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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIX. No. 1257 



condition of ample support for research with 

 mitrammeled freedom both in subject and 

 method of work. It does seem fair to expect 

 and demand that the necessai? administrative 

 restrictions, committee approvals, financial 

 safeguards, and all the otlier factors of delay 

 and annoyance to the investigator should be 

 reduced to the lowest possible minimum. 



EDUCATIONAL ASPECTS 



To the thoughtful student of zoology and 

 especially, I think, to the teacher who reflects 

 upon the relation of his subject to the develop- 

 ment of scholarship and character, or its rela- 

 tionship to the general welfare and advance- 

 ment of human society, a question that now 

 looms large on his horizon is whether we are 

 using this material and eifort in the way to 

 secure the greatest benefit. 



Our systems of instruction have been de- 

 veloped largely with the traditional methods 

 for other subjects in mind, or often with the 

 necessity of adapting work to schedules or 

 methods in vogue in other quite different 

 fields of knowledge. Even didactic methods 

 have been more or less forced by influences 

 quite out of harmony with biological spirit 

 and needs. 



That these have been tinsatisfactory in 

 many ways has been attested by many efforts 

 to break away from the conventional plans, 

 but possibly most conspicuously by the estab- 

 lishment of the many summer schools, field 

 stations, or laboratories where biologists may 

 handle instruction on plans adapted to the 

 material and to the conditions under which 

 life exists and imder which it should be 

 studied. 



Unfortimately, this method has been de- 

 veloped mainly with reference to mature in- 

 dividuals and, while the service rendered 

 through teachers with such experience and 

 training may be of great value, it would seem 

 entirely unnecessary to argue for such a plan 

 to be applied to beginners as well. Indeed, 

 many of the summer camps for boys and girls, 

 the activities of the boy scouts movement and 

 courses now offered in some schools give evi- 

 dence of attempting such methods, but if of 



advantage for the few why not for the many 

 and why should not the essentials of such. 

 method be utilized to the greatest possible ex- 

 tent for all pupils who enter on the study of 

 living things, and which as living things, 

 should be studied under the conditions which 

 recognize the life factor! 



Perhaps, to state my view in brief, I would 

 say that the first instruction in zoology should 

 be training in observation. The natural cu- 

 riosity of the pupil concerning the living 

 things about him should be stimulated and 

 gratified, not smothered by the cold reception 

 of unsympathetic teachers. If connected with 

 the practical biological problems of his daily 

 life I believe it will be all the more effective. 



If the subject is taken in the high school 

 it may advance to some of the most obvious 

 facts and principles of biology, but it seems 

 to me this period should be concerned much 

 more with recognition of facts and giving 

 acquaintance with living things, than with at- 

 tempts at the more profound generalizations. 

 If the student has his interest stimulated and 

 carries his study further, this foundation will 

 be far more valuable than a drill upon specu- 

 lations the nature of which is beyond the 

 comprehension of the immature mind. If he 

 never gets beyond this stage it will serve him 

 far better for the problems of life than hazy 

 notions of zoological theory. 



A somewhat similar view applies to the 

 g'eneral or introdiictory course in zoology for 

 the college, which should be planned for the 

 great body of students who take the subject 

 as a part (and, I believe, a most essential 

 part) of their general education, not for the 

 very small percentage who may later become 

 professional zoologists. That is, the first de- 

 markation should come after the more funda- 

 mental basis has been laid for the good of the 

 specialist as well as for the sake of the major- 

 ity whose school work in the subject stops with 

 the one course. 



Obviously the content of the course and the 

 method of treatment should be adapted to the 

 matuver minds and may deal with signifi- 

 cances and interpretations as well as facts, 

 but in a broad way should follow tlie same 



