Inquiries and Answers 205 



grades. It is easy to refer the pupil in the 

 grammar grades to bulletins and books, when 

 he should be coming into original contact with 

 the life and materials about him. The pupil 

 should be taught to know domestic animals 

 before he is instructed in the breeds of animals. 

 He should know the way in which the neighbors 

 build their houses and barns before he studies 

 the styles of architecture. The grade work 

 should touch many things, first and last, so that 

 the pupil gains some conception of his world at 

 large and, as you say, gets "his bearings and 

 relations." 



Should the parts of a school-garden be appor- 

 tioned to pupils, or should the work be done in 

 common? 



In practice this becomes largely a question 

 of administration: sometimes one thing may 

 be done and sometimes the other. Ideally, the 

 parts should be apportioned to pupils in 

 the real laboratory school-garden. Thereby is 

 the sense of proprietorship cultivated and the 



