a tidal wave of interest that we are at our best, and
that we receive and register the lasting impressions which become a part
of our mental equipment and character.

This does not mean, however, that there is no place for _voluntary_
attention in the child's training. For not everything can be made so
inviting that the appeal will at all times bring about the concentration
necessary. And in any case a part of the child's education is to learn
self-direction, self-compulsion, and self-control. There are many
occasions when the interest is not sufficient to hold attention steady
to the task in hand; it is at this point that voluntary attention should
come in to add its help to provide the required effort and
concentration. There are many circumstances under which interest will
secure a moderate amount of application of mental energy to the task,
but where the will should step in and command an additional supply of
effort, and so attain full instead of partial results.

Children should, therefore, be trained to _give_ attention. They should
be taught to take and maintain the attitude of attention throughout the
lesson period, and not be allowed to become listless or troublesome the
moment their interest is not held to the highest pitch.

THE APPEAL TO INTEREST

Sometimes we speak of "arousing the child's interest," or of "creating
an interest" in a topic we are teaching. Strictly speaking, this is
incorrect. The child's interest, when rightly appealed to, does not have
to be "aroused," nor does interest have to be "created."

Every normal child is naturally alert, curious, _interested_ in what
concerns him. Who has not taken a child for a walk or gone with a group
of children on an excursion, and been amazed at their capacity for
interest in every object about them and for attention to an endless
chain of impressions from their varied environment? Who has not observed
children in a game, and noted their complete absorption in its changing
aspects? Who has not called a child from an interesting tale in a book
he was reading, and found that it required the combined force of our
authority and the child's will to break the spell of his interest and
separate him from his book? Interest is always ready to flow in
resistless current if we can but find the right channel and a way to set
it free. When we find our class uninterested, therefore, we must first
of all seek the explanation not in the children, but in ourselves,