The Study of History in Schools Report of the Committee -of Seven ia THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES The Study of History in Schools The Study of History in Schools REPORT TO THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION BY The Committee of Seven ANDREW C. MCLAUGHLIN, Chairman HERBERT B. ADAMS CHARLES H. HASKINS GEORGE L. FOX LUCY M. SALMON ALBERT BUSHNELL HART H. MORSE STEPHENS fforft THE MACMILLAN COMPANY LONDON : MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD. 1915 All rights reserved COFYRIGHT, 1899, BY THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. Set up and electrotyped June, 1899. Reprinted January, I9< I November, 1901 ; March, 1903; July. 1904 ; December 1906; August, 1909; September, igia; September, 1914; I December, 1915. NorfoooB 13rfsa 1. S. Gushing & Co. - Berwick & Smith Norwood Mau. U.S.A. Education Library ~T> 14.1 Preface IN the early winter of 1896 the committee mak- ing the following report was appointed by the American Historical Association to consider the subject of history in the secondary schools and to draw up a scheme of college entrance require- ments in history. Since that time we have held five meetings, each lasting several days; at each of these meetings all the members of the com- mittee have been present, except that Professor Salmon was absent in Europe during the last two. Every question involving doubt has been carefully, thoroughly, and systematically discussed, and in the conclusions here presented all the members concur. Of the seven persons composing the commit- tee only one is a teacher in a secondary school; three others, however, have been secondary-school teachers, while others have been actively interested for years in the general problems under considera- 1267261 vi Preface tion. Although we felt that we had at the beginning some knowledge of the situation, and knew of the difficulties and limitations as well as of the accom- plishments of the schools, it seemed necessary to make a careful study of the whole question and to gather information concerning the conditions and the tendencies of historical instruction. We have endeavored, in the light of the actual facts, to pre- pare a report that may be useful and suggestive to teachers of history and that may furnish to superintendents and principals some assistance in the task of framing programmes and in determin- ing methods of work. We have sought to be helpful rather than merely critical or depreciatory, and have tried to consider the whole field in a broad and general way, remembering that we were making suggestions and recommendations, not for the schools of one section or of one kind, but for the schools of the nation. Contents PAGE Preliminary Work of the Committee i Value of Historical Study 16 Continuity of Historical Study and the Relation of His- tory to Other Subjects 27 Four Years' Course, consisting of Four Blocks or Periods 35 Why no Short Course in General History is recom- mended ........ 44 How the Different Blocks or Periods may be treated . 53 Ancient History 53 Mediaeval and Modern European History . . 59 English History 67 American History 74 Civil Government 81 Methods of Instruction 86 Sources 101 Intensive Study 1 1 1 The Need of Trained Teachers 113 College Entrance Requirements 119 Entrance Examinations 130 viii Contents APPENDIX I FAG* The Present Condition of History in American Second- ary Schools 137 Choice of Subjects 139 Order of Subjects 140 Separate College Course 142 Time given to History 142 Text-books 143 Collateral Reading 144 Written Work 145 Use of Sources 146 Teachers 147 College Requirements 148 Summary ........ 149 Circular 150 Examples of Extended Courses . . . .153 APPENDIX II Study of History below the Secondary Schools . . 158 APPENDIX III History in the German Gymnasia 173 APPENDIX IV History in French Lyce"es 199 Contents ix APPENDIX V PAGE History in English Secondary Schools . . . .210 APPENDIX VI History in Canadian Secondary Schools . . .231 APPENDIX VII Some Books and Articles on the Teaching of History . 239 Books with which Every Teacher of History should be acquainted 240 Other Noteworthy Books on Historical Methods . 242 Ten Useful Articles on Methods of teaching His- tory in Secondary Schools ..... 243 Valuable Works in Foreign Languages . . . 245 Articles on the Teaching of History written from the Point of View of English Schools . . 246 APPENDIX VIII Maps and Atlases 248 Ancient History 249 Mediaeval and Modern History .... 250 English History 254 American History 254 Index . . . . 257 Preliminary Work of the Committee HISTORY as a secondary study now demands seri- ous attention. The report of the National Com- missioner of Education for 1896-97 shows that there were at that time 186,581 pupils in the sec- ondary schools studying history (other than United States history). No statistics have been collected to show the number studying the history and gov- ernment of the United States ; but there is good ground for saying that, if such students were taken into account, the number of history pupils would be found to exceed two hundred thousand, and would perhaps equal if not exceed in number those engaged in the study of any other subject save algebra. According to the statistics of the Bureau of Education, the number of pupils study- ing history (other than United States history) has increased one hundred and fifty-two per cent in the last ten years, a rate of increase below that of only one subject in the curriculum. These simple facts 2 Preliminary Work seem to make it plain that college entrance re- quirements, that are properly based upon the work and tendencies of the secondary schools, should include a liberal amount of history among the prescribed and optional studies. An investigation of the subject of history, as it is studied and taught in the secondary schools, presents many difficulties. Even before the com- mittee began seriously to consider what work was to be done, it became apparent that only a thorough study would be profitable, that general conclusions or recommendations, even on such a question as that of college entrance requirements, could not be made without an examination of the whole field and a consideration of many fundamental princi- ples, or without ascertaining what was now doing in the high schools and academies of the country. Before this work was undertaken, there had not been any systematic attempt of this kind ; nor had there been any prolonged effort by any national association to present the claims of history, or to set before the schoolmen a statement of what might be considered the value of historical study and the place which it should occupy in the school programme. We do not leave out of consideration the work of the Committee of Ten, nor do we underestimate the value or the effect of the able and highly interesting report of the Madison Con- Previous Discussions 3 ference on History, Civil Government, and Eco- nomics ; 1 and we do not lose sight of the fact that historical instruction in the secondary schools had often been discussed in pedagogical conferences and teachers' associations. Before we began our work, it was plain that there was an awakening interest in this whole subject, and the time seemed to be at hand when a systematic effort would meet with response and produce results. But in spite of all that had been done, and in spite of this awakened interest, there was no recognized con- sensus of opinion in the country at large, not one generally accepted judgment, not even one well- known point of agreement, which would serve as a beginning for a consideration of the place of history in the high-school curriculum. Such a statement cannot be made concerning any other subject commonly taught in the secondary schools. The task of the committee was, therefore, to discover the actual situation, to see what was doing and what was the prevailing sentiment, to localize and establish a modicum of practices and prin- ciples, however small and limited it might be ; and, having apprehended what was best and most help- 1 This conference was held in December, 1892 ; its conclusions form a part of the report of the Committee of Ten, published by the Bureau of Education in 1893, an d reprinted by the American Book Company, New York, 1894. 4 Preliminary Work ful in spirit and tendency among teachers of the country, to seek to give that spirit expression in a report that would be helpful and suggestive, and that would be of service in widening the field of agreement and in laying the foundations for a common understanding. In all of our work we have endeavored not only to discover any agreement or common understand- ing that may exist among American teachers, but to keep in mind the fact that local conditions and environments vary exceedingly, that what may be expected of a large and well-equipped school need not be expected of a small one, and that large preparatory schools and academies, some of them intentionally fitting boys for one or two uni- versities, are in a situation quite unlike that in which the great majority of high schools are com- pelled to work. We have sought chiefly to discuss, in an argumentative way, the general sub- ject submitted for consideration, to offer sugges- tions as to methods of historical teaching and as to the place of history on the school programme, being fully aware that, when all is said and done, only so much will be adopted as appeals to the sense and judgment of the secondary teachers and superintendents ; and that any rigid list of require- ments, or any body of peremptory demands, how- ever judiciously framed, not only would, but should, Present Conditions 5 be disregarded in schools whose local conditions make it unwise to accept them. The committee determined that every reason- able means should be used to ascertain the present condition of historical study. Several hundred circulars asking for information were sent out to schools in all parts of the United States, selected not because they were supposed to be exception- ally good or exceptionally bad, or unusually strong in historical work, but because they were recom- mended to the committee by competent authority as typical schools. Circulars were sent to different kinds of schools, to those in small towns as well as to those in large cities, and to private academies as well as to public high schools. About two hun- dred and fifty replies have been received, and the information thus gathered is presented and dis- cussed in Appendix I. to this report. But to seek information through printed inter- rogatories is always somewhat unsatisfactory ; and the committee therefore used other means also. Steps were taken to secure full discussions in the different educational associations of the country, in order that many teachers might become inter- ested in the work of the committee and give need- ful information, and in order that there might be a free interchange of opinion on some of the more important problems that called for solution. Dis- 6 Preliminary Work cussions on some portions of our report have been held by the New England History Teachers' As- sociation, the Association of Colleges and Prepara- tory Schools of the Middle States and Maryland, the Michigan Schoolmasters' Club, the Round Table in History of the National Educational As- sociation, and by other educational bodies, as well as at two meetings of the American Historical Association. Moreover, at various times in the course of the past two years, different members of the committee have personally consulted teachers and talked the subject over with them. These efforts seem to demonstrate that we have not reached conclusions hastily, and that our report is not merely the expression of the theoretical aspira- tions of college professors who are unacquainted with the conditions of the secondary schools. It is in a very proper sense the result of careful ex- amination and systematic inquiry concerning the secondary conditions of the country. It is not necessary to review here in detail the conclusions reached from a study of the circulars received from the schools. It will be seen by an examination of these conclusions, as presented in the Appendix, that in regard to many matters on which we sought information there is little or no agreement. Concerning the amount of history offered, the fields of history studied, the order Information from Teachers 7 in which the different fields are taken up, and the years in which the subject is taught, there is much diversity of practice ; but, on the other hand, we find marked approach to uniformity in one par- ticular ; namely, that good schools in all parts of the United States have adopted substantially simi- lar methods of instruction. It is perfectly plain that the old rote system is going by the board. Practically every school now reports the use of ma- terial outside the text-book, and recognizes that a library is necessary for efficient work ; and nearly all teachers assign topics for investigation by the pupil, or give written recitations, or adopt like means of arousing the pupil's interest and of lead- ing him to think and work in some measure inde- pendently, in order that he may acquire power as well as information. 1 Of course these methods are more extensively developed in some schools than in others ; but the facts point to a common understanding, or at least to the approach toward a common understanding, of what history teaching should be, and to a growing appreciation of what historical study can do. We venture to say that if a school has well-trained teachers, who know why they teach and how to teach, the order of 1 Undoubtedly the report of the Madison Conference had a very beneficial influence in this direction, by calling the attention of the teachers of the country to what ideals of historical instruction are. 8 Preliminary Work historical studies, or the exact method of handling a field of historical inquiry, is comparatively unim- portant; and it is this evidence of a realization that history has a value as a pedagogical subject, indicating as it does a new interest on the part of teachers and directors of schools, and bringing surely in its train a demand for skilful teachers, which should give courage and hope to those who are interested in the successful use of history as a means of discipline and culture. In matters of detail, the conclusions that could be drawn from the replies to the circulars were somewhat meagre, but they were helpful in eria- bling the committee to judge of tendencies and to form a general opinion as to existing conditions. But, as we have already said, we have not con- tented ourselves with this method of ascertaining the situation. By the more personal means adopted we have gained information which cannot readily be tabulated, but which enables us to have some assurance concerning the tendencies of the time, and to feel that in many respects present condi- tions are not satisfactory to the active, progressive teachers of the country. It is often more valu- able to find out how one highly successful teacher attains his end than how twenty unsuccessful teachers do not ; and to discover what practical, experienced teachers, who have given thought to Results from Circulars 9 the subject, think can be done and should be done, than to know the static condition of twenty others who are content with the semi-success or the fail- ure of the present. In the summer of 1897 three members of the com- mittee were studying educational problems in Eu- rope. Miss Salmon spent the summer in Germany and German Switzerland, studying the methods of historical instruction in the secondary schools. The results of her investigations were given in a paper read before the American Historical Asso- ciation in December, 1897. Mr. Raskins has at different times studied the educational system of France ; after a further examination of secondary conditions in 1897, he prepared a report on the subject of history teaching in that country. Mr. Fox has a thorough acquaintance with the English public schools, and has prepared a report on the teaching of history in the secondary schools of England. These articles on the conditions of historical instruction in European countries are given as Appendices to this report. They are not offered as furnishing us models to which we ought to conform, but as investigations in the study of comparative education ; they may, however, give to teachers of this country suggestions on the subject of general pedagogical values, methods of historical instruction, and the arrangement of io Preliminary Work studies. The committee has not supposed that it is possible to import a foreign-made regime to which the American schools can be asked to adapt them- selves. It will be seen that of foreign countries Germany is the one that offers to America the most lessons, of which probably the most important is that sug- gested by the great advantage resulting from hav- ing the subject of history, as well as other subjects, in the hands of thoroughly equipped teachers, who have received instruction in method, and are versed in the art of imparting information with due regard to the pupil's age and degree of mental advance- ment. In the German gymnasia the course of history, from Homeric times to the present day, is covered with great thoroughness and system. To this part of the report on the German schools we wish to call special attention ; for while we do not think that it is profitable for us, even in this particular, to follow the German curriculum exactly, we believe that there should be an effort on the part of those who are organizing programmes to reach toward this ideal, by extending the course of history over a number of years, and by devel- oping it in accordance with the psychological principles which have been adhered to in the prep- aration of the German course of study. It should be noticed too that in German schools, history is German Experience n correlated with other subjects : the teacher of his- tory, where opportunity offers, makes use of the foreign language which the pupils are studying, and the language teacher refers to historical facts ; one subject in the curriculum thus helps to re- enforce another. The methods of the German teacher also deserve careful consideration : inter- est is aroused by skilful oral teaching, in which the teacher adapts his story to the minds and capacities of his hearers, and so holds their atten- tion that concentration of mind and ability to grasp the subject are developed. It must be confessed that Miss Salmon's description of how a teacher in Bale, in the middle of a hot summer day, held the breathless attention of a class of boys for fifty minutes, while he told the story of the dra- matic struggle between Henry IV. and Gregory VII., suggests not only phenomenal methods, but unusual boys; but withal we must attribute the teacher's success to his skill, and to the previous training which the boys had received in the lower grades, where inattention or heedlessness was not tolerated. Doubtless teachers of history in this country can- not follow the example of German teachers in all respects. The German believes that, until the boy reaches the university, he has no judgment to be appealed to, and no great reasoning faculty to be 12 Preliminary Work developed ; that it is his business, until eighteen or nineteen years of age, to absorb, not to argue or discuss. He is not expected to ask questions ; he is expected to do what he is told. Such, however, is not the system for making American citizens, and such is not the atmosphere in which the Amer- ican boy or girl should live. Nor can it be said that under our present conditions the teacher of history should attempt to give instruction to sec- ondary pupils without the help of a text. The system and methods of instruction in the schools of France are interesting, but somewhat less suggestive than those of the German schools. There, as in Germany, history is in the hands of trained teachers, who have a capacity for holding the pupil's attention, arousing interest, and devel- oping a love for historical study, as well as for giv- ing a vast amount of historical information. The course of study is long, thorough, and systemati- cally organized. The conditions of German Switz- erland are essentially similar to those of Germany itself. The situation in England does not offer many valuable lessons to American teachers. The most noticeable features are a lack of historical instruc- tion, a common failure to recognize the value of history, and a certain incoherence and general con- fusion. We cannot here discuss the reasons for France and England 13 these conditions. It is enough to say that the lais- sez faire idea has been carried farther and is more marked in England than in America; for, on the whole, we have an educational system, and each passing year shows an increase in the common stock of principles. And yet one who examines the condition of historical instruction in this coun- try, and compares it with that of France and Germany, feels that Englishmen and Americans are of one blood : the individualistic spirit of the race has found unusual expression in educational practices, and has made against cooperation and harmony, while instinctive aversion to theoretical arrangement has hindered the development of gen- eral principles. A comparison of English con- ditions with those of the continent will be likely to show the value of system and order, and the advantage resulting from the sway of good peda- gogical doctrines. We must endeavor in America to reach a system of our own, and to recognize the force of sound principles, without losing sight of the fact that our local conditions are many, and that we must rely on individual initiative and en- thusiasm, if not on impulse. Nevertheless, in spite of local diversity, and in spite of the fact that a rigid regime seems on the whole impossible if not undesirable, in this country, there are sound gen- eral principles that may be termed absolute rather 14 Preliminary Work than relative ; there is a proper method of unfold- ing the subject, and there are improper methods ; or, to speak more justly, method and system, which recognize the true character of the study and the principles by which it may be adapted to pupils of different ages, are certainly wiser and better than any haphazard method and lack of system can be. While it is impossible to transplant any foreign course of study to our schools, and unwise to imi- tate blindly European methods of instruction, there are at least two lessons that may be learned from foreign schools ; namely, the wisdom of demanding thoroughly trained teachers of history, and that of giving a large place to historical instruction in all courses. In both France and Germany, history is taught by special teachers, whose historical training has been carried to a point well beyond our Ameri- can bachelor's degree, and whose pedagogical abil- ity has been specially tested. In France an hour and a half each week is given to history throughout the ten years of the elementary school and lycte ; in Germany, history is pursued two or three hours weekly in every year of the nine years of the gym- nasium ; and even in Russia the time given to his- tory is much longer than in the average American school. Not merely on these grounds, however, do we ask larger recognition for history ; we hope Lessons from Abroad 15 to present, in the course of this report, substantial reasons for such recognition drawn from the nature of the subject and from its relations to the devel- opment of the American boys and girls ; but we call attention to what is now done in other coun- tries as evidence that our recommendations are not fanciful or revolutionary. Value of Historical Study IT may seem to be unnecessary to consider the value of historical study in itself, or to show how history may be related to other subjects in the school curriculum. As a matter of fact, however, the educational value of every other subject has received more attention than that of history ; in- deed, only within the last few years has there been anything like a thoughtful discussion, by practical teachers, of the worth of history as a dis- ciplinary study. When so much has been said of the necessity of studying the natural sciences, in order that one may come to some realization of the physical and vital world about him, and may know himself better as he knows his surroundings more thoroughly, and in order that his powers of obser- vation may be quickened and strengthened, it seems strange indeed that the same method of argument has not been used in behalf of historical work. If it is desirable that the high-school pupil should know the physical world, that he should know the habits of ants and bees, the laws of floral 16 Purpose of Education 17 growth, the simple reactions in the chemical retort, it is certainly even more desirable that he should be led to see the steps in the development of the human race, and should have some dim perception of his own place, and of his country's place, in the great movements of men. One does not need to say in these latter days that secondary education ought to fit boys and girls to become, not scholas- tics, but men and women who know their surround- ings and have come to a sympathetic knowledge of their environment ; and it does not seem neces- sary now to argue that the most essential result of secondary education is acquaintance with politi- cal and social environment, some appreciation of the nature of the state and society, some sense of the duties and responsibilities of citizenship, some capacity in dealing with political and governmental questions, something of the broad and tolerant spirit which is bred by the study of past times and conditions. It is a law well recognized by psychologists, a law of which the teacher in school or college sees daily application and illustration, that one obtains knowledge by adding to the ideas which one already has new ideas organically related to the old. Recent psychological pedagogy looks upon the child as a reacting organism, and declares that he should be trained in those reactions which he 1 8 Value of History will most need as an adult. The chief object of every experienced teacher is to get pupils to think properly after the method adopted in his particular line of work ; not an accumulation of information, but the habit of correct thinking, is the supreme re- sult of good teaching in every branch of instruction. All this simply means that