The textbook; how to use and judge it

Front matter

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THE TEXTBOOK

Preface

In presenting this discussion on the Textbook to the school public I confess to a considerable amount of fear and trembling, not unlike that of the pioneer who penetrates the dark unknown wilderness, or of him who manipulates his acids and compounds in the search for some chemical truth. I have sought in vain for any treatment of this subject in book form. After wrestling with the problem for many months I have grounds to suspect the reasons for no earlier attempt having been made to organize the various aspects of this subject into some sort of unified study.

I shall anticipate the critic's attack by saying that I know, perhaps better than he, the limitations of my effort. My real purpose in offering the book to school administrators and teachers is to arouse, if possible, someone among them to construct a volume on the textbook that will be more adequate than my own attempt. Graduate students will find many fascinating problems in this field. Every teacher who shares the responsibility of selecting texts must feel the thrill of exploration in this almost untouched department of instruction. There are, to be sure, many studies on the textbook being made by committees assigned the difficult task of recommending suitable school books in the various subjects ; but many of these lie undiscovered in the offices of school superintendents, and have not been made available beyond the school system immediately concerned in their use.

vii viii Preface

In this book I have sought to analyze as simply and comprehensively as possible the reasons for the prominence of the textbook in American education. The history of the textbook is one of those uncultivated fields of research that awaits the magic touch of deep scholarship. Administrative considerations of the textbook are so closely allied with some of the most delicate situations in the management of public education, that I have found it difficult to do justice to some of the moot questions involved in this aspect of the subject. The experienced school official will be able to read more between the lines than in the type itself. The textbook as a tool, as a source of knowledge, as an interpretation of truth, as a guide, and as a means of inspiring in the pupil a will to learn links up very closely with my view of education as a means of training the pupil to study. I do not minimize any of the great movements that now occupy the attention of educational leaders. The problems of education are so immense and so numerous that they must be viewed from several angles. One of these points of view is supervised study or the provision in each class period for a certain amount of training in how to study. Skill in handling the textbook is just as important as skill in handling the tools in manual training or household arts. It is not the only tool for the mastery of the abstract subjects. There are others equally important, but in this volume I have confined my efforts to the textbook.

It is with the hope that school administrators and teachers will find in the following pages some few suggestions pointing the way to a larger study of this whole subject that I venture to offer these pages for their perusal and criticism. The material grows out of a course of lectures that I had the privilege of delivering before the Teachers Association of Rochester,

Preface ix

New York. What I then said regarding the textbook seemed to meet with a response so cordial that I have thought other teachers might find in such a discussion points of contact with problems of their own.

I am greatly indebted to my colleagues, Miss Frances Jenkins and Dr. Cyrus D. Mead, for permission to use some of the material that they helped to evolve. The members of my Seminar on Secondary Education have rendered willing and efficient service, and to them I express sincere acknowledgments. To Dean W. P. Burris of College for Teachers of University of Cincinnati, I am grateful for a critical reading of most of the manuscript. For whatever there may be in the volume that has merit I am indebted to the many whose names are scattered throughout the pages that follow. The sins of commission and omission are my own.

A. L. H.

University of Cincinnati, January 4, 1918.

Chapter I Page

The Textbook — Its Place in Modern Education . . . . i The Textbook as a Problem for Investigation ; a suggested course on the textbook. Why is the Textbook so Prominent? The Inadequacy of the Textbook ; the objections considered. Why Textbooks Exist; i. They are a compact arrangement of educational material. 2. They serve as ready reference books later in life. 3. They provide for a uniform education throughout the country. 4. They make possible an orderly pursuit of the course. 5. They are a definite help to correct studying. 6. They supply directions for applying the subject. 7. They record subject development. 8. They help to determine the various levels of school systems and the progress of the pupils. Summary. Questions and Problems. References.

