of helping him avoid them. Along with the positive principles
which show what we should do, however, it is well occasionally to note a
few of the danger points most commonly met in the classroom.

Lack of definiteness.--This may take the form of lack of definiteness
of aim or purpose. We may merely "hear" the recitation, or ask the
stock questions furnished in the lesson helps, or allow the discussion
to wander where it will, or permit aimless arguing or disputing on
questions that cannot be decided and that in any case possess no real
significance.

Indefiniteness may take the direction of failure to carry the thoughts
of the lesson through to their final meaning and application, so that
there is no vital connection made between the lesson truths and the
lives of those we teach. Or we may be indefinite in our interpretation
of the moral and religious values inherent in the lesson, and so fail to
make a sharp and definite impression of understanding and conviction on
our pupils. Our teaching must be clear-cut and positive without being
narrowly dogmatic or opinionated. The truth we present must have an
edge, so that it may cleave its way into the heart and mind of the
learner.

Dead levels.--We need to avoid _dead levels_ in our teaching. This
danger arises from lack of mental perspective. It comes from presenting
all the points of a lesson on the same _plane of emphasis_, with a
failure to distinguish between the important and the unimportant. Minor
details and incidental aspects of the topic often receive the same
degree of stress that is given to more important points. This results in
a state of monotonous plodding through so much material without
responding to its varying shades of meaning and value. Not only does
this type of teaching fail to lodge in the mind of the pupil the larger
and more important truths which ought to become a permanent part of his
mental equipment, but it also fails to train pupils how themselves to
pick out and appropriate the significant parts of the lesson material.
It does not develop the sense of value for lesson truths which should
be trained through the work of the lesson hour. Each lesson should seek
to impress and apply a few important truths, and everything else should
be made to work to this end. The points we would have our pupils
remember, think about and act upon we must be able to make stand out
above all other aspects of the lesson; they must not, for want of
emphasis, be