The Andrew County Republican. [volume] (Savannah, Mo.) 1871-1876, 1873-12-05
Ole3tiouinp.
II. J. NM.
fIN!EN I! I;FiurES,
~ cu;INr Committee

Eve-y practical, active teacher is in
the daily habit Of questioning his pupils
for the purpose OF testing their knowl-
edge OF the subject under investigation
Almost all of our text books contain an
swcrs upon the different Subjects pre-
scented in the WORK. and arranged in
such Il manner that the an>wcr> can he
readily found. and. tn" result is. that
! the pupil ~c!> the answer to questions.
often without bc,towin" Il Thought upon
the subject ANY further tiIan i necessary
TO give Il verbal answer t. tine question.
If pupils were o!tcncr required Ia study
the subject before them. - A. to he able
to answer any question which the teacher
might PROFOUND. they would not be
; under The necessity of going over the
! same thing wear after year. We often
see pupils who can work the examples
in the arithmetic. or correct tn" false
syn;ax in their grlmmtr>, who. if called
| upon to compit" the interest on Il note,
| or correct an UnIrammatical manuscript.
/. woull fail to d. either CORRECTLY. | will
venture the assertion right here. aud
have reason Ia believe that it i not too
strong. that more than onc-lIali of the
! pupils in our schools. vino are reading.
can name almost all Of the words. but
cannot give m intelligent idea al what
they are reading. Why is this? Gcucr-
ally because the teacher has failed To-
impress the principle uppl the mind of
his pupils. by a judiciuus course OF quc,-
tinniug.
Teachers should cultivate the art OF
questioning. Yes, we say. proper qucs-
tioninr i an art 10 be cultivated. and he
who does not possess it j. a failure, and
the sooner lie rin ret a position a Il
section hand on the railroad In" better.
There are tilrcc classes who Iiil i'll the
art of questioning:
First. "a has been suggested. those
who merely follow the questions Of the
tex book.
Second. Those who Use the drawing
out process" that j., suggest the answer
so fully in the question, that. like the
former. requires no thought GA The part
Of the pupil 10 answer.
Third. Are Il class who have their
own ideas - mixed, or 1T least their
questions are concealed behind sIIch OBJ
srure language, that even the cultivated
mind canno comprehend, much less the
immature sJisceptibiliti"S OF the child,
what they intend 10 ask. We cannot
conceive Of the relation Of teacher and
pupil without asSoriating with it the idea
of mutual intercourse brought about by
conversation and queries.
Teachers often find it difficult to adapt
their questions to the minds OF the pu-
pills. They address inteIle"ts which are
yet in a process of cultivation and must
be burdened with things too intri-
cate or complex for their understanding.
The questions upon Il lesson should he
such as will awaken and keep bright the
powers of conception, and show
the logical connection of the lesson with
the other parts Of the subject. Pupils
be encouraged 20 ask the teacher
such questions upon the lesson rs may
suggest themselves TO his mind. and no
true, practical teacher will meet such
inquiries with the remark that they are
though they may not bear the
of mature minds. |,