rui_ANU u. HUS5EY U. C. L. A THE TEACHING OF HISTORY THE TEACHING OF HISTORY DR. OSKAR JAEGER TRANSLATED BY H. J. CHAYTOR, M.A. WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY C. H. FIRTH, M.A. REGIUS PROFESSOR OF MODERN HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD CHICAGO A. C. McCLURG & CO. 1915 ML (j^Jh UNIVERSITY jA|r- SANTA BARBARA TRANSLATORS NOTE Of the many educational institutions in Germany, four are mentioned in the following pages : the Gymnasium, or classical school ; the Realschule, and the Oberrealschule. The two latter correspond to our " modern school," and give a modern education, teaching no Latin or Greek. The Realgymnasium is a compromise between these two types, and gives a modern education, while at the same time teaching Latin. All are organized upon the basis of a nine years' course, and the forms or classes are arranged as follows, beginning with the lowest : Sexta translated First Form. Quint a - ,, Second Form. Quarta - Third Form. Unter Tertia - ,, Lower Fourth Form. Ober Tertia - ,, Upper Fourth Form. Unter Sekunda ,, Lower Fifth Form. Ober Sekunda - ,, Upper Fifth Form. Unter Prima - „ Lower Sixth Form. Ober Prima „ Upper Sixth Form. CONTENTS INTRODUCTORY PAOES Relation of the Classical and Modern School to history- teaching — Nature of the Classical School — What is history ? — Goethe's words upon enthusiasm — The objective method of historical narrative — How far possible— The history teacher and literature — In what class should history teaching begin ? - - 1-14 I PRELIMINARY STAGE FIRST AND SECOND FORMS History teaching and the training of the historical sense — Influences upon the latter concurrent with the history teaching — Latin — German — Historical material in the reading-book is not historical teaching — Religious instruction the first form of historical teaching — Im- portance of " Bible history " — Geography — Different position of the modern school — Its want of the his- torical language, Latin .... 15-30 II INTERMEDIATE STAGE FROM THE THIRD TO THE LOWER FIFTH FORM True historical teaching first possible in the Third Form — Reasons for this — Preliminary questions — Distorted vii viii CONTENTS PAOKS views The proposal thai history should be taught backwards B [in with the history of antiquity, of the Greeks and Romans Reasons for this - 31-36 THIRD FORM The period to be Btudied -Pupils 1 character at this stage — Relationship oi hi itory to the other subjects of study : I ii. French, Divinity, German, geography — Period tn l«' Btudied by the Third Form — Object to be aimed at — Means of instruction— The text-book — Its require- ments and mistakes — Tho teacher and his lecture — Relation be1 ween led ore and text-book — Moral effects — Exaggeral ions - Avoidance of preaching — Homework In be given rarely, and to be moderate in amount — Revision of two kinds — The revision of long sections — The first training in using historical material already learnt — Leading ideas for such revisions — Completion of the period set to the Form - - - 36-50 FOURTH FORM The course laid down in the Prussian syllabus — The pupils' character at this stage — The need of discipline — The influence of patriotic motives — A glance at earlier syllabuses — The influences of other subjects upon his- torical training- (.reek and Latin — Caesar and Xeno- phon French and ESnglish modern schools — German and Divinity Bistorical instruction and geography — Criticism of the Prussian regulations for teaching the latter subject — Mode of procedure in the Upper Fourth — Text-boob to be used differently in the Third and . Fourth Form The teacher's lecture — Xo enforced enthusiasm— How a nation can be told the truth— The treatment of medieval history — Difficulties — [ecclesiastical and dogmatic movements — The period to lie covered by the Upper Fourth — The religious difficulty arising after 1517, partially recognized and ted Some counter-home influences — Re- vision General revisions for individual lessons — Classical and modem schools - - - 57-93 CONTENTS ix PAGES LOWER FIFTH Characteristics of this Form as concluding a school course — Influence of other subjects upon historical teaching — Greek, Latin, French, German, history, and geography — Importance and treatment of the latter — Connexion of the utilitarian and scientific elements — The period to be covered by the Lower Fifth — Consequent diffi- culties — Procedure to be followed in the distribution of the whole — Introduction — A history of Branden- burg-Prussia — Principles of description — Economic information — Detailed teaching and its limitations — Concluding point — Style of teaching — The extempore lecture — Revision — The taking of notes — The practice of oral revision — General revision — Home reading and other modes of stimulus - - - - 93-117 III THE HIGHER STAGES UPPER FIFTH, LOWER SIXTH, UPPER SIXTH The second progress through history begun — Upper Fifth side influences from Divinity, German, French, Latin, Greek, geography — The historical teaching — The period to be covered in Prussia — The treatment of ancient history with reduced time at disposal — Pictures as a teaching means — Home reading — Ex- tempore lecturing as before — Revision — Consideration of the " Compositions in Miniature " of the Prussian syllabus - - - - - - 118-139 SIXTH FORM The period to be covered — Influence of the various subjects of instruction upon the education of the pupil and upon the historical side of this education — German, Divinity and languages — Source-books, so called — Latin and Greek text-books historical sources in the x CONTENTS highe ' ena oi the term Branch and English from this point oi view— Their various importance in the olassioa] and modern schools — Applied geography — The distribution of the period to be covered — Con- sideration of economic teaching — "To the present day " — Text-book — Lecture — Medieval history — Its difficulties -Nature of the material — The religious difficulty The trial of Hubs— The history of the Reformatio]] to 1648 Modem history from the point of view of general European and German history— Arrangement and distribution of the matter in the Lower and Upper Sixth — Tho first period, 1517- 1648 The second period and its three sections — The third period from 1789 onwards — Its treatment — Tho lasl sections, 1863-1871 — Leading ideas for revisions — Character of the instruction at this stage — Concluding remarks 139-193 APPENDIX Lecture to a Third Form, " After tho Battle of Carinas " — To a Lower Fourth Form, " Events after Canossa " — To an Upper Fourth Form, " Revisions " — To a Lower Fifth Form, "Condition of the German Empire in the eighteenth century" (before 1789) — For a Sixth Form, eighty-six questions as ideas for revisions, or for oial work in the school-leaving examination - - 194-222 INTRODUCTION Dr. Jaeger's book will be useful to English teachers for many reasons. It supplies a picture of the ordinary method of teaching history in Prussian schools, both classical and modern. It explains the aims which that teaching is meant to attain, the reasons which dictate the choice of particular his- torical periods, and determine the order in which those periods shall be studied, and the relation of history to other studies forming part of the course. Without entering too much into detail, it gives a sufficient number of examples and particulars to make the general principles upon which the course is based perfectly clear, and to show how it works in practice. The practical object with which the book is written increases its value. Its aim is limited. Dr. Jaeger does not wish to set forth a better system of teaching history, but to explain one which actually exists. Now and then he criticizes it or suggests some modification ; he is somewhat con- servative, and inclined to think that recent changes have not been altogether improvements. But he xii INTRODUCTION remains throughoul a schoolmaster writing for other schoolmasters, in order to show them, by the light of bis own experience, how to make the b< b1 of the system they have to work. Having had fifty years' experience, he is able to understand all the difficulties which a teacher encounters in the attempt to carry out one of these comprehensive schemes of historical instruction, and knows how they can best be overcome. The scheme itself is one wliieh deserves careful consideration, for the curriculum of the Prussian secondary schools was carefully planned to begin with, and carefully revised at intervals by the light of expert criticism. It represents a gradual growth, and has stood the test of time. For these reasons it seemed desirable to publish a translation of Dr. Jaeger's book. The problems which a teacher of history has to solve are the same in all countries, however much their educational systems differ. Therefore, although the organiza- tion of English schools, and the conditions under which history has to be taught in them, may differ very widely from those which exist in Germany, there is much to be learnt by English teachers from the study of the system of historical education which these pages set forth. The conditions are, indeed, very different. One great distinction be- tween German Gymnasien and English public schools is this. The German educational system pre- snpposes a nine years' course passed in one school ; the English system usually involves three or four INTRODUCTION xiii years spent at a preparatory school, followed by five or six at a public school. It is plain that the carrying out of a systematic scheme of historical instruction, or instruction of any other kind, is far more easily effected under the conditions which prevail in Germany than it would be in England. For here, as we all know by the published reports of their discussions, there is no agreement between the headmasters of the public schools and the headmasters of the schools which prepare boys for them on the most fundamental questions relating to the curriculum. A second difference in organization is this. The existence of a fixed curriculum like the German one presupposes and necessitates a certain fixity and unity in the constitution of each form. German boys remain in the same form for a year together, and then move up in a body to the next form. It is therefore possible to arrange that a boy shall go through a certain period of history one year and another period the next year, finishing one before he proceeds to the next. In an English public school, with terminal or half-yearly promotions of the top boys from one form to another, the com- position of a form is continually changing. This is a real obstacle to any consecutive course of historical study, though it may be partially overcome by various expedients. Another principle involved in the existence of a fixed curriculum is the assignment of a definite and an adequate amount of time to each particular xiv INTRODUCTION subject. Tn the Prussian curriculum, for instance, tun or three hours a week during the whole of a I p. (v's school life are devoted to history. For without a definite and an adequate allowance of time through- out no consecutive treatment of the subject would l>r possible, still less any scientific or scholarly beaching. In English public schools, however, the time allotted to the subject varies from school to school, and from form to form in the same school, according to the caprice of individual head masters. One head master may assign an adequate number of hours to history; another may stop the study of history altogether for the classical side at a certain form in the school, and continue it only on the modern side, or in the army class ; a third, still less intelligent, may seek to banish it altogether to preparatory schools. All these eccentricities are still possible, although there has been in the last twenty years some improve- ment in the teaching of history in the public schools and in secondary schools in general. The German system postulates the existence of a central authority with definite ideas as to what boys should learn at school, and power to enforce the adoption of its ideas. That is the fundamental difference. In the case of English secondary education there is no such authority. Instead of it there are some dozens of authorities which seek to influence the teaching given in schools, and do it by prescribing examinations rather than by coming to some agreement as to the best kind of curriculum for each particular type INTRODUCTION xv of school. There are Government examinations such as those for the army and navy and the various branches of the Civil Service, and some of those conducted by the Board of Education. There are the Universities, old and new, with their entrance examinations — or preliminary examinations of much the same nature as entrance examinations — and with scholarship examinations established by various colleges, and intended to reward proficiency in various subjects. There are special boards set up by the Universities for the special benefit of schools, such as the Oxford and Cambridge " Locals " and " Joint Board," each with its different examination. Last of all come special examinations, such as those for solicitors or chartered accountants, and those of associations, such as the College of Preceptors. All these various examining authorities differ as to their requirements. There is no agreement amongst them on the question whether boys ought to learn history at school or not. It is a necessary subject in examinations for naval cadets and naval clerks, in the qualifying examination for the army, and in the matriculation examinations of the Scottish Universities, the Universities of Wales and of Birmingham, and the four new Northern Uni- versities. It is an optional subject in the schools examinations established by Oxford and Cambridge, and no knowledge of history is required for admis- sion to either of those ancient seats of learning. This uncertainty on a fundamental question pre- vents history from obtaining its proper place in the XVI INTRODUCTION ourricu] As greal an obstacle to the efficient t , aching of I be subject , where it is taught in schools, [e the disagreemenl between these examining bodies as to Hi' amounl of history and the kind of history required. When it is a necessary subject candidates are usually required to pass in the Outlines of English History, or, as the Scottish Universities better define it, of British History. The Oxford and Cambridge Bohools examinations require portions of English his- tory, but disagree as to the length of the portions and as to the question where any particular period should begin or end. In their preliminary, junior, senior, and higher examinations, the historical demands of the Oxford and Cambridge Locals disagree, and the examinations of the Oxford and Cambridge Joint Board introduce new disagreements and additional complexity. What are the results of this superabundance of examining authorities with their conflicting require- ments \ One result is that the systematic and thorough teaching of history in schools is rendered impossible. Another is that advanced teaching of history in the Universities is rendered excessively difficull . Boys study a period or an epoch at school without properly learning the outlines of the political history of the British Empire. So out of half a dozen men beginning to read for the Modern History School .it Oxford or Cambridge, one knows the Tudors, another the Stuarts, a third the Hanoverian period, and others other scraps, but they have not all six the common stock of sound elementary knowledge INTRODUCTION xvii which is the necessary basis for University teaching. Every college history tutor has to spend much of his time in teaching undergraduates elementary historical facts which they ought to have learnt at school. This is detrimental to the tutor himself, and lowers the standard of teaching at the Uni- versities. The existence of a school curriculum imposed by Government has various drawbacks, but they are less serious than those which arise from the absence of any generally-accepted scheme of studies, and from the pressure of discordant examinations. Whilst we criticize the rigidity of foreign systems, we sanctify the anarchy of our own by baptizing it " elasticity." In such a condition of things all that English teachers of history can do — until secondary educa- tion in all its branches is taken in hand by our Government — is to imitate the example of American teachers of history. Finding the subject neglected or badly taught in American schools, they proceeded by forming local and general associations, and by holding conferences, to arrive at some agreement amongst themselves as to the best methods of teach- ing, and the best kind of curriculum. Having reached a ' substantial agreement ' on these points, they went on to attempt to influence the makers of school programmes and the authorities controlling entrance examinations to colleges and Universities. This movement, which began in 1891, has met with a considerable amount of success. " The progress b xviii [INTRODUCTION ih.it has been made during the last ten or fifteen years is encouraging,' 9 writes an American professor. "Although history does not yet receive the recogni- tion w hit 'h is due to so important a subject, its value is better understood, its objects are more clearly defined, the methods of teaching it are more fully developed. Some things remain to be done. At present in the elementary schools, and to a large extent in the secondary schools, the subject is assigned to teachers who know little about it, and who have never been adequately trained to teach it. A little study of history in college is not enough, and even this is usually lacking. The remedy here can come only through the strengthening of the college work in history, and through more adequate courses of instruction in the normal schools. Quite as important as this is the realization on the part of the makers of programmes that we live not merely in the United States, but also in the world. Another decade should not pass before the work in history in the American schools is made as comprehensive, and is entrusted to as well-trained teachers, as is the case in France and in Germany." * American teachers reached the " substantial agreement " Professor Bourne speaks of not only by means of repeated discussions amongst themselves, but by means of careful inquiry into the systems of historical education pursued in various European states. Reports were drawn up on the teaching of * H. E. Bourne, The Teaching of History and Civics in (he Elementary and Secondary School, p. 76 (Longmans. 1903). INTRODUCTION xix history in Germany, France, and other countries in order to supply the members of the American Historical Association with exact information as to what was actually done in foreign schools, and with the materials for forming a judgment as to what should be done in their own.