The peculiarly non-invidious trend of the kindergarten discipline, and
the similar character of the kindergarten influence in primary education
beyond the limits of the kindergarten proper, should be taken in
connection with what has already been said of the peculiar spiritual
attitude of leisure-class womankind under the circumstances of the
modern economic situation. The kindergarten discipline is at its
best--or at its farthest remove from ancient patriarchal and pedagogical
ideals--in the advanced industrial communities, where there is a
considerable body of intelligent and idle women, and where the system of
status has somewhat abated in rigor under the disintegrating influence
of industrial life and in the absence of a consistent body of
military and ecclesiastical traditions. It is from these women in easy
circumstances that it gets its moral support. The aims and methods of
the kindergarten commend themselves with especial effect to this class
of women who are ill at ease under the pecuniary code of reputable life.
The kindergarten, and whatever the kindergarten spirit counts for
in modern education, therefore, is to be set down, along with the
"new-woman movement," to the account of that revulsion against futility
and invidious comparison which the leisure-class life under modern
circumstances induces in the women most immediately exposed to its
discipline. In this way it appears that, by indirection, the institution
of a leisure class here again favors the growth of a non-invidious
attitude, which may, in the long run, prove a menace to the stability
of the institution itself, and even to the institution of individual
ownership on which it rests.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account