This morning while trawling the Harvard Crimson, a student newspaper, for announcements of speakers and topics in Harvard’s Economics Seminary of over a century ago, I came across an 1885 review of a book published by the Harvard assistant professor, J. Laurence Laughlin, who was to later teach at Cornell and ultimately become the founding head of the department of political economy at the University of Chicago. Chasing down that book I found a chapter in which Laughlin discussed general pedagogical issues that come up when trying to inflict basic economic principles on the young. It is an interesting set of reflections with much insight. Given Laughlin’s role in building up the Chicago economics department (cf. the first 25 years of Laughlin’s department), I believe visitors to Economics in the Rear-view Mirror will be interested in hearing Laughlin’s practical advice of how to teach economics.
In an earlier posting we have Laughlin’s recommended library for instructors of economics from 1887 with nearly all items conveniently linked. You’re welcome!
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METHODS OF TEACHING POLITICAL ECONOMY.
Chapter Five of
The Study of Political Economy: Hints to Students and Teachers
by J. Laurence Laughlin, 1885
A NATION is sometimes so bitterly taught by sad experience in financial errors—as was the case with France in John Law’s time, and again in the issue of paper assignats during the Revolution—that, on the principle of the “burned child,” it afterwards finds that it unconsciously keeps to the right and avoids the wrong path. So that to-day France is a country where correct conceptions of money are almost universal, and whose public monetary experiments are, as a rule, most admirably conducted. In somewhat the same way does the individual gain his proper knowledge of political economy. Principles must be seen working in a concrete form. The key to efficient teaching of it is to connect principles with actual facts; and this process can go on in the beginner’s mind only through experience. By experience, I mean [116] the personal (subjective) effort of each one to realize the working of the principle for himself in the facts of his own knowledge. The pupil must be put in the way of assimilating for himself the principles of his subject in such a manner that he feels their truth because they are apparent in explanation of concrete things all around him. That this is the aim to be always kept in view by the teacher and student has been made clear, it is to be hoped, by the previous analysis of the character and discipline of political economy in Chapters II and III. It is now my purpose to make some suggestions as to the practical methods of teaching by which this can be carried into effect.
1. The relative advantages of lectures and recitations for political economy have never, to my knowledge, been openly discussed. An experience with both methods of teaching leads me to think that the lecture system, pure and simple, is so ineffective that it ought to be set aside at once as entirely undesirable. The disciplinary power to be gained by the study is almost wholly lost to the student by this method of teaching. Nothing is so useful as a sharp [117] struggle, an effort, a keen discussion, or possibly a failure of comprehension at the time; for nothing will so awaken one to intellectual effort, and finally result in the safe lodgment of the principle within one’s mind as an obstruction and its removal. This is not gained by listening to lectures. No matter how clear the exposition of the principles may be, no matter how fresh and striking the illustrations, it still remains that the student is relieved by the instructor from carrying on the mental processes which he ought to conduct for himself. In fact, the clearer the exposition by the instructor, the less is left to the student—the lecturer, in fact, is the chief gainer by the system. Moreover, while listening to a connected and logical unfolding of the principles, the student is lulled into a false belief that, as he understands all that has been so clearly presented to him, he knows the subject quite well enough; and the result is to send out a number of conceited men who really can not carry on a rational economic discussion. They wholly miss the discipline which gives exactitude, mental breadth, keenness, and power to express [118] themselves plainly and to the point. Then, not being forced to think over a principle in its application to various phases of concrete phenomena, they know the truth only in connection with the illustrations given by the lecturer, while they utterly fail to assimilate the principles into their own thinking. The subject then becomes to them a matter of memory. They memorize the general statements without ever realizing their practical side, and that which is memorized for the day of examination is forgotten more speedily than it is learned, and the sum total of the discipline has been simply a stretching of the memory. In fact, with the average student, in almost any subject the lecture system leads to cramming. At the best, it affords a constant temptation to put off that kind of mental struggle which ought to be carried on by the student himself—a period of doubts and questions—by which alone a clearer conception of the subject ultimately emerges. In fact, without it, it is doubtful if the student ever gets much, if any, of that mental attrition on the subject which is the most valuable part of the work. An experience of a year with [119] lecturing in an elementary course to a class of two hundred and fifty, including the best and the poorest men in the university, practically convinced me, when taken with other evidence, of the truth of the above position; for, as contrasted with the work of similar men in other years under a different system, their examination-books were the most unsatisfactory I had ever read.
