Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 15.djvu/682

 668 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

is based on two considerations : First, that by sufficient heed to the most accessible realities — those of our own country and time — as well as to com- parative and genetic sociology, we may be saved from getting too far from our facts, and becoming asphyxiated in abstractions, as men deeply inter- ested in a new and complicated body of theory are in danger of doing; and, second, that we may lead the largest number of competent students, by the natural path, to an intelligent interest in the theoretical teachings of 'general sociology.

James E. Hagerty, Ohio State University

Before discussing the teaching of sociology we should be in agreement as to the question as to whom it is to be taught. Have we in mind the teaching of sociology to Sophomores, Juniors, Seniors or to graduate stu- dents? The class of people we teach will necessarily determine our methods.

As a rule the general course in economics in the American university is taught second-year students. I am going to assume that a course in sociology corresponding to this general course in economics may also be taught to second-year students. If so the subject-matter should be con- crete, definite, and systematically arranged.

We are going through the same stage in the teaching of sociology formerly passed through in the teaching of economics and we can learn a great deal from the present methods of teaching economics. Formerly the textbooks in political economy devoted the first fifty or sixty pages to definition, the relation of political economy to other bodies of knowledge, its province, its purposes, the methods of investigation, etc. Recent writers have wisely omitted this class of subject-matter entirely. They have doubtless discovered that it is bad pedagogy to present the abstract and analytical phases of a science to students who know nothing of its subject- matter. In many places we are making the same error in the teaching of sociology.

At the Ohio State University we have placed our elementary course in sociology on precisely the same plan as our elementary course in economics. We have a three-hour course per week extending through the year, which is a prerequisite to all other courses in sociology. This course is open to second-year students. At the outset we give four or five lectures on the evolution of society, emphasizing social phenomena. Our next division is devoted to the economic or physical basis of society. We next discuss the biological factors, including a study of races. The following divisions are then presented in order: the psychological factors, social structure, social control, social institutions, social pathology, and social progress. The Spring Term, or about one-fourth of the year, is devoted to practical problems in which the students are required to make an application of theories.

This, in brief, outlines the method we are pursuing, which is proving