USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > First Annual Report of the Ohio Valley Historical Association comprising the proceedings of the central Ohio Valley History Conference held at Cincinnati, Ohio, Nov. 29 and 30, 1907 > Part 7
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FIRST ANNUAL REPORT
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From ancestors indomitable sprung !
Who, as with brawn of sinewy grip they swung Their polished helves and launcht the steely edge, Invading so the monarchy of trees,
Or smote with ponderous maul the iron wedge-
Labored meanwhile within the spacious Mind,
Planning and building, for their fellow-kind,
Futurity colossal, on the vast
Foundations of immemorial past.
THE TEACHER OF SOCIAL SCIENCES. .
DR. J. A. JAMES, Professor of History in Northwestern University.
May we at the outset consider briefly some of the stages in the advance movement for the teaching of history and allied subjects during the past few years, even though it be in some re- spects a familiar story. During the year 1903 the report of the so-called Madison Conference was published. This report
showed that in the typical schools. of the country there was on the average one year for history in the grammar schools and two years in the high schools. A few cases have been found, it says, in which history is . systematically taught in each of four or five years of a high school course. Civil Government was pur- sued in a very few gram- mar schools and in some one-third of the high schools, and political econo- my was taught in a most unsatisfactory manner in PROF. J. A. JAMES. about one-twentieth of the high schools. The simple practical program which was outlined was based on the work already be- ing done in some of the good schools of the country, and was believed not
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to be beyond the possible in any school where there was an efficient system of gradation. History and kindred subjects, so the first resolution reads, "ought to be a substantial study in the schools in each of at last eight years." The eleventh resolution is of no less significance. It declares that the eight-year course should be consecutive. The program adopted for a course in history was grouped into two parts: the first group com- ing in the last four years of the grammar schools, and the second group of four years was to begin with the high school. Biography and myth- ology were recommended for the first two years. In the third year American History and Civil Government were to be studied, and in the fourth year Greek and Roman History with their Oriental connec- tions. Political Economy was not recommended for a place in the program, for "It is not proved," they say, "that the subject can be advantageously taught in secondary schools, nor is the contrary proved."
While it is not possible to state the results with accuracy, it is certain that this program has. through the National Educational Asso- ciation, had a far-reaching influence, and that History since that time has been accorded a larger place in the curriculum of the schools both secondary and elementary. In 1897 the Report of the Committee of Seven was presented before the American Historical Association. While we may not sanction all of the recommendations of that report, and while we are aware of a growing desire on the part of many teachers to modify it, still we must all acknowledge its great influence. A member of that committee presented a report on the study of history below the secondary schools, which unfortunately has not received the attention it has deserved. Besides giving a review of the conditions under which History was then taught, Miss Lucy Salmon, of Vassar, outlined a course of study which she thought suitable for the elementary schools of the country. The reports of the Conference of 1892 and of the Com- mittee of Seven represent the only attempts, so far as I am aware, to secure through a national organization some uniformity in the pro- gram for History in the schools of the country. In the meantime, how- ever, individual writers, superintendents of schools here and there, many efficient teachers, and associations of teachers, have given much at- tention to the subject.
At the annual meeting of the American Historical Association, in 1905, a conference was held on the topics: (1) Some suggestions for a course of study in history for the elementary schools; and (2) The preparation desirable for the teacher of history in these schools. The discussion which followed the presentation of the papers, taken part in by teachers of history from elementary and high schools, from normal schools and colleges, led to the adoption of the resolution that it was thought desirable that a committee should be appointed to make out a program in history for the elementary schools and consider other closely allied topics. In response to this request, the Association appointed
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a Committee of Eight to consider the problems suggested and make a report. In making up the Committee, care was exercised to secure a majority who should be in actual touch with the work of the elementary schools and as far as possible have representatives from the different sections of the country. Three superintendents of schools were ap- pointed on the Committee; two representatives of normal schools and two from the colleges .- All of the members have, for a number of years, been actively interested in the problems under consideration.
During the three years in which we have been at work, teachers of history in the elementary schools have been consulted on the various features of the report. A number of teachers' associations in different parts of the country have discussed the most important phases. We have profited through these discussions even though it was not deemed ad- visable, and in fact would have been impossible, to adopt all the sug- gestions which were offered. In presenting our final report to the teachers of history, it cannot be said that we have reached conclusions hastily, nor that it is the result of the working out of fine spun theories on the part of college men.
