[ p. v ]
The Story of Human Progress is a preview of social studies.
The purpose of this preview is simple — and at the same time ambitious. It seeks to give the pupil a coherent view of the main forces or factors involved in living together in society. It seeks to give him a simple, consistent framework to which he may attach his later thinking and experience, to the end that he may come to think of life as a whole rather than as a series of scattered fragments and to the further end that he may become quahfied “to take an intelligent and effective part in an evolving society.”
It is of the utmost importance that the pupil of junior high school age be given such a framework. In general terms, his earlier educational experience has been designed primarily to give him sound habits and good tools with which to work. Now a new range of activities opens up. In his later educational experience, and for the rest of his life, he will give much time and attention to matters connected with living in an evolving society. If at the outset of these new activities he is given a simple outline of them, he can be saved much of the bewilderment that is so characteristic of those who have never seen society as a whole and consequently have never understood their own part in it.
Such a project, ambitious as it is, is quite within the abilities of the pupil of junior high school age. In ability to read, in power of sustained attention, and in ability to grasp generalizations, he is ready for the task. All that is necessary is to present the main aspects of human culture simply, so that they are readily grasped; and at the same time to present them with scientific perspective, so that later studies may be built upon a sound foundation.
[ p. vi ]
I. The framework of this present preview is simple. In effect it takes the position that, for the pupil of junior high school age, it is sufficient to talk of four main aspects of living together. They are summed up in these expressions:
II. This simple framework is simply presented from a pedagogical point of view.
Since our own society is tremendously complex and difficult to explain, the pupil is first shown (very briefly) in Part I that our own ways of living together are really quite new and that man has had a long, hard climb in the process of attaining them. Then he is given a fairly complete picture of living together in earlier and simpler societies. This gives him something with which to compare (and thus better to understand and evaluate) our own living. Quite as [ p. vii ] important, it makes him familiar with the concepts, “harnesser,” “communicator,” “social organizer,” and “aspirer,” for the discussion of these earlier societies is organized around these four basic concepts.
With the way thus prepared, Parts II, III, IV, and V take up, in turn, the four basic concepts. The treatment is concrete, not abstract, being built up by means of series of type cases. The concepts and the type cases are not discussed for their own sake or as ends in themselves. Always their meaning and significance in social living are emphasized. Always the tj’pe cases and the illustrations are drawn from the realm of the pupil’s own understanding and experiences. Always they are pointed toward making an organic whole of his experiences and knowledge. Always the discussion culminates in a consideration of the factors involved in living together well.
The text is paralleled by Readings in the Story of Human Progress, which extends the discussion of concrete material and type cases beyond the limits possible in a text.
III. The simple framework is presented with scientific perspective so that later thinking and experience may be attached to it.
The pupil’s later work in the physical and biological sciences and in their application to the arts of life will tie into the discussion of man the hamesser of nature. His later work m languages, trade, and transportation will tie into the discussion of man the communicator. His later work in the social sciences and his participation in organized society will tie into the discussion of man the social organizer. His later wCrk and thinking in ethics, art, research, and religion will tie into the discussion of man the idealist and aspirer. This is what should be expected. Since these are four frmdamental aspects of living together, they [ p. viii ] should be expectecT to reach out into all branches of our organized knowledge and into all parts of our living.
This preview is submitted to the educational world only after careful study and testing. I refer not so much to a fairly long apprenticeship in the social sciences and to fairly intensive work in attempting to see them as an organic whole, as to the actual preparation of this preview. That process has run through many years. Participation with Mr. Charles H. Judd in the preparation of the Lessons in Community and National Life, issued in 1917-f8 by the United States Bureau of Education and the Food Admijiistration, marked the first publication of material for school use. Since that date the plan of the preview has been worked over repeatedly with social scientists and educational experts. The material itself has been mimeographed, printed, criticised by teachers, and tested in class use.
Teachers will find that the accompanying Readings will supply much illustrative material. Then, too, the publishers have provided a pamphlet called Notes to Teachers to Accompany the Story of Human Progress. And an arrangement has been made with the Home Study Department of the University of Chicago for a course called “The Story of Human Progress,” open to teachers of the material.
Kindly criticism and suggestions concerning the plan and scope of the work have been so numerous that it would seem pretentious to put the list in print. But I must mention the generosity of Professors Harry E. Barnes, Charles H. Cooley, Edgar Dawson, Charles A. Ellwood, Max Farrand, William S. Gray, Alexander Inglis, Charles H. Judd, Harry Pratt Judson, Isador Loeb, Thomas J. McCormack, Henry C. Morrison, Clyde O. Ruggles, Samuel C. Parker, Arthur M. Schlesinger, Arthur P. Scott, and Albion W. Small.
[ p. ix ]
Then, too, experts in various fields have saved me from many sins of omission and commission. Among others, there were Charles H. Beeson, James C. Boykin, Sophonisba P. Breckinridge, Jay F. Christ, Walter E. Clark, Elliot R. Downing, Henry G. Gale, Rollo L. Lyman, Leverett S. Lyon, Mary F. McAuley, John M. Manly, Charles E. Merriam, Henry W. Prescott, Hermann I. Schlesinger, Frank H. Vizetelly, Clark Wissler, and Chester W. Wright.
Many ideas, sentences, and paragraphs have been contributed by the following collaborators and teachers who have studied and tested the material: Ann E. Brewington, Delia C. Briggs, Jeanette Wade Cox, Leona Bachrach Graham, Mary Quayle Innis, Hazel Kyrk, Olga Law, Lyla I. Rowe, Fred L. Schwass, Edith E. Shepherd, Katharine M. Stilwell, and Mildred Janovsky Wiese. May Hardman Gilruth furnished many of the illustrations.
My indebtedness to others is very great. I can, indeed, lay claim to little or no originality except in plan and arrairgement. A painstaking effort has been made to give acknowledgment of all printed sources of material. If I have failed to do so in any case, it is because the long period of preparation and the many forms into which the material has from time to time been cast have caused original references to be misplaced.
It is appropriate that I should make particular mention of the generous assistance of the Commonwealth Fund.
Leon C. Marshall
Chicago, September 1, 1924