60 ILLINOIS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 
you—that our purpose should be to prepare the student for a 
rich and varied experience in life by suitable intellectual train- 
ing in habits of accurate thought—courses which give some real 
knowledge of the science are certainly more practical than 
courses which give a great variety of interesting but discon- 
nected information. 
In vocational courses, however, the information important 
for the vocation which the student is preparing to follow finds 
its proper place. The ideal, as it seems to me, would be that 
each pupil before leaving school should have some vocational 
training. If he is to leave at the close of the eighth grade, at 
least a part of his work should have a direct bearing on his 
future vocation. If he is to go out into life from the high school 
he should be trained in school for some definite vocation. The 
same is true of the University if his education is to close there. 
But the amount of time given to training for a vocation should 
never be so great as to crowd out the more important training 
for life and for citizenship. 
PHYSICS IS A FACTOR IN A LIBERAL EDUCATION 
Frep D. Barper, State NorMAL UNIVERSITY 
As an instructor in physics in a Normal School and Teachers’ 
College, I conceive it to be my chief duty to give such instruc- 
tion in physics as will enable my students most successfully to 
teach that subject in our public schools. With this end in view 
I feel it my duty to study constantly: First, the prevailing 
curricula of our public schools, especially our high school; Sec- 
ond, the service which our public schools can render the people 
of this state and nation; Third, the choice of subject matter and 
the methods which will best accomplish the desired results. In 
this paper I shall, therefore, briefly indicate some conclusions 
bearing upon these points so far as physics is concerned. 
In thus confining my discussion to these points I beg you not 
to suppose that I am unmindful of the importance of research 
in physics. Without the fruits of research in physics nearly all” 
lines of engineering, as well as the application of physical 
principles to many trades, to agriculture, even to housekeeping 
