TTT^ ■^-" Nf / Southern Branch of the University of California Los Angeles Form L I 1594 C67 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below JUL :, 1324iiAR 3 1 WT.^. - 1 JUL 2 3^949 JUL 8 *•*• fr - " ^? NOV 18 IS^i NOV 2 1 1928 ! NOV 1 ~ ^ :-? UAN 14 1935 ; ?i ; ^e^ Form L-9-5;/(-5.'24 EDITED BY HENRY SUZZALLO PROFESSOR OF THE PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION TEACHERS COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION IN THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL BY PERCIVAL R. COLE, Ph.D. VICE-PRINCIPAL, SYDNEY TEACHERS' COLLEGE ; LECTURER IN EDUCATION, SYDNEY UNIVERSITY ; SOMETIME INSTRUCTOR IN EDUCATION, TEACHERS COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, NEW YORK 2. ^f 7 ^ HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY BOSTON NEW YORK AND CHICAGO ^tie mi'otx^ibt ptcjij* Cambridge COrVRIGIIT, I9I4, BY HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMfANY ALL KIGHTS KKSERVED CAMBRIDGE . MASSACHUSBTTS U . S . A ^ ■ C 67 AUTHOR'S NOTE The writer is indebted to Dr. James E. Rus- sell, Dean of Teachers College, for the sugges- tion of some of the constructive ideas outlined in these pages. His thanks are extended also to his father, Mr. John Cole, to Professor Alexan- der Mackie, of Sydney University, and to Pro- fessor Henry Suzzallo, the editor of this series, for their kindness in reading the whole of the manuscript. P. R. C. Sydney, Australia, May, 1 914. CONTENTS Editor's Introduction vii I. The Ancient View or Industry and Industrial Education i II. The Modern View 14 f III. The Present Problem of Industrial Education 25 I IV. The Necessary Reconstruction of THE School Curriculum .... 39 V. The Necessary Reconstruction of School Method 51 Outline 62 EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION The history of the teaching of manual training is one of the most interesting chapters in the evolu- tion of the elementary school. Manual work was introduced into the curriculum at the beginning of the present period of educational unrest; and, because it had no fixed traditions to hamper its progress, responded most fully to modern educa- tional principles. When manual training was inaugurated in our schools, the public supposed it was to serve a practical industrial purpose; but the laity had not reckoned with the schoolmaster and school tra- dition. The teacher proceeded to make manual work a mental discipline rather than a practical utility, — a fallacious distinction long held by his craft. The new study was made into a set of formal exercises, rather than a group of interest- ing problems. The chief emphasis was laid on the practice of technique. The need of the child to express himself in manual activities that fulfill his desires was completely subordinated if not overlooked. What was worse, — the techniques vii EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION were studied in isolation, that is, apart from the personal or social situations which call for their use. Thus, in the carKcst days of this movement, the pupil was taught to make a half-dozen differ- ent kinds of saw cuts. The purpose was not to construct anything with the pieces thus sawed; but merely to get technical efTiciency. The exer- cises were not graded so as to give the child power to build some simple, useful object, in which the skills learned might be employed. They were or- dered so as to constitute a series of complicated technical skills, the uses of which even the teacher did not always foresee. The training given had little relation to the child's need to understand, solve, and express his own experi- ences and needs through the use of the hands. Any one who had heard children rendering scales and other vodal exercises in the music period, or seen children studying diacritics and phonetics in the reading class, or watched them dissecting sentences into clauses, phrases, and parts of speech in language instruction, can readily understand what had happened to the new study of manual training. It had fallen a victim to pedagogical formalism. The subject had been wrenched out of all relation to the viii EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION child's imperious constructive instincts; just as school music had been divorced from the child's spontaneous desire to sing, and as school reading and composition had been isolated from the eager wish of the child to acquire new and appeal- ing experiences through print and to express them by the written word. For a time it seemed as though the introduction of manual training had contributed nothing to the school save an additional expense. It was as subservient to traditional pedagogical standards as any of the older subjects. But its rescue was easier, because its failure was more dramatic. Teachers could not fail to observe the instinc- tive eagerness with which children always make their first entry into the manual training shop; no more could they fail to note that inevitable flagging of interest which characterized successive days of work at the formal exercises of the work- bench. Somehow discipline was harder to main- tain in the shop than in the other classrooms ; yet these same children would cooperate in building kites and sleds in the back yard at home with an absorption so complete that the interference of parent or neighbor was seldom needed. Some- thing was radically wrong with manual work at school. The teacher noted the fact. ix EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION Then ensued a struggle to keep manual work motivated. The children ceased to saw a bit of wood at six different angles just to show that they could do it. They began to make projects for which they had a real use, — a coat-hanger, a shelf, a box, a stool, or a table. At first the in- structor selected the task and set the model; later each child chose a project for himself and made his own drawings. Meanwhile all the technical requirements were acquired incidentally, and acquired more effectively than before, because the relation of skill to ends was now apparent to the child himself. Interest in the shop was reawakened, and increased efficiency followed. Under this reformed regimen it was natural that the child should master such facts as he needed with unusual readiness. In this respect, the manual training period offered a marked contrast to other school exercises. In conse- quence, the great value of action or expression as a mode of educative experience was soon established. This recognition by the schoolmaster of the worth of ''learning by doing" expressed itself in a number of ways. It was easy to see that this primitive and therefore natural mode of learning would be most valuable with the youngest chil- X EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION dren. Thereupon, manual training was extended to the lower grades. The simple projects and skills of primitive peoples were utilized in the primary classes, — weaving, basketry, knife- work, and the like. This new sympathy of the elementary school with activity and occupations gave it common ground with the kindergarten, and additional types of constructive acti\'ity were borrowed, — building with blocks, paper folding and cutting, clay modehng. A differentia- tion of sex-needs added sewing and cooking. The range of manual work was greatly broadened with each of these successive extensions. Indeed, the field of manual work was now so much en- riched that it became inchoate. The whole move- ment needed reinterpretation and reorganiza- tion. The teacher's rediscovery of the principle of "learning by doing" profoundly influenced the whole curriculum. It changed elementary science into nature - study, where children actively participated in the control of nature instead of passively perceiving experiments dem- onstrated to them. It made the active social relations of children on the playground and in school thoroughly respectable resources for moral training. Organized play and self-government xi EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION became methods of learning through self-expres- sion. The principle of self-activity, which had been walled up among kindergartners, began to be quoted and applied by primary teachers. Dramatization and games became more impor- tant as modes of instruction in teaching beginners to read, and actually appeared within the stern precincts of the arithmetic period. Even lan- guage teaching relaxed enough to permit chil- dren to learn to speak and write through express- ing their own thoughts and feelings. Grammar, too, came to be mastered through use. And song, \long silenced by the demand to sing scales, \emerged in rote singing. Learning through self- lexpression or action, a method first exempUfied in a large, concrete way by manual training, came to be utilized in many school subjects, thus greatly reinforcing its worth as a mode of teach- ing and learning. This projection of manual training into the center of educational debate greatly modified the point of view and the resources of those specially charged with its teaching. They re- turned from discussion to teaching with a dispo- sition to reorganize their owti work. They were now keenly alive to the enlarged purposes of manual training. They had lost much of the xii EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION cultural narrowness which often makes the aca- demic mind a matter of reproach. They saw in their instruction a large and important oppor- tunity for gi\'ing the child an understanding of the economic organization which rests upon industry. Because elementary school children are young, they proceeded to develop an appre- ciation of industrial workmanship through the actual manipulation of materials in simple con- structions, leaving information and interpreta- tion of the more intellectual sort to be provided in a supplementary way as opportunity offers. Thus the great need to give all men some com- prehension of the industrial processes and eco- nomic problems of American life begins to be amply met in the elementary school. It is interesting to note how old oppositions are here reconciled. Active work with representa- tive materials, — woods, metals, clays, fabrics, and foodstuffs, — supplemented by wider obser- vations and readings, is adequate to develop that general industrial intelligence which every man ought to have. It is also broad enough to provide an adequate sampling for the child, destined by interest or necessity to make an early choice among trade schools and apprenticeships. This modern program provides an exceptionally xiii EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION appealing course for all elementary school chil- dren regardless of their future schooling or life. The importance of the social service it is devised to render makes an understanding of its essential principles desirable. INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION IN THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL THE ANCIENT