but one

process of

the accompanying phenomenal expressions. Thus education is Education but a phase of the general process of evolution; it is a develop- phase of the ment by which the individual comes into realization of the life unified of the all-encompassing unity of which he is but a unit; a growth or development by which his life broadens until it has related itself development to nature, until it enters sympathetically into all the activities of society, until it participates in the achievements of the race and the aspirations of humanity..

The essential idea of the Education of Man Froebel states as follows: "God neither ingrafts nor inoculates. He develops the most trivial and imperfect things in continuously ascending series, and in accordance with eternal, self-grounded and selfdeveloping laws." Education is but the realization of the evolutionary process in its highest stage as revealed in the individual human being. Thus Froebel, first of all, states the view of education which is yet to prevail.

Education is

the highest

phase of the

process of

evolution

of the idea of

functioning

in the genera!

evolution

Self-activity as the Method of the Process.- In emphasizing Importance the principles of self-activity as the method by which this development proceeds Froebel again indicated that he participated in the dominant thought-life of the early nineteenth century. He was moreover the first to make application of these ideas, common to philosophy and to science, to the problems of education. In the department of scientific thought the old idea of the hard-and-fast classification of forms of life had given place to a more general belief in the idea of development of lower forms into higher and of the connectedness of all forms of life. In this respect the general introduction of the term biology to indicate a general science of living forms is significant. At this time (1802-1809) Lamarck had advanced his theory that the higher forms of life developed from the lower, through the use and disuse of organs. This was but a special application of the principle of self-activity. Previously, evolution had been explained by such scientists or philosophers as believed in it by the varying influences of external conditions, such as climate. With Lamarck, the organism itself became the

Lamarck's

use and dis

chief factor. As the use of the arm or of any particular muscle theory of the of the body will produce a corresponding development, so the use of organs effort of an organism to use any organ in a particular direction will produce a corresponding development; and conversely, its disuse will cause a proportionate atrophy.

as a means

of evolution

This theory

with that of self-activity

The prevailing philosophy of the times, especially as Froebel ing identical accepted it, held that there is a fundamental unity in all things, a permanent principle in all changes and forms of life. There is a single formative energy which reveals itself in nature, that is in external life, as force, and in consciousness of the inner life, as mind. This energy, as intelligence in the individual, builds up for itself its own world. The self- the mind is not so much possessed of activity as it is activity. Through this activity it realizes itself, builds up its own world, becomes conscious of itself, and works out its own destiny. This is true both in the intellectual and moral application.

Self-activity

at Froebel's

school at Keilhau

Self-activity

of self

realization

In his early educational work, Froebel realized the significance of this principle when applied to educational method. At Keilhau in 1825 a hostile government inspector had been compelled to comment as follows:

"Self-activity of the mind is the first law of this instruction; therefore the kind of instruction given here does not make the young mind a strong box, into which, as early as possible, all kinds of coins of the most different values and coinage, such as are now current in the world, are stuffed; but slowly, continuously, gradually, and always inwardly, that is, according to a connection found in the nature of the human mind, the instruction steadily goes on, without any tricks, from the simple to the complex, from the concrete to the abstract, so well adapted to the child and his needs that he goes as readily to his learning as to his play."

A few words further will indicate somewhat more clearly is the process the educational significance of self-activity as the principle of method. Froebel emphasizes at every point that self-activity is the process by which the individual realizes his own nature, by which he builds up his own world or representation of the external, and by which it unites and harmonizes the two.

through the union of

nature and humanity

Thus the life of the individual is the process: (1) by which he knows nature, or the objective world; (2) by which he comes to know his own nature; and (3) by which he becomes a part of the life of both nature and humanity. In all of this the individual has determined his own activities and is free. So far as he works under compulsion of external force he fails to realize this unity.

of self

activity

Self-activity is activity determined by one's own motives, The nature arising out of one's own interests, and sustained by one's own power. It alone can produce this evolution of mind, it alone can secure that which is held to be the aim of education. Such activity is in a way compelled, since it is in response to the inherent nature of being and of the individual; but as the individual responds only in obedience to the force felt within his own nature, and not to one from without, such activity is free it is self-activity. Because such activities are free, and at the same time take place according to law, the laws of one's own nature, it is possible to formulate them and to accept them as a guide to all educational work. Thus it follows that all processes of instruction must start from or originate with Instruction this volitional interest of the child. Beginning with his spontaneous activities, action may be sustained and may be stimulated toward certain ends that have far more permanent value than such activities undirected or uninfluenced.

