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an 
 
 SUGGESTIONS FOR AN 
 
 ATTEMFI TO SECURE A STANDARD 
 
 COLLEGE ENTRANCE OFnON 
 
 IN BOTANY. 
 
 By 
 
 W. F. GVNONG. 
 
 [Reprinted from Scienck, N. S., Vol. XIII., No. S29, Pages 611-016, 
 
 April 19, 1901.'] 
 
{Rrprinlalfrnm SciENCK, A'. S-. Vol. XIII., No. 3?9, 
 Pnge Cll-HW, April 19, 1901.] 
 
 SUaOESTIOXS FOR A If ATTEMPT TO SECURE 
 
 A STAXDAHn COLLEGE ENTRANCE 
 
 OPTION m nOTAXY.* 
 
 The rapid advancement of any science 
 depends not only directly upon the re- 
 searches of specialists, but also indirectly 
 upon a favorable public opinion. Some- 
 thing may be done towards forming this 
 opinion through a wide dissemination of in- 
 formation as to the true aims of science, but 
 a more efficient method consists in the 
 proper education of the coming public, tvhile 
 it is still in school and college. From the 
 single point of view of the advancement of 
 bis science, therefore, and apart altogether 
 , im the question of his responsibilities 
 towards general education, it is the duty of 
 every scientific man to contributt accord- 
 ing to his ability towards ileiaentary 
 scientific education. Particularly is it the 
 duty of every one of us connected with 
 educational institutions to inform ourselves 
 upon the present status and problems of this 
 subject, and vigorously to set forth our re- 
 sultant opinions upon all fitting occasions. 
 It follows, farther, that the problems of 
 elementary scientific education are a proper 
 subject for the conpideration of any scien- 
 tific society. 
 
 In these days the sciences are making 
 great advances in education, and they are 
 approaching, though for the most part they 
 are still far below, the educational level of 
 
 * Read before (he Society tor Plant Morphology and 
 .'hysiology at the Baltimore Meeting, December 28, 
 1900. 
 
2 
 
 the older subjects. Amongst the sciences 
 botany holds at present a less prominent 
 place man it d 3erve8 ; but, under the 
 vitalizing influence of the dynamical and 
 realistic spirit so recently infuHf d into the 
 subject among us, it is advancing to a 
 greater prominence for the near future. 
 Just at present, in botany as in many 
 ether subjects, educational discussion hinges 
 chiefly about the contact of school and col- 
 lege, that is, about college entrance require- 
 ments. From this discussion three distinct 
 educational advances are resulting : First, 
 wider options in entrance subjects gen- 
 erally ; second, a greater emphasis upon the 
 sciences ; and thir*!, a determined move- 
 ment to secure grei. . iniformity in the re- 
 quirements made by different colleges in the 
 same snbject. With the first of these ad- 
 vances we ""e not here concerned except 
 to express onr approval. In the 8e(H>nd we 
 have a more direct interest, though it is not 
 in discussion in the preeent paper. I take 
 it for granted Wt. are all agreed that scieuce 
 should form an integral part of the educa- 
 tion of every indiv'dr^l from the kinder- 
 garten to, into and in the college, an.i thai 
 botany should hold among the sciences the 
 place to which its nature entitles it. Apart, 
 however, from the abstract merits of thf 
 case, it is a fact that some of the leadinp 
 colleges of the country do now either re- 
 quire a science for entrance, or else v/ill ad- 
 mit the sciences as options, sometimes eveu 
 to the amount of one-third of their total 
 entrance requi.ement. Some schools are 
 already teaching sciences well, and under 
 the stimulus of a wider acceptance of their 
 results by th's colleges, such teaching will 
 unquestionably both further improve and 
 
3 
 
 widely spread. We cannot doubt, therefore, 
 that the prebent movement is towards the 
 general acceptance by the colleges of the 
 sciences, with botany among them, as op- 
 tions, if not as a requirement, for entrance. 
 If, in the colleges with whicli we are con- 
 nected, the sciences, including botany, are 
 not accepted for entrance, it should at least 
 not be through default of vigorous cham- 
 pionship upon our part. 
 