VIEW OF INDUSTRY AND INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION I. Culture, education, and industry The term "culture" implies the pursuit of objects regarded as good in themselves. The study of music is a branch of culture, because this study is thought to be an end in itself, not a means to something else. The same may be said of art and philosophy. Education is a broader term which includes every branch of mental development, so far as it is subjected to dehber- ate guidance. Education includes culture; but also includes a utilitarian element. On the sur- face, utilitarian education seems the direct oppo- site of culture. Such education is sought not for its own sake, like culture, but for the sake of something else. In the present discussion we are not concerned with the whole range of utilitarian I INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION education, but with industrial education only. To define the latter we must first define industry. Industry is the process by which natural products are made available for human uses. Industrial education, then, is the preparation of the mind for appreciating, understanding, and performing the transformation of natural objects into forms which are, according to human ideas, suitable for consumption or use. 2. Ancient prejudices survive in modern culture and education The thinkers of the ancient world drew a rigid line between cultural and utilitarian education. They did not perceive that culture and utility might overlap. They could not see that although utilitarian education has an aim outside itself, it may also be worth while in itself. Their re- stricted view still persists both in the United States and in Europe, and constitutes more than half the prejudice against a recognition of the due place of industry in education. The Greek philosophers are chiefly responsible for this tra- ditional contempt for industry. They convinced the Romans, persuaded the schoolmen, and dom- inated the Renaissance. Thus, in order that the traditional attitude of the schools toward indus- THE ANCIENT VIEW trial education may be understood, it is desirable that an investigation should be made into the various causes which contributed to prejudice the Greek mind against industry. 3. The Greek prejudice against industry {a) Aristocratic occupations glorified in culture. The principal business of a Greek aristocrat was war. We have the evidence of Herodotus that the honor of war among the Greeks contributed to the dishonor of trade and industry. "I have remarked," he writes, " that the Thracians, the Scythians, the Persians, the Lydians, and almost all the other barbarians hold the citizens who practice trades and their children in less repute than the rest, while they esteem as noble those who keep aloof from the handicrafts, and espe- cially honor such as are given to war. These ideas prevail throughout the whole of Greece, particularly among the Lacedaemonians. Corinth is the place where the mechanics are least de- spised." Doubtless Herodotus was right. Amid the ar- rogant conditions of militarism the soldier soon comes to despise the humbler if more useful pur- suits of industry. The artisan who turns to a soldier's life, having once tasted the sweets of 3 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION idleness, the pleasure of browbeating; others, and perhaps the profit of the sack of cities, learns to look down upon the life of the workshop. As a soldier he stands in the relation of employer to employee, of patron to client, toward the armorer and other artisans; and he scorns to reverse this congenial status by resuming his' former lowly occupation. In the hour of \dctor>' he may have ransacked richer stores than as an artisan he ever contributed to maintain. From the fears of trades- men he may have extorted money or goods be- yond what he could have hoped to acquire in the course of months of honest toil. Thus the sword scorns tools, while tools resent the scorn of the sword. After war, the chief interests of an Athenian gentleman were sport, music, politics, and litera- ture, to which was added, after the time of Plato, philosophy. None of these subjects was utili- tarian. Industry was not among the interests of the Greek aristocracy. It is probable that the philosophic conception of culture was deeply if unconsciously afifected by the actual pursuits of the upper classes. (b) Tlie status of industry as affected by slavery. Again, the institution of slavery could not but affect the status of industry in the ancient world. 4 THE ANCIENT VIEW Slavery has always made industry of certain kinds appear degrading. The ancients, however, justified slavery on psychological grounds. Aris- totle maintained that some are slaves by nature. In taking this view, moreover, he was not enun- ciating an independent principle, but a corollary of Plato's division of the appetites from the reason. According to Plato, the reason should rule over the appetites; but as a matter of fact the mental nature of some is dominated by appetite or desire, while in others reason rules. Conse- quently the latter should organize and direct the lives and activities of the former. Those in whom the reason predominates should rule. Those who are swayed by appetite should be ruled, should in fact be slaves. Further, argues Aristotle, since in the world of nature as of art the inferior always exists for the sake of the superior, the slave exists entirely for the sake of his master. Yet, since no mind is wholly constituted of desires, Aristotle, perhaps, should only have concluded that som.e should be more servile, some more free. He scarcely had the right to argue that some are entitled to no freedom at all. In fact, however, the principle that some men are totally another's was frankly and ferociously adopted in Sparta, where the life of the slave was one of indescrib- INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION able danger and misery. In the Roman Empire, too, slavery became an expansive festering sore within the body politic, sapping and destroj-ing the estate of both yeoman and laborer, involving the land in servile wars and falling into line with other forces detrimental to the spirit of individ- uality. In Roman law the only legal form pro- vided for questioning the slave was by torture. Favors might fall to the lot of the slave; rights he had none. Under these circumstances it was \^ impossible that industrial pursuits, carried on as ' they were chiefly by slaves, should escape the servile stigma. Social status always affects work as well as worker. The contamination of indus- try was sure and unavoidable. (c) The thinkers, poets, and historians aristo- cratic. Further, industry suffered in the estima- tion of the Greeks from the fact that it was not extolled like other activities by the poets whose works were a household word throughout Hellas. Most of the early poets, like Homer, wrote or sang for the royal courts; and almost necessarily expressed aristocratic sentiments in their songs. They had, therefore, no meed of praise for the deeds of the common people. Commoners are never mentioned by name in Homer. While Hesiod stands on a lonely height in sounding the 6 THE ANCIENT VIEW praises of the simple life of rural labor, he never attempts to dignify the life of the urban artisan. Nor were the historians more enlightened in this respect. Herodotus, Xenophon, and Thucydides were men of high social degree who could not entirely escape from the prejudices natural to their station. The same may be said of the phi- losophers. Drawn from the more leisured class, they naturally shared its views of life. The two great minds, those of Plato and Aristotle, adopted a psychological theory prejudicial to industry, the outlines of which have been indicated in the section on slavery. In his book on education, in the Politics, Aristotle hurries over the more utilitarian subjects, reading, arithmetic, drawing, and even gymnastics, in order to devote his chief attention to music, which alone has no use out- side itself. Music was a costly and aristocratic study, the principal test of the education of an Athenian gentleman. An uneducated person was described not as illiterate, but as one who could not play the lyre. This meant that education and aristocracy coincided. What is the main conclusion to be drawn from our survey of the ancient view of industry? In general, it is that the Greeks, from whom our own opinions are to a considerable extent derived, 7 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION based their conception of the place of industry in life upon a dubious psychological and ethical analysis, reinforced by a certain bent of mind native and hereditary- in them. This would not be of great importance were it not that the opinions of the Greeks have never been rejected by the main current of Western thought. For many centuries the Hellenic preference for cul- tural rather than industrial eflort has been taken as final. 4. The historic descent of Greek prejudice (a) Rome. The Romans under the Empire, cursed with the institution of slavery, and es- sentially aristocratic in their views, fell easy vic- tims to the Greek ideas, which entirely separated industry from culture. Under the Republic, indeed, the Romans had gloried in their hus- bandry ; but this was before the time of advanced education in Rome. The typical attitude of the Gra^co-Roman period is expressed by Cicero, who in [his treatise on "Duties" distinctly re- fuses a place to industry in the vocation of a Roman gentleman. The Roman proletariat was indifferent; he lived for neither culture nor in- dustry, but only for bread and the circus. (b) The Middle Ages. During the Middle Ages, 8 THE ANCIENT VIEW religion was the chief concern of the intellectual life. The Christian religion has so much to say for the worker that it might have led to his edu- cation as a worker. The fact that it did not was due largely to the emphasis placed upon another, an eternal, life. The world and all its works were regarded as temporary and comparatively unim- portant. Even the Benedictine monks, who gen- erally gave part of their time to manual work, did so mainly as a discipline. They had little or no desire to exalt industry. Industrial education stood far apart from culture, the one a matter of apprenticeship, the other a matter of books. The villein's son who learned to read escaped from villeinage into the Church. The industrial life knew him no more. (c) Scholasticism. Nor was the scholastic sys- tem which preceded the Renaissance more favor- able to the progress of industrial education. It was one thing or the other; one might either be a Latinist, logician, and theologian, or a son of industry. One could not be both. The former was considered a scholar, the latter an ignora- mus. (d) The Renaissance. During the Renaissance, the eyes of scholars were dazzled by the glory of tlie ancient Hteratures. Humanism, or the study 9 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION