o « I «0- * • I 1 ^> /£ 'MIA' *^x » * ° l*° ^ 4 *<** %>* r oV c t ^0 4 *°^ THE TEXTBOOK THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO • DALLAS ATLANTA • SAN FRANCISCO MACMILLAN & CO., Limited LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA MELBOURNE THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd. TORONTO THE TEXTBOOK HOW TO USE AND JUDGE IT BY ALFRED LAWRENCE HALL-QUEST PROFESSOR OF SECONDARY EDUCATION AND DIRECTOR OF SCHOOL AFFILIATION UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI AUTHOR OF "SUPERVISED STUDY" EDITOR OF SERIES ON SUPERVISED STUDY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1918 All rights reserved ?* ffi Copyright, 1918, By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up and electrotyped. Published September, 1918. SEP 19 1318 Nortaooti 3|resB J. S. Cushing Co. — Berwick «fe Smith Co. Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. — yu* ■ I D DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF MY SISTER HORTENSE PREFACE In presenting this discussion on the Textbook to the school public I confess to a considerable amount of fear and trembling, not unlike that of the pioneer who penetrates the dark un- known wilderness, or of him who manipulates his acids and compounds in the search for some chemical truth. I have sought in vain for any treatment of this subject in book form. After wrestling with the problem for many months I have grounds to suspect the reasons for no earlier attempt having been made to organize the various aspects of this subject into some sort of unified study. I shall anticipate the critic's attack by saying that I know, perhaps better than he, the limitations of my effort. My real purpose in offering the book to school administrators and teachers is to arouse, if possible, someone among them to construct a volume on the textbook that will be more adequate than my own attempt. Graduate students will find many fascinating problems in this field. Every teacher who shares the responsibility of selecting texts must feel the thrill of exploration in this almost untouched department of instruc- tion. There are, to be sure, many studies on the textbook being made by committees assigned the difficult task of recommending suitable school books in the various subjects ; but many of these lie undiscovered in the offices of school superintendents, and have not been made available beyond the school system immediately concerned in their use. vii viii Preface In this book I have sought to analyze as simply and com- prehensively as possible the reasons for the prominence of the textbook in American education. The history of the textbook is one of those uncultivated fields of research that awaits the magic touch of deep scholarship. Administrative considera- tions of the textbook are so closely allied with some of the most delicate situations in the management of public education, that I have found it difficult to do justice to some of the moot questions involved in this aspect of the subject. The experi- enced school official will be able to read more between the lines than in the type itself. The textbook as a tool, as a source of knowledge, as an interpretation of truth, as a guide, and as a means of inspiring in the pupil a will to learn links up very closely with my view of education as a means of training the pupil to study. I do not minimize any of the great move- ments that now occupy the attention of educational leaders. The problems of education are so immense and so numerous that they must be viewed from several angles. One of these points of view is supervised study or the provision in each class period for a certain amount of training in how to study. Skill in handling the textbook is just as important as skill in hand- ling the tools in manual training or household arts. It is not the only tool for the mastery of the abstract subjects. There are others equally important, but in this volume I have con- fined my efforts to the textbook. It is with the hope that school administrators and teachers will find in the following pages some few suggestions pointing the way to a larger study of this whole subject that I venture to offer these pages for their perusal and criticism. The material grows out of a course of lectures that I had the privi- lege of delivering before the Teachers Association of Rochester, Preface ix New York. What I then said regarding the textbook seemed to meet with a response so cordial that I have thought other teachers might find in such a discussion points of contact with problems of their own. I am greatly indebted to my colleagues, Miss Frances Jenkins and Dr. Cyrus D. Mead, for permission to use some of the material that they helped to evolve. The members of my Seminar on Secondary Education have rendered willing and efficient service, and to them I express sincere acknowl- edgments. To Dean W. P. Burris of College for Teachers of University of Cincinnati, I am grateful for a critical reading of most of the manuscript. For whatever there may be in the volume that has merit I am indebted to the many whose names are scattered throughout the pages that follow. The sins of commission and omission are my own. A. L. H. University of Cincinnati, January 4, 1918. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I PAGE The Textbook — Its Place in Modern Education . . . . i The Textbook as a Problem for Investigation ; a suggested course on the textbook. Why is the Textbook so Prominent? The Inadequacy of the Textbook ; the objections considered. Why Textbooks Exist; i. They are a compact arrangement of educa- tional material. 2. They serve as ready reference books later in life. 3. They provide for a uniform education throughout the country. 4. They make possible an orderly pursuit of the course. 5. They are a definite help to correct studying. 6. They supply directions for applying the subject. 7. They record subject development. 8. They help to determine the various levels of school systems and the progress of the pupils. Summary. Questions and Problems. References. CHAPTER II A Brief History of the Textbook 14 The Need for a History of the Textbook. Medieval Text- books. The Renaissance Textbooks. Textbooks in Colonial America; only a few books available; the religious character of early American schools and texts. Early Spelling Books; con- tents of early spellers. Grammars, Arithmetics; characteristics of early arithmetics. Algebra. Geography. Languages. His- tory. General Criticism of Early American Schoolbooks. The Rapid Increase of Textbooks. Summary. Questions and Problems. References. CHAPTER III The Textbook — Its Meaning and Methods of Supply . . 43 The Textbook Denned. Kinds of Textbooks; Magazines, General literature: classification on the basis of style. The Free xi xii Table of Contents PAGE Textbook ; general distribution of free texts. The Advantages of Free Textbooks. The Disadvantages of the Free Textbook. Uniform Textbooks ; arguments for and against uniformity. The Cost of Textbooks ; cost of making textbooks : cost of textbooks to the citizen: convenient method of introducing free texts. State Publication of Textbooks. Summary. Questions and Prob- lems. References. CHAPTER IV The Selection and Judging of Textbooks 73 Selection of Textbooks, the Business of Experts. The Book- man a Valuable Servant of Education. Methods of Adoption. When Textbooks Should Be Adopted. How Texts Begin To Be Written. The Selection of Textbooks. Standards of Judging Textbooks in Cincinnati ; Illustrations of Some Principles in Textbook Making. History: vocational mathematics : civic biology. Other Standards for Judging Textbooks; Specific Standards for Arithmetic Texts. The Forsythe Plan ; Cincinnati Standards in Arithmetic. Klapper's Standards in Arithmetic. Smith's Standards. Geometry. Illustrations of Modern Texts in Arith- metic. Texts in General Mathematics. Qualities of Textbook in Chemistry and Physics. Geography Standards in Cincinnati Standards for Readers. Standards in Spelling and Language. Phcenixville, Pa., Cincinnati. Suggestive Standards for History Texts. Textbooks in Foreign Language. Various Standards Summarized. Summary. Questions and Problems. References. CHAPTER V The Textbook as a Tool . . . 122 The Importance of Knowing One's Tools. Aids to Study in Textbooks. I. Suggestions by the Author. The Syllabus; The syllabus preceding the chapter; illustrations ; The summary or syllabus that follows the chapter; illustrations. Questions and Problems following each chapter; illustrations. Summaries throughout the chapter and at its close ; illustrations of intra- textual summaries. References for additional reading. Illus- trations ; examples of textbook illustrations in history, language, science; Maps; Diagrams. Summary. II. Suggestions by Table of Contents xiii the Teacher. Evaluated Assignments. Explanation and In- terpretation. The Open Book. Summary. III. Reactions by the Pupils. Underscoring ; Notations on inserted pages, fly leaves. " Cross References." Summaries. The Care of the Book. Summary. Questions and Problems. References. CHAPTER VI The Textbook as a Guide j^j The Functions of the Textbook as a Guide. A Guide to Refer- ence Reading. The Study of the Dictionary. A Guide to Cor- relation. A Guide to Applications. The Topical Assignment. A Guide to Reorganization. Summary. Questions and Prob- lems. References. CHAPTER VII The Textbook as a Source of Knowledge 167 How Knowledge Began. The Meaning of School Subjects. Principles underlying the use of the textbook as a source of knowledge. Some of the Gains of Thinking. The Paramount Question of Education To-day. Knowledge must be viewed as a system. Three Functions of the Textbook. Important Factors in the Structure of the Textbook as a Source of Knowledge. Dates of publication. The title of the book. Table of Contents and the Index. The arrangement of material. Summary. Questions and Problems. References. CHAPTER VIII The Textbook as a Means of Interpreting Truth . . .183 The Observation Point of Knowledge. The Necessary Bias of a Textbook. Factors of Interpretation. Knowing the author and the publisher. The Preface. The Introduction. Book Reviews. The evaluation and adaptation of subject-matter; Scales and standards. The Elementary Subjects: American History. Arithmetic. Spelling. Language and Grammar. High School Subjects: Algebra. Texts. Geometry. Trigonometry. Solid Geometry. Limits. Texts. General Mathematics. Zo'dlogy. xiv Table of Contents PAGE Criteria for Science Texts. General Science Texts. History. Summary. Questions and Problems. References. i CHAPTER IX The Textbook as an Incentive or Inspiration .... 230 The Inspirational Review. The purpose of the review. Pre- senting educational value of the course, fostering enthusiasm for the course, constructing a background. Summary. Method of Teaching. Reviewing of related experience; inspirational previews in textbooks. Energetic first impression. Outlining the term's work. Summary. General Summary. Illustrations. Class- room technic. Questions and Problems. References. Appendix 247 Index 257 THE TEXTBOOK TEXTBOOK, HOW TO USE IT AND JUDGE IT CHAPTER I THE TEXTBOOK — ITS PLACE IN MODERN EDUCATION The Textbook as a Problem for Investigation. In these days when every part of the school system is undergoing supervision and criticism, and when reorganization is the cry of the hour, there is great need of a thoroughgoing examina- tion into the intricate problem of the textbook. It is in the textbook that one expects to find the essentials of a subject, the general outline of a course. The teacher and the textbook are the two pillars of instruction. Each without the other is inadequate, as a rule. Educators and school administrators have begun to ask serious questions of textbook makers, for the maker of textbooks is one of the most influential forces in the shaping of educational policy. The need has been felt of late for courses on textbook making, to be given in schools of education. So far as the writer knows there is no course of this kind offered in any of our colleges or universities. A suggested course on the textbook. Such a course on the textbook might embrace the following topics : The History of Textbooks; Current Scope of Subject-Matter in Textbooks; Organization of Textbook Material from the Standpoint of Child 2 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It and of Adolescent Psychology; Arrangement of Material with Directions for the Proper Studying of It; How to Frame Ques- tions in Textbooks and to Select Problems of Application; Methods of Gathering Material for the Textbook ; How to Pre- pare the Manuscript for the Publisher ; Methods of Publication ; Compensation of authors ; Revisions ; Collecting Reviews ; Stand- ards for Judging Textbooks. Running through the course would be repeated references to the Psychology and the Pedagogy of Reading. With the growth of the need of textbooks, their variety, their frequent revisions, and the consequent extension of the publishing business with its plans of marketing and of seeking adoptions, many difficult problems have arisen. Various schemes of publication are being tried. The methods of textbook distribution are being carefully considered. So large is the place occupied by the textbook in American educa- tion that wise counsel and dispassionate investigation are imperative if results for the best progress in the schools are to be expected. Why Is the Textbook So Prominent? Among the questions that must be considered is the reason for the prevailing promi- nence of the textbook in the public schools of America. Some writers on this subject believe that if there were a larger percentage of highly trained teachers in the American school there would be correspondingly much less need of the school book. This seems to imply that in the hands of the many inadequately trained teachers the textbook becomes a mere crutch or a model. The teacher depends on the book ; its organization and its contents are followed in minute detail. No one who understands school conditions will deny the truth of this criticism. It would be unfair, however, to assign the chief reason to the large number of insufficiently trained Its Place in Modern Education 3 teachers. Doubtless the best teacher in the public school profits by the use of a text. In fact, without a good text- book the course would be much more laborious and much less effective. Furthermore, much of the difficulty in entrance requirements lies in the lack of organization of the new courses. The most liberal friends of modern school subjects will admit that many of these courses are still so indefinite in scope and sequence of material that, for administrative purposes, it is very difficult to adjust them to needful order and system in even a flexible scheme of entrance requirements. President Thwing calls the textbook a teacher of teachers. By means of a text or several texts the teacher introduces the pupil to a world of knowledge he little suspected. It is through the windows of the textbook that teacher and pupil glimpse the immensities of truth, stretching as far as intellect and dreams can penetrate. Not that this is the only outlook, but it is indispensable, at least in American education. A few years ago an English writer made the following observation : * The method of actual teaching in American schools differs much from that in use in England. It centers in the textbook. Nothing strikes an English teacher more forcibly on first listening to lessons in American schools than the important place the text- book takes. . . . The success of the method is aided in America by several conditions, as yet rare in England. First, the textbooks are much better than ours. . . . Often a teacher in England can- not make her pupils depend upon themselves for getting up a subject, because the only textbook that can be afforded is meager or even obsolete ; and she is the only person who has access to a really good book. 1 Quoted from Chas. H. Thurber on "What about Textbooks?" Outlook, Sept. 13, 1913. 4 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It The Inadequacy of the Textbook. It is now being advo- cated by many educators that teachers should break away from slavish dependence upon the textbook, and should plan courses that include much supplementary material and many books. All of us, doubtless, would agree that it is no longer advisable to use only one book as a text or to follow this one blindly. But it would be equally unpedagogical to abandon this aid entirely in all courses. Here as elsewhere moderation and rational selection are most important. It is well, how- ever, to bear in mind the criticism formulated by Charles McMurry. 1 i. The textbook cannot give adequate treatment of important topics. 2. It cannot easily set up problems and give fit suggestions to their progressive, independent working out. 3. The reflective tracing out of relations in which a central topic stands to other topics, gained through causal connection, comparisons based on likeness and contrast, and other forms of association — this considerate balancing up and organizing of thought material can be done very inadequately in a textbook treatment. These defects, however, are not necessarily inherent in the nature of textbooks. They doubtless exist but they need not continue to do so. If by " adequate treatment of important topics " is meant adequate for the pupil at any particular stage of educational development, then this defect could be removed by a careful evaluation of material based on a sound doctrine of educational values. If by " adequate " is meant a large, comprehensive treatment, then we find this possible through 1 Conflicting Principles of Teaching, Houghton Mifflin Co., 1914, p. 86. Its Place in Modern Education 5 the author's additional reference material and suggestions for study. Even if it were possible to have a comprehensive and well-unified discussion of any one topic, it may be ques- tioned if this would be wise. Beyond a consideration of cer- tain fundamentals, the textbook should be mainly suggestive. The second objection has already been met in many of the most recent textbooks. Their problems and suggestions for independent study are much better than could be devised by many teachers. But, granting the validity of Dr. McMurry's objection, it may still be doubted if the textbook should be exhaustive in these problems and directions. Necessarily, they are given in limited number, but this need not be regarded as a defect. One must still expect the teacher to apply educational material to local needs and local conditions, and to adapt source-material to educational ends. The third objection is most searching. No textbook can perform the processes of thinking. But under the direction of a teacher who knows the psychology of study it is possible to find causal connections, to make comparisons and contrasts, and in general to carry on the process of organization. This is the teacher's task. To some extent it is also the author's, and among textbook makers one finds not a few who attempt this service. Why Textbooks Exist. Several reasons may be assigned for the large place occupied by the textbook in American education. 1 . The textbook holds a central place in school work because it offers a compact arrangement of educational material. If one seeks the meaning of physics, a glance through a num- ber of textbooks gives one the scope of this subject. All of us resort to such compendiums of knowledge for educational 6 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It purposes. The textbook expresses (in varying degrees of adequacy to be sure) the prevailing conceptions of the respec- tive subjects in the program of study, and in this way makes it possible to formulate a scheme of training that will more satisfactorily relate to the pupils the ends of education, as these ends are determined for the several school levels. The text, by the amount of space given to various topics, shows in general the relative values of different parts of the subject. There is, of course, wide divergence of viewpoint in this matter, and the author's apportionment of space may not be a true indication of the essential values in the subject. The author's selection of material does exercise, however, a very direct influence on the course. He puts, as it were, a stamp on the scope and quality and accuracy of the subject. From him the pupil obtains perhaps the only conception of the subject he will ever be able to get or to use. For this reason a textbook must be very carefully examined lest its bias prove seriously unfair to the pupil's comprehension of the course. 2. Not only is the textbook a compendium of knowledge for school purposes, but it serves also the valuable end of ready reference after the individual has completed his formal education. No one is able to retain all the details of his various courses of study. It would probably be undesirable, even if it were possible, to carry through life a large number of principles or facts for which one might have only occasional need. But after the pupil has completed the study of funda- mental material, as suggested in the textbook, he can refer to the textbook in later years and thereby refresh his memory on needed points. Many of the rules in mathematics, for example, are easily forgotten by persons who have had no Its Place in Modern Education 7 need of their frequent application. The emergency call can be answered by consulting the textbook. After all, education is mainly a means of supplying ideas and a knowledge of sources. Only the facts which become habits by use in our callings remain in our close possession. The rest of our educational experience is available by our knowing the de- positories of desired data. 3. Another reason for the universality of the textbook lies in its provision for a uniform education throughout the country. However ardent supporters we may be of individual education, it must be agreed that a degree of uniformity is equally essen- tial. There must be a concept of arithmetic common to California and New York. Grammatical usage must be fairly uniform in a democratic education. Every subject must connote and to some extent denote the same thing all over our country if citizens are to understand one another, and to cooperate in democracy's business. By means of the text- book the general meanings of subject-matter are spread from coast to coast. 4. A fourth reason for the widespread use of the text- book lies in its provision for an orderly pursuit of the course. It gives teacher and pupil a tangible link that unites the many details of the subject. This, of course, is possible without the aid of a book, but it is doubtful if an exclusive lecture or collat- eral reading method would be advisable in high school work, not to say in the elementary school. There is a growing opinion that the lecture method is not the best even in college. The author's arrangement of material in the textbook is his conception of the course, but frequently he will suggest a possible procedure in the sequence of chapters different from the order he has used. In the book the teacher finds large 8 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It units of instruction (main divisions, such as the Civil War or Fractions) and smaller divisions (sections or chapters) which serve as bases for assignments. In whatever way the teacher may reorganize the book for teaching purposes, its treatment of the course does greatly aid in unifying the work and in making possible the division of education into various teaching units. 5. The textbook in many instances is a definite help to correct studying. This is true, especially, of more recent texts. By means of syllabi, summaries, emphasized points for study, outlines for reference reading, and many titles of reference books, as well as by questions for review and original work, the author seeks to make the pupil aware of a certain amount of technic in the learning of a subject. The importance of this sort of textbook making in the development of study out- side of school cannot be overestimated. The pupil needs a certain amount of direction if his studying is to be pursued economically and effectively. The " study-helps " are not crutches but guide posts. 6. The best kind of textbook, one written by a wide-awake author who appreciates the life-value of his subject, not only gives direction for study but it supplies directions for the application of the subject. To many teachers this is an in- valuable help. Under proper direction the practical prob- lems stated in the textbook become invaluable also to the pupil. It probably is true that the time saved for teachers and pupils, the rich suggestiveness and the basis they supply for testing progress, make the problems and directions for further study indispensable. Without them the schoolbook would be of comparatively little service in any public school course; and many texts have failed to become popular or Its Place in Modem Education 9 serviceable very largely because they lacked the needful suggestions and specific guidance in applying the subject to vital needs, or in leading the pupil to more independent and thoughtful study of the subject. 7. Of less value to the teacher and pupil but significant for students of the history of education is the record of subject development provided by textbooks from year to year. A study of textbooks in grammar and in history, for example, shows how greatly the point of view regarding this subject has changed. A series of texts in any one subject records the progress of thinking in a particular field. Without textbooks it would be difficult, if indeed at all possible, to trace the his- torical growth of educational material. The textbook, like the school itself, reflects the age in which it was evolved. Our texts to-day are in many instances a vast improvement over those of a decade ago. It may safely be predicted that like improvement will take place within the next ten years. Having the old and the latest texts, there is the fascinating possibility of studying the growth of racial and national points of view, and the constantly readjusted needs of society for the subjects in the school. 8. Still another benefit to be derived from the textbook is the possibility of determining administratively the various levels of school systems and the progress of pupils among these several systems by means of knowing exactly how much ground has been covered by the pupil. This record is also important in transfers from school to school. Transferred credits are based partly on the amount and quality of work done in certain textbooks. If these textbooks are not the same as those used elsewhere, it becomes necessary to make careful comparisons. Without such books it would be difficult also to accredit io Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It schools. As it now is, college entrants are accepted on the ground of a well-known prescribed kind of preparation, and the college work continues what has been done in the secondary school. This, of course, does not insure adequate preparation, for quantity of work (as represented in units) does not mean thoroughness, but the prescribed courses with recognized textbooks and other educational equipment provide a scheme of determining intellectual preparedness. The advantages of the textbook have been well stated by Dr. W. T. Harris : 1 It has the advantage of making one independent of his teacher ; you can take your book wherever you please. You cannot do that with a great lecturer, neither can you question him as you can the book, nor can you select the time for hearing the great teacher talk as you can for reading the book. And it is true that nearly all the great teachers have embodied their ideas in books. The greatest danger of textbook education is verbatim, parrot-like recitation, but even here, from the poorest textbook, a great deal of knowledge can be gleaned. Then there is the alertness which in any large class will necessarily be engendered by an intelligent understanding and criticism of the results arrived at by different pupils in discussing a certain piece of work given in their own words. And then there is the advantage to be found in the fact that with the textbook the child can be busy by itself. A cursory glance over the situation in the United States assures one that the textbook is a remarkable factor in public school education, and nowhere so wonderfully developed as here. The American publishers are among the great educators 1 Lectures on the Philosophy of Education, Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Sciences. Supplementary notes. Eleventh series, 1893, p. 272. Its Place in Modern Education n of the world. They are constantly on the lookout for new ideas in the classroom, and wherever they discover a teacher who is doing something of merit they enlist this teacher to prepare a description of method or of an organization of a course so that it will be available to all other educators. Publishers and teachers, with the help of expert book critics and technicians of book making, become in this way the sine qua non of public education. Without this means of organizing and preserving the newest ideas in education many blessings of genius and trained intellect would be unavailable for coming generations. Summary. The foregoing advantages in using the text- book indicate that not without reason has this field of public education reached its astonishing development. At present authors and publishers are seeking to incorporate what in- vestigators have found to be essential principles in effective learning. While it is true that teachers are greatly supple- menting the textbook by a large variety of materials and technic, it is equally true that their need of the book as part of their directive material has increased, for the books of merit to-day are numerous, and no one book can easily be selected for exclusive reference in a course. In the following pages an attempt is made to consider very briefly some of the principles that seem important in the dis- criminating use of the textbook. To the reflective teacher the discussion may suggest other ways in which texts can serve pupils and teachers. The alert instructor will employ procedures peculiarly adapted to his own groups of pupils. Some teachers will find it necessary to give greater attention to the substance of the book, while others may need to refer to the text as only one of many reference books. No one 12 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It scheme of reorganization of textbook matter can be applied to all subjects or to any one subject. Here again the teacher's initiative and originality must be drawn upon. While we are waiting for the ideal book teachers can render valuable service by making the study of textbook construction part of their discussions at institutes and in reading circles ; and also the field of careful experimentation for the ascertaining of what arrangement of material will best serve the needs of school people engaged in the teaching and studying of the various subjects. QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS i. Do you notice in your school that there is any tendency to depend less heavily on the textbook than formerly ? 2. If there is such a tendency what are the reasons for it ? Are these reasons sound? 3. If you were planning a course on Textbook Making what topics would you include? 4. In addition to the advantages of the textbook already named in the chapter, what others, growing out of your own experience, can you suggest? 5. What additional disadvantages of the textbook have you found ? 6. What conditions in American education seem to require a greater use of textbooks than in European countries? 7. Which type of school system do you judge is the stronger — one using many texts in a course, or one using only one? Why? 8. Did the ancient Greeks and Romans use many textbooks? 9. How would you organize and administer a school system that used texts only occasionally? 10. Have you referred to many of your old school books since graduation? Why? Its Place in Modern Education 13 11. Among the advantages of the textbook which do you regard most important? Why? 12. Which of the disadvantages of the textbook seem to you most serious ? Why ? REFERENCES Harris, W. T. Importance of the Textbook. Journal of Education, Vol. 80: 317; Oct. 8, 1914. Hart, A. B. Schoolbooks and International Prejudices, American Association for International Conciliation, 191 1. Rice, J. M. Substitution of the Teacher for the Textbook, N. E. A. Proceedings, 1895. pp. 562-70. Thurber, C. H. What about Textbooks'? Outlook. Vol. 105: 81-4; Sept. 13, 1913. Winshtp, A. E. Vitality and Virility of American Schoolbooks. Journal of Education, Vol. 82: 255-8; Sept. 23, 191 5. CHAPTER II A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE TEXTBOOK The Need of a History of the Textbook. Within recent years many histories of education have been written from various points of view and with widely differing types of organization. One meets with disappointment, however, in the search for a history of the textbook. There are many and scattering references to schoolbooks throughout the his- tory of the development of educational systems and institu- tions. By inference one is satisfied that in the educational schemes of ancient Babylon, Assyria, Egypt, and Israel there were no individual texts available. The clay tablets of ancient Persia, small and numerous, may have served as convenient media of instruction, just as they were used for correspondence, military and commercial orders, receipts, etc. The papyrus rolls among the Egyptians were carefully guarded by the priests. In Greece and Rome it is unlikely that each pupil possessed a textbook of his own. The ex- pense and the time required to copy manuscripts would make their wider distribution prohibitive. Mediaeval Textbooks. Toward the end of the twelfth century individual manuscripts were not uncommon. Many small sized Bibles and prayer books were current. Manu- scripts with copious notations are now found in such museums as the Vatican, and those in Lisbon, in Paris, and in the ar- 14 A Brief History of the Textbook 15 chives of many of the old monasteries. They witness to their having been used by students under some form of instruction. The ancient classics were used as foundational subject-matter, and there were, of course, numerous manuscripts of these ancient writings. Reference books in the form of theological and philosophical commentaries were also available. Con- densations of Aristotle's lectures were also used. Grammars as compendiums of definitions, classifications, and purely formal rules of speech were studied. Arithmetic and geometry and astronomy formed part of the seven liberal arts. The most popular books in mediaeval education were the following : Orosius, Historiarum adversus Paganos, Libri vn. Martianus Capella Nuptiae Mercuri et Philologiae. {Mar- riage of Mercury and Philology.) Donatus ars Grammatica. Boetius, Consolatio Philosophiae. Casiodorus, Be Arte et disciplina liberalium artium. Isodorus, Etymologiae. They were cumbersome depositories of Greek and Latin treatises. Museums of knowledge would be an accurate description of them. The contents had to be memorized. It should be remembered, however, that, although these books were extremely formal, Latin was the common means of com- munication among the people, especially in the church. The illustrations, concrete material, and inspiration to study were easily found in the everyday life of the students. The students lived in an atmosphere of Latin, a fact that may easily excuse the absence of vitalizing principles in the books themselves. To-day it is necessary to supply the textbook in Latin as well as in other subjects with vitalizing principles because the 16 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It pupil does not seem to appreciate the fact that some of the school subjects are really very closely concerned with his daily living. Dr. Frank W. Smith 1 gives an interesting series of sum- maries of some of the mediaeval texts. Capella, for instance, presents the Seven Liberal Arts in a very fanciful manner. They are bridesmaids at the marriage of Mercury and Philology. Each in turn comes forward to present her art in due form and style. The genius of grammar is in- troduced in the following manner, which is typical of the others : Letos' son now brings in one of Mercury's attendants, old, but comely, once claiming descent from Osiris and birth at Memphis, long guarded in secret, but found and educated by Mercury. In Attica where she has lived most of her life, she wore the pallium, but enters the assembly of the gods now in Latin fashion, because of Latin environment and Latin auspices. She plays the role of doctor of language and carries strange concoctions of leech-craft for curing various defects of the vocal organs and faults of speech. Among the tools is a highly polished file with eight gilded sides (the traditional eight parts of speech). Capella says : As often as she received any one to be cured it was her custom to treat first of the Noun, the common errors and gender, then modes, tenses, and inflections of verbs. To cure the dull and slow she had them run the whole round labor hard at the whole art. The dramatic style of the book perhaps was intentionally selected so as to arouse interest. The Renaissance Textbooks. The textbooks of the Ren- aissance were in many respects similar to those of the 1 The High School. Sturgis, Walton Co. ; 1916. A Brief History of the Textbook 17 preceding age. But at this time many new books began to appear. The printing press made it possible to produce books more quickly and in larger quantities. Men like Sturm and Melancthon began to prepare suitable texts. They edited the classical authors, and Melancthon even wrote a physics as well as texts in other subjects. Books on chemistry, natural philosophy, natural history, geometry, geography, history, etc., now appeared, some in Latin, some in English. By the year 1700 they had reached large numbers. In the Constitutions Respecting Instructions of the Society of Jesus (1558), Loyola refers to textbooks in colleges and universities, but his directions are of interest to the student of this subject in all of its branches. He says : " as touching Latin and Greek books of humanity both in our Universities and Colleges, as far as possible, those shall not be used which contain anything prejudicial to good morals, except they have been previously purified of improper things or words." These directions carry out the spirit of Plato's and Aristotle's instructions regarding the reading of literature. 