individual students and direct your future questions
accordingly. There will usually be in the class the boy who is
glib without being accurate. He should be questioned on definite
facts. There will be the student whose analysis of events is
good, but whose powers of description are poor. Adapt your
questions to his special need. There will be the pupil with the
tendency to memorize the text _verbatim_. There will be the
student who knows the facts of the lesson, but who fails to
remember the sequence of events--the kind who never can tell
whether the Exclusion Bill came before or after the Restoration.
There will be the usual amount of specialized tastes, curiosity,
timidity, laziness, and rattle-brained thinking. The questioning
should probe these peculiarities, and stimulate the pupil's
ambition to improve his preparation at its weakest point.
Needless to say the questions should not be asked with the daily
idea of making the pupil fail. Like any other surgical
instrument the question probe should be used skillfully and with
a proper motive. It would be as great an error to bend your
questions continually away from the student's special tastes and
abilities as to be perpetually guided by them.
6. The bulk of the teacher's attention should be given neither to
the few exceptionally able students nor to the few very poor
pupils. It is to the average normal boy and girl that the most
of the questioning should be directed. The brilliant student
should be called on sufficiently to retain his interest and to
set a standard of excellence for the class. He should be given
the most difficult of the assignments of outside work and if
necessary an additional number of them. As to the few pupils
whom the teacher deems exceptionally poor, it may be said that
the effect of questioning should never be to discourage the
pupil who has made an honest effort at preparation. During the
early part of the course the efforts of the teacher may well be
directed to asking the backward student questions to which he
can make reasonably satisfactory answers. By saving the student
from the daily humiliation of failure before the class, and by
tactfully encouraging him to greater effort, the teacher may
shortly discover that the poor pupil is far from hopeless.
7. Do not allow your questions to consume a disproportionate amount
of time with details. Until very recently in all our history
teaching, battles have been exalted to a place immeasurably
greater than their importance. We are coming to see that the
fighting is one of the least important things in the war. The
causes and results, the financial, political, and social effects
now absorb our attention. One or two battles in a course may
profitably be studied in detail, particularly in the history of
our own country, but in the press of considerations far more
interesting and vital, it is a waste of time to give more than a
moment's notice to the remainder. Student descriptions of
battles are bound to be stereotyped. The ordinary textbook
describes each of the thousand battles of the world in about the
same fifty words.
8. Let some of the questions be directed towards cultivating the
student's powers of oral description. History is not altogether
a matter of analysis or generalization. There can scarcely be
assigned a lesson in history that does not contain events which
lend themselves to dramatic description. Their recital should be
made the occasion of the student's best efforts in this
direction. Let the pupils be taught to use adjectives and
adverbs. Break down the barrier of listlessness or fear or
self-consciousness which keeps the student from rendering a
graphic and thrilling account of great events.
9. Let the questions from day to day develop the continuity of
history. Avoid questioning that fails to unite the events of
previous lessons with the one being studied. Bring out the
connection of the past and the present. Slavery existed in
America for two hundred years before the Civil War was fought.
Your teaching of those two centuries of history should be so
conducted that when the Civil War is finally reached, the class
can tell the process by which anti-slavery sentiment was finally
crystallized. The hiatus between the mobbing of Garrison in
Boston and the extraordinary contribution of Massachusetts to
the Northern army should be bridged, not by a heroic question or
two when the war is finally reached, but by a daily attention to
the events which effected the metamorphosis.
10. If the answer to your question requires the use of a map, ask
it in such a way that the student can talk and use the map at
the same time. The geographical provisions of a treaty, the
routes of explorers, the grants of commercial companies,
campaigns, or military frontiers should all be recited in this
way. A wall map with simply the outline of the territory, with
its rivers, will be of considerable assistance in testing the
accuracy of the student's geographical knowledge. While
reciting, let him locate with chalk or pointer the cities,
arbitrary boundary lines, and routes he finds it necessary to
mention in his recitation. It will require special attention
early in the course to teach students the necessity for
preparation of this sort. Like everything else, map work should
be reasonable in its requirements. A knowledge of geography is
imperative to the correct understanding of history, and the
indifference or ignorance of teachers should never excuse
inattention to this vital necessity. On the other hand, however,
it is equally reprehensible to require of high school students
the labored preparation of maps in the drawing of which hours of
valuable time are spent in searching for places of trivial
importance and small historical value. Map work in a high school
history course should require no more than geographical accuracy
in locating boundaries, routes, and places really vital to the
history of the people being studied. If it does more than this
it usurps time disproportionate to its value.
V
VARIOUS MODES OF REVIEW
_The place of drill in the history recitation_
We have long since learned the folly of spending very many of the
minutes of a recitation in drilling students in dates, outlines, and
charts. Work of this sort never made a recitation vital; never inspired
a student with enthusiasm for historical inquiry; never really dispelled
the fog which surrounds, for the student, the cabinets and
constitutions, battles and boundaries, declarations and decrees, so
briefly treated in the text.
