I particularly enjoyed the paragraph where Emerson uses a metaphor comparing children to the fish in a pond. He paints a picture of a naturalist walking into a pond full of fish. When he is in the water the fish scurry away. It is not until the naturalist stays still and remains patient that the fish come to him. The fish represent the students while the naturalist represents the teacher. The metaphor explains how the teacher must be patient with his students in order for them to come to him and want to learn.
I also enjoyed the metaphor with the "genius and drill" idea. The genius is the enthusiasm, the ideas, and the inspiration of learning something or discovering something new such as Fellowes had done. The drill is taking the initiative and acting. One can however use both drill and genius. For example, Emerson stated "genius always seeks genius." Essentially, the enthusiasm of the genius and the overflowing rush of ideas makes it so the genius needs to seek another genius because they must share their ideas and their genius. That is also drill because they are taking the initiative to find out information from others.
The education system is under scrutiny. Teachers are being overloaded with state tests and new curriculums. Do you think Emerson and his philosophy would have agreed with this newfound school system? Emerson believes in a patient learning atmosphere in which students are encouraged to share with the class their ideas. The school system now is forcing teachers to teach an immense amount of topics in a timed period. Emerson would more likely than not disagree with this. For the schools to have time limits and score minimums and set curriculums that they believe students should know is against everything Emerson stood for. As this blog comes to a close, think about this; why do we not treat the class room the way we do nature? Why are we not more patient with our children so they can learn more?
