For High School Chemical Education: A New Agenda After years of indecision, equivocation, and downright arrogance, all arms of the American Chemical Society now appear intent upon creating the conditions and establishing the atmosphere that will enable high school chemistry teachers to feel they are part of the family of professional chemists. Despite the Society's far from trivial efforts in the high school area-it was a major force behind CBA, CHEMS; it publishes Chemistry; and it fostered "Guidelines for the Preparation and Continuing Education of Secondary School Teachers of Chemistryo-it never has offered hig~h!hchool teachers a professional home in which thry can idrntifs with other chemists: nor has it orovided them a continuina oo~ortuuitv .. for interaction with their peers in chemical education. Hooefullv. all this is now in the oast. for there is strone support throughout the Society for new initiatives with an2 on behalf of high school chemistry teachers. Among the plans in the first stages of implementation are:
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1) Establishment of an Office of High School Chemical Education, OHSCE, within the ACS Department of Educational Activities. Two important goals of this office are: a. to encourage high school chemistry teachers to identify more strongly with the rest of the chemical profession, and to maintain a vital and responsible position in the profession; b. to provide these teachers with services that will enable them to strengthen themselves professionally. 2) Creation of a High School Chemistry Teachers Committee, HSCTC, within the Division of Chemical Education, DIVCHED, to function in close cooperation with the OHSCE and with the Council Committee on Chemical Education toward the following ends: a. arranging programs on high school chemical education at national, regional and local levels that will enable teachers to exchange ideas, obtain assistance to keep up to date; b. organizing a nationwide working group open to all who a teach high school ehemistm. This .. eroun . can nrovide , medium for nrmrnummtioo among teachers t h ~ m d v e s m a wrh the mainstwm of norimal and inrernatimsl chemical education. 3) Increasing the number and usefulness of journal articles and other teachine and resource materials of oarticular interest to high school chemistry teachers. his is to be accomplished by: a. OHSCE developing modular curricular materials for use as continuing education and resource materials for high school chemistry teachers; b. Chemistry focusing its attention on a wider segment of high school chemistry students than in the past; c. J CHEM. EDUC. seeking fundingtoappoint a high school editor and to double the size of its secondary school chemistry section. (This is to be accomplished without decreasing the space or commitment to college level activities.) ~
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The objectives these new programs will attempt to reach during the next year include: OHSCE: I11 nroducine and distrihutine s new ACS career booklet for high schoc;l studen& and (2) local sponsoring gnrups to ssseqs the n r ~ r for l andlor m organize regional summer cmferrneer for high school chemistry teachers.
HSCTC: (1)arranging day-long programs in high school chemical education for two ACS regional meetings and possibly for one or more teacher study days in local communities: and (2) laying the groundwork for a High School Chemistry Teachers Section of DIVCHED. CHEM, appointing a high sehwleditor, and (2) offering the JOURNAL at a bargain rate for one year to all new high school chemistry teacher subscribers (all this is contingent upon finding external funding.)
Some havesaid this program is tooamhitinus, and that even with maximum suooort from high school teachers, too much is heing attempted too rapidiy. Others argue that these teachers have been neglected for so long that it will take years to make them to build enough confidence in the viable. Snokesmen from the hieh school teacher communitv are not as pessimistic. They pointto the interest shown by hiih school teachers in the Canadian conferences. Chem Ed '75 and '77. and in the Beaver College conferencein "78. They remind us of the vacuum in continuine education of science teachers created by the termination O
