974 



SCIENCE 



[X. S. Vol. XXXI. No. 808 



tion than that which exists at present can 

 hardly fail to result, even though the de- 

 gree of recognition of secondary school in- 

 struction may fall short of that which 

 some desire. 



H. P. Talbot 

 Massachusetts Ikstitute 

 j or Technology 



I EIGE SCHOOL CHEMISTRY: THE CONTENT 

 OF THE COURSE '^ 



Every teacher in the high school of to- 

 day finds himself in stimulating circum- 

 stances. He is obliged to question himself 

 closely as to the part that his subject plays 

 in the curriculum, for, at least in the 

 large cities, the long-discussed change in 

 the character of the high school is upon us. 

 The reason for the change is found in a 

 realization of the facts that in the past, 

 high school education has been enormously 

 "wasteful ; that eighty to ninety per cent, of 

 our pupils do not complete the coiirse ; that 

 ■only a small part of the remaining per cent, 

 achieve the purpose for which the whole 

 course has been framed, that of entering 

 college. The evidence that the change has 

 actually begun is found in the establish- 

 ment of trade and vocational schools, in 

 the frequent discussion of questions per- 

 tinent to these points, and in the statements 

 of principals and superintendents that 

 something must be done to stop the enor- 

 mous educational waste; and in their dec- 

 laration that the high school must meet 

 real needs, must give the boy or girl the 

 education that is best for him or her, as a 

 member of the human group, with little 

 reference to college entrance. 



Among the changes that are coming 

 from a recognition of these facts, we find 

 the importance of science in the high 

 school largely increased. The fact that it 



' Presented at the second decennial celebration 

 of Clark University, Worcester, Mass., September 

 16, 1909. 



is science that has produced the great ma- 

 terial advance of the past century makes 

 it certain that in the further turning from 

 formal to practical education, science will 

 play a larger part. It is the purpose of 

 this paper to inquire into the manner in 

 which these changing conditions are react- 

 ing on the high school coui-se in chemistry, 

 and to discuss some of the considerations 

 that are determining, or should determine, 

 a new course of study. The speaker wishes 

 also to discuss, in general, the problem of 

 high school chemistry, presenting personal 

 and perhaps even extreme points of view. 



We may classify the various forces that 

 are shaping the new course as external and 

 internal. In the first class we find: (a) 

 a lessening of the college influence, due to 

 a realization of the necessity of educating 

 for other purposes than college entrance^ 

 (&) a tendency to put chemistry earlier in 

 the course and to give a second year of it; 

 (c) what we may call the lay demand for 

 practical education. 



The lessened college influence will give 

 to the body of secondary teachers not only 

 greater freedom in the selection and ar- 

 rangement of their material, but what is 

 of even more importance, because it 

 serves as a stimulus to their creative abil- 

 ity, a realization of the importance of 

 their own great work and their responsibil- 

 ity for it. The lack of this kind of freedom 

 is in part responsible for the condition 

 that exists to-day when the high school, 

 paying comparatively high salaries, can 

 not get enough good men, while the college 

 apparently has more than it needs at a 

 smaller compensation. This is not the 

 least of the evils that have resulted from 

 the college domination of the high school. 

 Others have often been pointed out and 

 are well known. The course of study can 

 never be adapted to the real needs of the 

 high school so long as it is framed by the 



