THE DUNEDIN FREE KINDERGARTENS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 10363, 18 May 1895, Page 2

THE DUNEDIN FREE KINDERGARTENS.

••"'■'■'•'■• ■•! [COMMUOTCATEDi;]": ''''■''.'■ -■'■"■''■ ' . The foundation and development of twofree kindergartens in Dunedm.has been a success . *okieve.d in , the. face .of many- difficulties. -Outside; T the .actual, irieni ,c«f association very .-.-. little -is,. kiiswn 'of the aims and objects of these kindergartens, and the majority of persons look upon them as a harmless " fad " of some leilnred and bensvoi lent /ladies./;,?,' Since ; women;-will, fuss ■ about something . ■ .theiti^own:- homes ythese tahdergartens afford an ;iraocent r outlet .for *^?fe superfluous energies," is. a sentence taard in ajtramear Recently. It is,; however, .time that we ejbergedfor this "good-natured toleration— the subject is one worth more serious consideration. The kindergarten system of teaching is intended for children between the ages of three'and seven years—:an age at which experts declare the surrounding 'impressions colour the whole life. In the formation of the .free kindergartens here the primary object, was to the children of the vicious and of the very poor from their physically 'and • morally . unhealthy surroundings, and for. this. reason these sShbols have been.as free as their: success has been unquestioned. '.'■'.'.•!." Under the Froebel system of teaching there is not only a gentle and judicious development of the intellect, but an equal growth and perfection of all the faculties. The baby hands are taught to be quick and clever,- the childish voices are. trained to. discern time and tnne, the young limbs ore daily strengthened by healthful exercises, habits. of neatness, order, and obedience must be learnt, and, best of all, powers of observation are developed to a surprising .degree. Every.sense is. cultivated by use, and all this is done in so varied and wisely graduated a fashion that, the child does not realise he_ is learning, until he has learnt. Moreover, it is not his brain'otily which is considered,- his intelligence which is fostered, it is his whole moral being which is being trained in equal degree, and this is the surest elaiiii which the kindergarten system should h&ve upon us patriotic, people. . Above all things, wo desire i that New Zealanders.as a race:may be worthy !. of their country. T How, js the present system of i education contributing -to -;thafc end?,.: Not ■altogether succassf uily. .We haye made' edncatioh_dur god, we have' offered up before it 'the .sacrifices of moral training and | devfclqpment, and parental authority andre^ponsibility. One of the first results of this upside-down view of thingßj_ this enthroning the intellectual above the -spiritual snd moral, has been that the children of the poor look with contemptuous indifference upon the opinion of their patents, simply because' they are comparatively uneducated and ignorant. They find home dull and tedious, the old folks stupid* snd conversation impracticable; they drift out into the streets, and little by little become enrolled in the ever-increasing army of street idlerslarrikins.

la the country the result'of over-education is no less disastrous; young people of both sexes look with contempt upon manual labour and outdoor eccupation, and since these aspects of life are inseparably connected with the country, they look with contempt upon'the country. At tHe first available opportunity they flock into the towns, there to compete with the crowd who solicit employment in offices and shops. "What if the great sacred white elephant of our education system could be remodelled ? What if, by cutting back our free education limit to the Fourth Standard, we conld manage to add a kindergarten branch to each district; school ? The gain would be an immeasurable one, and the people would be the gainers. The small fee which would be charged' for standards over the fourth would have the efieet of reducing the number of children sent to school for the higher standards. Only one or two of the brightest in a family would be deemed worthy of the expenditure, and there would be fewer scholarship boys and girls ploddiDg their weary.'.way into the already, bitterly overcrowded professions. There would be fewer lonely parents struggling on m the country while their children"drift away to tilt; strife and unrest of the towns. There is such a tendency in the older countries to thrust responsibilities upon tha State.sand in our own country there is such an eagerness upon the part of the State to burden itself with responsibilities that no apology is needed for urging the claims of one more nursling.

The prominence given to the advantages and beauties of theFroebel system must net be read as in any sense being intended as a reflection upon the district schools. Auy comparison between the two must bs manifestly unfair, since on the one hand we have a system created exclusively for the use of infants, and en tha other we have the unwelcome addition of infants to an already fully occupied staff, amid surroundings and accessories neither designed for nor suitable to their tender years. It would be well if the political women of New Zealand could take up s>nch a womanly wholesome, and excellent question as this creation of district kindergartens, p.ud have the subject thoroughly ventilated, its practicability discussed, and its expense estimated.

THE HABIT OB HEALTH. I i we think of scap as a means of cleanliness only even then Peers' Soap is , a matter of course. It is the only soap that is all soap and nothing but soap—no free fat nor free alkali in it. But what docs cleanliness lead to ? It leads to a wholesome body and mind; to rlean thonghts ; to the habit of health'; te as-Mii* aa( j womanly henotv. Pnre Son» Pkakn' Soap In 1879 the capih.l of the London g M companies amounted to £12,000,000. SPRING BLOSSOM TEA.