1 Melancthon's textbooks deserve more than passing notice. He was not very well satisfied with his Greek Grammar, but at the insistence of his " bookseller " he " critically revised the whole altering and improving it." The Grammar is simple and clear, but does not include syntax. His Latin grammar was written originally for one of his pupils. It was published in 1525 against Melancthon's wishes. In the edition of 1542 he writes : " In the first edition of my grammar there were various omissions. These may be supplied, yet there should not be too many rules ; lest their number prove dis- 1 For a good discussion of this whole subject see German Teachers and Educators by Barnard. Brown and Gross, Publishers; 1878. c 1 8 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It couraging to the learner." He claims that knowledge of grammar is indispensable to the understanding of theology. He says further in the second part of the edition of 1550 of this grammar or syntax, that persons who expect to become philologists merely through the perusal of the classics cannot hope to succeed. They will never be rooted and grounded. " Their false view proceeds from a repugnance to the restraint of rules, — a repugnance that by and by will degenerate into a dangerous contempt of all law and order." The following comment by Schenck, who lectured on Latin grammar at Leipzic, bears witness to possibilities in textbook making that must be now a lost art, for surely no one would have the temerity to-day to review a book in Schenck's aban- don of opinion. " This little book," he says of Melancthon's grammar, " has now attained to that perfection that there appears to be nothing deficient in it, nor can there hereafter be anything added to it ; and accordingly it will ever continue to be, as it now is, the sum of all perfection, neither to be altered nor remodeled." * Michael Neander found, however, that the book was too profuse for elementary instruction. He accordingly reduced Camerarius' edition of Melancthon's grammar from five hundred seven pages to one hundred thirty. This text- book held chief place in the schools of Germany in the last half of the 16th century. Between 1525 and 1727 it passed through fifty-one editions, each more or less altered from the original. The book had large influence on grammatical instruction in Germany even up to the date of Barnard's volume (1878). Melancthon wrote also The Manual of Logic, designed to 1 Barnard, op. cit., p. 173. A Brief History of the Textbook 19 aid the student to understand Aristotle. He believed that logic was fundamental to the comprehension of the church doctrines, and proclaimed that " even as there are many men of unbridled passions who hate the restraints of moral law, so there are those who cannot abide the rules of art." He produced also a Manual of Rhetoric, which was intended as an elementary guide to the study of Cicero and Quintilian. His Manual of Physics was written in a pious style, and bears witness not only to much sound learning, but to belief in the superstitions of astrology. As early as 1 5 29 he wrote a Manual of Ethics and a Manual of History, the latter first written by one of his pupils but entirely rewritten by Melancthon in 1538. The interest in classical literature, restrained during the long theological domination of individual taste, and revived by the Renaissance, flourished unhindered for a time. But love of the classical ideals of living and thinking soon changed to a slavish worship of classical form, and the resulting Ciceronianism became as formal as any of the disciplines of the schoolmen. Language became a tyrannical drill. Con- tent meant little, form was supreme. The spread of the study of the vernacular gradually resulted in the decline of Latin as a spoken language. This in turn led to the need of vitalizing grammar lest its traditional formalism prove too forbidding for a successful competition with the vernacular. The result was that abbreviated and simplified forms of the old grammars were written. They sought to be more interesting. Among these new texts appeared one that may be called a transition text, for it marks the first definite approach to the modern grammar. This was Robertson's edition of Lily, written entirely in Latin, 20 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It The Orbis P ictus by Comenius appeared in 1685. It was destined to become the most popular textbook in Europe for a hundred years. Aside from the ABC primers this was the first illustrated schoolbook ever printed. It was, how- ever, little more than an illustrated dictionary, its style not being markedly attractive. Textbooks in Colonial America. Among the interesting exhibits at the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco was a collection of old textbooks which, like old flags and swords and other relics of the battlefield, bore the marks of ancient struggle, much of it, no doubt, physical rather than intellectual. Between the textbooks of our American ancestors (not to speak in detail of the earlier specimens in Europe) and the beautifully bound and handsomely illus- trated modern schoolbook, lies a long history whose many pages would prove an interesting and suggestive record of how textbooks began, and how they have been evolved and vastly improved. Strictly speaking, the modern textbook is little more than three hundred years old. Only within the last seventy-five years has it become more adequately adapted to the laws of the learning process, and in several respects there are needs of a still better adaptation. Happily we have passed beyond the alphabet age, but in the early days learning the alphabet was the beginning of wisdom. Attempts at grading were purely arbitrary, letters preceding simple syllables and these in turn being followed by more difficult syllabification. The road to learning was cobbled with small and large letter combinations. The application of this preliminary instruction was made in the reading of religious material, some of it extremely lugu- brious. A Brief History of the Textbook 21 For the convenience of the pupil, and doubtless also for reasons of economy, the earliest reading books were simply a single sheet attached to a small rectangular piece of wood with a handle. The modern handmirror illustrates the gen- eral form. Over the sheet was fastened a fairly transparent piece of horn. This " hornbook," as it was called, was suspended around the pupil's neck. To us the contents of this primitive textbook were very crude. The page began with a cross, the emblem of piety, and also a charm against hidden evils in the letters to follow. Then came four rows of the alphabet, two in small letters, and two in capitals. These were followed with three lines of syllables in two columns, at the top of each column appearing the vowels a, e, i, o, u. The left-hand column gave syllables like ab, eb, ib, etc., and the right-hand column, ba, be, bi, etc. In solemn blessing followed : In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost ; " and the Lord's Prayer. The first of these hornbooks was printed in Latin about 1400. In the reign of Charles II they were bound in leather with a picture of the mounted King stamped on the back. 1 After completing the hornbook the pupil began to study the Primer, also religious. In fact all the books used for instruc- tion in reading were religious up to 1750. These primers were usually copies of sectarian creeds and prayers. Martin Luther, for example, wrote a Child's Little Primer which contained the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments, the Creed, and a Catechism. Of special interest to the student of 1 Interesting pictures of the hornbook and other early texts can be seen in The History of Modem Elementary Education, pp. 69-98, by S. C. Parker. Ginn and Co., 1912, and Old-time Schools and School Books by Clifton Johnson. Macmillan Co., 191 7. 22 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It American education is the New England Primer, which was patterned after English models, the latter no doubt being directly influenced by Luther's. It doubtless was influenced also by the Orbis Pictus of Comenius (1658). The New England Primer appeared in 1690, its author being Benjamin Harris, an English bookseller. It was of small size, about three inches by four, and printed in hand-cut type with very irregular alignment. On the left of the page appear a column of indistinct illustrations and opposite them brief moralizings : In Adam's Fall We sinned all Thy Life to mend This Book attend The idle Fool Is whipt at School The first part of the Primer contains religious admonitions followed by the alphabet and syllables and lists of words for spelling. The letters are arranged in groups of one, two, three, four, five, and six syllables. Then appears the picture alphabet with rimes, as quoted above. Verses for children with references to death, hell, and God's wrath come next. There are quotations from the Proverbs, The Lord's Prayer, Creed, Commandments ; and names of the Biblical books are also included. The little book with its eighty pages con- cludes with the Westminster Shorter Catechism. The catechism with its condensed theology was regarded as the most important part of the Primer, and to a people who firmly believed that children were " young vipers and in- finitely more hateful than vipers to God " it was of course A Brief History of the Textbook 23 tremendously important that early and strenuous measures should be taken to save them from the wrath to come. Doubt- less there are teachers to-day who think the early estimate of school children quite correct. The New England Primer was the best seller of its day. It had a vogue in England and Scotland as well as in America, and up to 1849 ft nas been estimated that more than three millions of copies had been sold. There were other primers, such as The Evangelical Primer, similar in content, but much less popular. Only a few books available. In the schools of the early colonies books were necessarily few. A catechism or a primer, a psalter, and a testament or Bible comprised the list for the average boy. Pupils in Latin had additional texts. In the beginning it was only natural that almost all of the books were the products of foreign authors. Johnson believes that the only schoolbook of American origin before the Revolution was a little Latin grammar by Ezekiel Cheever, known as Cheever's Accidence (1645). It passed through many editions, the last appearing as late as 1838. Lily's Grammar, with twenty-five kinds of nouns, seven genders, etc., was studied after the pupil had mastered Cheever's Accidence. Among other books in common use were ^Esop, Eutropius, and The Colloquies of Corderius for the younger pupils ; and for the older boys Caesar, Ovid, Virgil, and Cicero were commonly used. The religious character of early American schools. The ministers were the official supervisors of the public schools in the colonies. The ministers were also town officers. They were expected not only to exhort but to give the ' people religious instruction, and of course the children would form a large part of the charge of every minister. The children 24 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It were examined in the catechism, in their knowledge of the Bible, and sometimes in their understanding of the minister's sermons. In 1710, by a Boston enactment, ministers were expected on their school visits to pray with the pupils and to " entertain them with some instructions of piety especially adapted to their age and education." The rural minister was often called upon to teach, especially Latin, in towns that had no grammar pupils. And many of them boarded several pupils as well as taught them. 1 This sort of supervision and close interest on the part of the church tended to make education strongly religious in character, and one finds this influence widely represented in the early textbooks. Early Spelling Books. Efforts to break away from the stern and narrow religious conception of education appeared in the form of " spelling books." These, however, were not wholly or even predominantly secular, at first. The title of one of the earliest of these spelling books indicates the wider point of view : The English Scholemaister, teaching all his schollars of what age so ever the most easie, short, and perfect order of distinct readings and true writings our English tongue that hath ever yet been known or published by any. The con- tents were apportioned as follows : alphabet and spelling, 3 2 pages ; a short catechism, 18 pages ; chronology, 5 pages ; writing copy, 2 pages ; arithmetic, 2 pages ; the remainder of the book being made up of word lists for spelling. It was a thin book of seventy-two pages, published by Coote in 1596. Much of it was printed in Old English black letter. The most popular of the spellers was Dilworth's New Guide to the English Tongue, published in 1740, and in general use until shortly after the middle of the eighteenth century. One 1 See Johnson, Old-Time Schools and School Books, p. 24. A Brief History of the Textbook 25 of the handsomest of the spellers was Watt's Compleat Spelling Book (1770). Reference should also be made to Nathaniel Strong's England's Perfect School-Master (1676). That all of the books for children were not formal and pious in those early days is shown in the preface to The History of Genesis (1708) which was written to keep children from reading Tom Thumb, Guy of Warwick, or " some such foolish book." The parents are exhorted not to let their children read " these vain Books, profane Ballads, and filthy songs. Throw away all fond and amorous Romances, and fabulous Histories of Giants, the bombast achievements of Knight Errantry, and the like ; for these fill the Heads of Children with vain silly and idle imaginations." The Child's Weeks Work or A Little Book so nicely suited to the Genius and Capacity of a Little Child Both for Matter and Method that it will infallibly Allure and Lead him on into a way of Reading with all Ease and Expedition that can be desired, was written by William Ronkfley (17 12). The Protestant Tutor was another English text of the early days. Only a few of these books reached the American colonies and not at all in any quantities. A glance through the history of American spelling books reveals some striking facts. On account of the war with England it was difficult to get schoolbooks from abroad. A young teacher, only twenty-four years old, in charge of a school in Orange County, New York, seized the opportunity and compiled a spelling book, which was printed in Hartford in 1783. It formed the first part of a Grammatical Institute of the English Language and was known as The American Spelling Book and more popularly as The Blue Back Speller. The author, Noah Webster, received royalties from its sale to 26 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It such an extent that his family was comfortably supported by this book for twenty years, although Webster received only one cent a copy as royalty. When he was eighty -four the sale of the spelling book had reached twenty-four million copies. A little later in Boston (1805) The Child's Companion by Caleb Bingham became an active competitor for popular favor. Its contents were similar to the other spellers, in- cluding moralizings, fables, and a list of " Improprieties in Pronunciation." In 1798 a Hartford printer compiled The Child's Spelling Book. It contains many pictures and enter- taining subject-matter. Caleb Alexander's The Young Ladies' and Gentleman's Spelling Book was published in 1799. It showed much improvement in binding, in illustrations, and in general arrangement. A series of poems by Isaac Watts, then very popular, forms the striking feature of the book. In the same year (1799) The Columbian Spelling Book appeared, but its general make-up showed much crudity. Another speller with a similar title, The Columbian Primer, was offered by H. Mann, of Dedham, in 1802. Its arrangement of material in the form of rimes and interesting pictures made it quite popular. There must have been something hypnotic about the title of these books for in 1827 another Columbian Primer was placed on the market in New York. The most noticeable change in the latter was the printing of two cuts to a page where the Dedham Primer had used only one. Contents of Early Spellers. In Fiske's New England Spelling Book (1803) there is a page devoted to " Words frequently used in speaking and writing which should be well- learned by every scholar." In the list, among many others, are Damn (capitalized), dirge, and gaol (!). Johnson cites A Brief History of the Textbook 27 from the preface of a speller in 1828 that the early books " contain words collected from all departments of nature, life, and action; from the nursery, the kitchen, the dressing room, the stable, the barroom, the gaming table, the seaman's wharf, the apothecary's shop, from the subtle pages of the metaphysician and the rhapsodies of the pompous pedant." It is not difficult to see whence came the tendency that has prevailed in spelling books until quite recently. Comfy 's A New Spelling Book, Philadelphia (1806) ; Perry's The Only Sure Guide to the English Tongue (1798) ; Joshua Bradley's Lessons in Spellings, Windsor, Vermont (181 5) ; John Franklin Jones's Analytical Speller, New York (1823) ; Bolles's Spelling Book, New London (183 1) ; The Young Tyro's Instructor, New York (1834) ; Parson's Analytical Spelling Book, Portland, Maine (1836) ; Exercises in Orthography, Providence, R. I. (1826) ; and Companion to Spelling Books (1843), are among the most prominent of the spellers that influenced the contents of earlier schooling in the subjects of spelling, reading, and general morals. Readers. Forming the third part of Webster's Institutes was the first American reader, published in 1785. Before this time there were no readers in the technical sense of the word. The Bible and various kinds of homilies served as bases of instruction in reading. Webster, however, reached a commendable achievement in his book. The reader contains tales of revolutionary heroes, Indian wars, and also ancient stories. Poetry and dramatic dialogues form a considerable section of the book. Strictly speaking it is more of a guide to declamation than a reader, but its great advance beyond anything of its kind in those days gives it high merit. 28 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It Webster, however, did not get many royalties from this publication. A strong competitor, in the person of Caleb Bingham, published the American Preceptor, which by 1832 had reached a sale of 640,000 copies. Webster's book is made up of three parts — " Narration," " Lessons in Speaking," and " Dialogues." His other reader, The Little Reader's Assistant (1790), was a rather lugubrious and harrowing series of selections. Bingham's Columbian Orator also became popular. An English Reader by Lindley Murray was another of the readers that made a large place for itself. Abraham Lincoln regarded this as the best schoolbook ever put into the hands of an American youth. In 1823 John Pierpont pub- lished The American First Class Book. It contains many ex- cellent principles of textbook making, which indeed could be accepted to-day with no little profit. Selections from such contemporaries as Scott, Irving, Channing, Bryant, and Wordsworth form the bulk of the material. Humor and sentiment are included. Before 1825 there were only a few readers available for beginners. Johnson believes that the first was The Franklin Primer (1802). It contained a variety of tables, moral lessons, and sentences, a concise history of the world, hymns, and catechisms. Stamford's The Art of Reading, Boston (1807) ; The Mental Flower Garden, New York (1808) ; Strong's The Common Reader (18 18) ; The Child's Instructor (1808) ; The Child's Instructor and Moral Primer, Portland, Maine (1822), were among the early publications in this field. Leavitt says in his Easy Lessons (1823) that there was con- siderable need of elementary readers, and this fact accounts for the numerous reading books that now began to appear. A Brief History of the Textbook 29 The Fourth Class Book, Brookfield, Mass. (1827), and the Clinton Primer (1830) were attractive attempts to meet the demand. A second Book for Reading and Spelling, Boston (1830) ; Gallaudet's The Child's Picture Defining and Reading Book, Hartford (1830), sought to present a variety of reading matter with illustrations that aimed to arouse interest and to instruct at the same time. Gallaudet's illustrations are superior to those of his competitors' books. The Union Primer (1832) has some strange lessons in morals. The Child's Guide, Spring- field, Mass. (1833), contains some keen lessons in observation and interpretation of nature. Pierpont's The Young Reader (1835) ; Lovell's Young Pupil's Second Book, New Haven (1836) ; The American Juvenile Primer (1838) ; Mandeville's Primary Reader, New York (1849), are interesting to the student of this subject. In fact the selections in most of the earlier readers deserve approval and in some instances emulation. Besides the foregoing, The General Class-Book, Greenfield, Mass. (1828) ; Comstock's Rhythmical Reader, Philadelphia (1832) ; The Christian Reader (1832) ; The Farmer's School Book, Albany (1837) ; The Monitorial Reader, Concord, N. H. (1839), and Lovell's Young Speaker, New Haven (1844), were in popular use. Grammars. Grammars began to appear in 1580 and 1594 when Bullaker and Greenwood respectively published, the former his English Grammar and the latter his grammar written in Latin. Webster's Institute — Part II was the Grammatical Institute of the English Language. Caleb Bing- ham's Young Lady's Accidence: designed for the use of Young Learners, more especially for those of the Fair Sex, though proper for either, and Lindley Murray's English Grammar were in turn followed by an enterprising publication in 30 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It 1829, called The Little Grammarian. In this book gram- matical terms are explained pictorially in a way that might well be imitated in modern schools. For example, the active voice is represented by a teacher with upraised birch (hardly an apt illustration in the modern school) ; the passive voice by the cowering pupil about to be acted upon; and the neuter by a child seated on a chair near by and in an apprehensive posture. Arithmetics. Passing to textbooks in arithmetic, we find that these were uncommon among the early colonists. English texts were used before 1788, the first of these being Record's, published in 1540. The Dutch colonists, with their success in commerce at home, believed in emphasizing the study of arithmetic, and one of their regulations regarding the school teacher was that "he is to instruct the youth in reading, writing, cyphering, and arithmetic, with all zeal and diligence. " This subject, however, was not taught regularly throughout the colonies. In the villages especially it was neglected. The Puritans, in their orders of 1642, 1647, and 1650, make no mention of arithmetic. Governor Bradford's Journal of 1645, however, refers to the fact that arithmetic was taught in the so-called " free-school " of Boston. There seems to be evi- dence that the dominant interest of the Puritans in religion crowded out arithmetic after the first few years of its exist- ence. It was taught in private schools in and after 171 2. In Dedham and in Plymouth, Mass., and in the colony of Pennsylvania there was provision made for arithmetic, if not in actual orders, at least in actual practice. Delaware and New Jersey probably gave attention to this subject as a means of education. In the southern colonies the several legislatures gave it a place in their school acts. A Brief History of the Textbook 31 In the colonies the first arithmetic was Greenwood's, with the quaint title, Arithmetick, Vulgar and Decimal with the Applica- tion thereof to a Variety of Cases in Trade and Commerce (1729). It was taught from a manuscript from which the teacher dictated to the pupils, who in turn wrote the examples in their " sumbooks." The first purely arithmetical work in the United States was an edition of Hodder's Arithmetic, Boston (17 19). A better known book is the one written by Nicholas Pike and published about 1788. It was commended by George Washington. Many of the examples dealt with contemporaneous history, as for example, " General Washing- ton was born in 1732; what was his age in 1787? " How many teachers to-day understand the following rule in Pike's Arithmetic? " To find the tare and tret deduct the tare and tret and divide the suttle by 168, and the quotient will be the doff, which subtract from the suttle and the remainder will be the neat." 1 The book contains 512 pages, of which 4 deal with " plain " geometry, 11 with " plain " trigonometry, 45 with mensuration of superficies and solids, ^>2> wltn an introduction to algebra, designed for the use of academies, and 10 with an introduction to conic sections. It is laden with rules. An Introduction to Arithmetic by Erastus Root, Norwich, Conn. (1796), was widely used for a time. It omits fractions "because they are not absolutely necessary." The arithmetic by Daniel Adams (1801) was a keen rival of the Pike text. Nathan Daboll's Schoolmaster's Assistant (1799) ; Walsh's 1 Tare means weight of a receptacle apart from its contents ; tret means allowance for waste due to transportation ; suttle means taken after the tare has been deducted and before the tret has been allowed; cloff means any small deduction of weight ; neat, net. 32 Textbook , How to Use It and Judge It Mercantile Arithmetic, Northampton, Mass. (1800, revised in 1807 and 1826) ; Thompson's The American Tutor's Guide, Albany (1808) ; The Science of Numbers Made Easy by Leonard Loomis, Hartford (18 16) ; The Scholar's Arith- metic by Jacob Willetts, Poughkeepsie, New York (181 7), of which fifty editions were printed in a few years, were also in fairly general use. The large volume by Beriah Stevens "containing Vulgar, Decimal and Logarithmetical Arith- metick," Saratoga Springs (1822), was a rather formidable treatise. Characteristics of early arithmetics. A general characteristic of these earlier arithmetics was their emphasis on ciphering ; but with the publication of Colburn's Intellectual Arithmetic (182 1) a new approach was begun. More than two million copies of this book were sold within the next fifty years. It stresses oral exercises and practical problems. Franklin's Arithmetic, Springfield, Mass. (1832), followed Colburn, but besides its purpose to teach numbers it sought to develop moral attitudes toward creation. Barnard's Arithmetic^ Hartford (1830), was perhaps the first to use pictures. In 1838 Emerson's The North American Arithmetic, Part First , appeared with many illustrations. UnderhilPs New Table- Book (1846) had several quaint jingles expressing problems. Before 1800 at least twenty arithmetics by American authors were on the market. Among these, besides some of those already mentioned, were the following: Benjamin Dearborn (1782), Alexander McDonald (1785), Thomas Sarjent (1788), Consider and John Sterry (1790), John Vinall (1792), Benjamin Workman (1793), Joseph Chaplin (1795), Daniel Flemining (1795), Erastus Root (1796), James Noyes (1797), Chauncey Lee (1797), William Milns (1797), David Kendall (1797), Peter Sharp (1798), Zachariah A Brief History of the Textbook 33 Jess (1798), Ezekiel Little (1799), Nathan Daboll (1799), and David Cook (1800). It is not surprising that the aim of these early texts and consequently their selection of material stressed the commercial side of colonial life. Arithmetic was very largely a vocational subject with a people whose livelihood was obtained chiefly by trade. The titles of some of the books already referred to indicate the general purpose quite clearly. Daboll says in the preface of his Schoolmaster 's Assistant: " The design of this work is to furnish the schools of the United States with a methodical and comprehensive system of practical arithmetic. " But while this aim was natural it does seem strange that so little emphasis was laid on making arithmetic automatic. Dilworth's text, for instance, contains only nine examples for drill in addition, and only nine in subtraction. In the 408 pages of Pike's book there are only nine examples of drill in addition, and the same number in subtraction. Adams gives ten drill examples in addition, and nine in subtraction. The following quotation * indicates that even this meager amount of drill in the texts was not used in class. No boy had a printed arithmetic, but every other day a sum or two was set in each manuscript, to be ciphered on the slate, shown up, and if right, copied into the manuscript. Two sums were all that were allowed in subtraction, and this number was probably as many as the good man could set for each boy. This ciphering occupied two hours, or rather consumed two, and the other hour was employed in writing one page in a copy book. Once, when I had done my two sums in subtraction, and set them in my book, 1 William B. Fowle, The Teacher's Institute or Familiar Hints to Young Teachers, p. 61 ; and Walter S. Monroe, Development of Arithmetic as a School Subject, U. S. Bureau of Education Bulletin, 1917; No. 10, p. 16. D 34 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It and been idle an hour, I ventured to go to the master's desk and ask him to be so good as to set me another sum. His amazement at my audacity was equal to that of the almshouse steward when the half-starved Oliver Twist " asked for more." He looked at me, twisted my manuscript toward him, and said, gutturally: "Eh, you gnarly wretch, you are never satisfied." I had never made such a request before, nor did I ever make another afterwards. Algebra was not generally taught, but the subject had been introduced. John Bonnycastle in his Introduction to Algebra, published in 1806, gives this illuminating problem : A man and his wife usually drank out a cask of beer in twelve days; but when the man was from home, it lasted the woman thirty days ; how many days would the man alone be in drinking it? Geography was not taught in the elementary schools before the Revolution. In the more advanced schools some rudimentary instruction was given in this subject. At first geography was used as reading material, but slowly it won an independent place. Before 181 5 two geographies by Jedidiah Morse (1784) and Nathaniel Dwight (1795), respectively, had appeared. An excellent description of these books is given in Johnson's Old-Time Schools and School-Books. Maps were scarce, Morse giving two and Dwight none at all. The Monitor's Instructor, published at Wilmington, Delaware, appeared in 1804. Later, in 1829, appeared Peter Parley's Child's Own Book of American Geography. It abandons the usual order beginning with elementary astronomy and ending with a study of cities. Instead, it takes the young pupil on a sight-seeing trip through America. There are many ques- tions, elaborate pictures, and rather good maps. The book A Brief History of the Textbook 35 was more entertaining than accurate, however. A little earlier than this Benjamin Davies published a geography (1813) ; Cumming one in 18 14; Willard one in 1826; Adams one in 1818. Worcester published his Elements of Geography in 1828, and Woodbridge his Rudiments of Geography in 1829. Olney's A Practical System of Modern Geography was published in 1 83 1, and in the same year The Malte-Brun School Geog- raphy was placed on the market. All of these early books used the octavo size, but in 1845 Peter Parley's National Geography appeared in the familiar flat quarto shape. In 1850 A System of Modern Geography was written by Mitchell. Languages. A glance at the textbooks in language ought to make us devoutly thankful that we did not live in those gloomy days. The schools of to-day, however, have not altogether passed from under the shadow of the type of grammars used in the Middle Ages. Latin, Greek, and Hebrew were the only languages taught in the colonies. Harvard's entrance requirements at the time included the following ultimatum : " Whoever shall be able to read Tully or any other such-like Latin author at sight, and correctly, and without assistance to speak and write Latin both in prose and verse, and to inflect exactly the paradigms of Greek nouns and verbs, has a right to expect to be admitted into college, and no one may claim admission without these qualifica- tions." Studying began with a simple Accidence; then came the grammar, which was memorized in toto. This was followed with Colloquies by Corderius or Orbis Pictus by Comenius. The most widely known Latin grammar of the day was Lily's. This was superseded by Cheever's Latin Accidence, first appearing in Boston in 1709, and last printed in 1838. 36 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It History. Before 182 1 no satisfactory history of the United States had appeared. The following year (1822) C. A. Good- rich published A History of the United States. It had a large sale for a dozen years. In many respects it was an excellent piece of work. Noah Webster produced a school History of the United States in 1832. Similar works were written by Hale, and Taylor (1830), and Peter Parley. Butler's Sketches of Universal History was in use in 18 18. It regarded history from the religious point of view. Frost published a history in 1837, Whelping a Compendium of History in 1825. General Criticism of Early American Schoolbooks. The foregoing brief survey of the development of textbooks in this country indicates that many of the subjects which to-day occupy a very prominent place in the program did not at first find favor among educators; arithmetic and geography, for examples. The early primers had a distinctly religious tone. When we recall that education was in the hands of the church, and that at first priests and ministers of the gospel were practi- cally the only persons of any learning in the community, it is not surprising that church and school should have been estab- lished together. Gradually, however, the fields of the two institutions began to diverge, and with the separation came textbooks more secular and comprehensive. Judged by modern standards none of those texts conformed to the needs of the pupil, or to the conditions of hygienic study. They were miserably printed, the paper was of very poor quality, and the organization of the subject-matter, in the main, loose and illogical. To some extent, however, psychological principles were recognized in the provision for illustrations. Some of the problems in mathematics con- cerned the needs of the community. There were many de- A Brief History of the Textbook 37 tailed questions which served as a guide to a thoroughgoing drill and review. But the requirement of excessive memoriz- ing was too relentless. This defect has not been entirely overcome even to-day. Another point worthy of notice is this, that in the early schools each pupil brought his own textbook which may or may not have been like the others in the class. Each pupil was taught from his own book. Uniformity was obtained later through district meetings, and still later, trustees or directors, and, in some states, the teachers were ordered to select the schoolbooks. Boards of Education, represented by the superintendent, usually do the work in towns and cities to-day. The following citation from a letter written by Noah Webster to Dr. Barnard in 1840 1 throws some interesting light upon conditions in the early American public school. When I was young, the books used were chiefly or wholly Dil- worth's Spelling books, the Psalter, Testament, and Bible. No geography was studied before the publication of Dr. Morse's small books on that subject, about the year 1786 or 1787. No history was read, as far as my knowledge extends, for there was no abridged history of the United States. Except the books above mentioned, no book for reading was used before the publication of the Third Part of my Institute, in 1785. In some of the early editions of that book, I introduced short stories of the geography and history of the United States, and these led to more enlarged descriptions of the country. In 1788, at the request of Dr. Morse, I wrote an account of the transactions in the United States, after the Revolution; which account fills nearly twenty pages in the first volume of his octavo editions. 1 American Journal of Education, Vol. 13, 1865, pp. 123-24. 38 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It Before the Revolution, and for some years after, no slates were used in common schools : all writing and the operations in arith- metic were on paper. The teacher wrote the copies and gave the sums in arithmetic ; few or none of the pupils having any books as a guide. Such was the condition of the schools in which I received my early education. The introduction of my Spelling Book, first published in 1783, produced great change in the department of spelling; and, from the information I can gain, spelling was taught with more care and accuracy for twenty years or more after that period, than it has been since the introduction of multiplied books and studies. (The general use of my Spelling Book in the United States has had a most extensive effect in correcting the pronunciation of words, and giving uniformity to the language. Of this change, the present generation can have a very imperfect idea.) No English grammar was generally taught in common schools when I was young, except that in Dilworth, and that to no good purpose. In short, the instruction in schools was very imperfect, in every branch ; and if I am not mistaken it is so to this day, in many branches. Indeed there is danger of running from one ex- treme to another, and instead of having too few books in our schools we shall have too many. The following quotation in an essay by Noah Webster " On the Education of Youth in America " and published in a New York paper in 1788 is not entirely apropos of the present discus- sion but it is so illuminating and prophetic that its introduction here may be pardonable. Discussing the defects in American education at the time (before and during 1788) he writes: The first error that I would mention is a too general attention to the dead languages, with a neglect of our own This neglect is so general that there is scarcely an institution to be found in the country where the English tongue is taught regularly A Brief History of the Textbook 39 from its elements to its pure and regular construction in prose and verse. Perhaps in most schools boys are taught the definition of the parts of speech, and a few hard names which they do not understand, and which the teacher seldom attempts to explain: this is called learning grammar. ... The principles of any science afford pleasure to the student who comprehends them. In order to render the study of language agreeable, the distinctions between words should be illustrated by the difference in visible objects. Examples should be presented to the senses which are the inlets of all our knowledge. Another error which is frequent in America, is that a master undertakes to teach many different branches in the same school. In new settlements where the people are poor, and live in scattered situations, the practice is often unavoidable. But in populous towns it must be considered as a defective plan of education. For suppose the teacher to be equally master of all the branches which he attempts to teach, which seldom happens, yet his attention must be distracted with a multiplicity of objects, and consequently painful to himself and not useful to his pupils. Add to this the continual interruptions which the students of one branch suffer from those of another, which must retard the progress of the whole school. It is a much more eligible plan to appropriate an apartment to each branch of education, with a teacher who makes that branch his sole enjoyment. 1 The Rapid Increase of Textbooks. It is noticeable that gradually the text has found a central place in the American school system. The structure and contents of the textbook have changed to conform to the needs of the successive periods of social development. If the age requires religious reflection and theological programs of study, the school and its equipment must represent this spirit of the times. If society finds 1 Barnard's American Journal of Education, Volume 13 ; 124-25. 