The historic times. [volume] (Lawrence, Kansas) 1891-1891, 1891-07-18
MUTUAL LAZiNESS.
A State of Mind Which Sadly Interferes
With Human Progress.


With Human Progress.
81 declare / am discouraged" said q
schoolgirl, as she threw her books on
the lounge and sank into chair, with
an expression of utter WEAKNESS
what is it?" queried her mother,
anxiously. "Are you ill?"
''No; / am well enough, but don't
seem to get along in school" was the
reply. Somehow the lessons seem
very hard and feel sure l will not get
promoted this term"
II am afraid you are Lazy" said her
mother, gently.
Lazy" exclaimed the girl, in evil
dent surprise. How can you say So
You know / put in as much time study
ing as sister Lulu"
Every true; but that is not what
meant. You are mentally lazy. You
repeat the words of your lesson as
many times as your sister and do as
much manual work, but you are men
tally lazy. You do not work your brain
at ALL
"Nonsenser' said the schoolgirl
"Who ever heard of such thing?"
That is what many people say; but,
none the less, it is true that mental
frailties. 1t may be witnessed in any
school, where, among hundred pupils,
only ten will work their brains, while
| the remaining ninety, though appa-
rently working just as hard, lag behind
because their mental faculties are dor
mant.
1t is so much easier to accept dog
matte teaching than to concentrate our
| thoughts and work out the lessons of
| our own observations
How many pupils in the grammar
schools understand aohy the hypothenuse
of right-angle triangle is found by ex-
tracing the square root of the sum OF
the squares of the base and perpendic-
ular? They know h0ao to do it, but can
not give any explanation of the process.
How many advanced pupils can tell
achg in the division of fractions it is
necessary to invert the divisor and null
tiply?
There must be cause for every oper
alton in arithmetic, since mathematics
is the purest reason, yet how many
|
the cause?
This is mental laziness, and it crops
out in many other branches of life out
side of the schoolhouse. 1t is SO much
easier to initiate than to originate, anc
it saves so much trouble to simply take
another's word for it, instead of delvin&
out the truth for oneself.
By giving way to this mental indo
lence, the brain becomes dormant ant
self-reliance disappears gradually bu
surely. 1t is forgotten and nothing il
true because somebody has said so, bu
because it has been proven to be true
If every body had accepted current opln
ions, we would never have known tina
the world is round, that the seas wer'
navigable, and a million other thing
now so necessary to our life and happl
ness.
To be destitute of individualism is t.
be mentally lazy, and that is nothing
more than being parrot, that only re
peats and never originates. Not thai
it is necessary to be quarrelsome or dis
putatious-not at all. 1t is only neces
sary to take nothing on trust, to weigh
carefully all statements, and maste
the why and wherefore of every pro
cess.
Exercise the brain on every subject
and keep it from getting lazy by max
ing it work There is no danger of ex
hausting it, if, like the muscles of tn
arm, it is not strained; indeed, like tn
same muscles, it gains strength wit
exercise until brain work becomes
pleasure instead of hardship. -Myro