h children that the best work is done when they are calm
and steady. That either excitement or worry is a hindrance. Therefore
they should avoid doing their studying under those conditions, and
should do all they can to remove such conditions. Training children to
do their best and then not to worry would not only improve the health of
many upper grammar grade and high school children, but would also
improve their work.

Study requires a certain critical attitude, a checking up of results
against the problem set. In order to be efficient in study a child
should know when he has reached the solution, when the means have been
adapted to the end, when he has reached the goal. This checking up, of
course, means habits of self-criticism and standards. Sometimes all that
is necessary is for the child to be made conscious of this fact so that
he can test himself, for instance, in memory work, or in solving a
problem in mathematics. On the other hand, sometimes he will have to
compare his work with definite standards, such as the Thorndike
Handwriting Scale, or the Hillegas Composition Scale.[19] In other
instances, he will have to search for standards. He will need to know
what his classmates have accomplished, what other people think, what
other text-books say, and so on. Gradually he must be made conscious
that study is a controlled activity, and unless it reaches the goal, and
the correct one, it is useless. He must be made to feel that the
responsibility to see that such results are reached rests on him.

These, then, are the general factors involved in all types of study, and
therefore are fundamental to good habits of study: a clear purpose;
vital interest of some kind; concentrated attention, and a critical
attitude. There are further additional suggestions which are peculiar to
the special type of study.

In study which is directed to habit formation, the student should be
taught the danger of allowing exceptions. He should know the possibility
of undoing much good work through a little carelessness. Preaching won't
bring this home to him--it must come through having his attention
attracted to such an occurrence in his own work or in that of his mates.
After that knowledge of the actual experiences of others, athletes,
musicians, and others will help to intensify the impression. The value
of repetition as one of the chief factors in habit formation must be
emphasized. The child should be encouraged to make opportunit