* Amongst other things they inquired into historical education in English schools, and their report states that, " owing to the well-known chaotic condition of English secondary education," they are unhappily prevented from saying what our system is. However, it is not this incidental criticism that concerns us just now, but the practical and scientific manner in which the American teachers set to work to solve their own problem. That is what we ought to imitate. Only by a similar process will it be possible for English teachers of history to arrive at sound conclusions, and to come to some consensus of opinion amongst themselves as to the best historical curriculum for English schools. Dr. Jaeger's book has been translated as a contribution to this object — that is, in order to supply English teachers with facts which will help them to form a right judgment on questions of principle. The system described is not held up as a copy to be imitated, but as a solution of the question we have to solve which is worth studying and understanding. To make this understanding easier the translator, * The Study of History in Schools: Report to the American Historical Association by the Committee of Seven (Macmillan, 1903). b—2 xx INTRODUCTION as he explains iii Ins prefatory note, has rendered the names of the forms in a German school, not by their literal meaning, hut by their equivalents in Knglish nomenclature. In the tabular statement of the historical curriculum of a Prussian gymnasien which follows, the same method has been adopted, but the German names of the forms are given in brackets in order to facilitate comparison with other accounts of German education. A good description of the whole curriculum, of the various kinds of schools, and of the history and organization of secondary education in Germany will be found in J. E. Russell's German Higher Schools (Longmans, 1905). PRELIMINARY STAGE First Form (Sexta) — Second Form (Quinta) Age of boys from nine to eleven or eleven and a half. In both forms the work is not, in the strict sense of the word, history, but rather a preparation for it. It is regarded as part of the teaching of German. History is replaced by tales of the great men of ancient, medieval, or modern times, and by the legends of classical antiquity. In the first form four hours a week are devoted to these subjects ; in the second, three. In both forms two hours a week are devoted to geography. INTRODUCTION xxi INTERMEDIATE STAGE Third Form {Quarto) Outlines of Greek History to the death of Alex- ander, and of Roman History to the death of Augustus, two hours a week. Two hours a week are also devoted to the geography of Europe, and three hours a week to German literature and German composition. Lower Fourth Form (Unter-tertia) The history of Germany up to 1517, two hours a week. Geography, the non-European continents and the German colonies, one hour a week. German literature, two hours a week. Upper Fourth Form (Ober-tertia) The history of Germany from 1517 to 1740, two hours a week. Geography of the German Empire, one hour a week. German literature, two hours a week. Lower Fifth Form (Unter-sekunda) German history, 1740 to 1871, two hours a week. Political geography of Europe, one hour a week. German literature (Schiller's plays, etc.) and com- position, three hours a week. xxii INTRODUCTION HIGHER STAGE Ii'i'ii: Fifth Form (Ober-sekunda) Ancient history to the fall of the Western Empire in A.i). 47(>. Geography ceases to be an independent subject, though some geographical teaching is given in connexion with the history studied. Three hours a week is allotted to the joint subject. German literature and composition also obtain three hours a week. Lower Sixth Form (Unter-prima) European history from 476 to 1648. Geography in connexion with the history studied, as in the class below. Three hours a week for the joint subject. German literature and composition, three hours a week. Upper Sixth Form (Ober-prima) European history from 1648 to 1871, with the briefest sketch of events subsequent to 1871, three hours a week. Geography only so far as it is con- nected with the history studied. German literature and composition, three hours. In constructing tins outline of the historical curriculum of the Prussian classical schools, it seemed unnecessary to add particulars as to that of the modern schools, winch is essentially the same. INTRODUCTION xxiii But it seemed desirable to insert some particulars as to the two studies most closely related to history — viz., geography, and the national literature and language. Further details as to those two studies will be found in Dr. Jaeger's pages. The principles underlying the curriculum are plainly apparent. In the first place, the study of history is carefully correlated with kindred studies so far as it seems possible. Very close correlation, as Dr. Jaeger points out, is not always either possible or desirable. History is comprehensively studied ; the course includes European history as well as ancient history and national history. It is con- secutively treated ; boys begin with ancient history, and proceed to modern history only after they have some acquaintance with the remoter past. In the study of national history the chronological order is strictly adhered to. Thus the sense of continuity and development, which is the essence of history, is preserved and fostered, instead of being destroyed as it is by our method of teaching shreds and patches of history. Another characteristic also needs noting. In the German curriculum there is what Dr. Jaeger terms " a twofold progress through the centuries," or, as we should say, there are "two cycles." In the inter- mediate stage boys go through the outlines of ancient and modern history from the time of the Greeks to the nineteenth century. In the higher stage they go over the same ground again, treating the national history no longer as a separate subject xxiv INTRODUCTION but as part of European history. The arguments in favour of this plan are obvious. It recognizes the difference between the powers of the boys' mind at different ages, and thus obviates the common objection that adherence to the chronological order obliges boys to study the most difficult periods of history when they are least able to understand them. It allows a more thorough and a more scientific treatment of the subject during the higher stage, because a certain basis of elementary know- ledge has been assured. This particular characteristic appears not only in the Prussian, but in all other German schemes for the teaching of history in schools, and reappears, too, in the curriculum of French secondary schools. A principle on which there is so general a consensus of expert opinion should become an axiom with English teachers of history. Our object should be to adapt the results of European experience to English needs. At present in English historical education many things seem to be accepted as fixed principles which are merely local prejudices, or else traditional opinions which have never been rationally recon- sidered. Such, for instance, are the prevalent views that the teaching of epochs is more easy and profit- able than that of outlines, that European history is too difficult to be taught in schools, and that history is a subject which may usefully be studied in the lower forms, but can safely be omitted in the higher forms. C. H. FIRTH. THE TEACHING OF HISTORY INTRODUCTORY The following pages do not claim to propose any reform or transformation of historical teaching in our German secondary schools and in kindred or parallel educational institutions ; still less do they attempt to base any pedagogic theory of the teaching of this subject upon psychological or educational considerations ; nor, again, do they claim to formu- late the true task and the ultimate object of his- torical teaching, as though these were yet unknown. So far as we can see, the teaching of history in our secondary schools requires no organic reform or modification of any radical kind, any more than has been necessary in our Prussian and German secondary school system. All that is required is prudent guidance, which can be gained by careful consideration and continued learning on the part of those entrusted with this instruction ; in simpler words the chief requirement is good teachers, recognized as such because they steadily improve their teaching powers, and not because they write or even read a great deal about the reform of the instruction entrusted to them. The author can 1 2 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY look back upon an experience of fifty years of his- torical teaching — an experience that has forced him to examine the subject from the most different points of view. He has read and heard many discussions upon the subject, and has himself written and spoken upon it. He does not, however, propose to quote from these sources,* but merely to expound what his own mistakes and investigations have taught him, docendo discens, in the last fifty years. He thus proposes to attack the problem in a more concrete manner than the majority of discus- sions upon it are able to do, and to consider upon what points the teacher's attention should be directed who has to teach history at any stage within our German educational institutions, whether they contain nine, seven, or six forms, in this twentieth century. As we shall see, the problem is both simple and yet comprehensive. These institutions are divided into classical and modern schools — into schools with or without Latin, to use the popular expression. Hence it is obvious that in discussing history and its teaching we must direct our attention in the first place to the classical * The literature of the subject is to be found admirably complete in Schiller, Handbuch der praktisclien Pddagogik, 2, p. 535 ff. Mention must also be made of the Methodologie de V ' enseignement moyen by a Belgian scholar. — Professor Collard. of the University of Louvain (Brussels, Maison d'Edition Alfred ( 'astaignc. 1903) ; see p. 382 ff. (L'histoire). We can recommend [ the whole section : criticism from a foreigner's point of view is always useful. INTRODUCTORY 3 schools, for the reason that the training there given is primarily historical, and is based upon a close and continual study of the past as displayed in Greek and Roman literature and history. Only upon this basis is it possible to explain the true meaning of history and historical instruction for boys between the ages of nine and eighteen, and only so can we form a picture of that ideal which every scientific or intellectual pursuit of any kind must necessarily keep in view. Not until this ideal has been dis- covered can we discuss the objects and the means of history-teaching in the case of those schools which are primarily occupied with the facts of modern life, with modern languages, and modern science. This order has not been adopted from any idea that the classical are to be regarded as the more dis- tinguished schools. Classical and modern schools have been solemnly recognized in Prussia as " equivalent in value "; this they are and have been, in their respective styles and places. We do not, in fact, recognize any distinctions of rank between the different categories of schools, so that we need not emphasize the national importance of the fact that historical teaching in the modern schools should be properly conducted. Of girls' schools we say nothing ; the question demands special investi- gation, for which we do not possess the requisite knowledge, though at the same time we would assert our conviction of the extreme importance of this subject. The modern Latin schools (Real- yymnasien) we class in general with the classical 1—2 4 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY schools, laying no special stress upon the difference of their curriculum from that of the true classical school ; the history teacher will very easily be able to make those slight modifications demanded by the difference between the two organizations. More- over, it is impossible to speak with any certainty at this moment of these Prussian Realgymnasien, as changes are constantly made in their curriculum, and especially in those branches of study which we are forced to consider — for instance, Latin. If we attempt to explain the special nature of secondary classical education as briefly as possible, one fact is clear — that these institutions owe their special character to the fact that they are prepara- tory to the university. Their education is a prepara- tion for science in the truest and highest sense of the word, and science implies the discovery of truth, reality, and certainty within the subject under examination. Preparation for scientific work is thus itself science, the search for truth, and the pro- cess which the Greeks called historical teaching, but it can only be aroused in connexion with the idea or the conception that the deeds which are to inspire admiration, the exploits I of great and pure heroism, actiially came to pass and were performed by men of like passions with j ourselves. Hence we reach the supreme law which must govern every mode of historical presentation, and, therefore, of historical teaching in secondary schools. This instruction must deal only with what has actually happened, and it must be added, should represent it exactly as it happened, as far as it is possible to achieve this object. There is an ideal of historical narration based upon an entirely objective method which relates facts, describes character, and retraces motives undisturbed by personal inclinations, by political and religious partisanship, or by any other influences of the kind which may affect the historian. Admirable as this ideal may be, its perfect realization is an impossi- bility. The historian or narrator remains an indi- vidual, and his view of history, together with his mode of presentation, must ever bear a strong impress of his individuality. At this point, how- 8 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY ever, we are confronted by a further rule, which is by no means superfluous. Events that certainly have not happened, and have been proved by serious and honest investigation not to have happened, are not to be represented as realities for the purpose of producing some moral or aesthetic influence or other effect of the kind. Among our great historians Chr. Schlosser has expressly refused to accept the objective theory. Ranke, again, says of him- self with humble pride that he will only relate events " as they actually took place," and has become, paradoxical as it may sound, an extremely subjective historian by reason of this very effort to reach an objective standpoint.* We cannot, there- fore, hold up either one or the other as a model for history teachers in secondary schools. The impossibility of writing history " from the purely objective standpoint " is not merely a deficienc} 7 or disadvantage : it produces also a positive result. A contemporary historian is right — or, at any rate, has the right, whether he be an historical writer or teacher — to treat history as a * We have in mind, for instance, the historical introductions to the narrative passages in the correspondence of Bunsen and Frederick William IV., edited by Ranke ; these passages are apparently written from the objective standpoint as though the author were treating of the seventeenth or eighteenth centuries, but are in reality highly coloured with the writer's personality. Of German historians Ludwig Hausser seems to us to be the best model for the teacher ; not only does he possess a full sense of historical justice and truth, but he has at the same time feeling and character. INTRODUCTORY a man of his own age — that is, from the standpoint of the twentieth century. He may also treat it as a member of his own nation, and many will be inclined to add, " as a member of his own Church." This latter claim raises a practical question of con- siderable difficulty of which we shall have to treat in its own place, for the special reason that discus- sions upon the question, whether at head-masters' conferences or in educational hand-books, usually evade this point, and speak as if there had never been any difference between theories of life or any con- sequent great communities, churches and ecclesi- astical parties, which were founded upon a basis of these divergent views, have fought their battles, and are fighting them to-day. A powerful indi- viduality is a source of great power, and will make itself felt, if anywhere, in historical teaching ; but the teacher, even more than the historical writer, must remember that he is but an individual. He must, therefore, be careful to guard against the delivery of judgments by means of ready-made catch-words or oracular pronouncements. One further point must be mentioned before we can enter upon the practical and detailed side of our subject. In the course of historical instruction the teacher is often obliged to consider the so-called spirit of the age, though this is often nothing more than a transitory whim of fashion. At the present time, as every one knows, the teacher is confronted by " the consciousness of the age " or " the need of the present," or by "life," often with the loud 10 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY demand for special consideration of all possible economic and social developments. Nor is this all. Every moment some new movement imperatively demands "consideration" or "special treatment." One would imagine that the spirit of advertisement or the eulogies of the auctioneer had invaded our special sphere, remote as it may be from compe- tition and from the haggling of the market-place. The truth of the matter is that of making high- sounding phrases there is no end ; to stimulate the feeling of patriotism, the sense of responsibility to the State, the religious sense and character in general — these are demands which the experienced teacher can estimate at their proper value, knowing, as he does, how humble a modicum of truth or reality is concealed behind these sonorous phrases. Hence at the very outset of our considerations we venture to offer the following advice to our younger colleagues : In the first place, decline to be frightened by uproar, or to be discouraged by lofty phrases. In the second place, continue to study history your- selves : learn it that you may teach it. The methods of historical study have been already learnt at the University, and the teacher has shown in his ex- amination that he has acquired this capacity. The art of teaching history to children, boys, or young men, will be learnt by practical teaching, the more certainly in proportion to the zeal and per- severance with which the teacher devotes himself to his special subject. One point, however, is an indispensable condition in whatever stage of Ms- INTRODUCTORY 1 1 torical teaching the instructor may find himself : he must have a general view of the whole path which his pupils have travelled, or have still to follow. This general view is assumed by us henceforward, and only so can we expect that our arguments will prove of any use to our colleagues. Our German secondary schools and the higher or middle schools corresponding to them, admit their pupils, generally speaking, at the age of nine or ten — in some cases a little earlier, in others a little later — and those who pass through the whole curriculum leave school at the age of eighteen, nineteen, or twenty. The secondary school and the modern school with its nine forms (Realschule), has, therefore, to deal with children, boys, and young men. Hence there is one fundamental law imperative upon historical instruction, if upon any branch of study : history is one thing to the mind of a child and of a boy, another thing to a youth, and, again, another thing to the mind of a mature or aged man. This fact has ever been recognized, and, as far as I can see, the curricula of all German educational institutions contemplate a twofold progress across the centuries. We have definitely rejected those simple or in- genious proposals which would divide the history of the world into so many portions as there are classes in a school, and assign a division to each class from the fourth form to the sixth. In examining the curricula of the German secondary and modern schools, we find a great and general similarity which materially facilitates our task. We shall, there- 12 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY fore, be justified in basing our arguments upon the organization usual in Prussia and in those provinces which have adopted it directly from Prussia. This method has been chosen not merely because this organization is best known to the author himself, but also because the conclusions drawn from these data are easily applicable to the other schools of our country.