the student who is taught to consider political subjects in school, who is led to look at matters historically, has some mental equipment for a comprehension of the political and social problems that will confront him in every- day life, and has received practical preparation for social adaptation and for forceful participation in civic activities. We do not think that this preparation is satis- factorily acquired merely through the study of civil government, which, strictly construed, has to do only with existing institutions. The pupil should see the growth of the institutions which surround him ; he should see the work of men ; he should study the living concrete facts of the past ; he should know of nations that have risen and fallen ; he should see tyranny, vulgarity, greed, benevolence, patriotism, self-sacrifice, brought out in the lives and works of men. So strongly has this very thought taken hold of writers of civil government, that they no longer content themselves with a description of the government Relation to Government 19 as it is, but describe at considerable length the origin and development of the institutions of which they speak. While we have no desire to under- estimate the value of civil government as a sec- ondary study, especially if it is written and taught from the historical point of view, we desire to emphasize the thought that appreciation and sym- pathy for the present is best secured by a study of the past ; and while we believe that it is the imper- ative duty of every high school and academy to teach boys and girls the elementary knowledge of the political machinery which they will be called upon to manage as citizens of a free state, we insist also that they should have the broader knowledge, the more intelligent spirit, that comes from a study of other men and of other times. They should be led to see that society is in move- ment, that what one sees about him is not the eternal but the transient, and that in the processes of change virtue must be militant if it is to be triumphant. While it is doubtless true that too much may be made of the idea that history furnishes us with rules, precepts, and maxims which may be used as immutable principles, as unerring guides for the conduct of the statesman and the practical poli- tician, or as means of foretelling the future, it is equally true that progress comes by making addi- 2O Value of History tions to the past or by its silent modification. All our institutions, our habits of thought and modes of action, are inheritances from preceding ages : no conscious advance, no worthy reform, can be secured without both a knowledge of the present and an appreciation of how forces have worked in the social and political organization of former times. If this be so, need we seriously argue that the boys and girls in the schoolroom should be introduced to the past, which has created the present, that historical-mindedness should be in some slight measure bred within them, and that they should be given the habit, or the begin- nings of a habit, of considering what has been, when they discuss what is or what should be ? Believing, then, that one of the chief objects of study is to bring boys and girls to some knowledge of their environment and to fit them to become intelligent citizens, we need hardly say that, if the study of history helps to accomplish this object, the public schools of the country are under the heavi- est obligations to foster the study, and not to treat it as an intruder entitled only to a berth in a cold corner, after language, mathematics, science, music, drawing, and gymnastics have been comfortably provided for. "It is clear," as Thomas Arnold has said, " that in whatever it is our duty to act, those matters also it is our duty to study." It is Training in Citizenship 21 true that any subject which aids the pupil to think correctly, to be accurate and painstaking, which awakens his interest in books and gives him resources within himself, in reality fits him for good and useful citizenship ; but what other sub- jects do in this direction more or less indirectly, history does directly ; and moreover, if properly taught, it is not inferior to other subjects as a dis- ciplinary and educational study. Fortunately, an examination of school programmes, educational periodicals, and like material will now convince any one that educators are coming to the conclu- sion that history must receive more attention, and must be taught wisely and well. History cultivates the judgment by leading the pupil to see the relation between cause and effect, as cause and effect appear in human affairs. We do not mean by this that his attention should be directed solely to great moving causes, or that he should study what is sometimes called the " phi- losophy of history," far from it; nor do we mean that time should be consumed in discussing the meaning of facts when the facts themselves are not known. But history has to do with the becoming of past events, not simply with what was, but with what came to be, and in studying the simplest forms of historical narrative even the average pupil comes to see that one thing leads to 22 Value of History another ; he begins quite unconsciously to see that events do not simply succeed each other in time, but that one grows out of another, or rather out of a combination of many others. Thus, before the end of the secondary course, the well-trained pupil has acquired some power in seeing relationships and detecting analogies. While it is perfectly true that the generalizing faculty is developed late, and that the secondary pupil will often learn unrelated data with ease, if not with avidity, it is equally true that history in the hands of the competent teacher is a great instrument for developing in the pupil capacity for seeing underlying reasons and for comprehending motives. In the ordinary class- room work, both in science and in mathematics, there is little opportunity for discussion, for differ- ences of opinion, for balancing of probabilities; and yet in everyday life we do not deal with math- ematical demonstrations, or concern ourselves with scientific observations ; we reach conclusions by a judicious consideration of circumstances and con- ditions, some of them in apparent conflict with one another, and none of them susceptible of exact measurement and determination. The study of history gives training not only in acquiring facts, but in arranging and systematiz- ing them and in putting forth individual product. Power of gathering information is important, and Training in Judgment 23 this power the study of history cultivates ; but the power of using information is of greater importance, and this power too is developed by historical work. We do not ask that pupils should be required to do so-called "laboratory work," we abjure the phrase, and create histories out of absolutely un- hewn and unf ramed material ; we simply say that, if a pupil is taught to get ideas and facts from vari- ous books, and to put those facts together into a new form, his ability to make use of knowledge is increased and strengthened. By assigning well- chosen topics that are adapted to the capacity of the pupil, and by requiring him to gather his in- formation in various places, the teacher may train the pupil to collect historical material, to arrange it, and to put it forth. This practice, we repeat, develops capacity for effective work, not capacity for absorption alone. 1 History is also helpful in developing what is sometimes called the scientific habit of mind and thought. In one sense, this may mean the habit of thorough investigation for one's self of all sources of information, before one reaches con- clusions or expresses decided opinions. But only the learned specialist can thus test more than the 1 A consideration of what is said, in a later division of this re- port, on the methods of teaching, will show more fully how history may be used to this end. 24 Value of History most ordinary and commonplace truths or princi- ples in any field of work. The scientific habit of mind in a broader sense means a recognition of the fact that sound conclusions do rest on some- body's patient investigations ; that, although we must accept the work of others, everybody is re- quired to study and think and examine before he positively asserts; that every question should be approached without prejudice ; that open-minded- ness, candor, honesty, are requisites for the attain- ment of scientific knowledge. The thoughtful teacher of experience will probably say that, even in the earlier years of the secondary course, these prime requisites of wholesome education may in some measure be cultivated ; and that, when op- portunity for comparative work is given in the later years, historical-mindedness may be so de- veloped as materially to influence the character and habits of the pupil. While we believe that power and not informa- tion must be the chief end of all school work, we must not underestimate the value of a store of historical material. By the study of history the pupil acquires a knowledge of facts that is to him a source of pleasure and gratification in his after life. If there be any truth in the saying that culture consists of an acquaintance with the best which the past has produced, a very insufficient Training in Character 25 definition, to be sure, we need not argue about the value of historical information. But we may emphasize that brighter and broader culture which springs from a sympathy with the onward move- ments of the past, and an intelligent compre- hension of the duties of the present. Many a teacher has found that, in dealing with the great and noble acts and struggles of bygone men, he has succeeded in reaching the inner nature of the real boys and girls of his classes, and has given them impulses and honorable prejudices that are the surest sources of permanent and worthy refine- ment. We may venture to suggest that character is of even greater value than culture. A no less important result of historical study is the training which pupils receive in the handling of books. History, more than any other subject in the secondary curriculum, demands for effec- tive work a library and the ability to use it. Skill in extracting knowledge from the printed page, or in thumbing indexes and fingering tables of con- tents, is of great value to any one who is called upon to use books. The inability to discover what a book contains or where information is to be found is one of the common failings of the un- schooled and the untrained man. Through the study of history this facility in handling material may be cultivated, and at the same time the pupil 26 Value of History may be introduced to good literature and inspired with a love for reading which will prove a priceless treasure to him. In this latter respect the study of history is second to that of English literature alone. With these results of historical study two others of decided value may in conclusion be briefly men- tioned : by the reading of good books, and by con- stant efforts to re-create the real past and make it live again, the pupil's imagination is at once quickened, strengthened, and disciplined ; and by means of the ordinary oral recitation, if properly conducted, he may be taught to express himself in well-chosen words. In the study of foreign lan- guage, he learns words and sees distinctions in their meanings ; in the study of science, he learns to speak with technical exactness and care ; in the study of history, while he must speak truthfully and accurately, he must seek to find apt words of his own with which to describe past conditions and to clothe his ideas, in a broad field of work which has no technical method of expression and no peculiar phraseology. Continuity of Historical Study and the Relation of History to other Subjects / WE have no intention of framing a secondary- school course, in which each study shall be care- fully related in time and space with every other ; such a process is, for the present at least, a task for each superintendent or principal in the conduct of his own work. Certain suggestions, however, are pertinent, and may be helpful. We believe that, whenever possible, history should be a continuous study. In some schools it is now given in three successive years ; in others it is offered in each of the four years of at least one course. Some practical teachers, impressed with this need of continuity, and feeling unable to give more time to the work, have thought it wise to give the subject in periods of only two recita- tions per week for one year or more ; and such a plan may prove desirable for the purpose of con- necting two years in which the work is given four or five times per week, or for the purpose of 27 28 Relations of History extending the course. Probably two periods a week, however, will seem altogether impracticable to the great majority of teachers, and we do not recommend that this step be taken when the cir- cumstances allow more substantial work. A prac- tical working programme in one of the very best western schools presents the following course : 7th grade, American History 4 periods. 8th grade, American History 2 periods. gth grade (ist year of high school), Greek and Roman History 3 periods. loth grade, English History 3 periods. nth grade, Institutional History .... 2 periods. 1 2th grade, American History 2 periods. Another school of high grade, where effective work is done, gives history in three periods per week for two years, and in five periods per week for two more years, viz. : 1st year of high school, Oriental, Greek, and Roman History 3 times. 2d year, Mediaeval and Modern European History 3 times. 3d year, English History 5 times. 4th year, American History, Economics, and Civics 5 times. In both of these schools some of the historical work is optional or elective, other parts are re- Continuity 29 quired. These courses are given here simply to show how a long, continuous course may be arranged, where the circumstances make it inad- visable to give work four or five times per week for four years. We do not recommend courses in which the study comes twice a week, but only say that in some instances they may prove advisable as a means of keeping the parts of the course in connection. We cannot see our way clear to pro- posing the acceptance of a two-hour course in his- tory for entrance to college, if units are counted or definite requirements are laid down. A secondary-school course in which there are many distinct subjects may furnish to the pupil only bits of information, and not give the discipline resulting from a prolonged and continuous appli- cation to one subject, which is gradually unfolded as the pupil's mind and powers are developed. A course without unity may be distracting, and not educating in the original and best sense of the word. At least in some courses of the high school or academy, history is the best subject to give unity, continuity, and strength. Where a foreign language is pursued for four consecutive years, it serves this purpose ; but in other cases it is doubt- ful whether anything can do the work so well as history. Even science has so many branches and distinct divisions, at all events, as it is customarily 30 Relations of History taught, that it does not seem to be a continuous subject. Doubtless there are relationships between physiology, chemistry, physics, botany, and physi- cal geography, and of course the methods of work in all of them are similar ; but to treat science as one subject, so that it may give opportunity for continuous development of the pupil, and for a gradual unfolding of the problems of a single field of human study, seems to us to present many al- most insurmountable difficulties. A committee of historical students may be pardoned therefore for thinking that history furnishes a better instrument than science for such purposes. The history of the human race is one subject ; and a course of four years can be so arranged as to make the study a continually developing and enlarging one, as the needs and capacities of the pupil are developed and enlarged. History should not be set at one side, as if it had no relation with other subjects in the sec- ondary course. Ideal conditions will prevail when the teachers in one field of work are able to take wise advantage of what their pupils are doing in another ; when the teacher of Latin or Greek will call the attention of his pupils, as they read Caesar or Xenophon, to the facts which they have learned in their history classes; when the teachers of French and German and English will do the same ; Unity 31 when the teacher of physical geography will re- member that the earth is man's dwelling-place, or more properly his growing-place, and will be able to relate the mountains, seas, and tides of which he speaks with the growth and progress of men ; when he will remember that Marco Polo and Henry the Navigator and Meriwether Lewis were unfolding geography and making history, and that Cape Verde not only juts out into the Atlantic, but stands forth as a promontory in human his- tory. Is the time far distant when the march of the Ten Thousand will be looked upon not merely as a procession of optative moods and conditional clauses, but as an account of the great victory won by Greek skill, discipline, and intelligence over the helplessness of Oriental confusion ? And will Caesar long be taught only as a compound of ablative absolutes and indirect discourses, rather than as a story, told by one of history's greatest men, of how our Teutonic forefathers were brought face to face with Roman power, and how the peo- ples of Gaul were subjected to the art and the arms of Rome, and made to pass under the yoke of bondage to southern civilization and southern law ? The teacher of history, if he knows the foreign languages which his pupils are studying, may connect the words they have learned with concrete things; and he may, above all, help to 32 Relations of History give the young people who are trying to master a foreign tongue, some appreciation of the tone, temper, and spirit of the people, without which a language seems void and characterless. History has a central position among the sub- jects of the curriculum. Like literature, it deals with man, and appeals to the sympathy, the imag- ination, and the emotional nature of the pupils. Like natural science, it employs methods of care- ful and unprejudiced investigation. It belongs to the humanities, for its essential purpose is to dis- close human life ; but it also searches for data, groups them, and builds generalizations from them. Though it may not be a science itself, its methods are similar to scientific methods, and are valuable in inculcating in the pupil a regard for accuracy and a reverence for truth. It corrects the formal- istic bias of language, by bringing the pupil into sympathetic contact with actualities and with the mind of man as it has reacted on his environment. It gives breadth, outlook, and human interest, which are not easily developed by the study of natural phenomena. Thus, as a theoretical propo- sition, at least, the assertion that the story of life and the onward movement of men, not their lan- guage or their physical environment, should form the centre of a liberal course, would seem to leave little ground for argument. A Central Subject 33 We may add to all these considerations the fact that even in the natural sciences, as well as in other subjects, the historical method is not seldom used by advanced scholars and thinkers. The scholarly scientific investigator knows from careful study the development of his subject; he sees the successes and the failures of the past, and recognizes the lasting contributions that have from time to time been made in his field of investigation ; he often studies the civilization that gave birth to bygone and obsolete theories, and comes thus to a knowl- edge of his department of work as a growing and developing department. So, too, the advanced lin- guistic scholar is frequently engaged, not so much in the study of language, as in the examination of successive intellectual movements which have found expression in literature. This practice of linking the present with the past, of watching progress and studying change, has become one of the marked characteristics of modern learning ; and it indi- cates that history, in the broad field of human affairs, is a subject which is contributory to others, is indeed a part of them, and occupies a central position among them. Four Years' Course, consisting of Four Blocks or Periods As a thorough and systematic course of study, we recommend four years of work, beginning with ancient history and ending with American history. For these four years we propose the division of the general field into four blocks or periods, and recommend that they be studied in the order in which they are here set down, which in large measure accords with the natural order of events, and shows the sequence of historical facts : (1) Ancient History, with special reference to Greek and Roman history, but including also a short introductory study of the more ancient na- tions. This period should also embrace the early Middle Ages, and should close with the establish- ment of the Holy Roman Empire (800), or with the death of Charlemagne (814), or with the treaty of Verdun (843). (2) Mediaeval and Modern European History, from the close of the first period to the present time. 34 The Four Fields 35 (3) English History. (4) American History and Civil Government. No one of these fields can be omitted without leaving serious lacuna in the pupil's knowledge of history. Each department has its special value and teaches its special lesson ; above all, the study of the whole field gives a meaning to each portion that it cannot have by itself. Greek and Roman civilization contributed so much to the world, the work which these nations accomplished, the thoughts which they brought forth, the ideas which they embodied, form so large a part of the past, that in any systematic course their history must be studied. The student of modern politics cannot afford to be ignorant of the problems, the strivings, the failures, of the republics and democ- racies of the ancient world. We speak of these nations as belonging to antiquity, but we have much of them with us to-day. The law of Rome has not gone ; the highest thought of Greece is eternal. We might justly insist that mediaeval history is worthy of a place in the school programme for its own sake, recounting as it does the development of the papacy and the Church, the establishment of feudalism, the foundation of modern states, the Renaissance, and the beginning of the Reforma- tion. But, if for no other reason, the history of the Middle Ages deserves study because without 36 Four Years' Course it Greece and Rome are isolated and seem to dwell in a world apart. On the other hand, the char- acter of the forces of modern times cannot be understood by one who examines them without reference to their mediaeval origins. Nor will any one seriously maintain in these latter days, when men are studying world move- ments, when, as we are told, America has become a world power, that the intelligent citizen has no concern with the chief events and leading tenden- cies of the last four centuries of European history Indeed, it is especially desirable that American pupils should learn something of European history, since, by seeing the history of their own country in its proper perspective, they may appreciate its meaning, and may be relieved of a temptation to a narrow intolerance, which resembles patriotism only as bigotry resembles faith. Furthermore, English history until 1776 is our history ; Edward I. and Pym, Hampden and Will- iam Pitt, belong to our past and helped to make us what we are. Any argument in favor of Ameri- can history, therefore, holds almost equally true for the study of English history. A realization of present duties, a comprehension of present re- sponsibilities, an appreciation of present oppor- tunities, cannot better be inculcated than by a study of the centuries in which Englishmen were Chronological Sequence 37 struggling for representation, free speech, and due process of law. The orderly chronological course which we here advocate has its marked advantages, but it should be so arranged that the pupil will do more than follow the main facts as he traces them from the earliest times to the present. The work must be so developed and widened, as time goes on, that in the later years the pupil will be dealing with broader and deeper problems than in the early years, and will be making use of the skill and scholarly sense that have been awakened and called into action by previous training. By a course of this sort, pupils will obtain a conspectus of history which is fairly complete and satisfac- tory, will follow the forward march of events, and will come to see the present as a product of the past; while the teacher, at the same time, will have opportunity to unfold the problems and diffi- culties of historical study. The desirability of arranging historical fields of work in their natural chronological order will prob- ably appeal to every one, and need not be dwelt upon. Some persons, however, may object to the arrangement as unwise, in the light of other con- siderations. It may be contended that pupils should pass " from the known to the unknown," from the familiar to the unfamiliar and strange. 