Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1905-12-16
HOW TO THINK.

NE man succeeds In college-an-
other fails. 1t Is an indsputable
fact Of pedagogy that the differ
ence Is to be attributed more to methods
OF thinking than to means thereof. 1t
Is not SO much a wide variation in I'M
dergraduate brains as 1t Is the fact
that a man studying properly for one
hour accompllshes more than he who
studies at n subject for twice the
time. George =. Baker in the Educa-
tional Review for September contrib
utes an article on the Undergraduate
mind from which the following is TAX
en-: las | work year by year, with
these youths, there is a sentence which
keeps recurring TO me with renewed
significance. IL is. Now and
then be Idle; sit and think Unless
you have recently been reading In the
eighteenth-c literature, | doubt
II you will associate that with the right
person. 1t doesn't sound like the me-
teorc carcen and the varied activities
OF Richard Brinsley sheridan; but he
Is the man who wf1te 1t. | should
like 10 see that verse written large
somewhere upon the walls of Harvard
college, because as | work with these
undergraduates | am more and more
surprised TO find, not only that they DO
not know how to think accurately co.
gently Il suppose they would not be
In classes IN augmentation If they
knew how to think well) but that many
of them have no real interest in know
ing how to think well, Many OF them
mean to enter the law school and there
fore wish training In debate. Many
suspect that some day they win have to
speak often IN public and wish the
requisite training Far too many Of
both groups desire the end but care
nothing for the means, the process by
which Il may best be attained. II Is
only forcing, coaXing. that one can de-
yelop In these youths any interest In
thinking for thnking's own sake, can
make them appreciate the fact that
there Is q delicate pleasure In the pro-
cess Of thinking. | often meet the type
which you must all know perfectly
we'll only he Is a little more mature with
me. and therefore, / suppose. a little
less piabc-whO sits I'm front Of you
with an amiably receptive expression
who smiles gently at all your neat turns
OF phrase, who gives you feeling that,
on the whole. your lecture Is really wen
fitted To- the needs Of the class, and
then comes tn the desk 10 ask YOU one
question which shows that his mind
has not taken IN one important idea
from the entire hour. Not only that;
sometimes, and here Is whore the real
genius comes ln he shows YOU tina.
(dospitc his receptive appearance
throughout your lccturcs) he has not
taken IN anything new In two or three
woofs.
I'VE are developing curious citizens,
unless We can, In some way, rouse these
men to more responsibility. Now. It Is
quite fair TO say Of course, that the
awakening comes In many cases az
graduate students and I'm the graduate
school Of lfe. I think II is perhaps a
question with all OF us teachers whether
that is not slightly late awakening.
never can fully share In the 10Y Of the
friends Of n young man who has wasted
most Of bis college time when they
say; He ls working hard, | assure YOU
IN tho law school, as u somehow that
were satisfactory solution for every
thing Docs that recovery fully offset
oil the wasted opportunities Of his coll
loge life? | believe that the causes for
this heedlcssness IN undergraduates lie
back Of college and school, in the home,