Courses of study for the high schools of North Carolina

              Courses of Study for the High
Schools of N.C.
THE LIBRARY OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF
NORTH CAROLINA
THE COLLECTION OF
NORTH CAROLINIANA
Cp375.02
N87p3
1930
C.2 UNIVERSITY OF N.C. AT CHAPEL HILnL 00034036515
FOR USE ONLY IN
THE NORTH CAROLINA COLLECTION
y CL^'i^ <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<</hould be returned to that office at
the close of the school year.
Additional copies in a distinctive binding may he purchased
from the State Department of Public Instruction, Raleigh, N. C,
at 50 cents per copy.
PUBLIC SCHOOLS
published by the
State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Ralfigh, N. C.
Educational Publication No. 147 Div. of School Inspection No. 39
COURSES OF STUDY
FOR THE
HIGH SCHOOLS
OF
NORTH CAROLINA
CHAPEL HILL
PUBLIC SCHOOLS
published by the
State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Raleigh, N. C.
CONTENTS
Page
Introduction 1
'_ 3
Preface : 4
English . 5
The Social Sciences 33
The Foreign Languages 71
Latin '_ 72
French gg
Spanish 97
German 100
Mathematics 103
Science _ m
Introduction HI
General Science II9
Biology 125
Geography—Physical, Commercial, Industrial, North Carolina .... 136
Physics :•, 139
Chemistry I43
Vocational Education 148
Home Economics . 148
Agriculture 150
Trades and Industries 156
Industrial Art . 158
Vocational Guidance 168
Commercial Education . 170
Music 180
Fine Arts . -_ ^ 191
Dramatics I97
E, CHARLOTTE, 1
INTRODUCTION
This is a revision and in part a reprint of a former publication con-taining
the courses of study for the high schools of North Carolina. The
supply of the former publication has been exhausted for nearly a year.
Since it was necessary to reprint this course of study, special effort has
been made to bring it up-to-date and to make it as helpful as possible.
In a recent bulletin (No. 134, High School Manual) we undertook to
set up in outline our conception of the proper organization of the small
high school. In that outline definite schedules for recitations are set forth
together with the distribution of the work among the teachers. The sub-jects
to be taught are merely listed in order.
In the present publication, each subject is taken up separately and
treated rather fully in the light of its relations to all the other subjects
and as a justification of its place in the curriculum. The objectives in-herent
in each subject are brought out in some detail. Outlines of method
are set forth and sources of material are given. A select bibliography
accompanies the course in each subject.
This publication is not intended to serve as a source book but as a
guide to the young teacher who desires to increase her efficiency through
a greater familiarity with the large body of information that relates to
her teaching field. It merely undertakes to conserve her time and energy
by directing her to the sources.
It is rich in suggestions, but it carefully avoids any appearance of pre-scribing
either what work shall be done or the manner in which the work
shall be done.
The expansion of the public high schools in the State makes necessary
on the part of superintendents and principals a careful study of high
school organization and administration, in order that the public funds may
be expended in the most economical way, and in order that the greatest
possible returns in education may be secured from this expenditure. It is
hoped that this bulletin will aid the school officials in providing proper
high school facilities.
Q^ /. (^2-£^o^
State Superintendent Public Instruction.
1-7-30—lOM.
CHAPEL HILL
PUBLIC SCHOOLS
P^
PREFACE
This Course of Study represents the work of a great many of the best
high school principals and teachers and other woi'kers in Education in the
schools of the State. It is the most comprehensive bulletin which the De-partment
has ever attempted on courses of study for the high schools of
North Carolina. It is hoped and expected that this bulletin will be of
practical assistance to every high school teacher who uses it. It will be
observed that the arrangement of material is different from that in former
bulletins.
Curricula for the high school are not suggested. The bulletin High
School Manual, Educational Publication No. 134, Division of School In-spection
No. 36, indicates the curricula offered in three-, four-, five- and
six-teacher schools. In connection with each course there is a suggested
daily schedule. High school principals who are not familiar with this
bulletin should secure a copy of it from the superintendent, and each prin-cipal
should follow it in the selection of a particular curriculum for his
school and also for the organization.
In the preparation of this bulletin contributions have been received from
many persons and many sources. Acknowledgment is hereby made of the
services rendered by the various committees appointed to work on the
courses in the various high school subjects.
The preparation of material for the various subjects included in this
bulletin was made by and under the direction of the following persons:
ENGLISH—Mr. Henry Grady Owens, High Point High School, High Point, N. C.
SOCIAL SCIENCES—Miss Gladys Boyington, Currie Training School, N. C. C. W.,
Greensboro, N. C.
Assisted by Professor A. K. King, U. N. C, Chapel Hill, N. C.
LATIN—Miss Marie B. Denneen, Currie Training School, N. C. C. W., Greensboro, N. C.
Assisted by Professor J. Minor Gwynn. U. N. C, Chapel Hill, N. C.
MATHEMATICS—Principal M. B. Dry, Gary High School, Gary, N. C.
SCIENCE—Professor J. A. Smith, Currie Training School, N. C. C. W., Greensboro, N. C.
MODERN LANGUAGES—Professor R. C. Deal, East Carolina Teachers College, Green-ville,
N. C.
MUSIC—Dr. Wade R. Brown, N. C. C. W., Greensboro, N. C.
Assisted by the members of his staff at N. C. C. W.
FINE ARTS—Mr. E. E. Lowry, R. J. Reynolds High School, Winston-Salem, N. C.
Assisted by Miss Marian Leiger.
INDUSTRIAL ARTS—Professor E. W. Boshart, N. C. State College, Raleigh, N. C.
COMMERCIAL EDUCATION—Miss Willie Ruby Blackburn, Kinston High School,
Kinston, N. C.
AGRICULTURE—Mr. Roy H. Thomas, State Supervisor of Agriculture, Raleigh, N. C. HOME ECONOMICS—Miss Rebecca Gushing, State Supervisor of Home Economics,
Raleigh, N. C.
TRADES AND INDUSTRIES—Mr. G. W. Coggin, Supervisor, Raleigh, N. C.
PHYSICAL EDUCATION (Published as separate bulletin)—Professor J. F. Miller, Pro-fessor
W. C. Parker, N. C. State College, Raleigh, N. C.
DRAMATICS—Mrs. Louise Perry, Swannanoa, N. C.
Assisted by the following: Miss Jane C. Sullivan, Supervisor of Buncombe County
High Schools; Misses Laura and Lillian Plonk, of the Southern Workshop; Mr. W. R.
Wunsch, of the Asheville Senior High School; Miss Virginia Bryan, of the Buncombe County
Junior College; Miss Edith Russell, of the Workshop Theatre; Mr. Oliver Perry, Director
of The Mountain Mimes of Swannanoa; Mrs. LeRoy F. Jackson, of the College of the City
of Asheville; Miss Gretchen Hyder, of Biltmore High School, and Miss Lois Hackney, of
Grace High School.
Director Division of School Inspecfiov.
ENGLISH
"English," as the most popular study in the high school curriculum is
called, covers so wide a field that, taken in all its contacts and intentions,
it may be regarded as an interpretation of our civilization. In the fine
enthusiasm aroused by so large a conception of the subject lurks a
danger: the temptation to scatter our efforts in too extensive and
undirected endeavor. The uncertain aims and the diverse conditions of
teaching English at the present time call for the making and carrying
out of a fairly definite program of aims and methods. A plan drawn to
meet this demand should not be so unbending that it will mechanically
bind the experienced and well-equipped teacher; but it should be specific
enough to give definite guidance to the less well-prepared teacher.
I. AIMS OF TEACHING ENGLISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOL
Though the aims of teaching the two large aspects of the subject are
in part the same, it is convenient to separate literature and composition
in the statement of the aims of teaching English in the high school.
A. Literature
Common honesty demands that we avoid platitudinous expressions of
vague aims and exalted objects which we know are unattainable. With
reasonable expectation of reaching our aims, we may express these
important intentions in teaching English literature; providing a means
of exercising the pupil's healthy emotions; improving the pupil's taste
in reading; familiarizing the pupil with a considerable body of the best
literature as an expression of ideals and traditions, and as an interpreta-tion
of problems of thinking and conduct that meet the individual in his
daily life; and arousing in the pupil an admiration for good language
and effective expression of ideas.
B. Composition
In the two forms of expression, written and oral composition, we
should aim at developing in the pupil an ability to think clearly and
honestly, and to express his thoughts correctly and effectively. Training
in artistic forms of expression should be reserved for the additional
instruction of the specially gifted.
Both reading and writing should receive as much attention as a prepa-ration
for the higher enjoyment of life as a training for vocations or pro-fessions.
Literature and composition should be stressed as a means of
enjoying leisure earned through work. The average high school pupil is,
perhaps, more deficient in this respect than he is in his knowledge of how
to "make a living." Such pleasure is, in no sense, the same as idleness.
Like all other educational processes—and every other worth while thing in
life—it requires the effort of understanding. The whole English course
should demand from the pupil sufficient honest effort and thoughtful jjrepa-ration
as to win and retain his resj)ect for the subject and its teacher.
6 Courses of Study
ii. methods of teaching english in the high school
Dividing the periods allotted to English into one or more for compo-sition
and one or more for literature each week is condemned. A solid
month's instruction or a full term's teaching should be given to literature,
and a large group of time to continuous work in composition. Two-fifths
of the school year should be devoted to literature; two-fifths to written
composition; one-fifth to oral composition.
A. Literature
The history of literature should find but small place in the high school
course of study. Histories of English and American literature, if used
at all, should be used very sparingly, and largely as collateral reading.
The biographical plan of teaching literature is, also, unsatisfactory, for
it tends to substitute the less essential facts of the author's life for the
more important meaning of his writings.
The primary intention of the teacher of literature should be to bring
about an understanding on the part of the pupil of the piece of writing
the pupil reads. The content of any piece of literature, both its intel-lectual
and emotional content, must be grasped by the reader. A general
impression of what a poem, a play, or a story has to say is of little
lasting value. The goal of understanding is the author's meaning as a
whole and in detail. Time and study must be given to learning the exact
meaning and the suggestion of his words; to getting an understanding
of the background of the composition; to outlining the plan or the
arrangement of the story or essay. But such details should be sub-ordinated
to the main purpose of making clear the author's large inten-tion
and the composition's meaning as a whole, especially in its relation
to the important interests of life. No piece of literature should be
looked upon as merely a group of problems in the meaning of words, as
merely an historical document, or merely as material for exercises in
outlining.
Literature should be so taught as to show its relations to important
social, mental, and emotional interests of human life. Of the many im-portant
interests of human life toward which the teaching of literature
should be directed, the following themes will serve to group the books
generally read in the high school course in English: Romance and Ad-venture;
Great Men; Great Ideals; Man and Nature; American Life and
Ideals; Fancy and Imagination; Huvior. Below (pp. 7-11) are given
some suggestions for directing the reading according to these interests.
Under this scheme abundant opportunity is given for correlating the
work in English with instruction in other subjects. Advantage of such
contacts should be taken by every teacher of English. Contact with
science comes easily through the Man and Nature group; history and
civics are concerned with American Life and Ideals, and history, again,
has a task closely related to the Great Men group.
Opportunity is also furnished for relating much of the reading to com-munity
life and the individual experiences of the pupils, especially in
the way of socializing the individual. Local and temporal interests should
be established. The use of current literature, as it appears in books
and reputable magazines, is urgently recommended.
High Schools of North Carolina 7
Romance and Adventure
The love of action and the spirit of adventure makes romance an
appealing source from which to draw selections for reading and study in
the early years of the high school. Emphasis should be laid upon the
story for its own sake. The teacher should, of course, know the source
of the narrative and be thoroughly familiar with the story. The teacher
must sometimes lead youthful curiosity by anecdotes about the author or
the book, or by discussions of the background of the narrative. These
ideals should be subordinated to the aim of raising the pupil's sense of
expectancy by directing their reading with three questions uppermost in
in their minds: Who are the actors? What do they do? Where are they
acting? An introduction to a book may be made through silent reading
in the classroom, the teacher being nearby to explain difficulties. En-courage
rapid reading for a grasp of the story as a whole, and then return
to a more careful second reading. Do not allow the reading to drag.
For instance, "Ivanhoe" is likely to drag if as many as thirty recitations
are given over to it. Twelve assignments should suffice.
The ballad—romance in song—appeals to youthful interests through
its presentation of primitive emotions and its communal expression.
Pupils should be introduced to ballads in the making in order to show
them the purpose and the method of composition of the unknown min-strels.
Turn the class into a small community, met to entertain a wan-dering
story-teller. Select the best reader or singer to chant or recite
the verses which carry the story and let the other pupils carry the
refrain. Follow this by calling for original tales or local stories or
continuations of the ballads recited.
Great Men; Great Ideals
An interest in action naturally leads to an interest in those who per-form
them. The center of interest may be led from what men do to what
men are. The epic is a good point of departure from the ballad or the
tale of adventure (Ivanhoe or Kidnapped, for instance). The Odyssey
and the Iliad cluster around a few semi-mortals who challenge the imag-ination
by their devotion to race ideals. These great books of Greek
civilization may be easily simplified and made real by organizing the class
into groups to furnish information about the actors, both that which is
revealed in the texts and that which may be gathered from other sources,
and about their costumes, occupations, ceremonies, amusements, laws, and
ideals. Visualize the action by calling a meeting of the heroes to discuss
questions of conduct on some of the occasions that arise in the story, and
to consider what these characters would do in the face of problems of
conduct and belief today.
Consideration of the lives of great men in literature should be guided
by such questions as: How did his ideals affect his life? How far did
he realize his ideals? What services did he render humanity? What have
we to learn from his attitude toward life ?
The great Biblical narratives, told in a simple, straightforward diction,
reveal inspiring devotion, powerful in life and in death. The Idylls of the
King, symbolical of the triumph of the spiritual over the sensual, is a
fine example of the success and the failure of great men. The deeds of
King Arthur and his knights speak through the beauty of Tennyson's
8 Courses of Study
lines. As a basis for the appreciation of the times of Arthur, the reading
of the Idylls should follow or go along with the study of chivalry in
history classes. Good results in character judgment are likely to follow
if each student be required to select a single character to follow through-out
the narrative for all the evidence on which to base his decision.