38 Four Years' Course This precept we do not care formally to accept or to reject; but it will be remembered, that in all primary and grammar schools some historical work is given, and that we can take for granted, proba- bly, that all pupils know something of Ameri- can history, and perhaps of other history in ad- dition. As a matter of fact, therefore, we are not running counter to the doctrine above referred to, or violating the law of apperception. A like objection may be met with a similar answer. American history, some will say, should come the first year in the high school, because many pupils leave school before the later years. But this objection proves too much, for a large percentage of boys and girls do not enter the high school at all. American history should therefore be given in the grammar school. In fact, it is given in the eighth and lower grades in probably the vast majority of schools ; to repeat the course therefore in the first year of the secondary course is almost a waste of time, inasmuch as any marked development in the method of treatment is im- possible. On the other hand, by putting the study late in the course, the pupil can work along new lines and attack new problems; the development of American institutions can be studied ; new and more difficult books can be read, and more ad- vanced methods used. Order of Fields 39 Some teachers, believing that American history is essential in every course, will object to the cur- riculum here suggested, on the ground that the last year is already overcrowded, and that we are asking the impossible when we suggest that the study be placed in that year. In any argument on such a question, history is at a disadvantage, because other subjects have from time immemorial been considered first, while history has been treated as a poor and needy relative : other subjects have their places, and claim at once nine full points in law. If it is more important that pupils should have knowledge of chemistry, solid geometry, physics, Greek, English literature, Latin, and what not, than a knowledge of the essentials of the po- litical and social life about them, of the nature and origin of the federal Constitution, of their duties and rights as citizens, and of the fundamental ideas for which their country stands, then of course American history need not enter into the contest at all. In making these recommendations, however, we are not acting upon merely theoret- ical grounds : an investigation of existing condi- tions leads us to believe that there is a strong tendency to place American history in the last year of the course. It will be argued, again, that Greek and Roman history is too difficult for the first year. To this 40 Four Years' Course we may answer, ( i ) that a number of excellent and successful teachers give the subject in the first year, and (2) that it is not necessary to fathom all the mysteries of the Athenian Constitution, or to penetrate the innermost secrets of Roman imperi- alism. It is not impossible to know the main out- lines of Greek and Roman history and to see the main features of Greek and Roman life. If Caesar, a great source of Roman history, can be studied in the original in the tenth grade, with all the sup- plementary information on military and historical matters which recent editors present, cannot sec- ondary material in the vernacular be studied in the ninth ? While we do not think that Greek and Roman history should be treated as a handmaiden of the Latin and Greek languages (to treat the subjects thus is to invert the natural relationship), we suggest that a course in ancient history in the first year will serve to give life and meaning to all the work in the classic tongues : the idea may come home to the pupil that Caesar and Cicero were real living, thinking, acting men, and not imagi- nary creatures begotten by the brains of modern grammar-mongers to vex the soul of the schoolboy. If this basis of fact is in the pupil's mind, the clas- sical teacher can amplify it in the later years of the high-school course, and can with far greater assurance use the language that he is teaching as Not too difficult 41 a medium for bringing his pupils into contact with the thoughts and moving sentiments of antiquity. Some one may object that mediaeval and modern European history is too difficult for the tenth grade, and that other subjects should come at that time. The answer to such objection is, of course, that any other subject is too difficult if taught in its height and depth and breadth, but that the cardinal facts of European history can be under- stood, interesting and intelligible books can be read, the significant lessons can be learned. How many boys, when they are sixteen years old, cannot understand " The Scottish Chiefs," " The Three Musketeers," " Twenty Years After," " Ivanhoe," " The Talisman," " With Fire and Sword " ? And is the simple, truthful historic tale of border con- flict, the life and purposes of Richelieu, the death of Charles I., the career of Richard the Lion- hearted, the character of Saladin, the horrible barbarism of Tartar hordes, harder to be under- stood than the plot of an elaborate historical novel dealing with the same facts ? Is truth necessarily more difficult, as well as stranger, than fiction ? But the conclusive answer to this objection is the fact that European history in its most difficult form, " general history," is now taught in the second year in the greater part of the schools which offer the subject. 42 Four Years' Course The committee may be criticised for outlining a four years' course at all, on the ground that no schools can devote so much time to history. This criticism is so important that the reasons which influenced us to take this action should be given seriatim, (i) Some schools do offer history in every year of the high school, either as a required or as an optional study; and the delineation of what seems to us a thorough and systematic regime may be of service to these schools, and to all others that desire to devote considerable time and energy to the subject. (2) If some schools can- not give all that is here proposed, that fact pre- sents no reason why an adequate course should not be outlined. We are not seeking to induce schools to give history a great amount of attention at the expense of other subjects ; but a course altogether complete and adequate needs to be out- lined before one can rightly discuss the availability of anything else. (3) An approach to an ideal course, in order of subjects, method, treatment, and time, is better than one that is constructed without any reference to the best and most sym- metrical system. (4) As a general rule, definite parts of the plan which we here outline may be taken as a working scheme. It is not necessary to draw up, on an entirely new theory, a briefer curriculum for schools that cannot take the whole Question of Time 43 of what we here recommend : the simplest and wisest plan under such circumstances is to omit one or more of the blocks or periods into which we have divided the general field. If only three years can be devoted to historical work, three of the periods outlined above may be chosen, and one omitted ; such omission seems to us to be better than any condensation of the whole. But if any teacher desires to compress two of the periods into a single year's work, one of the fol- lowing plans may be wisely adopted, (i) Combine English and American history in such a manner that the more important principles wrought out in English history, and the main facts of English expansion, will be taught in connection with American colonial and later political history. (2) Treat English history in such a way as to include the most important elements of mediaeval and modern European history. Why no Short Course in General History is Recommended FROM the foregoing remarks, it will be seen that the committee believes that history should be given in four consecutive years in the secondary school, and that the study should be developed in an orderly fashion, with reasonable regard for chronological sequence ; in other words, that four years should be devoted to the study of the world's history, giving the pupil some knowledge of the progress of the race, enabling him to survey a broad field and to see the main acts in the histor- ical drama. While, of course, three years for such study are better than two, as two are better than one, a careful consideration of the problem in all its aspects has led us to the conclusion that we cannot strongly recommend, as altogether ade- quate, courses covering the whole field in less than four years. We do not recommend a short course in general history, because such a course necessitates one of two modes of treatment, neither of which is sound 44 No Short Course 45 and reasonable. By one method, energy is devoted to the dreary, and perhaps profitless, task of mem- orizing facts, dates, names of kings and queens, and the rise and fall of dynasties ; there is no opportunity to see how facts arose or what they effected, or to study the material properly, or to see the events in simple form as one followed upon another, or to become acquainted with the histori- cal method of handling definite concrete facts and drawing inferences from them. The pupil is not introduced to the first principles of historical thinking; he is not brought into sympathy with men and ideas, or led to see the play of human forces, or given such a real knowledge of past times and conditions that he can realize that history has to do with life, with the thoughts, aspirations, and struggles of men. By the second method, pupils are led to deal with large and general ideas which are often quite beyond their com- prehension, ideas which are general inferences drawn by the learned historian from a well- stored treasure-house of definite data ; they are taught to accept unquestioningly broad general- izations, the foundations of which they cannot possibly examine, as they must do if they are to know how the historical student builds his infer- ences, or how one gains knowledge of the general truths of history. The first method is apt to heap 46 General History meaningless data together : facts crowd one upon another ; there is no moving drama, but at the very best, perhaps, a series of kaleidoscopic pic- tures, in which the figures are arranged with seem- ing arbitrariness. If the second alternative be followed, all is order and system ; the pawns of the great game are folks and nations ; the more effective chessmen are world-moving ideas. The experienced college teacher knows full well that students entering upon historical work will learn facts without seeing relationships; that "tend- ency" is a word of unknown dimensions; and that his first task is to lead his pupils to see how definite facts may be grouped into general facts, and how one condition of things led to another, until they come to a realizing sense of the fact that history deals with dynamics, not statics, and that drifts, tendencies, and movements are to be searched for by the proper interpretation of definite data, and the proper correlation of definite deeds and acts, with special reference to chronological sequence. If college students must thus be led to the comprehension of historical forces and general ideas, what hope is there that a general history, dealing only with tendencies, will be adapted to high-school needs ? But while we do not think that a secondary- school pupil can be brought to handle large gen- Practical Basis 47 eralizations, we do believe that, if the time devoted to a period of history be sufficiently long to enable him to deal with the acts of individual men and to see their work, he can be taught to group his facts ; and that a power of analysis and construction, a capacity for seeing relationships and causes, an ability to grasp a general situation and to under- stand how it came to be, can be developed in him ; and that he can be brought to see that for the historian nothing is, but everything is becoming. In all such work, however, the teacher must begin with ideas and facts that are not altogether unfa- miliar, with the activities, the impulses, the con- crete conduct of men. We do not mean by this that constitutional and social questions cannot be studied, that political movements cannot be inter- preted, or that the biographical system suitable for the lower grades should be continued through the secondary course. On the contrary, the pupil should be led to general facts just as soon as pos- sible, and should be induced to see inferences and the meanings of acts at the earliest possible mo- ment. 1 He must not only have a well-articulated 1 Let it be remembered that the course in history in the high school should have for its purpose the gradual awakening and developing of power. Pupils are often precipitated into general history, and asked to tax their powers of imagination and to grasp movements, when they are entirely without experience or training. 48 General History skeleton of facts, but he must see movement, life, human energy. And yet the average pupil will follow the course of Julius Caesar or Augustus, when he cannot understand just why the Roman Republic was overthrown ; he can know much of the work of Constantine, when he cannot appreciate the influence of Christianity on the destinies of Rome and the world ; he can see what Charlemagne did, when he cannot comprehend the nature or char- acter of the Holy Roman Empire ; he is interested in Danton and Mirabeau, when he cannot real- ize the causes, characteristics, and effects of the French Revolution. It is impossible for one who knows only of mayors, constables, and county clerks, to reach out at once into a comprehension of the great motive forces in the world's history. We ask, then, for a course in history of such length that the pupil may get a broad and some- what comprehensive view of the general field, without having, on the one hand, to cram his mem- ory with unrelated, meaningless facts, or, on the other hand, to struggle with generalizations and philosophical ideas beyond his ken. We think that a course covering the whole field of history is desirable, because it gives something like a proper perspective and proportion ; because the history of man's activities is one subject, and the present is the product of all the past; because What may be done 49 such a study broadens the mental horizon and gives breadth and culture ; because it is desirable that pupils should come to as full a realization as possible of their present surroundings, by seeing the long course of the race behind them ; because they ought to have a general conspectus of his- tory, in order that more particular studies of nations or of periods may be seen in something like actual relation with others. We think, how- ever, that quite as important as perspective or proportion are method and training, and a compre- hension of the essential character of the study. In exact accord with the principles here advo- cated all work in natural science is now conducted : a pupil is taught to understand how the simple laws of physics or chemistry are drawn up ; he is induced to think carefully and logically about what he sees, and about the meaning of the rules and fundamental truths which he is studying, in order that he may learn the science by thinking in it rather than by getting a bird's-eye view of the field. We do not argue that secondary pupils can be made constructive historians, that a power can be bred in them to seize for themselves essential data and weave a new fabric, that the mysteries of the historian's art can be disclosed to them, or that they can be taught to play upon a nation's stops with an assured and cunning hand. But 50 General History every study has its methods, its characteristic thinking, its own essential purpose ; and the pupil must be brought into some sympathy with the sub- ject. He must know history as history, just as he knows science as science. Any comparison between history and science is apt to be misleading. The method of the one study, for purposes of instruction at least, is not the method of the other : we do not suppose that Richelieu or William the Silent can be treated with any sort of moral reagent, or examined as a specimen under any high-power lens. And yet in some respects we may learn lessons from methods of scientific instruction. The modern teacher of botany does not endeavor to have his pupils learn a long list of classified shrubs, to know all the families and species by heart, or to make a telling synopsis of even any considerable section of the world's flora ; he examines a more limited field with care, and asks the students to see how seeds germinate and how plants grow, and to study with a microscope a piece of wood- fibre or the cross-section of a seed. This he does in order that the pupils may see the real subject, may know botany and acquire the habit of thinking as men of science think ; not, let it be understood, that he may discover new laws of floral growth or develop for himself a Compared with Science 51 single principle, rule, or system of classification. And so in history: while we do not urge that pupils be asked to extort their knowledge from the raw material, or to search through the docu- ments to find the data which learned scholars have already found for them, we do ask that the old system of classification, and the old idea that one must see the whole field before he studies a part of it, be altogether given up, if an effort to know the outlines of the whole means that the pupil has not sufficient opportunity to study history as his- tory, to see how men moved and acted, to know that history deals with the sequence of events in time. To insist upon a general comprehension of the world's history before examining a part with care, would be quite as reasonable as to ask a pupil to study the circle of the sciences before he analyzes a flower or works an air-pump. While we believe that pupils can advantageously use the sources, chiefly as illustrative matter, we are not now arguing for the " source system " or insisting that they should be trained to handle original material. Skill in finding facts in docu- ments or contemporary narratives, however desira- ble that may be, is not the sole end of historical instruction anywhere, and above all in the second- ary schools. Even the historian is doing but a small part of his work when he is mousing through 52 General History his material, and gathering this fact and another from forgotten corners. One of his most impor- tant and most difficult tasks is to detect the real meaning of events, and so to put his well-tested data together that their proper import and their actual inter-relations are brought to view. His- tory, we say again, has to do with the sequence of events in time ; and what we contend for is such a course in history as will enable one to see sequence and movement, the words are not synonymous; this simple essential of historical work, an essential, however, often lost sight of completely, must not be neglected. We believe that the pupil should study history, and not something else under the name of history, neither philosophy on the one hand, nor the art of historical investigation on the other. How the Different Blocks or Periods may be Treated WE may now briefly consider each one of the main divisions of the general field, and discuss the method in which it may best be handled. This portion of our report might be greatly extended, but we wish to confine ourselves to a consideration of general propositions, which are deemed impor- tant because they have to do with the essential character and purpose of the study. I. Ancient History Greek and Roman history is taught in a large number of the secondary schools, and in some schools no other branch of history is offered. This preference is explained by the evolution of the curriculum in which the Greek and Latin languages were long the dominant subjects, Greek and Ro- man history being thrust in at a later time as ancillary to the study of the ancient languages. In some schools the history remains a subordinate sub S3 54 Treatment ject, coming once or twice a week, and, even then, it is often in the hands of a classical instructor who is more interested in linguistics than in history and has had no training in historical method. The course is apt to be confined to the histories of Greece and Rome ; the Orient is not infrequently omitted ; the mediaeval relations of Rome are usually ignored. The perspective and emphasis within the field covered have been determined by literary and linguistic, rather than by historical, considera- tions, with the result that the chief attention is devoted to the periods when great writers lived and wrote. Too much time, for example, is com- monly given to the Peloponnesian war, while the Hellenistic period is neglected. The history of the early Roman Republic is dwelt upon at the expense of the Empire, although very little is known of the early times. It sometimes seems as if the ghost of Livy were with us yet. The committee thinks that the time has come when ancient history may be studied independently as an interesting, instructive, and valuable part of the history of the human race. Classical pupils need such a study, not to support their classical work, but to give them a wider and deeper know- ledge of the life, thought, and character of the an- cient world ; and non-classical pupils need the work still more than the classical, for in this study they Ancient History 55 are likely to find their only opportunity of coming into contact with ancient ideas. We ask, then, that ancient history be taught as history, for the same purpose that any other branch of history is taught, in order that pupils may learn the story of human achievement and be trained in historical thinking. To bring out the value of ancient history, it is especially important that Greek and Roman history should not be isolated, but that there should be some reference to the life and influence of other nations, and some comprehension of the wide field, which has a certain unity of its own. There should be a short introductory survey of Oriental history, as an indispensable background for a study of the classical peoples. This survey must be brief, and in the opinion of the committee should not exceed one-eighth of the entire time devoted to ancient history. It should aim to give (a} an idea of the remoteness of these Oriental beginnings, of the length and reach of recorded history ; (b) a definite knowledge of the names, location, and chronological succession of the early Oriental nations ; (c) the dis- tinguishing features of their civilizations, as con- cretely as possible ; (d) the recognizable lines of their influence on later times. The essential factors in this period may perhaps best be seen by con- centrating attention first on the kingdoms of the 56 Treatment two great valleys, that of the Nile and that of the Tigris and Euphrates, and by bringing in the lesser peoples of the connecting regions as the great empires spread northward and meet. Persia may be taken up afterward, and its conquests may serve as a review of the others. Although, of course, Greek history should in- clude a short study of early times, and should dis- close the growth of Athens and Sparta and the characteristic life of the great classical period, it should not, on the other hand, omit an account of the chief events of the Hellenistic age, but should give some idea of the conquests of Alexander, of the kingdoms that arose out of them, and of the spread of Greek civilization over the East, so im- portant in relation to the influence of Greece upon later times. It should also give the main events in the later history of Greece, and should show the connection between Greek and Roman his- tory. Time for this survey may well be saved by omitting the details of the Peloponnesian war, which crowd so many text-books. This period should rather be used largely as connective tissue, to hold Greek and Roman history together ; it should be approached first from the Greek side, and be reviewed afterward in connection with the Roman conquest of the East. Care should be taken to show the overlapping of Greek and Ro- Ancient History 57 man history chronologically, and to avoid the not uncommon impression among pupils that Rome was founded after the destruction of Corinth. The treatment of Roman history should be suf- ficiently full to correspond to its importance. Too much time, as it seems to the committee, is often spent upon the period of the Republic, especially on the early years, and too little upon that of the Empire. Adequate attention is not always paid to the development of Roman power and the expan- sion of Roman dominion. Some idea should be given of the organization of the world-state and of the extension of Roman civilization. Recognizing fully the difficulty of this period, and not seeking to force upon the pupils general ideas that confuse them, the teacher should endeavor to make them acquainted, not simply with emperors and praeto- rian guards, but with the wide sway of Rome ; and not so much with the " falling " of Rome, as with the impression left upon western Christen- dom by the spirit and character of the eternal city. This, we think, can be done by the careful use of concrete facts and illustrations, not by the use of philosophical generalizations. Probably most of us remember that our impressions from early study were that Rome really gave up the ghost with the accession of Augustus, is that idea due to that good republican Livy again? And if we 58 Treatment studied the Empire at all, we wondered why it took four hundred years and more for her to tread all the slippery way to Avernus, when once she had entered upon the road. To get such an impres- sion is to lose the truth of Rome. The continuation of ancient history into the early Middle Ages has a manifest convenience in a programme of two years' work in European his- tory. It secures an equitable adjustment of time, and a reasonable distribution of emphasis between the earlier and later periods. If the pupil stops his historical work at the end of the first year, it is desirable that he should not look upon classical history as a thing apart, but that he should be brought to see something of what followed the so- called " Fall " of the western Empire. Moreover, it is difficult to find a logical stopping-place at an earlier date : one cannot end with the introduction of Christianity, or with the Germanic invasions, or with the rise of Mohammedanism ; and to break off with the year 476 is to leave the pupil in a world of confusion, the invasions only be- gun, the church not fully organized, the Empire not wholly "fallen." Hence, from motives of clearness alone, there is a gain in carrying the pupil on to an age of comparative order and sim- plicity, such as one finds in the time of Charle- magne. Further study of the Middle Ages then Mediaeval and Modern 59 begins with the dissolution of the Prankish Em- pire and the formation of new states. 