GEOGRAPHY 233 



thetic person. The time required for an excursion is cer- 

 tainly an important consideration ; but does not the trouble 

 in this respect usually lie in thinking of today only as time? 

 If the knowledge gathered on the excursion is well seen, 

 if it is so thoroughly learned that reviews and reproduc- 

 tions are less necessary than with the information gained 

 from a book or through the teacher, is not time really gained 

 in the course of the year? 



Aimless wandering is not a geographical excursion. The 

 teacher should know where the class is to go and why ; the 

 pupil should have some understanding of what he is to see 

 and why. One teacher, before taking her class to the 

 woolen mills, made three trips there herself, so that she 

 might be familiar enough with it to direct attention profit- 

 ably, and to answer intelligently any question that might 

 be brought out by the pupils at the mill or in the class dis- 

 cussion that followed the return to the schoolroom. A 

 paper written by a pupil after this trip was pronounced by 

 the superintendent of the mill correct in all respects except 

 in the use of a few technical terms, a result worthy of the 

 devotion of the teacher. Not only must the eye see but 

 the mind must record scientifically and correctly what is 

 seen. The excursion and the discussions that follow offer 

 excellent opportunities for such training, which is just what 

 is required in many branches of life. 



Our judgments are formed on certain established stand- 

 ards or units. The more definite the standards, the more 



unerring the judgments. In geography, 

 XliG Type 



the pupil must have some means of convert- 

 ing the ideas roused by reading about distant lands and 

 foreign conditions into known quantities. To do this he 



