As a teacher of history in the early 20th century, Henry Johnson believed in the importance of making history meaningful to students. He hoped that it would teach critical inquiry skills which could be used throughout life. He also emphasized the developmental aspect of history to explain how the present grew out of the past. Johnson studied the views of his contemporaries in education and agreed with many of John Dewey's approaches. He disagreed, however, with those who advocated a type of functional history centered around interests of students and society. He felt that knowledge of history, gained through inquiry and interpretation, was more important than the study of social problems. In 1921, Johnson helped form the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS). Since he was one of the founders of NCSS, it is not unreasonable to speculate on what his reactions would be to the current position about the purpose of social studies as stated in the NCSS Curriculum Guidelines. Johnson would have agreed with the emphasis on using a broad range of resources; he would have disagreed with the attention given to social problems and the lack of attention given to the study of history. (BY)