XVII. TEACHING IN THE UNIVERSITY JACK P. MONTGOMERY
In this article the writer Portrays the duties of one teecher in university circles. Dr. Jack P . Montgomery is a professor i n the Department of Chemistry, School of Chemistry, Metallurgy and Ceramics at the University of Alabama. Mr. Montgomery attended Howard College, Southwestern Presbyterian University (now Southwestern in Memfihis, Tennessee), and the University of Virginia. Later he studied at Johns Hopkins, Chicago,and Columbia. He holds the degrees of A.B., M.A., and Ph.D. He is an active member of the American Chemical Society and chairman of its committee on Pre-Medical Requirements. Chemistry has been teught at the University of Alabama during the one hundred five years of its existence. The current class rolls now carry a total of more than one thousand in chemistry. Further description of the work of the department is contained i n the article. In this department there are ten professors and instructors of faculty rank and about twenty-five student assistants. Although the Head of the Department is also Dean of the School of Chemistry, Metallurgy, and Ceramics, the majority of students registered in chemistry courses are from the Liberal Arts College and many of them are pre-medical students. With such a setup, it naturally follows that for each of us there are specific teaching duties, general departmental duties, special departmental assignments, and, for the more experienced, administrative tasks which may extend beyond the field of the department. The ordinary teaching load a t this University is fifteen hours a week, with two hours of laboratory instruction counted as equal to one hour of lecture or classroom work. This load, wherever possible, is somewhat reduced for those who have administrative duties. But if a teacher is to succeed in chemistry he cannot afford to count the hours credited to him by some standardizing agency. His hours of interesting endeavor will go far beyond the count. In my own case the particular teaching job is the eightsemester-hour course in organic chemistry. Nearly two hundred students take this work and three-fourths of them are pre-medical students. They are divided into two lecture sections and five laboratory sections. One lecture section meets on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and the other section on the alternate days. It is my endeavor to keep the two lecture sections quite close together, week by week, and to make the laboratory work illustrative of the subjects being discussed that week. This, of course, requires some watchfulness and organization, with considerable planning for the laboratory work. On Wednesdays I attend the meeting of the Kiwanis Club where I enjoy,
among other things, a cup or two of excellent coffee and under the combined stimulating effects of the meeting and the coffee, Wednesday afternoons are spent in looking over the field for the work of the next week, delving into laboratory manuals, looking over old laboratory sheets, and preparing the material for one of the student assistants to mimeograph, our laboratory instructions being from mimeographed sheets issued each week rather than from the usual manual. This requires more effort, but the reward is in the constantly improving work done by the students. Other courses which I handle, for small groups of advanced students, are those in physical organic chemistry and in the chemistry of cellulose, and then, somewhat as an avocation and to keep in touch with general chemistry, I have a very interesting group, mostly seniors, in the history of chemistry. Most of the students taking the latter course need an additional two hours for their major in chemistry and think that they want a general review, but they'frequently get more than they anticipate. Most of the research in organic chemistry and the work in qualitative and quantitative organic are handled by a younger professor and a good deal of my own office time is devoted to some of my organic students of the year before who drop in for information or reassurance. All of this keeps me pleasantly in contact with other phases of organic chemistry which I am not teaching. In addition, since so many of my students in organic are taking it as a direct preparation for physiological chemistry, it gives me an incentive to keep in touch with the physiological chemistry courses in various medical schools as well as in our own department. Among my general departmental duties the chief one has been assembling the requisitions, seeking lowest prices, and ordering about twenty thousand dollar's worth of supplies each session, with the subsequent checking of accounts. The department is now so large that I no longer have this to do except for my own particular needs, but that is quite a job in itself. Another member of the department now does the bulk of this. An important duty of our only woman professor is the care of the library, the direction of her assistant, and the ordering of books. Still another member of the department handles the details of schedules and the assignment of rooms. Every member of the department has some such regular assignment, in addition to his classroom work, and these assignments, with the special ones constantly coming to hand, give him plenty of activity. My chief administrative duty is connected with the pre-medical courses. The Pre-Medical Committee, of which I am Chairman, relieves the Dean of the Liberal Arts College of all details of curriculum, except as
affect in^ requirements for a
degree, places students in various medical colleges, and generally advises premedical and pre-dental students. Fortunately, the pressure of such duties comes only a t the beginning of each semester and for a brief period in February. Such work is really very delightful as i t consists largely of guidance and advice, the disciplinary duties remaining in the hands of the Dean. Since our pre-medical group is the most cosmopolitan of any here, advising them brings many and varied experiences and confidences. Out of some of these has come the organization of the Alpha Epsilon Delta Pre-Medical Fraternity, which is now a national organization, and the PreMedical Club, a much larger local organization. In connection with their teaching, other members of the department have advisory duties for various groups, chemical engineers, domestic science students, chemistry of commerce group, education students, and those of the different divisions of the School of Chemistry, Metallurgy, and Ceramics. From the above i t would appear that any of us could boast of a full day's work, but some of us are frequently called upon to attend evening functions of various student organizations, all the way from an informal smoker to a dignified appearance as principal speaker. The present writer must add to these various duties, committee meetings in connection with the Y. M. C. A. and in awarding scholarships and loan funds of groups which have made him one of the trustees. Then connections with professional groups must not be forgotten. Membership in several learned societies carries obligations of more than mere financial support in the matter of dues. Serving on committees, as a contributing editor, or even as an officer in a local section calls for outlays of time, especially in writ in^. letters. To the prospective teacher of chemistry, looking to university work, I should say that he is likely to begin in a minor position and gradually work up to professorship and so is not likely to fall into a rut and remain in it unless he is very unfortunate in location or in temperament. What I have written describes my present
activities, but time was when I taught four consecutive classes each day in general chemistry, and it seemed a t times that I was in a tread mill. For almost every young teacher there will be this period of waiting and development, a time of apprenticeship coming between his graduate work and the beginning of his true fruition. Looking back on my own career, I should say that any success which I have had is due to a combination of circumstances including a long-standing desire to teach, the fine example of some excellent instructors, good training in the fundamental of science, ingrained desire to learn something of the progress being made by others, adaptability to experience under changing conditions, and a certain element of luck which has enabled me to appreciate more and more as I grow older the confidence which I have in young people and the regard which they seem to have for me. [Dr. Montgomery gives the following advice to be considered by those who plan to teach.] 1. Get as thorough a foundation in the fundamentals of chemistry as possible and reinforce i t by thorough study of as many other sciences as possible. Be able to differentiate the importances of experimental facts and theories, with sincere willingness to discard an outworn theory when it has become confusing or useless. 2. Graduate work is likely to make the student narrow. While in the graduate school read as much as possible along lines different from your research. Keep up, if you can, with the constant changes in general chemistry and look out for the development of the unorthodox in organic chemistry. 3. Become aware of the attitude of the professional educator. If possible take a course in the history of education. 4. By all means study your own teachers and learn what to emulate and what to avoid. 5 . After you get into teaching do not shirk administrative work which will bring you into contact with your students and your colleagues.