of the classics, was the dominant note in educa- tion. Even those who rebelled against a system of mere imitation of Cicero remained enthralled to books. Bookishness is the hereditary foe of the industrial life; it removes men's eyes from the world about them and concentrates their atten- tion upon the ideas of the past. The educated man henceforth was the classicist, who had neither time nor inclination for industrial inter- ests. (e) The Reformation. The Reformation might have made a difference in favor of industrial edu- cation had not the reformers been obliged to educate leaders. Their main need was of clergy and scholars to defend their theological positions. Consequently, although Luther, Calvin, and others were not blind to the needs of the masses, they concentrated their efforts upon the second- ary or Latin schools. Thus in practice the Reformation, except in the field of religious in- struction, made little diflerence to the course of studies which had been determined by the Renaissance. (/) England. In England, moreover, as far as the schools were concerned, the Reformation and the Renaissance coalesced. Both movements were regulated by Henry VIII and his royal 10 THE ANCIENT VIEW successors. As the classical education provided by the Latin schools was necessarily limited to the leisured class, or to those who made their way by scholarships or otherwise into that class, the ancient contempt for industry continued to be transmitted from one generation to another. In England, until the recognition of higher ele- mentary schools by the Board of Education in 1900, there was practically no attempt to com- bine industrial with general education. Up to the nineteenth century, in fact, primary education was dominated by the idea of charity. The pupils were educated to be employees. They were expected to continue in their station of life. Reading, writing, arithmetic, and the catechism formed their course of study. Culture was the exclusive possession of the upper classes, and had nothing to do with utility. Cultural exclu- siveness, indeed, is still a feature of the so-called great public schools. It was from England chiefly that the United States inherited its prejudice against industrial education in the schools. (g) The United States. Part of the inheritance of the United States from the Old World was the sharp distinction between culture and industry. Culture, the result of a liberal education, was the mark of a gentleman. What had a gentleman to II INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION do with industrial efficiency? It is true that from the first the conception of culture was modified by the fact that a gentleman had estates from which he profited. The work of conducting an estate, however, has always been regarded as compatible with aristocratic tastes. Aristocracy is at all times closely associated with the ownership of land. Besides, a landed proprietor did not actu- ally engage in manual operations. The colonial grammar schools, in which gentlemen were taught, therefore confined themselves to cultural studies, and chiefly to the classics. A broader view characterized the academies of the eight- eenth century, but they had nothing to do with industry. The universities long resisted the intro- duction of industrial departments. Many of the universities, indeed, still give ground very slowly before the advance of industry. With some ex- ceptions, old and endowed institutions adhere as long as possible, rightly or wrongly, to the traditions of the past. Industrial pursuits were poorly represented in the universities until after the Morrill Act of 1862, by which the States received generous grants of land for the sup- port of agricultural and mechanical instruction. Manual work did not come into its own in the pubHc high schooFs until about 1880, and then 12 THE ANCIENT VIEW only under the guise of a general or liberal disci- pline. Its connection with industry was deliber- ately minimized. Trade schools, dating from 1881, involved no sacrifice of aristocratic preju- dices, as they stood entirely apart from general instruction. Preparatory schools, and especially part-time and cooperative schools, have done a little, by bringing some elements of general in- struction within the scope of industrial educa- tion, toward the establishment of the claims of industry to a place in a liberal education. Tech- nical schools have little bearing on this problem. The public primary schools now give indirect attention to industry. They have not yet advanced to the point of giving the subject its own column in the program of studies. Except in a few centers, manual training is only inciden- tally industrial. In general, the situation in the United States is that the aristocratic prejudice is still in the field, although gradually yielding to the assault of democratic principles. II THE MODERN VIEW I . Falsity oj the traditional theory under modern conditions (a) As undemocratic. From a modern stand- point, the traditional theory of industry fails in two respects, (i) as undemocratic, (2) as inade- quate. According to tlie view which found its first philosophic expression in Greece, the busi- ness of the best minds is the pursuit of virtue, which was regarded as identical with culture. Only the leisured could devote themselves exclu- sively to this end. The masses were to support the classes in their cultural existence. Modern democracy rebels against this hypothesis. The democratic tradition has already won for the laborer a voice, sometimes even a controlling voice, in political government. It is making work of some kind obligatory upon almost every mem- ber of the community. It is living down the ancient contempt for the laborer, and investing work with a new respectability and dignity. Its 14 THE MODERN VIEW underlying principle, the worth of man as man, is incompatible with a theory which excludes the majority of mankind from participation in the real ends of life. It insists that the things of real value in life shall be shared among all. Culture must be made universal. (b) As inadequate. The traditional view of in- dustry fails not only as undemocratic, but also as inadequate to the facts of modern life. In three respects the industrial conditions of to-day differ radically from those of earlier times: (i) industry is more ambitious than formerly; (2) it is more successful; (3) it is more scientific. So broad is the scale, so certain the results, and so ingenious the processes of modern industrial enterprise that it is now worthy of study for its own sake. Once industry was too simple to be worthy of intellectual steel. Now its manage- ment involves extreme mental development. The ablest intellects are no longer engaged in philosophy or art, but in industry. 2. The new importance of industry in life, culture, and ideals {a) A stimulus to culture. The cultured man owes a debt to industry. Industrial efficiency is the condition of his culture. Progress in indus- 15 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION trial operations liberates an ever-increasing pro- portion of the population from the work of primary production. But for industrial progress, so many men could not have been spared from tilling the ground to become teachers, writers, and clerks. Modern industry pays their salaries and provides them with leisure and books. Insti- tutions as well as persons are indebted to indus- try. Schools and universities arc endowed from its proceeds. This alone is a reason for the study of industry within their walls. In ordinary grati- tude they should attempt to repay the debt by devoting a tithe of their attention to industrial concerns. (b) A condition of higher standards of living. As a result of modem progress in industry, not only non-industrial workers, but even those who remain in the ranks of industry are furnished with rarer luxuries than were formerly accessible even to the few. The laborer has his piano, the servant her silk dress. The worker lives in a more comfortable if less pretentious dwelling than that of a nobleman in the Middle Ages. It is true that most of the Greek, Roman, and early Christian thinkers deprecated high standards of comfort. Plato pictured a simple city as the ideal, in which people would be satisfied ^vith rude huts, beds of i6 THE MODERN VIEW myrtle boughs, simple country fare, and plates of fig leaves. Juvenal satirized the pleasures of the Roman table; Tertullian inveighed against love of dress in women. The chief merit of industrial progress, indeed, is not that it raises the standard of material living, but that it provides new oppor- tunities for the spiritual hfe. Hours of work are shortened to the advantage of both body and mind. The only hope of further advance in this direction is in future industrial development. (c) A source of ideals. Modern industry is not only a stimulus to culture and a condition of higher standards of living, but also a source of ideals. Moral standards are developed in connec- tion with industrial operations. Out of his indus- trial experience the worker has evolved the ideal of a unity of labor. The invention of automobiles suggests an ideal of duty to pedestrians. The construction of the Panama Canal brings into focus the ideal of healthy conditions of work. In such ways as these the moral life has been made richer and fuller by industry. Esthetic ideals, too, are developed by the invention of new pro- cesses in pottery, dyeing, and other industries. Even the intellectual ideal, truth for truth's sake, is strengthened by conscientious and accurate workmanship. In industry a man learns to be 17 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION true to himself. His work may deceive others, himself it cannot deceive. 