lateral reading really has a more definite mission. Where careful references are given and the reading thus assigned is made the basis of definite class discussion, where pupils are trained to take notes from various books and combine them into a logical whole, the disciplinary value of the exercise is incalculable. Such study is the only sure preventive against parrot recitations and thoughtless lip-service. It trains in the student the faculty for seizing the vital point in a discussion, and ranging lesser points around it, which will be of good service in the lecture-room as well as in the library. Many secondary school teachers think formal lectures unsuited to young pupils, and grudge the time that would be required for special training in taking lecture notes. But, without such definite preparation for lecture work, the pupil who has learned to report what he has read should not find it difficult to report what he has heard. The ultimate end of the library work is to send to college boys who can say with Marcus Aurelius, I learned to read carefully and never to be satisfied with the superficial understanding of a book." If the high school graduates can take with them all that this implies of mental discipline and moral sincerity, they may well, like the Stoic Emperor, thank the gods for good teachers.

In addition to understanding minds, mechanical skill, and trained logical faculties, the history course should cherish and develop in the boys and girls those "radiant morning visions" that give zest to study. This, which we may call the inspirational motif in history teaching is the most difficult and the most important part of the work. It is also the point on which the schools have received the severest criticism. Eight only of the students who replied to our questions claimed that the history course in the high school had aroused interest in the subject. You will remember that one of the speakers at our last meeting intimated that university students who came to their work without previous training sometimes actually had the advantage over those who had taken the high school course, since they brought to the work Ia freshness of interest sometimes lost in the more perfunctory work of the schools." 2 If his criticism is well founded, and I fear it is, the history course in the schools must fight for its life. Whatever the gain in other directions, if the preparation for college history deadens interest in the subject or fails to arouse such an interest, no time should be lost in coming to the search for ways in which the high school course can be improved.

For a revision of our ideals in preparatory work, the suggestions of the same speaker at our last meeting were so pertinent that I shall venture to repeat them as they have since been expressed in a personal letter. If," he said, our graduates who go straight from the university to their work as teachers in the schools could rid themselves of the easy illusion that the last thing which interested them in college should be the first thing to interest their pupils in the high schools; if they could have the sympathy 2 Professor George Lincoln Burr, of Cornell University.

and the insight always to put themselves rather at the point of intellectual progress at which they find their pupils, and be content to ripen these toward the work of the colleges, opening vistas instead of stuffing with facts,' leaving an appetite instead of a satiety, I believe it would be better, not only for those collegeward bound, but for those also who go straight out into the world. A taste for history is better than what calls itself a knowledge of history; curiosity, sympathy, insight, are better than dates or philosophic dogmas. A modicum of information there must be, a secure outline of events and their relation in time and space. Without it one's having is only a series of emotions or a jelly of memories. The larger this modicum, the better-if only it be to the pupil so clearly but an outline, with vast vistas opening beyond-so clearly but an exploring, with whole realms left for individual opinion, speculation, demonstration and if to the pupil the university or the world of affairs loom up as the field where lie opportunities for further study." I think we would all agree that if the school course in history is to be worth while, this awakening of interest and curiosity is the point on which the emphasis needs to be laid; even if necessary, at the expense of some of the purely informational training. Every obstacle that stands in the way should be removed, and many high school teachers would like to begin the work of reform with the greatest stumbling-block and stone of offence-namely, the present iniquitous, because illdefined, college entrance requirement in history.

Just what is the college entrance requirement? am sure I do not know. We all know how it stands in the college catalogues. It looks innocent enough. Any lazy boy is sure he can master it in a month. Yet, we have it on the authority of the man who has had most to do with testing it by the entrance examination, it includes ability to "tell the story,' 'write a full account,' 'show definite knowledge,' 'outline,' 'summarize,' 'compare;' 'discuss,' 'give reasons, account for failure,' indicate important changes,' 'define,' 'give dates,' ' indicate locations on a map,' etc., in the fields of political, military, constitutional, institutional, diplomatic, religious, literary, social, economic, industrial, cultural history, with incidental knowledge of biography, geography, archeology, chronology, etymology, colonization, expansion, and reform propaganda from Hammurabi's edicts to Roosevelt's." 3 To adapt an old well-used illustration, this college entrance requirement reminds one of the cloud that appeared to Hamlet and Polonius. At one view, said Hamlet, "Methinks it is like a weasel." It is backed like a weasel," said Polonius. But on another view, Or like whale," quoth Hamlet. Very like a whale," echoed Polonius.

