i^mmi 
 
 
 Tvf A 
 
 Nl 
 
 I K A I N t M 
 
Class _i.2i:^^ 
 
 i£ 
 
 Goipght]^?_ 
 
 COPYRIGHT DEPOSnv 
 
Manual Training 
 
 By 
 Frank Henry Selden 
 
 Director of Manual Training, State Normal School, 
 Valley City, N. D. 
 
 Milwaukee, Wis. 
 The American School Board Journal 
 
■J 
 
 V 
 
 
 l^v 
 
 Copyright, 1909, 1910 
 
 By 
 
 Wm, Geo. Bruce 
 
 TtAN3FCRREO FROM 
 COfVRiGHT Office 
 KAY 5SU 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Pa^e 
 
 1. Manual Training a Science . . 5 
 
 2. The Subjed: Matter of Manual 
 
 Training 13 
 
 3. The Attitude of Pupils in Shop 
 
 Work 21 
 
 4. Manual Training and Indu^ry . 31 
 
 5. Methods of In^rudtion in Man- 
 
 ual Training 45 
 
 6. Our Duty Toward the Man- 
 
 ual Training Movement . 59 
 
The following discussion of Manual Train- 
 ing appeared originally in serial form 
 in The American School Board Journal 
 
Manual Training a Science 
 
 It is natural for us, when the country is 
 stirred by some new movement, to look for the 
 cause. To find the cause and recognize it is 
 not always an easy matter. It is usually found 
 in a combination of conditions that differ in 
 their relations from those ordinarily existing, 
 and therefore requires a point of view difficult 
 to assume by those not thoroughly experienced 
 in the new field of observation. That the in- 
 troduction of tool work into the common schools 
 has brought under observation a line of work 
 requiring a point of view not easily gained by 
 those accustomed to pass judgment upon our 
 school work is easily believed because of the 
 greatly varying opinions and suggestions which 
 are given out as a result of those observations. 
 It does not seem probable that in this new line 
 of work there is no basis on which a definite 
 theory can be placed. The present difficulty 
 appears to be the all but universal difficulty of 
 those long accustomed to a certain line of in- 
 vestigation failing to grasp the whole body of 
 facts bearing upon the new situation. 
 
 So universal is the necessity for a new point 
 of observation in the proper study of great ad- 
 vances in civilization that, however paradoxi- 
 cal it may seem, it is, nevertheless, apt to be 
 5 
 
true that those having the inqst extensive train- 
 ing for the purpose of observing and judging 
 of sociological conditions are unable to give to 
 the community a full and correct statement of 
 the value of any radically new movement in so- 
 ciety. The work of the trained investigator ap- 
 pears to be to refine and diffuse after the radi- 
 cal changes have produced a sufficient body of 
 material to make possible a new point of obser- 
 vation. 
 
 In no line of modern development is this 
 more noticeable than in the movement for a de- 
 partment of school work capable of giving a 
 larger value for those whose life's work is to be 
 spent in some line of industry. If we will 
 pause to consider what the new material is 
 that is of necessity being brought into our 
 schools as a result of this demand, we will have 
 no reason to question this statement. 
 
 Turn to any discussion of industrial educa- 
 tion by those considered best able to lead in 
 educational investigation and we find the point 
 of view substantially the same. Trained to a 
 degree that should give them large confidence 
 in their powers, rightly credited by all with a 
 breadth of learning, strong in power to think 
 out to infinitesimal distinctions along lines 
 with which they are familiar, it is not surpris- 
 ing that they do not realize, nor should we cen- 
 sure them for not realizing, that they have 
 lived and thought apart from a vast body of 
 leai-ning which is capable of supplying material 
 
 6 
 
for not only an education for industry, but 
 also material for liberal culture. 
 
 To those that have lived long in the realm of 
 books, without dealing with any line of thought 
 to be tested out by actual working of solid ma- 
 terials, there is another world about them un- 
 seen and unfelt, and neither considered in 
 their observations and search for the cause of 
 present unrest, nor in shaping their plans for 
 the uplift of the industrial classes. 
 
 To make this oilier world real to those who 
 hold in their hands the destiny of education is 
 the burden of those who live in this other world, 
 and whose lives have been such as to give them 
 a view of the intellectual side of modem indus- 
 try. 
 
 "We learn to do by doing," said by some one, 
 and quoted by the millions, has so impressed it- 
 self upon this generation as to be taken as a 
 fact, though, as ordinarily interpreted, it is lit- 
 tle else than fiction. 
 
 For untold centuries the world progressed, if 
 we can call that slow and tedious advance in 
 mechanical work progression, by doing; and, 
 had not the increasing necessities of the in- 
 creased density of population and the compar- 
 ing of methods as a result of the intermingling 
 of nationalities caused a change from the learn- 
 ing to do by doing to the learning to do by 
 ihinking, we would yet be using the mechanical 
 appliances of medieval civilization. Prom the do- 
 ing and doing over and over to get the "knack" 
 
 7 
 
or learn to imitate, the industrial advance has 
 led to the thinking out of principles making 
 the doing not the learning, but the test of the 
 thinking which has preceded. This gives a 
 foundation for growth; for there is no limit to 
 the mind's activity. The handing down from 
 generation to generation of tool processes or 
 trade manipulations gradually ceases to be a 
 factor and more and more each generation fits 
 for work by the applying of principles, disre- 
 garding the details of imitation. This gives 
 freedom and the era of invention is a necessary 
 consequence. No child feels obliged to do just 
 as his parent did. He has learned a principle 
 on which the operation or process is based and 
 feels free to make use of any muscular move- 
 ment that does not do violence to the principle. 
 The working out of these principles also elimi- 
 nates many operations of the ancient craftsman 
 because they are not in harmony with estab- 
 lished law. 
 
 The development of the science of working 
 solid materials not only gives freedom to use a 
 large variety of processes or methods, but also 
 is quite as useful in eliminating many methods 
 of work which have come down to us by rule 
 of thumb or blind imitation, and which are 
 neither efficient nor intellectual. 
 
 This not only leads to progress in industry, 
 but also to the building up of an intellectual 
 side to industrial work. It is because of this 
 change from imitative methods to those result- 
 
ing from a study of the underlying principles 
 of industrial work that modern industry has 
 made so rapid an advance, has become so inten- 
 sive, and has made the better classes of work- 
 men intelligent members of society. It is this 
 side of the work that gives to it its place in 
 the schools, and it is the failing to recognize 
 this that makes the present discussion of man- 
 ual training lead into so many vagaries and the 
 work of so many schools fail to produce the de- 
 sired results in the industrial efficiency of their 
 pupils. 
 
 Observing the physical side of the work, and 
 not having gone' deeply into the study of the 
 science underlying industrial pursuits, those 
 who are in a position to do much good fail to 
 give material aid because from their position of 
 observation they are unable to see that there is 
 a science underlying the working of solid ma- 
 terials, a science which, though in its first 
 stages of development, is yet sufficiently well 
 defined to supply the material for our school 
 shops, or that part of our school work leading 
 to the industries. 
 
 When this fact is realized and we proceed to 
 base our school shop work on science instead of 
 tool processes, history, art, or what-not, there 
 will be no call for specialization in the grades, 
 and possibly not in the high school, nor will 
 there be any need to separate those expecting 
 to enter industrial lines from those fitting for 
 the professions, because the study of the science 
 
 9 
 
of working solid materials is quite as valuable 
 a part of a liberal education as the study of any- 
 other science. Nor will there be any necessity 
 for the introduction of matter foreign to the 
 study of this science to give either interest or 
 cultural value. All attempts to make of the 
 school shop a study of things other than the 
 science of working solid materials are abortive 
 and an acknowledgment that the real subject 
 matter has been overlooked. 
 
 Our present duty is to all pull together to 
 gather the necessary material for the thorough 
 establishing of tltis science, to eliminate the 
 unscientific, the work that is based upon imi- 
 tation, and the work that leads only to discon- 
 nected facts or details, to try thoroughly each 
 statement of principle as to its truth, and then 
 as to its use as a part of a broad foundation 
 for industrial work. 
 
