Dewey, and others following him, have emphasized the desirability of having pupils do their work as active seekers, conscious of problems whose solution satisfies some real need of their own natures. Other things being equal, it is unwise, they argue, for pupils to be led along blindfold as it were by the teacher and textbook, not knowing where they are going or why they are going there. They ought rather to have some living purpose, and be zealous for its attainment. This doctrine is in general sound, as we shall see, but it is often misused as a defense of practices which neglect the formation of fundamental habits, or as a recommendation to practices which are quite unworkable under ordinary classroom conditions. So it seems probable that its nature and limitations are not thoroughly known, even to its followers, and that a rather detailed treatment of it should be given here. ILLUSTRATIVE CASES Consider first some cases where time spent in making pupils understand the end to be attained before attacking the task by which it is attained, or care about attaining the end (well or ill understood) is well spent. It is well for a pupil who has learned (1) the meanings of the numbers one to ten, (2) how to count a collection of ten or less, and (3) how to measure in inches a magnitude of ten, nine, eight inches, etc., to be confronted with the problem of true adding without counting or measuring, as in 'hidden' addition and measurement by inference. For example, the teacher has three pencils counted and put under a book; has two more counted and put under the book; and asks, "How many pencils are there under the book?" Answers, when obtained, are verified or refuted by actual counting and measuring. The time here is well spent because the children can do the necessary thinking if the tasks are well chosen; because they are thereby prevented from beginning their study of addition by the bad habit of pseudo-adding by looking at the two groups of objects and counting their number instead of real adding, that is, thinking of the two numbers and inferring their sum; and further, because facing the problem of adding as a real problem is in the end more economical for learning arithmetic and for intellectual training in general than being enticed into adding by objective or other processes which conceal the difficulty while helping the pupil to master it.