OCTOBER, 1948
CHEMICAL EDUCATION TODAY' HARRY F. LEWIS The Institute of Paper Chemistry, Appleton, Wisconsin
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Tms report was prepared in part from replies to a have sent to graduate school during the years 193645 questionnaire sent out to fifty of the colleges and more students to complete their doctoral work in universities who have supplied more than 90 per cent chemistry than did Johns Hopkins, Fordham, Columbia, of the science Ph.D.'s during the last ten years and to a Tulane, and Syracuse2combined would seem to be the number of Liberal Arts colleges as well. I have no result, in part a t least, of the fact that, in those imdoubt but that it presents a fair pictun5 of the situa- portant formative early years in the undergraduate tion in these schools, but it does not really cover the course, the students of the five liberal arts colleges situation of the average G.I. going to the average were having close contact with inspiring and exschool-in 1947 to the number of 1,122,738. As a perienced teachers. A similar observation has been matter of fact, it probably gives a more favorable pic- made in the field of physics where Furman University, ture than actually exists as far as the average G.I. Oberliu College, Reed College, and Miami University in the average school is concerned. (Ohio) combined sent more graduates to complete I think we will all agree that good teachers are more their doctoral work in physics than did Ohio State, effectivethan are either good buildings or good equip- Yale, Stanford, and Princeton combined. ment in the production of good students. There may An even more striking observation is m a k f the not be too much opposition to the statement that the first 44 institutions sending men on to complete their earlier in the course the student has contact with high doctoral work in science (based on the number of quality teaching the better for him. The earliest point Ph.D.'s per 1000 students), 39 are colleges, 3 are univerin his undergraduate career would be his first year. sities (Chicago, Cornell, and Princeton), and 2 are Here he frequently has direct and personal contact with technical schools (California Institute of Technology inexperienced student assistants in the larger schools. and Massachusetts Institute of Technology); of the The fact that Hope College, Juniata College, Mon- first ten, Nos. 1 and 10 are technical schools and Nos. mouth College, St. Olaf's College, and Oberlin College 2 to 9 are college^.^ The observation is made in this connection that mass education a t the undergraduate
Presented before the Division of Chemical Education a t the 113th meeting of the American Chemical Society in Chicago, April 19-23, 1948.
STEELMAN REPORT,Vol. IV, p. 20. Ibid., Vol. IV, p. 146.
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level is not aveweffective way to train future scientists. QUALITY OF TERCHING
Two-thirds of thescience teachers, when questioned about the current quality of the teaching in their own departments, are agreed that there had been a definite deterioration, particularly a t the undergraduate level. -This appears to be more pronounced in the elementary courses where assistmts are widely used. Some schools report using B.S. men as full-time instructors. Some admit that the quality of the graduate assistants is poorer than prewar and give as a reason the increased competition for the good graduates on the part of industry and government. The poor elementary instruction extends i n t o the departments supplementing chemistry, such as mathematics and physics, where the increase in enrollments is extended beyond the normal increase by war-generated interest in these fields. The reverse of this is also t r u e p o o r e r quality of instruction in chemistry will ultimately he felt by departments using chemistry as a service department, such as premedical and medical training, agriculture, engineering; etc. Part of our swollen enrollment problem comes from the increased numher of students registering in these service courses. Teaching in the advanced courses seems to be more nearly D n the prewar level, although there is some variation. In general, .the advanced courses are relatively less crowded than are the elementary courses and assistants are used only in laboratory training. Not all schools, of course, are affected equally. The Fteelman report suggests that. there is a definite pattern. Those large institutions carrying on a large amount of war work seem to be affected to a minor degree; the same applies to the Liberal Arts colleges. Institutions which were assigned little or no war work seemingly are affected to a considerable degree. A third class should be included-namely, the newly organized extension branches and the upgraded junior and teachem' colleges now giving scfence training on a four-year basis; many of these have inadequate staffs and insufficient facilities to handle the program. Institutions carrying on heavy war research programs, in many cases, were able