The labors of Madam Montessori have aroused
an unusual interest among Americans. Already
her theories and practices are a frequent subject
for investigation and discussion in meetings of
teachers and parents.
Among a considerable number of laymen and a
smaller number of teachers, the interest amounts
to enthusiasm. The doctrines of the Italian edu-
cator are so warmly espoused by some that
schools modeled on the plan of the Casa dei
Bambini have been established in various parts
of the country, where they rival and challenge
the existing kindergartens and primary schools.
To many of its adherents this movement consti-
tutes an educational revolution which in time
will completely change the education of children.
The interest of the teaching profession as a
whole is not marked by any such self-committal.
The teachers are concerned to know the meaning
of this agitation and are professionally curious
to ascertain its worth for them. They are critical,
if not skeptical; and they ask that the signifi-
cance of this new expression of educational the-
vii
EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION
ory be presented in terms of its practical bearing
upon the teaching procedure commonly em-
ployed with young children. They are tolerant
enough of new dogma and experiment; but they
possess a common-sense caution against a too-
ready acceptance of them. They prefer to exam-
ine a new program element by element, reserving
the privilege of selecting and rejecting as their
judgment decides. They would weigh every item
of t the idealistic projects of radicals and even
of the practical successes of experiments born
among the differing conditions of foreign soil.
Willing enough to admit that any new move-
ment may contain factors that will aid in educa-
tional evolution, they are not of the type com-
pletely to let go of one institution in order to
seize another. They prefer the safer position of
being reconstructors of the old.
While admitting the value of both types of
thinkers and workers in the whole method of
educational advance, it is to the relatively large
group of public-school teachers and superintend-
ents that this volume is addressed.
The smaller class of heroic enthusiasts that
become the more or less partisan leaders and fol-
lowers of a new propaganda are not likely to be
interested in a critical analysis of the particular
viii
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