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![22 WHY TEACH SOCIAL STUDIES?
However, around 1987, he began to take aim against what he considered “the corrupt secular
governments of the Muslim Middle East and the Western powers.” By January 2001, U.S.
officials considered him responsible for masterminding the 1998 bombings of two U.S.
embassies in Africa that killed more than 200 people and suspected him of involvement in the
October (2000) bombing of the destroyer Cole in Yemen, which killed 17 sailors.
Headline: “U.S. Spied on Its World War II Allies” (August 11, 1993)
According to newly declassified documents, the United States operated an enormous and
previously unknown spy network aimed at our allies during World War II. It included reports
on General Charles DeGaulle, leader of the free French forces, Belgium, Greece, Mexico, China,
and Switzerland, as well as information from Germany and Japan. Documents from the Soviet
Union were not made public; however, information on our Soviet allies is contained in some of
the other reports. Communications with Latin American governments show that, toward the end
of the war, the United States was working to develop a united front to oppose the Soviet Union
in the postwar world. The files also contain a memorandum from a German diplomat indicating
that leaders of the Japanese army were willing to surrender more than three months before the
United States dropped nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, even if the terms were hard.
Headline: “Arthur Randolph, 89, Developer of Rocket in First Apollo Flight”
(January 3, 1996)
An obituary for Arthur Randolph appeared in The New York Times in 1996. When he died,
Randolph was living in Hamburg, Germany. He had left the United States and returned to
Germany in 1984 after the U.S. Justice Department accused him of working thousands of slave
laborers to death while he was the director of a German factory that produced V rockets
during World War II.
Randolph, who was the project manager for the Saturn rocket system used on Apollo
flights, was 1 of 118 German rocket scientists who were secretly brought to the United States
after the war. At the time he entered the United States, Randolph was considered an ardent
Nazi by the U.S. military and a war criminal by both West German and U.S. officials.
Try it yourself:
1. In your opinion, what motivated U.S. actions in each case?
2. Develop an historical explanation that connects the information from the articles. Explain
your hypothesis.
Think it over:
1. Do you consider the information contained in these headlines and summaries important
historical facts? Why?
2. In your opinion, can historians make sense of historical facts without also developing
theories of historical explanation? Explain your views.
It’s your classroom:
1. Would you use these articles in a middle school or high school class? Why? How?
2. Would you express your views during the course of discussion? Why?
Teaching Activity: Defining History
• Lord Acton (Sir J.E.E. Dalberg), 1896: “It [The Cambridge Modern History] is a unique opportunity
of recording . . . the fullness of the knowledge which the nineteenth century is about to
bequeath. . . . Ultimate history we cannot have in this generation; but . . . all information is
within reach, and every problem has become capable of solution” (Carr, 1961: 3).
• Sir George Clark, 1957 (Introduction to The New Cambridge Modern History): “Historians . . .
expect their work to be superseded again and again. They consider that knowledge of the
past has come down through one or more human minds, has been processed by them. . . .
The exploration seems to be endless, and some impatient scholars take refuge in skepticism,](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/1218584-250605214002-4ea96907/75/Social-Studies-For-Secondary-Schools-Teaching-To-Learn-Learning-To-Teach-2nd-Edition-Alan-J-Singer-39-2048.jpg)
![WHAT IS HISTORY?
Frequently it is confusing when a term is
used in more than one way, especially
when it is used to describe related con-
cepts. In essays discussing political bat-
tles over the teaching of evolution and
creationism in public schools, Stephen Jay
Gould (1983: 253–62) explains that scien-
tists since Charles Darwin have used the
word evolution to mean both the fact that
life on earth changes over time as new
species develop and to describe theories
such as natural selection that explain how
and why these changes take place. Gould
believes that the dual meaning of evolu-
tion as both fact and theory has either
been misunderstood or misused by advo-
cates of creationism, who dismiss the fact
of evolution as just one among a number
of possible theories.
The definition of history is even more
complicated because it refers to a number
of different but related concepts. If we
accept E. H. Carr’s view that historians,
along with scientists and social scientists,
are engaged in an active process of asking
questions, seeking out information, and
forming explanations that enable society to
understand and master our environment,
what we commonly refer to as history actu-
ally includes a series of distinct but related
ideas: (1) events from the past—“facts,”
(2) the process of gathering and organizing
information from the past—historical re-
search, (3) explanations about the relation-
ships between specific historical events,
and (4) broader explanations or “theories”
about how and why change takes place.
History is the past, the study of the past,
and explanations about the past.
Other factors adding to the complexity
of studying history are the differing expe-
riences and ideas of historians from dif-
ferent societies and the fact that historians
are trying to understand an incomplete
process that continues to take place
around them. In 1896, living in a world
where European—especially British—
cultural, economic, and political domi-
nance in world affairs seemed unshak-
able, Lord Acton argued that ultimate
history, the ability to know and explain
everything of importance, was within our
grasp. Two horrific world wars and nu-
merous revolutions that shook the confi-
dence of European society, changed the
situation, however. While Acton and his
colleagues possessed certainty, Sir George
Clark, a successor of Acton as an editor
of The Cambridge Modern History, was over-
whelmed by the difficulty of establishing
an objective account of history and ac-
cepted that historians would continually
reinterpret the past. Clark recognized that
every generation and community answers
CHAPTER 1 23
or at least in the doctrine that, since all historical judgments involve persons and points of
view, one is as good as another and there is no objective historical truth” (Carr, 1961: 4).
• E. H. Carr (1961: 111): “Scientists, social scientists, and historians are all engaged in different
branches of the same study: the study of man [sic] and his environment, of the effects of man
on his environment and of his environment on man. The object of the study is the same: to
increase man’s understanding of, and mastery over, his environment.”
• Lawrence “Yogi” Berra, Hall of Fame catcher and former manager of the New York Yankees
and Mets, during the 1973 National League pennant race (1989: 6–7) “It ain’t over til it’s over”.
Add your voice to the discussion:
Which of these four quotes (or other statements of your choice) comes closest to your view of
history? Explain your answer.](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/1218584-250605214002-4ea96907/75/Social-Studies-For-Secondary-Schools-Teaching-To-Learn-Learning-To-Teach-2nd-Edition-Alan-J-Singer-40-2048.jpg)
![I do not believe there are any indepen-
dent objective criteria for establishing a
particular event or person as historically
important. The status of a fact rests on its
importance in explaining the causes of
events that interest historians and soci-
eties. The Italian historian Benedetto
Croce (Carr, 1961: 23) argued that essen-
tially all history is contemporary history
because people read the past and decide
on what is important in the light of cur-
rent problems and issues. The attitude of
U.S. historians toward the 19th-century
presidency of Andrew Jackson is an ex-
ample of this at work. During the New
Deal, Jackson’s presidency was cited as
an historical precedent for democratic
participation and a reformist spirit. How-
ever, since the Civil Rights movement of
the 1960s, Jackson’s ownership of en-
slaved Africans and attacks on the rights
of native peoples have led to a reevalua-
tion of his role in U.S. history.
Weighing the historical importance of
facts is also a problem because they are
continually screened through the decades
and centuries. Historians are forced to
draw major conclusions based on limited
information that was preselected by con-
temporaries, considered important by
earlier generations of historians, or sur-
vived because of fortuitous accident. For
example, our picture of life in ancient
Greece and the belief that it was the inspi-
ration for modern democracy is unduly
influenced by what we know about a
very small group of free male citizens liv-
ing in the city-state of Athens.
Recognizing that facts take on meaning
within the context of explanations, and
that the historical record is, at best, in-
complete, does not mean that all facts
carry the same weight and that all inter-
pretations are equally valid. Within the
historical craft, accuracy is an obligation,
interpretations must be supported by evi-
dence, and evidence is subject to review.
U.S. historian Carl Becker argued that the
facts of history do not exist for any histo-
rian till he [sic] creates them (Carr, 1961:
23). If we want our students to become
historians, we need to involve them in de-
ciding which facts are important for un-
derstanding history and what criteria to
use when making decisions, instead of
focusing our efforts on providing them
with lists of someone else’s important
facts.
26 WHY TEACH SOCIAL STUDIES?
Classroom Activity: A Worker Reads History by Bertolt Brecht*
Who built the seven towers of Thebes?
The books are filled with names of kings.
Was it kings who hauled the craggy blocks of stone?
And Babylon, so many times destroyed,
Who built the city up each time?
In which of Lima’s houses,
That city glimmering with gold, lived those who built it?
In the evening when the Chinese wall was finished
Where did the masons go? Imperial Rome
Is full of arcs of triumph. Who reared them up? Over whom
Did the Caesars triumph? Byzantium lives in song,
Were all her dwellings palaces?
And even in Atlantis of the legend
The night the sea rushed in,
The drowning men still bellowed for their slaves.
Young Alexander plundered India.
He alone?
Caesar beat the Gauls.](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/1218584-250605214002-4ea96907/75/Social-Studies-For-Secondary-Schools-Teaching-To-Learn-Learning-To-Teach-2nd-Edition-Alan-J-Singer-43-2048.jpg)
![National Council of Geography Teachers
in 1914.
Twentieth-century movements for ex-
panded government intervention in eco-
nomies and regulation of society, whether
called progressivism, bureaucratization, tech-
nocracy, fascism, or socialism, increased the
importance of the social sciences. In the
United States, the Great Depression and
the New Deal—government-industry part-
nership during World War II—and the in-
fluence of British economist John Maynard
Keynes contributed to an expanding role
for the social sciences in managing the cap-
italist economic system and in measuring
the impact of economic development and
government-sponsored social programs on
the general population.
Generally, the social sciences have dis-
tanced themselves from the study of
history by focusing on analysis of con-
temporary events, rigorous application of
social theory and research methods, and
the “scientific objectivity” of their find-
ings. At the dedication of a new social sci-
ence research building at the University
of Chicago in 1929, economist Wesley
Mitchell argued that the social sciences
represented the victory of the “man of
facts” over the “man of hunches” (Smith,
1994). John Merriam, president of the
Carnegie Foundation, believed that many
of the highly contested issues of the era
would “melt away” as soon as social sci-
entists had collected sufficient data to ob-
jectively resolve social policy debates.
Many economists and political scientists
concentrated on designing mathematical
descriptions and models of society. Some
sociologists and psychologists distin-
guished their fields from history and phi-
losophy by identifying them as behavioral
sciences. Although boundaries remained
between the disciplines, areas of study
continued to overlap. In recent years, his-
torians have increasingly incorporated
the theories, methodologies, and insights
of the social sciences while many social
scientists have added an historical dimen-
sion to their work. In addition, there have
always been social scientists such as soci-
ologists Robert Lynd, Gunnar Myrdal,
and C. Wright Mills who reject the possi-
bility of total objectivity and believe that
their research should support progressive
political goals (Smith, 1994).
In the United States, the importance of
history and the social sciences in educa-
tion has roots in the early national period.
Benjamin Rush, a physician in colonial
America who represented New York at
the Continental Congress and signed the
Declaration of Independence, argued that
education was vital to the development
of citizenship. Thomas Jefferson was an
early champion of including history and
geography in a basic education. During
the 19th century, history, geography, and
civics tended to be independent subjects,
with history gradually supplanting geog-
raphy as the dominant influence on cur-
riculum.
The idea of social studies as a compre-
hensive secondary school subject, includ-
ing history and the social sciences, was a
product of the move toward rationalizing
and standardizing education during the
Progressive era at the start of the 20th
century. In 1912, the National Education
Association created the Committee on the
Social Studies to reorganize the secondary
school curriculum. The committee, with
representatives from different social sci-
ence disciplines and educational con-
stituencies, issued a report in 1916 that
defined the social studies as “those whose
subject matter relates directly to the orga-
nization and development of human soci-
ety, and to 1 man [sic] as a member of
social groups” (U.S. Bureau of Education,
1916: 9). The committee also established
that the preparation of citizens was the
36 WHY TEACH SOCIAL STUDIES?](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/1218584-250605214002-4ea96907/75/Social-Studies-For-Secondary-Schools-Teaching-To-Learn-Learning-To-Teach-2nd-Edition-Alan-J-Singer-53-2048.jpg)
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- 6. Social Studies forSecondary Schools Teaching to Learn, Learning to Teach
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- 8. Social Studies for SecondarySchools Teaching to Learn, Learning to Teach SECOND EDITION Alan J. Singer and the Hofstra New Teachers Network 2003 LAWRENCE ERLBAUM ASSOCIATES, PUBLISHERS Mahwah, New Jersey London
- 9. Senior Acquisitions Editor:Naomi Silverman Textbook Marketing Manager: Marisol Kozlovski Editorial Assistant: Erica Kica Cover Design: Kathryn Houghtaling Lacey Textbook Production Manager: Paul Smolenski Full-Service Compositor: UG / GGS Information Services, Inc. Text and Cover Printer: Victor Graphics, Inc. This book was typeset in 12/14 Palatino, Bold, and Italic. The heads were typeset in Frutiger Bold. Copyright © 2003 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by photostat, microform, retrieval system, or any other means, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publishers 10 Industrial Avenue Mahwah, New Jersey 07430 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication-Data Singer, Alan J. Social studies for secondary schools : teaching to learn, learning to teach / Alan J. Singer, and the Hofstra Social Studies Educators, Hofstra University.—2nd ed. p. cm Includes index. ISBN 0-8058-4208-X (alk. paper) 1. Social sciences—Study and teaching (Secondary)—United States. I. Hofstra Social Studies Educators. II. Title. H62.5.U5S56 2003 300⬘.71⬘273—dc21 2002192825 Books published by Lawrence Erlbaum Assoicates are printed on acid-free paper, and their bindings are chosen for strength and durability. Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 This book is dedicated to the middle school and high school students who spent so much time teaching us how to become social studies teachers.
- 10. v Contents Preface . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .vii Introduction: Who Am I? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 I THINKING ABOUT SOCIAL STUDIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 1 Why Teach Social Studies? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 2 What Are Our Goals? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .62 3 How Do You Plan a Social Studies Curriculum? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .103 II PREPARING TO TEACH SOCIAL STUDIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 4 How Do You Plan a Social Studies Unit? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .143 5 How Do You Plan a Social Studies Lesson? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .175 6 What Are the Building Blocks of an Activity-Based Lesson? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .207 III IMPLEMENTING YOUR IDEAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243 7 How Can Social Studies Teachers Plan Controversy-Centered, Thematic, and Interdisciplinary Units? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .245 8 What Is a Project Approach to Social Studies? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .273
- 11. 9 How ShouldTeachers Assess Student Learning and Our Own Practice? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .300 10 What Resources Exist for Social Studies Classrooms? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .337 Name Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .375 Subject Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .379 vi CONTENTS
- 12. vii Preface to theSecond Edition “This book gives me ammunition to defend my view of teaching.” Dean Bacigalupo, Lincoln Orens Middle School, Island Park, New York, member of the Hofstra New Teachers Network I want to thank Naomi Silverman and the editors of Lawrence Erlbaum and Associ- ates for giving me the opportunity to pro- duce a second edition of Social Studies for Secondary Schools: Teaching to Learn/Learn- ing to Teach. The last five years (1997 to 2002) have been tumultuous times in our society, and secondary school social stud- ies teachers have been asked to play a major role in helping students (our soci- ety’s future leaders) understand events reshaping the country and the world. I have continued to work with the Hofstra Social Studies Educators (since renamed the New Teachers Network) (NTN) and these teachers’ contributions greatly strengthen my approach to teaching and enrich this book. In their classrooms they have had to grapple with the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Penta- gon, the U.S. response in Afghanistan and at home, and local issues in the New York metropolitan area such as charges of police brutality and racial profiling in minority communities, unequal school funding, and pressure to prepare students for standardized assessments. Although I have not had the opportu- nity to return to the secondary school classroom on a full-time basis, I have been fortunate that members of the NTN have “lent” me their classrooms during Januarys and Junes to experiment with new lessons, activities, and approaches to teaching. These “guest appearances” have helped me remain in practice as a teacher, to field-test a Great Irish Famine curriculum guide for the State of New York, and to edit material for Social Sci- ence Docket, a joint publication of the New York and New Jersey Councils for the So- cial Studies. I hope that readers familiar with both volumes of this text find that I have continued to grow as a social stud- ies teacher despite being stationed in a university teacher education program.