The study of character failures belongs to the later years of the
high school. Such a study is often depressing to younger students, unless
keen analysis makes the conclusions just. Some of the greatest charac-ters
in literature are, however, as judged from ordinary points of view,
entire falures: but they are persons who have striven mightily, but who,
through some small defect of a powerfvil nature, have gone down into
defeat. Great emphasis should be given to making a distinction between
this sort of character and the utterly weak or thoroughly bad person,
and to bring out clearly the reality of the struggle and the pity of the
failure. Do not try to judge unless you have thoroughly studied the
situation and the character traits of the main persons in the narrative.
American Life and Ideals
Interest in race consciousness started in the earlier grades through
the tales of adventure should be directed to a more mature consideration
of the peculiar conditions of our own national life and beliefs. The
adventure of American pioneer civilization, the wonder of our youth and
strength, and the remarkable unity in the great variety of our life, are
entrancing themes of interest told in some of our literature. Life and
conditions of our early settlement—contact with the Indians in Coopers'
narratives, which show primitive man in contact with a more advanced
civilization; the vastness of our forests and plains, the intrepid romance
of discovery of the westward pioneers in Parkman's Oregon Trail; early
days in California in Bret Harte's short stories; the Puritan civilization
of New England in Hawthorne's narratives; the golden age of Southern
life in Thomas Nelson Page—this panorama of our civilization is pictured
in our writings. A good knowledge of American history, of our political,
geographical, and social history, is required of the teacher; but American
literature should not be taught merely as history; rather the appealing
imaginative aspects of it should be the aim of its study. Not all of the
writings suggested can, perhaps, be read, but some choice should be made
of writings that will represent all the important sides of our life. Thus
we may understand ourselves better than we always do at the present
time, and may move from the provincialism that makes so many of us
think that "the other fellow" is peculiar or an object of suspicion. A
truly national feeling may be arrived at by a close study of several local
conditions.
Not only should we learn through our literature how we came to be
and how we are arranged on this continent, but we shall have a knowl-edge
of what the Nation has thought about, of what ideals have stirred
the national life, and of what enthusiasms have moved our most sensitive
and most expressive citizens. Whence have come our inheritance of ideals
and institutions? Burke's Speech on Conciliation has its prime reason
for inclusion in the reading list in its part-answer to this question. The
political characteristics attributed to the Colonists by Burke should be
analyzed in the light of ideals of the United States in its various periods,
High Schools of North Carolina 9
particularly of those that guided us in the World War. Expression of
other elements of our inheritance should be found in the writings of later
non-British immigrants. Our political principles—national and inter-national—
have been defined at different periods in Washington's, Web-ster's,
Lincoln's, and Wilson's writings; and summaries of Democracy
and Americanism are expressed in those of Grady, Roosevelt and others.
The ideas, of course, are the main interest in such compositions; but
they are themes worthy of the highest forms of expressions, and they
have been worthily treated.
Man and Nature
Man is considered in his social and national relations under the pre-ceding
topics. Man does not, however, live only with man, for his civili-zation
has not released him from his relation to animals, his helpers and
companions of the out-of-doors. The primitive relationships of man and
animals are represented through the stirring stories in the Jungle Books.
This humanizing of animals appeals to the early high school years. In
the reading of the Kipling stories there should, also, be brought out the
conflict between the free life of the forest and the restricted town-life;
the life of the out-of-doors is, however, not without its own law; natural
law exists in the jungle, too. The conflict between the brutal elements
in wild life and the repressions acquired through civilization may be
shown through reading Jack London's "Call of the Wild," in which the
triumph of the primitive in the dog-hero is represented. A thrilling
account of man's fight with the elemental in nature is given in David
Crockett's "Autobiography."
Fancy and Imagination
In the literature of fancy and imagination is represented man's
relation to the unknown. The material of this sort of literature is not
fact or opinion, but fancy. The element of wonder in the human mind
may be guided from its cruder forms in human adventure to the more
picturesque and fanciful forms of it in the making of an imaginary
world. This is the land of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and the
country of the Forest of Arden in "As You Like It." It matters little
where the imaginary scene is laid, but this newly created world of a
writer must be made by him real and vivid and full of significance. In
"The Ancient Mariner" the author's purpose, as it must be shown the
pupils, was to make his supernatural world as real as the actual world.
The pictures of this non-actual world are vividly painted, and the proba-bility
of their existence, it must be pointed out again, is made more
appealing by the simple diction and the exquisite rhythm. It is in a
study of literature of the imagination that the technique of poetry should
be stressed. The names of the various schemes of versification used in
English poetry are of no great importance, but the sound appeal of
poetry, like the influence of music, is to be gained by repetition and
practice. Poetry of this sort is composed to appeal through the ear
rather than through the eye. The teacher should read simply and effec-tively
a good deal of sound poetry to the class. For an excellent effect
in transferring the listener from one scene to another and then back
again, try Alfred Noyes' "The Barrel Organ," and for arousing a whimsi-cal
effect use the same author's "Forty Singing Seamen."
10 Courses of Study
It is here, too, that the matter of diction should receive attention.
In poetry of a highly imaginative order the use of words to produce the
illusion is carried far; in addition to their logical meanings (which is
the primary concern we have with them in factual writing), there is the
figurative, suggestive use of words, by which they are made to suggest
much more than they actually say. This fine flavor of words, this
response to the tunes that are possible in their arrangement, are the
deepest elements in the genuine appreciation of literature. This, quite
naturally, is the most difficult task of teaching literature. Appreciation
defies analysis. It will always leave some cold. But it can be greatly
encouraged by proper guidance on the part of one who himself has feeling
for the higher reaches of human expression.
Lyric poetry is the chief carrier of fancy and imagination. It is
(usually) unconcerned with the objective elements of life, except as they
are brought in to reflect a personal expression of the way they strike a
sensitive personality. This subjective element—the emotions of hope,
fear, disappointment, joy—is given such vivid expression (in "The
Skylark," for instance) that the reader can momentarily make the mood
his own and share the poet's more exalted expression of our own vague
impulses. This is another, and one of the most important means of
teaching literature.
Humor
Expression of the healthy emotion of humor is widely distributed in
writing, and should be taken account of in the teaching of literature.
The pure enjoyment of the emotion should be stressed. A sense of humor
is almost universally distributed, although it frequently becomes dried up
through non-use or through an over-developed egoism. Such a valuable
quality of living should be ministered to in school instruction, for in its
developed form an appreciation of humor is frequently a saving grace,
and it not infrequently serves as a safety-valve for the explosion of over-wrought
feelings aroused under difficult or distressing circumstances.
Instruction should, then, aim at training the natural sense of humor
away from a satisfaction with the crude humor of the "slap-stick" farce,
from the primitive response of laughing at some one (the "other fellow")
when he falls down, and from pleasure in the cruelty of a practical joke.
Continued indulgence in this kind of humor blunts the appreciation of the
finer shades of the emotion. Instruction should begin with the simpler
forms of humor, as the "mischief" of Mark Twain's boys, which is
always obvious and sometimes rough, through Uncle Remus' delightful
but not subtle tales, through the boisterous anecdotes of O. Henry,
through the quaint and whimsical absurdities of Mrs. Wiggs, on to the
refined thrusts of The Rivals. Specimens of these and other grades of
humor should be exhibited to the pupils, with the characteristics of each
class pointed out and the bases of the humorous appeal accounted for.
Here it should be noted, for example, that a ridiculous representation of
a behavior natural to a particular age is usually not appealing in its
humor to a reader of that age, as Tarkington's "Seventeen," for instance,
with all its delight for grown-ups, is generally not considered funny by
pupils of seventeen, to whom being seventeen is too serious a business
to be laughed at.
High Schools of North Carolina 11
The elements that make situations facetious should be analyzed in de-tail.
Such situations are usually brought about through a misfit between
what actually appears and what has been expected; something—a person,
his dress, his actions, his words—is out of keeping with the normal and
the expected and hence appears absurd, in various degrees and forms of
absurdity. When the diff"erence is made to appear between boast and
action, between practice and performance, there frequently is thereby
suggested some useful criticism of accepted social practices or of the
weakness of human nature. This is, in its highest forms, deftly hidden
in the obvious humor. The ideas thus suggested may be more effectively
expressed than if they were more bluntly stated. This use is the highest
function of comedy.
B. Composition
The proficiency in the use of language to which high school pupils
should be brought is definitely set forth in a statement of the Minimum
Essentials in English Composition, adopted by the North Carolina Council
of English Teachers at Greensboro, on March 18, 1922. It will be im-possible
to arrive at the goal set by this standard without affording
pupils constant practice in writing and supervised talking. The nature
of a composition exercise is not of so great importance as is its fre-quency.
Habituation to the formal processes of expression is necessary
for confidence in the use of language. Little will be availed if the teacher
requires only a slight efl^ort at writing every two or three weeks. Little
will be availed if the written work of the pupil is not criticised promptly
and given to the writer for a prompt correction of his errors. In the
case of teachers who must handle the English instruction of a large num-ber
of pupils this task is frequently a heavy burden. But what is worth
doing at all is worth doing well.
In no other subject does individual instruction count for more than it
does in composition. Frequent out-of-class conferences should be held with
pupils in regard to their work in composition.
As far as possible, an actual pui'pose should be found, or an object
assumed, for the pupils writing a composition. Themes should not be
merely things that have to be written. Interest in the subject-matter and
a desire for expression must be aroused. Much of the writing should
take the form of the various channels of expression the pupils will be
called upon to use in their life experiences: letters (business and per-sonal),
reports, announcements, resolutions, advertisements, and the like.
Opportunity should, of course, be given for imaginative expression through
writing sketches, short stories, arguments, and—if the abilities and the
tastes of the class warrant such assignments—^poems and plays. For the
average student an expository subject will serve best.
In oral composition the teacher should strive so to train the pupils
that they will be able to read unhesitatingly a page of prose of no un-usual
difficulty, to summarize its thought in their own words, to talk un-haltingly
at least for five minutes from an outline, with a distinct articu-lation
and in a pleasing tone of voice.
Needless to say, the example of the teacher will count for much in
teaching composition. The teacher should write and speak correct and
effective English.
12 Courses of Study
iii. oral composition
A. Objectives
1. To improve speech habits:
a. In pronunciation.
b. In enunciation.
c. In grammar.
d. In diction.
2. To teach the courtesies of social conversation, telephoning, and busi-ness
interviews.
3. To develop ability:
a. To answer questions definitely, clearly, and in complete sentences.
b. To collect and organize material for a speech.
c. To speak to and not at an audience.
d. To present a talk with ease and confidence.
e. To listen attentively and courteously to a speaker, and to judge
a speech that is within the student's comprehension.
f. To read aloud clearly, accurately, and with some appreciation of
the author's thought and feeling.
g. To preside over a meeting with ease and dignity.
h. To participate in informal discussion with proper courtesy and
in complete sentences.
4. To cultivate a spirit of fairness and of cooperative effort in the con-duct
of class criticisms of oral themes.
B. Methods
For improvement of speech habits the best method is drill. Drills in
enunciation, pronunciation, grammar, and diction must be adapted both
in content and in distribution of time to the needs of a particular com-munity.
A few minutes' daily practice, however, in specific speech drills
designed to cure the most obvious defects will not be amiss for any class
of first year students. Any drills in pronunciation and enunciation may
well be carried through all four years of the course. Such drills are
provided in most of the newer texts in oral English. Students may be
provided with mimeographed copies of these for their notebooks. Changes
in these drills may be made to suit particular community needs or to meet
the changing needs of any particular class.
For teaching the courtesies of social conversation, telephoning, and
business interviews group assignments of various kinds are suitable.
These may take the form of dramatizations of social visits and of busi-ness
interviews; of demonstrations of how those things are correctly and
incorrectly done; of informal discussions of good conversationalists,
typical conversational bores, rudeness over the telephone, telephone
courtesies, and the like, each member of certain groups being assigned
definite responsibility in the discussion.
Pupils may be taught to answer questions definitely by making every
question-and-answer recitation a lesson in oral English. The teacher
may secure definite answers to questions by accepting no other kind.
Practice is the only method of learning how to collect and organize
material for a talk. Even first-year students should be taught to avoid
taking notes on book material in the exact words of the writer or to
High Schools of North Cakolina 13
Hit f„r material quoted verbatim. The same methods of careful
give credit for malei.al q
composition. Some
provision and
-^'^^''^''^^l^Zent of the sort of ability are these:
types of assignment i^f]^'^^^ ,„, „,gari„es, debates, demon-
Eeports -/-.^-O
'"^f^^j ^ reports on supplementary reading, speeches
strations, descriptions =tor«s rep
^^^^.^^^ ^^^ investigations, char-for
occasions, «P°;'= °" P"' ^ ^ ^ay to secure preparation m
acter sketches, and taosxaphies^ A good y
^^^ ^^^^ ^^.^.^^^
oral English is to require =t>"'«"^\'° f™ '"
the outline is to have it
-Ln^^aT^libr ^i"^S^^^.:^: :^^
StX^^fe:^%:-ryCi:ra rrofspeech errors and thus of
noting improvement from time to time
^^ ^^ ^^^^
It is usually the memorized speech that
^J^P«^-^ ^ discourage
audience. For this reason the ^^^t^"^^;;,
^^, ^'^^ ^^^f, fj^ld be taught to
rote work. Instead of wnHng . f^^f^ fe has c ^-^ly in mind what
,nin, tnro.^k his o^^^fJ^sttrr^Tittt^^^^^^ speech aloud
he wants to say. The next step ib p
^^^^^^
:r;'tir Prctrb^ectrX^ d^U^- « "L student delivers his
-ts:°ardT=-3.^.^-rp::ag::;.na^rr.
- ;rserrr=;= r^^^^^^^^ -:^
compositions to a trienaiy cui
understand that
paper, and how t^ispaper trembles. .^ Let the^^^^^^^
^^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^^
oral composition is the most ^i^^^t approach a
^^ ^^^
-^c r^-f rpal life" Business and professional men a,n<j.
needs of i^al me. x>
^^^^„.„^ent this material by experiences of
community will be glad
^^ ^^Tnleient^^ in the form of letters to
their own given in
^^^^^^^f^^^^^^^^^^^
Besides practice
special classes written
^l^^ll^'^'^ll mentioned, delivery of memory
- -iH5desc-bi rvffha-ttb—g Itpif:?
hojTp^-t ^^jtJzv^.is^J^::^r
Tv rro^SSn* or "Th cXvation of' Exact Listening" may be made
It Pays to Listen i
„„i„„„,e„t in
oral composition, the informal
the topic °t an md-dual a^^nment _^^^J^^^^ ^^ ^^^^^^^ ^
discussion of which may ^ »
^ ^j_^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^^_. ^^y
fSn'tX:-the"nr fuUir"of which their classmates will be asUed
*°
Thelrmple of the instructor is the best way to teach pupils to
The «='ample 01 I
^^^^^.^^ ^^^ t^^^^^^ ,h„„,a „t
;f:he'b"n 'he^oramong the students and show to the speaKer
14 Courses of Study
all the consideration that he wishes the class to show. To the student
on his feet before the audience such an attitude on the part of the
instructor will make a profounder impression than a forty-minute lecture
on the subject. Sometimes at the close of the class criticism of oral
themes, it may be well for the teacher to suggest that the chairman call
on the speakers for criticisms of the audience.
