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The Series by Subject

Charlotte Mason's ideas are too important not to be understood and implemented in the 21st century, but her Victorian style of writing sometimes prevents parents from attempting to read her books. This is an imperfect attempt to make Charlotte's words accessible to modern parents. You may read these, print them out, share them with your local study group--but they are copyrighted to me, so please don't post or publish them without asking.
~L. N. Laurio

The Habit of Attention


Volume 1, Home Education, pg 48-49

Mental picture painting is a game that children enjoy, although it takes a good bit of concentrated attention and is therefore tiring. It should only be done once in a while. Still, it's good to have children memorize some scenic landscape images because, while making the memory requires effort, the habit of looking more closely at detail is learned as an unconscious by-product when children are asked to make detailed mental images every now and then.


Volume 1, Home Education, pg 86-87

Habit of Attention

Winter walks, whether in town or in the country, afford many opportunities to develop the child's habit of paying attention. The French magician Robert Houdin said that he and his son used to play a game where they would pass by a shop only long enough to get one good look at the shop window. Then they'd go a few steps away and pull out paper and pencil and start listing to see who could remember more items from the shop window. Houdin was surprised at his son's quick memory. His son could often remember 40 objects, while Houdin could only remember 30. When they went back to check their lists, his son was rarely wrong. This is one idea you might try on your own winter walks.


Volume 1, Home Education, pg 137-144

I. The Habit of Attention

For now, let's focus on habits that need some direct training.

We'll start with the habit of focusing the attention, since the child's intelligence is a direct result of how well he can do this. To help understand why this habit is so important, consider a couple of rules about how the thought process works. First, think about how a trained professional works, such as a doctor or lawyer or teacher. He can listen to a long story, sift through the unnecessary stuff to find the bare facts, see the significance of each important aspect and he knows exactly what to ask to fill in any missing information. Now compare this to an uneducated person--his eye wanders and his replies don't address the heart of the matter. It's easy to see that a person's ability to pay attention is a good assessment of their competence.

A Mind at the Mercy of Making its Own Associations

Let's consider the nature of attention and what it does. The mind is never idle unless the person is in a coma. Ideas are constantly flitting in and out of the brain, all day, all evening, while walking around, even in dreams during sleep, and even during periods of madness. But we make a mistake if we assume that we are the authors of our own thoughts, or that we can even control what we think about. The best we can do is, when we're conscious of it, to latch onto our thoughts and give them some direction. If we think about the way dreams flit from one impression to the next, we can get an idea of how ideas follow ideas. We see the same dance of thoughts in the mutterings of a delirious person, or the fanciful rambling of an insane person, or the trivial chatter of a little child, or the wandering babble of old men. That's how thoughts flitter through the mind when they're left to themselves. Let's say you want to explain to a child how glass is made and what it's used for, so you try to provoke his curiosity about glass. But the child has his own ideas. He wonders about Cinderella's glass slipper, then he tells you about his godmother, who gave him a boat for a present, then about his Uncle Harold who took a cruise, then he wonders why you don't wear bifocals, leaving you to presume that Uncle Harold must wear them himself. This may seem like a nonsense trail of ideas, but they aren't as illogical as they seem. They follow a logical pattern of association. One idea recalls some other related idea [however distantly related it may be!] So the child's mind goes from glass to slipper to Cinderella to godmother to gift to boat to Uncle Harold to bifocals. This kind of sequence of association can be a useful servant, but a bad master. It can be used to help remember things that happened in the past or facts in the present, as people do when they use memory tricks to remember names. But to be at the mercy of those associations, to have no power to choose to turn it off and think what we want when we want, but only to be able to think about whatever thought pops into our head, makes us totally useless.

Wandering Attention

By putting forth some concerted effort, we should be able to focus our thoughts. However, self-compelling effort is achieved with maturity. Children don't have maturity, they only have the nature they were born with. How, then, is the child supposed to keep his mind on geography when it wants to wander to his spinning top, or how is he supposed to keep his mind on French verbs when it wants to think about doll furniture? And this is the reason lessons are so tedious: children are always thinking of something other than their lessons. They are at the mercy of a thousand fancies that flit through their brains, every one with some association to the one before it. One little girl said to her governess, 'Oh, Miss Smith, there are so many more interesting things to think about than lessons!'

What's so bad about that? For one, it wastes the children's time. Also, it forms in them a drifting manner of thinking, which becomes a careless mind habit that lessens their ability to keep their attention where they want it.

The Habit of Attention Should Be Learned in Infancy

It isn't the child's will that's the problem. It's that he hasn't learned the proper habit. This habit should be cultivated when the child is an infant. A baby has wonderful powers of observation, but no ability to focus his attention. He wants a toy, but a minute after he has it, it drops listlessly from his hand when his wandering eye spots some new item of interest. But even at this stage, it's not too early to begin encouraging the habit of attention. The discarded toy should be picked up and the mother should say, 'Pretty!' and show interest to get the baby's attention.

By this, she can keep his eyes fixed on one object for a few minutes. This is the baby's first lesson in paying attention. Older toddlers are eager to see and touch everything. But if you watch, you'll notice that they dart from one thing to another, having less purpose than a butterfly flitting amongst the flowers. They don't stick with any one thing long enough to get a really good impression of it. It's the mother's job to make sure her child doesn't flit from this to that, but that he looks long enough at a thing to really get acquainted with it.

One minute little Margaret is intently staring at a daisy she has picked. A second later, a pebble or buttercup has caught her attention and she's ready to discard the daisy. But her mother steps in. She shows Margaret that the daisy looks like a bright yellow eye with white eyelashes around it. She tells her that all day long, the daisy lies in the grass and looks up at the bright sun, never blinking as Margaret would do. It's called a daisy because it's like a 'day's eye,' always looking at the sun, which makes the day. And she asks Margaret what she thinks the daisy does at night when the sun is not out. It does just what boys and girls do--it shuts up its one eye with its white lashes tipped with pink and goes to sleep until the sun comes back out in the morning. Now the daisy has reclaimed Margaret's interest. She stares at it with big eyes while her mother speaks. Then she cuddles it to her breast and gives it a soft little kiss. So, mothers will come up with all kinds of ways to add interest to every object in their children's world.

Real Things are Interesting, but Abstract Words May Not Hold Attention

But the real conflict begins with school lessons. Even a child who has been trained to hold his attention on things has a hard time holding his attention on words. This is a turning point in a child's life, and his mother needs tact and vigilance. First of all, never allow a child to dawdle over his copywork or math. Before his mind starts to wander, put his schoolwork away. Let him do another lesson that's totally different from the other one. Go back to the first lesson later, when his mind is fresh. If his mother or teacher has been careless enough that his attention has been allowed to drift during lesson time, she must follow through. Using her wits to make the lesson bright and pleasant, she must draw the child's mind back so that he finishes the lesson. [Note that the child is not to be reprimanded or punished.]

