14 NATURE STUDY AND AGRICULTURE 



But it is one of the strong arguments of the advocates of 

 nature study that it is a subject whose very nature requires 

 its teachers to be initiators rather than imitators. And 

 a teacher's growth in, efficiency depends in part upon the 

 compulsion to initiate in some directions rather than to 

 imitate. 



Difficult to Teach. — Every teacher of nature study should 

 have the comfort of knowing and every prospective teacher 

 should have the warning that the subject is a difficult one 

 to teach. It calls for more of originality than does the 

 teaching of sciences in the high schools. It demands ac- 

 quaintance with the local material, facility in using it, and 

 flexibility of presentation to a degree not dreamed of in 

 those orderly laboratories where the cut-and-dried ' ' sciences" 

 hold sway. To ask such work of unprepared teachers and 

 to demand good results is unreasonable. It is not strange 

 that failures in teaching nature study have been numerous ; 

 it is rather a wonder that successes have been so frequent. 

 Yet this fact should not produce a feeling of unrest or dis- 

 content with the subject among its teachers; rather it 

 should give confidence in the virtues of the subject itself 

 and courage to continue the perplexing and ever-changing 

 but fascinating task of its successful presentation. If 

 teachers are working in the dark, they should know that 

 this is still somewhat the condition of teachers of the sub- 

 ject everywhere. If they are eager for the light, they 

 should know it will come chiefly by continuing to work 

 patiently and thoughtfully. No one can rescue them ex- 

 cept by stimulating their own persistent effort. There are 

 still many stumbles to be made in nature study, but every 

 fall shows what to avoid next time. 



