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The Study of History in Schools 

 A Report to the American Historical Association by the Committee of Seven, 1898

 Andrew C. McLaughlin, ChairmanHerbert B. AdamsGeorge L. Fox Albert Bushnell HartCharles H. HaskinsLucy M. almonH. Morse te!hens

Table of Headings

"re#ace and "reliminary $ork o# the Committee

 %alue o# Historical tudy 

Continuity o# Historical tudy and the &elation o# History to 'ther ub(ects

Four )ears* Course, consisting o# Four Blocks or "eriods  

 $hy no hort Course in General History is &ecommended

How the +i##erent Blocks or "eriods May be reated

Methods o# -nstruction

ources 

-ntensie tudy 

he /eed o# rained eachers

College0entrance &e1uirements 

2ntrance 2xaminations

 A!!endixes

 A!!endix -3 he !resent condition o# history in american secondary schools

 A!!endix --3 tudy o# history below the secondary schools

 A!!endix ---3 History in the German gymnasia

 A!!endix -%3 History in French lyc4es

 A!!endix %3 History in 2nglish secondary schools

 A!!endix %-3 History in Canadian econdary chools

 A!!endix %--3 ome books and articles on the teaching o# history 

 A!!endix %---3 Ma!s and atlases

 Preface

-n the early winter o# 5678 the committee making the #ollowing re!ort was a!!ointed by the American Historical Association to consider the sub(ect o# history in the secondary schools and to draw u! a scheme o#college entrance re1uirements in history. ince that time we hae held #ie meetings, each lasting seeral days9 at each o# these meetings all the members o# the committee hae been !resent, exce!t that "ro#essoralmon was absent in 2uro!e during the last two. 2ery 1uestion inoling doubt has been care#ully, thoroughly, and systematically discussed, and in the conclusions here !resented. all the members concur.

'# the seen !ersons com!osing the committee only one is a teacher in a secondary school9 three others, howeer, hae been secondary0school teachers, while others hae been actiely interested #or years in t hegeneral !roblems under consideration. Although we #elt that we had at the beginning some knowledge o# the situation, and knew o# the di##iculties and limitations as well as o# the accom!lishments o# the schools, itseemed necessary to make a care#ul study o# the whole 1uestion and to gather in#ormation concerning the conditions and the tendencies o# historical instruction. $e hae endeaored, in the light o# the actual #acts,to !re!are a re!ort that may be use#ul and suggestie to teachers o# history and that may #urnish to su!erintendents and !rinci!als some assistance in the task o# #raming !rogrammes and in determining methods o# work. $e hae sought to be hel!#ul rather than merely critical or de!reciatory, and hae tried to consider the whole #ield in a broad and general way, remembering that we were making suggestions andrecommendations, not #or the schools o# one section or o# one kind, but #or the schools o# the nation.

 Preliminary Work of the Committee

History as a secondary study now demands serious attention. he re!ort o# the /ational Commissioner o# 2ducation #or 567807: shows that there were at that time 568,;65 !u!ils in the secondary schools studyinghistory . /o statistics hae been collected to show the number studying the history and goernment o# the =nited tates9 but there is good ground #or saying that, i# such students were taken into account, the number o# history !u!ils would be #ound to exceed two hundred thousand, and would !erha!s e1ual i# not exceed in number those engaged in the study o# any other sub(ect sae algebra. According to the statistics o# the Bureau o# 2ducation, the number o# !u!ils studying history has increased one hundred and #i#ty0two !er cent in the last ten years, a rate o# increase below that o# only one sub(ect in the curriculum. hese sim!le #acts seem to make it !lain that college entrance re1uirements, that are !ro!erly based u!on the work and tendencies o# the secondary schools, shouldinclude a liberal amount o# history among the !rescribed and o!tional studies.

 An inestigation o# the sub(ect o# history, as it is studied and taught in the secondary schools, !resents many di##iculties. 2en be#ore the committee began seriously to consider what work was to be done, it became

a!!arent that only a thorough study would be !ro#itable, that general conclusions or recommendations, een on such a 1uestion as that o# college entrance re1uirements, could not be made without an examinationo# the whole #ield and a consideration o# many #undamental !rinci!les, or without ascertaining what was now doing in the high schools and academies o# the country.

Be#ore this work was undertaken, there had not been any systematic attem!t o# this kind9 nor had there been an y !rolonged e##ort by any national association to !resent the claims o# history, or to set be#ore theschoolmen a statement o# what might be considered the alue o# historical study and the !lace which it should occu!y in the school !rogramme. $e do not leae out o# consideration the work o# the Committee o#en, nor do we underestimate the alue or the e##ect o# the able and highly interesting re!ort o# the Madison Con#erence on History, Ciil Goernment, and 2conomics9?5@ and we do not lose sight o# the #act thathistorical instruction in the secondary schools had o#ten been discussed in !edagogical con#erences and teachers associations. Be#ore we began our work, it was !lain that there was an awakening interest in this whole sub(ect, and the time seemed to be at hand when a systematic e##ort would meet with res!onse and !roduce results. But in s!ite o# all that had been done, and in s!ite o# this awakened interest, there was norecognied consensus o# o!inion in the country at large, not one generally acce!ted (udgment, not een one well0known !oint o# agreement, which would sere as a beginning # or a consideration o# the !lace o#history in the high0school curriculum. uch a statement cannot be made concerning any other sub(ect commonly taught in the secondary schools. he task o# the committee was, there#ore, to discoer the actualsituation, to see what was doing and what was the !reailing sentiment, to localie and establish a m odicum o# !ractices and !rinci!les, howeer small and limited it might be9 and, haing a!!rehended what was best and most hel!#ul in s!irit and tendency among teachers o# the country, to seek to gie that s!irit ex!ression in a re!ort that would be hel!#ul and suggestie, and that would be o# serice in widening the #ield o#agreement and in laying the #oundations #or a common understanding.

-n all o# our work we hae endeaored not only to discoer any agreement or common understanding that may exist among American teachers, but to kee! in m ind the #act that local conditions and enironments ary exceedingly9 that what may be ex!ected o# a large and well0e1ui!!ed school need not be ex!ected o# a small one, and that large !re!aratory schools and academies, some o# them intentionally #itting boys #orone or two uniersities, are in a situation 1uite unlike that in which the great ma(ority o# high schools are com!elled to work. $e hae sought chie#ly to discuss, in an argumentatie way, the general sub(ectsubmitted #or consideration, to o##er suggestions as to methods o# historical teaching and as to the !lace o# history on the school !rogramme, being #ully aware that, when all is said and done, only so much will beado!ted as a!!eals to the sense an d (udgment o# the secondary teachers and su!erintendents, and that any rigid list o# re1uirements, or any body o# !erem!tory demands, howeer (udiciously #ramed, not only would, but should, be disregarded in schools whose local conditions make it unwise to acce!t them.

he committee determined that eery reasonable means should be used to ascertain the !resent condition o# historical study. eeral hundred circulars asking #or in#ormation were sent out to schools in all !arts o#the =nited tates, selected not because they were su!!osed to be exce!tionally good or exce!tionally bad, or unusually strong in historical work, but because they were recommended to the committee by com!etentauthority as ty!ical schools. Circulars were sent to di##erent kinds o# schools, to those in small towns as well as to those in large cities, and to !riate academies as well as to !ublic high schools. About two hundredand #i#ty re!lies hae been receied, and the in#ormation thus gathered is !resented and discussed in Appendix  to this re!ort.

But to seek in#ormation through !rinted interrogatories is always somewhat unsatis#actory9 and the committee there#ore used other means also. te!s were taken to secure #ull discussions in the di##erent educationalassociations o# the country, in order that many teachers might become interested in the work o# the committee and gie need#ul in#ormation, and in order that there might be a #ree interchange o# o!inion on some o#the more im!ortant !roblems that called #or solution. +iscussions on some !ortions o# our re!ort hae been held by the /ew 2ngland History eachers Association, the Association o# Colleges and "re!aratorychools o# the Middle tates and Maryland, the Michigan choolmasters Club, the &ound able in History o# the /ational 2ducational Association, and by other educational bodies, as well as at two meetings o# the American Historical Association. Moreoer, at arious times in the course o# the !ast two years, di##erent members o# the committee hae !ersonally consulted teachers and talked the sub(ect oer with them. hese

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e##orts seem to demonstrate that we hae not reached conclusions hastily, and that our re!ort is not merely the ex!ression o# the theoretical as!irations o# college !ro#essors who are una c1uainted with theconditions o# the secondary schools. -t is in a ery !ro!er sense the result o# care#ul examination and systematic in1uiry concerning the secondary conditions o# the country.

