are doing, and by making him self-critical and selfdirective with respect to his own work The greatest need to-day in the development of professional training for high-school teachers is the coöperation of the colleges and the schools of the colleges by way of making suitable preparation for professional study, and of the schools by way of providing adequate means for giving apprentice training under competent guidance.

TH

CHAPTER VIII

SPECIALISM IN EDUCATION 1

HE finest portrait of the general practitioner,
drawn in our time, is that of the Scotch doctor
in Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush.2
"There were

no specialists in Drumtochty, so this man had to do everything as best he could, and as quickly. He was chest doctor, and doctor for every other organ as well; he was accoucheur and surgeon; he was oculist and aurist; he was dentist and chloroformist, besides being chemist and druggist." For fifty years he rode up and down the glen, in fair weather and foul, through snowdrifts and flooded fords, to bring consolation and health to the sick and suffering in his district. His presence inspired confidence-"the verra look o' him wes victory"; "a blister for the ootside an' Epsom salts for the inside dis his wark, an' they say there's no an herb on the hills he disna ken."

But when the life of Annie Mitchell, Tammas' wife, was ebbing slowly away, Dr. MacLure reached the limit of his skill. Then one hour's work of the city specialist brought relief to the distracted husband and joy to every heart in the glen. No one rejoiced, however, more than the old doctor who saw himself eclipsed; while the great specialist learned enough in his short visit to enable him

1 A revised reprint from the AMERICAN SCHOOLMASTER, September, 1913, used by courtesy of the publishers. 2 These extracts from Ian Maclaren's Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush are used by special arrangement with the publishers, Dodd, Mead and Company, Inc.

to measure the country physician at his true worth. At the parting the Queen's physician turned to the old doctor, rough, gaunt, ill-clothed, scarred by many an accident and bowed by the weight of years, "Give's another shake of the hand, MacLure; I'm proud to have met you; you are an honor to our profession."

In another chapter of the same book, a book, by the way, that is fit to rank with the best educational classics, is a sketch of a great teacher, a general practitioner who is also an honor to his profession. "He could detect a scholar in the egg, and prophesied Latinity from a boy that seemed fit only to be a cowherd.

He

had a leaning to classics and the professions, but Domsie was catholic in his recognition of 'pairts'.

But it was Latin Domsie hunted for as for fine gold, and when he found the smack of it in a lad he rejoiced openly. He counted it a day in his life when he knew certainly that he had hit on another scholar." His triumph came when George Howe, one of his own lads of "pairts,' carried off the medal from the university in both humanity and Greek.

A life of professional service. The sketch puts master and pupil in the foreground. Apparatus and equipment, even books and schoolhouse, are barely mentioned. "Perhaps one ought to have been ashamed of that schoolhouse, but yet it had its own distinction, for scholars were born there, and now and then to this day some famous man will come and stand in the deserted playground for a space." And well he may, for the place is hallowed by the associations of a life of devoted service a service that is professional in highest degree. Fortunate,

strangers' voices, inducement to meditation and cause for thankfulness. And thrice fortunate the teacher whose memory compels man to bless him.

The vogue of specialization. One hears it said nowadays that the general practitioner is passing, that the age of specialism has succeeded the happy time when everyone knew everything and could do everything that was to be done. To a certain extent it may be true, but it is not the whole truth. True it is that the specialist flourishes in these times like a green bay tree. He is recognized by the mighty and lauded by all the world. And by the acid test, I mean by the size of the fees he charges, one knows surely that the specialist has come into his own. If one wants a mountain tunneled, a river bridged, or the east and the west joined by a canal, the specialist can be found to do it; if one wants a seedless orange, drought-resisting alfalfa, or a new breed of corn, the specialist can be found to produce it; if one wants to rid a city of yellow fever, find a serum for diphtheria, or fit up a partially furnished human body with organs discarded by their former owners, the specialist can be found to do it. Moreover, when we want to find a cure for cancer, to walk with seven-leagued boots, or to communicate with Mars, we have faith that some day the specialist will be found who can do it. We have reached the stage of evolution when nothing seems incomprehensible or unattainable.

A connecting link. But however overwhelming the vogue of the specialist, the days of the general practitioner have not passed and they will not pass. Just in propor

tion as the specialist withdraws himself from everyday contact with men and affairs, just to that extent is it necessary to have mediators between him and those through whom he works or for whom his work is done. The man who designs the bridge, lays out the tunnel, or conceives the canal depends for his success on the foreman and workers on the job. The specialist in horticulture or agronomy may discover the new type, but it is the gardener or the farmer who brings the type to fruition. The specialist in medicine or surgery finds a new way of controlling disease, but it is the family doctor who brings it to our homes or goes with us to the hospital when our need outruns his skill. The general practitioner is the connecting link between those who can give and those who wish to receive.

Placing the emphasis. — The strength of the specialist is in what he knows and can do; his weakness is in his narrowness and lack of experience with the forces and influences outside his own sphere. The strength of the general practitioner is in his knowledge of the world and of human nature; his weakness lies in his inability to be expert in everything at once. The distinction, as I see it, is mainly a matter of emphasis, having to do on the one hand with the extent of one's work and on the other hand with one's attitude towards it. Everybody may be a specialist in something and a general practitioner in many other things at the same time. Whatever contradiction exists is due to the contest between high efficiency within narrow limits and general ability in a larger field. Specialization in education. In the field of education we are coming to recognize the existence of specialists.