The Teaching of History 4

The Teaching of History 4

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 most helpful

in the preparation of assigned 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 may be urged that this search is a valuable experience, but it is

obviously too costly. As the year advances and the pupil learns more and

more about the uses of books and methods of investigation 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

circumstances his other work is not sufficiently exacting to require it,

he cannot hope to appear in history class with a well-prepared lesson

if an hour of his time has been spent in simply looking for a book.

 

It is frequently worth while to spend a few minutes of the recitation in

characterizing the epoch in which the events of the lesson take place or

in listening to a brief character sketch of the men contributing to

these events. Care should of course be taken that biography does not

usurp the place of history, but it materially adds to the interest of

the recitation if the kings, generals, and statesmen cease to be merely

historical characters and become human beings.

 

 

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

vitalized_

 

It is needless to say that characterizations of men or epochs should not

be assigned 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, marriage,

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 overcome, public services, political sagacity, or

military prowess. The sketch may close with a few brief estimates by

biographers or historians of his proper place in history.

 

If a characterization of a period of history is to be required, the

teacher should explain that such a characterization should be an

exercise in the selection of brief statements of fact reflecting the

ideals, institutions, and conditions of the period being described. From

histories, source books, fiction, and literature, let the student select

facts illustrating such things as the spirit of the laws, conditions at

court, public education, amusements of the people, social progress,

position of religion, etc. A little time spent in characterizing a

period of history and a few of its great men will assist in changing the

recital of the bare facts given in the text to an intelligent

understanding of conditions and a vital discussion of events. For

instance, the ordinary high school text, in dealing with the French and

Indian war, speaks briefly of the lack of English success during the

early part of the struggle and then says that with the coming of Pitt to

the ministry the whole course of events was changed because of the great

statesman's wonderful personality. The teacher who wishes to make such a

dramatic circumstance really vital to his class must have more

information with which to work. A picture of the coarse, vulgar England

with its incompetent army and navy, apathetic church, and corrupt

government, followed by a stirring character sketch of the great Pitt,

will cost but a few minutes of the recitation and will metamorphose a

moribund attention to a vital interest.

 

Care should be taken that the characterizations given in class be

properly prepared. To this end it will be well to assign the preparation

of these sketches at least a week in advance, at the same time arranging

a conference with the student a day or two before the recitation. In

this conference the teacher should make such corrections in the pupil's

method of preparation and selection of matter as seem necessary. The

characterizations should not be read, but delivered by the student

facing the class, precisely for the moment as though he were the

teacher. Future tests and examinations should hold the class responsible

for the facts thus presented. If, as is too often the case in work of

this sort, the student giving the report is the sole beneficiary of the

exercise, the time required is disproportionate to the benefit derived.

 

 

_He will correlate the past and the present_

 

If there are facts recounted in the lesson that may be clinched in the

student's mind by showing the relation of those facts to present-day

conditions or institutions, a few advance questions calculated to bring

out this relationship may well be assigned.

 

It is generally conceded that one chief purpose of history instruction

is to enable us to interpret the present and the future in the light of

the past, but it all too often happens that current history is forgotten

in the recital of facts that are centuries old. Candidates for teachers'

certificates in their examinations in United States history show far

less knowledge about the great problems and events of the present day

than they do of colonial history. The student in English history in our

high schools to-day knows all about the Domesday Book, but almost

nothing of the recent history of England. Quite possibly the text has

nothing to say about it, and it is equally likely that the class may

fail to cover the text and miss the little that is actually given. No

opportunity should be missed to indicate the bearing of the past on

present-day conditions. Even if the events of the lesson exert no direct

influence on affairs to-day, their significance may be brought home to

the student by an illustration from current history. The account of the

Black Death gives excellent occasion for a brief discussion of modern

sanitation and the war on the White Plague. The efforts of Parliament to

fix wages can be illustrated by some of the minimum wage laws passed by

recent legislatures. John Ball's teachings suggest a brief discussion of

modern socialism, daily becoming more active in its influence. The

medieval trade guilds and modern labor unions; the monopolies of

Elizabeth's time and the anti-trust law of to-day; George the Third's

two hundred capital crimes and modern methods of penology; the jealousy

of Athens in guarding the privilege of citizenship and the facility with

which immigrants at present become American citizens are only a few

illustrations, indicating the ease with which the past and the present

may be correlated.