Lessons Should be Interesting and Appealing

The child's teacher should understand the principles of education. She should know which subjects are suited for each age group, and how to make those subjects enjoyable. She should know how to vary the lessons so that the child's mind can rest after each kind of mental activity by doing something totally different. She should encourage him by making use of the child's desire for praise, for doing well, for making progress, for wanting to know about things, his love for his parents, his sense of duty--but she must not over-use any of these in such a way that the child's character is compromised. Especially, she must be careful that nothing takes priority over the child's desire to know--that, and nothing else, should be the child's motivation to do lessons. Children naturally want to know, and that's enough to make them want to learn.

Doing the Specified Work at the Specified Time

Opportunities to discuss this will come up in other chapters later. For now, let's see what a homeschool based on sound principles might look like. First of all, there's a schedule written in enough detail that the child has a good idea what he needs to do, and how long each lesson will last. Teaching him that each subject needs to be done in a specific block of time teaches him that it does matter, and one time isn't as good as another. If he doesn't get his work done the first time in the time allotted, there is no time set aside to do it again. This compels the child to pay attention and get his work done the first time. Each lesson is short, usually twenty minutes or less for a child younger than eight. Knowing that his lesson won't drag on forever but has a twenty minute limit helps children stay focused. A child's mind can only take in so much at once. By allotting only the amount of time that takes and no more, no time is wasted. If lessons are carefully alternated, perhaps doing math first while the child is fresh and then switching to writing or reading, then he will easily go from one lesson to the next without getting bored. Lessons should be alternated so that a mental challenge is followed by one in which he has to do some physical skill carefully. The schedule should be a little different every day to prevent boredom.

Even with short, varied lessons, children may still need help from time to time keeping focused. His desire for praise may make him want some kind of reward, something more than a word of approval. If [when?] rewards are used, they should relate to the task. The reward should be a natural consequence of his good conduct.

Natural Consequence as a Reward

What would be the natural consequence of completing work quickly and accurately? Wouldn't it be time for leisure? If a boy is given twenty minutes to do math and he finishes in ten, then he is entitled to the remaining ten minutes to go outside or do whatever he wants. But if his task was to write six perfect m's and he writes six lines of m's but only one is acceptable, then he doesn't get time to re-do. The paper and pencil are put away and the lesson is over. But if he writes six perfect m's right off on the top line, then he gets to spend the rest of the lesson time drawing boats or trains or whatever he wants. For homeschool students, this compensates for not getting the praise in front of a class that usually motivates students.

Competition

Rivalry can be an effective means to interest children's attention. But some might object that a desire to win and do better than everyone else implies that a person is unloving, and that kind of attitude should be discouraged. Some criticize grades as a way encouraging competition between students. But it's a fact of life that, in the real world, people are rewarded with prizes or praise, depending on the activity--football, tennis, art, writing poetry. There is envy and grudging among many who come in second place in the real world and there always will be. Some think that children headed for the real cut-throat world should get used to it by experiencing competitiveness at school. But a mother teaching at home can do better than that. She can teach her child not to be conceited when he wins, and not to be resentful when he loses. She can bring up her children with so much love and acceptance that one sibling can have enough joy in his brother's success to offset disappointment at his own loss. And sadness when his brother loses removes any egotism when he wins. Also, if grades are used to stimulate attention and effort, they should be based on conduct and effort rather than natural talent. Marks should be given in areas that every child has a fair shot at, such as promptness, order, paying attention, carefulness, obedience, and gentleness. Grades in these things can be given without any danger of causing a peevish sense of injustice to the child who doesn't do well. But rivalry is disastrous when it's used to motivate children to learn, because it sometimes replaces the love of learning in education. In fact, even grades for conduct encourage children to do right for the wrong reason--for reward rather than for its on sake. Learning is interesting enough that rewards shouldn't be necessary to encourage attention, promptness and carefulness.


Volume 1, Home Education, pg 145-146

Knowledge is Appealing for its Own Sake

The most obvious motivator to hold a child's attention is knowledge itself. Knowledge is fascinating and children are naturally hungry for it. But bad teachers cure children of that pretty quickly, and proof of that is evident in many classrooms. More on that later.

What is Attention?

It's clear that attention is not a faculty of the mind. In fact, the various operations of the mind aren't accurately described as faculties. Attention isn't really an operation of the mind. it just means applying all of oneself to the matter at hand, and it can be developed so that it becomes a habit. [Attention isn't a muscle in the brain to be exercised. It's something you do rather than something you have.] A parent teaches this habit by using some motive to attract and hold the young child's attention. [Note that the child isn't cajoled and reprimanded into it; it's up to the parent to make the environment conducive so that the child is interested.]

Making Themselves Do It

As children get older, the responsibility shifts to them to use the volition of their own will to make themselves focus, even when things try to distract their attention. Children should be taught to feel a sense of triumph at being able to compel themselves to focus. Let them know how thoughts are always flitting in and out of the mind, and they will drift from one thought to another. The struggle and victory is to be able to fix their thoughts on the task at hand. A child who succeeds deserves a reward of a sympathetic look from his mother and her words of praise: 'You have done well, you've done the right thing.' But keep in mind that a person can only pay attention if he has the intellectual capability to grasp the subject.

The importance of attention can't be emphasized too much. It is within everyone's reach and should be the mental discipline most coveted. No matter how clever a child is, he can only make use of his intelligence in the proportion that he's able to focus his attention when and where he wants.

The Secret of Stress

Mothers should avoid constantly hassling with their children over doing their lessons. For one thing, it's stressful for the mother! It is worth her while to make sure that her children never do a lesson that they don't put their whole heart into. This isn't as impossible as it seems. The key is to be on guard from the very beginning that children never develop the habit of not paying attention. Overpressure has been discussed a lot recently and we have already touched on a couple of causes of overpressure. But, honestly, one of the main reasons that brains are overworked is because of not paying attention. We all know that it isn't the things we accomplish that wear us down with a sense of urgent rushing, but the mental burden of the things we leave undone. And the only real reason that a student might be stressed is because their attention wandered so that they didn't fully grasp the lesson when it was given.


Volume 1, Home Education, pg 148

Natural Consequences Should be the Reward or Punishment for Behavior

In our discussion of how to get children to pay attention, we've mentioned discipline--rewards and punishments. Every novice caregiver or teacher thinks they can handle discipline. But even discipline has its scientific principle. There is a natural law for managing rewards and punishments: they should be natural consequences related to the circumstances. They should give the child a taste for the consequences he might experience from the same kind of behavior in the real world, although in childhood, parents are around to prevent permanent injury to the child.


