FOREWORD
《少儿艺术史》系列图书,系维吉尔希利尔开发出来,并由爱德华休伊最终完成的。巴尔的摩的卡尔弗特学校,以及该校的学生,构成了希利尔毕生为之奋斗的事业。希利尔是在马萨诸塞州的韦茅斯长大的。1897年,他毕业于哈佛大学;两年后,他便开始从事这种后来成了他职业生涯中的一种决定性挑战的职业了。当时,虽说还是个年仅二十四岁的小伙子,他却成了卡尔弗特学校那七十一名学生的校长,开始了一种充满了创新性和前瞻性思维的职业。
在希利尔担任校长的最初几年里,由于学生人数规模激增,所以卡尔弗特学校还修建了一栋新的教学楼。这栋大楼是一种典范,体现了旨在满足学生需要的教学规划:里面有一座用于演出和庆典的礼堂,有一间美术教室,还有一个用于呼吸新鲜空气、进行体育锻炼的屋顶花园。也正是在卡尔弗特学校历史的初期,即1906年,希利尔构想出并开始实施其家庭教育大纲;而直到如今,世界各地仍有成千上万的孩子,在根据这一大纲接受教育呢。
从许多方面来看,希利尔都是一个非常有远见的人。虽说本质上始终都是一位教师,但他需要负责制定教学方针和课程;而这些方针和课程,如今在卡尔弗特学校里依然能够看到。到了1924年,学校开始在第三栋,也就是目前这栋教学楼内上课的时候,他已经是一位令人敬重的作者,写出了许多关于教育理念和少儿历史的书籍,其中就包括这套《少儿艺术史》系列。他还是一位环球旅行家,是手下教师们的良师益友,并且成了教育理论界的一位领军人物。在长达三十二年的校长生涯
前 言
The Childs History of Art books were developed by Virgil M. Hillyer and completed by Edward G. Huey. Baltimores Calvert School and its students constituted Hillyers life work. Hillyer grew up in Weymouth, Massachusetts. Two years after graduating from Harvard in 1897, he took on what would become the defining challenge of his professional life. As a young man of only twenty- four years, he became Head Master of seventy-one students at Calvert School and embarked on a career filled with innovation and forward thinking.
Within the first few years of Hillyers leadership, the student body had grown so large that a new building was built. It was a model of educational planning designed to suit the needs of students, with an assembly room for plays and ceremonies, an art room, and a roof garden for fresh air and exercise. It was also during the early years of Calvert Schools history, in 1906, that Hillyer envisioned and began the Home Instruction program, which is still educating thousands of children around the world.
Hillyer was a visionary in many ways. Always a teacher at heart, he was responsible for establishing the educational principles and practices still in place today at Calvert School. By the time classes began to be held in the third and present building in 1924, he was a respected author of educational philosophy and childrens histories, including the Childs History of Art series. He was also a world traveler, a mentor for his teachers, and a