1_C Bl r UC-NRLF B 3 D71 7E7 in XT CO DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR BUREAU OF EDUCATION BULLETIN, 1916, No. 28 THE SOCIAL STUDIES IN SECONDARY EDUCATION A SIX- YEAR PROGRAM ADAPTED BOTH TO THE 6-3-3 AND THE 8-4 PLANS OF ORGANIZATION REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON SOCIAL STUDIES OP" THE COMMISSION ON THE REORGANIZATION OF SECONDARY EDUCATION OF THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION COMPILED BY ARTHUR WILLIAM DUNN Secretary of the Committee WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFHCE 1916 , :^ \'l ' ■1 \ - • < . • - •_• ADDITIONAL COPIES Extract from an address by Arthur William Dnnn on *' Standards by which to Test the ?alu» of Civica Instruction." 57 58 SOCLA.L STUDIES IN SECONDARY EDUCATION. 1. Civics teachiiif} is good in proporiion as it makes its appeal dcflnitely and constantly to the pupiVs ovon present interest as a citizen. Interest is closely allied to motive. But real or apparent interest may lead (0 the setting up of wrong motives. . . . Good citizenship can only grow out of right motives. It follows that it should be a part of civic education to culti- vate right motives. Pupils should be led both to toant to know about their civic relations and to want to do something as good citizens. 2. Civics teaching is good in proportion as it provides the pupil with adequate motives for studying civics and for seeking opportunity to participate in the civic life of the community of ichich he is a member. Community of interests implies community of effort. . . . The proper con- ception of government is that of a means of cooperation for the common well- being. No man can ... be effective in civic life unless his " teamwork " is good. The possession of a spirit and habit of cooperation is an essential quali- fication for good citizenship. . . . 3. Civics teaching is good in proportion as it stimulates cooperation among the pupils, and on the part of the pupils with others, for the com^non interest of the community (school, home, neighborhood, city, State, or Nation). Given an interest in civic affairs, a right motive, and a willingness to work with others, a man's citizenship will not count for a great deal xiuless he is able to sift out the essentials from the nonessentials of a situation and to decide wisely as to the best method of dealing with it ; and unless he has power to initiate action. . . . Civic education ought to include the cultivation of civic judgment and civic Initiative. . . . 4. Civics teaching is good in proportion as it cultivates the judgment with refei'ence to a civic situation and the methods of dealing with it; and in pro- portion as it cultivates initiative in the face of such situation. The only test that we have been in the habit of applying to our civics teach- ing is the informational test. We have contented ourselves with asking, How much do the children know? A certain fund of information is essential to good citizenship. But mere knowledge , . . will not make a good citizen. Ignorance of government Is more often a result than a cause of civic ineffi- ciency. . . . The problem which confronts the teacher and the maker of the course of study is. How much and what kind of information should be acqiiired by the pupil? This question can not be answered by an enumeration of topics of universal application. But, in general, 5. Civics teaching is good in proportion as its subject matter is selected and organised on the basis of the pupiVs past experience, immediate interests, and the needs of Ms present growth. It is not pretended that the standards here suggested are the only ones . . . to be adopted : it is hoped that better ones may be evolved. ... It is not to be supposed that every half -hour class exercise will measure up to all of them. . . . What is suggested is that these or other standards be kept in view by every teacher as guides that will determine, with something like precision, the direction that he shall take. II. THE PREPARATION OF THE TEACHER. Probably the greatest obstacle to the vitalization of the social studies is the lack of preparation on the part of teachers. It is in part a lack of training in the facts and laws of social life as formu- lated in history and other social sciences. This is particularly true in the elementary schools and in rural schools. But there is an ^ STANDARDS — TEACHERS— TEXTS. 59 equal!}' serious deticiency in the art of teaching these facts and laws, and this is as prevalent in large high schools and in colleges as in elementary schools, if not more so. 1. In the high schools. — One of the necessary steps for the ade- quate preparation of teachers of the social studies is the develop- ment of effective high-school courses of social study, which it is the purpose of this report to stimulate. Even for those teachers who have had higher education, the foundation should have been laid in the high school. 2. In teacher-training schools. — In the second place, more atten- tion should be given in teacher-training schools of all kinds to the social studies and the methods of teaching them. Whatever is done in these schools in the fields of the social sciences as such, it is recommended that courses be given on the general lines recommended in this report for high schools, at least until the high schools shall have made adequate provision for them. In teacher-training schools, however, special attention should be given to methods by which instruction in the social studies may be made to meet the " needs of present growth " in pupils of elementary and high school age. 3. In colleges and universities. — Many high-school teachers come directly from the college or university with excellent equipment, so far as subject matter is concerned, but with no training whatever in methods of teaching. It is therefore recommended that colleges and universities that supply high schools with teachers provide courses in methods of teaching, in the sense indicated above in connection with teacher-training schools. 