 By pursuing this course we can soon have 
 such a valuable science as a basis for all indus- 
 trial lines that the pupil, on leaving school, 
 will be as reasonably assured of success in any 
 industry as he now is in other lines. He will 
 not only be free to enter any one of many occu- 
 pations, but also will have a breadth of founda- 
 tion that will serve him well in case at some 
 time circumstances necessitate his changing 
 from his chosen line to a widely differing one. 
 
 Viewed as a part of a liberal education, man- 
 ual training is that branch of school work in 
 which the mental activity of the pupil is tested 
 by work upon solid materials. 
 
 10 
 
The Subject Matter 
 
 OF 
 
 Manual Training 
 
The Subject Matter of Manual 
 Training 
 
 To know that manual training is a science is 
 but the beginning of the work necessary to its 
 establishing as a part of our school work. Those 
 who are familiar with the history of the intro- 
 duction and development of mathematics, phys- 
 ics and chemistry as parts of our school course 
 have a basis for comparison in anticipating the 
 nature of the task before those working for a 
 rational course in manual training, or mechan- 
 ical science. The latter term seems to indicate 
 very clearly the nature of this division of edu- 
 cational work, and I think we may use it until 
 a better name is found. 
 
 Apparatus and Principles. 
 
 The first and obvious conclusion after we 
 learn that it is a science is that this material is 
 in the realm of law or principle rather than in 
 physical form. Although, like physics, me- 
 chanical science requires for its convenient 
 study a quantity of apparatus, yet, like physics, 
 this apparatus is not the science, but the means 
 of demonstrating it. The bench, the lathe, the 
 chisel, plane and saw are not implements to be 
 manipulated for the purpose of the manipula- 
 tion, but pieces of apparatus to be used in cer- 
 
 13 
 
tain definite ways, so that a law or principle 
 may be learned or demonstrated. The work of 
 the shop is not to learn a series of physical 
 movements, but to make use of certain carefully 
 selected movements in order to learn fundamen- 
 tal principles that may be used in the determin- 
 ing of a variety of movements. 
 
 The inclined plane and balls in the physics 
 laboratory are not for the purpose of giving 
 skill in rolling balls, but to afford an opportu- 
 nity to roll balls in such a way as to demon- 
 strate the laws of falling bodies. One who 
 has no knowledge of the physical sciences might 
 roll balls all his days, even until he became 
 more skilled in handling them than the student 
 or teacher of physics; and yet never even so 
 much as surmise that there are any laws of fall- 
 ing bodies. In like manner the imitative me- 
 chanic may use the tools of the trades all his 
 life and never discover that there are any scien- 
 tific principles in or back of these movements 
 of tools. In fact, a careful scrutiny of men 
 at work will reveal that herein lies a great deal 
 of the difference between workmen, one work- 
 ing blindly to "get the knack," to practice un- 
 til he "catches on," to ^Tseep trying until he 
 gets it," to "develop skill" and the other work- 
 ing thoughtfully, making use of such principles 
 as he has been able to discover. It is the prin- 
 ciples worked out by the individual workmen 
 and gathered into a course that give a basis 
 
for our manual training or mechanical science 
 work. Just as the gathering together of the laws 
 worked out by various students of natural phi- 
 losophy has given us the science of physics. 
 
 The Selection of Materials. 
 
 The gathering together of this more or less 
 crude material is but the start in getting the 
 subject matter for a school course in mechan- 
 ical science. To yield a proper return for time 
 and effort and the large expense usually inci- 
 dent to the teaching of shop work the material 
 must be thoroughly sifted, classified and worked 
 over to yield the largest possible value for the 
 outlay. This process of elimination and re- 
 fining has no limit so long as the race pro- 
 gresses, and therefore our subject matter can 
 not become a fixed quantity. All we can do is 
 to be certain that we have the best obtainable 
 at the present time. 
 
 This naturally leads us to surmise that cer- 
 tain lines of mechanical work will yield better 
 material than others, because some lines have 
 received a larger amount of intellectual effort. 
 I think observation bears out this suspicion, and 
 that a thorough study of modern industries will 
 convince us that some occupations are much 
 farther advanced than others; that some are 
 well established on scientific principles, while 
 others are yet in the stage of craftsmanship. 
 Therefore we must find our subject matter in 
 those industries that are highly developed, or, 
 
 15 
 
in other words, those industries that have a basis 
 in scientific tool usage rather than in imitative 
 processes or craftsmanship. 
 
 Eliminating the Unscientific. 
 
 But this is not all. In the present state of 
 development no industry is entirely scientific, 
 nor is any modern industry entirely lacking in 
 scientific principles. It is therefore a most 
 difficult task and a matter of the most serious 
 importance, after we have determined w^hat 
 lines of work to make use of in our schools, to 
 select from each line or trade that which is 
 scientific and eliminate that which is not. 
 
 To introduce woodwork or any other of the 
 highly developed occupations may mean the 
 study of scientific principles of large applica- 
 tion and great value; or it may mean simply 
 the making of a few articles and the establish- 
 ing of habits of work that will hinder rather 
 than help, should the pupil attempt work in 
 any industry. 
 
 Our subject matter cannot be selected by 
 trades or groups, but must be determined by a 
 rigid test to exclude that which is not scientific. 
 Even after we have found that part which is 
 scientific we have not done all possible, for even 
 then there is opportunity for choice. Some of 
 the principles m^ay be of larger value than oth- 
 ers, and if we will do that which is best we 
 must make use of those things of largest value. 
 
 16 
 
Universality of Principles. 
 
 In our study to determine those principles of 
 largest value we discover that many of the 
 principles are not confirmed in their applica- 
 tion to any one trade or occupation, but that 
 they are of such broad application that when 
 learned in one material they are easily applied 
 to other materials, even without any study in 
 school of the other material. We find that al- 
 though the tools and appliances used in the 
 various industries differ widely, yet the princi- 
 ples governing their use are all but universal. 
 
 This relieves our school shops of all necessity 
 of specialization or the use of detailed subject 
 matter of special trades until these general 
 principles have been learned. Such a division 
 of the work is not only unnecessary, but is 
 actually injurious to both the course and the 
 pupil, for it tends to place in the course details 
 not worth the time to learn and also to rob the 
 pupil by crowding out the study of general prin- 
 ciples which have a value as a part of a liberal 
 education. 
 
 Therefore our subject matter for manual 
 training is that part of the knowledge of work- 
 ing solid materials that is based upon scientific 
 principles of the largest value, and the work of 
 our school shops is the doing of such things as 
 will best demonstrate and teach those principles. 
 
 17 
 
The Attitude of Pupils 
 
 IN 
 
 Shop Work 
 
The Attitude of Pupils 
 
 In any line of work, either in school or out, 
 the attitude of the worker has much to do with 
 the result. Although this may be of no more 
 consequence in manual training than in other 
 branches, so greatly do the pupils vary in their 
 reasons for taking up this work and in their 
 attitude towards it, that the matter of attitude 
 becomes an element of chief importance. It 
 not only has much to do with the methods of 
 instruction, but also with the selection of ma- 
 terial; the position of the branch in the course 
 and its rank as a factor of a liberal education. 
 The attitude of the pupil may determine wheth- 
 er the shop work is a part of a well organized 
 course giving a liberal education or a ''patch 
 on an over-crowded curriculum.'^ 
 
 What Should He Think About? 
 
