| By Author | [ A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z | Other Symbols ] |
| By Title | [ A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z | Other Symbols ] |
| By Language |
|
Download this book: [ ASCII ] Look for this book on Amazon Tweet |
Title: The History Teacher's Magazine, Vol. I, No. 4, December, 1909
Author: Various
Language: English
As this book started as an ASCII text book there are no pictures available.
*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The History Teacher's Magazine, Vol. I, No. 4, December, 1909" ***
(This book was produced from images made available by the
HathiTrust Digital Library.)
Transcriber’s Notes:
Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_), and text
enclosed by equal signs is in bold (=bold=).
Additional Transcriber’s Notes are at the end.
* * * * *
The History Teacher’s Magazine
Volume I.
Number 4.
PHILADELPHIA, DECEMBER, 1909.
$1.00 a year
15 cents a copy
CONTENTS.
PAGE
HISTORY SYLLABI, by Prof. Walter L. Fleming 71
TENTATIVE LIST OF SYLLABI 72
AN HISTORICAL LABORATORY, by Prof. William MacDonald 73
ORGANIZATION OF THE RECITATION, by Prof. N. M. Trenholme 74
THE STUDY OF LOCAL INDUSTRIES, by Alexander L. Pugh 76
FORMAN’S “ADVANCED CIVICS,” reviewed by H. W. Edwards 77
EDITORIAL 78
THE TWENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY MEETINGS 79
AMERICAN HISTORY IN THE SECONDARY SCHOOL,
by Arthur M. Wolfson, Ph.D. 80
STEPHENS’ “TRANSITIONAL PERIOD” 81
EUROPEAN HISTORY IN THE SECONDARY SCHOOL,
by Daniel C. Knowlton, Ph.D. 82
ANCIENT HISTORY IN THE SECONDARY SCHOOL,
by William Fairley, Ph.D. 84
ENGLISH HISTORY IN THE SECONDARY SCHOOL,
by C. B. Newton 85
HISTORY IN THE GRADES, by Armand J. Gerson 86
REPORTS FROM THE HISTORICAL FIELD, Walter H. Cushing:
List of History Teachers’ Associations; News
of the Associations; Aids to Visualization;
Modifications of the Report of the Committee of
Seven; Directions for Written Work at Meredith
College 88
CORRESPONDENCE 91
Published monthly, except July and August, by McKinley Publishing Co.,
Philadelphia, Pa.
Copyright, 1909, McKinley Publishing Co.
Entered as second-class matter, October 26, 1909, at the Post-office at
Philadelphia, Pa., under Act of March 8, 1879.
* * * * *
W. & A. K. Johnston’s Maps and Globes
[Illustration]
are noted the world over for their geographical accuracy. Lithographed,
not printed--colors do not fade. Larger and better maps for the price
than any competitor can furnish.
SENT ON APPROVAL
Our Maps and Globes show their superiority. We ship on approval.
Examine, compare with others and return any or all at our expense if
not satisfactory.
FIVE COMPLETE SERIES (135 different maps), also FIVE sizes of GLOBES in
ALL styles of mounting
The largest variety published, including everything from the cheapest
that are accurate to the best that are made. The experience of four
score years of perfection in map making is back of our publications.
Send for fine 88-page Catalog
A. J. Nystrom & Co. Sole U. S. Agents
86-88 Lake Street CHICAGO
* * * * *
Western History in Its Many Aspects
MISSISSIPPI VALLEY AND LOCAL HISTORY IN PARTICULAR
THE AMERICAN INDIANS
Books on the above subjects supplied promptly by
The Torch Press Book Shop, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
_Catalogs on Application_
* * * * *
Newton and Treat’s Outlines for Review in History
By CHARLES BERTRAM NEWTON, A.B., Head of the Department of History
in Lawrenceville School, and EDWARD BRYANT TREAT, A.M., Master in
Lawrenceville School.
AMERICAN HISTORY
ENGLISH HISTORY
GREEK HISTORY
ROMAN HISTORY
Price, each, 25 cents
These Outlines in History aid the teacher in bringing out the subject
as a whole, and in so focusing it as to make the picture clear-cut and
vivid in the pupil’s mind. By their use the prominent figures and the
smaller details, the multitude of memories and impressions, will be
fixed and established in their proper perspective. In each booklet are
given brief summaries in chronological order of the leading facts and
events, and throughout ease of reference has been considered of prime
importance in the presentation of the matter. In the index, battles,
laws and wars are grouped chronologically under those headings, and
also in regular alphabetical order. Near the end of each volume are
given fifty typical questions, selected from the recent examinations
set for admission to leading colleges, which are intended for practice
in the art of formulating answers.
AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY
New York Cincinnati Chicago Boston
* * * * *
The Attention of Teachers
IS CALLED TO THE VALUE OF
Advertising in the History Teacher’s Magazine
The paper is one which is not merely subscribed for--it is read, and
read carefully. It is printed simply, but effectively, by one of the
best printers in the country. Its advertisements are well set up and
stand out clearly on the page.
_Teachers’ Wants_ are many. You can reach more history teachers through
the Magazine than in any other way.
_Do you want out-of-print books or maps?_
_Do you wish to procure second-hand volumes?_
_Do you wish to dispose of a library, or of duplicates?_
_Do you want a new position?_
_Do you need a new assistant in your school?_
_Do you want information on a given subject of history or genealogy?_
_Are you searching for manuscripts of a certain character or
authorship?_
THEN USE THE
Advertising Columns of the History Teacher’s Magazine
* * * * *
The History Teacher’s Magazine
Volume I.
Number 4.
PHILADELPHIA, DECEMBER, 1909.
$1.00 a year
15 cents a copy
History Syllabi
BY WALTER L. FLEMING, PROFESSOR OF HISTORY, LOUISIANA STATE
UNIVERSITY.
A well-constructed syllabus is a useful aid to the instructor and to
the student of history in high school and sometimes in college classes.
A good syllabus usually contains not only an outline of the essential
topics in orderly sequence with numbered divisions and indentations to
indicate the value of the topics and their relation one to another, but
also definite and more or less complete references to the best reading
on each important subject. A complete syllabus should contain also
lists of additional topics for extra work or for advanced students,
with suitable references to the proper reading necessary to develop
this extra work. In syllabi designed for use in high schools and the
lower classes of college, references to good historical maps and
atlases are usually found, as well as suggestions for map work, lists
of historical pictures and other illustrative material, suggestions to
teachers and to students, and “thought questions” or “problems.”
Among the published syllabi designed for high school work are the
following: “A History Syllabus for Secondary Schools” (New England
History Teachers’ Association, published by D. C. Heath), arranged in
four divisions--ancient history, medieval and modern history, England,
and the United States--with full reference lists and estimates of the
percentage value of each section of the course; “The History and Social
Science Syllabus” of the New York State Education Department, a slight
modification of the New England syllabus that omits the bibliographies;
Leadbetter, “Outlines and Studies of Ancient, Medieval and Modern
History” (Ginn & Co.), based on the texts of Myers, with good outlines,
a few well-selected references, and very good “studies” or “thought
questions.” Several publishers of history texts have issued outlines
or manuals to accompany them. The best of these for school use are
the “Teaching of American History,” etc., published by Appleton to
accompany the Twentieth Century texts. The New York State Education
Department has prepared numbers of outlines on special fields of
history, all of which are helpful to teachers and some of which can be
used to advantage with high school and college classes. Nearly all the
history syllabi for schools follow the division of the subject into
periods recommended by the Committee of Seven.
Several published outlines for use in college classes are worthy of
note. Among them are: Shepherd’s “Syllabus of the Epochs of History,”
used in the first year work at Columbia University; the two outlines
used for the same purpose at Dartmouth College; Munro and Sellery’s
“Syllabus of Medieval History,” and Ames’s “American Colonial History”
(University of Pennsylvania); Sheldon’s “Teachers’ Manuals” (Heath);
the Columbia University (New York) Extension Syllabi, especially those
prepared by Professors Shepherd, Shotwell and Beard; and the University
of Chicago Extension Syllabi, which are very useful for short periods.
All of these outlines can be procured through the book dealers, while
many others privately printed can also be obtained. For nearly every
competent instructor in history in the colleges and universities has
found that in some part of his work there is no proper guide, and to
supply the lack has constructed a syllabus.
The general use in high schools of good syllabi such as the New York
or the New England outlines with their useful suggestions as to
essentials, proportions and methods tends to raise standards, to make
uniform the quantity and quality of history work, and to cause the
adoption of good methods of teaching.
The advocates of the syllabus have much more than this to say in favor
of its use. They claim that it is a guide to study, to the use of
a text, to the use of reference works, to the proper division of a
subject; that it is a good basis for class discussion, recitation, and
examination; and that it keeps topical work from producing confused
results, etc. Whether the syllabus will do all this is doubtful, but
that it is a valuable aid is certain. When no satisfactory text can
be had, the only thing that an instructor can do--formal lectures
to immature students being out of the question--is to construct a
syllabus or to procure a good one made by some one else. This outline
is necessary to give proportion, connection and organization to the
course. By making his own syllabus an instructor can secure proper
attention to the points that he thinks should be emphasized, and he has
in his outline a definite plan of the work to be done, something that
many of the texts do not offer.
With the syllabus constantly before him the student will see the
subject in its proper proportions; he will not get lost in the mass
of detail which must cumber even the best books, but with this guide
to the essentials he will be able to collect information from his
readings, from explanatory lectures, etc., and to organize it about
the framework of the syllabus. Knowing what he is looking for, having
a more definite aim than one working out an assignment of “the next
fifteen pages,” he can get more satisfactory results.
Not only is it worth while to a young student to have the main topics
logically arranged, and ordered in their proper relations, but the
practice in the collection and organization of information gained from
different authorities will tend to foster the habit of comparison,
will cultivate the judgment even though slightly, and will assist the
development of the critical faculty. The old system of using one text
with “by heart” recitations, though it gave accurate information, did
not do this.
With high school and elementary college classes the syllabus should be
used in close connection with a text or texts, reference being made
to other authorities for differing views, additional information, or
wholly new material. No ordinary manuals cover all the parts of a field
that a teacher believes should be treated; while the syllabus based on
several texts, outlines a more comprehensive plan than any one text has
ever done. The proportion observed in the syllabus may correct the text
that is too diffuse, too overloaded with details, or too condensed.
For classes pursuing the study of history by the topical method
a syllabus is a good thing to bind the work together, to give it
connection and definite form. The syllabus is something more than a
mere list of subjects; it aims to show relations, to bridge the space
between one large topic and another. Too many topics should not be
suggested by the syllabus; the fewer and larger the topics the freer
the student is to arrange his information about each topic; while
too minute analysis makes the work tedious and keeps a student from
exercising originality in the arrangement of his material.
In my work in school and college I have found the syllabus useful not
only with classes using texts, but with more advanced classes having
no prescribed texts. I prefer to make the outlines myself, but find
that the published syllabi give valuable hints. In assigning class
work, a certain number of topics are given to the class as a lesson.
Each individual is required to work out a single topic for extra work.
The students read the text and the recommended reference books on each
topic, gather the information in note-books, and then are ready for
recitation, discussion, or report in class. At least once a month I
give to my classes a list of “problems” or “studies” similar to those
found in Leadbetter’s “Outlines” and Botsford’s “Greece” and “Rome.”
The working out of these aids causes the student to assimilate the
information that he has gained and to see the subject in its different
aspects; and also tends to prevent indifferent work with the syllabus.
A Tentative List of History Syllabi
The following list of titles makes no pretense of being exhaustive.
It was put together from the notes of several of the editors of the
MAGAZINE in order to furnish a timely supplement to the article by
Prof. Fleming.
It is hoped to publish in the near future a more extended bibliography
of those syllabi now in print and on sale for general use. Additions
or corrections may be sent to the managing editor, or to Howard M.
Stuckert, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
Primarily for College Classes.
ALVORD, C. W., and PAETOW, L. J.--“Syllabus of Mediæval European
History” (from the fourth to the sixteenth century). Champaign, Ill.,
D. H. Lloyd.
AMES, H. V.--“A Syllabus of American Political and Institutional
History During the Colonial and Revolutionary Periods.” Philadelphia,
Department of History, University of Pennsylvania, $1.
BURR, G. L.--“Outlines of Studies in the History of the Middle Ages,
with Suggestions as to the Sources of Knowledge.” Ithaca, N. Y.,
Department of History, Cornell University.
CHANNING, E., and HART, A. B.--“Guide to the Study of American
History,” Boston, Ginn & Co.
CUBBERLEY, E. P.--“Syllabus of Lectures on the History of Education,”
with many reproductions of contemporary prints. New York, Macmillan Co.
DOW, E. W.--“Outlines and References for an Introductory Study of
European History, from the Third to the Thirteenth Century.” Ann Arbor,
George Wahr.
FISH, CARL.--“Syllabus for United States History.” Madison, Wis.
FOSTER, H. D., and FAY, S. B.--“Syllabus of Continental European
History.” Hanover, N. H., Dartmouth College.
HART, A. B.--“Handbook of the History, Diplomacy, and Government of the
United States.” Cambridge, Mass.
HASKINS, C. H.--“Topics and References for History, I (Middle Ages).”
Cambridge, Harvard University.
LINGELBACH, W. E.--“A Syllabus of the History of Europe in the
Nineteenth Century.” Department of History, University of Pennsylvania,
60 cents.
MUNRO, D. C., and SELLERY, G.--“Syllabus of Medieval History.”
Department of History. University of Pennsylvania. $1.
RICHARDSON, O. H., FORD, G. S., and DURFEE, E. L.--“Syllabus of
Continental European History from the Fall of Rome to 1870.” Boston,
Ginn & Co.
SHEPHERD, W. R.--“Syllabus of the Epochs of History, with Reference to
the Forms of Government and Changes in Social Conditions.” Department
of History, Columbia University.
SMITH, DON E.--“Syllabus on Historical Geography.” Berkeley, University
of California.
STEPHENS, H. MORSE.--“Syllabus of a Course of Lectures on Modern
European History, 1600-1890.” New York, Macmillan Co.
THOMPSON, J. W.--“Reference Studies in Mediæval History (from the
fourth to the sixteenth century).” Chicago, University of Chicago Press.
Primarily for Secondary and Elementary Schools.
ALLEN, F. J.--“Topical Outline of English History.” Boston, D. C. Heath
& Co. 25 cents.
ALLEN, W. F.--“History Topics for High Schools and Colleges.” Boston,
D. C. Heath & Co. 25 cents.
BARNES, MARY S.--“Studies in American History: Teachers’ Manual.”
Boston, D. C. Heath & Co.
BARNES, MARY S.--“Teachers’ Manual to General History.” Boston, D. C.
Heath & Co. 85 cents.
COMMITTEE OF EIGHT, THE.--“The Study of History in the Elementary
Schools.” New York, Scribners’. 50 cents.
CORNMAN, O. P., and GERSON, O.--“Topical Survey of United States
History.” Boston, D. C. Heath & Co. 60 cents.
DODGE, S. S.--“Outlines of English History.” New York, A. S. Barnes &
Co. 25 cents.
ENSIGN, S. LAURA.--“Outlines of Ancient, Medieval and Modern History.”
New York, A. S. Barnes & Co. 75 cents.
ENSIGN, S. LAURA.--“Outline Tables and Sketches in United States
History.” New York, A. S. Barnes & Co. 25 cents.
FLEMING, WALTER L.--“Syllabus of High School Course in History,” in
“State Course of Study for High Schools of Louisiana.” Baton Rouge,
La., Department of Education.
HECKEL.--“Topics and References for Ancient History (based on Morey
and West).” Indiana, Pa., State Normal School.
GORDY, W. F., and TWITCHELL, W. I.--“A Pathfinder in American History.”
New York, Lee and Sheppard.
KEMP, E. W.--“An Outline of History for the Grades.” Boston, Ginn & Co.
KNOWLTON, D. C.--“Studies in English History Prepared for the Use of
High Schools and Academies.” New York State Teacher, Ithaca, N. Y. 35
cents.
LEADBETTER, FLORENCE E.--“Outlines and Studies to Accompany Myers’
Ancient History, and Medieval and Modern History,” 2 volumes. Boston,
Ginn & Co. 35 cents each.
LEWIS, L. B.--“Pupil’s Notebook and Study Outline in Oriental and Greek
History.” New York, American Book Co. 40 cents.
MCMURRAY, CHARLES A.--“Special Method In History.” New York, the
Macmillan Co.
NEW ENGLAND HISTORY TEACHERS’ ASSOCIATION.--“Outlines for Ancient,
Medieval and Modern European, English and American History,” four
parts. Boston, D. C. Heath. 15 cents each.
NEW ENGLAND HISTORY TEACHERS’ ASSOCIATION.--“Syllabus in Civil
Government.” Macmillan. (Ready late in 1909.)
NEW JERSEY DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS.--“History Syllabus.” (In
press.)
NEWTON, C. B., and TREAT, E. B.--“Outlines for Review in History for
American, English, Greek, Roman History.” New York, American Book Co.
Each 25 cents.
NEW YORK, CITY OF--“Course of Study and Syllabuses In Ethics, English
History and Civics for the Elementary Schools of the City of New York.”
Department of Education, New York City.
NEW YORK, REGENTS OF THE STATE OF--“History Syllabus” (outline similar
to that of the New England History Teachers’ Association, with the
exception of English History).
RILEY, FRANKLIN L.--“Methods of Teaching History in Public Schools.”
University of Mississippi. Published by the author. 25 cents.
