independent thought. It lets the student know what is going on in his
community, and it informs individuals and institutions beyond the
school that this agency is beginning to connect with the problems of
the municipality, state, and nation. This sort of topic work also
allows the student to test the accuracy of the text, and to interpret
local conditions in the light of broad, national tendencies.

The second group of topics contains material for report work. In the
case of practically all of these topics, the student is referred
specifically to books and other publications.

Beginning with Chapter XVIII of the text, the topics are followed by a
series of questions for classroom discussion. Some of these may be
turned into classroom debates. Others allow the student to challenge
statements in the text. A few of these questions have never been
satisfactorily answered by anyone, yet the student must face them in
the world outside the school, and it cannot be time wasted to
understand their content now.


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

In the preparation of this text the author has received valuable
assistance from a number of sources. Though such assistance in no way
diminishes his responsibility for the shortcomings of the book, the
author desires here to acknowledge the aid extended him.

The entire manuscript has been carefully worked over and criticized by
Clarence D. Kingsley, Chairman of the Commission on the Reorganization
of Secondary Education. Payson Smith, Commissioner of Education for