 As a pupil takes up his plane or other tool, 
 or a bit of material, what should he be think- 
 ing about? This may appear to be a trivial 
 question. The answers to it vary greatly as 
 given by different instructors. One pupil re- 
 ceives a bit of wood and at once a vision of a 
 rule, plant stick, or other object appears. An- 
 other pupil receives a similar piece and at 
 once the word "wood" is suggested. This is 
 
 21 
 
followed by visions of lumber piles and per- 
 haps trees. Such a train of thought may con- 
 tinue until the pupil is day-dreaming of some 
 trip to the woods. It may recall the pleasures 
 of tree-climbing until the piece of material in 
 his hands, tools, bench and school shop are all 
 forgotten and he is mentally in the top of some 
 tree. Another pupil with his piece of wood in 
 hand thinks neither of wood, lumber, trees or 
 plant stick, but recalls some similar task and 
 begins to plan how he may use what he learned 
 in the former task in accomplishing this one. 
 I venture to say that if we could read the 
 minds of the pupils in some manual training 
 classes, we would find some in trees, some us- 
 ing their plant sticks in flower gardens, and 
 very few, if any, actually engaged in the 
 thoughtful use of the tools required to make 
 the desired piece. 
 
 Are these the correct places for their minds? 
 Are these pupils, whose minds are away from 
 the bench, gaining what they ought from the 
 work? Perhaps some will hold the opinion that 
 the manual training class is the place in which 
 pupils are to proceed to the ends of the earth 
 while their hands are absent-mindedly pushing 
 a file or drawing a spoke shave. If this is the 
 proper attitude, then what is the actual value 
 of the tool work? Why are the pupils given 
 tools at all? 
 
 22 
 
Movements Should Be Definitely Directed. 
 
 The merest novice in physical culture would 
 not expect to get results worth while by mus- 
 cular movements not definitely directed. Can 
 we expect in the work shop to get intellectual 
 results from such movements? We certainly 
 do not consider a movement of the hand or 
 arm definitely directed, when the thought is 
 only to get something done. To get something 
 done may lead to the employment of another 
 person to do it. The boy who wants a plant 
 stick may get it by stealing, buying it or by 
 hiring some one to make it, or by loafing about 
 until he is given one. Any of these methods 
 may get the plant stick. It is evident that if he 
 is to make the stick, another element is essen- 
 tial and that element is the method of mak- 
 ing; but to recognize that there is this other 
 step is not all. A boy may want the object, 
 recognize that work is necessary, and that it is 
 all to a good purpose, and yet fail entirely to 
 get the intellectual benefit from the muscular 
 movements. He must go a step further and 
 recognize the fact that there is a definite way 
 in which to proceed, and that only by use of 
 these definite methods can he get the best re- 
 sults in grade work and time. There is yet an- 
 other step: He must recognize the fact that 
 these definite things are essential and must be 
 learned, not gained by imitation. They must 
 be to him real intellectual activities, not mus- 
 
 23 
 
cular movements copied from another. They 
 must be things for his mind to do, not mus- 
 cular reactions for his hands and arms only. 
 When this step is taken the shop work ceases 
 to be so largely a physical activity, the physi- 
 cal side being akin to the chalk, blackboard and 
 muscular part of working a problem. 
 
 Every Movement a Victory. 
 
 The mind is no longer a "silent partner" in 
 the work, but is actively planning and direct- 
 ing each movement; it ceases to look for oper- 
 ations to be imitated, reasoning out from what 
 has been learned, methods applicable to the 
 present task. The pupil ceases to ask how, rath- 
 er asking why. This gives to every task a 
 definite intellectual content, rendering the pu- 
 pil capable of taking an invoice of each day's 
 recitation, and instead of the dead subject of 
 tool operations, requiring a taboret to get them 
 done, the work becomes full of life. Every 
 movement of a tool is a victory in the demon- 
 strating of some principle in which the pupil 
 has become deeply interested. He no longer 
 thinks of the object, but of the thing he is 
 learning, for he realizes that there is something 
 to learn and that day by day he is making 
 definite progress and gaining in ability to do 
 really difficult work. 
 
 Desire for Power a Controlling Force. 
 
 Emerson tells us, "Life is a search after 
 power." Although each of us might choose 
 
 24 
 
to express this idea in a different form, yet 
 we all recognize that the great moving force 
 in all human activity is a desire for power, not 
 the use of power to oppress, not the use of 
 power to plunder, not the use of power to gath- 
 er everything into one's own storehouses, but 
 the realization of power within. The power 
 will be used in different ways by different peo- 
 ple, according to their moral control, or train- 
 ing, but the fundamental desire for a realiza- 
 tion of power is the same in all. 
 
 We must not fail to distinguish between the 
 condition of possessing power that is not real- 
 ized, a false belief in the possession of power 
 and the actual possession of power which is 
 fully and definitely realized. Herein lies one 
 of the chief values of shop work when properly 
 taught, for in few, if in any other subjects, is it 
 possible to give such exact tests for the purpose 
 of causing a correct estimation and realization 
 of the pupil's strength and growth from day to 
 day. 
 
 Not only should the teacher strive to gain 
 this attitude on the part of the pupil, but 
 realizing the harm which may come from a 
 false estimate of one's capabilities, no effort 
 should be spared to so arrange the work that a 
 true estimate will be gained. A false estimate 
 may be established and pupils may be made to 
 believe that they are learning and accomplish- 
 ing that which is building them up in power 
 
 25 
 
to do the world's work, but such a false esti- 
 mate is sure to be discovered should the pupil 
 attempt the practical application of his ac- 
 quisitions. 
 
 A Change in Methods. 
 That such has been the case in some sections 
 is evident from the reports of pupils failing to 
 "make good" after leaving school. This has 
 caused a change in the courses in some schools 
 with a change in the attitude of the pupils. 
 The impossibility of continuing to gain the 
 attitude of study, because of former pupils fail- 
 ing to use successfully their school shop train- 
 ing, leads to various expedients to continue an 
 interest which has lost its vitalizing force and 
 the shop becomes a place to do or study a va- 
 riety of things not capable of the exact tests, 
 and knowledge for which the manual training- 
 schools were originally established. 
 
 Let Us Acknowledge Our Failure. 
 
 Is it not better to frankly acknowledge our 
 failure to teach correctly the things we have 
 attempted and begin sifting and improving 
 the subject matter until we can teach funda- 
 mental principles of industrial work, striving 
 for an attitude of study and desire for growth 
 on the part of the pupils, rather than to bring 
 in matters foreign to the manual training 
 work and gain a false interest in the shops of 
 the regular schools, making necessary the es- 
 tablishing of variously named schools to give 
 
 26 
 
the advantages that, with properly taught shop 
 classes, could easily be given in the regular 
 schools ? 
 
 To secure this attitude of study on the part 
 of the pupil, should be a controlling factor in 
 the organization and teaching of the shop 
 work. It should determine the first lesson and 
 make it of such a nature that the pupil will 
 see in the shop work a means of gaining power 
 and fix the mental attitude not upon acquisi 
 tion of material things, but upon the increase 
 of power which results from a definite realiza- 
 tion that every stroke of the plane means not 
 alone a truer surface, but increased power to 
 true a surface; that every nail driven means 
 not alone a bit of work completed, but an in- 
 crease of power to do work. When finally the 
 surface is trued, the attitude should be not that 
 of a disagreeable task done for the purpose of 
 a true surface or a plant stick, but a realiza- 
 tion of power gained, and a wish for more sur- 
 faces to true. 
 
 The warrior who sat down and cried for 
 more worlds to conquer, had simply taken a 
 course on a large scale in the gaining of power. 
 I am not in sympathy with the subject matter 
 of his course, but I do admire his attitude to- 
 wards his work. Give to the boy or girl the 
 manual training work with hammer and saw, 
 instead of sword and spear, so that they will 
 gain the same attitude because of each day hav- 
 
 27 
 
ing a definite realization of increasing power, 
 and there will be no lack of properly qualified 
 hands to do the world's work, either mechanical 
 or professional. Degrade the work by making it 
 a task for a prize, whether it be a card, a medal 
 or a taboret, and your pupils will go out into 
 the activities of life, not looking for oppor- 
 tunities to use their strength, but inquiring by 
 what means they can easiest get a taboret. 
 
