But it is equally true that there
is a path of interest through the most unpromising material, though that
path does not always run alongside the teacher's highroad of ease and
unconcern. A false notion of interest is that it denotes mere
amusement--that it is something aside from serious and sober thought.
The writer recalls visiting a class taught by a person holding such a
notion. Having given his lesson but little thought he apologized for its
lack of interest by saying, "Now, boys and girls, if you will just be
quiet while we go over the lesson, even though it isn't very
interesting, I'll read you our next chapter of _Huckleberry Finn_." And
yet the lesson, hurried over, with a little intensive study could have
been made as fascinating as the reading of _Huckleberry Finn_ and
notably more profitable.
Another misconception relative to interest is the idea that to make a
subject interesting you must so popularize it that you cheapen it. This
idea is typified in the "snap" courses in school--courses made
interesting at the expense of painstaking application. As a matter of
fact, to cheapen a thing is ultimately to kill interest in it. Genuine
interest of real worth is born of effort and devotion to a worthy
objective. Far from dissipating the mind's energies, it heightens and
concentrates them to the mastery of the bigger and finer things of life.
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