Excerpt from Child Study, 1909, Vol. 1: The Journal of the Child Study Society

Beach was elected Chairman, and the two bodies arranged to work together in the matter of lectures, petitions to Parliament and investigation.

Eventually an amalgamation took place, and the Childhood Society and the London Branch of the Association now form a constituent society under the title of The child-study Society, London. Doubtless the sum Of the valuable work done by each Of these societies in the past, will be surpassed by their combined efforts in the future. The term z'mogm'ta Of the child is under these agencies being rapidly explored. It is now recognised that the child differs from the adult, not only in degree but in kind. Its ways are not our ways nor its thoughts our thoughts. The child is nearer to the future of the race than the man, and it has been touchingly and truly remarked by Miss Mason, that the child is as a prince committed to the fostering care of peasants. The Calvinistic idea that education must of necessity be painful has at last been discarded. Roger Ascham long ago remarked that young children were sooner allured by love than driven by beating to attain good learning. It is doubtful if a great man ever accomplished his life work without having reached a play interest in it. Thanks to the advance Of child-study, organised games are now recognised in the Code as a means Of education. How different is this from the ascetic and unholy View that Play of every sort should be forbidden, its vanity and folly should be explained to the child, with warnings how it turns the mind away from God and eternal life and works destruction to their immortal souls. In joy the thoughts are richer, and under the accompanying exaltation Of the faculties new acquirements become infinitely easier. Moreover play affords the best means Of self-expression, for, as the old adage has it, the characters of'children reveal them selves whilst they are playing. It is of course not to be implied that education should be all pastime the joy of overcoming is a natural instinct, and there is a keen delight in surmounting hills Of difficulty. Aristotle touched a fundamental truth when he observed that pleasure accompanies the action Of a healthy faculty on its appropriate Object. In the unfolding of the mind there is something of the gladness of creation. It is written that when the foundations Of earth were laid the morning stars sang together and all the sons Of God shouted for joy. In this View the labours of both child and teacher are lightened, exalted and sanctified. Education becomes a matter of normal evolution instead of being remedial. It is no longer, as under the former pessimistic theory, primarily designed to eradicate the assumed naturally bad disposition Of the infant. Thanks to the labour of the two Societies and kindred Institutions, it is now recognised that it is no longer sinful to be a child.

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