-t is not necessary to reiew here in detail the conclusions reached #rom a study o# the circulars receied #rom the schools. -t will be seen by an examination o# these conclusions, as !resented in the A!!endix, that inregard to many matters on which we sought in#ormation there is little or no agreement. Concerning the amount o# history o##ered, the #ields o# history studied, the order in which the di##erent #ields are taken u!, andthe years in which the sub(ect is taught, there is much diersity o# !ractice9 but, on the other hand, we #ind marked a!!roach to uni#ormity in one !articular, namely, that good schools in all !arts o# the =nited tateshae ado!ted substantially similar methods o# instruction. - t is !er#ectly !lain that the old rote system is going by the board. "ractically eery school now re!orts the use o# material outside the textbook, andrecognies that a library is necessary #or e##icient work9 and nearly all teachers assign to!ics #or inestigation by the !u!il, or gie written recitations, or ado!t like means o# arousing the !u!ils interest and o# leadinghim to think and work in some measure inde!endently, in order that he may ac1uire !ower as well as in#ormation.?@ '# course these methods are more extensiely deelo!ed in some schools than in others9 but the#acts !oint to a common understanding, or at least to the a!!roach toward a common understanding, o# what history teaching should be, and to a growing a!!reciation o# what historical study can do. $e enture tosay that i# a school has well0trained teachers, who know why they teach and how t o teach, the order o# historical studies, or the exact method o# handling a #ield o# historical in1uiry, is com!aratiely unim!ortant9and it is this eidence o# a realiation that history has a alue as a !edagogical sub(ect, indicating as it does a new interest on the !art o# teachers and directors o# schools, and bringing surely in its train a demand #orskil#ul teachers, which should gie courage and ho!e to those who are interested in the success#ul use o# history as a means o# disci!line and culture.

-n matters o# detail, the conclusions that could be drawn #rom the re!lies to the circulars were somewhat meager, but they were hel!#ul in enabling the committee to (udge o# tendencies and to #orm a general o!inionas to existing conditions. But, as we hae already said, we hae not contented ourseles with this method o# ascertaining the situation. By the more !ersonal means ado!ted we hae gained in#ormation which cannotreadily be tabulated, but which enables us to hae some a ssurance concerning the tendencies o# the time, and to #eel that in many res!ects !resent conditions are not satis#actory to the actie, !rogressie teachers o#the country. -t is o#ten more aluable to #ind out how one highly success#ul teacher attains his end than how twenty unsuccess#ul teachers do not9 and to discoer what !ractical, ex!erienced teachers, who hae gienthought to the sub(ect, think can be done and should be done, than to know the static condition o# twenty others who are content with the semi0success or the #ailure o# the !resent.

-n the summer o# 567: three members o# the committee were studying educational !roblems in 2uro!e. Miss almon s!ent the summer in Germany and German witerland, studying the methods o# historicalinstruction in the secondary schools. he results o# her inestigations were gien in a !a!er read be#ore the American Historical Association in +ecember, 567:. Mr. Haskins has at di##erent times studied theeducational system o# France9 a#ter a #urther examination o# secondary conditions in 567:, he !re!ared a re!ort on the sub(ect o# history teaching in that country. Mr. Fox has a thorough ac1uaintance with the2nglish !ublic schools, and has !re!ared a re!ort on the teaching o# history in the secondary schools o# 2ngland. hese articles on the conditions o# historical instruction in 2uro!ean countries are gien as A!!endices to this re!ort. hey are not o##ered as #urnishing us models to which we ought to con#orm, but as inestigations in the study o# com!aratie education9 they may, howeer, gie to teachers o# this countrysuggestions on the sub(ect o# general !edagogical alues, methods o# historical instruction, and the arrangement o# studies. he committee has not su!!osed that it is !ossible to im!ort a #oreign0made r4gime to which the American schools can be asked to ada!t themseles.

-t will be seen that o# #oreign countries Germany is the one that o##ers to America the most lessons, o# which !robably the most im!ortant is that suggested by the great adantage resulting #rom haing the sub(ect o#history, as well as other sub(ects, in the hands o# thoroughly e1ui!!ed teachers, who hae receied instruction in method, and are ersed in the art o# im!arting in#ormation with due regard to the !u!ils age anddegree o# mental adancement. -n the German gymnasia the course o# history, #rom Homeric times to the !resent day, is coered with great thoroughness and system. o this !art o# the re!ort on the Germanschools we wish to call s!ecial attention, #or while we do not think that it is !ro#itable #or us, een in this !articular, to #ollow the German curriculum exactly, we beliee that there should be an e##ort on the !art o#those who are organiing !rogrammes to reach toward this ideal, by extending the course o# history oer a number o# years, and by deelo!ing it in a ccordance with the !sychological !rinci!les which hae beenadhered to in the !re!aration o# the German course o# study. -t should be noticed too that in German schools, history is correlated with other sub(ects. he teacher o# history, where o!!ortunity o##ers, makes use o#the #oreign language which the !u!ils are studying, and the language teacher re#ers to historical #acts. 'ne sub(ect in the curriculum thus hel!s to re0en#orce another. he methods o# the German teacher also deserecare#ul consideration. -nterest is aroused by skil#ul oral teaching, in which the teacher ada!ts his story to the minds and ca!acities o# his hearers, and so holds their attention that concentration o# mind and ability togras! the sub(ect are deelo!ed. -t must be con#essed that Miss almons descri!tion o# how a teacher in Bale, in the middle o# a hot summer day, held the breathless attention o# a class o# boys #or #i#ty minutes, while he told the story o# the dramatic struggle between Henry -% and Gregory %--, suggests not only !henomenal methods, but unusual boys9 but withal we must attribute the teachers success to his skill, and to the!reious training which the boys had receied in the lower grades, where inattention or heedlessness was not tolerated.

+oubtless teachers o# history in this country can not #ollow the exam!le o# German teachers in all res!ects. he German beliees that, until the boy reaches the uniersity, he has no (udgment to be a!!ealed to, andno great reasoning #aculty to be deelo!ed9 that it is his business, until eighteen or nineteen years o# age, to absorb, not to argue or discuss. He is not ex!ected to ask 1uestions9 he is ex!ected to do what he is told.uch, howeer, is not the system #or making American citiens, and such is not the atmos!here in which the American boy or girl should lie. /or can it be said that under our !resent conditions the teacher o#history should attem!t to gie instruction to secondary !u!ils without the hel! o# a text.

he system and methods o# instruction in the schools o# France are interesting, but somewhat less suggestie than those o# the German schools. here, as in Germany, history is in the hands o# trained teachers, whohae a ca!acity #or holding the !u!ils attention, arousing interest, and deelo!ing a loe #or historical study, as well as #or giing a ast amount o# historical in#ormation. he course o# study is long, thorough, andsystematically organied. he conditions o# German witerland are essentially similar to those o# Germany itsel#.

he situation in 2ngland does not o##er many aluable lessons to American teachers. he most noticeable #eatures are a lack o# historical instruction, a common #ailure to recognie the alue o# history, and a certain

incoherence and general con#usion. $e cannot here discuss the reasons #or these conditions. -t is enough to say that the laisse #aire idea has been carried #arther and is more marked in 2ngland than in America9 #or, on the whole, we hae an educational system, and each !assing year shows an increase in the common stock o# !rinci!les. And yet one who examines the condition o# historical instruction in thiscountry, and com!ares it with that o# France and Germany, #eels that 2nglishmen and Americans are o# one blood9 the indiidualistic s!irit o# the race has #ound unusual ex!ression in educational !ractices, and hasmade against coo!eration and harmony, while instinctie aersion to theoretical arrangement has hindered the deelo!ment o# general !rinci!les. A com!arison o# 2nglish conditions with those o# the continent will be likely to show the alue o# system and order, and the adantage resulting #rom the sway o# good !edagogical doctrines. $e must endeaor in America to reach a system o# our own, and to recognie the #orce o#sound !rinci!les, without losing sight o# the #act that our local conditions are many, and that we must rely on indiidual initiatie and enthusiasm, i# not on im!ulse. /eertheless, in s!ite o# local diersity, and ins!ite o# the #act that a rigid r4gime seems on the whole im!ossible i# not undesirable, in this country, there are sound general !rinci!les that may be termed absolute rather than relatie9 there is a !ro!er method o#un#olding the sub(ect, and there are im!ro!er methods9 or, to s!eak more (ustly, method and system, which recognie the true character o# the study and the !rinci!les by which it may be ada!ted to !u!ils o#di##erent ages, are certainly wiser and better than any ha!haard method and lack o# system can be.

 $hile it is im!ossible to trans!lant any #oreign course o# study to our schools, and unwise to imitate blindly 2uro!ean methods o# instruction, there are at least two lessons that may be learned #rom #oreign schools9namely, the wisdom o# demanding thoroughly trained teachers o# history, and that o# giing a large !lace to historical instruction in all courses. -n both France and Germany, history is taught by s!ecial teachers, whose historical training has been carried to a !oint well beyond our American bachelors degree, and whose !edagogical ability has been s!ecially tested. -n France an hour and a hal# each week is gien to historythroughout the ten years o# the elementary school and lyc4e9 in Germany, history is !ursued two or three hours weekly in eery year o# the nine years o# the gymnasium9 and een in &ussia the time gien to history ismuch longer than in the aerage American school. /ot merely on these grounds, howeer, do we ask la rger recognition #or history9 we ho!e to !resent, in the course o# this re!ort, substantial reasons #or suchrecognition, drawn #rom the nature o# the sub(ect and #rom its relations to the deelo!ment o# the American boys and girls9 but we call attention to what is n ow done in other countries as eidence that ourrecommendations are not #anci#ul or reolutionary.