Much has been written from the college point of view of the need for a more accurate and specific definition of the preparatory requirements, but none but a high school teacher who has suffered under the

8 "Adequate Tests in History," Herbert Darling Foster. THE HISTORY TEACHER'S MAGAZINE, April, 1914, p. 122.

present system can appreciate its full iniquity. He or she whose task it is to prepare a class for college has as guide only the vague, loosely-worded, statement of the college catalogue, supplemented by the examination questions of previous years. These last may be supposed to indicate in concrete form just what is expected. In fact, they indicate whole realms offered for study and a required modicum of information located by chance in any one of them. Since some at least of the pupils must stand or fall by the results of the examination, the teacher's attention is perforce fixed on the purely informational side of the training, and in that field the noble art of teaching is reduced to a guessing game, the conundrum being to locate the exact spot where the lightning will probably strike at the next examination. All four of the suggested fields of history are long, but the field of ancient history is especially long and broad and deep, a trackless wilderness, including much debatable ground. Here the pupil must

run

and race," like the young Pheidippides. Not Athens for alone awaits him, but Europe, Asia, Africa and the Aisles of the sea. Yet the whole field must be scratched over, lest haply some obscure fact, apparently safe hidden in the recesses of fine print or footnote, unexpectedly emerge into the limelight as nd a leading examination question. There is no time for reflection, no stopping for comparisons. The a more conscientious the pupil, the more painstaking the teacher, the more nerve-racking the struggle. The difficulty is tremendously increased in some schools by the pernicious custom of cutting into two parts the time allotted to history giving a brief course Do the first year. Then a year of forgetfulness, then a rapid review in the third year. One not over-zealous pupil aptly expressed the outcome of such work. the Asked to write an account of a journey in Greece, she said: "As I traveled, my mind was so occupied with the fine scenery and the rich historical associations by the way that I quite forgot to notice the names of the places we passed, and when I reached my journey's end I was so tired that I could not remember anything I had seen." A course conducted on this plan resembles nothing so much as a Cook's tour, and nothing so little as adequate preparation in history.

dis

H

THE HISTORY TEACHER'S MAGAZINE has recently published several able articles urging the standardizing of the preparatory course in the interest of more adequate tests in the entrance examination. Every argument brought forward to that end applies equally well to the needs of the elementary course in the colleges. Every evil of the present system militates against suitable preparation for college work, even more directly than it affects the entrance examination. If only, as If only, as has been suggested, the New England preparatory school teachers could have for their guidance some such syllabus and reading references as the New York teachers are accustomed to receive from the Board of Regents, their problem would be materially simplified. In New York the course is standardized by the State and the colleges can well give to the schools all possible freedom

within those limits. While apparently circumscribing the work of the preparatory school teachers, such a reform would really set them free. Their present obligation to an indefinite requirement is bondage worse than Egyptian slavery. It cuts off all initiative, all resourcefulness. I am aware that this has been said before. It has been said once, it has been said twice, it has been said three times. It is true. It should be iterated and reiterated until something more than talk comes out of it. When the required modicum of information is authoritatively stated and universally recognized as a standard; when the kind of training to be evolved from that material is well defined by conferences between school and college teachers then, and not till then, can the secondary schools really fit for college. Then we may hope that history will cease to be the bogy of the examination and the problem of the freshman year.

