hool is being looked to as the place where specialized training must
be given. The trade school can succeed a little, but its effectiveness
will always be limited by the narrow technical character of its
instruction, which makes the "continuation" school generally preferable.
The high school is not a separate institution, but an integral part of
the school system. In a high school, therefore, the children should move
naturally from the studies of the elementary grades to more advanced
studies, but the purpose of both elementary and high schools is the
same--the preparation of children for living.

Children have needs which the schools are here to supply. Certain of
these needs are common to all children, and to that extent all schools
must provide similar training. Other needs, varying with the size and
character of the community, call for a like variation in the course of
study.

CHAPTER IV

PROGRESSIVE NOTES IN ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

I The Kindergarten

No single chapter can contain all of the progressive notes that are
being sounded in American Elementary Education; yet it is possible,
after some arbitrary picking and choosing, to describe a number of the
most typical and most successful educational innovations. At the bottom
of most up-to-date elementary school systems is the kindergarten. Not so
often as it might be, but still frequently, the child begins school work
there. The games, the songs, the children's sports of these kindergarten
years, make a joyous entry-way into the grades. In Gary the kindergarten
child sees life. The flowers, leaves, grasses, lichens, fruits,
butterflies, moths, and birds are usually brought to the classroom. The
Gary children go on expeditions to explore nature's wonderland, besides
making excursions to squares, parks, and to the open country. The
kindergartners of Cincinnati plant tulip bulbs in the city parks, and
visit farms in order to have a chance to meet the farm animals. Singing,
visiting, playing, shaping, building, the kindergarten child sees life
on many sides. Perhaps, finally, other cities following the lead of
Cincinnati will introduce the kindergarten spirit and kindergarten
activities into the lower grades where they will clarify an atmosphere,
fetid and dank with concepts which to the six-year-old are meaningless
abstractions.

II Translating the Three R's

At best the kindergarten reaches but a few. Even in cities which boast
of a system of organiz