3. The status of industry as changed by historical factors (a) The rise of a new psychology. An epoch in the theory of industry is marked by the psychol- ogy of David Hume. According to Hume, reason ( is and must be the slave of the passions. This dictum reversed the doctrine of Plato and Aris- totle, that reason should rule over the appetites. The Greek philosophers had held that the life of reason is the only life good in itself, and that its expressions are art, music, and philosophy. These accordingly constitute culture. Culture is rationality. Industry merely provides material goods for the satisfaction of the appetites. It is an irrational, uncultural pursuit. If Hume be right, however, the shoe is on the other foot. Appetite, and industry as the satisfaction of appetite, becomes the central element of human Ufe. From this point of view reason is the serv- ant, not the master. It is unnecessary to adopt this position. Kant showed how to overcome it. Rightly or wrongly, however, Hume's empiricism favored the growing dignity of industry, and called attention to the fact that the psychological 18 THE MODERN VIEW argument of the Greek masters is not unanswer- able. Reason and appetite are not so different as was formerly supposed. They are interdepend- ent. There is no longer a psychological ground for the exclusion of industry from the scope of culture. (b) Modern religious interpretation. The early Christian Church expected little but harm to come of luxury or riches. The good of the body seemed on the whole antithetical to the good of the soul. Bodily satisfactions were regarded as matters of indifference or as evils. This theory tended to diminish industrial achievement, and to exclude economic considerations from educa- tion. The modern tendency, however, is to dwell upon those elements in the primitive Church which reacted in favor of the development of material civilization. It is pointed out that the Apostles followed industrial callings, that the laborer is described as worthy of his hire, and that artisans are the equals of kings from the point of view of eternity. It is further argued that indus- try is not void of spiritual meaning, and that its development may be carried on in a religious spirit. (c) The growth of science. Science seeks a theo- retical mastery over nature; industry is content 19 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION with practical victories. The growth of science, however, means the development of industry. The scientific attitude is experimental and in- quisitive, and was formerly discouraged by the Church. Roger Bacon was only the most bril- liant of a long line of investigators who suffered the ecclesiastical censure. The legendary sin of Faust consisted in his desire to know the unknow- able, and to command the infinite. The modern tendency, however, is to develop an alliance between science and religion which cannot fail to benefit industry. The character of Sir Isaac Newton, at once scientific and pious, illustrates the possibilities of such an alliance. Science, by showing the operation of eternal laws within the universe, stimulates religious thought. By reveal- ing the divine nature as essentially creative, it paves the way for the recognition of industry as sacred. From this point of view industry may be defined as the attempt of man to imitate the creative acts of the eternal mind. (d) The new humanism. Another force which has tended to improve the status of industry is the movement known as "humanism." The essen- tial feature of the movement is an emphasis upon human needs and interests. Humanism insists that the most direct and immediate concern of 20 THE MODERN VIEW man is his present life. Upon the acts of the present life all future life is based. Man's work is not specious and temporary, but real and per- manent. Men are not puppets, but in a literal sense masters of creation. The mastery of man over nature is real though incomplete. This point of view gives industry a new dignity. It is a seri- ous attempt to better the conditions of human life. It is the tool with which man clears the road to his ideals. It is his effort to cooperate with divine purposes. 4. Consequences of an obsolete conception oj industry (a) The antagonism of classes. With all these forces ranged on her side, industry has not yet overcome the opposition of traditional prejudice. Obsolete conceptions of industry still abound; and one result is a world-wide strife of classes. The aristocratic and industrial classes still mis- understand one another. Those who, by birth, wealth, or talent, take their place in the upper strata of society tend to regard culture as their owTi monopoly. It is for them to pursue things worth while in themselves. The masses exist to support but not to share their culture. The pro- vision of educational advantages for all has not 21 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION radically changed the aristocratic attitude. There is still a great gulf between cultured and uncul- tured. The worker cannot find time to continue his education along so-called cultural lines. The gulf can be bridged in one way only, that is by making industry itself an integral part of the material of culture. When this is effected, the worker can obtain his culture in and through his work. The study of his own industry will make him a cultured man. (b) The ignorance of industrial operations. Another result of the traditional prejudice against industry is that the so-called cultured classes know little or nothing about it. It would not be surprising to find a professor in arts who cannot tell what jute or terra-cotta is. It would be sur- prising to find one who knows how soap is made. Yet apart from tradition, the study of soap- making is as cultural as the study of grammar. When science fought its battle for admission into the curricula of the schools and universities, it had to be pointed out that a Greek particle has no cultural superiority over a chemical atom. The prevalent ignorance of industry among the educated is a serious matter. It deflects able minds from productive occupations. It alienates the sympathies of one class from another. It 22 THE MODERN VIEW diminishes social efficiency. It must be combated by universal instruction in the fundamental in- dustrial processes. (c) Separation of industrial from general educa- tion. The traditional prejudice against industry is still strong enough to exclude the subject from a definite place in the school curriculum. The subjects of language, mathematics, geography, history, etc., are there, but not the subject of industry. Industry is treated in special depart- ments of special institutions. Its broad outlines are not taught at all. {d) The need of industrial education in the elementary school. The purpose of the elementary school is to give such knowledge, feeling, and power as all citizens should possess. As far as it neglects industry, the school falls short of its purpose. Industry is among the departments of civilization about which everybody should know something. Further, social sympathy should be cultivated in all citizens, and social sympathy cannot be developed until all the world knows what most of the people do. Social efficiency, too, depends upon knowledge, for without some acquaintance with industrial affairs even those who are engaged in other pursuits are handi- capped. They cannot intelligently cooperate 23 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION \vith work which they know nothing about. The modern \icw of industr}', as a stimulus to culture, a condition of higher standards of living, and a source of ideals, im[ilics that it should be no longer neglected even in part by the elementary school. Ill THE PRESENT PROBLEM OF INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION I. The distinction between industrial and vocational education Industrml education is not the same thing as education for industrial productivity. The former is parallel to mathematical, geographical, or linguistic education. It is general, not tech- nical. It includes those ideas, feelings, and voli- tions which all citizens ought to have concerning industrial operations and industrial life. It is as necessary for those who follow other occupations as for those engaged in industry. Consequently it falls within the scope of the elementary school. Vocational education, on the other hand, sug- gests preparation for specific callings. This is not the business of the elementary school, but of trade schools and other technical institutions. Elementary education should not become voca- tional, except in the broadest sense. In this sense all education is vocational, since all education tends to increase efficiency in all callings. 25 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION 2. What the elementary school should do What the elementary school owes to industry is the study of man as a worker. This study is general, not technical. The subject is too broad for technical treatment. It is comparable to the study of language, history, or art. As the ele- mentary school already focuses the attention of children upon man as a reader, writer, artist, traveler, mathematician, fighter, and ruler, so should it study him as a worker. Industry is the only great department of civilization, with the exception of religion, which is not studied as such in the elementary school. What, then, should be done? This: an investigation should be made of fundamental understandings, values, and skills as seen in industrial work, industrial life, and industrial institutions. This general state- ment may assist the teacher in selecting his material. The principle is constant, while the details vary. The exact field of investigation in any school will depend upon the nature of indus- trial operations in the neighborhood. Suppose that iron works, being near, are visited and studied. Children will notice the ores, machinery, molds, and processes used, the character of the out- put, the division of work, the skill of the workers, 26 TfiE PRESENT PROBLEM their relation to foreman, manager, and employer, the institutions connected with the works, and the conditions of labor. Children should be edu- cated to take an intelligent interest in factories as well as in art galleries, museums, and libraries. 3. The existing resources Industry has some allies on the program of the elementary school. As a subject of study, it has many points of contact with domestic art and science, manual work, commercial geography, and industrial history. Industry might be taught adequately under these heads. But it is not. A subject without a name may be well taught in the schools, but such a result is not to be ex- pected. History might be taught as a part of civics, art, and hterature, without being set down as history at all; but nobody is willing to take the chance. The same should be true of industry. Give industry its own place and name, and it will receive more attention than as an aspect of other subjects. It will still preserve an alliance with domestic art and science, manual work, history, and geography. It will not dis- place these subjects, although it may involve their reconstruction. It will have escaped from their leading-strings. 