R+ N E l ENGLAND ASSOCIATI01 of CllEMISTRY TEACHERS ofth
Postwar Teaching Problems in the Sciences* WILLIAM F. EHRET New York University, New York City
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INCE all things are ~ossiblein the future, we must concede that a discussion of postwar teaching problems in the sciences can be made as broad and as long as we wish. It will profit us most, however, to choose for study in the limited time a t our disposal those questions which, it is generally believed, have the greatest probability of arising and requiring answers in the immediate and also the somewhat more remote future. If we were not scientists, we might consult a crystal gazer and have him select from among the infinite number of events that flit through his ball those that are most likely to occur. But no medium can help us on this occasion to make a selection of the problems most likely to arise in the teaching of the sciences. Only the concensus of the opinions of experienced educators will serve as a guide. These opinions are often expressed individually in print, they are sometimes garnered through round-robin letters, and they may be learned through personal contacts with experienced teachers. These then are our sources of prediction, and upon them the following analysis is based. As for the solutions to the problems here presented, they will sometimes be those upon which there is common agreement among many educators; in other cases, where the writer has seen and heard no discussion, they will be based on his own opinions. An attempt will be made to delineate these two, so that the listener may give proper weight when drawing his own conclusions. Some of the problems selected for examination may seem trivial, and others may be dismissed because you have already anived a t a solution that fits your own particular environment, yet some, it is hoped, will stimulate further thought, and perhaps discussion, and that is the chief purpose of this conference. One way of preparing for questions that will probably require solution in the future, and this is usually the most efficient way, is to arrange them in a time sequence, putting those that will come up soon, or require immediate answers, lint, and treating long-range problems later. This is the scheme we shall adopt. It will, obviously, entail an occasional arbitrary assignment of a problem to one class or another,. or perhaps to both, -
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*Address before the Sixth Annual Summer Conference, New England Association of Chemistry Teachers, New London, Connecticut, August 28,1944.
since some problems are continually with us and vary only in magnitude. Most of the questions arising out of the war will fall into the category requiring immediate consideration. The majority of the long-range problems, as we shall see, have only a remote connection, if any, with the war. A number of them, as for example curricular changes and the selection of teachers, are not new, yet they are constantly presenting new angles which it will be worth our while to examine. For convenience, in each of the above classes, the questions will be grouped under the headings of Students, Teachers, and that intangible working agreement that exists between them, the Curriculum. Such things as plant and property, although they have a marked effect on students, teachers, and curricula, will be assumed to lie more in the province of administration and consequently are beyond the purview of this report on teaching problems. IMMEDIATE PROBLEMS
Students. Although the resurgence of students to the colleges and universities, and to a lesser extent to the high schools, that is generally expected to occur after the war, would seem to provide major problems for administrators rather than teachers, it will bring in its wake the need for the proper placement of many students whose educational careers have been dislocated by the war. This will be particularly so in the colleges and universities, whose student enrollment a t that time is expected to include about 10 per cent of men and women who were formerly in the armed forces. Reliable information, to be used in placing students in appropriate academic levels, can only be obtained from experts in each particular field of learning and a t each institution. Thus in chemistry, for example, it will be best to know not only the rating received by the prospective student in some, perhaps standardized, type of examination, but also the average performance of students of the institution on the same examination. Finally, if a "national" type of comprehensive examination (I) is given, and national norms are known. the standinrr of the student and of the institution may help provide proper orientation. In this the teacher will play an important part, for he is one of the experts who will be
