FIRST STEPS IN EDUCATION

The first process of education is obviously not a mental process. When a mother talks to a baby, she is not encouraging its little mind to think. When she is coaxing her child to walk, she is not making a theoretic exposition of the science of equilibration. She crouches before the child, at a little distance, and spreads her hands. “Come, baby — come to mother. Come! Baby, walk! Yes, walk! Walk to mother! Come along. A little walk to its mother. Come! Come then! Why yes, a pretty baby! Oh, he can toddle! Yes — yes — No, don’t be frightened, a dear. No — Come to mother — ” and she catches his little pinafore by the tip — and the infant lurches forward. “There! There! A beautiful walk! A beautiful walker, yes! Walked all the way to mother, baby did. Yes, he did — ”