LETTERS T h e Prerequisites for College Chemistry To the Editor: Recently, a questionnaire about chemistry instruction was sent to the chemistry departments of the colleges. In the questions about general inorganic chemistry the blank distinguished between courses without prerequisite and courses for which high-school chemistry is a prerequisite. This distinction seems a bit strange as the Committee on the Professional Training of Chemists1 considers high-school algebra and high-school geometry as prerequisites for freshman chemistry, and also as an examination of 82 catalogs of universities and liberal arts colleges has shown that high-school chemistry is required as preparation for freshman chemistry in 16 of these institutions only (Table 1). Most of these departments offer also a second caurse in general inorganic chemistry without this prerequisite. It is obvious that the majority of the college teachers do not consider high-school chemistry as an indispensable prerequisite. I t remains an open question if i t is a desirable prerequisite. Rapurar~c-.
No -4lalhcmolicPrnre 1 3 NUMB^^ os SCHOOLS xirile U ~ i t Lrxill by Acr*rdilrd A . C. S . No1 ocrrcdilcd by A . C. S .
H.S. >3
H.S.
Units
Phwicr
ChrmisIry
32
9
1
7
12
2
11
50
18
1
21
L
3
f,
Chemistry is taught in the high school with the intention of imparting general information about the subject and its application in daily life to the layman. The course will, therefore, be of much more value to the student who does not continue in chemistry than to the future chemist. As the college teacher will always be able to bring the fundamental principles and facts of chemistry to the student without any previous notions of chemistry so that no time is lost, high-school chemistry seems to be of no particular value as a prerequisite. But there can be no doubt about the necessity of an education in physics and mathematics for the chemistry
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Ind. Eng. Chcm,. News
17, 271 (1939).
freshman, as the chemistry teacher in the college has no time to include the elements of mathematics and physics in his fist year's course of chemistry. The Committee's recommendation to require high-school algebra and high-school geometry for freshman chemistry was also widely accepted by the non-accredited departments. Nevertheless, we are yet far from a generally followed educational policy; the amount of required mathematics ranges from one high-school unit to one year of college algebra. All the introductory college texts on chemistry require a t least a knowledge of exponents and equations, and recommend the use of logarithms. Most high-school programs cover this field in two years, but the high-school graduate frequently fails in much simpler ~ u b j e c t s . ~Whether two or more units of high-school mathematics will give the student an adequate preparation, depends on the high school under consideration and remains to be discussed. Some universities have preferred to give an entrance test in mathematics so as to avoid the indication of units required. The student failing in this test is sent to the department of mathematics where he will lower the standard of college algebra, or will face the inconvenience of non-credit introductory courses. It seems better for the college and fairer to the student if the minimum requirement in mathematics (probably two units of algebra and one unit of geometry) is clearly stated. For the same reasons, high-school physics is also an indispensable prerequisite. The chemistry major will certainly study college physics in his freshman or sophomore year, but this will be too late to prepare him adequately for general inorganic chemistry, where mechanics, optics, electricity, and heat will be mentioned and used in the very first lectures. As physics so far is required only by a few departments, the problem of the prerequisites for freshman chemistry needs more consideration. F. FROMM POLYTECH~C INSTITUTE OF PUERTO RICO SAN GERMAN,PUERTO RICO FROMM, J. C ~ YEDUC.. . 19,344 (1942); MOULTON, Scientific Monthly, 487-8 (1942); BABORAND KREMER, "HOWto solve problems in general inorganic chemistry." Crowell Publishing Co., New York, 1942 (Preface).