- 13. NEW IN THE SECONDEDITION The structure of the book and most of the topics examined in this second edition re- main the same as before, but every chap- ter has been updated and includes a number of new lesson ideas. These are es- pecially designed to help new teachers address learning standards, work in in- clusive settings, and promote literacy and the use of technology in social studies classrooms. I am pleased to see the new focus on document-based instruction and assessment in social studies, and I have worked with members of the NTN to de- velop sample activities that also can serve as tools for assessing student learning. Project or activity-based social studies in- struction and multicultural education have been under ever-increasing attack by proponents of traditional educational practices, so I have sharpened my defense of both of these approaches to teaching throughout the book. OVERVIEW This book integrates discussions of edu- cational goals and the nature of history and social studies with ideas for organiz- ing social studies curricula, units, lessons, projects, and activities. Sections include lesson ideas developed by new and expe- rienced middle school and high school social studies teachers. A major theme woven throughout the book is that what we choose to teach and the way we teach reflect our broader understanding of soci- ety, history, and the purpose of social studies education. The book is intended as either a pri- mary or support text in methods courses for undergraduate and graduate preser- vice social studies teachers. It should also be useful, however, for inservice training programs, as a reference for new social studies teachers, and as a resource for ex- perienced social studies educators who are engaged in rethinking their teaching practice. Part I, “Thinking about Social Studies,” includes chapters that focus on philosoph- ical issues such as the reasons for teaching and studying social studies (chap. 1), so- cial studies goals and standards (chap. 2), and the design of social studies curricula (chap. 3). Part II, “Preparing to Teach So- cial Studies,” is intended to be more prac- tical. It examines strategies for planning social studies units (chap. 4) and lessons (chaps. 5 and 6) and includes many sam- ple lesson ideas. These sections have new, extended discussions of inclusion and literacy. Part III, “Implementing Your Ideas,” explores topics such as thematic and interdisciplinary teaching (chap. 7), a project approach to social studies (chap. 8), and assessing student learning and our own performance as teachers (chap. 9). It concludes with a guide to social studies resource materials and organizations (chap. 10). This part of the book has ex- tended coverage of ideas for promoting literacy and the use of technology in social studies classrooms. Every chapter addresses a broad ques- tion about social studies education. Sec- tions within chapters begin with narrower questions that direct attention to specific educational issues. Chapters conclude with essays about related social studies topics. They also include sources for further reading, lesson “examples,” and teaching, learning, and classroom activities designed to provoke discussion and illustrate differ- ent approaches to teaching social studies. Inserts labeled Teaching Activities are as- signments and topics for discussion by students in university methods courses and social studies teachers. Classroom viii PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
- 14. Activities are samplelesson ideas de- signed for middle-level and high school students. Teachers and preservice teach- ers should experiment with some of these activities to see how they work and con- sider how they would use them in sec- ondary school classes. Learning Activities are intended to be useful activities and important topics for discussion in both secondary school social studies class- rooms and in university social studies methods courses. Activities are followed by four categories: Think it over, Add your voice to the discussion, Try it yourself, and It’s your classroom. GOALS AS AUTHOR AND TEACHER I am an historian with a specialization in the social history of the industrial United States and a former high school social studies teacher. When I write about social studies, I generally use historical exam- ples. I do not think this focus invalidates the points I raise about the social sciences, but I am prepared for criticism. I know this may sound heretical, but I do not think the specific content focus of a social studies curriculum should be the main concern; it is certainly not as important as taking a critical approach to any subject matter that is being explored. Social stud- ies curricula need structure. Although my organizing preference is chronology, this is not a rule. Many parts of this book are designed to hone in on points of contention. My in- tent is to promote dialogue between my- self as author and you as reader. Literacy specialists call this active approach to ex- amining a text and making meaning of it “reader response.” I hope that new teach- ers think about the ideas I am raising and agree or disagree with me and with each other. If you disagree with my biases, criticize them. That is one of the overall goals of social studies education and a purpose of this book. It is how we get to be social studies teachers. If you want to reach me, my address is Alan Singer, Department of Curriculum and Teaching, 113 Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY 11549. My e-mail ad- dress is [email protected]. We have much to do if we are going to become social studies teachers who have some say in shaping the debates in our profession and active citizens who influ- ence decisions in our society. So, let’s roll up our sleeves and get to work. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Alan J. Singer is the coordinator of the secondary school social studies program in the Department of Curriculum and Teaching of the Hofstra University School of Education. The Hofstra New Teachers Network (NTN) is a network of students and student teachers currently in the pro- gram, alumni, secondary school social studies teachers and administrators, co- operating teachers, field supervisors, and Hofstra faculty. NTN publishes a newslet- ter, sponsors two annual conferences, or- ganizes support teams for new teachers, and promotes participation in teacher development activities. Contributors to the second edition of So- cial Studies for Secondary Schools include Hofstra University teacher education stu- dents and graduates Christina Agosti-Dircks (Greenlawn, N.Y.); Lois Ayre (Garden City, N.Y.); Dean Bacigalupo (Island Park, N.Y.); Daniel Bachman (Massapequa, N.Y.); Jean- nette Balantic (Ardsley, N.Y.); Jennifer Bambino (Carle Place, N.Y.); Pamela Booth; Michael Butler (Baldwin, N.Y.); Vonda- Kay Cambell (Valley Stream, N.Y.); Jennie PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION ix
- 15. Chacko (Amityville, N.Y.);Lynda Costello- Hererra (Uniondale, N.Y.); Charles Cronin; Jennifer Debler (Baldwin, N.Y.); Henry Dircks (Bellmore-Merrick, N.Y.); Kenneth Dwyer (Oceanside, N.Y.); Robin Edwards (Levittown, N.Y.); Rachel Gaglione Thomp- son (Queens, N.Y.); Erin Hayden (Queens, N.Y.); Stephanie Hunte (Uniondale, N.Y.); Patricia Kafi (Lawrence, N.Y.); Laurence Klein (Queens, N.Y.); Robert Kurtz (Oyster Bay, N.Y.); Ken Leman (Brooklyn, N.Y.); Darren Luskoff (Mineola, N.Y.); Denise Lutz (East Meadow, N.Y.); Tammy Manor (Queens, N.Y.); Seth Margolin (Deer Park, N.Y.); William McDonaugh (Baldwin, N.Y.); Michael Pezone (Queens, N.Y.); Jennifer Palacio (Long Beach, N.Y.); Laura Pearson (Syosset, N.Y.); Lauren Rosenberg (Brooklyn, N.Y.); James Screven (Nassau County, N.Y.); Brendalon Staton (Hemp- stead, N.Y.); Richard Stern (Rockville Cen- tre, N.Y.); Adeola Tella (Uniondale, N.Y.); Diane Tully (Island Park, N.Y.); Bill Van Nostrand (Connectquot, N.Y.); Cynthia Vitere (Harborfields, N.Y.). I am especially proud that many of my former students are now cooperating teachers and adjunct in- structors in the Hofstra program. Contributors also include Barry Brody (former assistant principal, Franklin K. Lane HS, Brooklyn, N.Y.), Sheila Hanley (assistant principal, James Madison HS, Brooklyn, N.Y.), Charles Howlett (coop- erating teacher, Amityville, N.Y.), Rozella Kirchgaessner (high school staff devel- oper, Queens, N.Y.), Andrea Libresco (teacher, Oceanside, N.Y., and Hofstra adjunct), John McNamara (curriculum coordinator, West Windsor–Plainsboro Regional School District, N.J.), Kevin Sheehan (social studies coordinator, Oceanside, N.Y.), and Cheryl Smith (co- operating teacher, Hicksville, N.Y.). Mary Carter, Henry Dircks, Mary Hod- nett (Hofstra adjunct and field supervisor); Andrea Libresco, Margaret MacCurtain (University College, Dublin); Cecelia Mariani (Valley Stream, N.Y.); David Mor- ris (assistant principal, William Maxwell Vocational High School, Brooklyn, N.Y., and Hofstra adjunct); Rose Paternastro (Hofstra adjunct and field supervisor); Michael Pezone; and Leo Silverstone (Hof- stra field supervisor) were involved in plan- ning, discussing, and editing this book. A committee of teachers including Dean Bacigalupo (Island Park, N.Y.); Kelly Delia (Hicksville, N.Y.); Richard DeLucia (New York, N.Y.); Kenneth Dwyer (Oceanside, N.Y.); Michael Ferrarese (Brooklyn, N.Y.); Joslyn Fiorello (Northport, N.Y.); Joseph Hartig (Hicksville, N.Y.); Kenneth Kauf- man (Brooklyn, N.Y.); Steven Love; Jewella Lynch (Syosset, N.Y.); Michelle Maniscalco (Syosset, N.Y.); Tammy Manor (Queens, N.Y.); Seth Margolin (Deer Park, N.Y.); Daniel McKeon; Stephanie Morris; Laura Pearson (Syosset, N.Y.); Laura Pe- terson (East Rockaway, N.Y.); Kenneth Kapfar; Richard Stern (Rockville Centre, N.Y.); Nicole Theo (Islip, N.Y.); and Bill Van Nostrand (Connectquot, N.Y.) made suggestions to improve on the first edition of this book. Brian Messinger (Sewanaka, N.Y.) and Laura Vosswinkel were very ef- fective graduate student assistants and did yeoman duty checking references on the Internet and proofreading manuscript. Hofstra University School of Education and Allied Human Services faculty mem- bers Doris Fromberg, Selma Greenberg (deceased), Janice Koch, James Johnson, Maureen Miletta, Sally Smith, and Sharon Whitton made valuable contributions. Maureen Murphy, executive director of the New York State Great Irish Famine curriculum guide, and the English educa- tor at Hofstra and S. Maxwell Hines, the Hofstra Science educator, deserve special recognition. This book could not have been com- pleted without support from the Hofstra x PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
- 16. PREFACE TO THESECOND EDITION xi University Offices of Editing and Com- puter Services; the staff of the Curriculum Materials Center in Hofstra University’s Axinn Library, especially Harriet Hagen- bruch; the secretarial and administrative staff of the Hofstra University School of Education and Allied Human Services and the Department of Curriculum and Teaching; critical readings and sugges- tions by Dennis Banks (SUNY Oneonta), Kenneth Carlson (Rutgers University), Kathy Bickmore (University of Toronto), Stephan Thorton (Columbia University), and Pearl Oliner (Humbolt State Univer- sity), and the invaluable assistance of Naomi Silverman and her staff at Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Judith Y. Singer, former director of the MLE Learning Center in Brooklyn and as- sistant professor of Elementary Education at Long Island University–Brooklyn Campus, was a full partner in the devel- opment of the educational philosophy and teaching approaches presented in both the first and second editions of this book. Our grown children, Heidi, Rachel, and Solomon, deserve special credit for years of ingenuity and patience as I ex- perimented with them on approaches to teaching. Their willingness to continually argue with me has helped keep many a flight of fancy grounded in the reality of schools “as they are” while recognizing the potential of education “as it can be.”
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- 18. Introduction: Who AmI? 1 Overview Trace the evolution of a social studies teacher Consider the cultural, social, and historical nature of individual identity Examine the roots of personal identity and its intersection with history Explore reflective practice Key Concepts Identity, Cultural, Change, Experience, Competence, Experimentation Essay Questions about Identity Used with permission of Seth Margolin. Anybody who writes a book about teach- ing has to expect certain questions. Who are you? What have you studied? What is your experience? Will your ideas about teaching social studies be useful to me? My name is Alan Singer. I am a white, male, husband, father, son, brother, college- educated, politically active, ethnic Jew, Learning Activity: Ballad for Americans Toward the end of the Great Depression and just before U.S. entry into World War II, the African American singer and political activist Paul Robeson performed the song “Ballad for Americans” (lyrics available on the web at http:/ /www.cpsr.cs.uchicago.edu/robeson/links in a series of concerts across the country. It became so popular that in 1940 it was selected as the theme song for the Republican Party’s national convention (Robeson, 1990). During the song, the chorus asks Paul Robeson to identify himself, and he responds that he is a member of every ethnic, religious, and occupational group in the United States and represents an amalgam of all the people who built America (LaTouche and Robinson, 1940). The song takes atheist, citizen of the United States, New Yorker, city dweller, sports fan, hiking and biking enthusiast, high school social studies teacher, college education profes- sor with a PhD in U.S. history and a spe- cialization in the organization of the coal miners’ union.
- 19. on particular importancein the contemporary United States as the country grows increasingly more diverse. Try it yourself: 1. Who are you? Which groups of people are you a member of? 2. Explain how you became a member of each group. 3. How did different members of your family come to become “Americans”? Add your voice to the discussion: In the song “Ballad for Americans,” Paul Robeson suggests that a large number of groups of people should be included in the history of the United States and our definition of what is an American. Do you agree or disagree with Paul Robeson? Explain the reason for your answer. considered to be the “greatest document ever written.” I argued that the passage that states that “the People” have the right “to alter or to abolish” governments never spells out what percentage of the people are required for this kind of change. The teacher got me a copy of Carl Becker’s book on the Declaration, in which Becker makes a similar point, and he discussed it with me (Becker, 1942). I started college at the City College of New York (CCNY) in September 1967 partly because it was the thing to do after high school, partly because my parents said it would provide me with a “profes- sion” and a middle-class standard of liv- ing, and partly because college meant a deferment from the war in Vietnam. When I thought about the future, I considered becoming a research scientist or maybe a lawyer. I never imagined myself becoming a secondary school teacher. How could I? I did not like high school the first time. The years 1967–1971 were exciting times at CCNY and in the United States. Demonstrators protested against U.S. in- volvement in the war in Vietnam. The African-American community debated integration versus separation. Students were demanding the right to participate in the college decision-making process. In December 1967, I was arrested in a protest at Whitehall Street, the New York I grew up in a working-class commu- nity in the Bronx, New York, within walk- ing distance of Yankee Stadium. Neither of my parents went to college, but I was always considered “college material.” I at- tended one of New York City’s academi- cally selective public high schools, where I was a mediocre student. On the relatively rare occasions when I liked a teacher or a subject, I usually did well. More often, I just got by. I have few memories of secondary school teachers or classes. I remember my ninth-grade algebra teacher. She was also my homeroom teacher and coach of the math team. I was on the math team, and she always made sure that I had money for lunch. If I did not, she lent it to me. I remember my tenth-grade social studies teacher because he gave students extra credit for bringing magazines to class and including pictures in their reports. I never got the extra credit because we did not have magazines in our house, and this was the era before copying machines made it possible to get pictures from the library. I was very bitter because, without the extra credit, I was kept out of the advanced placement history class. I re- member my eleventh-grade U.S. history teacher because he challenged the class to find something incorrect or vague in the Declaration of Independence, which he 2 WHO AM I?
- 20. City draft inductioncenter immortalized by Arlo Guthrie in the ballad “Alice’s Restaurant.” I was charged with “ob- structing pedestrian traffic” by standing on the sidewalk. The charges were later dropped. As a result of my arrest, which was unplanned, I emerged as a radical student leader and was elected to the stu- dent government. My freshman, sophomore, and junior years were spent planning and protest- ing, working (in a cafeteria and as a taxi cab driver), traveling, and only occasion- ally attending classes. At the start of my junior year, I began to think about what I would do after I finished college. My long-term plan was to become a revolu- tionary. My short-term plan was to be employable. My father persuaded me to get my teaching credentials. After all, “anybody could teach.” At some point, and I am not sure when, I started to become a serious student. If I was going to change the world, I had to understand it. I began to read history, study, do research, and think about the world. I became a member of the United Community Centers, a community orga- nizing group based in the working-class, largely minority community of East New York, Brooklyn. At the center, we worked with community youth, knocked on doors in the projects (public housing) raising money and discussing our ideas, distributed a community newspaper, or- ganized people to participate in broader social movements, and operated a resi- dent summer “sleep-away” camp. I spent my next five summers working in camp as a counselor, bus driver, and mainte- nance worker. Over thirty years later, I remain active in the center. The education program at CCNY will surprise no one. After a series of dis- agreements between us in class, my first education professor said I should never become a teacher and recommended that I drop out of the program. The history of education professor lectured the class to sleep. The educational psychology pro- fessor was enamored with B. F. Skinner and Konrad Lorenz, so he spent all of his time discussing experiments with pigeons and geese. The social studies methods teacher was especially disap- pointing. His specialty was operating outdated audiovisual equipment, so we had workshops on each machine. At the end of his class, I swore I would never use an overhead projector in class, even if it meant permanent unemployment. But I did not really have to worry. The first time I worked in a school where I had ac- cess to an overhead projector was 1992. Because of my reputation at City Col- lege as a troublemaker, I was exiled to student teach in an “undesirable” junior high school in the south Bronx. My coop- erating teacher was starting her second year as a teacher. She was nice to the stu- dents but had little idea what to teach or how to organize a class. An adjunct in the School of Education was assigned to visit me three times. My most memorable lesson as a stu- dent teacher was a mock demonstration in the classroom. We were studying Martin Luther’s 95 theses. I met the stu- dents at the door and handed them flyers inviting them to come to a rally protest- ing against the injustices of the Roman Catholic Church. We yelled, sang protest songs, evaluated Martin Luther’s de- mands, and then discussed similarities between protests against the authority of the Catholic Church in 1517 and against U.S. policy in Vietnam in 1971. The draft remained a problem until the fall of 1971, when the law authorizing military conscription expired and the United States started its experiment with an all-volunteer army. My friends and INTRODUCTION 3
- 21. I had decidedthat if we were drafted, we would organize against the war in Vietnam from inside the military. I was terrified of this prospect and was tremen- dously relieved not to have to go into the army. One of the lessons that I always enjoy doing with students is examining where their lives, or the lives of people in their families, intersect with and are di- rectly affected by historical events. 4 WHO AM I? Classroom Activity: My Life and History Try this exercise at the beginning of the semester. As a homework assignment, ask students to write about ways that their lives or the lives of friends or family members have been influenced (or changed) by historical events. This is a good homework activity because it gives students a chance to discuss their ideas with family members. As a follow-up in class, students can share their stories in groups, and the stories that groups find especially interesting can be read aloud to the class. After hearing the stories, students can discuss why they think these events took place. This discussion allows the class to formulate their own questions about history that can become the basis for organizing the term’s work. Following are excerpts from essays by students who wrote about their experiences living in other countries. Summer vacation in an Israeli prison It was a hot and humid night on the West Bank in Palestine, where I was spending my summer visiting my grandparents. I was a 14-year-old boy looking for a good time, but what I got that night no one could have expected. I was on my way home from a cousin’s house when I heard a truck pull up. Out of the truck came twelve Israeli soldiers. I was stunned and had no idea what to do. I began to walk quickly, hoping not to be bothered by the soldiers, but to my disappointment the soldiers stopped me. I had no identification with me, and a soldier asked me a question in Arabic. Before I could even answer him, they all began to beat me with clubs. I was in extreme pain and the blows to my head were so brutal that finally I fell unconscious. When I awoke, I found myself in the back of a military truck surrounded by soldiers. After three hours of driving, I was put in a prison. I was very scared, but one guy named Ali, another Palestinian-American, kept me straight. Ali was seventeen years old, and for the month that I was imprisoned he was like my brother. It was the twenty-ninth day of our thirty-day sentence and Ali and I were hoping to get out the next day. We thought we could stay out of trouble for one more day, but avoiding these soldiers was nearly impossible. One of the soldiers kicked my food on the floor. I tried to keep cool, but I just could not anymore. I punched him in the face and he quickly fell to the ground. I jumped on him and continued to hit him. All of a sudden I heard a shot. I thought I was hit, but when I turned around, it was Ali who was bleeding. I ran right to Ali and held him in my arms. I stood silent in shock as I felt Ali’s heartbeat get weaker and weaker on my chest until the beat just completely stopped and Ali was gone. A tear found its way down my check as I put Ali down on the ground. I had trouble getting to sleep that night. I kept asking myself, “Why Ali?” I blamed myself for his death. Finally, I fell asleep. When I woke up in the morning, Ali’s body was gone. El Salvador—country in crisis El Salvador is the smallest and most densely populated mainland country in the Western Hemisphere. Salvadorian politics are not easy to explain. During the 1970s, guerrilla bands formed among the peasants because of their frustration at unfairness and the hopeless situation under which they lived. The guerrillas are both men and women, and they can be children or even senior citizens. Sometimes they wear bandannas over their faces to hide their identities from the military. If guerrillas are captured, they will be tortured to release the names of their friends. The military is willing to kill innocent people so they can get their hands on the person that they want to catch.
