Chapter II: Children Are Born Persons 33

1.--_The Mind of a Child_: The baby, more than a huge
oyster--Poets on infancy--Accomplishments of a child of
two--Education does not produce mind--The range of a child’s
thoughts--Reason and imagination present in the infant--Will and
wilfulness.

2.--_The Mind of a School-Child_: Amazing potentialities--Brain,
the organ of mind--The “unconscious mind,” a region of
symptoms--Mind, being spiritual, knows no fatigue--Brain, duly
fed, should not know fatigue--A “play-way” does not lead to
mind--Nor does environment--Mind must come into contact with
mind--What is mind?--Material things have little effect upon
mind--Education, the evidence of things not seen--Ideas, only fit
sustenance for mind--Children must have great ideas--Children
_experience_ what they hear and read of--Our want of confidence
in children--Children see, in their minds--Mind, one and works
altogether--Children must _see_ the world--Dangers of technical,
commercial, historical geography--Every man’s mind, his means
of living--All classes must be educated--The æsthetic sense--A
child’s intellect and heart already furnished--He learns to order
his life.

3.--_Motives for Learning_: Diluted teaching--_Every_ child has
infinite possibilities--The Parents’ Union School--The House of
Education--Teachers must know capabilities and requirements of
children.