Dignity of the Course.
American history in the secondary schools is, we feel safe in assuming, the crown of a course extending over at least three or more years. Students approach it after having devoted time and thought to an elementary course in American history—possibly even a course in English and European history—to a secondary course in some one or more phases of European history and to a course in English history. The teacher who undertakes to lead a class in American history in the secondary school should, therefore, approach this subject with higher ideals and broader purposes than he would set in any other history course in the curriculum. Here, if ever, the teacher may hope to train his students in the use of judgment and reasoning in the examination of facts.
From the beginning, the teacher should assume that his students have a fair knowledge of the elementary facts of American and of European history. The teacher will waste time if he attempts to teach the mere facts of American history without attempting to relate them one to another. American history in the secondary school should be a study of the relations of American history to the history of the rest of the world, and of the steady development of American political, social, and economic institutions. What we mean by this we trust will become clear as we go on in this work.