Great Throughts Treasury

"The child must possess within himself, from birth, a capacity - only a potential at first - of abstracting or taking off from particular things their essential qualities. If you watch carefully any small child, of one to two years old, you will see that he is not only interested in objects as a whole, but also in their qualities, such as roughness, smoothness, hardness, softness, color, taste, texture, weight, pliability, and so on."

"The child must see for himself what he can do, and it is important to give him not only the means of education but also to supply him with indicators which tell him his mistakes??The child?s interest in doing better, and his own constant checking and testing, are so important to him that his progress is assured. His very nature tends toward exactitude and the ways of obtaining it appeal to him."

"The child of this age sets out to do a certain task, perhaps an absurd one to adult reasoning, but this matters not at all; he must carry out the activity to its conclusion. There is a vital urge to completeness of action, and if the cycle of this urge is broken, it shows in deviations from normality and lack of purpose. Much importance attaches now to this cycle of activity, which is an indirect preparation for future life. All through life men prepare for the future indirectly, and it is remarked of those who have done something great that there has been a previous period of something worked for, not necessarily on the same line as the final work, but along some line there has been an intense effort which has given the necessary preparation of the spirit, and such effort must be fully expanded - the cycle must be completed. Adults therefore should not interfere to stop any childish activity however absurd, so long as it is not too dangerous to life and limb! The child must carry out his cycle of activity."

"The child passes little by little from the unconscious to the conscious, treading always in the paths of joy and love."

"The child seeks for independence by means of work; an independence of body and mind."

"The child simply takes up an attitude of profound isolation, and the result is a strong peaceful character, radiating love on all around. Arising from this attitude are self-sacrifice, unremitting work, obedience, and at the same time a joy in living, like a bright spring that sprang up among surrounding rocks, and is destined to help all living creatures around it. The result of concentration is an awakened social sense, and the teacher should be prepared for what follows: to these little newborn hearts she will be a creature beloved."

"The child strives to assimilate his environment and from such efforts springs the deep-seated unity of his personality. This prolonged and gradual labor is a continual process through which the spirit enters into possession of its instrument. It must continually maintain its sovereignty by its own strength, lest movement give place to inertia or become uniform and mechanical. It must continually command, so that movement, removed henceforth from the guidance of a fixed instinct, shall not lose itself in chaos. Hence a creation that is always in process of realisation, an energy always freshly constructive, the unceasing labor of spiritual incarnation. Thus the human personality forms itself by itself, like the embryo, and the child becomes the creator of the man, the father of the man."

"The child wants to do something sensible."

"The child who seeks to be heard and is wounded by rejection often withdraws in a far more dangerous fashion than mere submission."

"The child whom we have robbed of his own will becomes difficult; we believe that by doing things for him we will do him some good."

"The child whose attention has once been held by a chosen object, while he concentrates his whole self on the repetition of the exercise, is a delivered soul in the sense of the spiritual safety of which we speak. From this moment there is no need to worry about him - except to prepare an environment which satisfies his needs, and to remove obstacles which may bar his way to perfection."

"The child... in his eagerness for knowledge has revealed himself as a true son of that humanity which has been throughout centuries the creator of scientific and civil progress."

"The child?s conquest of independence begins with his first introduction to life. While he is developing, he perfects himself and overcomes every obstacle that he finds in his path. A vital force is active within him, and this guides his efforts towards their goal. It is a force called the ?horme?, by Sir Percy Nunn."

"The child?s progress does not depend only on his age, but also on being free to look around him."

"The children have shown love of work which no one suspected to be in them, and a calm and an orderliness in their movements, which surpassing the limits of correctness have entered into those of 'grace.' The spontaneous discipline and obedience which is seen in the whole class, constituted the most striking results of our method."

"The children must be free to choose their own occupations, just as they must never be interrupted in their spontaneous activity."

"The children of three years of age in the Children's Houses learn and carry out such work as sweeping, dusting, making things tidy, setting the table for meals, waiting at table, washing the dishes, etc ., and at the same time they learn to attend to their own personal needs, to wash themselves, to take showers, to comb their hair, to take a bath, to dress and undress themselves, to hang up their clothes in the wardrobe, or to put them in drawers, to polish their shoes . These exercises are part of the method of education, and do not depend on the social position of the pupils; even in the Children's Houses attended by rich children who are given every kind of assistance at home, and who are accustomed to being surrounded by a crowd of servants, take part in the exercises of practical life . This has a truly educational, not utilitarian purpose . The reaction of the children may be described as a burst of independence of all unnecessary assistance that suppresses their activity and prevents them from demonstrating their own capacities. It is just ? these independent children of ours who learn to write at the age of four and a half years, who learn to read spontaneously, and who amaze everyone by their progress in arithmetic."

