University Education in Natural Science

Abstract

THE problems education in science and of education though natural science were considered by scentific men and schoolmasters at the Dundee meeting of Bristish Association, and similar problems at the university level have now arisen in the University of Cambridge. A 'Syndicate' has been revieweing the regulations for the Natural Sciences Tripos, and the discussion of its report in the Regent House on February 22 showed that many in Cambridge have misgivings about the scientific education now being given to undergraduates. A number of tutors, directors of studies and college supervisors urged the need for drastic reforms. The position at Cambridge is probably similar to that at many other British universities, and merits the attention of all who are interested in the training of scientific men and citizens. Many of those who are closely in touch with the life and work of undergraduates are convinced that science students are being given so much formal factual teaching that they have no time for reading and reflexion. The study of the wider and more cultural aspects of their work is precluded and their intellectual development retarded. The courses of instruction seem generally designed for the production of specialist research workers ; and specialization seems on the increase, in spite of the fact that only a small percentage of the students who read science become professional scientific workers. It seems to be overlooked that many will become teachers in schools, some will go into the Civil Service, others will join the administrative staffs of business or manufacturing firms ; such students need a wider and more general training.