Volume 1, Home Education, pg 149

Quick Mental Effort

The methods of training mental activity and application are the same ones used to train the habit of attention. A child who plods through his work diligently can be trained to think more nimbly. The teacher must be alert herself. She must expect immediate answers, quick thinking and prompt work. Just as a tortoise will never be as fast as a hare, children have limits. But even a tortoise can be trained to be just a trifle quicker every day. That is done by aiming for quick apprehension and work.


Volume 1, Home Education, pg 156

Under What Conditions are Memories Made?

The next logical question is, what conditions are necessary for an imprint of a fact or experience to be made? Is the imprint permanent? Does the brain have a limit on how many imprints it can store? So far, from common experience and from many examples given by psychologists, it seems that any fact or experience that is focused on with attention makes enough of an impression to fix it in the memory. In other words, if you give an instant of undivided attention to any one thing, that thing will be remembered. Even the way we describe this phenomenon is accurate. We say, 'Such and such a sight or sound made a strong impression on me.' And that's exactly what has happened. If we hold the attention on any fact or experience, we'll remember it. It will be impressed on the surface of the brain tissue. Clearly, then, if you want a child to remember something, then fix his whole attention so that his mind gazes fully upon it. Then he will have it.


Volume 1, Home Education, pg 229

Slipshod Habits; Inattention

I've already discussed how important it is that the child narrate after just one reading. If he can't, don't let him get the impression that he may, or must, re-read the passage. A look of slight regret over the gap in his knowledge because of the missed reading will be enough to convict him. The ability to read with focused total attention isn't learned if children are allowed to daydream during lessons. For this reason, reading lessons must be short. 10-15 minutes of fixed attention to one lesson is enough for children aged 9 and under. A lesson this long should be long enough to cover 2 or 3 pages in his book. The same time limit applies to children who aren't reading yet, and are listening as their lesson is read to them.


Volume 1, Home Education, pg 326

Power of Will Implies Power of Attention

One can see that the will has great power within its sphere, but when you stop to think about it, that sphere is a pretty narrow limit. It takes a lot of preparation and maintenance for a strong will to have power to control a person's behavior. For instance, the person must also have developed the ability to focus his attention. We've already talked about how important this is in earlier chapters. Some people are so scattered that they can't hold a connected thought for more than five minutes, even if they try or if they are pressured to. If they've never learned to devote all of their focused attention to a subject, then it's likely that no amount of determination, even if they had a strong will, could make them able to keep their mind on one thought, whether it's theirs or someone else's thought. And this is where parts of the intellect overlap. Ability to apply one's will implies that a person is able to focus their full attention when they choose. So, before a parent can train a child's will, the child needs to develop the habit of keeping his full attention focused.


Volume 2, Parents and Children, pg 229

Lessons should have two goals. They should help a child develop the right mental habits, such as attention, accuracy, promptness, etc., and they should provide the nourishment of ideas that might bear fruit in his life.


Volume 3, School Education, pg 119-120

I'll just mention a few intellectual habits that should be carefully trained in children during their early childhood. Attention is the ability to focus the whole mind on the subject at hand. Concentration is a bit different from attention because it's actively working with some problem instead of just being passively receptive.


Volume 3, School Education, pg 210

'Unfortunately, while he [Edward Waverley] was allowed to read only for entertainment, he didn't realize that he was losing the opportunity forever to form good habits of determination, hard work, control, self-direction, and the ability to make himself focus his attention. And that's an art that's even more essential than being intimately familiar with the classics, which are the main object of studying.'


Volume 3, School Education, pg 211

We've seen that both Ruskin and Wordsworth had the ability to work hard at focusing their attention, which is necessary in order for a person to be receptive. It made each of them productive in his own area. Anyone who wants to do a thing, whether it's baseball or portrait painting, has to learn the rules diligently and gain skill with practice and effort. It's true that work we love will override pain, but it's also true that we won't be able to enjoy any of the affinities that are waiting for us without strenuous effort and respect. You might think that a bird-watcher has chosen an easy hobby. But that's not true. A true bird lover is outside by 4 am to assist with the birds' uprising, or even out at Hyde Park at 2:30 am to try and catch a glimpse of a kingfisher! He lies in wait, hiding in secret places to watch the birds in their natural habitat. He travels to far locations to see new birds in other places in the world. He gives his attention, labor, love and reverence to the study of birds. He gains joy in this, so maybe his effort is unconscious, but the effort is still there.


Volume 5, Formation of Character, pg 24-32

Chapter 2. Flighty Katie

'But, now to get to the real reason for my letter--are you overwhelmed to get four pages, dear aunt? We need your help regarding Katie. Her father and I are at our wits' end, and we'd be most grateful to enlist your wisdom and kind heart. I'm afraid we've been building up trouble for ourselves and our little girl. I can't deny that natural tendencies are charming in all young things--it's so cute to see a toddler doing what comes naturally, that it's easy to forget that, if Nature is left to herself, she produces waste, although it may be lovely waste. I'm so afraid that our little Katie's life will be a wasted life.

'But, I won't keep on speculating. Let me tell you what happened yesterday. Yesterday was typical, her days are all the same. Then you'll see what the problem is and hopefully be able to help.

'Imagine three children at the table, busy with their copywork. Before even a single line is finished, Katie looks up.

''Oh, Mama, can I write s-h-e-l-l for the next word? Shell is a much nicer word than k-n-o-w, and I'm so tired of that word.'

'How much have you done so far?'

''I've written know three whole times, Mama, and I really can't do it any more! But I think I could do s-h-e-l-l. Shell is such a pretty word.'

'Soon it's time for reading practice, but Katie can't focus on her reading. She can't even spell the words. Yes, I know--we're not supposed to do spelling during a reading lesson. The problem is, all during the lesson, Katie is distracted by a dirty sparrow at the top of a poplar tree, so she reads, 'w-i-t-h, bird!' When we do addition, one short line of problems is a hopeless and impossibly overwhelming task for poor Katie. The last one she did was, 'Five plus three is nineteen!' even though she's already learned how to add. She gets through half of a scale in her piano practice, and then her attention is on everyone and everything except her piano lesson. After only three stitches while hemming her dress, her idle fingers roll up the hem, or fold the dress into a dozen different shapes. Or I might be in the middle of a thrilling talk on history: 'So the Black Prince--' when she interrupts, 'Mama, are we going to the beach this year? My pail is all ready, except the handle, but I can't find the shovel anywhere.'

'And this is how it is all the time--Katie just barely manages her lessons somehow, but it's tiring for us and her, and I doubt she actually learns much of anything, except for a few bright flashes. But you wouldn't believe what a quick mind she has! After dawdling and idling through an entire lesson, she'll surpass the rest of us in a leap at the last minute, so that she manages to avoid being thought of as slow or ignorant.

