596 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXI. No. 798 



time by a single individual in many college 

 courses so small as to involve an enormous waste 

 of the instructor's time and an improper distribu- 

 tion of the appropriations for teaching? 



3. Other things being equal, should not the 

 teaching of more than forty college students at 

 one time by one person be avoided? Should not 

 any department have reasons of weight for any 

 such case? 



4. Other things being equal, should not the use 

 of a quarter or more of a professor's teaching 

 hours for a year for the instruction of fewer than 

 ten students in one undergraduate course count- 

 ing one twentieth or less of the degree's total 

 requirement be avoided? Should not any depart- 

 ment have reasons of weight for any such case? 



5. Should not the traditional method of having 

 the ratio which the number of class meetings is 

 to the number of " points " credit the same, 

 regardless of whether the class enrollment is 1, 

 5, 10, 20 or 100, be abandoned in many of the 

 undergraduate courses enrolling less than ten 

 students ? 



6. When, in a college course given annually, the 

 nujnber of students is less than 6, should not the 

 course be offered only once in two years, except 

 for reasons of weight? 



Resolved, That those in charge of collegiate 

 education in the colleges and universities on the 

 list of the United States Bureau of Education be 

 requested to consider the advisability of reporting 

 for 1910, and once in every ten years thereafter a 

 detailed statement of the work done for the 

 bachelor's degree by each member of the gradu- 

 ating class or by each of 100 students chosen at 

 random from it. 



Beside these three sessions, several joint ses- 

 sions were held with other organizations. The 

 first of these with the American Federation of 

 Teachers of the Mathematical and Natural Sci- 

 ences was devoted to the presentation of reports 

 and to a discussion of the work of the Interna- 

 tional Commission on the Teaching of Mathe- 

 matics. This session is reported in full in the 

 federation report. 



The second joint session was held with the 

 Social Education Club of Boston. The topic of 

 this session was " Equal Opportunity for All." 



The third joint session was held with Section 

 B, Physics, for the discussion of the teaching of 

 elementary physics. The report of this meeting 

 will be found in the report of Section B. From 

 the point of view of Section L the meeting had 

 two significant features. The first was that one 



of the other sections of the association found it 

 desirable to devote one of its sessions to a dis- 

 cussion of the teaching of science, and the other 

 was the wide divergence of opinion expressed at 

 the meeting. It is a hopeful sign that this dis- 

 cussion has been begun and it is certain that the 

 diversity of opinion will gradually disappear if 

 similar sessions may be held at succeeding meet- 

 ings. 



On Wednesday evening the Social Education 

 Club of Boston held a public meeting. At this 

 meeting Mr. Edward L. Stevens, associate super- 

 intendent of schools of New York City, presented 

 a significant paper on " Why do Pupils leave the 

 High School before Graduation?" Mr. Stevens's 

 conclusions, based on a careful investigation of 

 a large number of schools, are as follows: 



1. Many students enter high schools who do not 

 intend to remain after the age of sixteen or after 

 they secure employment. Of 450 girls entering 

 one of our high schools, about 130 were in this 

 class. 



2. Many students find, or think, during the first 

 or second year of the course, that the work they 

 are doing is in no wise calculated to prepare them 

 to work or to work eSiciently. I think it may 

 safely be admitted that a year of Latin will be 

 of little, if any, use to a boy who leaves at the 

 end of the first year to enter a trade. 



3. Many students of rather mediocre ability 

 find that a course determined largely by college 

 entrance requirements is either too difficult or 

 does not appeal to their abilities or interests. 



4. Many students are forced, unwillingly, to 

 leave and go to work by the accidents or embar- 

 rassments met by their parents in business. 



5. Many students are tempted to leave by the 

 ofi'er of employment at apparently alluring wages. 



6. Some students leave because of the severity 

 of the management or of the rigors felt at the 

 hands of university-trained specialists. 



7. Some students die^ and a considerable num- 

 ber, particularly girls, break down or fail in 

 health. A few girls marry. 



The remedial measures suggested are stated in 

 the conclusions which follow: 



1. The training of children begins in the home. 

 It should continue in the home. Girls and young 

 women should have a training such that they shall 

 become intelligent and efficient mothers, not only 

 in order to preserve their own health and use- 

 fulness, but in order that they may bring up 

 their children. The high school must in this 

 respect, as in others, do much of the work for- 