* In Prussia historical instruction has been discussed at numerous conferences of head masters, both in general and with reference to important details. The subject recurred some eleven times before the year 1876, when the well-known syllabus of Erler appeared. Discussion has been no less frequent since that date, and anyone who knows the extraordinary laboriousness of the methods by which these conferences work will not doubt their fundamental thoroughness. It may, further, be asked whether the result has justified the labour expended, f One point, however, which seems to us of high importance has not been sufficiently emphasized, either at these conferences or in the * The necessary information may be foimd in Banmei.-t r, Einrichtung und Verwaltung des hoheren Schuhcesens in den Rulturliindem von Europa und Amerika, vol. i., 2 of the hand- book, p. 99 (Bavaria), p. 129 (Saxony), p. 152 ff. (Wurtemberg), p. 119 (Baden), p. 195 (Hesse), p. 287 (Austria), p. 345 ff. (Hun- gary) ; the differences are not so profound as materially to modify our observations upon method and teaching practice. t Beginners are rather to be dissuaded from a perusal of these lectures, which treat the subject in a hundred volumes of many thousand pages, and naturally repeat the same truths over and over again ; the result is to give the beginner an entirely false idea of what has been or can be done in this subject. INTRODUCTORY 13 other literature of the subject. There is a general impression that our pupils learn history only during the so-called history hours ; yet nothing is more obvious than the fact that historical informa- tion and impressions may be derived by our pupils from many other sources ; consequently there can be no fruitful discussion of historical instruction until we have secured a clear view of these tributary streams of influence, if we may use the term, and their effect upon the main stream of historical teaching. It is not the actual handling of this subject, but rather its organization that is in ques- tion. The historical teacher will, therefore, find it advisable to consider at every stage the relationship of other branches of instruction to his own subject. This will lead him to a final preliminary question — a question, however, which cuts deep into the nature of the subject — At what class should historical instruction as such, in continuous and formal style, begin ? We know (apart from certain discoverers of the eleventh commandment) at what stage, more or less, the study of French, of Greek, or of English should begin. Can we say as much in the case of history ? Tn most German States the question is answered in practice as follows : historical teaching usually begins in the third school year — that is to say, in the Third* Form — according to the most usual termin- ology. The Prussian syllabus of 1892 and of 1901 follows the same method, though for the First and * For terminology, see preliminary note. 14 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY Third Forms history is put down at one hour a week (p. 45), subjects which are not historical being included under the term. We must admit that definition of the beginning of continuous historical instruction proper. True historical teaching — using the word in the sense above explained — cannot begin until some conception, however immature, has been secured of the difference between accomplished fact and fiction, until the stage has been reached when there is recognition that poetry, legend, and narrative are not the same as history. This point is neither automatically nor invariably reached by promotion from the Second to the Third Forms ; but the process is generally completed between the ages of eleven and twelve and in that period of the school to which these ages belong. When we assert that " history " — that is, the regular study of the subject — should not begin before the Third Form, we do not imply that the formation of an historical sense is impossible at an earlier period. We mark off the two lowest Forms — the First and Second — as a preliminary stage, in the belief that we shall thus secure a correct point of view for our future considerations. Hence our remarks apply primarily to the secondary or Latin school, though they are also true of any high school. I PRELIMINARY STAGE First and Second Forms. For this stage of educational progress we refuse to admit historical instruction proper ; at the same time the subjects of instruction are of extreme im- portance, as contributing to the formation of the historical sense and to the realization of historical truth. This process of development in the case of secondary school boys is chiefly influenced from three main sources : the instruction given in Latin, German, and religion. It is remarkable that the teaching of Latin has never been regarded from this point of view, and yet the fact is obvious so soon as it has been enounced. The first condition preliminary to the formation of an historical sense is the capacity to regard the past as present. A past national history, the life, the deeds, the possessions, and the modes of thought of a vanished people are transported into the present in the language of that people ; hence every foreign language — especially every dead language — produces a cor- 15 16 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY respondingly greater effect upon every human mind and upon the mind of every child. These influences produce effects far reaching, though not immediately obvious in tangible re- sult ; but appreciation of these effects has been obscured by the current, but somewhat unin- telligible phrase that Latin is a mental gymnastic. The study of the language of a nation which is so infinitely far from us, and yet so infinitely near to us as Latin, can obviously do much more, even for a boy of nine years of age — as, indeed, the current phrase implies ; and this, though we confine the deeper influence to the development of a capacity for gathering isolated examples beneath the unity of laws and rules. It seems to us essentially im- portant to the very nature of our secondary educa- tion that no triviality should be imported into the study of this language ; all must be scientific, even for the immature mind of the First-Form boy, and this for the simple reason that every Latin word contains a wealth of historical life. This must be the method even in the earliest stages. Even if the phrase be nothing more recondite than mensa rotunda est, it should be shown that the people who spoke this language two thousand years ago had round tables, that they had Sessel (stools), sella, that they had Kuchen (cakes), placenta, etc., that its sons were addressed as mi fili. To the attentive observer it is absolutely certain that the greater interest which the boy shows in Latin as compared with a modern language, when he is capable of PRELIMINARY STAGE 17 interest at all, depends upon this fact. For the adult, again, it is by no means a matter of indiffer- ence whether he regards a beautiful jug in the nearest shop, from a famous factory, or a Roman drinking vessel, with some rude inscription, dug out of the ground. Two thousand years ago the drinking vessel was just as trivial as is now the beautiful jug which stands by the dozen in a shop window and is of interest to us for its aesthetic beauty or its technical perfection ; the drinking vessel has this advantage — that it has a history, that it speaks to us of the past, and enables us for a moment to realize this past. In the most in- sensible it arouses a feeling analogous to scientific interest — the interest of curiosity, however tran- sitory ; and a similar effect is produced by a growing acquaintance with Latin forms, words, and termina- tions, and thereby with Latin things and ideas in the case of the boy of nine years old ; he feels him- self a Latin scholar because he thinks that he is gaining real and pure knowledge, and not merely the knowledge of the market-place. To make French or English — English in the case of the First Form — the initial foreign language in a secondary school, is to stifle the scientific sense at its very outset. At this point we may be confronted by one of those zealots who would build and concen- trate everything at once upon the basis of what is already known. He may ask how the teacher is to bring out and make operative the historical influence contained in the elements of Latin. The answer is 2 18 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY that no special treatment is demanded of the teacher, and that he should merely allow this course of development quietly to proceed. It is quite open to him, and arises naturally from the subject, to tell his boys something from time to time of the great Roman nation whose language they are learn- ing, and of whom they will afterwards learn much more. We must not, however, be misunderstood to wish the importation of Greek and Roman his- torical facts into elementary Latin exercises — -a process sometimes known as concentration, appar- ently on the principle of Incus a non lucendo ; within our own field many valuable fruits grow quietly, without any fussing over questions of method. The second source which contributes to the for- mation of an historical sense is different in nature from the former, but acts as a valuable supplement to it ; this is the instruction given in the German language, which can exert a fairly strong influence. The German reading-books of the two lowest forms, while providing poems of every kind, fables, fairy stories, anecdotes of men and animals, descriptions of Nature and proverbs, also deal, as is well known, with the facts of history. In our opinion the Prus- sian syllabuses of 1882, 1892, and 1901 were ill- advised in announcing " German and historical narratives, 3+1=4 hours," thus making one of these hours a special history lesson. Naturally our profes- sion has been at work here, and has already produced a whole library of books, with a biography of Hercules or Odysseus on the first page, and with that of the PRELIMINARY STAGE 19 Emperor William I. or of the reigning Emperor on the last. We must enter a most decided protest against this literature and its sources, against " history," or special hours for its study, in First and Second Forms. Nor are these lessons as free from reproach as they appear in the otherwise admirable syllabus for the Saxon secondary schools of January 28, 1893. "Whatever historical material can be used here, whether drawn from Greek, Roman, German, Saxon, or Prussian history, belongs to the German lesson and forms part of the German reading-book. It is quite reasonable that boys of nine or ten, who are learning Latin, and are introduced to our German national literature by the simple method of learning through the reading-book, should read of Charles the Great, of Henry I., of Frederick Bar- barossa, of King Frederick William TIL, and the Emperor William I., of Joseph II., of Maria Theresa, of Frederick II., of the heroes of Germany, or their own particular part of Germany, or even of their own limited district or their town. Even better is it when some gifted teacher, though he may possess no higher certificate, seizes the moment when no governor nor director is to be found for miles around, and tells his first-form pupils stories of these men and women. This, however, is not historical teaching, for the simple reason that pupils in this stage have secured no conception of chronological order. It would be useless to tell them that Frederick the Great reigned from 1740 to 1786 and Charles the Great from a.d. 2—2 20 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY 768 to 814. Moreover, they are unable to dis- tinguish between these prose narratives of historical events and the corresponding poems which deal with historical characters. They cannot understand, thank heaven ! the difference between a legend of Charles the Great and a history of Charles the Great, and it would be a complete mistake to transform their legendary and poetical Roland into the Hruotland of history. In a German reading-book for the second form we find " Cadmus (about 1500 B.C.)," a statement typical of the confusion between legend and history. The Prussian syllabus of 1892 laid down that its " Character Sketches from the History of the Fatherland " should be chosen with reference to the pupil's home ; that, for instance, in Cologne the subjects of instruction should be the lives of Albertus Magnus or St. Martin, or Reinald of Dassel. We can see no adequate reason for this regulation. It seems a matter of complete indifference in what order these narratives from the history of our own country should be read or explained, whether they should begin from Cologne and end in Berlin, or follow any other route. Each one of them has its own value as providing food for the pupil's mind. The Prussian syllabus of 1901, which has quietly cor- rected many mistakes in the two preceding S3^11abuses, simply says on p. 47 : " The great heroic figures of the near and remoter past." As regards the distribution of the material between the First and Second Forms, a tendency is obvious, PRELIMINARY STAGE 21 springing from patriotic feelings, to lay great stress upon a knowledge of German legends at the earliest possible stage. In some syllabuses I find that these legends include German mythology, expressly stated as the ground to be covered by the First Form : it would be preferable to warn teachers off this ground. It is not my experience that Hildebrant and Hadubrant, Titurel and Frimutel, Parzival and Herzeloyde, Orilus and Schionatu- lander, or even Repanse and Fierefiz of Anjou, have especially excited the imagination of our first-form boys. These legends become important to boys only by an indirect method ; they must first have secured some historical interest in their nation, which can be gained by some intimacy with | such figures as Theoderich, Etzel, or with chivalry in general. When this has been done it would be advisable to reserve information concerning the medieval legends of Germany for the German reading-book in the Fourth Form, where these stories are brought into connexion with their special and natural environment, and can then produce their due effect ; this, again, is the proper age for beginning the study of the Nibelungenlied. On the other hand, it is, in our opinion, entirely reasonable and correct to introduce the important personalities of our national history to these two lowest classes, by means of anecdotes, experiences in their lives, and character sketches : at the same time, the only object here should be to produce an immediate effect. Order makes not the smallest difference. 22 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY On Monday an instructive story of Bliicher and Moltke can be read or told, and followed on Tuesday by a similar story of Charles the Great ; pupils at this stage have but the most elementary concep- tions of chronology, and require nothing more complicated for a time. The only immediate object is to enrich their imagination with attractive figures and deeds from the history of their own people, and this process can be called, so far as we are con- cerned, the inculcation of patriotism, if any sonorous catch-word be required. The Second Form reading-book should also contain pieces of the same kind, especially pieces of poetry, and in particular a selection from the finest legends of classical antiquity, as many as possible from Greek mythology — Prometheus, Phaethon, Cadmus, Daedalus, etc., and some few legends from Roman history. The earlier Prussian syllabuses are here quite right in saying that the legend proper of classical antiquity should be assigned to the reading of the classical languages and to the hours for instruction in German ; to the latter, therefore, in the Form of which we are speaking. At the same time it is not wholly clear what is meant by the term legends "proper " ; something else is apparently meant than that which appears in the syllabus of 1901 as an entirely superfluous historical study out of connexion with any other ; " narratives from the legends of classical antiquity from early Greek history (until Solon) and from Roman history (until the war with Pyrrhus)." We need not, however, dispute further about words. PRELIMINARY STAGE 23 We are everywhere in favour of simplicity, and we therefore prefer four hours of German to three hours of German and an hour of history, though the difference is not material. It is unnecessary to enlarge upon the fact that these legends can be made beautiful and valuable in the hands, or rather in the mouth, of a teacher who has himself a youthful feeling of sympathy for their poetry. After a lapse of more than sixty years I can myself recall the deep impression made upon me by the first sentences in the classical work of Gustav Schwab : " Heaven and earth were created ; the sea rolled its waves, and the fishes played therein ; the feathered fowls sang in the air, and the earth was covered with moving animals." We are only considering the subject as it bears upon historical instruction, and as it can provide preparation, or has itself become a preparation for this instruction which the Form will soon have to begin. Take, for instance, the story of Cadmus on page 87 of the most general, though perhaps not the best reading-book for the Second Form — that by Hopf and Paulsiek. After the piece has been read through in sections and the teacher has convinced himself that every one has understood it, he will have it retold with books closed. He will then ask what the boys have noticed in the story, and in a manner entirely natural and unforced, without injury to the poetry of the legend, and avoiding any elaboration of special points, the Form