_Good reviews will develop a knowledge of the sequence of events_
But it may be seriously questioned whether many teachers, in their zeal
to escape the over-emphasis of dates, have not gone to the extreme of
neglecting them altogether. That a student should remember sufficient
dates to fix in his mind the sequence of important events is hardly open
to question. That he can never do so without some special attention to
dates is equally indisputable. Without doubt, drill in important dates
is necessary, but it should be so conducted as to take but little time.
Each day the teacher has indicated the dates worthy to be remembered and
has been careful to select the landmarks of history. He has called
attention to the various collateral circumstances which might assist to
fix the dates in the child's mind. The student has kept his list of
dates in the back of his text or in some convenient place of reference.
Once a week for three minutes the teacher gives the class a rapid review
on the dates contained in the list. Occasionally the class are sent to
the board and asked to write the dates of the reigns of the English
monarchs from William down to the point which the class has reached, or
the Presidents in their order, or some other similar exercise calculated
to give a backbone to the history being studied. The class will know
that such a review is liable to be given at any time. They will endeavor
to be prepared. The result will be that with the expenditure of a few
minutes at intervals in rapid review, history will cease to be a
spineless narrative and become for the student an orderly procession of
events. Drill in dates is only one method to this end. There may be a
rapid review in battles, generals, wars, treaties, proclamations, and
inventions. Such exercises encourage the classification of facts and
stimulate fluency of expression. It is of the highest importance for the
student so to arrange in his mind what he has learned in recitation that
he can call to his command at a second's notice the fact, date, or
illustration he desires. There will be many times in his school and
college career when such an ability will be indispensable; in business
or the professions it is an invaluable asset, infinitely more useful
than the history itself. It will be well for the teacher to inquire:
"What am I doing to cultivate such an ability in my students?"
_They will give a view of the whole subject_
Few teachers will deny that too little time is spent in giving the
student a general view of the whole subject, either in its entirety or
in its various phases. The text has been studied by chapters or by
months or by movements. The history as a whole has never been seen. By
the time the student has reached the "Aldrich Currency Plan" in American
history he has forgotten all about the experiments with the first United
States Bank. He could no more outline the financial history of the
United States as given in his text than he could outline the industrial
or political history of the American people. And yet he has studied the
facts given in his textbook; he has supplemented the text by his work in
the library, and in the recitation; he has done everything that may
reasonably be expected of him, except to assemble his historical
information and review it as a whole.
If the student in American history is asked to go to the board at
intervals and write an outline for the work covered on such topics as
the following, he will come much nearer understanding the progress of
our people:--
1. History of the tariff.
2. Political parties and principles for which they stood.
3. Things that crystallized Northern sentiment against slavery.
4. Reasons for the unification of the South.
5. Diplomatic relations of the United States.
6. Additions of territory.
7. Financial legislation.
8. Growth of humanitarian spirit.
There will easily be sufficient topics so that each member of the class
will have a different one. They can all work at the board,
simultaneously. The amount of time used for exercises of this sort need
not be great, and the value received is incalculable.
If the teacher wishes to review briefly on the military, diplomatic,
social, political, or economic history of the people the class have been
studying, it is no difficult matter to arrange a set of questions, the
occasional review in which will clinch in the student's mind what
otherwise would surely be forgotten. Such questions as the following on
the financial history of the United States are each answerable with a
few words and will serve as an illustration of the method which may be
employed in reviewing any other phase of history:--
1. By what means was trade accomplished before the use of money?
2. What are the functions of money?
3. What determines the amount of money needed in a country?
4. What has been used for money at various periods of our history?
5. What is meant by doing business on credit?
6. What is cheap money?
7. What is Gresham's Law?
8. What is the effect of large issues of paper money on prices?
9. What is the effect of large issues of paper money on wages?
10. Why does the wage-earner suffer?
11. At what periods in American history have large issues of paper
money been emitted?
12. What were the objects of the first United States Bank?
13. Did the bank accomplish them?
14. Why was it not rechartered?
15. When was the second United States Bank chartered?
16. Why?
17. What case decided the constitutionality of the bank?
18. Did the second United States Bank accomplish the purpose for
which it was formed?
19. Why was the second United States Bank rechartered?
20. What is meant by "Wildcat Banking"?
21. What are the dates of our greatest panics?
22. What were the chief causes?
23. What was the effect on prices?
24. What on wages?
25. Under what President was the independent treasury first
established?
26. Is it in existence to-day?
27. When were greenbacks issued?
28. To what amount?
29. Who was responsible for the issue?
30. Were they legal tender for private debts contracted before
their issue?
