Chapter 10 Summary: Nature in EducationâAgricultural Labour: Culture of Plants and Animals
The Wild Boy of Aveyron - Lessons from Itard
⢠First example of positive pedagogy - Itard's work with the savage boy founded scientific education
"To this child are due the first steps of positive pedagogy. Itard, a physician of deaf-mutes and a student of philosophy, undertook his education with methods which he had already partially tried"
⢠Patience in observing natural expression - True teaching requires deep observation of the child
"Here is a sample of the admirably patient work of Itard as observer of the spontaneous expressions of his pupil: it can most truly give teachers... an idea of the patience and the self-abnegation necessary"
⢠Nature vs. civilization conflict - The boy loved storms, snow, moonlight but had to adapt to social life
"He had, so to speak, immersed himself in, and unified himself with, nature, taking delight in itârains, snow, tempests, boundless space, had been his sources of entertainment, his companions, his love"
⢠Gradual transition without violence - Itard adapted to the child first, then won him over to social life
"The gradual and gentle leading of the savage through all the manifestations of social life, the early adaptation of the teacher to the pupil rather than of the pupil to the teacher"
Human Development and Nature Connection
⢠Children are predominantly vegetative - Young children are closer to plant life than adult reasoning
"The advantages which we prepare for him in this social life, in a great measure escape the little child, who at the beginning of his life is a predominantly vegetative creature"
⢠Nature provides necessary life forces - Physical and spiritual development require contact with living things
"We have intimate communications with nature which have an influence, even a material influence, on the growth of the body"
⢠Modern education ignores spiritual needs - We treat children as "vegetating bodies" rather than souls
"We have not freed ourselves from the prejudice which denies children spiritual expression and spiritual needs, and makes us consider them only as amiable vegetating bodies to be cared for"
Agricultural Education as Soul Development
⢠Setting the child's soul in contact with creation - Spiritual growth through living nature
"It is also necessary for his psychical life to place the soul of the child in contact with creation, in order that he may lay up for himself treasure from the directly educating forces of living nature"
⢠Method: agricultural labor and animal care - Practical work with plants and animals
"The method for arriving at this end is to set the child at agricultural labour, guiding him to the cultivation of plants and animals, and so to the intelligent contemplation of nature"
Five Stages of Nature Education
First Stage: Initiation into Observation
⢠Child becomes observer of life - Learns to watch plants and animals with scientific attention
"The child is initiated into observation of the phenomena of life. He stands with respect to the plants and animals in relations analogous to those in which the observing teacher stands towards him"
⢠Appreciation of care received - Understanding plant care helps children value adult care
"Little by little, as interest and observation grow, his zealous care for the living creatures grows also, and in this way, the child can logically be brought to appreciate the care which the mother and the teacher take of him"
Second Stage: Auto-Education Through Responsibility
⢠Foresight through necessary care - Child learns vigilance through plant and animal needs
"When he knows that the life of the plants that have been sown depends upon his care in watering them... the child becomes vigilant, as one who is beginning to feel a mission in life"
⢠Voice of needy life teaches duty - Living creatures call child to responsibility without adult commands
"A voice quite different from that of his mother and his teacher calling him to his duties, is speaking here... It is the plaintive voice of the needy life which lives by his care"
⢠Natural rewards for care - Baby animals and growing plants provide authentic satisfaction
"The rewards which the child reaps also remain between him and nature: one fine day after long patient care... behold the little ones! behold a number of chickens peeping about the setting hen"
Third Stage: Patience and Confident Expectation
⢠Learning to wait for natural processes - Seeds, growth, and maturation teach patience
"When the children put a seed into the ground, and wait until it fructifies... they end by acquiring a peaceful equilibrium of conscience, and absorb the first germs of that wisdom which so characterised the tillers of the soil"
Fourth Stage: Feeling for Nature
⢠Trust and love for living creatures - Children naturally bond with life forms
"The child loves naturally the manifestations of life: Mrs. Latter tells us how easily little ones are interested even in earthworms and in the movement of the larvĂŚ of insects"
⢠Nature's generous response to care - Plants give far more than they receive
"When the child has cultivated the iris or the pansy... the blossomed flower and the ripened fruit offer themselves as a generous gift of nature, a rich reward for a small effort"
Fifth Stage: Following Human Evolution
⢠Individual recapitulates species development - Child's path mirrors humanity's journey from natural to civilized
"The child follows the natural way of development of the human race... Man passed from the natural to the artificial state through agriculture"
⢠Agriculture as bridge to civilization - Discovering how to intensify soil production led to civilization
"When he discovered the secret of intensifying the production of the soil, he obtained the reward of civilisation"
Practical Implementation
⢠Small spaces sufficient for spiritual education - Even a flower pot can serve the purpose
"Even if the vast stretch of ground and the large courtyard necessary for physical education are lacking... Even a pot of flowers at the window can, if necessary, fulfil the purpose"
⢠Individual garden plots - Each child has their own section of earth to cultivate
"We have divided into so many portions, reserving one for each child... the possessors of the earth (children from four years of age up), are sowing, or hoeing, watering or examining"
⢠Community respect for children's work - Parents stop throwing garbage when they see children's gardens
"Little by little, without any exhortation on our part, solely through the respect born in the people's mind for the children's labour, nothing more fell from the windows"
The Joy of Life Connection
⢠Silent contemplation of beauty - Children naturally drawn to observe living things
"One day I found them seated on the ground, all in a circle, around a splendid red rose which had bloomed in the night; silent and calm, literally immersed in mute contemplation"
⢠Constant care and attention - Children spontaneously check on their creatures
"Often it happens that a child absents himself for a long time and the teacher surprises him watching enchantedly the fish gliding ruddy and resplendent in the sunlight"
⢠Greatest festival of life - Birth of baby animals brings children profound joy
"The little pigeons were hatched. For the children it was a great festival. They felt themselves to some extent the parents of these little ones"