What is Nature-Study? 13 



indefiniteness and haziness of ideas in persons 

 who have their theory before they have their 

 facts. They do not have their feet on the 

 ground. They do not drive stakes; or if they 

 do, they ponder the method until the operation 

 becomes lifeless. For nature subjects, the first 

 essential is an intense love of nature; the best 

 training is to acquire the actual facts and to 

 know the subject, and then to go out and teach, 

 with only the slightest burden of self-conscious- 

 ness as to the propriety of the theoretical 

 methods. I do not doubt the value of the 

 psychological study of education, and all teach- 

 ers should profit by a discussion of educational 

 history and method; but I greatly doubt the 

 advisability of filling a young teacher full of 

 metaphysics. A teacher may safely theorize 

 and speculate after he has learned how to teach. 

 Of the criticisms on this book and on my gen- 

 eral attitude toward nature-study teaching, the 

 most important is that I insist too much on spon- 

 taneousness and informality and thereby provide 

 an excuse for lazy or indifferent teachers who 



