780 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIV. No. i 



intimately related to these fundamental 

 conditions, the teacher, the curriculum and 

 as an outgrowth of these two that some- 

 what intangible influence we call college 

 atmosphere. 



"What about the larger of these factors, 

 the teacher? It should be required of him 

 as one great essential that he be a man of 

 scholarly spirit and attainments, and being 

 such he should have opportunity for study 

 and reflection. Is it not time to inquire 

 whether we do not need a renaissance of 

 the atmosphere of scholarship in our voca- 

 tional colleges, an atmosphere that must 

 first surround the teacher, there to be 

 breathed in by the student? Because we 

 have been exalting the man with a so- 

 called practical touch, possessed of the 

 ability to edify the farming public, 

 through a pleasing way of discussing prac- 

 tical subjects or who hustles about doing 

 things, is not our vision of the scholar as 

 an essential factor in agricultural educa- 

 tion and inquiry somewhat obscured, and 

 if scholarship is to be discounted in favor 

 of qualities that make for popularity, we 

 may well be solicitous concerning the 

 standards and effectiveness of agricultural 

 instruction, a statement that is equally ap- 

 plicable to experiment stations as instru- 

 ments of research. 



It is a gross error to permit a young man, 

 or any man, to believe that success with 

 the people in conducting agricultural prop- 

 aganda, or the possession of superficially 

 built and glibly expressed practical knowl- 

 edge, unsupported by a sound scientific 

 training, constitutes an adequate reason 

 why he should be a member of a college 

 faculty or a station staff. Success in the 

 energy-consuming activities of the institute 

 platform, the fair exhibit, the railroad 

 train or the demonstration field is not an 

 evidence of fitness for class room or re- 

 search work. We are guilty of a false 



estimate of values when we place a salary 

 premium or any other premium on suc- 

 cess in distributing diluted information, 

 however valuable this effort may be, as 

 against the function and influence of the 

 quiet and patient scholar. 



If the college is to nourish the moral 

 character of a student, the teacher must be 

 something more than a scholar. Character 

 will not be much influenced by directly 

 aiming at such a result through the teach- 

 ing of ethics. Much more potent will be 

 the general tone or atmosphere of college 

 halls, an atmosphere that emanates from 

 the teacher. In his hands, teaching the 

 sciences should not only promote scien- 

 tific accuracy, but should nourish integrity 

 of thought and purpose. All the exercises 

 of the class room should be pervaded by the 

 ethical spirit. For these reasons the stand- 

 ards by which a faculty is selected should 

 include something more than the possession 

 of good character, and the necessary pro- 

 fessional qualifications. The human attri- 

 butes of the teacher are no less important. 



We may consider certain dangers to col- 

 lege instruction arising from extension 

 work. This work on the part of the col- 

 lege teacher is a menace to his efSciency, 

 because such activities not only use the 

 physical energy that should be reserved for 

 the class room, but sooner or later they 

 minimize or destroy the habit of study and 

 the spirit of scholarship. The man who 

 serves for any considerable part of his 

 time as a purveyor of popular information 

 is almost certain not to present to his stu- 

 dents the latest and best knowledge in the 

 best way, or to add much to the stock of 

 knowledge. 



Another danger to the teacher from a 

 diversion of his thought to extension work 

 of the poptilar kind is that unless he pos- 

 sesses unusual self-discipline and control, 

 he will carry to the class room more or less 



