they are practically automatic, and can hence be skillfully performed
without thought or attention. We must know our spelling in this way,
so that we do not have to stop and think how to spell each word. In
the same manner we must know the mechanics of reading, that is, the
recognition and pronunciation of words, the meaning of punctuation
marks, etc.; and similarly multiplication and the other fundamental
operations in arithmetic. Pupils should come to know these things so
well that they are as automatic as speech, or as walking, eating, or
any other of the many acts which "do themselves." If this degree of
skill is not reached, it means halting and inefficient work in all
these lines farther on. Many are the children who are crippled in
their work in history, geography, and other studies because they
cannot read well enough to understand the text. Many are struggling
along in the more advanced parts of the arithmetic, unable to master
it because they are deficient in the fundamentals, because they lack
skill. And many are wasting time trying to analyze sentences when they
cannot recognize the different parts of speech.

Skill is efficiency in doing. It is always a growth, and never comes
to us ready-made. To be sure, some pupils can develop skill much
faster than others, but the point is, that _skill has to be
developed_. Skill is the result of repetition, or practice, that is,
of _drill_.

The following principles should guide in the use of drill in the
recitation:

_a. Drill should be employed wherever a high degree of skill is
required._--This applies to what have been called the "tools of
knowledge," or those things which are necessary in order to secure all