This Bulletin is the organ of expression of the History Teachers of Texas. The editors disclaim responsibility for statements of fact or Entered as second-class mail matter at the postoffice at Austin, Texas The benefits of education and of useful knowledge, generally diffused through a community, are essential to the preservation of a free government. Sam Houston, 253953 Cultivated mind is the guardian genius of democracy. . . . It is the only dictator that freemen acknowledge and the only security that freemen desire. Mirabeau B. Lamar. NOMIC HISTORY IN THE HIGH SCHOOL HISTORY COURSES History, as a subject of instruction in the High Schools, has not yet come to its own. In spite of all the literature on history teaching, and the efforts that are being made to make it realize its possibilities, history is in danger of being supplanted by other subjects, to which it is in no sense inferior in educational promise. The blame for this must be laid at the door of the history teacher, for in the great majority of secondary schools, history as taught fails to realize the results that might reasonably be expected. History as a subject is suffering from the sins of those who profess to give instruction in it. The criticisms of history are partly due to the present day clamor for instruction in practical subjects. Extremists of the modern educational propaganda seem to feel the necessity of eliminating all information that cannot find direct, practical application in life. History need yield no ground on this point, for, if taught correctly, it can give a training and point of view that are most beneficial in every day affairs. However, intent on rearranging the High School curriculum, reformers are presenting various plans for shortening or shifting the emphasis of the history course. It is quite probable that a better arrangement than that of the Committee of Seven may be found, but the suggested reforms do not seem to be entirely bona fide efforts to improve the position of history. This paper wishes to suggest what influences. may be responsible for these proposed changes and to consider briefly their validity. The present widespread interest in social and economic questions, consciously or unconsciously, has produced a changed attitude toward the study of history. At least that is the contention of this paper. The changes that have taken place in our national lines of development during the last decade have increasingly forced economic questions upon the attention of all classes of people. There has been a growing demand for information on all such subjects, to which the newspapers and popular magazines have generously responded. The average citizen is becoming more and more alive to the necessity of finding solutions to the economic |