HOW TO MAKE HISTORY REAL

The chief difficulty in teaching history is to give a meaning to the
language of history. Much of the language is merely empty words. The
Magna Charta and the Clergy Reserves mean just about as much to pupils
as _x_ does in algebra, and even when they give a definition or
description of these terms, it usually amounts to saying that _x_ equals
_y_; the definition is just as vague as the original terms. The problem
is to give the language more meaning, to ensure that the words give
mental pictures and ideas; in short, to turn the abstract into concrete
facts.

Children can make their own only such knowledge as their experience
helps them to interpret. Their interests are in the present, and the
past appeals to them just so far as they can see in it their own
activities, thoughts, and feelings. The great aim of the teacher, then,
should be to help pupils to translate the facts of history into terms of
their own experiences; unless that is done, they are really not learning
anything. Some of the ways in which this may be attempted are outlined
below.

1. In the junior classes where the children are intensely interested in
stories, the stress should be put on giving them _interesting personal
details_ about the famous people in history, details that they can
understand with their limited experiences of life, and that will appeal
to their emotions. These stories should be told to the pupils with such
vividness and animation that they will struggle with Columbus against a
mutinous crew, will help the early explorers to blaze their way through
the dense forests, will toil with the pioneers in making homes for