Before the dispute was settled and the children at work, five minutes of the recitation period had been wasted. Ten minutes later, Alice, of the B division, asked if she might open a window. Then Grace wanted to borrow a pencil. While Miss Atkinson was showing Joe how to point off, Henry called out, “How many places must we carry it out?” By the time the various queries were answered, Joe’s attention had wandered and in order to make his difficulty clear to him, the teacher had to go back over the ground already covered. Thus every class period was frittered away. Questions were continually being fired at the teacher like shots out of a gun. One bold pupil was constantly making remarks intended to be funny or to delay the progress of lessons. Miss Atkinson could not see the harm in answering the seemingly legitimate inquiries, and her efforts to curb the general habit of talking aloud were altogether too mild. Fully one-half of both the children’s and the teacher’s time was wasted by such interruptions. Serious, concentrated effort was impossible and the duller pupils were confused and distracted by this endless breaking into their train of thought. CONSTRUCTIVE TREATMENT Insist that the work in hand shall not be interrupted. If for one day the teacher will persistently refuse to recognize questions spoken aloud without permission, a long step will have been taken in the direction of correcting the bad habit. Allow two or three minutes between classes, if necessary, for answering the questions of the division which has been studying. Henry should be led to raise his hand if he needs help, and his difficulty should be settled in turn—after Joe’s has been explained. The bold pupil would lose some of his smartness if he were fully occupied with work. Keeping the pupils constantly busy in the arithmetic class, by dictating rapidly and putting a premium upon getting through quickly, prevents discussions upon unessential parts of the work, such as whether or not the same example had been given out before; the children do not have time to consider the matter. COMMENTS It is not difficult to make children see that the rights of others are infringed by interruptions such as speaking aloud without permission. Once this is understood, the teacher must stick to her refusal to recognize such interruptions. When the children understand that they are expected to keep silent, they form the habit of waiting for permission before asking questions. Unless the teacher shows respect for the lesson in hand—not allowing her attention to be distracted from it—she can not expect the pupils to do so.