Excerpt from The Outlines of Sociology

Here is my Principles of Sociology cut down a third, rearranged, rephrased and equipped for the class room. Still, I advise teachers who have been using Principles as a text not to discard it for this book. It is fuller, and as for the exercises, they can be had of the publisher in pamphlet form and placed in the hands Of each student. Outlines of Sociology is provided in order to meet the demand for a shorter text for the use of those who cannot devote as much as a semester to the subject.

My thirty-two years of trying to impart Sociology to university students have resulted in a technique which teachers of this book may like to know about. Now that my system of Sociology is to be had between covers I do not lecture. I lead discussions. My class is broken up into sections not to exceed twenty-five members. Each student has his appointed seat and a glance over the section enables me to record absences on the seating chart before me. At the beginning Of the course every student is supplied with an assignment sheet (to be pasted inside the back cover of his text), which shows exactly what will be required Of him for every session in the semester.

After ten or twelve minutes of sharp quizzing (here is where the quiz questions come in) we take up the exercises. If those per taining to the assigned lesson exceed five in number, the student answers only alternate exercises, those sitting in Odd-number seats answering odd-number exercises and those sitting in even-number seats answer ing even-number exercises. The student is expected to have wrestled with the exercises in advance and to bring with him written solutions. His paper is not to be handed in but is there as evidence that the student has given enough consideration to the problems to formulate and write down answers. When, after reading out an exercise I call upon Reed or Daly for an answer, he is not to improvise, but to read his written answer. If he has nothing in black and white he says unprepared, even if a bright idea is on his tongue's tip. After a few answers have been considered, the question is thrown open to general discussion and then the impromptu ideas get their innings.

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