Manual Training 
 
 AND 
 
 Industry 
 
Manual Training and Industry 
 
 We come now to a very important part of 
 the manual training problem, for, although 
 manual training is believed by many to be 
 equal in rank, as a factor of a liberal educa- 
 tion, to any of the old line subjects, yet in the 
 final tests it will undoubtedly stand because 
 of its large industrial worth, or fall because 
 it does not demonstrate its special value for 
 those who engage in some branch of manufac- 
 turing. It is well, therefore, to consider care- 
 fully each detail of the work that we may give 
 to the school shop the largest possible indus- 
 trial value consistent with this branch being 
 a part of a course yielding a liberal education. 
 We may discover that when the work is prop- 
 erly taught there will be no conflict between the 
 industrial and educational values. 
 
 In developing a branch that differs in so 
 many ways from those considered as fixed sub- 
 jects of our school course, it is not easy to 
 determine what its scope shall be to yield the 
 results desired. In fact there is not yet a 
 unanimous agreement as to what ought to re- 
 sult from the teaching of shop work in the 
 public schools. At the present time we may 
 profitably consider both that which is needed 
 to fit the pupils to do the work of a tradesman 
 
 31 
 
as at present carried on and also that which 
 will best lead towards ideal efficiency and the 
 highest type of manhood and citizenship. 
 
 Two Factors Necessary. 
 
 Two factors are necessary for the highest 
 type of workrnan aside from the broader quali- 
 fication of general intelligence. The first is 
 competency to do the work. The second factor, 
 often of quite as much importance as the first, 
 is adaptability, the power by which the work- 
 man is able to change employment with a min- 
 imum of loss, both to himself and to his em- 
 ployer. This change may be for the purpose of 
 developing a new line of work without change 
 of employer, or it may be a change from one 
 establishment to another. The first factor may 
 result from long experience with small intel- 
 lectual activity. The latter can come only 
 through a thorough knowledge of the princi- 
 ples common to a variety of occupations. 
 
 Industrial education cannot wait for the de- 
 velopment of some theory, but must show some 
 results worth while as the theories are being 
 worked out. Neither can we expect the public 
 to tolerate experimenting, based only on the 
 theories developed apart from the actual activi- 
 ties of occupational life. We should, however, 
 aim not simply at the production of a class of 
 workmen on the level of present industrial life, 
 but ought rather to strive for the advancement 
 of the work to the best system of production, 
 
 32 
 
and the advancement of the worker to the larg- 
 est efficiency and the highest type of workman. 
 
 Great Diversity of Industries. 
 
 We may gain information to guide us in 
 planning our new line of school work by a study 
 of industrial life. Such an investigation leads 
 at once to the observation that our industries 
 comprise an extremely wide range of activities. 
 It is therefore necessary to decide whether a 
 pupil should be fitted for only one industry or 
 given a training that will make possible the 
 successful entering of any of a large class of 
 industries. 
 
 Should we attempt to fit for a single indus- 
 try, we meet the very serious difficulty of va- 
 rious practices in the identical same line of 
 work. Many illustrations can be given to 
 prove this point. The following statement in 
 a technical periodical* is sufficient: "It is al- 
 ways interesting to note the various ways in 
 which the same class of material is handled 
 in different shops. Of course, this difference 
 is sometimes a case of necessity rather than 
 choice, as a shop is often originally planned 
 and equipped for an entirely different class of 
 work than that for which it is finally used, but 
 even where shops have been fitted up expressly 
 for certain similar lines of work, the divergence 
 in methods or tools is often very marked." This 
 variety in methods in the same industry as 
 well as the very great diversity of industries, 
 
 "Machinery, New York, August, 1909, page 921. 
 3 33 
 
is a factor to be reckoned with in every com- 
 munity attempting any sort of specialization 
 in the schools. So evident is this multiplicity 
 of trades and occupations that it seems to us 
 that those who believe the schools can fit for 
 individual trades have the burden of proof on 
 their hands, and until there is reasonable proof 
 that the communities can be generally accom- 
 modated by such schools, we may reasonably 
 assume that the public schools cannot develop 
 a line of trade schools sufficiently compre- 
 hensive and sufficiently diversified to accom- 
 modate the public as a whole. 
 
 Even if by application of the rule of the 
 greatest good to the greatest number, we suc- 
 ceed in establishing trade schools in various 
 communities, each accomanodating the leading 
 occupations of its community or city, are we 
 doing the best for the community as a whole? 
 Can any division of our population receive the 
 best that is their due if the boys and girls are 
 born to an occupation as must necessarily fol- 
 low such a community specialization? 
 
 Two T5^es of Workmen. 
 
 A further evidence of this variety in shop de- 
 tail and the inefficiency of simple trade instruc- 
 tion is shown by the different degrees of success 
 met with by men as they move from one shop 
 to another. Some change from place to plac6» 
 each time advancing in their work; others, on 
 leaving the shop where they first learned their 
 34 
 
work or trade, find themselves unable to meet 
 the conditions of the new place. They are 
 obliged to begin again, making little use of 
 their first training. A thorough study of these 
 types of workmen reveals that one has been ever 
 a student of principles, the other has worked 
 just as hard learning tool manipulations and 
 may be fairly capable of studying the work in 
 the other manner, if properly directed. Shall 
 the school courses be organized on the plan of 
 actual shop life, permitting each pupil to pro- 
 gress under instruction similar to that of actual 
 apprenticeship training, teaching tool manip- 
 ulations and processes with only the exceptional 
 pupil gaining a knowledge of principles? Or, 
 is the work to be made a real school subject 
 and handled according to well established peda- 
 gogical laws so that every pupil will be led 
 into the broader field of trade work? 
 
 In determining the name and character of 
 our schools, we must not overlook the fact that 
 a school may be called a trade school and yet 
 do much more than teach a trade or a certain 
 number of trades, and also that a school may 
 be named the very opposite of a trade school 
 and yet teach only trade manipulations of very 
 limited value. 
 
 School Shops Should Not Drill for Skill. 
 
 To treat the shop work of the school as 
 craftsmanship, drilling for skill in some special 
 line, or in certain selected tool manipulations, 
 
 35 
 
whether from one trade or from several trades, 
 is to turn out a class of pupils of more or less 
 efficiency with but a small percentage capable 
 of adapting themselves to a sufficiently wide 
 range of occupations to insure anything above 
 ordinary success, and this is now gained by 
 a large number of boys without the advantages 
 of a mechanical school. Unless the school shops 
 can show returns exceeding, to a considerable 
 extent, the ordinary conditions of training, 
 there will be great difficulty in sustaining them 
 at public expense. That pupils may receive 
 some advantages because of opportunities to 
 learn drawing, mathematics, etc., and because 
 of this, show themselves superior to the or- 
 dinary shop apprentice, is no excuse for not 
 giving the best possible shop training. 
 
 In our enthusiasm, we ought not to overlook 
 the fact that there are several things that may 
 increase the standing of the young mechanic. 
 If a boy who has completed a certain course 
 goes into a factory and is advanced over boys 
 who have had substantially no schooling, it 
 does not prove that every branch of the course 
 has been what it ought to have been, or even 
 helpful. In so large a number of subjects, the 
 sum total may be helpful while some of the 
 factors are decidedly harmful. It is not a 
 question of making one boy better than another, 
 but rather of making each boy the best pos- 
 sible for the time and expense at command. 
 
 36 
 
Strive for the Larger Things. 
 
 It therefore appears that if the school shop 
 is to give results to warrant its cost, it must 
 turn to the larger successes of trade life, a 
 large percentage of those who pursue its courses. 
 This does not mean that they are to train for 
 foremen, superintendents, or other executive 
 positions, but that they are to give to a large 
 percentage of their pupils such a training as 
 will lead them to a thorough knowledge of the 
 principles underlying the every day details of 
 their work, and because of this, to use a high 
 degree of intelligence in their common occu- 
 pations. This does not mean that the special 
 aim of the manual training school is to make 
 of the boy an intelligent citizen. This is al- 
 ready accomplished by the old line subjects. 
 The special feature to be added by this new line 
 of school work is the making of his daily la- 
 bors such as will require and continually build 
 up his intellectual activities. This necessitates 
 not simply the teaching of the boy to do a cer- 
 tain line of work, but rather the teaching him 
 to do his work in such a manner as will cause 
 a large use of his mind and consequent growth 
 of intelligence. 
 
