Sir W. Temple.
I
MAKE THE PUPILS THINK
A test of teaching.
For the purpose of testing the quality of gold alloy jewellers formerly used a fine-grained dark stone, called the touchstone. In the eyes of an educator good instruction is more precious than pure gold. The touchstone by which he tests the quality of instruction, so as to distinguish genuine teaching from its counterfeit, rote teaching, is thinking. The schoolmaster who teaches by rote is satisfied if the pupils repeat his words or those of the book; the true teacher sees to it that the pupils think the thoughts which the words convey.
Thring’s practice.
Thring, who, next to Arnold, was perhaps the greatest teacher England ever had, laid much stress upon thinking. Sometimes he would startle a dull lad, in the midst of an exercise, by asking, “What have you got sticking up between your shoulders?” “My head,” was the reply. “How does it differ from a turnip?” And by questioning he would elicit the answer, “The head thinks; the turnip does not.”
Views of others.
So important is thinking in all teaching that at the World’s Educational Congress, in 1893, one educator after another rose in his place to emphasize the maxim, “Make the pupils think.” One of the most advanced of the reformers shouted in almost frantic tones, “Yes, make even the very babies think.” After the wise men had returned to their homes, a Chicago periodical raised the query, “How can you stop a pupil from thinking?” And the conclusion it announced was that neither the teacher behind the desk nor the tyrant upon his throne can stop a pupil from thinking. Evidently, if that which sticks up between a boy’s shoulders is a head and not a turnip, if the pupil is rational and not an imbecile or an idiot, he does some thinking for himself; and the maxim, “Make the pupils think,” requires further analysis before it can be helpful in the art of teaching.
Thinking for one’s self. Relying on others.