July 7, 1905.] 



SCIENCE. 



to the best endeavor in all disciplinary 

 ■ studies, but particularly in matliematics. 

 These attributes may be built up with 

 peculiar success when the aid of rightly 

 conceived and ivisely taught manual train- 

 ing is invoked during the tender years of 

 the pupil. But even when these attributes 

 are possessed by all of your pupils, the 

 fullest success in teaching mathematics will 

 still demand a fixed purpose and high 

 pedagogical ideals in the teacher, added to 

 a sympathetic knowledge of his subject. 



A man is a creature who honestly brings 

 his undertakings to accurate results, even 

 though the method adopted may not be the 

 simplest or the one approved by academic 

 authority. This requires an open mind, 

 keen observation, analytical thinking and 

 accurate powers of inference. 



A parrot might glibly recite the rules for 

 following an approved method, and then 

 defend inaccurate results by the plea of 

 carelessness, or haste in the particular in- 

 stance. 



The man may not know the rules as they 

 are phrased in the books, but an inaccurate 

 result is (for him) a matter of real 

 chagrin and humiliation. 



As the pupils now come to the colleges 

 (perhaps I should refer more particularly 

 to engineering colleges, as with them my 

 experience more particularly lies) from the 

 secondary schools, they ordinarily possess 

 little power of clear thinking, power of 

 initiative, regard for accuracy, or under- 

 standing of continuous intellectual effort. 

 It is true that they are not yet mature in 

 either body or mind, and too much should 

 not be expected of them. But it is also 

 true that their preparatory schooling has 

 left them with a defective acquaintance 

 with the construction of the English lan- 

 guage and the spelling of English words, 

 a still more defective acquaintance with 

 French or German or a fairly good ground- 



ing in elementary Latin, a smattering of 

 civics and history, a training in the ele- 

 mentary principles of arithmetic, geometry 

 and algebra, from tvhicJi the factor of 

 accuracy in application has often been 

 omitted, and perhaps an enthusiastic 

 though often misguided interest in the 

 physical sciences. 



I do not wish you to think of me as re- 

 flecting on the industry of the secondary 

 school teachers. The facts are as I have 

 stated them, but I can truthfully say that, 

 considering all of the conditions, there is 

 probably no more painstaking and right 

 wishing body of people than these teachers. 

 It is the conditions that are not right. The 

 schools encourage, as Herbert Spencer 

 says, 'submissive receptivity instead of 

 independent activity.' The unfortunate 

 situation is, perhaps, a result of the inex- 

 perience of school boards, or the inexperi- 

 ence, inadequate compensation or improper 

 training of a large proportion of the teach- 

 ers, or the crowding of the schools may 

 overwork and cramp the best of teachers. 



Many of the faults in the secondary 

 school training (which has been the lot of 

 students entering our engineering colleges) 

 may be caused by a doubt that has re- 

 cently seemed to unsettle certain educa- 

 tional circles on account of the question 

 whether high schools shall be the 'people's 

 colleges,' or remain in the station of sec- 

 ondary schools. This doubt is apparently 

 not yet resolved in the minds of those who 

 undertake to mold educational thought 

 in the secondary schools; but the tradi- 

 tional old time secondary school training 

 which produced men who could spell and 

 cipher and who had received a thorough 

 and accurate drill in at least one language 

 is certainly to be given foremost place as a 

 preparation for a college course. In my 

 estimation, when accompanied with history 

 and a year spent in civics and natural sci- 



