Short Stories

Stories

Previous Stories (89) | Next Stories (91)

teacher makes.

A very small class instructed by an able teacher is like a factory of a
hundred spindles, with a water-wheel of power sufficient for a thousand.
In such a case, even if the owner, from want of capital or any other
cause, can not add the other nine hundred, he ought to know how much of
his power is in fact unemployed, and make arrangements to bring it into
useful exercise as soon as he can. The teacher, in the same manner,
should understand what is the full beneficial effect which it is
possible, _in theory_, to derive from his instructions. He should
understand, too, that just so far as he falls short of this full effect
there is waste. It may be unavoidable; part of it unquestionably is,
like the friction of machinery, unavoidable. Still, it is waste; and it
ought to be so understood, that, by the gradual perfection of the
machinery, it may be more and more fully prevented.

Always bear in mind, then, when you are devoting your time to two or
three individuals in a class, that your are losing a large part of your
labor. Your instructions are conducive to good effect only to the one
tenth or one twentieth of the extent to which, under more favorable
circumstances, they might be made available. And though you can not
always avoid this loss, you ought to be aware of it, and so to shape


Previous Stories (89) | Next Stories (91)

Stories Index