—F. Froebel.
“Between educator and pupil, between request and obedience, there should invisibly rule a third something to which educator and pupil are equally subject. This third something is the right, the best, necessarily conditioned and expressed without arbitrariness in the circumstances.”
—F. Froebel.
“The mother, with her monotonous daily round of cares and tasks, wishes that she could give more time to instructing her children. She forgets that her industry, fidelity, cheerfulness, hope, courage, faith, reverence, calmness, kindliness, and courtesy, are all reproducing themselves in the minds of her children. This is education for health, vigor, power, and efficiency, not merely for learning. It builds up instead of puffing up.”
—J. M. Tyler.
The Purposes of Education. Education is as comprehensive as life itself. The education of the child begins as soon as he is born. Every moment thereafter is bringing influences that are shaping his character and his mental life. The educator is the person who acts as a mediator between life and the child, selecting the environment and influences that will give the largest values, helping him utilize, discriminate, and interpret his own forces and those of the universe. The work of the educator is analogous to that of the physician or hygienist, who cannot give or increase life, but can help the individual find the conditions that will increase his own organic efficiency. Education by trial and error, which is the method by which the race has had to learn, is a slow, painful process. The purpose of education is to reduce the wastage of life through errors and to give all-around efficiency, valuable habits, vision (ideals, ambitions, perspective), and command of methods for continued learning. It should be a preparation for larger living, not merely for intellectual examinations or artificial tests.
Froebel, Hall, Dewey, Montessori. The following foundation principles are emphasized by these educational leaders:
1. The function of education, serving to meet vital problems and to increase both efficiency and richness of life
2. The comprehensiveness of education, dealing with the whole life of the child—his thinking, feeling, doing—during every moment of his life
3. The moral purpose of life and therefore of education