must be based upon the interest and activity

of the child

self-activity to be used in

Not only does the tendency inherent in the child's nature Forms of relate to conduct and action, but the child reveals the same spontaneous effort to indicate its conception of things, to reveal the school the processes of its own mind. It attempts through this revelation to bring about a harmony between the world of thought and the world of external reality. Such spontaneous efforts constitute self-activity, and give to the teacher the opportunity for instruction; that is, for creating a fuller harmony between the inner and the outer, between thought and the external world, than the child unaided would be able to do. Thus for the school, self-activity means this desire of the child to enter into

Aim of edu

cation not found in

state, but in

the imme

diate development

of the child

the life of others and the life around it; the desire to help, to find out, to discover, to participate in common activities, to create, to discover the identity or connection between itself and the activities and processes of others - the discovery which constitutes knowledge.

Education is not a preparation for a future state. This life which the child seeks to enter is not the adult life, but the life some future around him. Education finds its meaning in the process, not in some condition remote and only real through the imagination. The aim of education is development, the process of education is development. In so far as the child enters to the full extent of his powers and his nature into unity with the life around him, the development of the present is secured. The development of the future is measured by the same standard. The aim of education is thus realized as fully in the child as in the adult. By basing education upon the activity of the child and gauging education by the child's self-activity, power of execution is developed to the same degree and in the same connection as the other acquisitions. There is no hiatus between knowledge and action; no conflict between theory and practice; no discrepancy between profession and deeds.

Power of doing developed along with

the process of acquisition

Froebel's conception of the school

Influence of Froebel on Educational Practice. The school, to Froebel, was a place where the child should learn the important things of life, the essentials of truth, justice, free personality, responsibility, initiative, causal relationship, and the like; not by studying about them, but by living them out. According to the fundamental idea of unity, the school was to be an institution in which each child should discover his own individuality, work out his own personality and develop his power of initiative and of execution. He was to do this through coöperation with others in similar endeavors, in work where interest was shared by all, responsibility borne by all and The school as rewards enjoyed by all. Mutual helpfulness was a constant

an epitome

of society

motive. The school, as the world, was to become a unified organism in which the units of developing individuality were to

find their perfection through participation in the life of the world. Thus the school becomes a miniature society. Education becomes a phase of life, not as a preparation but as an epitome.

mous with

Instruction is no longer synonymous with education, nor even Instruction with school work. It becomes the middle term of a process not synonywhich starts from the child's spontaneous activities and native education interests and terminates in some creative use or tangible expression of the knowledge imparted by instruction. Upon the native tendency is thus grafted a habit or custom, a mode of activity and of thought, which is approved as a desired educational end. Thus education seeks neither to eliminate nature, nor to leave it severely alone, but to help nature, — to guide it to ends higher than those it would reach unaided.

Play an important form ity to be education

of self-activ

used in

Play. As the most characteristic spontaneous activity of the child, play becomes the basis of the educational process in the early years. Resulting most directly from the native interests of the child, play furnishes the best natural stock upon which to graft the habits of action, feeling and thought approved by the educator. It is through play that the child first represents the world to himself. Consequently it is through play that the educator can give to the child the interpretation of life which he seeks to impart. Through it he can best introduce him into the world of actual social relations, give him the sense of independence and of mutual helpfulness, provide him with initiative and motivation and develop him as the individual constituting a unit in the social whole. Froebel did not stop with the theoretical demonstration of the educational value of play; he realized his ideas in the practical procedure of the kindergarten. Educational Value of Handwork. - Analogous to the use Manual of play is that of all forms of constructive work. As a motive representing the same spontaneity as play, as an activity repre- self-activity senting the concrete constructive process of making real an idea or a process of instruction, constructive work might form both the beginning and the end of the educational process.

activities as

a form of

to be used i education