comstock] INFLUENCE OF NATURE-STUDY IDEA 9 



must read, why should he not read something related to his own 

 interests? The child must write, why should he not write con- 

 cerning that which he knows? In learning to read and to write 

 let the child follow the history of the race, for language either oral 

 or written was invented or evolved because of the human need 

 to express ideas. And if the child must draw, let him draw the 

 thing as he sees it in the world of things as they are to him. And. 

 thus, let him keep pencil and brush as means of self-expression. 

 Nature-study is, perhaps, the most universal and natural means 

 which the teacher has, for keeping language work and drawing 

 mediums for self-expression. 



As an aid in establishing discipline nature-study has a wide 

 influence. First, by its own inherent qualities it takes a pupil 

 away from the drill of the routine work, changes the trend of his 

 thought at a time when his nerves and also the teacher's nerves 

 need to have the tension relieved. Thus by an entire change of 

 thought, it affords a mental and spiritual rest; for, when nature- 

 study is at its best the child is quite unconscious of mental effort. 

 But, perhaps, it gains its greatest disciplinary value by compelling 

 the teacher to say frankly to the child's questions " I do not know." 

 It is true that the saying of " I do not know" by a teacher has been 

 a stumbling block to the introduction of nature-study. The 

 teacher was unwilling to put herself in such a position before her 

 pupils, but many of them have now learned to say it with 

 confidence and a graciousness that takes the child by the hand 

 and, as a companion, leads him out into the realm of the unknown, 

 where the two may discover the answers to the questions together. 

 This good comradeship is a most valuable asset to the wise teacher 

 enabling her to avoid those conflicts which are so destructive to 

 discipline and also to the teacher's influence. 



Professor Bailey says "the purpose of the nature-study move- 

 ment is to enable every person to lead a richer life whatever his 

 profession may .be." The nature-study idea stands fundamen- 

 tally for human comradeship with the life out-of-doors and 

 this idea was from the first a large factor in the Country Life 

 Movement. First of all, in this regard, nature-study literature 

 and its effect deserves mention. Formerly there was no way 

 for the untrained person to become trained in the study of natural 

 objects except through the laboratories of schools and universi- 

 ties. And even with this training he might be quite unequal to 

 this enterprise. I knew a man once, who did a notable research 