TRENHOLME, N. M.--“Syllabus for the History of Western Europe (Medieval
and Modern).” Boston, Ginn & Co. 60 cents.
WILSON.--“Compendium of United States and Contemporary History.” Boston,
D. C. Heath & Co. 40 cents.
An Historical Laboratory[1]
BY PROFESSOR WILLIAM MacDONALD, BROWN UNIVERSITY.
It would seem to be a truism that the facilities which are to be
regarded as indispensable to the proper study of a subject, and which
ought, therefore, to be provided as a matter of course, should, like
the methods of teaching, be determined by the nature of the subject,
or, in other words, by the kind of material with which it has to deal;
but the disparity in the equipment of the various departments of study
and research commonly to be observed in even the best and richest
American colleges and universities seems to indicate that, so far at
least as the so-called “humanities” are concerned, little provision of
appliances, save modest shelter from the weather and seats enough for
the class, is generally thought absolutely necessary.
No one who knows at close range the “plant” of a typical American
university will be at a loss for striking and even painful
illustrations of the unequal distribution of material equipment.
Broadly speaking, the departments of physical and natural science and
engineering do not seriously lack the primary facilities which the
nature of their work demands. Upon these departments, in the last
twenty years, the wealth of the State and of individuals has been
poured out like water, while more than one institution, spurred by a
demand for “practicality” and “efficiency,” has gone to the length of
drawing upon its capital to supply what was wanting. Our institutions
of learning abound in well-contrived laboratory buildings for physics,
chemistry, biology, and engineering, containing not only lecture rooms
for the various instructors and laboratories for students elementary
and advanced, but also private laboratories and offices for the
professors, exhibition and photographic rooms, libraries, lockers,
and other special apartments. The rooms themselves are commonly well
supplied with apparatus and material, distributed and apportioned
according to the number of students and investigators, and increased
by regular appropriation, and as a matter of course, as the number
of users grows. There is usually a special janitor or caretaker
for the building, and often one or more skilled persons regularly
employed in making or repairing apparatus, preparing or caring for
specimens or stock, and the like. It has long been a matter of common
observation that the cost of maintaining the scientific departments
of a university, or even of a small college, is out of all proportion
to the cost of the other departments of instruction, that it is met
by governing boards with comparative readiness, and that it is often
afforded, it must bluntly be said, at the cost of deplorable and
systematic niggardliness in other directions. Other things being
equal, no scientist to-day would consider for a moment a call to an
institution which could not afford him all of these things, nor would
the scientific world reckon the instruction of an institution not so
equipped as worth while.
When, however, we turn to those other departments of study still
graciously referred to as the “humanities,” departments which older
graduates and commencement orators still tell us embrace the subjects
of the deepest human interest, the disparity in material equipment is
commonly so great as to be almost ludicrous. Who, of the thousands that
yearly are driven or besought to drink deep at the wells of literature,
or history, or philosophy, in our American colleges or universities,
can fail to recall the desolate class-rooms, their bare and dingy
walls, relieved at the most by a few old maps, or a faded photograph
or two in heavy wooden frames, the floors swept once a week and washed
once a term, the hand-carved chairs and benches, the chalk-dusted
platform and desk, and the foul air, which, in the majority of such
institutions, enshrine the daily life of academic culture? Where the
teacher of science is freely accorded a lecture room for his department
alone, the teacher of language, history, or economics must, as a rule,
share his quarters, poor as they are, with those of his colleagues
whose principal apparatus is books, and must vacate his room promptly
to make way for another class at the next hour. Many a high school
does better for its teachers than this; indeed, the best of our modern
high schools, bearing in mind the grade of their work, offer almost
infinitely superior facilities for work in these departments than does
the average college or university.
Widespread and depressing as this condition is, in general, in all of
the departments named, the particular illustration which I wish to use
at this time is that afforded by history and the related subjects of
political and social science and political economy. Applying the test
that the equipment of a department should be determined by the nature
of the material with which the department deals, it is obvious that
we have here a subject in which printed matter of a variety of forms,
manuscripts, maps and charts, pictures and casts, and actual historical
objects or reproductions, form the material basis for the student’s
work. Where the chemist uses books and apparatus, the historical
student uses books and other material as apparatus. For the modern
study of history, even of the elementary sort, one must be enabled
to examine not only single books, such as may be got from a library
and perused at leisure in one’s home, but also extended sets and
collections of books and papers, and this under conditions which will
admit of comparison and note-taking and the use of the volumes in the
actual work of the class-room. For the preparation of maps and charts,
facilities in the way of tables and instruments are required entirely
beyond what the student can fairly be expected to have in his own room;
while especially is there need of abundant space for the permanent
display of wall-maps, charts, pictures, and illustrative material,
like coins, casts, and models, if the active use of such aids is to be
secured.
Acquaintance with a considerable number of colleges and universities,
large and small, in this country fails to disclose any appreciable
number in which the material equipment of the historical department
has passed much beyond the stage of crude beginnings. With exceptions
so few as almost to be counted on the fingers, the most generous
provision, always excepting the general library of the institution,
goes no further than the use, prevailingly in conjunction with other
unrelated departments, of one or more lecture-rooms; a “seminary room,”
furnished with a table and some chairs, and housing such odds and
ends of books as the industry of the instructors or the intermittent
generosity of friends has got together, reënforced by loans from the
main library; and possibly an office frequently shared by all the
members of the department, where students may come for consultation.
If, as seems rarely to be the case, the department has any adequate
supply of maps, they have often to be kept in some out-of-the-way
place, and carried about from room to room as needed; and almost
never are there tables and instruments for the drawing of maps and
charts. Meagre as is such equipment, some of our leading institutions
do not have even this. If it be true, as it seems to be, that student
interest, particularly among men, in literature, history, and
philosophy, has declined markedly in recent years, may not something
of the cause be found, not in the inherently greater attractiveness of
mixing chemicals or dissecting cats and birds, but in the utter poverty
and bareness of the quarters in which students of the humanities are
commonly asked to do their work? If professors of history have fallen
too much into the habit of lecturing, instead of teaching, may it not
be due in part to the failure of the university to give even the ablest
of them facilities for doing anything else?
I venture to suggest the following as the minimum equipment of an
historical department in a university or large college. First, two or
more suitable lecture-rooms, with ample blackboard space, map racks
or cases, book shelves, and a lantern and screen. The rooms should
be contiguous to the other rooms of the department and reserved
exclusively for its uses. It is time that there were opportunity for
a professor to put up a map without having to take it down again at
the end of the hour. Second, a combined seminary room and library,
available for study when not in use as a class-room; equipped, like
the lecture-room, with adequate blackboard and map space, and housing
a permanent library of duplicates reënforced by such temporary loans
from the main library as are from time to time needed. Included in
the furnishings of the room should be a sufficient number of small
tables to accommodate each individual student, and file cases for
photographs, cards, newspaper clippings, and temporary notes. For the
supervision of this room, there should be provided a special attendant,
preferably a trained library assistant, responsible to the librarian
of the university as well as to the head of the department. Third, a
room for map drawing and chart-making, with tables and instruments for
draughting. Fourth, a typewriting room, supplied with machines for the
use of instructors and students. Fifth, private offices or studies for
the instructors.
Elaborate as such a provision of apartments may well seem to the
teacher who to-day, like the wandering scholar of the Middle Ages,
lectures wherever he can find a vacant room, it nevertheless is smaller
than that generally allowed to the chemist or physicist. Of all the
evils which present-day criticism of the college has brought to light,
none is more serious than the evil of waste. The history teacher who,
under the conditions common to most American institutions of higher
learning, should teach his subject as he would like to teach it and
as he knows it ought to be taught, would spend in useless mechanical
drudgery more hours than he spent in lecturing. Most institutions
with endowment enough to entitle them to a place on the “Carnegie
list” have ceased to expect this waste from professors of science,
and there is no reason why the time of the professor of history,
political science, or political economy should not be regarded as
equally valuable. If under the influence of a general demand for at
least the minimum of what is due, the governing authorities of all
our universities could even be brought to realize that a ground plan
of the city of Rome and a Rand-McNally map of North America are not a
sufficient equipment for the teaching of modern history and diplomacy,
one might face the future with a new hope.
Of the many advantages to the teaching and study of history which might
be expected to accrue from the general provision of such facilities as
have here been indicated--economy of physical effort, more accurate
study of texts, improved note-taking and care of material, wider use
of books and illustrative helps, general compulsory map-drawing, and
many others--one in particular deserves more than passing mention. I
refer to the change which would thereby be furthered in the prevailing
conception of the nature and function of the university library.
With only the exceptions that prove the rule, our libraries are
supported and administered on the assumption that one copy of a book
is sufficient for the needs of the whole institution, and that every
one who has occasion to use the book must seek it at the main or
central repository. It would seem to be obvious, however, that wherever
books form the fundamental material for study, and, from the nature
of the case, cheap reprints of selected texts or a few duplicates of
inexpensive volumes will not suffice, the library has need of as many
copies of a book as there are departments to use it; and that if,
with but a single copy available, resort must be had by every one to
the central library, the conflicting and often irreconcilable demands
of different departments present one of the most serious barriers to
the development of proper methods of instruction in non-laboratory
subjects. No modern department of biology is asked to get along with
one microscope, and that, perhaps, of ancient pattern and in bad order.
Scientific apparatus in all lines is freely duplicated as a matter
of course, the adequacy of the supply being not seldom used as an
advertising argument to attract students; though, as a matter of fact,
there is but little greater need for duplicate apparatus than there is
for duplicate books. Practical considerations, of course, will preclude
extensive duplication of large or costly sets, but a multiplication of
copies far beyond what is now usual, and their distribution among the
various departments having constant need of them, are necessities to be
met if waste is to be stopped.
I hope that I do not make the mistake of supposing that, given such
historical laboratories as have here been briefly described, the
universities would forthwith produce historians. I make no plea for
the application of the specific methods of any science to the study
of history. But the student of history, like the scientist, has to
collect and classify his material, examine and criticise his sources,
compare and weigh his authorities, and study his _locale_. What a
proper equipment can give him is, not the intellectual power and
insight of the great historical writer, but the opportunity to do
a student’s indispensable work under the best conditions and with
effective guidance, instead of doing it, as is too often the case
to-day, under conditions of great disadvantage. That provision of such
equipment would also stir the teacher to a more telling presentation
of a subject to his class, and enable him to vitalize and dignify a
department which, in this country especially, is too often thought of
as but little related to current human interests, is not the least of
its advantages.
FOOTNOTE:
[1] This interesting article appeared in _The Nation_ (N. Y.) of
October 7, 1909, and is here reprinted with the permission of Prof.
MacDonald and of _The Nation_.
The Organization of the Recitation
BY NORMAN MACLAREN TRENHOLME, PROFESSOR OF THE TEACHING OF HISTORY,
SCHOOL OF EDUCATION, UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI.
The Importance of the Recitation.
The most vital thing in history teaching is the recitation, for no
matter how well the teacher has been prepared in the subject matter or
how admirably the field of study has been mapped out, poor work in the
class room will mean general failure. The reason for this is not hard
to discover; the recitation is that part of the work of the teacher in
which closest relations are established with the minds of the pupils,
and it is above all things important that teachers should realize
this and make the most of their opportunities to guide and direct the
pupils’ thought and study. Too often the recitation is made a mere
repetition of facts in the text-book, poorly organized and presented in
an uninteresting and unconvincing way. History that is taught without
understanding and enthusiasm and without proper organization of the
subject matter had better not have been taught at all, as it results in
dislike and contempt for the subject as being nought but a catalogue
of meaningless names, dates and events. Yet how few history teachers
seem to realize their opportunity to make history mean more than this.
How frequently one sees even well-meaning teachers plodding along
in the same old rut, painfully extracting unrelated facts from boys
and girls, emphasizing the external events and neglecting what lies
beneath, asking direct questions and getting “yes” and “no” answers,
and being generally satisfied that they are good history teachers
and fulfilling their mission in life. The recitation conducted by
such a teacher usually will begin abruptly with some question on the
assignment for that day and will probably end abruptly by the gong
sounding its warning and a hurried assignment for next day being made
as the class prepares to leave. All the important qualities of a good
recitation, relation to the previous day’s lesson, careful study by
teacher and class of the new lesson, and a well-considered assignment
of work for the next day are in whole or part absent. It is not as if
it were difficult to make the recitation a success, or meant more work
for the teacher, for, on the contrary a well-organized recitation is
easier to handle than one conducted without organization, and the work
of the teacher is made pleasanter through the interest of the pupils in
the work. History when properly taught is bound to hold the interest
and attention of the average boy or girl. If it does not do so, then
the presumption is that it is not being properly taught and that the
teacher needs to bring more understanding and method into the work.
The General Organization of the Recitation.
The fundamental idea in the organization and conduct of the history
recitation should be that of building a little more on foundations
already laid, of adding new knowledge and ideas of historical
importance to those already a part of the pupils’ background, and of
preparing the minds of the pupils for further additions in the near
future. The most discouraging thing that a history teacher has to
face is the seemingly evanescent character of the pupils’ background.
It slips away and there is nothing to build on or add to, and so the
relation of events to each other and the growth of important movements
are not understood or appreciated. This discouraging aspect of history
teaching can only be remedied by careful attention to the background
of the day’s lesson, and therefore the first ten or fifteen minutes
of the period should be devoted to a general discussion or recitation
on the lesson or lessons previously studied that are most closely
connected with the new lesson of the day. Then should follow a careful
study of the new lesson itself, occupying the main part of the period.
Towards the close, however, five or ten minutes should be allowed for
the assignment of the work for the next meeting of the class. Thus
the general organization of the recitation will consist of: (a) The
recitation or review on the previous lesson or lessons; (b) the study
of the new lesson; and (c) the assignment for next day’s work.
(a) The Recitation on the Previous Lesson.
In the main, this should be done by the pupils rather than by the
teacher, as a more lasting impression is made on their minds by leading
them to recall and associate past events and movements with what they
are then studying. The points in the previous work that should be
especially emphasized are those of general importance and significance
in historical development rather than the minor details and incidents.
The recitation can thus be made to serve as a summary of previous ones,
and particularly of the one just before. The teacher must be careful
not to give too much of the period to such a review, however, unless
a special general review has been planned for. There is always the
temptation to prolong the review beyond proper limits. It should be
rigidly confined to subject matter that has importance as a background
for the new lesson of the day. If the previous lesson does not stand
in close connection with the new lesson little or no time should be
spent in reviewing it, but attention should be given to other more
closely-related events that have been studied. The utility of this
part of the recitation in giving background for the new lesson is
easily seen. If the lesson is a part of a series of recitations on the
same general topic, then one introductory review will serve for the
series, and each separate lesson can be reviewed in connection with
the succeeding one. A broad and comprehensive attitude in reviewing is
always desirable, and no opportunity to establish ideas of continuity
with past and future should be neglected by the teacher.
(b) The Study of the New Lesson.
If the opening part of the recitation has been properly done, the
transition to the new lesson will be an easy and natural one, and the
connection with the past will be well established. The teacher now has
the opportunity to test the pupils’ understanding of the new topic
and to draw them out in discussion concerning the information in the
text-book, source book, and collateral reading assigned for the day.
The teacher’s questions should be carefully thought out, and should
call for answers in which the information is given in connection with
its historical importance and significance rather than as mere facts
that have been memorized for recitation. All direct questions, calling
for a “yes” or “no” answer should be avoided, for with such a question
before him the student has an equal chance to be right as well as to
be wrong. Almost equally bad are questions that call merely for a name
or a date. Instead of asking: “Was Rome able to defend herself from
the Visigoths?” time will be saved by asking: “Why did Rome find it
difficult to meet the Visigothic attack,” and, instead of asking “Who
was the leader of the Visigoths?”--a fact which every pupil should
know--a better question would be: “What caused the Visigoths to invade
Italy?” While it is important that the teacher’s questions should be
clear, yet it is not a bad thing pedagogically to ask a question that
requires some thought on the part of the pupil before it is answered.
Pupils frequently say: “I don’t understand your question,” and
sometimes this answer is justified, more frequently, however, it is the
pupil’s own inattention, and the majority of the class will understand
the question and be able to answer it correctly. The harder questions
a teacher asks in the way of calling for thoughtful interpretation the
better training students are getting.
In the matter of the relative contribution of teacher and class to
the discussion, it may be said that a teacher who talks too little is
as bad as a teacher who talks too much. As a general rule the college
graduate teaching history who is well informed in his subject matter
tends to talk too much in the class room, and his study of the new
lesson is more of a lecture than a recitation. As an observer of
such a teacher remarked, “The young man made a very good recitation
himself, while the class listened.” On the other hand, the teacher who
has less background of historical knowledge is inclined to make the
class do all the work while he or she acts as inquisitor and perpetual
question mark. Nothing is contributed in the way of information or
interpretation save what the pupils have acquired from the text-book,
and the result is an unscholarly and rather barren drill. The true
history teacher will mingle knowledge with method, and will add to
and amplify the subject matter by taking part sympathetically in the
recitation, without, however, monopolizing the discussion. In calling
on members of the class to take part in the discussion, attention
should be given to those who need it most, rather than to the bright
and well-informed pupils. The dull or inattentive pupil, who is
whispering to his neighbor or not paying proper attention, needs more
real teaching than the bright boy or girl. The interest of all members
of the class should be aroused, and voluntary questions, discussions
and debates encouraged rather than discouraged. If the pupils are
inattentive and uninterested, it is certainly a criticism of the
teacher and of his or her power of exposition and interrogation.