 Next: Value of Historical Study

?5@ his con#erence was held in +ecember, 5679 its conclusions #orm a !art o# the re!ort o# the Committee o# en, !ublished by the Bureau o# 2ducation in 567D, and re!rinted by the American Book Com!any, /ew )ork, 567E.

?@ =ndoubtedly the re!ort o# the Madison Con#erence had a ery bene#icial in#luence in this direction, by calling the attention o# the teachers o# the country to what ideals o# historical instruction are.

Value of Historical Study

-t may seem to be unnecessary to consider the alue o# historical study in itsel#, or to show how history may be related to other sub(ects in the school curriculum. As a matter o# #act, howeer, the educational alueo# eery other sub(ect has receied more attention than that o# history9 indeed, only within the last #ew years has there been anything like a thought#ul discussion by !ractical teachers o# the worth o# history as adisci!linary study. $hen so much has been said o# the necessity o# studying the natural sciences, in order that one may come to some realiation o# the !hysical and ital world about him, and may know himsel# better as he knows his surroundings more thoroughly, and in order that his !owers o# obseration may be 1uickened and strengthened, it seems strange indeed that the same method o# argument has not been usedin behal# o# historical work. -# it is desirable that the high0school !u!il should know the !hysical world, that he should know the habits o# ants and bees, the laws o# #loral growth, the sim!le reactions in the chemicalretort, it is certainly een more desirable that he should be led to see the ste!s in the deelo!ment o# the human race, and should hae some dim !erce!tion o# his own !lace, and o# his countrys !lace, in the greatmoements o# men. 'ne does not need to say in these latter days that secondary education ought to #it boys and girls to become, not scholastics, but men and women who know their surroundings and hae come to

a sym!athetic knowledge o# their enironment9 and it does not seem necessary now to argue that the most essential result o# secondary education is ac1uaintance with !olitical and social enironment, somea!!reciation o# the nature o# the state and society, some sense o# the duties and res!onsibilities o# citienshi!, some ca!acity in dealing with !olitical and goernmental 1uestions, something o# the broad and tolerants!irit which is bred by the study o# !ast times and conditions.

-t is a law well recognied by !sychologists, a law o# which the teacher in school or college sees daily a!!lication and illustration, that one obtains knowledge by adding to the ideas which one already has new ideasorganically related to the old. &ecent !sychological !edagogy looks u!on the child a s a reacting organism, and declares that he should be trained in those reactions which he will most need as an adult. he chie#ob(ect o# eery ex!erienced teacher is to get !u!ils to think !ro!erly a#ter the method ado!ted in his !articular line o# work9 not an accumulation o# in#ormation, but the habit o# correct thinking, is the su!remeresult o# good teaching in eery branch o# instruction. All this sim!ly means that the student who is taught to consider !olitical sub(ects in school, who is led to look at matters historically, has some mentale1ui!ment #or a com!rehension o# the !olitical and social !roblems that will con#ront him in eeryday li#e, and has receied !ractical !re!aration #or social ada!tation and #or #orce#ul !artici!ation in ciic actiities.

 $e do not think that this !re!aration is satis#actorily ac1uired merely through the study o# ciil goernment, which, strictly construed, has to do only with existing institutions. he !u!il should see the growth o# theinstitutions which surround him9 he should see the work o# men9 he should study the liing concrete #acts o# the !ast9 he should know o# nations that hae risen and #allen9 he should see tyranny, ulgarity, greed, beneolence, !atriotism, sel#0sacri#ice, brought out in the lies and works o# men. o strongly has this ery thought taken hold o# writers o# ciil goernment, that they no longer content themseles with a descri!tiono# the goernment as it is, but describe at considerable length the origin and deelo!ment o# the institutions o# which they s!eak. $hile we hae no desire to underestimate the alue o# ciil goernment as asecondary study, es!ecially i# it is written and taught #rom the historical !oint o# iew, we desire to em!hasie the thought that a!!reciation and sym!athy #or the !resent is best secured by a study o# the !ast9 and while we beliee that it is the im!eratie duty o# eery high school and academy to teach boys and girls the elementary knowledge o# the !olitical machinery which they will be called u!on to manage as citiens o# a#ree state, we insist also that they should hae the broader knowledge, the more intelligent s!irit, that comes #rom a study o# other men and o# other times. hey should be led to see that society is in moement, that what one sees about him is not the eternal but the transient, and that in the !rocesses o# change irtue must be militant i# it is to be trium!hant.

 $hile it is doubtless true that too much may be made o# the idea that history #urnishes us with rules, !rece!ts, and maxims which may be used as immutable !rinci!les, as unerring guides #or the conduct o# thestatesman and the !ractical !olitician, or as means o# #oretelling the #uture, it is e1ually true that !rogress comes by making additions to the !ast or by its silent modi#ication. All our institutions, our habits o#thought and modes o# action, are inheritances #rom !receding ages3 no conscious adance, no worthy re#orm, can be secured without both a knowledge o# the !resent and an a!!reciation o# how #orces hae workedin the social and !olitical organiation o# #ormer times. -# this be so, need we seriously argue that the boys and girls in the schoolroom should be introduced to the !ast, which has created the !resent0 that historical0mindedness should be in some slight measure bred within them, and that they should be gien the habit, or the beginnings o# a habit, o# considering what has been, when they discuss what is or what should be

Belieing, then, that one o# the chie# ob(ects o# study is to bring boys and girls to some knowledge o# their enironment and to #it them to become intelligent citiens, we need hardly say that, i# the study o# historyhel!s to accom!lish this ob(ect, the !ublic schools o# the country are under the heaiest obligations to #oster the study, and not to treat it as an intruder entitled only to a berth in a cold corner, a#ter language,mathematics, science, music, drawing, and gymnastics hae been com#ortably !roided #or. -t is clear, as homas Arnold has said, that in whateer it is our duty to act, those matters also it is our duty to study. -tis true that any sub(ect which aids the !u!il to think correctly, to be accurate and !ainstaking, which awakens his interest in books and gies him resources within himsel#, in reality #its him #or good and use#ulcitienshi!9 but what other sub(ects do in this direction more or less indirectly, history does directly9 and moreoer, i# !ro!erly taught, it is not in#erior to other sub(ects as a disci!linary and educational study.Fortunately, an examination o# school !rogrammes, educational !eriodicals, and like material will now conince any one that educators are coming to the conclusion that history must receie more a ttention, andmust be taught wisely and well.

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History cultiates the (udgment by leading the !u!il to see the relation between cause and e##ect, as cause and e##ect a!!ear in human a##airs. $e do not mean by this that his attention should be directed solely togreat moing causes, or that he should study what is sometimes called the !hiloso!hy o# history9 #ar #rom it. /or do we mean that time should be consumed in discussing the meaning o# #acts when the #actsthemseles are not known. But history has to do with the becoming o# !ast eents, not sim!ly with what was, but with what came to be, and in studying the sim!lest #orms o# historical narratie een the aerage!u!il comes to see that one thing leads to another9 he begins 1uite unconsciously to see that eents do not sim!ly succeed each other in time, but that one grows out o# another, or rather out o# a combination o# manyothers. hus, be#ore the end o# the secondary course the well0trained !u!il has a c1uired some !ower in seeing relationshi!s and detecting analogies. $hile it is !er#ectly true that the generaliing #aculty is deelo!edlate, and that the secondary !u!il will o#ten learn unrelated data with ease, i# not with aidity, it is e1ually true that history in the hands o# the com!etent teacher is a great instrument #or deelo!ing in the !u!ilca!acity #or seeing underlying reasons and #or com!rehending moties. -n the ordinary class0room work, both in science and in mathematics, there is little o!!ortunity #or discussion, #or di##erences o# o!inion, #or balancing o# !robabilities9 and yet in eeryday li#e we do not deal with mathematical demonstrations, or concern ourseles with scienti#ic obserations9 we reach conclusions by a (udicious consideration o#circumstances and conditions, some o# them in a!!arent con#lict with one another and none o# them susce!tible o# exact measurement and determination.

he study o# history gies training not only in ac1uiring #acts, but in arranging and systematiing them and in !utting #orth indiidual !roduct. "ower o# gathering in#ormation is im!ortant, and this !ower the studyo# history cultiates9 but the !ower o# using in#ormation is o# greater im!ortance, and this !ower too is deelo!ed by historical work. $e do not ask that !u!ils should be re1uired to do so0called laboratory work0 we ab(ure the !hrase0and create histories out o# absolutely unhewn and un#ramed material9 we sim!ly say that i# a !u!il is taught to get ideas and #acts #rom arious books, and to !ut those #acts together into a new

#orm, his ability to make use o# knowledge is increased and strengthened. By assigning well0chosen to!ics that are ada!ted to the ca!acity o# the !u!il, and by re1uiring him to gather his in#ormation in arious!laces, the teacher may train the !u!il to collect historical material, to arrange it, and to !ut it #orth. his !ractice, we re!eat, deelo!s ca!acity #or e##ectie work, not ca!acity #or absor!tion alone.?D@

History is also hel!#ul in deelo!ing what is sometimes called the scienti#ic habit o# mind and thought. -n one sense, this may mean the habit o# thorough inestigation #or ones sel# o# all sources o# in#ormation, be#ore one reaches conclusions or ex!resses decided o!inions. But only the learned s!ecialist can thus test more than the most ordinary and common!lace truths or !rinci!les in any #ield o# work. he scienti#ic habito# mind in a broader sense means a recognition o# the #act that sound conclusions do rest on somebodys !atient inestigations9 that, although we must acce!t the work o# others, eerybody is re1uired to study andthink and examine be#ore he !ositiely asserts9 that eery 1uestion should be a!!roached without !re(udice9 that o!en0mindedness, candor, honesty, are re1uisites #or the attainment o# scienti#ic knowledge. hethought#ul teacher o# ex!erience will !robably say that, een in the earlier years o# the secondary course these !rime re1uisites o# wholesome education may in some measure be cultiated9 and that, wheno!!ortunity #or com!aratie work is gien in the later years, historical0mindedness may be so deelo!ed as materially to in#luence the character and habits o# the !u!il.