27 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION (a) Domestic art and science. These subjects have a true relation to industry in two respects: (i) they are themselves industrial, since they involve the transformation of materials into forms adapted for human use; (2) they introduce students to a wide range of economic processes. The tendency is to emphasize the former rather than the latter relation. Food is prepared, but the catering industry is not studied. Attention is concentrated too much on individual items. The study of actual industries is neglected. The mak- ing of a handkerchief in class difTcrs essentially from the industrial production of the handker- chief. The industry taught is and claims to be merely domestic. It is not the industry of prac- tical life. (b) Mamial work. This subject also is indus- trial. Timber, metal, rafifia, or other material is changed into serviceable form. Sometimes the aim is not use but discipline. In this case the industrial element disappears. Making a picture frame is industry; making a mortise and tenon joint is discipline. Manual work came late into the schools, but its evolution, accelerated by critical suggestions, has been remarkable. Dur- ing the last twenty years it has passed through five stages, and the time is ripe for a sLxth. It 28 THE PRESENT PROBLEM would not be just to say that each stage has been abandoned in turn for the next. Rather each stage has been absorbed into the next. The first stage was discipHnary, the object being the training of hand and eye. The second was utili- tarian. Useful articles were made, the criterion being the interest of the pupil. The third was to a certain extent industrial. Objects were made to illustrate typical processes. For example, rafifia-weaving was expected to typify the tex- tile industries. The fourth stage was aesthetic. Manual work was treated as a phase of art, a form of self-expression. The aim was to cultivate the natural desire to express one's ideas in beau- tiful forms. The fifth stage was social. Manual occupations, such as sewing, weaving, or the construction of wooden models, were used as a center for instruction in other subjects. It is time that manual training entered upon a sixth stage, which may be called the "real-industrial," as opposed to the third, or "t>'pical-industrial." It should be used to illustrate actual industries. The typical-industrial stage was marked by the construction of primitive or simplified forms of industrial apparatus. Such forms bear little resemblance to those in actual use. If the pupil is to imderstand industry practically and not 20 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION academically, his manual work should differ in no essential particular from industrial produc- tion, except that the work should be conducted upon a more conscious and critical level. (c) GcofirapJiy and history. Commercial geo- graphy and industrial history have a precarious footing in the elementary school. Sometimes they are taught incidentally; sometimes not at all. History still concerns itself chiefly with poh- tics and war. Even in geography, the commer- cial and especially the industrial references are generally subordinated to the physical aspect and location of countries and towns. Yet the converse scheme is feasible. This is how a sixth- grade teacher taught the subject: The geography came in only as it bore on the industrial side ; that is, the climate, soil, rivers, etc., would only be incidentally touched on in connection %vith the growing of wheat, the raising of silkworms, or something else of an agricultural or industrial nature. The occupations in the immediate vicinity were most strongly emphasized. Among these was paper-making; and an excursion was made to a mill in order that the class might observe the whole process from the log to the paper. In this particular city there are many box factories, and another excursion was made 30 THE PRESENT PROBLEM to one of these. The growth of cities and its causes were given particular attention. In most cases the principal factor was found to be com- mercial or industrial. For example, Albany, New York, grew to be a fairly large city because of its situation on the Hudson, and was later augmented through the influence of the construc- tion of. the Erie Canal, which made it a go- between for the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean. The forests of the State were compared with forests pre\dously studied, and an examina- tion was made of the different uses the trees were put to, and the objects into which the various woods were fashioned, such as flag-poles, piano- cases, other articles of furniture, or small boats. The superiority of one kind of wood to another for a particular purpose was investigated, while the habit of making reference to the places where each variety of timber is found provided the necessary geographical unity. Should not this kind of teaching be extended with the aim of opening the minds of the yoimg to the great possibilities of industrial activity, instead of cen- tering them, as we do now, on unproductive occupations? 31 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION 4. Experiments in industrial education (a) In the kindergarten. A number of teachers, taking advantage of the existing resources in the school curriculum, have experimented with in- dustrial education. A beginning has been made in the kindergarten. Formal occupations like paper-folding begin to give place to industrial activities like basket-making. The conservative school, emphasizing play and imagination, looks askance at the industrial standard. The child in the kindergarten, it asserts, lives in the make- believe stage. His business is with symbols, not realities. The objection may be valid where the industrial work is unimaginative or inartistic, but not other^^^se. There seems to be no reason why imaginative associations should not cluster as thickly about the making of a basket as about the laying of sticks in s\Tnbolic forms. If this be so, the rehabilitation of industry will affect the kindergarten. (b) In elementary manual work. A number of attempts have been made to bring manual train- ing into line with the real work of the nation. For example, one school in the South insists upon sewing from the girls, while the boys are allowed to choose between woodwork and printing. In 32 THE PRESENT PROBLEM this school there is also a brickyard; and the pupils make bricks and erect additional buildings for school purposes, often working throughout the summer vacation. A pupil-teacher planned the library building and superintended its erection by student labor only. It is remarked that in this school all the pupils are happy and the need of disciplinary measures never seems to arise. Other valuable experiments of the kind have been conducted at various centers. In one large city, manual training is now conducted on a most practical basis. Instead of accuracy and skill being made the object of the lesson, some practical article, from among several sug- gested by the instructor, is selected by the student and through his interest in the finished product the necessary discipline is acquired. The articles chosen may be things of use to the vari- ous members of the family or to the teacher, such as window-boxes, paper-weights, plant-stands, or book-shelves. Many of these objects are corre- lated with other studies. Above all, they are the result of a genuine industrial process. In one school in which the formal elements of manual training are to some extent subordinated to the significance of the industrial product, the pupils of the elementary and secondary grades 33 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION arc required to spend at least one hour a day at shopwork. under a competent instructor. The workshop is open every afternoon until six o'clock for those who may desire to spend addi- tional time upon the piece of work they have in hand. Many of the pupils take advantage of this permission to pursue their industrial activities after school hours. A turbine water-wheel was made by the boys of the seventh grade after several days had been spent in the mathematical class in estimating the horse-power. Two boys, in their work after school hours, constructed a working locomotive, others a model of an auto- mobile, others a steamboat. In the construction of these articles the character of the material and other considerations which affect the practical art of engine- and ship-building were taken into account. On one occasion the festival of Hia- watha was to be made the subject of a school celebration. The boys made the clubs and snow- shoes, while the girls designed, carried out, and decorated the costumes. In all these cases the shopwork was removed from the level of mere hand and eye training to the more advantageous ground of preparation for industrial activities and appreciation of the industrial life. (c) In instruction. Experiments have not been 34 THE PRESENT PROBLEM confined to manual training. Some teachers have attempted to give direct instruction in industry. Excursions have been made to factories in order that industrial processes may be studied in their own home. In this connection the evidence of a practical teacher may be quoted with advantage: " I am sure that there is nothing that will meet with quicker response from the children them- selves. Nothing interests them more than the commonplace, everyday things about them. To me as a child, the manufacture of pins and needles, glass and bricks was a most fascinating subject for study. And later, I found that all youngsters had the same interest in penpoints and pencils, chalk and bullets. A few copies of Industries that I placed in our class library at school were soon in great demand. I am certain that there is not a child who will not sit up and listen entranced to the tale of the making of granddaddy's meerschaum or to the story of the construction of his mother's dishmop. Truly for them, there is nothing old under the sun." 5. The need to expand our appreciations Industrial education is not a luxury, not a means of self-indulgence, still less a mode of per- verting the natural emotions of the heart. On 35 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION the contrary, it is a national necessity. Indus- trial operations sulTer from nothing so much as the lack of intelligent men to carry them on. One hears that Germans, profiting by their eight years of industrial education, are taking the best positions in the commercial and industrial spheres, not only at home but abroad. Formerly the ablest minds were engaged in philosophy, lit- erature, or some branch of activity regarded as cultural in itself; at present the ablest minds are engaged in industry. It is even regarded as desirable for the common good that a greater number of minds should turn from professional to industrial occupations. WTio disapproves of the following changes of vocation? A young woman who was a mediocre teacher, having some ability in cooking, increased her knowledge and interest in the art by a course at a cooking school, and is now a popular caterer at society functions. Another young woman, who might have become a clerk or a typist, preferred to increase her knowl- edge of flowers by a course in horticulture, and is now the proprietor of a flourishing violet farm. A certain young man, instead of becoming an indifTerent lawy-er, interested himself in the sub- ject of animal husbandry, studied it at college, and is at present a competent judge of live stock. 