SPECIAL TOPICS
CURRENT EVENTS
The study of history should not end with what is contained in
text-books, for the making of history never ceases. The study of current
events will be found to be a very valuable element in history teaching.
Teachers and pupils who are interested in the events of to-day are much
more likely to be interested in the events of the past. A knowledge of
current events will arouse curiosity in what led up to them, will
suggest a motive for studying the past, and will often supply concrete
examples for both history and civics. In fact, the teaching of civics
may be based almost entirely on current events. (See Civics, p. 52 et
seq.) The influence of a knowledge of current events on the study of
history is very plainly seen to-day in the earnest and widespread effort
to discover the causes of the war that is devastating Europe at the
present time. History becomes real when pupils understand that what is
happening now has its roots in the past and, at the same time, is
history in the making. For example, the present war will certainly
intensify our interest in the great movement to prevent war by means of
world-wide arbitration of disputes between nations, or by any other
means. The value of this phase of history teaching depends very largely
on the interest taken in it by the teacher and on the work that the
pupils can be induced to do for themselves. The teacher talks to the
pupils about some important current event in an interesting way. Then
the pupils are encouraged to add to what he has said by relating what
they have heard, or have read in the newspapers. After a few lessons
the chief difficulty is to make a suitable selection of topics to be
discussed in class. Those of national importance, if within the scope of
the Form work, will have prominence, and the pupils will be given hints
as to articles about these topics in papers, magazines, and books. It is
obvious that topics likely to arouse religious, political, or other
party feeling, should be avoided. For actual school-room practice the
following scheme has been used successfully in Form III:
CURRENT EVENTS (10 MINUTES DAILY)
The teacher has suggested the kinds of events that are worthy of
discussion, and the pupils come to class prepared to tell what they have
read in the papers about some of these. The teacher aids them to give
fit expression to their information, and the pupil who has been chosen
as editor writes a summary of the lesson on the black-board, and later,
on a sheet of paper.
Ordinarily, the editors should be chosen from those who write and spell
well.
Where the subject-matter lends itself to such treatment, these summaries
may be placed in two columns--one, the _Girls' News Column_; the other,
the _Boys' News Column_. The summaries on the sheets of paper may be
arranged in order for a week or a month and be known as _The School
Review_. Such a lesson includes history, and oral and written
composition.
The following items of news were those discussed in a Form III room at
the end of the week, when some time is taken to talk over the events of
the week:
FEB. 5TH, 1915
Rescue of the crew of the Japanese cruiser Asama.
Rescue work in the earthquake in Italy.
Wireless message frustrates a German plot to blow up a French steamer.
Fire in a New York factory--rescue of the inmates.
Inhuman treatment of Belgian women and children.
British officer praises the enemy.
The Austrians are defeated by the Montenegrins.
Canadians wounded in France.
Importance of discipline and accurate shooting for Canadian troops.
Germany proclaims a war zone around Britain.
Two New York boy heroes of a fire.
Tsar honours a girl wounded while carrying ammunition to the troops.
Opening of the war session of the Canadian Parliament.
These items are sifted from a great many suggested by the pupils. In the
sifting process, a very useful discussion is had as to what constitutes
real "news," and what is mere "gossip"; that is, what is of value as
news to the world at large, and what is of purely local, personal
interest.
In civics, current topics may be made very useful. Items of municipal,
provincial, or federal affairs furnish a concrete basis for the study of
our system of government, and may also suggest moral examples.
LOCAL MATERIAL
One of the chief uses of local history in the class-room is to make the
study of general history more vivid and interesting (1) by making more
real those facts of history associated with the locality in which we
live, and (2) by providing suitable illustrations, from the pupil's own
experience, of facts in general history. When a pupil has seen the place
where an event of history has happened, he has an interest in that event
that he could scarcely gain in any other way, and the history of that
period may then be taught with more interest and profit to him. A pupil
finds also in local history certain facts that he must understand in
order to interpret the story of happenings, distant in time and place.
Some parts of Ontario are much richer in material than others, but in
all historic spots may be found. On the St. Lawrence River, in the
Niagara peninsula, in the Talbot settlement district, in York county,
along the Ottawa River, in the Huron tract, there is no lack of useful
material. But it is not necessary to confine such local history to the
outstanding events of war or the larger happenings of civil progress. In
every locality there are remains of the earlier Indian inhabitants, in
the form of mounds, sites of villages, relics of war and the chase
(arrow-heads, stone implements, beads, etc.); relics of the early
settlers, in the form of roads and old log houses; relics of pioneer
life consisting of furniture, household and outdoor implements, etc.,
that will serve as a basis for comparison with present-day conditions,
and make real to the children the lives of the earlier inhabitants and
settlers of Ontario.