- 22. Although I likedstudent teaching, I still did not plan to become a teacher. An unanticipated result of my changed atti- tude toward studying was that I was ac- cepted into the U.S. history doctoral program at Rutgers University and of- fered a teaching assistantship. Suddenly I was in graduate school and was going to be both a scholar and a revolutionary. During the next few years, I learned that coffee house intellectualizing, academic revolutionary theorizing, and long lonely hours of library research were not all that appealing. What I liked most was teach- ing history classes. When I completed my coursework and passed my written and oral exams, I resigned my assistantship and became a substitute teacher in a mid- dle school in Brooklyn. Within a few months, I had my own Language Arts and Reading program, but then New York City went bankrupt and thousands of teachers were laid off. My name was placed on a list that remained frozen until 1978. During the next few years, I got mar- ried, started a family, began work on my doctoral dissertation about coal miners, subbed, drove a truck, drove a bus for the New York City Transit Authority on the midnight shift, and worked at the center and the summer camp. It was in camp that I learned how to become a teacher. I figured out that the keys to working with young people were treating them as human beings, listening to their concerns, and finding ways to connect what I was interested in with who they are and their interests. Teaching requires interaction, students and teachers working together, and developing shared classroom goals. Otherwise, I might be talking, but I would not be teaching and they would not be learning. In the fall of 1978, I made my semi- annual call to the New York City Board of Education to see if my list had been “un- frozen.” They said “no,” but three days into the school year a high school con- tacted me and said I had been appointed INTRODUCTION 5 In 1979, when I was five years old, the Catholic Church decided to take an active role in politics in El Salvador. Archbishop Romero and Father Grande decided that the Catholic Church had to help people get a better life while they were still in this world. My family was extremely religious. Every Sunday, without fail, we put on our best clothes and went to a mass in San Salvador that lasted about two hours. During one mass, I feel asleep. I woke up about 45 minutes later to the sound of gunshots. I was still sleepy, but I remember that my aunt scooped me up and we left the church. Later, I woke up on the living room floor at home. Only then did I learn what had happened at church. Archbishop Romero had preached that people had to oppose the government of El Salvador. In the middle of the sermon, he was assassinated by military officers. They killed the archbishop in cold blood in a holy place in front of all the worshippers, and the government claimed that the murderers were justified! Think it over: What questions do you have about the events described in the stories told by these students? Try it yourself: Write an essay about the way that your life or the life of someone in your family has been influenced (or changed) by historical events. It’s your classroom: What would you do if students did not believe these stories or were upset by them?
- 23. to work there.Finally, I was a social stud- ies teacher and now I wanted to be one. The school that I was assigned to had serious academic, discipline, and atten- dance problems, and my first few years as a teacher were very hard. Many teenagers from low-income public hous- ing projects with high crime and unem- ployment rates were zoned into the school. Attendance was erratic, fighting was frequent, and teachers were often just as glad when the kids did not show up. During my first semester, I had a ninth-grade modified (low reading level) global studies class the last period of the day. The class had 42 students, 38 of them boys. None of the students had a lunch period, and all of the boys had gym the period before they came to me. When I asked the department chair what I could do to teach the class, she answered, “Nothing!” I wanted to be a good teacher and I worked at it. I had students in my tenth- grade economics class analyze the Board of Education budget report. We prepared our own recommendations, and then we testified at government budget hearings. The students were so excited that they organized a school club so they could remain involved with public issues when they were no longer in my class. Two years later, the club helped organize a rally against educational budget cuts at New York City Hall that involved ap- proximately 5,000 people. During the first three years, my lessons were largely hit or miss. Sometimes it seemed like I had the entire class in the palm of my hand and I could do no wrong. On other days, the students acted like I was not even present. The worst part was that I could not predict when lessons would work or why. I read a book called The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle; it cap- tured the way I felt about my teaching. It is the story of a hapless young magician who is trying to save unicorns from ex- tinction. Sometimes he finds that he has great magical powers, but then, inexplica- bly, the magic is gone. The magician eventually realizes that humans cannot control magic. It comes only when there is a great need. During those years, I fre- quently felt that I was that hapless magi- cian. I was always hoping for the magical lesson, but I never knew when it would appear (Beagle, 1968). Part of the problem during those early years was of my own making. I believed that I knew better than everybody else about how to manage a classroom, orga- nize a curriculum, and connect with teenagers, so I would not take any advice. I had to think everything through for my- self and continually reinvent the wheel. Another part of the problem is that, even when you work at becoming a teacher, it takes between three and five years of hard work, planning, and practicing for the things you want to happen in a lesson to happen on a consistent basis. Finally after experimenting and failing and experimenting again, I learned how to organize lessons centered on the inter- ests and concerns of my students, rather than simply on what I would like to have discussed. More and more of the lessons worked. The need for magic disappeared. As I became more competent in lesson planning and more confident in my per- formance as a teacher, I found I was able to appreciate the competence of other people more and learn from them. I was also able to experiment much more. I de- veloped integrated thematic units, long- term group projects, and cooperative learning activities. I worked on motiva- tions, transitions, promoting student discussions, and improving written ex- pression. I tried to develop new means of assessing what my students had learned 6 WHO AM I?
- 24. and what Ihad taught. Eventually I was able to move myself out from the “cen- ter” of every lesson. I eased up my con- trol over the class and created more space for my students to express their voices. At the same time that I matured as a classroom teacher, I completed my doc- toral dissertation on the transformation of consciousness among bituminous coal miners in the 1920s. At first glance, the topic might seem narrow and distant from my teaching, but in my disserta- tion I was actually examining one of the same questions I was exploring in the classroom: How do people (coal min- ers, community residents, or high school students) develop fundamentally new perceptions of their world and their place in it? Over the years I learned along with my students, and much of this book is an ef- fort to share what they have taught me. However, I remain committed to many of the goals I struggled for as a young revo- lutionary in college in the 1960s and as a community organizer in the 1970s. My primary goal as an educator continues to be empowering young people so that they can become active citizens and agents for democratic social change. I rec- ognize that the most effective way to em- power students is to encourage them to think about issues and to help them learn how to collect, organize, analyze, and present information and their own ideas. If I can encourage them to think and act, the habit of thinking and acting will stay with them long after I am just a dim memory. If they agreed with an idea only because I presented it in class and they wanted to identify with me, they will just agree with someone else’s idea the next year. Because of these beliefs, I am a strong supporter of state and national learning standards that encourage document- based instruction; the ability of students to locate, organize, and present informa- tion; critical thinking; and the promotion of literacy in the content area subjects. I consider myself both a “transforma- tive” and a “democratic” educator, and I believe that the full package that I offer here is consistent with radical notions of education developed by contemporary thinkers such as Paulo Freire, Maxine Greene, and Henry Giroux and progres- sive ideas championed by John Dewey and his students. Paulo Freire argues that the role of the transformative educator is to help students pose and explore the problems that impact on their lives so they can develop “critical consciousness” about the nature of their society and their position in it (Freire, 1970). Henry Giroux calls on transformative educators to allow students to explore their lived experi- ences, locate themselves culturally, dis- sect their personal beliefs and the dominant ideology of their society, and confront established power relationships (Giroux, 1992). INTRODUCTION 7 Learning Activity: Another Brick in the Wall Michael Pezone is a high school teacher and a mentor teacher in the Hofstra New Teachers Network (NTN). He uses lyrics from the song “Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)” (lyrics available on the web at http://pinkfloydhyperbase.dk) by the British rock band Pink Floyd to provoke his students into thinking about who they are, how school affects them, what education is and should be, and why the world is the way that it is. The song focuses on the alienation of students in schools and accuses teachers of contributing to their oppression (Waters, 1979).
- 25. lessons to plan,tests to design, departmen- tal responsibilities, students and parents to meet with, school-imposed deadlines, and assorted emergencies. A job that is sup- posed to be over at 3 PM and to include regular days off and extended vacation time has a way of stretching until it fills every waking moment. I have been lucky to have time to reflect on my teaching and write this book. After 13 years in a New York City high school classroom, I was offered a position at Hofstra University as a social studies ed- ucator. Working with people who wanted to become teachers gave me the chance to become a more conscious teacher and to root my practice in educational theory. I began to think about many of the ideas about teaching, social studies, and ado- lescents that I had come to accept, and the things that I just did year after year. Hofs- tra also gave me the opportunity to go back to high school teaching so I could test out what I had been talking about. Since that time I have been a strong pro- ponent of both “reflective practice,” the systematic and ongoing evaluation of our work as classroom teachers, and “action research” on our classroom practice to better assess what our students are actu- ally learning. Over the years, I have experimented with different ways to begin the semester by involving students in exploring social studies and its implications for their lives. Sometimes I change my introductory lessons because they are not working the way I want them to work. Sometimes I am a democratic educator in the tradi- tions of Maxine Greene (1988) and John Dewey (1916; 1927/1954; 1938/1963). I share Greene’s beliefs that democratic education must be based on acceptance of the plurality of human understanding, ex- perience, and ideas, and that freedom rep- resents a process of continuous individual and collective struggle to create more hu- mane societies; it is neither a commodity that can be hoarded by a limited number of individuals nor a right institutionalized by governments and enjoyed by passive citizens. I share Dewey’s understanding that the primary classroom responsibility of the teacher is to create democratic learn- ing experiences for students and his com- mitment to educating an “articulate public” capable of fighting to extend human free- dom. I have learned a lot about imple- menting Deweyan ideas in the classroom from the work of Alfie Kohn (1986) and George Wood (1992), who discuss the im- portance of building democratic commu- nities where students are able to express and explore ideas and feelings. I hope you see the impact of their work on my ideas about teaching and social studies, but it is not necessary to buy the entire package for this book to be useful. I think most readers, regardless of whether they agree with my broader goals, will find valuable and challenging ideas that will enable them to enrich social studies curricula in their classrooms. Time is an incredibly valuable commod- ity for teachers; we never have enough of it. There are always papers to mark, 8 WHO AM I? It’s your classroom: 1. What popular song, if any, would you use to begin this discussion? Why would you select this song? 2. How would you respond to a colleague who thinks that using a song like this in class turns the kids against school and teachers?
- 26. I give thema particular twist for a special course. Sometimes I change them because I like to experiment with new ways of doing things or with an idea someone has shared with me. Let me confess at the outset that I be- lieve nothing is ever completely new in teaching, especially teaching social stud- ies. We are always recycling ideas and materials “borrowed” from other teach- ers (ideas and materials that they also “borrowed” from someone else). As you play around with some of the ideas and lessons introduced in this book and as you invest in yourself and your students, I think you will discover that rethinking your own lessons and recycling other people’s lessons are two of the things that help to make teaching social studies so exciting. In the 1955 movie Blackboard Jungle (Brooks), Glenn Ford portrays an English teacher working in a tough urban high school who explains his desire to be a teacher as an attempt to do something “creative.” He tells his university mentor, “I can’t be a painter or a writer or an engi- neer. But I thought if I could help to shape young minds, sort of sculpt lives— and by teaching I’d be creating.” The character’s pedagogy is a bit dated. Stu- dents certainly play a much more active role in their own learning, or refusing to learn, than this statement suggests. I love watching the movie, however, and I think these sentiments capture the spirit I want to convey here. On the first day(s) of class (whether I am teaching social studies in a secondary school or a university), I usually have four goals: • I want to introduce the class to what I mean by social studies. • I want to help students discover why the social studies are important in understanding who we are as indi- viduals and members of groups. • I want to help students begin to define social studies questions they would like to explore during the course. • I want to begin the process of creating a supportive democratic classroom community where young people (of any age) will work together in an effort to understand the nature of our world. One successful opening lesson is asking students to answer this question: Who am I? I use this lesson on a number of differ- ent academic levels, ranging from middle school through graduate school, although, of course, I structure it differently for dif- ferent age groups. Sometimes I ask stu- dents to make a list of at least ten things about themselves. Sometimes I ask stu- dents to write a paragraph about who they are. Sometimes I introduce the activity by saying, “We all belong to different kinds of groups. Some of these groups we are born into. Some of these groups we are placed in. Some of these groups we join voluntar- ily. Make a list of all of the groups that you belong to.” When I start this way, students usually ask for an example of a group. I try to throw the question back to the students and have them come up with suggestions. Whichever way I begin, I always have students write something. I find that writ- ing helps people focus their thoughts. It allows time for thinking about, organiz- ing, and editing ideas. It also ensures that every student has something he or she can contribute to discussion. When every- body has written something, I usually have students come together in small groups to examine the similarities and differences in their responses. I also ask groups to look for categories that can be used to organize the different ways that people in the class define themselves. INTRODUCTION 9
- 27. While people areworking in their groups, I am very busy. I travel from group to group, asking questions that help students uncover patterns and un- derstand the reasons for the characteris- tics and categories they have selected. I usually carry a notepad and jot down some of their ideas so I can refer to them during full class discussion. Eventually, I have to make judgments based on how the small-group discussions are progress- ing. At some point, I want the class to be- come a committee of the whole. I also have to decide how to start discussion in the larger group. Sometimes I simply ask a group to report on its discussions, and this broadens into a full class exploration of the individual, social, and historical nature of the way we identify ourselves. Other times I have the class “brainstorm” a list of the different characteristics or cat- egories people have used to describe themselves. We list their ideas on the board and then try to find ways of group- ing them. Most students primarily focus on either personality, interests, or physical appear- ance when they list the characteristics that define them. However, their lists also include references to social categories such as voluntary group memberships (clubs), family relationships (they are sons or daughters, mothers or fathers, sisters or brothers), occupational roles (student, worker), and broad categories based on their gender, race, religion, and ethnicity. Many students like to include their species: human being. In the discussion that follows, we use the lists to explore how people see themselves, the ways that societies see people, and the ways that people are both similar and dif- ferent. We discover many things about who we are and the nature of identity. 10 WHO AM I? Classroom Activity: Who Am I? I have students complete one of these exercises. In class, we discuss why they describe themselves in these different ways, and I ask them why they think these categories and groups are important. I try to get them to think about how their identities are defined, whether people have to be defined in these ways, and whether their identities are set for life. We use the conversation about our identities to formulate questions about the nature of our society and what we should learn about in class. • Each of us thinks about ourselves in a number of different ways. Suppose you had to describe yourself in a letter to someone who does not know you. Think about who you are and then write a letter to introduce yourself. In your letter, include a minimum of ten (or twenty) things about yourself. • All of us belong to many different groups or categories of people. Some groups we choose to join. Some groups we are born into. Some groups other people place us in. Examples of groups or categories that you may belong to include a school club or the group that consists of all people who are female. Make a list of all the different groups or categories to which you think you belong. Try to think of ten to twenty groups or categories. • Interview the student sitting next to you. Find out as much as you can about the person and how he or she describes himself or herself. In what way is this person like you? In what way is he or she different? Try it yourself: Select one of the identity exercises and complete it yourself. It’s your classroom: Would you share your autobiography with your students. Why or why not?
- 28. Some of thecharacteristics and categories are very individual and particular, whereas others are much broader and include many people. Some group memberships are voluntary, but people are born into other groups or placed in them by their society. We choose some definitions of who we are, but other definitions are im- posed on us by the community where we live. Some categories appear to be un- changing, whereas others seem to change on a regular basis. From this discussion of who we are, the class begins to explore where we come from: that we have histories as individu- als and as members of social groups. Sometimes students also begin to talk about how they would like things to be and how they can achieve their goals. By the end of the lesson, students begin to realize that studying social studies helps them understand themselves, their social The New York City subway system does not have a very good image in the national media, but New Yorkers actually use it to get to and from work and to visit family and friends. In many ways, the subway system is New York’s “great equalizer.” There is one class of service (some would say uni- formly bad), and “strap-hangers” from all walks of life and ethnic groups are squeezed together during rush hours, jostled on its platforms, and share the aggravation of its periodic delays. During our subway journeys, a favorite “strap- hanger” pastime, especially when the cars are too crowded to read the newspaper, is guessing the identity and making up stories about fellow rid- ers. One morning, as I traveled to work, the man sitting directly across from me in the car was an Orthodox Jew, probably a Hasid. He was wearing a black suit, coat, shoes, and fedora, and had a long beard. Sharing his seat was a young African- American man, dressed for Wall Street with a stylishly sharp suit, brown wing tips, and short tight dreadlocks. Also in our section of the sub- way car was an Asian couple, a Latina woman with features that suggested Native-American an- cestors and Andean or Central American origins, and a middle-aged African-American male with a Malcolm “X” baseball cap. On that morning, I wore a broad-brimmed Ecuadorian felt hat and a woolen Colombian pon- cho. But I do not think anyone here would argue that my clothing on that particular day makes me a member of the Andean Ecuadorian cultural community. I speak neither Spanish nor any of the native Andean languages. I was born in New York City, and all of my grandparents were immi- grants from Eastern Europe. relationships, and the nature of their world. The lesson creates a reason for them to ex- plore the things the class will examine dur- ing the course of the semester. I did not invent this activity; it is “bor- rowed” and then reworked to fit my classes and the way that I like to teach. At the center’s summer camp in 1971, the campers and staff held a “Convention of Minorities,” in which we explored the histories and cultures of different racial and ethnic groups in the United States. During the “convention,” campers rang- ing in age from seven to seventeen began to formulate and discuss three inter- related questions: Who am I? Where do I come from? Where do I want to go? I have never forgotten these discussions and the way that they involved such a racially, culturally, religiously, and chrono- logically diverse group in exploring so- cial studies issues. INTRODUCTION 11 Essay: Questions about Identity* *Other versions of this essay were presented at the 1992 annual meeting of the American Educational Research Asso- ciation and were published in the fall 1992 issue of Democracy and Education (Ohio University School of Education).
- 29. But what aboutthe rest of my traveling com- panions? Who were these people on that subway car, and how do we know? Will the people on that subway car always identify the way they do now, or will they change the way that they identify over the course of their lifetimes? Is cultural iden- tity something that is historically and socially de- termined, is it something that individuals are free to choose and repeatedly change, or is it some combination of both of these factors? The complexity of human cultural identity raises many other questions for social studies educators. When we teach about culture, are we teaching about something that is distinct and de- cidedly different for each individual, community, and society, or is human experience similar enough so that, despite diversity, people end up doing a lot of things the same way or for the same reasons? Personally and professionally, I believe that cultures are similar enough so that people can understand each other, empathize with each other, and learn from each other, but I am willing to accept that this is an idea that is subject to dis- cussion and debate. Another important question is this: What fac- tors define the boundaries of a culture? Are boundaries scientifically defined, or are they arbi- trary? In the natural world, there is a wide range of biological differences within many species, but each species, by definition, forms a distinct reproductive community. In the cultural world, boundaries are not so clear. Should individuals be obligated to accept specific patterns of behavior to qualify for group membership, and, if so, who decides on the formula? Must cultures be “ethnically” based, or can they be primarily rooted in race, class, religion, geography, or ideol- ogy? I suspect that our definitions will always be somewhat arbitrary, and that cultures are best de- fined by varying combinations of factors at differ- ent historical periods and for differing human groups. Third, is it meaningful to say that every human difference defines a distinct culture? Are gays a culture, or women, or teachers, or youth, or are they subgroups within cultures? I am not happy with the idea that groups of human beings must be labeled a distinct culture to be respected and included in our curricula. Whatever their opin- ions on these questions about cultural identity, I think people will agree that the questions must be addressed as we try to create social studies curricula. The relationship among race, culture, and iden- tity is another particularly difficult area to define. For example, do African Americans have a dis- tinct culture? Certainly, significant aspects of what has been identified as African-American “culture” are shared with the rest of the peoples of the United States, and some differences are only temporary and superficial, primarily differ- ences of style. Yet the roots of racial discrimination and oppression in the United States are deep, and I believe they have shaped the kind of long-term 12 WHO AM I? Learning Activity: Lens to the Past People have a tendency to view the past through the lens of the present. It is one of the major reasons that we need to study history. Secondary school students frequently assume that people from their ethnic background or social group lived like them and always held the same relative position in American society. Over the years, I have looked for newspaper articles from the past that illustrate the experiences of people with the same ethnic identity as students in my classes. Discussion of these articles brings people like them into the historical process and helps students reconsider who they are, where they come from, how their ethnic group has been affected by events in the United States, and how its position has changed. Try it yourself: Of what ethnic groups are you a member? How were these groups treated in the past? Find a newspaper article or primary source document that illustrates the position of one of these groups in American society during another historical period. It’s your classroom: How would you respond to students who do not understand why they have to learn about “them”?