Chapter II

The Need for a History of the Textbook. Medieval Textbooks. The Renaissance Textbooks. Textbooks in Colonial America; only a few books available; the religious character of early American schools and texts. Early Spelling Books; contents of early spellers. Grammars, Arithmetics; characteristics of early arithmetics. Algebra. Geography. Languages. History. General Criticism of Early American Schoolbooks. The Rapid Increase of Textbooks. Summary. Questions and Problems. References.

CHAPTER III The Textbook — Its Meaning and Methods of Supply . . 43

The Textbook Denned. Kinds of Textbooks; Magazines, General literature: classification on the basis of style. The Free

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Textbook ; general distribution of free texts. The Advantages of Free Textbooks. The Disadvantages of the Free Textbook. Uniform Textbooks ; arguments for and against uniformity. The Cost of Textbooks ; cost of making textbooks : cost of textbooks to the citizen: convenient method of introducing free texts. State Publication of Textbooks. Summary. Questions and Problems. References.

CHAPTER IV The Selection and Judging of Textbooks 73

Selection of Textbooks, the Business of Experts. The Bookman a Valuable Servant of Education. Methods of Adoption. When Textbooks Should Be Adopted. How Texts Begin To Be Written. The Selection of Textbooks. Standards of Judging Textbooks in Cincinnati ; Illustrations of Some Principles in Textbook Making. History: vocational mathematics : civic biology. Other Standards for Judging Textbooks; Specific Standards for Arithmetic Texts. The Forsythe Plan ; Cincinnati Standards in Arithmetic. Klapper's Standards in Arithmetic. Smith's Standards. Geometry. Illustrations of Modern Texts in Arithmetic. Texts in General Mathematics. Qualities of Textbook in Chemistry and Physics. Geography Standards in Cincinnati Standards for Readers. Standards in Spelling and Language. Phcenixville, Pa., Cincinnati. Suggestive Standards for History Texts. Textbooks in Foreign Language. Various Standards Summarized. Summary. Questions and Problems. References.

Chapter V

The Importance of Knowing One's Tools. Aids to Study in Textbooks. I. Suggestions by the Author. The Syllabus;

The syllabus preceding the chapter; illustrations ; The summary or syllabus that follows the chapter; illustrations. Questions and Problems following each chapter; illustrations. Summaries throughout the chapter and at its close ; illustrations of intra-textual summaries. References for additional reading. Illustrations ; examples of textbook illustrations in history, language, science; Maps; Diagrams. Summary. II. Suggestions by

Table of Contents xiii

the Teacher. Evaluated Assignments. Explanation and Interpretation. The Open Book. Summary. III. Reactions by the Pupils. Underscoring ; Notations on inserted pages, fly leaves. " Cross References." Summaries. The Care of the Book. Summary. Questions and Problems. References.

CHAPTER VI The Textbook as a Guide j^j

The Functions of the Textbook as a Guide. A Guide to Reference Reading. The Study of the Dictionary. A Guide to Correlation. A Guide to Applications. The Topical Assignment. A Guide to Reorganization. Summary. Questions and Problems. References.

Chapter VII

How Knowledge Began. The Meaning of School Subjects. Principles underlying the use of the textbook as a source of knowledge. Some of the Gains of Thinking. The Paramount Question of Education To-day. Knowledge must be viewed as a system. Three Functions of the Textbook. Important Factors in the Structure of the Textbook as a Source of Knowledge. Dates of publication. The title of the book. Table of Contents and the Index. The arrangement of material. Summary. Questions and Problems. References.

Chapter VIII

The Textbook as a Means of Interpreting Truth . . .183 The Observation Point of Knowledge. The Necessary Bias of a Textbook. Factors of Interpretation. Knowing the author and the publisher. The Preface. The Introduction. Book Reviews. The evaluation and adaptation of subject-matter; Scales and standards. The Elementary Subjects: American History. Arithmetic. Spelling. Language and Grammar. High School Subjects: Algebra. Texts. Geometry. Trigonometry. Solid Geometry. Limits. Texts. General Mathematics. Zo'dlogy.

