AN APPEAL TO THE PHILANTHROPIC

Otago Witness, Issue 2516, 4 June 1902, Page 56

AN APPEAL TO THE PHILANTHROPIC-

KPer favour of the Editor of the Otago Witness.) J. think I may truly congratulate myself )&n having uttered a few words of "pessijmiitic warning" re the necessity of closing Jfch© free kindergartens in Dunedin unless funds were forthcoming by the end of the year, seeing that it has aroused such a tepirit of strong defencee in their favour, and has brought to the front a band of warm friends and helpful allies. As to the thousand and one merits of the kindergarten system, who that takes the to spend an obsevrant hour in the schools can any longer be a doubter? The janerest infant finds it a perfect paradise jof- happy industry. There ia plenty to Wo, and they are allowed to do it, and it fa's the doing that teaches so easily— that /develops so rapidly. It acts like the sunshine on a flower border, each one responding instantly, budding- and blossoming teweetly and profusely. It is a blessing }£or. all generations that the kindergarten Ks *ere, and has come to stay. Each lesson, 'and each exercise ia an all-alive, all-round iwork, <eminently practical and experimental, *nd its. chief charm lies in its suitability to |>the merest infant, captivating its inherent (industrial instinct, and beguiling it without ■jfche slightest tax to heights of possibilities wuite undreamed of before; and, as Miss iLandels said: "These schools were serving )to-the rest of the country a3 a pattern of ;whai; a truant school should he." AH over 'iNew Zealand now there are hundreds of who are convinced (almost against >their will) of the supreme influence for good iwhich the 6ystem possesses. It is a continuous and growing power. I The last records from America contained !in- the Bo3ton Journal of the 24th April Irtell of a most enthusiastic meeting held /there of "delegates of kindergarten associations from all over the Eastern and Middle (States, besides a stray one from cities as tfar west as Los Angelos (Cal.) and as far Bouth as New Orleans. South Carolina was heard from by letter, and Baltimore is re- ! presented in the constitution. One delegate j tfrom South Africa and another from England have registered, and Canada .sends a Etrong delegation from Toronto and other cities. One from St. Louis Club alone is represented by 12 delegates." This is suffiicient evidence, I think, to show the hold }ihe worth of the work is taking on the uonviotions of most of the American people. JThey have been steadily proving its value For 50 years,- and in a new work on "Education in the United States," by Boon©, he states that "in the five years from 1874 to )L879 93 new kindergartens were established. Since the centennial year the number of schools has more than doubled, with five itimes as many pupils." He also say 3: "A new influence has been introduced into American education, a new institution erected— the Public Free Infant School. Altogether of the 417 schools 40 per Kent, are ,-bublic, 30 per cent, private, and the others charity or mixed olasses. These public kirjilergartens represent 16 States and 25 cities." Professor Felix Adler and the Society of Ethical Culture in New York have made the Twenty-second street Free Kindergarten i 4 historic confirmation of the regenerative taower of cleanliness and innocent play, and directed interests and refined example even Amongst the lowest; that now there are in ~he States 544- schools, 1256 teachers, and 25,952 pupils. ' Reverting again to the convention Sn Boston, one young lady told them "that fihe Legislature of Indiana had just passed c. law that a special tax be raised in every Jcity- of over 6000 inhabitants for the support of free kindergartens." One of the foest reports, for instance, was by a young delegate from Alleghany (Pa.), who reprepents an organisation which woi-ks among the large foreign population of Pittsburg and Alleghany, which cities are practically jone, so closely are they joined. She said: ff'A body of Pittsburg men had given for the kindergarten Association 25,000d0l fo* the teupport of their schools in that city, and BOdol a month has been granted in Alleghany for the eupport of every kindergarten which had been opened, while demands for kindergartens were more nunmerous than the '-■ssoeiations could at present take care of.'' 'At this same convention, President Eliot, of Harvard University, told the great gathering that "the Froebel idea of the sanctity of the individual was the fundamental idea of all the educational reforms of the last halfcentury, and that another valuable kindergarten idea which had been adopted by all well-conducted universities was the engagement of assistants to show the students how lo do things — to exercise their natural functions, and learn by doing instead of by comanitting to memory. In high schools and colleges these assistants helped the students to' do things for themselves in the laboratory and in the library." This form of study President Eliot declared to be the only kind .that is worth anything, and that very few {people can learn by listening, and that all \vere agreed on the importance of concentration and absorption in subjects being Btudied. The only way to do this was to bo interest the student that he would want 'to so apply himself. And this was the kindergarten idea. Surely all this is weighty testimony to the value of th© kindergarten system, and should open the eyes of all our legislators and citizens, and arouse them to see to it /that in this young and promising country the very best from an educational point of iview is obtained. Beginning with the natural practical and industrial aide of childhood at the earliest possible age, when all is play, amusement, and interest; working up through the Sloyd and technical schools to the highest branches of education— this will produce a capable, practical, helpful race, as well as a much happier and more interesting people. The Dunedin Free Kindergarten Association have now been in existence for 13 years. -During the first eight years we gathered sufficient money to support the school by means of private contributions, concerts, lectures, sales of work, etc. This >wa3 a most, 'trying and unsatisfactory method. At the end of that time we held a large carnival, at which we cleared enough to tide U3 over till this time next yeai. Now I hope and trust that the public will come to the aid of the association. Already my heart ha 3 been cheered and fresh confidence given by one gentleman telephoning me to say that he will contribute £5 a year for three years, and a lady (all the way from Port Chalmers) has graciously sent me a guinea towards our fund. There is ample testimony in our midst of the good work the schools have done, and many of the teachers in the State schools value highly the children who have paißed

through our schools, as they find them bright and capable and amenable to discipline; whilst Mr Cohen pointed out at our annual meeting that "there were no two opinions amongst the residents of Walker street as to the good the parent branch had effected in that locality. ' One a-t least of our medical men has told us of the happy results to the children's ward in the hospital when one of our children chanced to be there, as they interest all the little ones around them. And what about the teachers themselves? One and all have noticed a most marked change in them, which fully corresponds with the testimony, borne at the Boston Convention — that " one comes to \mderstand that there is truth in the theory that those wSo work among children and who love flicm — and there is no successful kindergartener but who does love her charges — such workers unconsciously cultivate a certain sweetness and gentleness of demeanour and expression, due to their constant exercise of patience and forbearance with their charges, that in the end stamps itself upon their features." Sir, I trust the population generally may support us with their mite, and encourage us to push the claims of kindergartens till they are fully and completely established by the State. R. S. Reynolds, President.