Need of Broad, Coöperative Studies
It would be a serious mistake to advocate any one of the investigations referred to in this chapter as the sole basis for reform in the curriculum. There must be a broad consideration of social and educational conditions if the school is to arrange its materials of instruction in the most advantageous form. Furthermore, the individual teacher cannot make all the studies involved. The problem is one which involves coöperation and the organization of scientific methods which will give to each school officer the benefit of the experience of many schools.
EXERCISES AND READINGS
The best type of exercise which can be suggested in connection with this chapter is the analysis of a series of textbooks by members of the class. The following suggestions will aid in the attack on three classes of texts:
First, let the student get several sets of readers, beginning with primers and running up to the books designed for the upper grades. Note among other characteristics such matters as the following: Are the selections in the primers equally interesting? Are the vocabularies the same? What devices in the primer are adopted as aids in explaining the words? Are the sentences of equal length? In the readers for the upper grades is the emphasis on poetry the same? Is the reading matter equally appropriate for boys and girls? Does it fit all localities equally well? Is there any suggestion that would carry the pupil out of the book itself to other books?
Second, let the student take several geographies. Are the maps equally good? Are the pictures equally helpful? What is the order of topics? Is the treatment equally detailed in the various books? Is the attention given to the United States satisfactory both in point of gross volume and in point of details taken up? What is the degree of emphasis on physical geography and on man’s place in the world, that is, on commerce and civilization?
Third, take books in first-year Latin. What emphasis is given to vocabulary, to reading, and to grammar? How do books of this type differ from books on French and German? Is the choice of reading matter in the various books based on the same principle of selection? How far could the books be used by a pupil without a teacher? What is the contribution expected of the teacher; that is, what must the teacher know about Latin more than is given in the book? How are the pages of material related to assignments; that is, are assignments suggested by the text itself?
Bagley, W. C., and Rugg, H. O. “Content of American History as taught in the Seventh and Eighth Grades.” Bulletin No. 16, School of Education, University of Illinois, 1916.
Minimum Essentials in Elementary-School Subjects. Fourteenth Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, Part I, 1915. The University of Chicago Press. Other types of study than those suggested in the above questions are outlined in this yearbook.