31. When was the Resumption Act passed?
32. Are the greenbacks in circulation to-day?
33. What is free silver?
34. What was the "Crime of '73"?
35. What was the "Bland-Allison Act"?
36. What was the Currency Act of 1900?
37. What is Bimetallism?
38. What is meant by "Mint Ratio"?
39. What is meant by "Market Ratio"?
40. What is meant by "Free Coinage"?
41. What is meant by "Gratuitous Coinage"?
42. What is meant by "Standard Money"?
43. With the market ratio at 30 to 1 and the mint ratio at 16 to 1,
which money would tend to disappear from circulation if both
metals are freely coined and made full legal tender?
44. Why is silver not the standard to-day?
45. What is the "Aldrich Plan"?
46. What is a United States bond?
47. Is it a secure investment?
48. What is its average rate of interest?
49. By whom is a national bank chartered?
50. May it issue paper money?
51. When was the first National Banking Act passed?
52. Why?
53. Why should banking business be profitable under the act?
54. What advantage did the Government expect to receive in passing
the act?
55. Are deposits guaranteed?
56. May States emit bills of credit?
57. Is it constitutional for banks chartered by the State to emit
bills of credit?
58. Do they do so to-day?
59. Why?
Obviously as the year advances, the list of questions for review grows
longer. An increasing amount of time should therefore be devoted to work
of this sort.
_They will insure a better acquaintance with great men and women_
The most superficial observation will suffice to convince anyone that
high school graduates know very little about the great men and women of
history. The character sketches suggested earlier in the chapter,
supplemented with occasional reviews, will do much to improve this
condition. These drills may be conducted by asking for brief statements
on the greatest service or the most distinguishing characteristic of the
great men and women met with in the course. The same thing is
accomplished by reversing the process and asking such questions
as,--"Who was the American Fabius"? or "The Great Compromiser"? or the
"Sage of Menlo Park"? etc. Questions on the authorship of great
documents, the founders of institutions, the organizers of movements,
reformers, philosophers, artists, statesmen, generals, accomplish the
same purpose.
_They will be economical of time_
There are a vast number of review questions answerable with _yes_ or
_no_. The student's knowledge of the subject may be quickly discovered
and a rapid review conducted by a series of such questions. The
following list on American history will illustrate the method:--
1. Was Cromwell's colonial policy helpful to the American colonies?
2. Did the Revolution of 1688 have any effect on the colonies?
3. Were the Huguenots excluded from Canada?
4. Were the Writs of Assistance used in England?
5. Did America ever have a theocracy?
6. Did the rule of 1756 affect the people of the colonies?
7. Was the Sugar Act legal?
8. Was there any effort to amend the Articles of Confederation?
9. Does funding a debt lessen it?
10. Did Hamilton's measures tend to centralize power?
11. Did the members of the Constitutional Convention exceed their
instructions?
12. Is a cabinet provided for in the Constitution?
13. Does the Constitution of the United States prevent a State from
establishing a religion?
14. Is it possible for a State to repudiate its debts?
15. Does the constitutional provision for uniform duties protect
the Territories?
16. Was impressment practiced in England?
17. Did the Whigs favor internal improvements?
18. Did the North favor the Force Bill of 1833?
19. Did Massachusetts favor the Tariff of 1816?
20. Did the Republican party stand for the abolition of slavery in
1860?
21. Did the Emancipation Proclamation free all the slaves in the
United States?
22. Did the working-men of England favor the South during the Civil
War?
23. Was it necessary for the South to resort to the draft?
24. Could a man in 1860 consistently accept both the Dred Scott
decision and the doctrine of popular sovereignty?
25. Did Lincoln's assassination have any effect on the
reconstruction policy?
26. Does the Federal Constitution compel negro suffrage?
27. Was the Anaconda System successful?
28. Was a President of the United States ever impeached?
29. Were the claims for indirect damages in the Alabama claims
allowed?
30. Did Calhoun favor the Compromise of 1850?
31. Did Thaddeus Stevens favor the Fifteenth Amendment to the
Constitution?
32. Did Lincoln favor the social equality of the white and black
races?
33. Did Grant favor the Tenure of Office Act?
34. Did Lee make more than one attempt to invade the North?
35. Was the "Ohio Idea" ever strong enough to affect legislation?
36. Did Spain have any part in calling out the Monroe Doctrine?
37. Has the United States any control over the debts of Cuba?
38. Has a joint resolution ever been used to acquire territory
other than that included in Texas?
39. Has the United States ever resorted to a tax on incomes?
40. Has the Federal Government ever attempted to restrict the power
of the press?
41. Is it illegal to-day for a railway to give a cheaper rate to
one shipper than to another?
42. Has the Republican party ever reduced the protective tariffs of
the war?
