. Condemnation of this
method of securing attention can hardly be too severe.

_c. Distractions by the school._--In any busy school there is bound to
be more or less of hum and confusion. In many schools, however, there
is much more than is warranted. It is true that children get tired of
sitting still for an entire session, and that they find relief in
going for a drink, or going to the dictionary, or on some other errand
about the room. In some schools, one or more pupils may be found
walking about the room at almost any time of the day, and not
infrequently several are on errands at the same time. This, as
previously noted, is usually a fault in management on the part of the
teacher. The larger part of these interruptions can just as well be
saved by a little foresight and firmness.

Some teachers even leave the class which they are hearing to answer
questions or give help to pupils in the school who have not been
trained to wait for their requests until the class is dismissed.
Usually, only a very small percentage of these questions should have
been asked at all, or would have been with the proper management of
the school. And all the necessary questions and requests should almost
without exception be held for the interval between recitations. The
school should be taught that nothing short of the direst necessity
will warrant asking a question or making a request during a
recitation.

Likewise in the case of misdemeanors. The class which is reciting
should not be interrupted for minor misdemeanors which occur during
the recitation. This does not mean that the misdemeanor is to go by
unnoticed. On the contrary, the settlement for it may be all the more
severe for having to wait until the class is dismissed.

_d. Physical distractions._--Distractions from the physical
environment may be of several kinds.

Not infrequently, especially in the older schoolhouses, the seats are
so placed with reference to windows that the light strikes the eyes of
the pupils, instead of the pages of the books; or it may be that a
stray sunbeam strikes athwart the class and dazzles the eyes. It need
hardly be suggested that no such distraction as this should go
unremedied.

In the rural schools the recitation seats are often near the stove,
where the temperature becomes unbearably hot when the stove must be
generously fired to heat the remainder of the room. Not infrequently
the ventilation is bad, and the room is filled with foul