The Teaching of History Part 6

32. Did Lincoln favor the social equality of the white and black races?

33. Did Grant favor the Tenure of Office Act?

34. Did Lee make more than one attempt to invade the North?

35. Was the "Ohio Idea" ever strong enough to affect legislation?

36. Did Spain have any part in calling out the Monroe Doctrine?

37. Has the United States any control over the debts of Cuba?

38. Has a joint resolution ever been used to acquire territory other than that included in Texas?

39. Has the United States ever resorted to a tax on incomes?

40. Has the Federal Government ever attempted to restrict the power of the press?

41. Is it illegal to-day for a railway to give a cheaper rate to one s.h.i.+pper than to another?

42. Has the Republican party ever reduced the protective tariffs of the war?

43. Did the Civil Service Act pa.s.sed in 1883 include postmasters?

44. Did the Wilson-Gorman Act reduce the tariff to a revenue basis?

45. Can a railway engaged solely in intra-state business carry a case, involving a reduction of their rates by the State legislature, to the Supreme Court of the United States?

46. Is Utah a part of the Louisiana Purchase?

47. If the mint ratio is 16 to 1 and the market ratio is 17 to 1, will the gold dollar be the standard if there is full legal tender and free coinage for both gold and silver?

48. Is the Canadian frontier fortified?

49. Are the functions of government in this country increasing?

50. Is it possible for a man to be defeated for the Presidency if a majority of the people vote for him?

The great disadvantage of this kind of review is that the students have for their answer a choice between two words, one of which is bound to be correct. Knowing nothing whatever of the subject, they will still stand a fifty per cent chance of answering correctly. The alert teacher should be able to reduce this haphazard answering to a minimum, while still reaping the advantages of rapidity and thoroughness which the plan possesses. Few other methods will cover as much ground in as short time.

On the Federal Const.i.tution there are infinite possibilities for "yes and no" questioning, which afford a brief and effective means of review in the principles of American government.

_They will secure fluency_

Review for the purpose of securing fluency is a consideration frequently lost sight of by high school history teachers. It may be too sanguine to expect fluency of the average student reciting on a topic for the first time. But when it is considered how very many important questions are never recited on but once, the wisdom of an occasional review to secure rapid, fluent, and complete answers to topics previously discussed is readily seen. Select a list of topics that will at one and the same time cultivate fluency and strengthen the memory for the important considerations of history. Fluency in itself does not possess sufficient value to justify the expenditure of recitation time. Facility of expression needs to be cultivated in discussion of the conclusions reached in cla.s.s which need to be clinched in the student's mind. Such questions as the following will serve as ill.u.s.trations of the kind adaptable for such purpose, at the middle of a year course in American history:--

1. Give three distinct characteristics of French colonization in America; three of Spanish; three of English.

2. What things did the English colonies possess in common?

3. What were the results to the colonies of the French and Indian War?

4. To what extent was the Revolution brought about by economic causes?

5. What were the defects in the Articles of Confederation?

6. Account for the downfall of the Federalist party.

7. In what ways has democracy advanced since 1789?

8. What were the results of the struggle over the admission of Missouri?

9. Discuss the growth of the sentiment for internal improvements?

10. Describe the social life of the Western pioneer?

_What the student may do with "problems" in history_

Still another kind of review of great value in strengthening the student's ability to generalize and a.n.a.lyze, consists of what might be called "problems in history." They are given out in much the same way as original problems in geometry, a.s.suming that the student is acquainted with the facts from which to deduce the answers to the question. The object of such a review is to give the student practice in original thinking. He is not supposed to use a library, but only the facts which are in his text or which have been previously brought out in cla.s.s recitations.

The following are examples of questions adaptable for this purpose:--

1. Why can the American people be regarded as the world's greatest colonizers?

2. Why could Was.h.i.+ngton be regarded as only an Englishman living in America?

3. Is it true that the South lost the Civil War because of slavery?

4. In what particulars did Andrew Jackson accurately reflect the spirit or the ideals of the new West?

5. What is ill.u.s.trated by the attempt to found the State of Franklin?

6. What considerations made the secession of the West in our early history a likely possibility?

Questions of this kind, not answered directly in cla.s.s or in the text, may be given out a day in advance and the answers collected at the next recitation.

VI

THE USE OF WRITTEN REPORTS

_The purpose of theme work should change as the course continues_

A method frequently employed by teachers of history is to require written reports or themes on various phases of the history as the work progresses. This plan is particularly valuable for the students in the first two years of high school history, for the reason that their library requirements are less exacting and their need of fluency greater during that time than later in their course. The objects of theme work in history courses are usually to arouse the pupil's powers of observation, description, and narration, and to provide means of drill in the exercise of these powers. These should not be the sole purposes of theme work, however. As the year advances, an increasing amount of the written work should be on subjects requiring some generalization or a.n.a.lysis of the facts brought out in the text or in the recitation. The pupil who has written a theme describing the appearance of the Pyramids has completed an exercise in history less valuable than that of the student who writes a theme on the errors of the Athenian Democracy.

To summarize, reviews in history should consist of both oral and written work; they should be rapid enough to insure quick thinking, alert attention, and small expenditure of time; they should occur with increasing frequency as the year advances; they should stock the memory, fix in the student's mind the order of events, stimulate fluency, insure a permanent acquaintance with the personnel of history, and give to the student a better view of the subject as a whole and in its various phases.