132 Outlook to Nature 



result of contact with objects and phases of 

 objects. The child becomes his own inves- 

 tigator, unless he is asked to investigate 

 beyond his own range, when he becomes an 

 imitator. The content-work is the first and 

 primary work. 



Self-expression. 



The expression-work is the result of the 

 content-work ; yet the old schools taught a 

 child to express himself before he had anything 

 to express ; and herein lies the explanation of 

 much of the educational inefficiency of the old 

 regime, and also its failure to put the child into 

 real touch with itself and its surroundings. 



The means of expression with which we have 

 most to do in elementary schools are speaking, 

 reading, writing, drawing, number. These are 

 not so much subjects to be taught, as results 

 to be secured from the acquiring of experience 

 with subject-matter. The industrial education 

 will put the child into the way of acquiring 

 original knowledge at least as early as it asks 

 him formally to express himself. 



