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INDIANA UNIVERSITY STUDIES 



history work, but do not feel they are accomplishing anything 

 worth while, because the course is unorganized and the material 

 difficult to secure. 



There is some difference of opinion as to the value of local his- 

 tory work, as the following answers will indicate: 'No place, but 

 should have'; 'More attention should be given it' (5 cases); 

 'Should be studied in grades I, II, III, and IV (4 cases) ; 'Needs 

 a place ; better have more local history and less Greek and Roman '. 

 The other side of the question finds expression in language like this: 

 'Unnecessary to have special time for local history'; 'Much so- 

 called local history of little value'; 'May serve as a stimulus, other 

 than this it is of little value'. These expressions were not at all 

 numerous, and should not be taken as any indication of a general 

 sentiment against local history. 



"While the question did not call for subject-matter, many an- 

 swers nevertheless indicated briefly what is being taught. Out of 

 the sixty-eight replies, thirteen teach state history, thirty correlate 

 with local geography, twenty-one study the city, county, and state, 

 and four correlate with either the regular history, geography, or 

 reading. 



Some local history is done in all the grades — some systems do- 

 ing it in one grade, some in another. The following table shows 

 the occurrence in each grade in the sixty-eight systems reporting: 



Grade Frequency 



Grade I 20 



Grade II 21 



Grade III 25 



Grade IV 30 



Grade V 14 



Grade VI » . 22 



Grade VII ... , 14 



Grade VIII 15 



There is little evidence that local history is taught in any one 

 grade much more than in another. From the data supplied one 

 concludes that the courses are very indefinite, and the material un- 

 organized and often hard to obtain. There is evidence that most 

 systems favor some work of this sort. To get the work in such 

 form that both teachers and pupils can use it seems to be the pres- 

 ent problem. Some cities publish material for this work in pamph- 

 let form and put it in the hands of either the pupils or the teachers. 

 Indianapolis, Chicago, and New Haven, publish excellent material 

 for local history teaching. 



