JOURNAL OF EDUCATION. ESTABLISHED 1852. OLD SERIES: GOLDEN ERA, VOL. XLVI. SAN FRANCISCO: OCTOBER, 1901. NEW SERIES: VOL. V History Below the High School. PART I. FRANK J. BROWNE, BERKELEY. MANY courses of study have come under my observation, courses for states, for cities, and for counties. There is usually to be found in them some indication that the authorities are trying to keep up with the latest educational thought. They direct attention to the newest methods for teaching reading, and recommend the latest books on the market. Spelling is reformed," and one would think that the present generation of pupils are to vie with the dictionary in correct orthography. Writing, too, has been "reformed," and from the old Spencerian slant we now have the "roundhand," "semi-slant," or some "natural" or national system of vertical penmanship which saves nervous energy and stimulates mental alacrity. All sorts of richness" has been injected into the course of study, with all degrees of success and failure. Latin has been brought down into the grammar grades, and algebra and geometry has taken part of the time once given to arithmetic. Only here and there has the subject of history received adequate attention. A few good books have been published on history in the grades, but no universal awakening has been set on foot. Wherever children are observed, whether on the playground, on the streets, or in any public place, never is their conversation upon grammar, writing, or arithmetic. The parsing of a verb does not appeal to the life interest of a child. It is interested in what men have done, what they are now doing. Action is eloquence. The abstract theory of anarchy attracts no attention the DOING of anarchy arouses the civilized world. There is surely a call for more history, more heroism, more bravery, more adventure, in the school course. The deeds of humanity in the past, the conditions of life in the present, should have greater emphasis in the schools. School life should deal more with life outside the school. History serves several purposes in the process of education. First. It provides material out of which the imagination may construct historical pictures, conditions of home life in the past, the deeds of patriots and heroes. It improves the imagination. Second. It cultivates the habit of noting men's actions, of discerning the environment of men, and of judging of motives and feelings. It assists in social adjustment. Third. It fixes the general desire to search for truth, and to base conclusions upon facts. It leads to logical thought. Fourth. It reveals the origin and nature of present conditions and institutions, and leads to a more rational patriotism. The gradual development of the mind calls for the "spiral " method in history, just as in arithmetic and in science. Herbert Spencer gives this principle: "There can be no correct idea of a part without a corresponding idea of the correlative whole." If this be correct, the usual custom of teaching the history of the United States in the grammar grades, and no other history, is not logical, nor is it psychological. The child may get from the history of his country the necessary stories for imagination, patriotism, and heroism; but it cannot get the logical relation of this country to the past, nor can he form adequate judgment on its importance in the present and future. History should be taught in accord with the psychological demand for unities. The glance at the whole is essential to an appreciation of any part. In the development of civilization, the United States is but the fruit of a long period of growth. The childhood of the race prepares for its manhood. The conditions of the past, the beginnings of thought, the primitive industries, the growth of ideas concerning liberty and property, all these enable a better understanding of the history of our country, which is but the fruitage of centuries gone before. If it be true that the child lives over the history of the race, which theory we all are able to accept in part, there is a time in childhood to cultivate the imagination; and the stories of the mythical period of the race, if used at all, should be used in childhood. The traditions of nations, in the twilight of history, follow close upon the myth. Then come the authentic heroes, about whom cluster the great actions which determine social conditions and which constitute real history. History should be presented from the child's point of view. Concrete and realistic presentation of such facts that come within the experiences of childhood, will fix impressions and arouse interest more readily than will a discussion of the ethical or economic principles involved. A child cannot experience the impulses of a man. "Taxation without representation is tyranny" is an everlasting principle of our government; but the discussion of that principle does not appeal to the average pupil in the grades with so much interest as does the story of Bunker Hill, or the boyhood of Benjamin Franklin. It is easy to make a mistake, not only by presenting the history of our country as a cross-section of civilization, but by presenting it in a method too abstract. There is danger of "foundering" a pupil's mind by attempting to give him the food fit for a statesman. The teacher may feel intensely upon certain lines of thought which the pupils cannot assimilate, and the text-books may deal too exclusively with features on the level with the voter and law-maker. Children form their ideals from deeds and doers, more than from sermons and moral advice. Men of all ages have been moved by the same emotions and passions. Strength has ever tried to encroach upon weakness, tyranny has ever tried to limit human liberty. The story of the race, from the dawn of civilization to the present time, illustrates the growth of liberty and prepares for the consideration of our own country with wider and more definite views of its worth and destiny. Tho children cannot understand the logic of history, they can feel the impulses of men who make history, if the deeds of men are presented in such a manner as will permit a comparison with child life. THE COMMON SCHOOL AND THE COMMONER SCHOOL. From Life as a School Study. It is a well-known fact that children love to go to school not to what we call "the Common School," but to the commoner school which we call "Life." Before he can talk a child begins to ask questions- by tasting everything. As he gets the rest of his five senses he spends them all for information about life and the machinery of life. What the child wants most and needs most is something which will tell what it is to be a man, a woman; what it is for which Nature and his other teachers and the teacher in the school-wish to get him ready; which will attract him to the school knowledge by showing him what it is good for. - the teacher in the home Young men are disposed to be in a hurry. They are in haste to be rich; to be educated; to be honored and applauded; to reach some high official position. Their fathers toiled up the stairs, but they want to take the elevator. A student proposed to President Dwight to take a short cut to education. "Well," said the president, "when God makes a squash he takes six weeks; a mushroom matures in a night; but when he makes an oak he takes 100 years." The law of progress is patience, plodding, getting up early in the morning and keeping at it all day and day after day. Character cannot be extemporized; there are no hot-house methods for developing stalwart manhood. |