croswell] FIXED COURSE OF .XATURESTCPY 283 



tion at the present stage in the development of the subject, and that 

 there are good reasons why this latitude will continue to be necessary 

 to a much greater degree than with most subjects. 



There are likewise some very plausible reasons why we should out- 

 line with the greatest care just what is to be done. Such precision 

 will result in more pupils studying the subject, in greater definiteness 

 and uniformity of subject-matter, in more teachers attempting to 

 instruct classes in nature. In brief the greater the exactness with 

 which we arrange a course the sooner will we have nature-study in 

 our schools, the sooner will something be accomplished, and the 

 sooner will we have something to show our patrons. If we have 

 "something to show," they will doubtless be satisfied; they usually 

 are under such conditions. Perhaps we too will be satisfied; some 

 of us at any rate. 



But really should we be in such haste to have more nature-study 

 in our schools ? Will it be better to have it in name throughout the 

 schools, or to have the genuine thing in spots, and trust that the time 

 may come when vital contact with nature may be more universally a 

 part of the teacher's equipment? At the present time it is as great a 

 misfortune "to study nature 1 ' under many of our teachers as it was 

 a few years ago to study music under the average teacher. Teachers 

 may be as deficient in one of these subjects as in the other 

 and the effects of their instruction instead of being merely 

 negative may be positively detrimental. Interest killed or wrongly 

 directed is a sad thing to contemplate. A definitely outlined 

 course for the guidance of teachers not equipped for this subject 

 emphasizes at the start one phase and foreordains that it shall be fol- 

 lowed, for most nature-study outlines give undue prominence to the 

 information side. With such courses to follow the teachers naturally 

 turn to their books instead of putting questions to nature and in many 

 cases the whole subject degenerates into a memorized jumble of 

 names, an acquisition of disorganized and often useless facts, with 

 the very minutest sprinkling of vitalizing contact with living things. 



" Nature-Study and Life" implies such a contact with the creations 

 of nature. It is because of this belief in the importance of some 

 such contact that the interest in the subject during the past decade 

 has been so general and so genuine. The more mechanical a subject 

 the greater the number of teachers who may be expected to be proficient 

 drill-masters in it; the more a study becomes a matter of real insight and 

 appreciation the more the personality of the teacher counts. And so 



