Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76question: where does a child come from before he or she rests in our arms? George MacDonald suggests an answer: Where did you come from, baby dear? Out of the everywhere into the here. And William Wordsworth, in his poem Ode: Intimations of Immor- tality, reminds us that we come to earth “trailing clouds of glory. . . . Heaven lies about us in our infancy.” We hold the newborn and sense her great journey. She is full of life’s possibilities, like a bud ready to open, petal by petal. How can we think, a few years later, that all this glory can be reduced to a series of test scores? Education is caught in a great denial of what it means to be a full and integrated human being. It is time to be grateful for every child who comes before us, and for the wonder of human life itself. Wordsworth speaks of this gratitude in the closing lines of his Ode: Thanks to the human heart by which we live, Thanks to its tenderness, its joys, and fears, To me the meanest flower that blows can give Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.  boundaries and guidelines, yet give them as much freedom to explore as they can handle. They need us to be both strong and compassionate, people who under- stand the importance of living a life that is good and beauti- ful and true. And they need our faith in their ability to find their own way in life, so they can fulfill their own unique purpose. In short, they need us to strive to become full human beings, so we can help them do the same. What does it mean to be a full human being? It means that our whole nature is activated and integrated – our thinking, our feeling, and our willing. Individuals may be naturally more gifted in one area than another, but all of these ele- ments are necessary for a full life. Being human means we have body, soul, and spirit, and we embrace the heavenly world as we do the earthly. We stand like a bridge between the two; our feet curve gently to touch the earth, and our heads reflect the dome of the sky. In between, our hearts reach out to one another. Such a picture of humanity raises the It’s time to be grateful for every child who comes before us, and for the wonder of human life itself. Friedrich Fröbel  Protect the new gener- ation; do not let them grow up into emptiness and nothingness, to the avoidance of good hard work, to introspection and analysis without deeds, or to mechanical actions without thought and consideration. Guide them away from the harmful chase after outer things and the damaging passion for distrac- tion. . . . I would educate human beings who stand with their feet rooted in God’s earth, whose heads reach even into heaven and there behold truth, in whose hearts are united both earth and heaven. Friedrich Fröbel, who created the concept (and the name) of the kindergarten, was a nineteenth-century German educator (see page 6). He emphasized the value of teach- ing the “whole child” through active play, creativity, music, art, and hands-on learn- ing. With his unique ability to interpret life through a child’s experience, he paved the way for many successful efforts in educa- tion today, influencing John Dewey, Maria ­ Montessori, and the Waldorf movement. www.froebelweb.org. Fröbel’s words opposite are from his book The Education of Man, quoted in J. C. Arnold, Their Name Is Today (Plough, 2014). Educating the Whole Child