VOCATIONS in CHEMISTRY* FLORENCE E. WALL,? F.A.I.C. 235 East Twenty-Second Street, New York City
The greatest problem facing chemistry students i s what to do with their chemical education after they get it. Undergraduates need broader study @ insure more general usefulness later. Good technical English i s most essential. Sound vocational guidance i s badly needed to keep students out of crowded fields and open new possibilities in related professions, business, and industry. Mora-
toria should be declared on training for academic teaching and hospital laboratories. Bachelor graduates should be obliged to seek outside experience before registering for post-graduate work. Prospective teachers also need experience in business or industry, to acquire the viewpoint of industrial chemists. Chemical education should serve as a means to varied, useful ends.
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subject to sharp criticism of l a t e m u c h of which is certainly justifiable-but little is being done to effect any improvement in conditions. Many of the socalled academic schools seem actually to pride themselves on their lack of practical courses, driving their students through a routine of cultural subjects that lead nowhere in particnlar, and that would be delightful if no one had to earn a living. ~ h scientific , and technical schools, on the lean too far toward the other extreme, cutting the cultural courses to less than what ought to be-con-
HE CURRENT business depression, with its attendant ills and tragedies of unemployment, has brought out the very serious question: What are you going to do with a chemical education when you . -pet it? educational institutions and have heen
* Presented before the Division of Chemical Education at the 86th meeting of the American Chemical Society, Chicago, 11linois. Seotember 12. 1933. t consulting cheAst; former editor of The Chemist.
sidered a bare minimum, and allowing their students to specialize so narrowly that they emerge with little more than a glorified trade training. Granting that the needlessly cruel statement might be true-that - the present unemployed are roaming the streets because they were misfits in their former j o b s t h e coldly analytical mind that can disregard the need in the search for the basic cause will usually find it in the gaping holes in an educational program-holes that never had been detected or that the misguided worker never had the time or inclination to fill. Because practically no school gives its students real vocational guidance early enough in a course, and consistently throughout, vocational counsel is itself becoming a recognized vocation. More and more men and women daily are going to these counselors, to seek reorientation in their work, but the schools continue to turn out their graduates, year after year, with no clear idea of what they are actually fitted to do, or how to find it. The study of chemistry-ven the teaching of it-has too often been made an end in itself, instead of a rich and fruitful means to many and various ends. The discipline of a good course in chemistry, which should lead to the development of a logical, analytical mind and the ability for clear, consecutive thinkmg, cannot fail to sharpen a person's mental tools and make him or her all the better in any other line of work.. The men and women trained in chemistry actually have many more opportunities for placing their knowledge than have those trained in certain other fields, but their salvation now lies in their own versatility, and in their ability to step into positions where their chemical knowledge is merely the basis for other work. And the entering wedge to such positions is frequently abiity in organization or administration, in writing, or talking, or selling, or secretarial work, in a flair for languages, a knowledge of foreign countries and peoples, or something else that might have been considered entirely irrelevant or utter19 useless. Every right-thinkmg person knows that no modern science can be studied properly by one that wears mental blinders, because the overlapping and intertwining of its various ramifications are rapidly bridging the gaps between the arbitrary and often artificial limits of various subjects. Granted that we live in an age of specialization, i t is well to recognize that the better specialist is not the "person who knows more and more about less and less" but the one with the broadest fundamental education and cultural background. The answer seems to be in broadening the scope of undergraduate education. Because of the boundless growth of human knowledge, it is impossible for modern students to emulate our medieval forefathers, who were expected to become the masters of arts, sciences, letters, and whatever else there was to learn in those days; but undergraduate trainmg should still be rather general than specialized, so that those that fare forth will be better prepared for future un-
suspected leanings, and will have both less to regret and less to study up when, and if, unusual opportunities present themselves. In fact, leanings should not be allowed to go unsuspected. Hence the need for fundamental courses, useful for anyone in any lme of work, which will educate the student in the true sense of bringing out whatever is within him; and for sound vocational guidance early enough to help him make a wise choice, and to show him how to place his knowledge to his best advantage later. Half of the battle in vocational guidance is in weeding out the wrong persons-the uneducableand the rest is in keeping the right ones out of the wrong courses. The standard courses in college chemistry are fairly uniform, but these should be considered only the foundation on which students should be shown how to build their own body of knowledge in the kind of chemical work for which each shows special ability or aptitude. Regardless of what supplementary courses they may elect to further their specialty (most wellequipped colleges offer a long alphabetic list), every chemistry major should be required to take a course in the history of chemistry and in research methods: the former, for the understanding it gives of chemistry as a philosophy