36 THE PRESENT PROBLEM Is it not probable that the community has bene- fited more from the efficient caterer, flower- grower, and stock expert than it would have done from the mediocre teacher, clerk, or law^^er? We need to expand our appreciations by making the study of industry universal. The general problem may be illustrated by particular reference to the conditions which sur- round a certain pubhc school in Brooklyn. In this school formal manual training and shopwork are prescribed for all boys after the third year, and cooking and sewing for all girls of similar grade. As might be expected, however, the man- ual and domestic training by no means serve to attract children to an industrial Hfe, or even to prepare them for it. The boys become clerks or office-boys; the girls become unskilled hands in factories or serve behind the counters of depart- ment stores. These avenues of employment are consequently choked with applicants. It would certainly be desirable that the children should be given such ideas of skilled trades and more com- plicated industrial processes as might attract the energies of a number of them into more ambi- tious occupations. Very near the school the trades of carpenter, blacksmith, wheelwright, etc., are in operation, while neighboring factories 37 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION carry on the making of clocks, tablets, maltine, shoes, and shirt-waists almost within sound of the school classrooms. Within walking distance the children may fmd shipping, railroad trans- portation, wood-yards, paints, electric power- houses, construction in concrete, and the varied activities of the building trade. The neglect of these opportunities for a practical yet highly intellectual education is either the result of a narrow educational outlook, or of a false view of the place and value of industry in human expe- rience. IV THE NECESSARY RECONSTRUCTION OF THE SCHOOL CURRICULUM I. Review of the present place of industry in the curriculum (a) The lack of industrial purpose. Speaking exactly, one is compelled to admit that industry — in fact, the whole economic life — is seldom directly represented in an elementary school at all. The alliance of art, manual work, and other subjects with industry is potential rather than active. There are several radical defects in the scheme of art and manual work which remove these subjects from the category of genuine indus- trial education. In the first place, they are not real but theoretical occupations. In some cases they are taught merely for discipline. They neither create things that society really wants, nor use the methods of contemporary industry. Knowing the unreality of the work upon which he is engaged, the pupil drops it on leaving school never to touch it again. In the second place, the 39 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION range of art and manual work in the schools is too narrow. Where work is done in wood, it is generally limited to certain lines of elementary cabinet-making. There is no reference to the other great wood industries. If there is work in clay, it is limited to modeling. One hears nothing of the great compressing industries, no word of brick or terra-cotta. Art-work in the schools seldom makes any pretense of industrial purpose. '\ Pure art seems to be its aim, not artistic work. It seeks technical perfection rather than economic service. In short, neither manual work nor art develops industrial interests. (b) The disciplinary aim. Even with the limi- tations described above, however, it cannot be denied that the manual activities of the schools have a natural relation to industry. Work in wood, for example, fulfills the definition of indus- try, since it transforms natural objects into ideal forms. The trouble is that the industrial elements in the school curriculum are so specialized that they do not represent industry at large. They are whittled down to a negligible quantity by the theory that regards education as little more than a process of discipHne. By way of illustration, let us consider the content of a first year's course in woodwork. During the year, the pupil may 40 THE SCHOOL CURRICULUM learn to use certain tools, to plane a piece of wood truly, to square it on four sides, to construct a joint, and to make a picture frame embodying that joint. From a disciplinary point of view, this is enough work for one year. Technical per- fection is exacted, good habits are formed, a social atmosphere is enjoyed, hand and eye are coordinated, and benefit is derived from the mus- cular exercise. These advantages may well be sufficient to justify the place of manual work in the schools. Our point is, they all belong to the field of general training and discipline. They do not include an insight into the nation's work. Industrial knowledge is unrepresented. 2. The need of a subject called ^'Industry" Only one solution of the problem promises to be satisfactory. The curriculum of the elemen- tary school must undergo a reconstruction. Industry must appear as a subject upon the pro- gram of studies. It must be given a local habita- tion and a name. This conclusion is logical, since the curriculum is supposed to represent all the fundamental branches of civilization. It is right, since industry has proved worthy of study. It is necessary, since only in this way can one be cer- tain that industry is studied by all. It is a duty, 41 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION since the very possibility of general education depends upon the industrial efficiency of the people. Let no one say tliat the curriculum is overcrowded. Industry can be taught with little or no addition to the burden. The end can be attained by a process of reorganization. Manual work may be included wholly or in part under industry. Woodwork for boys, sewing and cook- ing for girls, will be treated in connection with the study of timber, textile and food industries. In this way manual work will be transformed, but not necessarily increased. The industrial section of geography and history can also become part of the new subject. A slight curtailment of other subjects may become necessary in order to pro- vide time for instruction about industries and for excursions to local factories. Time-tables differ so much that this problem must be left to the practical teacher or superintendent. 3. The significance of the new subject The new subject will involve a change of con- tent. Disciplinary occupations will be mini- mized. The pupil will engage in modeling indus- trial implements and making industrial products. The necessary discipline will be obtained by the way. A class of pupils may cooperate in con- 42 THE SCHOOL CURRICULUM stnicting a model of a mill, each pupil making a part. Pupils will learn about the great national industries with which their work is connected. They will visit local works. Far from being a change in name alone, the introduction of the subject of industry into the elementary school curriculum may be expected to modify the entire character of instruction throughout the institu- tion. The proposed reform will make school work more practical, more independent of books, more interesting to the pupils, and more indispensable in the eyes of the community. 4. Conduct oj the subject The field of the teaching of industry in the elementary school may be divided into three parts, (i) instruction, (2) observation, and (3) manual action. Instruction will begin with the history and description of industries con- ducted near the school, and will extend to all the great national industries. It will thus include historical and geographical references. The maps of the district, of the State, and of the United States will be freely used in the study of this portion of the subject. Observation will involve excursions to farms, factories, or govern- ment works in the neighborhood. Manual work 43 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION will be necessary in order to prepare for instruc- tion and to fix its results, and will also serve to illustrate objects and implements that have been observed. 5. Relation to manual action Believers in manual work may be inclined to resent the incorporation of that subject in an- other. Manual work has justified its place in the curriculum. It has exercised the bodies, trained the muscles, promoted the artistic taste, devel- oped the originality, and attracted the interest of school pupils. True, and there must be no retro- grade step. All these advantages will remain. Manual action to illustrate industrial processes will conserve them all, and add others. There is no going back. Not an hour need be taken from the time allotted to manual action. The pupil will not be less interested, but more, in modeling actual products and illustrating actual processes than he is in the more formal procedure of ordi- nary manual training. The subject of industry may even become the special property of the manual training teacher. In most schools, how- ever, the class teacher will do the work. It will be stimulating, because teacher and pupil arc genu- ine co-workers. It will be informative, for few 44 THE SCHOOL CURRICULUM teachers know much about industrial enterprise. It will be attractive, because human nature is fascinated by action. The demand on the manual workshop to illustrate industrial operations will probably come from the children themselves. 6. Relation to other subjects In the elementary school, domestic art and science are usually represented by cooking and sewing. These and similar occupations are parts of manual work, and will be embodied in the new subject of industry. For girls, industrial instruc- tion will center to a large extent about the foods and textiles, although there is nothing inappro- priate in a study of the metals, clays, and woods. What is usually neglected in domestic art and science is the connection of the processes per- formed by pupils with actual industrial condi- tions. The very name of the new subject will tend to remedy this defect. Girls will not only learn to make cakes and pocket handkerchiefs; they will also learn to understand the industries of baking, catering, and clothing. Geography and history will either surrender their industrial aspects to the new subject, or else supplement it by a definite treatment of those aspects. Again, if design is not already included in draw- 45 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION ing, it ought to be embodied in the subject of industry. 7. Relation to the theory of culture How does the teaching of industry accord with the standard of culture? According to the tradi- tional opinion, a study that is useful cannot also be cultural. Culture consists of philosophy, lit- erature, and the fine arts. We have traced this view to its origin in aristocratic prejudice and an obsolete psychological analysis. We need a new theory of culture. The old definition may be retained, — culture is the study of things worth while in themselves. It is the content, not the form, of the definition that must be changed. Things worth while in themselves include all great matters, whether useful for external ends or not. The industrial life is a great matter. It lies at the root of all civilization. It calls for the highest mental powers. It enriches the moral life with opportunities for the exercise of the eco- nomic virtues. If culture is the study of great things, it can no longer exclude industry. There are those who would define culture differently. Culture has nothing to do with con- tent, they say, but is simply an attitude. If so, it consists in the habit of viewing things in a 46 THE SCHOOL CURRICULUM large-minded way. This is precisely the attitude necessary for the study of modern industry. Pettiness has no place; the larger issues must be faced, and the whole of human nature is involved. Thus, however defined, culture includes the study of industry. 