I'm getting my first real feel of things now.

I'm beginning to size up the situation--" "Please don't say 'size up,'" she interrupted.
"To get a line on things," he hastily amended.
"That doesn't mean anything in correct English," she objected.
He floundered for a fresh start.
"What I'm driving at is that I'm beginning to get the lay of the land." Out of pity she forebore, and he went on.
"Knowledge seems to me like a chart-room.

Whenever I go into the library, I am impressed that way.

The part played by teachers is to teach the student the contents of the chart-room in a systematic way.

The teachers are guides to the chart-room, that's all.