"The benefits derived from my college course were manifold, but time and
money would have been well spent had there been no return but that of
two years' intercourse with Maria Mitchell."
Another pupil, and later her successor at Vassar College, Miss Mary W.
Whitney, has said of her method of teaching: "As a teacher, Miss
Mitchell's gift was that of stimulus, not that of drill. She could not
drill; she would not drive. But no honest student could escape the
pressure of her strong will and earnest intent. The marking system she
held in contempt, and wished to have nothing to do with it. 'You cannot
mark a human mind,' she said, 'because there is no intellectual unit;'
and upon taking up her duties as professor she stipulated that she
should not be held responsible for a strict application of the system."
"July, 1887. My students used to say that my way of teaching was like
that of the man who said to his son, 'There are the letters of the
English alphabet--go into that corner and learn them.'
"It is not exactly my way, but I do think, as a general rule, that
teachers talk too much! A book is a very good institution! To read a
book, to think it over, and to write out notes is a useful exercise; a
book which will not repay some hard thought is not worth publishing. The
fashion of lecturing is becoming a rage; the teacher shows herself off,
and she does not try enough to develop her pupils.
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