390 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



means either the perpetuation of a form of science instruction that has 

 proved a failure in the high school or it means a reformed science, such 

 as many teachers are now advocating, that introduces industrial appli- 

 cations. If the latter kind is contemplated it should be unnecessary to 

 provide for it again in the agricultural course, for to admit that it 

 can not be so utilized is to take all of the meaning out of the reform. 

 If the former kind is contemplated, such students as can not appreciate 

 " pure science " however elementary, may not be expected, after organ- 

 izing a science in its more perfect form, to profit by any attempt later to 

 open the subject and reorganize it in a less perfect form for agricultural 

 or other utilitarian purposes, as an addendum, loosely attached and 

 unessential, which must deal with drosser materials. The period for 

 such organization is past for the student who can appreciate the science 

 in its more perfect form, while those who might have profited by the 

 compromised science will have been long since eliminated. Thus would 

 both subjects suffer from the divorcement and postponement of agricul- 

 tural instruction. The conclusion is that agriculture is not supplemen- 

 tary, but complementary, to the fundamental sciences in the high school. 



In the days of pre-evolutionary thought, when learning was all a 

 matter of authority, it was quite natural to think of form as dictating 

 function, and formal knowledge monopolized the schools. The accept- 

 ance of the doctrine of evolution was a recognition of the fact that 

 function dictates form. 16 According to the present conception the best 

 teacher is that one who does not have the two very far separated in 

 time. 17 In order that the high school science be properly taught it is 

 necessary that the teacher have a ready knowledge of its function and 

 that it be carried to its application while the subject is first being 

 presented and is yet in the formative stage in the student's mind. 18 



The technique and terminology of pure science are the only ade- 

 quate technique and terminology of applied science. The only difficul- 

 ties which the student of agriculture meets are scientific difficulties. 1 * 

 It would be strange indeed if such difficulties might be better dealt 



16 " As structure follows function, experience in function must have been 

 first in race history. ' ' — Baldwin, ' ' Mental Development, Methods and Proc- 

 esses, " p. 64. 



17 " As far as possible the study of form and function should go together. ' r 

 —Bailey, ' ' The Nature-study Idea, ' ' p. 49. 



18 ' ' The application in some form should always follow the generalization. 

 The pupil should learn from the start that knowledge as it exists in the form 

 of laws, principles, rules or definitions is utterly valueless, unless, directly or 

 indirectly, it can be carried over into the field of practise." — Bagley, "The 

 Educative Process," p. 303. 



19 ' ' Any attempt to ' cut out ' the ' impractical ' parts invariably results in 

 the inefficient functioning of the remainder. Short courses that aim to give only 

 the essentials, fifth-rate colleges and normal schools that educate you while you 

 wait, are sufficiently damned by their own products." — Bagley, "The Educative 

 Process, ' ' p. 233. 