 $hile we beliee that !ower and not in#ormation must be the chie# end o# all school work, we must not underestimate the alue o# a store o# historical material. By the study o# history the !u!il ac1uires a knowledgeo# #acts that is to him a source o# !leasure and grati#ication in his a #ter li#e. -# there be any truth in the saying that culture consists o# an ac1uaintance with the best which the !ast has !roduced0 a ery insu##icientde#inition, to be sure0we need not argue about the alue o# historical in#ormation. But we may em!hasie that brighter and broader culture which s!rings #rom a sym!athy with the onward moements o# the !astand an intelligent com!rehension o# the duties o# the !resent. Many a teacher has #ound that in dealing with the great and noble acts and struggles o# bygone men he has succeeded in reaching the inner nature o# thereal boys and girls o# his classes, and has gien them im!ulses and honorable !re(udices that are the surest sources o# !ermanent and worthy re#inement. $e may enture to suggest that character is o# een greater alue than culture.

 A no less im!ortant result o# historical study is the training which !u!ils receie in the handling o# books. History, more than any other sub(ect in the secondary curriculum, demands #or e##ectie work a library andthe ability to use it. kill in extracting knowledge #rom the !rinted !age, or in thumbing indexes and #ingering tables o# contents, is o# great alue to any one who is called u!on to use books. he inability to discoer what a book contains or where in#ormation is to be #ound is one o# the common #ailings o# the unschooled and the untrained man. hrough the study o# history this #acility in handling material may be cultiated, andat the same time the !u!il may be introduced to good literature and ins!ired with a loe #or reading which will !roe a !riceless treasure to him. -n this latter res!ect the study o# history is second to that o# 2nglishliterature alone.

 $ith these results o# historical study two others o# decided alue may in conclusion be brie#ly mentioned3 By the reading o# good books, and by constant e##orts to re0create the real !ast and make it lie again, the!u!ils imagination is at once 1uickened, strengthened, and disci!lined9 and by means o# the ordinary oral recitation, i# !ro!erly conducted, he may be taught to ex!ress himsel# in well0chosen words. -n the study o##oreign language, he learns words and sees distinctions in their meanings9 in the study o# science, he learns to s!eak with technical exactness and care9 in the study o# history, while he must s!eak truth#ully andaccurately, he must seek to #ind a!t words o# his own with which to describe !ast conditions and to clothe his ideas in a broad #ield o# work which has no technical method o# ex!ression and no !eculiar !hraseology.

 Next: Continuity of Historical Study and the Relation of History to ther Sub!ects

?D@ A consideration o# what is said in a later diision o# this re!ort on the methods o# teaching will show more #ully how history may be used to this end.

Continuity of Historical Study and the Relation of History to ther Sub!ects

 $e hae no intention o# #raming a secondary0school course, in which each study shall be care#ully related in time and s!ace with eery other. uch a !rocess is, #or the !resent at least, a task #or each su!erintendentor !rinci!al in the conduct o# his own work. Certain suggestions, howeer, are !ertinent, and may be hel!#ul.

 $e beliee that, wheneer !ossible, history should be a continuous study. -n some schools it is now gien in three successie years9 in others it is o##ered in each o# the #our years o# at least one course. ome !racticalteachers, im!ressed with this need o# continuity and #eeling unable to gie more time to the work, hae thought it wise to gie the sub(ect in !eriods o# only two recitations !er week #or one year or more9 and such a!lan may !roe desirable #or the !ur!ose o# connecting two years in which the work is gien #our or #ie times !er week, or #or the !ur!ose o# extending the course. "robably two !eriods a week, howeer, will seemaltogether im!racticable to the great ma(ority o# teachers, and we do not recommend that this ste! be taken when the circumstances allow more substantial work. A !ractical working !rogramme in one o# the ery best western schools !resents the #ollowing course3

:th grade, American History E !eriods

6th grade, American History !eriods

7th grade , Greek and &oman History D !eriods

5th grade, 2nglish History D !eriods

55th grade, -nstitutional History !eriods

5th grade, American History !eriods

 Another school o# high grade, where e##ectie work is done, gies history in three !eriods !er week #or two years, and in #ie !eriods !er week #or two more years, i3

5st year o# high school, 'riental, Greek, and &oman history D !eriods

nd year, mediaeal and modern 2uro!ean history D !eriods

Drd year, 2nglish history ; !eriods

Eth year, American history, economics, and ciics ; !eriods

-n both o# these schools some o# the historical work is o!tional or electie, other !arts are re1uired. hese courses are gien here sim!ly to show how a long, continuous course may be arranged in case thecircumstances make it inadisable to gie work #our or #ie times !er week #or #our years. $e do not recommend courses in which the study comes twice a week, but only say that in some instances they may !roeadisable as a means o# kee!ing the !arts o# the course in connection. $e can not see our way clear to !ro!osing the acce!tance o# a two0hour course in history #or entrance to college, i# units are counted or de#initere1uirements are laid down.

 A secondary0school course in which there are many distinct sub(ects may #urnish to the !u!il only bits o# in#ormation, and not gie the disci!line resulting #rom a !rolonged and continuous a!!lication to onesub(ect, which is gradually un#olded as the !u!ils mind and !owers are deelo!ed. A course without unity may be distracting, and not educating in the original and best sense o# the word. At least in some courses o#the high school or academy, history is the best sub(ect to gie unity, continuity, and strength. $here a #oreign language is !ursued #or #our consecutie years, it seres this !ur!ose9 but in other cases it is doubt#ul

 whether anything can do the work so well as history. 2en science has so many branches and distinct diisions0at all eents, as it is customarily taught0that it does not seem to be a continuous sub(ect. +oubtlessthere are relationshi!s between !hysiology, chemistry, !hysics, botany, and !hysical geogra!hy, and o# course the methods o# work in all o# them are similar9 but to treat science as one sub(ect, so that it may gieo!!ortunity #or continuous deelo!ment o# the !u!il, and #or a gradual un#olding o# the !roblems o# a single #ield o# human study, seems to us to !resent many almost insurmountable di##iculties. A committee o#historical students may be !ardoned there#ore #or thinking that history #urnishes a better instrument than science #or such !ur!oses. he history o# the human race is one sub(ect9 and a course o# #our years can be soarranged as to make the study a continually deelo!ing and enlarging one, as the needs and ca!acities o# the !u!il are deelo!ed and enlarged.

History should not be set at one side, as i# it had no relation with other sub(ects in the secondary course. -deal conditions will !reail when the teachers in one #ield o# work are able to take wise adantage o# whattheir !u!ils are doing in another9 when the teacher o# Latin or Greek will call the attention o# his !u!ils, as they read Caesar or Ieno!hon, to the #acts which they hae learned in their history classes9 when theteachers o# French and German and 2nglish will do the same9 when the teacher o# !hysical geogra!hy will remember that the earth is mans dwelling !lace, or more !ro!erly his growing !lace, and will be able torelate the mountains, seas, and tides o# which he s!eaks with the growth and !rogress o# men9 when he will remember that Marco "olo and Henry the /aigator and Meriwether Lewis were un#olding geogra!hy andmaking history, and that Ca!e %erde not only (uts out into the Atlantic, but stands #orth as a !romontory in human history. -s the time #ar distant when the march o# the en housand will be looked u!on not merelyas a !rocession o# o!tatie moods and conditional clauses, but as an account o# the great ictory won by Greek skill, disci!line, and intelligence oer the hel!lessness o# 'riental con#usion And will Caesar long betaught only as a com!ound o# ablatie absolutes and indirect discourses, rather than as a story, told by one o# historys greatest men, o# how our eutonic #ore#athers were brought #ace to #ace with &oman !ower, andhow the !eo!les o# Gaul were sub(ected to the art and the arms o# &ome, and made to !ass under the yoke o# bondage to southern ciiliation and southern law he teacher o# history, i# he knows the #oreignlanguages which his !u!ils are studying, may connect the words they hae learned with concrete things9 and he may, aboe all, hel! to gie the young !eo!le who are trying to master a #oreign tongue somea!!reciation o# the tone, tem!er, and s!irit o# the !eo!le, without which a language seems oid and characterless.

