t activities the school
provides, and we do violence to the facts when we assume or argue
otherwise. Here is a place for emphasis. Here is the rock on which many a
pedagogical bark has suffered shipwreck. We become so engrossed in the
mechanics of our task--grades, tests, examinations, and promotions--that
we lose sight of the fact that we are dealing with real life in a
situation that is a part of the real world. The best preparation for life
is to practice life aright, and this is the real function of the school.
If teachers only could or would give full recognition to this simple, open
truth, there would soon ensue a wide departure from some of our present
mechanized methods. But so long as we cling to the traditional notion that
school is detached from real life, so long shall we continue to pursue our
merry-go-round methods. If we could fully realize that we are teaching
life by the laboratory method, many a vague and misty phase of our work
would soon become clarified.

Seeing, then, that the school is a cross-section of life, it follows,
naturally, that it embodies the identical elements that constitute life as
a whole. We all know, by experience, that life abounds in vicissitudes,
discouragements, trials, and obstacles, and the school, being a part of
real life, must furnish forth the same elements even if of less magnitude.
There are obstacles, to be sure, and there should be. Abraham Lincoln once
said, "When you can't remove an obstacle, plow around it." But teachers
are prone to remove the obstacles from the pathway of their pupils when
they should be training them to surmount these obstacles or, failing that
for the time being, to plow around them. It is far easier, however, for
the teacher to solve the problem for the boy than to stimulate him to
solve it independently. If we would train the boy to leap over hurdles, we
must supply the hurdles and not remove them from his path. Still further,
we must elevate the hurdles, by easy gradations, if we would increase the
boy's powers and prowess.

Professor Edgar James Swift says, "Man expends just energy enough to
satisfy the demands of the situation in which he is placed." This
statement is big with meaning for all who have a true conception of
pedagogy and of life. In this sentence we see the finger-board that points
toward high achievements in teaching. If the hurdles are too low, the boy
becomes flaccid, flabby, sluggish, and lethargic. The hurdles should be