he did not stop too soon of his own accord--and she would reprove too
positive an attitude. Finally, it has hardly seemed necessary to
enumerate the various ways in which he might protect his
individuality, because such protection has always been regarded as one
of the teacher's prominent duties, and she would offer it as occasion
demanded. Thus, with aid for the pupil always near at hand, the need
of careful investigation into the problems of private study and how
they should be met has not been felt by teachers to be pressing.

But the teacher herself has been at least something of a student while
teaching; and she may have made an extensive study of the learning
process as treated under apperception, attention, induction, and
deduction, interest, etc. How, then, has she escaped a close
acquaintance with the principal factors in study? The answer is that
as a teacher she has always thought of herself as giving aid, and has
never felt the need of examining into her own method of study. Why
should she, if she has never been conscious of any particular weakness
in that respect? In short, she has been too much absorbed in herself
to analyze the problems of independent study to be undertaken by her
pupils, and yet not enough absorbed in herself to investigate her own
study. Her psychology and pedagogy have not been valueless by any
means; but, lacking the imagination to picture her pupils at work
alone, and the sympathy to feel their confusion at such times, she has
not been prompted to make an examination of the requirements they
should meet when separated from her. Like many persons in other
fields, she has been too much interested in the results to consider
the process itself. "She" in this case represents high-school and
college teachers even more than those in the grades. This, at least in
part, explains why the method of individual study has been so
neglected.