COLLEGE TEACHING

 STUDIES IN METHODS OF TEACHING IN THE COLLEGE

 Edited by

 PAUL KLAPPER, Ph. D. 

 Associate Professor of Education The College of the City of New York

 with an Introduction by NICHOLAS MURRAY BUTLER, LL. D. 

 President of Columbia University

 Yonkers-on-Hudson, New York WORLD BOOK COMPANY 1920

 WORLD BOOK COMPANY THE HOUSE OF APPLIED KNOWLEDGE Established, 1905, by Caspar W. Hodgson

 YONKERS-ON-HUDSON, NEW YORK 2126, PRAIRIE AVENUE, CHICAGO

A treasure of wisdom is stored in the colleges of the land. Theteachers are the custodians of knowledge that makes life free andprogressive. This book aims to make the college teacher effective inhanding down this heritage of knowledge, rich and vital, that willdevelop in youth the power of right thinking and the courage of rightliving. Thus _College Teaching_ carries out the ideal of service asexpressed in the motto of the World Book Company, "Books that Applythe World's Knowledge to the World's Needs". 

 Copyright, 1920, by World Book Company Copyright in Great Britain _All rights reserved_

PREFACE

The student of general problems of education or of elementaryeducation finds an extensive literature of varying worth. In the lastdecade our secondary schools have undergone radical reorganization andhave assumed new functions. A rich literature on every phase of thehigh school is rapidly developing to keep pace with the needs and theprogress of secondary education. The literature on college educationin general and college pedagogy in particular is surprisinglyundeveloped. This dearth is not caused by the absence of problem, forindeed there is room for much improvement in the organization, theadministration, and the pedagogy of the college. Investigators ofthese problems have been considerably discouraged by the facts theyhave gathered. This volume is conceived in the hope of stimulating aninterest in the quality of college teaching and initiating ascientific study of college pedagogy. The field is almost virgin, andthe need for constructive programs is acute. We therefore ask for oureffort the indulgence that is usually accorded a pioneer. 

In this age of specialization of study it is evident that no collegeteacher, however wide his experience and extensive his education, canspeak with authority on the teaching of all the subjects in thecollege curriculum, or even of all the major ones. For this reasonthis volume is the product of a coöperating authorship. The editordevotes himself to the study of general methods of teaching that applyto almost all subjects and to most teaching situations. In addition, he coördinates the work of the other contributors. He realizes thatthere exists among college professors an active hostility to the studyof pedagogy. The professors feel that one who knows his subject canteach it. The contributors have been purposely selected in order todispel this hostility. They are, one and all, men of undisputedscholarship who have realized the need of a mode of presentation thatwill make their knowledge alive. 

Books of multiple authorship often possess too wide a diversity ofviewpoints. The reader comes away with no underlying thought and nocontrolling principles. To overcome this defect, so common in books ofthis type, a tentative outline was formulated, setting forth adesirable mode of treating, in the confines of one chapter, theteaching of any subject in the college curriculum. This outline wassubmitted to all contributors for critical analysis and constructivecriticism. The original plan was later modified in accordance with thesuggestions of the contributors. This final outline, which follows, was then sent to the contributors with the full understanding thateach writer was free to make such modifications as his specialtydemanded and his judgment dictated. This outline is followed in mostof the chapters and gives the book that unifying element necessary inany book and vital in a work of so large a coöperating authorship. 

The editor begs to acknowledge his indebtedness to the manycontributors who have given generously of their time and their laborwith no hope of compensation beyond the ultimate appreciation of thosecollege teachers who are eager to learn from the experience of othersso that they may the better serve their students. 

 TENTATIVE OUTLINE FOR THE TEACHING OF ---- IN THE COLLEGE

 I. Aim of Subject _X_ in the College Curriculum:

 Is it taught for disciplinary values? What are they?

 Is it taught for cultural reasons?

 Is it taught to give necessary information?

 Is it taught to prepare for professional studies?

 Is the aim single or eclectic? Do the aims vary for different groups of students? Does this apply to all the courses in your specialty? How does the aim govern the methods of teaching?

 II. Place of the Subject in the College Curriculum:

 In what year or years should it be taught?

 What part of the college course--in terms of time or credits--should be allotted to it?

 What is the practice in other colleges?

 What course or courses in this subject should be part of the general curriculum or be prescribed for students in art, in science, in modern languages, or in the preprofessional or professional groups?

 III. Organization of the Subject in the College Course:

 Desired sequence of courses in this subject. 

 What is the basis of this sequence? Gradation of successive difficulties or logical sequence of facts?

 Should these courses be elective or prescribed? All prescribed? For all groups of students?

 In what years should the elective work be offered?

 IV. Discussion of Methods of Teaching this Subject:

 Place and relative worth of lecture method, laboratory work, recitations, research, case method, field work, assignment from a single text or reference reading, etc. 

 Discussion of such problems as the following:

 Shall the first course in chemistry be a general and extensive course summing up the scope of chemistry, its function in organic and inorganic nature, with no laboratory work other than the experimentation by the instructor?

 Should students in the social sciences study the subject deductively from a book or should the book be postponed and the instructor present a series of problems from the social life of the student so that the analysis of these may lead the student to formulate many of the generalizations that are given early in a textbook course?

 Should college mathematics be presented as a series of subjects, e. G. , algebra (advanced), solid geometry, trigonometry, analytical geometry, calculus, etc. ? Would it be better to present the subject as a single and unified whole in two or three semesters?

 Should a student study his mathematics as it is developed in his book, --viz. , as an intellectual product of a matured mind familiar with the subject, --or should the subject grow gradually in a more or less unorganized form from a series of mechanical, engineering, building, nautical, surveying, and structural problems that can be found in the life and environment of the student?

 V. Moot Questions in the Teaching of this Subject. 

 VI. How judge whether the subject has been of worth to the student?

 How test whether the aims of this subject have been realized?

 How test how much the student has carried away? What means, methods, and indices exist aside from the traditional examination?

 VII. Bibliography on the Pedagogy of this Subject as Far as It Applies to College Teaching. The aim of the bibliography should be to give worth-while contributions that present elaborations of what is here presented or points of view and modes of procedure that differ from those here set forth. 

 PAUL KLAPPER _The College of the City of New York_

CONTENTS PAGE

INTRODUCTION xiii

By NICHOLAS MURRAY BUTLER, Ph. D. , LL. D. President of ColumbiaUniversity. Author of _The Meaning of Education_, _True and FalseDemocracy_, etc. Editor of _Educational Review_

PART ONE--THE INTRODUCTORY STUDIES

CHAPTER

I HISTORY AND PRESENT TENDENCIES OF THE AMERICAN COLLEGE 3 By STEPHEN PIERCE DUGGAN, Ph. D. Professor of Education, The College of the City of New York. Author of _A Student's History of Education_

II PROFESSIONAL TRAINING FOR COLLEGE TEACHING 31 By SIDNEY E. MEZES, Ph. D. , LL. D. President of The College of the City of New York. Formerly President of University of Texas. Author of _Ethics, Descriptive and Explanatory_

III GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF COLLEGE TEACHING 43 By PAUL KLAPPER, Ph. D. Associate Professor of Education, The College of the City of New York. Author of _Principles of Educational Practice_, _The Teaching of English_, etc. 

PART TWO--THE SCIENCES

IV THE TEACHING OF BIOLOGY 85 By T. W. GALLOWAY, Ph. D. , Litt. D. Professor of Zoölogy, Beloit College. Author of _Textbook of Zoölogy_, _Biology of Sex for Parents and Teachers_, _Use of Motives in Moral Education_, etc. 

V THE TEACHING OF CHEMISTRY 110 By LOUIS KAHLENBERG, PH. D. Director of the Course in Chemistry and Professor of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin. Author of _Outlines of Chemistry_, _Laboratory Exercises in Chemistry_, _Chemistry Analysis_, _Chemistry and Its Relation to Daily Life_, etc. 

VI THE TEACHING OF PHYSICS 126 By HARVEY B. LEMON, Ph. D. Assistant Professor of Physics, University of Chicago

VII THE TEACHING OF GEOLOGY 142 By T. C. CHAMBERLIN, Ph. D. , LL. D. , Sc. D. Professor and Head of Department of Geology and Director of Walker Museum, University of Chicago. Author of _Geology of Wisconsin_, _The Origin of the Earth_. Editor of _The Journal of Geology_

VIII THE TEACHING OF MATHEMATICS 161 By G. A. MILLER, Ph. D. Professor of Mathematics, University of Illinois. Author of _Determinants_, _Mathematical Monographs_ (co-author), _Theory and Applications of Groups of Finite Order_ (co-author), _Historical Introduction to the Mathematical Literature_, etc. Co-editor of _American Year Book_ and _Encyclopédie des Sciences Mathématiques_

IX PHYSICAL EDUCATION IN THE COLLEGE 183 By THOMAS A. STOREY, M. D. , Ph. D. Professor of Hygiene, The College of the City of New York. State Inspector of Physical Training, New York. Secretary-General, Fourth International Congress of School Hygiene, Buffalo, 1913. Executive-Secretary, United States Interdepartmental Social Hygiene Board. Author of various contributions to standard works on physiology, hygiene, and physical training

PART THREE--THE SOCIAL SCIENCES

X THE TEACHING OF ECONOMICS 217 By FRANK A. FETTER, Ph. D. , LL. D. Professor of Political Economy, Princeton University. Author of _Economic Principles and Modern Economic Problems_

XI THE TEACHING OF SOCIOLOGY 241 By ARTHUR J. TODD, Ph. D. Professor of Sociology and Director of the Training Course for Social and Civic Work, University of Minnesota. Author of _The Primitive Family as an Educational Factor_, _Theories of Social Progress_

XII THE TEACHING OF HISTORY A. American History 256 By HENRY W. ELSON, A. M. , Litt. D. President of Thiel College. Formerly Professor of History, Ohio University. Author of _History of the United States_, _The Story of the Old World_ (with Cornelia E. MacMullan), etc. 

 B. Modern European History 263 By EDWARD KREHBIEL, Ph. D. Professor of Modern European History, Leland Stanford University. Author of _The Interdict_, _Nationalism_, _War and Society_

XIII THE TEACHING OF POLITICAL SCIENCE 279 By CHARLES GROVE HAINES, Ph. D. Professor of Government, University of Texas. Author of _Conflict over Judicial Powers in the United States prior to 1870_, _The American Doctrine of Judicial Supremacy_, _The Teaching of Government_ (Report of Committee on Instruction, Political Science Association)

XIV THE TEACHING OF PHILOSOPHY 302 By FRANK THILLY, Ph. D. , LL. D. Professor of Philosophy, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Cornell University. Author of _Introduction to Ethics_, _History of Philosophy_

XV THE TEACHING OF ETHICS 320 By HENRY NEUMANN, Ph. D. Leader of the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture. Formerly of the Department of Education, The College of the City of New York, Author of _Moral Values in Secondary Education_

XVI THE TEACHING OF PSYCHOLOGY 334 By ROBERT S. WOODWORTH, Ph. D. Professor of Psychology, Columbia University. Author of _Dynamic Psychology_, _Le Mouvement_, _Care of the Body_, _Elements of Physiological Psychology_ (with George Trumbull Ladd)

XVII THE TEACHING OF EDUCATION A. Teaching the History of Education 347 By HERMAN H. HORNE, Ph. D. (Harvard). Professor of the History of Education and the History of Philosophy, New York University. Author of _The Philosophy of Education_, _The Psychological Principles of Education_, _Free Will and Human Responsibility_, etc. 

 B. Teaching Educational Theory 359 By FREDERICK E. BOLTON, Ph. D. Dean of the College of Education, University of Washington. Author of _Principles of Education_, _The Secondary School System of Germany_

PART FOUR--THE LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES

XVIII THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH LITERATURE 379 By CALEB T. WINCHESTER, L. H. D. Professor of English Literature, Wesleyan University. Author of _Some Principles of Literary Criticism_, _A Group of English Essayists_, _William Wordsworth: How to Know Him_, etc. 

XIX THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH COMPOSITION 389 By HENRY SEIDEL CANBY, Ph. D. Adviser in Literary Composition, Yale University. Author of _The Short Story in English_, _College Sons and College Fathers_, etc. 

XX THE TEACHING OF THE CLASSICS 404 By WILLIAM K. PRENTICE, Ph. D. Professor of Greek, Princeton University, Author of _Greek and Latin inscriptions in Syria_

XXI THE TEACHING OF THE ROMANCE LANGUAGES 424 By WILLIAM A. NITZE, Ph. D. Professor and Head of Department of Romance Languages, University of Chicago. Author of _The Grail Romance_, _Glastonbury and the Holy Grail_, _Handbook of French Phonetics_, etc. Contributor to _New International Encyclopedia_

XXII THE TEACHING OF GERMAN 440 By E. PROKOSCH, Ph. D. Late Professor of Germanic Languages, University of Texas. Author of _Teaching of German in Secondary Schools_, _Phonetic Lessons in German_, _Sounds and History of the German Language_, etc. 

PART FIVE--THE ARTS

XXIII THE TEACHING OF MUSIC 457 By EDWARD DICKINISON, Litt. D. Professor of History and Criticism of Music, Oberlin College. Author of _Music in the History of the Western Church_, _The Study of the History of Music_, _The Education of a Music Lover_, _Music and the Higher Education_

XXIV THE TEACHING OF ART 475 By HOLMES SMITH, A. M. Professor of Drawing and the History of Art, Washington University. Author of various articles in magazines on art topics

PART SIX--VOCATIONAL SUBJECTS

XXV THE TEACHING OF ENGINEERING SUBJECTS 501 By IRA O. BAKER, C. E. , D. Eng'g. Professor of Civil Engineering, University of Illinois. Author of _Treatise on Masonry Construction_, _Treatise on Roads and Pavements_

XXVI THE TEACHING OF MECHANICAL DRAWING 525 By JAMES D. PHILLIPS, B. S. Assistant Dean and Professor of Drawing, College of Engineering, University of Wisconsin, Author of _Elements of Descriptive Geometry_ (with A. V. Millar), _Mechanical Drawing for Secondary Schools_ (with F. O. Crawshaw), _Mechanical Drawing for Colleges and Universities_ (with H. D. Orth) and HERBERT D. ORTH, B. S. Assistant Professor of Mechanical Drawing and Descriptive Geometry, University of Wisconsin. Author of _Mechanical Drawing for Colleges and Universities_ (with J. D. Phillips)

XXVII THE TEACHING OF JOURNALISM 533 By TALCOTT WILLIAMS, A. M. LL. D. , Litt. D. Director, School of Journalism, Columbia University

XXVIII BUSINESS EDUCATION 555 By FREDERICK B. ROBINSON, Ph. D. Professor of Economics and Dean of the School of Business and Civic Administration, College of the City of New York

INDEX 577

INTRODUCTION

It is characteristic of the American people to have profound faith inthe power of education. Since Colonial days the American college hasplayed a large part in American life and has trained an overwhelmingproportion of the leaders of American opinion. There was a time whenthe American college was a relatively simple institution of a uniformtype, but that time has passed. The term "college" is now used in avariety of significations, a number of which are very new and verymodern indeed. Some of these uses of the term are quite indefensible, as when one speaks of a college of engineering, or of law, or ofmedicine, or of journalism, or of architecture. Such use of the wordmerely confuses and makes impossible clear thinking as to educationalinstitutions and educational aims. 

The term "college" can be properly used only of an institution whichoffers training in the liberal arts and sciences to youth who havecompleted a standard secondary school course of study. The purpose ofcollege teaching is to lay the foundation for intelligent andeffective specialization later on, to open the mind to newinterpretations and new understandings both of man and of nature, andto give instruction in those standards of judgment and appreciation, the possession and application of which are the marks of the trulyeducated and cultivated man. The size of a college is a matter ofsmall importance, except that under modern conditions a large collegeand one in immediate contact with the life of a university is almostcertain to command larger intellectual resources than is aninstitution of a different type. The important thing about a collegeis its spirit, its clearness of aim, its steadiness of purpose, andthe opportunity which it affords for direct personal contact betweenteacher and student. Given these, the question of size is unimportant. 

There was a time when it was felt, probably correctly, that asatisfactory college training could be had by requiring all studentsto follow a single prescribed course of study. At that time, collegestudents were drawn almost exclusively from families and homes of asingle type or kind. Their purposes in after-life were similar, andtheir range of intellectual sympathy, while intense, was rathernarrow. The last fifty years have changed all this. College studentsare now drawn from families and homes of every conceivable type andkind. Their purposes in after-life are very different, while newsubjects of study have been multiplied many fold. The old and usefultradition of Latin, Greek, and mathematics, together with a littlehistory and literature, as the chief elements in a college course ofstudy, had to give way when first the natural sciences, and then thesocial sciences, claimed attention and when even these older subjectsof study were themselves subdivided into many parts. 

These changes forced a change in the old-fashioned program of collegestudy, and led to the various substitutes for it that now exist. Whether a college prefers the elective system of study, or the groupsystem, or some other method of combining instruction that is regardedas fundamental with other instruction that is regarded as less so, thefact is that all these are simply different kinds of attempt to meet anew condition which is the natural result of intellectual and economicchanges. Just now the college is in a state of transition. It is notat all clear precisely what its status will be a generation hence, orhow far present tendencies may continue to increase, or how far theymay be counteracted by a swing of the pendulum in the oppositedirection. Therefore this is a time to describe rather than todogmatize, and it is description which is the characteristic mark ofthe important series of papers which constitute the several chaptersin the present volume. 

A careful reading of these papers is commended not only to the greatarmy of college teachers and college students, but to that stillgreater army of those who, whether as alumni or as parents or ascitizens, are deeply concerned with the preservation of the influenceand character of the American college for its effect upon ournational standards of thought and action. 

American colleges are of two distinct types, and it may be that thefuture has in store a different position for each type. The truedistinction between colleges is according as they are separate or areincorporated in a university system, and not at all as to whether theyare large or small. A separate college, such as Amherst or Beloit orGrinnell or Pomona, has its own peculiar problems of support andadministration. The university college, on the other hand, such asColumbia or Harvard or Chicago or the college of any state university, has quite different problems of support and of administration. It isnot unlikely that the distinction between these two types of collegewill become more sharply marked as years go by, and that eventuallythey will appear to be two distinct institutions rather than two typesof one and the same institution. 

Meanwhile, we have to deal with the college as it is, in all itsvaried forms, but characteristically American whatever its form. TheAmerican college has little or no resemblance to the English PublicSchool or to the French Lycée or to the German Gymnasium. It issomething more than any one of these, and at the same time somethingless. It differs from them all very much as the conditions of Americanlife differ from those of English or of French or of German life. Thecollege may or may not involve residence, but when it does involveresidence, it is at its best. It is then that the largest amount ofcarefully ordered and stimulating influence can be brought to bearupon the daily life of growing and expanding youth, and it is then andonly then, that youth can get the inestimable benefits which followfrom daily and hourly contact with others of like age, like tastes, like habits, and like purposes. Indeed, it has often been said thatthe college gives more through its opportunities which attach toresidence, than through its opportunities which attach to instruction. 

Almost every conceivable problem that can arise in college life andcollege work, is discussed in the following pages. It is now comingto be understood that the health of the college student is as much amatter of concern as his instruction, and that a college is not doingits full duty by those who seek its doors, when it merely provideslibraries, laboratories, and skillful teachers. It must also providefor such conditions of residence, of food, of exercise, and offrequent medical examination and inspection, as shall protect andpreserve the health of those who come to take advantage of itsinstruction. 

There is one other point which should not be overlooked, and that isthe literally immense influence exerted in America by that solidarityof college sentiment and college opinion which is kept alive byorganizations of former college students scattered throughout theland. This, again, is a peculiarly American development, and it servesto unite the college and public sentiment much more closely than anyformal tie could possibly do. Indeed, it illustrates how completelythe American people claim the college as their own. The man or womanwho has once been a college student never ceases to be a member ofthat particular college or to labor to extend its influence and toincrease its usefulness. 

Every reader of this volume should approach it in a spirit ofsympathetic understanding of American higher education, and of thecollege as the oldest instrument of that higher education and stillone of the chief elements in it. 

 NICHOLAS MURRAY BUTLER _Columbia University_

PART ONE

THE INTRODUCTORY STUDIES

 CHAPTER

 I HISTORY AND PRESENT TENDENCIES OF THE AMERICAN COLLEGE _Stephen P. Duggan_

 II PROFESSIONAL TRAINING FOR COLLEGE TEACHING _Sidney E. Mezes_

 III GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF COLLEGE TEACHING _Paul Klapper_

I

HISTORY AND PRESENT TENDENCIES OF THE AMERICAN COLLEGE

1. THE COLONIAL PERIOD

=The predominance of the religious motive=

The American colonies were founded chiefly by Englishmen who came toAmerica for a variety of reasons. Some of these were economic andpolitical, but the most important of their reasons was the desire topractice their religious convictions with greater freedom than waspermitted at home. Apart from the state religion, however, all thecolonists were animated by a love for English institutions which theytransplanted to the New World, and among these institutions were thegrammar school and the college. Wherever the Reformation had beenchiefly a religious rather than a political and ecclesiasticalmovement, the interest in education and the effect upon it were directand immediate. This was true where Calvinism prevailed, as in theNetherlands, Scotland, and among the Puritans in England. Hence it isnatural to find that the first effective movements in America towardthe establishment of educational institutions, both elementary andhigher, should have taken place in New England. 

A large proportion of university graduates were included among thesettlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. They were chiefly graduatesof Cambridge, which had always been religiously more tolerant thanOxford, and especially of Emmanuel College, which was the strongholdof Puritanism at Cambridge. It was natural that these men, leaders inthe affairs of the colony, should want to establish a New CambridgeUniversity, but it is astonishing that they were able to do so asearly as 1636, only six years after the founding of this colony. Twoyears later the college was named after John Harvard, a clergyman anda graduate of Emmanuel, who upon his death bequeathed half his estateand all his fine library of three hundred volumes to the college. Thereligious motive predominated in the founding of Harvard, for thoughthe colonists longed "to advance learning and perpetuate it toposterity, " they were actuated chiefly by dread "to leave anilliterate ministry to the churches, when our present Ministers shalllie in the Dust. "

Harvard remained the sole instrument in the colonies for that purposefor more than half a century. In 1693 the College of William and Marywas founded in Virginia, with the most generous endowment of anypre-Revolutionary college, generous because of the help received fromthe mother country. It was the child of the Church of England, and itspresident and its professors had to subscribe to the Thirty-nineArticles. Subscription to a religious creed was also demanded of thepresident and tutors of the third American college, founded in 1701. This Collegiate Institute, as it was called, moved from place to placefor more than a decade, but finally it settled permanently in NewHaven in 1717. It afterward received the name of Yale College in honorof Elihu Yale, who had given it generous assistance. 

As a result of the founding of these three institutions, the NewEngland and the Southern colonies had their need for ministers fairlywell supplied, but this was not yet true of the Middle colonies. However, the Presbyterians had become particularly strong in theMiddle colonies, and their religious zeal resulted in theestablishment of the College of New Jersey, now Princeton University, in 1746. 

A few years later Benjamin Franklin advanced for the college a new_raison d'être_. In 1749 he published a pamphlet entitled "ProposalsRelating to the Education of Youth in Pennsylvania, " in which headvocated the establishment of an academy whose purpose was not thetraining of ministers but the secular one of developing the practicalvirtue necessary in the opening up of a new country. The Academy wasopened in 1751, and the charter, granted in 1755, designated theinstitution as "The College, Academy, and Charitable School ofPhiladelphia. " Though the extremely modern organization and curriculumsuggested by Franklin were not realized, the institution, which wasafterward called "The University of Pennsylvania, " offered the mostliberal curriculum of any college in the colonies up to theRevolution. 

The human motive was uppermost also in the establishment of King'sCollege in 1754. The colonial assembly desired its establishment toenhance the welfare and reputation of the colony, and the onlyconnection between the college and the Church of England lay in therequirement that the president should be a communicant of that churchand that the morning and evening service of the college should beperformed out of the liturgy of that church. But the religious motiveagain comes to the fore in the establishment of Brown University atProvidence, Rhode Island, in 1764, primarily to train ministers forthe Baptist churches; of Queens, afterwards named Rutgers, in 1766, toprovide ministers for the Dutch Reformed churches; and of Dartmouth, in 1769, from which it was hoped at first that the evangelization ofthe Indians would proceed. 

=Character of the colonial college=

These colonial colleges in their histories bear a great resemblance toone another. They were almost all born in poverty and led a desperatefinancial existence for many years. In some cases survival waspossible only as the result of the untiring self-sacrifice of somegreat personality like Eleazar Wheelock, the first president ofDartmouth; in all cases, of the devotion of teachers and officers. Their beginnings were all small; in some cases the president was theonly member of the instructing staff and taught all the subjects ofthe curriculum. The students were few in number, the equipment wassimple, the buildings usually consisting of a house for the president, in which he often heard recitations, a dormitory for the students, anda college hall. Libraries, laboratories, and recreational facilitieswere usually conspicuous by their absence. In fact, as the curriculumconsisted almost exclusively of philosophy, Greek, Latin, rhetoric, and a little mathematics, there was no great need of much equipment. The classics were taught by the intensive grammatical method; inphilosophy there was a great deal of dialectical disputation;rhetoric was studied as an aid to oratory; mathematics included onlyarithmetic and geometry. The aim of instruction was, not to give awide acquaintance with many fields of knowledge for cultural andappreciative purposes, but rather to develop power through intensiveexercise upon a restricted curriculum. But the value of the materialsutilized to produce power which would function in oratory, debate, anddiplomacy is splendidly illustrated in the decades before theRevolution. The contest between the colonies and the mother countrywas essentially a rational contest in which questions ofconstitutional law and, indeed, of the fundamental principles of civiland political existence were debated. Splendidly did the leaders ofpublic opinion in the colonies, almost every one of whom was agraduate of a colonial college, defend the cause of the colonists inpamphlet and debate. And when debate was followed by war, twenty-fiveper cent of the twenty-five hundred graduates of the colonial collegeswere found in the military service of their country. At the close ofthe struggle for independence, it was again upon the shoulders of themen who had gained vision and character in the colonial colleges thatthe burden fell of organizing the mutually suspicious and antagonisticcolonies into one nation. Space will not permit even of theenumeration of the great leaders who graduated from all the colonialcolleges, but an idea of the service rendered by those institutions tothe new nation may be obtained by mentioning the names of a fewstatesmen who received their instruction in one of the least of them, William and Mary. In its classrooms were taught Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Edmund Randolph, James Monroe, and John Marshall. 

2. THE NATIONAL ERA

=French influence=

French influence upon American political and intellectual life hadbecome quite pronounced as the result of the contact between theleaders of the two peoples during and after the Revolution. Thatinfluence was reflected in the colleges. Instruction in the Frenchlanguage was offered in several of the colleges before the close ofthe eighteenth century, and a chair of French was established atColumbia as early as 1779 and at William and Mary in 1793. Thesecularizing influence of the French united also with thedemocratizing influence of the Revolution in diminishing the influenceof the church upon the colleges and emphasizing the influence of theState and especially the relations between college and people. Of thefourteen colleges founded between 1776 and 1800, the majority wereestablished upon a non-sectarian basis. These included institutions ofa private nature like Washington and Lee, Bowdoin, and Union, as wellas institutions closely related to the state governments like theUniversities of North Carolina and of Vermont. There can hardly be anydoubt that the French system of centralized administration in civilaffairs influenced the establishment of the University of the State ofNew York. The University of the State of New York is not a localinstitution, but a body of nine regents elected by the legislature tocontrol the administration of education throughout the State of NewYork. Though organized by Alexander Hamilton, it was in allprobability much influenced by John Jay, who returned from France in1784. But the most potent factor in the spread of French influence inthe early history of our country was Thomas Jefferson. While Jeffersonwas American minister to France, he studied the French system ofeducation and embodied ideas taken from it in the organization of theUniversity of Virginia. This occupied much of his attention during thelast two decades of his life. The University was to be entirelynon-sectarian and had for its purpose (1) to form statesmen, legislators, and judges for the commonwealth; (2) to expand theprinciples and structure of government, the laws which regulate theintercourse of states, and a sound spirit of legislation; (3) toharmonize and promote the interests of all forms of industry, chieflyby well-informed views of political economy; (4) to develop thereasoning faculties of youth and to broaden their minds and developtheir character; (5) to enlighten them with knowledge, especially ofthe physical sciences which will advance the material welfare of thepeople. These progressive views of what the college should aim to dowere associated with equally advanced views of college administration, such as the elective system and the importation of professors fromabroad. The remarkable vision, constructive imagination, courage, andfaith of Jefferson in his break with what was traditional andauthoritative in education has been justified by the fine career ofthe university which he founded. 

=The state universities system=

All the colleges that were established before the Revolution, and mostof those between the Revolution and the year 1800, had received directassistance from the colonial or state government either in grants ofland, money, the proceeds of lotteries, or special taxes. Most ofthem, however, were dependent upon private foundations and controlledby denominational bodies. The secularizing influence from France, thegrowing interest in civic and political affairs, and the democraticspirit resulting from the Revolution combined to develop a distrust ofthe colleges as they were organized and a desire to bring them underthe control of the state. This was apparent in 1779, when thelegislature of Pennsylvania withdrew the charter of the college ofPhiladelphia and created a new corporation to be known as "TheTrustees of the University of the State of Pennsylvania"; it was shownin 1787 when Columbia College was granted a new charter by the statelegislature, under which the board of trustees were all drawn from theBoard of Regents of the State; it was made most evident in 1816 whenthe legislature of New Hampshire transformed Dartmouth College into auniversity without the consent of the board of trustees and empoweredthe governor and council to appoint a Board of Overseers. In thecelebrated Dartmouth College case, 1819, the old board of trustees, when defeated before the Supreme Court of New Hampshire in their suitfor the recovery of property which had been seized, carried the caseto the Supreme Court of the United States and engaged Daniel Websteras their counsel. The Court declared the act of the New Hampshirelegislature in violation of the provision of the Constitution of theUnited States which reads that "No state shall pass any . .. Lawimpairing the obligation of contracts. " The decision drew a sharpdistinction between public and private corporations, and a necessaryinference was that most of the existing institutions for highereducation were in the latter class. The result was to strengthen therising demand for publicly controlled institutions. The Southern andWestern states across the Alleghanies that were on the point offraming state constitutions made provision for state universitiesunder state control. 

The intention to provide higher education freely for the people hadalready received its greatest impetus in an Act of Congress passedshortly after the passage of the Ordinance of 1787, providing for theorganization of the Northwest Territory. By that act two entiretownships of public land were reserved to the states to be erected outof the territory, the proceeds of the sale of which were to be devotedto the establishment of a state university. These universitiesfollowed swiftly upon the establishment of new states, and thedemocratic ideal that prevailed is shown in the determination that thestate university was to be the crown of the public educational systemof the state. This is well illustrated in the provision of theconstitution of Indiana, adopted in the very year of the DartmouthCollege decision, 1819, which reads, "It shall be the duty of theGeneral Assembly, as soon as circumstances will permit, to provide bylaw for a general system of education, ascending in regular gradationfrom township schools to a state university, wherein tuition shall begratis and equally open to all. " Circumstances did permit in thefollowing year, and the provisions of the bill materialized. Thenational policy of granting public lands for educational purposes tonew states was continued, and one or two townships were devoted ineach case to the establishment of a state university. Nationalassistance to higher education was given on an immense scale in 1862, when the Morrill Act was passed providing for the grant of 30, 000acres of land for each representative and senator, to be devoted tothe support in each state of a higher institution of learning, inwhich technical and agricultural branches should be taught. Withintwenty years every state in the Union had taken advantage of thissplendid endowment, either to found a new state university which wouldcomply with the requirements as regards courses of instruction or toestablish an agricultural college as an independent institution, or inconnection with some already existing institution. Not only do some ofthe finest state universities like those of California, Illinois, andMinnesota owe their origins to the Morrill Act, but others owe to ittheir real beginnings as institutions of collegiate grade. Up to thepassage of the Morrill Act a dozen state universities struggled tomaintain themselves with meager revenues and few students. They weretrying to do broad academic work, but by no means reached thestandards of the strong colleges in the eastern part of the country. 

The establishment of state-supported and state-controlled universitiesin the commonwealths organized after the close of the eighteenthcentury by no means put an end to the establishment of colleges uponreligious foundations. Denominational zeal was very strong in thedecades preceding the Civil War, and the church was the center ofcommunity life in the newly settled regions. The need to provide anintelligent ministry and also a higher civilization led to theestablishment of many small sectarian colleges in the new states. Despite the fact that practically all of them would today beconsidered only of secondary grade, they accomplished a splendid workand provided ideals and standards of intellectual life in a newcountry whose population was engaged chiefly in supplying the physicalneeds of life. The response made in the Civil War by the institutionsof higher education throughout the United States, whether privately orpublicly supported, was a magnificent return for the sacrificesendured in their establishment and maintenance. Everywhere throughoutthe North the colleges were depleted of instructors and students whohad entered the ranks, and in the South nearly all the colleges werecompelled to close their doors. Upon the shoulders of their graduatesfell the burden of directing civil and military affairs in state andnation. 

3. THE MODERN ERA

Were a visitor to Harvard or Columbia in 1860 to revisit it today, thechanges he would observe would be startling. The elective system, graduate studies, professional and technical schools, an alliedwoman's college, and a summer session are a few of the most noticeableactivities incorporated since 1860. It would be impossible to set anydate for the beginning of this transformation, so gradual and subtlehas it been, but the accession of Dr. Charles W. Eliot to thepresidency of Harvard College in 1869 and the establishment of JohnsHopkins University in 1876 are definite landmarks. 

This chapter is a history of the American college, and space will notpermit of a detailed description of these activities but simply of anarration of the way they developed and of the forces which broughtthem into being. 

=The curriculum and the elective system=

It has already been mentioned that the curriculum of the averageAmerican college at the beginning of the nineteenth century differedbut little from the curriculum followed in the middle of theseventeenth. The reason is simple. The curriculum is based upon thebiological principle of adaptation to environment, and the environmentof the average American of 1800 differed but slightly from hisancestor of a century and a half previous. The growth of thecurriculum follows, slowly it is often true, upon the growth ofknowledge. The growth of knowledge during the seventeenth andeighteenth centuries was slow and insignificant compared to itsmarvelous growth in the nineteenth century, particularly in the lasthalf of it. The great discoveries in science, first in chemistry, thenin physics and biology, resulted in their gradually displacing much ofthe logic and philosophy which had maintained the prime place in theold curriculum. The interest aroused in the French language andliterature by our Revolution; in the Spanish by the South Americanwars of independence; and in the German by the distinguished scholarswho studied in the German universities during the middle decades ofthe nineteenth century, caused a demand that those languages as wellas English have a place in the curriculum. This could be secured onlyby making them partly alternatives to the classical languages. TheIndustrial Revolution, based as it was upon the application of scienceto industry, not only gave an impetus to the establishment oftechnical schools, but by revolutionizing the production anddistribution of wealth pushed into the curriculum the science thatdeals with wealth, political economy. The growth of cities thatfollowed in the wake of the Industrial Revolution, the conflictsbetween the interests of classes, --viz. , landowners, capitalists, andlaborers, --the rapid decay of feudalism and the spread of politicaldemocracy following the French Revolution, the expansion of commerceto all corners of the globe and the resulting development ofcolonialism, all these human interests gave a new meaning to the studyof history and politics which caused them to secure a place of greatprominence in the curriculum during the last quarter of the nineteenthcentury. 

It is perfectly obvious that as the time at the student's disposalremained the same, if he were to pursue even a part of the new subjectmatter that was gradually admitted into the curriculum, the course ofstudy could no longer remain wholly prescribed and he would have to begranted some freedom of choice. The growth in number of students alsoproduced changes in administration favorable to the introduction ofthe elective system. In the early history of the American college oneinstructor taught a single class in all subjects, and it was not until1776 that the transfer was made at Harvard from the teaching ofclasses by one instructor to the teaching of each subject by oneinstructor. With increase in numbers the students were unable toreceive in each year instruction by every member of the teachingstaff. In spite of the quite obvious advantages of the electivesystem, it was obstinately resisted by the defenders of the classicsand also of orthodox religion and at first made but slow progress. Thomas Jefferson gave it the first great impetus when he made it anessential element in the organization of the University of Virginia in1825. Francis Wayland, president of Brown University and one of thefew college presidents of his day who were educators in the modernsense, made a splendid exposition and defense of it in 1850 in his"Report to the Corporation of Brown University on Changes in theSystem of Collegiate Education. " But the elective system waited uponthe elevation of Charles W. Eliot to the presidency of Harvard in 1869for its general realization; in 1872 the senior year at Harvard becamewholly elective; in 1879, the junior year; in 1884, the sophomoreyear; and in 1894 the single absolute requirement that remained in theentire college course was English A. The action of Harvard was rapidlyimitated to a more or less thorough extent throughout the country. 

Probably no two colleges administer the elective system in the sameway. There has been a considerable revulsion of opinion againstunrestricted election of individual subjects. In many colleges thesubjects of the curriculum were arranged into groups which must beelected _in toto_. This resulted in the multiplication of bachelor'sdegrees, each indicating the special course--arts, science, philosophy, or literature--which had been followed. At the presenttime the tendency is to prescribe the subjects considered essential toa liberal education chiefly in the first two years and to permitelection among groups of related courses in the last two. This hasmaintained the unity that formerly prevailed and introduced greaterbreadth into the curriculum. It has also brought the new bachelor'sdegrees into disfavor, and today the majority of the best collegesgive only the A. B. Degree for the regular academic course. Valuablemodifications in the elective system are constantly being adopted. Onesuch is the preceptorial system at Princeton and elsewhere, underwhich the preceptors personally supervise the reading and study of asmall group of students and can therefore advise them from personalknowledge of their capacity. Another is the system of honor coursesadopted at Columbia and elsewhere, whereby a distinction is madebetween mere "passmen" and students desirous of attaining high rank incourses that are carefully organized in sequence. 

=German Influence and graduate study=

The introduction of new subjects into the curriculum of the collegeand the adoption by it of the elective system owe much to Germaninfluence upon American education. Though this influence was partlyexerted by the study of the German language and literature, itresulted chiefly from the residence of American students at Germanuniversities. The first American to be granted the degree of Doctor ofPhilosophy from a German university was Edward Everett, who receivedit at Göttingen in 1817. He was followed by George Ticknor, GeorgeBancroft, Henry W. Longfellow, John Lothrop Motley, Frederick HenryHedge, William Dwight Whitney, Theodore Dwight Woolsey, and a host ofscholars who shed luster upon American education and scholarship inthe mid-nineteenth century. Most of these men became associated withAmerican colleges in some capacity and had a profound influence upontheir ideals, organization, and methods of teaching. They came backdevoted advocates of wide and deep scholarship, of independentresearch, and of the need of such scholastic tools as libraries andlaboratories. But especially did they give an impetus to the movementin favor of freedom of choice (_Lernfreiheit_) in studies. Only by theadoption of such a principle could the pronounced tastes or needs ofindividual students be satisfied. 

Some slight effort had been made in the first four decades of thenineteenth century by a few of the colleges to conform to the desireof students for further study in some chosen field, but the resultswere negligible. In 1847 Yale established a "department of philosophyand the arts for scientific and graduate study leading to the degreeof bachelor of philosophy. " The first degree of doctor of philosophywas bestowed in 1861, but a distinct graduate school was not organizeduntil 1872. Harvard announced in the same year the establishment of agraduate department to which only holders of the bachelor's degreewould be admitted and in which the degrees of doctor of philosophy anddoctor of science would be conferred. The graduate department was notmade a separate school, however, until 1890. 

The greatest impetus to the establishment of graduate schools in theAmerican universities was made by the establishment of Johns HopkinsUniversity in 1876. Upon its foundation the chief aim was announced tobe the development of instruction in the methods of scientificresearch. The influence of this institution upon the development ofhigher education in the United States has been incalculably great. Johns Hopkins was not a transplanted German university. The uniqueplace of the college in American education was shown by the fact thatgraduate schools have followed the lead of Johns Hopkins in buildingupon the college. Even Clark University at Worcester, founded in 1889upon a purely graduate basis, established an undergraduate college in1902. 

One of the most gratifying features of higher education in the UnitedStates during the past quarter century has been the extension ofgraduate schools to the strong state universities. Research work inthem usually began in the school of agriculture, where the intensivestudy of the sciences, particularly chemistry and biology, had suchsplendid results in improved farming and dairying that legislatureswere gradually persuaded to extend the support for research to purelyliberal studies. With the growth and development of graduate schoolsin this country, the practice of going to Europe for advancedspecialized study has abated considerably. It will probably socontinue in the future, particularly with regard to Germany. On theother hand, should the new ideal of international good will become aliving reality, education through a wide system of exchange professorsand students may be expected to make its contribution. 

=Technical and professional study=

While the graduate school was built upon the college, the technicalschool grew up by the side of it or upon an independent foundation. The first technical school was established at Troy, New York, in 1824, and was called Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, after its founder, Stephen Van Rensselaer. For a score of years no other development ofconsequence was made, but in 1847 the foundations were made of whathave since become the Lawrence Scientific School at Harvard and theSheffield Scientific School at Yale. The passage of the Morrill Act in1862 had a quickening effect on education in engineering andagriculture. In the decade from 1860 to 1870 some twenty-two technicalinstitutions were founded, most of them by the aid of the land grants. The most important of them is the Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology, where instruction was first given in 1865 and which hasexerted by far the greatest influence upon the development ofscientific and technical education. The best technical schools requirea high school diploma for admission and have a four-year course ofstudy, but the only technical school on a graduate basis is the Schoolof Mines at Columbia University. 

Professional education in theology, law, and medicine in the UnitedStates was conducted chiefly upon the apprenticeship system down intothe nineteenth century. Though chairs of divinity existed in thecolonial colleges in the eighteenth century, systematic preparationfor the ministry was not generally attempted and the prospectiveminister usually came under the special care of a prominent clergymanwho prepared him for the profession. In 1819 Harvard established aseparate faculty of divinity, and three years later Yale founded atheological department. Since then about fifty colleges anduniversities have established theological faculties and about 125independent theological schools have been founded as the result ofdenominational zeal. A majority of all these institutions require atleast a high school diploma for admission; half of them require acollege degree. Nearly all offer a three-year course of study andconfer the degree of bachelor of divinity. 

Previous to the Civil War the great majority of legal practitionersobtained their preparation in a law office. Though the University ofPennsylvania attempted to establish a law school in 1791, and Columbiain 1797, both attempts were abortive, and it remained for Harvard toestablish the first permanent law school in 1817. Even this was but afeeble affair until Justice Joseph Story became associated with it in1830. Up to 1870 but three terms of study were required for a degree;until 1877 students were admitted without examination, and specialstudents were admitted without examination as late as 1893. Since thenthe advance in standards has been very rapid, and in 1899 Harvardplaced its law school upon a graduate basis. Though but few othershave emulated Harvard in this respect, the improvement in legaleducation during the past two decades has been marked. Of the 120 lawschools today, the great majority are connected with colleges anduniversities, demand a high school diploma for admission, maintain athree-year course of study, and confer the degree of LL. B. Twenty-fourper cent of the twenty thousand students are college graduates. Insome of the best schools the inductive method of study--i. E. , the"case method"--has superseded the lecture, and in practically all themoot court is a prominent feature. 

Entrance into the medical profession in colonial times was obtained byapprenticeship in the office of a practicing physician. The firstpermanent medical school was the medical college of Philadelphia, which was established in 1765 and which became an integral part of theUniversity of Pennsylvania in 1791. Columbia, Harvard, and Dartmouthalso founded schools before the close of the eighteenth century, andthese were slowly followed by other colleges in the early decades ofthe nineteenth century. During almost the entire nineteenth centurymedical education in the United States was kept on a low plane by theexistence of large numbers of proprietary medical "colleges" organizedfor profit, requiring only the most meager entrance qualifications, giving poor instruction, and having very inadequate equipment in theway of laboratories and clinics. In fact, medical education did notobtain a high standard until the establishment of the Johns HopkinsMedical School in 1893. Since then the efforts of the medical schoolsconnected with the strong universities and of the RockefellerFoundation to raise the minimum standard of medical education haveresulted in the elimination of the weakest medical schools. The totalnumber fell from 150 in 1900 to 100 in 1914. Not all of these demand ahigh school diploma for admission, though the tendency is to stiffenentrance requirements, but all have a four-year course of study. Inmost institutions experience in laboratory, clinic, and hospital hassuperseded the old lecture system as the method of instruction. Closely associated with the progress in medicine and to a great extentsimilar in history has been the progress in dentistry and pharmacy. There are now fifty schools of dentistry, with nearly 9000 students, and seventy-two schools of pharmacy, with nearly 6000 students. 

One of the most gratifying advances in professional education has beenthat of the teacher. Practically all the state universities and manyof the universities and colleges upon private foundations haveestablished either departments or schools of education which requireat least the same entrance qualifications as does the college properand in many cases confine the work to the junior and senior years. Teachers College of Columbia University is on a graduate basis. Thoughmany of the 250 training and normal schools throughout the country donot require a high school diploma for admission, the tendency iswholly in that direction. In no field of professional education hasthe application of scientific principles to actual practice made suchprogress as in that of the teacher. 

=College education for women--The independent college=

Few movements in the history of American education had more importantresults than the academy movement which prevailed during the periodbetween the Revolution and the Civil War. Possibly the principle uponwhich the new nation was established, i. E. , the privilege of everyindividual to make the most of himself, influenced the founders ofthe academies to make provision for the education of girls beyond themere rudiments. Certainly this aspect of the movement had afar-reaching influence. Some of the earliest of the academies admittedgirls as well as boys from the beginning, and some soon becameexclusively female. When it became evident from the work of theacademies that sex differences were not of as great importance as hadbeen supposed, it was not a long step to higher education. Some of theacademies added a year or two to the curriculum and took on the moredignified name of "seminary. " In this transition period the influenceof a few great personalities was profound, and even a brief sketch ofthe history of women's education cannot omit to mention the splendidwork of Emma Willard and Mary Lyon. Mrs. Willard was an exponent ofthe belief that freedom of development for the individual was thegreatest desideratum for humanity. She not only diffused this idea inher addresses and writings but tried to utilize it in theestablishment in 1814 of the Troy Female Seminary, which was theforerunner of many others throughout the country. Mary Lyon was ratherthe representative of the religious influence in education, theembodiment of the belief that to do one's duty is the great purpose inlife. In 1837 she founded Mount Holyoke Seminary, which had aninfluence of inestimable value in sending well-equipped womenthroughout the country a teachers. The importance of this service wasparticularly evident during the period of the Civil War. 

Although a number of excellent institutions for women bearing the nameof college were founded before the Civil War, the first one of reallyhighest rank was Vassar College, which opened its doors to students in1865. Smith and Wellesley were founded in 1875, and Bryn Mawr in 1885. These four colleges are in every respect the equal of the bestcolleges for men. They are the most important of a dozen independentcolleges for women, almost all of which are situated in the East. Toestablish the independent college was the chief method adopted in theolder parts of the country to solve the problem of women's highereducation, rather than to reorganize colleges for men whereconditions were already established. 

=The development of coeducation=

The independent college is not the method that has prevailed in theWest. When the inspiration to higher education for women arrived westof the Alleghanies, conditions, especially lack of resources, practically necessitated coeducation. Oberlin, founded in 1834, wasthe first fully coeducational institution of college grade in theworld. In 1841 three women received from it the bachelor's degree, thefirst to get it. Oberlin's success had a pronounced influence on thestate universities, which, it was argued, should be open and free toall citizens, since they were supported by public taxation. Almost allthe state universities and the great majority of the colleges anduniversities on private foundations are today coeducational. Theresults predicted by pessimists, viz. , that the physical health ofwomen would suffer, that their intellectual capacity would depreciatescholarship, and that the interests of the family would be menaced, have not eventuated. 

=The affiliated college for women=

The spread of coeducation in the state universities of the West andthe South and its presence in the newer private universities likeCornell and Chicago had an influence upon the older universities ofthe East. This influence has resulted in a third method of solving theproblem of women's education; viz. , the establishment of theaffiliated college. Several universities have established women'scolleges, sometimes under the same and sometimes under a differentboard of trustees, to provide the collegiate education for women whichis given to men by the undergraduate departments. Barnard College, affiliated with Columbia University, Radcliffe College, affiliatedwith Harvard University, Woman's College, affiliated with BrownUniversity, the College for Women, affiliated with the Western ReserveUniversity, and the H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College for Women, affiliated with Tulane University, have all been founded within thepast forty years. 

=Graduate and professional studies for women=

All the universities for men except Princeton and Johns Hopkins andall the fully coeducational institutions admit women upon the sameterms as men to graduate work. Graduate work is also undertaken withexcellent results in some of the independent women's colleges, as atBryn Mawr. Professional education for women has been coeducationalfrom the beginning, with the exception of medicine. The prejudiceagainst coeducation in that profession was so strong that five women'smedical schools were organized, but they provide instruction forlittle more than a quarter of the women medical students. The increasein the number of women in professional schools has not by any meanskept pace with the increase in the colleges. It appears that, with theexception of teaching, woman is not to be a very important sector inthe learned professions in the near future. 

=Undergraduate life--Fraternities=

Nothing differentiates more clearly the American college from Europeaninstitutions of higher education than the kind of non-scholasticactivities undertaken by the students. From the very beginning thecollege became a place of residence as well as of study for studentsfrom a distance, and the dormitory was an essential element in itslife. With increase in numbers, especially after the Revolution, whenall distinctions of birth or family were abolished, students naturallydivided into groups. The first fraternity, Phi Beta Kappa, was foundedin 1776 at William and Mary, with a patriotic and literary purpose, and membership in it has practically ever since been confined tograduates who have attained high scholastic standing. When one speaksof college fraternities, however, he does not refer to Phi B K, but toone of the intercollegiate social organizations which have chapters inseveral colleges organized somewhat upon the plan of a club and whosemembers live in a chapter house. The first such fraternity was foundedat Yale in 1821, but it was limited to the senior class. The threefraternities established at Union in 1825-1827 form the foundation ofthe present system. The fraternities spread rapidly and are today verynumerous. There are about thirty of national importance, having abouta thousand chapters and a quarter of a million members. The fraternitysystem is bitterly attacked as being undemocratic, expensive, emphasizingsocial rather than scholastic attainments, and, generally speaking, adivisive rather than a unifying factor in college life. Hence somecolleges have abolished it. Fraternities have been defended, however, as promoting close fellowship and even helping to develop character. So strongly are they entrenched, not only in undergraduate but also inalumni affection, that they probably form a permanent element incollege life. 

=Religious life=

The early American college was primarily a place to prepare for theministry, and personal piety was a matter of official enforcement. Fora number of reasons religious zeal declined in the eighteenth century. After the Revolution, under the influence of the new politicaltheories and of French skepticism the percentage of studentsprofessing to be active Christians fell very low. In the earlynineteenth century the interest of students in religion increased, andreligious organizations in a number of colleges were founded. Practically all of these later gave way to the Young Men's ChristianAssociation, which has now over 50, 000 members organized in almost allthe colleges of the country save the Roman Catholic. The religiousinterests of Roman Catholic students are in many colleges served bythe Newman Clubs and similar organizations, and of Jewish students bythe Menorah Society. The religion of college students has become lessa matter of form and speech and more a matter of service--socialservice of many kinds at home and missionary service abroad. 

=Physical education=

The educational reformers of Europe in the late eighteenth and earlynineteenth centuries placed great emphasis upon a more completephysical training. This interest was felt in the United States, andsimple gymnastic apparatus was set up at Harvard and Yale in 1826. Themovement spread very slowly, however, due probably to ignorance of itsreal physiological import. Since the Civil War the development of thegymnastic system has been rapid, and now practically every first-classcollege has its gymnasium, attendance upon which is compulsory, andsome have their stadium and natatorium. Of independent origin buthastened by the spread of the gymnasium is the vast athletic interestof undergraduates. Its earliest form, conducted on a considerablescale, was rowing. The first rowing club was formed at Yale in 1843, and the first intercollegiate race was rowed on Lake Winnepesaukee in1852, Harvard defeating Yale. Rowing is now a form of athletics atevery college where facilities permit. The first baseball nine wasformed at Princeton in 1859, and the game spread rapidly to all theother colleges. Football in a desultory and unorganized way made itsappearance early in the nineteenth century. As early as 1840 an annualgame was played at Yale between the freshmen and the sophomores, butthe establishment of a regular football association dates from 1872, also at Yale. In the following year an intercollegiate organizationwas formed, and since then football has increased in popularity at thecolleges to such an extent that just as baseball has become the greatnational game, so has football become the great American collegiategame. Track athletics is the most recent form of athletic sports to beintroduced into the college, and most colleges now have their fielddays. In addition to these four major forms of college sports, tennis, lacrosse, basketball, and swimming also have a prominent place. Thefour major sports are usually under the control of special athleticassociations, which spend large sums of money and have a greatinfluence with the students. In fact, so great has become the interestof college students in athletics that much fear has been expressedabout its influence upon scholastic work, and voices are not lackingdemanding its curtailment. [1] Military training is a phase of physicaleducation which, though it had earlier found a place in the land-grantinstitutions, came to the fore as a part of the colleges' contributionto winning the world war. Students' Army Training Corps wereestablished at many of the higher institutions of the country, and theacademic studies were made to correlate with the military work as anucleus. At the present time, however, the colleges are putting theirwork back on a pre-war basis, and it seems most unlikely that militarytraining will survive as a corporate part of their work. 

=Student literary activities--College journalism=

Journalism, though its actual performance is limited to a small numberof students, has had an honored place as an undergraduate activity foralmost a hundred years. It served first as a means of developingliterary ability among the students, afterwards as a vehicle forcollege news, and now there has been added to these purposes theuniting of alumni and undergraduates. Hence we find among collegejournals dailies, monthlies, and quarterlies, some of them humorousand some with a serious literary purpose. Journalism is not the onlymethod of expressing undergraduate thought. There has been a greatrevival of intracollegiate and of intercollegiate debating in recentyears. Literary societies for debating the great issues preceding theRevolution was the first development of undergraduate life, and everycollege before and after the Revolution had strong societies. Asundergraduate interests increased in number, and especially as thefraternity system began to spread, debating societies assumed arelatively less important place, but in the past two decades greatinterest has been revived in them. The glee club, or choral society, along with the college orchestra, minister to the specializedinterests of some students, and the dramatic association to those ofothers. One significant result of such activities has been toestablish a nexus between the college and community life. 

=Student self-government=

One other feature of undergraduate life cannot be overlooked; viz. , student self-government. The college student today is two or threeyears older than was his predecessor of fifty or sixty years ago. Moreover, with the great increase in the number of students has come aparallel increase in complexity of administration and in the duties ofthe college professor. Finally, a sounder psychology has taught thewisdom of placing in the hands of the students the control of manyactivities which they can supervise better than the faculty. As aresult of these and of other influences, in many colleges today allextra-scholastic activities are either supervised by the studentcouncil, the members of which are elected by the students, or by ajoint body of student and faculty members. The effect in almost everyinstance has been the diminution of friction between the faculty andstudents and the development of better relations between them. In somecolleges the honor system is found, under which even proctoring atexaminations does not exist, as all disciplinary matters, includingthe decision in serious offenses like cheating, rest with the studentcouncil. Student self-government is only one evidence of thedemocratization that has taken place in the administration of thecollege during the past two decades. Even more noticeable than studentself-government is the tendency recently manifested to transfer moreof the control of the government of the college from the board oftrustees to the faculty. 

=New opportunities in higher education=

With the extension of commerce and the attempt to bring it underefficient organization in the nineteenth century, the demand has beenmade upon the colleges to train experts in this field. Germany was thefirst to engage in it, and just before the war probably led the world. France and England have remained relatively indifferent. In America, the so-called "business college" proved entirely too narrow in scope, and beginning with the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce of theUniversity of Pennsylvania (1881), the higher institutions have begunto train for this important field. Some of the colleges of commerce, like those of Dartmouth and Harvard, demand extensive liberalpreparation; others, like Wharton and the schools connected with thestate universities, coördinate their liberal and vocational work; afew, like that of New York University, give almost exclusive attentionto the practical element. 

Two other movements might be mentioned as illustrating the attempt toextend the opportunity for higher education to an ever increasingnumber of people. One is the development of extension courses and theother the offering of evening work to those who cannot attend theregular sessions. These are both steps in the direction of equalityof opportunity which is the ultimate aim of education in a democraticcountry. 

=The future of the college in American education--Relation to secondaryschools=

The college preceded the high school in time, and when the high schoolbegan its career in the middle of the nineteenth century it was madetributary to the college in all essentials. By deciding requirementsfor admission, the college practically prescribed the curriculum ofthe high school; by conducting examinations itself it practicallydetermined methods of teaching in the high school. But a remarkablechange in these respects has taken place in the past two decades. Thehigh school, which is almost omnipresent in our country, has attainedindependence and today organizes its curricula without much referenceto the college. If there be any domination in college entrancerequirements today, it is rather the high school that dominates. Overa large part of the country, especially in states maintaining stateuniversities, there are now no examinations for entrance to college. The college accepts all graduates of _accredited_ high schools--i. E. , high schools that the state university decides maintain propersecondary standards. This growth in strength and independence has beenaccompanied by a lengthening of the high school course from two yearsin the middle of the last century to four years at the present time. 

=The junior college=

With the introduction of the principle of promotion by subject insteadof by class, the strong high schools have been enabled to undertake toteach subjects in their last years which were formerly taught in thefirst years of the college. They have done this so well that thepractice has grown up in some parts of the country, especially on thePacific Coast, of extending the course of the high school to six yearsand of completing in them the work of the first two years of college. This enables more young men and women throughout the state to receivecollegiate education, and as the best-equipped teachers in the highschools are usually in the last years and the worst-equipped teachersin the college are usually in the first years, the system makes forbetter education. Moreover, it relieves the state universities of thecrowds of students in the first two years and permits overworkedprofessors to concentrate upon the advanced work of the last two yearsand upon research work in the graduate schools. A system which offersso many advantages and is so popular both in the high school and theuniversity bids fair to spread. 

=The abbreviated and condensed college course=

While the movement making for the elimination of the college frombelow has been taking place in the West, another movement having thesame effect has been taking place in the East, only the pressure hasbeen from above. The tendency is spreading for the professionalschools of the strong universities to demand a college degree foradmission. If the full four years of the college are demanded inaddition to the four years of the secondary school and the eight yearsof the elementary school, the great majority of students will begintheir professional education at twenty-two and their professionalcareers at twenty-six, and they will hardly be self-supporting beforethirty. This seems an unreasonably long period of preparation comparedto that required in other progressive countries. The German student, for example, begins his professional studies immediately upongraduation from the gymnasium at eighteen. Hence the demand has arisenfor a shortening of the college course. This demand has been met inseveral ways. In some colleges the courses have been arranged in sucha way that the bright and industrious student may complete the workrequired for graduation in three years. In others, as at Harvard, thestudent may elect in his senior year the studies of the first year ofthe professional school. Another tendency in the same direction is topermit students in the junior and even in the sophomore years to electsubjects of a vocational nature. This has been bitterly contested bythose who hold that the minimum essentials of liberal culture shouldbe acquired before vocational specialization begins. Columbia_permits_ a student to complete his college and professional studiesin six years, and at the end of that time he receives both thebachelor's and the professional degrees. 

It is to be noted, however, that these solutions of the problem and, in fact, most other solutions that have been suggested, apply only toa college connected with a university; they could not be administeredin the independent college. But a movement has developed in the MiddleWest which may result in another solution; i. E. , the Junior College. It can be best understood by reference to the policy of the Universityof Chicago. That institution divides its undergraduate course into twoparts: a Junior College of two years, the completion of whose coursebrings with it the title of Associate in Arts, and a Senior College oftwo years, the completion of whose course is rewarded with the regularbachelor's degree. There have become affiliated with the University ofChicago a considerable number of colleges throughout the MississippiValley which have frankly become Junior Colleges and confine theirwork to the freshman and sophomore years. And this has become true ofother universities. It would seem inevitable that the bachelor'sdegree will finally be granted at the end of the Junior College andsome other degree, perhaps the master's, which has an anomalous placein American education in any case, at the end of the Senior College. This has, in fact, been suggested by President Butler. The Universityof Chicago has also struck out in another new direction. Provided acertain amount of work is done in residence at the University, theremainder may be completed _in absentia_, i. E. , throughcorrespondence courses. 

The Junior College movement has had the excellent result of inducingmany weak colleges to confine their work to what they really canafford to do. Many parts of our country have a surplus of colleges, chiefly denominational. Ohio alone has more than fifty. The cost ofmaintaining dormitories, laboratories, libraries, apparatus, and otherequipment and paying respectable salaries cannot be met by the tuitionfees in any college. The college must either have a largeincome-producing endowment, which few have, or must receive giftssufficient to meet expenses. Gifts to colleges and universities formone of the finest evidences of interest in higher education in theUnited States, and reach really colossal proportions. In the pastfifty years, during which this form of generosity has prevailed, over600 million dollars have been given, and in 1914 gifts from privatesources amounted to more than 30 million dollars. Most of this moneyis given to the non-sectarian institutions and not to the smalldenominational colleges scattered over the country. As they are inaddition unable to compete with the state universities, they are forevery reason justified in becoming Junior Colleges. But this does notapply to the old independent colleges, such as Amherst, Williams, Dartmouth, etc. , which have loyal and wealthy alumni associations. They have the support necessary to retain the four-year course andseem determined to do so. 

Just what the outcome of the whole question of shortening the collegecourse may be is not now evident. That concessions in time must bemade to the demand for an earlier beginning of professional educationseems certain. That the saving should be made in the college course isnot so certain. A sounder pedagogy seems to indicate that one year, ifnot two, can be saved in the period from the sixth to the eighteenthyear. It is probable that the arbitrary division of American educationinto elementary, secondary, collegiate, and university, each with astated number of years, will give way to a real unification of theeducational process. Most Americans would regret to see the college, the unique product of American education, which has had such anhonorable part in the development of our civilization, disappear inthe unifying process. 

 STEPHEN PIERCE DUGGAN _College of the City of New York_

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The bibliography on the American college is almost inexhaustible. Thelist here given is confined to the best books that have appeared since1900. 

ANGELL, J. B. _Selected Addresses. _ New York, 1912. 

Association of American Universities. Proceedings of the AnnualConference. 

BUTLER, N. M. _Education in the United States. _ New York, 1900. 

CATTELL, J. M. _University Control. _ New York, 1913. 

CRAWFORD, W. H. (editor). _The American College. _ New York, 1915. (Papers by Faunce, Shorey, Haskins, Rhees, Thwing, Finley, Few, Slocum, Meiklejohn, Claxton. )

Cyclopedia of Education, article on "American College. " New York, 1911. 

DEXTER, E. G. _History of Education in the United States. _ New York, 1904. 

DRAPER, A. S. _American Education. _ Boston, 1909. 

FLEXNER, A. _The American College: A Criticism. _ General EducationBoard, New York, 1908. 

FOSTER, W. T. _Administration of the College Curriculum. _ Boston, 1911. 

HARPER, W. R. _The Trend in Higher Education. _ Chicago, 1905. 

KINGSLEY, C. D. _College Entrance Requirements. _ United States Bureauof Education, 1913. 

MACLEAN, G. E. _Present Standards of Higher Education in the UnitedStates. _ United States Bureau of Education, 1913. 

National Association of State Universities in the United States ofAmerica. Annual Transactions and Proceedings. 

RISK, R. K. _America at College. _ London, 1908. 

SNOW, L. F. _College Curriculum in the United States. _ New York, 1907. 

THWING, C. F. _History of Higher Education in the United States. _ NewYork, 1906. 

---- _The American College; What It Is and What It May Become. _ NewYork, 1914. 

---- _College Administration. _ New York, 1900. 

WEST, A. F. _Short Papers on American Liberal Education. _ New York, 1907. 

Footnotes:

[1] W. T. Foster in N. E. A. Reports, 1915. 

II

PROFESSIONAL TRAINING FOR COLLEGE TEACHING

=Introduction=

Were this chapter to be a discussion of schemes of training, now inoperation, that had been devised to prepare teachers for colleges, itcould not be written, for there are no such schemes. Many elementaryand secondary teachers have undergone training for their life work, asinvestigators have, by a different regimen, of course, for theirs. Butif college and university teachers do their work well, it is becausethey are born with competence for their calling, or were self-taught, or happened to grow into competence accidentally, as a by-product oftraining for other and partly alien ends, or learned to teach byteaching. 

There are able college men, presidents and others, who view thissituation with equanimity, if not with satisfaction. Teachers areborn, not made, it is said. Can pedagogy furnish better teachers thanspecialized scholarly training? it is asked. If we train definitelyfor teaching, we shall diminish scholarship, cramp and warp nativeteaching faculty, and mechanize our class procedure, it is objected. 

Had the subject of training for college teaching been discussed, nodoubt other objections would have been advanced. But it has not beendiscussed, as will be seen from the very scant bibliography at the endof the chapter. No plan of training for college teaching is inoperation, and no discussion of such a plan can be found. Each of ahalf-dozen men has argued his individual views, and elicited no reply. 

This state of facts notwithstanding, the subject is well worthdiscussing, and one may even venture to prophesy that in a decade, orat latest two, the subject will have a respectable literature, andenough training plans will be in operation to permit fruitfulcomparisons. 

When specific training is first urged for specialized work, therealways is opposition. The outgoing generation remembers the oppositionto specialized training for law, medicine, and engineering, to saynothing of farming, school teaching and business. But in spite ofobstructive and retarding objections, specialized types of trainingfor specialized types of work have grown in number and favor, andtoday we are being shown convincingly that nations which have declinedto set up the fundamental types of special training find themselvesable to make effective only a fraction of their resources. Themajority of the personnel in every higher calling has about averagenative aptitude for it, and it is just the average man who can beimproved in competence for any work by training directed to that endrather than to another. This is, of course, true of college teaching. 

=How the college teacher has been and is trained=

In early days in this country the great majority of college teacherswere clergymen, trained in most cases abroad. Later bookish graduatescame to be the chief source of supply, their appointment in their owncolleges, and infrequently in others, following close upon theirgraduation. Well into the third quarter of last century collegefaculties were selected almost exclusively from these two types, representatives of the former decreasing and of the latter increasingin relative number. Neither type was specifically trained for teachingin colleges or elsewhere. 

With the founding and developing of Johns Hopkins University a new erain higher education opened in this country. The paucity of exactscholarship came to be known, and the country's need of scholarship tobe appreciated. In colleges grown from English seedlings we sought toimplant grafts from German universities. Independent colleges andcolleges within universities, while still called upon by Americantraditions and needs to prepare their students for enlightened livingby means of a broadening and liberating training, came to be mannedpreponderatingly by narrowly specialized investigators, withdrawn fromeveryday life, with concentrated interests focused upon subjects orparts of subjects, rather than upon students. Little thought was, oris yet, given to the preparation of college teachers for their dutiesas teachers, and that little rested, and still in large measure rests, satisfied with the assumption that by some unexplained and it may beinexplicable transfer of competence a man closeted and intensivelytrained to search for truth in books and laboratories emerges afterthree or more years well equipped for divining and developing themental processes and interests of freshmen. 

Once fairly examined, this assumption lacks plausibility. "We considerthe Ph. D. A scholar's degree and not a teacher's degree, " says thedean of one of our leading graduate schools, and yet preparation forthis scholar's degree has been and is practically the only formalpreparation open to college teachers in this country. 

=Equipment needed by college teachers=

It goes without saying that scholarship is one of the basal needs ofcollege teachers, a scholarship that keeps alive, and is human andcontagious. But it should be remembered that there are several kindsof scholarship, and it is pertinent to ask what kind college teachersneed. Should they, for instance, model themselves on the broadshrewdness and alluring scholarly mellowness of James Russell Lowellor on the untiring encyclopedic exactitude and minuteness of VonHelmholz? Or is there an even better ideal or ideals _for them_? Iwould suggest that the teacher's knowledge of his subject should, essentially, be of a kind that would keep him in intellectual sympathywith the undeveloped minds of his students, and this means chiefly twothings. The more points of contact of his knowledge with the pastexperience and future plans of his students the teacher has at hiscommand, the better teacher he will be; for he can use them, not asresting places, but as points of departure for the development ofphases of his subject outside the students' experience. And secondly, the teacher should see his subject entire, with its parts, as rich innumber and detail as possible, each in its proper place within thewhole. For the students' knowledge of the subject is vague andgeneral; he is trying to place it, and many other new things, in somekind of a coherent setting; in fact, he is in college largely for thevery purpose of working out some sort of rudimentary scheme of things. The duty of the college teacher is to help him in this quite as muchas to teach him a particular subject. And, besides, each particularsubject can be best taught if advantage is taken of every opportunityto attach it to the only knowledge of it the student has, vague andgeneral though it be. Highly specialized and dehumanized knowledge isnot as useful for the college teacher as broad and vital knowledge, which is, of course, much harder to acquire. Even in the case of"disciplinary" subjects, there is no gain in concealing the humanbearings. The teacher should be trained to seize opportunities in theclassroom and out to help the student, through his subject and hismaturer life experience, to see the bearing of what he is learning onthe life about him and on the life he is to lead. This is the collegeteacher's richest opportunity and the opportunity that tries him mostshrewdly. If he is to rise to it, his entire equipment, native andacquired, must come into play. 

What else does the teacher need? So that he may select the best andcontinue to improve them, he needs a knowledge of the differentmethods and aims in the teaching of his subject, and, so far aspossible, of the results attained by each. Too much of collegeteaching is a blind groping, chartless and without compass. Instead ofexpecting each inexperienced teacher to start afresh, he should setout armed with the epitomized and digested teaching experience ofthose that have gone before him. 

Finally, the teacher needs a sympathetic and expert understanding ofthe thinking and feeling of college students. This should be hiscontrolling interest. The teacher, his interest in his subject, and inall else except the student, should be instrumental, not final. Everyavailable strand of continuity between studenthood and teacherhoodshould thereafter be preserved. 

This need suggests a capital weakness of the training for thedoctorate in philosophy as a preparation for teaching. As it proceedsit shifts the interest from undergraduate student to scholarlyspecialty, and steadily snaps the ties that bound the buddinginvestigator to his college days. It also explains the greatness ofsome college teachers and personalities before the eighties. Theirdegrees in arts were their licenses to teach. They suffered no drasticloss of touch with undergraduate thought and life. In the early yearsof their teaching this sympathetic and kindly understanding was freshand strong, and they used it in their classroom and wove it into thetissue of their tutorial activities. A discerning observer of collegefaculties can even today discover in them men and women who enteredthem by the same door as these great ones of old, irregularly as wewould say now, --without the hallmark, and whose good teaching is asurprise to their doctored colleagues. In one institution I know of, the best five teachers some years ago were all of this type. Thetraining of college teachers might well, it therefore seems, includean apprenticeship, beginning with, or in exceptional cases before, graduation from college. 

=The college legislator and administrator=

But the duties and opportunities of the college teacher do not stop atthe door leading from his classroom. In addition to dealing directlywith students, individually and in groups, and even, if possible, withtheir families, as he grows in service he becomes, as faculty memberand committeeman, a college legislator and administrator. Inexercising these important functions he needs the equipment that wouldaid him to take the central point of view, a background of scholarlyknowledge of what education in general and college education inparticular are in their methods and in their social functions andpurposes. There is too much departmental logrolling, as well as toomuch beating of the air in faculty meetings, and too many excursionsinto the blue in faculty legislation and administration arrangements. The educational views of faculty members greatly need to be steadied, ordered, and appreciably broadened and deepened by a developed andtrained habit of thinking educationally under the safeguards ofscientific method and on the basis of an adequate supply of facts. That pedagogy has made but the smallest beginning of gathering andordering such facts and developing a scientific method in this fieldis not a valid objection. These tasks are no more difficult thanothers that have been compared, as _they_ will be, the sooner forbeing imposed. 

It is significant that coincident with sharp and widespread criticismof the American college (justified in part by what college teachershave been made into by their training), appear demands on the part offaculties for more power. In this connection it may be remembered thatautocracy is the simplest and easiest form of government, and thathistory shows that it can at least be made to work with less brainsand training than are required for the working of democracy. AsAmerican colleges and universities have grown in complexity andresponsibility, their faculties have lost power because they did notacquire the larger competence that was the indispensable condition ofeven reasonably successful democratic control. It is highly desirablethat the power of faculties should increase to the point ofpreponderance. But the added power they will probably acquire will notbe retained unless faculty members learn their business much betterthan they now know it in most institutions. Thomas Jefferson, whenasked which would come to dominate, the states or the federalgovernment, replied that in the long run each of the opposed pairwould prevail in the functions in which it proved the more competent. 

=A tentative scheme of training for college teachers=

To outline a scheme of such importance without any experience toexamine as a basis is a very bold undertaking, and one that can hopefor but partial success. What I shall propose, however, is similar tothe proposals of Pitkin (5), Horne (11), and Wolfe (14), my onlypredecessors in this rash enterprise. The general spirit and purposeof our proposals are the same. But we disagree more or less indetails--which is fortunate, as it may encourage discussion of thesubject, which is the thing most needed. Indeed, a lively sense ofthis need has led me to venture some unpopular assertions. It may alsobe admitted that the desiderata for teachers mentioned above are notlikely to be all insured by any system of training. 

The proposal submitted for discussion is that a three-year graduatecourse be established, its spirit and purpose being to train young mento become _college_ teachers. This course should lead to a doctorate;e. G. , to the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, or of Doctor ofPhilosophy in Teaching, or of Docendi Doctor. What degree is selectedis, in the long run, relatively unimportant, provided the course issoundly conducive to its end. 

The course might well be divided into three parts, having theapproximate relative value in time and effort of two fifths, twofifths, and one fifth. These parts should proceed simultaneouslythroughout the three years, the first being an apprenticeship--undersupervision, of course--in the functions of the college teacher, thesecond a broad course of study and investigation of the subject to betaught, and the third a course of pedagogical study and investigation. Let me suggest a minimum of detail within these outlines. 

The apprentice teacher would, naturally, do the least classroomteaching during his first year, and the most during his last. He wouldalso each year "advise" a group of freshman in studies and in life, orcoöperate with students in the conduct of athletics, dramatics, publication work, or other "activities. " On all this apprentice workhe would report, and in all he would be guided and supervisedappropriately by the department whose subject he was teaching, by thedepartment of education, and by other departments concerned. This andother parts of the training would attract others in addition tonarrowly bookish graduates, something much to be desired (other partswould eliminate those not bookish enough), and would tend to keepalive in all apprentices an interest in students, especially instudent character, and to prevent them from thinking of students asdisembodied minds. 

The course of study and investigation in the subject to be taughtshould be based on adequate undergraduate work in the same and alliedfields, and should be something like the honor course in Oxford orCambridge (or our _old_ M. A. Course) in its conduct and purpose; itshould hark back to our collegiate origin in England. The work shouldbe in charge of a don, a widely and wisely read and a very humanguide, philosopher, and friend. Stated class meetings and precisecount of hours of attendance should receive little emphasis. But widereading of the subject, in a spirit that breeds contagion, running offinto a study, in books, laboratories, and meetings, of the human andpractical bearings of the subject, should be required, and enoughconference with the don should be had to enable him to judge andcriticize the student's plan and amount of work, to test his mettle inhandling the subject, and to aid him to grasp it as a whole and in itschief subdivisions, and to get glimpses of its bearings on and placein human life. This part of the training should lead up to andculminate in a thesis dealing with some major phase of the subjectcomprehendingly in its setting and connections. Naturally this programcould be carried out most successfully with the social subjects, whichlend themselves easily to culture, like history or philosophy, andless completely with the exact subjects, which are better fitted forprecise discipline, like mathematics. But if treated, as far aspossible, after the manner indicated, even the latter could be madebetter instruments for the training of college teachers than they arenow in narrow specialization for the Ph. D. Degree. Among returningRhodes scholars some excellent material for dons could be found. 

The fifth of the course directed to pedagogy should include a verybrief study of the methods of teaching the chosen subject, withglimpses into teaching methods in general; and courses in the historyand philosophy of education, with emphasis on, but by no meansexclusive dealing with, the educational and social functions of thecollege. It might include an intensive investigation of somerelatively simple college problem in preparation for future facultymembership. All this should, of course, be intimately articulated withthe student's apprenticeship work. Such a course of pedagogical studyshould furnish a basis for better teaching methods and for helpfulself-criticism therein; should encourage the formation of a habit ofthinking and working out educational problems scientifically with eyesopen to the purpose of the college as a whole; and should discouragedepartmental selfishness in legislation and administration. 

=Incidental advantage=

The college would, under this plan, have some of its teaching done atminimum cost by student teachers, who should receive only the graduatescholarship or fellowship now customary for Ph. D. Candidates. Carewould be necessary to prevent the assignment to them of mere routinehackwork without training value. It is safe to say that, thoughslightly less mature, their services, being supervised, would be morevaluable than those rendered during their first few years of teachingby most better-paid winners of the doctorate of philosophy, who, ifthey do so at all, grope their way to usefulness as teachers, withlittle aid from others more experienced. 

With good teaching prepared for, required, and adequately rewarded (apoint to be developed later), somewhat longer schedules could properlybe assigned and further economy effected. Schedules would, of course, have to be kept short enough to allow ample time for reading, for somewriting, and for faculty and committee work in later years. But timewould not be required by _college_ teachers for specialized research, and the freedom from such tasks resulting for them would be a blessedrelief to many who are now compelled to assume a virtue they have not, and to conceal the love of teaching they have. And when we bear inmind the heavy mass of uninspired and unimportant hackwork that is nowdumped on the scholarly world, we shall welcome the prospect of alightened burden for ourselves. 

The need of students, especially of freshmen, for advisers is widelyrecognized. They come into a new freedom exercised in a newenvironment. This makes for bewilderment that involves loss ofprecious time and opportunities, and presents perils which involvepossible injuries to many and certain injuries to some. Efforts, manyand various, to constitute a body of advisers chosen from amongfaculty members have met with but little success. With few exceptionsthe task is not congenial to those who now man our faculties, and forthat and other reasons they are ill fitted for it. But a greatermeasure of success has been attained, even under present conditions, when the coöperation of volunteers from among seniors and graduatestudents has been had. This suggests that the problem might comenearer solution when some dependence came to be placed upon theservices of apprentices. Such service would be a part of their regularwork having a bearing on their future career, and would therefore besupervised and rest on sustained interest and the consciousness thatit was counting. 

Finally, young student teachers would, under proper encouragement andarrangement, help materially to bridge the gulf, that is broader thanis wholesome, between a faculty of mature men and young students. Themixing of these different generations, so far as possible, is much tobe desired, difficult as it is to accomplish. 

=Consequent change of plan in appointments and promotions=

This is not the place to discuss the details of appointment andpromotion plans, interesting and important as they are. But it isevident that the scheme of training outlined, if adopted, would callfor changes in present practices. 

The appointing authorities of colleges looking for young teacherscould ascertain their strong and weak points as they developed duringtheir apprenticeship in classrooms and in other educationalactivities, as well as the quality and trend of their scholarship. They would not rest satisfied with ascertaining the minute corner ofthe field of philosophy, history, or physics in which a manrecommended had done research. Records could be kept throwingmuch-needed light on the teaching ability, scholarship, andpersonality of candidates for appointment. In selecting _college_teachers, appointing authorities would value this evidence and wouldcome to prefer teaching power to investigating ability. 

Moreover, the record keeping, and, no doubt, some of the supervisionbegun during the apprentice years would continue during the earlyinstructorial years. This would render it possible to evaluate and tovalue effectiveness in teaching in making promotions. Ambitiousteachers would no longer be practically forced, as their only resort, to neglect their students and give their best energies to publicationin order to make a name and get a call, in the interest of promotion. The expert teacher would have a chance and a dignity equal to that ofthe skilled investigator. The individual could follow, and not bepenalized for so doing, his own bent and the line of his highestcapacity. 

=Training of investigators=

The training now given in graduate schools here and elsewhere for thedoctorate in philosophy will, of course, continue, and increase ratherthan diminish. Investigators will be preferred in research, inuniversities, and in some colleges and college departments. They willbe increasingly prized in the government service and in importantbranches of industry. The recent terrible experiences burn into ourminds the imperative need strong nations have of exact knowledge andof skill that has a scientific edge. And the specific training forthese great tasks will be stronger when it is based on a collegecourse in which highly effective and whole-hearted teaching is valuedand rewarded. 

 SIDNEY E. MEZES _College of the City of New York_

BIBLIOGRAPHY

ANONYMOUS. Confessions of One Behind the Times. _Atlantic_, Vol. 3, pages 353-356, March, 1913. 

CANBY, H. S. The Professor. _Harpers_, April, 1913. 

Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Bulletin No. 2, May, 1908, pages 55-57. 

FLEXNER, ABRAHAM. Adjusting the College to American Life. _Science_, Vol. 29, pages 361-372. 

HANDSCHIN, C. H. Inbreeding in the Instructional Corps of AmericanColleges and Universities. _Science_, Vol. 32, pages 707-709. November, 1910. 

HOLLIDAY, CARL. Our "Doctored" Colleges. _School and Society_, Vol. 2, pages 782-784. November 27, 1915. 

HORNE, HERMAN H. The Study of Education by Prospective CollegeInstructors. _School Review_, Vol. 16, March, 1908, pages 162-170. 

PITKIN, W. B. Training College Teachers. _Popular Science_, Vol. 74, pages 588-595. June, 1909. 

Report of the Committee on Standards of American Universities. _Science_, Vol. 29, page 172. November 17, 1908. 

ROBINSON, MABEL L. Need of Supervision in College Teaching. _Schooland Society_, Vol. 2, pages 514-519, October 9, 1915. 

SANDERSON, E. D. Definiteness of Appointment and Tenure. _Science_, Vol. 39, pages 890-896, June, 1914. 

STEWART, Charles A. Appointment and Promotion of College Instructors. _Educational Review_, Vol. 44, 1912, pages 249-256. 

WILCZYNSKI, E. J. Appointments in College and Universities. _Science_, February 28, 1909; Vol. 29, pages 336ff. 

WOLFE, A. B. The Graduate School, Faculty Responsibility, and theTraining of University Teachers. _School and Society_, September 16, 1916. 

III

GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF COLLEGE TEACHING

=Status of teaching in the colleges=

The investigator of educational practices and methods of teaching isimpressed with an unmistakable educational anti-climax, for theconviction grows on him that elementary school teaching is on arelatively high plane, that secondary school teaching is not aseffective, and that collegiate teaching, with rare exceptions, isineffective and in urgent need of reform. A superficial survey ofeducational literature of the last ten years shows that while theproblem of the high school is now receiving earnest attention, elementary education continues to absorb the earnest efforts of anarmy of vitally interested investigators. The field of collegepedagogics is still virgin soil, and no significant or extensiveprogram for improved methods of teaching has yet been advanced. 

Three earnest and intelligent students representing three colleges ofundisputed standing were asked informally about their instructors forthe current semester. Nothing was said to make these students awarethat their judgment would hold any significance beyond the friendlyconversation. The summary of opinions is offered, not because theinvestigation is complete and affords a basis for scientificconclusion, but because it reflects typical college teaching in threerecognized institutions of more than average standing. 

 STUDENT NO. I | STUDENT NO. II | STUDENT NO. III | | _Teacher A_: A popular | _Teacher A_: A good | _Teacher A_: A very and interesting | teacher of mathematics. | popular teacher of teacher. Talks | He assigns a new lesson| English. If the final enthusiastically, but | for home study. The | examination is given talks all the time. | next day he asks | by another teacher, I Lessons assigned are | questions on the | may not have enough not heard. Students | lesson. The answers are| specific facts to seldom recite. Written | written out on the | pass. We began Chaucer quizzes on themes of | blackboards. After | last week. He spent a assigned reading are | fifteen minutes all | good part of each rated by an assistant. | students take their | session reading to us. The work comes back | seats and the work on | All of us were with an A, a C, or a D, | the blackboard is taken| surprised to find how but we do not know why | up for explanation. He | much more the text the rating was given. | explains every | meant than after our Frequently two students| difficulty very | own reading. In the who worked together are| clearly. We rarely | last session we went marked B and D | cover the lesson. Some | to our book on respectively for the | topics go unexplained | literature and tried same work. Sometimes a | because during the next| to justify the a student who "cribbed"| hour the blackboard | characterization which his outline from | problems are based on | the author gives of another who actually | the lesson. If I | Chaucer. The class "worked it up" receives| understood the second | agreed with all in the a higher mark than was | half of each lesson as | book except in one given for the original. | clearly as the first, | characterization. In | I would feel hopeful | the composition work we | of a good grade in the | took up the structure | final examination. | of short narratives. | | The assignment was to | | find narratives in | | current periodicals, | | in the writings of | | standard authors, in | | newspapers, and then | | attempt to find whether | | the structure we | | studied was followed. | | In each case we had to | | justify any departure | | from the standard. | | There was little time | | for the footnotes in | | Chaucer. I hope we are | | not asked for these on | | the final examination. | | | | _Teacher B_: Rather an | _Teacher B_: A dry | _Teacher B_: A very interesting teacher; | course in Art History | conscientious teacher assigns lessons from a | and Appreciation. We | of chemistry. He gives book. At the beginning | take up the history of | us a ten-minute written of the hour he asks | architecture, painting, | quiz each hour on the questions on the text | and sculpture. The | work in the book or on but is soon carried | names of the best | the matter discussed in away and rambles along | artists are mentioned, | the last lecture. The for the period, | and their many works | rest of the hour is touching on every | confuse us. We memorize| spent in explanation of subject. We never | Praxiteles, Phidias, | difficult points and in complete a chapter or | Myron, the ancient | the application of what topic. The succeeding | cairns, the parts of an| we learned of industry hour we take the next | Egyptian temple. | and physiology. It is chapter, which meets | Pictures are shown on | surprising to see the the same fate. Written | the screen. I elected | interest the class tests determine the | this course in the hope| shows in the chemical students' rank. The | that it would teach me | explanations of things grade for the written | something about | we never noticed test is announced, but | pictures, how to judge | before. The papers are not | them and give me | returned and one never | standards of beauty, | knows why the papers | etc. , but it has been | were rated C or D. | history and not | | appreciation so far. | | We do not see any | | beauty in the pictures | | of old madonnas. Even | | the religious ones | | among us say this. | | | | | _Teacher C_: | _Teacher C_: A good, | _Teacher C_: A scholarly A conscientious teacher| clear, effective | instructor in history. In physics. He assigns | lecturer in chemistry. | He assigns thirty to a definite lesson for | Every lesson we learn a| forty pages in English each recitation of the | definite principle and | History, and then he term. At the beginning | its application. The | lectures to us about of the hour students go| laboratory work of each| the topics discussed by to the board to write | is related to the | the author. He points out answers to | lecture and throws | out errors in dates and questions on the | interesting side lights| places. Occasionally he lesson. The hour is | on it. We have quiz | calls on a student. At spent listening to the | sections once a week. | the end of each month recitation of each | Here the work is oral | he gives a written test. Student and the | and written. | We remember little of explanation of | | what we learned and difficult points. We | | must "bone away" at never cover more than | | about 200 to 300 pages. One half of the lesson:| | His English is sometimes only one | | delightful and we enjoy third. The next hour | | listening at times, the questions are on | | but I seem to retain the new lesson, not on | | so little. "Yes, half the incompleted portion| | the term is up. We are of the former lesson. | | beginning the reign of My knowledge of physics| | Henry VII. " is punctuated by areas | | of ignorance. These | | alternate with topics | | that I think I | | understand clearly. | | | | | | _Teacher D_: A quiet, | _Teacher D_: A very | _Teacher D_: A very modest man. Sits back | strict teacher of | enthusiastic lecturer comfortably in his seat| English literature. He | in economics. He and asks questions on | assigns text for study, | explains the important assigned texts. The | and we must be prepared| principles in questions review the | for detailed questions | economics. We follow text, and he explains | on each of the great | in a printed syllabus, in further detail the | writers. He is very | so that it is facts in the book. The | strict and detailed. We| unnecessary to take conscientious and | had to know all the | notes. He talks well capable student finds | fifteen qualities of | and makes things clear. Him superfluous; the | Macaulay's style. "No, | We are given assignments indifferent student | we did not read | in S----'s "Elements of remains unmoved by his | Macaulay this term: we | Economics, " on which we phlegmatic | study from a history of| are questioned by presentation; the poor | English literature that| another teacher. "Is student finds him a | tells us all about the | the work in the quiz help; the shirk who | master writers. " | section related directly listens and takes notes| | to the lectures? is saved studying at | | Sometimes. No, we do home. | | not take current | | economic problems. These | | are given in a later | | elective course. " | | | | _Teacher E_: A good | _Teacher E_: A quiet, | _Teacher E_: An teacher of Latin. He | dignified gentleman who| instructor in explains the work, | teaches us psychology. | psychology. His hours hears the lessons, | A chapter is assigned | are weary and dreary. Gives drills, calls on | in the book, and the | A chapter is assigned almost everybody every | hour is spent hearing | in X's "Elements of hour. The written work | students recite on the | Psychology. " He asks a is returned properly | text. He sticks closely| question or two and corrected and rated. | to the book. He | then repeats what the | explains clearly when | author tells us, even | the book is not clear | using the illustrations | or not specific enough. | and diagrams found in | The hours drag, for the| the text. Sometimes a | book is good and those | student reads a paper | who studied the lessons| which he prepared. "No, | weary at what seems to | we do not get very much | us needless repetition. | out of these papers | | read by students. But | | then we get just as | | little from the | | instructor. No, we | | never apply the | | psychology to our own | | thinking nor to | | teaching nor to the | | behavior of children | | or adults. " | | | | _Teacher F_: One | _Teacher F_: A learned | _Teacher F_: A cannot pass judgment on| Latin scholar who is | forbidding but very this teacher of | very enthusiastic about| strict Latin teacher. Mechanical drawing. He | his specialty. The | His questions are fast gives out a problem, | students exhibit | and numerous and the works a type on the | cheerful tolerance. He | hesitating student is board, and then | assigns a given number | lost. He assigns at distributes the plates. | of lines per day. These| least twenty-five per We draw. He helps us | we prepare at home. In | cent more per lesson when we ask for aid, | class we give a | than any other otherwise he walks | translation in English | instructor. The hour is about the room. I | that has distorted | spent in translating, suppose one cannot show| phrases and clauses | parsing, and quizzing teaching ability in | lest we be accused of | on historical and such a subject. | dishonesty in | mythological allusions. | preparation. The rest | Every "pony" user is | of the time is spent on| soon caught, because | questions of syntax, | he is asked so many | references, footnotes, | questions on each | and the identification | sentence. There is a | of the of the real and | distinct relief when | mythological characters| the hour is over because | in the text. The | he is constantly at you. | teacher is animated and| "Will I take the next | effective. | course in Latin? Not | | unless I must. This is | | prescribed work. It | | can't end too soon for | | me, nor for the others | | in the class. "

The student of scientific and statistical measurements in educationmay object to attaching any importance to these informalcharacterizations of college teachers by undergraduates. Collegeteachers interested in the pedagogical aspects of their subject, andcollege administrators who spend time observing class instruction willconcede that these young men were not at all unfortunate in theirteachers. The significance of these characterizations is not thatcollege teachers vary in teaching efficiency, but rather thatinefficient college teaching is general, and that the causes of thisinefficiency are such as respond readily to simple remedial measuresvery well known to elementary and high school teachers. 

=Causes of ineffective college teaching=

It may be well to note the chief causes of ineffective collegeteaching before directing attention to a remedial program:

(a) Many college teachers hold to be true the time-honored fallacythat the only equipment for successful teaching is a thoroughknowledge of the subject. They do not stop to square their belief withactual facts. They overlook the examples of their colleagues possessedof undisputed scholarship who are failures in the classroom. They failto realize that there are psychological and pedagogical aspects of theteaching art which demand careful organization, skilful gradation anda happy selection of illustrations intimately related to the lives ofthe students. 

(_b_) Closely related to this first cause of ineffective teaching is alack of sympathetic understanding of the student's viewpoint. Thescholarly teacher, deep in the intricacies and speculations of hisspecialty, is often impatient with the groping of the beginner. He maynot realize that the student before him, apparently indifferent to themost vital aspects of his subject, has potentialities for developmentin it. His interest in his researches and his vision of thefar-reaching human relations of his subject may blind him to thedifficulties that beset the path of the beginner. 

(_c_) The inferiority of college teaching in many institutions canoften be traced to the absence of constructive supervision. Thesupervising officer in elementary and secondary schools makessystematic visits to the classrooms of young or ineffective teachers, observes their work, offers remedial suggestions, and tries to infusea professional interest in the technique of teaching. In the collegesuch supervision would usually stir deep resentment. The collegeteacher is, in matters of teaching, a law unto himself. He sees littleof the actual teaching of his colleagues; they see as little of his. His contact with the head of his department, and his departmental andfaculty meetings, are usually limited to discussions of college policyand of the sequence and content of courses. Methods of teaching arerarely, if ever, brought up for discussion. The results areinevitable. Weaknesses in teaching are perpetuated, while the devicesand practices of an effective teacher remain unknown to hiscolleagues. 

(_d_) A fourth factor which accounts for much of the inefficiency incollege pedagogics is made the thesis of Dr. Mezes' chapter on "TheTraining of the College Teacher. " The college teacher, unlike teachersin other grades of an educational system, is expected to teach withouta knowledge of educational aims and ideals, and without a knowledge ofthe psychological principles which should guide him in his work. Theprospective college teacher, having given evidence of scholarshipalone, has intrusted to him, the noisy, expressive, and rapidlydeveloping, youth. We set up no standards aside from character andscholarship. We do not demand evidence of teaching ability, aknowledge of applied psychology and of accepted teaching practices, skill in presentation, power of organizing material in gradedsequence, or ability to frame a series of questions designed tostimulate and sustain the self-activity of the pupils. The borncollege teacher remains the successful teacher. The poor collegeteacher finds no agent which tends to raise his teaching to a higherlevel. The temperamentally unfit are not weeded out. But teaching isan art, and like all arts it requires conscientious professionalpreparation, the mastery of underlying scientific principles, andpractice under supervision scrupulous in its attention to technique. 

We have here outlined a few of the causes which keep college teachingon a low plane. The remedial measures are in each case too obvious tomention. It remains for college authorities to formulate awell-conceived and adjustable program of means and methods of riddingcollege teaching of those forces which keep it in a discouragingstate. It is our purpose in the remainder of this chapter not toevolve a system of pedagogics, but rather to touch on the most vitalprinciples in teaching which must be borne in mind if college teachingis to be rendered pedagogically comparable to elementary and secondaryteaching. We shall confine ourselves to teaching practices which areapplicable to all subjects in the college curriculum. 

PRINCIPLES IN COLLEGE TEACHING

=A clearly conceived aim must control all teaching=

One of the very first elements in good teaching is the clearrecognition of a well-defined aim that gives purpose and direction toall that is attempted in a lesson or in a period. The chief cause ofpoor teaching is aimless teaching, in which the sole object seems tobe to fill the allotted time with talking about the facts of a givensubject. We sit patiently through a recitation in English literature. Act I, Scene 1 of _Hamlet_ had been assigned for home study and is nowthe text for the hour. Questions are asked on the dramatic structureof this scene, on versification, on the meaning of words andexpressions now obsolete, on peculiarities of syntax, and finally aquestion or two on a character portrayal. The bell brings thesequestions to an abrupt end. Ask teacher and students the aim of allthese questions. To the former, they are means of testing thestudents' knowledge of a variety of facts of language and literature;to the latter they mean little, and serve only to repress a livinginterest and appreciation of living literary text. How much moreeffective the hour in English literature would have been if the entireact had been assigned with a view to giving the students an insightinto the dramatic structure of each scene in this act and of the actas a whole. All the questions would then bear on dramatic movement, onthe dramatist's technique, on his way of arousing interest in hisstory, on devices for giving the cause and the development of theaction. In the opening scene we read:

 _Elsinore. A Platform before the Castle. _ _Francisco at his post. Enter to him Bernardo. _

 BER. Who's there?

 FRAN. Nay, answer me; stand, and unfold yourself. 

 BER. Long live the King!

 FRAN. Bernardo?

 BER. He. 

 FRAN. You come most carefully upon your hour. 

 BER. 'Tis now struck twelve; get thee to bed, Francisco. 

 FRAN. For this relief much thanks: 'tis bitter cold. And I am sick at heart. 

 BER. Have you had a quiet guard?

Here we see the guard on duty challenged by his relief, a most unusualprocedure. Why does this experienced guard so far forget the customaryforms as to challenge the guard on duty? What possible reason canthere be for this? How would you read the second line? What words mustbe emphasized to show the surprise of the challenged guard? If theentire hour were given to the whole of Act I and all the questionssought to reveal to the students Shakespeare's power of dramaticstructure, a definite and lasting impression would be carried away. Act I should be assigned again, but with a different aim. The teachernow seeks to make clear to the student the dramatist's method ofcharacter portrayal. A third hour may be spent on certain portions ofthis act in which attention is given to significant facts of language, choice of words, or poetic form. When a guiding aim controls, allquestions, suggestions, explanations, and illustrations tend to createin the mind of the pupil a rich and unified impression. Where nodistinct aim gives direction to the work, the student is confused by avariety of facts--isolated facts--that are displaced by another groupof disjointed bits of information. Aimless teaching leads to mentalwandering on the part of the student; teaching governed by a definiteaim leads to mental development and to the acquisition of newviewpoints and new power. 

=The educational aim vs. The instructional aim=

We must distinguish clearly between the general or educational aim andthe specific or instructional aim. The former sums up the hope of anentire course or an entire subject. In the teaching of literature wehope to develop a vital interest in reading, a discriminating taste, an enlivened imagination and a quickened perception which enable thestudent to visualize the situations and to acquire the thought on theprinted page. The instructional aim, however, is much more specific;it posits a task that can be accomplished in a very limited time; itseeks to give an insight into Shakespeare's mastery of words, or intohis power of character portrayal, or into his methods of enhancingdramatic interest. Each of these two types of aims has itsunmistakable influence on methods of teaching. 

=The variety of aims that may govern teaching=

What aim should we select to guide us in formulating principles ofcollegiate teaching? The question is almost basic, for the selectionof a proper aim gives color and direction to all our teaching. Inbrief, the aim may be one of the following:

(_a_) _The informational aim. _ A given course in chemistry or physicsmay be designed to sum up for the student the vital facts necessaryfor an intelligent comprehension of common phenomena. With such anaim, it is obvious that only so much laboratory work will be assignedas will give the student a general knowledge of the tools and methodsof laboratory work; that the major portion of the work will be dividedinto occasional lectures, regular book assignments, and extensiveapplications of knowledge gained to surrounding chemical and physicalphenomena. A language course may seek to give pupils a stock of wordsdesigned to develop power to read the language in a very short time. Obviously, grammatical work and translations into the mother tonguewill now be minimized, and those devices which give the eye the powerto find thought in new symbols will be emphasized. There is nostandard for determining the relative importance of this informationalor utilitarian aim when compared to other aims. The significant thingis, not so much to discover its relative importance, but, havingadopted it, to devise methods which clearly tend to bring the studentsto an effective realization of it. 

(_b_) _The disciplinary aim. _ On the other hand, the controlling aimin any subject may be to develop the power to reason about naturalphenomena, the power to observe, and the power to discriminate betweenvital and inconsequential details. If this be the aim, the assignmentof subject matter must be reduced, the phenomena studied must besubmitted in the forms of problems, first-hand observations must bemade, and students must be led to see the errors in their observationsand their reasoning. The course which is extensive in subject matterand which relies on the lecture method sacrifices mental disciplinefor information. From the teaching point of view, the result of thetime-honored quarrel between the disciplinists and the utilitarians isnot so important as the adoption of a definite aim, and theformulation of consistent methods of teaching in order to attain thataim. Ineffective teaching is not caused by the selection of the oneaim or of the other, but by systems of instruction devoid of any aimat all. 

(_c_) _The appreciative or æsthetic aim. _ It is obvious that a subjectmay be taught for the power it develops for æsthetic appreciation ofthe arts of life. We have here a legitimate aim of coördinateimportance with the two preceding ones; and if we adopt it, the vitalthing in teaching is to allow this appreciative aim to mold allinstructional effort. It is obvious that a college course in æstheticsmust be inspirational, must seek to develop a real appreciation of thebeauty of line, of color and of sound. Such a course must, therefore, encourage contact with the products of art, rather than promote thestudy of texts on the history of any of the arts. So, too, courses inmusic or in literature which do not send the student away with anintense desire to hear, to see, to feel the masterpieces of music orliterature must be judged dismal failures. The formalization of an artcourse given to the general student, kills the live material andleaves the student himself cold. 

(_d_) _The aim to teach technique. _ An effective college course mayselect for its aim the development of the technique of a givensubject. It is obvious that a science course governed by this aim willemphasize the laboratory method at the expense of information; that acourse in the social sciences will seek to cover less ground but willdevelop in the student the power to find facts and use them toformulate an intelligent conclusion; that a course in biology willminimize names, classifications and structures, but will emphasizefield and laboratory work and the modes of utilizing the data thusdiscovered. We must repeat the statement made before, that no one canset himself up as the final arbiter of the claims of these contendingaims. They are all vitally necessary for a thorough understanding oflife's problems. The significant conclusion for teaching is that oneor more of these aims must be consciously chosen and that content andmethod must be determined by them absolutely. Teaching for the sake ofteaching consumes time and makes drafts on energy, but it leaves thestudent no richer in power and with no truer understanding. 

=Should the aim be modified for varying groups of students?=

It is obvious that no general law can be formulated for the adjustmentof aims to the needs of students. Teachers have usually found itnecessary to change the aim, the content, and the method of a courseaccording to the needs of different classes of students. In one of ourcolleges science students are required to take two years of Latin. Thecourse offered these young men gives the ordinary drill in grammar, translation, and analysis of Cæsar, Cicero, and Vergil, as well aspractice in prose composition in which nondescript and disjointedEnglish sentences, grammatically correct, are turned into incorrectLatin. This description, without any changes whatever, applies also tothe course given in the introductory years in Latin to studentsspecializing in the arts. Even a superficial analysis reveals adifferent set of needs in the two classes of students which can beserved only by a corresponding difference in content and mode ofteaching. A student who takes French or German because he wants enoughmastery of these languages to enable him to read in foreign journalsabout the progress of his specialty must be given a course whichappeals to the eye and minimizes the grammatical and conversationalphases of these languages. 

There are courses that are foundational and that must therefore begoverned by an eclectic aim. In the first course in college physics itis obvious that we must teach the necessary facts of the subject aswell as its method. These aspects of the work must be emphasized withequal force for all students; no differentiation need be made forfuture medical or engineering students or for prospective teachers ofthe subject in secondary schools. Generally speaking, initial coursesin a department are governed by an eclectic aim, but in the advancedcourses there must be constant adjustment to the needs of variousgroups. An eclectic aim can be as effective an instrument in enhancingthe quality of teaching as a single, clear-cut aim, provided there isa clear recognition of the relative importance of the ends set up, andprovided a definite plan is evolved to attain them. 

The aim or aims of a subject or a lesson, once formulated, must alwaysbe kept before the students as well as before the teacher. Every pupilmust know the ends to be attained in the course he is taking, and aswork progresses he must experience a growing realization that theclass is moving toward these ends. The subject matter of the course, the method of instruction, the assigned task, now glow with interestwhich springs from work clearly motivated. The average student plodsthrough his semester from a sense of duty or obedience rather thanfrom a conviction of the worth of both subject matter and method. 

=Value of clearly defined aims=

Not only must the general aim be indicated to the student, but he mustalso be made acquainted with the specific aim. Where students havebeen acquainted with the specific task that must be accomplished in agiven period, concentration and coöperation with the instructor areeasier; the students can, at stages in the lesson, anticipatesucceeding steps; their answers have greater relevancy, their thoughtis more sequential and flows more readily along the path planned bythe instructor. A specific aim for each lesson makes for economy, forit is a standard of relevancy for both student and teacher. Thestudent whose answer or observation is irrelevant is asked to recallthe aim of the lesson and to judge the pertinence of his contribution. The instructor given to wandering far afield finds that a clearlyfixed aim is an aid in keeping him in the prescribed path. Too manycollege hours, especially in the social sciences, find the instructorbeginning with his subject but ending anywhere in the field of humanknowledge. These wanderings are entertaining enough, but theydissipate the energies of the students and produce a mental flabbinessalready too well developed in the average college student. 

=Motivation in college teaching=

A second factor which contributes much toward the effectiveness ofcollege teaching is the principle of motivation. So long as most ofthe college course is prescribed, course by course, students will befound pursuing certain studies without an intelligent understanding oftheir social or mental worth. Ask the student "doing" prescribed logicto explain the value of the course. In friendly or intimate discussionwith him, elicit his conception of the utilitarian or disciplinaryworth of the prescribed Latin or mathematics in the arts course. Hesees no relation between the problems of life and the daily lessons inmany of these subjects. He submits to the teacher's attempts to graftthis knowledge upon his intellectual stock merely because he haslearned that the easiest course is to bend to authority. Instructionin too many college subjects is based, not on intelligent andvoluntary attention, but on the discipline maintained by theinstitution or by the instructor. It is obvious that such instructionis stultifying to the teacher and can never develop in the student aliberal and cultured outlook upon life. 

The principle of motivation in teaching seeks to justify to thestudent the experience that is presented as part of his collegecourse. It is obvious that this motivation need not always beexplained in terms of utilitarian values. A student of college age canbe made to realize the mental, the cultural, or the inspirationalvalues that justify the prescription of certain courses. The collegeinstructor who tries to motivate courses in the appreciation of musicor painting finds no great difficulty in leading his students to anenthusiastic conviction of their inspirational value. It is wellworth taking the student into our confidence in these matters of aimand value. We must become more tolerant of the thoughtful student whomakes honest inquiry as to the value of any of the presented courses. We must learn to regard such questions as signs of growing seriousnessand increasing maturity and not as signs of impertinence. Weconstantly ask ourselves questions about the round of our daily task;we seek to know thoroughly their uses, their values, their meaning inour lives. Clear conception of use or value in teaching is as vital asit is in life--for what is teaching if not the process of repeatinglife's experiences?

In the principle of motivation lies the most successful solution ofthe problem of interest in teaching. We have too long persisted in the"sugarcoating" conception of interest. We have regarded it as aprocess of "making agreeable. " Interest has therefore been looked uponas a fictitious element introduced into teaching merely to inveiglethe mind of the student into a consideration of what we are offeringit. Our modern psychology teaches a truer conception of interest: afeeling accompanying self-expression. Interest has been defined as afeeling of worth in experience. Where this feeling of worth isaroused, the individual expresses his activity to attain the end thathe perceives. Every act, every effort, to attain this end isaccompanied by a distinctive feeling known as interest. When a classis quiet and gives itself to the teacher, it is obedient and polite, but not necessarily interested. The class that looks tolerantly at thestereopticon views that the instructor presents, or listens to thereading of the professor of English, is amused but not necessarilyinterested. But when the students ask questions about the pictures orask the professor of English for further references, then have weevidence of real interest. Interest is, therefore, an active attitudetoward life's experience. Rational motivation is almost a guarantee ofthis active attitude of interest. 

Intelligent motivation in teaching has far-reaching values for bothstudent and teacher. It stirs interest and guarantees attention andthus tends to keep aroused the activity of the students. Itestablishes an end toward which all effort of teacher and student mustbend. It enables the student to follow a line of thought moreintelligently, and occasionally to anticipate conclusions. For theteacher it serves as a standard, in terms of which he reorganizes hissubject matter, judges the value of each topic, and omits sociallyuseless matter which has too long been retained in the course in thefond hope that it will in some way develop the mind. 

=Beginning at the point of contact=

The instructor who strives to motivate the subject matter he teachesusually begins with that phase of the subject which is most intimatelyrelated to the student's life and environment. Every subject worthteaching crosses the student's life at some point. The contactsbetween pupil and subject afford the most natural and the mosteffective starting points in the teaching of any subject. 

The subject matter in a college course is too frequently so organizedthat it presents points of discrepancy between itself and the student. To the college student life is not classified and systematized to anicety. Experiences occur in more or less accidental but naturalsequence. Scientific classification is the product of a mature mindpossessing mastery of a given portion of the field of knowledge. Tothrust the student, who is just finding his way in a new course, intoa thoroughly scientific classification of a subject, is to present inthe introduction what should come in the conclusion. 

Many a student taking his introductory course in psychology beginswith a definition of the subject, its relation to all social andphysical sciences, and its classification. All these are aspects ofthe subject which the mind conversant with it sees clearly andunderstands thoroughly, but which the inexperienced student acceptsmerely because the facts are printed in his textbook. The youthfulmind is concerned with the present and with the immediate environment. Too many of our college courses, in the initial stages, transport thestudent into the realm of theory or into the distant past. Thestudent cannot orientate himself in this new environment and is soonlost on the highways and byways of classification; to him the subjectbecomes a study of words rather than of vital ideas. Why must theintroductory course in philosophy begin with the ancient philosophers, and give the major part of the term to the study of dead philosophersand their theories long since refuted and discarded, while vitalmodern philosophic thought is crowded into the last few sessions ofthe semester?

=Illustrations of maxim. Begin at the point of contact=

The pedagogical significance of beginning at the point of contact canbest be understood and appreciated by illustrations of actual teachingconditions. Most initial courses in economics begin by positing thateconomics is the science of the consumption, distribution, andproduction of wealth. The student is told that in earlier systems ofeconomics production was studied as the initial economic process, butthat the more modern view makes consumption the starting process. Allthis the student takes on faith. He does not really see its bearingsand its implications; he is as unconcerned with the new formulation ashe is with the old; he feels at once far removed from economics. Thesucceeding lessons study economic laws with little reference to theeconomic life that the student lives. In a later chapter he learns adefinition of wages, the forces that determine wage, and the mode ofcomputing the share of the total produce that must go to wages. 

Here we have a course that does not begin at the point of contact, that presents the very discrepancies between itself and the studentthat were noted before. How can we overcome them? By proceedingpsychologically. The instructor refers to two or three important wagedisputes in current industrial life; these conflicts are analyzed; thecontending demands are studied, and the forces controlling theadoption of a new wage scale are noted. After this study of actualeconomic conditions the students are led to formulate their owndefinition of wages, and to discover the forces that determine wage. Their conclusions are of course tentative. The textbook or textbooksare consulted in order to verify the formulations and the conclusionsof the class. Thus the course is developed entirely through a seriesof contacts with economic life. The final topic in the course is theformulation of a definition of economics. Now the class sums up allthat it has seen and learned of economics during the year. The coldand empty definition now glows with meaning. Such a course awakens anintelligent interest in economic life; it develops a mode of thoughtin social sciences and a sense of self-reliance; it teaches thestudent that all conclusions are tentative and constantly subject toverification; it fosters a critical attitude toward printed text. 

The college graduate who studied college mathematics, advancedalgebra, trigonometry, analytical geometry, and calculus, looks backwith satisfaction at work completed. Each of these subjects seemed tohave little or no relation to the other; each was kept in awater-tight compartment. He remembers few, if any, of the formulæ, equations, and symbols. He recalls vividly his admiration of theauthor's ingenious method of deriving equations. Every succeedingtheorem, formula, or equation was another puzzle in a subject whichseemed to be composed of a series of difficult, unrelated, andunapplied mathematical proofs. The course ended, the mass of data wassoon obliterated from the mind's active possessions. 

What is the meaning of it all? What is its relation to life? There isno doubt that much of this mathematics has its application to life'sneeds, and that these successive subjects of mathematics arethoroughly interdependent. But nothing in the mode of instructionleads the student to see either the application or the interrelationof all this higher mathematics. Would it not be better to give asingle course called mathematics rather than these successivesubjects? Would it not be more enlightening if each new mathematicalprinciple were taught through a situation in building, engineering, ormechanics so that the student would at all times see the intimaterelation between mathematical law and physical forces? Would not thedisciplinary values of mathematics be intensified for the student byteaching it in a way that presents a quantitative interpretation ofthe daily phenomena in his experience?

Teachers of philosophy and psychology too often fall into a formalismthat robs their subject of all its vitalizing influences. Many astudent enters his course in logic with high hopes. At last he is tolearn the laws of thought which will render him keen in detection offallacies and potent in the presentation of argument. How bitter ishis disappointment when he finds his course dissipated in definitionsand classifications. His logic gives itself to the discussion of suchpatent fallacies as, "A good teacher knows his subject; Williams knowshis subject, therefore he is a good teacher. " Day after day he provesthe error in every form of stupidity or the truth of what isaxiomatic. He tires of "Gold is a metal" and "Socrates is mortal. " Fewcourses in logic have the courage to break away from the traditionalformalism and to begin each new principle or fundamental concept oflogic by analyzing editorials, arguments, contentions in newspapers, magazines, campaign literature, or the actual textbooks. Few studentscomplete their course in logic with a keener insight into thought andwith a maturer or more aggressive mental attitude. 

