Sometimes these rambles are altogether
entertaining and enable her pupils to pass the time pleasantly, but they
lack "terminal facilities." They lead from nowhere to nowhere in the
most fascinating and fruitless meanderings. Such expeditions bring back
no emoluments. They leave a pleasant taste in the mouth but afford no
nourishment. They use the time but exact no dividends. Like sheet
lightning they are beautiful but never strike anything. They are
soothing sedatives that never impel to action. They lull to repose but
never vitalize.
=The ten-minute teacher.=--It is evident, therefore, that only the
ten-minute teacher is worthy of a place in the vitalized school. She
alone is able and willing to conserve, with religious zeal, the time and
interest of the pupils. To her their time and interest are sacred and
she deems it a sacrilege to trifle with them. She knows the market value
of her own time but does not know the value of the time of the possible
Edison who sits in her class. She gives to every child the benefit of
the doubt and respects both herself and her pupils too much to take
chances by pitting herself against them and using their time for her own
purposes. Moreover, she never permits their interest to flag, but knows
how to keep their minds tense. Their reactions are never less than
incisive, and, therefore, the truths of the lesson groove themselves
deep in their consciousness.
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