Education in Early Childhood

Useful practical steps toward a better school

The child is the foundation upon which society is built, and upon the goodness of this foundation, the firmness of its making, and the soundness of its planting depends the structure of the future, be it good or bad.

And just as any building whose foundation is not good and firm cannot stand before the sweeping storms, whirlwinds, and earthquakes, so the structure of society collapses quickly before the whirlwinds of life and its hardships if its foundation is corrupt and weak. That is why we see that the advanced nations have come to give great care to the education of the child, so as to build their society upon a strong foundation that can remain firm and coherent before the shocks of life.

If we cast a comprehensive, searching glance at the condition of our children — these gushing springs of life — we find that we have not given them their due of care and attention, that they might water our coming society with their sweet, pure waters. Nor have we organized their upbringing on modern scientific principles, that they might represent the forces of the future, able to undertake great tasks and to carry heavy burdens.

And I say with regret that the ideal education of the child is unknown in our Middle East.

The education of children begins in earliest childhood at home and in the kindergartens, then in school; and in these three environments children are affected by what they are taught so profoundly that it shapes their lives in the future.

Do housewives, then, perform what is asked of them toward these children, in great duty and responsibility? Does the mother help her child in the growth of his faculties, the flowering of his gifts, and the turning of his inclinations toward the side of good? Does the mother think of supplying her child every morning with what he needs to begin an active, cheerful, productive day?

It is education that bestows good things when it is sound; and it is education that entrenches bad qualities in the young, and wrongs them and their society, when it does not proceed by correct methods that achieve our aims in producing the good citizen. What, then, are the aims we have laid down for the forming of the future that will carry the burdens of the homeland and spread comfortable living among the people? The scholars of education say that the child's nature is at first pliable to an almost unbelievable degree. The great mass of children is material for the forming of a good citizen — or for the turning out of a criminal.

Children carry tender hearts in which there are many springs of goodness and founts of beauty; it is the educators' duty, then, to grant these tender hearts abundant care, and to spread joy and love in their atmosphere, so as to make the child's life run a good course, and to fill his small world with tranquillity and safety. By this guidance, this tranquillity, and this safety, his life is settled upon a firm foundation that helps him to live a life in which he masters difficulties when they are not at his side.

The ideal upbringing is for the child to be reared in an atmosphere of gladness, far from vexation and worry, which harm the thriving of the child's growth, cloud the clearness of his mind and the goodness of his character, and expose him to psychological complexes that do him great injury in his future life. And if we watch closely the gradual growth of children, we find that they rush forward with eagerness and courage to explore; their thirst for knowledge makes them take interest, if we open a box before them, in learning what is in it. And if we wish their love of exploration to be fruitful, we must join it to a skilled method for the acquiring of knowledge.

Children love to imitate those who are older than themselves, and therefore our conduct before them must accord with what we want of them. We ask the child to behave according to the rules of good manners, while we do not bring these near to him. We ask him to love us without doing anything for him that would win us his love; and very often we press him insistently with questions he is unable to answer, and we say things about him in his presence that wound him, and we sometimes boast of our victory over him in a cutting manner that would drive us out of grown-up society. And how often we quarrel before him, as though it did not concern him to see his beloved elders each wounding the other's feelings. And with all this we expect him to be thoughtful, well-mannered, loving toward us and toward other children. I do not know what makes us ignore the reality and the importance of the child's feelings, as though he neither heard nor saw nor felt — or rather, as though our words, our deeds, and the state of mind we are in did not concern him. The truth is that all of these affect his feelings

profoundly, to a depth we do not know, and stamp themselves upon his soul more easily than the plain phrases by which we mean to direct and guide him.

And we cannot begin to help this small child unless we take into account the daily happenings that pass before him, our personal conduct, and the phrases we let fall casually in his presence.

And just as the child needs the gentleness of his environment, its security, and its cheerfulness, for the refinement of his character and the polishing of his instincts, so he needs abundant insight and close attention for the growth of his mind, the growth of his body, and the refreshment of his spirit, whether at home or at school.

We want the child to be reared in a sound education, and to grow used, in keeping with this education, to thinking honestly and to acting with firmness, balance, and courage when the problems of life take him by surprise. Sound education is that which develops the child and accustoms him from an early age to the bearing of responsibilities and to leadership. It is the duty of home and school, then, to work together to create a well-mannered, cultivated generation; and learning must go hand in hand with education for the forming of the personality that grows in childhood, so that it may reach the highest summit in manhood.

What we lack in our homes and our schools is the skilled education that trains mind, spirit, and body, so as to prepare the child to become a complete man who can think, resolve, work, and produce good. We are in need of an education that instills the spirit of independence, encourages the kinds of self-activity in the child, works for the development of his personality, and gently directs his faculties to profit from the information offered him, so that he grows used to solving his daily problems by himself; and that plants in him the love of perfection, of goodness, and of productive work.

And if we want to obtain a strong, active generation, freed from superstitions, diseases, ignorance, and poverty, strong in confidence in itself and in the future of its country, then we must reform the worn-out foundations of education and raise them to a sounder and better state — and thereby we shall prepare comfortable living, happiness, and good for the nation.