History has a central !osition among the sub(ects o# the curriculum. Like literature, it deals with man, and a!!eals to the sym!athy, the imagination, and the emotional nature o# the !u!ils. Like natural science, item!loys methods o# care#ul and un!re(udiced inestigation. -t belongs to the humanities, #or its essential !ur!ose is to disclose, human li#e9 but it also searches #or data, grou!s them, and builds generaliations #romthem. hough it may not be a science itsel#, its methods are similar to scienti#ic methods, and are aluable in inculcating in the !u!il a regard #or accuracy and a reerence #or truth. -t corrects the #ormalistic bias o#language by bringing the !u!il into sym!athetic contact with actualities and with the mind o# man as it has reacted on his enironment. -t gies breadth, outlook, and human interest, which are not easily deelo!ed by the study o# natural !henomena. hus, as a theoretical !ro!osition, at least, the assertion that the story o# li#e and the onward moement o# men, not their language or their !hysical enironment, should #orm thecenter o# a liberal course, would seem to leae little ground #or argument.

 $e may add to all these considerations the #act that een in the natural sciences, as well as in other sub(ects, the historical method is not seldom used by adanced scholars and thinkers. he scholarly scienti#icinestigator knows #rom care#ul study the deelo!ment o# his sub(ect9 he sees the successes and the #ailures o# the !ast, and recognies the lasting contributions that hae #rom time to time been made in his #ield o#inestigation9 he o#ten studies the ciiliation that gae birth to bygone and obsolete theories, and comes thus to a knowledge o# his de!artment o# work as a growing and deelo!ing de!artment. o, too, the

adanced linguistic scholar is #re1uently engaged, not so much in the study o# language, as in the examination o# successie intellectual moements which hae #ound ex!ression in literature. his !ractice o# linkingthe !resent with the !ast, o# watching !rogress and studying change, has become one o# the marked characteristics o# modern learning9 and it indicates that history, in the broad #ield o# human a##airs, is a sub(ect which is contributory to others, is indeed a !art o# them, and occu!ies a central !osition among them.

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 "our #ears$ Course% consisting of "our &locks or Periods

 As a thorough and systematic course o# study, we recommend #our years o# work, beginning with ancient history and ending with American history. For these #our years we !ro!ose the diision o# the general #ieldinto #our blocks or !eriods, and recommend that they be studied in the order in which they are here set down, which in large measure accords with the natural order o# eents, an d shows the se1uence o# historical#acts3

Ancient history, with s!ecial re#erence to Greek and &oman history, but including also a short introductory study o# the more ancient nations. his !eriod should also embrace the early Middle Ages, andshould close with the establishment o# the Holy &oman 2m!ire , or with the death o# Charlemagne , or with the treaty o# %erdun .

MediJal and modern 2uro!ean history, #rom the close o# the #irst !eriod to the !resent time.

2nglish history.

American history and ciil goernment.

/o one o# these #ields can be omitted without leaing serious lacunJ in the !u!ils knowledge o# history. 2ach de!artment has its s!ecial alue and teaches its s!ecial lesson9 aboe all, the study o# the whole #ieldgies a meaning to each !ortion that it cannot hae by itsel#. Greek and &oman ciiliation contributed so much to the world0the work which these nations accom!lished, the thoughts which they brought #orth, theideas which they embodied, #orm so large a !art o# the !ast0that in any systematic course their history must be studied. he student o# modern !olitics cannot a##ord to be ignorant o# the !roblems, the striings, the#ailures o# the re!ublics and democracies o# the ancient world. $e s!eak o# these nations as belonging to anti1uity, but we hae much o# them with us to0day. he law o# &ome has not gone9 the highest thought o#Greece is eternal.

 $e might (ustly insist that mediJal history is worthy o# a !lace in the school !rogramme #or its own sake, recounting as it does the deelo!ment o# the !a!acy and the Church, the establishment o# #eudalism, the#oundation o# modern states, the &enaissance, and the beginning o# the &e#ormation. But, i# #or no other reason, the history o# the Middle Ages deseres study because without it Greece and &ome are isolated andseem to dwell in a world a!art. 'n the other hand, the character o# the #orces o# modern times cannot be understood by one who examines them without re#erence to their mediJal origins.

/or will any one seriously maintain in these latter days, when men are studying world moements0when, as we are told, America has become a world !ower0that the intelligent citien has no concern with the chie#eents and leading tendencies o# the last #our centuries o# 2uro!ean history. -t is es!ecially desirable that American !u!ils should learn something o# 2uro!ean history, since, by seeing the history o# their owncountry in its !ro!er !ers!ectie, they may a!!reciate its meaning, and may be relieed o# a tem!tation to a narrow intolerance, which resembles !atriotism only as bigotry resembles #aith.

2nglish history until 5::8 is our history9 2dward -. and "ym, Ham!den and $illiam "itt belong to our !ast and hel!ed to make us what we are. Any argument in #aor o# American history, there#ore, holds almoste1ually true #or the study o# 2nglish history. A realiation o# !resent duties, a com!rehension o# !resent res!onsibilities, an a!!reciation o# !resent o!!ortunities, can n ot better be inculcated than by a study o# thecenturies in which 2nglishmen were struggling #or re!resentation, #ree s!eech, and due !rocess o# law.

he orderly chronological course which we here adocate has its marked adantages, but it should be so arranged that the !u!il will do more than #ollow the main #acts as he traces them #rom the earliest times to the!resent. he work must be so deelo!ed and widened, as time goes on, that in the #inal years the !u!il will be dealing with broader and dee!er !roblems than in the early years, and will be making use o# the skill andscholarly sense that hae been awakened and called into action by !reious training. By a course o# this sort, !u!ils will obtain a cons!ectus o# history which is #airly com!lete and satis#actory, will #ollow the #orwardmarch o# eents and will come to see the !resent as a !roduct o# the !ast9 while the teacher, at the same time, will hae o!!ortunity to un#old the !roblems and di##iculties o# historical study.

he desirability o# arranging historical #ields o# work in their natural chronological order will !robably a!!eal to eery one, and need not be dwelt u!on. ome !ersons, howeer, may ob(ect to the arrangement asunwise, in the light o# other considerations. -t may be contended that !u!ils should !ass #rom the known to the unknown, #rom the #amiliar to the un#amiliar and strange. his !rece!t we do not care #ormally to

acce!t or to re(ect9 but it will be remembered that in all !rimary and grammar schools some historical work is gien, and that we can take #or granted the !robability that all !u!ils know something o# Americanhistory, and !erha!s o# other history, in addition. As a matter o# #act, there#ore, we are not runnin g counter to the doctrine aboe re#erred to, or iolating the law o# a!!erce!tion.

 A like ob(ection may be met with a similar answer. American history, some will say, should come the #irst year in the high school, because many !u!ils leae school be#ore the later years. But this ob(ection !roes toomuch, #or a large !ercentage o# boys and girls do not enter the high school at all. American history should there#ore be gien in the grammar school. -n #act, it is gien in the eighth and lower grades in !robably the ast ma(ority o# schools9 to re!eat the course there#ore in the #irst year o# the secondary course is almost a waste o# time, inasmuch as any marked deelo!ment in the method o# treatment is im!ossible. 'n the otherhand, by !utting the study late in the course, the !u!il can work along new lines and attack new !roblems9 the deelo!ment o# American institutions can be studied9 new and more di##icult books can be read, andmore adanced methods used.

ome teachers, belieing that American history is essential in eery course, will ob(ect to the curriculum here suggested, on the ground that the last year is already oercrowded, and that we are asking the im!ossible when we suggest that the study be !laced in that year. -n any argument on such a sub(ect, history is at a disadantage, because other sub(ects hae #rom time immemorial been considered #irst, while history has beentreated as a !oor and needy relatie9 other sub(ects hae their !laces, and claim at once nine #ull !oints in law. -# it is more im!ortant that !u!ils should hae knowledge o# chemistry, solid geometry, !hysics, Greek,2nglish literature, Latin, and what not, than a knowledge o# the essentials o# the !olitical and social li#e about them, o# the na ture and origin o# the Federal Constitution, o# their duties and rights as citiens, and o#the #undamental ideas #or which their country stands, then o# course American history need not enter into the contest at all. -n making these recommendations, howeer, we are not acting u!on merely theoreticalgrounds9 an inestigation o# existing conditions leads us to beliee that there is a strong tendency to !lace American history in the last year o# the course.

