COLLEGE BIOLOGY IN RELATION TO TRAINING 



OF TEACHERS 



By C. F. HODGE, Clark University 



[Editor's Note. — This paper by Professor Hodge was prepared for 

 the Cleveland conference, but did not reach the secretary of the A. N. S. S. 

 in time to be read at the meeting.] 



The greatest present need in biological instruction is a com- 

 mon-sense stratification of matter and method for the different 

 strata of our educational system. A plan must be worked out 

 which shall command the assent of teachers of every grade from 

 kindergarten to university, and which shall unify, organize and 

 correlate biological instruction through the entire course. This 

 alone can bring order out of present confusion and give us a course 

 of instruction which shall be consecutive, vital and adequate for 

 the needs of intelligent citizenship. This task can only be accom- 

 plished by the united effort of teachers of all grades working on 

 absolutely even footing, trying experiments and comparing 

 results. In work like this there is no high or low; or if there be, 

 in point of number of lives affected and hence in vital importance 

 to the people as a whole, the instruction in the common schools is 

 highest, not that of even the university should take first rank. 

 Sir Wm. Macdonald's dictum, "If scientific education is good for 

 anything, the younger the better," holds true; for if we give it 

 adequately to the fountain head of our education, our universi- 

 ties shall not lack for spirit or men to push forward the advance of 

 science. 



Shall college biology continue to be a culture for and of itself 

 alone and without regard for the strata of public instruction below 

 it? This is the central question, and concerns the chief source of 

 present confusion. 



I can do little more in this brief note than give the bare con- 

 clusions of several years' study, and even these are in process of 

 taking form and are subject to change without notice as good 

 reasons for change are advanced in course of the discussion. 



Colleges have been, and are more and more, giving high-school 

 teachers of biology their professional fitting. I think I ought to 



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