1 II. Mediaeval and Modern European History This field covers a period of a thousand years, and the history of at least four or five important nations ; it is necessarily, therefore, a matter of con- siderable difficulty to determine the best method by which the subject may be handled. Whether the whole field be covered superficially, or only the main lines be treated, it is highly desira- ble that some unity should be discovered if pos- sible, or that there should be some central line with which events or movements can be corre- lated. To find an assured principle of unity is exceedingly difficult, perhaps impossible; and it is very likely that writers will continue to disagree as to the best method of traversing this vast area. One way to get unity and continuity is to study general movements alone, without endeavoring to 1 Such a survey of the beginnings of the Middle Ages must needs be quite brief, and should be confined to the primary fea- tures of the period, to the Barbarian invasions, the rise of the Christian church and of Mohammedan civilization, the persistence of the empire in the East, and the growth of Prankish power to its culmination under Charlemagne. This practice of combining ancient and mediaeval history has been followed in a number of schools, and the results have been satisfactory. 60 Treatment follow the life of any one nation ; but while this method is possible for college classes, it may not be found feasible for secondary schools, where pupils have greater difficulty in comprehending general tendencies. Still, we think that certain essential characteristics of at least the mediaeval period may perhaps be studied. The period extending from Charlemagne to the Revival of Learning has a "strongly marked character, almost a personality of its own" ; and by a selec- tion of proper facts some of the main character- istics may be brought home to the knowledge of the high-school pupils. The teacher or text-writer who attempts this method must naturally proceed with great caution, getting general ideas before the students by a judicious use of concrete facts and illustrations, and not failing to give some of the more important events and dates that mark the period. He will probably find that the most char- acteristic feature of the age is the unbroken dom- inance of the Roman church, and should there- fore bring out clearly the essential features of its organization, and explain the methods by which it exercised control in all departments of mediae- val life. If this is done, as it can and should be done, with care and impartiality, the pupil will receive a valuable lesson in historical truthfulness and objectivity, at the same time that he comes Mediaeval 61 to appreciate one of the great moving forces of European history. This method of treating continental history can be carried throughout the Reformation period by remembering that while that period marks the end of the Middle Ages it also forms the basis for modern European history. This epoch must therefore be taught with both points of view in mind. The main aspects of the time must be brought broadly before the pupil, and he must be led to see that the sixteenth century is a century of transition ; that the old order has been swept away ; that religious, political, material, intellectual, and social life has been profoundly affected, not only by the teachings of Luther and Calvin, but by the development of the printing- press, the use of gunpowder, the voyages of Ma- gellan and Drake, and the change in economic values. The wars of religion mark the last efforts to reestablish united Christendom ; and, although the treaty of Westphalia (1648) seems well within the sphere of modern history, it may not improp- erly be selected as the end of this era of transition. From the close of this period, it will be found very difficult to treat only of movements of a gen- eral character affecting the life of Europe. There is now no great institution, like the church, which forms the centre of Christendom ; the different 62 Treatment nations no longer belong to a system, but act as independent sovereigns ; the development of dis- tinct national life is now of primary concern to the historical student. But even in modern history, the method of treating epochs of international importance can be used to some extent. In order that this may be done, it will be necessary, proba- bly, so to connect movements or epochal charac- teristics with the history of particular nations that the separate development of the European states may be discerned. For example, the period from 1648 to 1715 can be treated as the age of Louis XIV. ; while the history of the seventeenth-century monarchy, illustrated by the attitude and the admin- istration of Louis, is brought to light, the history of western Europe may be studied in its relations with France. The period from 1715 to 1763 is the age of colonial expansion, of rivalry between France and England ; and it can be studied from either England or France as a point of view. The age of Frederick the Great (1740-1786) brings before us not only the rise of Prussia and the significance of that great fact, but the theory of enlightened despotism, of which Frederick was an exponent, and which was exemplified by the work of Cath- erine of Russia, Joseph II., and other enlightened monarchs and ministers. For the period of the French Revolution and the Empire (1789-1815), Modern 63 France again may be taken as the centre from which to consider the international relations of European states, the development of the new prin- ciples of nationality, the sovereignty of the peo- ple, and the liberty of the individual. From 1815 to 1848 Metternich may be regarded as the cen- tral figure ; the reactionary characteristics of this time will naturally be dwelt upon, but the growth of new principles may also be illustrated, as seen in the establishment of independence in Greece and Belgium, and in the liberal monarchy of Louis Philippe. The system of Metternich broke down in 1848, and from that time to 1871 study is natu- rally directed to the work of Cavour and Bis- marck, to the unification of Italy and Germany, and to topics that may be easily considered in con- nection with these events. In attempting to give the pupil some idea of modern European politics since the establishment of the German Empire, it may be found advisable to treat Bismarck as the central figure down to 1890, and the Emperor William II. as the successor of Bismarck. In this connection, the extra-European ambitions and achievements of Germany, since 1871, will serve to bring out the fact that the history of the great European nations is now not only the history of Europe, but the history of Asia and Africa as well, In some such manner as this it may be possible 64 Treatment to study the broad field of European history with special reference to movements or epochs. The outline is not given here as a proposal for a hard and fast system, but rather to illustrate the main principle for which we are contending ; namely, that some principle of unity should be discovered which will allow definite concrete treatment, avoid- ing, on the one hand, philosophical generalization, and, on the other, tangled accounts of detailed events which are made meaningless by the absence of proper connotation. Another method of securing unity and contin- uity is to select the history of one nation, prefera- bly that of France, as a central thread, and study the development of its life. It may be that an understanding of the chief transitions in the his- tory of one nation for a thousand years is all that the second-year pupil should be asked to acquire. But probably it will be quite possible for him to acquire more ; the Germanic migrations, the growth of the church, the invasions of the Sara- cens, the establishment of the Holy Roman Em- pire, feudalism, the crusades, the Renaissance, the rise of national monarchies, the religious wars, the French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars, the unification of Germany and Italy, the demo- cratic movements of the present century, these and other important topics have immediate rela- Episodic or Central 65 tion to French history, and may well be studied in connection with it. This method of treatment has been followed satisfactorily in some schools. Many teachers have used English history for the purpose with some success, and have thus given to their pupils no small knowledge of what went on upon the continent. England however does not serve this purpose so well as France ; we speak of this use of English history simply to show the practicability of the plan. Of course if any one nation is chosen, the student is apt to get an exalted idea of the part which that particular nation has played ; and there is danger, too, of a lack of proportion. But con- sistency, simplicity, and unity are more essential than general comprehension ; or, it might more truly be said, general comprehension and appre- ciation of proportions are almost impossible for boys and girls, and, if simplicity and compactness are wanting, there is apt to be no grasp of funda- mentals at all. If France be taken as a centre, events can be studied in sequence, the primary historical way of looking at things can be culti- vated, and the concrete acts of men can be exam- ined and discussed. If neither of the methods here suggested appeals to the teacher, he must seemingly do one of two things : he must endeavor to get a very general 66 Treatment view of the field, give all the main facts and dates, and follow the histories of the nations in parallel lines ; or he must omit large portions of the his- torical field altogether, and content himself with the study of a few important epochs. By either of these modes of treatment, any effort to unify is in large measure given up. The first way is not uncommonly followed, but it often results, as the committee thinks, in cramming the memory with indigestible facts and in mental confusion ; though an occasional effort to bind the parallel lines to- gether by horizontal lines will help to give unity and wholeness to the structure, or, to change the figure, an occasional view of a cross-section will have a like effect. The second method is adopted by some teachers, and they could with difficulty be convinced that it is not the best: they believe that by the intensive study of two or three epochs the best educational results are obtained. The Refor- mation, the age of Louis XIV., the French Revo- lution, and the nineteenth century might be selected as characteristic periods. We do not, however, urge this method upon the schools, or insist that it is the proper one. We know that it has been successfully used, and believe that under advan- tageous circumstances it will be likely to prove satisfactory ; although the failure to give a general view of European history is to be regretted. English History 67 III. English History English history, coming in the third year of the school course, and completing the survey of European development, is exceedingly important. Significant as is the history of the English nation in itself, the study may be made doubly useful if the work is so conducted that it serves in some measure as a review of continental history and as a prepa- ration for American history. The pupils in our schools, as we have already suggested, can ill afford to lose such an introduction to the study of the history and institutions of the United States; for, without a knowledge of how the English peo- ple developed and English principles matured, they can have slight appreciation of what Amer- ica means. Even the Revolution, for example, if studied as an isolated phenomenon, is bereft of half its meaning, to say the least, because the movement that ended in the separation of the colo- nies from the mother country and in the adoption of the Federal Constitution, began long before the colonies were founded, and because the Declaration of Independence was the formal announcement of democratic ideas that had their tap-root in English soil. We believe that considerable, if not the chief, attention should be paid to the gradual develop- 68 Treatment ment of English political institutions. These words may sound forbidding, but it is to be hoped that the reader of this report will not imagine that we think of plunging the pupil into Stubbs or Hal- lam. We mean simply that the main features, the fundamental principles and practices of constitu- tional government should be studied, and that the steps in its development should be marked. It is not impossible to know the leading features of the work of William I. and its results, the principal reforms of Henry II., the chief developments of the thirteenth century, the actual meanings of Tudor supremacy, the underlying causes, pur- poses, and results of the Puritan Revolution, the work of Pym and Eliot, of Robert Walpole or of Earl Grey. One might almost as well object to mathematics in the high school because quaterni- ons or the integral calculus are hard and abstruse, as to complain of the difficulty of the constitu- tional history of England because, when studied profoundly, it is, like every other subject, full of perplexities. The treatment must be simple, direct, and forcible, and its supreme object must be to show the long struggle for political and civil privileges, and the gradual growth of the cardinal forms and salient ideas of the English state. One cannot forget, even in a high-school course, that England is the mother of modern constitutional English History 69 government ; that by the force of example she has become the law-giver of the nations. The pupil should be led to see how the state grew in power, how the government developed, and how it became more and more responsive to the popular will and watchful of individual inter- ests. But he ought to see more than merely political progress : he can be made to see, at least to some small extent, how the life of men broad- ened as the years went by, and can note some of the many changes in habits of living and in in- dustry. Such a reign as that of Elizabeth would yield but little of its meaning if the student should content himself with the hackneyed phrase of " Tudor absolutism " (but half true at the best), and did not see the social and industrial move- ments, the great human uprising, "the general awakening of national life, the increase of wealth, of refinement and leisure," in that age when the " sphere of human interest was widened as it had never been widened before .... by the revelation of a new heaven and a new earth." The wise teacher will not neglect the collateral study of literature, but will endeavor to show that it partook of the char- acter of its time, as the best literature is always the best exponent of the age which brings it forth. In the study of English institutions, it is not wise to dwell at length upon conditions prior to the yo Treatment Norman period, and indeed even the ordinary political events before the time of Egbert should be passed over rapidly. To the secondary pupil the details of what Milton called the "battles of the kites and crows " are dreary and unprofit- able : apocryphal martyrdoms, legends of doubt- ful authenticity, and scores of unpronounceable names are useless burdens to the healthful memory of a boy of sixteen, whose mind promptly refuses assimilation. But the origins of later institutions, so far as they appear in Anglo-Saxon times, are not uninteresting and may well be noticed. When institutions familiar to us in modern life are fairly established the pupil's interest is nat- urally awakened, and time is rightly devoted to their study. The jury, the offices of sheriff and coroner, and like matters, deserve attention; and something may be done even with the devel- opment of the common law in early England. But, in all the work, effort should be made to understand institutions that have lived rather than those that have perished ; such study cannot fail to bring home a sense of our indebtedness to the past. It is unnecessary, however, to indicate here in detail how the successive steps in the development of English institutions and of English liberties may be brought out ; such a presentation would involve a longer treatment than can be given English Institutions 71 here ; but it is not out of place to say that stress should be laid chiefly upon the important constitu- tional movements and the establishment of princi- ples which mark a stage of progress, and are preparations for institutions, principles, and ideas that are to follow. In teaching English constitutional history, it is the institutions of south Britain that demand chief attention; but in teaching the history of the nation, as apart from that of the state, it is essen- tial that the common practice of neglecting Welsh, Scottish, and Irish history be abandoned in Amer- ican schools; otherwise no idea is gained of the composite nature of the nation which has built up the British Empire, and spread abroad the knowl- edge of English institutions and the use of the English language. Even in studying the early history, care should be taken to bring out the fact that there were such people as the Welsh, Scots, and Irish ; and, although it is not advisable to consider in any detail the history of these nations in later times, yet some of the more important events should be dwelt upon ; the relationships with south Britain should be kept in mind; and such knowledge of their development should be given that the final welding of all into a single British kingdom becomes intelligible. It is very desirable that the expansion and the 72 Treatment imperial development of Britain should receive adequate notice. School-books rarely lay suffi- cient emphasis upon this phase of the subject: the real meaning of the American Revolution is usually not disclosed; Dettingen, Fontenoy, and Minden sometimes obscure Louisburg, Que- bec, and Plassey. Without Drake, Raleigh, Clive, and Gordon, English history of the last three centuries is not English history at all. The colonial system also, and the general colonial policy of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, demand attention in American schools ; and the foundation of British dominion in India cannot rightly be made subordinate to party struggles in parliament or to ministerial successions. Finally, to trace the growth of the British Empire in the nineteenth century; to see how the colonists of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa have obtained and used the right of self- government, and how the East India Company's settlements have developed into an imperial dependency under the British crown, these topics are more important than any study of ordinary party politics within the old sea-girt realm of England. By paying attention to the continental relations of England it will be possible to review the more important movements of European history, and to Relation to European 73 give the pupil new views of their meanings. If these side-views of continental conditions are offered too frequently, the class may become confused, and lose sight even of the well-worn paths of English constitutional progress ; judicious reference and comparison, however, will not be distracting, but will assist the pupils in appre- ciating the meaning of what was going on within the four seas. A study of English feudalism will give an opportunity to review what has been learned of the continental characteristics of that institution. The crusades cannot be studied as if Richard I. were the only king who took the cross. Who can understand the quarrel between Henry I. and Anselm, if he has no knowledge of the contest between Gregory and Henry of Germany ? Can even the Norman conquest be known without some sense of who the Northmen were and what they had been doing ? Does one get the force of the great liberal movements of the seventeenth century without some slight comparison between the Charleses of England and the Louises of France ? Although this comparative method may be overdone, we believe that careful and judicious comparisons and illustrations will prove illuminat- ing, suggestive, and in all ways helpful. 74 Treatment IV. American History If American history is studied, as the commit tee recommends, in the last year of the secondary school, it should be taken up as an advanced sub- ject, with the purpose of getting a clear idea of the course of events in the building of the American Republic and the development of its political ideas. Its chief objects should be to lead the pupil to a knowledge of the fundamentals of the state and society of which he is a part, to an appreciation of his duties as a citizen, and to an intelligent, toler- ant patriotism. It is not desirable that much time should be de- voted to the colonial history. The period is espe- cially interesting if viewed as a chapter in the expansion of England, a chapter in the story of the struggle between the nations of western Europe for colonies, commerce, and dominion. It must be viewed, too, as a time when the spirit of self-suffi- ciency and self-determination was growing, a spirit which accounts for the Revolution and for the dominating vigor of the later democracy. At- tention may be paid to the establishment of indus- trial conditions and of habits of industrial activity as explaining political differences in subsequent times, especially as explaining the divergence of North and South after constitutional union had American History 75 been formed. Slight notice should be taken of military campaigns in any portion of the study, though the importance of intercolonial wars can easily be underestimated, and the main facts of other wars, especially, of course, the Revolutionary and the Civil war, cannot be neglected. In the study of American history it is especially desirable that the development of the political or- ganizations be clearly brought forth. Nothing should be allowed to obscure the leading features of our constitutional system. The pupil must see the characteristics of American political life and know the forms and methods, as well as the prin- ciples, of political activity. He must have know- ledge of the ideals of American life, and must study the principles of American society as they have expressed themselves in institutions and embodied themselves in civic forms. Much has been said about the necessity of study- ing the social and industrial history of the United States, and some practical teachers have declared that chief stress should be laid upon social and economic features l of the past life of the people. Such a study is certainly very desirable ; the stu- dent should come to a realization of the nature of the problems of the industrial world about him, 1 There is a marked difference between studying economic his tory and studying economic features or conditions. 76 Treatment and should see the gradual changes that have been wrought as the years have gone by. History should be made real to him through the study of the daily ordinary life of man, and he should be led to feel that only a very small portion of man's activities or strivings is expressed by legislatures, congresses, or cabinets; that, especially under a government such as ours, the industrial conditions, the bodily needs, the social desires, the moral longings of the people, determine ultimately, if not immediately, the character of the law and the nature of the gov- ernment itself. We do not think, however, that economic or social facts should be emphasized at the expense of governmental or political facts. It seems wise to say that the greatest aim of education is to impress upon the learner a sense of duty and responsibility, and an acquaintance with his human obligations; and that a manifest function of the historical instruction in the school is to give to the pupil a sense of duty as a respon- sible member of that organized society of which he is a part, and some appreciation of its principles and its fundamental character. In other words, while industrial and social phases of progress should by no means be slighted, it is an absolute necessity that a course in American history should aim to give a connected narrative of political events and to record the gradual upbuilding of institu- Industrial and Social 77 tions, the slow establishment of political ideals and practices. Fortunately, as we have already suggested, many of the most important events in our social and industrial history are so intimately connected with the course of our political history that the two subjects seem not two but one. Changes in modes of industry or in social conditions, improve- ments in methods of labor, intellectual and moral movements, have manifested themselves in po- litical action, have influenced party creeds, or in some other way affected the forms or the conduct of the body politic. In a democratic country, any important change in the life of the people is of importance in political history, because the people are the state. Many of the economic and social changes, therefore, can best be studied as they show themselves in organized effort or are embodied in political institutions. If one looks at political activities or endeavors to understand con- stitutions, without knowledge of the lives and hopes of the people, the strivings of trade and commerce, the influence of inventions and dis- coveries, the effects of immigration, he knows but little of the whence or the how, and deals with symbols, not with things. While we believe, then, that the chief aim should be to give the pupil knowledge of the progress of 78 Treatment political institutions, ideas, and tendencies, we believe also that he should know the economic phases of life ; that whenever possible, attention should be directed not merely to economic and social conditions, but to economic and social devel- opments; and that those economic, industrial, or social modifications should receive chief attention which have permanently altered social organiza- tion, or have become imbedded in institutions, ideas, or governmental forms. We should in our study endeavor to see the full importance, because we see the results, of the fact that Virginia grew tobacco and South Carolina rice, and that the New Englanders were fishermen and went down to the sea in ships ; we should try to recognize the meanings of slavery and white servitude, of cotton and the sugar trade, of the steamboat, the rail- road, the telegraph, the rotary press, the sewing machine. We should see, if we can, how such things influenced human progress and had effect on the nature, organization, and destinies of the American people. Now a careful study like this is not possible for students in their early years. In the grades be- low the secondary school, use may well be made of mere descriptions of past times, of houses and apparel, of the snuff-boxes, wigs, and silken hose of our great-grandfathers ; for such pictures help Economic History 79 to awaken the imagination, to furnish it with food, to bring home the idea that men and their sur- roundings have changed, and to prepare the mind for the later growth of historical power and capa- cities. 