Much of the success of the recitation on the new lesson will depend on
the way the subject matter is handled. Some leading idea or problem
should form the center of the discussion, which should take the form
of saving or explaining the question in an historically true manner by
bringing out the main points of development. In the course of such a
discussion the application of the topic to present conditions and its
relation to the past should be kept in mind and questions asked from
both viewpoints. This applies particularly to topics in medieval and
modern, English and American history fields which are, on the whole,
more closely connected with modern civilization than the field of
ancient history can possibly be. If the problem studied is practically
completed in the lesson for the day, and a new topic to be taken up
next time, then a summary should be made at the end of this part of
the recitation. If, however, the same line of historical development
is to be studied next day, such a summary will form part of the
next recitation. Thus the question of a summary at the close of the
recitation on the new lesson depends on the nature of the next lesson
to be studied.
(c) The Assignment of the Next Day’s Work.
The assignment of the work of the class for its next meeting should
be very carefully and systematically attended to by the teacher. This
assignment is best made at the close of the period because it concerns
the review of the lesson just studied, as well as the new lesson. It
should be taken down in note books by the pupils so that they will
know definitely what is expected of them when they next meet. As far as
practicable the teacher should put the assignment for the preliminary
recitation on the previous lesson or lessons in the form of problem
questions calling for causes and results that explain historical
phenomena. Problem questions can also be given in connection with the
assignment on the new lesson, though here a topical assignment is not
so much out of place if the topic is well selected so as to suggest
the main problem. Questions of detail in an assignment are out of
place, and, of course, an assignment of so many pages, irrespective
of problems or topics, is absurd. If collateral reading is assigned
in source books or secondary works, it should be done understandingly
and carefully, and only in such amounts as can be effectively used by
the teacher and class to supplement the text-book. A question on the
collateral reading will also be desirable.
In following out such a plan of organizing the recitation as has been
just described, the teacher should, for some time at least, plan out
the recitation period and its various phases in advance.
Local Industries As a Basis for an Introductory Course in Economics
BY ALEXANDER L. PUGH, CHAIRMAN DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS, HIGH SCHOOL
OF COMMERCE, NEW YORK CITY.
One of the things that makes the course of study of the High School
of Commerce unique is the emphasis laid upon the preparation of the
boy for the economic and civic environment in which he will live.
Two courses are given solely with this end in view. The first is the
course in city industries which has as its object the realization of
the economic environment; and the other is the course in municipal
activities, which in a similar way prepares the boy for his civic
environment. These are both two-hour courses given for one term or
one-half year. Like most New York City high schools, Commerce has
about one-half of its boys in the first year, so these courses are
given then, when both will be taken by nearly every boy. The course in
industries is given first, as it deals more with the boys’ immediate
surroundings than does the other.
Shortly after the school was organized, Dr. John L. Tildsley, at
that time chairman of the Economics Department, now the principal of
the De Witt Clinton High School, proposed to the principal, James J.
Sheppard, that a course of one hour a week be given to all boys in the
first year on local commercial geography and government. He contended
that there was much that was complex in the surroundings of the boy in
the greatest commercial city in America, yet the schools were doing
very little to make this understandable. The work would have also an
immediate value to the boys who would leave to take the minor positions
of the business world before completing the course. Mr. Sheppard
recognized the value of the course, and it was put into effect at once.
The importance of the work demanded more time, and when history was
taken out of the first year, two hours a week were allotted in the
first term to industries, and two hours in the second term to city
government.
The material of the course was gathered by Dr. Tildsley, the teachers
in his department, and by the boys taking the course. Dr. Tildsley is
a strong advocate of the problem question as a means of making the boy
think. At first memorandum books were given to the pupils in which
they noted definitions, local statistical tables and the problems,
the written answers to which they brought into the next recitation. At
present mimeographed sets of notes are given to the pupils containing
this matter. The course was revised from time to time, and two years
ago, on account of the accumulation of material, Dr. Tildsley and the
author decided on a thorough revision of the course. The course had
come to be grouped around two main ideas which furnished a basis for
the division of the work into two parts to be given in each half term
of ten weeks into which the school work is divided at Commerce. During
the first half New York was considered as a manufacturing city, and
in the second half as a commercial city. A sentence from De Garmo to
the effect that commercial geography should be taught to furnish the
concrete background for economics, gave us the touchstone. We reviewed
the material and rejected all topics that did not illustrate any
economic principle, law, or problem. A few topics were rejected because
they were too difficult for first-year pupils. Then the standard
secondary economic texts were gone over rapidly to see if we had
omitted anything that could be used. Seager and Seligman were found to
be the most helpful in this respect. The material selected was divided
into two groups, as already indicated. As a result of our efforts we
have now in Commerce a course in elementary economics that we believe
to be unique.
The subject is begun with a report on the occupations of the boy’s
family, his friends, and neighbors, and a study of the industrial
life on his block. The boy is given the problem of classifying these
occupations and grouping the workers according to his classification.
He is then given as standards the figures from the United States and
State census for gainful occupations in the United States, New York
State, New York City, Manhattan and Bronx Boroughs, which he must
express graphically. Then he combines the figures collected by the
boys of his section (some forty) and his class (some five hundred).
The results show, of course, that the manufacturing and mechanical
pursuits and trade and transportation are the great groups of city
industries.
We take manufacturing first as being nearer the boy, and we begin
the study of the problem of the manufacturer, from a table specially
prepared by us from the census report on the concentration of important
manufactures in forty-seven cities. The problem is formulated as
being the assembling of raw material, power, labor and capital at a
place most convenient to its market. Each of these factors is studied
in detail. The following are some of the topics discussed under
labor: population; its composition, its growth from immigration, from
migration and from excess of births over deaths; the effect of an
increase from each source upon the efficiency of the workers of the
city; the location and distribution of the labor force throughout the
city; the effect of the sanitary regulations of the Board of Health and
housing regulations of the Tenement House Department, etc.; the systems
of employment; why the help, handicraft and the domestic systems still
survive in this city; the important manufactures of this city, together
with the kind of labor they use; and how the labor supply has affected
them; what manufactures are leaving the city on account of the labor;
what manufactures are coming in because of an abundant supply of cheap
labor; the distribution of manufactures throughout Manhattan and the
greater city; and how this distribution is related to the distribution
of labor; how transportation improvements modify this distribution,
etc. In a similar way are treated the problem of a supply of power, of
a supply of capital, of a supply of raw material and of access to a
market. The natural advantages New York has for commerce, its harbors,
its inland water-ways, its situation, and its hinterland, with its
products, is the first topic taken up in the second half-term. The
improvements of these natural advantages and the sharing of the work
of improvement on the high seas, throughout the hinterland and in the
harbor by the national, State and city governments respectively is
the second topic. The general idea of a great seaport that the boys
formulate from a study of the great ports of the world, is that it is
favorably situated on the coast, where it can draw unto itself the
products of the near hinterland and distribute them over the world, and
that it gathers together the products of the lands beyond the seas, and
distributes them over the near and far hinterland. These topics are
worked out in detail like that of the labor supply, already described.
The course is concluded with a simple outline of the works of banks,
trust companies and stock exchanges in supplying the necessary capital
for manufacture and for trade.
The boy has now secured a generalised and systematic view of the trade
and manufactures of his city and has obtained a lot of detailed and
specific information about the part he and his neighborhood play in
making New York a great city. The boy is studying an economic unity,
the metropolitan district, and he is comparing it whenever possible
with the United States and the world. He has learned to use statistics
compiled by others, and he has helped compile some of his own. His
generalizations are economic generalizations, he has learned to
formulate economic principles, and he has observed the operation of
economic laws. We believe that this study has supplied him for his
future study of economics with a concrete background which will be
filled out in the later years of the course, by the study of his civic
environment and his more formal study of commercial geography of the
United States and of the world.
This method of beginning economics can be applied in almost every
school. The local economic unit will furnish all the material that the
teacher can utilize. It means work for the teacher, but the trained and
enthusiastic teacher will find the work full of interest to himself and
to the pupils.
Forman’s “Advanced Civics”
REVIEWED BY H. W. EDWARDS, OF BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA.
This book represents the prevailing tendency to make instruction in
civil government minister to good citizenship. The author states his
purpose in these words: “While preparing this book I have constantly
kept in mind the truth that instruction in civics should have for
its highest aim the indoctrination of the learner in sound notions
of political morality, and I have attempted to assist the teacher
in achieving this aim whenever such assistance has seemed to be
practicable.” A careful examination of the book, followed by a two
years’ test in the class-room, has convinced the present reviewer that
Dr. Forman has achieved his purpose and that the book is admirably
adapted for use in the upper grades of secondary schools.
The book is divided into three parts. Part I is entitled “The Essential
Principles of American Government. The Spirit.” In a way that is at
once thorough, vital, and practical, the author explains the origin and
_raison d’être_ of democracy, representation, separation and balance of
powers, federalism, local self-government, political parties; viewed in
the light of American conditions. The treatment is clear, and abounds
in allusions that an alert teacher can apply to present circumstances,
developing interest and stimulating thought. This portion of the book
affords a good introduction to the study of government for classes
that can devote an entire year to the subject. It is especially useful
where pupils have missed previous training in English history and
government. Used in connection with American history, it furnishes a
helpful interpretation of the political institutions whose development
the pupil is studying.
Part II is headed, “The Organization of the American Government. The
Form”; and gives what is usually found in manuals of civil government.
This is compressed into one hundred and twenty pages, and while
non-essentials are excluded, it does not appear that any important
topic is neglected. Four chapters are devoted to local government, and
one chapter to party organization. Some of the topics discussed are:
“The President as a Political Personality,” “The Supreme Court and
the People,” “The Citizen and His Country,” “The Sphere of Municipal
Activity.”
The third part deals with “The Functions of the American Government.
Its Services.” Here the author describes the government, national,
State and local, in action. Included here are such topics as “Laws,”
“Taxation,” “Money,” “Commerce,” “Elections,” “Corporations,” “Labor,”
“Crime,” “Charity.” The treatment of controverted problems is
dispassionate and conservative, and free from dogmatism. The method is
to state the origin of the problem, indicate suggested solutions, and
lead the pupil to reach his own conclusion in the light of the facts.
At the end of every chapter is a list of “suggestive questions.” Unlike
the pedagogical apparatus found in many text-books, these questions are
really useful. They are well calculated to lead the student to pursue
the subject farther, by research and by independent thought. Many of
them involve the application of principles to concrete instances, and
are useful to train the judgment. Properly handled, they will enable
the student to experience the pleasure of independent discovery, and
thus serve one of the main purposes of all education.
In general, the problem of proportion is well solved. At first glance,
one is tempted to criticize the relatively brief treatment of Part II
and the large space given to Part III. But the suggestive questions
at the ends of chapters will enable the teacher to treat of the
organization of the government as fully as he desires, while some of
the chapters dealing with the functions of government may be omitted
without violating the unity of the subject. To the present reviewer,
however, the arrangement is very satisfactory, for he believes that
teachers have erred in sacrificing the live activities of government
to the dry details of form. If, instead of compelling pupils to master
the functions of the Fourth Assistant Postmaster-General, or to learn
the appellate jurisdiction of each of the courts, we could lead them
to watch a State purify its elections or a city secure a water supply,
fewer of them would find civil government “dull.”
The criticisms that may be made are of minor importance. School books
should be bound in part leather. The book would be more usable if
the paragraphs were numbered. An occasional misstatement appears, e.
g., that only eleven colonies were present in the First Continental
Congress (p. 45). Chapter IX, a narrative of the expansion of American
territory might well be omitted, as belonging more properly to another
subject.
The index is adequate. The appendix contains some useful documents,
including the New York law of 1892 for the prevention of bribery, and
the provision of the California Constitution which permits cities to
frame their own charters.
President Nicholas Murray Butler has indicated in the following
sentence the ultimate object of civics teaching: “He who truly
understands the meaning of liberty and the meaning of law, and the
relation of one to the other, is ready to face his full duty as an
American citizen.” To impart this understanding, the present volume
seems especially well fitted. The high responsibility of citizen
training rests upon the teacher and cannot be shifted, but he should
find in this book a most serviceable tool.
[“Advanced Civics. The Spirit, the Form, and the Functions of the
American Government.” By S. E. Forman, Ph.D. New York. The Century Co.]
* * * * *
The History Teacher’s Magazine
Published monthly, except July and August, at 5805 Germantown Avenue,
Philadelphia, Pa., by
McKINLEY PUBLISHING CO.
A. E. McKINLEY, Proprietor.
=SUBSCRIPTION PRICE.= One dollar a year; single copies, 15 cents each.
=POSTAGE PREPAID= in United States and Mexico; for Canada, 20 cents
additional should be added to the subscription price, and to other
foreign countries in the Postal Union, 30 cents additional.
=CHANGE OF ADDRESS.= Both the old and the new address must be given
when a change of address is ordered.
=ADVERTISING RATES= furnished upon application.
EDITORS
=Managing Editor=, ALBERT E. MCKINLEY, PH.D.
=History in the College and the School=, ARTHUR C. HOWLAND, Ph.D.,
Assistant Professor of European History, University of Pennsylvania.
=The Training of the History Teacher=, NORMAN M. TRENHOLME, Professor
of the Teaching of History, School of Education, University of Missouri.
=Some Methods of Teaching History=, FRED MORROW FLING, Professor of
European History, University of Nebraska.
=Reports from the History Field=, WALTER H. CUSHING, Secretary, New
England History Teachers’ Association.
=American History in Secondary Schools=, ARTHUR M. WOLFSON, Ph.D.,
DeWitt Clinton High School, New York.
=The Teaching of Civics in the Secondary School=, ALBERT H. SANFORD,
State Normal School, La Crosse, Wis.
=European History in Secondary Schools=, DANIEL C. KNOWLTON, Ph.D.,
Barringer High School, Newark, N. J.
=English History in Secondary Schools=, C. B. NEWTON, Lawrenceville
School, Lawrenceville, N. J.
=Ancient History in Secondary Schools=, WILLIAM FAIRLEY, Ph.D.,
Commercial High School, Brooklyn, N. Y.
=History in the Grades=, ARMAND J. GERSON, Supervising Principal,
Robert Morris Public School, Philadelphia, Pa.
CORRESPONDENTS.
HENRY JOHNSON, New York City.
MABEL HILL, Lowell, Mass.
GEORGE H. GASTON, Chicago, Ill.
JAMES F. WILLARD, Boulder, Col.
H. W. EDWARDS, Berkeley, Cal.
WALTER L. FLEMING, Baton Rouge, La.
ORGANIZATION.
The days of isolation are passing. It is no longer possible for college
professors to conduct classes and give lectures upon subjects unrelated
to the student’s ability or to his year in the college course. All the
world knows what each instructor is doing; questionnaires quiz him
about methods and subjects; associations require him to talk about his
work and consciously to face its problems.
Neither is it possible for a high school teacher to drag listlessly
along, or arrange his history topics as he wishes. College entrance
requirements, the criticism of the high school inspector, the rising
standards of State educational systems, are holding him to more
definite and more accurate work. He has not the earlier liberty to be
careless and slovenly; he has still in almost all cases the liberty to
do his work well in the way best suited to himself and to his class.
History teaching to-day is entering upon the period of conscious
endeavor, and neither college professor nor high school instructor can
afford to ignore this fact. By far the strongest element in raising the
standards of history teaching has been the historical associations and
the organizations of history teachers, which, during the past twenty
years, have faced many problems of the history teacher. It is well nigh
impossible for all of us to solve all these problems individually,
although some of us may solve some of them. We need the comparison of
ideas and of experiences which can be gained in the organizations; we
need the inspiration coming from association with the strongest minds
of the profession; we need the personal acquaintances which grow out of
such meetings.
The alma mater,--generous, inspiring, appreciative,--of historical
study and teaching in America, is the American Historical Association.
For twenty-five years its stronger members have given of their
strength, its weaker members have received inspiration, and its younger
members have been encouraged to higher work by its appreciation of
their labors. Its membership is open to all interested in the study,
the writing, or the teaching of history, upon the payment of a small
fee. The best work which the association performs for its members is
the holding of the annual meetings, which are not only opportunities to
hear learned or practical discussions of historical questions, but also
a means through which the history teachers and writers of the country
can be brought in personal contact with one another. It is this social
element, say all who have attended the meetings, which constitutes
their most valuable feature. Members of the association receive a
quarterly magazine, “The American Historical Review,” containing
original contributions to historical knowledge, and reviews of recent
historical works in all the modern languages; and also two volumes of
annual reports of the association. For the convenience of members
living in the extreme West, a Pacific Coast branch has been organized,
the members of which meet annually in the West, but they receive all
the publications of the parent society.
Not history teachers alone, but all interested in the subject, are
eligible to membership in the national association. Not so with the
principal sectional organizations,--the New England, the Middle States
and Maryland, and the North Central history teachers’ associations.
These are designed primarily for the stimulation of those engaged in
teaching the subject; their meetings discuss not so much the content
of history and its sources, as the form and method of presentation,
the choice of subject-matter, and the relation of history teaching in
the school to that in the college. The associations have arranged to
exchange publications, so that the teacher who is a member of any one
of the associations receives the publications of each of the others.
A third form of associations is that made up of State associations of
history teachers. In some cases these have grown out of the sectional
bodies, but in most cases they are an outgrowth of the State teachers’
associations. The State associations are now growing in numbers and in
membership. They are accomplishing much good, not only in raising the
State standards, but also by turning attention to the study of local
history in the State schools.
