The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1882-05-24

CHAPTER vi.


poured over the prefaces OF at leas
thirty text books in the vain hops
tha. might obtain something new
on the subject. MY efforts have beer
in vain. If l can point out the rea
sons, or most of the reasons, why
history of the United States is poor
Is taught. ! may place our youngel
teachers in the way of doing better
work. | freely confess here and
now, have nothing new. l cannot
say that have a single method thai
| would advocate for a minute in
preference to that of any other
teacher. This paper viii be mostly
complaint
When | began teaching, history
was not on the certificate. l never
studied it as public school branch
When the subject was placed on the
certificate / made no attempt al
"cramming." l had read the stand
ard histories of the day. was ia.
miliar with the life of Columbus.
went into class and | "got one.
Others attempted to cram, and theil
marks showed the evil effects of it
/ do say that there is not a single
text book on history in our schools
to-day that is fit to be there. They
are one and all poor, lean, miserable
abortions. They are shielded, some
of them, behind a great name, and
rs a rule the greater the name the
poorcrthc book. You cannot find one
of them that gives anything like a
connected narrative: not one from
which you can obtain any but the
most meagre knowledge of the his
tory OF our country. Not single
one of them goes into causes and
Effects" as regards any Of the wars
in which our country has been en-
gagged. Not one of them tells you
why it was natural that the Puritan
Father should be prosecutor as
soon as he got his vine and fig tree
in running order. The young stu
dent is left to struggle with an array
of dull, dead facts. If he happens
10 have 4 teacher who has read up"
who has allowed his mind to wan
der off in search of the true in
wardness" of things, he may know
good deal Of history from close at
tention to oral instruction, bat if his
teacher be not such a man, if he be
permitted merely to gather up what
is in the book, he will know very
little history, even if he have two or
three of them committed bodily TO
memory.
We did not learn history in this
wav. We do not learn the history
of any other country in this way.
Nv knowledge of the history OF
Rome was Obtained from hours and
hours spent pouring over the pages
of Mommsen and Gibbon; of Greece,
from the chapters of Milford and
Grote; of England, from Macaulay
and Hallam, and Knight; Of our
own country, from Bancroft, Hill
dreth, and Others. | might extend
the list, but i. is useless. Now, my
idea is that there must be radical
reform in the matter of thete book
before there can be any, even tolera-
Bile, teaching in this branch. We
want text book that viii give us
something. Pupils must not be
kept shaking the dry bones of history
backward and forward year after
year in the vain hope that any flesh
viii be developed by the process.
What can we do with our books as
they are? Ny plan is to cnt out all
dates except the most important.
There are, really, but about twenty
five or thirty dates that are of any
importance All the rest may be
omitted. Those important dates
must be learned; there is no such
thing as dodging it.
How will you teach? / believe
that it will take five months TO GET
a school so trained that they can
write a passable topical discussion
of a lesson in any branch. If you
have n school that has not been
trained to topical recitation you run
some little risk if you attempt to
drill them in this method. When q
boy or girl is sent to the board and
told to write off a topical discussion
of some point, you will find that he
viii say but little. He may be able
to answer any question you ask him
on the subject, but he cannot write
his knowledge. You see that you
have to teach him two lessons al
once. My own individual success,
by means of the written topical
method, has never been so great rs ]
could wish; / mean among young
pupils. Were / toindicate my meth.
cd, / would say in the public schools
a combination of two methods, oral
" by question and answer, and top
ically, both written and oral. There
is method of review which ! have
used for several years. 1t may be
made either written or oral, thete
er using his own Judgment in The
matter. The plan is this: On card.
of stiff paper ! write questions, one
question on each. The cards ar,
numbered. / have accumulated
about thousand of these cards.
take certain number of them, mi,
them up thoroughly, allow eacl
member of the class to take one, anC
after two or three minutes / call or
each member to rise and tell what h,
knows in regard to the subject OF
the card he drew. 1t is an excellen
mode of conducting review. III
cards that have been used of cours'
put in a separate pack and do no
use them again for some TINE. / re
member once a card was drawn bear
ing the question: "Define the Milai
decree and the orders in council.
When called on the young man b,
the number of his card. he arose
solemn as an owl, read the question
andremarked: "Never heard of 'em.
The whole affair was inexpressibl,
ludicrous, but / soon found out tha
the whole class had 'never heard o
'em." / sent them home to wrestl
with the question until next day
when | told them what they were
but when we had got through tn
book" one of them said to me
ssrr.~.l- r. - r.