The usual alternative to the lecture system is the plan of recitations from a text-book. Even the simplest form of recitations is, in my opinion, better than listening to lectures. At the very least, the student is put to it to express the sense in his own words, and that, too, under the criticism of the teacher. But this plan has its evident difficulties. If the pupil is called upon for only that which is contained in the book, he falls into the habit of memorizing, and fails to think for himself. If you give him the clew, he can tell you on what part of the page the statement is found, and he can talk in the language of the book; but he knows nothing of the power of applying it to what he sees. If the learner is very clever and [120] inquisitive, he may do something for himself, but the average pupil quite misses the real good of such a course.
2. As it is evident that neither lectures nor formal recitations in the old fashion are satisfactory, we are inevitably led to adopt a plan which possesses the advantages of both. Some text-book is essential as a basis for the instruction.* In it the pupil should find an exposition of the principles, and a provocation to apply them to practical things as he reads. Then he should come to the class-room as intelligently familiar with the principles as his reading can make him. Now comes the work of the instructor. With a class of beginners, it is [121] surprising how easy it is to show even to the best men a gap in their knowledge, or a misunderstanding of the principle. Present an illustration different from that of the book, and ask them to explain the situation, and very few will be able to respond. The necessity of seeing the essential point in the facts and the attempt to describe the operation of the principle will effectually rout the man who has merely memorized the book, and teach him to think out the matter more thoroughly for himself in the future. The teacher, also, will try to find out the accidental obstacles which in a young mind obstruct the understanding of the point in question. Let the pupil be asked to state the matter, and let the teacher note the imperfections. At the same time he can stimulate another student by questioning him as to one of these imperfections. If a correction is not obtained in a clear and connected manner from a member of the class, let the instructor apply the Socratic method. At first ask a question which the learner readily understands, and then lead him naturally and gradually by logical steps up to the point wherein he had failed of understanding. [122] He will then see his own difficulty, and at the same time he has had a little robust exercise for his mind. If this is carried on before his fellows, it will the better cultivate coolness and self-control before an audience.
* The question naturally arises in the teacher’s mind, What is the best text-book? This, of course, is a matter of individual experience and judgment, and competent persons will differ in offering advice. From my own point of view, I should strongly recommend for mature students, who can give to it fifty or sixty hours of recitation, Mill’s “Principles of Political Economy.” For those who wish a less severe course, for a shorter time, Mr. and Mrs. Marshall’s ”Economies of Industry” is an excellent book. For the same persons, a forthcoming book by Professor Simon Newcomb, to be published this summer (1885), would be admirable. I have seen the advanced sheets, and find the system of applying principles to facts at the end of each chapter admirably carried out. For books to be consulted by the teacher, he is referred to the “Library” list at the beginning of this volume.
