The free child being chiefly concerned with gaining experience is important because actual experience is the foundation for complete living, which is vital for later building
Because actual experience is the foundation for a complete living, and the stronger the foundation the better the result of later building
They were equally surprised and gratified
Because actual experience is not at all related to the foundation of living
Because the building of a character is the premise for later gaining of experience
Why is the free child being chiefly concerned with gaining experience so important for later building?
The accepted aim of the educational profession is the training of character and conduct but we often act as if we care only for economic values
The aim is to discover a new and complex world of people and things
Teaching economic values
Teaching complex aspects of people and things
The training of character and conduct
What is the accepted aim of the educational profession versus what we too often act as if we care for?
That the child gains experience
Freedom of speech
Experience
Dialogue and reasoning
The young child and the teacher both highly value what?
Watching the free child may not help the educator
Because this way she will discover how best she can help him
Because the aim of education is watching, not intervening
The educator watches the child see how best she can help him. Once she finds out his needs then she can impart her special part of the whole work
Because this way the child can teach to the teacher
How does watching the child help the educator find their special part of the whole work?
Education is about economic values, but practice focus on character
Education is about training character and conduct, but practice cares too often only for economic values
Education focus on people, but practice focus on things
How do the aims of education and the actual practice differ?
By watching the free child
By guiding every step of the child education with advice and command
Officials
By watching the child
By watching the free, unfettered by advice or command child
By asking herself what she would do in the place of the child
How can a teacher discover the best way to give a strong foundation for complete living?
How best to grow up fast
Her beliefs, which are providing raw material and opportunities for experience
Economic values and character traits
If the teacher of young children is to live up to our educational profession, what must she teach?
The physical training versus the spiritual training
The spiritual training versus the physical training
The accepted aim is the training of conduct and character versus the economic values to be gained
The training of character and conduct versus the emphasis on economic values
Tell what is the accepted aim of education versus the actual practice of it.
In actual practice, however, we act too often as if we only cared for economic values.  If we are to live up to our educational profession, we must look our aim in the face and honestly practise what we believe.  While training of character and conduct is the accepted aim for education in general, to make this useful and practical each teacher must fix her attention on how this ultimate aim affects her own special part of the whole work.  By watching the free child she will discover how best she can help him: he knows his own business, and when unfettered by advice or command shows plainly that he is chiefly concerned with _gaining experience_.  He finds himself in what is to him a new and complex world of people and things; actual experience is the foundation for a complete living, and the stronger the foundation the better the result of later building.  _The first vital principle then is that the teacher of young children must provide life in miniature; that is, she must provide abundant raw material and opportunities for experience_. 