Local conferences of history teachers are now meeting in a number of
cities. The most recently-formed is the San Francisco Conference; the
oldest, probably, is the New York City Conference. Such meetings are
often of a social nature, including informal round table discussions of
topics of current interest to the history teacher.
The existence and growth of these local and general societies show
that there is a strengthening of interest in history, and that the
work of the history teacher is becoming more conscious and more highly
organized. They indicate also that under new standards the comparison
of ideas and the stimulus of personal intercourse are needed to hold
the history teacher to his work. There is no excuse for back-sliding
with these associations in the field; and if local organization has
not yet been perfected in any district, the success of the local
conferences already organized should lead to the founding of many more.
In another column of this number of the MAGAZINE will be found a
partial list of history associations and conferences, together with the
names and addresses of their secretaries. This list will be printed
each month; and it is hoped to make it a complete directory of history
teachers’ associations in the country. Readers who are interested
in joining any of these organizations should correspond with the
respective secretaries.
Shall not the school year 1909-1910 be made notable by increased
usefulness and enlarged membership of all these associations?
The Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Meetings
In commemoration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the founding of the
societies, the joint meetings of the American Historical Association
and the American Economic Association, to be held in New York, December
27 to 31, will be the occasion for a more elaborate program than has
been arranged for previous meetings, and the participants will include
not only the officers and members of the Associations, but many other
persons of local, national or international standing. New York, in
many respects an ideal convention city, and accustomed to entertaining
associations of all kinds, is outdoing its record in order to make
this meeting of the historical and economic bodies memorable in their
history.
In addition to the American Historical Association and the American
Economic Association, a number of allied societies will hold meetings
at the same time and place. Among these bodies are the American
Political Science Association, the American Statistical Association,
the American Sociological Society, the American Association for Labor
Legislation, the American Social Science Association, the American
Society of Church History, the Bibliographical Society of America,
and the Mississippi Valley Historical Association. There will be a
Conference of Local and State Historical Societies and a meeting of the
Public Archives Commission. The New York State Teachers’ Association
will also be in session at Columbia University on these days, and
will hold at least one joint meeting with the American Historical
Association. There will be meetings of the working committees and
boards of the several societies, and a conference of the editors and
correspondents of THE HISTORY TEACHER’S MAGAZINE.
Such an association of active organizations is a worthy tribute to the
work of the two parent societies during the past twenty-five years;
but it is not the members of these societies alone which will join in
celebrating the anniversary. Public-spirited citizens of New York,
national officials, including the President of the United States, and
many representatives from foreign states and learned societies abroad
will have a part in the general or special programs.
It is not possible here to give in detail all the announcements already
issued concerning the meetings. For convenience it is necessary to
group them into three divisions: Meetings of a general nature, arranged
by New York citizens as a recognition of the worth of the associations,
and joint public meetings of several societies; meetings of the several
societies in which matters of special interest to their own members
are discussed; and social meetings and events prepared by the local
committees of arrangements in which the liberal hospitality of the city
is well shown.
The general program will open on Monday afternoon with a joint
meeting of the Sociological, the Statistical, and the Social Science
Associations in the Metropolitan Building as guests of the Metropolitan
Life Insurance Company, at which will be delivered the presidential
addresses of the presidents of the three societies. In the evening of
the same day there will be held the principal public meeting arranged
by citizens as an official welcome to the associations. The meeting
will be held in Carnegie Hall, and addresses will be made by Chairman
Joseph H. Choate, President Taft, Governor Hughes, Mayor McClellan and
Dr. Nicholas M. Butler. Tuesday morning and afternoon will be devoted
to joint meetings at which will be given the presidential addresses
of the Historical, the Economic, the Political Science, and the Labor
Legislation Associations; these will be delivered respectively by A. B.
Hart, D. R. Dewey, A. Lawrence Lowell and Henry W. Farnam.
The detailed programs of the several societies contain a long list of
topics to be treated by trained specialists. Only the more important
can be mentioned. The Tuesday evening meeting of the Historical
Association, held at the New York Historical Society Building, will
be devoted to a discussion of the work of historical societies in
Europe. Delegates from England, Germany, Spain, France and Holland
will describe their respective national historical activities. The
Wednesday morning joint session of the Historical and Political Science
Associations will have as topic “British Constitutional and Political
Development, with Special Reference to the Centenary of Gladstone,” and
papers will be read by Ambassador Bryce, Prof. Dennis, of Wisconsin;
Prof. Wrong, of Toronto; Mr. Porritt, and by Mr. Fisher, of Oxford.
Thursday, December 30, will in many respects be the most valuable for
the history student. Morning and afternoon there will be conferences
at Columbia University upon special historical topics. In the morning
the following conferences will be held: Ancient History, Prof.
Westerman, of Wisconsin, chairman; Medieval History, in join session
with the American Society of Church History, Prof. Emerton, of Harvard,
chairman; American History, in joint session with the Mississippi
Valley Historical Association, to discuss the Westward movement, Prof.
Paxson, of Michigan, chairman; Conference of Archivists, Prof. Ames,
of Pennsylvania, chairman. In the afternoon the conferences will be
continued: Modern European History, with Prof. Robinson, of Columbia,
chairman; American History, Ethnic Elements in United States History,
Prof. Greene, of Illinois, chairman; Conference of State and Local
Historical Societies, Prof. Sioussat, of the University of the South,
chairman.
Historical conferences will be held also on Friday morning as follows:
American History, the Contributions of the Romance Nations to the
History of America, Prof. Shepherd, of Columbia, chairman; History
in the Secondary Schools, with reports upon history in French and
German schools, and preliminary report of the Committee of Five, Prof.
Salmon, of Vassar, chairman; History in the Grades, with discussion
of the report of the Committee of Eight, Prof. James, of Northwestern
University, chairman. The program for each of these conferences has
been carefully outlined and a series of short papers will be presented
followed by a general discussion. In addition to these meetings for the
discussion of historical subjects proper, many allied topics will be
treated in the sessions of the other associations.
Prof. Johnson, of Teachers’ College, Columbia University, is directing
an exhibition of aids to the visualization of history, mentioned in
another part of this number of the MAGAZINE which promises to be one of
the features of the meeting. Columbia University Library will exhibit
plans for libraries, and architectural plans of interest to members of
State and local historical societies.
But, after all is said about the scientific and technical conferences,
it must be admitted that the greatest value of the annual meetings
is to be found in the personal friendships formed and renewed, and
in the purely social features of the meetings. In this respect New
York is preparing to give the members of the associations a most
hearty welcome. The headquarters of the associations will be in the
Waldorf-Astoria, and many of the meetings will be held in the several
assembly rooms of the hotel. On Monday luncheon will be tendered
the members by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company; on Tuesday,
Columbia University will give a luncheon, and Tuesday evening a club
dinner will be given at the University Commons, and later in the
evening a smoker. On Wednesday there will be a breakfast for members
at the Waldorf-Astoria; a tea at the residence of Mrs. Clarence
W. Bowen, and in the evening a reception and entertainment at the
Waldorf-Astoria by the Ladies’ Reception Committee of New York, Mrs.
Robert Abbe, chairman, at which a number of historical tableaux will be
presented. On Thursday, Teachers’ College will entertain the members at
luncheon, and in the evening Mr. and Mrs. William K. Vanderbilt will
give a reception at their residence. In addition to these features of
entertainment of all the associations, there will be luncheons and
social meetings for many of the smaller groups composing the larger
societies.
From a scientific, a popular, and a social standpoint the New York
meetings should be a marked success. The several local committees
have worked unremittingly upon the many details of program and
entertainment; and with metropolitan zeal and generosity they have
outlined the most interesting program the associations have known.
American History in the Secondary School
ARTHUR M. WOLFSON, PH.D., Editor
THE CONSTITUTION--ITS ANTECEDENTS, ITS FORMATION, AND ITS ADOPTION.
The study of the Constitution of the United States involves two more or
less distinct processes. If the student is to comprehend it perfectly,
he must consider it, first, as an historical document, studying its
antecedents, the process of its creation, and the method of its
adoption; second, he must consider it as it exists at present, the
ground plan upon which our national institutions have been reared, and
under which the Government of the United States is still being operated.
A generation ago the opinion was almost universally received that our
present constitution was the result of the superhuman skill of the
two or three score men who sat and deliberated in the State House in
Philadelphia from May 25th to September 17th, 1787. Even Gladstone,
whose knowledge of history and politics should have taught him better,
seems to have lent himself to this theory, for in contrasting the
English and the American Constitutions, he declares that, “As the
British Constitution is the most subtle organism which has proceeded
from progressive history, so the American Constitution is the most
wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose
of man.” To-day this theory has been entirely abandoned. For this
reason, the student must be brought to consider the Constitution as
an historical as well as a political document, seeking its origins
in the institutions of England and the English colonies, acquainting
himself with the personality and the theories of the men who sat in the
Convention, following the debates and the newspaper discussions which
in every State were the preliminary steps to its ratification.
For the boys and girls who have studied their English history and their
Colonial history with care and intelligence, only a brief review of
the antecedents of the Constitution will be necessary. Nevertheless,
this review should not be neglected. Once more the teacher should
insist upon the fact that the roots of American civil and political
institutions are to be found in English soil. Transplanted to America
in the seventeenth century, these institutions were affected and
modified by local conditions, but in their origin they were essentially
English. The study of the Constitution should therefore begin with
a brief reconsideration of the English system of government, its
origin and development, especially in the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries. Far more important than the system of government, however,
was the system of law and the theory of the right of the individual to
freedom from unjust impositions by the government which the colonists
inherited from the mother country. Not until the student is able to
state again, and accurately, the fundamental principles of Magna Carta,
of the Petition of Rights and of the Bill of Rights should the teacher
proceed to the consideration of other subjects, for the very language
of these documents will appear again in the first nine amendments to
our present Constitution.
Next, the teacher should review with his students the history of
the establishment of the various groups of colonies, their forms of
government, the various methods of colonial legislative, executive, and
judicial procedure, the rights and duties of the governor, the method
of election and the powers and functions of both houses of the colonial
assemblies, the rights and duties of the judiciary: one and all, these
served as models which were freely studied and adopted by the members
of the Constitutional Convention.
Most important of all precedents, however, were the colonial forms
of union. Beginning with the process of amalgamation which is
to be observed in the history of Connecticut, Rhode Island, and
Massachusetts, proceeding through the history of the New England
Confederation, “a consociation for mutual help and strength in all
their future concernments,” through the history of the Albany Plan,
the acts of the Stamp Act Congress, the Committees of Correspondence,
the Continental Congress, and the Articles of Confederation, the
student should be made to see that the Constitution of the United
States is but the last step in a century and a half of political
development. In the Articles of Confederation of the United Colonies of
New England (Article 8), for instance, is to be found the germ of the
constitutional provision for mutual rights of citizenship and for the
return of fugitive slaves and criminals. In the Albany Plan we find at
least two provisions which in later days were to be incorporated in the
Federal Constitution: (1) that a single officer should be charged with
the general administration of the affairs of the union, and (2) that
representation should be proportional, not equal, among the members of
the union.
The study of the Articles of Confederation should, of course, be
thorough and exhaustive. Too many teachers are content to leave their
pupils with a hazy notion of the form of government submitted to
the States in 1777 and finally adopted in 1781. Because so much is
regularly said about the defects of the Articles, so much about the
perfection of the Constitution, the teacher must be warned and warned
again against the almost universal custom of belittling the importance
of this instrument of government. With all its imperfections, it is
nevertheless true, considering the troublous times during which it
was in operation, and the spirit of separatism which existed among
the States, that this earliest bond of union among the States served
as a strong link without which the present Constitution would never
have come into existence. Under these Articles, the States severally
entered into “a firm league of friendship with each other for their
common defense, the security of their liberties and their mutual and
general welfare.” They guaranteed that “the free inhabitants of each
of these States ... shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities
of free citizens in the several States”; “that full faith and credit
shall be given in each of these States to the records, acts, etc.,
of every other State.” The provisions of the Articles concerning the
three departments of government should also receive careful attention,
especially the executive and judicial departments, because it is
here that most high school students are left with exceedingly vague
and inaccurate conceptions. A thorough analysis of the document will
show that while there were abortive provisions for the creation of
a separate executive and an attempt to establish a limited national
judicial department, all real power was vested in the Congress.
Congress gathered to itself all the active functions of government,
and yet even it could take no definite action unless the delegates
from at least nine of the States consented, and none of its acts could
be enforced except through the good will and the active coöperation
of the separate States. In these two circumstances and in one other,
namely: that Congress had no power to regulate interstate commerce, lay
the serious, the fatal weakness of the Articles of Confederation. Nor
did there seem to be any way of remedying conditions, for no amendment
could be made to the Articles unless every State consented. Three times
the attempt was made, but each time it failed, and the experiment of a
union among the States seemed doomed to failure.
Then, in 1786, upon the invitation of Virginia, delegates from five
of the States met at Annapolis to consider the subject of interstate
trade without consulting the members of Congress. Instead of taking
any action, however, this convention issued an address to the States
inviting them to send delegates to a convention to meet in Philadelphia
May, 1787, “to devise such further provisions as shall appear to them
necessary to render the constitution of the Federal Government adequate
to the exigencies of the Union.” Though many States still hesitated,
as a result of this address, delegates from all the States except
Rhode Island met at the appointed time in what came to be known as the
Constitutional Convention.
Having led his pupils thus far in the study of the history of the
Constitution, the teacher is now prepared to discuss with them the
second stage of its story. First he will need to insist, and that
unrelentingly, that they become acquainted with the names and the
personality of at least the most prominent members of the Convention:
Washington and Madison and Randolph, from Virginia; Franklin and
Wilson and Gouverneur Morris, from Pennsylvania; Hamilton and Lansing,
from New York; Gerry and King, from Massachusetts; Ellsworth and
Sherman, from Connecticut; the two Pinckneys, from South Carolina; and
Patterson, from New Jersey. The personality of these men, their plans
and preparations, are all of profound importance; each contributed
something, positive or negative, to the new instrument of government.
The history of the convention itself falls roughly into three stages:
during the first month the delegates were busy presenting their plans
of union, each party attempting to enforce its will upon the minds of
the others. Then followed a month during which the parties gradually
came to an agreement, each waiving some of the things which it regarded
as essential in return for concessions upon the part of the others.
Finally, during the third month, though the debates still went on, they
were occupied mainly with the settlement of details, none of which was
of primary importance. If this threefold division of the work of the
Convention is kept in mind, the teacher will find it comparatively easy
to bring order out of the apparent chaos of the deliberations of the
three and a half months’ session at Philadelphia.
Taking each period in its order, we find that during the first month
there were two radically opposed opinions in the Convention. On the
one hand, were those who believed that a strong central government
should be established; on the other, those who believed that all that
was necessary or proper was that the Articles of Confederation should
be amended by giving to Congress more power, and by creating a strong
executive and a judicial department. The plans of the first party were
set forth in the Virginia Plan, which was probably drawn up by Madison
and presented to the Convention by Randolph; those of the other in the
New Jersey Plan, which was presented by Patterson. Each of these plans
should be carefully and thoroughly studied. Beside them, the student
will do well to acquaint himself also with the proposals laid before
the Convention by Hamilton and by Pinckney.
After a month of debating propositions and counter-propositions, the
differences narrowed themselves down to the single question of what
should be the method of representation in Congress. For a time it
seemed as though no agreement could be reached upon this subject. Then
came the compromise offered by Ellsworth and Sherman, of Connecticut,
which the Convention finally adopted--the first great compromise
of the Constitution. Next followed the debate between the Northern
States and the Southern States upon the question as to what should be
the basis of representation. This, too, was finally settled by what
is known as the second compromise of the Constitution. Finally there
remains to be studied the debates over the questions of the slave
trade, and foreign and interstate commerce. Here again the Convention
divided on sectional lines, till the difference was settled by the
third great compromise of the Constitution.
Now the Convention entered upon its third stage. Debates and
differences of opinion were still frequent, but they related almost
entirely to questions of detail, not to fundamental principles, so
that by September 17th the Convention was able to adjourn after having
transmitted the Constitution to the Congress of the Confederation for
action.
With the work of the Convention behind us, there remains the third
stage of the history of the Constitution to be studied. Instead of
acting finally upon the document, after a brief period of deliberation,
Congress on September 29th submitted it to the States for ratification.
This ratification was not accomplished without difficulty. Opposition
to the new form of government was active, often virulent. The grounds
for this opposition should be carefully studied. Unless we understand
it clearly, we shall be in no position to understand the basis of
the constitutional strife which raged in the United States for the
next seventy years, which culminated when the eleven Southern States
finally seceded from the Union. The objection to the new Constitution
was based first upon the feeling that the central government outlined
in the Constitution was too strong and would ultimately overshadow
and destroy the State governments; second, upon the fact that the
Constitution contained no Bill of Rights, and that therefore the sacred
rights of the people for which they had fought in the Revolution might
be interfered with. The first objection was finally overcome by the
argument and by the feeling among the people that life in America would
soon be impossible unless a stronger federal government than then
existed could be established; the second, by the promise that a series
of amendments embodying the principles known as the Bill of Rights
would speedily be adopted. Thus the Constitution was finally ratified,
and in April, 1789, the new government went into operation.
The further history of the Constitution belongs to a later period of
American history and is therefore outside the limits of this article.
