not memorize, but reason out each step to see its relation to the
preceding step, and when they see it must necessarily follow, they pass
on to the next and do the same. These two types of students apparently
arrive at the same conclusions, but the mental operations leading up to
the Q.E.D. of each are vastly different. The one student does his
studying by the rote memory method, the other by the road of reasoning.
The former road is usually considered the easier, and so we find it
most frequently followed. To memorize a table, a definition, or a
series of dates is relatively easy. One knows exactly where one is, and
can keep track of one's progress and test one's success. Some people
are attracted by such a task and are perfectly happy to follow this
plan of study. The kind of mind that contents itself with such
phonographic records, however, must be acknowledged to be a commonplace
sort of affair. We recognize its limitations in ordinary life,
invariably rating it lower than the mind that can reason to new
conclusions and work independently. Accordingly, if we wish to possess
minds of superior quality, we see that we must develop the reasoning
processes.

When we examine the mental processes by which we think constructively,
or, in other words, reason, we find first of all that there is
recognition of a problem to be solved. When we start to reason, we do
it because we find ourselves in a situation from which we must
extricate ourselves. The situation may be physical, as when our
automobile stops suddenly on a country road; or it may be mental, as
when we are deciding what college to attend. In both cases, we
recognize that we are facing a problem which must be solved.

After recognition of the problem, our next step is to start vigorous
efforts to solve it. In doing this, we cast about for means; we summon