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than liberal biological training for the many prevails. However^ 

 it is now high time that secondary-school teachers of biology 

 begin to distinguish between technical zoology and botany viewed 

 as courses leading directly to research and liberal biological 

 courses designated to teach the great ideas or principles of the 

 life sciences with reference to the needs of the average well- 

 educated citizen. Viewed from this standpoint botany and zo- 

 ology are not properly two sciences. And this is the standpoint 

 which should be taken in secondary schools where the great 

 majority of pupils are completing their formal education rather 

 than preparing for college. More than anything else high- 

 school teachers of biology need to study more seriously the 

 problems of teaching the science v/ith reference to the ideals 

 of liberal secondary education considered as an end in itself 

 rather than as college preparation. Viewed in this way the 

 teaching of biology in the secondary school becomes the selec- 

 tion and presentation not so much of the facts as of the great 

 ideas or principles which may be drawn from organized study 

 of a series of plant and animal forms, and the unified course in 

 biology becomes a logical necessity. 



But from the four winds comes the protest that botany and 

 zoology are so vastly rich in materials that even with a year 

 for each they cannot be "finished." I must confess that I have 

 not been able to get into sympathy with this protest. Why 

 should we want to " finish " botany or zoology in one year or 

 even in five, so far as secondary education is concerned ? We 

 do not " finish " other subjects in the high school. On the con- 

 trary we simply select materials for well-rounded year courses. 

 Certainly we cannot complete a wide survey of either of the bio- 

 logical sciences in a single year, but there are great possibilities of 

 selection when our outlook on high-school science becomes that 

 of liberal education as distinguished from technical education. 

 Take any current high-school book on zoology or botany and go 

 through the pages critically questioning each paragraph from 

 the point of view of education for general culture and informa- 

 tion, and one is amazed at the amount of matter for which little- 

 justification is apparent. Eliminating such material of question- 



