ioo The Nature-Study Idea 



lifeless. Probably the greatest mistake that 

 any teacher makes is in supposing that what is 

 interesting to him is therefore interesting to his 

 pupils. 



It has recently been said that the nature- 

 study idea must disappear in rural schools and 

 that agriculture must take its place. Nothing 

 can be farther from the mark. Nature-study 

 may be directed more strongly in agricultural 

 applications, as the schools are ready for it, but 

 the process is still nature-study. All good agri- 

 cultural work in the grades must be nature- 

 study. 



All agricultural subjects must be taught by 

 the nature-study method, which is : to see accu- 

 rately ; to reason correctly from what is seen ; to 

 establish a bond of sympathy with the object or 

 phenomenon that is studied. One cannot see 

 accurately unless one has the object itself. If 

 the pupil studies corn, he should have corn in 

 his hands and he should make his own observa- 

 tions and draw his own conclusions; if he studies 

 cows, he should make his observations on cows 

 and not on what some one has said about cows. 