Setting up of standards is necessary before judgment can be of value.
It is well to have the students set up standards for themselves under the
guidance of the teacher. These standards may take the form of questions
which the student should ask himself in judging a speech. The following
set of questions may serve as an example:
1. Did the speaker establish intimate contact with the audience?
2. Was his position good, his posture erect and composed?
3. Was his subject matter interesting and definitely planned? Did
his composition have a goal?
4. Could he be heard easily?
5. Was his voice clear and pleasant?
6. Did his sentences have any variety of structure?
7. Were his words well chosen?
8. Was his English correct?
A selectic.i cannot be read properly until it is understood. To secure
adequate preparation of an assignment in oral interpretation of a selec-tion
have pupils hand in analysis of assigned selections. Such an analysis
should give the theme of the selection and the author's plan for de-veloping
the theme. If the selection is a poem, the student should be
asked to copy the selection in order to indicate the proper phrasing and
emphasis. To indicate pauses he should insert vertical bars. To indicate
emphasis he should underscore words or groups of words. If the selection
contains unfamiliar words, the student should list these, divide them
in syllables, indicate the pronunciation by diacritical works, and give the
dictionary meaning which best suits the word as used in the selection.
Each student should at least once a year be asked to take charge of
a lesson or to act as chairman of a program of oral themes. He should
be made to feel responsible foT- the success of the program as a whole
and should conduct the discussions as well as announce the numbers. He
should be rated on his success in conducting the exercise and his rating
be counted in estimating his grade for the month.
One way of encouraging participation in informal discussion, includ-ing
criticisms of talks, is to rate the chairman on success in eliciting
discussion from the class. Such a device will put the chairman on his
mettle and will also arouse the loyalty of his classmates. Feeling re-sponsible
for a classmate's grade (or more selfishly fearing for his own
when his turn comes) , each student will develop a conscience for con-tributing
his share to class discussions.
The attitude and personality of the teacher constitute the chief means
for cultivating a spirit of fairness and of cooperative effort in conducting
class criticisms. It is believed, however, that each of the methods de-scribed
above may contribute to the attainment of this final objective in
oral composition.
High Schools of North Carolina 15
C. Number and Distribution of Themes
At least one-fifth of the year's work should be devoted to oral compo-sition
exclusive of informal discussions and answers to questions not
directly related to oral theme assignments. This means an average of
one class period a week.
Though the manner of distribution of time should be left to the
individual teacher, some definite plan of distribution is advisable. For
instance, one day in every five or two consecutive days in every ten may
be called "oral theme" days and the rest of the work be made to con-form
to this schedule. The last (or the first) eight minutes of every
class period or the last (or the first) fifteen minutes of every class
period during the first (or second) semester may be devoted to oral
composition. In each month's lesson plans 160 minutes distributed ac-cording
to the general purpose of the month's work may be assigned to
oral composition. The whole year's work in oral English may be given
in 36 consecutive days. The important thing is to have a definite schedule
and to adhere to it.
From year to year the length of themes should increase and their
number decrease. By the end of the first year a student should be able
to hold the floor for at least two minutes. By the end of the fourth year
he should be able to speak for ten or fifteen minutes. This does not
mean that all assignments for a given year should be that long or even
average that length. For classes of average size, allowing a fair amount
of time for criticism, drill, and class discussion, the following distribution
will take up the allotted one-fifth of the year's work:
For the first year twenty themes averaging one and a half minutes in
length.
For the second year fifteen themes averaging two and a half minutes
in length.
For the third year twelve themes averaging three and a half minutes
in length.
For the fourth year nine themes averaging five minutes in length.
D. Minimum Essentials
FIRST YEAR
To pass from grade VIII a pupil should as a matter of habit be able
—
1. To pronounce these words correctly: asked, catch, get, going (es-pecially
with I'm), just, was.
2. To eliminate such grossly illiterate forms as hisself, hadn't ought,
aint got, look with direct object, where in such expressions as "the book
where she gave me" and "I don't know where I'm going or not."
3. To make correct use of the grammatical forms required for written
composition.
4. To make complete sentences and show by a falling inflection that
the end of the sentence has been reached.
5. To have his composition follow a definite plan and "close with some-thing
that sounds like a close."
16 Courses of Study
second year
To pass from Grade IX a pupil should as a matter of habit
—
1. Continue to meet the requirements of grade VIII.
2. Pronounce these words correctly: address, a-pricot, bade, bouquet,
cement, coupon, depot, duty, generally, often, mischievous, real, rinse, roof,
something.
3. Eliminate excessive use of and, so, and but.
4. Eliminate transfer noises while passing from one sentence to the
next.
5. Make correct use of the grammatical forms required for written
composition.
THIRD YEAR
To pass from grade X a pupil should as a matter of habit
—
1. Continue to meet the requirements of grades VIII and IX.
2. Pronounce these words correctly: Aeroplane, apparatus, automo-bile,
finance, forehead, government, gratis, grimace, heinous, library,
perspiration, perform, pretty, recognize, statistics, surprise.
3. Make use of the grammatical forms required for written compo-sition.
4. Eliminate awkwardness and restlessness of posture.
5. Eliminate repetition of words and phrases.
6. Establish real contact with his audience.
FOURTH YEAR
With the work of the previous grades actually accomplished the senior
year should be left free for removing the deficiencies of individual pupils
and rounding out any well-begun plan of the individual teacher.
During the last year the teacher will do well to aim at developing
style in oral composition. Students may now be taught to begin spoken
sentences with phrases, participial or adverb clauses; to use sentences
of different length and structure; to indicate paragraphs by ti'ansitional
words or phrases; and to close with a certain sense of climax.
Help for the teacher can be found in the following books:
Birmingham and Krapp: First Lessons in Speech Improvements
(Scribners)
.
Curry: Mind and Voice (Expression Co.).
Lewis: American Speech (Scott, Foresman Co.).
McCullough and Birmingham : Correcting Speech Defects and Foreign
Accents (Scribners).
Mosher: Production of Cor^rect Speech Sounds (Expression Co.).
Patterson: Hoiv to Speak (Little-Brown).
Pelsma: Essentials of Speech (Crowell).
Shaw: Ar-t of Debate (Allyn and Bacon).
Stinchfield: Psychology of Speech (Expression Co.).
Stinchfield: Speech Pathology With Methods in Speech Correction (Ex-pression
Co.).
High Schools of North Carolina 1'?
IV. WRITTEN COMPOSITION
The general aim of the course in written composition is to teach effec-tive,
accurate English and to provide the kind of drill that will make its
use habitual. One principle is emphasized in a grade, but each teacher
should look forward to the end and should employ every method to make
these objectives possible. For example, an eighth-grade pupil must work
for interest, planning, accuracy, and ease while he is emphasizing unity.
An eleventh-grade pupil must work for unity, interest, and planning while
he is emphasizing accuracy and ease. No one grade can hope to attain
perfection in any one of these objectives. However, the degree of unity,
interest, planning, accuracy, and ease obtained by any group will be de-termined
by the fact that eighth-grade teachers and students attack the
course as a whole and by the fact that ninth-, tenth-, and eleventh-grade
teachers and students are willing to "carry on" with untiring zeal.
The following outline indicates the gradual definite development ot the
aims of the course:
Grade Eight—Unity:
Term One—Sentence Unity.
Term Two—Paragraph Unity.
1. Topic Sentence.
2. Proper Sequence.
3. Summary Sentence (if necessary).
Grade Nine—Interest:
Term One—Variety of Sentence Structure.
1. Variety in Form.
2. Variety in Meaning.
Term Two—Variety in Paragraph.
1. Developed by Detail.
2. Developed by Illustration.
3. Developed by Comparison.
Grade Ten—Planning the Composition:
Term One—Outlines.
Term Two—Choice of Words.
Grade Eleven—Accuracy and Ease:
Term One—Accuracy and Ease in Mechanics.
Term Two—Accuracy and Ease in Writing Different Types of Com-position.
FIRST YEAR
I. Aims:
A. To make sentence unity a habit.
B. To work for paragraph unity.
C. To show the value of the topic sentence, the sequence of ideas,
the summary sentence.
D. To obtain correct foi-m.
TT v4 pf'i'i)it''Z€S
'
A. Constant paragraph writing: (1) exposition, (2) narration,
(3) description, (4) exposition.
B. Simple outlines from history and outside reading.
C. Short themes developed from simple outlines.
18 Courses of Study
D. Reports based upon school activities.
E. Short biographies, real or imaginary.
F. Letter writing—simple forms of social and business letters (or-der,
complaint, request, application).
G. Written comments on parallel reading. Extend such comments
to two paragraphs. The first paragraph should give a
synopsis of the story; the second, the pupil's opinion.
H. Dictation of well-constructed paragraphs in which the pupil may
detect unity.
Term One
I. Technical Details:
A. Habits of form:
1. Write title on first line.
2. Capitalize the first word and all other words of titles,
except articles, prepositions, and conjunctions.
3. Begin composition on the second line below the title.
4. Leave a margin of one inch at the left.
5. Indent paragraph one inch.
6. Break words at the end of the line between syllables.
7. Number pages.
8. Write legibly and neatly.
9. In order to make correct spacing and punctuation in letter
writing a habit, one form should be adopted and fol-lowed
without variation. All forms should be discussed.
B. As an aid to the development of sentence sense, drill constantly
on recognition of parts of speech, of subject, and of predicate.
C. Drill on the following troublesome verbs: see, go, do, lie, sit,
know, write, eat, take, draw, ought, give, ring.
D. Drill on "One Hundred Demons":
always coming heard raise though
among cough hear read through
again don't here straight they
any does instead sugar tonight
ache done just shoes truly
answer dear knew says very
been doctor know said used
business every laid should which
built easy lose since where
believes early loose soon women
busy enough seems many write
beginning friend meant separate writing
blue February making their wood
buy forty minute there Wednesday
break grammar Tuesday much wear
can't guess two none whether
country hoarse too often whole
could half trouble once would
color having piece tear wrote
choose hour ready tired weak
High Schools of North Carolina 19
E. Frequent dictation to render the following punctuation habitual:
1. Yes and no in sentences; nouns of address; words in a
series; dates; addresses; appositives.
2. Period; question mark.
3. Apostrophe.
II. Results Desired:
A. To present papers in proper form.
B. To write a simple informal letter, observing the accepted form
without misspelling familiar words, and without mistakes in
punctuation required.
C. To write a business letter correct in form.
D. To write a paragraph on a given subject without straying from
the subject. Such a paragraph should be without errors in
spelling and in punctuation that have been stressed this term.
E. To write the main thought of a passage from literature suitable
for this grade.
F. To present evidence of a well-kept notebook. This notebook at
the close of the term should contain the following work, or
work that the teacher endorses as equal to the following:
Nine themes
—
1. Two short narratives—two themes.
2. Two short expositions—two themes.
3. Letters.
a. Friendship—one theme.
b. Three informal notes—one theme.
4. Biography
—
ov,^ theme.
5. Reproduction of appreciation of poetry or prose; this may
be parallel reading—one theme.
6. Dictation—one exercise per week—one theme.
Term Two
I. Technical Details:
A. Drill on technical details found in term one.
B. Drill on the following troublesome verbs: sing, break, come,
throw, run, doesn't, bring, drive, drink, ride, groiv, tear, begiyi.
C. Build complex and compound sentences.
D. Frequent dictation to render the following punctuation habitual:
1. Comma after an adverbial clause used at the beginning of
a sentence.
2. A comma before and, but, or, for when used to join two
statements.
3. Undivided quotations; divided quotations.
C. Drill on "One Hundred Demons" if necessary, and on Bucking-ham
Extension of Ayres scale.
II. Residts Desired:
A. To write a paragraph containing a topic sentence, a proper
sequence of ideas, a summary sentence. There should be no
mistakes in spelling and in punctuation that have been
stressed.
B. To write a business letter (order, inquiry, complaint) with no
mistakes in form, in punctuation, and in spelling that have
been stressed.
20 Courses of Study
C. To present evidence of this in a well-kept notebook. This note-book
at the close of the term should contain the following
themes or work that the teacher endorses as equal to the
following
:
Type of Theme Number of Themes
Short descriptions of objects, persons or scenes Three
Business letters—three letters One
Telegrams—series of three One
Night letters—two . One
Reproduction of poetry or prose . One
Biography . One
Dictation—one exercise per week One
Literature
The reading in the first high school year should be selected from the
following list. At least four of the books should be assigned for home or
library reading. The school library should have on its shelves the books
in the reading list and, whenever possible, in more than one copy. The
teacher should, of course, put well-chosen additional books for supple-mentary
reading on the library shelves. A minimum number of hours of
reading every week should be required, and pupils should be encouraged
to read more than the minimum requirement; many pupils will do this if
they are allowed access to a "browsing" shelf that holds these extra books.
For careful classroom study as many books should be chosen as the time
allows.
Romance and Adventure: Stevenson's Treasure Island (C.E.)*; Scott's
Ivanhoe (C.E.)*; Lady of the Lake (C.E.)*; Swift's Gulliver's Travels
(Voyages to Lilliput and Brobdingnag) ; Defoe's Robinson Crusoe; Irving's
Sketch Book (selections) (C.E.)*; Browning's How They Brought the Good
News from Ghent to Aix; Incident of the French Camp; Herve Riel
(C.E.)*; Tales of Knightly Adventure; Lowell's The Vision of Sir Launfal.
Great Men; Great Ideals: Mabie's Heroes Every Child Should Know;
Hawthorne's Great Stone Face; Julius Caesar (C.E.)*.
Man and Nature: Kipling's Jungle Book (I and II) ; London's Call of
the Wild.
Humor: Ma^k Twain's Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn.
SECOND YEAR
I. Aims
:
1. To teach the student to add interest to his composition by secur-ing
variety of sentence structure.
2. To help the student understand variety of paragraph structure.
3. To help him enlarge his vocabulary that he may have a greater
choice of words.