will learn the name Europa, will learn of the Phoenician nation and their discoveries, will hear 24 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY what an oracle is, will learn the names of some Greek places — Crete, Delphi, and Thebes, will learn also the names of some Greek gods ; while it is also permissible to say a word upon our debt to the old nation of the Phoenicians. Instruction of this kind comes into connexion with other material — for instance, with such Latin words as have been learnt, and this we would add, without any special effort upon the teacher's part. All that we ask of him, in this case and in others, is to use as far as he can the moral forces inherent in every worthy and tangible object, especially if described in noble language, and above all things not to destroy its efficacy by attempts to do too much at one time. A more powerful and immediate influence, foster- ing and stimulating the early growth of the historical sense, is the religious instruction given at tins stage. It may be said at once that instruction in the Christian religion, the third of the sources which we have distinguished above, is from the outset historical instruction of the first and most elementary kind in the First and Second Forms of our middle schools. This fact has been recognized by the present syllabus of 1901 in its observations upon the methods of history upon p. 47, but has not been sufficiently emphasized. Religious instruction is primarily Bible history taken from the Old Testament in the First Form, and from the New Testament in the Second ; teaching upon the Catechism, or any other instruction given in connexion with the parish or the church, does not concern us here. PRELIMINARY STAGE 25 There is no question here of substituting one con- ception for another, and we need not therefore go back to Bossuet's Discours sur Vhistoire universelle, or to the Prceparatio evangelica of Eusebius ; it is clear from the outset that Bible stories, or the Bible story as a whole, are properly preliminary to later historical instruction, and must therefore be treated by the methods of such instruction, if religion is to secure her rights and her interests, which are precisely similar to those of history. Religious instruction, especially in the Gospels, is primarily historical instruction, and this not merely in the more extraneous sense of the word ; for instance, if Moses and Ins learning and the wisdom of the Egyptians should be the point, the boy of nine years old may very well be told who the Egyptians were, and in what their " wisdom " consisted : may hear something of their hieroglyphics, their pyramids, their Lake Mceris, etc. ; or, again, in the New Testa- ment, the Second-Form boy may of himself acquire some idea of the great Roman Empire and its provincial administration. Nor, again, is it merely in the more serious and fruitful sense of the term that pupils can of their own accord realise in their own way certain historical conceptions which afterwards become of great importance, such as the patriarchal system of nomadic life and the growth of the tribe to the nation ; they are confronted with anarchical conditions, with the irregular but effective power of men (the Judges) who hold no office, but guide the destinies of a nation by force of character ; the 26 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY people itself is described and described inimitably, now enthusiastic, now timorous, blindly credulous or defiantly unbelieving, asking for guidance, and again rejecting it with the temper of a child demanding miracles and signs — the people as it is, as it was, and as it will be ; the pupils hear of taxes, of anarchy, of priesthood, of kingship, and of many other things which cannot be made entirely clear by definition, for we may challenge any of our pundits to give us a definition of the term " nation." These things, however, must become a part of experience before they can be used, and this, if anywhere, is possible in biblical history ; this realisa- tion will also be entirely uncritical, a point of no mean importance, and to the pupils what they hear will be unconditional truth and undoubted reality. But the fact must also be emphasized that this progress through the " Bible history " is a pre- liminary stage to all historical instruction in a yet deeper sense. We have previously stated that " history " is primarily and from the outset a con- ception of humanity as an ethical whole ; this con- ception is presupposed in " Bible history." If we wish to embark upon speculative inferences we shall be forced to say that the idea of God is included in this conception, and that without this idea humanity cannot be conceived as an ethical whole ; the only point of importance to us here is the fact that boys of nine and ten can only conceive of these two — God and man, divinity and humanity, in connexion. These complementary conceptions are, however, not PRELIMINARY STAGE 27 only provided by the religious instruction in Bible history, but they are also presented in a form intelligible to the immature mind ; hence they become firmly rooted, apart from the fact that they are presented on the basis of an authority of incom- parable power. We have the idea of a chosen family believing in the true God and growing to a tribe, which, while preserving its belief, becomes a people ; to the people God gives the law of its life in the promised land, and concludes a covenant with it. We observe the prosperity, the decline and fall of this people, the narrowness and limitation of their conception of a national God, and the gradual overcoming of this narrowness, until the history of this people coincides with the history of the one personality of Jesus, and thus rises and widens to world history. Here we have in the most popular and effective form conceivable the necessary hypothesis upon which all later histori- cal instruction must be based. Here lie concealed in embryo the highest tasks and objects of history, whether they be regarded as forming a philosophy of history, or included under some other term ; all later instruction and further study must remain conscious of its connection with these fundamental points if the study of history is not to be annihilated by the bitter sarcasm or despair of the question which Goethe places in the mouth of Faust : " Am I perchance in thousand books to read That everywhere mankind has toiled in vain, That here and there one has found happiness ?" 28 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY On this point we have no further advice for the teacher ; the more entirely he treats these Bible stories as history — that is to say, as accomplished fact — the better will he provide for the rising religious sense in his pupils ; the more he treats this instruction as religion, and the more he devotes to it his heart and all the higher forces of his soul, the more will he do for the historical sense of his pupils. Historical criticism, it is almost superfluous to add, will be entirely false here, where the pupil can neither follow it nor make it his own by reflection ; what is wanted is the undisturbed narration of this history, laying due emphasis upon its religious content, for the Bible stories contain deepest truths, whatever views may be held of their authenticity. We have made no mention of geography as a formative influence upon the historical sense at this stage ; in any case, geography does not hold that position ; it stands in far closer relationship to history which is inconceivable without it. The two studies are indivisible, and are divided only for imperative practical reasons, in order that they may afterwards join hands when they have accom- plished their separate progress. Here in the First Form the first progress is made through the great scene upon which the world's history has been played out, when the use of atlases or maps has begun. The more simply and intelligently the master is able to acquaint his pupils with mountains, rivers, seas, etc., the more certainly will he be paving the way for the later historical instruction. PRELIMINARY STAGE 29 There is no reason why he should not tell his pupils something of Columbus, Cook, Franklin, or Nansen, etc. We must, however, observe that we are entirely opposed to the regulation of the Prussian syllabus which lays down that the First Form should gain a general acquaintance with the atlas, and then confines the Second Form to the geography of Germany, nor are we in any way converted by the reasons adduced for this method. It is a subject ot study wholly profitless at this stage. A boy of ten years brings no interest to the geography of his country, let alone of his native place, which is neither of scientific character in itself, nor can prepare him for scientific study ; the study of immediate environment only becomes interesting when the mind has grown maturer, and has been enriched with historical and with other information. For secondary schools the fundamental principle of geographical study is certainly this : that it should begin with outlying regions and work back to the home ; but should not proceed from the school- room to the village and its duck-pond, thence to the province, thence to Germany, and so on, through Europe and the other continents. We shall recur to this mode of study when treating of the Fourth Form. In modern schools the conditions at this stage differ little from those that obtain in the classical schools. Latin is certainly absent, and for this there is nothing to compensate ; nor, indeed, is com- pensation required, since the pupil of the modern 30 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY school does not propose to specialize in history as does the pupil of the classical school ; his object is to learn his bearings rather than to gain a know- ledge of detail. Meanwhile, it must be noticed that the Prussian syllabus for modern schools provides an hour more for the study of German (German and historical narrative) than is given to the classical school: 4+1 instead of 3+1, and in the Second Form 3+1 instead of 2+ 1. The reading- book for the First and Second Forms in modern schools will differ correspondingly, and certainly in length, from the reading-book of the classical school ; it will therefore, and in our opinion it should, include more historical narrative. We shall afterwards see that the desire for the positive and the practical has provided a good supply of historical material for memorizing, has given the instruction in the modern school a character somewhat different from that which obtains in the classical school, and has possibly provided a certain advantage for this side of historical instruction, which we ought not to under-estimate. II INTERMEDIATE STAGE From the Third Form to the Lower Fifth. Historical instruction proper can now begin ; its preliminary conditions have been already ex- pounded ; these consist in the appropriation of that knowledge and of those conceptions which we have already explained or indicated, and in the inevitable influences, difficult to estimate, which accompany the appropriation of these conceptions. We do not mean to assert that as the clock strikes eight upon the morning of the day on which the pupil begins work in the Third Form, he also begins to be capable of following historical instruction with profit. There will be many of the pupils who have long since had access to historical books, which may be excellent, such as the Greek and Roman histories of C L. Roth, or of very doubtful value compiled by incompetent hands. The latter class of readers, the cumberers of our ground, must be taken as they are ; everybody knows that at this age much that is bad can be read without serious loss, and we hope that the time is still far distant when home 31 32 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY reading will be subject to the inspection of the all- compelling scholastic powers, and no boy allowed to read anything unless his tutor, il suo pedante, as the Italians say, is looking over his shoulder. The point at issue is that in the Third Form, usually the third year in the classical school, that stage is reached when regular historical instruction can begin to the extent of two lessons a week, as a rule ; when there is an orderly progress commenced through the last thirty centuries of human history, in contrast to the irregular excursions which pupils have hitherto made into this subject either in the school or for their own purposes. At this point some preliminary questions must be briefly noticed. Schools with nine classes have arranged their scheme of historical teaching by long tradition and by a kind of convention, so that the course of history is twice repeated — once in child- hood and again, with the necessary modifications, in youth. This arrangement, as we have seen, originates immediately in the nature of those schools which keep their pupils from childhood until youth, or even until early manhood. As far as we can see, the syllabuses of the different states are in agreement on this point, and we shall therefore decline to discuss any proposals which ignore this necessity for duplication, and proceed to demand for the Sixth Form some mixture of historical lectures, study of sources, and other supposed methods of extending and deepening knowledge. The principle of two readings, or even three, is universally advisable INTERMEDIATE STAGE 33 in legislation and in parliamentary life, as in the private reading of good books ; it is a habit retained throughout life by the sensible man, and in historical instruction it is especially illuminating and profitable. In the Prussian schools, and in those which have adopted their new regulations, the first course of in- struction proceeds from the Third Form to the Lower Fifth — that is, to the well-known turning-point at which some strike off right and left into the forest, while others pursue their way to the leaving examina- tion. These latter repeat the course during their three years in the Upper Fifth, Lower Sixth, and Upper Sixth. The second preliminary problem is not so much a problem as a whimsicality characteristic of our age and of the position of the secondary teacher ; it is raised by the latest question : Should history be begun at its (relative) beginning or its (relative) end ? The first man to conceive and express the bold idea that historical instruction should begin at the present moment or the immediate past and work backwards to primitive times was d'Alembert, as I learn from Mahrenholz.* In our days, when we are reforming everything on earth except ourselves, this idea has also aroused some transitory attention, but has disappeared, leaving its mark only in certain text-books, monstrosities of historical teaching. This much is known to every one, as is also the fact that an antiquarian scholar of importance half adopted * Wandlungen der Geschichtsauffassung und des Geschichtsun- terricht (Hamburg, 1891, p. 71). 3 34 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY this idea, and seized the opportunity of speaking with greater or less profundity as an amateur upon historical teaching ;* he merely succeeded in proving that anyone at the present, with a little reputation can write upon matters of which he knows abso- lutely nothing, and find readers, and even pro- fessional experts, to take him seriously, to discuss his ideas, and thus to give a certain importance to mere amateurism. We must mention the fact at this point because the secondary teacher is a pioneer, if ever there was one, and when he is a historical teacher, is a pioneer in a special sense and fights under very difficult conditions, and he therefore on occasion has, according to the old proverb, many masters— at any rate, many who exercise mastery over him. And therefore we must not omit to express our conviction that at every stage of historical instruction it is of importance that the teacher in charge should acquire and preserve the mental independence of the expert, and should boldly maintain it when necessary against super- ficial amateurism or against clerical espionage, by no means unexampled at the present time. The same idea has occasionally occurred from the eighteenth century onwards in a less grotesque form, namely, in the assertion that what is termed more modern or most modern national history should be made preliminary both in elementary and advanced instruction, and should be followed by the history of antiquity ; while Karl Peter has for years eagerly con- * Hermann Grimm in the Deutsche Rundschau, 1891, No. 12. INTERMEDIATE STAGE 35 tended that aneient history must be the special care of the upper stages of the Sixth Form. It is, how- ever, unnecessary to refute these opinions, as in every case proper conceptions of historical teaching have won their way or have remained unopposed. We shall begin at the beginning. Historical instruction in the Third Form is the history of antiquity — that is, of the Greeks and Romans — with the addition of such part of the history of the ancient peoples of the East as may seem necessary. Some authorities assert that a general view of this latter subject should precede the study of Greek history, speak of the growing importance which Oriental history has acquired through discovery, and perhaps express even in these views the momentary unpopularity of Greek and Roman civilization as a subject for study. The fact, how- ever, is undoubted, that for ourselves, who are Germans and Europeans, Greek and Roman history is of far more importance than Egyptian or Assyrian ; our arrangements have to be made upon a basis of two lessons a week extending over one year, and in this elementary stage simple arrange- ment is essential. Hence we must be content with the history of those two nations — a history, moreover, which stands in no immediate need of antiquarian research, but is in touch with the modern world by reason of unbroken tradition. We, as Europeans and Germans, stand upon the same footing of freedom as these two nations, that mysterious force which first became life and reality upon Greek 3—2 .30 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY soil ; we, in short, like the Greeks and Romans, are Western and not Eastern nations, and therefore Greek and Roman history is not only more interest- ing, but also more intelligible, to ourselves and to our Third-Form pupils. Bible history will have already acquainted our pupils with the Oriental nations, and opportunity arises here and there for providing some necessary information about them — for instance, before beginning the narrative of the Persian wars, when East and West, the Persian monarch and the world of the Greek City States, came into collision. At this point a teacher is obliged to say something of the great Eastern monarchs, of their rise and of the conditions of their existence. Third Form. We now reach the main question, which, in accord- ance with prevailing custom, is usually proposed in some highly pretentious or euphuistic form — the problem of the " task of historical instruction " in the Third Form. We propose to put the question in more concrete form. During the year which is devoted to this first progress through ancient history the master has to deal with a class of twenty, thirty, or forty boys for two hours a week — that is, for some eighty hours altogether. What can he do and what ought he to attain during this period, and what must be the special objects of his attention, and how are they conditioned by the nature of his subject and the character of his pupils ? INTERMEDIATE STAGE 37 We must first consider the character of this stage and of the instruction given within it ; I hold that in the case of these boys between eleven and thirteen years of age, the teacher's effort should be directed to the task of securing greater unity and connexion in their hitherto fragmentary knowledge. In the Latin lessons this unification is beginning ; connected pieces are more and more translated, and some con- nected author, such as Cornelius Nepos, is read and forms a whole. In religious instruction the Old Testa- ment is put into their hands, or some reading-book based thereon which contains complete books of the Bible, or, at any rate, large selections from them, and here, again, unity is apparent. In their German lessons a similar process is going on : the selections in the reading-book are to be grouped and arranged in order to connect them together, and the first step in the land of reality is taken by means of essay-writing, as the exercise is not improperly named. Historical instruction must therefore appear as a connected whole, representing the life of two important nations from their origin to their decline, or to their transition into new forms. Before we consider the nature of this special historical instruction, with its two hours a week, or possibly three, in the Prussian modern schools, we must also ask what formative influences are pro- vided by the remaining studies in this Form, which can contribute to the development of the historical sense ; these we shall now indicate briefly. The horizon of the pupil at the secondary school 38 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY is now extended by the introduction of a new language — French.