1240 ISDUSTRISL . W D EXGINEERISG CHEMISTRY \-OL. 28, ’40. 10

C O R R E S P O N D E N C E

Future Chemists SIR: I should like to comment on some of the factors contribut-

ing to t’he predicament mentioned in the editorial, “Future Chem- ists,” on page 753 of the July, 1936, issue of INDUSTRIAL AND

ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY. Although it may indicate a repre- hensible condition, i t is none the less real and is not the exception to the rule.

Gnfortunately, the excuse that there are not sufficient men of the first rank to fill all the positions, or even head the depart- ments, in the colleges and universities is correct, but the claim that the colleges obtain the best available cannot be substanti- ated. Industry will generally attract the men who are primarily interested in the economic return for their efforts, as well as those who have a particular interest in that type of work. However, many men are interested in teaching and academic research, and have pursued their graduate work with that in mind; they will accept much lower compensation for an academic position than industry will offer them. Where the salary offered is sufficient to live on, the low compensation for academic positions is probably least responsible for the fact that capable men are not being properly employed in the schools; the responsibility for the exist- ing condition may be more correctly considered the result of ig- norance, indifference, or intent of those who employ the members of teaching staffs.

In some cases the employer seems to be unaware of how to contact available men. Although this ignorance may be the least t’o be condemned of the causes mentioned it is just as de- structive as the others as far as the result is concerned.

Frequently the employer is satisfied with a reasonably satis- factory teacher and will not make the effort required to find the best; he often merely accepts an acquaintance of one of his friends. The agitation for high school teachers to be trained in the subject which they are to teach should be extended to the colleges and universities, where men “teach” both undergradu- ate and graduate courses in a branch in which they have never had any graduate work, research, or practical experience. It may be true that, by the time he has received his Ph.D. degree, a man should know more about any of the fundamental branches of chemistry than he can get a student to learn in an undergraduate course. But i t seems both unnecessary and indefensible to have him teach a branch of the subject for which he has not had special training, experience, or interest when properly qualified men are available. Nearly always such a teacher does no research in the field in which he teaches and frequently none a t all. He does not read the publications or attend the meetings of the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY, and in some cases he is not even a member. Such conditions are by no means the exception.

The most unbelievable cause for poor departments is the in- tentional action of certain employers. Heads of departments, even in the large universities, have been accused, and apparently not without foundation, of deliberately seeing t’o it that none of the men under them is sufficiently prominent professionally to diminish their own preeminence; the saving of money is not the only reason for hiring young men rather than experienced ones. On going into such a department one soon senses something wrong. The reactions of the staff members and the appearance of details about the laboratory and departmental library give evi- lence of the fact; in certain cases a visitor may go into the de- jartmental library and determine the change of departmental

administration almost to the year. Certainly the impression is very different from that obtained on visiting a department filled with the best men that can be found for the particular parts of the work to which they are assigned; here there is an interest in pro- moting the department rather than that of self-selected indi- viduals, and nobody feels any restraint, in doing his best. There have been, are, and probably always will be, departments in which the outstanding man is not the administrative head of the de- partment; to be the responsible head and outstanding man in a poor department of any size should suggest condemnation rather than commendation. However, the worst feature of the system of definitely choosing mediocre men is that, even though the head of the department may be an outstanding man himself, he is succeeded by a less capable one who is evcn more inclined to per- petuate the system. Often the less capable members of the staff are those who do not move from such a department to better opportunities, and after a time by virt,ue of longevity one of them becomes head of the department. Thus, matters may gradually become worse, and hundreds of students may suffer from the fault before it is corrected by importation. After experiences with some of these students, even from the largest schools where they have come in contact with only the “lesser lights,” one is not surprised at the shout which has been raised for academic stand- ardization.

Often a friendly relation with some member of the school, from the president down, is of more consequence than professional qualification when vacancies are t,o be filled. In fact, vacancies have even been created by some sort of manipulation, and the “spoils system” is by no means a stranger in academic circles. There is also a t’endency for ambitious but incompetent or unin- formed members of the university administ’ration to override the recommendations of competent’ department heads, and to force departmental affairs according to their fancy rather than the wisdom of the man who holds his position because he is a specialist in that field. This condition is particularly noticeable in the sci- ence departments where the administration is made up of men with no background in science and consequently with no idea of the purpose, methods, or requirements of science courses, and also in those schools where administrative positions are filled by “efficiency experts” instead of scholari.

During a depression there is also a tendency for the head of a department to recommend the poorer students when he is ai)- proached for available men, because he believes that his best graduate students will be able to obtain positions somehow. The employer frequently places more weight on the recommendation than the academic record, which he often never uses for compari- son; as a result some of the more important positions are given to the poorer men, and the best men get what is left.

I n short, the condition exists but is the result of so many fuc- tors that it seems almost hopeless of solution. The AMERICAS CHEMICAL SOCIETY may be able to certify certain institutions as places where men can really be trained, but it will be almost impossible to certify them as places where all the graduates are really trained; the larger the institution, the more difficult it will be.

BRIDQEWATER. VA. .\ugust 10, 1936.

R. D. COOL