A pupil has a fifty per cent chance of giving the desired answer without doing any thinking whatever. When the question is supplemented, as it frequently is, by a suggestive intonation, a modification of the voice, and a significant look of the eye, the chance of giving the desired. response has reached almost to a point of certainty. Frequently pupils develop a rare keenness at guessing the answer the teacher wishes given. This form of the question is effective when information alone is desired. It does not provoke thought.

The Indirect Question. This question is the most common and most effective one employed by teachers. It reduces guessing to a minimum and thus paves the way for responsible thinking. In like manner it imposes upon the teacher the necessity of knowing the underlying principles. One cannot consistently ask effective indirect questions without a thorough understanding of the intrinsic function of the parts of the subject-matter. The first prerequisite to effective indirect questions is a thorough understanding of the main purpose and the logical structure of such subject-matter.

The Alternative Question. There is not a large use of this question in the teaching process. Neither is it an effective tool. It stimulates guessing and but seldom provokes thought. The situation is rare indeed which demands its use.

The Elliptical Question. -The elliptical question has a real place in teaching. It is especially valuable in drill work in arithmetic and for similar purposes elsewhere. Children's books frequently contain many elliptical questions. They appeal to the child's sense of curiosity. They also indicate briefly what is to be found.

In the main, the indirect question should be used in assignments, examinations, and in the daily recitation. An organization of subject-matter is a prerequisite to an effective use of it. Ability to organize is fundamental to thought-provoking questions.

CHAPTER XI

THE VALUE OF COMPARISON

COMPARISON is so vital, and its inadequate use so serious that there can be little danger of overstressing the importance which McMurry and others have given to it, by a further and somewhat detailed treatment of its natural, fundamental, and practical aspects.

Comparison a Natural Process.- Comparison is a natural process, since it is a vital factor of both work and play. The play activities of children and adults are constantly stimulated by comparison. The competitive element, which depends upon comparison, prevails in running games, marbles, sling, quoits, tenpins, tennis, ball, golf, and racing of every sort. The sharper the comparison the more exhilarating the game. Few persons indeed enjoy playing with an unworthy competitor, and seldom does an audience enjoy a one-sided contest. Eliminate the element of comparison and the game ceases to be.

In like manner the impetus to work results from the satisfaction which springs from a comparison of a past or present real with an ideal, partially or wholly within the scope of realization. The impetus to mow the lawn, other than that secured by external pressure, springs from the satisfaction experienced when the well-mowed lawn is held in imagination alongside the image of the existing lawn and evaluated in terms of social approval, personal

convenience, or enjoyment. One paints the house, sods the yard, repairs the fence, curries the horse, and “rubs down" the automobile, because of the satisfaction that results from a comparison of the real with the ideal.

Fundamental to Vigorous Thought. Not only is comparison natural as revealed in an analysis of both work and play, but it is fundamental to vigorous thought processes. The raising of problems is as fundamental to good teaching as the solving of them. We appreciate most those authors who throw bombs along our mental pathways who make our satisfied and comfortable opinions unsatisfied and uncomfortable. We appreciate most those books and articles which undermine our prejudices, clarify our superstitions, and broaden our perspective.

In like manner we revere those teachers who provoke new views, stimulate new attitudes, lead to new conquests, and arouse in us a confidence which we once thought ourselves incapable of. Comparison is an effective means of raising problems. No more stimulating approach to a new situation can be made than that of comparing it with an old one with which it has some elements in common.

The biologist recognizes this truth. He approaches in turn increasingly complex specimens by comparing them with the simpler evolutionary forms. Through similarity and contrast a structural relation between the great groups of animal and plant life is established. It is the educational value of this thought-provoking approach which causes some biologists to question the merit of a general science course which apparently is of a less coherent character.

A thought-provoking approach to a study of both South Australia and Argentina may be made by raising the

following comparative problem: Why are corn raising in Illinois, sheep raising in South Australia, and cattle raising in Argentina respectively the predominating agricultural industries of these states, though all are in a similar latitude? The solution of this problem involves a knowledge of the comparative amount and distribution of the rainfall and an understanding of the prevailing winds, surface features of each country, remoteness from large bodies of water, internal improvements, etc.

COMPARISON OF SUBJECT-MATTER PROVOKES THOUGHT

Method in History. The materials of history lend themselves to effective comparison. No better illustration of the efficacy of comparison in provoking historical mindedness can be given than Fiske's Critical Period in American History. This account is brilliant and effective, because of its masterful comparisons. The motives and policies of statesmen, the character of colonial governments, their chartered holdings, nationalities, industries, tariff laws, and a multitude of other factors are paraded before the reader and compared for purposes of accounting for the political structure which sprang up in the latter half of the eighteenth century from the varied and complex situation which immediately preceded it. Other historians may have examined more source materials, and contented themselves with less philosophizing, but all must respect John Fiske for his splendid style, which is characterized by its frequent and effective comparisons.

Method in Nature-Study. - Method in nature-study, because of the newness of the subject, and because of its kinship to the natural sciences, is more comparative than that of many of the older subjects. Our annual corn