Part 1 (1/2)
The Teaching of History
by Ernest C Hartwell
EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION
This voluh school and the upper gra methods to be employed in the history period The author assu conditions that surround classrooranted the teacher's sympathy with modern aims in history instruction All discussions of purpose and content are therefore subordinated to a clear presentation of the details of effective teaching technique
The reader into whose hands this volu ies, for after all the value of any system of special methods rests, not ical effectiveness, but also on the social purposes which it is devised to serve It nized at the outset that history has a social purpose Howevermay be interested in truth for its own sake, an interest necessarily basic to the service of all other ends, the teaching of the lower public schools must take into account the relevancy of historical fact to current and future probleed in the common social life So the eleressive sort recognize that the way in which historical truths are selected and related to one another deterroup experiences as interpreted in history will have any intelligent effect upon men's appreciations of current social difficulties, and (2) whether history will make a more vital appeal to youth at school
Certainly children, whose interests arise not alone from their innate impulses, but also fro, will be eager to know the past that is of doain in the psychology of instruction if history is a socially live thing The children will be er, because it is significant; and they will keep it fresh after school days are over because life will recall and review pertinent knowledge again and again There can be no separation between the doogical procedure; the fore part determines the latter
Such educational refor as have already won acceptance confirm the existence of this vital relation between current social interests and the learning process The barren learning of na since been supplanted by a study of sequences a events The technical details of wars and political adiven way to a study of wide economic and social movements in which battles and laws are e History, once a self-inclosed school discipline, has undergone an intellectual expansion which takes into account all the aspects of life which influence it, raphical es attest the fact that a vital mode of instruction always tends to accoards the study of the past as a revelation of real social life
The author's suggestions will, therefore, be of distinct value to at least two groups of history teachers Those who believe in the larger uses of history teaching, so ued of late, will find here the procedures that will express the ideals and obtain the results they seek Those who are not yet ready to accept modern doctrine, but who feel a keen discontent with the older procedure, will find in these pages estions that will appeal to them as worthy of experimental use It ested may be the easy way for theer principles of current educational reform
THE TEACHING OF HISTORY
I
SOME PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS
_assuraph will make no attempt to analyze the personality of the ideal teacher It is assumed that the teacher of history has an adequate preparation to teach his subject, that he is in good health, and that his usefulness is unimpaired by discontent with his work or cynicism about the world It is presupposed that he understands the wisdoress, and econo He is aware that the pupil should experience so nizes the folly of requiring four years of high school English for the purpose of cultivating clear, fluent, and accurate expression, only to relax the effort when the student coic, and habit of definite thinking exacted by the pursuit of the scientific subjects should not be laid aside when the student atteo so far as to assuical and practical; scholarly without being musty; imbued with a love for his subject and yet familiar with actual human experience
_Actual conditions confronted by the teacher_
There are frohty to two hundred recitation periods of forty-fiveexercises, athletic s, and other respites, in which to teach a thousand years of ancient history, twenty centuries of English history, or the story of our own people The age of the student will be froe of books, small; his interest, far from zealous He will have three other subjects to prepare and his time is limited Also, he is a citizen of the Republic and by his vote will shortly influence, for good or ill, the destinies of the nation
The purpose of this ender in this student a genuine enthusiasraphy, literature, and the arts, cultivate proper ideals of govern, and possibly prepare the student for college entrance examinations
II
HOW TO BEGIN THE COURSE
Very obviously each moment of the child's time and preparation should be wisely directed Each recitation should perfor, and teaching There will be no ti, duplication of u excursions
_What should be done on the day of enrollment_
The day that the child enrolls in class should begin his assigned work