merely utilizes it and builds upon it to teach two of the most important subjects in school; namely, reading and history.

Children's interests call forth spontaneous attention in contrast with old-fashioned forced attention. The practice of utilizing the existing interests of children as a means of securing their attention to school work may be contrasted with the older practice of merely demanding attention of children to material in which they have no natural spontaneous interest. This contrast may be used to denote two kinds of attention which teachers may secure; namely, forced attention and spontaneous attention. The devices used by teachers in securing forced attention included threats, demerits, rapping on the table, scolding, rewards, etc. Spontaneous attention, on the other hand, seems to come of itself, as illustrated above by the spontaneous interest in the story of King Tawny Mane and Little Cotton Tail.

Spontaneous attention more effective than forced divided attention. Spontaneous attention is usually more effective in learning than forced attention because the latter is likely to be so divided that only a small portion of it is given to the lesson. This is illustrated by the pupil who is busily engaged in shooting paper darts from a rubber band and at the same time apparently listening to other pupils recite. This pupil's attention is divided, part of it being given to the rubber band, part to his targets, and just enough to the teacher and recitation to avoid being caught. That such divided attention is not very effective in learning lessons can be easily realized if the reader will call to mind his own efforts to study for an examination when a conversation in which he is interested is being carried on across the table from him and he realizes that he has only twenty minutes left in which to get ready for the examination. Or call to mind efforts to study after returning from a dance, with the mind full of alluring melodies and memories, or after laying down an unfinished and exciting book. It takes no fine psychological

measurements to show that the progress made during an hour of such divided and forced attention is often not as great as that made during fifteen minutes of concentrated, undivided, spontaneous attention to the lesson in question. In school work it is obvious that the substitution of such spontaneous, undivided attention for the forced and divided attention which is often found there would mean much more effective and economical learning.

Spontaneous attention, however, may be misdirected. -Sometimes, however, the spontaneous attention which a teacher secures is misdirected, and as a consequence the instruction is largely wasted. This fact is illustrated by the following amusing incident quoted by Thorndike, from the methods of a certain Miss Bessie with a group of primary children.

It had seemed to Miss Bessie advisable that the children should know something of the world on which they live, and for purposes of instruction she had selected a geyser and a volcano as important not to say interesting. features of land structure. By means of a rubber ball with a hole in it, artfully concealed in a pile of sand, she had created a geyser, and with a bit of cotton soaked in alcohol and lighted, she had simulated a volcano.

We began our work with geography in ignorance of these facts. After a few lessons on hills, mountains, islands, capes, and bays the children informed us that they "did n't like those old things." "Please won't you give us the fireworks,” asked Freddie. "Or the squirt?" added Agnes, eagerly. (6: 63)

Sugar-coating may be justified if it secures properly directed attention. Such examples have led some educators to condemn all sugar-coating to secure interest, but it is possible to justify some sugar-coating by distinguishing between harmful and useful forms of it. Miss Bessie's device was harmful because it merely secured attention to the fireworks and did not secure attention to the geographic facts to be taught. Contrast with it the following method of

sugar-coating drill upon fractions. A fifth-grade teacher has a pack of cards with a fraction such as or printed on each. She stands before the class, writes a multiplier such as on the board, and then flashes the cards, one at a time, the pupils giving the answers rapidly in turn. A record is kept of the time consumed. It is written on the board in a column containing the records of previous days with the same cards, and paralleling the record made by another class. The fraction drill thus becomes a competitive game.

It is just as much a sugar-coating device, however, for securing interest and zest in drill on fractions as Miss Bessie's fireworks were sugar-coating for geographic facts. The sugarcoating character of the game is shown by the fact that it has no essential connection with fractions, but could be played with any kind of material on cards, such as sums in addition, names of historical characters, dates of important events, geographic facts. This sugar-coated drill, however, is justified because it secures concentrated attention exactly where it is desired; namely, upon each fractional operation in multiplication as the card is flashed. Not only is the child attentive who is called on, but all the class are on their toes, helping him mentally, as it were, in the same way that a coach on the sidelines takes part mentally in each play made in baseball, football, or basketball. Scientific measurements show that such a drill game does actually bring great improvement in skill and speed in arithmetic; hence it is a sugar-coating device that is justified, not only because it secures concentrated attention where desired but also because objective, precise measurements of results prove its effectiveness.

Ultimate consequences of using an interest must be harmless. Another general question about interests which is illustrated by our example of the use of adventure material in teaching reading and history concerns the ultimate consequences of the utilization of the interest concerned; for

example, does more harm than good result from having children read adventure stories like "King Tawny Mane" or the adventures of Richard the Lion-Hearted? The answer varies with the instinctive interest concerned and the way it is used. In the present case we may infer the answer from the fact that many great men, including President Wilson, take much delight in reading detective stories such as those of Sherlock Holmes, and many college professors, and even college presidents that I have known, are regular readers of the Saturday Evening Post. It could be easily shown that such adventure reading by the general public is usually a harmless form of enjoying leisure time. Hence we could conclude that similar reading by children is not reprehensible.

Three questions in evaluating use of an instinctive interest. On the other hand, we might conclude that the ultimate results of utilizing a given instinctive interest in school were unsatisfactory and decide against it. In thus evaluating the use of any inborn or instinctive tendency as the basis of securing interest in school work, we may consider at least three questions; namely:

1. What part does the instinct play in the lives of people generally?

2. Is it effective when used as the basis of attention and interest in teaching?

3. Are the present and ultimate educational results of utilizing it satisfactory?

Illustrated by application to instinct of emulation. - To illustrate the application of these questions, let us consider the use of the instinct of emulation in instruction from the standpoint of each question.

1. Emulation an important cause of social striving. Emulation, or rivalry, is one of the most impelling motives in social life. In fact, Veblen, in his "Theory of the Leisure Class," maintains that "pecuniary emulation" (that is, the

desire to possess more wealth or position or power than someone else) is at the basis of most social striving and many phases of social organization. He gives examples which vary from the savage, who can show the obvious trophies of the chase as evidence of his power and wealth, to the American millionaire whose unused mansion on Fifth Avenue or Riverside Drive in New York, and whose jewel-bedecked wife in the golden horseshoe at the opera, serve the same purpose by being tangible evidence that he has so much money that he can afford to spend it in perfectly useless or unnecessary ways. Such persons, and in a small way many others, are not striving for necessities or even for luxuries; they are simply striving to get more. At first they strive to get more than some persons and as much as certain others in order to be considered in the class with the latter. Having attained this point they are not satisfied, but continue to strive to secure more than their present equals in wealth or power or position, in order to have as much as some other individual or group higher up in the scale of quantity. Thus the striving is always going on, bringing with it many material improvements in life and at the same time producing much unhappiness, but leaving no doubt that emulation is one of the most influential causes in social endeavor.

2. Emulation has been effectively used in schools. When we regard emulation from the standpoint of our second question, namely, its effectiveness when used in instruction, it becomes evident that it can be made just as influential in school as it is in social life at large. If prizes, rewards, honors, and position are held up for competition, the striving of students to attain them commonly becomes intense and vigorous. If the conditions of the competition are so arranged as to give a chance to pupils of all degrees of ability, the stimulus affects large numbers. The large possibilities of using emulation as a motive were most thoroughly worked out by the Lancasterian monitorial schools