It remains only, then, to indicate to the teacher the sources where
he may profitably seek further information on this subject. For
the story of the development of the English Constitution, specific
references can hardly be given, any one of the half dozen standard
text-books on English history should be adequate for the study of this
subject. The three great charters of English liberty may be found in
any of the source books of English history, such as, for instance,
Kendall’s or Colby’s or Lee’s; while, for the history of colonial
institutions, the student is referred to the works on colonial history
already mentioned in previous articles. The basis for the study of
the work of the Convention is to be found (1) in the “Journal of the
Convention,” published in Elliot’s “Debates,” and, especially, (2) in
Madison’s “Notes,” which are much fuller and much more satisfactory.
Of the secondary histories of the period, only some half dozen need be
mentioned: (1) Fiske’s “Critical Period,” (2) Curtis’s “Constitutional
History,” Vol. 1; (3) McLaughlin’s “The Confederation and the
Constitution,” (4) Walker’s “Making of the Nation,” (5) Landon’s
“Constitutional History,” and (6) Hart’s “Formation of the Union.”
There are others, of course, but these are more than sufficient for the
ordinary student.
TRANSITION, 1788-1789.
The period of transition, 1788-1789, is one of much interest for the
student and the teacher of American history. After the Constitution
had been ratified by the requisite number of States there remained
many details to be attended to before the new government could be put
into operation. Hasty generalizations have been made respecting this
period; and many a student has found his queries upon the precise
mode of transfer to the new government unanswered. Frank Fletcher
Stephens, Ph.D., has published in the “University of Missouri Studies”
a monograph, which covers this transitional period. Treating first the
action of the old Congress, Dr. Stephens follows the action of each
of the States upon the election of senators, of representatives, and
of presidential electors, closing with the determination in 1789 of
relations between the national government and the State governments.
While the chapters upon the first elections for national officers
are of value, the closing chapter upon federal and State relations
is particularly so. The author shows how the United States revenue
system took the place of the State tariffs, and how the change was made
successful by appointing to the national offices many of the customs
officials trained in the State service. Other subjects over which the
authority of the new government was paramount were admiralty matters,
naturalisation, and paper money; and upon each of these the authority
of the national government superseded the action of the States.
Respecting pensions and light-houses, we have a voluntary surrender
to the nation of the obligations incurred by the States in caring for
their veterans or in promoting commerce. The monograph throws much
light upon a neglected period of our history. E. K. Y.
European History in the Secondary School
D.C. KNOWLTON, PH.D., Editor.
THE RENAISSANCE.
What Was the Renaissance?
Before opening the discussion with the class there should be a clear
conception in the mind of the teacher as to what the Renaissance really
was. Is it to be regarded, for example, as an era, embracing within
its limits the Babylonian Captivity and the Great Schism, the Hundred
Years’ War, the struggle for Italy and the rise of Spain, and ending
finally with Luther’s attack on the Church in the sixteenth century;
or is it to be restricted to a narrower field, marked largely by a
revival of art, literature, and science and followed by an age of
discovery? “The period of the Renaissance,” says one writer, “in its
proper and most comprehensive meaning, may be regarded as the age in
which the social and political system of the Middle Ages came to an
end, in which medieval restrictions upon liberty of thought and inquiry
were abolished.” He then proceeds to explain that it includes all
the events which lie between 1273 and 1494, or, in other words, two
centuries and a quarter of European development. A little further on,
however, he refers to the “two movements with which the Renaissance has
been preeminently and sometimes exclusively associated--the revival of
letters and the revival of art,”[2] and discusses it from this second
point of view, showing how even with this narrower conception of the
movement it may properly include the reform of religion, the extension
of geographical knowledge and new discoveries in the realms of science,
both these conceptions were evidently before the minds of the committee
of the New England History Teachers’ Association as they framed their
syllabus. The efforts of the secondary teacher must of necessity be
confined to the Renaissance as a revival of letters and art. This does
not preclude the teacher from regarding the events from 1273 to 1494
as symptoms of changes which were bringing the Middle Ages to a close
and inaugurating a new era. In fact, these events may serve as an
introduction to the Renaissance proper, as has already been shown.[3]
The simple question, “What was the Renaissance?” will serve to open
the subject, and the various answers which may be drawn from the
students can be made to fit the teacher’s conception of the movement;
or, better still, the questions may be so framed as to draw from the
students themselves the teacher’s preconceived notion of what is to be
understood by the term. At the close of the discussion, the teacher’s
definition or conception, framed in simple language and dictated to the
class will fix it clearly in the student’s mind and serve as a guide
to further study and discussion. The following conception, which is
made up of statements borrowed from several sources, will serve as
an illustration: “The Renaissance was an intellectual and scientific
transformation of Europe, a great and fundamental change in thought and
taste, in books, buildings and pictures, for which the world had long
been preparing and in which we still participate.”
When Was the Renaissance?
This question suggests a second. “When did this movement begin and
when did it end?” This question may be treated separately or regarded
as a fundamental part of the first query. If an English and a German
Renaissance are to be recognized, as well as an Italian Renaissance,
care must be taken to select the dates accordingly. Following the plan
of some of the text-books, it might be well in this connection to point
out the fact that, although the movement began in Italy in the middle
of the fourteenth century and lasted there until about 1550, its dates
for England were approximately 1500 to 1600, and for Germany, 1450 to
1520.
Where Did It Begin and Why?
It is a natural transition from these considerations to a discussion
of why the movement first showed itself in Italy and why it became so
widespread. The answer to this query will naturally depend somewhat
upon the conception of the movement which has already been agreed
upon by teacher and class. If the Renaissance is to be considered, as
has been suggested, as primarily a revival of learning, care should
be taken to point out the fact that learning had not entirely died
out in the Europe of the Middle Ages, but that considerable progress
had been made back in the days of Charles the Great and again in the
thirteenth century in the rise of universities and the development of
the scholastic philosophy. The greater stimulus which followed the
revival of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries was due rather to
a more favorable set of conditions than had heretofore prevailed in
Europe. This was especially true of Italy. “It is no mere political
mutation,” says Symonds, “no new fashion of art, no restoration
of classical standards of taste. The arts and the inventions, the
knowledge and the books, which suddenly became vital at the time of the
Renaissance, had long lain neglected on the shores of the Dead Sea,
which we call the Middle Ages. It was not their discovery which caused
the Renaissance; but it was the intellectual energy, the spontaneous
outburst of intelligence which enabled mankind _at that moment_ to
make use of them.”[4] The enumeration of these favoring circumstances
will make necessary a return on the part of the teacher and class to
the time of the crusades; and the nearer they approach the fourteenth
century, the closer will appear the relation between such phenomena
as the passing of feudal conditions, the rise of the bourgeoisie and
the awakening of the individual man to a consciousness of his latent
powers and resources. The weaving of this chain of circumstances will
bring up among other things the rise of national literatures, the
founding of universities, the development of town life, the appearance
of the Ottoman Turks in Europe, the political and economic condition
of the Italian cities, the work of Dante and Petrarch, and the timely
invention of the printing press.
What Did the Renaissance Accomplish?
The class is now ready for the final question, “What did the
Renaissance really accomplish?” The following headings are suggested
for developing this phase of the subject; (1) the revival of learning;
(2) the new art; (3) commerce or discovery; (4) science and invention;
(5) religion. This order offers an easy and at the same time a natural
transition to the Reformation.
Several methods are open to the teacher for expanding these sub-topics.
One is to select a single individual, or a small group of individuals
and to present their lives and work in sufficient detail to illustrate
the various activities of the age and its leading characteristics; or
to present a series of contrasts, placing the achievements of these
men over against the attainments of the great thinkers and doers of
the Middle Ages. Either method does not require an elaborate library
equipment for its success.
If the former plan is adopted, Petrarch becomes the embodiment of
that passionate love for antiquity, that zeal for the collection of
ancient manuscripts, and that bitter opposition to those masters of
the Aristotelian logic, the ancient schoolmen, which marked especially
the revival of learning. A Raphael, a da Vinci, a Titian, and a
Michelangelo mark the highest pinnacle of achievement in painting;
Michelangelo, many-sided and versatile, like so many of his brother
artists, is the type of the great sculptor; and Bramante of the great
architect. The extension of geographical knowledge is so intimately
associated with the life and work of Prince Henry the Navigator,
that it has led one writer to declare that “the change which has
revolutionized European trade and has drawn the whole world within
the influence of Western civilization was indirectly the doing of
this Portuguese prince.”[5] Science needs no better exponent than a
Copernicus; the name of Gutenberg has always been associated with the
printing press and finally, religion is ably represented in the person
of a Valla and an Erasmus. The consideration of the life and work of
the two last-named writers brings us face to face with the reform
movement of the sixteenth century.
If the second method commends itself to the teacher, the schoolmen,
limited both as to material and method, with their appeal to authority,
can be presented in sharp contrast to the critics and scoffers of
the Renaissance with their final appeal to the reason. There is some
danger of over-emphasizing the follies of the former and of failing to
estimate their work at its true value. (On this point see Adams, p.
368, and footnote.) If it is true that St. Peter’s suffers by contrast
with the great achievements in the Romanesque and the Gothic, not so
a Raphael, a da Vinci, and a Titian when placed side by side with a
Cimabue, a Giotto and a Fra Angelico; or the rude reliefs on the doors
of Notre Dame and the Strasburg Cathedral, when placed beside the
bronze doors of a Ghiberti, “worthy to stand as the gates of Paradise.”
The discoveries of a Columbus, a Magellan and a Vasco da Gama, when
contrasted with the medieval conception of the world as depicted by
their greatest cartographers, emphasize the remarkable progress of
this later age in “discovering the world,” as well as man. Finally
the misconceptions and pseudo-scientific treatises of the medieval
schoolmen sink into insignificance beside the work of a Galileo and a
Copernicus and the far-reaching results of the printing press.
Use of Illustrative Material.
Whichever method may be followed, it will be found that illustrations
will add much to the interest of the class and make clearer the
characteristics of the painting and sculpture of the period. A few
pictures carefully selected will serve the purpose much better than
a larger number. The “Madonna and Christ-Child,” by Cimabue;[6] the
“Death of St. Francis,” by Giotto, and the “Coronation of the Virgin,”
by Fra Angelico, will serve as illustrations of some of the faults of
medieval painting. Care should be taken, however, to point out the fact
that some of these artists are classed among the early Renaissance
painters and their work marks a decided advance over that of their
predecessors. The “Last Judgment,” by Michelangelo; the Sistine
“Madonna,” by Raphael; the “Assumption of the Virgin,” by Titian, and
da Vinci’s “Last Supper” are numbered among the “World Pictures,” and
illustrate that mastery of technique and conception which has made
their names so famous. Pictures of Michelangelo’s Moses, his David, and
his figures on the tombs of the Medici, and Ghiberti’s bronze doors
for the baptistry of Florence can easily be secured to illustrate the
work of the Renaissance sculptors. A suggestion has already been made
as to medieval sculpture. The Perry Picture Company or the Cosmos
Picture Company can probably supply such pictures as may be needed at a
very moderate cost. That teacher is especially fortunate who has access
to a good art museum. The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City
offers special facilities to teachers and classes wishing to use their
collections.
Literature.
Reference has already been made from time to time to helpful
literature. Burckhardt’s “Civilisation of the Renaissance in Italy” is
often cited as the best book in English on the Renaissance in Italy,
but it offers comparatively little in the way of suggestive treatment
for the secondary teacher. His point of view is psychological and
therefore quite beyond the comprehension of the secondary student. This
fact, however, should not discourage the teacher from a perusal of
his pages, as he throws new light on many a vexed question connected
with the movement. Symonds’s “Short History of the Renaissance in
Italy,” an abridgement of his larger work, though more popular and
less scholarly, portrays the more attractive and the more intelligible
side of the period and makes it glow with life and enthusiasm. Placed
in the hands of the young reader, it may be the means of inspiring
him with some of the writer’s enthusiasm for the labors of the men of
that period, and possibly stimulate a stronger desire for some of that
culture of which they were such worthy exponents. The chapter by Adams
on the Renaissance in his “Civilization During the Middle Ages” is most
suggestive and helpful. He not only summarizes the various revivals
which culminated in the Renaissance proper, but traces the movement
from its inception in Italy to its appearance in Italy and Germany,
pointing out clearly its leading spirits and characterizing their
special contributions to the movement. Lodge, in the concluding chapter
of his “Close of the Middle Ages,” deals with the main features of the
Renaissance and presents some admirable contrasts between the old and
the new. Mention should also be made of the chapters in Seignobos’s
“History of Medieval and Modern Civilization” on the “End of the
Middle Ages,” “Modern Times,” “Inventions and Discoveries,” and the
“Renaissance.” Beazley’s “Prince Henry the Navigator,” contains much
more than a biography of this great pioneer in the field of discovery,
and will be found useful for its summary of earlier achievements.
Seebohm’s small volume on the “Era of the Protestant Reformation,”
though brief, contains an excellent summary of the conditions which
prevailed during the Renaissance and their relation to the movement
for religious reform. Van Dyke, “History of Painting,” and Marquand
and Frothingham, “History of Sculpture,” are useful handbooks for the
artistic side of the Renaissance. Whitcomb’s “Source Book of the
Renaissance” probably contains the greatest number of readings from
the Renaissance authors, both Italian and German. Special mention
might be made of his extracts from Petrarch and Benevenuto Cellini in
Part I.; and from Erasmus and the “Letters of Obscure Men” in Part
II. Part II. is preceded by a short account of the Renaissance in
Germany. Robinson’s “Readings,” Vol I., contains much that is helpful,
particularly in contrasting the culture of the Middle Ages with that
of the Renaissance. In this connection should be noted Chapter xix, on
the “Culture of the Middle Ages,” with its subdivisions on “Mediæval
Natural Science,” “Historical Knowledge in the Middle Ages,” “Abelard
and the Universities,” “Supremacy of Aristotle in the Mediæval
Universities,” “Scholasticism,” and “Roger Bacon and the Beginning
of Modern Experimental Science.” Chapter xxii contains extracts
illustrating the Renaissance in Italy, with subdivisions on the Italian
despots (quoting from Machiavelli), “Humanism,” and the “Artists of the
Renaissance.” Ogg devotes one of his concluding chapters (xxvi) to the
“Beginnings of the Italian Renaissance,” in which he quotes from Dante
and Petrarch.
Questions.
The following questions, gleaned from various sources, may serve the
teacher as a guide in presenting some phases of the movement.
In what respects were the Crusades responsible for the Renaissance?
What is meant by the “revival of learning,” and through what agencies
was it brought about?
Trace the causes leading to the Renaissance and name four persons
prominent in art or literature during this period.
Set forth the limitations and the value of scholasticism and the
meaning and results of the revival of learning.
What contributions to the Renaissance movement were made by Italy,
Germany and England respectively?
State the part taken in promoting the Renaissance by Copernicus,
Petrarch, Raphael and Erasmus.
State some of the effects of the Renaissance as they appear (a) in
government; (b) in literature and art; (c) in industries.
Show a relation between the Renaissance and (a) the fall of
Constantinople (1453); (b) the invention of printing; (c) the discovery
of America; (d) the Protestant revolt.
Discuss the accuracy of the following statements, mentioning the facts
upon which you base your conclusion:
a. The fall of Constantinople did not cause the Renaissance, but it
did give a great impetus to it.
b. Without the Renaissance the Reformation would not have occurred.
FOOTNOTES:
[2] Lodge. Close of the Middle Ages, pp. 518, 519.
[3] November number, History Teacher’s Magazine.
[4] The Italics are mine.--Editor. On this same point see also Adams,
Civilisation during the Middle Ages, pp. 371-374. The quotation is from
Symonds, A Short History of the Renaissance in Italy, p. 3.
[5] Cunningham, Western Civilisation, Vol. II., p. 130.
[6] In the Rucellai Chapel of Santa Maria Novella Florence.
Ancient History in the Secondary School
WILLIAM FAIRLEY, Ph.D., Editor.
THE GLORY AND THE RUIN OF GREECE.
With the work of the present month we come to a period of Greek history
marked by the extreme of contrast. We are to study the crowning glories
of Greece in the realm of mind, and her downfall on the side of
political strength and success. Both facts should be emphasized. This
section is specially well fitted for topical study. A series of such
topics may well be as follows:
1. Map of Attica and the Athenian Empire at its widest. Plan of
Athens. Pictures of Athens. Side topic: the sources of the wealth
of Athens. (Mines, taxes, tribute).
2. Athenian public life. Intense devotion of citizen to state
affairs. Opportunity for every citizen to hold office.
3. Social, industrial and private life. Aspasia, as throwing a side
light on position of woman.
4. Greek art--sculpture, architecture, painting.
5. Greek drama: its development and power.
6. Greek philosophy. The attempt to read the problems of life.
Special reference to Socrates, Plato and Aristotle.
7. Athenian democracy under Pericles. The Constitution.
8. The career of Pericles: born leader of a democracy.
9. The Peloponnesian War.
10. Military and naval affairs. Athenian naval supremacy. The Theban
phalanx.
11. Spartan and Theban control. Military rule of conquered sections.
12. Greek political failure.
Here is a good month’s work; and one which will test the teacher.
Remark has already been made in this series of articles on the
surpassing debt of modern civilization to Greek thought. The present
is the opportunity for the pupil to grasp the extent of this debt. The
value of such grasp will depend on the teacher. It is easy to imagine
the dullness of mere text-book work here. The student may be led
through such a period, and have no more impression left on him than he
would by learning the boundaries of our forty-six States. On the other
hand, he may be so impressed by the marvellous activities of the Greek
mind as to be able always hereafter to understand why literature makes
so multitudinous references to this petty people.
Minimize the Study of War.
