e which leads to somnolence.

The suggestions contained in this paper should be of use not only to
students but to the teacher who believes, as the writer does, that the
main object which he should have in mind is not by lectures to pump his
students full of information, but to train them, so far as possible, to
think and study properly. With a good text book a lesson should be
assigned and the student should be expected to master it. The lesson
should not be so long that the average student cannot, in the time
allowed, properly assimilate it. Then in the class-room the teacher
should call up a student, question him on the lesson, or give him a
problem to work out on the blackboard. He should question the student
at all points of his work to ascertain whether he really understands
the subject. Oftentimes the student will reply to a question with
entire correctness, perhaps using the very words in the book, from
which a superficial teacher might infer that he understood what he was
saying; but if the teacher will probe more deeply, for instance by
asking the student {62} in a plausible way why some other and
conflicting method or statement is not used, he will in many cases find
the student quite as ready to accept the conflicting plausible method,
showing that he had learned by rote and did not really understand. If
the student correctly states a certain thing to be true, the teacher
should make him explain why a conflicting statement is not true and
should utilize the various suggestions in this paper, particularly
those under the second and third essentials. He should also endeavor
to cultivate in a student the proper attitude of mind, above discussed
as the first essential, and while correcting unsparingly the faults of
the student, should endeavor to make him perceive that, if he will
think, he really has the capacity to understand what he is studying.
If the teacher convinces himself that the student has not this
capacity, he should not be allowed to go on with the class or perhaps
should be required to withdraw from the school. It is an injury rather
than a help to a man to endeavor to give him an education for which he
is not fitted and which he cannot assimilate, and it often results in
putting a man into a position in life for which he is entirely
unadapted. The student should be made to realize that all labor is
honorable, and that it is far better {63} to be a successful mechanic,
laborer, or clerk t