1 66 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [ 4 :s-may, igo8 



In the above criticisms upon the condition of nature-study 

 teaching in the State of California it is not intended to convey the 

 impression that the State is behind other States in its general 

 school system, for it is not. In the adaptation of wide-awake and 

 progressive methods its schools are in most ways at the front. 

 Nature-study in its present development is everywhere subject in 

 a greater or less degree to the defects pointed out above. 



The true meaning of nature-study is not understood or its value 

 everywhere appreciated. The vast majority of teachers feel 

 their inability to teach the subject, often thinking, though 

 wrongly, that scientific training is more important than a simple 

 appreciation and love of nature. 



While the work in nature-study in the various parts of a State 

 like California, whose vast extent brings in such varied condi- 

 tions, can not be made uniform in all parts, yet a common ra- 

 tional plan should lie behind it all. The laying out of the work 

 should not be left to the individual counties, but should have 

 some central authority behind it. The larger cities and counties 

 can afford to employ special teachers of nature-study and the 

 smaller counties should be grouped with an instructor for each 

 group. 



It seems more than likely from the present tendency that 

 nature-study as a State movement will be agricultural in its main 

 bearings. It is to be hoped, however, that this phase will not 

 be emphasized at the expense of others. It should not be the aim 

 of the elementary school to train the pupil in the elements of any 

 particular science, even though it be one as important as agri- 

 culture. In the symmetrical development of the pupil, in his 

 sympathetic introduction to the world of nature about him, ele- 

 mentary agriculture equally with the beginnings of the other 

 sciences may justly claim attention. 



Can we not develop here in California, where so much money is 

 spent upon the schools, a more just appreciation of the relative 

 values of the different studies, a more true understanding of the 

 fundamental fact that education should deal less with books and 

 more with real things? I believe we would then reap such a har- 

 vest of broadlv intelligent men and women as would surprise 

 even the most ardent supporters of nature-study, to say nothing 

 of those who are at present indifferent or openly opposed. 