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Criteria for Science Texts. General Science Texts. History. Summary. Questions and Problems. References.

i CHAPTER IX

The Textbook as an Incentive or Inspiration .... 230 The Inspirational Review. The purpose of the review. Presenting educational value of the course, fostering enthusiasm for the course, constructing a background. Summary. Method of Teaching. Reviewing of related experience; inspirational previews in textbooks. Energetic first impression. Outlining the term's work. Summary. General Summary. Illustrations. Classroom technic. Questions and Problems. References.

Appendix 247

Index 257

THE TEXTBOOK

TEXTBOOK, HOW TO USE IT AND

JUDGE IT

Chapter I The Textbook — Its Place In Modern Education

The Textbook as a Problem for Investigation. In these days when every part of the school system is undergoing supervision and criticism, and when reorganization is the cry of the hour, there is great need of a thoroughgoing examination into the intricate problem of the textbook. It is in the textbook that one expects to find the essentials of a subject, the general outline of a course. The teacher and the textbook are the two pillars of instruction. Each without the other is inadequate, as a rule. Educators and school administrators have begun to ask serious questions of textbook makers, for the maker of textbooks is one of the most influential forces in the shaping of educational policy. The need has been felt of late for courses on textbook making, to be given in schools of education. So far as the writer knows there is no course of this kind offered in any of our colleges or universities.

A suggested course on the textbook. Such a course on the textbook might embrace the following topics : The History of Textbooks; Current Scope of Subject-Matter in Textbooks; Organization of Textbook Material from the Standpoint of Child and of Adolescent Psychology; Arrangement of Material with Directions for the Proper Studying of It; How to Frame Questions in Textbooks and to Select Problems of Application; Methods of Gathering Material for the Textbook ; How to Prepare the Manuscript for the Publisher ; Methods of Publication ; Compensation of authors ; Revisions ; Collecting Reviews ; Standards for Judging Textbooks. Running through the course would be repeated references to the Psychology and the Pedagogy of Reading.

With the growth of the need of textbooks, their variety, their frequent revisions, and the consequent extension of the publishing business with its plans of marketing and of seeking adoptions, many difficult problems have arisen. Various schemes of publication are being tried. The methods of textbook distribution are being carefully considered. So large is the place occupied by the textbook in American education that wise counsel and dispassionate investigation are imperative if results for the best progress in the schools are to be expected.

Why Is the Textbook So Prominent? Among the questions that must be considered is the reason for the prevailing prominence of the textbook in the public schools of America. Some writers on this subject believe that if there were a larger percentage of highly trained teachers in the American school there would be correspondingly much less need of the school book. This seems to imply that in the hands of the many inadequately trained teachers the textbook becomes a mere crutch or a model. The teacher depends on the book ; its organization and its contents are followed in minute detail. No one who understands school conditions will deny the truth of this criticism. It would be unfair, however, to assign the chief reason to the large number of insufficiently trained

Its Place in Modern Education 3

teachers. Doubtless the best teacher in the public school profits by the use of a text. In fact, without a good textbook the course would be much more laborious and much less effective. Furthermore, much of the difficulty in entrance requirements lies in the lack of organization of the new courses. The most liberal friends of modern school subjects will admit that many of these courses are still so indefinite in scope and sequence of material that, for administrative purposes, it is very difficult to adjust them to needful order and system in even a flexible scheme of entrance requirements. President Thwing calls the textbook a teacher of teachers. By means of a text or several texts the teacher introduces the pupil to a world of knowledge he little suspected. It is through the windows of the textbook that teacher and pupil glimpse the immensities of truth, stretching as far as intellect and dreams can penetrate. Not that this is the only outlook, but it is indispensable, at least in American education. A few years ago an English writer made the following observation : *

The method of actual teaching in American schools differs much from that in use in England. It centers in the textbook. Nothing strikes an English teacher more forcibly on first listening to lessons in American schools than the important place the textbook takes. . . . The success of the method is aided in America by several conditions, as yet rare in England. First, the textbooks are much better than ours. . . . Often a teacher in England cannot make her pupils depend upon themselves for getting up a subject, because the only textbook that can be afforded is meager or even obsolete ; and she is the only person who has access to a really good book.