3. Above all, the hour should not be wasted in simply rehearsing what has been read in the book. The student should go away from the class-room feeling that he has received some new idea, or some interesting fact which illustrates his subject. The work of the class-room should be cumulative in its effect as compared with the results of text-book reading. The teacher should in every way stimulate questions from members of his class, and urge the statement by them, either orally or in writing, of their doubts and difficulties. If there is some timidity in presenting a weakness in the presence of a class, ask a question of some more manly person of the number, and the timid student will soon see that others are not much better off than he. In fact, all will have difficulties in understanding, or in interpreting principles, some trivial, some serious; and the pupil will become discouraged unless these are removed. [123] When each one sees that others are also hindered by obstacles, there will be a greater freedom in asking questions. Moreover, in order to keep up a steady and regular training, which will produce the best disciplinary results, let the questions of the instructor every day run backward in review, and especially aim to bring out the connection of one part of the subject with another. It will be very effective if done just about the time that the past work is growing a little dim before the presence of newer ideas. In no subject, perhaps, more than in political economy, is it necessary to know the preliminary steps in order to understand the later work; so that the pupil must be actually in possession of principles previously expounded, for which he may be called upon at any time. It is simply impossible for a person to be absent and neglectful for a time in his study, and then come into the class-room to make a brilliant show on an intermediate fragment of the subject. He can be too easily exposed as a humbug to attempt it a second time. Moreover, thus to force him to do the work as he goes along is the greatest favor one [124] can do for the pupil; and the usual cramming before the examination becomes, in reality, a general review, which is very useful in bringing him to see the connection existing throughout the whole subject.
4. If the class is so large that it is impossible for the instructor to reach each member as often as he might wish with the above method, there is one device which is more or less useful. At the beginning of the hour let him write a question upon the blackboard, to be answered by each one in writing within the first ten or fifteen minutes. The attempt to write out an explanation clearly, without hint or clew from the instructor, will reveal to the best student the deficiencies and gaps in his knowledge. Each one will then have the keenest interest to know what is considered a satisfactory answer to the question. At the next exercise of the class, the instructor can read some good and some bad answers, point out the general mistakes, and advise his pupils for the future. No exercise can be better than this in cultivating the habit of careful expression, and in learning how to make a clear and pointed exposition of [125] a subject in a short space. This practice tends to secure the accuracy which in the oral discussions is made second to fluency and readiness. The teacher, I believe, will be forced to some such method as this, if he hopes to get a real idea of the prevailing difficulties in the minds of his class. They are in the nature of anonymous communications, in which, as no one else can know what he is writing, the student may without timidity show exactly what he can do. In fact, the written answers afford admirable means of judging how far the class have taken serious hold of the subject, and they enable the instructor to modify the nature of his questions to members, or to change the character of the exercise to suit a set of slower men. But one of the best uses of these written answers, in my experience, has been to break down the timidity which prevented questions in the classroom. The criticism of an answer before the class is certain to bring out as defender, either the writer, or one who gave a similar reply and the whole number of men will be very restive under criticism of a piece of work at which each has tried his hand. As soon as questioning [126] becomes natural and easy, the number of written exercises can be diminished, and the whole hour given to discussions with the class.
5. Since the chief work of the class-room is not to enable students to discover principles, but rather to understand and apply them, probably the most useful method of interesting a class is to present to them, in extracts from the newspapers of the day, bits of fallacious discussions* which may come under the head of the subject in hand, and then to ask for criticism and discussion. This will also suggest doubts and difficulties which had not been anticipated in the minds of some, and will aid in stimulating questions. The appositeness of a timely topic before the public is peculiarly serviceable for such purposes. In fact, the practical matters of our own country will never fail to excite a lively interest in almost any class; and through this interest the teacher can find a [127] way of leading men to study principles more carefully. A National or State campaign is very likely to furnish an instructor with a plentiful supply of extracts from speeches of an economic character for discussion by his class. The learner in political economy is not hindered by the same disagreeable obstacles, as hamper the medical student, in finding subjects on which to put his learning into practice.
* Professor W. G. Sumner has published a volume of “Problems in Political Economy” (1884), which adopts the plan above described for advanced classes. The system is also most excellently carried out in a forthcoming elementary treatise on Political Economy by Simon Newcomb, to be published during the coming summer.
