I'uUer • The Role of Botany in a Liberal Education 



IB 



QUESTIONS 



1. Why are not nomads good agricul- 4. What are considered to be the places 



turists and what connection is there 

 between nomadism and agriculture? 



2. How did agriculture get started? 



3. What reason is there for believing that 

 the domestication of plants preceded 

 the domestication of animals? 



of origin of the majority of cultivated 

 plants? What general climate prevails 

 in these areas? 



5. Name 10 plants of strictly American 

 origin. 



Harry J. Fuller 



The Role of Botany in a Liberal Education 



Reprinted by permission of the author and 

 publisher from Plant Science Bulletin 3(1 ) :4- 

 6, 1957. 



I assume that all or most members 

 of this audience are on my side at the 

 outset, that they share my conviction 

 that our science has an important role 

 in liberal education. Thus my function 

 is neither that of devil's advocate nor 

 of a salesman facing a sales-resistant 

 group. My function, as I interpret it, is 

 to inquire into and to evaluate the con- 

 tributions which botany can make to 

 true education. 



Discussion of the role of any disci- 

 pline in education presupposes some 

 conception of the functions of educa- 

 tion. If all the words which have been 

 written on this subject were laid end 



to end, this would be a good thing or a 

 colossal nuisance, depending upon 

 where the laying was done. I do not 

 propose to examine into this topic in 

 detail or in a frustratedly philosophical 

 manner, but I want to emphasize that 

 two functions loom large on the lists of 

 educational objectives prepared by 

 most American educators. One of these 

 stated objectives is the acquisition of a 

 skill or set of skills or professional 

 training (call it what you will) which 

 enables the educational product to 

 work gainfully with his mind. The 

 other is the development of a set of 

 values, of attitudes, of behavioral traits 