The better text-books are admirable in their restraint in dealing with
such topics as the Peloponnesian War. One fine book gives only six
pages to it, and omits all trivial details. Another good book gives
only about eight pages. This is as it should be. That war, and the
later attempts at control by Thebes are to be taken, not as studies
of heroic endeavor, but as melancholy examples of human foolishness.
The bitter costs and heavy losses of war can find no more striking
illustration than in the period of the great struggle for control in
Greece. These were essentially civil wars from our point of view. It
is true there was no political unity in Greece, save of the fleeting
federations; but for all that the wars of the fifth century and the
first half of the fourth were wars among peoples who should have been
brothers. Historians tell us that there are no “lessons” to be drawn
from past occurrences. But, spite of that dictum, the political fate
of Greece points plainly to the evils of unnecessary war. Some wars
are unavoidable race conflicts; others center about the struggle for
freedom from tyranny; others come from the clash of older and newer
ideas. But fratricidal war, such as the internal conflicts of Greece,
is only horrible. The recent ebullition of temper between England and
Germany, peoples of the same stock, is an illustration of the sort of
thing that the Greek example may well warn against.
The Periclean Democracy.
It is a relief to turn away from war and its evils to the living
interests of peaceful life. The young student will come across many
references in his later reading to Athenian democracy. That democracy
reached its flowering under Pericles. In the outline of topics given at
the beginning of this article, number 7 calls for a period devoted to
the study of this democracy. How shall such a lesson be taught?
In a preceding article it was suggested that the pupils make an
outline of the older Athenian constitutions. This outline may well be
supplemented first of all by one of the various assemblies, courts
and offices of the Periclean time. But that is only the bones of the
study. The lesson might proceed by a series of comparisons with modern
conditions. First of all, What did an Athenian mean by “democracy,”
and what do we mean? The answer to this question will show the mighty
advance of the modern idea over the best of the older world. The growth
of the power of the popular assembly as over against that of the senate
and Areopagus should be pointed out. And its modern counterpart in the
growing distrust of legislatures and the demand for the referendum may
be used to illustrate the same tendency among us.
The degree of intelligence among the Athenians who constituted the
assembly must be noted. Probably so able a body of citizens would be
hard to match in a modern state of a thousand times the size of Athens.
But was this excellence, founded on slave labor, and the idea that the
worth of the true citizen is measured by his political activity too
dearly bought?
The long control of Pericles, “the leader of the people,” illustrates
finely the fact that the great man is sure to assert himself and to
be used by his fellow citizens under whatever system of government,
and whether he holds office or not. On the other hand, the theoretic
division of executive responsibility, rising from distrust of one-man
power, was a weakness. States must use and trust their great men,
putting heavy responsibilities on them.
Contrast may well be drawn between a court at Athens and one in any
part of the United States. Here will be opportunity for finding out how
little the average youth really knows about our jury system.
Greek Drama.
Another topical lesson suggested is number 5, on the Greek drama. The
growth of drama from the old chorus may be traced with its addition
of an actor--then two actors--then three. The names of the chief
dramatists, Æschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, should be
linked with our Shakespeare and Molière, (What American playwrights
fit worthily in such a class?) The difference between tragedy and
comedy can be shown, tracing the etymology of the two words as given in
any standard dictionary. Set the pupils to discussing the difference
between a good play and a bad one. Why do these few old Greek plays
live, and their characters become commonplaces of literature,
with the characters of Goethe and Shakespeare? What characters of
modern plays are likely or worthy to live? And at some time in the
all-too-short period there might be short illustrative readings from a
translation--Browning, or Shelley. Only by some such enlivening method
will our charges ever get any grasp on the fact that Greek drama was
epoch-making in its importance. We might well compare the open-air
theater of Greece with our modern play-house; and also the different
spirit in which the Greek took his drama.
Greek Art.
Again attention is to be focused on the fact that the Greeks were
leaders and masters in art. And the surpassing wonder is that when the
rest of the world had been satisfied with winged bulls and sphinxes
and grotesquely conventional forms of men these people arrived in a
century or two at a perfection which is the delight and the despair of
the world. Their supremacy in carving the human figure in marble needs
to be connected with their devoted attention to the development of the
living form by athletic exercise. In our larger schools will be found
casts, perhaps, at any rate, pictures, of the best pieces of Greek art.
Their restraint, their simplicity may be dwelt on. In the country where
the one lone teacher, not an expert, either in history or art, has not
even a “pallid bust of Pallas,” he or she can at least make use of
the illustrations in the text-book. Above all, let us try not to let
this period be one of dull memorizing of names. It needs interpreting
to the young folks so that they may see the wonder of it all, and the
controlling influence it has exercised on the ages since.
The Lesson in Philosophy.
That same lone teacher just referred to may feel that it is absurd to
ask for a lesson on philosophy with children. But, is it not true that
in childhood some of us have been more curious about the problems of
existence than we have since had time or taste to be? So if we cannot
read to the boys and girls passages from the Phædo or the Apology, we
can stir our pupils to a sense of the pressing nature of the problems
which the Greeks first (save the Hebrews) strove rationally to solve.
They asked and tried to find rational answers to such questions as,
What is the relation of mind to matter? What is God? What is man? Does
man die as the beast dies? And to these questions the men of this
period found not unworthy answers. So in every field of human thought
we find them pioneers and teachers of the world.
English History in the Secondary School
C. B. NEWTON, Editor.
IV. VARIOUS PHASES OF THE FOURTEENTH AND FIFTEENTH CENTURIES.
A Prologue on Mannerisms.
One of the best-known professors in Princeton Theological Seminary,
some years ago, was locally famous for his curious mannerisms. It was
said that at certain crises in his lectures he would put his watch in
his mouth, to the huge delight of his class. But one is a great teacher
in spite of one’s mannerisms, not because of them, and with most of
us peculiarities in the class-room greatly detract from and handicap
our usefulness as teachers. I am moved to a friendly word of warning
at this point because we are approaching the time of year when subtle
and imperceptible class-room peculiarities are apt to creep upon us
unawares. The first freshness of the year’s work has worn off, “the
daily round, the common task” is perhaps beginning to tell on us.
Little ruts of expression, little oddities of speech or manner begin
to creep upon us unawares. Only eternal vigilance--vigilance tempered,
however, with humor and a due sense of proportion--will save us from
the danger of establishing some unhappy mannerism which _may_ grow into
a beam in comparison with some of the motes we see in our pupils’ eyes!
I remember having this brought home to me very forcibly, some years
ago, when I had an unusual opportunity of seeing myself as others
saw me in the class-room. A lad with an unusual gift of caricature,
took off several teachers at an informal evening gathering. After
recognizing, with considerable amusement, clever take-offs of several
of my colleagues, I suddenly recognized, with equal amusement,
myself! In a flash I recognized an unnecessary trick of speech into
which I had fallen, hitherto all unconsciously. There were other
mannerisms, apparently harmless, but I saw in an instant how useless
and objectionable the trick of speech was; and I inwardly blessed the
boy for revealing it to me. I have never once used it since. More than
this, I was put on my guard, and I have since caught myself at some
seedling idiosyncrasy, which I was able to weed out before it took root.
It may be that some teachers are immune from this danger, but I believe
it is a real one with most of us, and--“let him that thinketh he
standeth take heed lest he fall!”
As to the Fourteenth Century.
In addition to the great conflict which occupies an important position
on the stage of the fourteenth century, there are several important
and interesting phases of this period which have much to do with the
development of the English nation. The growth of trade, the development
of national spirit, and, above all, the breaking up of villeinage and
the social and religious unrest of the last half of the century are
all signs of the times well worth noting. So far as I know there is no
illuminating fiction to help the laggard imagination to picture the
days of Wat Tyler, John Ball and John Wyclif. But there is Langland’s
“Piers the Plowman’s Dream,” there are Chaucer’s vivid word pictures
of the life of his day, and there is much about the life and work of
Wyclif. On this last subject the quotation in Beard’s “Introduction,”
pp. 221-230, is very full, but contains too much detail for the average
school boy or girl. Green, pp. 235-244, contains much that may be used
in notes. The close connection between Lollardry and the prevailing
social unrest is well brought out by Green.
Care must be taken, however, not to attribute the root of this social
unrest to the religious teachings of Wyclif. Undoubtedly the shortage
of laborers produced by the great plague, and the unsettled political
conditions of the time were more important factors in the breaking up
of villeinage and the shifting of the lower strata of society than the
preaching of the Lollards. The causes of the peasant revolt and of the
upheaval of ancient custom are discussed very lucidly by Green, pp.
244-255 and pp. 255-260.
The points to be emphasized, it seems to me, are the great facts of
the overturning of the old system of employing labor, and the fact
of the brief Protestant movement. The former was a permanent change,
wrought by the currents which move slowly, but mightily, in the history
of every nation; the latter was the blazing up of a light that was to
die back into darkness, that was only a forerunner of the Reformation
of the future. The emancipation of the serfs has no parallel in any
modern emancipation of slaves. It was not brought about _by_ acts of
parliament, but rather _in spite of them_. The old system was outworn
and was sloughed off amid the throes of natural development. Feudalism,
like Charles II, was an “unconscionable time a-dying,” but, like
Charles, too, it died a natural, not a violent, death.
One other phase of the fourteenth century not to be forgotten is the
beginning of the English language in anything like its modern form,
and the beginning of English literature with Chaucer. Out of the
conflict between French and Anglo-Saxon which set in with the Norman
Conquest there at last emerged, two hundred years later, the new
English language, with its Teutonic foundations and its Latin-Gallic
adornments. From this time on the English language, ever growing, but
always English, is the general language of England.
The Fifteenth Century.
There is little in England’s story during the fifteenth century which
is memorable or striking. The brief glories of Agincourt, to be sure,
inflated the national pride, but whatever the splendors of Henry
V’s reign, they were swallowed up in the gloom and disaster of the
following decades--the loss of French possessions, the helplessness of
the crown, the turbulence of the nobles, the cruel strife of the Roses,
the selfish reign of Edward IV, and the monstrosity of Richard III. No
new light in literature or religion, no really great name in statecraft
appears--nothing until the end of the century, when the first rays of
the renaissance were beginning to lighten the horizon, to relieve the
dullness and darkness of this profitless century. It has always seemed
to me the proverbial dark hour before the dawn.
The Wars of the Roses.
In spite of their inglorious and useless character, the Wars of the
Roses have, undoubtedly, considerable historical significance. The
comparative situation of the crown and of the nobility before and
after this strife is very striking. In the forties we find the king
financially and politically weak, the barons wealthy from the spoils
of France, strong in their armed retainers, and unbridled in their
turbulence and arrogance. In the eighties all this is changed; the king
is supreme, the baronage at his mercy. The change is easy to account
for--the contrast in character between Henry VI and Henry VII accounts
in part for it; but the bloody struggle which decimated the ranks and
exhausted the resources of the nobility was evidently the main cause of
their humiliation.
As to the Wars of the Roses themselves, I think many text-books lack
clarity in bringing out the fact that rather than a straggling war
there was a distinct _series_ of conflicts, which makes this peculiar
civil strife not _a war_, but literally _the Wars_ of the Roses. Some
such outline as follows is of practical use in bringing out this fact
in the class-room:
First--Beginning of the wars, 1455. First battle of St. Albans,
Richard of York triumphant. Armed truce of five years.
Second--Outbreak brought on by intrigues of Queen Margaret,
1460-1461; battles of Northampton, Wakefield (only Lancastrian
success; Richard killed), second St. Albans, and Towton. Triumph of
the new Duke of York, Richard’s son, Edward, now crowned Edward IV.
Third--After nearly decade of peace, revolt headed by Warwick.
Brief restoration of throne to poor Henry VI; battles of Barnet and
Tewkesbury. Return of Edward IV.
Fourth--Final struggle, victory of Henry Tudor, 1485, Bosworth Field.
Such an outline brings out plainly the intermissions in the wars, and
the happenings during these considerable stretches of time (much longer
than the periods of fighting) can be filled in very easily.
Foundations of the Tudor Absolutism.
In the opening chapter of James Gairdner’s “Henry the Seventh”
(Macmillan), the author gives a brief and interesting account of the
early life of Henry VII which brings out both the uses of adversity
which moulded his character, and the pedigree which, if heredity means
anything, must have been one of the causes of the Tudor personality.
The facts that Henry’s grandmother, Katharine, widow of Henry V, was a
French princess, that his grandfather was a Welsh knight, and that his
mother was lineally descended through John of Gaunt from Edward III are
both interesting in themselves and of importance in connection with
his claims to the throne. Finally his marriage with Elizabeth of York,
daughter of Edward IV, was of vast importance in helping to end the
long feud and to establish beyond all question the royal supremacy of
subsequent kings.
The structure of the Tudor absolutism, then, so carefully reared by
Henry VII, had two very substantial foundations, first in the king’s
own position by heredity, marriage and character; second, in the
demoralization of the barons. On those foundations the new king began
building after 1485 according to methods of his own, or by means
already invented. By shrewd economy and rather unregal thrift; by the
heavy fines for which the Court of the Star Chamber was so useful; by
following Edward IV’s illustrious example in levying benevolences,
with the expert help of Cardinal Morton; by politic relations at home
and abroad, Henry built financial power and made himself master of the
barons.
General Notes.
The pathetic figure of Henry VI, such a contrast to his immediate
successors, is portrayed with simplicity and charm, pp. 296-297 of
Cheyney’s “Readings.” Speaking of Henry VI naturally suggests the close
of the Hundred Years’ War, and tempts me to refer again to Joan of Arc.
There is a particularly sympathetic and charming account of her in the
November (1909) “St. Nicholas”--an account which more than one “grown
up” must have read with delight.
It is well to make clearer than most text-books do just what
“benevolences” were. This may be done by making them concrete rather
than by definition. The extract from Fabyan’s “Chronicle” in the
“Readings,” pp. 300-301, does this excellently. For concreteness, too,
Henry VII’s diary quoted at some length in the “Readings” gives an
intimate view of Henry, one would hardly expect of a mere account book.
It contains a quaint mingling of expenditures of state and the smallest
items, from £12,000 “for the king’s wars,” to 2s. “to a woman for a
rede rosae.”
The beginnings of printing, and especially the pioneer work of Caxton,
are not only of immense interest as an invention, but of immense
importance as one of the great mediums of spreading abroad the new
ideas which were about to flood Europe. Green, as usual, is very full
of interesting information, the gist of which is useful for notes on
this subject, pp. 295-299.
History in the Grades
ARMAND J. GERSON, Editor.
THE JAY TREATY. A TYPE LESSON.
Since treaties, unlike explorers and land-claims, are not peculiar to
any one period of our history, the selection of a particular treaty for
our type-lesson presents more difficulty than we met in the case of our
earlier lessons on Columbus and the Spanish claim. At first glance the
mere matter of priority in time might seem to decide the question for
us. Why not take the first treaty that comes into our story and use it
as the topic of our treaty lesson?
To this basis of selection there are two serious objections. In the
first place, treaties find their way into our history narrative at an
early stage of the child’s mental development, at a time, that is to
say, when he is neither best fitted for, nor most interested in, the
constitutional points involved in a real understanding of the making
of a treaty. The study of the treaties that closed the inter-colonial
wars, for example, would constitute an unwarranted interruption of the
narrative which at that time should be occupying the pupil’s whole
attention.
A still graver objection, however, to the use of any of these early
treaties for our type-lesson lies in the fact that they are in no sense
typical. While they, of course, concerned the colonists very directly,
they were nevertheless treaties between foreign nations; our country
was not a party to them. Neither can we consider as typical the early
treaties into which we entered in the first days of our national
existence,--that with France in 1778, and that with England in 1783.
Both of these were negotiated under authority of a constitution widely
different from that which prescribes the treaty-making process in our
nation to-day.
Our treaty with England in 1794 was the first important treaty
(important, that is, from the point of view of our elementary course of
study) to which the American nation in the present significance of that
term was a party. It answers admirably the purpose of a type-lesson.
Here are to be found all the important elements necessary for the
proper grasp of later treaties. Moreover, the history work in most of
our elementary schools is so graded that pupils come to the study of
the post-Revolutionary period with sufficient maturity of mind to grasp
and to enjoy the international and constitutional questions around
which the story of the Jay Treaty develops.
The topic of our type-lesson having been selected, the mode of
presentation next demands the teacher’s attention. We must keep
clearly in mind that our purpose is the development of a type-idea,
a regulating concept which will help in the firm and instant
comprehension of later treaties when they shall find their way into our
story. It becomes necessary, therefore, to select with great care and
present with special emphasis those elements which have most real and
far-reaching significance. The following questions may help us in our
selection: What should the pupil’s notion of a treaty include when he
leaves the elementary school? How much of this desired understanding
can be developed by means of our lesson on the Jay Treaty? In a word,
what are the type-elements of our lesson?
The essential elements of the idea we are striving to develop through
our type-lesson fall naturally under two heads:
1. The pupil should receive from the study of the Jay Treaty a clear
notion of the treaty-making process as prescribed by the Constitution.
He should further have some idea of the way in which the constitutional
provision has worked out in practice.
2. The pupil should gain from the lesson a definite knowledge of the
essential, significant, or typical parts of a treaty. This knowledge
should include some idea of the general form and arrangement of the
document.
Our type-lesson should be developed with the purpose of impressing
these two type-elements.
