if we attempt to
form conceptual systems of knowledge, such as all language and number
systems are, without first laying a sound perceptual basis, then we may
do much to hinder future mental growth, if we do not even inflict a
positive injury to the child. For the education of the senses neglected,
"all after-education partakes of a drowsiness, a haziness, and an
insufficiency which it is impossible to cure."[34]

On its moral and social side the aims of the Kindergarten School are no
less important. If left to follow the naive instinctive needs of his
nature and to gather experiences where and how he may, the child is
likely to make acquisitions which later may issue in wrong conduct.
Hence one aim of the Kindergarten is to present experiences which may
eventually issue in right conduct, and to prevent the acquisition of
experiences of an immoral kind. Hence also its insistence upon the need
of carefully selecting the environment of the young child, so that as
far as possible its early experiences--its first acquisitions--shall be
of a healthy nature. Moreover, by means of the organised activities of
the school, and by utilising the play-instinct of the child, it seeks to
form and establish certain habits of future social worth to the
community and to the individual. For, by means of the games and
occupations of the Kindergarten School, the child may first of all learn
what it means to co-operate with his fellows for a common end or
purpose; may learn to submit to authority which he dimly and
imperfectly, it may be, perceives to be reasonable; may be trained to
habits of accuracy, of order, and of obedience. Above all, the
Kindergarten system may rouse and foster in the mind of the child that
sense of a corporate life and of a common social spirit the prevalence
of which in after-life is the only secure foundation of society.

In England the extreme importance of the education of the infant mind
has been, in recent years, clearly acknowledged. The new regulations of
the Board of Education no longer allow children under five years of age
to be included as "an integral part of a three-R grant-earning
Elementary School." A special curriculum has been set forth for their
education. They are to have opportunities provided "for the free
development of their bodies and minds and for the formation of habits of
obedience and attention."[35] What are known as "Kindergarten
Occupations are not merely pleasant pastimes for childr