CIVICS
The teaching of civics has a threefold aim:
1. To instruct in the mechanism of government. (Descriptive)
2. To instruct in the history of national institutions so as to show the
line of development, and also to impress the fact that existing
institutions are capable of development, are not fixed. (Historical)
3. "To show the cost of each institution in the efforts and sacrifices
of past generations and to quicken and make permanent the children's
interest in public life and their sense of responsibility to their
fellows." (Patriotic and Ethical)
Two points stand out clearly--to teach the machinery of government and
to instil ideals of public conduct. Of these the second is by far the
more important and the more difficult to teach directly. The best way to
attempt it is by means of biography and personal references. There are
great men and women in history whose lives are worthy examples to the
young: Sir John Eliot, Pym, Hampden, who stood for freedom of speech and
debate; Gladstone, who helped to right historic wrongs in the East;
Lincoln, who stood for union and the freedom of the individual; many
eminent Canadians, such as Sir John Macdonald, George Brown, Alexander
Mackenzie, Egerton Ryerson, Sir Oliver Mowat, and Sir James Whitney;
women such as Florence Nightingale and Elizabeth Fry, Laura Secord and
Sarah Maxwell. Besides these eminent examples, there are in every
locality men and women who give unselfishly of their energy and time for
the good of the community.
There should also be impressed on the minds of the young a sense of
their responsibility for an honest and faithful use of the ballot, a
right won for them by the long and earnest effort of their forefathers;
and the necessity for purity of government in our democratic form of
administration. In school life, a good deal can be done to create a
sense of fair play, respect for the rights of others, and of the
necessity for submission to lawful authority by encouraging the pupils
to conduct all their school organizations, whether in play or in work,
honourably and by right methods.
Some of the lessons that may be taught to children during their school
life are as follows:
1. Respect for the rights of others. Pupils may be brought to see that
misconduct on their part affects others, not themselves only.
2. Respect for the property of others. This may be secured best by
teaching them to take good care of their own property first, for unless
a child cares rightly for his own, he is not likely to take much thought
for the things of others.
3. Respect for public property. This is something that needs attention
badly. It is a very common thing to find people destroying trees,
flowers, etc., in public places, throwing refuse on the street, and
otherwise disfiguring their surroundings. A beginning of better habits
may be made by getting the pupils to aid in beautifying and decorating
the school building by means of pictures, either prints or their own
work, by flowers in pots, by keeping the floor and walls clean and free
from marks and litter; also in making the grounds around the school more
attractive by means of flowers and shrubs. Arbor Day may be made of
great use in this respect, if the spirit of that Day can be carried
through the whole year. A pride in the attractiveness of the school will
have its influence on the pupils in the wider life of the community.
A knowledge of the machinery of government may be based on the pupils'
knowledge of the organization of the school. The appointment, power, and
duties of the teacher are the starting-point. The next step will be to
investigate the composition of the board of school trustees. This may be
done at the time of an election for school trustees. The following
questions may serve as an outline of study for all the political bodies
by which we are governed:
1. Who compose the board of trustees? (In the smaller local bodies,
the names of the members may be mentioned, as giving a personal
interest in the matter.)
2. How and by whom are they elected?
3. For what period are they elected?
4. How is the board organized for the conduct of business?
5. What powers do they possess?
6. What duties have they to fulfil?
7. How do they raise the money needed for their work?
8. How is the board rendered continuous? (By electing a successor
to a member who resigns; by the trustees remaining in office till
their successors are elected.)
Other governing bodies may be taken up similarly, for example: Municipal
Councils (township, county, village, town, or city council), Provincial
Legislature, Dominion or Federal Parliament, Imperial Parliament. A
suitable time to bring up the topic of how elections are conducted would
be when an election for any of the above bodies is in progress.
Information on this topic may be found in _Canadian Civics_, by Jenkins;
a fuller account is given in Bourinot's _How Canada is Governed_.
Lessons concerning special bodies of municipal and civil servants may be
taken; for example, the assessor, tax-collector, policeman, postal
employees, firemen, etc. In connection with all of these, the question
of taxation is constantly arising. It is suggested that something should
be done to put the pupils in the right attitude toward this subject.
Many people have an idea that when they pay taxes they are being robbed,
because they do not stop to think of what they are getting in return for
their money. The chief reason for this seems to be that the taxes are
usually paid once or twice a year, while the services rendered are
continuous. A good way to proceed is to have the class calculate the
value of the services given in return for the taxes. For example,
suppose it is found that the yearly cost for each pupil in a certain
section is $25.00. Divide this by the number of days (200) a pupil
attends school during the year, and the cost each day for each pupil is
shown be only 12-1/2 cents, not a very large sum for a community to pay
for a child's education.
