11. What are some of the results to be expected in the Beginners Age?
Lesson 4
The Primary Age—Six to Nine
11. General Characteristics of the Primary Age.—The Beginner is easily traced in the Primary child, but more developed and stronger. Two general characteristics may be specially mentioned:
(1) Broader interests. Curiosity is increasingly active concerning things with which the senses come in contact, yet the child in the Primary period is able to reach beyond that which he can see or handle. He cares nothing for abstractions like missions, or patriotism, or temperance, but his interest is genuine in the people and actions back of the abstraction. It is a law of the soul that interest in a certain thing will extend to other things related to it. This makes it possible for the teacher to take the child far into the field of knowledge, provided the starting-point be something in which the child is naturally interested.
(2) Greater mental power. While the child does not reason as an adult, he enjoys thinking for himself. The Primary teacher who gives him predigested lessons, tells him everything in the picture, asks no questions, and does not lead him on to arrive at any conclusions for himself, not only fails to obtain results that are possible, but really retards the child's development. Personal effort must precede increase of strength in soul as well as body.
12. Special Characteristics of the Primary Age.
(1) Physical activity. In place of the restlessness of the preceding period, activity directed toward more definite ends appears. It is very important that the activity be expended rightly, since its use in every action strengthens some one of the rapidly forming habits.