e
retardation is not on account of the inability of the pupil but on
account of the system. The bright ones are held back in line with the
slow. This need not be the case in rural schools. Here, in every subject
which lends itself to the plan, each pupil should be allowed to go as
far and as fast as he can, provided that he appreciates the thought,
solves the problems, and understands the work as he goes. I once knew a
large rural school in which there were enrolled about sixty pupils,
taking the subjects of all the grades, from the first to the eighth and
even some high school subjects. In such classes as arithmetic the pupils
were, so to speak, "turned loose" and all entered upon a race for the
goal. Each one did as much as he could, his attainments being subjected
to the test of examination. The plan worked excellently; no one was
retarded, and all were intensely busy.

="Waking Up the Mind."=--The main thing in any school is not the amount
of knowledge which pupils get from textbooks or from the teacher, but
the extent to which the mind appropriates that knowledge and is "waked
up" by it. Mr. Page in his excellent classic, _The Theory and Practice
of Teaching_, has a chapter called "Waking Up the Mind" and some
excellent illustrations as to how it may be done. The main thing is not
the amount of mere knowledge or information held in memory for future
delivery, but the spirit and attitude of it all. The extent to which
children's minds are made awake and sensitive, and the extent to which
they are inspired to pursue with zest and spirit any new problem are the
best criterions of success in teaching. The spirit and method of attack
is all-important; quantity is secondary. If children have each other, so
to speak, "by the ears," over some problem from one day to the next, it
indicates that the school and the teacher are awake, that they are up
and doing, and that education, which is a process of leavening, is
taking place.

=The Overflow of Instruction.=--On account of the individual work which
is possible in the country schools, what is sometimes called the
"overflow of instruction" is an important factor in the stimulation and
the education of all the children in the room. In the city school, where
all are on a dead level, doing the same work, there is not much
information or inspiration descending from above, for there is no class
above. But in the rural school, children hear either consciously or
unconsciously mu