The days of isolation are passing. It is no longer possible for college professors to conduct classes and give lectures upon subjects unrelated to the student’s ability or to his year in the college course. All the world knows what each instructor is doing; questionnaires quiz him about methods and subjects; associations require him to talk about his work and consciously to face its problems.
Neither is it possible for a high school teacher to drag listlessly along, or arrange his history topics as he wishes. College entrance requirements, the criticism of the high school inspector, the rising standards of State educational systems, are holding him to more definite and more accurate work. He has not the earlier liberty to be careless and slovenly; he has still in almost all cases the liberty to do his work well in the way best suited to himself and to his class.
History teaching to-day is entering upon the period of conscious endeavor, and neither college professor nor high school instructor can afford to ignore this fact. By far the strongest element in raising the standards of history teaching has been the historical associations and the organizations of history teachers, which, during the past twenty years, have faced many problems of the history teacher. It is well nigh impossible for all of us to solve all these problems individually, although some of us may solve some of them. We need the comparison of ideas and of experiences which can be gained in the organizations; we need the inspiration coming from association with the strongest minds of the profession; we need the personal acquaintances which grow out of such meetings.
The alma mater,—generous, inspiring, appreciative,—of historical study and teaching in America, is the American Historical Association. For twenty-five years its stronger members have given of their strength, its weaker members have received inspiration, and its younger members have been encouraged to higher work by its appreciation of their labors. Its membership is open to all interested in the study, the writing, or the teaching of history, upon the payment of a small fee. The best work which the association performs for its members is the holding of the annual meetings, which are not only opportunities to hear learned or practical discussions of historical questions, but also a means through which the history teachers and writers of the country can be brought in personal contact with one another. It is this social element, say all who have attended the meetings, which constitutes their most valuable feature. Members of the association receive a quarterly magazine, “The American Historical Review,” containing original contributions to historical knowledge, and reviews of recent historical works in all the modern languages; and also two volumes of annual reports of the association. For the convenience of members living in the extreme West, a Pacific Coast branch has been organized, the members of which meet annually in the West, but they receive all the publications of the parent society.
Not history teachers alone, but all interested in the subject, are eligible to membership in the national association. Not so with the principal sectional organizations,—the New England, the Middle States and Maryland, and the North Central history teachers’ associations. These are designed primarily for the stimulation of those engaged in teaching the subject; their meetings discuss not so much the content of history and its sources, as the form and method of presentation, the choice of subject-matter, and the relation of history teaching in the school to that in the college. The associations have arranged to exchange publications, so that the teacher who is a member of any one of the associations receives the publications of each of the others.
A third form of associations is that made up of State associations of history teachers. In some cases these have grown out of the sectional bodies, but in most cases they are an outgrowth of the State teachers’ associations. The State associations are now growing in numbers and in membership. They are accomplishing much good, not only in raising the State standards, but also by turning attention to the study of local history in the State schools.
Local conferences of history teachers are now meeting in a number of cities. The most recently-formed is the San Francisco Conference; the oldest, probably, is the New York City Conference. Such meetings are often of a social nature, including informal round table discussions of topics of current interest to the history teacher.
The existence and growth of these local and general societies show that there is a strengthening of interest in history, and that the work of the history teacher is becoming more conscious and more highly organized. They indicate also that under new standards the comparison of ideas and the stimulus of personal intercourse are needed to hold the history teacher to his work. There is no excuse for back-sliding with these associations in the field; and if local organization has not yet been perfected in any district, the success of the local conferences already organized should lead to the founding of many more.
In another column of this number of theMagazinewill be found a partial list of history associations and conferences, together with the names and addresses of their secretaries. This list will be printed each month; and it is hoped to make it a complete directory of history teachers’ associations in the country. Readers who are interested in joining any of these organizations should correspond with the respective secretaries.
Shall not the school year 1909-1910 be made notable by increased usefulness and enlarged membership of all these associations?