190 The Nature-Study Idea 



We all believe in thoroughness, but there is 

 one thoroughness of mere details and another 

 thoroughness of the broader view. So far as 

 mere thoroughness is concerned, one kind may 

 be as perfect as the other. Thoroughness con- 

 sists only in seeing something accurately and 

 understanding what it means. We can never 

 know all that there is to be learned about any 

 object. Even the months' work on the cell was 

 a mere smattering. Men spend their lives in 

 studying the cell, and then do not understand it. 

 What most school teachers mean by thorough- 

 ness is only drill in details. In its proper time 

 and place, I approve this kind of drill in mere 

 detail, but its place is not to dominate the 

 school work. 



But the great objection to my teacher's work 

 on the cell, as I see it, is the fact that it means 

 little or nothing to the pupil's life and is a mere 

 acquirement. We should put the child in con- 

 tact with its own life, and the teacher who does 

 this may teach with thoroughness whether he 

 teach much or little. We can always be thor- 

 ough and decisive as far as we go. 



