314 METHODS IN TEACHING 



of the opening of its land to soldiers after the Civil War, and 

 the vast areas there ready for the plow ; the Northwest, with 

 its seemingly inexhaustible wheat acreage and pasture land, 

 and its vast wealth in mining. Such questions are of far 

 greater value to the children and they are more intelligible 

 than are the majority of governmental and political topics. 

 Unfortunately, reading matter on them is less accessible, 

 and it is rarely written for children; but if the teacher and 

 pupils are working together for the accumulation of mater- 

 ial, wonders can be accomplished. At least, the emphasis of 

 the preparation and the recitation can be laid upon those 

 topics that are nearest the pupils, while those that are so 

 difficult as to be studies even for the teacher can be passed 

 over lightly enough to prevent the pupil abominating forever 

 afterwards the very name of tariff, finance, presidential elec- 

 tion. In our zeal to prepare the children for statesmanship, 

 we are prone to overlook the fact that they must first be 

 citizens. Citizenship is far simpler than statesmanship, it is 

 nearer the individual life, it must touch every one. 



In the preparation of his lesson the eighth grade pupil 

 naturally uses the methods of the preceding grade, even 



while he is being led out into broader uses 

 Preparation . 



of his maturing powers. The supple- 

 mentary texts and the regular class text are first used, as a 

 sort of summary on the assigned topics. Then the pupil 

 turns to the public library, the home collection of books, 

 periodicals, and papers. 



The recitation follows the general lines of that of the 



seventh grade. Frequent discussions involve 

 Recitation 



the majority of the pupils and have more 



life than set reproductions. Searching quizzes and short, 