1 Quoted from Chas. H. Thurber on "What about Textbooks?" Outlook, Sept. 13, 1913.

The Inadequacy of the Textbook. It is now being advocated by many educators that teachers should break away from slavish dependence upon the textbook, and should plan courses that include much supplementary material and many books. All of us, doubtless, would agree that it is no longer advisable to use only one book as a text or to follow this one blindly. But it would be equally unpedagogical to abandon this aid entirely in all courses. Here as elsewhere moderation and rational selection are most important. It is well, however, to bear in mind the criticism formulated by Charles McMurry.1

i. The textbook cannot give adequate treatment of important topics.

2. It cannot easily set up problems and give fit suggestions to their progressive, independent working out.

3. The reflective tracing out of relations in which a central topic stands to other topics, gained through causal connection, comparisons based on likeness and contrast, and other forms of association — this considerate balancing up and organizing of thought material can be done very inadequately in a textbook treatment.

These defects, however, are not necessarily inherent in the nature of textbooks. They doubtless exist but they need not continue to do so. If by " adequate treatment of important topics " is meant adequate for the pupil at any particular stage of educational development, then this defect could be removed by a careful evaluation of material based on a sound doctrine of educational values. If by " adequate " is meant a large, comprehensive treatment, then we find this possible through

1 Conflicting Principles of Teaching, Houghton Mifflin Co., 1914, p. 86.

Its Place in Modern Education 5

the author's additional reference material and suggestions for study. Even if it were possible to have a comprehensive and well-unified discussion of any one topic, it may be questioned if this would be wise. Beyond a consideration of certain fundamentals, the textbook should be mainly suggestive.

The second objection has already been met in many of the most recent textbooks. Their problems and suggestions for independent study are much better than could be devised by many teachers. But, granting the validity of Dr. McMurry's objection, it may still be doubted if the textbook should be exhaustive in these problems and directions. Necessarily, they are given in limited number, but this need not be regarded as a defect. One must still expect the teacher to apply educational material to local needs and local conditions, and to adapt source-material to educational ends.

The third objection is most searching. No textbook can perform the processes of thinking. But under the direction of a teacher who knows the psychology of study it is possible to find causal connections, to make comparisons and contrasts, and in general to carry on the process of organization. This is the teacher's task. To some extent it is also the author's, and among textbook makers one finds not a few who attempt this service.

Why Textbooks Exist. Several reasons may be assigned for the large place occupied by the textbook in American education.

1 . The textbook holds a central place in school work because it offers a compact arrangement of educational material. If one seeks the meaning of physics, a glance through a number of textbooks gives one the scope of this subject. All of us resort to such compendiums of knowledge for educational purposes. The textbook expresses (in varying degrees of adequacy to be sure) the prevailing conceptions of the respective subjects in the program of study, and in this way makes it possible to formulate a scheme of training that will more satisfactorily relate to the pupils the ends of education, as these ends are determined for the several school levels.

The text, by the amount of space given to various topics, shows in general the relative values of different parts of the subject. There is, of course, wide divergence of viewpoint in this matter, and the author's apportionment of space may not be a true indication of the essential values in the subject. The author's selection of material does exercise, however, a very direct influence on the course. He puts, as it were, a stamp on the scope and quality and accuracy of the subject. From him the pupil obtains perhaps the only conception of the subject he will ever be able to get or to use. For this reason a textbook must be very carefully examined lest its bias prove seriously unfair to the pupil's comprehension of the course.

