256 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [12:6-Sept., 1916 



three 7oths of a cent by four 36ths of a cent is not a real problem. 

 It is artificial. If education is to be a preparation for life it must 

 concern actual experiences in life. Teach the child real problems. 

 These problems must be the ones that he will meet now and as he 

 goes along. The colonists had the problem of protecting their 

 cattle from the wolves. The many necks and peninsulas of the 

 bay, nearly surrounded by water and only approached from one 

 direction, formed a natural enclosure for the cattle. The name 

 Cowpens' Point indicates its former use. The wolf traps of Will- 

 iam Arnold and Thomas Olney, the elder, were referred to as boun- 

 dary marks in the writing of deeds. There was no need of their 

 studying gypsy moths as a problem and, on the other hand, we 

 would not construct wolf traps in Manual Training, or spend much 

 time studying the wolf as a pest. We are still building wolf traps 

 in Arithmetic. We are still "hilling up" rules in grammar which 

 cause evaporation of the real power of speech. Our plan has been 

 to teach arithmetic as a subject and let the child find a use for it if 

 he could. I overheard a state superintendent recently say that 

 he was meeting the business men and together they are trying to 

 decide what it is in arithmetic that they are really using. That 

 seems like a proper approach. It then becomes necessary to help 

 the child to solve these every-day problems. 



What are some of the problems we are meeting today that are 

 related to nature-study? I recently moved. The first house was 

 heated with hot air and the new house with steam heat. The 

 problem was to run a steam heater. There was no text book in 

 our library to which I could go. I could have gone to my learned 

 associates but they are specialists and if they know how to keep 

 radiators warm it is in spite of their education. People who have 

 a college degree but cannot boil potatoes or shingle a house are not 

 educated, they have been put through a book process. They are 

 fortunate if their learned career has not spoiled them for acquiring 

 useful knowledge. 



Pardon me if I again use a personal reference. One summer, 

 while working my way through college, I had the fortunate exper- 

 ience to be an engineer of a peanut roaster. The owner was mak- 

 ing repairs one morning and sent me for a saw to cut off a board. 

 I brought him a splitting saw instead of a cross-cut saw. What 

 that man said about a college education would not bear repeating 

 before a Christian audience. 