6. Many minds are unable to keep hold on an abstraction, or general principle; or they may have been untrained in making nice distinctions between ideas or definitions. And these students form a very large proportion of the ordinary classes. To such persons a skillful teacher ought to offer some help. Diagrams have seemed to me most useful for this purpose, and a reason can be given for their use. Just as in beginning a strange language, when words of widely different meaning have a similarity to the untutored eye, the distinctions do not make much impression. So it is in regard to principles and definitions in political economy. Therefore, visible expression of the abstract relationships, by diagrams, or by any figures [128] which represent the abstract in a concrete form, will be of very considerable service to the average student. This matter seems to me to be of such practical importance in teaching that it will be worth while to illustrate my meaning by a few examples.
(a.) Since material wealth comprises all things that have value; since capital is only that wealth employed in reproduction, and not used by the owner himself; and since money is that part of wealth in circulation aiding in the transfer of goods — the relations between the three may be expressed to the commonest apprehension by some such device as the following, in which the area of circle A represents the total amount of wealth; B, the capital saved out of the total wealth; and C, the money by which goods are transferred—only that part of circle C being capital which, inside of circle B, is being used as a means to production.
Again, (b) it is seen that different classes of laborers, arranged according to their skill, [129] form, as it were, social strata, of which the largest and the poorest paid is composed of the unskilled laborers at the bottom. This may be shown to the eye at once by the section of a triangle, in which A represents the largest and least paid class; B, the better-educated, and relatively more skillful laborers; ending finally in the few at the top, of the most competent executive managers. Now, if A were to become as fully skilled as B, and competition should become free between all members of A and B; and if this were to go on in the same way to include C—the effects of this breaking down of the barriers which hinder competition might be illustrated by the following changes in the above triangle: the areas of A, B, and C may be thrown together into [130] one area within the whole of which movement and choice are perfectly free to the laborer, and wherein wages are in proportion to sacrifice. This can be done by striking out the lines of division between A, B, and C, and representing the change by the area included between the base and the dotted lines.
Examples might be multiplied in illustration of my method, but these must suffice. By such means there can be planted inside even the dull mind an outline of an idea which can then be modeled and shaded to the condition of a natural truth. The teacher will find, by experience, that an idea thus given is very seldom forgotten. The pupil has thus once turned the abstraction into a concrete form, and, after he has once grasped it, he can now [131] use it for himself. It does not at all imply that he will get hard and definite conceptions of human affairs by this process; for he is shown that the principle appears in other forms, and he is constantly seeing that it is so. Having found out how a principle explains one set of facts, he can be led to see its application to other conditions.
7. In close connection with this method, but having an entirely different end in view, is the use of charts and graphic representations of statistics. The method just described above aimed to help in finding concrete expressions for the general principles; but graphic methods usually serve best to assist in that part of the economic process heretofore referred to as verification. There is an abundance of economic facts in regard to which the connection between cause and effect is either unknown or grossly misunderstood. In truth, the subjects to which political economy applies are constantly changing, nay, are even multiplying. These data, after having been collected with great care (which is the duty of the statistician), are the materials for the process [132] of verification. By this “systematized method of observation,” says Cairnes,* “we can most effectually check and verify the accuracy of our reasoning from the fundamental assumptions of the science; while the same expedient offers, also, by much the most efficacious means of bringing into view the action of those minor or disturbing agencies which modify, sometimes so extensively, the actual course of events. The mode in which these latter influences affect the phenomena of wealth is, in general, unobvious, and often intricate, so that their existence does not readily discover itself to a reasoner engaged in the development of the more capital economic doctrines.” In this part of the process graphic representations of statistics are invaluable.
*”Logical Method,” p. 97.
