that men did not want to do. Every great truth has had to
struggle upward from defeat. Every man who has really found himself in
the work of life has paid the price of sacrifice for his success. And
whenever we attempt to give our pupils a mastery of the complicated arts
and skills that have lifted civilized man above the plane of his savage
ancestors, we must expect from them struggle and effort and self-denial.

Let me quote a paragraph from the report of a recent investigation in
the psychology of learning. The habit that was being learned in this
experiment was skill in the use of the typewriter. The writer describes
the process in the following words:

"In the early stages of learning, our subjects were all very much
interested in the work. Their whole mind seemed to be spontaneously
held by the writing. They were always anxious to take up the work
anew each day. Their general attitude and the resultant sensations
constituted a pleasant feeling tone, which had a helpful
reactionary effect upon the work. Continued practice, however,
brought a change. In place of the spontaneous, rapt attention of
the beginning stages, attention tended, at certain definite stages
of advancement, to wander away from the work. A general feeling of
monotony, which at times assumed the form of utter disgust, took
the place of the former pleasant sensations and feelings. The
writing became a disagreeable task. The unpleasant feelings now
present in consciousness exerted an ever-restraining effect on the
work. As an expert skill was approached, however, the learners'
attitude and mood changed again. They again took a keen interest in
the work. Their whole feeling tone once more became favorable, and
the movements delightful and pleasant. The expert typist ... so
thoroughly enjoyed the writing that it was as pleasant as the
spontaneous play activities of a child. But in the course of
developing this permanent interest in the work, there were many
periods in nearly every test, many days, as well as stages in the
practice as a whole, when the work was much disliked, periods when
the learning assumed the role of a very monotonous task. Our
records showed that at such times as these no progress was made.
Rapid progress in learning typewriting was made only when the
learners were feeling good and had an attitude of i