By Joseph A. Leighton, Ph. D., THE FIELD OF PHILOSOPHY. This book furnishes a concise and clear account of the principal problems and theories of philosophy and therefore is an excellent text book for classes or private students who wish to get a real and reliable "bird's-eye" view of the whole field and the entire movement of modern thought before specializing on a more limited and intensified course. The book is divided into two parts which may be used independently if desired. The first covers the chief problems of Greek and Mediaeval philosophy; the second, covers Modern philosophy. The following optimistic and truly beautiful conclusion is the last sentence of the "Epilogue" with which the author closes his book: "So far, then, as human knowledge and insight can carry us, and environed, as we must admit man is, by forces that seem blind and insensate, and indifferent alike to human weal and human woe, we may still believe that our universe is one of living and spiritual creativeness, the highest level of being that we can glimpse a society of selves moving on towards richer harmony and deeper satisfactions, through the joint power of reasoned insight and sympathetic feeling interfused." It were well for each reader and student to read and ponder this closing sentence at the outset, before studying the varied systems and theories discussed in the volume. THE HUMAN FACTOR IN EDUCATION. By James Phinney Munroe, S. B., Litt. D. The Macmillan Company. Price $1.60. This book gives glimpses into some of the many absorbingly interesting and serious questions that affect the future of the United States and of all nations,-questions of industry, finance, militarism, immigration, wages, tariff, education, etc. It is sobering to read of the possibilities of coming good or evil, as resulting from the World War and the present conditions produced thereby. The problems that confront the world today are shown to be in the last analysis almost wholly human problems. To study these chapters awakens in one a sense of responsibility which is personal, national and racial. We live in times that are pregnant with possibilities of good or evil. There is a call in this volume to everybody, especially, perhaps, to those who are dealing directly with the education of young people, so to live and teach as to direct the great current of human influence into right channels and give such an impetus to just and righteous human living as shall save the world and make it safe for all time. THEODORE ROOSEVELT, THE BOY AND THE MAN. By James Morgan. The Macmillan Company. Price $1.00. This is a "new edition, with new chapters." It is an admirable book of supplementary reading and will measurably help, wherever adopted, in promoting a spirit of true manliness among the youth of the land. HERBERT TINGLE, AND ESPECIALLY HIS BOYHOOD. By John R. Clark Hall. With an Introduction by H. M. Burge, D. D. The Macmillan Company. The story of a delicate child who secured a real education chiefly by games thought out by himself. There is a charm to the narrative and it has a significance for the educator, since it shows how much can be done at home and by one's self, where there is a desire to learn, even when cut off from the ordinary means of education. UNCLE ZEB AND HIS FRIENDS. By Edward W. Frentz. With illustrations by Edna A. Tremain. School Edition. The Atlantic Monthly Press, Boston. Price 72 cents. More than half a hundred short stories for children are given in this attractive little volume,—all of them told naturally, with a sympathetic appreciation of children and of nature. It has not been thought necessary to use any exaggerated imaginativeness,-the animals are not dressed up like human beings, they are not made to talk cheap wit. We are confident that a book like this has a stronger appeal to real, live boys and girls than those where mere fancy is used without stint and too often with speedy degeneracy into the ridiculous. The stories here gathered appeared originally in the Youth's Companion, and are now published in book form as a supplementary reader for the grades by the Atlantic Monthly Press, thus carrying the endorsement of two high-grade literary authorities. . REFLECTIONS OF A CORNFIELD PHILOSOPHER. By E. W. Helms. Thomas Y. Crowell Company. Price, cloth, 50 cents. Solid junks of wisdom set in short, striking sentences replete with humor. For instance, and these are all from a single page: "Asking a meddling question makes us guilty of the lie that is told in answer." "Congress is composed of Garden-Seeders and Statesmen,-but the latter are likely to be recalled." "Every man has a code of morals, but some of the codes need revising." "The God of the ordinary man is merely an enlarged image of himself." A PLAIN HISTORY OF LIFE AND MANKIND "The work is of momentous and in many ways, unprecedented character."-New York Evening Post. THE OUTLINE OF HISTORY By H. G. Wells Written with the advice and editorial help of Mr. Ernest Barker, Sir H. H. Johnston, Sir E. Ray Lankester, and Professor Gilbert Murray Mr. Wells has been preaching for years that history properly taught is the backbone of education. And now he gives his own version of history as one vast panorama not of "reigns and pedigrees and campaigns" but of "ages and races and nations," brought within the "normal limitations of time and energy of an ordinary citizen." "This OUTLINE OF HISTORY is an attempt to tell, truly and clearly, in one continuous narrative the whole story of life and mankind so far as it is known today. It is written plainly for the general reader, but its aim goes beyond its use as merely interesting reading matter.......... The need for a common knowledge of the general facts of human history throughout the world has become very evident during the tragic happenings of the last few years.......There can be no peace now, we realize, but a common peace in all the world; no prosperity but a general prosperity. But there can be no common peace and prosperity without common historical ideas."-FROM THE AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTION. THE OUTLINE OF HISTORY is a survey of the entire history of mankind on this earth, from primal star dust through amoeba and reptile and mammal, through the dawn and early light of recorded history-Sumerian, Assyrian, Mongolian, Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Teutonic, down to the Great War and the present. Astronomy, geology, biology, anthropology, as well as the usual sources of history, are carefully weighed and the cogent facts briefly presented. The result is a tremendous panorama through which Mr. Wells sees slowly wrought out the ideal of human cooperation and brotherhood. The facts are vouched for by specialists; the interpretation is Mr. Wells's own. A great fascinating story of human progress-for the classroom reference shelf or the school reading room-for the Teachers' Reading Circle or the professional library for the reading table in every family of intelligent people. EDUCATION Devoted to the Science, Art, Philosophy and Literature of Education VOL. XLI. DECEMBER, 1920 No. 4 The Development of Spontaneity, Initiative and Responsibility in School Children HENRY LINCOLN CLAPP, MASTER EMERITUS OF GEORGE PUTNAM SCHOOL, BOSTON. T HERE are few, if any, earnest, thoughtful teachers who, during the very first day of their school work, have not felt plainly the lack of spontaneity, initiative, and responsibility on the part of a large majority of their pupils; and probably that feeling has persisted quite generally through all their subsequent work. They need no argument to convince them that this lack is real; it is too apparent; but they may become interested in the consideration of the means by which the desirable attributes named may be developed by their aid. Let me briefly call attention to the conditions that have prevailed in schools, and probably do now to a considerable extent. During scores of years past, our public schools, elementary and secondary, have been mainly conducted by means of books, lessons, discipline, and order of a certain conventional character. In view of ancient traditions these means seem eminently proper; they are immediately suggested when the education of children is mentioned; that they very much hinder the proper education and Read before the Rhode Island Institute of Instruction. |