respective pursuits?

_Pupil_: Yes.

_Socrates_: In like manner, what are the laws respecting the
government of a city? Are they not the writings of those who know
how to govern--kings, statesmen, and men of superior excellence?

_Pupil_: Truly so.

_Socrates_: Knowing men like these will not write differently from
each other about the same things, nor change what they have once
written. If, then, we see some doing this, are we to declare them
knowing or ignorant?

_Pupil_: Ignorant, undoubtedly.

_Socrates_: Whatever is right, therefore, we may pronounce to be
lawful in medicine, gardening, or cookery; whatever is not right,
not to be lawful but lawless. And the like in treatises respecting
just and unjust, prescribing how the city is to be administered.
That which is right, is the regal law; that which is not right, is
not so, but only seems to be law in the eyes of the ignorant, being
in truth lawless.

_Pupil_: Yes.

It will be seen from the above examples, that much of the Socratic
questioning is really explanatory; the questions, though interrogative
in form, being often rhetorical, and therefore assertive in value.

THE QUESTION

=Characteristics of a Good Question.=--Good questions should seize upon
the important features and emphasize these. Unimportant details, though
useful in giving vividness to a narrative and enabling the pupil to
build up a clear picture of the scene or incident, may well be ignored
in questioning. The teacher must see that the pupil grasps the
essentials and must direct his questions towards the attainment of that
end. The questions should be arranged in logical sequence, so that the
answers, if written out in the order given, would form a connected
account of the topic under discussion. Further, the questions should
require the expression of a judgment on the part of the pupil. In the
main they should not be answerable by a single word or a brief phrase.
One of the greatest weaknesses in the answers of pupils is the tendency
_to_ extreme brevity. As a result, it is difficult to get pupils to give
a connected and continuous narration, description, or exposition in any
subject. The remedy for this defect is to ask questions which demand
answers of considerable length, and to avoid those which require only a
scrappy answer.

=Form of the Question.=--It should ever be borne in mind tha