thought and too frequently influenced by the inflection of the teacher's
voice, an opinion that has resulted from research and deliberation
unbiased by the teacher's personal views.

It is too much to expect high school pupils to solve historical problems
extemporaneously. If inferences and contrasts other than those given in
the text are to be drawn, if statements are to be defended or opposed,
the high school student should be given time to prepare his answer.
Aside from the injustice of any other procedure, it is a hopeless waste
of time to spend the precious minutes of the recitation in gathering
negative replies and worthless judgments.


_Methods of preparing questions assigned in advance_

It may be urged that such an assignment of a lesson as that proposed is
too ambitious and that it exacts too much of the teacher's time. In
answer it should be said that specialists in history ought surely to
have read widely enough and studied deeply enough to be _able_ to select
intelligent questions of the sort suggested. We have assumed that the
teacher has made adequate preparation for his work. Certainly, then, he
should be ready to explain the social, geographical, and economic
relation of the events mentioned in the lesson. He should know their
bearing on current history. He should always have ready a fund of
information, additional to that given in the text. In preparing advance
questions for distribution to the class the teacher is preparing his own
lesson. He may be doing it a day or two earlier than he would otherwise
do, but surely he is performing no labor additional to what may
reasonably be expected of him. As to the time required to prepare copies
of the questions for distribution when the class convenes, it may be