180 REPORT OF THE FORESTRY COMMITTEE 



■effective. In the eyes of the practical lumbermen, the young man who has spent 

 two or three years in a ranger school is little less of a theorist than the graduate 

 oi a technical school. L,ittle practical experience can be gained in less than two 

 or three years. If a man can afford to spend two or three years in a school, 

 Why not make it a little longer and go to college? The ranger school is for the 

 benefit of the poorer men and should be as short and inexpensive as is consistent 

 with proper standards. Drill in common woods work can be obtained under 

 employment better than in a school and is an expense and a waste of time as part 

 of the curriculum for men who ought to be able at graduation to do a higher class 

 ■of work than that of the lumberjack. 



"If woods experience is required for entrance, the incapable men will be 

 weeded out, and the graduates will have a fund of experience infinitely more 

 valuable to the lumberman or to the forest supervisor than they would if their 

 only woods experience had been obtained in the ranger school. The older men 

 will be able to undertake responsible work more quickly and their age does not 

 lessen their ability to learn. In fact, if the courses are well prepared, they 

 .take much keener interest than the younger men. 



"Educational requirements for admission are apt to exclude men who will 

 succeed better in the woods than in the classroom, and are, in general, inadvisable. 

 It is, of course, true that lack of common school education prevents the rise of 

 many men later in life. Schools with no entrance requirement except an age limit 

 jdI eighteen years are apt to be filled with men who finished high school, but did 

 not get into college and do not want to work. I doubt if it is worth the time 

 •of any professional forester to conduct a school for such men. I feel very 

 strongly that the ideal course would admit men not less than, nineteen or twenty 

 years old, and with at least a season's experience in a lumber camp, or in other 

 practical work — for example, temporary employment for a season on a national 

 forest. 



4. "One year (forty weeks) is sufficiently long. If the course is longer, the 

 inen are apt to develop a distaste for the practical work for which they are 

 needed. A longer course must consist either of advanced technical instruction, 

 which is undesirable in a ranger school, or of drill in routine work, which the men 

 can obtain better under employment. It must also be remembered that insofar as 

 is consistent with standards, the purpose of ranger schools is quantity rather than 

 quality. There should be plenty of drill in practical forestry, but I do not think 

 that this should be of apprentice character. It is a great mistake to combine 

 instruction with actual employment. The conditions are impractical for employ- 

 ment and good instruction alike, and dissatisfaction is very apt to occur. The 

 business of the school is to teach and results disastrous to educational institutions 

 have resulted from attempts to combine instruction with business undertaking. 



"If there is to be apprentice work, compensation should be arranged. The 

 apprenticeship idea is distasteful to a large proportion of our population. It is, 

 ■oi course, less applicable to older men. 



5. "The schools may be conducted entirely in the woods, or it is quite practical 

 to conduct the class work at colleges in cities, provided there is ample opportunity 

 for field work. 



6. "Men engaged in administrative work do not have the time justly due 

 the students. I have found their lack of experience in handling classes, either 

 mdoors or m the field, often serious. Ranger schools, like other schools, should 

 have their own mstructors. The handling of administrative and instructional work 

 by the same men is a growing evil in many American institutions The ideal 

 teacher in a ranger school is the technical forester with considerable practical 

 experience both in forestry and lumbering also, if possible, and in teaching 



National forest, State and fire protective association rangers, estimators 



