relation of student and teacher 393 



Eelation of Student and Teacher 

 discussion by edward b. mathews 



The most effective time for influencing the student to undertake a life 

 of research in geology is during the jjinior and senior years of college, 

 for these are the years in which young men are beginning to think seri- 

 ously of their life work. To win one's devotion to research in geology 

 involves two distinct steps: First, the acceptance of the scholastic life, 

 with its placing of spiritual rewards above the material ; and, second, the 

 choice of geology as the field of activity. 



At the age of unfolding manhood the aims are particularly idealistic, 

 ambitious, and optimistic. The student is straining at the leash to do 

 something worth while and takes less account of the costs than the man 

 of greater maturity. He is more than ready to devote himself to the task 

 of increasing human knowledge, if properly enthused by his teacher's 

 portrayal of the joy of discovery and the spiritual and social rewards of 

 idealistic work well performed. HoAvever, unless equipped with private 

 means, he must be assured of the likelihood of sufficient financial return 

 to supply a wholesome, though simple, life for himself and his prospective 

 family. This assurance comes from a knowledge of the economic status 

 of the scholar and the degree of well being displayed by his instructors. 



If his beloved teachers, whom he regards as leaders, present the appear- 

 ance of men worsted in life's battle, or complain of the economic stress 

 where they should be expressing in word and deed the joys of the scho- 

 lastic life, the student will doubt the economic fact that men of ability 

 and industry get rewards as teachers and investigators commensurate, on 

 the average, with those received in other lines of activity. Such rewards 

 can neither be expressed by dollars nor bought with money. If the stu- 

 dent measures his prospective returns in money and is looking for the 

 highest financial reward, he is not temperamentally equipped for the life 

 of an investigator and should not be diverted from his normal line of 

 development. These facts should be enforced by collegiate professors 

 through precept and example, if the embryonic investigator is to be 

 drawn into the life work which will yield him his most enjoyable rewards. 



Given the student who is willing to forego the material ends for the 

 sake of the rewards of a teacher and investigator, the next question is his 

 selection of geology as his field of activity. Here again the responsibility 

 rests upon the collegiate professor of geology, who must show not only 

 the opportunities and joy of geological work, but the relative economic 

 status of geologists among scholars. Humdrum, routine teaching of the 

 subject, with a flood of facts presented without perspective and without 