8. Relation to primitive industry How far the primitive development of industry may be expected to furnish a clue to the educa- tion of children is an open question. Granted, primitive man lives like a child in the moment; like a child he cares only for the present, having no thought for the future; like a child he is self -centered ; and above all, like a child he has comparatively little control over the natural phe- nomena about him. It is not necessary to sup- pose that the stages of industry through which the race may have passed are normally recapitu- lated in an identical serial order in the life of each individual. Even if it be true that every civilized people has passed through the economic stages of hunting, fishing, pasturage, and agriculture, — no very reliable generaUzation, — it is idle to imagine that the interests of a boy are definitely connected by nature in turn with hunting, fish- ing, herding, and tilling the ground. This form 47 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION of the theory of recapitulation is not to be taken seriously. Further, any form of the theory is open to the objection that nothing could be more different from the rigid customs of primi- tivism than the flexible manifestations of child nature. Children, however, are radically at one with primitive man in their lack of introspec- tive and critical power, and in the absence of an adequate control over their environment, whether in the direction of stores, tools, methods, or elimination of waste. In two respects the environments of the child and the savage are alike — they stimulate little thought and exact httle foresight or control. Both the child and the savage as a rule Uve with little care, little foresight, and little industry. The environment of each is simple. Probably such similarities are sufficient to account for the large field over which the natural interests of children and those of primitive people appear to be iden- tical. There is no need to exaggerate the influ- ence of heredity, or to suppose, with the follow- ers of the culture epoch theory, that the pursuits of the race have not only been proportionately registered in the instincts of human beings, but even reappear as instincts in their original order. It is enough that two simple environments may 48 THE SCHOOL CURRICULUM be expected to be more alike than two complex, or one complex and one simple; and merely for this reason a certain resemblance between the interests of children and those of primitive man appears to be fundamentally involved. Because the respective environments are sim- ilar, then, the interests and occupations of prim- itive man furnish a clue to the interests and activities appropriate to the education of chil- dren. The curriculum itself, being dictated by the needs, the inheritance, and the interests of the present rather than by those of the past, need not be affected by primitive industrial con- ditions. In domestic art, children will not make primitive forms of headgear, but hats of the latest fashion; and if they should go to the length of constructing Indian baskets, it is chiefly because the baskets are as useful and beautiful when measured by modern standards as in their original social setting. It is not the course of study but the method of the elementar>^ school that is likely to be advantaged by a knowledge of the conditions of primitive industry. No matter what primitive man did or needed to do in the distant past, the materials of a school curriculum cannot be rearranged in the light of his past activities. On the other hand, there is no corre- 49 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION sponding objection to the modification of method, while it is not difficult to show that there is greater logical necessity for such a modification. Society cares little in what manner the child is to be put in possession of his inheritance as long as the end is reached. Moreover, the fact that a child lives in some respects like primitive man has little to do with the materials, but much with the processes, of his intelligence and inter- ests. It follows that while there may be little gain in teaching children the things that primi- tive man has done, there may be much advan- tage in training them in the identical processes and methods by which humanity has been shaped and guided to its present condition. THE NECESSARY RECONSTRUCTION OF SCHOOL METHOD I. Instruction Let us now consider how to teach the subject of industry. The t>T)ical methods will be instruc- tion, observation, and action. At present teach- ers of manual work rely chiefly upon action. Observation of industries is seldom attempted; and instruction in the broad facts of industry is conspicuously absent. Too often the teacher fails to instruct where instruction is most appro- priate; that is, in connection with action. Con- sequently the first method to be insisted upon in the subject of industry, which is to include part or the whole of manual training, is instruction. Pupils must be taught the meaning of industry, the scope and importance of industrial enterprise, the value of labor not only in terms of coin, but in terms of feeling. They must become so familiar with industrial arts, that their minds, not being strange to such subjects, will not recoil 51 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION from the thought of economic emplo>Tncnt. Manual action alone cannot bring this about; and even the observation of industries, unsup- ported by instruction, falls short of the mark. We must instruct; but this does not mean that the teacher is to din his words into the pupil's ears and imagine that every word goes home. We must instruct scientifically. There is little need to describe an instruction lesson to teachers. We are all familiar with sev- eral forms of procedure. Let us suppose, however, that the month's work is to be upon the paper industry. A period from 10.30 to 11 a.m. on Mondays, together with a period from 2 to 4 p.m. on Tuesdays, may have been set apart for the subject. In general, the former period will be given to intellectual, the latter to manual work. The distinction is relative, not absolute, but for purposes of analysis it may serve. On the first Monday the teacher gives an introductory lesson. He instructs the pupils about paper-making, and perhaps even the distribution and use of the product. He begins by finding out what the pupils already know about the subject. Should he discover in his class the child of a worker in the trade, he will make use of the opportunity to augment his own knowledge and that of the class. 52 SCHOOL METHOD The next step may be to show photographs of the works to be visited, or other illustrative material. The next will probably be a description of the industry by the teacher, with the aid of map, diagram, or other illustration. The next may be drill, concluding with note-taking. 2. Excursions The afternoon of the following day is devoted to a visit to the paper mill. The whole process is observed; and the children, having learned what to look for, may be expected to see more than would be apparent to the casual visitor. The objection is raised that the factories may close their doors to the children. In a few cases this will be so; but there are many hospitable facto- ries, and many manufacturers who realize that their works will benefit by the development of industrial interests and industrial knowledge. At least, let the difficulty arise before much is made of it. There are farms, bridges, and build- ings as well as factories to be visited; state, national, and municipal works as well as private enterprises to be observed. Even when a pro- gram has to be provided for several classes, it is not easy to believe in the impossibility of arrang- ing six or eight industrial excursions for each 53 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION class during the year. The excursion is the key to the method of the subject. Its value has been tested, and it is not impracticable. So central is the excursion in the scheme of industrial education that a practical illustration of its use may be helpful. A class of children, of the average age of only seven years, was taken to visit a great wool store. The children had talked about sheep, discussed pictures of them, sung songs about them, played games representing them, handled their wool, and had even drawn, modeled, and built such objects as sheep, sheds, shears, bales, and wagons. They had brought to school their own picture cards and scraps of colored wool; and had unraveled woolen gar- ments to show the weaving. Their parents read- ily consented to the excursion and provided the necessary fares. The children walked in fours, the outside boy of each four being responsible for keeping his particular group up with the class. At crossings, the leaders waited for a signal from the teacher before advancing. Drivers of ve- hicles showed the children every consideration. Conductors and the public vied in assisting them to board and alight from cars. Arrived at their destination, the children gazed at great wagons laden with fleeces, bale after bale of which was 54 SCHOOL METHOD being hoisted to the upper stories of the building. Having finished their task, the workmen entered into conversation with the children, whose hearts were completely won by the gift of fragments of wool. The building was entered, and the young visitors were shown by an assistant through the various rooms containing wool. Exclamations of surprise and pleasure broke from the children as they approached each article in the show room. Here were stuffed sheep with long, clean, well- combed wool. In the showcase was wool in all its stages, raw and dirty, washed and scoured, combed and wound in skeins. An animated dis- cussion, to which the bystanders lent their ears with amusement and interest, took place as to the relative merits of the prize sheep shown in pictures on the wall. Mounting a steep flight of stairs, the children came upon bales of wool, not wired like the skins, but surrounded by canvas bagging, and hoisted by means of an open ele- vator. In the far corner were open bales; and many were the estimates of the number of sheep required to furnish the wool of one bale. On leav- ing, each received a piece of clean wool. Having thanked their entertainers, they wound up with cheers and returned to school. 