Project Gutenberg's Modern Americans, by Chester Sanford and Grace Owen

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Title: Modern Americans
A Biographical School Reader for the Upper Grades

Author: Chester Sanford
Grace Owen

Release Date: October 19, 2009 [EBook #30287]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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MODERN AMERICANS

A Biographical School Reader for the Upper Grades

By

CHESTER M. SANFORD

Head of the Department of Expression

Illinois State Normal University

GRACE A. OWEN

Teacher of Reading

Illinois State Normal University

LAUREL BOOK COMPANY

New York--CHICAGO--Philadelphia

Copyright, 1918, 1921

by

Laurel Book Company

INTRODUCTION

"Tell us about real folks." This is the request that comes to us again
and again from children in the upper grades. In response to this
appeal, the authors, in preparing "Modern Americans," have attempted
to give the pupils the worth-while things they like to read rather
than the things adults think they ought to like.

Those who have taught reading very long agree that the old-time hero
stories have always had a peculiar charm for pupils. But all the
heroes did not live in olden times; they are with us today. Why, then,
isn't it well to acquaint the children with present-day heroes? Young
people in the upper grades are especially interested in the men and
women who are actually doing things. They desire to study in school
the persons they read about in the daily papers. Elihu Root recently
said: "It seems sometimes as if our people were interested in nothing
but personalities."

To bridge the gap between our schools and practical everyday life has
become one of the chief concerns of the wide-awake teacher.
Accordingly, in geography we are studying the industries about us. In
English, civics, and history we are devoting an increasing amount of
time to a consideration of "Current Events." All this is in the right
direction; for, to create an interest in the men and women of the hour
and the social activities of t