4. In service. — It will not do, however, to wait until teachers are trained especially for this work before making a beginning in the reorganization of secondary instruction in the social studies. The training schools for teachers are inclined not to introduce new courses until there is an evident demand for them. This is hardly as it should be, for these professional schools should be the leaders in experiment and in the discovery of more effective methods. A few such schools have recently introduced courses in method of teaching history, civics, and other social studies, in which such principles as those suggested in this report are being discussed and tested. But not much can be expected in this direction until the demand has been created by the public schools themselves. Moreover, it is wholly practicable to train teachers for this work while they are in service. This has been demonstrated at least in the field of community civics. Teachers who have had no previous training for teaching that subject and to whom its spirit and methods were wholly new, have within a year of actual work become both skillful and enthusiastic in the work. 60 SOCIAL STUDIES IN SECONDABY EDUCATION. The committee urges that more attention be given to instruction in the social studies, fi-om the point of view suggested in this report, in teachers' institutes and summer schools. Finally, it is unquestionably true that the most effective teaching of the social studies can be secured where there is a supervisor or director trained in this particular field. It should be the duty of such director, in the first place, to study the particular problems that the several teachers in his charge have to encounter; to give personal assistanc-e to them individually and to hold frequent conferences with them for the discussion of general and special features of their work. In addition to this, one of the most important sendees to be performed by such director is to act as a mediator between the teachers and the realities of the community life about which they are instructing the children. He may establish through a single channel relations with public and private agencies and gather much material for the general use of all teachers, instead of leaving it for them severally to establish their own relations and to gather their own material. Of course, each teacher will necessarilv and advan- tageously do much of this work for herself, but where it is a question of establishing working relations with a public official or the busy office of a corporation the element of economy of time for the latter as well as for the teacher must be considered. In the few cases where such directors have been provided the development of com- munity civics has progi'Pssed much more rapidly and effectively than could be expected otherwise, III, AVAILABILITY OF TEXT MATERIALS, The question will inevitably be raised. Where are the textbooks or- ganized according to the principles and with the content proposed in this report? And unless such textbooks are forthcoming, how can inexperienced teachers, or teachers trained according to tradi- tional methods, be expected to adopt the new methods with any chance of success? Unquestionably there are very few textbooks prepared on the lines suggested in this report or that will be of any very direct help to the teacher in working out a course on these lines. Unquestionably, also, the lack of suitable texts is second only to the lack of preparation on the part of the teacher as an obstacle to the rapid reorganization of the subject matter and methods of instruction in history and the social sciences. The lack of teachers trained in the new methods and from the new viewpoint is more serious than the lack of suitable texts, because a skillful teacher can do much to vitalize instruction in spite of a poor text, while an unskillfid teacher, even with an ideal text, may fail utterly to catch the spirit and the viewpoint, without which no teaching can be really successful. STANDARDS- TEACHERS — TEXTS. 61 The committee is making its report under no delusion that its reconmiendations in their entirety can be promptly adopted in all schools with the opening of the next school year. It is fully con- scious of the difficulties presented by tradition, in the viewpoint and training of teachers and administrators and in the organization of textbooks and other aids. But neither the lack of trained teachers nor the paucity of suitable texts should deter from setting " to work boldly and without any timid reservations to bring our education into the closest possible relation with the actual life and future duties of the great majority of those who fill our public schools." The teaching of community civics has progressed far beyond the experimental stage. A few textbooks are in the field that more or less closely represent the spirit, the viewpoint, and tlie method of social study as conceived by the committee and that are in suc- cessful use in many places. Other literature is also rapidly appear- ing that will do much to familiarize teachers with the methods of the subject, and that should make it comparatively easy to introduce this subject, at least, very generally. The committee suggests, therefore, that a beginning be made to- ward reorganizing the social studies by introducing and developing community civics, to which there are no insuperable obstacles. Not only will this give to the pupil a point of view that will in itself tend to vitalize later social studies, but it will go far toward