1 But though the pupil must know bygone conditions and must seek to get a vivid picture of the past, the ultimate aim of history is to dis- close not what was, but what became. Totally unrelated facts are of antiquarian rather than of historical interest. In the secondary school, then, and especially in the later years of the course, atten- tion must be paid to movements, and an effort must be made to cultivate the faculty for drawing truthful generalizations, for seeing and compre- hending tendencies. We hope that from this statement no one will get the idea that we are waging war on economic history, or the study of what the Germans have happily called " culturgeschichte" But we con- 1 We recognize fully the historical value of many things that seem at first sight unimportant. When, for example, we are told that the old Federalists wore wigs and the Republicans did not, we recognize a fact that marks a change and symbolizes political creeds and party differences. Taine says that about the twentieth year of Elizabeth's reign the nobles gave up the shield and two- handed sword for the rapier, " a little, almost imperceptible fact," he remarks, " yet vast, for it is like the change which sixty years ago made us give up the sword at court, to leave our arms swinging about in our black coats." 8o Treatment tend that, since there is so much to be done in a single year, there is no time for the study of such past industrial and social conditions though they may be indeed interesting phenomena as stand unrelated, isolated, and hence meaningless, and are perhaps without real historical value. Time must rather be given to the important, to condi- tions which were fruitful of results, to movements, changes, and impulses in industrial as well as in political society. No study of economic forms or social phases should hide from view the political and social ideas for which our country stands, and which have been the developments of our history. We have entered upon this subject at some length in connection with a consideration of American history, because many of the state- ments seem important, and because much that is said, while peculiarly applicable to American his- tory, is likewise true of other fields. Especially in the study of English history should effort be made to connect economic and intellectual condi- tions with the progress of England, to look for changes in the succeeding centuries, and to see how political organization and social needs reacted one upon the other. And yet how often has Wat Tyler's insurrection been studied as a mere upris- ing of political malcontents endangering the safety or the bodily ease of young Richard II. 1 How Civil Government 81 often has the devastation of the North been studied as if it had a bearing only on the fortunes of the Norman dynasty ! How often have inventions and discoveries been stated as merely isolated phenom- ena, such changes, for example, as that marked by the use of pit-coal in the making of iron, as if they were of only scientific interest ! V. Civil Government Much time will be saved and better results ob- tained if history and civil government be studied in large measure together, as one subject rather than as two distinct subjects. We are sure that, in the light of what has been said in the earlier portions of this report about the desirability of school pupils knowing their political surroundings and duties, no one will suppose that in what we here recommend we underestimate the value of civil government or wish to lessen the effective- ness of the study. What we desire to emphasize is the fact that the two subjects are in some re- spects one, and that there is a distinct loss of energy in studying a small book on American his- tory and afterward a small book on civil govern- ment, or vice versa, when by combining the two a substantial course may be given. In any complete and thorough secondary course 82 Treatment in these subjects there must be, probably, a sepa- rate study of civil government, in which may be discussed such topics as municipal government, state institutions, the nature and origin of civil society, some fundamental notions of law and justice, and like matters ; and it may even be necessary, if the teacher desires to give a complete course and can command the time, to supplement work in American history with a formal study of the Constitution and the workings of the national government. But we repeat that a great deal of what is commonly called civil government can best be studied as a part of history. To know the present form of our institutions well, one should see whence they came and how they developed ; but to show origins, developments, changes, is the task of history, and in the proper study of his- tory one sees just these movements and knows their results. It would of course be foolish to say that the secondary pupil can trace the steps in the develop- ment of all our institutions, laws, political theories, and practices ; but some of them he can trace, and he should be enabled to do so in his course in American history. How it came about that we have a federal system of government rather than a centralized state ; what were the colonial begin- nings of our systems of local government ; how Government and History 83 the Union itself grew into being ; why the Con- stitution provided against general warrants ; why the first ten amendments were adopted ; why the American people objected to bills of attainder and declared against them in their fundamental law, these, and a score of other questions, naturally arise in the study of history, and an answer to them gives meaning to our Constitution. Moreover, the most fundamental ideas in the political struc- ture of the United States may best be seen in a study of the problems of history. The nature of the Constitution as an instrument of govern- ment, the relation of the central authority to the states, the theory of state sovereignty or that of national unity, the rise of parties and the growth of party machinery, these subjects are best understood when seen in their historical settings. But in addition to this, many, if not all, of the provisions of the Constitution may be seen in the study of history, not as mere descriptions written on a piece of parchment, but as they are em- bodied in working institutions. The best way to understand institutions is to see them in action ; the best way to understand forms is to see them used. By studying civil government in connection with history, the pupil studies the concrete and the actual. The process of impeachment, the appoint- ing power of the president, the make-up of the 84 Treatment cabinet, the power of the speaker, the organization of the territories, the adoption and purpose of the amendments, the methods of annexing territory, the distribution of the powers of government and their working relations, indeed all the important parts of the Constitution that have been translated into existing, acting institutions, may be studied as they have acted. If one does not pay attention to such subjects as these in the study of history, what is left but wars and rumors of wars, partisan contentions and meaningless details ? We do not advise that text-books on civil govern- ment be discarded, even when there is no oppor- tunity to give a separate course in the subject. On the contrary, such a book should always be ready for use, in order that the teacher may prop- erly illustrate the past by reference to the present. If the pupils can make use of good books on the Constitution and laws, so much the better. What we desire to recommend is simply this, that in any school where there is no time for sound, substantial courses in both civil government and history, the history be taught in such a way that the pupil will gain a knowledge of the essentials of the political system which is the product of that history ; and that, where there is time for separate courses, they be taught, not as isolated, but as interrelated and interdependent subjects. Bishop Stubbs in a Teaching of Government 85 memorable sentence has said, "The roots of the present lie deep in the past, and nothing in the past is dead to the man who would learn how the present comes to be what it is." Though we must not distort the past in an effort to give mean- ing to the present, yet we can fully understand the present only by a study of the past ; and the past, on the other hand, is appreciated only by those who know the present. Methods of Instruction IN the early part of this report, attention is called to the fact that there seems to be some agreement among teachers of history concerning the methods of teaching; and we have attributed this agreement in some measure to the recom- mendation of the Madison Conference, whose re- port has been widely read and used throughout the country. Doubtless there are many other reasons for the improvement of the last ten years, chief among which is the increased supply of well-trained teachers. There has been also a new recognition of the purpose of history teaching, a growing reali- zation on the part of teachers of why they teach the subject and of what they hope to accomplish. If one has distinctly in his mind the end that he seeks to gain, he will be likely to discover suitable means and methods of teaching. More impor- tant, therefore, than method, is object : means are valueless to one who has no end to be attained. The teacher who is seeking means and methods should first inquire whether he is sure that he knows what he wishes to accomplish. 86 Interest in Methods 87 It is unnecessary for us to go into this subject at very great length. If teachers have been stimu- lated by the report of the Madison Conference, and have learned to obtain from it what is adapted to their wants, and to disregard what seems to them to be unsuited to their needs, they can continue to fol- low it. In spite of the six years of experience that have elapsed since that report was publisned, this committee will perhaps be no wiser in its recom- mendations and suggestions ; and if there is now a manifest drift toward what we may be suffered to call " advanced " methods, the best plan may be to leave well enough alone, with the firm assurance that the best methods will be widely used only when there is a full realization of the purposes and the nature of the study. While discussing the value of historical work, we have necessarily considered the aims and ob- jects of instruction. The chief purpose is not to fill the boy's head with a mass of material, which he may perchance put forth again when a college examiner demands its production. Without under- estimating the value of historical knowledge, and deprecating nothing more than a readiness to argue and contend about the meaning of facts that have not been established, 1 we contend that the 1 History, unlike some other subjects in the curriculum, is a subject to be studied for its own sake and not merely for discipli- 88 Methods accumulation of facts is not the sole, or per- haps not the leading, purpose of studying history. No other subject in the high-school curriculum is stigmatized as an information study simply, rather than an educational study. Not even arithmetic beyond decimals and percentage is looked upon as valuable for the stubble that it stores away in the head, where the brain has not been called into activity or taught to use the ma- terial which it is asked to retain. But for some unaccountable reason, it has been held that boys and girls must not think about historical material, or be taught to reason or be led to approach events with the historical spirit. The scientific spirit can be awakened and methods of scientific thinking cultivated ; power in handling language and an ability for grasping grammatical distinctions can be developed ; even the literary sense can be fostered and promoted ; but the historical sense, the begin- nings of historical thinking, it is sometimes gravely nary purposes. The information obtained by the study is a con- tinuous source of pleasure and profit. Moreover, no subject can have the best pedagogical results if its acknowledged purpose is not to acquire knowledge but to get training. The mind naturally seizes and uses information which is at once interesting and useful; above all, it grasps that which is interesting because it is useful. Jty what is said in the text, we wish to emphasize the disciplinary value of the study, but not to belittle its value for information and culture. Training 89 said, cannot be expected ; all that one can do is to give information, in the hope that in some distant day pleasant and helpful reactions will take place within the brain. Fortunately, the number of per- sons who argue in this way has decreased and is decreasing, and we may well leave those that re- main to the intelligent teachers of history through- out the land, who are awake to the possibilities of their subject, and who see the boys and girls grow- ing in power and efficiency under their hands. 1 Pupils who can study physics and geometry, or read Cicero's orations, must be presumed to have powers of logic and capacity to follow argument. Teachers of English put into their pupils' hands such masterpieces as Burke's " Speech on Concili- ation with America " and Webster's " Reply to Hayne." It is certainly unwise to use such mate- rial for English work if it is impossible for boys and girls of sixteen to understand what these statesmen were talking about, or to see the force 1 We may justly contend that an effort to store facts in pupils' heads often defeats its own ends. College professors who have looked over entrance examination papers for many years, as most members of this committee have done, are struck by the marvellous accumulation of misinformation which has been acquired and held with calm belief and placid assurance. We may seriously inquire whether instruction in method of looking at facts and training in thinking about them would not leave a greater residuum of actual information. 90 Methods of their arguments ; for, if language is conceded to be a vehicle of ideas, it cannot be studied as a thing apart, without reference to its content. And if Burke and Cicero and Patrick Henry and Daniel Webster can be understood in language work, it seems reasonable to hold that they can be under- stood in history work, and hence that pupils may fairly be asked to think of what they see and read. It is not our purpose to give minute and particu- lar directions concerning methods of historical in- struction. A short list of books from which teachers may obtain helpful suggestions for classroom work will be found in Appendix VII. to this report. In drafting the recommendations which follow here, we have had in mind only certain general methods which we think specially useful for bringing out the educational value of the study. I. We believe that in most cases the teacher should use a text-book. If the book is prepared by a practical teacher and a scholar, it is probably the product of much toil, which has been devoted to a consideration of proportion and order as well as to accuracy, and it is therefore likely to unfold the subject more systematically than a teacher can pos- sibly do unless- he has wide training, long experi- ence, and, in addition, daily opportunity carefully to examine the field and to search out the nature of the problems that he is called upon to discuss. Text-Books 91 Without the use of a text it is difficult to hold the pupils to a definite line of work : there is danger of incoherence and confusion. While, therefore, we strongly advise the use of material outside of the text, we feel that the use of the topical method alone will in the great majority of instances result in the pupils' having unconnected information. They will lose sight of the main current ; and it is the current and not the eddies which they should watch. In some classes, especially in the more advanced grades, it may be possible to use more than one text-book. " By preparing in different books, or, by using more than one book on a lesson, pupils will acquire the habit of comparison, and the no less important habit of doubting whether any one book covers the ground." 1 In an attempt to dis- cover the truth they may be led to study more widely for themselves, and will surely find that there are sources of information outside of the printed page. The use of more than one text will, however, often present many practical difficulties to the teacher ; and this will surely be the case unless he has the time and opportunity to master all the texts himself and to examine outside material with care. In most schools there is a decided ad- vantage in having one line along which the class 1 Report of the Committee [of Ten] (Washington, 1893), l %9> 92 Methods may move. Often it may prove helpful to use supplementary texts, in order to amplify and modify the regular class-book; this may be done by the teacher when comparison by the class might prove distracting. 1 II. Material outside of the text-book should be used in all branches of historical study and in every year of the secondary course. Life and interest may in this way be given to the work ; pupils may be introduced to good literature and be taught to han- dle books. This collateral material may be used in various ways, and of course much more should be expected of the later classes than of the earlier; indeed, there should be a consistent purpose to develop gradually and systematically this power of using books. Often, especially in the earlier years, the teacher will read to the class passages from en- tertaining histories. Younger pupils without previ- ous training should not be expected to find the books 1 After this portion of the report, dealing with methods, was read, at the meeting of the American Historical Association, in 1898, one teacher expressed the opinion that the report did not suffi- ciently emphasize the oral recitations ; another, that we did not sufficiently emphasize written work ; another, that we did not sufficiently emphasize the value of more than one text-book. We do not wish to underestimate any means which any teacher finds suited to his needs and productive of good results. Teachers must of course use their own discretion as to how far various methods may be followed ; hut we think that all of the ideas and plans here suggested will prove helpful. Reading 93 that treat of certain topics, or to know how to find the portions desired. Let the pupil learn how to understand and use pages before he uses books ; and let him learn how to use one or two books before he is set to rummaging in a library. For example, a class in the first year of the secondary school may be asked to tell what is said of Mara- thon in Botsford's "History of Greece," p. 121. A twelfth-grade class, properly trained, may be asked to compare Lecky's account of the Stamp Act with Bancroft's, or to find out what they can in the books of the library concerning the defects of the Articles of Confederation. III. Something in the way of written work should be done in every year of the secondary school. It is unnecessary to caution teachers against requiring the sort of work in the early years that may reasonably be expected in the later part of the course. Younger pupils, who have had little or no training in doing written work of this character, might be required simply to con- dense and put into their own language a few pages of Grote or Mommsen, or to write out in simple form some abstract of Thucydides's account of the fate of the Sicilian expedition, or of Herodotus's description of the battle of Thermopylae, or to do similar tasks. In the later years more difficult tasks may be assigned, demanding the use of sev- 94 Methods eral books and the weaving together of various narratives or opinions. It may be said by some persons that such work as this is for the English teacher, not for the history teacher; but it can hardly be asserted that skill in the use of historical books, practice in acquiring historical information, and the ability to put forth in one's own language what has been read, are not objects of historical training. IV. It may at times prove helpful to have written recitations or tests. Teachers have often found that this method secures accuracy and defi- niteness of statement. Some pupils who have difficulty in organizing and arranging the informa- tion which they possess, and who consequently are not so successful as others in oral recitations, often succeed admirably in written exercises, and by their success are stimulated and encouraged to do thoughtful and systematic work. V. Many teachers have been aided in their work by requiring the class to keep note-books ; and the committee favors the adoption of this system, which has proved so serviceable in the study of the sciences. These books may contain analyses of the text, notes on outside matter presented in class, a list of books with which the pupil has himself become acquainted, and perhaps also some condensations of his reading. An analytical ar- Written Work 95 rangement of the more important topics that are discussed in the course of the study may also be placed in the note-book; this plan will help the student to see the different lines of development and change. For example, under the head of " Slavery " short statements may be inserted of the facts that have been learned from the text ; by so doing the pupil will have at the end of his work a condensed narrative of the introduction, growth, and effect of slavery, and will be led to see the continuity of the slavery question as he would probably be unable to see it by any other means. VI. Fortunately it is unnecessary in these latter days to call the teacher's attention to the use of maps, and to the idea that geography and history are inextricably interwoven. Most text-books now have a number of maps, all of which however are by no means faultless. Good wall-maps may be obtained at reasonable prices ; and every school should have at least one good historical atlas. The class should use physical maps, as well as those showing political and national divisions, for often the simplest and most evident facts with which the pupil is well acquainted need to be forced sharply upon his attention in connection with history. The Nile, the Euphrates, the Tiber, the Rhine, the Thames, the Mississippi, the Alps, the 96 Methods Pyrenees, the Alleghanies, their very names call up to the mind of the historical scholar troops of facts and forces affecting the progress of the race and moulding the destinies of nations. The pupils should not lose sight of the physical causes that have acted in history any more than they should ignore the human causes ; and they must remember that, although history deals with the succession of events, there is always a place relation as well as a time relation. As new meaning is given to geog- raphy when physical conditions are seen in relation with human life, so reality is added to historical occurrences and new interest is awakened in his- torical facts by the study of the theatre within which men acted and notable events took place. " Groupings of historical figures and scenes around geographical centres make these centres instinct with life and motion, while the centres themselves, binding the figures and scenes together, give them a new permanence and solidity." l The careful study of physical geography and of historical geography is of value, therefore, not only in bringing out the nature or the true import of facts, but in helping the pupils to retain information be- cause they see natural causes and relations, and because events are thus made to appear definite and actual. 