THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH IN THE ELEMENTARY AND THE SECONDARY SCHOOL BY PERCIVAL CHUBB PRINCIPAL OF THE HIGH SCHOOL DEPARTMENT OF THE New York THE MACMILLAN COMPANY LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., LTD. 1902 All rights reserved TO MY FIRST TEACHERS OF ENGLISH My Mother and My Father THROUGH WHOSE ENDEARING LIPS I LEARNED TO KNOW THE SWEETNESS AND DIGNITY OF MY MOTHER-TONGUE AND TO LOVE AND REVERE ITS NOBLEST UTTERANCE IN THOSE FAMILIAR HOUSEHOLD VOLUMES The Bible, The Pilgrim's Progress, and The Book of Common Prayer 70658 PREFACE A PREFACE is justifiable only when it is indispensable. Here some explanation of the plan of this book becomes necessary for the guidance of those who may consult it for advice upon any special topic. They must not expect to find in any one chapter the author's views. upon the teaching either of composition or of literature in any grade, or at any one point in the course; and for this reason, - that the treatment of each topic is progressive and cumulative. The book is a plea for unity and continuity in the English course from its beginnings in the kindergarten up through the high school. All the leading principles governing the study of English are, in the author's view, present in the earliest stages of English teaching, emerging into greater definiteness as the pupil advances in intellectual power and practical skill. Hence, the high school teacher, for example, will find that many of the basic principles to be followed in his work have been enunciated in the early chapters dealing with the kindergarten and primary grades, and are not set forth anew in the later chapters on the high school. On the other hand, a teacher in the beginning grades will find it assumed that her work in those grades, to be competently done, must be done in the light of the later phases of development treated in subsequent chapters. This method of presentation is the consequence of |