_3. The responsibility the children should bear._

The teacher need not do a great amount of such work for her class. The
children should _learn to do it themselves_, and they will not acquire
the ability mainly by having some one else do it for them.

Therefore, after the children have come to understand the requirement
fairly well, the teacher might occasionally assign a lesson by
specifying only the quantity, as such and such pages, or such and such
topics, in the geography or history, with the understanding that the
class shall state in the next recitation one or more aims for the
lesson; for example, if it is the geography of Russia, How it happens
that we hear so often of famines in Russia, while we do not hear of
them in other parts of Europe; or, if it is the history of Columbus,
For what characteristic is Columbus to be most admired? Again, In what
ways has his discovery of America proved of benefit to the world? The
finding of such problems will then be a part of the study necessary in
mastering the lesson.

Likewise, during the recitation and without any hint from the teacher,
the children should show that they are carrying the responsibility of
establishing relations of the subject-matter with life, by mentioning
further bearings, or possible uses, that they discover.

Review lessons furnish excellent occasions for study of this kind. It
is narrow to review lessons only from the point of view of the author.
His view-point should be reviewed often enough to become well fixed,
but there should be other view-points taken also.