1 Hinsdale, How to Study and Teach History, 99. Geography 97 If these methods are to be followed, as they must be if history is to be a study of high educa- tional value, books for reference and reading are as necessary as is apparatus for efficient work in physics or chemistry. Not many years ago all subjects except " natural philosophy " were taught without the help of any material save a text-book for each pupil, and perhaps a few dusty cyclopae- dias often deftly concealed in a closet behind the teacher's desk. Great changes have been made ; nearly all schools now have some books, but even at the present time it is easier to get five thousand dollars for physical and chemical laboratories than five hundred dollars for reference books ; and even when libraries have been provided, their material is sometimes not wisely chosen, and they are often allowed to fall behind by a failure to purchase new and useful literature as it comes out. The library should be the centre and soul of all study in history and literature ; no vital work can be carried on without books to which pupils may have ready and constant access. Without these op- portunities historical work is likely to be arid, if not unprofitable ; there cannot be collateral reading, or written work of the most valuable sort, or study of the sources, or knowledge of illustrative ma- terial. Even a small expenditure of money may change the dull routine of historical study into H 98 Methods a voyage of pleasurable discovery, awakening the interest, the enthusiasm, and the whole mental power of the pupils. No school is so poor that something cannot be done in the way of collecting material. The first necessity of a school library is that it be accessible. It should be in the school build- ing, open during the whole of school hours and as much longer as possible ; it should be furnished with working tables and provided with good light, and so arranged that it serves, not as something helpful outside the school, but as the source and centre of inspiration, to which the classroom work is contributory. The books should be freely used, for a library is no longer considered a place for the preservation and concealment of books, but a centre from which they may be put into circula- tion, and where the best facilities are offered for acquiring information. The question as to whether the books should be left in open shelves or handed out by an attendant must be decided of course by the school authorities, in light of all the circum- stances ; but it must be remembered that the opportunity to touch and handle the volumes, to glance at their pages, to discover the subjects of which they treat, to look, as it were, into their faces, is of great value, and that more can be learned by a few minutes of familiar intercourse Libraries 99 with a book in the hand than by many inquiries of an attendant or by anxious searchings in a cata- logue. The fewer the barriers and obstacles in the way the better will be the results ; and the more will the pupil be tempted to refer to the authorities or to read the great masters in history and literature, an acquaintance with whose words, thoughts, and sentiments constitutes in itself no small part of education. In employing the library for historical purposes, care should be taken to teach the pupils how to use intelligently tables of contents and indexes, and also how to turn to their account the library cata- logues and the indexes to general and periodical literature. The teacher will remember that the habit of referring to authorities to settle doubtful points or to discover additional evidence is a most important part, not only of historical training, but of the outfit of an educated person, and that wide reading should bring breadth of view and also a broadening and deepening of the judgment. The well-equipped library should contain (i) good historical atlases and atlases of modern geography ; (2) one or two historical handbooks, or dictionaries of dates ; (3) an ample supply of secondary histories, such as those of Holm, Mommsen, Lecky, Parkman ; with these may be classed, as especially useful, good, interesting bi- ioo Methods ographies, such as Dodge's " Alexander the Great," Stanhope's " Pitt " ; (4) there should certainly be some collections of sources, many of which are now accessible ; and some of the recent leaflets and collections of extracts of primary and secondary material will be found of service ; (5) a good ency- clopaedia and one or two annual compendiums, such as the various political almanacs. Sources THE use of sources in secondary work is now a matter of so much importance, that it seems to demand special and distinct treatment. We believe in the proper use of sources for proper pupils, with proper guarantees that there shall also be secured a clear outline view of the whole subject studied ; but we find ourselves unable to approve a method of teaching, sometimes called the " source method," in which pupils have in their hands little more than a series of extracts, for the most part brief, and not very closely related. The difficulty with this system is, that while it suggests the basis of original record upon which all history rests, on the other hand it expects valuable generalizations from insufficient bases. Within the covers of one book it is impossible to bring together one hundredth part of the material which any careful historical writer would examine for himself before coming to a con- clusion ; and it is not to be expected that inexperi- enced and immature minds can form correct notions without some systematic survey of the field. In- deed the attempts to teach history wholly from the IO2 Sources sources ignore the fact that the actual knowledge of the facts of history in the minds of the most highly trained teachers of history, comes largely from sec- ondary books ; it is only in limited fields, where a large mass of material can be examined and sifted, that historians and teachers can safely rely for their information entirely on sources, and even there they find it useful to refer to the secondary work of other writers for new points of view. The first essential, then, for any practical use of sources by pupils, is that their work shall be done in connection with a good text-book, in which the sequence and relation of events can be made clear. The aim of historical study in the second- ary school, let it be repeated, is the training of pupils, not so much in the art of historical investi- gation as in that of thinking historically. Pupils should be led to grasp facts and to see them in relations, for one who has been taught to establish certain facts with unerring accuracy may still be unable to understand the historical significance of those facts. In the second place, we disclaim any confidence in " investigation " by pupils, if by investigation is meant a mental process of the same order as that of the practised historian and the special student of a limited field, or of the teacher preparing ma- terial for his classes. In our judgment, sources Use of Text-Book 103 are not intended to be either the sole or the princi- pal materials for school study. There is, indeed, a close analogy between the proposed processes of historical study and those of the study of natural science. In physics, for example, it has been thought expedient to require a well-ordered text- book in connection with a series of experiments; yet physics cannot be efficiently taught unless the pupil has some contact with materials, not because they form the only foundation of his knowledge, but because he learns to look for himself, and to understand that the knowledge which he receives at second-hand must be based upon patient investi- gation by somebody else. By the study of properly selected materials, the pupil realizes that historical characters were living persons, and he learns to distinguish between them and the x and y of algebra or the formulas of physics. When one reads the loving letter written from before Antioch by Count Stephen of Blois some eight hundred years ago, 1 in which he charges his wife to do right and to remember her duty to her children and her vassals, one realizes that the Cru- saders were real men, imbued with many of the purposes, hopes, and sentiments with which men of the present day are moved and influenced. 1 Translated in Letters of the Crusaders {University of Pennsyl vania Translations and Reprints}, 1-4. iO4 Sources The use of sources which we advocate is, there- fore, a limited contact with a limited body of mate- rials, an examination of which may show the child the nature of the historical process, and at the same time may make the people and events of bygone times more real to him. We believe that some acquaintance with sources vitalizes the subject, and thus makes it easier for the teacher and more stimulating for the pupil. But all sources are not of equal value for this purpose ; some of those which are very important for more mature students are too dry and unattractive to be useful for younger persons. John Adams's " Discourses of Davila " is a source, though thought exceedingly dull even in his generation. Abigail Adams's letters to her husband, complaining of the fall of continental currency, are equally valuable as sources, and much more interesting. Since discrimination in the selection of sources is of so much importance, the first criterion is, that authorities be chosen whose authenticity is beyond dispute. It is not worth while to introduce chil- dren to the controversies over the voyages of John and Sebastian Cabot ; or to the arguments for and against the truthfulness of John Smith's account of his rescue by Pocahontas ; or to the authorship of the letters found in the saddle-bags of Charles I. There is no difficulty in obtaining an abundance Limitations 105 of suggestive sources, about the value of which historians will agree and around which no inter- minable controversy is waging. Pains should also be taken to recommend the sources that may reasonably be brought within the knowledge of pupils ; it is of no use to refer to rarities or to texts long out of print. In the next place, few documents, in the usual significance of that term, are very useful in the schoolroom. A capitulary of Charlemagne, Magna Charta, a colonial charter, or the Constitution of the United States may with careful explanation be made clear; but it is difficult to make them attractive. The growth of a nation, the enlarge- ment of its political ideas, may be measurable by young intellects, but not the registration of that growth in great political documents. And yet even documents may be occasionally used. There seems to be no good reason for merely reading about the Declaration of Independence without seeing the printed instrument itself, or talking about the Ordinance of 1787 or the Proclamation of Emancipation without knowledge of the texts. There is, however, a large body of material of another kind which is as trustworthy as constitu- tional documents and is much more attractive. Such are books of travels, which from Herodotus down to James Bryce have been one of the most io6 Sources entertaining and suggestive sources on the social and intellectual phenomena of history. Of equal interest, and perhaps of greater value, are the actual journals and letters of persons contemporary with the events which they describe. Such are Cicero's " Epistles," Luther's " Letters," Pepys' " Diary," Bradford's " History," and the more intimate writings of statesmen like Henry VIII. of England and Henry IV. of France, Frederick the Great, Franklin, Washington, and Gladstone. These are unfailing sources of historical informa- tion, and they give in addition a personal and human interest to the subjects which they illus- trate. In dealing with young minds which are rapidly opening, it is of special importance to choose books or extracts which have a literary value. The annals of the race are founded on first-hand accounts of historical events, many of which are written in such a fashion as to be worth reading aside from their historical value. Such are, for example, Einhard's " Life of Charlemagne " ; the naive accounts of the foundation of the Swiss Re- public in 1292 ; the journals of the early voyagers to the Western world ; the table-talk of Bismarck ; the farewell letters of John Brown ; and the mem- oranda of Lincoln's few brief speeches. Such material used in schools gives part of the training Topical Work 107 and enjoyment to be had from good literature, and at the same time furnishes illustrations that make the text-book of history sparkle with human life. In connection with topical work, the pupils may with special advantage make use of the sources. To the child such work is as fresh as though it had never been undertaken by any other mind. In comparing the statements of various sources and arriving at a conclusion from taking them to- gether, the pupil gets a valuable training of judg- ment. He must not suppose that he is making a history, or that his results are comparable with those of the trained historian ; but he may have an intellectual enjoyment of the same kind as that of the historical writer. The committee is fully aware of the difficulty of carrying on such methods as are here suggested ; they require advan- tageous circumstances and material which is easily handled and with which the teacher has decided familiarity. As has been pointed out above, written work must not be the only or even the principal employment of the pupil, but in the preparation of written topics much may be gained by dealing with sources, if a sufficient variety is available. Wherever written work is required, therefore, it is desirable to have some sources, to be used not merely for help in writing io8 Sources but for reference. In this way the pupil may get an idea of the difficulties of ascertaining his- torical truth, and of the necessity for impartiality and accuracy. Besides the sources which have come down to us in written form and are reproduced upon the printed page, there is another important class of his- torical materials which is of great assistance in giv- ing reality to the past, namely, actual, concrete remains, such as exist in the form of old buildings, monuments, and the contents of museums. Many schools have direct access to interesting survivals of this sort, while the various processes of pictorial reproduction have placed abundant stores of such material within reach of every teacher. The ex- cellent illustrations of many recent text-books may be supplemented by special albums, such as are used in French and German schools, and by the school's own collections of engravings and photo- graphs cut from magazines or procured from dealers. 1 Some schools have also provided sets 1 Selections from the Perry prints, and the cheap series of pho- tographic reproductions issued by various American houses, are always available at a very moderate price, and have found a place in many schools. Good types of inexpensive foreign albums are Seemann's Kunsthistorische Bilderbogen and the Albums Histo- riques of Parmentier (Paris, Hachette). Holzel in Vienna pub- lishes Langl's Bilder zur Geschicfite, a set of sixty-two wall picturei of the great structures of all ages. Illustrative 109 of lantern slides. Of course in order to entitle such illustrations to serious use and to the rank of historical sources they must be real pictures, actual reproductions of buildings, statues, contem- porary portraits, views of places, etc., and not inventions of modern artists. It is easy to make too much of illustrations and thus reduce history to a series of dissolving views ; but many excellent teachers have found the judicious use of pictures helpful in the extreme, not merely in arousing interest in the picturesque aspects of the subject, but in cultivating the historical imagination and in giving definiteness and vividness to the pupil's general ideas of the past. An appeal to the eye is of great assistance in bringing out the charac- teristic differences between past and present, and thus in checking that tendency to project the present into the past which is one of the most serious obstacles to sound views of history. The chief danger in the use of pictorial material lies in giving too much of it instead of dwelling at length on a few carefully chosen examples. To sum up this part of the subject, the com- mittee looks upon sources as adjuncts to good text- book work, as something which may be used for a part of the collateral reading and may also form the basis of some of the written work. Such use of material, with proper discrimination in choosing no Sources the sources, will add to the pleasure of the pupil, and will by sharpness of outline fix in his mind events and personalities that will slip away if he uses the text-books alone. Intensive Study THAT we have not dwelt at any length upon the desirability of devoting time to what is termed by the Madison Conference " intensive study," is because we do not see how in many schools suf- ficient time can be given to such work, and not because we advise against the adoption of that plan of work if there is time and opportunity in the school course. Indeed, we believe that the careful examination of a very limited period is highly beneficial. By intensive study we do not mean original work in the sense in which the word " original " is used in advanced college classes ; we mean simply the careful and somewhat pro- longed study of a short period. The shorter the period and the longer the time devoted to it, the more intensive the study will be. Perhaps in the courses in English and American history, time may be found to study one or two periods with special care and attention, so that the pupil may have exceptional opportunities to read the best secondary authorities, and even to examine pri- in H2 Intensive Study mary material. For example, in English history it may prove possible to give two or three weeks, instead of two or three days, to a study of the im- portant events and meanings of the Common- wealth, or to the ideas and progress of the whole Puritan movement. In American history it may be wise to study for a considerable time such sub- jects as the causes of the Revolution, or the Con- federation and the formation of the Constitution, or the chief events of the decade from 1850 to 1860. When this plan of selecting a period or a topic for intensive examination is possible, the pupils can gain great advantage by the oppor- tunity of delving deeper into the subject than is possible when all parts of the work are studied with equal thoroughness or superficiality : they can read more in the secondary material, can get a peep at the sources, and thus come to a fuller appreciation of what history is and how it is writ- ten. Only when good working facilities are at hand, however, and the teacher, knowing the ma- terial, has time to guide his pupils and give them constant aid and attention, will this plan prove very helpful. The Need of Trained Teachers IF history is to take and hold its proper place in the school curriculum, it must be in the hands of teachers who are thoroughly equipped for the task of bringing out its educational value. It is still not very unusual to find that history is taught, if such a word is appropriate, by those who have made no preparation, and that classes are some- times managed we hesitate to say instructed by persons who do not profess either to be pre- pared or to take interest in the subject. In one good school, for example, history a short time ago was turned over to the professor of athletics, not because he knew history, but apparently in order to fill up his time. In another school a teacher was seen at work who evidently did not have the first qualifications for the task ; when the ex- aminer inquired why this teacher was asked to teach history when she knew no history, the an- swer was that she did not know anything else. As long as other subjects in the course are given to specialists, while history is distributed here and i 113 114 Trained Teachers there to fill up interstices, there can be no great hope for its advancement. Fortunately, however, this condition of things is disappearing as history gradually finds its way to a place beside such sub- jects as Latin and mathematics, which claim a pre- scriptive right to first consideration. Doubtless to teach history properly is a difficult task. It requires not only wide information and accurate knowledge, but a capacity to awaken enthusiasm and to bring out the inner meanings of a great subject. Accuracy and defmiteness must be inculcated in the pupil, and he must be led to think carefully and soberly ; but he must also be tempted to range beyond the limits of the text and to give rein to his imagination. Pupils often complain that, while in other studies a lesson can be thoroughly mastered, in history every topic seems exhaustless. Teachers are constantly con- fronted with the same difficulties. So many problems arise and demand attention ; so diffi- cult is it to hold the pupil to definite facts, and yet help him to see that he is studying a scene in the great drama of human life which has its per- petual exits and entrances ; so hard a task is it to stimulate the imagination while one is seeking to cultivate the reason and the judgment, that the highest teaching power is necessary to complete success. Knowledge 115 The first requisite for good teaching is know- ledge. The teacher's duty is not simply to see that the pupils have learned a given amount, or that they understand the lesson, as one uses the word " understand " when speaking of a demonstration in geometry or an experiment in physics. His task is to bring out the real meaning and import of what is learned by adding illustrations, showing causes and suggesting results, to select the impor- tant and to pass over the unimportant, to empha- size essentials, and to enlarge upon significant facts and ideas. A person with a meagre information cannot have a wide outlook; he cannot see the relative importance of things unless he actually knows them in their relations. But knowledge of facts alone is not enough. In historical work pupils and teacher are constantly engaged in using books. These books the teacher must know ; he must know the periods which they cover, their methods of treatment, their trustworth- iness, their attractiveness, their general utility for the purposes of young students. He must have skill in handling books and in gleaning from them the information which he is seeking, because it is just this skill which he is trying to give to his pupils. No one would seriously think of putting in charge of a class in manual training a person who had himself never shoved a plane or measured Ii6 Trained Teachers a board. To turn over a class in history to be in- structed by a person, who is not acquainted with the tools of the trade and has had no practice in manipulating them, is an equal absurdity. A successful teacher must have more than mere accurate information and professional knowledge. He needs to have a living sympathy with the tale which he tells. He must know how to bring out the dramatic aspects of his story. He must know how to awaken the interest and atten- tion of his pupils, who will always be alert and eager if they feel that they are learning of the actual struggles and conflicts of men who had like pas- sions with ourselves. Though stores of dates and names must be at the teacher's command, these are not enough. He must have had his own imagina- tion fired and his enthusiasm kindled ; he must know the sources of historical knowledge and the springs of historical inspiration ; he must know the literature of history and be able to direct his pupils to stirring passages in the great historical masters ; he must know how to illumine and brighten the page by readings from literature and by illustra- tions from art. " It were far better," says Professor Dicey, " as things now stand, to be charged with heresy, or even to be found guilty of petty larceny, than to fall under the suspicion of lacking historical-minded- Point of View 117 ness, or of questioning the universal validity of the historical method." To cultivate historical-minded- ness, to teach pupils to think historically and to approach facts with the historical spirit, this is the chief object of instruction in any field of his- tory. But unless the teacher has had practice in dealing with facts, unless he has acquired per- spective, unless he has become historical-minded and knows himself what the historical method is, he cannot instruct his pupils. These character- istics cannot be absorbed from a text-book in an hour or two before the recitation ; they are the products of time and toil. Possibly the day is far distant when all teachers in this country will be prepared for their duties by a long course of training such as is required of a teacher in European schools ; but there are a few evidences that this time is slowly approaching. Beyond all question, some of the best teachers in our secondary schools are almost wholly self- trained ; some of them are not college graduates. But these exceptions do not prove that advanced collegiate training and instruction are undesirable. In teaching a vital subject like history, much de- pends upon the personality of the teacher, upon his force, insight, tact, sympathy, upon qualities that cannot be imparted by the university courses or by prolonged research. Though all this be true, n8 Trained Teachers every teacher should have had some instruction in methods of teaching, and should have learned from precept what are the essentials of historical study and historical thinking; and what is of much greater importance he should have so worked that he knows himself what historical facts are and how they are to be interpreted and arranged. The highly successful teacher in any field of work needs to be a student as well as a teacher, to be in touch with the subject as a growing, developing, and enlarging field of human knowledge. College Entrance Requirements 1 ANY consideration of college entrance require- ments presents many difficulties ; but probably no field of work offers greater problems than does that of history, because the schools have no common understanding as to the amount of history that should be offered in the curriculum, and because the universities differ materially in their requirements. The first fundamental fact to be remembered is that a very large percentage of secondary pupils do not go to college, and that in a very great majority of schools the courses must be adapted primarily for the pupils who finish their study with 1 In 1896, the National Educational Association appointed a committee to consider the subject of college entrance requirements, and to report a scheme of uniform requirements. At the request of that committee, the American Historical Association appointed the Committee of Seven to draft a scheme of college entrance re- quirements in history. The portion of our report that here follows was prepared with that purpose in mind ; and substantially similar recommendations have already been made to Superintendent Night- ingale, as chairman of the committee of the National Educational Association. "9 I2O Entrance Requirements the secondary school. It is often asserted that the course which fits pupils for college is equally well adapted to the uses of those who do not go to college. We do not care to argue this question, although we doubt very much if it be true that the requirements laid down for entrance to college, requirements which still bear the mark of the old regime, are likely to furnish the best equipment for the work and play of everyday life. Whether this be true or not, it is certainly wrong to shape secondary courses primarily with a view to college needs. In the great majority of schools the cur- riculum must be prepared with the purpose of developing boys and girls into young men and women, not with the purpose of fitting them to meet entrance examinations or of filling them with information which some faculty thinks desirable as a forerunner of college work. Many of the acade- mies and some of the high schools can without much trouble meet the artificial requirements of the colleges; but a great majority of the high schools and some of the academies have great dif- ficulty ; and it is an almost impossible task so to arrange the programme that pupils can be fitted for more than one institution. 1 1 For example, in a catalogue of a good high school, a school rather large than small, and well-equipped with teachers, we find these typical statements : that a pupil may prepare in that school Fitting Schools 121 For this reason we welcome the efforts of the committee of the National Educational Associa- tion to simplify and unify college entrance re- quirements. We believe, however, that the first requisite of a successful accomplishment of this task is a recognition of the fact that the great majority of schools are not fitting-schools for college ; and it seems to us that any rigid and inelastic regime, which does not take into consid- eration the fact that schools are working in many different environments and are subject to different limitations and conditions, cannot be very widely accepted or prove useful for any length of time. We venture to suggest, therefore, that in any effort to simplify the situation by relieving the schools from the burden of trying to meet college requirements, two things are essential ; one is, that the fundamental scope and purpose of the major part of the secondary schools be regarded ; the other, that such elasticity be allowed that schools may fit pupils for college and yet adapt them- selves to some extent to local environment and local needs. 