The teacher may now, if he pleases, after the majority of the class have
gone, hear the reasons of those who were unprepared, and look for the
errors of those whose work was incorrect; but it is better to spend as
little time as possible in such a way. If a scholar is not prepared, it
is not of much consequence whether it is because he forgot his book or
mistook the lesson; or if it is ascertained that his answer is
incorrect, it is ordinarily a mere waste of time to search for the
particular error.
"I have looked over my work, sir," says the boy, perhaps, "and I can not
find where it is wrong." He means by it that he does not believe that it
is wrong.
"It is no matter if you can not," would be the proper reply, "since it
certainly is wrong; you have made a mistake in adding somewhere, but it
is not worth while for me to spend two or three minutes apiece with all
of you to ascertain where. Try to be careful next time."
Indeed the teacher should understand and remember what many teachers are
very prone to forget, namely, that the mere fact of finding an
arithmetical error in a pupil's work on the slate, and pointing it out
to him, has very little effect in correcting the false habit in his mind
from which it arose.
The cases of those who are unprepared at a recitation ought by no means
to be passed by unnoticed, although it would be unwise to spend much
time in examining each in detail.
"It is not of much consequence," the teacher might say, "whether you
have good excuses or bad, so long as you are not prepared.
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