One of the most difficult parts of a teacher's duty is to turn quickly
from one subject to another, as the boys come to him with their
different questions and troubles. His mind must be so fully under his
control that he can pay complete attention to the particular anxiety of
each boy, taking up one after the other with the same care and interest,
and without any impatience. If he does not pay this full attention he is
sure to make mistakes in the advice which he gives, or to be unjust in
his decisions, and out of such mistakes very serious troubles may arise.

On this point my friend, Mr. G.S. Arundale, the well-known Principal of
the Central Hindu College, writes: "At frequent intervals, of course,
boys come with complaints, with petitions, and here I have to be very
careful to concentrate my attention on each boy and on his particular
need, for the request, or complaint, or trouble, is sometimes quite
trivial and foolish, and yet it may be a great source of worry to the
boy unless it is attended to; and even if the boy cannot be satisfied he
can generally be sent away contented. One of the most difficult tasks
for a teacher is to have sufficient control over his attention to be
able continually to turn it from one subject to another without losing
intensity, and to bear cheerfully the strain this effort involves. We
often speak of something taxing a person's patience, but we really mean
that it taxes a person's attention, for impatience is only the desire of
the mind to attend to something more interesting than that which for the
moment occupies it."

Boys must be helped to concentrate their attention on what they are
doing, for their minds are always wandering away from the subject in
hand. The world outside them is so full of attractive objects new and
interesting to them, that their attention runs away after each fresh