| 34
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Agriculture| 63 | 14 | 84 | 161
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Preparation in Subject Matter

Before facing the problem of preparation for the teaching of
biological sciences in the secondary schools, there must be a clear
conception of the aims and legitimate purposes of these sciences in
the high school. We are fortunate in having the aims of biology
clearly and concisely stated by the Commission on the Reorganization
of Secondary Education of the N.E.A. ("Reorganization of Science in
Secondary Schools", U.S. Dep't. Interior, Bureau of Education,
Bulletin 26, 1920). These aims will not be considered in their
entirety but only in so far as they bear directly on the problems
that follow. Before proceeding further, for simplification we will
assume that the teacher is assigned to teach biological sciences only.
Even then the field is quite comprehensive, for besides instruction in
general biology, there will be courses of a more advanced type, in
Zoology, Botany, Physiology, and often Bacteriology, Sanitation, or
Agriculture. However, with preparation in the fundamentals necessary
for biology a teacher should be able to conduct such courses without
difficulty. Thus the problem is sufficiently inclusive if it concerns
preparation for biology alone.

The brief literal translation of the word _biology_, science of life,
is full explanation of its scope. A course in the subject is not
Zoology, nor Botany, nor Bacteriology, nor Physiology--but rather all
of these in one. Biology should logically follow the nature study of
the elementary grades. The course must be so planned that it will give
the pupils the maximum of serviceable fundamentals and at the same
time be a basis for further study in advanced courses, if he desires
to continue; but such that he will miss none of the essentials if he
does not. Since science is the product of mature minds, the
culmination of knowledge, then in this course for adolescents, the
"ology" must not be too greatly stressed lest the essential part, the
"bios" be obscured. The goal then is a course in which a study of
plant life, a study of bacteria in relation to human welfare, a study
of animal life, and the biology of the human, are all incorporated
with well balanced emphasis. This is the type of course recommended