the day of stress. Better a thousand times such training as this in the thick of
life's real conflicts than any volitional calisthenics or priggish self-denials
entered into solely for the training of the will!
School Work and Will Training.—The work of the school offers as good an
opportunity for training powers of will as of memory or reasoning. On the side
of inhibition there is always the necessity for self-restraint and control so that the
rights of others may not be infringed upon. Temptations to unfairness or
insincerity in lessons and examinations are always to be met. The social relations
of the school necessitate the development of personal poise and independence.
On the positive side the opportunities for the exercise of will power are always at
hand in the school. Every lesson gives the pupil a chance to measure his strength
and determination against the resistance of the task. High standards are to be
built up, ideals maintained, habits rendered secure.
The great problem for the teacher in this connection is so to organize both
control and instruction that the largest possible opportunity is given to pupils for
the exercise of their own powers of will in all school relations.
6. FREEDOM OF THE WILL, OR THE EXTENT OF ITS CONTROL
We have seen in this discussion that will is a mode of control—control of our
thoughts and, through our thoughts, of our actions. Will may be looked upon,
then, as the culmination of the mental life, the highest form of directive agent
within us. Beginning with the direction of the simplest movements, it goes on
until it governs the current of our life in the pursuit of some distant ideal.
Limitations of the Will.—Just how far the will can go in its control, just how
far man is a free moral agent, has long been one of the mooted questions among
the philosophers. But some few facts are clear. If the will can exercise full
control over all our acts, it by this very fact determines our character; and
character spells destiny. There is not the least doubt, however, that the will in
thus directing us in the achievement of a destiny works under two limitations:
First, every individual enters upon life with a large stock of inherited tendencies,
which go far to shape his interests and aspirations. And these are important
factors in the work of volition. Second, we all have our setting in the midst of a
great material and social environment, which is largely beyond our power to
modify, and whose influences are constantly playing upon us and molding us
according to their type.