Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 15.djvu/226

 212 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

the first place there is a widespread prejudice against permitting immature minds to think about all kinds of social questions. This came out strongly in the replies to the questionnaire. A further cause is the lack of suitable textbooks and technique for bringing facts concretely and comprehensively to the young stu- dents. As yet we have not enough teachers suitably trained to present the facts that are socially valuable with due insight and discrimination. Many of the replies evidenced the demand for more suitable textbooks. Some of the teachers, especially those of normal schools, believe that the time is ripe for the introduc- tion of the subject into the high schools, provided suitable text- books can be obtained.

Work on Table IV brought out the fact that the textbooks now most used in the colleges and normal schools and uni- versities are, in the order of frequency, Small and Vincent's Introduction to the Study of Society, Wright's Practical Soci- ology, Gidding's Elements of Sociology, Fairbank's Introduc- tion to Sociology, and Henderson's Social Elements.

The tendency is to develop the instruction along practical lines, to make a knowledge of society and its workings of use to that society itself.

A few of the larger universities hold back from the establish- ment of separate chairs of sociology. This is in part due to the fact that the departments now giving the instruction along these lines do not wish to lose any prestige, as would result from such a separation. In a few cases, also, we have some purists or verbalists who object to the name! With the coming of a younger generation who value results and methods more than terminology we may expect to see a difference in this respect.

A number of colleges also give work in other departments than that of sociology which might be counted as sociology. But no attempt has been made to include such in this report.

Nearly all the institutions show a tendency to make their work in related departments take on a more sociological bearing and significance. This is one of the best possible results of the teaching of sociology. Iowa College, at Grinnell, is a good illus- tration of this tendency. The professor of economics writes of