(Suggestion: Continued stress on unity. Activities should
be selected that will help the teacher show how variety is
gained.)
II. Activities:
1 Short biographies of characters in fiction, history, art, and
science. These can easily be group projects.
*NoTE. "C. E." indicates that books so marked may be submitted for college entrance
credit.
High Schools of North Carolina 21
2. Brief descriptions of persons, places and objects. (See tenth-grade
activities for instructions.)
3. Reports based on outside reading, history, school activities. Re-ports
should consist of two paragraphs. The first may con-tain
a brief synopsis; the second, a personal opinion. This
form of writing helps other objectives—definiteness, accuracy,
grasp of idea.
4. Reports on individual interest.
5. Friendly letters describing persons, places, and objects.
6. Business letters—order, explaining delay, apologizing for error,
giving instructions.
7. Advertisements and telegrams—test sense of essential detail,
accuracy, and power of appeal.
Term One
I. Technical Details:
1. Write compound, complex, declarative, interrogative, and impera-tive
sentences.
2. Work on loose and periodic sentences.
3. Study subordinate clauses.
4. Do not write parts of a sentence for a whole sentence.
5. Do not use run-on sentences.
6. Do not string sentences together with and's, hut's, then's.
7. Do not put an additional negative word in a negative sentence.
(Watch themes for the last four errors.)
8. Drill on punctuation and on troublesome verbs emphasized in
eighth grade.
9. Drill on ninth grade list of words in "Buckingham Extension of
Ayres Word List." (Copies of the scale may be obtained from
the Public School Publishing Company, Bloomington, Illinois.)
II. Results Desired:
1. Write a paragraph that has a topic sentence, a sequence of ideas,
and a variety of sentence structure. Paragraph should show
that the student has made use of drills in punctuation and in
spelling.
2. Evidence of ability to grasp thought from reading and to convey
the idea in paragraphs containing unity, coherence, and
variety.
3. Ability to use the principles of unity, coherence, and variety in
letter writing.
4. Ability to present a well-kept notebook. This notebook at the
close of the term should include the following work, or work
that the teacher endorses as equal to the following:
Type of Theme Number of Themes
Three themes showing variety of type (150-300 words) ..Three
Three business letters One
One friendly letter One
Biography 1 One
Reproduction (poetry or prose) One
Report on parallel reading One
Dictation (four well-selected paragraphs) One
22 Courses of Study
Term Two
I. Technical Details:
1. Work on the development of themes by detail, by illustration, by
comparison. (Suggestions may be found in "New Practical
English for Schools," Lewis and Hosic, Chapter II; "English
for Immediate Use," Law, Chapter XX; "Composition and
Rhetoric," Tanner, Chapter VII; "Correct English," Tanner.)
2. Use drills mentioned in term one.
3. Write sentences containing the infinitive and the participle.
4. Encourage discriminate use of coordinate and subordinate con-junction.
5. Be vigilant in following up previous work in punctuation.
6. Drill on the punctuation of non-restrictive elements.
7. Teach the comma with participle groups.
a. If the participle group comes at the first of a sentence,
not used as the subject, place a comma after the phrase.
b. If the group comes after the word it modifies, use a comma.
c. If the group comes directly after the word it modifies and
sounds like an explanation, use the comma.
II. Results Desired:
1. To write a theme or letter in which is found a clear understand-ing
of the following principles:
a. Sentence unity.
b. Paragraph unity.
c. Variety of sentence structure.
2. To be able to develop a paragraph by at least three methods.
3. To present evidence of the above requirements in a well-kept
notebook. This notebook should contain the following work,
or work that the teacher endorses as equal to the following:
Type of Theme Number of Themes
Variety of type and development Three
Three business letters One
One friendly letter One
Biography One
Reproduction (poetry or prose) One
Report and appreciation of parallel reading One
Dictation (four well-chosen paragraphs) One
Literature
The reading in the second high school year should be selected from the
following books. At least five of the books should be assigned for home
or library reading. As many should be chosen for careful classroom study
as the time allows.
Romance and Adventure : Macaulay's Lays of Ancient Rome; Dickens's
A Tale of Two Cities (C.E.)*; Poe's Short Stories; Doubleday's Stories of
Invention; Middle English and Scottish Ballads.
Great Men; Great Ideals: Selections from the Jilneid, the Odyssey
(C.E.)*; Franklin's Autobiography (C.E.)*; Southey's Nelson.
*NoTE. "C. E." indicates that books so marked may be submitted for college entrance
credit.
High Schools of North Carolina 23
American Life and Ideals: Cooper's Novels; Eggleston's The Hoosier
Schoolmaster, The Hoosier Schoolboy; Page's Red Book; Wister's The Vir-ginian;
Longfellow's Building of the Ship; a collection of Civil War poems;
Whitman's I Hear America Singing.
Man and Nature: Seton-Thompson's Wild Animals I 'Have Known;
selections from Audubon; selections from David Crockett's Autobiography;
selections from John Burrough's Essays.
Humor: Harris's Tales from Uncle Remus.
THIRD YEAR
I. Ahiis:
1. To show the pupil that every good piece of writing is based on
systematic planning.
2. To lead him to want to plan what he writes.
3. To teach him how to plan.
II. Activities
:
1. Read a good modern essay, short-story, piece of description. Lead
the class to see (a) organization of ideas or incidents, (b)
coherence, (c) unity, (d) variety in sentence structure.
Suggested list of essays and short stories: "Essay and Es-say
Writing," Tanner; "Types of Essay," Heydrick; "Essays
of Present Day Writers," Pence; "Modern Essays," Avent;
"Essays and Short Stories," Law; "American Short Stories,"
Royster.
2. Planning themes of two or three paragraphs.
Suggested help for teachers: Briggs and McKinney, Book
II, Problem III, "Practical English Composition," Miller,
Chapters 14-20.
3. Describe any building within range of personal observation.
(Teacher may find example of master artist in John Bur-rough's
"Roof-Tree.")
Suggested order of paragraphs:
(1) Keynote.
(2) Surroundings.
(3) Exterior.
(4) Interior.
(5) Conclusion.
4. Describe your own town: Keynote—cultured, provincial, sleepy,
busy—unity demands a keynote.
Suggested order of paragraphs:
(1) Keynote containing "Four W's."
(2) Surrounding country.
(3) Buildings.
(4) Streets.
(5) Picture at special time of day.
5. Describe a person: Topic sentence—^keynote, items of appearance
in order.
6. Write a narrative. Every good story consists of four parts:
(1) Situation—Four "W's."
(2) Climax—Point so difficult that there must be a
turning point.
(3) Unraveling—Way out.
(4) Conclusion—Holding interest to end of narrative.
24 Courses of Study
7. Plan and write an exposition; an argument.
Suggested help for teachers: "New Practical English,"
Lewis and Hosic, Chapters XI, XII. An example of exposition
by a master artist may be found in "Fisherman's Luck,"
Henry Van Dyke; "Correct English," Tanner.
8. Planning and writing letters of various types.
9. Outlines, parallels, comparisons—based on classics read, his-torical
happenings, lives and characters studied.
I. Technical Details.
Term One
Give tests on punctuation and capitalization from time to time
to arouse student to a sense of need. Preserve record; com-pare
results; observe progress.
Test on recognition of nouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, relative
pronouns, subordinate conjunctions, coordinate conjunctions,
"conjunctive adverbs," relative pronouns.
Test on recognition of phrase and clause.
Try to eliminate the habit of running sentences together, either
without any separating mark or with comma (comma blun-der)
.
Spell as a matter of habit the following words:
accidentally
accommodate
accustom
address
against
although
altogether
amount
apologize
appproach
argument
around
arrangement
arrive
athletics
benefit
captain
committee
corner
definitely
descend
development
despair
disapprove
disturb
embarrass
enthusiastically
especially
few
fourteen
greatest
guard
hurrying
imagine
judgment
marriage
merely
naturally
nickel
noticeably
o'clock
occasionally
opinion
originally
particularly
peaceably
preparation
privilege
porch
possibly
possess
practically
precede
prisoner
prove
recommend
religious
replies
repetition
ridiculous
safely
separation
shepherd
secretary
similar
studying
surely
supplies
suspicious
successful
syllable
unconscious
unmanageable
victuals
victorious
village
villain
weird
woman
women
II. Res-iilts Required:
1. Perfect form.
2. Observe rules of syntax and punctuation with 90 per cent
accuracy.
3. Be able to recognize faults in unity, coherence, and emphasis in
sentence and paragraph.
4. Organize material into an outline and write a theme of, at
least, 800 words.
High Schools of North Carolina 25
5. Write letters in perfect form and with courtesy and com-pleteness.
6. To present evidence of a well-kept notebook. This notebook
should contain the following themes, or work that the teacher
endorses as equal to the following:
Type of Theme Number of Themes
One long theme (1200 to 1500 words) One
One theme (700 to 1000 words) or
Four themes (200 to 300 words) One
Four analyses of selections of literature Four
Four business letters One
One social letter One
One reproduction (poetry or prose) One
Term Two
I. Technical Details:
1. Try to eliminate dangling modifiers.
2. Seek to secure emphasis through the careful placing of modifiers.
3. Do not allow too many coordinate clauses.
4. Test to see if the use of the apostrophe is habitual.
5. Continue occasional drill on spelling words given in previous
terms.
II. Resiilts Desired:
1. Organize material into an outline and write theme, applying
principles of unity, coherence, and emphasis with more ease
and accuracy than in preceding terms.
2. Write letters with more ease and accuracy than in preceding
terms.
3. To present notebook containing the following work, or work
that the teacher considers equal to the following:
One long theme (1200-1500 words), correct in form, care-fully
punctuated. This theme must show some knowledge of
of unity, coherence and emphasis.
Three short themes showing knowledge of different kinds
of paragraph development.
One argument with, at least, two proofs well-established.
One magazine article: synopsis of article,
opinion of article One theme
Biography One theme
Report on parallel reading One theme
Three business letters One theme
Reproduction (poetry or prose) One theme
Literature
The reading in the third high school year should be selected from the
following books. At least five books should be assigned for home or
library reading. As many should be chosen for careful classroom study
as the time allows.
Romance and Adventure: Kipling's Captains Courageous; Doyle's
Sherlock Holmes; Kingsley's Westward Ho!; Merchant of Venice (C.E.)*;
*NoTE. "C. E." indicates that books so marked may be submitted for college entrance
credit.
26 Courses of Study
Hamlin Garland's Boy Life on the Prairie; Arnold's Sohrab and Rustum
(C.E.)*.
Great Men; Great Ideals: Macaulay's Johnson (C.E.)*; Drinkwater's
Abraham Lincoln.
American Life and Ideals: Parkman's Oregon Trail; Harte's Luck
of Roaring Camp, Outcasts of Poker Flats; Cable's Old Creole Days;
Simms's Yemassee; Craddock's Prophet of Great Smoky; Hale's Man
Without a Country; Grady's The New South; Riis's The Making of an
American; Mary Antin's The Promised Land; Roosevelt's True Ameri-canism;
a collection of Southern poetry; Brook's North Carolina Poetry;
Lowell's Odes; a collection of Southern prose and poetry; Whittier's
Centennial Hymn.
Man and Nature: Selections from Audubon; selections from Crockett's
Autobiography; Hudson's Idle Days in Patagonia.
Fancy and Imagination: A Midsummer Night's Dream; As You Like
It (C.E.)*; Coleridge's The Ancient Mariner (C.E.)*; selections from
Alfred Noyes; selections from Sidney Lanier.
Humor: Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch; Noyes's Forty Singing
Seamen; O. Henry's The Ransom of Red Chief; Goldsmith's She Stoops
to Conquer.
FOURTH YEAR
I. Aims:
1. To increase accuracy and ease in the mechanics of English.
2. To increase accuracy and ease in writing narration, description,
exposition, and argumentation.
3. To develop an interest in combining these forms in the manner
of modern writing for social and business use.
II. Activities
:
1. The world of work: Class may choose a trade or profession.
Groups or individuals may report to class, through theme,
what they have learned from observation, from personal
interviews, from reading.
2. Travel: Description and narration of actual experiences.
3. History: Patriotism; Nationalism—biography, appreciation. •
4. Ethical matters: (1) Our behavior at home; (2) Our behavior
at school—classrooms, locker rooms, halls, cafeteria, play-ground,
school entertainments; (3) Our behavior in public
places—street, street car, theater, library, store, road, truck.
5. Health: Keeping well; work of such organization as Red Cross,
Anti-Tuberculosis Associations, Boy Scouts, Camp Fire
Girls.
6. Community concerns: A good place to live, history and im-portant
people, work of community, interesting places.
7. Nature in our community: Weather, orchards, gardens, birds,
animals, crops, soil.
8. Our fascinating selves: Reminiscences, descriptions, characteri-zations,
adventures, interesting relatives, ancestors, matters
on which I am an authority.
9. Adventures among books.
*NoTE. "C. E." indicates that books so marked may be submitted for college entrance
credit.
High Schools of North Carolina 27
10. Business letters, letters of apology, appreciation.
11. Class anthologies: Collect interesting papers written during
the term. Let committees, edit compositions—write table
of contents, draw illustrations.
12. Criticisms and appreciations of magazines.
Term One
I. Technical Details:
1. Review frequently all points on punctuation, grammar, capitali-zation
in practical use for writing accurately.
2. Test often for recognition of errors and for ability to apply
rules.
Be able, as £ matter of habit, to spell these words correctly:
abbreviation
academy
accuracy
aggravate
ancient
announcement
anxious
annually
architect
attendance
assistant
balance
boundary
bulletin
calendar
canyon
carriage
cataract
citizen
college
commercial
connection
conquering
conscientious
considerably
contagious
convenience
courtesy
courteous
customary
delicious
descendant
democracy
dissipation
double
ecstasy
electric
eligible
exaggerate
exhausted
extraordinary
extravagance
familiar
foreigner
guardian
gymnasium
horizontal
humorous
hypocrisy
inaugurate
irrigation
inflammation
intellectual
intelligence
innocence
knowledge
license
magazine
management
manual
memorize
merchandise
millinery
miscellaneous
murmur
mysterious
nuisance
obstacle
opposite
pennant
performance
persuade
poisonous
prejudice
presence
proceed
procedure
professor
proficient
pursuit
recollect
responsibility
rehearsal
restaurant
seminary
sophomore
superintendent
superstitious
supersede
specimen
sjrtnmetry
sympathize
temperature
treasurer
unnecessary
unreasonable
vegetable
vengeance
visible
II. Results Desired:
1. Student must correct his own paper under the supervision of
teacher. The corrected draft must attain 95 per cent
accuracy in syntax, 95 per cent accuracy in punctuation, and
100 per cent accuracy in spelling.