and of its place in the general scheme of things; the latter (not to be confused with the research required for the thesis in graduate work), for some practical knowledge of what is required in industrial or commercial plants and laboratoriesknowledge that is usually quite remote from the presentations in our lagging textbooks! Such a course should fix for the student the need for independent thinking, and the importance of observing facts and interpreting results; it. shbuld also cover the use of the technical literature and library facilities so that baccalaureate graduates may be fitted for some of the underpaid library posts in which expensively trained Ph.D.'s are now stagnating. So much for training the chemist in hjs own subject. But because he must nowadays be so much more than a chemist, the major work must be soundly supplemented, not only by mathematics and other sciences, which are frequently so necessary for intelligent chemical work, but also by languages and by several other subjects which too often slip from sight because they are boxed up under "Arts," "Business,? "Pedagogy," etc. Of these required subjects, which can be comfortably staggered throughout the four-years' course: economics is important for the knowledge i t gives of world conditions; business law (including a few lectures on the law of chemical patents), so that the chemist will know how to take care of himself and protect his own rights; logic and philosophy, for training the reasoning powers; principles of teaching, for learning how to handle those that may one day be under his charge; and above all, psychology (either educational or business psychology), for what i t teaches of human behavior. This last will always be useful, even if it is just stored up against a remote day when the chemist will have to deal with a wife-ur h u s b a n d a n d his own children.
Of utmost importance is the dire need for the study of English. "Language should serve to express our thoughts, not to obscure our meaning," yet how often the really painful oral and written expression of accepted authorities on technical subjects shows the poor judgment in omitting English composition from the required courses in the science curriculum! Unfortunately, many students carry over from high school a cordial dislike for English, with its daily themes and its slavish memorizing of long, deadly passages from long-dead authors, and they consequently drop all thought of it as soon as they can complete their required chores as college freshmen. Too bad; because if it is only started properly in high school a definite and mutually beneficial correlation can be established between the science courses and the work of the English classes in description, narration, and especially exposition. Correct scientific English is the most exact English that anyone can use; next comes the English of business. Specialized courses in technical writing are offered by very few colleges, but it does seem as if any good teacher of expositional writing could give science students what they need to know of form and expression, with emphasis on abstracts, outlines, and reports, which are especially needed. Training in English should be both oral and written, for immediate self-defense and as insurance for the future, so that the chemist can always tell the world what he knows and what he can do, and help himself out of the obscure plant or laboratory jobs into important positions with industrial corporations, banks, investment houses, and other places where chemically trained executives are valuable assets. Once the student has the basis of good technical English, he should treasure it as one of his most precious instruments of precision, keep it always clean and polished to perfection, and have it always ready for use at a moment's notice. Many are the pitiful cases of aspirants to higher degreks, whose badly written theses nearly deprived them of their coveted prize. I t is unfortunate that usually only the editors of the scientific and technical journals know just how bad technical writing can be, because if more chemistry teachers had to supervise their students' writing on technical subjects they would surely---out of love and respect for their own subject-unite in a loud shout for more and better training in English. Of the foreign languages, French and German are still the most important. Recent national developments make Italian and Spanish useful in certain fields, but, in general, anything of real value in other languages sooner or later finds its way into English, French, or German. Many students, however, find themselves sadly disillusioned when they attempt to tackle technical papers .on the strength of having "had a course" in French or German. Except in patent work, French presents few technical difficulties, but scientific German is almost a distinct language, and it is unfortunate that it seems to have disappeared
from most of the college and university catalogs. Anyone that wants to claim a good knowledge of scientific German needs one year of elementary German and an additional course in the technical language. Such an almost-perfect course for undergraduate students should equip them to face the world with confidence that they can find a niche and make good somewhere. Anything else that they like and want to include should be considered as well thrown in-a little more history, literature, cultural subjects, even a little Latin, for its value in etymology-but the basic courses mentioned here are practically the minimum for efficient production later. And after college, what? The idea has long been current that the study of chemistry leads to only two outlets: teaching (meaning secondary schools or colleges) and "chemistry"-a vague, amorphous concept that has something to do with puttering about a plant or laboratory. Each year, hordes of young graduates, bristling with new degrees, are foisted on the world, only to learn that the market for academic teachers is saturated, and that the abandoning or curtailing of research by the major industries has put laboratory work in the prohibitively competitive class. Bewildered, they turn to "business" (about which they frequently