The measure of a teacher's success is not what he himself does, but what
he gets his scholars to do. In nothing is this more noticeable, than in
the different modes of putting a question to a scholar. One teacher will
put a question in such a manner as to find out exactly how much or how
little of the subject the child knows, and thereby encourage careful
preparation; to give the pupil an open door, if he really knows the
subject, to express his knowledge in a way that will be a satisfaction
and pleasure to him; to improve his power of expression, to cultivate
his memory, to increase his knowledge, and to make it more thorough and
definite. Another teacher will put his questions so as to secure none of
these ends, but on the contrary so as to induce a most lamentable degree
of carelessness and inaccuracy.
Let me illustrate this point, taking an example for greater convenience
from a scriptural subject. Suppose it to be a lesson upon Christ's
temptation, as recorded in the 4th chapter of Matthew. The dialogue
between teacher and scholar may be supposed to proceed somewhat in this
wise:
_Teacher._ Who was led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be
tempted of the devil?
_Pupil._ Jesus.
_T._ Yes. Now, when Jesus had fasted forty days and forty nights, he
was afterward a---- what? How did he feel after that?
_P._ Hungry.
_T._ Yes, that is right. He was afterward "a hungered." Now, then, the
next scholar. Who then came to Jesus and said, If thou be the Son of
God, command that these stones be made bread?
(Scholar hesitates.)
_T._ The t----?
_P._ The tempter.
_T._ Yes, you are right. It was the tempter. Who do you think is meant
by the tempter?--the devil?
_P._ Yes.
_T._ When a man has fasted, that is, has eaten nothing, for forty days
and forty nights, and feels very hungry, would the suggestion of an easy
mode of getting food be likely to be a strong temptation to him, or
would it not?
_P._ It would.
_T._ Yes, you are right again. It would be a strong temptation to him.
I need not pursue this dialogue further. The reader will see at once how
there may thus be the appearance of quite a brisk and fluent recitation,
to which however the pupil contributes absolutely nothing. It requires
nothing of him in the way of preparation, and only the most indolent and
profitless use of his faculties while reciting. He could hardly answer
amiss, unless he were an idiot, and yet he has the appearance, and he is
often flattered into the belief, of having given some evidence of
knowledge and proficiency.
The opposite extreme from the method just exhibited, is that known as
the topical method. It is the method pursued in the higher classes of
schools, and among more advanced students. In the topical method, the
teacher propounds a topic or subject, sometimes in the form of a
question, but more commonly only by a title, a mere word or two, and
then calls upon the pupil to give, in his own words, a full and
connected narration or explanation of the subject, such as the teacher
himself would give, if called upon to narrate or explain it. The subject
already suggested, if profound topically, would be somewhat in this
wise:
The first temptation of Jesus.
Or, more fully: Narrate the circumstances of the first temptation of
Jesus, and show wherein his virtue was particularly tried in that
transaction.
The teacher, having propounded the subject clearly to the class, then
waits patiently, maintaining silence himself, and requiring the members
of the class to be silent and attentive, until the pupil interrogated is
quite through, not hurrying him, not interrupting him, even with
miscalled helps and hints, but leaving him to the free and independent
action of his own faculties, in giving as full, connected, and complete
an account of the matter as he can. When the pupil is quite through, the
teacher then, but not before, makes any corrections or additional
statements that may seem to be needed. In such an exercise as this, the
pupil finds the absolute necessity of full and ample preparation; he has
a powerful and healthy stimulus thus to prepare, in the intellectual
satisfaction which one always feels in the successful discharge of any
difficult task; and he acquires a habit of giving complete and accurate
expression to his knowledge, by means of entire sentences, and without
the help of "catch-words," or leading-strings of any kind.
Some classes, of course, are not sufficiently advanced to carry out
fully the method here explained. But there are many intermediate
methods, founded on the same principle, and suited to children in every
stage of advancement. Only let it be understood, whatever the stage,
that the object of the recitation is, not to show what the teacher can
say or do, but to secure the right thing being said and done by the
pupil.
To recur once more to the same subject, the temptation of Christ. For a
very juvenile class, the questioning might proceed on this wise:
_T._ Where was Jesus led after his baptism?
_P._ He was led into the wilderness.
_T._ By whom was he led there?
_P._ He was led by the Spirit.
_T._ For what purpose was he led into the wilderness?
_P._ He was led into the wilderness to be tempted.
_T._ By whom was he to be tempted?
_P._ He was to be tempted by the devil.
_T._ What bodily want was made the means of his first temptation?
If the class is quite young, and this question seems too difficult, the
teacher, instead of asking it, or after asking it and not getting a
satisfactory answer, might say to his class, that Jesus was first
tempted through the sense of hunger. He was very hungry, and the devil
suggested to him an improper means of relieving himself from the
inconvenience. He might then go on with some such questions as these:
_T._ What circumstance is mentioned as showing how very hungry he must
have been?
_P._ He had fasted forty days and forty nights.
_T._ Mention any way in which _you_ might be tempted to sin, if you were
suffering from hunger?
The foregoing questions, it will be perceived, are very simple, being
suited to scholars just advanced beyond the infant class. Yet no one of
the questions, in its form, or terms, necessarily suggests the answer.
No one of them can be answered by a mere "yes" or "no." No scholar,
unacquainted with the subject, and with his book closed, can guess at
the answer from the way in which the question is put. Not a question has
been given, simple as they all are, which does not require some
preparation, and which does not, to some extent, give exercise to the
pupil's memory, his judgment, and his capacity for expression.
If the class is more advanced, the questions may be varied, so as to
task and exercise these faculties more seriously. For instance, the
teacher of a class somewhat older might be imagined to begin the
exercise thus:
_T._ After the baptism of Jesus, which closes the 3d chapter of Matthew,
we have an account of several temptations to which he was exposed. Now,
open your books at the 4th chapter, and see if you can find out how many
verses are occupied with the narrative of these temptations, and at what
verse each temptation begins.
The teacher then requires all the class to search in silence, and each
one to get ready to answer, but lets no answer be given until all are
prepared. When all have signified their readiness, some one is
designated to give the answer.
The books being closed, the questioning begins:
_T._ Name the different places into which Jesus was taken to be tempted,
and the verse in which each place is named.
_P._ It is said in the 1st verse that Jesus was led up into the
wilderness; in the 5th verse, that he was taken up into the holy city,
and set on a pinnacle of the temple; and in the 8th verse, that he was
taken up into an exceedingly high mountain.
_T._ What was the condition of Jesus, when the devil proposed his first
temptation?
_P._ He had been fasting forty days and forty nights, and he was very
hungry.
I need not multiply these illustrations. I have not made them entirely
in vain, if I have succeeded in producing in the mind of the reader the
conviction of these two things: first, that it is a most important and
difficult part of the teacher's art, to know how to ask a question; and
secondly, that the true measure of the teacher's ability is, not so much
what he himself is able to say to the scholars, as the fulness, the
accuracy, and the completeness of the answers which he gets from them.