2. Not only is the textbook a compendium of knowledge for school purposes, but it serves also the valuable end of ready reference after the individual has completed his formal education. No one is able to retain all the details of his various courses of study. It would probably be undesirable, even if it were possible, to carry through life a large number of principles or facts for which one might have only occasional need. But after the pupil has completed the study of fundamental material, as suggested in the textbook, he can refer to the textbook in later years and thereby refresh his memory on needed points. Many of the rules in mathematics, for example, are easily forgotten by persons who have had no

Its Place in Modern Education 7

need of their frequent application. The emergency call can be answered by consulting the textbook. After all, education is mainly a means of supplying ideas and a knowledge of sources. Only the facts which become habits by use in our callings remain in our close possession. The rest of our educational experience is available by our knowing the depositories of desired data.

3. Another reason for the universality of the textbook lies in its provision for a uniform education throughout the country. However ardent supporters we may be of individual education, it must be agreed that a degree of uniformity is equally essential. There must be a concept of arithmetic common to California and New York. Grammatical usage must be fairly uniform in a democratic education. Every subject must connote and to some extent denote the same thing all over our country if citizens are to understand one another, and to cooperate in democracy's business. By means of the textbook the general meanings of subject-matter are spread from coast to coast.

4. A fourth reason for the widespread use of the textbook lies in its provision for an orderly pursuit of the course. It gives teacher and pupil a tangible link that unites the many details of the subject. This, of course, is possible without the aid of a book, but it is doubtful if an exclusive lecture or collateral reading method would be advisable in high school work, not to say in the elementary school. There is a growing opinion that the lecture method is not the best even in college. The author's arrangement of material in the textbook is his conception of the course, but frequently he will suggest a possible procedure in the sequence of chapters different from the order he has used. In the book the teacher finds large units of instruction (main divisions, such as the Civil War or Fractions) and smaller divisions (sections or chapters) which serve as bases for assignments. In whatever way the teacher may reorganize the book for teaching purposes, its treatment of the course does greatly aid in unifying the work and in making possible the division of education into various teaching units.

5. The textbook in many instances is a definite help to correct studying. This is true, especially, of more recent texts. By means of syllabi, summaries, emphasized points for study, outlines for reference reading, and many titles of reference books, as well as by questions for review and original work, the author seeks to make the pupil aware of a certain amount of technic in the learning of a subject. The importance of this sort of textbook making in the development of study outside of school cannot be overestimated. The pupil needs a certain amount of direction if his studying is to be pursued economically and effectively. The " study-helps " are not crutches but guide posts.

6. The best kind of textbook, one written by a wide-awake author who appreciates the life-value of his subject, not only gives direction for study but it supplies directions for the application of the subject. To many teachers this is an invaluable help. Under proper direction the practical problems stated in the textbook become invaluable also to the pupil. It probably is true that the time saved for teachers and pupils, the rich suggestiveness and the basis they supply for testing progress, make the problems and directions for further study indispensable. Without them the schoolbook would be of comparatively little service in any public school course; and many texts have failed to become popular or

Its Place in Modem Education 9

serviceable very largely because they lacked the needful suggestions and specific guidance in applying the subject to vital needs, or in leading the pupil to more independent and thoughtful study of the subject.

7. Of less value to the teacher and pupil but significant for students of the history of education is the record of subject development provided by textbooks from year to year. A study of textbooks in grammar and in history, for example, shows how greatly the point of view regarding this subject has changed. A series of texts in any one subject records the progress of thinking in a particular field. Without textbooks it would be difficult, if indeed at all possible, to trace the historical growth of educational material. The textbook, like the school itself, reflects the age in which it was evolved. Our texts to-day are in many instances a vast improvement over those of a decade ago. It may safely be predicted that like improvement will take place within the next ten years. Having the old and the latest texts, there is the fascinating possibility of studying the growth of racial and national points of view, and the constantly readjusted needs of society for the subjects in the school.

