Page:Jesuit Education.djvu/521

Rh theme that the whole may be gathered here and there from passages already explained."

Indeed, this system affords many great advantages. The reading is made useful for the writing, and the writing helps considerably for the thorough understanding of what has been read. The students will have to ponder over the author, to examine the words, the figures, the phrases, and so they imbibe little by little the genius of the language. Thus imitation-exercises are made useful and easy at the same time. The dictionary need not be consulted for every expression, a custom which entails much waste of time with relatively little fruit. We quoted Dr. Stanley Hall's words, that "one of the best German teachers told him that the boy should never see a dictionary or even a vocabulary, but the teacher must be a 'pony'." This is the old principle of the Ratio. The teacher is told that "after the dictation of the theme he should straightway call for the reading of the theme. Then he should explain anything that may be difficult, suggest words, phrases and other helps." Is not here the teacher, what modern educators want him to be in their 'ideal school,' the boy's dictionary, vocabulary and 'pony'? But above all this practice produces unity in the various exercises. It is needless to say that the same principle can be followed with best success in the teaching of English. The compositions ought to be based on the work studied in class.