I. The county as a unit of study in the schools of Illinois. II. Department of geografy and the state course of study

Front matter

THE NORMAL SGHOOL QUARTERLY

Series 11 April, 1913 Nnmber 47

SUPPLEMENT No. 1

Introduction

A thoro-going systematic treatment of the home locality from the standpoint of its geografy, history, and civics gives information of great interest and value to all who pursue such study whether child or adul t. A' correct understanding of the immediate environment is the surest guarantee that more distant regions will be interpreted in definit, concrete mental images full of life and activity. It will enable the student constantly to draw upon known conditions to interpret and explain the new conditions of other regions. A treatment of the home county is required by the State Course of Study in fifth year, first month, and such study may be made very profitable.

In geografy the natural features and industries of the immediate neighborhood of the school furnish excellent material for first-hand study and should be fully utilized in home geografy, and frequently drawn upon to make definit comparisons in intermediate and grammar grades.

In history and civics foundation for concrete thinking may be laid by a brief study of the exploration, settlement, development, and present governmental machinery of the home locality.

While there is general agreement that basic work must be done in our schools by means of a study of the home locality, it is not so clear as to what shall be the geografic extent of such study. Geografically the home locality is a part of the great natural region known as the Gulf Slope, or the Mississippi Basin; or it may be a part of the Illinois River Basin, or the Glacial Plains. These units, however, are too large for special consideration in the beginnings of the study of the home region.

Politically, the home locality is a part of the United States, the State of Illinois, the county, the township, the school district. The immediate environment of the school bilding should receiv careful study regardless of the artificial boundaries imposed by political action. However, the pupil has some first-hand knowledge of places and events beyond his immediate home region gaind by travel, by association with his elders, or by reading the local newspaper. The school district geografically and politically should be

l made familiar thru school exercises. Beyond this the township is too vague and unimportant a unit to be given more than the briefest treatment.

An Illinois county is a unit of large significance. It is an important unit in the congressional district, and in the senatorial district. It has numerous important offises to which prominent citizens strive for election. One of its offisers, the county superintendent, comes into direct contact with all the school children. Other county offisers are frequently brought to the attention of the boys and girls in school or at home. In most regions there is developt a strong county consciousness. If strangers meet at state gatherings, they usually locate themselvs by naming their county. The county seat is the center at which taxes are paid, teachers’ examinations past, county institutes held, hunters’ licenses purchast, marriage certificates secured.

The county soil reports of the Agricultural Experiment Station show the influence of the county unit in scientific agriculture. The recent issue of county topografic maps by the United States Geological Survey indicates the same trend-

Geografically, county boundaries may be natural features as Lake Michigan, the Mississippi, Ohio, Wabash, Illinois, and smaller rivers. More often these boundaries are purely artificial straight lines crossing level country. However, each county of Illinois is large enough to afford illustration of a large number of geografical features on a scale worthy of serious study. Some of these are streams, valleys, basins, divides, hills, ridges, moraines, plains, and many associated features. Culture features are represented by roads, railroads, villages, and cities. Industries are found in local stores, factories, mines, and quarries.

An understanding of these local features enables the pupil to think such topics more correctly and vividly with respect to distant regions. He will be greatly aided in seeing actual relationships between the books he reads and the real things about him. In any study of the features of the county, it should be made clear that these forms extend beyond the limits of the county in many or even most instances. If the county borders the Illinois river or is crost by it, the river should be studied thruout its entire length. The glacial drift of the county Should be associated with that' of the state and beyond. Railroads should be traced to their termini. Large cities outside but near the county should be studied in relation to the home county. By such study the county may be shown to be but a small area in the larger physiografic and industrial region of which it forms a part.

If the pupils appreciate the fact that the land on which they have their homes was occupied by Indians less than a century ago, and that discovery, exploration, and settlement have taken place during the last hundred years in their own county; if they are taught some of the interesting and instructiv facts of the history of their immediate home, they will have some basis of understanding more concretely the great movements in national and world history which are exactly the same as those of the home county on a larger scale.

If children are taught Ihe political facts immediately associated with their school district, with the government of the village, city, township, and county, they will more redily interpret in definit mental images the civic organization of state and nation.

HOW MAY THE COUNTY BE USED AS A UNIT FOR SYSTEMATIC STUDY?

If the foregoing presents sufficient reason fora study of the county these questions naturally arise : How can the teacher obtain the necessary information for such study? Shall the teachers of the county endevor to do the same work, or shall each be left to his own resources? What shall be the county superintendent’s part in procuring material and giving direction to its effectiv use in connection with the regular course of study?

