WILL 



6288 



WILLAMETTE 



child as will enable him to attain a harmonious 

 development of all his activities. This attain- 

 ment is possible only through a thoroughly- 

 trained will. 



Suggestions. The following suggestions will 

 be found helpful to parents and teachers : 



(1) Attention. Attention is the first act of 

 will. Some authorities consider attention and 

 will to be one. Train children in attention by 

 eliminating distractions and rewarding long- 

 continued, persevering effort. Vigorous games 

 and plays will develop perseverance, but work 

 is essential to the development of the highest 

 type of sustained effort. Work, however, is 

 not the same as drudgery; work has interest 

 and motive behind it. 



(2) Imitation. "Imitation is an instinct; 

 suggestion is an impulse." The tendency to 

 repeat what another does is universal, hence 

 the power of example. Children are prone to 

 repeat the acts, words and even the expressions 

 of those with whom they associate. Repeti- 

 tion, long continued, becomes habit. It natu- 

 rally follows that only correct models should 

 be placed before children. Example does four 

 things: 



It stimulates us to do likewise. 

 It provides us with a standard by which we 

 pass judgement upon conduct. 



It raises or lowers our ideals of liberty. 

 It reveals to us our own nature. 



(3) Suggestion. Imitation is repeating an 

 act; suggestion is carrying out an idea. Chil- 

 dren are particularly responsive to suggestion; 

 hence it forms an important agency in the cul- 

 ture of the will. Children respond to sugges- 

 tion more readily than to command, because 

 the former admits of free exercise of the will, 

 while the latter tends to suppress the positive 

 element in the will. Children should be led 

 towards the ideals we wish them to attain, not 

 be commanded to shun those we wish them to 

 avoid. Concerning this, James says: 



There are two types of will. There are also 

 two types of inhibition. We may call them inhi- 

 bition by repression or by negation, and inhibi- 

 tion by substitution, respectively. The difference 

 between them is that in the case of inhibition 

 by repression both the inhibited idea and the in- 

 hibiting idea, the impulsive idea and the idea 

 that negates it, remain along with each other in 

 consciousness, producing a certain inward strain 

 or tension there: whereas, in inhibition by sub- 

 stitution, the inhibiting idea supersedes alto- 

 gether the idea which it inhibits, and the latter 

 quickly vanishes from the field. 



(4) Train Children in Deliberative Action. 

 In deliberative action all activities of the mind 



should be brought to bear upon the problem 

 under consideration. Children should be led 

 to solve their own problems and make their 

 own choices in so far as this can be done with 

 safety. They will soon learn under efficient in- 

 struction to profit by their mistakes and be- 

 come more careful in forming decisions. Chil- 

 dren who are denied this privilege or shielded 

 from this task seldom develop the power of 

 independent and judicious decision so essential 

 to success. 



(5) Effort. The necessity of having children 

 and young people act on the choices they make 

 cannot be emphasized too strongly. Decision 

 must be accompanied by determination and 

 followed .by action, if any benefit is to be de- 

 rived from it. Those who allow their choices 

 to evaporate become the do-nothings of society, 

 lacking both the confidence and respect of their 

 fellow men. Give children work within the lim- 

 its of their capacity and hold them responsible 

 for their tasks. Old and young alike should 

 make a little gratuitous effort every day along 

 the line of greatest resistance, and in this way 

 accumulate strength to meet any emergencies 

 that may arise. 



(6) Moral Training. The culture of the will 

 lies at the foundation of moral training. This 

 subject is treated in the article ETHICS (which 

 see). 



(7) Breaking the Will. Breaking the will is 

 not training it. Ignorant and inexperienced 

 people often do children untold injury by com- 

 pelling them to submit to cruel and unjust re- 

 quirements. Children should be led gradually 

 to make the choices we desire them to make 

 because these will turn out best for them, and 

 to exercise their will along right lines instead 

 of having it suppressed by a superior force. 

 Obedience that does not come from within is 

 not true obedience. W.F.R. 



Consult James's Principles of Psychology; 

 Tichenor's Textbook of Psychology. 



Related Subjects. The following articles 

 should be read in connection with this subject: 

 Attention Instinct 



Feeling Memory 



Habit Perception 



Imagination Reason 



WILLAMETTE, wil lah'met, a river of West- 

 ern Oregon, which rises in the west-central part 

 of the state and flows northward about 200 

 miles into the Columbia, through a level val- 

 ley about sixty miles wide. It is navigable fif- 

 teen miles, to Portland, Oregon's largest city. 

 Albany, a city devoted to lumber industries, 