"The children were truly converted. They passed from a state of grief to happiness. They were freed from numerous, deep-seated defects. But there was also something more. Certain traits which are commonly esteemed also disappeared. In dazzling fashion these children showed that men have erred and must be completely renewed."

"The child's development follows a path of successive stages of independence, and our knowledge of this must guide us in our behavior towards him. We have to help the child to act, will and think for himself. This is the art of serving the spirit, an art which can be practiced to perfection only when working among children."

"The child's first instinct is to carry out his actions by himself, without anyone helping him, and his first conscious bid for independence is made when he defends himself against those who try to do the action for him."

"The child's progress does not depend only on his age, but also on being free to look around him."

"The child's true constructive energy, a dynamic power, has remained unnoticed for thousands of years. Just as men have trodden the earth, and later tilled its surface, without thought for the immense wealth hidden in its depths, so the men of our day make progress after progress in civilized life, without noticing the treasures that lie hidden in the psychic world of infancy."

"The concept of an education centered upon the care of the living being alters all previous ideas. Resting no longer on a curriculum, or a timetable, education must conform to the facts of human life."

"The Cosmic Plan can be presented to the child, as a thrilling tale of the earth we live in."

"The development of the individual can be described as a succession of new births at consecutively higher levels."

"The didactic materials control every error. It is precisely in these errors that the educational importance of the material lies."

"The directress must intervene to lead the child from sensations to ideas."

"The education of a very small child does not aim at preparing him for school but for life."

"The education of even a small child, therefore, does not aim at preparing him for school, but for life."

"The education of the senses makes men observers."

"The elementary child has reached a new level of development. Before he was interested in things: working with his hands, learning their names. Now he is interested mainly in the how and why...the problem of cause and effect."

"The environment itself will teach the child, if every error he makes is manifest to him, without the intervention of a parent or teacher, who should remain a quiet observer of all that happens."

"The essence of independence is to be able to do something for one?s self."

"The essence of independence is to be able to do something for one?s self. Adults work to finish a task, but the child works in order to grow, and is working to create the adult, the person that is to be. Such experience is not just play... it is work he must do in order to grow up."

"The essential reform is this: to put the adolescent on the road to achieving economic independence . We might call it a school of experience in the elements of social life."

"The essential reform of our plan from this point of view may be defined as follows: during the difficult time of adolescence it is helpful to leave the accustomed environment of the family in the town and go to quiet surroundings in the country, close to nature. Here, an open-air life, individual care, and a non-toxic diet, must be the first considerations in organizing a center for study and work."

"The essential thing is to arouse such an interest that it engages the child?s whole personality."

"The exercises of practical life are formative activities, a work of adaptation to the environment. Such adaptation to the environment an efficient functioning therein is the very essence of a useful education."

"The first aim of the prepared environment is, as far as it is possible, to render the growing child independent of the adult."

"The first duty of the educator, whether he is involved with the newborn infant or the older child, is to recognize the human personality of the young being and respect it."

"The first idea the child must acquire is that of the difference between good and evil."

"The first phase of the child's development goes from birth to, let us say, six years of age. At this stage the child is partly at home, partly in school. The plane of education should take both the situations into consideration."

"The first step we must take in our method is to call to the pupil. We call now to his attention, now to his interior life, now to the life he leads with others."

"The first thing his education demands is the provision of an environment in which he can develop the powers given him by nature. This does not mean just to amuse him and let him do what he likes. But it does mean that we have to adjust our minds to doing a work of collaboration with nature, to being obedient to one of her laws, the law which decrees that development comes from environmental experience."

"The first thing required of a teacher is that he be rightly disposed for his task...it is not sufficient to have a merely theoretical knowledge of education."

"The first thing to realize about these exercises of practical life is that their aim is not a practical one. Emphasis should be laid not on the word 'practical' but on the word 'life'. Their aim (as of all the other occupations presented to the children in their prepared environment) is to assist development."

"The fundamental principle in education is the correlation of all subjects and their centralization in the cosmic plan."

"The fundamental principle of scientific pedagogy must be, indeed, the liberty of the pupil;?such liberty as shall permit a development of individual, spontaneous manifestations of the child's nature."

"The greatest of the human personality begins at the hour of birth, so education must start from birth."

"The greatest sign of success for a teacher is to be able to say, "The children are now working as if I did not exist.""