It is to be lamented that most of the schools connected
with the
established church are managed by women only, whilst the schools
connected with the dissenters are generally conducted by a man and
woman; the consequence is, that the children educated under the
dissenters will be better taught than those connected with the
established church, which is an error I should be glad to see remedied
as soon as possible. I have no need to speak in favour of infant
school masters, as many of them have been the greatest enemies I ever
had, whilst on the contrary, the mistresses have generally been very
friendly to me, and not been subject to those petty jealousies which
the masters have too frequently evinced; nevertheless, the subject
treated of in this place involves a principle which cannot be conceded
without doing great injury to the infant system, and on those grounds
I advocate the necessity of a master in conjunction with the mistress.
Many teachers, and other persons who have written on the subject, have
talked largely of making improvements, whilst the hints given in this
book have been entirely neglected; as this was the first book that
ever was written on the subject, and the writer of it the first man
that ever brought the thing practically to bear, it sounds a little
odd, that people should talk about improvements before they have
pointed out the errors of the original inventor. Others again have
borrowed largely from me, and have neither had the good manners nor
the common honesty to say from whence they got their information.
Societies have been formed at the eleventh hour, after the infant
system had been twenty years in practice, who puff off books written
by some of their own members, which do not contain the original idea,
whilst my books, for some cause best known to themselves, have never
been recommended, or indeed ever mentioned, though I could take page
after page from those modern writers on the subject, and justly claim
them as my own. This is not what one ought to expect amongst people
who call themselves Christians: a truly good man is delighted to do
justice to his fellow-men, because in doing so, he never fails to
obtain justice himself; but there are some persons whose minds are so
truly selfish that they cannot see how good can accrue to themselves,
if they do what is right to others: and I regret to say I have met
with not a few, who have been engaged in the art of teaching, who have
been guilty of the mean and contemptible conduct I have hinted at
above, and it is to deter others from falling into the same errors
that I have ventured to allude to this subject at all. It would be
invidious to mention names, which I could very easily do, and should
this be persisted in, if I am spared, I shall most certainly mention
the parties by name. I would not be understood to say that no
improvements can be made in the infant system: far from it. No doubt
it will be improved, and that to a great extent; but that will only
be
in process of time, and by practical people, who understand more
of the nature of the infant mind than I do, and may hereafter have
greater experience than I have had; but they must work hard for it,
as I have done, and be doers as well as talkers: and when I see such
improvements made, I trust the Almighty will enable me to be the first
to acknowledge them. At present, however, though I have travelled over
a large space, and visited many hundred schools, and also opened many
hundred, and have not yet seen the mighty improvements of which I have
read so much, and I do beg that those teachers who may be engaged in
the system will be kind enough to try my plans, prior to introducing
so many crotchets of their own. They are to recollect we never intended
to make prodigies of the little children; it never was our
object to teach them things that were only fit for men and women: the
fact must never be lost sight of that they are infants, and that as
infants they must be treated.
It is very easy for any one to theorise, and form schemes for the
education of children, and to introduce changes which may appear
beneficial. Fancy is very prolific, and a number of books may easily
be read, and yet the right knowledge not be gained. The chief book
to be studied is the infant mind itself, considered as a great and
wonderful work of the Creator, with a sincere desire to know all
its faculties and powers, and the various simple laws by which its
operations are governed. The teacher ought also to turn his thoughts
within himself, to study his own mind, especially in his recollections
of very early childhood, and the modes by which knowledge is gradually
acquired. These things, carefully and dilligently done, will give more
information on the proper method of educating and developing the young
mind than the perusal of a hundred volumes. This I have endeavoured
all my life to do, and have had to deal with many thousands of children
who have been to me a book for constant study. From this extensive observation
and experience, all my plans have been formed, and my opinions derived.
If any one has done the same, or more, to him I will gladly concede;
but I am not aware that any one individual, not even Pestalozzi, has
run a similar career.
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