THE 



NATURE-STUDY REVIEW 



DEVOTED TO ALL PHASES OF NATURE-STUDY IN SCHOOLS 



Vol. 4 DECEMBER, 1908 No. 9 



ILLINOIS NUMBER 



This number of The Review has been prepared under the 

 editorial direction of Professor Fred L. Charles, of the DeKalb, 

 (111.) State Normal School. M. A. B., Editor. 



NATURE AND THE OTHER SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION 



By FRANCIS G. BLAIR 

 Superintendent of Public Instruction, State of Illinois 



Xature-study as a thing in itself has had its ups and downs, its 

 ins and outs in the programme of instruction. At times, heralded 

 by loud trumpets, headed by mounted police, it has forced the 

 other subjects back to the fences in order to make for itself a big 

 open space on the highway of learning, but before the dust of its 

 coming had fairly settled the older subjects closed in upon it and 

 trampled it under foot. Today it spreads its tents and unfurls its 

 banners; tomorrow nothing remains but the litter and the muss 

 of the encampment. One superintendent drags it in and another 

 drags it out. Coming and going, but rarely abiding. Some 

 teachers love it, some hate it and others preserve an armed 

 neutrality. 



This, with some exaggeration, is the story of nature-study as a 

 special study in the programme of the common schools of Illinois. 

 But it is not all of the story. Neither the success or the failure 

 of the great nature-study movement depends upon its having a 

 special and a permanent abiding place upon the daily programme. 

 Its spirit, its method, its point of view, are its great gifts, its last- 

 ing contribution to the common-school curriculum. Here the 

 nature-study leaders have done their great work. They have 

 practically re-created the other subjects of study. They have 

 given them a concrete, tangible basis. The old geography with 



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