- 30. group historical experiencethat creates cultural distinctiveness. However, I also recognize that cultural formation is a historical phenomenon, and cultural groups are neither permanent nor unchanging. I have a friend who came to the United States from Trinidad as a child. Is she Trinidadian? Caribbean? African American? American? African? Her own self- conception has changed over the years, and I sus- pect that her current answer is not a permanent one. I would argue that, at this time, as a result of some of the same historical forces, White Americans If anything, I think the nature of these ques- tions makes it clear that, in a society such as the United States, social studies curricula can never be permanent. They need to be growing, changing, evolving things, just like culture and identity. I would like to conclude with a challenge. I think social studies educators need a new metaphor to describe the United States. I frequently ask stu- dents and teachers whether they think the United States is more like a melting pot or a salad bowl. We always have great discussions and generally end up deciding that it has some attributes of each image. Some people have assimilated into the melting pot, blending into the American stew while adding their own particular “spice.” Other groups, either by choice or as a result of discrimi- nation and exclusion, have remained separate and more distinct. If we want to develop new social studies cur- ricula and a new multicultural conception of the United States, I think we also need to develop a new metaphor. We need a metaphor that allows for both cultural identity and cultural change; a metaphor that describes the past while pointing the way for the future. I have been toying with the idea of a kaleidoscope, but I am not sure, What do you think? do not form a single cultural group. Traditional White ethnic communities still have some sense of distinct cultural identification, especially when ethnic differences are reinforced by class-based experiences. With the long-term decline in Euro- pean migration to the United States after 1920, however, increasing access to secondary and higher education, and the general homogeniza- tion of society through exposure to mass media, that identification is becoming less distinct; as a result, White American “culture” is in the process of becoming more uniform. INTRODUCTION 13 Classroom Activity: Family Artifacts Most people, especially people who are members of the dominant groups in a society, assume their own culture is the norm. They absorb it from their families and the media while they grow up. Unless they are exposed to other cultures, they live their lives without really thinking about who they are and the ways that they do things. One way to help students begin to think about cultural identity and the values, ideas, and practices of their own cultures is to have them bring a family artifact to class. Students can present their artifacts to the class and explain their origins and why they are important to their families. The class can compare artifacts from different cultures and use them to begin an exploration of cultural similarities and differences. In variations of this activity, Cynthia Vitere (NTN) has high school students bring in family artifacts, which are circulated around the room anonymously. Student teams examine the artifacts and speculate about cultures of origin. After teams report hypotheses to the class, the students who brought in the artifacts discuss their actual significance to their families. Rachael Gaglione Thompson (NTN) and Laurence Klein (NTN) have students in their middle school classes use the family artifacts to organize a Museum of Immigration. Sometimes parents and grandparents come to class to explain customs and holidays, model clothing, and prepare food. Try it yourself: Bring an artifact to class that shows something about the cultural background of your family.
- 31. 14 WHO AMI? Classroom Activity: Cartoon Metaphors These cartoons are from a lesson on European immigration to the United States from 1880–1920. They can be used in either middle school or high school. Try it yourself: 1. Which metaphor best illustrates your vision of American society? Why? 2. Design a cartoon presenting your pictorial metaphor for the United States today. REFERENCES Beagle, P. The Last Unicorn. New York: Viking, 1968. Becker, C. The Declaration of Independence. New York: Knopf, 1942. Brooks, R. dir. Blackboard Jungle. MGM, 1995. Dewey, J. Democracy and Education. New York: Macmillan, 1916. Dewey, J. The Public and Its Problems. Athens, Ohio: Swallow Press, 1927/1954. Dewey, J. Experience and Education. New York: Collier/Macmillan, 1938/1963. Freire, P. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Seabury, 1970. Freire, P. Pedagogy of Hope. New York: Continuum, 1995. Giroux, H. Border Crossings: Cultural Workers and the Politics of Education. New York: Routledge, 1962. Greene, M. (1988). The dialect of freedom. New York: Teachers College Press. Kohn, A. No Contest: The case against Competition. Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 1986. LaTouche, J., and E. Robinson. Ballad for Americans. New York: Robbins Music Corporation, 1940. Robeson, S. The Whole World in His Hands. New York: Citadel Press, 1990, 117–18. Waters, R. “Another Brick in the Wall (Part II).” Pink Floyd Music Publishing/Unichappel Music. In #1 songs from the 70’s & 80’s. Winona, Minn.: Hal Leonard Publishing, 1979. Wood, G. Schools That Work. New York: Dutton, 1992.
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- 34. 1 Why Teach SocialStudies? 17 Overview Define history and the social sciences Examine theories about the role of history and the social sciences for creating knowledge and understanding our world Explore the similarities, differences, and relationships between the disciplines included in social studies Discuss the significance of social studies in secondary education Key Concepts Multiple Perspectives, History, Social Science, Social Studies, Geography, Anthropology, Political Science, Sociology, Philosophy, Economics, Psychology Questions Why Teach Social Studies? Why Study History? What Does It Mean to Be a Historian? What Is History? What Are Historical Facts? How Does an Historian Study History? Is the Study of History Scientific? Are There Laws in History? What Are the Goals of Historians? What Is the Relationship between History and Social Science? What Do We Learn from the Social Science Disciplines? Essays What Social Studies is All About Are We Teaching “Greek Myths” in the Global History Curriculum? WHY TEACH SOCIAL STUDIES? The song “This Land Is My Land” (1956, lyrics available on the web at http:www.arlo.net/lyrics) has become a popular standard at public school assem- bly programs in the United States. It is difficult to imagine that it was written by Woodrow Wilson “Woody” Guthrie, a formerly unemployed and homeless Okie who was involved in left-wing political causes during a career that spanned from the 1920s through the 1950s. Guthrie spent his youth in Oklahoma, absorbing the culture and music of hoboes, farm
- 35. laborers, and hillbilliesbefore joining the great dust-bowl migration to the U.S. west coast. In California, he was an active sup- porter of the labor movement and the Communist Party (Blum, 1990: 284–85). Many of Guthrie’s songs celebrate the United States, but in a way that questions the fundamental inequalities he witnessed in our society. A simple statement like “this land is your land, this land is my land,” which says that the nation belongs to everyone, challenges a world where some people have great wealth and limitless opportunity while others are im- poverished, discriminated against, and dis- empowered. In stanzas that rarely appear in school productions, Woody’s political message is much more explicit. For exam- ple, one stanza openly challenges the idea of private property (Seeger, 1985: 160–62). Removing Woody Guthrie and his music from their historical and political contexts changes the meaning of his songs and ignores what he tried to achieve during his life. However, when teachers provide a context for Guthrie’s songs, it opens up the possibility for broad discus- sions of the social, economic, and political nature of U.S. society, including philo- sophical explorations of morality, individ- ual action, and social justice. Providing a context that broadens people’s under- standing of our world and gets us to ques- tion our assumptions about it is a primary reason to study and teach history and the social sciences or, in the lexicon of educa- tion, the social studies. According to the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS, 1994): Social studies is the integrated study of the social sciences and humanities to promote civic compe- tence. Within the school program, social studies provides coordinated, systematic study drawing upon such disciplines as anthropology, archeol- ogy, economics, geography, history, law, philoso- phy, political science, psychology, religion, and sociology, as well as appropriate content from the humanities, mathematics, and natural sciences. The primary purpose of social studies is to help young people develop the ability to make in- formed and reasoned decisions for the public good as citizens of a culturally diverse, democra- tic society in an interdependent world. Because of the complexity of our world and because of a democratic society’s de- pendence on thoughtful, informed, active citizens, the social studies are multi- disciplinary and interdisciplinary. Social studies teachers are the intellectual impe- rialists of secondary education. Every- thing is included in our subject’s domain. To be taught in schools, however, social studies has to be organized into curricula with calendars, units, and lessons that include goals, content, and concepts that (1) promote academic and social skills, (2) raise questions, (3) provoke disagree- ments, (4) address controversial issues, (5) suggest connections, and (6) stimulate action. Adding to the difficulty of defining and teaching social studies are the political implications of many curriculum choices. For example, in January 1995, the U.S. Senate voted 99 to 1 to reject National History Standards that were prepared by the National Center for History in the Schools with participation from the NCSS, the Organization of American Historians (OAH), and the American His- torical Association (AHA). The Senate resolution claimed that the standards, which were written under a grant from the federally funded National Endow- ment for the Humanities, promoted his- torical understandings that failed to provide students with a decent respect for the contributions of western civiliza- tion to the development of the United States. The sole dissenting vote was cast by Senator Bennett Johnston, a Democrat from Louisiana. Johnston opposed the resolution as being an inadequate repudi- ation of the proposal (Rethinking Schools, 1995: 7). 18 WHY TEACH SOCIAL STUDIES?
- 36. The dispute overthe National History Standards (discussed in Chapter 3) is just the tip of a very large iceberg. Within the social studies are ongoing curriculum de- bates pitting supporters of multicultural versus traditional European-centered cur- riculum; advocates of a focus on histori- cal content versus champions of history as a process of discovery (inquiry-based learning); organizations that want history at the center of any curriculum and groups that prefer a broader social sci- ence perspective; celebrators of America’s glories versus critics of its inconsistencies; political historians versus social histori- ans versus economic historians versus feminist historians; and people who want teachers to play a strictly neutral role in classroom discussions against those who argue that claims for neutrality mask sup- port for the status quo. Many of these debates, especially those on multiculturalism (discussed at greater length in chapter 3), were re-ignited fol- lowing the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., on September 11, 2001. Chester E. Finn Jr. accused proponents of multiculturalism of shortchanging patrio- tism (Hartocollis, 2001a: A32). Lynne Cheney, wife of Vice President Richard Cheney and chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities from 1986 to 1993, denounced educators who wanted U.S. schools to expand efforts to teach habits of tolerance, knowledge, and awareness of other cultures (Hartocollis, 2001b: 9). Diane Ravitch, a former official in the federal Department of Education, charged that “multiculturalism, as it is taught in the United States, . . . teaches cultural relativism because it implies that ‘no group may make a judgment on any other.’ ” Even when politicians keep their dis- tance from the schools, social studies teachers by themselves are a contentious lot. I think that this is the way it should be. How can we teach students to value ideas and knowledge and to become par- ticipants in democratic decision making if we hide what we believe? Sometimes the best way to include students in discus- sions is for teachers to express their opin- ions and involve classes in examining and critiquing them. WHY STUDY HISTORY? When our children were younger, my wife and I sang a song with them by Robert Clairmont called “The Answers” (Engvick, 1965: 38–39). In this song, a child questions a lamb, a goat, a cow, a hog, a duck, a goose, and a hen about the origin of the world and records their re- sponses: quack, honk, oink, and moo. The idea of copying down responses from barnyard animals seemed so ridiculous that we all used to laugh. Unfortunately, writing down meaningless answers to what are potentially such wonderful questions goes on in social studies class- rooms across the United States. For far too many students, social studies means copying from the board. As a witness during his libel suit against the Chicago Tribune in July 1919, Henry Ford is quoted as saying, “History is more or less bunk” (Seldes, 1966: 253). Ford’s statement was probably just part of an effort to collect from the newspaper, but he possibly also understood the power of history if it got into the wrong hands: the hands of the automobile workers in his factories, ordinary citizens, or people who disagreed with his economic and po- litical views. History gives us both the information and the means for under- standing our world. History is the past, and it is the human effort to study, CHAPTER 1 19
- 37. understand, and utilizethe past to help us make choices about, and to shape, the future. History is neither bunk nor moo, despite what Henry Ford or the cow may have said. If we are going to teach students about history and the social sciences, we have to have some idea what each discipline in- cludes. I am referring not only to infor- mation about the past and present—that part is laid out effectively in textbooks— but also to ideas about how practitioners of these disciplines work, insights into the motivation of people and societies, opin- ions about the way the world operates and changes, and theories about the con- nections among past, present, and future. A number of historians have shaped my thinking about the meaning of history (the past) and the use of history (the field of study). Much of the discussion in this section is based on my reflections on the work of two historians, E. H. Carr, an his- torian of modern Russia and the Soviet Union in the 20th century, and Stephen Jay Gould, a paleontologist who is also an historian of science. Their ideas on the meaning of history are much more devel- oped than mine, and I strongly recom- mend that social studies teachers examine their work. I first read E. H. Carr’s book, What is History? (1961), as a graduate stu- dent in the early 1970s. When I reread it while preparing this chapter, I was surprised to discover how much of an impact it had had on my thinking about history. Carr introduced me to the idea of thinking about the past and present as part of a continuum that stretches into the future. He believes that concern with the future is what really motivates the study of the past. I enjoy reading Stephen Jay Gould’s books and articles for a number of rea- sons. Gould asks interesting historical and scientific questions, has the ability to connect what appear to be narrow issues with sweeping global concerns, and uses philosophical and literary metaphors to create mental images that illustrate com- plex ideas. In his writing, especially Won- derful Life (1989), he demonstrates how a point of view directs our questions and allows us to see things that we might otherwise miss. Wonderful Life is the story of 525- million-year-old fossils discovered at a rock quarry in the Rocky Mountains near the British Columbia–Alberta border. Known as the Burgess Shale, they are pos- sibly the oldest soft body animal fossils in existence. When they were first collected in the early part of the 20th century, evo- lution was considered a gradual, incre- mental process, so scientists assumed 20 WHY TEACH SOCIAL STUDIES? Author at the Burgess Shale Quarry Close up of a 500-million-year-old trilobite.
- 38. they were similarto animal families (phyla) that survive today. Since that time, scientists have become aware of numerous catastrophic extinctions in the distant past and have developed a new understanding of the evolution of life. This theory, called punctuated equilibrium, posits long periods of stability followed by relatively rapid change. When the Burgess Shale were reexamined from this new perspective in the 1970s, scientists realized that these were entirely different life forms with no contemporary descen- dants. I was actually inspired by the book and the theory of punctuated equilibrium to make the trek to the fossil site, a trip that included a 10-hour guided mountain hike through Yoho National Park. A good example of Gould’s approach to historical study is his effort to explain William Jennings Bryan’s apparent shift from progressive to conservative during the course of his career (1991: 416–31). Bryan was a Midwestern Populist who ran unsuccessfully for U.S. President as a Democrat in 1896, 1900, and 1908. He also served as Secretary of State under Woodrow Wilson. In the 1920s, Bryan was a leader in the campaign to prevent the teaching of evolutionary biology in the schools, and he served as the prose- cuting attorney in the 1925 Tennessee v. Scopes (“Monkey”) trial. In the Age of Reform and Anti-Intellectualism in American Life, Richard Hofstadter (1955) used Bryan’s opposition to evolution to support his position that U.S. agrarian populism was an anti-intellectual revolt against modernity and a reason to reject radical reform movements in general. Gould reexamined Bryan’s ideas and de- veloped a different explanation for his political positions. According to Gould, Bryan, along with many of his contempo- raries, incorrectly identified Darwinian evolution with the biological determinism and racism of 19th- and 20th-century Social Darwinism. Bryan campaigned against the teaching of evolution because, as a progressive, he considered it a dangerous ideology that undermined democracy and justified imperialism, war, and the exploitation of farmers and workers. CHAPTER 1 21 Teaching Activity: What Does It Mean to Be a Historian? Historians are faced with an infinite number of potential facts and have to decide which ones are historically significant. Examine the following headlines from The New York Times and notes based on the articles. You need to decide whether these are important historical facts and whether there are historical explanations that connect any of the articles. Headline: “Where Arab Militants Train and Wait” (August 11, 1993) According to Hamid Gul, a retired Pakistani general who was responsible for providing $3 billion in U.S. money and weapons to Afghan anticommunist guerrillas, the guerrilla army included large numbers of Islamic militants from other parts of the Arab world. According to Western intelligence officials, among the militants trained and armed in Pakistani refugee camps were a number of the radicals later convicted of bombing the World Trade Center in New York City and of other bomb plots in the United States. Headline: “One Man and a Global Web of Violence” (January 14, 2001) Nine months before the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., an article described Osama bin Laden and his goals and supporters. In the early 1980s, while Islamic groups were fighting a Soviet invasion of Afghanistan with support from the Central Intelligence Agency, bin Laden was considered a man the West could use.