'Katie's dawdling habits, her restless desire for a change in whatever she's doing, her constantly wandering thoughts cause a lot of friction, and it ruins our school days, which is a pity since I want the children to enjoy their lessons. Do you know what she said to me yesterday in the most innocent, charming way? 'There are so many more interesting things than lessons. Don't you think so, Mama?' You know, my dear aunt, I can just see you putting your finger on those words, innocent, charming way, and thinking, even if you don't say it, about sin being nurtured by allowing things. That's it, isn't it? It's true, it's our own fault. Those flitting, sprightly ways of Katie's were so cute--until we decided it was time to start her with some real work. Then we realized that we should have started training her when she was a baby. Yet,

'Even when it's your own fault
That your toy breaks, dear
You still cry about it all the same.
I don't think it's any comfort
To have only yourself to blame.'

'Please be a dear, kind aunt, and don't scold us, but help us to do better. You'll probably ask, Does Katie stay with anything? Does she stick with any of the 'many more interesting things than lessons'? Well, unfortunately, our little girl is as unstable as water in those things, too. The worst part of it is that she'll be chomping at the bit to do something, and then, just when you think she's settled in with it for a good half hour of pleasant playing, she's flitting off to something else like a butterfly. She can quote the poem, 'How doth the little busy bee,' but when I tell her that she's nothing like a busy bee, but more like a foolish, aimless butterfly darting around, I'm afraid she likes it, and is more drawn to butterflies as if they were her kindred spirits, and having the free fun and good times that she wishes she could have all the time. Please come visit; you need to see Katie to understand how erratic she is.

''Oh, Mama, please can I wash my doll this afternoon? I'm so unhappy with poor Peggy, I think she must like to be dirty!'

'So I go through a lot of trouble to find and fill a little tub, get the soap, and cover Katie with a big apron. She sits down to begin the job, very pleased with herself, to wash her dirty Peggy, but before the doll is even undressed, a new idea pops into Katie's head, and off she goes to clean out her dollhouse, deaf to all coaxing about the 'nice hot, soapy water' and 'poor dirty Peggy.'

'I'm afraid she's just as inconstant about her affections as she is with her play. She's a loving little soul, always adoring somebody. First it'll be her father, then Juno the dog, then me, then brother Hugh. Her warm little kisses, soft embracing arms, nestling head, are wonderful, both to us and the dog. But, unfortunately, Katie's adoring attention is like a toy you have to take turns with. The next day, it's always someone else's turn because she only has room to love one at a time. If we could get you to come and visit, you'd be Katie's favorite all day long, and we, even her doll Peggy, would be left out in the cold. But don't flatter yourself--it wouldn't last. I don't think any of Katie's attachments has ever lasted more than two days.

'If it's true that a parent's most important job is to train character in their children, then we've failed Katie. She's six years old and she has the same ability to apply herself, to pay attention, to make herself do the things she should, or even to want to do the right thing, as she did when she was six months old! We're getting very distressed by it. My husband feels strongly that parents should labor as much at developing character in their children as Hindu goldsmiths labor to create a vase. He feels that character is the one thing that God calls us to develop. And what have we done for Katie? We've turned out a 'nice enough animal,' and we're glad and thankful for that, but that's all we've done. The child is as aimless and impulsive as a wild colt. Please help us, dear aunt. Consider this issue of our little girl. If you can pinpoint the source of the problem, then send us a few suggestions to guide us, and we'll be eternally grateful.'

~ . .* . . ~ . .* . . ~ . .* . . ~ . .* . . ~ . .* . . ~ . .* . . ~ . .* . . ~ . .* . . ~

Katie's great-aunt responds:

'And now, what about my poor little great-niece? You have a list of accusations against her, but it would be interesting and amusing and just like the free, natural world of fairyland if it weren't for all the tendencies that we talk about these days, but fail to guard against. We bring up our children in a carefree, happy-go-lucky way, yet all the time we use big words to talk gravely about the momentous importance of each and every influence they're exposed to. It's quite true--Katie's charming, challenging ways will result in her growing up to be like fifty percent of young women you see around. They chat casually about all different subjects, but if you question them, they don't really know anything about any one of them. They're ready to take on anything, but they don't follow through and finish anything. This week, such-and-such is their favorite friend. Next week, it's someone else. Even their interests and favorite hobbies come and go because there's always something novel and useful to be learned, such as how to set tiles or play the banjo. Yet, all the while, one has to admit that this very fickleness has its own kind of charm as long as youth lasts and the girl can disarm you with bright smiles and cute, graceful mannerisms. But youth doesn't last, and the poor girl who started life flitting like a butterfly, ends up like a grub, chained to the ground by tasks she never learned how to do. And that's assuming that she's a girl with some conscience. If not, then she dances through life as she pleases-- and any children she has, husband, or household, have to take their chances. One young man I know recently remarked, 'What a giddy old grandmother the Peterfields have!' There's no mystery about 'giddy old grandmothers' or their futures.

'You're probably thinking, 'a long-winded old great-aunt is just as bad as a giddy old grandmother!' I know I've presumed greatly, but it's Katie who's been on my mind all this time, and you're right, you really do need to get her under control.

'First of all, regarding her lessons: you need to help her to develop the ability to pay attention. It should have been done a long time ago, but better late than never. Now that I've been thinking about it, I blame myself for not noticing Katie's problem sooner. You're probably saying, 'But if she has no ability to pay attention, how can we give it to her? It's her personality; a natural defect.' I don't believe it one bit! Attention isn't a separate, isolated faculty of the mind, although if it were a faculty, it would be worth more than all the other so-called faculties put together. One thing is true, at any rate: no amount of talent or genius is much good without the ability to focus the attention. It's this ability that makes men and women successful in life. (I'm talking like a book, but, as you know, none of what I'm saying is my own original ideas. These are things that Professor Weissall has said.)

'Attention is no more than the ability to focus your mind on whatever you're doing at the moment. As far as the mind is concerned, bigger matters are better, and great minds do great things. But have you ever known a person with a great mind, whose friends considered him a real genius, yet never really accomplished anything? It's because he lacked the ability to 'turn on' all of his brilliant mind, you might say. He's unable to bring all of his mind to the subject at hand. 'Even Katie?' Yes, Katie needs to get this ability to 'turn on.' She needs to learn to give her mind fully to addition and reading, and even to sewing hems. Go slowly, a little at a time, a little today, a little tomorrow. First of all, her lessons should be made interesting. Don't let her muddle through a page of reading, spelling every third word and then waiting until you tell her what the word is. Do less so that every day brings mastery of a few new words, as well as keeping up with the old ones.

'Don't let any lesson last more than ten minutes, and insist, with brisk, bright determination, that you have her full, undivided concentrated attention, eye, ear and mind, for the whole ten minutes. Don't allow even a moment of dawdling during lessons.