-t will be argued, again, that Greek and &oman history is too di##icult #or the #irst year. o this we may answer, t hat a number o# excellent and success#ul teachers gie the sub(ect in the #irst year, and that it isnot necessary to #athom all the mysteries o# the Athenian constitution, or to !enetrate the innermost secrets o# &oman im!erialism. -t is not im!ossible to know the main outlines o# Greek and &oman history and tosee the main #eatures o# Greek and &oman li#e. -# Caesar, a great source o# &oman history, can be studied in the original in the tenth grade, with all the su!!lementary in#ormation on military and historical matters which recent editors !resent, can not secondary material in the ernacular be studied in the ninth $hile we do not think that Greek and &oman history should be treated as a handmaiden o# the Latin and Greeklanguages , we suggest that a course in ancient history in the #irst year will sere to gie li#e and meaning to all the work in the classic tongues. he ideamay come home to the !u!il that Caesar and Cicero were real, liing, thinking, acting men, and not imaginatie creatures begotten by the brains o# modern grammar0mongers to ex the soul o# the schoolboy. -# this basis o# #act is in the !u!ils mind, the classical teacher can am!li#y it in the later years o# the high0school course, and can with #ar greater assurance use the language that he is teaching as a medium #or bringing his!u!ils into contact with the thoughts and moing sentiments o# anti1uity.

ome one may ob(ect that mediJal and modern 2uro!ean history is too di##icult #or the tenth grade, and that other sub(ects should come at that time. he answer to such ob(ection is, o# course, that any othersub(ect is too di##icult i# taught in its height and de!th and breadth, but that the cardinal #acts o# 2uro!ean history can be understood, interesting and intelligible books can be read, the signi#icant lessons can belearned. How many boys, when they are 58 years old, can not understand he cottish Chie#s, he hree Musketeers, wenty )ears A#ter, -anhoe, he alisman, $ith Fire and word And is the sim!le,

truth#ul historic tale o# border con#lict, the li#e and !ur!oses o# &ichelieu, the death o# Charles -, the career o# &ichard the Lionhearted, the character o# aladin, the horrible barbarism o# artar hordes, harder to beunderstood than the !lot o# an elaborate, historical noel dealing with the same #acts -s truth necessarily more di##icult, as well as stranger, than #iction But the conclusie answer to this ob(ection is the #act that2uro!ean history in its most di##icult #orm, general history, is now taught in the second year in the greater !art o# the schools which o##er the sub(ect.

he committee may be criticised #or outlining a #our years course at all, on the ground that no schools can deote so much time to history. his criticism is so im!ortant that the reasons which in#luenced us to takethis action should be gien seriatim3

ome schools do o##er history in eery year o# the high school, either as a re1uired or as an o!tional study9 and the delineation o# what seems to us a thorough and systematic r4gime may be o# serice to theseschools, and to all others that desire to deote considerable time and energy to the sub(ect.

-# some schools cannot gie all that is here !ro!osed, that #act !resents no reason why an ade1uate course should not be outlined. $e are not seeking to induce schools to gie history a great amount o#attention at the ex!ense o# other sub(ects9 but a course altogether com!lete and ade1uate needs to be outlined be#ore one can rightly discuss the aailability o# anything else.

An a!!roach to an ideal course, in order o# sub(ects, method, treatment, and time, is better than one that is constructed without any re#erence to the best and most symmetrical system.

As a general rule, de#inite !arts o# the !lan which we here outline may be t aken as a working scheme. -t is not necessary to draw u!, on an entirely new theory, a brie#er curriculum #or schools that can not takethe whole o# what we here recommend9 the sim!lest and wisest !lan under such circumstances is to omit one or more o# the blocks or !eriods into which we hae diided the general #ield.

-# only three years can be deoted to historical work, three o# the !eriods outlined aboe may be chosen, and one omitted9 such omission seems to us to be better than any condensation o# the whole. But i# anyteacher desires to com!ress two o# the !eriods into a single years work, one o# the #ollowing !lans ma y be wisely ado!ted3

Combine 2nglish and American history in such a manner that the m ore im!ortant !rinci!les wrought out in 2nglish history, and the main #acts o# 2nglish ex!ansion, will be taught in connection with American colonial and later !olitical history.

reat 2nglish history in such a way as to include the most im!ortant elements o# mediJal and modern 2uro!ean history.

Why No Short Course in 'eneral History is Recommended 

From the #oregoing it will be seen that the committee beliees that history should be gien in #our consecutie years in the secondary school, and that the study should be deelo!ed in an orderly #ashion, withreasonable regard #or chronological se1uence9 in other words, that # our years should be deoted to the study o# the worlds history, giing the !u!il some knowledge o# the !rogress o# the race, enabling him to sureya broad #ield and to see the main acts in the historical drama. $hile, o# course, three years #or such study are better than two, as two are better than one, a care#ul consideration o# the !roblem in all its as!ects has ledus to the conclusion that we cannot strongly recommend as altogether ade1uate courses coering the whole #ield in less than #our years.

 $e do not recommend a short course in general history because such a course necessitates one o# two modes o# treatment, neither o# which is sound and reasonable. By one method, energy is deoted to the dreary,and !erha!s !ro#itless, task o# memoriing #acts, dates, names o# kings and 1ueens, and the rise and #all o# dynasties9 there is no o!!ortunity to see how #acts arose or what they e##ected, or to study the material!ro!erly, or to see the eents in sim!le #orm as one #ollowed u!on another, or to become ac1uainted with the historical method o# handling de#inite concrete #acts a nd drawing in#erences #rom them. he !u!il is notintroduced to the #irst !rinci!les o# historical thinking9 he is not brought into sym!athy with men and ideas, or led to see the !lay o# human #orces, or gien such a real knowledge o# !ast times and conditions that hecan realie that history has to do with li#e, with the thoughts, as!irations, and struggles o# men. By the second method !u!ils are led to deal with large and general ideas which are o#ten 1uite beyond theircom!rehension0ideas which are general in#erences drawn by the learned historian #rom a well0stored treasure0house o# de#inite data9 they are taught to acce!t un1uestioningly broad generaliations, the #oundationso# which they can not !ossibly examine, as they must do i# they a re to know how the historical student builds his in#erences, or how one gains knowledge o# the general truths o# history. he #irst method is a!t tohea! meaningless data together9 #acts crowd one u!on a nother9 there is no moing drama, but at the ery best, !erha!s, a series o# kaleidosco!ic !ictures, in which the #igures are arranged with seemingarbitrariness. -# the second alternatie be #ollowed, all is order and system9 the !awns o# the great game are # olks and nations9 the more e##ectie chessmen are world0moing ideas. he ex!erienced college teacherknows #ull well that students entering u!on historical work will learn #acts without seeing relationshi!s9 that tendency is a word o# unknown dimensions9 and that his #irst task is to lead his !u!ils to see howde#inite #acts may be grou!ed into general #acts, and how one condition o# things led to another, until they come to a realiing sense o# the #act that history deals with dynamics, not statics, and that dri#ts, tendencies,and moements are to be searched #or by the !ro!er inter!retation o# de#inite data, and the !ro!er correlation o# de#inite deeds and acts, with s!ecial re#erence to chronological se1uence. -# college students mustthus be led to the com!rehension o# historical #orces and general ideas, what ho!e is there that a general history, dealing only with tendencies, will be ada!ted to high0school needs

But while we do not think that a secondary0school !u!il can be brought to handle large generaliations, we do beliee that, i# the time deoted to a !eriod o# history be su##iciently long to enable him to deal with theacts o# indiidual men and to see their work, he can be taught to grou! his #acts9 and that a !ower o# analysis and construction, a ca!acity #or seeing relationshi!s and causes, an ability to gras! a general situationand to understand how it came to be, can be deelo!ed in him9 and that he can be brought to see that #or the historian nothing is, but eerything is becoming. -n all such work, howeer, the teacher must begin with

ideas and #acts that are not altogether un#amiliar0with the actiities, t he im!ulses, the concrete conduct o# men. $e do not mean by this that constitutional and social 1uestions can not be studied, that !oliticalmoements can not be inter!reted, or that the biogra!hical system suitable #or the lower grades should be continued through the secondary course. 'n the contrary, the !u!il should be led to general #acts (ust assoon as !ossible, and should be induced to see in#erences and the meanings o# acts at the earliest !ossible moment.?E@ He must not only hae a well0articulated skeleton o# #acts, but he must see moement, li#e,human energy. And yet the aerage !u!il will #ollow the course o# Kulius Caesar or Augustus, when he can not understand (ust why the &oman &e!ublic was oerthrown9 he can know much o# the work o#Constantine, when he can not a!!reciate the in#luence o# Christianity on the destinies o# &ome and the world9 he can see what Charlemagne did, when he can not com!rehend the nature or character o# the Holy

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&oman 2m!ire9 he is interested in +anton and Mirabeau, when he can not realie the causes, characteristics, and e##ects o# the French &eolution. -t is im!ossible #or one who knows only o# mayors, constables, andcounty clerks to reach out at once into a com!rehension o# the great motie #orces in the worlds history.