Every one knows the common dislike of dreary statistics; to many persons columns of statistics are repellent or meaningless. Collections of facts regarding banking, finance, taxation, and wages become a tangle in which one’s direction is constantly lost. But arranged graphically the whole direction of a movement [133] is seen at once, and the mind takes in new and unexpected changes, which force an investigation into their cause. Moreover, there comes a certain breadth of treatment, when, in looking at the facts graphically expressed, one is able to see the whole field at once. There is no waste of thought on temporary and accidental movements, for the action is seen from beginning to end at one glance. There are many charts which would illustrate this meaning very distinctly; but perhaps none are simpler than the one here appended, showing the steady and continuous fall in the value of silver relatively to gold since the discovery of the New World. No one has ever claimed that there has been any “unfriendliness” displayed toward silver in the legislation of the chief countries of the world before the present century, at the farthest, and yet the white metal has been steadily on the decline ever since the Spanish galleons, in the fifteenth century, began to pour the precious metals of America into the coffers of Spain.
Another illustration of my meaning can be found in the study of the facts relating to [134]
[135] American shipping. We have heard—until the story is now worn threadbare—of the decline of our tonnage engaged in the foreign carrying trade; we have listened to explanations which attribute this decline wholly to our Civil War, or to the introduction of steam and iron (or steel) ships. But by collating the statistics for sailing-vessels alone, if we separate the question entirely from steam and iron, and compare our situation in regard to sailing-vessels with that before the use of steam— the period of our great shipping prosperity— the comparison gives some curious results. These are shown to the eye at a glance; and it would have been difficult to find them had not this graphic system been applied. The striking facts imperatively call for explanation. We see at once that, practically, to the end of the war our sailing tonnage changed only with the total; and that after 1869 it was the foreign tonnage which then rose and kept a close attendance on the total, while the American figures showed scarcely any relative change. The two lines, representing foreign and American vessels, after a short struggle with each
[136]
Chart showing the Tonnage of Sailing Vessels entered at Seaports of the United States each year, from 1844 to 1883, inclusive.
[137] other exactly changed their relative positions to the line representing the total tonnage. The graphic method lays bare the naked facts for the scalpel of the investigator. The student is then in a position to apply principles and discover explanations. No table of figures, I am convinced, would disclose vital relations in the statistics in the searching way by which it is done with the aid of a few lines on a chart.
In short, the more extended collection of economic data is now rendered possible through the better methods employed in census and statistical bureaus, and the resort to the work of verification of economic principles in the examination of these data is one of the best means by which political economy can be redeemed from the baseless and common charge of being made up of formulas which have no practical use. Into this work one can carry no instrument so effective and helpful as graphic representations. In fact, the investigator, after having collected his tables and columns of figures, will find his gain in first putting them in some graphic form, before he can intelligently see exactly with what he has to grapple; [138] then he can turn his energies directly upon the problems which are disclosed by the chart to every other eye as well as his own.
There are, however, other important gains to be derived from the use of charts by the teacher. Above all, they are interesting. They will attract the idler by something new which he can easily understand, although he can not explain the causes; they stimulate the quick by putting them at once in possession of the facts to be explained. When lecturing upon practical questions, one great difficulty presents itself to the teacher in trying to find the means of laying before his class the actual condition of the subject which is to be investigated. If it were proposed to place the statistics on the blackboard before him, the time of the lecturer would all be lost while the student was copying figures. The references to the books can be given where these figures dealt with by the lecturer are collected, but by a chart long columns of statistics are easily imported into the class-room, become the basis of discussion, and are photographed on the listener’s mind once for all in an attractive and interesting [139] way. The slow and painful work of months is in this way presented to a class in a few minutes, and the practical lessons caught at a glance. For this purpose, charts are the labor-saving machines of statistics.
A word or two as to the details of preparing charts may not be impertinent. They can be made on common glazed white cotton cloth (called sarcenet cambric), which receives ink or water-colors; but the labor of ruling the cloth in squares before the construction of the chart is very considerable. Use can be made, however, of heavy manila paper, made large enough by sticking two large sheets together. Some printers can now rule this paper in squares to suit the convenience of the worker; but these guiding-lines ought to be faint, and not so heavy as to overpower the lines of the chart. The instructor can also have a blackboard ruled with faint white lines, after the manner of co-ordinate paper, in his room, on which he can in half an hour put a simple chart, ready for the coming lecture. Different colored crayons serve the purpose admirably. Students can then use co-ordinate paper in their notes, [140] and draw off an accurate copy of the chart in a few moments, before or after the lecture. This is a necessary course, unless some more feasible method than now exists should be found by the instructor for multiplying copies from his single chart in such numbers as to supply all members of his class.