'Don't give her rows and rows of addition problems yet. Use dominoes or manipulatives designed for that purpose, the point being to add or subtract the dots or cubes in a twinkling. You'll find that all three children can work together at this, just like they can with reading, and they'll find it as fun and exciting as a game. Katie will be enthusiastic during this, and will do her work cheerfully, which is what you want. Try not to single her out and make her responsible for too much. It's a heavy and tiring task for even the bravest of us, and she'll be overwhelmed, like a person whose back becomes bent, if you don't teach her to carry her burden lightly, in the same way that an Eastern woman carries her pitcher.

'Also, vary the lessons. Work the mind, then the hands, then the legs, then do a song. In every lesson, Katie and your other two children should carry away a satisfying sense of,

'Something attempted and completed.'

Don't allow any weary dawdling over the same old stale work. Yes, all of that work does need to be kept up, but in such a way that it's more like an exciting game rather than a tedious day's lesson. There should be a distinct difference that the children can recognize.

'Until you try it, you have no idea how a 'now or never' attitude towards a lesson can spark the attention of even the most impulsive child. Human nature is such that, if you have all day to drag through a task, it will probably take all day. But when something has to be done now, you get it done. But there's another side effect besides better, more alert attention. I once heard a wise man say that, if he had to choose, he'd rather his child learn the meaning of 'should' than inherit a fortune. This is where you'll be able to exert some moral pressure on Katie. Every lesson should have its own time, and no other time should be made available for it. The sense that time is precious and that a wasted lesson means the loss of ten minutes that you can never get back needs to be impressed on her.

'Let your children know your own natural disappointment about losing those opportune moments, and make sure they feel the loss by taking away one of the things they were looking forward to that day. It's tragic to let a child dawdle through a day without suffering any penalty for it. Notice that I'm talking about all the children, not just Katie, because it's always easier to behave when those around you are behaving, too. Besides, whatever's good for her will be just as good for all three of them.

'But you had other complaints. You said that poor Katie doesn't stick to any of her games and she isn't constant in any of her affections. If she develops the habit of attending to her lessons, that might help her to stick to her play. You can also encourage her by saying things like, 'What? Your doll's tea party is over already? That's not the way real grown-up ladies have tea. They sit and chat for a long time. Why don't you see if you can make your tea party last for twenty minutes?' Katie's failure to stay on task just might be helped with a bit of gentle ridicule, although ridicule is a weapon that should be used with caution. Some children resent being laughed at, and others enjoy it too much for it to have the desired effect. But if it's used tactfully, I think it can be good for both children and adults to see the comical side of their behavior.

'I think we make a mistake by not holding up certain virtues for our children to admire. Praise Katie for every thing she completes, even if it's only building a house out of cards. Being steady in work is the first step towards being steady in affection. This is another case where praise for being constant might help, in addition to a bit of good-humored family teasing--but not about her loves, since they're perfectly legitimate, whether her love is showered on a kitten or a little friend. I mean teasing about her discarded loves. Let Katie and your other children grow up to take pride in how constant they are to each of their friends.


Volume 5, Formation of Character, pg 89-97

Chapter 7. Ability

'Fred, don't forget to go to Mrs. Milner's to get the name of the lady who does her laundry.'

'Okay, Mom!' And Fred was halfway down the driveway before his mother had time to ask him to do a second errand. Did I say second? No, it would have been the seventh; Mrs. Milner's was already the sixth, and Mrs. Bruce's anxious expression showed that she didn't much faith in her son's, 'Okay, Mom!'

'I just don't know what to do about Fred, doctor. I'm never sure he'll do what I ask him to. Actually, if I were completely honest, I'd have to say that I'm sure he won't. I know it's a trivial matter, but the same thing happens twenty times a day. He seems determined to forget to do anything that's asked of him, and it makes me worried about his future.'

Dr. Maclehose drummed his fingers on the table as he thought, and then pursed his lips to whistle. Mrs. Bruce's comment seemed crazy to him. He had personally delivered all nine of the Bruce children, and he was one of the family's most respected and trusted friends. And he liked the Bruces. How could he not? The parents were smart and friendly, the children were nice looking, well behaved and outgoing. They were just the kind of family to have as friends. At the same time, the doctor saw an opportunity in their situation to mount his favorite hobby horse. 'My ideal world is a place where doctors are permitted to act as teachers to parents. It's hard to imagine the Bruce children ruining their lives in half a dozen different ways because their parents don't know any better. And such nice people, too!'

Dr. Maclehose had been in intimate contact with the family for seventeen years, but he had never before had the opportunity to offer his opinion about how they were raising their children. That's why he was drumming his fingers on the table, considering. 'Be gentle and kind, doctor, gentle and kind. Don't make a mess of it now, or you'll never have a chance to say anything again. But if you hit the nail on the head--who knows?'

'Does the same thing happen with his school work?'

'Yes, he's always in trouble. He'll forget to bring his book, or to bring his note, or do his homework. In fact, his whole school career has been nothing more than a list of things he's forgotten and the penalties he's had to endure for them.'

'He sounds even worse than that Dean of Canterbury whose wife made him keep a log of his expenditures; one week's entries read, Gloves--5 dollars, Forgets--4 dollars and fifteen cents. His writing wasn't very legible, so his wife, looking over his shoulder, cried out, 'Faggots! What in the world is that--have you been buying sticks?' 'No, dear, it says forgets.' And his wife gave it up.'

[A faggot is a bundle of sticks used for firewood]

'That's an amusing story, doctor, but an endearing characteristic in a Dean isn't going to help my son survive in the world. Mr. Bruce and I are both worried about Fred.'

'He's one of the school's eleven Cricket players, isn't he?'

'Oh, yes, and he loves it! He never forgets about his cricket matches! It's, 'Mom, I need to eat early because we have to be on the field by two!' or, 'Don't forget to have my uniform clean for Friday, pretty please, will you, Mommykins?' He knows how to coax. 'My subscription [dues] needs to be paid on Thursday, Mom!' and he'll remind me every day until he gets the money.'

'That's good news--it shows that there's nothing wrong with his brain!'

'Good heaven's, doctor! I never thought there was anything wrong with his brain!'

'I didn't mean to alarm you, but, well, you know, it comes down to two things. It's either a chronic disease that needs medical treatment, or it's simply a case of defective education--a bit of trouble resulting from some lack that his parents need to fix as soon as possible.'

Mrs. Bruce was a bit offended at his serious view of the problem. It was one thing for her to complain about her oldest son, the pride of her heart, but it was a different matter altogether to hear someone else taking it seriously.

