406 



^SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIII. No. 846 



changing the object of its training — there 

 would not be necessarily any gain to the 

 community at large should a school of 

 pharmacy gradually become a theological 

 seminary or even a medical college; a 

 school of pharmacy is just as necessary as 

 either of the others. 



It is perfectly natural for any teacher 

 or group of teachers to aspire to more ad- 

 vanced grades of work, but this should not 

 be undertaken unless the more elementary 

 and fundamental work is adequately cared 

 for. 



We are suffering from too much ambi- 

 tion of this kind; too many trade schools 

 attempt to be colleges, and too many col- 

 leges attempt to be universities, at the ex- 

 pense of their efficiency in their original 

 equally important field. Let us imagine 

 that every grade school gradually intro- 

 duced more and more work of the high 

 school, that every high school gradually 

 became a college, and that every college 

 gave more and more of its energies to grad- 

 uate students! Or let us imagine that 

 every institution giving grammar school 

 instruction attempted also to provide train- 

 ing through the high school, college and 

 university curriculum ! What a ridiculous 

 and inefficient educational system must 

 result. Roughly speaking, for every thou- 

 sand grade schools we need about a hun- 

 dred high schools, ten colleges and tech- 

 nical schools, and one graduate university. 



Fortunately, there is a supervision that 

 prevents the transformation of grade 

 schools into high schools, and separates the 

 work of the two as soon as numbers of 

 pupils justify the step; it is a pity that 

 there is no authority with power to insure 

 similar efficiency on the part of under- 

 graduate and graduate colleges and uni- 

 versities. 



We are failing to appreciate the distinc- 

 tion between undergraduate and graduate 



work. In most ways there is little more in 

 common between these than between that 

 of the high school and of the college, and 

 the university is injured in the attempt to 

 make it a small part of a large college. 

 Efforts have been made in this country to 

 have universities unhampered by under- 

 graduate departments ; unfortunately, how- 

 ever, the country has declared itself not 

 yet ready for such a logical and much-to- 

 be-desired arrangement. 



The chief function of the undergraduate 

 school is to give instruction in such a way 

 as to insure mental development. For 

 those few who are to proceed to graduate 

 work, the soundness, breadth and depth of 

 the foundation will largely determine the 

 safety and usefulness of the superstructure 

 of specialization to be erected later. The 

 first qualification for membership in the 

 teaching staff of an undergraduate school 

 should be teaching ability together with a 

 thorough knowledge of the subject to be 

 taught. 



This teaching ability is largely a natural 

 gift, and if of a high order is not common. 

 Let us recognize it, use it, and reward it as 

 an asset of the highest value. It can not 

 be created by the study of pedagogy any 

 more than logical thinking by the study of 

 logic ; it is founded on the intuition of sym- 

 pathy. Teaching is the keenest pleasure 

 to some, the hardest drudgery to others; 

 the student readily distinguishes the two. 

 I would not, however, imply that even the 

 best teacher can work effectively with the 

 undergraduate who struggles to escape 

 education or who is unwilling to make any 

 effort for it because his interests are now 

 intellectual; such students have no proper 

 place in an institution of higher learning, 

 and we expend much too large a part of 

 our energy in forcing such material 

 through to graduation. The fashionable- 

 ness of going to college is by no means an 

 unmixed blessing. Why does not some en- 