4

No discussion of the preparatory course is complete without some consideration of the efficiency of the preparatory teachers. I see that topic was not included in the questionnaire, perhaps owing to some feeling of delicacy on the part of its framers. But more than one of the replies indicates that, in the mind of the student, the high school teacher has already come to judgment, and if the next speaker does not express the college professor's view, we shall know that it is not because he has nothing to say on the subject. All discussions of educational problems come to the conclusion at last that the fault lies with the teacher. That has been the traditional attitude of the public through all the ages. So it was apparently in Athens in the time of Socrates. Such was the view of St. Augustine of Hippo. With what gloom and remorse he reviews his childish frailties; his invincible preference for ball-playing to the dull routine of two and two make four; his love for the story of the wooden horse and indifference to the drudgery of grammar; his distaste for Greek. All is piety and repentance till the happy thought comes to him It was the teacher's fault." The method and not the boy was to blame; that is what any parent will tell you to-day. So it is quite in the natural order of things for the college students to question the ability of their high school teachers and there is a familiar ring to the plaint of the college professor: "If only the teachers could have sufficient sympathy and insight," or "The boy for whom Greece is cloudland may have been taught by a teacher for whom Greece was cloudland." Another, speaking quite frankly, says that required collateral reading does not pay because teachers are not prepared to handle it effectively, and another that the reason why boys do not know Greek history is that their former teachers were ignorant of it. The worst of it is, these statements are in a measure true. The elementary school teachers of history are not adequate to their task, the secondary school teachers do not make a success of theirs, and the college teachers do not turn out students fitted as teachers to repair the deficiency.

4 A questionnaire sent to history students in the colleges on which the discussion of the morning was based.

We feel that the colleges can do much for the improvement of the preparation for college by exerting their influence toward the establishment of a reasonable, generally accepted standard of efficiency for history teachers and then by fitting students to meet that requirement as teachers. The prsent wide gap between a public that demands too little and a college that demands too much is disastrous for teachers and pupils alike. We all know how widely the present standards vary. The Commissioner of Education for Massachusetts has one standard, which he has outlined for us here. Various committees of historical associations considering the certification of history teachers have also their standards, and individual college professors cherish still others. The school teachers, too, have their ideals, but in justice to them it should be remembered that the work in the high schools is done under very different conditions from those of the college, and should be judged accordingly. This fact is sometimes overlooked by our more fortunate brethren in the universities. For instance, two prominent professors of ancient history, impressed by the weakness in preparation shown by their elementary classes, have published articles in THE HISTORY TEACHER'S MAGAZINE, in which, either expressly or by implication, they revealed the standard by which they tested the preparedness of school teachers to give instruction in ancient history.5 Both agreed that a reading knowledge of Greek, French and German was absolutely essential, and in their bibliographical references they included also titles in Latin and Italian. Few, indeed, are the college graduates who by this measurement have taken even the initial steps towards preparation for history teaching. Indeed, until Greek studies are restored to something of their old popularity, it will be necessary to catch the prospective history teacher very young in order to start him on the right track. One of these writers then went on to give suggestions for handling the subject of Greek colonization in such a way as to interest a boy of fourteen. In the syllabus of the New England History Teachers' Association this topic is assigned one per cent. of the whole number of recitation periods in ancient history. On this subject, in addition to the standard Greek authorities, the writer made reference to about seventy books of reference in English, German, French, Latin and Italian. The first thought of one reader was that there was need also of a seventy-first-namely, a special history

teacher's edition of Arnold Bennett's How to Live on Twenty-four Hours a Day." However, since history teachers are supposed somehow to find time for study, a search for the seventy was in order. As teachers have not the gold of Croesus, the public library is the only resource for expensive books. I tried this list of seventy in three places, in Milton,

Mass., a wealthy suburban town which prides itself on its library; in Somerville, Mass., which also has a good library for a city of its size, and in Boston. In Milton I found sixteen of the seventy, in Somerville twenty, and in the Boston Public Library, well known, I believe, as one of the best in the country, I found sixty-one. Only the few teachers, then, who have access to a large university library can hope to avail themselves thoroughly of the professor's suggestions, since teachers, like other people, are subject to the limitations of time and space. If this professor plans his elementary course on the assumption that his students have had this specialized training, he is forever doomed to disappointment at the results. We confess, however, that history teachers do not know as much as. they ought, and we welcome the movement toward the standardizing of history teaching. Such a reform would tend to improve the quality of instruction in the schools. It might also serve to mitigate the disappointments of idealists who can locate every inlet and bay on the coast of Greece, but in whose thought the American high school is situated in Utopia.

