structed
the tutors of Frederick (later the Great) to teach the history of the
last fifty years to the exactest pitch. So important is this that,
even when teaching early periods, constant contrasts or comparisons
with present conditions should be made, and the descent of ideas and
institutions to modern times should be sketched, as it shows the
student that remote events or institutions have a relationship to
current life.

=Disciplinary values of history=

Certain special aims of history have been advocated. It is held to be
of disciplinary value, especially in strengthening the memory. Though
this is true, it is hardly a good reason for studying history, as the
memory can be perfected on almost anything, on the dictionary, poetry,
formulae, family records, gossip, or cans on grocery shelves, some of
which may indeed be of more practical value than dates. In college, at
least, history should aim to explain social tendencies and processes
in a rational way rather than to develop the memory. The latter method
tends to make the student passive and narrow, the former requires
cerebration and develops breadth and depth of vision. Understanding
history, rather than memorizing it, has cultural value. To be sure,
understanding presupposes information; but where there is a desire to
understand, the process of seeking and acquiring the information is
natural and tends to care for itself.

History is not a prerequisite to professional careers in the way
mathematics is to engineering; still, special periods, chiefly the
modern, are highly useful to lawyers, journalists, publicists,
statesmen, and others, each of whom selects what he finds most useful
to his purposes.

=Organization of courses in history--What to teach in the beginning course=

The point of view in history teaching is more material than the
machinery or methods employed. These must and should vary with persons
and conditions. Ordinarily, however, it seems preferable to offer some
part of European history as the first-year college course, because
students have usually had considerable American history in high
school, and the change adds new interest. Whether this course be
general, medieval, or modern European history is of little importance,
though, of course, medieval should precede modern history. In any
case, the course should offer the student a good deal more than he may
have had in high school, if for no other reason than to justify the
profound respe