 Shop work in school is not so much for the 
 purpose of teaching tool work as for the pur- 
 pose of improving the intellectual and manhood 
 factors in the work. In one sense, its purpose 
 is similar to that of teaching literature. That 
 
 37 
 
is taught not for the purpose of teaching read- 
 ing, but for the purpose of getting out of read- 
 ing that which will build up the larger and 
 higher intellectual activities. Shop work should 
 be taught not simply to make the pupils work, 
 but for the purpose of getting out of work the 
 highest and noblest that is possible. 
 
 Make the Workmen Intellectual. 
 
 We must not forget that a higher grade of 
 intelligence can be maintained only by making 
 the work of a more intellectual nature. To at- 
 tempt to lift the workman by patching on to 
 his education a little superficial knowledge of 
 various outside lines of "eiilture," or by teach- 
 ing him a lot of details in his own trade, which 
 he is not likely to use, while leaving him to do 
 his daily tasks by blind imitation and the mus- 
 cular reactions which result from skill alone, 
 is to fail in our efforts to elevate the tone of in- 
 dustrial life; for, unless we train the workman 
 so that his mind is built up by the work on 
 which he is daily engaged, his power to benefit 
 by the extraneous training is sooner or later 
 lost because of the impossibility of a mind more 
 or less dormant through the active working 
 hours continuing to respond to outside influ- 
 ences. 
 
 Industrial education should aim to make the 
 task of the industrial worker as highly intel- 
 lectual as possible, replacing in a continually 
 greater degree, "rule of thumb" and imitative 
 
 38 
 
methods by the highly developed scientific 
 methods of modern mechanical science. It 
 should mean not simply more boys entering in- 
 dustrial lines, but also a larger intelligence in 
 industrial work. It should mean a constantly 
 increasing number of workmen that put inde- 
 pendent intellectual activity behind the routine 
 and muscle of their daily tasks. 
 
 Makes Labor Honorable. 
 If the work of the tradesman is given the 
 intellectual basis which it ought to have, there 
 will be no lack of those to enter these lines, for 
 such a foundation for the work must necessarily 
 give it a standing and respect before all that 
 will tend to make honorable the entering upon 
 the life of a scientific worker in materials. To say 
 that all work is honorable and try to create a re- 
 spect for labor by having pupils perform certain 
 tasks having some of the characteristics of daily 
 toil is only to burlesque the whole matter. Take 
 away from the commonly called lowly occupa- 
 tions of mankind, the long hours, the continued 
 routine, the special conditions under which the 
 laborer exists and the necessity for labor and 
 they cease to be lowly occupations. None of 
 these conditions of the laborer are possible in 
 any sort of a free public educational institu- 
 tion. On the other hand, make the laborer 
 a student of the laws governing his work, cause 
 the whole community to realize that there is 
 a foundation in law capable of being treated 
 
 39 
 
as a science for all the laborer does and that 
 he actually knows this science and is governed 
 by it in his daily work, and he becomes a re- 
 spected member of society because the intel- 
 lectual obscures the physical. Allow the in- 
 tellectual to subside and the physical to predom- 
 inate and that man enters again the ranks of 
 the "toilers." Kespect is of the mind and its 
 appreciation is for that which shows mental 
 power. 
 
 Not a "Fad." 
 
 This we believe is the ideal aim of shop work 
 at public expense. If so, it is neither a fad nor 
 a patch upon the public curriculum, but the 
 legitimate result of that advance in mechanical 
 work which has changed the working of solid 
 materials from cut and try and imitative meth- 
 ods to those based upon scientific principles. It 
 is not the forcing into the schools of matter out- 
 side the legitimate lines of public school work, 
 but rather the reaching out of the schools for 
 a new and advanced line of intellectual activity 
 to give to the curriculum a yet stronger and 
 more efficient means of supplying to all a 
 liberal education. 
 
 And why may not this be the aim of this 
 new branch of school work? No shadow of 
 evidence exists showing that by striving for the 
 larger values we will lose any of the lesser ad- 
 vantages. No more equipment is required, no 
 
longer hours are needed, no less interest in the 
 work and no less usefulness on leaving school. 
 The hoy or girl that has learned to put in- 
 telligence into the common tasks of life can do 
 them quite as quickly and as well-we do not 
 ueed to argue that we can do them^ better — 
 while over and above all they can live a bet- 
 ter life as a common workman, and, should 
 opportunity offer, they are ready to do some- 
 thing larger for the benefit of themselves 
 and the coromunity that fitted them broad- 
 ly for a life's work. 
 
 41 
 
Methods of Instruction 
 
 IN 
 
 Manual Training 
 
Methods of Instruction 
 
 Following our inquiry in regard to the nature 
 of manual training, the subject matter of in- 
 struction, the attitude of the pupil in the class- 
 room, and the relation of manual training work 
 t:> the industrial world, naturally arises the ques- 
 tion of actual classroom methods in such a sys- 
 tem of manual training. It is not necessary 
 that at this time we enter into a consideration 
 of the details of classroom practice, but rather 
 touch upon some of the more important fea- 
 tures that distinguish scientific manual train- 
 ing or mechanical science from that of trade 
 instruction or craftsmanship. 
 
 To those who look upon the shop work as 
 necessarily a sort of recreation period, the teach- 
 ing of a science with the pupils hard at v7ork 
 studying a text book and working to demonstrate 
 principles, seems an impossibility, yet this is 
 what actually takes place where scientific man- 
 ual training is properly taught. Methods that 
 will give this result are not so difficult as some 
 suppose, as has been demonstrated. 
 
 That the attitude of the teachers and their 
 knowledge of the work has much to do with the 
 methods of instruction is too well understood 
 by all school people to require any argument. 
 We will assume that the instructor is fully pre- 
 45 
 
pared and thoroughly in earnest. That such 
 instructors cannot be found at present . for all 
 schools need not be considered in this connec- 
 tion. 
 
 Lessons Should Be Definite. 
 
 The first thing that the pupil is to take away 
 with him is a definite feeling that he has learned 
 something. Therefore the first lesson should be 
 planned with a definite idea in it that is within 
 the reach of the pupil. The instructor must 
 ever keep in mind that the thing he is teaching 
 is not history, botany, physics or even mechan- 
 ical engineering, but the science of working 
 solid materials, and must therefore use such 
 methods as will draw upon this science for the 
 ideas to be taught. This does not hinder such 
 a consideration and correlation of other branches 
 as may be gathered around the mechanical 
 science with it as a center and basis for the 
 whole. 
 
 The giving of this definite idea in the first 
 lesson necessarily compels a very careful plan- 
 ning of the lesson, not only to be sure that the 
 idea is in the lesson, but also that the pupil will 
 actually get the idea instead of doing the work 
 by blind imitation of certain muscular move- 
 ments. This difiiculty is akin to that of getting 
 the pupil to understand a rule in mathematics, 
 a proposition in geometry or a law in physics 
 rather than merely committing the words by rote. 
 The instruction of the shop, however, has a 
 great advantage over that of any other branch, 
 
 46 
 
beca"use it is possible here to make the dem- 
 onstration so vivid that an attempt to do the 
 work by blind imitation is sure not only to be 
 discovered by the instructor, but also to be 
 realized by the pupil to such an extent as will 
 compel a study and understanding of the idea 
 behind the mov^ement of hand or tool. There- 
 fore one of the most important things is to 
 start out in a manner to gain this study of the 
 principles to avoid the doing of the work by 
 imitation. 
 
 Limit of Accuracy. 
 