 It is, however, with the thi i advance 
 mentioned above, namely, with the effort to 
 secure uaiformity in requi.tJients in the 
 same subject, that we are no'.v immediately 
 concerned. It is well known that tha varied 
 demands made by different colleges in the 
 same subjects impose a most serious burden 
 upon thosepreparatory schools which prepare 
 students for several colleges, requiring mul- 
 tiplication of classes, division of resources, 
 waste of energy, and, worst of all, a too 
 great subordination of true education to 
 preparation for the passing of examinations. 
 This mal -adjustment of preparatory schools 
 as a whole to colleges as a whole consti- 
 tutes one of the most serious educational 
 problems of the present time. So serious is 
 it that not only h^a the National Educa- 
 tional Association given its best energies 
 for some years past to the endeavor to for- 
 mulate standard national courses, but 
 associations Oi colleges and preparatory 
 schools, with "arge and influential member- 
 ship, have been formed chiefly to grapple 
 with it. All these efforts, be it noted, 
 are not at all toward a uniform total re- 
 quirement^ for all colleges, but simply to- 
 ward a uniform general mode of treatment 
 of each particular subject, and the colleges 
 are left as free as before to make any desired 
 
permatationsand combinations of subjects. 
 The most important and -ctical step ot 
 all in this direction baa recently been 
 taken in the formation of the College Eu- 
 trance Examin^ition Board of the Middle 
 States and Maryland, which is to have 
 charge not only of the specifications of re- 
 quirements in tlie individual subjects, but 
 also of *' iniform administration of tho 
 requir ui>?ij « through its own examina- 
 tions, ps have been taken, also, look- 
 ing to the formation of a similar board for 
 the New England States. Requirements 
 have already been formulated by the former 
 board in several subjects, but not yet »a 
 botany. Now, a question of immediate in- 
 terest to as is this, what is to be the re- 
 quirement adopted by these boards in 
 botany ? One would naturally expect that 
 the course outlined by the Botanical Com- 
 mittee of the National Educational Asso- 
 ciation would be adopted ; but this course, 
 although embodying many good features, 
 is not adapted, nor was it intended, for 
 immediate practical use. If the formula- 
 tion of new courses is left to the advisers of 
 the board for the Middle States and Mary- 
 land, and to the New England Board, and 
 to similar boards elsewhere, it is unlikely 
 that uniformity will be secured ; for such 
 boards, like individual colleges, will not 
 only probably be shy of accepting one an- 
 other's requirements in toto, but also each 
 board will be swayed by the particular views 
 of the most prominent teacher consulted. 
 On the other hand, a course carefully and 
 comprehensively formulated by some cen- 
 tral and representative scientific association, 
 based upon the best of the previous work 
 done in this direction, and elaborated with 
 
the cooperation of the leading teacl. ph and 
 of other botaniciil orgunizalioiiM thnjughoiit 
 the country, will bI.ii 1 .i ihan. '.,( widi^ 
 acceptance, &ud perhaps, too, is liktly to 
 1)6 a better course than a more limited body 
 could develop. Such a cour<?e must ob- 
 viously be widely accepted in order to he of 
 real use ; but, once firmly established, it 
 will not only permit schools to concentrate 
 their energies upon a single and excellent 
 method of preparation which will allow any 
 student to enter any coUet^e and give a good 
 education to those who do not, but also at 
 the same time it will constitute a sort of 
 standard of comparison and measure of 
 value, a definite ideal toward? which am- 
 bitious schools may work, and a stimulus 
 to other colleges to adopt botany among 
 their entrance subjects. It is the object of 
 this paper to propose that this society un- 
 dertake the formulation of such a standard 
 or uniform entrance option in botany, and 
 take steps to secure its adoption. 
 
 It remains now to note briefly what we 
 have to build upon in such a formulation, 
 what conditions must be taken account of, 
 and what practical steps may best be taken. 
 
