May 7, 1909] 



SCIENCE 



727 



dustry. He must know thorougMy the 

 commercial side of his problem. 



But if technical courses are thus broad- 

 ened, adjustment must be made somewhere. 

 No more can be crowded into the four years 

 now required for graduation from a tech- 

 nical or engineering school. Must, then, 

 these additional lines of work be demanded 

 of technical students, and if so, how shall 

 the schedules be adjusted ? 



Three alternatives present themselves as 

 partial answer to the last question. First, 

 the lengthening of the professional course 

 to five or six years, making it graduate in 

 character and on a par with graduate or 

 professional schools of medicine or law. 

 Second, the adding of two years to the 

 present high-school courses now preparing 

 for advanced technical work, thus enabling 

 students to enter the technical college upon 

 a much better foundation than at present. 

 Third, the elimination of the non-essentials 

 from the present four years' courses, thus 

 leaving more time for additional necessary 

 work. 



The argument advanced by advocates of 

 the first method is that the four years of 

 regular college work is not sufficient. That 

 to be adequately trained implies ultimately 

 the lengthening of the college course to five 

 or six years. Each year brings a greater 

 store of knowledge to be taught and with 

 this additional knowledge comes the under- 

 standing that to push the man through his 

 course is to start him on the road to ineffi- 

 ciency. Especially must those who are to 

 be leaders, the "trail blazers," the execu- 

 tives, the experts, be given advantage of a 

 longer course. 



The claim is made that after eliminating 

 the non-essentials there will not be suffi- 

 cient time in which to present the subjects 

 of the special line being pursued and such 

 of the humanities or so-called culture sub- 

 jects as were previously suggested. Eng- 

 lish alone must be granted considerable 



time, as an appreciation of good literature, 

 a taste for the best that has been written, 

 is essential to growth, whoever the man 

 and whatever his profession. The student 

 who in school and regardless of his trend 

 of thought, is not given the opportunity of 

 putting himself on friendly terms with the 

 best in literature, is being robbed of one of 

 the tools most necessary to advancement, 

 and an element of the greatest pleasure 

 and profit. On the other hand, so much 

 must be added each year, as the discoveries 

 and developments in science are made, that 

 these alone may more than compensate for 

 the eliminations. 



Considering the second point, it would 

 seem that there are many and strong argu- 

 ments in favor of the lengthening of the 

 high-school course to six years, such argu- 

 ments applying with equal force to both 

 traditional and manual-training high 

 schools. But the lengthening of the pre- 

 paratory course implies at once one of 

 three alternatives. (1) A six-year pre- 

 paratory course, in which the subjects are 

 of secondary grade, without regard to 

 lengthening of the college course thereafter. 

 (2) A six-year preparatory course wherein 

 certain preliminary college work is taken 

 up, the regular college course to be either 

 two years or four years in length. (3) A 

 six-year course to be followed by a six-year 

 college course. These propositions will re- 

 ceive no extended consideration at this 

 time. 



If the proper equipment and courses 

 could be supplied in the high school, the 

 students had better spend six years there- 

 in, as many who seek the technical and 

 engineering college are so immature as to 

 be unable to adjust themselves to the 

 changed atmosphere, and go down and out 

 in the first few weeks of school. Many have 

 not found their level on leaving high school 

 and are not adapted to the work to which 

 they aspire. At much less expense than at 



