42 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM

connection the views expressed are not merely the personal
views of the author, but they represent as nearly as possible
 the views of most of those teaching science in our
great schools. Minor details may still be at issue, but
the general principles here laid down may be taken as
the basis upon which public school science masters are
endeavouring to raise a superstructure worthy of the
subject they represent.
As is inevitable in a press campaign, a plethora of
nonsense has been written by those who have dashed into
print and, frequently, controversy without really understanding
 or attempting to study the points at issue. This
is true of both sides, and has proceeded from two misconceptions.
 It is essential that these misconceptions be
abolished before we understand what the problem really is.
The first misconception is due to the very unfortunate
terminology “humanistic” and “scientific”. The representative
 Conference of the Classical, English, Geographical,
 Historical, and Modern Language Associations admit
the misleading nature of this false distinction. In response
 to the invitation of the above-mentioned * humanistic
 associations,” the Public Schools Science Masters’
Association have cited the following two needs which they
consider that science exists to meet :—
t. Search for truth.
« Imaginative power indicates new fields in which
further knowledge of truth may be revealed ; its subsequent
 establishment depends upon accurate observation,
with constant recourse to nature for confirmation. The
one aim of natural science is, in fact, the search for truth
based on evidence rather than on authority. Hence the
study of the subject implies accurate observation and description
 and fosters a love of truth. The special value of
natural science in the training of mind and character lies
in the fact that the history of the subject isa plain record
of the search for truth for its own sake.”