* It is by no means a matter of indifference that this language has developed from the Latin which the pupils have already learnt, though at this stage it is obvious that nothing more can be done than to mention the general fact, as explanation and illustration with numerous examples are hardly possible. We have already explained that every word of Latin instruction contains implicit history, and the knowledge of this language is now extended and deepened ; the formation of certain elementary historical ideas concerning state, king, compact, law, alliance, etc., quietly proceeds with the reading of an ancient author within the range of a Third Form, such as Cornelius Nepos. Religious instruction is also proceeding, and con- tinues to be historical instruction, the more so as considerable excerpts from the Old Testament are now read ; here we have the study of sources in pure form, while the instruction concentrates attention upon human life and action from the strict standpoint of moral and religious criticism ; thus the pupil gains a higher standard by which he may judge the deeds and the men whom he will meet in his history lessons. * This is the natural line of progress for a school which is to be introductory to scientific thought — that is, for the secondary school ; it is also one of the reasons which induce us to oppose the curriculum of the reformed secondary school. To make Latin the first foreign language is to us a question of educational policy, and to the secondary school is a vital question. INTERMEDIATE STAGE 39 Further, the instruction in German continues to introduce the German national literature in an elementary manner. To put the matter more simply, the boy learns to read good German books with intelligence, and thus improves and practises the powers which are necessary to understand historical connexion. Finally, what should be obvious from the outset, but rarely meets with due appreciation, history and geography become close and natural allies. The union between these two sciences may produce admirable results both here and elsewhere, provided that either' science is treated with due regard to the other, and at the same time confined within its proper bounds. History in this elemen- tary stage, and henceforward until the high stages are reached, will always provide a geographical reference to the places of which it treats ; these will always be shown or found upon the map. Geography, again, will provide some meaning for the place- names which occur, by reference to. their historical importance whenever possible. Clearly, this cannot be done until the pupils have acquired some know- ledge of history ; the fact is recognized in most German schools by the principle which states that the two geographical lessons should treat of the geography of Europe, and the two historical lessons should deal with the two nations, the Greeks and the Romans, which really gave the word " Europe " its meaning in the history of civilization. The first introduction of boys of eleven or twelve 40 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY years old to the national life of one people can only be secured by dividing history into histories and into small sections, each of which is presented as a self- contained whole whenever possible ; the subject of instruction, is therefore histories taken from Greek and Roman history in chronological order. We say histories and not biographies, important as biographical study may be. Greek history is terminated with the death of Alexander the Great, and Roman history with Augustus and the Battle of Actium ; neither the Diadochi nor the Roman imperial rule can be made subjects of detailed treatment for the Third Form. Hence we shall approve the practice of the Prussian and of the other German syllabuses, which make Solon in Greek history and Pyrrhus in Roman history the starting-points of more detailed study ; in former times much useless toil was expended upon the Pelasgic period and the age of the Roman Kings. As we have observed, there is no objection to making these same historical periods the material of the German instruction in the lower Forms ; they must also form part of the history studied by the Third Form, and must be presented shortly and summarily, thus leading up to more detailed narratives of Solon and Pyrrhus. Theorists upon historical instruction have often spoken of the distinction between a purely didactic side and an ethical side or influence, and have referred to the training of the sympathies and imagination, to the hardening of the will, to the INTERMEDIATE STAGE 41 stimulus of patriotism and of the religious sense etc. Ethical influence is inherent in the first place in the material of instruction, in the second, place in the personality instructing, and in the third place, as in all other subjects, in the performance of duty. Here, however, as in every case, the object of primary importance at school is the act of learning, and the task of securing that the pupils should appropriate matter worthy of study, with all the strength of their will, their intellect, and their memory. Mean- while the master's task is to present this history to his pupils in such a manner as to secure two results : Firstly, the most important events with their dates must be engraven upon their memories. Secondly, they must be able to make some ele- mentary use of what they have learnt. This object may be secured by three means. These are, the text-book, the teacher's commentary or lecture, and the revision by the pupil. Of these three we have now to speak, not merely with refer- ence to this, but witli reference to every stage of instruction. A text-book is essential at this point as a basis of instruction. A mere table of dates and names is not sufficient, for the reason that the Form does not yet understand how to use a table, no matter how it be constructed ; a text-book together with a table, even if it be nothing more than a so-called canon, is equally inadvisable, for the reason that the pupil's desk is already crowded with far too many 42 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY books. The text-book for a Third Form must there- fore contain tables — that is to say, after every section a short list must be given of the most impor- tant facts, with their dates, to be learnt by the pupil ; and at the end of the book these facts and dates must be printed together in connected form, so that the pupil can have the whole result of his year's work before his eye. We do not propose to recom- mend particularly any of the countless text-books in existence. Assuming that the teacher is able to choose for himself, or assuming that in his deliberate judgment the book in use is unpractical — as, for instance, is the work of Piitz for middle forms ; assuming, again, that his head master is amenable to technical arguments upon the subject, and has no objection to the inconvenience of introducing a new book, then the teacher has to find a text-book with the following qualities : it must be decently printed and bound, qualities winch apply to every school-book, but apart from this it must divide the subject- matter into reasonable divisions ; it must not be too thick nor too thin — in other words, the material it contains must be such as can be properly ex- hausted within the given period of eighty lessons ; thirdly, it must contain nothing unhistorical ; and, fourthly, it must recount, expound, and teach, but not narrate its subject-matter — in other words, it must contain nothing that is not history ; if legend or poetry are quoted, their nature must be stated, and uncertain events must be introduced with the INTERMEDIATE STAGE 43 phrase " It is said." Thus, in the case of the history of the Roman Kings, it must show that these stories are told to boys of the twentieth century with some detail, not because they are more or less representative accounts of the seven Kings, but because these stories were firmly believed some two or three thousand years ago to be the early history of their famous town by the Roman people — men, women, and children, by high and low. This, however, is not the only point ; the narrative style of many, if not of the majority of text-books, shows that their authors did not understand what history is. A case in point is the widely disseminated work of Welter, a clever book in its entirely false style. These books either, like Welter, adopt the style of a novel or else of a rhetorician ; an excellent criticism uttered, I believe, by Niebuhr upon the once popular Histoire Romaine of Rollin said that history was there narrated as if it had not really happened. Here there will soon be an improvement, which has, indeed, already begun as far as we can see ; since we have become a nation in the political sense of the term, our historical teaching has been marked by something of that e'£ avroiv to>v irpa^ixdrwv egis, by the " spirit which statecraft inspires," and therefore by that political realism which Polybius demands of the historian ; something, too, of this strong spirit, of this 7rpay/jiaTCKT]<; lo-Topias Tpoiros, may or ought to form an element in the historical teaching of a Third Form. This, however, is a point difficult to estimate, 44 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY and in any case incommunicable ; another point that we have mentioned, that the text-book should not be a narrative, but merely a presentation of material, is easier to criticize than to explain. In reviews and elsewhere we constantly meet the foolish theory which demands that the text-book should perform what is really the function of the teacher's commentary or of the reading-book. Only recently I read a criticism upon a popular text-book, which stated that though a valuable performance it could not inspire the pupil with enthusiasm. Many authors attempt to vivify the dryness of the text-book with anecdotes, appeals to feeling, and epitheta omantia, such as " the bold Pelopidas," " the honourable Phocion," etc. This is a mistaken point of view. At the same time a text- book for the third form need not necessarily be wearisome, any more than are, for example, the epitomes of Livy. Macaulay, in his essay upon Goldsmith, rightly praises him for his power of making the epitomes of his histories attractive : " in general nothing is less attractive than an epitome ; but the epitomes of Goldsmith, even when most concise, are always amusing, and to read them is considered by intelligent children, not as a task, but as a pleasure." This should be our ideal ; the text-book is not to be conversational in the vulgar sense of the term, but children should be attracted by it. The tone and character of the instruction is. how- ever, determined by the teacher, and follows from INTERMEDIATE STAGE 45 his grasp of the subject, his manner of presenting it, and his mode of narrative ; on these points the text-book should not prejudge his efforts. In dis- cussions upon the teacher's commentary or lecture high-flown language has naturally been expended ; it should be realistic, enthusiastic, convincing, extempore ; the teacher should call events vividly before the pupil's eye ; every lesson should be a work of art, etc. A warning must be uttered against catchwords everywhere, but most of all in historical teaching. They either induce the young teacher to adopt a false rhetorical style or discourage him, and he feels obliged to admit to himself that his lecture does not realize these sonorous phrases. He may calm his mind ; even the heroes of these proud demands do not make practice correspond with precept ; what can be attained and ought to be attained by a conscientious teacher of moderate gifts is as follows : it is no small achievement, and it is adequate. A style of lecture-teaching essentially informal, as is natural and desirable at this stage of instruc- tion, can be attained after some period of learning and practice. Our object at this moment is not to deal with a large mass of information in one lesson, but merely to expound such material as the text-book provides, and provides in sections of moderate length ; moreover, the teacher is perfectly well able, without exciting the surprise of his pupils, to glance at the text-book from time to time, if the thread of his argument escape him, as may 46 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY very well happen. But the first condition for a good lesson, and above all for a good history lesson. is proper preparation, and preparation must be of two kinds : it must be devoted to the subject as a whole, and to the lesson in particular. For a Third- Form history lesson the first object is attained if the teacher reads or re-reads a good Greek or Roman history, though this is a practice which must be continued. He should read one history and not six, that he may become acquainted with the whole of the area which he must cover with his pupils, and gain a living knowledge of it. If he has time, and time he may gain by leaving for once unread long- winded reports, replies, theses, essays, etc., he had better read for his general preparation one Greek and one Roman original source — for instance, the whole of Herodotus and the whole of Livy — in order that he may secure the benefits of which the latter speaks : ceterum et mihi vetustas res (de)scribenti nescio quo facto antiquus fit animus. A first analysis which he will make for his own instruction should be kept, as it may prove of value at a later time, and will be improved in the course of teaching ; for upon the whole it may be said that the mind is never more inclined to productive and creative energy than when engaged in teaching. As regards preparation for a particular lesson, the teacher must be entirely clear upon the course which his lesson is to take, and must at the same time make himself entirely master of that moderate amount of material which can be used for one lesson. When thus INTERMEDIATE STAGE 47 equipped he should, after hearing the revision ot which we will speak presently, have a complete section read aloud by one or two boys. Let us suppose it is the section dealing with King Pyrrhus and the war with Tarentum. He will then retell the story in greater detail with all the clarity of his intelligence and practical knowledge, with all the vividness that his imagination and descriptive talent will permit, and with all the warmth that his sympathy and his confidence will allow. Above all things, he should strive to secure simple and clear language, and remember the good rule which appears as early as the Methodus tradendi in scholis historiam for the Germanic province of the Jesuit Order about 1717 ; larde fiat narratio, lit sequi possint discipiili* The more practised teacher can natu- rally reverse the process by first telling the story, and then making the Form read the section ; this, indeed, is the better method, but considerable practice is required to present historical material from the right point of view to boys at this stage, and I therefore regard the former method as more advisable for those beginners for whom these pages are specially intended. The course of events, when necessary and possible, is explained by reference to the map, and the teacher must convince himself that they have been understood by making the Form repeat his narrative when the subject invites this method (unusual, see below) ; for the most part he will secure this end by short questions and by * Monumenta Germanice pcedagogica , XVI., p. 107. 48 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY a simple catechism : Repeat the main battles of the Tarentine War ; the names of the most impor- tant leaders and statesmen ; the districts where the war was carried on, etc. At this point a few ques- tions may be introduced, though not too frequently, appealing to the intellect : In what way did the Roman nation defeat the King who was originally victorious ? Why did Hannibal consider it important to reach the district of the Po with his army ? Should a district, such as Bceotia or Thessaly appear in Roman history, he will ask what the boys know of these districts in Greek history, and so forth. In this connexion we must refer to the ethical effect of teaching, and the extent to which this can be produced by the teacher's lecture. Recipes have already been published for stimulating patriotism by emphasizing the heroism of the three hundred Spartans at Thermopylae or of the Athenians at Salamis, and possibly in the course of time some psycho-physiological method will be found of making historical dates a stimulus to patriotism ; in the meanwhile we would utter an emphatic Avarning against this mode of treatment. It is impossible to conceive of any worse mistake when explaining a lesson than to spend time in preaching patriotism or any other noble quality.