 

 

_He will be required to memorize a limited amount of matter verbatim_

 

In assigning a lesson it is sometimes desirable to require certain

matter to be learned _verbatim_. In American history the Preamble to the

Constitution, the principles of government contained in the Declaration

of Independence, the essential doctrine in the Virginia and Kentucky

Resolutions, certain clauses of the Constitution, and extracts from

other historical documents may well be required to be memorized

accurately. It is scarcely to be supposed that the student can improve

on the clarity and definiteness of the English in such documents. He is

expected to understand the principles which they assert. He may well be

required to train his memory to accuracy by learning certain assignments

_verbatim_. If memory work received a little more attention in our high

schools to-day, we should be less likely to hear the statement of a

political creed neutralized by the omission of an important word. We

should be less likely to see the classic words of Lincoln mangled beyond

recognition by messy misquotation.

 

The assignment of advance questions such as have been suggested

possesses several advantages. It makes it possible for the teacher to

hold the class responsible for definite preparation, very much as the

teacher in algebra is able to do with the problems assigned in advance.

It forces the students to do most of the talking. It encourages an

intelligent use of the library in a manner calculated to develop the

student's powers of investigation. If the pupil forgets most of his

history, but retains the ability to investigate carefully, thoroughly,

and critically, the plan has more than justified itself. The plan

enables the teacher to spend his time in explanation of what the pupil

has been unable to do for herself, and thus effects a considerable

saving in time. It would be interesting to secure a statement of how

much of the teacher's time is ordinarily spent in doing for the student

in recitation what he should have done for himself before coming to

class. It substitutes for the pupil's snap judgment, given without much

thought and too frequently influenced by the inflection of the teacher's

voice, an opinion that has resulted from research and deliberation

unbiased by the teacher's personal views.

 

It is too much to expect high school pupils to solve historical problems

extemporaneously. If inferences and contrasts other than those given in

the text are to be drawn, if statements are to be defended or opposed,

the high school student should be given time to prepare his answer.

Aside from the injustice of any other procedure, it is a hopeless waste

of time to spend the precious minutes of the recitation in gathering

negative replies and worthless judgments.

 

 

_Methods of preparing questions assigned in advance_

 

It may be urged that such an assignment of a lesson as that proposed is

too ambitious and that it exacts too much of the teacher's time. In

answer it should be said that specialists in history ought surely to

have read widely enough and studied deeply enough to be _able_ to select

intelligent questions of the sort suggested. We have assumed that the

teacher has made adequate preparation for his work. Certainly, then, he

should be ready to explain the social, geographical, and economic

relation of the events mentioned in the lesson. He should know their

bearing on current history. He should always have ready a fund of

information, additional to that given in the text. In preparing advance

questions for distribution to the class the teacher is preparing his own

lesson. He may be doing it a day or two earlier than he would otherwise

do, but surely he is performing no labor additional to what may

reasonably be expected of him. As to the time required to prepare copies

of the questions for distribution when the class convenes, it may be

said that a neostyle or mimeograph, with which all large schools and

many small ones are equipped, makes short work of preparing as many

copies of the questions as desired. If there is a commercial department

in connection with the school, an available stenographer, or a willing

student helper, the teacher may easily relieve himself of the work of

supplying the copies. If none of these expedients are possible, it is no

Herculean task to write each day on the board the few questions for the

next lesson. It will entail no great loss of time if the class are asked

to copy them when they first come to recitation. If it is possible to

copy them after the recitation, so much the better. And beyond the

obvious advantages of a carefully assigned lesson it must be remembered

that in the assignment of special topics, in private conferences with

the student, in the correction of notes, in giving assistance in the

library, the teacher has an opportunity to cultivate a sympathetic

relation between himself and the class of inestimable service in securing the best results.