The Organization of His Field of Study BY NORMAN MACLAREN TRENHOLME, PROFESSOR OF THE TEACHING OF HISTORY, SCHOOL OF EDUCATION, UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI. Provided that the text-books have been selected and the courses to be given arranged for by some higher power, the first problem that faces the history teacher in the fall is that of properly organizing the field or fields of study. Now we all know that many teachers do not realize this problem or that if they do they shirk it and adopt a sort of go-as-you-please plan of so many pages each day, irrespective of topical or any other sort of unity, that usually results in careless recitation work and an incomplete course. In some cases the teacher seeks aid and guidance from a printed syllabus or outline of the course to be covered, and if these are available and properly constructed in connection with the text-books used, they can be of great service, but they cannot wholly relieve the teacher of responsibility as to the length and character of topics to be considered.[1] Even the best teachers are inclined to adopt a day-to-day plan of organization and so work blindly, not knowing how much of the text-book will, in the end be left unstudied. Such unsatisfactory conditions as are here referred to are totally unnecessary if history teachers will only learn to organize their courses in advance of giving them and thus be able to round out their work in a thoroughly satisfactory manner. The reason that this is not done is that most of our high school teachers of history have had little or no training in the teaching of their subject and have not learned how to handle and interpret the subject matter to the best advantage. What some lack in training they make up for in enthusiasm and interest in their work, but there are, unfortunately for the profession, many teachers of history who have neither training nor enthusiasm. On the other hand, the number of trained, earnest and enthusiastic teachers of history is constantly increasing, and there are opportunities offered for every teacher to improve his or her methods and enter more understandingly and more successfully into the work of teaching the subject. The greatest danger in history work in schools is the prevalence of matter over spirit, of facts over thoughts and ideas, of mechanical memory work over constructive thinking and reasoning. If teachers of history will learn to enter into their work with more spirit and understanding the subject will soon be regarded with respect on account of the vital interest that the development of the present out of the past must always have. One way of emphasizing historical unity or continuity is by a well-planned series of recitation or discussion topics based on the text-book used in the course, and it is the question of such organization of the field of study that I wish to discuss in this article. General Suggestions as to the Organization.