So far I have been speaking of charts for the class-room. Perhaps, in their own good time, such economic charts can be bought of educational agencies. But ordinary co-ordinate paper, on a small scale, is the best form in which first to construct the chart. It can be purchased in sheets at a small price, and is invaluable for both student and instructor. In fact, no lesson is more stimulating to a class than to give them the data of a subject and ask them to put it into graphic form with the use of such paper. For the first time they begin to realize that statistics are not dry; indeed, any one who has turned over the pages of Walker’s “Statistical Atlas” will find out for himself how the columns of census tables* can [141] talk to him in forms and colors not only without weariness, but with a sense of surprise at the interest they excite.
* Another successful attempt, on an elaborate scale, has been made with the materials of the census of 1880 by Messrs. Gannett and Hewes in Scribner’s “Statistical Atlas of the United States” (1885). [Fletcher Willis Hewes, Henry Gannett. Scribner’s Statistical Atlas of the United States: Showing by Graphic Methods Their Present Condition and Their Political, Social and Industrial Development. Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1884]
8. When the instructor comes to examinations he will find some difficulties in combining an ideal plan with actual conditions. In making out a paper he ought, of course, to keep in view that the questions should be selected so as to test not the memory, but the power of the pupil to apply principles. For this reason the ideal paper should contain nothing which the student has seen in that form before. The facts he is called upon to explain ought to be fresh ones, and the fallacies he is to examine should be such as he had not previously considered. This, however, is not wholly necessary. The explanation of parts of the subject is certain to be difficult enough to warrant questions upon them even if they have been referred to in the class-room many times before. For practical purposes, however, it seems best to remember that a class is composed of all kinds of persons, and, while the majority of [142] the questions should be of the character which I have described, yet at least a few easier and more encouraging questions should be set. In the examination-room the student, moreover, should be instructed to study each question with care, and avoid haste in answering, before he is sure that he has really caught the pivotal point of the question. Fairly good students often write about the question but do not answer it. It should be definitely understood that no credit is to be given for irrelevant answers. Then, also, the examination can be used as a teaching process; since, by inserting an important subject, the attention given to it at these times will be such as to keep it from speedy oblivion. Moreover, it will be well, as soon after the examination as possible, to read a good and a poor answer to each question before the class. They will know better what is expected of them in the future—like troops after their first fight. After such an examination the instructor will find his class much more disciplined and more ready to exert themselves in the intellectual wrestling. The vigorous preparation for the examination has really given [143] them a better grasp of the subject, and the teacher can easily bring on a warm discussion now, because they really know something and feel that they know it. In all this it is understood, of course, that I have had in mind written examinations.
9. When first approaching the study, it has been found to be of service to some minds to suggest that on the first reading of the textbook they note in the margins in a few penciled words the gist of each paragraph as it is read; then, at the close of the chapter, that the reader review it by means of his marginal notes, and, finally, make a general but brief synopsis of the chapter. This will both save time and teach that essential thing—how to study rapidly but thoroughly. It will destroy aimless reading, which is so common in these days of many books.
10. Inasmuch as a vigorous contact of mind with mind on a subject which students are approaching for the first time is necessary to produce something more than a cartilaginous or veal-like quality in their knowledge, it is desirable to stimulate discussion among members of [144] the class outside of the class-room. To accomplish this purpose, I know of no better plan than to recommend students to form temporary clubs of three or four persons to meet two or three times a week for an hour’s discussion of the questions and topics which have been suggested by the text-book, by newspapers, or by facts of every-day observation. Such discussions, if the evil of irrelevancy can be frowned upon, will toughen the intellectual fiber, and give the means also of getting more from the instructor through questions upon difficulties and disagreements which have arisen in the clubs.* Congenial persons might group themselves together in this way with profit to their economic progress, and gain something also in social pleasure of a healthy kind.