It seems evident that the study must be developt by the efforts of those who are working in the schools of the county. If done by an outsider, the work immediately loses its local flavor. The work must be directed by someone who is intimately acquainted with the county unit as to its natural resources, its industries, its social life, the history of various localities, the possibilities of the community life within the county, and the best and highest aspirations of its people.

No other person in the county has so fine an opportunity to know the county from every standpoint, and to influence social and community development within the county as has the county superintendent. If he sets before himself the task of using his county as a unit of study in his schools, so as to bring to every pupil a correct and adequate understanding of the home locality in its relation to the great wide world, he will have a splendid work to perform.

If the county superintendent has a literary turn of mind, he can prepare the necessary suggestions and descriptiv matter as a means of recreation. If he has a strong executiv bent, he can secure the cooporation and assistance of the very best teachers of his county in organizing and preparing the material for the use of the teachers of the county. Articles printed in the monthly school paper of the county, or the county newspaper, to be combined later into a pamflet, offer a means of putting interesting and instructiv material before the teachers, pupils, and the general public.

SOME GEOGRAFIC RELATIONSHIPS AS FOUND IN ILLINOIS COUNTIES

The home geografy as outlined in the State Course of Study demands close inspection of the immediate home locality. This offers an opportunity to relate the home region to other regions in the county and beyond. The transportation lines within the county, the location of the cities and villages of the county, and the industries of the county, in country, village, and city, are all topics that may be studied concretely, and that find wide application thruout the state, nation, and world. A few of these relationships will be mentiond from the viewpoint of the county as a unit of study.

/. The stream valley and the work of running water. — The bildings of the Illinois State Normal University stand on a low ridge crossing the northern part of the campus. Rain falling south of the bildings is carried in one direction, that falling to the north drains in an opposite direction. Thus we have divides, slopes, and valleys. The valley to the south leads into a larger valley which may be followed to its junction with a larger valley and a little farther on to a still larger one. Still farther on the stream in this valley develops an excellent series of ox-bow curves. The banks, and at places the bare earth, furnish material for study of erosion in many of its forms. The study may be made within a mile of the school. After making this journey in the field the pupils are eager to trace a drop of water from the campus to Sugar creek, then southwest across McLean county and Logan county to Salt creek, thence thru the Sangamon, Illinois, and Mississippi to the Gulf. This gives point and purpose to the study of the drainage of McLean county, by means of Kickapoo creek at Downs, Salt creek at LeRoy, Mackinaw river at Lexington. The relation of these streams to each other and to their main streams gives a degree of understanding to the study of more distant and larger streams not to be obtaind otherwise. It relates the county also to the regions beyond.

2. A study of the soil. — This topic as outlined in the State Course requires observation and study out of doors. At a gravel pit less than a mile from the Normal school a twelve-foot section of earth is exposed showing the thickness and arrangement of the black loam, silt (sometimes called clay), sand, and gravel. By taking samples of these and experimenting with them in vessels of water, a concrete knowledge of soil materials is obtaind. The application of this to the county would show that black soil on top, with silt underneath, is found thruout the county and over most of the state, especially in central and northern Illinois. The sand and gravel are not usually found beneath the silt so near the surface as in this gravel pit.

3. Transportation lines and the location of cities of the county. — This topic is well illustrated by an article on railroads in the December number of the Woodford County School Bulletin, from which the following is quoted:

“The first railroad to be constructed thru Woodford county was the Illinois Central in 1852. Four towns soon sprang up along this line. Minonk, Panola, ElPaso, and Kappa. The operation of this road servd to open a wide territory that previously was practically unsettled. The broad prairie was soon a scene of activity.

“In 1855-56 the Toledo, Peoria, and Western Railway was constructed, crossing the Illinois Central at ElPaso. Other cities soon sprang up along this road, among these being Eureka, which had previously had its beginning a mile south of the present location of the business portion of the city.

“The construction of this road along its present right of way was a source of disappointment to at least two villages in the county, for Kappa and Panola had hoped to be the points at which the new road would cross the Illinois Central. The crossing at ElPaso gave that city a prestige and advantage that neither of the neighboring villages enjoyd.

“The river traffic merely touches the western boundary of the county. An elevator is located on the edge of the river at Spring Bay. Boats stop at Spring Bay during the season for passengers and also to deliver freight. Before the railroads became so numerous this traffic was of more importance than it is at present.”

