394 Forestry Quarterly. 



there is a great pressure on institutions to make the instruction 

 intensely practical, by which is meant that class work should be 

 subordinated to field work. Full weight must be given to the 

 practical field work, but such work must serve a definite purpose ; 

 it is not an end in itself. That school which gives the greatest 

 amount of field work is not thereby the best school. In the desire 

 to win the applause of so-called practical men, there is sometimes 

 a tendency to overdo the field instruction at the expense of class 

 and laboratory work. Sometimes the muscular side of the pro- 

 fession is made to overshadow its intellectual requirements. Often 

 instructors pride themselves on the hard work their students are 

 doing in the field, when it is more physical than mental work 

 which is being done. Frequently time is wasted in the field 

 because the work is poorly organized, or many hours are spent in 

 travel. Every teacher must combat the temptation to make his 

 instruction entertaining rather than instructional. The average 

 student would rather be entertained than grind through the hard 

 work necessary really to learn. It is easier for a teacher to 

 lecture than to quiz ; and easier for the student to take notes than 

 to be quizzed. It is easier for the student to be told something 

 than to w^ork it out himself, and easier for the teacher also. 

 Graduates of schools will be judged by what they know and by 

 their trained capacity to apply their knowledge. Let not the 

 forestry teacher be deceived in thinking that such training can be 

 given by superficial observation of plantation, logging operations, 

 sawmills, etc. It can only come by hard work on the part of the 

 student under systematic instruction. The Committee pleads for 

 the application of true educational methods to field instruction in 

 forestry. 



