512 PATRICK H. YANCEY 



mar school. A parallel exists in the case of the college student. 

 Unless he enters college with a scientific career in mind he will 

 rarely develop a desire for one. As we have seen, most Catholic 

 college students in the past have had neither the home environ- 

 ment nor a proper education in science at the grade school and 

 high school levels. They come to college, therefore, seeking 

 a general education or, at most, preparation for entrance to a 

 professional school. Most high school students are left with 

 the impression that biology is useful only for studying dentistry, 

 medicine or medical technology; and that chemistry and physics 

 are but the indispensable propaedeutics of an engineering or 

 industrial career. No one has inspired them with the zest of 

 study in science for its own sake, of wrestling with a problem 

 because, as in the mountain climber's justification of his sport, 

 " It's there." More prosaically, they do not appreciate the 

 value and necessity of basic research in the sciences. 



After the second world war when we, as a nation, finally 

 realized our weakness in science, the Government began sub- 

 sidizing both the training of scientists and their research. The 

 writer, together with Professor James A. Reyniers, then of the 

 University of Notre Dame, was appointed by President Tru- 

 man to the Board of the new National Science foundation. 

 From this vantage-point, the response of Catholic colleges and 

 universities to this new opportunity could be observed. The 

 statistics already cited on graduate fellowships show that in the 

 beginning this response was poor. Today an increasing number 

 of institutions are qualifying for research grants, and capable 

 scientists are coming to the fore. More and more high school 

 and college teachers are working to improve their teaching by 

 taking faculty fellowships, and by attending summer and other 

 institutes in science. 



American Catholics have advanced notably in the improve- 

 ment of instruction in the sciences, and this at all levels of 

 education. Why do they still lag in the production of scientists? 

 Some have suggested the economic reason: Catholic laymen 

 need a larger income than can be obtained by teaching in a 

 Catholic institution. But men will gladly sacrifice financial 



