[56] The teaching was imperfect, certainly; but it
nevertheless gained an unmistakable charm for both teacher and pupils;
and, finally, its results were very satisfactory.
In one of the other classes of the girls' school I taught preparatory
drawing. I took this by combinations of single lines; but the method was
wanting in a logically necessary connection, so that it did not satisfy
me. I cannot remember whether the results of this teaching were brought
to the test or not.
Such was the outcome of my first attempts as a teacher. The kind
indulgence and approval granted to me, more because of my good
intentions and the fire of my zeal than for my actual performance,
spurred me on to plunge deeper into the inquiry as to the nature of true
teaching. But the whole system of a large school must have its settled
form, with its previously-appointed teaching-course arranged as to times
and subjects; and everything must fit in like a piece of clockwork. My
system, on the other hand, called only for ready senses and awakened
intellect. Set forms could only tolerate this view of education so far
as it served to enliven and quicken them. But I have unfortunately again
and again observed during my career, that even the most active life, if
its activity and its vitality be not properly understood and urged ever
onward, easily stiffens into bony rigidity.
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