=Beginning at the point of contact relates the subject to the life ofthe student=

It was pointed out in a previous illustration that the college student"taking philosophy" is seldom made to feel that the subject he studiesis related to the problems that arise in his own life. Too frequentlyintroductory courses in philosophy are historical and extensive inscope, striving to develop mastery of facts rather than to give newviewpoints. The student learns names of philosophers, and attempts tomemorize the philosophic system developed by each thinker. Such acourse imposes a heavy burden on retentive power, for no little effortis required to remember the distinctive philosophical systemsadvocated by the respective writers. To the students thesephilosophers represent a group of peculiar people differing one fromthe other in their degrees of "queerness. " One system is as farremoved as another from the life that the student experiences; nosystem helps him to find himself. An introductory course in philosophyshould begin with the problems of philosophy; it should have itsorigin in the reflective and speculative problems of the studenthimself. As the course progresses, the student should feel a growingsense of power, an increasing ability to formulate more clearly, tohimself at least, the questions of religion and ethics that arise inthe life of a normal thinking person. So, too, courses in ethics andpsychology lose the vital touch unless they begin in the life of thestudent and apply their lessons to his social and intellectualenvironment. 

It must be pointed out, however, that the social sciences lendthemselves more readily to this intimate treatment than do languages, or the physical sciences, but at all points possible in the study of asubject, the experience of the student must be introduced as a meansof giving the subject real meaning. In teaching composition andrhetoric illustrations of the canons of good form need not berestricted to the past. Current magazines and newspapers are notdevoid of effective illustrations. When the older literary forms areused exclusively as models of language, the student ends his coursewith the erroneous notion that contemporary writing is cheap andsensational and devoid of artistic craftsmanship. 

Courses in physics and chemistry frequently devote themselves to adevelopment of principles rather than to the applications of thestudies to every sphere of life. Introductory college courses inzoölogy spend the year in the minutiæ of the lowest animal forms andrarely reach any animal higher in the scale than the crayfish. Westill find students in botany learning the various margins of leaves, the system of venation, the scientific classifications, but at the endof the course, unable to recognize ordinary leaves and just as blindto nature as they were before. Zoölogy and botany do not always--asthey should--give a new view of life, a new attitude towards livingphenomena, a new contact with nature. 

Careful inquiry among college students will reveal an amazingignorance of common chemical and physical phenomena after full-yearcourses in chemistry and physics. We find a student giving twosemesters to work in each of these subjects. He spends most of histime learning the chemical elements, their characteristics and themodes of testing for them. The major portion of the time is spent inthe laboratory, where he must discover for himself the elementarypractices of the subject and test the validity of well-establishedtruths. At the end of his second semester he has not developedsufficient laboratory technique for significant work in chemistry; heis ignorant of the chemical explanation of the most common phenomenain life. 

=Pedagogical vs. Logical organization=

There is much to be said for the position taken by the "olderteachers, " who may not possess the scholarship of the "youngerinvestigators" but who argue for a general course in which laboratorywork shall be reduced, technique minimized, and attention focused ongiving an extensive view of chemical forces. The simple chemical factsin digestion, metabolism, industry, war, medicine, etc. , would bepresented in such a way as to make life a more intelligent process andto give an insight into the method of science. In the courses thatfollow the introductory one, there would be a marked change in aim;the student would be taught the laboratory technique and would begiven a more intensive study of the important aspects of chemistry. Similar changes in the introductory courses in physics are urged bythese same teachers. 

Beginning at the point of contact may frequently interfere with thelogical arrangement of the course of study; it may wrench many a topicout of its accustomed place in the textbook; it will demand that theapplications, which come last in most logically arranged courses, begiven first and that definitions and principles which come first begiven last. This logical arrangement, it was pointed out, is usuallythe expression of the matured mind that is thoroughly conversant withevery aspect of a subject; it may mean little, however, to thebeginner--so little that he does not even slightly appreciate itssignificance. The loss in logical sequence entailed by beginning atthe point of contact is often more than compensated for by theadvantages which are derived from a psychological presentation. 

=Proper organization as a factor in effective teaching=

A well-organized lesson possesses teaching merits which may counteractalmost all the usual weaknesses found in poor teaching. Goodorganization determines clearness of comprehension, ease of retention, and ability of recall; it makes for economy of time and mental energy;it simplifies the processes of mental assimilation; it teaches thestudent, indirectly but effectively, to think sequentially. We haveall suffered too keenly, as auditors and readers, the inconveniencesof poor organization, not to realize the worth of proper organizationof knowledge in teaching. 

Organization of knowledge has become a pedagogical slogan, but itsincrease in popularity has not been accompanied by increased clearnessof comprehension of its meaning. What, then, is meant by properorganization? It must ever be borne in mind that proper organizationis a relative condition, the limits of which are determined by thecapacities of the students and the nature of the subject matter. Whatis effective organization of facts in elementary history may be veryineffective organization for students of high school or college grade. Making due allowance for relative conditions, good organization may besaid to consist of five essential characteristics. 

_Logical sequence_ is the first of these. It is apparent that the morerational the sequence of facts, the more effective is the organizationof knowledge. Data organized on a basis of cause and effect, similarity, contrast or any other logical relationship will help tosecure the teaching advantages we have mentioned. A search for thissimple principle in most textbooks on American or English history orliterature reveals its complete absence. A detailed mass of historicalinformation grouped into administrations or reigns is merely amechanical organization in which time, the accidental element, andnot the development of social movements, the logic of human history, is the determining factor. In too many courses in literature thestudent learns names of writers, biographical data, and literarycharacteristics of the masters, but fails to see the development ofthe movement of which the writer was a part. Events of history placedin their social movements, writers in literature placed in the schoolin which they belong, give the student the logical ties which bind theknowledge to him. So, too, one often analyzes the sequence of chaptersin an advanced algebra or a trigonometry and fails to discover thegoverning rationale. It must be remembered, however, that the natureof the subject will often reduce the logical element in itsorganization. Instances in language teaching may be cited asillustrations of teaching situations where a mechanical organizationis often the only one possible because of the arbitrary character ofthe subject matter. 

=Meaning of organization of subject matter=

_Relativity_ of importance is the second factor of good organization. A cursory study of a well-organized chapter or merely passingattention to a well-organized lecture reveals at once a distinctdifference in the emphasis on the various parts or elements of thesubject. The proportional allotment of time or space, the number ofillustrations, the number of questions asked on a given point, theforce of language--these are all means of bringing out the relativeimportance of constituent topics or principles. In retrospect, awell-organized lesson presents an appearance similar to a contour map;each part stands out in distinctive color according to itssignificance. 

It is frequently argued by teachers that students of college ageshould be required to distinguish the relativity of importance of theparts of a lesson or the topics in a subject; that the instructor whopoints out the changing importance of each succeeding part of a lessonis enervating the student by doing for him what he ought to do forhimself. This is true in part, but it must be realized that theinstructor who through questions and directed discussions leadsstudents to formulate for themselves the relative importance of datais not only carrying out the suggestion made in the precedingparagraph but is also developing in his students a power they toofrequently lack. Those who have studied the notes that students takein their classes have seen how frequently facts are torn from theirmoorings; how wrong principles are derived from illustrations; how acatch-phrase becomes a basic principle; how simple truths and axiomsare distorted in the frenzy of note taking. Through questions ifpossible, through emphasis on illustrations and explanations, where noother means is available, students must be made to see that all factsof a subject are not of the same hue, that some are faint of tint, others in shadow, and still others in high colors. Without thisrelativity of importance, facts are grouped; with it, they areintelligently organized. 

_An underlying tendency_ can be discerned in well-organized knowledge. Not only are facts arranged in logical sequence and emphasizedaccording to importance, but there is in addition a central principleor an underlying purpose giving unifying force to them all. We canillustrate the need of this third characteristic of good organizationby referring to a college course in American history which gives muchtime to the period from 1815 to 1860. The events of these forty-fiveyears are not taught in administrations but are summed up in sixnational tendencies; viz. , the questions of state sovereignty, slavery, territorial acquisition, tariff, industrial andtransportational progress, and foreign policy. Each of these movementsis treated as intensively as time permits. At the end of the study ofthe entire period, the student is left with these six topics butwithout a unifying principle; to him, these are six unrelated currentsof events. In each of these problems the North and the South displayeddistinctive attitudes, acted from distinctive motives, expresseddistinctive needs and preferences, but these were never brought outeither through well-formulated questions or through explanation. As aresult, the class never realize fully that those years, 1815-1860, marked the period of growing sectional differences, misunderstandings, and animosities. Had this underlying tendency been brought out clearlyat various points in the course, the students would have carried awaya permanent impression of what is most vital in this period ofAmerican development. 

_Gradation_ of subject matter is another characteristic of goodorganization. Careful gradation is not so vital in subjects of socialcontent as it is in mathematics, foreign languages, and exactsciences. The most important single factor in removing difficultiesthat beset a student is gradation. Teaching problems often arisebecause the instructor or the textbook presents more than onedifficulty at a time. Teachers who lack intellectual sympathy or whoare so lost in the advanced stages of their specialty that they can nolonger image the successive steps of difficulty, one by one, thatpresent themselves to a mind inexperienced in their respective fields, are frequently guilty of this pedagogical error. Malgradation ofsubject matter is the direct cause of serious loss of time and energyand of needless discouragement not only to students but to instructorsas well. 

_Ability of the student to summarize_ easily is a test of goodorganization. At the end of a loosely organized chapter or lesson thestudent experiences no little difficulty in setting forth theunderlying principles and their supporting data. It does not help muchto have the textbook or the instructor state the summary either at theend of the lesson in question or at the beginning of the succeedingone. The summary of a lesson, given by the class, is a test of theeffectiveness of instruction. Summaries given by teachers or textbookshave little or no pedagogical justification. Only in cases where thesummary introduces a new point of view or unifying principles, or whenit sets forth basic principles in particularly forceful language--onlythen is the statement by teacher or textbook justifiable. 

=Thoroughness=

Teachers are advised to be thorough in their instruction. They in turnurge their students to strive for thoroughness in study. We praise orimpugn the scholarship of our colleagues because it possesses or lacksthoroughness. Here we have a quality of knowledge universallyextolled. But what is meant by thoroughness? How can teachers orstudents know that they are attaining that degree of comprehensionknown as thoroughness? We are told that thoroughness is a relativecondition, always changing with accompanying circumstances. Even anunattainable ideal can be defined, --why not thoroughness? We must, therefore, attempt to determine the meaning of thoroughness as used inteaching and study. 

=Negative interpretation of thoroughness=

It may be helpful to formulate the common or lay interpretation ofthoroughness. The term "thoroughness" is erroneously used in aquantitative sense to describe scholastic attainment. We are told of acolleague's thoroughness in history; he knows all names, dates, places, facts in the development of mankind; his knowledge of hisspecialty is encyclopedic; "there is no need of looking things up whenhe is around. " A professor of English literature boasted of thethoroughness with which he teaches _Hamlet_: "Every word of value andevery change in the form of versification are marked; every allusionis taken up, every peculiar grammatical construction is brought to theattention of the class. " Here we have illustrations of an erroneousconception of thoroughness which gives it an extensive meaning andregards it as the accumulation of a mass of data. 

=Positive interpretation of thoroughness=

Yet the master of chronological detail in history may have nohistorical imagination, no historical perspective, no historicaljudgment. He may possess the facts, but a period in history stillremains for him a stretch of time limited by two dates, rather than asuccession of years in which all mankind seems to be moving in thesame direction, possessed of the same viewpoints, the same hopes andaspirations. The professor of English literature does not see that inteaching _Hamlet_ he forsook his specialty, literature, for philologyand mythology; that he turned his back on art and took up languagestructure. Thoroughness is not completeness, because the possession ofthe details of a subject does not necessarily bring with it a truecomprehension of it. Add all the details, and the sum total is nothingmore than the group of details. Thoroughness is a degree ofcomprehension resulting from the acquisition of new points of view. The teacher of history who sees underlying forces in the facts of thepast, who understands that true inwardness of any movement which showshim its relation to all phases of life, but who nevertheless may nothave ready command of all the specific details, is more thorough inhis scholarship. He has the things that count; the facts that areforgotten can easily be found. The class that studies the dramaticstructure of _Hamlet_, that sees Shakespeare's power of characterportrayal, that takes up only such grammatical and language points asgive clearer comprehension or lead to greater appreciation of diction, is thorough although it does not possess all the facts. It is thoroughbecause what is significant and dynamic in _Hamlet_ is made focal. Thepostgraduate student assiduously searching for data for his doctoratethesis is often guided by the erroneous conception of thoroughness; hewants facts that have never seen the light. The more he gets of these, the nearer he approaches his goal. He avoids conclusions; he iscounseled by his professors against giving too much of his book to theexpression of his views. Analyze the chapters of a doctorate thesisand note the number of pages given to facts and those to conclusionsand interpretations. The proportion is astonishing. The student'spower to find facts is clearly shown; his power to use facts is notrevealed by his thesis. The richer the thesis is in detail, inreferences, in allusions to dusty tomes and original sources, the morethorough is it frequently considered by the faculty. We have failed torealize that this excessive zeal in gathering and collating a largenumber of not commonly known facts may make the thesis morecumbersome, more complete, but not necessarily more thorough. However, the plea for a new standard in judging doctorate theses is meetingwith gratifying encouragement. 

What, then, are the teaching practices that make for greaterthoroughness, that increase the qualitative and intensive character ofknowledge? We shall discuss some of these in the succeedingparagraphs. 

=How can thoroughness be produced?=

The _acquisition of new points of view_ makes for increasedthoroughness of comprehension. The class that understands the causesof the American Revolution from the American point of view knows ofthe navigation laws, the quartering of soldiers in American homes, theStamp Act, the Boston Massacre, --the usual provocations that strainedpatience to the breaking point. The college teacher of Americanhistory who spends time on the riots in New York in which a greaternumber of colonists was killed than in Boston, who teaches in detailthe various acts forbidding the manufacture of hats and of iron ware, or the protests against English practices in the colonies made byBritish merchants, etc. , is adding more facts, but he may only beintensifying the erroneous conclusion that the students have formed inearlier and less complete courses. The topic, "Causes of the AmericanRevolution, " grows in thoroughness, not through the addition of thesefacts but through the presentation of new interpretations of thepractices of the English. When we explain that the English believed invirtual and not actual representation, the students see a new meaningin "taxation without representation. " When the students learn that theEnglish government decided on a new economic and industrial policywhich planned to have the mother country specialize in manufacture andtransportation and the colonies in production of raw materials, thestudents see reason, though not necessarily justice, in the actsprohibiting Americans from various forms of manufacture andtransportational activities. These new facts modify in the minds ofstudents the point of view so often given in elementary courses, thatthe War for Independence was caused by sheer British meanness andinjustice, by her policy of reckless repression. 

It is not always possible to give new points of view to all knowledgein all subjects. There are cases in which there is only one point ofview or where students may not be ready for a new interpretationbecause of their limited mastery of a new field of knowledge. Underthese conditions an added point of view is a source of confusionrather than an aid to clearer comprehension. Some subjects, like thesocial sciences, naturally allow for richer interpretations. Others, like the languages and the physical sciences, present only verylimited opportunities; in the biological sciences the possibilities, though not as rich as in the social sciences, are numerous andproductive of good results. 

_Comparison_ is a second means of producing thoroughness ofcomprehension. Good teaching abounds in comparisons which areintroduced at the end of every important topic rather than reservedfor examination questions. Comparisons used liberally at every logicalpause in the development of a subject always give an added viewpoint, review early subject matter incidentally, stir thought, and make forbetter organization. How much more clearly are the causes of the Warof 1812 understood after they are compared with those that brought onthe Revolutionary War! How much more definite are the causes of theAmerican Revolution when compared with those that brought on theFrench Revolution! A writer, a school, or a movement in Englishliterature may be understood when studied by itself; but how iscomprehension deepened when each is compared with another writer orschool or movement! Comparison of perception and conception orappreciation and association in psychology, makes each activity standout clearer in the mind of the student. Compare the laws of rent, wage, profit, and interest in economics, and not only each is betterunderstood but the basic laws of distribution are readily derived bythe student. Similarly, comparisons in mathematics, physics, chemistry, and the entire range of collegiate subjects give increasedcomprehension, useful though incidental reviews, and greaterunification of knowledge, as well as added points of view. 

_Correlation_ as a means of producing thoroughness is closely alliedto comparison. Correlation relates kindred topics of differentsubjects, while comparison points out relations in the same subject. The instructor who correlates the history of education with thepolitical and economic history that the student learned in anothercourse is unifying related experience, reducing the field ofknowledge, introducing logical organization, and adding newinterpretations to facts already acquired. Similarly, teaching must beenriched by correlating physics and mathematics, chemistry andphysics, literature and music, history of literature and generalhistory, until instruction has taken advantage of every vital relationamong subjects. With the growth of specialized subjects there is anunfortunate tendency toward isolation until the untrained mind looksupon the curriculum as a series of unrelated experiences, eachrivaling the other in its claim to importance. 

The advantage of correlation will remain lost in college teaching aslong as each instructor regards himself as a specialized investigatorconcerned with teaching his subject rather than his students. How manycollege teachers know what subjects their students have already taken, or knowing the names of these subjects, have a general knowledge oftheir content? The college professor of the preceding generation was acultured gentleman whose general scholarship transcended the limits ofhis specialty. He understood and knew the curriculum as a whole. Because of changes in every phase of our civilization, his successorhas a deeper but a narrower knowledge. He knows little of the work ofhis students outside of his own subject. He does not relate andcorrelate the ever growing field of knowledge; he merely adds--by theintroduction of his own mass of facts--to the isolation whichcharacterizes the parts of college curricula. This tendency must becounteracted, not by interfering with the scholastic interests of anyinstructor, but by occasional conferences of instructors of alliedsubjects in order to agree on common meeting grounds, on points ofcorrelation, on useful repetitions, and on the elimination of needlessduplications. Such pedagogical conferences are rare because collegeteachers are not alive to the need of reform in methods of collegeteaching. 

Thoroughness results from _increase in the number of applications_ ofknowledge. The introduction of the functional view into teachingbrings with it a realization of the vital needs of increased ways ofapplying the experience we present to students. As the laws ofphysics, mathematics, biology, composition, economics, etc. , areapplied to a number of specific instances, the generalization grows inmeaning and in force. Specific cases vary, and, varying, give newcolor and new meaning to the laws that are applied to explain them. How much a law in chemistry means after it is applied to specificinstances in industry, human and animal physiology, plant life, orengineering! The equation learned in descriptive geometry may beunderstood, but it never means so much as when it is applied tospecific problems in engineering. Applications give added insight intoknowledge and therefore make for greater thoroughness ofcomprehension. 

=Teaching as a process of arousing self-activity=

Locke's Blank Paper Theory, enunciated centuries ago, has beenrepeatedly and triumphantly refuted even by tyros in psychology, butin educational practices it continues to hold sway. College teachingtoo frequently proceeds on the assumption that the mind is an achingvoid anxiously awaiting the generous contributions of knowledge to bemade by the teacher. College examinations usually test formultiplicity of facts acquired, rather than for power developed. College teaching usually does not perceive that the mind is a reactingmachine containing a vast amount of pent-up potential energy which isready to react upon any presentation; that development takes placeonly as this self-activity expresses itself; that education isevolutionary rather than involutionary. Teaching is, therefore, aprocess of arousing, sustaining, and directing the self-activity ofpupils. The more persistently and successfully this activity isaroused, the more systematically it is directed to intelligent ends, the more skillful is the teaching. Teachers do not impart knowledge, for that is impossible; they _occasion_ knowledge. Only as the teachersucceeds through questions, directions, diagrams, and all knowndevices, in arousing the self-activity of the student, is he producingthe conditions under which knowledge is acquired by the pupil. 

=Evaluation of common methods of teaching=

The methods commonly used in college teaching are as follows:

 1. Lecture method, with or without quiz sections. 

 2. Development method, with or without textbook. 

 3. Combination of lecture and development method. 

 4. Reference readings and the presentation of papers by students. 

 5. Laboratory work by students, together with lectures and quiz sections. 

Teachers have long debated the relative merits of these methods orcombinations of them. They fail to realize that each method iscorrect, depending upon the aim to be accomplished and the governingcircumstances. No method has a monopoly of pedagogical wisdom; nomethod, used exclusively, is free from inherent weakness. A teachingmethod must be judged by its ability to arouse and sustainself-activity and to attain the aim set for a specific lesson. Withthis standard for judging a method of teaching, we must stop to sum upthe relative worth of common methods of college teaching. 

=Lecture method evaluated=

The _lecture method_ has been the target for much criticism for manycenturies. Socrates inveighed against its use by the sophists, andeducators since have repeated the attack. The reasons are legion:(_a_) The lecture method tends to discourage the pupil's activity. Thestudent feels no responsibility during the lecture; he listensleisurely, and makes notes of the instructor's contribution. Thestudent's judgment is not called into play; he learns to takeknowledge on the authority of the instructor. The sense of comfort andsecurity experienced in a lecture hour is fatal even to aggressive andassertive minds. Sooner or later the students succumb to the inertiadeveloped by the lecture system. 

(_b_) A second limitation of an exclusive lecture method is itsinability to make permanent impressions. Many a student, entering thelecture hall, has completely forgotten even the theme of the lastlecture. Knowledge is retained only when it is obtained by theexpression of self-activity. To offset this weakness notes must betaken, but these prove to be the bane of the lecture method. Somestudents, in their efforts to record a point just concluded, lose notonly the thought of what they are trying to write but also the newthought which the instructor is now explaining; they drop both ideasfrom their notes and wait for the next step in the development of thelecture. This accounts for the many gaps in the notes kept bystudents. Some instructors, dismayed by the amount of knowledge lostby students, resort to dictation devices. Others, realizing thepedagogical weakness of such teaching, distribute mimeographedoutlines of carefully prepared summaries of the lectures. Now thestudent is relieved of the tedium of note taking, but the temptationto let his mind wander afield is intensified. An outline, scanty ofdetail, but so devised as to keep the organization and sequence ofsubject matter clear in the minds of students, is, of course, helpful. But detailed outlines distributed among the students discourage evenattentive listening. 

(_c_) In teaching by lectures only there is no contact between studentand teacher. The student does not recite; he does not reveal his typeof mind, his mode of study, his grasp of subject matter. He is merelya passive recipient. To this third weakness of the lecture method wemay add a fourth: (_d_) it tends to emphasize quantity rather thanmethod. The student is confronted with a great mass of facts, but hedoes not acquire a mode of thought nor does he see the method by whicha given subject is developed. (_e_) The lecture method, therefore, inculcates in students an attitude of mental subservience which isfatal for the development of courageous and vigorous thought. Andfinally (_f_) it must be urged that in lecture teaching the instructoris not testing the accuracy of the students' conceptions nor is heable to judge the efficacy of his own methods. 

But, on the other hand, it must be admitted that with an effectivelecturer, possessed of commanding personality, the lecture gives apoint of view of a subject and an enthusiasm for it which otherdevices fail to achieve. The lecture method makes for economy of timeand enables one to present his subject to his class with asuccinctness absent from many textbooks. Where much must be taught ina limited time, where a comprehensive view of an extensive field mustbe given, when certain types of responses or mental attitudes aredesired, the lecture serves well. 

=Final worth of lecture method=

Experience teaches that an exclusive lecture system is not conduciveto efficient work; that lectures to regular classes ought to bepunctuated by questions whenever interest lags; that the occasionaland even the unannounced lecture is more effective; that supplementarydevices for checking up assignments and regular collateral study areof vital importance. Where regular lectures are followed by detailedanalyses in quiz sections the best results are obtained when thelecturer himself is the questioner. Where quiz sections are turnedover to assistants, wise procedure requires that quiz leaders attendthe lectures and decide, in conference with the lecturer, the specificaims which must be achieved in the quiz work and the assigned readingswhich must be given to students in preparation for each quiz hour. Unless this is done, the student is frequently confused by thedivergent points of view presented by lecturer, quiz master, andtextbook. 

_The development method_ has much to commend it. It stimulatesactivity by its repeated questions. Few or no notes are taken. Thereis constant contact with the student. At every point the mentalcontent of the pupils is revealed. The teacher sees the result of histeaching by the intelligence of successive responses. The pupil isbeing trained in systematic thought and in concentration. But it mustbe remembered that the development method is often costly in timebecause answers may be wrong or irrelevant. It may encouragewandering; a student's reply reveals ignorance of a basic principle, and the aim of the lesson is often forgotten in the eagerness topatch up this misconception. Then, too, in subject matter that isarbitrary, as in descriptive and narrative history, no development ispossible. In such cases the questions are designed to test thestudent's knowledge of the text, and the lesson becomes a quiz ratherthan a development. 

It is plain, therefore, that a judicious combination of the lectureand development methods will give better results than the exclusiveuse of either one. The analysis of the pedagogical advantages of eachleads to the conclusion that the development method should predominateand that the lecture method should be used sparingly and always withsome of the checking devices described. 

=Place of reference reading in college teaching=

=Evaluation of development--Socratic or heuristic method=

A common method employed in advanced courses in college subjectsemphasizes _reference study and research_. The entire course isreduced to a series of problems, each of which deals with a vitalaspect of the subject. Each student is made responsible for a topic. The initial hours are devoted to an examination of the common sourcesof information in this specific subject, the modes of using these, thestandards to be attained in writing a paper on one of the topics, andsimilar matters. The remainder of the term is given over to seminarwork: each student reads his paper and holds himself in readiness toanswer all questions his classmates may ask on his topic. The aims ofsuch a course are obviously to develop a knowledge of sources and anability to use intelligently the unorganized data found by thestudent. The results of these pseudo-seminar courses are far from whatwas anticipated. A thorough investigation of such a course will soonconvince the teacher that the seminar method, whatever its merits inuniversity training, must be refined and diluted before it is appliedto college teaching. Let us see why. 

Successful reference reading requires a knowledge of the fieldstudied, maturity of mind, discriminating judgment in the selection ofmaterial, and ability in organization. The university student is notonly maturer and more serious but has a basis of broader knowledgethan most undergraduates. Without this equipment of mental powers andknowledge, the student cannot judge the merits of contending views norharmonize seeming discrepancies. A student who has no ample foundationof economics cannot study the subject by reference reading on theproblems of economics. To learn the meaning of value he would read thepsychological explanations of the Austrian schools and thematerialistic conceptions of the classical writers. He would then findhimself in a state of confusion, owing to what seemed to him to be asuperfluity of explanations of value. When one understands one pointof view, an added viewpoint is a source of greater clarity and a meansof deeper understanding. But when one is entirely ignorant offundamental concepts, two points of view presented simultaneouslybecome two sources of confusion. In the university only the student oftried worth is permitted to take a seminar course. In the upperclasses in college, mediocre students are often welcomed into aseminar course in order to help float an unpromising elective. 

=Limitations of seminar method in undergraduate teaching=

The college seminar is usually unsuccessful because few students haveability to hold the attention of their classmates for a period ofthirty minutes or more. Language limitations, lack of a knowledge ofsubject matter, inability to illustrate effectively, and the skepticalattitude of fellow students all militate against successful teachingby a member of the class. Students presenting papers often selectunimportant details or give too many details. The rest of the classlisten languidly, take occasional notes, and ask a few perfunctoryquestions to help bring the session to a close. A successful hour israre. The student who prepared the topic of the day undoubtedly isbenefited, but those who listen acquire little knowledge and lesspower. The course ends without a comprehensive view of the entiresubject, without that knowledge which comes from the teacher'sleadership and instruction. This type of reference reading andresearch has value when used as an occasional ten or fifteen minuteexercise to supplement certain aspects of class work. But as a steadydiet in a college course, the seminar usually leaves much to bedesired. 

The _laboratory method_ is growing in favor today in college teaching. It is employed in the social sciences, in sociology, in economics, inpsychology, in education, as well as in the physical and thebiological sciences. Where it is followed the aim is clearly twofold;viz. , to teach the method by which the specific subject is growing andto develop in the students mental power and a scientific attitudetowards knowledge. 

=Value of laboratory method=

Let us illustrate these two aims of the laboratory method. Alaboratory course in chemistry or biology or sociology may be designedto teach the student the use of apparatus and equipment necessary forwork in a respective field; the method of attacking a problem; astandard for distinguishing significant from immaterial data; methodsof gathering facts; the modes of keeping scientific records, --in aword, the essence of the experience of successive generations ofinvestigators and contributors. But no successful laboratory resultscan be obtained without a proper mental attitude. The student mustlearn how to prevent his mental prepossessions or his desires fromcoloring his observations; to allow for controls and variables; togive most exacting care to every detail that may influence his result;to regard every conclusion as a tentative hypothesis subject toverification or modification in the light of further test. Unless thestudent acquires a knowledge of the method of science and has achievedthese necessary modes of thought, his laboratory course has failed tomake its most significant contribution. 

In courses where the aim is to teach socially necessary information orto give a comprehensive view of the scope of a specific subject, it isobvious that the laboratory method will lead far afield. It is forthis reason that introductory courses given in recitations, withdemonstrations by instructors, and occasional lecture and laboratoryhours, are more liberalizing in their influence upon the beginnersthan courses that are primarily laboratory in character. 

=Cautions in the use of the laboratory method=

Most laboratory courses would enhance their usefulness by observing afew primary pedagogical maxims. The first of these counsels that weestablish most clearly the distinctive aim of the course. Theinstructor must be sure that he has no quantitative aim to attain butis occupied rather with the problems of teaching the method of hisspecialty. Second, an earnest effort must be made to acquaint thestudents with the general aim of the entire course as well as with thespecific aim of each laboratory exercise. The students must be made torealize that they are not discovering new principles but that byrediscovering old knowledge or testing the validity of well-establishedtruths they are developing not only the technique of investigationalwork, but also a set of useful mental habits. Much in laboratory workseems needless to the student who does not perceive the goal whichevery task strives to attain. 

A third requisite for successful laboratory work requires so careful agradation that every type of problem peculiar to a subject is made toarise in the succession of exercises. It is wise at times to set atrap for students so that they may learn through the consequences oferror. For this reason students may be permitted to leap to aconclusion, to generalize from insufficient data, to neglect controls, to overlook disturbing factors, etc. An improperly planned and poorlygraded laboratory course repeats exercises that involve the sameproblems and omits situations that give training in attacking andsolving new problems. 

Effective laboratory courses afford opportunity to students to repeatthose exercises in which they failed badly. If each exercise in thecourse is designed to make a specific contribution to the developmentof the student, it is obvious that merely marking the student zero fora badly executed experiment is not meeting the situation. He must inaddition be given the opportunity to repeat the experiment in orderto derive the necessary variety of experiences from his laboratorytraining. And, finally, the character of the test that concludes alaboratory course must be considered. The test must be governed by thesame underlying aims that determine the entire course. It must seek toreveal, not the mastery of facts, but growth in power. It must measurewhat the student can do rather than what he knows. A properlyorganized test serves to reinforce in the minds of students the aimsof the entire course. 

=The college teacher not the university professor=

An analysis of effective teaching is necessarily incomplete that doesnot give due consideration to the only human factor in the teachingprocess--the teacher. We have too long repeated the old adages: "hewho knows can teach"; "a teacher is born, not made"; "experience isthe teacher of teachers. " These dicta are all tried and true, but theyhave the failings common to platitudes. It often happens that thosewho know but lack in imagination and sympathy are by that very knowingrendered unfit to teach. "Knowing" so well, they cannot see thedifficulties that beset the learner's path, and they have littlepatience with the student's slow and measured steps in the verybeginnings of their specialty. It is true that some are born teachers, but our educational institutions could not be maintained if classeswere turned over only to those to whom nature had given lavishly ofpedagogical power. Experience teaches even teachers, but the pricepaid must be computed in terms of the welfare of the student. Teachingis one of the arts in which the artist works only with livingmaterial; yet college authorities still make no demand of professionaltraining and apprenticeship as prerequisites for admission to thefraternity of teaching artists. 

Ineffective college teaching will not improve until professionalteaching standards are set up by respected institutions. The collegeteacher must be possessed of ample scholarship of a general nature. Hemust have expertness in his specialty, to give him a knowledge of hisfield, its problems and its methods. He must be a constant student, so that his scholarship in his specialty will win recognition andrespect. But part of his preparation must be given over toprofessional training for teaching. Without this, the prospectiveteacher may not know until it is too late that his deficiencies ofpersonality unfit him for teaching. With it, he shortens his term ofnovitiate and acquires his experience under expert guidance. The planof college-teacher training, given by Dr. Mezes in Chapter II, socomplete in scope, so thoroughly sound and progressive in character, is here suggested as a type of professional preparation now sorelyneeded. 

=Testing the results of instruction=

The usual test of teacher and student is still the traditionalexamination, with its many questions and sub-questions. We stillmeasure the results of instruction by fathoming the fund ofinformation our students carry away. But these traditionalexaminations test for what is temporary and accidental. Facts knowntoday are forgotten tomorrow. The professor himself often comes toclass armed with notes, but he persists in setting up, as a test ofthe growth of his students, their retentivity of the facts he gavefrom these very notes. In the final analysis, these examinations arenot tests. The writer does not urge the abolition of examinations, butargues rather for a reorganized examination that embodies newstandards. A real examination must test for what is permanent andvital; it must measure the degree to which students approximate theaims that were set up to govern the entire course; it must gauge themental habits, the growth in power, rather than facts. Part of anexamination in mathematics should test students' ability to attack newproblems, to plan a line of work, to think mathematically, to avoidtypical fallacies of thought. For this part of the test, books may beopened and references consulted. In literature we may question on textnot discussed in class to ascertain the students' power ofappreciation or of literary criticism. So, too, in examinations insocial sciences, physical sciences, foreign languages, and biologicalsciences, the examination must consist, in great measure, ofquestions which test the acquisition of the habits of thought, ofwork, of laboratory procedure--in a word, the permanent contributionof any study. This part of an examination should be differentiatedfrom the more mechanical and memory questions which seek to reveal thestudent's mastery of those facts of a subject which may be regarded associally necessary. Reduce the socially necessary data of any subjectto an absolute minimum and frame questions on it demanding no suchslovenly standard--sixty per cent--as now prevails in collegeexaminations. If the facts called for on an examination are really themost vital in the subject, the passing grade should be very high. Ifthe questions seek to elicit insignificant or minor information, anypassing mark is too high. It is obvious, therefore, that a studentshould receive two marks in most subjects, --one that rates power andanother that rates mere acquisition of facts. The passing grade in theone would necessarily be lower than in the other. An examination isjustified only when it is so devised that it reveals not only thestudents' stock of socially useful knowledge but also their growth inmental power. 

 PAUL KLAPPER _College of the City of New York_

PART TWO

THE SCIENCES

 CHAPTER

 IV THE TEACHING OF BIOLOGY _T. W. Galloway_

 V THE TEACHING OF CHEMISTRY _Louis Kahlenberg_

 VI THE TEACHING OF PHYSICS _Harvey B. Lemon_

 VII THE TEACHING OF GEOLOGY _T. C. Chamberlin_

 VIII THE TEACHING OF MATHEMATICS _G. A. Miller_

 IX PHYSICAL EDUCATION IN THE COLLEGE _Thomas A. Storey_

IV

THE TEACHING OF BIOLOGY

BIOLOGY AND EDUCATION

=Biology the science basal to all knowing=

The life sciences, broadly conceived, are basal to all departments ofknowledge; and the study of biology illumines every field of humaninterest. To the believer in evolution the human body, brain, senses, intellect, sensations, impulses, habits, ideas, knowledges, ideals, standards, attractions, sympathies, combinations, organizations, institutions, and all other powers and possessions of every kind anddegree are merely crowning phenomena of life itself. The languages, history, science, economic systems, philosophies, and literatures ofmankind are only special manifestations and expressions of life and apart, therefore, of the studies by which we as living beings aretrying to appraise and appreciate the meaning of life and of theuniverse of which life is the most significant product. Life is notmerely the most notable product of our universe; it is the mostpersuasive key for solving the riddle of the universe, and is the onlyuniverse product which aspires to interpret the processes by which ithas reached its own present level. 

All knowledge, then, is _biological_ in the very vital sense that theliving organism is the only _knowing_ thing. The knowing process is alife process. Even when knowledge pertains to non-living objects, therefore, it is one-half biological; our most worth-whileknowledge--that of ourselves and other organisms--is wholly so. Because all our knowledge is colored by the life process, of which theknowing process is derivative, the study of life underlies everyscience and its applications, every art and its practice, everyphilosophy and its interpretations. Biology must be taught in sympathywith the whole joint enterprise of living and of learning. 

=Adaptation without losing adaptability the goal of life and of education=

The most outstanding phenomenon of life is the _adaptation_ of livingthings to the real and significant conditions of their existence. Furthermore, as these conditions are not static, particularly in thecase of humans, organisms must not merely be adapted, but mustcontinue thereafter to be _adaptable_. Now learning is only a specialcase under living, and education a special case under life. Itspurposes are the purposes of life. It is an artificial and rapidrecapitulation for the individual, in method and results, of past lifeitself. The purpose of education is "adaptation, --with the retentionof adaptability. " It is to bring the individual into attunement, through his own responses and growth, with all the real factors, external and internal, in his life, --material, intellectual, emotional, social, and spiritual, --and at the same time leave himplastic. 

Adaptation comes through the habit-forming experiences of stimulus andresponse. The very process of adaptation, therefore, tends towardfixity and to destroy adaptability. It is thus the task of education, as it is of life, to replace the native, inexperienced andphysiological plasticity of youth with some product of experiencewhich shall be able to revise habits in the interest of newsituations. The adaptability of the experienced person must bepsychical and acquired. It must be in the realm of appreciation, attitude, choice, self-direction--a realm superior to habit. 

In this human task of securing adaptation and retaining adaptivenessthe life sciences have high rank. In addition to furnishing the veryconception itself that we have been trying to phrase, they giveillustrations of all the historic occasions, kinds, and modes ofadaptation; in lacking the exactness of the mathematical and physicalsciences they furnish precisely the degree of uncertainty and opennessof opportunity and of mental state which the act of living itselfdemands. In other words the science of life is, if properly presented, the most normal possible introduction to the very practical art ofliving. Because of the parallel meaning of education and life insecuring progressive adaptation to the essential influential forces ofthe universe, an appreciative study of biology introduces directly tothe purposes and methods of human education. 

CHIEF AIMS OF BIOLOGY AS A COLLEGE SUBJECT

=Why study biology in college?=

While students differ in the details of their purposes in life, allmust learn to make the broad adjustments to the physical conditions oflife; to the problems of food and nutrition; to other organisms, helpful and hurtful; to the internal impulses, tendencies, andappetites; to the various necessary human contacts and relations; tothe great body of knowledge important to life, which human beings havegot together; to the prevailing philosophical interpretations of theuniverse and of life; and to the pragmatic organizations, conventions, and controls which human society has instituted. In addition to these, some students of biology are going into various careers, eachdemanding special adjustments which biology may aid notably. Such aremedicine and its related specialties, professional agriculturalcourses, and biological research of all kinds. 

An extended examination of college catalogs shows some consciousnessof these facts on the part of teachers of biology. The following needsare formally recognized in the prospectuses: (1) The disciplinary andcultural needs of the general student; (2) the needs of thosepreparing for medicine or other professional courses; and (3) theneeds of the people proposing to specialize in botany and zoölogy. These aims are usually mentioned in the order given here; but anexamination of the character of the courses often reveals the factthat the actual organization of the department is determined by anexact reversal of this order, --that most of the attention is given, even in the beginning courses, to the task of preparing students totake advanced work in the subject. The theory of the departments isusually better than their practice. 

In what follows these are the underlying assumptions, --which seemwithout need of argument: (1) The general human needs should have thefirst place in organizing the courses in biology; (2) theintroductory courses should not be constructed primarily as the firstround in the ladder of biological or professional specialization, butfor the general purposes of human life; (3) the preparation needed byteachers of biology for secondary schools is more nearly like thatneedful for the general student than that suited to the specialist inthe subject; and (4) the later courses may more and more be concernedwith the special ends of professional and vocational preparation. 

GENERAL AIMS OF BIOLOGY IN EDUCATION

What are the general adaptive contributions of biology to humannature? What are the results in the individual which biology shouldaim to bring to every student? There are four classes of personalpossessions, important in human adaptation, to which biology ministersin a conspicuous way: information and knowledge; ability and skills;habits; and attitudes, appreciations, and ideals. These four universalaims of education are doubtless closely related and actuallyinseparable, but it is worth while to consider them apart for the sakeof clearness. 

A. TYPES OF BIOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE USEFUL IN THE ADAPTATION OF HUMAN BEINGS TO THE MOST IMPORTANT CONDITIONS OF THEIR LIFE

=(1) Study of biology furnishes knowledge of adaptive value=

(1) Some knowledge of the processes by which individual plants andanimals grow and differentiate, through nutrition and activity; of theprocess of development common to all organisms; and the bearing ofthese facts on human life, health, and conduct. 

(2) An outline knowledge of reproduction in plants and animals; theorigin, nature, meaning, and results of sex; the contribution of sexto human life, to social organization and ideals, and its importancein determining behavior and controls. 

(3) A good knowledge of the external forces most important ininfluencing life; of the nature of the influence; of the various waysin which organisms respond and become adjusted individually andracially to these conditions. A sense of the necessity of adaptation;of the working of the laws of cause and effect among living things, aseverywhere else; of the fact that nature's laws cannot be safelyignored by man any more than by the lower organisms; of the relationbetween animal behavior and human behavior. 

(4) Equally a true conception of the known facts about the internaltendencies in organisms including man, which we call hereditary. Theprinciples underlying plant, animal, and human breeding. Any progressin behavior, in legislation, or in public opinion in the field ofeugenics, negative or positive, must come from the spread of suchknowledge. 

(5) A knowledge of the numerous ways in which plants and animalscontribute to or interfere with human welfare. This includes use forfood, clothing, and labor saving; their destruction of other plants oranimals useful or hurtful to us; their work in producing, spreading, or aiding in the cure of disease; their æsthetic service andinspiration; the aid they give us in learning of our own naturethrough the experiments we conduct upon them; and many miscellaneousservices. 

(6) A conception of the evolutionary series of plants and animals, andof man's place in the series; a reassurance that man's high place asan intellectual and emotional being is in no way put in peril by hisbeing a part of the series. Some clear knowledge of the general mannerof the development of the plant and animal kingdoms to their presentcomplexity should be gained. The student should have some acquaintancewith the great generalizations that have meant so much to the scienceand to all human thinking, should understand how they were reached andthe main classes of facts on which they are based. 

(7) The general student should be required to have such knowledge ofstructure and classification as is needed to give foundation and bodyto the evolutionary conceptions of plants and animals, and to thevarious processes and powers mentioned above--and only so much. 

(8) Some knowledge of the development of the science itself; of itsrelation to the other sciences; of the men who have most contributedto it, and their contributions; of the manner of making thesediscoveries, and of the bearing of the more important of thesediscoveries upon human learning, progress, and well-being. 

(9) Something of the parallelism between animal psychology, behavior, habits, instincts, and learning, and those of man, --in both theindividual and the social realm. 

(10) An elementary understanding of plant and animal and humandistribution over the earth, and of the factors that have brought itabout. 

B. FORMS OF SKILL WHICH WORK IN BIOLOGY SHOULD BRING TO EVERY STUDENT

=(2) Biological study gives desirable skills=

Skill or ability may be developed in respect to the followingactivities: seeking and securing information, recording it, interpreting its significance, reaching general conclusions about it, modifying one's conduct under the guidance of these conclusions, and, finally, of appraising the soundness of this conduct in the light ofthe results of it. All of these are of basic importance in the humantask of making conscious adjustments in actual life; and the abilityto get facts and to use them is more valuable than to possess theknowledge of facts. Other sciences develop some of these forms ofskill better than biology does; nevertheless, we shall find thatbiology furnishes a remarkably balanced opportunity to develop skillsof the various kinds. It presents a great range and variety ofopportunity to develop accuracy and skill in raising questions; inobservation and the use of precise descriptive terms in recordingresults of observation; in experimentation; in comparison andclassification. It is peculiarly rich in opportunities to gain skillin discriminating between important and unimportant data, --one of themost vital of all the steps in the process of sound reasoning. Inpractice, a datum may at first sight seem trivial, when in reality itis very significant. _Skill_ in estimating values comes only with_experience_ in estimating values, and in applying these estimates inpractice, and in observing and correcting the results of practice. 

Finally, skill in adjusting behavior to knowledge is one of the mostnecessary abilities and most difficult to attain. The study of animalbehavior experimentally is at the foundation of much that we know ofhuman psychology and the grounds of human behavior. Even in anelementary class it is quite possible so to study animal responses andthe results of response as to give guidance and facility to theindividual in interpreting the efficiency of his own responses, and inadding to his own controls. As has been said, practice of some kind isnecessary to determine whether our estimate of values is good. Evenvicarious experience has educative value. 

C. HABITS WHICH MAY BE STRENGTHENED BY THE WORK IN BIOLOGY

=(3) Biology may supply adaptive habits=

Habits are of course the normal outcome of repeated action. Indeed, skills are in a sense habits from another point of view. Skill, however, looks rather toward the output; habit, toward the mode offunctioning by the person by whom the result is attained. We may thendevelop habits in respect to all the processes and activitiesmentioned above under the term "skills. " The teacher of biology shouldhave definitely in purpose the securing for the student of habits ofinquiry, of diligence, of concentration, of accuracy of observation, of seeking and weighing evidence, of detecting the essentials in amass of facts, of refusing to rest satisfied until a conclusion, themost tenable in the light of all known data, is reached, and ofreëxamining conclusions whenever new evidence is offered. 

Of course it is impossible to use biology to get habits of rightreasoning in students unless we _really allow them to reason_. If weinsist that their work is merely to observe, record, and hold inmemory, --as so many of us do in laboratory work, --they may formhabits of doing these things, but not necessarily any more than this. Indeed, they may definitely form the habit of doing _only_ thesethings, _failing to use the results in forming for themselves any ofthe larger conclusions about organisms_. _Seeing_ and _knowing_--withoutthe ability and habit of _thinking_--is not an uncommon or surprisingresult of our conventional laboratory work. There is only one way toget the habit of right "following through" in reasoning; this is, _always to do the thing_. When data are observed or are furnished itis a pedagogical sin on the part of the teacher to allow the studentto stop at that point; and equally so to deduce the conclusion for thestudent, or to allow the writer of the textbook to do so, or at anytime to induce the student to accept from another a conclusion whichhe himself might reach from the data. We have depended too much on ourscience as a mere observational science, --when as a matter of fact itschief glory is really its opportunity and its incentives to coherentthinking and careful testing of conclusions. 

It is inexact enough, if we are entirely honest, to force us to holdour conclusions with an open mind ready to admit new evidence. It isentirely the fault of the teacher if the pupil gets a dogmatic, too-sure habit of mind as the result of his biological studies. Andyet, as has been said, it is exact enough to enable us to reach justthe same sort of approximations to truth which are possible in our ownlives. The study of biology presents a superb opportunity to preparefor living by forming the habits of mind and of life that facilitateright choices in the presence of highly debatable situations. In thisit much surpasses the more "exact" sciences. We may conclude, then, bypositing the belief that the most important mental habit which humanbeings can form is that of using and applying consciously thescientific method as outlined above, not merely to biology alone, butto all the issues of personal life as well. 

D. APPRECIATIONS, ATTITUDES, AND IDEALS AS AIDED BY BIOLOGY

=(4) Attitudes of life perfected by study of the life sciences=

This group of objectives is a bit less tangible, as some think, thanthose that have been mentioned; but in my own opinion they are asimportant and as educable for the good of the youth by means ofbiology as are knowledge, skill, and habit. In a sense these states ofmind arise as by-products of the getting of information, skills, andhabits; in turn they heighten their value. We have spoken above of theneed of skill and habit in making use of the various steps in thescientific method in reaching conclusions in life. These areessential, but skill and habit alone are not enough to meet thenecessities in actual life. 

In the first place the habit of using the scientific method in thescientific laboratory does not in itself give assurance that theperson will apply this method in getting at the truth in problems inhis own personal life; and yet this is the essential object of allthis scientific training. In order to get the individual to carry overthis method, --especially where feelings and prejudices areinvolved, --we must inculcate in him the scientific ideal and thescientific attitude until they become general in their influence. Todo this he ought to be induced as a regular part of his early coursesin biology to practice the scientific method upon certain practicaldaily decisions exactly with the same rigor that is used in thebiological laboratory. The custom of using this method in animal studyshould be transformed into an _attitude of dependence upon it_ as theonly sound method of solving one's life choices. Only by carrying themethod consciously into our life's problems, _as a part of theexercise in the course in biology_, can we break up the disposition toregard the method as good merely in the biological laboratory. We mustgenerate, by practice and precept, the _ideal_ of making universal ourdependence upon our best instrument of determining truth. A personalhabit in the laboratory must become a general ideal for life, if wehope to substitute the scientific method for prejudice in humanliving. There is no department of learning so well capable of doingthis thing as biology. 

In the second place, the scientific method standing alone, because ofits very excellence as a method, is liable to produce a kind ofover-sure dogmatism about conclusions, unless it be accompanied by thescientific attitude or spirit of open-mindedness. The scientificspirit does not necessarily flow from the scientific method at all, unless the teacher is careful in his use of it in teaching. We make amistake if, in our just enthusiasm to impress the scientific methodupon the student, we fail to teach that it can give, at best, only anapproximation to truth. The scientific attitude which holds even ourbest-supported conclusions subject to revision by new evidence is thenormal corrective of the possible dogmatism that comes fromover-confidence in the scientific method as our best means ofdiscovering truth. 

The student at the end of the first year of biology ought to have moreappreciation and enjoyment of plants and animals and their life thanat the beginning, --and increased appreciation of his own relation toother animals; some attitude of dependence upon the scientific methodof procedure not merely in biology but in his own life; a desire, however modest, for investigating things for himself; and an ideal ofopen-minded, enthusiastic willingness to subject his own conclusionsto renewed testing at all times. All these gains should be reinforcedby later courses. 

SPECIAL AIMS OF BIOLOGY IN EDUCATION

=(5) Biology a valuable tool for certain technical pursuits=

So far as I can see, the preparation of students for medicine, forbiological research, or for any advanced application of biology callsonly for the following, --in addition to the further intensification ofthe emphasis suggested above:

(_a_) An increased recognition of the subject matter in organizing thecourse. In the early courses the subject ought to be subordinated tothe personal elements. If one is to relate himself to the science in aprofessional way, the logic of the science comes to be the dominantobjective. 

(_b_) Growing out of the above there comes to be a change of emphasison the scientific method. The method itself is identical, but theattitude toward it is different. In the early courses it was guided bythe _teaching_ purpose. We insist upon the method in order that thestudent may appreciate how the subject has grown, may realize how alltruth must be reached, and may come habitually to apply the method tohis life problems. In the later courses it becomes the method ofresearch into the unknown. The student comes more and more to use itas a tool, in whose use he himself is subordinated to his devotion toa field of investigation. 

(_c_) A greater emphasis upon such special forms of biologicalknowledge as will be necessary as tools in the succeeding steps, andthe selection of subject matter with this specifically in view. Thisis chiefly a matter of information, making the next stepsintellectually possible. 

(_d_) More specific forms of skill, adapted to the work contemplated. Technic becomes an object in such courses. Morphology, histology, technic, exact experimentation, repetition, drill, extendedcomparative studies, classifition, and the like become more essentialthan in the elementary courses. Thoroughness and mastery aredesiderata for the sake both of subject matter and character; and invery much greater degree than in the general course. 

ORGANIZATION OF THE COURSE IN BIOLOGY

=Biology courses not to be standardized rigidly=

The writer does not feel that standardized programs in biology incolleges are either possible or desirable. What is set down here underthis heading is merely intended as carrying out the principlesoutlined above, and not as the only way to provide a suitable program. The writer assumes that the undergraduates are handled by men ofcatholic interests; and that the undergraduate courses are notdistributed and manipulated primarily as feeders for specializeddepartments of research in a graduate school. This latter attitude is, in my opinion, fatal to creditable undergraduate instruction for thegeneral student or for the future high school teachers of the subject. 

=But they should follow a general principle:=

There are three groups or cycles of courses which may properly bedeveloped by the college or by the undergraduate department of theuniversity. 

_First Group_

=(1) The _first_ group of courses should introduce to life rather thanto later biological courses=

This group contains introductory courses for all students, butorganized particularly with the idea of bringing the rich material ofbiology to the service of young people with the aim of making themeffective in life, and not as a first course for making them botanistsor zoölogists. 

Course--_Biology 1. _ General Biology

This course should introduce the student to the college method of workin the life sciences; should give him the general knowledge and pointsof view outlined above as the chief aims of Biology; should synthesizewhat the student already knows about plants and animals under thegeneral conception of life. Ideally the botanical and zoölogicalportions should be fused and be given by one teacher, rather thanpresented as one semester of botany and one of zoölogy. This, however, is frequently impracticable. In any event the total result shouldreally be biology, and not a patchwork of botany and zoölogy. Hencethere should be a free crossing of the barriers in use of materials atall times. 

A year of biology is recommended because each pupil ought to have somework in both fields, and we cannot expect him to take a year in each. 

Course--_Biology 2. _ History of Biology

This course, dealing with the relation of the development of biologyto human interests and problems, may be given separately, or as a partof Course 1, --which should otherwise be prerequisite to it. This maybe one of the most humanizing of all the possible courses in biology. 

_Second Group_

=(2) A _second_ group should be technical and introductory toprofessional uses=

This group furnishes a series of courses providing a thoroughintroduction to the principles and methods of botany and zoölogy. Theyprovide discipline, drill, comparison, mastery of technic as well asincreased appreciation of biology and of the scientific method. Theyshould prepare for advanced work in biology, and for technicalapplications of it to medicine, agriculture, stock breeding, forestry, etc. 

 Course--Botany 1: General and Comparative Botany, and the Evolution of Plants. 

 Course--Botany 2: Physiology and Ecology of Plants. 

 Course--Botany 3: Plant Cytology, Histology, and Embryology. 

 Course--Zoölogy 1: General and Comparative Zoölogy. 

 Course--Zoölogy 2: Animal, including Human, Physiology. 

 Course--Zoölogy 3: Microtechnic, Histology, Histogenesis, Embryogeny. 

 Course--Zoölogy 4: Animal Ecology. 

This outline for botany and zoölogy follows in the main the mostcommon arrangement found in the schools of the country. In thepersonal judgment of the writer all undergraduate courses shouldcombine aspects of morphology, physiology, ecology, etc. , rather thanbe confined strictly to one particular phase; even histology andembryology can be better taught when their physiological aspects areemphasized. There is no fundamental reason, however, why there may notbe great latitude of treatment in this group. An alluring feature ofbiological teaching is that a teacher who has a vital objective canbegin anywhere in our wonderful subject and get logically to any pointhe wishes. These courses may be further subdivided, where facilitiesallow. 

_Third Group_

=(3) A _third_ group of special, but cultural, courses=

This group contains certain of the more elementary applications ofbiology to human welfare. While having practical value in somewhatspecialized vocations, the courses in this group are not proposed asprofessional or technical. They are definitely cultural. Every collegemight well give one or more of them, in accordance with localconditions. They ought to be eligible without the courses of thesecond group. The order is not significant. 

 Biology 3: Economic Entomology; Biology 4: Bird Course; Biology 5: Tree Course; Biology 6: Bacteriology and Fermentation; Biology 7: Biology of Sex; Heredity and Eugenics; Biology 8: Biology and Education; Biology 9: Evolution and Theoretical Problems. 

PLACE OF BIOLOGY IN THE COLLEGE CURRICULUM

=The first course ought to be given in such a way that it might fittinglybe required of all freshmen=

The introductory course (Biology 1) can be given in such a way that itought to be required of all students during the freshman or sophomoreyear, preferably the freshman. In addition to the life value suggestedabove, and its introductory value in later biology courses, such acourse would aid the student in psychology, sociology, geology, ethics, philosophy, education, domestic economy, and physical culture. Effort should be made to correlate the biological work with thesedepartments of instruction. The course as now given in most of ourcolleges and universities does not possess enough merit to become arequired study. Perhaps all we have a right at present to ask is thatbiology shall be one of a group of sciences from which all studentsmust elect at least one. It is preposterous, in an age of science, that any college should not require at least a year of science. 

Biology 1 should be prerequisite for botany 1 and zoölogy 1, and forthe special biology courses in group three. 

Botany 1 and zoölogy 1 should be made prerequisite for the highercourses in their respective fields; but aside from this almost anysequence would be allowable. 

A major in biology should provide at least for biology 1 and 2, botany1, zoölogy 1, botany 2 and 3, or zoölogy, 2 and 3. Chemistry isdesirable as a preparation for the second group of courses. 

METHODS OF TEACHING AS CONDITIONED BY THE AIMS OUTLINED ABOVE

=Acceptance of biology retarded by poor pedagogy=

Since the laboratory method came into use among biologists, there hasbeen a disposition, growing out of its very excellences, to make afetich of it, to refuse to recognize the necessity of other methods, to be intolerant of any science courses not employing the laboratory, and to affect a lofty disdain of any pedagogical discussion of thequestion whatsoever. The tone in which all this is done suggests aboast; but to the discriminating it amounts to a confession! Theresult of it has been to retard the development of biology to itsrightful place as one of the most foundational and catholic of alleducational fields. The great variety of aim and of matter not merelyallow, but make imperative, the use of all possible methods; and thereis no method found fruitful in education which does not lend itself touse in biology. The lecture method, the textbook, the recitation, thequiz and the inverted quiz, the method of assigned readings andreports, the method of conference and seminar, the laboratory method, and the field method are all applicable and needed in every course, even the most elementary. 

=Prostitution of the laboratory=

Our method has thus crystallized about the laboratory as the oneessential thing; but worse, we have used the very shortcomings of thelaboratory as an excuse for extending its sway. The laboratory methodis the method of research in biology. It is our only way to discoverunknown facts. Is it, therefore, the best way to rediscover facts?This does not necessarily follow, though we have assumed it. Self-discovered facts are no better nor more true than communicatedfacts, and it takes more time to get them. The laboratory is theslowest possible way of getting facts. We have tried to correct thisquantitative difficulty by extending the laboratory time, by speedingup, by confining ourselves to static types of facts like those ofstructure, and by using detailed laboratory guides for matter andmethod, all of which tends to make the laboratory exercise one ofroutine and the mere observation and recording of facts or averification of the statements in manuals. The correction of thesewell-known limitations of the laboratory must come, in my opinion, bya frank recognition of, and breaking away from, certain of ourmisapprehensions about the function of the laboratory. Some of theseare:

=Real purpose and possibility of laboratory work=

1. That the chief facts of a science should be rediscovered by thestudent in the laboratory. This is not true. Life is too short. Thegreat mass of the student's facts must come from the instructor andfrom books. The laboratory has as its function in respect to facts, some very vital things: as, making clear certain classes of factswhich the student cannot visualize without concrete demonstration;giving vividness to facts in general; gaining of enough facts at firsthand to enable him to hold in solution the great mass of facts whichhe must take second hand; to give him skill and accuracy inobservation and in recording discoveries; to give appreciation of theway in which all the second-hand facts have been reached; to givetaste and enthusiasm for asking questions and confidence andpersistence in finding answers for them. Anything more than this iswaste of time. These results are not gained by mere quantity of work, but only through constant and intelligent guidance of the student'sattitude in the process of dealing with facts. 

2. A feeling that the laboratory or scientific method consistsprimarily of observation of facts and their record. In reality theseare three great steps instead of one in this method, which the studentof biology should master: (1) the getting of facts, one device fordoing which is observation; (2) the appraisal and discrimination ofthese facts to find which are important; and (3) the drawing of theconclusions which these facts seem to warrant. There are two practicalcorollaries of this truth. One is that the laboratory should be soadministered that the pupil shall appreciate the full scope of thescientific method, its tremendous historic value to the race, and thenecessity of using _all_ the steps of it faithfully in all futureprogress as well as in the sound solution of our individual problemsand the guidance of conduct. The second is that we may make errors inour scientific conclusions and in life conclusions, through failure todiscriminate among our facts, quite as fatally as through lack offacts. Indeed, my personal conviction is that more failures are due tolack of discrimination than to lack of observation. The power to weighevidence is at least as important as the power to collect it. 

3. A disposition to deny the student the right to reach conclusions inthe laboratory, --or, as we flamboyantly say, to "generalize. " Now inreality the only earthly value of _facts_ is to get _truth_, --that is, conclusions or generalizations. To deny this privilege is taxationwithout representation in respect to personality. The purpose of thelaboratory is to enable students to think, to think accurately andwith purpose, to reach their own conclusions. The getting of facts byobservation is only a minor detail. In reality, the data the studentcan get from books are much more reliable than his own observationsare likely to be. Our laboratory training should add gradually to theaccuracy of his observations, but particularly it should enable him touse his own and other persons' facts conjointly, and with properdiscrimination, in reaching conclusions. To do other than this tendsto abort the reasoning attitude and power, and teaches the pupil tostand passive in the presence of facts and to divorce facts andconclusions. The fear is, of course, that the students will get wrongconclusions and acquire the habit of jumping prematurely togeneralizations. But this situation, while critical, is the very gloryof the method. What we want to do is to ask them continually, --whereverpossible, --_where_ _their facts seem to lead them_. Their conclusionsare liable to be quite wrong, to be sure. But our province as teachersis to see that the facts ignorance of which made this conclusion wrongare brought to their attention, --and it is not absolutely materialwhether they discover these facts themselves or some one else does. What we want to compass is practice in reaching conclusions, and therecognition of the necessity of getting and discriminating facts indoing so, together with a realization that there are probably manyother facts which we have not discovered that would modify ourconclusions. This keeps the mind open. In other words, the student maythus be brought to realize the meaning of the "working hypothesis" andthe method of approximation to truth. It makes no difference if one"jumps to a conclusion, " if he jumps in the light of all his knownfacts and holds his conclusion _tentatively_. It is much better toreach wrong conclusions through inadequate facts than to have the mindcome to a standstill in the presence of facts. Instead of being athreat, reaching a wrong conclusion gives us the opportunity to trainstudents in holding their conclusions open-mindedly and subject torevision through new facts. Reaching wrong or partial conclusions andcorrecting them may be made even more educative than reaching rightones at the outset. This would not be true if the conclusion werebeing sought for the sake of the science. But it is being soughtsolely for the sake of the student. The distinction is important. Theinability to make it is one of the reasons why research men so oftenfail as teachers. 

All through life the student will be forced to draw conclusions fromtwo types of facts, --both of which will be incomplete: those hehimself has observed and those which came to him from other observers. While he must always feel free to try out any and all facts forhimself, it is quite as important in practice that he be able to weighother persons' facts discriminatingly. We teach in the laboratory thatthe pupil should not take his facts second hand, though we ratherinsist that he do so with his conclusions. In reality it is oftenmuch better to take our facts second hand; the stultifying thing is totake our conclusions so. 

=A normal complete mental reaction for every laboratory exercise=

4. The dependence upon outlines and manuals. This is one of the mostdeadening devices that we have instituted to economize gray matter andincrease the quantity of laboratory records at the expense of realinitiative and thinking. It is easy for the reader to analyze forhimself the mental reaction, or lack of it, of the student infollowing the usual detailed laboratory outline. _Every laboratoryexercise should be an educative situation calling for a completemental reaction from the pupil. _ In the first place, no exerciseshould be used which is not really vital and educative. This assured, the full mental reaction of the student should be about as follows:

 (1) The cursory survey of the situation. 

 (2) The raising by the student of such questions as seem to him interesting or worthy of solution. (Here, of course, the teacher can by skillful questioning lead the class to raise all necessary problems, and increase the student's willingness to attack them. )

 (3) The determination through class conference of the order and method of attacking the problems, and the reasons therefor. 

 (4) The accumulation and record of discovered facts (sharply eliminating all inferences). 

 (5) The arrangement (classification) and appraisal (discrimination) of the discovered facts. 

 (6) Conclusions or inferences from the facts. (These should be very sharply and critically examined by teacher and class, to see to what extent they are really valid and supported by the facts. )

 (7) Retesting of conclusions by new facts submitted by class, by teacher, or from books, with an effort to diminish prejudice as a factor in conclusions, and to increase the willingness to approach our own conclusions with an open mind. 

When laboratory outlines are used at all they should consist merely ofdirections, and suggestions, and stimulating questions which willstart the pupils on the main quest, --the raising and solving of theirown problems. 

SOME MOOT PROBLEMS[2]

=Ascending or descending order?=

1. Shall we begin with the simple, little-known, lower forms andfollow the ascending order, which is analogous at least to theevolutionary order? Or shall we begin with the more complex butbetter-known forms and go downward? It seems to the writer that theformer method has the advantage in actual interest; in itssuggestiveness of evolution, which is the most important singleimpression the student will get from his course; and in the mentalsatisfactions that come to pupil and teacher alike from the sense ofprogress. However, our material is so rich, so interesting, and soplastic that it makes little difference where we begin if only we havea clear idea of what we want to accomplish. 

=Morphology versus other interests=

2. What proportion of time should be given to morphology in relationto other interests? For several reasons morphology has beenoveremphasized. It lends itself to the older conception of thelaboratory as a place to observe and record facts. It offers littletemptation to reach conclusions. It calls for little use of graymatter. This makes it an easy laboratory enterprise. It is what thegrade teachers call "busy" work, and can be multiplied indefinitely. It can be made to smack of exactness and thoroughness. 

Furthermore, morphology _is_ in reality a basal consideration. It is alegitimate part of an introductory course, --but never for its own sakenor to prepare for higher courses. But morphology is, however, onlythe starting point for the higher mental processes by which differentforms of organisms are compared, for the correlating of structure withactivity, for appreciation of adaptations of structure both tofunction and to environmental influence. It thus serves as afoundation upon which to build conclusions about really vital matters. Experience teaches that sensitiveness, behavior, and other activitiesand powers and processes interest young people more than structure. The student's views are essentially sound at this point. 

The introductory course should, therefore, be a cycle in which thestudent passes quite freely back and forth between form, powers, activities, conditions of life, and the conclusions as to the meaningsof these. It is important only that he shall know with whichconsideration he is from time to time engaged. 

=Few types or many?=

3. Shall a few forms be studied thoroughly, or many forms be studiedmore superficially? There is something of value in each of thesepractices. It is possible to over-emphasize the idea of thoroughnessin the introductory courses. Thoroughness is purely a relativecondition anyway, since we cannot really master any type. It seemspoor pedagogy, in an elementary class particularly, to emphasize smalland difficult forms or organs because they demand more painstaking andskill on the part of the student. My own practice in the elementarycourse is to have a very few specially favorable forms studied with agood deal of care, and a much larger number studied partially, emphasizing those points which they illustrate very effectively. 

=Distribution of time=

4. What proportion of time should be given to the various methods ofwork? Manifestly the answer to this question depends upon the localequipment and upon the character of the course itself. The suggestionhere relates primarily to the general or introductory courses. Itseems to me that a sound division of time would be: two or three hoursper week of class exercises (lectures, recitations, reports, quiz, etc. ) demanding not less than four hours of preparation in text andlibrary work; and four to six hours a week of "practical" work withorganisms, about two hours of which should take the form of studies inthe field wherever this is possible. 

=Weakness of the research man as a teacher for the beginning course=

5. Is the "research" man the best teacher for the introductorycourses? In spite of a good deal of prejudgment on the part of collegeand university administrators and of the research biologiststhemselves. I am convinced he is not. While there are notableexceptions, my own observation is that the investigator, whether thehead professor or the "teaching fellow, " usually does not have themental attitude that makes a successful teacher, at least ofelementary classes, --and for these reasons: he begrudges the timespent in teaching elementary classes, presents the subject asprimarily preparatory to upper courses, subordinates the humanelements to the scientific elements, and actually exploits the classin the interest of research. The real teacher's question about anentering class is this: "How can I best use the materials of ourscience to make real men and women out of these people?" The questionof the professional investigator is likely to be: "How many of thesepeople are fit to become investigators, and how can I most surely findthem and interest them in the science?" This is a perfectly fine andlegitimate question; but it is not an appropriate one until the firstone has been answered. It has been assumed that the answers to the twoquestions are identical. This is one of the most vicious assumptionsin higher education today, in my opinion. Furthermore, theinvestigator with his interests centering at the margins of theunknown cannot use the scientific method as a teacher, whose interestmust center in the pupil. The points of view are not merely notidentical; they are incompatible. 

=Necessity of differentiation and recognition of the two functions=

Experience indicates the wisdom of having all beginning courses inbiology in colleges and universities given by teachers and not byinvestigators, mature or immature. All people who propose to teachbiology in the high schools should have their early courses given fromthis human point of view, that they may be the better able to comeback to it after their graduate work, in their efforts to organizecourses for pupils the greater part of whom will never have any but alife interest in the subject. The problem of presenting the advancedand special courses is relatively an easy one. The investigator is thebest possible teacher for advanced students in his own special fieldif he is endowed with any common sense at all. 

TESTS OF EFFECTIVENESS OF TEACHING

As yet we are notably lacking in regard to the measurement of progressas the result of our teaching. Our usual tests--examination, recitation, quiz, reports, laboratory notebooks--evaluate in a measurework done, knowledge or general grasp acquired, and accuracydeveloped. We need, however, measurements of skill, of habits, and ofthe still more intangible attitudes and appreciations. These may begained in part by furnishing really educative situations and observingthe time and character of the student's reaction. Every true teacheris in reality an experimental psychologist, and must apply directlythe methods of the psychologist. 

=More vital _tests_ of results of teaching must be found=

The laboratory and field furnish opportunity for this sort of testing. The student may be confronted with an unfamiliar organism or situationand be given a limited time in which to obtain and record his results. He may be asked to state and enumerate the problems that are suggestedby the situation; outline a method of solving them; discover as largea body of facts as possible; arrange them in an order that seems tohim logical, with his reasons; and to make whatever inferences seem tohim sound in the light of facts, --supporting his conclusions at everypoint. The ability to make such a total mental reaction promptly andcomprehendingly is the best test of any teaching whatsoever. Theimportant thing is that we shall not ourselves lose sight of theessential parts of it in our enthusiasm for one portion of it. 

In judging attitude and appreciation I think it is possible fordiscriminating teachers to obtain the testimony of the pupil himselfin appraisal of his own progress and attitude. This needs to be doneindirectly, to be sure. The student's self-judgment may not beaccurate; but it is not at all impossible to secure a disposition instudents to measure and estimate their own progress in these variousthings with some accuracy and fairness of mind. Besides its incidentalvalue as a test, I know of no realm of biological observation, discrimination, and conclusion more likely to prove profitable to thestudent than this effort to estimate, without prejudice, his owngrowth. 

THE LITERATURE OF THE SUBJECT

=Scarcity of authoritative pedagogical literature in biology=

For various reasons very little attention has been given to thepedagogy of college biology by those in the best position to throwlight upon this vital problem. More information as to the attitude ofteachers of the subject is to be derived from college and universitycatalogs than elsewhere, --howbeit of a somewhat stereotyped andstandardized kind. Much more has been written relative to the teachingof biology in the secondary schools. In my opinion the most effectiveteaching of biology in America today is being done in the best highschools by teachers who have been forced to acquire a pedagogicalbackground that would enable them to reconstruct completely theirpresentation of the subject. Most of these people obtained very littlehelp in this task from their college courses in biology. For thesereasons every college teacher will greatly profit by studying what hasbeen written for the secondary teachers. _School Science andMathematics_ (Chicago) is the best source for current views in thisfield. Its files will show no little of the best thought andinvestigation that have been devoted to the principles underlyinginstruction in biology. Lloyd and Bigelow, in _The Teaching ofBiology_ (Longmans, Green & Co. ), have treated the problems ofsecondary biology at length. Ganong's _Teaching Botanist_ (TheMacmillan Company) has high value. 

The authors of textbooks of biology, botany, and zoölogy issued duringthe last ten years have ventured to develop, in their prefaces, appendices, and elsewhere, their pedagogical points of view. Thewriter has personal knowledge that teaching suggestions are stillresented by some college teachers of zoölogy. Illustrations of thetendency to incorporate pedagogical material in textbooks onbiological subjects can be found in

DODGE, C. W. _Practical Biology. _ Harper and Brothers, 1894. 

GAGER, C. S. _Fundamentals of Botany. _ P. Blakiston's Son & Co. , 1916. 

GALLOWAY, T. W. _Textbook of Zoölogy. _ P. Blakiston's Son & Co. , 1915. 

KINGSLEY, J. S. _Textbook of Vertebrate Zoölogy. _ H. Holt & Co. 

PETRUNKEVITCH, A. _Morphology of Invertebrate Types. _ The MacmillanCompany, 1916. 

 T. W. GALLOWAY _Beloit College_

BIBLIOGRAPHY

CRAMER, F. Logical Method in Biology. _Popular Science Monthly_, Vol. 44, page 372. 1894. 

FARLOW, W. G. Biological Teaching in Colleges. _Popular ScienceMonthly_, Vol. 28, page 581. 1886. 

HARVEY, N. A. Pedagogical Content of Zoölogy. _Proceedings NationalEducation Association_, 1899; page 1106. 

HODGE, C. F. Dynamic Biology. _Pedagogical Seminar_, Vols. 11-12. 

HUXLEY, J. H. Educational Value of Natural History Science. Essay II, _Science and Education_. 1854. 

RUSK, R. R. _Introduction to Experimental Education. _ Longmans, Green& Co. , 1912. 

SAUNDERS, S. J. Value of Research in Education. _School Science andMathematics_, Vol. II, March, 1902. 

SMALLWOOD, W. M. Biology as a Culture Study. _Journal of Pedagogy_, Vol. 17, page 231. 

WELTON, J. _Psychology of Education_ (chapter on "Character"). TheMacmillan Company, 1911. 

Footnotes:

[2] These problems relate particularly to the introductory courses. 

V

THE TEACHING OF CHEMISTRY

=Preparation of entering students a determining factor=

Some of the students entering classes in chemistry in college havealready had an elementary course in the subject in the high school oracademy, while others have not. Again, some study chemistry in collegemerely for the sake of general information and culture, while manyothers pursue the subject because the vocation they are planning tomake their life's work requires a more or less extensive knowledge ofchemistry. Thus, all students in the natural sciences and theirapplications--as we have them in medicine, engineering, agriculture, and home economics--as well as those who are training to becomeprofessional chemists, either in the arts and industries or inteaching, must devote a considerable amount of time and energy to thestudy of chemistry. The teacher of college chemistry consequently musttake into consideration the preparation with which the student entershis classes and also the end which is to be attained by the pursuit ofthe subject in the case of the various groups of students mentioned. 

In the larger high schools courses in chemistry are now quitegenerally offered, but this is not yet true of the smaller schools. Insome colleges those who have had high school chemistry are at onceplaced into advanced work without taking the usual basal course ingeneral chemistry which is so arranged that students can enter it whohave had no previous knowledge of the subject. In other words, in somecases the college builds directly upon the high school course inchemistry. As a rule, however, this does not prove very successful, for the high school course in chemistry is not primarily designed as acourse upon which advanced college chemistry can be founded. This isas it should be, for after all, while the high school preparesstudents for college, its chief purpose is to act as a finishingschool for those larger numbers of students who never go to college. The high school course in chemistry is consequently properly designedto give certain important chemical facts and point out their moreimmediate applications in the ordinary walks of life, as far as thiscan properly be done in the allotted time with a student of highschool age and maturity. The result is consequently that while suchwork can very well be accepted toward satisfying college entrancerequirements, it is only rarely sufficient as a basis for advancedcollege courses in the subject. As a rule it is best to ask allstudents to take the basal course in general chemistry offered incollege, arranging somewhat more advanced experiments in thelaboratory wherever necessary for those who have had chemistry inpreparatory schools. This has become the writer's practice aftercareful trial of other expedients. The scheme has on the whole workedout fairly well, for it is sufficiently elastic to meet the needs ofthe individual students, who naturally come with preparation that isquite varied. Almost invariably students who, on account of theircourse in high school chemistry, are excused from the general basalcourse in college chemistry have been handicapped forever afterward intheir advanced work in the subject. 

=Organization of first-year course--General chemistry=

The first year's work in college chemistry consists of generalchemistry. It is basal for all work that is to follow, and yet at thesame time it is a finished course, giving a well-rounded survey of thesubject to all who do not care to pursue it further. This basal courseis commonly given in the freshman year, though sometimes it isdeferred to the sophomore year. Its content is now fairly uniform indifferent colleges, the first semester being commonly devoted togeneral fundamental considerations and the chemistry of thenon-metals, while the metals receive attention in the second semester, the elements of qualitative analysis being in some cases taught inconnection with the chemistry of the metals. 

The work is almost universally conducted by means of lectures, laboratory work, and recitations. The lectures have the purpose tounfold the subject, give general orientation as to the most importantfundamental topics and points of view, and furnish impetus, guidance, and inspiration for laboratory study and reading. To this end thelectures should be illustrated by means of carefully chosen andwell-prepared experiments. These serve not only to illustrate typicalchemical processes, and fundamental laws, but they also stimulateinterest and teach the student many valuable points of manipulation, for it is well-nigh impossible to watch an expert manipulator withoutabsorbing valuable hints on the building up, arranging, and handlingof apparatus. In the lectures the material should be presented slowly, carefully, and clearly, so that it may readily be followed by thestudent. Facts should always be placed in the foreground, and theyshould be made the basis of the generalization we call laws, and thenthe latter naturally lead to theoretical conceptions. It is a greatmistake to begin with the atomic theory practically the first day andtry to bolster up that theory with facts later on as concrete cases ofchemical action are studied. On the other hand, it is also quiteunwise to defer the introduction of theoretical conceptions too long, for the atomic theory is a great aid in making rapid progress in thestudy of chemistry. At least two or three weeks are well spent instudying fundamental chemical reactions as facts quite independent ofany theories whatsoever, in order that the student may thoroughlyappreciate the nature of chemical change and become familiar withenough characteristic and typical cases of chemical action so that thegeneral laws of chemical combination by weight and by volume may belogically deduced and the atomic and molecular theories presented asbased upon those laws. 

Up to this stage the reactions should be written out in words and allformulation should be avoided, so that the student will not get theidea that "chemistry is the science of signs and symbols, " or that"chemistry is a hypothetical science, " but that he will feel thatchemistry deals with certain very definite, characteristic, andfundamental changes of matter in which new substances are formed, andthat these processes always go on in accordance with fixed andinvariable laws, though they are influenced by conditions oftemperature, pressure, light, electricity, and the presence of othersubstances in larger or smaller amounts. The theory and formulationwhen properly introduced should be an aid to the student, leading himto see that the expression of chemical facts is simplified thereby. Thus he will never make the error of regarding the symbol as thefundamental thing, but he will from the very outset look upon itsimply as a useful form of shorthand expression, as it were, which isalso a great aid in chemical thinking. Facts and theories should everbe kept distinct and separate in the student's mind, if he is to makereal progress in the science. 

A thoroughgoing, logical presentation of the subject, leading thestudent slowly and with a sense of perfect comprehension into thedeeper and more difficult phases, should constitute one of the primefeatures of the work of the first year. Interest should constantly bestimulated by references to the historical development of the subject, to the practical applications in the arts and industries, tosanitation and the treatment of disease, to the providing of properfood, clothing, fuel, and shelter, to the problems of transportationand communication, to the chemical changes that are constantly goingon in the atmosphere, the waters, and the crust of the earth as wellas in all living beings. Nevertheless, all the time the _science_should be taught as the backbone of the entire course. The allusionsto history and the manifold applications to daily life are indeed veryimportant, but they must never obscure the science itself, for onlythus can a thorough comprehension of chemistry be imparted and thebenefits of the mental drill and culture be vouchsafed to the student. 

=Methods of teaching--The Lecture method=

For the freshman and sophomore, two lectures per week are sufficientfor this type of instruction. In these exercises the student shouldgive his undivided attention to what is presented by the lecturer. Thetaking of notes is to be discouraged rather than encouraged, for itresults in dividing the attention between what is presented and themechanical work of writing. To take the place of the usual lecturenotes, students of this grade had better be provided with a suitabletext, definite chapters in which are assigned for reading inconnection with each lecture. The text thus serves for purposes ofreview, and also as a means for inculcating additional details whichcannot to advantage be presented in a lecture, but are best studied athome by perusing a book, the contents of which have been illuminatedby the experimental demonstrations, the explanations on theblackboard, the charts, lantern slides, and above all the livingdevelopment and presentation of the subject by the lecturer. Thelectures should in no case be conducted primarily as an exercise indictation and note taking. If the lectures do not give generalorientation, illumination, and inspiration for further study inlaboratory and library, they are an absolute failure and had better beomitted entirely. On the other hand, when properly conducted thelectures are the very life of the course. 

=The laboratory work=

The laboratory work should be well correlated with the lectures, especially during the first year. The experiments to be performed bythe student should be carefully chosen and should not be a mererepetition of the lecture demonstrations. The laboratory experimentsshould be both qualitative and quantitative in character. They shouldon the one hand illustrate the peculiar properties of the substancesstudied and the typical concomitant changes of chemical action, but onthe other hand a sufficient number of quantitative exercises in thelaboratory should be introduced to bring home to the student the lawsof combining weights and volumes, thus giving him the idea thatchemistry is exact and that quantitative relations always obtain whenchemical action takes place. At the same time the quantitativeexercises lay the basis for the proper comprehension of the laws ofcombining weights and volumes and the atomic and molecular theories. At least three periods of two consecutive hours each should be spentin the laboratory per week, and the laboratory exercises should bemade so interesting and instructive that the student will feelinclined to work in the laboratory at odd times in addition if hisprogram of other studies permits. The laboratory should at all timesbe, as its name implies, a place where work is done. Order andneatness should always prevail. Apparatus should be kept neat andclean, and in no case should slovenly habits of setting up apparatusbe tolerated. The early introduction of a certain amount ofquantitative experimentation in the course makes for habits of orderand neatness in experimentation and guards against bringing up"sloppy" chemists. 

=The student's laboratory record=

The laboratory notebook should be a neat and accurate record of thework in the laboratory. To this end the entries in the notebook shouldbe made in the laboratory at the time when the experiment is actuallybeing performed. The writing of data on loose scratch paper and thenfinally writing up the notebook later at home from such sheets is notto be recommended, for while thus the final appearance of the notebookmay be improved, it is no longer a first-hand record such as everyscientist makes, but rather a transcribed one. The student, in makingup such a transcription, is only too apt to draw upon his innerconsciousness to make the book appear better; indeed, when he hasneglected to transcribe his notes for several days, he is bound toproduce anything but a true and accurate record, to say nothing aboutbeing put to the temptation to "fake" results which he has either notat all obtained in the laboratory, or has recorded so imperfectly onthe scratch paper that he can no longer interpret his record properly. The only true way is to have the notes made directly in thepermanently bound notebook at the time when the experiment is actuallyin progress. The student ought not to take the laboratory notebookhome at all without the instructor's knowledge and permission. Eachexperiment should be entered in the notebook in a brief, businesslikemanner. Long-winded, superfluous discussions should be avoided. As arule, drawings of apparatus in the notes are unnecessary, it beingsufficient to indicate that the apparatus was set up according toFigure so-and-so in the laboratory manual or according to thedirections given on page so-and-so. The student should be made to feelthat the laboratory is the place where careful, purposefulexperimentation is to be done, that this is the main object of thelaboratory work, and that the notebook is merely a reliable record ofwhat has been accomplished. To this end the data in the notebookshould be complete, yet brief and to the point, so that what has beendone can be looked up again and that the instructor may know that theexperiment has been performed properly, that its purpose wasunderstood by the student, and that he has made correct observationsand drawn logical conclusions therefrom. While in each case the notesshould indicate the purpose of the experiment, what has actually beendone and observed, and the final conclusions, it is on the whole bestnot to have a general cut-and-dried formula according to which eachand every experiment is to be recorded. It is better to encourage acertain degree of individuality in this matter on the part of eachstudent. Notebooks should be corrected by the teacher every week, andthe student should be asked to correct all errors which the teacherhas indicated. A businesslike atmosphere should prevail in thelaboratory at all times, and this should be reflected in thenotebooks. Anything that savors of the pedantic is to be strictlyavoided. Small blackboards should be conveniently placed in thelaboratory so that the instructor may use them in explaining anypoints that may arise. Usually the same question arises with severalmembers of the class, and a few moments of explanation before theblackboard enable the instructor to clear up the points raised. Thisnot only saves the instructor's time, but it also stimulates interestin the laboratory when explanations are thus given to small groupsjust when the question is hot. 

It is, of course, assumed that the necessary amount of apparatus, chemicals, and other supplies is available, and that the laboratorydesks, proper ventilation of the rooms, and safeguards in the case ofall experiments fraught with danger have received the necessarypainstaking attention on the part of the instructor, who must neverfor a moment relax in looking after these matters, which it is not thepurpose to discuss here. At all times the student should workintelligently and be fully aware of any dangers that are inherent inwhat he is doing. It need hardly be said that a beginner should not beset at experiments that are specially dangerous. Having been givenproper directions, the student should be taught to go ahead withconfidence, for working in constant trepidation that an accident mayoccur often creates a nervous state that brings about the accident. Too much emphasis cannot be laid upon proper, definite laboratoryinstructions, especially as to kinds and amounts of materials to beused. Such directions as "take a _little_ phosphorus, " for example, should be strictly avoided, for the direction as to amount isabsolutely indefinite and may in the case where phosphorus or anyother dangerous substance is used lead to dire accidents. The studentshould be given proper and very definite directions, and then heshould be taught to follow these absolutely and not use more of thematerials than is specified, as the beginner is so apt to do, thusoften wasting his time and the reagents as well. Economy and thecorrect use of all laboratory supplies should be inculcated indirectlyall the time. A fixed set of printed rules for the laboratory isgenerally neither necessary nor desirable when students are properlydirected to work intelligently as they go, and good directions aregiven in the laboratory manual. Thus a spirit of doing intelligentlywhat is right and proper, guarding against accidents, economizing intime and materials of all kinds will soon become dominant in thelaboratory and will greatly add to the efficiency of the workers. Minor accidents are almost bound to occur at times in spite of allprecautions, and the instructor should be ready to cope with thesepromptly by means of a properly supplied first-aid kit. 

=Recitations and quizzes=

For students of the first year quizzes or recitations should be heldat least twice a week. In these exercises the ground covered in thelectures and laboratory work should be carefully and systematicallyreviewed. The quiz classes should not be too large. Twenty-fivestudents is the upper limit for a quiz section. The laboratorysections too should not be larger than this, and it is highlydesirable that the same instructor conduct both the recitation and theimmediate laboratory supervision of the student. Lecture classes can, of course, be very much larger in number. In most colleges theattendance upon classes in chemistry is so large that it is notpossible for the professor to deliver the lectures and also personallyconduct all of the laboratory work and recitations. It is consequentlynecessary to divide the class up into small sections for laboratoryand quiz purposes. It is highly desirable that the student become wellacquainted with his individual instructor in laboratory and quiz work, and therefore it would be unfortunate to have one instructor in thelaboratory and still another instructor in the quiz. It might beargued that it is a good thing to have the student become acquaintedwith a number of instructors, but in the writer's experience suchpractice results to the disadvantage of the student, and isconsequently not to be recommended. 

In the recitations the student is to be encouraged to do the talking. He is to be given an opportunity to ask questions as well as to answerthe queries put by the teacher. Short written exercises of about tenminutes' duration can be given to advantage in each of theserecitations. In this way the entire class writes upon a well-chosenquestion or solves a numerical chemical problem and thus a great dealof time is saved. The quiz room should be well provided withblackboards which may be used to great advantage in the writing ofequations and the solution of chemical problems just as in a class inmathematics. The textbook, from which readings are assigned to thestudent in connection with the lectures, should contain questionswhich recapitulate the contents of each chapter. When such questionsare not contained in the book, they ought to be provided by theteacher on printed or mimeographed sheets. When properly conducted, the recitation aids greatly in clarifying, arranging and fixing theimportant points of the course in the mind of the student. Younginstructors are apt to make the mistake of doing too much talking inthe quiz, instead of encouraging the student to express his views. Inthese days, when foreign languages and mathematics are more or less onthe wane in colleges, the proper study of chemistry, particularly inthe well-conducted quiz, will go far toward supplying the mental drillwhich the older subjects have always afforded. 

=Summary of first-year course=

If the work of the first year has been properly conducted, it willhave given the student a general view of the whole field of chemistry, together with a sufficient amount of detail so securely anchored incareful laboratory work and practical experience as to form a basisfor either more advanced work in chemical lines or in the pursuance ofthe vocations already mentioned in which a knowledge of chemistry isbasal. It is hardly necessary to add that if well taught, the studentwill at the end of such a course have a desire for more chemistry. 

=Organization of second-year course=

The work of the second year of chemistry in college generally consistsof quantitative analysis, though the more intensive study of thecompounds of carbon, known as organic chemistry, is also frequentlytaken up at this time, and there is much to be said in favor of suchpractice. 

=Content of the course in quantitative analysis=

In the quantitative analysis, habits of neatness and accuracy must beinsisted upon. It is well to give the general orientation anddirections by means of lectures. One or two such exercises per weekwill suffice. There should also be recitations. When two lectures perweek are given, it will suffice to review the work with the student inconnection with such lectures, provided the class is not too large forquiz purposes. Intelligent work should characterize a course inquantitative analysis. To this end the student should be taught how totake proper representative samples of the material to be analyzed. Heshould then be taught how to weigh or measure out that sample withproper care. The manipulations of the analytical process should becarried out so that each step is properly understood and its relationsto the general laws of chemistry are constantly before the mind. Incarrying out the process, the various sources of error must bethoroughly appreciated and guarded against. The final weighing ormeasuring of the form in which the ingredient sought is estimatedshould again be carried out with care, and in the calculation of thepercentage content due regard should be had for the limits of error ofexperimentation throughout the entire analytical process. The studentfeels that a large number of the exercises in quantitative analysisare virtually cases of making chemical preparations of the highestpossible purity, thus connecting his previous chemical experience withhis quantitative work. The course in quantitative analysis shouldcover the determination of the more important basic and acid radicals, and should consist of both gravimetric and volumetric exercises. 

The choice of the exercises is of great importance. It may vary, andshould vary considerably in different cases. Thus a student inagriculture is naturally interested in the methods of estimating lime, phosphorus, nitrogen, potash, silica, sulphur, etc. , whereas a studentin engineering would be more interested in work with the heavy metalsand the ingredients which the commercial samples of such metals areapt to contain. Thus, analytical work on solder, bearing metal, ironand steel, cement, etc. , should be introduced as soon as the studentin engineering is ready for it. It is quite possible to inculcate theprinciples of quantitative analysis by selecting exercises in whichthe individual student is interested, though, to be sure, certainfundamental things would naturally have to be taken by all students, whatever be the line for which they are training. A few exercises ingas analysis and also water analysis should be given in every goodcourse in quantitative analysis that occupies an entire year. Carefulattention should be given to the notebook in the quantitative work, and the student should also be made to feel that in modernquantitative analysis not only balances and burettes are to serve asthe measuring instruments, but that the polariscope and therefractometer also are very important, and that at times still otherphysical instruments like the spectroscope, the electrometer, and theviscometer may prove very useful indeed. 

The quantitative analysis offers a splendid opportunity for bringinghome to the student what he has learned in the work of the first year, showing him one phase of the application of that knowledge and makinghim feel, as it were, the quantitative side of science. This latterview can be imparted only to a limited degree in the first year'swork, but the quantitative course offers an unusual opportunity forgiving the student an application of the fundamental quantitative lawswhich govern all chemical processes. It is not possible to analyzevery many substances during any college course in quantitativeanalysis. The wise teacher will choose the substances to be analyzedso as to keep up the interest of the student and yet at the same timegive him examples of all the fundamental cases that are commonly metin the practice of analytical work. A careful, painstaking, intelligent worker should be the result of the course in quantitativeanalysis. Toward the end of the course, too, a certain amount of speedshould be insisted upon. The student should be taught to carry onseveral processes at the same time, but care should be taken not tooverdo this. 

=The course in organic chemistry=

In the course in organic chemistry, lectures, laboratory work, andrecitations, arranged very much as to time as in the first year, willbe found advantageous. If the intensive work in organic chemistry ispostponed to the third year in college, there are certain advantages. For example, the student is more mature and has had drill andexperience in the somewhat simpler processes commonly taught ingeneral and analytical chemistry. On the other hand, the postponing oforganic chemistry to the third year has the disadvantage that thestudent goes through his basal training in quantitative analysiswithout the help of that larger horizon which can come to him onlythrough the study of the methods of organic chemistry. The generalwork of the first year, to be sure, if well done compensates in partfor what is lost by postponing organic chemistry till the third year, but it can never entirely remove the loss to the student. Teacherswill differ as to whether the time-honored division of organicchemistry into the aliphatic and aromatic series should be maintainedpedagogically, but they will doubtless all agree that the methods ofworking out the structure of the chemical compound are peculiarlycharacteristic of the study of the compounds of carbon, and thesemethods must consequently constitute an important point to beinculcated in organic chemistry. The derivation of the various typesof organic compounds from the fundamental hydrocarbons as well as fromone another, and the characteristic reactions of each of thesefundamental forms which lead to their identification and also oftenserve as a means of their purification, should naturally be taught ina thoroughgoing manner. The numerous practical applications which theteacher of organic chemistry has at his command will always serve tomake this subject one of the deepest interest, if not the mostfascinating portion of the entire subject of chemistry. No studentshould leave the course in organic chemistry without feeling thebeautiful unity and logical relationship which obtains in the case ofthe compounds of carbon, the experimental study of which has cast somuch light upon the chemical processes in living plants and animals, processes upon which life itself depends. The analysis of organiccompounds is probably best taught in connection with the course inorganic chemistry. It is here that the student is introduced to theuse of the combustion furnace and the method of working out theempirical formulæ of the compounds which he has carefully prepared andpurified. The laboratory practice in organic chemistry generallyrequires the use of larger pieces of apparatus. Some of theexperiments also are connected with peculiar dangers of their own. These facts require that the student should not approach the coursewithout sufficient preliminary training. Furthermore, the teacherneeds to exercise special care in supervising the laboratory work soas to guard the student against serious accidents. 

The historical development of organic chemistry is especiallyinteresting, and allusions to the history of the important discoveriesand developments of ideas in organic chemistry should be used tostimulate interest and so enhance the value of the work of thestudent. The practical side of organic chemistry should never be lostsight of for a moment, and under no condition should the course beallowed to deteriorate into one of mere picturing of structuralformulæ on the blackboard. All chemical formulas are merely compactforms of expression of what we know about chemical compounds. Thereare, no doubt, many facts about chemical compounds which theiraccepted formulas do not express at all, and the wise teacher shouldlead the student to see this. There is peculiar danger in the coursein organic chemistry that the pupil become a mere formula worshiper, and this must carefully be guarded against. 

The applications of organic chemistry to the arts and industries, butespecially to biochemistry, will no doubt interest many members of theclass of a course in organic chemistry if the subject is properlytaught. This will be particularly the case if the teacher always holdsbefore the mind of the pupil the actual realities in the laboratoryand in nature, using formulation merely as the expression of ourknowledge and not as an end in itself. 

=Place of physical chemistry in the college curriculum=

Physical chemistry, commonly regarded as the youngest and by itsadherents the most important and all-pervading branch of chemistry, ispresented very early in the college course by some teachers, andpostponed to the junior and even the senior year by others. Just as acertain amount of organic chemistry should be taught in the firstyear, so a few of the most fundamental principles of physicalchemistry must also find a place in the basal work of the beginner. However, in the first year's work in chemistry so many phases of thesubject must needs be presented in order to give a good general view, that many details in either organic, analytical, or physical chemistrymust necessarily be omitted. What is to be taught in that importantbasal year must, therefore, be selected with extreme care. Moreover, so far as physical chemistry is concerned, it is in a way chemicalphilosophy or general chemistry in the broadest sense of the word, andconsequently requires for its successful pursuit not only a basalcourse, but also proper knowledge of analytical and organic chemistry, as well as a grounding in physics, crystallography, and mathematics. At the same time a certain amount of biological study is highlydesirable. A good course in physical chemistry postulates lectures, laboratory work, and recitations. In general, these should be arrangedmuch like those in the basal course and the course in organicchemistry. If anything, more time should be put upon the lectures andrecitations; certainly more time should be devoted to exercises ofthis kind than in the course in quantitative analysis, which is besttaught in the laboratory. At the same time it would be a mistake toteach physical chemistry without laboratory practice. Indeed, laboratory practice is the very life of physical chemistry, and themore of such work we can have, the better. However, since physicalchemistry, as already stated, delves into the philosophical field, discussions in the lecture hall and classroom become of peculiarimportance. 

=Courses in applied chemistry=

Many colleges now give additional courses in chemical technology. These would naturally come after the student has had a sufficientfoundation in general chemistry, chemical analysis, and organic andphysical chemistry. As a rule such applied courses ought not to begiven until the junior or senior year. It is a great mistake tointroduce such courses earlier, for the student cannot do the work inan intelligent manner. 

=Enthusiastic teaching a vital factor=

In all the courses in chemistry, interest and enthusiasm are of vitalimportance. These can be instilled only by the teacher himself, and noamount of laying out courses on paper and giving directions, howevervaluable they may be, can possibly take the place of an able, devoted, enthusiastic teacher. Chemistry deals with things, and hence is alwaysbest taught in the laboratory. The classroom and the library shouldcreate interest and enthusiasm for further laboratory work, and inturn the laboratory work should yield results that will finallymanifest themselves in the form of good written reports. 

=The teacher must continue his researches=

Original work should always be carried on by the college teacher. Ifhe fails in this, his teaching will soon be dead. There will always besome bright students who can help him in his research work. Theseshould be led on and developed along lines of original thought. Fromthis source there will always spring live workers in the arts andindustries as well as in academic lines. Lack of facilities and timeis often pleaded by the college teacher as an excuse for not doingoriginal work. There is no doubt that such facilities are often verymeager. Nevertheless, the enthusiastic teacher is bound to find thetime and also the means for doing some original work. A great dealcannot be expected of him as a rule because of his pedagogical duties, but a certain amount of productive work is absolutely essential to anylive college teacher. 

=Future of chemistry in the college curriculum=

The importance of chemistry in daily life and in the industries hasbeen increasing and is bound to continue to increase. For this reasonthe subject is destined to take a more important place in the collegecurriculum. If well taught, college chemistry will not only widen thehorizon of the student, but it will also afford him both manualtraining and mental drill and culture of the highest order. 

 LOUIS KAHLENBERG _University of Wisconsin_

VI

THE TEACHING OF PHYSICS

The need of giving to physics a prominent place in the collegecurriculum of the twentieth century is quite universally admitted. If, as an eminent medical authority maintains, no man can be said to beeducated who has not the knowledge of trigonometry, how much more trueis this statement with reference to physics? The five human senses arenot more varied in scope than are the five great domains of thisscience. In the study of heat, sound, and light we may strive merelyto understand the nature of the external stimuli that come to usthrough touch, hearing and sight; but in mechanics, where we examinecritically the simplest ideas of motion and inertia, we acquire themethod of analysis which when applied to the mysteries of molecularphysics and electricity carries us along avenues that lead to the mostprofound secrets of nature. Utilitarian aspects dwindle in ourperspective as we face the problem of the structure, origin, andevolution of matter--as we question the independence of space andtime. Modern physics possesses philosophic stature of heroic size. 

=Utilitarian value of the study Of physics=

But with regard to everyday occurrences a study of physics isnecessary. It is trite to mention the development in recent years ofthose mechanical and electrical arts that have made moderncivilization. The submarine, vitalized by storage battery and Dieselengine, the torpedo with its gyroscopic pilot and pneumatic motors, the wireless transmission of speech over seas and continents--thesethings no longer excite wonder nor claim attention as we scan themorning paper; yet how many understand their mechanism or appreciatethe spirit which has given them to the world?

=Disciplinary value of the study=

If culture means the subjective transformation of information into aphilosophy of life, can culture be complete unless it has included inits reflections the marvelously simple yet intricate interrelationsof natural phenomena? The value of this intricate simplicity as amental discipline is equaled perhaps only in the finely drawndistinctions of philosophy and in the painstaking statements oflimitations and the rapid generalizations of pure mathematics; and letus not forget the value of discipline, outgrown and unheeded though itbe in the acquisitive life of the present age. 

=Relation of physics to philosophy and the exact sciences=

The professional student, continually increasing in numbers in ourcolleges, either of science or in certain branches of law, finds abroad familiarity with the latest points of view of the physicist notonly helpful but often indispensable. Chemistry can find withdifficulty any artificial basis for a boundary of its domain from thatof physics. Certainly no real one exists. The biologist is heardasking about the latest idea in atomic evolution and the electricaltheories of matter, hoping to find in these illuminating points ofview, he tells us, some analogy to his almost hopelessly complexproblems of life and heredity. Even those medical men whose interestis entirely commercial appreciate the convenience of the X-ray and theimportance of correctly interpreting the pathological effects of therays of radio-activity and ultra-violet light. One finds a greatgeologist in collaboration with his distinguished colleague inphysics, and from the latter comes a contribution on the rigidity ofthe earth. Astronomy answers nowadays to the name of astrophysics, andprogressive observatories recognize in the laboratory a tool asessential as the telescope. In a word, the professional student ofscience not only finds that the subject matter of physics has manyfundamental points of contact with his own chosen field, but alsorecognizes that the less complex nature of its material allows themethod of study to stand out in bolder relief. Training in the methodand a passion for the method are vital to a successful and an ardentcareer. 

=Should the teaching of college physics change its aim for differentclasses of students?=

In the teaching of physics, then, the aim might at first sight appearto be quite varied, differing with different classes of students. Acareful analysis of the situation, however, will show, we think, thatthis conclusion can with difficulty be justified: that it is necessaryto conduct college instruction in a fashion dictated almost not at allby the subsequent aims of the students concerned. In the moreelementary work, certainly, adherence to this idea is of greatimportance. The character, design, and purpose of an edifice do notappear in the foundations except that they are massive if thestructure is to be great. 

Not infrequently this seems an unnecessary hardship to a professionalstudent anxious to get into the work of his chosen field. If such isthe case, let him question perhaps whether any study of physics shouldbe attempted, as this query may have different answers for differentindividuals. But if he is to study it at all, there is but one placewhere the analysis of physical phenomena can begin, and that is withfundamentals--space, time, motion, and inertia. How can one who isignorant of the existence and characteristics of rotational inertiaunderstand a galvanometer? How can waves be discussed unless in termsof period, amplitude, frequency, and the like, that find definition insimple harmonic motion? How does one visualize the mechanism of a gas, unless by means of such ideas as momentum interchange, energyconservation, and forces of attraction?

Let us emphasize here, lest we be misunderstood, that we areconsidering collegiate courses. We do not doubt that descriptivephysics may be given after one fashion to farmers, quite differentlyto engineers, and from still a third point of view to medicalstudents. Unfortunately some collegiate courses never get beyond thehigh school method. Our aim is not to discuss descriptive courses, butthose that approach the subject with the spirit of critical analysis, for these alone do we deem worthy of a place in the collegecurriculum. 

=The course in college physics differentiated from the high school course=

The problem of the descriptive course is the problem of the highschool. Because of failure there, too often we see at many auniversity courses in subfreshman physics. These are made necessarywhere entrance requirements do not demand this subject and wheresubsequent interest along related lines develops among the students atardy necessity of getting it. From the point of view of thecollegiate course it often appears as if the subfreshman course couldbe raised to academic rank. This is because familiarity with thematerial must precede an analysis of it. Credit for high schoolphysics on the records of the entrance examiner, unless this credit isbased on entrance examination, is often found to stand for verylittle. Consequently the almost continual demand for the high schoolwork under the direct supervision of a collegiate faculty. The numberof students who should go into this course instead of the collegecourse is increasing at the present time in the immediate locality ofthe writer. 

As contributory testimony here, witness the number of colleges that donot take cognizance at all of high school preparation and admit to thesame college classes those who have never had preparatory physics withthose who have had it. We are told the difference between the twogroups is insignificant. Perhaps it is. If so, this fact reflects asmuch on the college as on the high school. If we are looking for asolution of our problem in this direction, let us be undeceived; weare looking backwards, not forward. 

=Need of adequate high school preparation in physics=

No one will affirm that to a class of whose numbers some have neverhad high school physics a course that is really analytical can begiven. Wherever a rigorous analytic course is given those who havebeen well trained in descriptive physics do well in it in general. Letus not beg the question by giving such physics in a college that doesnot require high school preparation. The college curriculum is fullenough as it is without duplication of high school work, and anycollege physics course that is a first course is essentially a highschool course. 

Let us rather put the responsibility squarely where it lies. The highschool will respond if the urgency is made clear. Witness some of themin our cities already attempting the junior college idea, an idea thathas not been unsuccessful in some of our private schools. If it ismade clear that a thoroughgoing course in descriptive physics is aparamount necessity in college work and that no effort will be sparedon the part of the university to insure this quality, the men will befound and the proper courses given. 

=Preparatory work in mathematics essential for success in college physics=

We favor a comprehensive examination plan in all cases where thequality of the high school work is either unknown or open to question. 

Familiarity, likewise, with the most elementary uses of mathematicsshould be insured. It would be highly desirable that a course ofcollegiate grade in trigonometry should immediately precede thephysics. This is not because the details of trigonometry are allneeded in physics. In fact, a few who have never had trigonometry makea conspicuous success in physics. These, however, are ones who have anatural facility in analysis. To keep them out because of failure tohave had a prerequisite course in trigonometry often works anunnecessary hardship. We would argue, therefore, for a formalprerequisite on this subject, reserving for certain studentsexemption, which should be determined in all cases, if not by theinstructor himself, at least by his coöperation with some advisoryadministrative officer. 

=Need of testing each student's preparation=

Nor is it sufficient with regard to the mathematical preparation orthe knowledge of high school physics in either case to go exclusivelyby the official credit record of the student. It is our firmconviction from several years' experience where widely different aimsin the student body are represented that above and beyond all formalrecords attention to the individual case is of prime importance. Theopening week of the course should be so conducted that those who areobviously unequipped can be located and directed elsewhere into theproper work. How this may best be accomplished can be determined onlyby the circumstances in the individual school, we imagine. Daily testscovering the simplest descriptive information that should be retainedfrom high school physics and requiring the intelligent use ofarithmetic, elementary algebra, and geometry will reveal amazingincapacity in these things. Tuttle, in his little book entitled _AnIntroduction to Laboratory Physics_ (Jefferson Laboratory of Physics, Philadelphia, 1915), gives on pages 15-16 an excellent list ofquestions of this sort. Any one with teaching experience in thesubject whatever can make up an equally good one suited for hisspecial needs and temperament. It should not be assumed that all whofail in such tests should be dropped. Some undoubtedly should be sentback to high school work or its equivalent; others may need double therequired work in mathematics to overcome their unreadiness in its use. Personal contacts will show that some are drifting into a scientificcourse who have no aptitude for it and who will be doomed todisappointment should they continue. In a word, then, we are convincedthat the more carefully one plans the work of the first week or so themore smoothly does the work of the rest of the year follow. The numberof failures may be reduced to a few per cent without in any wayrelaxing the standard of the course. 

=Methods of teaching college physics=

With regard to the organization of the college courses in physicsthere seems to us to be at least one method that leads to aconsiderable degree of success. This is not the lecture method ofinstruction; neither is it a wholly unmitigated laboratory method. 

=Lecture method vs. Laboratory method=

To kindle inspiration and enthusiasm nothing can equal the contact inlectures with others, preferably leaders in their profession, but atleast men who possess one of these qualities. Such contacts need notbe frequent; indeed, they should not be. The speaker is apt to makemore effort, the student to be more responsive, if such occasions arerelatively rare. Even thus, although real information is imparted atsuch a time, it is seldom acquired. However, perspective is furnished, interest stimulated, and the occasion enjoyed. 

=Limitations of exclusive use of each method=

For the real acquisition of scientific information, the great methodis the working out of a laboratory exercise and pertinent problems, with informal guidance in the atmosphere of active study anddiscussion engendered among a small group, --the laboratory method. Taken alone, it is apt to become mechanical and uninteresting and theoutlook to be obscured by details. Lectures, especially demonstrationlectures, are needed to vitalize and inspire. Moreover, many of themost vivid illustrations of physical principles that occur on everyhand to focus the popular attention are never met with in the collegecourse because they are unsuited for inexperienced hands or notreadily amenable to quantitative experimentation. The more informallysuch demonstrations can be conducted, the more enthusiastically theyare received. 

=Aims of the laboratory method=

With regard to laboratory work, accuracy in moderate degree isimportant, but too great insistence upon it is apt to overshadow thehigher aim; namely, that of the analysis of the phenomena themselves. A determination of the pressure coefficient of a gas to half a percent, accompanied by a clear visualization of the mechanism by which agas exerts a pressure and a usable identification of temperature withkinetic agitation, would seem preferable to an experimental error of atenth per cent which may be exacted which is unaccompanied by theseinspiring and rather modern points of view. Especially in electricityis a familiarity with the essentials of the modern theories important. Here supplementary lectures are of great necessity, for no textbookkeeps pace with progress in this tremendously important field. Problemsolving with class discussion is absolutely essential, and shouldoccupy at least one third of the entire time. In no other way can onebe convinced that the student is doing anything more than committingto memory, or blindly following directions with no reaction of hisown. 

=Value of the supplementary lecture=

The incorporation recently of this idea into the courses at theUniversity of Chicago has been very successful. Five sections whichare under different instructors are combined one day a week at an hourwhen there are no other university engagements, for a lecturedemonstration. This is given by a senior member of the staff wheneverpossible. The other meetings during the week are conducted by theindividual instructors and consist of two two-hour laboratory periodsand two class periods that usually run into somewhat over one houreach. These sections are limited to twenty-five, and a smaller numberthan this would be desirable. The responsibility for the course restsnaturally upon the individual instructors of these small sections. These men also share in the demonstration work, since each is usuallyan enthusiast in some particular field and will make a great effort inhis own specialty to give a successful popular presentation of theimportant ideas involved. The enthusiasm which this plan hasengendered is very great. Attendance is crowded and there is always arow of visitors, teachers of the vicinity, advanced students in otherfields of work, or undergraduates brought in by members of the class. These latter especially are encouraged, as this does much to offsetcurrent ideas that physics is a subject of unmitigated severity. Theparticular topics put into these demonstrations will be discussed inparagraphs below, which take up in more detail the organization of thespecial subdivisions of the material in a general physics course. 

=Mechanics a stumbling block--How to meet the difficulty=

Mechanics is a stumbling block at the outset. As we have indicatedabove, it must form the beginning of any course that is analytic inaim. There is no question of sidestepping the difficulty: it must besurmounted. A judicious weeding during the first week is the initialpart of the plan. Interest may be aroused at once in the demonstrationlectures by mechanical tricks that show apparent violations ofNewton's Laws. These group around the type of experiment which shows amodification of the natural uniform rectilinear motion of any objectby some hidden force, most often a concealed magnetic field. Theinstinctive adherence of every one to Newton's dynamic definition, that acceleration defies the ratio of force to inertia, is madeobvious by the amusement with which a trick in apparent defiance ofthis principle is greeted. Informality of discussion in suchexperiments, questions on the part of the instructor that are morethan rhetorical, and volunteer answers and comment from the classincrease the vividness of the impressions. A mechanical adaptation ofthe "monkey on the string" problem, using little electric hoists orclockworks, introduces interesting discussion of the third law inconjunction with the second. A toy cannon and target mounted on easilyrolling carriages bring in the similar ideas where impulses ratherthan forces alone can be measured. 

There follow, then, the laboratory experiments of the Atwood machineand the force table, where quantitative results are demanded. It isdesirable to have these experiments at least worked by the class inunison. Whatever may be the exigencies of numbers and apparatusequipment that prevent it later, these introductions should be givento and discussed by all together. In the nature of things, fortunately, this is possible. A single Atwood machine will givetraces for all in a short time under the guidance of the instructor. The force table experiment is nine-tenths calculation, andverifications may be made for a large number in a short time. Searching problems and discussion are instigated at once, and thenotion of rotational equilibrium and force moments brought in. Becauseof the very great difficulty seeming to attach to force resolutions, demonstration experiments and problems using a bridge structure, suchas the Harvard experimental truss, will amply repay the time invested. Another experiment here, which makes analysis of the practice ofweighing, is possible, although there will be divergence almost atonce due to the personality of the instructor and the equipment bywhich he finds himself limited. The early introduction of moments isimportant, however, because it seems as if a great amount ofunnecessary confusion on this topic is continually cropping out later. At this point, if limitations of apparatus present a difficulty, agroup of more or less independent experiments may be started. Ideas ofenergy may be illustrated in the determination of the efficiency andthe horse power of simple machines, such as water motors, pulleys, andeven small gas or steam engines. 

In discussion of power one should not forget that in practicalproblems one meets power as force times velocity rather morefrequently than as rate of doing work, and this aspect should beemphasized in the experiments. Conservation of energy is brought outin these same experiments with reference to the efficiencies involved. In sharp contrast here the principle of conservation of momentum maybe brought in by ballistic pendulum experiments involving elastic andinelastic impacts. Most students are unfamiliar with the applicationof these ideas to the determination of projectile velocities, and thisforms an interesting lecture demonstration. Elasticity likewise is atopic that may be introduced with more or less emphasis according tothe predilection of the instructor. The moduli of Young and of simplerigidity lend themselves readily to quantitative laboratoryexperiments. Any amount of interesting material may be culled herefrom recent investigations of Michelson, Bridgman, and others withregard to elastic limits, departures from the simple relations, variations with pressure, etc. , for a lantern or demonstration talk inthese connections. 

