276 INSTRUMENTS OF PRECISION IN TEACHING OF SCHOOL HYGIENE 



the most valuable subject (apart from courses that give informa- 

 tion in the subject-matter to be taught) that can be incorporated 

 in the professional training of teachers. Indeed, if a prospective 

 teacher in training had to choose between the history of education 

 and school hygiene, I should say, "Take school hygiene," or if 

 between educational psychology and school hygiene, much as I 

 believe in educational psychology, I should say, "Take school 

 hygiene." 



But this view is by no means common. In a discussion at the 

 twentieth anniversary of Clark University, I was surprised to 

 note that many professional men, whose interests lay in closely 

 related fields, were quite unacquainted with the recent develop- 

 ment of school hygiene and had no conception of the fact that 

 this latest phase of educational science has become a special 

 discipline, not only worthy of careful study by all those who 

 intend to teach, but also worthy the name of a science. And 

 similarly, in educational circles, there prevails, as has been pointed 

 out by the previous speakers today, an unfortunate amount of 

 ignorance, or of disregard of the claims of our subject. In 

 many courses for the training of teachers school hygiene holds 

 as yet no part in the prescribed curriculum, or, if taught, is 

 regarded as a subsidiary and relatively unimportant topic: the 

 instruction is perfunctory and the interest incited is but meager. 



The prescribed training for college graduates, who are to 

 receive certificates from the New York State Education Depart- 

 ment, as outlined in the Department's syllabus, makes but inci- 

 dental reference to hygienic problems and no recognition of school 

 hygiene as a specific branch of study. We have, nevertheless, 

 organized and developed at Cornell University an elective course 

 on school hygiene that is taken yearly by many prospective 

 teachers. Of the general organization and content of this course, 

 I do not propose to speak at this time. 1 I have brought with 

 me for exhibition a booklet entitled, "Questions in School Hy- 

 giene," which is used in lieu of a textbook in the course and which 

 will indicate the general scope of the topics that are discussed. 



We are also endeavoring at Cornell to further the study of 

 school hygiene by making use of certain instruments of precision, 

 not only for demonstration experiments in the classroom, but 

 also for the prosecution of original investigation, for I believe it 

 to be entirely possible for well-trained advanced students in the 

 larger normal schools, normal colleges, and schools of educa- 

 tion to make contributions of value in school hygiene. 



As an example of what I have in mind, I have placed on exhibi- 

 tion here a typewritten report on the hygienic conditions of a 



i The whole question of content and method in a course on school hygiene has 

 been discussed by the writer in an article upon "The Instruction of Teachers in 

 School Hygiene," Pedagogical Seminary, March, 1910, Vol. XVII., pp. 44-50. 



