HODGE] TRAINING OF TEACHERS 299 



the struggle." Every child, and everyone else who is not a book- 

 word eating, mental parasite, would do the same. 



This, then, is the first great essential in preparation of a teacher 

 — the ability, the knack, the spirit of working out problems with 

 the pupil. Compare in effect on the class such assignments as the 

 following: "To-morrow you will commit to memory and recite 

 pages 21,22 and 23" and: "Come on, let us all study this and see 

 who can find out most about it and each may have the chance to 

 tell what he has learned in the class to-morrow." 



Knowledge with this spirit and attitude is wisdom — above fine 

 gold, rubies and diamonds — ^which draws all men to itself. Knowl- 

 edge without this spirit and attitude is sure to be disagreeable, 

 uncomfortable, of the kind that "puffeth up," which repels and 

 tends to separate pupil and teacher. 



This spirit germinated in Froebel and Pestalozzi. It seems to 

 be beginning to bloom, perhaps more especially, in Montessori, in 

 all whole-souled, active education, agricultural and industrial. It 

 is bound to permeate and dominate every fiber of our educational 

 life and bear the rich fruitage of paradise re- won in the earth. 

 "Come on in," the educational water is fine. It is the river of the 

 elixir of life, a veritable fountain of eternal youth: for true de- 

 lights of nature never grow old. One of the first fruits of this spirit 

 must be to make teaching the most vitally joyous of all human 

 occupations, next, at any rate, to actual home-making, as it leads 

 us back to the most ancient altar of life, the primal source of our 

 profession, the love of mother and father, working together with 

 their children. And this spirit, springing perhaps more naturally, 

 out of these primeval and original relations of nature and life, 

 must come to vitalize and leaven the whole lump of our public 

 education. "Come on in," this water of life is fine. 



Yes, but, do you say, "you must tell us how." What! Don't 

 you know how to swim, mentally and spiritually in the water of 

 life and truth, as well as physically? Do you stand shivering on 

 the bank of book knowledge, afraid to take the plunge' into vital, 

 thrilling, sparkling reality? Must I pick you up bodily, or rather, 

 spiritually, and duck you in it? Well, if I must, I must. 



Huxley never spoke a truer word ; indeed no truer word has ever 

 been spoken in education than this: "Knowledge gained at sec- 

 ond hand from books or hearsay is infinitely inferior in quality to 

 knowledge gained at first hand by direct observation and experi- 



