habit for the children to take with them into the first grade. (Richmond.)

While self-control plays an important part in making social adjustments, an appreciation of fair play is quite as essential.

The spirit of fair play is the active principle in sympathetic appreciation of the fine things others can do, in being the leader when you have something to give, and in accepting suggestions from each and every member of the group who has something to give you. It not only develops cooperation, but a recognition of the necessity for obedience to lawful authority. (Radnor.)

Formation of habits.-Habit formation is a necessary part of the educational process. The child's education begins long before he enters school. The kindergarten builds upon the habits that have been formed in the homes and supplements home training. (Winchester.)

A list of desirable habits would be very long. The ones specified in the report just quoted might be grouped under such headings as "Personal," "Hygiene," "Language," "Social behavior," "Courtesy," "Housekeeping," as well as those covering the usual activities of the kindergarten.

Good habits of work, built up through the various concrete activities (in the kindergarten), should also prove an asset when more formal subjects are undertaken later. (Baltimore.)

Acquisition of knowledge.-The kindergarten aims also to give the children a wealth of valuable first-hand experiences of interest to them which shall furnish ideas and concepts upon which may be based the education in symbols which begins in the first grade. (Baltimore.) The impulses and instincts and interests of the young child form the basis for the course of study, rather than

instruction from books

The kindergarten opens the child's eyes to the world about him through excursions (Memphis), [observations and the various activities in which he engages].

TEACHING PROCEDURES

It is generally conceded that "methods of using the materials are fully as important considerations as the materials themselves." (Richmond.) Where the "procedure is to conduct various activities in large groups under the direct control of the teacher" (Baltimore), the work is severely criticized. In such procedure, even with the most modern equipment, there is "practically no adaptation of method to the newer type of materials" (Brookline) because the teachers make "no independent study of the possibilities " (Brookline) of the newer equipment. This practice produces

more building to dictation and less opportunity for free building and community building than is provided by the more progressive of the kindergartens. (Brookline.)

In certain places

too much of the handwork in both the kindergarten and primary school has been in the nature of devices planned by the teacher to keep the children busy and carried out by the children with no demand being made upon their intelligence. (Winchester.)

Readiness on the part of the children to accept what is offered, however poor it may be, makes it doubly important for the teacher to protect them from unprofitable forms of activity. (Richmond.)

Kindergarten teachers, probably more than any group of teachers, are apt to do too much preparation of work—

leaving for the children only the last step or two of the whole process of construction. The results are likely to be excellent, but they do not represent children's work. If the teachers would plan simpler forms of occupation and would be satisfied with cruder products, they would be able to develop in the children a degree of independence in handwork which does not now exist, according to the reports (of many) of the first-grade teachers who receive children from the kindergarten. (Richmond.)

There are many similar criticisms in the surveys, but there are also many commendatory statements whenever

children are allowed to make their own plans and carry them out in small groups of their own choice. (Philadelphia.) In every classroom visited there was evidence of opportunity for some choice of activity by the children There was a genuine desire on the part of the teachers to allow children to give expression of ideas and feelings through the material that was available. (Springfield.)

When a child is set in the midst of a scientifically planned environment the teacher finds that

problems arise through the use of materials which demand thought on the part of the child. After individual experiment, the child may join a small group on a larger project or the teacher may relate his isolated result to a

larger whole. For example, one child may be making a boat and another a train. Building a dock for the boat and running train tracks out on the dock so that freight may be transported gives the child a more complete idea of transportation and also enables the child to relate his ideas to the ideas of the group. (Winchester.)

Many more teachers would modify their procedure but are

retarded by the lack of materials, the adjustment of old materials to new ideas, the struggle of combining freedom with order, and the management of a class in three groups with uniformity in each group. Those who make out a program usually find it hard to plan situations in which children are free to be intellectually active. (Philadelphia.)

Modern methods of instruction emphasize children's need to do creative work in order that they may learn to think. Each child should have many opportunities to find out whether or not his thinking has been clear and honest and his information adequate to meet the problems involved. (Radnor.)

Children are expected to work out their own problems and ask for help when it is needed and can be received without interfering with the rights of others. (Swarthmore.)

In a democratic school the teacher is one of the most influential members of the group and is responsible for giving her suggestions. But she is only one and must herself be a follower at certain times. When she does all the planning, selecting of materials, tools, and methods for accomplishing things, she changes the school situation from a democracy to an autocracy. (Radnor.)

The problem project—

has been used in the kindergarten since its beginning. (Memphis.)

Unless children have the opportunity to begin a problem, leave it for a while and come back to it, they are deprived of one of the most valuable means for evaluating their ability to plan and execute, and for realizing the need of greater information and skill. Working on problems which can be left from day to day also helps children to develop a longer attention span, so that the transition from play to work grows naturally out of their everyday experiences. (Radnor.)