8. Still another benefit to be derived from the textbook is the possibility of determining administratively the various levels of school systems and the progress of pupils among these several systems by means of knowing exactly how much ground has been covered by the pupil. This record is also important in transfers from school to school. Transferred credits are based partly on the amount and quality of work done in certain textbooks. If these textbooks are not the same as those used elsewhere, it becomes necessary to make careful comparisons. Without such books it would be difficult also to accredit io Textbook, How to Use It and Judge It

schools. As it now is, college entrants are accepted on the ground of a well-known prescribed kind of preparation, and the college work continues what has been done in the secondary school. This, of course, does not insure adequate preparation, for quantity of work (as represented in units) does not mean thoroughness, but the prescribed courses with recognized textbooks and other educational equipment provide a scheme of determining intellectual preparedness.

The advantages of the textbook have been well stated by Dr. W. T. Harris : 1

It has the advantage of making one independent of his teacher ; you can take your book wherever you please. You cannot do that with a great lecturer, neither can you question him as you can the book, nor can you select the time for hearing the great teacher talk as you can for reading the book. And it is true that nearly all the great teachers have embodied their ideas in books. The greatest danger of textbook education is verbatim, parrot-like recitation, but even here, from the poorest textbook, a great deal of knowledge can be gleaned. Then there is the alertness which in any large class will necessarily be engendered by an intelligent understanding and criticism of the results arrived at by different pupils in discussing a certain piece of work given in their own words. And then there is the advantage to be found in the fact that with the textbook the child can be busy by itself.

A cursory glance over the situation in the United States assures one that the textbook is a remarkable factor in public school education, and nowhere so wonderfully developed as here. The American publishers are among the great educators

1 Lectures on the Philosophy of Education, Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Sciences. Supplementary notes. Eleventh series, 1893, p. 272.

Its Place in Modern Education n

of the world. They are constantly on the lookout for new ideas in the classroom, and wherever they discover a teacher who is doing something of merit they enlist this teacher to prepare a description of method or of an organization of a course so that it will be available to all other educators. Publishers and teachers, with the help of expert book critics and technicians of book making, become in this way the sine qua non of public education. Without this means of organizing and preserving the newest ideas in education many blessings of genius and trained intellect would be unavailable for coming generations.

Summary. The foregoing advantages in using the textbook indicate that not without reason has this field of public education reached its astonishing development. At present authors and publishers are seeking to incorporate what investigators have found to be essential principles in effective learning. While it is true that teachers are greatly supplementing the textbook by a large variety of materials and technic, it is equally true that their need of the book as part of their directive material has increased, for the books of merit to-day are numerous, and no one book can easily be selected for exclusive reference in a course.

In the following pages an attempt is made to consider very briefly some of the principles that seem important in the discriminating use of the textbook. To the reflective teacher the discussion may suggest other ways in which texts can serve pupils and teachers. The alert instructor will employ procedures peculiarly adapted to his own groups of pupils. Some teachers will find it necessary to give greater attention to the substance of the book, while others may need to refer to the text as only one of many reference books. No one scheme of reorganization of textbook matter can be applied to all subjects or to any one subject. Here again the teacher's initiative and originality must be drawn upon. While we are waiting for the ideal book teachers can render valuable service by making the study of textbook construction part of their discussions at institutes and in reading circles ; and also the field of careful experimentation for the ascertaining of what arrangement of material will best serve the needs of school people engaged in the teaching and studying of the various subjects.

i. Do you notice in your school that there is any tendency to depend less heavily on the textbook than formerly ?

2. If there is such a tendency what are the reasons for it ? Are these reasons sound?

3. If you were planning a course on Textbook Making what topics would you include?

4. In addition to the advantages of the textbook already named in the chapter, what others, growing out of your own experience, can you suggest?

5. What additional disadvantages of the textbook have you found ?

6. What conditions in American education seem to require a greater use of textbooks than in European countries?

7. Which type of school system do you judge is the stronger — one using many texts in a course, or one using only one? Why?

8. Did the ancient Greeks and Romans use many textbooks?

9. How would you organize and administer a school system that used texts only occasionally?