As far as possible the notion that it is an offense against the teacher, and that a personal conflict between pupil and teacher ensues, should be avoided. Occasional outbursts of righteous indignation may be necessary, but they should be infrequent. For many persons, whether pupils or administrators, most emotional storm and stress is an unfortunate waste of energy which temporarily impairs their efficiency. Hence it should be avoided except in special cases.

One of the most interesting phases of the work of a dean or principal is the attitude of students who are summoned to the office to discuss the fact that they are falling below grade in their studies. Many of them enter as if the principal were a pursuing Nemesis ready with a sword to cut off their heads and thirsting for their blood. In order to appease the terrible monster they begin to say that they cannot understand why they have received such low grades, since they have been studying most conscientiously. It always astonishes them when they discover that the principal is not thirsting for their blood, but that, on the other hand, from a purely objective standpoint the excuse which they offer makes their cases almost hopeless, for if they have been failing when studying as hard as they possibly can, there is little hope for improvement.

Conclusion of discussion of routine. This will conclude our discussion of the economizing of time and energy through careful attention to the more mechanical aspects of classroom management. Most educational idealists and theorists give these problems little attention, but they are important factors in the success of every kind of human organization; hence they deserve special consideration in such a complicated social organization as the school.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

General discussion. I. BAGLEY, W. C. Classroom Management, its Principles and Technique. (The Macmillan Company, 1907.) The best general discussion. All beginning teachers in elementary schools should read it carefully. High-school teachers may receive valuable general suggestions from it.

2. JAMES, WILLIAM. Principles of Psychology. (Henry Holt and Company, 1890.) Vol. I, chap. iv, on Habit, especially pp. 120-127. Laboratory routine. 3. GREER, W. C. The Teaching of Chemistry in Secondary Schools. School Review, 1906, Vol. XIV, pp. 282–286. 4. LLOYD, F. E. and BIGELOW, M. A. The Teaching of Biology. (Longmans, Green & Co., 1904.) Pp. 204–228, 312–319, 392–416.

5. SMITH, A., and HALL, E. H. The Teaching of Chemistry and Physics in Secondary Schools. (Longmans, Green & Co., 1902.) Pp. 94100, 123–125, 187–206, 289–303, 348–355.

Composition routine. 6. BARNES, W. The Reign of Red Ink. English Journal, March, 1913, Vol. II, pp. 158–165.

7. HITCHCOCK, A. M. A Composition on Red Ink. The English Journal, May, 1912, Vol. I, pp. 273-277.

Ventilation and lighting. 8. DRESSLAR, F. B. School Hygiene. (The Macmillan Company, 1913.)

Discipline. 9. BROWN, J. F. The American High School. (The Macmillan Company, 1909.) Pp. 285-302. Contains select bibliography on pp. 301-302.

10. QUICK, R. H. Educational Reformers. (D. Appleton and Company, 1890.) Pp. 60–62. Quotation from a Jesuit author.

CHAPTER IV

THE SELECTION AND ARRANGEMENT OF

SUBJECT MATTER

Main points of the chapter. 1. The material within the subjects of the curriculum should be adapted to varying social needs.

2. Social needs vary historically; hence material adapted only to needs that no longer exist should not be retained, and material adapted to new needs should be introduced.

3. Social needs vary between different communities; hence the subject matter appropriate in a rural high school is different from that appropriate in a city high school.

4. Social needs vary between different groups of students within the same community or institution; hence the material within a single subject (for example, mathematics, English, or science) should be varied accordingly.

5. In selecting topics it is not enough to show that they have some value; it must be clearly demonstrated that they have sufficient social value to justify the amount of time required to master them, and that they are more valuable than other possible topics.

6. In the content subjects (history, geography, science, etc.) it is important to avoid the encyclopedic treatment of many topics and to provide instead for the thorough, intensive study of a few topics.

a. This will provide that the one tenth of the subject matter that is remembered is worth remembering.

b. It will necessitate a wealth of forgettable details. These should be related to and should support the general principle or fact which is being taught; they should not be isolated and unrelated.

7. The order of topics in a subject should be decided by the needs, capacities, and interests of high-school students, not by the

nature of the subject itself or the interests of a specialist in the subject. For example,

a. In high-school mathematics this standard will require the inclusion of many practical problems and the mixing of the easier topics of algebra and geometry and some arithmetic in the first year.

b. The first year's work in science should consist of a generalscience course, which should take its point of departure from practical issues in social life and should draw upon the various sciences for material which will throw light on these issues.

Relation to preceding chapters indicated. In the two preceding chapters we developed two fundamental points of view which should be coördinated and kept in mind as the bases of progressive, efficient high-school instruction. The first of these emphasizes the conception of high-school instruction as organized on broad democratic lines to train pupils for morally directed social efficiency and for the harmless enjoyment of leisure time. The second point of view emphasizes the necessity of applying principles of effective business management to classroom instruction, in order that progressive ideals may be achieved economically and effectively.

Having gained an idea of the purposes that high-school teachers should try to achieve, and the fundamental principles of administration that should prevail in the classroom, we come to a more direct consideration of methods of teaching. Some of the problems involved will be taken up in the following order: (1) What principles shall guide us in choosing the subject matter to be used in order to achieve our purposes? (2) How do students carry on most economically and effectively the various types of learning involved in the types of subject matter which we select? (3) What incentives shall we use in order to get students to apply themselves so as to carry on the various learning processes to the best advantage? In the present chapter we shall take up the first of these problems, namely, the determination of the guiding principles in the selection and arrangement of subject matter.

Widespread interest in selection and arrangement of subject matter.-A thorough acquaintance with the subject matter that he is to teach has been generally admitted to be an important factor in a high-school teacher's efficiency. In fact, those educators who have been most skeptical concerning the importance of pedagogical training for high-school teachers have commonly maintained that a thorough knowledge of subject matter is the one thing that is necessary. This was for a long time the prevailing attitude among college professors, and to a large extent among high-school teachers themselves. In recent years, however, an increasing number of professors and teachers have manifested a strong interest not only in the mastery of subject matter but also in the discussion of the proper selection and arrangement of subject matter for the most effective teaching. This is especially evident in the proceedings of associations of the teachers of special subjects, such as history and mathematics. Notable examples of such discussions are found in the several reports issued during the last twenty-five years on the teaching of history. These include the report of the Madison Conference of 1892 (which was printed as part of the report of the Committee of Ten of the National Education Association), the report of the Committee of Seven of the American Historical Association (1899), and the report of the New England History Teachers' Association (1899). One of the latest significant reports on this subject is that of the Committee of Five of the American Historical Association, published in 1910. Similarly, in the case of literature, science, mathematics, and other subjects there is active discussion of the selection and arrangement of the subject matter that is appropriate for high-school courses.

Subject matter not to be arranged in inflexible order. This activity is leading to a gradual disappearance of the idea that high-school subject matter is largely preordained in more or less fixed form, and that the teacher's duty is to