DIRECTING FACTORS IN THE TEACHING OF 



BOTANY 



Arthur H. Chivers 



Dartmouth College 



In studying the program for this anniversary It has occurred 

 to me that the subject I have chosen may seem somewhat out of 

 place in these meetings, since it savors of pedagogy, and offers no 

 indication of research Into the field of botany. It is my intention, 

 however, to avoid an extended philosophical discussion, to which 

 my subject might easily lead, and to speak as briefly as possible 

 of the problems which have impressed me very deeply during my 

 career as a teacher of college botany, and of certain possible factors 

 which may serve as guides In the solution of these problems. And 

 I have ventured this with greater courage since I believe that they 

 are problems, in the nature of real dangers, which concern us all, 

 whether we are at work in the direction and maintenance of a 

 botanical garden, or in the teaching of botany in our public 

 schools, colleges, and universities, or in the various branches of 

 applied botany. 



The greatest problem which endangers botany today is the 

 tendency to commercialize its product. We hear a great deal of 

 talk to the effect that this is an extremely practical age In which 

 we are living. If any one doubts this statement let him teach 

 in an American college for a sufficient length of time to learn the 

 attitude of the typical undergraduate student. Nowhere do we 

 feel the tremendous pressure away from the theoretical and toward 

 the utilitarian more than In our colleges, and especially Is this true 

 in those institutions which are able to attract students into con- 

 tinuous courses of study through well-equipped affiliated schools 

 of a graduate nature. The results obtained In the botanical 

 department of one of our well-known New England colleges 

 during the last nine years may be cited as evidence for the truth 

 of my statement. During this period more than twenty-five 

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