The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1918-10-08
WORLD WAR AND
AMERICAN HISTORY
New York Professor Believes One Re-
! suit WM Be to Free Teachers
from Gcrmanisn-
OBSESSION WE'LL FIXED.
Mania for "Original Research" by I'm
mature Students May Now Be Over
come and Sane Ideals BE Adopted.


New York. Oct 1.-THE world war.
says Professor Belson P Mead, OF the
department Of history in the College
of the City Of New York, in an article
especially written for this bureau. has
dispelled many illusions. 1t has led
to q revafuation Of many traditional
institutions. The shock Of war has
disturbed a great many comfortable
prepossessions and preJudices. no
longer can mere tradition Justify ex-
listing institutions. This is true not
only Of political, social and economic
factors. but of our educational prac-
tees as we'll
For the last twenty-five years the
training OF teachers of history has
been dominated by typical German
obsession. The mania for Original
research" by immature graduate stu
dents Of history was, and still is. the
besetting sin of all American univer-
Stiles Four or Ave of the best year,
OF the young students lives are de-
voted to making Original investiga-
lions. The productions, in the shape
of doctors theses show, in the great
majority of cases, a very measer re-
turn for the time and energy expend-
eed. More serious, however. than the
waste OF the students time is the
effect which such a training has upon
the mental equipment of the future
teachers of history. Trained under
such influences the young history
teacher enters upon his work. usually
with his high school students. and
carries into the classroom those same
methods that he has learned TO wor-
ship in his graduate work. The re-
suits are frequently deplora BILE
have seen teachers in high schools
struggling TO interest ffteen-year-oid
boys in Original sources. the value
of which was often unknown To the
teacher himself. source books with
long and forhidding extracts from
documents. medieval chronicles and
the like are placed in the hands OF
bewildered students. The perfectly
natural result is dstaste for the
study OF history on the part OF a large
number of students.
1t is. perhaps, not too much to hope
that the shock OF war may break
down the Phi d fetish, and that we
NAV turn to the English and French
rather than TO the German uniSersi-
ties for our methods in the training
Of history teachers. If the young
graduate student would spend three
or four years in the study and ap-
probation of the great historical
classics. rather than lahoriously work
ing upon more or less useless piece
Of Original" work. his usefulness as
a teacher of history would be mate
rally enhanced He might then carry
into the classroom an inspiring md
sympathetic attitude toward. history.
and instill in the minds OF his pupils
The content Of history courses is
certain 10 be materially affected by
the war. Even before the war. there
had been a marked tendency to shift
the emphasis from ancient and me
dleyal history to modern history in
many college courses. This tendency
is certain to be en rhasized by the
war. The forces which eliminated IN
the great world cataclysm had their
origins. in the nineteenth century, and
many of them in the period since
1870. An increasing amount OF at
tentlon will be devoted 10 this PERIOD
Of European history. The history OF
Eastern Europe, and especially OF
Russia. will demand fuller, treatment
,haA IL has received in the past
Upon the teaching of American his
tory, too. the world war will leave It's
III g.
out that the war has given the coup
de grace to our fancied isolation. The
average American is, for the first
time, interested in the affairs of the
outside world. For better or for
worse we are one Of the family OF
world powers. our former provtn-
cialisra was reflected In our teaching
Of American history. The history of
our country was regarded as a series
of events apart from the general cur
rent of world affairs. II is true that
in recent years American historians
had begun to rewrite American his
tory in the light of world politics
The great work of Professor Osgood
dealing with the colonial period of
American history is one OF number
OF scholarly productions which have
provided new and truer perspective
in American history. The better class
Of high school textbooks also have
shown the influence of this new
scholarship. Nevertheless. there re-
manned far too much teaching or
American history apart from the cur
rents of European history. Our new
position in world affairs will no longer
tolerate this partial and narrow treat
ment of American history.
Germany has provided striking
example of the perversion OF history
teaching to the incubation OF false
national ideal. For a generation the
Prussian youth has been taught to
believe in the manifest destiny of Ger
many to rule the world. Such per
verted teaching has borne bitter nit
in the present world catastro re.
While American teachers have been
guilty of no such vicious Justification
Of history, not little mischief has
been done by giving a misleading and
prejudiced Interpretation to certain
periods of American history. This
was especially true in the treatment
Of the colonial and revolutionary pc
RODS. Twisting the British lions tail
was a popular American schoolhoy
sport Only in the most recent school
histories has an effort been made to
put the American revolution In its
true light as the last OF the great
English civil wars, the elimination
OF the century long struggle between
the Tories and the Liberals of Eng
land and America.
Surely the time is now opportune,
when the two great English-speaking
peoples are standing shoulder to
shoulder fighting for the principles
which are the common heritage OF
A~tA oat;opS fnr an effort n ha mar o