2. The completed notebook should contain the following work or
the value of the following:
Nine Themes
Two long themes (1200-1500 words)
Four short themes (200-300 words)
Biography
Book reports
Letters and reproductions
28 Courses of Study
Term Two
Technical Details:
1. Test to find weakness, and drill on errors.
2. Note use of subjunctive: (a) If I were he, I should go. (b) If
he be there, let him come, (c) I wish I were well.
3. Review the use of like and as.
4. Watch the possessive.
5. Use the indefinite pronouns.
6. Be sure that the student knows these sixty troublesome verbs:
am
attack
become
bite
blow
bregik
bring
burst
catch
choose
come
dive
do
drink
drive
drown lie (recline) sting
eat lose strike
flow light swear
fly pay swell
forget prove seem
get ring take
go rise teach
grow run thrive
hang see throw
know set tread
lay- shoes wake
lead sing wear
leave sit win
lend sling wring
lie (falsify) spit write
II. Results Desired:
1. To present notebooks containing nine themes, or the value of
nine themes. Attempt to show improvement in accuracy,
ease, force, and interest.
2. Suggestions for general use:
Compositions should be corrected by students after errors
are indicated by teacher.
Standard scales for marking compositions should be used
occasionally. They give a basis for comparison, and they
also show the result obtained by objective scoring.
Composition Scales
Ayres: Measuring Ability in Spelling. Russell Sage Foundation, New
York.
Hillegas : Composition Scale. Bureau of Publications, Teachers' Col-lege,
Columbia University, New York.
Thorndyke: Extension of Hillegas Scale. Bureau of Publications,
Teachers' College, Columbia University, New York.
Trabue: Composition Scale. Bureau of Publications, Teachers' Col-lege,
Columbia University, New York.
Hudelson: English Composition Scale. World Book Company, Yonk-ers-
on-Hudson.
Lewis: Scales for Measuring Special Types of English Composition.
World Book Company, Yonkers-on-Hudson.
High Schools of North Carolina 29
Literature
The reading of the fourth high school year should be selected from
the following books. At least six of the books should be assigned for
"home or library reading. As many should be chosen for careful class-room
study as the time allows.
Romance and Adventure: Blackmore's Lorna Doone; Service's Spell
of the Yukon; Byron's Prisoner of Chillon; N. H. Moore's Deeds of Dar-ing
Done by Girls.
Great Men; Tragic Failures: Macbeth (C.E.)*; Hamlet (C.E.)*;
Carlyle's Essay on Burns (C.E.)*; Browning's Andrea del Sarto.
American Life and ' Ideals : Garland's A Son of the Middle Border
;
O. Henry's Heart of the West; Burke's Speech on Conciliation (C.E.)*;
Washington's Farewell Address and Webster's Bunker Hill Oration
(C.E.)*; Lincoln's Gettysburg Address; Lincoln's Letters; selections from
Wilson's speeches; Moody's Ode in Time of Hesitation; Graham's Edu-cation
and Citizenship; a collection of World War poems; a collection of
American short stories.
Man and Nature: Selections from Huxley.
Fancy and hnagination : Peabody's The Piper; Milton's Minor Poems
(C.E.)*; Golden Treasury, Book IV; The Tempest (C.E.)*.
Humor: Sheridan's The Rivals; Twelfth Night.
Additional Books for Home Reading
From the following list substitutions may, in some cases, be made
for books recommended in the earlier lists. Substitution is advisable only
when the books on the recommended list have been read in the lower
grades or when the selections are unquestionably too easy or too difficult
for the attainments of any particular class. To provide material for
substitution is not, however, the main purpose of the list. Its large
aim is to furnish the English teacher a group of books of diverse appeals
to suit the interests of individual pupils. The list is intended, above
all, to minister to the pleasure and profit of those promising pupils who
ask for more reading than is required merely "to pass the course."
Credit for outside reading may be given either by assigning definite
values to certain books (as is done in the "Hartford Reading Lists,"
published by Henry Holt and Company) and thus require a definite num-ber
of credit points for the year; or by requiring one book a month
—
five books for the semester—and thus give a certain credit each month
for that work.
A Minimum List of Books for Home Reading
This list is designed principally for those schools with limited library
facilities or for those teachers of English who prefer to require certain
books rather than try to provide for individual tastes.
*NoTE. "C. E." indicates that books so marked may be submitted for college entrance
credit.
30 Courses of Study
first year
Clemens: Tom Sawyer. London: The Call of the Wild. Stevenson:
Treasure Island (C.E.)*; Dickens: Oliver Twist (C.E.)*. Scott: Ivanhoe
(C.E.)*. Alcott: Little Women. Cooper: The Spy. Keller: The Story
of My Life. Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night's Dream (C.E.)*. Homer:
The Odyssey (Palmer translation); The Odyssey (Bates translation).
SECOND YEAR
Dickens: David Copperfield (C.E.)*. Cooper: The Last of the Mo-hicans
(C.E.)*. Barrie: The Little Minister. Scott: The Talisman.
Bunyan: Pilgrim's Progress. Blackmore: Lorna Doone (C.E.)*. Antin:
The Promised Land. Riis: The Making of an American. Roosevelt:
Letters to His Children. Shakespeare: Julius Caesar (C.E.)*.
THIRD YEAR
Wallace: Ben Hur. Dickens: A Tale of Two Cities (C.E.)*. Scott:
Kenilworth (C.E.)*. Austen: Pride and Prejudice (C.E.)*. Thackeray:
Henry Esmond (C.E.)*. Parkman: The Oregon Trail (C.E.)*. Muloch:
John Halifax Gentleman. Garland: A Son of the Middle Border. Gold-smith:
The Vicar of Wakefield (C.E.)*. Shakespeare: King Henry V
(C.E.)*.
FOURTH YEAR
Thackeray: Vanity Fair. Hugo: Les Miserables. Eliot: Adam Bede.
Hawthorne: The Scarlet Letter. Kingsley : Westward Ho! Howells: The
Rise of Silas Lapham. Dickens: Great Expectations. Shakespeare:
Othello (C.E.)*. Addams: Twenty Years at Hull House. Bok: The
Americanization of Edward Bok.
A Longer List of Books for Home Reading
FIRST YEAR
I Fiction
M. Robertson: Sinful Peck. R. L. Stevenson: Kidnapped; David Bal-four.
Bidlen: The Cruise of the Cachalot. Hopkins: She Blows and
Spurns at That. Cooper: The Last of the Mohicans. S. E. White: The
Riverman. Ralph Connor: Glengarry Schooldays; The Man from Glen-garry.
F. H. Smith: Colonel Carter of Cartersville. T. N. Page: The
Old Gentleman of the Black Stock. Lincoln: The Portygee. Tarkington:
Seventeen. Ervine : Alice and a Family. Rinehart: The Circular Stair-case.
Clemens: Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc; Pudd'nhead Wil-son;
Tom Sawyer; Huckleberry Finn. R. L. Stevenson: The Bottle Imp.
E. Hough: Fifty-four Forty or Fight. A. C. Doyle: The White Com-pany.
Sienkiewicz: With Fire and Sword. Kipling: Kim. Dickens:
Oliver Twist. Scott: Ivanhoe. Tarkington: Monsieur Beaucaire. Wey-man:
A Gentleman of France. McCarthy: The Glorious Rascal. Defoe:
Robinson Crusoe. Swift: Gulliver's Travels. Bunyan: Pilgrim's Progress.
Arabian Nights. Hawes: The Mutineers; The Quest; The Dark Frigate.
Ollivant: Bob, Son of Battle.
*NoTE. "C. E."' indicates that books so marked may be submitted for college entrance
credit.
High Schools of North Carolina 31
II Short Stories
Kipling: Plain Tales from the Hills; The Day's Work. Irving: The
Sketch Book; Tales of a Traveller. Page: In Ole Virginia. Hawthorne:
Tales of the White Hills. Bret Harte : The Luck of Roaring Camp. Gar-land:
They of the High Trails. Grenfell: Tales of the Labrador. E. A.
Poe: Tales. Cobb: Old Judge Priest. Kelly: Little Aliens. W. A.
White: The Court of Boyville. Broivn: Rab and His Friends. Aldrich:
Marjorie Daw and Other Stories. M. R, Aridrews: The Perfect Tribute.
III Drama
Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night's Dream; Twelfth Night. Mac-
Kaye: Washington, the Man Who Made Us. Drinkwater: Abraham
Lincoln. Hazelton: The Yellow Jacket. Maeterlinck: The Blue Bird.
Gregory: The Dragon. Bangs: The Bicycleers and Other Farces. Mae-
Kaye: The Beau of Bath and Other One-Act Plays.
IV Poetry
Homer: The Iliad (Palmer translation) ; The Odyssey (Palmer trans-lation).
The Song of Roland (translated by Butler). Scott: Marmion;
The Lay of the Last Minstrel. Longfellow: Tales of a Wayside Inn.
Stevenson: Ballads. Teter: One Hundred Narrative Poems. Scudder:
American Poems. K. Bates: A Ballad Book. Wells: Nonsense Anthology.
V Non-Fiction (Essays, Travel, Biography)
Hubbard: A Message to Garcia. Seton: Wild Animals I Have Known.
Abbott: Days Out of Doors. Jordan: The Story of Matka. Fabre: Social
Life of the Insect World. Treves: The Cradle of the Deep. Harden:
Choosing a Career. Weaver: Vocations for Girls. Paine: Ships and
Sailors of Old Salem. O'Conyior: Heroes of the Storm. Van Loon: The
Story of Mankind. P. Colum: My Irish Year. Young: Alaska Days
With John Muir. J. Muir: Travels in Alaska. Riis : Hero Tales of the
Far North. Muir: The Cruise of the Corwin. Seton: A Woman Tender-foot
in Egypt. S. E. White: The Land of Footprints. Roosevelt: African
Game Trails. Franklin: Autobiography. Garland: Boy's Life on the
Prairie. Hale : A New England Boyhood. Paine : Boy's Life of Mark
Twain. Brady: Paul Jones. Sprague : David Crockett. Nicolay: Boy's
Life of Lincoln. Hagedorn: Boy's Life of Roosevelt. Bolton: Girls Who
Became Famous. Life and Letters of Louisa Alcott. Lodge and Roose-velt
: Hero Tales from American History. White : Daniel Boone, Wilder-ness
Scout.
SECOND YEAR
I Fiction
W. C. Russell: The Wreck of the Grosvenor. London: The Sea Wolf.
Masefield: Lost Endeavor. Melville: Moby Dick. Mitchell: Hugh Wynne,
Free Quaker. Cooper: The Deerslayer; The Pathfinder; The Pioneers;
The Prairie. Wister: The Virginian. Bacheller: A Man for the Ages;
In the Days of Poor Richard. Connor: Black Rock. Allen: A Kentucky
Cardinal. Dickens: David Copperfield; Oliver Twist. F. H. Smith: Caleb
32 Courses of Study
West, Master Diver. Gaskell: Cranford. Stockton: Rudder Grange.
Morley : The Haunted Bookshop; Parnassus on Wheels. Lever: Charles
O'Malley; Rory O'Moore. Stackpole: Patsy. Harland: The Cardinal's
Snuffbox. Moffett: Through the Wall. E. Hough: The Covered Wagon.
Woolson: Anne. Scott: Guy Mannering. M. Johnston: To Have and to
Hold. W. Churchill: The Crisis. Scott: The Talisman. H. H. Jackson:
Ramona. Davis : Captain Macklin. Dumas : The Count- of Monte Cristo.
Lytton: Last Days of Pompeii. W. H. Davis: A Friend of Caesar. Tark-ington:
Monsieur Beaucaire. Dumas: The Three Musketeers. Moore:
The Jessamy Bride. Crane: The Red Badge of Courage. Gale: Friend-ship
Village. Porter: Scottish Chiefs.
II Short Stories
Connolly: Out of Gloucester. O. Henry Stories. Stockton: The Lady
or the Tiger and Other Stories. Deland: A New England Nun and Other
Volumes; Old Chester Tales. Wells: Thirty Strange Stories. Poe: Tales.
Field: A Little Book of Profitable Tales. Doyle: Sherlock Holmes Stories.
Ashmun: Modern Short Stories. Thomas: Atlantic Narratives. Hey-drick:
Americans All.
III Drama
Shakespeare: The Merchant of Venice; A Winter's Tale; Richard II.
Fitch: Beau Brummel; Nathan Hale; Barbara Freitchie. Mackaye: The
Scarecrow. Peabody : The Piper. Forbes: The Famous Mrs. Fair. Barrie:
The Admirable Crichton; Half Hours. Gregory: Irish Folk History
Plays. Howells: The Mouse-Trap and Other Farces. H. L. Cohen: One-
Act Plays of Modern Authors.
IV Poetry
Homer: (five books) The Iliad (Bates or Palmer translation) ; (five
books) The Odyssey (Bates or Palmer translation). Byron: The Prisoner
of Chillon; Mazeppa. Arnold: Sohrab and Rustum. Longfelloiv: The
Golden Legend. Macaulay : Lays of Ancient Rome. Service: The Spell
of the Yukon; Rhymes of a Red Cross Man. Whittier: Snowbound.
Masefield: Reynard the Fox. Kipling: Barrack Room Ballads. Coleridge:
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Rittenhouse: Little Book of American
Poets. Long: Selections from American Poetry. Hart: Popular English
Ballads. Mabie: A Book of English Ballads. Wells: Parody Anthology.
McNeil: Lyrics from Cottonland.
V Non-Fiction (Essays, Travel, Biography)
Bangs: From Pillar to Post. Lucas: Old Lamps for New. Roosevelt:
The Stoneman's Life; American Ideals and Other Essays. Nutting:
The Track of the Typhoon. Beebe: Jungle Peace. Bui-roughs: Wake
Robin. Van Dyke: Fisherman's Luck. Warner: Endicott and I. Briggs:
College Girls; College Life. Stockton: Buccaneers and Pirates of Our
Coast. Powell: First Through the Grand Canyon. Stevenson: An Ama-teur
Emigrant. Clemens: The Innocents Abroad. Stefansson: My Life
With the Eskimo. Dana: Two Years Before the Mast. Muir: A Thousand-
Mile Walk to the Gulf. Roosevelt: African Game Trails; Hunting Trips
High Schools of North Carolina 33
of a Ranchman. F. H. Smith: Gondola Days. Roosevelt: Theodore
Roosevelt, An Autobiography. Joseph Jefferson: Autobiography. Gar-land:
A Son of the Middle Border; A Daughter of the Middle Border.
