LETTERS To the Editor: I was very much interested in the article by Martin Meyer [in the July issue] as I am one of the high-school chemistry teachers who think that college chemistry teachers should give some recognition to our high-school students who have had chemistry. The recognition that Mr. Meyer gives is very satisfactory to me. That is, he puts them into a course in college chemistry which is different from the course that he offers for those students who have not had high-school chemistry. The thing to which I object is the fact that in many colleges students who have had high-school chemistry and those who have not are both put in the same course, and no differentiation is made in their college work as a result of their high-school experience. Conclusion no. 2 of Mr. Meyer's does not seem to follow some of the answers that he received to his questionnaire. He gave his questionnaire to students in his course where high-school chemistry was a prerequisite. One would naturally expect these students to be in favor of such an arrangement. The fact that only 17 students out of 159 said that they did not think it worth while to take a year of college chemistry after a year of high-school chemistry means that in Brooklyn College they are doing quite a good job of offering college chemistry to those students who have had highschool chemistry. It does not seem to bear upon the question of the alternative method of taking care in
college chemistry of those who have had high-school chemistry; namely, to excuse them all or in part from the first year of college general chemistry. On page 327 Mr. Meyer argues mathematically that it would not be wise to excuse a student with high-school chemistry from the first year of college chemistry. With that, of course, a person must agree if he accepts Mr. Meyer's first premise; namely, "A year of college work is more than the equivalent of a year of highschool study, say, in the ratio of 2 to 1." However, if we accept that premise, then we can prove by the same line of reasoning that i t would raise the level of college achievement in chemistry if we allow such a student to enter the second semester of the fint-year college chemistry course. If we did that then such a student would he entering the class with one year of preparation, and the other students in the class who have had the first semester of college chemistry would also have the equivalent of one year of preparation. The average level would thus be represented by 1, and the variation of the extremes from the average would be 0 per cent. (To change slightly his next-to-the-last sentence on page 327), It is, therefore, conclusively clear that the adoption of this proposal would markedly increase the quality level of college courses in chemistry. JOHNM. MICHENER WICHITAHIGH SCHOOL EAST WICHITA.KANSAS
When a manfeels that the world owes him o living, he is usually to lazy to colleec it.
