EDUCATION IN FORESTRY. 9 



law, accounting and cost accounting, industrial organization, and the like. 

 Certain of these require as a prerequisite the general course in economics 

 now required in most college curricula, as it certainly should be in all forest 

 schools. While it is true that a knowledge of these subjects can be acquired 

 through reading, the committee feels that enough work in them should be done 

 at college to establish an interest that will result in subsequent study. Forest- 

 ers have been prone to forget that forestry and economics go hand in glove. 



4. The opinion of a majority of the committee appears to be that a more 

 or less fixed curriculum is best for an undergraduate course. But nevertheless 

 it should be so administered that in the junior, and particularly in the senior 

 year, there may be opportunity for specialization, at least through election 

 from a list of specified courses. The difficulty with too early specialization 

 is that the student is liable to make an unwise choice and then, upon 

 discovering his error, to be unable to readjust himself without considerable 

 loss of time, and perhaps of interest as well. One member of the committee, 

 Mr. Bruce, holds, however, that specialization should begin early, even before 

 entrance to college. To this end he advocates the announcement of parallel 

 curricula in general forestry and in utilization, with considerable flexibility 

 in each, when approved by a faculty adviser. 



Several forest schools publish, or at least bring to the attention of the for- 

 estry students, a list of courses recommended for election. The committee 

 is agreed that the success of such an elective system depends to a considerable 

 extent on how closely the student is directed by a faculty adviser ivho really 

 advises. The experiment of unrestricted election at Harvard, under President 

 Eliot, has led the pendulum to swing back in many colleges, and particularly 

 in the technical schools, to a closer adherence to a fixed curriculum, at least 

 by underclassmen. 



5. The committee is unanimous that professional forestry students should 

 be required to engage in forestry work during the summer vacation period, 

 but opinions vary as to how much and just what should be demanded. The 

 opinion of a majority of the committee seems to be in favor of one summer 

 spent with a forestry party or in a position in a forest industry, plus another 

 summer spent, in whole or in part, in a forestry camp under faculty guidance. 

 Formal instruction need not necessarily be a part of such a camp, but the work 

 in the field must be under strict direction. It should amplify the instruction 

 given by lectures, laboratory exercises, and local field trips in the winter 

 terms, in the essential branches of forestry. 



If the forestry camp continues throughout the summer, field work in topo- 

 graphic mapping may be included. If the forestry camp is only of a few 

 weeks' duration, attendance at a civil engineering camp may well also bo 

 required. Forestry students should be recommended to do additional work 

 in the forest, in other summers, beyond the minimum requirements. Prof. 

 Briscoe, however, holds that forestry students " get more practical work and 

 more real experience in the woods than in a school camp, and that many stu- 

 dents need this time for earning money enough to complete their college work 

 during the remainder of the year." 



6. The committee unanimously recommends that the forestry students at 

 all forest schools heartily be encouraged to organize and maintain a vigorous 

 forestry club. The activities of such an organization are a useful adjunct to 

 the classroom and laboratory. The club campfire constantly rekindles the 

 torch of professional esprit de corps that the faculty of every forest school 

 is endeavoring to have handed on from class to classr A live forestry club 

 is a potent factor in the success of any forest school. 



