It means the ability to recognize major points, minor points, and illustrative material.  Children must be taught to use the table of contents, the index, and paragraph headings.  They must, in their search for fuller information or criticism, be able to interpret different authors, use different language, and attack from different angles, even when treating the same object.  Children must in their studying be taught to use books as a means to an end—­not an infallible means, but one which needs continual criticism, modification, and amplification.

Study may be supervised study, or unsupervised study.  To some people the requirements in learning to study may seem too difficult to be possible, but it should be remembered that the process is gradual—­that one by one these elements in study are taught to the children in their supervised study periods.  These periods should begin in the primary grades, and require from the teacher quite as much preparation as any other period.  Many teachers have taught subjects, but not how to study subjects.  The latter is the more important.  The matter of distributed learning periods, of search for motive, of asking questions, of criticizing achievement, of use of books; each element is a topic for class discussion before it is accepted as an element in study.  Even after it is accepted, it may be raised by some child as a source of particular difficulty and fresh suggestions added.  Very often with little children it is necessary for the teacher to study the lesson with them.  Teachers need much more practice in doing this, for one of the best ways to teach a child to study is to study with him.  Not to tell him, and do the work for him, but to really study with him.  Later on the supervised study period is one in which each child is silently engaged upon his own work and the teacher passes from one to the other.  In order to do this well, the teacher needs to be able to do two things.  First, to find out when the child is in difficulty and to locate it, and second, to help him over the trouble without giving too much assistance.  Adequate questioning is needed in both cases.  It is probably true that comparatively little new work should be given for unsupervised study.  There is too much danger of error as well as lack of interest unless a start is given under supervision.

Studying, especially unsupervised, may be done in groups or individually.  The former is a stepping-stone to the latter.  There is a greater chance for suggestions, for getting the problem worded, for arousing interest and checking results, when a group of children are working together than when a child is by himself.  Two things must be looked after.  First, that the children in the group be taught not to waste time, and second, that the personnel of the group be right.  It is not very helpful if one child does all the work, nor if one is so far below the level of the group that he is always tagging along behind.  More opportunities for group study in the grammar grades would be advantageous.