THE NURSERY SCHOOL

The institutionalized form of educational service serving the youngest age group is the nursery school, which usually accepts children between the ages of two and four. The nursery school is a relatively new organization an facilities of this type are by no means widespread throughout the country.
There are two justification for an institution to serve the needs of very young children. In the first places, industrial organization is employing the services of an increasing number of women. Many of these women workers are mothers of young children of preschool age, and some custodial arrangement for the care of such children is necessary if the mothers are to carry on their employment outside the home. In the second place, psychological studies have shown that many mental disorders which appear in adults have their origins in unfortunate environmental conditions or experiences during the first few years of childhood. By means of an institutional organization such as the nursery school undesirable tendencies can often be discovered early and plans worked out for their correction.
It is important to note, therefore, that the nursery school is a product of two different force: the demands of modern social and economic organization, and the knowledge produced by scientific study of children development. In the program of the nursery school the emphasis, so far as the child is concerned, is chiefly on the development of good health habits and on social training. No attempt is usually made to lay any groundwork of intellectual instruction, but great care is taken to teach the young child to work and play amicably with the other children in the school. The physical and mental health of the child is carefully watched, and the daily schedule requires periods of rest and gives attention to the development of other health habits.

Almost equally important with the care and training given the child in the nursery school is the instruction given the parents whose children are in attendance. The school at best can influence the lives of children for only a small part of the day and the responsibility for making effective much of the training that is given lies with at home. Many of the nursery schools are organized on a co-operative basis: under this plan the mother is required each week to spend some time int the school, ostensibly for the purpose of helping with the work, but also the the usually unexpressed purpose of providing an opportunity for parent education. Other more direct methods are frequently used by the nursery schools to instruct parents regarding the proper care of their young children, such as individual conference and group meetings at which child problems are discussed. A plan some times followed involves the keeping of a complete record of everything said by each child during given period: the parents may then be informed of psychological significance of the child's reactions.
The nursery school has developed principally outside the regular school system. The public-school organization has not generally accepted this new institution; educational authorities have been loath to take on the added burden of providing nursery-school services for young children. The statement is commonly made that the funds provided for maintaining the regular school system are not sufficient and that to take some of these funds for the provision of new service, the value of which has not been proved by years experience. The personnel of the public-school system, is not well equipped by training or experience to conduct the kinds of service demanded in the nursery school. For these, relatively few nursery schools have thus far been incorporated as regular of the public-school system.