ool should not be a preparation for life: a school should be life.
The Kindergarten Idea, among other things, suggests that a child should
never know he is in school.

The discipline is kept out of sight, and the youngster finds himself a
part of the busy life. He blends in with the others, and works, plays
and sings under the wise and loving care of his "other mother," the
teacher. He is living, not simply preparing to live. All life should be
joyous, spontaneous, natural. The Rousseau Idea, which was modified and
refined by Froebel, is the utilization of the propensity to play.

Major von Humboldt found a man who was saturated with the true Froebel
spirit, although this was before Froebel was born.

The man's name was Heinrich Campe. Heinrich was hired to superintend the
education of the Humboldt boys. That is to say, he was to become
comrade, friend, counselor, fellow-scholar, playmate and teacher.

Play needs direction as well as work. Campe played with the boys. They
lived with Nature--made lists of all the trees at Tegel, drew sketches
of the leaves and fruit, calculated the height of trees, measured them
at the base, and cut them down occasionally, first sitting in judgment
on the case, and deciding why a certain tree should be removed, thus
getting a lesson in scientific forestry.

They became acquainted with the bugs, beetles, birds and squirrels. They
cared for the horses, cattle and fowls, and best of all they learned to
wait on themselves.

Campe told them tales of history--of Achilles, Pericles and Caesar. Then
they studied Greek, that they might read of Athens in the language of
the men who made Athens great. They translated "Robinson Crusoe" into
the German language, and Campe's translation of "Robinson Crusoe" is
today a German classic. It was all natural--interesting, easy. The day
was filled with work and play, and joyous tales of what had been said by
others in days agone.

"Teach only what you know, and never that which you merely believe,"
said Rousseau.

There is still a cry that religion should be taught in the public
schools. If we ask, "What religion?" the answer is, "Ours, of course!"

Religious dogma, being a matter of belief, was taught to the Humboldts
as a part of history.

So these boys very early became acquainted with the dogmas of
Confucianism, Mohammedanism, Christianity. They separated, compared and
analyzed, and saw for themselves that dogmatic religions were all much
ali