for centuries, have been largely discontinued — the former almost entirely. Appeals to individual emulation, which come next in the order of historical development, are also being given up in most places. As substitutes for these we find quite general and effective use being made of the instinct of mental activity and curiosity and the instinct of physical activity and manipulation. The instinct of communication offers large possibilities, which are beginning to be realized, and the instinct of coöperation offers some limited but valuable possibilities, which may be realized by a relatively few skilled, idealistic teachers.

Habitual attention. General attitudes of attention. In addition to certain fundamental instincts upon which teachers may depend for securing attention, there gradually develops a body of habits of attention upon which the teacher may count as children reach the higher grades and high school. These habits may be in the form of general attitudes and general interests or they may take the form of rather specific habitual interests or tendencies to attend. Among the more general habits are such common ones as giving attention to the teacher, to the responses of other pupils, to books when opened, etc. That these are matters of habit rather than of instinct comes out most clearly when we contrast schools or classes in which they are emphasized and developed with schools and classes in which this is not done. Nothing furnishes such a strong superficial contrast between teachers as the habits of attention of their students at the beginning of recitation periods. In some rooms pupils, from the moment of entering and taking their seats, "settle down to business," which means that they put into operation certain habitual attitudes of attention. In a mathematics class, for example, they get out paper and pencil, open their books, set down a problem, and begin to study it. In some classes, on the other hand, the students wait for the teacher to "start something"; their habits of giving attention in this class all depend upon

signals from the teacher, instead of being responses to the general situation, "being in the classroom." Habits of attention are further illustrated by the tendency, which some readers have purposely built up for themselves, of refraining from looking up when they are reading in a library and someone comes into the room. Some readers instinctively look up at every interruption; others have schooled themselves not to do this. The same habit is built up with children in classrooms, and in some model schools where there are hundreds of visitors both children and teachers get so that the entering of strangers causes no interruption in their attention to the lesson.

Habitual interests in subjects. In connection with the various studies we form thousands of special habits of attention and habitual interests. These are best illustrated by the attention of advanced specialists, who notice particularly the matters related to their own lines of specialization. Thus, in glancing over a row of books in a library, a historian will note especially books on history, a psychologist those on psychology, etc. Students form similar habits as they progress through school. Thus, in high school the teacher of English composition, for example, may build upon certain habits, which pupils have formed in the grades, of giving attention to capitals, periods, and headings, and can assume a certain amount of habitual interest in neat papers, even margins, and clearly expressed thought, if the children have been well taught. Similarly, the teacher of third-year science in high school can count upon students having habits of observing certain types of physical and biological phenomena and having habitual interests in certain changes in color, weight, temperature, and growth, whose significance they have learned in their previous science courses. The necessity of building upon these acquired interests and relating instruction to them was emphasized in the chapter on apperception. If the teacher can connect the new experiences with habitual interests that the students

have formed either in school or out of school, they may "lay hold of the new experiences and reach out after more." Teachers must study interests of high-school students. The adequate utilization of both the instinctive and the habitual interests of students as a means of securing concentration of attention and economical learning necessitates a thorough knowledge of the interests of high-school boys and girls on the part of the high-school teachers. In many cases the teacher needs to have his eyes opened and his standpoint broadened by getting an insight into the lives of students who are of a different type from himself. For example, if he is extremely religious, he ought to try to realize the point of view of the students in whose life religion does not play much part, and vice versa. If he is sociable and convivial, he ought to try to get the point of view of the student who is bashful and lonesome. If the teacher has never been anything except a "grind," he ought to try to appreciate the boys whose interests run primarily to athletics and student politics. For in all these cases education will progress most economically if the energies of the students' instinctive and habitual interests can be utilized instead of opposed. I have heard it said that one of the best means of attaining the broad point of view advocated here is to read George Meredith's "Ordeal of Richard Feverel."

Further practical examples. — In order to appreciate more completely the practical bearings of some of the points made in this chapter, students should read the references to Charters' "Methods of Teaching" and Thorndike's "Principles of Teaching" given in the bibliography on page 361. In the former, note ́especially the practical examples, and in the latter, work the exercises that apply to high-school instruction.

Conclusion of discussion of interests. This concludes our discussion of the use of present interests as a means of securing economy in learning. We have seen that superior results are secured by methods of instruction which utilize

students' interests. Of the many powerful instincts that might be utilized as the basis of spontaneous interest in and attention to instruction, the largest and best possibilities are found in the instincts of mental activity and curiosity, manipulation and communication. The skilled teacher will also build upon the habitual interests which students have acquired in and out of school. To familiarize himself with the instinctive and habitual interests of his students, he will make a study of adolescent boys and girls of all types.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

I. ANGELL, J. R. Psychology. (Henry Holt and Company, 1908.) Pp. 339–362. A brief, attractive discussion of the psychology of instinctive behavior and of attention.

2. CHARTERS, W. W. Methods of Teaching. (Row, Peterson and Company, 1912.) Pp. 146-184, 246–254. Extensive discussion of motives, with many practical illustrations and suggestions.

3. JAMES, WILLIAM. Principles of Psychology. (Henry Holt and Company, 1890.) Vol. II, pp. 383-441. Most important chapter written on human instincts. Very attractive style.

4. KIRKPATRICK, E. A. The Fundamentals of Child Study. (The Macmillan Company, 1903.) Thorough discussion of maturing of human instincts, with practical suggestions.

5. MACCUNN, J. The Making of Character. (The Macmillan Company, 1913.) An attractive discussion of moral training based on the psychology of instincts. See especially pp. 1–68.

6. THORNDIKE, E. L. Educational Psychology. Vol. I, The Original Nature of Man. (Teachers College, 1913.) The most thorough and critical treatment of human instincts. Read chap. xvii, entitled The Value and Use of Original Tendencies.

7. THORNDIKE, E. L. Principles of Teaching. (A. G. Seiler, 1906.) Pp. 21-39, 51-67, 105-109. The best pedagogical discussion of interests and attention, with their instinctive basis. The practical exercises should be discussed in class.

Referred to incidentally in the chapter. 8. QUICK, R. H. Educational Reformers. (D. Appleton and Company, 1890.)

CHAPTER XV

ADAPTING CLASS INSTRUCTION TO DIFFERENCES IN CAPACITY

Main points of the chapter.—1. The method of class instruction and recitation which is commonly used involves an enormous waste of time for both the fast and the slow members of a class, the former often having nothing to do, while the latter are dragged along so rapidly that they get little or nothing out of the subject.

2. Statistical measurements show that the brightest pupil in a class of ordinary size can do, in the same amount of time, from two to five times as much as the slowest pupil.

3. Since the year 1900 considerable interest has developed in the devising of methods of varying class instruction so as to adapt it to the differences in the capacities of the members of the class. The following are typical experiments:

a. The abolishing of all class recitations and the substituting of individual instruction, each pupil advancing at his own rate. This is known as the Pueblo plan.

b. The division of classes into slow, medium, and fast sections, each advancing at its own rate, partially under the direction of monitors.

c. Requiring only students who need the recitation to give attention to it, and providing special supplementary assignments for the fast pupils.

d. The organization of required periods of supervised study during which individual attention is given to individual students by the teacher. This is known as the Batavia plan and is discussed at length in the next chapter.

Class instruction needs supplementing to suit individuals. One of the most-needed improvements in class instruction which is advocated at the present time is the varying of the pace at which members of the class are expected to advance,