Only a portion of this excellent article is quoted above. The article mentions all the railroads of the county and shows how Woodford county is connected by its transportation lines with Chicago, Peoria, St. Louis, New Orleans, and other cities. The facts of this article are interesting and instructiv not only to teachers and pupils but to the general public. This article illustrates many of the principles of geografy. It enables pupils to answer intelligently such questions as these. Why was Woodford county settled slowly before 1850 and rapidly afterwards? Spring Bay was the most promising early settlement in Woodford county; why so small now? Why are Minonk, ElPaso, and Eureka the largest cities of the county? Why has.Versailles, once a thriving village and the first county seat, disappeared entirely?

It is evident that such information is of great educational value, and leads definitly out into the larger fields of geografy. Why not use the material of the immediate locality for developing principles of wide application in geografy just as we use material within immediate reach for developing the multiplication table.

4. Distribution of population. — Population distributes itself according to the opportunities for securing the necessaries of life — food, clothing, shelter, Population is given as so many persons to the square mile. Thus in 1910 5,600,000 persons were living in Illinois on 56,000 square miles, giving an average density of 100 to the square mile; 92,000,000 people live on the 3,000,000 square miles of the United States, giving a density of 31 to the square mile.

Density of population applied to the county takes on a personal interest which makes a good foundation for such study in larger and more distant units. Thus LaSalle county has 90,000 people on 1152 square miles or 78 per square mile. The Illinois valley crosses LaSalle county from east to west near its center, a distance of 30 miles. Along the Illinois is located a number of cities, and villages with numerous industrial plants. In a strip 30 miles long and 2 miles wide, or 60 square miles, the population numbers 36,000. Thus 40% of the population of the county is found on 5% of its ' area. This narrow strip across the county has 600 people to the square mile while the rest of the county has but 50. The valley has attracted the population because of the transportation facilities, coal, cement materials, glass sand, and advantages for various factories.

A study of an area and its people where the factors determining the distribution of population are matters of first-hand knowledge forms the best possible foundation for study and comparison of more distant regions.

A similar study of Lake county shows that a two-mile strip along the lake shore contains two-thirds of the population of the county. Only one village of over 1000 is situated away from the lake shore.

5. Topics common to all counties. — Such topics as the foregoing, and many others, find application in every county of Illinois. The material is at hand. It is vaguely in the conciousness of every citizen and every teacher. It needs only to be organized and made available for school use in order to become one of the most effectiv aids in school work.

Geografy always makes much of the four great industries of the human race — agriculture, manufacture, mining, commerce. No region is understood geografically unless its relation to these four industries is clearly perceivd both from the standpoint of natural resources and man’s activities. The relation of man to the region in which he lives is the key to every geografical study of every region large or small. If the child is taught to use his own experience and that of the community of which he is a part, in perceiving these simple but fundamental relationships, he has a good fund of organized knowledge as a foundation for the Study and interpretation of more distant regions.

AN OUTLINE FOR THE STUDY OF THE COUNTY

This whole question of county study has taken form in the mind of the writer because of the requests of county superintendents to present at institutes concrete studies in Home Geografy, with application to the teaching in a particular county.

Each county is a separate unit from every other county, but there are necessarily the same fundamental topics which are applicable to all counties. At the request of county superintendents, the following outline has been prepared, and is being used at present for the development of the study in some counties of the state. The outline is offerd as suggestiv only. It may be enlarged, diminisht, or changed to meet the local conditions.

Topical Outline for Study of the Geografy, History, and Civics of a County in Illinois

/. Introduction. — A statement of scope, purpose and use of the work from standpoint of school pupils and the citizens of the county.

//. Location. — A simple statement, but so comprehensiv as to serv as a model of full geografical location.

III. Area and population , — so stated as to cover the usual form of presentation for a geografical area.

IV. Cities and railroads. — 1. Name and give population of all villages, cities, and other settlements, in tabular form, in order of population; date of settlement may be included. Brief description of the location in county.

2. Full names and location within county of all railroads, giving extent of each railroad or railway system represented in county. Show relation to large commercial centers.

V. Climate of Illinois related to the county under consideration.— 1. Give specific directions for study of wether in school, and for one month in each season, indicating how to keep individual records and to make a summary at end of a month’s observation.

2. A clear, simple, but instructiv account of the climate, including winds, rainfall, and temperature. Some tabular reports from county or nearest Wether-Bureau Station will be to the point.

VI. Surface features and natural drainage. — 1. Give specific directions for study of the work of running water applicable to any region of county.

2. Describe the surface of the county so that pupils may come back to it as a model of descriptiv treatment of a geografic area.

