discussion of professor millikan's paper

,PROFESSOR MILLIKA^S PAPER 473

those relating to moments of inertia, to centrifugal force, to thecompoiund pendulum, to the ballistic pendulum; in electricity, to

the Wheatstone bridge, to capacity determination, self-inductionmeasurements, to the finding of magnetic constants, etc., etc. Ineed not specify further. The field is almost limitless. Sincethe student obviously needs a survey course as a prerequisite tosuch a course, it seems to me that the only thing for the collegesto do in physics is to do what they do as a matter of course inbotany and in .most of the other sciences; namely, to offer thebeginners’ course to the students who enter without having hadthis course in the high school. In other words the part whichthe colleges have to take in the correlation of high school andcollege physics is to recognize the existence of high schoolphysics and to rate it at its full value on the assumption that itis properly taught.

DISCUSSION OF PROFESSOE MILLIKAITS PAPER.

BY A. A. UPHAM^Whitewater (Wis.) State Normal School.

He said in part:"I do not think there is much need of my discussing this

paper, because I am heartily in accord with most of it. We haveall of us, and I as much as anyone, spent our days and nightsdevising experiments and endeavoring to get apparatus in setsthat pupils might perform quantitative experiments. While Iam in favor of some quantitative experiments, it seems to me

we have ignored the-facts in the development of children; wehave forgotten that the boy of high school age has much moreinterest in seeing things go than he has in measuring thingsaccurately. It is a fact that some of our greatest physicists,dark Maxwell and Tyndall, were not, as boys, interested in thequantitative aspect of physics. We have gone so far in omittingthe quantitative experiments, spectacular, if you please, that wehave squeezed the juice of interest out of the whole subject.We have emphasized the mathematical part to the exclusion ofthe practical and human interest. We have allowed the collegesto dictate courses in the face of the fact that a very small percent of the high school pupils go to college. The high schoolcourses should be planned with reference to the mental condi-

474 SCHOOL SCIENCE -AND MATHEMATICS

tion of high school pupils, and not necessarily with a view offitting boys for college. The colleges disclaim any intention ordesire to’ plan the work, and they probably are right in theirclaim, but nevertheless, from a desire to get on to the accreditedlist, many high schools have shaped their courses as they havefelt necessary from the coercion of the inspectors.

DISCUSSION. ,BY JOHN F. WOODHULL, Columbia University.

Reflection brings us to the conclusion that all of our colleges,east and west, are public and that education must be made con-tinuous from high school to college. The gap between themwhich had a very natural origin is now being closed by theforce of public opinion. The college must come down andarticulate with the high school, and no so-called standards willbe allowed to interfere. College entrance examinations aredoomed. They are no test for scholarship, since no facultycan pass its own examinations. No one can pass them exceptthose who have recently crammed for them. Cramming thememory is condemned by all educators and the ability to pass anexamination is purely an accident and not a mark of scholarship.At least no examination has yet been found which will test one’sknowledge.The articulation between high school and college will be com-

pleted by three means:First, such conferences as this one between college and high

school teachers. They are now being held in increasing numbersall over the country.

Second, tlie visitations of the high schools by representativesof the colleges�not for purposes of standardizing them, but forthe enlightenment of ignorant college professors. If they visitschools they may get their eyes open.

Third, the preparation by the colleges of genuine teachers forthe high schools�instead of research specialists.Four fifths of the membership of this association are secondary

school teachers, and I say to you, you have a right to infer fromthe printed reports which the colleges publish that what theywant most of all is large numbers of students. Now you havethe goods, and with ordinary business sagacity you may dictatethe terms.