II 



SCIENCE FOR SCIENCE'S SAKE 



The other day I attended a teachers' convention. 

 A demure little woman told of the enthusiasm with 

 which her pupils collected butterflies and plants, 

 and she described the museum that they had made. 

 She showed a folio of mounted plants, and a cigar- 

 box containing insects. I admired the specimens, 

 and mentally I complimented her judgment in 

 finding so good use for such a box. The tobacco 

 odor kept the carnivorous bugs away, and I also 

 commended the judgment of the bugs. There 

 was genuine enthusiasm in the little woman's 

 manner, and I wanted to be a young naturalist. 

 When she was talking, I strayed far in the fields and 

 picked a dandelion. 



But there was a man in the audience who 

 squelched the little woman. Her methods were 

 all wrong. They were worse than wrong : the 

 children must unlearn what she had taught them. 

 She should have begun with some definite subject, 

 and followed it systematically and logically. The 

 pupil must be held to the task day after day, until he 

 masters the topic. To skip from subject to subject 

 is to be superficial. This way of teaching does 

 not result in mental drill. To make a collection 

 is only play, and names are vulgar. The pupil 



(92) 



