come to take our
present attitude toward the problem of drill or training in the process
of education. Drill means the repetition of a process until it has
become mechanical or automatic. It means the kind of discipline that the
recruit undergoes in the army,--the making of a series of complicated
movements so thoroughly automatic that they will be gone through with
accurately and precisely, at the word of command. It means the sort of
discipline that makes certain activities machine-like in their
operation,--so that we do not have to think about which one comes next.
Thus the mind is relieved of the burden of looking after the innumerable
details and may use its precious energy for a more important purpose.

In every adult life, a large number of these mechanized responses are
absolutely essential to efficiency. Modern civilized life is so highly
organized that it demands a multitude of reactions and adjustments which
primitive life did not demand. It goes without saying that there are
innumerable little details of our daily work that must be reduced to the
plane of unvarying habit. These details vary with the trade or
profession of the individual; hence general education cannot hope to
supply the individual with all of the automatic responses that he will
need. But, in addition to these specialized responses, there is a large
mass of responses that are common to every member of the social group.
We must all be able to communicate with one another, both through the
medium of speech, and through the medium of written and printed symbols.
We live in a society that is founded upon the principle of the division
of labor. We must exchange the products of our labor for the necessities
of life that we do not ourselves produce, and hence arises the necessity
for the short cuts to counting and measurement which we call arithmetic.
And finally we must all live together in something at least approaching
harmony; hence the thousand and one little responses that mean courtesy
and good manners must be made thoroughly automatic.

Now education, from the very earliest times, has recognized the
necessity of building up these automatic responses,--of fixing these
essential habits in all individuals. This recognition has often been
short-sighted and sometimes even blind; but it has served to hold
education rather tenaciously to a process that all must admit to be
essential.

Drill or training, however, is unfortunate in one important