Intellectual Progress and Social Conditions
The last chapter dealt with the intellectual side of class exercises. The recitation has for its final purpose the conveying and fixing of certain ideas and methods of thinking. But this end can be reached only when the social conditions within the class are properly under control. The teacher is concerned, therefore, not alone with intellectual instruction; he is concerned also with what is sometimes called school government or school discipline. If the class is in a riot, it is impossible to make any headway with history or arithmetic. Young and inexperienced teachers are often ineffective because they do not know the art of social management. They know the subject-matter which is to be impressed on the minds of the pupils, but they do not understand the serious social distractions which are sure to arise at times in a group of immature human beings.