Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 263, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 November 1916 — MING TODAY'S BOYS AND GIRLS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

MING TODAY'S BOYS AND GIRLS

How the Infant May Be Started in the Ways of Culture. ART, LITERATURE AND MUSIC Let the Child Know All He Can of These If You Would Refine His Appreciation and Discover His Capacity.

By SIDONIE M. GRUENBERG. SOME time during the last century parents with solicitude for the higher life of their children, and with the means to give the children fuller opportunities, discovered that training In the “arts” would add both to the enjoyment of life and to the esteem of their fellows. But in providing the instruction in music or painting they had resort to musicians and painters. And these specialists in art taught the children from the point of view of training specialized performers, which most of the children were never going t<> be-

come. The result was in most cases a rather superficial accomplishment, which had, Indeed, its social value, but which meant very little either as performance or as enrichment of life. Several things have happened to make us change our attitude in these matters. With all the bad performing, extending to ever larger circles_pf our population, there cafme a more critical recognition of the real quality of our vulgarized playing and painting. There came also, quite incidentally as it were, a growing appreciation of the arts —the mechanical reproduction of good music and of good pictures being very largely responsible for this, in making accessible to almost every person the opportunity to hear and see the best as well as the tawdry. Moreover, our thinking about the development of the mental and emotional life, as problems in education and training, has brought us to a realization of the more valuable part of the child’s contact with art forms.

We are thus in a position to look upon the arts in the life of the child in terms of enlarging the child’s life, and not in terms of performIng for the approval or admiration of others. And we are in a position to think of the training from the professional side. If then we still place before the child the clay or the paint brush, the piano or the violin, It Is not so much In the hope of making a name for the family. Rather Is it In the expectation that the child may thus be enabled to find himself, that he may acquire further means of expression, that he may add to his enjoyment of life through acquaintance with the emotional resources of the various arts. For most children, that is, the study of music and drawing should be not primarily for the purpose of cultivating technical proficiency, but for the purpose of cultivating deeper appreciations through an understanding of form, design, etc. This is quite the same as our teaching of literature to children. Some of them may become creative artists —and this often in spite of the schooling—but for most children we hope merely to increase and to refine the appreciation of good literature. Both for the purpose of refining the appreciation and for the purpose of

discovering the child’s capacities we should provide as many points of contact with art expression as we can possibly command. If you provide piano .lessons for your child, even though you do so Just bpcause everybody is doing it, it is well. If you provide dancing lessons, or singing, or painting, it is well. If you provide two or three or four opportunities, it is still better.' But how can we afford all these things for every child, and how can the child possibly get the time for all these various “lessons”? If we attempted to add these special lessons to the full day, we should be attempting the Impossible; nor would this be desirable if we could manage it. The aim should be rather to imrnrporate the arts into the life of the child, as we already do in part The handwork of the early school year—clay modeling and beadwork, for example—and the music the young child hears are, together with his other activities and experiences, of the very substance of bls life. When we undertake to cultivate the arts for dur children outside of school the most important consideration in the seledion of instructors is commonly considered to be the artistic arhtovMneut or the standing in their crafts Bui more imnortant for our

I purpose la the teacher's character, hist attitude toward children. We may in-' deed find a talented artist who is also a satisfactory teacher; but the combination is extremely rare."" The accomplished artist is likely to see in the pupil a potential performer or creator, and to have little patience whdla the syipptoms of talent are slow to manifest themselves. When talent Is discovered it will be time enough to train for specialization. Whether we provide special instruction for children or not, we can at least put forth an effort to make the surroundings in the home contribute as much as possible to the cuitivation of taste. This requires an effort, but is worth what it costs. Unless we have well-developed tastes and standards ©unlives we are very easily imposed upon, by the “fashions” and by the tendency to Imitate, often unconsciously, those for whom we have some regard. If we devote some thought to the children’s dress and to the way our rooms are furnished, we shall be carrying on an education in art. This does not mean that we must buy only the expensive or the fashionable. It means taking the trouble to find out what is best. It is possible to get cheap reproductions of the best pictures, just as we can get cheap editions of the world’s best books. In the matter of pictures, it is well to have before the child only a few at a time, and to change them at intervals. For this purpose frames with removable backs may be used, or a screen made of burlap stretched on a wooden

frame. Let us remember that the younger children are likely to see very little In a black-and-white picture until after colored pictures have made them familiar with seeing the world in a fiat surface. We must do what we can to expand the child’s horizon by visits to the museums; by providing opportunities to see and hear the best that the human spirit has brought forth. But we must not overlook the fact that the most continuous and the most impressive molders of his tastes lie in the immediate surroundings—his clothes and his furniture—his books and his conversation, and his opportunities to express himself through his own activities.

To Look Upon the Arts Not in Terms of Performing for the Admiration of Others.

When Talent Is Discovered It Will Be Time Enough to Train for Specialization.