To understand the education of the young child, something must be known of his world—the society in which he lives—and of his nature, his characteristics, and the manner in which he grows. Knowledge of the manner in which.he gains competence and security through learning underlies insight into his adjustment. The organized experiences which facilitate this adjustment come to the child through the teacher.

The learning theories presented in the earlier sections of this book are concerned primarily with the problem of the organization of behavior patterns in concrete situations. They seek to show why we re- member one word rather than another, how we attain skill in arithmetic, spelling, or reading, how control of a golf club or of a baseball bat is achieved, how problems are solved, how concepts or principles come to be understood, etc. All of these can be viewed as the attainment of proficiency or mastery within a more or less circumscribed area of the individual's life experience. In some degree, learning theory also takes account of the manner in which acquired patterns transfer from one situation or circumstance to another. It has been, however, but little concerned with the inter-relationship of learnings to one another and their contribution in a broad sense to the whole process of adjustment.

Before discussing the relationship of the subject matter of the school curriculum to developmental level, it is necessary that we know something of the course of development in the child. In recent years many centers for child study and many individuals have been so active in collecting data that much more information is available now than a decade or two ago. It is the purpose of this section of the Yearbook to present in broad outline the growth and development of the child from birth to adult life. This general material will serve as a back- ground for the more specific discussions that follow.

The amount of research on the development of spoken language is so great that it is impossible within a brief space to give an adequate or detailed summary of it. There are at least twenty-five major summaries or bibliographies, each of which integrates the results of a large number of specific studies. The most recent and complete of these is that by McCarthy in the Murchison Handbook (27). Although it does not pretend to cover all studies, it lists 236 in its bibliography. The following summary, then, is exceedingly compact and can make reference to only a few studies.

Our whole view of the complex subject of this chapter will be clarified if we constantly bear in mind the fact that every curriculum and every placement of subject matter represents a compromise between the child's abilities and interests and the demands of society. At an age when he is, perhaps, but poorly equipped for the material he is required to master, a child may have to learn some things that will make him function more efficiently in the surroundings in which he finds himself at the moment or will find himself later.