314 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



ideals of The Agassiz Association. We 

 have claimed before, and we claim 

 again, that no other educational move- 

 ment has accomplished nearly so much 

 in proportion to the money that has 

 been invested in it, in the last half cen- 

 tury, as has The Agassiz Association. 



Note what Dr. Abraham Flexner 

 says : 



"The work in science would l^e the 

 central and dominating feature of the 

 school — a departure that is sound from 

 the standpoint of psychology and nec- 

 essary from the standpoint of our main 

 purpose. Children would begin by get- 

 ting acquainted with objects — animate 

 and inanimate ; they would learn to 

 know trees, plants, animals, hills, 

 streams, rocks, and to care for animals 

 and plants. At the next stage, they 

 would follow the life cycles of plants 

 and animals and study the processes to 

 be observed in inanimate things. They 

 would also begin experimentation — 

 physical, chemical, and biological. In 

 the upper grades, science would gradu- 

 ally assume more systematic form." 



He places these statements at the be- 

 ginning, as the foundation of an an- 

 nouncement in regard to a curriculum. 

 It would be well if the General Educa- 

 tion Board would invest liberal sums 

 of money in such an experiment in the 

 Modern School. 



It has been worth while, and is still 

 worth while, for every one inclined to- 

 ward educational philanthropy, to in- 

 vest liberally in this assured fact that 

 has been demonstrated through de- 

 cades and vouched for by hosts of edu- 

 cators. I say this assured fact or the 

 work of The Agassiz Association. 



In the final analysis the ideals and 

 ideas of not only this Modern School 

 but of other so-called modern educa- 

 tional propaganda are but one or more 

 of those of this long established or- 

 ganization in a little different wording 

 or with a special emphasis. 



Read again what President Flexner 

 says : 



"The work in science would be the 

 central and dominating feature of the 

 school." 



It has been worth our while to work 

 faithfully and with much self-sacrifice. 

 Every worker in The Agassiz Asso- 

 ciation, from Mr. Ballard to the young- 



est member, has for nearly half a cen- 

 tury seen the value of the kind of work 

 that, at last, is advocated by this great 

 Educational Board. It was The Agas- 

 siz Association and its founder that 

 Prince Kropotkin wTote to the Nine- 

 teenth Century for December, 1885 : 



"Another feature to be introduced in 

 our schools ought to be mentioned here. 

 I mean the exchange, between schools, 

 of correspondence on geographical sub- 

 jects and of their natural science collec- 

 tions. This feature, already introduced 

 in several schools of the United States 

 by The Agassiz Association, cannot be 

 too warmly advocated. It is not enough 

 to collect specimens of rocks, plants, 

 and animals, from its own limited re- 

 gions. Each village school ought to 

 have collections from everywhere : not 

 only from all parts of its own country, 

 but from Australia and Java, from Si- 

 beria and the Argentine Republic. It 

 cannot purchase them : but it may have, 

 it can have, them in exchange for its 

 own collections, from schools scattered 

 everywhere on the surface of the globe. 

 Such is the great idea which presided 

 at the creation of The Agassiz Associa- 

 tion — an association of schools which 

 has already seven thousand members 

 and six hundred Chapters or sections. 

 The children of this Association are 

 accustomed to study natural sciences in 

 the field, amidst nature itself ; but they 

 do not keep their treasures to them- 

 selves. They write to other branches 

 of the Association : they exchange with 

 them their observations, their ideas, 

 their specimens of minerals, plants and 

 animals. They write about the scenery 

 of Canada to friends in Texas. Their 

 Swiss friends (for something similar 

 exists also in Switzerland) send them 

 the Edelweiss of the Alps, and their 

 English friends instruct them in the 

 geology of England. Shall I add that 

 in proportion as the existence of the 

 Association becomes known, specialists, 

 professors and amateur-naturalists has- 

 ten to offer their services to their young 

 friends for lecturing before them, for 

 determining their specimens, or for 

 climbing with them on the hills in geo- 

 logical and botanical excursions? No 

 need to say that : there is plenty of 

 good-will among those who have in- 

 struction in anything ; it is only the 



