224 



for the few. The fact that in subjects appeahng especially to 

 boys and girls the initial interest wanes and that there is a 

 diminishing choice of scientific subjects by our students proves 

 not that pupils shirk serious work, but that much of our present 

 science teaching is misdirected. Whatever the degree of special- 

 ization that may be desirable in a college instructor of science, 

 the high school requires teachers of breadth of view ; you can- 

 not satisfy the pupil's desire for a broad outlook into the inter- 

 relations of phenomena, unless you yourself possess it. Too 

 many of our teachers believe themselves discredited in the eyes 

 of their associates, if they profess interest in three or four related 

 fields of scientific inquiry ; we cannot too soon revert to the type 

 of scientific teacher that the Huxley school stood for — the man 

 who sees the application of natural laws in several fields of 

 organic and inorganic science. This need not involve super- 

 ficiality; a teacher may still be preeminently interested in one 

 line of inquiry, and yet recognize the duty of arousing his pupils 

 to the relationship that pervades the world of phenomena. 

 Teachers College. 



QUANTITATIVE WORK IN HIGH SCHOOL BOTANY 

 By Joseph Y. Bergen 



In reply to your request for an opinion in regard to quanti- 

 tative work in high school botany I am glad to say a few words. 



The question is really a general one — the high school teacher 

 of almost every science subject, from chemistry to botany, has 

 had to ask himself whether any quantitative work should be done, 

 and if it is undertaken what proportion of the total laboratory 

 time it should occupy and what degree of accuracy is to be 

 required. 



To me it seems that both extremes are wrong. Some of the 

 wonst-fitted candidates for the Harvard University entrance 

 examination in physics u.sed to come from schools on the one 

 hand in which hardly any measurements of objects which could 

 enter the jaws of a micrometer caliper were made without its 

 agency, or from schools on the other hand in which the teacher's 



