June 24, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



967 



teachers. It may even happen that his 

 course includes such concepts as those of 

 chemical eqiiilibrium, the mass law, or the 

 phase rule which, in their relation to the 

 proper subject matter of a secondary- 

 school course, somehow remind one of the 

 records of those early chemical processes 

 found in the first chapter of Genesis in 

 which it is quite incidentally stated that 

 near the close of the fourth day the Lord 

 created "the stars also." It is easier to 

 forgive the ancient recorder for his lack of 

 a due sense of proportion, than to excuse 

 the twentieth-century instructor. 



Keeping in mind, then, the newness of 

 the chemical processes and chemical con- 

 cepts, and the fact that the latter neces- 

 sarily make considerable demands upon 

 immature imaginations, may we not fairly 

 ask whether it is actually reasonable to 

 expect that a young boy or girl of fifteen 

 to seventeen will gain a really clear in- 

 sight into chemical science in one year; 

 such an insight as will sei-ve as a safe 

 foundation for a chemical superstructure 

 without further strengthening through re- 

 view ? I think I can hear teachers answer- 

 ing warmly in the affirmative. But, again, 

 do they not have in mind the exceptional 

 rather than the average pupil? It seems 

 to me that experience indicates that the 

 most that it is wise to attempt in the 

 case of the large majority of pupils of the 

 ages named is to broaden their horizon by 

 teaching them to interpret common phe- 

 nomena in the terms of chemistry, and 

 with the aid of only the simplest funda- 

 mental principles to help in the under- 

 standing of those terms, leaving the mean- 

 ing of the more abstract conceptions to be 

 learned in a college course, or by later and 

 more mature reading if the pupil is not 

 destined for college, but has an inquiring 

 mind. I believe that the disparity between 

 the immaturity of mind of the pupil and 



the demands of the subject-matter as- 

 sumed to be taught has been far too much 

 ignored. I think this is the more true in 

 these days when it seems evident that our 

 educational system, through its multiplic- 

 ity of subjects and the over-prominence of 

 the baneful influence of the examination 

 paper, tends to remove nearly all oppor- 

 tunity for concentrated or independent 

 thought on the part of the pupil, or of 

 originality in methods of instruction on 

 the part of the teacher. 



I believe, then, that even the competent 

 teacher, with adequate equipment and the 

 usual time allotment must find great diffi- 

 culty in teaching chemistry to even the 

 more receptive pupils at the secondary- 

 school age so thoroughly as to permit the 

 college to substitute it for any considerable 

 part of the college course, at least under 

 present conditions. For, let it be said with 

 all hiimility, we college teachers too often 

 made a sad mess of it even with the advan- 

 tages as to maturity and environment, 

 which we presumably possess. 



The statement is sometimes made by col- 

 lege teachers that they would prefer to 

 receive students without previous chemical 

 experience, and the question may be raised 

 whether or not it would be better to aban- 

 don entrance reqiiirements in chemistry. 

 I believe it is the opinion of the majority 

 of college teachers, especially of those who 

 have given the problem the most careful 

 thought, that this would be very unfor- 

 tunate. I should consider it so for at least 

 two important reasons : first, because, while 

 formal excuse from a definite portion of 

 the college work is not yet generally prac- 

 ticable, the experience already acquired by 

 the student can be made very helpful if 

 judiciously utilized, and second, because it 

 is mainly through increased cooperation 

 between the schools and the colleges in an 

 effort to secure better working conditions 



