PART I. Teaching Work CHAPTER 1. Teaching Process. plied with Bible words, was thoroughly tested, not Teacher's only by Mr. Gall, but by the more intelligent citizens of Stirling, lay and clerical, at a public meeting, Nature of the called for the express purpose of ascertaining his knowledge of the truths clearly covered by the words in his memory. He was first questioned in the facts of English history, which he had been taught by the conveying to him of its ideas rather than by any set form of words covering those ideas; and he was found intelligently familiar with its truths in the field he had traversed. But in not a single instance could he quote a Bible text in explanation, in proof, or in enforcement, of the simplest doctrine or duty. duty. The Knowing the conclusion was irresistible, in his case, that by all his Bible word-memorizing, in his early life and in his later, he had never, at the first or afterward, acquired a single Bible idea, that "there was in Alec's mind no connection between the truths or duties of Scripture, and the words which taught them." Nor has it, so far, been different with any other person than "Blind Alec" from that day to this; for the mere memorizing of words is never, in itself, the gaining of ideas. words is not knowing their sense. tions in geometry. "There is a well-authenticated instance of a stuParrot recita- dent who actually learned the six books of Euclid by heart, though he could not tell the difference between an angle and a triangle." A Scotch friend tells me of a fellow-student of his, who was accustomed to memorize the demonstrations from Euclid Supplied, but not Informed. 23 PART I. The Teacher's Teaching Work. CHAPTER 1. Teaching for his lessons, day by day, without any understanding of their meaning, and who would rattle them off as if in explanation of the diagram on the blackboard in the recitation room. His comrades would Nature of the sometimes mischievously change the lettering on the diagrams before his recitation hour; and then he would push ahead with his memorized demonstration, pointing out the alphabetical signs as he named them, in utter ignorance of the mathematical absurdities he was insisting on. Thus he furnished to his teacher a good illustration of the fact that hearing a recitation is not teaching, and that there is no necessary connection between memorizing and learning. Having a library is not having Let me not be misunderstood just here. I am not claiming that no gain is possible from storing words in the memory, any more than I am claiming that no gain is possible from buying books for one's knowledge. library, or from having one's library shelves stored with volumes in every department of knowledge. I am claiming, however, that neither the buying of books nor the memorizing of words and sentences is in itself the acquisition of knowledge. At the best, in either case, this is only the gathering of the materials of knowledge, or of instruments for its acquisition. And since memorizing words is not in itself knowledge, it can no more be made knowledge through the recitation of those words, than the possession of books can be made the acquisition of knowledge through their cataloguing. Memorizing PART I. Teaching CHAPTER 1. Teaching The possible gains of words has an important place in a pupil's life. In secular school training there are rules and tables and lists that can profitably be fastened in the Nature of the scholar's memory by rote, for convenience of future reference. In the Sunday-school, and in home religious training, there should be a wise measure of memorizing, by the scholar, of the very words themselves, of Bible passages, of hymns, and of accurate memorizing. statements of important doctrine. But, whatever place or prominence is given to such memorizing, let not the mistake be made of supposing that the mere memorizing of these words in itself gives the scholar the possession of the idea covered by them. That idea could be conveyed without such memorizing. It may be conveyed in connection with such memorizing. Again, such memorizing may be in connection with the wrong idea, or with no idea at all. Under no circumstances, however, nor in any instance, will the memorizing of the words and the reception of the idea be one and the same thing. That cannot be. Nor can the wisest teacher in the world make the two things one, by simply hearing the recitation of what has been memorized. It may be memorizing that you want. If you think that the memorizing of words is the great thing in your scholar's preparation for the "class exercise," by all means insist upon it. If you want to ascertain how much and how accurately he has memorized, hear him recite the words he has committed to memory. If particular questions upon Grindstone Exercises. 25 PART I. The Teacher's Teaching Work. CHAPTER 1. Teaching the lesson have been given him, to which he is to find answers, and you desire to know whether he has found the precise answers to those specific questions, then ask him those questions and hear him Nature of the give the answers. If this is your idea of a "class exercise," the way to secure it is as simple as turning a grindstone crank. This may be all that you deem essential in a teacher's work; but how ever desirable and important it may be, it cannot be called teaching; nor would it be teaching if it were called so. It is hearing a recitation; but hear-A class ing a recitation is not in itself teaching, nor ought it to pass for teaching. exercise. PART I. The Teacher's Teaching CHAPTER 1. Work. Nature of the Process. "Teaching" in the dictionaries. IV. WHAT TEACHING IS. Showing Errors is not Showing the Truth; Indefiniteness of the Defini- Nor is it easy for the inquirer to obtain a clear and competent understanding of the term "teaching." The dictionaries will give him little aid on this point. Their definitions are varied, vague, and unsatisfactory. If he turns to the technical treatises and manuals on the subject, he will not be likely to gain a much clearer impression of the scope and |