know less than nothing) only to find that business turns a cold and fishy eye on mere "education by degrees." If they can d o r d it, they settle down to some graceful idleness, "waiting for something to turn up"; if not, they take a job at anything, and a t any pittance that will keep body and soul together. What an appalling waste of time, energy, and education! There is where lie$ tiie greatest need for prearranged vocational guidance. There lies the cause of the crowded days and sleepless nights of the hardworked vocational counselors and personnel agents, who try to fit persons to jobs, and who have to discard the persons by the dozens bewuse for this particular job one should have studied thet particular course. If the colleges would only learn a lesson from all this chaos, and if, during the next few years, undergraduate curricula for chemistry majors could be broadened as suggested here to fit them for a wider field of activity, it would be an excellent idea to turn all bachelor graduates out to work for t w o a three years a t something before allowing them to register for graduate work. Young men and women with such training and background are certainly potential chemists, and if they can only be made to think of themselves as chemists, regardless of where or how they are utilizing their chemical knowledge, they will soon acquire the fixed point of view and the professional consciousness that are the indubitable earmarks of the members of other professions. The best results of so radical a departure fmm present procedure would be to give bachelor graduates some sense of economic values and proportion, and an opportunity to put their chemical education to some practical use before what they cram into their heads during an
undergraduate course is swamped by the over-specialized requirements for a post-graduate degree. Too much study, too long continued often has a rather anesthetizing d e c t . Many persons are constitutionally unfitted for research work. It makes them introspective, morose, unsocial, and hypersensitive, frequently develops an inferiority complex, and usually gives an exaggerated value to mere book knowledge, which makes them feel like martyrs when, as inevitably happens, their later earnings are but a pitifully small return on their investment in education. The k s t question in the business world is, not "What do you know?" but "What can you do?" Many do not learn until too late that, regardless of how many degrees he has, the world does not consider a man educated if he cannot write a decent, literate letter, stand up and discuss at least his own subject intelligently and intelligibly, or if he has no cultural background, no knowledge of world affairs, or finally, of the actual facts of living. Turning the bachelor graduates out to find out just what they can do and what they are worth will give them an entirely different perspective on graduate work, will help them to find a practical problem worthy of sound research, and will send them to the universities not just for courses in concentrated chemistry, for which there may be no demand, but for necessary and useful work in the schools of medicine, law, business administration, journalism, commerce, and h n c e , as well as in other branches of science where a thorough knowledge of chemistry is valuable, if not essential. A similar period of probation in business or industry should also be required of those that expect to teach. It would give them the point of view that they are chemists who happen to be teaching, instead of units lost to sight among the hundreds of thousands of professional teachers; and it would certainly enable them to present their subject in a far more practical manner to the future chemists that they, in turn, hope to turn out. The really great value of such oatside experience is best appreciated now by those that wew snatched from teaching and catapulted into industrial work during the war. Many never returned to teaching but those who did certainly brought back more than they had taken away. Surely it will not be necessary to wait for another war to bring these benefits home to future generations of teachers and students! The teaching of chemistry in the secondaty schools, of course, requires work in pedagogy, and in methods of teaching chosen subjects, and many good teachers, so trained, can be successfully set to teach practically anything that they themselves understand. In college teaching, however, where the possession of a graduate degree-preferably a Ph.D. is practically a sine qua non there would seem to be many more persons occupying teachers' desks than are actually instructing the students before them. This Ph.D.-fetish in educational circles has placed post-graduate work in the ranks of a wholesale business in this country, although it has been freely admitted
that the acquisition of this degreeunless it is definitely associated with pedagogy-does not guarantee to make a person a better or even a good teacher. On the contrary, the extra years of study may simply mean that the person knows how to do some one thmg better than anyone else; and the time devoted to the research may only have made him or her less suited for contact with younger minds. No; the key to successful teaching is the ability to impart one's knowledgeto educate by bringing out as well as s t u f i g , and those blessed with this gift are good teachers, with or without a higher degree. No number of higher degrees can enkindle this divine spark in those that innately lack it; and many, and often unflattering, are the remarks of students in later years as they think back and classify those to whom they once looked for wisdom. With economic conditions as they are, and communities of all sizes unable to pay their school teachers, there ought to be a moratorium on training schools until some of the present incompetents and undesirables are weeded out and some of those on the long waiting lists have a chance to show what they can do. Teaching positions are still availablegood positions in science and mathematiw-but many have strings on them. The applicant must know how to coach football, or dramatics, or some other intra-mural or extra-curricular