in Our School Text-Books AN ATTEMPT TO TRACE THE INFLUENCE OF EARLY SCHOOL EDUCATION ON THE FEELING TOWARDS ENGLAND IN THE UNITED STATES BY CHARLES ALTSCHUL WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY JAMES T. SHOTWELL PROFESSOR OF HISTORY AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY NEW YORK GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY T INTRODUCTION HE great war has shown the importance of the teaching of history, in the formation of national ideals. From it may come either a clarification of our understanding as to the meaning of the process of which the present forms but a momentary part, or else a perpetuation of misunderstandings which prejudice and uncritical habits of mind have fastened upon us. In either case, as we see it now, the historian, with all the varied data of the past to draw upon, has in his hands more than we had formerly imagined of the moulding of opinion in the present, and therefore of the direction-in general lines— of future policies. Unfortunately it cannot be said of those histories which are by far the most widely read, that they have been written out of a knowledge of all this varied data of the past. On the contrary, the text-books in history have more commonly been the product of a very limited knowledge of the actual facts of the subjects with which they deal. This limit of vision has naturally gone with a distortion in perspective. They have, for the most part, persisted in perpetuating ancient, uncriticized traditions which have accumulated since the events themselves, rather than attempting bravely and frankly to tell the story of what happened in the light of the time in which it happened. The text-books which have been written recently show a marked improvement in historical perspective, but unfortunately their influence has come too late to affect the generation which to-day is called upon to face the most tremendous issues of which history has record, and which is therefore bound to bring to that decision an imperfect historical judgment. For the teaching of history depends largely upon the text-books used in the schools; and upon that teaching rests, to a large degree, our conception as to the character of nations and national policies. This has been clearly evident in the teaching of history in V 319325 |