COLLEGE BOTANY COULD COME ALIVE 487 



gestions and material about plants that could be profitably introduced into 

 the general course. His confidence in the value of his contribution would be 

 tempered by a disarming spirit of cooperation that even a hardheaded zoolo- 

 gist could not resist. Since the zoologist, if typical, has been no more imagi- 

 native about modernizing the presentation of his material to general students, 

 this unexpected meeting might start a peacetime chain reaction leading to 

 the creation of real power. 



In the preceding paragraph, we said the material would be plants; we meant 

 plants, not borrowings from chemistry or some other discipline. The student 

 would learn what a plant looks like, how it grows, what keeps it alive, how 

 it reproduces, how it dies, what it's good for, and a good deal on what we 

 don't know about it. What plant? Any plant at all, and no harm will be done if 

 only one form is used throughout the course. How about using a horticultural 

 variety familiar and interesting to the student? Botanists have made a grave 

 mistake in thinking they must avoid such forms, the ones students want to 

 know about because they have encountered them at home or will be using 

 them in their gardens or yards. Perhaps this is a form of "practical applica- 

 tion" which too many botanists consider beneath their professional pure- 

 science dignity. Why? Is there anything degrading about what is interesting? 

 Are we so resistant to the precepts of the professional educator that we must 

 reject what he advocates even when our common sense and experience indicate 

 that he is right? 



Suppose our first-year botany course is gone; biology has replaced it. Why 

 haven't more of us seen the opportunity of developing an interesting and 

 valuable second-year general course? If properly handled, it could serve at 

 least three important functions. It could give those planning on a professional 

 career in botany or any of the related sciences a badly needed broad survey 

 of the field and its many facets and opportunities. This same kind of survey 

 is of the utmost importance to prospective teachers of biology and general 

 science and could be of far greater value than equivalent time spent in 

 specialized courses on the Bryophytes or even plant nutrition. It isn't incon- 

 ceivable that such a course could be of value in general education as well. 



Beyond this first full-year course in botany we admit to being less sure 

 of our own ideas. Not every college or university can staff and maintain a 

 full-blown set of course offerings for advanced botany majors. Perhaps the 

 majority cannot. These institutions should not be discouraged since, obviously, 

 many universities have reached preeminence in a single field of botany. 

 Probably it is better to concentrate on one or a few fields rather than to spread 

 courses over all fields of plant science. This decision must be made by the 

 botany faculty at each individual institution, based upon local conditions. 

 Perhaps the decision is an academic one since, in a manner of speaking, spe- 

 cialization is specialization no matter what the botany field may be. Research 

 methods, laboratory techniques, searching of the literature, diligence of obser- 



