Historical data in the study of present-day problems

Abstract

Anyone who has read, in educational literature of recent years, the endless discussions as to what is the proper plan of studying history in the high school, or what is the chief aim of the study, whether history should be studied primarily for disciplinary values, or general culture or to meet college requirements, - discussions that reach as many conclusions as there are writers on the subject, must have recognized the absence of some definite principles as a guide. Out of this unrest in part, and in part out of an examination of some dozen or so of text-books on Mediaeval and Modern history has grown the plan of study that is described in this paper. The general plan is that the proposing of purposes and the raising of problems by pupils should precede the study of historic facts, and that facts should be chosen in the light of their bearing on the problems in hand. That is, instead of giving pupils texts to interpret, give them problems to interpret or appreciate by the use of historic facts.