E. Bok: A Dutch Boy Fifty Years After. Richards: Life of Florence
Nightingale. Paine: Life of Mark Twain. Overton: Life of Stevenson.
Bradford: Lee, the American. Froude: C?esar, a Sketch. Abbott: Im-pressions
of Roosevelt. White: Plutarch's Lives. Hubbard: Little Jour-neys
to the Homes of American Statesmen. Bigeloiv: Letters of Ben-jamin
Franklin. Paine: Letters of Mark Twain.
THIRD YEAR
I Fiction
Conrad: Typhoon. Gale: Miss Lula Bett. Ford: Janice Meredith.
Atherton: The Conqueror. Page: Red Rock. Hai-^-ison: V. V.'s Eyes
—
Queed. Coble: Dr. Sevier. W. Black: Judith Shakespeare. Hemon:
Maria Chapdelaine. Locke: The Beloved Vagabond. Hawthorne: The
House of Seven Gables. Dickens: David Copperfield; The Old Curiosity
Shop. Rinehart : An Amazing Interlude. Kipling: The Light That
Failed. Barrie: Sentimental Tommy. Parker: The Right of Way.
Stevenson: The Master of Ballantrae. Gather: My Antonia. Jeivett:
The Country of the Pointed Firs. Ford: The Honorable Peter Stirling.
Tarkington: Alice Adams; The Turmoil. Dickens: Pickwick Papers.
Bennett: Helen With the High Hand. Thackeray: The Newcomers.
Bronti: Jane Eyre. Parker: In the Seats of the Mighty. Stevenson:
St. Ives; Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Barrie: The Little Minister. Wey-man:
A Gentleman of France. Cervantes: Don Quixote. Auccassin and
Nicolette. Goldsmith: The Vicar of Wakefield. Famol: An Amateur
Gentleman.
II Short Stories
Noyes: Walking Shadows. O. Henry: Stories. Maclaren: Beside the
Bonnie Brier Bush. Murfee: In the Tennessee Mountains. Stevenson:
Short Stories. Poe: Tales. Kipling: Stories. Thomas: Atlantic Narra-tives.
S^nith: Short Stories Old and New. O. Henry Prize Stories (for
various years). M. R. Andrews: The Courage of the Commonplace.
Baldwin: American Short Stories. French: The Best Short Stories.
Mikels: Short Stories for High Schools.
Ill Drama
Shakespeare: Richard III; King Henry IV. Goldsmith: She Stoops
to Conquer. Van Dyke: The House of Rimmer. Pinero: Sweet Lavender.
Barker and Houseman: Prunella. Mackaye : Jeanne D'Arc. McCarthy
:
If I Were a King. Tarkington: Intimate Strangers. Zangwill: Merely
Mary Anne. Belasco: The Return of Peter Grimm. Rostand: The
Princess Far-Away. Hauptman: The Sunken Bell. Milne: Mr. Pim
Passes By. Gregory: Irish Folk—History Plays. Yeats: Collected Short
Plays. Synge: Collected Plays. Galsworthy: Six Short Plays. S. Gla-spell:
Plays. Leonard: The Atlantic Book of Modern Plays.
34 Courses of Study
IV Poetry
Goldsmith: The Deserted Village and the Traveler. Masefield: King
Cole. Kipling: Seven Seas. Shakespeare: Sonnets. Gray: Elegy in a
Country Churchyard. Coleridge: Kubla Khan and Christabel. Burns's
Poems in the Golden Treasury. Quille7^-Couch: The Oxford Book of Verse.
Richards: High Tide. Rittenhouse: The Little Book of Modern Verse;
Second Book of Modern Verse. Untermeyer: Modern British Poems;
Modern British and American Poems; Yesterday and Today. Repplier:
Book of Modern Verse. Teasdale: Rainbow Gold.
V Non-Fiction (Essays, Travel, Biography)
Crothers : Among Friends; By the Christmas Tree. Wagner: The
Simple Life. Cabot: What Men Live By. Grayson: Adventures in
Friendship. Mabie: Books and Culture. Stevenson: A Christmas Ser-mon.
Smith: What Can Literature Do For Me? Bacon's Essays (at
least five). Lamb: Essays of Elia (at least five). Macaulay : Essay
on Addison. Van Dyke. The Open Sea. Palmer: Why Go to College?
Canfield: Letters to Young Men. Center: The Worker and His Work.
Roosevelt: The Winning of the West. Kipling: Letters of Travel. Stev-enson:
An Inland Voyage. Custer: Boots and Saddles. Rollins: The
Cowboy. Parkman: The Oregon Trail. Hudson: Far Away and Long
Ago. Mary Antin: The Promised Land. Bernhardt: Memories of My
Life. Southern: The Melancholy Tale of Me. Shaw: Story of a Pioneer.
Helen Keller: The Story of My Life. Howells: A Boy's Town. Bagley
:
The Old Virginia Gentleman. Carpenter : Joan of Arc. Barrie: Mar-garet
Ogilvy. Hoivells: My Mark Twain. Ida Tarbell: Life of Lincoln.
Ainger: Letters of Charles Lamb. Lanier: Letters of Sidney Lanier.
Bishop: Letters of Roosevelt to His Children. Greenlaw: Familiar
Letters.
FOURTH YEAR
I Fiction
Conrad: Children of the Sea. Walpole: Fortitude. Wharton: The
House of Mirth. Ervine : Changing Winds. McFee: Command. Eliot:
Adam Bede; The Mill on the Floss; Romola. Hawthorne: The Scarlet
Letter. Dickens: Great Expectations; Bleak House; Little Dorrit; Dom-bey
and Son. Canfield: The Bent Twig; Rough-hewn. Deland: The Iron
Woman; The Awakening of Helena Ritchie. Gather: One of Ours.
Hugo: Toilers of the Sea. Austen: Pride and Prejudice; Sense and
Sensibility. Howells: The Rise of Silas Lapham. Churchill: The Inside
of the Cup. S. Leivis: Babbitt; Main Street. Morley : Where the Blue
Begins. De Morgan: Alice for Short. Thackeray : Vanity Fair; Henry
Esmond. Walpole: The Green Mirror. Leavitt: Stories and Poems from
the Old North State. Blackmore : Lorna Doone. D. Byrne: Messer Marco
Polo. Scott: Kenilworth. Reade: The Cloister and the Hearth. M. John-ston:
The Long Roll. C Kinglsey: Westward Ho! M. Johnston: Cease
Firing. Ci'aik: John Halifax, Gentleman. Poole: The Harbor. Hugo:
Les Miserables. Seinkiewicz: Quo Vadis. Burney: Evelina. Sabatini:
Captain Blood; Carolinian.
High Schools of North Carolina . 35
II Short Stories
Conrad: A Set of Six; Youth. O. Henry: Stories. Morley: Tales
From a Roll Top Desk. Alice Brown: Meadow-Grass. Zangtvill: Children
of the Ghetto. De Maupassant: The Odd Number. R. L. Stevenson:
Short Stories. Poe: Tales. Cody: The World's Greatest Stories. Hey-drick:
Types of the Short Story. Hotvells: Great Modern American
Stories. O'Brien: The Best Short Stories (various years). O. Henry:
Prize Stories (various years). Thomas: Atlantic Narratives.
III Drama
Shakespeare: The Tempest; Othello; Hamlet; King Lear. Sheridan:
The Rivals. Browning: Pippa Passes. Noyes: Sherwood. Kennedy: The
Servant in the House. Jerome: The Passing of the Third Floor Back.
Wilde: The Importance of Being Earnest. Crothers: He and She. Gals-
IVorthy : Loyalties; The Silver Box, The Pigeon; Moliere : The Imaginary
Invalid. Rostand: Cyrano de Bergerac; L'Aiglon. G. B. Shaiv : Arms
and the man. Barrie: What Every Woman Knows. W. V. Moody: The
Great Divide. Gregory: Irish Folk—History Plays. Dunsany : Five Plays.
Maeterlinck : Collected Short Plays. Yeats: Collected Short Plays. Drink-water:
Abraham Lincoln; Robert E. Lee. Millay : King's Henchman.
Synge: Riders to the Sea; Collected Plays. Barrie: Echoes of the War.
Koch: Carolina Folk Plays (Series 1-4). Dickinson: Wisconsin Plays.
Baker: Plays of Harvard Dramatic Club.
IV Poetry
Auslander: Winged Horse Anthology. Omar Khayyam: The Rubaiyat.
Tennyson: The Princess. Masefield: Story of the Round House. Noyes:
Tales of the Mermaid Tavern. Browning: Selected Short Poems. Gum-mere-
Frost-West: Running Brook. F^-ost: Selected Poems; North of Bos-ton.
Hibbard: The Lyric South. Kipling: Five Nations. Keats: Lamia
—
Eve of St. Agnes; La Belle Dame Sans Merci; Ode on a Grecian Urn.
Shakespeare: Sonnets. Wordsivorth: Poems in the Golden Treasury.
Shelley: Adonais. Quiller-Couch: The Oxford Book of Verse. Richards:
High Tide. Rittenhouse : The Little Book of Modern Verse. Untermeyer:
Modern British Poems; Modern American Poems; Modern British and
American Poems. McNeil: Songs, Merry and Sad.
V Non-Fiction (Essays, Travel, Biography)
Auslander and Hill: The Winged Horse. Crothers: The Gentle Reader;
Humanely Speaking. Eliot: Durable Satisfactions of Life. Erskine: The
Moral Obligation to be Intelligent. Cabot: What Men Live By. Hage-dom:
You Are the Hope of the World. Keller: The World I Live In;
Optimism. Leacock: Essays and Literary Studies. C Morley: Essays.
Grayson: The Friendly Road. Hoivells: Among My Books. Palmer: Self-
Cultivation in English. Smith: What Can Literature Do For Me? Ruskin:
Sesame and Lilies. Holmes: The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table. Emer-son:
Essays (at least five). Macaulay : Essay on Johnson. Morley:
Modern Essays. Thoreau: Cape Cod. Briggs: College Girls; College
Life. Rolland: Musicians of Today. Riis : How the Other Half Lives.
Canfield: Home Fires in France. Steiner: From Alien to Citizen. E. Bok:
36 Courses of Study
The Americanization of Edward Bok. Lindbergh: "We." Becker: Ad-ventures
in Reading. Shuman: How to Judge a Book. Dargan: High-land
Annals. Thomas: The Print of My Remembrance. J. Addams:
Twenty Years at Hull House. Field: Yesterdays With Authors. Palmer:
Alice Freeman Palmer. Balfour: Life of Stevenson. Smith: Biography
of O. Henry. Dyer and Martin: Edison, His Life and Inventions. Colvin:
Letters of Stevenson. Grayson: Adventures in Friendship; Adventures
in Understanding.
Minimum List Suggested by Conference on College Entrance
Requirements in English
FIRST AND SECOND YEARS
Alcott: Little Men. Barrie: Peter and Wendy. Burroughs: Birds
and Bees; Squirrels and Other Fur-Bearers; Curious Homes and Their
Tenants. Bullen: The Cruise of the Cachalot. Brown: Rab and His
Friends. Cooper's Novels (C.E.)*. Lanier: The Boy's King Arthur.
Oliphant: Bob, Son of Battle. Gilder: The Autobiography of a Tom
Boy. Dodge: Hans Brinkler on Skates. Ouida: Dog of Flanders; A
Nuremberg Stove. Rice: Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch. Roosevelt:
Stories of the Great West; His Letters to His Children. Riley: Poems
Here at Home. Thwaites: Daniel Boone. Dickens: Oliver Twist (C.E.)*.
Page: Two Little Confederates. Garland: A Boy's Life on the Prairie.
Peabody : Old Greek Stories. Haaren and Poland: Famous Men of Rome;
Famous Men of the Middle Ages. Kipling: Barrack Room Ballads
(C.E.)*. Macaulay: Lays of Ancient Rome (C.E.)*. Stevenson: Kid-naped
(C.E.)*; David Balfour. White: The Court of Boyville; The
Magic Forest.
THIRD AND FOURTH YEARS
Doyle: The White Company. Kelly: Little Citizens. Kipling: The
Day's Work; The Light That Failed. Byron: The Prisoner of Chillon
(C.E.)*. Bolton: Girls Who Became Famous; Boys Who Became Famous.
Grenfel: Vikings of Today. Parton: Captains of Industry. Noyes:
Sherwood; Diake. Shakespeare: The Merchant of Venice (C.E.)*. Stev-enson:
Travels With a Donkey (C.E.)*; An Inland Voyage (C.E.)*.
Bunyan: Pilgrim's Pi'ogress (C.E.)*. Barrie: The Little Minister.
Kingsley: Westward Ho! (C.E.)*. Weyman: A Gentleman of France;
Under the Red Robe. Clemens: A Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur's
Court; Life on the Mississippi. Masefield: The Story of a Round House;
Salt Water Ballads. McNeill: Lyrics from Cotton Land. Addams:
Twenty Years at Hull House. Scott: Quentin Durward; Kenilworth
(C.E.)*. Page: In Ole Virginia. Jerome: The Passing of the Third
Floor Back. Boswell: Life of Johnson (C.E.)*. Melville: Typee; Moby
Dick. Hugo: Les Miserables. Milton: Paradise Lost, Books I and II
(C.E.)*. Goldsmith: The Deserted Village (C.E.)*. Barrie: Half-Hours.
Rostand: Cyrano de Bergerac. Curtis: Prue and I (C.E.)*. Macaulay:
Essay on Milton (C.E.)*. Allen: The Kentucky Cardinal. Carnegie:
An Autobiography. Parton: Captains of Industry. Muir: Travels in
*NoTE. "C. E." indicates that books so marked may be submitted for college entrance
credit.
High Schools of North Carolina 37
Alaska. Irving: Rip Van Winkle (C.E.)*. Fabre: Bramble Bees and
Others; The Life of the Spider. Keller: The World I Live In. Muir:
The Story of My Boyhood and Life. Thoreau: Walden (C.E.)*. Crane:
The Red Badge of Courage. Dickens: Tale of Two Cities (C.E.)*; Pick-wick
Papers (C.E.)*; David Copperfield (C.E.)*; Nicholas Nickleby
(C.E.)*. Hughes: Tom Brown's School Days (C.E.)*.
General Helps for the English Teacher
Bolenius: The Teaching of Oral Composition (Lippincott).
