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Editorial 



The Teacher and the Summer School 



Doubtless the prevalence of summer schools now-a-days creates 

 new problems for the teachers of the land, and they had problems 

 a-plenty before. The first problem is "If I go to summer school 

 will I have better prospects for advancement with the Board of 

 Education?" The next is "How can I, after the hard work of the 

 year, get a rest if I work during the hot weather?" The next is 

 "Is this the best way to spend my hard earned savings?" It has 

 been our privilege for many years to observe the way these first 

 two problems are met by many teachers of varying ambitions and 

 temperaments. Too often those of the most earnest and conscien- 

 tious type make a fair start toward suicide in the six weeks devoted 

 to hard study. They must get the full value of the money saved 

 by care and sacrifice and they are attracted by many subjects, 

 with the result that they take on loads that, in the end, prove to be 

 crushing. They go home so tired that the two or three weeks, 

 that intervene before they must begin work, prove entirely inade- 

 quate for the rest needed. The extreme antithesis to this type, 

 of which there are few representatives, praise be!, come for a 

 "good time." They take little work and that most casually and 

 they had much better be at some social summer resort. There is 

 a type between the two and its representatives are gaining in num- 

 bers, luckily. This teacher comes with the intention of resting 

 much, working some and being entertained "a lot." She usually 

 registers for credit in one or two courses, depending upon the 

 amount of work involved. This one course she takes seriously 

 and thoroughly making it a thread of interest on which to string 

 the days of her six weeks; she registers for "attendance only" 

 in such other courses as she feels drawn toward, but restricting 

 the number so as not to fritter her strength and attention. Doing 



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