Thus we have considered the instinct of emulation from the three points of view outlined above; namely,

1. The part which it plays in social life.

2. Its effectiveness as used in school.

3. The value of the educational results of using it. Students should keep these three points in mind and apply them in evaluating all human instincts that may be used as the basis of attention and interest in instruction.

Important instincts used as basis of attention and interest. We shall now take up a few of the instincts which have been used in practical ways in school to secure attention, in the order of their emphasis historically.

Fear of physical pain generally used until 1800.- It is hard to realize that in Western Europe for hundreds of years the principal means of getting students to study their lessons was fear of physical punishment; but this was the case. There is plenty of evidence in the pictures of old-time schools, in the appeals to abolish the practice which were made by such famous writers as Erasmus (1466-1536), Comenius (15921670), Ascham (1515–1568), and Mulcaster (1530–1611), and in the records of the number of whippings given by schoolmasters. The picture on page 349, in which a large bunch of switches is held ready in the master's hand, is typical. The switches were held in such a convenient position, not because the boys were likely to be unruly or insubordinate, but in order that the teacher might give a blow for each mistake as soon as the pupil made it while reciting.

Apart from the fact that for humanitarian reasons such punishment would not be tolerated at the present time, it would not be used because it is obviously ineffective. Instead of securing spontaneous attention, at the best it secures forced, divided attention under conditions that are very unfavorable to mental progress. For these reasons the use of the instinctive fear of physical pain as a stimulus to attention was generally discarded after the beginning of the nineteenth century.

Fear of sarcasm and ridicule. Somewhat akin to the appeal based on the fear of physical pain is that based on the instinctive fear of sarcasm and ridicule. This form of stimulus is still used by many teachers, who regard it as an effective instrument. Such teachers practice the use of sarcasm and ridicule as an art, and develop a vocabulary of stinging terms and expressions calculated to make the laziest student apply himself in order to avoid a repetition. of the ridicule. It is true that such methods are often effective in securing attention and effort on the part of the student, but attention secured in this way is likely to be forced and divided, and hence relatively ineffective as compared with spontaneous attention. If some means of arousing the latter can be devised, it would be better to omit sarcasm and ridicule. Moreover, the unhappiness which these cause most students to suffer and the unfriendly relations which they tend to establish between. teacher and students furnish additional reasons for avoiding their use under ordinary circumstances. Certain mild forms of good-humored ridicule, in which the lazy or careless student becomes the object, for the moment, of mild, friendly bantering by the teacher, would be the exceptions to the general rule of eliminating ridicule as a stimulus to attention.

Emulation used by the Jesuits as described above. - The transition from the use of the fear of physical pain to the

use of emulation represents a definite historical advance and was so regarded by the two large systems that used emulation extensively; namely, that of the Jesuits (1540), discussed above, and the Lancasterian monitorial system, which was adopted extensively in the large cities in the United States from 1805 to 1830. This system used an elaborate scheme of medals, tickets, and prizes, of which there are still some survivals in our schools. In view of the long evaluation of the use of emulation given above (pp. 345-348), nothing further need be said here concerning it.

Higher instinctive appeals utilized recently. We now come to a long list of instincts which began to be considered as the basis of attention during the educational reforms that developed in the later eighteenth and in the nineteenth century under the stimulus of Rousseau's Émile, which was published in 1762. The list includes mental activity, curiosity, the collecting instinct, the instinct of physical activity, manipulation, communication, and coöperation. Some of these are more easily and profitably used in the elementary school than in high school.

Mental activity. Normal human beings cannot keep from thinking. By the instinct of mental activity is meant the natural tendency of human beings to be actively and spontaneously thinking whenever they are awake. Such spontaneous thinking varies from the revery of the daydreamer to the scintillating ideas of the wit or the intense, suggestive, and critical reasoning of the scholar. In all of these cases the thinking may go on with no special practical purpose in view. The thinkers think because they can't help it; they are driven by instinct. You may imagine the daydreamer and the wit and the scholar all reclining lazily on the ocean beach or in the comfortable chairs of a vacation resort in summer, with nothing to do except loaf - and the dreamer dreams, the wit scintillates, and the scholar goes on reflecting just the same.

Opportunity for active thinking should be provided. - This fact, that much intense active thinking is done as the result of the strong instinctive tendency which many persons possess, is sometimes overlooked by writers who insist that students must always feel some practical need or motive for their studies. Studies should appeal to practical interests in general, but the instinct of mental activity, as well as many of the other instincts, will often keep many students actively at work physically and mentally if the school will simply open up outlets for this instinctive activity.

My own experience as a youth is typical. In the grammar grades of the ordinary elementary school which I attended, no special outlets for instinctive mental activity were opened up. Hence, like many boys, I read many books of adventure. Our family had three public-library cards. Making a trip down town on Saturday, I could get three books of fiction, such as "Ragged Dick," "Frank on the Gunboat," etc. These were read through by Sunday evening. Then recourse was had to five-cent novels. These could be bought second-hand, two for a nickel. By trading with other boys, I could piece out the week with reading matter until the next trip to the library. Instead of completing the eighth grade in the public elementary school, I transferred to a private manual-training high school which maintained an eighth grade. Here the methods of instruction were entirely different. Every lesson opened up some outlet for further thought or reading or collecting. Instead of securing books of fiction from the library, books on history, physiography, botany, etc. were taken out. These were read and studied after school and in the evening, not as required work but simply as outlets for mental activity. Moreover, the change was not due to a disappearance of the interest in stories of adventure, for I have always continued to read "Sherlock Holmes" and similar stories with intense interest; but the mental energy which went into this line of activity was easily diverted to another when opportunity was offered.

Most students have favorite lines of mental activity.— Some students exhibit little preference in the choice of the direction which their thinking will take; they think just as spontaneously along historical lines as along mathematical or mechanical lines. Most students, however, exhibit definite preferences, and these must be considered by the instructor. In probably half of the students to be found in high school the instinct of mental activity is sufficiently strong to result spontaneously in serious study along one or two lines, provided the way to these lines is opened up. The preferred lines might be historical and literary, or mathematical and scientific, or scientific and mechanical, etc.

Curiosity; either alert contemplation or mental striving.— The instinct of curiosity is a special phase of the instinct of mental activity. It is the phase represented by the tendency to be interested in the novel aspects or the unmastered aspects of the situation. Sometimes it involves merely alert contemplation, but often it is characterized by intense mental striving. In either case it is a most useful instinct for securing instinctive spontaneous attention.

Easily aroused.- Examples of the use in high school of curiosity in the form of alert contemplation are found in all subjects in the use of novel examples within the general range of the students' experience. Any new concrete or specific instance or incident, if presented with skill, is almost certain to challenge curiosity in the form of alert contemplation. Any number of examples can easily be given by students, especially from the subject matter of science. Curiosity is seldom aroused in high-school students, however, by general' and abstract statements unless these evidently present a new aspect of familiar experiences or familiar general ideas. An example of such a statement would be that water often runs uphill. Another would be that all men are not created equal even though it is so stated in the Declaration of Independence. Another would be that, although it is a monarchy, the