"The practical abilities of the officers, acquired during five years' service, offer in many respects a foundation upon which the teachers can build.
"METHOD OF INSTRUCTION.
"The instruction at the Military Academy begins with the elements of the various subjects, the object being, in the first instance, to strengthen and enlarge the grasp of what has already been learned. It proceeds, as the subjects develop, to more difficult matters, aiming, as its ultimate goal, at the thorough preparation of the officer for the modern requirements of war. The instruction in the formal sciences must for this purpose proceed in a different manner from that adopted in the military subjects. The scientific teaching may take the form of lectures, which appeal merely to the comprehension and the memory of the hearer, while in the military subjects, everything depends upon the pupil learning to apply and to make the most of the knowledge which he acquires. It is, moreover, essential to bring about an active process of mental give and take between teacher and pupils, so as to stimulate the pupils to become fellow-workers. The awakening effects of co-operation like this will never be seen where the one only expounds, and the other only listens. But it will naturally be produced by the combination of clear exposition, with practice in the application to specific concrete cases of the knowledge gained. (The so-called 'applicatory method' of teaching. Cp. p. 187, note.)
"Accordingly, in the purely military subjects the lectures are, as far as possible, to be interspersed with practical examples, in which the details are explained upon the map. Moreover, in this department, there will be opportunities of encouraging the pupils from time to time to deliver original addresses, the preparation of which should lead to the formation of independent opinions. The subjects of these addresses are to be military, and never merely scientific.
"If the teacher succeeds by the force of his word and his person in developing the mental powers of his pupils so that they eagerly look forward to the next year's course and are thoroughly roused to work for themselves, he has accomplished his task. For the Academy is not to give fragments of disconnected knowledge; in its course of teaching the necessity of every new subject must rest upon truths which the pupils have already perceived and made their own."
The general framework being thus erected, the Order of Teaching proceeds to review the several subjects[[6]] taught in the Academy, indicating in each case the reason why the particular subject is to be taken up, and the manner in which it is to be treated.
The following paragraphs, which deal with the four principal subjects of instruction, give a sufficient insight into the system:—
"TACTICS.
"The object of the tactical instruction, to which, above all, pre-eminent importance must be attached, is (1) to give the officers a thorough knowledge of the tactical regulations in force in our army and those of our great neighbours, and (2) by teaching and by setting problems to make them familiar with the endless diversity of the conditions of modern battle.
"The first year's course comprises (a) the outlines of the historical growth of our army organization and of our tactical forms; (b) our drill-books, order of field service and musketry instruction, so far as they are important for the use of the troops in the field; (c) thorough explanation of the forms of battle of the great European armies of to-day.