From the introductory chapter: HOW TO TEACH.
How to teach drawing, especially to beginners, Is a problem of interest to all teachers. The claims of drawing as a branch of our educational system are now fully recognized, but the results obtained in our schools have not been universally satisfactory.
This lack of success has been due to mistaken methods at the start, more than to any one cause. The child who first handles the pencil is a very different individual from the pupil of the. higher grades who may be able to comprehend technical terms and to execute difficult drawings, - but unfortunately the distinction has not been made in teaching the subject.
A thorough acquaintance with the principles and rules Which govern the art or great skill in handling the chalk or pencil are not so much required on the part of the teacher as a reasonable understanding of the nature of the child.
Most drawing books designed for beginners, present a mass of geometrical facts and technical definitions, which are to be committed to memory by little minds totally incapable of understanding their meaning, and the methods of Instruction usually employed are of a similar character. The designs themselves are uninteresting and the methods dry and mechanical, the child being denied those aids which any draughtsman would ordinarily employ.
A free use of the ruler and other instruments is of course out of the question in the study of free hand drawing, but for the childs mind as yet unable to cope with analytic methods, and for the young muscles which, as yet, cannot readily obey the impulses of the mind, some aids must be furnished to lead up to the point where the course in drawing usually begins.
The child should be taught to draw as he was taught to walk, step by step. It is as absurd to expect him to fulfill the requirements of the average drawinj? booli, as it would be to demand that he should walk or run at the first attempt. lie needs partial support at first. He needs encouragement at each faltering step, but as he gains confidence he will also acquire greater proficiency, and in time he will be able to stand alone.
While it is desirable that the pupil should be thus gradually made acquainted with the art of drawing, it is also important that the teacher should be able to explain the reason of each step, and that she should be familiar with the best methods of imparting instruction. It is the purpose of this book to explain in. a clear and practical manner, the plan of the new series of Bartholomews Drawing Books, and to render the inexperienced teacher such aid as it may be possible to give....