'Doctor, don't you think maybe you're taking a common childhood flaw a bit too seriously? It's annoying that he's so forgetful, but he'll probably grow out of it in a year or two. Time will make him more reliable. It's just the impulsiveness of youth. For what it's worth, I don't like to see a child who acts and thinks like a grown man.' The doctor started drumming his fingers on the table again. He had already put his foot in his mouth, and he regretted his recklessness.

'Well, I daresay you're right to make some allowances for his age, but we old doctors, whose job is to study the close relationship between mind and matter, tend to see only one conclusion. We feel that any fault of the mind or body, if left to itself, will only get worse.'

'Another cup of tea, doctor? I'm not sure I follow--I don't know much about science. Are you saying that Fred will only get more forgetful and less reliable as he gets older?'

'I don't know why I said it so badly, but, yes, that's what I mean. Of course, circumstances might motivate him in the other direction. It's possible that Fred might develop into an old man who's so cautious and serious that his mother will be ashamed of him.'

'Don't make fun of me, doctor. You make the whole thing sound too serious to be a laughing matter.' The doctor gave no reply to that. There was silence in the room for three full minutes, while both of them thought.

Mrs. Bruce spoke up in a haughty tone. 'You say that a fault left to itself will only get worse. What are we supposed to do? His father and I want to do what's right.' Her maternal pride was offended, but Mrs. Bruce was in earnest. All her wits were alert. 'Ah, I see I've scored!' thought the doctor. And then he responded in a gentle, respectful manner in order to soothe her ruffled feathers.

'You ask a question that's not so easy to answer. But allow me, first, to try to clarify the principle. When that's done, the question of what to do will settle itself. Fred never forgets his cricket commitments or other of his fun events, right? Well, why not? Because his interest is excited about it, therefore his whole attention is focused on the fact to be remembered. The fact is, anything that you regard with your full attention will be almost impossible to forget. So, if you can get Fred to focus his attention fully on the matter at hand, then he won't forget it.'

'That may be true--but how am I supposed to make a message for Mrs. Milner as interesting to him as his cricket practice?'

'Ah! There's the rub. If you had started this a year ago with Fred, the whole thing would have settled itself. The habit would already have been formed.'

Mrs. Bruce's quick intelligence came to the rescue. 'I see, he needs to have the habit of paying attention so that he'll naturally attend to what he's told, whether it's something he's especially interested in or not.'

'Yes, you've hit it exactly, except for the word 'naturally.' Right now, Fred is pleasantly doing what comes naturally, in this and in some other respects. But to use habit in an educational sense means to correct nature. If only parents would recognize that, the world could become a big corrective school. Then the next generation, or maybe the one after that, would dwell in the kingdom of heaven all the time, rather than every now and then, here and there, which is the best we can seem to manage.'

Mrs. Bruce was persistent. 'I'm not sure I see what you mean. But, getting back to the habit of attention, which is how I need to reform Fred--please tell me what I should do. You men are so fond of going off into principles and theories, while we poor women can't grasp any more than a practical suggestion here and there to put into use. My poor son would be hurt to know how little his doctor 'friend' thinks of him.'

'Poor women, you call yourselves? You've got enough wit that two of your comments have already staggered me! You've accused my theories of having no practical use, and you've questioned my affection for Fred, who's been one of my favorites ever since he was out of diapers! And now I'm supposed to be polite? What is it you want me to say next?'

'Talk about habit, doctor, stick to the topic of habit. Don't talk nonsense when time is ticking away; Fred's not getting any younger. Pretend Fred turned one year old today. Please tell me what I should be doing at this young age to help him begin to pay attention. And, by the way, why didn't you bring this up a long time ago, when Fred was little?'

'You never asked me. It would have been rude of me to presume to give you parenting lessons. I wouldn't have done that. Every first-time mother thinks that she's infallible and knows more about children than all the doctors in the world. But, let's pretend you had asked me. I would have said, Give him something every day to occupy himself with, and stretch the time out with each toy a little longer than the day before. Suppose he picks a daisy, coos over it delightedly, and then drops it the next instant. That's when you pick it up, and, using the sweet coaxing ways that mothers know how to employ, you get him to examine it in a baby-like way for a minute, or two minutes, and then three minutes at a time.'

'I see. I should try to fix his thoughts on one thing at a time, and for as long as I can, either on what he sees or what he hears. Do you think that if that sort of thing is continued with a child from his infancy, that he'll get used to paying attention?'

'I'm sure of it. What people call ability--a different thing than genius, or even talent--is nothing more than the power of fixing the attention steadily on the matter at hand, and success in life depends on cultivating this ability more than on any natural inborn talent. If you describe a case to a lawyer, or a successful businessman, notice how he absorbs everything you say. He keeps track of the main subject, straightens out any side issues, and, before you've even finished telling him, he'll have the whole matter spread out in order in his mind. Then comes talent or genius, or whatever, to deal with the facts he's taken in. But paying attention is an attribute that comes with training, and no genius makes a shot in the dark without it.'

'But don't you think that attention itself is a natural ability or talent, or whatever?'

'No, not at all. It's entirely the result of training. A person can be born with a natural ability or talent for numbers, or drawing, or music--but attention is a different matter. Attention is simply the ability to turn one's whole self to the matter at hand. It's a key to success that's within everyone's reach, but the skill to use it comes only with training. Circumstances might put a person in a position where he has to train himself to do it, but it takes him a lot more effort when he's older, and nine times out of ten, he won't make the effort. But a child, on the other hand, can be trained by his parents and it will come easy for him. There's no doubt that he'll succeed.'

'But I thought schoolwork, Latin and math, that sort of thing, would provide that kind of training.'

'They should, but there's only a slight possibility that the right wellspring will be touched during a child's normal routine. From what you've said about Fred's schoolwork, I can tell that it hasn't been touched in his case. It's an incredible waste how much knowledge a child will allow to slip by instead of allowing it into his mind! Unfortunately, Fred's schooling won't deal with this training; you'll have to take it on yourself. It would be a tragic shame to let a child as fine as Fred waste his life.'

'Well, what can I do?'

'You'll have to start from where you are. We know that Fred has the ability of paying attention and therefore we know he's able to remember. He's already shown that he has no problem remembering what interests him. The question is, how can you make a message to Mrs. Milner as interesting to him as cricket? Well, the message itself will have no intrinsic interest to him in and of itself; the interest will have to be put on it from without. There are lots of ways of doing this. Try one, when it no longer works, try something else. The problem is, with a boy as old as Fred, you won't be able to form the habit of paying attention yourself like you could with a young child. All you can do is to help and encourage him. You can give him the impulse and motivation, but he'll have to do the training for himself.'

'Can you say it again and use all one-syllable words, doctor? I haven't figured out how to reduce your comments to practical things I can do about it.'