 $e ask, then, #or a course in history o# such length that the !u!il may get a broad and somewhat com!rehensie iew o# the general #ield, without haing, on the one hand, to cram his memory with unrelated,meaningless #acts, or, on the other hand, to struggle with generaliations and !hiloso!hical ideas beyond his ken. $e think that a course coering the whole #ield o# history is desirable, because it gies something likea !ro!er !ers!ectie and !ro!ortion9 because the history o# man s actiities is one sub(ect, and the !resent is the !roduct o# all the !ast9 because such a study broadens the mental horion and gies breadth andculture9 because it is desirable that !u!ils should come to as #ull a realiation as !ossible o# their !resent surroundings, by seeing the long course o# the race behind them9 because they ought to hae a generalcons!ectus o# history, in order that m ore !articular studies o# nations or o# !eriods may be seen in something like actual relation with others. $e think, howeer, that 1uite as im!ortant as !ers!ectie or !ro!ortionare method and training, and a com!rehension o# the essential character o# the study.

-n exact accord with the !rinci!les here adocated all work in natural science is now conducted3 A !u!il is taught to understand how the sim!le laws o# !hysics or chemistry are drawn u!9 he is induced to thinkcare#ully and logically about what he sees, and about the meaning o# the rules and #undamental truths which he is studying, in order that he may learn the science by thinking in it rather than by getting a birds0eye iew o# the #ield. $e do not argue that secondary !u!ils can be made constructie historians, that a !ower can be bred in them to seie #or themseles essential data and weae a new #abric, that the mysteries o# thehistorians art can be disclosed to them, or that they can be taught to !lay u!on a n ations sto!s with an assured and cunning hand. But eery study has its methods, its characteristic thinking, its own essential

!ur!ose9 and the !u!il must be brought into some sym!athy with the sub(ect. He must know history as history, (ust as he knows science as science.

 Any com!arison between history and science is a!t to be misleading. he method o# the one study, #or !ur!oses o# instruction at least, is not the method o# the other. $e do not su!!ose that &ichelieu or $illiam theilent can be treated with any sort o# moral reagent or examined as a s!ecimen under any high0!ower lens. And yet in some res!ects we may learn lessons #rom methods o# scienti#ic instruction. he modern teachero# botany does not endeaor to hae his !u!ils learn a long list o# classi#ied shrubs, to know all the #am ilies and s!ecies by heart, or to make a telling syno!sis o# een any considerable section o# the worlds #lora9 heexamines a more limited #ield with care, and asks the students to see how seeds germinate and how !lants grow, and to study with a microsco!e a !iece o# wood #iber or the cross0section o# a seed. his he does inorder that the !u!ils may see the real sub(ect, may know botany, and ac1uire the habit o# thinking as men o# science think9 not, let it be understood, that he may discoer new laws o# #loral growth or deelo! #orhimsel# a single !rinci!le, rule, or system o# classi#ication. And so in history. $hile we do not urge that !u!ils be asked to extort their knowledge #rom the raw material, or to search through the documents to #ind thedata which learned scholars hae already #ound #or them, we do ask that the old system o# classi#ication, and the old idea that one must see the whole #ield be#ore he studies a !art o# it, be altogether gien u!, i# ane##ort to know the outlines o# the whole means that the !u!il has not su##icient o!!ortunity to study history as history, to see how men moed and acted, to know that history deals with the se1uence o# eents in time.o insist u!on a general com!rehension o# the worlds history be#ore examining a !art with care would be 1uite as reasonable as to ask a !u!il to study the circle o# the sciences be#ore he analyes a #lower or worksan air !um!.

 $hile we beliee that !u!ils can adantageously use the sources, chie#ly as illustratie material, we are not now arguing #or the source system or insisting that he should be trained to handle original material. kill in#inding #acts in documents or contem!orary narraties, howeer desirable that may be, is not the sole end o# historical instruction anywhere, and aboe all in the secondary schools. 2en the historian is doing but asmall !art o# his work when he is m ousing through his material and gathering this #act and another #rom #orgotten corners. 'ne o# his most im!ortant and most di##icult tasks is to detect the real meaning o# eents,and so to !ut his well0tested data together that their !ro!er im!ort and their actual interrelations are brought to iew. History, we say again, has to do with the se1uence o# eents in time, and what we contend #or issuch a course in history as will enable one to see se1uence and moement0the words are not synonymous. his sim!le essential o# historical work0an essential, howeer, o#ten lost sight o# com!letely0must not beneglected. $e beliee that the !u!il should study history, and not something else under the name o# history0neither !hiloso!hy on the one hand, nor the art o# historical inestigation on the other.

 

?E@ Let it be remembered that the course in history in the high school should hae #or its !ur!ose the gradual awakening and deelo!ing o# !ower. "u!ils are o#ten !reci!itated into general history, and asked to taxtheir !owers o# imagination and to gras! moements when they are entirely without ex!erience or training. Last Updated: July 19, 2007 2:17 PM 

 Ho( the )ifferent &locks or Periods *ay be Treated 

-. Ancient History  

--. MediJal and Modern 2uro!ean History  

---. 2nglish History  

-%. American History  

 %. Ciil Goernment 

 $e may now brie#ly consider each one o# the main diisions o# the general #ield, and discuss the method in which it may best be handled. his !ortion o# our re!ort might be greatly extended, but we wish to con#ineourseles to a consideration o# general !ro!ositions, which are deemed im!ortant because they hae to do with the essential character and !ur!ose o# the study.

! Ancient History 

Greek and &oman history is taught in a large number o# the secondary schools, and in some schools no other branch o# history is o##ered. his !re#erence is ex!lained by the eolution o# the curriculum in which theGreek and Latin languages were long the dominant sub(ects, Greek and &oman history being thrust in at a later time as ancillary to the study o# the ancient languages. -n some schools the history remains asubordinate sub(ect, coming once or twice a week, and, een then, it is o#ten in the hands o# a classical instructor who is more interested in linguistics than in history and has had no training in historical method. hecourse is a!t to be con#ined to the histories o# Greece and &ome9 the 'rient is not in#re1uently omitted9 the mediJal relations o# &ome are usually ignored. he !ers!ectie and em!hasis within the #ield coered

hae been determined by literary and linguistic, rather than by historical, considerations, with the result that the chie# attention is deoted to the !eriods when great writers lied and wrote. oo much time, #orexam!le, is commonly gien to the "elo!onnesian war, while the Hellenistic !eriod is neglected. he history o# the early &oman &e!ublic is dwelt u!on at the ex!ense o# the 2m!ire, although ery little is known o#the early times. -t sometimes seems as i# the ghost o# Liy were with us yet.

he committee thinks that the time has come when ancient history may be studied inde!endently as an interesting, instructie, and aluable !art o# the history o# the human race. Classical !u!ils need such a study,not to su!!ort their classical work, but to gie them a wider and dee!er knowledge o# the li#e, thought, and character o# the ancient world9 and non0classical !u!ils need the work still more than the classical, #or inthis study they are likely to #ind their only o!!ortunity o# coming into contact with ancient ideas. $e ask, then, that ancient history be taught as history, #or the same !ur!ose that any other branch o# history istaught0in order that !u!ils may learn the story o# human achieement and be trained in historical thinking.

o bring out the alue o# ancient history, it is es!ecially im!ortant that Greek and &oman history should not be isolated, but that there should be some re#erence to the li#e and in#luence o# other nations, and somecom!rehension o# the wide #ield, which has a certain unity o# its own. here should be a short introductory surey o# 'riental history, as an indis!ensable background #or a study o# the classical !eo!le. his sureymust be brie#, and in the o!inion o# the committee should not exceed one0eighth o# the entire time deoted to ancient history. -t should aim to gie

an idea o# the remoteness o# these 'riental beginnings, o# the length and reach o# recorded history9

a de#inite k nowledge o# the names, location, and chronological succession o# the early 'riental nations9

the distinguishing #eatures o# their ciiliations, as concretely as !ossible9

the recogniable lines o# their in#luence on later times.

he essential #actors in this !eriod may !erha!s best be seen by concentrating attention #irst on the kingdoms o# the two great alleys0that o# the /ile and that o# the igris and 2u!hrates0and by bringing in thelesser !eo!les o# the connecting regions as the great em!ires s!read northward and meet. "ersia may be taken u! a#terward, and its con1uests may sere as a reiew o# the others.