The dictated, formal type of activity must be substituted by social activities where there is planning and executions of plans and where investigations and experiences made in school, home, street, and playground are related. ford.)

HEALTH

(Stam

While the health of the children has always been recognized as one of the main objectives in the kindergarten, often the means for obtaining this objective have been mainly a matter of providing wholesome environment and equipment. Commendation is always given for well-planned and beautiful rooms.

as

Certain earlier surveys use the term "physical education synonymous with training in physical control. They contain such statements as

Wherever the kindergarten fails to cultivate forward looking physical and mental control it is open to criticism. (St. Louis.)

Certain teachers are commended because their children demonstrated that

in those games in which the purpose was avowedly to develop physical control there was actually in the playing of the game an effort toward more complete and accurate control. (St. Louis.)

Games have always been emphasized in the kindergarten as a means for gaining health. Simple activity games are excellent, but highly organized games and games in large groups demand a great deal of inhibition from young children. A high degree of

organization can only be justified when it comes as an outgrowth of the informal organization which is a natural consequence of free play with materials, toys, etc. Organization that proceeds to build upon such foundations brings with it an understanding on the part of the children which insures cooperation and participation. (Stamford.)

Marching does not give the freedom of movement and vigorous exercises which children need. Each child has to regulate his step to the step of the child just ahead, else he will tread on his heels, or fall behind, and thereby leave a gap in the line. If he falls behind and tries to catch up he loses the rhythm and thus even this value of the exercise is jeopardized. Little children need to walk, run, skip, hop, clap their hands, swing their arms, and whirl about, and they need space in which to get the full benefit from these activities. (Richmond.)

Only the most recent surveys make the following type of suggestions for health work:

Since the purpose of physical education is a matter of providing activities for better physical living, the unification of objectives and activities in physical education and health education would be desirable. (Springfield.) This kind of education would include

activities for the development of habits, appreciations, and attitudes in rest, sleep, food, cleanliness, and the like that will produce the maximum of health for children of this age.

(Springfield.)

Through this kind of physical education the kindergartenprotects the pupil's health and practices him in the habits of health. (Honesdale.)

The value of outdoor life for young children has been recognized by many individual teachers in all the systems surveyed, but there seems to have been little, if any, definite provision made for it either in the course of study or in the selection of equipment. Several surveys state that although "space and facilities for outdoor activities are very limited, almost every kindergarten makes some attempt in the matter of excursions." (Baltimore.) Many teachers make use of such opportunities as are available and are "very conscientious about keeping the children out of doors for a full half hour in addition to walks and excursions." (Winchester.) Wherever excursions have been considered an important part of the

curriculum teachers have found that they "prove valuable as an educational objective and as a health measure." (Philadelphia.)

More provisions for outdoor activities should be made because they "are undoubtedly among the most valuable in the training and development of young children." (Baltimore.) If such opportunities were provided there would be fewer places of which the following comment could be made:

Fine October weather found the playgrounds apparently almost entirely abandoned in favor of schoolroom exercise. (Watertown.)

LANGUAGE

Another phase of kindergarten education which has received much attention in the surveys is training in the use of language. Primary teachers used to consider spontaneous conversation one of the greatest mistakes of the kindergarten, because the habit of talking "without raising hand" (Philadelphia) persisted after the children went into the first grade. Now they, as well as kindergarten teachers, consider free oral language one of the essentials for developing ideas.

One reason why working out large social projects is considered so valuable is because

much real conversation about the children's interests is necessary to enable the teacher and children to select real problems or to know where and how to find material for their solution. (Swarthmore.)

Through conversation children also

learn to value accurate thinking and the correct use of language, including the choice of words, clear enunciation, and correct pronunciation, given in a pleasant voice. (Swarthmore.)

Conversation is especially important

for a foreign group of children who have a more vital need for oral expression than any other activity the kindergarten offers. (Stamford.)

It is the teacher's function to create situations which will supply incentive and motive for free oral expression on the part of the children. When she gets this, she may then gradually correct the child's English, encourage him in the use of complete sentences in talking, and help him in his choice of words and expressions. (Richmond.)

Teaching English mainly through songs, rhymes, and stories is criticized as being valid only if the children "have sufficient experience with actual things to give these words real meanings." (Radnor.) Recent studies of children's vocabularies

indicate a need for giving vital experiences to children so as to provide the ideas for which the ordinary word symbols stand. It would probably be illuminating and profitable for the teacher to find out just what the children's images are in relation to the songs, rhymes, and stories they repeat. (Radnor.)