Foreword to Learn While You Sleep

"For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face."

Such, I have found, are the processes of general education. Frequently, in my course on World Cultures, I have been able to gain my students' interest by demonstrating the truth of these ancient words quite literally. I ask them to look out the window and watch the cars in the street. Then I tell them to refocus their eyes and look at the glass only, and they invariably notice that it is not very clean.

Possibly they were aware as soon as they entered the classroom that the windows needed washing; perhaps all they were conscious of was that the room had windows. In any case many different things present themselves to the eyes and minds of students at the same time, and the good teacher knows how to channel their attention to a few specifics. Once he has done this he must remember the importance of repetition, for in the combination of repetition and attention lies the heart of learning. Further, he knows that repetition by rote is valueless unless the material is accurately absorbed in the beginning. Only correct practice makes perfect.

Whenever I make an assignment I am careful to enter it in my plan book. I have learned from experience that some students will prepare the wrong assignment because they were only half listening, or because they copied it from the board incorrectly. And, of course, they never understand how they happened to make the mistake.

Occasionally I record lectures on tape and play them back. Students tell me that they hear things on the tape that they had not heard during the original lecture. And later on, at quiz time, someone will ask if I ever mentioned a particular point. Once again I expose him to the tape, and he is amazed that he never remembered any reference to the subject before. I explain to him that his mind must have been somewhere else during those words, not because of any deliberate inattention, but for purely unconscious reasons.

A teacher is forever trying out new ways of keeping his students' interest, or of attracting it when it is absent. If only he could hold the attention of every member of the class! Even though they may all be looking directly at the instructor, there are always a few who wander off momentarily, daydreaming without even knowing it. But I have found that this seldom happens when I give private instruction.

I have no problem when the student is directly in front of me. The problem appears when he leaves me, for I have no control over his home life, where he may be disturbed by television, radio, or countless other annoyances while studying or reviewing his work. No matter how close I came to solving the problem I could never quite put my finger on the best method of improving the process of learning. It was only when I read the galley proofs of Learn While You Sleep that it became clear to me.