- 39. 22 WHY TEACHSOCIAL STUDIES? However, around 1987, he began to take aim against what he considered “the corrupt secular governments of the Muslim Middle East and the Western powers.” By January 2001, U.S. officials considered him responsible for masterminding the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa that killed more than 200 people and suspected him of involvement in the October (2000) bombing of the destroyer Cole in Yemen, which killed 17 sailors. Headline: “U.S. Spied on Its World War II Allies” (August 11, 1993) According to newly declassified documents, the United States operated an enormous and previously unknown spy network aimed at our allies during World War II. It included reports on General Charles DeGaulle, leader of the free French forces, Belgium, Greece, Mexico, China, and Switzerland, as well as information from Germany and Japan. Documents from the Soviet Union were not made public; however, information on our Soviet allies is contained in some of the other reports. Communications with Latin American governments show that, toward the end of the war, the United States was working to develop a united front to oppose the Soviet Union in the postwar world. The files also contain a memorandum from a German diplomat indicating that leaders of the Japanese army were willing to surrender more than three months before the United States dropped nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, even if the terms were hard. Headline: “Arthur Randolph, 89, Developer of Rocket in First Apollo Flight” (January 3, 1996) An obituary for Arthur Randolph appeared in The New York Times in 1996. When he died, Randolph was living in Hamburg, Germany. He had left the United States and returned to Germany in 1984 after the U.S. Justice Department accused him of working thousands of slave laborers to death while he was the director of a German factory that produced V rockets during World War II. Randolph, who was the project manager for the Saturn rocket system used on Apollo flights, was 1 of 118 German rocket scientists who were secretly brought to the United States after the war. At the time he entered the United States, Randolph was considered an ardent Nazi by the U.S. military and a war criminal by both West German and U.S. officials. Try it yourself: 1. In your opinion, what motivated U.S. actions in each case? 2. Develop an historical explanation that connects the information from the articles. Explain your hypothesis. Think it over: 1. Do you consider the information contained in these headlines and summaries important historical facts? Why? 2. In your opinion, can historians make sense of historical facts without also developing theories of historical explanation? Explain your views. It’s your classroom: 1. Would you use these articles in a middle school or high school class? Why? How? 2. Would you express your views during the course of discussion? Why? Teaching Activity: Defining History • Lord Acton (Sir J.E.E. Dalberg), 1896: “It [The Cambridge Modern History] is a unique opportunity of recording . . . the fullness of the knowledge which the nineteenth century is about to bequeath. . . . Ultimate history we cannot have in this generation; but . . . all information is within reach, and every problem has become capable of solution” (Carr, 1961: 3). • Sir George Clark, 1957 (Introduction to The New Cambridge Modern History): “Historians . . . expect their work to be superseded again and again. They consider that knowledge of the past has come down through one or more human minds, has been processed by them. . . . The exploration seems to be endless, and some impatient scholars take refuge in skepticism,
- 40. WHAT IS HISTORY? Frequentlyit is confusing when a term is used in more than one way, especially when it is used to describe related con- cepts. In essays discussing political bat- tles over the teaching of evolution and creationism in public schools, Stephen Jay Gould (1983: 253–62) explains that scien- tists since Charles Darwin have used the word evolution to mean both the fact that life on earth changes over time as new species develop and to describe theories such as natural selection that explain how and why these changes take place. Gould believes that the dual meaning of evolu- tion as both fact and theory has either been misunderstood or misused by advo- cates of creationism, who dismiss the fact of evolution as just one among a number of possible theories. The definition of history is even more complicated because it refers to a number of different but related concepts. If we accept E. H. Carr’s view that historians, along with scientists and social scientists, are engaged in an active process of asking questions, seeking out information, and forming explanations that enable society to understand and master our environment, what we commonly refer to as history actu- ally includes a series of distinct but related ideas: (1) events from the past—“facts,” (2) the process of gathering and organizing information from the past—historical re- search, (3) explanations about the relation- ships between specific historical events, and (4) broader explanations or “theories” about how and why change takes place. History is the past, the study of the past, and explanations about the past. Other factors adding to the complexity of studying history are the differing expe- riences and ideas of historians from dif- ferent societies and the fact that historians are trying to understand an incomplete process that continues to take place around them. In 1896, living in a world where European—especially British— cultural, economic, and political domi- nance in world affairs seemed unshak- able, Lord Acton argued that ultimate history, the ability to know and explain everything of importance, was within our grasp. Two horrific world wars and nu- merous revolutions that shook the confi- dence of European society, changed the situation, however. While Acton and his colleagues possessed certainty, Sir George Clark, a successor of Acton as an editor of The Cambridge Modern History, was over- whelmed by the difficulty of establishing an objective account of history and ac- cepted that historians would continually reinterpret the past. Clark recognized that every generation and community answers CHAPTER 1 23 or at least in the doctrine that, since all historical judgments involve persons and points of view, one is as good as another and there is no objective historical truth” (Carr, 1961: 4). • E. H. Carr (1961: 111): “Scientists, social scientists, and historians are all engaged in different branches of the same study: the study of man [sic] and his environment, of the effects of man on his environment and of his environment on man. The object of the study is the same: to increase man’s understanding of, and mastery over, his environment.” • Lawrence “Yogi” Berra, Hall of Fame catcher and former manager of the New York Yankees and Mets, during the 1973 National League pennant race (1989: 6–7) “It ain’t over til it’s over”. Add your voice to the discussion: Which of these four quotes (or other statements of your choice) comes closest to your view of history? Explain your answer.
- 41. certain questions (Whathappened in the past? How does it shape the present and fu- ture?) based on new research and experi- ences and different ideological explanations about human actions and social change. Yogi Berra is a former baseball player, not a historian, who is well known for apparent malapropisms (misstatements) that manage to capture meaning in imagi- native ways. Berra is supposed to have made the statement, “It ain’t over til it’s over,” when besieged by sports writers who wanted him to explain the failure of the New York Mets to capture a pennant before the season was over or the race was even decided. Berra could not explain the team’s defeat because he still was not convinced that they were going to lose. Historians have a similar problem. Identify- ing history as the past arbitrarily breaks up an ongoing process that includes the pre- sent and extends into the future a process that is incomplete and difficult to evaluate. During the last two centuries, numer- ous theories about the importance of his- tory and numerous explanations of historical change have been stated. I think social studies teachers and students need to think about and discuss these theories and this question: What is history? Andrea Libresco, a former high school teacher, argues that one of our major goals as social studies teachers should be to undermine students’ certainty about past events and to help them understand that, if anything, history is messy. 24 WHY TEACH SOCIAL STUDIES? Learning Activity: Reading History and the Social Sciences Over the years, I have tried to read at least one “serious” book during the winter breaks and another each summer. Usually they are works of fact, either a monograph directed at experts in a field, a book written for a popular audience, essays, and collections of lectures; sometimes they are historical fiction. Eric Hobsbawn is probably my favorite historian. The Age of Extremes: A History of the World, 1914–1991 (1994) is a comprehensive survey of the twentieth century in which Hobsbawn attempts to explain the development of the modern world. I also recommend On the Edge of the New Century (with Antonio Polito, 2000) and On History (1997), collections of essays that examine historical interpretation and controversial issues. Eric Foner has written numerous books on U.S. history. In The Story of American Freedom (1998), Foner offers a thematic overview of the history of the United States as he discusses the evolution of the meaning of freedom. Dava Sobel writes about the history of science for a popular audience. In Galileo’s Daughter (1999), she uses letters written to Galileo by his daughter as the basis for understanding his ideas and accomplishments, conditions in 17th century Italy, and the role of the Roman Catholic Church in that era. In Longitude (1993), her focus is on efforts to develop a reliable method for determining a ship’s location while at sea. Sobel uses these efforts as a lens to examine the impact of technological change, naval history, British imperial policy, and the broader relationship between science and society. In the social sciences, Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies (1997) won a Pulitzer Prize and is eminently readable. He makes a powerful case for the role of geography in shaping history and provides plenty of material that is easily translatable into classroom activities. Amartya Sen is a Nobel Prize–winning economist concerned with social justice. His book, Development as Freedom (1999), argues that advancing private profit should not be the primary engine of an economic system in a democratic society. Cornell West has written widely on race in the contemporary United States. Many of his best essays are collected in Race Matters (1993). In recent years I have been especially moved by the historical fiction of Denise Giardina. Storming Heaven (1987) and The Unquiet Earth (1992) explore the struggle of Appalachian coal
- 42. WHAT ARE HISTORICAL FACTS? Manysocial studies teachers, feeling pres- sure to prepare students for standardized exams, present their classes with long lists of key facts to memorize. I call this the “Dragnet School of Social Studies Educa- tion.” Dragnet was a 1950s television se- ries in which police inspector Joe Friday would greet a prospective witness with the request, “Just the facts.” The idea that the goal of history is the collection of an enormous volume of information can prob- ably be traced back to Aristotle in ancient Greece and certainly was behind the ency- clopedia movement of the 18th century French Enlightenment. In recent years, E. D. Hirsch, Chester Finn, Diane Ravitch, and Allan Bloom have championed this approach to social studies. One problem with this view of history is that not everyone agrees on which facts are important to include when analyzing the past. While researching U.S. history, I become engrossed in the sports pages of old newspapers. During the summer preceding the New Orleans General Strike of 1892, Dan Brouthers of Brooklyn and Clarence Childs of Cleveland battled for the National League batting title, but it was Boston, the first team to win more than 100 games in a season, that won the pennant. Babe Ruth hit 60 home runs the same summer that worldwide protests were being held against the scheduled ex- ecution of Sacco and Vanzetti. These are interesting facts, but do they have histori- cal significance? Are they historical facts? If we dismiss the Bambino as historically insignificant, what about barely remem- bered U.S. presidents such as William Henry Harrison, James Garfield, Chester Arthur, or Warren G. Harding? It is cer- tainly possible that future generations will be uninterested in the administrations of Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Rea- gan, George H. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush. What establishes them as historically important? What about events or individuals who fail to make the newspapers or textbooks? Does that automatically mean they were unimpor- tant in their time and for all time? CHAPTER 1 25 miners to survive under difficult conditions, organize unions, and establish their humanity. Her novel Saints and Villains (1998) is the story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, an anti-Nazi Lutheran theologian who was executed because of participation in a plot to assassinate Adolph Hitler. Add your voice to the discussion: 1. List three books from history and/or the social sciences that influence the way you think about the world and social studies. 2. Why did you choose these books? 3. How do they influence your thinking? The Parthenon on the Acropolis in Athens. Should it be viewed as a crowning achievement of a soci- ety experimenting with democracy or as a symbol of imperialist ventures and slave labor? How did the people who did the labor view its creation?
- 43. I do notbelieve there are any indepen- dent objective criteria for establishing a particular event or person as historically important. The status of a fact rests on its importance in explaining the causes of events that interest historians and soci- eties. The Italian historian Benedetto Croce (Carr, 1961: 23) argued that essen- tially all history is contemporary history because people read the past and decide on what is important in the light of cur- rent problems and issues. The attitude of U.S. historians toward the 19th-century presidency of Andrew Jackson is an ex- ample of this at work. During the New Deal, Jackson’s presidency was cited as an historical precedent for democratic participation and a reformist spirit. How- ever, since the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, Jackson’s ownership of en- slaved Africans and attacks on the rights of native peoples have led to a reevalua- tion of his role in U.S. history. Weighing the historical importance of facts is also a problem because they are continually screened through the decades and centuries. Historians are forced to draw major conclusions based on limited information that was preselected by con- temporaries, considered important by earlier generations of historians, or sur- vived because of fortuitous accident. For example, our picture of life in ancient Greece and the belief that it was the inspi- ration for modern democracy is unduly influenced by what we know about a very small group of free male citizens liv- ing in the city-state of Athens. Recognizing that facts take on meaning within the context of explanations, and that the historical record is, at best, in- complete, does not mean that all facts carry the same weight and that all inter- pretations are equally valid. Within the historical craft, accuracy is an obligation, interpretations must be supported by evi- dence, and evidence is subject to review. U.S. historian Carl Becker argued that the facts of history do not exist for any histo- rian till he [sic] creates them (Carr, 1961: 23). If we want our students to become historians, we need to involve them in de- ciding which facts are important for un- derstanding history and what criteria to use when making decisions, instead of focusing our efforts on providing them with lists of someone else’s important facts. 26 WHY TEACH SOCIAL STUDIES? Classroom Activity: A Worker Reads History by Bertolt Brecht* Who built the seven towers of Thebes? The books are filled with names of kings. Was it kings who hauled the craggy blocks of stone? And Babylon, so many times destroyed, Who built the city up each time? In which of Lima’s houses, That city glimmering with gold, lived those who built it? In the evening when the Chinese wall was finished Where did the masons go? Imperial Rome Is full of arcs of triumph. Who reared them up? Over whom Did the Caesars triumph? Byzantium lives in song, Were all her dwellings palaces? And even in Atlantis of the legend The night the sea rushed in, The drowning men still bellowed for their slaves. Young Alexander plundered India. He alone? Caesar beat the Gauls.
- 44. HOW DOES AHISTORIAN STUDY HISTORY? The role of theory or point of view in the study of history is sharply debated, yet crucial for understanding how historians know what they claim to know. Most social studies teachers would argue that students should get their facts straight be- fore they worry about interpretation. I am not sure most practicing historians agree. According to E. H. Carr (1961), a fre- quent assumption is that a “historian divides his (sic) work into two sharply distinguishable phases or periods. First, he spends a long preliminary period reading his sources and filling his notebooks with facts: then, when this is over, he puts away his sources, takes out his notebooks, and writes his book from beginning to end” (32–33). The idea that research should be completed before analysis begins is rooted in the dominant empiricist ideas of late 19th-century Europe. I think these ideas are epitomized in the research methods of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s fictional Victorian-age detective. Doyle explains Holmes’ approach to problem-solving in the story “A Study in Scarlet” (1890). According to Sherlock Holmes, the only way to remove bias from research is to make scientific deduc- tions based on accurate observations. Holmes advises his friend Dr. James Wat- son that, “It is a capital mistake to theo- rize before one has data. Insensibly, one begins to twist facts to suit theories, in- stead of theories to suit facts” (Hardwick, 1986: 32). I love to read the Holmes adventures, but I challenge anyone to employ this method to understand the world, solve mysteries, or study the past. Despite the assertion that his conclusions are induced from empirical evidence untainted by point of view, Holmes simply does not recognize his own assumptions. When Watson is struck by his ignorance of liter- ature, philosophy, astronomy, and poli- tics, Holmes defends himself by arguing that the human brain is an attic with limited space, and he does not want to crowd it with information that “would not make a pennyworth of difference to me or to my work” (Hardwick, 1986: 24–25). To discard information as irrele- vant, Holmes must have a point of view about causality that lets him know which CHAPTER 1 27 Was there not even a cook in his army? Philip of Spain wept as his fleet Was sunk and destroyed. Were there no other tears? Frederick the Great triumphed in the Seven Years War. Who Triumphed with him? Each page a victory, At whose expense the victory ball? Every ten years a great man, Who paid the piper? So many particulars. So many questions. Think it over: What point is Brecht making in this poem? Do you agree or disagree with him? Why? It’s your classroom: How could this poem be used to promote a discussion of the nature of history? * Bertolt Brecht and H. R. Hays (1947). Selected Poems. New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, p. 108. Reprinted with the permission of the Brecht Estate and the publisher, Routeledge, New York.
- 45. facts to ignoreand what needs to be stored for later reference. In “Silver Blaze” (1892), Inspector Gregory asks Holmes, “Is there any point to which you would wish to draw my attention?” When Holmes answers, “To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time,” a puzzled Gregory says, “The dog did nothing in the night- time.” Holmes replies, “That was the curious incident” (Hardwick, 1986: 79). Without assumptions (theories) about the behavior of dogs, Holmes would have missed this “curious incident” altogether. Nowhere are Holmes assumptions more apparent than in his views about women. In “A Scandal in Bohemia” (1891), Holmes claims to have discov- ered a series of truths about women. They “are naturally secretive, and they like to do their own secreting.” During emer- gencies, a woman’s instinct is “to rush to the thing which she values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse.” A “married woman grabs at her baby” while “an unmarried one reaches for her jewel- box” (Hardwick, 1986: 54). Poor Sherlock is so committed to the idea of objectivity that he cannot even see his own biases. When E. H. Carr describes his own re- search, he explains that data gathering and analysis “go on simultaneously. The writ- ing is added to, subtracted from, re- shaped, canceled as I go on reading. The reading is guided and directed and made more fruitful by the writing: the more I write, the more I know what I am looking for, the better I understand the significance and relevance of what I find. . . . I am con- vinced that . . . the two processes . . . are, in practice, parts of a single process.” Histori- ans are engaged in a “continuous process of molding facts to interpretation and of interpretation to the facts. . . . The historian without facts is rootless and futile; the facts without their historian are dead and meaningless” (Carr, 1961: 32–35). 28 WHY TEACH SOCIAL STUDIES? Teaching Activity: Sherlock Holmes Add your voice to the discussion: 1. How do you evaluate Sherlock Holmes’ approach to understanding our world? 2. Do you agree or disagree with E. H. Carr’s concept of writing history? Why? Think it over: Was the job of the historian presented to you in high school or college? How was it explained? It’s your classroom: 1. How can Carr’s view be used to shape a social studies curriculum? 2. Is it possible to present Carr’s view of history to secondary school students in a useful way? Explain how you would do it. IS THE STUDY OF HISTORY SCIENTIFIC? Early in his career as a philosopher and mathematician, Bertrand Russell hoped for the development of a mathematics of human behavior as precise as the mathematics of machines (Carr, 1961: 71). However, the prevalence of contingent factors (accidents and uncontrolled or unanticipated incidents) and the recogni- tion that individual points of view and cul- tural assumptions strongly influence what historians see have made Russell’s dream highly unlikely. Meanwhile, the possibility of objective and predictive history has been popularized by science fiction writers. In high school, I devoured the Foundation
- 46. series, where IsaacAsimov developed the science of psychohistory. However, even Asimov’s psychohistorians had to contend with “The Mule,” an unexpected mutant who threw off all of their calculations. When most of us think of real science, we think of people in white coats, usually men, operating sophisticated machinery and running carefully controlled experi- ments in sterile laboratories (e.g., images from Michael Crichton’s The Andromeda Strain, 1969, and Jurassic Park, 1990). Ac- cording to the scientific method taught in high school, scientific experiments re- quire a formal hypothesis to be tested, a predicted and quantifiable outcome, con- trol over the immediate environment, the ability to regulate variables, and assur- ance that the same result will be obtained each time the experiment is replicated. Historians can never conduct this kind of experiment. They do not control events which happened in the past, are known in- completely, are much too complex, and are never repeated in exactly the same way, or people. They cannot remove a Lenin or Hitler from the historical equation and play back the 20th century, and they are not very successful at predicting specific histor- ical events (the collapse of the Soviet Union or the election of particular candidates). Significantly, many sciences do not have this kind of control either. Evolutionary bi- ology, geology, and astronomy all have a historical dimension and a breadth of field that cannot be contained within a labora- tory. Extinct species cannot be resurrected to see if they would survive under differ- ent circumstances (despite the premise of Crichton’s novel), earthquakes cannot be replayed for closer observation, the big bang will not be repeated, at least not for many billions of years, and no one seems very good at predicting the weather. The level of control and precision in the “laboratory sciences” is also exaggerated. You might remember that in high school chemistry, certain processes occurred only when an experiment took place at standard temperature and pressure (STP). Although the notion that a particu- lar range of temperature (between the freezing and boiling points of water) and a specific pressure (sea level on Earth) de- fines what is normal may be useful, it is also arbitrary. High-altitude cooking in Denver, Colorado, differs from sea-level cooking in New York City because the boiling point of water is lower; as a result, recipes have to be changed. In fact, it is only in a limited number of locations that water even occurs in its liquid form. What we see as the standard on Earth is not standard for the rest of the universe. In addition, as scientists work with in- creasingly smaller and faster subatomic particles and charges, the certainty of New- tonian laws has been replaced by the uncer- tainties of quantum mechanics, relativity, and chaos theory. According to Werner Heisenberg, a German scientist writing in the 1920s, when scientists examine a physi- cal or chemical process, their observations and measurements interfere with and change what is taking place; they can never know exactly what was happening before they intervened. The classical scientific method still has value, but we need to re- member that it can only be applied in its traditional rigor under special and limited circumstances (Hawking, 1988: 53–61). The question for us is, how can any his- torical science where contingency is al- ways a factor, including human history, be scientific? Stephen Jay Gould (1989: 277–91; 1991: 385–401) argues that the historical sciences have their own appropriate scientific methods based on constructing narratives of events that allow us to locate patterns, identify probable causes, and create broader explanations and encompassing CHAPTER 1 29
- 47. Classroom Activity: Stepsto Revolution FIG. 1.1 Used with permission of Pamela Booth. Try it yourself: 1. Which step was most important in causing the American revolution? Why? 2. When was a backward step no longer possible? Why? theories. Historical explanation uses spe- cific events to describe general categories and general categories to explain specific events. For example, labeling a group of events as social revolutions means they have similar qualities that historians and social scientists can identify in other lo- cales and eras, and that these qualities ex- plain human actions and point to new, potentially revolutionary situations. However, if the label proves to be too in- clusive or of little use in predicting revolu- tionary situations, new general categories and explanations must be sought. Histori- ans and other historical scientists also search for evidence that defies our explana- tions and forces us to redefine them. Gabriel Kolko’s The Triumph of Conser- vatism (1963), uncovered significant corpo- rate support for federal regulation of business and stimulated a reconceptualiza- tion of the Progressive Era in U.S. history. Because history and the historical sci- ences do not rely on experiments that can be replicated in other laboratories, they also require a different form of verifica- tion. The ultimate check on the historian is the marketplace of ideas where expla- nations are debated and analyzed, and colleagues are convinced that interpreta- tions explain the data, are logical, are con- sistent with other things that we know, and provide possibilities for new expla- nations and further research. 30 WHY TEACH SOCIAL STUDIES?
