Illustrations of all kinds, from the concrete to the story form, have been grossly misused in teaching, so that to-day teachers are almost afraid to use any.  The difficulty has been that illustrations have been used as a means of regaining wandering attention.  It has been the sugar-coating.  The illustration, then, has become the important thing and the material nonimportant.  The class has watched the experiment or listened to the story, but when that was over the attention was gone again.  Illustrations should not be the means of holding the attention; that is the function of the material itself.  If the lesson cannot hold the interest, illustrations are worse than useless.  Illustrations, then, of all kinds must be subordinated to the material—­they are only a means to an end, and that end is a better understanding of the material.  Illustrations, further, should have a vital, necessary connection with the point they are used to make clearer.  Illustrations that are dragged in, that are not vitally connected with the point, are entirely out of place.  If illustrations always truly illustrated, then children would not remember the illustration and forget the point, for remembering the illustration they would be led directly to the point because of the closeness of the connection.

Fourth, telling or lecturing is the best way to get appreciation.  This was discussed in the chapter on appreciation, so need only be mentioned here.  The interpretation by the teacher of the character, the picture, the poem, the policy, or what not, not only increases the understanding of the listener, but also calls up feeling responses.  It is in this telling that the personality of the teacher, his experiences, his ideals, make themselves felt.  One can often win appreciation of and allegiance to the best in life by the use of the telling method in the appropriate situations.

Fifth, the lecture method should sometimes be used as a means of getting the desired mental attitude.  The general laws of learning emphasize the importance of the mind’s set as a condition to readiness of neurone tracts.  Five or ten minutes spent at the beginning of a subject, or a new section of work, in introducing the class to it, may give the keynote for the whole course.  A whole period may be profitably be spent this way.  Not only will the telling method used on such occasions give the right emotional attitude towards a subject, but also the right intellectual set as well.

It is evident then that the lecture or telling method has its place in all parts of the educational system, but its place should be clearly and definitely recognized.  The danger is not in using it, but in using it at the wrong time, and in overusing it.  Bearing in mind the dangers that adhere to its use, it is always well, whether the method is used in grades or in college, to mix it with other methods or to follow it by another method that will do the things that the lecture method may have left undone.