 Questioning should be the plan of instruc- 
 tion rather than telling. Working for a knowl- 
 edge of the principles rather than grade of 
 work should be the aim. The degree of accu- 
 racy to be required will then be determined by 
 whether the point being taught is well under- 
 stood. To reach a close measurement or to keep 
 the corners and edges sharp is not a matter of 
 skill but of knowledge of principles. To have 
 a certain fraction of an inch as a standard to 
 work to is certain to defeat the purpose of the 
 work, for this leads the pupil to employ any 
 method that will bring the material within the 
 allowed variations. To have no standard other 
 than the demonstrating of the principle must 
 necessarily result in a large percentage of the 
 work being brought to a much higher degree 
 of perfection than it would be safe to place as 
 an arbitrary limit, at the same time leaving an 
 opportunity for the passing of particular pieces 
 
 47 
 
that for special reasons are not as 'accurate as 
 usually required. It is the same in principle as 
 expecting absolute accuracy in arithmetic with 
 the occasional accepting of a problem in which 
 all the chief operations and principles are cor- 
 rect but the answer out because of a slight error 
 in a minor operation. That this method in shop 
 worli does actually result in a high degree of 
 accuracy is evidenced by the fact that teachers 
 using the set standard of a certain fraction of 
 an inch are unable to understand how the pupils 
 in scientific manual training work to such close 
 limits. 
 
 Again, this standard of excellence is not to 
 be determined and attained by a continued 
 criticising and compelling of the pupil to go 
 over and over his work correcting little errors 
 pointed out by the instructor, but rather it must 
 be attained by a definite working to a satis- 
 factory standard by the application of the prin- 
 ciples taught. It must be the direct and legiti- 
 mate result of the application of the principles 
 without the aid of the instructor in pointing 
 out small variations. 
 
 A shop method that permits a pupil to hesi- 
 tatingly work first to an approximate size and 
 then rework and rework, gradually approaching 
 the line, is as pernicious in the shop as the writ- 
 ing of an answer to a problem in arithmetic 
 and then guessing and trying to fill in the 
 various operations. 
 
 The principle should be understood as a re- 
 
 48 
 
suit of a step by step progress from the known 
 to tlie unknown, and the result in the shop 
 should be as certain and direct as the solving 
 of a problem in mathematics. There must also 
 be this advantage in the shop work, i. e., each 
 problem must be so graded and adapted to the 
 pupil that a reasonable effort will result in a 
 correct solution. This of course excludes from 
 the shop all wild, half thought out schemes of 
 the pupils. In fact, proper methods of shop 
 work will result in the pupil asking advice of 
 the instructor for the purpose of selecting a 
 project that will be of large value in what it 
 will teach rather than in filling some material 
 want. Probably in no other feature of the shop 
 work is it so difficult for the layman to distin- 
 guish between that which tends to scientific 
 manual training and that which does not as in 
 the larger problems or projects. 
 
 The "Cant's." 
 The boy who "can't" or knows he "can't" 
 should be taken in hand and made to see so 
 clearly that he can if he will study his text, that 
 he will realize his failure is his own fault be- 
 cause of not studying. If the teacher has a prop- 
 er knowledge of the work and methods of teach- 
 ing, the "can't's" will rapidly vanish, for as the 
 scientific treatment of the work reduces the 
 matter of skill to almost a negligible quantity, 
 success becomes almost solely a matter of study 
 and mental activity, and therefore every pupil 
 
 4 49 
 
having normal mental power is with reasonable 
 application able to succeed. This is not saying 
 that all pupils will attain the same grade of 
 work, but rather that all will attain a successful 
 minimum. Further, this minimum need never 
 be below a thoroughly well finished problem, and 
 cannot be if the instructor use such methods 
 as compel the learning of the principles and 
 their definite application to each problem. 
 
 Demonstrations. 
 
 The method of presenting the instruction is 
 a matter of chief importance. In the teaching 
 of scientific manual training there should never 
 be given a demonstration for a whole class. 
 The need for class demonstration can come only 
 from a wrong attitude towards the work on the 
 part of both teacher and pupil. After the pupil 
 has studied the text, done all in his power to 
 learn it and apply it, he may fail to grasp some 
 point. It is then the duty of the teacher to find 
 out exactly what is lacking and by some means 
 help the pupil out. This may often be done by 
 questioning on the text. Sometimes additional 
 directions may be given orally. Sometimes 
 the teacher may answer the definite question of 
 the pupil by the use of a tool. It is not neces- 
 sary for me to argue that this answering of a 
 definite question is essentially different from a 
 demonstration lesson, although a part of the 
 very same operation may be performed. In one 
 case the pupil is looking for something to imi- 
 
 50 
 
tate, in the other he is thinking and looking 
 for an idea to complete his thought. 
 
 The class demonstration continually weakens 
 the pupil by increasing his dependence on an- 
 other. The text book and explanation method 
 increases continually the pupiFs strength by 
 making him capable of doing without any per- 
 sonal assistance. In fact, as has been proven 
 by experience, he soon learns to reason out step 
 by step from what he knows difficult problems 
 that are not answered even in the text. This 
 continued through a fair school course gives 
 the pupil power, on leaving school, to enter any 
 of a large number of industries and with' little 
 or no assistance or "showing" reason out the 
 needed new processes from the principles he has 
 as his stock in trade. If he finds his stock too 
 limited or incomplete in some detail, he has 
 learned to go to books for help and will likely 
 have no difficulty in finding a book that will 
 give him the needed assistance. 
 
 The Nature of the Text. 
 
 If so much is to be gained from the study of 
 mechanical science by the use of a text, it is 
 evident that the character of the text is of great 
 importance. As the chief value of the text is 
 not to give information but to lead to general- 
 izations and a knowledge of principles, it is 
 essential that the text be such a carefully and 
 systematically planned course as will have this 
 result. For this reason the basing of the work 
 
 51 
 
on reference books, or the use of methods or 
 projects that require a large use of random 
 references, is certain to cause a failure to get 
 the intellectual out of the work. If the pupil 
 is allowed to plan his work and carry it for- 
 ward by use of reference works or by the assist- 
 ance of the instructor he must necessarily base 
 his course on the project, and this in turn neces- 
 sitates the steps in the project determining the 
 order of study and the getting of something 
 done the ultimate aim. There is therefore no 
 power to cause the pupil to study a single prin- 
 ciple underlying the work he is doing. All he 
 requires and all he will get is a process or so 
 much of a process as he needs on his project. 
 This bit of detail or information is not neces- 
 sarily connected with anything that precedes 
 or follows, and therefore having no logical con- 
 nection with anything is soon forgotten. The 
 result is that definite progress is not assured 
 and the completion of such a course no evidence 
 of ability to handle new problems. It is not 
 certain that the pupil can repeat the very prob- 
 lems worked out in his school course, for each 
 detail having been learned for immediate use 
 and not connected by any underlying principles 
 with other details is often forgotten as soon as 
 used, so that at the end of the course the only 
 things noticeable that the pupil carries away 
 from the school is a poorly executed problem 
 and a large over-estimate of his knowledge of 
 mechanical work. The writer has often seen 
 
 52 
 
this demonstrated by pupils who have applied 
 to him for advanced credit after completing a 
 part or all of the work at well known institu- 
 tions. It may be found that this method of 
 class demonstration and the attempt to complete 
 a course in school shop work by basing the in- 
 struction on the project instead of following 
 definitely planned courses by the use of regular 
 texts is the chief reason why so many pupils 
 from the manual training schools fail to make 
 good in industry. This naturally leads to the 
 demand for other types of schools for the teach- 
 ing of industrial work. If the root of the dif- 
 ficulty is in the methods of instruction em- 
 ployed in the common schools, would it not be 
 wise to first improve these methods before going 
 to the large expense of establishing a separate 
 class of schools? 
 
 Failures in Old-Line Methods. 
 
 The writer has found much evidence of the 
 failure of the old-line methods, not only in his 
 work with pupils in the grades and in high 
 school, but also with those who have been pre- 
 pared by well known institutions as teachers of 
 manual training. These people, graduates of 
 what are supposed to be our best schools, were 
 found to be unable to perform in a proper man- 
 ner many of the elementary tool operations. On 
 taking up scientific manual training they have 
 confessed that their former course has somehow 
 failed to provide them with the information, but 
 
 53 
 
that until actually studying the scientific prin- 
 ciples of working materials they did not realize 
 that their first course was so defective. The 
 comparison made by some of these pupils, those 
 ranking high in their credits in old-line work, 
 would be considered gross exaggerations by those 
 not familiar with the two systems of work. 
 
