INQUIRIES 135 



are useful because they are practicable and usable. 

 The successful text-book is successful because the 

 author knew the teacher and the pupil. Where 

 is the person who knows equally well the subject- 

 matter, the teacher, and the pupil? 



Subject-matter and enthusiasm are all-important 

 and coordinate. They are to be obtained at the 

 same time. But the importance of subject-matter 

 is often misunderstood. It is not necessary that 

 one have a wide range of knowledge, but rather 

 that he should know one thing or a few things 

 thoroughly, so far as he goes. It may not be 

 necessary to go deep, but it is important to do well 

 as far as we go. 



Would you teach heat, light and physics as nature- 

 study topics? 



No, not as these subjects are ordinarily taught. 

 They are usually taught as abstractions, having 

 little relation to the pupiPs life. There are many 

 phenomena in these fields that are within the 

 range of the pupiPs experience, and these may be 

 useful in the hands of a good teacher. The best 

 results will be secured, in the hands of most 

 teachers, by confining nature-study rather closely 

 to biological fields and to those earth-objects that 

 are most intimately associated, in the child's mind, 

 with the fields. I would not exclude the other 

 topics ; but I once knew a teacher who began 

 nature-study for children with a disquisition on 

 the conservation of energy ! 



Would you teach "practical" and "useful" things? 



Yes, if the things are such as appeal to the child 



