THli OPINIONS AND EXPERIENCES OP^ TEACHERS 

 AND INSPECTORS. 



Extracts from Letters received in answer to the first 

 Macdonald Leaflet on Nature Study. 



" WitJiin a short distance of our School, we found stratified rocks 

 showing marble and limestone ; a perfect miniature glacier ; a canyon 

 forming the gorge of a little Niagara ; rocks in all stages from blocks 

 6 ft. by Sft. on the hillside, to the finest sediment on the plain below ; 

 roots petrified by the action of lime in the soil. Thus we saw in our 

 own little world the action of the same forces as are seen in the Alps, 

 in Colorado, in the Nile and Ganges, or in the fossils of past ages." 

 (Condensed). 



" Every Friday afternoon he devoted to this study, but it did not 

 meet with the approved of the parents or Trustees. The objection ivas 

 tJiat 'He was filling the children's heads with nothing but nonsense 

 about weeds ivhen they should be learning Ai'ithmetic and Writing,' and 

 so of course Mr. Blank got his discharge." 



" What is the attitude of the teachers ? Never hear them mention 

 it except luhen we appear at a Convention, and we hear a lecture on it 

 and it is good, then we say so and forget all about it." 



" What are the most serious hindrances ? Downright neglect of the 

 teachers, also no definite luork to do on the subject. It betters discipline 

 by making the teacher and pupil more conversant." 



" The teachers are willing, but they do not know hoiu to set about 

 the work intelligently. They are so tuilling, and the clamor for some 

 such work has been so incessant that they are ready to follow any method 

 that ofers. I do not think that the word ' clamor ' is too strong. I have 

 talked to many intelligent people in rural districts, and while there is 

 no demand for such a thing as Nature Study (because they do not know 

 it by this name), there is a strong feeling that much of the time of the 

 child could be put to more profitable use, and that education should be 

 of more practical service." 



" I have heard the question asked repeatedly, How are we to teach a 

 subject about which we know less than the pupils ? How can we act as 

 guides where we know nothi'r,g V 



''In the schools I have, for over hilf a century, endeavored to 

 iniueave the methods of Nature with the ordinary methods. In the Press 

 and on the Platform, I have strenuously urged a revolt against the old 

 Parrotism ivhich made Memory a lumber garret and Heart and Intellect 

 rooms to let ; and a loyal return to the long outraged Queen, a submissive 



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