By this time the student should have found himself sufficientlyprepared to take up problems of rotational motion. The application ofNewton's Laws to pure rotations and combinations of rotation andtranslation, such as rolling motions, are very many. We wouldemphasize here the dynamic definition of moment of inertia, I = Fh/_a_rather than the one so frequently given importance for computationalpurposes, S_mr_^{2}. Quantitative experiments are furnishedby the rotational counterpart of the Atwood machine. Lecturedemonstrations for several talks abound: stability of spin about theaxis of greatest inertia, Kelvin's famous experiments with eggs andtops containing liquids, which suggest the gyroscopic ideas, andfinally a discussion of gyroscopes and their multitudinousapplications. The book of Crabtree, _Spinning Tops and theGyroscope_, and the several papers by Gray in the _Proceedings of thePhysical Society of London_, summarize a wealth of material. If onewishes to interject a parenthetical discussion of the Bernouilliprinciple, and the simplest laws of pressure distributions on planesurfaces moving through a resisting medium, a group of strikingdemonstrations is possible involving this notion, and by simplecombination of it with the precession of a rotating body the boomerangmay be brought in and its action for the major part given explanation. 

Rotational motion leads naturally to a discussion of centripetalforce, and this in turn is simple harmonic motion. This latter findsmost important applications in the pendulum experiments, and no end ofmaterial is here to be found in any of the textbooks. The greatestrefinement of experimentation for elementary purposes will be thedetermination of "g" by the method of coincidences between a simplependulum and the standard clock. Elementary analysis without use ofcalculus reaches its culmination in a discussion of forced vibrationssimilar to that used by Magie in his general text. Many will not careto go as far as this. Others will go farther and discuss Kater'spendulum and the small corrections needed for precision, for here doesprecision find bold expression. 

It is not our purpose to give a synopsis of the entire general physicscourse. We have made an especially detailed study of mechanics, because this topic is the one of greatest difficulty by far in thepedagogy. It is too formally given in the average text, and seems tohave suffered most of all from lack of imagination on the part ofinstructors. 

=Suggested content for the study of phenomena of heat and molecularphysics=

In the field of heat and molecular physics in general there is muchbetter textbook material. Experiments here may legitimately be calledprecise, for the gas laws, temperature coefficients, and densities ofgases and saturated vapor pressures will readily yield incomparatively inexperienced hands an accuracy of about one in athousand. In the demonstrations emphasis should be given to thevisualization of the kinetic theory points of view. Such models as theNorthrup visible molecule apparatus are very helpful. However, inabsence of funds for such elaboration, slides from imaginativedrawings showing to scale conditions in solids, liquids, and vaporswith average free paths indicated and the history of single moleculesdepicted will be found ideal in getting the visualization home to thestudent. Where we have a theory so completely established as themechanical theory of heat it seems quite fair to have recourse to theeye of the senses to aid the eye of the mind. Brownian movements havealready yielded up their dances to the motion picture camera. Need the"movies" be the only ones to profit by the animated cartoon?

Nor should the classical material be forgotten. Boys' experiments insoap bubbles have been the inspiration of generations of students ofcapillarity. And if the physicist will consult with the physiologicalchemist he will find a mass of material of which he never dreamedwhere these phenomena of surface tension enter in a most directfashion to leading questions in the life sciences. 

=The teacher of scholarship and understanding is the teacher who usessound methods=

Enough has been said to indicate what we consider the methods ofsuccessful teaching of college physics. It is quite obvious, we think, that physics constitutes no exception to the rule that the teachermust first of all know and understand his subject. Right here liesprobably nine tenths of the fault with our pedagogy. No amount ofstudy of method will yield such returns as the study of the subjectitself. The honest student, and every teacher should belong to thisclass or he has no claim to the name, is well aware that most of hisdeficiency in explaining a topic is in direct ratio to his own lack ofcomprehension of it. In physics, as in every other walk of life, wesuffer from lack of thoroughness, from a kind of superficiality thatis characteristically human but especially American. We have yet toknow of any one who really ranks as a scholar in his subject from whomstudents do not derive inspiration and enthusiasm. Such a one usuallypays little attention to the methods of others, for the divine fire ofknowledge itself does not need much of tinder to kindle the torchesof others. Our greatest plea is for our teachers to be men ofunderstanding, for then they will be found to be men of method. 

=The method of analysis dominant in physics=

The sequence in which heat, electricity, sound, and light followmechanics seems quite immaterial. Several equally logical plans may beorganized. Preference is usually accorded one or the other on thebasis of local conditions of equipment, and needs little reference topedagogy. If one gives to mechanics its proper importance, thedifficulty in giving instruction in the other topics seems very muchless. The momentum acquired seems to serve for the balance of theyear. Always must analysis be insisted upon, if our college course isgoing to differ from that of the high school. If we are to letstudents be content to read current from an ammeter with a calibratedscale and not have the interest to inquire and the ambition to insistupon the knowledge of how that calibration was originally made, wehave no right to claim any collegiate rank for our courses. But if wedefine electrical current in terms of mechanical force which exhibitsa balanced couple on a system in rotational equilibrium, there can beno dodging of the issue, for in no other way than by the study of themechanics of the situation can the content and the limitations of ourdefinition be understood. Any college work, so called, that does lessthan analyze thus is nothing more than a review and amplification ofthe material that should be within the range of the high schoolstudent and in that place presented to him. The first college coursereveals a different method, the method of analysis. Science at thepresent time is so far developed that in no branch is progress made bymere description and classification. The method of analysis isdominant in the biological and the earth sciences as well as in thephysics and chemistry of today. 

=Teaching of advanced courses in physics=

On the more advanced college courses which follow the general physicscourse little comment is needed. Problems and questions here alsoexist, but they have a strongly local color and are out of place in ageneral discussion. The student body is no longer composed of therank and file, half of whom are driven, by some requirement or other, into work in which they have but a passing interest at best. It is nolonger a problem of seeing how much can be made to adhere in spite ofindifference, of how firm a foundation can be prepared for needs asyet unrecognized in the subject of the effort. A very limited number, comparatively, enter further work of senior college courses, and thesehave either enthusiasm or ability and often both. Of course, a coldneglect or bored indifference in the attitude of the teacher will beresented. It will kill enthusiasm and send ability seeking inspirationelsewhere. But any one who is fond of his subject, and of moderateability and industry, should have no difficulty in developing seniorcollege work. If our instructor in the general course must be ascholar to be successful, the man in more advanced work must be one _afortiori_. If he is not, few who come in contact with him have solittle discernment as to fail to recognize the fact. 

=Organization of advanced courses=

Organization of senior college work may be in many ways. One methodwhere an institution follows the quarter system is the plan of havingeight or ten different and rather unrelated twelve-week major courseswhich may be taken in almost any order. Half of these are lecturecourses, the other half exclusively laboratory courses. There shouldbe a correspondence of material to some extent between the two. Lectures on the kinetic theory of gases should have a parallel coursein which the classical experiments of the senior heat laboratory areperformed, --such experiments, for example, as vapor density, resistance and thermocouple pyrometry, bomb calorimetry viscosity, molecular conductivity, freezing and boiling points, recalescence, etc. A course of advanced electrical measurements should have aparallel lecture course in which the theoretical aspects ofelectromagnetism, the classical theories, and the equations thatrepresent transitory and equilibrium conditions in complex circuitsare discussed. In optics, likewise, there is ample material of greatimportance: physical, geometrical optics, spectroscopy, photography, X-ray crystallography, etc. The advanced student in these fields findsmore elasticity and opportunity for cultivating a special interest inhaving a large number of limited interest courses from which to choosethan in having such material presented in a completely organizedcourse covering one or two years of complete work. Instructors who arespecialists have opportunity of working up courses in their own fieldswhich they do more efficiently under this plan. Research begins atinnumerable places along the way, and the senior college courses soorganized are the feeders of all graduate work. 

=Dangers of formalizing methods of instruction=

In all of the above discussion it should be clearly remembered that nosingle plan or no one particular method has the final word or everwill have. As long as a science is growing and unfinished, points ofview will continually be shifting. We are largely orthodox in ourteaching. If brought up on the laboratory method of instruction it mayseem the best one for us, but others may prefer another way which theyhave inherited. Let us appeal, then, for a constructive orthodoxy. Letus be as teachers of a subject to which we are devoted, truly andsincerely open-minded, quick to recognize and sincere in our effortsto adopt what is better wherever we meet it: waiting not to meet it, either, but going out to seek it. From the humblest college to thegreatest university we shall find it here and there. Not alone inschools but in the legion of human activities about us on every handare people who are doing things more efficiently, more thoroughly, andmore skillfully than we do things. If we would be of the number thatlead, we must be among the first to recognize these facts and profitby them. 

First, let our work be organized with respect to that of others--thehigh schools; not discounting their labor but having them truly buildfor us. 

Second, let us be open-minded enough to see that all methods ofinstruction have their advantages and make such combinations of thebest elements in each as best suit our purpose. 

Above all things, let us know our subject. Here is a task before whichwe quail in this generation of vast vistas. But there is noalternative for us. No amount of method will remove the curse of thesuperficially informed. Let us devote ourselves to smaller fields ifwe must, but let us not tolerate ignorance among those who bear theburden of passing on, with its flame ever more consuming, the torch ofknowledge. 

 HARVEY B. LEMON _University of Chicago_

VII

THE TEACHING OF GEOLOGY

=Values of the study of geology diverse=

So wide is the scope of the science of the earth, so varied is itssubject matter, and so diverse are the mental activities called forthin its pursuit, that its function in collegiate training cannot besummed up in an introductory phrase or two. Geology is so compositethat it is better fitted to serve a related group of educationalpurposes than a single one alone. Besides this, these possibleservices have not yet become so familiar that they can be broughtvividly to mind by an apt word or phrase; they need elaboration andexposition to be valued at what they are really worth. Geology is yeta young science and still growing, and as in the case of a growingboy, to know what it was a few years ago is not to know what it istoday. Its disciplines take on a realistic phase in the main, but yetin some aspects appeal powerfully to the imagination. Its subjectmatter forms a constitutional history of our planet and itsinhabitants, but yet largely wears a descriptive or a dynamic garb. 

=Geology a study of the process of evolution=

Though basally historical, a large part of the literature of geologyis concerned with the description of rocks, structural features, geologic terrains, surface configurations and their modes of formationand means of identification. A notable part of the text prepared forcollege students relates primarily to phenomena and processes, leavingthe history of the earth to follow later in a seemingly secondary way. This has its defense in a desire first to make clear the modes of thegeologic processes, to the end that the parts played by theseprocesses in the complexities of actions that make up the historicalstages may be better realized. This has the effect, however, of givingthe impression that geology is primarily a study of rocks androck-forming processes, and this impression is confirmed by the greatmass of descriptive literature that has sprung almost necessarilyfrom the task of delineating such a multitude of formations beforetrying to interpret their modes of origin or to assign them theirplaces in the history of the earth. The descriptive details are theindispensable data of a sound history, and they have in additionspecific values independent of their service as historical data. Butinto the multiplicity and complexity of the details of structure andof process, the average college student can wisely enter to a limitedextent only, except as they form types, or appear in the local fieldswhich he studies, where they serve as concrete examples ofworld-forming processes. 

=Disciplinary worth of study of geology=

The study of these structures, formations, configurations, andprocesses yields each its own special phase of discipline and its ownmeasure of information. The work takes on various chemical, mechanical, and biological aspects. As a means of discipline it callsfor keenness and diligence in observation, circumspection ininference, a judicial balancing of factors in interpretation. Anactive use of the scientific imagination is called forth in followingformations to inaccessible depths or beneath areas where they areconcealed from view. 

While thus the study of structures, formations and configurationsconstitutes the most obtrusive phase of geologic study and has giventrend to pedagogical opinion respecting its place in a college course, such study is not, in the opinion of the writer, the foremost functionof the subject in a college curriculum that is designed to be reallybroad, basal, and free, in contradistinction to one that is tied to aspecific vocational purpose. 

=This study concerned primarily with the typical college course, notwith vocational courses=

While we recognize, with full sympathy, that the subject matter ofgeology enters vitally into certain vocational and prevocationalcourses, and, in such relations, calls for special selections ofmaterial and an appropriate handling, if it is to fulfill thesepurposes effectively, this seems to us aside from the purpose of thisdiscussion, which centers on typical college training--training whichis liberal in the cosmic sense, not merely from the homocentric pointof view. 

=Knowledge of geology contributes to a truly liberal education=

To subserve these broader purposes, geology is to be studiedcomprehensively as the evolution of the earth and its inhabitants. Theearth in itself is to be regarded as an organism and as thefoster-parent of a great series of organisms that sprang into beingand pursued their careers in the contact zones between its rigid bodyand its fluidal envelopes. These contact zones are, in a specialsense, the province of geography in both its physical and its bioticaspects. The evolution of the biotic and the psychic worlds in thesehorizons is an essential part of the history of the whole, for eachfactor has reacted powerfully on the others. An appreciative grasp ofthese great evolutions, and of their relations to one another, isessential to a really broad view of the world of which we are a part;it is scarcely less than an essential factor in a modern liberaleducation. 

=Geology embraces all the great evolutions=

Let us agree, then, at the outset, that a true study of the career ofthe earth is not adequately compassed by a mere tracing of itsinorganic history or an elucidation of its physical structure andmineral content, but that it embraces as well all the great evolutionsfostered within the earth's mantles in the course of its career. 

Greatest among these fostered evolutions, from the homocentric pointof view, are the living, the sentient, and the thinking kingdoms thathave grown up with the later phases of the physical evolution. It doesnot militate against this view that each of these kingdoms is, initself, the subject of special sciences, and that these, in turn, envelop a multitude of sub-sciences, for that is true of everycomprehensive unit. Nor is it inconsistent with this larger view ofthe scope of geology that it is, itself, often given a much narrowerdefinition, as already implied. In its broader sense, geology is anenveloping science, surveying, in a broad historical way, manysubjects that call for intensive study under more special sciences, just as human history sweeps comprehensively over a broad fieldcultivated more intensively by special humanistic sciences. In acomprehensive study of the earth as an organism, it is essential thatthere be embraced a sufficient consideration of all the vital factorsthat entered into its history to give these their due place and theirtrue value among the agencies that contributed to its evolution. Atrue biography of the earth can no more be regarded as completewithout the biotic and psychic elements that sprang forth from it, orwere fostered within its mantles, than can the biography of a humanbeing be complete with a mere sketch of his physical frame and bodilygrowth. The physical and biological evolutions are well recognized asessential parts of earth history. Although the mental evolutions haveemerged gradually with the biological evolutions, and have run more orless nearly parallel with them--have, indeed, been a working part ofthem--they have been less fully and frankly recognized as elements ofgeological history. They have been rather scantily treated in theliterature of the subject; but they are, none the less, a vital partof the great history. They have found some recognition, though muchtoo meager, in the more comprehensive and philosophical treatises onearth-science. It may be safely prophesied that the later and higherevolutions that grace our planet will be more adequately emphasized asthe science grows into its full maturity and comes into its true placeamong the sciences. It is important to emphasize this here, since itis preëminently the function of a liberal college course to giveprecedence to the comprehensive and the essential, both in itsselection of its subject matter and in its treatment of what itselects. It is the function of a liberal course of study to bring thatwhich is broad and basal and vital into relief, and to set it overagainst that which is limited, special, and technical, howevervaluable the latter may be in vocational training and in economicapplication. 

=Physical and dynamic boundaries of geology--Implications for teaching=

In view of these considerations--and frankly recognizing theinadequacies of current treatment--let us note, before we go further, what are the physical and dynamic boundaries of the geologic field, that we may the better see how that field merges into the domains ofother sciences. This will the better prepare us to realize the natureof the disciplines for which earth-science forms a suitable basis, aswell as the types of intellectual furniture it yields to the mind. Obviously these disciplines and this substance of thought shoulddetermine the place of the science in the curriculum of any coursethat assumes the task of giving a broad and liberal education. 

Earth-science is the domestic chapter of celestial science. Our planetis but a modest unit among the great celestial assemblage of worlds;but, modest as it is, it is that unit about which we have by far thefullest and most reliable knowledge. The earth not only furnishes thephysical baseline of celestial observation, but supplies all theappliances by which inquiry penetrates the depths of the heavens. Notalone earth-science, as such, but several of the intensive sciencesbrought into being through the intellectual evolutions that haveattended the later history of the earth, have been prerequisites tothe development of the broad science of the outer heavens. The scienceof the lower heavens is a factor of earth-science in the definition weare just about to give. At the same time, the whole earth, includingthe lower heavens, is enveloped by the more comprehensive domain ofcelestial science. 

If we seek the most logical limit that may be assigned the realm ofearth-science, as distinguished from that of celestial science, ofwhich it is the home unit, it may be found at that borderline _withinwhich_ any passive body obeys the call of the earth, as against thecall of the outer worlds, and _without which_ such a passive bodyobeys the call of the outer worlds, the call of the sun in particular. This limit is the _dynamic dividing line_ between the kingdom of theearth and the kingdom of the outer heavens. This boundary, accordingto Moulton, incloses a spheroid whose minimum radius is about 620, 000miles, and whose maximum radius is about 930, 000 miles. We may, then, conveniently say that the earth's sphere of control stretches out amillion kilometers from its center and that this defines its truerealm. At the same time, this defines the logical limit of the earth'sultra-atmosphere and appears to mark a zone of exchange between theultra-atmosphere of the earth and the ultra-atmosphere of the sun. Itthus appears to imply the place and the mode of an exchange of vitalelements upon which probably hangs the wonderful maintenance of theearth's atmosphere for many millions of years and the equallywonderful regulation of the essential qualities of the atmosphere sothat these have always remained within the narrow range subservient toterrestrial life. It is needless to add that this regulation alsoconditions the present intellectual status of the thinking factoramong the inhabitants of the earth out of which--may I be pardoned forsaying?--has grown the present educational discussion. 

If this last shall seem to squint toward special pleading, let it beconsidered that, as we see things, it is precisely those views thattake hold of the issues upon which our very being and all itsactivities depend, that serve best to train youth to broad views andpenetrating thought. Such thinking seems to me to form the veryessence of a really liberal education. 

Not only is this definition of the sphere of geology comprehensive, but it has the special merit of being _dynamic_, rather than material. Such a dynamic definition comports with the view that earth-studyshould center on the forces and energies that actuated its evolution, since these are the most vital feature of the evolution itself. It isimportant to form adequate concepts of the energies that havemaintained the past ongoings of the earth not only, but that stillmaintain its present activities and predetermine its future. It is thestudy of the forces and the processes of past and of presentevolutions that constitute the soul of the science, rather than theapparently fixed and passive aspects of the earth's formations andconfigurations which are but the products of the processes that havegone before. Even the apparent passiveness of the geologic products isillusive, for they are in reality expressions of continued internalactivities of an intense, though occult, order. These escape noticelargely because they are balanced against one another in a system ofequilibrium which pervades them and gives them the appearance offixity. To serve their proper functions as sources of highereducation, the concepts of the constitution of the earth shouldpenetrate even to these refined aspects of physical organization andshould bring the whole into harmony with the most advanced views ofthe real nature of physical organisms. This removes from the wholeterrestrial organism every similitude of inertness and gives it afundamental refinement, activity, and potency of the highest order. Toform a true and consistent concept, the enveloping earth-science mustbe assumed to embrace, potentially at least, the essentials of allthat was evolved within it and from it, with, of course, duerecognition of what was added from without. 

_The history of the earth should therefore be taught in collegecourses as a succession of complex dynamic events, great in the pastand great in future potentialities. _

The formations and configurations left by the successive phases ofaction are to be studied primarily as the vestiges of the processesthat gave them birth, and hence as their historic credentials. Theyare to be looked upon less as the vital things in themselves, than asthe _record_ of the events of the time and as the forerunners of thesubsequent events that may be potential in them. And so, primarily, the geologic records are to be scrutinized to find _the deepermeanings which they embody_, whether such meanings lie in thephysical, the biological, or the psychological world. 

=Geology the means of developing scientific imagination of time and space=

Turning to specific phases of the subject, it may first be noted thatgeology is singularly suited to develop clear visions of vaststretches of time; it opens broad visions of the panorama of worldevents, a panorama still passing before us. While the celestial orderof things no doubt involves greater lapses of time, these are not soeasily realized, for they are not so well filled in with a successionof records of the passing stages that make up the whole. But even thelapses of geologic time are greater than immature minds can readilygrasp; however, their _powers of realization_ are greatly strengthenedby studying so protracted a record, built up stage upon stage. Thevery slowness with which the geologic record was made, as well as theevidences of slowness in each part of the record, help to draw out anappreciation of the immensity of the whole. The round period coveredby the more legible range of the geologic record rises to the order ofa hundred million years, perhaps to several hundred million years. Thelarge view of history which this implies has already come to form theample background on which are projected the concepts of the broaderclass of thinkers; such largeness of view will quite surely be held tobe an indispensable prerequisite to the still broader thinking of thefuture for which the better order of students are now preparing. 

While this is preëminently true of the concept of time, the concept ofspace is fairly well cultivated by geologic study, though far lesseffectively than is done by astronomical study. Astronomy and geologywork happily together in contributing to largeness of thought. 

The study of the origin and early history of the earth brings thestudent into touch with the most far-reaching problems that have thusfar called forth the intellectual efforts of man. If rightly handled, these great themes may be made to teach the true method of inquiryinto past natural events whose vastness puts them quite beyond theresources of the laboratory. This method finds its key in a search forthe history of such vast and remote events by a scrutiny of thevestiges these events have left as their own automatic record. Thismethod stands in sharp contradistinction to simple speculation withoutsuch search for talismanic vestiges, a discredited method which is toooften supposed to be the only way of dealing with such themes. To bereally competent in the field of larger and deeper thinking, everycourageous mind should be able to cross the threshold of any of theprofound problems of the universe with safe and circumspect steps, however certain it may be that only a slight measure of penetration ofthe problem may be attainable. A well-ordered mind will remain at oncecomplacent and wholesome when brought to the limit of its effort bythe limit of evidence. The problem of the origin of celestial worlds, of which the genesis of the earth is the theme of largest humaninterest, is admirably suited to give college students at once amodest sense of their limitations and a wholesome attitude towardproblems of the vaster type. Without having acquired the power to makeprudent and duly controlled excursions into the vaster fields ofthought, the mind can scarcely be said to have been liberalized. 

=Geology a means of training in thinking in scientific experiences=

From the very outset, the tracing of the earth history forces acomprehensive study of the co-workings of the three dominant states ofmatter massively embodied in the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, and thelithosphere, the great terrestrial triumvirate. The strata of theearth are the joint products of these three elements and constitutetheir lithographic record. These three coöperating and contendingelements not only bring into view the three typical phases of physicalaction, but they present this action in such titanic aspects as toforce the young mind to think along large lines, with the greatadvantage that these actions are controlled by determinate laws, whilethe causes and the results are both tangible and impressive. 

While there is a large class of tangible and determinate problems ofthis kind, embracing shiftings of matter on the earth's surface, distortions of strata, and changes of bodily form, there are alsoproblems of a more hidden nature such as internal mutations. Thesegive rise to mathematical, physical, and chemical inquiries while atthe same time they call into play the use of the scientificimagination and are thus rich in the possibilities of training. Thusin varied ways geological work joins hands with chemical, physical, mechanical, and mathematical work. 

When life first appears in the record, there is occasion to raise theprofound question of its origin, and with this arises a closelyrelated question as to the nature of the conditions that invited life, which leads on to the further question, what fostered the developmentof life throughout its long history? While the obscurity of theearliest record leaves the question of origin indeterminate for thepresent, duly guarded thought upon the subject should foster awholesome spirit toward inquiry in this vital line as well as ahospitable attitude toward whatever solution may finally await us. Inall such studies the student should be invited to look to _thevestiges left automatically by the process itself_ for the answer, andhe should learn to accept the teachings of evidence precisely as itpresents itself. So also when a problem is, for the present, indeterminate, it is peculiarly wholesome for the inquirer to learn torest the case where the light of evidence fails, and to be complacentin such suspension of judgment and to wait further light patiently inserene confidence that the vestiges left by the actuating agencies intheir constructive processes are the surest index of the ultimatetruth and are likely to be sooner or later detected and read truly. 

=Relation of geology to botany, zoölogy, psychology, and sociology=

In the successive records of past life impressed on strata piled oneupon another until they form the great paleontologic register, thereis an ample and a solid basis for the study of the historic evolutionof life. With this also go evidences of the conditions that attendedthis life progress and that gave trend to it. This record of therelations of life to the environing physical conditions forms one ofthe most stimulating fields of study that can engage the student whoseeks light on the great problems of biological progress. Here geologyjoins hands with botany and zoölogy in a mutual helpfulness that isscarcely less than indispensable to each. 

Following, or perhaps immediately attending, the introduction ofphysiological life, there appeared signs of sentient life. Thepreservation of certain of the sense organs, taken together with thecollateral evidences of sense action, as early as Cambrian times, furnish the groundwork for a historical study of the progress ofsentient life, eventuating in the higher forms of mental life. Herethe problems of geology run hand in hand with the problems ofpsychology. The limitations of the evidence bearing on psychologicalphenomena, while regrettable, are not without some compensation inthat they center the attention on the simpler aspects of theprotracted deployment of the psychological functions. 

In addition to the clear evidences of psychic action, in at least itselementary forms, there appeared early in the stratigraphic recordsintimations of some of the relationships that sentient beings thenbore to one another; and this relationship gives occasion to study theprimitive aspects of sociological phenomena. If nothing more islearned than the important lesson that sociology is not a thing oftoday, not an untried realm inviting all kinds of ill-digestedprojects, but on the contrary is a field of vast and instructivehistory, the gain will not be inconsiderable. There are intimations ofthe early existence and effective activity of those affections thatprecede and that cluster about the parental relationship, the nucleusof the most vital of all the sociological relationships. In contrastto the affections, there are distinct evidences of antagonisticrelations, of pursuit and capture, of attack and defense; there weretools of warfare and devices for protection. In time, a wide-rangingseries of experiments, so to speak, were tried to secure advantage, toavoid suffering, to escape death, and to preserve the species. Therewere even suggestions of the cruder forms of government. The manystages in the evolution of the various devices, as well as the stagesof their abandonment, that followed one another in the course of theages recorded the results of a multitude of efforts at sociologicaladjustment. They raise the question whether a common set of guidingprinciples does not underlie all such relationships, earlier andlater, whatever their rank in our scale of valuation. And so thisgreat field of inquiry--too narrowly regarded as merelyhumanistic--comes into view early in the history of the earth. Thegeological and the sociological sciences find in it common workingground. If the geologic and the humanistic sciences are given eachtheir widest interpretation and their freest application, theadvantage cannot be other than mutual. 

It is perhaps not too much to say that studies in the physiological, the psychological, the sociological, and the allied fields necessarilylack completeness if they do not bring into their purview the data oftheir common historical record traced as far back as it is found tocontain intimations of their actual extension. 

It is customary to speak of the geologic ages as though they werewholly past; they are, indeed, chiefly past as the record now stands, but time runs on and earth history continues; the processes of thepast are still active, and they are likely to work on far into thefuture. And so geologic study links itself fundamentally into all suchpresent terrestrial interests as take hold of the distant future. Theforecast of the earth's endurance, attended by conditions congenial tolife and to the mental and moral activities, hinges on a sound insightinto the great actuating forces inherent in the earth, together withthose likely to come into play from the celestial environment. Allhuman interests, in so far as they are dependent on a protractedfuture, center in the prognosis of the earth based on its present andits past. The latest phases of geologic doctrine prophesy a longfuture habitability of the earth. They thus give meaning and emphasisto the deeper purposes sought in all the higher endeavors, not theleast of which is education, particularly those phases of educationthat lead to effects which may be handed down from age to age. 

=Standard for selecting subject matter for the general college course:select fundamentals or that which bears on fundamentals=

Out of all this vast physical, biological, and psychological history, the things to be selected for substance of thought and for service inmental training in a college course are, first of all, those that areeither fundamental in themselves, or that have vital bearings on whatis fundamental. These are chiefly the great dynamic factors, theagencies that gave trend to the master events, the forces thatactuated the basal processes by which the vast results were attained. The material formations and the surficial configurations that resultedare to be duly considered, to be sure, for they form the basis ofinterpretation and they are, besides, the repositories of economicvalues of indispensable worth; but, as already urged, in a course ofintellectual training, these are to be regarded rather as the relicsof the great agencies and the proofs of their actions, than as themost vital subjects of study, which are the agencies themselves. Asalready remarked, the geologic formations are to be treated rather asthe credentials of the potencies that reside in the earth organism, than as the vital things themselves. The vestiges of creation and thefootprints of historical progress embody the soul of the subject; theyconstitute the chief source of inspiration to those who aspire tothink in large, deep ways of really great things. It is of littlevalue, from the viewpoint of liberal culture, to know that there is acertain succession of sandstones, shales, and limestones; thatprofessional convention has given them certain names, more or lessinfelicitous in derivation and in phonic quality; but it is of vitalconsequence to learn how and why these relics of former processes cameto be left as they were left, and thus came to be witnesses to thehistory of the far past. It was a wise thing, no doubt, that thefathers of geology strongly insisted that there should be a rigorousand rather literal adhesion to the terrestrial record in all earthstudies, because in those times of transition from the loose, more orless fantastic thought that marked the adolescent stage of the humanrace, it was imperative that students should stick close to theimmediate evidence of what had transpired, and should withholdthemselves from much enlargement of view based on the less tangibleevidences; but at the present stage, when the general nature of theearth's history has been firmly established, it would be an error onthe part of those who seek for the most liberalizing and broadeningvalues of the science, to treat the record merely as a materialregister of immediate import only, to the neglect of the less tangiblebut more vital teachings immanent in its great forces and processes. The seeker of liberal culture should direct his attention to the greatevents, and, above all, to the larger and deeper meanings implied bythese events. 

And so--may I be pardoned for reëmphasizing?--the teacher of geologywhose essential purpose is liberal training, leading to broad and firmknowledge and to sound processes of thought, will critically observethe distinction between geology taught appropriately from thecollegiate point of view, and geology taught specifically from theprofessional and technical points of view. In these latter, specificdetails in specific lines are important, and may even be essential, but it is the function of the college teacher of geology _to select_from the great mass of material of the science such factors as arebasal, vital, and talismanic. He will give these emphasis, while heneglects the multitude of details that lack significance as workingelements or as landmarks of progress, whatever their value in otherrelations. This selection is equally important, whether applied to thegreat physical processes that have shaped the earth into its presentconfiguration, or to the great chemical and mineralogical processesthat have determined its texture and its structure, or to the greatbiological and psychological processes that have given trend to thedevelopment of its inhabitants. 

Even if the undergraduate course in geology is pursued less for thepurpose of liberal culture than as a means of preparing for aprofessional career as an economic geologist, no essential departurefrom an effort to master first the basal features and the broaderaspects of the science, especially the dynamic aspects, is to beadvised. The shortest road to _declared success_ in professional andeconomic geology lies through the early mastery of its fundamentals. No doubt immediate and apparent success may often be sooner reached bya narrower and shallower study of such special phases of the subjectas happen just now to be most obviously related to the existing stateof the industries; but industrial demands are constantlychanging--indeed, at present, rather rapidly--and new aspects followone another in close succession. These new aspects almost inevitablyspring from the more basal factors as these rise into function withthe progress of experience or the stress of new demands. Those whohave sought only the immediate and the superficial, at the expense ofthe basal, and especially those who have neglected to acquire _thepower and the disposition to search out the fundamentals_, are quitesure to be left among the unfortunates who trail behind; they arelittle likely to be found among those who lead at the times whenleadership counts. In the judgment of those master minds that lead inaffairs and that take large and penetrating views, the lines alongwhich the most vital contributions to economic interests are beingmade connect closely with basal studies of the actuating agencies thatcondition great enterprises. In the judgment of the writer, it is afalse view to suppose that any short, superficial study of so vast asubject as the constitution and history of the earth can result ineconomic competency. In so far as time for study is limited, it shouldbe concentrated on the great underlying factors that constitute theessentials of the science. It is here assumed that men who care totake a college course at all are seeking for a large success and areambitious for a high personal career. If they look ultimately toprofessional work in economic lines, they may safely be advised thatthe straight road to declared success lies in a search for the vitalforces, the critical agencies, and the profound principles that makefor great results, not along the by-paths whose winding, superficialcourses are turned hither and thither by adventitious conditions whosevery nature invites distrust rather than confidence. 

=Evaluations of methods of teaching=

Turning to some of the more formal phases of treatment, three types ofwork are presented: (1) the use of nature's laboratory, the worlditself, (2) the use of the college collections and laboratories, and(3) the use of the literature of the subject. 

(1) Fortunately, there is no place on the face of the earth wherethere is not some natural material for geologic study, for even in themost artificialized locations geological processes are active. Incrowded cities these processes may be easily overlooked, but yet theyare susceptible of effective use. Within easy access from almost everycollege site there are serviceable fields of study, and these, in anylive course, will be assiduously cultivated. They may be relativelymodest in their phenomena; they may seem to lack that impressivenesswhich has played so large a part in the popular notion of the contentof geology, but they may nevertheless serve as most excellent traininggrounds for young geologists. If students are so situated as to bebrought at the beginning of study under the influence of veryimpressive displays of geologic phenomena--precipitous mountains, rugged cliffs, deep cañons, and the like--there is danger that theirmental habits may become diffusive rather than close and keen; theemotions may be called forth in wonder rather than turned into zest inthe search for evidence. If students are to be trained to diligence ininquiry and to the highest virility in inference and interpretation, it is perhaps fortunate for them if they are located where only modestrecords of geological processes are presented for study. In suchregions they are more likely to be led to scrutinize the field keenly, sharply, and diligently for data on which to build theirinterpretations. The scientific use of their imaginations is all thebetter trained if, in their endeavor to build up a consistent conceptof the whole structure that underlies their field, they are forced toproject their inferences from a few out-crops far beneath the cover ofthe adjacent mantle that shuts off direct vision. Few teachers have, therefore, any real occasion to long for richer fields than thoseaccessible to them, if they have the tact to render these fertile instimulus and suggestion. 

(2) Laboratory work upon the material collected in the field work, aswell as laboratory work upon the college collections, are essentialadjuncts. Ample provisions for this supplementary work, however modestthe appointments, are important and can usually be secured byingenuity and diligence in spite of financial limitations. 

Both field and laboratory work should be well correlated with oneanother and with the systematic work on the text that guides thestudy, so that each shall whet the edge of the other and all togetheraccomplish what neither could alone. 

(3) The text selected should be such as lends itself, in some notabledegree at least, to the general purposes set forth above. It should besupplemented, so far as may be, by judicious assignments for readingand for special study. Lectures may be made a valuable aid to thediscussions of the classroom, but with college classes they can rarelybe made an advantageous substitute for the discussions. Lecturing, sofar as used, is best woven informally into the classroom discussions. Supplementary lecturettes may be advised if they are of such aninformal sort that they may almost unconsciously take their start fromany vital point encountered in the course of discussion, may run on asfar as the occasion invites, and may then give way again to thediscussion with the utmost informality. Such little participations inthe work of the classroom, on the part of the teacher, are likely tobe cordially welcomed. At the same time, if well done, they will setan excellent example in the presentative art as also in an aptorganization of thought. 

=Organization of courses=

If the stated course in earth-science is limited to the junior andsenior year by the existing requirements of the curriculum of theinstitution or by the rulings of its officers--as is not uncommonlythe case at present--it is relatively immaterial whether the sectionsof the course are marshaled under the single name "geology" or whetherthey are given separate titles as sub-sciences, provided the specialsubjects are arranged in logical sequence and in consecutive order. If, on the other hand, the teacher's choice of time and relations isfreer, the more accessible phases of earth study, now well organizedunder the name of "physiography, " form an excellent course for eitherfreshmen or sophomores. It opens their minds to a world of interestingactivities about them which have probably been largely overlooked inprevious years. It gives them substance of thought that will be ofmuch service in the pursuit of other sciences. It has been found thatit is not without rather notable service to young students as thebasis of efforts in the art of literary presentation, a felicity towhich teachers of this important art frequently give emphatictestimony. The secret seems to lie in the fact that physiography givesvaried and vivid material susceptible of literary presentation, whilethe fixed qualities of the subject matter control the choice of termsand the mode of expression. 

If geography and physiography are given in the earlier years, thecourse in historical geology, as well as the study of the moredifficult phases of geological processes, of the principles of dynamicgeology, together with mineralogy, petrology, and paleontology, maybest fall into the later years, even if some interval separates themfrom the geography and physiography. 

One hundred and twenty classroom hours, or their equivalent inlaboratory and field work, are perhaps to be regarded as theirreducible minimum in a well-balanced undergraduate course, whiletwice that time or more is required to give a notably strong collegecourse in earth-science. 

A consideration of the sequences among the geological sub-subjects, asalso among the subjects that are held to be preliminary to theearth-sciences, is important, but it would lead us too far intodetails which depend more or less on local conditions. In theexperience of American teachers it appears to have been foundadvisable to put geological processes and typical phenomena to thefront and to take up geological history afterwards. The earlier methodof taking up the history first, beginning with recent stages andworking backward down the ages, --once in vogue abroad, --has beenabandoned in this country. It was the order in which the science wasdeveloped and it had the advantage of starting with the living presentand with the most accessible formations, but this latter advantage issecured by studying the living processes, as such, first, and turningto the history later. This permits the study of the history in itsnatural order, which seems better to call forth the relations ofcause and effect and to give emphasis to the influence of inheritedconditions. 

Respecting antecedents to the study, the more knowledge of physics, chemistry, zoölogy, and botany, the better, but it is easy toover-stress the necessity for such preparation, however logical it mayseem, for in reality all the natural sciences are so interwoven that, in strict logic, a complete knowledge of all the others should be hadbefore any one is begun, a _reductio ad absurdum_. The sciences havebeen developed more or less contemporaneously and progressively, eachhelping on the others. They may be pursued much in the same way, or byalternations in which each prior study favors the sequent one. Theymay even be taken in a seemingly illogical order without seriousdisadvantage, for the alternative advantages and other considerationsmay outweigh the force of the logical order, which is at best onlypartially logical. It is of prime importance to stimulate in studentsa habit of observing natural phenomena at an early age. It may be wisefor a student to take up physiography, or its equivalent, early in thecollege course, irrespective of an ideal preparation in the relatedsciences. It is unfortunate to defer such study to a stage when thestudent's natural aptitude for observation and inference has becomedulled by neglect or by confinement to subjects devoid of naturalisticstimulus. To permit students to take up earth-science in the freshmanand sophomore years, even without the ideal preparation, is thereforeprobably wiser than to defer the study beyond the age ofresponsiveness to the touch of the natural environment. The geographicand geologic environment conditioned the mental evolution of the race. It left an inherited impress on the perceptive and emotional nature, only to be awakened most felicitously, it would seem, at about the ageat which the naturalistic phases of the youth's mentality wereoriginally called into their most intense exercise. 

 T. C. CHAMBERLIN _The University of Chicago_

VIII

THE TEACHING OF MATHEMATICS

=Recent changes and some of their sources=

In recent years the teaching of mathematics has undergone remarkablechanges in many countries, both as regards method and as regardscontent. With respect to college mathematics these changes have beenevidenced by a growing emphasis on applications and on the historicsetting of the various questions. To understand one direct source ofthese changes it is only necessary to recall the fact that in about1880 there began a steady stream of American mathematical students toEurope, especially to Germany. Most of these students entered thefaculties of our colleges and universities on their return to AmericaIt is therefore of great importance to inquire what mathematicalsituation served to inspire these students. 

The German mathematical developments of the greater part of thenineteenth century exhibited a growing tendency to disregardapplications. It was not until about 1890 that a strong movement wasinaugurated to lay more stress on applied mathematics in Germany. [3]Our early American students therefore brought with them from Germany adecided tendency toward investigations in mathematical fields remotefrom direct contact with applications to other scientific subjects, such as physics and astronomy, which had so largely dominatedmathematical investigations in earlier years. 

This picture would, however, be very incomplete without exhibitinganother factor of a similar type working in our own midst. J. J. Sylvester was selected as the first professor of mathematics at JohnsHopkins University, which opened its doors in 1876 and began at onceto wield a powerful influence in starting young men in higherresearch. Sylvester's own investigations related mainly to the formaland abstract side of mathematics. Moreover, "he was a poor teacherwith an imperfect knowledge of mathematical literature. He possessed, however, an extraordinary personality; and had in remarkable degreethe gift of imparting enthusiasm, a quality of no small value inpioneer days such as these were with us. "[4]

=Influence of researches in mathematics on methods of teaching=

Mathematical research was practically introduced into the Americancolleges during the last quarter of the nineteenth century, and thewave of enthusiasm which attended this introduction was unfortunatelynot sufficiently tempered by emphasis on good teaching and breadth ofknowledge, especially as regards applications. In fact, the leadingmathematician in America during the early part of this period wasglaringly weak along these lines. By means of his bountiful enthusiasmhe was able to do a large amount of good for the selected band ofgifted students who attended his lectures, but some of these were notso fortunate in securing the type of students who are helped more bythe direct enthusiasm of their teacher than by the indirect enthusiasmresulting from good teaching. 

The need of good mathematical teaching in our colleges anduniversities began to become more pronounced at about the time thatthe wave of research enthusiasm set in, as a result of the growingemphasis on technical education which exhibited itself mostemphatically in the development of the schools of engineering. Whilethe student who is specially interested in mathematics may be willingto get along with a teacher whose enthusiasm for the new and generalleads him to neglect to emphasize essential details in thepresentation, the average engineering student insists on clearness inpresentation and usability of the results. As the latter student doesnot expect to become a mathematical specialist, he is naturally muchmore interested in good teaching than in the mathematical reputationof his teacher, even if his reputation is not an entirelyinsignificant factor for him. 

During the last decade of the nineteenth century and the first decadeof the present century the mathematical departments of our collegesand universities faced an unusually serious situation as a result ofthe conditions just noted. The new wave of research enthusiasm wasstill in its youthful vigor and in its youthful mood ofinconsiderateness as regards some of the most important factors. Onthe other hand, many of the departments of engineering had becomestrong and were therefore able to secure the type of teaching suitedto their needs. In a number of institutions this led to the breakingup of the mathematical department into two or more separatedepartments aiming to meet special needs. 

In view of the fact that the mathematical needs of these variousclasses of students have so much in common, leading mathematiciansviewed with much concern this tendency to disrupt many of the strongerdepartments. Hence the question of good teaching forced itself rapidlyto the front. It was commonly recognized that the students of puremathematics profit by a study of various applications of the theoriesunder consideration, and that the students who expect to work alongspecial technical lines gain by getting broad and comprehensive viewsof the fundamental mathematical questions involved. Moreover, it wasalso recognized that the investigational work of the instructors wouldgain by the broader scholarship secured through greater emphasis onapplications and the historic setting of the various problems underconsideration. 

To these fundamental elements relating to the improvement of collegeteaching there should perhaps be added one arising from therecognition of the fact that the number of men possessing excellentmathematical research ability was much smaller than the number ofpositions in the mathematical departments of our colleges anduniversities. The publication of inferior research results is ofquestionable value. On the other hand, many who could have doneexcellent work as teachers by devoting most of their energies to thiswork became partial failures both as teachers and as investigatorsthrough their ambition to excel in the latter direction. 

=Range of subjects and preparation of students=

It should be emphasized that the college and university teachers ofmathematics have to deal with a wide range of subjects and conditions, especially where graduate work is carried on. Advanced graduatestudents have needs which differ widely from those of the freshmen whoaim to become engineers. This wide range of conditions calls forunusual adaptability on the part of the college and universityteacher. This range is much wider than that which confronts theteachers in the high school, and the lack of sufficient adaptabilityon the part of some of the college teachers is probably responsiblefor the common impression that some of the poorest mathematicalteaching is done in the colleges. It is doubtless equally true thatsome of the very best mathematical teaching is to be found in theseinstitutions. 

In some of the colleges there has been a tendency to diminish theindividual range of mathematical teaching by explicitly separating theundergraduate work and the more advanced work. For instance, in JohnsHopkins University, L. S. Hulburt was appointed "Professor ofCollegiate Mathematics" in 1897, with the understanding that he shoulddevote himself to the interests of the undergraduates. In many of thelarger universities the younger members of the department usuallyteach only undergraduate courses, while some of the older membersdevote either all or most of their time to the advanced work; butthere is no uniformity in this direction, and the present conditionsare often unsatisfactory. 

The undergraduate courses in mathematics in the American colleges anduniversities differ considerably. The normal beginning courses nowpresuppose a year of geometry and a year and a half of algebra inaddition to the elementary courses in arithmetic, but much higherrequirements are sometimes imposed, especially for engineeringcourses. In recent years several of the largest universities havereduced the minimum admission requirement in algebra to one year'swork, but students entering with this minimum preparation aresometimes not allowed to proceed with the regular mathematical classesin the university. 

=Variety of college courses in mathematics=

Freshmen courses in mathematics differ widely, but the most commonsubjects are advanced algebra, plane trigonometry, and solid geometry. The most common subjects of a somewhat more advanced type are planeanalytic geometry, differential and integral calculus, and sphericaltrigonometry. Beyond these courses there is much less uniformity, especially in those institutions which aim to complete a well-roundedundergraduate mathematical course rather than to prepare for graduatework. Among the most common subjects beyond those already named aredifferential equations, theory of equations, solid analytic geometry, and mechanics. 

A very important element affecting the mathematical courses in recentyears is the rapid improvement in the training of our teachers in thesecondary schools. This has led to the rapid introduction of courseswhich aim to lead up to broad views in regard to the fundamentalsubjects. In particular, courses relating to the historicaldevelopment of concepts involved therein are receiving more and moreattention. Indirect historical sources have become much more plentifulin recent years through the publication of various translations ofancient works and through the publication of extensive historicalnotes in the _Encyclopédie des Sciences Mathématiques_ and in otherless extensive works of reference. 

The problem presented by those who are preparing to teach mathematicsmay at first appear to differ widely from that presented by those whoexpect to become engineers. The latter are mostly interested inobtaining from their mathematical courses a powerful equipment fordoing things, while the former take more interest in thosedevelopments which illumine and clarify the elements of their subject. Hence the prospective teacher and the prospective engineer mightappear to have conflicting mathematical interests. As a matter offact, these interests are not conflicting. The prospective teacher isgreatly benefited by the emphasis on the serviceableness ofmathematics, and the prospective engineer finds that the generalityand clarity of view sought by the prospective teacher is equallyhelpful to him in dealing with new applications. Hence these twoclasses of students can well afford to pursue many of the earlymathematical courses together, while the finishing courses shouldusually be different. 

The rapidly growing interest in statistical methods and in insurance, pensions, and investments has naturally directed special attention tothe underlying mathematical theories, especially to the theory ofprobability. Some institutions have organized special mathematicalcourses relating to these subjects and have thus extended stillfurther the range of undergraduate subjects covered by themathematical departments. The rapidly growing emphasis on collegeeducation specially adapted to the needs of the prospective businessman has recently led to a greater emphasis on some of these subjectsin several institutions. 

The range of mathematical subjects suited for graduate students isunlimited, but it is commonly assumed to be desirable that thegraduate student should pursue at least one general course in each oneof broader subjects such as the theory of numbers, higher algebra, theory of functions, and projective geometry, before he begins tospecialize along a particular line. It is usually taken for grantedthat the undergraduate courses in mathematics should not presuppose aknowledge of any language besides English, but graduate work in thissubject cannot be successfully pursued in many cases without a readingknowledge of the three other great mathematical languages; viz. , French, German, and Italian. Hence the study of graduate mathematicsnecessarily presupposes some linguistic training in addition to anacquaintance with the elements of fundamental mathematical subjects. 

Historical studies make especially large linguistic demands in casethese studies are not largely restricted to predigested material. Thisis particularly true as regards the older historical material. In thestudy of contemporary mathematical history the linguisticprerequisites are about the same as those relating to the study ofother modern mathematical subjects. With the rapid spread ofmathematical research activity during recent years there has come agrowing need of more extensive linguistic attainments on the part ofthose mathematicians who strive to keep in touch with progress alongvarious lines. For instance, a thriving Spanish national mathematicalsociety was organized in 1911 at Madrid, Spain, and in March, 1916, anew mathematical journal entitled _Revista de Matematicas_ was startedat Buenos Aires, Argentine Republic. Hence a knowledge of Spanish isbecoming more useful to the mathematical student. Similar activitieshave recently been inaugurated in other countries. 

=History of college mathematics=

Until about the beginning of the nineteenth century the courses incollege mathematics did not usually presuppose a mathematicalfoundation carefully prepared for a superstructure. According to M. Gebhardt, the function of teaching elementary mathematics in Germanywas assumed by the gymnasiums during the years from 1810 to 1830. [5]Before this time the German universities usually gave instruction inthe most elementary mathematical subjects. In our own country, YaleUniversity instituted a mathematical entrance requirement under thetitle of arithmetic as early as 1745, but at Harvard University nomathematics was required for admission before 1803. 

On the other hand, _L'Ecole Polytechnique_ of Paris, which occupies aprominent place in the history of college mathematics, had very highadmission requirements in mathematics from the start. According to alaw enacted in 1795, the candidates for admission were required topass an examination in arithmetic; in algebra, including the solutionof equations of the first four degrees and the theory of series; andin geometry, including trigonometry, the applications of algebra togeometry, and conic sections. [6] It should be noted that theserequirements are more extensive than the usual present mathematicalrequirements of our leading universities and technical schools, but_L'Ecole Polytechnique_ laid special emphasis on mathematics andphysics and became the world's prototype of strong technicalinstitutions. 

The influence of _L'Ecole Polytechnique_ was greatly augmented by thepublication of a regular periodical entitled _Journal de l'EcolePolytechnique_, which was started in 1795 and is still beingpublished. A number of the courses of lectures delivered at _L'EcolePolytechnique_ and at _L'Ecole Normale_ appeared in the early volumesof this journal. The fact that some of these courses were given bysuch eminent mathematicians as J. L. Lagrange, G. Monge, and P. S. Laplace is sufficient guarantee of their great value and of their goodinfluence on the later textbooks along similar lines. In particular, it may be noted that G. Monge gave the first course in descriptivegeometry at _L'Ecole Normale_ in 1795, and he was also for a number ofyears one of the most influential teachers at _L'Ecole Polytechnique_. 

A most fundamental element in the history of college mathematics isthe broadening of the scope of the college work. As long as collegestudents were composed almost entirely of prospective preachers, lawyers, and physicians, there was comparatively little interest takenin mathematics. It is true that the mental disciplinary value ofmathematics was emphasized by many, but this supposed value did notput any real life into mathematical work. The dead abstract reasoningsof Euclid's _Elements_, or even the number speculations of the ancientPythagoreans, were enough to satisfy most of those who were looking tomathematics as a subject suitable for mental gymnastics. 

On the other hand, when the colleges began to train men for otherlines of work, when the applications of steam led to big enterprises, like the building of railroads and large ocean steamers, mathematicsbecame a living subject whose great direct usefulness in practicalaffairs began to be commonly recognized. Moreover, it became apparentthat there was great need of mathematical growth, since mathematicswas no longer to be used merely as mental Indian clubs or dumb-bells, where a limited assortment would answer all practical needs, but as animplement of mental penetration into the infinitude of barriers whichhave checked progress along various lines and seem to require aninfinite variety of methods of penetration. 

The American colleges were naturally somewhat slower than some ofthose of Europe in adapting themselves to the changed conditions, butthe rapidity of the changes in our country may be inferred from thefact that in the first half of the nineteenth century Harvard placedin comparatively short succession three mathematical subjects on itslist of entrance requirements; viz. , arithmetic in 1802, algebra in1820, and geometry in 1844. Although Harvard had not established anymathematical admission requirements for more than a century and a halfafter its opening, she initiated three such requirements within half acentury. It is interesting to note that for at least ninety years fromthe opening of Harvard, arithmetic was taught during the senior yearas one of the finishing subjects of a college education. [7]

The passage of some of the subjects of elementary mathematics from thecolleges to the secondary schools raised two very fundamentalquestions. The first of these concerned mostly the secondary schools, since it involved an adaptation to the needs of younger students ofthe more or less crystallized textbook material which came to themfrom the colleges. The second of these questions affected the collegesonly, since it involved the selection of proper material to base uponthe foundations laid by the secondary schools. It is natural that theinfluence of the colleges should have been somewhat harmful withrespect to the secondary schools, since the interests of the formerseemed to be best met by restricting most of the energies of thesecondary teachers of mathematics to the thorough drilling of theirstudents in dexterous formal manipulations of algebraic symbols andthe demonstration of fundamental abstract theorems of geometry. 

=Relation of mathematics in secondary schools and college=

Students who come to college with a solid and broad foundation butwithout any knowledge of the superstructure can readily be inspiredand enthused by the erection of a beautiful superstructure on afoundation laid mostly underground, with little direct evidence of itsvalue or importance. The injustice and shortsightedness of thetendency to restrict the secondary schools to such foundation workwould not have been so apparent if the majority of the secondaryschool students would have entered college. As a matter of fact ittended to bring secondary mathematics into disrepute and thus tothreaten college mathematics at its very foundation. It is only inrecent years that strong efforts have been made to correct this veryserious mathematical situation. 

Much progress has been made toward the saner view of letting secondarymathematics build its little structure into the air with some view toharmony and proportion, and of requiring college mathematics to build_on_ as well as _upon_ the work done by the secondary schools. Thefruitful and vivifying notions of function, derivative, and group areslowly making their way into secondary mathematics, and the graphicmethods have introduced some of the charms of analytic geometry intothe same field. 

This transformation is naturally affecting college mathematics mostprofoundly. The tedious work of building foundations in collegemathematics is becoming more imperative. The use of the rock drill isforcing itself more and more on the college teacher accustomed to useonly hammer and saw. As we are just entering upon this situation, itis too early to prophesy anything in regard to its permanency, but itseems likely that the secondary teachers will no more assume a yokewhich some of the college teachers would so gladly have them bear andwhich they bore a long time with a view to serving the interests ofthe latter teachers. 

As many of the textbooks used by secondary teachers are written bycollege men, and as the success of these teachers is often gauged bythe success of their students who happen to go to college, it iseasily seen that there is a serious temptation on the part of thesecondary teacher to look at his work through the eyes of the collegeteacher. The recent organizations which bring together the college andthe secondary teachers have already exerted a very wholesome influenceand have tended to exhibit the fact that the success of the collegeteacher of mathematics is very intimately connected with that of theteachers of secondary mathematics. 

While it is difficult to determine the most important single event inthe history of college teaching in America, there are few events inthis history which seem to deserve such a distinction more than theorganization of the Mathematical Association of America which waseffected in December, 1915. This association aims especially topromote the interests of mathematics in the collegiate field and itpublishes a journal entitled _The American Mathematical Monthly_, containing many expository articles of special interest to teachers. It also holds regular meetings and has organized various sections soas to enable its members to attend meetings without incurring theexpense of long trips. Its first four presidents were E. R. Hedrick, Florian Cajori, E. V. Huntington, and H. E. Slaught. 

An event which has perhaps affected the very vitals of mathematicalteaching in America still more is the founding of the AmericanMathematical Society in 1888, called the New York Mathematical Societyuntil 1894. Through its _Bulletin_ and _Transactions_, as well asthrough its meetings and colloquia lectures, this society has stoodfor inspiration and deep mathematical interest without which collegeteaching will degenerate into an art. During the first thirty years ofits history it has had as presidents the following: J. H. Van Amringe, Emory McClintock, G. W. Hill, Simon Newcomb, R. S. Woodward, E. H. Moore, T. S. Fiske, W. F. Osgood, H. S. White, Maxime Böcher, H. B. Fine, E. B. Van Vleck, E. W. Brown, L. E. Dickson, and Frank Morley. 

=Aims of college mathematics: methods of teaching=

The aims of college mathematics can perhaps be most clearly understoodby recalling the fact that mathematics constitutes a kind ofintellectual shorthand and that many of the newer developments in alarge number of the sciences tend toward pure mathematics. Inparticular, "there is a constant tendency for mathematical physics tobe absorbed in pure mathematics. "[8] As sciences grow, they tend torequire more and more the strong methods of intellectual penetrationprovided by pure mathematics. 

The principal modern aim of college mathematics is not the training ofthe mind, but the providing of information which is absolutelynecessary to those who seek to work most efficiently along variousscientific lines. Mathematical knowledge rather than mathematicaldiscipline is the main modern objective in the college courses inmathematics. As this knowledge must be in a usable form, itsacquisition is naturally attended by mental discipline, but theknowledge is absolutely needed and would have to be acquired even ifthe process of acquisition were not attended by a development ofintellectual power. 

The fact that practically all of the college mathematics of theeighteenth century has been gradually taken over by the secondaryschools of today might lead some to question the wisdom of replacingthis earlier mathematics by more advanced subjects. In particular, thequestion might arise whether the college mathematics of today is notsuperfluous. This question has been partially answered by thepreceding general observations. The rapid scientific advances of thepast century have increased the mathematical needs very rapidly. Theadvances in college mathematics which have been made possible by theimprovements of the secondary schools have scarcely kept up with thegrowth of these needs, so that the current mathematical needs cannotbe as fully provided for by the modern college as the recognizedmathematical needs of the eighteenth century were provided for by thecolleges of those days. 

There appears to be no upper limit to the amount of usefulmathematics, and hence the aim of the college must be to supply themathematical needs of the students to the greatest possible extentunder the circumstances. In order to supply these needs in the mosteconomical manner, it seems necessary that some of them should besupplied before they are fully appreciated on the part of the student. The first steps in many scientific subjects do not call formathematical considerations and the student frequently does not gobeyond these first steps in his college days, but he needs to go muchfurther later in life. College mathematics should prepare for liferather than for college days only, and hence arises the desirabilityof deeper mathematical penetration than appears directly necessary forcollege work. 

=Advanced work in college mathematics=

Another reason for more advanced mathematics than seems to be directlyneeded by the student is that the more advanced subjects inmathematics are a kind of applied mathematics relative to the moreelementary ones, and the former subjects serve to throw much light onthe latter. In other words, the student who desires to understand anelementary subject completely should study more advanced subjectswhich are connected therewith, since such a study is usually moreeffective than the repeated review of the elementary subject. Inparticular, many students secure a better understanding of algebraduring their course in calculus than during the course in algebraitself, and a course in differential equations will throw new light onthe course in calculus. Hence college mathematics usually aims tocover a rather wide range of subjects in a comparatively short time. 

Since mathematics is largely the language of advanced science, especially of astronomy, physics, and engineering, one of theprominent aims of college mathematics should be to keep in close touchwith the other sciences. That is, the idea of rendering direct andefficient services to other departments should animate themathematical department more deeply than any other department of theuniversity. The tendency toward disintegration to which we referredabove has forcefully directed attention to the great need ofemphasizing this aspect of our subject, since such disintegration isnaturally accompanied by a weakening of mathematical vigor. It may benoted that such a disintegration would mean a reverting to primitiveconditions, since some of the older works treated mathematics merelyas a chapter of astronomy. This was done, for instance, in some of theancient treatises of the Hindus. 

=Mathematics and technical education=

The great increase in college students during recent years and thegrowing emphasis on college activities outside of the work connectedwith the classroom, especially on those relating to college athletics, would doubtless have left college mathematics in a woefully neglectedstate if there had not been a rapidly growing interest in technicaleducation, especially in engineering subjects, at the same time. Navalengineering was one of the first scientific subjects to exert a stronginfluence on popularizing mathematics. In particular, the teaching ofmathematics in the Russian schools supported by the government beganwith the founding of the government school for mathematics andnavigation at Moscow in 1701. It is interesting to note that theearlier Russian schools established by the clergy after the adoptionof Christianity in that country did not provide for the teaching ofany arithmetic whatever, notwithstanding the usefulness of arithmeticfor the computing of various dates in the church calendar, for landsurveying, and for the ordinary business transactions. [9]

The direct aims in the teaching of college mathematics have naturallybeen somewhat affected by the needs of the engineering students, whoconstitute in many of our leading institutions a large majority in themathematical classes. These students are usually expected to receivemore drill in actual numerical work than is demanded by those who seekmainly a deeper penetration into the various mathematical theories. The most successful methods of teaching the former students have muchin common with those usually employed in the high schools and areknown as the recitation and problem-solving methods. They involve thecorrection and direct supervision of a large number of gradedexercises worked out by the students on the blackboard or on paper, and aim to overcome the peculiar difficulties of the individualstudents. 

The lecture method, on the other hand, aims to exhibit the main factsin a clear light and to leave to the student the task of supplyingfurther illustrative examples and of reconsidering the various steps. The purely lecture method does not seem to be well adapted to Americanconditions, and it is frequently combined with what is commonly knownas the "quiz. " The quiz seems to be an American institution, althoughit has much in common with a species of the French "conference. " It isintended to review the content of a set of lectures by means ofdiscussions in which the students and the teacher participate, and itis most commonly employed in connection with the courses of anadvanced undergraduate or of a beginning graduate grade. 

A prominent aim in graduate courses is to lead the student as rapidlyas possible to the boundary of knowledge along the particular lineconsidered therein. While some of the developments in such courses areapt to be somewhat special or to be too general to have much meaning, their novelty frequently adds a sufficiently strong element ofinterest to more than compensate losses in other directions. Moreover, the student who aims to do research work will thus be enabled toconsider various fields as regards their attractiveness for prolongedinvestigations of his own. 

=Preparation of the college teacher of mathematics. =

The fact that the college teacher has need of much more mathematicalknowledge than he can possibly secure during the period of hispreparation, especially if he expects to take an active part inresearch and in directing graduate work, has usually led to theassumption that the future teacher of college mathematics shoulddevote all his energies to securing a deep mathematical insight and awide range of mathematical knowledge. [10] On the other hand, studentsprepared in accord with this assumption have frequently found it verydifficult to adapt themselves to the needs of large freshman classesof engineering students entering upon the duties for which they weresupposed to have been prepared. 

The breadth of view and the sweep of abstraction needed for effectivegraduate work have little in common with accuracy in numerical workand emphasis on details which are so essential to the youngengineering students. The difficulty of the situation is increased bythe fact that the young instructor is often led to believe that hisadvancement and the appreciation of his services are directlyproportional to his achievements in investigations of a high order. This belief naturally leads many to begrudge the time and thoughtwhich their teaching duties should normally receive. 

The young college teacher of mathematics is thus confronted with amuch more complex situation than that which confronts the mathematicsteachers in secondary school work. Here the success in the classroomis the one great goal, and the mathematical knowledge required iscomparatively very modest. Possibly the situation of the collegeteacher could be materially improved if it were understood that hisfirst promotion would be mainly dependent upon his success as ateacher, but that later promotions involved the element of productivescholarship in an increasing ratio. 

The schools of education which have in recent years been establishedin most of our leading universities have thus far had only a slightinfluence on the preparation of the college teachers, but it seemslikely that this influence will increase as the needs of professionaltraining become better known. It is probably true that the ratio ofcourses on methods to courses on knowledge of the subject will alwaysbe largest for the elementary teacher, in view of the great differencebetween the mental maturity of the student and the teacher, somewhatless for the secondary teacher and least for the college teacher; butthis least should not be zero, as is so frequently the case at present, since there usually is even here a considerable difference between themathematical maturity of the student and that of the teacher. 

It may be argued that the future college teacher will probably profitmore by noting the methods employed by his instructors than he wouldby the theoretic discussions relating to methods. This is doubtlesstrue, but it does not prove that the latter discussions are withoutvalue. On the other hand, these discussions will often serve to fixmore attention on the former methods and will lead the student to notemore accurately their import and probable adaptability to the needs ofthe younger students. 

Among the useful features for the training of the future mathematicsteachers are the mathematical clubs which are connected with most ofthe active mathematical departments. In many cases, at least, two suchclubs are maintained, the one being devoted largely to thepresentation of research work while the other aims to provideopportunities for the presentation of papers of special interest tothe students. The latter papers are often presented by graduatestudents or by advanced undergraduates, and they offer a splendidopportunity for such students to acquire effective and clear methodsof presentation. The same desirable end is often promoted by reportsgiven by students in seminars or in advanced courses. 

Prominent factors in the training of the future college teachers arethe teaching scholarships or fellowships and the assistantships. Manyof the larger universities provide a number of positions of thistype. It sometimes happens that the teaching duties connected withthese positions are so heavy as to leave too little energy forvigorous graduate work. On the other hand, these positions have madeit possible for many to continue their graduate studies longer thanthey could otherwise have done and at the same time to acquire soundhabits of teaching while in close contact with men of proved abilityalong this line. 

It should be emphasized that the ideal college teacher of mathematicsis not the one who acquires a respectable fund of mathematicalknowledge which he passes along to his students, but the one imbuedwith an abiding interest in learning more and more about his subjectas long as life lasts. This interest naturally soon forces him toconduct researches where progress usually is slow and uncertain. Research work should be animated by the desire for more knowledge andnot by the desire for publication. In fact, only those new resultsshould be published which are likely to be helpful to others instarting at a more favorable point in their efforts to secureintellectual mastery over certain important problems. 

Half a century ago it was commonly assumed that graduation from a goodcollege implied enough training to enter upon the duties of a collegeteacher, but this view has been practically abandoned, at least asregards the college teacher of mathematics. The normal preparation isnow commonly placed three years later, and the Ph. D. Degree is usuallyregarded to be evidence of this normal preparation. This degree issupposed by many to imply that its possessor has reached a stage wherehe can do independent research work and direct students who seeksimilar degrees. In view of the fact that in America as well as inGermany the student often receives much direct assistance whileworking on his Ph. D. Thesis, this supposition is frequently not inaccord with the facts. [11]

The emphasis on the Ph. D. Degree for college teachers has in manycases led to an improvement in ideals, but in some other cases it hashad the opposite effect. Too many possessors of this degree have beenable to count on it as accepted evidence of scientific attainments, while they allowed themselves to become absorbed in non-scientificmatters, especially in administrative details. Professors ofmathematics in our colleges have been called on to shoulder an unusualamount of the administrative work, and many men of fine ability andscholarship have thus been hindered from entering actively intoresearch work. Conditions have, however, improved rapidly in recentyears, and it is becoming better known that the productive collegeteacher needs all his energies for scientific work; and in no field isthis more emphatically true than in mathematics. Some departmentaladministrative duties will doubtless always devolve upon themathematics teachers. By a careful division of these duties they neednot interfere seriously with the main work of the various teachers. 

=The mathematical textbook=

The American teachers of mathematics follow the textbook more closelythan is customary in Germany, for instance. Among college teachersthere is a wide difference of view in regard to the suitable use ofthe textbook. While some use it simply for the purpose of providingillustrative examples and do not expect the student to begin anysubject by a study of the presentation found in the textbook, thereare others who expect the normal student to secure all the neededassistance from the textbook and who employ the class periods mainlyfor the purpose of teaching the students how to use the textbook mosteffectively. The practice of most teachers falls between these twoextremes, and, as a rule, the textbook is followed less and lessclosely as the student advances in his work. In fact, in many advancedcourses no particular textbook is followed. In such courses theprincipal results and the exercises are often dictated by the teacheror furnished by means of mimeographed notes. 

The close adherence to the textbook is apt to cultivate the habit onthe part of the student of trying to understand what the author meantinstead of confining his attention to trying to understand thesubject. In view of the fact that the American secondary mathematicsteachers usually follow textbooks so slavishly, the college teacher ofmathematics who believes in emphasizing the subject rather than thetextbook often meets with considerable difficulty with the beginningclasses. On the other hand, it is clear that as the student advanceshe should be encouraged to seek information from all available sourcesinstead of from one particular book only. The rapid improvement in ourlibrary facilities makes this attitude especially desirable. 

An advantage of the textbook is that it is limited in all directions, while the subject itself is of indefinite extent. In the textbook thesubject has been pressed into a linear sequence, while its naturalform usually exhibits various dimensions. The textbook presents thosephases about which there is usually no doubt, while the subject itselfexhibits limitations of knowledge in many directions. From these fewcharacteristics it is evident that the study of textbooks is apt tocultivate a different attitude and a different point of view fromthose cultivated by the unhampered study of subjects. The latter are, however, the ones which correspond to the actual world and whichtherefore should receive more and more emphasis as the mental visionof the student can be enlarged. 

The number of different available college mathematical textbooks onthe subjects usually studied by the large classes of engineeringstudents has increased rapidly in recent years. On the other hand, thenumber of suitable textbooks for the more advanced classes is oftenvery limited. In fact, it is often found desirable to use textbookswritten in some foreign language, especially in French, German, orItalian, for such courses. This procedure has the advantage that ithelps to cultivate a better reading knowledge of these languages, which is in itself a very worthy end for the advanced student ofmathematics. This procedure has, however, become less necessary inrecent years in view of the publication of various excellent advancedworks in the English language. 

The greatest mathematical treasure is constituted by the periodicliteratures, and the larger colleges and universities aim to havecomplete sets of the leading mathematical periodicals available fortheir students. This literature has been made more accessible by thepublication of various catalogues, such as the _Subject Index_, VolumeI, published by the Royal Society of London in 1908, and the volumes"A" of the annual publications entitled _International Catalogue ofScientific Literature_. All students who have access to largelibraries should learn how to utilize this great store of mathematicallore whenever mathematical questions present themselves to them intheir scientific work. This is especially true as regards those whospecialize along mathematical lines. 

In some of the colleges and universities general informational coursesalong mathematical lines have been organized under different names, such as history of mathematics, synoptic course, fundamental concepts, cultural course, etc. Several books have recently been prepared with aview to meeting the needs of textbooks for such courses. Collegeteachers of mathematics usually find it difficult to interest theirstudents sufficiently in the current periodic literature, and one ofthe greatest problems of the college teacher is to instill such abroad interest in mathematics that the student will seek mathematicalknowledge in all available sources instead of confining himself to thestudy of a few textbooks or the work of a particular school. 

 G. A. MILLER _University of Illinois_

REFERENCES

For articles on the teaching of mathematics which appeared during thenineteenth century, consult 0050 _Pedagogy_ in the _Royal SocietyIndex_, Vol. I, Pure Mathematics, 1908. For literature appearingduring the first twelve years of the present century the reader mayconsult the _Bibliography of the Teaching of Mathematics_, 1900-1912, by D. E. Smith and Charles Goldziher, published by the United StatesBureau of Education, Bulletin, 1912, No. 29. More recent literaturemay be found by consulting annual indexes, such as the _InternationalCatalogue of Scientific Literature_, A, Mathematics, under 0050, and_Revue Semestrielle des Publications Mathématiques_, under V 1. Thevolumes of the international review entitled _L'EnseignementMathématique_, founded in 1899, contain a large number of articlesrelating to college teaching. This subject will be treated in theclosing volumes of the large French and German mathematicalencyclopedias in course of publication. 

Footnotes:

[3] P. Zühlke. _Zeitschrift für Mathematischen undNaturwissenschuftlichen Unterricht_, Vol. 45 (1915), page 483. 

[4] Committee No. XII, American Report of the International Commissionon the Teaching of Mathematics, 1912, page 9. 

[5] _Internationale Mathematische Unterrichtskomission_, Vol. 3, No. 6(1912), page 2. 

[6] _Journal de l'Ecole Polytechnique_, Vol. 1 (1896), part 4, page lx. 

[7] F. Cajori, _Teaching and History of Mathematics in the UnitedStates_, 1890, page 22. 

[8] A. E. H. Love, _Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society_, Vol. 14 (1915), page 183. 

[9] V. V. Bobynin, _L'Enseignement Mathématique_, Vol. 1 (1899), page 78. 

[10] The Training of Teachers of Mathematics, 1917, by R. C. Archibald. Bulletin No. 27, 1917, United States Bureau of Education. 

[11] Cf. M. Bôcher, _Science_, Vol. 38 (1913), page 546. 

IX

PHYSICAL EDUCATION IN THE COLLEGE

=Lessons for physical education from the world war=

The events of the four years between the summer of 1914 and the winterof 1918 have brought us to a full realization of the real significanceof physical education in the training of youth. America and her allieshave had very dramatic reasons for regretting their carelessindifference to the welfare of childhood and youth in former years. Only yesterday, we were told that the great war would be won by thecountry that could furnish the last man or fight for the last quarterof an hour. America and her allies looked with a new and fearfulconcern upon the army of young men who were found physically unfit formilitary service. 

With the danger of war past, there is no lack of evidence that we andour allies will make practical application of this particular lesson. It will be fortunate indeed if the enlightened people of the earth arereally permanently awake to the importance of the physical educationof their citizens-in-the-making. 

Governmental agencies have already started the movement to guaranteeto the coming generation more extensive and more scientific physicaleducation. Public and private institutions are joining forces so thatthe advantages of this extended program of physical education will beenjoyed by the young men and young women in industry and commerce aswell as by those in schools and colleges. 

It is to be hoped that the American college will do its full share andneglect no reasonable measure whereby the college graduate may bedeveloped into the vigorous and healthy human being that the mentallytrained ought to be. It must be admitted that our findings by themilitary draft boards, as well as other evidences secured throughphysical examinations, are not such as to make the American collegeproud of the quality or the extent of physical education which it hasgiven in the past. We must express our keen disappointment at theprevalence of under-development, remediable defects, and unachievedphysical and functional possibilities in our college graduates. 

=Aims of physical education=

Physical training is concerned with the achievement and theconservation of human health. It has to do with conditioning the humanbeing for the exigencies of life in peace or in war. Its standards arenot set by a degree of health which merely enables the individual tokeep out of bed, eat three meals a day, and run no abnormaltemperature. Physical training is concerned with developing vigorous, enduring health that is based upon the perfect function, coördination, and integration of every organ of the human body; health that is notfound wanting at the military draft; health that meets all itscommunity obligations; health that is not affected by diseases ofdecay; and health that resists infection and postpones preventabledeath. 

=Formulations of aims and scope of physical education in officialdocuments--By Regents of the State of New York=

Official statements and information from reliable sources indicatethat physical education and hygiene and physical training are regardedby authorities as covering about the same general field. The generalplan and syllabus for physical training adopted by the Regents of theUniversity of the State of New York in 1916 interprets physicaltraining as covering "(1) Individual health examinations and personalhealth instruction (medical inspection); (2) instruction concerningthe care of the body and the important facts of hygiene (recitationsin hygiene); (3) physical examinations as a health habit, includinggymnastics, elementary marching, and organized, supervised play, recreation, and athletics. "

=By national committee on physical education=

In March of 1918 a National Committee on Physical Education, formed ofrepresentatives from twenty or more national organizations, adoptedthe following resolutions:

 I. That a comprehensive, thoroughgoing program of health education and physical education is absolutely needed for all boys and girls of elementary and secondary school age, both rural and urban, in every state in the Union. 

 II. That legislation, similar in purpose and scope to the provisions and requirements in the laws recently enacted in California, New York State, and New Jersey, is desirable in every state, to provide authorization and support for state-wide programs in the health and physical education field. 

 III. That the United States Bureau of Education should be empowered by law, and provided with sufficient appropriations, to exert adequate influence and supervision in relation to a nationwide program of instruction in health and physical education. 

 IV. That it seems most desirable that Congress should give recognition to this vital and neglected phase of education, with a bill and appropriation similar in purpose and scope to the Smith-Hughes Law, to give sanction, leadership, and support to a national program of health and physical education; and to encourage, standardize, and, in part, finance the practical program of constructive work that should be undertaken in every state. 

 V. That federal recognition, supervision, and support are urgently needed, as the effective means, under the Constitution, to secure that universal training of boys and girls in health and physical fitness which are equally essential to efficiency of all citizens both in peace and in war. 

=By five national organizations=

In December, 1918, five national organizations, assembled in regularannual meeting, adopted resolutions which read in part as follows:

 First: That this Society shall make every reasonable effort to influence the Congress of the United States and the legislatures of our various states to enact laws providing for the effective physical education of all children of all ages in our elementary and secondary schools, public, institutional and private, a physical education that will bring these children instruction in hygiene, regular periodic health examinations and a training in the practice of health habits with a full educational emphasis upon play, games, recreation, athletics and physical exercise, and shall further make every possible reasonable effort to influence communities and municipalities to enact laws and pass ordinances providing for community and industrial physical training and recreative activities for all classes and ages of society. 

 Second: That this Association shall make persistent effort to influence state boards of education, or their equivalent bodies, in all the states of the United States, to make it their effective rule that on or after June, 1922, or some other reasonable date, no applicant may receive a license to teach any subject in any school who does not first present convincing evidence of having covered in creditable manner a satisfactory course in physical education in a reputable training school for teachers. 

 Third: And that this Association hereby directs and authorizes its president to appoint a committee of three to take such steps as may be necessary to put the above resolutions into active and effective operation, and to coöperate in every practical and substantial way with the National Committee on Physical Education, the division of physical education of the Playground and Recreation Association of America, and any other useful agency that may be in the field for the purpose of securing the proper and sufficient physical education of the boys and girls of to-day, so that they may to-morrow constitute a nation of men and women of normal physical growth, normal physical development and normal functional resource, practicing wise habits of health conservation and possessed of greater consequent vitality, larger endurance, longer lives and more complete happiness--the most precious assets of a nation. 

=By the United States Interdepartmental Social Hygiene Board=

In January, 1919, the United States Interdepartmental Social HygieneBoard suggested the following organization of a department of hygienefor the purpose of establishing such a department in at least onenormal school, college, or university training school for teachers ineach state of the Union. 

SUGGESTED ORGANIZATION OF A DEPARTMENT OF HYGIENE

I. _Division of Informational Hygiene. _ (Stressing in each of its several divisions with due proportion and with appropriate emphasis, the venereal diseases, their causes, carriers, injuries, and prevention):

 (_a_) The principles of hygiene. Required of all students at least twice a week for at least four terms. 

 (1) General hygiene. (The agents that injure health, the carriers of disease, the contributory causes of poor health, the defenses of health, and the sources of health. )

 (2) Individual hygiene. (Informational hygiene, the care of the body and its organs, correction, and repair, preventive hygiene, constructive hygiene. )

 (3) Group hygiene. (Hygiene of the home and the family, school hygiene, occupational hygiene, community hygiene. )

 (4) Intergroup hygiene. (Interfamily, intercommunity, interstate, and international hygiene. )

 (_b_) Principles of physical training. (Gymnastics, exercise, athletics, recreation, and play. ) Required of all students. To be given at least twice a week for two terms in the Junior or Senior Years. 

 (_c_) Health examinations--

 (1) Medical examination required each half year of every student. (Making reasonable provisions for a private, personal, confidential relationship between the examiner and the student. )

 (2) Sanitary surveys and hygienic inspections applied regularly to all divisions of the institution, their curriculums, buildings, dormitories, equipment, personal service, and surroundings. 

II. _Division of Applied Hygiene. _

 (_a_) Health conference and consultations. 

 (1) Every student advised under "c" above (health examinations) must report to his health examiner within a reasonable time, as directed, with evidence that he has followed the advice given, or with a satisfactory explanation for not having done so. 

 (2) Must provide student with opportunities for safe, confidential consultations with competent medical advisors concerning the intimate problems of sex life as well as those of hygiene in general. 

 (_b_) Physical training. 

 (1) Gymnastic exercises, recreation, games, athletics, and competitive sports. Required of all students six hours a week every term. 

 (2) Reconstructional and special training and exercise for students not qualified organically for the regular activities covered in "1" above. It is assumed that every teacher-in-training physically able to go to school is entitled to and should take some form of physical exercise. 

III. _Division of Research. _

 (_a_) Investigations, tests, evaluating measurements, records, and reports required each term covering progress made under each division and subdivision of the department, for the purpose of discovering and developing more effective educational methods in hygiene. 

 (_b_) Provide facilities for the sifting, selection, and investigation of problems in hygiene that may be submitted to or proposed by the department of hygiene. 

 (_c_) Arrange for frequent lectures on public hygiene and public health from competent members of municipal, state, and national departments of health, and from other appropriate sources. 

IV. _Personnel requisite for such a department. _--Men and women should be chosen for service in the several divisions of the Department, who have a sane, well-balanced, and experienced appreciation of the importance of the whole field of hygiene as well as of the place and relations of the venereal diseases. 

 (1) One director or head of department. Must have satisfactory scientific training and special experience, fitting him for supervision, leadership, teaching, research, and administrative responsibility. 

 (2) One medical examiner for men and one medical examiner for women. There should be one examiner for each 500 students. Must be selected with special care because of the presence of extraordinary opportunities to exercise a powerful intimate influence upon the mental, moral, and physical health of the students with whom such examiners come in contact. 

 (3) One special teacher of physical training (a "Physical Director") for each group of 500 students. There must be a man for the men and a woman for the women students. The physical training instructors employed in this department should be in charge of and should cover satisfactorily all the directing, training, and coaching carried on in the department and in the institution in its relation to athletics and competitive sports. The men and women who are placed in charge of individual students and groups of students engaged in the various activities of physical training (gymnastics, athletics, recreation and play) should be selected with special reference to their wholesome influence on young men and young women. 

 (4) One coördinator (this function may be covered by one of the personnel covered by "1, " "2" or "3" above). Will serve to influence every teacher in every department on the entire staff of the institution to meet his obligations, in relation to the individual hygiene of the students in his classes and to the sanitation of the class rooms in which he meets his students. The coördinator should bring information to all teachers and assist them to meet more satisfactorily their opportunities to help students in their individual problems in social hygiene. 

 (5) Special lectures on the principles and progress of public hygiene and public health. A close coördination should be secured between this department and community agencies like the Department of Health that are concerned with public hygiene. 

 (6) Sufficient clerical, stenographic and filing service to meet the needs of the department. 

In February, 1919, the field service of the National Committee onPhysical Education issued a tentative outline for a state law forphysical education, suggested for use in planning future legislation. The purposes of physical education as stated in the preamble of thislaw read as follows:

 1. In order that the children of the State of . .. . Shall receive a quality and an amount of physical education that will bring to them the health, growth and a normal organic development that is essential to their fullest present and future education, happiness and usefulness; and in order that the future citizenship of the State of . .. . May receive regularly from the growing and developing youth of the Commonwealth a rapidly increasing number of more vigorous, better educated, healthier, happier, more prosperous and longer lived men and women, we, the people of the State of . .. . Represented in the Senate and Assembly do enact as follows:

=By Legislative Committee of National Committee on Physical Education=

In February, 1919, the legislative committee of the National Committeeon Physical Education prepared a bill for federal legislation for thepurpose of assisting the states in establishing physical education intheir schools. This proposed federal law stated the purpose and aim ofphysical education as follows:

 The purpose and aim of physical education in the meaning of this act shall be: more fully and thoroughly to prepare the boys and girls of the nation for the duties and responsibilities of citizenship through the development of bodily vigor and endurance, muscular strength and skill, bodily and mental poise, and such desirable moral and social qualities as courage, self-control, self-subordination and obedience to authority, coöperation under leadership, and disciplined initiative. The processes and agencies for securing these ends shall be understood to include: comprehensive courses of physical training activities, periodical physical examination; correction of postural and other remediable defects; health supervision of schools and school children; practical instruction in the care of the body and in the principles of health; hygienic school life, sanitary school buildings, playgrounds, and athletic fields and the equipment thereof; and such other means as may be conducive to these purposes. 

An analysis of these several authoritative and more or less officialdocuments indicates very clearly a unanimity as to scope and aims ofphysical education, for they all seek to promote and conserve, in thebroadest sense of the term, the health of the nation. 

=Poor type of physical education in secondary schools intensifies problemin the college=

The problem of physical education in the college is intensified by thefact that freshmen come to their chosen institutions with a variety ofexperience in physical training, but unfortunately this experience is, too often, either inadequate or ineffective. The natural physicaltraining of the earlier age periods produces whatever neuro-musculardevelopment, whatever neuro-muscular coördination, whateverneuro-muscular control, and whatever other organic growth, development, or functional perfection is achieved by the young humanconcerned. A program of physical training wisely planned withreference to infancy, childhood, and early youth would include typesof exercises, play, games, and sports, that would perfect theneuro-muscular and other functions far more completely than iscommonly accomplished through the natural unsupervised and undirectedphysical training of those early age periods either in city or inrural communities. The force of modern habits of life has led to thedestruction of those natural habits of work, play, and recreation thatgave a proportion of our forebears a fairly complete natural programof physical exercise during the plastic or formative periods of life. As a result, many students reach college nowadays with stunted growthsand with poorly developed, poorly trained, or poorly controlledneuro-muscular equipment. Some of these matriculates are physicallyweak. They lack alertness; their response is slow. Others are awkwardand muscularly inefficient, though their physical growth isobjectively--height and weight--normal or even above normal. 

The College Department faces these problems through special provisionsmade for the purpose of supplying a belated neuro-muscular training tosuch cases. It often happens that successful training along theselines is possible only through individual instruction of a mostelementary sort, taking the student through simple exercises thatought to have been a part of his experience in early childhood. 

=Individual needs of students augment problem of department of physicaleducation=

For the same reasons that are stated above, the College Department ofPhysical Training finds it necessary to concern itself with individualstudents who need special attention directed to specified organs orgroups of organs whose training or care could have been accomplishedordinarily far better at an earlier period. These students presentproblems of posture, lung capacity, and regional weakness. 

=Supervision of athletics and recreation adds further to its problem=

The College Department of Physical Training finds also a significantopportunity and an urgent duty in the fact that various types ofphysical exercise are intimately associated with social, ethical, andmoral consequences. No other human activity gives the same opportunityfor the development of a social spirit and personal ethical standardsas do play, games, and sports of children and adolescents. Unsupervised, these activities degenerate and bring unmoral practicesand an anti-social spirit in their wake. 

Because of these opportunities and obligations, College Departments ofPhysical Training are including within their programs andjurisdictions more and more supervision of college athletics, andassume an ever increasing rôle in the direction of recreationalactivities of college students. It remains true, however, that theseinfluences of supervised play and athletics should operate long beforethe individual reaches college age. 

The intense interest of college students in athletic competitions, united with the opportunity which athletics offer for social andcharacter training, has decided a number of colleges to turn athletictraining over to the Department of Physical Training. This preparationfor the supreme physical and physiological test must be built upon afoundation of safe and sound health. There is no more fitting placein the collegiate organization for these athletic and recreationalactivities. 

=Organization of Department of Physical Education=

The college departments that cover this field in whole or in part areknown by various names. We have departments of Physical Training; ofPhysical Education; of Physical Culture; of Hygiene; of Physiology andPhysical Education; of Hygiene and Physical Education; of PhysicalTraining and Athletics, and so on. 

An analysis of these college departments shows that they all concernthemselves with much the same important objects, although they differin their lines of greater emphasis. We find, too, that in somecolleges the department includes activities that form separate, thoughrelated departments in other institutions. 

The activities of such departments fall into three large divisions, each one of which has its logical subdivisions. One of these largedivisions may be called the division of health examination. It has todo with the health examination of the individual student and with thehealth advice that is based on and consequent to such examination. Thesecond division has to do with health instruction covering the subjectmatter of physical training. The third division covers directedexperiences in right living and the formation of health habits, andincludes the special activities noted above. 

We often refer to the first division noted above as the division ofmedical inspection, physical examination, or health examination; tothe second as hygiene, physiology, biology, or bacteriology; and tothe third as gymnastics, physical exercise, organized play, recreation, athletics, or narrowly as physical training. 

The prime purpose of collegiate physical training, then, is to furnishthe student such information and such habit-forming experiences aswill lead him to formulate and practice an intelligent policy ofpersonal health control and an intelligent policy of community healthcontrol. The collateral and special objects of physical training varywith the individual student under the influence of his previoustraining and his present and future life plans. 

The Collegiate Department of Physical Training is primarily concerned, therefore, with the acquisition and conservation of humanhealth--mental, moral, and physical health. Because of his physicaltraining, the college man should live longer; he should meet hisenvironments obligations more successfully; he should be better ableto protect himself from, and better able to avoid, injury; he shouldlose less time on account of injury, poor health, and sickness; heshould get well more rapidly when he is sick; he should be better ableto recover his health and strength after injury or illness; and heshould therefore give to society a fuller, happier, and more usefullife. 

Such a department is concerned secondarily with (_a_) those specialdefects of earlier physical training that bring to college, studentsin need of neuro-muscular training and organic development, (_b_) withsocial, ethical, and character training, and (_c_) with theconditioning and special training of students for athletic competitionor for other extraordinary physical and physiological demands. 

In the light of the above statements, the objects of physical trainingmay be summarized as follows:

 I. The fundamental and ever present object of physical training is the acquisition and conservation of vigorous, enduring health, the summated effect of perfect functions in each and every organ of the human body. 

 II. The special objects of physical training vary in their needs for emphasis at different age periods and under the changing stresses of life. Among the more important of these special objects are:

 (1) General, normal growth. An object in the early age periods. 

 (2) Neuro-muscular development, coördination, and control. Accomplished best in early age periods. 

 (3) Special organic (anatomical and functional) development. Optimum period in childhood and youth. 

 (4) Social, ethical, and moral training. Character building. Objects more easily secured in childhood and youth. 

 (5) Preparation for some supreme physical and physiological test; e. G. , athletic competition, police or fire service, military service. Most desirable training period in late youth and early maturity. Must depend, however, on the effects of earlier physical training. 

 (6) The formation of health habits. Best accomplished in early life but commonly an important function of the College Department of Physical Training. 

 (7) The conservation of health. Always an object, but more particularly so in the middle and later life. 

THE MEDICAL EXAMINATION

In the American college of today, the student's first contact with theDepartment of Physical Training is very likely to be in the examiningroom. In the College of the City of New York[12] it has become theestablished custom to require a satisfactory health examination beforeadmitting the applicant to registration as a student in the college. Entering classes are enrolled in this institution at the beginning ofeach term, and in each list of applicants there are always a few towhom admission is denied because of unsatisfactory health conditions. 

In each case in which admission is denied because of unsatisfactoryhealth, the individual is given careful advice relative to his presentand probable future condition, and every effort is made to help theapplicant plan his life so that he may be able at a later time toenter the college. Of course, it occasionally happens that applicantsare found with serious and incurable health defects which make it veryimprobable that they will ever be in condition to attempt a collegeeducation. 

=Scope of health examination=

The health examination of the student should cover those facts in hisfamily and personal health history that are likely to have a bearingupon his present or future health, and the examination should includea very careful investigation of the important organs of his body. Thisexamination calls for expert medical and dental service. 

=How to conduct health examination=

The most useful examiner is he who is at the same time a teacher. Nowhere else is a better or even an equally good opportunity given todrive home impressively, and sometimes dramatically, important lessonsin individual hygiene. Through a pair of experimental lenses placed byhis examiner before his hitherto undiscovered visual brain cells, theyoung student who has had poor vision and has never known it, mayobtain, for the first time, a glimpse of the beauty in hissurroundings. 

The dental examiner who finds bad teeth and explains bad teeth to thestudent whose health is being, or may be, destroyed by such teeth, hasbefore him all the elements necessary for very effective healthinstruction. 

The health examination should be a personal and private affair. It isoften best not to have even a recorder present. The student shouldunderstand that whatever passes between him and his examiner isentirely confidential. 

All advice given a student at these examinations should be followed upif it is the kind of advice that can be followed up. If the adviceinvolves the attention of a dentist or treatment by a physician, timeshould be allowed for making arrangements and for securing thetreatment necessary. After that time has elapsed the student should becalled upon to report with information from his parent or guardian, orfrom his family health adviser, indicating what has been done or willbe done for the betterment of the conditions for which the advice wasoriginally given. In the hands of a tactful examiner--one who is ateacher as well as an examiner--the student and parent, particularlythe parent, will coöperate effectively in this plan for thedevelopment of health habits of the student. Less than three tenthsof one per cent of the parents of City College students refuse tosecure special health attention for their boys when we do so advise. 

These examinations should be repeated at reasonable intervalsthroughout the entire college course. We have found in the College ofthe City of New York that a repetition every term is none toofrequent. Visual defects, dental defects, evidences of heart troubleand signs of pulmonary tuberculosis, and other defects, notinfrequently arise in cases of individuals who have been seen severaltimes before without showing any evidence of poor health. It is hopedthat these repeated examinations may lead to the continuation of suchhabits of bodily care in postgraduate years. 

A careful and concise record must be made covering the main facts ofeach examination and of each conference with the student subsequent tohis examination. These memoranda enable the examiner at each laterexamination to talk to the student with a knowledge of what has beenfound and what has been said and what has been done on precedingexaminations, and on preceding follow-up conferences. As a result, theexaminer-teacher is in position to be very much more useful not onlybecause of significant facts before him concerning the student withwhom he is talking, but also because of the greater confidence whichthe student will necessarily have in an examiner who is obviouslyinterested in him and who possesses such an accurate record of hishealth history. 

These examinations should apply to every student in a college or auniversity, regardless of the division to which he belongs. The needfor health instruction or for the establishment of health habits, inorder that one may be physically trained for the exigencies of life, is not peculiar to any student age period or to any academic ortechnicological group, or to a college for men or a college for women. 

One of the dangers present in these college examinations is thetendency of the examiner to become more interested in the number ofstudents examined and the number of diagnoses made than in the goodinfluence he may have upon the health future of the student. 

Every "case" should be treated by the health examiner as if it werethe first and only case on hand for the day. The student certainlyclassifies the examiner as the first and only one he has had that day. The examiner should plan to make every contact he has with a student ahelp to the student. 

HEALTH INSTRUCTION

A second large division of physical training deals with healthinstruction. As has been pointed out above, the division of healthexamination produces a very important and very useful opportunity forindividual health instruction. 

=Content of hygiene instruction=

Hygiene, however, is presented commonly to groups of students in classorganization rather than individually. Anatomy, physiology, psychology, bacteriology, pathology, general hygiene, individualhygiene, group hygiene, and intergroup hygiene are sciences, orcombinations of sciences, from which physical training draws itsfacts. These sciences and those phases of economics and sociology thathave to do with the economic and social influences of health anddisease, of physical efficiency and physical degeneracy, supplyphysical training with its general subject matter. 

Health instruction, then, as a part of physical training, draws itscontent from these sources. A logical plan of class instruction would, therefore, include the elements of anatomy, physiology, psychology, bacteriology (and general parasitology), pathology, economics, andsociology, as a basis for a more complete presentation of the facts ofgeneral hygiene, individual hygiene, group hygiene, and intergrouphygiene. 

=Method of health instruction=

The most satisfactory presentation of these subjects involves thegrouping of students into small classes, the employment of laboratorymethods, the use of reference libraries, and the assignment ofproblems for investigation and study, with a general group discussionof these problems. 

Unfortunately, college classes are large and the number of teachersemployed in the department of physical training, or in thosedepartments from which physical training draws its science and itsphilosophy, is small, so that it is impractical to plan to give thisinstruction to small groups of students covering this range of subjectmatter. 

As a result, the lecture method with its obvious defects andshortcomings is the common medium for the health instruction ofcollege students organized into classes. The more intimate anddetailed instruction in these subjects is secured in special coursesand in professional schools. 

In the College of the City of New York, we expect that students whocome to us from high schools and preparatory schools have had theelements of anatomy and physiology either in courses on those subjectsor in courses in biology. [13] Our health instruction, therefore, hasbeen developed along the lines of lectures on general hygiene, individual hygiene, group hygiene, and intergroup hygiene runningthrough the four terms of the freshman and sophomore years. 

These lectures are given in periods of from ten to fifteen minuteseach, preceding class work in various forms of physical exercise. Theyare often called "floor talks. " The shortness of the presentationfavors vigor of address; necessitates a concise organization ofmaterial and a clarity and brevity of statement; and is more likely tocommand student attention and concentration. It has, however, itsobvious defects. In these lectures persistent effort is made toinfluence the daily habits of the student. The lecture content isselected with reference to the practical problems of the daily life ofthe individual and of the community of which he is a part. It isobvious that the amount of time devoted to the presentation of the subjectmatter is utterly inadequate. 

Short written tests are given once each month, and a longer writtentest is given at the end of each term. These examinations stimulatethe student to organize his information and make it more completelyhis own property. The classes are too large[14] and the instructionalforce relatively too small to permit the assignment of references, presentation of reports, and the conduct of investigations. 

Further instruction in physiology and bacteriology is secured in thisinstitution through elective courses open to students in their juniorand senior years. These elective courses, however, are not plannedprimarily for the health education of the student, but rather for hispartial preparation as a teacher of physical training, a student ofmedicine, a scientific specialist, or for public health work. 

HEALTH-FORMING ACTIVITIES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION

The third division of activities contains the health-habit-forminginfluences covered by the Department of Physical Training. Theseinfluences are formed partly in connection with the follow-upactivities associated with the health examinations and advice notedabove; partly through impressions made by way of individual and classinstruction concerning the laws of health (also noted above); andpartly through systematic class work, group work, and individual workin gymnastics, organized recreation, games, play, and athletics. 

The student who has been given a health examination each termthroughout his college career will be very likely to continue thepractice as a habit after graduation. This habit will follow moresurely if the examiner has been a real health teacher and not aperfunctory recorder of observations made upon the student. A lack ofsympathy and tact may easily prejudice the student against theexamination. 

The student who has been led regularly to care for defects of one sortor another; whose contact with his examiner-teacher in conferencesfollowing up the advice that has been given at the time of examinationhas been accompanied by the right sort of explanation and mutualunderstanding, will be more likely to continue to exercise that sortof care for the welfare of his body after he is no longer under theinfluence of the college. 

The student who has seen the application of class health talks to hiseveryday problems is likely to be influenced to the practice ofconsequent health habits, particularly if those short lectures serveto correlate his various habit-forming experiences while in college. 

And finally, the student who is brought into contact with regularsystematic exercise may, if the exercise is attractive andinteresting, achieve a health habit that will be carried out into hispostgraduate life. 

The existence of the Department of Physical Training would be amplyjustified if its influence upon the health and vigor of the studentwere limited to the period of his stay in college. The full success ofthis department, however, like that of all other college departments, must be measured by its influence upon the life of the student afterhe has left college. The formation of lasting health habits is, therefore, the most important object of this department. 

=Place of physical exercise in program for physical education=

Regular appropriate physical exercise is one of our most importanthealth habits. It is perhaps safe to say that for the averageindividual it is the most important health habit. This is true becauseof its intimate and impressive influence upon all the fundamentalorganic functions of the body. Physical exercise in the Americancollege is provided either as organized class work in the gymnasium, or by means of voluntary recreational opportunities, or throughathletics. 

=Class work in physical exercise=

Class work may include: marching, mass drills with or without lightapparatus, work on heavy apparatus, games, dancing, swimming, andtrack and field work. This class work may be indoors or outdoors, depending on the season or climate. 

=Additional facilities for physical exercise=

Voluntary recreational opportunities are offered through free massdrills open to all students who may desire to take them regularly orirregularly; through open periods for apparatus work; and throughfacilities and space for games, swimming, mass athletics, and so on. 

=Recreational activities and athletics=

Competitive athletics are typical of the American college. Theoretically, athletics are open to all students. Practically, inmany of our colleges athletics are made available only to the studentwith leisure time and exceptional physique. Consistent effort is beingmade today by college authorities to provide opportunities forintramural (interclass, intergroup, and mass) athletics for the wholestudent body; at the same time preserving the desirable features ofthe more specialized intercollegiate competitions. 

=Inculcating habits of physical exercise=

Physical exercise in these various forms has its immediate andvaluable influence upon the health condition of the individualstudent, if taken in sufficient quantity. It has its lasting and verymuch more important influence in those cases in which physicalexercise becomes a habit. It has, therefore, become the increasingconcern of the college teacher of physical training to developactivities in physical exercise that the student may use aftergraduation. Teachers of physical training have become more and moreimpressed with the importance of interesting exercise, not onlybecause interesting exercise is more likely to become habitualexercise, but also because exercise that is accompanied by the playspirit, by happiness and joy, is physiologically and thereforehealthfully of very much more value to the individual. Therelationship between cheerfulness and good health has become veryfirmly established through the scientific researches of the modernphysiologist. We know that health habits which are associated withcheerfulness and happiness are bound to be more effective. 

=Opportunities for character building=

The teacher of physical training finds opportunity for incidental andyet very important instruction leading to the formation of finequalities of character and fine standards of personal conduct. Theseopportunities arise constantly in the various general types ofphysical exercise found in the curriculum of the department ofphysical training. They are especially present in those activities inwhich competition occurs, as in play, games, and athletics. Theseactivities do not in themselves produce excellent qualities ofcharacter or high standards of conduct, but the teacher--whether he becalled a coach or a trainer or a professor of hygiene--who sets a goodexample and who insists that every game played, and every contest, whether it be in a handball court between college chums or on thefootball field between college teams, shall be clean and fair, isusing in the right way one of the opportunities present in the entirecollege life of the student, for the formation of fine character. 

SPECIAL EXERCISES FOR SPECIAL GROUPS

In any given group of college students one will find a number ofindividuals in need of special or modified physical exercise. Thesestudents may be grouped commonly under the following heads: (1)undeveloped, (2) bad posture, (3) awkward, (4) originally weak, (5)deformed. 

Some of these students suffer from defects that are remediable, Someof these defects are due to poor physical training in earlier years. Some are the results of disease. All of them call for modifiedexercise and recreation. The fact that a student may fall into one ofthese groups in no way justifies the assumption that he is thereforeno longer subject to the laws of health or to the need for rationalhealth habits. As a matter of fact, such cases generally call forgreater care and attention in the formulation and operation of arational policy of right living. 

Every student physically able to go to college is physically able toexercise. No student in attendance on recitations anywhere can offer arational plea for exemption from exercise, The individual whosephysical condition contraindicates all forms of exercise needscareful medical advice and probably needs hospital or sanitariumtreatment. 

College Departments of Physical Training are planning for cases inneed of special or modified exercise, through the organization ofspecial classes and through individual attention. In the College ofthe City of New York we attempt to group the weak students in a givenclass, into squads of four such students with a squad leader, astudent. The awkward students are grouped in the same manner. Theexercise of the cripple and the student with serious organic weaknessis individualized. These special individualized cases are under thedirect supervision of a physician on the staff. 

ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDENTS FOR PRESCRIBED WORK IN THE COLLEGECOURSES

In this college, organized, directed physical exercise as outlinedabove is covered in the division of physical training, the division ofrecreation, and the division of athletics, all of which aresubdivisions of the Department of Hygiene. 

The enrollment in the required classes in the division of PhysicalTraining varies from thirty in the smaller classes to over two hundredin the larger. The total enrollment has been approximately elevenhundred each term for several years. These courses are required of allstudents during the first four collegiate terms. Each of these fourcourses requires three hours a week, distributed over two or intothree periods, and credits the student with one half point towardgraduation. This time allowance is, however, inadequate. 

The class organization in the division of the Department of Hygiene isbased on a unit composed of five students. Each of these units orsquads contains one student who is designated as the "leader" of thatunit. 

Persistent effort is made to assign students of like physicaldevelopment and needs to the same squads. In this manner a singleclass of a hundred young men will have a graduation on the basis ofproficiency which makes it possible for the teacher to come very nearto the rational application of exercise for the individual student. 

These units or squads are organized into divisions, each divisionbeing made up of four squads. Each division is under the supervisionand instruction of a member of the departmental staff. In any givenclass, then, there is a regular instructor for each group of twentystudents, and a student leader for each group of four students. Theaim in this organization is to establish a relationship between theinstructor and his twenty students that will secure for him anintimate knowledge of each young man, relating to his physicaltraining needs, general and special. 

=A class period in physical exercise=

A typical class period is made up of a short health talk, 10 minutes;a mass drill, 10 minutes; apparatus period, two changes, 20 minutes;and a play period, 15 minutes. If the health talk is not given theplay period is lengthened. 

The mass drills referred to above are made up of drill in marching andin gymnastics with and without hand apparatus. These drills are gradedwithin the term and from term to term so that a desirable variety issecured. They are devised for disciplinary, postural, developmental, and health purposes. During the progress of the drill the instructorspresent inspect the posture and work of the students in theirdivisions. 

The apparatus periods referred to include work on the conventionalpieces of gymnastic apparatus, with the addition of chest weights, anindoor track, and a swimming pool. The squad organization for thiswork gives opportunity for the development of student leadership whichis often of extraordinary educational value to the individual boy. These periods, because of this squad organization, may be utilized forsuch _special exercise_ emphasis as may be decided upon for any givengroup of students. It is here that _special conditioning_ may be giventhose young men who are planning for military training or who needselected exercise for neuro-muscular development. 

The play period in the regular class program is devoted largely tolooser games that contain a predominating element of big muscleactivities. Competition is a fairly constant factor. Here, again, oursquad unit permits us to assign selected groups of students to specialtypes of games. It is feasible, in this organization, to satisfy aneed for the training that is furnished by highly organized games, fighting games, and by games and out-of-door events that developspecial groups of muscles and special coördinations. 

A well-organized Collegiate Department of Physical Training couldcoöperate very effectively with a Collegiate Department of MilitaryTraining. The squad organization in apparatus periods and in playperiods offers the best possible avenue for a successful emphasis ofseveral of the very important phases of military physical training. 

=Recreational facilities in addition to prescribed work=

The division of recreation in the Department of Hygiene in the Collegeof the City of New York, takes charge of all recreational and athleticspace and all recreational and intramural athletic activities in thoseperiods of the day in which regular class work does not takeprecedence. Students of all classes are admitted freely throughouttheir four collegiate years to these activities, and a studied effortis made to increase their attractiveness as well as to secure fromthem their full social and character-training values. Such valuesdepend to a very large degree upon the experienced supervision anddirection given these activities. It does not follow that the creationof play opportunity is bound to produce good citizenship. The qualityof the product depends upon the quality of the man or men in charge ofthe enterprise. 

The most important mission of the Recreational Division is its purposeto furnish the student lasting habits of play and recreation basedupon the physical development he has secured in his earlierexperiences in physical training. After all, one's physical trainingshould begin at birth and continue throughout life. 

The Division of Athletic Instruction is concerned with all plans forintercollegiate athletics, including organization, financing, training, coaching, and scheduling. All these activities are under thedirection of members of the staff of the Department of Hygiene. Thereis no one employed in this relationship who is not a member of thestaff. Constant attempts are made, in every reasonable way, toaccomplish the athletic ideals that have been set up by the NationalCollegiate Athletic Association. Clean play, honorable methods, andsportsmanly standards dominate the theory and practice of thisathletic instruction and supervision. 

The scope and content of physical training which I have attempted topresent in these pages is brought out more clearly by the followingannouncement of the Department of Hygiene of the College of the Cityof New York:

 HYGIENE (1916-17)

 The Department of Hygiene is made up of the divisions of Physical Training, Physiology, Bacteriology, Health Examination, Recreational Instruction, and Athletics. 

 Through these divisions the Department attempts to train young men for the exigencies of life through the establishment of enduring habits of health examination and repair, health information and individual and community protection against the agents that injure health and cause disease, and through the establishment of wise habits of daily life. 

 This organization gives opportunity for the development of neglected organic and neuromuscular growth, coördination and control; for the social, ethical, and moral training (character building influences) inherent in wisely supervised athletic and recreational experiences; and for the special conditioning that accompanies training for severe physical and physiological competition and other tests. 

 Finally, preparation may be secured for life work along certain lines of research, certain medical sciences, various phases of public health, physical training and social work. 

 In addition, this Department is concerned with all those influences within the College which affect the health of the student. Every reasonable effort is made to keep the institution safe and attractive to the clean, healthy individual. 

 DIVISION OF PHYSICAL TRAINING

 1. _Course One. _

 (_a_) Lectures. "Some of the common causes of disease. "

 (_b_) Physical Exercise. 

 i. Graded mass drills. 

 (_a_) Elementary drills are used in order to develop obedience, alertness, and ready response to command, accurate execution, good posture and carriage and facility of control. 

 (_b_) More advanced drills are given in which movements are made in response to commands. Strength, endurance, and coördination are brought into play. 

 ii. Apparatus work. Continuation of graded exercises for squads of five students each. 

 iii. Selected, graded, recreative indoor and outdoor games and play. 

 iv. Swimming. Each student is required to learn to swim with more than one variety of stroke. 

 Prescribed. Freshman, first term; three hours a week; counts 1/2. 

 2. _Course Two. _

 (_a_) Lectures. "The carriers of disease. "

 (_b_) Physical Exercise. 

 i. Graded mass drills. Two-count movements. These drills are continuations of, but more advanced than those given in the preceding term. 

 ii. Apparatus work. Continuation of graded exercises for squads of five. 

 iii. Selected, graded, recreative indoor and outdoor games and play. 

 iv. Swimming. Each student is required to develop endurance in swimming. 

 Prerequisite: Hygiene 1. 

 Prescribed. Freshman, second term; three hours a week; counts 1/2. 

 3. _Course Three. _

 (_a_) Lectures. "The contributory causes and carriers of disease. "

 (_b_) Physical Exercise. 

 i. Graded mass drills. Four-count movements. More advanced work. 

 ii. Apparatus work. Continuation of graded exercises for squads of five. 

 iii. Selected, graded, recreative indoor and outdoor games and play. 

 iv. Swimming. Diving, rescue and resuscitation of the drowning. 

 Prerequisite: Hygiene 2. 

 Prescribed. Sophomore, first term; three hours a week; counts 1/2. 

 4. _Course Four. _

 (_a_) Lectures. "Defenses against poor health and disease. "

 (_b_) Physical Exercise. 

 i. Advanced graded mass drills. Eight-count movements. 

 ii. Advanced graded apparatus work. For squads of five. 

 iii. Selected, graded, recreative indoor and outdoor games and play. 

 iv. Swimming. Advanced continuation of requirements outlined for Courses 2 and 3. 

 Prerequisite: Hygiene 3. 

 Prescribed. Sophomore, second term; three hours a week; counts 1/2. 

 _Modified Course. _

 In each of the above required courses provision is made for those students whose organic condition may permanently disqualify them for the regular scheduled work. This special work is under the immediate direction of a medical member of the Staff. 

 5. _Intermediate Physical Training. _

 This course is planned to supply the student with such organic development and efficiency as will enable him to demonstrate successfully as a teacher various type exercises for classes in elementary and intermediate indoor and outdoor gymnastics, aquatics, games, play and athletics. 

 Prerequisite: Hygiene 4. Three hours a week; counts 1/2. 

 6. _Advanced Physical Training. _

 This course is a continuation of Course 5, and is designed for the physical equipment of teachers of more advanced physical work. 

 Prerequisite: Hygiene 5. Three hours a week; counts 1/2. 

 7. _Class Management. _

 This course supplies the practical instruction and experience needed for the training of special teachers in the management of elementary and intermediate classes in various forms of physical exercise. 

 Prerequisite: Hygiene 6 and 32. Fall term, three hours a week; counts 1. 

 8. _Class Management. _

 This course is a continuation of Course 7. It is planned to give a training in the management of more advanced classes. 

 Prerequisite: Hygiene 7. Spring term, three hours a week; counts 1. 

 9. _Control of Emergencies and First Aid to the Injured. _

 This course supplies instruction concerning the management and protective care of common emergencies. The instruction is practical and rational. It covers such emergencies as: sprains, fractures, dislocations, wounds, bruises, sudden pain, fainting, epileptic attacks, unconsciousness, drowning, electric shock, and so on. 

 Prerequisite: Hygiene 32. Fall term, two hours a week; counts 1. 

 10. _Theory and Practice of Individual Instruction in Hygiene and in Departmental Sanitation. _

 Students taking this subject will be given practical first hand experience of special use to teachers; (a) in connection with health examination, inspection, conference, consultation, and follow up service carried on in the departmental examining room; and (b) in connection with the sanitary supervision carried on by the department. 

 Prerequisites or Co-requisites: Hygiene 32, 41 and 48. Spring term, six hours a week in two periods of three hours each; counts 2. 

 DIVISION OF PHYSIOLOGY

 32. _Elements of Physiology. _

 This subject deals with the general concepts of the science of physiology, the chemical and physical conditions which underlie and determine the action of the individual organs, and the integrative relationship of the parts of the body. 

 One lecture, one recitation and two laboratory hours a week; counts 3. 

 33. _Special Physiology. _

 A study of the fundamental facts of physiology and methods of investigation. The aim is to give a complete study of certain topics: the phenomena of contraction, conduction, sense perception and the various mechanisms of general metabolism. Laboratory work is arranged to show the methods of physiologic experimentation and to emphasize the necessity of using care and accuracy in their application. 

 Spring term, two lectures and three laboratory hours a week; counts 3. 

 34. _Physiology of Nutrition. _

 The aim of this subject is to study broadly the metabolism of the human body. In the development of this plan the following topics will be considered: the food requirements of man, the nutritive history of the physiologic ingredients, the principles of dietetics and their application to daily living. 

 Fall term, two lectures and three laboratory hours a week; counts 3. 

 DIVISION OF BACTERIOLOGY

 41. _General Bacteriology. _

 Lectures, recitations and laboratory work introducing the student to the technique of bacteriology and to the more important facts about the structure and function of bacteria. Special applications of bacteriology to agriculture and the industries are discussed, and brief references are made to the activities of allied microbes, the yeasts and molds. The general relations of bacteria to disease and the principles of immunity and its control are included. 

