Self-control as to the mind also means concentration on each piece of work as it has to be done.  My Master says about the mind:  “You must not let it wander.  Whatever you are doing, fix your thought upon it, that it may be perfectly done.”  Much time is lost in school because the boys do not pay sufficient attention to their work; and unless the teacher is himself paying full attention to it the minds of the boys are sure to wander.  Prayer and meditation are intended to teach control of the mind, but these are practised only once or twice a day.  Unless the mind is controlled all day long by paying attention to everything we do, as the Master directs, we shall never gain real power over our minds, so that they may be perfect instruments.

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 thing that comes under their eyes.  A child is constantly told to observe, and he takes pleasure in doing so; when he begins to reason he must for the time stop observing and concentrate his mind on the subject he is studying.  This change is at first very difficult for him, and the teacher must help him to take up the new attitude.  Sometimes attention wanders because the boy is tired, and then the teacher should try to put the subject in a new way.  The boy does not generally cease to pay attention wilfully and deliberately, and the teacher must be patient with the restlessness so natural to youth.  Let him at least always be sure that the want of attention is not the result of his own fault, of his own way of teaching.