 Lack of an Established Standard. 
 
 There can be no question but that the most 
 serious difficulty at present in the building up 
 of a course in school shop work and the estab- 
 lishing of proper methods of shop instruction 
 is the lack of proper and well understood stand- 
 ards with which to compare results. The work 
 is established in a school or possibly in an entire 
 school system and the work done is thought to 
 be ideal. Teachers and pupils are delighted. 
 Large and showy projects are made and pupils, 
 teachers and parents believe that wonders have 
 been accomplished. Eventually some of the 
 pupils find employment in shops or factories 
 and the school shop work is credited with the 
 success. No careful analysis is made to deter- 
 mine how much these boys owe to their tool 
 work in school nor to determine what part of 
 the work is responsible for the results. Seldom 
 if ever are the methods of school shop work and 
 the methods of instruction definitely criticised, 
 and last but not least the fact that boys have 
 entered shops and factories in large numbers 
 and have met with success without any school 
 
 54 
 
shop work is overlooked. The determining of a 
 standard for comparison will aid greatly in 
 answering the question : Are the methods in use 
 in the school shops actually producing results 
 with the pupils that specially need this work? 
 There is another question that has not yet been 
 satisfactorily answered in many sections: Are 
 the results of a permanent character, or only 
 those contingent upon the work being new and 
 appealing to a superficial interest by its novelty? 
 
 Spoiling Work 
 
 Another method peculiar to scientific manual 
 training is the conducting of the class work so 
 that seldom a piece is spoiled. Only in a very 
 exceptional case is any pupil given a duplicate 
 piece of material. This tends to a careful plan- 
 ning of work, care and system in the work, and 
 the largest possible thought factor in every de- 
 tail. It is the logical sequence of teaching prin- 
 ciples which proceed from the known to the un- 
 known by such steps as the pupil is able to take 
 with certainty, and therefore there is little op- 
 portunity for spoiled projects or spoiled pieces of 
 even small size. This avoiding of spoiled work 
 is not to be accomplished by having the pupil 
 lay aside his regular work from time to time and 
 practice the various operations on extra material. 
 With the study of principles rather than pro- 
 cesses there is really nothing to practice, for if 
 the principle is well understood the result is 
 correct the first time, if it is not understood the 
 
 55 
 
proper course to pursue is to get an under- 
 standing of it before attempting to apply it in 
 the working of the material. 
 
 Although this avoids waste of material and 
 reduces to a considerable degree the expense 
 of carrying on the shop work, yet its chief value 
 is in the constant increase in the power and con- 
 fidence of the pupil that naturally follows the 
 doing of tasks each more and more difficult and 
 yet without any failures. 
 
 For pupils to demonstrate to themselves by 
 the use of properly graded shop work that they 
 can by proper study and effort do new and dif- 
 ficult tasks with a certainty that they will suc- 
 ceed is one of the largest possible benefits that 
 can come from any sort of school or educational 
 work. Is it not therefore reasonable to place a 
 very high value on methods that will yield this 
 return and on a system of work that readily 
 affords an opportunity for such methods? 
 
 56 
 
Our Duty Toward 
 
 the Manual 
 Training Movement 
 
Our Duty Toward the Movement 
 
 This series of articles would be incomplete 
 were they to close without pointing out some 
 ways in which this movement may be aided by 
 those interested in the welfare of our educa- 
 tional system and the children. It is not an 
 easy task to point out what is needed to be 
 done without noticing some of the deficiencies 
 of) the work as at present given in our leading 
 schools. As we have worked and observed the 
 work of others almost since the first manual 
 training schools were established, we have been 
 unwillingly forced to the conclusion that the 
 greatest harm, done to the cause is the with- 
 holding of just criticisms for fear that some 
 one would be led to believe that the whole man- 
 ual training idea is wrong. To such an extent 
 has this feeling prevailed that even those striv- 
 ing diligently for the right have been forced to 
 yield to improper methods of work because of 
 the popularity of superficial and showy attempts 
 by others to get results that would appeal to 
 those having no knowledge or understanding of 
 the larger values of manual training work. 
 
 In our criticisms and attempts to point out 
 ways and means of aiding this movement, it 
 must not be understood that we believe no good 
 has yet come from the various attempts at 
 
 59 
 
school shopwork. "The past has taught its les- 
 son, the present has its duty, the future its 
 hope," and without taking space to review what 
 has been done, let us consider our duty at the 
 present, not as passive recipients of the good 
 the work is doing, but as factors in advancing 
 this branch of school work. This subject, 
 though well enough established to leave little 
 doubt of its continuance as a part of the school 
 courses, is yet new and immature when com- 
 pared with the possibilities before it, and there- 
 fore has a claim on all for whatever aid is in 
 their power to give. 
 
 Our Chief Difficulty. 
 
 Perhaps our chief difficulty lies in placing too 
 much emphasis on what has been accomplished, 
 for as we review the long list of benefits al- 
 ready received, we feel that our duty to the 
 movement has been discharged and that now all 
 we have to do is to continue along present lines, 
 or, in other words, we fail to realize that we 
 are dealing with a new and most powerful fac- 
 tor that is to develop into one of the most im- 
 portant factors in a system providing a liberal 
 education. 
 
 Because of our experience with other subjects 
 of the school course we make use of a false 
 standard and fail to realize how much more 
 can be accomplished by this new subject. We 
 rest content, feeling that its limit has been 
 reached when in reality the results obtained are 
 
 60 
 
insignificant compared with what should be ac- 
 complished. No doubt this lack of a proper 
 standard for comparison is the cause of much 
 of the slackness in the administration of this 
 part of our school work. 
 
 Should we criticise the work in any other 
 subject of the school course, we would judge it 
 as to whether it taught the thing intended or 
 not and we would permit no indefinite guessing 
 as to what was to be taught. If we were to 
 pass judgment on the value of a composition on 
 American history, we would not ignore the er- 
 rors in historical facts and call the paper ex- 
 cellent because the writer had made a fine ap- 
 pearing paper by the aid of a writing machine, 
 nor would we condemn a historical paper of a 
 high order because the writing was only ordi- 
 nary. 
 
 Yet we see shop work judged excellent be- 
 cause the pupil, or teacher, selected an artistic 
 design, although the construction is of an ex- 
 tremely poor quality and lacking in all the more 
 valuable features of manual training. We also 
 see other work condemned because the design is 
 not the most replete with curves and surface 
 decoration, though it shows not only excellent 
 workmanship, but also demonstrates large 
 growth in both mechanical efficiency and intel- 
 lectual power. To such an extent is the work 
 based on design and superficial appearance in 
 ona of the most noted manual training schools 
 
 61 
 
of this country that the advance in knowledge 
 of working materials is all but a negligible 
 quantity throughout the course, except with 
 such few pupils as have a sufficiently large 
 natural ability to dig out these principles in 
 addition to any requirements of the school. In 
 fact, the only pupils that appear to be advanced 
 to any noticeable degree in the line of mechan- 
 ical work, or to receive any intellectual growth 
 from the use of tools, are those who would "dig 
 out a trade" without a teacher if given tools 
 and a place for work. Are we doing our duty 
 by the pupils and the taxpayers when we estab- 
 lish expensive manual training schools and al- 
 low such methods of work .as permit the shops 
 and mechanical courses to be only passive ele- 
 ments in the school work? 
 
 Not Finding Fault 
 This is not finding fault with good design or 
 art, but as no one has yet shown any reason 
 whatever why we cannot have these things to- 
 gether with the learning of the things for which 
 manual training was established, it seems that 
 some one has a serious duty to perform when 
 we see schools in which various other lines of 
 work have largely or entirely displaced the 
 manual training work, although making use of 
 the forms and tools properly belonging to the 
 manual training. One does not need to visit 
 many leading manual training schools to find, if 
 he will take the trouble to see exactly what is 
 
 62 
 
being done, pupils who have passed through the 
 woodshops with no apparent growth in ability 
 to work solid materials nor with any of the in- 
 tellectual growth that should result from a 
 thorough and definite study of mechanical sci- 
 ence. 
 
