"
WORDSWORTH, "The Prelude," Bk. V.
Mathematics, natural science, and nature study may be conveniently
grouped together, because in a study of educational aims, in so far as
they concern Catholic girls, there is not much that is distinctive which
practically affects these branches; during the years of school life they
stand, more or less, on common ground with others. More advanced studies
of natural science open up burning questions, and as to these, it is the
last counsel of wisdom for girls leaving school or school-room to
remember that they have no right to have any opinion at all. It is well
to make them understand that after years of specialized study the really
great men of science, in very gentle tones and with careful utterance,
give to the world their formed opinions, keeping them ever open to
readjustment as the results of fresh observations come in year after
year, and new discoveries call for correction and rearrangement of what
has been previously taught. It is also well that they should know that
by the time the newest theory reaches the school-room and textbook it
may be already antiquated and perhaps superseded in the observatory and
laboratory, so that in scientific matters the school-room must always be
a little "behind the times.
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