Page:The Great Didactic of John Amos Comenius (1896).pdf/361

 5. (i) What has to be done must be learned by practice.

Artisans do not detain their apprentices with theories, but set them to do practical work at an early stage; thus they learn to forge by forging, to carve by carving, to paint by painting, and to dance by dancing. In schools, therefore, let the students learn to write by writing, to talk by talking, to sing by singing, and to reason by reasoning. In this way schools will become work-shops humming with work, and students whose efforts prove successful will experience the truth of the proverb: “We give form to ourselves and to our materials at the same time.”

6. (ii) A definite model of that which has to be made must always be provided.

This the student should first examine, and then imitate, as though he were following in the footsteps of a guide. For he who neither knows what has to be done nor how to do it, is unable to produce anything of himself, but must have a model placed before him. Indeed it is sheer cruelty to force any one to do what you wish, while he is ignorant what your wishes are; to demand, that is to say, that he form straight lines, right angles, or perfect circles, unless you first give him a ruler, a square, and a pair of compasses, and explain their use to him. Further, great care should be taken to provide in the school-room formulæ for or models of everything that has to be made, and these, whether drawings and diagrams, or rules and models, should be correct, definite, and simple; easy both to understand and to imitate. There will then be no absurdity in demanding of a man that he see, when provided with a light; that he walk, when he already stands on his feet; or that he use the tools that are already in his hands.

7. (iii) The use of instruments should be shown in practice and not by words; that is to say, by example rather than by precept.

It is many years since Quintilian said: “Through precepts the way is long and difficult, while through examples it is short and practicable.” But alas, how little