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to freshmen an introductory course in the social sciences, comprising
mainly some elementary material from economics, sociology, and
political science. While there are some advantages in the effort to
give a general introduction to the social sciences, no practicable
content or method for such a course has yet been prepared. Moreover,
it seems likely now that such a general introduction will be
attempted either in the junior or in the senior high school. For
advanced work in the senior high school and for the introductory
college course reason and practice both favor a separation of these
subjects, with close correlation and constant consideration of the
interrelations.

=The introductory course=

It is customary to introduce students to the study of government
through a general course in American government, dealing briefly with
national, state, and local institutions. Other subjects, such as
comparative government,--including a consideration of some
representative foreign countries along with American government,--an
introductory course in political science, and international law, are
sometimes used as basic courses to introduce students to subsequent
work. The general practice in the introductory course seems to be
approaching a standard in which either American government is made the
basis of study, with comparisons from European practices and methods,
or European governments are studied, with attention by way of
comparison to the American system of government. The Committee of
Seven of the American Political Science Association offered the
following suggestions relative to the introductory course, which it
seems well to quote in full. The Committee recommended that:

American government be taken as the basis for the introductory
course because it is convinced that there is an imperative need
for a more thorough study of American institutions, because the
opportunity for this study is not now offered in any but a few of
the best secondary schools, and because it is exceedingly
important that the attention of an undergraduate be directed
early in his course to a vital personal interest in his own
government, national, state, and local. Instruction in political
science is rarely given until the second or third year of the
college work, and thus unless American government is selected for
the first course only a small percentage of students receive
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