40 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It freedom of thought and investigation best for its welfare; if invention makes possible broader knowledge and less rigid adherence to present modes of living, the school will reflect this social attitude, and school equipment will be con- structed to train the young citizen for this type of civilization. Most of the teaching to-day revolves around the text- book. This may be regarded as distinctly an American practice. In Germany there are no texts in some subjects. In others there are only very brief texts which are abstracts or outlines to be amplified by the teacher. When used they are referred to for review purposes. Neither the extremely American nor the extremely German practice is to be recommended. Important as the textbook is, its function is limited. The educative process needs to go beyond any one or any group of texts. This extension of method is so current to-day that little needs to be said about it here. On the other hand, the textbook cannot be wholly ignored. Wherever the instructor has begun his work, aiming to avoid all texts, he has soon found it necessary to guide the learner by means of a well-organized presentation of the funda- mentals of the course. This is true especially in the abstract subjects, but the need is felt in laboratory courses as well. QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS i. What vehicles for imparting knowledge were used in ancient systems of education? 2. What are the more prominent features of the texts used in mediaeval education? 3. Who were some of the leading textbook writers of the Renais- sance? What were the characteristics of their textbooks? On what subjects were texts written? A Brief History of the Textbook 41 4. How would you describe the early textbooks in American education? Why was the religious influence so strong in the beginning ? 5. Interesting problems for study would be an analysis and comparison of the early and more recent spellers. What changes in these books have been introduced ? Is it true that children spell more poorly to-day than in the early years of American education ? If so, is this fact due to the spellers used ? 6. When did grammar begin to appear as a school subject in America? When did grammars begin to appear in America? 7. When was arithmetic introduced into the American schools? What were the outstanding characteristics of colonial arithmetic texts? Was drill in arithmetic generally given? 8. Trace the origin and development of geography and history in the American public school. What topics were stressed at first ? What fundamental changes have taken place in the organization of these subjects to-day? 9. What languages were studied in the early American schools ? Why? 10. What do you conclude from Noah Webster's comments on the schools he attended? REFERENCES Bailey, L. H. Development of Textbooks of Agriculture in North America. Barnard, Henry. "Schools as They Were Sixty Years Ago." Ameri- can Journal of Education, Vol. 13; 1865, pp. 123-44. Bouchet. The Printed Book; its history, illustration, and adornment, from the days of Gutenberg to the present time. Translated and en- larged by Bigemore, London ; 1887. Clodd, Edward. Story of the Alphabet. Appleton ; 1900. Ford, P. L. The New England Primer. Dodd, Mead ; 1897. Greenwood, J. M., and Martin, A. Notes on the History of American Textbooks on Arithmetic. U. S. Commissioner of Educ. Report; 1897-98, pp. 789-869. 42 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It Hazlitt, W. C. Schools, Schoolbooks and Schoolmasters. 2d Ed. Stechert; 1905. Johnson, Clifton. Old-Time Schools and School Books. Macmillan ; 1917. Monroe, Paul. Principles of Secondary Education. Macmillan ; 19 14. Monroe, W. S. Development of Arithmetic as a School Subject. U. S. Bureau of Educ. Bulletin No. 10; 191 7. Odell, A. G. "Educational Tools, New and Old." Journal of Educa- tion, 80 : 623^-5 ; Dec. 24, 1914. Parker, S. C. History of Modern Elementary Education. Ginn; 191 2. Ch. IV. Plomer, H. R. Short History of English Printing. London ; 1900. Strong, H. A. Old Textbooks. Westminster, Vol. 179: 680-84; June, 1013- Taylor, Isaac. The Alphabet. Vols. 1 and 2. Edward Arnold. Weeks, L. B. Confederate Textbooks. U. S. Bureau of Educ. ; 1900. 1 Young, J. W. A. In Hoffman's Zeitschrift XXIX ; Jahrg. 1898, p. 410 f . See Zur mathematischen Lehrbiicherfrage. An interesting set of statistics on German textbooks. The early volumes of Barnard's American Journal of Education, beginning with Vol. 13, 1863, contain interesting catalogues of old and contemporaneous textbooks. CHAPTER III THE TEXTBOOK — ITS MEANING AND METHODS OF SUPPLY In the brief survey of the history of the textbook it was noted that in the beginning of school education few kinds of textbooks were available, and then only in very limited quantities, the pupil not having any save as he made his own from dictation. In the Middle Ages the texts were very largely edited editions of the old classics. A few more distinctly or- ganized texts began to appear, especially in Latin grammar. In the American colonies the primers were at first dominated by the religious point of view. Later instructional books in other branches arose, until the textbook as a class by itself assumed a permanent place. The Textbook Defined. Quite recently the question has been raised as to the exact meaning of the term textbook. Is any book used for classroom or study purposes a textbook, or does the meaning imply that the book has been organized for instructional purposes alone? Shakespeare's plays, for example, are literature, but when edited with notes, excerpts, suggestions for study, etc., do they not then become essen- tially textbooks in literature? The question is important to the extent that it affects methods of teaching. A few years ago a lengthy controversy arose regarding the exact meaning of textbook, commercially. The Tariff Act of 43 44 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It 1913 provides for the free entry of all textbooks, but books not especially provided for carry a customs rate of 15 per cent ad valorem. Everyman's Library (the books that pro- voked the controversy) was classified by the publishers as text- books inasmuch as many of the volumes were used in the public schools for instructional purposes. The Board of Ap- praisers and the Customs Court finally decided that this series does not fall within the classification of textbooks. Any book may be used for instructional purposes within certain limitations, but this hardly entitles it to a place among textbooks which have been organized for sequential and in- tensive study under a formal organization. In fact, the proper organization of material is one of the fundamental factors in a sound textbook. By the aid of its arrangement of subject-matter both teacher and pupil may proceed psy- chologically and logically in the pursuit of a study. The point is obvious enough, but one finds in many instances that books, otherwise valuable, have been introduced as texts when they are wholly unsuitable for this purpose. This is perhaps more true in literature and history than in other subjects. Doubtless the most important of all questions con- cerning the textbook is its organization of subject-matter. This gives character and educational significance to the book. The textbook must be a well-systematized arrangement of a subject so that its formal study may proceed in an orderly sequence. Kinds of Textbooks. Various classifications of textbooks have been made. Dr. W. C. Bagley offers the following list : readers ; manuals or handbooks, such as arithmetic and grammar texts ; textbooks proper, such as geographies, his- tories, physiologies, etc. The wider scope of methods, how- ever, requires a more comprehensive classification. Its Meaning and Methods of Supply 45 The following is suggested : 1. Primers and readers. 2. Manuals or handbooks. 3. Textbooks proper. 4. General literature when especially organized by author or teacher for study purposes. 5. Periodical literature when treated educationally. 6. Lecture notes, syllabi, and manuscripts. 7. Sunday School quarterlies, Lesson Leaves and Bible Study notes, such as Peloubet's or the series written by Martha Tarbell. Magazines. The sixth group in this list finds little place in the public school but it occupies a prominent (perhaps a too important) place in college and university instruction. Of the fifth group much could be written. Its inclusion in the public school marks one of the notable stages of advance in the technic and motivation of teaching. Newspapers and magazines appeal to youth, for in them one finds variety, simplicity, and no little beauty (one thinks immediately of such a periodical as the " National Geographic Magazine "). They are universally popular and in daily use. The pupil who is assigned work in this sort of textbook feels that he is doing just what his father and elders are doing when they read at home. High school work appears to him as having connections with life, and that it is in a true sense really practical. More- over, not infrequently the newspaper will reprint a novel by Hugo or Scott and in this way stimulate interest in these authors. The book repels interest where the newspaper and periodical awaken zest in study. It should be recalled that many, if not most, of the great novels by English masters appeared serially. Perhaps one reason for the appeal of the periodical 46 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It lies in its brevity. One does not feel discouraged at the sight of numerous and closely printed pages as with a book. General literature. The fourth group is in danger of being overemphasized. There has been long current the viewpoint that in order to study literature it is necessary to analyze a literary product minutely, well-nigh exhaustively. Annota- tions by this and that editor are studied, and elaborate notebook work is required, until the pupil doubtless feels as the passen- ger on a local train. There are seemingly more stops than a meaningful approach to any goal. The pupil is lost in the wilderness of detailed explanation and interpretation, and perhaps fails to get any connected and artistic conception of the masterpiece assigned him. Many times the author's notes are unsatisfactory, and much time is consumed in trying to find them. For convenience it would seem that explanations should appear on the same page as the passage treated, and not at the end of the book. Classification on basis of style. Another classification of textbooks might be made on the basis of the principles con- trolling the author's style of composition. Some textbooks are purely theoretical. The author seems to have sought only abstractions, rinding in a pompous and obscure rhetoric a vehicle for impressing the reader with the madness of much learning. Obviously such books have no appeal for pupils in the public schools. But many textbooks in mathematics and physics (not to speak of the languages) have this lifeless atmosphere. On the other hand, one finds the textbook made up of a bewildering array of facts, a collection of problems or data with no consistent organization, no pedagogical foundations. The book appears to be a hasty commercial enterprise. The Its Meaning and Methods of Supply 47 problems in most cases are purely disciplinary. The book is a museum or an exhibit of knowledge. Its only purpose seems to be to unfold certain parts of the subject but not at all to develop vital initiative, broad understanding, and genuine cre- ative interest. Between these extremes are the textbooks whose contents suffer with overfeeding. Theory and facts and copious explanations have been amassed in formidable bulk without any apparent discrimination of educational values. There is organization but it is all on one plane. The average teacher who attempts to complete the course outlined in such a book will certainly break down in the attempt. The author has had only an exhaustive treatment of the subject in mind. It may be a valuable and up-to-date discussion, but the book gives little evidence that the author had a partic- ular kind of pupil-group in mind, or any conception of curriculum making as controls in the organization of his book. A fourth kind of textbook does reveal evaluation but again it is the author's own reaction. He has not weighed the material in the light of any carefully considered principles of educational values. In history, for example, wars are, to him, more important than institutions. Political and military dates seem to him to be more vital than industrial and eco- nomic progress. The book is overbalanced with material that is either of the traditional sort found in most texts on the sub- ject, or the selection of subject-matter rests on a theory of educational values that apparently has not considered the needs of pupils in our modern industrial and democratic age. It ought to be clear that a textbook must represent a consen- sus of the most modern opinions on the subject of which it 48 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It treats. This opinion will undergo revision, and as it changes the textbook must be altered. A one-man textbook may have many commendable features but for the best educa- tional results the book must express the judgment of a large group of investigators who have found certain emphases de- sirable in the respective subjects. There remains for mention the textbook whose contents have been selected and arranged with the pupils constantly before the author. Their point of view, the range of interests natural to their stage of development, and the fundamentals of social application possible by means of his particular sub- ject, — these control his organization and stimulate an easy, clear, attractive style which makes the book what it is intended to be — an introduction to knowledge and a means of stimu- lating and directing the pupil to obtain, largely by himself, the salient data of the subject. The Free Textbook. Considerable discussion has arisen lately regarding the advantages and disadvantages of the free textbook. Many citizens hold the opinion that inasmuch as they are taxed for the support of the public school system it ought to be unnecessary, and it appears to be unfair, to re- quire them to increase their taxes by paying for textbooks. Many parents cannot afford to buy as many books as are needed. There has been, for these and other reasons, a steady increase in the free textbook policy. The earliest free textbooks were provided by cities, Phila- delphia in 18 1 8 being the first. Other cities have found it advisable to introduce free texts. Jersey City did so in 1830 ; Newark in 1838; Charleston, S. C, in 1856; Hoboken and Elizabeth, New Jersey, about i860; Chester, Penn., in 1864. The first state to pass a mandatory state-wide free textbook Its Meaning and Methods of Supply 49 law was Massachusetts in 1884. The following states now have similar free textbook laws : Arizona District of Columbia Nebraska California Maine Nevada Delaware Maryland New Hampshire New Jersey Utah Pennsylvania Vermont Rhode Island Wyoming In seventeen other states school districts may supply free textbooks if they so desire : Colorado Kansas Montana Connecticut Michigan New York Idaho Minnesota North Dakota Iowa Missouri Ohio South Dakota Washington Texas West Virginia Wisconsin In New York State textbooks may be furnished in any city district and in any union free school district by the school board if a special tax is voted. In sixteen other states many cities and other districts are supplying free texts without being required to do so by any state legislation. In Missouri, whenever provision is made for free texts in at least the first four grades in the public schools of a district, the county subapportions annually to each such school dis- trict, from the county foreign insurance tax moneys received from the state, an amount to be determined by multiplying the number of children on the last enumeration list by the ratio used by the state auditor in making the distribution of 50 Textbook , How to Use It and Judge It such moneys among the counties of the state. A school dis- trict containing an incorporated town or city is not entitled to such aid. 1 Conditions in Colorado 2 may represent some of the diffi- culties regarding free textbook administration elsewhere. The Colorado law provides that the purchase of free textbooks in any school district shall be at the discretion of the qualified electors. The board of directors is required to furnish books free to all children when instructed to do so by the voters; but it is not allowed to change an adopted text oftener than once in four years, nor to provide more than one kind of text of the same grade or branch of study in the same department of a school. The latter requirement is not generally observed in the larger districts, but reports from teachers show that very few of the rural schools are provided with supplementary texts in reading, geography, and other subjects. About three fourths of the children of Colorado are fur- nished with textbooks by the districts in which they live. All cities with special superintendents supply their books. Out of 1846 districts in the state 845 (or about 45 per cent, with an enrollment of nearly 75 per cent of the school children) furnish textbooks at public expense. There is general complaint that school directors in rural dis- tricts fail to supply books promptly and of a proper kind. And school directors complain that every teacher wants a different kind of book. The county superintendent's report confirms both sides of the case. Many of the books are out of date and also in other ways unsuited to school work in the locality where they are used. There is practical uniformity 1 U. S. Bureau of Educ. Bulletin, 1915 ; No. 22, p. 24. 2 U. S. Bureau of Educ. Bulletin, 1917; No. 5. Its Meaning and Methods of Supply 51 in at least ten counties, but in the remaining fifty-two coun- ties there is extreme variety. The U. S. Commissioner's Report concludes with the recom- mendation that the free textbook law should be made manda- tory instead of optional, in order that all children in the state may be furnished with proper books. Legislation should be passed requiring all publishers who wish to do business in the state to submit to the state board samples of books with the net price list ; to sign a contract agreeing to supply books to school authorities at the prices quoted, which shall be as low as in other states under similar conditions, and to file a bond of from $2000 to $20,000 to be forfeited in case the con- tract is violated. The state board should publish a list of books, the publishers of which have complied with the law, with net prices for the convenience of school authorities in making their selections. The state board should omit from the published lists any undesirable books, even if the pub- lishers have complied with the state law relative to the filing of samples, price list, and bond. General distribution of free texts. In a study made of school administration in the small cities * it was found that 593 cities, of 1257 reporting, furnished free textbooks, 366 being in states that require free textbooks, and 227 in those that permit them to be furnished free. In 530 of the 593 cities where textbooks are provided free the city board supplies the books, while in 63 cities the state does so. In 744 of the 1257 cities reporting, stationery and pencils are also furnished free. The Advantages of Free Textbooks. The following ar- guments in favor of free textbooks, have been presented from time to time : 1 U. S. Bureau of Educ. Bulletin, 1915 ; No. 44, by W. S. Defifenbaugh. 52 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It i, The cost is placed on the district rather than on the in- dividual ; there is a lower per capita cost. 2. Economy is made possible through large orders. (The Russell Sage Foundation Bulletin 124 says about 20 per cent is saved in this way.) 3. Books may be changed with little inconvenience when- ever different texts are found necessary. 4. Uniformity of textbooks in each school administrative district is secured. This would reduce much of the con- fusion in the transfer of pupils from school to school. Many superintendents find this to be true. 5. Poor children may attend school equipped in this respect as well as the more well-to-do children. 6. A larger enrollment is possible because the cost to the parent is less. (The Massachusetts law on free texts resulted in a 10 per cent increase in high school enrollment.) 7. Everybody has a book, and the school work can start promptly the first day. 8. Additional or supplementary texts may be provided for the enrichment of the teacher's point of view, scope of illus- trations and applications. Such additional texts are avail- able also for the wider study of a subject by the pupils. It would seem that in the effort to establish universal edu- cation nothing should be left undone to bring educational advantages to poor and rich alike. In the present advance of the cost of living, and the danger of sacrificing education for the business of war, it is all the more needful that the state make it possible for everybody to share in the benefits of public school training. The free textbook should, therefore, be given to all who enroll in the public schools. It would be undemo- cratic to provide free books only for the poor. We cannot Its Meaning and Methods of Supply 53 afford to single out for public and visible charity any boy or girl in democracy's great agency of uplift. The textbook must be free to everybody or to none at all. Disadvantages of the Free Textbook. It must be admitted, however, that free and uniform textbooks have certain dis- advantages. These have been summarized by Mr. Monohan of the United States Bureau of Education and by others as follows : 1. Parents and pupils are made to realize that they become wholly dependent on the state. They should as- sume some of the responsibilities of education. 2. Increased school taxes would be necessary if free text- books were provided. 3. Children should not be required to use books soiled by other children. 4. Free textbooks are likely to be carriers of disease. 5. By the parent purchasing textbooks home libraries may be built up. The pupil would have a collection of reference books. 6. Books furnished free are not cared for as well as those owned by the pupils. 7. The lack of the sense of possession is a weakness in the development of self-respect. 8. The free textbook cannot be marked and reorganized for study purposes as conveniently as one owned by the pupil. 9. It is difficult to recover books from pupils who drop school and move away. Hence the cost of equipment is raised and waste is increased. Some of these arguments have weight. There are parents who expect too much from the state. Many of these parents give but little to society, but are content to let others pro- 54 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It videthem with the advantages of a democracy. It doubtless is true that handling books soiled by children improperly trained in the home, is objectionable to children with more cleanly habits. The same disadvantage, however, is found in free public libraries and in school libraries. A weekly inspec- tion of the textbooks and drill in removing the stains that can be erased would meet this objection to some extent. Unquestionably the strongest argument against free text- books is the fourth on the list. They do carry germs of in- fectious diseases. A careful record of pupil and home health, however, and scrupulous disinfection of all books between terms would relieve this condition to no small extent. It is doubtful if the purchase of school books by the home would greatly augment the home library. And a library of textbooks would be a rather uninteresting affair. Besides, textbooks soon become out of date. Furthermore, the secondhand book business would prevent the increase of the home library. If the school teachers supervise the care of textbooks by means of drills in the care of the book, it is likely that the school-owned book will be as neat and well preserved as any book owned by the pupil. Employing the devices discussed in Chapter V would partly answer the objections under 8. In connection with the policy of free textbooks it is impor- tant for teachers to adopt some scheme of distributing and supervising the care of the books loaned to the pupils. A record should be kept of all books given out ; a receipt or check- ing scheme for all books returned. The pupil must be cau- tioned regarding the proper care of the book. Providing covers becomes part of the pupil's responsibility at this point unless Its Meaning and Methods of Supply 55 the school itself supplies heavy manila covers. The follow- ing record card is suggested : Record Card of Books Loaned to Pupils NAME OF PUPIL GRADE SUBJECT- NAME OF BOOK HOME ADDRESS- condition of Book New Good Fair Dates of Loan Loaned Re- turned Condition of Book on Return Ex- cellent Back broken Torn pages Soiled badly Disposition of Book Loaned again Sent for repairs Dis carded Figure I This record card might be kept by a trustworthy pupil, called the class librarian. If this office is treated as one of responsibility and honor, the pupils will accord it respect and serve its purpose conscientiously. Uniform Textbooks. Another serious problem deals with state uniformity of textbooks. The advantage of such a policy lies in the reduction of cost made possible by large sales, and also the ease with which pupils transferred from school to school can adjust themselves to new conditions. The following states have uniform textbooks : Alabama Florida Indiana Arizona Georgia Kansas California Idaho Kentucky 56 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It Louisiana Montana New Mexico Mississippi Nevada North Carolina Oklahoma Tennessee Oregon Texas South Carolina Utah Virginia It has been pointed out by investigators in this field that these states fall into two large groups, the Southern and the Plateau States. Both of these have comparatively new pub- lic school systems. Where pioneer conditions seem to pre- dominate, it is important educationally that some central control unify growth until strength and confidence have been gained for more diversified organization. Arguments for and against uniformity. Which policy is better, state uniformity or local option, has not yet been finally determined. Doubtless too much of either would prove detri- mental. Some writers on the subject believe that The unit of local adoption should always coincide with the unit of supervision the same authority that prepares the course of study and supervises its execution in the schools should select the books that will prove most effective in carrying out that course of study. . . . Supervision, course of study, and adoption of texts rightly belong together. 1 The advantage of such a scheme is more apparent than real, say the proponents of state uniformity. The needs of pupils throughout a state are not so varied that wholly different kinds of textbooks are necessary. Local needs are easily provided for by the teacher's supplementary material. 1 Cubberley and Elliott, " State and County School Administration — Source Book;" Macmillan, 1915. Its Meaning and Methods of Supply 57 Many local boards, with the laborious process of adopting texts, would simply multiply a task difficult enough for a state board to perform. Doubtless few central boards adopt any text without con- sulting with educational experts, who may be expected to understand the merits of a good text. While diversity is necessary in a democracy like our own, there is also need of unifying agencies, and particularly so with a migratory popu- lation like our own. The argument that uniform textbooks are desirable because when pupils move from place to place they must change books, may be answered in two ways. First, the local com- munity might buy the pupil's old books and the money could then be used for buying the new books. Second, while the number of high school transients is large these pupils after all are in the minority. The state must legislate principally for majorities. It is not always feasible to give recognition to individual exceptions. 1 Professor John Adams inquires whether national uniformity in textbooks is desirable. 2 There is a considerable amount of material that is taught everywhere. Take the subject of arithmetic for example. Adams supposes, for the sake of argument, that national uniformity in this subject is possible. By such national agreement social communication might be enhanced to an even greater degree than now obtains. Again, in history, if a government desires a special set of books in this subject, and prescribes them for use in the school, it can 1 An excellent Summary of laws regarding Free Textbooks and State Uni- formity may be found in the U. S. Bureau of Educ. Bulletin, 1915, No. 36, by A. C. Monohan. 2 Evolution of Educational Theory, pp. 388-90. The Macmillan Co., 19 12. 58 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It lift the new generation to present ideals and purposes in a comparatively short time. The obvious answer to any proposal of national uniformity in textbooks is, of course, that in this country there is no fed- eral control of education. But if there were such a central authority it would still be highly • doubtful whether or not such control would be advisable. The hope of the textbook situation is that full and free competition makes possible improved texts and a change of texts whenever needed. It would be a gloomy day for education if a central authority or representatives of a national party in power dictated the contents of study and ordered textbooks of an ultra-biased point of view. If the minimum essentials in the various subjects can be de- termined it would perhaps be economical to have brief texts con- taining only these fundamentals. Supplementary material could then be prepared in the form of pamphlets, to be used only by the teachers. Such an arrangement would possibly curtail the large quantity of material that is now deemed essential for pupils to study. The Cost of Textbooks. It is easy to generalize and to exaggerate conclusions regarding nation-wide movements and expenditures. It is commonly believed that vast and in- ordinate sums are expended yearly on educational equip- ment. Taking the expenditures in bulk, the figures do loom large. Nearly a billion dollars a year spent on education, directly and indirectly, seems a tremendous outlay to indi- viduals who fail to estimate the cost of education in compara- tive terms. And in the making and buying of textbooks it is quite popularly believed that too much money is given to publishing houses and to authors. Its Meaning and Methods of Study 59 In considering this subject, the cost of textbooks, it will be interesting to consider first the cost of making them. When this information is before us it may be that the cost of textbooks to the schools or to the citizens will not seem as exorbitant as now appears to be the case. Cost of making textbooks. The making of textbooks is a tine art, and one which has been slowly developing for many years. Because it really is a fine art, there are varying de- grees of excellence among textbooks. Some lack style, others ride a hobby, some lack the results of wide experience on the part of the author, and many are wanting in the essentials of thorough scholarship. When a textbook publisher has a series of books that have been tested and not found wanting — and be sure that it has taken years of the hardest kind of work, much money ventured, and much lost in unsuccessful experiments — he still has before him ever-present troubles and expenses that no one but another publisher dreams of. A textbook must be kept strictly up to date. Every history that touches modern times must have something added to it every year. The United States Census every ten years costs the textbook publisher, especially the publisher of geogra- phies, more in proportion than it costs the government. Between fifteen and twenty thousand dollars have been spent in a single year after the Census returns began to come out, by one publisher in correcting the plates of a series of geogra- phies. This expense did not include the loss of the old stock of books that had to be destroyed. Moreover, the first cost of textbooks is vastly greater than that of any other books, first cost meaning the cost of setting the type, making electrotype plates, and the illustrations and maps where these are required. And no other books use 60 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It maps and illustrations so abundantly. The cost of maps for a series of geographies may be forty thousand dollars, and the entire first cost of such a series more than a hundred thousand dollars. The first cost of a primer runs from two to four thousand dollars, and is always a large sum because primers must be abun- dantly illustrated with the very best pictures available for the purpose. Compare these prices with that of the ordinary novel, whose first cost will hardly exceed six hundred dollars. Yet the selling price of the novel ranges from one dollar and twenty-five cents to one dollar and a half, while the primer sells for but twenty-five or thirty cents. 1 The entire volume of the textbook business in the United States is about twelve million dollars a year, divided among one hundred publishers. Cost of textbooks to the citizens. The second consideration under the cost of textbooks concerns the amount of cost to the consumer. If the state were relieved of the burden of sup- plying texts would there not be considerable reduction in taxes, — ask the citizens who so easily exaggerate ? But a careful survey of the cost, compared with other expenditures, throws a rather different light on this aspect of public education. The following approximate outlays do not indicate that too much money is used up in schoolbooks. In the United States we spend approximately the following amounts per annum for some of our luxuries and necessities : Spirituous liquors $579,000,000, an average of $5.79 per person Boots and shoes 512,000,000, an average of 5.12 per person Tobacco 417,000,000, an average of 4.17 per person Bread and bakeries 397,000,000, an average of 3.97 per person 1 Chas. H. Thurber, "What about Textbooks?" Outlook, Sept. 13, 1913. Its Meaning and Methods of Supply 61 Moving pictures 275,000,000, an average of $2.75 per person Automobiles 249,000,000, an average of 2.49 per person Agricultural implements . . . 146,000,000, an average of 1.46 per person Patent medicines 142,000,000, an average of 1.42 per person Confectionery 135,000,000, an average of 1.35 per person Coffee 100,000,000, an average of 1.00 per person Chewing gum 25,000,000, an average of 0.25 per person School books 17,000,000, an average of 0.17 per person The enrollment in elementary and secondary education in this country is about 19,000,000. The annual cost of school books per pupil is approximately seventy-eight cents. About two per cent of the total cost of school maintenance, support, and equipment is spent annually on textbooks. The cost per child on the school population basis (5-18 years of age) is approximately fifty-six and six- tenths cents and the annual cost of textbooks per pupil nearly seventeen cents. These data seem to answer the second objection to free textbooks in the list on page 53. Shown graphically the relative cost of school books appears as shown in Figure II (p. 62). The increase of prices within the last year will, of course, raise the per capita cost of school books, but it is probable that the distribution of expenditures as shown in the table and in the graph will remain about the same, i.e. school books will hold approximately the lowest place in the scale of expendi- tures. Convenient method of introducing free texts. If conditions make it impossible to meet the initial cost of providing books, the gradual introduction of them as suggested by Cubberley is to be commended. He says : A good beginning might be made by supplying in the elementary schools everything except the regular textbooks ; this would prob- ably cost about $2 per pupil per year, of which about one half would 62 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It Comparative Annual Cost of Schoolbooks and Some Other Articles in Common Use en the United States Llquora, Distilled, Malt and Vinous Tobacco Manufactures 010 25 50 15 IN MILLIONS 100 125 150 175 200 225 250 275 300 Newspapers and Periodicals { Automobiles Silks Pat. Med. and Druggists' Prep. Confectionery Pianos and Organs Millinery and Lace Goods Jewelry Boxes, fancy and paper Mineral and Soda Waters Explosives Firearms and Ammunition Corsets Ribbons Artificial Flowers and Feathers Cash Reg. and Calc. Mach. Buttons Sweaters Typewriters Umbrellas and Canes Paper Bags Blacking and Cleaning Prep. Signs and Advertising Novelties SCHOOLBOOKS Phonographs Sporting Goods Matches Flavoring Extracts Cigar Boxes Toys and Games Flags, Badges, etc. Needles,Pins,!and Hooks and Eyes Billiard Tables and Materials Fountain Pens Labels and Tags Silk Stockings Courtesy of American Boot Company This diagram is based on the latest and most accurate official statistics — the U. S. Census Bureau Bulletin, 1910 ; the Report of the U. S. Commissioner of Education, 1911-12; and the separate reports of State Superintendents of Public Instruction. The annual amount expended for textbooks for public schools is approxi- mately $ 12,000,000. Figure II Its Meaning and Methods of Supply 6s be necessary for stationery and other quickly consumed supplies, while the other half should be expended on supplementary books and other relatively permanent material. By spending this amount for three or four years, a good supply of supplementary books and other relatively permanent materials would be accumulated ; then, without much increasing the annual costs, the district might under- take to supply the regular texts in the elementary schools. All books would, of course, be loaned, not given, to pupils. When the system of furnishing books and supplies by the district had been once completely established, it could be well maintained at an annual expenditure not exceeding $2 per pupil in the elementary schools. 1 State Publication of Textbooks. In the effort to reduce the cost of textbooks, two states have undertaken to produce their own school books. California and Kansas, in their efforts along this line, have not yet reached unanimous agreement that state production is either cheaper or productive of better, if as good, texts. In discussing this subject Dr. John Frank- lin Brown reaches the following conclusions : 1. In no case is lower cost to the people proved if all the expense factors are taken into account. 2. Books produced under state publication are always in- ferior in mechanical features. 3. They are often inferior pedagogically. 4. There is often serious delay in delivery of books. 5. It is difficult to change to a better book. 6. Pupils are sometimes limited to the use of a single book, supplementary books being barred. 7. The state should engage in no business enterprise which can safely be left to private effort. 1 The Portland Survey, World Book Co., 1914, p. 161. 64 Textbook j How to Use It and Judge It 8. State publication provides an easy road to inefficiency and graft. 9. It subordinates school interests to political exigencies. 10. It violates the professional spirit of teachers. 11. It discourages authorship and competitive publishing effort. 