to expand their laboratory facilities and equipment; they drew from the institutions without war programs and with shrunken enrollments good staff men on what was supposed to be a temporary basis. Some of these have become permanent members of the L'bo~owing"institution's' staff and the "lendmg" institutions have not been able to find substitutes of equal experience. Institutions without war programs were handicapped during the war period by loss of staff and by deterioration in buildings and equipment, for they lacked the necessary priorities to construct buildings and buy equipment. These institutions are today serving greatly increased numbers of students with prewar facilities. They represent, in general, the schools in which staff salaries fall in the low brackets. Lack of equipment, crowded rondit,ions, and low staff morale
JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
have handicapued even the maduate momam; . this, in turn, affects the undergraduate teaching-particularly in the elementary courses-for it is difficult for these institutions to attract the highest grade graduate students; they tend to go to the "name" institutions. The newly organized extension branches and upgraded junior colleges and teachers' colleges, have in many cases,been forcedto build from the ground up and, in the extension branches especially, positions have an unknown but limited tenure. Scientific tradition, prestige, and the smooth working of an established department are missing. These handicaps are great enough to daunt all but the best teachers; they must make the process of learning much harder for all but the.best students. Laboratory facilities may be inadequate and even crude. Library facilities are often almost nonexistent. The teachers' colleges have a very important function to fulfill in our over-all program; we need more and better high-school teachers in science, but I know one teachers' college where the head of the chemistry department has advised his students not to go into high-school teaching but rather to go from his rather inadequate training program either to graduate school or directly into industry. Such an action is a disservice to the boy, the industry, and the future,training program in the high school. The Liberal Arts colleges, in a large measure, are in a class by themselves. Whereas there has been some increase in enrollment, an attempt is still made to see to it that the elementary courses are taught by the experienced teachers. From my own experience in visiting schools this year, I'believe that the good Liberal Arts colleges are in the best position to provide adequate undergraduate training of any of the schools. There are a number of reasons for this. In some of these colleges, there has been a very definite trend toward major work in social science rather than in the physical sciences; hence, the elementary courses in science are not overcrowded. Upper climes, particularly those in organic and physical chemistry, seem to be on about the prewar level in numbers, and the teaching process is much the same as it was before the war in these fields. In fact, it is disappointing that the upper classes in chemistry in these high grade Liberal Arts colleges are not larger in size, for we need more good graduate students in science; as has been shown earlier, these colleges play an important role in graduate school registration. In many Liberal Arts colleges, the increase in the size and number of classes due to increased enrollment.has not pushed either size or number to the breaking point. SCARCITY OF TEACHERS
The question might be raised a t this point, "Why the inadequate number of good teachers?" There are a number of reasons. One is economic pressure. Any day in the news columns in Chemical and Engineering News there will be a picture and a short paragraph indicating that Professor X has left his university to
OCTOBER. 1948
become a. research group leader or research director with such and such a company. This migration is, in part, caused by postwar restlessness hut, in larger part, by the difficulty in making a fixed income cover variable hut increasing living costs; the latter condition is played upon in some detail by men from industry who are in need of increesed research personnel. The policy is shortsighted-industry might bether supplement the salaries of the teachers and keep them teaching. Another reason, and one to which an expanded discussion might he devoted, is that graduate schools in science prepare for research and not for teaching There is another cause for scarcity of good teachers, not covered in the Steelman-report. Although what I am going to say may sound facetious, it is not meant to be. That is the fact that the average university seem; to look upon the title of President, Dean, or Department Head as carrying more prestige and, consequently, more salary than the title Professor. Recent issues of Chemical and Engineering News point with some pride to the fact that so many chemistry teachers have been made Deans; fifteen are listed. I