 The :dea of <* standard entrance option in 
 botany is far from being n^w. It was im- 
 plied in thtj well-knowa report of the Com- 
 mittee on Secondary School Studies of the 
 National Educational Association (com- 
 noaly known as the Committee of Ten). 
 The recommendations of the botanical sec- 
 tion of that committee had without doubt 
 a powerful influence upon bo'anical tep^a- 
 ing in this country, autl that they wer^ not 
 more widelj' adopted was due parti" i< the 
 then transitional state of botauici '. teach- 
 ing, and partly to difierence of opinion as 
 
6 
 
 to the wisdom of some of its recommenda- 
 tions. The discussions of the same Associ- 
 ation led in subsequent years to the expo- 
 sition of the idea of standard entrance op- 
 tions, and these are set forth with the 
 greatest clearness in the report of the com- 
 mittee on college entrance requirements 
 of that Association published in July, 1899. 
 Now, if the course in botany recommended 
 in that report were adapted to immediate 
 use, and if it had the approval of the 
 majority of teachers, there would be noth- 
 ing left to be done except to urge its adop- 
 tion. In fact, however, whatever we may 
 think of the merits or demerits of the 
 course, we must all agree that it is im- 
 practicable at present for the great majority 
 of schools. That course, with its great em- 
 phasis upon ecology, represents an extreme 
 reaction from the old formal systematic 
 studies, and, as is usual in such cases, the 
 truth will doubtless ultimately be found to 
 lie between the extremes. I had myself 
 the honor to be consulted in the preparation 
 of that report and gave my adherence to it 
 as to an ideal scheme to be worked towards 
 rather than as one to be brought into im- 
 mediate practical operation. What is 
 needed at present, however, is a course 
 which, while setting a high and stimula- 
 ting standard of intellectual work, can be 
 Drought practically and profitably into ope- 
 ration in the immediate future. 
 
 It will help us to understand the situa- 
 tion if we glance at the status of botany as 
 an entrance subject in a few of the leading 
 colleges. Those which follow are selected 
 partly at random and partly because their 
 announcements happen to be at present ac- 
 cessible to me, but doubtless they are fairly 
 
iK-.. 
 
 representative. Bryn Mam- requires a 
 science, which may be botany, from all stu- 
 dents, but the amount is small ; apparently 
 no sciences are ace pted as options. Chicago 
 accepts botany, a year's preparation, as a 
 free option, counting 1 out of 15 points, 
 and will accept 4 out of 15 points in 
 sciences. Columbia accepts sciences as op- 
 tions up to 3 points out of 15, of which 
 botany may count 1 point. Cornell accepts 
 a science, which may be botany, as an al- 
 ternative for the otherwise required mathe- 
 matics. Harvard requires a science, which 
 cannot be botany, counting 2 out of 26 
 points for entrance to the college, and will 
 accept 7 or 8 points of sciences as options ; 
 botany, however, is accepted to count 1 
 point out of 21 for entrance to the Law- 
 rence Scientific School, for which 5 points 
 in the sciences out of 21 will be accepted as 
 options. Johns Hopkins requires a science, 
 which may be botany, but the amount re- 
 quired is small. Leland Stanford accepts 
 5 points out of 15 in sciences, of which 
 botany may be one, counting 1 point. 
 Michigan requires a year of physics abso- 
 lutely of all students, and in addition ac- 
 cepts three years of science, of which botany 
 may occupy either a year or, in combina- 
 tion with zoology, a half year. Minnesota 
 appears to accept 5J points out of 15 in 
 sciences as options, of which botany may 
 count as J or 1 point. Nebraska accepts 7 
 points in sciences out of 28 as options in 
 one college ; of which botany may count 2 
 points : and requires 3 points in the sci- 
 ences, of which botany may be 1 point in the 
 other college, and in the latter apparently 7 
 points in addition may be taken as options. 
 Smith will accept the equivalent of 5 points 
 
8 
 
 out of 15 in the Hciencea as options, of which 
 botany may count either as i point for a 
 year of preparation or as 2 for two years 
 preparation. Of other colleges, some do 
 not awept any sciences at all, while a few 
 others which accept some of the sciences 
 do not include botany among them. It 
 appears, also, as would be expected, that the 
 liberal acceptance of the sciences is more 
 common in the Central and Western than 
 in the Eastern States. 
 