'No? Well, Fred will have to train himself at this point, and you'll have to provide motives for him. Explain to him what we've been talking about regarding attention. Let him know the facts, and that you can't do it for him. If he wants to make a responsible man of himself, he'll have to make himself attend and remember. Let him know that it will be an uphill battle because the habit of paying attention goes against his natural impulses. That will appeal to him--it's within a boy's nature to show some fighting spirit. The bigger and darker you make the enemy side seem, the more he'll enjoy participating. When I was a boy, I had to fight this very same battle myself, and I'll tell you what I did. I posted a card every week, with a line down the middle. One side was for 'Remembers,' and the other side was for 'Forgets.' I went over what I had done every night--just the effort of remembering what I had done over the day was helpful--and put a check mark for every time I had remembered or forgotten something that day. I pretended there were two guys playing--I was the on the Remembers side, and my opponent was on the Forgets side. It got really exciting! By Thursday, if I had 33 points in my Remembers side, and he had 36, it motivated me to be serious and fight harder. I wasn't just afraid that Forgets might win the game (which went from Sunday to Saturday), but my Remembers side had to win by ten points. If my side got less than ten more, then we tied, and it counted as a game lost.'

'That sounds like fun! But, doctor, I wish you'd talk to Fred yourself. A word from you might go a long way.'

'I'll try to find a chance to speak with him, but an outsider can't do much. It all rests with Fred himself, and his parents.'


Volume 5, Formation of Character, pg 164-165

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. I don't think the progress is due to increased intelligence; I think it's in the ability to pay attention. This Fathers' and Mothers' Club recognizes that paying attention is a practical ability that people have. It makes all the difference between a person who's capable and successful, and a poor straggler trying to keep up. Attention is the ability and habit of concentrating everything within yourself on the task at hand. Parents, especially mothers, are taught to cultivate and encourage attention in their children from the time they're infants. Anything that a person regards with full attention, even if it's only for a minute, will be known and remembered forever. Think about some of the scenes and conversations that are so vividly fixed in your mind that you can't possibly forget them. Why is that? Because at the moment of that incident, your attention was strongly stimulated. Early training reaps direct benefits as soon as the child starts school.


Volume 5, Formation of Character, pg 182

The next thing to consider is the quality of the work. Set work from a well-planned program with a clear goal is a benefit. It can help the student develop a definite purpose and concentrated effort and attention. These qualities contribute to making a person successful.


Volume 5, Formation of Character, pg 195

But if a school-aged girl is going to have two or three hours of uninterrupted play time, it will require her mother's good management and firmness. First of all, the mother will have to make sure that school work is done, and done well, within a specified time. This must be non-negotiable. The girl will complain that it's impossible, but if her mother absolutely insists on it, she'll develop the habit of focused attention, which is the key to success in any endeavor, and will provide free time for fun that the children might not have if they're left to dawdle their time away. Homework rarely takes more than an hour and a half. If it takes longer than that, it's usually due to the habit of mental dawdling, which really wastes the brain tissue. Don't think that attempting to hold the child to an hour and a half will undermine the teacher's efforts. On the contrary, the teacher's greatest obstacle is the tendency for children's minds to wander--they'd rather dawdle an hour over work that should take five minutes of steady work.


Volume 6, Philosophy of Education, pg 13

It's difficult to explain how I figured out how to solve the problem of getting students to focus their attention. Observing many children, things I read here and there, remembering my own childhood and considering my own current mind habits, has taught me that there are certain laws that relate to the mind. By adhering to those laws, the focused attention of children can be guaranteed all the time, regardless of their age or social class. And they can keep their attention focused even with distractions. It's not due to the winning ways of their charismatic teacher, since hundreds of different teachers working both in homes and PNEU elementary schools and junior high schools are able to secure the attention of students without really trying. And it isn't because their lessons are so entertaining. The students do find their lessons interesting and enjoyable, but they're interested in a lot of different subjects, and their attention doesn't wander during the dull parts.


Volume 6, Philosophy of Education, pg 17

Some advanced psychologists agree. They declare that the key is 'not a group of mind faculties, but one single subjective activity, which is attention.' And, again, there is 'one common factor in all mind activity, and that's attention.' (I'm quoting from the Psychology article in the Encyclopedia Britannica.) I would add that attention is unfailing, prompt and steady--so long as the material set in front of students is suited to their intellectual requirements, and so long as the material is presented concisely, directly, and simply, as all good literature should be.


Volume 6, Philosophy of Education, pg 18-19

The natural ability for making use of knowledge and digesting it is already sufficient. No external stimulus [reward, threat, entertainment] is needed to make a child learn. But some kind of moral motivation is needed to prompt students to pay attention. The moral motivation is knowing with certainty that he will be required to tell what he read.


Volume 6, Philosophy of Education, pg 74-75

All school work should be done in such a way that students are aware of their responsibility in their own education. It's their job to know what's been taught. We all know from experience how we tend to skim halfheartedly over daily news when we know it will be repeated in a weekend edition. And if there's a monthly review, we only skim the weekend edition! These crutches make us feeble-minded, unable to remember and prone to wandering attention. In the same way, repeating and reviewing lessons shifts the responsibility of learning from the student to the teacher. It tells the child, 'I'll make sure you know it.' So students don't put forth any real effort to pay attention. And the same dry lessons are repeated again and again, and the children get bored and restless, and that's when they get into mischief.


Volume 6, Philosophy of Education, pg 75-76

Another misconception we have concerns attention. We think that we have to capture children's feeble attention with persuasion, dramatic presentation, pictures and visual models. But the fact is, a teacher whose success depends on his charismatic personality is merely an actor who belongs up on a stage. We now know that attention is not one 'faculty' of the brain and it's not a definable power of the mind. It's the ability to turn on that power and concentrate [it's not something the brain has, but something it does]. By attempting to capture a child's attention with gimmicks, we waste our time. The ability to focus the attention is already there in a child, as much as he needs. It's like a forceful river just waiting to obey the child's own authority to turn on. Yet it's capable of stubbornly resisting attempts to be coerced that are imposed from without. What we need to do is to recognize attention as one of the appetites. Then we'll feed it with the best we have in books and knowledge. But paying attention is something that children have to do on their own. We can't do it for them. It's not for us to be the fountain of all knowledge--we don't know enough, we don't speak well enough, we're too vague and random to cope with the capability of creatures who are thirsty for knowledge. Instead of pretending to be the source of their education, we must realize that books, the very best books, are the source, and we must put that resource into their hands, and read them for ourselves, too.


Volume 6, Philosophy of Education, pg 76-77

But, to get back to the topic of attention, it's more than a convenient, almost miraculous way of covering the material and getting the students to learn a surprising amount of knowledge, and to retain it. All of this is very good, but employing attention is even more than that. It's a foundational principle that's vital to education. In focusing his attention, the child takes on responsibility for himself. He uses the authority within himself in its highest function: as a self-commanding, self-compelling force. It's delightful to find that we can use an ability that we have within us, even if that ability is only being able to toss and catch a ball in a cup a hundred times as Jane Austen did to amuse her nieces and nephews. To make yourself pay attention, and make yourself know--this is a remarkable power to have! And children feel even more delight in being able to do this because they have the double satisfaction of enjoying the knowledge they gain from lessons, which satisfies their inborn curiosity.