 One lecture, one recitation and four laboratory hours a week; counts 3. 

 42. _Bacteriology of Foods. _

 This includes the bacteriologic examination of water, sewage, air, milk, the various food products together with the methods used in the standardization of disinfectants, a detailed study of yeast and bacterial fermentation and their application to the industries. Numerous trips to industrial plants will be made. 

 Prerequisite: Hygiene 41. 

 Fall term, one lecture and six laboratory hours a week; counts 3. 

 43. _Bacteriology of Pathogenic Micro-organisms. _

 This subject is devoted to the laboratory methods of biology as applied in the state and municipal boards of health. Practice will be given in the methods used for the diagnosis of diphtheria, tuberculosis, malaria, rabies, and other diseases caused by micro-organisms, together with a detailed study of the groups to which they belong. 

 Prerequisite: Hygiene 41. 

 Spring term, one lecture and six laboratory hours a week; counts 3. 

 44. _Potable and Industrial Water. _

 Very few industries are independent of a water supply. No one is independent of the source of his drinking water. Water varies in its usefulness for definite purposes. 

 This subject differentiates between various waters, takes them up from industrial and hygienic standpoints, considers softening, filtering, purifying and water analysis. 

 Work is divided into three groups. 

 A. Industrial Water ) } given in the Chemistry Department. B. Potable Water )

 C. Water Bacteriology ) } given in the Department of Hygiene. (microscopy of water) )

 Municipal students may elect any or all of the three groups. 

 Prerequisite: Chemistry 4 and Hygiene 41. Chemistry 9 is desirable. 

 Spring term, seven hours a week; counts 3. 

 48. _Municipal Sanitation. _

 Lectures, discussions and visits to public works of special importance. The principles which underlie a pure water supply and the means by which the wastes of the city, its sewage and garbage may be successfully disposed of, and the problems of pure milk and pure food supplies, the housing question with its special phase of ventilation and plumbing, and the methods by which a municipal board of health is organized to fight tuberculosis and other specific diseases will be studied. 

 Fall term, two lectures and one field trip a week; counts 3. 

 49. _Municipal Sanitary Inspection. _

 _Professor B---- and Bureau of Foods and Drugs, New York City Department of Health. _

 The seminar work of this subject is done in the College and the field work in company with and under the direct supervision of an Inspector of the Department of Health of the City. The subject is limited to six students each semester, and is intended for those planning to go into this branch of the City's service. The qualifications will be based upon individuality, personality playing an important part. 

 Prerequisite: Hygiene 41 and 48 and Chemistry 19. 

 Spring term, two seminar hours, one recitation and one inspection tour a week; counts 3. 

 50. _Research. _

 Seniors who have completed satisfactorily a sufficient amount of work in the Department may be assigned some topic to serve as a basis for a thesis which will be submitted as credit for the work at its completion. The student will receive the advice of the instructor in the subject in which the research falls, but as much independent work as possible will be insisted upon. The purpose is to introduce the student into research methods, and also to foster independence. 

 DIVISION OF HEALTH EXAMINATION

 I. _Individual Instruction in Hygiene. _

 This instruction is of a personal confidential character, and is given in the form of advice based upon medical history supplied by the individual, and upon medical and hygienic examinations and inspections of the individual. 

 (_a_) Medical and hygienic history and examination. 

 In this relationship with the student the Department attempts to secure such information concerning environmental and habit influences in the life of the student as may be used as a basis for supplying him with helpful advice concerning the organization of his policy of personal health control. The medical examinations are utilized for the purpose of finding remediable physical defects whose proper treatment may be added to the physiological efficiency and therefore to the health possibilities of the student. 

 Prescribed: freshman, sophomore, junior, senior and special students. Once each term. No credits. 

 (_b_) Hygiene inspections. 

 These inspections are applied in the mutual interest of personal, departmental and institutional hygiene. 

 Prescribed: freshman and sophomore. 

 (_c_) Conferences. 

 All students who have been given personal hygienic or medical advice are required to report in conference by appointment in order that the advice may be followed up. 

 All individuals found with communicable diseases are debarred from all classes until it is shown in conference that they are receiving proper medical treatment, and that they may return to class attendance with safety to their comrades. 

 All individuals found with remediable physical or hygienic defects are required to report in conference with evidence that the abnormal condition has been brought to the serious attention of the parent, guardian or family medical or hygienic adviser. Students failing to report as directed may be denied admission to all classes. 

 II. _Medical and Sanitary Supervision. _

 (_a_) Sanitary supervision. 

 An "Advisory Committee on Hygiene and Sanitation" with the Professor of Hygiene as Chairman, has been appointed by the President. This committee has been instructed to "inquire from time to time into all our institutional influences which are likely to affect the health of the student and instructor, and to make such reports with recommendations to the President as may seem wise and expedient. "

 (_b_) A medical examination is required of all applicants for admission to the College. Approval of the Medical Examiner must be secured before registration is permitted. 

 (_c_) Medical consultation. 

 Open to all students. (Optional. )

 (_d_) Medical examination of Athletes. 

 Required of all students before admission to athletic training and repeated at intervals during the training season. 

 (_e_) Treatment. 

 Emergency treatment is the only treatment attempted by the Department. Such treatment will be applied only for the purpose of protecting the individual until he can secure the services he selects for that purpose. 

 (_f_) Conferences. 

 (See "c" under I. )

 (_g_) Laboratory: The Department Laboratories are equipped for bacteriological and other analyses. The water in the swimming pool is examined daily. The laboratory service is utilized to identify disease carriers, and in every other reasonable way to assist in the protection of student health. 

 DIVISION OF RECREATIONAL INSTRUCTION

 Liberal provision is made by the College for voluntary recreational activities indoors and outdoors during six days of the week and throughout vacation periods. Emphasis is laid on recreation as a health habit and a means of social training. 

 DIVISION OF ATHLETICS

 (1) _Athletic Supervision. _

 Three organizations are concerned:

 (_a_) The Faculty Athletic Committee, which has to do with all athletic activities that involve academic relationships. 

 (_b_) The Athletic Council, a committee of the Department of Hygiene, charged with the supervision of all business activities connected with student athletic enterprises. 

 (_c_) The Athletic Association of the Student Body. 

 (2) _Athletic Instruction. _

 The Department utilizes various intramural and extramural athletic activities for the purpose of securing a further influence on the promotion of health habits, the development of physical power, and the establishment and maintenance of high standards of sportsmanly conduct on part of the individual and the group. 

 At present the schedule includes the following sports: baseball, basket ball, track and field, swimming and water polo, tennis, soccer foot ball, and hand ball. 

 THOMAS ANDREW STOREY, M. D. _College of the City of New York_

[It was hoped that it would be possible to include with ProfessorStorey's chapter a number of forms and photographs calculated to serveas aids in the organization and conduct of a College Department ofHygiene. As Professor Storey's work is very distinctive, otherinstitutions which are striving to organize effective departments ofphysical education would have found his experiences as graphicallydepicted in these photographs and summed up in these charts extremelyhelpful. Unfortunately it has proved impossible to print them here onaccount of limitations of space, but all who are interested insecuring further information can obtain these valuable guides in theintroductory stages of the inauguration of a Department of Hygiene byapplying to the College of the City of New York. EDITOR. ]

Footnotes:

[12] The construction of this chapter on the teaching of physicaltraining is based very largely upon the experiences and organizationof the Department of Hygiene in the College of the City of New York. 

[13] This precollegiate instruction is, unfortunately, uniformly poorin so far as it relates to health. 

[14] The present enrollment in these classes, February, 1919, isapproximately 1500. 

 PART THREE

 THE SOCIAL SCIENCES

 CHAPTER

 X THE TEACHING OF ECONOMICS _Frank A. Fetter_

 XI THE TEACHING OF SOCIOLOGY _A. J. Todd_

 XII THE TEACHING OF HISTORY A. AMERICAN HISTORY _H. W. Elson_

 B. MODERN EUROPEAN HISTORY _Edward Krehbiel_

 XIII THE TEACHING OF POLITICAL SCIENCE _Charles Grove Haines_

 XIV THE TEACHING OF PHILOSOPHY _Frank Thilly_

 XV THE TEACHING OF ETHICS _Henry Neumann_

 XVI THE TEACHING OF PSYCHOLOGY _Robert S. Woodworth_

 XVII THE TEACHING OF EDUCATION A. TEACHING THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION _Herman H. Horne_

 B. TEACHING EDUCATIONAL THEORY _Frederick E. Bolton_

X

THE TEACHING OF ECONOMICS

=Conception and aims of economics=

Even though economics be so defined as to exclude a large part of thefield of the social sciences, its scope is still very broad. Economicsis less homogeneous in its content, is far less clearly defined, thanis any one of the natural sciences. A very general definition ofeconomics is: The study of men engaged in making a living. More fullyexpressed, economics is a study of men exercising their own powers andmaking use of their environment for the purposes of existence, ofwelfare, and of enjoyment. Within such a broad definition of economicsis found room for various narrower conceptions. To mention only themore important of these we may distinguish individual economics, domestic economics, business economics, governmental economics (publicfinance), and political (or national) economics. Any one of thesesubjects may be approached and treated primarily either with regard toits more immediate financial, material, acquisitive aspects, or to itsmore far-reaching social, psychical, and welfare aspects. Thesevarious ideas appear and reappear most confusingly in economicliterature. 

The aims that different students and teachers have in the pursuit ofeconomics are as varied as are the conceptions of its nature. Theteaching aims are, indeed, largely determined by those conceptions. Moreover, the teaching aims are modified by still other conditions, such as the environment of the college and its constituency, and suchas the temperament, business experience, and scholarly training of theteacher. We may distinguish broadly three aims: the vocational, thecivic, and the cultural. 

_The vocational aim_ is the most elementary and most usual. Xenophon'streatise on domestic "economy" was the nucleus from which have grownall the systematic formulations of economic principles. Vocationaleconomics is the economics of the craftsman and of the shop. Everypractical craft and art has its economic aspect, which concerns theright and best use of labor and valuable materials to attain a certainartistic, mechanical, or other technical end in its particular field. Economics is not mere technology, which has to do with the mastery ofmaterials and forces to attain any material end. Vocational economics, however, modifies and determines technical practice, which, in thelast analysis, is subject to the economic rule. The economic engineershould construct not the best bridge that is possible, mechanicallyconsidered, but the best possible or advisable for the purpose andwith the means at hand. The economic agriculturist should not producethe largest crop possible, but the crop that gives the largestadditional value. The rapidly growing recognition of the importance, in all technical training, of cultivating the ability to take theeconomic view has led to the development of household economics inconnection with the teaching of cooking, sewing, decorating, etc. ; ofthe economics of farm management to supplement the older technicalcourses in natural science, crops, and animal husbandry; of theeconomics of factory management in connection with mechanicalengineering; of the economics of railway location in connection withcertain phases of civil engineering; and many more such specialgroupings and formulations of economic principles with reference toparticular vocations and industries. 

The ancient and the medieval crafts and mysteries undoubtedly hadembodied in their maxims, proverbs, traditional methods, andteachings, many economic principles suitable to their comparativelysimple and unchanging conditions. The rapid changes that haveoccurred, especially in the last half century, in the natural sciencesand in the practical arts have rendered useless much of this wisdom ofthe fathers. Recently there has been a belated and sudden awakening tothe need of studying, consciously and systematically, the economicaspects of the new dynamic forces and industrial conditions. Hencethe almost dramatic appearance of vocational, or technical, economicsunder such names as "scientific management" and the "economics ofengineering. " Viewed in this perspective such a development appears tobe commendable and valuable in its main purpose. Unfortunately, some, if not all, of the adherents of this new cult of "economy" and"efficiency" fail to appreciate how very restricted and special it is, compared with the whole broad economic field. 

_The civic aim_ in teaching economics is to fit the student to performthe duties of a citizen. We need not attempt to prove here that alarge proportion of public questions are economic in nature, and thatin a democracy a wise decision on these questions ultimately dependson an intelligent public opinion and not merely on the knowledgepossessed by a small group of specialists. 

The civic conception of economics, seen from one point of view, showslittle in common with the vocational conception. Yet from anotherpoint of view it may be looked upon as the vocational conception "writlarge" and is the art of training men to be citizens in a republic. Good citizenship involves an attitude of interest, a capacity to formjudgments on public economic issues, and, if need be, to performefficiently public functions of a legislative, executive or judicialnature. The state-supported colleges usually now recognize verydirectly their obligation to provide economic training with the civicaim, and, in some cases, even to require it as a part of the work fora college degree. Often also is found the thought that it is the dutyof the student while obtaining an education at public expense, to takea minimum of economics with the civic aim even if he regards it as inno way to his individual advantage or if it has in his case no directvocational bearings. In the privately endowed institutions this policymay be less clearly formulated, but it is hardly less activelypracticed. Indeed, the privately endowed institutions have beenrecognizing more and more fully their fiduciary and public nature. Their public character is involved in their charters, in theirendowments, in their exemption from taxation, and in their essentialeducational functions. The proudest pages in their history are thoserecording their services to the state. [15]

=Evaluations of aims of teaching economics in college=

_The cultural aim_ in economics is to enable the student to comprehendthe industrial world about him. It aims to liberate the mind fromignorance and prejudice, giving him insight into, and appreciation of, the industrial world in which he lives. In this aspect it is a liberalstudy. Economics produces in some measure this cultural result, evenwhen it is studied primarily with the vocational or with the civicaim. But in vocational economics the choice of materials and the modeof treatment are deliberately restricted by the immediate utilitarianpurposes; and in economic teaching with a civic purpose there is thecontinual temptation to arouse the sympathies for an immediate socialprogram and to take a view limited by the contemporary popularinterest in specific proposals for reform. Economics at its highestlevel is the search for truth. It has its place in any system ofhigher education as has pure natural science, apart from any immediateor so far as we may know, any possible, utilitarian application. It isa disinterested philosophy of the industrial world. Though it may notdemonstrably be a _means_ to other useful things, it is itself aworthy _end_. It helps to enrich the community with the immaterialgoods of the spirit, and it yields the psychic income of dignity andjoy in the individual and national life. And as a final appeal to anydoubting Philistine it may be said that just as the cult of purescience is necessary to the continual and most effective progress inthe practical arts, so the study of economics on the philosophicalplane surely is necessary to the highest and most lasting results inthe application of economics to the arts and to civic life. 

The differences in aims set forth in this paragraph result in much ofthe futile discussion in recent years regarding methods of teaching. Enthusiastic innovators have debated at cross purposes about teachingmethods as if they were to be measured by some absolute standard ofpedagogic values, not recognizing that the chief differences of viewsas to teaching methods were rooted in the differing aims. This truthwill reappear at many points in the following discussion. "What willyou have, " quoth the Gods, "pay the price and take it. "

=Place of economics in the college curriculum=

The place assigned to economics in the college curriculum in respectto the year in which the student is admitted to its study is verydifferent in various colleges. In the last investigation of thesubject it appeared that the first economics course might be takenfirst in the freshman year in 14 per cent of cases, in the sophomore year in 31 per cent of cases, in the junior year in 42 per cent of cases, in the senior year in 13 per cent of cases. [16]Among those institutions giving an economic course in the freshmanyear are some small and some large institutions (some of the latterbeing Stanford, New York University, Pennsylvania, Bryn Mawr, and thestate universities of California, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, Colorado, Utah). Frequently the elementary course given to freshmen isin matter and method historical and descriptive, rather thantheoretical, and is planned to precede a more rigid course in theprinciples. [17]

The plan of beginning economics in the sophomore year is the modeamong the state universities and larger colleges, including nearly allof the larger institutions that do not begin the subject in thefreshman year. This group includes Yale, Hopkins, Chicago, Northwestern, Mount Holyoke, Wellesley, Vassar, and (after 1919)Princeton. 

The group of institutions beginning economics in the junior year isthe largest, but consists mostly of small colleges having someadvanced economics courses, but no more than can be given in thesenior year. It contains, besides, a few colleges of arts whichmaintain a more strictly prescribed curriculum for underclassmen(freshmen and sophomores), such as Dartmouth, Columbia, Smith, andSimmons. It should be observed also that in a great many institutions, where economics may be taken by some students in the first two years, it is in fact scheduled as late as junior or senior year in theprescribed courses of students in special departments such asagriculture, engineering, and law. This statement applies doubtless tomany thousands of technical students. [18]

In view of these divergencies in practice we must hesitate to declarethat the subject should be begun at precisely this or that point inthe college course. These differences, to be sure, are in many casesthe result of accidental factors in the college curriculum, and oftenhave been determined by illogical departmental rivalries within thefaculty rather than by wise and disinterested educators studying themerits of the case. But in large part these differences are theexpression of different purposes and practical needs in planning acollege curriculum, and are neither quite indefensible nor necessarilycontradictory in pedagogic theory. In the small college with a nearlyuniform curriculum and with limited means, a general course is perhapsbest planned for the senior year, or in the junior year if there is anopportunity given to the student to do some more advanced work theyear following. At the other extreme are some larger institutions inwhich the pressure of new subjects within the arts curriculum hasshattered the fixed curriculum into fragments. This has made possiblespecialization along any one of a number of lines. Where this idea iscarried out to the full, every general group of subjects eventuallymust make good its claim to a place in the freshman year for itsfundamental course. But inasmuch as, in most institutions, thefreshman year is still withheld from this free elective plan by therequirement of a small group of general subjects, economics is firstopen to students in the sophomore year. The license of the electivesystem is of course much moderated by the requirement to elect adepartment, usually at the beginning either of the sophomore or of thejunior year, and within each department both a more or less definitesequence of courses and a group of collateral requirements are usuallyenforced. Where resources are very limited it is probably best to givethe economics course in the last two years, but where several morespecialized courses in economics are given, it should be introduced asearly as the sophomore year. If a freshman course in the subject isgiven it should be historical, descriptive, or methodical (e. G. , statistical methods, graphics, etc. ) rather than theoretical. Theexperience (or lack of experience) and knowledge of the industrialworld, past and present, possessed by the average American collegestudent is such that courses of that kind meet a great need. [19]

=Time to be given to economics in a college curriculum=

Teachers of economics today are doubtless attempting the impossible incompressing the present "general course" into three hours for twosemesters. No other department of a university attempts to treat insuch a brief time so broad a subject, including both principles andapplications. Such a course was quite long enough in the days when alleconomic instruction was given by gray-haired theologians, philosophers, mathematicians, and linguists, dogmatically expounding the _pons asinorum_of economics, and quizzing from a dusty textbook of foreign authorship. But now the growing and vigorous tribe of specialized economic teachers isbursting with information and illustrations. Moreover, the range ofeconomic topics and of economic interests has expanded wonderfully. 

The resulting overcrowded condition of the general course is possiblythe main cause of the difficulties increasingly felt by teachers inhandling that course satisfactorily. As a part of a general collegecurriculum "general economics" cannot be satisfactorily treated inless than three hours a week for two years. The additional time shouldnot be spent in narrow specialization but rather in getting a broaderunderstanding of the subject through economic history and geography, through observation and description of actual conditions, through agreater use of problems and examples, and through more detailed, lesssuperficial study of the fundamental principles. As a part of sixteenyears of the whole educational scheme from primary grade to collegediploma such a course would claim but 2-1/2 per cent of the student'swhole time, while the subjects of English, mathematics, and foreignlinguistics each gets about 20 per cent, in the case even of studentswho do not specialize in one of these branches. 

Of the replies[20] from nearly three hundred colleges to the questionwhether economics was required for graduation, about 55 per cent were inthe affirmative. Unfortunately the question was ambiguous, and thereplies apparently were understood to mean generally that it wasrequired in one or more curricula, not of all graduates (though in somecases the question was probably taken in the other sense). It isnoteworthy that more frequently economics is required in the smallercolleges having but one curriculum, that of liberal studies. In thelarger institutions economics is usually not required of students in thehumanities, although of late it has increasingly been made a part of thetechnical college curricula, especially in engineering andagriculture. [21] So we are in a fair way to arrive at the situationwhere no student except in those "liberal" arts courses can get acollege diploma without studying economics; only in a modern course inthe humanities may the study of human society be left out. 

The economists have not been active in urging their subject as arequirement. The call for increasing requirements in economics hascome from the public and from the alumni. The steady increase in thenumber of students electing economic courses without correspondingadditions to the teaching forces has made the overworked professors ofthe subject thankful when nothing more was done to increase by facultyrequirements the burden of their class work. It is charged and it isadmitted in some institutions that the standards of marking arepurposely made more severe in the economics courses than in courses inmost other subjects. The purpose avowed is "to cut out the deadtimber, " so that only the better students will be eligible forenrollment in the advanced economics courses. An unfortunate result isto discourage some excellent students, ambitious for high marks orhonors, from electing courses in economics because thereby theiraverage grades would be reduced. In many cases, for this reason, goodstudents take the subject optionally (without credit), though doingfull work in it. 

=Organization of the subject in the college curriculum=

We have already, in discussing the place of economics, necessarilytouched upon the organization of the courses. In most colleges thisorganization is very simple. The whole economic curriculum consists ofthe "general" course, or at most of that plus one or more somewhatspecialized courses given the next year. The most usual year ofadvanced work consists of one semester each of money and banking andof public finance. A not unusual plan, well suited to the situationin a small college where economics takes the full time of one teacher, is to give the general course in the sophomore year, and to offer atwo-year cycle of advanced work, the two courses being given inalternate years, the class consisting of juniors and seniors. In thisplan the additional courses may be in transportation, in laborproblems, in trusts and corporations, and frequently of late, inaccounting. Ordinarily the "general" course itself involves a logicalsequence, the first term dealing with fundamental concepts andtheories, and the second term covering in a rapid survey a pretty widerange of special problems. The majority of the students take only thegeneral course. Those who go on to more advanced courses retrace thenext year some of the ground of the second semester's work, but thisis probably for few of them a loss of time. Indeed, in such a subjectas economics this opportunity to let first teachings "sink in, " andstrange concepts become familiar, is for most students of great value. Yet the plan was adopted and is followed as a compromise, using onecourse as a ready-made fit for the differing needs of two groups ofstudents. We have seen above (page 221) that preceding the general, orsystematic, course, there is in a number of colleges a simpler one. Insome cases[22] the experiment has been undertaken of studying firstfor a time certain broad institutional features of our existingsociety, such as property, the wage system, competition, and theamount and distribution of wealth. The need of such a course is saidto be especially great in the women's colleges. If so, it is trulyurgent, for most young men come to college with very meager experiencein economic lines. Few, if any, teachers would deny that such anintroductory course preceding the principles is distinctly ofadvantage. [23] Some would favor it even at the price of shorteningmaterially the more general course. But most teachers would agree thattogether the introductory course and the general course should taketwo full years (three hours a week, twelve college credit hours, asusually reckoned), an amount of time which cannot be given by the"floater" electing economics. And to accommodate both those who havehad the introductory course and those who have not, the general coursewould have to be given in two divisions and in two ways. Again we cometo the thought, suggested above, that probably we are attempting toomuch in too brief a time in the general course today. A longer timefor the study would permit of a sequence that would be more logicallydefensible. It would begin with historical and descriptive studies, both because they are fundamentally necessary and because, being ofmore concrete nature, they may be given in a form easier for thebeginner to get. In this period a good deal of the terminology can begradually familiarized. Then should come the more elementaryanalytical studies and fundamental principles, followed by adiscussion of a number of practical problems. In conclusion shouldcome a more systematic survey of general principles, of which moststudents now get but a superficial idea. The work in the specializedelective courses would then be built upon much firmer foundation thanis the case at present. 

=Methods of teaching=

The main methods that have been developed and tested in the teachingof undergraduate classes in economics may be designated as the lecturemethod, the textbook method, the problem method. Any one of these maybe used well-nigh exclusively, or, as is more usual, two or more maybe combined in varying proportions; e. G. , lectures with"supplementary" (or "collateral") readings, with or without anoccasional meeting in a quiz section. Along with these main methodsoften are used such supplementary methods as topical reports requiringindividual library work; laboratory exercises, as in statistics, accounting, etc. ; individual field work to study some industrialproblem; and visits, as a class, and with guidance, to factories andindustrial enterprises. 

The choice of these particular methods of teaching is, however, largely conditioned by the teacher's antecedent choice between thedeductive or the inductive forms of presentation. This is an oldcontroversy ever recurring. But it should be observed that thequestion here is not whether induction or deduction is a greater aidin arriving at new truth, but it is whether the inductive or thedeductive process is the better for the imparting of instruction tobeginners. In teaching mathematics, the most deductive of thesciences, use may be made of such inductive aids as object lessons, physical models, and practical problems; and _per contra_, in thenatural sciences, where induction is the chief instrument of research, elementary instruction is largely given in a deductive manner by thestatement of general propositions, the workings of which are thenexemplified. The decision of the question which is the better of thesetwo pedagogic methods in a particular case, depends (_a_) partly onthe average maturity and experience of the class; (_b_) partly on themental quality of the students; and (_c_) partly on the interest andqualifications of the teacher. 

(_a_) The choice of the best method of teaching is of course dependenton the same factors that have been shown above to affect the natureand sequence of the courses. The simpler method leading to morelimited results is more suitable for the less mature classes; but thescientific stage in the treatment of any subject is not reached untilgeneral principles are discussed. If one is content with a vocationalresult in economic teaching, stopping short of the theoretical, philosophic outlook, more can be accomplished in a short time by theconcrete method. But such teaching would seem to belong in a tradeschool rather than in a college of higher studies, and in any caseshould be given by a vocational teacher rather than by a specialist insocial, or political, economy. 

=Various methods evaluated=

(_b_) Every college class presents a gradation of minds capable(whether from nature or training) of attaining different states ofcomprehension. Of students in the lower half of the classes inAmerican colleges, it may be said broadly that they never can or willdevelop the capacity of thinking abstractly and that the concretemethod of teaching would give better results in their cases. Thereforethe teacher attempts to compromise, to adopt a method that fits the"mode, " the middle third of the class, wasting much of the time of thebrighter (or of the more earnest) students, and letting those in thelowest third trail along as best they can. This difficulty may be metwith some success where there are several sections of a class bygrouping the men in accordance with their previous scholarshiprecords. This grouping is beneficial alike to those lower and to thosehigher than the average in scholarship. 

(_c_) Quite as important in this connection as this subjective qualityof the students, is the characteristic quality of the teacher. Aparticular teacher will succeed better or worse with any particularmethod according as it fits his aim and is in accord with hisendowment and training. If he is himself of the "hard-headed"unimaginative or unphilosophic type, he will of course deem effortwasted that goes beyond concrete facts. He will give little place tothe larger aspects and principles of "political" economy, but willdeal exhaustively with the details of commercial economy. If theteacher is civic-minded and sympathetic, he will be impelled to traceeconomic forces, in their actions and interactions, far beyond theparticular enterprise, to show how the welfare of others is affected. To do this rightly, knowledge of the conditions must be combined witha deeper theoretical insight; but the civic aim operates selectivelyto limit the choice of materials and analysis to those contemporaryissues that appeal at the time to the textbook writer, to the teacher, or to the public. Still different is the case of the teacher who findshis greatest joy in the theoretical aspects of economics, possesses aclean-cut economic philosophy (even though it may not be ultimatetruth), and has faith in economics as a disciplinary subject. Such ateacher will (other things being equal) have, relatively, his greatestsuccess with the students of greatest ability; he will get betterresults in teaching the "principles" than in teaching historical anddescriptive facts. None will deny that this type of education has animportant place. Even in the more descriptive courses appeal should bemade to the higher intellectual qualities of the class, leaving alasting disciplinary result rather than a memory stored with merelyephemeral and mostly insignificant information. 

The teacher with colorless personality and without interest in, andknowledge of, the world of reality, will fail, whatever be the purposeof his teaching. The higher the teacher's aim, the farther may he fallbelow its attainment. A college teacher whose message is delivered onthe mental level of grammar school children should, of course, score apretty high percentage of success in giving a passing mark tosophomores, juniors, and seniors in American colleges. But is thisreally a success, or is it rather not evidence of a failure in thewhole school curriculum, and of woful waste in our system of so-called"higher" education? Are colleges for the training of merely mediocreminds?

=Aim and attitude more fundamental than method of instruction=

These questions of aim and of attitude are more fundamental than isthe question of the particular device of instruction to be used, aslecture, textbook, etc. Yet the latter question is not without itsimportance. In general it appears that practice has moved and stillmoves in a cycle. In the American college world as a whole eachparticular college repeats some or all of the typical phases with thegrowth of its economic department. 

(1) First is the textbook, with recitations in small classes. (2)Next, the lecture gradually takes a larger place as the classes grow, until, supplemented by required readings, it becomes the main tool ofinstruction, this being the cheapest and easiest way to take care ofthe rapidly growing enrollment. (3) Then, when this provesunsatisfactory, the lectures are perhaps cut down to two a week, andthe class is divided into quiz sections for one meeting a week underassistants or instructors, the lecture still being the main center ofthe scheme of teaching. (4) This still being unsatisfactory (partlybecause it lacks oversight of the students' daily work, and partlybecause the lecture is unsuited to the development of generalprinciples that require careful and repeated study for their mastery), a textbook is made the basis of section meetings, held usually twice aweek, and the lectures are reduced to one a week, given to thecombined class, and so changed in character as to be merelysupplementary to the class work. The lectures are given either inclose connection week by week with the class work or bearing only ageneral relation with the term's work as a whole. This may be deemedthe prevailing mode today in institutions where the introductorycourse has a large enrollment. [24] (5) Another change completes thecycle; the lecture is dropped and the class is divided, each section, consisting of twenty to thirty students, meeting with the same teacherregularly for class work. This change was made after matureconsideration in "the College" in Columbia University; is in operationin Chicago University, where the meetings are held five times a week;and has been adopted more recently still in New York University. Therehave been for years evidences of the growing desire to abolish thelecture from the introductory course and also to limit its use in someof the special undergraduate courses. The preceptorial plan adopted in1905 by Princeton University is the most notable instance of thelatter change. [25] Even in graduate teaching in economics there hasbeen a growing opinion and practice favorable to the "working" courseor "seminar" course to displace lecture courses. [26] Thus the lectureseems likely to play a less prominent role, especially in theintroductory courses, but it is not likely to be displaced entirely inthe scheme of instruction. 

=Selection of a textbook=

Numerous American textbooks on political economy (thirty, it is said)have been published in the last quarter of a century, a fact which hasnow and then been deplored by the pessimistic critic. [27] Few sharethis opinion, however. The textbooks have, to be sure, often served, not to unfold a consistent system of thought, but to reveal the lackof one. But they have afforded to the teachers and students, in aperiod of developing conceptions on the subjects, a wide choice oftreatment of the principles much more exactly worked out and carefullyexpressed than is possible through the medium of lectures as recordedin the students' hastily written notes. 

Questions, exercises, and test problems are widely used as supplementarymaterial for classroom discussion. [28] Separately printed collections ofsuch material date back at least to W. G. Sumner's _Problems inPolitical Economy_ (1884), which in turn acknowledged indebtedness toother personal sources and to Milnes' collection of two thousandquestions and problems from English examination papers. With somewhatvarying aims, further commented upon below, and in varying degrees, allteachers of economics now make use of such questions in their teachingof both general and special courses. Unquestionably there are, in theuse of the problem method, possibilities for good which few teachershave fully realized. [29]

The selection and arrangement of materials for supplementary readingsis guided by various motives, more or less intermingling. It may bechiefly to parallel a systematic text by extracts taken largely fromthe older "classics" of the subject (as in C. J. Bullock's _SelectedReadings in Economics_, 1907); or to provide additional concretematerial bearing mostly upon present economic problems (as in theauthor's _Source Book in Economics_, 1912); or to supplement a set ofexercises and problems (as in F. M. Taylor's _Some Readings inEconomics_, 1907); or to constitute of itself an almost independenttextbook of extracts, carefully edited with original introductions tochapters (as Marshall, Wright, and Field's _Materials for the Study ofElementary Economics_, 1913, and W. H. Hamilton's _Readings in CurrentEconomic Problems_, 1914). 

Whatever be the particular tool of instruction, whether lecture, textbook with classroom discussion, problem study, or collateralreadings, its use may be very different according as the teacher seeksto develop the subject positively or negatively, to present a singledefinite and (if he can) coherent body of doctrines, or a variety ofopinions that have been held, among which the student is encouraged tochoose. Evidently the conditions determining choice in the case ofadvanced courses are different from those in the introductory course. For the beginner time is required in order that economic principlesmay sink in, and so he is bewildered if at first he is introduced to anumber of theories by different authors. Materials that supplement thegeneral course of principles should therefore be limited to subjectmatter that is descriptive, concrete, and illustrative. The beginner, somewhat dazed with the variety of new facts, ideas, terminology, andproblems in the field into which he has entered, needs guidance tothink clearly step by step about them. [30] Not until the pupil haslearned to see and apprehend the simpler economic phenomena near himcan he be expected to survey the broader fields and to formindependent judgments concerning complex situations. He must creepbefore he can run. In fact, teachers are often self-deceived when theyimagine that they are leaving students to judge for themselves amongvarious opinions or to find their way inductively to their ownconclusions. The recitation, in truth, becomes the simple game of "hotand cold. " The teacher has in mind what he considers the right answer;the groping student tries to guess it; and as he ventures this or thatinexpert or lucky opinion he is either gently chided or encouraged. At length some bright pupil wins the game by agreeing with theteacher's theretofore skilfully concealed opinion. This is calledteaching by the inductive method. 

Undoubtedly it is more desirable to develop in the student the abilityto think independently about economic questions than it is to drillhim into an acceptance of ready-made opinions on contemporarypractical issues. The more fundamental economic theory--the morebecause its bearing on pecuniary and class interests is not close orobvious--is an admirable organ for the development of the student'spower of reasoning. But to give the student this training it is notnecessary to keep him in the dark as to what he is to learn. TheSocratic method is still unexcelled in the discussion of a text and oflectures in which propositions are clearly laid down and explained. The theorem in geometry is first stated, and then the student isconducted step by step through the reasoning leading to thatconclusion. Should not the student of economics have presented to himin a similar way the idea or principle, and then be required to followthe reasoning upon which it is based? Then, through questions andproblems, --the more the better, if time permits of their thoroughdiscussion and solution, --the student may be exercised in theinterpretation of the principles, and by illustrations drawn fromhistory and contemporary conditions may be shown the variousapplications of the principle to practical problems. To get and holdthe student's _interest_, to fascinate him with the subject, is equalin importance to the method, for without interest good results areimpossible. [31]

=Tests or teaching results=

It must be confessed that no exact objective measure of the efficiencyof teaching methods in economics has been found. At best we havecertain imperfect indices, among which are the formal examination, thestudent's own opinion at the close of the course, and the student'srevised opinion after leaving college. 

The primary purpose of the traditional examination is not to test therelative merits of the different methods of teaching, but to test therelative merits of the various students in a class, whatever be themethod of teaching. Every teacher knows that high or low average marksin an entire class are evidences rather of the standard that he issetting than it is of the merits of his teaching methods, --though insome cases he is able to compare the results obtained after using twodifferent methods of exposition for the same subject. But, as wasindicated above, such a difference may result from his own temperamentand may point only to the method that he can best use, not to the bestabsolutely considered. Moreover, the teacher may make the averagemarks high or low merely by varying the form and content of theexamination papers or the strictness of his markings. 

Each ideal and method of teaching has its corresponding type ofexamination. Descriptive and concrete courses lend themselvesnaturally to memory tests; theoretical courses lend themselves toproblems and reasoning. A high type of question is one whose properanswer necessitates knowledge of the facts acquired in the coursetogether with an interpretation of the principles and theirapplication to new problems. Memory tests serve to mark off "the sheepfrom the goats" as regards attention and faithful work; reasoningtests serve to give a motive for disciplinary study and to measure itsresults. It may perhaps seem easier to test the results of thestudent's work in memory subjects; but even as to that we know thatthere are various types of memory and how much less significant aremarks obtained by "the cramming process" than are equally good marksobtained as a result of regular attention to daily tasks. 

The students' revised and matured judgment of the value of theirvarious college studies generally differ, often greatly, from theirjudgments while taking or just after completing the courses. Yet evenyears afterward can man judge rightly in his own case just what hasbeen the relative usefulness to him of the different elements of hiscomplex college training, or of the different methods employed?[32]But the evidence that comes from the most successful alumni to thecollege teacher in economics is increasingly to the effect that thecollege work they have come to value most is that which "teaches thestudent to think. " Our judgments in this matter are influenced by thelarger educational philosophy that we hold. Each will have hisstandard of spiritual values. 

=Moot questions in economics affecting the teaching of the subject=

The moot questions in the teaching of the subject have, perhaps, beensufficiently indicated, but we may here add a word as to the bearingswhich certain moot questions in the theory of the subject may have onthe methods of teaching. The fundamental theory of economics has, since the days of Adam Smith, been undergoing a process of continuoustransition, but the broader concepts never have been more in disputethan in the last quarter century in America. The possibility of suchdiversity of opinion in the fundamentals among the leading exponentsof the subject argues strongly that economics is still a philosophy--ageneral attitude of mind and system of opinion--rather than a positivescience. At best it is a "becoming science" which never can ceaseentirely to have a speculative, or philosophic character. This is notthe place to go into details of matters in controversy. Suffice it tosay that in rivalry to the older school--which is variously designatedRicardian, Orthodox, English, or classical--newer ideas have beendeveloped, dating from the work of the Austrian economists, of Jevons, and of J. B. Clark in the last decades of the nineteenth century. Theolder school had sought the explanation of value and the theory ofdistribution in objective factors, --partly in the chemical qualitiesof the soil, partly in labor, partly in the costs (or outlays) of theemploying class. The psychological factor in value had been almosteliminated from this older treatment of value and price, or at bestwas imperfectly recognized under the name of "utility. " The newerschool made the psychological element primary in the positivetreatment of economic principles, and launched a negative criticismagainst the older terms and ideas that effectively exposed theirunsoundness considered separately and their inconsistency as a systemof economic thought. Both the negative criticisms and the proposedamendments taken one by one gained wide acceptance among economists. But when it came to embodying them in a general theory of economics, many economists have balked. [33] Most of the American texts ineconomics and much of our teaching show disastrous effects of thisconfusion and irresolution. The newer concepts, guardedly admitted tohave some validity, appear again and again in the troubled discussionsof recent textbook writers, which usually end with a rejection, "onthe whole, " of the logical implications of these newer concepts. Manyteachers thus have lost their grip on any coördinating theory ofdistribution. They no longer have any general economic philosophy. Theold Ricardian cock-sureness had its pedagogic merits. Without faith, teaching perishes. The complaints of growing difficulty in theteaching of the introductory course seem to have come particularlyfrom teachers that are in this unhappy state of mind. They declarethat it is impossible longer to interest students successfully in ageneral theoretical course, and they are experimenting with all kindsof substitutes--de-nicotinized tobacco and Kaffee Hag--from whichpoisonous theory has been extracted. At the same time, economics "witha punch in it, " economics "with a back bone, " is being taught bystrong young teachers of the new faith more successfully, perhaps, than economics has ever been taught in the past. This greater questionof the teacher's conception of economics dominates all the minorquestions of method. Economics cannot be taught as an integratedcourse in principles by teachers without theoretical training andconceptions; in such hands its treatment is best limited to thedescriptive phases of concrete special problems, --valuable, indeed, asa background and basis, but never rising to the plane upon which aloneeconomics is fully worth the student's while as a college subject. 

 FRANK ALBERT FETTER _Princeton University_

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The literature on the teaching of economics in the secondary schools, its need and its proper scope and method, is somewhat extensive. Another goodly group of articles discusses the teaching of economichistory and of other social sciences related to economics, either inhigh schools or colleges. A somewhat smaller group pertains tograduate instruction in the universities. The following brief list oftitles, arranged chronologically, is most pertinent to our presentpurpose:

"The Relation of the Teaching of Economic History to the Teaching ofPolitical Economy" (pages 88-101), and "Methods of Teaching Economics"(pages 105-111), _A. E. A. Economic Studies_, Vol. 3, 1898. 

Proceedings of a conference on the teaching of elementary economics, _Journal of Political Economy_, Vol. 17, December, 1909. 

TAYLOR, F. M. "Methods of Teaching Elementary Economics, " _Journal ofPolitical Economy_. Vol. 17, December, 1909, page 688. 

WOLFE, A. B. "Aim and Content of a College Course in ElementaryEconomics, " _Journal of Political Economy_, Vol. 17, December, 1909, page 673. 

Symposium by Carver, Clark, Seager, Seligman, Nearing, _et al. _, _Journal of Political Economy_, Vol. 18, 1910. 

Report of the Committee on the Teaching of Economics, _Journal ofPolitical Economy_, Vol. 19, 1911, pages 760-789. 

ROBINSON, L. N. "The Seminar in the Colleges, " _Journal of PoliticalEconomy_, Vol. 21, 1913, page 643. 

WOLFE, A. B. "The Aim and Content of the Undergraduate EconomicsCurriculum, " _Journal of Political Economy_, Vol. 21, 1913, page 1. 

PERSONS, CHARLES E. "Teaching the Introductory Course in Economics, "_Quarterly Journal of Economics_, November, 1916. 

Footnotes:

[15] See article by Charles E. Persons, on Teaching the IntroductoryCourse in Economics, in _Quarterly Journal of Economics_ Vol. XXXI, November, 1916, for a strong presentation of this civic ideal ineconomic study. 

[16] Compiled by the writer from data in the report of the committeeappointed by the conference on the teaching of elementary economics, 1909; _Journal of Political Economy_, November, 1911, Vol. 19, pages760-789. 

[17] See page 767 of the committee report cited above. 

[18] Evidently it is not possible to draw from these data any definiteconclusions as to the proportion of students beginning economics ineach of the four years respectively. But probably three-fourths ofall, possibly four-fifths, take the general course either in thesophomore or the junior year. Most of the institutions givingeconomics only in the senior year are small, with a very restrictedcurriculum, often limited to one general course. But it is a widelyobserved fact that many students in large institutions postpone theelection of the subject till their senior year. 

[19] Of this see further below, page 226. 

[20] Article cited, _Journal of Political Economy_, Vol. 19, page 768. 

[21] The society for the Promotion of Engineering Education has had astanding committee on economics, since 1915. The first committee wascomposed of three engineers (all of them consulting and in practiceand two of them also teachers) and the present writer. 

[22] In Amherst, as described in _Journal of Political Economy_ byProfessor W. H. Hamilton, on "The Amherst Program in Economics"; andin Chicago University beginning in 1916. See also, by the same writer, a paper on "The Institutional Approach to Economic Theory", in the_American Economic Review_, Supplement, page 309, March, 1919. 

[23] At the meeting of the American Economic Association in 1897, atwhich was discussed "The Relation of the Teaching of Economic Historyto the Teaching of Political Economy, " the opinion was expressed byone teacher that economic history should follow the general course. But all the others agreed that such a course should begin thesequence, and this seems to be the almost invariable practice. See_Economic Studies_, Volume III. Pages 88-101, Publications of theAmerican Economic Association, 1898. 

[24] This plan has at various times been followed at Stanford, Cornell, Harvard, and Princeton, to cite only a few of the numerousexamples. 

[25] In this plan the sections are small (three to seven students) andthe preceptor is expected to give much time to the personalsupervision of the student's reading, reports, and generalscholarship. The preceptorial work is rated at more than half of theentire work of the term. The one great difficulty of the preceptorialsystem is its cost. 

[26] A strong plea is made for the "retirement of the lectures" by C. E. Persons, in the _Quarterly Journal of Economics_, Vol. XXXI, "Teaching the Introductory Course in Economics, " November, 1916, pages96-98. 

[27] Professor J. H. Hollander, _American Economic Review_, Vol. VI, No. 1, Supplement (March, 1916), page 135. See dissenting opinions inthe discussion that followed. 

[28] Professor C. E. Persons (art. Cited page 86, November, 1916)gives the titles of ten separate books or pamphlets of this kind;since which date have appeared the author's "Manual of References andExercises, " Parts I and II, to accompany _Economic Principles_, 1915, and _Modern Economic Problems_, 1916, respectively. 

[29] Among those most elaborately developing this method has beenProfessor F. M. Taylor of the University of Michigan. See his paper onthe subject and discussion in the _Journal of Political Economy_, Vol. VII, pages 688-703 (December, 1909). Marshall, Wright, and Fieldpublished the _Outline of Economics_, developed as a series ofproblems in 1910, which they used for a time as the main tool ofinstruction in the introductory course in Chicago University. 

[30] A thoughtful discussion of some phases of this problem is givenby Persons, art. Cited, pages 98 ff. , favoring the more positivetreatment with less distracting multiplicity of detail. 

[31] To a former student of mine and now a successful teacher, Dean J. R. Turner of New York University, I am indebted for the suggestion ofthe following practical rules, a few among many possible, which shouldbe helpful to younger teachers:

(_a_) Keep the student expecting a surprise, afraid to relax attentionfor fear of missing something. 

(_b_) By Socratic method lead him into error, then have him (undercross fire and criticism of class) reason his way out. 

(_c_) Make fallacious argument, then call for criticism givingdistinction to him who renders best judgment. 

(_d_) Set tasks and have members of class compete in intellectualcontests. 

(_e_) Make sure that each principle learned is seen in itsrelationship to practical affairs. 

(_f_) Enliven each dry principle with an anecdote or illustration toelucidate it, for principles devoid of interesting features cannotsecure attention and so will not be remembered. 

(_g_) Accompany the discussion with charts and board work to visualizefacts and questions to stimulate thought. 

(_h_) Ask questions and so handle the class discussions that a fewwill not do all the talking, that foreign subject matter is notintroduced, that a consistent and logical development of thought isstrictly adhered to. 

(_i_) The last few minutes of the period might well be devoted to theassignment for the next meeting. The best manner of assignment mustdepend upon the nature of task, the advancement of the student, thepurpose in view. 

[32] An interesting study made by the department of education ofHarvard University of the teaching methods and results in thedepartment of economics was referred to in President Lowell's report. According to the answers of the alumni their work in economics is nowvalued mainly for its civic and disciplinary results (these do notseem to have been further distinguished). In the introductory coursereading was ranked first, class work next, and lectures least, invalue. In the advanced courses the lecture was ranked higher and classwork lower, but that may be because the lecture plays a more importantrole there than in the lower classes. Answers regarding such mattersare at most significant as indicating the relative importance of thevarious methods as they have actually been employed in the particularinstitution, and have little validity in reference to the work andmethods of other teachers working under other conditions, and withstudents having different life aims. 

[33] The typical attitude of many economists is expressed about asfollows: It is one thing to give assent to refinements when they areused in the discussion of some single point of theory, and it is quiteanother thing to accept them when one sees how, in their combinedeffect, they would carry us away from "the old familiar moorings. "

Such a view, it need not be urged, reflects an unscientific state ofmind. The real cause of the rejection of the ideas probably is theshrinking of over-busy men, in middle life, and absorbed in teachingand in special problems, from the intellectual task of restudying thefundamentals and revising many of their earlier formed opinions--tosay nothing of rewriting many of their old lectures and manuscripts. 

XI

THE TEACHING OF SOCIOLOGY

=Growth of sociology as a college subject=

The teaching of sociology as a definite college subject in the UnitedStates began at Yale nearly forty-five years ago. Since 1873 it hasbeen introduced into nearly 200 American colleges, universities, normal schools, and seminaries. A study of this teaching in 1910revealed over 700 courses offered to over 8000 undergraduates and 1100graduate students. It is safe to assume a steady growth during thelast six years. Hence the problem of teaching is of no little concernto sociologists. The American Sociological Society early recognizedthis fact and in 1909 appointed a Committee of Ten to report oncertain aspects of the problem. But that all teachers of sociologyhave not grasped the bearing of pedagogy upon their work is clear fromcomplaints still heard from students that sociology is vague, indefinite, abstract, dull, or scattered. Not long ago some brightmembers of a class were overheard declaring that their professor musthave been struck by a gust of wind which scattered his notes every daybefore getting to his desk. 

=The pedagogy of sociology the pedagogy of all college subjects=

Sociology is simply a way of looking at the same world of realitywhich every other science looks at in its own way. It cannot thereforedepart far from the pedagogical principles tried out in teaching othersubjects. It must utilize the psychology of attention, interest, drill, the problem method, procedure from the student's known to thenew, etc. The universal pitfalls have been charted for all teachers bythe educational psychologists. In addition, sociology may offer a fewon its own account, partly because it is new, partly because a generalagreement as to the content of fundamentals in sociology courses isjust beginning to make itself felt, partly because there is so far noreally good textbook available as a guide to the beginner. 

=Methods of teaching sociology determined by a complex of vital factors=

Specific methods of teaching vary according to individual temperament, the "set" of the teacher's mind; according to his bias of class, birth, or training; according to whether he has been formed ordeformed by some strong personality whose disciple he has become;according to whether he is a radical or a conservative; according towhether he is the dreamy, idealistic type or whether he hankers afterconcrete facts; according to whether sociology is a primary interestor only an incidental, more or less unwelcome. 

Hence part of the difficulty, though by no means all, comes from thefact that sociology is frequently expounded by men who have receivedno specific training themselves in the subject, or who have had thesubject thrust upon them as a side issue. In this connection it isinteresting to note that in 1910 sociology was "given" in only 20cases by sociology departments, in 63 by combinations of economics, history, and politics, in 11 by philosophy and psychology, in 2 byeconomics and applied Christianity or theology, in 1 by practicaltheology!

=Guiding principles in the teaching of sociology--The teacher as keenanalyst, not revivalist=

Whatever the path which led into the sociological field or whateverthe bias of temperament, experience justifies several preliminaryhints for successful teaching. First, avoid the voice, the yearningmanner, and the gesture of the preacher. Sociology needs thecool-headed analyst rather than the social revivalist. Let thesentimentalist and the muck-raker stay with their lecture circuits andthe newspapers. The student wants enthusiasm and inspiration ratherthan sentimentality. 

=Avoiding the formal lecture=

Second, renounce the lecture, particularly with young students. Thereis no surer method of blighting the interest of students, of murderingtheir minds, and of ossifying the instructor than to persist in thepernicious habit of the formal lecture. Some men plead large classesin excuse. If they were honest with themselves they would usually findthat they like large classes as a subtle sort of compliment tothemselves. Given the opportunity to break up a class of two hundredinto small discussion groups they would frequently refuse, on thescore that they would lose a fine opportunity to influence a largegroup. Dodge it as you will, the lecture is and will continue to be anunsatisfactory, even vicious, way of attempting to teach socialscience. No reputable university tries to teach economics or politicsnowadays in huge lecture sections. Only an abnormal conceit or abysmalpoverty will prevent sociology departments from doing likewise. Remember that education is always an exchange, never a free gift. 

=Adjusting instruction to the capacities of your students=

Third, do not be afraid to utilize commonplace facts andillustrations. A successful professor of sociology writes me that hecan remember that what are mere commonplaces now were revelations tohim at twenty-one. Two of the greatest teachers of the nineteenthcentury, Faraday and Huxley, attributed their success to the simplemaxim, take nothing for granted. It is safe to assume that moststudents come from homes where business and petty neighborhood doingsare the chief concern, and where a broad, well-informed outlook onlife is rare. Since so many of my colleagues insist that young Ph. D. 'stend constantly to "shoot over the heads" of their students, the bestway of avoiding this particular pitfall seems to lie along the road ofsimple, elementary, concrete fact. The discussion method in theclassroom will soon put the instructor right if he has gone to theother extreme of depreciating his students through kindergartenmethods. Likewise he can guard against being oracular and pedantic byletting out his superior stores of information through free discussionin the Socratic fashion. Nothing is more important to good teachingthan the knack of apt illustration. While to a certain extent it canbe taught, just as the art of telling a humorous story or making apresentation speech can be communicated by teachers of oral English, yet in the long run it is rather a matter of spontaneous upwellingsfrom a well-stored mind. For example, suppose a class is studying thefactors of variation and selection in social evolution: the instructorshows how Nature loves averages, not only by statistics andexperiments with the standard curve of distribution, but also, if heis a really illuminated teacher, by reference, say, to the legend ofDavid and Goliath, the fairy tale of _Little One-Eye, Little Two-Eye, Little Three-Eye_, and Lincoln's famous aphorism to the effect thatthe Lord must love the common people because he made so many of them. Sad experience advises that it is unsafe for an instructor any longerto assume that college sophomores are familiar with the Old Testament, classic myths, or Greek and Roman history. Hence he must beware ofusing any recondite allusions or illustrations which themselves needso much explanation that their bearing on the immediate problem inhand is obscured. An illustration, like a funny story, loses itspungency if it requires a scholium. 

=Pedagogical suggestions summarized=

Fourth, adhere to what a friend calls the 16 to 1 basis--16 parts factand 1 part theory. Fifth, eschew the professor's chair. The blackboardis the teacher's "next friend. " Recent time-motion studies lead us tobelieve that no man can use a blackboard efficiently unless he stands!The most celebrated teaching in history was peripatetic. Sixth, postpone the reconciling of discrepant social theorizings to thetougher-hided seniors or graduate students, and stick to thepresentation of "accessible realities. " Finally, an occasionalfriendly meeting with students, say once or twice a semester at aninformal supper, will create an atmosphere of coöperative learning, will break down the traditional barriers of hostility between masterand pupil, and may incidentally bring to the surface many useful hintsfor the framing of discussion problems. 

=The course of study--(a) Determined by the maturity of the students=

To a certain extent teaching methods are determined by the age of thestudents. In 1910, of all the institutions reporting, 73 stated thatsociology instruction began in the junior year; 23 admittedsophomores, 4 freshmen, 39 seniors. But the unmistakable drift is inthe direction of introducing sociology earlier in the collegecurriculum, and even into secondary and elementary schools. Hence thecautions voiced above tend to become all the more imperative. Moreover, while in the past it has been possible to exact history, economics, political science, philosophy, psychology, or education asprerequisite to beginning work in sociology, in view of the downwardtrend of sociology courses it becomes increasingly more difficult totake things for granted in the student's preparation. Until the dreamof offering a semester or year of general social science to allfreshmen as the introduction to work in the specialized branches ofsocial science comes true, the sociologist must communicate to hiselementary classes a sense of the relations between his view of socialphenomena and the aspects of the same phenomena which the historian, the economist, the political scientist, and the psychologist handle. 

=(b) Determined by its aims=

Both the content and methods of sociological instruction aredetermined also in part by what its purpose is conceived to be. Astudy of the beginnings of teaching this subject in the United Statesshows that it was prompted primarily by practical ends. For example, the American Social Science Association proposal (1878), in so far asit covered the field of sociology, included only courses on punishmentand reformation of criminals, public and private charities, andprevention of vice. President White of Cornell in 1871 recommended acourse of practical instruction "calculated to fit young men todiscuss intelligently such important social questions as the bestmethods of dealing practically with pauperism, intemperance, crime ofvarious degrees and among persons of different ages, insanity, idiocy, and the like. " Columbia University early announced that a universitysituated in such a city, full of problems at a time when "industrialand social progress is bringing the modern community face to face withsocial questions of the greatest magnitude, the solution of which willdemand the best scientific study and the most honest practicalendeavor, " must provide facilities for bringing university study intoconnection with practical work. In 1901 definite practical coursesshared honors of first place with the elementary or general course incollege announcements. The situation was practically the same tenyears later. Still more recently Professor Blackmar, one of theveterans in sociology teaching, worked out rather an elaborate programof what he called a "reasonable department of sociology for collegesand universities. " In spite of the fact that theoretical, biological, anthropological, and psychological aspects of the subject wereemphasized, his conclusion was that "the whole aim is to groundsociology in general utility and social service. It is a preparationfor social efficiency. "

=(c) Determined by the social character of the community=

The principle of adaptation to environment comes into play also in thechoice of teaching methods. An urban department can send its studentsdirectly into the field for first-hand observation of industry, housing, sanitation, congestion, playgrounds, immigration, etc. , andmay encourage "supervised field work" as fulfilling courserequirements. But the country or small town department far removedfrom large cities must emphasize rural social study, or get its urbandata second hand through print, charts, photographs, or lanternslides. A semester excursion to the city or to some state charitableinstitution adds such a touch of vividness to the routine class work. But "slumming parties" are to be ruthlessly tabooed, particularly whenfeatured in the newspapers. Social science is not called upon to makeexperimental guinea pigs of the poor simply because of their povertyand inability to protect themselves. 

=The introductory course the vital point of contact between student andthe department=

For many reasons the most serious problems of teaching sociologycenter about the elementary or introductory course. Advancedundergraduate and graduate courses usually stand or fall by theinherent appeal of their content as organized by the peculiar geniusof the instructor. If the student has been able to weather the stormsof his "Introduction, " he will usually have gained enough momentum tocarry him along even against the adverse winds of bad pedagogy in theupper academic zones. Since the whole purpose of sociology is the verypractical one of giving the student mental tools with which to thinkstraight on societal problems (what Comte called the "social point ofview"), and since usually only a comparatively small number find itpossible to specialize in advanced courses, the introductory courseassumes what at first sight might seem a disproportionate importance. Only one or two teachers of sociology, so far as I know, discount thevalue of an elementary course. The rest are persuaded of itsfundamental importance, and many, therefore, consider it a breach oftrust to turn over this course to green, untried instructors. Partlyas a recruiting device for their advanced courses, partly from thissense of duty, they undertake instruction of beginners. But it isoften impossible for the veteran to carry this elementary work: hemust commit it to younger men. For that reason the remainder of thischapter will be given over to a discussion of teaching methods forsuch an elementary course, with younger teachers in mind. 

=Teaching suggestions for the introductory course=

First, two or three general hints. It is unwise, to say the least, toattempt to cover the social universe in one course. Better a fewsimple concepts, abundantly illustrated, organized clearly andsystematically. Perhaps it is dangerous to suggest a few recurrentcatch phrases to serve as guiding threads throughout the course, butthat was the secret of the old ballad and the folk tale. Homer and themakers of fairy tales combined art and pedagogy in their use ofdescriptive epithets. Such a phrase as Ward's "struggle for existenceis struggle for structure" might furnish the framework of a wholecourse. "Like-mindedness, " "interest-groups, " "belief-groups, " and"folk-ways" are also convenient refrains. 

Nobody but a thoroughgoing pedant will drag his students through twoweeks' lectures and a hundred pages of text at the beginning of thecourse in the effort to define sociology and chart all its affinitiesand relations with every other science. Twenty minutes at the firstclass meeting should suffice to develop an understanding of what thescientific attitude is and a tentative definition of sociology. Thewhole course is its real definition. At the end of the term the verybest way of indicating the relation of sociology to other sciences isthrough suggestions about following up the leads obtained in thecourse by work in biology, economics, psychology, and other fields. This correlation of the student's program gives him an intimate senseof the unity in diversity of the whole range of science. 

If the student is to avoid several weeks of floundering, he should beled directly to observe societal relations in the making. This canperhaps be accomplished best through assigning a series of fourproblems at the first class meetings. 

Problem I: To show how each student spins a web of socialrelationship. Let him take a sheet of paper, place a circlerepresenting himself in the middle of it, then add dots and connectinglines for every individual or institution he forms a contact withduring the next two or three days. He will get a figure lookingsomething like this:

 [Illustration]

Problem II: To show how neighborhoods are socially bound up. Let thestudent take a section, say two or three blocks square, in a districthe knows well, and map it, --showing all the contacts. Again he willget a web somewhat like this:

 [Illustration]

These diagrams are adapted from students' reports. If they seemabsurdly simple, it is well to remember that experience reveals thestudent's amazing lack of ability to vizualize social relationshipswithout some such device. These diagrams, however, should serve merelyas the point of departure. Add to them charts showing the sources ofmilk and other food supplies of a large city, and a sense of theinterdependence and reciprocity of city and country will develop. Takea Mercator's projection map of the world and draw the trade routes andimmigration streams to indicate international solidarities. Suchdiagrams as the famous health tract "A Day in the Life of a Fly" orthe story of Typhoid Mary are helpful in establishing how closely acommunity is bound together. 

Problem III: To show the variety and kinds of social activities, i. E. , activities that bring two or more people into contact. Have thestudent note down even the homeliest sorts of such activities, thebutcher, the postman, the messenger boy; insist that he go out andlook instead of guessing or reading; require him to group theseactivities under headings which he may work out for himself. He willusually arrive at three or four, such as getting a living, recreation, political. It may be wise to ask him to grade these activities ashelpful, harmful, strengthening, or weakening, in order to accustomhim to the idea that sociology must treat of good, bad, andindifferent objects. 

Problem IV: To determine what the preponderant social interests andactivities are as judged by the amount of time men devote to them. Letthe student try a "time budget" for a fortnight. For this purposeGiddings suggests a large sheet of paper ruled for a wide left-handmargin and 32 narrow columns: the first 24 columns for hours of theday, the 25th for the word "daily, " and the last seven for the sevendays of the week. In the margin the student writes the names of everyactivity of whatever description during the waking hours. This willfurnish excellent training in exact habits of observation andrecording, and inductive generalization. When the summary is made atthe end of the fortnight, the student will have worked for himself thehabitual "planes of interest" along which social activities lie. 

At this point he ought to have convinced himself that the subjectmatter of sociology is concrete reality, not moonshine. Moreover, heshould be able to lay down certain fundamental marks of a socialgroup, such as a common impulse to get together, common sentiments, ideas, and beliefs, reciprocal service. From the discovery of habitualplanes of interest (self-maintenance, self-perpetuation, self-assertion, self-subordination, etc. ) it is a simple step to showdiagrammatically how each interest impels an activity, which tends toprecipitate itself into a social habit or institution. 

 --------------------------------------------------------------------- INNER URGE OR INTEREST | MOTOR EXPRESSION IN | RESULTANT GROUP HABIT (INSTINCT OR | ACTIVITY | OR INSTITUTION DISPOSITION) | | -----------------------+----------------------+---------------------- HUNGER; WILL-TO-LIVE | The food-quest | Economic technique Self-Maintenance | | property, invention, | | material arts of life -----------------------+----------------------+---------------------- SEX : | Procreation and | The family, ancestor Self-Perpetuation | parenthood | worship, courts of | | domestic relations, | | patriarchal government, | | etc. ---------------------------------------------------------------------

=To make sociology real make it egocentric=

The way is now clear for the two next steps, the concepts of causationand development. Here again why not follow the egocentric plan ofstarting with what the student knows? Ask him to write a brief butcareful autobiography answering the questions--How have I come to bewhat I am? What influences personal or otherwise have played uponme?[34] The student is almost certain to lay hold of the principle ofdetermining or controlling forces, and of evolution or change; he mayeven be able to analyze rather clearly the different types of controlwhich have coöperated in his development. 

From this start it is easy to develop the genetic concept of sociallife. The individual grows from simple to complex. Why not the race?Here introduce a comparison between the social group known to thestudent, a retarded group (such as MacClintock's or Vincent's study ofthe Kentucky Mountaineers[35]) or a frontier community, and acontemporary primitive tribe (say, the Hupa or Seri Indians, Negritos, Bontoc Igorot, Bangala, Kafirs, Yakuts, Eskimo, or Andaman Islanders). Require a detailed comparison arranged in parallel columns on suchpoints as size, variety of occupation, food supply, security of life, institutions, family life, language, religion, superstitions, andopportunities for culture. 

These two points of departure--the student's interest in his ownpersonality and the community influences that have molded it, and thecomparative study of a primitive group--should harmonize the two chiefrival views of teaching sociologists; namely, those who urge theapproach to sociology through anthropology and those who find the bestavenue through the concrete knowledge of the _socius_. Moreover, it laysa foundation for a discussion of the antiquity of man, his kinship withother living things, and his evolution; that is, the biologicalpresupposition of human society. Here let me testify to the great helpwhich Osborn's photographs[36] of reconstructions of thePithecanthropos, Piltdown, Neanderthal, and Crô-Magnon types haverendered in clearing away prejudices and in vivifying the remote past. Religious apprehensions in particular may be allayed also by referringstudents to articles on race, man, evolution, anthropology, etc. , insuch compilations as the _Catholic Encyclopedia_ and Hastings'_Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics_. The opening chapters in Marett'slittle book on _Anthropology_ are so sanely and admirably written thatthey also clear away many prejudices and fears. 

With such a concrete body of facts contrasting primitive with moderncivilized social life the student will naturally inquire, How didthese changes come about? At this point should come normally theanswer in terms of what practically all sociologists agree upon;namely, the three great sets of determining forces or phenomena, thethree "controls": (1) the physical environment (climate, topography, natural resources, etc. ); (2) man's own nature (psycho-physicalfactors, the factors in biological evolution, the role of instinct, race, and possibly the concrete problems of immigration and eugenics);(3) social heredity (folk-ways, customs, institutions, the arts oflife, the methods of getting a living, significance of tools, distribution of wealth, standards of living, etc. ) A blackboarddiagram will show how these various factors converge upon any givenindividual. [37]

The amplification of these three points will ordinarily make up thebody of an introductory course so far as class work goes. Ethnographyshould furnish rich illustrative material. But to make classdiscussions really productive the student's knowledge of his owncommunity must be drawn upon. And the best way of getting thiscorrelation is through community surveys. The student should berequired as parallel laboratory work to prepare a series of chapterson his ward or part of his ward or village, covering the three sets ofdetermining factors. The instructor may furnish an outline of thetopics to be investigated, or he may pass around copies of such briefsurvey outlines as Aronovici's _Knowing One's Own Community_ or MissByington's _What Social Workers Should Know about Their OwnCommunities_; he may also refer them to any one of the rapidly growingnumber of good urban and rural surveys as models. But he should notgive too much information as to where materials for student reportsmay be obtained. The disciplinary value of having to hunt out factsand uncover sources is second only to the value of accurateobservation and effective presentation. If the aim of a sociologycourse is social efficiency, experience shows no better way of gettinga vivid, sober, first-hand knowledge of community conditions. Andthere is likewise no surer way of compelling students to substitutefacts for vapid wordiness and snap judgments. 

Toward the end of the course many of us have found it profitable tointroduce a brief discussion of what may be called the highest term ofthe series; namely, the evolution of two or three typicalinstitutions, say law and government, education, religion, and thefamily. These topics will serve to clinch the earlier discussions andto crystallize a few ideas on social control and perhaps even socialprogress. 

Normally such a course will close with a fuller definition of themeaning of sociology, its content, its value in the study of othersciences, and, if time permits, a brief historical sketch of thedevelopment of sociology as a separate science. 

=The use of a text for study=

I have no certified advice to offer on the question of textbooks. Butthe almost universal cry of sociology teachers is that so far noreally satisfactory text has been produced. Some men still useSpencer, some write their own books, some try to adapt to theirparticular needs such texts as are issued from time to time, some usenone at all but depend upon a more or less well-correlated syllabus orset of readings. There is undoubtedly a profitable demand for a goodelementary source book comparable to Thomas's _Source Book on SocialOrigins_ or Marshall, Wright, and Field's _Materials for the Study ofElementary Economics_. Nearly any text will need freshening up bycollateral reading from such periodicals as _The Survey or The NewRepublic_. In order to secure effective and correlated outsidereading, many teachers have found it helpful to require the studentsto devote the first five or ten minutes of a class meeting once a weekor even daily to a written summary of their readings and of classdiscussions. Such a device keeps readings fresh and enables theteacher to emphasize the points of contact between readings and classwork. 

=The social museum=

Every university should develop some sort of a social museum, to coverprimitive types of men, the evolution of tools, arts of life, mannersand customs, and contemporary social conditions. These can bedisplayed in the form of plaster casts, ethnographic specimens, photographs, lantern slides, models of housing, statistical charts, printed monographs, etc. The massing of a series of theseillustrations sometimes produces a profound effect. For example, thecorridor leading to the sociology rooms at the University of Minnesotahas been lined with large photographs of tenement conditions, childlabor, immigrant types, etc. The student's interest and curiosity havebeen heightened immensely. Once a semester, during the discussion ofthe economic factor in social life, we stage what is facetiouslycalled "a display of society's dirty linen. " The classroom isdecorated with a set of charts showing the distribution of wealth, wages, cost of living, growth of labor unions and other organizationsof economic protest. The mass effect is a cumulative challenge. 

=Field work: values and limitations=

Finally, a word about "field work" as a teaching device. Field workusually means some sort of social service practice work underdirection of a charitable agency, juvenile court, settlement, orplayground. But beginning students are usually more of a liabilitythan an asset to such agencies; they lack the time to supervisestudents' work, and field work without strict supervision is afarcical waste of time. If such agencies will accept a few studentswho have the learner's attitude rather than an inflated persuasion oftheir social Messiahship, field work can become a very valuableadjunct to class work. In default of such opportunities the very bestfield work is an open-eyed study of one's own community, in theattempt to find out what actually is rather than to reform ahypothetical evil. [38]

 ARTHUR J. TODD _University of Minnesota_

Footnotes:

[34] In order to secure frank statements, both these autobiographiesand the time budgets may be handed in anonymously. 

[35] _American Journal of Sociology_, 4:1-20; 7:1-28, 171-187. 

[36] In his _Men of the Old Stone Age_. 

[37] See such a diagram in Todd, _Theories of Social Progress_, page240. 

[38] While accepting full responsibility for the opinions herein setforth, I wish to express my appreciation of assistance rendered by alarge group of colleagues in the American Sociological Society. 

XII

THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

A. THE TEACHING OF AMERICAN HISTORY

=Function of the teacher of history=

History as a science attempts to explain the development ofcivilization. The investigator of the sources of history must do hispart in a truly scientific spirit. He must examine with the utmostscrutiny the many sources on which the history of the past has itsfoundation. He reveals facts, and through them the truth isestablished. 

But history is more than a science. It is an art. The investigator isnot necessarily a historian, any more than a lumberman is anarchitect. The historian must use all available material, whether theresult of his own researches or that of others. He must weigh allfacts and deduct from them the truth. He must analyze, synthesize, organize, and generalize. He must absorb the spirit of the people ofwhom he writes and color the narrative as little as possible with hisown prejudices. But the historian must be more than a narrator; hemust be an interpreter. As an interpreter he should never lose sightof the fact that all his deductions should be along scientific lines. Even then he will not escape errors. In pure science error isinadmissible. In history minor errors of fact are unavoidable, buttheir presence need not seriously affect the general conclusions. Inspite of many misstatements of fact, a historical work may besubstantially correct in the main things--in presenting andinterpreting with true perspective the life and spirit of the peopleof whom it treats. 

The historian must be more than a chronicler and an interpreter. Hemust be master of a lucid, virile, attractive literary style. Thepower of expression, indeed, must be one of his chief accomplishments. The old notion, it is true, that history is merely a branch ofliterature is quite as erroneous as the later theory that history isa pure science and must be dissociated from all literary form. 

=The teacher of history as the teacher of the evolution of civilization=

The pioneer investigator who patiently delves into sources and bringsto light new material deserves high praise, but far rarer is the giftof the man who sees history in its true perspective, who can constructthe right relationships and can then reproduce the past in compellingliterary form. A historian without literary charm is like an architectwho cares only for the utility and nothing for the grace and beauty ofhis building. 

=The chronological point of view=

The history teacher who slavishly follows old chronological methodshas not kept pace with modern progress; but the teacher who hasdiscarded the chronological method has ventured without a compass onan unknown sea. Chronology, the sequence of events, is as necessary inhistory as distance and direction in geography. 

=The economic point of view=

A modern school of history teachers would make economics the solebackground of history, would explain all historic events from theeconomic standpoint--to which school this writer does not belong. Economics has played a great part in the course of human events, butit is only one of many causes that explain history. For example, theTrojan War (if there was a Trojan War), the conquests of Alexander, the Mohammedan invasions, were due chiefly to other causes. 

=The culture viewpoint=

Nor would we agree with the school of modern educators who wouldeliminate the culture studies from the curriculum, retaining onlythose which make for present-day utilitarianism. A general educationimparts power and enlarges life, and such an education should precedeall technical and specialized training. If a young man with the solidfoundation of a liberal education fail in this or that walk of life, the fault must be sought elsewhere than in his education. The late E. H. Harriman made a wise observation when he said that though a highschool graduate may excel the college graduate in the same employmentfor the first year, the latter would at length overtake and pass himand henceforth remain in the lead. 

=Aims of history in the college curriculum=

The uses of the study of history are many, the most important of whichperhaps is that it aids us in penetrating the present. Ourunderstanding of every phase of modern life is no doubt strengthenedby a knowledge of the past. It is trite but true to say that the studyof history is a study of human nature, that a knowledge of the originand growth of the institutions we enjoy makes for a good citizenship, that the study of history is a cultural study and that it ranks withother studies as a means of mental discipline. Finally, the reading ofhistory by one who has learned to love it is an abiding source ofentertainment and mental recreation. It is one of the two branches ofknowledge (the other being literature) which no intelligent person, whatever his occupation, can afford to lay aside after quittingschool. 

=What can the study of American history give the college student?=

The most important historical study is always that of one's owncountry. In our American colleges, therefore, the study of Americanhistory must take precedence over that of any other, though anexception may be made in case a student is preparing to teach thehistory of some other country or period. It must not be forgotten, however, by the student of American history that a study of theEuropean background is an essential part of it. 

From its very newness the history of the United States may seem lessfascinating than that of the older countries, and, indeed, it is truethat the glamour of romance that gathers around the stories of royaldynasties, orders of nobility, and ancient castles is wanting inAmerican history. But there is much to compensate for this. The comingof the early settlers, often because of oppression in their nativeland, their long struggle with the forest and with the wild men andwild beasts of the forest, the gradual conquest of the soil, thefounding of cities, the transplanting of European institutions andtheir development under new environment--the successful revolt againstpolitical oppression and the fearless grappling with the problem ofself-government when nearly all governments in the world weremonarchical--these and many other phases of American history furnisha most fascinating story as a mere story. 

=To the college student American history must be presented as evidenceof the success of democracy=

But to the student of politics and history the most unique andinteresting thing, perhaps, in American history lies in the fact thatthe United States is the first great country in the world's history inwhich the federal system has been successful--if we assume that ourexperimental period has passed. Perhaps the greatest of allgovernmental problems is just this: How to strike the right balancebetween these opposing tendencies--liberty and union, democracy andnationality--so that the people may enjoy the benefits of both. TheUnited States has, no doubt, come nearer than any other country tosolving this problem, and the fact greatly enhances the interest inour history. This is a question of political science rather than ofhistory, it is true, but the history of any country and its governmentare inseparably bound together. 

=Utilitarian value=

In the regular college curriculum there should be, in my opinion, twocourses in American history. 

=Organization of courses and methods of teaching=

_Course I_--about 3 hours for one academic year (6 semester-hours) inthe freshman or sophomore year, covering the whole story of the UnitedStates. About one third of the year's work should cover the Colonialand Revolutionary periods. Of the remaining two thirds of the year Ishould devote about half to the period since the Civil War. 

This course should be required of all students taking the A. B. Degreeand in all other liberal arts courses; an exception may be made in thecase of those taking certain specialized scientific courses--for thesestudents, the history required in the high school may be deemedsufficient. 

In this course a textbook is necessary, and if the class is large itis desirable that the text be uniform. The text should be written by atrue historian with broad and comprehensive views, by one who knowshow to appraise historic values, and, if possible, by one who commandsan attractive literary style. If the textbook is written by Dr. Dry-as-dust, however learned he may be, the whole burden of keepingthe class interested rests with the teacher; and, moreover, many ofthe students will never become lovers of the subject to such a degreeas to make it a lifelong study. 

The exclusive lecture system is intolerable, and the same is true ofthe quiz. A teacher will do his best work if untrammeled by rules. Heshould conduct a class in his own way and according to his owntemperament. It is doubtful if the teacher who carefully plans andmaps out the work he intends to present to the class is the mostsuccessful teacher. A teacher who is free, spontaneous, without afixed method, ready in passing from the lecture to the quiz and viceversa at any moment, quick in asking unexpected questions, willusually have little trouble in keeping a class alert. Above all, ateacher of college history must explain the meaning of things with fargreater fullness than is possible in a condensed textbook, and it is amost excellent practice to ask opinions of members of the class onalmost all debatable questions that may arise. The reason for this isobvious. 

The usual method of the writer, in as far as he has a method, is tospend the first fifteen or twenty minutes of the class hour in hearingreports from two or three students on special topics that have beenassigned them a week or two before, topics that require libraryreference work and that could not possibly be developed from thetextbook. These topics are not on the subject of the day's lesson, butof some preceding lesson. After commenting on these reports and oftenasking for opinions and comments of the class, we plunge into theday's lesson. 

The use of a current periodical in class should be encouraged. Itbrings the learner into direct contact with life and often illuminatesthe past. 

Current events as presented in the daily papers should often be thesubject of comment, but the daily newspaper is not suitable for classuse. Even the weekly is, for several reasons, less desirable than themonthly. It must not be forgotten that the basal, fundamental work ofthe class is, not to keep posted on current affairs, but to study theelements under the guidance of a textbook and an inspiring teacher tointerpret it. The weekly is less accurate than the monthly and lessliterary in form, and, moreover, it comes too often. It is apt to taketoo much time from the study of the fundamentals. The use of theperiodical in the history class has probably come to stay and itshould stay, but it should be only incidental and supplementary. 

_Course II_ should be given in the junior or senior year. It should beelective, should cover at least two year-hours, and should be whollydevoted to the national period of American history. Only those havingtaken Course I should be eligible to this class. 

Every student who expects to read law, to enter journalism orpolitics, or to teach history or political science should take thiscourse. The class will be smaller than in Course I. Uniform textbooksneed not be required, or the class may be conducted without a text. Most of the work must be done from the library. 

It is assumed that the members of this class have a good knowledge ofthe narrative, and it is needless to follow it closely again. A betterplan is to choose an important phase of the history here and there andstudy intensively. Much use should be made of original sources such asPresidents' messages, _Congressional Record_, speeches and writings ofthe times, but the class must not ignore the fact that a vast amountof good material may be had from the historians. It must also beremembered that original research is for the graduate student and thespecialist rather than for the undergraduate. 

=Testing the results of instruction=

In conclusion, I shall explain a method of examination that I havefrequently employed with apparently excellent results. Two or threeweeks before the time of the examination I give the class a series oftopics, perhaps fifty or more, carefully chosen from the entiresubject that has been studied during the semester. Instead of havingthe usual review of the text, we talk over these subjects in classduring the remainder of the semester. The examination is oral, notwritten. The time for examination is divided into three, four, or fiveminute periods, according to the number in the class. When a student'sname is called, he comes forward and draws from a box one of thetopics and dilates on it before the class during his allotted time. Ifhe fails on the first topic he may have another draw, but his gradewill be reduced. A second failure would mean a "flunk, " unless theclass marks are very high. 

There are three or four real advantages in this form of examination:(1) It saves the teacher hours of labor in reading examination papers;(2) the teacher, in selecting the topics, omits the unimportant andchooses only the salient, leading subjects such as every studentshould master and remember; (3) the student, knowing that no newquestions will be sprung for the examination, will be almost sure tobe prepared on every question. Failures under this system have beenmuch less frequent than under the old system of written examinations;(4) it practically eliminates all chance of cheating in examination. 

 HENRY W. ELSON _Thiel College_

B. MODERN EUROPEAN HISTORY

=History to be taught as an evolutionary process=

Teaching European history in colleges is, in many ways, not differentfrom teaching any other history. In each instance it is to beremembered that history includes all activities of man and not merelyhis political life, that facts and data are not intrinsically valuablebut are merely a means to an end, that the end of history is to informus where man came from, what experiences he passed through, and_chiefly_, what were the fundamental forces behind his experiences. The emphasis should be put on the stimuli--economic, political, religious, or social--that lead man to act, instead of narrating hisaction. In a word, not _what_ happened or _when_ it happened, but_why_ it happened, is of importance in college history. Stressing thestimuli in history will almost inevitably lead to treating history asa continuous or evolutionary process, which of itself greatlyincreases the interest of the subject. 

=Because history is an evolution it must explain the present=

It is highly desirable that in teaching modern history very much moretime be given to recent history than has generally been the case. Frederick William I showed that he accepted this when he instructedthe tutors of Frederick (later the Great) to teach the history of thelast fifty years to the exactest pitch. So important is this that, even when teaching early periods, constant contrasts or comparisonswith present conditions should be made, and the descent of ideas andinstitutions to modern times should be sketched, as it shows thestudent that remote events or institutions have a relationship tocurrent life. 

=Disciplinary values of history=

Certain special aims of history have been advocated. It is held to beof disciplinary value, especially in strengthening the memory. Thoughthis is true, it is hardly a good reason for studying history, as thememory can be perfected on almost anything, on the dictionary, poetry, formulæ, family records, gossip, or cans on grocery shelves, some ofwhich may indeed be of more practical value than dates. In college, atleast, history should aim to explain social tendencies and processesin a rational way rather than to develop the memory. The latter methodtends to make the student passive and narrow, the former requirescerebration and develops breadth and depth of vision. Understandinghistory, rather than memorizing it, has cultural value. To be sure, understanding presupposes information; but where there is a desire tounderstand, the process of seeking and acquiring the information isnatural and tends to care for itself. 

History is not a prerequisite to professional careers in the waymathematics is to engineering; still, special periods, chiefly themodern, are highly useful to lawyers, journalists, publicists, statesmen, and others, each of whom selects what he finds most usefulto his purposes. 

=Organization of courses in history--What to teach in the beginning course=

The point of view in history teaching is more material than themachinery or methods employed. These must and should vary with personsand conditions. Ordinarily, however, it seems preferable to offer somepart of European history as the first-year college course, becausestudents have usually had considerable American history in highschool, and the change adds new interest. Whether this course begeneral, medieval, or modern European history is of little importance, though, of course, medieval should precede modern history. In anycase, the course should offer the student a good deal more than he mayhave had in high school, if for no other reason than to justify theprofound respect with which he ordinarily comes to college. It shouldcome often enough a week to grip the student, especially the historymajor. 

=Gradation of courses determined by content=

Gradation of courses in history on the basis of subject matter islargely arbitrary, and turns upon the method of presentation. Generalcourses naturally precede period courses. A sound principle is toselect courses adapted to the stages of the student's development. Onthis principle it has already been suggested that the first collegecourse should be, not American but European history. English, ancient, medieval, or modern history immediately suggest themselves, withstrong arguments in favor of the first if but one freshman course isoffered, as it forms a natural projection of American history into thepast. Beyond this, what subject matter is offered in the several yearsis largely a matter of local convenience, as the college studentunderstands the general history of all nations or periods aboutequally well. It is now clear, however, that the student should knowmore modern and contemporary European history than he has beengetting, and the sound training of an American of the future shouldinclude thorough training in modern European history. 

=Gradation of courses may be determined by method of teaching=

Gradation based on the method of presentation is more nearly possible. Graduate courses presuppose training in the auxiliary sciences, in thenecessary languages, in research methods, in the special field ofresearch, as well as a knowledge of general history. This establishesa sort of sequence of the methods to be employed, irrespective ofsubject matter. 

=Method of teaching introductory courses--Lecture method=

The lecture method is convenient for the elementary courses, especially if, as is so often the case, these have a large number ofstudents. It cannot, however, be gainsaid that convenience or, worsestill, economy is a weak argument in favor of the lecture course, especially for the first-year student. To him the lecture method isunknown, and he flounders about a good deal if he is left to work outhis own salvation; and then, too, just when he needs personaldirection and particularly when, as a youth away from home for thefirst time, he needs some definite and unescapable task that shallteach discipline and duty as well as give information, the lecturesystem gives him the maximum of liberty with the minimum of aid ordirection. These considerations strongly advocate small classes forfreshmen, frequent recitations, discussions, tests, papers and maps, library problems--in short, a laboratory system. Every student shouldalways have at least one course in which he is held to rigid and exactperformance. These courses should be required, no matter what thespecial field or period of history, and should form a sequence leadingto a degree and providing training for a technical and professionalcareer. In addition to these courses, designed to assure personal workand supervision, enough other, presumably lecture, courses should berequired to secure a general knowledge of history. Beyond that thereare always enough electives to satisfy any personal wish or whim ofthe student. 

=Topical method in European history=

There is much to be said, especially in modern history, for thetopical treatment of institutions. In a very specialized course asingle institution may be treated; but even in a general course, treating the several human institutions as evolutionary organismsseems preferable and is more interesting than a chronologicalnarrative, which grows more inane the more general the course. Courseswhich come to modern times can trace existing institutions and theirimmediate antecedents, thus giving an advantage that many instructorsneglect from the mere tradition that history does not come down toliving man. No primitive superstition needs to be dispelled more thanthis, if history is to maintain its hold in the modern college. Indeed, whenever possible--which is always with modern history--acourse should start from the present by dwelling on the existingconditions the historical antecedents of which are to be traced. Ifthis is done, the student forthwith secures a vital interest and feelsthat he is trying to understand his own rather than past times. Afterthis preliminary the past can be traced chronologically or topicallyas preferred, the textbook serving as a quarry for data, the teacherseeing to it that the change or progress toward the present conditionis perceived and understood, and furnishing corroborative andanalogous materials from the history of other nations and periods. 

=Assigned reading=

It is the general practice of college courses in history to requireoutside reading. Though this rests on the sound ground that thestudent ought to get a large background and learn to know books andwriters, it is very doubtful whether this aim is, in fact, achieved. The student often has too much work to permit of much outside reading, and often the library is too limited to give him a good choice, or topermit him to keep a desirable book until he has finished reading it. Unguided reading is almost certainly a failure; reading guided only byputting a selected list of books before the student is not sure to bea success. The instructor ought from time to time to tell his classsomething about the books he suggests, and about their authors andtheir careers, viewpoints and merits, as a reader always profits byknowing these things. As the reading of snatches from collateral booksis hardly profitable, so the perusal of longer histories is oftenimpossible, and generally confines the student for a long time to theminutiæ of one period while the class is going forward. In view ofthese difficulties there is much to be said in favor of putting alarge textbook into the hands of a class, and requiring a thoroughreading and understanding of it, and correspondingly reducing outsidereadings. If collateral reading is demanded, it is a good plan torequire students to read a biography or a work on some specialinstitution falling within the scope of the course, --some selectedhistorical novel even, --for in that way the student reads, as he willin later life, something he selects instead of a required number ofpages, a specific thing is covered, an author's acquaintance is made, and therefore a significant test can be conducted. Furthermore, assome students will buy special volumes of this kind, the pressure onthe library is reduced. Direct access to reference shelves is alwaysrecommended. One of our universities has a system of renting preferredbooks to students. 

=Tests on outside reading=

Tests on outside reading are always difficult, but they must beemployed if the reading is not to become a farce. By having weeklyreading reports on uniform cards, one can often arrange groups ofstudents who have read the same thing and can therefore be tested by asingle question. By extending this over several weeks the majority ofstudents, even in a large class, can be tested with relatively fewquestions. Some instructors require students to hand in their readingnotes, others check up the books the students use in the library, still others have consultation periods in which they inquire into thestudent's reading. Quiz sections, if there are any, offer a goodopportunity to test collateral reading. 

=Miscellaneous aids in teaching history=

Map making, coördinated with the recitations and so designed as torequire more than mere tracing, is desirable in introductory courses. The imaginative historical theme written by the student isemployed--and successfully, it is declared--in one college. A syllabusis highly useful in the hands of students in lecture courses. It canbe mimeographed at comparatively slight expense for each lecture, thuspermitting changes in successive years--a distinct advantage over theprinted syllabus. 

=The problem of suitable examination=

How to give a fair and telling examination is the college teacher'sperennial problem. The less he teaches and insists on facts anddetails, the greater his quandary. A majority of students incline toparrot what they have heard, to the dismay of the teacher who wantsthem to make the subject their own. Hence tests calling the memoryonly into play do not satisfy the true teacher or the thoughtfulstudent. At the least there should be some questions requiringconstructive or synthetic thinking by the student. Above all, theinstructor of introductory work should form a first-hand personalopinion of the student by requiring him to come to the office forconsultation. Nothing can take the place of the personal touch. Quizmasters are better than no touch; but they are a poor substitute forthe small class and direct contact, even if the instructor is not oneof the masters of the profession. 

=The worth of topical or institutional treatment=

The topical or institutional treatment of history has been mentionedabove as being particularly applicable to modern history. If carefullyworked out beforehand it can be made to embrace virtuallyeverything--certainly everything significant--that is contained eitherin the text or in a chronological narrative. To be sure, a topicaltreatment of this kind places more emphasis on the common experiencesof mankind than does national history, and, as some nations or peoplesprecede others in a given development, history becomes continuousinstead of fragmentary. Perhaps, too, the way certain matters areintroduced into "continuous" history may appear forced, unless it beremembered that this impression is created merely by its dissimilarityfrom the usual interpretation, which is just as arbitrary and forceduntil one gets accustomed to it. 

=Classification in topical treatment=

It will be serviceable in arranging a topical treatment of any periodof history, which shall show a sense of historical continuity and keepin mind the fundamental stimuli and causes of human action, to notethat virtually all human interests can be classified under one of thefollowing six heads: physical, economic, social, religious, political, and intellectual (or cultural). Though these are never wholly isolatedand are always interactive, one or the other may be speciallysignificant in a given era, and thus we speak of a religious age, anage of rationalism, or the period of the industrial revolution. 

SUGGESTED TOPICAL OUTLINE OF MODERN EUROPEAN HISTORY

To apply this more specifically to modern European history, therefollows an outline of topics. It is general to about 1789, and moredetailed for the period since that time (IV below), the endeavor beingto show how a topical treatment of the development of democracy can bemade to include practically everything of significance. There arecertain cautions necessary here: that the outline is suggestive only, that it does not pretend or aim to be complete, that specific dataoften found in the sub-heads are to serve as illustrations and not asa complete statement of sub-topics; and that it is in fact merely askeleton which can be extended and amplified indefinitely byinsertions. 

 I. Background of the modern period. _A. _ Economic and social conditions at the close of the Middle Age. _B. _ Political nature of feudalism. The governments of the 15th century. _C. _ The medieval church. 

 II. The development of religious liberty. _A. _ The Reformation. _B. _ Varieties of Protestant sects, from state churches to individualistic sects. _C. _ The Religious Wars, and toleration. 

 III. Absolute monarchy. _A. _ Dynastic states. _B. _ Dynastic wars and the balance of power. 

 IV. The development of democracy. _A. _ The dynastic feudal state (_Ancien Régime_). 1. Description of the _Ancien Régime_. 2. Proponents of the _Ancien Régime_. Dynasties (divine right monarchs). Feudal landlords. Higher clergy and state churches. The army command (younger sons of the nobility). The schools (education for privileged classes only). _B. _ The revolutionary elements. 1. The dissatisfied feudal serf. 2. The intellectuals, rationalists, political theorists. The "social compact. " . .. Popular sovereignty. 3. Religious dissenters. 4. Industrial elements. _a. _ The Industrial Revolution. Resulting in exportation, markets, and _laissez-faire_ doctrines. _b. _ The bourgeoisie (employers) . .. The Third Estate. _c. _ The proletariat . .. Unorganized labor elements. _C. _ The Revolutionary Period, 1789-1800. 1. Triumph of bourgeoisie over feudal aristocracy in France, 1789-1791. Limited monarchy. Mirabeau. 2. Increasing influence and rise to control of France of the Parisian proletariat. The Republic . .. The Terror . .. Robespierre. 3. Radiation of revolutionary ideas to other nations. 4. Wars between revolutionary France and monarchical Europe. The rise of Napoleon. _D. _ The decline of the revolutionary elements, 1800-1815. 1. France converted from a republic to an empire by Napoleon. 2. The Napoleonic Wars. _a. _ Reveal Napoleon's dynastic ambition. _b. _ Lead Europe to combine against him and to blame democratic ideas for the sorrows of the time. _c. _ Result in the defeat of Napoleon and the triumph of anti-democratic or reactionary elements. _E. _ The fruits of the principle of popular sovereignty during the 19th century (chronologically England and France lead the other countries in most of these developments). [39] 1. Constitutions, embodying ever-increasing popular rights and powers. 2. Extension of suffrage. Political parties and party politics. 3. The spirit of nationality. Independence of Greece and Belgium. Unification of Italy and Germany. National revivals in Poland, Bulgaria, Servia, Rumania, Bohemia, Finland, Ireland, and elsewhere. Pan-Germanism, Pan-Slavism, Imperial Federation. 4. Class consciousness and strife. Feudal aristocratic class--leans toward absolute monarchy. Bourgeoisie (employing capitalists)--leans toward limited monarchies or republics. Labor--leans toward socialism. (The other elements in the society are slow in developing a group consciousness. ) 5. Abolition of feudal forms and tenures. Fight on great landlords. Encouragement of independent farmers. Emancipation and protection of peasants: France, 1789; Prussia, 1808; Austria, 1848; Russia, 1861. 6. Social, socialistic, and humanitarian legislation. Factory acts, minimum wage laws, industrial insurance, old age insurance, labor exchanges, child labor laws, prison reform acts, revision of penal codes, abolition of slavery and slave trade, government control or ownership of railways, telephones, telegraph, and mails. 7. Opposition to state or national churches. Disestablishment agitations . .. Separation of church and state. 8. Demand for free public schools to replace church or other private schools. State lay schools in England . .. Suppression of teaching orders in France . .. Kulturkampf in Germany . .. Expulsion of Jesuits . .. Tendency toward compulsory non-sectarian education. 9. Imperialism. Industrial societies depend on imports, exports, and markets as means of keeping labor employed and people prosperous. This means export of capital, hence, plans for colonies, closed doors, preferential markets, and demands for the protection of citizens abroad and political stability in backward areas. Partition of Africa, Asia, and Near East. 10. Militarism. Expansion and colonial acquisition by one country exclude another, thus unsettling the balance of power. Therefore rival nations depend on force and go in for military and naval programs. _F. _ The conflict between reactionary and bourgeois interests, 1815-1848. 1. Reactionary elements in control--opposed to democracy and revolutionary doctrines. _a. _ Restore Europe as nearly as possible on old lines at Vienna, 1815. Ignore liberal tendencies and national sentiments. _b. _ Seek to maintain _status quo_. Metternich . .. Holy Alliance. Carlsbad Decrees . .. Congresses of Troppau, Laibach, Verona . .. Intervention in Naples, Piedmont, and Spain. Proposal to restore Latin America to Monarchy. Opposed by Great Britain in compliance with bourgeois interests. Monroe Doctrine. _c. _ Failed to prevent: Greek revolution and independence (national movement). Separation of Belgium from the Netherlands (national). Revival of liberal demands in various quarters, producing the revolution of 1830 in France and elsewhere. 2. The ascendancy of the bourgeoisie, 1830-1848. _a. _ Industrialism on the continent. _b. _ The bourgeois (capitalist employer) secures political power to advance his interests. Revolution of 1830. Reform bill of 1832. Legislation against labor organizations and for tariffs favoring trade. _c. _ The development of organized labor and socialism. Legislation hostile to labor. Chartism. Labor in France, Germany, and Belgium. Spread of socialist doctrines. _d. _ The Revolution of 1848. Socialist republican state in France, 1848. The winning of constitutions in Prussia, Austria, and elsewhere--breach in the walls of reaction. _G. _ The broadening base of democracy, 1848-1914. 1. The organization of labor. 2. The spread of socialistic views and of class consciousness. Karl Marx. 3. The resistance of the old aristocratic class and the bourgeoisie, who gradually fuse to form the conservative element in all nations. Napoleon III restores the Empire in France. In Austria and Prussia, Bismarck and Francis Joseph II retrieve losses of 1848. Disraeli and Conservatives in England. 4. The progress toward universal suffrage after 1865, strengthening political position of lower classes. Vindication of democratic government through triumph of the North in the United States gave impetus to democracy abroad. Electoral reform bills in Great Britain, 1867, 1884, 1885. Franco-Prussian War and the Third French Republic. Universal suffrage. Unification of Germany and universal suffrage. Russian Revolution, 1917. Woman suffrage. 5. Popular sovereignty and its consequences. _a. _ Triumph of republicans and radicals in France over monarchists and clericals. _b. _ Liberal ministries in United Kingdom. Lloyd George Budget . .. Parliament Act. Social legislation. _c. _ Growth of Social Democratic party in Germany. Bismarck and state socialism. _d. _ In recent times the many divergent political parties fall rather instinctively into three groups which have opposing views and policies on almost every question, and which may be called: Conservatives (Tories, aristocrats, monarchists, Junkers, clericals, capitalists, imperialists, militarists); peasants and farmers, being conservative, are usually politically allied to this group. Liberals (progressives, democrats, labor parties, Socialists, social democrats, Dissenters, anti-imperialists, anti-militarists). Radicals, Bolsheviki or revolutionists seeking change of the economic and social order. 6. Effects of the war _a. _ Extensive nationalization and socialization of industry and human rights in all belligerent countries. _b. _ Develops into a "war for democracy, " and for moral as opposed to materialistic aims. _c. _ Culminates in an attempt to secure a righteous and lasting peace through the instrumentality of a league of nations. 

 EDWARD KREHBIEL

 _Leland Stanford Junior University_

BIBLIOGRAPHY

TEXTS

ANDREWS, C. M. _Historical Development of Modern Europe. _ Two vols. G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1900. 

HAYES, CARLTON J. H. _A Political and Social History of ModernEurope. _ Two vols. The Macmillan Company, 1916. 

ROBINSON, J. H. , and BEARD, C. A. _The Development of Modern Europe. _Two vols. Ginn and Co. , 1907, 1908. 

SCHEVILL, FERDINAND. A_ Political History of Modern Europe. _ CharlesScribner's Sons, 1907. 

PERIOD HISTORIES

BOURNE, HENRY ELDREDGE. _The Revolutionary Period in Europe. _ TheCentury Company, 1914. 

_Cambridge Modern History. _ Thirteen vols. And maps. I. TheRenaissance; II. The Reformation; III. The Wars of Religion; IV. TheThirty Years' War; V. The Age of Louis XIV; VI. The EighteenthCentury; VII. The United States; VIII. The French Revolution; IX. Napoleon; X. The Restoration; XI. The Growth of Nationalities; XII. The Latest Age; XIII. Genealogical Tables and Lists and General Index;also on atlas, in another volume. Cambridge, the University Press, 1902-1912. 

HAZEN, CHARLES DOWNER. _Europe since 1815. _ Henry Holt & Co. , 1910. 

LINDSAY, T. M. _A History of the Reformation. _ Two vols. CharlesScribner's Sons, 1906-1907. 

LOWELL, E. J. _The Eve of the French Revolution. _

SCHAPIRO, JACOB SALWYN. _Modern and Contemporary European History. _Houghton Mifflin Company, 1918. 

WAKEMAN, H. O. _The Ascendancy of France. _ The Macmillan Company, 1894. 

SOURCE BOOKS

ANDERSON, FRANK MALOY. _The Constitutions and Other Select DocumentsIllustrative of the History of France, 1789-1901. _ H. W. WilsonCompany, Minneapolis, 1904. 

FLING, FRED MORROW. _Source Problems of the French Revolution. _ Harperand Brothers, 1913. 

ROBINSON, J. H. _Readings in European History. _ Two vols. Ginn andCo. , 1904. 

---- _Readings in European History. _ Abridged Edition. Ginn and Co. , 1906. 

ROBINSON, J. H. , and BEARD, C. A. _Readings in Modern EuropeanHistory. _ Two vols. Ginn and Co. , 1908. 

---- _Readings in Modern European History. _ Abridged Edition. Ginn andCo. , 1909. 

ATLASES

_Cambridge Modern History. _ Volume of Maps. Cambridge, the UniversityPress, 1912. 

DOW, EARLE W. _Atlas of European History. _ Henry Holt & Co. , 1909. 

DROYSE, GUSTAV. _Allgemeiner historischer Kandatlas. _ Velhagen undKlasing, Leipzig, 1886. 

GARDINER, SAMUEL RAWSON. _A School Atlas of English History. _Longmans, Green & Co. , 1910. 

POOLE, REGINAL LANE. _Historical Atlas of Modern Europe from theDecline of the Roman Empire. _ H. Frowde, 1896-1902. 

PUTZGER, FRIEDRICH WILHELM. _Historischer Schul-atlas zur alten, mittleren, und neunen Geschichte. _ Velhagen und Klasing, Leipzig, 1910. 

SHEPHERD, WILLIAM ROBERT. _Historical Atlas. _ Henry Holt & Co. , 1911. 

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL

ADAMS, CHARLES KENDALL. _A Manual of Historical Literature. _ Harperand Brothers, 1888. 

ANDREWS, GAMBRILL, and TALL. _A Bibliography of History for Schoolsand Libraries. _ Longmans, Green & Co. , 1911. 

PEDAGOGICAL

Committee of Seven. American Historical Association. _The Study ofHistory in the Schools. _ The Macmillan Company, 1899. 

Committee of Five. American Historical Association. _The Study of__History in the Secondary Schools. _ The Macmillan Company, 1911. 

DUNN, ARTHUR WILLIAM. _The Social Studies in Secondary Education. _Department of the Interior, Bureau of Education, Bulletin No. 28, 1916. 

JOHNSON, H. _The Teaching of History in Elementary and SecondarySchools. _ 1915. 

ROBINSON, JAMES HARVEY. _The New History; Essays Illustrating theModern History Outlook. _ The Macmillan Company, 1912. 

HISTORICAL FICTION

BAKER, E. A. _History in Fiction. _ Two vols. E. P. Dutton & Co. , 1907. 

NIELD, JONATHAN. _A Guide to the Best Historical Novels and Tales. _ G. P. Putnam's Sons. 

PERIODICALS

_The American Historical Review. _ Published by the American HistoricalAssociation, Washington, D. C. 

_The History Teacher's Magazine. _ McKinley Publishing Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 

Footnotes:

[39] This summary of the consequences of the doctrines of democracy isallowed to break into the topical development of the outline, as itgives a sort of general introduction to tendencies since 1815. It willnot escape the teacher that he could treat history since 1815 bytaking up in order the topics given under this heading. 

XIII

THE TEACHING OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

=Scope of political science=

Certain phases of what is known as political science form to no smalldegree the content of courses in other branches of study. Theengineering schools in their effort to set forth the regulation ofpublic utilities with respect to engineering problems have begun tooffer courses which deal extensively with politics and government. Inpolitical and constitutional history, considerable attention is givento the organization and administration of the various divisions ofgovernment. To a greater degree, however, the allied departments ofeconomics and sociology have begun, in the development of theirrespective fields, to analyze matters which are primarily of apolitical nature. Especially in what is designated as appliedeconomics and applied sociology there is to be found material a largepart of which relates directly to the regulation and administration ofgovernmental affairs. Thus in portions of the courses designated aslabor problems, money and banking, public finance, trust problems, public utility regulation, problems in social welfare, andimmigration, primary consideration is frequently given to governmentactivities and to the influences and conditions surrounding governmentcontrol. 

While these courses, then, deal in part with subject matter whichbelongs primarily to the science of politics and while anycomprehensive survey of instruction in political science would includean account of the phases of the subject presented in otherdepartments, for the present purpose it has been advisable to limitthe consideration of the teaching of political science to the subjectsusually offered under that designation. [40] Some attention, however, will be given later to the relation of political science to alliedsubjects. 

A difference of opinion exists as to the meaning of political science, some institutions using the term in a broad sense to embody coursesoffered in history, economics, politics, public law, and sociology, and others giving the word a very narrow meaning to include a fewspecialized courses in constitutional and administrative law. Thereis, nevertheless, a strong tendency to have the term "politicalscience" comprise all of the subjects which deal primarily with theorganization and the administration of public affairs. 

=Courses usually offered in political science=

Through an exhaustive survey made by the Committee on Instruction ofthe American Political Science Association, covering instruction inpolitical science in colleges and universities, the subjects which areusually offered may be indicated in two groups:

LEADING COURSES FOR COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES[41]

(Given in order of number of instruction hours, with highest rankedfirst. )

 _A. _ Major Courses. 

 1. American government--including national, state, and local. 2. General political science--mainly political theory, with some comparative government. 3. Comparative government--devoted chiefly to a study of England, France, Germany, and the United States. 4. International law. 5. Commercial law. 6. Municipal government. 7. Constitutional law. 

 _B. _ Minor Courses. 

 1. Jurisprudence, or elements of law. 2. Political theories. 3. Diplomacy. 4. State government. 5. Political parties. 6. Government of England. 7. Legislative methods of procedure. 8. Roman law. 9. Regulation of social and industrial affairs. 

While the purposes and objects of instruction in this rather extensivegroup of subjects vary considerably, it seems desirable to analyze thechief objects in accordance with which political science courses arepresented to students of collegiate grade. 

=Aims of instruction in government=

The aims of instruction in government are (1) to train forcitizenship; (2) to prepare for professions such as law, teaching, business, and journalism; (3) to train experts and prepare specialistsfor government positions; (4) to provide facilities and lead studentsinto research material and research methods. Each of these aimsaffects to a certain extent a different class of students and rendersthe problem as to methods of instruction correspondingly difficult. 

=1. Training for citizenship=

In a certain sense all instruction may be looked upon as givingtraining for the duties and responsibilities of citizenship, andundoubtedly a great deal of instruction in other subjects aids in theprocess of citizenship training. Nevertheless, a heavy responsibilityrests upon departments of political science to lead students into theextensive literature on government as well as to instruct them withrespect to the organizations and methods by which the political andsocial affairs are being conducted. In short, one of the primary aimsof government instruction and one which is kept foremost in thearrangement of courses is elementary training for the average studentin the principles, the practices, and the technique of governmentalaffairs. For such citizenship training, which is usually given inlarge elementary classes, a special method of instruction and systemof procedure are pursued. It is necessary to provide subject matterwhich is informational in character, as the lack of knowledge of thegovernments of home and foreign countries is ordinarily appalling, andwhich will open up by way of discussion and comparison many of theleading problems of modern politics. More necessary and indispensableis a method of study which will aid in pursuing inquiries along themany and varied lines which will devolve upon the citizen performinghis multifarious duties and discharging his many responsibilities. Asmany of the students will take but a single course, the opening up tothem of the vast field of government literature is one of the aims tobe constantly kept in mind. Moreover, while all of the above areessential matters in the elementary courses, the most importantconsideration of all is that the teaching of politics and governmentwill have utterly failed unless there are created a desire and aninterest which will lead into many lines of investigation beyond thoseoffered in a single introductory course. The development of thisinterest and appreciation is the all-important object. 

=2. Preparation for the professions=

Many who enter the introductory courses in government select thesubject with the idea of continuing their preparation for professionallife in their chosen fields. Among the professions which particularlyseek instruction in government are chiefly law, teaching, business, and journalism. For these groups of students, many of whom continuethe study of the subject for several years, often going on into theadvanced courses in graduate departments, it is recognized thatbeginning work which is too general and discursive may be less usefulthan a specialized course which may be rounded out by a series ofcorrelated courses. Consequently, there is a question whether theprofessional student, interested in the study of government, shouldbegin his work under the same conditions and with the same methods asthe student who does not expect to continue the subject. The number ofthose who are preparing for the professions is often so large as torequire separate consideration and to affect seriously thedetermination of the method and content of the introductory course. This difficulty is obviated where professional courses are provided, giving instruction in government and citizenship, as is now thepractice in certain law schools, in some departments of journalism, and in a few engineering schools. For each of the major professions inwhich government instruction is particularly sought a different typeof course is desired. For the law student comparative public law, jurisprudence, and specialized government courses in various fieldsare usually demanded. For the journalist, general subjects dealingwith specific countries and with the political practices of allgovernments are regarded of special benefit. For the teachingprofession the study of some one line and specialization in aparticular field seem to be a necessity. Which is the better, suchspecialized government courses for professional students, or a generalcourse for all introductory students, is still an undeterminedproblem. The fact that most of the conditions and problems ofcitizenship are similar for all these groups and that there is greatdifficulty in providing separate instruction for each group renders itnecessary to provide an elementary course which is adapted to theneeds and which will serve the purpose of the citizen seeking ageneral introduction in one course and the professional student whoseeks entrance to advanced courses. 

=3. Training for public service and preparation of specialists forgovernment positions=

Colleges and universities have recently begun to give specialinstruction for the training of those who desire to enter thegovernment service. A few institutions are offering courses and aconsiderable number are beginning to adapt instruction which will beof service not only to those who anticipate entrance into some form ofpublic work, but also to those who are engaged in performing publicservice in some department of government. As a matter of fact, thetraining of specialists must in large measure be cared for byprofessional and technical schools, such as the provision fordirectors of public health by medical schools, the training ofsanitary engineers by the engineering schools, the training ofaccountants, statisticians, and financial experts by the schools ofcommerce and finance. Nevertheless, departments offering instructionin general political subjects are expected to give some considerationto and to make special arrangements for advanced courses in the way ofpreparing those who seek to enter the various divisions of thegovernment service, such as the consular and diplomatic affairs, charitable and social work, and the administrative regulation ofpublic utilities, industrial affairs, and the public welfare. Throughthe introduction of specialized courses in municipal, state, andnational administration it is possible to prepare more adequately forvarious branches of public administration. 

=4. Special courses in research and research methods=

Although research methods and graduate courses of instruction inpolitical science developed rather slowly, a substantial beginning hasbeen made by the universities in the offering of advanced courses inwhich a specialized study is made of some of the problems ofgovernment and the methods of administration. Through these coursesvaluable contributions have been made to the historical andcomparative phases of the subject and to some extent to the analyticalstudy of government in operation. The primary aim has been to providean avenue and an opportunity for those who look forward to teaching orto entering the field of special research work in politics andgovernmental affairs. The results of the research work have beenrendered available to government officials and departments throughbureaus of research and other agencies devised to aid in improving thepublic service. Only a few universities separate the graduate from theundergraduate students, and as a result the instruction cannot be ofstrictly graduate character and quality. Much of the present researchis done with small groups of students in a seminar where personaldirection is given to investigations and where the methods of researchare developed under direct supervision. 

=Value of the subject=

Any determination of the value of a subject in the school curriculumis necessarily based upon the opinions of individuals whose judgmentwill vary in large measure according to their respective training, influences, and predilections. The value of the subject which isusually placed first is its usefulness in imparting information. Muchinstruction in government is descriptive and informational incharacter and is offered primarily to increase the stock of knowledgeand to give information with respect to the present and the futureinterests of the citizen. While this descriptive material has served auseful purpose, it is doubtful whether, as in the formal civics of thepublic schools, the method of imparting information has not been usedso extensively as to have a detrimental effect. Too much attention hasbeen given to the memorization of facts and the temporary accumulationof information more or less useful, and correspondingly too little tothinking on the great political and social issues of the day. 

When governments are engaging in endless activities which affect thewelfare of society in its social and æsthetic, as well as politicalaspects, government instruction becomes increasingly necessary andvaluable as a cultural study. The recent development in Europeanpolitical affairs has impressed upon the citizens of this country asnever before the results of a profound ignorance with respect toconditions in foreign countries. While the knowledge of the affairs ofthe great nations of the world has hitherto appeared advisable, it hasnow come to be regarded as a necessity. From the standpoint of culturea knowledge of the institutions of one's own country and of othercountries is one of the cardinal elements of education and provisionsfor such instruction ought to be placed among the few primary topicsin the preparation of all educational programs. If culture involves anunderstanding of the social and political conditions of the past andpresent as well as some appreciation of the problems which confrontthe individual in his activities of life, then the study of bothhistory and government must be given a foremost rank among thesubjects now classified as cultural. 

With respect to formal discipline government instruction has beenrated lower than that of the more exact subjects, the languages andmathematics. While it is true that from the standpoint of formaldiscipline and exact methods government instruction has not measuredup to that of some other subjects, it must be remembered that thestandardization of instruction, and the methods pursued in othersubjects, have developed through a long process of years to thepresent effectiveness in mental discipline. As the study of governmentbecomes more specialized, the material in the field worked into moreconcrete form for purposes of instruction, the methods betterdeveloped with the formulation of standard plans and principles, thedisciplinary value of the subject will be increased. The developmentnow in process is bringing about changes which will greatly enhancenot only the usefulness but in a large measure the disciplinary valueof the subject. 

=Place in college curriculum=

Instruction in government is usually offered only to students who haveacquired sophomore standing. A few institutions now give a course ingovernment in the freshman year, and the practice seems to be meetingwith success. Sentiment is growing in favor of this plan. The argumentpresented for this change is that a large percentage of the freshmanclass does not continue college work, and consequently many studentshave no opportunity to become acquainted with the special problems ofpolitics and government. To meet the need of those who spend but oneyear in college, it is claimed that an introduction should be given tothe study of government problems. While there are strong reasons insupport of this change, the prevailing sentiment for the presentfavors the requirement of a year's work in college as a prerequisite. The advocates of this arrangement contend that in view of the factthat most of the high schools are now giving a half of a year or ayear to civic instruction on somewhat the same plan as would benecessary in a first-year college course, it seems better from thestandpoint of the student as well as of the department to defer theintroductory course until better methods of study and greater maturityof mind are acquired. 

Sophomore standing is the only prerequisite for the elementary courseexcept in a few institutions where the selection of a course inhistory in the freshman year is required. A few colleges are offeringto freshmen an introductory course in the social sciences, comprisingmainly some elementary material from economics, sociology, andpolitical science. While there are some advantages in the effort togive a general introduction to the social sciences, no practicablecontent or method for such a course has yet been prepared. Moreover, it seems likely now that such a general introduction will beattempted either in the junior or in the senior high school. Foradvanced work in the senior high school and for the introductorycollege course reason and practice both favor a separation of thesesubjects, with close correlation and constant consideration of theinterrelations. 