activities that may have been omitted from his own education. The director of a kst-class teachers' agency recently deplored the fact that he cannot 6nd enough well-rounded A.B.'s, while he has on 6le a surfeit of Ph.D.'s that he cannot place because their training was too narrow. Teaching need not be confined to academic schools. Those with genuine ability can find3many congenial and lucrative positions in various branches of commerce and industry, for the technical education of demonstrators, salespeople, and others in the use of household appliances, foods, cosmetics, etc. And for this kind of teaching, the personal equation-the ability to mix well with all kinds of people, to share knowledge without being patronizing-means more than a whole kite-tail of letters after one's name. This field offers a particularly good opportunity for women chemists because of their usual skill in handling apparatus. If they have the specialized writing ab'ity. both men and women are called on for sales manuals, trade textbooks, radio talks, editorial work, collaboration and "ghost-writing," and all phases of advertising, sellmg, and publicity. I n these last, particularly advertising, the accomplishments of women in research and copy-writing clearly show their value in such fields as foods, dietetics, child hygiene, dyes, textiles, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics erfumes, beauty culture, . really needed. etc., where "the woman angle?, is The opportunities for women chemists could well be the subject of a separate paper. Bridy, every girl chemist nowadays should know stenography and typing, because the entering wedge to many good positions is as a technical secretary-some man's "extra brains." Even if they like it and show particular aptitude for it,
girl chemists should be steered away from metallurgy, and from other branches where, during the war, it was an asset to be considered "just as good as a man." And another warning should be sounded-in fact, another moratorium should be declared-n training for hospital laboratory work. The available institutions and private enterprises or individuals cannot possibly utilize the services of these poor misguided girls whose college course in chemistry was planned as if it could lead only to medicine. Such a sad state of affairs harks back to the days of Paracelsus, who hoped to make chemistry the handmaid of medicine; but since chemistry is now practically the mistress of medicine, as it is of industry, such a notion is out of step with present-day conditions and possibilities. Both men and women, who really prefer laboratory work, can find places in the testing laboratories and institutes maintained by various periodicals, mailorder houses, factories, department stores, public utility companies, etc. These constitute a strong medium for sound public relations and public good, and there ought to be more of them. For both men and women, the worst cul de sac for chemically trained graduates is in commercial library work. Everyone is familiar with the advertisements seeking a "young Ph.D., broad knowledge of inorganic and organic chemistry, fluent knowledge of French and German, able abstractor and translator." The salary offered is often an insult to the intelligence arid education of anyone, but the young Ph.D. gladly accepts it, happy to have something coming in after so many years of paying out. Where the advertisement specifies "woman preferred,'' it usually means that the position pays less. The catch is that these libraries want those that are top-heavy with book knowledge (to which they attach no commercial value) and with little or no experience. There is little, if any, chance for advancement and if the library worker does not have the courage to break away, the chances of finding other, more lucrative, work later are almost in inverse ratio to the time spent in th@library. This is the best reason for equipping bachelor graduates with enough general knowledge to fdl these posi-
tions. Who you are is not nearly so important as how much you can read. Turnover seems to cause little loss, and the evicted A.B.'s could well spend at least part of their time of probation in these libraries browsing over the entire field before they go on with graduate work, teaching, or whatever they choose. The flair for foreign languages-ften the decoy--can often find a place with shipping companies, or foreign commercial houses here or abroad; but here, of course, in addition to chemical knowledge, the chemist needs to have foreign sympathies and understanding, and the grace of adaptability to foreign customs and peoples. As fast as they are brought to their attention, many of the existing placement bureaus try to establish contacts for their registrants. Others, unfortunately, do no promotion whatever; they merely collect data from applicants and wait for calls to come in from those that need assistantspassive method that is discouragingly slow in operation and accomplishment. All agencies are unanimous, however, in expressing the need for versatility, and ready-r acquirable-adaptability to other kinds of work as the means of utilizing a chemical education. The presentation of this paper, although it has been planned for some time, was held for a faU meeting in the hope that some of you might take back to your students a t the beginning of the school year these helpful thoughts for their future. It will have been worth while if only a few of your students have the opportunity to salvage some time, even in their senior year. Do try to acquire the viewpoint that you are chemists who happen to be teaching, and that those you train in chemistry are going out to be chemists, regardless of where or how they place.,thelr knowledge! And then teach them that the study of chemistry does something to the mind that makes a chemist all the better able to utilize other talents; that the practice of chemistry means infinitely more than sitting on a high stool, squinting cross-eyed at sometl+iig in a test-tube; and that their chemical education should be used, not as an end in itself, but as the invaluable means to success in any field of work in which your schools can help them to 6nd a place.
