James Laurence Laughlin

“ In fact, the clearer the exposition by the lecturer, the less is left to the student—the lecturer, in fact, is the chief gainer by the system. Moreover, while listening to a connected and logical unfolding of the principles, the student is lulled into a false belief that, as he understands all that has been so clearly presented to him, he knows the subject quite well enough; and the result is to send out a number of conceited men who really can not carry on a rational economic discussion. ”

“ They memorize the general statements without ever realizing their practical side, and that which is memorized for the day of examination is forgotten more speedily than it is learned, and the sum total of the discipline has been simply a stretching of the memory. In fact, with the average student in almost any subject the lecture system leads to cramming, At the best, it affords a constant temptation to put off that kind of internal struggle which must be gone through with—a period of doubts and questions—by which alone a clearer conception of the subject ultimately emerges. ”

“ Since the chief work of the class-room is not to enable students to discover principles, but rather to understand and apply them, probably the most useful method of interesting a class is to present to them by extracts from the newspapers of the day bits of fallacious discussions which may come under the head of the subject in hand, and ask for criticism and discussion of them. The appositeness of a timely topic is peculiarly valuable for such purposes. In fact, the practical matters of our own country will never fail to excite a lively interest in almost any class ”

“ In no subject, perhaps, more than in political economy, is it necessary to know the preliminary stages in order to understand the later work; so that the pupil must be actually in possession of principles previously expounded for which he may be called upon at any time. It is simply impossible for a person to be absent and neglectful for a time in his study, and then come into the class-room to make a brilliant show on an intermediate fragment of the subject. He can be too easily exposed as a humbug to attempt it a second time. ”

“ They wholly miss the discipline which gives exactitude, mental breadth, keenness, and power to express themselves plainly and to the point. Then, not being forced to think over a principle in its application to various phases of concrete phenomena, they know the principle only in connection with the illustrations given by the lecturer, while they utterly fail to assimilate the principles into their own thinking. The subject then becomes to them a matter of memory. ”

“ Many minds are unable to keep hold of an abstraction, or general principle; or they have been untrained in making nice distinctions between ideas or definitions. Just as in beginning a strange language, when words of widely different meaning have a similarity to the untutored eye, the distinctions do not make much impression. ”

“ ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL ECONOMY IN HARVARD UNIVERSITY.
A NATION is sometimes so bitterly taught by sad experience in financial errors—as was the case with France in John Law's time, and again in the issue of paper assignats during the Revolution—that, on the principle of the "burned child," it ever afterward finds that it unconsciously keeps to the right and avoids the wrong path. So that to-day France is a country where correct conceptions of money are almost universal, and her public monetary experiments are, as a rule, most admirably conducted. ”

“ Books of which one has heard but never seen, can also be entered with a star, to be erased when a book has been examined. This systematic habit is peculiarly desirable when one is hunting for the facts on a certain subject. ”

“ Collections of facts regarding banking, finance, taxation, and wages become a tangle in which one's direction is constantly lost. But arranged graphically the whole direction of a movement is seen at once, and the mind takes in new and unexpected changes, which force an investigation into their cause. ”

“ A national or State campaign is very likely to furnish an instructor with a plentiful supply of extracts for discussion by his class. The learner in political economy is not hindered by the same disagreeable obstacles, as impede the medical student, in finding subjects on which to put his learning into practice. ”

“ The teacher should in every way stimulate questions from members of his class, and urge the statement by them, either orally or in writing, of their doubts and difficulties. If there is some timidity in presenting a weakness in the presence of a class, ask some more manly person of the number, and the timid student will soon see that others are not much better off than he. ”

“ In this brief and inadequate way I have attempted to suggest from my own experience what may enable others to avoid difficulties, and possibly to aid in a more rational method of teaching political economy. ”

“ Let the pupil be asked to state the matter, and let the teacher note the imperfections. Now he can stimulate another student by questioning him as to one of these imperfections. If a clear correction is not obtained from a member of the class, let the instructor apply the Socratic method. At first ask a question which the learner readily understands, and then lead him naturally and gradually by logical steps up to the point wherein he had failed of understanding. He will then see his own difficulty, and at the same time he has had a little robust exercise for his mind. ”

“ But ordinary co-ordinate paper, on a small scale, is the best form in which to first arrange the chart. It can be purchased in sheets at a small price, and is invaluable for both student and instructor. In fact, no lesson is more stimulating to a class than to give them the data of a subject and ask them to put it into graphic form. For the first time they begin to realize that statistics are not dry ”

“ The student should go away from the class-room feeling that he has received some new idea, or some interesting fact which illustrates his subject. The work of the class-room should be cumulative in its effect as compared with the fruits of text-book reading. ”

“ In short, the more extended collection of economic data is now rendered possible by the better methods employed in census and statistical bureaus, and the resort to the work of verification of economic principles by the examination of these data is the one thing only which can redeem political economy from the baseless and common charge of being a set of impractical formulæ. ”

“ The greatest good comes, of course, from putting the student on his own resources at once and forcing him to find his own materials, look up his own books and authorities, and come to a conclusion on the subject assigned to him independently of all aid or suggestion. The instructor can then at the conferences take up a paper for criticism and discussion, or first assign it to another member for that purpose. ”

“ In fact, all will have difficulties in understanding, or in interpreting principles, some trivial, some serious; and the pupil will become discouraged unless these are removed. When each one sees that others are also hindered by obstacles, there will be a greater freedom in asking questions. Moreover, in order to keep up a steady and regular training, which will produce the best disciplinary results, let the questions of the instructor every day run backward in review, and especially aim to bring out the connection of one part of the subject with another. ”

“ In somewhat the same way does the individual gain his proper knowledge of political economy. Principles must be seen working in a concrete form. The key to efficient teaching of the subject is to connect principles with actual facts ”

“ They will know better what is expected of them in the future—like troops after their first fight. After such an examination the instructor will find his class much more disciplined and more ready to exert themselves in the intellectual wrestling. The vigorous preparation for the examination has really given them a better grasp of the subject, and the teacher can easily bring on a warm discussion now, because they really know something and feel that they know it. ”

“ It does not at all imply that he will get hard and definite conceptions of human affairs by this process; for he is shown that the principle which he has once seen in a concrete form, appears in other forms, and he is constantly seeing that it is so. ”

“ No one has ever claimed that there has been any "unfriendliness" displayed toward silver in the legislation of the chief countries of the world before 1816, at the farthest, and yet the white metal had been steadily on the decline ever since the Spanish galleons, in the fifteenth century, began to pour the precious metals of America into the coffers of Spain. ”

“ Now, if A were to become as fully skilled as B, and competition
should become free between all members of A and B; and if this were to go on in the same way to include C the effects of this breaking down of the barriers which hinder competition might be illustrated by the following changes in the above pyramid: the areas of A, B, and C may be thrown together into one area within the whole of which movement and choice is perfectly free to the laborer, and wherein wages are in proportion to sacrifice. ”

“ At the next exercise of the class, the instructor can read some good and some bad answers, point out the general mistakes, and advise them for the future. No exercise can be better than this in cultivating the habit of careful expression, and in learning how to make a clear and pointed exposition of a subject in a brief space of time. ”

“ Moreover, there comes a certain breadth of treatment, when, in looking at the facts graphically expressed, one is able to see the whole field at once. There is no waste of thought on temporary and accidental movements, for the action is seen from beginning to end at one glance. ”

“ But for practical purposes it seems best to remember that a class is composed of all kinds of persons, and, while the majority of the questions should be of the character which I have described, yet at least a few easier and more encouraging questions should be set. ”