selects the general topic, breaks it into its parts, and then
concentrates her abilities on her questions, endeavoring to make them
short enough not to require too sustained attention, simple enough to
be reasonably easy, and attractive enough to be sure bait. In short,
she exerts herself to the utmost to conceive questions of just the
right size and quality; and, if she is very skillful, her morsels of
knowledge will prove so enticing that they will be swallowed and
digested without pain, and perhaps without conscious effort. In case
lecturing is the method followed, the teacher is still more plainly
the sole producer of thought, it being the mission of the student to
listen, comprehend, and retain.

In each of these cases the teacher is the acknowledged leader. Her
personality, as represented by voice, gesture, and manner, is drawn
upon for stimulus; she gives directions, puts the questions, and makes
the corrections, or sees that they are made. If she is accounted a
good teacher, she is probably more active than her pupils and grows
tired first.

Now, suppose that the teacher drops out and leaves the young person to
attack a similar lesson alone. How is the situation changed? The
purpose in the former case was the assimilation of the facts in the
lesson by the pupil. That is still the purpose. There is, therefore,
no change in that respect.

The method employed in the former case may be assumed to be as fully
in accord with the laws of the pupil's mind as the teacher could make
it. In short, the topic under consideration had to be carefully broken
into its parts, and various keen questions touching the meaning and
value of each had to be conceived in order that they might be