CHAPTER II

CHILDREN ARE BORN PERSONS 33

1.--_The Mind of a Child_: The baby, more than a huge oyster--Poets on infancy--Accomplishments of a child of two--Education does not produce mind--The range of a child’s thoughts--Reason and imagination present in the infant--Will and wilfulness.

2.--_The Mind of a School-Child_: Amazing potentialities--Brain, the organ of mind--The “unconscious mind,” a region of symptoms--Mind, being spiritual, knows no fatigue--Brain, duly fed, should not know fatigue--A “play-way” does not lead to mind--Nor does environment--Mind must come into contact with mind--What is mind?--Material things have little effect upon mind--Education, the evidence of things not seen--Ideas, only fit sustenance for mind--Children must have great ideas--Children _experience_ what they hear and read of--Our want of confidence in children--Children see, in their minds--Mind, one and works altogether--Children must _see_ the world--Dangers of technical, commercial, historical geography--Every man’s mind, his means of living--All classes must be educated--The æsthetic sense--A child’s intellect and heart already furnished--He learns to order his life.

3.--_Motives for Learning_: Diluted teaching--_Every_ child has infinite possibilities--The Parents’ Union School--The House of Education--Teachers must know capabilities and requirements of children.