EDUCATION IN FORESTRY. 49 



work to be done by the graduate, it would certainly seem that the elective 

 system would lend itself far better to the conditions than a definitely pre- 

 scribed curriculum. 



(c) It is now quite generally conceded among educators that the five-year 

 curriculum is not working out satisfactorily, because the majority of students 

 will not stay five years. This means that much of the work will have to be 

 complete in and of itself, i. e., we shall have to prepare the student to fit 

 into some definite job at the end of his fourth year, and this will be possible 

 for many of the industrial jobs. This will mean that a great deal of the work 

 scheduled for the fifth year, particularly in the engineering course, will need 

 to be given to the undergraduates. 



DISCUSSION OF THE REPORT ON THE SCOPE AND CHARACTER OF 

 TRAINING FOR SPECIALISTS IN FOREST PRODUCTS. 



Prof. B. F. Brann, of the University of Maine, outlined the work done at 

 that institution to train men for the pulp and paper industry ; the graduate is 

 a chemical engineer with a general knowledge of forestry. 



Dean Tourney pointed out the danger that courses on specific details and 

 technique tended to make the student an artisan and to get away from the 

 ideal of what a fundamental education should be. Proper training should 

 ground the student in fundamentals and develop in him the power of philo- 

 sophical reasoning. 



Mr. C. P. Winslow, of the Forest Products Laboratory, Madison, Wis., em- 

 phasized the point made by Dean Tourney. If a man specializes too intensively 

 as an undergraduate, he may find later that his interests lie in a different 

 direction ; a broader and more fundamental . training is of greater value. 

 This has been proved to be true at the Forest Products Laboratory. There is 

 an increasing demand and good field ' for men that might be called forest- 

 products engineers. But to get the necessary training takes more than four 

 years. One trouble at the laboratory has been to get men from college who 

 have both the fundamental background, plus knowledge of some particular 

 branch, like chemistry, Many men have had to get this after coming to Madi- 

 son. The demand at the laboratory is not great enough to justify the forest 

 schools in developing men for that work alone, but there is a demand for such 

 men in the industries. The forest schools are in a position to meet this need. 

 The important thing is to establish a good four-year undergraduate course on 

 which those who wish to go on for further study can base specialized work in 

 one or more particular lines. Such well-grounded men will be able to progress 

 satisfactorily in a variety of wood-working industries. 



In answer to a question as to what salary such a man might expect (with 

 regard to its bearing on inducing him to remain longer at college), Mr. Winslow 

 replied that generally the graduate is looked upon as an untried man and is 

 paid accordingly. Men who have had training subsequent to college m;iy 

 get $3,000 to $4,000, with an arrangement for a bonus on the sales that they 

 increase. If such men can develop the industry, they are apt to rise fast. 

 One man of 28, five years out of college two and a half at the laboratory 

 and an equal time in educational work went to a commercial company at a 

 salary of $5,000. The minimum salaries that are offered men who have been 

 at the laboratory two or three years range around $3,000 up to $6,000 or $7,000. 



Profs. Moon and Hosmer both emphasize the point that there was need for 

 two types of men: (1) The man who had had four or five years at college 

 and begins as an apprentice, as it were, developing his vocation while learn- 

 ing the industry; and (2) the man of research type who, after five to seven 

 years of college work, emerges as a highly trained specialist. The schools 

 can provide definite courses for the first type; for the latter it is a question 

 of individual graduate study. 