A lesson, however, which concerned itself exclusively with
type-elements would be a very dull and lifeless affair. In fact,
the events which make up the greater part of the story of the Jay
Treaty are by no means typical of treaties in general. It must be
borne in mind, however, that to them attach a value and an interest
of their own. Local color, objective reality, in a word, everything
which makes history actual and living depends on the proper use of
specific, characteristic, but not necessarily typical, details. The
teacher’s task is to make such use of this auxiliary material as will
bring into strong relief the type-elements. He must strive to effect
a combination of the typical and the specific, the general and the
particular, so that in the end he shall have developed in his pupil’s
mind a consistent and complete type-idea, vivified and enriched by a
wealth of local incident and illuminating detail. The introductory
stage of the Jay Treaty lesson should consist of a brief review of our
relations with Great Britain since the Revolutionary War. The treaty
which closed that war, besides recognizing the independence of the
United States, had placed both countries under certain definite mutual
obligations. There is no real inconsistency in this reference to the
treaty of 1783 before the full development of our type-lesson on the
Jay Treaty. We are not assuming that the pupil has the sort of grasp
which the type-lesson aims to secure; we are simply taking for granted
his general understanding of a treaty as a formal agreement between
nations, a simple enough notion and one which can hardly fail to have
been developed incidentally in the earlier course of the work. To
return, then, to our preparatory consideration of the treaty of 1783,
it should be pointed out that certain articles of that treaty[7] had
provided for the payment of debts contracted before the war, for the
restitution of all confiscated Tory estates, and, on the other side,
for the withdrawal of English troops from United States territory.
These provisions had not been carried out. Hard feeling between the
two countries was further aggravated by England’s serious interference
with our commerce. Her vessels persisted in searching our ships and
impressing our seamen. The limit of patient endurance seemed reached
when in 1793 the English government ordered the seizure of all neutral
vessels carrying provisions to French ports. What was to be done?
Clearly either one of two things: resort to war or enter into a new
agreement. The class is presumably familiar with the fact that in
spite of the advocacy of an alliance with France by certain of our
leaders and their insistence on a renewal of the war with England,
our government had definitely decided on a policy of neutrality and
peace. Since we were not to fight England, it remained to settle our
difficulties by means of a new treaty.
How can our government make a treaty with a foreign nation? With this
question we bring our pupils face to face with the first type-element
in the Jay Treaty lesson. The class has not long since taken up the
story of the making of our Constitution, and may be assumed to realize
its significance as the “fundamental law.” What has the Constitution to
say on the subject of treaty-making? The President “shall have power,
by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties,
provided two-thirds of the Senators present concur.” The significance
of this provision can easily be cleared up by a brief explanation of
the organization of Congress, the chief general powers of that body,
and the most important points of difference between the functions of
the two houses.
We are now ready to resume consideration of the situation in 1794.
Washington’s policy of peace necessitated definite negotiations with
England. He accordingly looked about for an agent specially fitted
to carry on the difficult task. He decided upon John Jay, the Chief
Justice of the Supreme Court. Washington’s choice was approved by the
Senate, and Jay set sail for England as envoy extraordinary of the
United States. It is important that the class should realize that
this sending of a special ambassador is not necessarily typical of
treaty-making. Washington might have used as his agent our regular
minister to England. On the other hand, the negotiations might have
taken place in Philadelphia, our Secretary of State taking up the
matter with the English minister to this country. In other words, the
selection of Jay is not a type-element, and must not be so regarded by
our pupils.
The details of Jay’s negotiations in London should not be presented to
an elementary class. They are of little value or interest for young
pupils and have practically no bearing on the treaty-making process.
Suffice it to say that Great Britain was represented by Lord Grenville
(“His Majesty’s principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs,”
and son of the Grenville of pre-Revolutionary notoriety), and that
Jay found it impossible to secure all the concessions he desired. On
November 19, 1794, after five months of negotiation, the articles were
signed by the two plenipotentiaries.
The class is now ready to give some time and attention to the treaty
itself with a view to noting its typical or significant parts.[8]
Attention should first be directed to the preamble, which, as typical
of modern treaties, should receive considerable emphasis. It should
be read at length (it is not very long), and the wording carefully
noted. The preamble serves three purposes: (1) It names the contracting
parties, (2) it specifies the object of the negotiations, and (3)
it names the agents of both countries and indicates their mode of
appointment.
The general arrangement of the document, that is to say, the division
into articles taking up the special points covered by the treaty,
should next be pointed out. The teacher might rapidly run through
some of the chief topics considered, in the twenty-eight articles of
the treaty. Finally, the formal dating and signing at the end of the
document should receive passing notice.
The special provisions, in so far as they need be taken up in an
elementary treatment of our topic, next call for attention. In no
sense do these constitute a type-element. They should be given to the
class in their simplest form and without any undue detail. The general
statement that most of the difficulties between the two nations were
adjusted by the treaty of 1794, but that nothing was settled on the
disturbing question of impressment, comprises about all that we can
expect an elementary pupil to retain concerning the special provisions
of this treaty.
When, however, we come to the subsequent history of the treaty in the
Senate, we reach a more essential part of the story. Ratification by
the Senate has already been pointed out as part of the constitutional
provision on treaty-making, and here we come upon our first typical
instance of its application. The Senate was called into special
session, and took up the matter of the treaty on June 8, 1795. The
two-thirds vote is both interesting and important as typical of the
treaty-making process. The teacher should impress it by reviewing the
number of states in the Union at the time, the consequent membership of
the Senate, and the vote necessary for the ratification of the treaty.
It is well here to work with actual numbers so as to lend vividness to
the presentation. The final ratification took place June 24, 1795.
The reservation in regard to Article XII, which the Senate refused
to confirm, and the later struggle for an appropriation in the House
obviously will find no place in an elementary lesson. They are in
themselves far too complicated for the purpose of history teaching in
the grades. Moreover, they are in no sense typical of treaties in
general and would tend to confuse rather than clarify the notion we are
seeking to develop.
Having taken the class through the process of treaty-making as
exemplified in the Jay Treaty, and having developed an adequate notion
of the nature of a treaty, it will be advisable for the teacher to
formulate with his pupils an outline or synopsis of the most important
points of the lesson. This type-lesson is different in character from
the lessons we have previously considered on explorers and claims in
that it does not typify an epoch. As before mentioned, treaties are
not peculiar to any one period of our history. It is, therefore, of
importance that the results of the lesson should be put into some
concise, permanent form to which the pupil may easily refer when, now
and again in the course of his history work, various treaties are under
discussion. While the lesson as here outlined may seem to enter into
an undue amount of detail, it is our thought that the effort expended
will be more than repaid by the definiteness of the notion which we
have developed and by the greater ease of comprehension with which our
pupils will approach the treaties lying in wait for them later in the
course.
FOOTNOTES:
[7] Articles IV, V and VI, MacDonald’s “Select Documents,” pp. 19-20.
[8] The text of the treaty can be found in convenient form in
MacDonald’s “Select Documents,” pp. 114-180.
Reports from the Historical Field
WALTER H. CUSHING, Editor.
HISTORY TEACHERS’ ASSOCIATIONS.
For the convenience of its readers and to stimulate the work of
organization, THE MAGAZINE will print each month a list of the
associations, with the names and addresses of the secretaries. The
following list is admittedly incomplete. Will our readers help us fill
in the gaps, and keep us informed of changes in the secretarial offices?
AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION.--W. G. Leland, Carnegie Institution,
Washington, D. C., secretary.
AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION, PACIFIC COAST BRANCH.--J. N. Bowman,
University of California, Berkeley, secretary.
CALIFORNIA.--Professor J. N. Bowman, Berkeley, secretary.
INDIANA.--Professor Harriet Palmer, Franklin, secretary.
MARYLAND.--Mr. Robert H. Wright, Baltimore, secretary.
MIDDLE STATES.--Professor Henry Johnson, Teachers’ College, New York
City, secretary.
MISSISSIPPI.--Mr. H. M. Ivy, Flora, secretary.
MISSOURI.--Professor Eugene Fair, Kirksville, secretary.
NEBRASKA.--Professor C. N. Anderson, Kearney, president.
NEW ENGLAND.--Mr. W. H. Cushing, South Framingham, Mass., secretary.
NEW YORK (N. Y.) CONFERENCE.--L. R. Schuyler, City College, New York,
secretary.
NORTH CENTRAL.--Mr. G. H. Gaston. Wendell Phillips High School,
Chicago, secretary.
TRENTON (N. J.) CONFERENCE.--Sarah A. Dynes, State Normal School,
secretary.
WISCONSIN.--Gertrude Hull, West Division High School, Milwaukee,
chairman.
In Colorado, Professor James G. Willard is chairman of the Committee
on Organization. In Louisiana, Professor Walter L. Fleming is most in
touch with the movement. In North Dakota, Professor John M. Gillette,
of the University of North Dakota, writes of steps taken to organize.
The Washington teachers will organize at their next annual meeting.
WISCONSIN ASSOCIATION.
At the meeting of the Wisconsin State Teachers’ Association, held at
Milwaukee on November 4, 5, 6, it was voted to organize a Wisconsin
History Teachers’ Association, to meet at the same time and city as the
State Teachers’ Association. The following committee was appointed to
draw up a plan for the organization and to prepare the programme for
the next meeting:
Miss Gertrude Hull, chairman, head of History Department, West Division
High School, Milwaukee.
Professor George C. Sellery, professor of History, University of
Wisconsin, Madison.
Professor Carl E. Pray, History Department, State Normal School,
Milwaukee.
Teachers of the State who are interested are invited to correspond with
the chairman.
INDIANA ASSOCIATION.
The Indiana History Teachers’ Association meets annually, jointly
with the Indiana Historical Society. The next meeting will be held at
Indianapolis on April 29 and 30, 1910. The officers for the present
year are as follows:
President, Harlow Lindley, professor of History, Earlham College.
Vice-president, J. Walter Dunn, Indianapolis.
Secretary-Treasurer, Miss Harriet Palmer, Franklin College, Franklin,
Ind.
AIDS TO VISUALIZATION.
A feature of the coming meeting of the American Historical Association
in New York will be an exhibit, at Teachers’ College, of special
aids to visualization in the teaching of history. The exhibit will
consist of casts, models, pictures, historical albums, visualization
charts, maps, plans, and other similar material, and of such apparatus
as the stereoscope, the ordinary lantern, the “reflectroscope,” the
“microscope,” and the motion picture lantern. The interesting and
inexpensive models found in Germany and the French and German charts
and albums will have a prominent place. A few types of recent foreign
text-books will also be included. In the main, only such aids as
are now actually available for school use will be shown. The names
of dealers and the cost of material will in each case be indicated.
The aim of the exhibit is to answer as specifically as possible the
questions usually asked by teachers who feel the need of greater
emphasis upon this aspect of historical instruction.
NEW YORK SYLLABUS IN CIVICS.
A revision of the New York State Syllabus in Civics is under way, in
charge of a committee consisting of Dr. William Fairley, of the High
School of Commerce, Brooklyn; Superintendent Frank D. Boynton, of
Ithaca, and Principal John L. Tildsley, of the De Witt Clinton High
School.
RATINGS IN HISTORY.
The following figures are taken from the Secretary’s Report of the
June, 1909, examinations of the College Entrance Board:
KEY:
A: Number of Candidates
B: % Ratings 90-100
C: % Ratings 75-89
D: % Ratings 60-74
E: % Ratings 50-59
F: % Ratings 40-49
G: % Ratings 0-39
H: % Ratings 40-100
I: % Ratings 50-100
J: % Ratings 60-100
-------------------------------------------------------------------
A B C D E F G H I J
-------------------------------------------------------------------
HISTORY
a. Ancient 784 0.4 7.5 33.1 12.0 17.8 29.2 41.0 53.0 70.8
b. Medieval & Modern 39 0.0 2.6 17.9 12.8 10.3 56.4 20.5 33.3 43.6
c. English 394 0.8 7.3 31.7 10.9 16.8 32.5 39.8 50.8 67.5
d. American 544 1.8 8.3 28.7 11.0 18.2 32.0 38.8 49.8 68.0
-------------------------------------------------------------------
1711 0.9 7.6 31.0 11.5 17.5 31.4 39.6 51.0 68.6
-------------------------------------------------------------------
NEW ENGLAND ASSOCIATION.
The annual meeting of the New England History Teachers’ Association was
held in Boston on Saturday, October 16, 1909, Professor W. B. Munro,
of Harvard, presiding. The Massachusetts Historical Society again
generously placed at the Association’s disposal Ellis Hall and its rich
and interesting collections.
The subject of the morning session was “The Extent to Which Teachers
Should Emphasize the Ethical Side in History Teaching.” The phase
of the subject selected by Professor Henry Jones Ford, of Princeton
University, was “Militarism and the Peace Movement.”
After adverting to Herbert Spencer’s dictum that an industrial society
and militarism are incompatible, Professor Ford demonstrated the
falsity of that statement by instancing the cases of Switzerland and of
Germany, where the harmonious development of both types is in progress.
In Great Britain there is a movement to promote military efficiency for
the very purpose of promoting industrial efficiency. While many details
of wars may with profit be omitted from our teaching, we cannot afford
to ignore those great forces in the development of national life and
character.
The Association was also fortunate in having present Professor Eduard
Meyer, of the University of Berlin, who, in continuing the discussion,
heartily-endorsed Professor Ford’s views, at the same time wondering
how the question of eliminating the study of wars could ever have
become so general in this country. We must not confound sentimentalism
with ethics. The great responsibility laid on statesmen in a country
of universal compulsory military service is a guarantee of no war
except for good and unavoidable causes. The danger of war is less, he
believed, than in a country with voluntary military service or in one
with an army recruited from the lower orders of society. Germany’s
militarism is a guarantee of peace, as was shown by her attitude last
year in the acute stage of the Austro-Servian controversy.
Professor William MacDonald, of Brown University, taking up Professor
Meyer’s question, how the movement against militarism has come about,
suggested that it was owing in part to a movement to make things
easy and agreeable, resulting, in the case of history teaching, in
eliminating dates, memorizing, hard study of facts. Furthermore, the
growth of emphasis on economic and social elements has tended to lessen
the attention to political and military events. It is due, also, to a
tendency to carry reform movements to extremes.
Still, there is a question of what shall be done with the ethical side
of history. Professor MacDonald doubted the value of singling out any
study and making it the basis of ethical instruction. In teaching
civil government, for instance, for “good citizenship,” we may fail
to teach civil government. How shall the teacher deal with cases of
the “lie direct” in history, followed by highly beneficial results?
Or characters who have violated the laws of personal morality and the
results have apparently not been injurious to public welfare? These and
similar questions the teacher would better leave untouched. History,
except in advance work, does not afford a good field for ethical
instruction as such.
The discussion was continued by Dr. Jessie M. Law, of Springfield, and
Mr. J. C. S. Andrew, of Lynn, the last speaker strongly combatting the
views of Professors Ford and Meyer.
The guest of the Association at the luncheon was Professor Albert
Bushnell Hart, of Harvard University, who spoke of the educational
systems of certain places which he had visited in his recent trip
around the world, especially speaking of the northwestern United
States, the Philippines and Japan.
The following officers for the ensuing year were chosen: President,
Professor L. B. Evans, of Tufts College; vice-president, Professor
Susan Kingsbury, of Simmons College; secretary, Mr. W. H. Cushing,
of the high school, South Framingham, Mass. These, with Miss
Margaret McGill, of the Newton High School; Miss Harriet Tuell, of
the Somerville High School; Professor W. S. Ferguson, of Harvard
University, and Mr. Arthur C. Boyden, of the Bridgewater Normal School,
constitute the council.
The next meeting of the Association will be held on April 16, 1910. In
all probability the meeting will be held outside of Boston, some place
in New Hampshire being under consideration.
MODIFICATIONS IN THE REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF SEVEN RECOMMENDED BY
THE N. E. ASSOCIATION.
In response to the request of the Committee of Five of the American
Historical Association for recommendations of changes in the report of
the Committee of Seven, the New England Association undertook a careful
study of the situation in its section. Miss Blanche Evans Hazard was
chairman of the committee, whose finding is ably summed up by Professor
Kingsbury, of Simmons College, in a report of which the following are
excerpts:--
“1. It seems to be the general opinion that a modification of the
report of the Committee of Seven, making more definite recommendations
as to the work to be accomplished in ancient history, is most
desirable. Contrary to the spirit of the Committee of Seven, the
college entrance board examinations have presupposed, and the teachers
have attempted an intensified study of the entire field of ancient
history down to the time of Charlemagne. That this field of ancient
history should be curtailed at the beginning, that topics be selected
to be given at the end, and that certain periods should be treated less
thoroughly, are illustrations of solutions submitted.
“2. The question of a limitation of the course in medieval and modern
history is practically answered by the statement that comparatively few
of the schools do cover the entire field, and the printed report will
reveal the changes actually made, some schools emphasizing medieval
history, others modern or nineteenth century history. Furthermore,
English history is often omitted altogether. It would seem desirable,
therefore, that some more definite division and limitation of courses
might be outlined than is now given in the report of the Committee of
Seven.
“3. The appointment by this organization of a committee to prepare an
outline for the study of American civil government in secondary schools
shows that this association favors the separation of the study of
American history and of American civil government, and this committee,
therefore, submits to the national committee the printed pamphlet
containing sample chapters of this outline, as evidence of the endeavor
it is making to improve the instruction in this subject.
