INQUIRIES 145 



not. This at once elevates you in the pupiPs 

 estimation, for the pupil is convinced of your truth- 

 fulness, and is made to feel but how seldom is the 

 sensation! that knowledge is not the peculiar 

 property of the teacher, but is the right of any one 

 who seeks it. It sets the pupil investigating for 

 himself. The teacher never needs to apologize 

 for nature. He is teaching simply because he is 

 an older and more experienced pupil than his 

 pupil is. This is the spirit of the teacher in the 

 colleges and universities to-day. The best teacher 

 is the one whose pupils the furthest outrun him. 



Is it best to have a professional nature-study teacher 

 to go from school to school? 



This is a local and administrative problem. 

 Ideally, it is best that every teacher handle the 

 nature-study, because nature-study is not merely 

 another subject, but it is a spirit and an attitude, and 

 its effect is greatest when it is most continuous. In 

 practice, however, some teachers will be sure to 

 develop special aptitudes for the work, and these 

 persons should be retained for this particular effort. 

 The best talent should be employed for nature- 

 study, as for anything else. 



Should the parts of a school-garden be apportioned 

 to pupils, or should the work be done in common? 



In practice this becomes largely a question of 

 administration : sometimes one thing can be done 

 and sometimes the other. Ideally, the parts should 

 be apportioned in the real laboratory school- 

 garden. Thereby is the sense of proprietorship 

 cultivated and the stimulus of emulation aroused. 



