ATOMIC HYDROGEN 109 



BETTER EDUCATION NEEDED 



Our schools and universities devote so much effort in imparting in- 

 formation to students that they ahnost neglect the far more important 

 function of teaching the student how to get for himself what knowledge 

 of any subject he may need. Even in grammar school children are 

 crammed with more information on arbitrarily selected subjects than even 

 the average well-educated adult can retain. Of course students should be 

 taught the fundamental principles of mathematics, and of various sciences 

 as well as of other subjects, but much of the knowledge of data upon 

 which these principles depend and necessary information should be ob- 

 tained by the efforts of the student through experimentation and in- 

 dividual reading. 



In looking back on my own school and college days, it seems to me that 

 the things of most value were learned spontaneously through interest 

 aroused by a good teacher, while the required work was usually com- 

 paratively uninteresting. The university student should have leisure for 

 some independent work and opportunities for continuing his interest in 

 hobbies of various kinds which he should have had long before he entered 

 college. I realize that it is difficult so to arouse the student's interest that he 

 will spend the added leisure in these ways rather than in spending still 

 more on the bleachers, cheering the football team in their practice games, 

 but a well-planned effort is worth while. 



The importance of arousing even a young boy's interest in independent 

 work can hardly be overemphasized. My real interest in science was derived 

 from my brother Arthur, who encouraged me to have a workshop at the 

 age of nine, and later a laboratory when I was only twelve. 



I can illustrate my father's influence in stimulating independence by 

 the following incident: When I was twelve I climbed one or two Swiss 

 mountains of moderate height with my older brother, Arthur. Soon after 

 Arthur had to go to Heidelberg to arrange for his studies, leaving me 

 with my mother and younger brother at a hotel in the Rhone Valley. I had 

 become so enthusiastic over mountain climbing that I wished to climb every- 

 thing in sight, but the dangers were such that my mother did not dare let 

 me go alone. When my father arrived for a week-end visit from Paris, he 

 consented to allow me to climb alone any mountain I liked if I would 

 promise to do it in accord with the following three rules : (i) I must stay 

 on a distinct trail; (2) I must use the same trail going and returning; 

 (3)1 must make certain of returning at six o'clock by allowing as much 

 time for descending as for ascending. Before these rules went into effect, 

 however, I had to prove that I could and would make such sketches, maps, 