3. Describe original distribution of forests and prairies in the county. (See Educational Bulletins of the State Geological Survey, Urbana, 111.)

VII. Soils and artificial drainage. — 1. Give specific directions for study of soils, bring out their formation and some experiment with clay or silt, gravel, and loam.

2. Describe the soil areas of the county (see Agricultural College Bulletin 123), giving characteristics, suitability for crops, value per acre.

3. Describe levees, open ditches, and tiling.

VIII. Farming , or agriculture. — 1. Give directions for study of a well-kept farm of the neighborhood. Make a map of farm showing bildings, fields, and crops. Several maps, one for each of four years will show rotation of crops well.

2. Describe the agriculture of the county showing chief crops, yield per acre, total yield, etc., from government reports; side crops, fruits, truck farming, methods of farming, etc.

3. The work of the Agricultural College, Urbana, 111.; its bulletins and how to get them; value to farmers;, illustrations from county if possible;1 the nearest experimental plots, and their value to the community.

IX. Mining. — 1. General description of the mineral resources — coal, oil, clay, stone, gravel, etc.

2. Definit description of the development of the mineral resources of the county; a model of treatment of the mining industry of a geografical area. Details of local interest may be brought out in a very instructiv way.

X. Manufacturing . — 1. Each industry should be taken up and described from the standpoint of the county.

2. The treatment should be specific, and give sufficient general details to present a picture. The following topics may be suggestiv :

a. Location of factory.

b. Its organization and development — a brief history.

c. The raw materials.

d. The labor.

e. The processes.

XL Commerce and transportation. — 1. Select a country village as a simple type and describe its trade, the articles shipt out, the goods brought in, the facilities for handling, storing, and transporting. Show how larger centers are developt. Bring out relation of trade to transportation.

3. Show clearly the interdependence of groups of people, the necessity of cooperation, the unity of purpose and action necessary to bild up a strong community. Make this topic a model for study of large areas from the standpoint of commercial development.

XII. Summary of geografic factors influencing the present situation of the county.

XIII. A simple , brief history of the county , — involving only vital facts that citizens of the county would profit by knowing. It should cover important events so concisely that the school child can lern them and remember them.

1. The county before the white man’s coming.

2. Early settlements.

3. Development of county.

4. County seats.

XI V. Local civics. — Here is an opportunity to do concrete work in civics by a study of the local units from the school district up to the county. The treatment should be clear, simple, but sufficiently comprehensiv to interest pupils in the importance and necessity of local government. These topics may be treated —

1. The school district: offisers, — how elected, number, duties, term. Who are they now? Do you know them?

2. The township : ollisers, — how elected, number, duties, name present offisers.

3. The town (civil township) : oflisers, — same topics as under 2.

4. Village or city offisers.

5. County offisers.

6. Relation of local government to state government.

WORK NOW IN PROGRESS IN ILLINOIS COUNTIES

At the present writing five articles on the county have appeard in the Woodford County School Bulletin. The series is to be continued during the present school year. Prior to the opening of school in September the completed work is to be publish! in pamflet or book form for use in the schools during the next school year.

In Lake county, a committee has been organized, various topics assignd to the teachers best fitted to treat them, and some material is now in typewritten form.

In LaSalle county several articles have been prepared on various industries and manufacturing centers of the county. These will find place in a systematic treatment of the county.

In Lake county the following list of topics was prepared by the county superintendent and offerd at the end of the day’s program of a county institute to beginning teachers. Experienst teachers were not required to attend the lessons. The county superintendent led in the discussions. He believd that teachers should know local governmental plans, and be able to present them as a part of the work in civics. The discussions were applied specifically to that particular county.

The interest in local matters was evidenst by the fact that almost every teacher, beginner and experienst, remaind for all the lessons. That such instruction was appropriate and timely was indicated by the fact that much of this local information was new to many, even to some of the older teachers.

Survey system : base-line, principal meridian, correction lines, townships, sections, fractions of sections, school sections.

Township offisers: duties, election of.

School districts : how establish! ; offisers of, how elected, duties ; boundaries, how changed.

Money for support of schools : how raised, how kept.

Town government: boundaries of towns, how changed.

Offisers of the towm: how elected, term; town meeting; supervisor, duties, — in the town, at the county seat ;■ clerk, duties; assessor, duties; collector, duties; road commissioners, duties ; justis of the peace, duties ; constables, duties.

Village and city governments.

County government : oflisers.

