PlUIBLIC HIEALTHI administration encompasses the practical application of knowledge for the general public good. Therefore, to the greatest exteut possible, identification with the realities of claily work ancd its problems is fundamental to its adequate teaching. As with clinical medicine, the teaching of public health administration is best dcone at the bedside of the patient. Inl our field the patient is the social community, alnd the best way for the student to learn about the administration of public health programs is necessarily in relation to the commnunity. Some people lhave questioned wlhetlher public lheatlt administration can be "taught" in contrast to being "learned." They advocate, in effect, exclusive recourse to the "school of hard knocks," or learning exclusively by trial and error. SUCh an approach has certain limitations. A significant nlumtber of errors are inevitable and tend not to be recognized as errors; therefore, they may be compounded and perpetuated. Certainly, there is something of value t.o be obtained from the experience of others. However, mere exposure to t.heir knowledge and experience tends to be sterile and unrewivarding, especially in an applied, dynamic, ancd variable field such as public health administration. It wvould therefore seem obvious that the teaching of this subject, in the best sense, has a role for the academic institution on the one hand and for the operating health agency as a learning laboratory on the other. In addit.ion, it is obvious that these roles must be in-timately interlinked and related to each other. The academic institution, or school of public health, may employ many different techniques and approaches. Of the-se, forma,l lectures are probably the most common, yet the le-ast satisfactory. This is not meant to imply that lectures ha.ve no place, in graduate education in public health administration. On a selective basis, lectures may be valuable in summiarizing a subject or topic. Generally speakin-g, it is best that a single, well-qualified faculty menber be respolnsible for a lecture series, altlhough occasionally he may bring in carefully selected and highly qualified specialists as guest lecturers for the presentation of seleeted topics. Much better than lectures are seminars and group discus,sions in which students can be divided into groups of 10 or 12 to facilitate and encourage the freest possible flozw and presentation of ideas and opinions. A faculty member and, if possible, a visiting operational expert from the outside should direct each group, preferably in the roles of consultant and resource person rather tha.n discussion leaders. If at all possible, it is best to give students, on a rotating basis, the responsibility for leaderslip of the discussion. Whichever didactic approach is followed, guided reading of professional books and periodicals is an integral part. Material that includes va.rying points of view encourages individual questioning and discussion by the students. Reiading assignments should not be made in a general sense or in a. vacuum, but should be done sele.ctively, with experience.d teachers pointing out not only the different viewpoints but also the different theories and practices. It should be recognized and emphasized to the student that textbooks in public Dr. Hanlon is director of Community Health Services, City of Philadelphia, and chairman, Department of Preventive Medicine, Temple University School of Medicine. This excerpt is taken from the paper he presented at the Third Conference of Directors of Schools of Public Health in Serra Negra, Brazil, September 22-28, 1963.