But the teacher is, after all, of vastly greater importance than any course of study. Who is there among you who has not seen the best results attained in spite of the fact that the program was weak and the text-books antiquated? You know of illustrations where the con- verse is equally true. Too frequently still, we are compelled to combat the view of Roederer, minister under the first Napoleon, who banished the teaching of History from the French schools on the ground that the subject could easily be learned without being taught. . Some twenty years ago a noted American educator wrote with regard to the teaching of History, -"After observation in many school rooms. I am convinced that no subject so widely taught is on the whole, taught so poorly. Text books are closely adhered to and teachers of History generally give instruction also in several other unrelated branches." The Madison Conference declared that the methods then in vogue threw entirely too much stress upon a few brief text-books; and that comparatively few teachers had the spirit or the apparatus to carry their classes out- side those narrow limits. One member of the conference suggested that history should be omitted from school programs altogether for mere teaching by rote made the subject disagreeable and "led to indefinite ideas which were worse than none." Since that time the percentage of pupils in the secondary schools who study History and Civics has steadily increased until, according to the report of the Commissioner of Education for the year 1903. there were 57.76 per cent. of all the students in the secondary schools in these classes: this percentage was shown to be greater than that of the pupils pursuing any other line of study.
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But the training of teachers has not kept pace with this develop- ment. If this department is to hold its place in the curriculum it must come more and more into the hands of teachers who are prepared for the task of bringing out educational values. No superintendent would seriously think of turning over a laboratory to a teacher of Botany who could not make a section or adjust a compound microscope, or a manual / training plant to him who could not shove a plane or make a joint. To entrust a class in history to one who has little knowledge of what is to be acquired and of the best methods to be used is equally absurd. But while special training is a prerequisite for the teaching of the sciences, languages and mathematics, it is still not unusual to find the teacher of history who has had no particular preparation and professes no interest in historical material, hearing recitations in that subject. Within three years I have visited high schools in two of our best interior cities where I found the "Professors" of athletics managing the classes in history. One of them listened with the air of a drillmaster as the pupils, in order, doled out to him the paragraphs of Myers' "Rome." Other members of the class gave a sort of listless attention, but seemed really to be alive only when the gong sounded. The other young man spent the hour in lining out. to the class, lectures which he afterwards told me he had taken when he was a pupil in one of the colleges. These were to be reproduced in the recitation the following day. Such instances are all too frequent. Nor is it thought out of place to apportion the classes in history to the instructors who may have a spare hour. One of our graduates was selected to teach in a leading high school in the middle west. He had taken at most but two elementary courses in history, while in college, and was not recommended by any one in the depart- ment. He taught United States History, Civics and Economics, although he had never studied the last two subjects. That he was aware of the professional training and ultimate success of the old time oculist "who destroyed a bushel of eyes before learning how to treat them," is ap- parent, for he writes: "I like the work but feel my incompetency very keenly. But I believe in a few years I shall be able to do more creditable work."
Fortunately, this condition of affairs has disappeared in many of our schools and will become the rule when history shall be conceded its title of equality with other subjects, although the day may be distant when our secondary schools will require specially prepared teachers in history, as is the custom in some of the European countries. Here and there, however, we note evidence that the movement is in that direction. Eight years ago it would have been a task quite impossible to secure the adoption by the North Central Association of Colleges and Sec- ondary Schools of the resolution: "That no high school should be placed on the uniform accredited list of schools except those in which the teachers had a college education or the equivalent." But this is now the rule. The appointment of commissions on the various subjects, consist-
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ing of two members, one from a college and one from a secondary school of each state, to agree upon the meaning of the various units is another significant advance in the practical work of this association. With a clear definition of what is desirable, it is but a step to the conclusion that these results can, as a rule, be best secured by teachers who in addition to their bachelor's degree have received special instruction in the material of the course and the best methods of handling it, -. the standard required in France and Germany, But it is not to be forgotten that many of the teachers now' in these schools will find it impracticable. to conform at once to this usage. Our colleges are preparing to meet the demand through the enlargement of their facilities for summer schools; through the conducting of evening classes and of special classes for teachers; through extension and correspondence work. More and more also will there come the spirit of cooperation between teachers of all grades, for our problems are, after last analysis, the same.
Granted that much depends on the personality, force, tact, and sympathy of the . teacher, which no school can supply, what are the other factors which tend to produce the successful teacher of history? "To wide information and accurate knowledge there must be added the ability to waken enthusiasm and to these a living sympathy with the facts he relates, a knowledge of what the historical method is, and the ability to select essentials. The pupil must be made to see that the scene under consideration is one in the drama of human development ; his imagination must be quickened, while his judgment is being trained; he must be taught how to use books and feel the thrill which comes- through the use of the sources; and must be taught to think historically."