RECOMMENDATION OF THE HIGH-SCHOOL CONFERENCE

At a meeting of the Geografy Section of the High-School Conference which met at the University of Illinois in November, 1912, it was recommended thatfhigh-school geografy teachers of the state be encouraged to make special study of the geografy of local regions, and to prepare reports which might be publisht and used in the elementary and high schools of the state. It is hoped that this bulletin may be the means of stimulating teachers bothgmdiigh schools and elementary schools to undertake suchjlocal studies. The county may be made the unit unless some other area or region is better adapted to the study contemplated.

The writer of this bulletin wTill be pleased to communicate with county superintendents, city superintendents, high-school teachers, and others who may contemplate such work as is outlined in these pages.

DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAFY AND THE STATE COURSE OF STUDY

The study of the county, as outlined in the foregoing pages, is especially applicable to the State Course of Study for fifth year, first month. It also finds a place in connection with the history of Illinois.

The department of geografy in common with other departments of the Illinois State Normal University, adapts some of its various courses to the special needs of teachers who are to use the State Course of Study as an outline of work. A statement of some of the specific ways in which the courses in geografy aid in carrying out the state course seems appropriate in these pages.

SUMMER SCHOOL COURSES FOR 1913

During the first summer term, June 9 to July 18, seven courses are offerd, all of which bear directly upon some special phase of the State Course of Study. During the second summer term two courses are offerd. These are described on pp. 18 and 19 of the Summer School Announcement, which will be sent on request.

Course 41 , Method in Geografy' , — is pland to give a view of the course of study in geografy from fourth to eighth year inclusiv. A thoro examination of the course of study, the subject-matter by years, and the relation of each year to other years, give the teacher a helpful view of the entire subj ect. The study of a school textbook, field lessons, observational records, and wide readings in the library bring out the scope of the geografy work with methods of developing the various topics with pupils.

Such a comprehensiv consideration of the course of study is of special value to the country teachers who present to their various classes the entire course in geografy. Other courses in the summer school deal with somewhat narrower fields.

Course 43, Home Geografy , — deals specifically with fourth-year geografy as outlined in the State Course of Study. Teachers always agree that the fourth-year geografy work is the .most difficult year’s work to teach. This is true because so much of the work is based on making and recording observations, and interpreting them correctly. Fourth-year geografy is a rich field for teacher and pupil alike. It is delt with in this course in such a way that teachers taking the course should find fourth-year geografy one of their strongest lines of teaching next year. The course is especially helpful to all teachers of home geografy whether they follow the state course, or any other course of study.

Course 44, Intermediate Geografy, — is adapted to the needs of teachers who have classes in both fourth- and fifth-year geografy. It will deal with fourth-year work more briefly than course 43, and will also cover the ground of fifth-year geografy . Teachers find difficulty in getting material for the study of fifth year, first month. Sources for such work will be studied. The base map, or outline map, so frequently referd to thruout the course of study, will be used in ways appropriate for fourth- and fifth-year work.

Course 46, Geografy of North America , — will treat quite at length all of the topics found in sixth-year geografy. In the new course of study the full sixth year is given to a study of the home continent. This course deals with North America in such a way that the work may be redily adapted to classes. It will also point out methods of study and presentation applicable to other continents, and thus open the entire field of sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-year geografy.

Where the plan of alternation is followd, eighth-year work will be taught next year. For this reason the summer school does not offer special courses covering seventh-year work. However, the courses in commercial geografy, and mathematical geografy will aid much in the seventh-year geografy.

Course 45, Mathematical Geografy , and course 47, Geografy of the Minor Continents, — offer very complete courses covering the eighth-year work of the State Course of Study.

The mathematical geografy will deal not only with the astronomical phases of geografy, but the facts of mathematical geografy will be applied to the geografical study and interpretation of regions. It will thus be made to serv in the study of each of the continents as a whole.

The topics of the eighth year, first month, of the state course will be fully developt, and the range of this course will be much beyond the brief outline of the state course. Teachers of experience who wish to study with some intensity this phase of geografy will find this course helpful.

Geografy and the State Course of Study 15

The course dealing with the Geografy of Minor Continents is offerd for the first time with the express purpose of presenting the field of geografy as outlined in the eighth year of the course of study. The term, Minor Continents, is used to designate Asia, Africa, Australia, and South America.

This course will deal with subject-matter and method appropriate to the eighth-year work. It will include the study and use of textbooks, reference books, museum materials, and pictures most helpful in getting a teacher’s working knowledge of these continents for effectiv presentation to eighth-year pupils.