Greatest breadth........ Color of the stem.....
Number of lobes......... Color of the leaf.....
Number of indentations.. General shape.........

The other papers closely resembled this one. Consider the worth of
such knowledge! This is one way in which time is wasted in school and
college. Probably the main reason for the choice of this topic was the
fact that the leaves could be easily obtained. But if the teacher had
been in the habit of setting up specific aims, and therefore of asking
how such matter would prove valuable in life, she would have never
given this lesson--unless higher authorities had required it.

One of my classes of about seventy primary teachers in the study of
education once undertook to plan subject-matter in nature study for
six-year-old children in Brooklyn. They agreed that the common house
cat would be a fitting topic. And on being asked to state what facts
they might teach, they gave the following sub-topics in almost exactly
this order and wording: the ears; food and how obtained; the tongue;
paws, including cushions; whiskers; teeth; action of tail; sounds;
sharp hearing; sense of smell; cleanliness; eyes; looseness of the
skin; quick waking; size of mouth; manner of catching prey; claws;
care of young; locomotion; kinds of prey; enemies; protection by
society for the prevention of cruelty to animals,--twenty-two topics
in all. When I inquired if they would teach the length of the tail, or
the shape of the head and ears, or the length and shape of the legs,
or the number of claws or of teeth, most of them said "no" with some
hesitation, and some made no reply. When asked what more needed to be
done with this list before presenting the subject to the children,
some suggested that those facts pertaining to the head should be
grouped together, likewise those pertaining to the body and those in