1 for one of several universities, but that at the beginning of the second year he should know what he intends to do ; and that a failure to choose accurately in any one semester involves the loss of a year. 1 It does not seem wise, even if it be possible, to outline the same rigid entrance requirements for the University of California, 122 Entrance Requirements We feel justified, therefore, as students and teachers, in marking out what we think is the best curriculum in history, in discussing the edu- cational value of the study, in emphasizing the thought that history is peculiarly appropriate in a secondary course, which is fashioned with the thought of preparing boys and girls for the duties of daily life and intelligent citizenship, and in dwelling upon methods for bringing out the peda- gogical effect of historical work. It seems to us that, in consideration of the value and importance of historical work, and in light of the fact that so many thousands of pupils are now engaged in historical study, the colleges should be ready to admit to their list of requirements a liberal amount of history ; but we do not feel that we should seek to lay down hard-and-fast entrance requirements in history and ask the colleges or the committee of the National Educational Association to declare in favor of an inflexible regime. For convenience of statement we have adopted, in the recommendations which follow, the term " unit " ; by one unit we mean either one year of historical work wherein the study is given five University of Kansas, University of North Carolina, Yale, Har- vard, Tulane, and a hundred others. This policy would mean that secondary schools everywhere throughout the country must dis- regard local conditions and yield to an outside force. Recommendations 123 times per week, or two years of historical work wherein the study is given three times per week. We have thought it best to take into consideration the fact that different colleges have now not only different requirements, but also entirely different methods of framing and proposing requirements. It has not seemed wise, therefore, to outline his- torical courses on the supposition that all colleges would at once conform to a uniform arrange- ment. 1. If a college or a scientific school has a sys- tem of complete options in college entrance re- quirements, that is, if it accepts a given number of years' work, or units, without prescribing specific subjects of study (as at Leland Stanford Univer- sity), we recommend that four units in history be accepted as an equivalent for a like amount of work in other subjects. Likewise, that one, two, or three units in history be accepted. 2. If a college or a scientific school requires a list of certain prescribed studies, and also demands additional subjects, to be chosen out of an optional list (as at Harvard University), we recommend that one unit of history be placed on the list of definitely prescribed studies, and that one, two, or three units of history be placed among the optional studies. 3. If a college or a scientific school has rigid 124 Entrance Requirements requirements without options (as at Yale College and the Sheffield Scientific School), we recommend that at least one unit of history be required for entrance. These recommendations do not seem to us un- reasonable, and we do not believe that their adop- tion would impose any burden upon college or preparatory schools. If the traditional requirements in other subjects need to be diminished in order to allow one unit of history in any regime of rigid requirements, we do not think that such diminution is unwise in light of the fact that history is now generally studied, and that the training obtained from historical work is an essential of good sec- ondary education. It will be seen from the state- ment which follows (under 4), that we do not recommend any particular field or period of his- tory as preferable to all others for the purpose of such requirements; to constitute this unit any one of the periods or blocks of history previously mentioned may be selected. 4. Where a college has several distinct courses leading to different degrees, and has different groups of preparatory studies, each group pre- paring for one of the college courses (as at the University of Michigan), the use to be made of history requires more detailed exposition. In one of these preparatory courses the ancient languages Units 125 receive chief attention ; in a second, a modern language is substituted for one of the ancient Ian- guages ; in a third, the chief energy is devoted to natural sciences ; in a fourth, main stress is laid upon history and English language and literature. The general recommendations given above will aid somewhat in outlining preparatory courses in his- tory when such definite routes for admission to college are marked out : A. We believe that in each preparatory course there should be at least one unit of history. This recommendation means that classical students should have at least one full year of historical work. A course which purports to deal with the " humanities " cannot afford to be without one year's work in a study whose sole theme is humanity. When four years are given to Latin, two or more to Greek, two or three to mathe- matics, one, or perchance two, to science, some room should be found for history, even if the time given to other studies be diminished. If we take for granted the fact that the great majority of sec- ondary pupils do not go to college, can we declare that they should go out into life with no knowledge of the humanities save that acquired by the study of the Greek and Latin tongues ? To decide what field of history should be chosen is a matter of considerable difficulty. We believe 126 Entrance Requirements it desirable that pupils should know the life and thought of Greece and Rome and the development of their civilization ; that they should study the great facts of European history after the downfall of the Roman Empire; that they should have some knowledge of how England grew to be a great empire and English liberty developed; and that they should come to know their own political surroundings by studying American history and government. We hesitate, therefore, to recom- mend that any one particular field be chosen to the exclusion of the rest; and yet we think that far better educational results can be secured by de- voting a year to a limited period than by attempt- ing to cover the history of the world in that length of time. We believe that it is more important that pupils should acquire knowledge of what his- tory is and how it should be studied than that they should cover any particular field. Perhaps it is not impossible, in connection with the study of Greek and Latin, to pay such atten- tion to the growth of Greece and Rome that the pupils may be led to an appreciation of the char- acter and essential nature of ancient civilization. This is one of the great ends of historical work ; and if the humanities can thus be humanized, there will be less need of prescribing Greek or Roman history as a distinct subject for classical Various Courses 127 students, 1 and some other historical field may then be chosen. We cannot be sure, however, that such methods of teaching the classics will prevail; and we must content ourselves with recommending one of the four blocks or periods which are marked out in the earlier portions of this paper, without designating any particular one. B. The secondary course, sometimes called the Latin course, in which a modern language takes the place of Greek, presents nearly the same problems as the classical course. It does not afford much time for the study of history ; we therefore recommend that some one of the four blocks mentioned above be selected. C. In the scientific secondary course more op- portunity for historical study is often allowed, and here two units of history may be given. At least one of them will naturally be a modern field, and yet it may be said that it is highly desir- able that scientific pupils should by the study of ancient history obtain something of the culture which is not wrongly supposed to come from the study of classical civilization. 1 That the desirability of such a method is recognized by many classical teachers is shown, for example, by the paper by Professor Clifford Moore on How to Enrich the Classical Course, published in the School Review, September, 1898. 128 Entrance Requirements D. The fourth secondary course, commonly called the English course, should have history for its backbone, inasmuch as it is a study peculiarly capable of being continued throughout the four years, and of offering that opportunity for con- tinuous development which the classical pupil obtains from the prolonged study of Latin. We strongly advise that sustained effort be devoted to history in order that this course may have a certain consistency and unity. There are already schools that offer history for four years, and give four full units consisting substantially of the four blocks we have outlined. If the four full units can- not be given, it may be well to offer history only three times a week in one of the four years. If only three years can be devoted to the study, one of the four blocks must, as we have already said, be omitted, or two fields must be compressed in some such manner as that suggested in the earlier portion of this report. 1 The general recommendations under this head may then be summed up as follows : (a) for the classical course, one unit of history, to consist of one of the four blocks previously mentioned ; (b) for the Latin course, the same ; (c) for the sci- entific course, two units consisting of any two of the blocks ; (d) for the English course, three units 1 See above, p. 43. Minimum 129 consisting of any three of the blocks, or consisting of two blocks and a combination of two others. We strongly recommend that four years of history be given in this course, in order to make history one of the central subjects. It should be said in conclusion that, in demand- ing but one unit of history as the minimum require- ment for entrance to a college or a scientific school, the committee does not wish to be understood as expressing its approval of this amount as an ade- quate course in history for secondary schools. In this portion of the report we have been obliged to work within the limits of the systems of entrance requirements that now prevail, and to frame recommendations that may be adapted to existing conditions ; but we do not believe that a single unit of history constitutes a sufficient course, viewed with reference either to the relative impor- tance of the subject, or to the possibility of realiz- ing the aims of historical instruction within the time that would thus be at the teacher's disposal. The arguments for the necessity of a comprehen- sive and substantial course in history have been presented at length in the earlier sections of this report ; and though it may not at present be feasi- ble for every college to require more than one unit of history, the committee believes that two units should constitute the minimum amount offered in 130 Entrance Requirements any school, and it maintains that a still more extended course in history has claims quite equal to those that may be urged on behalf of any other study in the secondary curriculum. Entrance Examinations One subject connected with college entrance requirements has peculiar importance in connec- tion with the study of history, namely, that of entrance examinations. Higher institutions that admit students on the basis of certificates need have no administrative difficulty in giving large recognition to history as a preparatory subject ; but in colleges and universities that can be entered only after passing examinations, the problem is somewhat different. As has been emphasized else- where in this report, the utility of historical study lies not only in the acquisition of certain important facts, but in great measure in its indirect results in training the powers of discrimination and judg- ment ; it will often happen that pupils who have profited largely from their study of history will, especially after two or three years have elapsed, show surprising lacuna in their stores of historical information. While a course in history should be progressive and build steadily upon what has gone before, one stage does not depend so immediately Examinations 131 upon the preceding, and involve so persistent a review of earlier work, as is the case in language and mathematics ; and besides, growth in power of historical thinking is much harder to measure than progress in mathematical knowledge or in linguistic facility. These difficulties are present in some degree, even when the candidate is examined on work done in history in the last year of the secondary school ; but they become exceedingly serious when the subject has been studied some years before, or when the course in history covers two, three, or four years of the period of secondary instruction. The remedy, in our opinion, lies, not in the ex- clusion or unnatural restriction of history as a sub- ject for entrance, but in the reform of methods of examination in history; if the present system of entrance examination does not and it generally does not properly test the qualifications of can- didates in history, it is time to consider how it may be changed. Certainly nothing has done more to discredit history as a subject for college entrance than the setting of papers which demand no more preparation than a few weeks' cram. The sug- gestions which follow are offered in the hope, not that they will afford a final solution of the problem, but that they may prove helpful in bringing about a more just and adequate system of examinations 132 Entrance Requirements in history. The complete adoption ot them will naturally involve a larger allotment of time to his- tory than is now given in examination schedules, and will impose a heavier burden upon those to whose lot the reading of papers in history falls ; but it is not likely that the demands on time and energy will prove greater than in other well-recog- nized admission subjects, and it is not unreason- able to expect college authorities to make suitable provision in these regards. The main element in entrance examinations in history must probably continue to be the writ- ten paper, but this should be set with the idea of testing to some extent the candidate's ability to use historical material, as well as his know- ledge of important facts. The information ques- tions should not demand the simple reproduction of the statement of the text, but should in large measure be so framed as to require the grouping of facts in a different form from that followed in the books recommended for preparation. There should also be questions involving some power of discrimi- nation and some use of legitimate comparison on the part of the candidate. It is not to be expected that skill in utilizing historical material v/ill be pres- ent in a high degree in the candidate for admissi ^>n to college, but the student who has learned how to handle books and to extract information from them Proper Tests 133 in the course of his secondary studies has the right, and the ability, to make this knowledge count for something toward college entrance. As suitable tests we may suggest comment on carefully chosen brief extracts from simple sources or modern works, analysis or discussion of more extended passages, supplemented perhaps by outline maps or concrete illustrations, anything, in short, that will show the student's capacity of taking up a fresh ques- tion in a way that indicates some development of the historical sense. Naturally, attainments in this direction will be expected chiefly of those who pre- sent history as an additional option. Doubtless to many these tests will appear suffi- cient ; but it must always be borne in mind that a written paper, even when the questions have been prepared with great care, cannot yield such deci- sive results in history as it can, for example, in a subject like English composition. The examiner should always have an opportunity and par- ticularly in doubtful cases of supplementing by other means the information gained from the paper. One excellent adjunct is the submission by the can- didate of written work done in connection with his study of history in school. This may include note- books, abstracts of reading, and prepared papers, none of which, however, should be accepted with- out proper guarantees of authenticity and indepen- 134 Entrance Requirements dent preparation. Another supplementary test, which is largely used in European examinations and has commended itself to the experience of many American examiners, consists of a brief oral conference with the candidate. This should be quite informal in character, and should aim to dis- cover, if possible, something concerning the person- ality of the candidate and the nature of his historical training, rather than to elicit brief answers to a few arbitrarily chosen questions. The following analytical statement will show at a glance our recommendation concerning the or- ganization of the history course. Four Years' Course in History First year. Ancient History to 800 A.D. Second year. Mediaeval and Modern European History. Third year. English History. Fourth year. American History and Civil Government. Three Years' Course in History A Any three of the above blocks. B First or second year. Ancient History to 800 A.D. Summary 135 Second or third year. English History, with special refer- ence to the chief events in the history of Continental Europe. Third or fourth year. American History and Civil Govern- ment. First or second year. Ancient History to 800 A.D. Second or third year. Mediaeval and Modern European History. Third or fourth year. American History, with a considera- tion of the chief events in the History of England. First year. Ancient History to 800 A.D. Second year. English History, with reference to the chief events in later Mediaeval history (three times per week.-) Third year. English History, with reference to the chief events in Modern European History (three times per week). Fourth year. American History and Civil Government. First year. Ancient History to 800 A.D. Second year. Mediaeval and Modern European History. Third year. American History, with special reference to the development of English political principles and English expansion in connection with American colonial history (three times per week). Fourth year. American History and Civil Government (three times per week). 136 Entrance Requirements This report is offered with the hope that it may be of service to teachers of history and to those who have the task of arranging school programmes. We hope also that it does not inadequately express the opinion of progressive teachers and students as to what should be done for the development of secondary school work in history. ANDREW C. MCLAUGHLIN (chairman), Professor of American History in the University of Michigan. HERBERT B. ADAMS, CHARLES H. HASKINS, Professor of American and In- Professor of Institutional His- stitutional History in Johns tory in the University of Hopkins University. Wisconsin. GEORGE L. Fox, LUCY M. SALMON, Rector of the Hopkins Gram- Professor of History in Vassar mar School, New Haven, College. Conn. ALBERT BUSHNELL HART, H. MORSE STEPHENS, Professor of History in Harvard Professor of Modern Euro- University, pean History in Cornel] University. Appendix I The Present Condition of History in American Secondary Schools AT the very outset of its work, the committee, believing that recommendations must proceed from a knowledge of the conditions and results in the schools, undertook to learn, so far as possible, what was actually being done by the secondary schools in the country in the subject of history. A circu- lar was accordingly prepared in elaborate form in the hope that the answers to the questions thus proposed would give the committee a basis of fact. These circulars were not sent broadcast : in each state, so far as possible, some person acquainted with the educational work of that state sent us a short list of typical schools, large, middle-sized, and small, public and private ; and we thus made up a list of about three hundred schools which would reflect the conditions of the whole country. From most of the schools thus approached answers were 138 American Schools received, perhaps two hundred and sixty in all. Of these, two hundred and ten were sufficiently full on most points to admit of some sort of tabulation from which general tendencies might be perceived. In going over the returns difficulties were en- countered. Notwithstanding the combined efforts of the committee, some of the questions were not so framed as to bring out precisely what was wanted. Accordingly, toward the end of the in- vestigation, a considerable number of the schools which had replied to the first circular were asked to send answers to a second much briefer and sim- pler set of questions, intended principally to make clear the practice and opinion of educators on the points that had proved the most difficult for the committee. A copy of this circular will be found at the end of this Appendix. As is usual in inquiries by correspondence, the returns show more certainly what schools do not do than what they do ; the negative evidence is convincing that the schools have a great variety of programmes and methods : but it is hard to be sure that any considerable number have the same sys- tem, or attach the same meaning to such terms as "collateral reading," "topics," "use of maps," " note-books," etc. The general inferences from the circulars, however, agree with the results of many personal conferences with teachers, by showing that Inquiries 139 a large number of schools set themselves earnestly to the task of teaching history ; that a large number make a sufficient time allowance to deserve good results ; and that the general notions as to methods are on the same lines throughout the country. Such generalizations as the committee thinks it- self justified in making on question of details, from the returns to the two circulars, supplemented by its private information, may be briefly stated as follows : Choice of Subjects The subjects in the order of their frequency are : (i) English and American history, taught in more than half the schools ; (2) " General history," taught in almost exactly half the schools ; (3) Greek and Roman history, taught in about half the schools ; (4) European history, taught in about one-third of the schools, the three forms mediaeval, modern, and French history being about equally common. In a very few schools the history of the state in which they are situated is a subject. The favorite topics are, therefore, English and American history, usually both taught in the same school ; Greek and Roman history, usually both taught in the same school ; and some form of what is commonly called " general history." 140 American Schools On the subject of general history there appears to be wide divergence of practice as well as of opinion. In the Middle states, most of the schools reporting have a one-year course, as have also a considerable number in the West ; in New Eng- land, preponderance of sentiment is against such a course. In some cases the course takes the form of mediaeval history alone, in some cases that of French history as a groundwork, the system rec- ommended by the Madison Conference ; in most instances the course is apparently a general survey based on one text-book, with little or no collateral reading or illustrative work. Order of Subjects The committee has taken pains to ascertain the more common preferences as to the succession of historical subjects, and finds that in general four dif- ferent systems have been followed : (i) About one- third of the schools follow the chronological method, taking up in succession ancient history, general his- tory, and modern history in some form, usually Eng- lish or American or both ; that is, they use general history as a bridge between ancient times and our modern nations. (2) A much smaller number of schools, perhaps a seventh of the whole, prefer the order general, ancient, and modern ; that is, first Subjects 141 of all a survey of the whole field, and then more de- tailed study, first of the ancient period, then of the modern. This method is apparently less common in New England than in the West. (3) The third method begins with American, or sometimes with English history, and then takes general history, bringing in ancient history last. About one-fifth of the schools reporting use this system, which is least common in the Middle states, and which would seem to be devised to bring ancient history into a place convenient for college examinations. (4) A fourth method, which prevails in more than a quarter of the schools, is that of beginning with American, following with ancient history, and end- ing with a general course ; that is, they proceed from the particular to the general. To make the generalization in broader form : the returns from a body of schools most interested in the subject of history show that one-half prefer to begin high-school work with the history nearest to the pupils in experience, and then to take up wider choices, while one-third have the chrono- logical system, and the remainder begin with the general survey of the whole field. 