THE TEACHING OF ELEMENTARY ALGEBRA. By Paul Ligda. Houghton, Mifflin Co. It is a good thing to read a book like this once in a while. It will prevent our becoming too well satisfied with the existing order of things, our thinking that there is little more to be done in the way of improvement. The author has much to criticize about text book writers and traditional methods of presentation. We may not agree with all that he says, but nevertheless it will do no harm to hear the other side of the question, to see the other man's point of view. In fact, in this case, it is decidedly thought provoking. The first chapter, Introducing Mathematics to the Class, is excellent. The natural curiosity of the pupil must be developed into interest. "Each student must be convinced that the subject has an important bearing on his own future welfare." Methods of presentation are described. A large part of the book is devoted to verbal problems. The author has had long experience in shop practice and has an illuminating opinion of the so-called practical problem. He believes these should come late in the course. Their more or less complex settings interfere with the study of quantitative relations. "That which is material is obscured by that which is irrelevant." The more simple academic problem is favored, but solved largely by simultaneous equations. A valuable suggestion is first to rewrite each problem, stripping it of unimportant details. The chart, showing the two or more situations, vertically and the interrelations horizontally, is well worth a careful study. Two strong chapters are the Function Concept, and Analysis of Problems. Much stress is placed upon "the ability to perceive the existence of quantities and their relations, accompanied by the ability to use the results of observation of these relationships in every-day activities." The book has paid me well for reading it. I am sure it will pay others also.-Robert R. Goff. GETTING A LAUGH, AND OTHER ESSAYS. By Charles H. Grandgent. Cambridge University Press. Price $2.00. The genuine, human essayist is none too common nowadays, and when found is not always a brilliant success. But this case is different. Here is a book by a real scholar and a real "human." He is a most acute observer, and he sees the funny side of things; at the same time he has the literary instinct and the ability to make funny situations and incidents appear funny, without degenerating into mere nonsense. His book will be a boon to "after-dinner" speakers. It will be a good book with which to drive away the "blues." And every dip into it makes the reader wiser, as well as happier. ELEMENTARY ALGEBRA. By Elmer A. Lyman and Albertus Darnell. American Book Co. Simplicity is the keynote of this book. The examples are carefully chosen. "Exercises of undue difficulty as well as troublesome phases of the subject that are not essential, have been omitted." There is an abundance of oral exercises, problems, and reviews. The first three chapters are Introducing the Equation, Statistical Tables and Graphs, Fundamental Operations through Division of Polynomials. After this come negative numbers. Factoring includes grouping and the sum and difference of cubes, and is divided into eight cases. There are chapters on Variation and Numerical Trigonometry. The book contains all the topics listed in the College Board minor requirements, and also Square Root of Polynomials, Radical Equations, and Systems of Equations Involving Quadratics. "Making Equations" is an interesting and profitable exercise. Checking is emphasized throughout. The book will please many a teacher.-Robert R. Goff. We have received attractive copies of: CAESAR'S INVASION OF BRITAIN, by W. Welch, M.A. and C. G. Duffield, M. A., enlarged and adapted for use in American Schools by Sidney G. Ashmore, L.H.D., in the Macmillan Company's Elementary Latin Classics Series. This series is admirably made in pocket size, excellent paper, attractive illustrations and maps, notes, vocabularies. PRACTICAL PROJECTS, PLAYS AND GAMES is the title of a suggestive little book for Primary teachers, by Gail Calmerton, published. in cloth binding, illustrated. The Beckley-Cardy Company, Chicago, Ill. THE JONES COMPLETE COURSE IN SPELLING, Annotated Copy, is published by Hall & McCreary, Chicago, Ill. There are three books, viz., Book One, for years two, three and four; Book Two, for years five to eight; and Book Three, for Junior High Schools, years seven, eight and nine. This is a very thorough and greatly needed series of spellers. BRAIN TESTS. Prepared by John Monk Saunders and George Palmer Putnam. G. P. Putnam's Sons. $1.50. A very interesting book of puzzles in great variety, intended to sharpen wits and test intelligence. As good as the "crossword" puzzles that are so widely attracting attention. These puzzles are arranged by an educator. They are "varied and vital." DEVOTED TO THE SCIENCE, ART, PHILOSOPHY AND LITERATURE OF EDUCATION FRANK HERBERT PALMER, A. M., EDITOR This number contains the Title Page and Table of Contents for Vol. XLV. CONTENTS The College Teacher-His Expectancy of Continuance and of Promo. tion on Certain Faculties. Wendell S. Brooks. PAGE 577 The School as a Social Institution. Ira W. Howerth. 586 Universal Geometry. (Poem.) Bess Michaels Riggs. 593 The Moral Requirements of Democracy and Freedom. Heber Sensenig. 594 Student Activities in the High School. A. E. Holch. 606 618 619 629 Published by THE PALMER COMPANY, 120 Boylston Street LONDON B. C.: WM. DAWSON & SONS, Ltd. CANNON HOUSE, BREAMS BUILDINGS Entered as second-class matter at the Post Office at Boston, Mass., under the Act of March 3, 1879 Price 40 Cents $4.00 a Year By Ullman and Henry Uniform with the authors' successful This volume of 505 pages meets every recommendation of the American Classical League for the reorganization and enrichment of the second year. ¶The chief features are a review of beginning Latin in lesson form through the medium of two continued stories entitled "A Roman Family" and "Two Roman Students"; selections carefully simplified and graded from various Latin authors, especially Livy, Eutropius, and Pliny; selections from the seven books of Caesar's Gallic War, giving the most interesting parts of the narrative, with summaries in English of all omitted parts; easy graded passages adapted for Sight or Supplementary Reading; Thought Questions; and Vocabulary Drills. The total amount of text included in the Four Parts exceeds six books of Caesar, thus allowing wide range of choice. The Word Studies and other features which have proved so popular in the authors' ELEMENTARY LATIN have been continued in their SECOND LATIN BOOK. There are 166 illustrations, several of them in color. In scope and attractiveness, as well as in modernity of ideas and pedagogical helps and hints, this book is without an equal. Price $1.68 THE MACMILLAN COMPANY New York Chicago Boston Atlanta Dallas San Francisco Devoted to the Science, Art, Philosophy and Literature VOL. XLV. of Education JUNE, 1925 No. 10 The College Teacher--His Expectancy of Continuance and of Promotion on Certain Faculties. WENDELL S. BROOKS, NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY. EVANSTON, ILL. MOLLEGES appear to have grown out of the vol C untary association of students and teachers. It is reported that in the reign of Edward I thirty thousand students had gathered about the teachers at Oxford to slake their thirst for knowledge. In the early days of our own national history a few young Americans sought further education abroad subsequent to the courses taken here. The University of Göttingen, the most favored of German universities for the scholarship of some of its great teachers early in the last century, attracted Edward Everett in 1812, and George Ticknor in 1815. These were merely the forerunners of the considerable number whom the great reputations of various German professors drew to the universities of Germany for post-graduate study. Attracting Force of Great Teachers. The magnetic influence of professors in American colleges1 has been an important factor, too, in determining the prospective freshman's choice of a college. This factor may have loomed larger fifty years ago than at present (human nature 1 For an illustration of the professor's influence in attracting graduate scholars, see the writer's study on "Exchange Professorships," Yale Alumni Weekly, Vol. XXXIII, No. 11, Nov. 30, 1923. |