RIVERSIDE TEXTBOOKS IN EDUCATION EDITED BY ELLWOOD P. CUBBERLEY PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UniverSITY RIVERSIDE TEXTBOOKS IN EDUCATION ED EDITED BY ELLWOOD P. CUBBERLEY RURAL LIFE AND EDUCATION. By E. P. CUBBERLEY, Professor of Education, Leland Stanford Junior University. $1.50 net. Postpaid. THE HYGIENE OF THE SCHOOL CHILD. By L. M. TERMAN, Associate Professor of Education, Leland Stanford Junior University. $1.65 net. Postpaid. THE EVOLUTION OF THE EDUCATIONAL IDEAL. By MABEL I. EMERSON, First Assistant in Charge of the George Bancroft School, Boston. $1.00 net. Postpaid. HEALTH WORK IN THE SCHOOLS. By E. B. HOAG, M.D., Medical Director, Long Beach City Schools, Cal., and L. M. TERMAN. $1.60 net. Postpaid. DISCIPLINE AS A SCHOOL PROBLEM. By A. C. PERRY, JR., District Superintendent of Schools, New York City. $1.25 net. Postpaid. HOW TO TEACH THE FUNDAMENTAL SUBJECTS. By C. N. KENDALL, Commissioner of Education for New Jersey, and G. A. MIRICK, formerly Deputy Commissioner of Education for New Jersey. $1.25 net. Postpaid. TEACHING LITERATURE IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES AND HIGH SCHOOL. By EMMA M. BOLENIUS, formerly Instructor in English, Central Commercial and Manual Training High School, Newark, N. J. $1.25 net. Postpaid. PUBLIC SCHOOL_ADMINISTRATION. By E. P. CUBBERLEY. In press. TEACHING LITERATURE IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES BY EMMA MILLER BOLENIUS, A. M. FORMERLY INSTRUCTOR IN ENGLISH CENTRAL COMMERCIAL AND MANUAL EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION THERE has been much criticism, during the past two decades, of the teaching of English literature in our schools and colleges. The earlier teaching of English was characterized largely by a type of instruction which tried to inspire pupils through their contact with the classics of our language, and to awaken in them an enduring love of both poetry and prose. The work being in large part interpretation and somewhat inspirational in nature, calling for much from the teacher and less than in most other subjects from the pupils, teachers in other subjects more susceptible to drill tended to characterize the instruction as "snap work." Stung by this criticism, teachers of English went for a time to the other extreme, substituted a detailed analysis of a few masterpieces for the more extensive reading which had formerly been the practice, and in time reduced the instruction to a monotonous and almost lifeless type of intensive study. Historical and mythological allusions were to be looked up, collateral reading was prescribed, notebooks were to be compiled, and the work was made so heavy, and often so uninteresting, that no charge of "snap" could be brought against it. As all questions of instruction have recently come to be studied more in the light of a sound pedagogy, certain changes in our ideas as to desirable means and ends in instruction have resulted. One of these changes has been a marked reaction against a "grind" type of teaching in a subject so full of life and feeling as literature. It has been felt that it is possible to combine the inspirational element with some serious thinking and work, and thus to provide a type of instruction which will include the best of both the |