Practical Precepts based on Study of Fatigue
Enough has been said to make it clear that no simple formula can be applied to a group of pupils when one tries to determine for purposes of the daily program how long their nerve cells can be kept at work on a single task. The wisest course for the teacher to follow is to be alert, and when a class reaches its limit of profitable work to introduce a change. On the other hand, the teacher should be very discriminating and should understand that fatigue is not a dangerous symptom. For example, suppose that the athlete always stopped his exercise just as soon as he began to feel the necessity of sending stronger nervous impulses down to his muscles. He would lose the best results of training, for these results consist in the acquisition of the power to overcome fatigue. So also with the pupil. The acquisition of the power to overcome fatigue is a most important part of the pupil’s training.
Keeping the principles suggested in the foregoing discussion in mind, it is relatively easy to arrive at certain practical rules of program administration.
First, maturity ought to mean greater power of endurance. The older classes should—and usually do—have longer periods of work.
Second, the period should be long enough to stretch the pupil’s powers. Regulation of work within this period should be left to the teacher, and teachers should train themselves to recognize the symptoms of fatigue and to judge when training has gone as far as it can in overcoming fatigue.
Third, there should be variety in the program. The nervous system is made up of many different centers. The variation of occupations brings different centers successively into play and gives to each the opportunity of relaxation which is most wholesome. A long school day with much variety is eminently more rational than a short session of work of a single type concentrated into a few hours.