=The introductory course=

It is customary to introduce students to the study of governmentthrough a general course in American government, dealing briefly withnational, state, and local institutions. Other subjects, such ascomparative government, --including a consideration of somerepresentative foreign countries along with American government, --anintroductory course in political science, and international law, aresometimes used as basic courses to introduce students to subsequentwork. The general practice in the introductory course seems to beapproaching a standard in which either American government is made thebasis of study, with comparisons from European practices and methods, or European governments are studied, with attention by way ofcomparison to the American system of government. The Committee ofSeven of the American Political Science Association offered thefollowing suggestions relative to the introductory course, which itseems well to quote in full. The Committee recommended that:

 American government be taken as the basis for the introductory course because it is convinced that there is an imperative need for a more thorough study of American institutions, because the opportunity for this study is not now offered in any but a few of the best secondary schools, and because it is exceedingly important that the attention of an undergraduate be directed early in his course to a vital personal interest in his own government, national, state, and local. Instruction in political science is rarely given until the second or third year of the college work, and thus unless American government is selected for the first course only a small percentage of students receive encouragement and direction in the study of political affairs with which they will constantly be expected to deal in their ordinary relations as citizens. But the committee believes that this study of American government can be distinctly vitalized by the introduction of such comparisons with European practices and forms as will supply the student with a broader basis of philosophical conclusions as to constitutional development and administrative practices. 

 The Committee is of the opinion that despite the very marked increase of courses in American government within the past few years, one of the immediate needs is the further extension and enlargement of these courses. In only a few institutions is enough time given to the subject to permit anything more than the most cursory survey of the various features of the government, and almost invariably state and local government suffer in the cutting process which is necessary. About seventy institutions only give courses in which state and local government are the basis of special study. In order that state and local government shall be given more consideration, and in order that judicial procedure and administrative methods shall receive more than passing notice, it is absolutely necessary that the time allotted to American government be increased. Nothing short of a full year of at least three hours a week gives the necessary time and opportunity do anything like full justice to the national, state, and local units. [42]

Because of the fact that only a small percentage of the student bodyelects this course under present conditions, and because the majorityof those who do elect it never have an opportunity to continue thestudy of government, it is thought that the selection of Americangovernment for the beginning subject has the tendency to fosterprovincialism. When but one course is taken this one, it is contended, should deal with foreign governments, to supply a broader basis forthe comparison of political institutions. As the study of governmentis introduced in the grades and thorough and effective instruction isoffered in the high school, it will become increasingly practicable tointroduce the comparative method in introductory courses. 

=Sequence of courses=

One of the difficulties in the instruction in political science whichhas received less consideration than it deserves is that of the sequenceof courses. In the determination of sequence it is customary to have anintroductory course, such as American government, European government, or political theory, and to make this subject a prerequisite for alladvanced courses. As the introductory course requires sophomorestanding, it renders entrance into advanced courses open only tostudents of junior rank or above. After passing the first course, thereare open for election a number of subjects, mainly along specializedlines. This condition is to be found, particularly, in the largeuniversities, where a group of instructors offer specialized work, witheither little or no advice to students as to the proper arrangement orsequence of courses. The ordinary classification is into three groups:(1) an elementary course, prerequisite for advanced instruction; (2)courses for graduate and undergraduate students, seldom arranged on abasis of sequence or logical order;--the lack of sequence is due in partto the fact that after taking elementary work the student in governmentfrequently wishes to specialize in the field of federal government, orof state government, or of international law, or possibly of politicaltheory; (3) courses for graduate students, which are intended primarilyfor investigation and research. Students who specialize in governmentare generally advised by the head of the department or the professorunder whom their work is directed, as to the proper arrangement andcorrelation of courses. It is, however, questionable whether some planof sequence more definitely outlined than that now to be found in mostcatalogs ought not to be prepared in advance for the consideration ofthose who look forward to specializing in political science. Such anarrangement of sequence has been prepared by the department of politicalscience of the University of Chicago, which divides its work into (1)elementary, (2) intermediate, (3) advanced--the advanced courses beingsubdivided into (_a_) theory, (_b_) constitutional relations, (_c_)public administration, and (_d_) law. Suggestions are offered as to theprincipal and secondary sequences for various groups of students. 

The sequence of courses could be better arranged provided a freshmancourse were offered. A freshman course in American government could begiven, with some attention by way of comparison to European methodsand practices, and followed by an intermediate course dealing withsome select foreign governments, again using the comparative methodand viewpoint. Two courses of this character would offer a greateropportunity to give the instruction now desired from the standpoint ofthe average student and citizen, and would serve as a better basis foradvanced instruction than the single course now customarily offeredeither in American or comparative government. After taking theelementary courses the student could then be allowed to select from agroup of subjects in one of the various lines, according to thespecial field in which he is interested. In short, the arrangement ofthe sequence of courses will necessarily be unsatisfactory as long asthe elementary course is offered only to those of at least sophomorerank, a practice which unfortunately necessitates in many cases thebeginning of the work in the junior or senior year. It will benecessary to introduce the subject earlier in the curriculum, in orderto arrange such a sequence as would seem desirable from the standpointof thorough and effective instruction. 

=Methods of instruction=

Methods of instruction[43] vary according to the size of theinstitution and the number in the classes. In the preliminary coursesthe system of informal lectures is combined with recitations, discussions, reports, and quizzes. The students in the advancedcourses are obliged to carry on independent work under thesupervision of the instructor. For seniors and graduate students theseminar has been found most satisfactory in developing a keen interestin the problems of politics. Unfortunately, where the classes aresmall and the time is limited, it is customary to rely largely ontextbooks and recitations, with a moderate amount of special readingsand occasional class reports. But, on the other hand, courses ingovernment have been improved recently by the appearance of goodtextbooks. American and European governments are now presented intexts which have proved satisfactory and which have aided in thedevelopment of standard courses for these elementary subjects. Then, too, interest has been aroused and better results obtained through theuse of texts and manuals dealing with the actual work and the problemsof government. The neglected fields of state government andadministrative practices are just beginning to receive attention. 

One method of government instruction, and a very valuable one, is toencourage the examination of evidence and to consider differentviewpoints on public questions, with the purpose of forming judgmentsbased on the facts. For this purpose extensive reading and frequentreports are necessary to check up the work completed. It is possibleto keep in constant touch with the amount of work and the methods ofstudy or investigation by means of discussions in small sections forone or two hours each week and by the use of the problem sheet. 

In the courses offered in departments of government in such subjectsas constitutional law, international law, commercial law, and to someextent in courses in jurisprudence and government regulation of publicutilities and social welfare, the case method has been adopted quiteextensively. This method has been sufficiently tried and itseffectiveness has been demonstrated in the teaching of law, so thatnothing need be said in its defense. The introduction of the casemethod in political science and public law has undoubtedly improvedthe teaching of certain phases of these subjects. That the use ofcases and extracts may be carried to an extreme which is detrimentalis becoming apparent, for opinions and data change so rapidly that anycollection of cases and materials is out of date before it issues fromthe press. Moreover, the use of such collections encourages thereliance on secondary sources and secondary material, a tendency whichought to be discouraged. Every encouragement and advantage should begiven to have students and investigators in government deal withoriginal rather than secondary sources. 

There is, in addition to the use of textbooks, lectures, extensivereference reading, case books, and the writing of papers, a tendencyto introduce the problem method of instruction and to encourage fieldwork, observation, and, so far as practicable, a first-hand study ofgovernment functions and activities. 

Another line in which the study of government is undergoingconsiderable modification is the emphasis placed on administration andadministrative practices. While special attention heretofore has beengiven either to the history of politics and political institutions orto political theories and principles, the tendency is now to giveimport to political practices and the methods pursued in carrying ongovernment divisions and departments. The introduction of courses inthe principles of administration, with the consideration of problemsin connection with public administration in national, state, and localaffairs, is tending to modify the content as well as the methods ofthe teaching of government. New methods and a new content are changingthe emphasis from the formal, theoretical, and historical study ofgovernment and turning attention to the practical phases and to thetechnique of administration. As a result of this change and throughthe work which is being undertaken by bureaus of reference andresearch, instruction is brought much closer to public officers andgreater service is rendered in a practical way to governmentadministration. 

=Some unsolved problems=

Among the difficulties and unsolved problems in the teaching ofpolitical science are, first, the beginning course; second, therelation of courses in government to economics, sociology, history, and law; third, the extent to which field investigation and theproblem method can be used to advantage in offering instruction andthe development of new standards and of new tests which are applicableto these methods; fourth, the introduction of the scientific method. 

=1. The introductory course=

While the elementary course in government is now usually Americangovernment and is, as a rule, offered to sophomores, both the contentand the present position of the course in the curriculum are matterson which there is considerable difference of opinion. Where thesubject matter now offered to beginning students is comprised ofcomparative material selected from a number of modern governments, itis contended that this arrangement is preferable to confiningattention to American institutions with which there is at leastgeneral but often vague familiarity. If provision is made in the highschool, by which the majority of those who enter the university havehad a good course in American government, there seems to be a strongpresumption that the beginners' course should be devoted tocomparative government. It is quite probable that the introductorycourse will cease to be confined to a distinct and separate study ofeither foreign governments or of American government and that the mostsatisfactory course will be the development of one in which mainemphasis is given to one or the other of these fields and in whichconstant and frequent comparisons will be made for purposes ofemphasis, discussion, and the consideration of government issues andproblems. In some cases it is undoubtedly true that emphasis should begiven to foreign governments, and as the high schools improve theirinstruction in our local institutions, national and state, it willbecome increasingly necessary in colleges to turn attention to thestudy of foreign governments in the beginners' course. 

There appears to be a desire to introduce government into the freshmanyear, and it is likely that provision will be made to begin the studyof the subject in the first college year, thereby rendering itpossible for those who enter college to profit by a year's work and togive an earlier start to those who wish to specialize. 

Another difficulty in connection with the introductory course which isstill not clearly determined is the time and attention which may begiven to lectures, to discussions, to the writing of papers or theses, to the investigation and report on problems, and the extent to whichuse may be made of some of the practical devices such as fieldinvestigation. There is a general belief that in the elementarycourse only a slight use may be made of practical methods, but that itis necessary to begin these methods in the elementary years and torender instruction practical and concrete to a larger extent than isnow done, by means of problems and the discussion of matters of directinterest to all citizens. No doubt as the problem method and fieldstudy are more definitely systematized and the ways of supervision andchecking up the work developed, these devices will be used much moreextensively. The preparation of problem sheets and of guides to theselection of concrete material gives promise of a more general andeffective use of the problem method. 

=2. Relation of instruction in government to other subjects=

The proper relationship and correlation of instruction in governmentwith that of other subjects has not yet been determinedsatisfactorily. The matter of correlation is slowly being worked outalong certain lines; for example, the relationship between courses inhistory and in government is coming to be much better defined. Suchsubjects as constitutional history and the development of moderngovernments are being treated almost entirely in departments ofhistory, and less attention is being given to the historicaldevelopment of institutions in departments of political science. Aslong as it is impossible to make certain history courses prerequisitesbefore beginning the study of government, it becomes necessary to givesome attention in political science to the historical development ofpolitical institutions. By correlation and by proper arrangement ofcourses, however, the necessity of introducing government courses withhistorical introductions ought to be considerably reduced. 

The relation between work in government and in economics and sociologyis a more difficult problem and one which has not as yet beensatisfactorily adjusted. Some of the courses given in departments ofeconomics and sociology deal to a considerable extent with theregulation of public affairs. In these courses, including publicfinance, the regulation of public utilities, the regulation of trusts, labor organizations, and the administration and regulation of socialand industrial affairs, a more definite correlation between politicalscience and so-called applied economics and applied sociology must bemade. While it is undoubtedly necessary for the economist and thesociologist to deal with government regulation of economic and socialaffairs, and while it is very desirable that these departments shouldemphasize the practical and applied phases of their subjects, it isnevertheless true that courses which are, to a large extent, comprisedof government instruction should be given under the direction of thedepartment of political science, or, at least, in an arrangement ofdefinite coöperation therewith. There is no reason why in such asubject as the regulation of public utilities a portion of the coursemight not be given in the department of economics and a portion in thedepartment of government. Or it may be better, perhaps, for a courseto be arranged in the regulation of public utilities, continuingthroughout the year, in which the professors of economics, government, commerce, finance, and engineering participate in the presentation ofvarious phases of the same subject. At all events, the presentseparation into different departments of the subject matter ofgovernment regulation of such affairs as public utilities, taxation, and social welfare regulation is, to say the least, not producing thebest results. 

The relation of government courses to instruction in law is likewise apartially unsolved problem. A few years ago, when the curricula of lawschools dealt with matters of law and procedure in which only thepractitioner was interested, it became necessary to introduce thestudy of public law in departments of government and politicalscience. Thus we find courses in international law, constitutionallaw, Roman law, and elements of law and jurisprudence being offered inlarge part in departments of political science. The recent changes inlaw school curricula, however, by which many of these subjects are nowoffered in the law school and in some cases are offered to qualifiedundergraduate students, render the situation somewhat more difficultto adjust. There is a tendency to introduce these courses into thelaw school for law students and to offer a similar course in thedepartment of government for undergraduates and graduates. The problemhas been further complicated by the provision in some of the leadinglaw schools of a fourth year, in which the dominant courses relate topublic and international law, legal history and foreign law, jurisprudence and legislative problems. [44] As these courses becomeentirely legal in nature and content and require a background of threeyears of law, it becomes practically impossible for any but lawstudents to be admitted to them. With the prospect of a permanentarrangement for a fourth year of law devoted primarily to subjectsformerly given in departments of political science, it seems to benecessary to provide instruction in constitutional law andinternational law, at least, for those advanced students in politicalscience who seek this instruction but who do not expect to take theprivate law instruction required to admit them to a fourth-year lawclass. The preferable arrangement may prove to be one in which athorough course is offered which will be open to qualified seniors andgraduate students and to law students, thus avoiding the duplicationwhich is now characteristic of instruction in law and the public lawphases of government. In this matter, as in the relation of economicsand sociology, the most appropriate and effective adjustment forcoöperation remains to be formulated. 

=3. Problem method of instruction=

As the criticism of eminent specialists in government and politics hasimpressed upon instructors the idea that too large a portion of theteaching of the subject is theoretical, treating of what ought to berather than of what actually occurs, dealing with facts only on alimited scale and with superficial attention to actual conditions, there has developed the necessity of revising the methods ofinstruction. This revision is being made largely in the introductionof field investigation, observation of government activities, and theproblem and research methods. The prevailing practice of the teachingof politics, which involves lectures, recitations, and the reading andwriting of theses, with a considerable amount of supplementary work, is being revised by means of a research and reference division, by theconstant use of field investigation and by the study of governmentalproblems. The difficulty with all these devices lies in the indefiniteand vague way in which so much of this work must be done. For thepresent, in only a few instances, such as the New York Bureau ofMunicipal Research, has the technique for field investigation and theresearch method been effectively developed. One of the chief lines forthe improvement of the teaching of government is in thestandardization and systematization of the problem method and its moreextensive use in the elementary and advanced government instruction. 

=4. Introduction of the scientific method=

In the past and to a great extent at the present time that part of thestudy of government which has to do with political theory and with adescriptive and historical account of government has comprised thegreater portion of what is usually designated as political science. The nature of these studies is such as to render inapplicable the useof the scientific method. If the study of government is to bedeveloped as a science in the true sense, then the above subjects mustbe supplemented by exhaustive inductive studies and research in theactual operation of government. Such methods are now being employed inthe examination of government records and the comparison ofadministrative practices. And there is being developed also a scienceof government based on the practices and the technique of publicadministration. 

This science now finds its exemplification in some of the exceptionalwork of the graduate schools. Unfortunately, the connection betweenthese schools and the government departments has not been such as tosecure the best results. Moreover, departments of political scienceare not now doing their part to place the results of scientificinvestigations at the disposal of government officials. Theintroduction of courses in extension departments and evening classeshas in part met this deficiency. But much remains to be done to renderthrough the department of political science effective service in thepractical operation of government. With the introduction of theproblem method and field investigation in the elementary instruction, so far as seems feasible, with the development of standard methods andthe technique of research for advanced instruction, the teaching ofgovernment will be rendered not only more valuable to the citizen, butcolleges and universities may render aid to government officials andcitizens interested in social and political affairs. 

A significant development as an aid for research and for renderingmore effective public service has come in the establishment of bureausof government research. The method of investigation and research whichhas been applied to the problems of government by privateorganizations has been found applicable to the handling of researchmaterial in the universities. Through a bureau of this characterrecent publications and ephemeral material may be collected for theuse of advanced students, digests may be prepared on topics of specialinterest to legislators and administrators, and publications ofparticular interest to the citizens may be issued. Such a bureauserves as a government laboratory for the university and can be placedat the service of public officials and others who desire to use areference department in securing reliable data on governmentalaffairs. Thus it is coming to be realized that research in governmentmay be encouraged and the resources of higher institutions may be soorganized as to render a distinct and much appreciated public service. 

 CHARLES GROVE HAINES _University of Texas_

BIBLIOGRAPHY

ALLIX, E. H. NÉZARD, and MEUNIER, A. _Instruction Civique. _ Paris, F. Juven, 1910; pages 238. American Political Science Association. Report of the Committee on Instruction in Political Science inColleges and Universities. _Proceedings_, 1913; pages 249-270. 

---- Report of Committee of Seven on Instruction in Colleges andUniversities. _Political Science Review_, Vol. IX, pages 353-374. 

---- The Teaching of Government. Report to the American PoliticalScience Association by the Committee on Instruction. The MacmillanCompany, 1916; pages 135-226. 

BALDWIN, SIMEON E. _The Relations of Education to Citizenship. _ YaleUniversity Press, 1912; pages 178. 

BEACH, W. G. The College and Citizenship. _Proceedings of theWashington Educational Association. _ School Journal Publishing Co. , 1908; pages 55-57. 

BEARD, C. A. _The Study and Teaching of Politics. _ Columbia UniversityPress, June, 1912; Vol. XII, pages 268-274. 

---- _Politics_, Columbia University Press, 1912; pages 35. 

---- _Training for Efficient Public Service. _ Annals of the AmericanAcademy of Political and Social Science, March, 1916. 

BOITEL, J. , and FOIGUET, R. _Notions elementaires d'instructioncivique de droit usuel et d'économie politique. _ Paris, Delagrave, 1910; pages 307. 

BOURGUEIL, E. _Instruction civique. _ Paris: F. Nathan, 1910; pages223. 

BRYCE, JAMES. _The Hindrances to Good Citizenship. _ Yale UniversityPress, 1910; pages 138. 

DROWN, THOMAS M. Instruction in Municipal Government in AmericanEducational Institutions. _National Municipal League: Proceedings_, Boston, 1902; pages 268-271. 

FAIRLIE, JOHN A. Instruction in Municipal Government. _NationalMunicipal League: Proceedings_, Detroit, 1903; pages 222-230. 

FREUND, ERNST. Correlation of Work for Higher Degrees in GraduateSchool and Law School. _Illinois Law Review_, Vol. XI, page 301. 

HALL, G. STANLEY. Civic Education. _Educational Problems_, New York, 1911, Vol. II, pages 667-682. 

HILL, DAVID J. _A Plan for a School of the Political Sciences. _ 1907, pages 34. 

HINMAN, GEORGE W. The New Duty of American colleges. 63d Congress, 1stsession. Senate Document No. 236, 1913. 

LOWELL, A. LAWRENCE. Administrative Experts in Municipal Governments. _National Municipal Review_, Vol. IV, pages 26-32. 

---- The Physiology of Politics, _American Political Science Review_, February, 1910. 

---- _Public Opinion and Popular Government_, Chapters 17-19. 

MOREY, WILLIAM C. _American Education and American Citizenship. _Rochester, N. Y. , pages 20. 

MUNRO, W. B. The Present Status of Instruction in Municipal Governmentin the Universities and Colleges of the United States. _NationalMunicipal League: Proceedings. _ Pittsburgh, 1908, pages 348-366. 

---- Instruction in Municipal Government in the Universities andColleges of the United States. _National Municipal Review_, Vol. II, pages 427-438, and Vol. V, pages 565-574. 

National Municipal League. Report of the Committee on Instruction inMunicipal Government. _Proceedings_, Rochester, 1901; pages 218-225. 

Report of the Committee on Organized Coöperation between theMassachusetts Institute of Technology and the Commonwealth ofMassachusetts. _Bulletin of the Alumni Association_, 1914, No. 3. 

Report of the Committee on Training for Public Service. ColumbiaUniversity. Charles A. Beard, Chairman. _Bulletin_, March 27, 1915. 

ROBINSON, FREDERICK B. The Municipal Courses. _City College (N. Y. )Quarterly_, Vol. XII, page 18. 

ROWE, J. S. University and Collegiate Research in MunicipalGovernment. _National Municipal League: Proceedings. _ Chicago, 1904, pages 242-248. 

SCHAPER, W. A. What Do Students Know about American government beforeTaking College Courses in Political Science? _Journal of Pedagogy_, June, 1906. Vol. XVIII, pages 265-288. 

Society for the Promotion of Training for the Public Service. E. A. Fitzpatrick, Director. Madison, Wisconsin. _The Public Servant. _Issued monthly. 

---- Universities and Public Service. _Proceedings of the FirstNational Conference. _ Madison, 1914, pages 289. 

Training for Public Service. New York Bureau of Municipal Research, Annual Reports. 

WHITE, A. D. The Provision for Higher Instruction Bearing Directlyupon Public Affairs. _House Executive Document No. 42_, part 2, 46thCongress, 3d Session. 

---- Education in Political Science. Baltimore, pages 51. 

---- European Schools of History and Politics. _Johns HopkinsUniversity Studies_, Series 5, Vol. XII. 

WILSON, WOODROW. _The Study of Politics. An Old Master and OtherEssays. _ Charles Scribner's Sons, 1893, pages 31-57. 

WOLFE, A. B. Shall We Have an Introductory Course in Social Sciences?_Journal of Political Economy_, Vol. XXII, pages 253-267. 

YOUNG, JAMES T. University Instruction in Municipal Government. _National Municipal League: Proceedings. _ Rochester, 1901; pages226-234. 

Footnotes:

[40] The courses usually given in departments of political scienceare:

 1. American government, (_a_) National, (_b_) State and local, (_c_) Municipal. 2. General political science. 3. Comparative government. 4. English government. 5. International law. 6. Diplomacy. 7. Jurisprudence or elements of law. 8. World politics. 9. Commercial law. 10. Roman law. 11. Administrative law. 12. Political theories (History of political thought). 13. Party government. 14. Colonial government. 15. Legislative methods and legislative procedure. 16. Current political problems. 17. Municipal corporations. 18. Law of officers and taxation. 19. Seminar. 20. Additional courses, such as the government of foreign countries, the regulation of public utilities, and the political and legal status of women. 

Cf. _The Teaching of Government_, page 137. Published by the MacmillanCompany, 1916. With the permission of the publishers some extractsfrom the report of the committee on instruction have been used. Thereport should be consulted for the presentation of data and for afurther consideration of some questions of instruction which cannot betaken up fully within the compass of this chapter. 

[41] Cf. _The Teaching of Government_, page 182. 

[42] _The Teaching of Government_, pages 206-207. 

[43] The discussion of methods follows in part the Report of theCommittee on Instruction, pages 192-194. 

[44] See especially article by Ernst Freund on "Correlation of Workfor Higher Degrees in Graduate School and Law School, " Vol. XI, _Illinois Law Review_, page 301. 

XIV

THE TEACHING OF PHILOSOPHY

The study of philosophy covers such a wide range of subjects that itis difficult to generalize in attempting to answer the basal questionswhich call for consideration in a book like this. In the greatEuropean universities it includes psychology, logic, ethics, æsthetics, epistemology, metaphysics, the history of philosophy, andsometimes even the philosophy of religion, the philosophy of history, the philosophy of law, and the philosophy of the State. Althoughspecial courses may not be offered in every one of these fields in ourAmerican colleges, their philosophical territory is sufficientlyextensive and the separate provinces sufficiently unlike to baffle anyone seeking to describe the educational aims and methods of the domainas a whole. In order, therefore, to do full justice to our task itwould be necessary to treat each one of the various philosophicalbranches separately and to expand the space assigned to us into afair-sized volume. Since this is not to be thought of, we shall haveto confine ourselves to a consideration of the traits common to allthe subjects, without forgetting, however, such differences as maycall for different educational treatment. 

=The unified college course in philosophy=

The difficulty of which we have spoken becomes less formidable whenthe teacher of the traditional philosophical subjects regards them notas so many independent and disconnected fields of study, but as partsof a larger whole held together by some central idea. The greatsystematic thinkers, from Plato down to Herbert Spencer, have aimed at"completely unified knowledge" and have sought to bring order andcoherence into what may seem to the casual onlooker as a disunitedarray of phenomena. Philosophical teaching will be the more fruitful, the more it is inspired by the thought of unity of aim, and the moreconsciously the teachers of the different disciplines keep this ideain mind. That is the reason why philosophical instruction given in asmall college and by one man is, in some respects, often moresatisfactory than in the large university with its numberlessspecialists, in which the beginning student frequently does not seethe forest for the trees. It is not essential that the teacher presenta thoroughly worked-out and definitive system of thought, but it isimportant that he constantly keep in mind the interrelatedness of thevarious parts of his subject and the notion of unity which binds themtogether, --at least as an ideal. 

And perhaps this notion of the unity of knowledge ought to be made oneof the chief aims of philosophical instruction in the college. Theideal of philosophy in the sense of metaphysics is to see thingswhole, to understand the interrelations not only of the branchestaught in the department of philosophy but of all the diverse subjectsstudied throughout the university. The student obtains glimpses ofvarious pictures presented by different departments and different men, and from different points of view. Each teacher offers him fragmentsof knowledge, the meaning of which, as parts of an all-inclusivesystem, the pupil does not comprehend. Indeed, it frequently happensthat the different pieces do not fit into one another; and he ismystified and bewildered by the seemingly disparate array of facts andtheories crowding his brain which he cannot correlate and generallydoes not even suspect of being capable of correlation. To be sure, every teacher ought to be philosophical, if not a philosopher, andindicate the place of his specialty in the universe of knowledge; butthat is an ideal which has not yet been realized. In the meanwhile, the study of philosophy ought to make plain that knowledge is not amere heap of broken fragments, that the inorganic, organic, and mentalrealms are not detached and independent principalities but kingdoms ina larger empire, and that the world in which we live is not a chaosbut a cosmos. An introductory course in philosophy, the type of coursegiven in many German universities under the title "Einleitung in diePhilosophie" and attended by students from all sections of theuniversity, will help the young student to find his bearings in themultifarious thought-world unfolded before him and will, at the sametime, put him in the way of developing some sort of world-view lateron. 

Philosophical instruction that succeeds in the task outlined abovewill have accomplished much. Nevertheless, it cannot attain its goalunless the student is introduced to the study of the human-mentalworld which constitutes a large portion of the field assigned to thephilosophical department: the study of psychology, logic, ethics, andthe history of philosophy. These branches deal with things in whichthe human race has been interested from its early civilized beginningsand with which the young persons entering college have had little orno opportunity of becoming acquainted. And they deal with a worldwhich no man can ignore who seeks to understand himself and hisrelation to the natural and social environment in which his lot iscast. A knowledge of the processes of mind (psychology), of the lawsof thought (logic), of the principles of conduct (ethics), and of thedevelopment of man's interpretation of reality (history of philosophy)will supplement the knowledge acquired by the study of physicalnature, preventing a one-sided and narrow world-view, and will serveas a preparation for intelligent reflection upon the meaning ofreality (philosophy in the sense of metaphysics). 

=Controlling aims in the teaching of philosophy=

All these subjects, therefore, have as one of their aims the trainingof the powers of thought (judgment and reasoning); and philosophicalteaching should never lose sight of this. Thinking is a difficultbusiness, --an art which is practiced, to be sure, in every field ofstudy, but one for which the philosophical branches provide unusualopportunity and material. It has become a habit with many of recentyears to decry the study of logic as an antiquated discipline, but itstill remains, if properly taught, an excellent means of cultivatingclear thinking; there is no reason why a consciousness of correctways of thinking and of the methods employed in reaching reliablejudgments should not prove useful to every one. 

We should say, therefore, that the study of philosophy has a highcultural value: it encourages the student to reflect upon himself andhis human and natural surroundings (society and nature) and to come togrips with reality; it frees him from the incubus of transmittedopinions and borrowed beliefs, and makes him earn his spiritualpossessions in the sweat of his face, --mindful of Goethe's warningthat "he alone deserves freedom and life who is compelled to battlefor them day by day";--it helps him to see things in their rightrelations, to acquire the proper intellectual and volitional attitudetoward his world through an understanding of its meaning and anappreciation of its values; in short, it strengthens him in hisstruggle to win his soul, to become a person. This is its ideal; andin seeking to realize it, philosophy coöperates with the other studiesin the task of developing human beings, in preparing men for completeliving, and is therefore practical in a noble sense of the term. Ithas a high disciplinary value in that it trains the powers of analysisand judgment, at least in the fields in which it operates. And thehabit acquired there of examining judgments, hypotheses, and beliefscritically and impartially, of testing them in the light of experienceand of reason, cannot fail to prove helpful wherever clear thinking isa requisite. 

The teacher should keep all these aims in view in organizing hismaterial and applying his methods. He should not forget thatphilosophy is above all things a reflection upon life; he shouldendeavor to train his pupils in the art of interpreting humanexperience, of grasping its meaning. His chief concern should be tomake _thinkers_ of them, not to fasten upon them a final philosophiccreed, --not to give them a philosophy, but to teach them how tophilosophize. If he succeeds in arousing in them a keen intellectualinterest and a love of truth, and in developing in them the will andthe power to think a problem through to the bitter end, he will havedone more for them than would have been possible by furnishing themwith ready-made formulas. There is nothing so hopelessly dead as ayoung man without the spirit of intellectual adventure, with his mindmade up, with the master's ideas so deeply driven into his head thathis intellectual career is finished. The Germans call such a person_vernagelt_, a term that fitly describes the case. What should beaimed at is the cultivation of the mind so that it will broaden withenlarging experience, that it will be hospitable to new ideas and yetnot be overwhelmed by them, that it will preserve inviolate itsintellectual integrity and keep fresh the spirit of inquiry. Such amind may be safely left to work out its own salvation in the quest fora _Weltanschauung_. 

 "Young, all lay in dispute; I shall know, being old. "

In emphasizing the need of such central aims in instruction we do notwish to be understood as not appreciating the utilitarian value of thephilosophical branches and their importance as a preparation forprofessional activity. Like all knowledge, these subjects have theirworth not merely as means of developing human personality but also asmeans of equipping the student with such knowledge of facts, methods, and theories as will prove useful to him in his other studies and inthe daily affairs of life. The teacher, the physician, the lawyer, theclergyman, the artist, the engineer, the business man, will bebenefited by an understanding of the workings of the human mind, ofthe laws of human thinking, and of the principles of human conduct. Itis not absolutely necessary, however, in our opinion, that separateclasses specially designed for the different professions be formed inthe colleges; after all, it is the same human mind that operates inall the fields of human activity, and a knowledge of mental life ingeneral will serve the purposes of every vocation. Doubtless, coursesin psychology, logic, and ethics, for example, might be offered havingin view the particular needs of prospective members of the variouscallings, but such courses would, in order to meet the situation, presuppose an acquaintance with the respective professional fields inquestion which only students well along in their professional studiescould be expected to possess. Courses of this character mightprofitably be given for the benefit of professional students who havealready taken the introductory subjects necessary to their properunderstanding. 

=Introduction of philosophy in the college course=

It is not easy to determine the most favorable period in a student'scollege career at which philosophical subjects should be taught. Themore mature the student is, the more successful the instruction is aptto be; but this may be said of many other studies. There is no reasonwhy an intelligent freshman may not begin the study of psychology andlogic and perhaps of some other introductory philosophical branches;but as a rule better results may be obtained by admitting only suchpersons to these classes as have familiarized themselves withuniversity methods. 

=Problems of philosophy and the development of thought to be emphasized, rather than the historical sequence=

We should recommend that every student in the college devote at leastthree hours a week for four terms to the study of psychology, logic, ethics, and the history of philosophy. In case not all thesefundamental courses can be taken, the student will most likely derivethe greatest benefit by giving a year to the study of the history ofphilosophy, or one term to the introduction to philosophy, where hehas only that much time at his disposal. It seems easier, however, toarouse a philosophical interest in the average student through a studyof the basal philosophical questions from the standpoint ofcontemporaneous thinking than through the study of the history ofphilosophy. He is generally lacking in the historic sense, and is aptto be wearied and even confused by the endless procession of systems. This is particularly the case when the teacher fails to emphasizesufficiently the progressive nature of philosophical thinking in itshistory, when he regards this as a mere succession of ideas ratherthan as a more or less logical unfolding of problems and solutions--asa continuous effort on the part of the universal mind, so to speak, to understand itself and the world. A course in the introduction tophilosophy acquainting the student with the aims of philosophy and itsrelation to other fields of study, and placing before him an accountof the most important problems of metaphysics and epistemology as wellas of the solutions which have been offered by the great thinkers, together with such criticisms and suggestions as may stimulate histhought, will awaken in him a proper appreciation of a deeper study ofthe great systems and lead him to seek light from the history ofphilosophy. 

=Methods of instruction=

The place and relative worth of the various methods of instruction inthe province of philosophy will, of course, depend, among otherthings, upon the character of the particular subject taught and thesize and quality of the class. In nearly all the introductoryphilosophical branches in which the classes are large the lecturemethod will prove a valuable auxiliary. In no case, however, shouldthis method be employed exclusively; and in formal logic, it should beused rather sparingly. Ample opportunity should always be given insmaller groups for raising questions and discussing important issueswith a view to clearing up obscure points, overcoming difficulties, developing the student's powers of thought, and enabling him toexercise his powers of expression. It is also essential that thestudent be trained in the difficult art of reading philosophicalworks. It is wise as a rule to refer him to a good textbook, whichshould be carefully studied, to passages or chapters in other standardmanuals, and in historical study to the writings of the great masters. And frequent opportunity to express himself in the written word mustbe afforded him; to this end written reports giving the thought of anauthor in the student's own language, occasional critical essays, andwritten examinations appealing not only to his memory but to hisintelligence should be required during the term. Such exercises keepthe student's interest alive, increase his stock of knowledge, developmaturity and independence of thought, and create a sense of growingintellectual power. The written tests encourage members of the classto review the work gone over and to discuss with one another importantphases of it; in the effort to organize their knowledge they obtain amuch better grasp of the subject than would have been possible withoutsuch an intensive re-appraisal of the material. 

=Logic to be related to the intellectual life of the student=

In the course on formal logic a large part of the time should be spentin examining and criticizing examples of the processes of thoughtstudied (definitions, arguments, methods employed in reachingknowledge) and in applying the principles of correct thinking inwritten discourses. It is a pity that we have no comprehensive workcontaining the illustrative material needed for the purpose. As it is, the teacher will do well to select his examples from scientific works, speeches, and the textbooks used in other classes. As every one knows, nothing is so likely to deaden the interest and to make the study oflogic seem trivial as the use of the puerile examples found in many ofthe older treatises. With the proper material this subject can be madeone of the most interesting and profitable courses in thecurriculum, --in spite of what its modern detractors may say. 

=Students to be familiarized with sources and original writings of theleading philosophers=

In the history of philosophy the lectures and textbook should besupplemented by the reading of the writings of the great philosophers. Wherever it is possible, the learner should be sent to the sourcesthemselves. It will do him good to finger the books and to find thereferences; and by and by he may be tempted to read beyond therequired assignment--a thing greatly to be encouraged, and out of thequestion so long as he limits himself to some one's selections fromthe writings of the philosophers. 

In the advanced courses the research method may be introduced; specialproblems may be assigned to the student who has acquired a knowledgeof the fundamentals, to be worked out under the guidance of theinstructor. 

=Lecture method should arouse dynamic interest and a desire to masterthe problems of philosophy=

In the lecture intended for beginners the teacher should seek toarouse in his hearers an interest in the subject and the desire toplunge more deeply into it. He should not bewilder the student withtoo many details and digressions but present the broad outlines of thefield, placing before him the essentials and leaving him to fill inthe minutiæ by a study of the books of reference. Each lecture oughtto constitute an organic whole, as it were, in which the differentparts are held together by a central idea; and its connection with thesubject matter of the preceding lectures should be kept before thehearer's mind. All this requires careful and conscientious preparationon the part of the teacher, who must understand the intellectualquality of his class and avoid "shooting over their heads" as well asgoing to the other extreme of aiming below the level of their mentalcapacities. Lecturing that is more than mere entertainment is an artwhich young instructors sometimes look upon as an easy acquisition andwhich older heads, after long years of experience, often despair ofever mastering. The lecture aims to do what books seldomaccomplish--to infuse life and spirit into the subject; and this ideala living personality may hope to realize where a dead book fails. 

=How to secure active participation by students through lecture method=

In order, however, that the philosophical lecture may not fail of itspurpose, the hearer must be more than a mere listener; he must bringwith him an alert mind that grasps meanings and can followthought-sequences. And he cannot keep his attention fixed upon thediscourse and understand the relations of its parts unless othersenses coöperate with the sense of hearing and unless the motorcenters are called into play also. He should carefully cultivate theart of taking notes, an accomplishment in which the average student issadly lacking and to acquire which he needs the assistance of theinstructor, which he seldom receives. An examination of the student'snotebook frequently reveals such a woeful lack of discrimination onthe writer's part that one is led to doubt the wisdom of followingthis method at all; wholly unimportant things are set down in faithfuldetail and essential ones wholly ignored. The hour spent in thelecture room, however, can and should be made a fruitful means ofinstruction, one that will awaken processes of thought and leave itsmark. But in order to get the best result, the student should be urgedto study his notes and the books to which he has been referred whilethe matters discussed in the lecture are still fresh in his mind; hewill be able to clear up points he did not fully grasp, seeconnections that have escaped him, understand the force of argumentswhich he missed; and he will assume a more independent and criticalattitude toward what he has heard than was possible on the spur of themoment, when he was driven on and could not stop and reflect. At home, in the quiet of his study, he can organize the material, see the partsof the discourse in their relations to each other, and re-create thewhole as it lived and moved in the mind of the teacher. In doing thiswork he is called on to exercise his thinking and takes an importantstep forward. It is for this reason that I am somewhat skeptical ofthe value of the syllabus prepared by the teacher for the use ofclasses in philosophy, --it does for the student what he should do forhimself. Whatever value the syllabus may have in other fields ofstudy, its use in the philosophical branches ought to be discouraged. The great weakness of the lecture method lies in its tendency torelieve the hearer of the necessity of doing his own thinking, toleave him passive, to feed him with predigested food; and this defectis augmented by providing him with "helps" which rob him of thebenefit and pleasure of putting the pieces of the puzzle-picturetogether himself. 

However, even at its best, the lecture method, unless supplemented inthe ways already indicated, runs the danger of making the student anintellectual sponge, a mere absorber of knowledge, or a kind ofreceptacle for professors to shoot ideas into. As was said before, thestudent must cultivate the art of reading books and of expressing histhoughts by means of the spoken and written word. At the early stagesand in some fields of philosophical study, however, the reading ofmany books may confuse the beginner and leave his mind in a state ofbewilderment. It is indispensable that he acquire the working conceptsand the terminology of the subject, and to this end it is generallywise to limit his reading until he has gained sufficient skill inhandling his tools, as it were. In the elementary courses many membersof the class will be unable to do more than follow the lectures andstudy the textbook; the more gifted ones, however, should beencouraged to extend the range of their reading under the guidance ofthe instructor. 

=Organization of undergraduate courses in philosophy=

An answer to the question concerning the desired sequence of coursesin philosophy will depend upon many considerations, --upon one'sconception of philosophy and of the various subjects generallyembraced under it, upon one's notion of the aims of philosophicalinstruction, upon one's estimate of the difficulties encountered bythe student in the study of the different branches of it, and so on. There is wide divergence of opinion among thinkers on all thesepoints. Philosophy is variously conceived as metaphysics, as theory ofknowledge, as the science of mind (_Geisteswissenschaft_), as thescience of values (_Werttheorie_), or as all of these together. Logicis conceived by some thinkers as dependent upon psychology, by othersas the presupposition of _all_ the sciences, including psychology. Ethics is regarded both as a branch of psychology, or as dependentupon psychology, and as an independent study having nothing whateverto do with psychology. Psychology itself is treated both as a naturalscience, its connection with philosophy being explained as ahistorical survival, and as the fundamental study upon which all theother subjects of the philosophical department must rest. Where thereis such a lack of agreement, it will not be easy to map out asequential course of study that will satisfy everybody. Even whenphilosophy is defined in the old historic sense as an attempt to reacha theory of the world and of life, men may differ as to the exactorder in which the basal studies should be pursued. By many thehistory of philosophy is considered the best introduction to theentire field, while others would place it at the end of the series offundamentals (psychology, logic, ethics), holding that a student whohas studied these will be best equipped for a study that includes thehistory of their development. As a matter of fact, given students ofmature mind and the necessary general preparation, either order may bejustified. The average underclassman is, however, too immature toplunge at once into the study of the history of philosophy, and thepresent writer would recommend that it be preceded by courses ingeneral psychology, logic and ethics. The average sophomore will havelittle difficulty in following courses in psychology and logic; and itis immaterial which of these he takes up first. The course in thetheory of ethics should come in the junior or senior year and afterthe student has gained some knowledge of psychology (preferably from abook like Stout's _Manual of Psychology_). And it would be anadvantage if the course in ethics could be preceded by a study of thedevelopment of moral ideas, of the kind, let us say, presented inHobhouse's _Morals in Evolution_. For reasons already stated, theentire course in philosophy should be inaugurated by the Introductionto Philosophy. Advanced courses in metaphysics and the theory ofknowledge should come at the end and follow the history of philosophy. The ideal sequence would, therefore, be in the view of the presentwriter: Introduction to Philosophy, Psychology or Logic, theDevelopment of Moral Ideas, Theory of Ethics, History of Philosophy, Metaphysics, and Theory of Knowledge. It must be admitted, however, that a rigorous insistence upon this scheme in the American college, in which freedom of election is the rule, would impair the usefulnessof the department of philosophy. Few students will be willing to takeall these subjects, and there is no reason why an intelligent junioror senior should not be admitted to a course in ethics or the historyof philosophy without having first studied the other branches. Aperson possessing sufficient maturity of mind to pursue these studieswill be greatly benefited by them even when he comes to them withoutprevious preparation; and it would be a pity to deprive him of theopportunity to become acquainted with a field in which some of theablest thinkers have exercised their powers. At all events, he shouldnot leave college without having had a course in the history ofphilosophy, which will open up a new world to him and may perhapsstimulate him to read the best books in the other branches later on. 

It would not be possible, of course, to prescribe all the fundamentalphilosophical courses, even if it were desirable, --few faculties wouldgo so far, --but it would be wise to require every candidate for thebachelor's degree to give at least six hours of his time (three hoursa term, on the two-term basis) to one or two of the elementarycourses, preferably in the sophomore year. Ethics and the history ofphilosophy could then be chosen as electives and be followed by themore advanced and specialized courses. 

=Moot questions: controversy between philosopher and psychologist=

We have already touched upon some of the debatable questions in thesphere of philosophical education. The dispute concerning the place ofpsychology in the scheme of philosophical instruction has its cause indifferences of view concerning the aims, nature, and methods of thatsubject. Philosophers ask for an introductory course in psychologywhich shall serve as a propaedeutic to the philosophical studies, while teachers of education wish to have it treated in a way to throwlight upon educational methods and theory. "Some biologists treatmental phenomena as mere correlates of physiological processes. .. . Others, including a number of psychologists also, regard psychologicalphenomena as fully explicable in terms of behavior, and asconstituting therefore a phase of biological science. " The Committeeof the American Psychological Association on the Academic Status ofPsychology recommends "that the Association adopt the principle thatthe undergraduate psychological curriculum in every college oruniversity, great or small, should be planned from the standpoint ofpsychology and in accordance with psychological ideals, rather than tofit the needs and meet the demands of some other branch oflearning. "[45] This declaration of principle might lead to peacebetween the philosophers and the psychologists if there were agreementconcerning the "psychological ideals" in accordance with which thesubject is to be studied. The desideratum of the philosophers is apsychology which will give the student an understanding of the variousphases of mental life; but they do not believe that this can bereached by an exclusive use of the natural-scientific method. Theobjection of some psychologists, that the philosophers wish to injectmetaphysics into the study of mental processes, is met by therejoinder that the natural-scientific psychology is itself based uponan unconscious metaphysics, and a false one at that. What thephilosophers desire is psychological courses which will do fulljustice to the facts of the mental life and not falsify them to meetthe demands of a scientific theory or method--courses of the kindgiven in European universities by men whose reputation aspsychologists is beyond suspicion. 

=Divergent views as to nature of introductory course in philosophy=

We have likewise alluded, in this chapter, to the controversy over theneed and nature of an introductory course in philosophy. Of those whofavor such a philosophical propaedeutic some recommend the History ofPhilosophy, others an Introduction to Philosophy of the type describedin the preceding pages. Some teachers regard as the ideal course astudy of the evolving attitudes of the individual toward the world, after the manner of Hegel's Phenomenology of the Spirit; some thePhilosophy of History; some _Kulturgeschichte_, that is, the study of"the evolution of science, morality, art, religion, and politicallife, --in short, the history of institutions"; some the study of thegreat literatures; and some would seek the approach to the subjectthrough the religious interest. [46] It is plain that the History ofPhilosophy will receive help from all these sources; and a wiseteacher will make frequent use of them. Nor can the course in theIntroduction to Philosophy afford to ignore them; it will do well tolay particular stress upon the philosophical attitudes, the embryonicphilosophies which are to be found in the great literatures, in thegreat religions, in science, and in the common sense of mankind. Wherever the human mind is at work, there philosophicalconceptions, --world-views, crude or developed, --play their part; andthey form the background of the lives of peoples as well as ofindividuals. In the systems of the great thinkers they are formulatedand made more or less consistent; but everywhere they are the resultof the mind's yearning to understand the meaning of life in itsmanifold expressions. When the student comes to see that philosophy issimply an attempt to do what mankind has always been doing and willalways continue to do, in a rough way, that it is "only an unusuallyobstinate attempt to think clearly and consistently, "--to continue theprocess of thinking to the bitter end, --his attitude toward it will beone of intelligent interest and respect. But not one of these subjectstaken by itself will serve the purpose of an introductory course. 

=The "case method" in the teaching of philosophy=

Another moot question is concerned with the use of the "case method, "employed in law instruction, in ethics. The case method seeks to knowwhat the moral law is by studying the moral judgments of society; or, more definitely, to quote the words of Professor Coxe, [47] one of itschampions: "to discover, if possible, a law running through thejudgments _which society has made through its duly appointedofficials_. " "Historical cases, properly attested, alone give us themeans of objective judgment. " There can be no doubt that this methodwill prove serviceable, if judiciously applied; but its exclusive useeither as a method of study or as a method of instruction, --even in anintroductory course in ethics, --is not to be recommended. [48] Thestudent will not gain an adequate conception of morality from a studyof the varying and often contradictory "historical cases, " much lessfrom a study of the judgments which society has made "through its dulyappointed officials. " The legal "case" literature of our country doesindeed furnish valuable and interesting material for ethical study, but it would require a riper mind than that of a beginner to discoverand to evaluate the moral principles which lie embodied in it. 

=Testing the results of instruction=

The problem of testing the effectiveness of one's teaching presentsfew difficulties in classes which are small and in which individualinstruction is possible. Wherever teacher and student come in closepersonal contact and opportunity is afforded for full and frequentdiscussions as well as for written exercises, it is a comparativelyeasy matter to judge the mental caliber of the members of the classand to determine the extent of their progress. In the case of thelarge classes, however, which crowd into the lecture halls of themodern university, the task is not so simple. Here every effort shouldbe made to divide such concourses of students into numerous sections, small enough to enable the instructor to become acquainted with thoseunder his charge and to watch their development. The professor whogives the lectures should take one or more of these sections himselfin order that he may understand the minds to which he is addressinghimself, and govern himself accordingly. The tests should consist ofdiscussions, essays, and written and oral examinations; by means ofthese it is not impossible to determine whether the aims of thesubject have been realized in the instruction or not. But the tasksset should be of such a character as to test the student's power ofthought, his ability to understand what he has read and heard with allits implications, his ability to assume a critical attitude towardwhat he has assimilated, and his ability to try his intellectual wingsin independent flights. A person who devotes himself faithfully to hiswork during the entire term, who puts his mind upon it, takes anactive part in the discussions, and is encouraged to express himselffrequently by means of the written word, will surely give someindication of the progress he has made, even in a writtenexamination--it being a fair assumption that one who knows willsomehow succeed in revealing his knowledge. Care must be taken, ofcourse, that the test is not a mere appeal to the memory; it is onlywhen the examination makes demands upon the student's intelligencethat it can be considered a fair measure of the value of philosophicalinstruction. It must not be forgotten, however, that the examinationmay reveal not only the weakness of the learner but the weakness ofthe teacher. It is possible for a student, even in philosophy, to makea fine showing in a written examination by repeating the words of themaster which he does not understand, without having derived any realbenefit from the course. The teacher may set an examination which willhide the deficiencies of the instruction, and the temptation to dothis in large classes which he knows have not been properly taught isgreat. 

 FRANK THILLY _Cornell University_

BIBLIOGRAPHY

COXE, G. C. The Case Method in the Study and Teaching of Ethics. _Journal of Philosophy, Psychology, and Scientific Methods_, Vol. X, 13, page 337. 

DAVIES, A. E. Education and Philosophy, _Journal of Philosophy, Psychology, and Scientific Methods_, Vol. VI, 14, page 365. 

HINMAN, E. L. The Aims of an Introductory Course in Philosophy. _Journal of Philosophy, Psychology, and Scientific Methods_, Vol. VII, 21, page 561. 

HÖFLER, A. _Zur Propädeutik-Frage. _

HÖFLER, A. Zur Reform der philosophischen Propädeutik. _Zeitschriftfür die Österreichischen Gymnasien_, Vol. L, 3, page 255. 

HUDSON, J. W. Hegel's Conception of an Introduction to Philosophy. _Journal of Philosophy, Psychology, and Scientific Methods_, Vol. VI, 13, page 337. 

---- An Introduction to Philosophy through the Philosophy of History. _Journal of Philosophy, Psychology, and Scientific Methods. _ Vol. VII, 21, page 569. 

---- The Aims and Methods of Introduction Courses: A Questionnaire. _Journal of Philosophy, Psychology, and Scientific Methods_, Vol. IX, 2, page 29. 

LEHMANN, R. _Der deutsche Unterricht_, pages 389-437. 

LEUCHTENBERGER, G. _Die philosophische Propädeutik auf den höherenSchulen. _

OVERSTREET, H. A. Professor Coxe's "Case Method" in Ethics. _Journalof Philosophy, Psychology, and Scientific Methods_, Vol. X, 17, page464. 

PAULSEN, F. _German Universities and University Studies. _ Englishtranslation by Frank Thilly and W. W. Elwang, Book III and Book IV. 

---- _Ueber Vergangenheit und Zukunft der Philosophie im gelehrtenUnterricht, Central-Organ für die Interessen des Realschulwesens_, Vol. XIV, 1, page 4. 

---- _Geschichte des gelehrten Unterrichts_, Conclusion. 

Report of the Committee on the Academic Status of Psychology, published by the American Psychological Association, December, 1914. 

TUFTS, J. H. Garman as a Teacher. _Journal of Philosophy, Psychology, and Scientific Methods_, Vol. IV, 10, page 263. 

WEISSENFELS, O. Die Philosophie auf dem Gymnasium. _Zeitschrift fürdas Gymnasialwesen_, Vol. LIII, 1, page 1. 

WENDT, G. _Didaktik und Methodik des deutschen Unterrichts, Handbuchder Erziehungs- und Unterrichtslehre für höhere Schulen. _

Footnotes:

[45] The sentences quoted are taken from the Report of this committee, which was published in December, 1914. 

[46] See the articles of J. W. Hudson and others in the Bibliography. 

[47] See Bibliography. 

[48] See Professor Overstreet's Discussion mentioned in the Bibliography. 

XV

THE TEACHING OF ETHICS

=Interest in the study of ethics determined by the aim of instruction=

Nowhere does academic tediousness work a more dire mischief than inthe teaching of ethics. It is bad to have students forever shun thebest books because of poor instruction in literature; the damage isworse when it is the subject of moral obligation which they associatewith only the duller hours of their college life. Not that the aim ofa course in ethics is to afford a number of entertaining periods. Theobject rather is to help our students realize that here is a subjectwhich seeks to interpret for them the most important problems of theirown lives present and to come. Where this end is kept in view, thequestion of interesting them is settled. A sincere interpretation oflife always takes the interest when once it is grasped that this iswhat is really being interpreted. 

=Viewpoint in the past=

The procedure in the past (and still quite common) was to introducethe subject by way of its history. A book like Sidgwick's _History ofEthics_ was studied, with supplements in the shape of the students'own reading of the classics, or lectures, with quotations, by theteacher. That this method was frequently of much service isundeniable. Teachers there are with rare gifts of inspiration who canput freshness into any course which ordinary teachers leave hopelesslyarid. But this should not blind us to the fact that certain modes ofprocedure are in general more likely to be fruitful than others. 

=The business of right living the aim of ethics teaching=

These methods depend upon the aim; and the aim, we venture to hold, should be eminently practical. The content of ethics is not primarilya matter of whether Kant's judgments are sounder than Mill's orSpencer's. Its subject is human life and the business of right living:how should people--real people, that is, not textbook illustrations--livewith one another? This is the essential concern of our subject matter, and in it our student is intimately and practically involved. Chargedwith the fact, he may deny the impeachment. He refuses to worry overthe merits of hedonism versus rigorism, the distinction betweenhypothetical and categorical imperatives, or the claim of ethics to becalled a science. Ethics, that is, as an intellectual disciplinethrough the survey of historic disputations is indeed remote from theconcerns that touch his life. But all the time there is no subject ofgreater interest when approached from the side of its bearing onpractical problems. Consider the earnestness with which the studentwill discuss with his friends such questions as these: What sense isthere in a labor strike? Is a conscientious objector justified inrefusing military service? Why should any one oppose easy divorcelaws? May a lawyer defend a rogue whom he knows to be guilty? Can onechange the nature with which he was born? Is violence justified in thename of social reform? If what is right in one age or place is wrongin another, is it fair to object when moral laws are broken? If apractice like prostitution is common, what makes it wrong?

These do not sound like the questions likely to receive a welcomehearing in the classroom; but it is precisely upon the interest insuch topics as these that the course in ethics should build; for itssubject is right living, a matter in which the student may indeed beassumed to feel a genuine concern. If the questions that he wantsanswered are not all as broad in their significance as the foregoing, there are others of a more immediate personal kind which arise in hislife as a student, as a friend, as a son and brother, problems inwhich standards of fair play and "decency" are involved, and uponwhich it may be taken for granted that he has done some thinking, howsoever crude. These interests are invaluable. Out of them the finerproduct is to be created in the shape of better standards, higherideals, and habits of moral thoughtfulness, leading in turn to stillbetter standards and still worthier conduct. The course in ethicsshould be practical in the sense that both its starting point and itsfinal object are found in the student's management of his life. 

=Illustrations of the problems of right living=

Consider, for example, how his interest in problems of friendship maybe used as the point of departure for an extremely important surveyover general questions of right relationship. Just because friendshipis so vital a concern of adolescent years, he can be led to read whatAristotle, Kant, Emerson, have to say upon this subject and beintroduced as well to that larger life of ideal relationships fromwhich these writers regard the dealings of friends. The topic of rightattitudes toward a friend broadens out readily into suchconsiderations as treating persons aright for their own sake orregarding them as ends _per se_, a dead abstraction when approached asit is by Kant, but a living reality when the students get Aristotle'spoint about magnanimous treatment of friends. They can then proceed byway of contrast to note, for example, how this magnanimity was limitedto friends in the upper levels of Athenian society, and went hand inhand with approval of slave labor and other exploitations which amodern conscience forbids. To give sharper edge to the conception ofman as deserving right treatment for his own sake, the class might goon to examine other notable violations of personality in past andpresent; e. G. , slavery (read for instance Sparr's _History of theAfrican Slave Trade_) or the more recent cruelties toward the nativesin the rubber regions of the Congo and the Amazon. Reference may alsobe made (without undue emphasis) to the white-slave traffic of todayand the fact be noted that a right sense of chivalry will keep a manfrom partnership in the degradation which creates both the demand forwhite slavery and ultimately its supply. We mention this to show how acommon practical interest can be employed to introduce the students toso fundamental an ethical conception as the idea of inviolable humanworth. It may, no doubt, be highly unconventional for them to beginwith a discussion of friendship and after a few periods findthemselves absorbed in these other questions; but if care is exercisedto sum up and to emphasize the big conceptions underlying the topic, we may be sure that their grasp of the subject will be no less firmthan under the older method. Their acquaintance with a study requiringhard, abstract thinking will surely not be hurt, to say the least, byan introduction which is concrete and practical. 

Or take another matter of real concern to the student at this periodof his life. He is certain to be giving some thought to the matter ofhis future vocation; and here again is a topic which, properlyhandled, broadens out into the most far-reaching inquiries. It is tobe regretted that as yet the vocational-guidance movement has beenoccupied in the main with external features--comparing jobs, makingobjective tests of efficiency, and so on. The central ethicalconceptions are usually slighted. That one's vocation is a primeinfluence in the shaping of personality in oneself, in one's fellowworkers, in the public served (or disserved) by one's work, in theworld of nations in so far as war and peace are connected withcommerce and other interchange of vocational products--all this ismatter for the teacher who wishes the ethics course to work over intobetter living. [49] Nor again, as will be noted later in the chapter, need the claims of the subject as a scholarly discipline suffer fromsuch treatment. Questions of the nature of moral standards, of thedistinction between expedient and right, etc. , can be taken up moreprofitably when, instead of dealing with the academic questionsforming the stock in trade of most textbooks, the course examines afew vocations, let us say, business, teaching, art, law, medicine, --inthe light of such standards as these: A history of the calling; e. G. , what has it contributed to the elevation of mankind, to thedevelopment of the arts and sciences, and to specific kinds of humanbetterment? What is the best service it can accomplish today? Whattraits does it require in those who pursue it? What traits is itlikely to encourage in them for better and for worse? Report on greatleaders in the calling, with special reference to what their work madeof them. What are the darker sides of the picture? What efforts arebeing made today to raise the moral code in this vocation? Sum up theideal rewards. 

We do not mean, of course, that the only problems are those whichcenter around the demands of today for a more just economic and socialorder. On the contrary, we believe that the movement for socialjustice is greatly in need of precisely that appreciation of theclaims of moral personality which it is the main business of ethicalstudy to promote. But we shall never get our students to profit fromtheir work in social ethics, or in ethical theory, or in any branch ofthe subject whatever, unless we keep fresh and close the contact withtheir own experiences and ambitions. 

Indeed, we venture to assert that unless this connection is keptunbroken, the subject is not ethics at all but an abstraction whichought to take some other name. Ethics deals with human volitions; butthe latter term is meaningless to the student save as he interprets itby his own experiences in the preference of better ways to lower. Heknows the difficulties that arise in his own group-associations, --hishome or his class or his club, for example, --the conflicts ofambitions, the readiness to shirk one's share of commonresponsibility, the discordant prides and appetites of one sort andanother which lead to overt injustices. All these should be used tothrow light upon the living moral problems of group-life in thevocations, in the civic world, in the international order. 

Temperamentally, to be sure, the teacher may be inclined to handle hissubject in what he prefers to regard as academic detachment. But wherethe subject is ethics and not dead print, complete aloofness is out ofthe question. There would be no textbooks in ethics if the men whoseconvictions are there recorded had not grappled earnestly withproblems of vital moment to their day and generation. The crucialquestions raised by a changing Athenian democracy were no matters ofair-born speculation to Socrates and Plato and Aristotle. Nor is it anaccident that the philosopher who so sought to vindicate the worth ofman as an end _per se_ should have sent from his apparently isolatedstudy in Königsberg his glad acclaim of the French Revolution. Theabounding interest of the English Utilitarians in the economics, thepolitics, the social reform, of the nineteenth century needs nocomment. There are texts for study today because the men who wrotethem were keenly concerned about a nobler mode of life for mankind. Toinvite the student to share their reflections without expectingworthier conduct is to ignore the essential purpose by which thosereflections were prompted. 

=Governing aim in ethics teaching=

Hence our first recommendation--that the _content of the ethicscourses be determined by the principal aim of so interpreting theexperiences and interests of the student as to stimulate worthierbehavior through a better understanding of the general problem ofright human relationships_. 

Our second recommendation as to aims is suggested by certain extremesin the practice of today. Reference to problems of immediate concerndoes not mean that ultimate considerations are to be shelved. Indeed, it must rather be stressed that such discussions miss their bestobject, _if they fail to lead to searching reflection upon ultimatestandards_. The temptation to forego such inquiry today is strong. Intheir desire to be practical and up-to-date, many teachers arealtogether too ready to rest the case for moral obligation upon a kindof easy-going hedonism, the fallacy of provisionalism, as ProfessorFelix Adler calls it. Tangible "goods" like happiness or "socialvalues" are held up as standards, as if these values were ends inthemselves and the problem of an ultimate human worth were irrelevant. 

It may very well be a modest attitude to say that we can no longerbusy ourselves with the nature of ultimate ends and that we can bestemploy our energies in trying to define the various goods whichcontribute now and here to human betterment. Let the effort be made, by all means. But when the last of empirical goods have been examinedand appraised (assuming for the moment that we can indeed appraisewithout possessing ultimate norms) the cardinal question still waitsfor answer: To what are all these goods instrumental? What kind oflife is best? What is it that permits man, with all his faults, hissordid appetites, his meannesses and gross dishonors, to hold his headerect as one yet worthy of the tribute implied in the fact that wehave duties toward him?

An answer satisfying to all may never be reached; but to evade thesequestions is to abdicate the teacher's function. Many young people areled by the biologic teachings of the day to regard man as the utterlyhelpless product of his environment. Or they are so impressed with theobvious and immediate needs of whole masses for better food, betterhomes, greater opportunities for culture, that they do not stop to askwhether these goods are worth while in themselves, or if not, what isthe deeper purpose to which they should minister. A conception ofpersonality is needed, sufficiently exalted to permit the variousimmediate utilities to find their due place as tributes to the idealexcellence latent in man; and on the other hand there is need for aview of the spiritual life free from the misuse to which that term isput by the various cults evoked by reaction against modern mechanism. Painstaking inquiry into the grounds upon which the assurance of humandignity can justify itself, has never been more urgently required. [50]

=Ideals and tendencies in ethics teaching=

Let us beware of surrendering to the common but often perniciousdemand of our swift-moving America that in order to receiveconsideration a new idea should prove itself capable of yieldingimmediate dividends. There seems to be a certain hesitancy today amongsome in our educated classes about speaking of "ideals. " Idealsconnote a long look ahead. They imply a sense that there is somethingperfect even though the steps toward embodying or approximating itwill be many and arduous, perhaps discouragingly hard. They betokenthe likelihood of appearing before men as the victims of ultimatelyunworkable dreams. In refreshing contrast is the seemingpracticability of encouraging present tendencies. Your tendency is nofar-off projection of mere thought; it is something solid and "real, "here and now, respected at the bank, in the newspaper office, andother meeting places of those whose heads are hard. Tendencies turnelections; ideals carry no such palpable witness of their power. "Hence let us study tendencies. "

This characterization is perhaps extreme, but the danger to which itrefers is all too frequent. A strike, for instance, sets most of us todiscussing ways by which this particular disturbance can be endedquickly. It is only the few who are willing to hold in mind both termsof the problem, namely the procedure for tomorrow morning and thepositive ideal toward which all our vocational life should set itsface even if the distant tomorrow is still so far ahead. So of ourconceptions of political life. A given election may indeed involve animmediate moral issue; but even the issue of next month can be facedproperly only when it is related to an ideal of public life which mayhave to wait long years for appreciation by the majority. Nothing ismore necessary in a democracy than a leadership trained in the longforward look, trained in distinguishing morally right and morallywrong from expedient, and best from merely better, trained in thecourage to champion a distant ideal in the face of clamor to acceptsome inferior but belligerently present substitute. 

In short, the student should be offered every encouragement tothinking out the ultimate obligations of his own life and of hisvarious groups and to reaching the conviction that there is such areality as a permanent human worth, a fundamentally right way for menand women to seek, a rightness whose authority is undiminished by theblunders of the human mind in trying to define it. An ever moreearnest attempt to find that way, and to find it by practice illuminedby all the knowledge that can be brought to bear, should be theleading object. Not a series of definitions and quotations, nor yet alittle information about the social movements of our time, but a truerunderstanding of life as the result of interpreting it in terms of theobligation to create right human adjustments--such an aim savescollege ethics alike from dryness and from superficial attempts tosprinkle interest over a subject of inherent and intense practicalimportance. 

It is not essential that an introductory course in ethics should enterinto the philosophy of religion. This may be left to other agencies, like the church, or to later courses, with every confidence that theoutcome will be sound if mind and soul and will (to use the oldformula) are first enlisted in behalf of noble conduct. Whateverthinking the student may do along these lines will be the better ifits nurture is drawn first from moral thinking and moral practice. [51]

=Course in ethics prescribed, and early in college course=

From the foregoing it follows that the ethics course should be takenby all the students. The earlier it can be given the better, inasmuchas its demands upon their conduct apply to all the years of theirlife, and because the whole career at college is more likely tobenefit from beginning early such reflections as this studyparticularly invites. 

=Sequence determined by development of the student=

The sequence of courses will perhaps be best determined by rememberingthe need of following the natural growth of the student. Experiencescome first and then the interpretations. Hence the insistence upon thepractical content of the introductory courses. Theory and historyshould follow, not precede. Nobody is interested in the history or thetheory of a thing unless he is interested in the thing itself. Furthermore, we must bear in mind the needs of those students who arenot likely to care enough for the more theoretical aspects to continuethe subject. If the introductory course is to be all that they take, obviously the more practical we can make it the better. 

=In teaching ethics follow the maxim from the concrete to the abstract=

As to method, a variety of profitable ways abounds if only the contactwith life is kept close and the principles studied are tested by theiroutcome in the life which the student knows best. In general, the bestprocedure is to work back from concrete instances to the principlesunderlying the problem, formulate the principles and test them inother fields. Our illustrative strike, for instance, can be used tothrow light upon the actual and the ideal principles involved in humanrelationship in some such manner as the following:

=Method of procedure illustrated=

What do the employers want? What do they mean by liberty? What werethe circumstances under which Mill formulated his principle of"liberty within the limits of non-infringement?" What have been theconsequences in America of reliance upon this formula? Why does itbreak down in practice? Compare it with the theory of the balance ofpower in international relations. What is likely to be the effect ofthe possession of power upon the possessor himself?

Restate the ideal of liberty in terms of duty, not of privilege. Whatare the obstacles to the fulfillment of such an ideal in industry? Inhomes? What are the personal obstacles to clear understanding of themeaning of right?

What do the workers want? Examine each of their demands--shorterhours, more pay, recognition of the union, etc. What should thegranting of these demands contribute to their lives? Give instances toshow whether "better off" means better persons or not. 

Compare the working man's use of the word "liberty" with that of theemployer. Why do workers often become oppressors when they themselvesbecome employers? What is the difference between demanding a redressof your grievance and making a moral demand? What makes the cry offraternity as uttered by the workers repugnant to those who otherwisewould accept fraternity as an ideal?

How would you formulate the ideal for the vocational life of thefactory worker? Apply it to other vocations--journalism, law, teaching. Sum up the ideal rewards of work. 

Make tentative definitions of liberty, rights, duty, justice. 

 * * * * *

Each of the questions mentioned above--and many more will occur in thecourse of the discussion--furnishes occasion for extendedconsiderations that call upon the student for scholarly gathering offacts, for close thinking, and--not least--for reflection upon his ownexperiences and volitions. Other problems will suggest themselves. Itis obvious how the interest of the student in prison reform, forexample, can be employed in like manner as a motive to searchingreflection upon questions of moral responsibility. The principle thatpunishment should be a means of awaking in the offender theconsciousness of a self which can and should hold itself to accountdespite the magnitude of its temptations is of special usefulness, inthe years when a broadening altruism (and we might add, a tendency toself-pity) is likely to lead to loose notions of personal obligation. 

=Place of the textbook in ethics teaching=

The use of a textbook is a minor matter. To prevent the courses fromrunning off into mere talk--and even ethics classes are not averse to"spontaneous" recitation on their own part or to monologues by theteacher--a textbook may be required, with, let us say, monthly reportsor examinations. So much depends, however, upon the enthusiasm of theinstructor that here particularly recommendations can be only of themost general kind. Some of the most effective work in this subject isbeing done by teachers who forget the textbook for weeks at a time inorder to push home a valuable inquiry suggested by an unforeseenproblem raised in the course of the discussion. Others use notextbooks at all. Some outline the year's work in a series of cases orproblems with questions to be answered in writing after consultingselected passages in the classics or in current literature or inboth. [52] This method has the advantage of laying out the whole year'swork beforehand and of guaranteeing that the student comes to theclassroom with something more than a facility in unpremeditatedutterance. It is generally found to be of greater interest because itfollows the lines of his own ordinary thinking--first the problem andthen the attempt to find the principles that will help to solve it. 

=Moral concepts deepened by participation in social or philanthropicendeavors=

More important than any of these details of technique is the need ofhelping the student to clarify his thinking by engaging in somepractical moral endeavor. The broadening and deepening of thealtruistic interests is a familiar feature of adolescent life. Theinstructor in ethics, in the very interest of his own subject, is theone who should take the lead in encouraging these expressions, notonly because of the general obligation of the college to make the mostof aptitudes which, neglected in youth, may never again be sovigorous, but also because of the truth in Aristotle's dictum thatinsight is shaped by conduct. Hence the work in ethics should belinked up wherever possible with student self-government and otherparticipation in the management of the college, and withphilanthropics like work in settlements or in social reform groups orcosmopolitan societies. For the students of finer grain it iseminently worth the trouble to form clubs to intensify the spirit ofthe members by activities more pointedly directed to the refining ofhuman relationships. They might engage in activities in which the taskof elevating the personality is specially marked, that is, in problemswhich have to do with mutual interpretation--e. G. , black folk andwhite, foreign and native stocks in America, delinquents and thecommunity, immigrant parents and unsympathetic children. They mightorganize clubs for one or more of these purposes, for discussingintimately the problems of personal life, for public meetings on theethics of the vocations and on the more distinctly ethical phases ofpolitical and international progress. Such organizations can be madeto do vastly more good for their members then the average debatingsociety, with its usual premium on mere forensic skill, or thefraternity, with its encouragement of snobbishness. The wholesomething about the spirit of fraternity should be set to work upon somesuch creative activities as we have mentioned. Not only does thecomradeship strengthen faith in right doing, but these practicalendeavors offer a notable help to the deepening, extending, andclarifying of that interest in moral progress without which there canbe none of the intelligent leadership for which our democracy looks toits colleges. 

=Peculiar difficulty of applying usual test to courses in ethics=

To test how far the subject has been of value to the student isunusually difficult. His interest in the discussions is by no means anunfailing index. There are those who may be both eager and skilled inthe intellectual combat incidental to the course but whose livesremain untouched for the better. The worthier outcome is hard totrace. It is quite possible for the teacher to take credit for theinstilling of an ideal whose generation was due to some agency whollyunknown, perhaps even to the student himself. On the other hand, thebest results may take years for overt appearance. In the nature of thecase, their more intimate expressions can never be recorded. 

Moreover, students vary in the force of character which they bringwith them to the study. A lad whose home training has been deficientmay take more time than the best teacher can give in order to reachthe degree of excellence to which others among his classmates ascendmore quickly. Or a lad whom the course has moved with a desire to takeup some philanthropic endeavor may hesitate to pursue it through lackof the necessary gift or failure in self-confidence. The forces whichenter into the making of character are so complex, including as theydo not only acquisitions of new moral standards, but temperamentalqualities, early training, potent example, physical stamina, dozens ofaccidental circumstances, that it is unfair to use the testsapplicable, let us say, to a course in engineering. 

Hence we must be beware of testing the value of the work by immediateresults. Something may be gathered by having the students writeconfidentially what they think the course has done for them and whereit could be improved. This they can do both at the end of the courseand years later when time has brought perspective. But tests are ofminor importance. The ethical shortcomings of our time, the constantneed of our students for ever finer standards, convey challengeenough. Even though the obvious results fall short of our hopes, wecan make the most of our resources with every assurance that they areamply needed. Are young men more likely to be the better for settingtime aside to obtain with the help of an earnest student of life aclearer insight into the principles of the best living? If they arethe courses are justified, even though some who take them can showlittle immediate profit. 

 HENRY NEUMANN, Ph. D. _Ethical Culture School, New York_

Footnotes:

[49] See Adler: _The Present World-Crisis and Its Meaning_, chapter on"An Ethical Program of Social Reform": also _An Ethical Philosophy ofLife_, Chapters 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. 

[50] From this point of view the ethical justification for the war onthe slum becomes: (_a_) to make possible for the slum-dweller thebetter performance of his various duties as parent, worker, citizen;(_b_) to drive home to all concerned the meaning of interdependence;(_c_) to clarify for all of us the ideals to which better livingconditions should minister. There is every need today to further theconviction that the highest service we can perform for another is notto make him happier, but to help him make himself a better personthrough the better performance of his duties. 

[51] Note the emphasis placed by modern philosophy upon ethical valueas the point of approach to the problem of Godhead. 

[52] Professor Sharp of Wisconsin has found this method so serviceablethat he has interested many teachers in his state and elsewhere inusing it with high school students for purposes of moral instruction. See "A Course in Moral Instruction for High Schools, " by F. C. Sharp;_Bulletin, University of Wisconsin_. 

XVI

THE TEACHING OF PSYCHOLOGY

=Place of psychology in the curriculum=

Historically, as an offshoot, and rather a recent offshoot, fromphilosophy, psychology has been under the care of the department ofphilosophy in colleges and universities, foreign as well as American, and has been taught by professors concerned in part with the coursesin philosophy. Though this state of affairs still obtains to aconsiderable extent, the tendency is undoubtedly towards allowingpsychology an independent position in the organization and curriculumof the college. In recent appointments, indeed, the affiliation ofpsychology with education has frequently been emphasized instead ofits affiliation with philosophy, for the professional applications ofpsychology lie more in the field of education than elsewhere. As arequired study, our science is more likely to find a place in thecollege for teachers than in the college of arts. But, on the otherhand, the applications to medicine, business, and industry areincreasing so rapidly in importance as to make it logical to maintainan independent position for the science. Only in an independentposition can the psychologist be free to cultivate the central body ofhis subject, the "pure" as distinguished from the applied science;and, with the multiplication of practical applications, it is morethan ever important to center psychological teaching in the person ofsome one who is simply and distinctively a psychologist. 

=The introductory course to be general, not vocationally appliedpsychology=

For a similar reason, psychologists are wont to insist that theintroductory course in their subject, no matter for what class ofstudents, with general or with professional aims, should be definitelya course in _psychology_ as distinguished from educational or medicalor business psychology. Illustrative material may very well be chosenwith an eye to the special interests of a class of students, but thegeneral principles should be the same for all classes, and should notbe too superficially treated in the rush for practical applications. Some years ago, a Committee of the American Psychological Associationwas appointed to make a survey of the teaching of psychology inuniversities, colleges, and normal schools, and the Report of thisCommittee (1), still the most important contribution to the pedagogyof the subject, emphasizes the concurrent view of psychologists to theeffect just stated, that the study of psychology should begin with acourse in the central body of doctrine. The psychological point ofview must be acquired before intelligent application can be made, whether to practical pursuits or to other branches of study such asphilosophy and the social sciences, to which psychology stands in therelation of an ancillary science. 

During the war, the applications of psychology in the testing andselection of men and training them for specified military and navalwork, in rating officers, in morale and intelligence work, and inseveral other lines, became so important that it was decided to givepsychology a place as an "allied subject" in the curriculum of theStudents' Army Training Corps; and the report of the committee ofpsychologists that prepared the outline of a course for this purposedeserves attention as a contribution to the pedagogy of the subject. They proposed a course on "Human Action, " to be free from questions ofa speculative or theoretical nature and concentrated on mattersrelevant to military practice and the military uses of psychology. Theaim was to enlist the student's practical concern at the very outset, and to give him the psychological point of view as applied to hisproblems as a member of the Army and a prospective officer. In method, the course was to depend little on lectures, or even on extensivereadings, and much on the student's own solution of practicalpsychological problems. Evidently the psychologists who prepared thisplan were driven by the emergency to abandon "academic" prepossessionsin favor of a course in pure psychology as the necessary prerequisiteto any study of applications; and it is quite possible that coursesin psychology for different groups of students could be prepared thatshould follow this general plan and be intensely practical from thestart. It would still remain true that the thorough psychologistshould be the one to plan and conduct such courses. 

=The psychological point of view must be emphasized in the introductorycourse=

The psychological point of view means attentiveness to certain mattersthat are neglected in the usual objective attitude toward things. Itis identified by many with introspection, but there is at presentconsiderable dissent from this doctrine, the dissenters holding thatan objective type of observation of human behavior is distinctivelypsychological and probably more significant and fruitful than theintrospective attitude. However this may be, both introspection andbehavior study require attention to matters that are commonlydisregarded. Every one is of course interested in what people do, orat least in the outcome of their activities; but psychology isinterested in the activities themselves, in how the outcome is reachedrather than in the outcome itself. Ordinarily, we are interested inthe fact that an inventor has solved a problem, but regard it asrather irrelevant if he proceeds to tell us the mental process bywhich he reached the solution. We are interested in the fact that achild has learned to speak, but devote little thought to the questionas to how he has learned. It is to bring such psychological questionsto light and arouse intelligent interest in them, with some knowledgeof the answers that have been found, that the psychologist is chieflyconcerned when initiating beginners into his science. This primary aimis accomplished in the case of those students who testify, as some do, that the course in psychology has "opened their eyes" and made themsee life in a different light than hitherto. 

=Values of the study of psychology--cultural rather than disciplinary=

Whether this primary value of psychology is to be counted among thedisciplinary or among the cultural values may be a matter of doubt. Psychologists themselves have seldom made special claims in behalf oftheir science as a means of formal discipline, many of them, in fact, taking a very negative position with regard to the whole conception ofsuch discipline. What psychology can give of general value is a pointof view, and a habit of attentiveness to the mental factor. The needof some systematic attention to these matters often comes to light inthe queer efforts at a psychology made by intelligent but uninstructedpersons in the presence of practical problems involving the mentalfactor. 

=The practical value=

Besides this "cultural" value, and besides the special uses ofpsychology as a preparation for teaching and certain otherprofessions, there is a very real and practical value to be expectedfrom an understanding of the mental mechanism. Since every one workswith this mechanism, every one can make practical use of the scienceof it. Most persons get on passably well, perhaps, without any expertknowledge of the machinery which they are running; yet the machine isnot entirely "fool proof, " by any means, but sometimes comes to grieffrom what is in essence a lack of psychological wisdom either in theperson himself or in his close companions. Mental hygiene, in short, depends on psychology. The college student, looking forward to a lifeof mental activity, is specially in a position to utilize informationregarding the most economical working of the mental machine; and, as amatter of experience, some students are considerably helped in theirmethods of mental work by what they learn in the psychology class. Among the results of recent investigation are many bearing on economyand efficiency of mental work. This value of psychology, it will beseen, is practical without being professional--except in so far as alleducated men can be said to adopt the profession of mental engineer. Much more emphasis than has been customary might well be laid on thisside of the subject in elementary courses. 

=Content of the introductory course in psychology=

The content of the first course in psychology is just now undergoing acertain amount of revision. Traditionally the aim has been, not somuch, as in most other subjects, to initiate the student into a rangeof facts lying outside his previous experience, as to bring definitelyto his attention facts lying within the experience of all, and tocause him to classify these so as to refer any given mental process tothe class or classes where it belongs. This calls for definition, themaking of distinctions, the analysis of complex facts, the use of atechnical vocabulary, and in general for much more precision ofstatement than the student has been used to employ in speaking of suchmatters. Some laws of mental action, verifiable within ordinaryexperience, are also brought to light in such a course, and someaccount of the neural mechanisms of mental life is usually included;but its chief accomplishment is in leading the student to attend tomental processes and gain a point of view that may remain his futurepossession. 

With the great expansion of psychological knowledge in recent decades, due to research by experimental and other empirical methods, it hasbecome possible to give a course more informational in character andgoing quite beyond the range of the student's previous experience; andthis new material is finding its way into elementary texts andcourses. Many of the results of research are not at all beyond thecomprehension of the beginner; indeed, they are often more tangiblethan the distinctions and analyses that give the stamp to thetraditional course. These empirical results also have the advantage, in many cases, of throwing light on the practical problems of mentalhealth and efficiency; and some inclusion of such material isdesirable if only to fit the needs of the considerable number ofstudents who cannot become interested in a course of the traditionalsort. Practice in this matter is at present quite variable, someteachers basing the introductory course as far as possible on theresults of experiment, and others adhering closely to the older plan. 

=Methods of teaching psychology--Practical exercises=

There is certainly some advantage in keeping the first courseuntechnical. The student can then be set to observing for himself, instead of depending on books. Many of the facts of psychology are soaccessible, at least in a rough form, as to make the subject a goodone for appealing to the spirit of independence in the student. Someteachers are, in fact, accustomed to introduce each part of thesubject by exercises, introspective or other, designed to bring thesalient facts home to the student in a direct way, before he hasbecome inoculated with the doctrine of the authorities. "The essentialpoint is that the student be led to observe his own experience, torecord his observation accurately--in a word, to psychologize; and tomake the observation before, not after, discovering from book or fromlecture what answers are expected to these questions. Individualexperiments should so far as possible be performed in like mannerbefore the class discussion of typical results. In all cases theresults of these introspections should be recorded in writing;representative records should be read and commented on in class; andthe discussion based on them should form the starting point fortextbook study and for lecture. " The plan thus highly recommended byProfessor Calkins[53] she found not to be widely used at the time ofher inquiry; a commoner practice was the assignment of reading for thestudent's first introduction to a given topic. This alternative planis a line of less resistance; and it is also true that exercises inoriginal observation by beginners in psychology are likely to beinstructive mostly as evidence of the ineptness of the beginner inpsychological observation. Moreover, when the content of the course isinformational and based on the results of research, preliminaryexercises by the student are of rather limited value, though theystill could serve a useful purpose in bringing forcibly to hisattention the problems to be studied. 

The use of "exercises, " somewhat analogous to the examples of algebraor the "originals" of geometry, is quite widespread in introductorycourses in psychology, and several much-used textbooks offer sets ofexercises with each chapter. Several types are in vogue: (1) some callfor introspections, as, for example, "Think of your breakfast table asyou sat down to it this morning--do you see it clearly as a scenebefore your mind's eye?" (2) some call for a review and generalizationof facts presumably already known, as "Find instances of thedependence of character upon habit;" (3) many consist of simpleexperiments demanding no special apparatus and serving to give adirect acquaintance with matters treated in the text, such asafter-images or fluctuations of attention; and (4) many call for theapplication of the principles announced in the text to special cases, the object being to "give the student some very definite thing to do"(Thorndike), in doing which he will secure a firm hold of theprinciples involved. In general, teachers of psychology aim to "keepthe student doing things, instead of merely listening, reading, orseeing them done" (Seashore, 1, page 83). In a few colleges, laboratory work of a simple character forms part of the introductorycourse, and in one or two the laboratory part is developed to a degreecomparable with what is common in chemistry or biology. As a rule, however, considerations of time and equipment have prevented theintroduction of real laboratory work into the first course inpsychology. 

=Classroom methods--The lecture=

Of classroom methods, perhaps all that are employed in other subjectsfind application also in psychology, some teachers preferring one andsome another. The lecture method is employed with great success bysome of the leaders, who devote much attention to the preparation ofdiscourse and demonstrations. One professor (anonymous) is quoted[54]as follows:

"I must here interject my ideas on the lecture system. The lecture hasa twofold advantage over the recitation. (1) It is economical, sinceone man handles a large number of students; the method of recitationis extravagant. This fact alone will mean the retention of the lecturesystem, wherever it can possibly be employed with success. (2) It iseducationally the better method, for the average student and theaverage teacher. For the reconstruction of a lecture from notes meansan essay in original work, in original thinking; while the recitationlapses all too readily into textbook rote and verbal repetition. 

"It is, nevertheless, true that sophomore students are on the wholeinadequate to a lecture course. They cannot take notes; they cannottear the heart out of a lecture. (They are also, I may add, inadequateto the reading of textbooks or general literature, in much the sameway. ) Hence one has to supplement the lecture by syllabi, by lists ofquestions (indexes, so to speak, to the lectures), and by personalinterviews. .. . 

"The sum and substance of my recommendations is that you provide acompetently trained instructor, and let him teach psychology as hebest can. What the student needs is the effect of an individuality, apersonality; and the lecture system provides admirably for sucheffect. "

=The recitation=

Though the lecture system is used with great success by a number ofprofessors, the general practice inclines more to the plan of oralrecitations on assigned readings in one or more texts, and largeclasses are often handled in several divisions in order to make therecitation method successful. Not infrequently a combination oflectures by the professor and recitations conducted by his assistantsis the plan adopted, the lecturer to add impressiveness to the course, and the recitations to hold the student up to his work. Writtenexercises, such as those already mentioned, are often combined withthe oral recitation; and in some cases themes are to be written by thestudents. Probably the seminar method, in which the subject is chieflypresented in themes prepared by the students, is never attempted inthe introductory course. 

=Class discussion=

On the other hand, a number of successful teachers reject both thelecture and the recitation methods, and rely for the most part uponclass discussions, with outside readings in the textbooks, andfrequent written recitations as a check on the student's work. Achampion of the discussion method writes as follows:[55]

"A teacher has not the right to spend any considerable part of thetime of a class in finding out by oral questions . .. Whether or notthe student has done the work assigned to him. The good student doesnot need the questions and is bored by the stumbling replies which hehears; and even the poor student does not get what he needs, which iseither instruction _a deux_, or else a corrected writtenrecitation. .. . Not in this futile way should the instructor squanderthe short hours spent with his students. The purpose of these hours istwofold: first, to give to the students such necessary information asthey cannot gain, or cannot so expediently gain, in some other way;second, and most important, to incite them to 'psychologize' forthemselves. The first of these purposes is best gained by the lecture, the second by guided discussion. 'Guided discussion' does not mean areversal of the recitation process--an hour in which students askquestions in any order, and of any degree of relevancy andseriousness, which the instructor answers. On the contrary, theinstructor initiates and leads the discussion; he chooses its subject, maps out its field, pulls it back when it threatens to transgress itsbonds, and, from time to time, summarizes its results. This he does, however, with the least possible show of his hand. He puts hisquestion and leaves it to the student interested to answer him; herestates the bungling answer and the confused question; he leaves onestudent to answer the difficulties of another. .. . The advantage of thediscussion over the lecture is, thus, that it fosters in the studentthe active attitude of the thinker in place of the passive attitude ofthe listener. .. . Obviously it is simplest to teach large classes bylecturing to them. Yet a spirited and relevant discussion may beconducted in a class of a hundred or so. Of course no more than eightor twelve, or, at most, twenty of these will take even a small part ona given day; perhaps a half or two thirds will never take part; andsome will remain uninterested. But there will be many intelligentlisteners as well as active participants; and these gain more, Ibelieve, by the give and take of a good discussion than by constantlectures however effective. "

=Class experiments=

Brief mention should be made of a form of class exercise peculiar topsychology, the "class experiment. " This is in some respects like ademonstration, but differs from that in calling for a more activeparticipation on the part of the student. Any psychological experimentis performed _on_ a human (or animal) subject, and many experimentscan be performed on a group of subjects together, each of them beingcalled on to perform a certain task or to make a certain observation. Each of the class having made his individual record, the instructormay gather them together into an average or summary statement, and theindividual variations as well as the general tendency may thus bebrought to light. Very satisfactory and even scientific experimentscan thus be performed, with genuine results instructive to the class. 

=Checking the work of the students=

Of methods of holding the student to his work, mention has alreadybeen made of the much-used written recitation. The usual plan is tohave frequent, very brief written examinations. Sometimes the practiceis to correct and return all the papers; sometimes to place them allon file and correct samples chosen at random for determining thestudent's "term mark. " A plan that has some psychological merit is tofollow the examination immediately by a statement of the correctanswers, with brief discussion of difficulties that may arise, and toask each student to estimate the value of his own paper in thestandard marking system. The papers are then collected and examined, and returned with the instructor's estimate. 

Since an examination is, in effect, a form of psychological test, itis natural that psychologists should have attempted to introduce someof the technique of psychological testing into the work of examiningstudents, in the interest of economy of the student's time as well asthat of the examiner. The teacher prepares blanks which the studentcan quickly fill out if he knows the subject, not otherwise. Todiscover how far the student has attained a psychological point ofview, written work or examination questions often demand someindependence in the application to new cases of what has been learned. Far-reaching tests of the later value to the student of a course inpsychology have not as yet been attempted. 

=Place of psychology in the college course=

No attempt has yet been made to obtain the consensus of opinion amongpsychologists as to whether the introductory course should be requiredof all arts students, and probably opinions would differ, withoutanything definitive to be said on either side. In quite a number ofcolleges psychology forms part of a required general course inphilosophy. Where a separation has occurred between philosophy andpsychology, the latter is seldom absolutely required. As a generalrule, however, the introductory course, even if not required, is takenby a large share of the arts students. The traditional position forthe course in psychology is late in the college curriculum, originallyin the senior but more recently in the junior year. In many of thelarger colleges it is now open to sophomores or even to freshmen. Onemotive for pushing the introductory course back into the earlier yearsis naturally to provide for more advanced courses in the subject; andanother is the desire to make psychology prerequisite for courses inphilosophy, education, or sociology. Still another motive tending inthe same direction is the desire to make the practical benefits ofpsychological study available for the student in the further conductof his work as a student in whatever field. If considerable attentionis devoted in the introductory course to questions of mental hygieneand efficiency, the advantage of bringing these matters early to theattention of the student outweighs the objection which is often raisedby teachers of psychology, as of other subjects, to admitting theyounger students, on the ground of immaturity. The teachers who getthe younger students may have to put up with immaturity in order thatthe benefit of their teaching may be carried over by the students intolater parts of the curriculum. 

=Length of the introductory course=

When the introductory course in psychology forms part of a course inphilosophy, it is usually restricted to one semester, with three hoursof class work per week. When psychology is an independent subject inthe curriculum, a two-semester course is usually provided, since it isthe feeling of psychologists that this amount of time is needed inorder to make the student really at home in the subject, and torealize for him the values that are looked for from psychology. Oftenthere is a break between the two semesters of such a course, thesecond being devoted to advanced or social or applied psychology. Sometimes, on the other hand, the two-semester course is treated as aunit, the various topics being distributed over the year; this latterprocedure is probably the one that finds most favor withpsychologists. Still, good results can be obtained with the semestercourse supplemented by other courses. 

=Content of advanced courses in psychology=

The most frequent advanced course is one in experimental psychology. This is taken by only a small fraction of those who have taken theintroductory course, partly because the laboratory work attached tothe experimental course demands considerable time from the student, partly because students are not encouraged to go into the laboratoryunless they have a pretty serious interest in the subject. For astudent who has it in him to become somewhat of an "insider" inpsychology, no course is the equal of the laboratory course, supplemented by judicious readings in the original sources or inadvanced treatises. Next in frequency to the experimental coursestands that in applied psychology, since the recent applications ofpsychology to business, industry, vocational guidance, law, andmedicine appeal to a considerable number of college students. Othercourses which appear not infrequently in college curricula are thosein social, abnormal, and animal psychology. No precise order isnecessary in the taking of these courses, and it is not customary tomake any beyond the introductory course prerequisite for the others. 

 ROBERT S. WOODWORTH _Columbia University_

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Many of the textbooks contain, in their prefaces, importantsuggestions toward the teaching of the subject. There are alsofrequent articles in the psychological journals on apparatus fordemonstrations and class or laboratory experiments. 

1. Report of the Committee of the American Psychological Associationon the Teaching of Psychology. _Psychological Monographs_, No. 51, 1910. 

2. American Psychological Association, Report of the Committee on theAcademic Status of Psychology, 1915: "The Academic Status ofPsychology in the Normal Schools. "

3. Same Committee, 1916: "A Survey of Psychological Investigationswith Reference to Differentiations between Psychological Experimentsand Mental Tests. " Concerned with the availability of mental tests asmaterial for the experimental course. 

4. Courses in Psychology for the Students' Army Training Corps. _Psychological Bulletin_, 1918, 15, 129-136. See also the Outlines ofparts of the course in the same journal, pages 137-167, 177-206; and anote on the success of the courses by Edgar S. Brightman, in the_Bulletin_ for 1919, pages 24-26. 

Footnotes:

[53] In Report, pages 50-51. 

[54] By Sanford, 1, page 66. 

[55] Calkins, 1, pages 47-48. 

XVII

THE TEACHING OF EDUCATION

A. TEACHING THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN COLLEGE

=Kinds of educational values=

There are three main kinds of educational value; viz. , practical, cultural, and disciplinary. These three types of educational valueprobably originated in the order in which they are here mentioned. Inearly educational periods, all values are practical, or utilitarian. With the growth of social classes, some values become cultural; viz. , those pursued by the upper classes. The disciplinary values arerecognized when studies cease to have the practical and culturalvalues. 

=Meaning of educational values=

By the "educational value" of a subject we mean, of course, theservice which the pursuit of that subject renders. Any one subjectwill naturally have all three values, but no two subjects will havethe same values mixed in the same proportion. The practical value of asubject depends on the use in life to which it can be put, especiallyits use in making a living. The cultural value of a subject dependslargely on the enjoyment it contributes to life. While culture doesnot make a living, it makes it worth while that a living should bemade. The disciplinary value of a subject depends on the amount ofmental training that subject affords. Such mental training isavailable in further pursuit of the same, or a similar, subject. It isthe fashion of educational thinking in our day to put greatest stresson the practical values, less on the cultural, and least on thedisciplinary. There is no denying the reality of each type of value. 

=Value of the history of education=

Now, what is the value of the history of education? There are noexperimental studies as yet, nor scientific measurements, upon whichto base an answer. The poor best we can do is to express an opinion. This opinion is based on the views of others and on the writer'sexperience in teaching the history of education ten years in a liberalcollege (Dartmouth) and ten years in a professional graduate school(New York University). On this basis I should say that the aim of thehistory of education, at least as recorded in existing texts, is firstcultural, then practical, and last disciplinary. Texts yet to bewritten for the use of teachers in training may shift the places ofthe cultural and the practical. This new type of text will give thehistory, not of educational epochs in chronological succession, but ofmodern educational problems in their origin and development. [56]

=Its cultural value=

As cultural, the history of education is the record of the efforts ofsociety to project its own ideals into the future through shaping theyoung and plastic generation. There comes into this purview thesuccessive social organizations, their ideals, and the methodsutilized in embodying these ideals in young lives. Interpretations ofthe nature of social progress, the contribution of education to suchprogress, and the goal of human progress, naturally arise fordiscussion, and the history of education well taught as the effort ofman to improve himself is both informing and inspiring. This is thecultural value of the history of education. The sense of the meaningand value of human life is enhanced. As President Faunce says, [57] "Acollege of arts and sciences which has no place for the study ofstudent life past and present, no serious consideration of the greatschools which have largely created civilization, is a curiouslyone-sided and illiberal institution. "

=Its practical value=

As practical, the history of education, even when taught from thecustomary general texts, throws some light on such everyday schoolmatters as educational organization, the best methods of teaching, theright principles of education for women, how to manage classes, andthe art of administering education. History cannot give the finalanswer to such questions, but it makes a contribution to the finalanswer in reporting the results of racial experience and in assistingstudents to understand present problems in the light of their past. The history of education has a practical value, but it is not alonethe source of guidance. 

=Its disciplinary value=

As disciplinary, the history of education shows the value of allhistorical study. The appeal is mainly to the memory and the judgment. The teaching is inadequate, if the appeal is only to the memory. Thejudgment must also be requisitioned in comparing, estimating, generalizing, and applying. Memory is indispensable in retaining theknowledge of the historical facts, and judgment is utilized in seeingthe meaning of these facts. With all studies in general, historyshares in training perceptive, associative, and effortful activities. Training in history is commonly supposed also to make oneconservative, in contrast with training in science, which is supposedto make one progressive. But this result is not necessary, beingdependent upon one's attitude toward the past. If past events areviewed as a lapse from an ideal, the study of history makes oneconservative and skeptical about progress. If, on the other hand, thepast is viewed as progress toward an ideal, the study of history makesone progressive, and expectant of the best that is yet to be. But, even so, familiarity with the past breeds criticism of quickexpedients whereby humanity is at last to arrive. On the whole, thedisciplinary value of the history of education is attained as anincident of its cultural and practical values. We are no longer tryingto discipline the mind by memorizing lists of names and dates, thoughthey be such euphonious names as those of the native American Indiantribes, but we are striving to understand man's past and presentefforts at conscious self-improvement. 

=The various aims of students=

College students will elect a course in the history of education withmany different motives. They may like the teacher, they may likehistory in any form, they may like the hours at which the class isscheduled, some person who had the course recommended it, or they havean idea they may teach for a while after graduating. A few know theyare going into teaching as a vocation in life, and appreciate in ameasure the increasing exactitudes of professional training. Thus, from the student standpoint, the aims are eclectic. The results withthem will be that as human beings they have a wider view of life; ascitizens, perhaps as members of school boards, they are moreintelligent in school matters; and as teachers they make a start intheir progressive equipment. The general course in the history ofeducation is pursued by a group of students with varying butundifferentiated motives. 

=A student's reaction=

Once I asked a group of college students to write a frank reaction ona sixty-hour course they had just completed in the general history ofeducation. One wrote as follows: "The history of education makes mefeel that a number of what we call innovations today are a renaissanceof something as 'old as the hills. ' We hear a lot about pupilself-government, and we find it back in the seventeenth century. Thetrade school also is not a modern tendency. 

"I also feel that maybe we are not giving our boys and girls a liberaleducation; maybe we are too utilitarian (I was very much inclined thatway myself before I took this course). 

"That when we wish to try something new, let's go back and see if ithas not been tried before, study the circumstances, the mistakes made, the results attained, and see whether we can't profit by theexperience given us by the past. 

"I was also very much surprised to learn the close connection thatthere is between civilization and education. 

"I feel that we are laying too much stress on the thinking side oftraining rather than on the volitional side: not doing in the senseof utility alone, but as a means of expression. "

It is easy to see the parts of the course that particularly grippedhim. Another wrote as follows:

=Another reaction=

"The history of education makes me feel as follows about teaching:

(1) It shows the knowledge of method to be obtained from theexperiences of others. 

(2) It makes me feel the importance of the teacher. 

(3) It shows a great field and encourages us to try to improve our ownmethods. 

(4) It shows us the great responsibility of the profession inconnection with the nation, for the school teacher to a marked degreedetermines the destiny of a nation. 

(5) It shows the importance of free-thinking. (Illustration omitted. )

(6) It shows us the great importance of individuality along the lineof teaching, for, as soon as we begin to adopt the methods of othersexactly without examining them carefully, progress stops, and we arelike the teachers of the Middle Ages. 

(7) It shows that every teacher should have a heartfelt interest inhis pupil. 

(8) It makes us feel that discipline is unnecessary, if we utilize theright methods. 

(9) It tells us and makes us feel above everything else that a goodeducation is worth as much as riches and that, since we are allbrothers, we ought to try to teach everybody. "

An analysis of these two answers would show a combination of thecultural and practical values and, by implication at least, since theywere able to say these things, a disciplinary value. 

=History of education should be an elective course=

Should the history of education be a required or an elective course inthe college curriculum? In a school of education offering a bachelor'sdegree, it might well be required, for both cultural and professionalreasons, but in the usual department of education in a college itwill be offered as an elective course. Its cultural and disciplinaryvalues are not such as to make its pursuit a requisite for a liberaleducation, and its practical value for prospective teachers, as it hasbeen commonly taught, is not such as to warrant its prescription. Besides, the prospective teacher is animated by the vocational motiveand will elect the history of education anyway, unless there are morepractical courses to be had. Students in all the college coursesshould have the privilege of electing the history of education in viewof their future citizenship. 

=A forty-five-hour course=

A three-hour-per-week elective course for a half year, aboutforty-five classroom hours, will meet the needs of the averageundergraduate in this subject. This amount of time is adequate for abird's eye view of the general field, affording a unit ofaccomplishment in itself preparing the way for more specialized studylater, though it is only about half the time requisite for presentingthe details of the subject. 

=First term senior year=

In my judgment the study of the history of education would best fallbetween principles and methods. The study of the principles ofeducation should come first, as it is closely related to precedingwork in the natural and mental sciences, especially biology, physiology, sociology, and psychology; it also gives a point of viewfrom which to continue the study of education, some standard ofjudgment. The study of educational methods, such as general method inteaching, special method for different subjects, the technique ofinstruction, class management, organization and administration ofschools, should come last in the course, because it will be soonestused. These practical matters should be fresh in the mind of any youngcollege graduate beginning to teach. The history of education is agood transition in study from the theory of the first principles tothe practice of school matters, affording a panorama of facts to bejudged by principles and racial experiments in educational practice. This means that the choice time for the course in the history ofeducation is the first semester of the senior year in college. Thereis something to be said for making this course the introductory onein the study of education, connecting with preceding courses inhistory and being objective in character. There is also something tobe said for giving only a practical course dealing with the history ofeducational problems to college undergraduates and reserving thegeneral history of education as a complex social study for thegraduate school. There is no unanimity of opinion or practiceconcerning the history of education. [58]

=Texts and contents=

What should be the content of the one-semester general course? Threemodern available texts are Monroe, _A Brief Course in the History ofEducation_ (The Macmillan Company); Graves, _A Student's History ofEducation_ (The Macmillan Company); and Duggan, _A Student's Textbookin the History of Education_ (D. Appleton & Co. ). Of these Monroe'sbook is the first (1907), and it has greatly influenced every latertext in the field. There is a general agreement in these three textsas to the content of such a course; viz. , a general survey ofeducation in the successive periods of history, including primitive, oriental, Greek, Roman, Early Christian and medieval, renaissance, reformation, realism, Locke and the disciplinary tendency, Rousseau, the psychologists, and the scientific, sociological, and eclectictendencies. All are written from the standpoint of the conflictbetween the interests of society and the individual. The pages of thethree books number respectively 409, 453, and 397. Graves pays mostattention to the development of American education. Duggan omits thetreatment of primitive and oriental education (except Jewish), "whichdid not contribute _directly_ to Western culture and education. " Allare illustrated. All have good summaries, which Graves and Duggan, following S. C. Parker, who derived the suggestion from Herbart, placeat the beginning of the chapter. All have bibliographical references, and Duggan adds lists of questions also. Perhaps in order of ease forstudents the books would be Duggan, Graves, and Monroe, thoughteachers would not all agree in this. Users of Monroe have a valuableaid in his epoch-making _Textbook in the History of Education_ (TheMacmillan Company), 772 pages, 1905, and users of Graves likewise havehis three volumes as supplementary material (The Macmillan Company). 

The same general ground is covered by P. J. McCormick, _History ofEducation_ (The Catholic Educational Press), 1915, 401 pages, withespecial attention given to the Middle Ages and the religiousorganizations of the seventeenth century. This work containsreferences and summaries also. 

Duggan is right in omitting the treatment of primitive and orientaleducation on the principle of strict historical continuity, but forpurposes of comparison the chapters on primitive and orientaleducation in the other texts serve a useful purpose. 

=Educational classics=

A more intensive elective course in the history of education intendedespecially for those expecting to teach might well be offered in acollege with sufficient instructors. These courses might be ineducational classics, the history of modern elementary education, orthe history of the high school. Texts are now available in thesefields. Monroe's _Source Book for the History of Education_ (TheMacmillan Company), 1901, is a most useful book in studying theancient educational classics, in which, however, the Anacharsis ofLucian does not appear, though it can be found in the Report of theUnited States Commissioner of Education, 1897-1898, Vol. I, pages571-589. The renaissance classics may be studied in the works ofWoodward and Laurie. The realists may be studied in the variouseditions of Comenius, Locke, Spencer, and Huxley. Likewise the modernnaturalistic movement may be followed in the writings of Rousseau, Pestalozzi, Herbart, and Froebel. These four courses are available ineducational classics: the ancient, the renaissance or humanistic, therealistic and the naturalistic. 

=History of elementary and high schools=

_The History of Modern Elementary Education_ (Ginn and Co. ) by S. C. Parker and _The High School_ (The Macmillan Company) by F. W. Smithmay be profitably used as texts in the courses on these topics. Parker's has but little on the organization of the elementary school, is weak on the philosophical side of the theorists treated, hasnothing on Montessori, draws no lessons from history, is very brief onthe present tendencies, and is somewhat heavy, prosaic, andunimaginative in style; but it is painstaking, covers all the mainpoints well and has uncovered some valuable new material, and on thewhole is the best history in English on its problem. Dr. Smith's bookis really a history of education written around the origin andtendencies of the high school as central. It is a scholarly work, based on access to original Latin and other sources, though diffuse. 

=American education=

An elective course in the history of American education is highlydesirable. Chancellor E. E. Brown's scholarly book on _The Making ofOur Middle Schools_, or E. G. Dexter's encyclopedic book on _Historyof Education in the United States_, may profitably serve as texts. This course should show the European influences on American schools, the development of the American system, and the rôle of education in ademocratic society. There is great opportunity for research in thisfield. 

=History of educational problems=

There is room for yet another course for college undergraduatesexpecting to teach, --a history of educational problems. The idea is totrace the intimate history of a dozen or more of the present mosturgent educational questions, with a view to understanding them betterand solving them more wisely, thus enabling the study of the historyof education to function more in the practice of teachers. Such a texthas not yet been written. The point of view is expressed by ProfessorJoseph K. Hart as follows: "The large problem of education is themaking of new educational history. The real reason for studying thehistory of education is that one may learn how to become a maker ofhistory. For this purpose, history must awaken the mind of the studentto the problems, forces, and conditions of the present; and itsoutlook must be toward the future. "[59]

=Methods Of teaching=

What should be the method of teaching the history of education incollege? One of the texts will be used as a basis for assignments andstudy. Not less than two hours of preparation on each assignment willbe expected. The general account in the text will be supplemented bythe reading of source and parallel material, concerning which verydefinite directions will have to be given by the teacher. Each studentwill keep a notebook as one of the requirements of the course, whichis examined by the instructor at the end. A profitable way to make anotebook is for each student to select a different modern problem andtrace its origin and growth as he goes through the general history ofeducation and its source material. In this way each student becomes acrude historian of a problem. The examination will test judgment andreason as well as memory. In the classroom the instructor will attimes question the class, will at times be questioned by the class, will lecture on supplementary material, will use some half-dozenstereopticon lectures in close conjunction with the text, will havedebates between chosen students, seeking variety in method withoutloss of unity in result. Some questions for debate might be, thesuperiority of the Athenian to the modern school product, thenecessity of Latin and Greek for a liberal education, religiousinstruction in the public schools, formal discipline, whether the aimof education is cultural or vocational, whether private philanthropyis a benefit to public education, etc. It is very important inteaching so remote a subject as the history of education that theteacher have imagination, be constantly pointing modern parallels, communicate the sense that the past has made a difference in thepresent, and be himself kindled and quickened by man's aspirations forself-improvement. Unless our subject first inspires us, it cannotinspire our pupils. Whoever teaches the history of education becausehe has to instead of because he wants to must expect thin results. 

=Testing results=

In addition to the formal indication of the results of the course inthe examination paper, teachers can test their results by asking forfrank unsigned statements as to what the course has meant to eachstudent, by securing suggestions from the class for the future conductof the course, by noting whether education as a means of socialevolution has been appreciated, by observing whether the attitude ofindividual students toward education as a life-work or as a humanenterprise deserving adequate support from all intelligent citizenshas developed. As future citizens, has the motive to improve schoolsbeen awakened? Particularly do more men want to teach, despite smallpay and slight male companionship? The history of education does notreally grip the class until its members want to rise up and dosomething by educational means to help set the world right. 

The limits of this paper exclude the treatment of the subject in theprofessional training of teachers in normal schools, high schools, andgraduate schools, as well as in extension courses for teachers or intheir private reading. 

 HERMAN H. HORNE _New York University_

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BUISSON, F. _Dictionnaire de la Pédagogie_, Histoire de l'Education. 

BURNHAM, W. H. Education as a University Subject. _EducationalReview_, Vol. 26, pages 236-245. 

BURNHAM and SUZZALO, _The History of Education as a ProfessionalSubject_, Teachers College, New York, 1908. 

COOK, H. M. _History of the History of Education as a ProfessionalStudy in the United States. _ Unpublished thesis. 

HINSDALE, B. A. The Study of Education in American Colleges andUniversities, _Educational Review_, Vol. 19, pages 105-120. 

HORNE, H. H. A New Method in the History of Education. _The SchoolReview Monographs_, No. 3, Chicago, 1913; pages 31-35. Discussion ofsame in _School Review_, May, 1913. 

KIEHLE, D. L. The History of Education: What It Stands For. _SchoolReview_, Vol. 9, pages 310-315. 

MONROE, P. , and Others. History of Education; in Monroe's _Cyclopediaof Education_, Vol. 3, New York, 1912. 

MONROE, P. Opportunity and Need for Research Work in the History ofEducation. _Pedagogical Seminary_, Vol. 17, pages 54-62. 

MOORE, E. C. The History of Education. _School Review_, Vol. XI, pages350-360. 

NORTON, A. O. Scope and Aims of the History of Education. _EducationalReview_, Vol. 27. 

PAYNE, W. H. Practical Value of the History of Education. _ProceedingsNational Education Association_, 1889, pages 218-223. 

REIN, W. Encyclopädisches Handbuch der Pädagogik. _HistorischePädagogik. _

ROBBINS, C. L. History of Education in State Normal Schools. _Pedagogical Seminary_, Vol. 22, No. 3, pages 377-390. 

ROSS, D. _Education as a University Subject: Its History, PresentPosition, and Prospects. _ Glasgow, 1883. 

SUTTON, W. L. , and BOLTON, F. E. The Relation of the Department ofEducation to other Departments in Colleges and Universities. _Journalof Pedagogy_, Vol. 19, Nos. 2-3. 

WILLIAMS, S. G. Value of the History of Education to Teachers. _Proceedings National Education Association_, 1889, pages 223-231. 

WILSON, G. M. Titles of College Courses in Education. _EducationalMonographs_, No. 8, 1919, pages 12-30. 

B. TEACHING EDUCATIONAL THEORY IN COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENTS OF EDUCATION

=Introductory=

Courses in education in a college or university department may beroughly classified into (_a_) the theoretical phases of education, (_b_) the historical phases, and (_c_) the applied phases. Under thehistorical phases may properly be included courses in the generalhistory of education as well as those in the history of education inspecial countries. The applied courses may include general and specialmethod, organization, administration, observation, and practice. Educational theory is discussed below. 

A couple of decades ago the terms "philosophy of education, " "scienceof education, " and "general pedagogy, " or just "pedagogy, " were mostgenerally employed. At that time most of the work in education wasgiven in the departments of philosophy or psychology. Graduallydepartments of education came to have an independent status. Among theearliest were those at Michigan, under Dr. Joseph Payne, and the oneat Iowa, under Dr. Stephen Fellows. Previous to the vigorousdevelopment of departments of education, the departments of psychologyand philosophy gave no special attention to the educational bearingsof psychology. But as soon as departments of education began tointroduce courses in educational psychology and child study, theoccupants of the departments of psychology rubbed their eyes, becameaware of unutilized opportunities, and then began to assert claims. 

=Place of educational theory in the curriculum=

Ordinarily the courses in educational theory are given in the junioryear of college. In a few places, elementary or introductory coursesare open to freshmen. There is a distinct advantage in giving coursesto freshmen, if they can be made sufficiently concrete and grow out oftheir previous experiences. The college of education in the Universityof Washington, for example, is so organized that the student shallbegin to think of the profession of teaching immediately uponentering the University. While the main work in education courses doesnot come until the junior and senior years, the student receivesguidance and counsel from the outset in selecting his courses and ishelped to get in touch with the professional atmosphere that shouldsurround a teacher's college. The foundation work in zoölogy andpsychology is given as far as possible with the teaching profession inmind. It is planned to give some work of a general nature in educationduring the first two years, that will serve as vocational guidance andwill assist the student to arrange his work most advantageously and toaccomplish it most economically. By the more prolonged individualacquaintance between students and faculty of the college of education, it is hoped that the students will receive greater professional helpand the faculty will be better able to judge of the teaching abilitiesof the students. The work in education and allied courses has been soextended that adequate professional preparation may be secured. Thecourses in zoölogy, psychology, and sociology are all directlycontributory to a knowledge of, and to an interpretation of, thecourses in education. 

