THE CHILD UNDER EIGHT.
By E. R. MURRAY,
Vice-Principal of Maria Grey Training College; Author of "Froebel as a Pioneer in Modern Psychology," etc.,
AND
HENRIETTA BROWN SMITH, LL.A.,
Lecturer in Education, Goldsmith's College, University of London; Editor of "Education by Life."
Crown 8vo. Cloth. 6s. net.
The authors of this book deal with the young child at the outset of its education, a stage the importance of which cannot be exaggerated. The volume is written in two parts, the first dealing with the child in the Nursery and Kindergarten, and the second with the child in the State School. Much that is said is naturally applicable to either form of School, and, where this is so, repetition has been avoided by means of cross references.
The authors find that the great weakness of English education in the past has been want of a definite aim to put before the children, and the want of a philosophy for the teacher. Without some understanding of the meaning and purpose of life the teacher is at the mercy of every fad, and is apt to exalt method above principle. This book is an attempt to gather together certain recognised principles, and to show in the light of actual experience how these may be applied to existing circumstances. They put forward a strong plea for the recognition of the true value of Play, the "spontaneous activity in all directions," and for courage and faith on the part of the teacher to put this recognition into practice; and they look forward to the time when the conditions of public Elementary Schools, from the Nursery School up, will be such—in point of numbers, space, situation and beauty of surroundings—that parents of any class will gladly let their children attend them.