Part 2 (1/2)

A lesson should be so assigned that the student will read the text with his eye critically open to inconsistencies, contradictions, and inaccuracies With a text of six hundred pages, and with a hundred and eighty recitations in which to cover thee of three or four pages daily shall be studied so thoroughly that the student can analyze and summarize each day's lesson

The teacher should not make such analysis in advance of the recitation, but he should so assign the lesson that the student will be prepared to give one when he comes to class A word in advance by the teacher will pro the American Revolution, to classify its causes as direct and indirect, econoious There is no difficulty in finding good authorities who disagree as to the effect on Alish trade restrictions

Callendar's _Economic History of the United States_ quotes five of the best authorities on this point, and covers the case in a few pages A reference by the teacher to this or so out a lively discussion on the justice of the American resistance Let the class be asked to account for the colonial opposition to the Townshend Acts, when the Staulation of the Colonies' external trade was properly within the powers of Parliament Let the class be asked to explain a statement that the Declaration of Independence does notcauses of the Revolution A few suggestions and advanced questions of this sort will stimulate a critical analysis of the statements in the text, and send the student to class keen for an intelligent discussion

Ordinarily, when a class is averaging three or four pages of the text daily, it is an error for the teacher to point out in advance certain dates and statistics that need not be me the recitation the teacher will discover what dates, statistics, and other matter the student has selected as worthy to be memorized, and if correction is necessary it e of the pupil's enthusiasm to be told in advance that some of the text is not worthy to be re to develop the student's sense of historical proportion, for it substitutes the judgment of the teacher for that of the pupil

Advance questions asking explanation of state with the saly and that the author's statements will be carefully analyzed Such declarations as the following are illustrations of stateht profitably be required in advance:--

1 ”The Constitution was extracted by necessity froht for Texas”

3 ”The greatest evil of slavery was that it prevented the South fro capital”

4 ”The day that France possesses New Orleans we must marry ourselves to the British fleet”

5 ”The cause of free labor won a substantial triumph in the Missouri Coland was not one of necessity, policy, or interest on the part of the Americans; it was rather one of party prejudice and passion”

_The conditions in other countries will add to his comprehension of the facts in the lesson_

In so far as the next lesson requires an understanding of the history or conditions of another country, the attention of the class should be directed in advance to such necessity Special references or brief reports may be advisable A feell-selected advance questions will send the class to recitation prepared to discuss what otherwise the teacher must explain A few questions on the character of Jaovernment, the chief causes of the revolution of 1688, and its most important results will do much to explain the colonial resistance to Andros A few questions designed to bring out the ilish resistance to Napoleon will make clear the hostile cohts of neutral shi+ps Such questions reduce the necessity of explanation by the teacher to a minimum

_His disposition to study intensively will be encouraged_

If the teacher expects the class to deal more intensively than the text with the matters discussed in the lesson, a few advance questions will be of great assistance Suppose, for exa that for political reasons the first United States Bank was not rechartered, and shortly after informs the reader that the second United States Bank was rechartered because the State banks had suspended specie payments The student may or may not be curious about the failure of the first bank to receive a new charter, the operation of State banks, or why they suspended payht, he probably will be, but if the teacher wishes to discuss these considerations in detail at the next recitation it will be infinitely better to have the facts contributed by the class than for the teacher to do the reciting It is quite possible that the individual answers to advance questions assigned with such a purpose will be incoreater if they themselves furnish the bulk of the additional matter required

Collectively the class will usually secure complete answers to reasonable questions The teacher has his opportunity in supplying such important facts as the students fail to find

Until the student may reasonably be expected to know the books of the library having to do with his subject, the teacher in giving out an advance lesson should mention by author and title the books ned questions; otherwise the student in a perfectly sincere effort to do the work assigned may spend an hour in search of the proper book

It ed that this search is a valuable experience, but it is obviously too costly As the year advances and the pupil learns ation increasingly less specific instruction as to sources should be given by the teacher

Early in the year, with four lessons to prepare daily, the pupil cannot afford an hour simply to search for a book He needs that hour for preparation of other work, and if by some fortunate conjunction of circu to require it, he cannot hope to appear in history class with a well-prepared lesson if an hour of his ti for a book

It is frequently worth while to spend a fewthe epoch in which the events of the lesson take place or in listening to a brief character sketch of theto these events Care should of course be taken that biography does not usurp the place of history, but it s, generals, and statesmen cease to be s

_His acquaintance with the great men and women of history will be vitalized_

It is needless to say that characterizations of ned without instruction as to how they should be prepared In the case of a great historical character, what is needed for class purposes is not a biography with the dry facts of birth, e, death, etc The report should be brief, but bristling with adjectives supported in each case by at least one fact of the man's life These may be selected from his personal appearance, private life, amusements, education, obstacles overcoacity, or military prowess The sketch raphers or historians of his proper place in history