Other calculations may be made to show the saving to farmers by spending
money in the construction of good roads to make teaming more profitable.
For example: In a strip of country served by a road ten miles long,
there is room for eighty farms of one hundred acres each, all the
produce of which would be hauled on that road. Let us suppose that this
produce would amount to 3,000 loads, such as could be hauled on an
ordinary country road. The average haul being five miles, two trips a
day could be made. At $5.00 a day, the cost of haulage would be $7,500.
Suppose this road to be converted into a good stone road at a cost of
$3,000 a mile, a total cost of $30,000. On this road, with the larger
and heavier wagons that could now be used, the farmers could easily
double the size of the load. This would mean that, instead of 3,000
loads being necessary, 1,500 would be sufficient. At the same rate as
before, the cost of haulage would be $3,750, an annual saving of $3,750;
so that the whole cost of the road would be saved in eight years, to say
nothing of the greater ease and comfort of travel to both man and beast.
Better roads would also give the farmer access to market for a greater
part of the year and thus enable him to take advantage of higher prices
at certain seasons. It is believed that these figures are quite within
the bounds of probability.
In large towns and cities the cost of public utilities may be
calculated; for example, the expense of a fire-station in buildings,
equipment, horses, men, etc., to show how the money raised by taxes is
spent for the good of the whole community, and helps to keep down the
rates for fire insurance. The kinds of taxation may also be
discussed--direct and indirect; also the sources from which direct
taxes are derived--customs, excise, etc.; methods of levying and
collecting taxes; how taxes are spent for the various educational and
charitable institutions--schools, libraries, hospitals, asylums, homes
for the poor and neglected, etc.; for the protection of life and
property; for the administration of justice, etc. The distribution of
taxes among public institutions may be studied from the public accounts
printed for the use of ratepayers.
The lessons learned about the fairness of taxation may be used to
illustrate certain periods of history when people struggled against
unjust and arbitrary taxation; for example, Wat Tyler's Rebellion, the
Civil War in England in the seventeenth century, the American and French
Revolutions, Acts of Parliament in Canada from the Quebec Act to the Act
of Confederation.
A Dominion or Provincial election offers a good opportunity for a lesson
on how to vote and how we came to have the right to vote; on the
constitution of Parliament; on the sanctity of the ballot, etc.
A trial by jury in which the people of the district are interested may
be used to introduce the history and purpose of the jury.
THE TEACHER OF HISTORY
The teacher of history must know his subject. This does not mean that
every school teacher must have an expert knowledge of the whole subject,
but he should know the history that is to be taught thoroughly enough to
be able to teach the lesson orally without referring constantly to the
text-book or to notes. This, at least, is the ideal to strive for. To
accomplish this, the teacher is earnestly recommended to read at least
one book in addition to the authorized text-book, which does not usually
contain much more than the important facts of history. To clothe the
skeleton of facts with flesh and blood so as to make history what it
really is, a record of human beings who not only did things but had also
thoughts and feelings like our own, it is necessary to be able to supply
the personal details that make the figures of history real, living, men
and women. (See the Story of Florence Nightingale, p. 62.) The teacher
who does this will himself come to have a more lively interest in
history.
The teacher must also know children. For the understanding of history,
pupils are dependent on their previous knowledge of life and its
interests. They must be led by timely suggestions or questions to see
the connection between their own knowledge of life and the experiences
of the actors in history. Without this connection, the facts of history
remain meaningless.
To present history to the pupils in an interesting way, the oral method
is the best. It is not necessary for the teacher to have a special gift
for narration; any one who is really interested in the story to be told
is able to tell it well enough to hold the attention of the class. In
narration, mere fluency is not the chief requisite; it is more important
that the pupils should feel the teacher's interest in the topic. The
narration must also be confined to the facts and details that count; the
teacher needs to know what to omit as well as what to narrate. If the
matter has been well thought out and clearly arranged in topics with due
regard to the relation of cause and effect, the telling of the story
will be an easier matter, and the pupils will be trained also in a clear
and logical way of treating history. The oral method should be supported
by the free use of devices for making the story real. (See p. 34.) While
it is quite true that certain important topics are to be thoroughly
mastered as centres of connection for the less important facts, yet it
must be insisted on that a more important aim of the teacher is to
arouse and stimulate an interest in history so that the pupil's study of
it may continue after the close of his school-days. No mastery of facts
through memorization alone will counterbalance the lack of interest in,
and liking for, the subject.