The teacher of history in the secondary and elementary schools may never be compelled to produce a piece of original work, but to add life and vigor to his teaching, he must have caught the spirit of the worker in the "Seminar." Science of today compels the use of the test- tube, microscope, and battery by the student, and my teacher in the secondary school who performed all the experiments for us would now not receive even honorable mention. May we not require that both the teachers and students of history must also go back of the printed page of the historian to the materials with which he dealt, for we are no longer concerned with the multitude of facts and dates so much as to acquire an appreciation of the spirit of the times set forth in diaries, records, charters, and the like. Many collections of such sources are now available for pupils of all grades, and the teacher who does not make use of them is no longer worthy of the place he occupies. Ohio is rich in historic associations and historical material. There is scarcely a com- munity which does not yield some find to him of the inquiring mind and steady persistence.
One of the most satisfactory recitations I have ever heard was con- ducted in a high school of a near-by state. The teacher had, by the aid of his pupils, gathered together all of the material possible relative to
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the history of that community and had it printed in the form of small pamphlets. One day of each week was given to the discussion of these sources. now on the early Indians, now on the French, the coming of the English, the struggles for supremacy, the building up of industries, and the development of local institutions. Pupils came to the recitation with minds alert, for while they discussed the pamphlets in hand and the relation of the history of the community to that of the State and Nation, there was wholesome rivalry among them to secure new evidence which would add to the collection in the school archives or, it may be, serve as corrective to views already accepted.
During the year 1860, the Lady Elgin, an excursion steamer plying between Chicago and Milwaukee, was wrecked off the shore at Evanston. There were four hundred passengers on board. A group of college students went to the rescue and did effective service, but the hero of the occasion was a lusty sophomore, an expert swimmer. Time and again he returned to the rescue, and each time that his comrades drew him back through the breakers. by means of the rope around his body, he brought with him a child, a woman, a man, until seventeen lives were thus saved. Exhausted and in half delirium, he is said to have ex- claimed over and again: "Did I do my best?" This man, from that time physically disabled, now lives on a small farm in California, and with a vestige of his one time great physical powers, is able in a simple manner to care for his family. It is notable that this was one of the circumstances which led to the establishment of the life-saving station, manned by students, on the campus at Northwestern University. Spencer was refused a pension at the hands of the government, and cannot be- come a participant in the hero-fund established by Mr. Carnegie, but his sacrifice of self may at least be made an example for our boys who are to be called upon to assume their rights as citizens and may even through such a story be spurred to make some sacrifice whatever the cost.
A required test in State history and government may aid somewhat in bringing about greater efficiency at this point but our County Superin- tendents must, if they are minded to give a right impulse, frame their tests for fitness to teach upon another basis than the one now too prevalent of who did what-when? From ten questions submitted last year to teachers in one of our leading counties, we find: State one im- portant historical fact about : name the most important incident connect- ing each; name Six Union Generals; what colony was settled for or by, etc. Colleges and schools are by no means purged of this type of test- called by a recent writer on pedagogy. "baled hay examinations." We should all of us be profited by adopting the very suggestive plan for. tests recommended by the New England History Teachers' Association as suitable for candidates applying for admission to college.
"The candidate will be expected to show, on examination, such gen- eral knowledge of each field as may be acquired from the study of an accurate text-book of not less than three hundred pages, supplemented
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*
by suitable parallel readings, amounting to not less than five hundred pages. The examination will call for comparison of historical characters, periods, and events, and in general for the exercise of judgment as well as of memory. Geographical knowledge will be tested by means of an outline map. "As further evidence of the candidate's proficiency, satis- factory written work, done at school and certified to by the teacher, must be submitted at the time of the examination. It must be presented in the form of a note-book containing not less than fifty written pages on each historical field offered, and must show practice in some of the following exercises: (1) Notes and digests of the pupil's reading out- side of the text-books; (2) Short studies of topics limited in scope, pre- pared outside of the class room, and illustrated by some reference to contemporary material; (3) Parallels between historical characters or periods, etc." *
The qualities that make the successful teacher are very like those of the best writers of history. To have visited the site whereon some historic event took place renders portrayal of the scene an easier task. The ability of Herodotus to captivate his readers is due in large measure to the fact that he went in person to the chief countries and places of which he wrote. How the wilderness again becomes inhabited with the dusky form of the wily savage, the pleasure-loving Frenchman, and the calculating Englishman, as we. follow the wonderful descriptions of Parkman who, not content with the facts gleaned from archives, journeyed from village to village until he had visited the tribes of nearly all the Northern Indians. To the teacher of history who has spent a day at the Palace of Versailles, the brilliant court of Louis XIV, and the abuses of absolutism become more real; the auction block on the lower floor of the Hotel Royale in New Orleans-at one time the lead- ing hotel in that city-recalls the scenes when creatures of human form were brought forth to be sold to the highest bidder. He who walks over the field at Gettysburg from Culp's Hill to Big Round Top, down through the Devil's Den, and across the Wheat Field and Peach Orchard, may too readily recall the dreadful July days of 1863 when the world seemed to pause and wonder whether the Nation would still live. A visit to the home of Lincoln at Springfield, and a study of the pictures, furniture, and other articles of association there to be seen, enables one to reconstruct many years of the life of the great "American Commoner." A further discussion of this self-evident proposition is not needed. It is introduced in order to urge the use of such material in our teaching, but more particularly to urge the preservation and marking of those sites whereon significant events in the history of the American people took place.