12. It emphasizes cost rather than quality of educational equipment. At first glance it would seem logical that the state which supports the public school should also produce its own educa- tional equipment. In every state there doubtless are persons capable of writing texts of merit. But the most serious ob- jection to this seemingly obvious plan of state publication lies in subjecting scholarship and educational progress to the control of politics. We do not need to be reminded that there is altogether too much political graft and chicanery in educa- tion at present without creating opportunities for more. While true that the present conditions prevailing in book adoptions are far from ideal, no assurance is offered that state publica- tion would provide conditions more ideal. All of the argu- ments presented by Dr. Brown are valid. Until states like Kansas can prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that state publication is superior to the plan now widely in vogue, it will be wise to make it possible for competing t publishers to produce even better texts, excellent as very many of them now are. The following data by A. L. Shirer of Topeka, Kansas, throw light on conditions of state publication in Kansas. In this state where experiments in civic management are cour- ageously undertaken, state publication has been given a fair trial. The following table gives the exact number of books bought by pupils in 191 2-13 at the established retail prices: Its Meaning and Methods of Supply 65 TABLE I Books Sold 209,568 68,526 58,946 58,471 79,H7 78,119 109,691 132,379 85,182 H3,938 40,190 16,000 27,758 254,608 Title of Book Speller First Reader . . . . Second Reader . . . Third Reader . . . . Fourth Reader . . . Fifth Reader . . . . Elementary Arithmetic Advanced Arithmetic . English, Book One . . English, Book Two . . Civics U. S. History . . . . First Hygiene . . . Writing Retail Price 11 cents 11 cents 19 cents 25 cents 33 cents 44 cents 28 cents 39 cents 22 cents 39 cents 44 cents 55 cents 30 cents 5 cents Total $23,052.48 7,537-86 11,199.74 I4,6i7.75 26,108.61 34,372.36 30,713.48 51,627.81 18,740.04 44,435.82 17,683.60 8,800.00 8,327.40 12,730.40 $309,947.35 Against this total the pupils turned in on the exchange the following : TABLE II Books Sold 88,209 10,218 14,077 19,436 30,626 3 6 ,422 47,869 47,651 16,940 41,403 54,778 Title of Book Speller . . . First Reader . Second Reader Third Reader Fourth Reader Fifth Reader . Elementary Arithmetic Advanced Arithmetic Civics English, Book One . Grammar .... EXCHA* jge Price 5 cents 5 cents 8| cents ii£ cents 15 cents 20 cents 12! cents *7l cents 20 cents 10 cents i7i cents Total $4,410.45 510.90 1,196.54 2,235.14 4,593.90 7,284.40 5,983.62 8,338.92 3,388.oo 4,140.30 9,586.15 $51,668.32 66 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It While the gross sales amounted to #309,947.35, the pupils were paid for their old books #51,668.32, making the net purchases by pupils, #258,279.03. Against this statement should now be placed the same quantities of books, etc., at state publication prices as estab- lished for 191 7-18. It will be assumed of course that more books will be sold this year than were sold in 191 2-13 and that the pupils thereby lose more because they cannot turn in for exchange the old books. That only increases the total cost to pupils. TABLE III Books Sold 209,658 68,526 58,946 58,471 79,H7 78,119 109,691 132,379 85,182 H3,938 40,190 16,000 27,758 254,608 Title of Book Speller First Reader . . . . Second Reader . . . Third Reader . . . . Fourth Reader . . . Fifth Reader . . . . Elementary Arithmetic Advanced Arithmetic . Language, Book One . Grammar Civics History Hygiene Writing State Publica- tion Retail Price 16 23 27 21 25 29 28 39 23 34 30 52 22 cents cents cents cents cents cents cents cents cents cents cents cents cents cents Total $33,530.88 15,760.98 i5,9i5-42 12,278.91 19,779-25 22,654.51 30,713.48 51,627.81 19,591.86 38,738.92 12,057.00 8,320.00 6,106.76 20,358.64 $307,434-42 It will be seen from this tabulation that state-published books have cost the pupils this school year, 191 7-18, a total of #49,155.39 more than they were paying for the same books under the uniformity law, when the state had no investment Its Meaning and Methods of Supply 67 and the whole burden of financial responsibility was placed on the publishers. The above list does not include all the books being published by the state but only books published for the first time this school year. It is safe to say, however, that the state has established no price that could not easily have been duplicated by contract, and has produced no book from manuscript that has developed any particular educational value beyond others of its kind. Furthermore, it should be noted that authors (there are ap- proximately thirty-five thousand in this country) are dis- tributed over a wide area. In no one state is it likely that all the subjects have prominent specialists. There is also in state publication the false assumption that anybody who knows a subject can produce an adequate textbook of this subject. The outstanding weakness in textbook writing is not lack of scholarship, but the lack of an educational program, the absence of any practical conception of how the understanding of a subject develops in the mind of the pupil. Anybody can throw together facts and call it a textbook. To-day, however, we demand something more educational than an encyclopedic textbook. Many of the latest textbooks give evidence of the author's ability to organize subject-matter from the psycho- logical as well as from the logical point of view, with con- siderable emphasis on the former. Summary. A textbook differs from other kinds of books in its organization of material for the purpose of formal edu- cation. Its selection of material aims to meet the needs of pupils at various stages in their school career. While for- merly instruction and training depended upon one book on a subject, to-day there are many kinds of books used in class 68 Textbook , How to Use It and Judge It work, and besides these, periodicals and pamphlets not specifically in the textbook group. The extension of public school education and its enrichment of subject content have brought about the need of free texts (without which compul- sory education might be impossible), and a certain amount of uniformity throughout a particular state. Extreme local option or exclusive state uniformity seems undesirable. No small problem in the question of free and uniform textbooks is that of cost. While the cost of textbooks is less than that of other items in school expenditure it is still heavy, both from the publisher's and from the consumer's standpoint. The fact that the consumer is the public school system is no good reason for ignoring the item of cost. It is important, however, that taxation be liberal enough to make it possible for the educator to procure the latest and the best texts, and also to supply a sufficient variety for each class so that the pupil's point of view need not be confined to a one-text inter- pretation of a subject. QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS i. Define a textbook. 2. How would you revise or supplement the classification of textbooks given in this chapter ? Classify the kinds of books that you use for instructional purposes. 3. When and where were free texts first used in this country? Is the free textbook universally used in the United States? 4. What are the advantages of the free textbook? The dis- advantages? Which of the former and which of the latter seem to you most significant ? 5. What are the chief objections to state uniformity of text- books? Its Meaning and Methods of Supply 69 6. How much do the textbooks cost your community? Does this cost exceed the average for the country as a whole? 7. Why is state publication of textbooks undesirable? REFERENCES Brown, G. E. " Should the State publish its own textbooks ? " Journal of Education, 81 : 566-67 ; May 27, 1915. California. Council of Education. Report. Sierra Educational News, Vol.8: 222-38, May, 1912. State Board of Education. "Concern- ing high-school textbooks in California." Sacramento, 1914. Bul- letin No. 1. "State textbook plan reviewed." Biennial report, 1909-10. Sacramento, W. W. Shannon, Superintendent State Printing, 1910 : pp. 59-66. "The California textbook plan." Journal of Education, Vol. 69: 173- 80; February 18, 1909. Chancellor, William E. "The government publication of school books." School Journal, Vol. 80: 218-20; April, 1913, Vol. 81: 161-4 ; March, 1914. Commonwealth Club of California. " State textbooks." San Francisco, Cal., 1912 : p. 315-74. 8°. (Transactions, Vol. 7, No. 3, Aug., 1912.) Cornell, L. S. " State Uniformity of Textbooks." N. E. A. Proceed- ings, 1888; pp. 225-37. Covell, L. E. " Should the free textbook system be adopted ? " Min- nesota Educational Association. Journal of Proceedings and Addresses, 1909. Minneapolis, Minn., Syndicate Printing Company ; PP. I5I-55- Cox, E. M. " Free textbooks." Western Journal of Education, Vol. 8: 89-97; February, 1903. Cubberley, Ell wood P. " Textbooks." In Cyclopedia of Education. Ed. by Paul Monroe. Vol. 5. New York, Macmillan, 19 13. pp. 756-78. Dutton, Samuel T., and Snedden, David. " Free textbooks." In Ad- ministration of Public Education in the United States. New York, Macmillan, 1908. pp. 216-23. (Rev. ed., 191 2.) Evans, Lawton B. "State publication of textbooks." School and Home. Vol.6: 7-10; June, 19 14. 7 [ c. Paragraphing. 1. Binding . . 2. Type . . . 3. Lines . . . 4. Illustrations. II. Mechanical Make-up ' a. Durability. b. Attractiveness. c PaDer ( Quality ' p \ Gloss — lacking. f a. Size. I b. Clearness. [ c. Width of leading. f a. Arrangement of lines, so that natural word groups are J not broken. {a. At top or bottom, or on separate page. b. Attractive, clear, simple, and full of action. c. Educative and suitable for grades. In Decatur, Illinois, the following sets of standards were employed in 191 5 in judging readers. CHARACTER OF CONTENTS 1. Provision for variety of motive. 2. Provision for organization of ideas. 108 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It 3. Provision for discovery of relative values. 4. Provision for initiative by pupils. 5. Gradation in regard to interests and experiences of pupils. 6. Does content afford opportunities for different children to find some relation to their own peculiar interest or experiences ? 7. Can the children enter into the atmosphere of the stories? 8. Does the subject-matter appeal to the child's love, humor, imagination, activity, reason? 9. Do the lessons furnish a stimulus to further thought? 10. Does the text help in forming a foundation for the apprecia- tion of literature ? 11. Does the text carry a sustained interest? 12. Does the text have some material adapted for special days, dramatizations, and varied types of reading? 13. Is there opportunity for varied and natural expression? 14. Are the lessons isolated, grouped, or continuous? 15. Will the text tend to produce eager, independent readers? 16. How many pages are not adapted for use by all the children ? VOCABULARY 1. Gradation in regard to work difficulty, sentence structure, mechanical arrangement on page. 2. Are the lessons of suitable length? 3. Are the words, phrases, and sentences of the first half of the primer easy and natural for the beginners ? 4. Are the words used in the text those needed in the child's everyday vocabulary, and in reading supplementary readers? 5. Can new words be mastered largely through the context? 6. Does the reading matter lend itself to word grouping? 7. Does the vocabulary increase slowly enough? 8. Does the text sufficiently increase the child's vocabulary? 9. Is provision made for motivated reviews? 10. Is repetition provided at ever-increasing intervals? The* Selecting and Judging of Textbooks 109 11. Is there sufficiently frequent repetition of words in different relations to each other to assure recognition? 12. Is there too much repetition so that memory is depended upon rather than word recognition? 13. Is the material so organized that a thorough phonic course may be formed leading to independent reading? 14. Does the text tend to strong word mastery? METHOD HELPS 1. Is there a gradual progression through the series? 2. Is the teacher helped to grow in ability to get intelligent expressive reading from the classes ? 3. What suggestions are made for helping the pupil when he does not know the needed word ? 4. Which makes the best provisions for drills ? 5. Does the subject-matter lend itself to good habits of study? 6. Is there enough material for independent seat work? 7. Can the inexperienced teacher get good results from the use of this text? 8. Does the text open opportunities for growth in method to the experienced teacher ? 9. Is adequate help given the second- and third-grade teachers ? 10. What provision is made for voice training? MAKE-UP OF THE BOOK i. Is the book attractive? 2. Will it stand the wear and tear of daily use? 3. Are the illustrations artistic, suggestive, and of educative worth ? 4. Are they well arranged? 5. Are the type and page arrangement well adapted to the particular grade for which the book is intended? no Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It 6. Is the book convenient as to size, weight, and flexibility of binding ? Standards in Spelling and Language. In Phcenixville, Pa., under the direction of Superintendent Isaac Dough- ton, a successful method of selecting textbooks has been em- ployed. The superintendent examined a large number of spellers and then asked the teachers who taught spelling from the third grade up to examine six of the books that seemed to him the best suited to the needs of the pupils. These books were to be arranged in the order of choice as first, second, etc. The books were then scored by the following plan : For factors of scoring the order was inverted; that is, every choice was scored six points, every second choice, five, and so on to the sixth choice, which was scored one point. In spite of the instruction given to rate every book, some teachers gave only the first, second, and third choice, or rated only four books. In such cases the remaining possible scores were totaled and distributed equally among the books not reported. On account of the cen- tralization of the seventh and eighth grades the score was tabu- lated separately for the first six grades, and the average rank of the six texts was determined. Then to make the final choice, this average rating was scored in the same way and given a scoring power of two, the rating of the seventh- and eighth-grade teacher was given a scoring power of one and the superintend- ent's own rating was given a scoring power of two. On the basis of this final score the final rating was determined and the choice made. Table IV indicates the results of the teachers' judgments in some detail. The divergence of opinion is accounted for largely by the fact that each teacher was concerned only with the books of The Selecting and Judging of Textbooks in I. Teachers' Judgments of Spelling Texts TABLE IV Book A BookB BookC Book D Book E BookF 1) M o U CO rj c/1 a a CO as u M O books are thought-provoking and vital? 6. Have you ever included in examinations the assignment to summarize a chapter or a page ? What would such questions test ? 7. Do the illustrations in your texts awaken interest? Are they studied in class? Do the pupils ever ask questions about them? What are the functions of book illustrations? 8. What difficulties do the pupils have in understanding dia- grams? How do you try to remove such difficulties? 9. What is an evaluated assignment? Wherein does it excel? What kind of preparation on the part of the teacher does it require ? 10. How often do you require the pupils to recite with their books open? What kind of recitation does this call for? What processes of learning are attended to under such conditions? 11. Part of each period might be used for training the pupils to use the mechanics of studying. How would you deal with this type of work so far as the free textbook is concerned ? REFERENCES Blair, F. G. " Study and the Use of Books." N. E. A. Proceedings ; 1909. P. 852. Buck, E. C. Guide to Teacher's Mastery of Texts. 2d Edition. E. C. Buck; Cedar Falls, Iowa ; 1908. Cramer, F. Talks to Students on the Art of Study. Baker, Taylor, New York; 1902. Ch. ix. Dearborn, Geo. V. How to Learn Easily. Little, Brown, Boston; 1916. Ch. IV. Earhart, Lida. Teaching Children to Study. Houghton Mifflin; 1909. Ch. IV. Hall-Quest, A. L. Supervised Study. Macmillan; 1916. Pp. 166-71. Hinsdale, B. A. The Art of Study. American Book Co.; 1900. Ch. vii. Horne, H. H. Story-Telling, Questioning and Studying. Macmillan ; 1916. Pp. 129, 130, i43 -8 > IOO > l6l > l6 7~9- 156 Textbook , How to Use It and Judge It Kitson, H. D. How to Use Your Mind. Lippincott, Philadelphia; 1916. Pp. 32, 33. Koopman, H. L. The Mastery of Books. American Book Co. ; 1896. McMurry, F. How to Study. Houghton Mifflin ; 1909. Pp. 107-10. Parker, S. C. Methods of Teaching in High School. Ginn, Chicago; 1915. Chs. XVI, XVII. Sandwick, R. L. How and What to Study. Heath, Boston; 1916. Pp. 32-6; 55-60. Strayer, G. D. A Brief Course in the Teaching Process. Macmillan; 1913. Pp. 108-9. Whipple, G. M. How to Study Efectively. Bloomington, 111. ; 1916. Wicomico County, Md., School Board. " Guide for Teachers in Use of Textbooks for different grades of public schools." Wicomico County, Md., Tallisburg, Md. ; 1909. CHAPTER VI THE TEXTBOOK AS A GUIDE Some of the suggestions considered in the preceding chap- ter require additional discussion. At the risk of seeming to repeat, I wish to deal with the textbook as a guide to reference reading, correlation, application; of problems, and reorgani- zation of the author's material to the needs of a particular group of pupils. The textbook points the way to these es- sentials of constructive training, either by itself or by the teacher's mode of treatment. Few texts, however, are ad- justed to the pupil's universal and local needs alike. The experienced teacher knows this, and can only expect that the text selected will prove so suggestive in its organization that needful adaptation will be possible with a minimum of extra labor. No one text should be regarded as an ipse dixit. Its chief value lies in directing the teaching process into the most fruitful achievement, by introducing teacher and pupil to the most economical and convenient methods of travel in the new territory of truth. It is a Baedeker and like every guide- book must be revised and amended and applied according to the peculiarities of the individual traveler. The Functions of the Textbook as a Guide. A guide to reference reading. Reference books may be conveniently classified as follows : Dictionaries, Encyclopedias, Biographi- cal Dictionaries, Year Books, Concordances, Catalogues, the iS7 158 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It Atlas and Gazetteer, Periodical Guides, Reports, and Statistical Bulletins. In a broader sense any book or publication that supplements the main textbook may be regarded as a reference book. More accurately, however, the latter division would be termed Supplementary Books as distinguished from the former, which in library terminology are classified as Refer- ence Books. The methods of using the two divisions differ. The study of the dictionary. Of these reference books the young pupil has more need of the dictionary and atlas, but the older pupils in the upper grades and in the high school, and students in college, use all of them with the possible exception of the Year Book, which is more professional. Assignments in the usage of these books are customary in English courses, but they should form part of the work in any subject whenever needed. Assignments in dictionary work would include the finding of words by means of the thumb index and guide words on the top of each page. The top left-hand word indicates the first word in the column and the right-hand word the last word in the right column. Spelling and pronunciation, es- pecially the former, are given in the dictionary with prefer- able usage where more than one kind of spelling and pro- nunciation are current. It is doubtful if much attention need be given to instruction in pronunciation by means of the dictionary in the lower grades. In the upper grades and higher schools it will be profitable to explain the marks used to guide the reader in pronouncing, but even with such help pro- nunciation is determined as a rule more by example than by dictionary methods. Derivation of words is an interesting study to the pupils engaged in studying a foreign language and might well be used in showing the practical value that The Textbook as a Guide 159 foreign language work has for a readier usage of English. Synonyms form another branch of study, and one that is of peculiar value for accurate and euphonious speaking and writing. The study of the dictionary, however, that is least satis- factory and yet of widest significance is the selection of definitions. A class of seventh-grade pupils were assigned the task of using a list of words selected by the commercial department. Among the words was " accumulate." The pupils consulted the dictionary, found definitions, and then wrote sentences. These sentences referred to accumulating hay, rocks, straw, candy, marbles, etc., but only one pupil mentioned accumulating wealth, which was the context pre- ferred by the commercial department. As a rule we do not speak of accumulating candy and hay. The definition was correct but the context had been disregarded. Kerf 00 1 in his interesting volume on How to Read reminds us that read- ing depends almost entirely on the context. And the nicety of diction is one index of true culture. Training pupils in the selection of suitable definitions is a difficult and indeed an impossible task if the teacher disre- gards the demands of the " set " of the word in a particulai connection. The random selection of definitions will yield ludicrous results. In connection with the study of definitions it would be interesting and not without profit to study idioms and even slang. The latter may not be deemed wise by purists in English courses but all of us enjoy baseball slang, and George Ade and his rival in slang, Billy Sunday, are popu- lar because they use these picturesque short cuts that in many instances are destined to become the main paths of verbal expression. Slang is language in process of transition. Most 160 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It of us use it. Most people say " cut out" instead of " elimi- nate " or " excise " and other strange-sounding words. Slang may not be a sign of educational polish but it certainly gives meaning " a home run." There will be less need in the lower grades to train the pupil to consult the encyclopedia or geographical and biographical dictionaries. In the upper grades and throughout the high school, instruction and practice in handling all needful refer- ence material should stimulate in the pupil respect for those sources of knowledge. Drill here is just as essential as in arithmetic or in spelling. If the textbook is meager in sug- gestions along these lines, it becomes the teacher's responsibility to enrich opportunities for reference work. A guide to correlation. In undertaking this important work the teacher, of course, will be handicapped if the school au- thorities do not supply additional books. In history it is well-nigh impossible to do justice to the course without con- sulting other books and, in these times, periodicals. Corre- lation is simply an application of the laws of association with- out which memory and learning are impossible. To teach history without referring to suggestive material in literature and science is to limit historical study to little more than chronology. The increasingly accepted method of teaching mathematics in connection with shop and laboratory work, dealing with the principles and rules of a particular assign- ment in the respective courses, enhances the interest and facilitates the understanding of all the coordinated work. The textbook guides teacher and pupil into cognate fields by listing problems, supplying allusions to related subjects, and by definitely suggesting that additional assignments should be made in cognate material. When so used the book The Textbook as a Guide 161 becomes to the pupil a real guide into the larger reaches of the subject, and he begins to appreciate that the subject being studied is not a one-book course but that it has fascinating vistas and world-wide sources and meanings. The pupil should be trained in this supplementary work just as carefully as in any other process of his development. He is in school primarily to learn how to learn. But this is not all. He is in school to learn how to form and manipulate ideas, which, after all, are the quintessence of experience. He assuredly gets many ideas from one textbook ; but through the school and through the public and private libraries he en- larges the scope and extends the variety of ideas so that his acquaintance with any one subject is fairly universal. He must learn not only to hunt for books, important as this may be, but also to seek for subjects, for new angles of view- point, for the antitheses of judgments on a particular topic. He, of course, needs training in all of this, very careful supervision, in fact, but that is the main business of the teacher. The problem of correlation, so far as the use of the textbook is concerned, is really the topical assignment, which of necessity makes use of more than one book. Training in the study of this kind of assignment must be given by some one who is enthusiastic and who is skillful in its technic. 1 A well-selected school library is required where the subject-matter of each course is at least fairly well represented in several textbooks. It demands also specific supervision, at least in the beginning, 1 Attention should be called to The World Book, edited by Professor O'Shea and published by The World Book Company of Chicago. This work is written for public school pupils and is a valuable attempt to supply general knowledge in a simple and pictorial manner. As a reference work it is admi- rably designed to help pupils in topical assignments. M 1 62 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It by the teacher of each subject by means of carefully evalu- ated reference lists with title and page stated accurately. The pupil needs to be encouraged to augment these lists by his own efforts. In some subjects it is indispensable to even a preliminary grasp of the contents that class copies of various standard texts be available. In civics and government, for example, 1 there are many of these books, some relating more specifically than others to city problems and municipal government, while others treat principally of the national government. Many of them deal chiefly with organization and adminis- tration of public affairs. Again, in others these political discussions are subordinated to civic and to social problems. Too much emphasis cannot be placed on providing the pupil with the points of view of many books not only in civics but in history and in science. A guide to applications. Whereas formerly any problem that forced the pupil to think was regarded sufficient for class exercises, to-day authors of textbooks sense the imperative need of stating problems that stimulate thinking because they ex- press practical difficulties, such as might arise, and in fact do arise, in the ordinary affairs of life. A glance at recent textbooks in mathematics proves how the scope and nature of these textbook problems have changed. We live in a practi- cal age, which means educationally that we test practice ma- terial by its value for ordinary experiences of life. Book catalogues now contain such titles as the following: " Com- munity Arithmetic," " Vocational Arithmetic," " Vocational Arithmetic for Girls," " Rural Arithmetic," " Business Arith- metic," " Business English," " Civic Biology," " What Can 1 See U. S. Bur. of Educ. Bulletin 1915, No. 23, pp. 52, 53. The Textbook as a Guide 163 Literature Do for Me? " etc. It is not the school and life any longer but life in the school that compels attention. The textbook becomes invaluable when its material is clearly presented in life terms. In fact, unless it does so treat its contents it has no place in the program of the modern school. Teachers of Latin are eager to show that this much- harassed subject has practical value. There is hardly a study in the modern school that is not being shifted from the tradi- tional basis of mental discipline to that of vital functioning as a direct training in skill of living. The shift has been made not simply to practical problems but to problems that arouse inter- est in each pupil by suggesting to him opportunities to frame his own problems, and to solve them according to the principles and rules of the respective subjects. This is an immense step forward in the serious concern of economy of time in education. A guide to reorganization. The preceding functions of the textbook as a tool and as a guide may be summarized in the all-important task of training the teacher to reorganize the text to suit local needs. An author may be logical in his presentation but this does not assure a psychological approach. To begin a text, for example, with a number of dry and ab- stract definitions later to be applied may be logical, but it certainly is not psychologically correct. The fact that a definition is abstract indicates that it summarizes a wide range of observation and investigation. It becomes intelligible only when used deductively, but its meaning would be more quickly appreciated if developed inductively and heuristi- cally, the pupil being led step by step through a series of interesting observations to the conclusion expressed briefly in a law or definition. This is common enough pedagogical procedure and does not require elaborate discussion. 164 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It Applying this psychological method to the treatment of the text, some teachers wisely change the author's sequence of chapters. The revised arrangement will be determined by the pupil's preparation and by the immediate aims of educa- tion in a particular locality. There may be needed a change of emphasis ; some chapters perhaps can be condensed or wholly omitted. Probably few teachers of psychology follow the order of topics in the text they have selected. Teachers of literature may find it an advantage to abandon the usual order of historical treatment and reorganize the text on the basis of topical study, beginning with the current forms of literature such as the novel, the editorial, the essay, and trac- ing these back to earlier forms and electing for intensive study well-known masterpieces. The alert teacher will not be hampered by the textbook organization, but will construct a scheme of presentation that is adapted to the class. It is likely that other classes will require a somewhat different kind of presentation, and no progressive teacher will expect to teach the same course in exactly the same manner every term. The need of reorganizing the textbook for teaching purposes is illustrated in the changed sequence of chapters and inser- tion of new material in more recent texts as compared with much earlier ones. In algebra, for example, some of the earlier texts devoted many pages to abstract rules, definitions, and examples without providing, until near the middle of the book, any opportunities for worth-while applications. Equa- tions were not introduced until the four fundamental processes of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division had been studied. In more recent books chapters on the equation are inserted throughout the work, the pupil finding by this means opportunity to apply abstract rules and principles to con- The Textbook as a Guide 165 crete problems. In this way studying is clinched by early ap- plication. The older books, moreover, contained no chapters on graphs. Problems are more numerous and more practical in recent volumes. There is evident in these books reorganization of a kind that the teacher must make if unfortunately the book is unsuited to his pupils. On the whole, the tendency in the best kind of textbook reorganization is toward simplicity. The old plan of crowding the textbook with pedantic and ab- struse learning is giving way to easier and shorter treatments. Summary. The text is a guide to interesting side trips or to points of special interest along the way. Its guidance to reference material and to cognate subjects means the enrichment of the pupil's grasp of the subject. Its transla- tion of rules, definitions, laws, principles, etc., into life needs, as felt by the pupils and as recognized by them, makes the textbook invaluable in preparing the pupils to cope with the common difficulties of living. When used in this manner the textbook interprets education as a great privilege which the. ordinary man will struggle to own. It makes learning social. It blunts the stinging criticism that schools do not link up with life. And these various calls upon the textbook as a guide will result in such reorganization of its contents and sequence of presentation as the interests and needs of a par- ticular class may require. The textbook when so used be- comes not a dead paper education but training for immediate as well as remote ends ; and it is fitness for immediate living that the ordinary man wants. Education simply for remote achievement is too idealistic for the average citizen. We see the remote through the eyes of the immediate. Unless the present is well understood and gladly utilized the remote will vanish in the mists of vain dreams. 1 66 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS i. Do you have adequate facilities for reference reading in your classes? If the school does not supply such material how can you still get some? Have you ever asked the pupils to bring to class such texts as they may be able to find at home, or borrow from their friends? 2. How would you develop in the pupil discriminating selection of word meanings? 3. Why is correlation important? Why is so little of it done in teaching ? 4. Can the textbook offer a sufficient variety of problems to meet the needs of every pupil? What is the best service it can render in the field of application? 5. Do you use the book in the order selected by the author? Is it necessary to do so ? What determines the kind of reorganization that you adopt? REFERENCES Foster, W. E. "Libraries and Readers." Publishers Weekly. New York. Green, S. S. "Libraries and Schools." Publishers Weekly. New York. Hall-Quest, A. L. Supervised Study. Macmillan; 1916. 172-77. Harrison, F. The Choice of Books and Other Literary Pieces. Macmillan ; 1903. Hinsdale, B. The Art of Study. American Book Co. ; 1900. Ch. IX. Kerfoot, J. B. How to Read. Houghton Mifflin; 1916. Porter, Noah. Books and Reading. Scribners, New York. 41, 42. 1901. S. R. Warren and S. M. Claeke. U. S. Bureau of Educ. Public Libraries in the United States; 1876. Ch. IX. Wiswell, L. O. How to Use Reference Books. American Book; 1916. Wolfe, L. E. " Many versus the few book course of study." Educa- tional Review. Vol.45; Feb., 1913. 146-54. CHAPTER VII THE TEXTBOOK AS A SOURCE OF KNOWLEDGE There was a time when men regarded learning as something mysterious and esoteric, a treasure hidden away from common mortals and accessible only to super-intellects and to the gods. Locked away in dungeon archives ; recorded in heavy lan- guage that successfully imprisoned meaning ; made intelligible only by long years of sacrificial toil, learning became the privi- lege of aristocrats and royalty who possessed the magic sesame to truth. The ordinary man was led to believe that learning dealt with life far removed from any experience of his own. The priest, the philosopher, the magician, must be consulted humbly and obediently. Knowledge was a goddess, if you please, whose acolytes demanded heavy pay for the flash-like glimpses they permitted of the image of the Invisible. Fortunately for the race access to learning has been democra- tized, not without struggle and pain, but democratized never- theless, incarnated to dwell among men as servant and friend. Throughout many centuries, by trial and error, careful ex- perimentation, profound reflection, occasional flashes of in- sight, men have collected fragments of experience and erected highways and safeguards of living that are becoming available to all members of the race. Compulsory and universal edu- cation are watchwords of the hour. Ignorance is the fountain curse of human woe. Knowledge is the incarnating prin- ciple of individual and social welfare. 