212 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VIII. No. 190. 



theory must follow as a result of their ex- 

 istence. 



The high school, then, should teach the 

 student to reason in any science it under- 

 takes to teach; it should give time enough 

 to it so as to accomplish this end; it should 

 carefully and conscientiously select those 

 facts only which are of fundamental im- 

 portance in developing the great theories, 

 and it should so connect these facts that 

 the great theories follow as a logical result. 

 By so doing it will develop a thinking hu- 

 man being who can use what he has learned 

 in any emergency, and who has in him the 

 seed of further development. All other 

 methods are false to science, misleading to 

 the pupil, acting as soporifics instead of 

 stimulants. On this line there can be no 

 compromise. 



All scientific work should be experimen- 

 tal. We have advanced to the point where 

 this is universally recognized. It is, how- 

 ever, too frequently the custom to intro- 

 duce experiments solely because they are 

 cheap. This is a grave mistake. The 

 main question should be : Do they teach 

 what is necessary and are they not too 

 complex for beginners? It is foll^^ to at- 

 tempt the study of a science with a lot of 

 cheap and misleading experimental clap- 

 trap. If fundamental experiments can be 

 performed cheaplj', so much the better, but 

 if the science is to be properly taught they 

 must be undertaken whether cheap or dear, 

 or if linancial considerations render this 

 impossible the science itself should be 

 abandoned in favor of something else. It 

 is the same principle on which some people 

 go shopping — they buy many things that 

 they do not want, simply because thej^ are 

 cheap, and they go without the necessities 

 because they are dear ; yet if they would 

 only refrain from the first line of action they 

 might ultimately save enough for the second. 



The high school course is preparatory to 

 that of the college, but it can never take 



the place of the latter. No student, how- 

 ever well prepared, can, in broadening his 

 learning, afford to do without the funda- 

 mental work given by men who have, by 

 their own researches, advanced their sci- 

 ences. Only such men can truly generalize; 

 only such men are able so to paint the sci- 

 entific picture that the great truths stand 

 out prominently against a background of 

 minor facts and theories; only such men 

 can produce an harmonious whole. It is 

 in the very nature of things that the place 

 of these advanced workers cannot be taken 

 by the high school teachers. They have 

 neither the time nor the opportunity, except- 

 ing in rare instances, totakeanj' prominent 

 part in the progress of their especial lines 

 of work. For this reason the secondary 

 school teacher should draw his inspiration 

 from the investigators; he should follow 

 them as leaders, and, in looking for such 

 guidance, should first ask: 'What have they 

 done?' not: 'With what institution are they 

 connected?' It is a fallacy too often heard 

 that the secondary school teacher alone 

 can write for the secondary schools, because 

 ' he understands the needs of the pupils.' 

 True, he may understand how to write a 

 book which will teach easily, but does he 

 understand what are the fundamental prin- 

 ciples of his subject? Does he not perhaps 

 delineate what he thinks are the fundamen- 

 tal principles, without knowing that they 

 may be either past history, or, worse still, 

 entirely fallacious ? 



Too often the college teacher is compelled 

 to entirely undo that which the pupil has 

 learned in the high school — to clear the 

 latter's mind of mistaken notions and to 

 completely reconstruct his mental perspec- 

 tive — before the new work can be under- 

 taken with mutual profit. Those who have 

 gone through this trying ordeal realize that 

 it is a far greater task to eliminate false 

 impressions than it is to create new and 

 right ones. 