Having spoken of the place of history in the curriculum and of some of the qualities of the teacher, we pass now to a consideration of a few subjects which demand a larger place in our teaching than has heretofore been accorded them. Although the incidents are drawn
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chiefly from American history. the same general principles are applicable to the history of any country.
The man on horseback has always been made the central figure of our text-books. Our attention has been called at great length to the influence of the maneuvre and the battle in history. A recent writer in his History of the United States devoted sixty-eight pages to a discussion of the campaigns of the Civil War alone, while he regarded 105 pages as adequate for the entire history between the years 1789 and 1861. Last year the Superintendent of Public Instruction of a neighboring State invited a group of history teachers, selected from the elementary, secondary, and normal schools and colleges, to aid him in drafting a uniform course in history for the schools of the State. The course proposed was a most estimable one, but it was not satisfactory to the city superintendents. The report of their Committee on Revision says : "The tendency to minimize the importance of war in the history of our country is a mistake. We believe (1) that the war phase of our Na- tional history is absolutely necessary to its intelligent explanation and comprehension ; (2) that while the technical side of war should be elim- inated from the texts, a considerable portion of the space gained by the elimination should be devoted to the heroic side of our national struggles ; (3) and that through the study of the heroic side of our wars, the children must needs have their spirit fired by stirring tales of heroism and sacrifice, and be led into a true appreciation of the cost and respon- sibilities of our national heritage." While the effects of Marathon, of Tours, of Yorktown, and of Port Arthur, and of other world contests will and ought to be given a place in our texts, and the names of Fred- erick the Great. of Napoleon, of Washington, of Grant. and of Lee will always cause our hearts to beat a little more rapidly, teachers of history should recognize more and more and exalt the work of other men who, as diplomats, as counselors, or as plain men, gave themselves just as truly and accomplished results not so great, it may be, but quite as un- dying in the development of nations.
The pioneers created the truly heroic age in the history of the American people. These men of sturdy Scotch-Irish, German, Huguenot, and English ancestry. the Boones, Kentons, Seviers, and Robertsons furnish many a page of daring and doing in their advance down the Appalachian valleys, following the paths cut through the underbrush by the huge forms and sharp hoofs of the herds of buffalo. out through Cumberland Gap to Kentucky and Tennessee and the Northwest. Others, as individuals, families, and groups, advanced up the valleys of the eastward flowing rivers, crossed the divide at the head waters of the Ohio and then down this river by means of flat-boat, keel-boat, skiff, or other of the many forms of locomotion invented for river traffic. Slowly the frontier was pushed farther to the west, every stage marked by a conflict with Indian foe and with the forces of nature. For over a hundred years of our history has this movement gone on until the free
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territory of the west is exhausted. Our grandfathers took part in this advance and we can see in our institutions and in our democracy the influence of the "men who bore the rifle and the axe and later followed the plow."
The development of commonwealths and of industries quickly fol- lowed along the routes established by the pioneers. A typical description of these transformations is given us by Timothy Flint who wrote of his visit to the Ohio region in 1815. He describes General Putnam, who led the first group of New Englanders to make a permanent settlement in Ohio.' "General Putnam," he says. "had moved here when it was one- compact and boundless forest, vocal only with the cry of owls, the growl of bears, and the death-song of the savages. He had seen that forest fall under the axe, had seen commodious, and after that. splendid dwel- lings rise around him. He had seen the settlement sustain an inundation which wafted away the dwellings, and in some instances, the inhabitants in them. The cattle and all the improvements of cultivation were swept away. He had seen the country suffer all the accumulated horrors of an Indian War. He had seen its exhaustless fertility and its natural ad- vantages triumph over all. He had seen Marietta make advances to- wards acquainting itself with the Gulf of Mexico by floating off from its banks a number of sea-going vessels built there. He had seen the prodigious invention of steam-boats experimented on the Ohio and heard their first thunder as they swept by his dwelling. He had survived to see them become so common as to be no more objects of curiosity. He had witnessed a hundred boats laden for New Orleans pass by in the compass of a few hours." The narrator continues : "He displayed in these remote regions, the grandeur, real and intrinsic, of those immortal men who achieved our Revolution." Few texts even mention the name of Manasseh Cutler. No account is usually taken of his influence in securing the adoption, by Congress, of the . Northwest Ordinance, that instrument of government which has been called the equal in importance with the Dec- laration of Independence, and the Constitution of the United States.
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