4 BARKER ; 



include more than might be learned thoroughly by the aver- 

 age boy or girl under favorable conditions ; that is, with an 

 atmosphere in which such ideas could live. But, as it is, we 

 must either cut the program mercilessly to the few things for 

 which there is an adequate general appreciation, or we must 

 cut enough to leave us of the teaching profession sufficient 

 time for that spontaneous and not-too-much-systematized 

 association with and among our students that will create an 

 atmosphere. We must do the work of a better social environ- 

 ment as well as our own work as teachers. The boys and 

 girls must have a chance to play at the sciences and become 

 active instead of merely passive agents in their own educa- 

 tion. Otherwise, we will still have classes, like one I know, 

 composed of some twenty-odd students, all over eighteen 

 years of age, several of whom are teachers. They have 

 enough diplomas and certificates to paper the ceiling, but not 

 one could give the least idea as to how steam may be made to 

 turn a wheel. The characteristic tool of the age is utterly 

 unknown to them. One young teacher explained the action 

 of a pump, but added that she learned it on the back porch. 

 That, of course, was the best place to learn, and the scientific 

 explanation, when it came, was not an abstraction of only 

 special and momentary interest, but an illumination of per- 

 fectl}' familiar facts, and being associated with them, was 

 retained. 



Compare this rational and effective method with the fol- 

 lowing, quoted from the annual catalogue of a High School 

 in one of our principal cities : — 



" The steam engine is considered primarily as a means of 

 transforming heat energy into mechanical work. The intro- 

 duction of this course is consequently the study of the ele- 

 ments of thermo-dynamics. After this theoretical introduc- 

 tion the construction and action of the essential parts of the 

 steam engine are carefully worked out." That word "con- 

 sequently " shows the weak spot in the school end of the 

 problem. " Consequently " we begin as far from the engine 



