HODGE] TRAINING OF TEACHERS 301 



The figures might indicate that these students have a low grade 

 of intelligence or that such material was not common in their en- 

 vironment. Neither is the case. An average of 85% standing is 

 necessary for admission to the Normal School. Cleveland is 

 known as the "Forest City" and is truly a city of homes and gar- 

 dens. All the specimens were gathered within a few rods of the 

 school building and grew, many of them, in profusion everywhere. 

 One of the young ladies had always had a garden at her home and 

 spent rnany of her summers on a farm, where all the specimens on 

 which she was examinied grew in abundance, but her average was 

 no higher in the test than the other members of the class. Al- 

 though her average standing had been 91 in high school and she has 

 spent one successful year in college, she did not know an elm, apple 

 or plum tree, could not recognize a raspberry or blackberry bush, 

 a melon or a cucumber vine, a carrot, parsnip or potato plant, al- 

 though she had picked up five bushels of potatoes once on the 

 farm. She knew oats only in the head and could not recognize 

 wheat either in the head or after it was threshed. 



Dr. Dawson explains this whole condition of mind and know- 

 ledge through the lack of developing the senses by first-hand ob- 

 servation. Everything practically for years has been learned 

 from books, books, books. The statement of a problem out-of- 

 doors means nothing to such people, and this renders live teaching 

 at this late stage extremely painful and difficult. The remedy 

 for this senseless, thoughtless, condition is clearly insistence upon 

 lessons and first-hand work with things of nature, daily in the 

 home and in the school from the kindergarten up. A few minutes 

 a day and a little direction and encouragement is all that is nec- 

 essary to stimulate and develop invaluable powers of observation 

 and give a clear knowledge of all the common things about the 

 home. While the above data were gathered in Cleveland, other 

 cities are probably in even a worse condition. We must face 

 things as they are. Here is the finished product of our public 

 schools. The fault lies in the system, not in the pupils. What 

 are we to do about it ? Get them all in the water of real life, work- 

 ing out problems with interesting and vital things and keep them 

 alive and growing. 



Typical illustrations will be given later, but before doing so we 

 must suggest two other important lines of preparation. 



