The Child under Eight

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The Child under Eight

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Title: The Child Under Eight
Author: E.R. Murray and Henrietta Brown Smith
Release Date: November 11, 2003 [EBook #10042]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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THE MODERN EDUCATOR'S LIBRARY General Editor.--Prof. A.A.

COCK.

THE CHILD UNDER EIGHT

By
E.R. Murray
Vice-Principal Maria Grey Training College Author Of "Froebel As A
Pioneer In Modern Psychology," Etc.
AND
Henrietta Brown Smith
Lecturer In Education, University Of London, Goldsmiths' College
Editor Of "Education By Life"
"Is it not marvellous that an infant should be the heir of the whole
world, and see those mysteries which the books of the learned never
unfold? I knew by intuition those things which since my apostasy I
collected again by highest reason."
THOMAS TRAHERNE.
1920

THE MODERN EDUCATOR'S LIBRARY
_The following volumes are now ready, and others are in
preparation_:--
Education: Its Data and First Principles. By T.P. NUNN, M.A., D.Sc.,
Professor of Education in the University of London.

Moral and Religious Education. By SOPHIE BRYANT, D.Sc., Litt.D.,
late Headmistress, North London Collegiate School for Girls.
The Teaching of Modern Foreign Languages in School and University.
By H.G. ATKINS, Professor of German in King's College, London;
and H.L. HUTTON, Senior Modern Language Master at Merchant
Taylors' School.
The Child under Eight. By E.R. MURRAY, Vice-Principal, Maria Grey
Training College, Brondesbury; and HENRIETTA BROWN SMITH,
L.L.A., Lecturer in Education, Goldsmiths' College, University of
London.
The Organisation and Curricula of Schools. By W.G. SLEIGHT, M.A.,
D.Lit, Lecturer at Greystoke Place Training College, London.

EDITOR'S PREFACE
The _Modern Educator's Library_ has been designed to give considered
expositions of the best theory and practice in English education of
to-day. It is planned to cover the principal problems of educational
theory in general, of curriculum and organisation, of some unexhausted
aspects of the history of education, and of special branches of applied
education.
The Editor and his colleagues have had in view the needs of young
teachers and of those training to be teachers, but since the school and
the schoolmaster are not the sole factors in the educative process, it is
hoped that educators in general (and which of us is not in some sense or
other an educator?) as well as the professional schoolmaster may find
in the series some help in understanding precept and practice in
education of to-day and to-morrow. For we have borne in mind not
only what is but what ought to be. To exhibit the educator's work as a
vocation requiring the best possible preparation is the spirit in which
these volumes have been written.
No artificial uniformity has been sought or imposed, and while the

Editor is responsible for the series in general, the responsibility for the
opinions expressed in each volume rests solely with its author.
ALBERT A. COOK.
UNIVERSITY OF LONDON, KING'S COLLEGE.

AUTHORS' PREFACE
We have made this book between us, but we have not collaborated. We
know that we agree in all essentials, though our experience has differed.
We both desire to see the best conditions for development provided for
all children, irrespective of class. We both look forward to the time
when the conditions of the Public Elementary School, from the Nursery
School up, will be such--in point of numbers, in freedom from pressure,
in situation of building, in space both within and without, and in beauty
of surroundings--that parents of any class will gladly let their children
attend it.
We are teachers and we have dealt mainly with the mental or, as we
prefer to call it, the spiritual requirements of children. It is from the
medical profession that we must all accept facts about food values,
hours of sleep, etc., and the importance of cleanliness and fresh air are
now fully recognised. We do, however, feel that there is room for fresh
discussion of ultimate aims and of daily procedure. Mr. Clutton Brock
has said that the great weakness of English education is the want of a
definite aim to put before our children, the want of a philosophy for
ourselves. Without some understanding of life and its purpose or
meaning, the teacher is at the mercy of every fad and is apt to exalt
method above principle. This book is an attempt