The Arts in Education

Eva Edwards Lovett made the following remarks in a presentation on the “Progressive Education Movement” to the Fulton County Pediatric Association:

“. . . schools where progressive education is practiced believe that every child has in himself or herself some power of self-expression, some ability to create. It may be with paint or clay, or hammer and saw; with music or the dance; with dramatic work or story or poem. Whatever be the medium, it is in the expression of these powers and frequently unsuspected abilities that there lies the chance for the greatest personal satisfaction.”

Progressive education knows that there is yet much to learn but it is eager and open-minded and keeps its eyes always on the child. Its ideal is that the child should be, in relation to the school, ‘Like a tree planted by the rivers of water, which bringeth forth his fruit in his season.’