The History Teacher's Magazine, Vol. I, No. 2, October, 1909Various
History
The History Teacher's Magazine, Vol. I, No. 2, October, 1909
Various
History -- Study and teaching -- Periodicals; Social sciences -- Study and teaching -- Periodicals
3. What should be the scope and what should be the places of emphasis?
4. What should be its relation to other subjects of the curriculum?
5. What should be the point of attack and order of topics?
6. What should be the method?
7. What should be the form of the syllabus?
The conclusions reached by the committee may be briefly summarized.
Two or two and one-half forty-five-minute periods a week should be
allotted, and the subject should be correlated with United States
history. Instruction in civics should aim to train the mind, to develop
political intelligence, to awaken civic consciousness, to interest
the pupil in civic duty, and to prepare him, through instruction and
practice, for its exercise. The scope of the subject should include
actual government as found in the local unit, the State, and the
nation, with so much of the history of government as is needed to
explain present institutions and conditions. Enough of the theory of
government should be given to establish an orderly arrangement of the
subject matter in the pupil’s mind. The ethical principles underlying
government should be examined in a concrete way; and attention should
be given to the application of these principles in the social duties of
school life.
Civics should not be confounded with constitutional history. It is
important enough to have its own field, and, while correlated with
history, economics and ethics, should not be trammeled by either of
these.
The most serious problem which the committee had to solve was that of
the order of topics. Should local or national government come first?
The majority of the committee favored local, State, national as the
order. They also decided that not more than one-fourth of the time
should be given to a study of the federal government.
Much stress is laid on the importance of studying local government,
so far as possible, at first hand. This necessitates frequent,
systematically-planned visits to local bodies and careful study of
local documents, such as reports, specimen papers, etc.
No hard and fast form for the syllabus has been used. Sometimes topics,
sometimes questions, and again statements are used wherever best
adapted to the purpose.
The committee consists of Dr. Hay Greene Huling, English High School,
Cambridge, chairman; Wilson R. Butler, High School, New Bedford;
Professor L. B. Evans, Tufts College; Dr. John Haynes, Dorchester High
School; Dr. W. B. Munro, Harvard University. Mr. Butler is editor for
the committee.
Report of the Committee of Eight.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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