The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1916-11-27
SOCIAL STUDIES.
As Conducted in High School Basis of Re-
port.

How history, eiyics, and kindred sub
jects in the high school may be made to
meet the requirements OF present day
citizenship and the needs Of boys and
girls as growing citizens is told in a re.
port on the social studies in secondary
education just published as a bulletin
Of the United States bureau of eduea-
ton of the department OF the interior.
This report is the first to appear of
the final reports OF the commission on
the reorganization of secondary educa.
ton, which was appointed in 1912 by
the National Education association. The
commission, organized in IL communities
which include in their membership more
than 200 superintendent, principals, and
teachers representing nearly all the
states in the Union, has been at work
continuously since its appointments The
report on social studies comprises six
page program, embracing the work of
the seventh and eighth grades and that
of the present four year high school,
While the civic educational value of all
the social studies lsueh as history, gov
eminent, economies, and geography il
kept in the foreground of the report,
especial emphasis is given to organized
civics instruction. of the community
eivics' type, in the eighth and ninth
years. The fact is emphasized, however,
that the pupil is member not only of
a local community, but also of national
community 1T would be inexpressi
bly, unfortunate ii the study of local
community life and relations should sup
plement study OF national life and ma
tional civic relations. The two aspects
of civic life should clearly supplment
each other. Questions of health,
Of educat ton, of industry can no longer
be considered in their local bearings
alone, but must be dealt with in the
light of national policy and to the end
of national efficiency ="
Other topics dealt with in part two
of the report are the civic relations of
vocational life, the adoption of civics to
rural conditions, and the relation of civ
les to history In connection with the
first of these topics it is said that the
chief purpose should be "the development
of an appreciation of the social signif |
canoe of all work; of the social value
and interdependence of all occupations;
of the social responsibility of the work |
er, not only for the character of his work,
but for the use of its fruits; of the OPP |
portunities and necessity for good citi- |
zenship in vocational life; of the duty /
of the community to the worker; of the /
necessity for social control, governmental
and otherwise, of the economic activities
of economic life of the community and
of the individual"
For the last year of the high school
the report proposes a concrete study OF
problems of democracy" "These prob
lens will naturally vary from year to
year, and from class to class, but they
should be selected on the ground Il sof
their immediate interest to the class,
and ~ of their vital Importance to So
ciety." THE purpose of secondary edu-
cation and not the intrinsic value of any
particular body of knowledge should be
the determining consideration :"
1t is far less important that the Adde'S
cent youth should acquire a eomprehen-
sive knowledge of any or all the social
sciences than it is that he should be
ghen experience and practice in the
of social phenomena as he
encounters them that he should be
brought to understand that every social
problem is manysided and complex; and
hat he should acquire the habit OF form
ng social judgments only on the basis
If dispassionate consideration of all the
acts available This can best
De accomplished by dealing with actual
situations as they occur and by drafting
nto service the materials of all the So
.ial sciences as occasion demands for a
thorough understanding OF the situations
n question"
Part four of the report deals with
standards by which to test methods. the
preparation Of teachers, and the avail
lbility OF text materials