- 48. CHAPTER 1 31 ARETHERE LAWS IN HISTORY? Historians, historical scientists, philoso- phers, politicians, and theologians look for causes, patterns, and laws in nature and history. However, that may be where their agreement stops. In the 16th century, Protestant theolo- gian John Calvin presented the doctrine of predestination. Calvin argued that the fate of every individual human being, born and yet to be born, was predeter- mined by God at creation. All events past, present, and future were already fixed. Current Christian millennialists continue to embrace these beliefs as they prepare for Armageddon, a battle between the forces of good and evil, final divine victory, judgment day, and ultimate rap- ture. To some extent, a notion of pre- destination, although not as dramatic and couched in scientific terminology, is also implied in the ideas of contemporary ge- netic determinists and sociobiologists. In the 18th century, philosophers and scientists increasingly viewed the uni- verse, the natural world, and the social world as Newtonian machines operating according to scientific laws. The as- tronomer Pierre-Simon La Place, who coined the term celestial mechanics, claimed that if anyone could identify the position and motion of every particle of matter in the universe, knowledge of nat- ural law would permit that person to pre- dict all future history (Gould, 1995: 26). Montesquieu argued that “there are gen- eral causes, moral or physical, which operate in every monarchy, raise it, main- tain it, or overthrow it, and that all that occurs is subject to these causes” (Carr, 1961: 114). Predetermination or determinism entered the 19th century in the philosophy of Georg W. F. Hegel, who viewed humans as ac- tors in events they did not understand or control in a world moving forward under its own spiritual dynamic toward the achievement of a “Universal History.” Hegel discounted human free will and ar- gued, “The great man of the age is the one who can put into words the will of his age, tell his age what its will is, and accomplish it” (Carr, 1961: 68). In recent years, Francis Fukuyama (1992: 59–69) has championed Hegelian philosophy. He argues that, with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the triumph of the West, humanity has achieved “the end of history,” and human beings are now freed from the forces that had propelled development in the past. In my opinion, the dominant intellec- tual forces of the 19th and early 20th cen- turies were Karl Marx, Charles Darwin, and Sigmund Freud. Each of these thinkers presented a different image of history and historical change. Marx claimed to stand Hegel on his head, locat- ing the dynamic element of historical change in the economic law of motion of modern society. In Marx’s view, new social systems emerged as the result of inherent economic, social, and political conflicts among social classes existing in earlier societies. As a result of Darwin’s work explaining the evolution of life on earth, his name became associ- ated with the ideas of history as continu- ous, gradual, and progressive change in society. Both Marxist and Darwinian progressive ideas have been associ- ated with a sense of historical inevitabil- ity. In contrast, Freudian psychology added an element of the irrational to history, which won adherents, especially after European and U.S. experiences during the two world wars of the 20th century.
- 49. 32 WHY TEACHSOCIAL STUDIES? Social studies teachers have many ques- tions to think about as we involve our stu- dents in the study of history: 1. Do individual events have identifi- able and understandable causes? 2. Are these causes single or multiple? If there are multiple, are some causes more significant than others? 3. Are there patterns in history? If so, what are they? What causes them? 4. Do natural laws determine what happens in history? If so, what are they? What are their origins? 5. Are individuals and groups able to make choices based on free will, or are they subject to historical and so- cial forces beyond their control? 6. Is the future predetermined, or is it contingent on accident and unpre- dictable incident? Can individual or group action influence the course of the future? Would the world be dif- ferent if Hitler had died at childbirth? 7. With sufficient information about the past and present, will historians be able to predict the future? 8. Is there a goal or purpose to history? Learning Activity: The Nature of History For the want of a nail the shoe was lost. For want of a shoe the horse was lost. For the want of a horse the rider was lost. For the want of a rider the battle was lost. For the want of a battle the kingdom was lost—And all for want of a horseshoe-nail. —Benjamin Franklin, Maxims . . . Prefixed to Poor Richard’s Almanac (1758) in Burton Stevenson (1952: 2041). Try it yourself: 1. In your opinion, what lesson does this proverb express? In your opinion, what does the author believe about the nature of history? 2. Draw a picture illustrating your view of the nature of history. WHAT ARE THE GOALS OF HISTORIANS? All historians try to make sense out of the past, but many also have other goals. The issue here is whether these other goals are valid. For example, must historians remain impartial, objective, and apoliti- cal, or can history legitimately be used to achieve political or social goals and sup- port moral judgments? In The Education of Henry Adams, 19th century U.S. historian Henry Brooks Adams (Seldes, 1966: 40) argued, “No honest historian can take part with—or against—the forces he has to study. To him even the extinction of the human race should be merely a fact to be grouped with other vital statistics.” However, during the American Civil War, the same historian dismissed the idea of impartiality and wrote, “The devil is strong in me. . . . Rebellion is in the blood, somehow or other. I can’t gone on with out a fight” (41). Point of View In The Disuniting of America: Reflections on a Multicultural Society, Arthur Schlesinger Jr. (1992) decried the political uses and distortions of history in authoritarian countries and by people in the United States he described as ethnic chauvinists. Schlesinger was particularly concerned
- 50. CHAPTER 1 33 withwhat he described as efforts to define “the purpose of history in the schools” as “therapeutic” (80). However, in the same book, Schlesinger supported the use of history to promote patriotism. He argued that “a nation denied a con- ception of its past will be disabled in dealing with its present and future. As a means of defining national identity, his- tory becomes a means of shaping history” (45–46). Why is it wrong to use history to develop a sense of self-worth among African American children but right to use it to build national unity? Schlesinger denounced his opponents in the name of objective and impartial history while ig- noring the possibility that he also had biases and a political agenda. Is it unacceptable for historians to try to establish the legitimacy of their points of view? Or is it a more serious problem when historians deny that their conclu- sions are influenced by their ideologies and, as a result, the conclusions go unexamined? During the Enlightenment, Denis Diderot praised Voltaire, writing that “other historians relate facts to inform us of facts. You relate them to excite in our hearts an intense hatred of lying, igno- rance, hypocrisy, superstition, tyranny; and the anger remains even after the memory of the facts has disappeared” (Zinn, 1970: ix). During the 19th century, Karl Marx argued that, although “philosophers have . . . interpreted the world differently . . . the point is to change it” (Carr, 1961: 182–83). Even Schlesinger (1992) believes that “honest history is the weapon of freedom” (52). All of these statements seem consistent with the social studies goals of promoting critical thinking and active citizenship. Perhaps a political agenda is a virtue for an historian, a social studies teacher, and students in a social studies class. NEW TEACHER’S DEBATE “POINT OF VIEW” Two new social studies teachers, Richard Stern and Bill Van Nostrand, edited this section of the book for its second edition. One day in class they started to argue about whether a teacher should express her or his point of view in class. Bill stated that “as a ninth grade global history teacher, I discovered that students will sometimes agree with whatever I say, just because I said it. That is why I try not to express my opinions in class. It automatically gives students a one-sided view of the past and prevents them from drawing their own conclusions. When I withhold my opinion, they are more likely to think critically.” Richard responded: “Our lessons are always shaped by our opinions whether we, or our students, are conscious of it or not. Any teachers who claim they are keeping their opinions out of their lessons are just not telling the truth. I think it is more hon- est to state your opinions openly. It opens up a teacher’s views for critical examination by a class and helps students understand how an informed opinion must be supported by evidence.” Add Your Voice to the Discussion: Who do you agree with, Bill or Richard? Why? Moral and Political Judgments Does the study of history provide infor- mation and explanations that can be used to make moral and political judgments about the past and present and hopes for the future? Of course. I think that is one of the main reasons that people are inter- ested in history. Does that give historians special authority to make moral and
- 51. 34 WHY TEACHSOCIAL STUDIES? political judgments? In this case, not only do I think the answer is no, but also I think historians have an obligation to slow the rush to judgment. First, because historians are accustomed to studying soci- eties within specific social and chronologi- cal contexts, they tend to reject applying absolute universal moral standards of right and wrong. Second, because they are aware that “it ain’t over til it’s over,” historians are sensitive to the need to reevaluate the past based on new find- ings, ideas, and historical developments. Innumerable efforts have been made to define moral standards throughout human history. I suspect that every coun- try that ever went to war considered itself the aggrieved party and argued that right was on its side. The U.S. expansion into the Great Plains and to the west coast of North America was considered “manifest destiny,” or God’s will. However, its growth was achieved at the expense of numerous small Native American nations that were nearly exterminated. Some 18th- and 19th-century British philosophers, in an effort to counter the ar- bitrary nature of many political and eco- nomic judgments, argued that decisions should be evaluated based on whether they provided the greatest good for the greatest number (Mill, 1963). At first glance, this seems like a reasonable equa- tion, but it is difficult to apply. The enslavement of millions of Africans made possible the development of North America and financed the European com- mercial and industrial revolutions. Was it justified? Frederick Engels called history “the most cruel of all goddesses” because those called on to pay the price of progress are rarely the people who receive its ben- efits (Seldes, 1966: 240). Furthermore, judgments change as events unfold. In 1910, an historian studying the impact of Bismarck on Germany and Europe might have praised the Iron Chancellor’s political agenda and organizational skill. The same historian, reevaluating events after 1945, however, would be inclined to notice destructive tendencies that had been missed in the earlier study. Future developments in China and Eastern Europe, economic de- pression in Western economies, or com- munist success in other parts of the world may lead to a reevaluation of a system that was largely discredited with the col- lapse of the Soviet Union. Historians have the same right as anyone else to make judgments, but they also have a profes- sional responsibility to question them. Eric Hobsbawn, author of The Age of Ex- tremes (1994), is an excellent example of a contemporary historian who consciously applies a point of view to understand the past and who uses understandings about the past to draw tentative conclusions about the present and to raise questions about the future. If Yogi Berra is right, maybe only the future holds the key to understanding the past. Teaching Activity: Goals of Historians Combatants in war often claim that God is on their side. Following the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, President George W. Bush concluded a public statement explaining air strikes against targets in Afghanistan by saying, “We will not waver, we will not tire, we will not falter and we will not fail. Peace and freedom will prevail. Thank you. May God continue to bless America.” (The New York Times, October 7, 2001, B6) Osama bin Laden, a Saudi-born dissident accused of masterminding the attacks, responded, “I swear to God that America will not live in peace before peace reigns in Palestine, and before
- 52. CHAPTER 1 35 WHATIS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HISTORY AND THE SOCIAL SCIENCES? The social sciences started to develop as areas of study during the European Enlightenment of the 17th and 18th cen- turies when new scientific approaches were applied to understanding the ways that societies were organized and people made decisions. For an essay in an under- graduate European intellectual history class at City College in the 1960s, my in- structor asked us to discuss this topic: “To what extent were later Enlightenment thinkers Newtonian?” Sir Isaac Newton believed that the physical universe obeyed natural laws that could be de- scribed with mathematical precision. The teacher wanted us to examine efforts by thinkers such as John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, and Adam Smith in Great Britain, Voltaire, Montesquieu, Diderot, and Rousseau in France, and Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison in the United States to adapt Newton’s view of the physical world so they could develop a calculus describing the world of human interrelationships. The social sciences—political science, sociology, economics, geography, anthro- pology, and psychology—emerged as individual disciplines during the 19th century, coinciding with efforts to explain mass social upheavals, the development of industrial society, and the need of growing European nation-states to gather and organize statistical information and manage complex economic, political, and social systems. During this period, social scientists formulated research questions about areas of society that had previously been ignored and developed new methodologies for study. Important theo- rists such as Auguste Comte, Emile Durkheim, David Ricardo, John Stuart Mill, Karl Marx, Herbert Spencer, and, later, Sigmund Freud changed the way we understand ourselves and our world. By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the different disciplines were institution- alized in the United States and Europe with their own university departments and professional organizations. The Amer- ican Historical Association (AHA) was founded in 1884, the American Political Science Association in 1903, the American Sociological Association in 1905, and the all the army of infidels depart the land of Mohammed, peace be upon him. God is the Greatest and glory be to Islam.” (The New York Times, October 7, 2001, B7) Try it yourself: In their statements, both George W. Bush and Osama bin Laden called on God for strength and support. How do you respond to their invocation of God for their causes? Explain. It’s your classroom: How would you respond to a student who claims that “God is on the side of the United States”? Add your voice to the discussion: 1. In your opinion, should historians strive for impartiality or seek to establish particular theories or points of view? Why? 2. In your opinion, should historians be involved in making moral and political judgments about the past and about contemporary societies? Why?
- 53. National Council ofGeography Teachers in 1914. Twentieth-century movements for ex- panded government intervention in eco- nomies and regulation of society, whether called progressivism, bureaucratization, tech- nocracy, fascism, or socialism, increased the importance of the social sciences. In the United States, the Great Depression and the New Deal—government-industry part- nership during World War II—and the in- fluence of British economist John Maynard Keynes contributed to an expanding role for the social sciences in managing the cap- italist economic system and in measuring the impact of economic development and government-sponsored social programs on the general population. Generally, the social sciences have dis- tanced themselves from the study of history by focusing on analysis of con- temporary events, rigorous application of social theory and research methods, and the “scientific objectivity” of their find- ings. At the dedication of a new social sci- ence research building at the University of Chicago in 1929, economist Wesley Mitchell argued that the social sciences represented the victory of the “man of facts” over the “man of hunches” (Smith, 1994). John Merriam, president of the Carnegie Foundation, believed that many of the highly contested issues of the era would “melt away” as soon as social sci- entists had collected sufficient data to ob- jectively resolve social policy debates. Many economists and political scientists concentrated on designing mathematical descriptions and models of society. Some sociologists and psychologists distin- guished their fields from history and phi- losophy by identifying them as behavioral sciences. Although boundaries remained between the disciplines, areas of study continued to overlap. In recent years, his- torians have increasingly incorporated the theories, methodologies, and insights of the social sciences while many social scientists have added an historical dimen- sion to their work. In addition, there have always been social scientists such as soci- ologists Robert Lynd, Gunnar Myrdal, and C. Wright Mills who reject the possi- bility of total objectivity and believe that their research should support progressive political goals (Smith, 1994). In the United States, the importance of history and the social sciences in educa- tion has roots in the early national period. Benjamin Rush, a physician in colonial America who represented New York at the Continental Congress and signed the Declaration of Independence, argued that education was vital to the development of citizenship. Thomas Jefferson was an early champion of including history and geography in a basic education. During the 19th century, history, geography, and civics tended to be independent subjects, with history gradually supplanting geog- raphy as the dominant influence on cur- riculum. The idea of social studies as a compre- hensive secondary school subject, includ- ing history and the social sciences, was a product of the move toward rationalizing and standardizing education during the Progressive era at the start of the 20th century. In 1912, the National Education Association created the Committee on the Social Studies to reorganize the secondary school curriculum. The committee, with representatives from different social sci- ence disciplines and educational con- stituencies, issued a report in 1916 that defined the social studies as “those whose subject matter relates directly to the orga- nization and development of human soci- ety, and to 1 man [sic] as a member of social groups” (U.S. Bureau of Education, 1916: 9). The committee also established that the preparation of citizens was the 36 WHY TEACH SOCIAL STUDIES?
- 54. primary goal ofthe social studies. In a preliminary statement, Thomas Jesse Jones, chair of the committee, claimed that “high school teachers of social stud- ies have the best opportunity ever offered to any social group to improve the citi- zenship of the land” (9). The committee’s focus on citizenship education is not sur- prising, given the Progressive era’s con- cern with the assimilation of millions of new eastern and southern European im- migrants to the United States, especially as the country prepared for possible in- volvement in the Great War being fought in Europe. The National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) was founded in 1921, with the support of the national histori- ans’ organization as a response to the NEA–sponsored report and as an effort by historians to assert the central role of their field in social studies. From 1925 to 1975, NCSS served as the NEA’s depart- ment of social studies. The relationship between the AHA and the NCSS contin- ued until 1935, when the NCSS became an advocate for a broader definition of the social studies. One of the organiza- tion’s most important activities was pub- lication of the journal Social Education, which expanded its influence in shaping social studies curricula (NCSS, 1995). Although the debate over citizenship education versus discipline-based in- struction and the relative importance of different subject areas continues, since the end of World War II, secondary schools have generally integrated history and the social sciences into a multiyear, history-based social studies curriculum. Although economics and political science are often assigned specific courses in the social studies sequence, geography, soci- ology, anthropology, psychology, and philosophy are usually taught within the confines of other subject areas or in elective courses. In the last decade, how- ever, social science requirements for teacher certification, especially knowledge of geography, government, and econom- ics, have been increased as part of the gen- eral push to raise educational standards. WHAT DO WE LEARN FROM THE SOCIAL SCIENCE DISCIPLINES? Geography The focus of geography in secondary education is generally on the location of cities, states, countries, continents, nat- ural resources, major land formations and bodies of water, international boundaries, and interconnecting routes. One of its more important functions in social stud- ies curricula is academic skill develop- ment, through map reading and design, and the creation and analysis of informa- tion on charts and graphs. Geography is also used to help students develop their ability to observe, organize, and analyze information presented in pictures, slides, and videos. As an academic discipline, the impor- tance placed on geography in secondary education has had peaks and valleys, and it now seems to be increasing. In the early national era, geography, not history, tended to be the main focus of what is now called the social studies. In a physically expanding, largely agrarian nation that also depended on interna- tional trade, a subject that focused on map skills, international and domestic trade routes, and land formations had more concrete value than stories of great deeds by heroic figures from the past. However, as the study of history became associ- ated with explanation and nation build- ing during the 19th and 20th centuries, CHAPTER 1 37
- 55. Other documents randomlyhave different content
- 56. Belgian coasts, thewaters through which most of the world's trade must pass," cried Haeseler enthusiastically. "But that would mean annexation of Belgium and Holland," demanded Franz. Count Haeseler, having instructions not to answer questions of that kind, bent over a series of maps illustrating the history of Frederick the Second, while the War Lord, disregarding the question, commanded curtly: "The strategic points, please." Count Haeseler traced them at the end of a blue pencil: "King Frederick planned a quick march from the Rhine through Belgium, forcing Liége, then the capital of an ecclesiastical principality, and pouncing upon Nieuport on the North Sea. Next, he intended to attack Dunkirk and Gravelines. Then to Calais. His final objective point was Paris, of course." "Never heard of such a plan," said Franz. "Because at Frederick's time these territories were an apanage of the Habsburgs," volunteered the War Lord. "Proceed, Haeseler." "I can only reassert what I have submitted to Your Majesty more than once—namely, that King Frederick's plan is as sound to- day as at the time——" "When Prussia presented England with Canada and made secure her Empire in India," interrupted the War Lord. "And isn't she grateful for the inestimable services rendered by us with a generous heart?" he continued, warming his thighs and his wrath at the gas logs. "Won't allow us to acquire coaling stations in any part of the world. Shuts the door in our face in Africa, Asia and America, and supports with treasure and blood, if necessary, any scheme intended to impede Germany's progress, territorially and economically.
