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pupil's faculties. The means to do this are infinite in variety. They
should be varied according to the wants and the character of the
individual to be taught. One needs to be told a thing; he learns most
readily by the ear. Another needs to use his eyes; he must see a thing,
either in the book, or in nature. But neither eye nor ear, nor any other
sense or faculty, will avail to the acquisition of knowledge, unless the
power of attention is cultivated. Attention, then, is the first act or
power of the mind that must be roused. It is the very foundation of all
progress in knowledge, and the means of awakening it constitute the
first step in the educational art.

When by any means, positive knowledge, facts, are once in possession of
the mind, something must next be done to prevent their slipping away.
You may tell a class the history of a certain event; or you may give
them a description of a certain place or person; or you may let them
read it; and you may secure such a degree of attention, that, at the
time of the reading or the description, they shall have a fair,
intelligible comprehension of what has been described or read. The facts
are for the time actually in the possession of the mind. Now, if the
mind was, according to the old notion, merely a vessel to be filled, the
process would be complete. But mind is not an empty vessel. It is a
living essence, with powers and processes of its own. And experience
shows us, that in the case of a class of undisciplined pupils, facts,
even when fairly placed in the possession of the mind, often remain
there about as long as the shadow of a passing cloud remains upon the
landscape, and make about as much impression.

The teacher must seek, then, not only to get knowledge into the mind,
but to fix it there. In other words, the power of the memory must be
strengthened. Teaching, then, most truly, and in every stage of it, is a
strictly co-operative process. You cannot cause any one to know, by
merely pouring out stores of knowledge in his hearing, any more than you
can make his body grow by spreading the contents of your market-basket
at his feet. You must rouse his power of attention, that he may lay hold
of, and receive, and make his own, the knowledge you offer him. You must
awaken and strengthen the power of memory within him, that he may retain
what he receives, and thus grow in knowledge, as the body by a like
process grows in strength and muscle. In other words, learn