The importance of the culture epochs for schools lies in the theory,
accepted by many great writers, that children in their growth from
infancy to maturity, pass through a series of steps which correspond
broadly to the historical epochs of mankind. A child's life up to the
age of twenty, is a sort of epitome of the world's history. Our
present state of culture is a result of growth, and if a child is to
appreciate society as it now is, he must grow into it out of the past,
by having traveled through the same stages it has traced. But this is
only a very superficial way of viewing the relation between child and
world history. The periods of child life are so similar to the epochs
of history, that a child finds its _proper mental food_ in the study of
the materials furnished by these epochs. Let us test this. A child
eight years old cares nothing about reciprocity or free silver, or
university extension. Robinson Crusoe, however, who typifies mankind's
early struggle with the forces of nature, claims his undivided
attention. A boy of ten will take more delight in the story of King
Alfred or William Tell than in twenty Gladstones or Bismarcks. Not
that Gladstone's work is less important or interesting to the right
person, but the boy does not live and have his being in the Gladstonian
age.
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