From the standpoint of education no less than from the standpoint of history, it is desirable to discover the conditions, if such conditions exist, under which history as now conceived by historians may furnish material for history in the elementary school.

When the facts of history are examined with a view to discovering some principle of gradation based upon the degree of difficulty in apprehending them, it appears that the simplest problems are those connected with forming conceptions of how men looked and what their material environment was like.

The kind of progression in degree of difficulty that has been indicated would suggest the material aspects of the past as a natural foundation for elementary history. It is here that differences in conditions affected by the presence of man are most apparent, and that the idea of change in the world, so fundamental in the development of the historical sense, can be most readily appreciated. Here also a certain sense of proportion may from the outset be cultivated.

In the later years of the elementary school the character of the history presented is determined very largely by the standard text-books. While these have in some respects been greatly improved of late, most of them still carry the earmarks of failure to overcome the dread of leaving something out sufficiently to afford space for something to be put in.

Up to this point history has been treated as if it represented a body of assured knowledge, and as if the problem of historical instruction in the elementary school were confined to interpreting selected portions of this knowledge. Such is the general conception of school history.

The main difficulty is a lack of conviction on the subject among teachers. The lack of conviction is due in part to a lack of acquaintance with histories of the better sort, and with historical literature proper, for which, teachers, under present conditions of training, can scarcely be held responsible, and in part to a prevalent belief that material confessedly not historical, in any strict sense, possesses, in addition to its other merits, the virtue of instilling a taste for serious history.

The question of what is really important to know in history must always be with us. Each age looks at the past in its own way and records itself from the standpoint of its own dominant interests.

The whole question of aims and values in history as a school study is one too largely determined from data established by mere assertion to be quite conclusive. The way, after all, to find out whether history can be presented to children is to expose them to history, and the way to determine the value of historical instruction is to observe the results of historical instruction.

The conclusions indicated in the course of this discussion can to a certain extent be tested by the use of the materials inserted in the body of the paper. For teachers who may be disposed to extend the test, a short list of books is here appended.