167 1 68 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It How Knowledge Began. Education depends upon the proper understanding and application of experience. All of this experience is not available in book form. Much of it is obtained by motor imitation and social adjustment. By word of mouth many important truths are transmitted by the Oriental to his children and neighbors. And this oral in- struction is so accurate and so well understood . that it could hardly be better in written form. There are many facts and principles, however, that require the printed record. Sub- ject-matter in book form is one of the means whereby racial experience becomes accessible to the learner. It is a con- densed history of man thinking his way through the various problems of riving to a solution that appears for the time being more or less adequate. But man has been stimulated not only by problems of every- day living to acquire deeper insight and wider scope of knowl- edge concerning the world in which he lives. Beyond the commonplace, the immediate and the physical is a realm of the unusual, the remote, and the spiritual (as this latter term applies to all that is not physical). The mysteries of this other sphere stimulated man's curiosity and awakened the explorer's instinct to find the meaning of the unknown. This large field of human endeavor resulted in theories, in certain inference and fears and aspirations that became no small part of the racial heritage. One finds records of it in priestcraft, astrology, alchemy, myths, magic, and in sundry other appli- cations of the psychical. These two lines of experience, the practical and the spiritual, do not appear as constantly parallel or mutually exclusive. The everyday problems may contain much that is incompre- hensible to the ignorant; such phenomena, for example, as The Textbook as a Source of Knowledge 169 the thunderstorm, the lightning, the cause of disease. They do, however, represent man in his relation to his external environment. In one way or another he is trying to find meanings and fairly constant attitudes that will economize living by reducing it to the plane of habits. He is thinking, i.e. trying to make his environment familiar and so quickly understood that each day's toil may result in assured ways of using his environment. There are methods of counting his sheep so that the loss of any may be quickly detected. Communication with his tribal members is important, and so he employs gestures and other motor reactions (pictures, lines, symbols) that will convey to others what they and he can understand together. Ceremonies and rites become intricate symbolisms of life, meanings in which bravery, endurance, loyalty, reverence, etc., are significant attitudes. Sounds are employed, at first imitative and expressive of emotional crises, some of them short and loud, others long and soft, or frequently repeated to convey accumulative intensity of meaning, such as "holy, holy, holy." The passing away of loved and revered ones is comprehensible to the racial child only on the ground that the departed have gone to the world where live the strange forms that come in dreams and in moments of ecstatic vision. All of this, too, is part of his external environment ; and man satisfies his questioning mind by the easiest answer available. One might continue such detailed study as the foregoing almost indefinitely. Enough has been hinted at to indicate that racial experience in the form of instructional materials arose in man's effort to understand his environment, so that he might fear it less and use it more. He needed certain media of communication by means of which group strength could 170 Textbook , How to Use It and Judge It be accumulated. He found some of these media so advan- tageous that they became part of his training of the young. The latter would become more speedily of value to the group if they early understood some of the factors that were in- volved in the protection and in the prowess of the group. Slowly this store of serviceable knowledge increased. Together with it appeared many interpretations of life that seemingly had no other explanation. These theories and beliefs were accepted as true, and therefore valuable for the young member of the family and of the tribe. The Meaning of School Subjects. The school subjects of to-day are, then, little more than organizations of racial ex- perience, both in actual physical living and in efforts to in- terpret the unknown. The textbooks present these subjects in convenient form so that the learner may become an efficient member of society, or one who appreciates the interests of his many brothers and can work with them for the good of all. He could get most if not all of this knowledge without any textbook, but in the majority of cases he would then need to de- pend upon some one to introduce him to the facts of experience. This guide or teacher would need to arrange the material so that economy and efficiency might be assured. While such studying apart from other members of the group might have laudable advantages (the tutorial system has certain distinct benefits), the learner might fail to grasp the significant fact that the bulk of knowledge is social ; it arose for the sake of the group ; it must be used for the uplift of men. The text- book is a record of racial thinking organized for instructional purposes. It is a source of knowledge which the learner must study in order to apply it to his own problems of life, which are mostly social. Its contents came from man's attempt to The Textbook as a Source of Knowledge 171 penetrate into the unknown, and this resulting knowledge in turn must be applied to life for the benefit of man and for such revisions and additions as experience to-day may provide or require. Principles Underlying the Use of the Textbook as a Source of Knowledge. The foregoing statements regarding the meaning and purpose of the textbook call attention to a few principles that must not be ignored in the consideration of the text as a source of knowledge. We have noted the fact that a large part of the subject-matter in the textbook is the result of man's reflection upon the problems that have clamored for solution. It was imperative that these puzzles of living be solved, for only in this way could man progress toward an appreciation of the meaning of his own life. Reflection, however, did not always, perhaps not usually, present the desired answers. Trial and error occupied much of man's time. As the accumulations of knowledge increased he, of course, had less need of trial and error in the fields where some gains had been made. He could study what others had wrought and more quickly apply their results to similar problems in his own life. Reflection, acquisition of knowledge and its application were common processes in the conflict with the temporarily un- known. Man found that with a richer store of knowledge he could make more satisfying applications ; he could understand more thoroughly, he could sense and penetrate problems more easily. In this way he caught glimmering ideas of his own meaning ; he discovered that life is a process (is it endless ?) of finding meanings and making adjustments that result in a closer approximation of unity between the world and himself. And so knowledge appears as the result of a continuous uni- 172 Textbook j How to Use It and Judge It fying and harmonizing effort. It is the basis of the resistless urge to extend the unification or the harmony already made known, as Plato and Aristotle so clearly demonstrate. The very fact that man to-day continues to seek in the same fields as his ancestors indicates that he is not yet satisfied. The lure of the trail is as strong as ever. Man must seek ; he must think. Some of the Gains of Thinking. The effort to pierce the veil has not been in vain. Man's intellectual adventures have brought him priceless treasures. For one thing, he now has a language. He has complex systems of knowledge in mathematics, physics, chemistry. History of political, eco- nomic, and social change and progress has written her fairly intelligible messages. Literature and art ; industry and com- merce ; religion and morals — these now have profound meanings and bewildering avenues of application. Much has been achieved. Some things have been settled — at any rate man is satisfied in their presence. Two plus two equals four ; noun and corresponding predicate ; the mutual exclusion of the positive and the negative ; the rotundity of the earth ; the prediction of comets and of solar eclipses ; the conception of human brotherhood ; — these and myriads of others are some of the controls of experience that have been gained. The student of to-day can be assured of a reasonable amount of finality in these and in many other domains of thinking. In our eagerness for the practical or for that which demon- strates its functional value we must not forget that man has spent glorious years on problems that echo mysteries even greater than those of time and clay. The philosophic interest, the activities of classical scholars, much of astronomy, a large part of history, literature, and mathematics are included in The Textbook as a Source of Knowledge 173 this class. The learner of to-day must be informed of man's efforts in these fields as well as in those more tangibly practi- cal. For all we know there may be other adjustments required of the race, adjustments that have root meanings in the worlds purely spiritual, but which also have connections with the physical and the temporal. However this may be, we do know that ideas and ideals have tremendous functional value. Standing with Plato as he beholds the far reaches of the world of eternal ideas is an experience difficult to estimate. It is like the northland traveler's gaze upon the shimmering aurora, silent, ineffable, majestic, redolent with mystic charm. For the young learner not to have his mind brush against the noble thoughts of spiritual explorers is to withhold from him the testament of his ancestors. The Paramount Question of Education To-day. Now the paramount question in education is : What value has this boundless depository for the learner to-day? Much of it has very evident importance. But the question is clearer if stated : What is the purpose of knowledge in the public schools or in the textbooks ? As we find it in all too many texts and in all too many classrooms, knowledge is presented loosely and as a catalogue of dry facts. The purpose of education is not to introduce the pupil to facts, as such, but to the facts and their meanings. The meaning becomes known only as each fact is perceived as related to other facts, all of them illustra- tive of a great truth. Knowledge must be viewed as a system. The pupil all too frequently is forced to hurry through the many details of the course to a rather hazy notion of the meaning of the whole. He is not stimulated to organize the facts or to find in them fragments of a great unity of which each detail in the course 174 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It is a necessary and important fact. Rarely, and even then only meagerly, does he sense that knowledge in the textbook is a bit of experience, which consists of bundles of interwoven asso- ciated facts and ideas. The evolution of knowledge shows that early truths became fuller and richer as man used them and found them stimulating to new lines of thought. Knowledge is like the growth of the banyan tree. It has units but they are all connected in ways visible and invisible. Knowledge exists in a system. New experience has meanings only as it finds a place in the system of truth already established. Evo- lution of thought and knowledge becomes possible because each additional experience modifies to some degree the al- ready existing system. The pupil in the school, then, must become aware of the large system, and that his present task of studying belongs at a certain point in the general whole. Three Functions of the Textbook. The textbook as a source of knowledge has therefore three closely related func- tions : (i) It presents certain facts of experience valuable to man in the past and helpful to the individual and society now, wherever needs of the past and the present are similar. (2) It gives an account of facts together with principles and ideas illustrated by the facts, not in isolated detail but with certain connections and associations that tie together all of these items of knowledge into a unity or a system. It is, to be sure, only one of many systems. But the pupil is now en- gaged in the task of understanding this particular organization of experience with its parts and details. (3) The textbook as a source of knowledge must stimulate the pupil to contribute to the work of man other and perhaps better experiences that will improve the conditions of living. The pupil is not to study the principles and facts and the system simply for their The Textbook as a Source of Knowledge 175 own sake. By them he must become excited with the hunts- man's zeal. He must learn to discover truth ; he must learn how man thought his way to certain achievements, and like him he must go out with keen mind and deep appreciation to augment the inheritance of the race. Because the fruits of the mind have been collected so laboriously and patiently teachers must inspire in the pupil respect for this large heritage of man. The textbook may appear uninteresting, but it is none the less a depository of some of this inheritance. It brings to the pupil an introduc- tion to a large field of knowledge, some of which is funda- mental to human intercourse and cooperation, and the re- mainder valuable to his unfolding as another contributor to the ever-accumulating heritage of human thinking and in- dustry. For the pupil needs to be impressed with the claim society has on him to invent and multiply the common racial inheritance. Well does Rousseau write i 1 " The misuse of books kills knowledge. Believing that we know what we have read, we think ourselves excused from learning it." In the same vein Locke writes : 2 " There is not seldom to be found, even amongst those who aim at knowledge, who with an unwearied industry employ their whole time in books, who scarcely allow them- selves time to eat or sleep, but read, and read, and read on, yet make no great advances in real knowledge, though there be no defect in their intellectual faculties to which their little progress can be imputed. The mistake here is, that it is usually supposed by reading the author's knowledge is trans- fused into the reader's understanding; and so it is, but not by bare reading, but by reading and understanding what is 1 Emile, Book V. 2 Conduct of the Understanding. 176 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It writ. Whereby, I mean, not barely comprehending what is affirmed or denied in each proposition (though that great readers do not always think themselves concerned precisely to do), but to see and follow the train of his reasonings, ob- serve the strength and clearness of their connexion and ex- amine upon what they bottom." Important Factors in the Structure of the Textbook as a Source of Knowledge. Because it does present knowledge it is important for teacher and pupil to note some of the struc- tural elements in the textbook that indicate the age, the title, and general arrangement of a particular field of knowledge. Dates of publication. As a rule little attention is given by the pupil to this necessary item in the appreciation of the subject-matter in a textbook. Dates are landmarks of his- torical development. Most of us dislike to be considered out-of-date in dress or in point of- view. The old fogy is cari- catured and the ultra-conservative ignored. But in many com- munities an old textbook is regarded, because old, as better than more recent and better informed books. How many teachers and how many pupils look at the date of publication ? Do they ever ask why the publisher takes care to state not only the year but sometimes also the month of the book's first appearance? The usual method of beginning the study of a textbook is to plunge into the first chapter. The title- page is regarded as ornamental or merely for purposes of identification. But surely the rapid accumulation of knowledge has some effect upon what had been previously collected. Old view- points must undergo change in the light of new discoveries and better founded conclusions. One of the first things to note in reading any book is the date of its appearance, for The Textbook as a Source of Knowledge 177 many of the references have significance only in their time relation. Similar attention should be given to the date of the editions if there is more than one. After a textbook has been used for a number of terms new material and important revisions may require a very different sort of book, which often is a late edition of a text already adopted. The latest edition becomes, as a rule, more valuable than the earlier ones. The reprintings (which are often made without change) and the revised editions are dated on a page close to the title-page. At times the first reprint may include several changes found immediately necessary. It is not implied in the foregoing that pupils in the grades and high school will study better because they note the dates of publication. What is intended is that in the school certain habits of reading and study must be formed for accurate and wise studying when school days are over. The title of the book. Again it may seem a trifle to stress something that really does not seem to concern the contents of the text. It may be trivial but it is a mark of careful and respectful study to know exactly the title of the book one fellows with for several weeks. We certainly would not associate with a person very long without knowing his name. It is hardly the proper thing to refer to him as My friend in Red, or Green ; that big thick fellow who is my chum. Proper names may be more individual than A Textbook in Physics or Practical English, but the title of a book does give it a certain individuality. Besides this, there are many books in red and many that are large and thick, and these general attributes do not identify a specific book. The title defines the field of knowledge considered in the text. The careful student will know the title of the book he is studying. N 178 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It Introductory to the reading and study of any book should be a careful reading of the title-page. Its titles and sub- titles should be understood by the pupil, and a discussion of their meaning might well form part of the preliminary lesson of appreciation in the subject. Table of Contents and Index. The Table of Contents gives a survey of the whole book. This survey may be meager and general or elaborately furnished in the form of a syl- labus. A reading of it will prepare the way for the more complex organization of the book. If the teacher would spend the first hour in talking about the contents of the book soon to be studied, while the pupils had their books open and followed the teacher's talk from point to point, this would prove a profitable method of constructing a back- ground. The Index serves the purpose of ready reference for all the material bearing on a particular topic. Skill in finding such references and ability to use synonyms for related material is certainly a part of the training expected of educated persons. If the pupil owns his book so that he can use inserted leaves containing summaries of parallel reading and notes on the teacher's exposition, it would be good exercise to have him make an index of those inserted pages. This would serve as a sort of review. Making indices of poem, prose, or classics might form a standing assignment during the study of the particular piece of literature. Another and by no means insignificant value of the index for study purposes is the saving of time resulting from the skillful use of it. Pupils waste much time in trying to find topics and references by turning over many pages until they find what they seek. The index points the way immediately. Forming The Textbook as a Source of Knowledge 179 the habit of consulting this guide is essential to all readers. Drill in the use of the index should form part of a preview and review. The arrangement of material. Another helpful preliminary survey is that concerned with the arrangement of material in a chapter. Different kinds of type are used ; there are paragraph or marginal headings ; there are italicized passages, illustrations, maps, diagrams, — all of which are so many devices to make the subject more readily understood. The comparison of the Table of Contents and the chapter organi- zation will form a helpful preview, and greatly aid the pupil in sensing that the author has employed an organization that seeks to evaluate knowledge, and to stress certain por- tions of it especially needful for a complete understanding of the whole subject. In some books the pupil will notice that the author makes a helpful differentiation between what is of primary importance and what is less fundamental by having the latter appear in smaller type than the former. Doubtless considerable ma- terial in history could be treated in this manner to the great advantage of the pupil. The author's style is another important consideration. While this feature of the book may not be consciously ap- preciated by the pupil, he certainly knows when a textbook is interesting. It would be of value to call his attention to the author's method in making it appear interesting. Any subject can be organized and discussed in a dull fashion ; and it is also true that many subjects, at first glance far removed from the possibilities of interesting presentation, can be made most attractive by a spirited style. The textbook at present is not regarded as fine literature, but there is no good reason 180 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It for its continuing to be a prosy, repellent account of a most fascinating experience of the race. Thorndike 1 refers to another factor in the arrangement of the material. Attention has already been called to the im- portance of the textbook as a source of facts ; as an organiza- tion of these with many interrelationships ; and as a basis for arousing the pupil's will to augment the store of knowledge. The arrangement of material must also make it possible for the pupil to master the material in hand without undue difficulty. The material is not to be memorized; it is to be understood. Thorndike says : Books could be written giving data, directions for experiments and problems with the data and questions about the inferences. The student could be instructed to read each helping piece of in- formation, suggestive question and the like only after he had spent a certain time in trying to do for himself what he was directed to do. Such books might be more effective than all but the best tenth of personal teaching; if the students would faithfully try as directed before reading ahead for helps given. But they will usually greedily use up all the helps first. If by a miracle of mechanical ingenuity a book could be so arranged that only to him who had done what was directed on page one would page two become visible, and so on, much that now requires personal instruction could be managed by print. Books to be given out in loose sheets, a page or so at a time, and books arranged so that the student only suffers if he misuses them should be worked out in many subjects. Even under the limitation of the natural tendency of children to get results in the easiest way, a textbook can do much more than be on the one hand a mere statement of the results of reasoning such as an ordinary geography or German grammar is, or on the other hand a mere statement of problems such as the ordinary arithmetic or German reader is. 1 Education, pp. 164, 5. Macmillan, 1912. The Textbook as a Source of Knowledge 181 If a simple, inexpensive, loose-leaf binding could be invented, this might prove valuable in making the textbook adequate for independent studying. But in the lack of some ingenious mechanical device the teacher can employ supplementary reading and group assignments to insure the exercise of initi- ative. The topical assignment lends itself to this sort of in- dependent studying perhaps better than any other. Summary. Because the textbook records a considerable portion of the vast wealth of knowledge that men and women have struggled to amass throughout the centuries, it is part of the educative process to quicken respect and even admi- ration for this precious heritage of the race. Each text, how- ever, does not speak the final word. Its date of publication and the number of editions with their dates show how much the contents of the book are abreast of the most recent addi- tions to the field of knowledge presented in the book. The title of the book, it goes without saying, is equally important. It differentiates the book from others, or identifies it in a logical and intelligent manner. The table of contents gives a preview and a bird's-eye view of the structure of the book, while the index saves time and can be made an interesting means of review work. The arrangement of material, to- gether with an attractive style, is all-important in making the pupil's introduction to a field of knowledge stimulating and satisfying. QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS i. Why was learning confined to only the few in ancient times? Has this attitude entirely changed? 2. How has man evolved systems of knowledge? 3. What is the significance of the various subjects in the light of the evolution of knowledge ? 1 82 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It 4. What attitude toward the various subjects should be developed in the pupil ? 5. What are the functions of the textbook as a record of human thinking ? 6. How are the books misused according to Rousseau and Locke? Does reading imply studying? 7. Why are dates of publication important? Have you ever given questions on them in examinations? 8. How would you train pupils to use the table of contents and the index? 9. Have you studied the arrangement of the textbook with your pupils? What advantages might be expected from such a study on their part? 10. Do you think Thorndike's suggestion regarding the arrange- ment of textbooks feasible? REFERENCES Bagley, W. C. Educational Values. Macmillan; 1913. Boyer, C. C. Modem Methods for Teachers. Lippincott; 1908; Ch. 3. De Garmo, C. Principles of Secondary Education. Vol. I. Mac- millan; 1913. Johnston and Others. High School Education. Scribner; 191 2. Karpinski, L. C. "Teaching of Elementary Mathematics." School and Society, Vol. 5: 78-86; Jan. 20, 1917. Kellar, A. G. Societal Evolution. Macmillan; 191 5. Miller, G. A. " Historical Notes in Text -books on Secondary Mathe- matics." School Science and Mathematics, Vol. 15: 806-9; Dec, 191 5. "History and Use of Mathematics Textbooks." School and Society, Vol. 4: 918-24; Dec. 16, 1916. Miller, W. L. " Chemical Philosophy of the High School Textbooks." Science, Vol. 34: 257-63; Sept. 1, 1911. Sleight, W. G. Educational Values and Methods. Oxford; 191 5. Strong, E. A. " Elementary Textbooks in Chemistry." Science, Vol. 34: 408, 9; Sept. 29, 1911. Thorndike, E. L. Education. Macmillan; 191 2, pp. 164-7. CHAPTER VIII THE TEXTBOOK AS A MEANS OF INTERPRETING TRUTH The Observation Point of Knowledge. In the preceding chapter the statement was made that the textbook is really an account of how men have sought to adjust themselves to certain conditions in their environment. Now in this way, and now in that, man has tried to understand some of the mysteries that even to-day confront him on every hand. He has answered many questions. He has solved many prob- lems. But new light breaks upon his knowledge every day, so that he finds his facts and ideas in a perpetual state of flux. To-day's conclusions may be discarded to-morrow, and new hypotheses may come into the control of investigation and experiment. Doctors differ among themselves ; men engaged in a debate are frequently seen to be in common agreement, differing only in their use of terms ; each one of us can view at best only a small portion of the vast panorama of life. Much of the disagreement current among the learned is due to the different angles of vision they select in their field of study. The Necessary Bias of a Textbook. Now, each author of a textbook interprets his field of subject-matter according to certain theories that he has come to accept. He may be right as far as he goes, but his observation is necessarily incomplete. If his theory is not based on demonstrable evidence, his con- 183 184 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It elusions are likely to be erroneous. In studying a textbook, therefore, it becomes essential to bear in mind that it is one author's interpretation ; it is only one view of a large field that must be seen from many sides, and which may be under- stood better from one angle of vision than from another. Factors of Interpretation. This fact makes it important to train the pupil to note some of the factors that belong to the textbook as a means of interpreting to the present gen- eration what many minds have found important for their own day. Knowing the Author and the Publisher. Acquaintanceship with the author forms a basis of judging the value of the in- terpretation followed throughout his book. He may be a free-lance who has no regard for concerted opinion. This need not mean that he is wrong, but it constrains the student to investigate carefully the author's reasons for holding the point of view he does. He may be a conscientious investi- gator who bases his conclusions on his own and others' re- search. If his training and preparation have been broad and thorough, the reader is more inclined to accept his state- ments as safe and constructive for educational purposes. The personal element, then, cannot be disregarded in select- ing a textbook or in following its plan of organization. And yet, all too many readers fail to become informed of the author's record. The publishers sense the importance of the personal element by printing below the author's name on the title-page his official position. This identifies him to some extent. If he is connected with a reputable institution that is known for its scholarship and its wide educational influence, it may safely be assumed that he has some ability for the task he has performed in writing the textbook. It The Textbook as a Means of Interpreting Truth 185 does not guarantee, of course, that his product is beyond criticism. He may be the spokesman of a school of theorists whose conclusions are difficult to accept ; but if his services have been sought by an institution of learning that is con- structive and progressively conservative, it may safely be assumed that he is so connected for very good reasons. Similar information regarding the publisher of the book is important. An old, well-known, and widely respected pub- lishing house will not be likely to publish a book whose point of view is educationally detrimental. There doubtless are publishers who exercise little care in their educational output, but the widely recognized houses accept only those manuscripts that expert readers have sifted and minutely examined. The publisher's name is a stamp of guarantee that the textbook has merit, albeit not always merit sufficiently high to meet the needs of a particular school. The pupils should be introduced to the author's record. In the grades such personalia may not be of great moment, save as means of training the pupil to form the habit of ascertain- ing some information about the author's scholarship and reputation. In high school this aspect of study becomes more important. The author's name, training, position, and experience deserve recognition in the beginning of a course of study. Knowledge of the publishing house, place of business, its specialties, its local agents, and its methods of securing textbooks would be interesting facts to the older pupil. Such knowledge is of even more value to the teacher who ought to know the sources of supply in his own field of teaching. The Preface. The contents of a book are as a rule im- personal. Except in autobiographies and similar books, the author hides behind the subject-matter. But in the preface 1 86 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It he gives a personal message, and usually informs the reader of the purpose of his book and some of the underlying prin- ciples that have controlled him in writing it. Although it appears first, the preface is the last thing in the book that the author writes. In it he acknowledges his indebtedness to the persons who in various ways have helped him in pro- ducing it. But how many readers as a rule even glance at the preface ? It is to most of them a mere formality of publication. And because they ignore it the book may be wholly misunderstood or at least not used to the best advantage. The average pupil does not bother with the preface, and as long as the teacher does not refer to it in class or spend any time in reading it aloud or having some pupil read it aloud while the others follow the reading with their books open, only an occasional pupil is going to spend any time on it. This condition pre- vails in college as well. Some authors wisely include in their preface suggestions for studying the text, but these directions are either not known to exist or are deemed superfluous in most schools. If the teacher finds that the preface contains material important for the pupils to understand opportunity should be given them to study this part of the book. The book begins with the preface and not with the first chapter. It is just as important as stating the aim in an assignment, just as significant as knowing the " why " of any under- taking. The Introduction. Equally unpopular is the average in- troduction to a book. The very caption sounds forbidding, so much so, that some authors have abandoned the term and use instead such titles as " Survey of the Book," " The Scope of the Subject," " A Bird's-eye View of the Course," each of The Textbook as a Means of Interpreting Truth 187 these titles interpreting the real meaning of the introductory chapter. For in this opening chapter are discussed some of the principles and the general point of view, not merely of a particular book, but more especially of the subject itself. Bearing in mind that the author is an interpreter, he states in his introduction what it is he is about to interpret. It is true that many introductions are too long and too cumber- some. They fail to arouse interest ; their material is too con- densed and exhaustive. But an introduction that seeks to stimulate interest by showing how the subject is valuable to the pupil, and how its present status has been reached (at least the main trunk lines of approach to its present contents), is worth reading in class under the teacher's supervision. Fascinating is the history of mathematics, and the romantic stories of how the Babylonians, Egyptians, Greeks, and Moors made their contributions to the science of numbers. Refer- ence to such historical facts would introduce this subject pleasantly to the adolescent boy and girl. The introduction contains the foundation of the course. If its arrangement of material seems to the teacher undesirable, adjustments can be made for teaching purposes. But the pupil should be required to study the introduction, wherever it is of vital importance, with whatever guidance the teacher deems necessary ; and much of this guidance will be required. In this connection it is interesting to find in a Bulletin on the Teaching of Reading issued by the Department of Public Instruction of New Jersey (19 14) the following statement : A book is divided into parts. There is the cover with its cover design and printing. There are the title-page, the preface, the table of contents, the body of the book, divided into sections or chapters, possibly one appendix or more, and an index. Pupils 1 88 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It should become familiar with these parts, their uses and location in the book, and should habitually refer to table of contents and index in their use of books. Pupils in the grammar grades should also understand the meaning of the term "copyright." The intelligent use of books will not become habitual by an occasional lesson. Beginning with the second grade, whenever a book is used at all, it should be used intelligently — not only the reading book, but the history, geography, arithmetic book. When- ever a new book is taken up it should be first examined to discover its author and its purpose (preface), its divisions and their contents. Book Reviews. In the intricate organization of disseminat- ing knowledge through books there is a class of workers who earn a somewhat precarious means of livelihood by reading books and writing brief summaries of their reading, either critically or wholly commercially. The latter form of review- ing has little value in this connection. But the review that has been carefully composed by an expert, who knows the subject, is well informed of the various theories of interpreta- tion and in the technic of textbook writing, is well-nigh in- dispensable to the teacher who desires a guide in estimating an author's work. The made-to-order review is uncritical, i.e. it is likely to judge the book from only one point of view. But the critical review judges the book on the basis of both defects and merits and is constructive rather than destructive. An interesting means of training pupils to judge books would be the collection of book reviews and the reporting of them to class. Discussion would follow, and the pupil's criticism of the book would be formed in the light of the reviews, either agree- ing with the reviewer or differing from him with reasons clearly stated and supported by reference to the book itself. The Textbook as a Means of Interpreting Truth 189 Forming the habit of critical study aids the individual to depend upon himself with considerable security. It probably is true that the average man of our day thinks much more deeply and widely than did the average person a century ago. Still it is true that much improvement is needed in independent thinking, in critical judgment of the opinions and schemes of living being advocated in newspapers, on lecture platforms, in pulpits, etc. The pupil, even though he has been encouraged to criticize constructively, may never become a great thinker, but he doubtless will have the attitude of one who does not accept unthinkingly everything he hears and sees. Credulity will be controlled. In his Conduct of the Understanding Locke affirms what all of us doubtless recognize as true. He says : Those who have read of everything are thought to understand everything too; but it is not always so. Reading furnishes the mind only with materials of knowledge, it is thinking makes what we read ours. We are of the ruminating kind, and it is not enough to cram ourselves with a great load of collections ; unless we chew them over, they will not give us strength and nourishment. There are indeed in some writers visible instances of deep thoughts, close and acute reasoning, and ideas well pursued. The light these would give would be of great use if their reader would observe and imitate them; all the rest at best are but particulars fit to be turned into knowledge; but that can be done only by our own meditation and examining the reach, force, and coherence of what is said, and then as far as we apprehend and see the connection of ideas, so far it is ours ; without that, it is but so much loose matter floating in our brain. The memory may be stored, but the judg- ment is little better, and the stock of knowledge not increased by being able to repeat what others have said, or produce the argu- ments we have formed in them. ... All that is to be found in 190 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It books is not built upon true foundations, nor always rightly deduced from the principles it is pretended to be built on. There is reading of textbooks and other books a plenty in our schools, but the ability to discriminate is not sufficiently recognized. It cannot be expected that pupils will exercise judgment in these matters without stimulus and direction from the teacher or others. The critical attitude develops slowly, of necessity, for it requires range of knowledge and thoroughgoing study. Beginnings of such discriminate study- ing must be made early in the pupil's school career if the habit of comparison and judging is to be fixed by the time he leaves the school. And this habit requires attentive repetition in every subject ; otherwise by lack of sufficient exercise it may fail to function at all. The evaluation and adaptation of subject-matter. While the foregoing units of study are important in training the pupil to get the point of view of an author in his book, the text- book performs its greatest service as an interpreter by means of the principles and methods that govern the evaluation of the material for a particular stage of mental development, and its adaptation to the needs of a particular pupil group. An illustration of the importance of this fact is the work of the Extension Department of the University of Wisconsin. In nearly every branch of study offered in its extension and correspondence courses a textbook is being prepared to fit the needs and interest of the men and women in the trades and commercial courses. The textbooks of similar cpurses in the regular intra-mural courses of the university have been found ill adapted to the extra-mural students. Present-day methods in engineering and commerce in machine-shop prac- tice, drafting, accounting, correspondence, applied chemistry, The Textbook as a Means of Interpreting Truth 191 etc., form the controlling principle of evaluation and adapta- tion. These books, while directly practical, are also soundly scientific expositions of the fundamentals in each course. They are written simply but technically correct. Many col- leges and high schools have adopted these texts. Scales and standards of measuring educational achievements have not yet been perfected. Complete and final scales are perhaps educationally undesirable, if indeed possible, for it is impossible to foresee what types of training will be required by society for the generations that are to come. Scales and standards must be in a constant state of revision and evolu- tion, never finished, but ever adjustable to the needs of new conditions. But these attempts to determine what is suf- ficient and what is acceptable in public school subjects have effected important changes in the contents of textbooks. It is not bulk but weight that is needed in educational courses. Such contrasts as Euclidean vs. Modern Geometry indicate that even in the field of mathematics, fixed as this subject has been for centuries, there is a moving away from the traditional and a closer approach to the needs of the present. The practical is interpreted to mean, however, not only what is commercial, but what actually is educational as well. In the light of this broad practical trend in modern education all subject-matter in the schools is being reorganized so that what is valuable may really function in the develop- ment of citizenship for to-day, and so reorganized also, that what is merely perfunctory or formally abstract may be either discarded or carefully minimized. By means of tests and statistical measurements some of the essentials in school subjects have been formulated, both for the elementary and the secondary courses. If we bear 192 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It in mind the historical fact that school subjects are simply racial experiences organized for the purpose of making younger generations acquainted with the heritage of human endeavor, then it is evident that only those experiences which still func- tion toward mental development and social progress deserve first place in the public school. There are many topics, many incidents, and doubtless numerous problems that can well be neglected in the public school courses, but which still occupy con- siderable space in the textbook. The testament of knowledge has not been properly executed. Our generation of children is not getting its proper share ; it is being burdened by responsibili- ties that prove to be, educationally, liabilities rather than assets. Reference to several of the subjects will show how un- standardized is the selection of subject-matter. The Elementary Subjects. American History. The fol- lowing average distribution of subject-matter in seven his- tory textbooks and in the recommendations of the Committee of Eight shows considerable variability. 