462 



SCIENCE.' 



whole system of public school education must be 

 made. It appears superfluous to urge the teaching of 

 science to children of ten years of age in public 

 schools, where the elder scholars of fourteen and 

 fifteen years are unable to read aloud intelligently or 

 write an ordinary letter legibly. And yet, to our 

 knowledge, such is the situation of too many of the 

 scholars in our public schools in regard to these 

 fundamental branches of education. 



Professor Clarke's report shows that in high schools 

 and academies the teaching of Chemistry and Physics 

 varies between widely separated limits ; in the ma- 

 jority of cases mere text book work is done, and only 

 a few experiments performed by the teacher. 



In our opinion the report offers excellent advice in 

 regard to the teaching of Chemistry and Physics to 

 such classes of students. 



The following extract will explain Professor Clarke's 

 views : 



" That chemistry and physics are desirable branches 

 to teach in schools of the grade now under discussion is 

 pretty generally admitted, although a few educators still 

 hold that such studies are fit only for technological 

 institutes and colleges. But the greater number of pupils 

 cannot go out into these higher grades, and must therefore 

 either study the sciences now or do without them alto- 

 gether. The latter alternative is clearly the wrong one 

 to choose ; at least, if we admit that education is any- 

 thing other than a mere system of mental gymnastics. 

 If subjects are to be learned quite independently of their 

 relations to active life, then there is no ground for pres- 

 ent argument ; but if culture and utility are both to be 

 considered we must recognize that some scientific training 

 is indispensable. Nearly every pupil goes out of school 

 into one of the great industries ; and, whether he be- 

 comes a mechanic, manufacturer, railroad man, telegraph 

 operator, farmer, miner, or tradesman, he is likely to en- 

 counter practical applications of the two sciences. In 

 every avocation some knowledge of either physics or 

 chemistry is almost certain to be directly useful; and this 

 utility is often so great that the schools can better afford 

 to err on the side ot over-thorough teaching than in the 

 opposite direction." 



In answer to the inquiry how far these sciences can 

 be carried in such schools without detriment to other 

 interests, the report states : 



" One high school has three years and another four years 

 in its total course of study ; the latter is plainly able to 

 give more time to any particular subject than the former, 

 Every variation in the character of a school must involve 

 corresponding variations in the treatment of these two 

 sciences. It maybe safe to put half an academic year as 

 the minimum time assignable to either subject. A year 

 can usually be given to eacb without difficulty." 



While as to the detail of such instruction Professor 

 Clarke says : 



" Instruction should be general rather than special. 



The attempt is too often made to teach applied science 

 when there are no foundations of science to apply. Such 

 foundations should be thoroughly laid in the high schools 

 and academies, so that the pupil who passes on to a 

 university or polytechnic course may have a genuine 

 preparation for advanced work. Fundamental ideas, like 

 those of the conservation of energy, the correlation of 

 forces, the conceptions of atoms and molecules, &c, 

 ought to be clearly inculcated. The scholar should be 

 made to realize that each science is a coherent whole 

 with definite relations to other sciences, that all its parts 

 are vitally connected, and that certain general principles 

 are universally applicable in all of its branches. In 

 chemistry it is better to concentrate all efforts upon the 

 inorganic portion of the science, leaving the complicated 

 organic side for more advanced study. Along with the 

 merely descriptive work should go a solid drill in chemi- 

 cal problems and chemical notation. Experiments made 

 before classes ought to bear as far as possible upon main 

 questions, and unavoidable details should be handled so 

 as to illustrate clearly the great central ideas. When 

 these have been fairly grasped, the scholar has gained 

 something of both practical and intellectual value. His 

 studies will have brought him not knowledge only, but 

 also increased power." 



For success, much depends on the teacher. 



" He must have a vivid sense of what needs to be ac- 

 complished and enough special knowledge to render him 

 in a measure independent of text books." 



Text books, the report says : 



" May be useful or injurious, according to circum- 

 stances. If they have been chosen by an average school 

 committee, influenced by some publisher more energetic 

 than his rivals, they are likely to be worthless, and the 

 teacher must be prepared to make good their omissions 

 and correct their blunders. No text book can be taken 

 as sole guide and followed without variation ; but a good 

 treatise upon either science, prepared, not by a profes- 

 sional school-book maker, but by a trained specialist, 

 may be of great help to teacher and pupils." 



Professor Clarke wisely urges the value of laboratory 

 work : 



" In addition to classroom drill, laboratory practice 

 should be an essential and prominent feature of every 

 chemical or physical course. In the recitation or lecture, 

 general principles are taught ; in the laboratory, the 

 student becomes familiar with methods and details. 

 Three months of laboratory work will give more ffial 

 insight into any science than a whole year's study of the 

 printed page. To study chemistry from books alone is 

 like learning a language from its grammar only, without 

 attempting to translate or to write exercises. The pupil 

 must learn to observe and to experiment for himself, in 

 order to acquire any clear scientific knowledge." 



One recommendation of the report is strongly in 

 accord with our own views, and that relates to the 

 advice to teachers and pupils, to construct as far as is 

 practicable all apparatus used in the laboratory. 



"The apparatus which a teacher contrives for himself 



