For action he takes special degrees, capacity, skill, trustworthiness; for perception, consciousness, insight, clearness.

Only the practical and clear-sighted man can maintain himself as a thinker, opening out as a teacher new trains of thought, and comprehending the basis of what is already acquired and the laws which govern it.
Froebel wishes to have the child regarded as a bud on the great tree of life, and therefore each pupil needs to be considered individually, developed mentally and physically, fostered and trained as a bud on the huge tree of the human race.

Even as a system of instruction, education ought not to be a rigid plan, incapable of modification, it should be adapted to the individuality of the child, the period in which it is growing to maturity, and its environment.

The child should be led to feel, work, and act by its own experiences in the present and in its home, not by the opinions of others or by fixed, prescribed rules.

From independent, carefully directed acts and knowledge, perceptions, and thoughts, the product of this education must come forth--a man, or, as it is elsewhere stated, a thorough German.