IV  CHILD  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION

The  Boston  study  was  made  possible  by  the  generosity  of
Mrs.  Pauline  Agassiz  Shaw,  the  founder  of  the  kindergarten
system  of  that  city,  and  by  the  devoted  labors  of  four  of
the  best  of  her  experts,  headed  by  Miss  S.  E.  Wiltse  and
Miss  L.  H.  Symonds,  who  under  my  direction  devoted  months
of  careful  and  conscientious  work  to  collecting  the  material.
This  paper  has  been  republished  several  times  in  English,  and
translated  in  whole  or  in  part  into  several  foreign  languages.
As  here  presented,  I  have  enlarged  it  by  incorporating  the
results  of  all  other  similar  tests  of  value  that  I  know  of  up  to
date.  As  children's  mental  content  differs  much  in  different
localities,  it  has  often  been  suggested  that  some  such  survey
of  children  just  entering  school  should  be  undertaken  in  every
community,  in  order  that  the  teacher  may  know  just  what
knowledge  and  ignorance  can  be  assumed  as  a  basis  of  teaching.
This  has  sometimes  been  done  in  such  a  way  as  to  secure
these  practical  advantages  to  the  teacher,  but  by  methods  not
accurate  enough  to  give  scientific  results.  A  recent  official
report  shows  that  children  who  enter  the  schools  of  London
late  tend  to  surpass  those  who  enter  early,  because  the
former,  under  the  educational  influences  of  the  street,  have
acquired  a  number  of  facts  and  concepts  which  constitute
apperception  organs  that  enable  them  better  to  assimilate  the
material  of  instruction.
The  article  on  "  The  Psychology  of  Daydreams "  shows
how  the  spontaneous  imagination  of  children  often  gives  us
a  picture  of  the  purest  natural  internal  growth  of  the  soul.