Still another weakness of the present preparation in history can be corrected only through the good offices of the college professors. One of the most difficult tasks of the teacher in active service is to keep abreast of the times, and do all the thousand and one other things that are expected. We all know how fast written history changes. It sometimes seems to me that almost every historical character I present has changed complexion since I began to teach. Goldwin Smith in his day said that everyone had been whitewashed but Domitian and Caracalla. Research is constantly changing the old landmarks. Some teachers go stolidly on, teaching as they themselves were taught, unmindful if not unconscious of the shifting points of view. Others are caught by every wind of doctrine. In their classes the new Columbus and the true George Washington jostle any other character that has a perfectly new and up-todate label. They do not discriminate between good and bad criticism. Truth to tell they cannot. They have not sufficient background to judge between the true and the false in the whole field of universal history which they have to teach. Too often in their eager desire to learn they follow after false prophets. Does a new historian come into the field, giving novel and fascinating views of Roman history, per haps, teachers flock to hear him; they listen with such thrills as they have not felt since they first read Buckle. They know it is pretty, and they know it is art, but how far it is true they cannot judge. At any rate, they try to pass along the thrills, and the name of the new writer becomes a by-word in their classes. Then out speaks the author of some of their most cherished text-books, the guide and staff of the class-room, and declaims of " an enormous foreign fakir of ancient history " who comes to " traverse our country sounding the brass band of self-glorification amid the clashing of newspaper cymbals, while the people of culture grovel in the dust before him as though engaged in the orgiastic worship of some

nant, downward-hanging, proclaims ominously, "By Order of the King." The herald announces the oncoming pageant, and bids ye be present, or "your head will be in forfeit to the King's Executioner." Then, slowly, the pageant proper. A girl bears a Norman castle, battlements, ramparts, moat, drawbridge, all made by herself out of white drawing paper. It is very noble. Her speech tells the place of the castle in the life of the times. In her train come the lords of the castle, bearing shields (made in the manual-training class, and painted with heraldic devices copied from a history); they bear also swords, and wear ribbons gay for their ladies." Then come the ladies of the castle, one embroidering a tapestry, which she explains, another with handiwork. Then, suddenly, a peddler from the far east, with a bag full of laces and rare perfumes from the Orient; the ladies and their damsels hover near and buy his wares. Then the damsels, who tell of their lovers gone to war, their sports (one bears a falcon on her wrists); one quotes Gareth's oath. Following them, a page bearing his lord's sword on a cushion; an esquire, whom the lord knights; King Arthur's oath to his knights is given. Then more knights, who recite stirring verses from Tennyson; then a band of guildsmen, carrying the signs of their craft; then serfs, carrying "rude tools of wood;" then Crusaders, flaunting long white banners which bear the legend, "It is the will of God," between red crosses. They tell of their trips to the Holy Land. The castle group ends with two minstrels who enact very briefly the story of Richard's discovery through Blondel's song.

dral-girl made a speech about the place of the building at this time, what it stood for. Attending her were a Bishop, the Pope of Rome, the City of Rome, the town of Canterbury and Pilgrims, carrying staves and wearing Pilgrim emblems, as St. George and the Dragon and Canterbury bells, made of pasteboard and copied from pictures. Every person connected with the Cathedral or the Monastery wore a cross, except the Pilgrims. They were a very impressive sight and, I think, felt the solemnity of their parts. In fact, I have never seen children enter so fully into the spirit of the times and the idea as did these into the solemn grandeur of the Middle Ages.

Then came the Monastery, so large it must needs be carried by two. One of them described its functions. A group of monks followed, each with his cross and his open book, eyes prayerfully downcast. They held a conversation about the duties of monks -their vows, prayers, religious services, work among the poor, agriculture, making of books, etc. One displayed an illuminated missal. They were followed by nuns, who explained in the same way the life of the nunnery.

By this time the pageant had wended its way onward until it stretched in a long line across the front of a large hall. They stood there while "Epilogue' delivered the following, which, while not appealing as poetry, yet seemed to clinch things in the child-mind: