against the nervous fear and sleepless nights with which their children
approach the semi-annual torture of our inquisitorial examinations. That
reasonable examinations are essential and beneficial is hardly open to
question. That a student should be expected correctly to answer a fair
percentage of reasonable questions on work which has been properly
taught is not a cause of complaint from anyone. But that children should
be frightened into a state of nervous terror by the bugaboo of an
impending examination, and then be forced to attempt a series of
conundrums propounded by a teacher who takes pride in maintaining a high
percentage of failures, is indefensible. An examination should not be
conducted with the primary object of making it a thing to be feared.
However desirable such a questionable asset may seem to certain college
professors, it is a serious fault in a high school teacher to have any
considerable number of normal children fail. The ambition of the good
instructor is to give an examination which shall at once be thorough,
reasonable, and intelligently directed toward finding what the student
has really learned. His purpose is to test accurately the various
abilities which he has endeavored to encourage in the student during his
course. He wishes to ascertain how much the student has really
progressed.
_Specific suggestions on formulating questions_
In order to do this the examination must be on the really material
considerations of the history. Questions on unimportant details should
be omitted. The student should not be expected to burden his memory with
the limitless mass of petty isolated facts contained in the average
history text. The questions should be on considerations that have been
carefully discussed, and not on facts that have received but cursory
attention.
The examination should not require too much time for writing. The
several hours' continuous nervous tension sometimes exacted by too
ambitious teachers does the average child more harm than the
examination can possibly do him good.
The examination should consist of questions that will jointly or
severally test the student's powers of description, generalization, and
analysis. They should test his knowledge of the sequence of events, his
ability to use a library or a map, his knowledge of the various phases
and the various periods of the history studied. In every examination
there should be at least one question dealing with the time and the
order of events, one each on the geographical, political, and social
history, one that is analytical, one that requires generalization, one
that will test his knowledge of the library, and one that will test his
powers of description. It is not necessary to limit the questions to the
customary number of ten. It is frequently advisable to give a class some
degree of choice in the selection of their questions by requiring any
ten out of a larger number asked. Certainly such a plan gives the
student a more favorable opportunity to demonstrate his ability without
in the least diminishing the value of the examination.
Examination questions, like all other questions, should be definite,
clean-cut, and reasonable. If possible, each student should be supplied
with a copy, instead of having the set written on the board. They
should cover only those portions of the subject that have been properly
taught. The teacher should not expect the boy who has kept no useful
notes, whose library work has been haphazard, and whose methods of study
have not been supervised, to perform at examination time the miracle of
accurately remembering what he has never been properly taught.
OUTLINE
I. SOME PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS
1. Assumptions as to the teacher of history
2. Actual conditions confronted by the teacher
II. HOW TO BEGIN THE COURSE
1. What should be done on the day of enrollment
2. What should be done at the first meeting of the class
3. Necessity for definite instruction in methods of preparing a lesson
4. The question of note-taking
5. Instruction in the use of the library and indexes
III. THE ASSIGNMENT OF THE LESSON
1. Careful assignment will reveal to the student the relation of
geography and history
2. His power of analysis and criticism will be stimulated
3. The conditions in other countries will add to his comprehension of
the facts in the lesson
4. His disposition to study intensively will be encouraged
5. His acquaintance with the great men and women of history will be
vitalized
6. He will correlate the past and the present
7. He will be required to memorize a limited amount of matter verbatim
8. Methods of preparing questions assigned in advance
IV. THE METHOD OF THE RECITATION
1. Assumptions as to the recitation room
2. What the teacher should aim to accomplish
3. Work at the blackboard
4. Special reports
5. Fundamental principles of good questioning
6. Some additional suggestions for teachers of history
V. VARIOUS MODES OF REVIEW
1. The place of drill in the history recitation
2. Good reviews will develop a knowledge of the sequence of events
3. They will give a view of the whole subject
4. They will insure a better acquaintance with great men and women
5. They will be economical of time
6. They will secure fluency
7. What the student may do with "problems" in history
VI. THE USE OF WRITTEN REPORTS
1. The purpose of theme work should change as the course continues
VII. EXAMINATIONS AS TESTS OF PROGRESS
1. The examination should determine how much the student has progressed
2. Specific suggestions on formulating questions