Diidley: The Study of Literature (Houghton).
Hanford, Fries, and Sleeves: The Teaching of Literature (Silver).
Hilson: Illustrative Materials for High School Literature (H. W.
Wilson).
Leonard: Essential Principles of Teaching Reading and Literature
(Lippincott).
Miller: Creative Learning and Teaching (Scribners).
MorHson: The Practice of Teaching in the Secondary School (Uni-versity
of Chicago Press).
Rickert: New Methods for the Study of Literature (University of
Chicago Press).
Ward: What Is English? (Scott.)
Woodring: The Enriched Teaching of English (Bureau of Publi-cations,
Teachers' College).
THE SOCIAL SCIENCES
OBJECTIVES
The ultimate aim of education is social efficiency. For purposes of
clearness and definiteness, social efficiency has been divided by educators
into several phases as follows:
1. Vital or health efficiency.
2. Civic or citizenship efficiency.
3. Vocational efficiency.
4. Avocational or leisure efficiency.
5. Moral efficiency.
These are the objectives of modern education. The social studies
relate themselves directly to each of the objectives mentioned above and
have as their ultimate aim the social efficiency of the individual. They
are designed to present a body of knowledge, inculcate certain habits or
attitudes, and develop certain appreciations. These may be itemized as
follows
:
1. Present facts which are of use to children (later adults) in
explaining and interpreting conditions of life about them:
a. How these became what they are.
b. How they are controlled and directed.
c. How they may be most useful.
2. Afford contact with the insistent problems of today.
3. Train the pupil to reason from facts and to form conclusions
based on them so as to make meaning or mode of operation
clear.
4. Inculcate the habit of acting on well-reasoned conclusions rind
making correct social responses. —
5. Train in correct habits of study.
6. Aid in fitting the pupil for a wise use of leisure time.
7. Help equip the individual for earning a livelihood.
8. Inculcate patriotism.
9. Provide a foundation for thinking in terms of world events.
METHODS
The Recitation
The methods used should be in so far as possible the topical and
project methods. Practical type projects that the teacher can use and
get ideas from, as to how to organize others, can be found in McMurray,
C. A. "How to Organize the Curriculum," 1924, Macmillan. Valuable
information on the problem method may also be found in Tryon: "The
Teaching of History in Junior and Senior High Schools." Chs. 4 and 5,
Ginn & Co.
It is urged that teachers make a definite written lesson plan for each
day's work embodying the following points:
1. Assignment.
2. Aim
3. Procedure.
4. Results.
High Schools of North Carolina 39
Good results will be obtained when the teacher begins each day's
recitation with a short written quiz on the previous day's work. This
should not consume more than ten minutes of a forty-five minute recita-tion.
The short quiz should be followed by the work or recitation on the
assignment for the day and the period should be closed with a brief
summary of what the assignment has contributed to the general topic
or problem. This plan arouses interest on the part of the pupil and
gives the teacher a definite basis for grading. It gives a feeling of
definiteness and assurance to both pupils and teacher.
The Unit Method
The purpose of the unit method of teaching is to develop in pupils
habits of thoroughness and accuracy by both requiring and providing an
opportunity for them to master the materials which they study. This
gives them a greater degree of understanding than is usually secured
by the conventional daily recitation procedure.
The materials for a course in history should be organized around from
eight to twelve broad units, each of which corresponds to some important
historical movement. These units should represent bodies of worthwhile
information and principles essential to a full comprehension of the course.
The broad units should be further sub-divided into topics necessary for
an understanding of it, and these made the basis for assignment and
study. For each topic there should be a guide sheet containing the fol-lowing
items: An outline which each pupil is required to master; a
list of references bearing on the topic adapted to the different levels of
interest and ability; questions and problems which will aid the pupils in
mastering the topic; and a list of supplementary projects for the
brighter pupils.
The mastery technique, consisting of the five following steps: Ex-ploration,
presentation, assimilation, organization, and recitation is em-ployed
in each unit.
At the beginning of a unit conies the exploration period during which
the teacher questions the pupils before they have made any formal
preparation in order to find out what they already know about the sub-ject.
This period serves the double purpose of giving the teacher a
foundation on which to build and of motivating the work of the unit.
In the presentation step the teacher gives the pupils a short introduc-tory
lecture in which he sketches the whole unit in a bold outline, bring-ing
out the forces which have produced the main theme of the unit, a
running narrative of its development, and finally its historical signifi-cance.
This step is also given without preparation. By testing the
teacher determines whether the pupil has mastered the presentation. If
he passes the test satisfactorily he is allowed to proceed to the next
step, if not the presentation is repeated. The purposes of the presenta-tion
are to prepare him for the intensive study of the unit which follows,
and to further stimulate and arouse interest.
With the assimilative period the intensive study of the unit begins.
For each topic there is a short exploration and presentation, but most
of the time is spent in assimilating the materials bearing on the topic.
During this part the classroom becomes a laboratory with all the refer-ence
books and other materials accessible to the pupils, and the super-
40 Courses of Study
vised study technique is employed. Practically all of the intensive study-ing
should be done in the classroom under the supervision of the teacher.
There is no formal reciting during the assimilation period but by fre-quent
tests and questioning the teacher determines the progress of pupils,
and as soon as each has mastered the minimiim essentials required of all
he is allowed to proceed to the next step.
Without the aid of books, guide sheets or any outside material the
pupil next prepares an organization outline of the topic. This serves
as the final test of whether he has mastered the topic, and if it is
unsatisfactory he makes further preparation and rewrites it. The pupils
who complete this exercise first are allowed to work on the supplemen-tary
projects until the other members of the class have completed.
Finally comes the recitation period in which the pupils are given an
opportunity to present orally the material which they have mastered in
a series of floor talks, discussions, debates and reports.
Upon the completion of all the topics in a broad unit the pupils have
it fully organized and next should have a review recitation in which the
topics are linked together.
Before attempting to teach by the method described above the teacher
should make a thorough study of the entire technique, and be sure that
the necessary equipment is available. The following references will be
helpful: Morrison, H. C, The Practice of Teaching in the Secondary
School; Kelty, Mary G., Teaching American History; The Denver Course
of Study in the Social Studies for Junior and Senior High Schools;
Bailey, Guide Sheets in American History; Wilson, H. E., Laboratory
Manual in American History, and King, A. K., "Teaching History by
Units," The High School Journal, XII, Nos. 3 and 4.
How to Study
In all social study courses definite instruction in how to study should
be given. There are various helps along this line. The following sug-gestions
have been found helpful:
A. 1. Have a definite time and place to study. 2. Study with a note-book
and pencil at hand. 3. Read the lesson assigned for the day in the
textbook including all notes and fine print. 4. List in your notebook all
of the unfamiliar words, allusions or expressions; later look these up.
5. Study the maps available for places mentioned in the assignment,
6. Outline in your notebook the entire assignment putting in sub-divis-ions
to show relations. This may best be done by reading a paragraph
and asking yourself, "How is this paragraph related to the chapter
heading?" 7. Study the text by your outline and then practice telling it
to yourself. Remember that you will be called upon to recite or to let
others know what you know. Therefore the practice of "telling" your
lesson to yourself is most important. 8. If possible consult some text
or reference book other than the one used for class work for additional
information or different methods of presentation.
B. A knowledge of the mechanical features of a book is essential.
Skill in the use of the index, table of contents and other mechanical aids
should be developed.
High Schools of North Carolina 41
Notebooks
Notebook work in history should not be too formal. The notebook
should be kept primarily as an aid for the pupil. In the beginning note
taking may be a cooperative effort between teacher and pupil until
the pupil has learned how to outline. He should be encouraged to jot down
assignments, points to be looked up, outlines, important things to remem-ber,
etc., in his notebook. It should be regarded as an aid for the pupil
and not an object for display in school exhibits. Neatness should be
required, but the painstaking copying of notes has little value.
Current Events
Current events should be studied in connection with all courses in
the social studies. History is in the making now as much as at any time
in the past and the fact should be emphasized. Current event study
is the best means of showing this. Current events should be studied
for themselves too. Valuable papers for this work are suggested in this
outline under "Aids." Pupils should be urged to file for reference their
copies of whatever papers they use.
Term Papers
Term papers are of distinct value in the social studies. In the first
two years short reports given frequently are desirable. In the last two
years a long paper written on some phase of the work of the course is
required by many teachers. Detailed directions for teaching pupils how
to prepare a term paper may be found in Tryon "The Teaching of History
in Junior and Senior High Schools." Ch. 7, Ginn & Co.
Library Work
Teachers of the social studies should make an effort to build up a
labrary of their subject matter and should train their pupils in doing
effective library work. This training should include familiarity with
library indices, card catalogs, atlases, encyclopedias, dictionaries, and
reader's guide. Lists of excellent reference books may be found in most
of the texts.
Suggested references for the selection of books:
"American Library Association Booklist."
"American Library Association Catalogue."
"Standard Catalogue for High School Libraries." Wilson.
"Books for Historical Reading in School." McKinley Publishing Co.
Logasa, H. "Historical Fiction Suitable for Junior and Senior High
Schools." McKinley Publishing Co.
Redman, A. "Classical Catalogue of Text Books in the Social
Studies for Elementary and Secondary Schools." McKinley Publish-ing
Co.
"North Carolina List of Books for High School Libraries."
42 Courses of Study
Use of Reference Books
There are two reasons that justify the use of reference books: First,
to teach the student that in order to get a full and accurate knowledge
of any historical topic it is necessary to get the viewpoint of authors
other than the one who has written the basal text; secondly, to teach
the student how to handle books. To accomplish these results it is neces-sary
for the teacher to be very familiar with the references assigned.
Moreover, he should be very specific in his assignment: the subject to
be looked for should be clearly stated, and the title of the book with
the pages should be indicated. Each member of the class should clearly
understand that the report which is being made is not for the benefit
of the reporter alone but for tbe entire class as well. The whole class
should be held responsible for each report made.
Dramatization
Dramatization may be used when it is believed that the subject under
treatment may be made clear and interesting by its employment. It will
be necessary for the teacher to inform himself thoroughly and give
assistance to the students who are to take part in the play. Such sub-jects
as "Naturalization of Foreigners," "How Our Laws Are Made,"
and "Court Procedure" may become interesting when presented in this
manner.
McPheters, G., Cleveland, G., and Jones, S.—"Citizenship Dramatized,"
Henry Holt & Co., gives excellent suggestions.
Tests and Examinations
One of the outstanding contributions of Educational Psychology in
recent years is the objective method of testing the results of teaching.
Standard tests for nearly every subject have been devised and others are
in the making. Along with these tests have come the new type of tests
and examinations, namely: the true-false statements, sentence completion,
matching, etc.
It is hardly necessary to justify this new style of examinations, but
it is important that it should be used in connection with the teaching
of the Social Sciences. Nevertheless, it is advisable to use the essay
type question in part of the examinations.
The best results can be obtained by mimeographing all questions.
However, it is not at all impracticable to use the new type without the
mimeograph.
It has been suggested elsewhere that many lessons should be begun
with a written review of the last lesson. The new type of questions is
suggested as a quick and satisfactory way in which to conduct these
reviews.
Excellent suggestions for tests will be found in:
Gibbons, A.—"Tests in the Social Studies." Complete bibliography
of standard tests. McKinley Publishing Co., 1929. $1.00.
Johnson, H.—"Teaching of History." Chapter XVI. Macmillan Co.
Stormenz—"American History Teaching and Testing." Macmillan Co.
High Schools of North Carolina 43
community civics and north carolina history
First Year
FIRST SEMESTER
A book i-eview of that excellent biography, The Americanization of
Edward Bok, asks: "Who is the real American, the boy born of a long
line of American parents who counts on this fact alone to give him
privilege in this country, or the boy of foreign parentage, who frankly
accepts this country as a land of opportunity and relies on his initiative
and integrity for success?" Are we the guardians of America merely
because we got here first? Some times we wonder if America, as the
land of opportunity, should not be superseded by America as the land
of responsibility. We wonder not because we want American life to
become a more strenuous life, but because the truest patriotism hopes and
even demands that America not merely accomplish, but that she may
create, and create something that may be lasting and valuable to all,
but that is definitely marked American.
Do our boys and girls grasp the full significance of the American
heritage? Is there distinct American spirit? These questions the
course in Community Civics should answer aflririmatively. It will answer
them affirmatively if the administration of the school can give the pupils
an opportunity to take an active part in their school life. The social
attitude, the American attitude, should, of course, be the special aim for
the teacher of social studies; it should be more—it should be the aim of
the school, it should be the characteristic of American schools—fair play,
tolerance, service and cooperation are ideals to be emphasized and devel-oped
because Community Civics deals with the relation of groups to each
other. It helps the boys and girls to know their community, what it
does for them, and what they may do for it. Community means more
than the village, or town, or neighborhood. It may be a city, a county,
a state, a nation.
Since a place in the social studies has been provided for a study of
vocations, and of the more definite economic problems in Commercial
Geography and problems in democracy, the elements of welfare study
will include: (1) Health, (2) protection of life and property, (3) recre-ation,
(4) education, (5) civic beauty, (6) migration, (7) charities,
(8) correction.
Whatever text may be used certain topics should be studied. These
should be as follows:
1. The home; 2. The school; 3. The church; 4. The community; 5. The
nation; 6. Health; 7. Security; 8. Beauty; 9. Convenience; 10. Comfort;
11. Cooperation; 12. Description of industry; 13. Vocations; 14. Elements
necessary for success in life; 15. Natural resources; 16. Conservation;
17. Labor and capital; 18. Big business; (a) Trust; (b) Cooperation;
19. The relation of government to business; 20. Money and banking;
21. Foreign trade; 22. Needs and forms of government; 23. Government;
(a) Local; (b) State; (c) National; 24. Political parties; 25. Taxation;
26. A citizen's rights and duties.
This subject may be approached froin another standpoint.
The following is a suggestive list of topics which may be adapted to
the use of varying texts:
44 Courses of Study
I. How England began representative government:
A. Review of story of growth of democracy gained in grammar
school, "European Background of American History." In-clude
such topics as:
1. Magna Carta.
2. Bill of Rights.
3. Petition of Right.
4. Revolution of 1688.
5. Reform bill of 1832.
6. Reform bill of 1864.
7. Reform bill of 1884.
8. Reform bill of 1911, 1915.
II. Life today and two hundred years ago:
A. How the Industrial Revolution changed our life:
1. Interdependence:
a. Of one worker on others.
b. Of one city on others.
c. Of one nation on others.
d. Growth of cities.
