16 



THE IMPORTANCE OF PLANTS 



tliropolog), geography, and plant 

 breeding in the solution of problems 

 concerning the origins of cultivated 

 plants arc topics which illustrate a 

 phase of interdisciplinary cooperation 

 and reinforcement, an appreciation of 

 which should be a part of the intellec- 

 tual equipment of every truly educated 

 person. 



6. Awareness that the practical ap- 

 plications of the sciences in human life 

 are outgrowths of basic research in the 

 pure sciences. Teaching botanists have 

 many opportunities to emphasize this 

 dependence of applied science upon 

 pure science in the treatment of such 

 topics as plant hormones in relation to 

 the horticultural applications of growth 

 regulators, photoperiodism in relation 

 to the control of flowering, mineral nu- 

 trition in relation to fertilizers, basic 

 genetics in relation to crop improve- 

 ment, ecolog}' in relation to conserva- 

 tion, soil control, reforestation, etc. 



7. Student understanding of the 

 true nature of botany. Laymen in gen- 

 eral regard our science as primarily the 

 study of diseases of cultivated plants 

 and of the management of cultivated 

 plants and of gardens and fields. Our 

 students should certainly recognize 

 clearly as they study botany that the 

 management of cultivated plants, the 

 learning of names of ornamental and 

 truck-garden plants, and the study of 

 landscaping do not constitute the core 

 of botany, that they are only indirectly 

 related to the central purpose of our 

 science. 



8. Organic evolution and its impli- 

 cations, which are so obvious that they 

 do not require further comment. 



The questions which now arise are 

 these: I low shall we proceed to teach 

 general botany so that we may achieve 

 tliese desirable results in liberal edu- 

 cation? What techniques shall we use? 

 What subject matter should be em- 

 phasized? I shall not attempt to an- 

 swer these questions, because I know 

 no absolute and specific answers to 

 them. The achievement of these im- 

 portant educational aims is, after all, 

 a function of the teacher and of his 

 background, his personalit}', his enthu- 

 siasm for working with young minds 

 and for botany. As the late Neil Stevens 

 wrote in a paper in the Journal of The 

 American Society of Agronomists in 

 1944, "Teaching may be a little like 

 love-making. If the available literature 

 is to be believed, many techniques 

 have been successful in this field, but 

 there appears to be no written record 

 of a successful lover who was not in- 

 terested in his subject." Thus, the 

 methods and techniques of teaching 

 toward the liberal education ends 

 which I have listed are, I suspect, as 

 numerous and as varied as are teachers 

 of botany. One thing is certain about 

 teaching botany in such fashion as to 

 render it contributor}' to sound liberal 

 education, and that is that the teachers 

 of general botany must be broadly edu- 

 cated in their science. 



QUESTIONS 



1. What may be called the two major 

 objectives of American education? 



2. What are the dangers, according to 

 Fuller, of having a population con- 

 sisting of well-adjusted, affable and 

 cooperative people? 



Will satisfying the felt needs of stu- 

 dents produce well-educated citizens? 

 Explain. 



List the 7 contributions made by 

 botany to a liberal education. 