43. Did the Civil Service Act passed in 1883 include postmasters?
44. Did the Wilson-Gorman Act reduce the tariff to a revenue basis?
45. Can a railway engaged solely in intra-state business carry a
case, involving a reduction of their rates by the State
legislature, to the Supreme Court of the United States?
46. Is Utah a part of the Louisiana Purchase?
47. If the mint ratio is 16 to 1 and the market ratio is 17 to 1,
will the gold dollar be the standard if there is full legal
tender and free coinage for both gold and silver?
48. Is the Canadian frontier fortified?
49. Are the functions of government in this country increasing?
50. Is it possible for a man to be defeated for the Presidency if a
majority of the people vote for him?
The great disadvantage of this kind of review is that the students have
for their answer a choice between two words, one of which is bound to be
correct. Knowing nothing whatever of the subject, they will still stand
a fifty per cent chance of answering correctly. The alert teacher should
be able to reduce this haphazard answering to a minimum, while still
reaping the advantages of rapidity and thoroughness which the plan
possesses. Few other methods will cover as much ground in as short time.
On the Federal Constitution there are infinite possibilities for "yes
and no" questioning, which afford a brief and effective means of review
in the principles of American government.
_They will secure fluency_
Review for the purpose of securing fluency is a consideration frequently
lost sight of by high school history teachers. It may be too sanguine to
expect fluency of the average student reciting on a topic for the first
time. But when it is considered how very many important questions are
never recited on but once, the wisdom of an occasional review to secure
rapid, fluent, and complete answers to topics previously discussed is
readily seen. Select a list of topics that will at one and the same time
cultivate fluency and strengthen the memory for the important
considerations of history. Fluency in itself does not possess sufficient
value to justify the expenditure of recitation time. Facility of
expression needs to be cultivated in discussion of the conclusions
reached in class which need to be clinched in the student's mind. Such
questions as the following will serve as illustrations of the kind
adaptable for such purpose, at the middle of a year course in American
history:--
1. Give three distinct characteristics of French colonization in
America; three of Spanish; three of English.
2. What things did the English colonies possess in common?
3. What were the results to the colonies of the French and Indian
War?
4. To what extent was the Revolution brought about by economic
causes?
5. What were the defects in the Articles of Confederation?
6. Account for the downfall of the Federalist party.
7. In what ways has democracy advanced since 1789?
8. What were the results of the struggle over the admission of
Missouri?
9. Discuss the growth of the sentiment for internal improvements?
10. Describe the social life of the Western pioneer?
_What the student may do with "problems" in history_
Still another kind of review of great value in strengthening the
student's ability to generalize and analyze, consists of what might be
called "problems in history." They are given out in much the same way as
original problems in geometry, assuming that the student is acquainted
with the facts from which to deduce the answers to the question. The
object of such a review is to give the student practice in original
thinking. He is not supposed to use a library, but only the facts which
are in his text or which have been previously brought out in class
recitations.
The following are examples of questions adaptable for this purpose:--
1. Why can the American people be regarded as the world's greatest
colonizers?
2. Why could Washington be regarded as only an Englishman living in
America?
3. Is it true that the South lost the Civil War because of slavery?
4. In what particulars did Andrew Jackson accurately reflect the
spirit or the ideals of the new West?
5. What is illustrated by the attempt to found the State of
Franklin?
6. What considerations made the secession of the West in our early
history a likely possibility?
Questions of this kind, not answered directly in class or in the text,
may be given out a day in advance and the answers collected at the next
recitation.
VI
THE USE OF WRITTEN REPORTS
_The purpose of theme work should change as the course continues_
A method frequently employed by teachers of history is to require
written reports or themes on various phases of the history as the work
progresses. This plan is particularly valuable for the students in the
first two years of high school history, for the reason that their
library requirements are less exacting and their need of fluency greater
during that time than later in their course. The objects of theme work
in history courses are usually to arouse the pupil's powers of
observation, description, and narration, and to provide means of drill
in the exercise of these powers. These should not be the sole purposes
of theme work, however. As the year advances, an increasing amount of
the written work should be on subjects requiring some generalization or
analysis of the facts brought out in the text or in the recitation. The
pupil who has written a theme describing the appearance of the Pyramids
has completed an exercise in history less valuable than that of the
student who writes a theme on the errors of the Athenian Democracy.
To summarize, reviews in history should consist of both oral and written
work; they should be rapid enough to insure quick thinking, alert
attention, and small expenditure of time; they should occur with
increasing frequency as the year advances; they should stock the memory,
fix in the student's mind the order of events, stimulate fluency, insure
a permanent acquaintance with the personnel of history, and give to the
student a better view of the subject as a whole and in its various
phases.
VII
EXAMINATIONS AS TESTS OF PROGRESS
_The examination should determine how much the student has progressed_