Rosemary Park
President, 1947-1962

More is Not Better

Guest editorial reprinted from The Hartford Times, Hartford, CT
September 25, 1951

President Rosemary Park of Connecticut College is a graduate of Radcliffe and obtained her Ph.D. from the University of Cologne, Germany. She came to Connecticut College as an instructor in German after having taught that language at Wheaton. At Connecticut she has served as dean of freshmen, academic dean, professor, and now president. Miss Park is the daughter of J. Edgar Park, former president of the Northfield Schools. She is a member of numerous academic societies and is the author of several scholastic works. Miss Park is the first woman to write a Guest Editorial for this newspaper.

Variety is the spice of life. This is true of education as well as of many other things. In the olden days spices were not just a piquant addition to good food but were used for the much more fundamental purpose of preserving these good foods. The spice of variety in education is likewise no interesting extra but is essential to the preservation of a free educational system.

In permitting and encouraging the development of a variety of educational institutions within the State, the Legislature has been acting on the assumption that neither the State institutions, nor the private institutions, nor those controlled by religious groups, should have a monopoly on education. Whether this education be general or whether it be specifically teacher training, actually there is no external danger threatening the variety, and so the freedom, of our educational system and our teacher training programs.

But since we all suffer today from an over-great reverence for the specialist, this reverence may prove a threat from within our teacher training program. Most of us readily believe that because quantity of knowledge leads to greater competence in some fields, it must necessarily in all fields. It will probably be true that a mathematician who takes a course for the first time in non-Euclidean geometry will, by that addition to his knowledge, become a better mathematician. But an artist, after he has once learned the fundamentals, will not necessarily be a better artist because he takes another course in art, nor will a pianist be necessarily more expert because he takes another course in piano-playing.

If teaching is an art, and it may well be called that, then we should be skeptical at any attempt to increase the number of education courses over the bare essentials. Such an addition will not necessarily mean better teaching in our State. After the fundamentals have been learned, and surely it ought to be possible to do so in three-year courses, then our teachers need as broad, as interesting a background, intellectually speaking, as we can provide.

To develop sympathetic understanding of people, a course in history or in literature may be more valuable than an additional course in education. A trip to Europe may be more enlightening than another session at summer school. After all, the teacher knows where to look for information if he needs it. The love of learning, the enthusiasm for knowledge which he hopes to awaken in some of his students, can be kindled only when he himself still cares about learning new things. The desire can be quickened by a new type of experience, by travel, by a different type of summer job, even by a chance to be quiet and really think through a problem by oneself, undisturbed by school bells and paper correcting.

Good teachers are made in many ways, and it takes more than a few courses in education and a clear voice to master the art. Let us not think that by adding to the strictly professional requirements of our teachers, we are inevitably securing better teaching. More is not better in this field. A wise flexibility, while difficult to administer, will encourage many to master this difficult art, which may yet find itself practiced badly by specialists-in-education while the gifted artist-teacher cannot find his way into the ranks. Variety is the spice of life and education.