142 American Schools Separate College Course The report of the Committee of Ten bore very strongly against establishing courses in any one sub- ject for the benefit of only those pupils who expect to go to college ; and that recommendation exactly coincides with the actual experience of the schools so far as the study of history is concerned. Three- fourths of them advocate, and probably practice, the system of having the same teaching for both classes of pupils. This generalization applies also to New England, although in that section there is a large number of special preparatory schools. Time Given to History One of the arguments frequently urged against insisting on a good secondary course in history is that there is no time for it. The committee, there- fore, has taken some trouble to ascertain the time allowance now made in various schools, asking in the second circular the specific question : " What is the maximum number of exercises in history in your whole curriculum (allowing forty weeks as a school year), open to a pupil who chooses that course which has most history in it ? " There seems no reason to doubt the sincerity and accuracy of the replies to this question, although the results are surprising. Courses and Time 143 Only one-seventh of the schools offer less than two hundred exercises in one or another of their curricula. Probably there are courses, as the clas- sical or the scientific, in which this maximum num- ber of exercises is not attainable by any one pupil, even although the facilities of the school permit the offering of detached parts of a good course. Three-fourths of the seventy schools scattered throughout the country which report on this ques- tion offer more than four hundred exercises, that is the equivalent of five exercises a week during two years. The Middle and Western states are rather more alive than New England to the importance of history ; and some schools, both in the East and West allow as much as eight hundred exercises : it is therefore safe to assume that good secondary schools can so arrange their schedules as to make a proper time allowance for history. Text-Books Knowledge as to the actual methods pursued in schools is difficult to gain from written circulars be- cause so much depends upon the understanding and use of terms ; but the experience of the members of the committee gained by association with second- ary teachers, and in many cases by actual personal knowledge of their work, supplements and corrects 144 American Schools such generalizations as may be made from the returns to our circulars. The text-books used are legion, and without mentioning titles it is the judg- ment of the committee that, although the old-fash- ioned and discarded books are now disappearing, the favorite text-books seem still to be the briefer ones. Few schools appear to select a book with a good round amount of reading matter ; hence, un- less supplemented by other work, the text-books used are likely to furnish an insufficient mental pabulum. Some specific information has been ob- tained about the opinion of selected teachers as to the wisdom of using more than one kind of text- book in the same class. Opinion seems about evenly divided, with a preponderance against the practice. Collateral Reading On the question of supplementing text-books with additional reading of some sort there seems little dif- ference of opinion : only one principal known to the committee advocates the extensive use of the text- book with little or no additional work ; about one- half the selected principals favor a large amount of collateral reading ; the other half prefer more searching text-book work and less reading. In view of this very distinct preference, it is surpris- ing to find how few of the schools really seem fitted Books; Written Work 145 out with good collections of standard secondary writers, suitable either for reading or for written work. Even schools with considerable libraries appear unable to keep up with the new general books, which would be so useful to pupils. Perhaps this lack of material accounts for the facts that very few schools (most of them in the Middle states) actually require as many as three hundred pages of collateral reading in connection with a course of five hours per week for a year, and that three-fourths of the schools have no specified requirements. Apparently pupils are invited to browse, but there is no system of enforcing the reading. Perhaps some of these schools may, with- out specifying a fixed number of pages, require results which may be gained from any one of sev- eral books ; but it seems a fair inference from the replies, that as yet the schools have not fully intro- duced the system of collateral reading, and that many of them have not the necessary library. Written Work From the replies received, written work seems to be reasonably well established ; very few schools re- port that they require none. In most cases this work makes up less than one-third of the time spent by the pupils in a course. A great variety of written exer- L 146 American Schools cises are in use, and the schools seem eager to further the method ; but in many schools it appears not to be a very exacting part of the historical work. Many teachers are struck with the effect of written work in training the memory and the powers of selection and in developing a capacity for individual thought. They see also that accuracy of arrangement and the power of analysis are induced, as well as an acquaintance with the material, and an ability to learn facts and to state them cogently. The criti- cisms most often passed upon such work are three : that it runs to routine and copying ; that it con- sumes too much time ; and that " it kills off good teachers." It appears, however, that these disad- vantages have not been sufficient to cause the giv- ing up of the system, which in a considerable body of schools is now fairly established. Use of Sources The reports of more than sixty principals on the subject of using historical sources either as collat- eral reading or as material for written work, show that this system has little hold in the Middle states, much in New England, and some in the West. Nearly half the principals do not favor it, and some who like it have not sufficient books. The objec- tions appear to be : first, that it is a time-consuming Sources; Teachers 147 method ; second, that it throws upon the pupils an undue responsibility beyond their years and under- standing ; and third, that it is " an attempt to foist upon the preparatory student the work of the uni- versity specialist." The arguments used in favor of the method are, that it teaches the habit of getting at the bottom of a question ; that it induces methods of correct note-taking and record; that it trains individual judgment; and that it "vitalizes" his- tory and leads to greater interest and zeal. From the replies it seems doubtful whether all the teach- ers know what is meant by " sources," or under- stand where to stop in using them in connection with busy school work. Teachers One question asked of the selected principals was : " Are your teachers of history especially pre- pared for that work, as your teachers of languages or science are expected to be prepared ? " To this question one-fourth frankly answered that they had no teachers of history who had been especially pre- pared. About another fourth put part of their his- tory work into the hands of untrained teachers. Something more than half give no work except to those who have special preparation. The Middle and Western states have in this respect a great 148 American Schools advantage over New England, where the idea that none but persons who know history can teach his- tory seems slow of infiltration. College Requirements It is not the function of this committee to make up a college entrance system, but rather to sug- gest a plan of study for the schools ; and the committee has abstained from recommending any distinct system or method. As a means of col- lecting information it asked for the opinions of teachers as to a plan which has become known through the country. One of the specific ques- tions asked was therefore as to the state of mind toward " the recommendation of the New York Conference of 1896," which was substantially as follows : (a) Minimum time, two years, three exercises per week (or one year, five exercises per week). (b) A good text-book. (c) Collateral reading. ( P- 55 2 - q 226 English Schools history in most English schools, shows less con- sideration for the subject than in France or Ger- many. In few schools are more than two hours per week given to classroom work in history; but at least one hour a week is given to history in each year of the school course, which in the case of most public schools covers five or six years. The order of teaching the different periods of history varies very much, and as in the cycles from Win- chester, already quoted, seems not to have been arranged on any distinct pedagogical plan. The subordinate position of history in the school courses is indicated not only by the small time allotment, but also by the fact that not until re- cently was this subject taught by specialists, viz. by men that had been specially trained in the subject of history, and had devoted themselves very largely to teaching that subject. The spirit of the English secondary school is against special- ization in teaching, except in the case of science, modern languages, and mathematics. The form- master usually teaches Latin, Greek, Scripture, English, and history, while in the latter subject he may have had no special training. A welcome reform in this respect has already begun, which it is to be hoped will probably gain ground and im- prove the history teaching in the schools. Several of the larger schools have now on their staff his- Methods 227 tory masters who have won distinction in the honor schools of history at Oxford or Cambridge, and bring to the teaching of this important subject the enthusiasm and skill, which are likely to win a larger recognition for this subject in the school curriculum in the future. It is also to be hoped that it may win individual recognition and place on the printed course of study, and not, as is often the case at present, be classed under English with English literature. Then the searcher after knowledge will be able to tell more easily what is the average time allotment for history, and this worthy subject will gain something in estimation by being classed by itself, separate from other English branches. As to methods of teaching history, the system in the lower form generally consists of the thor- ough study of a reliable, but not elaborate, text- book. The work of the pupil is more often tested by written work than by oral questioning. The custom of "fluent" recitations on an assigned topic, which I have seen admirably carried on in German gymnasia, is not at all common in English schools. Certainly one of the valuable benefits of studying history ought to be the development of the power of oral expression, which such methods promote. Equally valuable also is the mental discipline and acuteness to be derived from rapid 228 English Schools and incisive questioning, and prompt answers, a system of cross-examination, which is commonly known in this country under the phrase "quiz." The absence of this system of fluent recitation of historical facts is probably due to the prejudice so common in England against fluency of speech as a possible indication of superficiality or lack of scholarship. The system of teaching known in the United States as the " library method," or the " laboratory method," viz. the use of several books in the study of a list of topics, is seldom found except in the highest forms where pupils are making special preparation for the history scholarship examina- tions at the universities. At this stage of the course the text-book work is supplemented by lec- tures by the teacher, so that the pupils attain facil- ity in taking notes, and by collateral reading so that they learn how to consult with permanent profit the books in a library. In this way, to use Dr. Arnold's phrase, "they learn how to read." They thus become acquainted with the methods which will be of great service to them when they go in for honors in the School of History at Ox- ford, or the Historical Tripos at Cambridge. This power of going to the heart of a book and secur- ing a deposit of its contents in their minds is a characteristic of the best boys in the Sixth at a Effectiveness 229 great public school. For hard and thorough read- ing is the essential condition of success in winning a school exhibition or an entrance college scholar- ship, which are the intellectual honors crowning an able boy's career at school. Such reading, however, is generally confined to secondary histo- ries. The earnest use of the sources with second- ary school pupils is very rare in England, and such methods are not much used with the average stu- dent at the universities. Essay writing on his- torical subjects is very commonly followed in the higher forms with success and profit, not only for its own sake, as a means of culture, but also as a means of preparatory training for this work in the university, inasmuch as in the Honor School of History at Oxford one of the most important and valuable means of training is the essay work with the tutor. In conclusion, it would hardly be proper for a visitor with so limited an experience of the actual teaching of history in English schools, to give a general judgment as to the quality of the teaching of this important subject in the great public schools. He may be permitted to quote, instead, the public testimony on this point of three Englishmen, who are competent judges. The first is Professor Bryce, who, in the article already referred to, says, " His- tory is of all subjects which schools attempt to 230 English Schools handle perhaps the worst taught." The second is an eminent teacher and writer of history and an old public school boy. He says, " The teaching of history in the English public schools is not nearly so efficient as teaching in other branches of know- ledge." The third is the editor of the London Journal of Education, and master of the modern side in Merchant Taylor's School, London. His words in the issue of February, 1899, are, "It is generally admitted that the teaching of history is exceedingly bad in our schools with, of course, marked exceptions." Secondary education is at present the burning question among educators in England, and a great change in the relation of the schools to the govern- ment is at hand. Doubtless the next few years will see a general improvement in history teaching, especially if the classicists will be willing to surren- der to the historians a little of the time allotment which they now demand for the ancient languages. Yet with all the deficiencies of the present situa- tion, the writer, in his admiration for the work of the English public school, feels it but just to say that the history teaching reflects the general char- acteristics of the whole school system, thorough- ness and virility. Appendix VI History in Canadian Secondary Schools 1 BY GEORGE M. WRONG IN Canada there has been no really great crisis like that of the Revolution or of the Civil War in the United States to intensify historical in- terest Many a citizen of Canada is not sure whether the old land of his ancestors or the new one of his birth or adoption is his real country. He still belongs to both, and his patriotic interest is widely diffused. Perhaps, as a result, he is more cosmopolitan, but he is usually wanting in that almost fierce love for his country's past which in the United States is so keen a stimulus to histori- cal study. A natural situation in Canada inimical 1 This short article on " History in the Canadian Schools " was written, at the request of the committee, by Professor Wrong, pro- fessor of history in the University of Toronto. No study of Cana- dian schools has been made by the committee. 231 232 Canadian Schools to history has not been improved by enlightened policy. The Canadian universities, like the Scotch, have, until recently, quite neglected history. The subject had only a minor place in the curriculum, and no adequate training in historical method was furnished. Happily a marked change has taken place. In the two largest Canadian universities (the University of Toronto and McGill University) history now occupies a respectable place, though it still receives far less attention than universities of similar importance give it in the United States. There is no uniform educational system in Can- ada ; the government of each Province is charged with education as is that of each State in the United States. The Federal Government in Canada has not even the shadowy oversight of education that is implied in the United States by the existence of a federal commissioner of education. Nearly five of the six millions of people in Canada are in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. In Quebec the schools are chiefly French, and are largely under the control of the Roman Catholic Church. Ob- viously the province of Ontario must be the principal field of our inquiries. This province, containing nearly half of the population of Can- ada, owes the first organization of its government to the American Revolution. Thousands of Loyalists, who refused to consent to the sever- Organization 233 ance of the American colonies from Great Britain, found a refuge in what is now Ontario. Many of them belonged to the educated classes, and had a zeal for education similar to that of the New Eng- land pioneers. The early governors too were on the whole enlightened men, who for many years wielded a power almost despotic. Extensive lands were set apart for educational purposes. For a long time the Anglican Church struggled to con- trol state-aided education. She failed in the end. Roman Catholics still have separate schools sup- ported by the rates levied on the taxpayers adher- ing to that Church, but the remainder of the state system is now completely secularized. The secondary schools are numerous, and are sometimes found in villages of less than one thousand inhabitants. The state university for a long time charged an annual fee of only ten dollars. Now it is but forty dollars, so that a college course is within the reach of a large num- ber. It is becoming not uncommon for a farmer's son to take a degree in the university before set- tling down upon the farm. Until within the last ten years classics and mathe- matics claimed chief attention. Now, modern lan- guages are on about the same footing with them, the relative standard in mathematics being prob- ably the highest of all the subjects. History has 234 Canadian Schools a fairly good place in the lower forms, but an un- important one in the work for the college entrance examination, being worth only one-third of the value of Greek or Latin, and one-sixth of that of mathematics. The curriculum in the secondary schools of On- tario is limited to the history of ancient Greece and Rome, of England, and of Canada. In some of the smaller provinces an outline of general history is included. History is compulsory in every year of the course, which usually extends over about four years. In some schools five hours a week are given to history ; the average would be about three hours. The larger schools with five or more teachers have usually a specialist de- voted to history alone. In some of the smaller schools any member of the staff may have a class in history thrust upon him. Let me summarize briefly my criticisms and suggestions : I. The adequate training of the teacher was for a long time neglected. There has been a twofold reason for this. On the one hand the real diffi- culties both of teaching and of learning history have been underestimated. Roederer, the minister of the first Napoleon, banished the teaching of history from the French schools on the ground that the subject could easily be learned without Teachers 235 being taught. This view is still widespread. In Canada it has hardly yet been realized that the truths of history are subtle, and may easily be missed, and that, to teach it, there must be added to a thoughtful study of the facts a vigorous and disciplined imagination, and the power of arrang- ing complex material effectively. Because the teaching was usually bad, pupils came to regard history as a dreary and painful study. The other cause of the insufficient training of teachers of history has been the defective work of the univer- sities, already referred to. The education depart- ment for Ontario has been quick to utilize for the schools the better work which the colleges are now doing in history. There is a system of specialist certificates for teachers. To teach classics, mathe- matics, etc., a high specialistic qualification had long been required. For a long time any one was allowed to teach history, but now a specialist in history must pass examinations hardly less diffi- cult than those for an honor degree in modern history at Oxford. The improvement of the teach- ing of history, as a result of this policy, will prob- ably soon be very marked. Of course it will still happen in the smaller schools that history will be taught by masters with no special qualifications, for these schools cannot have a master devoted exclusively to history. The point gained, however, 236 Canadian Schools is that history is now on the same footing as othei departments with regard to specialist training. 2. The curriculum is defective. The history of Greece and Rome to the Augustan age, and that of England and Canada, do not form a well- balanced course of historical study. It leaves untouched, almost, the great epochs of continental Europe, and makes it possible for a student to go up to the university, having scarcely heard of St. Bernard, Charles V., Frederick the Great, or Mirabeau. In Canada, a part of the British Em- pire, pupils know nothing of other portions of the same Empire India or Australia ; and, as far as I can learn, the history of the United States is not taught in any Canadian school. The curriculum suggested by the Committee of Seven is hardly suitable for Canada, but that portion of it which relates to the history of continental Europe might well be adopted in the Canadian schools. 3. The time given to history is usually, though not always, inadequate. New subjects are making claims, sometimes extravagant, upon the time of the schools. In a large secondary school in Toronto, the time available weekly was divided into thirty-five periods. Of these the physical sciences claimed at first twenty-two, much to the amusement of the other departments. History with no technical language, appears to be easier than chemistry, Subjects and Methods 237 and it may plausibly be urged that it should take a minor place upon the time-table. Friends of history ought to insist that an extension of the curriculum should go hand in hand with an exten- sion of the time for instruction. It should be laid down as a general rule that the teaching must cover the whole ground of the curriculum. The pupils usually remember what they read in the text-book only when they hear it talked about in the class. 4. The text-books are inferior in quality. The Education Department requires the same text-book to be used in all the schools. For English history the highest classes use Green's " Short History of the English People" by far the best book on the list, but in my opinion not a good text-book. The other books are, on the whole, colorless compila- tions, " confused in arrangement," as one teacher writes to me, "bad in diction, and with no sense of proportion." These defects are not peculiar to the books used in Canada. To pick out the salient features of a nation's history and to describe them with both scientific precision and literary charm are tasks requiring rare gifts. Until our best minds turn to the unattractive but useful task of writing history text-books, we shall not have what we need. One may say in closing that though history has 238 Canadian Schools not as yet really flourished in the Canadian schools, its status is steadily improving. The key of the situation is really with the colleges. These train the teacher, and an able teacher properly trained will give dignity to and win a place for the subject. With such teachers the dreary history lesson has been transformed in some places in Canada into an animated lecture. Nearly every school has a library often very incomplete, of course. A good teacher with a good library accessible to him, to which the pupils may also be referred these will be the two best agents for improving the status of history. It is still true that the subject is often neglected, and I see no hope that a uni- form standard can be adopted in all the secondary schools. Those with a small staff sometimes try to cover as many subjects as do the larger schools, and the teaching of some branches must be slighted. One effective way of increasing the attention to history in the work for college entrance would be to establish competitive scholarships at matricula- tion for excellence in history. Such scholarships have done much for Greek, Latin, and Modern Languages. They have not yet been offered in connection with history, and naturally the best pupils bend their energies to the subjects that have the prospect of reward. Appendix VII Some Books and Articles on the Teaching of History THE following titles have been selected from the vast number of books and articles relating to his- tory and its teaching, in the hope that they may prove helpful to teachers who may not already be acquainted with them. Longer lists will be found in Channing and Hart's Guide to the Study of American History, 15, and at the beginning of the various chapters of Hinsdale's How to Study and Teach History ; for discussions that have ap- peared since the publication of these works, see particularly the Educational Review, the School Review, and the Proceedings of the National Edu- cational Association, the Association of Colleges and Preparatory Schools in the Middle States and the similar Association in New England, and the New England History Teachers' Association. Mr. J. I. Wyer, of the library of the University of Nebraska, has compiled for the American Histori- 239 240 Brief Bibliography cal Association an extensive Bibliography of the Study and Teaching of History, which it is hoped will soon be published. The prices quoted below are taken from the publishers' catalogues ; in the case of works in foreign languages they do not in- clude the cost of binding. Books with which every Teacher of History should be acquainted CHARLES KENDALL ADAMS, A Manual of Historical Lit- erature. Third edition. New York, Harpers, 1889. $2.50. Contains an introduction on the study of history, " brief descriptions of the most important histories in English, French, and German," and suggestions as to courses of reading on particular countries or periods. The work needs revision. SONNENSCHEIN'S Bibliography of History (reprinted from his Best Books and Reader's Guide, Lon- don, 1897, 4-r. 6