ns of pupils in school--they do not get a clear understanding
of the material assigned to them for mastery. As a test of the degree
of understanding, the recitation method serves admirably. The lecture
method of instruction--clear though the presentation may be--offers no
manner of finding out, until the final examination, how much the pupil
actually understands. So far, in public speaking, the only way of
learning that the student understands the principles and can apply
them is to have him speak frequently to indicate his ability. Can you
not name among your associates and friends those whose explanations
are lucid, concise, direct, unconfusing, and others whose attempts at
exposition are jumbled, verbose, unenlightening?

Have you not criticized certain teachers by remarking "they may know
their own subjects all right, but they couldn't impart their knowledge
to the class"?

Command of Language. What was lacking in their case? Certainly, to be
charitable, we cannot say they lacked a clear understanding of their
own topic. It must have been something else. That second element,
which is at times almost entirely absent when the first is present, is
the command of language. Many a man knows a great deal but is
incapable of transmitting his knowledge. He lacks the gift of
expression. He has not cultivated it--for it can be cultivated. The
man whose desire or vocation forces him to make the effort to speak
will train himself in methods of communication, until he arrives at
comfort and fluency.

The district manager of a large electric company related that as he
would sit at a meeting of the directors or committee of a large
corporation and realized that the moment was approaching when he would
be called upon to speak he would feel his senses grow confused, a
sinking feeling amounting almost to faintness would sweep over him.
Strong in his determination to do the best he could for his company he
would steady his nerves by saying to himself, "You know more about
this matter than any of these men. That's why you are here. Tell them
what you know so plainly that they will understand as well as you do."
There was, you see, the reassurance of complete understanding of the
subject coupled with the endeavor to express it clearly. These two
elements, then, are of supreme significance to the public speaker.
Even to the person who desires to write well, they are all-important.
To the speaker they are omnipresent. The effect of the