The assumption of the _culture epochs_ is that the growth of moral and
secular ideas in the race, represented at its best, is similar to their
growth in children, and that children may find in the representative
historical periods select materials for moral and intellectual nurture
and a natural access to an understanding of our present condition of
society. The culture epochs are those representative periods in
history which are supposed to embody the elements of culture suited to
train the young upon in their successive periods of growth. Goethe
says, "Childhood must always begin again at the first and pass through
the epochs of the world's culture." Herbart says, "The whole of the
past survives in each of us," and again, "The receptivity (of the
child) changes continually with progress in years. It is the function
of the teacher to see to it that these modifications advance steadily
in agreement with these changes (in the world's history)." Ziller has
attempted more fully to "justify this culture-historical course of
instruction on the ground of a certain _predisposition_ of the child's
mental growth for this course." Again, "We are to let children pass
through the culture development of mankind with accelerated speed.
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