Ploughing with Pegasus

School Science and Mathematics, Jan 1998 by Nichols, B Kim

In a previous "Early Days" column titled "The Decadence of the Vulgar Fraction" (April, 1997), we presented a discussion of the issues of converting to the metric system. This debate received a fair amount of press in the 1902 and 1903 volumes of School Science and Mathematics. In 1910, the country as a whole was still embroiled in this controversy, and the matter was again reflected in the pages of School Science and Mathematics, Vol. 10(4). Fred Brooks, in an article titled "Foreign Trade and the Metric System," presents an argument in favor of conversion that he believed might succeed where other arguments in favor of metrics had failed. He explained that the United States by this time was exporting more than half of all of its goods to countries that used the metric system. This being the case, those exporting their products should find it advantageous to operate in the same numerical system. He explained, "This is a business matter which should appeal to business men,' whereas other grounds which I believe to be more important and convincing in favor of metric reform have not always received from business men the attention which they ought to have had" (p. 810).

He concluded his argument in favor of metric reform by pointing out the irony that the U.S. had yet to implement the very notion of uniform weights and measures that it proposed at the Pan-American Conferences. He said,

Why should there be any delay about the United States government's putting into effect the project which it initiated itself, now that the greater part of the trade passing under the cognizance of the United States customs service is with metric countries? How would further delay strike the Latin American delegates? Anyone who supposes that the statesmen of Latin America would be incapable of perceiving if they were treated with contempt, is densely ignorant of their characteristic qualities. (p. 322)

Sadly for Brooks, those in favor of the status quo were undaunted.

During the early decades of this century, another topic consistently appeared in School Science and Mathematics. The merits and drawbacks of the college entrance requirements and examinations were repeatedly, and often heatedly, discussed. The year 1910 was no different. John Woodhull's article titled "The Significance of the Requirements in Physics of the College Examination Board," Vol. 10(1), addressed the impact of the requirements on the teaching of high school physics. Upon observing a botany teacher require her students to fill page after page with tedious drawings based on microscope slides, Woodhull asked the teacher about an alternative instructional method that he thought might prove more effective. She replied, "The university would not approve it." Woodhull clarified the meaning of her response:

It perhaps should be said in justice to the universities that such approval or disapproval generally comes from a minor officer-but so long as the universities allow their minor officers to act as their spokesmen they cannot escape the charge of being either ignorant of or indifferent to the cause of secondary education. These are not peculiar cases. There is no subject which can be well taught in the high schools to-day [sic] for the simple reason that the colleges prevent it. (p. 38) Woodhull complained that the universities kept high school physics instruction mired in tedium. He explained: "Our besetting sin in physics teaching is something which goes under the euphonious name of thoroughness. We have a block-measuring mania in some parts of the country" (p. 40). He offered examples to support his argument:

Pupils are required to measure the four edges representing the length of a block of wood to the tenth of a millimeter which is 1/254 part of an inch. These are to be averaged and the result taken as the true length. In like manner, the four edges representing the width and the four representing the thickness are to be treated and then these results are to be multiplied together and the volume recorded in terms which represent less than 1/1,000,000 of a cu. in. The pupils know that the exercise lacks common sense since the measuring sticks are crude, the edge of the blocks are battered, their faces are not perfect planes, and the human eye is incapable of reading such microscopic dimensions. (p. 40)

To further enhance his position, Woodhull asserted that the system of college entrance examinations promoted a type of thinking and learning that was counter to the development of higher intellect. For all those who are afflicted by forgetfulness, take heart; Woodhull's words prove comforting. Not only is forgetting natural, it is essential to "good thinking" according to Woodhull. He explained: "An eminent authority says, 'Really educated people are just those who have forgotten more than others.' It is essential to good thinking that one should not retain in memory much unorganized and useless material. Ideas sometimes require a long period of incubation" (p. 42).

Throughout Woodhull's article, he used strong wording in favor of reform; Woodhull cautioned, however, against proceeding too swiftly. He warned those involved in revising the requirements that, "Education must be a conservative thing. Change must not amount to a revolution" (p. 34). What is the 1997 view of Woodhull's advice of 1910?