Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Daniel Ray and PG Distributed Proofreaders
1921
The kindly reception accorded to the first edition of this book hasconfirmed the author in his conviction that such a book was needed, andhas tempted him to bestow additional labor upon it. The chief changesconsist in the addition of two new chapters, "Active Imagination," and"How to Develop Interest in a Subject"; the division into two parts ofthe unwieldy chapter on memory; the addition of readings and exercisesat the end of each chapter; the preparation of an analytical table ofcontents; the correction of the bibliography to date; the addition ofan index; and some recasting of phraseology in the interest ofclearness and emphasis.
The author gratefully acknowledges the constructive suggestions ofreviewers and others who have used the book, and hopes that he hasprofited by them in this revision.
April 1, 1921.
Educational leaders are seeing with increasing clearness the necessityof teaching students not only the subject-matter of study but alsomethods of study. Teachers are beginning to see that students waste avast amount of time and form many harmful habits because they do notknow how to use their minds. The recognition of this condition istaking the form of the movement toward "supervised study," whichattempts to acquaint the student with principles of economy anddirectness in using his mind. It is generally agreed that there arecertain "tricks" which make for mental efficiency, consisting ofmethods of apperceiving facts, methods of review, devices for arrangingwork. Some are the fruits of psychological experimentation; others arederived from experience. Many of them can be imparted by instruction,and it is for the purpose of systematizing these and making themavailable for students that this book is prepared.
The evils of unintelligent and unsupervised study are evident to allwho have any connection with modern education. They pervade the entireeducational structure from kindergarten through college. In collegethey are especially apparent in the case of freshmen, who, in additionto the numerous difficulties incident to entrance into the collegeworld, suffer peculiarly because they do not know how to attack thedifficult subjects of the curriculum. In recognition of theseconditions, special attention is given at The University of Chicagotoward supervision of study. All freshmen in the School of Commerce andAdministration of the University are given a course in Methods ofStudy, in which practical discussions and demonstrations are givenregarding the ways of studying the freshman subjects. In addition tothe group-work, cases presenting special features are given individualattention, for it must be admitted that while certain difficulties arecommon to all students, there are individual cases that presentpeculiar phases and these can be served only by personal consultations.These personal consultations are expensive both in time and patience,for it frequently happens that the mental habits of a student must bethoroughly reconstructed, and this requires much time and attention,but the results well repay the e