Chapter I: Preface

The present tendency in secondary education is away from the formal technical completion of separate subjects and toward the developing of a workable training in the activities that relate the pupil to his own life. In the natural science field, the tendency is to attach less importance to botany and zoology and physiology as such, and to lay greater stress on the processes and adaptations of life as expressed in plants and animals and men. This tendency is a revolt against the laboratory method and research method of the college as it has been impressed into the common schools, for it is not uncommon for the pupil to study botany without really knowing plants, or physiology without knowing himself. Education that is not applicable, that does not put the pupil into touch with the living knowledge and the affairs of his time, may be of less educative value than the learning of a trade in a shop. We are coming to learn that the ideals and the abilities should be developed out of the common surroundings and affairs of life rather than imposed on the pupil as a matter of abstract, unrelated theory.

One of the marks of this new tendency in education is the introduction of unit courses in biology in the secondary schools, in the place of the formal and often dry and nearly meaningless isolated courses in botany, zoology, and physiology. This result is one of the outcomes of the recent nature-study discussions.

The present volume is an effort to meet the need for a simple and untechnical text to cover this secondary biology in its elementary phases. The book stands between the unorganized nature-study of the intermediate grades and the formal science of the more advanced courses. It is a difficult space to bridge, partly because the subjects are so diverse, and partly because some teachers do not yet understand the importance of imparting to beginners a general rather than a special view point.

Still another difficulty is the lack of uniformity in the practice of different schools. It is not urged that it is desirable to have uniformity in all respects, but the lack of it makes it difficult to prepare a book that shall equally meet all needs. It is hoped, however, that the present book is fairly adaptable to a variety of conditions, and with this thought in mind the following suggestions are made as to its use:

Being in three separate parts, the teacher may begin with plants, or with animals, or with human physiology.

If a one-year course is desired, the topics that are printed in large type in Parts II and III may be used, and a choice from the chapters in