- 57. "We depend forour very life on foreign trade, yet England would restrict us to the Baltic and a few yards of North Sea coast. "Franz," he cried, rising and holding out his hand, "I will turn the Adriatic into an inland lake for the Emperor of the Slavs if you will help me secure the French Channel coast line, the north-eastern districts and the continental shores of the Straits of Dover. Is it a bargain?" Franz, too, had risen, and was about to clasp the War Lord's hand when his eye lit upon the field-marshal. "You bound me to secrecy," he said doggedly, "yet our private pourparlers seem to be property of your General Staff." "The heads of my General Staff know as much as I want them to, Herr von Este, no more, no less," replied the War Lord in a strident voice. Then, in less serious mood: "Come, now, the Kapellmeister does not play all the instruments, does he? and don't you think I have more important things to do than worry over charts and maps and figures. That is his work," inclining his head toward the field-marshal. When Franz the Sullen still withheld acquiescence the War Lord continued in a bantering tone: "He is preparing the way, is Haeseler. While at Strassburg and neighbourhood, take a look at his sixteenth army corps, kneaded and knocked into invincibility by him. If there is a superior war machine, then our Blücher was beaten at Waterloo. Let his boys once get across the French frontier—they will never again leave La Belle France. Haeseler catechism!" And more in the same boastful martinet vein, winding up with the promise of sending to the Austrian heir de luxe editions of Haeseler's contributions to the General Staff history of the Franco-
- 58. German War andof his technical writings on cavalry exercises and war discipline—a sure way of pleasing Franz. Yet it was patent enough that the Jesuit disciple was only half mollified. Desperate means were in order! "I tell you what"—the War Lord dropped his voice—"I will lend you Haeseler for a fortnight or a month. Invite him to Konopischt" (the Austrian heir's Hungarian seat) "and find out everything. What he doesn't know about horse, foot and artillery, especially horse, is not worth knowing." At last Franz's face lit up. "I'll take you at your word," he said warmly. Franz's thirst for military knowledge was insatiable. He had read most of the books, ancient and modern, on the science of war; had consulted all living army leaders of the day; was, of course, in constant communication with his own General Staff; and knew the methods of the Austrian, Russian, German and Spanish cavalry, both by practice and observation, since he took his honorary proprietorship of the Bavarian Heavy Troopers, the Saxon Lancers, the Russian 26th Dragoons and the Spanish Mounted Chasseurs very seriously. But to have Haeseler for private mentor and adviser, to be hand and glove with the premier cavalry expert of the world, at one time apprentice of Frederick Charles, the Red Prince, was indeed a priceless privilege. "Will you come?" he asked Haeseler. "Oh yes, he is coming, don't you worry," cried the War Lord, even before Haeseler finished the phrase: "At your Imperial Highness's command."
- 59. "His Excellency shalldemonstrate to me that the offensive partnership you propose will be to mutual advantage," said Franz quickly, to forestall possible further arguments on the exchange of the Italian Adriatic for the French-Belgian-Dutch Channel coasts. CHAPTER XVII DIAMOND CUT DIAMOND The War Lord's Secret Staircase—Some Outspoken Opinions—Royal Fisticuffs—Otto of Bavaria—A Secret Service Man—More Dreams The reports of two meetings between exalted personages, held on the eve of the day memorable for the conference at the General Staff building, would furnish a clever editor with "deadly parallels" of vast interest. Dramatis personæ of one meeting: The War Lord and Bülow. Scene: The library of the Frederick Leopold Palace, nearly opposite the Chancellory. Meeting number two: Franz von Este and Lorenz Schlauch, Cardinal Archbishop of Gross Wardein, Hungary. Scene: A private parlour in the Hôtel de Rome, near the Schloss. The pall of secrecy hung over both trysting places. Cardinal Schlauch, of his Hungarian Majesty's most obnoxious Opposition,
- 60. would have lostcaste with his followers if seen with the "Habsburg Nero," and the latter would have had a strenuous quart d'heure with Francis Joseph had "Uncle" known of his intimacy with Schlauch. Hence the room at the hotel, and Adolph Muehling, guard of honour, outside the door. Why press the old proprietor into service, when a word to the Commandant of Berlin would have brought sentinels galore? Because Count Udo von Wedell, head of the German Secret Service, occasionally unloads a uniformed stenographer on an unsuspecting, but suspected, visitor to Berlin; and, Udo failing, Captain von Tappken, his right-hand man, might be tempted to do so. Spy mistrusts spy, you know. On his part the War Lord was as anxious to keep his conference with Bülow from Franz, as Este was to invent excuses for wishing a night free from social duties or official business. Accordingly Wilhelm had twice changed the programme. His first idea was to receive Bülow at the Schloss. No; Franz might hear of it. His valet (Father Bauer) was singularly well supplied with money, and royal lackeys (confound them!) prefer trinkgeld to medals, even. Again, he might drive to the Wilhelmstrasse himself, if it were not for those penny-a-liners at the Kaiserhof, a whole contingent of them, bent on getting coin out of nothing. Already vague hints at an incognito royal visitor had appeared in one or two gutter journals. "Augustus tells me that Frederick Leopold had his Berlin house thoroughly overhauled. Nothing unusual about inspecting the renovated lair of the Prussian Croesus?" suggested Prince Phili Eulenburg. He referred, of course, to the Grand Master of Ceremony
- 61. and the Lordof Klein-Glenicke, the War Lord's cousin and brother-in- law. "By Jove, you are almost too smart for an ambassador, Phili," cried Majesty; "you deserve a wider field, the Wilhelmstrasse or the Governorship of Klein-Popo should be yours. Meanwhile, and until one of those posts becomes vacant, 'phone Bülow to meet me in Leopold's library at nine sharp. Moltke shall send six men of the First Guards to investigate garden and all, and they will remain for corridor duty. Augustus, of course, must communicate with Leopold's maître d'hôtel." At 8.55 P.M. the War Lord, in mufti, fur collar of his great-coat hugging the tops of his ears, slipped down the secret staircase leading from his apartments to a side door, and into Count von Wedell's quiet coupé. The Secret Service man who acted as groom had mapped out a circuitous route, avoiding the Linden and Charlottenstrasse. When the carriage passed the Kaiserhof the War Lord could not resist the temptation to bend forward. "Udo," he said, "are you not ashamed of yourself, robbing these poor devils at the journalists' table? If they knew how I am suffering in your springless cab—oh, but it does hurt!—it would mean at least ten marks in their pocket." "Confound their impudence," said Count von Wedell. "But Your Majesty's criticism of the coupé is most à propos—just in time to insert the item for a new one in the appropriation." "The devil!" cried the War Lord. "I thought this ramshackle chariot your personal property." Wilhelm likes to spend other people's money, but with State funds it is different, for every pfennig spent for administration
- 62. reduces the totalHis Majesty "acquires." True, Prussia spells despotism tempered by Parliament, but her kings can never forget the good old times when appropriations for the Court were only limited by the State's utmost resources. "My own!" gasped Wedell. "Would I dare worry Your Majesty's sacred bones in an ark like this?" The carriage entered the palace stableyard, the gates of which opened noiselessly in obedience to a significant crack of the whip. Sentinels posted inside and out, civil service men in frock-coats and top-hats, who muttered numbers to their chief, replying in kind! "Everything all right, Bülow upstairs," whispered Udo in Russian. He went ahead of the War Lord through lines of his men, posted at intervals of three paces in the courtyard and at the entrance. The vestibule was splendid with electric light for the first time in the history of the old palace. As the suspicious War Lord observed, Marshal Augustus had been busy indeed. Heavy portières everywhere, over doors, windows, and oeils-de-boeuf; to passers-by the Leopold Palace was as dead and forlorn as during the past several years. Up the newly carpeted grand stairway the War Lord rushed. The smiling Bülow stood at the library door. Wilhelm merely extended his hand; he was too full of his subject to reply to Bülow's respectful greetings and inquiries after his health. "Wedell will stay," he said, "for our talk will concern his department no less than yours." Bülow had arranged arm-chairs about the blazing fireplace, but the War Lord was in no mood to sit down.
- 63. "Here's a devilof a mess," he said, "just discovered it in time. That confounded Este is too much of a blackleg to be trusted." "Too deeply steeped in clericalism," suggested Bülow. "That and Jesuitism, Romanism, Papism and every other sableism. Found him out in our first confab, and to-day's meeting with Haeseler confirmed it. He will never consent to a Roman Empire of German nationality. Wants all Italy for himself and Rome for his Church. Intolerable!" cried the War Lord, as he strode up and down. "Twenty marks if Otto were in his place." The War Lord's joke drew tears of appreciative hilarity from the obsequious eyes of the two courtier-politicians. "Your Majesty's remark reminds me of a patriotic speech made by the Prince of Bueckeberg at the beginning of the railway age: 'We must have a railway in Lippe, even if it costs five thousand thalers,' said His Transparency, amid thunderous applause." This from the Chancellor, who, like Talleyrand, delights in quotations and has a knack of introducing other people's witty, or stupid, sayings when desiring to remain uncommittal on his own part. In this instance he would rather exhaust Bartlett and his German confrère Hertslet than discuss that Prince of mauvais sujets, Otto of Austria. At the time of the discussion (it was in 1903—three years before the royal degenerate died) the father of the present heir to the Dual Monarchy was on the apex of his ill-fame. He beat his wife and his creditors, he disgraced his rank, his manhood, and, though thirty-eight years of age, was frightened from committing the worst excesses at home only by the threat of corporal punishment at the hands of his uncle, the Emperor. For
- 64. Francis Joseph, mostOlympian of monarchs, according to the upholders of Spanish etiquette at the Hofburg, is very apt indeed to give a good imitation of the petty household tyrant when roused. For this reason, probably, his late consort, the Empress Elisabeth, used to liken him to a cobbler. Francis Joseph's most recent fistic exploit at Otto's expense was still, at that time, the talk of the European Courts. It appears that His Imperial Highness, at dinner with boon companions, had emptied a dish of spinach over the head of uncle's marble statue, and prolonged the fun by firing over-ripe tomatoes, pimentos, spaghetti and other dainties at the already abundantly decorated effigy. When finally he ordered Count Salm, his Court marshal, to send for a "mandel"—fifteen pieces—of ancient eggs to vary the bombardment, Salm refusing, of course, he assaulted the Excellency, sword in hand, and a general medley ensued, in which considerable blue blood was spilt. No lives lost, yet the innocent bit of passe- temps brought the Emperor's fist and cane into play again. But our mutton is getting cold. "Unfortunately," said von Bülow, "Franz Ferdinand is a particularly healthy specimen of humanity." "And even should he die like a Balkan royalty——" suggested von Wedell. "I thought you had been unable definitely to trace Russia's fine Italian hand in the Belgrade murders?" demanded the War Lord sharply. "For which many thanks," murmured Bülow.
- 65. "With Your Majesty'spermission, I referred to the older generation of Balkan assassins," said Udo. "Well, let it pass, Monsieur le Duc d'Otrante." The War Lord frequently addressed his Minister of Police by Fouché's title, while commenting upon Napoleon's bad taste in raising that functionary to so high an estate. "After all," he used to say, "he was nothing but a spy, and as treacherous as the Corsican himself." This, it will be observed, came with peculiar ill grace from Wilhelm, who, like the first Emperor of the French, demeaned himself to direct personally his Secret Service, and to associate with the cashiered army officers, agents provocateurs, etc., of this branch of government. "What if Otto, as Emperor of the Slavs, sets up a claim for all Poland, Your Majesty's with the rest?" Bülow had asked. "I would rather see my sixty millions of people dead on the battle-field than give up an inch of ground gained by Frederick the Great and the rest of my ancestors!" cried the War Lord, as if he were haranguing a mob. "Besides, why should Otto, more than Franz, covet my patrimony?" "Because of his relationship with the Saxon Court through her Imperial Highness Josepha." "Pipe-dreams——" snarled the War Lord contemptuously. Then, seeing Bülow redden, he added: "On Otto's part, I mean." "I beg Majesty's pardon—not entirely," quoth Wedell. "Dresden is still making sheep's eyes at Warsaw, and when Your Majesty spoke about a grand Imperial palace to be built in Posen, King George remarked: 'Suits me to the ground. I hope he'll make it after the kind American multimillionaires boast of.' This on the authority of
- 66. a Saxon noblewhose family established itself in the kingdom long before Albert the Bold." "Children and disgruntled aristocrats tell the truth," commented the War Lord; "sometimes, at least," he added after a while. Then suddenly facing Bülow, he continued in an angry tone: "That black baggage, wherever one turns. Unless there be a Lutheran Pope, Monsieur l'Abée de Rome will try and catholicise Prussia, even as Benedict XIV. tried to do through Maria Theresa." "It was another Benedict, was it not, who offered public prayers that Heaven be graciously pleased to foment quarrels between the heretic Powers?" suggested Bülow, pulling a volume on historic dates from the shelf as if to verify his authority. "What of it?" demanded the War Lord impatiently. "One of the heretic Powers prayed against was England, Your Majesty." "And you want to insinuate that I must pocket all the insults Edward may find it expedient to heap upon me?" "Nothing is farther from my mind, of course. I merely meant to point to the historic fact that the Catholics always pool their interests, always fight back to back, while the disunity and open rivalries among non-Catholic Powers——" "I know the litany," interrupted the War Lord rudely; "but let's return to Este. What do you intend to do with that chap?" "Make him work for us tooth and nail," said Bülow, "and as for any extra dances with the Saxon or His Holiness—well, Udo will keep an eye on him. From this hour on he must be kept under constant observation, whether at home or abroad, in his family circle or the
- 67. army mess, atmanoeuvre or the chase, at the Hradschin or at Konopischt." The War Lord, visibly impressed, laid his massive right hand on Count von Wedell's shoulder. "Where is Este now?" looking at the clock. "Suite eighteen, Hôtel de Rome." "With whom?" "Cardinal Schlauch." "Bishop Tank of Gross-Wardein? And who is watching them?" "Number 103, garlic and bartwichse to the backbone." "Under the bed?" "No, Your Majesty; in it. I varied the programme for His Highness's sake. Like an old maid who persists in the hope of catching a man sometime, he never misses looking under the bed." "I will examine '103' in Königgrätzerstrasse at 9 A.M. to- morrow," commanded the War Lord; "and, Udo, if you love me, have him well aired. An hour or two of goose-step would do the garlic- eater the world of good." The number, of course, referred to a Secret Service man. They have no names so far as the Government knows, or wants to know, and, despite their usefulness, are looked upon as mauvais sujets. To make up for this their pay is rather better than that of the average German official. They get a little less than the equivalent of £4 a week and 10s. a day for expenses. These sums constitute the retaining fee; their main income depends on the jobs they are able to pull off. They get paid for all business transacted, in accordance with its importance. When on a foreign mission, they may send in
- 68. bills up to£2 per day for personal expenses, but in all ordinary circumstances the 10s. per diem must suffice. The War Lord turned once more to Bülow. "You said: 'Make him work for us.' I would willingly sentence him for life to the treadmill. What's your idea of work for Franz?" "I refer to Your Majesty's complaint that the Austrian army is in a state of unreadiness, of unpreparedness for war. Now, while I have no opinion whatever as to Herr von Este's capacity as a general, I do know that organisation and discipline are ruling passions with him." "He would rather beat a recruit than go to Mass," interpolated Udo. "The right spirit," approved the War Lord, "and it shall serve my purposes. I taught the Bavarians to out-Prussian the Prussian; the Austrians shall follow suit, or Franz will know the reason why. "A drill-ground bully by nature and inclination, he will know how to make an end to Blue Danube saloperie; and if strap and rod won't do, he will use scorpions, like that ancient King of Judea—or did he hail from Mecklenburg, Bülow?" Autocratically ruled Mecklenburg is Bülow's own particular fatherland. "I am sure the riding-whip always sufficed in our domains," smiled the Chancellor; "but Your Majesty is right: rose water wouldn't make much impression on Slovaks and Croatians." "Well then," said the War Lord, "here is the programme: No more about Lutheran popeship, Holy Roman Empire of German nationality, future of the Holy See and so forth. Nauseate him, on the other hand, with Austrian military schweinerei (piggishness), which ought to disappear from the face of the earth in the shortest
- 69. possible order tomake room for the glories of Prussian drill, discipline and efficiency. "With von der Goltz knocking the Turk into shape and Franz Este driving the devil of irresolution and maniana out of the Dual Monarchy, we will be in a position to defy the world—and to fight it, too." CHAPTER XVIII A SECRET SERVICE EPISODE No. 103 Arrives—The Spy's Report—The Archduke and the Cardinal—The Ruling of the Church Count von Wedell's office on Königgratzerstrasse. Royal coupé driving up and down the opposite side of the street. No groom—dismounted chasseur with feather hat stands guard at the big oaken door entrance. Long-legged brown horses, evident habitat: England. As a rule, the War Lord drives with blacks or greys; likewise the wheel-spokes of the vehicles used by him are gilded. Those of the carriage we observe are chocolate colour, with just a thin silver line. Wilhelm sometimes travels incog. in his own capital. By the way, why always chocolate-coloured carriages when royalty does not wish to radiate official lustre? In the reminiscences of the third Napoleon "the little
- 70. brown coupé" figuredlargely when the Emperor of the French went poaching on strange preserves, and other monarchs had the same preference. Inside the Imperial office building: sentinels with fixed bayonets at each corridor entrance; over the coco-nut mat, covering the right- hand passage, a thick red Turkey runner; Secret Service men in top- hats and Prince Albert coats every ten paces. At the extreme end a big steel double door. "No. 103," whispered the speaking-tube into Count Wedell's ear. "Three minutes late," snarled that official; "but I will pay him back." "No. 103," in faultless evening dress (though it is nine in the morning), is conducted through the right-hand passage. He is at home here, but no one recognises him. Secret Service rule: No comradeship with other agents of the Government. You are a number, no more. As he is ushered through the lines of sentinels, the royal chasseur, drawn broadsword in his right, opens the door with his left hand. Count Wedell meets him on the threshold. "Kept Majesty waiting," grumbled the Privy Councillor sotto voce. "Cab broke down, Excellency," No. 103 excused himself. "Don't let it happen again. You will stand under the chandelier facing the inner room. Attention!" commanded the chief. And at attention, every nerve vibrating with excitement and expectancy, No. 103 stood like a statue in the Avenue of Victory, but with rather more grace, for no man living could imitate the War Lord's marble dolls without provoking murder. Wedell had gone into
- 71. the inner room,the entrance of which was framed by heavy damask portières with gold lace set a jour. "Portholes," thought No. 103, sizing up the decorations; and, keyhole artist that he is, he soon met a pair of eyes gazing at him through the apertures. "Majesty taking a peep," he reflected. "I wonder what he thinks of the man who went back on his native Nero for filthy lucre." Whether he thought well of him or not, the War Lord kept No. 103 standing full twenty-five minutes. If in his youth he had not had a particularly cruel drill-ground sergeant, he could not have endured the pain and fatigue. Suddenly the portières parted: the War Lord, seated at a "diplomat's" writing-desk; Count Wedell, toying with a self-cocking six-shooter, stood at his left. "If that thing goes off and accidentally hits me," thought No. 103, "there is a trap-door under this rug, and a winding staircase leading to a sewer, I suppose, as in the Doge's Palace." Comforting thought, but who cares for a spy? "Approach," ordered the War Lord in a high-pitched voice. When No. 103 was within three paces of the Majesty, Wedell held up his hand. "His Majesty wants to know all about last night," said the Privy Councillor. "Did Herr von Este really look under the bed?" queried the War Lord, tempering the essential by the ridiculous. "He did indeed," replied No. 103; "and I nearly betrayed my presence between the sheets watching him." "What happened?"