1 table vn Period of exploration and discovery . . . Period of Colonial development .... Period of Colonial wars Prerevolutionary period The War of the Revolution 1783-1812 1812-1861 The Civil War 1865 to Present Time, or Publication Date Average Per Cent of Total Space 8.27 15-95 3-67 4.11 9-58 14.17 21.01 10.22 14-45 Amount of Space Recom- mended by Committee of Eight 12.90 21.20 3.10 2.06 14.40 8.70 22.70 6.10 9-3° 1 Sixteenth Year Book, Nat'l Soc. for the Study of Educ, p. 144. The Textbook as a Means of Interpreting Truth 193 According to this table the Committee of Eight finds that authors of textbooks minimize exploration and discovery, colonial development, the revolution, 18 1 2-186 1, and stress colonial wars, the prerevolutionary period, 1 783-181 2, the civil war, and events since 1865. There doubtless has been too much emphasis laid on the civil war. Fifty years hence textbooks in American history probably will devote much less space to it, especially as compared with the present World War. Much of the material since 1865 deals with industrial and commercial development and has peculiar sig- nificance in the understanding of the present world crisis. Arithmetic. A study of four textbooks in arithmetic brings to light some rather striking facts. 1 Out of a total of 1023 types of practical problems 721, or 71 per cent, occur in occu- pational activities. The following table contains the summary of a much more detailed analysis : TABLE VIII (1) Agriculture, forestry, and animal husbandry (2) Extraction of minerals (3) Manufacturing and mechanical industries . (4) Transportation O) Trade . ^ . . . (6) Public service (not elsewhere classified) . . (7) Professional service (8) Domestic and personal service (9) Clerical occupations Per Cent of Total Number of Type Problems 10.8 0.2 18.1 9.9 21.9 6.2 2.1 O.8 O.4 Monroe informs us that only 9.5 per cent of the working population are engaged in " trade ". And yet more type prob- lems are devoted to trade than to any of the other occupa- 1 Walter S. Monroe, Sixteenth Year Book of Nat'l Soc. for the Study of Educ. 194 Textbook j How to Use It and Judge It tions. A significant 33.2 per cent are engaged in " agricul- ture, forestry, and animal husbandry," but only 10.8 of the problems in four textbooks deal with the needs of this class of occupation. No problems are given for a large number of the specified occupations which make up 55 per cent of the total working population. The professions are seriously neglected, although clergymen, lawyers, judges, and justices, musicians and teachers of music, physicians and surgeons, school-teachers, and trained nurses all together make up 3.2 of all workers. Only 75 problems deal with the work of these professions, and of these 60 stress teaching in the public school ; but there are no problems dealing with the ministry, music, medicine, surgery, and nursing. The obvious answer to these objections is, of course, that the pupils in the elementary school are not vitally interested in these professions, and that the arithmetic problems in these professions are necessarily very few. But in all of them buy- ing and selling, percentage, fractions, and the four funda- mentals are frequently used. Monroe's study shows also that authors of textbooks are far from agreeing on the type problems of arithmetic. He finds that the frequency with which type problems are re- peated is not always in accord with the needs of the pupils ; some problems are repeated too often and others not often enough. Furthermore, Monroe's preliminary investigation shows that type problems of considerable complexity appear much less frequently than those comparatively simple. The types with the five highest frequencies are : At $1.75 each, what will 17 books cost? A man borrowed $250 on January 15, at 6%. How much was the interest on October 15? The Textbook as a Means of Interpreting Truth 195 If I borrow $50, at 6%, on February 8 of this year, how much will be due on May 2 of next year? What change should be received from a five dollar bill in paying a monthly bill for 30 qt. of milk at 8^ a quart, and 5 jars of cream at 15^ a jar? What is the cost of 50 gal. of paint at 66f jf a gallon, and 4^ gaL of varnish at $1.25 a gallon? The following kind of problem occurred only once : A milk dealer received in one month 257,395 1°. °f milk, for which he paid i-J-ff a pound. The cost of shipping, filtering, pas- teurizing, bottling, and factory and office expense amounted to I2f£ per gallon. Milk weighs 8.5 lb. per gallon, and sells at 8^ per quart,. How much did the dealer make or lose on his month's business ? A survey of " The Social and Business Use of Arithmetic," by Professor G. M. Wilson of Iowa State College, 1 deserves careful study. The survey is based on the actual needs of arithmetic as stated by individuals in various callings. Pro- fessor Wilson's conclusions throw light on the problem of the evaluation and adaptation of subject-matter in arithmetic. 1. The opinions of business men and of educators that many arithmetical processes consuming much time could be omitted from the course without loss is borne out quite fully by this survey of the social and business use of arithmetic. The facts go further than the opinions and are a safer guide. 2. The problems solved in actual life are brief and simple. They chiefly require the more fundamental and more easily mastered processes. 3. In actual experience few problems of an abstract nature are 1 Sixteenth Year Book, op. cit. 196 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It encountered. The problems are concrete and relate to busi- ness situations. They require simple reasoning and a decision as to the processes to be employed. 4. The study justifies careful consideration of the following question. After the development of reasonable speed and accuracy in the fundamentals and the mastery of the simple and more useful arithmetical processes, should the arithmetic work not be centered largely around those problems which furnish the basis for much business information ? 5. Another question : May we not hope through the use of large informational problems and situations in the upper grades, to receive a more intelligent application of arithmetic to actual life situations, i.e. to secure the use of more arith- metic in the productive work of the kitchen, in intelligent buying, in proper form accounting, in intelligent saving and investing, etc.? 6. Aside from the work implied by the questions raised in 4 and 5 above, it is evident that the necessary work in arith- metic can be mastered in much less time than is now being devoted to it. A recent investigation by Dr. Hollo way of errors in arith- metic made by over a thousand children in the elementary school indicates the relative amount of stress that should be laid by textbook authors and teachers on the various items in two of the four fundamentals. Tables IX and X seem to be self-explanatory. 1 Spelling. An examination of the several studies which have been made to determine the minimal essentials in spelling suggests that if authors of textbooks for the various grades would use the words of these lists in all of the texts for each 1 School and Society, Sept. 1, 1917. The Textbook as a Means of Interpreting Truth 197 TABLE IX Table Showing Order of Difficulty as Determined by Number of Errors Made by 1,065 Children in Each of the Addition Facts (Most difficult) 9+8 . . . 9 + 9 + 8 + 8 + 8 + 7 + 8 + No. OF Errors 95 90 82 69 68 66 56 5i 5o 49 48 43 4i 8 + 8 37 8 + 4 37 + + + + + + + + + + + + + 8 + 3 + No. OF Errors • 37 4 + 3 • 34 3 + 2 • 32 6+1 . 29 1 + 1 . 26 4+2 . 24 9 + 2 . 21 5 + i . 20 4 + 1 . 20 5 + 2 . 20 9 + i . 20 8+2 . 20 5 + 5 • 19 2 + 2 . 19 4 + 4 . 19 3 + 3 No. OF Errors 18 17 17 17 16 15 15 15 13 13 13 9 9 8 8 grade the problem of spelling would be partly solved. The list given in the appendix is now being tested out in several schools, and so far reports seem to indicate that there will be needed little alteration in the listing of words for each grade. Language and Grammar. Several studies have been made with the object of ascertaining the nature and frequency of errors in written and oral language work in the elementary school. 1 (1) Superintendent Thompson of Waukegan, Illi- nois, found that the most frequent errors in the fifth to eighth grades were verbs, omissions, connectives, incomplete sen- tences, and homonyms. The least frequent were double negatives, adjectives for adverbs, inverted constructions, articles, and redundancy. (2) Meek found that of the total errors reported from the 1 Sixteenth Year Book, Natl Soc. for the Study of Educ. 198 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It eight grades, 40.1 per cent are verb errors, 3.4 per cent are double negatives, mispronunciations cause 20.4 per cent, TABLE X Table Showing Order of Difficulty as Determined by Number of Errors Made by 1,215 Children in Each of the Multiplication Facts No. OF No. OF No. OF (Most difficult) Errors Errors Errors 11 X 11 . . . . 735 7X5. • • ■ 181 6X2. . . . 50 12 X 11 65s 9X3 169 5X3. 46 11 X 10 638 9X5 168 11 X 2 . 46 12 X 10 542 11 X 8 167 1 X 1 . 41 12 X 8 460 8X3 . 151 9X2. 39 9X7 455 11 X 6 144 10 X 3 • < 38 12 X 7 438 6X5 138 7X2. 38 8X7 435 11X7 137 5X5. 34 12 X 12 . 425 8X5 137 4X2. 32 9X8 422 6x4 133 10 X 4 • 31 12 x 9 4i7 11 X4 131 10 X 2 . 3i 9x6 . 390 6 X6 129 11 X 1 . 3i 8x8 . 361 11 X 5 113 4X1 • 3i 12 X 6 . 361 6X3 102 3X1. 28 8x6 . 342 11 X 3 99 5X2. 26 9X4 . 292 10 X 9 94 3X3. 25 7X6 . 285 10 X 7 . 86 9X1 . 22 12 X 5 . 271 10 X 8 85 3X2. 21 7X7 . 268 12 X 2 . 81 7X1. 21 9X9 . 263 10 X 6 79 6x1 . 21 12 X 4 . 250 4X4 ■ 78 12 X 1 . 20 IO X 10 . 241 4X3 76 5x1. 20 8x4 . 235 7X3 7i 2X1 . 20 7x4 . 192 10 X 5 58 2X2. 18 12 X 3 . 183 8X2 58 8X1. 18 11 x 9 . 181 5X4 55 10 X 1 . 12 the misuse of pronouns 17.2 per cent, adverb errors 5.8 per cent, and 12.9 per cent are colloquialisms. Sixty per cent of the errors are due to misuse of verbs and mispronuncia- tions. The Textbook as a Means of Interpreting Truth 199 (3) The Kansas City study made by Betz and Marshall shows that of all errors in written composition of the third grade pupils, 55 per cent are in punctuation (capitals 22 per cent), 17 per cent in language, 28 per cent in grammar (verbs 13 per cent). (4) A comprehensive study of oral errors among 1378 Cin- cinnati children of the elementary school third to eighth grades inclusive was made by Isabel Sears and Amelia Diebel. Of all the errors 49.9 per cent are wrong verb ; 13.5, pro- nouns; 1 1.6, negatives; 9.7, redundance; 8.0, mispronuncia- tions ; 3.5, prepositions; -t,.^, adjectives and adverbs; .2 per cent, ambiguous expressions. There is close agreement here with the Illinois and Boise studies as to; the frequency of the verb errors. (5) Wrong sentence structure occupies the head of a list of errors found by Edgar D. Randolph in the grades of the Speyer School in New York City. In the order of frequency the other errors are due to pronouns, verbs, adjectives for ad- verbs, connectives (other), prepositions. (6) Other studies indicate that the frequency of errors in the use of verbs is much higher than other errors, and in some cases higher than all the other errors combined. The evaluation of subject-matter in textbooks dealing with lan- guage and grammar in the grades would therefore properly stress this unit of instruction much more strongly than other units. Motivated drill is here all-important. Textbooks based on the course outlined in University of Missouri 1 would prove effective in removing or preventing the proportion of errors listed in the foregoing studies. Very evidently the books that were used in the grades studied 1 Education Bulletin No. 9, by W. W. Charters and Edith Miller. 200 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It in the investigation referred to failed to accomplish the most needful development in the handling of everyday English. High School Subjects. Few published studies have been made of evaluated subject-matter in high school courses. The problem of economy of time is just as acute here as in the elementary school, possibly greater, for there has been a rapid increase in the number of courses, many of which are still inadequately organized. The following studies are pioneers in their respective fields, and indicate the kind of investigation that must be made if high school subjects are to be properly evaluated in the textbooks. Algebra. It is quite generally assumed in algebra texts that inasmuch as algebra is really simplified arithmetic it is primarily concerned with the four fundamental operations of arithmetic. Monroe 1 suggests that besides addition, sub- traction, multiplication, and division, algebra makes special use of the equation. Simple equations are most common to elementary algebra. In these simple equations fractions with numerical denominations are much more frequent than frac- tional equations with an unknown quantity in the denomi- nators. Practical need, therefore, requires that the first group of fundamental operations of elementary algebra deal with this type of simple equations. Quadratic and simultaneous equations form later groups of study. Monroe finds upon analysis that the operations used in solving a simple equation are: (i) clearing the equation of fractions, (2) transposing terms, (3) collecting terms, and (4) finding the value of x. Clearing an equation of this group 1 "An experiment in the Organization and Teaching of First Year Algebra," School Science and Mathematics, Vol. 12, pp. 125-131. The Textbook as a Means of Interpreting Truth 201 involves the multiplication of a binomial by an integer, and at times the multiplication of a binomial by a binomial. Collecting terms is simple addition and subtraction. Find- ing x is a form of division. Textbook authors emphasize certain operations that they regard fundamental to the understanding of the sub- ject of algebra. These are: removal of parentheses, com- bining terms, subtraction, evaluation, special products, fac- toring, exponents, clearing of fractions and fractional equa- tions, quadratic equations, graphing of equations, solution of " practical " formulas and simultaneous equations. Rugg found 1 that in seven tests the majority of errors made by several hundred pupils consisted of wrong use of signs and mistakes in arithmetic. His insistence upon the need of drill in these operations in first year algebra suggests that provision for such drill be provided in textbooks. It is per- haps needless to add that such drill exercises should be ade- quately motivated both by means of the nature of drill itself, and by the illustration of how important such automatic skill is in the understanding of more advanced work in algebra. Crathorne has defined the utilities of algebra as four- fold : (1) vocational utility or the direct use of algebra in the vocations, trades, and in reading trade journals ; (2) avocational utility or the direct use in the leisure of the or- dinary educated man, in his everyday life and reading; (3) potential utility or the indirect use in furnishing a necessary foundation for a profession; and (4) lingual utility or the usefulness in giving exercises in clear-cut English expressions. The most valuable topic in algebra he believes is the use of 1 " The Experimental Determination of Standards in First-year Algebra," School Review, Jan., 1916. 202 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It letters for numbers, including the evaluation of formulas, this topic rinding place under each of the utilities considered. These are as follows : Algebraic operations have considerable vocational, avoca- tional, great potential, and much lingual value. Linear equations have great vocational and potential utilities. Proportion and variation are valuable in all four fields. Graphical representation and the function have little lin- gual value. Radicals have considerable value potentially. Quadratics have considerable value potentially. Exponents have considerable value potentially. Logarithms are valuable for vocational and potential utilities. Complex numbers have only considerable potential value. Texts. An attractive arrangement for drill work on these topics is provided by Collins's Practical Algebra, First Year Course. There is an abundance of clear explanations, model solutions, and practice material so that the pupil under the direction of an alert teacher has a maximum opportunity to fix these algebraic habits. Two texts that aim to establish the pupil in the funda- mentals in a manner that cannot fail to excite interest are those by Cajori and Odell (a two-year course), and a one-volume text by Schultze. Throughout the Cajori-Odell text arith- metic and algebra are closely connected. The authors avoid complicated proofs and start with certain definite assumptions of the laws of signs in subtraction and multiplication. Simple fractions and easy radicals are introduced early, but not at the expense of comprehensive drill in the four fundamentals. The Textbook as a Means of Interpreting Truth 203 The books abound with illustrations. Problems peculiar to physics have been purposely minimized, for the simple reason that first year pupils should not be expected to handle readily such abstract concepts of mechanics in the first year. But problems from the realm of business are given in great abundance. The graphs are employed both for the visualiz- ing of variables in equations and for determined practical results. The Schultze text agrees with the former in avoiding ap- plications taken from physics, and for the same reason. Schultze is quite right in his criticism that many texts in al- gebra " are impressive display of sham applications." There is a large supply of drill exercises in the four fundamentals. The chapter on Linear Equations has a unique arrangement, and forms one of the chief features in a book well supplied with excellent qualities. At the end of the book there are 102 1 review exercises, surely a supply adequate for discriminating drill and for individual differences in rate and ability of learning. The Hawkes-Tuby-Touton text is another illus- tration of careful and simple evaluation. The emphasis being made by some investigators upon what really constitutes the basis of adequate introduction to good progress in the study of algebra must be considered by authors within this field. The solution of equations as well as of the four fundamentals rightly forms the foundation of an under- standing of algebra, and not without thorough drill in such pro- cesses, with material skillfully evaluated, can the teacher hope to develop not merely interest in the subject but proficiency in its applications as well. Geometry. Evaluated subject-matter in geometry has begun to appear in the latest texts. The Euclidean system, 204 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It of course, still forms the framework of all courses in geometry, and as a system of logical reasoning it doubtless has no peer. But perhaps for this very reason it is one of the most difficult subjects in the high school, and the textbook of geometry appears as one of the least interesting. In nearly all of the recent textbooks one finds simple preliminary material for the purpose of making clear to the pupil what are the basic notions of geometry, and to what extent logical proof is abso- lutely indispensable in building up the structure of geometric truth. The report of the Committee on Geometry 1 makes the quite obvious point that such preliminary units of instruction are quite insufficient in the matter of time. The pupil, here as in algebra, must be exposed a long time to the tools of his study- ing. He cannot do good and rapid work until the manipu- lation of the tools is automatic and unconscious. The re- port suggests that training in attention, observation, descrip- tion, experimentation, and informal discussion should begin as early as the fourth grade. Where this is impossible the training in handling of tools should occupy all of the first high school year, demonstrative geometry being postponed to the second year. A Proposed Course. The textbook writer will be interested in the proposed course as outlined by the Committee. 2 (i) The course aims to begin in the elementary school and to continue in the high school. In the beginning there must be provision for observation with the cube, cylinder, cone, and sphere as objects. Along with this observational work the pupil should be taught to describe correctly the funda- 1 School and Society, Jan. 13, 191 7, pp. 53-59. * E. R. Breslich, chairman, Ernest B. Lytle, Orion M. Miller. The Textbook as a Means of Interpreting Truth 205 mental forms of the plane and space as viewed on models and objects around him. By this means he learns to image these forms correctly. He begins to conceive and systematize space magnitudes. Inspection of the boundary of surfaces leads to the explanation of the simplest geometric figures. Through the study of pyramids and prisms he learns to classify triangles and quadrilaterals and the main positions of lines and planes in space. From the cylinder, cone, and sphere he obtains the circle. An important correlation be- tween observation and drawing should be made. Plane and solid geometry must go hand in hand. After a study of several models and instruments the follow- ing terms should be made known to the pupil : cube, rectangle, square, surface, edge, corner, straight line, point, prism, sphere, circle, center, diameter, radius, distance, right angle, perpendicular, straight angle, oblique angle, right triangle, obtuse triangle, parallel lines and planes, complements and supplements. The pupil should be taught the meaning of the following symbols: =, >, <, J_, rt. Z, and st. Z. The formulas that give surface measurement of the square, rectangle, cube, and rectangular prism should be taught as well as the facts that A-f-B + C = 180 for any triangle and A = B = C = 6o° for the equilateral triangle. This work may be given in the sixth grade or earlier. It represents the first stage of instruction in geometry. The manual use of ruler, compasses, and protractor has a prominent place in these units of instruction. Following this series of lessons the pupil is trained in the use of such geometric concepts as symmetry, congruence, and similarity. 206 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It Symmetry may be observed almost anywhere, for example, in furniture and decoration. The plane of symmetry is il- lustrated on various objects, e.g. the head. From this the pupil may study symmetry in the plane and in the axis. All of this information is gleaned inductively, for scientific terms obviously can have no real meaning for the pupil at this stage of development. Following this kind of work the fundamental constructions are introduced, those based on symmetry, as the bisection of an angle and the erection of perpendicular lines. Logic is not considered formally as yet, but accuracy in speech and construction is stressed. The symmetry of the isosceles and equilateral triangles, the drawing of the medians, bisectors of angles of a triangle, etc., open for the pupil opportunities to recognize general geometric facts. The pupils, each with a differently shaped triangle, find that the bisectors of the angles of a triangle are concurrent. This introduces the query whether it is possible to " prove " that the concurrence of those lines is a general fact. The sym- metric properties of solids (cube, pyramid, etc.) are studied. The symmetry of the circle leads to the problem of locating the center and of constructing regular inscribed and circum- scribed polygons. Following this study of solids as a whole the processes of analysis and synthesis are developed, and this type of study- ing calls for close observation of form and the applied review of what has already been learned. There will now be actual measurement in and about the school, so that by this means the pupil may obtain figures to be constructed and drawn to scale. Some of the fundamental problems of finding inac- cessible distances are solved by this method. In this work models made of wood, cardboard, or wire are The Textbook as a Means of Interpreting Truth 207 used. A cube, a quadrangular prism, and a pyramid, di- vided into symmetric parts by planes, a sphere with the equator marked, and parallel circles and meridians, right and oblique pyramids, prisms, cones, and cylinders, and the five regular polyhedrons are the principal tools of the course. If the work has been properly developed and care taken to supervise the pupil step by step, it will be right to expect him to know at this point the following : Measurement and graphing of line segments ; Measurement of angles ; Relations between the angles of a triangle, interior and ex- terior ; Relations between adjacent angles, complementary and supple- mentary ; Relations between the acute angles of a right triangle ; Relations between the angles formed by parallel lines and a transversal ; Problems solved by scale drawings ; The fundamental constructions, and construction of congruent figures ; Properties of chords, tangents, and central angles ; of the isosceles and equilateral triangles. The second stage of this course concludes with the correla- tion of algebra and arithmetic. Adding, subtracting, and multiplying line-segments ; measuring lengths, as perimeters and circles ; finding areas and volumes — are means of such correlation. Expressions like (a+b) 2 , (a-\-b)(a — b), (a+b) z , are pictured with rectangles and cubes. The formula S = ba is developed for whole numbers, decimal fractions, and fractions. Computation of areas leads to square root. Here 208 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It the pupil is led to see the advantage of approximate arith- metic, as he develops judgment as to the limited accuracy of the magnitudes given and to be computed. This second stage of geometry may be given in the sixth or seventh grade. (2) The study of logical geometry is not taken up abruptly, but by intermediary material. Proof of geometric facts must precede demonstration. At first the properties of figures are studied and the results found are stated as theorems. The truth of these theorems is then established by reason- ing. The method of proof, however, is always informal. When it has been found that two lines perpendicular to the same line are parallel, the pupil will reason about as follows : " This must be true. For, if they were not parallel they would meet and then we would have two lines from a point outside of a given line perpendicular to the given line, which is impossible ! " However, the conventional form of proof, given, to prove, proof, might be used in some instances in which the class can appreciate its value. Geometry at this stage aims : 1. To establish geometric facts, either by studying the figure, or as a consequence of other known facts. 2. To help the pupil to pass gradually to the logical method of demonstrative geometry. These topics in the transition units of instruction are : Congruence of triangles. Similarity of figures. The properties of isosceles and equilateral triangles. The proofs of the fundamental constructions. The Textbook as a Means of Interpreting Truth 209 Tangents and regular inscribed and circumscribed polygons. The theorem of Pythagoras. These topics are considered in the eighth grade or in the first year in the high school. About half the time usually given to mathematics, it is recommended by the Committee, should be devoted to the study of geometry, the remainder being spent on other mathematical subjects. ' (3) Logical geometry has now been reached. The pupil has already learned to understand the basic concepts of geome- try. He has seen the need of logical proof and its advantages over the experimental method. Now he is given opportunity to choose between the various methods of proof. These methods are considered throughout the course, the aim being to lead the pupil to see that there is usually some definite plan that he may follow. He is not left to chance. Five kinds of proof are emphasized : proof by superposition, used mainly in proving the fundamental theorems of a chapter ; the method of congruent triangles ; the indirect method ; the method of analysis ; the algebraic method. The Committee believes that the traditional arrangement of subject-matter into books has no special advantage but rather distinct disadvantages. For this reason they suggest the following topics for brief chapters. 1. Quadrilaterals. Parallelograms, angles formed by parallel lines and a transversal, the trapezoid, the kite. 2. Proportional line segments. Parallel lines cut by trans- versals, constructions leading to proportional segments, processes which applied to proportions give proportions. 3. Similar polygons and triangles. 4. The theorem of Pythagoras and its generalizations. 210 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It 5. The circle. Diameters, chords and arcs, parallel secants, tangent circles. 6. Measurement of angles by arcs of the circle. Inscribed angles, angles formed by secants, tangents, and chords. 7. Proportional line segments in circles. 8. Inequalities. In the preceding chapters various theorems on inequalities have been proved. This chapter is an extension and full treatment of the subject. 9. Loci and concurrent lines. Before this several locus theorems have been proved. This chapter is a summary and extension of the subject. The same is true for the next three topics. 10. Regular polygons inscribed in, and circumscribed about, the circle. Length of the circle. 11. Area of the triangle. 12. Area of the polygon and circle Trigonometry. Attention is called by the Committee to the fact that most textbooks on geometry now contain the fundamentals of trigonometry, consisting mainly of the defi- nitions of the trigonometric ratios, finding the approximate values of the ratios for given angles, the use of tables of the natural functions, and applications to the solution of the right triangles. This work is given usually together with ratio, proportion, and similar triangles. After this as a rule no fur- ther use is made of trigonometry. For this reason the pupil soon forgets this brief study of the topic and it appears prac- tically as a wholly new subject when he later takes it up as a separate course. Trigonometry should be used more fre- quently in geometry, many of the theorems being well adapted to proof by both methods. Solid Geometry should not be isolated from plane geometry. The Textbook as a Means of Interpreting Truth 211 In the courses outlined the pupil has been trained in space perception. While studying plane geometry he should also become familiar with solid geometry. Many theorems in the latter are related to corresponding theorems in the former. If they are proved in plane geometry, the pupil will have excellent exercise in both two and three dimensional thinking. Solid geometry should include the theorems on diedral angles, perpendicular and parallel planes, theorems on lines and planes in space, some study of the sphere, and circles on the surface of the sphere. This leaves for later study the areas of surfaces, volumes of solids, and polyhedral angles in connection with spherical polygons. Limits. There should be consideration of incommensurable lines. The notion of the limit as a constant approached by a sequence of numbers should be developed but no topical treat- ment of limit need be given. Texts. The foregoing course offers many valuable sugges- tions and is especially valuable for its plan to introduce the study of geometry early and in a manner that conforms to the stages of the pupil's mental development. Some of the features of this course are noticeable in the more recent texts in geometry. The Ford and Ammerman Plane and Solid Geometry l introduces trigonometrical ratios in the treatment of plane geometry. This text is distinguished also by many problems and illustrations in applied design. In the section on solid geometry there are unusually striking illustrations. The text on Plane Geometry by Palmer and Taylor offers many practical applications. Young and Schwartz's Plane Geome- try 2 emphasizes the " logical structure" plan and symmetry. Its two-color printing in the figures is a unique feature. In 1 Macmillan, 19 13. 2 Henry Holt & Co. 212 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It the Plane Geometry by Betz and Webb there is a long pre- liminary course preceding the demonstrational geometry. Robbins's New Plane Geometry 1 follows the traditional organi- zation with strong emphasis on demonstrational methods. Constructive Geometry by E. R. Hedrick 2 is a rather unusual geometric notebook, modeled after those long used in England. The provision for many blank pages enables the pupil to make his drawings and to work his problems in this notebook. From the title of the book one expects to find a large number of practical problems. These are abundant and suggest many ways in which geometry can be coordinated with manual training courses. General Mathematics. Within the past ten years the inter- pretation of the various branches of mathematics as really so many phases of a general subject has led many teachers to organize general courses in which algebra, geometry, and trigonometry are presented as aids to one another. Correla- tions, as we have seen, are common also between practical, everyday problems and between physics, manual training, and engineering. This correlation is not an innovation of twentieth-century teachers. For more than a hundred years such combination treatment has been in vogue in European schools. One may trace this conception of general mathematics back a thousand years and more to the great Arabic math- ematician, Mohammed ibsi Irusa al-Khowarizmi (even his name suggests correlations of some sort) , who wrote the first systematic treatise on algebra and included the well-known geometrical solutions of the quadratic and the application of algebra to a geometrical problem. This ancient scheme has been reviewed in several note- 1 American Book Company, 1915. 2 Macmillan, 1916. The Textbook as a Means of Interpreting Truth 213 worthy texts, among which the three volumes by E. R. Bres- lich are the most pretentious and the best evaluated. A series entitled Correlated Mathematics for Secondary Schools by Lang and Breuke x is a less effective and hardly an original application of the principles of a general course. Shorts and Elson's Secondary School Mathematics 2 introduces dem- onstrational geometry into the first year's work and accept- ably unifies the work of the second year. S. G. Rich of Amanzintoti Institute, Natal, South Africa, reports an ingenious plan of evaluation and adaptation that has succeeded admirably with his Zulu students. These stu- dents come from the eighth grade. They have been taught geometry and algebra in separate courses, not going beyond quadratics and circles. They are given extensive revision courses in arithmetic, designed to train the student to teach this subject. At the Institute a course in general mathematics is given under the name " arithmetic." In connection with the revision of mensuration the principal elementary theorems of plane geometry are used, only those being selected which are most broadening to the student's mathematical ideas. The instructor in mathematics applies the single linear equa- tion as a means of extending the range of arithmetical power. Enough algebra is taught to give facility in such work. Such elementary parts as are of traditional value or merely intro- ductory to work beyond the possible needs of the students are omitted. Rich believes that time spent in learning complex factorizations, " removal of brackets," involution, theory of indices is wasted upon the large number of pupils who do not plan to attend college. Skill in handling the tools of linear equations should be more and more emphasized. He applies 1 Century Company. 2 D. C. Heath & Co. 214 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It this method successfully to simple interest problems with his senior Zulu normal students. In geometry, theorems and facts are introduced as means to solve actual problems from life, ability to demonstrate that " triangles with three mutually equal angles are similar " is less important than developing ability to utilize Pythagoras' theorem. Zoology. The variety of viewpoint among textbook authors in the field is strikingly shown in the accompanying tables compiled by E. R. Downing. Notice, for example, that the wide variation in the amount of space devoted to habits of animals ranges from 0.6% in Bigelow's Applied Biology (191 1) to 45.3% in Tenney's Natural History (1866). Confining the comparison to texts published recently, Bigelow's 0.6% is one extreme and Daugherty's Principles of Economic Zoology with 30.7% and Hegner's Practical Zoology with 26.3% the other extreme. In discussing the trend in texts in Zoology, Downing sug- gests that too much emphasis has been placed on the study of morphology from the evolutionary point of view. The danger here is similar to that throughout the entire field of subject- matter in education ; namely, that of devotees exalting each his own subject and claiming exceptional educational value for its contents. The high school teacher of zoology, impreg- nated with university ideals and university conceptions of mental development, simply transfers this more mature study of zoology to the high school, where the pupil is not ready for a painstaking morphological analysis. Consequently many pupils are dropping away, the enrollment in these courses is decreasing. Doubtless the strong movement toward gen- eral science is due to this overemphasis on detail in high school science. The Textbook as a Means of Interpreting Truth 215 Criteria for Science Texts. Important criteria for the se- lection of material in textbooks have been suggested by Twiss. 1 The subject-matter must be : 1. capable of being made simple enough to be clearly comprehended by the pupil; 2. knowledge that will help in the accomplishment of some worthy purpose; 3. frequently associated with the situations in which it is likely to be needed, or some part of them, or something like them, so that it can be recalled when the need for it occurs. Many textbooks in science, and in other subjects as well, have simply restated what earlier texts contain, and in a style even less attractive in some instances. Science is systematic observation of phenomena in various fields of life. The text- book simply records what others have seen. The pupil must see many of these phenomena and specimens for himself; indeed it is better that he see them first and then read about them and then observe them again under scientific direction. General Science Texts. An interesting and illuminating study of the Quantitative Analysis of General Science by H. A. Webb 2 is based on the examination of ten texts, all of them published since 1905. In these ten texts there were in all 3610 pages of instruction, all tables of contents, introductions, appendices, and indices being excluded. " Every topic to which as much as one page was devoted was entered in a card index, each text being credited with the proper number of pages for each subject. There were in all 84 such topics of minor rank." The accompanying chart indicates the distribu- tion of total pages of major subjects. The greatest amount 1 Science Teaching. Macmillan, 191 7, p. 90. 