55 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION 3. Manual action After the excursion, the three remaining after- noons allotted to industry during the month are devoted to the construction of models or such objects as lend themselves to concrete represen- tation. Thus three afternoons in the month are given to manual work. The models will be se- lected in accordance with what has been learned and seen. In general, different members of the class may be permitted to construct different objects. In some cases the cooperative plan, by which each child makes a part of a large model, is best. The parts are put together, and the model becomes the property of the school, to be used in future lessons, or to be preserved in the school museum. In other cases it will be possible for each child to make a useful article which he may keep; but the direct object of manual work will not be utility in this sense, but the illustration of genuine industrial operations. One danger should be guarded against. Unless the teacher maintains high standards of exe- cution, the disciplinary advantages of manual training may be unduly sacrificed. Manual work must continue to produce good habits. Care, accuracy, and neatness must still be cultivated. 56 SCHOOL METHOD The work must be as carefully planned and as conscientiously executed as when discipline was regarded as the sole end of manual action. Mis- takes must be corrected and the correct form practiced. The habit of skillful work is as pos- sible of achievement under the new system as under the old. 4. Oral expression The first morning period of the series has been allotted to preparatory instruction. The second, since it follows the excursion, may be given up to a discussion of what has been seen and learned. The views of the children are expressed, and a comparison is drawn between what they had ex- pected and what they had actually found. The teacher's part is chiefly to regulate the expression of opinions, and to write upon the blackboard the contributions that are worthy of such notice. The period may close by note-taking, based upon what has been set on the board. 5. Sftidy In the third week, the morning period may be given up to a study of the larger aspects of indus- try. In the case cited, the children will study books or articles bearing upon the paper indus- 57 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION try. They may be encouraged to bring such materials to school. Perhaps a textbook may be employed ; perhaps a copy of a magazine may be purchased and used. The subject of industry is too vital to remain long without its textbook; indeed, there are books in existence that would be found of great service. 6. Written expression The final morning period of the series will probably be given to written composition on the subject of the excursion or on the industry in general. The pupil has something to say, and the process of committing his ideas to paper is one of the best means of securing their perma- nence. It is unnecessary to discuss the methods appropriate to the teaching of written expression. The method of conducting the subject of in- dustry for one month may be summarized as follows : — First week Suemd week Third week Fourth week Monday 10.30 to II. A.M. Tuesday 3 to 4 PH. Introductory lesson on paper-making Excursion to paper mill Oral discussion of the visit Construction of models and other illustra- tions Study of text- book or maga- zines Construction of models and other illustra- tions Written composition Construction of models and other illustrations 58 SCHOOL METHOD The above scheme is suggestive only. The pur- pose of this book is not to dictate the details, but to expound the principles of elementary indus- trial education. 7. Suggestions from primitive industry We have observed that society cares more for the course to be studied than for the methods to be used in the schools. Accordingly, while the curriculum must be measured by present stand- ards, method may be influenced by other con- siderations. In the sphere of method, the teacher is warranted in accepting suggestions based on the correspondence between the interests of children and those of primitive mankind. In these pages, the term "primitive" is applied to tribal conditions in which ci\^lization is reduced to its simplest elements. Primitive man Uves in and for the moment. He is improvident, and is guided by instinct rather than reason. He is conservative in his customs. He prefers the decoration of his person and weapons to other forms of work. He is industrious only to acquire food. He thinks only under the pressure of novel circumstances; and, as a consequence, has little control over his surroundings. In most or all of these features there is a parallel to child life. As 59 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION one would deal with primitive mankind, so, to the extent of the parallel, does one deal with chil- dren. The child, like the savage, prefers immedi- ate to distant aims. When Governor Grey wished to get work done by Australian natives, he paid them sixpence in the middle of the day, and a shilling at the end. How like the method of encouraging children! For them, the teaching of industry should be related to current needs and interests. It is useless to tell a class that the day will come when they will appreciate it. Children seldom look forward so far. The teacher will illustrate his instruction by objects and proc- esses which interest the children 7tow. In fact the production of things which the child himself possesses, or desires to possess, is the ideal start- ing-point for the study of national industry. From this beginning, the field of vision may be expanded until a liberal knowledge has been gained of the whole industrial arena. 8. The new features in school method It will be seen that the new methods demanded by the subject of industry are two: (i) the excur- sion to industrial centers, and (2) the free use of instruction in connection with manual activity. These methods, of course, are only relatively 60 SCHOOL METHOD new; but they are not generally adopted in the elementary school. Usually the excursion is con- fined to the field of nature-study, and instruction in connection with manual work is confined to the task in hand. The result of the new methods should be a new familiarity with industrial arts and a new interest in industrial processes and products. The excursion will make school work more real and up-to-date. Instruction wall widen its scope. The former method will develop in- terest, the latter knowledge; and the two will interact in such a way as to remove traditional ignorance, banish traditional prejudices, and re- form traditional standards of culture. OUTLINE I. THE ANCIENT VIEW OF INDUSTRY AND INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION 1. Culture, education and industry i 2. Ancient prejudices survive in modem culture and education 2 3. The Greek prejudice against industry .... 3 (a) Aristocratic occupations glorified in culture . 3 (6) The status of industry as affected by slavery 4 (c) The thinkers, poets, and historians aristo- cratic 6 4. The historic descent of Greek prejudice ... 8 (a) Rome 8 ib) The Middle Ages 8 (c) Scholasticism g (d) The Renaissance g (c) The Reformation 10 (/) England 10 (g) The United States 11 II. THE MODERN VIEW I. Falsity of the traditional theory imder modern conditions 14 (o) As undemocratic 14 (b) As inadequate 15 62 OUTLINE 2. The new importance of industry in life, culture, and ideals 15 (a) A stimulus to culture 15 (b) A condition of higher standards of living . . 16 (c) A source of ideals 17 3. The status of industry as changed by historical factors 18 (a) The rise of a new psychology 18 (b) Modern religious interpretation 19 (c) The growth of science 19 (d) The new hmnanism 20 4. Consequences of an obsolete conception of indus- try 21 (a) The antagonism of classes 21 (b) The ignorance of industrial operations . . , 22 (c) Separation of industrial from general educa- tion 23 (d) The need of industrial education in the ele- mentary school 23 III. THE PRESENT PROBLEM OF INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION 1. The distinction between industrial and vocational education 25 2. What the elementary school should do .... 26 3. The existing resources 27 (fl) Domestic art and science 28 (b) Manual work 28 (c) Geography and history 30 4. Experiments in industrial education 32 63 OUTLINE (a) In the kindergarten 32 (b) In elementary manual work 32 (r) In instruction 34 5. The need to expand our appreciations .... 35 IV. THE NECESSARY RECONSTRUCTION OF THE SCHOOL CURRICULUM 1. Review of the present place of industry in the curriculum 39 (o) The lack of industrial purpose 39 (6) The disciplinary aim 40 2. The need of a subject called "Industry" ... 41 3. The significance of the new subject 42 4. Conduct of the subject 43 5. Relation to manual action 44 6. Relation to other subjects 45 7. Relation to the theory of culture 46 8. Relation to primitive industry 47 V. THE NECESSARY RECONSTRUCTION OF SCHOOL METHOD 1. Instruction 51 2. Excursions 53 3. Manual action 56 4. Oral expression 57 5. Study 57 6. Written expression 58 7. Suggestions from primitive industry 59 8. The new features in school method 60 RIVERSIDE EDUCATIONAL MONOGRAPHS GENERAL EDUCATIONAL THEORY DKWlT'a MORAL PRINCIPLES IN EDUCATIOH SS Eliot's EDUCATION FOR EFFICIENCY SB Eliot's TENDENCY TO THE CONCRETE AHB PRACTIOAL tN MOD- ERN EDnCATION SB Emebsom's EDUCATION SB FrsKB's THE MEANINO OF INFANCY SB Utde's THE TEACHER'S PHILOSOPHY SB Falmik's THE IDEAL TEACHER SB Fkosser'a the TEACHER AMD OLD AOB 60 Tkbmah's the TEACHER'S HEALTH 60 TuoBSDHE's INDIVmUALITY SB ADMINISTRATION AND SUPERVISION OF SCHOOLS BiTTS's NEW IDEALS IN RURAL SCHOOLS 60 Bloomfield's VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE OF YOUTH 60 Cabot's VOLUNTEER HELP TO THE SCHOOLS 60 CoLK'H INDUSTRIAL EDUCATIOH IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS SB CuBBIBLET's CHANOIHQ CONCEPTIONS OF EDUCATION SB CuBBKBLKT-s THE IMPROVEMENT OF RURAL SCHOOLS Zi Lewis's DEMOCRACY'S HIGH SCHOOL. Jn I'reti. PebrVs status of THE TEACHER SB SXEDDEN'» THE PROBLEM OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATIOH SB TBOWBRinOE's THE HOME SCHOOL 60 WEEKg's THE PEOPLE'S SCHOOL 60 METHODS OF TEACHING Bailet'3 ART EDUCATION 60 Bktts's THE RECITATION 60 Campaonao's THE TEACHING OF COMPOSITION SB CoOLET's LANGUAGE TEACHING IN THE GRADES SB Dewey's INTEREST AND EFFORT IN EDUCATION 60 Eariiart's teaching CHILDREN TO STUDY 60 Evans's TEACHING OF HIGH SCHOOL MATHEMATICS SB Halibcbtow and Smith's TEACHING POETRY IN THE GRADES 60 Habtwell's the TEACHING OF HISTORY SB KiLPATRiCK's THE MONTESSORI SYSTEM EXAMINED 80 Palmer's ETHICAL AND MORAL INSTRUCTION IN THE SCHOOLS.. SB Palmer's SELF-CULTIVATION IN ENGLISH SB Bi'ZZALLo'8 THE TEACHING OF PRIMARY ARITHMETIC 60 SUZZALLO'S THE TEACHING OP SPELLINO 60 1516 University of California Library Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. bC- Ph. 310/82519188 ^fHf I LB1594 .C67 II III III yr : 1 n M II HI 1 i; ii 1 il ;'i llil liJI 1 ij L 009 509 071 8 • -o ANGtLto STATE NORMAL SCHOOL