Froebel as a pioneer in modern psychologyMurray, E. R. (Elsie Riach)
Science
Froebel as a pioneer in modern psychology
Murray, E. R. (Elsie Riach)
Fröbel, Friedrich, 1782-1852; Psychology
The proof of whether or not the educator has succeeded in rightly
adjusting the claims of freedom and authority, Froebel expresses in words
recalling Kant’s, “When the ‘Thou Shalt’ of the Law becomes the ‘I will’
of the doer, then we are free.”
“In good education, in genuine instruction, in true teaching,
necessity must and will call forth freedom, law will call forth
self-determination, and outer compulsion inner free-will.
“Where necessity produces bondage, where law brings fraud
and crime, and outer compulsion causes slavery, there every
effect of education is destroyed. There oppression destroys and
debases, severity and harshness bring obstinacy and deceit, and
the burden is more than can be borne.”--_E., p. 14._
To emphasize the fact that Froebel did realize the importance of
environment, and to anticipate the criticism that this shortened
rendering is an interpretation in the light of modern educational
theories, of Froebel’s somewhat cumbrous phrases, we can turn to a
passage in his later writing, part of which has been quoted elsewhere:
“Through the child’s efforts to repel that which is contrary to
the needs of his life, indignation and discontent are awakened;
and on the other hand, from the fact that his normal desires
are ungratified, they become inordinate and mischievous. How
may parents avoid these evil results? Most satisfactorily
through a threefold yet single glance at life. Let them look
into themselves, and their own course of development and its
requirements, let them recall their own earliest years, then
later stages of development, and look deeply into their present
life. Next, let them look equally deeply into the life of
the child and what he must require for his present stage of
development. Having scrutinized what the child needs, _let them
scrutinize his environment_, and first observe what it offers
and does not offer for the fulfilment of such requirements.
Let them utilize all offered possibilities of meeting normal
needs; and when such needs cannot be met, let them recognize
this fact, and show the child plainly the impossibility of
their fulfilment. Finally, let them clearly recognize whatever
_in the child’s environment_ tends to awaken antagonism and
discontent, remove it if it be removable, and admit its defect
if it be not removable.”[53]--_P., p. 167._
It is, of course, true that Froebel was pre-Darwinian in time, but it is
equally true that he was post-Darwinian in many of his beliefs.
To find out whether or not his educational doctrines are really based
on false or exploded theories of development, as the Criticism of Mr.
Graham Wallas implies, we must gather together from Froebel’s various
writings, his most important references to the subject.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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