HIGH SCHOOL SCIENCE
Having no elementary science in the grades, one naturally expects to find in the
high school a good introductory course in general science, similar in
organization to that suggested for the elementary stage. But nowhere is there
anything that even remotely suggests such a course. Students who take the
classical course get their first glimpse of modern science in the third or fourth
high school year, when they have an opportunity to elect a course in physics or
chemistry of the usual traditional stamp. No opportunity is given them for so
much as a glimpse of the world's biological background. Those who take the
scientific or English course have access to physical geography and to an anemic
biological course entitled, "Physiology and Botany," which few take. Students of
the High School of Commerce have their first contacts with modern science in a
required course in chemistry in the third year, and elective physics in the fourth
year. In the technical high schools the first science for the boys is systematic
chemistry in the second year and physics in the third. They have no opportunity
of contact with any biological science. The girls have "botany and physiology"
in their first year.
The city needs to organize preliminary work in general science for the purpose
of paving the way to the more intensive science work of the later years. A
portion of this should be found in the elementary school and taught by
departmental science teachers; and a portion in the first year of the high school.
As junior high schools are developed, most of this work should be included in
their courses.
As to the later organization of the work, the two technical high schools clearly
indicate the modern trend of relating the science teaching to practical labors.
What is needed is a wider expansion of this phase of the work without losing
sight of the need at the same time for a systematic and general teaching of the