- 72. "Nothing, Your Majesty;just a thought passing through my mind." "Out with it," cried the War Lord, when No. 103 stopped short. The agent provocateur looked appealingly at Count Wedell. "I humbly beg to be excused." "I command you!" "Well then, Your Majesty, it occurred to me that I ought to have planted a mark's worth of asafoetida under that bed." Did the stern Majesty laugh? He guffawed and roared enough to split his sides—the lines between the sublime and the low are not tightly drawn in Berlin. "This fellow has wit," said the War Lord to Udo. "When you come to think of it, asafoetida is mighty appropriate ammunition to use against the Jesuit disciple." Then, with a look to No. 103: "Proceed." "Details and all," commanded von Wedell. "The minutest," emphasised the War Lord. "May it please Your Majesty, I was in that bed three hours before the parties came into the room. The Cardinal had hired Suite 18 expressly for the meeting, his lodgings being elsewhere in the hotel. He was first to arrive, and swore lustily because there was no crucifix or prie-Dieu, as ordered. "Cursed like a trooper, eh?" cried the War Lord. "Make a note of that, Udo. When I am Lutheran pope I will visit the grand bane upon any cardinal guilty of saying naughty words." "Your Majesty will have the All Highest hands full," remarked von Wedell. "What about Prince Max?"
- 73. "I shall takedevilish good care that the Saxon idiot never achieves the red hat. Making eyes at Warsaw and a friend at the Curia! What next?" To No. 103: "Proceed." "An impromptu altar was quickly set up, and when Herr von Este was announced——" "What name?" interrupted the War Lord. "Ritter von Wognin, Your Majesty." Count von Wedell promptly explained: "One of the minor Chotek titles." "I always said he was his wife's husband," affirmed the War Lord, with an oath. Then, to No. 103: "Well?" "The Cardinal had taken his stand at the side of the crucifix, and when the Ritter walked in elevated his hand pronouncing the benediction, whereupon the Austrian heir dropped on his knees. The Cardinal seemed in no hurry to see him rise, but finally held out his hand, saying: 'In the name of the Holy Church I welcome thee, my son.' "And Este kissed his hand, didn't he?" cried the War Lord. "He certainly bent over the Cardinal's hand, and I heard a smack," replied No. 103. "That settles it," said the War Lord; "the foot-kiss for me when I am pope of the Lutheran Church." "May it please Your Majesty," continued No. 103, "the two gentlemen then settled down in easy chairs and engaged in a long, whispered conversation in which alleged sayings of Your Majesty were freely quoted by Herr von Este." "Enough," interrupted the War Lord; and at a sign from Wedell No. 103 backed towards the door, which opened from outside. "You
- 74. will await apossible further summons in here," said Count Wedell's secretary, ushering No. 103 into a waiting-room. "How much has that fellow got on credit?" demanded the War Lord. Wedell pulled out a card index drawer. "Upwards of thirteen thousand marks." "He knows that he'll lose it to the last pfennig if he squeals?" "The case of our man who exchanged Barlinnie Jail for the service of Sir Edward Grey brought that home with peculiar force to everybody in the Wilhelmstrasse and Königgrätzerstrasse," replied Udo. It should be interpolated here that German spies receive only two-thirds of the bonuses accruing to them. One-third of all "extras" remain in the hands of the Government at interest, to be refunded when his spyship is honourably discharged. If he is caught and does not betray his trust, then these savings par order de mufti are paid over to his family or other heirs; if he betrays his Government, then the Government gets even with him by confiscating the spy's accumulated savings, which arrangement gives the Secret Service office a powerful hold on its employees. "Very well, recall the millionaire-on-good-behaviour," quoth the Majesty. No. 103 proved the possession of a marvellously retentive memory. Quoting His Highness's confidences to the Cardinal, he repeated almost word for word the War Lord's conversation with Franz, both at the Schloss and at the General Staff office. "Any memoranda used?" demanded Wilhelm abruptly. "None, Your Majesty."
- 75. "Did the Cardinaltake notes?" "No, Your Majesty. When Herr von Este urged him to do so, he said it was unnecessary, since he never forgot matters of importance; in fact, could recite a text verbatim after tens of years." "Curse their stenographic memories," said the War Lord. "I hope you were careful to note what Schlauch said," he added in a stern, almost threatening voice. "I memorised his talk to the dotlets on the i's," replied the Secret Service man, bowing low. "Quite an easy matter, for His Eminence used words sparingly— "To conceal his thoughts, of course." This from the War Lord. Then No. 103 read the "notes" from his mental memorandum pad. The Cardinal, it appears, laid down three rules "for the guidance of his 'dear son' and all other Catholic princes: "I. Agreements with heretic sovereigns do not count unless they serve the interests of the Church. "II. If the proposed Slav Empire would bring about the submission of the orthodox heretics to the Church of Rome, no amount of blood and treasure spent in so laudable a cause may be called extravagant, the sacrifice being for God Almighty. "III. But if there should be a by-product" (our own term, the Cardinal's being too circumstantial) "a by-product in the shape of a heretic pope—pardon the blasphemous word—then Franz's ambition would be a stench in the nostrils of the Almighty, excommunication would be his fate in this world, the deepest abyss of hell in the other." Count von Wedell, misinterpreting his master, thought "it was to laugh," but a look upon the War Lord's face caused him to change
- 76. his attitude. "Pay No.103 five thousand marks, half in cash, half in reserve," said Wilhelm, disregarding the one-third clause for a purpose, no doubt. "I have no further commands for him at present." Count Wedell stepped forward from the inner room, and the portières automatically closed before No. 103 had finished his obeisance. CHAPTER XIX BERTHA AND FRANZ On Forbidden Ground—A Talk on Brain-Curves—Bertha is Afraid—Shades of Krupp—"Charity Covers ——"—A Dramatic Exit "Oh, Franz, tell me what it all means!" If Bertha and the chief engineer had been real lovers, and had selected the moon for a place of rendezvous, they could not have been safer from intrusion than in the late Frederick Krupp's library with the door unlocked, for the "room sacred to His Majesty" was a sort of Bluebeard chamber into which no eye but the War Lord's and Bertha's must look. Bertha had shown her mother a parcel of documents which Uncle Majesty had ordered her to read carefully. "I will go to the
- 77. library, where Iwill be undisturbed," she said in her decisive tone, while the butler was serving early strawberries sent from Italy. Strawberries in January in a little Rhenish town! It reminds us that when Charles V., warrior and gourmet-gourmand, sucked an orange in winter-time, his Court was prostrate with astonishment and admiration. And Alexis Orloff won Catherine the Great from his brother Gregory—temporarily, at least—by sending to the Semiramis of the North a plate of strawberries for the New Year. Yet nowadays any well-to-do person can indulge all the year round in the luxuries that made Charles and Catherine the envied of their Imperial class. Bertha was in the War Lord's chair, for she felt very Olympian since she had returned from the Berlin Court, while Franz sat on the tabouret affected by the Krupp heiress during the interviews with her guardian. "What did Zara really mean?" repeated Bertha. "Are you prepared to hear the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?" queried Franz. Bertha Krupp moved uneasily in her high seat. Her mental stature had advanced rapidly under the War Lord's teachings, disguised as coaxings, and while the sound principles implanted in her bosom by a good mother were at bottom unimpaired, she was beginning to learn the subtle art of putting her conscience to sleep when occasion demanded—a touch of Machiavellism! Just now she would have loved to shut up Franz, as she was wont to silence her mother by a word or look, though less rudely, perhaps, but her fondness for the man—though she was not at all in love with Franz—forced her to be frank with him.
- 78. "Speak as afriend to a friend," she said warmly. "Well then——" began Franz. Bertha covered his mouth with her hand. "A moment, please. May I tell Uncle Majesty?" "What I have to say is no secret of mine and certainly it is not news to the War Lord. By all means tell him if you dare." "If I dare?" echoed Bertha. "My own words." Franz spoke very earnestly, almost solemnly: "Will you hear me to the end, whether you like the tune or not?" "If it relates to Zara's prophecies, I will," said Bertha. "But," she added falteringly, "you know I mustn't listen to criticism of my guardian." Franz shrugged. "I quite understand. Forbidden ground even for your Mother." Bertha felt the sting of reproval keenly, and did not like it. Indeed, at the moment she would have given up gladly a considerable portion of her wealth to be restored to Franz's unconditional and unrestricted good graces. So, humbling herself, she temporarily abandoned her high estate and again became the unsophisticated girl whom Franz used to call sister. "Do go on," she urged; "it was all so romantic, so strange, so mysterious, and you know I love to feel creepy." Franz had risen and approached the great central window. "May I draw the curtains?" he asked, looking over his shoulder. "They must not see you. I will." Bertha tugged the golden cords. "Working overtime again?" she queried, as she observed the blazing smoke-stacks.
- 79. "More's the pity,for every pound of steam going up those chimneys means so many lives lost, and for all those lives, Bertha, you will have to account to God." "Old wives' tales," commented the Krupp heiress, as if the War Lord in person played souffleur. "On the contrary, as you well know, war preparedness means peace, means preservation; and with us in particular it means happiness and prosperity to the ten thousands of families in this favoured valley. It spells education, arts, music, care of children and of the sick and disabled. It means cheerfulness, such as ample wage and a future secured confer; it means care-free old age." As she recounted these benefits her enterprises were actually dispensing Bertha looked at the chief engineer with a slightly supercilious air. "Well rehearsed," remarked Franz dryly. "Oh, if you want to be rude——" "I do," said Franz, taking hold of her wrist; "I am sick of all this lying palaver about good coming out of evil, and I want you to be sick of it too, Bertha." The Krupp heiress leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms. "At the American Embassy I heard rather a quaint saying day before yesterday: 'Go as far as you like.' "A most apt saying," admitted Franz. "Thank you for the licence. As I was going to point out, you did attach too little significance to Zara's words, thought them mere piffle of the kind for sale in necromancers' tents. There is enough of that, God knows, but do not lose sight of the fact that at all times and in all walks of life there have existed persons having the gift of prophecy. Who knows but Zara has?"
- 80. Bertha was nowrigid with attention. She had moved knee from knee; her feet were set firmly on the carpet, while the upper part of her body straightened out. "I don't follow," she said almost pleadingly. "Let me explain," continued Franz. "You and I and the vast majority of people can look into the past—a certain curvature of our brain facilitating the privilege. Another similar or dissimilar set of brain-cells, or a single curvature, might lift for us the veil that now obscures the future." "The future?" gasped Bertha. "Indeed, the future; and, practically considered, there is nothing so very extraordinary about it, for what will happen to-morrow, or the day after to-morrow, is in the making now. If, for instance, the Krupp works were going into bankruptcy a year hence, the unfavourable conditions that constitute the menace to our prosperity would be at their destructive work now. Do you follow?" added Franz. "I think I do," said Bertha. "Hence I say the gift of prophecy presupposes a correct interpretation of the past and present as well as the peculiar gift of extraordinary brain development—a rare gift, so sparsely distributed that in olden times prophets were credited with interpreting the will of the Almighty." "Franz," cried Bertha, her face pallid and drawn, her hands twitching. "Oh, my God!" she screamed, as if nerve-shattered by an awful thought suddenly burst upon her; "you don't believe—no, you can't——! Tell me that you do not think it was God's voice speaking
- 81. through Zara?" And,as if to shut out some horrible vision, the Girl- Queen of Guns covered her face with both hands. "It is not for me to pronounce on things I don't know," replied Franz. "Judged by what you have told me, Zara suited her prophecy for the most part to facts and to existing tendencies, conditions and ambitions on the part of political parties and high personages." "She called me the coming arch-murderess of the age, insisted that the warrior-queens of past times, even the most heartless and most cruel, had been but amateurs compared with me in taking human lives—— Oh, Franz, tell me it is not true! She was romancing, was she not? She lied to frighten me and to get a big trinkgeld." "I wish it were so," said Franz earnestly; "but, unfortunately, she had a clear insight into the future as it may develop, unless you call a halt to incessant, ever-increasing, ever-new war preparations." Many years ago I read a manuscript play by a Dutch author, in the opening scenes of which a Jew tried to sell another Jew a bill of goods. Shylock number two wanted the stuff badly, but calculated that by a show of indifference he might obtain them for a halfpenny less. On his part, Isaac was as eager to sell as the other was to buy, but the threatened impairment of his fortune called for strategy. So he feigned that he did not care a rap whether the goods changed hands or not, and the two shysters remained together a whole long act engaging in a variety of business that had nought to do with the original proposition, each, however, watching for opportunity to re- introduce it, now as a threat, again as a bait, and the third and seventh and tenth time in jest. So Bertha, having once disposed of the war preparation bogey, according to Uncle Majesty's suggestion,
- 82. now returned toit in slightly different form. She was determined to discount Zara's prophecies at any cost. Getting ready to fight was tantamount to backing down; spending billions for guns and ammunition and chemicals and fortifications and espionage and war scares and whatnots was mere pretext for keeping the pot boiling in the workman's cottage, and the golden eagles rolling in the financier's cash drawer, and so on ad infinitum. When Bertha had finished she thought Zara's prophecies very poor stuff. Franz came in for the full quota of that sort of argument out of a bad conscience so warped by hypocrisy. Our Lady of the Guns no doubt believed every word she said, or rather repeated—dear woman's way! She always firmly trusts in what suits her, logic, proof to the contrary, stubborn facts notwithstanding. Instinct or intuition, she calls it. "That is no way to dispose of so grave a subject," said Franz. "But what can I do?" "Prevent more wholesale family disintegration, forestall future mass-murder, future dunging of the earth with blood and human bones." Franz put both hands on the girl's shoulders. "Bertha," he said impressively, "make up your mind not to sign any more death- warrants, stop making merchandise intended to rob millions of life and limb and healthy minds, while those coming after them are destined physical or moral cripples that one man's ambition may thrive." "Shut down the works, you mean?" cried Bertha; and, womanlike, indulged once more the soothing music of self-
- 83. deception: "It wouldruin the Ruhr Valley, throw a hundred thousand and more out of work; and what could they do, being skilled only in the industries created by my father and grandfather? "Papa, Uncle Alfred, the first Krupp—God bless their souls!— were they founders of murder-factories, as you suggest? No, a thousand times no. Their skill, their genius, their enterprise has been the admiration of the world. Everybody admits that they were men animated by the highest motives and principles. They made Germany." "I don't deny it; I underline every word you have said, Bertha. The foundations for Germany's greatness were laid within a stone's throw of this window; much of her supremacy in politics and economics was conceived between these four walls. But now that the goal is achieved, that the Fatherland enjoys unprecedented wealth and prosperity—let well enough alone." "You talk as if I were the War Lord!" cried Bertha. "You are his right hand: the War Lady." "He is my guardian, my master." "Only for a while. You don't have to submit to his dictation when of age." Carried away by emotion, Franz had spoken harshly at times, but now his tone became coaxing. "When you come into your own, promise me, Bertha, to accept no more orders for armament and arms of any kind. Dedicate the greatest steel plant of the world to enterprises connected with progress, with the advancement of the human race! Build railways, Eiffel towers for observation, machinery of all sorts, ploughs and
- 84. other agricultural implements,but for God's sake taboo once and for all preparations for murder and destruction!" Bertha covered her ears. "Don't use such words; they are uncalled for, inappropriate." Then, with a woman's ill-logic, she repeated the last. "'Destruction'—you don't take into consideration what your 'destructive' factors have done for my people, what they are doing for humanity right along. Auntie Majesty thinks our charities and social work superior to Rockefeller's, and God forbid that I ever stop or curtail them." "Yes! Think of your charities," said Franz; "take the Hackenberg case. What is he—a soldier blasted and crippled in mind and body by the war of 1870. Essen's industry made a wreck of Heinrich, and he costs you one mark a day to keep for the rest of his life; three hundred and sixty-five marks per year, paid so many decades, what percentage of your father's profits in the war of 1870-71 does the sum total represent?" "A fraction of a thousandth per cent., perhaps. Another fraction pays for the son Johann's keep, another for that of the two younger boys, another for Gretchen, etc., etc." "But if there had been no war, Heinrich would not have been disabled, and consequently would not have burdened charity with human wreckage! Do you see my point?" "Go on," said Bertha. "Because you are used to it, maybe the Hackenberg case does not particularly impress you. You were not born when Heinrich sallied forth in the name of patriotism. But reflect: there are thousands of charitable institutions like yours, not so richly endowed, not so splendid to look upon, but charnel-houses for Essen war
- 85. victims just thesame. And all filled to overflowing—even as the Krupp treasury is. Yet that Franco-German war, that made the Krupps and necessitated the asylums and hospitals, was Lilliputian compared with the Goliath war now in the making—partly thanks to you, Bertha." "But I have told you time and again there will be no war, that I have the highest authority for saying so!" cried Bertha angrily. "Authority," mocked Franz. "The French of 1870 had the no-war 'authority' of Napoleon III., the Germans that of William I., before the edict went forth to kill, to maim, to destroy, to strew the earth with corpses and fill the air with lamentations! So it will be this month, this year, next year—for history ever repeats itself—until the hour for aggression, which will be miscalled a defence of our holiest principles and interests, has struck. "The air pressure has increased," continued Franz, parting the window curtains; "see the lowering clouds! And watch the storm coming up, lashing them in all directions. West and east they are spreading, and, look, north too! They are falling on Northern France, on the Lowlands and Russia like a black pall." "You prophesy a universal war?" shrieked Bertha. "The answer is in your ledger. For thirty and more years your firm has been arming the universe. Since your father's death you have distributed armaments on a vaster scale than ever, and now, I understand, the pace that killeth is to be still more increased. "When you have furnished Germany with all the guns, the ammunition, the chemicals, the flying machines, the cruisers, the submarines, the hand grenades—what then? Presto! a pretext of the
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