20 
THE PLANT WORLD. 
THE TEACHERS DEPARTMENT. 
Biology and Physical Science as Taught in Russian 
Secondary Schools. 
The course in biology in Russian schools extends through three 
years. Botany is taught in the first year, zoology in the second 
and physiology in the third. Considering the length of time 
given, one might expect that the pupils would get a pretty good 
knowledge of every one of these subjects, but, unfortunately, they 
finish their three years’ course, not only with little knowledge of 
biology, but what is still worse, they have a false conception of the 
subject. The evil lies in the primitive, unnatural way of teach¬ 
ing. In order to understand clearly the method used, let us 
imagine that we are listening to a Russian instructor in botany. 
The announcement made to the class will be somewhat as follows: 
“ For next time the class will prepare seven to ten pages about 
the plant cell. The plant cell being studied under the microscope 
is found to be composed of protoplasm, nucleus, chloroplasts and 
other substances such as starch or fats. The cells of different 
plants vary in shape. Reproduction is by cell division and by 
many other ways which are described in your text-book. Do not 
fail to prepare yourselves to recite all that is written in the text¬ 
book smoothly and clearly.” In order to obtain the coveted good 
mark, the pupil recites about the cell with perfect facility, al¬ 
though he does not understand half of what he is talking about. 
As the instructor shows neither living plant nor illustrations bot¬ 
any offers no interest to the pupil. It seems to have no relation 
to his everyday life, because when he sees the plants themselves 
he does not recognize them. None of the knowledge obtained by 
so many hours of hard study seems to have any connection with 
the plant kingdom. 
From my own experience, I can say that, although I studied 
botany for two years, I had no real knowledge of plants, until I 
came to this country, where I studied for the first time a plant 
cell under the microscope. I could hardly believe that I had seen 
with my own eyes protoplasm—a substance which had been for 