The great majority of undergraduate students taking education arepreparing to teach, and more and more they plan to teach in the highschools. However, not a few students of medicine, law, engineering, and other technical subjects take courses in education as a means ofgeneral information. It would be exceedingly desirable if all citizenswould take general courses in education, and would come to understandthe meaning of educational processes and past and present practices ineducational procedure. If all parents and members of school boardscould have a few modern courses in educational theory andorganization, the work of school teachers would be very muchsimplified. 

So far as is known, no college or university makes education anabsolute requirement such as is made with respect to foreignlanguages, science, mathematics, or philosophy. In a large majority ofstates, some work in education is required for teacher'scertification. The number of states making such requirements israpidly increasing. Before long it will be impossible for persons toengage in teaching without either attending a normal school or takingprofessional courses in education in college. 

=The scope of college courses in educational theory=

The theory of education as considered in this chapter will include allthose courses which have for their purpose the consideration of thefundamental meaning of education and the underlying laws or principlesgoverning the education process. Educational theory is given indifferent institutions under a great variety of titles. The followingare the most frequently offered: Principles of education, philosophyof education, theory of education, educational psychology, geneticpsychology, experimental education, child study, adolescence, moraleducation, educational sociology, social aspects of education. Educational theory may be divided into courses which are elementary incharacter, and those which are advanced. The purpose of the former isto present to beginning students the fundamentals of reasonablywell-tested principles and laws, and to indicate to them something ofthe various phases of education. 

The purpose of advanced courses, especially in experimental education, is to reach out into new fields and by study and experiment to testand develop new theories. The experimental phases of education seek toblaze new trails and to discover new methods of reaching moreeconomically and efficiently the goals which education seeks. Both ofthese phases should be given in a college course in the theory ofeducation. Enough of the experimental work should be given in theelementary course to enable students to distinguish between mereopinion and well-established theory, to understand how the theorieshave been derived, to know how to subject them to crucial tests, andto give them some knowledge of methods of experimentation. 

Education as a science is constantly confronted by the questions, "What are the ends and aims of education?" and "What are the means ofaccomplishing these ends?" These mean that there must be a study ofthe ends of education as necessitated by the demands of society andthe needs of the individual himself. In determining the ends ofeducation, adult society, of which the individual is to be a part, must be surveyed, as must also the social group of which the child isnow an integral part. In addition to these the laws of growth anddevelopment must be studied, to understand what will contributeeffectively to the child's normal unfoldment. 

The interpretation of the ends and means of education will determinethe field of the theory of education. This interpretation has been sosplendidly stated by Dewey that I venture to quote him at length. Hesays (_My Pedagogic Creed_): "I believe that this educational processhas two sides--one psychological and one sociological: and thatneither can be subordinated to the other or neglected without evilresults following. Of these two sides, the psychological is the basis. The child's own instincts and powers furnish the material and give thestarting point for all education. Save as the efforts of the educatorconnect with some activity which the child is carrying on of his owninitiative independent of the educator, education becomes reduced to apressure from without. It may, indeed, give certain external results, but cannot truly be called educative. Without insight into thepsychological structure and activities of the individual, theeducative processes will, therefore, be haphazard and arbitrary. If itchances to coincide with the child's activity, it will get a leverage;if it does not, it will result in friction, or disintegration, orarrest of the child nature. 

"I believe that knowledge of social conditions, of the present stateof civilization, is necessary in order properly to interpret thechild's powers. The child has his own instincts and tendencies, but wedo not know what these mean until we can translate them into theirsocial equivalents. We must be able to carry them back into a socialpast and see them as the inheritance of previous race activities. Wemust be able to project them into the future to see what theiroutcome and end will be. In the illustration just used, it is theability to see in the child's babblings the promise and potency of thefuture social intercourse and conversation which enables one to dealin the proper way with that instinct. 

"I believe that the psychological and social sides are organicallyrelated, and that education cannot be regarded as a compromise betweenthe two, or a superimposition of one upon the other. We are told thatthe psychological definition of education is barren and formal--thatit gives us only the idea of a development of all the mental powerswithout giving us an idea of the use to which these powers are put. Onthe other hand, it is urged that the social definition of education, as getting adjusted to civilization, makes a forced and externalprocess, and results in subordinating the freedom of the individual toa preconceived social and political status. 

"I believe each of these objections is true when urged against oneside isolated from the other. In order to know what a power really iswe must know what its end, use, or function is; and this we cannotknow, save as we conceive of the individual as active in socialrelationships. But, on the other hand, the only possible adjustmentwhich we can give to the child under existing conditions is that whicharises through putting him in complete possession of all of hispowers. With the advent of democracy and modern industrial conditions, it is impossible to foretell definitely just what civilization will betwenty years from now. Hence it is impossible to prepare the child forany precise set of conditions. To prepare him for the future lifemeans to give him command of himself; it means so to train him that hewill have the full and ready use of all his capacities, that his eyeand ear and hand may be tools ready to command, that his judgment maybe capable of grasping the conditions under which it has to work, andthe executive forces be trained to act economically and efficiently. It is impossible to reach this sort of adjustment save as constantregard is had to the individual's own powers, tastes, and interests;say, that is, as education is continually converted into psychologicalterms. 

"In sum, I believe that the individual who is to be educated is asocial individual, and that society is an organic union ofindividuals. If we eliminate the social factor from the child, we areleft only with an abstraction; if we eliminate the individual factorfrom society, we are left only with an inert and lifeless mass. Education, therefore, must begin with a psychological insight into thechild's capacities, interests, and habits. It must be controlled atevery point by reference to these same considerations. These powers, interests, and habits must be continually interpreted--we must knowwhat they mean. They must be translated into terms of their socialequivalents--into terms of what they are capable of in the way ofsocial service. "

Therefore, the fundamental course in educational theory must include(1) the biological principles of education, (2) the psychologicalprinciples of education, and (3) the social principles of education. This does not mean that the sequence must be as enumerated here. Insome places that is the sequence followed, in some other places thesocial principles are studied first. As a matter of fact, all threephases must be studied together to a considerable extent. Probably apurely logical arrangement would place the social phases first, but itis almost futile to attempt to present them effectively untilsomething of the biological and psychological laws are firstestablished. Again, the student in beginning the formal study ofeducation is already in possession of a vast body of facts concerningsociety and the relation of education to it, so that reference can beadvantageously made in connection with the study of biological andpsychological laws of education. Then the social principles andapplications can be more thoroughly and scientifically considered inthe light of the other phases. 

In administering a college course in the theory of education the greatdesideratum is to try to formulate a body of knowledge which willgive the undergraduate students an idea of the meaning of educationand its problems and processes. In so far as possible it is desirableto present material which in a certain sense will be practical. Inasmuch as the majority of undergraduates who study education in acollege department intend to go into the practical work of teaching, it is important to fortify them, as well as possible in the brief timewhich they devote to the subject, concerning the best means ofsecuring definite results in education. The majority are not so muchinterested in the abstract science or the philosophy of education asthey are in its practical problems. All courses in education shouldseek to deal with fundamental principles and not dole out dogmaticstatements of practical means and devices, but at the same time noprinciples should be considered with which the student cannot see somerelation to the educative processes. They are not primarily concernedwith the place of education among the sciences or with ontological andteleological meanings of education or of its laws. 

=Academic recognition of the introductory course=

The course in elementary educational theory should be on a par with acourse in principles of physics, one in principles of biology, principles of psychology, principles of political science, etc. Acourse in the principles of any of these subjects attempts to setforth the main problems with which the science deals. Elementarycourses attempt to select those principles which have frequentapplication in everyday life. The course in the principles of physicsdeals with the elementary notions of matter, motion, and force, andeveryday illustrations and problems are sought. It would seem that ina similar manner the college course in the foundations of educationshould seek elementary principles which will enable the student toaccomplish the purpose of education; namely, to produce modificationsin individuals and in society in harmony with the ideals and ends ofeducation. Education is a process of adjusting individuals to theirenvironment, natural and accidental, and the environment which iscreated through ideals held by society and by individuals themselves. All education has to do with the development of the individual inaccordance with his potentialities and the ideals of education whichare set up. It is a practical science, an applied science, in the sameway that engineering is an applied science. Engineering does not dealwith ultimate theories of matter, force, and motion, except as theyare important in considering practical ends to be secured through theapplication of forces. An elementary course in educational theoryshould seek to include the foundations rather than to encompass allknowledge about education. It is rather an introduction than anencyclopedia. 

Although a complete and logical treatise on the theory of educationmight include a consideration of the course of study and the methodsof instruction, the making of a course of study, the problem of thearrangement of the course of study, the various studies as instrumentsof experience, the organization and administration of education, etc. , it is questionable from a practical point of view whether they shouldbe given consideration in the undergraduate course. Mere passingnotice would at any rate seem sufficient. Each topic of the scope ofthe foregoing is sufficient to form a course in itself, and theintroductory course should do no more than define their relation tothe general problem. In the principles of psychology the fields ofabnormal psychology, comparative psychology, child psychology, adolescent psychology, etc. , are defined and drawn upon forillustration, yet no separate chapters are devoted to them. Indepartments of political economy there are usually elemental coursesdesigned as an introduction to the leading principles of economicscience, but there are special courses in currency and banking, publicfinance, taxation, transportation, distribution of wealth, etc. 

Similarly in the college course in the theory of education, the workshould be concentrated upon fundamentals designed to introduce thestudent to the many special problems. For example, the course of studyand the organization and administration of education should beregarded as accessory rather than as fundamental. The laws underlyingprocesses of development and modification are what should occupy theattention of the student in this elemental survey. A study of thespecial means and agencies of education and forms of socialorganization should be given in other courses by special names. Secondary education, the kindergarten, administration and supervision, methods in special subjects, etc. , each deserve attention as adistinct and separate course. 

As shown by two surveys made by the writer, one in 1909 and the lastin 1916, the theory of education is most frequently given under theterms "Principles of Education, " "Educational Psychology, " "SocialPhases of Education, " "Educational Sociology, " and "Child Study. "Therefore, a brief special discussion of each of these fields may bedesirable. 

=Principles of education=

Under various names courses in principles of education are given inmost departments of education. The term "Principles of Education" doesnot appear in all, being replaced by "Principles of Teaching, ""Philosophy of Education, " "Fundamentals of Teaching, " "Introductionto Education, " "Science of Education, " "Principles of Method, " "Theoryof Education, " etc. In some institutions the terms "EducationalPsychology" and "Child Study" stand for essentially the same thing asthe foregoing. In most institutions it is recognized that the teachermust understand (_a_) the meaning and aim of education, (_b_) thenature of the child considered biologically, psychologically, socially, and morally, (_c_) the foundations of society and theindustries, (_d_) how to adapt and utilize educational means so as todevelop the potentialities of the child's nature and cause him toachieve the aims of education. 

=Biological principles=

In this section there should be an attempt first to enlarge the notionof education, aiming to have it regarded as practically coincidentwith life and experience. Of course there is the ideal side to whichindividuals will strive, but the student should be impressed with thefact that every experience leaves its ineffaceable effect upon allorganisms. In order to convey this idea we may begin with adiscussion of the effects of experience upon simple animal and plantlife and the general modifications produced in the adjustment of suchlife to surroundings. Some familiar, non-technical facts in theevolution of plant and animal life may be considered in their relationto the question of adaptation and adjustment. Due notice should betaken of the facts of adjustment as manifested in such illustrationsas the change of the eyes of cave animals, gradual modifications ofplant and animal life, the change of animals from sea life to landlife, some of the retrogressions, etc. A general study of the gradualevolution of sense organs and the nervous system should be made, because these illustrate in an excellent way the gradual modificationsproduced by experience in the race. After this general survey, thesubject of innate tendencies may be considered through the discussionof such chapters as Drummond's "The ascent of the body, " "Thescaffolding left in the body, " "The arrest of the body, " "The dawn ofmind, " "The evolution of language, " etc. These discussions naturallylead to a consideration of the lengthening period of human infancy, and the importance of infancy in education. This in turn leads to abrief consideration of the periods of childhood, adolescence, andmaturity, largely from a biological point of view. These should befollowed by a discussion of such topics as instinct, heredity, fromfundamental to accessory, the brain as an organ of mind, some of thefacts of psycho-physical correlation, and the reciprocal influence ofmind and body upon each other. Before leaving this general field, thorough and designedly practical discussions of the importance ofphysical development and culture for education in general and formental development, fatigue, habit, physical and mental hygiene, andplay should be considered. 

=Educational psychology=

The next section should include what some authors term educationalpsychology, and others call the psychological aspects of education. Inthis section the first topic naturally considered is that of memory. It grows out of the biological discussion of instinct, heredity, etc. Included in the subject of memory is that of association. Followingthis come imagination, imitation, training of the senses, apperception, formal discipline, feeling, volition, motor training, induction, etc. Periods of mental development and the specific topicsof childhood and adolescence should receive definite consideration, though more exhaustive treatment should be reserved for a distinctcourse in child study. The genetic point of view should be emphasizedthroughout. 

While the number of students registered for educational psychology isnot large, the numbers that are in reality pursuing this branch areincreasing. Fortunately, the "psychology for teachers" and "appliedpsychology" of a score of years ago are giving way to a kind ofeducational psychology that is much more vital. Men like Judd andThorndike are formulating a psychology of the different branches ofstudy and of the teaching processes involved that will enable theteacher to see the connection between the psychological laws and theprocesses to be learned. This sort of work has been made possible bythe work of Hall and his followers in studying the child and theadolescent from the standpoint of growth periods and the types ofactivity suited to each period. Educational psychology is thereforerepresented richly in principles of education, genetic psychology, mental development, child study, and adolescence, as well as in thecourses labeled "Educational Psychology. "

=Social aspects of education=

Twelve years ago courses on social phases of education were probablynot offered anywhere, as they are not listed in my tabulation at thattime. Today they appear in some form or other in almost everydepartment of education. In Columbia the work is given as "EducationalSociology. " The departments of sociology also emphasize various phasesof educational problems. Courses on vocational education, industrialeducation, and vocational guidance all emphasize the same idea. Theintroduction of these courses means that the merely disciplinary aimof education is fast giving way to that of adjustment and utility. Educational means are (1) to enable the child to live happily and todevelop normally, and (2) to furnish a kind of training which willenable him to serve society to the utmost advantage. In the courses oneducational sociology, there should be an attempt to help the studentfeel that the highest aim of education is not individualistic, butsocial. The purpose is to fit the individual for coöperation, developing agencies of life that shall be mutually advantageous, fordemocratic society seeks the highest welfare of all its membersthrough the coöperation and contribution of each of its members. Itteaches us not only the rights and privileges of society but also itsduties and obligations. 

The best individual development also comes only through the socialinteraction of minds, and consequently various phases of socialpsychology must receive consideration. Various forms of coöperativeeffort which enlist the interest of children at various stages ofdevelopment should be studied. Inasmuch as educators should linkschool and home, typical illustrations of the manifold means ofrelating the school and society should be studied, so that the teacherwill not be without knowledge of their possibilities. 

=The child the center=

Throughout the country there is evidence that the curricula ineducation departments have for their central object a scientificknowledge of the child, and the better adaptation of educational meansto the development of the potentialities possessed by the child. Thisidea is evidenced by the fact that the foundation courses arepsychology, principles of education, child study, educationalpsychology. The fact that the history of education is still so largelygiven as a relatively beginning course shows that the new idea has notgained complete acceptance. Many specialized courses in child studyare offered, among them being such courses as the "Psychology ofChildhood, " "Childhood and Adolescence, " "Psychopathic, Retarded, andMentally Deficient Children, " "Genetic Psychology, " "TheAnthropological Study of Children, " "The Physical Nature of theChild. " At the University of Pittsburgh a school of childhood has beenestablished which will combine in theory and practice the best idealsin the kindergarten, the modern primary school, and the Montessorisystem. Clark University has had for some years its Children'sInstitute, which attempts to assemble the best literature on childhoodand the best materials of instruction in childhood. Many of thecourses in educational tests and measurements center around the studyof the child. 

=Methods of teaching the subject=

Naturally, methods of teaching the subject vary exceedingly in thedifferent institutions. Each instructor to a large extent follows hisown individual inclinations. Probably the great majority pursue thelecture method to a considerable extent. The lectures are generallyaccompanied by readings either from some textbook or from collateralreadings. 

The writer has personally pursued the combination method. For yearsbefore his own book on _Principles of Education_ was completed thesubject was presented in lecture form, and accompanied by libraryreadings. Even now, with a textbook at hand, each new topic isoutlined in an informal development lecture. Definite assignments aremade from the text, and from collateral readings, which includeadditional texts, periodical literature, and selected chapters fromvarious educational books. After students have had an opportunity toread copiously and to think out special problems, an attempt is madeto discuss the entire topic orally. That is possible and very fruitfulin classes of the right size, --not over thirty. In large classesnumbering from sixty to one hundred or more, the oral discussion isnot profitable unless the instructor is very skilled in conducting thediscussion. The questions should never be for the purpose of merelysecuring answers perfectly obvious to all in the class. The questionsshould seek to unfold new phases of the subject. Difficult pointsshould be considered, new contributions should be made by the studentsand the instructor, and all should feel that it is really anenlargement, a broadening, and a deepening of ideas gained through thelectures and the assigned readings. Very frequently individualstudents should be assigned special topics for report. A good deal ofcare must be exercised in this connection, for unless the material isa real contribution and is presented effectively, the rest of thestudents become wearied. If possible, the instructor should knowexactly what points are to be brought out, and the approximate amountof time to be occupied. 

Throughout, an attempt is made to make the work as concrete aspossible, and to show its relation to matters pertaining to theschoolroom, the home, and the everyday conduct of the studentsthemselves. Each topic is treated with considerable thoroughness anddetail. No endeavor is made to secure an absolutely systematic andultra-logical system. The charge of being logically unsystematic andincomplete would not be resented. There is no desire for a system. Asin the elementary stages of any subject, the first requisite is a bodyof fundamental facts. There is time enough later to evolve anall-inclusive and all-exclusive system. I am not aware that even the"doctors" have yet fully settled this question. The psychologicalorder is the one sought. What is intelligible, full of livinginterest, and of largest probable importance in the life and work ofthe student teacher are the criteria applied in the selection ofmaterials. The student verdict is given much weight in deciding. 

A rather successful plan of providing an adequate number of duplicatesof books much used has been developed by the writer at the StateUniversity of Iowa and at the University of Washington. In all coursesin which no single suitable text is found the students are asked tocontribute a small sum, from twenty-five to fifty cents, for thepurpose of purchasing duplicates. These books are placed on thereserve shelf, and this makes it possible for large classes to beaccommodated with a relatively small number of books. Ordinarily thereshould be one book for every four or five students, if all areexpected to read the same assignment. If options are allowed, theproportion of books may be reduced. The books become the property ofthe institution, and a fine library of duplicate sets rapidlyaccumulates. In about five years about fifteen hundred volumes havebeen secured in this way at the University of Washington. Valuablepamphlet material and reprints of important articles also arecollected and kept in filing boxes. 

 FREDERICK E. BOLTON _University of Washington_

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. ARTICLES ON TEACHING OF EDUCATIONAL THEORY

BOLTON, FREDERICK E. The Relation of the Department of Education toOther Departments in Colleges and Universities. _Journal of Pedagogy_, Vol. XIX, Nos. 2, 3, December, 1906, March, 1907. 

---- Curricula in University Departments of Education. _School andSociety_, December 11, 1915, pages 829-841. 

JUDD, CHARLES H. The Department of Education in American Universities. _School Review_, Vol. 17, November, 1909. 

HOLLISTER, HORACE A. Courses in Education Best Adapted to the Needs ofHigh School Teachers and High School Principals. _School and HomeEducation_, April, 1917. 

2. BOOKS ON THE GENERAL, BIOLOGICAL, AND PSYCHOLOGICAL PHASES OFEDUCATION

BAGLEY, WILLIAM C. _The Educative Process. _ The Macmillan Company, 1907. 358 pages. 

---- _Educational Values. _ The Macmillan Company, 1911. 267 pages. 

BOLTON, FREDERICK E. _Principles of Education. _ Charles Scribner'sSons, 1910. 790 pages. 

BUTLER, NICHOLAS MURRAY. _The Meaning of Education, and Other Essays. _The Macmillan Company, 1915. 386 pages. Revised Edition. 

CUBBERLEY, ELLWOOD P. _Changing Conceptions of Education. _ HoughtonMifflin Company, 1909. 70 pages. 

DAVENPORT, EUGENE. _Education for Efficiency. _ D. C. Heath & Company, 1909. 184 pages. 

DEWEY, JOHN. _Democracy and Education: An Introduction to thePhilosophy of Education. _ Macmillan, 1916. 434 pages. 

FREEMAN, FRANK N. _Experimental Education. _ Houghton Mifflin Company, 1916. 220 pages. 

---- _Psychology of the Common Branches. _ Houghton Mifflin Company, 1916. 275 pages. 

---- _How Children Learn. _ Houghton Mifflin Company, 1917. 322 pages. 

GORDON, KATE. _Educational Psychology. _ Henry Holt & Co. , 1917. 294pages. 

GROSZMANN, M. P. E. _Some Fundamental Verities in Education. _ RichardBadger, 1916. 118 pages. 

GUYER, MICHAEL. _Being Well-Born. _ Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1916. 374pages. 

HALL, G. S. _Educational Problems. _ D. Appleton & Co. , 1911. 2volumes, 710 pages and 714 pages. 

HECK, W. H. _Mental Discipline and Educational Values. _ John Lane &Co. , 1911. 208 pages. 

HENDERSON, CHARLES H. _Education and the Larger Life. _ HoughtonMifflin Company, 1912. 386 pages. 

---- _What Is It to be Educated?_ Houghton Mifflin Company, 1914. 462pages. 

HENDERSON, ERNEST N. _A Textbook on the Principles of Education. _ TheMacmillan Company, 1910. 593 pages. 

HORNE, HERMAN H. _The Philosophy of Education. _ The Macmillan Company, 1904. 295 pages. 

---- _The Psychological Principles of Education. _ The MacmillanCompany, 1906. 435 pages. 

KLAPPER, PAUL. _Principles of Educational Practice. _ D. Appleton &Co. , 1912. 485 pages. 

MOORE, ERNEST C. _What is Education?_ Ginn and Co. , 1915. 357 pages. 

O'SHEA, M. VINCENT. _Dynamic Factors in Education. _ The MacmillanCompany, 1906. 321 pages. 

---- _Education as Adjustment. _ Longmans, Green & Co. , 1903. 348pages. 

---- _Linguistic Development and Education. _ The Macmillan Company, 1907. 247 pages. 

PYLE, WILLIAM H. _The Science of Human Nature. _ Silver, Burdett & Co. , 1917. 229 pages. 

---- _The Outlines of Educational Psychology. _ Warwick & York, 1911. 276 pages. 

RUEDIGER, WILLIAM C. _Principles of Education. _ Houghton MifflinCompany, 1910. 305 pages. 

SPENCER, HERBERT. _Education, Intellectual, Moral, and Physical. _ D. Appleton & Co. , 1900. 301 pages. 

THORNDIKE, EDWARD L. _Principles of Teaching. _ A. G. Seiler, 1906. 293pages. 

---- _Education: A First Book. _ The Macmillan Company, 1912. 292pages. 

---- _Individuality. _ Houghton Mifflin Company, 1911. 56 pages. 

---- _Educational Psychology. _ Teachers College, 1913. Vol. 1. TheOriginal Nature of Man. 327 pages. 

3. BOOKS ON THE SOCIAL PHASES OF EDUCATION

BETTS, GEORGE H. _Social Principles of Education. _ Charles Scribner'sSons, 1912. 313 pages. 

CABOT, ELLA L. _Volunteer Help to the Schools. _ Houghton MifflinCompany, 1914. 141 pages. 

DEWEY, JOHN. _The School and Society. _ University of Chicago Press, 1907. 129 pages. 

---- _The Schools of Tomorrow. _ E. P. Dutton & Co. , 1915. 316 pages. 

---- _Democracy and Education. _ The Macmillan Company, 1916. 434pages. 

DEWEY, JOHN, and SMALL, ALBION W. _My Educational Creed. _ E. L. Kellogg & Co. , 1897. 36 pages. 

DUTTON, SAMUEL T. _Social Phases of Education in the School and theHome. _ The Macmillan Company, 1900. 259 pages. 

GILLETTE, JOHN M. _Constructive Rural Sociology. _ Sturgis & Walton, 1913. 301 pages. 

KING, IRVING. _Education for Social Efficiency. _ D. Appleton & Co. , 1913. 371 pages. 

---- _Social Aspects of Education. A Book of Sources and OriginalDiscussions, with Annotated Bibliographies. _ The Macmillan Company, 1912. 

MCDOUGALL, WILLIAM. _An Introduction to Social Psychology. _ John W. Luce, 1914. 355 pages. 

O'SHEA, M. VINCENT. _Social Development and Education. _ HoughtonMifflin Company, 1909. 561 pages. 

SCOTT, COLIN A. _Social Education. _ Ginn and Co. , 1908. 300 pages. 

SMITH, WALTER R. _An Introduction to Educational Sociology. _ HoughtonMifflin Company, 1917. 412 pages. 

4. BOOKS ON CHILDHOOD AND ADOLESCENCE

DRUMMOND, WILLIAM B. _An Introduction to Child Study. _ Longmans, Green& Co. , 1907. 347 pages. 

GESELL, BEATRICE C. And ARNOLD. _The Normal Child and PrimaryEducation. _ Ginn and Co. , 1912. 342 pages. 

GROSZMANN, M. P. E. _The Career of the Child. _ Richard Badger, 1911. 335 pages. 

HALL, G. STANLEY. _Youth, Its Education, Regimen, and Hygiene. _ D. Appleton & Co. , 1907. 379 pages. 

---- _Aspects of Child Life and Education. _ Ginn and Co. , 1907. 326pages. 

---- _Adolescence: Its Psychology and Its Relations to Physiology, Anthropology, Sociology, Sex, Crime, Religion, and Education. _ D. Appleton & Co. , 1904. 2 vols. , 589 and 784 pages. 

KING, IRVING. _The High School Age. _ Robbs-Merrill Company, 1914. 288pages. 

KIRKPATRICK, EDWIN A. _Fundamentals of Child Study. _ The MacmillanCompany, 1903. 384 pages. 

---- _Genetic Psychology: An Introduction to an objective and geneticview of intelligence. _ The Macmillan Company, 1909. 373 pages. 

OPPENHEIM, NATHAN. _The Development of the Child. _ The MacmillanCompany, 1898. 296 pages. 

SULLY, JAMES. _Studies of Childhood. _ D. Appleton & Co. , 1910. 527pages. 

SWIFT, EDGAR J. _Youth and the Race. _ Charles Scribner's Sons, 1912. 342 pages. 

TANNER, AMY E. _The Child: His Thinking, Feeling, and Doing. _ 1904. 430 pages. 

TERMAN, LEWIS M. _The Hygiene of the School Child. _ Houghton MifflinCompany, 1914. 417 pages. 

TRACY, FREDERICK, and STIMPEL, JAMES. _The Psychology of Childhood. _D. C. Heath & Co. , 1909. 231 pages. 

TYLER, JOHN MASON. _Growth and Education. _ Houghton Mifflin Company, 1907. 294 pages. 

WADDLE, CHARLES W. _Introduction to Child Psychology. _ HoughtonMifflin Company, 1918. 307 pages. 

Footnotes:

[56] "A New Method in the History of Education, " _School ReviewMonographs_, No. 3. H. H. Horne. 

[57] Quoted in _School and Society_, Vol. 5, page 23, from PresidentFaunce's annual report. Recent articles on the cultural value ofcourses in education are:

J. M. Mecklin, "The Problem of the Training of the Secondary Teacher, "_School and Society_, Vol. 4, pages 64-67. 

H. E. Townsend, "The Cultural Value of Courses in Education, " _Schooland Society_, Vol. 4, pages 175-176. 

[58] Cf. Thomas M. Balliet, "Normal School Curricula, " _School andSociety_, Vol. IV, page 340. 

[59] "Can a College Department of Education Become Scientific?" _TheScientific Monthly_, Vol. 3, No. 4, page 381. 

 PART FOUR

 THE LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES

 CHAPTER

 XVIII THE TEACHING OF English LITERATURE _Caleb T. Winchester_

 XIX THE TEACHING OF English COMPOSITION _Henry Seidel Canby_

 XX THE TEACHING OF THE CLASSICS _William K. Prentice_

 XXI THE TEACHING OF THE ROMANCE LANGUAGES _William A. Nitze_

 XXII THE TEACHING OF GERMAN _E. Prokosch_

XVIII

THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH LITERATURE

=Scope of study of English literature in college=

It should be understood at the outset that this paper is concernedwith the study of literature, not in the university or graduateschool, but in the college, by the undergraduate candidate for thebachelor's degree; and, furthermore, that the object of study is notthe history, biography, bibliography, or criticism of literature, butthe literature itself. Perhaps also the term "literature" may needdefinition. As commonly--and correctly--used, the word "literature"denotes all writing which has sufficient emotional interest, whetherprimary or incidental, to give it permanence. As thus defined, literature would include, for example, history and much philosophicalwriting, and would exclude only writing of purely scientific ortechnical character. But in the following pages the word will be usedin a narrower sense, as indicating those books that are read for theirown sake, not solely or primarily for their intellectual content. Thisdefinition is elastic enough to comprise not only poetry, drama, andfiction, but the essay, oratory, and much political and satiricalprose. It should be further understood that for the purpose of thispaper, English literature may be considered to begin about the middleof the fourteenth century. Earlier and Anglo-Saxon writings are by nomeans without great literary value, and it may at once be granted thatno college teacher of English literature is thoroughly equipped forhis work who is ignorant of them; but they can be read appreciativelyonly after considerable study of the language, the method and motivesof which are linguistic rather than literary. 

=Aims governing the teaching of English literature=

Perhaps it may be asked just here whether English literature, as thusdefined, need be studied in college at all. Until quite recently thatquestion seems generally to have been answered in the negative. Fiftyyears ago, few if any of our American colleges gave any study to textsof English classics. There were, indeed, in most colleges professorsof rhetoric and _belles-lettres_, whose lectures upon the history andcriticism of our literature were often of great value as aninspiration to literary study; but it was only in the decade from 1865to 1875 that in most of our colleges the literature itself, withhesitating caution, began to be read and studied in the classroom. 

=Can literary appreciation be developed?=

Nor was this hesitation without some reasons, at least plausible. Thechief object of college training, it was said, is to discipline andstrengthen the intellect, to give the student that grasp and power ofthought which he may apply to all the work of later life. The collegeshould not be expected to pay much attention to the cultivation of theimagination and the emotions. These faculties, to which literaturemakes appeal, are not, it was said, under the control of the will, andyou cannot cultivate or strengthen them by sheer resolve or strenuousexertion. The first condition of any real appreciation of literature, so ran the argument, is spontaneous enjoyment of it; and you cannotcommand a right feeling for literature or for anything else. But anormal development of the imagination and the emotions does usuallyaccompany the vigorous development of the intellect, so that theadvancing student will be found to turn spontaneously to art andliterature. And his appreciation of all the highest and deepestmeanings in literature will be quickened because he brings to hisreading a mind trained to accurate and vigorous thinking. Moreover, all substantial advantages from the study of modern vernacularliterature can be better obtained from the Greek and Latin classics. They afford the same richness of thought and charm of form as ourmodern writing; but they demand for their appreciation that carefulattention and study which modern literature too often discourages. Thesurvivors of a former generation sometimes ask us today, with a touchof sarcasm, "Do you think the average New England college student offifty to seventy-five years ago, when the Emersons and Longfellows andLowells were young men, the days of the old _North American Review_and the new _Atlantic Monthly_, had any less appreciation andenjoyment of whatever is good in literature, or any less power toproduce it, than the young fellows who are coming out of college todayafter more than a quarter century of literary instruction?" And theyoccasionally suggest that, at all events, it is difficult to find anyevidences of the result of such instruction in the quality of theliterature produced or demanded today. 

=Conflict of utilitarian and cultural standards=

On the other hand, the study of English literature often fares littlebetter with the advocates of the modern practical tendency ineducation. They have but scanty allowance for a study assumed to be ofso little use in the actual work of life. An acquaintance withwell-known English books, especially if they be modern books, is, theyadmit, a desirable accomplishment if it can be gained without too muchcost, but not to be allowed the place of more valuable knowledge. Atypical modern father, writing not long ago to a modern educator, after giving with equal positiveness the subjects that his boy musthave and must not have included in his course of study, added by wayof concession, "The boy might, if he has time, take Englishliterature. "

=Cultural and utilitarian standards harmonized=

Now in answer to this second class of objectors, it may be franklyadmitted that the study of English literature is primarily, if notentirely, cultural. A boy may not make a better engineer or practicalchemist for having studied in college the plays of Shakespeare or theprose of Ruskin. And to the older objectors, who urge that literarystudy can ever give that severe intellectual discipline afforded bythe older, narrower college course, we reply that it is not merely theintellectual powers that need culture and discipline. The idealcollege training will surely not neglect the imagination and emotions, the faculties which so largely determine the conduct of life. And atno period in the educational process is the need of wide moraltraining so urgent as in those years when the young man is formingindependent judgments and his tastes are taking their final set. Thestudy of English literature finds its warrant for a place in thecollege curriculum principally because, better than any other subject, it is fitted to cultivate both the emotional and the intellectualsides of our nature. For in all genuine literature those two elements, the intellectual and the emotional, are united; you cannot get eitherone fully without getting the other. In some forms of literature, asin poetry, the emotional appeal is the main purpose of the writing;but even here no really profound or sublime emotion is possiblewithout a solid basis of thought. 

=Appreciation the ultimate aim in the teaching of literature=

This, then, let us understand, is the primary object of all collegeteaching in this department. It affords the student opportunity andincitement to read, during his four years, a considerable number ofour best classics, representative of different periods and differentforms of literature, and to read them with such intelligence andappreciation as to receive from them that discipline of thought andfeeling which literature better than anything else is fitted toimpart. If the student would or could do this reading by himself, without formal requirement or assistance, there might be little needof undergraduate teaching of literature; but every one who knows muchof American college conditions knows that the average undergraduatehas neither time, inclination, nor ability for such voluntary reading. 

=Appreciative study of literary masterpieces involves vigorous mentalexercise=

Just here lies a difficulty peculiar to the college teacher in thisdepartment. All studies that appeal primarily to the intellect andcall only for careful attention and vigorous thinking can beprescribed, and mastery of them rigidly enforced. Indeed, theambitious student is often stimulated to more vigorous effort by thevery difficulty of his subject. But the appreciative reading of anywork of literature cannot thus be prescribed. Of course the instructormay do much to help the student to such appreciation--that, indeed, ishis chief duty; but he will not try to expound or enjoin emotionaleffects. Recognizing these limitations upon his work, he often findsit difficult to avoid one or the other of two dangers that beset allefforts to teach a vernacular literature; the student must not thinkhis reading an idle pastime, nor, on the other hand, must he think ita repellent task. In the first case, he is likely never to readanything well; in the second case, the things best worth reading hewill probably never read at all. Of the two dangers, the first is themore serious. The student ought early to learn that no really goodreading is "light reading. " And it may be remarked that this lessonwas never more needed than today. There was never a time when peopleof all classes read more and thought less. We have what might almostbe called a plague of reading, and an astonishing amount of what iscalled "reading matter" rolling out of our presses every year; while, significantly, we are producing very few books of permanent literaryvalue. If the college study of literature is to encourage thisindolent receptive temper, and relax the intellectual fiber of thestudent, then we might better drop it from the curriculum. The studentmust somehow learn that the book that is worth while will tax histhought, his imagination, his sympathies. He cannot be content merelyto leave the door of his mind lazily open to it. Every teacher knowsthe difficulty in any attempt to inspire or direct such a pupil. Andthe simpler the subject assigned him, the greater the difficulty. Givehim, for example, a group of the best lyrics in the language, in whichthe thought is simple and the sentiment homely or familiar. He willglance over them in half an hour, and then wonder what more you wantof him. And you may not find it so easy to tell him. For he does notperceive nice shades of feeling, he has little sense of poetic form, he has not read the poems aloud to get the charm of their melody, andhe will not let them linger in his mind long enough to feel that thesimplest sentiments are often the most profound and moving. He simplytries to conjecture what sort of questions he is likely to meet onexamination. Doubtless from this type of pupil better results can beobtained by the reading of prose not too familiar, that suggests morequestions for reflection and discussion. 

=Suggestions for teaching of English literature--Emotional appreciationto have an intellectual basis=

It is perhaps impossible to lay down a detailed method for theteaching of English literature. Much depends upon the nature of theliterature read, the temperament of the teacher, the aptitude of thepupil. Every teacher will, in great measure, discover his own methods. At all events, no attempts will be made here to give more than a fewsuggestions. In the first place, the teacher will remember that everywork of literature--except purely "imagist" poetry, which it is hardlyworth while to teach--is based upon some thought or truth; in mostvarieties of prose literature this forms the main purpose of thewriting. The first object of the student's reading, therefore, must beto understand thoroughly the intellectual element in what he reads;and here the instructor can often be of direct assistance. And aftersuch careful reading, the higher emotional values of what he has readwill often disclose themselves spontaneously, so that the reader willneed little further help. 

=Abundant oral reading by teacher an aid to appreciation=

Just here it is worth while to note the great value of reading aloud, both by the teacher as a means of instruction, and by the pupil as atest of appreciation. All good writing gains vastly when read thus. Mentally, at all events, we must image its sound if we are to get itsfull value. As to poetry, that goes without saying; for the essential, defining element in poetry is music. You may have truth, beauty, imagination, emotion, but without music you have not yet got poetry. But it is hardly less true that prose should be read aloud. "The besttest of good writing, " said Hazlitt--and no man in his generationwrote better prose than he--"is, does it read well aloud. " Thesympathetic oral reading of a passage from any prose master, a readingthat naturally indicates points of emphasis, shades of thought, nuances of feeling, is often better than any formal explanation, forit reproduces the living voice of the writer. The wise teacher willavoid the mannerisms of the professed elocutionist or dramatic reader, but he will not neglect the value of truthful oral interpretation formany passages of beautiful, or subtle, or powerful writing. And thestudent will often give a better proof of intelligent appreciation byreading aloud, "with good accent and discretion, " than by any moreelaborate form of examination. 

=Knowledge of author's life and art and of ideals of the times necessaryfor comprehension and appreciation=

Some varieties of literature can best be approached indirectly, through a study of the life of the author, or of the age in which helived. As any great work of pure literature must come out of theauthor's deepest life, it is evident that any knowledge of that lifegained from other sources may be an important aid in the appreciationof his work. It is true that in the case of a writer of supreme andalmost impartial dramatic genius, such knowledge may be ofcomparatively little value; though few of us will admit that it ismerely an idle curiosity that would be gratified by a fuller knowledgeeven of the man William Shakespeare. But all the more subjective formsof literature, such as the lyric and the essay, can hardly be studiedintelligently without some biographical introduction. Still moreobvious is the need in many instances of some accurate knowledge ofthe period in which a given work is produced. For all such writing asgrows directly out of political or social conditions, as oratory, orpolitical satire, or various forms of the essay, this is clearlynecessary. It would be folly to attempt to read the speeches of EdmundBurke or the political writings of Swift without historicalintroduction and comment. But the historical setting is hardly lessimportant in many other forms of literature. For the whole cast of anauthor's mind, the habitual tone of his feeling on most importantmatters, is often largely decided by his environment. It is only avery inadequate appreciation, for example, of the work not only ofCarlyle and Ruskin but of Tennyson, Browning, and Matthew Arnold, thatis possible without some correct knowledge of the varying attitude ofthese men toward important movements in English thought, social, economic, religious, between 1830 and 1880. It must always be animportant part of the duty of the college teacher of literature toprovide such biographical and historical information. 

=Knowledge of an author's style to be result of appreciative study ofhis works and not gathered from texts on literary criticism=

All careful study of literature must involve some attention to manneror style--not so much, however, for its own sake, as a means for thefuller appreciation of what is read. In strictness, style has only onevirtue, clearness; only one vice, obscurity. A perfect style is atransparent medium through which we plainly see the thought andfeeling of the writer. Such a style may, indeed, often have strikingpeculiarities, but these are really the marks of the writer'spersonality, which his style reveals without exaggerating. Allrhetorical study ought, therefore, to accompany or follow, not toprecede, the careful reading for appreciation. No good book ought everto be considered a mere _corpus vile_ for rhetorical praxis. 

=Careful attention to critical analysis=

Of much greater value is that distinctively critical analysis whichendeavors to discover the different elements, intellectual, imaginative, emotional, that enter into any work of literature, and todetermine their relative amount and importance. Such analysis may wellform the subject of classroom discussion, and advanced students shouldoften be required to put the conclusions they have drawn from suchdiscussion into the form of a finished critical essay. All exercisesof this kind presuppose, of course, that the work criticized has beenread with interest and intelligence; but no form of literary study ismore stimulating or tends more directly to the formation of originaland accurate critical judgments. It affords the best test of realliterary appreciation. 

=Content of college course in literature=

Obviously it is impossible with this method of study to cover theentire field of English literature in the four college years. It iswiser to read a few great books well than to read many smaller oneshurriedly. It becomes, therefore, an important question on whatprinciple these books should be selected and grouped in courses. Inthe opinion of the present writer, it is well to begin with a briefoutline sketch of the history of the literature given either in atextbook or by lectures, and illustrated by a few representativeworks, read carefully but without much detailed or intensive study. Such an introductory course may have little cultural value; but itfurnishes that knowledge of the chronological succession of Englishwriters, and the varieties of literature dominant in each period, thatis necessary for further intelligent study. This knowledge should, indeed, be given in the preparatory schools, but unfortunately itusually is not. When given in college, the course should, if possible, be assigned to the freshman year. In the later years, the worksselected for study will best be grouped either by period or bysubject. Both plans have their advantages, but in most instances thefirst will be found the better. The study of a group of contemporarywriters always gains in interest as we see how they all, with strikingindividual differences in temper and subject, yet reflect the socialand moral life of their age. Sometimes the two plans may be united; aparticular form of literature may be studied as the bestrepresentative of a period, as the political pamphlet for the age ofQueen Anne or the extended essay for the first quarter of thenineteenth century. And in some rare instances a single writer is atonce the highest representative of the age in which he lived and thesupreme master of the form in which he wrote--as Shakespeare for thedrama and Milton for the epic. 

=Gradation of courses and adaptation of methods to growing capacitiesof students=

These courses should all--in the judgment of the present writer--beelective, but should be arranged in some natural sequence, thoseassigned to a lower year being preparatory to those of a higher. Thissequence need not always be historical; the simpler course may wellprecede those which for any reason are more difficult. Methods ofinstruction will also naturally change, becoming less narrowlydidactic with the advancement of the student. In the senior year theteacher will usually prefer to meet his classes in small sections, onthe seminar plan, for informal discussion and the criticism of paperswritten by his pupils on questions suggested by their reading. Of suchquestions, students who for four years have been reading themasterpieces of English literature will surely find no lack. 

The number of courses that can be offered in the department willdepend in some cases upon the relative size of the faculty and thestudent body. For in no other subject is it more important, especiallyin the later years, that the classes or sections should be smallenough to allow some intimate personal touch between professor andstudent. It may be safely said that no college department of Englishliterature is well officered or equipped that does not furnish atleast four or five year-long courses of instruction. And certainly nostudent can maintain for four years such an acquaintance with the bestspecimens of a great literature without gaining something of thatbroad intelligence, heightened imagination, and just appreciation ofwhatever is best in nature and in human life, which combine in what wecall culture. 

=Undergraduate vs. Graduate teaching of English literature=

Throughout this paper it has been assumed that what has been termedappreciation--that is, the ability to understand and enjoy the bestthings in literature--is the one central purpose to which all effortsmust be subservient, in the teaching of English literature. But itshould be remembered, as stated at the outset, that this paper has todo with the college undergraduate only, the candidate for thebachelor's degree. In the university, and to some extent in thegraduate courses of the college leading to the master's degree, thesubjects and methods of teaching may well be very different. Studiesin comparative literature, studies of literary origins, theinvestigation of perplexed or controverted questions in the life orwork of an author, the study and elucidation of the work of an unknownor little-known writer--all these and many other similar matters mayvery properly be the subjects of specialized graduate study. But theywill rarely be found of most profit to undergraduate classes. 

 CALEB T. WINCHESTER _Wesleyan University_

XIX

THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH COMPOSITION[60]

=Language an index of mental development=

"Deeds, not words, " is a platitude--a flat statement which reduces thefacts of the case to an average, and calls that truth. It is absurd toimply, as does this old truism, that we may never judge a man by hiswords. Words are often the most convenient indices of education, ofcultivation, and of intellectual power. And what is more, a man'sspeech, a man's writing, when properly interpreted, may sometimesmeasure the potentialities of the mind more thoroughly, moreaccurately, than the deeds which environment, opportunity, or luckpermit. It is hard enough to take the intellectual measure even of themakers of history by their acts, so rapidly does the apparent value oftheir accomplishments vary with changing conceptions of what is andwhat is not worth doing. It is infinitely more difficult to judge inadvance of youths just going out into the world by what they do. Theirwords, which reveal what they are thinking and how they are thinking, give almost the only vision of their minds; and "by their words yeshall know them" becomes not a perversion, but an adaptation of theold text. Would you judge of a boy just graduated entirely by the actshe had performed in college? If you did, you would make some profoundand illuminating mistakes. 

This explains, I think, why parents, and teachers, and collegepresidents, and even undergraduates, are exercised over the study ofwriting English--which is, after all, just the study of the properputting together of words. They may believe, all of them, that theirconcern is merely for the results of the power to write well--theability to compose a good letter, to speak forcibly on occasion, tooffer the amount of literacy required for most "jobs. " But I wonder ifthe quite surprising keenness of their interest is not due to anothercause. I wonder if they do not feel--perhaps unconsciously--that wordsindicate the man, that the power to write well shows intellect, andmeasures, if not its profundity, at least the stage of its development. We fasten on the defects of the letters written by undergraduates, ontheir faltering speeches, on their confused examination papers, assomething significant, ominous, worthy even of comment in the press. Andwe are, I believe, perfectly right. Speech and writing, if you get themin fair samples, indicate the extent and the value of a collegeeducation far better than a degree. 

=Disappointing results from teaching of composition=

It is this conviction which, pressing upon the schools and colleges, has caused such a flood of courses and textbooks, such an expenditureof time, energy, and money in the teaching of composition, so manyardent hopes of accomplishment, so much bitter disappointment atrelative failure. I do not know how many are directly or indirectlyteaching the writing of English in America--perhaps some tens ofthousands; the imagination falters at the thought of how many aretrying to learn it. Thus the parent, conscious of this enormousendeavor and the convictions which inspire it, is somewhat appalled tohear the critics without the colleges maintaining that we are notteaching good writing, and the critics within protesting that goodwriting cannot be taught. 

=Fixing responsibility for alleged failure of composition teaching=

It is with the teachers, the administrators, the theorists oneducation, but most of all the teachers, that the responsibility forthe alleged failure of this great project--to endow the collegegraduate with adequate powers of expression--must be sought. But theseguardians of expression are divided into many groups, of which fourare chief. 

There is first the great party of the Know-Nothings, who plan andteach with no opinion whatsoever as to the ends of their teaching. Under the conditions of human nature and current financial rewards forthe work, this party is inevitably large; but it counts for nothingexcept inertia. There is next the respectable and efficient cohort ofthe Do-Nothings, who believe that good writing and speaking arenatural emanations from culture, as health from exercise or cloudsfrom the sea. They would cultivate the mind of the undergraduate, andlet expression take care of itself. They do not believe in teachingEnglish composition. Next are the Formalists, who hold up a dictionaryin one hand, the rules of rhetoric in the other, and say, "Learnthese, and good writing and good speaking shall be added unto you. "The Formalists have weakened in late years. There have been desertionsto the Do-Nothings, for the work of grinding rules into unwillingminds is hard, and it is far easier to adopt a policy of_laissez-faire_. But there have been far more desertions into a partywhich I shall call, for want of a better name, the Optimists. TheOptimists believe that in teaching to write and speak the Americancollege is accepting its most significant if not its greatest duty. They believe that we must understand what causes good writing, inorder to teach it; and that for the average undergraduate writing mustbe taught. 

=Divergent views on teaching of composition=

The best way to approach this grand battleground of educationalpolicies is by the very practical fashion of pretending (if pretenseis necessary) that you have a son (or a daughter) ready for college. What does he need, what must he have in a writing way, in a speakingway, when he has passed through all the education you see fit to givehim? What should he possess of such ability in order to satisfy theworld and himself? Facts, ideas and imagination, to put it roughly, make up the substance of expression. Facts he must be able to presentclearly and faithfully; ideas he must be able to present clearly andcomprehensively; his imagination he will need to express when hisnature demands it. And for all these needs he must be able to useknowingly the words which study and experience will feed to him. Hemust be able to combine these words effectively in order to expressthe thoughts of which he is capable. And these thoughts he must workout along lines of logical, reasonable developments, so that what hesays or writes will have an end and attain it. In addition, if he isimaginative--and who is not?--he should know the color and fire ofwords, the power of rhythm and harmony over the emotions, thequalities of speech whose secret will enable him to mold language tohis personality and perhaps achieve a style. This he should know; theother powers he must have, or stop short of his full efficiency. 

Alas, we all know that the undergraduate, in the mass, fails often toattain even to the power of logical, accurate statement, whether offacts or ideas. It is true that most of the charges against him are toa greater or less degree irrelevant. Weighty indictments of his powersof expression are based upon bad spelling: a sign, it is true, ofslovenliness, an indication of a lack of thoroughness which goesdeeper than the misplacing of letters, but not in itself a proof ofinability to express. Great writers have often misspelled; and theletters which some of our capable business men write when thestenographer fails to come back after lunch are by no meansimpeccable. Other accusations refer to a childish vagueness ofexpression--due to the fact that the American undergraduate is often achild intellectually rather than to any defects in composition _perse_. But it is a waste of time to deny that he writes, if not badly, at least not so clearly, so correctly, so intelligently, as we expect. The question is, why?

It would be a comfort to place the blame upon the schools; and indeedthey must take some blame, not only because they deserve it, but alsoto enlighten those critics of the college who never consider the kindof grain which comes into our hoppers. The readers of college entrancepapers could tell a mournful story of how the candidates for ourfreshman classes write. Here, for an instance, is a paragraph intendedto prove that the writer had a command of simple English, correct insentence structure, spelling, capitalization, and punctuation. Thesubject is "The Value of Organized Athletics in Schools"--not anabstruse one, or too academic:

 If fellows are out in the open and take athletics say at a certain time every-day; These fellows are in good health and allert in their lessons, while those who take no exercise are logy and soft. Organized athletics in a school bring the former, while if a school has no athletics every-thing goes more or less slipshod, and the fellows are more liable to get into trouble, because they are nervious from having nothing to do. 

This is a little below the average of the papers rejected for entranceto college. It is not a fair sample of what the schools can do, but itis a very fair sample of what they often do not do. It was not writtenby a foreigner, nor, I judge, by a son of illiterate parents, since itcame from an expensive Eastern preparatory school. The reader, markingwith some heat a failure for the essay from which this paragraph isextracted, would not complain of the writer's paucity of ideas. Hisideas are not below the average of his age. He would keep his wrathfor the broken, distorted sentences, the silly spelling, the lack(which would appear in the whole composition) of even a rudimentaryconstruction to carry the thought. Spelling, the fundamentals ofpunctuation, and the compacting of a sentence must be taught in theschools, for it is too late to cure diseases of these members incollege. They can be abated; but again and again they will break out. It is the school's business to teach them; and the weary reader seesin this unhappy specimen but a dark and definite manifestation of awidespread slovenliness in secondary education, a lack of thoroughnesswhich appears not only in the failures, but also, though in lessmeasure, among the better writers, whose work is too good in otherrespects not to be reluctantly passed. 

Again, it would be easy to place much of the blame for the slipshodwritings of the undergraduate upon the standards set by his eldersoutside the colleges. Editors can tell of the endless editing whichcontributions, even from writers supposed to be professional, willsometimes require. And when such a sentence as the following slipsthrough, and begins an article in a well-known, highly respectablemagazine, we can only say, "If gold rust, what will iron do?"

 Yes the Rot--and with a very big R--in sport: for that, thanks to an overdone and too belauded a Professionalism by a large section of the pandering press, is what it has got to. 

Again, any business man could produce from his files a collection ofletters full of phrasing so vague and inconsequential that only hisbusiness instincts and knowledge of the situation enable him tointerpret it. Any lawyer could give numberless instances where aninability to write clear and simple English has caused litigationwithout end. Indeed, the bar is largely supported by errors in Englishcomposition! And as for conversation conducted--I will not say withpedantical correctness, for that is not an ideal, but with accuracyand transparency of thought--listen to the talk about you!

However, it is the business of the colleges to improve all that; andthough it is not easy to develop in youth virtues which are moreadmired than practiced by maturity, let us assume that they shouldsucceed in turning out writers of satisfactory ability, even withthese handicaps, and look deeper for the cause of their relativefailure. 

=Democratizing education and immigration the cause of poor qualityof expression=

The chief cause of the prevalent inadequacy of expression among ourundergraduates is patent, and its effects are by no means limited toAmerica, as complaints from France and from England prove. Themob--the many-headed, the many-mouthed, figured in the past by poetsas dumb, or, at best, an incoherent thing of brutish noises signifyingspeech--is acquiring education and learning how to express it. Hundreds of thousands whose ancestors never read, and seldom talkedexcept of the simpler needs of life, are doing the talking and thewriting which their large share in the transaction of the world'sbusiness demands. Indeed, democracy requires not only that theilliterate shall learn to read and write in the narrower sense of thewords, but also that the relatively literate must seek with theirgrowing intellectuality a more perfect power of expression. And it isprecisely from the classes only relatively literate--those for whom inthe past there has been no opportunity, and no need, to become highlyeducated--that the bulk of our college students today are coming, thebulk of the students in the endowed institutions of the East as wellas in the newer State universities of the West. The typicalundergraduate is no longer the son of a lawyer or a clergyman, with anintellectual background behind him. 

There is plenty of grumbling among college faculties, and in certainnewspapers, over this state of affairs. In reality, of course, it isthe opportunity of the American colleges. Let the motives be what theymay, the simple fact that so many American parents wish to give theirchildren more education than they themselves were blessed with is acondition so favorable for those who believe that in the long run onlyintelligence can keep our civilization on the path of real progress, that one expects to hear congratulations instead of wails from thecollege campuses. 

Nevertheless, we pay for our opportunity, and we must expect to pay. The thousands of intellectual immigrants, ill-supplied with means ofprogress, indefinite of aim, unaware of their opportunities, who landevery September at the college gates, constitute a weighty burden, aterrible responsibility. And the burden rests upon no one with morecrushing weight than upon the unfortunate teacher of composition. Thatthese entering immigrants cannot write well is a symptom of theirmental rawness. It is to be expected. But thanks to the methods ofslipshod, ambitious America, the schools have passed them on stillshaky in the first steps of accurate writing--spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, and the use of words. Thanks to the failure ofAmerica to demand thoroughness in anything but athletics and business, they are blind to the need of thoroughness in expression. And thanksto the inescapable difficulty of accurate writing, they resist theattempt to make them thorough, with the youthful mind's instinctiverebellion against work. Nevertheless, whatever the cost, they mustlearn if they are to become educated in any practical and efficientsense; the immigrants especially must learn, since they come fromenvironments where accurate expression has not been practiced--oftenhas not been needed--and go to a future where it will be required ofthem. Not even the Do-Nothing school denies the necessity that theundergraduate should learn to write well. But how?

=Solutions proposed by four types of instructors=

The Know-Nothing school proposes no ultimate solution and knows none, unless faithfully teaching what they are told to teach, and acceptingthe sweat and burden of the day, with few of its rewards, be not inits blind way a better solution than to dodge the responsibilityaltogether. 

The Formalists labor over precept and principle--disciplining, commanding, threatening--feeling more grief over one letter lost, orone comma mishandled, than joy over the most spirited of incorrecteffusions. They turn out sulky youths who nevertheless have learnedsomething. 

The Do-Nothings propose a solution which is engaging, logical--andinsufficient. They are the philosophers and the æsthetes amongteachers, who see, what the Formalists miss, that he who thinks wellwill in the long run write as he should. Their special horror is ofthe compulsory theme, extracted from unwilling and idealess minds. Their remedy for all ills of speech and pen is: teach, not writing andspeaking, but thinking; give, not rules and principles, but materialsfor thought. And above all, do not force college students to studycomposition. The Do-Nothing school has almost enough truth on its sideto be right. It has more truth, in fact, than its principles permit itto make use of. 

The umpire in this contest--who is the parent with a son ready forcollege--should note, however, two pervading fallacies in this_laissez-faire_ theory of writing English. The first belongs to theparty of the right among the Do-Nothings--the older teachers who comefrom the generation which sent only picked men to college; the second, to the party of the left--the younger men who are distressed by thetoil, the waste, the stupidity which accompany so much work incomposition. 

The older men attack the attempt to teach the making of literature. Their hatred of the cheap, the banal, and the false in literature thathas been machine-made by men who have learned to express finely whatis not worth expressing at all, leads them to distrust the teaching ofEnglish composition. They condemn, however, a method of teaching thatlong since withered under their scorn. The aim of the college coursein composition today is not the making of literature, but writing; notthe production of imaginative masterpieces, but the orderlyarrangement of thought in words. Through no foresight of our own, butthanks to the pressure of our immigrants upon us, we have ceasedteaching "eloquence" and "rhetoric, " and have taken upon ourselves thehumbler task of helping the thinking mind to find words and a form ofexpression as quickly and as easily as possible. The old teacher ofrhetoric aspired to make Burkes, Popes, or De Quinceys. We are contentif our students become the masters rather than the servants of theirprose. 

The party of the left presents a more frontal attack upon the teachingof the writing of English. Show the undergraduate how to think, theysay; fill his mind with knowledge, and his pen will find the way. Ah, but there is the fallacy! Why not help him to find the way--as inLatin, or surveying, or English literature? The way in composition canbe taught, as in these other subjects. Writing, like skating, orsailing a boat, has its special methods, its special technique, evenas it has its special medium, words, and the larger unities ofexpression. The laws which govern it are simple. They are always inintimate connection with the thought behind, and worthless without it;but they can be taught. Ask any effective teacher of composition toshow you what he has done time and again for the freshman whosesprawling thought he has helped to form into coherent and unifiedexpression. And do not be deceived by analogies drawn from ourcolleges of the mid-nineteenth century, where composition was nottaught, and men wrote well; or from the English universities, wherethe same conditions are said (with dissenting voices) to exist. In thefirst place, they had no immigrant problem in the mid-century, norhave they in Oxford and Cambridge. In the second, the rigoroustranslation back and forward between the classics and the mothertongue, now obsolete in America, but still a requisite for an Englishuniversity training, provides a drill in accuracy of language whoseefficiency is not to be despised. 

The student must express his intellectual gains even as he absorbsthem, or the crystallization of knowledge into personal thought willbe checked at the beginning. The boy must be able to say what heknows, or write what he knows, or he does not know it. And it is asimportant to help him express as to help him absorb. The teachers inother departments must aid in this task or we fail; but where thewhole duty of making expression keep pace with thought and with lifeis given to them, they will be forced either to overload, or toneglect all but the little arcs that bound their subjects. And sincethey are specialists in other fields, and so may neglect thattechnique of writing which in itself is a special study, their task, when they accept it, is hard, and their labor, when it is forced uponthem, too often ineffective. Composition must be taught where collegeeducation proceeds--that is the truth of the matter; and if not taughtdirectly, then indirectly, with pain and with waste. 

The school of the Optimists approaches this question of writingEnglish with self-criticism and with a full realization of thedifficulties, and of the tentative nature of the methods now in use, but with confidence as to the possibility of ultimate success. Inorder to be an Optimist in composition you must have some stirrings ofdemocracy in your veins. You must be interested in the need of theaverage man to shape his writing into a useful tool that will servehis purposes, whether in the ministry or the soap business. This isthe utilitarian end of writing English. And you must be interested indeveloping his powers of self-expression, even when convinced that nogreat soul is longing for utterance, but only a commonplace humanmind--like your own--that will be eased by powers of writing and ofspeech. It is here that composition is of service to the imagination, and incidentally to culture; and I should speak more largely of thisservice if there were space in this chapter to bring forward all theaspects of college composition. It is the personal end of writingEnglish. If the average man turns out to be a superman with mightypurposes ahead, or if he has a great soul seeking utterance, he willhave far less need of your assistance; but you can aid him, nevertheless, and your aid will count as never before, and will beyour greatest personal reward, though no greater service to thecommunity than the countless hours spent upon the minds of themultitude. 

In order to be an Optimist it is still more important to understandthat writing English well depends first upon intellectual grasp, andsecond upon technical skill, and always upon both. As for the first, your boy, if you are the parent of an undergraduate, is undergoing acurious experience in college. Against his head a dozen teachers aredischarging round after round of information. Sometimes they miss;sometimes the shots glance off; sometimes the charge sinks in. And hisbrain is undergoing less obvious assaults. He is like the core of softiron in an electro-magnet upon which invisible influences areconstantly beating. His teachers are harassing his mind with methodsof thinking: the historical method; the experimental method ofscience; the interpretative method of literature. Unfortunately, thecharges of information too often lodge higgledy-piggledy, likebird-shot in a signboard; and the waves of influence make animpression which is too often incoherent and confused. If thehistorians really taught the youth to think historically from thebeginning, and the scientists really taught him to thinkscientifically from the beginning, and he could apply his new methodsof thought to the expression of his own emotions, experiences, life, then the teacher of composition might confine himself to the secondof his duties, and teach only that technique which makes writing touncoil itself as easily and as vividly as a necklace of matched andharmonious stones. In the University of Utopia we shall leave theorganization of thought to the other departments, and have plenty leftto do; but we are not yet in Utopia. 

At present, the teacher of composition stands like a sentry at thegates of knowledge, challenging all who come out speaking random wordsand thoughts; asking, "Have you thought it out?" "Have you thought itout clearly?" "Can you put your conclusions into adequate words?" Andif the answers are unsatisfactory, he must proceed to teach thatorderly, logical development of thought from cause to effect whichunderlies all provinces of knowledge, and reaches well into theunmapped territories of the imagination. But even in Utopiacomposition must remain the testing ground of education, though weshall hope for more satisfactory answers to our challenges. And evenin Utopia, where the undergraduate perfects his thinking whileacquiring his facts, it will be the duty of the teacher of writing tohelp him to apply his intellectual powers to his experiences, hisemotions, his imagination, in short, to self-expression. And therewill still remain the technique of writing. 

=How to teach college students the art of self-expression?=

Theoretically, when the undergraduate has assembled his thoughts he isready and competent to write them, but practically he is neitherentirely ready nor usually entirely competent. It is one thing toassemble an automobile; it is another thing to run it. The techniqueof writing is not nearly as interesting as the subject and the thoughtof writing; just as the method of riding a horse is not nearly asinteresting as the ride itself. And yet when you consider it as ameans to an end, as a subtle, elastic, and infinitely useful craft, the method of writing is not uninteresting even to those who have tolearn and not to teach it. The technique of composition has to do withwords. We are most of us inapt with words; even when ideas begin tocome plentifully they too often remain vague, shapeless, ineffective, for want of words to name them. And words can be taught--not merelythe words themselves, but their power, their suggestiveness, theirrightness or wrongness for the meaning sought. The technique ofwriting has to do with sentences. Good thinking makes good sentences, but the sentence must be flexible if it is to ease the thought. We canlearn its elasticity, we can practice the flow of clauses, until thewooden declaration which leaves half unexpressed gives place to afluent and accurate transcript of the mind, form fitting substance asthe vase the water within it. This technique has to do withparagraphs. The critic knows how few even among our professionalwriters master their paragraphs. It is not a dead, fixed form that isto be sought. It is rather a flexible development, which grows beneaththe reader's eye until the thought is opened with vigor and withtruth. It is interesting to search in the paragraph of an ineffectiveeditorial, an article, or theme, for the sentence that embodies thethought; to find it dropped like a turkey's egg where the firstopportunity offers, or hidden by the rank growth of comment andreflection about it. Such research is illuminating for those who donot believe in the teaching of composition; and if it begins at home, so much the better. And finally, the technique of writing has to dowith the whole, whether sonnet, or business letter, or report to aboard of directors. How to lead one thought into another; how toexclude the irrelevant; how to weigh upon that which is important; howto hold together the whole structure so that the subject, all thesubject, and nothing but the subject shall be laid before the reader;this requires good thinking, but good thinking without technical skillis like a strong arm in tennis without facility in the strokes. 

The program I have outlined is simpler in theory than in practice. Inpractice, it is easier to discover the disorder than the thought whichit confuses; in practice, technical skill must be forced uponundergraduates unaccustomed to thoroughness, in a country that in nodepartment of life, except perhaps business, has hitherto beencompelled to value technique. Even the optimist grows pessimisticsometimes in teaching composition. 

And yet in the teaching of English the results are perhaps moreevident than elsewhere in the whole range of college work. It iswonderful to see what can be accomplished by an enthusiast in thesport of transmuting brains into words. When the teacher seeks for hismaterial in the active interests of the student--whether athletics orengineering or literature or catching trout--when he stirs up thefiner interests, drawing off, as it were, the cream into words, theresults are convincing. Writing is one of the most fascinating, mostengaging of pursuits for the man with a craving to grasp the realityabout him and name it in words. And even for the undergraduate, whoseimagination is just developing, and whose brain protests againstlogical thought, it can be made as interesting as it is useful. 

The teaching of English composition in this country is a vast industryin which thousands of workmen are employed and in which a million orso of young minds are invested. I do not wish to take it tooseriously. There are many accomplishments more important for thewelfare of the race. And yet, if it be true that maturity of intellectis never attained without that clearness and accuracy of thinkingwhich can be made to show itself in good writing, then the failure ofthe undergraduate to write well is serious, and the struggle to makehim write better worthy of the attention of those who have children tobe educated. I do not think that success in this struggle will comethrough the policy of _laissez-faire_. All undergraduates profit byorganized help in their writing; many require it. I do not think thatsuccess will come by a pedantical insistence upon correctness in formwithout regard to the sense. Squeezing unwilling words fromindifferent minds may be discipline; it certainly is not teaching. Ithink that success will come only to the teacher who is a middlemanbetween thought and expression, valuing both. When we succeed inmaking the bulk of the undergraduates really think; when we caninspire them with a modicum of that passion for truth in words whichis the moving force of the good writer; when the schools help us andthe outside world demands and supports efficiency in diction; then weshall carry through the program of the Optimists. 

 HENRY SEIDEL CANBY _Yale University_

Footnotes:

[60] Reprinted in revised form from _College Sons and CollegeFathers_, Harper and Brothers. 

XX

THE TEACHING OF THE CLASSICS

=Significance of recent criticisms of the teaching of the classics=

Methods of teaching are determined to a large extent by appreciationof the objects to be attained. If teachers make clear to themselvesjust what they wish to accomplish, they will more easily develop themeans. The storm of objection now rising against the study of theClassics indicates clearly that there is a general dissatisfactionwith the result of this study. There is a striking unanimity on thissubject among persons of widely different talent and experience, ofwhom some are still students, while others are looking back upon theirtraining in school and college after years of mature life. Theiradverse criticism is all the more significant because often expressedwith obvious regret. Some, who have had unusual opportunities forobservation, state their opinion in no uncertain language. Forexample, Mr. Abraham Flexner, in his pamphlet "A Modern School, " onpage 18 says: "Neither Latin nor Greek would be contained in thecurriculum of the Modern School--not, of course, because theirliteratures are less wonderful than they are reputed to be, butbecause their present position in the curriculum rests upon traditionand assumption. A positive case can be made out for neither. " Thepresident of Columbia University, in his Annual Report for 1915-1916, page 15, speaking of the "teachers of the ancient classics, " says:"They have heretofore been all too successful in concealing from theirpupils the real significance and importance of Greek and Latinstudies. " Such criticisms, however, do not prove that the study of theClassics cannot accomplish all that its advocates claim for it, butonly that it is not now accomplishing satisfactory results. 

Undoubtedly there are various causes for a depreciation of classicalstudies at the present time. Other subjects, such as mathematics, aresuffering from a similar disparagement. In recent years interest hascentered more and more in studies designed to develop powers ofobservation, give knowledge of certain facts, or provide equipment forsome particular vocation, to the neglect of those which discipline themind or impart a general culture. It is certainly important, therefore, to consider the relative values of these various studies. To do so it is desirable to examine the aims of classical teaching andthe methods by which these aims may be realized; for it is at leastpossible that the widespread dissatisfaction with this teaching is duenot so much to the subject itself as to defects and insufficiency inthe methods employed. 

=The present aims of classical teaching=

Not all teachers of the Classics agree in all respects as to the aimsof their teaching. Certain aims, however, are common to all theclassical departments in American colleges. These are:

1. To train students, through the acquisition and use of the ancientlanguages, in memory, accuracy, analysis and logic, clearness andfluency of expression, and style. 

2. To enable certain students to read with profit and enjoyment themasterpieces of Greek and Latin literature. 

3. To impart to certain students a knowledge, as complete as possible, of the classical civilization as a whole. To a complete knowledge ofthis civilization belongs all that the ancients possessed or did, allthat they thought or wrote, whether or not any particular part of ithad an influence upon later times or is, in itself, interesting orvaluable now. All parts alike are phenomena of the life of theseancient peoples and so of the life of the human race. 

4. To impart a knowledge and understanding of the thoughts and ideas, the forms of expression, the institutions, and the experiences of theancients, in so far as these are either actually valuable inthemselves to the modern world or have influenced the development ofmodern civilization. 

Besides these aims which are common to all, there are certain othersless generally pursued by classical teachers in this country. Amongthese are:

5. To make students familiar with "the Greek (and Latin) in English, "i. E. With the etymology and history of words in our own language whichhad their origin in or through Greek or Latin. [61]

6. To trace the influences of the classic literature upon modernliterature and thought. [62]

7. To train those who expect to teach the Classics in pedagogicalmethods, and to familiarize them with modern pedagogicalappliances. [63]

8. To teach the language of the New Testament and of the ChurchFathers. [64]

The classical departments of some colleges also give courses in ModernGreek[65]: such courses, however, belong properly to the field ofModern Languages. 

Now it is by no means certain that all of these aims properly concernall classes of students. On the contrary, every one would doubtlessagree that those described under Nos. 7 and 8 do not concern theaverage student of the Classics. It is also a debatable questionwhether it should be the aim of classical teaching to give allclassical students some knowledge of the classic civilization as awhole; whether, for example, Aristophanes and Plautus, howeverimportant these authors may be for a complete understanding of theancient life and literature, are worth while for all classicalstudents alike. It is far more important, however, to determinewhether, in that which seems to many persons the chief business of aclassical department, all who study the masterpieces of the ancientliteratures should be taught to study them in the original language. 

=Teaching from the originals only=

No one doubts that classical departments should provide courses on theancient literature in the original, or that the æsthetic qualities ofa literature can be _fully_ appreciated only in the original language. Some people, however, maintain that every literary production isprimarily a work of art, and consequently that its æsthetic qualitiesare its most essential qualities: that to teach the classicalliterature through the medium of translations would be aiming at animperfect appreciation of its most essential qualities, and would alsodivert students from the study of its original form. Yet in mostcolleges courses on painting and sculpture are given through themedium of photographs, casts and copies, and no one questions thevalue and effectiveness of such courses, or doubts that they tend toincrease the desire of the students to know the originals themselves. Similarly courses on Greek literature in translations are given atmany American colleges, for example at Bucknell, California, Colorado, Harvard, [66] Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Lafayette, Leland Stanford, Michigan, Missouri, New York University, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Syracuse, Tennessee, Vermont, Washington University, Wesleyan, andWisconsin: courses in Latin literature in translations at California, Colorado, Kansas, Leland Stanford, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, andWashington University. Besides these there are courses at somecolleges on Greek or Roman Life and Thought, [67] or Life andLetters, [68] or Civilization, [69] most of which do not involve the useof the ancient languages on the part of the students. For example, atBrown courses which require no knowledge of the ancient languages aregiven in both Greek and Roman "Civilization as Illustrated by theLiterature, History and Monuments of Art. "[70] Harvard also offerscourses entitled "A Survey of Greek Civilization" and "A Survey ofRoman Civilization, Illustrated from the Monuments and Literature, " inwhich a knowledge of the ancient languages is not required. 

In deciding the question here at issue it is essential to distinguishbetween the different kinds of literature. The value of certainliterary productions undoubtedly consists chiefly in the æstheticqualities of their form; that is, the excellence and influence ofthese productions depends upon the particular language actually usedby the author. Such works of literature lose very much in translation, and it may be asserted with some reason that they lose their mostessential qualities. It may well be doubted, therefore, whether anyone can derive great pleasure or benefit from the study of the poemsof Sappho or the odes of Horace, for example, unless these are studiedin the original. The value of other literary productions, on the otherhand, lies partly in their form and partly in their content, or intheir content alone. It is quite a different question, therefore, whether one may derive a satisfactory pleasure and benefit from atranslation of the _Agamemnon_ of Æschylus or Thucydides' _History ofthe Peloponnesian War_, of Lucretius or Tacitus, to say nothing ofsuch books as Aristotle's _Constitution of Athens_. 

=Teaching only from classical texts=

There is another and still more important question connected with thetheory of classical teaching, namely whether all classical coursesshould be based upon or begin with the study of some classical text. Some are of the opinion that it is the business of classical teachersto teach the Greek and Latin languages, and the literatures in theselanguages, and that anything which cannot be taught best through thestudy of some portion of the classical literature in the originalshould be taught by some other department of the college. Consequentlyin some institutions courses on ancient literature in Englishtranslations are given by the English Department, [71] courses on Greekand Roman History, Archaeology, and Philosophy by the Departments ofHistory, Archaeology, and Philosophy, respectively, courses on theMethods and Equipment of Teaching the Classics by the Department ofPedagogy. 

Others, less extreme in their views, hold (_a_) that any study of theGreek or Roman civilization apart from the original ancient literaturewould be vague, discoursive, and unprofitable, and in particular thata discussion of a literature or of literary forms without animmediate, personal acquaintance with this literature or theseliterary forms in the original would not be useful, and (_b_) thatsuch courses would have little permanent value for the studentsbecause it would not be possible to compel the students to make mucheffort for themselves. 

Quite the opposite opinion on this most important question is held bythose who believe (_a_) that the study of the Classics should not beconfined to those who are now able, or may in the future be expected, to read the ancient literature in the original, (_b_) that there aresome things even about the ancient literature and civilization whichcan be taught more effectively without the loss of time and thedivision of attention involved in reading the ancient authors in theoriginal, and (_c_) that in courses such as those dealing with ancienthistory ancient books on these subjects, either in the original or intranslations, cannot properly be used as textbooks for the reasonthat, quite apart from their errors and misconceptions, these books donot contain, except incidentally, those phases of the ancient lifewhich are the most interesting and valuable to the modern world. Suchpersons consider that the attempt to convey an appreciation of theancient literature through those limited portions of it which can beread by the students in the original is necessarily ineffective. Theyhold that to appreciate any literature one must study it asliterature, --i. E. , as English literature should be studied by Englishstudents, French literature by French students, --and that literarystudy of this sort properly begins where translation and exegesisleave off. And finally, they maintain that the effort to give studentsa lively knowledge of ancient life or ancient history through theancient texts is precisely like the effort to illustrate ancient lifeby ancient works of art; e. G. , to give a student an idea of an ancientsoldier by showing him an ancient picture of a soldier. Suchillustrations convey instead the impression that ancient life was bothunattractive and unreal, that the study of it is childish andunpractical. [72]

=Courses in the ancient languages=

Many classical courses are designed primarily to teach the classicallanguages themselves, or to give mental training through the study anduse of these languages. Until recently most American colleges requiredfor admission an elementary knowledge of these languages involvingcommonly at least three years of preparatory training in Greek andfrom three to five years of preparatory Latin. Now, however, manycolleges provide courses for beginners in Greek, some also forbeginners in Latin. For example, courses for beginners in Greek aregiven at Bryn Mawr, University of California, Chicago, Colorado, Columbia, University of North Dakota, Dartmouth, Harvard, Idaho, Illinois, Johns Hopkins, Kansas, Lafayette, Leland Stanford, Michigan, New York University, Northwestern, University of Pennsylvania, University of Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Vermont, Washington University, Wesleyan, Williams, Wisconsin, Yale, and elsewhere. Courses forbeginners in Latin are given, for example, at the Universities ofIdaho, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Ordinarily these courses resemblein general plan and method the corresponding courses in secondaryschools; but inasmuch as the students are more mature, the progress ismuch more rapid. 

=The "Natural Method"=

In some institutions the attempt is made in teaching ancient Greek andLatin to employ methods used by the teachers of modern languages. Someclassical teachers have even adopted to some extent the so-called"natural" or "direct" method of language teaching[73]: commonly suchattempts have not been very successful, and where some degree ofsuccess has been attained the success seems due to the personality andenthusiasm of the individual teacher. Others have contented themselveswith devoting a part of certain courses to exercises designed to showthe students that the classical languages were at one time in dailyuse among living people and were the media of ordinary conversation[74]. Students in such courses commonly memorize certain colloquial phrasesand take part in simple conversations in which these phrases can beused. Such methods, skillfully employed, undoubtedly relieve thetedium of the familiar drill in grammar and "prose composition, " andmay help materially in imparting both a knowledge of the ancientlanguages and a facility in reading the ancient authors. 

An interesting experiment is now being tried at the University ofCalifornia in a course in Greek for beginners, given by Professor JamesT. Allen. The description of the course in the university catalogue isas follows: "An Introduction to the Greek Language based upon gradedselections from the works of Menander, Euclid, Aristophanes, Plato, Herodotus, and the New Testament. The method of presentation emphasizesthe living phrase, and has as its chief object the acquiring of readingpower. Mastery of essential forms; memorizing of quotations; practice inreading at sight. " This course has had considerable success. More thanthree hundred students have been enrolled thus far in a period of six orseven years, and some of these have testified that it was one of themost valuable courses they have had in any subject. One of the chiefadvantages has been that the students, while learning forms andvocabulary, are reading some real Greek, and that of first-ratequality. [75]

=Use of modern literature in ancient Greek or Latin=

Various attempts have been made, especially in recent years, toprovide for classical students modern stories in ancient Latin, in thebelief that modern students will acquire a practical knowledge of thelanguage more readily from such textbooks than from any parts of theancient literature. [76] The story of Robinson Crusoe was translatedinto Latin by G. F. Goffeaux, and this version has been edited andrepublished by Dr. Arcadius Avellanus, Philadelphia, 1900 (173 pages). An abridgement of the original edition was edited by P. A. Barnett, under the title _The Story of Robinson Crusoe in Latin, adapted fromDefoe by Goffeaux_, Longmans, Green and Co. , 1907. Among originalcompositions in ancient Latin for students may be mentioned (1)Ritchie's _Fabulae Faciles_, A First Latin Reader, edited by JohnCopeland Kirtland, Jr. , of Phillips Exeter Academy, Longmans, Green &Co. , 1903 (134 pages). (2) _The Fables of Orbilius_ by A. D. Godley, London, Edward Arnold, two small pamphlets, illustrated, containingshort and witty stories for beginners. (3) _Ora Maritima_, A LatinStory for Beginners, by E. A. Sonnenschein, seventh edition, 1908, London, Kegan, Paul and Co. ; New York, The Macmillan Company (157pages). This is the account of the experiences of some boys during asummer in Kent. (4) _Pro Patria_, A Latin Story for Beginners byProfessor E. A. Sonnenschein, London, Swan, Sonnenschein and Co. ; NewYork, The Macmillan Company, 1910 (188 pages). (5) _Rex Aurei Rivi, auctore Johanne Ruskin, Latine interpretatus est Arcadius Avellanus, Neo-eboraci_, 1914 (Published by E. P. Prentice). (6) F. G. Moore:_Porta Latina_, Fables of La Fontaine in a Latin Version, Ginn andCo. , 1915. 

A series of translations of modern fiction is now being produced underthe title of The Mount Hope Classics, published by Mr. E. P. Prentice, 37 Wall Street, New York City. The translator is Dr. ArcadiusAvellanus. The first of these appeared in 1914 under the title_Pericla Navarci Magonis_, this being a translation of _The Adventuresof Captain Mago_, or _With a Phoenician Expedition, B. C. 1000_, byLéon Cahun, Scribner's, 1889. The second volume, _Mons Spes et FabulaeAliae_, a collection of short stories, was published in 1918. Thethird, _Mysterium Arcae Boule_, published in 1916, is the well-knownMystery of the Boule Cabinet by Mr. Burton Egbert Stevenson. Thefourth, _Fabulae Divales_, published in 1918, is a collection of fairystories for young readers to which is added a version of Ovid's _Amoret Psyche_. 

Over these books a lively controversy has arisen between Dr. Avellanusand Mr. Charles H. Forbes, of Phillips Academy, Andover. [77]Undoubtedly the translator's style and vocabulary are far from beingstrictly in accord with the present canons of classical Latin. Heemploys a multitude of words and idioms unfamiliar to those whosereading has been confined to the masterpieces of the ancientliterature which are most commonly studied. On the other hand, theancient language is made in these books a medium of modern thought. The stories presented hold the attention, the vividness of thenarrative captivates the reader and carries him through theobscurities of diction and of style to a wholly unexpected realizationthat Latin is a real language after all. 

It is a serious question whether students can ever acquire a masteryof a language, or even a sufficient knowledge of it really toappreciate its literature, unless they learn to use this language toexpress their own thoughts. But it is evident that it is impossibleadequately to express modern ideas in the language of Cæsar andCicero. Those who would exclude the Latin of comparatively recentauthors such as Erasmus from the canon of the Latin which may betaught, as well as those who confine their teaching to the translationand parsing of certain texts, are raising the question whether theLatin language should be taught at all in modern times. 

Naturally less effort has been made to provide for students modernliterature in ancient Greek. At least one such book, however, isavailable, _The Greek War of Independence, 1821-27, told in classicalGreek for the use of beginners_ (with notes and exercises) by C. D. Chambers: published by Swan, Sonnenschein and Co. 

=Courses in "Prose Composition"=

In nearly all American colleges courses in Greek and Latin compositionare given, either as a means of mental training or in order to give amore complete mastery of these languages and a greater facility inreading the literature. In some places, for example at the Universityof California, a series of courses is given in both Greek and Latincomposition culminating in original compositions, translations ofselections from modern literature, and conversation in the ancientlanguages. Courses in Latin conversation[78] are given in other placesalso, and courses in the pronunciation of ancient Greek and Latin. [79]

All such courses belong to the general field of the study of theclassical languages as distinguished from the study of the literature, history, or any other phase of the classical civilization. This branchof language study, of course, includes such purely linguistic coursesas those in Comparative Philology, Comparative Grammar, the Morphologyof the Ancient Languages, Syntax, Dialects, etc. 

=Courses in literature=

The bulk of classical teaching in American colleges is devoted to theliterature. The great majority of all college courses in Latin andGreek have the same general characteristics. [80] A certain limitedportion of text is assigned for preparation. This text is thentranslated by the students in class, and the translation corrected. Grammatical and exegetical questions and the content of the passageare discussed. Most of the time at each meeting of the class isconsumed in such exercises. Generally lectures or informal talks aregiven by the instructor upon the life and personality of each authorwhose work is read, upon the life and thought of his times, upon theliterary activity as a whole, and upon the value of those selectionsfrom his works which are the subject of the course. Sometimes thestudents are required to read more of the original literature than canbe translated in class. Generally some collateral reading in Englishis assigned. Often the instructor reads to the class, usually from theoriginal, other portions of the ancient literature. 

The number and extent of such courses in the different institutionsvary according to the strength of the faculty, the plan of thecurriculum, and the number and demands of the students in each. In themain, however, the list of selections from the ancient literaturepresented in such courses in all the colleges is much the same. Manyof these courses deal with one particular author and his works, suchas Sophocles, Plato, Plautus, or Horace. Others deal with someparticular kind of literature, such as Greek tragedy or oratory, Latincomedy, etc. , or with a group of authors of different types combinedfor the sake of variety. [81]

=Methods commonly pursued=

The methods as well as the aims of such courses are well exemplifiedin the following passages contained in the _Circular of Information_for 1915-1916 of the University of Chicago, page 211: "Ability to readGreek with accuracy and ease, and intelligent enjoyment of themasterpieces of Greek literature are the indispensable prerequisitesof all higher Greek scholarship. All other interests that may attachto the study are subordinate to these, and their pursuit is positivelyharmful if it prematurely distracts the student's attention from hismain purpose. "

It is not immediately apparent what distinction is made here, if thereis any, between the "prerequisites" and the "main purpose" ofclassical scholarship. What the chief aim of classical teaching isaccording to this view, however, is made clear by the two paragraphswhich follow, as well as by the descriptions of the individual coursesoffered by the Chicago faculty. 

"In the work of the Junior Colleges the Department will keep thisprinciple steadily in view, and will endeavor to teach a practicalknowledge of Greek vocabulary and idiom, and to impart literary andhistoric culture by means of rapid viva voce translation andinterpretation of the simpler masterpieces of the literature. .. . In theSenior Colleges the chief stress will be laid on reading and exegesis, but the range of authors presented to the student's choice will beenlarged. "

=Value of such courses=

The advantage of such courses is that they make the students who takethem familiar with at least some limited portions of the best of theancient literature in its original form, and most people are agreedthat this is the only way in which students can be taught toappreciate that part of this literature, the value of which lieschiefly or wholly in its form. But people are not agreed upon two mostserious questions which arise in this connection. The first is whetherall students are capable of appreciating at all literature of thissort, especially when it is conveyed in an ancient and difficultlanguage. The other question is how much of the classical literaturereally depends for its values chiefly upon its form. To say that thePsalms and the Gospels have no value or little value for the worldapart from the original form and language in which they were writtenwould, of course, be absurd. Is it any less absurd to say that thestudy of the Homeric poems, the Attic tragedies, the works ofThucydides and Plato would have little value for students unless thisliterature were studied in the original language? These questionscannot properly be ignored any longer by teachers of the Classics. 

=Defects of these courses=

The defects of such courses are manifest to most persons. Students whopursue these courses through most of the years of secondary school andcollege fail to acquire either such a knowledge of the Greek and Latinlanguages as would enable them to read with pleasure and profit aGreek or Latin book, or such a knowledge of the Greek and Romanliterature and civilization as would enable them to appreciate thevalue of classical studies. Many of them graduate from college withouteven knowing that there is anything really worthy of their attentionin the classical literatures. The fact stares the teachers of theClassics grimly in the face that they are not accomplishing the aimswhich they profess. 

One explanation of this fact suggests itself. In the classical coursescommonly given in American colleges the attention paid to the contentof the literature, to the author and his times--the lectures andreadings by the instructor, the discussion of archaeological, historical, literary, and philosophical matters introduced into thecourse, --distract attention from the study of the language itself, andcheck this study before a real mastery of the language has beensecured. On the other hand, the time and still more the attentiondevoted in these courses to the mere process of translation detractsfrom the appreciation of the literature and obstructs the study ofthe life and thought. In attempting to accomplish both purposes inthese courses the teachers fail to accomplish either, and the resultis chiefly a certain mental training, the practical value of whichdepends largely upon the mental capacity and skill of each individualteacher, and is not readily appreciated. 

=Courses not requiring knowledge of the ancient languages=

To obviate some of these defects, and also to provide courses on Greekand Roman culture for those unfamiliar with the ancient languages, courses which require no use of these languages are now given atvarious colleges on Classical Literature or Civilization. [82] A courseon the "Greek Epic" at the University of California is described asfollows: "A study chiefly of the Iliad and the Odyssey; their form, origin, and content; Homeric and pre-Homeric Aegean civilizations;relative merits of modern translations; influence of the Homeric poemson the later Greek, Roman, and modern literature. Lectures (partlyillustrated), assigned readings, discussions, and reports. " The courseat Harvard entitled "Survey of Greek Civilization" is "A lecturecourse, with written tests on a large body of private reading (mostlyin English). No knowledge of Greek is required beyond the terms whichmust necessarily be learned to understand the subject. " "Theprescribed reading includes translations of Greek authors as well asmodern books on Greek life and thought. " The lecturer frequently readsand comments upon selections from the ancient literature. At BrownUniversity a course is given on Greek Civilization, including thefollowing topics: I Topography of Greece, II Prehistoric Greece, IIIThe Language, IV Early Greece (The Makers of Homer, Expansion ofGreece, Tyrannies, The New Poetry, etc. ), V The Transition Century, 600-500 B. C. ((_a_) Government and Political Life, (_b_) Literature, (_c_) art), VI The Classical Epoch, 500-338 B. C. ((_a_) Political andMilitary History, (_b_) Literature, (_c_) The Fine Arts), VII TheHellenistic and Græco-Roman Periods, ((_a_) History, (_b_) Literature, (_c_) Philosophy, (_d_) Learning and Science, (_e_) Art), VIII TheSequel of Greek History (The Byzantine Empire, the ItalianRenaissance, Mediæval and Modern Greece). This is described as "Whollya lecture course, with frequent written tests, examination of thenotebooks, and a final examination on the whole. Definite selectionsof the most conspicuous authors are required in English translations. "The Lecturer also reads selections from Homer, the Greek drama, Pindar, etc. Similar courses on Roman civilization are given at bothBrown and Harvard. There is also a course of fifteen lectures on"Greek Civilization" at Vermont; "The Culture History of Rome, lectures with supplementary reading in English, " at WashingtonUniversity; "Greek Civilization, lectures and collateral reading onthe political institutions, the art, religion, and scientific thoughtof ancient Greece in relation to modern civilization, " at Wesleyan;"The Role of the Greeks in Civilization" at Wisconsin. [83]

=Defects of the lecture system=

Whatever success such courses may have, they are open to onecriticism. Most, if not all of them, appear to be primarily lecturecourses, with more or less collateral reading controlled by tests andexaminations. The experience of many, however, justifies to someextent the belief that college students derive little benefit fromcollateral reading controlled only in this way, because such readingis commonly most superficial. Little mental training, therefore, isinvolved in courses such as those just described, and the ideas whichthe students acquire in them are chiefly those given to them byothers. And it may reasonably be doubted whether the value to thestudents of ideas received in this way is comparable to the value ofthose which they are led to discover for themselves. So far, then, assuch courses fail to accomplish the purposes for which they weredesigned, their failure may be due wholly to this cause. 

=The study of literature apart from its original language=

It is entirely possible to conceive of courses in which no use of theancient languages would be required, but in which the students wouldacquire by their own efforts a knowledge of the classical literatureand civilization far more extensive and more satisfying than incourses largely devoted to translating from Greek and Latin. Suchcourses would not merely substitute English translations for theoriginals, and treat these translations as the originals are treatedin courses of the traditional type; the ancient literature would bestudied in the same way as English literature is studied. For example, in a course of this kind on Greek literature, in dealing with theOdyssey the students would discuss in class, or present writtenreports upon, the composition of the poem as a whole, and the relationto the main plot of different episodes such as the quest ofTelemachus, his visit to Pylos and Lacedæmon, the scene in Calypso'scave, the building of the raft, the arrival of Odysseus among thePhæacians, his account of his own adventures, his return to Ithaca, the slaying of the wooers, etc. ; also the characters of the poem, their individual experiences and behavior in various circumstances, and the ideas which they express, comparing these characters and ideaswith those of modern times. In dealing with the drama, the studentswould study the composition of each play, present its plot innarrative form, and criticize it from the dramatic as well as from theliterary standpoint; they would discuss the characters and situations, and the ideas embodied in each. [84] In dealing with Thucydides theywould discuss the plan of his book and the artistic elements in itscomposition; also the critical standards of the author, his methods, his objectivity, and his personal bias. They would study the debatesin which the arguments on both sides of great issues are presented, expressing their own opinions on the questions involved. They wouldstudy the great descriptions, such as the account of the siege ofPlatæa, the plague at Athens, the last fight in the harbor ofSyracuse, making a summary in their own language of the most essentialor effective details. Lastly they would discuss such figures asPericles, Nicias and Alcibiades, Archidamus, Brasidas and Hermocrates, their characters, principles, and motives. In dealing with Plato theywould study the character of Socrates and those ideas contained in thePlatonic dialogues which can be most readily comprehended by collegestudents. 

=Classical studies not confined to the ancient authors=

The study of "The Classics" is not properly confined to the Greek andLatin literatures: it includes the military, political, social, andeconomic history of the ancient Greeks and Romans, their institutions, their religion, morals, philosophy, science, art, and private life. The geography and topography of ancient lands, anthropology andethnology, archaeology and epigraphy contribute to its material. It isnot necessary that all these subjects be taught by members of aclassical department. In particular it is the common practice in thiscountry to relegate the study of ancient philosophy to the Departmentof Philosophy, whereas in England and on the Continent suchdistinctions between departments are not recognized. But certainlythese branches of the study of the classical civilization should betaught best by those most familiar with the classical civilization inall its phases, and most thoroughly trained in the interpretation andcriticism of its literature. It is also obvious that the teaching ofthe classical literature would be emasculated if it were separatedfrom these other subjects mentioned. Only, such subjects as historyshould not be taught from the literary point of view. History shouldbe an account of what actually took place, derived from everyavailable source and not from a synthesis of a literary tradition. Inthis respect the teachers of the Classics have from the earliest timesmade the most serious mistakes. To some extent the same charges may bebrought against the methods and traditions of the teachers of modernhistory. The teaching of Greek and Roman history, however, is affectedin a peculiar degree by the traditions of classical scholarship. Thehistorical courses given by most classical teachers are based upon thetranslation and discussion of the works of certain ancient authors, whose accounts are not only false and misleading in many respects, butcharacteristically omit those factors in the ancient life which arethe most significant and interesting to the modern world. Such coursesbegin by implanting false impressions which no amount of explanationcan eradicate. The ancient world, therefore, is made to appear tomodern students unreal and unworthy of serious attention: it is notstrange that they are dissatisfied with such teaching, and that itseems to many practically worthless. A true picture of the life andexperience of the ancient Greeks and Romans would appear bothinteresting and profitable to a normal college student. 

=Summary of objects to be sought in the teaching of the classics=

The aims of the teaching of the Classics in American colleges shouldbe to give, in addition to a training of the mind:

1. An appreciation of the best of the classical literature. For thisis, in many respects, the best literature which we have at all, evenwhen without any allowances it is compared with the best of modernliteratures. Much of it is universal in character. It is also thefoundation of the modern literatures. By learning to appreciate it, students would learn to judge and appreciate all literature. 

2. A familiarity with the characters and narratives of the ancientliterature. The knowledge of these characters, their behavior undervarious vicissitudes of fortune, and their experiences, would ofitself be a valuable possession and equipment for life. 

3. A knowledge of the ideas of the ancient Greeks and Romans, revealedand developed in their literature, and tested in the realities oftheir life. Many of these ideas are of the utmost value today, and arein danger of being overlooked and forgotten in this materialistic ageof ours, unless they are constantly recalled to our minds by suchstudies. 

4. A knowledge of the actual experiences of the ancients, asindividuals and as nations, their experiments in democracy and otherforms of government, in imperialism, arbitration, and the like, theirsolutions of the moral, social, and economic problems which were asprominent in their world as in ours. 

To realize these aims old methods should be revised and improved, newmethods developed. For there can hardly be a study more valuable andpractical than this. 

 WILLIAM K. PRENTICE _Princeton University_

Footnotes:

[61] For example, at the University of Kansas. 

[62] Leland Stanford, Michigan, Princeton. 

[63] California, North Dakota, Harvard, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Leland Stanford, Michigan, Oberlin, Otterbein, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Wisconsin, Yale, etc. Some of these courses are offered only tograduate students, and some are given by the Departments ofPedagogics. 

[64] In New Testament or Patristic Greek at Austin, Bucknell, California, Cornell, Harvard, Illinois, Lafayette, Michigan, Millsaps, Trinity, Wesleyan. In Patristic Latin, Bucknell and elsewhere. 

[65] Brown, Cornell, Leland Stanford. 

 [_N. B. _ These lists are by no means complete. ]

[66] History of Greek Tragedy. Lectures with reading and study of theplays of Æschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. Requires no knowledge ofthe Greek language. 

[67] E. G. , Columbia, Lafayette. 

[68] California, Washington University. 

[69] Colorado, Idaho, Syracuse, Vermont, Washington University, Wesleyan, Wisconsin. 

[70] It should be noted that at Brown the titles of the classicaldepartments are "The Department of Greek Literature and History" and"The Department of Roman Literature and History. "

[71] At Cornell and Oberlin, for example. 

[72] See especially Clarence P. Bill. "The Business of a College GreekDepartment, " _Classical Journal_, IX (1913-14), pp. 111-121. 

[73] See the article by Mr. Theodosius S. Tyng in _Classical Weekly_, VIII (1915), Nos. 24 and 25. Also M. J. Russell: "The Direct Method ofTeaching Latin, " in the _Classical Journal_, XII (1916), pages209-211, and other articles on this subject in the _Classical Journal_and the _Classical Weekly_ in recent years. 

[74] For example, "Latin Conversation, " at Columbia; "Oral Latin, " atLeland Stanford; "Sight Reading and Latin Speaking, " at New YorkUniversity. 

[75] See Professor Allen's article, "The First Year of Greek, " in the_Classical Journal_, X (1915), pages 262-266. 

[76] As early as the seventeenth century books were produced which maybe regarded as the forerunners of this sort of modern composition inthe ancient language. One of these was published in 1604 under thetitle: "Iocorum atque seriorum tum novorum tum selectorum atquememorabilium libri duo, recensente Othone Melandro. " Another is the"Terentius Christianus seu Comoediae Sacrae--Terentiano stylo a Corn. Schonaeo Goudono conscriptae, editio nova Amstelodami 1646": thisincludes dramas such as Naaman (princeps Syrus), Tobaeus (senex), Saulus, Iuditha, Susanna, Ananias, etc. Still another is the "PoesisDramatica Nicolai Amancini S. J. , " in two parts, published in 1674 and1675. A century later there appeared a story which, judging from itstitle, was designed primarily for students: "Joachimi Henrici CampeRobinson Secundus Tironum causa latine vertit Philippus JuliusLieberkühn, " Zullich, 1785. 

[77] See the _Classical Journal_, XI (1914), pages 25-32; _ClassicalWeekly_, IX (1915-16), pages 149-151; X (1916), pages 38 f. ;_Classical Weekly_, X (1916), pages 37 f. 

[78] See note 2, page 411. 

[79] Columbia. 

[80] This is true of the courses in secondary schools and graduatecourses in universities also; but in the secondary and graduateschools the proportion of translation courses to the others issmaller. 

[81] For example, at Harvard one course includes Plato, Lysias, LyricPoetry, and Euripides, with lectures on the history of Greekliterature; another Livy, Terence, Horace and other Latin Poets. 

[82] See above, page 407 f. 

[83] For a fuller list of institutions where classical courses notrequiring a knowledge of the ancient languages are given see above, page 407. 

[84] "Die höchste Aufgabe bei der Lektüre des griechischen Dramas seidas Stück Leben, das uns der Dichter vor Augen führt, in seinem vollenInhalt miterleben zu lassen. " C. Wunderer, in _Blätter für dasGymnasial-Schulwesen_, Vol. LII (1916), 1. 

XXI

THE TEACHING OF THE ROMANCE LANGUAGES

=The college course must emphasize power, not facts=

IT is well at times to emphasize old truths, mainly because they areold and are consecrated by experience. One of these, frequentlycombated nowadays, is that any college course--worthy of the name--hasother than utilitarian ends. I therefore declare my belief that thestudent does not go to college primarily to acquire facts. These hecan learn from books or from private instruction. _Me judice_--he goesto college primarily to learn _how to interpret_ facts, and to arrivethrough this experience at their practical as well as their theoreticvalue: as respects himself, as respects others, and in an everwidening circle as regards humanity in general. The first object, thus, of a college course is to humanize the individual, to emancipatehim intellectually and emotionally from his prejudices and conventionsby giving him a wider horizon, a sounder judgment, a firmer and yet amore tolerant point of view. "Our proclivity to details, " saidEmerson, "cannot quite degrade our life and divest it of poetry. " Thecollege seizes upon the liberating instinct of youth and utilizes itfor all it is worth. We summarize by saying that the college preparesnot merely for "life" but for "living"; so that the society whom theindividual serves will be served by him loyally, intelligently, andbroad-mindedly, with an increasing understanding of its aims andpurposes. 

=The college can attain its aim only when the student brings necessaryfacts from secondary schools=

This, let us assume, is the somewhat lofty ideal. What about itsconcrete realization? Especially when the subject is a language, which, considering that it consists of parts of speech, inflections, phonetics, etc. , is a very practical matter and apparently far removedfrom the ideal in question. Every language teacher is familiar withthis stock objection. How often has he not been told that hisbusiness is not to teach French culture or Spanish life, but Frenchand Spanish? And as everybody knows, French and Spanish are notlearned in a day, nor, indeed, if we judge by the average graduate ofour colleges, in four years of classroom work. It is not my purpose tocombat the contention that college French or Spanish or Italian couldbe taught better, and that from a utilitarian point of view thesubject is capable of a great deal of improvement. As ProfessorGrandgent has trenchantly said "I do not believe there is or ever wasa language more difficult to acquire than French; most of us can nameworthy persons who have been assiduously struggling with it fromchildhood to mature age, and who do not know it now: yet it is treatedas something any one can pick up offhand. .. . French staggers under thefearful burden of apparent easiness. " I do not think these wordsoverstate the case. All the more reason, then, to bear in mind thatthe burden of this accomplishment should not fall on the collegecourse alone, or, I should even say, on the college course at all. Forthe fact is that a thorough knowledge of the Romance tongues cannot beacquired in any college course, and to attack the problem from thatangle alone is to attempt the impossible. It is on the school, and noton the college, that the obligation of the practical language problemrests. If our students are to become proficient in French--in thesense that they can not only read it but write and speak it withpassable success--the language must be begun early, in the gradeschool (when memory and apperception are still fresh), and thencarried forward systematically over a period of from six to sevenyears. But this will require on the part of our schools: (1) a longertime allotment to the subject than it now generally has, (2) a closerarticulation between the grade-school, high-school, and collegecourses, and (3) the appointment of better and higher-paid teachers ofthe subject. An encouraging move is being made in many parts of thecountry to carry out this plan, though of course we are still a longway from its realization; and when it is realized we shall not yethave reached the millennium. But at least we shall have given thepractical teaching of the subject a chance, comparable to theopportunity it has in Europe; and the complaint against the French andSpanish teacher--if there still be a chronic complaint--will haveother grounds than the one we so commonly hear at present. 

=Limitations of elementary and intermediate courses as college courses=

In the meantime, let us remember that the college has other, and morepressing, things to do than to attempt to supply the shortcomings ofthe school. It is certainly essential that the college should continueand develop the practical work of the school in various ways, such asadvanced exercises and lectures in the foreign idiom, specialconversation classes, and the like--if only for the simple reason thata language that is not used soon falls into desuetude and isforgotten. But assuredly the so-called elementary, intermediate, andadvanced courses in French and Spanish (as given in college) do notfall under that head. They exist in the college by _tolerance_ ratherthan by sound pedagogical theory, and the effort now being made toforce all such courses back into the school by reducing the college"credits" they give is worthy of undivided support. Not only are theyout of place in the college program, but the burden of numerous andoften large "sections" in these courses has seriously impeded thecollege in its proper language work. The college in its true functionis the clarifier of ideas, the correlator of facts, the molder ofpersonalities; and the student of modern languages should entercollege prepared to study his subject from the college point of view. Much of the apparent "silliness" of the French class which our morevirile undergraduates object to would be obviated if a largerpercentage of them could at once enter upon the more advanced phasesof the subject. It is, then, to their interest, to the interest of thesubject, and to the advantage of the college concerned, that thisreform be brought about. 

=Aim of the teaching of Romance languages in the college=

In any case, the function of a college subject can be stated, asPresident Meiklejohn has stated it, in terms of two principles. Hesays: "The first is shared by both liberal and technical teaching. The second applies to liberal education alone. The principles arethese: (1) that activity guided by ideas is on the whole moresuccessful than the same activity without the control of ideas, and(2) that in the activities common to all men the guidance of ideas isquite as essential as in the case of those which different groups ofmen carry on in differentiation from one another. " As applied to theRomance languages, this means that while the college must of coursegive "technical" instruction in language, the emphasis of thatinstruction should be upon the "ideas" which the language expresses, in itself and in its literature. It is not enough that the collegestudent should gain fluency in French or Spanish, he must also andprimarily be made conscious of the processes of language, its logicaland æsthetic values, the civilization it expresses, and the thoughtsit has to convey. While it may be said that all thorough languageinstruction accomplishes this incidentally, the college makes this_the_ aim of its teaching. The college should furnish an objectiveappraisal of the fundamental elements of the foreign idiom, not merelya subjective (and often superficial) mastery of details. For the oldstatement remains true that--when properly studied--"proverbs, words, and grammar inflections convey the public sense with more purity andprecision than the wisest individual";[85] and what shall we say when"literature" is added to this list?

=Status of Romance languages in representative colleges--Early status=

From these preliminary observations let us now turn to the presentstatus of Romance languages in some of our representativecolleges. [86] One gratifying fact may be noted at once. Whereas aquarter of a century ago Greek and Latin were still considered the_sine qua non_ of a liberal education, today French and German, and toa lesser extent Spanish and Italian, have their legitimate share inthis distinction. Indeed, to judge merely by the number of students, they would seem to have replaced Latin and Greek. To be sure, severalcolleges, as for instance Amherst and Chicago, alarmed by this swingof the pendulum, have reserved the B. A. Degree for the traditionalclassical discipline. But in the first case the entire curriculumincludes "two years of Greek or Latin, " and in the second the B. A. Students comprise but a very small percentage of the college body; andwhile in both cases Latin and Greek are required subjects, Romance isadmitted as an elective, in which--to mention only Amherst--sixconsecutive semester courses, covering the main phases of modernFrench literature, can be chosen. As noted, the recognition of modernlanguages as cultural subjects is relatively recent. As late as 1884 acommission, appointed by the Modern Language Association, found that"few colleges have a modern language requirement for admission to thecourse in arts; . .. Of the fifty reported, three require French, twooffer an election between French and German, and two require bothFrench and German. " And of these same colleges, "eighteen require noforeign language, twenty-nine require either French or German, andeighteen require both French and German, for graduation in the arts. "

Obviously, few (at most seven) of the colleges examined admittedstudents prepared to take advanced courses in French; and onlyeighteen, or 36 per cent, allowed students to begin French in thefreshman year, over one half of the entire number postponing thebeginners' French until the sophomore, junior, or even senior year. Itis clear, therefore, that as late as 1864, and in spite of suchillustrious examples as that set by Harvard in the appointment ofTicknor to the Smith professorship in 1816, the Romance languagescould hardly be classed as a recognized college subject. At best, theywere taught on the principles that "it is never too late to learn, "and although this teaching failed from the "practical" point of view, it yet had little or no opportunity to concern itself with thecultural aspects of the subject. No wonder the commissionreported[87] that in the circumstances "a mastery of language, as wellas a comprehensive study of the literature, is impossible. " With thepart played by our Greek and Latin colleagues in keeping the modernlanguages out of the curriculum we need not deal in detail here. It isenough, in order to explain their attitude, to observe that previousto 1884 the teaching of modern languages was generally poor: it wasintrusted for the most part to foreigners, who, being usually ignorantof the finer shades of English and woefully ignorant of Americanstudents, could not have been expected to succeed, or to nativeAmericans, who for various and often excellent reasons lacked theproper training, and therefore succeeded--when in rare cases they didsucceed--in spite of their qualifications rather than because of them. Add to all this the conviction natural to every classicist, that Latinand Greek are the keys to all Western civilization and that withoutthem Romance literatures (not to say "languages") are incomprehensible, and the situation up to the 90's is amply clear. 

=Contemporary status of Romance Languages in college curricula=

Today, then, conditions are changed, and for better or worse theRomance tongues are on a par with other collegiate subjects. A glanceat the latest statistics is instructive. In 1910, out of 340 collegesand universities in the United States, 328 taught French; 112 (theuniversities) offered more than four years' instruction, 50 offeredfour years, 90 three years, 68 two years, and only 8 one year. Thepresent status can easily be divined: the interest in Spanish hascertainly not waned, while the interest in French has grown by leapsand bounds. Some curtailment there has been, owing to the adoption ofthe "group system" of studies on the part of most of the colleges, andas the colleges are relieved of more and more of the elementary workthere doubtless will be more. But, in any case, it is safe to say thatFrench, Spanish, and Italian are now firmly installed as liberalstudies in the curricula of most of our colleges. Now, how do theyfulfill this function? What changes will be necessary in order thatthey may fulfill it better? What particular advantages have they tooffer as a college subject? A brief consideration of each of thesepoints follows. 

In general, our colleges require fifteen units of entrance credit andabout twenty collegiate units for the college degree. [88] Of theentrance units, a maximum of four in French and two in Spanish isallowed; and of the college units, an average of five, or about onefourth of the entire college work, [89] must be taken consecutively in_one_ department of study or in not more than _two_ departments. Thislast group of approximately five units thus constitutes, so to speak, the backbone of the student's work. It is his so-called "principalsequence" (Chicago) or his "two majors" (Amherst) or his "majorsubject" (Wisconsin and Colorado); and while in the case of Amherst itcannot be begun "until after the freshman year, " in general it must bebegun by the junior year. Considerable variety prevails, of course, incarrying out this idea; for example, Johns Hopkins requires "at leasttwo courses in the major and at least two in some cognate subject. "Harvard states that "every student shall take at least six of hiscourses in some one department, or in one of the recognized fields ofdistinction. " Princeton demands of "every junior and senior . .. Atleast two 3-hour courses in some one department. " But almost allrepresentative colleges now recognize four general groups of study:Philosophy (including history), language, science, and mathematics;and the student's work must be so arranged that while it is fairlyevenly distributed over three of the groups it is at the same timedefinitely concentrated in one of them. 

=Normal prescription in a Romance Language=

In answer to our first question, it follows that the student enteringwith the maximum of French should be able, before graduation, to getenough advanced courses to give him an intelligent grasp of theliterature as well as the language. In our better-equipped collegesthis is undoubtedly the case. Harvard, for instance, would admit himto a course (French 2) in French Prose and Poetry, which includes some"composition, " to be followed by (6) a General View of FrenchLiterature, (8) French Literature in the Eighteenth Century, (9)French Literature in the Seventeenth Century, (16) Comedy of Mannersin France, (17) Literary Criticism in France; and in some of thesecourses the linguistic aspects would be considered in the form of"themes, " "reports, " etc. , while the student could choose (5) AdvancedFrench Composition for that special purpose. Other colleges (e. G. , Johns Hopkins, Chicago, Stanford) offer the same or similaropportunities. So that, although titles of courses are oftendeceptive, the general plan of offering (1) an introductory course inwhich both the language and the literature are treated, (2) asurvey-course in literature, leading to (3) various courses inliterature after 1600, and supported by (4) at least one specificcourse in language, now constitutes the normal collegiate "major" inFrench; and, on the whole, it would be difficult in the presentcircumstances to devise a better plan. 

=Changes in current practice that will enhance effectiveness of teachingof Romance Languages--Danger of minimizing the language phase=

It is obvious that the success of any plan depends on the thoroughnesswith which it is carried out, and this in turn depends on thequalifications and energy of those who have the matter in hand. Thatcontingency does not concern us here. But what is worth noting is thatthe fourth point mentioned above, --the specific language part of the"major"--might be strengthened, especially since some excellentinstitutions omit this consideration entirely. The danger of fallingbetween two stools is never greater, it seems, than in treating bothlanguage and literature. An instructor who is bent on elucidating therange of Anatole France's thought naturally has little time to dealadequately with his rich vocabulary, his deft use of tense, the subtlestructure of his phrase--and yet who can be said really to "know" suchan author if he be ignorant of either side of his work? "Thoughtexpands but lames, " said Goethe--unless it is constantly controlled byfact. In order to give the undergraduate that control, it is essentialthat he should be placed in the position everywhere to verify hisauthor's thought. How difficult it is to bring even the best of ourundergraduates to this point I need not discuss. But at least once inthe process of his work he might be held to a stricter account thanelsewhere. And if we ask ourselves by what method this can best beaccomplished, I believe the answer is by some _special_ course inwhich the language of several representative writers is treated assuch. [90] The point could be elaborated, particularly in view of thepresent-day tendency to dwell unduly on so-called _realia_, Frenchdaily life, and the like--all legitimate enough in their proper timeand place. But enough has been said to show that excellent as thepresent plan is, it could without detriment enlarge the place given tolinguistics. In this bewildered age of ours we are forever hearing thecry of "literature, " more "literature": not only our students but ourteachers--and the connection is obvious--find language study dull anduninspiring, oblivious to the fact that the fault is theirs and notthe subject's. Yet, as we observed above, French is "hard, " and itsgrammatical structure, apparently so simple, is in truth verycomplicated. Manifestly, to understand a foreign literature we mustunderstand the language in which it is written. How few of ourstudents really do! Moreover, language and literature are ultimatelyonly parts of one indivisible entity: Philology--though the fact oftenescapes us. "The most effective work, " said Gildersleeve, [91] "is doneby those who see all in the one as well as one in the all. " Andstrange as it appears to the laity, a linguistic fact may convey auniversal lesson. I hesitate to generalize, but I believe most of ourcolleges need to emphasize the language side of the French "major"more. 

