Organization of the English History Field.
The organization and treatment of this field should be based on the idea of bringing out clearly the origin, growth and larger developments of English political, social and economic institutions. The field offers especial advantages for developmental study, as the history is well connected throughout, and can be easily organized into topics and problems. All that the teacher needs is a little insight into the fundamental factors and influences in English history, and this should be obtained from any well conducted general course in English history. The history of England should always be organized and treated as being the study of the growth of a great imperial nation out of various elements and through different policies. The idea of the growth of free, representative government (the power of the people, or democracy, in government) is the predominant note, but the broader viewpoint of the growth of national civilization as shown in policies, industry, art, language and letters is also desirable and important. Among the dangers to be avoided in teaching English history, and in teaching how to organize it, is the temptation to emphasize the minor political details relating to royalties, wars and so forth. The history of England is after all closely related to the history of Europe, and the two great questions of interest in her story are those of her internal development along national lines and of her external policy and growth along imperial lines. More attention than is now given could well be bestowed on the British empire, and it is a pleasure to find one text-book at least that attempts to do justice to this important phase of English history and government.[3]