Problems of Instruction in the Secondary School 1 6 







is made, it is not correlation but repetition, which may have 

 all the value of a review but none of the charm of new study 

 or new viewpoint. 



The desirable kind of correlation is illustrated by a number 

 of examples described in Chapter III. Attention may again be 

 called to a notable instance, that of the work done by the high 

 school at Odell, 111. No separate instruction in agriculture as 

 such was given. Injurious insects and their relation to birds 

 were studied in zoology. Much of the course in botany took a 

 decidedly practical turn. 



The visitor was furnished with essays on " The Corn Plant " 

 that were summaries of various fragmentary studies on the corn 

 stem, under the topic of stems, of the ear and tassel, under 

 flowers and fruits, and in connection with other regular botanical 

 topics. They certainly showed as comprehensive a knowledge 

 of the plant, its habits, and the industry depending on it, as 

 one usually finds where a special text is used. The experimental 

 plat cultivated under the direction of the staff of the agricul- 

 tural college of the state university is an object lesson for the 

 community rather than for the high school, although the pupils 

 are taken to it for instruction. It furnishes what Professor 

 David Eugene Smith calls " real problems " for the arithmetic 

 classes in the grades. They are taken there to get the data for 

 problems in percentage, linear and surface measure, and other 

 topics. 



In the John Swaney School, in Illinois, which offers several 

 courses in industrial subjects, was seen some of the best work 

 done on insects as related to farm industry, not as a part of a 

 definite agricultural study, but as a part of the course in zoology. 



The use of the polariscope by the chemistry class at St. 

 Louis, Mich., is an equally good illustration. This instrument 

 is not one of the common instruments in a high-school equip- 

 ment. But this school is in the heart of the sugar-beet terri- 

 tory. Sugar beets constitute the best paying crop produced, 

 although as yet not more than one acre in ten is put into beets. 

 Several of the boys have gone from the high school into the 

 sugar factories, and have become assistant chemists at a better 



