Fundamental Factors in the Making of a Kindergarten Curriculum

Abstract

In the past, most curricula have been made to fit a theology or a philosophy. Today it is almost universally recognized that a curriculum should be made to fit the children who are to be affected by it. It is the crowning glory of the kindergarten that it has generally started its theories and its practice directly with the child and has studied to understand his nature and to meet his needs. Its successes have been based on the wisdom of its founder and on the splendid devotion of the master's followers; its mistakes have been the errors common to human nature. During the last twenty years we have had a great deal of really scientific study devoted to little children. On the whole, the results of this study agree with the teachings of Frederick Froebel; they restate the earlier discoveries of great educational leaders, with here and there a modification or an addition. This paper seeks to state the fundamental factors in the making of a kindergarten curriculum from the point of view of modern genetic investigations. If a scientist were set to study a child under six years old, the first thing to strike his attention would certainly be the marvelous activity of the specimen. He wriggles, squirms, gurgles, laughs, claps, creeps, walks, trots and tumbles about. He talks, cries, shouts, and rubs himself into every object he can reach, so that a student like Professor Dresslar is able to write a long 57 NUMBER 2