Page:Education and Life; (IA educationlife00bakerich).pdf/126

 Something can be done by daily assembly of pupils. While men have various occupations, there are certain interests that belong to men as men, as human beings. As there are hymns set to noble music which are sung for centuries without diminution of interest, because they are adapted to the want of man's essential nature, so there are gems of aesthetic and ethical literature which have stood the test of time and are approved by common consent. The reading of vigorous, healthful selections can but have an influence sooner or later upon the listener. The teacher, in a brief address, may express some thought or experience or ideal or sentiment, that will reach the inner life. In no way, however, will the good sense and skill of the teacher be put to severer test than in the selection of these teachings. They easily become monotonous instead of giving vital interest.

Professor John Dewey, in an admirable article on the subject of interest, defines it thus: "Interest is impulse functioning with reference to an idea of self-expression." He further says: "The real object of desire is not pleasure, but self-expression The pleasure felt is simply the reflex of the satisfaction which the self is anticipating in its own expression Pleasure arrives, not as the goal of an impulse, but as an accompaniment of the putting forth of activity." These expressions mean simply that the human being has native impulses to activity; that these impulses, under rational control, aim at proper ends; that pleasure is not the end of action but merely accompanies the putting forth of activity; that interest is the mental excitement that arises when the self-active mind has an end in view and the