=Relative positions of French, Spanish, and Italian in a college course=

As for Italian and Spanish, few of the colleges as yet grant thesesubjects the importance given to French. For one reason, entrancecredit in Italian is extremely rare, and neither there nor in Spanish, in which it is now rather common, owing to the teaching of Spanish inthe high schools, does it exceed two units. Some work of an elementarynature must therefore be done in the college; indeed, at Amherstneither language can be begun until the sophomore year--thoughfortunately this is an isolated case. Further, even when the collegeis prepared to teach these subjects adequately, it is still adebatable question whether they are entitled to precisely the sameconsideration as their more venerable sister. It is unnecessary topoint out that such great names as Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, Alfieri, Leopardi, Carducci, Cervantes, Calderón, Lope de Vega, Benavente, _e tutti quanti_, are abundant evidence of the value ofItalian and Spanish culture. They unquestionably are. Where theemphasis is cultural, it would certainly be unwise to neglect Italian, since the Renaissance is Italian and underlies modern European culturein general. On the other hand, Spanish is, so to speak, at our verydoors because of our island possessions: it is the _one_ foreignlanguage which calls for no argument to make the undergraduate willingto learn to speak, and Spanish literature, especially in the drama, has the same romantic freedom as English literature and is thusreadily accessible to the American type of mind. Pedagogically, thus, the question is far from simple. But while it is impossible to laydown any fixed precept, it seems worth while to remember: that theFrench genius is preëminently the vehicle of definite and clear ideas, that in a very real sense France has been and is the intellectualclearinghouse of the world, and that potentially, at least, hercivilization is of the greatest value to our intellectually dull andundiscriminating youth. From French, better than from Italian andSpanish, he can learn the discipline of accurate expression, of cleararticulation, and the enlightenment that springs from contact with"general ideas. " Moreover, we must not forget that the undergraduate'stime is limited and that under the "group system" some discriminationmust necessarily be made. Granted, then, that, all things considered, the first place will doubtless be left to French, the question remainswhether the attention given to Spanish and Italian is at leastadequate. And do the colleges extract from them the values theyshould?

As a general proposition, we may take it for granted that the collegeshould offer at least _four_ units in each of these subjects. ForSpanish, certainly, the tendency will be to make the proportionlarger. But two units devoted to learning the language and two devotedto the literature may be regarded as essential, and are as a matter offact the common practice. Several illustrations will make this clear. _Johns Hopkins_ offers: in Italian, 1. Grammar, Short Stories, etc. , 2. Grammar, Written Exercises, Selections from classic authors, Lectures on Italian Literature; in Spanish, 1. Grammar, Oral andwritten exercises, Reading from Alarcón, Valdés, etc. , 2. ContemporaryNovel and Drama, Oral practice, Grammar and Composition, 3. TheClassic Drama and Cervantes, oral practice, etc. , History of SpanishLiterature. _Illinois_: in Italian, 1a-1b Elementary Course, 2a-2bItalian Literature, nineteenth century; in Spanish, 1a-1b ElementaryCourse, 2a-2b Modern Spanish, 3a-3b Introduction to SpanishLiterature, 4a-4b Business Correspondence and Conversation, 5a-5bBusiness Practice in Spanish, 11a-11b The Spanish Drama of theSixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, 17a-17b The Spanish Drama of theNineteenth Century. _Harvard_: in Italian, 1. Italian Grammar, readingand composition, 4. General View of Italian Literature, 5. ModernItalian Literature, 2. Italian Literature of the Fifteenth andSixteenth Centuries, 10. The Works of Dante; in Spanish, 1. SpanishGrammar, reading and composition, 7. Spanish Composition, 8. SpanishComposition and Conversation (advanced course), 4. General View ofSpanish Literature, 5. Spanish Prose and Poetry of the Eighteenth andNineteenth Centuries, 2. Spanish Literature of the Sixteenth andSeventeenth Centuries. [92]

Since Spanish and Italian fall into the department of Romancelanguages, in order to make up his "major" the student is at presentcompelled to combine them with French. On the whole, this arrangementappears to me wise. To be sure, the deans of our colleges of commerceand administration will say that, granting the greater cultural valueof French, the business interests of the country will force usnevertheless to give Spanish the same place in the curriculum asFrench. And the more radical educators will affirm with Mr. Flexner:[93] "Languages have no value in themselves; they exist solelyfor the purpose of communicating ideas and abbreviating our thoughtand action processes. If studied, they are valuable only in so far asthey are practically mastered--not otherwise. " I have taken a standagainst this matter-of-fact conception of education throughout thischapter. I may now return to the charge by adding that the banality ofour college students' thinking stares us in the face; if we wish toquicken it, to refine it, we should have them study other media ofexpression _qua_ expression besides their own (that is what Europe didin the Renaissance, and the example of the Renaissance is stillpertinent); that if Mr. Flexner's reasoning were valid the Frenchmight without detriment convey their "ideas" in Volapük or Ido (Isuggest that Mr. Flexner subject Anatole France to this test); andthat instead of being valueless in themselves, on the contrary, languages are the repositories of the ages: "We infer, " said Emerson, "the spirit of the nation in great measure from the language, which isa sort of monument in which each forcible individual in the course ofmany hundred years has contributed a stone. " In other words, howevergreat the claim of Spanish as "a practical subject" may be andwhatever concessions our schools and colleges may make to this fact, Istill believe that Spanish should be subordinated as a college subjectto the study of French. In principle we may admit the Spanish "major, "as in fact we do at present with the Italian "major"; but someknowledge of French on the part of the student should be presupposed, or if not, it should be a required part of the Spanish sequence. Thismay seem extreme, but in reality few students would wish to proceedfar in Spanish without some French, and, practically, the knowledge ofone Romance tongue is always a great aid in the study of another. 

=Training teachers of Romance Languages=

Thus we see that, with the addition here and there of an extra course(where the college is not up to the standard as we have outlined it), and an added stress on the advanced linguistics, the presentcurriculum in Romance apparently provides an excellent working basis. If properly carried out--and the success of all teaching depends ofcourse ultimately on the teacher--it ought to fulfill all legitimateneeds, so far as the strictly collegiate aims are concerned. 

A word is now in order as to its fitness for those students who areplanning to take Romance as a profession. Normally these studentswould coincide with those who are taking up "special honors" inRomance languages; and for the latter group most of our colleges nowmake special provision--in the form of "independent work done outsidethe regular courses in the major subject and at least one otherdepartment during the junior and senior year (Wisconsin), " or asAmherst states it, "special work involving collateral reading orinvestigation under special conditions. " In general, this gives thecandidate certain professional options among the courses listed (incases where the college is part of the university) as "primarily forgraduates. " In this way the student is able to add to his "major" suchsubjects as Old French (Chicago), Introduction to Romance Philology(Columbia), Practical Phonetics (Chicago), a Teachers' Course(Wisconsin), etc. Personally I am of the opinion that the day haspassed when any of our graduates who has not at least a Master'sdegree in Romance should be recommended to a teaching position. Butevidently any such hard and fast rule is bound to be unfair, especially since a large percentage of our students is compelled toearn a living immediately upon graduation. Thus here again--as in theelementary courses as now given in the colleges--we are confrontedwith a makeshift which only time and continued effort can correct. Inthe meantime the value of such professional courses depends to a verymarked degree upon the success with which they can be carried outwhere they are counted toward a higher degree (M. A. Or Ph. D. ) thedifficulty is not so great, since their introductory nature isself-evident; but where they conclude, so to speak, the student'sformal training the difficulty of making them "fit in" is often sadlyapparent. At any rate, in this borderland between cultural andprofessional studies, where the college is merging with the universityor professional school, the necessity for the able teacher is aparamount issue. If the transition is to be successful, the obligationrests upon the teacher so to develop his subject that thespecializing will not drown out the general interest but will informit with those values which only the specialist can impart. 

=Final contributions of Romance Languages to the American college student=

And now as to our final consideration: What particular advantages havethe Romance tongues to offer as a college subject? An obviousadvantage is: an understanding of foreign peoples. The Romancelanguages are modern. They are spoken today over a large part of thehabitable globe. We stand in direct relations with those who speakthem and write them. Above all, a large share of the world's bestthought is being expressed in them. The point requires no arguing, that translations cannot take the place of originals: _traduttoretraditore_, says an excellent Italian proverb. If we are really toknow what other nations think, --whether we accept or reject theirthought makes little or no difference here, --we can do so only byknowing their language. And the better we know it, the greater ourinsight will be. To speak at least _one_ foreign language is not onlya parlor accomplishment: it is for whoever is to be a citizen-of-the-worlda necessity. There is a Turkish proverb that he who knows twolanguages, his own and another, has two souls. Certainly there is nobetter way to approach a nation's soul than through its language. But, in the second place, the Romance tongues have certain artisticqualities which English in a great measure lacks. The student who hasintelligently mastered one of them has a better sense of form, ofdelicate shades of expression, and--if the language be French--ofclarity of phrase: what Pater termed _netteté d'expression_. He learnsto respect language (as few Americans now do), to study itspossibilities in a way which a mere knowledge of English might neverhave suggested, and to appreciate its moral as well as its socialpower: for French forces him to curb his thought, to weigh hiscontention, to be simple and clear in the most abstruse matters. In afamous essay on the Universality of French, Rivarol said: "Unetraduction française est toujours une _explication_. "

And lastly, in themselves and in the civilizations they stand for, the Romance tongues are the bridge between ourselves and antiquity. Since the decline in the study of Greek and Latin, this is a factor tobe seriously considered. It is the fashion today to berate the past, to speak of the dead hand of tradition, and to flatter ourselves withthe delusion of self-sufficiency. To be sure, the aim of education isnever to pile up information but to "fit your mind for any sort ofexertion, to make it keen and flexible. " But the best way to encompassthis is to feed the mind on ideas, and ideas are not produced everyday, nor for that matter every year, and luckily all ideas have notthe same value. There are the ideas of Taine, of Rousseau, ofVoltaire, of Descartes, of Montaigne, of Ficino, of Petrarch, ofDante, of Cicero, of Aristotle, of Plato; and in a moment I have runthe gamut of all the centuries of our Western civilization. Who willtell me which ideas we shall need most tomorrow? Evidently, we cannotknow them all. But we can at least make the attempt to know the best. And incidentally let it be said that he who professes the Romancetongues can no more dispense with the Classics than the Classics cantoday afford to dispense with Romance: French, Italian, and Spanishare the Latin--and one might add the Greek--of today. But to return toour theme: to deny our interest in the past is to throw away ourheritage, to sell our mess of pottage to the lowest bidder. If theRomance languages have one function in our American colleges, it isthis: To keep alive the old humanistic lesson: _nihil humani a mealienum puto_; to the end that the modern college graduate maycontinue to say with Montaigne: "All moral philosophy is applied aswell to a private life as to one of the greatest employment. Every mancarries the entire form of the human condition. Authors have thithertocommunicated themselves to the people by some particular and foreignmark; I . .. By my _universal_ being, not as a grammarian, a poet, or alawyer. " The college course in the Romance languages should preparefor a profession, but it must first help to prepare thinking men andwomen. 

 WILLIAM A. NITZE _University of Chicago_

Footnotes:

[85] The quotation is from Emerson, _Nominalist and Realist_. 

[86] I make no attempt in this article, written before 1917, to treatactual teaching conditions: the premises are too uncertain. 

[87] The above statistics are from C. H. Handschin, _The Teaching ofModern Languages in the United States_, Washington, 1913, pages 40ff. 

[88] I cite the following figures: (_a_) Entrance: Harvard 16-1/2, Amherst 14, Wisconsin 14, Columbia 14-1/2, Colorado 15, Illinois 15, Chicago 15; (_b_) Collegiate Degree: Harvard 17-1/2 "courses, " Amherst20 "courses, " Wisconsin 120 "credits, " Columbia 124 "points, " Colorado120 "hours of scholastic work, " Chicago 36 "trimester majors. " It iscertainly desirable that our colleges adopt some uniform system forthe notation of their courses. Johns Hopkins, at least, is specific inexplaining the relationship of its "125 points" to its "courses"; seepage 262 of the _University Register_, 1916. 

[89] At Chicago exactly 1/4 or "at least 9 coherent and progressivemajors" must be taken in "one department or in a group ofdepartments. " But Chicago also requires a secondary sequence of atleast 6 majors; Columbia requires three years of "sequential study--ineach of two departments. " Illinois, "a major subject (20 hours)" and"an allied minor subject (20 hours). "

[90] An excellent manner of procedure is that outlined by ProfessorTerracher in his interesting article in the _Compte rendu du Congrèsde Langue et de Littérature Française_, New York (Fédération del'Alliance Française), 1913. 

[91] From _Johns Hopkins University Circular_, No. 151. 

[92] It will be noted that throughout the amount offered in Spanishexceeds that in Italian. This is to be expected in view of the boom inSpanish studies. Moreover, most colleges now allow two units ofentrance credit in Spanish, and 7 and 8 above, under Harvard, are halfcourses. Columbia is, I believe, the only college accepting 2 units ofentrance credit in Italian; but I have not examined the catalogues ofall our colleges. 

[93] Publications of the General Education Board, 3, 1916, page 13. 

XXII

THE TEACHING OF GERMAN

=Our aim=

The mechanical achievements of the nineteenth and twentieth centurieshave obliterated geographical distances. The contact between nations, intermittent in former ages, has become a continuous one. It is nolonger possible to ignore great cultural forces in foreign nationseven temporarily--we may repudiate or appreciate them, as we see fit, but we should do so in a spirit of fairness and understanding, and notin ignorance. 

This, however, is not possible unless those who are to become leadersof the people are intimately familiar with those treasure chests ofthe nations that contain the true gems of racial spirit moreabundantly than even art or literature, history, law or religion, stored up in the course of hundreds and thousands of years--thenations' languages. It is the clear duty of the college to instill, through the right way of teaching foreign languages, a cosmopolitanspirit of this character into the growing minds of our young men andwomen, after the secondary school has given them the first rudimentsof knowledge and cultural training. 

According to one's point of view, there is as much to be said in favorof the classical as the modern languages. Without doubt, their growingneglect in our institutions of learning is deeply to be regretted;however, its causes do not concern us here directly. The study ofmodern languages is, relatively speaking, so manifestly in theascendency, that a return to the emphasis that was formerly laid uponLatin and Greek is hardly imaginable. The choice between severalmodern languages must very largely be determined by personalpreferences and purposes. So much, however, can safely be said, thatan intelligent reading knowledge of German and French is the leastthat should be expected of a college graduate. For, while in theorythe humanistic importance of modern language study is the same for alllanguages, it rises, in practice, proportionately with the culturallevel of the foreign nation--German and French obviously taking thelead in this regard. 

=Place of German in the college curriculum=

I am optimistic enough to assume it to be generally granted that thestudy of a foreign language ought to be started early in life--say, atthe age of twelve. While hardly challenged in theory, this desirablecondition is far from being carried out in practice. Probably the timewill never come when colleges will be able to dispense with elementarycourses in modern foreign languages--not only for those who enterwithout any linguistic preparation, but also, and perhapspreëminently, for students who are taking up a second foreign languagein addition to the one (or two) started in the preparatory school. Thus, the starting point of the modern language course in college iseasily fixed: it must begin at the very rudiments of the language. Noris it difficult to state, in general terms, the purpose of the mostadvanced work of the undergraduate curriculum: it must consist inadequate linguistic skill, literary knowledge and feeling, andcultural understanding to such an extent that the college graduate whohas specialized in German may safely be intrusted with the teaching ofGerman in secondary schools. At least, this holds good for themajority of institutions; a small number of colleges devote theirwhole effort to cultural training, and some of the largerinstitutions, particularly in the East, find it possible to postponemost of the professional preparation to a period of graduate work. Buton the whole the average well-equipped college includes the trainingof teachers as one end of its foreign-language work. Ordinarily, suchmastery of the subject as would prepare for teaching cannot be gainedwithin the four years' college course. Rather, it might be said torequire the average equivalent of something like six college years, with the understanding that not much more than one fourth of thestudent's time be devoted to German. This implies that only underuncommonly favorable conditions should students be encouraged tospecialize in a foreign language that they begin on entering college. 

=Organization of the German course=

Thus, the peculiar conditions of modern language instruction bring itabout that a discussion of its organization in college must deal witha six years' course: elementary instruction must be offered to thoseentering without any knowledge of German; courses of a sufficientlyadvanced character must be provided for those who enter with three orfour years of high-school German; and there must be advanced work forstudents who intend to make the study and teaching of German theirlife's work. 

In this six years' college course three divisions are clearlydistinguishable: an elementary division devoted to such linguistictraining as will enable a student to read with fair ease texts ofmoderate difficulty; an intermediate group during which literary andcultural appreciation should be developed, and an advanced groupintended for the professional preparation of prospective teachers ofGerman. These three divisions may be approximately equal, so that eachof them covers about two years, with four or five hours a week. Forgraduation, all students should be required to present the equivalentof the first period for two languages (either classical or modern), one or both of which might with advantage be absolved in high school. The second division should be required of all students for at leastone foreign language. Colleges of high standing may find it possibleto exceed these requirements; no college should remain below them. 

The first or elementary division should, at least for one foreignlanguage, be finished before the student is admitted to the college. All that can reasonably be expected from this part of the work is astudy of the elements of grammar, the development of a goodpronunciation, a fair working vocabulary, and some ability to read, speak, understand, and write German. 

The second group should include, in the main, reading courses tointroduce the student to what is best in German literature, but nogeneral theoretical study of the history of literature need becontemplated. Besides, it must offer such work in speaking and writingas will develop and establish more firmly the results gained in thefirst two years, and an appropriate study of German history andinstitutions. Each of the three aims might be given about one third ofthe time available, but they may overlap to some extent. Thus, writingand speaking can be connected with each of them, and historicalreadings and reports may furnish a part of language practice. 

The third group, intended for the training of teachers, must contain acourse in the method of modern language teaching (connected withobservation and practice), an advanced grammar course, and courses inthe phonetics and historical development of the German language. Thesecourses are indispensable for teachers, but will also be of advantageto students not intending to teach. 

=The elementary group=

The first group is frankly of high school character. It is best toadmit this fully and freely, and to teach these courses accordingly. Through greater intensity of study (more home work and longer classperiods), the work of three or even four high school years may beconcentrated into two college years, but the method cannot differessentially. The way of learning a new language is the same, inprinciple, for a child of twelve years and a man of fifty years; inthe latter case, there is merely the difficulty to be overcome thatolder persons are less easily inclined to submit to that drill whichis necessary for the establishment of those new habits that constitute_Sprachgefühl_. It is a fallacy that the maturer mind of the collegestudent requires a more synthetic-deductive study of the language thanthat of the high school student. 

It is sad but true that many college teachers are more reactionary inquestions of method than the better class of high school teachers. Theclaim that elementary work in college requires a method different fromthat used in the high school is one symptom of this, and anothersymptom of the same tendency is the motto of so many college teachersthat there is no "best method, " and that a good teacher will securegood results with any method. At the bottom of such phrases there isusually not much more than indifference and unwillingness to look forinformation on the real character of the method at which they aregenerally aimed: the _direct method_. The regrettable superficialityappearing in the frequent confusion of the "direct" with the "natural"method is characteristic of this. I am, of course, willing to admitthat what nowadays is termed the "direct method" is not the best waypossible, but that it may and will be improved upon. However, it isnot one of many methods that, according to circumstances, might beequally good, but it represents the application of the present resultsof psychological and linguistic research to the teaching of languagesand distinctly deserves the preference over older ways. 

The first demand of the direct method is the development not only of afair but of a perfect pronunciation--not so much as the independentaim, but as an indispensable condition for the development of_Sprachgefühl_. It is immeasurably easier to obtain good pronunciationfrom the start than to improve bad pronunciation by later efforts. Inthe teaching of pronunciation a slight difference in the treatment ofchildren of twelve years and of college students might be granted:young children are generally able to learn the sounds of a foreignlanguage by imitation; students of college age can hardly ever do thiswell, and careful phonetic instruction is absolutely necessary withthem. Whoever wishes to keep aloof from phonetic _terms_ may do so;but not to know or not to apply phonetic _principles_ is bad teachingpure and simple. The use of phonetic _transcription_, however, is amoot question. Its advantages are obvious enough: it insures a clearconsciousness of correct pronunciation; it takes up the difficultiesone by one: first pronunciation, then spelling; it safeguards greatercare in matters of pronunciation in general. The objections arechiefly two: economy of time, and the fear of confusion between thetwo ways of spelling. The writer admits that until a few years ago hewas skeptical as to the value of phonetic transcription in theteaching of German. But the nearly general recognition of its value bythe foremost educators of European countries and the good resultsachieved with it by teachers of French in this country caused him togive it a trial, under conditions that afforded not more than anaverage chance of success. The result was greatly beyond hisexpectations. Neither he nor, as far as he knows, any of hiscolleagues would contemplate abandoning phonetic script again. Withoutwishing to be dogmatic, I believe that this at least can be assertedwith safety: on purely theoretical grounds, no teacher has a right tocondemn phonetic transcription; those who doubt its value should tryit before they judge. 

In the writer's opinion it is best not to use any historical spellingat all during the first six or eight weeks of college German. If theconfusing features of traditional orthography are eliminated duringthis period, it will be found that there results not a loss, but anactual _gain in time_ from the use of phonetic script. Nor does thetransition to common spelling cause any confusion. The less ado madeabout it, the better. It is a fact of experience, that students whohave been trained in the use of phonetic script turn out to be betterspellers than those who have not--simply because this training hasmade them more careful and has given them a clearer conception of thediscrepancy between sound and letter. 

That elementary grammar should be taught inductively is true to anextent, but often overstated. It is true for the more abstractprinciples, such as the formation of the compound tenses, theformation and the use of the passive voice, and so on. But attempts atinductive teaching of concrete elements of mechanical memory, such asthe gender and plural of nouns, or the principal parts of strongverbs, are a misunderstanding of the principles of induction. It goeswithout saying that thorough drill is much more valuable than the mostexplicit explanation. It holds good for college as well as for highschools that there is but very little to "explain" about the grammarof any language. Unnecessary explanations rather increase than removedifficulties. 

=The use of English=

The use of English is another debated question. As far as the teachingof grammar is concerned, it is unessential. If inductive drill takesthe place of explanations and abstract rules, the question is verylargely eliminated from practical consideration. In those very rarecases when theoretical discussions might seem desirable, it does notmake much difference whether a few minutes a week are devoted toEnglish or not. The question assumes greater importance when thedevelopment of the vocabulary is considered. In this, there are threefairly well-defined elements to be distinguished. The firstvocabulary, say, of the first two or three months should be developedby concrete associations with objects and actions in the classroom;the use of the vernacular has no justification whatever during thattime--not on account of any objection to an occasional English word orphrase, but simply because there is no need of it, and every minutedevoted to German is a clear gain. After this, the vocabulary shouldbe further developed through the thorough practice of connected texts. If they are well constructed, the context will explain a considerableportion of the words occurring; those that are not made clear throughthe context form the third division of the vocabulary and can withouthesitation be explained by English equivalents. In general, theprinciple will go rather far that the use of an occasional English_word_ is entirely harmless, but that English _sentences_ should asmuch as possible be avoided in elementary work. Connected translation, both from and into English, must absolutely be excluded from the firstyear's work, for the chief purpose of this year is not only the studyof grammar and the development of an elementary vocabulary, but, evenmore than that, the cultivation of the right _attitude_ towardlanguage study. Reading should be our chief aim, and speaking a meansto that end, but the student must be trained, from the very beginning, to understand what he is reading rather through an intelligent graspof the contents than by fingering the dictionary. In this way he willbecome accustomed to associating the German sentences _directly_ withthe thought expressed in them, instead of _indirectly_ through themedium of his native tongue. 

A great deal of misunderstanding is frequently involved in theemphasis laid upon speaking. There can hardly be a more absurdmisinterpretation of the principles of the direct method than forcollege teachers to try to "converse" with the students in German--tohave with them German chats about the weather, the games, thepolitical situation. This procedure is splendidly fit to develop inthe students a habit of guessing at random at what they hear andread--a slovenly contentedness with an approximate understanding. Bothteacher and students should speak and hear German practically all thetime. But this should be distinctly in the service of reading andgrammar work, containing almost exclusively words and forms that thestudent must _know_, not guess at. 

At the end of the first year a college student ought to have masteredthe elements of grammar and possess good pronunciation and an activevocabulary of about six hundred or eight hundred words. If the secondyear is devoted to further drill on grammatical elements and tocareful reading, its result ought to be the ability to read authors ofaverage difficulty at a fair speed. During the first year all readingmaterial should be practiced so intensively that an average of alittle more than a page a week is not exceeded materially; but towardthe end of the second year a limit of six or eight pages an hour maywell be reached. By this time, translation into good English begins tobe a valuable factor in the achievement of conscious accuracy; but itmust under no circumstances be resorted to until the students haveclearly obtained the habitual attitude of direct association betweenthought and sentence. 

It is little short of a misfortune that there exists no adequateGerman-German dictionary (such as La Rousse's French dictionary). Itwould not be very difficult to write such a book, but until wepossess it the irritating use of German-English dictionaries andvocabularies will be a necessary evil. 

The hardest problem of the second year--and this is progressively trueof more advanced work--is the uneven preparation of the students. Inlarge colleges it will often be feasible to have as many sections aspossible at the same hour, distributing the students in accordancewith their preparation. Where this is not possible, special help forpoorly prepared students is generally indispensable. 

=The literature group=

The literature group is as distinctly of college character as theelementary group is admittedly high school work. It is here, in fact, that the best ideals of the American college find the fullestopportunity. This is true both for the teacher and for the student. Inthe elementary group, pedagogical skill and a fair mastery of thelanguage are the chief prerequisites of a successful teacher. In thesecond group, other qualities are of greater importance. While acertain degree of pedagogical skill is just as necessary here asthere, it is now no longer a question of the systematic development ofhabits, but of the ability to create sympathetic understanding, idealism, depth of knowledge, and literary taste--in short, to strivefor humanistic education in the fullest sense of the word. This istrue not only for colleges with a professedly humanistic tendency; thebroadening and deepening influence of foreign language study isnowhere needed more urgently than in technical and other professionalcolleges. 

Speaking and writing must no longer stand in the center of instructionin the courses of the second group, but their importance should not beunderrated, as is done so frequently (it is a fact that students oftenknow less German at the end of the third year in college than at theend of the second year). At least during the first year of this group, a practice course in advanced grammar, connected with composition, isabsolutely necessary. The grammatical work should consist in reviewand observation, supported by the study of a larger reference grammar(e. G. , chapters from Curme's grammar, to introduce the students tothe consistent use of this marvelous work). In composition, freereproduction should still be the main thing, but independent themesand translation from English into German--which would be distinctlyharmful in elementary work--are now valuable exercises in the study ofGerman style. It would be wholly wrong, however, to make linguisticdrill the Alpha and Omega of this part of the college course. Thepreparatory years should have laid a sound basis, which during thecollege work proper should not be allowed to disintegrate, but thefact should not be lost sight of that the cultural aim must bestressed most in the second group. 

To reach this aim, a familiarity with the best works of Germanliterature is the foremost means. German literature affords a scantchoice of good and easy reading for the elementary stage: Storm, Ebner-Eschenbach, Seidel, and Wildenbruch are justly favorites, butabsurdities like Baumbach's _Schwiegersohn_ are, unfortunately, stillfound in the curriculum of many colleges. In contrast with the smallnumber of good elementary texts, there exists an abundance ofexcellent material for the second group. Aside from the classicalpoets, the novelists Keller, Meyer, Fontane, Raabe; the dramatistsHebbel, Grillparzer, Kleist, Hauptmann; poems collected in the_Balladenbuch_ or the _Ernte_ present an inexhaustible wealth, withoutour having to resort to the literary rubbish of Benedix or Moser orthe sneering pretentiousness of Heine's _Harzreise_. 

The details of organization will vary greatly for this group, according to special conditions. But in general it may be said thatduring the first year of this period about two hours a week should bedevoted to the continuation of systematic language practice asoutlined above, and three hours to the reading of German authors forliterary purposes. Nor should this consist in "reading" alone. Readingas such should no longer present any difficulty, if the work of theelementary group has been done well. Special courses should be devotedto the study of the modern German novel, the drama, and the lyrics, and to individual authors like those mentioned. In these detachedliterature courses the principal endeavor must be to help the studentsto understand and feel, not so much the linguistic side of the textsread, as the soul of the author, and through him the soul of theGerman nation. Reading must become more and more independent, themajor part of the time in class being devoted to the cultural andæsthetic interpretation of what has been read at home. It is evidentthat in this, the most important part of the German college work, alldepends upon the personality of the instructor: literary and humanunderstanding cannot be instilled into the student's mind by one whodoes not possess them himself, together with a love for teaching andthe power to create enthusiasm. 

All other requirements must be subordinate to this--even theinstructor's mastery of the language. No doubt, in theory it would bemost desirable that German be the exclusive language of instructionthroughout; but in literary courses practical considerations will sooften speak against this, that no sweeping answer to this questionseems possible. For the chief aim must not be overshadowed by anyother. If poor preparation on the part of the students or a deficientcommand of the language on the part of the instructor makes itdoubtful whether the cultural aim can be attained, if German is thelanguage of instruction, English should be used unhesitatingly. Thisimplies that for this part of the work an instructor with a strongpersonality and an artistic understanding, although lacking inspeaking knowledge, is far preferable to one who speaks Germanfluently but cannot introduce his students to the greatness of Germanliterature and the spirit of the German people. 

On the other hand, written reports in literary courses should alwaysbe required to be in German; it is also a good plan to devote a fewminutes of each period to prepared oral reports, in German, on thepart of the individual students. Where systematic practice in thecolloquial use of the language is desirable for special reasons, aconversation course may be established in addition to the main work, but literary courses are not the place for starting conversationalpractice with classes that have been neglected in this respect duringtheir preparatory work. 

The second year of the literary group should offer a choice betweentwo directions of further literary development: about three hours ofeach week should be devoted either to a course on the general historyof German literature, or to the intensive study of one of the greatestfactors in German literature--such as Goethe's _Faust_. In largeinstitutions both courses can probably be given side by side, thestudents taking their choice according to their preference, but inmost colleges an alternation of two courses of this kind will bepreferable. 

The method of instruction is determined by the students' preparationand the teacher's personality, in literature courses more thananything else. Obviously, lectures (in German, where circumstancespermit), extensive, systematic reading, written reports, and classdiscussion are the dominating features of such courses. 

Some knowledge of German history and institutions is an indispensableadjunct of any serious work in German literature. Probably in allcolleges such instruction will be incumbent upon the Germandepartments, and it is rarely possible to combine it with the courseon the general history of German literature. Therefore, a specialcourse in German history and institutions should be offered during thesecond year of the literature group. 

=The professional group=

The work of this group may overlap that of the second group to aconsiderable extent, in the sense that courses in both groups may betaken at the same time. The professional preparation of a teacher ofGerman should include: a thorough knowledge of the structure of theGerman language, an appreciative familiarity with German literature, and a fair amount of specialized pedagogical training. The study ofliterature cannot be different for prospective teachers from that forall other types of college students, and, therefore, belongs to thesecond group. But their knowledge of language structure, though notnecessarily of a specialistic philological character, must include amore detailed knowledge of German grammar, a familiarity withtechnical German phonetics, and at least an elementary insight intothe historical development of the language. In addition to suitablecourses in these three subjects, a pedagogical course, dealing withthe methods of modern language teaching, and connected withobservation and practice teaching, must be provided for. Where theprevious training has been neglected, a course in German conversationmay be added; but, generally speaking, this should no longer benecessary with students in their fifth or sixth year of Germaninstruction. Wherever this need exists, the system of instruction isat fault. 

=Conclusion=

Incomplete though this brief outline must necessarily be, the writerhas attempted to touch upon the most important phases of the students'development of linguistic, cultural, and, where demanded, professionalcommand of German. Little has so far been said concerning the collegeteacher. The strong emphasis placed upon the direct method in thisarticle should not be misinterpreted as meaning that a fluent commandof the spoken language is a _conditio sine qua non_. Nothing could befarther from the truth. First of all, the necessity of the exclusiveuse of the direct method exists obviously only in the elementarygroup. In this group, however, "conversation" in the generallyaccepted sense of the word should not be attempted--it will do moreharm than good. The constant practice in speaking and hearing shouldbe so rigidly subservient to the interpretation and practice of thetexts being read and to grammatical drill, that only a minimum of"speaking knowledge" on the part of the teacher is unavoidablynecessary; his pronunciation, of course, must be perfect. Howeverdesirable it may be that a teacher should know intimately well thelanguage he is teaching in college, there are other requirements evenhigher than this; they are, in the first group, energy, thoroughness, and pedagogical skill, coupled with an intelligent understanding ofthe basic principles of the direct method; in the second group, literary appreciation and a sympathetic understanding of Germanthought, history, and civilization; and, for the third group, elementary philological training, theoretical as well as practicalacquaintance with the needs of the classroom, and a long and variedexperience in teaching. Rarely will all three qualifications becombined in one person, nor are such fortunate combinations necessaryin most colleges. A wise distribution of courses among the members ofthe department can in most cases be effected in such a way that eachteacher's talents are utilized in their proper places. 

 E. PROKOSCH

 PART FIVE

 THE ARTS

 CHAPTER

 XXIII THE TEACHING OF MUSIC _Edward Dickinson_

 XXIV THE TEACHING OF ART _Holmes Smith_

XXIII

THE TEACHING OF MUSIC

=Music a comparatively recent addition to the college curriculum=

There is perhaps no more direct way of throwing a sort of flashlightupon the musical activity in the colleges of America than thestatement that a volume of this kind, if prepared a dozen years ago, would either have contained no chapter upon music, or, if music weregiven a place at all, the argument would have been occupied with hopesrather than achievements. Not that it would be literally true to saythat music was wholly a negligible quantity in the homes of highereducation until the twentieth century, but the seat assigned to it inthe few institutions where it was found was an obscure and lowly one, and the influence radiating therefrom reached so small a fragment ofthe academic community that no one who was not engaged in a careful, sympathizing search could have been aware of its existence. It wasless than twenty years ago that a prominent musical journal printedthe very moderate statement that "the youth who is graduated at Yale, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Brown, Dartmouth, Bowdoin, Amherst, Cornell, or Columbia has not even a smattering of music beyond the music of thecollege glee and mandolin club; and of course to cultivate that is theeasiest road to musical perdition. " One who looks at thoseinstitutions now, and attempts to measure the power and reach of theirdepartments of music, will not deny the right to the satisfactionwhich their directors--men of national influence--must feel, and wouldalmost expect them to echo the words of ancient Simeon. The contrastis indeed extraordinary, and, I believe, unparalleled. The work ofthese men, and of others who could be named with them, has not beenmerely development, but might even be called creation. Any one whoattempts to keep track of the growth of musical education in ourcolleges, universities, and also in the secondary schools of thepresent day, will find that the bare statistics of this increase, tosay nothing of a study of the problems involved, will engage much morethan his hours of leisure. Music, which not long ago held toleranceonly as an outside interest, confined to the sphere of influence ofthe glee club and the chapel choir, is now, in hundreds of educationalinstitutions, accorded the privileges due to those arts and scienceswhose function in historic civilization, and potency in scholarlydiscipline and liberal culture, give them domicile by obvious andinalienable right. 

=History of the subject of music in the American college curriculum=

The first university professorships in music were founded at Harvardin 1876, and at the University of Pennsylvania at about the same time. Vassar College established musical courses in 1867, Oberlin in 1869. Harvard took the lead in granting credit for certain courses in musictoward the degree of A. B. In 1870. [94] Progress thereafter for manyyears was slow; but in 1907 investigation showed that "approximatelyone half the colleges in the country recognize the value of instructionin music sufficiently to grant credit in this subject. "[95] Since thisdate college after college and university after university have falleninto line, only a few resisting the current that sets toward theuniversal acceptance of music as a legitimate and necessary element inhigher education. The problem with the musical educators of thecountry is no longer how to crowd their subject into the collegepreserve, but how to organize its forces there, how to develop itsmethods on a basis of scholarly efficiency, how to harmonize itscourses with the ideals of the old established departments, and now, last of all, how to bring the universities and colleges intocoöperation with the rapid extension of musical practice, education, and taste which has, in recent days, become a conspicuous factor inour national progress. 

=Changing social ideals responsible for the new attitude toward thestudy of music in colleges=

An investigation into the causes of this great change would be fullyas interesting as a critical examination of its results. The limits ofthis chapter require that consideration be given to the present andfuture of this movement rather than to its past; but it is especiallyinstructive, I think, to those who are called upon to deal practicallywith it, to observe that the welcome now accorded to music in ourhigher institutions of learning is due to changes in both the collegeand its environment. In view of the constitution and relationships ofour higher schools (unlike those of the universities of Europe), anyalteration in the ideals, the practical activities, and the livingconditions of the people of the democracy will sooner or later affectthose institutions whose aim is fundamentally to equip young men andwomen for social leadership. It is unnecessary to remind the readersof such a book as this of the marked enlargement of the interests ofthe intelligent people of America in recent years, or of the prominentplace which æsthetic considerations hold among these interests. Theancient thinker, to whom nothing of human concern was alien, wouldfind the type he represented enormously increased in these latterdays. The passion for the release of all the latent energies and theacquisition of every material good, which characterizes the Americanpeople to a degree hitherto unknown in the world since the outburst ofthe Renaissance, issues, as in the Renaissance, in an enormousmultiplication of the machinery by which the enjoyment of life and itsoutward embellishment are promoted. But more than this and farbetter--the eager pursuit of the means for enhancing physical andmental gratification has coincided with a growing desire for thegeneral welfare;--hence the æsthetic movement of recent years, and thezeal for social betterment which excludes no section or class oroccupation, tend to unite, and at the same time to work inward anddevelop a type of character which seeks joy not only in beauty butalso in the desire to give beauty a home in the low as well as in thehigh places. Whatever may be one's view of the final value of therecent American productions in literature and the fine arts, thesocial, democratic tendency in them is unmistakable. The company ofenthusiastic men and women who are preaching the gospel of beauty as acommon human birthright is neither small nor feeble. The fine arts areemerging from the studios, professional schools, and coteries; theyare no longer conceived as the special prerogative of privilegedclasses; not even is the creation of masterpieces as objects ofnational pride the pervading motive;--but they are seen to bepotential factors in national education, ministering to the happinessand mental and moral health of the community at large. It wasimpossible that the most enlightened directors of our colleges, universities, and public schools should not perceive the nature andpossibilities of this movement, hasten to ally themselves with it, andin many cases assume a leadership in it to which their position andadvantages entitled them. 

=The educative function of music=

The commanding claims which the arts of design, music, and the dramaare asserting for an organized share in the higher education is also, I think, a consequence of the change that has come about in recentyears in the constitution of the curriculum, the methods ofinstruction, the personnel of the student body, the multiplication oftheir sanctioned activities, and especially in the attitude of theundergraduates toward the traditional idea of scholarship. The oldcollege was a place where strict, inherited conceptions of scholarshipand mental discipline were piously maintained. The curriculum restedfor its main support upon a basis of the classics and mathematics, which imparted a classic and mathematical rigidity to the wholestructure. The professor was an oracle, backed by oracular textbooks;the student's activity was restricted by a traditional association oflearning with self-restraint and outward severity of life. Therevolutionary change came with the marvelous development of thenatural sciences, compelling radical readjustments of thought bothwithin and without the college, the quickening of the social lifeabout the campus, and the sharp division of interest, together with amultiplication of courses which made the elective system inevitable. The consequence was, as President Wilson states it, that a"disintegration was brought about which destroyed the old college withits fixed disciplines and ordered life, and gave us our presentproblem of reorganization and recovery. It centered in the break-up ofthe old curriculum and the introduction of the principle that thestudent was to select his own studies from a great variety of courses. But the change could not, in the nature of things, stop with the planof study. It held in its heart a tremendous implication;--theimplication of full manhood on the part of the pupil, and all theuntrammeled choice of manhood. The pupil who was mature andwell-informed enough to study what he chose, was also by necessaryimplication mature enough to be left free to _do_ what he pleased, tochoose his own associations and ways of life outside the curriculumwithout restraint or suggestion; and the varied, absorbing life of ourday sprang up as the natural offspring of the free election ofstudies. "[96]

=The development of emotions as well as the intellect a vital concernof the college curriculum=

Into an academic life so constituted, art, music, and the drama mustperforce make their way by virtue of their appeal to those instincts, always latent, which were now set in action. Those agencies by whichthe emotional life has always been expressed and stimulated found awelcome prepared for them in the hearts of college youths, stirredwith new zests and a more lively self-consciousness. But for a timethey met resistance in the supremacy of the exact sciences, erroneously set in opposition to the forces which move the emotionsand the imagination, and the stern grip, still jealously maintained, of the old conception of "mental discipline" and the communication ofinformation as the prime purpose of college teaching. The relaxationcame with the recognition of æsthetic pursuits as "outside interests, "and organization and endowment soon followed. But a college art museumlogically involves lectures upon art, a theater an authoritativeregulation of the things offered therein, a concert hall and concertcourses instruction in the history and appreciation of music. And so, with surprising celerity, the colleges began to readjust their schemesto admit those agencies that act upon the emotion as well as theunderstanding, and the problem how to bring æsthetic culture into aworking union with the traditional aims and the larger socialopportunities of the college faced the college educator, and disturbedhis repose with its peremptory insistence upon a practical solution. 

=Problems in teaching of music in the college=

Although the question of purpose, method, and adaptation presentsgeneral difficulties of similar character in respect to the collegeadministration of all the fine arts, music is undoubtedly the mostembarrassing item in the list. In this department of our collegesthere is no common conviction as to methods, no standardized system;but rather a bewildering disagreement in regard to the subjects to betaught, the extent and nature of their recognition, the character ofthe response to be expected of the student mind, and the kind of gaugeby which that response shall be measured by teachers, deans, andregistrars. In the matter of literature and the arts of design, wherethere is likewise an implicit intention of enriching æstheticappreciation, an agreement is more easily reached, by reason of theircloser relationship to outer life, to action, and the more familiarprocesses of thought. Few would maintain that the purpose of collegecourses in English literature is to train professional novelists andpoets; the college leaves to the special art schools and to privatestudios the development of painters, sculptors, and architects. Whatremains to the college is reasonably clear. But in music, on thecontrary, the function of the college is by no means so evident as toinduce anything like general agreement. Should the musical courses beexclusively cultural, or should they be so shaped as to providetraining for professional work in composition or performance? Shouldthey be "practical" (that is, playing and singing), or simplytheoretical (harmony, counterpoint, etc. ), or entirely confined tomusical history and appreciation? Should credits leading to the A. B. Degree be given for musical work, and if so, ought they to includeperformance, or only theory and composition? Should musical degrees begranted, and if so, for what measure of knowledge or proficiency? Oneor two Western colleges give credit for work done under the directionof private teachers in no way connected with the institution:--is thisprocedure to be commended, and if so, under what safeguards? Should acollege maintain a musical "conservatory" working under a separateadministrative and financial system, many or all of whose teachers arenot college graduates; or should its musical department be necessarilyan organic part of the college of arts and sciences, exactly like thedepartment of Latin or chemistry? If the former, as is the case withmany Western institutions, to what extent should the work in the musicschool be supervised by the college president and general faculty;under what limitations may candidates for the A. B. Degree be allowedto take accredited work in the music school? What should be therelation of the college to the university in respect to the musicalcourses? Is it possible to establish a systematic progress from stepto step similar to that which exists in many of the old establishedlines? What should be the relation between the college and thesecondary schools? Should the effort be to establish a continuity ofstudy and promotion, such as that which exists in such subjects asLatin and mathematics? Should the college give entrance credits formusical work? If so, should it be on examination or certificate, forpractical or theoretical work, or both? Should the courses in thehistory and appreciation of music be thrown open to all students, oronly to those who have some preliminary technical knowledge?

These are some of the questions that face a college governing boardwhen music is under discussion--questions that are dealt with onwidely divergent principles by colleges of equal rank. Someinstitutions in the West permit to music a freedom and variety inrespect to grades, subjects, and methods which they allow to no othersubject. The University of Kansas undertakes musical extension workthroughout the state. Brown University restricts its musicalinstruction to lecture courses on the history and appreciation ofmusic. Between these extremes there is every diversity of opinion andprocedure that can be conceived. The problem, as I have said, istwofold, and so long as disagreement exists as to the object ofcollegiate musical work, there can be no uniformity in administration. 

In a university the problem is or should be somewhat more simple, justas there is a more general accord concerning the precise object ofuniversity training. In place of the confusion of views in regard toideals and systems and methods which exist in the present-day college, we find in the university a calmness of conviction touching essentialsthat results from the comparative simplicity of its functions andaims. A conspicuous tendency in our universities is towardspecialization; their spirit and methods are largely derived from theprofessional and graduate schools which give them their tone andprestige. They look toward research and the advancement of learning astheir particular _raison d'être_, and also toward the practicalapplication of knowledge to actual life and the disciplining ofspecial faculties for definite vocational ends. [97] Since ouruniversities, unlike those of Europe, consist of a union of graduateand undergraduate departments, any single problem, like that of music, is simplified by the opportunity afforded by the direct passage fromundergraduate to graduate work, and the greater encouragement tospecialization in the earlier courses. A graduate school which admitsmusic will naturally do so on a vocational basis, and the question isnot of the aim to be sought, but the much easier one of the means ofits attainment, since there is no more of a puzzle in teaching anembryo composer or music teacher than there is in teaching anincipient physician or engineer. 

It seems to me that the opportunity before the university has beenstated in a very clear and suggestive manner by Professor Albert A. Stanley of the University of Michigan: "If in the future the line ofdemarcation between the college and the university shall cease to beas sinuous and shadowy as at present, the university will offerwell-defined courses in research, in creative work, possibly ininterpretation--by which I do not mean criticism, but rather thatwhich is criticized. [Professor Stanley evidently refers to musicalperformance. ] The college courses will then be so broadened that thepreparatory work will of necessity be relegated to the secondaryschools. This will impose on the colleges and universities stillanother duty--the fitting of competent teachers. Logically music willthen be placed on the list of entrance studies, and the circle will becomplete. The fitting of teachers who can satisfy the conditions ofsuch work as will then be demanded will be by no means the leastfunction of the higher institutions. There will be more and moredemand for the broadly trained teacher, and there will be an evengreater demand for the specialist. By this I mean the specialist whohas been developed in a normal manner, and who appreciates the greaterrelations of knowledge and life. "[98]

=Problems in teaching of music in secondary schools are intelligentlyattacked=

There is no question that the future of music in the colleges willgreatly depend upon the developments in the secondary schools. If thetime ever comes when the administrators of our public school systemaccept and act upon the assertion of Dr. Claxton, United StatesCommissioner of Education, that "after the beginnings of reading, writing, and mathematics music has greater practical value than anyother subject taught in the schools, " the college will find itsdetermination of musical courses an easier matter than it is now. Students will in that event come prepared to take advantage of themore advanced instruction offered by the college, as they do atpresent in the standard subjects, and the musical pathway through thecollege, and then through the university, will be direct andunimpeded. Although such a prospect may seem to many only a roseatedream, it is a safer prophecy than it would have appeared a half-dozenyears ago. The number of grammar and high schools is rapidlyincreasing in which the pupils are given solid instruction in chorussinging, ensemble playing, musical theory, and the history andappreciation of music; and in many places pupils are also permitted tocarry on private study in vocal and instrumental music at the hands ofapproved teachers, and school credit given therefor. So apparent isthe need of this latter privilege, and so full of fine possibilities, that the question of licensing private teachers with a view to anofficial recognition of the fittest has begun to receive the attentionof state associations and legislatures. It is impossible that thecolleges should remain indifferent to these tendencies in thepreparatory schools, for their duty and their advantage are found incoöperating with them. The opportunity has been most clearly seen bythose colleges which have established departments for the training ofsupervisors of public school music. Such service comes eminentlywithin the rôle of the college, for a disciplined understanding, aliberal culture, an acquaintance with subjects once unrecognized asrelated to music teaching, are coming to be demanded in the musicsupervisor. The day of the old country-school singing mastertransferred to the public school is past; the day of the trainedsupervisor, who measures up to the intellectual stature of hiscolleagues, is at hand. So clearly is this perceived that collegecourses in public school music, which at first occupied one year atthe most, are being extended to two years and three years, and in atleast one or two instances occupying four years. And the benefit isnot confined to the schoolroom, for an educated man, conscious of hispeculiar powers, will see and use opportunities afforded him notmerely as a salaried preceptor but also as a citizen. 

=Vital function of music in college curriculum is emotional and æsthetic=

To revert to the difficulties which the college faces in adjustingmusical courses to the general scheme of academic instruction: it isclear that these difficulties lie partly in the very nature of musicalart. For music is not only an art but a science. It is the product ofconstructive ingenuity as well as of "inspiration"; its technique isof exquisite refinement and appalling difficulty; it appeals to theintellect as well as to the emotion. And yet the intellectual elementis but tributary, and if the consciousness willfully shuts its gatesagainst the tide of rapture rushing to flood the sense and theemotion, then in reality music is not, for its spirit is dead. Whatshall be done with an agency so fierce and absorbing as this? Can itbe tamed and fettered by the old conceptions of mental discipline andscholastic routine? Only by falsifying its nature and denying itsessential appeal. Some colleges attempt so to evade the difficulty, and lend favor, so far at least as credit is concerned, only to thetheoretical studies in which the training is as severe, and almost asunimaginative, as it is in mathematics. But to many this appears toomuch like a reversion to the viewpoint of the mediæval convent schoolswhich classed music in the _quadrivium_ along with arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy. Neither the creative power nor the æstheticreceptivity is considered in such courses as these, and the spirit ofmusic revolts against this confinement and gives its pedantic jailersno peace. 

=The practical course as disciplinary as the theoretical=

Shall practical courses in playing and singing be accepted? Now theobjection arises that any proficiency with which a student--at least atalented one--would be satisfied, entails hours each day of purelytechnical practice, involving little of the kind of mental activitythat is presupposed in the tradition of college training. Thoseinstitutions that have no practical courses are logical, at allevents, and seem to follow the line of least resistance. But theopposition against the purely theoretical side of musical culture willnot down, and the "practical" element makes steady headway as thetruth shines more dearly upon the administrative mind that musicalperformance is not a matter of mechanical technique alone, but ofscholarship, imaginative insight, keen emotional reaction, andinterpretation which involves a sympathetic understanding of thecreative mind. The objection to practical exercise dwindles as theconception of its nature and goal enlarges. 

=Lack of college-trained teachers adds to difficulty of recognizingmusic as a college subject=

Another hindrance presents itself--not so inherent in the nature ofthe case as those just mentioned--and that is the lack of teachers ofmusic whose educational equipment corresponds in all particulars tothe standard which the colleges have always maintained as a conditionof election to their corps of instructors. That one who is not acollege graduate should be appointed to a professorship orinstructorship in a college or university might seem to a college manof the old school very near an absurdity. Yet as matters now stand itwould be impossible to fill the collegiate musical departments withholders of the A. B. Degree. The large and increasing number of collegegraduates who are entering the musical profession, especially with aview to finding a home in higher educational institutions, is anencouraging phase of present tendencies, and seems to hold out anassurance that this aspect of the college dilemma will eventuallydisappear. [99] It is possible, however, that the colleges may bewilling to agree to a compromise, making a distinction between theteachers of the history and criticism of music and those engaged inthe departments of musical theory and performance. Certainly no manshould be given a college position who is not in sympathy with thelargest purposes of the institution and able to contribute to theirrealization; but it must be remembered that broad intelligence andelevated character are to be found outside the ranks of collegealumni, and are not guaranteed by a college diploma. 

=Teaching of the history and appreciation of music=

Amid the jangle of conflicting opinions in regard to courses andmethods and credits and degrees, etc. , etc. , one subject enjoys thedistinction of unanimous consent, and that is the history andappreciation of music. This department may stand alone, as it does atBrown University, or it may supplement theoretical and practicalcourses; but there seems to be a universal conviction that if thecolleges accept music in any guise, they must use it as a means ofenlarging comprehension and taste on the part of their young people, and of bringing them to sympathetic acceptance of its finestmanifestations. It seems incredible that a college should employliterature and the fine arts except with the fixed intention ofbringing them to bear upon the mind of youth according to the purposeof those who made them what they are in the spiritual development ofhumanity. Even from the most rigid theoretical and technical drill thecultural aim must not be excluded if the college would be true toitself; how much more urgent is the duty of providing courses in whichthe larger vision of art, with the resultant spiritual quickening, isthe prime intention! President Nicholas Murray Butler, in his addressof welcome to the Music Teachers' National Association at theirmeeting in New York in 1907, struck a note that must find response inthe minds of all who are called upon to deal officially with thisquestion, when he recognized as a department of music worthy of thecollege dignity "one which is not to deal merely with the technique ofmusical expression or musical processes, but one which is to interpretthe underlying principles of musical art and the various sciences onwhich it rests, and to set out and to illustrate to men and women whoare seeking education what those principles signify, how they may bebrought helpfully and inspiringly into intellectual life, and whatpart they should play in the public consciousness of a cultivated andcivilized nation. "

=Emphasis on appreciation rather than technique=

The first step in understanding the part which the principles ofmusic should play in the consciousness of a civilized nation is tolearn the part they have played in history. A survey of this historyshows that all the phenomena of musical development, even thoseapparently transient and superficial, testify to a necessity of humannature, an unappeasable thirst for self-expression. In view of therelationship of musical art to the individual and the collective need, it is plain that musical history and musical appreciation must betaught together as a supplementary phase of one great theme. And, furthermore, this phase is one that is not only necessary in acomplete scheme of musical culture, but is also one that is conveyedin a language which all can understand. It is significant of the broaddemocratic outlook of our American institutions of learning, incontrast to the universities of Europe, that the needs of theunprepared students are considered as well as the benefit of those whohave had musical preparation, and the mysteries of musical art aresubmitted to all who desire initiation. Too much emphasis cannot belaid upon this wise and generous attitude toward the fine arts whichis maturing in our American colleges; by which they demonstrate theirbelief in the power of adaptation of all manifestations of beauty tothe condition of every one of intelligence, however slight theexperience or limited the talent. There are, unquestionably, certainpuzzling difficulties in imparting an understanding of musicalstructure and principles to those who have not even a preliminarysmattering of the musical speech, but the experiment has gone farenough to prove that music, with all its abstruseness, complexity, andremoteness from the world of ordinary experience, has still a messageso direct, so penetrating, so human and humanizing, that no one can bewholly indifferent to its eloquence when it comes through the ministryof a qualified interpreter. 

=The properly trained college teacher of music=

A qualified interpreter!--yes, there's the rub. Only a few years agomen competent to teach the history and philosophy of music in a mannerwhich a college or university could consistently tolerate, were almostnon-existent, and even today many colleges are out of sheer necessitygiving over this department to men of very scanty qualifications. Fewmen have faith enough to prepare for work that is not yet in sight. Then with the sudden breaking out of musical history and appreciationcourses all over the country, the demand appeared instantly far inexcess of the supply. The few men who had prepared themselves forscholarly critical work were, as a rule, in the employ of dailynewspapers, and the colleges were compelled to delegate the historicaland interpretative lectures to those whose training had been almostwholly in other lines of musical interest. No reputable college wouldthink for a moment of offering chairs of political science, or generalhistory, or English literature to men with so meager an equipment. There is no doubt that the disfavor with which the musical courses arestill regarded by professors of the old school is largely due to thefeeling that their musical colleagues as a rule have undergone aneducation so narrow and special that it keeps them apart from the fulllife of the institution. That this is the tendency of an educationthat is exclusively special, no one can deny. It is equally undeniablethat such an education is quite inadequate in the case of one whoassumes to teach the history and appreciation of music. This subject, by reason of the multifarious relations between music and individualand social life, demands not only a complete technical knowledge, butalso a familiarity with languages, general history, literature, andart not less than that required by any other subject that could bementioned. The suggestion by a French critic that a lecturer on artmust be an artist, a historian, a philosopher, and a poet, applieswith equal relevance to a lecturer on music. 

It is only fair to the musical profession to say that its members areas eager to meet these requirements as the colleges are to make them. If music still holds an inferior place in many colleges, both in factand in esteem, the fault lies in no small measure in the ignorance onthe part of trustees, presidents, and faculties of the nature ofmusic, its demands, its social values, and its mission in thedevelopment of civilization. With the enlightenment of the powersthat control the college machinery, encouragement will be given to menof liberal culture and scholarly habit to prepare themselves directlyfor college work. The hundreds of college graduates now in the musicalprofession will be followed by other hundreds still more amplyequipped as critics and expounders. The natural place for the majorityof them, I maintain, is not in the private studio or newspaper office, but in the college and university classroom. 

There is no reason in the nature of things why our colleges anduniversities should not also be the centers of a concentrated andintensive activity, directed upon research and philosophicgeneralization in the things of music as in other fields of inquiry. For this they must provide libraries, endowments, and fellowships. Such works as Mr. Elson's _History of American Music_, Mr. Krehbiel's_Afro-American Folksongs_, and Mr. Kelly's _Chopin as a Composer_should properly emanate from the organized institutions of learningwhich are able to give leisure and facility to men of scholarlyambition. The French musical historian, Jules Combarieu, enumerates asthe domains constantly open to musical scholarship: acoustics, physiology, mathematics, psychology, æsthetics, history, philology, palæography, and sociology. [100] Every one of these topics has alreadyan indispensable place in the college and university system--it is fortrained scholarship to draw from them the contributions that willrelate music explicitly to the active life of the intellect. 

But not for the intellect only. Here the colleges are still in dangerof error, due to their long-confirmed emphasis upon concepts, demonstrations, scientific methods, and "positive" results, to theneglect of the imagination, the emotions, the intuitions, and thethings spiritually discerned. "The sovereign of the arts, " says EdmundClarence Stedman, "is the imagination, by whose aid man makes everyleap forward; and emotion is its twin, through which come all fineexperiences, and all great deeds are achieved. Youth demands its sharein every study that can engender a power or a delight. Universitiesmust enhance the use, the joy, the worth of existence. They areinstitutions both human and humane. "[101]

=The test of effective teaching of music in the college: Does it enrichthe life of the student through the inculcation of an æsthetic interest?=

Institutions which exclude the agencies which act directly to enhance"the joy and the worth of existence" are universities only in name. Equally imperfect are they if, while nominally accepting theseagencies, they recognize only those elements in them which aresusceptible to scientific analysis, whose effects upon the student canbe tested by examinations and be marked and graded--elements which areonly means, and not final ends. The college forever needs thehumanizing, socializing power of music, the drama, the arts of design, and it must use them not as confined to the classroom or to any singlesection of the institution, but as the effluence of spiritual life, permeating and invigorating the whole. In the mental life of thecollege there have always ruled investigation, comparison, analysis, and the temper fostered is that of reflection and didacticism. Intothis world of deliberation, routine, mechanical calculation, there hascome the warm breath of music, art, and poetry, stirring a new fire ofrapture amid the embers of speculation. The instincts of youth springto inhale it; youth feels affiliation with it, for art and poesy, likenature, are ever self-renewing and never grow old. It works to unifythe life of the college whose tendency is to divide into sealedcompartments of special intellectual interests. It introduces a lifethat all may share, because men divide when led by their intellects, they unite when led by their emotions. Among the fine arts music isperhaps supreme in its power to refine the sense of beauty, to softenthe heart at the touch of high thought and tender sentiment, to bringthe individual soul into sympathy with the over-soul of humanity. Itis this that gives music its supreme claim to an honored place in thehalls of learning, as it is its crowning glory. 

The whole argument, then, is reduced to this: that with all thescientific aspects of the art with respect to material, structure, psychological action, historical origins and developments andrelations, of which the college, as an institution of exact learning, may take cognizance, music must be accepted and taught just because itis beautiful and promotes the joy of life, and the development of thehigher sense of beauty and the spiritual quickening that issuestherefrom must be the final reason for its use. At the same time itmust be so cultivated and taught that it will unite its forces for acommon end with all those factors which, within the college andwithout the college, are now working with an energy never known beforein American history for a social life animated by a zeal for idealrather than material ends, and inspired by nobler visions of the truemeaning of national progress. 

Among the worthy functions of our colleges there is none more needfulthan that of inspiring ardent young crusaders who shall go forth tocontend against the hosts of mediocrity, ugliness, and vulgarity. Oneencouragement to this warfare is in the fact that these hosts, although legion, are dull as well as gross, and may easily bebewildered and put to rout by the organized assaults of the childrenof light. So may it be said of our institutions of culture, as MatthewArnold said of Oxford, that they "keep ever calling us nearer to thetrue goal of all of us, to the ideal, to perfection--to beauty, in aword, which is only truth seen from another side. "

 EDWARD DICKINSON _Oberlin College_

Footnotes:

[94] Arthur L. Manchester: "Music Education in the United States;Schools and Departments of Music. " United States Bureau of EducationBulletin, 1908, No. 4. 

[95] Papers and Proceedings of the Music Teachers' NationalAssociation, 1907; report by Leonard B. McWhood. 

[96] _The Spirit of Learning_, Woodrow Wilson: in _Representative PhiBeta Kappa Orations_, edited by Northup, Lane and Schwab. Boston, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1915. 

[97] I wish to safeguard this statement by saying that I have in mindnot the more conservative universities of the East, but the stateinstitutions of the Middle and Western commonwealths. In speaking ofuniversities as compared with colleges I am also considering thegraduate and professional departments. It is difficult to make generalassertions, on such a subject that do not meet with exceptions. 

[98] Papers and Proceedings of the Music Teachers' NationalAssociation, 1906. 

[99] There is an interesting statistical article on the collegegraduate in the musical profession by W. J. Baltzell in the _MusicalQuarterly_, October, 1915. 

[100] _Music; its Laws and Evolution_: Introduction. Translation inAppleton's International Scientific Series. 

[101] _The Nature and Elements of Poetry_, page 5. 

XXIV

THE TEACHING OF ART

=Art instruction defined=

In this chapter an attempt is made to set forth the aims, content, andmethods of art instruction in the college. In this discussion the word"college" will be regarded in the usual sense of the College ofLiberal Arts, and art instruction as one of the courses which lead tothe degree of bachelor of arts. 

There is no term that is used more freely and with less precision thanthe word "art. " In some usages it is given a very broad andcomprehensive meaning, in others a very narrow and exclusive one. Theterm is sometimes applied to a human activity, at other times to theproducts of but a small part of that activity--for example, paintingsand statuary. 

In this chapter the term will be used in accordance with thedefinition evolved by Tolstoi, who says: "Art is a human activity, consisting in this, that one man consciously, by means of externalsigns, hands on to others feelings he has lived through, and thatother people are affected by these feelings, and also experiencethem. "[102] The external signs by which the feelings are handed on aremovements, as in dancing and pantomime; lines, masses, colors, as inarchitecture, painting and sculpture; sounds, as in music; or formsexpressed in words, as in poetry and other forms of literature. Theexternal signs with which art instruction in the college deals arelines, masses, and colors. This discussion, therefore, treats ofinstruction in the formative or visual arts, which includearchitecture, painting, sculpture, decoration, and the various crafts, in so far as they come within the meaning of the definition givenabove. 

=Instruction in art should be an integral part of a liberal education=

Concerning the nature of art and the purpose of art instruction in thecollege, there is so much misunderstanding that it will be well tomake an attempt at clarification. Art is too commonly regarded as aluxury--a superfluity that may serve to occupy the leisure of thewell-to-do--a kind of embroidery upon the edge of life that may beaffixed or discarded at will. Whereas, art is a factor that isfundamental in human life and development, a factor that has enteredinto the being of the race from the dawn of reason. Its products, which antedate written history by thousands of years, form the mostreliable source of information we possess of the habits and thoughtsof prehistoric man. It has been the medium of expression of many ofthe choicest products of human thought throughout the ages. Theseproducts have been embodied in forms other than that of writing. Itsfunctions are limited neither to the citizen, the community, nor thecountry; they extend beyond national bounds to the world at large. Artbelongs to the brotherhood of man. It is no respecter ofnationalities. It is obvious that in a general college course, a studyof the religious, social, and political factors in civilization thatdoes not include art among these factors is incomplete. 

The question under discussion concerns the teaching of art to thecandidate for the bachelor of arts degree, and this question will besolely kept in view. Since, however, graduates in science, engineering, law, medicine, etc. , are not exempt from the needs ofartistic culture, they too should have at least an effective minimumof art instruction. 

=Art a social activity=

Art is recognized as a social activity. It enters largely into suchpractical and utilitarian problems of the community as town planningand other forms of civic improvement. As workers in such activities, college graduates are frequently called to serve on boards ofdirectors and committees which have such work in charge. To most ofsuch persons, education in art comes as a post-collegiate activity. Surely the interests of the community would be promoted if the men andwomen into whose hands these interests are committed had had someformal instruction in art during their college years. 

If by practical education we mean training which prepares theindividual for living, then the study of an activity that so pervadeshuman life should be included in the curriculum of even a so-calledpractical college course. Art education has a more important functionthan to promote the love of the beautiful, to purify and elevatepublic taste, to awaken intellectual and spiritual desires, to createa permanent means of investing leisure. Important as all thesepurposes are, they are merely a part of a larger one--that ofrevealing to the student the relationship of art to living. 

=Flexibility of art expression determines flexibility of art instruction=

Art expression has the quality of utmost flexibility. This flexibilityappears also in art instruction, and it is for this reason that in notwo institutions of higher learning is the problem of art instructionattacked in the same way. There is, consequently, a great diversity inthe types of art courses, even in the college. 

The flexibility of art instruction is both advantageous andembarrassing. It is an advantage in that it can be adapted to almostany requirement. It can be applied to the occupations of thekindergarten, or it can be made an intensive study suitable for thegraduate school. But this very breadth is also a source of weakness inthat it tends to divert the attention from that precision of purposewhich all formal instruction should have, however elementary oradvanced. It is apt to be too scattering in its aims. It is not easyto determine exact values either in the subject studied or in theaccomplishment of the student. Estimates in art are, and should be, largely a matter of personal taste and opinion. They are notinfrequently colored by prejudice, especially where the judgment ofproducing artists is invoked. This, again, is as it should be. Anartist who assumes toward all works of art a catholic attitude, weakens that intensity of view and of purpose which animates hisenthusiasm. It can easily be understood that to a larger extent thanin other subjects the nature and scope of art instruction depends uponthe personality of the instructor. 

=Values of art instruction=

The flexibility to which we have adverted adapts art instruction todiverse educational aims. 

In that it can be made to conduce to accurate observation of artisticmanifestations, and to logical deduction therefrom, it may be given adisciplinary purpose. In its highest development, to which only thespecially gifted can attain, the ability to observe accurately and todeduce logically demands the most exacting training of the eye, of thevisual memory, and of the judgment. As an example of the exercise ofthis sort of discipline we may cite Professor Waldstein's recognitionof a marble fragment in the form of a head in the Louvre as belongingto a metope of the Parthenon. When, after Professor Waldstein'ssuggestion of the probable connection, a plaster cast of the head wastaken to the British Museum and placed upon the headless figure of oneof the metopes, the surfaces of fracture were found to correspond. [103]The most useful application of this ability lies in the correctattribution of works of art to their proper schools and authorship. Signor Morelli in his method of identification used a system that isalmost mechanical, yet the evidence supplied by concurrence ordiscrepancy of form in the delineation of anatomical details wassupplemented by a highly cultivated sense for style, forcraftsmanship, and for color as well as by an extensive historicalknowledge. 

In that art instruction cultivates taste and the appreciation of worksof art, it has a cultural purpose. By many persons it is assumed thatthis is its sole value. 

In that it serves to illuminate the study of the progress ofcivilization, it has an informative purpose. 

In that it enables the technical student to correlate his work withthat of past and present workers, it aids in the preparation forprofessional studies. 

=Difference between technical and lay courses in art one of emphasis=

Art has been defined as "the harmonic expression of the emotions. "[104]Accepting this definition as a modified condensation of Tolstoi'sdefinition, it is clear that in a work of art two separate personalitiesare involved--that which makes the expression, and the other to whomthe expression is addressed; thus, there are artists on the one hand, and the public on the other. Since we shall have to speak of twodistinct classes of students, --namely, those who are in training asfuture artists (as architects, painters, sculptors, designers, etc. ), and those who are taking courses in the understanding or appreciationof art, --it will be convenient in this discussion to refer to theformer as art students and to the latter as lay students. 

Formal art instruction has been offered by colleges to both thesegroups. It is evident that for the training of the art studentemphasis must be placed upon the technique of creative work, whereasfor the lay student emphasis must be placed upon the study of thetheory and the history of art. It would seem, however, that these twomethods are not mutually exclusive; nor should they be, for the artstudent would surely gain by a study of the principles of art and itshistory, while the lay student would profit by a certain amount ofpractice directed by an observance of the principles. 

Mr. Duncan Phillips, in an article entitled "What Instruction in ArtShould the College A. B. Course Offer to the Future Writer on Art?"proposes a hypothetical course in which "the ultimate intention wouldbe to awaken the æsthetic sensibilities of the youthful mind, toencourage the emergence of the artists and art critics, and theestablishment of a residue of well-instructed appreciators. "[105]

This proposal assumes the desirability of the completion of a generalcourse designed for college students, before beginning the specialcourses designed for those individuals whose aptitudes seem to fitthem for successful careers as artists on the one hand, or assuccessful writers on art, or art instructors on the other. 

In this place the question of professional training will not bediscussed. The courses under consideration are designed to serve thegroup of lay students from which specialists may, from time to time, emerge. It is of the utmost importance that provision for the furthertraining of such specialists should be made in the college, in thepostgraduate school, or in an allied professional school of art. 

In view of the great diversity in the treatment of the subject indifferent colleges, it will be impossible to present a series ofcourses that might, under other conditions, be representative of ageneral practice throughout the country. On the other hand, theattempt to make an epitome of the various methods in use at the moreimportant colleges would result in the presentation of a succession ofunrelated statements drawn from catalogues which would be hardly lessexasperating to the reader than it would be for him to follow, successively, the outlines as presented in the catalogues themselves. Various summaries of these outlines have been made, and to these thereader is referred. [106]

=A general course of study--Must be adjusted to local conditions=

An attempt is here made to set forth a programme which is offered as asuggestion, upon which actual courses may be based, with suchmodifications as are demanded by local conditions, the number andpersonal training of the teaching staff, and the physical equipmentavailable. 

The task before the college art instructor is to cultivate the laystudent's understanding and appreciation of the works of art and todevelop an ardent enthusiasm for his subject, tempered by good taste. This understanding will be based upon a workable body of principleswhich the student can use in making his artistic estimates andchoices. Such a body of principles will constitute his theory of art. 

=Two methods of presenting art instruction to lay students=

Art instruction for lay students may be presented in two ways:

1. By the study of theory supplemented by the experimental applicationof theory to practice, as by drawing, design, etc. 

2. By the study of theory supplemented by an application of theory tothe analysis and estimation of works of art as they are presented in asystematic study of the history of art. 

Consider now the relation of practice and history to theory:

First as to practice: Art instructors are divided into three camps onthe question of giving to the lay student instruction in practice: (1)Those who believe that not only is practice unnecessary in the studyof theory, but actually harmful; (2) those who believe that practicewill aid in a study of the theory of art; (3) Those who believe thatpractice is indispensable and who would, therefore, require that allstudents supplement their study of the theory of art by practice. Asmay be surmised, by far the largest number of advocates is found inthe middle division. 

One form of practice is Representation. In this form the studentbegins by drawing in freehand very simple objects either in outline ormass, and proceeds through more advanced exercises in drawing fromstill life, to drawing and painting of landscape and the human figure. With the addition of supplementary studies, such as anatomy, perspective, modeling, composition, craft work, theory, history, etc. , this would be, broadly speaking, the method followed in schools ofart, where courses, occupying from two to four or five years, aregiven, intended primarily for those who expect to make some sort ofcreative art their vocation. 

It is this kind of work which opponents to practice for the laystudent have in mind. They claim that only by long and severetraining can he produce such works as will give satisfaction to him orto others who examine his handiwork. They contend that theunderstanding of works of art is not dependent upon ability to producea poor example. They offer many amusing analogies as arguments againstpractice courses for lay students. They maintain that the proof of thepudding is in the eating, rather than in the making; that to enjoymusic one need not practice five-finger exercises; that othercreatures than domestic fowls are capable of judging of the quality ofeggs; that to appreciate the beauty of a tapestry it is not necessaryto examine the reverse side. It will perhaps be sufficient, for thepresent, to point out that in so far as such alleged analogies can besubmitted for arguments, they are equally applicable to laboratorycourses in any subject which is studied with a non-professional ornon-vocational purpose. 

It is true, however, that such a course as that outlined above demandsa large amount of time, compared with the results attained; and whilesuccessful courses in Representation are offered in certain colleges, the great mass of college students, who cannot hope to acquire a highdegree of skill, would hesitate to devote a large part of theirtraining to technical work, even if college faculties were willing togrant considerable proportions of credit for it toward the bachelor ofarts degree. 

=Relative value of freehand drawing and design=

It will be understood by the reader that the value of elementaryfreehand drawing as a means of discipline or as an aid to thetechnical student is not under discussion. The value of drawing as afundamental language for such purposes is universally admitted. Thequestions are these: Can some form of practice in art be used to aidin the understanding of the principles of art? Is representativedrawing the only form of practice available for the lay student whoundertakes the study of art? Fortunately, the advocates of practicecan offer an alternative; namely Design. Mr. Arthur Dow distinguishesbetween the Drawing method (Representation) and the Design method bycalling the former _Analytical_ and the latter _Synthetical_. In anarticle on "Archaism in Art Teaching"[107] he says: "I wish to showthat the traditional 'drawing method' of teaching art is too weak tomeet the new art criticism and new demands, or to connect withvocational and industrial education in an effective way; but that the'Design method' is broad and strong enough to do all of these things. "

"The drawing method, " he continues, "is analytic, dealing with thesmall, the details, the _application_ of art; the design method issynthetic, dealing with wholes, unities, principles of art. "

Mr. Dow carries his exposition into the application of the Designmethod to vocational work, but it can be used with equal effect insupplementing the lay student's study of art. 

But the questions immediately arise: Is not a preparation as long andarduous required to make a designer as to make a painter or asculptor? And is not the half-baked designer in as sorry a plight asthe half-baked artist of any kind? The answer to both is simple: Thelay student is not in any degree a painter or a sculptor or adesigner, neither is he in training for any of these professions. Theadvantage of the Design method is, that with no skill whatsoever indrawing, the beginner in the study of art can apply to his own effortsthe same principles of design which have from time immemorial enteredinto the creation of great works of art. The college freshman planninga surface design with the aid of "squared" paper is applying the sameprinciples that guided the hand of Michelangelo as it swept across theceiling of the Sistine Chapel. 

Such principles as symmetry, balance, rhythm, emphasis, harmony inform, mass, value, and color can be inculcated by solving the simplestas well as the most complicated problems. A graded series of exercisescan be undertaken by the student that will, with a comparatively smallamount of manual skill carry him a considerable distance in theunderstanding of the principles of design upon which all creative artrests. Another advantage is that, in the process, considerable skillin freehand drawing also can be acquired. But this advantage is merelyincidental. 

The greatest value lies in the fact that the Design method offers tothe student an excellent means of self-expression. The student, through no fault of his, is too prone to absorb and too littleinclined to yield of the fruits of his knowledge. Herein lies apartial remedy for the tendency of college students to makereceptacles of their minds into which knowledge is poured through theear by listening to lectures, or through the eye by reading. Herein isa means of overcoming mental inertia, for, certainly, the solution ofa problem in design calls for thought--the amount of mental exertionbeing commensurate with the difficulty of the problem. In this, theDesign method is superior to the Representation method, though itwould be an error to assume that freehand drawing is chiefly a manualoperation. Such an error is entertained by those only who never havelearned to draw. Another considerable value lies in the fact that evenif the lay student of design should in later life never set hand topaper, --as he probably will not, any more than he who has takencourses in drawing and painting will ever attempt to paint apicture, --yet he has come into practical contact with the leadingprinciples of art, and has gained a knowledge that can be applied notmerely to the discriminating understanding of the artistic qualitiesof the exhibits in art museums or in private galleries, but to the artof every day. It can be applied to the estimating of the artisticvalue of a poster, a book cover, or a title page; to the choosing ofwall paper; to the arranging of the furniture in a room; to the layingout of a garden; to intelligent coöperation in the designing of ahouse or in replanning, on paper at least, the street system of acity; or to the selecting of a design for a public memorial. It is notto be assumed that in thus exercising a cultivated taste he wouldalways make conscious application of the principles of design inmaking his estimates. These would have so entered into his habit ofthought that he would unconsciously make what Mr. Dow calls "finechoices. "

The educational value of the Design method is almost universallyrecognized in the art departments of our public schools and in our artschools, and it is probable that when its aims and methods are betterunderstood by our college faculties, its disciplinary, cultural, andinformative value will be more widely recognized in the college ofliberal arts, and that it will take equal rank with theme and reportwriting as a means of cultivating a taste for literature, with thepractice of harmony and counterpoint as a means of appreciating music, and with laboratory work in acquiring knowledge of a science. 

=Art history as a means of inculcating principles of art=

Next, consider art history as a means of inculcating the principles ofart. It is evident that the emotions or feelings of the artist and themethods he employs to express them may be studied in such masterpiecesas the _Hermes_ of Praxiteles and the _Lincoln_ of St. Gaudens. Ineither he may observe the application of the principles of balance, mass, repose, harmony, and the analysis of character. In either he maystudy the technique which involves the material of the statues, thetools employed, and the manner of working. 

There is, however, great advantage in considering such examples intheir place in the evolution of art, and their significance in theirrelation to the social and political development of the human race--inother words, in studying systematically the history and development ofart. 

Instruction in history of art is not without its pitfalls. It is tooapt to lapse into a mere listing of names and dates of artists andtheir work, with the introduction of interesting biographical detailsand some discussion limited to the subjects treated in selectedexamples. It is often too much concerned with _who_, _when_, and_where_ and not sufficiently with _why_ and _how_. A person maypossess a large fund of the facts of art history and yet have butlittle understanding or appreciation of the aims and underlyingprinciples of art production. It should never be forgotten that forthe college student the history of art is merely a convenient schemeor system upon which to base discussions of the principles of art asinvolved in the works themselves, an outline for the study of theartistic affiliations of any artist with the great company of hisantecedents, his contemporaries, and his successors. The instructorshould never regard practice or history as ends in themselves, but asmeans to the development of the understanding. 

=Years in which art courses should be offered=

In some colleges only the more advanced students are permitted to takeart courses. It does not seem wise thus to limit the years in whichcourses may be taken. An elementary course should be offered in thefreshman year, while other courses of increasing difficulty should beoffered in each of the succeeding years. The greatest variety is seenin the colleges throughout the country in the amount of art taught, and the amount of credit given toward the A. B. Degree. When thesubject is elected as a "minor, " it should be one-tenth to one-eighthof all the work undertaken by a candidate for the bachelor's degree;while a "major" elective usually should cover from one-fifth toone-fourth of all the work of a candidate for the same degree. Somezealous advocates maintain that a certain amount of art trainingshould be required for graduation. Valuable as art training would beto every graduate, it does not seem wise to make art a requiredsubject in the curriculum. To compel men and women to study artagainst their will would destroy much of the charm of the subject bothfor the teacher and the student. Unless the subject is pursued withenthusiasm by both, it loses its value. 

=Organization and content of courses in art=

The courses suggested are as follows:

_Course I_ (_Freshman year_). Introduction to the study of art. Astudy of the various forms of artistic expression, together with theprinciples which govern those forms. The study would be carried on (1)by means of lectures, (2) by discussions led by the instructor andcarried on by members of the class, (3) by laboratory or studiopractice in the application of the principles of art expression tograded problems in design, (4) by collateral reading, (5) by theoccasional writing of themes and reports, (6) by excursions to artcollections (public and private), artists' studios, and craft shops. 

Some of the topics for lectures and discussion would be: Primitive artand the factors which control its rise and development; principles ofharmony; design in the various arts; an outline study of historicornament; composition in architecture, painting, and sculpture;concept in art, with a study of examples drawn from the master worksof all ages; processes in the artistic crafts; application of theprinciples of design to room decoration. 

The studio or laboratory work would include: Application of theprinciples of design; spacing of lines and spots; borders and all-overdesigns achieved by repetition of various units; studies in symmetryand balance; color study, including hue, value, intensity; exercisesin color harmony; problems in form and proportions, decoration ofgiven geometrical areas; applications to practical uses; studies inform and color from still life; use of charcoal, brush, pastel, watercolor; simple exercises in pictorial composition; problems insimplification necessitated by technique; application of principles ofdesign to room decoration. (This course would be prerequisite for allsubsequent courses in practice. )

_Course II_ (_Sophomore year_). A general course in the history ofart. A consideration of the development of the arts of architecture, sculpture, and painting from prehistoric periods to recent times. Inthis course emphasis would be laid upon the periods of higherattainments in artistic expression, and the discussions would bedirected toward the qualities of great masterpieces rather than towardthose of the multitude of lesser works. 

The work would be carried on (1) by means of lectures; (2) bydiscussions led by the instructor and carried on by members of theclass; (3) by collateral reading; (4) by study of original works ofart, photographs, and other forms of reproduction; (5) by the writingof themes and reports; (6) by visits to art galleries and artists'studios. (This course would be prerequisite for subsequent courses inhistory, etc. )

Following these two general courses there should be two groups ofcourses: _Group A, Practice courses_; _Group B, History courses_. Candidates for the A. B. Degree who expect to take postgraduate work increative art or in the teaching of creative art would elect chieflyfrom Group A. Lay students who are candidates for the A. B. Degree andwho expect to make writing or criticism in art, or teaching of art tolay students, or art museum work their vocation, would elect chieflyfrom Group B; as would, also, those composing the greater number, whostudy art as one means of acquiring general culture. 

In the following lists of courses the grade of each course isindicated by a roman numeral placed after the title of the course, theindications being as follows:

 I. Elementary (primarily for freshmen and sophomores). II. Intermediate (primarily for sophomores and juniors). III. Advanced (primarily for juniors and seniors). IV. Graduate (primarily for seniors and graduates). 

Beyond these indications no attempt is here made to prescribe thesubdivisions of the courses, nor the number of hours per week, nor thenumber of weeks per year in each course. 

GROUP A: PRACTICE COURSES

A1 _Freehand Drawing. _ (I) Drawing in charcoal and pencil from simpleobjects, plaster casts, still life, etc. Elements of perspective withelementary problems. 

A2 _Freehand Drawing_ (_continued_). (II) Drawing in charcoal, pencil, pen and ink, brush (monochrome in water color) from plaster casts, still life and the costumed figure. Out-of-door sketching. 

A3 _Color_ (Water Color or Oil Color). (II) Drawing in color fromstill life and the costumed figure. Out-of-door sketching. 

A4 _Modeling. _ (III) Modeling in clay from casts of antique sculptureand of architectural ornament as an aid to the study of form andproportion. 

A5 _Advanced Design. _ (III) Theory and practice. (Continuation ofCourse I. Introduction to the study of art. )

A6, A7, . .. Etc. _Advanced Courses in Drawing, Painting, Modeling, andApplied Design_ (IV) selected from the following: Studies in variousmedia from life. Composition. Illustration. Portrait work. Practicalwork in pottery, bookbinding, enameling, metal work, interiordecoration, wood carving, engraving, etching. These courses would besupplemented by lectures on the theory and principles of art. Topicsof such lectures would be: Theory of Design, Composition, Technique ofthe Various Arts, Artistic Anatomy, Perspective, Shades and Shadows, etc. 

GROUP B: HISTORY COURSES

B1_ History of Ancient Art. _ (II)

B2 _History of Roman and Medieval Art. _ (II)

B3 _History of Renaissance Art in Italy. _ (III)

B4 _History of Modern Art. _ (III) History of art in Western Europeduring the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. 

B5, B6, . .. Etc. _History of Special Periods; Consideration of SpecialForms of Art, and of Great Masters in Art_ (IV) selected from thefollowing: Art of Primitive Greece, Greek Sculpture, Greek Vases, Early Christian and Byzantine Architecture, History of Mosaic;Medieval Illumination; Sienese Painters of the Thirteenth andFourteenth Centuries; Florentine Painting; Domestic Architecture ofVarious Countries; Leonardo da Vinci and His Works; Art of theNetherlands; History of Mural Painting; History and Principles ofEngraving; Prints and Their Makers; Chinese and Japanese Art; ColonialArchitecture in America; Painting and Sculpture in America, etc. , etc. 

=Teaching equipment for college courses in art=

No attempt will here be made to comment upon the general furnishingand equipment of lecture rooms, laboratories, and studios. Nevertheless, some reference to the special teaching equipment isnecessary for the further consideration of the methods of teaching. 

Illustrations are of the greatest importance in the study of art. Thebest illustrations are original works of art. For manifest reasonsthese are not usually available in the classroom, and the teacher isdependent upon facsimiles and other reproductions. These take the formof copies, replicas, casts, models, photographs, stereopticon slides, prints in black and white and in color, including the ubiquitouspicture postal card. 

The collections of public art museums and of private galleries are ofgreat value for illustrative purposes; but of still greater value tothe student is the departmental museum, with which, unfortunately, butfew colleges are equipped. Some colleges have been saddled bywell-meaning donors with collections of various kinds of works of artwhich are but ill related to the instruction given in the departmentof art. The collections of the college museum need not be large butthey should be selected especially with their instructional purpose inview. The problems of expense debars most colleges from establishingmuseums of art; but with a modest annual appropriation a workingcollection can be gradually gathered together. A collection which isthe result of gradual growth and of careful consideration will usuallybe of greater instructional value than one which is acquired at onetime. 

An institution which owns a few original works of painting, sculpture, and the crafts of representative masters is indeed fortunate, but eveninstitutions whose expenditures for this purpose are slight maypossess at least a few original lithographs, engravings, etchings, etc. , in its collection of prints. 

Fortunately, there are means whereby some of the unobtainableoriginals of the great public museums and private collections of theworld may be represented in the college museums by adequatereproductions. The methods of casting in plaster of Paris, in bronzeand other materials; of producing squeezes in papier maché; and ofreproducing by the galvano-plastic process, are used for makingfacsimiles of statues, vases, terra cottas, carved ivories, inscriptions and other forms of incised work, gems, coins, etc. , at acost which, when compared with that of originals, is trivial. [108]Paintings, drawings, engravings, etc. , are often admirably reproducedby various photographic and printing processes in color or black andwhite. 

Generally speaking, the most valuable adjunct of the college artmuseum or of the college art library is the collection of photographsproperly classified and filed for ready reference by the instructor orstudent. 

A specially designed museum building would present opportunities forservice that would extend beyond the walls of the art department, butif such a building is not available, a single well-lighted roomfurnished with suitable cabinets and wall cases, and with ample wallspace for the display of paintings, prints, charts, etc. , would be ofgreat service. 

A departmental library of carefully chosen books on the theory, history, and the practice of the various arts, together with currentand bound numbers of the best art periodicals of America and offoreign countries, is indispensable. 

=Methods of teaching=

Methods will naturally depend somewhat upon the size of the class. Inlarge classes--of, say, more than forty--the lecture method, supplemented by section meetings and conferences, would usually befollowed. In the following discussion it is assumed that the classeswill not exceed forty. 

Under the head of Methods of Teaching are here included: Work in Classand Work outside of Class. 

The work in class consists of lectures; discussions by the members ofthe class; laboratory or studio work; excursions. There is no worsemethod than that of exclusive lecturing by the instructor. If themethods employed do not induce the student to do his own thinking, they have but little value. Much of the instructor's time will beoccupied in devising methods by which the students themselves willcontribute to their own and their fellows' advancement. 

Discussions led by the instructor and carried on by the members of theclass should be frequent. From time to time a separate division of ageneral topic should be assigned to each member of the class, who willprepare himself to present his part of the topic before the classeither by reading a paper or otherwise. Discussions by the members ofthe class, concluded by the instructor, should generally follow thispresentation. Topics for investigation, study, and discussion shouldbe so selected as to require the students to make application of theirstudy to their daily life and environment. In this way their criticalinterest in the design of public and private buildings, of monuments, and of the innumerable art productions which they see about them wouldbe stimulated. 

For the purpose of illustrating lectures and aiding in discussions, prints and photographs may be shown either directly or through themedium of the reflectoscope. Or, they may be transferred to lanternslides and shown by means of the stereopticon. To a limited extent theLumière color process has been used in preparing slides. 

The methods of laboratory and studio work have already been brieflytreated under the head of Courses of Instruction, and hardly need tobe further amplified here. 

It has already been stated that original works of art are the bestillustrations, and that these are but rarely available within thewalls of the college. Instructors in institutions which are situatedwithin or near to large centers of population can usually supply thisdeficiency by arranging visits to museums and other places where worksof art are preserved and exhibited; and to artists' studios and toworkshops where works of art are produced. Instructors in institutionswhich are not so situated may supply the deficiency, in some measure, by arranging for temporary exhibitions in the museum or other rooms ofthe department. Rotary exhibitions of paintings, prints, craftwork, sculpture, designs, examples of students' work, etc. , may be arrangedwhereby groups of institutions within convenient distances from eachother may share the benefits offered by such exhibitions, as well asthe expense of assemblage, transportation, and insurance. In arrangingfor such temporary exhibitions it is essential that only works of thehighest quality, of their kind, should be selected. 

Selections can best be made personally by the instructor or by capableand trustworthy agents who are thoroughly informed as to the purposeof the exhibition and as to the needs of the institutions forming thecircuits. Such rotary exhibitions possess a wider usefulness than thatof serving as illustrative material for the college department of art:they serve also as an artistic stimulus to the members of the collegeat large, and to the community in which the college is situated. [109]

The work of students outside of class has already been mentioned. Itconsists of collateral reading, the study of prints and photographs, and the preparation of written themes and reports. Notwithstanding thelavish production of books relating to art, there are but very fewthat are suitable for use as college textbooks. The instructor willusually assign collateral reading from various authors. 

=Testing results of art instruction=

In attempting to measure the success or failure of the work, theteacher must ask himself, What do our college graduates who have takenart courses possess that is lacking in those who have not taken suchcourses?

The immediate test of the results of the work is in the attitude ofmind of the students. Do they think differently about works of artfrom what they did before entering the courses? Is there a change intheir habit of thought? Have they done no more than accept the lessonsthey have been taught, or have they so absorbed them and made themtheir own that they are capable of self-expression in making theirestimates of works of art? These questions may be answered by theresult of the written examination and by the oral quiz. 

It must be confessed that the chief purpose of art instruction in thecollege is to supply a lack in our national and private life. Citizensof the older communities of Europe pass their lives among theaccumulated art treasures of past ages. The mere daily contact withsuch forms of beauty engenders a taste for them. Partly through ourPuritan origin, partly through our preoccupation with the developmentof the material resources of our country, we, as a people, have failedto cultivate some of the imponderable things of the spirit. So far aswe have had to do with its creation, our environment in town andvillage is generally lacking in artistic charm. 

The study by lay students of the art of the past has one chief object;namely, to train them to understand the works of the masters in orderthat they may discriminate between what is beautiful and what ismeretricious in the art of the present day; to learn the lessons ofart from the monoliths of Egypt, the tawny marbles of ancient Greece, the balanced thrusts of the Gothic cathedral, the gracious andreverent harmonies of the primitives, the delicate handicrafts of theOrient, the splendors of the Renaissance, the vibrant colors of thelatest phase of impressionism, and to apply these lessons in thesearch for hidden elements of beauty in nature and art in their owncountry and in their own lives and surroundings. 

Believing, as he does, in the value of artistic culture, it becomesthe duty of the college art instructor to teach with enthusiasmunmarred by prejudice; to cultivate in the minds of his students acatholic receptivity to all that is sincere in artistic expression; toopen up avenues of thought in the minds of those whose lives wouldotherwise be barren of artistic sympathy; to cull the best from theexperience of the past, and, by its help, to impart to his hearerssome of his own enthusiasm; for their lives cannot fail to touch atsome point the borderlands of the magic realm of art. 

 HOLMES SMITH _Washington University_

BIBLIOGRAPHY

ANKENEY, J. S. , LAKE, E. J. , and WOODWARD, W. Final Report of theCommittee on the Condition of Art Work in Colleges and Universities. _Western Drawing and Manual Training Association. _ Oak Park, Illinois. 1910. 

ANKENEY, J. S. The Place and Scope of Art Education in the University. _Western Drawing and Manual Training Association, 16th Annual Report. _St. Louis, 1909. 

BEAUX, CELIA. What Instruction in Art Should the College A. B. CourseOffer to the Future Artists? _The American Magazine of Art. _Washington. D. C. , October, 1916. 

BLAYNEY, T. L. The History of Art in the College Curriculum. _Proceedings of the American Federation of Arts. _ Washington, D. C. , 1910. 

BROOKS, ALFRED The Study of Art in Universities. _Education. _ Boston, February, 1901. 

CHURCHILL, A. V. Art in the College Course. _The Smith AlumnæQuarterly. _ New York, February, 1915. 

CLOPATH, H. The Scope and Organization of Art Instruction in the A. B. Course. _Western Drawing and Manual Training Association, 17th AnnualReport. _ Oak Park, Illinois, 1910. 

CROSS, H. R. The College Degree in Fine Arts. _Western Drawing andManual Training Association, 17th Annual Report. _ Oak Park, Illinois, 1910. 

DOW, A. W. Anarchism in Art Teaching. _Western Drawing and ManualTraining Association, 19th Annual Report. _ Cincinnati, 1912. 

DOW, A. W. _Theory and Practice of Teaching Art. _ Teachers College, Columbia University. 2d edition. New York, 1912. 

DOW, A. W. Modernism in Art. _The American Magazine of Art. _ New York, January, 1917. 

FREDERICK, F. F. The Study of Fine Art in American Colleges andUniversities: Its Relation to the Study in Public Schools. _Addressesand Proceedings of the National Education Association. _ Detroit, 1901. 

HELLER, O. Art as a Liberal Study. _Western Drawing and ManualTraining Association, 17th Annual Report. _ Oak Park. Illinois, 1910. 

JASTROW, J. The place of the Study of Art in a College Course. _Western Drawing and Manual Training Association. _ Oak Park, Illinois, 1910. 

KELLEY, C. F. Art in American Universities. _Nation_, 91: 74. NewYork, July 28, 1910. 

KELLEY, C. F. Art Education. _Report of the Commissioner ofEducation. _ (Department of Interior, Bureau of Education). Washington, D. C. , 1915. 

LEONARD, WILLIAM J. The Place of Art in the American College. _Education_, 32; 597-607. Boston, June, 1912. 

LOW, W. H. The Proposed Department of Art in Columbia University. _Scribner's Magazine. _ New York, December, 1902. 

MANN, F. M. Coöperation among Art Workers in Universities. _WesternDrawing and Manual Training Association, 16th Annual Report. _ St. Louis, 1909. 

MARSHALL, H. R. The Relation of the University to the Teaching of Art. _Architectural Record. _ New York, April, 1903. 

MONROE, PAUL (editor). Art in Education, etc. _Cyclopedia ofEducation. _ The Macmillan Company, New York, 1911. 

NORTON, C. E. The Educational Value of the History of Art. _Educational Review_, New York, April, 1895. 

PHILLIPS, DUNCAN. What Instruction in Art Should the College A. B. Course Offer to the Future Writer on Art? _The American Magazine ofArt. _ New York, March, 1917. 

PICKARD, J. Message of Art for the Collegian. _The American Magazineof Art. _ Washington, D. C. , February, 1916. 

ROBINSON, D. M. Reproductions of Classical Art. _Art and Archaelogy. _Washington, D. C. , April, 1917. 

SARGENT, W. Instruction in Art in the United States. _Biennial Surveyof Education in the United States 1916-18_ (Department of theInterior, Bureau of Education). Washington, D. C. 

SEELYE, L. C. The Place of Art in the Smith College Curriculum. _Educational Review. _ New York, January, 1904. 

SMITH, E. B. _The History of Art in the Colleges and Universities ofthe United States. _ Princeton University Press. Princeton, 1912. 

SMITH, HOLMES. Art as an Integral Part of University Work. _WesternDrawing and Manual Training Association, 16th Annual Report. _ St. Louis, 1909. 

SMITH, HOLMES. The Future of the University Round Table. _WesternDrawing and Manual Training Association. _ Oak Park, Illinois, 1910. 

SMITH, HOLMES, LAKE, E. J. , and MARQUAND, A. The College ArtAssociation of America. Report of Committee Appointed to Investigatethe Condition of Art Instruction in the Colleges and Universities ofthe United States. _School and Society. _ Garrison, New York, August26, 1916. 

STANLEY, H. M. Our Education and the Progress of Art. _Education. _Boston, October, 1890. 

SWIFT, F. H. What Art Does for Life. _Western Drawing and ManualTraining Association, 18th Annual Report. _ Springfield, Illinois, 1911. 

SYLVESTER, F. O. Esthetic and Practical Values in Art Courses. _Western Drawing and Manual Training Association, 16th Annual Report. _St. Louis, 1909. 

WALDSTEIN, C. _The Study of Art in Universities. _ Harper & Brothers. New York, 1896. 

WALKER, C. H. Art in Education. _Western Drawing and Manual TrainingAssociation, 16th Annual Report. _ St. Louis, 1909. 

WOODWARD, W. Art Education in the Colleges. Art Education in thePublic Schools of the United States. _American Art Annual. _ New York, 1908. 

WUERPEL, E. H. The Relation of the Art School to the University. _Western Drawing and Manual Training Association, 16th Annual Report. _St. Louis, 1909. 

ZANTZINGER, C. C. Report of Committee on Education. _Proceedings ofthe 47th Annual Convention of the American Institute of Architects. _Washington, D. C. , December, 1913. 

NOTE. For numerous discussions of problems of college art teaching, the Bulletins of the College Art Association of America may beconsulted. 

Footnotes:

[102] Tolstoi, L. N. , _What Is Art?_ Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1899. Chapter V, page 43. 

[103] Waldstein: _Essays on the Art of Pheidias_, Cambridge UniversityPress. 1885, pages 95 et seq. 

[104] _New Princeton Review_, II, 29. 

[105] _The American Magazine of Art_, Vol. 8, No. 5, page 177. 

[106] Woodward, W. "Art Education in the Colleges, " _Art Education inthe Public Schools of the United States_, edited by J. P. Haney;American Art Annual, New York, 1908. 

Ankeney, J. S. , Woodward, W. , Lake, E. J. , "Final Report of theCommittee on the Condition of Art Instruction in Colleges andUniversities. " _Seventeenth Annual Report of the Western Drawing andManual Training Association. _ Minneapolis, 1910. 

Kelley, C. F. , "Art Education. " _Report of the Commissioner ofEducation_, Vol. I, Chap. XV. Washington, D. C. , 1915. 

Smith, E. B. , _The Study of the History of Art in the Colleges andUniversities of the United States. _ University Press, Princeton, 1912. 

[107] _Nineteenth Annual Report, Western Drawing and Manual TrainingAssociation_, Cincinnati, 1912, page 19. 

[108] Robinson, D. M. , "Reproductions of Classical Art, " _Art andArchaeology_, Vol. V, No. 4, pages 221-234. 

[109] Rotary art exhibitions for educational purposes arearranged by the American Federation of Arts, 1741, New York Avenue, Washington, D. C. 

 PART SIX

 VOCATIONAL SUBJECTS

 CHAPTER

 XXV THE TEACHING OF ENGINEERING SUBJECTS _Ira O. Baker_

 XXVI THE TEACHING OF MECHANICAL DRAWING _J. D. Phillips and H. D. Orth_

 XXVII THE TEACHING OF JOURNALISM _Talcott Williams_

 XXVIII BUSINESS EDUCATION _Frederick B. Robinson_

XXV

THE TEACHING OF ENGINEERING SUBJECTS

Each of the preceding chapters of this volume treats of a subjectwhich is substantially a unit in method and content; but the subjectsassigned to this chapter include a variety of topics which are quitediverse in scope and character. For example, such subjects as Germanand physics represent the work of single collegiate departments; whileengineering subjects represent substantially the entire work of anengineering college, of which there are many in this country, eachhaving a thousand or more students. It is necessary, then, to inquireas to the scope of this chapter. 

I. SCOPE OF THIS CHAPTER

=Contents of engineering curricula=

The contents of the representative four-year engineering curriculum ofthe leading institutions may be classified about as in the table onpage 502. In addition to the subjects listed, most institutionsrequire freshmen to take gymnasium practice and lectures on hygiene, and many colleges require freshmen, and some also sophomores, to takemilitary drill and tactics. Formerly many institutions required allengineering freshmen to take elementary shop work; but at present inmost institutions this practice has been discontinued, owing to theestablishment of manual-training high schools and to the developmentof other engineering subjects. 

The order of the subjects varies somewhat in the differentinstitutions. For example, instead of as in the table on page 502, rhetoric may be given in the sophomore year and language in the first. Again, in some institutions a little technical work is given in thefreshman year. Further, the total number of semester-hours variessomewhat among the different institutions. However, the table isbelieved to be fairly representative. 

CONTENTS OF ENGINEERING CURRICULA

The unit is a semester-hour; i. E. , five class-periods a week for halfa year. 

 --------------------------------------+-----------------------+-------- | COLLEGIATE YEAR | GENERAL SUBJECT +-----+-----+-----+-----+ TOTAL | I | II | III | IV | --------------------------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-------- Mechanical drawing and descriptive | | | | | geometry | 10 | . .. | . .. | . .. | 10 | | | | | Rhetoric | 6 | . .. | . .. | . .. | 6 | | | | | Modern language | . .. | 8 | . .. | . .. | 8 | | | | | Pure mathematics | 10 | 8 | . .. | . .. | 18 | | | | | Science--physical and social | 10 | 9 | 6 | 4 | 29 | | | | | Theoretical and applied mechanics | . .. | 3 | 10 | . .. | 13 | | | | | Technical engineering | . .. | 8 | 20 | 32 | 60 | ----| ----| ----| ----| ---- Total | 36 | 36 | 36 | 36 | 144 --------------------------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+--------

=The different engineering curricula=

Below is a list of the principal four-year curricula offered by theengineering colleges of this country. The list contains fortydifferent engineering curricula. No one institution offers all ofthese, but some of the larger and better equipped offer fifteen orsixteen different curricula for which a degree is given. 

1. _Architecture_ (which is usually classified as an engineeringsubject): general architecture; architectural design; architecturalconstruction. 

2. _Ceramics engineering:_ general ceramics and ceramics engineering;ceramics; ceramics engineering. 

3. _Chemical engineering_: general chemical engineering; metallurgicalengineering; gas engineering; pulp and paper engineering;electro-chemical engineering. 

4. _Civil engineering_: general civil engineering; railway civilengineering; municipal engineering; structural engineering;topographic or geodetic engineering; hydraulic engineering; irrigationengineering; highway engineering. 

5. _Electrical engineering_: general electrical engineering; telephoneengineering; electrical design; power-plant design; electrical railwayengineering. 

6. _Marine engineering:_ general marine engineering; navalarchitecture; marine engineering. 

7. _Mechanical engineering:_ general mechanical engineering; steamengineering; railway mechanical engineering; hydro-mechanicalengineering; machine design and construction; heating, ventilating, and refrigerating; industrial engineering; automobile engineering;aëronautical engineering. 

8. _Mining engineering:_ general mining engineering; metallurgicalengineering; coal mining; ore mining. 

The first engineering curriculum established was civil engineering, which was so called to distinguish it from military engineering. Atfirst the course contained only a little technical work, but in courseof time specialized work was increased; and later courses wereestablished in mining and mechanical engineering, and more recentlyfollowed specialized courses in architecture, electrical engineering, marine engineering, chemical engineering, and ceramic engineering--aboutin the order named. The order of the various special courses in theseveral groups above is roughly that of their establishment. 

=Number of engineering subjects=

In the preceding list are eight groups of curricula, each of whichcontains about 60 semester-hours peculiar to itself; and, consideringonly a single curriculum in each of the eight groups, there are 480semester-hours of specialized work. In addition there are in the listthirty-two subdivisions, each of which differs from the parent by atleast 10 semester-hours. Hence the total number of engineeringsubjects offered is at least 800 semester-hours. It is safe to assumethat for administrative reasons, each 3 semester-hours on the averagerepresents a distinct title or topic, and that therefore theengineering colleges of the country offer instruction in 267 differentengineering subjects. 

However, the diversity is not so great as the preceding statementseems to imply, since for convenience in program making and inbookkeeping many subjects are listed under two or more heads. Forexample, a subject which runs through two semesters will foradministrative reasons appear under two different heads in the abovecomputations. Again, the lecture or textbook work in a subject willusually appear under one head and the laboratory work under a separatetitle. Finally, some subjects which differ but little in character mayfor convenience be listed under two different titles. If the subjectsthat are subdivided for the above reasons were listed under a singlehead, the number of topics would be reduced something like 20 to 25per cent. 

Therefore, the topics of engineering instruction which differmaterially in character number about 200. This, then, is the fieldassigned to this chapter. Obviously it is impossible to consider theseveral subjects separately. 

II. DIFFERENTIATION IN ENGINEERING CURRICULA

For a considerable number of years there has been much discussion byboth college teachers and practicing engineers concerningdifferentiation in engineering curricula; and the usual conclusion isthat undue differentiation is detrimental. But neverthelessspecialization has gone on comparatively rapidly and extensively--asshown in the previous article. Since the degree of differentiationdetermines in a large measure (1) the spirit with which a student doeshis work, (2) the method of teaching that should be employed, and (3)the results obtained, it will be wise briefly to consider the meritsof specialization. The arguments against specialization have been morewidely and more earnestly presented than those in favor ofspecialization. The usual arguments pro and con may be summarized asfollows:

1. It is frequently claimed that the undergraduate is incapable ofwisely choosing a specialty, and that hence specialization should comeafter a four-year course, --i. E. , in the graduate school or byself-instruction after graduation. But the parents and friends of astudent usually help him in deciding upon a profession or on aspecial line of study, and therefore it is not likely that a veryserious mistake will be made. Of necessity a decision must be madewhether or not to seek a college education; and a decision must alsobe made between the great fields of knowledge, --liberal arts, agriculture, engineering, etc. If the student decides to take anybranch of engineering, he usually has his whole freshman year in whichto make a further specialization. At the end of the sophomore year thespecialization has not gone very far; and therefore if the studentfinds he has made a mistake, it is not difficult to change. 

2. "The undergraduate seldom knows the field of his future employment, and hence does not have the data necessary for an intelligentdecision. " The young man will never have all of the data for such adecision until he has actually worked in that field for a time, andthere is no reason why he should not make a decision and try someparticular line of preparation. 

3. Some opponents of specialization claim that the more general theengineering training, the easier to obtain employment aftergraduation; but this is not in harmony with the facts. The opposite ismore nearly true. For example, who ever heard of a practicing engineerpreferring a liberal arts student to a civil engineering student as arodman?

4. Specialized courses require that the college should have largerequipment and a more versatile staff. The larger institutions canprepare for specialized sections nearly as easily and cheaply as forduplicate sections; and institutions having only a few students ormeager financial support should not offer highly specialized courses. 

5. The opponents of specialization claim that to be a successfulspecialist one should have a broad training, and that therefore thebroader the curriculum the better. It is true that to be a successfulspecialist requires a considerable breadth of knowledge, but that doesnot prove that the student should be required to get all of hisgeneral knowledge before he gives attention to matters peculiar tohis specialty. No engineer can be reasonably successful in any fieldwith only the knowledge obtained in college, whether that be generalor special. 

6. It is claimed that specialization should be postponed to a fifthyear. It seems to have been settled by experience that four years isabout the right length of the college course for the averageengineering student, and that in that time he should test his fitnessand liking for his future work by studying some of the subjectsrelating to his proposed specialized field. 

7. The chief reason in favor of specialization is that the field ofknowledge is so vast that it is absolutely necessary for every collegestudent--engineering or otherwise--to specialize; and in engineeringthis specialization is vitally important, since fundamental principlescan be taught most effectively in connection with their application tospecialized problems. In no other way is it possible to investtheoretical principles with definite meaning to the student, and bythis process it is possible to transform abstract theory into glowingrealities which under a competent teacher arouse the student'sinterest and even his enthusiasm. 

8. Specialization in engineering curricula is a natural outgrowth ofthe evolution of engineering knowledge, and is in harmony with soundprinciples of teaching. For example, all engineering students shouldhave a certain amount of mechanical drawing; but the best results willbe obtained if the civil engineer, after a study of the elementaryprinciples, continues his practice in drawing by making maps, whilethe mechanical engineer continues his by making details of machinery. Both will do their work with more zest and much more efficiency thanif both were compelled to make drawings which meant nothing to themexcept practice in the art of drawing. Similar illustration can befound throughout any well-arranged engineering curriculum. A vitallyessential element in any educational diet is that the subject shallnot pall upon the appetite of the student. He should go to everyintellectual meal with a hearty gusto. The specialized course appealsmore strongly to the ambition of the student than a general course. The engineering student selects a specialized course because he has anambition to become an architect, a chemical engineer, a civilengineer, or perhaps a bridge engineer, a highway engineer, amechanical engineer, or perhaps a heating engineer or an automobileengineer; and having an opportunity to study subjects in which he isspecially interested, he works with zest and usually accomplishes muchmore than a student who is pursuing a course of study only remotely, if at all, related to the field of his proposed activities afterleaving college. Further, the more specialized the course, the greaterthe energy with which the student will work. 

Many of those who have discussed specialization seem to assume thatthe only, or at least the chief, purpose of an engineering educationis to give technical information, and that specialization issynonymous with superficiality. From this point of view the aim of acollege education is to give a student information useful in hisfuture work, and the inevitable result is that the student has neitherthe intellectual power nor the technical knowledge to enable him torender efficient service in any position in which he will workwhole-heartedly. The weakness and superficiality of such a student, itis usually said, is due to excessive specialization, while in realityit is primarily due to wrong methods of teaching. Within reasonablelimits specialization has little or nothing to do with the result; andunder certain conditions, as previously stated, specialization helpsrather than hinders intellectual development. If a subject has realeducational value and is so taught as to train a student to see, toanalyze, to discriminate, to describe, the more the specialization thebetter; but if a subject is taught chiefly to give unrelatedinformation about details of practice, the more the specialization theless the educational value. 

10. Experience has conclusively shown that an engineering student isvery likely to slight a general subject in favor of a simultaneoustechnical or specialized subject. This fact, together with thenecessity of a fixed sequence in technical engineering subjects, makesit practically impossible to secure any reasonable work in mostgeneral subjects when a student is at the same time carrying one ormore technical studies. For these reasons it is necessary to make thelater years of the curriculum nearly wholly technical, which makesspecialization possible, if it does not invite it. 

III. AIM OF ENGINEERING EDUCATION

=Disciplinary values of engineering subjects=

The three elements of engineering education, as indeed of alleducation, should be development, training, and information. The firstis the attainment of intellectual power, the capacity for abstractconception and reasoning. The second includes the formation of correcthabits of thought and methods of work; the cultivation of the abilityto observe closely, to reason correctly, to write and speak clearly;and the training of the hand to execute. The third includes theacquisition of the thoughts and experiences of others, and of thetruths of nature. The development of the mental faculties is by farthe most important, since it alone confers that "power which mastersall it touches, which can adapt old forms to new uses, or create newand better means of reaching old ends. " Without this power theengineer cannot hope to practice his profession with any chance ofsuccess. The formation of correct habits of thinking and working, habits of observing, of classifying, of investigating, ofdiscriminating, of proving instead of guessing, of weighing evidence, of patient perseverance, and of doing thoroughly honest work, is amethod of using that power efficiently. The accumulation of facts isthe least important. The power to acquire information and theknowledge of how to use it is of far greater value than any number ofthe most useful facts. The value of an education does not consist inthe number of facts acquired, but in the ability to discover facts bypersonal observation and investigation and in the power to use thesefacts in deducing new conclusions and establishing fundamentalprinciples. There is no comparison between the value of a ton ofhorseshoe nails and the ability to make a single nail. 

=Utilitarian aim of the engineering subjects: information and training=

The engineering student usually desires to reverse the above order andassumes that the acquisition of information, especially that directlyuseful in his proposed profession, is the most valuable element of aneducation; and unfortunately some instructors seem to make the samemistake. The truth is that methods of construction, details ofpractice, mechanical appliances, prices of materials and labor, changeso rapidly that it is useless to teach many such matters. Howeverimportant such items are to the practicing engineer, they are oflittle or no use to the student; for later, when he does have need ofthem, methods, machines, and prices have changed so much that theinformation he acquired in college will probably be worse thanuseless. Technical details are learned of necessity in practice, andmore easily then than in college; whereas in practice fundamentalprinciples are learned with difficulty, if at all. A man ignorant ofprinciples does not usually realize his own ignorance and limitations, or rather he is unaware of the existence of unknown principles. Theengineering college should teach the principles upon which soundengineering practice is based, but should not attempt to teach thedetails of practice any further than is necessary to give zest andreality to the instruction and to give an intelligent understanding ofthe uses to be made of fundamental principles. 

