ullrich] NATURE STUDY IN WISCONSIN 113 



data to select a vocation. This would result in narrowness." 

 "Leads to segregation too early on the basis of trades. Can- 

 not give enough science to make any practical use of it. Pure 

 science for the sake of scientific truth should be the aim of any 

 work below the high school. This should give a taste for more 

 science and bridge over the gap between eighth grade and high 

 school." "The pupils will not have mastered the principles 

 of any sciences involved sufficiently to apply them with any 

 degree of success. Therefore, to give Nature-Study a vocational 

 trend in the grades is to insure defeat of the ends desired." "I 

 do not believe that prevocational training will escape being re- 

 strictive and disciplinary unless placed in charge of teachers 

 who are wise in the principles of child nature and whose sym- 

 pathies are broad;" "You put a child into a groove before he 

 can choose a groove. He is too immature to accomplish much 

 vocationally. You narrow him. Give him good practical work 

 along general lines and he can get his practical training more 

 easily later;" "It robs him of the education suited to his devel- 

 opment. The scientific aspect gives the broad view, while the 

 vocational trend tends to commercialize the pupil's education. 

 It may precipitate a choice. A vocation may contribute too 

 little to the individual and he to it if a sufficiently broad view 

 and a thorough preparation does not precede it." In the form 

 of a summary, of the 41 answers to the question, 13 or 32% see 

 much good in the vocational trend in Nature-Study, 20 or 49% 

 are careful to explain the condition under which they favor the 

 innovation, and 8 or 29% fear that dire results might result from 

 its introduction. 



This study permits the following generalization of the present 

 trend of Nature-Study in Wisconsin. 1. Systematic courses in 

 Nature-Study are presented in the graded schools of the state, 

 only in 19% of the 86 schools reporting. It is taught in 

 an incidental manner in 24%, while there is no sug- 

 gestion that any sort of instruction is attemped, systematic 

 or incidental, in the rest, 57% of the schools reporting. 2. 

 The most frequent objections to or difficulties in the presen- 

 tation of a systematic course are over crowded curriculum and 

 dearth of qualified teachers for the instruction. The difficulty 

 of an overcrowed curriculum may be an implication that Nature- 

 Study is not of sufficient relative importance when compared 

 with the other subjects in the grades. 3. The majority of the 



