The school course
arranged and carried out by him had much that was excellent. In each
separate instance--for example, the shape and position of leaves,
flowers, etc.--he would first obtain all the possible varieties of form
by question and answer between the class and himself, and then he would
select from the results the form which was before them in nature. These
lessons, which were in this way made so attractive, and whose merits
spoke for themselves, showed, however, when it came to practical
application, an unpractical, I had almost said, a self-contradictory
aspect.
(When, afterwards, in 1808, I visited Yverdon for the second time, I
found to my regret neither Tobler nor Hopf there.)
With the method used for the German language I could not at all bring
myself into sympathy, although it has been introduced into later school
books elsewhere. Here also the arbitrary and non-productive style of
teaching ran strongly counter to me at every step.
Singing was taught from figures.[47] Reading was taught from
Pestalozzi's well-known "A.B.C."
[Memorandum.--All this lay dark within me, its value unrecognised even
by myself. But my intellectual position tended to become more settled by
passing through these experiences.
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