colonial days may be clarified by a comparison of the fundamental phases of that life with the fundamental phases of his own. A comparison of the houses, furniture, methods of lighting, heating, cooking, travel, transportation, pastime, forms of etiquette, and the conventions of those times, with those of to-day, will remove many of the absurd notions we may have of colonial life.

One will understand and appreciate human purpose and effort, the products of toil, the adequacy of knowledge and training, the sanity of styles and fashions, the soundness of judgments, and the worthiness of motives, by comparing them with those which have stood the test of time. Vagueness and uncertainty are clarified and made certain not by complicated and extended explanation, but by sane and adequate comparisons.

1

Comparison Stimulates the Memory. - Comparison not only provokes and clarifies thought, but it stimulates and strengthens the memory. Jones and Pearson2 have demonstrated that correct forms in spelling are held more tenaciously when they are taught by comparative methods than when presented in isolation.

We can retain with greater certainty the normal yield of wheat of the great wheat-producing countries of the world by a comparative study of their production. Through comparison we more easily remember that Russia and the United States each before the World War produced in round numbers 700,000,000 bushels of wheat annually, that India produced one-half as much, while France and Austria-Hungary before the war each yielded slightly more than one-third that amount.

1 In an unpublished report by W. Franklin Jones.

2 Henry C. Pearson, Journal of Educational Psychology. Vol. 2, 241.

Most eighth-grade children have little control of the facts relative to the sugar products of the world, since the yield of each country was learned in isolation. When, however, it is held up in comparison, retention is easy. A comparison of India's and Cuba's production of 2,000,ooo tons of cane sugar each, with that of the United States, which is three-fifths of that amount, gives an accessible latch-string to one's memory. A comparison of the beet sugar yield before the World War ranks Germany first, Russia second, Austria-Hungary third, France fourth, the United States fifth, and Belgium sixth. This comparison at this time is especially pertinent, since it gives one an insight into the prices which now prevail as well as into the relative supply of this food product in the other countries. All facts are vivified, and their relative values emphasized, by comparison.

Illustrations without number can be drawn from the great fields of knowledge to substantiate the efficacy of comparison in the teaching process. Unfortunately certain traditional schoolroom practices prevent its free and most effective use.

Modern Textbooks Employ Comparison. — Textbooks are just beginning to use comparison effectively. Our better geographers are putting comparative diagrams and maps in the back of their books. Some historians are inserting here and there a set of comparative maps in their newer works.

Objective Standards Force Comparison. No single feature in school administration has been quite so far-reaching in its results as that of employing objective standards in the determination of teaching efficiency. The economic maxim, "put the oil where the squeak is," is being applied

to the teaching process with splendid results. It must be borne in mind that the determination of standards and their application both depend upon a sane use of comparison.

The demand for more efficiency in the teaching process is focusing our attention upon the relative value of teaching methods. It is revealing the fact that we make too little use of what we know, in grasping the unfamiliar. It is reasonably certain that teaching efficiency may be enhanced by giving greater care to the organization of facts already possessed and by comparing these facts with the new materials at hand.

CHAPTER XII

APPLICATION OF PRINCIPLES TO READING

Industries Employ Expert Knowledge. The scientific advance in the half-century just past has materially influenced every phase of organized effort. The field of industry, especially, has made much of this expert knowledge. Private and public enterprises have increased their output and improved the quality of the finished product. By means of improved methods wastes have been practically eliminated and energy has been conserved.

The meat-packing industry alone exemplifies the marvelous influence that conservation has had in the industries. Under the new régime materials that were once wasted are now converted into useful products. The dirt on the skin of the steer is saved for fertilizer; his hair is made into brushes, cushions, mattresses, and shoddy; his hoofs, horns, and the marrow of his bones yield an abundance of glue; his hide is transformed into leather; his bones are converted into handles for brushes and knives, into hairpins, combs, buttons, and boneblack; his fat yields oleomargarine, soaps, and extracts; while his life blood is carried away to fertilize soils, improve paper, and purify sugar. Moreover, through the touch of science this great industry has materially added to our food and has improved its quality as well.

- If applied

Schools Must Employ Expert Knowledge.. science can thus enhance the value of the steer it should, when applied to the child, produce results of vastly greater interest. We cannot refrain from suggesting that it is extremely embarrassing to the schoolmaster that he needs. to draw his inspiration for scientific teaching from, the butchers of hogs and cattle. If it pays to conserve energy through the application of scientific principles in the preparation of foodstuffs, certainly it pays infinitely more to apply scientific principles in preparing the child to meet his social obligations and to enjoy his social heritage. Just to the degree that the various phases of the teaching process are understood and this knowledge is efficiently applied, just to that extent are we applying scientific principles to our teaching.

Every effort for the serious consideration of the worthwhileness of subject-matter and method is indicative of economy in education. With a better understanding of social problems on the one hand, and of psychological principles on the other, we are better enabled to economize in the selection of materials and method. Materials are judged in terms of social standards, and processes are sanctioned to the degree that they ultimately result in a maximum efficiency.

SOME BASIC PRINCIPLES

Interest is Valuable. The doctrine of interest has been long associated with the process of learning. Continued attention without any immediate or mediated interest is, from a pedagogical point of view, an absurdity. One persistently attends to that which has a paramount interest for him and ignores that which makes no appeal. If we