Much work shares in the
defects of existing industrial society -- defects next to fatal
to right development. Play tends to reproduce and affirm the
crudities, as well as the excellencies, of surrounding adult
life. It is the business of the school to set up an environment
in which play and work shall be conducted with reference to
facilitating desirable mental and moral growth. It is not enough
just to introduce plays and games, hand work and manual
exercises. Everything depends upon the way in which they are
employed.
2. Available Occupations. A bare catalogue of the list of
activities which have already found their way into schools
indicates what a rich field is at hand. There is work with
paper, cardboard, wood, leather, cloth, yarns, clay and sand, and
the metals, with and without tools. Processes employed are
folding, cutting, pricking, measuring, molding, modeling,
pattern-making, heating and cooling, and the operations
characteristic of such tools as the hammer, saw, file, etc.
Outdoor excursions, gardening, cooking, sewing, printing,
book-binding, weaving, painting, drawing, singing, dramatization,
story-telling, reading and writing as active pursuits with social
aims (not as mere exercises for acquiring skill for future use),
in addition to a countless variety of plays and games, designate
some of the modes of occupation.
The problem of the educator is to engage pupils in these
activities in such ways that while manual skill and technical
efficiency are gained and immediate satisfaction found in the
work, together with preparation for later usefulness, these
things shall be subordinated to education -- that is, to
intellectual results and the forming of a socialized disposition.
Pages:
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322