EDUCATION OF CHILDREN

Northern Advocate, 24 September 1927, Page 6

EDUCATION OF CHILDREN

The methods which are pursued at the Malting House School, Cambridge, an institution founded in 1924 for the purpose of putting into practice some rather novel theories concerning the education of children between the ages of four and nine, are described in a recent issue of the “London Observer.” Briefly the idea is to eliminate the usual methods of training and to substitute a daily routine of inquiry and discovery. No class teaching is given and no actual programme for the day is made, but fiom the time of rising in the morning until the close of the day, the children are under observation and guidance of skilled tutors who encourage them to discover the “why” and the “wherefore” of. almost every action of their daily life. Each child is more or less free to do as he pleases throughout the day, although under the stimulation of the tutor he is persuaded into doing innumerable duties and tasks which open up opportunities for explanation and study. Scores of simple pieces of apparatus are distributed about the school-rooms, and the children are encouraged to experiment freely with them. The interest aroused as a result of these experiments invariably creates in the children the desire to make _ simple calculations, and to record the discoveries made, and the teaching of the elementary arithmetic and reading thus becomes an easy matter. Careful daily records of the progress of each child have been kept during the past three years, and it is claimed that detailed comparison has proved that the Alalting House School children are considerably in advance of the children of identical ages who have been taught at the usual kindergarten and preparatory schools. The venture is not a commercial undertaking, but has been established by a number of people who are interested in educational methods, and the school has been placed upon a footing which will make it independent of all financial considerations for some years to come. It is anticipated that the system can be extended and developed so that the children can remain at the school until ready to go on to the universities, and the experiment will certainly be watched with considerable interest by all who are concerned with the problems of educational methods.