could nawr many more. When a chemistry teacher becomes a Dean, he loses his close personal contact with the student; when a chemistry teacher becomes a department head, particularly in a large school, his time is taken up, of necessity, with such problems as curriculum planning, classroom use, timing of sections, purchase of supplies, hiring and firing of staff, and teaching and research effectiveness are hound to suffer. It takes a very good man to be a department head or dean and a t the same time as good a teacher as he was before his change - in status. But when he becomes a President. well.. .! Why the scarcity of good graduate students for assistantships? I have hmted a t the increased competition for good seniors on the part of industry and the government. This year I have visited more than 25 schools with the object of interesting good senior chemists and chemical engineers in graduate work-those who have inclinations for work in the paper industry in our own graduate school, others in graduate work in general. I have sat around railroad stations waiting for late trains and have found, in passing the time of day with these industrial respresentatives, that there is little question in their mind hut that they can do a bet,ter job of graduate training than can the graduate schools themselves, or so they tell the graduating students. Competition for the top ones is keen; competit,ion for the average or lower-grade ones is mild, to say the least. A senior of good personality and high academic qualifications has to he strong minded to pass up the lure of industry today. About t,he same might he said for some of the new government laboratories. One of the factors which today may be interfering with the close relationship which is desirable between teacher and student is the industrial project and the government contract. The college teacher who is responsible for the administration of any number of government contracts may have to face the problem of monthly
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reports, quarterly meetings of government subcommittees in Washington, etc. The same holds for college professors who do any quantity of industrial work. Time away on consultation is time away from the students. Those 'industries employing college professors & consultants would benefit themselves far more in the long run if today they would pay the professors a retaining fee hut free them from any extra demands on their t i m e m a k e the consulting fee an outright ~ f tot the cause of technical training. A teacher can only divide his time so far and the farther it is divided the more superficial is the attention paid td any one section. The old saying that the squeaking wheel is the one that gets the most oil is true and, in this case, the squeaking wheel is either the industry employing the man, the government contract, or the administrative responsibilities of the deanship. LABORATORIES AND EQUIPMENT
To a lesser degree, our proh!em today is related t o iuadequat,e laboratories and equipment. The problem of lahoratory space has heen.met by courageous institutions scheduling their work effectively from the first hours in the morning until fairly late at night. This changes, of course, the old leisurely pice of the college campus but does make possible a spread of laboratory space and eqnipment so as to serve an increased number of students. During the past'months, certain laboratory items have been hard to obtain. Consequently, in some of the beginning laboratory courses, students have carried on work in groups or have had to pass up important experimental experiences. The matter of inadequate laboratories is being slowly corrected by exp'ansion programs. In the spring of 1947,137 of the 200 institutions answering the questionnaire sent out by the Division of Chemical Education indicated projected laboratory construction, many hoping to have their operation completed by 1949. Fifty-eight of the 137 were planning entirely new lahoratories; 28 were building new general science buildings; 26 were extending current buildings; and 25 were rebuilding and modernizing present buildings. The estimated cost of the construction a t that time approached $100,000,000; it is probably greater than that today. Many of these building programs, however, will not come in time to help the present situation. A number of schools have handled inadequate lahoratory space with imagination and drive. One-floor wooden buildings and Quonset huts have been converted into very satisfactory laboratories for handling all clllrses of students. Laboratory furniture can either be of a temporary variety and homemade quality or can be of the type to move into a permanent building at some later date. Other schools have taken advantage of the benefits to be gained by functional construction and have built, rather rapidly, very satisfactory buildings for chemical use. The expenditure of money today for construction of a 50-year old architectural pattern is inexcusable. Much could be said on that subject.
