SCIENCE AND BDUCATION 57 
question as to why they should be required of all, no matter 
what occupation might be chosen in the future. 
In the administration of these elementary courses I would 
remove the handicap of extra hours which has been arbitrarily 
imposed on high school science and which is one of the chief 
causes of its unpopularity with students. I believe that five 
hours a week under a good science teacher will contribute as 
much to the education of a high school boy or girl or of a col- 
lege freshman as an equal numbers of hours spent in any other 
subject even though two or four of these hours are spent in the 
laboratory. The extra hour requirements in the elective 
sciences have caused the courses to be shunted into almost inac- 
cessible places on the schedule and to be handicapped in numer- 
ous other ways. Botany as well as the other sciences would be 
greatly benefited if more men educated in science would sacri- 
fice their personal interests and seek administrative position. 
The best time for the training of a botanist to begin is while 
he is still at his mother’s knee, and the more agencies which 
can be made to contribute to the desired end the better. Much 
effort may well be spent in general appeal and instruction by 
the press and from the stage and platform, but in the last 
analysis the regularly organized educational institutions will 
have to be held responsible for the job. Surely there is no 
place in the public school system where in this so-called scien- 
tific age the teaching of science should be neglected. 
There is a rich fund of material related to the knowledge of, 
and control over, plant life which is admirably suited for the 
needs of all the children in the elementary school. The big 
reason why Nature Study has been a failure up.to the present 
time is that the scientists have not given it the attention it 
deserves. Adverse criticisms have been and are abundant, but 
constructive cooperation has been almost lacking. 
There should be a direct and definite course of science teach- 
ing which should proceed in regular sequence through the ele- 
mentary school, and the high school into the university. I 
would direct no one into such a course simply because it led 
into the university, but because the lives of those who traveled 
in that direction would be enriched and enlightened every step 
