Concentration - American Education

In one sense, the ability to focus on the task at hand and ignore distractions. A necessary skill for academic success, concentration is a self-imposed, mental receptivity that is not fully mastered until mid-to late adolescence. Lack of concentration, however, is a serious study problem which teachers attempt to overcome by limiting the time spent on any one task at a given time and gradually lengthening that time by imperceptibly small increments. Audiovisual aids have proved useful tools in teaching concentration, as have the introduction of games and activities that require learning basic skills to participate. (See also LABORATORY SCHOOLS.)
At the college level, the term concentration has a second, somewhat less precise meaning that is usually synonymous with the terms MAJOR or MINOR. Concentration may also refer to a specialization within a broad area of studies, as in the case of concentration in accounting.