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ive, students will not take them unless they are made attractive ; 

 our success as teachers is largely judged by the number of stu- 

 dents we can charm into our courses ; our colleagues stand ready 

 to cry "snap" to any course which grows faster than they can 

 see cause for ; therefore the logical procedure for the teacher is 

 to draw great numbers but keep them complaining of the work, 

 and he is the greatest teacher under this system who can attract 

 so many students that a new building must be provided immedi- 

 ately, while their lamentations over the difficulty of the course 

 are loud enough to reach the ears of all of his colleagues ! Now 

 this condition can be attained with quantity, though not with 

 intensity, for most students will not elect a course involving 

 intensive work which they cannot escape, but they are willing to 

 elect one in which the work may be eased by the wits, no matter 

 how copious the irrigation of information may be. Just here 

 indeed is a very fundamental trouble with our education in gen- 

 eral. We are teaching our students to gobble when they need 

 to be taught to fletcherize. 



Another phase of our treason to the genius of science is found 

 in the belief and practise of some teachers that broad generaliza- 

 tions are the true aim of elementary teaching. I know a recent 

 elementary text-book in which the author laments that " some 

 teachers do not yet understand the importance of imparting to 

 beginners a general rather than a special view point." And I 

 could cite many passages to show a belief of this and some other 

 teachers that subject matter, accuracy in details, and other funda- 

 mental verities of science, are not important in comparison with 

 viewpoints and outlooks on life and that sort of thing. In my 

 opinion there can be no greater educational error. There is no 

 training which American youth needs more than that in a power 

 to acquire knowledge accurately and to work details well. Dis- 

 regard for particulars and a tendency to easy generalities are 

 fundamental faults in American character, and need no cultiva- 

 tion, but, instead, a rigorous correction. 



Another phase of our disregard of the genius of science is 

 found in the bad character of some of our elementary teaching. 

 Our plant physiology in some cases is so erroneous that it is 



