38 THE NATURE-STUDY IDEA 



accomplishes anything; but the mistakes will be 

 relatively few: he will at once admit the mistakes 

 and correct them when they are discovered, and 

 the pupils will catch his desire for accuracy and 

 admire the sincerity of his purpose. Pity the 

 man who has never made an error ! 



The teacher often hesitates to teach nature-study 

 because of lack of technical knowledge of the 

 subject. This is well ; but technical knowledge 

 of the subject does not make a good teacher. 

 Expert specialists are so likely to go into mere 

 details and to pursue particular subjects so far, 

 when teaching beginners, as to miss the leading 

 and emphatic points. They are so cognizant of 

 exceptions to every rule that they qualify their 

 statements until the statements have no spirit and 

 no force. There are other ideals than those of 

 mere accuracy. In other words, it is more 

 important that the teacher be a good teacher 

 than a good scientist. One may be so exact that 

 his words mean nothing. But being a good 

 scientist ought not to spoil a good teacher. 



The Integument-Man sees the little things. 

 The child sees the big things. Ask a child to 

 describe a house, or to draw one. 



The Integument-Man teaches details, and his 

 teaching is " dry." The child wants things in the 

 large ; when it gets into the high school or college 

 it may carry analysis and dissection to the limit. 



The Integument-Man teaches science, although 

 it is not necessarily the best science. The child 

 wants nature. 



