Previously I shared quotes from a Parents’ Review article that spoke about the purpose of teaching history as enhancing “the humanity of the pupil with a view to an ethical result in life and character” and argued that history ought to be taught to children as “an epic, a drama, and a song.”
Now we turn to “The Teaching of History” by D. M. H. Nesbitt (Volume 12, 1901, pgs. 917-929) published the following year. It continues the themes of the aim of teaching history and the methods that should be employed.
“History, then, is to be taught, not for its facts, but for its ideas. The story of the Battle of Agincourt is useful, not because we could in modern warfare follow the tactics of Henry V., but because we may catch the spirit that made that little handful of Englishmen cling to a forlorn hope until it became a glorious actuality, the spirit which we do indeed see to-day, and which is no mere sentiment, but an essentially practical feeling to which definite and tangible results bear witness. The educational value of history lies in the fact that it gives a knowledge of the world in its human relations. It does for human nature what physical science does for inanimate nature.”
“We must try to induce in our pupils this feeling of oneness with all ages, by presenting the characters of history to them as living people. We should not deal in generalities, but picture the lives of individuals. Let the child know intimately as many great and fine historical characters as possible, and, if possible, fire him with the true heroic impulse. ‘We needs must love the highest when we see it.’ Let us give the children opportunities of seeing by opening to them new vistas—the long vistas of the past, illuminated by so many glorious deeds and heroic lives. This is not to be accomplished by adopting an over-didactic or moralizing tone, or by the continual reiteration of an already obvious moral. Some history books, especially those written for children, err in this way. All kings are labelled as ‘good’ or ‘bad,’ and no opportunity is left open for the children to use their own moral sense or their powers of discrimination.”
“The subject might be pursued indefinitely. Indeed, we want our pupils to feel that the subject of history is infinite. If we can succeed in teaching them the power of sympathetically entering into the minds of others, of comprehending the train of thought by which people, in utterly different times and circumstances, may have arrived logically at conclusions which appear to us at the first glance narrow, absurd, or even ludicrous, then we shall have made of their history lessons instruments of their education; their sympathy with, tolerance for and love of their fellow-creatures will be increased, and they will be broader in mind, less ready to be carried away by extreme notions and more able to see that ‘there is a great deal to be said on both sides’ of any question.”