4. In the more advanced classes, the pupils should frequently be required to make a topical outline of a section or chapter of the text-book. This demands considerable analytic power, and the pupil who can do it successfully has mastered the art of reading. The ability is acquired slowly, and the teacher must use discretion in what he exacts from the pupil in this regard. If the plan were followed persistently, there would be less time wasted in cursory reading, the results of which are fleeting. What is read in this careful way will become the real possession of the mind and, even if less material is read, more will be permanently retained.
The facts thus learned from the text-book should be discussed by the teacher and pupils in a subsequent recitation period. This may be done by the question and answer method, the teacher asking questions to which the pupils give brief answers; or by the topical recitation method, the pupils reporting in connected form the facts under topics suggested by the teacher. The teacher has thus an opportunity of emphasizing the important facts, of correcting misconceptions, and of amplifying and illustrating the facts given in the text-book. Further, the pupils are given an opportunity of expressing themselves, and have thus an exercise in language which is a valuable means of clarifying their impressions.
As instances of the abuse of the text-book, the following might be cited:
1. The memorization by the pupils of the words of the text-book without any understanding of the meaning.
2. The assignment of a certain number of pages or sections to be learned by the pupils without any preliminary preparation for the study.
3. The employment of the text-book by the teacher during the recitation as a means of guiding him in the questions he is to ask--a confession that he does not know what he requires the pupils to know.
=Limitation of Text-book.=--The chief limitation of the text-book method of teaching is that the pupil makes few discoveries on his own account, and is, therefore, not trained to think for himself. The problems being largely solved for him by the writer, the knowledge is not valued as highly as it would be if it came as an original discovery. We always place a higher estimation on that knowledge which we discover for ourselves than on that which somebody else gives us.