 Teacher's Qualifications. 
 Closely allied with our duty in criticising the 
 work is that of careful scrutiny of the teacher's 
 qualifications. As an example, Mr. G se- 
 cured a position in one of our largest cities as 
 instructor in shopwork in a ward school. He 
 was recommended by a school known to sub- 
 stantially all educators as a school especially 
 qualified to fit pupils for teaching manual train- 
 ing. The actual preparation that this teacher 
 received was some of the schooFs theories and 
 shop practice, consisting of the making a ''plant 
 label" and partly making a "plant stick." On 
 being asked how he managed to get along on 
 such a limited knowledge of tool work, he re- 
 plied that for the first three months he watched 
 the pupils to see how they did the work. 
 
 The writer's observations confirm the state- 
 ment of many practical men that there is alto- 
 gether too large a percentage of people in the 
 school woodshops who have nothing to teach in 
 the line of woodwork and are therefore bluffing 
 and trying to make a showing by pointing to 
 the design, the art, the "self-activity of the 
 pupil" and various other outside matters to 
 
 63 
 
cover up, their total deficiency in knowledge of 
 working materials. 
 
 Another Example. ( 
 
 Again, in a city specially favored with an 
 enthusiastic superintendent and plenty of 
 means, various systems of manual training were 
 supposed to be tried out and conclusions 
 reached. The writer, anxious to get the best 
 to be had, took occasion to attend as a regular 
 pupil the classes of one of the instructors. You 
 can imagine the writer's feelings on discovering 
 that this teacher, supposed to be at or near the 
 top in his line, had never thought of any prin- 
 ciples of tool work and was grossly ignorant of 
 many simple tool operations. In fact, he had 
 literally nothing to teach. At best he had only 
 a few muscular movements to go through be- 
 fore the class for the pupils to blindly imitate. 
 It is no wonder that that city, after a variety 
 of such experimenting, should now be trying a 
 trade school. It is the duty of some one to 
 change this condition. 
 
 Why Trade Schools? 
 
 Should we dig to the bottom of the present 
 agitation for a dual system of schools there 
 seems little doubt but that we will find the 
 cause of the difficulty in the employment of in- 
 competent instructors in the shops of the regu- 
 lar schools. 
 
 Scattered throughout the country are a few 
 
 64 
 
teachers who actually know what they are try- 
 ing to teach and actually teach it, but mixed 
 up with these in all sorts of official relations are 
 those who have substantially no knowledge of 
 the fundamental principles of working solid 
 materials and are therefore putting up all sorts 
 of bluffs and makeshifts to take the place of 
 actual instruction in mechanical lines. That 
 some one has failed to do his duty is plainly 
 evident. Our present duty is to take nothing 
 for granted and go carefully into the details 
 of our school shop work that no one may be 
 misjudged. Those doing good work should be 
 encouraged and helped to do more and better, 
 while those bluffing at the job should be elim- 
 inated. 
 
 Duty of Superintendent. 
 
 There are many ways in which the superin- 
 tendent of schools can help the manual training 
 movement. As most of these officials have had 
 no opportunity to study this line of work either 
 by actually doing it or teaching it, there is ex- 
 ceptional need for school principals that have 
 a thorough knowledge both of the theory and 
 practice of shop instruction. Therefore the su- 
 perintendent has an opportunity to aid much by 
 encouraging the school principals to spend the 
 necessary time to get a thorough knowledge of 
 the work. Also in employing principals he can 
 give the preference to candidates satisfactory 
 in other respects and up in manual training 
 
 5 65 
 
work. He will be able to aid very much by 
 encouraging all his teachers to get as large an 
 understanding of the shop work as their time 
 will permit. His chief aid, however, is in help- 
 ing to form a healthy public sentiment. 
 
 Basement Shops. 
 Wc may all help to get the shops out of the 
 dark cellars and basements. It is impossible to 
 teach the principles of shop work in a satisfac- 
 tory manner unless there is an abundance of 
 well diffused light. It is not enough that a 
 pupil may be able to see the lines on his work 
 by holding it up to the light. In order to learn 
 the correct methods of doing the work, the pupil 
 must be able to see all the lines definitely with 
 the work in proper position on the bench. This 
 is impossible with ordinary basement light, and 
 especially so where it enters from but one side. 
 While a pupil may turn a book about until the 
 light is effective, the shop work often cannot 
 be thus turned. Everyone having to do with 
 the manual training work should aid in creat- 
 ing a sentiment that will make the use of an 
 improperly lighted basement for shop work en- 
 tirely out of the question. If room is insuffi- 
 cient and a basement must be used, then use it 
 for some class that does not require so much 
 light. Other recitations usually require half 
 the time and therefore it is a matter of good 
 hygiene to use the rooms for such recitations 
 as will change the pupils about often, keeping 
 
 66 
 
one class in the unpleasant surroundings for as 
 short a time as possible. With properly con- 
 ducted courses, the noise and litter of the wood- 
 shop need not hinder its being located in any 
 schoolroom. We are rapidly passing from that 
 stage in the development of shop work when its 
 success is to be measured by the amount of 
 noise made and the piles of shavings and ma- 
 terials, possibly spoiled pieces littered about the 
 room. We have almost reached a point when 
 we can say that the actual value of the work 
 is inversely as the amount of noise and also 
 the quantity of materials used. It is therefore 
 true that the school shop has no greater claim 
 on us all than to have this fact recognized and 
 be placed in a respectable part of the school 
 buildings. 
 
 Is the Pupil Thinking? 
 
 Another duty that can be successfully per- 
 formed only by those familiar with the educa- 
 tional processes and able to judge accurately of 
 the intellectual activities of the pupils, as well 
 as having an exact knowledge of the shop prob- 
 lems, is the careful analysis of the work to de- 
 termine whether it is resulting in actual think- 
 ing or only in simple perceptions. Is the pupil 
 merely receiving, bit by bit, such fragments of 
 information as he requires in the making of his 
 project or is he forming generalizations and 
 learning fundamental principles that he under- 
 stands and will be able to apply to other and 
 
 67 
 
various problems? No more important task is 
 before those able to carry on this line of criti- 
 cism and no other line of criticism will do so 
 much to establish the valuable and eliminate 
 the worthless. 
 
 To place correct values on each detail of the 
 work, though a matter of no small labor, is also 
 a matter of no small importance. It is neither 
 just to the shop work nor to* the pupils to per- 
 mit extraneous matter to be traded for the real 
 values of tool work, nor can we hope to make 
 definite progress so long as this substituting is 
 permitted. Only by this careful analysis of 
 the work and the placing of the true value on 
 each part can we hope to strengthen the weak 
 places and crowd out or to less important places 
 that which is not primarily manual training. 
 Today we are religiously holding to certain 
 methods of work because in the past they have 
 been compared with other even more defective 
 and found better. Such a method of elimina- 
 tion can lead only to confusion. We should 
 rather, however great the task, see that we are 
 comparing correct values, or at least not settle 
 down to a fixed conviction until such a com- 
 parison can be made. Should we undertake 
 such a review of our conclusion we may find 
 that all the confusion that has been sot charac- 
 teristic of the manual training movement has 
 been caused by this drawing of conclusions 
 from imperfect data, or, in brief, by judging of 
 
 68 
 
the school work and its possibilities by the work 
 of those who have absolutely no knowledge of 
 modern mechanical science as exemplified in 
 the high type of workmanship found in our 
 leading American industries, but who, because 
 of ether training, are able to accomplish things 
 worthy of our notice however inferior to that 
 which is possible by using the subject matter 
 properly forming the content of the manual 
 training courses. 
 
 69 
 
np^i 
 
 \i 
 
 \m 
 
iS/^^^ O"^ CONGRESS 
 
 019 744 299 2