2 School Science and Mathematics, June, 191 7. 216 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It 9 ft 7 piuiuy o -* o d to co Of»ooodoOo< W ►J PQ < K2ojqo2 fo sptwuuffi V 3 PI°H "<*• OO CO H H CO Oi H IO 00 ■o o 10 vq co d M H tCSojooz O O *? *t ^ ■4 « to 00*0 4 to 4 , o pjmjDft s ( Xuu3x cs Tf cs r-» co 00 10 00 tJ- 10 SMfstg jA 6 to OO 00 10 to KSojooz fo sgtfpuuj s > ft +5 ,d ctj ctj ft ' bo „ o O jQ b3 ft ,1 £ o o "55 6 m .«* ^ 1 o 3 g X b •» .a rt3 b S d .13 rt 83 m. .§ - 2 ft o be SB o 2 ^ o d Jd «j O C to & 9, .0 o o o M > C/5 W O M d ft _ d 2 j2 •n S tn .y 3 et3 MS ft The Textbook as a Means of Interpreting Truth 217 tCSojooz oiUiouoo-g s ( anBOQ pa? SSoua^j KSojooz 6 KS0J002 OlUlOUOO'g ft S9J(f}0 00 w .'eji / eo o H H CN Oi m no OiioOiOOONNioNvitr) in O in I . •* rj- tJ- cJ 10 6 to « to n c bo c 2 & 5 o "in (X >. JJ O. *j rt cd 1-1 l-l 00 cd q a o no 4 d in O , .^ to o he 0, O c3 9 6C - , - J ?% -« «J WO !8 2 U o |l3 S © rt O £ o S ^« T3 ^ O 3 to 2 rf ^1 ^o >» a s S x 1 >i a H QO O to Q ^o -h "c3 .s§ Ph 218 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It of space is devoted to physics, 1041 pages or 28.9%. Of these pages 206 deal with mechanical energy, 143 with heat, 123 with electricity, 115 with light, 49 with magnetism. Generous provision has been made for the high school girl, there being 194 pages (or 5.4%) devoted to household arts Pages 100 200 800 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 Physics, 1041 pages m r\.8tronomy textiles jEconomlcB 0.6* Unclassified 7.6* 1.6*0\> 0.6*— CS>» Physios' 28.9* Ph j Biology 12.6* Physiography 12.4* Plants 8.9* Meteorology 8.1* Chemistry 7.8* Foods 8.8* Figure IV and 137 pages (or 3.8%) devoted to food. The large differ- ence in amount of space given to animal life and to plant life may be explained partly by the fact that only 3 pages are devoted to animal reproduction and 40 pages to plant repro- duction, a choice of emphasis that has obvious explanation. Only five of the texts treat of astronomy. The wide range of emphasis by various authors of general The Textbook as a Means of Interpreting Truth 219 TABLE XII Distribution of Subject-Matter in General Science Texts Hessler Clark Coulter Barber Elhuff Snyder Cald- well- Eiken- berry Total number of pages . . 458 352 284 584 413 454 302 1. Elem. Mechanics (solids) and Measurement . . 5° 10.9% 32 9-i% 13 4-5% 66 11.3% 42 10.2% 5 1.1% 21 7.o% 2. Water-Chemistry etc., ' Mechanics of Liquids . 30 6-5% 40 n. 2% 42 15-0% 50 8.5% 28 6.9% 4 0.9% 33 11.0% 3. Air- Composition, Me- chanics of Gases . . . 20 4-4% 22 6.2% 21 7-5% 5 0.9% 40 9-8% 15 3-3% 40 13-2% 4. Heat-Combustion Theory of Heating Sys- tems, etc 23 5-1% 50 14.2% 44 15.6% 112 19.1% 54 13.2% 13 2.8% 16 5-2% 5. Everyday Chemistry (not under other heads) 40 8.8% 31 9.0% 27 6-5% 6. Light-Theory and Rela- tion to Life 24 5-o% 49 14.1% 15 ~ 5-3% 62 10.8% 21 5-o% 7 i.7% 3 1.0% 7. Sound Theory, and Rela- 5 1.1% 39 11.0% 10 2-3% 3 0.6% 8. Magnetism and Elec- tricity 24 5-1% 46 13.4% 34 8.2% 17 3-8% 9. Physiology and Food Values 86 18.8% 9 2.6% 10 3-8% 35 6.0% 21 5.o% 15 3-4% 29 9-6% 10. Hygiene and Sanita- 38 15 4-o% 80 13.6% 26 6-4% 29 9-6% 11. Weather and Climate . 25 5-2% 22 7-1% 125 21.4% 5o 11.1% 27 9-0% 12. Physiography and Soils 23 5-i% 47 16.6% 15 2.5% 29 7-1% 234 5i.6% 49 16.1% 13. Plants, Elementary Botany, Agriculture . . 29 6.3% 5 i.3% 27 9-5% 34 5-9% 45 10.7% 45 9-9% 16 5-2% 14. Animals — Elementary 25 5-6% 14 5.o% 23 5-2% 20 4.0% 32 10.8% 15. Astronomy or Star Study 9 3.o% 6 1.6% 25 5-4% 16. Introductory and Mis- cellaneous 16 3-8% 14 3-9% 20 7.o% 8 1.8% 7 2.2% Note. — Owing to the obvious difficulty of analyzing and distributing such assorted material, the above figures do not represent infallible values, but do give an accurate relative idea of emphasis. In each entry the upper figure is the total number of pages devoted to that topic, the lower the per cent of the total space of the text. 220 Textbook , How to Use It and Judge It science texts may be seen in more detail in Table XII. Four of the texts are fairly well agreed on the amount of space given to mechanics (solids) and measurements. There are wide vari- ations among the seven texts in their treatment of heat- combustion, light, sound, physiography. (Snyder spends more than half of his books, 51.6% or 234 pages, on physi- ography and soils.) Barber, Elhuff , Caldwell, and Eikenberry omit sound and magnetism. Coulter and Snyder fail to dis- cuss hygiene and sanitation (Barber gives 80 pages or 13.6% to illustrate topic) ; Clark and Elhuff ignore climate and weather, but Barber gives 125 pages (21.4%) to this subject. Only three of the books discuss astronomy, Snyder giving the most space to this subject. Webb's study shows that much attention has been given to illustrations, especially to photo- graphs. In this respect, however, the general science books are not superior to texts in special science, for throughout modern textbook making the artistic and the photographic features are strongly emphasized. The accompanying Table XII indicates the distribution of emphasis in seven current texts in general science. History. The accompanying tables indicate that there is wide diversity of judgment regarding the relative importance of material in this subject. An analysis of six recent history texts in medieval and modern history was made for the pur- pose of showing the apportionment of space to various periods and topics. The period considered is from the Teutonic in- vasions to the present. The West and the Harding texts treat of the times before Charlemagne only as a summary and review, while the Ashley text stops with the seventeenth century. 1 1 Ashley has covered the period since the seventeenth century in his Modern European Civilization. The Textbook as a Means of Interpreting Truth 221 The main figures in the tables denote the number of pages in the text devoted to the period or the topic. The smaller figures in each square denote per cents. In all cases the base for percentage is the number of pages in the text deal- ing with the period in question, 400 to 191 7, those pages of the text relating to earlier times not being counted. While great care has been taken to make the estimates accurate the figures are only approximate, owing to the commingling of topics and periods, and the different modes of treatment by the different authors. The texts studied and compared are as follows : Harding's New Medieval and Modern History, indicated by H. Robinson and Beard's Outlines of European History, 2 vols., R & B. Robinson's Medieval and Modern Times, R. West's Modern World, W. Myers's Medieval and Modern History (revised), M. Ashley's Early European Civilization, A. A study of the tables reveals some interesting conditions. Four of the texts agree quite closely in the amount of space devoted to the Dark Ages. There is striking uniformity of amount of space given to the Middle Ages, Myers being an exception. But within this period there is wide variation in the treatment of France and in the discussions of the Eastern Empire and of Mohammedan civilization. There is con- siderable diversity in the amount of space given to the Refor- mation and the Religious wars. While there is a fairly close agreement regarding the space devoted to modern times, with one exception, there is much variation in the amount of space given to the period preceding 181 5. The greatest di- 222 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It versity is noticeable in the discussion on Europe since 1878. In most of the books practically half of the space is used for the medieval period. About one fourth of the space is de- voted to the study of the last one hundred years. TABLE XIII Apportionment of Subject-Matter in Texts on Medieval and Modern History Text H R&B R W M A 1913 1912 1914 1915 1903 1915 Pages on period 400—1917 . . . 700 900 720 710 700 340 27 4 64 7 + 64 9 52 7* 63 9 40 11 + Barbarian Invasions .... 2 1 3 10 1 + 10 15 2 14 2 16 4i 1 1 7 24 2! 24 3i 9 1 + 18 2| 8 2 + 1 * 11 1 + 11 1 + 7 1 15 2 4 1 + 1 1 7 1 * I f 4 1 2 The Franks and Charlemagne 17 2i 15 15 2 + IS 2 + IO 10 3- Middle Ages, 843-1300 .... 178 25 175 175 25 180 25 125 18 192 55 14 2 23 23 si 16 2! 24 3* 6 2 — Medieval Church 18 2§ 18 2 18 2h 12 if 7 1 22 7- Empire and Papacy .... 29 4 21 2* 21 3 26 35 3* 8 2 + The Textbook as a Means of Interpreting Truth TABLE XIII — Continued 223 Text H R&B R W M A 10*3 1912 1914 1915 1903 1915 Pages on period 400-1917 . . . 700 900 720 710 700 340 Middle Ages — Continued 26 4- 14 T 2 *-3 14 2 20 3- 27 4- 12 3h 1 6 2 1 3 Mohammedan Civilization . 3 1 2 1 3 10 if England in Middle Ages . . 20 3- 21 2\ 21 3 40 52- 17 2| 18 5* France in Middle Ages . . . 14 2 2 1 4 2 2 7 1 5 2 3 4 1 + 24 3* I I 15 2 22 7- The Manor 5 2 5 3 3 1 a 7 2 Towns and Commerce . . . 10 16 if 16 2i 16 a* 18 2\ 12 32- 20 3- 25 a 3 - 2 3 32 16 ^4 II 18 * 5l Renaissance Period, 1300-1500 . 73 43 5- 43 6 + 57 8 + 63 9 76 22§ Culture and Learning . . . 21 3 26 3- 26 3i- 14 2 — 41 15 4+ Hundred Years' War .... 16 2| 8 1 — 8 1+ 8 1 + 6 1 — 6 2 — Church in 14th and 15th cents. IO 5 2 3 * No treatment of architecture except one scant page. 224 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It TABLE XIII — Continued Text H R&B R W M A 1913 1912 1914 i9 J 5 1903 1915 Pages on period 400-1917 . . 700 900 720 710 700 34o Renaissance Period — Continued England 9 if 1 1 "5 1 1 7 14 2 1 1 T 1 4 1+ 3 1 3 3 1+ 3 + 6 1 — 1 4 1 — 2 _ + Economic Revolution of Renais. 16 5- The Reformation and Religious 55 8 + 80 9- 80 11 + 39 5* 103 15 39 10+ Reformation in Germany and 20 3 3i 3* 3i Ah 12 x 3 19 12 4- Reformation in England . . . 10 16 2 — 16 2| 12 If 28 4 8 a| Counter Reformation .... 4 6 2 3 6 1 — 2 3 + 6| 1 — 4 1 + 20 3 20 a* 20 3- 13 2 — 13 4! 33 4- Social and Scientific Changes . 6 2 3 6 1 — 22 7- Modern Times, 1648-191 7 . . . 332 47s 57o 63 + 380 55 384 55 337 48+ 166 24- 265 29+ 195 27 153 22 — 215 31 Age of Louis XIV .... 18 a* 14 14 2 — 5 2 3 17 a| 9 3- The Textbook as a Means of Interpreting Truth 225 TABLE XIII — Continued Text H R&B R w M A i9 J 3 1912 1914 1915 1903 1915 Pages on period 400-1917 . . 700 900 720 710 700 340 Modern Times — Continued England in 17 th century . . 22 3 + 21 2\ 21 3 35 5 30 4* 4 14 + Rise of Russia and Peter Great 6 1 — 5 1+ 6 1 — 3 1 2 — 16 2\ Germany and Frederick the IS 2 + 8 1 — 8 1 + 7 1 II l| 3 1 2 — 5 5 2 3 1 1 7 Life and Thought in 18th cen- 25 si 30 4+ England in 18th century . . 14 2 18 2 18 2§ 12 if 17 2 2 French Revolution .... 41 6- 80 9- 53 7* 52 39 si 32 4ft 59 6| 37 5* 21 3 44 6| Industrial Revolution . . . 16 2i 22 2 2 15 2 + 27 4- Europe from Vienna to Berlin 76 II 175 19^ 100 14 144 20 + 75 10 — Metternich's System and Re- IO 34 4- 16 2i 21 3 8 1 + 18 Z 3 IO 23 3 + 10 4 6 1 — 2 1 3~ 4 226 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It TABLE XIII — Continued H R&B R W M A 1913 1912 1914 1915 1903 1915 Pages on period 400-1917 . . . 700 900 720 710 700 34o Europe from Vienna to Berlin — Continued Italy 12 12 1* 10 14 2 12 if 11 13 2 — 13 2 — 18 2 2 45 5 40 s! 14 2 QO 13 130 142 85 12 87 12J 48 7- 26 03 8 1 I 8 1 4 1 2 IS 2 9 1! 14 2 Balkans and Eastern Question 8 1 + 6 2 3 6 1 — The World in Revolution . . 28 4 Science and Social Organization 14 2 The Far East n 1* 10 1 + 8 1 + The Textbook as a Means of Interpreting Truth 227 TABLE XIII — Continued Text H R&B R W M A 1913 1912 1914 1915 1903 i9 J 5 Pages on period 400-1917 . . . 700 900 720 710 700 340 Europe since 1878 — Continued Expansion of Europe in 19th 40 4* Reform in the 20th century 19 2§ Medieval and Modern to 1648 37o 50 344 38 342 47 33t> 47 396 56 1648-1815 167 23 265 29 200' 28 130 18 184 26 1815-1917 200 27 308 33 180 25 246 53 125 18 The omission of estimates for certain topics in some of the texts does not necessarily mean that the subject is not treated, but that its treatment is so involved with others that it is impossible to make accurate statement of the amount of space devoted to it. Summary. It has been noted in this chapter that the text- book is a means of interpreting truth. A variety of inter- pretations is inevitable. Only by a large exchange of opinions resting on carefully secured data can man hope to arrive at results that will benefit the race. The interpretation will have value according to the reputation, training, and experi- ence of the author and those who have cooperated with him. The publishing house that accepts his manuscript sets its seal 228 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It of approval on the author's work and becomes responsible for the general character of his production. It is therefore important to know the professional standing of author and something of the character of the publishing house. Because the author is an interpreter it is necessary to know some of his reasons for taking the stand he does in his book. These reasons are stated in the preface and more fundamentally in the introduction. Both of these should be studied, preferably in an informal reading lesson, the teacher explaining the more obscure terms and meanings. Critical estimate of the author's work is obtainable in expert reviews. These can be used to form the habit of critical reading. Open-mindedness and judicial acceptance of opinion are some of the aims that should be borne in mind when the teacher regards the text- book as an interpreter of truth. QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS i. What is the geographical distribution of the textbook authors of your books? What is the professional occupation of these authors ? 2. Why is the preface important? 3. How would you present introductory matter to your pupils? 4. By what means can reviews be used to develop the critical attitude ? 5. Why are texts necessarily interpretations of truth? 6. What studies have been made tending toward evaluation of the elementary school subjects ? of the high school subjects ? 7. Should everything in the textbook be taught? Why? 8. What criteria should determine the selection of subject- matter, in the writing of textbooks? in history, in general science, and in mathematics? 9. What is the chief function of the textbook ? The Textbook as a Means of Interpreting Truth 229 REFERENCES Downing, E. R. " Zoology Textbooks for Secondary Schools." School Review, 19 17. Monroe, W. S. "Arithmetic" in National Society for the Study of Education Year Book, 191 7. " An Experiment in the Organization and Teaching of First -Year Algebra." School Science and Mathe- matics, Vol. 12, 1 2 5-13 1. Report of Committee on Geometry. School and Society, January 13, - 1917; PP- 53-59- Rugg, H. 0. " The Experimental Determination of Standards in First -Year Algebra." School Review, Jan., 1916. School and Society, Sept. 1, 191 7, pp. 265-268. Sixteenth Year Book National Society for the Study of Education 191 7, p. 144. Webb, H. A. " Quantitative Analysis of General Science." School Science and Mathematics, June, 19 17. Wilson, G. M. "Arithmetic" in National Society for the Study of Education Year Book, 191 7. CHAPTER IX THE TEXTBOOK AS AN INCENTIVE OR INSPIRATION If the pupil has been carefully trained in using the text- book as a tool ; if he has found it a conscientious guide to a wider acquaintance with the subject by means of reference reading, correlation, and application ; if he has discovered in its contents sources of valuable knowledge, and has learned that much of this knowledge is influenced by individual in- terpretation, — it may safely be assumed that his conception of the textbook is more fruitful of concentrative study than if it is treated in the usual manner as a mere source of memory material. But the textbook has not fulfilled its mission until the pupil has become inspired to want more of the subject it represents. If valuable at all it deserves longer studying, provided, of course, that its subject-matter has definite appli- cation to a career. The general appearance of recent textbooks indicates that authors and publishers are conscious of the function the textbook must perform in arousing interest and effort. Many and excellent illustrations, usually photographs where the subject lends itself to this kind of illustration, drawings by skilled artists, diagrams, color work of various kinds — form the attractive features of the newer books. In books on his- tory and literature the subject-matter in most instances is entertaining and illuminating. The selection and arrangement of type is greatly improved. 230 The Textbook as an Incentive or Inspiration 231 All of us, no doubt, can recall our pride in the attractive school books that filled the school bag suspended on our backs like a soldier's knapsack. We wanted new and clean books. Mother had no rest until she sewed on covers, which, if left to our choice, made the books dazzlingly unique. Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed as one of these. Pride of pos- session was blended with growing interest in the book because of its mysteries, its illustrations, its fascinating tales. Pupils doubtless have the same emotions to-day. Curiosity is ever a powerful educational force. And the author and publisher who have not forgotten the tastes and fancies of their own youth will let memory lead the way to a properly modified and improved artistry of bookmaking that will serve as a well- sustained incentive and inspiration to study. But after the author and the publisher have done their part there remains a no less significant task for the teacher to perform. He must fan into flame the sparks of enthusiasm ignited by the textbook. The author and the publisher have begun what the teacher must continue and complete. The textbook will not teach itself ; it will form a basis of progres- sive study that by its very success kindles enthusiasm. But the teacher with personality and sincere devotion must take the best in the textbook and the best in the pupil for the con- struction of a citizen who will think and labor and create as his ancestors thought and worked and created for their gen- erations. This attitude on the part of the teacher must not be con- ceived of as a mere exhortation, a contentless appeal that is soon exhausted because it has nothing to feed upon. Only by means of a careful study of the contents of the textbook and a wider reading along lines of its subject-matter can the 232 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It teacher acquire substance for his enthusiasm. But more than this. There is a certain arrangement of material or organi- zation of the course that lends itself to the proper arousing of interest in a subject. This lesson plan or type of organization may be called The Inspirational Preview. The Inspirational Preview The Purpose of the Preview. The purpose of this particu- lar lesson type is apparent from its title. But this general purpose has a threefold line of approach. Presenting Educational Value of the Course. In the traditional table d'hote type of education the pupil was expected to study what was set before him and it was not his to reason why, only to do and ever try. But the pupil is entitled to know some of the reasons for his being required or advised to study a particular course. In these days educators are much concerned over the problem of educational values, and many of the details in this educational field are still uncertain, but there are general statements as to the value of the respective subjects that justifiably can be told the pupil. He is entitled to know the cultural and practical advantages of the course he is about to pursue. This apologetic is simply and briefly set forth in the initial class period of the term's work. It is presented entertainingly, but primarily it is told so clearly and with so strong convic- tion on the part of the teacher, that the pupil is not left in doubt about the good that he has a right to expect will come to him from a conscientious application of his mental strength to the various topics that, panorama-like, are unreeled in the schoolroom. The Textbook as an Incentive or Inspiration 233 Fostering enthusiasm for the course. The teacher is a sales- man of truth. He will either stimulate a desire for the course, or he will leave the pupil indifferent and perhaps hostile. By means of correlations and interesting allusions he will so pleas- ingly unfold the possibilities ahead that the pupil becomes eager to advance to the treasure chambers that are described. A rapid survey of the book by a study of the table of contents and a description of some of the characters or applications belonging to the subject supplies material for this kind of inspirational preview. Unless the teacher is convinced that the subject is worth while and unless he begins the work in an atmosphere of well-founded enthusiasm he cannot expect the pupil to be aflame with eagerness to follow him in the dif- ficulties that are bound to appear. A listless, hack-driven teacher will spoil the best textbook ever written. A teacher on fire with conviction and enthusiasm will extract from the poorest textbook gems of meaning and treasures of life, that the pupil will be, shall we say, hypnotized into desiring. It certainly is hypnotism in the best sense of the word. Constructing a background. The artist of stage-scenery knows the importance of painting a back-drop that will give perspective and atmosphere to the drama. A man with a background of experience is not bewildered in the presence of new incidents. And the pupil who has had the privilege of seeing the course in birds'-eye view will attack the details of the subject with more confidence of success. The inspira- tional preview paints the background, and makes it a com- posite of the experiences of every member of the class. The teacher paints with the author's materials also, using the text- book as an artist does a charcoal sketch. This background is made even richer by a brief reference to the history of the 234 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It subject. There is hardly a subject in the program of studies whose history cannot hold the pupils spell-bound. In a previous chapter mention was made of arithmetic. Think of the sciences, and of the languages. Wonderful lessons can be planned on the means by which historical knowledge has reached us, with vases, friezes, obelisks, rocks, and arches as the pages, and strange pictorial writing and peculiar letters as the vehicle of the record itself. Pictures of these early histories abound. The alert teacher who loves the task of teaching will be on the search for illustrative ma- terial of this sort. Summary. The inspirational preview is not a loose emo- tional exhortation. It is emotion controlled by intellect but not dominated thereby. The emotional element is strong, but it is made effective by well-stated reasons for the studying of the subject with carefully selected points of interest that will develop a taste for the work; and building up a back- ground that will give not only a perspective and atmosphere but a prospect that makes the pupil feel familiar with the topics and terms and meanings that he will study throughout the term. Method of Teaching. In carrying out the purpose of the lesson of appreciation as outlined in the preceding section the teacher will use the textbook in at least four different ways. Reviewing of related experience. Not only must the pupil be prepared but the subject must be prepared for the pupil. He has already had some experience in the field of study that lies ahead, but he does not understand how his errands at home, his arguments with playmates, his observations here and there, are related to the work he is now to begin. The The Textbook as an Incentive or Inspiration 235 teacher with knowledge of child, adolescent, and adult psy- chology will appeal to these informal experiences of the pupil. School and life will be blended into unified conceptions that serve as reviews and new views of many heretofore enjoyable but perhaps less intelligible incidents of living. The text- book is presented as part of this familiar experience, but a part that explains and leads. Inspirational previews in textbooks. Many authors open their books with material that embraces some of the princi- ples of the inspirational preview. Select Orations of Cicero by D'Ooge * devotes 87 pages to a study of Cicero and his times. There is material here for coordination with ancient history and with modern civics. The book abounds with illustrations, many of which are taken from the author's own unpublished photographs which he took on the ancient sites. One gets the author's plan of developing enthusiasm in the fact that out of 552 pages only 160 deal with the Latin text. The re- mainder consist of sidelights, helpful notes, vocabularies, lists of synonyms, etc. The Black and Davis Practical Physics 2 begins the first chap- ter with a discussion on Why study Physics ? There are stimu- lating paragraphs on Physics — a Science, Divisions of Physics, Units of Measurement, of Area, of Volume, of Weight, of Density, etc. The selection of material (as well as the careful omission of certain heavy subject-matter) and the general style tend to attract the pupil to concentrative study. It probably is necessary to make a textbook rather formal in treatment, but there are fascinating possibilities in using the colloquial style for such courses. Coulter's Elementary Science 3 is really an extended inspirational preview to the 1 Sanborn & Co., 191 2. 2 Macmillan, 1913. 3 Am. Bk. Co., 191 7. 236 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It whole field of science. The general style of the book may be seen from the opening paragraphs. Air, water, soil, heat, light, plants, and animals — these are the principal things that make up what we call nature. You will find that your fife is a sort of partnership with nature. To live in it the best way, you need to understand this partnership as well as you can. You need to know how to do your part in it. Life is the most interesting thing in the world. You want to find out all you can about it so that you can make your own life as happy and successful as possible. A good way to go at this business of finding out about life is to study first the things that are neces- sary to all kinds of life, plants as well as animals, and see how these things work together to make our own lives possible and pleasant. That is what we shall do in this book. We shall study the seven things mentioned in the first sentence. We shall study the conditions that are necessary for our own lives, and this will help us a great deal in finding out how we ought to live. For thousands of years men have been finding out more and more about the world. Each year new knowledge is added to the old, and this knowledge of nature is called natural science. You have read about cavemen and other ancient people, and you know that the savage men of long ago had a hard struggle for existence. They did not understand how to work in partnership with nature, and so nature seemed more of an enemy than a friend. There was much hunger in those days. Famine, wild beasts, and cold weather — these were enemies against which man hardly knew how to protect himself. He lived "from hand to mouth." Only the strong and hardy survived in those perilous times. But since then men have made hundreds of discoveries about nature. These discoveries have made it possible to live much more safely and comfortably, until to-day even poor people have more comforts than had the kings and queens of old. The Textbook as an Incentive or Inspiration 237 Painstaking care has been taken to produce not only in- spiring material but artistic setting for this subject-matter in the McManns and Haaren Series of Readers. 1 The child who reads the Primer and the four other readers is certainly in Joy land. The three-color illustrations harmonize with the page. In the Fourth Reader a careful selection has been made from standard literature that is applicable to child life of the Fourth Grade. The selections are in themselves excellent previews of the delights made possible by ability to read. The present necessity of making first-year Latin introduc- tory to Caesar has many quite various disadvantages, among them being the formal and purely academic nature of the course. A first-year course that can make the subject-matter attractive and develop in the pupil a genuine enthusiasm for more Latin is not altogether impossible. A Year in Latin by W. A. Montgomery 2 has certain unique features. While preparation to read Caesar is the primary aim of the book, the author has attempted also to give the pupil some idea of the mythology, history, and customs of the Romans. There is a section devoted to Connected Readings from Caesar, with pertinent leadings and discriminating helps. The author gives a list of Latin Phrases Current in English, such as busi- ness terms, crests, coats of arms, etc., humorous phrases, legal phrases, medical terms, school and college, religious terms, miscellaneous phrases, current proverbs, mottoes of sales and of states. Another unusual feature is the inclusion of four songs with musical notation; namely, Gaudeamus Igitur, Dulce Domum (2), and a Latin play song. Thomas and Howe in their Composition and Rhetoric de- vote ten and a half pages to a carefully selected list of Viola- 1 Scribner, 191 7. 2 Row, Peterson and Company. 238 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It tions of Good Use. They give also a practical treatment on Methods for increasing One's Vocabulary. Pupils who are directed in the reading of Canby and Opdyke's 1 grammatical review in their Elements of Composition will feel that here the practical benefits of studying English are well presented. The threefold division of this book into the Means of Com- position, the Ends of Composition, and the Aids to Compo- sition is a happy organization through which much that is inspiring toward zealous study is possible. In the Thomas and Howe text there are quotations from several themes writ- ten by high school pupils. Their general superiority must act as an incentive to the pupil. Energetic first impression. The initial command of the term's work is a vigorous " Attention." The teacher is ready, the material is ready. There is to be no uncertainty about the start, no confused running about mentally, but a positive, clear call to work. The first start is not like a gentle trickling of a stream, but rather like the sudden bursting forth of a fountain and geyser. The first impression will capture or the hunt for the pupil's interest will be long and perhaps unsuccessful. This implies that the teacher will know the textbook and the plan of procedure the first day. Many hours will have been spent in getting ready for this first attack. Outlining the term's work. Some teachers find it advan- tageous to make a schedule of the days on which the various topics will be studied. Such a calendar may not be followed exactly, but it impresses the pupil with the scope of the course, the systematic development of it, and may prevent unneces- sary absences. The outline, furthermore, makes it possible to give proper emphasis to carefully selected topics. Some of 1 Macmillan. The Textbook as an Incentive or Inspiration 239 these topics may be referred to in the beginning of the term as deserving special study, with the promise that, when the class is ready for them, some very interesting and valuable facts will come to light. Such outlines are now usually required of teacher candidates in schools of education. Ability to organize the term's work a long time ahead and to see it in proper perspective will enable the teacher to find illustrations and practical applications, without which teaching in any subject must proceed with considerable monotony. Summary. The Inspirational Preview seeks to awaken the pupil's interest in the course as a whole. It is not con- cerned with any one topic in the course, although its place in the beginning of a new topic has obvious advantages. It solicits the pupil's willingness and effort by giving him a large and interesting preview or panorama, so well organized and so skillfully presented that every pupil enrolled in the subject will feel eager to cooperate to make the class work smooth and successful. Such a start will prevent many of the hardships that teachers encounter in presenting an un- popular subject. The inspirational preview may be called an appetizer. It makes the pupil hungry for the rich meal that will soon be spread before him. GENERAL SUMMARY A hasty glance over the field that has been developed in this volume can hardly fail to impress the student of this subject that a very thoroughgoing investigation needs to be made into the administrative and instructional phases of the textbook problem. To a considerable degree this is an American school problem more than a European one. 240 Textbook , How to Use It and Judge It Nowhere else have textbooks reached the high development that they possess in this country. So large is the demand for school books and so complex is the problem of supplying them that many questions of publication and distribution have arisen. It is very evident that without the farsightedness and the business acumen of the many publishing houses the im- provement of textbooks would have been impossible. The textbook publisher is essentially an educator. He feels the pulse of the educational world. He is quick to grasp the best of the new and to make it part of the books for the coming genera- tion. Instead of fewer books, we need many more of the most highly developed examples of scientific and artistic bookmaking. In the hands of the skillful teacher the textbook is a won- derful tool whose mastery will make independent studying effective and fascinating. It is also a miniature exhibit of world thinking. Like a Baedeker it guides and directs. To the careful student it interprets what man has thought and wrought ; and as the learner grasps some of its meanings he is inspired to delve into the mysteries of intellectual treasures for the glory of life. Illustrations of Directions in Books and in Class Procedure. An example of how the various suggestions in the chapters on textbook usage may be applied is furnished by Lewis and Hosic in their Practical English for High Schools. They begin by calling the pupil's attention to the following points : THE USE OF THIS TEXTBOOK Spend one study period in examining this book. Discover the following : i. The purpose it is meant to serve. The Textbook as an Incentive or Inspiration 241 2. The manner in which it is intended to be used. 3. What parts of it are most interesting. 4. In what ways it will be useful to you. 5. Who wrote it, and when and by whom it was published. 6. How the index is arranged. 7. Whether there are other features of the book worth con- sidering. Be prepared to discuss with your classmates the points outlined above. In discussion try to be clear and courteous. First of all, learn how to study. Then follow several paragraphs on the value of the course, how to learn, and similar material. When authors keep in mind the important fact that the textbook is a tool, a source of knowledge, an interpretation of truth, a guide to supplementary and reference reading, and also a vehicle of inspiration, the arrangement of material and the introduction of directive suggestions will be found in more abundance than is now common even in the most recent texts. Many of the books would become much more effective if they contained less subject-matter and more directions for the mas- tery of the course. If these directions are copious in the be- ginning of a topic and gradually decrease in number as the pupil grasps the meaning of each unit in the course there will be little danger of oversupplying him with needful helps. The following description of classroom technic is taken from Supervised Study in American History l and illustrates how the author, Miss Mabel Simpson, applied some of the sugges- tions regarding the use of the textbook. 1 Macmillan, 1918. 242 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It Definite Instruction in "How to Study" the proper use of the textbook I. The Problem for consideration, or What must be understood : What people were the first among the early leaders of civiliza- tion, and why ? It is well at the beginning of the term to state the problem for the pupils. Then impress it upon their attention by frequently having it restated. In this way, they will acquire the habit of having a definite thing in mind when they take up their books, and, from the beginning, can be taught to consider and collect only such data as have a definite bearing upon the problem to be solved. This problem should be written upon the board. Then ask the pupils how they are to find any information which will help them to understand this topic. This will result in their realizing their need for the textbook. II. Instruction in "How to Study." How to use the Text- book. (Teacher working with the class.) Directions. Given by the teacher : i. How many things can you tell me about this book after reading what is printed on the outside only ? The Title Page. 2. Turn to the first page containing print- ing. Read it; compare it with the words on the outside of the book and tell me what you find on this page which you did not find on the outside cover. 3. What is this page called and why? (If no one knows, tell the class and write name on the board.) The Preface. 4. Read the preface and be ready to tell why a book needs a preface. (Allow sufficient time for each to read. Then discuss the meaning of the word and why the authors placed this brief state- The Textbook as an Incentive or Inspiration 243 ment at the beginning of their book ; also its value to us as readers. Encourage the pupils to ask questions about it.) The Contents. 5. Why does a book have a table of contents, and why is it placed in the front of the book ? 6. How many chapters does this book contain ? 7. In what way does the " Contents" help a reader? 8. Read the titles of the chapters and select the one you think may give us any information about the first people to be the leaders of civilization. Chapter I. 1. Glance at the first page of this chapter, and without reading it, tell me what you notice about this page. (Dif- ferent types of print. Explain the reason for using these different types, if the pupils cannot.) 2. How many paragraphs do you find on the heading "America — The New Part"?— (Three.) 3. Select the proper names on this page which might be difficult for you to pronounce. — (Martin Waldseemiiller, Americus Vespucius.) 4. Find the end of the chapter, and see if you can obtain any help. — (P. 18, "Pronouncing List.") (Explain to the class that some books have this list at the end of the book rather than after each chapter. Also tell them how to find the proper pronuncia- tion, if the book has no list.) 5. On page 2, why are two sentences written in different type? Give term for this. — (Italics.) 6. Quickly read the three paragraphs under the first topic, and decide whether they are of value to us in collecting information concerning our problem. (Obtain the opinion of the class by asking how many think it is valuable, and how many do not. If the majority of the class have made the right decision, call upon a pupil who is incorrect or uncertain, to give his reason ; then help him to see why he is wrong. Write a brief statement of the important fact, if any, on the board under the statement of the problem. At every step of the lesson, 244 Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It encourage the pupils to ask questions. It is the best proof we can have of definite, purposive thinking.) 