There is, therefore, a good basis in children for assuming the
initiative. But it is only a basis. Unless this native tendency toward
self-direction is carefully developed in connection with the studies
in school, from year to year, it will of course prove inadequate to
the demands of proper study. And that very often happens. In spite of
the fact that schools exist for the sake of education, there is many a
school whose pupils show a peculiar "school helplessness"; that is,
they are capable of less initiative in connection with their school
tasks than they commonly exhibit in the accomplishment of other tasks.
In its quest for knowledge the school may thus easily prove inferior
to the street and the average home in the development of this
extremely valuable power.

On the other hand, if children's native capacity for taking initiative
has been carefully developed, well-selected subjects of study need
make no excessive demands upon them. The topics to be considered will
be found so nearly within their experience that their ability to study
alone will be taxed only to a normal degree. Children, therefore, can
be expected to exercise the initiative that is necessary for
independent study from year to year, provided their teachers from year
to year do their duty in developing that power.

_Is there time for teaching how to study?_

Finally, even though children be capable of learning to study alone,
is there time for such instruction, particularly if it is to be the
primary object throughout possibly a quarter of the elementary-school
time, and during a considerable time later? Is not the curriculum
already full enough, indeed full to completion? While it is true that