THE
concern over the shortage of scientific manpower is continually bringing to light new and old problems in chemical education. The necessity to develop and conserve every last bit of this precious assemblage of personnel is compelling us to examine the efficiencyof every step in the process of selection and education. We must not miss any bets if we can help it. The first step, in the secondary school, has already had some attention in these pages. The progress to the eventual goal should begin here, and often does. However, an interesting observation about steps is that they are not entirely discontinuous; motion does not completely stop between them, but one leads almost imperceptibly into the next. And this leads me to my point, the correlation between the teaching of chemistry in the high school and that in the college. If all the pages that have been written on this subject were set end to end they would reach from here to some place far off. And if the heat in all the arguments thereon were put in one calorimeter it would boil the water out of it. The fact is that there is too little relation between those who teach chemistry in the high school and those who do the iob in college. The latter erouu oft,en feel -- - -that tge former are not chemists (sometimes true) and the former often resent the latter's sense of superiority and feel that they do not understand the real problem (also sometimes trke). This lack of relation contributes to an opinion which is far more prevalent than it should be-the oniniou that hieh-school chemistrv is a handica~rather than a helo in college chemistry. Sometimes the opinion is expressed more factually (?) : stndents in college chemistry who have had high-school chemistry get poorer grades than those who have had no preparation. Many conscientious and well-meaning college teachers have expressed such opinions, supposedly out of their own experience. I t is surprising that people with scientific training should make such statements, based upon mere impressions rather than actual evidence. For, in every case with which I am familiar, an actual inspection of the facts has led to the opposite conclusion. I made such an inspection myself, in one case, and I know. Why can't we stop this kind of slander? I t is an insult either to the high-school teacher or to the student. Let us recognize the facts, be less pessimistic, and get together on a correlated program of chemical education to fill our needs.
-
-
- .
-.