* When about twenty, John Stuart Mill met twice a week in Threadneedle Street, from 8.30 to 10 A. M., with a political economy club, composed of Grote, Roebuck, Ellis, Graham, and Prescott, in which they discussed James Mill’s and Ricardo’s books. It was understood that a topic should not be passed by until each member had had full chance for a discussion of his difficulties and objections. In these meetings Mill elaborated whatever he has added to the knowledge of political economy.
11. In advanced courses, much of what has been said in regard to details in the conduct of [145] the class will be less important, because the teaching is necessarily different in kind. Such courses naturally fall either (1) into those which continue to study principles, as in the systems of various writers or schools of political economy in the past and present, or (2) into those which treat historical or practical questions. In the former, the lecture system is unsatisfactory for reasons already given; for the members of the class should themselves be constantly wrestling with the fuller discussion of subjects in which they can hitherto have had only a general knowledge. Experience seems to show that a topic, furnished with references to writers, affords the best method of procedure. This, of course, implies a good working library and a list of reserved books.
In the practical courses a large part of the training consists in teaching the student how to use books, how to familiarize himself with the principal storehouses of statistics, such as the English “Parliamentary Documents,” or our own Government publications; how to collect his materials in a useful form; how to apply graphic representations wherever possible; in [146] brief, to learn how to carry on an investigation in the economic field. Of course, the familiarity with the facts of several of the leading questions of the day will form no small part of the advantage of such work. But the greatest good comes, of course, from putting the student on his own resources at once and forcing him to find his own materials, look up his own books and authorities, and come to a conclusion on the subject assigned to him independently of all aid or suggestion. The instructor can then at the conferences take up a paper for criticism and discussion, or first assign it to another member for that purpose. This is a feasible plan; but, if carried on throughout a whole course, it requires of the student in a regular college course so much time that his other work must suffer, and, in addition, but few subjects can be taken up in this thorough and leisurely way. This plan can be properly carried out only when there are a few persons able to devote their whole time to some economic investigations. In practice it has been found best to use the lecture system partially. One subject can be taken up by the instructor at regular exercises, [147] for which he furnishes beforehand the references, and partly lectures and partly discusses the subject with his class, thus guiding them steadily over the field and directing the disposition of the time to be devoted to each subject. In this way many more subjects can be reached during the year. But the advantages of the investigating method can be partly retained by requiring a monograph from each member of the class on a practical subject of his own selection from a list prepared by the instructor, and this thesis can count for attendance on part of the lecture-work. In this thesis the student is pushed to do his best to give a really serious study to some particular topic, and he is expected to do it independently of any aid beyond general oversight and direction; and he is warned that the paper will be of greater value, provided it contains the bibliography of the subject and constant reference by page and volume to his authorities.
12. The preparation of bibliographies is part of a teacher’s duty. Moreover, he who has access to a rich and well-appointed library can do a service to the rest of his guild by leaving [148] behind him notes of his bookish experiences. He can in a few words say whether a book is good or bad for a particular use, or indicate what part of it contains a valuable discussion or useful facts in a subject within his study. For this purpose it has been a great convenience to have little blank-books of ordinary stiff manila paper, six inches by three, with each sheet perforated like postage-stamps near the butt of the book, so that it can be torn off smoothly. On each page a book can be entered under a suitable heading, with its exact title and author, and room still be left for a very generous amount of criticism or commendation, or for noting the contents of the book. The cards can be laid away alphabetically by subjects in a drawer, and will prove of invaluable aid at many times. Books of which one has heard but never seen, can also be entered with a star, to be erased when a book has been examined. This systematic habit is peculiarly desirable when one is hunting for the facts of a certain subject. By this means one will be saved the loss of time caused by failure to remember where a statement has once been seen.
