THE series, of which this is the second volume, is an attempt to meet
a need that has been felt for several years by parents and physicians,
as well as by teachers, supervisors, and others who are actively
interested in educational and social progress. The need of practical
activity, which for long ages constituted the entire education of
mankind, is at last recognized by the elementary school. It has been
introduced in many places and already results have been attained which
demonstrate that it is possible to introduce practical activity in
such a way as to afford the child a sound development—physically,
intellectually, and morally—and at the same time equip him for
efficient social service. The question that is perplexing educators
at the present time is, therefore, not one regarding the value of
practical activity, but rather one of ways and means by which practical
activity can be harnessed to the educational work.
The discovery of the fact that steam is a force that can do work had
to await the invention of machinery by means of which to apply the
new force to industrial processes. The use of practical activity will
likewise necessitate many changes in the educational machinery before
its richest results are realized. Yet the conditions that attend the
introduction of practical activity as a motive power in education are
very different from those that attended the introduction of the use
of steam. In the case of steam the problem was that of applying a
new force to an old work. In the case of practical activity it is a
question of restoring a factor which, from the earliest times until
within the last two or three decades, has operated as a permanent
educational force.
The situation that has recently deprived the child of the opportunity
to participate in industrial processes is due, as is well known, to
the rapid development of our industrial system. Since the removal
of industrial processes from the home the public has awakened to
the fact that the child is being deprived of one of the most potent
educational influences, and efforts have already been made to restore
the educational factor that was in danger of being lost. This is the
significance of the educational movement at the present time.
As long as a simple organization of society prevailed, the school was
not called upon to take up the practical work; but now society has
become so complex that the use of practical activity is absolutely
essential. Society to-day makes a greater demand than ever before
upon each and all of its members for special skill and knowledge, as
well as for breadth of view. These demands can be met only by such an
improvement in educational facilities as corresponds to the increase
in the social demand. Evidently the school must lay hold of all of the
educational forces within its reach.
In the transitional movement it is not strange that new factors are
being introduced without relation to the educational process as a
whole. The isolation of manual training, sewing, and cooking from the
physical, natural, and social sciences is justifiable only on the
ground that the means of establishing more organic relations are not
yet available. To continue such isolated activities after a way is
found of harnessing them to the educational work is as foolish as to
allow steam to expend itself in moving a locomotive up and down the
tracks without regard to the destiny of the detached train.
This series is an attempt to facilitate the transitional movement in
education which is now taking place by presenting educative materials
in a form sufficiently flexible to be readily adapted to the needs of
the school that has not yet been equipped for manual training, as well
as to the needs of the one that has long recognized practical activity
as an essential factor in its work. Since the experience of the race
in industrial and social processes embodies, better than any other
experiences of mankind, those things which at the same time appeal to
the whole nature of the child and furnish him the means of interpreting
the complex processes about him, this experience has been made the
groundwork of the present series.
In order to gain cumulative results of value in explaining our own
institutions, the materials used have been selected from the life of
Aryan peoples. That we are not yet in possession of all the facts
regarding the life of the early Aryans is not considered a sufficient
reason for withholding from the child those facts that we have when
they can be adapted to his use. Information regarding the early stages
of Aryan life is meager. Enough has been established, however, to
enable us to mark out the main lines of progress through the hunting,
the fishing, the pastoral, and the agricultural stages, as well as to
present the chief problems that confronted man in taking the first
steps in the use of metals, and in the establishment of trade. Upon
these lines, marked out by the geologist, the paleontologist, the
archæologist, and the anthropologist, the first numbers of this series
are based.
A generalized view of the main steps in the early progress of the race,
which it is thus possible to present, is all that is required for
educational ends. Were it possible to present the subject in detail, it
would be tedious and unprofitable to all save the specialist. To select
from the monotony of the ages that which is most vital, to so present
it as to enable the child to participate in the process by which the
race has advanced, is a work more in keeping with the spirit of the
age. To this end the presentation of the subject is made: First, by
means of questions, which serve to develop the habit of making use of
experience in new situations; second, by narrative, which is employed
merely as a literary device for rendering the subject more available
to the child; and third, by suggestions for practical activities that
may be carried out in hours of work or play, in such a way as to
direct into useful channels energy which when left undirected is apt
to express itself in trivial if not in anti-social forms. No part
of a book is more significant to the child than the illustrations.
In preparing the illustrations for this series as great pains have
been taken to furnish the child with ideas that will guide him in his
practical activities as to illustrate the text itself.
Mr. Howard V. Brown, the artist who executed the drawings, has been
aided in his search for authentic originals by the late J. W. Powell,
_director of the United States Bureau of Ethnology, Washington, D. C._;
by Frederick J. V. Skiff, _director of the Field Columbian Museum,
Chicago_, and by the author. Ethnological collections and the best
illustrative works on ethnological subjects scattered throughout the
country have been carefully searched for material.
I wish to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to Professor
Dewey for the suggestions he has given me with reference to this
series, and to acknowledge that without the inspiration that has come
through his teaching I should probably never have undertaken a work
of this kind. Among the many friends to whom I am indebted for help
and inspiration, I would mention especially, Professor W. I. Thomas
and Professor Ella Flagg Young, _of the University of Chicago_;
Superintendent F. A. Manny, _of the Ethical Culture Schools, New York
City_; Mrs. Charlotte W. Williams, _of Chicago_; my sister, Miss Elspa
M. Dopp, _of the State Normal School, St. Cloud, Minn._; and Mr. W. W.
Charters, _of the University of Chicago_. To the late Director J. W.
Powell, _of the United States Bureau of Ethnology_, and to Director
Frederick J. V. Skiff, _of the Field Columbian Museum, Chicago_, I am
under obligations for courtesies extended which have enabled me to
gain access to illustrative materials. For the practical proof that
work of this kind is feasible, and that it supplies a genuine need
in elementary education, I am indebted to the hearty coöperation of
students and fellow-teachers of several states.