Autobiography of Andrew Dickson White — Volume 1White, Andrew Dickson
History
Autobiography of Andrew Dickson White — Volume 1
White, Andrew Dickson
Cornell University; Diplomats -- United States -- Biography; White, Andrew Dickson, 1832-1918
My next and highest duty was giving lectures to the
senior class and students from the law school. Into this
I threw myself heartily, and soon had the satisfaction of
seeing my large lecture-room constantly full. The first
of these courses was on the ``Development of Civilization
during the Middle Ages''; and, as I followed the logical
rather than the chronological order,--taking up the subject,
not by a recital of events, but by a discussion of
epochs and subjects,--I thought it best to lecture without
manuscript or even notes. This was, for me, a bold
venture. I had never before attempted anything in the way
of extended extemporaneous speaking; and, as I entered
the old chapel of the university for my first lecture, and
saw it full of students of all classes, I avowed my trepidation
to President Tappan, who, having come to introduce
me, was seated by my side. He was an admirable
extemporaneous speaker in the best sense, and he then and there
gave me a bit of advice which proved of real value. He
said: ``Let me, as an old hand, tell you one thing: never
stop dead; keep saying something.'' This course of lectures
was followed by others on modern history, one of
these being on ``German History from the Revival of
Learning and the Reformation to Modern Times,''
another on ``French History from the Consolidation of the
Monarchy to the French Revolution,'' and still another on
the ``French Revolution.'' To this latter course I gave
special attention, the foundation having been laid for it
in France, where I had visited various interesting places
and talked with interesting men who recalled events and
people of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic periods. For
a text-book foundation I read with my lower classes
Mignet's ``History of the Revolution,'' which still
remained what Carlyle pronounced it--the best short summary
of that great period.
To further the work of my students in the lecture-room,
I published an interleaved syllabus of each course, and
was, I think, the first person in our country who ever did
this in connection with historical lectures. It is a matter
of wonder to me that so few professors in these days resort
to this simple means of strengthening their instruction.
It ought to be required by university statutes. It seems
to me indispensable to anything like thorough work. A
syllabus, properly interleaved, furnishes to a student by
far the best means of taking notes on each lecture, as well
as of reviewing the whole course afterward, and to a professor
the best means of testing the faithfulness of his
students. As regards myself personally, there came to
me from my syllabus an especial advantage; for, as I have
shown in my political experiences, it gained for me the
friendship of Charles Sumner.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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