III. Why we have governments:
A. Needs.
B. Forms.
IV. American ideals in government:
A. Declaration of Independence—ideals—equal rights for all-special
privileges for none:
1. Independence.
B. Civil and religious liberty.
C. Rule of majority.
D. Universal education.
E. Union.
F. Freedom of the seas.
G. Monroe Doctrine.
H. The Open Door.
V. Our National Government:
A. As set up by the Constitution.
B. Political parties and elections:
1. Who is a citizen? Who may become one? How?
2. Who may be a voter?
3. Kinds of ballots.
4. Our parties.
5. Nominations.
6. Campaigns.
7. Elections.
8. Initiative—Referendum—Recall.
C. The President and his Cabinet:
1. The electoral college.
2. Compared with English cabinet.
3. Work of cabinet.
High Schools of North Carolina 45
D. How our laws are made:
1. Congress:
a. Origin.
b. Powers.
2. Committee system.
3. Process of law-making.
E. Our courts:
1. How a court is organized.
2. Kinds.
Up to E the course has been similar in method to the usual class.
The purpose has been to instill and recall American ideals. From here
on the pupil is to be introduced more and more to the scientific social
method of inquiry and suspended judgment, discussion and active partici-pation.
Perhaps there will be some criticism of the delay in taking up
this method of study. The reasons for the plan are:
1. It builds into the pupils former experience.
2. In all judging, understanding and measuring one must have
standards.
Instead of history stories, poems, orations, and immortal documents,
ballots, charts, maps, diagrams, visits, and questionnaires become the
tools. To resume:
F. Taxes:
1. Kinds.
2. Budgets.
3. The tariff.
4. Income taxes.
5. Tax reforms.
G. Interesting features of United States Government:
1. Unwritten laws.
2. Amendments to Constitution.
3. Territories, colonies, protectorates.
4. District of Columbia.
5. Impeachment.
VI. Our state government:
A. Our state and federal governments compared.
B. Our state officers: Names and careers.
C. Our state courts:
1. Follow a civil case proceedings.
2. Follow a criminal case proceedings.
VII. Subdivisions of state:
A. Counties.
B. Towns and townships.
VIII. Cities:
A. Formation.
B. Government:
1. Kinds.
2. Recent reforms.
46 Courses of Study
C. Planning of cities.
D. Water supply.
E. Lighting.
F. Cleaning.
G. Civic beauty.
H. Safety.
The next topics take up our greatest civic problems. Special attention
in the following should be given to development of responsibility, and
good judgment in exercise of that responsibility.
IX. Health:
A. Importance.
B. Why we must work together to secure it:
1. Health work in Panama.
2. Health work in Cuba.
3. Health work in Philippines.
4. Agencies. (See page 22, Bulletin 23, U. S. Bureau of
Education.)
C. Improvement in homes:
1. Slums.
2. Home-owning.
X. Thrift.
XI. Protection of life and property
:
1. Discussion of accidents, fires, floods, injuries.
2. Agencies. (See page 25, Bulletin 23, U. S. Bureau of
Education.)
XII.
XIII.
Rec
A.
reation
:
Necessity.
B. Provisions for.
C. Playgrounds.
D. Parks
1. National.
2. City.
E. Libraries.
F. Athletics
:
1. Amateur.
2. Professional.
G. Clubs.
H. Theaters.
I. Museums and art galleries.
J. American life as a game.
K. Summer camps.
L. Forms.
Education:
A. Purpose.
B. How it tries to fill purpose.
C. Public education:
1. Why.
2. Comparison with Europe
D. Importance in a democracy.
High Schools of North Carolina 47
XIV. Immigration and Americanization:
A. Where did we come from?
B. Why do they come?
C. Where do they go?
D. How do they affect our country?
E. Americanization.
F. The yellow man.
G. The Negro.
H. The Indian.
XV. The rural problem:
A. Importance of the country.
B. Unfavorable conditions:
1. How to improve them by:
a. Roads.
b. Schools.
c. Better farming methods.
d. Recreation.
e. Better business methods; cooperative marketing.
XVI. Conservation:
A. Importance.
B. A national problem.
C. Methods.
XVII. Social legislation:
A. Regulation of business.
B. Factory laws.
C. Compulsory school attendance.
XVIII. c orrection
:
A. Development of ideas concerning treatment of offenders through
stages of:
1. Revenge.
2. Punishment.
3. Correction.
4. Prevention.
B. Causes of crime.
C. Treatment of crime.
D. Juvenile courts. .
E. Settlement work.
F. Prohibition.
XIX. Charities
:
A. Causes of dependency.
B. State charities:
1. Poor relief.
2. ,Feeble-minded.
3. Insane.
C. Private charities:
1. United or Associated Charities.
48 CouKSEs OF Study
If the class has done its work well there should at least be begun a
collection of materials, such as laws and ordinances, reports and docu-ments,
maps, specimen forms, plans, models, pictures, charts, graphs.
Exhibits may be held that will focus civic attention.
Type Lesson Plans
A. The Open Door.
B. City governments.
Lesson Plan for three lessons on the Open Door.
Purpose: To give the pupils an idea of America's interest in the
Orient and of the principles that guide her.
Assignment
I. Philippines
:
Problem: What kind of Nation did we prove ourselves to be in the
Spanish-American War, and what follows?
A. Why did we become interested in the Philippines?
B. How did we secure control of them?
C. What kind of islands are they; situation, industries, people?
D. What is our policy toward the Philippines?
Special Topics (Three minutes. Speak from notes) : The Maine; The
Rough Riders; Dewey at Manila; Battle of Santiago; Aguinaldo; Govern-ment
of the Philippines under Wm. H. Taft.
II. China and the Open Door. (Two lessons.)
Problem: Why is China an opportunity and a problem?
A. Why did interest in the Philippines lead to interest in China?
B. Why is America interested in foreign trade? What opportunity
does China offer?
C. Describe China's early greatness, her decline. Explain.
D. Describe China.
1. Country.
2. Minerals.
3. People.
4. Government.
E. What are spheres of influence? Who has them in China?
Where?
F. Why did John Hay promulgate an Open Door policy?
What are the two principles of that policy?
G. Is it an American policy?
H. Was the Open Door policy put into operation during and after
the World War? During the Washington Conference?
On an outline map of the world color China one color and the Philip-pines
another.
Procedure
I. Review the traditional foreign policy of America and find why this
seeming violation occurred in the Spanish-American War. Stress the
contradictions of the American policy that Spain in her conduct toward
her colonies showed. Bring out our developing commercial interests. Next
take up the special topics. Ask the class what imperialism is. Take up
High Schools of North Carolina 49
the last special topic. From this topic and the information the pupils
have secured, discuss why America has not given up the Philippines.
Bring out (1) Question of ability of Philippines to govern themselves;
(2) Importance of their trade; (3) Strategic position in Far East.
II. With the maps on the desk ask the children to locate Russia and
Japan and the possessions of England and France. Next, take up the
questions in I in order. End the lesson with a general discussion of the
problem: "Why is China an opportunity and a problem?"
RefeTences
Philippines: World Book, Volume 6, pp. 4630-4638; New International
Encyclopedia; Muzzey, An American History, pp. 451-462; West, History
of American People, pp. 633-640; Beard and Bagley, History of American
People, pp. 543-551 ; Burnham, Making of Our Country, pp. 551-563.
China and the Open Door: World Book; International Encyclopedia;
Beard and Bagley, pp. 551-554; Muzzey, p. 563; West, pp. 640-644;
Burnham, pp. 563-565; Poe, Where Half the World is Waking Up, pp. 78-
93, 132-153; Recent History of United States, pp. 283-285; Little Journeys
Into China; Literary Digest, Special China number.
Lessons on City Government
Purpose: To compare the three forms of city government as to
efficiency.
Assignment—First Lesson
A. What seems to you to be the best plan for city government?
B. What does our town use?
C. Bring in three diagrams showing:
1. Common plan of city government.
2. Commission plan.
3. City manager.
Be able to tell how each is developed. How did the misfortune of
Galveston and Dayton help bring about better city government?
Assignment—Second Lesson
Debate: Resolved, That the city manager plan of city government is
better than the commission plan. (Have a town speaker as one of the
judges. Arrange with him to speak on: "The Government of Our Town."
Be careful to select a man who will speak impartially.)
Note. Valuable suggestions for lesson plans can be secured from the
United States Bureau of Education and from the introduction in Dunn's
"The Community and the Citizen."
References
For the Pupil: Hughes, Comfnunity Civics, pp. 261-267; Woodburn
and Moran, The Citizen and the Republic; Zueblin, Municipal Progress,
pp. 376-394; Nida, City, State and Nation, pp. 190-209; Ames and Eldred,
Community Civics, pp. 255-264; Beard and Bagley, American Citizenship,
pp. 130-138; Dennis, Community and Citizen, pp. 229-240.
For the Teacher: United States Bureau of Education: (1) Tigert,
Teaching of Civics, (2) Teaching of Community Civics, bulletin 23; Hill,
50 Courses of Study
Teaching of Civics; Civic Educational Series, 1, 2, 4, 8; Kendall and My-rick,
How to Teach Fundamental Subjects.
For the Pupil and Teacher: Parsons, Fair Play; Woodburn and Mo-ran,
The Citizen and the Reinihlic; Dunn, Community and the Citizens;
Hughes, Commercial Civics; McCarthy, Swan, McMullin, An Elementary
Civics; Zueblin, WluniciiJal Progress; Turkington, My Country.
Other material: Magazines
—
The Survey, 105 E. 22nd Street, New-
York, $2.00. Literary Digest, 354 4th Avenue, New York, $3.00. The
American City, 87 Nassau Street, New York, $2.00. Local Newspapers—
•
State Year Books.
Maps: Especially state and local (pupils enjoy making maps of their
town or city, or country)
,
Pictures and lantern slides, charts and graphs.
Specimen forms, license receipts, petitions, ballots, naturalization
papers.
Laws and ordinances.
Visits: A visit to a civil court and the jail will produce much valuable
discussion.
SECOND SEMESTER
The last eighteen weeks, or the second term of the work for the
eighth grade may be given to Vocational Civics—a new and very im-portant
study for high schools. It is possible to give vocational instruc-tion
and guidance in connection with the other subjects of study in the
curriculum. English especially lends itself to this arrangement. Some
schools, most notable of which is Grand Rapids, Michigan, follow this
plan. Notwithstanding the success of this plan in Grand Rapids, there
is still a great need for definite vocational civics. It should not be
subordinated to any other subject in the curriculum because it fills an
evident need.
The purpose of Vocational Civics is two-fold:
1. To give an understanding of the fundamental structure of our eco-nomic
life and develop valuable civic and social ideals, such as fair play,
team spirit, fraternity, sympathy and liberty.
2. To give information concerning the vocations of the United States
and the immediate community that will help pupils to become happy
workers in the world.
In our never-ending attempt to so shape our schools that they meet
the needs of our democracy we are coming to a realization of the part
vocation plays in life. Especially during the Junior High School period
is the desire a growing one, with infinite possibilities for good, and just
as infinite possibilities for folly, because if the school does not fulfill
this need, the boys and the girls will appropriate other things to fill it.
Public education, "a deliberate attempt on the part of the State to mold
human beings," to take each his own place in the democracy, is begin-ning
to realize that the composite effect of vocation and fitness in vocation
is tremendous. And yet most of our pupils go out of our schools with
an appalling lack of conception of our economic life, the phase of life in
which we Americans can truly claim distinction, a phase of life that is
vital to every one, and that claims the best energies of our lives. For
High Schools of North Carolina 51
the happiness of the worker, for the soundness of democracy, vocational
inspiration and guidance is necessary.
We must remember that a decision for a vocation is vital and gen-erally
progressive. For example, one boy has already passed through
the circus, the policeman and the street car conductor steps m his choice
of a vocation and is now very much interested in the pitcher! The pur-pose
of the course in vocational civics is not to decide on a vocation for
every pupil. The greatest danger in the vocational guidance movement
is that it may become paternalistic and hasty. Let the emphasis be put
on the last word in the term vocational guidance. Let the last decision
be the pupil's when it comes. .
Teeter Verl—"A Syllabus on Vocational Guidance (Macmillan), is a
valuable kid in the study of vocations. It contains excellent outlines,
suggestion and bibliographies.
There are very good textbooks that enable us to realize our second
purpose in giving the course, such as Giles's Vocational Civics, and Gowm
and Wheatley Occupations. There has not come to our notice any single
text that will enable us to accomplish both purposes. The following may
be used:
Leavitt and Brown's Elementary Social Science.
Macmillan's or Adams's Description of Industry.
Henry Holt's and Giles's Vocational Civics.
Wherever possible each pupil should buy both, but it may be more
practicable to require the pupils to buy one or the other of the two, and
buy several copies of the other, say, one-fourth as many as there are
pupils and put them in the library or on a shelf in the room with other
references and material. Diagrams, charts, scrap-books, and visits to
study local industries help here.
The following are suggestive lists of topics. They may be used vari-ously
If the pupils buy Giles's Vocational Civics, topics under I will be
especially valuable. If they buy Leavitt and Brown's Elementary Social
Science, II will be helpful in guiding the later work.
A. What work is and why we work.
B. How the industrial revolution changed our business life.
C. Factors of production.
D. Money.
E. Credit.
F. Distribution.
G
.
Unemployment
:
1. Causes.
2. Significance.
3. How to get a job.
H. Government and industry.
I. Industries that have been and are very important in the United
States
:
1. Agriculture:
a. In the Colonial period.
b. The new agriculture.
52 Courses of Study
2. Shipbuilding:
a. Early conditions favorable to shipbuilding.
b. Our commerce today:
a. Our merchant marine.
h. Promising field for our commerce; South Amei--
ica; The Orient.
3. Manufacturing
:
a. Growth.
4. Transportation
a. Part in development of our country.
b. Our railroads.
c. Our water transportation.
5. Meat industries:
a. Extent.
b. How carried on.
c. Our great meat-packing industries.
6. Mining
:
a. Extent of our minerals.
b. Coal mining.
c. Our oil fields:
a. Standard Oil Company.
7. Banking
:
a. Services.
b. Bank and the farmer.
8. New occupations.
It will be well to end the course with a study of the local occupations.
This will give an excellent opportunity for a concrete expression in pupil
activity that ought to clinch the thing for the pupil. It might take the
form of a booklet on the town's industries, with pictures, etc., statistics
and information. It might be an exhibit. It might take the form