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The problem of swollen registrations in science courses might be helped in other ways. If it were possible to be absolutely certain that a separation could be made between science majors and general education students the latter might well be taught with lecture demonstrations and group laboratory projects; whereas the science majors would get the use of scarce space and equipment. This would relieve the crowded condition in the firsbyear laboratory; a had feature is the probability that some gifted man or woman might be lost to science by takimg the wrong course. An adequate testing and counseling program would increase the probability of identifying the potential scientist; by the same token, an adequate testing and counseling program would eliminate from the list of probable science majors men and women who belong in some other field and whose uresence in maior courses dilutes the work. OBSOLETE PROCEDURES
There is still another approach and that has to do with a modification of the curriculum. Many schools are teaching their chemistry courses with the same content and in the sanie manner as 30 years ago. Chemistry departments need to set up curriculum committees to review their over-all program and to determine the relationship between the various courses and the relative value of these courses. There are some things that industry can do better than the schools. Specific courses in paint analysis, water analysis, food analysis, and the like may he taking up time and space and energy that might better be given to fundamental courses in analytical chemistry, inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, and physical chemistry, to physics, mathematics, English, and the social sciences. The research approach does not have to he put off until the postgraduate year. The cookbook can be replaced by the library. Analytical methods and organic preparations can be utilized as research experiences, and the student group as the research staff; they can develop the analytical method; they can study the variables in the synthetic process. From this, they derive the satisfaction of achievement rather than the frustration that so often goes with the word by word followingof some rather complicated analytical method. The whole curriculum needs to be given the benefit of an airing in the sunlight. The system of examinations likewise needs a thorough investigation-particularly in graduate schools where the qualifying examination and the thesis examination are looked upon as fetishes by many professors. It seems to be important that the graduate program give actual experience in the organization of research and that the program he set up with that end in mind rather than that the graduate student play a part in some professor's research program. Industry will expect a man to be self-reliant and to have imagination and foresight-the Ph.D. going into industry to be more than a pair of hands; he should he able to discriminate and evaluate. I should like to call your attention to two approaches
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to this problem. First is that a t Princeton.where the graduate student is advised when he joins the graduate school that, a t the time of submission of his Ph.D. thesis, he will be expected to submit a certain number of research projects in which he might he interested in carrying on work, together with a statement of the literature and an outline of a proposed progress of study. This takes the place of a thesis examination. I wonder how many college teachers today are carrying on research in the fields they investigated for their Ph.D.'s. The average man going out with his Ph.D. has had experience in only one field. He needs to have his sights lifted and his horizons broadened. The other approach is the one followed a t The Institute of Paper Chemistry. This involves a different kind of a qualifying examination. We believe that the conventional oualifvinz examination does not . necessarily prove that a man is able to carry on independent research. We have submitted a series of nonrelated problems to he handled independently by the graduate studeut. The student is required to look into the background of the problem, to recommend a course of investigation, and to defend his choice of procedure. He may even go into the laboratory to carry on a few preliminary experiments. The problems are in a wide variety of fields. The student also attends a number of colloquia covering the various related subjects dealing with research-legal questions, instrumentation, statistical applications, labor-technical relations, management-technical relations, etc. By the time he has completed his last problem, he has been evaluated by almost every member of our teaching staff in terms of his capacity to organize research and think independently. We have already determined his knowledge by a series of tests, his behavior in course and in the series of reports, both oral and written. I do not wish to close on a critical note. Our schools have faced a difficult problem ,with courage and, in many cases, with wisdom. Teachers have given liberally of their time and effort and many of the men and women who are coming out from this program will he important members of our scientific body in the years to come. However, we want to be very sure that we have left nothing undone that might have been done to improve the training given to the veteran who has invested his time and his savings with the expectation of getting a perfectly satisfactory and adequate training. The next two years will he important years for, during this period, there will come up to the third and fourth year a large number of G.I. freshmen and sophomores; other freshmen and sophomores in large numbers will take their place. Many of these new students, however, are not veterans and the whole tempo of the training program is hound to change. During this period, industry and government might well declare a closed season on hunting in the college teacher preserves; industry in particular might take a postive attitude and either subsidize the ablest teachers or return on a temporary basis such men as could contribute to the teaching field. There are many older men in industry "
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OCTOBER, 1948
today who were outstandig teachers in their younger days: economic necessity sent them into industry. As many of these as can might well return to the college laboratories. Similarly, a closed season might be de-
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dared on good seniors entering industry but who normally would go on to graduate school, thus improving the quality of graduate assistants teaching in the elementary courses and would in the long run benefit industry.
