Thoroughly to accomplish all that a teacher desires, or even all that
is often expected of him, would be possible only to the gods; and it
is evident enough that no instructor can exercise complete parental
supervision over all the life of the pupils under him. Certain things
in the training of the young are accomplished at home or go forever
undone. Perhaps the most serious difficulty in this whole complicated
business of education is that the schoolmaster is so largely called
upon to undo what is done outside the schoolroom. He may at least be
thankful that in the matter of reading he is dealing with something
tangible, something in which so many of his flock may with skilful
management be influenced.
In a leaflet published under the auspices of the New England
Association of Teachers of English, "The Voluntary Reading of High
School Scholars," Professor W. C. Bronson, of Brown University,
comments on the fact that the mind of the young person is likely to
perceive little relation between the literature administered at school
and the books voluntarily read outside. He says:
Many of our high-school youth are leading a double life in
things literary: in the class-room Doctor Jekyll studies the
lofty idealism of "Comus" or "Paradise Lost;" outside, Mr.
Hyde revels in the yellow journalism and the flashy novel; and
in many cases Doctor Jekyll does not even realize that he has
changed into another and lower being.
The difficulty in making boys and girls realize a connection between
school-work and actual life is familiar to every teacher. I am
personally convinced that one reason for this—although obviously not
the only one—is the modern tendency to diminish the sense of value and
necessity by too much yielding to the inclination of the child. Coaxing
along the line of the least resistance is sure to produce an effective
even if hardly conscious indifference, which is far less healthy than
the temper of mind bred by insistence upon progress along the line
of duty. Be that as it may, however, the modern scholar generally
regards school as one thing and life as practically another. Books read
in the class-room, books studied, discussed as a part of formal and
required work, are felt to be remote from daily existence and almost as
something a bit unreal. They may be even enjoyed, and yet seem to the
illogical youthful mind as having a certain adult quality which sets
them apart from any vital connection with the life of youth. It is not
uncommon, I believe, for a boy to like a book in his private capacity,
reading it for simple and unaffected pleasure, and yet to feel it
almost a duty to be bored by the same book when it comes up as a part
of the work of the school-room.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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