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EDUCATION

Devoted to the Science, Art, Philosophy and Literature

VOL. XLII.

of Education

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Its Educational Value Socially Considered JOHN C. PAGE, WEST NEWBURY, Mass.

N the ancient temple of Apollo at Delphi was inscribed the immortal maxim "Gnothi Seauton": "Know Thyself." And the wisdom within those words will continue to carry down through the ages. Man is an animal. It is true that he is "fearfully and wonderfully made," but he is nevertheless an animal, and, as Dr. Dearborn has said, "Our motives-however high we may conceive them— grow out of the needs of the organism." In order to know ourselves, to know and understand society which is merely groups of beings like ourselves, we must know the organism man.

Biology is fundamental. Elementary biology, in its properly conceived form, studies man and pictures him in his proper setting as one living creature amongst a world of others with which he has relationship sometimes intimate and always vital. It is the root and trunk subject from which spring all the deliquescent branches of the tree of the knowledge of life in all its manifold manifestations. It is unique, and no other subject can take its place for this reason.

The scope of biology is overwhelmingly large. It deals with

plants and animals, therefore with humans. It comprehends many subjects heretofore given special names, but it is not a combination of them any more than a trunk is the combination of of its branches. Fundamental though it is, its breadth taxes to the utmost a teacher's power of selective judgment, particularly in the elementary stage.

In this paper I shall be concerned chiefly with the potentialities in elementary biology, socially considered. I shall assume that the teacher's power of selective judgment is firmly rooted in an adequate knowledge and understanding of the sociological objectives in education. To this end I shall discard at once (as all worthwhile teachers have done long ago) such concepts of elementary biology as the following: a course in comparative anatomy; a hodgepodge of old-fashioned botany, zoology, and physiology; an abstract and philosophical examination of evolutionary theories; detailed structural studies of type forms. By this I do not want the reader to assume that I do not value the "pure" sciences at their true worth when in the proper setting. On the contrary they were my first love, along with mathematics and the classical branches. But as educators we have all learned our lesson, or soon will learn it. We are dealing with the masses, and the world is evolving and getting more and more complex; we must learn efficiency and in everything aim more or less directly at social service.

What, then, shall biology include; and in what way do these subjects administer to the individual and to society?

First, health. It is in biology that a pupil usually gets his first principles of health culture. It is true that a person may get his adequate training in taking care of his body in specialized courses in physical training. It is to be hoped that all pupils will have the opportunity to complete it there. But physical education like a legion of other subjects, is one of the branches of the biological tree. And in many rural schools which do not include physical education, biology assumes the entire burden.

To argue the value of health to the individual and to the nation would be a waste of words. "Mens sana in corpore sano" is a

good old adage of the Latin poet Juvenal; it, too, will always stand. Perhaps the best service that any one could perform in this connection would be merely to emphasize the value over and over again; then tie up the emphasis with the crying need. One of the most outstanding features of educational gatherings in recent years has been evidence of the wide-spread feeling that our schools must in the future afford more and better health instruction for the pupils than they have in the past. One has but to point to the results of the physical examinations of our boys prior to their enlistment for service in the recent World War, and to note the percentage of rejections, to see the possibility for social service which biology has in this field.

As a first corollary to health comes sex instruction. I realize full well that this is a delicate subject, but it is one of such vital importance socially that we must face it squarely. I can hardly conceive of a greater work among boys than wholesome wholesouled education in this respect. Lack of it has undermined many a promising career.

Throughout this paper I shall have to deal with the potentialities in biology. I am, alas all too well aware that many of our biology courses are farcical as far as any real personal or social values to the masses are concerned. But this is the fault of the teacher or the administration, not of the subject. I do not mean by this to assume, among other things, that sex instruction as such should be definitely and directly given in a course in biology. That matter will of course have to be determined by the bent of the social mind of the community in which the school is located, and by the personal qualities of the teacher in charge of the biological department. But I do agree with Dr. Charles W. Eliot, President-Emeritus of Harvard, and President of the American Federation of Sex Hygiene, when he gave his approval to the statement "that biology is the only subject in which these facts can be presented in a normal way." I do see the potentialities in biology in this respect. We all grant that the child must know; but how is he to learn? Statistics show that both parents and doctors fail pitifully to act, and that the practical

work of the clergyman is small. If it does not seem wise for even the biological departments of our public schools to assume the direct burden of this education, they can at least agitate the subject sufficiently to give placement to the responsibility. This in itself would be a social service.

Again, would time not be wasted in writing further to emphasize the need? A word will suffice. Neglecting altogether the frightful results of self-abuse through ignorance, and considering another biological side, namely disease, I will quote Dr. Prince Morrow of the Society of Moral and Social Prophylaxis: "Two hundred thousand persons walk the streets of New York City loaded with venereal diseases. To stem this tide of disaster is the work of the preacher, the physician and the parent-materially aided by teachers of Biology.'

In practice, most biology teachers deem it unwise at the present time to agitate any direct form of sex instruction, but even this does not mean that they perform no social service in this respect. A capable teacher can and will impart many valuable facts by connotation. He may start with pollination in flowers. This makes an excellent beginning. Fishes and amphibia with their milt and eggs will come still nearer to the point. When he comes to birds he may bring out the mating instinct, the establishment of homes, the care of young. He may even proceed with caution into mammals. If the master in charge of all this be cultured, and possessed of a mind and personality that measure up to his calling, he will awaken no morbid interest, but instead will bring a clear light of understanding. He will awaken, if anything a spirit of gallantry in the boys, and in the girls one of faithfulness and parental instinct. In general it is within his power to inspire a high sense of social responsibility brought about through a true understanding of the instincts underlying the formation of a home.

The next field of social service for biology is eugenics. The importance of this no one can doubt. All biologists and sociologists will agree that the future welfare of mankind is inseparably tied up with the practical application of some form of eugenics.

Its principles should be known, and there is no place so well adapted to it in the high school curriculum as biology. This and a hundred other facts make me almost a radical concerning biology. Its importance grows upon me daily, and cause my life's ideals to be inextricably interwoven with the promulgation of the study of rational biology teaching. I speak with thirteen years of practical experience and experimentation behind me. I consider the position of the city of Boston in virtually crowding biology out of its schools to be an indefensible one; and I look for the establishment of a chair for the study of the teaching of biology in the Graduate School of Harvard University.

Eugenics can and should be taught in two ways. Either would be incomplete without the other. In the first place the background should be prepared by a study of the principles of heredity among plants and animals. Practical and familiar illustrations should be chosen and if possible illustrated by experiments. Next, eugenics can and should be taught directly. The Juke and Kallikak families can be compared with the descendants of Johnathan Edwards. When a pupil has these facts clearly in his mind's eye and has the proper mental "set," the capable teacher can easily rise to the occasion and say a few words about choice in marriage (just the right number-not too many) that may prove of profound service to the adolescent that is absorbing to them. Rightly chosen words and thoughts could not jar upon the sensibilities of the most fastidious pupil or parent, or yet give discouragement to any in the audience whose parentage happened to be inferior.

The next field for social service in biology is sanitation. In this connection I shall give an interesting quotation. It is so typical that I am going to venture it even though it is of considerable length. It is from an article written by Jean Dawson, at that time of the Cleveland Normal School. It was published in School Science and Mathematics, April, 1912. The original was written by one of the pupils in the Cleveland Normal School, and begins on page 319. The quotation follows:

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