VOL. 2, No. 2
SOME MISCONCEPTIONS OP CHEMICAL EDUCATION
145
Practical Life" as an introduction to the more systematic course.* But these are exceptional cases, not yet affecting chemical instruction as a whole. The remedy which I propose for this situation is that the high-school chemistry course should be revised with the basal idea that those who take i t are not going to study more chemistry, that they are not going to be chemists, and that their specific needs should be met. It is certain that the existing courses do not meet their needs. The last misconception which I desire to treat is that of thinking and acting upon the basis that chemistry is essentially a mass of information. The College Entrance Examination Board, with its examinations in chemistry consisting, on the average of the ten years 1913-1922, of 87 per cent memory questions,** which has done much to make this situation. Our other examining bodies, such as the Regents in New York State, have done no better. Even our test-makers have fallen into this same error for the most part. If we examine all the available standardized tests for achievement in chemistry, we shall find that the Bell test is almost entirely a memory test, the Cleveland Coijperative tests ditto, Geny's test ditto, Powers' tests ditto (qualified by a section involving skills and habits, but not thinking.) My own tests represent the first attempt to get away from this misconception. To sum up: we shall not get far ahead with advancing chemical education until we relieve ourselves of the misconceptions clogging the field. Some of the more significant of these are: the doctrine of formal discipline; the desire to cover the subject "logically;" the attempt to teach the subject rather than the pupil; the assumption that the beginning course is preparatory in nature; and measuring results in terms of information acquired.
Some Things Not Learned in the Classroom. WILLIA~ HOSKINS.News Ed.. Ind. Eng. Chem., 3, No. 2, 6 (1925).-William Hoskins, the "dean" of Chicago industrial chemists, gave a very interesting talk t o the Chemistry Journal Club of Northwestern University recently on the subject "Some Things Not Learned in the Classroom." Mr. Hoskins' clawaom ex~erienceended half a centunr a m when he comoleted a concentrated two-year course in high school. He stresiedthe importance-of a university training for the chemist of today, however, even though it can make no pretense of giving him all the knowledge for which a consulting chemist is sometimes called upon. Mr. Hoskins advised everv vonna eraduate chemist. first. td eet some exoerience in an industrial laboratory and; iecon&?o start doing s i m e t h i n ~ the side ik which he ia eaprc~allyinterested; whethw it i, iumr sort of rcsurrh or a manufxturing pruces. The big thing, he said, wa; to stam to do something and to keep working. T h e first nrohlcm would soon lead to cnmethinz hicrer or bettrr. and s n c v r r - c n ~ l t nrrnurnce ~ &odd be started. Mr. Hoskins' talk'wa;&I illustrated with interestine stories and reminiscences, and was a real inspiration t o young chemists and students.
on
* Notably certain high schools in New York, N. Y. ** Data
computed hy me and t o be published later.
