THE OPINIONS AND EXPERIENCES OF TEACHERS 



AND INSPECTORS. 



Extracts from Letters received in answer to the first 

 Macdonald Leaflet on Nature Study. 



" Withi7i a short distance of our School, we found stratified rocks 

 showing marble and limestone ; a perfect miniature glacier ; a canyon 

 forming the gorge of a little Niagara ; rochs in all stages from blocks 

 6 ft. by 8ft. on the hillside, to the finest sediment on the plain below ; 

 roots petrified by the action of lime in the soil. Tlius we saw in our 

 own little world tlic action of the same forces as are seen in the Alps, 

 in Colorado, in the Nile and Ganges, or in the fossils of past ages." 

 (Condensed). 



" Every Friday afternoon he devoted to this study, but it did not 

 meet with the approval of the parents or Trustees. The objection was 

 that He was filling tf/e children s lieads with nothing but nonsense 

 about lueeds luhen tJiey should be learning A ritlimetic and Writing,' and 

 so of course Mr. Blank got his discharge." 



" Wfiat is the attitude of the teachers ? Never hear them mention 

 it except luhen ive appear at a Convention, and we hear a lecture on it 

 and it is good, then we say so and forget all aboat it." 



" What are the most serious hindrances 1 Downright neglect of the 

 teachers, also no definite luork to do on the subject. It betters discipline 

 by making the teacher and pupil more conversant." 



" The teachers are luilling, but they do not know how to set about 

 the luork intelligently. TJiey are so ivilling, and the clamor for some 

 such ivorkhas been so incessant that they are ready to follow any method 

 that o^ers. I do not think that the ivord ' clamor ' is too strong. I have 

 talJced to many intelligent people in rural districts, and while there is 

 no demand for such a thing as Nature Study (becauf^e they do_ not know 

 it by this name), there is a strong feeling thai much of tfte time of the 

 child could be put to more profitable use, and that education should be 

 of more practical service." 



" I have Jieard the question asked repeatedly, How are we to teach a 

 subject about luhich we Icnow less than the pupils ? How can ive act as 

 guides where we know nothing ?" 



" In the schools I have, for over h%lf a century, endeavored to 

 imveave the methods of Nature with the ordinary methods. In the Press 

 and on the Platform, I have strenuously urged a revolt against the old 

 Par^rotism luhich made Memory a lumber garret and Heart and Intellect 

 rooms to let ; and a loyal return to the long outraged Queen, a submissive 



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