and suggestions for more. These should be supplemented by similar problems drawn from the immediate environment and experience of the school.

The older books contain few such problems, if any. The teachers compelled to use these books should substitute for their problems, in so far as possible, others drawn from present available sources. These sources

include the school and home life of the children, current events in the larger world, and practically all the other subjects in the school curriculum. Care must be taken, however, always to keep within the limits of natural interest. Many dry statistical problems found in some of the newer arithmetics are as truly a weariness of the flesh as the worst of the senseless ones of the older books.

Résumé. - I have endeavored to make plain how the teaching of arithmetic may be directed toward its three aims (1) giving facility and accuracy in the use of numbers, (2) training the children to "reason justly," and (3) imparting such knowledge of the world and its life as is expressed largely in numerical terms.

The first end is to be secured by developing in the natural order of thought the various processes and then drilling on the operations until the simpler ones become automatic. The second end is to be secured by seeing to it that all processes are thought through, substituting the inductive for the authoritative method of approach, and in the higher grades by the use of the symbol for the unknown quantity, and of the equation. The third end is to be secured incidentally, through choosing for illustration and practice such problems as are real, vital, and drawn largely from the field of the children's knowledge and experience.

CHAPTER XIII

HISTORY

The First "Fad." - History was the first of the "fads" to find a lodgment in our common school courses of study. Until the latter half of the nineteenth century the younger pupils in the elementary school studied reading, spelling, and arithmetic, and acquired the art of writing. In addition the older pupils studied grammar, and, later, geography was introduced.

These subjects were justified from one or both of two motives, the "practical" and the "disciplinary." None of them were so taught as to be cultural in the broad sense. It is true, reading opened the door to the broadest culture and geography might have been used to bestow upon the children a wider horizon. But in fact, the practical and disciplinary uses of these subjects rather than their cultural possibilities constituted their justification and generally determined the method of instruction. It was not the province of the common school to busy itself with those finer phases of thought and feeling, that enlargement of view, that we call culture.

Scant Culture. Indeed, throughout the entire course of schooling, including the college, culture received scant courtesy. In the higher institutions discipline was the aim. Even the practical was not considered. The secondary schools were given over to Latin, Greek, and

mathematics. And even these two ancient languages, which at the time of the Renaissance had brought to light an ancient culture and had established the new, had fallen from their high estate and had become mere disciplinary agents. The "Iliad" and the "Eneid" were simply proofs of the rules of accent and prosody set forth in the grammars. The " Anabasis" illustrated admirably the adverbial accusative. Caesar's Commentaries" were perfect models of indirect discourse.

The colleges continued these disciplinary studies and added metaphysics in the subjects of logic, psychology, philosophy, and ethics with a theological squint. But in the latter part of the century came a great awakening, and history, the natural sciences, English literature, modern languages, the arts, entered with a rush until the curriculum became an overcrowded jumble, an unarranged syncope of human learning, out of which gradually, by correlation, by excision, by selection, an orderly educational course of study is coming, which will be practical, disciplinary, and rich.

In the common elementary schools history was the first innovation, a study not practical in the Gradgrind sense, and, as taught, not possessing great disciplinary value. It was informing and had a decided ethical purpose. Indeed it is to this latter function that its rapid extension in our schools was doubtless due.

History and the Civil War. The sudden popularity of history was coincidental with the close of our great Civil War. Naturally and properly the history taught was the history of the United States. The intensity of feeling roused over our great conflict created a strong desire to train the youth to patriotism. Those who had

borne a part in the struggle naturally desired that their descendants be familiar with it in all its details of cause and execution. Naturally, too, the importance of a knowledge of the other great events of our national life was realized, and so it very quickly became a law in most States that the schools should teach the history of the United States.

A New Motive. Thus the principle was established that public schools were directly concerned with citizenship as such. From this the step to the introduction of other subjects that are highly educational, and that tend to produce citizens richly furnished with all that makes for larger life, was logical and easily taken.

War in Earlier Histories. The earlier histories for schools were little more than chronicles of dates and rec

ords of wars. The Civil War was the most conspicuous

event and was treated in minute detail. Infants were set to judging of military campaigns. Sectional partisanship was everywhere manifest. In the North the southern contestants were wicked "Rebels." In the South the northern contestants were unprincipled, invading "Yanks."

Next to the Civil War the War of the Revolution filled the most space. Here, too, an exaggerated patriotism ruled; the wicked red-coated British were everywhere whipped by the brave, virtuous patriots. Right was all on one side, wrong all on the other.

Marking an Epoch. However defective the books and however biased the teaching, the introduction of history into our elementary schools marked an epoch. It was a definite admission by the taxpayer and voter, the financial supporter of public schools, that these

schools could properly provide instruction in subjects on other grounds than their economic value or their disciplinary effect. It was the first distinct admission by the public school authorities of the duty or even the right of these schools to take cognizance of the demands of the higher natures of children. Compared with this great step, inferior method and doubtful results are of little consequence. Indeed most of the broadening and enriching subjects have come into the curriculum limping, to be cured afterward.

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Better Books and Methods. Both textbooks on history and methods of teaching it have greatly improved. Some of the more recent textbooks have the genuine merits of accuracy and of a readable, interesting style. The methods used depend, of course, upon the skill and wisdom of the teacher. Most of the textbooks offer little help in this regard. In addition to the textbooks there are several history books for children, some of which are used to supplement the textbooks, that are worthy of commendation.

Limits of the Course. At the present time, in most elementary schools, the history of the United States is taught from a two-book series, frequently supplemented by stories of men and events. It is the exception to find any other history in these schools. In the high schools "general history" is taught in chunks from a compendium; in the better schools it is expanded and supplemented by reading. History of the United States is here too often either hastily reviewed or entirely ignored. In the college, history is largely a matter of specialization. So that it is quite possible for a graduate from a first-class college to have received no instruction