As evidence that technical information is not essential for success inan engineering profession, attention is called to the fact that aconsiderable number of men who took a course in one of the majordivisions of engineering have practiced in another branch withreasonable success. The only collegiate training one of the mostdistinguished American engineers of the last generation had was ageneral literary course followed by a law course. Further, aconsiderable number have successfully practiced engineering, afteronly a general college education, and this in recent years whenengineering curricula have become widely differentiated. Examples inother lines of business could be cited to show that a knowledge oftechnical details is not the most important element in a preparationfor a profession or for business. The all-important thing is that theengineering student shall acquire the power to observe closely, toreason correctly, to state clearly, that he shall be able to extractinformation from books certainly and rapidly, and that he shallcultivate his judgment, initiative, and self-reliance. A student mayhave any amount of technical information, but if he seriously lacksany of the qualities just enumerated, he cannot attain to anyconsiderable professional success. However, if he has these qualitiesto a fair degree, he can speedily acquire sufficient technical detailsto enable him to succeed fairly well. 

The chief aim of the engineering college should be to develop theintellectual power that will enable the student not only to acquirequickly the details of practice, but will also enable him ultimatelyto establish precedents and determine the practice of his times. Incidentally the engineering college should seek to expand the horizonand widen the sympathy of its students. In college classes there willbe those who are either unable or unwilling to attain the highesteducational ideals, and who will become only the hewers of wood anddrawers of water of the engineering profession; but a setting beforethem of the highest ideals and even an ineffective training in methodsof work will prepare them the better to fill mediocre positions. 

The nearly universal engineering college course requires four years. The field properly belonging to even a specialized curriculum is sowide and the importance of a proper preparation of the engineers ofthe future is so great as appropriately to require more than fouryears of time; but the consensus of opinion is that for variousreasons only four years are available for undergraduate work--theonly kind here under consideration. Hence it is of vital importancethat the highest ideals shall be set before the engineering studentsand that the methods of instruction employed shall be the bestattainable. 

IV. METHODS OF TEACHING

Instruction in technical engineering subjects is given by lectures, recitations from textbooks, assigned reading, laboratory work, surveying, field-practice, problems in design, memoirs, andexaminations. Each of these will be briefly considered. 

=Lecture system=

The term "lecture system" will be used to designate that method ofinstruction in which knowledge is presented by the instructor withoutimmediate questioning of, or discussion by, the student. In the earlyhistory of engineering education, when instruction in technicalengineering subjects was beginning to be differentiated from otherbranches of education, the lecture was the only means of acquaintingthe student with either the principles or details of engineeringpractice, since textbooks were then few and unsatisfactory. But atpresent, when there are so many fields of technical knowledge in whichthere are excellent books, the lecture system is indefensible as ameans either of communicating knowledge or of developing intellectualstrength. 

It is a waste of the student's time to present orally that which canbe found in print. At best the lecturer can present only about onethird as much as a student could read in the same time; and, besides, the student can understand what he reads better than what he hears, since he can go more slowly over that which he does not understand. The lecturer moves along approximately uniformly, while some studentsfail to understand one part, and others would like to pause over someother portion. A poor textbook is usually better than a good lecturer. 

It is a fundamental principle of pedagogy that there can be nodevelopment without the activity of the learner's mind; and hencewith the lecture system it is customary to require the student to takenotes, and subsequently submit himself to a quiz or present hislecture notes carefully written up. If the student is required to takenotes, either for future study or to be submitted, his whole time andattention are engrossed in writing; and at the close of the lecture, if it has covered any considerable ground, the student has only avague idea of what has been said. Further, the notes are probably soincomplete as to afford inadequate material for future study. 

If the subject matter is really new and not found in print, thelecture should be reproduced for the student's use. It is moreeconomical and more effective for the student to pay his share of thecost of printing, than to spend his time in making imperfect notes andperhaps ultimately writing them out more fully. 

The lecture system is less suitable for giving instruction inengineering subjects than in general subjects, such for example ashistory, sociology, and economics, since technical engineeringsubjects usually include principles and more or less numerical datathat must be stated briefly and clearly. 

If a student has had an opportunity to study a subject from either atextbook or a printed copy of the lecture notes, then comments by theteacher explaining some difficult point, or describing some laterdevelopment, or showing some other application or consequence of theprinciple, may be both instructive and inspiring; but the main work ofteaching engineering subjects should be from carefully preparedtextbooks. However, an occasional formal lecture by an instructor or apracticing engineer upon some subject already studied from a textbookcan be a means of valuable instruction and real inspiration, providedthe lecture is well prepared and properly presented. 

In the preceding discussion the term "lecture" has been employed asmeaning a formal presentation of information; but there is anotherform of lecture, a demonstration lecture, which consists of anexplanation and discussion by the instructor of an experimentconducted before the class. The prime purpose of the experiment andthe demonstration lecture is to explain and fix in mind generalprinciples. This form of lecture is an excellent method of givinginformation; and if the student is questioned as to the factsdisclosed and is required to discuss the principles established, it isan effective means of training the student to observe, to analyze, andto describe. 

=Recitation system=

This system of instruction consists in assigning a lesson upon whichthe student subsequently recites. In subjects involving mathematicalwork, the recitation may consist of the presentation of the solutionof examples or problems; but in engineering subjects the recitationusually consists either of answers to questions or of the discussionof a topic. 

The question may be either a "fact" question or a "thought" question. If the main purpose is to give information, the "fact" question isused, the object being to determine whether the student has acquired aparticular item of information. Not infrequently, even in collegeteaching, the question can be answered by a single word or a shortsentence; and usually such a question, even if it does not itselfsuggest the answer, requires a minimum of mental effort on the part ofthe student. This method determines only whether the student hasacquired a number of unrelated facts, and does not insure that he hasany knowledge of their relation to each other or to other facts he mayknow, nor does it test his ability to use these facts in deducingconclusions or establishing principles. Apparently this method ofconducting a recitation, or quiz as it is often called, is far toocommon in teaching engineering subjects. It is the result chiefly ofthe mistaken belief that the purpose of technical teaching is to giveinformation. 

The "thought" question is one which requires the student to reflectupon the facts stated in the book and to draw his own conclusions. This method is intermediate between the "fact" question and thetopical discussion; it is not so suitable to college students as toyounger ones, and is not so easily applied in engineering subjects asin more general subjects such as history, economics, or socialscience. It will not be considered further. 

The topical recitation consists in calling upon the student to statewhat he knows upon a given topic. This method not only tests thestudent's knowledge of facts, but also trains him in arranging hisfacts in logical order and in presenting them in clear, correct, andforceful language. (1) One advantage of this method of conducting therecitation is that it stimulates the student to acquire a propermethod of attacking the assigned lesson. Many college students knowlittle or nothing concerning the art of studying. Apparently, theysimply read the lesson over without attempting to weigh the relativeimportance of the several statements and without attempting toskeletonize or summarize the text. The ability to acquire quickly andeasily the essential statements of a printed page is an accomplishmentwhich will be valuable in any walk of life. In other words, thismethod of conducting a recitation forces the student to adopt thebetter method of study. (2) A second advantage of the topicalrecitation is that it trains the student in expressing his ideas. Itis generally conceded that the engineering-college graduate isdeficient in his ability to use good English, which is evidence thateither the topical recitation is not usually employed, or good Englishis not insisted upon, or perhaps both. (3) A third advantage of thetopical recitation is that it trains the student in judgment anddiscrimination--two elements essential in the practical work of allengineers. 

Apparently many college teachers think it more creditable to deliverlectures than to conduct recitations. The formal lecture is aninefficient means of either conveying information or developingintellectual power, and hence no one should take pride in it. Thetextbook and quiz method of conducting a recitation is more effectivethan the lecture system, but is by no means an ideal method of eitherimparting information or giving intellectual training. Neither ofthese methods is worthy of a conscientious teacher. The textbook andtopical recitation affords an excellent opportunity to teach thestudent to analyze, to observe, to discriminate, to train him in theuse of clear and correct language, and in the presentation of histhoughts in logical order--an object worthy of any teacher and anopportunity to employ the highest ability of any person. In theconduct of such a recitation in engineering subjects, there isabundant opportunity to supplement the textbook by calling attentionto new discoveries and other applications, and to introduceinteresting historic references. It is often instructive to discussdifferences in construction which depend upon differences in physicalconditions or in preferences of the constructor, and such discussionsafford excellent opportunities to train the student in discovering thecauses of the differences and in weighing evidence, all of which helpsto develop his powers of observation and analysis and above all tocultivate his judgment. If a teacher is truly interested in his work, such a recitation gives opportunity for an interchange of thoughtsbetween the student and teacher that may be made of great value to theformer and of real interest to the latter. The conduct of such arecitation should be much more inspiring to the teacher than therepetition of a formal lecture which at best can have only littleinstructional value. 

=Suggestions for increasing effectiveness of the recitation=

The recitation is such an important method of instruction that it isbelieved a few suggestions as to its conduct may be permissible, although a discussion of methods of teaching does not properly belongin this chapter. (1) The students should not be called upon in anyregular order. (2) If at all possible, each student should be calledupon during each recitation. (3) The question or topic should bestated, and then after a brief pause a particular student should becalled upon to recite. (4) The question or topic should not berepeated. (5) The student should not be helped. (6) The questionshould be so definite as to admit of only one answer. (7) "Fact"questions and topical discussions should be interspersed. (8)Irrelevant discussion should be eliminated. (9) The thoughtfulattention of the entire class and an opportunity for all toparticipate may be secured by interrupting a topical discussion andasking another to continue it. (10) Clear, correct and concise answersshould be insisted upon. (11) In topical discussions the facts shouldbe stated in a logical order. (12) Commend any exceptionally goodanswer. 

=Assigned reading=

A student is sometimes required to read an assigned chapter in a bookor some particular article in a technical journal as a supplement to alecture or a textbook. Sometimes the whole class has the sameassignment, and sometimes different students have differentassignments. Each student should be quizzed on his reading, or shouldbe required to give a summary of it. The method of instruction byassigned reading is most appropriate when the lecture presentation ortextbook is comparatively brief. This method is only sparinglypermissible with an adequate textbook. 

=Laboratory work=

The chief purpose of laboratory work is to illustrate the principlesof the textbook and thereby fix them in the student's mind. Themanipulation of the apparatus and the making of the observations isvaluable training for the hand and the eye, and the computation of theresults familiarizes the student with the limitations of mathematicalprocesses. The interpretation of the meaning of the results cultivatesthe student's judgment and power of discrimination, and the writing upof the report should give valuable experience in orderly and concisestatement. Sometimes the student is not required to interpret themeaning or to discuss the accuracy of his results, and sometimes he isprovided with a tabular form in which he inserts his observed datawithout consideration of any other reason for securing the particularinformation. He should not be provided with a sample report nor with atabular form, but should be required to plan his own method ofpresentation, determine for himself what matter shall be in tabularform and what in narrative form, and plan his own illustrations. Ofcourse, he should be required to keep neat, accurate, and reasonablyfull notes of the laboratory work, and should be held to a highstandard of clearness, conciseness, and correctness in his finalreport. Providing the student with tabular forms and sample reportsmay lessen the teacher's labors and improve the appearance of thereport, but such practice greatly decreases the educational value tothe student. 

=Surveying field-practice. =

In its aims surveying field-practice is substantially the same asengineering laboratory work, and all the preceding remarks concerninglaboratory work apply equally well also to surveying practice. Ordinarily the latter has a higher educational value than the formerin that the method of attack, at least in minor details, is left tothe student's initiative, and also in that the difficulties orobstacles encountered require the student to exercise his ownresourcefulness. The cultivation of initiative and self-reliance is ofthe highest engineering as well as educational value. Further, in thebetter institutions the instructor in surveying usually knows theresult the student should obtain, and consequently the latter has agreater stimulus to secure accuracy than occurs in most laboratorywork. Finally, the students, at least the civil engineering ones, always feel that surveying is highly practical, and hence areunusually enthusiastic in their work. 

=Design. =

When properly taught an exercise in design has the highest educationalvalue; and, besides, the student is usually easily interested, sincehe is likely to regard such work as highly practical and therefore togive it his best efforts. Instruction in design should accomplish twopurposes; viz. , (1) familiarize the student with the application ofprinciples, and (2) train him in initiative. Different subjectsnecessarily have these elements in different degrees, and anyparticular subject may be so taught as specially to emphasize one orthe other of these objects. 

Sometimes a problem in design is little more than the following of anoutline or example in the textbook and substituting values informulas. The design of an ordinary short-span steel truss bridge, asordinarily taught, is an example of this method of instruction. Another example is the design of a residence for which nopredetermined limiting conditions are laid down and which does notdiffer materially from those found in the surrounding community orillustrated in the textbook or the architectural magazine. Such workillustrates and enforces theory, gives the student some knowledge ofthe materials and processes of construction, and also trains him indrafting; but it does not give him much intellectual exercise nordevelop his mental fiber, although it may prepare him to take a placeas a routine worker in his profession. Such instruction emphasizesutilitarian training but neglects intellectual development, mentalvigor, and breadth of view. 

The exercise in design which has the highest educational value is onein which the student must discover for himself the conditions to befulfilled, the method of treatment to be employed, the materials to beused, and the details to be adopted. An example of this form ofproblem is the design of a bridge for a particular river crossing, without any limitations as to materials of construction, type ofstructure, time of construction, etc. , except such as are inherent inthe problem and which the student must determine for himself. A betterexample is the architectural design of a building to be erected in agiven locality to serve some particular purpose, with no limitationsexcept perhaps cost or architectural style. 

Experience of several teachers with a considerable number of studentsduring each of several years conclusively shows that students who havehad only comparatively little of the design work mentioned in thepreceding paragraph greatly exceed other students having the samepreparation except this form of design work, in mental vigor, breadthof view, intellectual power, and initiative. This difference incapacity is certainly observable in subsequent college work, and isapparently quite effective after graduation. 

=Examinations=

The term "examination" will be used as including the comparativelybrief and informal quizzes held at intervals during the progress ofthe work and also the longer and more formal examinations held at theend of the work. Usually the examination is regarded as a test todetermine the accuracy and extent of the student's information, whichform may be called a question-and-answer examination or quiz. A moredesirable form of examination is one which requires the student tosurvey his information on a particular topic, and to summarize thesame or to state his own conclusions concerning either the relativeimportance of the different items or his interpretation of the meaningor application of the facts. Such an examination could be called a"topical examination. " The remarks in the earlier part of this chapterconcerning the relative merits of the question-and-answer and thetopical recitation apply also with equal force to these two forms ofexaminations. However, the topical examination can be made of greatereducational value than the topical recitation, since the student islikely to be required to survey a wider field and organize a largermass of information, and also since the examination is usually writtenand hence affords a better opportunity to secure accuracy and finish. 

It is much easier for the instructor to prepare and grade the papersfor the question-and-answer examination than for the topicalexamination, and perhaps this is one reason why the former is nearlyuniversally employed. Of course, the topical examination should not beused except in connection with the topical recitation. Some executivesof public school systems require that at least a third, and others atleast a half, of all formal examinations shall be topical; and as theexamination papers and the grades thereon are subject to theinspection of the executive, this requirement indirectly insures thatthe teacher shall not neglect the topical recitation. Apparently asomewhat similar requirement would be beneficial in college work. 

=Memoir=

The term "memoir" is here employed to designate either a comparativelybrief report upon some topic assigned in connection with the dailyrecitation or the graduating thesis. 

The former is substantially a form of laboratory work in which thelibrary is the workroom and books the apparatus. This method ofinstruction has several merits. It makes the student familiar withbooks and periodicals and with the method of extracting informationfrom them. It stimulates his interest in a wider knowledge than thatobtained only from the textbook or the instructor's lectures. It isvaluable as an exercise in English composition, particularly if thestudent is held to an orderly form of presentation and to goodEnglish, and is not permitted simply to make extracts. The value to beobtained from such literary report depends, of course, upon the timedevoted to it, and also upon whether the instructor tells the studentof the articles to be read or requires him to find the sources ofinformation for himself. 

=Thesis=

The thesis may be a description of some original design, or a criticalreview of some engineering construction, or an account of anexperimental investigation. The thesis differs from other subjects inthe college curriculum in that in the latter the student is expectedsimply to follow the directions of the instructor, to study specifiedlessons and recite thereon, to solve the problems assigned, and toread the articles recommended; while the preparation of the thesis isintended to develop the student's ability to do independent work. There is comparatively little in the ordinary college curriculum tostimulate the student's power of initiative, but in his thesis work heis required to take the lead in devising ways and means. The power ofself-direction, the ability to invent methods of attack, the capacityto foresee the probable results of experiments, and the ability tointerpret correctly the results of experiments is of vital importancein the future of any engineering student. Within certain limits thethesis is a test of the present attainments of the student and also aprophecy of his future success. Therefore, the preparation of a thesisis of the very highest educational possibility. Unfortunately manystudents are too poorly prepared, or too lacking in ambition, or toodeficient in self-reliance and initiative to make it feasible forthem to undertake the independent work required in a thesis. Suchstudents should take instead work under direction. Further, it isunfortunate that, for administrative reasons, the requirement of athesis for graduation is made less frequently now than formerly. Theincrease in number of students has made it practically impossible torequire a thesis of all graduates, because of the difficulty ofproviding adequate facilities and of supervising the work. Again, itis difficult to administer a requirement that only part of the seniorsshall prepare a thesis. Consequently the result is that at presentonly a very few undergraduate engineering students prepare theses. 

=Graduate work=

All of the preceding discussion applies only to undergraduate work. Only comparatively few engineering students take graduate work. A fewinstitutions have enough such students to justify, for administrativereasons, the organization of classes in graduate work, but usuallysuch classes are conducted upon principles quite different from thoseemployed for undergraduates. No textbooks in the ordinary sense areused. Often the student is assigned an experimental or otherinvestigation, and is expected to work almost independently of theteacher, the chief function of the latter being to criticize themethods proposed and to review the results obtained. Such work underthe guidance of a competent teacher is a most valuable means formental development, training, and inspiration. 

 IRA O. BAKER _University of Illinois_

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Below is a list of the principal articles relating to engineeringeducation, arranged approximately in chronological order. 

1. The annual _Proceedings of the Society for the Promotion ofEngineering Education_, from 1913 to date, contain many valuablearticles on various phases of engineering education. Each volumeconsists of 200 to 300 8vo pages. The society has no permanentaddress. All business is conducted by the secretary, whose address atpresent is University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 

The more important papers of the above _Proceedings_ which are closelyrelated to the subject of this chapter are included in the list below. Many of the articles relate to the teaching of a particular branch ofengineering, and hence are not mentioned in the following list. 

2. "Methods of Teaching Engineering: By Textbook, by Lecturing, byDesign, by Laboratory, by Memoir. " Professor C. F. Allen, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. An excellent presentation, anddiscussion by others. _Proceedings of the Society for the Promotion ofEngineering Education_, Vol. VII, pages 29-54. 

3. "Two Kinds of Education for Engineers. " Dean J. B. Johnson, University of Wisconsin. An address to the students of the College ofEngineering of the University of Wisconsin, 1901. Pamphlet publishedby the author; 15 8vo pages. Reprinted in _Addresses of EngineeringStudents_, edited by Waddell and Harrington, pages 25-35. 

4. "Potency of Engineering Schools and Their Imperfections. " ProfessorD. C. Jackson, University of Wisconsin. An address presented at theQuarto-Centennial Celebration of the University of Colorado, 1902. _Proceedings_ of that celebration, pages 53-65. 

5. "Technical and Pedagogic Value of Examinations. " Professor Henry H. Norris, Cornell University. A discussion of the general subject, containing examples of questions in a topical examination in anelectrical engineering subject. Discussed at length by several others. _Proceedings of the Society for the Promotion of EngineeringEducation. _ Vol. XV, pages 605-618. 

6. "Limitations of Efficiency in Engineering Education. " ProfessorGeorge F. Swain, Harvard University. An address at the opening of theGeneral Engineering Building of Union University, 1910. A discussionof various limitations and defects in engineering education. Pamphletpublished by Union University; 28 small 8vo pages. Reprinted in_Addresses of Engineering Students_, edited by Waddell and Harrington, pages 231-252. 

7. "The Good Engineering Teacher: His Personality and Training. "Professor William T. Magruder, Ohio State University. An inspiringand instructive presidential address. _Proceedings of the Society forthe Promotion of Engineering Education_, Vol. XXI, pages 27-38. 

8. "Hydraulic Engineering Education. " D. W. Mead, University ofWisconsin. An interesting discussion of the elements an engineershould acquire in his education. The article is instructive, and isbroader than its title; but it contains nothing directly on methods ofteaching engineering subjects. _Bulletin of the Society for thePromotion of Engineering Education_, Vol. IV, No. 5, 1914, pages185-198. 

9. "Some Considerations Regarding Engineering Education in America. "Professor G. F. Swain, Harvard University. A paper presented at theInternational Engineering Congress in 1915 in San Francisco, California. A brief presentation of the early history of engineeringeducation in America, and an inquiry as to the effectiveness ofpresent methods. _Transactions of International Engineering Congress_, Miscellany, San Francisco, 1915, pages 324-330; discussion, pages340-348. 

10. "Technical Education for the Professions of Applied Science, "President Ira N. Hollis, Worcester Polytechnic Institute. A discussionof the methods and scope of engineering education, and of the contentsof a few representative engineering curricula. _TransactionsInternational Engineering Congress_, San Francisco, 1915, Miscellany, pages 306-325. 

11. "What is Best in Engineering Education. " Professor H. H. Higbie, president Tau Beta Pi Association. An elaborate inquiry among graduatemembers of that association as to the value and relative importance ofthe different subjects pursued in college, of the time given to each, and of the methods employed in presenting them. Pamphlet published bythe Association, 107 8vo pages. 

12. "Some Details in Engineering Education. " Professor Henry S. Jacoby, Cornell University. A president's address, containing manyinteresting and instructive suggestions concerning various details ofteaching engineering subjects and the relations between students andinstructor. _Proceedings of the Society for the Promotion ofEngineering Education_, Vol. XXIII, 15 pages. 

13. "Report of Progress in the Study of Engineering Education. "Professor C. R. Mann. Several of the National Engineering Societiesrequested the Carnegie Foundation to conduct a thorough investigationof engineering education, and the Foundation committed theinvestigation to Professor C. R. Mann. First Report of Progress, _Proceedings of the Society for the Promotion of EngineeringEducation_, Vol. XXIII, pages 70-85; Second Report, Bulletin, same, November, 1916, pages 125-144; Final Report: A Study of EngineeringEducation by Charles Riborg Mann, _Bulletin Number 11, CarnegieFoundation for Advancement of Teaching_, 1918. 

14. "Relation of Mathematical Training to the Engineering Profession. "H. D. Gaylord, Secretary of the Association of Teachers ofMathematics in New England, and Professor Paul H. Hanus, HarvardUniversity. An elaborate inquiry as to the opinion of practicingengineers concerning the importance of mathematics in the work of theengineer. _Bulletin of the Society for the Promotion of EngineeringEducation_, October, 1916, pages 54-72. 

15. "Does Present-Day Engineering College Education Produce Accuracyand Thoroughness?" Professor D. W. Mead, University of Wisconsin, andProfessor G. F. Swain, Harvard University. An animated discussion asto the effectiveness of a collegiate engineering education. _Engineering Record_, Vol. 73 (May 6, 1916), pages 607-609. 

16. "Teach Engineering Students Fundamental Principles. " Professor D. S. Jacobus, Stevens Institute. Address of the retiring president ofthe American Society of Mechanical Engineers. A clear and forcefuldiscussion of general methods of studying and teaching, and of thechoice of subjects to be taught. _Engineering Record_, December 16, 1916, pages 739-740. 

17. A considerable number of thoughtful articles on the generalsubject of technical education appeared in the columns of _Mining andScientific Press_ (San Francisco, California) during the year 1916. Inthe main these articles discuss general engineering education, andgive a little attention to mining engineering education. 

18. Since the preceding was written there has appeared a little book, the reading of which would be of great value to all engineeringstudents, entitled _How to Study_, by George Fillmore Swain, LL. D. , Professor of Civil Engineering in Harvard University and in theMassachusetts Institute of Technology. McGraw-Hill Book Company, NewYork City, 1917. 5 x 7-1/2 inches, paper, 63 pages, 25 cents. 

XXVI

THE TEACHING OF MECHANICAL DRAWING

=Mechanical drawing a mode of expression=

Drawing is a mode of expression and is therefore a form of language. As applied in the engineering field drawing is mechanical in characterand is used principally for the purpose of conveying informationrelative to the construction of machines and structures. It seemslogical that the methods employed and the standards adopted in theteaching of engineering drawing should be based on an analysis ofconditions found in the engineering world. In the best engineeringpractice the technical standards of drawing are high, so high in factthat they may be used as an ideal toward which to work in theclassroom. Examples of good draftsmanship selected from practice maywell serve to furnish standards for classroom work, both in techniqueand methods of representation. 

=Mechanical drawing disciplinary as well as practical in value=

Engineering drawing demands intellectual power quite as much as itdoes skill of hand. The draftsman in conceiving and planning hisdesign visualizes his problem, makes calculations for it, andgraphically represents the results upon the drafting board. Thedevelopment of the details of his design makes it necessary that he bea trained observer of forms. Since new designs frequently involvemodifications of old forms, in his efforts to recall old forms andcreate new ones, he develops visual memory. If the requirements of asuccessful draftsman or designer be taken as typical, it is evidentthat the young engineer must develop, in addition to a technicalknowledge of the subject, and a certain degree of skill of hand, ahabit of quick and accurate observation and the ability to perceiveand retain mental images of forms. 

Modern methods of instruction recognize both the motor and mentalfactors involved in the production of engineering drawings. It is theaim of the drawing courses in engineering colleges to familiarize thestudent with the standards of technique and methods of representationfound in the best commercial practice; likewise to develop in him thepowers to visualize and reason, which are possessed by the commercialdraftsman and designers. 

=Organization and content of courses in mechanical drawing=

The drawing courses of engineering curricula may be divided into twogroups: (1) _General courses_, in which the principles and methods ofrepresentation are taught, together with such practice in drawing aswill develop a satisfactory technique. (2) _Technical courses_, theaim of which is to assist the student to acquire technical knowledgeor training, drawing being used primarily for the purpose ofdeveloping or testing a student's knowledge of the subject matter. 

The general courses usually include an elementary course and a coursein descriptive geometry. These courses deal with the fundamentalprinciples and methods which have universal application in theadvanced and technical courses. While the courses of the two groupsmay overlap, the general courses precede the courses of the technicalgroup. There is no general agreement as to the order in which thesubjects belonging to the general group should be given. Each of thefollowing orders is in use:

1. A course in descriptive geometry followed by an elementarytechnical course. 

2. An elementary course and a course in descriptive geometry givensimultaneously. 

3. An elementary course followed by a course in descriptive geometry. 

The _first plan_ is followed by a number of institutions whichconclude, because of the general practice of offering courses indrawing in the secondary schools, that pupils entering college have aknowledge of the fundamentals ordinarily included in an elementarycourse. In other institutions it is held that the principles ofprojection can be taught to students of college age in a course ofdescriptive geometry without preliminary drill. 

Where the _second plan_ is used, the courses are so correlated thatthe instruction in the use of instruments given in an elementarycourse is applied in solving problems in descriptive geometry, whilethe principles of projection taught in descriptive geometry areapplied in the making of working drawings. This plan is followed byseveral of the larger engineering colleges. 

Under the _third plan_ the principles of projection are taught throughtheir applications in the form of working drawings. In this way theprinciples may be taught in more elementary form than is possible inany adequate treatment of descriptive geometry. The illustration ofthe principles in a concrete way makes it possible for those who findvisualizing difficult, to develop that power before abstractprinciples of projection are taken up in the descriptive geometry. Theskill of hand developed in the elementary course makes it possible togive entire attention to a study of the principles in the course indescriptive geometry. While excellent results are being obtained undereach of the three plans, this plan is the one most generally adopted. 

The order of courses in the technical drawing groups is determined byother considerations than those relating to drawing, such asprerequisites in mathematics, strength of materials, etc. 

=The elementary courses=

The elementary courses have undergone a number of important changesduring recent years. In those of the present day more attention thanformerly is given to the making of complete working drawings. In theearlier courses the elements were taught in the form of exercises. Inthe latter part of the courses the elements were combined in workingdrawings. In the modern courses, however, there is a very markedtendency to eliminate the exercise and make the applications ofelements in the form of working drawings throughout the course. 

In the early type of course the theory of projection was taught byusing the synthetic method; i. E. , by placing the emphasis first uponthe projection of points, then lines, surfaces, and finallygeometrical solids. In the modern type of course, however, this orderis reversed and the analytic method is used; i. E. , solids in theform of simple machine or structural parts are first represented, thenthe principles of projection involved in the representation of theirsurfaces, edges, and finally their corners are studied. In this typeof course the student works from the concrete to the abstract ratherthan from the abstract to the concrete. 

=Fundamentals of the elementary course=

_Geometrical constructions_, which were formerly given as exercisesand which served as a means of giving excellent practice in the use ofinstruments, are now incorporated in working drawings and emphasizedin making views of objects. It is believed that in the applied formthese constructions offer the same opportunity for the training inaccuracy in the use of instruments that was had in the abstractexercises, to which is added interest naturally secured by makingapplications of elements in working drawings. 

_Conventions_ are also taught in an applied form and are introduced asthe skill for executing them and the theory involved in theirconstruction are developed in the progress of the course. 

The type of _freehand lettering_ most generally taught is that used inpractice; i. E. , the single-stroke Gothic. The best commercialdrafting-room practice suggests the use of the vertical capitals fortitles and subtitles, and the inclined, lower case letters andnumerals for notes and dimensions. 

The plan generally found to produce satisfactory results is to dividethe letters and numerals of the alphabet into groups containing fouror five letters and numerals on the basis of form and to concentratethe attention of the student on these, one group at a time. The simpleforms are considered first, and enough practice is given to enable thestudent to proportion the letters and numerals and make the strokes inthe proper order. 

It is more natural to make inclined letters than vertical ones, andthey are therefore easier to execute. If both vertical and inclinedletters are taught, the instruction on the vertical should be givenfirst, as it is more difficult to make vertical strokes after becomingaccustomed to the inclined strokes. 

_Freehand perspective sketching_ affords the most natural method ofrepresenting objects in outline. It is of particular value ininterpreting orthographic drawing. The student who first draws aperspective sketch of an object becomes so familiar with every detailof it that he cannot fail to have a clearer mental image of its formwhen he attempts to draw its orthographic views. It gives a valuabletraining in coördinating the hand and eye in drawing freehand linesand estimating proportions. It also serves as an intermediate stepbetween observing an object and drawing it orthographically. 

_Freehand orthographic sketching_ is now quite commonly incorporatedin modern courses in mechanical drawing. Such sketches serve as apreliminary step in the preparation of the mechanical drawing. Theycorrespond to the sketches made by the engineer or draftsman fordrafting-room or shop use. The experience of many instructors seems toindicate that the early introduction of freehand perspective andorthographic sketching in a course of mechanical drawing serves as ameans of developing that skill in freehand execution which is sonecessary in rendering the freehand features of a mechanical drawing. When this type of skill is acquired before the mechanical work isstarted, the mechanical and freehand technique may be simultaneouslydeveloped. 

The organization of an elementary course composed largely of aprogressive series of working drawings necessitates the giving ofconsiderable attention to the selection of problems involving the useof the above-named fundamentals to make the course increasinglydifficult for the student. The drawing of views involves geometricalconstructions and conventions, while the dimensions, notes, and titleinvoke the making of arrowheads, letters, and numerals. In such anelementary course the student receives not only the training in thefundamentals, but also in their application in working drawings whichfurnish complete and accurate information in the desired form. 

=Descriptive geometry=

The modern methods of teaching descriptive geometry apply the theoryof the subject to applications in problems taken from engineeringpractice. The introduction of practical applications adds interest tothe subject and makes the theory more easily understood. The number ofapplications should be as great as possible without interfering withthe development of the theory. Such a treatment of descriptivegeometry, following a thorough course in elementary drawing, shouldmake it possible to deal with abstract principles of projection with afew well-chosen applications. 

Descriptive geometry aids materially in developing the power ofvisualization which is so essential to the training of the engineer. The graphical applications of the subject in the solution ofengineering problems may be used as a means of testing the student'sability to visualize. 

There is now very little discussion relative to the advantages anddisadvantages of the first and third angle projection. Since the thirdangle is generally used in the elementary course as well as inengineering practice, it seems logical that it should be emphasized indescriptive geometry. Recent textbooks on this subject confirm thetendency toward the use of the third angle. 

The use of the third angle presents new difficulties, such as that oflocating the positions of magnitudes in space in relation to theirprojections. Magnitudes must be located behind or below the drawingsurface. To obviate such difficulties, some instructors demonstrateprinciples by first angle constructions. Others invert surfaces whichin the first angle have their bases in the horizontal plane. Thisundesirable device may be overcome by using a second horizontal planein the third angle. Such means of demonstration may be avoidedaltogether by considering the space relations of magnitude to oneanother instead of relating them to the planes of projection. Thismethod centers the attention of the student on the relation ofmagnitudes represented and develops visualization. It has been foundto give excellent results in both elementary drawing and descriptivegeometry. 

To bring the teaching of descriptive geometry into closer harmony withits application in practice, auxiliary views are frequently usedinstead of the method of rotations. 

Briefly, then, it appears that the modern course in descriptivegeometry should contain enough applications to hold the interest ofthe student and to test his power of visualization; that the thirdangle should be emphasized, and some use should be made of auxiliaryviews. Above all, the development of visualizing ability should beconsidered one of the chief aims of the course. 

=Methods of instruction in general courses=

In teaching drawing and descriptive geometry, lectures, demonstrations, and individual instruction each have a place. Principles can best be presented in the form of lectures. The manualpart of the work can be presented most effectively by means ofdemonstrations. The instructor should illustrate the proper use ofinstruments and materials by actually going through the processhimself, calling attention to important points and explaining eachstep as he proceeds. Individual instruction given at the student'sdesk is a vital factor in teaching drawing, as it offers the bestmeans of clearing up erroneous impressions and ministering to theneeds of the individual student. 

Frequent recitations and quizzes serve the purpose of keeping theinstructor informed as to the effectiveness of his instruction and asa means by which the student can measure his own progress and graspupon the subject. 

=Methods of instruction in technical drawing courses=

Those drawing courses which have for their primary object the teachingof technical subject matter make use of the drawings as an instrumentto record facts and to test the student's knowledge of principles andmethods. 

In the technical courses it should be possible to assume a knowledgeof the material given in the general courses. Some effort is usuallynecessary, however, to maintain the standards already established. Theeffort thus expended should result in improving technique andincreased speed. 

=The four-year drawing course=

In an institution where drawing courses are given throughout the fouryears, much can be done by organization and coöperation to make thetime spent by the student productive of the best results. More timethan can usually be secured for the general courses is necessary todevelop skill that will be comparable with that found in practice. Theconditions in technical drawing courses approximate those in practice. They apply methods taught in the general courses. The limited time, frequently less than 300 clock hours, devoted to the general coursesmakes it desirable that advantage be taken in the technical coursesfor further development of technique and skill. In a number ofinstitutions all work in drawing is so organized as to form a singledrawing unit. This plan calls for coöperation on the part of alldrawing teachers in the institution. The results obtained by thismethod seem amply to justify the effort put forth. 

=Conclusion=

The final test in any course or group of drawing courses may bemeasured by the student's ability to solve problems met with inengineering practice. Measured upon this basis, the newer types ofcourses discussed herein, those founded upon the analytic method anddeveloped largely as a progressive series of working drawings, seem tobe meeting with better results than did those of the older type inwhich the synthetic method predominated and in which abstract problemswere principally used. 

While the college man is not fitting himself to become a draftsman, itis quite true that many start their engineering careers in thedrafting office. Those who think well and are proficient in expressingtheir thoughts through the medium of drawing are most apt to attractattention which places them in line for higher positions. 

Those who do not enter the engineering field through the draftingoffice will find the cultural and disciplinary training and the habitsof precision and neatness instilled by a good course in drawing ofgreat value. 

 J. D. PHILLIPS and H. D. ORTH _University of Wisconsin_

XXVII

THE TEACHING OF JOURNALISM

The education of the journalist or newspaper man has been brought intobeing by the evolution of the newspaper during the last half century. Addison's _Spectator_ two centuries ago counted almost wholly on theoriginal and individual expression of opinion. It had nothing beyond afew advertisements. The news sheet of the day was as wholly personal, a billboard of news and advertisements with contributed opinion insigned articles. A century ago, nearly half the space in a daily wentto such communications. In the four-page and the eight-page newspaperof sixty to eighty years ago, taking all forms of opinions, --leaderscontributed, political correspondence from capitals, state andfederal, and criticism, --about one fourth of the space went toutterance editorial in character. The news filled as much more, running to a larger or smaller share as advertisements varied. Thenews was little edited. The telegraph down to 1880 was taken, not asit came, but more nearly so than today. In an eight-page New Yorkpaper between 1865 and 1875, a news editor with one assistant and acity editor with one assistant easily handled city, telegraph, andother copy. None of it had the intensive treatment of today. It wasnot until 1875 that telegraph and news began to be sharply edited, theNew York Sun and the Springfield _Republican_ leading. Between 1875and 1895, the daily paper doubled in size, and the Sunday paperquadrupled and quintupled. The relative share taken by editorial andcritical matter remained about the same in amount, grew more varied incharacter, but dropped from 25 per cent of the total space in afour-page newspaper to 3 to 5 per cent in the dailies with sixteen totwenty pages, and the news required from three to five times as manypersons to handle it. The circulation of individual papers in ourlarge cities doubled and quadrupled, and the weekly expenditure of aNew York paper rose from $10, 000 a week to thrice that. These rough, general statements, varying with different newspapers as well as issueby issue in the same newspaper, represent a still greater change inthe character of the subjects covered. 

When the newspaper was issued in communities, of a simpleorganization, in production, transportation, and distribution, thenewspaper had some advertising, some news, and personal expression ofopinion--political-partisan for the most part, critical in small part. This opinion was chiefly, though even then not wholly, expressed by asingle personality, sometimes dominant, able, unselfish, and in naturea social prophet, but in most instances weak, time-serving, andself-seeking, and partisan, with one eye on advertising, officialpreferred, and the other on profits, public office, and othercontingent personal results. 

In the complex society today, classified, stratified, organized, anddifferentiated, the newspaper is a complex representation of thislife. The railroad is a far more important social agency than thestagecoach. It carries more people; it offers the community more; butthe individual passenger counted for more in the eye of the travelingpublic in the stagecoach than today in the railroad train; but nobodywould pretend to say that the railroad president was less importantthan the head of a stage line, Mr. A. J. Cassatt, President of thePennsylvania Railroad and builder of its terminal, than John E. Reeside, the head of the express stage line from New York toPhiladelphia, who beat all previous records in speed and stages. 

The newspaper-complex, representing all society, still expressing theopinion of society, not merely on politics but on all the range oflife, creating, developing, and modifying this opinion, publishes newswhich has been standardized by coöperative news-gatheringassociations, local, national, and international. In the daily oftoday "politics" is but a part and a decreasing part, and a world ofnew topics has come into pages which require technical skill, thewell-equipped mind, a wide information, and knowledge of thecondition of the newspaper. The early reporter who once gathered thecity news and turned it in to be put into type and made up by theforeman, --often also, owner and publisher, --in a sheet as big as apocket-handkerchief, is as far removed from the men who share in thebig modern daily, as far as is the modern railroad man from the rough, tough individual proprietor and driver of the stagecoach, though thedriver of the latter was often a most original character, and awell-known figure on the highway as railroad men are not. 

=Evolution of the profession of journalism=

As this change in the American newspaper came between 1860 and 1880, the public demand came for the vocational training of the journalistand experiments in obtaining it began. When Charles A. Dana bought theNew York _Sun_ in 1868, he made up his staff, managing editor, newseditor, city editor, Albany correspondent and political man, fromamong the printers he had known on the New York _Tribune_. In tenyears these were succeeded by college graduates, and the _Sun_ becamea paper whose writing staff, as a whole, had college training, nearlyall men from the colleges. 

College men were in American journalism from its early beginnings;but, speaking in a broad sense, the American newspaper drew most ofits staff in the eighteenth century and in the first half of thenineteenth century from among men who had the rough but effectivetraining of the composing room, with the common school as a beginning. When the high school developed from 1860 on, it began to furnish alarge number of journalists, particularly in Philadelphia, where theCentral High School manned many papers. By 1880, college men began toappear in a steadily growing proportion, so far as the general writingstaff was concerned. If one counted the men at the top, they were in asmall proportion. In journalism, as in all arts of expression, aspecial and supreme gift will probably always make up for lack ofspecial training. 

Between 1890 and 1900, the American newspaper as it is today wasfairly launched, and Joseph Pulitzer, the ablest man in dealing withthe journalism of and for the many, was the first conspicuous figurein the newspaper world to see that the time had come for theprofessional training of the journalist, the term he preferred to"newspaper men. " Neither the calling nor the public were ready when hemade his first proposal, and with singular nobility of soul and saddisappointment of heart he determined to pledge his great gift of$2, 000, 000, paying $1, 000, 000 of it to Columbia University before hisdeath and providing that the School of Journalism, to which hefurnished building and endowment, should be operated within a yearafter his death. This came October 29, 1911, and the school opened thefollowing year. 

=Journalism today requires general and technical training=

The discussion of the education of the journalist has been in progressfor twoscore years. In 1870 Whitelaw Reid published his address on the"School of Journalism" and urged systematic training, for which in thebitter personal newspaper of the day he was ridiculed as "the youngprofessor of journalism. " In 1885, Mr. Charles E. Fitch, but just goneafter long newspaper service, delivered a course of lectures on thetraining of the journalist, at Cornell University. Two years later Mr. Brainerd Smith, before and after of the New York _Sun_, then professorof elocution in the same university, began training in the work of thenewspaper in his class in composition, sending out his class onassignments and outlining possible occurrences which the class wroteout. This experiment was abruptly closed by Mr. Henry W. Sage, Chairman of the Cornell Board of Trustees, because the newspapers ofMinneapolis inclined to treat the university as important, chieflybecause it taught "journalism. " Mr. Fred Newton Scott, professor ofrhetoric in the University of Michigan in 1893, began, with lessnewspaper notice, training in newspaper English, continuing to thepresent time his happy success in teaching style to his students. 

In 1908, Mr. Walter Williams, for twenty-four years editor, first ofthe Boonville _Advertiser_, and then of the Columbia, Missouri, _Herald_, became dean of the first school of journalism opened in thesame year by the University of Missouri. This example was followedunder the direction of Willard G. Bleyer in the University ofWisconsin. By 1911, nearly a score of colleges, universities, andtechnical schools were giving courses in journalism. 

By 1916, the directory of teachers of journalism compiled by Mr. CarlF. Getz, of the University of Ohio, showed 107 universities andcolleges which gave courses in journalism, 28 state universities, 17state colleges and schools of journalism, and 62 colleges, endowed, denominational, or municipal. 

The teachers who offered courses in journalism numbered 127. Of these, 25 were in trade, industrial, and agricultural schools, their coursesdealing with aspects of writing demanded in the fields to which theinstitution devoted its work. The number of students in all theseinstitutions numbered about 5000. This gave about 1200 students ayear, who had completed their studies and gone out with a degreerecording college or technical work in which training in journalismplayed its part. With about 40, 000 men and women who were"journalists" in the country at this time, there are probably--theestimate is little better than a guess--about 3000 posts becomingvacant each year, in all branches of periodical work, monthly, weekly, and daily. 

The various training in journalism now offered stands ready to furnisha little less than half this demand. I judge it actually suppliesyearly somewhat less than a fourth of the new men and women enteringthe calling, say about 750 in all. As in all professional schools, anumber never enter the practice of the calling for which they arepresumably prepared and still larger numbers leave it after a shorttrial. In addition, training for the work of the journalist opens thedoor to much publicity work, to some teaching, and to a wide range ofbusiness posts where writing is needed. No account also has been madehere of the wide range of miscellaneous courses in advertisingprovided by universities, colleges and schools of journalism byadvertising clubs, by private schools, and by teachers, local, lecturing and peripatetic. It will take at least ten years more beforethose who have systematic teaching in journalism will be numerousenough to color the life of the office of the magazine or newspaper, and a generation before they are in the majority. 

=Development of courses and schools of journalism=

But numbers are not the only gauge of the influence of professionalstudy on the calling itself. The mere presence, the work, theactivities, and the influence of professional schools raise thestandards of a calling. Those in its work begin to see their dailytask from the standpoint which training implies. Since theoverwhelming majority of newspaper men believe in their calling, loveit, rejoice in it, regret its defects, and honor its achievements, they begin consciously to try to show how good a newspaper can be madewith nothing but the tuition of the office. Inaccuracy, carelessness, bad taste, and dubious ethics present themselves at a different anglewhen judged in the light of a calling for which colleges anduniversities furnish training. A corporate spirit and a corporatestandard are felt more strongly, and men who have learned all theyknow in a newspaper office have a just, noble, and often successfuldetermination to advance these standards and endeavor to equal inadvance anything the school can accomplish. This affects both thosewho have had college training and those who come to their work asnewspaper men with only the education of the public schools, high orelementary. More than 1000 letters have been received by the School ofJournalism in Columbia University, since it was opened, asking adviceas to the reading and study which could aid a man or woman unable toleave the newspaper office to study to improve their work. Collegegraduates, in particular on newspapers, begin systematic study ontheir own account, aware of an approaching competition. Definitestandards in newspaper writing and in diction begin to be recognizedand practiced in the office, and slips in either meet a more severecriticism. 

Newspaper associations of all orders play their part in thisspontaneous training. Advertising clubs and their great annualgatherings have censored the periodic publicity of the advertisingcolumn as no other agency whatever could possibly have done. How farthis educating influence has transformed this share of the Americanperiodical in all its fields only those can realize who have studiedpast advertisements. Every state has its editorial association. Thesedraw together more men from the weeklies and the dailies in citiesunder 50, 000 of population than from cities of more than 500, 000. These associations thirty years ago were little more than social. Theyhave come to be educational agencies of the first importance. Theycreate and assert new norms of conduct and composition. The papersread are normally didactic. All men try to be what they assert theyare. From the American Newspaper Publishers' Association, bringingtogether nearly 1000 of our leading newspapers to meetings of theweeklies of a county, a region in a state, a whole state, sectionslike New England or the Southern States of particular classes ofperiodicals, these various organizations are rapidly instituting amachinery, and breathing a spirit whose work is a valid factor in theeducation of the newspaper man. Not the least influence which theschools of journalism exert on the active work of the calling isthrough these associations, particularly in the states west of theMississippi where, at the present stage of journalism in this region, state universities can through schools of journalism bring newspaperstogether at a "newspaper week. "

=Journalism raised to dignity of a profession by schools of journalism=

The rapid growth in students registered in "journalism" courses didnot gauge the demand for professional teaching in the craft of thenewspaper or the magazine. A large share of the "journalism" taughtconsisted simply in teaching newspaper English. The college course hasbeen nowhere so vehemently and vigorously attacked as in the trainingit gave in writing English. Few were satisfied with it, least of allthose who taught it. At least one college professor, whose method andtextbooks were launched thirty years ago, has recanted all his earlywork in teaching composition and pronounced it valueless or worse. Thecollege graduate, after courses in English composition (at least onein the freshman year and often two or three more), in many instancesfound himself unable to write a business letter, describe a planprojected in business affairs, compose advertisements, or narrate acurrent event. This was not invariably the case, but it occurred oftenenough to be noted. Books, pamphlets, and papers multiplied on thislack of training for practical writing in college composition courses. The world of education discovered, what the newspapers had found byexperience, that the style of expression successful in literature didnot bring results in man's daily task of reaching his fellow man onthe homely and direct issues of daily life. In literature, genius isseeking to express itself. In the newspaper and in business, thewriter is trying--and only trying--to express and interpret hissubject so as to reach the other and contemporary man. If he doesthis, he wins. If not, he fails. Genius can, should be, careless ofthe immediate audience, and wait for the final and ultimate response. No newspaper article and no advertisement can. For them, style is onlya means. In letters, form is final. The verdict of posterity and notof the yearly subscriber or daily purchaser is decisive. 

=Journalistic writing demands a distinctive style and calls for immediateresponse=

In the high school and college, from 1910 on, there came courses inEnglish which turned to the newspaper for methods and means ofexpression, and were called "courses in journalism. " They were reallycourses in the English of the newspaper, besprinkled with lectures onthe diction of the newspaper and the use of words--futile efforts, through lists of words that must not be used, to give a sound rule ofthe selection of language by the writer, and, above all, attempts tosecure simple, direct, incisive narrative and discussion. These areall useful in their place and work. They prepare a man for some of thefirst steps of the newspaper office, particularly in the swift, mechanical routine and technique of "copy, " indispensable where whatis copy now is on the street for sale within an hour. 

Where an instructor has himself the gift of style and the capacity toimpart it, where he is himself a man who sells his stuff and knowswhat stuff will sell, where he has taste and inspiring, effectiveteaching power, a course in newspaper English may carry a man far inacquiring command of his powers of expression to their profitable use. These "courses in journalism" sometimes run for only a singlesemester. Many run for the normal span of three hours a week through ayear. Sometimes there are two in succession, the second assuming thetask of teaching work which a newspaper beginner usually reaches infrom three to five years: the special article, the supplement, studyof a subject, the "feature" story, criticism, and the editorial. Whenthese courses are based on assignments which lead a man to go out andget the facts on which he writes, they furnish a certain share oftraining in the art of reporting. Where this is done in a college townand a college community, however, the work is a far remove from thatwhere the reporter must dive and wrestle in the seething tide of agreat city, to return with news wrested from its native bed. 

=Courses in "newspaper English"=

Newspaper English has its great and widest value to the man who wishesto learn how he can affect the other man. A course in it is certain, if the instruction is effective, to leave a student better able toexpress himself in the normal needs of life. This work is taken bymany students as part of the effective training of college life, withno expectation of entering active newspaper work. The demand forpublicity work in all business fields, and its value to the socialworker, the teacher, and the clergyman, lead others to thisspecialized training. In at least one of our state universities, halfthose who take the courses in journalism do not look to the newspaperin the future. The curriculum is often so arranged that in a four-yearcollege course it will be practicable to combine these courses innewspaper English with the parts of work offered, required for, orpreparatory to the three learned professions, social service, business, and the applied sciences. Such an arrangement of studiesfrankly recognizes the value in general education and after life oftraining in the direct expression the newspaper uses. In no long timeevery college will have at least one such course in its Englishdepartment. 

But this course in direct writing stands alone, without any systematictraining in journalism; it should not be called a course in journalismany more than a course in political science dealing with law, or acourse in physiology or hygiene, can be called courses in law ormedicine, because they cover material used in schools of law orschools of medicine. It is an advantage for any educated man to learnto write clearly, simply, to the point; to put the purpose, object, and force of an article at the beginning, and to be as much likeDaniel Defoe and Franklin, and as little like Walter Pater or SamuelJohnson, as possible; it is well for him to have a general view of thenewspaper and its needs; it is a mistake to leave him with theimpression that he has the training journalism demands. He is nobetter off at this point than any college graduate who has picked upfor himself, by nature or through practice and imitation, the directnewspaper method. 

=Functions of a school of journalism: To select as well as to train=

President Eliot, when the organization of a school of journalism camebefore him, cast his august and misleading influence for the view thata college education was enough training for newspaper work. Many stillbelieve this. In more than one city-room today college men arechallenging the right of the graduates of a school of journalism tolook on themselves as better fitted for the newspaper office thanthose who are graduates of a good college. If the training of theschool has done no more than graft some copy-writing and somecopy-editing on the usual curriculum, they are right. If the comingjournalist has got his training in classes, half of whose number hadno professional interest in the course offered, the claim for thecollege course may be found to be well based. Men teach each other inthe classroom. A common professional purpose creates commonprofessional ideals and common professional aims as no training can, given without this, though it deal with identically the samesubjects. 

The training of the journalist will at this point go through the samecourse as the training of other callings. The palpable thing aboutlaw, the objective fact it presents first to the layman, is procedureand form. This began legal education. A man entered a law office. Heran errands and served papers which taught him how suits were opened. A bright New York office boy in a law firm will know how many days canpass before some steps must be taken or be too late, better than thegraduate of a law school. The law students in an office once endlesslycopied forms and learned that phase of law. For generations men "eattheir dinners" at the Inns of Court and learned no more. The lawitself they learned through practice, at the expense of their clients. Anatomy was the obvious thing about medicine when Vesalius, of thestrong head and weak heart, cleaned away the superstitions of part ofthe medical art and discovered a new world at twenty-eight. Themedical training of even seventy years ago, twenty years aftercellular pathology had dawned, held wearisome hours of dissection nowknown to be a waste. It is the functions of the body and its organswhich we now know to be the more important, and not the bones, muscles, nerves, and organs considered as mere mechanism. 

The classroom is the patent thing about instruction. The normalschools lavished time on the tricks of teaching until flocks ofinstructors in the high schools and colleges could not inaccurately bedivided into those who could teach and knew nothing and those who knewsomething and could not teach. Our colleges early thought they couldweave in Hebrew and theology, and send out clergymen, and later triedto give the doctor a foundation on which eighteen subsequent monthscould graft all he needed of medicine. 

Reporting is the obvious aspect of journalism which the ignorantlayman sees. Many hold the erroneous view that the end of a school ofjournalism is to train reporters. Reporting is not journalism. It isthe open door to the newspaper office, partly because there are veryfew reporters of many years' service. Some of them are, but able menbefore long usually work out of a city-room, or gain charge of somefield of city news, doing thus what is in fact reporting, but combinedwith editorial, critical, and correspondent work. Such is the WallStreet man, the local politics man, the City Hall man, or the PoliceHeadquarters man, who gathers facts and counts acquaintance as one ofhis professional assets. But these men are doing, in their work, farmore than reporting as it presents itself to those who see in the taskonly an assignment. Such men know the actual working of the financialmechanism, not as economists see it, but as Bagehot knew it. Theyunderstand the actual working of municipal machinery besides having aminute knowledge of character, decision, practice, and precedent inadministration. In our real politics, big and little, they and theWashington and Albany correspondents are the only men who know bothsides, are trusted with the secrets of both parties, and read closedpages of the book of the chronicles of the Republic. As for the PoliceHeadquarters man, he too alone knows both police and crime, and noinvestigation surprises him by its revelations. If a man, for aseason, has had the work of one of these posts, he comes to feel thathe writes for an ignorant world, and if he have the precious gift ofyouth, looks on himself as favored of mortals early, seeing the eventsof which others hear, daily close to the center of affairs, knowingmen as they are and storing confidence against the day of revelation. 

Men like these are the very heart's core of a newspaper. Their poststrain them. So do the key posts of a newspaper, its guiding anddirecting editors and those who do the thinking for thinking men bythe hundred thousand in editorial, criticism, and article. It is forthis order of work on a newspaper that a school of journalism trains. It is to these posts that, if its men are properly trained, itsgraduates rapidly ascend, after a brief apprenticeship in thecity-room and a round in the routine work of a paper. Dull men, however educated, will never pass these grades, and not passing theywill drop out. A school should sift such out; but so far, in all ourprofessional training, it is only the best medical schools which areinflexible in dealing with mediocrity. Most teachers know better, butlet the shifty and dull pass by. The newspaper itself has to beinexorable, and no well-organized office helps twice the man who isdull once; but he and his kind come often enough to mar the record. 

Journalism, like other professions, has its body of special tasks andtraining, but, as in other callings, clear comprehension of this bodyof needs will develop in instruction slowly. The case system in lawand the laboratory method in medicine came after some generations orcenturies of professional work and are only a generation old. Any onewho has sought to know the development of these two methods sees thatmuch in our schools of journalism is where law and medical schoolswere sixty years ago. We are still floundering and have not yet solvedthe problem of giving background, concision, accuracy, and interest tothe report, of really editing copy and not merely condensing andheading it, of recognizing and developing the editorial and criticalmind, and most of all, of shutting out early the shallow, thewrong-headed, the self-seeking, and the unballasted student. 

=The average college student lacks expressional power: Reasons=

The very best law and medical schools get the better of this, and onlythe best. They are greatly aided by a state examination which testsand tries all their work, braces their teaching, stimulates their men, and directs their studies. This will inevitably come in journalism, though most practicing newspaper men do not believe this. Neither diddoctors before 1870 expect this. As the newspaper comes closer andcloser into daily life, inflicts wounds without healing and doesdamage for which no remedy exists, the public will require of thewriter on a daily at least as much proof of competency as it does of aplumber. This competency sharply divides between training in thetechnical work of the newspaper and in those studies that knowledgewhich newspaper work requires. Capacity to write with accuracy, witheffect, with interest, and with style is the first and most difficulttask among the technical requirements of the public journal. As hasalready been said, a gift for expression is needed, but even thiscannot be exercised or developed unless a man has acquired diction andcome in contact with style, for all the arts rest on the imitation ofaccepted models. Many students in all schools of journalism come fromimmigrant families and are both inconceivably ignorant of English andinconceivably satisfied with their acquirement of English, as we allare with a strange tongue we have learned to speak. Even in familieswith two or more generations of American life, the vocabulary islimited, construction careless, and the daily contact with anyliterature, now that family prayers and Bible reading are gone; almostnil. Of the spoken English of teachers in our public schools, considered as the basis of training for the writer, it is not seemlyto speak. Everybody knows college teachers who have never shaken offthe slovenly phrases and careless syntax of their homes. The thesis onwhich advanced degrees are conferred is a fair and just measure of thecapacity to write conferred by eleven years of education above the"grammar grades. " The old drill in accurate and exact rendering ofGreek and Latin was once the best training for the writer; butslovenly sight reading has reduced its value, and a large part of itstrue effect was because the youth who studied the classics fifty yearsago came in a far larger share than today from families whose eldershad themselves had their expression and vocabulary trained anddeveloped by liberal studies. The capacity for good writing apparentat Oxford and Cambridge rests in no small measure on the classicalfamily horizon in teacher and taught. 

=Kind of training in composition to be given students of journalism=

Those who turn to journalism naturally care for writing, but in an artto "care" is little and most have never had the personal environment, the training, or the personal command of English to enable them to domore than write a stiff prose with a narrow vocabulary and no senseof style. Even those who have some such capacity are hampered by thefamily heritage already outlined. College writing is in the samecondition; but the average college man is not expecting to earn hisliving by his typewriter. In order to receive a minimum capacity inwriting enough to pass, every year of study for journalism must have awriting course and the technical work must run to constant writing. From start to finish there must be patient, individual correction. Theuse of the typewriter must be made obligatory. Rigid discipline mustdeal with errors in spelling, grammar, the choice of words andphrases. Previous college training in composition must in general berevised and made over to secure directness and simplicity. At the end, the utmost that can be gained for nineteen out of twenty is somefacility, a little sense of style and diction, and copy that will beabove the average of the newspaper and not much above that. Examinethe writing in the newspapers issued by some schools and the work inschools that do not, and a distressingly large portion is either dullor "smart, " the last, worst fault of the two. 

=Effective training in reporting must be given in large urban centers=

Reporting is the first use to which writing is put and through whichthe writer is trained. For this, abundant material is indispensable, as much as clinical material for a medical school. As the medicalschools gravitate to cities, and the rural institutions flicker outone by one, so in the end the effectively trained reporter willgravitate to a large city. Towns of under 20, 000 population furnish avery tame sort of reporting, and those who get this training in themfind reporting is under new conditions in a great metropolis. In sucha place the peril is that routine news will take too much of theprecious time for training the reporter and the demands of academichours will interfere with sharing in the best of big stories. 

=Aims in teaching the art of reporting=

Routine is the curse of the newspaper, and it is at its worst inreporting. In its face the four hard things to get are the combinationof the vivid, the accurate, and the informed and the condensed story. Equipped newspapers of high standards like the New York _World_require recourse to reference books, the "morgue, " and the files inevery story where details can be added to the day's digging in thatparticular news vein. Condensation comes next. The young cub reportergenerally shuns both. He hates to look up his subject. He spreadshimself like a sitting hen over one egg. Both must be required forefficient training. Compression it is difficult to enforce in a schoolwhere paper bills are small or do not exist and the space pressure ofthe large daily is absent. A number of dailies of large circulationare cultivating very close handling of news and space for feature andwoman stuff with very great profit, and the schools give too littleattention to this new phase of the newspaper. In all papers, the oldtendency to print anything that came by wire is gone and mere "news"has not the place it once had. In particular, local news was cut downone half in a majority of dailies in cities of 250, 000 and over fromAugust, 1914, to the close of the war. The small daily in places ofless than 50, 000 and weeklies did not do this, which is one reason whygreat tracts of the United States were not ready for war when it came. Woe to the land whose watchmen sleep!

=The teaching of copy-editing=

Copy-editing is the next task in the training of the coming newspaperman. On the small daily and weekly, there is little of this, but it ispracticed on the metropolitan daily. There ten to twelve men areneeded, doing nothing else but editing copy. In the office, two orthree years are needed to bring a man to this work. No school canteach this unless its men give at least a full day to editing a floodof copy that will fill a 12 to 16 page newspaper. Where the work ofthe students runs day by day on the copy of one of the lesser dailies, editing for that purpose is secured, but not the intensive trainingneeded to handle the copy-desk requirements of newspapers in a city of1, 000, 000 population or more in its urban ring. Success in this fieldis proved when men go direct from the classroom to such a desk. Thiscarries with it tuition in heads for all needs, make-up, and the closeediting of special articles, features, and night Associated Presscopy. 

=A liberal curriculum must be part of training for journalism=

Newspaper training will always deal also with subjects and needs acourse containing a larger proportion of the studies usually taught incollege or offered in its curriculum. Medicine requires the samechemistry, organic and inorganic, the same physics, and the sameelementary biology as our college courses cover; these sciences aremore or less like a Mother Hubbard, no very close fit and concealingmore than is revealed. Johns Hopkins has been able at this point toapply tests, personal and particular, gauging both teacher and taught, more searching than are elsewhere required. The fruits abundantlyjustify this course, and in time some school of journalism will applylike tests to history, --ancient, medieval, and modern, --politicaleconomy, political science, and the modern languages, which are thebasis of its work. The practical difficulty is that it is far easierto test the three sciences just mentioned than history, politics, andeconomics. No one will seriously assert that these are as rigorouslytaught as chemistry, physics, and biology. The personal equation ofthe teacher counts for more, it is both easier and more tempting toinject social theories, not yet tested by current facts, than inscience. Sciolism is less easily detected in courses which deal withthe humanitarian held than in science, but it is not less perilous andit is not less possible to apply the same experimental tests as in thescientific laboratory. He is blind, however, who does not see thatmuch advance in the current teaching at any time of history, politics, and economics has had its experimental tests as complete and asconvincing as in any laboratory, which certain teachers wholly refuseto accept--sometimes because they are behind the times, sometimesbecause they are before the times; sometimes they are in no timewhatever but the fool time of vain imaginings that somewhere, somewhen, and somehow there is a place where human desires arestronger than the inevitable laws which guide and guard the physics, the chemistry, and the biology of social bodies. 

=Social sciences must be related to life=

A notable difference exists between the views of law taught anddiscussed in a law school and in a school of political science. Themedical lectures preserve a sobriety in discussing sundry biologicalproblems not always present in advanced courses of biology. Bothlecturers, in both instances, are scientific men, both are faithful tothe truths of science, but as a distinguished economist, who in hisearly years had been accused of being an advanced socialist, said, after he had won a comfortable fortune by judicious investments inbusiness, banking, and realty, to a friend of earlier and far-distantyears: "My principles remain exactly the same, but, I admit, my pointof view has changed. " There is not one biology of the medical school, another of the biological laboratory. Neither does the body of lawdiffer in a law school or in a school of political science. Theprinciples remain exactly the same. Of necessity, however, the pointof view has changed and treatment has changed with it. So hasresponsibility. 

The subject offers some difficulties. The analogy is not at all pointsexact. Medicine and law have a definite body of doctrine. Schools ofbiology and political science have not, but granting all this, itstill remains true that exactly as the law student and the medicalstudent must have what is defined, established, and unmistakable inthe world of law and of life, so the student looking to journalismneeds and must have what is defined, established, and unmistakable ineconomics and political science. Here, again, no one will pretend thatthe usual college course in either of these branches is taught withthe same determination to keep within the same metes and bounds ofrecorded, tested, and ascertained facts as is true of courses inphysics, chemistry, and biology. The boundary marked is less distinct. The periodic law by which the atomic values of elements areestablished is more definite than the periodic law under which wealthis distributed through society, though in the end some Mendelléeffwill record the periodic law of social elements in their compositionand action. Research is needed and must be free. Theory andspeculation are as necessary to secure an experiment and observation. The principle is clear, however, that the student who is to makeprofessional use of a topic needs to have a definite and establishedinstruction, not required in one to whom topic is incidental. Themedical student or law student who has a new view of economic resultsor a new theory of the cause and purpose of our judicial andconstitutional system as organized to protect the few against the manywill work this off in the school of life, and is unaffected in hisprofessional work. The journalist within his first year's work mustapply his college economics and political science, and a wrongstarting point may have serious consequences to his own career in theend, perhaps to society. Fortunately the work of the journalist sobrings him in contact with things as they are, that the body ofnewspaper writers, taken as a whole, represents the stability ofsociety. The convictions and principles created by their daily worktend this way. The labor union has few illusions to the reporter, andit was the editorial writers of the land who carried the gold standardin 1896, when many a publisher was hazy and scary. The causes of crimegrow pretty clear to a police reporter, and a few assignments in whicha newspaper man sees a riot convinces him of the value of publicorder, rigidly enforced. None the less, the reporter should startright on these sciences, basic in his calling; in the end, as themedical school has steadied the college teaching of chemistry andbiology, so the school of journalism, the school of business, and theschool of railroad practice _et al_ will steady economics andpolitical science. But the duty of the college and university remainsclear, to be as watchful that the sciences of social action andreaction shall be taught with the same adherence to the establishedand the same responsibility to their professional use as the sciencesof physical, chemical, and biological action and reaction. 

=Especially adapted content in social sciences to meet professional needs=

The college studies needed as preparation for journalism call for aspecial proficiency and content as much as for a professionalviewpoint. The journalist makes precisely the same use of hisfundamental studies as does the medical student of his. If a futurelawyer neglects his chemistry and biology, it is of little moment. Hecan get up what he needs of a case. A medical student who neglectsthese studies will find that the best schools bar him. In time theschool of journalism will refuse the college passing mark foradmission. The newspaper man almost from the start has to use hiseconomics, his political science, and his history. Elementaryeconomics is in great measure given to theory, though a change hasbegun. For the journalist, this course needs to be brought in closecontact with the actual economic working of society. The theory may beuseful to the man who expects in the end to teach economics. It is ofnext to no value to the writer on public affairs. Of what possible useis it to him to learn the various theoretic explanations ofBoehm-Bawerk's cost and value? The newspaper man needs to see thesethings and be taught them as Bagehot wrote on them and Walker andSumner taught them. 

=General science course of inestimable worth to the journalist=

In Columbia, this change is already recognized as necessary. So inpolitical science, the actual working of the body politic needs to betaught, and this is too often neglected for explanatory theories and aspecial interpretation. A single elementary course in chemistry, physics, or biology presupposes two or three more courses which fillout the special opening sketch. Newspaper works requires a generalaccount of science, derided by the scientist who is himself satisfiedin his own education with a similar sketch in history. These generalscience courses are being smuggled in as "history of science, " or"scientific nomenclature. " Much can be done in a year with such athree-hour course, if the teaching be in exceptional hands; butadequate treatment requires two years of three hours, one on organicand one on inorganic science. The latter should give a view ofanthropology and the former dwell on the application of science inmodern industry. 

=In history attention must be focalized on modern movements=

College history courses end thirty to fifty years ago. The journalistneeds to know closely the last thirty years, at home and abroad. Weeksgiven to colonial charters in American history are as much waste as toset a law student to a special study of the Year Books of Edward Iand II. College students have to put up with a good deal of this kindof waste. If twelve hours can be assigned to history, three should beon the classical period, three introductory to the modern world, threeto European history since 1870, and three hours for American history;at least two of these three hours should go to American history sinceGarfield. 

=Recent progress in all subjects must be summed up for the student ofjournalism=

The writing course should be used to supplement this by articles onboth these fields so that a student will learn the sources of historyfor the last thirty years, its treaties, its elections, its movements, its statutes, its reference works. He will need all this knowledge assoon as he has to write as a correspondent, a feature writer, or aneditor, on the important topics of the day. Statistics need tosupplement economics and advanced courses, two, if possible, shouldgive knowledge and method in the approach to new problems in currency, banking, trusts, and unions. At least one general course in philosophyis needed, and Freud is as important for him here as Aristotle. Thecontact of the newspaper man with book reviewing, book advertising, and the selection of fiction and news in supplements and magazinescalls for the "survey course in English literature" and a knowledge ofthe current movement in letters for thirty years back. In science, inpolitics, in history, in economics, in philosophy, and in letters, itis indispensable that the young newspaper man should be introduced bylecture, and still more by reading, to the speaking figures of his ownday on affairs, political life, letters, the theatre, and art. 

=The journalist must ever be a student of human affairs=

These things are indispensable. The man who knows them can learn towrite and edit, but the man who can only write and edit and does notknow them will speedily run dry in the newspaper, weekly and monthly. News is today standardized. Each President, each decade, each greatwar, the Associated Press and City Press Associations cover morecompletely the current news. Presentation, comment, handling specialarticles, grow each year more important and more in demand. The priceof supplement and magazine articles has trebled in the last twentyyears. The newspaper grows more and more to be a platform, particularly the Sunday newspaper and popular magazine. If a man is tobe a figure in the day's conflict and on its wider issues, he needsthe special training just outlined, and when this outline is begun, hewill find the toil of the years in these fields has but begun. Aboutthe safe harbors of journalism where men come and go, dealing with theaffairs of and ending the ready market of the day, are the reefsstrewn with the wrecks of ready and often "brilliant" writers whosefew brief years left them empty and adrift, telling all they meet thatno man can long earn a fair income and hold his own through the yearsin journalism. 

A school can ameliorate all this by one course which requires muchreading of the Bible and Shakespeare, by furnishing in the schoollibrary abundant access to the best current prose and verse of the daywhich will directly appeal to the young reader, since each decade hasits new gods in letters, and by selecting teachers for theprofessional courses who have shown that they can write at least wellenough to be paid by newspapers and magazines for their work. Theteacher in writing whose work is not salable is not as likely to teachstudents how to write so that their work can sell as one who hasearned his living by selling his stuff. 

 TALCOTT WILLIAMS _School of Journalism, Columbia University_

XXVIII

BUSINESS EDUCATION

=Evolution of business education=

Business education of collegiate grade is a very recent development. The world's first commercial college was established at Antwerp in1852, while the forerunner of American institutions of this sort, theWharton School, was founded in 1881. Others followed in the nineties, but the general establishment of schools of commerce as parts ofcolleges and universities, as well as the inclusion of businesssubjects in the curricula of liberal colleges, took place after 1900. This sudden flowering at the top was preceded by a long evolutionquite typical of the development of education in all the branches oflearning to which institutions devote time because of their culturalor professional worth. 

Some practical end and not the desire for abstract knowledge promptedearly instruction and stimulated business education as well aseducation in general through various stages of progress. Of course alleducation is a process whereby technical operations and abstract truthdeveloped by many generations are systematized, compressed, andimparted to individuals in a relatively short time. 

The first stage in the evolution in a given field may be called the_apprentice stage_. Just as physicians, lawyers, and in factpractitioners in all the professions and crafts trained theirassistants in their establishments for the purpose of making themproficient in their daily work, so did merchants at this stage giveapprentice training in commercial branches to their employees. Traditional ways of carrying out certain transactions, convenientrules of thumb, and habits of neatness and reliability were passed onin a given establishment. As industry grew and guilds were formed, thetraining tended to become more standardized and merchants joined inestablishing guild schools for their employees. Many such schoolswere conducted in the various crafts, and their modern counterpartsare the well-known vocational or trade schools. This _vocationaltraining_ stage was developed by business men for persons not employedas productive craftsmen but rather as workers in business officeswhich administered production and directly attended to selling andexchange, and for others looking forward to such employment. At thisstage there grew up also private schools, usually conducted byteachers especially proficient in particular lines of service. Thusinventors of shorthand systems, devisers of systems of penmanship, andauthors of methods of bookkeeping and accounting set up schools inthese specialties. Here we have training outside the business houseitself to prepare for participation in business, and the enterprisesflourish because there is a demand for the people they train. At thisstage rules of thumb are supplanted by systems based on principles, and the way is paved for the _technical school stage_. The traininghere is practical, but it is broad and based on scientific knowledge. This stage is not reached in all fields of endeavor, for some stop atthe first or the second, while on the other hand the existence of ahigher stage of education does not preclude the continuation at thesame time of agencies carrying on instruction after the mode of thelower stages. With the rise of the factory system and the extension ofcapitalistic production and industrial integration in the form of "bigbusiness, " there came a demand in the business world for men widelyinformed and thoroughly trained. Not only did men to meet this demandhave to have good foundations of general education, but they neededtechnical preparation in the specialized field of business itself. 

Business science is not only applied science, but it is secondary orderived from a number of the fundamental sciences. It draws itsprinciples from the physical sciences of physics, chemistry, geology, and biology; it utilizes the engineering applications of thesesciences; it derives valuable information from physiology andpsychology, and it makes use of the modern languages. Borrowing fromall the pure sciences and their applied counterparts, it formulatesits own regulations so that it may manage the work of the world_economically_, so that it may bring about the production of goodsnecessary to meet humanity's many, varied, and recurrent wants, andmake these commodities available in advantageous times and places withindividual title to them established according to existing standardsof personal justice and social expediency. 

The final stage, the _cultural stage_, is reached when the educatordetermines that the field in question is so much a part of the generalcivilization or intellectual wealth of the world that it ought toreceive some consideration, not only by specialists in the field butalso by the student pursuing a well-planned course of a general ornon-technical character designed to enable him to appreciate and playsome rôle in the world in which he lives. It is because new branchesof human endeavor constantly blossom forth into this stage, while moreancient branches wither and no longer bear fruit of contemporarysignificance, that the very humanities themselves change as well asrealities. 

Business as a field of human thought and activity has reached thisstage, and educators reckon with it in laying out courses of generalelementary, secondary, and collegiate study. 

No one would contend that educators should in any way cease to offergeneral or cultural courses, but they should insist that these generalcourses embrace all of humanity's wealth, including that which modernsociety contributed, and that they should with each addition reshapetheir general offerings so that appropriate proportions will bepreserved. 

=Definition of business education=

Before the development of modern highly organized production, businesstraining would have been synonymous with commercial training; that is, training to prepare men to play their parts in the _exchange_ ofgoods. This would embrace correspondence with customers, the keepingof records of stock, the cost of stock, making out bills, andattending to all financial operations which were associated withmarketing and exchange. Successful training would imply, of course, the broad foundational grasp of arithmetic, reading, and writing ofthe mother tongue and of such foreign languages as the nature of themarket might require, a grasp of various money values, bankingprocedure, and other information concerning financial affairs, themeans of transportation, freight charges, etc. Manual skill had to bedeveloped in penmanship, in the technique of bookkeeping, generaloffice organization, and filing. With the invention of mechanical andlabor-saving office devices, facility in operating them was requiredto supplement skill in penmanship. 

Of course, with the development of the market the complexity of officemanagement increased. In modern times the business man concernshimself not only with the duties of the merchant and exchanger, butalso with the organization of industry and economical procedure. Themodern business man, entrepreneur or manager, and all those assistinghim in the discharge of his duties, perform functions in twodirections: first, in the direction of the market in the establishmentof price, in the selling of his goods, and in attending to all matterswhich flow therefrom, and secondly toward the production plant itself;while he employs technicians who know how to perform operationsskillfully according to the laws of science, nevertheless he must knowhow to buy labor and how to organize labor and materials and put themin coördinate working relationship most economically. 

We can therefore define business _education as education whichdirectly prepares people to discharge the business function: namely, the economical organization of men and materials in production and themost advantageous distribution and exchange of the commodities orservice for consumption_. 

In the modern world it is hard sometimes to draw the line between thefield of technology in production and the field of business managementin production, but in general the two functions are fairly distinct. The technician is interested in operations of production, while thebusiness manager is interested in their economical organization and intheir government with relation to market conditions. The veryengineers themselves must be selected, engineered, and paid by thebusiness man. The business manager is interested in keeping the totalprice of his commodities above his total entrepreneur's cost. Thetechnician is interested in inventing and operating the machinery ofproduction, if and when the business man determines what operationswill be profitable. 

=Aims and curricula of business education=

The aims of business education are, first and foremost, professional;second, civic; and third, cultural. At no time can the three beseparated, but it is possible to devise a curriculum which stressesone or two of the aims. It is also possible to treat a subject so asto emphasize technical and practical skill or to promote philosophicalreflection. 

The professional aim prompted the establishment of the first schoolsor colleges of commerce, and it is kept to the fore not only ininstitutions giving courses of study which lead to distinctive degreesin commerce, but also in places which give specialized instruction inparticular fields. We shall consider curricula of the following types:

_Type I. _ Curriculum designed to give the student training to meet adefinite professional requirement established by law. 

_Type II. _ Curriculum designed to make a student proficient in aparticular narrow field. 

_Type III. _ Curriculum leading to a baccalaureate degree in commerceor business, vertical type. 

_Type IV. _ Curriculum leading to a baccalaureate degree in commerce orbusiness, horizontal type. 

TYPE I. TECHNICAL COURSE, DESIGNED TO PREPARE STUDENTS TO MEET THESTATE REQUIREMENTS FOR CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS

_Entrance requirements_ for students matriculating for the wholecourse as candidates for a Diploma of Graduate in Accountancy--highschool graduation, college entrance or a State Regents' C. P. A. Qualifying Certificate. 

Non-matriculated students--mature persons wishing to pursue certainsubjects without academic credit. 

 _Prescribed_

 Accounting, Theory, Practice and Problems 4 terms, 4 hours a week--256 hours

 This course covers general accounting for the single proprietor, partnerships and corporations, embracing financing, manufacturing, and selling operations, with agencies and branches, the formation of mergers, syndicates, holding companies, etc. ; dissolutions and reorganizations. 

 Cost accounting 1 term, 2 hours a week--32 hours

 Auditing 1 term, 2 hours a week--32 hours

 Public utilities accounting 1 term, 2 hours a week--32 hours

 Judicial (fiduciary) accounting 1 term, 2 hours a week--32 hours

 Advanced accounting, theory, and problems 2 term, 2 hours a week--64 hours

 Commercial Law 3 terms, 3 hours a week 144 hours

 Covering general principles of law, contracts, and all forms of special contracts of interest to the business man, especially those related to personal property, risk insurance, credit and real property, and forms of business associations. 

 Economics Economic principles 1 term, 3 hours a week--48 hours

 Economic development of the United States 1 term, 3 hours a week--48 hours

 Money and banking 1 term, 3 hours a week--48 hours

 English--Written, Business English 2 terms, 2 hours a week--64 hours

 Oral English--Public Speaking 4 terms, 1 hour a week--64 hours

 _Additional electives_--one course of at least 96 hours in Government and enough other elective subjects in technical commercial work or Political Science to accrue at least a total of 1000 hours. 

 The available additional electives in accounting are advanced courses in different special fields such as Advanced Cost Accounting, Municipal Accounting--General and Departmental, Systems for particular industries or forms of business, Public Utilities Rate Making and Regulation, etc. 

 In Government the available electives include such subjects as American Government and Citizenship, American Constitutional Law, International Law, Political Theory, Comparative Government, State Legislation and Administration, Municipal Administration, etc. 

 In Political Science, courses in Economics and Business, such as Economic Problems, Business Organization and Management, Public Finance, Foreign Trade, Foreign Exchange, Insurance, Advertising, Salesmanship, etc. , are available, while general and special courses may be taken in Sociology and Statistics. 

Courses of study of this sort in a specialized field are offered incolleges usually at night for students who are in active businessduring the day. With more or less extensive additions in scientific, literary, and linguistic fields they become the curricula leading tobaccalaureate degrees as represented by Type III, to follow. Largeprivate institutes or schools conducted for profit and alsocorrespondence institutions offer similar courses. Other groups ofstudies in particular fields are: in banking, in transportation ortraffic, in sales management, including advertising and salesmanship, and in foreign trade. 

A group in Foreign Trade will typify this sort of course of study, which differs from the one in Accountancy just given because themake-up will be determined wholly by each institution quiteindependent of legally established professional standards. 

TYPE II. TO PREPARE STUDENTS FOR WORK IN A SPECIAL FIELD, FOREIGNTRADE

 Principles of economics 1 term, 3 hours a week--48 hours

 Economic resources of the U. S. 1 term, 3 hours a week--48 hours

 Commercial geography 1 term, 3 hours a week--48 hours

 Money and banking 1 term, 3 hours a week--48 hours

 Foreign exchange 1 term, 3 hours a week--48 hours

 Foreign credit 1 term, 2 hours a week--32 hours

 International law 1 term, 3 hours a week--48 hours

 Tariff history of the U. S. 1 term, 2 hours a week--32 hours

 U. S. And foreign customs administrations 1 term, 2 hours a week--32 hours

 Export technique 1 term, 2 hours a week--32 hours

 Practical steamship operation 1 term, 2 hours a week--32 hours

 Marketing and salesmanship

 General course 1 term, 2 hours a week--32 hours

 Special courses as desired on South American Markets, Mediterranean Markets, Russian Markets, Northwest Empire Markets, etc. 

 Foreign Languages:

 Practical courses in Conversation and correspondence in French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Russian, etc. , according to market in which trade is specialized, at least 4 terms, 3 hours a week--192 hours

 Total (in 2 years, with weekly schedule of 10 or 12 hrs. ) 672 hours

A special course of this sort usually leads to a certificate but not adiploma or degree. Obviously the technical aim is very prominent, though civic and cultural benefits of no mean character will ofnecessity be derived. New groups will be found as new fields ofbusiness become important and develop definite, recognizablerequirements of a scientific sort. Naturally each such specialty goesthrough the usual evolution and contributes its philosophicaldistillation or essence to the cultural college course. 

When we come to the construction of a curriculum leading to abachelor's degree in business, economics, or commerce, we have theproblems of the engineering schools. Just how far will specializationbe carried, in what sequence will the foundational subjects and thespecialties be taken up, and to what extent will other more generalsubjects not directly contributing to a technical end be admitted? Inmost institutions of good standards the degree is regarded asrepresenting not only technical proficiency in business but also someacquaintance with science, politics, and letters in general. Thequestion (already an old one in schools of engineering) arises thenconcerning the best way to arrange the special or distinctivelybusiness subjects in relation to the more general. Although there area number of variations, two outstanding types are recognizable. We maydevise labels for them: the _vertical_ curriculum, which offers bothgeneral and special courses side by side right up through the collegecourse, and the _horizontal_, which requires a completion of the wholeor nearly all of the general group during the first two years ofcollege before the special subjects are pursued in the last two. 

TYPE III. VERTICAL TYPE OF UNDERGRADUATE CURRICULUM, LEADING TO THEDEGREE OF B. S. IN ECONOMICS

_Entrance_: College entrance requirements. 

_Requirement for graduation_: 74 units, of which 40 must be in generalbusiness and in liberal subjects, with 34 in specialized fields ofbusiness activity, to be taken after the freshman year. 

 A unit here represents successful work for one hour a week for two semesters. Therefore the total 74 is equivalent to 148 of the usual collegiate units. 

 _Freshman Required Work_

 English composition 2 hours a week--2 terms English, history of the language 1 hour a week--2 terms English literature 1 hour a week--2 terms Chemistry--general ) or } 3 hours a week--2 terms Business law ) Physical education 2 hours a week--2 terms Government--federal and state 3 hours a week--2 terms Principles of economics 3 hours a week--2 terms Economic resources 2 hours a week--2 terms Accounting--general course 3 hours a week--2 terms

 _Sophomore Required Work_

 English literature and composition 3 hours a week--2 terms Physical education 2 hours a week--2 terms General history 2 hours a week--2 terms

 _Required before End of Junior Year_

 Additional political science 2 hours a week--2 terms Physical education 1 hour a week--2 terms

 _Required before Graduation_

 Additional history 3 hours a week--2 terms

 Physical education 1 hour a week--2 terms A modern language beyond the first year in college 3 hours a week--4 terms

 Total required units 40 units

Elect after the Freshman year courses aggregating 34 additional units in fields of

 I. Business law 4 courses, 10 units available II. Commerce and transportation 9 courses, 19 units available III. Economics 8 courses, 15 units available IV. Finance and accounting 20 courses, 53 units available V. Geography and industry 11 courses, 26 units available VI. Insurance 7 courses, 16 units available VII. Political science 22 courses, 43 units available VIII. Sociology 6 courses, 12 units available

 Total required for the degree, 74 units

There is a school which grants a degree in Commerce for the equivalentof 36 of these units or 72 of the usual college credits, if thestudent has business experience, and for the equivalent of 48 of theseunits or 96 of the usual college credits if he has not. The course isessentially like Type I and includes no broad liberal requirements inliterature, foreign language, and history and on the other hand is notso strictly prescribed as Type I. A strictly technical degree may bedesirable for such a short course, provided the prescription is severeand includes languages. Generally it seems best to reserve degrees forfull college courses of four years or more which include a reasonablegeneral requirement in languages and science. This leads us to TypeIV, or the curriculum which requires the first regular two years ofthe college course prescribed for one of the liberal degrees andpermits business specialization in the last two undergraduate years orthese with an additional postgraduate year. One institution requiresthe first three years as a foundation for a two-year course inbusiness, and one conducts a postgraduate school of businessadministration leading to the degree of Ph. D. In Business Economics. No doubt postgraduate work will be continued mainly in the researchdirection, but undergraduate day and continuation courses will bedevoted mainly to preparation for business. 

It is not necessary to illustrate Type IV, because the first two yearsconsist simply of the Freshman and Sophomore work of any sort ofliberal college course, Classical, Scientific, or Modern Language, while the succeeding years are made up of special work in Economicsand Business of more or less concentrated character. 

The advantage of the type is obviously administrative. The wholevexing problem of insuring fairly wide cultivation along withopportunities for specialization is conveniently settled by givinggeneral training, most of it remote from business work, for two years, after which the student is considered cultivated enough to withstandthe blighting effect of specialization. But there are seriouspedagogical objections to this arrangement which make the verticalplan seem preferable. A student coming from one of our constantlyimproving high schools of commerce is checked for two years and giventime to forget all the bookkeeping and other commercial work which hehas learned and on which advanced commercial instruction may be built, while he pursues an academic course. It would be far better tocontinue the modern languages, the mathematics, and natural sciences, along with business courses. Furthermore there is much to be done byeducators in arranging such parallel sequences of subjects so thatadvantage may be taken of vocational interest to stimulate broad anddeep study of related fundamentals. Considerable improvement could bemade over Type III, but that type seems better than the one we havestyled "horizontal. "

In all these courses of study we quite properly find both thephilosophical and analytical courses, those which are historical anddescriptive and those of detailed practical technique; we findeconomic theory, industrial history, business management, andpractical accounting; we find theory of money and banking, history ofbanking in the United States, and practical banking; we find theory ofinternational exchange, tariff history, and the technique of customsadministration. Concerning methods of teaching particular subjects weshall speak later. 

Seldom do we find curricula drawn up with the purely civic end inview, though many schools and associations throughout the country areagitating the question of organized training of men for publicservice. Strictly speaking, this kind of training is both professionaland civic because it is designed to make men proficient in carrying onthe business of the State. In New York City the municipal collegeconducts courses of this sort for persons in the city service, whileprivate bureaus of municipal research conduct their own courses. Sofar in America no courses are yet accepted officially for entranceinto public service or as the only qualification for advancement inthe service. Nevertheless, progress is being made in this direction. The curricula offered include courses in Government and especiallyMunicipal Government, Public Finance and Taxation, the practicalorganization and administration of various departments such as Police, Charities, Public Works, the establishment and maintenance of specialsystems of municipal accounts. 

But the great civic benefit comes from general courses in business, for the business man who has a real grasp of his work and sees it inthe light of general social welfare becomes a good citizen. Businesseducation gives some sense of the interdependence of industry, personal ethics, and government. The broadly trained business manrealizes that he is in a sense a servant of the community, that hisproperty is wrapped up with the welfare of his fellow men, and thatwhat he has is a trust which society grants to him to be conductedafter the manner of a good steward. Such training reveals to him the_raison d'être_ of labor legislation, factory laws, the variousqualifications of the property right, the necessity for taxation, andthe importance of good government to all the citizens of the Stateboth as coöperative agents in production and as consumers. Continuedand improved business education will elevate the mind of the merchantand the manager so that its horizon is no longer the profit balancebut the welfare of all society. 

The cultural aim of business courses is consciously kept in mind bythe makers of curricula for colleges of liberal arts and scienceswhich permit a rather free choice of electives in the department ofEconomics and Business or of Political Science, according to thedepartmental organization of the institution. Here, of course, we findEconomics, which bears to practical business much the relation whichPhilosophy bears to active life in general. We find also courses inMoney and Banking, usually offered from the historical and descriptiverather than the technical point of view. Recently, however, collegeshave included in this field of election practical courses inAccountancy and Commercial Law. The tendency is in the direction ofincluding more and more of the practical and technical courses, although the historical and philosophical courses are retained. Nevertheless the cultural value is undiminished, unless one were tomaintain that nothing which is exact can be cultural. 

=Methods of teaching=

The field of business is so wide and embraces so many subjects thatthe methods of teaching giving the best results will be varied andused in different combinations with different subjects. Those subjectswhich are practical and largely habit forming, such as stenography, typewriting, bookkeeping, and the manipulation of mechanical andlabor-saving office devices, are of course taught by some method oftraining which will insure quick reaction. In these courses the objectis to cultivate habits of manual dexterity and habits of orderlinessand neatness. Here we find that exposition is reduced to a minimum, lectures are few, recitations do not exist to any great extent, butthat practice, 1st, to secure proper form, and 2d, to secure speed, is the controlling aim of the method. The teachers show theiringenuity in devising exercises which will give accuracy of form andthen develop speed without sacrifice of accuracy. 

In colleges these courses are reduced to a minimum because they areusually cared for in lower schools, but for students who come directlyto the commercial college without them, preparatory courses of thissort are often conducted. 

Among the technical subjects the one which calls for the most practiceis, of course, Accountancy, first for the single proprietor, next forthe partnership, and finally for the corporation. Various methods ofpresenting Accountancy have been suggested. Very few teachers employextensive recitation work in this field. It is found most desirable tohave periods of at least two hours' duration, so that the teacher cangive such exposition and lecture work at the beginning of the periodas he may see fit, and the class may then take up practice. In someschools it is customary to have one course in theory, another coursein practical accounting, and another course in problems of accounting. However, the tendency seems to be in the direction of making thesethree aspects of the work mutually helpful, and the course is offeredas a course in Accounting, Theory, Practice, and Problems. The theoryis set forth in a lecture, practice is given with typical situationsin mind, and then related problems are taken up for solution. Manyexcellent texts are now appearing and can be used in the customarymanner. Assignments in these books tend to make unnecessary many longor formal lectures, but there still remains the need for classroomtalks and quizzes. As the course progresses, the problems become moreand more difficult and complicated, and the final problem work isexceedingly difficult and calls for a considerable power of analysis, clarity of statement, and care in arrangement on the part of thestudent. 

A complete course of this sort usually covers two and a half or threeyears. At the end of the first year of general accountancy, specialsubjects may be pursued parallel with the general course. The order inwhich these specialties are introduced is usually Cost Accounting, Auditing Systems, Judicial or Fiduciary Accounting, and then otherspecial branches such as Brokers' Accounts, Public UtilitiesAccounting, Foreign Exchange Accounting, etc. 

General Accounting is very important both as an instrument for thebusiness man to use and as a training to insure the grasp of generalbusiness organization. It is the opinion of the writer that whether abusiness man expects to become an accountant or not, he should have athorough and technical grasp of this subject. In these specialties itis necessary to depend upon lectures rather than textbooks, not onlybecause textbooks here are few and other works are not well adapted toteaching use, but also because the subject matter must be kept up todate and in keeping with changing practice. The lecturers should bepractical experts in each particular field as well as acceptableteachers. 

Closely related to Accountancy is Commercial Law. Commercial Lawshould, of course, be understood by every business man, not because heexpects to become a practitioner of law but because he wishes to avoidunnecessary disputes and to shape his course wisely from a legalstandpoint in dealing with his employees, his business associates, andhis customers. 

There are various methods of teaching Commercial Law. The one whichhas been in vogue thus far has been the textbook method, in which theprinciples of law of interest to the business man are set forth. Lessons are assigned in the book, and recitations are held. Thelecture method also is advocated. In some universities which have bothlaw schools and schools of commerce, the commercial students receivelectures in the school of law in such subjects as contracts, agencies, insurance, etc. It seems to the writer that neither of these practicesis desirable but that the proper way to teach Commercial Law to thecommercial students is the case method, in which the principles of lawof interest to the business man are developed from an examination ofactual cases of business litigation. We may very likely look forwardto the publication of case books which can be used either alone or inconjunction with textbooks on legal principles. Lectures on law tocommercial students should be reduced to a minimum, and then theyshould confine themselves to very broad principles which need nolengthy exposition or to fields in which the students may be expectedto have a general grasp but no very detailed knowledge. But suchsubjects as contracts, agency, bankruptcy, sales, insurance, negotiable instruments, and forms of business association should betaught thoroughly to the student in the classroom through the casemethod, in which each case is fully discussed by the class and fromwhich discussion legal principles are evolved. It is interesting tonote that the states which stand highest in the matter of CertifiedPublic Accountancy licenses are requiring very thorough preparation inlaw. To meet such requirements a course in law covering at least threesemesters, three hours a week, with a case method is certainlynecessary. 

The modern languages taught in schools of commerce should be by thedirect method, and always with the vocational end clearly before thestudent. Actual business transactions, such as selling to a foreigncustomer in the foreign language, correspondence, newspapers, catalogues and other documents of business, should be thesupplementary reading and exercise material of the class. Facility inconversation and writing should be developed as rapidly as possible, and the grasp of the methodical rules should follow. It would probablybe presumptuous to take a strong position here on the question ofteaching modern languages, but experience with commercial students hasclearly indicated that greatest progress can be made if the languageis taught by a conversation or direct method from the very start, andif paradigms and rules of syntax are evolved after some vocabulary hasbeen developed and some facility in speech has been acquired. We maysay here, incidentally, that it seems wise to teach the spokenlanguage for a while before taking up the problem of the writtenlanguage, especially where the foreign language assigns differentphonetic values to the printed symbols from those assigned in English. 

While the various technical subjects offer different problems becauseof differences in their character, we may say in general that the aimof the school should always be to keep in touch with the actualpractice in the business world; to have the lecturer use materialwhich is up to the minute, and, where possible, to give the studentsthe advantage of field work or at least to take them on tours ofinspection in the different houses engaged in this or that line ofbusiness. 

The curriculum of any good commercial college or university departmentof business includes courses in Economics, Commercial Geography, Industrial History, Business Management, and similar subjects. Nodoubt other chapters of this book discuss methods of teaching thesesubjects. But it may not be out of place here to indicate that thebest approach to the study of Economics is through practical businesscourses in Accountancy, Commercial Law, and Practical Management. Economics is the Philosophy of Business, and it cannot be understoodby one who is unfamiliar with the facts of business. Certainly itcannot be related to real business life by the academic student. Itwould seem, therefore, best to reserve the course in Economic Theoryfor the senior year of a business course and precede it with coursesin Accounting, Law, Industrial History, and Management. Then, when itis taught, it should be presented through practical problems fromwhich the general principles may, by induction, be derived. 

=Relations with the business world=

It is important that commercial education should not grow academic andremote from the real world of affairs. Therefore schools of businessshould keep in close contact with merchants' associations, chambers ofcommerce, and such other bodies of business men as may be in theneighborhood of the school. Committees from such associations shouldhave either a voice in the conduct of the school, or at least havevery strong advisory representation on committees. In France, Germany, and in fact most European countries, colleges of commerce weredirectly established by chambers of commerce and associations ofmerchants, and the work is to a large extent conducted under theirdirection. Whether the college of commerce in America be a privateinstitution or one supported by the public, it should form somesympathetic contact with the leading business organizations. Of coursecertain business associations have their own technical schools oftraining. The American Bankers' Association conducts its own courses, drawing upon various universities for lecturers in some subjects anddrawing upon experts in business for other kinds of technical work. Soalso various corporations have their corporation schools which seek todevelop business executives by progressive courses of training forthose in the lower ranks. 

Nevertheless, the collegiate institutions offering organized coursesin commerce will do well to keep in touch with business men. Anotherway in which such schools and colleges can keep abreast of the timesis to employ lecturers who do not make teaching their main business oflife but who are expert in certain particular fields. Indeed, it isalmost impossible to teach certain of the very advanced andspecialized courses without employing men of this sort. They areattracted to teaching not by the pay but by the honor of beingconnected with an institution of learning, and by sincere desire tocontribute something to the development of the work in which they areinterested. These men, of course, can be scheduled only for arelatively few hours a week, and sometimes they can be had only forevening lectures, but in any event they are very much worth while. Obviously the director of studies in the college should give these menall possible assistance of a pedagogical sort, so that theiradvantages as experts in business will not be offset by deficienciesas teachers. 

=Evening work in commercial courses=

This brings us to another consideration which is very important. Itseems to the writer that the ideal training for a student who hasreached the stage of entrance to college and who wishes to go intobusiness is as follows:

He should enroll in the college course which is preparatory forbusiness training and pursue his modern languages, Mathematics, English, and the Social Sciences, and also take up such accounting andtechnical work as he can have the first two years of his course. Thenhe should enter the world of business itself, be in a business houseduring the day, and continue his studies at night. It seems verydesirable that this parallel progress, in organized theory andinstruction, on the one hand, and in actual business with itsdifficulties which arise almost haphazard, should be carried on. Therelationship is very helpful. Of course a substitute for this is thecoöperative plan, in which the student spends a part of his time incollege and a part of the time in a business house. Anotheralternative in institutions which have the three-term year is to puttwo terms in at college and one term in at business. The calendararrangement of any institution will suggest variations of thissuggested arrangement, the purpose of which will be to insureprogressive development in business practice and also in collegiateinstruction. 

=Recent developments=

It is to be noticed that in the last few years business has becomemore and more intense. The developments are in two directions. Thefirst direction is saving and efficiency through organization. Thistends to keep down cost. The other direction is in the stimulation ofthe market and in perfecting advertising and selling methods. Naturally there have been developments in the recording, accounting, and clerical ends of the business, but scientific management inproduction on the one hand, and scientific selling on the other, arethe two great developments. In both, engineering plays a prominentpart and dictates a close correlation of the business and theengineering curricula of a college or university seeking to give mosteffective training either to the student of business or the student ofengineering. On the selling side we are having the furtherdevelopments which come with the growth of foreign trade. 

In order to meet the demand for men competent to organize productionwisely and from a business viewpoint, more courses will be given inwhat we may call production management or commercial engineering. Furthermore, the sales engineer must be trained. The curriculum of thecourse of collegiate grade should be made up somewhat as follows:

A two years' prescribed course in the general sciences and in generalprinciples of business, followed by a two or three year curriculum intechnical business management, on the one hand, including especiallyaccounting, cost accounting, wage systems, employment management, andsome branch of engineering on the other hand. The engineering courseshould be general but thorough. It should not go up into specializedfields of design, but it should include all the fundamental courses ofengineering--of mechanical, electrical, and civil engineering. Acombination course in engineering and business management is neededalso to prepare men for places in banks as investment managers. Thebanks must advance funds to industrial concerns, and such loans cannotbe made wisely save upon the advice of one who is thoroughlyacquainted with plant management, equipment, and mechanical operationsas well as costs of production and market possibilities. In addition, such a man must be well acquainted with systems of accounting andmethods of preparing financial statements. In the field ofsalesmanship, engineering training is growing in importance. In short, the highly organized state of modern production and the tremendouspart played by engineering in modern industry indicate the need for aclose coördination of business and engineering education. 

In conclusion we may say that business education is now at the stagewhere it has its own technology, is in close touch with other fieldsof technology, and is making its contribution to the general fund ofmodern culture. Texts and scientific treatises in the field ofbusiness are increasing, the pedagogy of the various included subjectsis receiving satisfactory attention, and schools of collegiate anduniversity grade are keeping abreast of the demands of the businessworld for adequate general and specific training in business. 

 FREDERICK B. ROBINSON _College of the City of New York_

BIBLIOGRAPHY

COOLEY, E. G. _Vocational Education in Europe. _ Commercial Club ofChicago, Chicago, Illinois, 1912. Chapters on Vocational Education inGeneral, Commercial Schools, and the Conclusion. 

FARRINGTON, F. E. _Commercial Education in Germany. _ The MacmillanCompany, 1914. 

HERRICK, C. A. _Meaning and Practice of Commercial Education_, andother works in the Macmillan Commercial Series, 1904. There is anexcellent bibliography on the whole subject of commercial education asan appendix to Herrick's Commercial Education. 

HOOPER, FREDERICK, and GRAHAM, JAMES. _Commercial Education at Homeand Abroad. _ The Macmillan Company, 1901. 

There are numerous contributions on particular aspects and generalmethods and special methods in commercial subjects. The best printedbibliography of these is in the back of Herrick's book. A typical workon methods is Klein and Kahn's _Methods in Commercial Education_. 

INDEX

 Accountancy. _See_ Business Education

 Adapting course of study, 95-97, 202, 244, 480, 572

 Adler, Felix, 323, 325

 Æsthetic aim, in teaching, 52, 92; in music, 470

 Aims, in teaching, 48-51; modified for different students, 54; in organization of knowledge, 65; in teaching biology, 88-94; in teaching mathematics, 172; in physical education, 184-190; in teaching economics, 217-220; in teaching American history, 218; in teaching political science, 282-287; in teaching philosophy, 304; in teaching ethics, 320-328; in teaching psychology, 337; in teaching English literature, 380-384, 422-423; in teaching classics, 405; in teaching Romance languages, 426-427; in teaching music, 460-462, 467; of art instruction, 478; in teaching engineering subjects, 508-511; in teaching mechanical drawing, 525-527; in business education, 559. _See_ Civic, Disciplinary, Utilitarian

 Allen, J. T. , 411

 Angell, J. B. , 30

 Application of knowledge, 72

 Art, 475-497

 Art instruction, 475

 Athletics. _See_ Physical education

 Author's life, in literary study, 385

 Biological basis of education, 85-87, 94, 364

 Biology, 85-109

 Brown, E. E. , 358

 Brown University, 5

 Business education, 555-577

 Butler, N. M. , 30, 404

 Calkins, Mary W. , 339

 Canby, H. S. , 42

 Case method, in political science, 292; in philosophy, 316; in ethics, 329; in psychology, 338-340; in commercial law, 572-573

 Cattell, J. M. , 30

 Chemistry, 108-125

 Chronological viewpoint in history, 257

 Citizenship, training for, 282

 Civic aim in economics, 219

 Classics, 404-423; in Colonial colleges, 5-6; status in college teaching, 404; through the vernacular, 418; through ancient authors, 421

 Coeducation, 18-21

 College teaching, why ineffective, 46-48

 Collegiate Institute, 4

 Colonial period, 3

 Columbia University, 5, 8

 Commercial education. _See_ Business education

 Commercial law, 571-572

 Committee on standards of American universities, 42

 Comparisons in teaching, 70

 Composition and journalism, 546

 Composition teaching, status of, 390. _See_ English

 Correlation, 70, 151, 156-157, 297, 295-297, 314

 Course of study, 477, 481-485, 486-490; in biology, 95-98; logical and psychological, 103; in chemistry, 111; in physics, 134-137, 138-139; in geology, 153-156, 158; in hygiene and physical training, 206; in economics, 225; in sociology, 244-246; determined by community, 246; in American history, 259-262; in European history, 269-276; in political science, 280-281; in philosophy, 312-314; in education, 353; in English literature, 386; in classics, 410; in Romance languages, 431-436; in German, 442-453; in engineering, 502-504; in mechanical drawing, 526-530; in business education, 559-567

 Cultural aim, 220, 336, 348, 382-384

 Dartmouth College Case and college development, 8-9

 Democracy, 259

 Descriptive geometry, 530

 Design in engineering, 517

 Development method, 73, 75-76 _See_ Recitation

 Dewey, J. , 362-364

 Dexter, E. G. , 30, 355

 Differentiated courses, 504-508

 Direct method, 444

 Disciplinary aim, 51-52; in physics, 126-127; in geology, 143-150; in history, 264; in psychology, 336; in education, 349; in literature, 382-384; in Romance languages, 424; in music, 467-468

 Draper, A. S. , 30

 Duggan, S. P. , 353

 Economic viewpoint in history, 257

 Economics, 58, 217-240

 Education as college subject, 347-376

 Educational and instructional aim, 50-51

 Elective system, 11-14

 Elementary language courses as college courses, 426

 Eliot, Charles W. , 11

 Emotional reaction in literature, 384

 Engineering subjects, 501-524

 English, teaching of, 49, 379-388, 389-403. _See_ Composition, Literature

 Equipment for art instruction, 490

 Ethics, 320-333

 Evening session for business education, 573

 Examination, 80. _See_ Tests

 Experimental work in psychology, 342. _See_ Laboratory method

 Expressional limitations of college students, 545

 Field work, 254, 298, 517

 Finance, teaching of. _See_ Business education

 Flexner, A. , 30, 42

 Foster, W. T. , 30

 Functional aspect in teaching, 292

 Geology, 142-160

 German, 440-453

 German influence on American college, 14

 Gradation of subject matter, 56, 387

 Graduate schools, 14-15

 Graves, 353

 Habits, 91, 199. _See_ Aims, Disciplinary aim

 Handschin, C. H. , 42

 Harper, W. R. , 30

 Hart, 355

 Harvard, 3

 Health instruction, 197. _See_ Physical education

 Heuristic method. _See_ Development method, Recitation

 High school preparation, in physical education, 190; in music, 469, 485

 History, of American college, 3; of college mathematics, 167; of sociology, 241; of music as college subject, 357; of teaching of journalism, 533-539; of business education in the college, 555-557

 Holliday, C. , 42

 Horne, H. H. , 36, 42

 Illustrations, 243

 Immigration and status of English teaching, 394. 

 Informal aim in teaching, 51

 Informal examination, 308

 Introductory course, in ethics, 328; in political science, 288, 298; in philosophy, 307, 315; in psychology, 334; in mechanical drawing, 527-528

 Jefferson and founding of American college, 7

 Johns Hopkins University, 32

 Journalism as college subject, 24, 533-554

 Junior college, 26-27

 King's College, 5

 Kingsley, C. D. , 30

 Laboratory method, 73, 78; in chemistry, 62, 114; in biology, 99; in physics, 132; in geology, 157; in psychology, 343; in engineering, 516

 Language as index of mentality, 388

 Law, 17; commercial, 571-572

 Lecture method, 73; in chemistry, 113-114; in physics, 131, 133; in mathematics, 175; in economics, 227, 231-235; in sociology, 242; in history, 260, 265; in philosophy, 308-310; in psychology, 340-341; in classics, 419-421; in engineering, 511-513; in commercial education, 568-572

 Length of periods in accountancy, 569

 Literary analysis, 386

 Literary appreciation, 380. _See_ Aims, Cultural, Æsthetic

 Literary style, 386

 Literature and the classics, 407-408, 415. _See_ English

 Logical association, 63-64

 MacLean, G. E. , 30

 Mathematics, 59, 161-182

 Mechanical drawing, 525-532

 Medicine, 17

 Mental development and acquisition of language, 388

 Methods of teaching conditioned by aims, 98. _See_ Aims

 Mezes, S. F. , 48

 Modern languages, when introduced, 7; in business education, 571

 Modern literature and the classics, 412

 Monroe, P. , 353

 Morrill Act, 10

 Motivation in teaching, 55-56

 Municipal research, 298. _See_ Laboratory method, Sociology, Political science

 Music in secondary schools, 465

 Natural method in classics, 411, 416-417

 Newspaper English, 541-542

 Non-sectarianism in American colleges, 7

 Notebook of students, 356

 Oberlin and coeducation, 20

 Oral composition in German, 447

 Oral reading and English literature, 384

 Ordinance of 1787, 9

 Organization of subject matter, 62-66

 Outlines in biology, 102

 Parker, S. C. , 355

 Pennsylvania University, 4

 Philosophy, 57, 70-71, 123, 127, 302-319

 Physical education, 22, 183-314

 Physics, 126-141

 Pitkin, W. B. , 46-50

 Place in curriculum, of political science, 287; of ethics, 328; of psychology, 334, 344; of history of education, 351; of educational theory, 359; of German, 440; of art education, 475

 Point of contact in teaching, 57-62

 Political science, 279-301

 Preparatory training, in chemistry, 109; in physics, 129; in mathematics, 164, 176-178; in physical education, 190; in German, 448; for journalism, 549

 Problem method, in economics, 228, 231-235; in sociology, 248-251

 Professional preparation, for women, 20; through political science, 283

 Prose composition and the classics, 414

 Psychology, 57, 334-346, 364

 Public service, training for, 284

 Quiz, how to conduct, 118

 Recitation, 118, 174, 513-516, 568-572

 Reduction of college course, 27

 Reference reading, 73, 76, 267, 514

 Relating course to students, 128, 370; in chemistry, 120; in sociology, 245; in philosophy, 309; in ethics, 321-327, 331-332; in psychology, 338; in music, 459; in business education, 572. _See_ Adapting course of study

 Relative importance in organization of knowledge, 64

 Religious character of American college, 5-7, 22

 Reporting, teaching art of, 547

 Research, 285. _See_ Reference reading, Problem method, Seminar

 Research scholars as teachers, 105-106, 124, 137, 178

 Robinson, M. L. , 42

 Romance languages, 424-428

 Scholarship as preparation for teaching, 38

 Science, teaching of, 61-64; place of, in journalism course, 552

 Scientific methods, in political science, 298; in psychology, 343

 Scope of course in educational theory, 361

 Self-activity, 72

 Self-government, 24

 Seminar, 76

 Senior college, 26-28

 Sequence of courses in political science, 289

 Skill to be developed in biology, 90

 Smith, F. W. , 55

 Snow, L. F. , 30

 Social museum, the, 254

 Social sciences, place in journalism course, 550

 Sociology, 241-255

 Socratic method. _See_ Recitation, Development method

 Stanley, A. A. , 465

 Student Army Training Corps, 335

 Summaries in teaching, 66

 Teacher, as scholar, 105. _See_ Research, Teacher training

 Teacher training, 18, 31, 37-39, 256-257, 436, 468-470

 Technical subjects in college curriculum, 16, 25-26, 479, 504-508

 Technique, as aim in teaching, 52

 Testing results of instruction, 136; in economics, 244; in history, 261, 268; in psychology, 343; in music, 473; in art, 493-496; in engineering subjects, 519-522

 Textbook, in geology, 158; in mathematics, 179; in economics, 228, 231-235; in sociology, 253; in history, 259; in ethics, 330

 Theology, in separate school, 16

 Thoroughness, 66-72, 104

 Thwing, C. F. , 30

 Time to be given to subjects, 345, 486. _See_ Place in curriculum

 Topical method in history, 266

 Types of instruction, 396-398

 Undergraduate and graduate teaching, 388

 Unified courses, 59, 302

 Utilitarian aim, 217; of physics, 126; of geology, 142; of political science, 286; of psychology, 337; of history of education, 348

 Values, 355. _See_ Aims

 Vernacular, in teaching German, 445

 Viewpoint in teaching, a new, 69

 Virginia, University of, 7

 West, A. F. , 30

 William and Mary, 4

 Wolfe, A. B. , 36, 42

 Women, education of, 18-21. _See_ Coeducation

 World War, effect on curriculum, 183

 Yale, 4

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Transcriber's Notes:

 Passages in italics indicated by underscore _italics_. 

 Sidenotes indicated by =sidenote=. 

 The note between footnotes 65 and 66 refers to footnotes 61-65. 

 The original text's usage of the Greek letter Sigma in a formula has been trancribed in this text as "S". 

 Misprints corrected: missing "By" added (Table of Contents) "Asisstant" corrected to "Assistant" (Table of Contents) "is is" corrected to "is" (page 198) missing "to" added to sidenote (page 400) "scupltors" corrected to "sculptors" (page 479) "Coöperaton" corrected to "Coöperation" (page 496) missing hyphens added as necessary

 Additional spacing after some of the quotations is intentional to indicate both the end of a quotation and the beginning of a new paragraph as presented in the original text.