Science in Public Affairs 



process," says the Board of Education, "lies in 

 the way in which it calls into play the natural 

 activities of the children, and develops in them a 

 sense of their powers, and of the added mastery 

 of these which each succeeding use secures. The 

 teacher, therefore, must know the children and 

 must sympathise with them, for it is of the essence 

 of teaching that the mind of the teacher should 

 touch the mind of the pupil. He will seek at 

 each stage to adjust his mind to theirs, to draw 

 upon their experience as a supplement to his 

 own, and so take them, as it were, into partnership 

 for the acquisition of knowledge. Throughout the 

 lessons, it is essential that the children should 

 be trained and encouraged to talk individually. 

 Collective answering or collective repetition by 

 the class of the words of the teacher is an actual 

 hindrance to development of genuine thought and 

 free expression. . . . The children should from 

 the first be encouraged to find subjects of interest 

 on which they can talk, and to ask questions." 1 

 This is admirable, but it means small classes. 

 Fully realising what expense would be entailed 

 by so great a change in our present system, I 

 venture, nevertheless, to urge that the change will 

 have to be made if our elementary schools are 

 to produce the right intellectual results. Only 

 in smaller classes under cultivated and skilful 

 teachers can the children be taught how to think, 

 which is the supreme intellectual aim of education. 

 With a reduction in the size of classes would go 



1 " Suggestions for the Consideration of Teachers," pp. 14, 30. 

 116 