suggest- ing to teachers also a viewpoint and methods that may gradually influence the teaching of other subjects. As for history and the other social studies, there will probably be no lack of textbooks when once our ideas are clarified as to the direction in which we want to go. Publishers are very much alive to the situation and eager to supply books to meet a real demand. Teachers and authors are experimenting, and here and there methods are being developed that give promise of better things to come. Already some texts in history and economics have appeared that show the influence of the new point of view and that have in a meas- ure broken with tradition. Such books will multiply and improve as time goes on. Nothing will do more to hasten the production of books to meet the new needs than a prompt and accurate reporting by teachers and supervisors of new methods tried, and especially of the success or failure of such methods. One channel through which to report such matters is to be found in the educational jour- nals. The United States Bureau of Education will also gladly receive and disseminate information relating to the subject. It is the belief of the committee, based on the present trend of development as the committee sees it, that in the fields of history and other social sciences instruction in both elementary and second- ary schools is going to be organized more and more definitely 62 SOCIAL STUDIES IN SECONDARY EDUCATION. around the immediate interests and needs of the pupils. It must therefore vary, within limits, from term to term, from class to class, and even from pupil to pupil. The future textbook will accordingly be less and less a compendium of information and more and more a manual of method and illustrative material for the teacher and a guide to observation and study for the pupil. The particular information that a pupil or teacher needs at a given time for the satisfaction of a particular interest or for the illumina- tion of a particular problem must be sought in many books or in books of encyclopedic scope. There are two tendencies in connection with the use of textbooks, especially in the teaching of community civics, in regard to which the committee feels the need of a word of caution. The first is a tend- ency to dispense with a textbook altogether. This is doubtless due in part to dissatisfaction with available books. It is due also, how- ever, to a growing appreciation of the fact that community civics, to be effective, must be a study of real community life and not merely of the pages of a text. In so far as the abandonment of textbooks is due to the latter influence, it is a sign of a wholesome develop- ment. But there is danger of going too far in this dii-ection. Not only theoretical psychology, but also actual experiment seems to prove that a textbook is a positive aid to study and to teaching, provided, of course, that it is of the right kind and is rightly used. There may be exceptionally equipped and talented teachers who can do better without a textbook than they would do if they followed ex- plicitly any existing text. Even such teachers will be more success- ful if their pupils have in their hands a well-planned text; and the great majority of teachers are not prepared to organize courses of their own. The teacher who is not able to use a fairly good text and to adapt it to the needs of his pupils to their great advantage can hardly be expected to be capable of devising a course inde- pendently of a text that would in any sense compensate for the loss of the recognized value of the best texts available. The second tendency referred to is that toward dependence upon texts descriptive of the local communities in which they are used and prepared locally. This also has its favorable aspect. It indi- cates a recognition of the value of local life and conditions in the pupil's education. But it has its serious dangers. In the first place, it sometimes indicates a confusion between " community civics " as described in this report and purely local civics. As already pointed out in this report (p. 25), it will be a misfortune if the civic study of the pupil does not comprehend the larger life of the Nation along with that of the local communities which compose the Nation. But more serious than this is the fact that the great majority of such local " texts " are as devoid of the real spirit of community STANDARDS — TEACHERS- — TEXTS. 63 civics as the old-time "manuals" on the Constitution. Some of them merely substitute a description of the mechanism of the local government for the discarded description of the mechanism of the National Government. Others add to this description of govern- mental machinery a catalogue of industries and public institutions, with more or less valuable statistical information. Still others are little more than a glorification of " our town " based too often on a false conception of " local patriotism." The fact must be rec- ognized that comparatively few persons are competent to prepare a really good textbook even though it deal with purely local matters. This is not to be taken, however, as a denial of the value of local materials compiled in available form. There is the utmost need for such materials, and in many places they are being collected and published to the great benefit of pupils and of the community at large. They constitute invaluable sources of information and are useful supplements to a good text. No better service can be per- formed for the schools by public libraries, chambers of commerce, women's clubs, and other civic agencies than to compile and publish in really available form local information of this kind. But it, is rare indeed that such publications constitute suitable textbooks, or ade- quate substitutes for them.