Concentration

Concentration is the ability to focus on a single thought or subject to the exclusion of everything else.

Concentration rests on two legs. First, it is an act of will and cannot take place automatically. Second, it is also a skill, and therefore needs to be taught.

It is important to understand that there is nothing that any human being knows, or can do, that he has not learnt. This of course excludes natural body functions, such as breathing, as well as the reflexes, for example the involuntary closing of the eye when an object approaches it. But apart from that a human being knows nothing, or cannot do anything, that he has not learnt.

Paying attention is a body function, and therefore does not need to be taught. However, paying attention as such is a function that is quite useless for the act of learning, because it is only a fleeting occurrence. Attention usually shifts very quickly from one object or one thing to the next. The child must first be taught to focus his attention on something and to keep his attention focussed on this something for some length of time. When a person focusses his attention for any length of time, we refer to it as concentration. Paying attention therefore, is the body function that makes the skill of concentration possible, just as the functions of seeing and hearing make the skills of looking and listening possible.

Although learning disability specialists acknowledge that “the ability to concentrate and attend to a task for a prolonged period of time is essential for the student to receive necessary information and complete certain academic activities,” it seems that the ability to concentrate is regarded as a “fafrotsky” — a word coined by Ivan T Sanderson, and standing for “Things that FAll FROm The SKY.”

Concentration, like all other skills, must be taught, after which one's proficiency can be constantly improved by regular and sustained practice.