[149] 13. In the foregoing remarks on methods of teaching political economy, I have kept in mind persons of the age and maturity possessed by usual college students. As a rule, these are the only persons who are given instruction in this subject. Still, knowing as we do the need of simple elementary instruction in political economy in the secondary and high schools, so that younger pupils of less maturity than the college student ought to have good effective teaching, something ought to be said as to the methods which may be serviceable for such classes.
A difficulty with which we are met at the outset is the lack of training among high-school teachers for original and suggestive object teaching in economics. Any scheme, based on such a system, implies the possession of a very considerable economic training by the teachers. What is meant may be seen by the following excellent suggestions for certain parts of the study made by Dr. Ely:*
* In “Methods of Teaching and Studying History,” edited by G. Stanley Hall, p. 63.
“The writer has indeed found it possible to [150] entertain a school-room full of boys, varying in age from five to sixteen, with a discourse on two definitions of capital—one taken from a celebrated writer, and the other from an obscure pamphlet on socialism by a radical reformer. As the school was in the country, illustrations were taken from farm-life, such as corn-planting and harvesting, and from the outdoor sports of the boys, such as trapping for rabbits.”
In teaching the functions of money, the following approach to the subject, suggested by the same writer as a means of awakening an interest, is a good one: “Take into the classroom the different kinds of money in use in the United States, both paper and coin, and ask questions about them, and talk about them. Show the class a greenback and a national banknote, and ask them to tell you the difference. After they have all failed, as they probably will, ask some one to read what is engraved on the notes, after which the difference may be further elucidated.”
If the teacher is sufficiently master of the subject to proceed by such ways to acquire a [151] hold on the young pupil he will probably not— as things now go—be found in a high school. It is to be hoped that he may in the future; but, until that is the fact, some more practicable method of teaching must be adopted. Much must, therefore, depend on the text-book. But no fully satisfactory one is available for such purposes. Of existing books the following may be suggested: W. S. Jevons’s “Primer of Political Economy” (1878). This little treatise is marred by the treatment of utility and value; but yet it is a really good sketch of the subject in 134 pages. The teacher can further illustrate the principles to his class by familiar facts, as already explained. The instructor should set forth distinctly in his mind, as a general object to be kept before him, the attempt to leave in the understanding of his pupils some simple principle in each case. If he is talking of capital, the several illustrations should all lead the pupil back to the essential truth which is finally to be stated in general terms. Then, the pupil, when reviewing, should be required to reverse the process, and then called on for principles and asked to illustrate them. The aim of the [152] teacher should be, after awakening interest, not simply to teach some few facts to which economic principles apply, but to try to drive home a few fundamental truths, and exercise the pupil, as far as time and skill allow, in tracing their operation in facts. For economic facts are constantly shifting, while principles do not. A boy taught how properly to view one set of facts about paper money will go all right as long as the conditions remain exactly the same, but when they change he is very badly off for guidance. In elementary teaching, therefore, the teacher should aim at giving a clear comprehension of simple principles, and at offering materials for practice in applying these principles. Much, consequently, which has been said in regard to more mature students will be equally applicable to the teaching of young boys.
In this brief and inadequate way I have attempted to suggest from my own experience what may enable others to avoid difficulties, and possibly to aid in a more rational method of teaching political economy. It is scarcely more [153] probable that what I have said is all new than that others should agree with me throughout in what I have advanced; nor is it unlikely that other teachers may have many other suggestions to make in addition to mine. If my efforts may call them out and aid in better methods of teaching, I shall be amply repaid.
THE END.
Source: J. Laurence Laughlin. The Study of Political Economy: Hints to Students and Teachers. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1885. Chapter V (pp. 115-153).
Image Source: From the University of Chicago yearbook Cap & Gown 1907.
