Still another kind of review of great value in strengthening the student's ability to generalize and analyze, consists of what might be called "problems in history." They are given out in much the same way as original problems in geometry, assuming 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 class recitations.
The following are examples of questions adaptable for this purpose:—
- Why can the American people be regarded as the world's greatest colonizers?
- Why could Washington be regarded as only an Englishman living in America?
- Is it true that the South lost the Civil War because of slavery?
- In what particulars did Andrew Jackson accurately reflect the spirit or the ideals of the new West?
- What is illustrated by the attempt to found the State of Franklin?
- What considerations made the secession of the West in our early history a likely possibility?
Questions of this kind, not answered directly in class 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