* * Excellent are the words on this point of the above-men - tioned method for the Jesuit schools : " Doctrinas morales e re natas immisceat professor, non multas tamen. . . . Reflexiones hse ad moralia brevissimse sint, ne concio prodeat loco historiae." INTERMEDIATE STAGE 49 The beauty of great and lofty historical events, such as the attitude of the Roman senate after the Battle of Cannae, consists in the fact that they give their own lesson. Herodotus says nothing further on Ephialtes, except that ' He was the man whom I write down as guilty ' (aWa tovtov oXtlov ypdcpco) and nothing more of Leonidas than dvrjp apiaro? ryevo/xevos. Similarly Tschudi, in his Chronicon Helveticum, says of Arnold von Winckelried : ' There was a man of Unterwalden by name Arnold von Winckelried, an honourable knight ; he sprang forth from the ranks, and embraced with his arms a number of the hostile spears ; thus he sacrificed his life.' This is the ideal narrative style, especially in historical narrative for Third-Form boys. No special stress, in the old style, should be laid upon the astonishing heroism of men like Regulus or the prisoners of Pyrrhus, who were released upon parole, kept their word, and returned to captivity. At the same time we should wish to mention one further rule upon this subject. The teacher should relate history as a man — not as a schoolmaster — as the patriot which it is to be hoped he is, and as consequently able to appreciate the deep patriotism of such a man as Aristides or Demosthenes ; he need not suppress his enthusiasm if it breaks from him involuntarily upon the relation of some bold deed, but he should not attempt to lash himself to enthusiasm, for this is precisely the way not to find it. Another point may be remembered. It is a matter of experience that pupils at this age prefer 4 50 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY history lessons to any other, perhaps together with the German lesson. This frame of mind which meets the teacher half-way is a capital on which admirable interest can be secured, and its value need not be enhanced by any artificial methods. This special characteristic of the history lesson, its popularity with the boys, a popularity which is unshaken and should remain so in the case of the Third Form, necessitates a further fact ; that home- work should be given very sparingly. There should be a little, a very little, but something should always and regularly be given, otherwise the boy will incline to despise the subject. The Form should simply be told to read over in their text- book, for the next time, the ground that has been covered in any one day. At this stage it will be understood that no other preparation is possible for the history lesson except this repetition of what has been already done. These facts lead us to the third factor in historical instruction — revision. Home-lessons obviously con- sist of revision directly from the text-book ; in the Third Form there is no taking of notes, and on this subject we need not dwell, though dictation has formerly played a part even at this stage. Revision itself is of two kinds. First there is the repetition of what has been gone through in lesson A, which occupies the first fifteen or twenty minutes of lesson B ; this is performed by one or two boys who are called upon to repeat the lesson successively, or by the usual mode of question and answer addressed INTERMEDIATE STAGE 51 to any number of boys ; either method can be adopted acording to the nature of the lesson under treatment. The first Persian War, for instance, can be repeated in sections of moderate length, this being a task within the compass of any average Third-Form boy. Such repetition, however, of the circumstances which led to the legislation of Tiberius Gracchus would scarcely be within the compass of an Upper-Fifth pupil ; hence, in this case, the master must ask questions upon the most important points, and secure a repetition by means of his questions in the following way : "We have spoken of a journey taken by Tiberius about the year 134 B.C. through certain districts of Italy ; what special facts did he notice ? what conclusions did he draw from them ? what earlier law dealt with the distribution of land to plebeians who had none ? by whom were the legislative proposals of Tiberius opposed, and for what reason V etc. The second mode of revision consists in the repetition of a longer period than has been already gone through by the methods explained ; instances will be from 500 to 431 b.c. in Greek history, and from 264 to 133 b.c. in Roman history. This repetition takes place at the conclusion of each period in the text- book, so that a pupil who works intelligently and looks before him can prepare for this coming revision of the whole period. It is probable, discounting the differences between lessons and teachers, that a considerable number make use of this method. 4—2 52 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY At this point we must consider the second im- portant object of historical teaching — the power of making some elementary use of the matter that has been learnt. By this I mean the capacity to repro- duce acquired information in another connexion than that in which it was originally explained; for instance, a master (in the higher stages), when the pupil has finished the historical course, may ask questions upon the history of Sicily or Spain, or upon any other general fact of importance (of this method we shall speak later), and arrange his questions from this point of view. This is a problem which naturally occurs at every successive stage of instruction. In Prussia and elsewhere a very simple means has been found of discovering bow far this problem has been solved, and the object of the pupils attained, the means being the oral history examination in the school-leaving certificate. This method is now a thing of the past ; here, as everywhere, reform has thrown the handle after the helve, and the practice has been abolished together with its misuse. The problem, however, remains, and this method must be begun even in the Third Form. Use and application of the material learnt must then be made, because such method forms an essential element in every reasonable scheme of historical teaching. As the method is possible it should certainly be practised ; in the First and Second Forms it is impossible, and for that reason historical teaching in the proper sense of the term is equally an impossibility in those forms. Revision INTERMEDIATE STAGE 53 of this kind, however, is a severe test of the teacher's capacity. The task, as such, is sufficiently simple. For instance, the period of Roman history between 264 and 146 B.C. may be repeated as a biography of Hannibal or of the elder Scipio. These biographies can be built up by question and answer from the material which the Third-Form boy has garnered through the previous ten or twelve lessons extending over a month or six weeks ; by learning some twenty-six dates he has secured a chronological grasp of this period immediately before the revision of it, which revision, be it observed, should not, and does not, require much more than an hour's time even by the method proposed. It is obviously at this point that the biographical thread of con- nexion can be made highly useful ; it is, moreover, the natural method to extract the biographies of important men from the national history, as against the reverse method which subordinates a national history to the biographies of its leading men ; no one is acquainted with a town if he has merely observed the statues of its greatest citizens. There are, however, many other obvious lines of procedure ; for instance, towards the close of the course a con- nected history may be demanded of some special district of Upper Italy, Sicily, Spain, Bceotia, or Messenia. It may also be added that from this point of view the historical instruction provides a fertile source of material for elementary German com- position, which begins at this stage, as does all connected work. An average Third-Form boy is well 54 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY able to cope with such a task as the production of a short history of the district of Messenia, for which purpose he may be given numbered references to his text-book ; a similar subject is the town of Thebes, founded by Cadmus, according to legend, and destroyed by Alexander the Great. It must, however, be observed that we are not here proposing one of the so-called minor elaborations of the Prussian syllabus, the arrangement of which has again pushed a good idea into extravagance ; nor, again, are we proposing any additional object for the pursuit of the history teacher ; we suggest nothing more than a subject for an essay. It is not our object to add to historical teaching, as such, any additional tasks or extensions, but quietly to proceed along the straightforward path which we have indicated. The path, however, must be traversed to its end. This is a duty as important as it is difficult to fulfil, because it is to some extent dependent upon adventi- tious circumstances ; nevertheless, the appointed period must be fully covered and thoroughly ex- hausted. University professors, as every one knows, are, as a whole, but little troubled by this require- ment ; any general criticism on this account will be unjustifiable in their case, and if the instruction they find time to give bears good fruit the shortness of the period covered does not matter ; secondary school- masters, however, are under different laws, and cannot allow themselves such licence in this matter. The history teacher must, therefore, from time to INTERMEDIATE STAGE 55 time, consider the speed of his progress throughout the given course and must not delay, that he may not have to hurry towards the conclusion. While omitting nothing in the text-book, there is much that he can treat summarily, so that he can eventually reach the actual conclusion of the text-book, and leave upon the pupil's mind the impression of a task accomplished, a result by no means indifferent to any who regard instruction as a truly educative process. At every stage, and not merely when teaching a Third Form, this duty must be seriously considered, if only for the simple reason that it is difficult to perform. The inexperienced teacher is easily left behind from ignorance of the technical methods advisable in this case ; the more experienced teacher can make the same mistake for another reason ; the richer his knowledge of the subject or of special departments of it, the more will he have to tell his pupils of interest, and it is hard to renounce these opportunities. In many discussions upon historical teaching one would think that theorists had forgotten that the day on our planet contains but twenty-four hours, and the year but three hundred and sixty- five days — a large number of which, moreover, are Sundays and holidays. The difference between the classical and the modern school is of comparatively minor importance for this elementary and early instruction in ancient history. The pupils of the modern school will appreciate the world of ancient history less readily than the Third-Form boy in the classical school, 56 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY who has already breathed some of its atmosphere. Nor is it necessary or possible that the sympathy of the modern school should be stronger than it is. Its pupils will not continue the study of history for itself, but only require to gain that general know- ledge of the subject which is advisable and necessary for anyone who wishes to converse with educated men, both for the merchant and for all members of the specially industrial classes. Ancient history need not be presented to these pupils in any different form from that in which the classical pupils have learnt it. The great struggles of the Oriental empire and the Greek City States in the Persian wars, the heroic struggle of the great nation with the great man in the wars with Hannibal, are no less interest- ing or significant to the Fourth-Form boy in the modern school than in the classical school ; it was in every respect wise for the new Prussian syllabus to make the historical range for these different schools practically coincident. A historian, how- ever, of university training, whose business it is to give this instruction in a modern school, will find a special attraction in introducing the events, the conditions, and the personalities of Greek and Roman history to boys who will never be impressed by that immediate contact with these peoples which alone can be gained by a knowledge of their languages. Hence this instruction requires no special art, but merely careful observation of the ideas which the teacher proposes to present to his pupils. INTERMEDIATE STAGE 57 Fourth Form. The periods assigned to this stage of instruction are by no means identical throughout Germany ; for instance, the Saxon syllabus of 1893 assigns to the Lower Fourth the outlines of German history from 1 648 to 1 87 1 , and to the Upper Fourth the first portion of ancient history and Greek history to the death of Alexander the Great. The Prussian syllabus of 1901 prescribes German history to 1740 for a course of two years, and this we propose to make the basis of our present discussion ; it is not only the most recent decision, but has been made after deep consideration of every problem involved. As our task is primarily practical, we do not propose to utter any criticism of the syllabuses in force in the different German states or elsewhere ; in any case, the essential part of our observations will apply, correctly or in- correctly, to the several Forms of the school, what- ever the period of history assigned for study. First and foremost the teacher must gain a clear idea of the general character of the Form with which he has to deal. Fourth Forms are composed of boys between twelve and fifteen years, and occasion- ally include backward members of some sixteen or seventeen years of age ; this is the precocious, critical, and argumentative age at which, to mention but one symptom, argument with the teacher often occurs though it is hardly to be taken seriously. This much is certain, that at this age strong authority and discipline is imperatively necessary as a counter- 58 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY poise. The Form must respect, not only the master or the head master, of the school, but more than these — the moral force which support and dominate these personalities, as they do the pupils. Among these influences the sense of nationalism or patriotism, with possibly some small admixture of what is now known as Chauvinism, is a most effective influence, and is in many respects more strongly operative at this age than the influence of religious instruction and religious practices. Teaching, as a whole, must be strongly stimulative, and from every point of view must be directed to the task of crushing or counter-balancing the distraction, dilettanteism, and obstinacy which are characteristic of this age. Here — and unfortunately this is not the only place — the Prussian syllabus of 1892 seems wholly retrograde, and the last syllabus of 1901 has not entirely repaired these defects. The old Prussian syllabus of 1856, as far as it concerned the Fourth Forms in secondary schools and in deciding the two years' course for these Forms, was admirable, and I have no hesitation in declaring it the best and most effective piece of educational organization with which I have met during the sixty years of my experience as teacher or learner. In this syllabus everything was admirably co-ordinated ; there was a strict basis of Latin, ten lessons with the reading of Csesar, to which the schoolboy of those days came so well prepared that he could translate at sight with but little help ; there was also an adequate INTERMEDIATE STAGE 59 amount of Greek with the reading of the Anabasis. Round this centre the outworks of German history and German geography were arranged in a manner complementary and mutually supporting. The pupil gained increased knowledge of the history of his own people ; the origin of it was discovered at the source when he met the vigorous figure of Ariovistus in the first book of the Bellum Gallicum ; the German literature taught him so much of our great poets and authors as to enable him to see something of the great mountain-tops by advancing to their feet. The New Testament provided religious authority, easily brought into connexion with a sense of patriotism, and in any case favourable to a deeper ethical conception of history. This syllabus formed a central portion of the path through the secondary school, where abundant and simple nourishment, but nourishment by no means monotonous, is most necessary. Best of all, these studies might be made fruitful without any sublimated educational theory ; nothing more was required than such moderate insight and devotion to duty as is rarely lacking in our profession. This organization, in our opinion, produced excellent results in the generations of 1864, 1866, ] 870, and later ; it was based upon the principle that one subject should be learnt thoroughly, and acquaintance be made with many ; we refer to the serious and thorough linguistic training gained by the study of the two languages, Latin and Greek, which are especially suited for the acquisition of (10 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY such training. The basis of this organization has, however, been so reduced that we can no longer guarantee its success. The regulation which begins Greek at a later age is not entirely objectionable ; but to Latin the time given has been reduced to seven hours instead of the former ten, from the very outset in the First Form, and also in the Third and Fourth. We have attempted to discover some reason- able argument for this change without any success whatever. In the syllabus of 1001 an hour has been added in either case, the number now standing at eight instead of seven ; hence the existing syllabus in the present secondary schools is considerably worse than it was before ; the previous ideals have been retained, but the means of reaching them have been unduly reduced. The results will be inevitable, and in our special subject — the teaching of history in this Form — a further result has become apparent on one side : the Lower Fifth has been given a period of German history instead of a period of ancient history. Hence in Prussian middle schools three instead of two hours are now devoted to German history, upon which question we shall speak further when we discuss the Lower Fifth. We have now to ask what historical influence is exerted upon the Fourth Form by the other subjects there studied ; natural science and mathematics may be left out of account. Turning first to the classical school, a highly important extension of the historical horizon takes place at this point for the reason that the Lower INTERMEDIATE STAGE 61 Fourth begins the study of Greek, which exerts an influence even from the learning of the alphabet. This task is in itself a revelation to any untutored mind. The connexion of our script with the Greek is plain even to a boy of twelve years old, and if he is told whence the Greeks gained their alphabet, his attention is directed to the great civilized connexion which unites humanity, and a further impulse is given to that recognition of humanity as a whole which