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called upon for this information. If it is not already available, i t is something about which we should be thinking. During the period of "reconstruction" all men and women who have obtained instruction of academic nature while in the military forces, and who signify their intention of entering college, will take, prior to mustering out, a comprehensive examination prepared by the Armed Forces Institute (2) for each particular subject. There will be such an achievement test in college chemistry. The examination taken by the veterans will be the "secret" or military form of the test. A parallel, civilian examination of similar content will be available to chemistry teachers who wish to obtain local norms in their regular classes. National norms will be available, as well as tables of equivalence between the two forms, and the Armed Forces Institute will report, upon request, the ratings obtained by each veteran who makes application for admission to college. What will be done for students who wish to enter college is suggestive of a similar procedure that might be followed in high schools whenever there is any doubt about the nature of the training or the extent of achievement in subjects studied during the past few years. Tests which parallel the Armed Forces Institute examinations in high-school chemistry and mathematics are now available from the Cooperative Test Service (1). Teachers. The rehabilitation of the teaching staffs of science departments in institutions of higher learning will be a matter of primary importance a t the close of the war, particularly since enrollments are expected to increase immediately. The composition of the teaching staff is a subject of concern to each individual teacher who is part of it. In some way, and this will undoubtedly differ from one institution to another, we should be heard in this matter of the choice of colleagues, for a t this point the seed is sown that will bear either fruit or thorns during the rest of our teaching careers. As a matter of course, veterans, who were formerly instructors, should receive first consideration in respect to these teaching positions. After that, i t will be prudent to make only temporary appointments, for the academic world is due for a period of inflation during which many ill-considered appointments could easily take place. I t may be well to establish an apprenticeship plan for full-time instructors, such as I know has been in successful operation for many years in a t least one of your New England colleges. Curriculum. About a year ago the assumption was prevalent that the impact of the military programs (ASTP, V-12, ESMWT) would lead to major changes in curricula in our colleges. It was supposed that new short-cuts in education and superior methods of teaching would be introduced. The experience of the past year has, however, reminded us once again that one cannot make a silken purse out of a sow's ear in jigtime. It is true that some slight changes in method will result from our experiences with the wartime
courses, but an equal number of modifications would probably have been made in normal times. It seems fairly certain that no significant alterations in course offerings or content will be noticed in college catalogs immediately after the war (3, 4, 5). Nor will there be any sweeping changes in the length of time devoted to college work. Accelerated programs will probably be dropped for practical reasons, first, because they throw an increased load on the budget, and, second, because the need for acceleration, except during an emergency, has never been demonstrated. Summer schools have always existed, but only a very small percentage of the total student body attends them. Vacations are more profitably spent in acquiring experience, and, what is more important, funds with which to continue one's education. Although no major upheavals are to be expected in the postwar curricula, there will probably be pressure on teachers to introduce, or to continue, certain technical or vocational courses. This will be strictly an aftermath of the war, and interest in them will wane as the veterans complete their education. In the interim there exists the likelihood that a considerable number of technical institutes will be founded to accommodate those interested in vocational training. Twenty-two such institutes for applied arts and sciences are being planned in New York State (6). For a number of reasons i t seems inevitable that these institutes, if established, will become degree-granting colleges as time goes on. F i s t , because the war-engendered interest in mechanical training will taper off, secondly, because past experience with junior colleges shows that they usually expand into the four-year variety, and finally, because the American parent and student is more impressed with the desirability of a college experience and degree than with a two-year terminal course in a vocational institute. A question which will engage the attention of some of us in the months immediately following the war has to do with requiring all students to take an integrated physical science course during their first, and perhaps also second, year of college. The alternative is to make this course optional, arid a terminal one, rather than a prerequisite for further courses in science. It is impossible to give a categorical answer to this question, because local conditions have an important bearing, nevertheless, it seems fair to say that the enthusiasm shown for these courses a few years ago has fallen off because they have not prepared the student sufficiently well nor rapidly for further work in science. In the light of the experience that has been developing it would seem that a more appropriate place for physical science as a requirement in the curriculum would be as a two-year course in the high school (7). This would provide an adequate take-off for unidirectional college courses such as chemistry, physics, biology, and geology, and would still be an end in itself for those not continuing with the study of science. (Continued i n th %next issue)