“4. The college entrance examinations seem to render the work of the
secondary schools burdensome and to force two years’ work in ancient
history upon college preparatory classes, the second year being given
in the third or fourth year of the high school as a review or more
intensified study of the subject, thus precluding the opportunity
for work in any other field of history. But this hindrance should
not be credited to the system of college entrance examinations. This
association suggests that the difficulty is rather in the diversity
of college entrance examination questions than in the fact that such
an institution exists, and seems to favor uniform examinations and to
approve a type of question which shall occupy middle ground between the
character of the present Harvard entrance examinations and those of the
College Entrance Examination Board.
“5. In general, the critics of the recommendations of the Committee of
Seven complain of the length of the field covered, and to it attribute
the apparent present failure of the teacher of history to impress
upon the student a knowledge of fact, and do not feel that such a
weakness is due to the emphasis placed by that report upon the value of
generalized knowledge, but rather believe it has been of especial value
in leading our teachers of history to develop power in our pupils.
“Two suggestions are made by this committee which may be considered
constructive rather than critical. It is proposed that a modification
of the work given in the second and third years of the high school
might be made along the following lines: that the entire treatment of
medieval and modern history to the close of the eighteenth century
should be based on English history, at the same time developing such
important medieval institutions as feudalism and the Church, but with
English history in the foreground rather than, as heretofore, with
continental history in the foreground; and that the third year should
be devoted to a study of nineteenth century history with continental
history in the foreground, English history being treated incidentally.
Such a suggestion is made not as having the unanimous approval of the
Association, nor of the majority of the members of the association,
for such a ballot has been impossible, but is presented to the
National Committee by a vote of the October meeting as worthy of its
consideration.
“It is quite proper, and in fact to be expected, that the Association
of New England History Teachers should raise the question of industrial
history. Since the report of the Committee of Seven was drafted a new
type of school, the industrial school, has come to the front, and is at
the present moment being urged in Massachusetts and in New Jersey by
State commissions, and is being favored also by city and State boards
of education in various parts of the United States. The New England
Association, therefore, raises the question as to what history should
be given in such schools.”
DIRECTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK AS USED IN THE HISTORY DEPARTMENT OF
MEREDITH COLLEGE, RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA.
The purpose of these directions is to save time and strength from so
many oral explanations--half of which are forgotten; to save the time
and nerves of the teacher in correcting papers; and to help the English
work, as it is assumed that correct technical form is largely a matter
of habit, and when once acquired needs so little attention that the
entire thought of the student may be given to the subject matter.
Each set of directions is mimeographed, and every student given a copy
to keep in her history notebook.
To make them a success takes time and persistent effort for the first
few weeks, but the results yield large dividends for the remainder of
the year. While, if one is so fortunate as to have the same students
for more than one year, the results are even greater.
MARY SHANNON SMITH.
Directions for Special College History Papers.
I. Make a bibliography of your subject on cards and arrange by authors
alphabetically, indicating source and secondary material.
A. Make as complete a list of available material as possible before
taking any notes.
B. Copy this later with annotations, leaving a line between each
reference, and hand in with paper.
II. In taking notes keep in mind what you will use.
A. Follow directions for note-book work.
B. Put notes at the end of the paper.
III. Before writing, look over a copy of the “American Historical
Review” for form.
IV. Make an outline of what you are to write, leaving a line between
each large topic. Hand this in with completed paper.
V. In writing, try to know your subject so that you will be able to
express yourself with ease.
VI. Be careful for margins and paragraphs. Write on one side of the
sheet only.
VII. Leave the last four lines on each page for footnotes.
Note.--In writing footnotes, skip one line and use the last three.
Make the references as definite as in note-book work. Number your
footnotes from “1” on each new page.
VIII. Use ruled paper and fasten all your work together with a brass
fastener.
Directions for History Papers.
Preparatory Department.
I. Do not crowd the top of the page or begin to write before the first
ruled line.
II. The first page should contain:--
A. The subject of the paper.
B. Books consulted.
1. These should be arranged alphabetically with a line between each
reference giving:--
Author. Book. Pages read.
2. The student will need to read many more pages than she intends
to write in order to get enough good material for the paper.
III. The second page should contain an outline of the paper, with
important points in large topics and minor points in sub-topics.
A. Leave a line between each large topic.
B. Have each sub-topic indented and equally distant from the margin.
IV. Try to know your subject so that you will be able to express
yourself with ease.
A. Write a brief paragraph of introduction.
B. Get your facts from books, but tell them in your own words.
C. Give most space to what is most important.
V. After writing your paper, add definite references in the margin to
the sources from which you gained your material, giving author, title
of book underlined, and pages cited.
Directions for History Note-Books.
I. All history students must use loose leaf note-books.
II. All notes in and out of class must be taken in ink. Do not take
notes with pencil and then copy--it wastes time! The book is for use.
III. Outline your work.
A. Put the heading of each new chapter at the top of a fresh sheet
and begin each distinct subject on a new page.
B. Leave a margin of an inch and a half, and indent each paragraph
one inch more.
C. Leave a line between each large topic and allow several lines
after each subject for note-taking in the class.
IV. Take most of your notes in “abstract” form. Take only important
points in exact words, and then use quotation marks.
A. When taking “reading notes,” put in the margin author, title of
book underlined, and pages cited.
B. When quoting from a compiled “source book” give the real author
and work from which the extract is taken, then the “source book”
and pages.
C. Every history student should be familiar with Perry’s “A
Punctuation Primer, with Notes on the Preparation of Manuscript.”
Am. Book Co. Thirty cents.
Note.--Pages 24-47 and 73-93 required.
Proportion of time to be spent in note-taking:--
Preparatory Courses, one-third of the time.
College Courses, one-half of the time.
Note.--This does not apply to specially-prepared history papers.
* * * * *
Translations and Reprints
Original source material for ancient, medieval and modern history in
pamphlet or bound form. Pamphlets cost from 10 to 25 cents.
SYLLABUSES
H. V. AMES: American Colonial History. (Revised and enlarged edition,
1908) $1.00
D. C. MUNRO and G. SELLERY: Syllabus of Medieval History, 395 to 1500
(1909) $1.00
In two parts: Pt. I, by Prof. Munro, Syllabus of Medieval History,
395 to 1300. Pt. II, by Prof. Sellery, Syllabus of Later Medieval
History, 1300 to 1500. Parts published separately.
W. E. LINGELBACH: Syllabus of the History of the Nineteenth Century. 60
cents
Combined Source Book of the Renaissance. M. WHITCOMB $1.50
State Documents on Federal Relations. H. V. AMES $1.75
Published by Department of History, University of Pennsylvania,
Philadelphia, and by Longmans, Green & Co.
Correspondence
EDITOR HISTORY TEACHERS’ MAGAZINE.
Let me express the pleasure which at least one California teacher
finds in the new HISTORY TEACHERS’ MAGAZINE. It certainly satisfies a
long-felt need. In the October number I noticed the repeated statements
of the lack of organization in history work, all of which is lamentably
true; but I do believe we are improving here, due to the persistent
and intelligent efforts of a wise and enthusiastic History Department
in the University of California. Our school authorities are demanding
trained history teachers, even though they have to handle some other
subject.
Miss Elizabeth Briggs’s remarks regarding the weakness in geography
and biography are, alas, the instructors’ fault, and I am sending
you a couple of suggestions that I have found valuable in those
lines, in case you have opportunity or inclination to pass them on.
I have found that pupils become interested in these two “eyes of
history.” They usually have a hazy memory of seemingly endless drill
in grammar school, and consider geography as one of those childish
things which they have put away, but when their attention is called to
the geographical causes for location of cities, its influence on the
development of a country, plans of campaigns, strategic boundaries,
they grow interested, and enjoy indicating these things, as well as
treaties and territorial growth on outline maps. I use a McKinley
wall map for Roman history, and we “paint it red” as we progress in
the study of the Roman conquests. The members of the class become
enthusiastic, and are able to appreciate the growth of the great
empire, with its military roads and administrative system.
Miss Mary North’s Ancient History Social reminded me of something that
I have found good for arousing a class, and aiding in the biographical
work,--the old-fashioned game of “Who Am I?” We send a pupil from the
room, and the class chooses some person whom he is to represent. Then
he is re-called, and from my seat behind the desk begins to quiz the
class, up and down the rows, asking questions that must be answered by
“Yes” or “No.” Sometimes they have to appeal to me for information, or
consult books, but in the end they know considerably more than when
they began. When given warning of the exercise, they study well. They
enjoy it, and ever after seem to feel a personal friendship for the
characters we have studied in this fashion. They develop quickly a
wonderful capacity for finding leading questions.
Occasionally I try another scheme,--charades. This gives a wider range,
as it may include places, persons, or events. Each pupil must be ready
to explain the importance of that place, person, or events which he
presents.
Minds worked quickly, originality was encouraged, and solid facts were
assimilated. I have found that such things stimulate and interest, and
give new life to a class, often attaining results that I could not get
in any other way.
With best wishes for the cause, and for a great future for the new
magazine,
Respectfully,
LOU IRENE DEYO.
Ventura, Cal., Oct. 30, 1909.
Editor HISTORY TEACHER’S MAGAZINE.
I wish to express my appreciation of the value of your new magazine.
It is brimful of good things for Civics and History teachers, and I
can hardly see how we got along without a magazine of our own for so
long. I am glad you are devoting so much space to the problems of the
elementary and secondary schools. Since they furnish the material for
the colleges, it seems but just that they should receive the generous
consideration you are giving them.
Will you please publish (1) the membership requirements, fees, etc.,
of the History Teachers’ Association of the Middle States; also (2)
publishers and price of Cheyney’s “European Background of American
History”?
Wishing your magazine abundant success,
Respectfully, M. E. C.
(1) Membership in the History Teachers’ Association of the Middle
States and Maryland is open to any person teaching history in a
school or college within the territory. The membership fee is one
dollar a year. Members receive not only the reports of the Middle
States Association, but also those of the New England and North
Central Associations. Application for membership should be made to the
secretary, Professor Henry Johnson, Teachers’ College, New York City.
(2) Cheyney’s “European Background” is the first volume of Hart’s
“American Nation”; the volume retails for about two dollars.
Editor HISTORY TEACHER’S MAGAZINE.
THE HISTORY TEACHER’S MAGAZINE has given me new inspiration in my work
in history, and I find it a great pleasure and help. Please give me the
following information:
(1) Where to obtain Murray’s Classical Maps, (2) the American History
Leaflets, (3) is there a book or series of leaflets giving sketches of
early explorers and chief men in American history? H. B. N.
ANS.--(1) Murray’s Classical Maps can be obtained from the Oxford
University Press, American Branch, New York City; (2) The American
History Leaflets are published by A. Lovell & Co., New York; (3) We
know of no series of leaflets giving sketches of early explorers. There
are, however, several books giving such sketches and among them are:
Tappan, “American Hero Series”; Gordy, “American Leaders”; Southworth,
“Builders of Our Country”; Bass, “Stories of Pioneer Life”; Sparks,
“Men Who Have Made the Nation.”
* * * * *
Make Your Own Series
Of Historical Wall Maps for any period of history, or your own series
of maps for commercial or political geography by using colored pencil,
crayon, or water-colors, and the
McKinley Wall Outline Maps
The cost is merely nominal, and the teacher or pupil will benefit much
by studying out in detail the significant facts from maps in atlases or
text-books.
For =UNITED STATES HISTORY= there are maps of the country as a whole,
of the Eastern Section, the Upper and Lower Mississippi Valley, the
Pacific Coast, New England, the Middle Atlantic and the South Atlantic
States, of North America and the World.
For =ENGLISH HISTORY= there are maps of England, the British Isles,
France and England, Europe and the World.
For =ANCIENT HISTORY= there are maps of the Eastern World, Palestine,
Greece, Italy, the Roman Empire, and Gaul.
For =EUROPEAN HISTORY= there are maps of Europe as a whole, the
Mediterranean World, Central Europe, France, Italy, England, the
British Isles, and of the several Continents for the study of European
colonization.
For =GEOGRAPHY= there are maps of the world, of each of the Continents,
and of many subdivisions of the Continents of Europe, Asia, and North
America.
For =ECONOMICS, HISTORY, AND GEOGRAPHY=, there is the new cross-ruled
Coördinate Paper for depicting lines of growth and development.
Price, 20 cents each
Postage extra, 10 cents for one map; 2 cents for each additional map.
Ten or more copies, 17 cents each; twenty-five or more copies, 15 cents
each; carriage extra.
McKINLEY PUBLISHING CO.
5805 Germantown Avenue
PHILADELPHIA, PA.
* * * * *
AN IDEAL AND ITS ATTAINMENT
What the Editors of the Magazine Have Done and What They Hope to Do
=FOUR MONTHS OLD TO-DAY, DECEMBER FIRST=, is THE HISTORY TEACHER’S
MAGAZINE. Not backed financially by any teachers’ organization, as
are many pedagogical papers, it was planned and put forth upon their
personal responsibility by a representative board of editors and by the
publishers, acting upon the belief that the time was ripe for such a
publication. They believed that the awakening consciousness of history
teachers needed a national spokesman. They felt that the renaissance
in history teaching, already showing itself in many schools, in a few
books on methods, and in the activities of teachers’ associations,
should be presented to a wider constituency. They believed that there
was a vast amount of good experience in teaching which was not as
fruitful as it should be, because it could not be brought to the
attention of other teachers.
=HAS THE EVENT JUSTIFIED THIS BELIEF?= The subscribers to the paper
have answered the question in no uncertain language. Extracts from
a few congratulatory letters have been published in the last three
numbers of the Magazine; many more have been received, which it
has been impossible to print, or even to answer in all cases. The
subscription lists of the Magazine have grown rapidly, until to-day the
circulation of the paper is larger than that of educational magazines
of many years’ standing. It is safe to say that no pedagogical paper
has been received so warmly, and from the outset been supported so
loyally as has THE HISTORY TEACHER’S MAGAZINE. Founded by private
enterprise, with a prospect, said many advisers, of ultimate failure,
its success to-day is assured.
=HAS THE PAPER BEEN AS GOOD AS IT SHOULD BE?= Of course not. Four
months of labor has educated the editors more than their product has
benefited the subscribers. They have seen their mistakes, they have
found fields of usefulness which they did not know existed when their
plans were first laid. It was not flattery, but a failure to appreciate
the widening field of the Magazine, which led a friend to caution the
editors about a recent number, saying “You have made it too good; you
cannot maintain the standard you have established.” The reply was that
we had not yet reached our ideal and that we had faith enough in the
future to believe we could at least equal what had already been done.
It may be said frankly, however, that whatever other defects the paper
may have shown, it has not been padded; the articles printed have been
pithy, practical presentations of the best thought of the profession.
=FUTURE NUMBERS OF THE PAPER= will contain articles of the same
practical character, together with many additional features. It is
hoped to make it the forum for the discussion of current professional
problems. There will be round-table papers upon college and school
questions. College subjects to be so treated will be: the best course
for the freshman year; the place of American history in undergraduate
work; a college course in current topics; seminar methods, etc. Among
school questions there will be: the relation of the school to the
college; changes in the report of the Committee of Seven; the effect
of the report of the Committee of Eight upon the elementary schools;
civics and current topics in the schools; entrance examinations, etc.
Among articles of interest to all teachers of history will be papers
upon the use of maps, of lantern slides, of syllabi, and of other aids
to the visualization of history. Current events will be summarized;
public documents reviewed and valued; history meetings chronicled, and
new books criticized.
=A TEACHERS’ PAPER, FIRST OF ALL=, is our ideal. The editors want the
advice and suggestions of their readers. The columns will be open at
all times. Practical questions will be answered. It is hoped that
teachers will see the opportunity of using the paper in many ways, not
only in the purely professional field, but also as a clearing-house for
personal wants. Even the advertising columns, with their reasonable
rates, may be made the means of procuring desired books or magazines,
of disposing of second-hand books and libraries, of procuring better
positions, or of securing teachers for vacancies.
=WILL YOU HELP IN THIS WORK?= We cannot succeed without the coöperation
of our readers. Will you tell, through our paper, your experiences
for the benefit of others? Will you seek, through our questions and
answers, the advice which others may give you? Will you send to the
departmental editors news items relating to their several subjects,
particularly announcements of and accounts of association meetings?
Will you keep us informed of changes in the personnel in the schools
and colleges, and give notice of competitive examinations for history
positions? The paper is our paper in a legal sense only. It really
belongs to the history teachers of the country, and it is for them to
put it to the full test of usefulness and service.
=ARE YOUR FRIENDS SUBSCRIBING?= Do you know other teachers who would
be benefited by the Magazine, or who would help in its work? Let us
have their names and addresses and we shall be glad to send them sample
copies.
Letters respecting the editorial policy of the Magazine, news items,
articles for publication, etc., should be addressed to the respective
department editors, or to the Managing Editor, care of McKinley
Publishing Co., Philadelphia, Pa.
Letters relating to advertising, and to special subscription rates to
agents, should be addressed to the Business Manager, History Teacher’s
Magazine, Philadelphia, Pa.
ADVERTISING RATES VERY REASONABLE. LIBERAL INDUCEMENTS TO AGENTS.
* * * * *
Transcriber’s Notes:
Footnotes have been moved to the end of each article and relabeled
consecutively through the document.
Advertisements have been moved to the end of the article where they
appear in the original text.
Punctuation has been made consistent.
Variations in spelling and hyphenation were retained as they appear in
the original publication, except that obvious typographical errors have
been corrected.
The following change was made:
p. 88: In table, second digit in second entry from bottom in right-most
column is unclear in the original text, and is assumed to be 8. (68.0)
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The History Teacher's Magazine, Vol. I, No. 4, December, 1909" ***
Copyright 2023 LibraryBlog. All rights reserved.