is gradually to become a living truth for the pupil. The first Greek words which he learns will forthwith display an identity with German and Latin, which must lead to the idea of a near or immediate relationship between the three nations ; in short, a new source of historical informa- tion is opened to him even before he begins the reading of connected texts. In the Upper Fourth this reading is confined to an historical source of first-rate value — the Anabasis of Xenophon. It is obvious that this latter advantage — to our thinking, very considerable — will be diminished by the reduction of the lessons from seven to six in the existing Prussian syllabus. We are delighted to observe that this dangerous precedent has not been followed by the Saxon syllabus of 1893, which seems to us to point in this and other cases to the more correct method, and to be less disturbed by educational heterodoxy. In this syllabus the seven hours for the Fourth and Fifth Forms are retained. In their first year the Lower-Fourth pupils have advanced so far in Latin that they can read Ca?sar's 62 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY Bettum Gallicum : in Prussia, however, the master is obliged to give somewhat more help than would be, under other circumstances, advisable. It would be superfluous to speak at greater length of the importance of this author to historical teaching, and to the historical education of the pupils, not- withstanding the fact that many people and many teachers seem to confine the word history to that side of historical instruction which concerns the memory alone. History to them implies the tables or summaries, or the amount of so-called positive knowledge contained in histories of the world in twelve, eighteen, or twenty volumes ; they consider that this is the kind of positive knowledge that we wish to draw from the reading of Latin and Greek texts. Our view, however, is very different. To understand the past in any degree implies the capacity of realizing it as a present ; we insist that any one incapable of this effort is equally incapable of relating the history of any one period or nation ; hence, as regards our share in secondary education, we may also say that pupils learn real history only so far as they develop this capacity of using their imaginative powers and realizing the past as present. We have already seen that in the elementary stages this process of realization is confined to simple language and short sentences ; as the knowledge of the foreign language improves, the power of realiza- tion increases, and can or should be powerfully operative during the reading of Caesar's Bella in Gallicum, provided that the master has a moderate INTERMEDIATE STAGE 63 knowledge of his business. Caesar's book is an his- torical source of first-rate importance, by which we mean that the writer relates his own experiences, reproduces the past as present in action ; this task, again, is performed by a man of high intellect, who was himself the author and overseer of the events which he narrates. It is thus obvious that when the pupil prepares, translates, or revises this book, when he reads this author thoughtfully, he experiences the contents of the book so far as it is possible in any way to experience the past. Only thus will historical events become living realities to the pupil. Take, for instance, chapters xxxi. to liv. of the first book, the history of the first or second great conflict between the Roman and the Teutonic world, between Caesar and Ariovistus ; however wooden the teaching or however stupid the pupil, some realization of the important historical position must be secured ; the pupil cannot fail to realize the special position of Gaul, a civilization comparatively advanced and menaced by two more powerful but less civilized nationalities, a country, moreover, by no means united ; then comes the personality of an interesting barbarian chief : the scene (Book I., chapter xxxii.) played before Ca?sar by those genuine Gauls and genuine French- men, the Sequani ; the origin of the first conflict between the Roman and Teutonic nationalities, two powers incarnated in two pre-eminent figures — those of Caesar and Ariovistus — holds the imagina- tion of a boy of fourteen years ; then follow the 64 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY negotiations between these leaders, the panic of an excellent army caused by the vague fears which even the boldest spirits feel before an unknown foe of infinite ferocity ; the moral influence of one great man over an army is seen, and something is learnt of the army until we reach the intensely interesting meeting of the two leaders, at which point a competent teacher will not hesitate to show how the chapter is one of the most precious passages in Roman literature for German readers, because it is the first long and serious speech of a famous Teuton, who is, so to speak, a German, bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh, while that speech is here reported with full reliability. Pages might be filled 'with explanations of the historical principles contained within these chapters, and available even for the intellect of boyhood. The pupil reads the lives of men and nations, and while reading is not merely a listener, but can appropriate views, con- ceptions, and real knowledge by slowly grasping these views as represented in words, and piercing through the veil of words to the reality beneath. These influences cannot be measured or precisely determined, but they are immediate, and certainly belong to the sphere of historical instruction ; hence the young teacher must understand that here he has an opportunity with little trouble, and without calling into play the famous six interests, to produce an extraordinary result by simple attention to business. These results are not likely to be recog- nized by the newspaper, by the public, or even by INTERMEDIATE STAGE 65 educational authorities, let alone the daily press or the party continually tinkering with reform ; but, none the less, they stand written in the Book of Life. Of the rest of the further Latin instruction given at this stage, and in particular of translation from German into Latin, we shall say nothing, and shall touch the matter with great brevity even when we deal with the Sixth Form. The leaders of modern educational tendencies in Germany, whose words seem almost to bear an official character, are appar- ently unable to appreciate the intimate connexion between the reading of Latin texts and the attempt to think in the language of these texts when such thinking is not mere retranslation or paraphrase. It does not seem to be understood that the full benefit of Latin study, and therefore the historical benefit, can only be secured when both modes of transla- tion are practised so that the one supplements and completes the other. The greater part of what we have said is equally true of Greek ; the reading of the first book of Xenophon's Anabasis begins, at any rate, during the second half-year in the Upper Fourth. This book provides a highly effective and educational counter- part and counterpoise to the reading of Caesar ; the resulting advantages are naturally doubled if the study of the Greek text is treated, like that of the Latin, with full reference to the matter as well as to the language. Here it must be observed that the simultaneous study of the two classical languages, when the intellect and the power of concentration 5 66 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY have so developed as to undertake this task, produces an advantage which cannot be expressed by a simple sum in addition. Moreover, it is high time to appreciate the fact that Greek and Roman authors are now read in our schools from a historical point of view, and that they therefore mean a great deal more to us than they did to our predecessors of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The method of treatment which regards the Bellum Gallicum or the Anabasis as original sources, and as documents interesting for their actuality, is by no means as yet universally employed ; classical scholars pure and simple still show some objection to the method, in fear, I suppose, that grammatical accuracy may suffer from it. Provided that modern barbarism does not succeed in totally abolishing Greek, it will be recognized by degrees that grammatical accuracy is in no way benefited merely because it is allowed to overshadow historical content ; the two sides react upon and illuminate one another, and it costs no more time to read these texts as monuments of national history than was formerly expended in reading them for their grammar and their style. It may also be pointed out that such treatment of texts is best calculated to emphasize a very essential part of historical life — namely, the coexistence and interaction of great and small, of lofty and trivial events. Much can be done, for instance, for a Fourth-Form boy's historical knowledge and his- torical outlook in such a case as the first book of the Anabasis, chapter vii., section 3. Cyrus, the INTERMEDIATE STAGE G7 far-sighted barbarian prince and the chief figure of the narrative, is there represented as reminding the Strategi and Lochagi of his mercenary regiment, of their Greek Eleutheria ; this was a privilege, as he clearly explains, from which he was excluded, and which none the less made these Greek mercenaries superior in power to ten times their number of bar- barians. Here we have that same influence of liberty which is hereafter to fortify also the present Fourth-Form boy ; at the same time the value of this reading is highly stimulating to the historical knowledge of even very simple and elementary facts, such as the daily life of an army on march. Here the master is able in every case to arouse a technical interest in a very simple way which directly furthers linguistic interest ; he may, for instance, ask the form to collect the military and strategical terms with which they meet as they read the first book of the Anabasis, and the same process is naturally possible in the reading of Caesar. No modern language can supply any similar means of stimulating the historical sense, and certainly not French, which is not studied for this purpose. In the modern schools the more numerous hours devoted to French and its connexion with English make it possible to do something for the extension of the historical outlook upon the lines by which Latin and Greek influence the pupils of the classical schools ; the effect, however, is not great, nor does the modern school aim directly at this object. Text-books in this language are concerned, as they 5—2 68 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY should be, with modern or, at most, with medieval life. At this stage we shall expect to find but scanty classical references in the French reading- book. Greek and Roman history in a French dress, even when handled not merely by Rollin or Chateau- briand, but also by Michelet and Guizot, appear somewhat alien to the pupil of the classical school, and in many cases produce a kind of unjustifiable repugnance to French. The difference between the French and German spirit is strongly present to the pupil's consciousness at this stage, and the French master is here confronted by the additional obstacle of a certain Chauvinism, when he emphasizes the fine points of the French language and the French spirit. Further progress in French certainly fosters the historical sense, though not immediately, by extending the point of outlook, by inducing com- parison with a foreign nationalism, and by opposing modernity to antiquity. The educational value of French is not to be under-estimated when properly taught, but the study is certainly intended for some- thing better than to enable the pupils to converse about a journey from Berlin to Potsdam, or from Mayence to Cologne, or upon the bill of fare in a restaurant. Of special importance in the Upper and Lower Fourth, for the stimulus of the historical sense, is the study of German ; we refer particularly to the German reading-book, which eventually extends to the reading of dramatic pieces, the dramas of Uhland, the pieces of Herzog Ernst, Korner's INTERMEDIATE STAGE 69 Zriny, Kleist's Prinz von Homburg, and also Goethe's Gbtz von BerlicJiingen, the hard realism of which seems almost to have been intended for the benefit of this stage (the Upper Fourth), and Schiller's Tell, though this latter seems hardly suitable as yet. We cannot agree with the usual phrase that German ought to form the central point of the whole educa- tional course ; we might as well say that the air we breathe forms the central point of our life. German is therefore much more than the central point ; at present, however, we are speaking of systematic lessons, and especially of the reading lessons. The reading-book leads the boy deep into the life of our nation, and this seems to be the proper stage to begin the old Scandinavian or medieval German legendary poetry ; anything, in fact, may be used which is a special product of the imagination, even " Reinecke Fuchs " (Reynard the Fox) or " Eulenspiegel " (Owl Glass). By reading the modern extracts the pupil learns something of the lives of their authors, and gains a nearer acquaintance with the great literary revival subse- quent to 1748 and with its leading figures, Goethe and Schiller. The original Prussian syllabus for these Forms, that antecedent to 1882, 1892, and 1901 was a masterpiece, and it has remained compara- tively unimpaired in this respect ; we mean that German history receives adequate attention in this Form, and should react upon the study of the German language and literature, an interaction which is not only advisable upon educational grounds, but is 70 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY almost automatically and naturally provided, though cases do arise when the German and the history lessons are in the hands of different masters. The German lesson, more than any other, depends upon the master's individuality, his inclinations, his studies, and the range of his reading. It is obvious that his teaching may be good or bad by methods wholly different in either case ; we would not be mis- understood to assert that a teacher who is inclined to praise the historical point of view should be forced to make a direct connexion between German literature and German history ; for instance, if he reads Charles the Great in a history lesson, he need not necessarily proceed to read with his Form every legend and poem in the reading-book which may refer to this hero. We entirely reject the view that these so-called historical poems should be imme- diately and systematically incorporated in the history lessons ; this is anything but the co-ordination of teaching, and tends rather to distract than to concentrate the attention ; nor is it in any way necessary. We consider that the German literature lessons do much to further the historical sense by introducing the pupils to fresh views of human life conceived from different points of view r ; these lessons introduce the pupils to German legends, to the best German prose, to the noblest of German poetry, and thus provide him with some idea of our national importance in the development of humanity. The connecting-links are made automatically by instruction in German history, and a sense of INTERMEDIATE STAGE 71 nationalism is thereby stimulated. Neither in literary nor in history lessons do we require any party -pleading ; the master should be himself so patriotic, and inspired by so true a love of his country, as to be unconscious of the fact ; in that case the pupils will be most likely to catch something of his spirit, and a stage will possibly be reached when it is not necessary to accompany every word with the adjective "national." Religious instruction exerts an influence upon the fundamental historical conceptions very analogous to that of the literature lessons. The connexion between divinity and history as subjects of teaching has been already indicated in discussing the earlier stages ; for the Upper and Lower Fourth we should prefer to confine ourselves to the reading of the New Testament, in opposition to the Prussian syllabuses of 1892, and 1901 and to some others which do not seem to consider sufficiently the psychological conditions which govern the work of the different Forms. At this stage we should take as our texts the New Testament and some of the Psalms, or use a suitable series of extracts from the Bible, like the so-called school Bible of Bremen. The first year would be devoted to the life of Jesus as given in the synoptic Gospels, and the second year to the growth of the Christian community — that is, of the apostolic age. The conditions are the same as those which apply to the First and Second Forms ; in proportion as the instruction satisfies religious interests and requirements, so will it improve the 72 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY historical sense of the pupil, and enable him to take a deeper and more serious view of human life as a whole ; in proportion as the master emphasizes the historical, actual, and vivid side of his divinity lessons, so will he stimulate the development of the religious sense. The conception of humanity as a whole is a religious idea, as we have said, a belief that necessarily presupposes the existence of God. This belief must be reality to anyone who washes to learn how to study history, and during the two years that are spent in the Fourth Form much can be done toward the attainment of this object. We now turn from side influences to the main stream — to historical instruction as such. Here we have to consider history and geography in connexion. Such is the method of the Prussian syllabus, an example generally followed elsewhere, at any rate as regards the general scheme of studies printed at the beginning of the syllabuses. It must be said that the Prussian syllabus carefully avoids the usual line of connexion in this general scheme in order to spare the feelings of geographers, so that geography retains an apparent independence. The fact is undoubted that if German history is appointed for the Fourth Form, and the geography of Europe apart from Germany for the Third Form, then the only possible geography for the Fourth is that of Germany. We do not quite understand the regulations of the Prussian syllabus of 1892 with reference to what is known as physical geography. This syllabus pro- vided for the Lower Fourth " revision of the political INTERMEDIATE STAGE 73 geography of German y," and for the Upper Fourth " revision of the physical geography of Germany ; " here there seems to be a mistake or a misprint. It is obvious that the reverse order is the more natural ; political geography can be the more advantageously revised the better the pupil knows the history of a country, and should, for similar reasons, be preceded by the physical geography of a country. This, there- fore, must be assigned to the Lower Fourth. Of " revision " there will not be much, for, as we have observed, comparatively little is learnt and less retained in the Second Form ; hence