Project Gutenberg's Children and Their Books, by James Hosmer Penniman

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

Title: Children and Their Books

Author: James Hosmer Penniman

Release Date: September 15, 2007 [EBook #22604]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHILDREN AND THEIR BOOKS ***

Produced by Suzanne Lybarger and the booksmiths at
http://www.eBookForge.net

CHILDREN AND THEIR
BOOKS

BY
JAMES HOSMER PENNIMAN, LITT. D.

[Illustration: School Bulletin Publications emblem]

SYRACUSE, N. Y.
C. W. BARDEEN, PUBLISHER

Copyright, 1921, by C. W. BARDEEN

CHILDREN AND THEIR BOOKS

The most vital educational problem will always be how to make the best
use of the child's earlier years, not only for the reason that in them
many receive their entire school training, but also because, while the
power of the child to learn increases with age, his susceptibility to
formative influences diminishes, and so rapid is the working of this
law that President Eliot thinks that

"the temperament, physical constitution, mental
aptitudes, and moral quality of a boy are all well
determined by the time he is 18 years old."

Great waste of the child's time and mental energy in the precious
early years is caused by disregard of the way in which his mind
unfolds. Not only are children set at work for which they are not yet
fitted, but frequently they are kept at occupations which are far
below what they might profitably engage in. The child should be
guided, not driven; to force his mind is an educational crime. Long
continued attention and concentration are injurious, but by using tact
a great deal may be accomplished without strain.

At first the aim should be not so much to fill the mind with knowledge
as to develop the powers as they are ready for it, and to cultivate
the ability to use them. The plasticity of the child's mind is such
that a new impression may be erased quickly by a newer one; his
character receives a decided bent only through repeated impressions of
the same kind. The imaginative faculty is one of the earliest to
appear, and a weakness