7. In the same way, read the next two paragraphs. 8. Consult the small map on next page for location of Nile and Euphrates rivers, — Egypt and Chaldea. Then locate these places with relation to America, on a wall map of the world. 9. Before reading about the Egyptians, question the class to aid them in determining what important facts should be looked for. Some such brief outline should be written on the board before beginning to read : The Egyptians. Who they were. Where they lived. What they did. 10. Under the topic Egyptians, decide how many paragraphs or pages are devoted to the subject. (Pp. 4-8.) 11. When should we make a careful study of the illustrations a book contains ? 12. Read silently all information given about the Egyptians. Then make a list of the great things they accomplished. (Allow sufficient time for this. Work with any who seem to have diffi- culty.) When this has been done, the lesson should be concluded at this point. Do not attempt to determine how well they have mastered the facts contained in the subject-matter studied. This will be done in the review on the following day. Our chief purpose at this time is to attempt to create a liking for history, by giving the class a glimpse of how to study it. Since this is the first lesson where a textbook is used, it seems more advisable for the teacher to work with the class as a whole. The suggestions contained in the above lesson have, therefore, been planned for the entire class. The Textbook as an Incentive or Inspiration 245 QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS i. Do you find that the authors of your textbooks employ any means of arousing interest in the subjects? What are these means ? 2. What are the functions of the inspirational preview? 3. How would you teach by the inspirational preview method ? Should lessons of this type be employed frequently? When are they of special importance? 4. What are some of the difficulties in the way of organizing the term's work a long time in advance? 5. What are some of the benefits that might result from the teacher organizing a Lesson Plan Book? 6. What do you consider to be your greatest duty and privilege as a teacher? REFERENCES Haywakd, F. The Lesson in Appreciation. Macmillan; 1915. Simpson, Mabel. Supervised Study in American History. Macmillan; 1918. APPENDIX The - following lists of words have been compiled by Pro- fessor Hugh Clark Preyer of the University of Colorado. They are being used in several of the western schools. The selection seems to the writer so valuable that it is given here as one of the latest and best guides to writers of Spelling books. A Minimal Spelling List, Arranged by Grades The words indicated by asterisk are the 169 found in Ayres's Meas- uring Scale for Ability in Spelling, but in fewer than 6 of our 12 lists. Second Grade (343 words) add ate begin boy after August *begun bread ago aunt belong brick air away best bright alone bad better bring also ball bill brother am *band bird *brought among bank black burn an basket block but ankle be blue buy are been boat by arm bear body call as bed boil came ask before book *can asleep beg both candy at *began box card 247 248 Appendix care door found having *carry down *four he cart draw *f ourth head case dress fowl hear cat drink freeze heard catch drop fresh heart cent *drown from ♦held chair drowned front help change dust full her chicken each game here church ear garden high *claim early get hill clerk east getting him coat *eight girl himself cold even give his comb *evening go home come ever *God horse copy every goes *hot cost eye going house could face gold how count fair gone hungry *cover fall good hurt cow far got I cross fast grass ice cup father great if cut feed green ill dark feet ground in dead fell grow into dear fence guess invite December few had is deep fill hair it did find half jump dirt fine hand keep do first hang kind doctor *five *happen knew *does fix happy knife dog flower hard laid dollar fly has large done foot hat late don't for have lay Appendix 249 lazy put theater Third Grade leaf *ran them leg read then {408 words) lesson red these about let road they above letter root this across long rose three act *lost round time addition make run to afraid making said told again me saw took *alike meet say top all men *says two alley more school under allow mother seed up almost mouse seven us along mouth shall was always my she wash animal near shoe water another never shut we answer new sick well any next sister went anything nice sit were anyway *nine six west appear no sky what apple *nor snow white April nose so who around not soap will arrest of *stole wind attend off store window autumn on story word avoid one study would baby only tail write back our take writing banana out teeth wrote barn own ten yes bath paper than you beauty pencil thank young because pink that your become push the behind 250 Appendix beneath close excuse inquire beside cloth explain intend between *clothing fail iron big coarse family island bite color farm *its blossom coming farther jail board common *February June born company feel July bottom control fellow just bought cook field kill branch corner fierce kitchen break cotton figure knee breakfast cough floor knock breath * country flour knot bridge cousin fond know broke crowd *forget lady brown daily fortune last build danger *forty laugh built date *Friday learn bundle daughter friend leather bury deserve fruit leave busy die gave left butter *died glad lemon button dinner good-by lightning cake dish grade like car divide grain listen *carried double grocery little caught drive hall live center *driven heavy look chase duty herself lose child earn hoarse lot children earth hold loud chimney *easy hole love choose eat honest low * Christmas egg honey machine circle else hope many city empty hour mark *cities end hundred master clean enough inch measure climb except *inform meat Appendix 251 mice once ride stay might open right still mile orange ring stood milk other room stopped mill ought rough street minute over running ♦struck miss pair safe sugar mistake parlor ♦salt suit *mister part Saturday summer mistress party scissors sun Monday people see Sunday money perhaps *seen supper month pick sell sure morning picture send swim *motion pie sent table move piece September talk much place severe taste music plain shake teacher must play *shed tell myself pleasant ship themselves name point short there naughty poor should thing ♦nearly pound show think need pretty side third news *primary sing thought nickel prompt sleep thread night *prove sleigh threw ninth quart small through noise quarter sold throw noon quick some Thursday north < quiet something tire nothing quite ♦sometimes tired notice race soon to-day now raise sorry toward nut reach south town obey ready speak traction o'clock recess spell tree October remember spring truly often ♦rest stand truth old ribbon star try 252 Appendix tried wood chocolate guide Tuesday work circus gun turn worth civil hammer twelve wrap class healthy ugly wrapped club heat uncle written coffee history until yard collar hoping upon year *contract human use yellow corn *husband used yesterday cottage idea vacation yet country- important very dentist Indian voice Fourth Grade depot inside wagon wait (216 words) desert discover *itself justice walk able dismiss kept wall according ditch king want account division labor warm ache dream land watch age engine lawn way alarm enjoy life wear allowed escape light week angel *examination line wet attack expect linen wheel author failure lonesome when beginning fashion lying where believe fear manage whether biscuit feather man which blanket felt March while breathe fight market whisper burglar finish matter whistle bushel fire may whole cabbage food *mayor whose *camp form mean why canoe forward metal winter capital furnace middle wish *capture furniture mind with carriage grammar mine without chain *grand mischief woman *chief guard most Appendix 253 mountain *region thousand although *navy remain throat angry neighbor roar thunder anxious neither roof together army ninety *rule to-morrow arrive number same tongue article orchard saucer too attention outside scholar track auto palace second train automobile parade seem travel awful park sentence traveler bathe pass separate trial beat past set trip beautiful pay several trouble *became peace sew umbrella bicycle period shadow unless birth piano shore village blow pigeon shoulder visit bruise please since visitor business pleasure sir waist *cannot pledge skin war carpet pocket slide weather cause poem smoke weigh cement poison soldier win chance police son women coast post stairs won collect potato start wonder column practice station wonderful comfort present stone world concern president stop wreck concert pumpkin straight wrong couple quarrel strong course question such Fifth Grade court rain raisin sweep taught (186 words) cushion damage *rapid teach address dangerous reason term afternoon *dash receive thick against debt recent those agreeable defeat regard though already describe 254 Appendix destroy journey proper Thanksgiving different judge railroad ♦thus direction language rather ticket disappoint lawyer real to-night dispute length reply true ♦district level rise union doubt loose river useful ♦drill ♦loss roll usual edge mail saddle vegetable equator match sail ♦victim ♦especially maybe scratch view everything medicine sea ♦vote exercise merely secret wake expense modern section waste ♦fact narrow select wave familiar nature sense weak famous nephew serious Wednesday ^favorite none serve wide ^.fever November settle within fifth object shepherd wound ♦final occupy sight woolen finger ocean sincerely ♦firm opinion size Sixth Grade ♦folks forest ♦organize ♦organization song square (755 words) ♦free orphan ♦stamp absent frightened ourselves state accept ♦gentleman page steal acquaintance glass passenger stock advantage government person strange advice handkerchief persuade succeed ♦agreement heaven picnic success altogether height pin ♦sudden appetite hospital plant suggest application ♦immediate position supply arrival ♦indeed pour suppose assist ♦injure press surprise assistance instead price tear ♦athletic interest problem telegraph attempt jealous promise terrible avenue Appendix 255 baggage glorious principal *support balance guest principle *tax breast imagine print telephone brief immediately prison temperature cabin importance private their calendar impossible *progress thermometer captain innocent *property thin catalogue jewel punish thorough certain least purpose ♦total charge *local pursue trust citizen luncheon rate unable clear *manner really understand climate material receipt ♦unfortunate coal mere refer valuable *condition museum relief variety contain national repair volume decision necessary report wander *develop newspaper request weight diamond note ♦respectfully wife dictionary ♦obedience restaurant wire difference oblige result Seventh Grade *direct occasion return due odor review (iji words) during office route accident *elect *omit scene acknowledge *election order scenery ♦action entertain parentage search ♦adopt *entitle particular season advertise *entrance partner sheriff amount *express patient shine ♦annual extreme pavement sign apply factory- peculiar silver appoint favor physical special appreciate finally pity spend arrange foreign plan spoil arrangement freight plenty spread association further political steady assure future possible stomach ♦await general power strength bargain genuine prefer student benefit 256 Appendix bouquet effort preparation argument campaign *elaborate privilege attendance candidate *emergency ♦publish camphor *career *empire recognize ♦circular catarrh *enter recommend ♦circumstance cemetery *evidence reference ♦convict century experience ♦refuse corpse character ♦flight relative department check gymnasium religion ♦discussion college honor remark ♦employ ♦colonies illustrate remedy ♦engage *combination ♦increase salary ♦entire command information secretary ♦estate committee interrupt service ♦estimate complete ♦investigate ♦session forenoon compliment invitation similar ♦grant conduct issue signature ♦improvement *conference judgment single ♦include ♦connection knowledge sleeve ♦income consider license society ♦majority continue manufacture ♦soft member convenient marriage sole ♦official *convention mention splendid proceed *cordially minister ♦steamer ♦provide criticize moment subject ♦provision cylinder mortgage sufficient public deal nuisance superintendent ♦publication death ♦objection system ♦recover ♦debate obtain tariff ♦responsible decide offer ♦testimony ♦retire *declare opportunity therefore secure *degree opposite usually ♦senate *delay perfect ♦various • ♦summon desire personal yield treasure ♦difficulty physician vacant disappear ♦population Eighth Grade ♦witness distance *distribute practical prairie (38 words) education ♦preliminary affair effect prepare allege INDEX Abstract subjects, 122, 154. Accrediting of schools, 10. Accuracy, 120. and speed, 196. Adams, Professor John, 57. Adaptability of text, 114. Adjectives and adverbs, 197, 198, 199. Adjustment, social, 168, 171. Adverbs and adjectives, 197, 198, 199. ^Eneid, 117, 118. texts in, 117, 118, 135, 140. ^Esop, 23. Alabama, 55. Alchemy, 168. Algebra, 34, 118, 164, 200-203. equations, 164, 200, 201, 202, 203. evaluation in, 201. fractions in, 194, 200, 202. texts in, 140, 202, 203. Alphabet, 20. Ambiguous expressions, 199. American history, 114, 193. Simpson, Mabel, on supervising study of, 241-244. texts in, 87-90, 132, 133, 140, 141. Analysis, 150. Appearance of textbook, 84, 114, 230. Appendix, 119, 187. Apperception, 143. Application, 8, 85, 162, 163, 168, 171. Appreciation, 118. lesson in, 137, 152. Arithmetic, 7, 15, 57, 160, 188, 200. addition, 194. colonial textbooks in, 31-34. cost of textbooks in, 65, 66. division, 194. errors in, 79.6, 197. fractions, 194. Eolloway, on errors in, 196, 197. multiplication, 194. percentage, 194. standards for judging texts in, 118 Cincinnati, 95-98. Forsythe, L. E., 92-95, 96. Klapper, 98, 99. Mourde, W. S., 193-195. Smith, D. E., 99, 100. Wilson, G. M., 195, 196. texts in, 10 1. Aristotle, 14, 17, 19, 172. Arizona, 49, 55. Art, 172. Articles, 197. Assignments, 8, 45, 118, 151, 160. evaluated, 143. in dictionary work, 158. page, 144. topical, 161. Association, 143, 160. Assyria, 14. Astrology, 168. Astronomy, 15, 172, 218. Atlas, 158. Authors, 67, 114, 138, 162, 179, 241. knowing, 184, 185, 186, 188. suggestions to pupils, 124-143, 186. Autobiographies, 185. Babylon, 14. Babylonians, 187. Bagley, W. C, 44. Bibles, 14, 37. Bibliographies, 114. Binding, 120, 181. Bingham, Caleb, 26, 28, 29. Biographical dictionary, 157, 160. Blueback Speller, 25. Boards of Education, 37, 56, 57, 73» 76, 77i 78,80. 257 258 Index Book reviews, 188, 190. Books (see also Reading), 123, 148, 163. care of, 153, 154. open, the, 146. organization of, 187, 188. Thomdike, E. L., on, 180. (See also Textbook, Studying, John Locke.) Bourne, Henry, on history, 114. Brown, J. F., on textbooks, 63, 64. Caesar, 23, 115, 116, 117, 134. California, 49, 55, 63, 82. Capella, 16. Captions to tasks, 85. Care of books, 153, 154. Catalogues, 157. Catechism, 22. Ceremonies, 169. Chapters, 187, 243. Charles II, 21. Charleston, S. C, 48. Charts, 84, 139, 142. Cheever, Ezekiel, 23, 35. Chemistry, 17, 172, 190. qualities of good text in, 105. textbook in, 130, 131, 140. Chester, Pa., 48. Children, appealing to, 84. Chronology, 160. Cicero, 19, 23. textbook in, 235. Ciceronianism, 19. Cincinnati standards, 82-87, 95-98, 106, 107, 112, 113. Civics, 65, 66, 152, 162. texts, 91, 125-127, 135, 136. Civil war, the, 193. Classics, 19, 43, 172. Climate, 220. Colloquialisms, 198. Colonial development, 193. Colonial wars, 193. Colorado, 49, 50, 51. Combining terms, 201. Combustion, 220. Comenius, 20, 22, 35, 139. Commentaries, 15. Commerce, 172, 190. Committee of Eight, 192, 193. Complex numbers, 202. Composition, 150. errors in, 197, 199, 200. Concentration, 124. Concordances, 157. Concreteness, 84. "Conduct of the Understanding," 123, 175, 176, 189, 190. Connectives, 197, 199. Contents, table of, 178, 179, 181, 187, 188, 243- Copyright, 188. Corderius, 23. Correlation, 152, 157, 160-162, 230. Correspondence, 190. Cost of textbooks, 58-61, 65-67, 68. Course, open book in beginning of, 147. Crathome, on algebra, 201, 202. Credits, 9. Critical study, 189, 190, 228. Dates, 114. Decatur's standards in reading, 107-110. Definiteness, 83. Definition of words, 120, 137, 159. Definitions, 165. Definitions in beginning of books, 163. Delaware, 49. Description, 119. Diacritical marks, 113. Diagrams (see Illustrations), 116, 118, 119, 139, I4i> 142, 143- Dictation, 113. Dictionary, 20, 119, 146, 157, 160. study of, 158-160. Difficulties, 146, 148. Dilworth's spelling book, 24. grammar, 38. Doughton, Isaac, on spelling and language, 110-112. Downing, E. R., on zoology, 214-217. Disease, 54. Discovery and exploration, 193. District of Columbia, 49. Drafting, 190. Drill, 33, 98, 109, 160. in algebra, 201. Economy of time, 200. Editions, 181. Index 259 Education, 165, 168, 173. compulsory, 167. formal, 123. test of, 152. universal, 167. Educational values, 116. Educative process, 122. See Learning Process. Educators, 195. Egypt, 14. Egyptians, 14, 187. Elementary schools, 63, 110-112, 138, 153, 158, 160, 188, 191, 194, 197, 198, 199, 200. Elementary school subjects, 192-200. American history, 192, 193. arithmetic, 7, 15, 31-34, 57, 65, 66, 95- 98, 99, 100, 160, 188, 193, 194, 195, 196, 197, 200. geography, 17, 34, 35, 37, 59, 106, 119. grammar and language, 17, 18, 19, 29, 30, 38, 65, 113, 119, 197, 198, 199, 200, 204-2 1 1 . spelling, 110-113, 158, 160, 196, 197, 247-256. Elizabeth, N. J., 48. Encyclopedia, 157, 160. Engineering, 190. English, 17, 18, 19, 29, 30, 38, 3* 46, 65, 113, 119, 197, 198, I99-:.jo, 204-211. and algebra, 201. cost of texts in, 65. courses in, 158, 159. errors in, 197, 199, 200. See Composi- tion; Grammar and Language; Literature ; Spelling. Enrollment, 52. Environment, 169. Equations, 164, 200, 201. graphing of, 201. linear, 202, 203. quadratic, 201, 202. simple, 200. simultaneous, 201. Ethics, 19. Eutropius, 23. Evaluation in algebra, 201. Everyman's Library, 193-196. Examinations, 147. Exceptions, 120. Explanations, 145, 146. Fitzpatrick, F. A., on Bookmen, 78. Florida, 55. Footnotes, 119. Foreign language. See Latin. textbooks in, 115. use of dictionary in, 158, 159. Formulas, evaluation of, 201. Forsythe, L. E., on arithmetic, 92-95, 96. Four fundamentals, the, 194, 202. Fractions, in algebra, 194, 200, 202. Fractional equations, 200. Free textbooks, 48-55, 61-63, 67, 149. advantages of, 51-53. and underscoring, 149. cost of, 58-61, 65-67, 68. disadvantages of, 53-54. general distribution of, 51. Gazetteer, 158, 160. Genealogical tables, 115. Geography, 17, 188. • Cincinnati standards, 106. colonial texts in, 34, 35, 37. cost of texts in, 59. Raymonds standards, 119. Geometry, 15, 17. committee on, 204. Euclidean vs. modern, 191, 203. standards for judging texts, 100, 119. texts in, 102-104, 129, 130, 140, 211, 212, 213. Georgia, 55. Gestures, 169. Graded difficulty in texts, 94, 106, 109, 120. Grammar, 17, 18, 19, 119, 197-200. Betts and Marshall, on, 199. Colonial, 29, 30, 38. cost of texts in, 65. errors in, 197-200. formal, 113. Meek, on, 197, 198. proposed course in, 204-211. Randolph, E. D., on, 199. Sears and Diebel, on, 199. Thompson, on, 197. Graphs, 84, 85, 202. Harris, W. T., on textbook, 10. Harvard, 35. 260 Index Heat, 220. Hebrew, 35. High school, 45, 153, 185, 191. girls, texts for, 218. High school subjects : algebra, 34, 118, 164, 194, 200-203. geometry, 15, 17, 100, 119, 129, 130, 140, 191, 203, 204, 211, 212, 213. history, 84, 87-90, 113-115, 132, 133, 140, 141, 220-227. science, 139, 140, 150, 152, 160, 215-220, 235- Historical veracity, 114. History, 17, 19, 36, 37, 57, "9, J 46, 147, 152, 160, 172, 188, 220-227. American, 114, 193, 241-244. cost of texts on, 65, 66. qualities of good text in, 84. Simpson, Mabel, on, 241-244. standards for judging texts in, 113-115. supervised study in, 241-244. texts in, 87-90, 132, 133, 140, 141, 220- 227. Hoboken, N. J., 48. Homonyms, 197. Hornbook, 21. Household arts, 122. Hygiene : and sanitation, 220. cost of books in, 65, 66. Idaho, 49, 55. Ideals, 173. Ideas, 171, 173. general, 150, 152. Ignorance, 167. Illustrations, 84, 85, 94, 95, 98, 105, 114, 115, 116, 119, 120, 139-142, 203, 220, 230. Imagination, 85. Imitation, motor, 168. Impression, energetic first, 238. Incentive, textbook as an, 230-239. Index, 86, 94, 114, 151, 178, 181, 187, 241. Industry, 172. Inserted pages, 151. Instruction, oral, 168. Interpretation, 145. factors of, 184-192, 227, 228. textbook as means of, 183-228. Introduction, the, 116, 117, 118, 128, 186- 188, 228. Iowa, 49. Israel, 14. Jersey City, 48. Judging textbooks, 73-119. Bourne's standards in history, 114, 115. Cincinnati standards : in arithmetic, 95-98. in geography, 106. in reading, 82-87, 107. in spelling and language, 112, 113. Decatur's standards on readers, 107-110. Doughton's, Isaac, standards in spelling and language, 110-112. Forsythe's, L. E., plan in arithmetic, 92- 95, 96. Klapper's standards in arithmetic, 98, 99. Raymont's summary of standards, 118, 119. Smith's, D. E., standards in mathe- matics, 99, 100. in geometry, 100. Smith and Hall, on chemistry and physics, 105. Twiss, on science, 215. Wayland's standards in history, 113, 114. Judgment in daily living, 150. Judgment in studying, 149. Kansas, 49, 55, 63, 64-66. Kendall, H. P., on reading, 80. Kentucky, 55. Kerfoot, on "How to read," 159. Klapper, on arithmetic, 98, 99. Knowledge, 15, 122, 123, 138, 142, 152, 167, 173, 192, 230. acquisition of, 171. how it began, 168-170. must be viewed as a system, 173, 174. observation point of, 183. principles underlying textbook, 171, 172. textbook as source of, 1 67-1 81. Laboratory courses, 40, 123. Language, 172, 197-200. cost of textbooks in, 66. errors in, 197-200. Index 261 Languages. See Latin. foreign, 158, 159. modern, 134, 139. Latin, 15, 17, 19, 23, 24, 35, 43, 115, 134. textbooks in, 11 5-1 18, 135, 140, 235, 237- Learning, 160, 161, 167. Learning process, 20, 140, 143, 145. See Educative process. Lecture method, 7. Libraries, 161. Light, 220. Lily (Robertson's edition of), 19, 35. Limits, 211. Lincoln, Abraham, 28. Lisbon, 14. Literature, 17, 46, 118, 147, 152, 160, 164, 172. textbooks in, 128, 131, 136. Locke, John, on reading, 123, 175, 176, 189, 190. Logarithms, 202. Logic, 18. Louisiana, 56. Loyola, 17. McMurry, Chas., on textbook, 4, 5. Magazines, 45, 67. Magic, 168. Magnetism, 220. Maine, 49. Man, 168, 171. Manual training, 122. Maps, 114, 116, 117, 119, 140, 141. Maryland, 49. Massachusetts, 52, 77. Mathematics, 6, 172. Breslich, on, 102-104, 129, 130, 140, 213. general, 101, 212-214. history of, 187. recent texts in, 162. Smith, D. E., on, 99, 100. See Algebra; Arithmetic; Geometry. Meaning, 169, 171. Mechanical make-up of textbook, 86, 95, 109, no, 114, 120. Melancthon, 17-19. Memorizing, 122, 124, 143, 144, 14s, 146. Memory, 115, 122, 160, 189. Mental discipline, 163. Michigan, 49. Ministers in colonies, 23, 24. Minnesota, 49. Mispronunciation, 198, 199. Mississippi, 56. Missouri, 49. University of, 199. Monohan, A. C, 53. Monroe, W. S., on arithmetic, 193-195. on algebra, 200, 201. Montana, 49, 55. Moors, 187. Morals, 172. Morphology, 214. Multiplication in algebra, 202. Myths, 168. Narration, ng. National Geographic Magazine, 45. Natural history, 17. Natural philosophy, 17. Natural science, 119. N. E. A., 78. Nebraska, 49. Negatives, double, 197, 198, 199. Nevada, 49, 55. New Hampshire, 49. New Jersey, 49, 187, 188. New Mexico, 55. New York, 49. Nicholson, Anne, on textbook standards, 82. North Carolina, 56. North Dakota, 49. Notations on inserted pages, 151. Notebook, 132, 151. Notes, 116, 117, 119. Occupations, 194. Ohio, 49. Oklahoma, 56. Omissions, 197. Oral instruction, 168. Orbis Pictus, 20, 22, 35, 139. Oregon, 56. Oriental, the, 168. Outlines, 84, 118, 119, 125-127, 150. Ovid, 23. 262 Index Panama-Pacific Exposition, 20. Papyrus, 14. Paragraphs, 243. Parentheses, removal of, 201. Paris, 14. Pennsylvania, 49. Percentage, 194. Perception, 143. Periodical guides, 158. Philadelphia, 48. Physics, 5, 19, 172, 203. standards of textbooks in, 105. textbooks in, 131, 140, 235. Physiology, 220. Plato, 17, 172, 173- Plots, 118. Politics, 64. Prayer books, 14. Preface, 117, 185, 186. Prepositions, 199. Pre-revolutionary period, 193. Preview, 181. inspirational, 232-239. Priestcraft, 168. Primers, 21-24, 43> 60. Principles of textbook making, illustrated : Algebra (Cajori-Odell), 202. Algebra (Hawkes-Tuby-Touton), 140, 203. Algebra (Schultze), 202. Algebra, Practical (Collins), 202. American Beginnings in Europe (Gordy), 141. American History (Ashley), 132, 133, 140. American History for Grammar Schools (Dickson), 87-90, 132, 140. Ancient World, The (West), 141. Arithmetic (Gilbert), 101. Arithmetic (Walsh-Suzzalo), 101. Caesar's Gallic Wars, Books I and II (Riess and James), 115-117. Chemistry (Morgan and Lyman), 130, 131, 140. Cicero, Select Orations (D'Ooge), 235. Civic Biology (Hunter), 91. Composition, Elements of (Canby and Opdyke), 238. Composition and Rhetoric (Thomas and Howe), 237, Education, History of Modern Elemen- tary (Graves), 127. Education, Student's History of . (Graves), 127. English Composition (Canby and Others), 142. English, Practical, for High Schools (Lewis and Hosic), 240-241. French, The First Book in (Maloubier and Moore), 140. Geography (Frye), 141. Geography (Tarr and McMurry), 141. Geography, Commercial (Garrison- Houston), 141. Geography, New Physical (Tarr), 137, 138. Geometry, Constructive (Hedrick), 212. Geometry, New Plane (Robbins), 212. Geometry, Plane (Betz and Webb), 212. Geometry, Plane (Palmer and Taylor), 211. Geometry, Plane (Young and Schwartz), 211. Geometry, Plane and Solid (Ford and Am merman), 211. History, Supervised Study in American (Simpson), 241-244. Human Behavior (Colvin and Bagley,) 129, 130. Latin, a Year in (Montgomery), 237. Literature, American (Long), 136. Literature, English and American ' (Long), 128, 131. Mathematics, Correlated (Long and Brenke), 213. Mathematics, General (Breslich), 102- 104, 129, 130, 140, 213. Mathematics, Secondary School (Short and Elson), 213. Mathematics, Vocational (Dooley), 90, 130, 140. Physics, a First Course in (Milliken and Gale), 140. Physics, Practical (Black and Davis), 131, 235- Readers (McMann and Haaren), 237. Science, Elementary (Coulter), 235. Science, First Course in General (Bar- ber), 140. Index 263 Social Problems (Towne), 125-127, 135, 136. Virgil's ^Eneid (Fairclough and Brown), 117, 118, 135, 140. Printing, 120, 211. Printing press, 17. Problems, 93, 97, 105, 119, 131, 157, 160, 162, 163, 165, 168, 172, 194, 195, 196, 203, 242. Proclus, on geometry, 100. Programs of study, 6. Progress of pupils, 9. Pronouns, misuse of, 198, 199. Pronunciation, 86, 158. Proper names, 186. pronunciation of, 86. Proportion, 84, 114, 202. Prosody, 117. Publication, 158, 186. date and place of, 114, 176, 177, 181. Publishers, 10, n, 59, 114, 176, 241. knowing the, 184, 185. Pupils, 9, 24, 37, 47, 56, 57, 63, 65, 151. aids for, in textbook, 85, 124-143, 186. progress of, 9. reactions by, in studying, 148-154, 188, 189. stimulation of, 174, 175. Quadratic equations, 201, 202. Questions, 131-136. Racial experience, 170. Radicals, 202. Raymont, on standards, 118, 119. Readers. See Books, Reading. Bingham's, Caleb, 28. colonial, 27-29, 37. cost of, 65, 66. standards in, 82-87, 1 07-1 10. texts in, 237. Reading. See Books, Readers. and study, 123, 144, 159. at sight, 116. hygiene of, 86. Kerfoot on, 159. Locke, John, on, 123, 175, 176, 189, 190. New Jersey Bulletin on, 187, 188. Recall, 128, 129, 143. Recitation, 144, 146, 152. Record card for books loaned, 55. Redundancy, 197, 199. Reference books, 14, 157. classified, 157, 158. References, cross, 151, 152, 154, 178, 244. References for additional reading, 138, 139, 165, 230. Reflection, 171. Religion, 172. Religious character of early schools in America, 23, 24. Renaissance, 19. Reorganization of books, 157, 163, 164. Reports, 158. Reviews, 84, 128, 129, 145, 234. Revolution, the American, 193. Rhetoric, 19, 117. Rhode Island, 49. Rich, S. G., on general mathematics, 193- Rites, 169. Rome, 14. Rousseau, on misuse of books, 175. Rules, 120, 165. Russell Sage Foundation, 52. Scales, 85, 191, 192. School administrator, 74. School books. See Textbook. early colonial, 36. Schools, criticism of, 39. accrediting of, 9, 10. School subjects. See Subject-matter. meaning of, 170, 171. Science, general, 215-220. texts in, 140, 235. Sciences, 139, 150, 152, 160. Selection of textbooks, 73-82. Sentences : incomplete, 197. short, 84. wrong construction, 199. Seven Liberal Arts, 16. Shakespeare, 43. Sherer, A. L., 64. Signs in algebra, 202. Simpson, Mabel, on Supervised Study in American History, 241-244. Skill, 152. Slang, 159. 264 Index Smith, Dr. D. E., 99-100. Smith, Dr. Frank W ., 16. Sound, 220. South Carolina, 56. South Dakota, 49. Speed and accuracy in arithmetic, 196. Spelling, 158, 160, 196, 197. new list of words, 247-256. Spelling books, 24-27. Blueback Speller, 25. colonial, 24-27, 37, 38. cost of, 65, 66. standards for judging, 110-112, 113. State teachers' associations, 78. Statistical Bulletins, 158. Studying : and reading, 86, 116, 123, 144, 159, 175, 176, 189, 190. conditions of, 124. critical, 188-190. habits of, 106, 124, 188, 189. memorizing, 122, 124, 143, 144, 145, 146. methods of, 122-154, 187, 188, 189. reactions by pupils, 148-154, 188, 189. recall, 128, 129, 143. stimulus to, 174, 175. suggestions by teacher, 143-148. textbooks as help in, 8, 114, 118, 123- . * 43 * training pupils in, 123, 161, 204. Sturm, 17. Style, 84, 114, 120, 179, 181. Subject-matter, 44, 67, 114, 132, 144, 168, 171, 183, 230, 231. development of, 9. evaluation and adaptation of, 190, 191. in arithmetic, 7, 15, 31-34, 57. 65, 66, 160, 188, 194, 196, 197, 200. in geometry, 204-211. in general science, 215-220. in history, 220-227. in zoology, 214, 215, 216, 217. Subtraction in algebra, 201. Summaries, 128-131, 136-138, 152, 153. Superintendent, 76. Supervision, 24, 56, 143, 161. Supplementary books, 52, 58, 63, 145, 154, 158. Supplementary work, 161. Synonyms, 159. Syntax, 117. Tables, 139, 142. Table of contents, 178, 179, 181, 188, 243. Tariff act of 1913, 44. Taxation, 68. Teacher : reorganization of books by, 164. suggestions for study by, 143-148. Teaching, provisions for in textbooks, 85, 122-143. Tennessee, 56. Tennyson's tribute to Virgil, 118. Term's work, outlining, 238, 239. Texas, 49, 56. Textbook : adaptability of, 114. adoption of, 80, 81. 'advantages of, 10. age of, 20. appearance of, 84, 114, 230. as a guide, 157-165. as a means of interpreting truth, 183, 228, 190. as a source of knowledge, 1 67-1 81. as a tool, 122-154. as an incentive or inspiration, 230-239. binding, 120, 181. book reviews, 188, 190. care of, 54, 153, 154. chapters, 187, 243. colonial, 20-40. cost of, 58-61, 65-67, 68. course on, 1, 2. disadvantages of, 4, 5, 53, 54. editions, 181. eliminations to be made from, 97. free, 48-55, 61-63, 67, 149. history of, 14-40. how begin to be written, 81. inadequacy of, 4. in Germany, 40. judging, 73-120. kinds, 44-48, 67. meaning of, 43, 44. mechanical make-up, 86, 95, 109, no, 114, 120. mediaeval, 14-16, 43. methods of studying, 114. Index 265 principles of making, illustrated, 87, 90, 91, 101, 102-104, 115-117, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 136, 137, 138, 140, 141, 142, 202, 203, 213, 235, 237, 238, 240, 241-244. problem for investigation, 1. qualities of, 83. rapid increase of, 39. Renaissance, 16-20. selection of, 73-82. state uniformity, 63, 64. uniform, 52, 55-58. - why prominent, 2, 3. Twiss, on science, 215. Underscoring, 149, 150. Understanding, 122, 137, 143, 150, 152, 168, 169. "Conduct of Understanding," 123, 175, 176, 189, 190. Uniform textbooks, 52, 55-58. arguments for and against, 56, 57. Uniformity, national, 58. Uniformity, state, 56, 66, 68. Unity, 83. Utah, 49, 56. Vatican, 14. Verbs, 197, 198, 199. Verification, 150. Vermont, 49. Virgil, 23, 116, 117, 134. Virginia, 56. Vocabulary, 119. in foreign languages, 116. in readers, 108, 109, 119. Voice training in readers, 109. Washington, 49. Wayland's standards for judging history texts, 113, 114. Weather, 220. Webster, Noah, 25, 29, 37, 38. West Virginia, 49. Wilson, G. M., on arithmetic, 195, 196. Wisconsin, 49, 190, 191. World War, the, 193. Writing books, cost of, 65, 66. Wyoming, 49. Yearbook, 157, 158. Zoology, 214, 215, 216, 217. Printed in the United States of America. Supervised Study By ALFRED L. HALL-QUEST Professor of Secondary Education and Director of School Affiliation, University of Cincinnati Cloth, i2tno, xvii + 433 pages, $1.25 Supervised Study is the only book on this subject. It is a dis- cussion of the technic of supervised study, written for teachers in service. It is a clear, practical, and inspiring manual, and to some extent a source book on this fundamental method of teaching. It has been widely used throughout the country. By reading it scores of principals have been persuaded to adopt supervised study as the controlling method of teaching in their schools. It is a system of study adaptable to any course in the curriculum. Supervised Study in American History By MABEL E. SIMPSON Principal of James Whitcomb Riley Grammar School. Formerly in charge of Supervised Study in the Washington Junior High School, Rochester, N. Y. Edited by Professor ALFRED L. HALL-QUEST in the Supervised Study Series Cloth, i2mo, xiv + 278 pages, $1.20 This is a detailed outline of suggestive lessons touching upon many of the great questions in American History. Each one of the model lessons shows a careful organization of social matter and a detailed description of methods of procedure in applying the principles of education to the "New Administrative Vision." Topical outlines, and the various devices that can be used success- fully in classroom practice are here presented. The volume provides for the teacher and supervisor of history the directions necessary for the effective supervision and teaching of history in the elementary grades. THE MACMILLAN COMPANY Publishers 64-66 Fifth Avenue New York Schools with a Perfect Score By GEORGE W. GERWIG, Ph.D. Secretary, the Board of Education, Pittsburgh, Perm. Cloth, i2tno, xi + IQ4 pages, $1.10 This is a setting forth of the ideals of the American public for its schools and its young people. The American public school, as the best loved of the institutions of democracy, is also the most effective agent in existence for human betterment. With this thought in mind, the author interprets the ideals of educators and thinking men and women as they apply to the betterment of our country through its school system, and makes excellent suggestions for carrying out these ideals of democracy. The Vitalized School By FRANCIS B. PEARSON Superintendent of Public Instruction of Ohio Cloth, i2mo, vii + 335 pages, $1.40 This book is evidence of the awakened interest in the concept of education and in school procedure on the part of school officials, teachers, and the public. Educators have been developing peda- gogical principles that strike their roots deep into the philosophy of life, and now their pronouncements are invading the conscious- ness of people of all ranks and causing them to realize more and more that the school process is an integral part of the life process and not something detached from life. I The Vitalized School interprets some of the school problems in terms of the life process and suggests ways in which these processes may be made identical. THE MACMILLAN COMPANY Publishers 64-66 Fifth Avenue New York Education for the Needs of Life By IRVING ELGAR MILLER Author of "The Psychology of Thinking," Home and School Series Edited in the Home and School Series by Paul Monroe Cloth, i2mo, vii + 353 Pages, $1.25 This book is intended as a textbook for explanatory courses in Normal Schools and Colleges and as a basis of discussion of educational problems for groups of students who are working to- gether in reading circles and teachers' institutes. Education is conceived as an integral phase of the life process, and it is with the various educational problems of this process that the book is con- cerned. The Vocational-Guidance Movement, Its Prob- lems and Possibilities By JOHN M. BREWER Head of the Department of Education, Los Angeles State Normal School. Formerly Instructor in Education, Harvard University, 191 7 Cloth, i2mo, xi + 333 pages, $1.25 A timely and scholarly treatment in detail of the principles and practice of vocational guidance, covering every phase of the vocational situation. In contrast with other publications in this field, which cover but one aspect of the movement, this book treats every phase of the movement — the educational, the in- dustrial, and the commercial aspects of the problem. The topics listed are as follows : The Problems of Vocational Guidance ; Be- ginnings in Vocational Guidance; Vocational Guidance through Educational Guidance; Vocational Counseling and the Work of the Counselor ; Pseudo- Guidance ; The Young Worker ; The Problems of Employment; A Program for Vocational Guid- ance. In addition there are appendices containing Glossary of Terms, Bibliography and Problems and Questions; an Index of Names and an Index of Subjects. THE MACMILLAN COMPANY Publishers 64-66 Fifth Avenue New York FORTHCOMING BOOKS Recreation for Teachers By HENRY S. CURTIS, Ph.D. Author of " Education Through Play," and " The Practical Conduct of Play " The Home and School Series. Edited by Paul Monroe In preparation In his practical treatment of the importance of play to our American teachers, Dr. Curtis is of the opinion that play should be considered a vital factor in winning this war. He points out that with the teachers rests the problem of the general physical unfitness that is being brought to light by the selection of men for our army. If the teachers will develop an enthusiasm for sports and outdoor life, this spirit will pervade the student body and the problem of physical fitness will be solved. The Psychology of Childhood By NAOMI NORSWORTHY, Ph.D. Formerly Associate Professor of Educational Psychology, Teachers College, Columbia University AND MARY T. WHITLEY, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Education, Teachers College, Columbia University Brief Course Series in Education. Edited by Paul Monroe In preparation In The Psychology of Childhood constant emphasis has been thrown on the physiological basis of the tendencies discussed, and Thorndike's classification of instincts, on the basis of responses made, is adhered to throughout. Though in some instances sug- gestions for teaching are made, yet the greatest space is devoted to a descriptive study of children as differentiated from adults. To the end that the book may be used as a textbook the authors have employed such special features as marginal questions, topical headings, limited references, and, with each chapter, sets of ques- tions consisting of " exercises" and " questions for discussion." THE MACMILLAN COMPANY Publishers 64-66 Fifth Avenue New York W >.•* ^0 P H • .A* «^VA". *« b .c** /^fife*. ^ a* /aV/Jl*- **» .« ^., A ^ ^ -wv /\ ••58^/ > v ^"^ *> V % ►*••- c>. a0 v »LVL> V V % *I jJoL"* ^ v > ***°* ex aP* »lvl:* ^ v *: 4? ^il BOOKBIMOfNCW * „N V ^ Grantvirte. Pa ft> * ^ l ^ KM Dec 19?" V % •'••- ex a0 V *LV1% V V % •! LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 021 286 957