the study must be begun practically from the outset. The Prussian syllabus also added : for the Lower Fourth the physical and political geography of the non- European continents, with the exception of the German colonies ; for the Upper Fourth the physical geography of the German colonies. Thus the main subject of study is that of the continents and German colonies outside of Europe. This latter point, the study of the colonies, may be accomplished by a Fourth-Form boy in two or three lessons, and we are therefore unable to understand why it should be made the main subject for the Upper Fourth and put down as an appendix to the physical geography of Germany. The whole regulation is unintelligible, and must be altered if confusion is to be avoided ; we are fully convinced that these alterations will be automatic, and that the physical and political geography of the German Empire will be the subject for the two years' course of the Fourth Form. This 74 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY subject will necessarily imply a discussion of the German colonies, which is not likely to be of much value without a revision of the physical and political geography of the non-European continents, with which the pupil first became acquainted in the First and Second Forms. The syllabus of 1901 has thus materially modified these regulations. The subject for the Lower Fourth there appears as " geography of the non-European continents — the German colonies," while the subject for the Upper Fourth is " revision and completion of the geography of the German Empire." We prefer to reverse this order, and to give the geograplry of the German Empire eighteen months of the two years at our disposal, leaving the geography of the other continents for the last six months in the Upper Fourth. It is un- necessary to point out how closely history and geography are connected at this stage, but the con- nexion can be made too close. The best theoretical arrangement, and one that has been introduced by competent teachers, would be the following : First Year. — Introduction (for the whole of the three lessons) ; physical geography of Germany and German history until 164S (also for the three lessons). Second Year. — Introductory ; history of Branden- burg-Prussia until 1648 ; German history to 1871, concluding with the political geography of Germany (throughout the three lessons a week). This would be our arrangement if we were dealing with the study of our own country with four hours INTERMEDIATE STAGE 75 a week at our disposal in a university course ; but it is not an arrangement to be recommended for schools. Here we have to distinguish an arrange- ment based upon three lessons a week, or two lessons out of four in modern schools, as two lessons are there devoted to continuous and connected geo- graphical instruction ; generally speaking, in our arrangement the Lower Fourth will deal with physical and the Upper Fourth with political geography. For pure historical teaching two lessons a week then remain throughout the two years. Before the year 1892 these two years were arranged as follows in Prussia : The Lower Fourth studied medieval history from about a.d. 476 to 1517, and modern history from 1 517 to 1648 ; the Upper Fourth studied the outlines of the history of Brandenburg- Prussia until the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, and then the history of the last two hundred and fifty years in greater detail. Where this arrangement is in force, and German history is confined to a two years' course in the middle stages, medieval history must be greatly condensed. We would, however, expressly insist that the history of Brandenburg- Prussia until 1648 should be treated in Saxon, Bavarian, and Wurtemberg schools precisely as it is in Prussian schools ; it may be added that this view was unanimously approved at the Berlin con- ference of 1873. The syllabus of 1S92, however, in Prussia abolished ancient history for the Lower Fifth, and devoted this year to German history, so that by the syllabus of 1901 the arrangement is as follows : 70 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY First Year (Lower Fourth). — German history to 1517 (medieval). Second Year (Upper Fourth). —From 1517 to 1740. Third Year (Lower Fifth).— From 1740 to 1871 (or 1888). We shall make this arrangement our basis, but our remarks will apply particularly to the Lower Fifth. It is an arrangement which enables us to work through a comparatively detailed account of early and medieval German history with the Lower Fourth. At the same time the teacher must make his arrangements beforehand, and decide which portions he will treat in full detail, and in which he will confine himself to the most essential facts. Here, again, we have to distinguish between the parts played by the text-book, by the teacher's lecture, and by revision. As regards the text-book, our previous remarks are again applicable. It must be in simple language, and deal with actual facts in a business-like manner ; at the same time it must not be dry, and least of all wearisome. Very many of our text-books strike an unfortunate middle course between the chronicle and the reading-book style of narrative, which is diversified by occasional lapses into patriotic or moral reflections ; their sole object is to subserve the task of revision and of imprinting facts upon the memory ; the text-book should help the student during the lesson, and should be gradually worked through at home in constant connexion with Form INTERMEDIATE STAGE 77 teaching. Above all things it must give accurate dates and plenty of them. At this stage it is of high importance, and is, in our experience, a task constantly neglected, to stimulate the chronological sense, and to induce the habit of regarding dates as something more than mere figures. For this purpose the text-book must provide all material, and at this stage, again, chronological tables in addition to the text-book are to be rejected. Superfluous also is a historical school atlas, though good and cheap books of the kind are to be had (for instance, Putzger). In any case we do not regard such atlases as particularly useful during secondary school instruction. For the first year in the Fourth all that is required is a good wall-map of Europe ; a physical map marking the most important names is quite adequate. The pupil requires nothing more for the illustration of the master's narrative com- mentary. Meanwhile the question arises whether at this stage the pupil could or should learn to use his imagination for translating the map of modern Germany, which he has in his school atlas, into the map of Germany as it was in 1815 or in 1740 ; it must be observed, and is constantly forgotten, that he does not yet possess this power, which ought to be acquired by degrees. We have every respect for the objective method, but it is possible to have too much of a good thing, and on this subject we shall speak further. The use of the text-book will not differ materially from that which obtains with the Third Form. A section of the text-book will be read aloud 78 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY at this stage by one pupil alone ; one such reading will be sufficient. The master then goes through the narrative with all the stimulating detail that his dexterity and knowledge of the subject will allow him to introduce. The section or sections that have been thus worked through in form will then be read by the pupil at home. He will learn the facts so that he can repeat them when questioned by the master in the following lesson. At this stage the use of note-books is not advisable. The text-book for the Fourth Form will naturally be somewhat more elaborate than that for the Third. In the case of the Third-Form book every period is divided into individual and self-contained stories ; in the Fourth' Form the text-book is divided into sections in accord- ance with the facts, for the reason that here the first principles of arrangement begin to dawn upon the pupil. It must also be noticed that at this stage the teacher may handle the text-book with greater freedom ; it is not necessary that every section should be read aloud before he discusses it in detail, though we considered that this method was generally advisable for the Third Form. He may begin with his narrative lecture, and attempt to realize the lofty phrase which would have him present every event and character before the pupil's very eyes ; then the section in the text-book may be read aloud as a summary of what has been said, after winch he may proceed by the same method. It is the master and his commentary which decide the character of a lesson, and not the text-book. The text- INTERMEDIATE STAGE 79 book is not on that account superfluous, and should not be reduced to a secondary position, but at the same time must play its own part and no other. Every possible talent may easily be demanded for the master who gives a historical lecture to the Fourth Form ; this lecture or commentary is, in its own way, even more difficult than university lecturing. One virtue, however, of all others it must have, a virtue that is common to university or any other kind of historical lecturing, and this is a stern respect for truth. The Alpha and Omega of historical teaching is that facts should be explained, not only because they have happened, but also as they have happened. With this Form we are working upon the history of our own nation ; our country is the object of study, and many teachers accordingly think that a pathetic tone is demanded. " Rejoice, German youths, with a thankful heart for thy dear fatherland ! For to thee has been granted what long was the warm and pious wish of thy fathers — the German Empire of unity and yet of inward diversity and of power beyond its frontiers, the abiding-place of peace and moraHty for the peoples of the earth !" Such is the opening sentence of an Historical Text-book and Reading-book from the Age of Charles the Great to the Present Time. Class-room explanation of this kind is indeed magnificent, but we doubt whether it produces much patriotism ; this result is less likely for the reason that " thy fathers " by no means so uni- 80 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY versally cherished this warm desire ; indeed, a con- siderable proportion of them raised the most violent opposition to this course of development. Even if patriotism could be thus inspired we should be sorry to rely upon any so produced. The master who really feels the seriousness of so great a national life as ours will doubtless in his heart be delighted that he can play a modest but important part in this great work. He will emphasize with readiness and preference the fine, the great, and the capable elements of our national history, but he will not venture to be silent upon stories of oppression, duplicity, and barbarity, were they ten times more German than they are. For instance, under the influence of Burschenschaft Teutonism historians delighted to represent our forefathers as the quin- tessence of uprightness and excellence. The state- ment is unpatriotic because it is not true. It is permissible to praise the primitive Teutons, and to grant them all that Tacitus, who idealized them, has said by way of contrast to the vices of a decadent civilization. At the same time even the Fourth-Form boy must be informed that, like other barbarians, they had some of the vices of barbarism. There was the revengeful cruelty of which Tacitus speaks (Annals, i. 61) in describing the discoveries on the battle-field where Varus was defeated ; they had also the same lack of straightforwardness as is related by Velleius Paterculus (ii. 118) in reference to the disaster of Varus : At illi, quod nisi expert us (as he himself was) vix credat, in summa feritate INTERMEDIATE STAGE 81 versutissimi natumque mendacio genus, simulantes ficlas litium series et nunc provocantes alter alterum injuria, nunc agentes gratias, quod ea Romana justitia finiret jeritasque sua novitate incognita; discipline mitesceret et solita armis discerni jure terminarentur , in summam socordiam perduxere Quintilium. This mode of procedure is often represented as highly praiseworthy strategy in the fine colouring of patriotism, even as many text -books have found it possible to assure our youths that Frederick the Great was really a sound Christian. I do not know whether it is quite true that our nation is free from national pride, but I do know that a healthy nation or an intelligent man must be able to endure the truth. One method, and perhaps the most effective, of telling a nation the truth is that instruction in national history which the master gives to youth in Forms under his care. We must now recognize the further advantage that for this Form, the Lower Fourth, we have to deal with the so-called Middle Ages. In this period the figures, the institutions, and the important events have a certain romantic attraction, especially for boyhood, when a capacity for gaining a vivid realization of these times is either wanting or is insufficiently acute. The fact is especially true, for example, of the royal figures of Conrad I., of Otto II. and Otto III., and to some extent of the Hohenstaufen. The picture will be strongly idealized because the details of its past are very alien to ourselves, and transmitted by chroniclers 6 82 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY of very defective capacity. Mature minds are in little better case even after reading the original sources, or a narrative so detailed as the seven volumes of Giesebrecht. In any case it is the per- sonal element that is most easily realized, and this must therefore be made prominent. We refer to the personal and not to the biographical element, and, so far as is permitted by the course of events and by the circumstantial details to be worked into the narrative, we should advise the teacher to rely upon a choice of definite characters, and to make them as realistic as possible by this method. At this stage the master must clearly understand the necessity of abandoning the ordinary uniform method of treat- ment, for the reason that the historical material at his disposal is too extensive. He must clearly and carefully distinguish between the narrative of his- torical fact, which fact will be divided into the clearest possible sections, and the narrative dealing with the manner of the fact ; this will be related upon broader lines with as much characteristic detail as the scanty time allotted permits. Instances of the first division are the whole period until a.d. 476, the early history of Rome and the Teutonic world ; here full narratives can be given of the first conflicts between Varus and Arminius, between Arminius and his brother Flavius (Tacitus, Annals, ii. 9, 10). Later, only special details can be given ; for instance, the character of Attila, as derived from the impressions of eyewitnesses, such as the Greek Priscus at his embassy in 446 ; Theoderich and Chlodovech can be INTERMEDIATE STAGE 83 individualized only to a moderate extent ; the figure of Charles the Great can be depicted more easily and with greater detail. This latter figure can be made the subject of three or four narrative lessons, as warrior, conqueror, restorer of the Imperium JRomanum, and as ruler, as the zealous and self- taught prince who eagerly fostered education, trade, and civilization. Here an opportunity arises for introducing some points with reference to the history of civilization ; something can be done after the style of Guizot in the twentieth lesson of his Histoire de la Civilisation en France, where he deals with Hincmar in order to give the pupil an idea of the conduct of business in the assemblies of Charles the Great, and of the general duties of his Missi. On the other hand, the whole period from 814 to 911, or even to 936, and the reigns of Otto II. and III., cannot be explained continuously ; some leading tendencies and facts with other landmarks of the kind can be given, and a character briefly sketched here and there as occasion arises. The First, and cer- tainly the Third Crusade can be fully detailed, but of the other Crusades only the main outlines can be given. In this case we do not propose any attempt to exhaust the whole of the allotted period. It is obvious that considerable liberty of choice is here left to the master, and that the better he knows his subject, the better he will select points for special treatment ; in this power of independent choice much of his skill and capacity as a historical teacher lies. We need not discuss the point further, 6—2 84 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY and will only refer to some special difficulties which arise in dealing with medieval history in a Lower- Fourth Form. The first difficulty is also one that affects the subject-matter allotted to the succeeding Form, and it is this : notwithstanding the wealth of our his- torical literature and the numerous German histories of every kind and length, we have as yet no suitable book. A book in two or three volumes is required which will provide the master who has to teach this period to the rising generation at once with the substance of what he has to say and an example of the manner in which it should be said. The fact is not surprising. Such a narrative would be far harder to write in this case than in the case of any other nation, with the possible exception of Italian history. We shall not be far wrong in saying that it was only a short time ago, in 1870 and 1871, that the most important preliminary work for the writing of such a book was performed ; other learned preliminary monographs are still in progress, and prove, as in the case of true historical investigators, that religious or party prejudices form no obstacle to the com- position of a truly national narrative. A case in point is the excellent work of Moritz Ritter, which deals with a period exceedingly difficult to handle for secondary schools (1555-1648).* There is thus here a great deficiency to be made good, and mean- * Deutsche Geschichte, 1555-1648, vol. i., Stuttgart, 1889; vol. ii., 1895. The first half of vol. iii. (to 1625) appeared in 1901. The remaining half is expected shortly. INTERMEDIATE STAGE 85 while the teacher must use such helps as he can find ; these, at any rate where he is a beginner, will show him the amount and extent of the detail to be employed, and this is no small service. If he be entrusted with a section of historical teaching for any length of time, he will be obliged by degrees to read a number of special histories, and also to take from the school library, at first for his own instruction, the German translations of the original authorities for the Middle Ages. A second difficulty is the fact that ecclesiastical and dogmatic considerations, of which the Fourth- Form boy knows very little, play so important a part in medieval history. The pupil does not as yet understand the fierce animosity that arose on dogmatic points upon the coexistence of the two natures in Christ, upon the procession of the Holy Ghost in 6/jloiov0(B2594s4)476 3 1205 00030 2370 /H^ AA 001063188 5