Assert Individuality


Personal freedom of action must for a time be surrendered by pupil to

teacher but it should be for limited time only. The impress of the

teacher's mind can be made upon the pupil in two seasons of study if it

can be at all. Perhaps most pupils receive all that the teacher can give

them in six months. As soon as they have that should they leave that

teacher? Not at all. They should then begin the use of their own

indivi
uality--letting it, little by little, assert itself. The

practical application of individuality should be as carefully attended

to as is any part of the pupil's education. Perhaps it should have more

attention. More than one, more than a thousand, every year wrecks her

good and great future by what we term wilfulness or waywardness. The

name is misapplied. The individuality is then asserting itself and it is



then that the pupil needs the skillful and firm hand of the master. The

keen clear judgment which comes from experience is worth to the pupil

more than the cost of many lessons. The life is planned then. It is a

time of bending the twig; the tree grows that way. The wrecking which is

so often seen arises because the pupil changes to a teacher who does

not understand the case. The new teacher must study it all over. Before

that can be done the pupil is spoiled and disappears, disappointed and

disgusted. Receive the personality of the teacher, pupils, but then

allow him to lead you onward as you bring out your own individuality.



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