288 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [10:7— Oct., 1914 



Professor MacCaughey maintained that while certain types of 

 "fiufify, moonshiny nature-study" had been failures that genuine 

 nature-study has always been successful, but he agreed with 

 Professor Barnes and admitted that : 



"One of the causes that have produced this imitation of nature- 

 study is the fact that the average woman teacher is not qualified to 

 teach it. Traditions of childhood prevent her from understanding 

 nature ; she has been brought up to be afraid of things, she has been 

 raised indoors. The clothing and physical equipment of women 

 have prevented them from getting this out of door contact. They 

 must realize that there is an outfit suitable for rough outdoor work, 

 just as there is for an afternoon tea. Women are fundamentally 

 interested in humanity and in romance, not in science. The aver- 

 age woman has a mentality that is introspective. She lacks the 

 objective attitude most men have." 



This is surely an arraignment of the sex which has been demon- 

 strating in so many ways in recent years, an efi^ectiveness equal to 

 that of the opposite sex in many and varied activities. But this is 

 a blow at woman in her own special field of teaching small children, 

 and if the statement is true, it is high time that this state of affairs 

 was remedied. 



The writer has had a long experience in trying to introduce 

 nature-study into the public schools ; and although she belongs to 

 the sex under attack, she can, by no means, deny that the criticism 

 is just. However, there is a reason lying beyond this criticism and 

 that is the conservatism of educational methods and ideals. The 

 women who are teaching in elementary schools today have had 

 little science training, because the whole trend of the schools in 

 which they were educated has been away from science. They 

 have been obliged to follow a certain routine of studies; and 

 biology in most high schools is still an optional course. 



From the writer's rather extended experience, another obstacle 

 quite as stubborn as that offered by denatured women is the school 

 principal, bred and educated in the classics, and with no apprecia- 

 tion of science or of nature. Not that all classically trained 

 principals are of this type. By no means ! There are two kinds of 

 college bred men; one who finishes his education when he gets his 

 degree, the other who regards his college education as a mere 

 foundation for the structure. Too many of the former type are at 

 the heads of our secondary schools, and they have held that 



