Book Description

Excerpt from Francis W. Parker School Studies in Education, Vol. 8 Recent scientific investigation and research in educational fields has enabled teachers to measure the intelligence of children more accurately, to evaluate school subject matter better, and to test some kinds of school achievement. For such help we must be profoundly grateful; but there is some danger, it seems to me, of swinging too far in this direction, of allowing the mere gather ing of data to engross too much of the precious time of children. Moreover, in too many schools both teachers and children seem so concerned in getting control of tools that they have little time to use them constructively or for creative purposes. More than ever we need to keep our vision clear to the value of those elements in life and education which cannot be measured and which give to us all, big and little, the highest aspiration and inspiration, which create in us standards of taste and attitudes toward life which go far in protecting us from ugliness and sordidness in our environ ment. We believe that a study of such material as we cite tends to make us realize that creative expression is fundamental to the child's fullest development, to his happiness and his spiritual growth. All normal children have the right to live in a rich environment, to exercise to the full all their powers of expression, and to have every avenue to their souls open and in use. Not everyone can contribute to the permanent beauty of the world, but it is the privilege of every school to create conditions which should arouse each child to express freely in some chosen form his own best ideas, inspirations, and emotions. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.