 Although, o# course, Greek history should include a short study o# early times, and should disclose the growth o# Athens and !arta and the characteristic li#e o# the great classical !eriod, it should not, on the otherhand, omit an account o# the chie# eents o# the Hellenistic age, but should gie some idea o# the con1uests o# Alexander, o# the kingdoms that arose out o# them, and o# the s!read o# Greek ciiliation oer the 2ast,so im!ortant in relation to the in#luence o# Greece u!on later times. -t should also gie the main eents in the later history o# Greece, and should show the connection between Greek and &oman history. ime #or thissurey may well be saed by omitting the details o# the "elo!onnesian war, which crowd so many textbooks. his !eriod should be used largely as connectie tissue, to hold Greek and &oman history together9 itshould be a!!roached #irst #rom the Greek side, and a#terwards be reiewed in connection with the &oman con1uest o# the 2ast. Care should be taken to show the oerla!!ing o# Greek and &oman historychronologically, and to aoid the not uncommon im!ression among !u!ils that &ome was #ounded a#ter the destruction o# Corinth.

he treatment o# &oman history should be su##iciently #ull to corres!ond to its im!ortance. oo much time, as it seems to the committee, is o#ten s!ent u!on the !eriod o# the &e!ublic, es!ecially on the early years,and too little u!on that o# the 2m!ire. Ade1uate attention is not always !aid to the deelo!ment o# &oman !ower and the ex!ansion o# &oman dominion. ome idea should be gien o# the organiation o# the world0state and o# the extension o# &oman ciiliation. &ecogniing #ully the di##iculty o# this !eriod, and not seeking to #orce u!on the !u!ils general ideas that con#use them, the teacher should endeaor to make themac1uainted, not sim!ly with em!erors and !rJtorian guards, but with the wide sway o# &ome9 and not so much with the #alling o# &ome, as with the im!ression le#t u!on western Christendom by the s!irit andcharacter o# the 2ternal City. his, we think, can be done by the care#ul use o# concrete #acts and illustrations, not by the use o# !hiloso!hical generaliations. "robably most o# us remember that our im!ressions#rom early study were that &ome really gae u! the ghost with the accession o# Augustus0is that idea due to that good re!ublican Liy, again And i# we studied the 2m!ire at all, we wondered why it took #ourhundred years and more #or her to tread all the sli!!ery way to Aernus, when once she had entered u!on the road. o get such an im!ression is to lose the truth o# &ome.

he continuation o# ancient history into the early Middle Ages has a mani#est conenience in a !rogramme o# two years work in 2uro!ean history. -t secures an e1uitable ad(ustment o# time and a reasonabledistribution o# em!hasis between the earlier and later !eriods. -# the !u!il sto!s his historical work at the end o# the #irst year, it is desirable that he should not look u!on classical history as a thing a!art, but that heshould be brought to see something o# what #ollowed the so0called Fall o# the $estern 2m!ire. Moreoer, it is di##icult to #ind a logical sto!!ing !lace at an earlier date9 one can not end with the introduction o#Christianity, or with the Germanic inasions, or with the rise o# Mohammedanism9 and to break o## with the year E:8 is to leae the !u!il in a world o# con#usion0the inasions only begun, the church not #ullyorganied, the 2m!ire not wholly #allen. Hence, #rom moties o# clearness alone, there is a gain in carrying the !u!il on to an a ge o# com!aratie order and sim!licity, such as one #inds in the time o# Charlemagne.Further study o# the Middle Ages then begins with the dissolution o# the Frankish 2m!ire and the #ormation o# new states.?;@

! "edi#val and "odern $uropean History 

his #ield coers a !eriod o# a thousand years, and the history o# at least #our or #ie im !ortant nations9 it is necessarily, there#ore, a matter o# considerable di##iculty to determine the best method by which thesub(ect may be handled. $hether the whole #ield be coered su!er#icially, or only the main lines be t reated, it is highly desirable that some unity should be discoered, i# !ossible, or that there should be some centralline with which eents or moements can be correlated. o #ind an assured !rinci!le o# unity is exceedingly di##icult, !erha!s im!ossible9 and it is ery likely that writers will continue to disagree as to the bestmethod o# traersing this ast area.

'ne way to get unity and continuity is to study general moements alone, without endeaoring to #ollow the li#e o# any one nation9 but while this method is !ossible #or college classes it may not be #ound #easible #orsecondary schools, where !u!ils hae greater di##iculty in com!rehending general tendencies. till, we think that certain essential characteristics o# at least the mediJal !eriod may !erha!s be studied. he !eriodextending #rom Charlemagne to the &eial o# Learning has a strongly marked character, almost a !ersonality o# its own9 and by a selection o# !ro!er #acts some o# the main characteristics may be brought home to

the knowledge o# the high0school !u!ils. he teacher or text writer who attem!ts this method must naturally !roceed with great caution, getting general ideas be#ore the students by a (udicious use o# concrete #actsand illustrations, and not #ailing to gie some o# the more im!ortant eents and dates that mark the !eriod. He will !robably #ind that the most characteristic #eature o# the age is the unbroken dominance o# the&oman Church, and should there#ore bring out clearly the essential #eatures o# its organiation, and ex!lain the methods by which it exercised control in all de!artments o# mediJal li#e. -# this is done, as it can andshould be done, with care and im!artiality, the !u!il will receie a aluable lesson in historical truth#ulness and ob(ectiity at the same time that he comes to a!!reciate one o# the great moing #orces o# 2uro!eanhistory.

http://www.historians.org/pubs/archives/CommitteeofSeven/ReportHow.cfm#ancient%23ancienthttp://www.historians.org/pubs/archives/CommitteeofSeven/ReportHow.cfm#ancient%23ancienthttp://www.historians.org/pubs/archives/CommitteeofSeven/ReportHow.cfm#mediaeval%23mediaevalhttp://www.historians.org/pubs/archives/CommitteeofSeven/ReportHow.cfm#mediaeval%23mediaevalhttp://www.historians.org/pubs/archives/CommitteeofSeven/ReportHow.cfm#english%23englishhttp://www.historians.org/pubs/archives/CommitteeofSeven/ReportHow.cfm#english%23englishhttp://www.historians.org/pubs/archives/CommitteeofSeven/ReportHow.cfm#american%23americanhttp://www.historians.org/pubs/archives/CommitteeofSeven/ReportHow.cfm#american%23americanhttp://www.historians.org/pubs/archives/CommitteeofSeven/ReportHow.cfm#civil%23civilhttp://www.historians.org/pubs/archives/CommitteeofSeven/ReportHow.cfm#civil%23civilhttp://www.historians.org/pubs/archives/CommitteeofSeven/ReportHow.cfm#end5%23end5http://www.historians.org/pubs/archives/CommitteeofSeven/ReportHow.cfm#end5%23end5http://www.historians.org/pubs/archives/CommitteeofSeven/ReportHow.cfm#ancient%23ancienthttp://www.historians.org/pubs/archives/CommitteeofSeven/ReportHow.cfm#mediaeval%23mediaevalhttp://www.historians.org/pubs/archives/CommitteeofSeven/ReportHow.cfm#english%23englishhttp://www.historians.org/pubs/archives/CommitteeofSeven/ReportHow.cfm#american%23americanhttp://www.historians.org/pubs/archives/CommitteeofSeven/ReportHow.cfm#civil%23civilhttp://www.historians.org/pubs/archives/CommitteeofSeven/ReportHow.cfm#end5%23end5

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his method o# treating continental history can be carried throughout the &e#ormation !eriod by remembering that while that !eriod marks the end o# the Middle Ages it also #orms the basis #or modern 2uro!eanhistory. his e!och must there#ore be taught with both !oints o# iew in mind. he main as!ects o# the time must be brought broadly be#ore the !u!il, and he must be led to see that the sixteenth century is a centuryo# transition9 that the old order has been swe!t away9 that religious, !olitical, material, intellectual, and social li#e has been !ro#oundly a##ected, not only by the teachings o# Luther and Calin, but by thedeelo!ment o# the !rinting !ress, the use o# gun!owder, the oyages o# Magellan and +rake, and the change in economic alues. he wars o# religion mark the last e##orts to reestablish united Christendom9 and,although the treaty o# $est!halia seems well within the s!here o# modern history, it may not im!ro!erly be selected as the end o# this era o# transition.

From the close o# this !eriod it will be #ound ery di##icult to treat only o# moements o# a general character a##ecting the li#e o# 2uro!e. here is now no great institution, like the Church, which #orms the centre o#Christendom9 the di##erent nations no longer belong to a system, but act as inde!endent soereigns9 the deelo!ment o# distinct national li#e is now o# !rimary concern to the historical student. But een in modernhistory the method o# treating e!ochs o# international im!ortance can be used to some extent. -n order that this may be done, it will be necessary, !robably, so to connect moements or e!ochal characteristics withthe history o# !articular nations that the se!arate deelo!ment o# the 2uro!ean states may be discerned. For exam!le, the !eriod #rom 58E6 to 5:5; can be treated as the age o# Louis I-%9 while the history o# theseenteenth0century monarchy, illustrated by the attitude and the administration o# Louis, is brought to light, the history o# western 2uro!e may be studied in its relations with France. he !eriod #rom 5:5; to 5:8Dis the age o# colonial ex!ansion, o# rialry between France and 2ngland9 and it can be studied #rom either 2ngland or France as a !oint o# iew. he age o# Frederick the Great brings be#ore us not only therise o# "russia and the signi#icance o# that great #act, but the theory o# enlightened des!otism, o# which Frederick was an ex!onent, and which was exem!li#ied by the work o# Catherine o# &ussia, Kose!h --, and other

enlightened monarchs and ministers. For the !eriod o# the French &eolution and the 2m!ire , France again may be taken a s the center #rom which to consider the international relations o# 2uro!eanstates, the deelo!ment o# the new !rinci!les o# nationality, the soereignty o# the !eo!le, and the liberty o# the in diidual. From 565; to 56E6 Metternich may be regarded as th