 The limits of my time will not permit 
 even a summary of the preparation called 
 for by the above-mentioned colleges, and it 
 must snflSce to say that this ranges from 
 requirements little more than nominal up 
 to some which are satisfactory in plan and 
 scope. One characteristic which most of 
 them show is a great liberality in the details 
 of preparation, amounting in some cases 
 practically to the acceptance of any good 
 course. All this indicates a very undiffer- 
 entiated condition of botanical teaching 
 among us, a fact which, along with its 
 many drawbacks, has at least this advan- 
 tage from our present point of view, that 
 It will be mucb easier to secure the adop- 
 tion of a standard course than would be 
 the case if the teaching were moredifferen- 
 tiate<l. Although the preparation required 
 appears at first sight to be very different for 
 the different colleges, closer study shows 
 that there are many common features, and 
 these will form the natural and excellent 
 foundation for the new course. 
 
 The ideal position for botany in the 
 entrance curriculum, indeed the position 
 towards which it seems in the most pro- 
 gressive institutions to be tending, is this : 
 any college which requires any number of 
 
9 
 
 J 
 
 particular subjects should require a science ; 
 every college should accept as options 
 enough of the Hciences to allow a student 
 thus to utilize four years of thorough high- 
 school work in the sciences ; botany shoald 
 be included among these sciences ; the pre- 
 paration should be of such a character that 
 it will yield a traiuing fully equal to that 
 afforded by any other subject studied for 
 the same length of time, and will admit 
 the student to second courses in college. 
 
 It will be agreed, I think, that the for- 
 mulation and successful working of a 
 standard entrance option is a matter of 
 much importance to us. But no such 
 course can be formulated, much less brought 
 into use, unless all teachers approach it in 
 a friendly and cooperative spirit, each 
 willing to yield some of his own individual 
 views for the sake of the common good. It 
 must be in the nature of a compromise, 
 though it is by no means necessary that it 
 shall represent a composite of all existent 
 views. It must of course be elastic enough 
 to allow full play to individual methods 
 and the use of any good text-books, and 
 must be standard in its framework rather 
 than in its details. It will of course be 
 binding upon no one, and must make its 
 way, if at all, by its merits ; and it will be 
 liable to minor changes in the future, based 
 upon trial and scientific advances. Colleges 
 would naturally first adopt '•^ as an alter- 
 native to their own systems. Especially it 
 should face squarely the issue of providing 
 a course equal in training value to the other 
 subjects, for by this test botany, and the 
 other sciences, must be judged, and stand 
 or fall in the educational system. 
 
 With full faith in the possibility of pre- 
 
10 
 paring^sueh a course. I would ask the 
 
 1. Does a standard or uuiforni o^l^^e 
 entrance option in botany seeni desi.able-* 
 
 2. Does It seem possible of - .ainmont ? 
 If the answer to these questions is in the 
 
 aflirmative, I would propose : 
 
 a. That a committee of three be appointed 
 by the president before the dose of this 
 meeting with power to open coramunica- 
 tion in the name of the Society with col- 
 leges, examination boards and individual 
 teachers upon this subject, and to take such 
 steps as their judgment approves towards 
 formulating and securing the adoption of 
 such an entrance option. 
 b. That the committee make the attempt 
 
 ItTfT- 'k ?""" °""°°^"y acceptable, 
 but f this be found impracticable, then i 
 shall be attempted only for the region 
 covered by the work of the College En- 
 trance Examination Board of the Middle 
 States and Maryland, and of the corre- 
 sponding New England board if formed, 
 c- mat the committee be authorized to 
 •Iraw upon the secretary-treasurer for its 
 owes of printing, etc., up to a limit of 
 
 The Society voted to approve tins plan with the 
 
 memoers by mail a preliminary printed renort .Z 
 «I.ou;d be «„ide,l by any opinio' 8^, t.«l i,v a 
 majority of the men in..^ "'"'ueubya 
 
 MesB...Ganonr I : d^.k''"" "' T"^'""'^ 
 
 mittee Ti,» , Atkinson such a com- 
 
 nnw ^ r '""' ''^'^ •" "'« committee is 
 now ready, and will be sent to members of the So 
 cety and toothers known to be intere.,ted 1^" 
 
 wmh.nK 10 see the report may obtain conies hv „„ 
 
 f r:"irb'^"''"- ^"'' »PP--onMhe'«nT. 
 report will be announced throuKh Science 
 
 SMITH COLLEOE, NoRTHAMPTOV^'mass'!^''"''"'