8 EDUCATION IX FORESTKY. 



mittee believes that the emphasis should be placed to-day somewhat differently 

 from what it was in 1912. One member of the committee says of the 1912 

 program : " It treated forestry as a science rather than as a profession." The 

 leaning then was toward botany and silviculture; the present trend is more 

 toward utilization, management, and a wider knowledge of economics, although 

 it is recognized that silviculture will always be the backbone of management. 



Approaching the subject more in detail, the committee submits its judgment 

 on several specific points, as follows : 



1. Entrance requirements. While admitting the desirability, for several 

 reasons, of pushing back into the preparatory schools certain subjects, espe- 

 cially solid geometry, algebra, and trigonometry, and perhaps physics as well, 

 the feeling of the committee is that in general the forest schools- had best 

 not set up requirements for admission different from those of other depart- 

 ments of the universities of which they form a part. It is assumed, however, 

 that entrance requirements shall be of high grade and that they shall cover 

 such subjects as, for example, are now administered by the college entrance 

 board. But there is no objection at all to including in the announcement of 

 any school a strong recommendation to prospective forestry students that they 

 come prepared to pass off certain subjects at entrance. 



There is some difference of opinion in the committee on this point, but the 

 fact remains that if a student has to take while in college elementary sub- 

 jects that he might have got equally well in high school, time will be used 

 up that might otherwise have been devoted to courses that can only be given to 

 advantage in college. Most forest schools are trying to give in four years 

 w r ork that could advantageously be expanded into five. The fewer elementary 

 subjects there are included, the more room there is for technical forestry 

 subjects, or for such closely allied topics as economics. 



As to language requirements, the majority opinion of the committee seems 

 to be that French or German should be offered for entrance and not form a 

 part of the college course. There is urgent need for a stronger course in 

 English than is given in many colleges. For the forester, training in composi- 

 tion is more important than an acquaintance with English literature, desirable 

 as that unquestionably is. The ability to speak and write vigorous, virile 

 English is a great asset to any man. Courses that give him training in 

 vXposition and argument, through the preparation of themes and reports, 

 seem to be what is needed. If it is impracticable to institute such courses, 

 the forest school faculties should demand of their students that the written 

 work in forestry courses conform to certain standards, even if to do so entails 

 some drudgery on the part of the instructor in the correction of papers. 

 Somehow forest-school men must be made to learn to use English with forro 

 and precision. 



2. Saving time through the regulation of entrance requirements naturally 

 leads to the question of how far certain advanced subjects, like management 

 and administration that in some schools are now taught only to graduate 

 students, should be incorporated, if at all in an undergraduate course. The 

 committee feels that place should be made for them, leaving the fifth year 

 for those who can go on to the master's degree, to be devoted primarily to 

 specialization. But here again the members of the committee differ to some 

 extent. 



3. Based on the principle that it is the duty of the forest schools so to 

 train their students that, following a period of apprenticeship after gradua- 

 tion, they will be equipped to handle large problems, including the framing of 

 forest policies, the committee is in favor of introducing in the later years of 

 the undergraduate course such subjects in the field of economics as business 



