AN APPEAL FOR THE KINDERGARTEN.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19173, 2 December 1927, Page 11

AN APPEAL FOR THE KINDERGARTEN.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE PRESS. Sir, —During the years that my father, Alfred Saunders, was chairman of the North Canterbury Board of Education, he was sometimes accused of departing from his steadfast principle of the strictest economy in the expenditure of public money, and to this criticism he would always reply, "There is no economy in refusing to spend money on the education necessary to the' health, happiness, and future welfare of our children." These words of his have often recurred to me since I heard that the Minister for Education has decided to close the public kindergartens in the four centres, Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin. Those who have had the pleasure and privilege of watching the work carried on j'n the Christchurch public kindergartens can sympathise with the despair ex-' pressed at this decision by the mothers of the little ones, who, instead ol delightful, educational, and healthful play, in lofty, airy rooms, would, if it be carried out, be again condemned to the dreary choice of a stuffy, overcrowded kitchen, a tiny backyard, or a street full of fiangers from bicycles, automobiles, and tram-cars. In one of her illuminating essays on education, Helen Keller says: "Fresh air and love and sunshine are more essential to children than any kind of scholarship." • May I ask the Minister to consider for one moment how sufficient fresh air and sunshine can possibly be obtained bv children living in such conditions as do many even in this relatively fortunate City? All of us who have eves to see at all have been saddened bv the sight of wizened little old men and women sitting with their feet in the gutter sucking utnvhole-some-looking sheets or quarrelling with each other over some broken old toy. Will vou allow me a little space in which" to show the difference between such children and those whose happy lot has led them to one of our public kindergartens which, a short time ago, I had the pleasure of visiting? When I (an unexpected guest) entered the room, some twenty or thirty dear wee mites, many of them poorly clad but all looking as fresh and sweet as a posv of flowers, were sitting down to their morning lunch at a low table that thev had nicely laid and prettily decorated with flowers themselves. In addition to nnv little lunch they might have brought with them from home, each child was provided with an apple, and their table manners were siinph deMitful. Lunch finished, the table was" cleared away, plates and cups washed, tablecloth neatlv folded, and floor carefully swept all by httle men und women whose beaming faces betokened almost bursting pride and importance in their clever domest c exploits. Then followed a same of nla> on a big square"or carpet spread on the floor where the babies crawled and .relied about in a way that must have been splendid for the deveopuient of their muscles. There were three rockKor*s in the room, and hese were evidently the favourite *£ there was no quarrelling. K the, little voices became too shrill, the teacher voufd strike a note on the piano and ins ant silence would ensuo. Then a verv gentle voice would say I want nv dnhTren to let me hear their pretty viW' and immediately every little hov and girl would hush any querulous ol 3 «Sh tones. After the little ones hnd enlovod a thoroughly good "go as vmi Dlea«* as long as you are kind JS-«ntte" olay, the motherly teacher presided verv sweetly over a number 1 c li™ni«Ad cames. cad one of which l°ve g ved ticf good wholesome teaching that it is difficult to understand

how some people can say of such instruction that it is "only play." May I, before concluding this long letter, tell just one incident illustrative of the value of this play? A pretty doll is used as an agent to convey to the children an illustration of the correct method of dealing with even smaller babies than themselves. One of the little scholars belonging to the class to which I have referred, anxiously watched her mother washing the baby and during the process (which was not conducted quite according to the Plunket methods) sprang up eagerly and exclaimed, "Mummie, that's not the way to do it. Let me show you!" Will the few hundred pounds saved by the closing of our public kindergartens be a real economy, or shall we have to pay it many times over in the future in "meeting the increased expenses of our hospitals and gaols?— Yours, etc., ANN SAUNDERS. 69 Mar's road, PaDanui, Dec." Ist, 1927.