78 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 



schedules of assignments in advance, when you 

 can predict in advance what each child will find of 

 interest or will desire to tell you. Bailey and 

 Thoreau denounced schedules in nature study be- 

 cause they recognized this distinction. And the 

 trouble with you who clamor for machine-made 

 schedules, is that you fail to recognize the two 

 points of view. If you did not, you would not 

 ask for schedules. 



Schedules are useful in science, even the most 

 elementary. It is right that you assign the con- 

 sideration of the stem the day after that of the 

 root, or vice versa, if you so please. You may 

 assign newts after the fishes in zoological work. 

 You are instructing in that ; that is in struere, 

 building in, to the child's mind, but in nature 

 study you have the true education, e ducere, lead- 

 ing forth the child's ideas. 



The pernicious custom of ignoring the child's 

 individuality in assigning the same thing to all, 

 and of having a definite assignment for each day, 

 without regard to the excellent and unusual avail- 

 able things that may come to hand, reminds me 

 of a farce, entitled " The Railroad Restaurant," 

 that I once saw acted by the young men of a 

 literary society. I do not mean to assert that 



