disappointed. But though I don't approve of it on abstract grounds,
yet I think it is so tremendous a motive for activity and keenness
that it seems to me that boys are the better for it. I don't
believe that in education the highest motive is always the best;
indeed, the most effective motive, in dealing with immature minds,
is the thing which we have to discover and use.

I mean, for instance, that I think it is probably more effective to
say to a boy who is disposed to be physically indolent, "You have a
chance of getting your colours this half, and I should like to see
you get them," than to say, "I don't want you to think about
colours. I want you to play football for the glory of God, because
it makes you into a stronger, more wholesome, more cheerful man."
It seems to me that boys should learn for themselves that there are
often better and bigger reasons for having done a thing than the
reason that made them do it.

What makes an object seem desirable to a boy is that others desire
to have it too, and that he should be the fortunate person to get
it. I don't see how the sense of other people's envy and
disappointment can be altogether subtracted from the situation--it
certainly is one of the elements which makes success seem desirable
to many boys--though a generous nature will not indulge the
thought.

But I am equally sure that, as one gets older, one ought to put
aside such thoughts altogether. That one ought to trample down
ambitious desires and even hopes. That glory, according to the old
commonplace, ought to follow and not to be followed.