His arguments against examinations as tests of knowledge coincide with the experience of most teachers. They have their place, but altogether too much stress is laid on them in our schools and colleges, and as they are generally conducted they do more harm than good. They lead to cumulative cramming, and they are almost invariably unfair.
But interesting as the count's theories and results are, the personality of the man himself, the pictures that he draws of himself dealing with his peasant lads, and the unconscious methods of the born story-teller in presenting facts, give a peculiar charm to the whole account.
The enthusiastic naïveté of the plea that the cultured class should learn of the unspoiled peasant to write fiction has exactly the same charm as revealing the count's generous and lovable qualities. But that he has taken the lesson to heart by cultivating that simplicity and sincerity characteristic of a healthy child, a genuine boy, is shown by the tale—"Walk in the Light"—with which the volume ends, and which sums up and applies to practice under the guise of a story of antiquity Count Tolstoï's views of education and his ideas of a religious life. The "Dialogue between Clever People" may be regarded as an implicit introduction to this beautiful tale, and it is so printed in the Moscow edition.
Taken as a whole it is undoubtedly one of the most stimulating and suggestive volumes of the series.