Volume 6, Philosophy of Education, pg 99-101

Good intellectual habits form themselves if the appropriate curriculum is followed in the right way. And the right way is this: children must do the work for themselves. They need to read the assigned pages and tell it back. In other words, they need to actively engage their minds with a concerted effort to 'own' the knowledge. We all know the tragic waste of the copious amount of reading we've done that was simply forgotten because we didn't actively work to know it while we read it. Yet this kind of effort is as natural as breathing, and, believe it or not, just as easy. The ability to focus the attention at will is the most valuable intellectual habit there is. It's also what distinguishes an educated person. With practice it can become second nature, and a good habit can overcome ten bad natures. Imagine how much our workload would be decreased if those who worked for us paid full attention to instructions so that they remembered the first time. Paying attention isn't the only habit that grows when one applies himself to learning. The habits of appropriate and prompt speaking, of obeying, of cheerful willingness, and an unbiased perspective all come naturally to a person educated this way. The habits of thinking right, making sound judgments, tidiness and order naturally follow when children have the self-respect that comes from the kind of education that respects who they are.

Physiologists say whatever thoughts become habit will make a mark on our brain tissue, although the mark may not be something we can visibly measure. Whether the mark is tangible or not, we do know for certain that one of the most fundamental jobs of education is to teach children the right ways of thinking so that their lives will result in good living, usefulness, clear thinking, enjoyment of beauty, and especially, a life lived for God. We can't understand how spirit, which is intangible and invisible, can influence a real, physical brain. But we know that it does happen every time we see a dark mood manifested in a scowling face. And we see it in--

'A sweet, appealing grace
Approval given with assuring looks.
There's comfort in the face of one
Who finds peace in the gospel books.'

We all know how forcing ourselves to smile can lift us out of a dark mood.

'The soul doesn't help the physical body any more than the physical body helps the soul.'

Both the soul and body are tools to help lay down the tracks of good habits that make life run more smoothly.

In the past, children have been abused and tormented by conscientious parents and over-zealous teachers who attempted to force good habits into children with severe punishment. And some adults exploited children for their own selfish gain. Now the pendulum is swinging the opposite way and parents are often too permissive. We've forgotten that people need good habits to live well, in the same way that trains need tracks to run on. It takes careful planning to lay railroad tracks, and it takes planning to develop good habits. Whether we plan or not, habits will be established one way or another. But if we don't resolve to make life easier by establishing good habits of thinking right and acting appropriately, then bad habits of faulty thinking and wrong behavior will establish themselves on their own. And, as a result, we'll avoid making decisions, which will cause us to procrastinate even more until we end up 'wasting our days crying over all the days we've wasted.' Most children are raised to have a minimum of decent, orderly habits that keep him from being a total misfit. Consider the amount of work it would take if every act of taking a bath, brushing teeth, sitting at the table, lifting fork and spoon to the mouth, had to be carefully planned and thought through just to decide what to do next to accomplish the task! Thankfully, that's not the case! But habit is like fire--it's a bad master, but an indispensable servant. A likely reason for our second guessing, hesitation and indecision is that we never learned good habits to begin with. Our lives weren't smoothed by those who should have laid down tracks of good habits when we were little so that our actions could run along them effortlessly.


Volume 6, Philosophy of Education, pg 171-172

We insist on a single reading, because we are all naturally careless, and our tendency is to put off the effort at paying close attention as long as we think we'll have a second or third chance to get the information. But it doesn't take any extra work to pay attention. Complete and entire attention is a natural function of the mind. It takes no effort and causes no fatigue. In fact, the stress of mental labor we're sometimes aware of is when our attention wanders and we have to make ourselves bring it back. But the kind of attention that most teachers want is already in each of their students. They're born with it, and it's a tool to be used to educate them. It isn't something that school trains into them. Our business is to give students material written with good literary style, and make them certain that they won't have a second chance to go over a lesson.

A teacher's personality can be useful, but from an intellectual standpoint, not an emotional one. The teacher should look very interested. It's motivating for the students to think that their minds and their teacher's mind are working in harmony. But a sympathetic teacher who thinks that paying attention is hard work will overlook a student's wandering focus and distractedness a hundred times. And then the teacher has to finally draw in that child's attention, which is tiring for both him and the student. The teacher thinks he's being understanding, but he's actually doing a disservice to the student.


Volume 6, Philosophy of Education, pg 244

I wonder if the habit of listening carefully with full attention might equalize children from uneducated homes, and children from privileged homes? At any rate, the work they turn in seems surprisingly equal. By the way, no subjects, passages or episodes are selected because the children have a special interest in them. The best available book is chosen and read through during the course of possibly two or three years.


Volume 6, Philosophy of Education, pg 254-255

We of the PUS (Parents Union School) have discovered a great thirst for knowledge in children of every age and class. Children also have a remarkable ability to focus their attention, retain, and respond intellectually on the mental diet they consume. The first step is paying attention, and every child of any age, even mentally challenged children, seem to have an unlimited ability to pay attention. And they don't need grades, prizes, first place standing, praise, threats or blame to do it, either. When a teacher realizes this, great things will be possible, although at first, he may find it hard to believe, or even ludicrous.


Volume 6, Philosophy of Education, pg 258

We've heard the story of how a young man once recited a complete pamphlet by Burke at a college supper. And those pamphlets aren't light reading! We admire that kind of feat, and think that such an accomplishment is out of our reach. But any fifteen-year old could do it if they were allowed to look at the pamphlet only once. Allowing a second look would be fatal, because nobody gives their full attention to something they expect to see or hear again. If we get used to the crutch of being able to go back to something, we lose the ability to pay attention--forever.


Volume 6, Philosophy of Education, pg 259

But what about reason, judgment, imagination, discrimination, and those other 'faculties' that teachers have been working so hard to develop? They take care of themselves and work on the knowledge that's been received with attention, and cemented with narration.


Volume 6, Philosophy of Education, pg 264

But perhaps if students get into the habit of covering more material quickly [as a result of focused attention and getting it the first time], then they'll have more time left to pursue the additional subjects that give him a more broad, balanced education.


Volume 6, Philosophy of Education, pg 305

But I think teachers at the boarding schools would discover that students who have learned to read and think, and have kept the habit of almost perfect attention that all children are born with, will be able to complete more work in the Classics in their original languages in less time. Students' minds are more alert because they've gotten used to being busy with lots of different subjects.