bably been brought up in the city and
who has had the subject of agriculture only one period a day for a year,
can give any adequate instruction in that branch. She would be the butt
for ridicule among the practical boys and girls in the country who
would probably know more about such things than she. She would,
therefore, lose the respect and confidence of pupils and parents, and it
would really be better for her and for all concerned not to attempt the
teaching of that subject at all. What is worth doing at all is worth
doing well. A little instruction well given and well applied is worth
any amount of "stuff" poorly done and unapplied.

=The Scientific Spirit Needed.=--There is great need of teachers who are
thoroughly imbued with the scientific spirit. In the country especially
there is need of teachers who will rouse the boys and girls to the
investigation of problems from the facts at hand and all around them.
This should be done inductively and in an investigative spirit. Our
whole system of education seems somewhat vitiated by the deductive
attitude and method of teaching--the assuming of theories handed down by
the past, without investigation or verification. This is the kind of
teaching which has paralyzed China for untold generations. The easiest
thing to do is to accept something which somebody else has formulated
and then, without further ado, to be content with it. The truly
scientific mind, the investigative mind, is one that starts with facts
or phenomena and, after observing a sufficient number of them,
formulates a conclusion and tests it. This will result in real
thinking--which is the same as "thinging." It is putting _things_ into
causal relation and constructing from them, unity out of diversity. To
induce this habit of thought, to inspire this spirit of investigation
and observation in children is the essence of teaching. To teach is to
cause others to _think_, and the man or woman who does this is a
successful teacher.

=A Course of Study.=--There should be in every rural school a simple and
suggestive course of study. This should not be as large as a textbook.
The purpose of it is not to indicate at great length and in detail
either the matter or the manner of teaching any specific subject. It
should be merely an outline of the metes and bounds in the processes and
the progress of pupils through the grades. The course of study should be
a means, not an end; it should be a servant and not a mast