84 



to be worked out at home or in the laboratory almost never fail 

 to gain interest and cooperation from our students. 



George W. Hunter. 

 De Witt Clinton High School, 

 New York City. 



II 



One reason that the interest aroused by the average high 

 school course in botany is not deeper and more lasting is that 

 we try to cover too much ground and touch upon too many 

 topics. If a young person is to follow a subject for his own 

 pleasure he must feel to a certain extent that he has command 

 of it. The mountain view is certainly broader and contains more 

 that is interesting, but one feels no sense of possession and there 

 is no starting point for activity. 



One teacher when questioned looked up in surprise and said, 

 " We teach only the fundamental principles as it is ! " Where 

 do " fundamental principles" end and can they all be taught in 

 a course covering half a year to pupils who are strangers to 

 science and who are only children ? Botany itself is divided into 

 half a dozen sciences; why not divide the "fundamental princi- 

 ples " similarly and try to teach only one branch. Any attempt 

 at condensing a subject usually results in cutting out the most 

 interesting part and leaving the dry bones. 



It would seem that the question as to whether this narrower, 

 more intensive course shall be mainly physiology, morphology, 

 or classification, must depend upon the teacher, the pupils and 

 the environment. As to classification, I would add that it is the 

 department of botany which can most easily and most naturally 

 be followed in an irregular way by a person with little preparation, 

 a small outfit and odd minutes. But whether in any given 

 school a course of that kind can be given with advantage, each 

 must decide for himself. Stella G. Streeter. 



Jersey City High School. 



Ill 



To the first question I should be inclined to say that all our 

 botanical courses and text-books intended for high schools are too 

 technical, philosophically morphological and scholastic for high 



