102 
best in science training. General science will not carry over into 
the life of the student so much that is practical and related to 
everyday life as elementary biology will. I am rejoiced to hear 
Mr. Bogart say that he cannot tell which subject they are teach- 
ing in the different classes. That shows that something has been 
found that is extremely useful. It is useful that the student 
should have some knowledge of himself; it is useful that he 
should have an elementary knowledge of what constitutes a dan- 
ger when a wound is not properly dressed; that he should have a 
little knowledge of the commonest kind of first aid; that he should 
understand the danger of flies and mosquitoes; that he should 
know how to find out whether water is impure, or whether milk 
has dangerous bacteria in it. He ought to know something about 
ventilation. We see that this subject of biology has a very prac- 
tical value. I think that if the war has taught us anything, it 
surely has taught us that we ought to make practical the work of 
the public schools, and all other schools, and if there is a subject 
that is more closely related to the life of men and women of to-day 
than elementary biology, I do not know what it is; if there is a 
subject that is more important to the American people to-day 
than the preservation of good health, I do not know what it is. 
And those statistics that we read with so much astonishment, of 
the men rejected under the provisions of the late draft, are con- 
firmation of its importance. Let your algebra go, if need be, but 
keep your elementary biology. Keep your elementary biology 
the first year, if possible; if not, keep it for the second, but do 
not let it be postponed later than that, for in these two years the 
bulk of your students come and 
The Chairman: | cannot refrain from calling attention to one 
point which Mr. Denbigh made; I think it is of vital importance, 
and that is the necessity, in preparation for teaching in secondary 
schools, of knowing something besides the subject which one is 
going to teach. Mr. Denbigh also touched upon another point 
which could be expanded with great profit, and that is that this 
problem can never be settled solely on the basis of personal opin- 
ion, but only in the light of general principles of education, of 
which this problem of biology is only one small phase. 
The next speaker is Principal Janes, of Boys’ High School, 
Brooklyn. 
