IN I) US T ll T R A I N I N G. 
 
 REPORT 
 
 OF 
 
 Mr. a BAMBEEGEK, 
 
 Principal 
 
 OF THE 
 
 NEW YOEK WORKINGMAN’S SCHOOL, 
 
 IN THE NAME OF THE COMMITTEE 
 FOR INDUSTRIAL TRAINING OF THE GERMAN-AMERICAN 
 TEACHERS’ ASSOCIATION, AT CLEVELAND, O. 
 
 AUGUST, 1884. 
 
 # 
 
 NEW YORK. 
 
 Bkuno Buos., Steam Printers, 113 Nassau Stre'-ct, 
 
 18S5. 
 
V 
 
 (LO^. I 
 
 INDUSTRIA L TR AIN ING. 
 
 REPORT OF MR. G. BAMBERGER, PRINCIPAL OF THE NEW YORK 
 
 workingmna’s school, in the name of the committee for industrial 
 
 TRAINING OF THE GERMAN-AMERICAN TEACHERS’ ASSOCIATION, 
 
 AT CLEVELAND, O., AUGUST, 1884. 
 
 In presenting to you my report upon the subject of In¬ 
 dustrial Training I am liappy to announce tliat tlie achieve¬ 
 ments of the past year show a decided progress in this held 
 of our labors. This is the more gratifying, from the fact that 
 our present advanced position has not been gained without 
 hrst having to overcome a strong and determined opposi¬ 
 tion. It is true, that of late years this opposition has not 
 been so openly avowed as formerly, but it has existed none 
 the less. He who has stood upon some rocky sea-coast, has 
 seen the mighty waves dashing in their wild rage against the 
 impregnable cliff. After every such assault, there would 
 ensue a moment of apparent calm, when the great billow, 
 broken and foaming, returned into the endless sea, only to 
 hurl itself with renewed violence against the immovable 
 shore. 
 
 8uch a period of treacherous calm we have been passing 
 through in our recent experience. We have taken our stand 
 upon the principle of the harmonious development of the whole 
 human being as upon a firm and steadfast rock. We have seen 
 the waves of a powerful opposition again and again dashing 
 themselves against our stronghold. We have watched each 
 intervening lull, that only gave warning of a fresh attack. 
 And we have the satisfaction of knowing that the utmost that 
 
 f344ri9 
 
4 
 
 INDUSTRIAL TRAINING. 
 
 all tills opposition lias been able to effect, has been the clear- 
 ing of onr rock from rubbish which we would gladly spare. 
 Its foundations stand as firmly as ever,—their stability is 
 assured. 
 
 Strangely enough, the principle of complete harmonious 
 development, as applied to education, has met with oppo¬ 
 sition from some whose brightest ideals would seem to be in¬ 
 volved in its success. I need not remind you how’ the ques¬ 
 tion of industrial training, as a part of general training, has 
 been treated by most of the delegates of a Teachers’ Associa¬ 
 tion in Germany. But in spite of all hostility, whether from 
 without or from within, the subject of industrial training has 
 already attracted the favorable attention of thousands of en¬ 
 lightened and sincere educators. It is, in fact, in a fair way of 
 being generally recognized as an essential part of school-work, 
 wherever the cardinal principle on which it rests is regarded 
 as the guiding star in educational matters. This state of 
 affairs has, to a great measure, been brought about through the 
 successful experiments made in the workshops already esta¬ 
 blished in connection with the ordinary schoolwork. 
 
 During the last year it seemed as if an armistice had been 
 contracted between those who favor and those who oppose 
 manual training in our schools. The party which entertain 
 doubts in regard to the beneficial working of this new feature 
 in school life has been looking out for substantial proofs,, 
 while its enthusiastic advocates have been busily at work, in 
 many places, to procure indisputable evidence of its value 
 through various experiments, and especially through the final 
 introduction of manual work into the respective schools. In 
 this way we can explain to ourselv^es the apparent quiet on the 
 battle field after so mucli fighting. 
 
 But this stillness does not indicate entire cessation of the 
 struggle. It is true, the foremost men in educational matters 
 are in sympathy with our new idea, but we have yet to over¬ 
 come the spirit of conservatism in the teacher, the prejudices 
 and indifference of the mass of the people, the scrupulousness, 
 narrow-mindedness and egotism of boards of education, who 
 in any innovation that does not originate with themselves 
 always scent danger to their authority. You see the war is 
 not yet over. 
 
 Our last year’s endeavors were directed principally towards 
 the systematic arrangement of the material, which in many 
 places had been heaped up too eagerly, accompanied by a 
 want of understanding and foresight. Friends of our new 
 departure, outside as well as inside the school, expected too 
 much of it, tried to make moi-e out of it tliaji was warranted 
 
INDUSTRIAL TRAINING. 
 
 5 
 
 hy circumstances; the}^ did too mncli, introduced into the 
 school all kinds of handicraft, but there was at the same 
 time visible a want of system, of rational connection between 
 these different manual occupations; what was wanting most 
 of all, was the connecting link between manual work on the 
 one hand and the brain-woik on the other. No wonder, there¬ 
 fore, that the expected results were not realized; but it was 
 apparent that the mental work in the different classes of 
 tlie school showed deficiencies, and that the achievements 
 in the workshop were of too purely mechanical a nature. 
 
 Such an unsatisfactory state of things, however, stimulated 
 to renewed experiments, and now we see them conducted with 
 more precaution and in a more rational spirit, by making 
 a better choice of subjects for manual labor and by elimin¬ 
 ating all subjects not thus far satisfactory. 
 
 The results during the present year—particularly in Europe— 
 have, in consequence, been much more valuable, if we may 
 judge from the reports obtained from there. The more care¬ 
 ful precautions and more rational proceeding have attracted 
 an increased number of unprejudiced observers, disposing 
 them in tavor of the new departure in school life. 
 
 In the kingdom of Saxony, also in Prussia, Hessen, and 
 Baden, the respective governments are already in possession 
 of proposals in regard to the introduction of our school-reform, 
 and these proposals have at least received the promise of con¬ 
 sideration. The government of Saxony have even appointed 
 a commission to report on the feasibility of the refoim in 
 question. Let us hope that the movement so auspiciously in¬ 
 augurated will meet with the success it so richly deserves.* 
 
 Even in this country, the question as to the manual training 
 of youth is being pushed to the front. But Avhat we have 
 achieved in tliis field is not commensurate with the enthu¬ 
 siasm with which the new idea has been received. The fact 
 is, we ar*e not yet prepared to give it a practical test— we have 
 at present no teachers specially trained for instruction in 
 manual labor, and not until this want no longer exists can we 
 expect any real progress in this direction. This is a hint for 
 our teachers to acquaint themselves with the new methods 
 and to make tlieinselves fit for the task; they surely will find 
 it to their advantage. In the meantime those leaders in the 
 field of education who have befriended the new idea, and have 
 an understanding of its whole scope must continue their pro¬ 
 paganda in its Ixdialf. You know, as well as I do, the names 
 
 * Indeed, it seems oiir liopes are not futile. Ju.st now tlie news 
 readies me tliat manual training? lias I>een made olilij^atory at the Koyal 
 Normal Sehools iu Dresden an<l (leva. 
 
6 
 
 INDUSTRIAL TRAINING. 
 
 of those gentlemen in this conntry who have interested them¬ 
 selves in the subject of manual training, although it is very 
 likely that your attention has not been drawn to an article 
 written by Professor Farnam, of Yale College, New Haven, 
 on the subject. Allow me to cite the following from this able 
 production. — 
 
 “ An old tradition of the Hohenzollern famil}^ requires that, 
 every son shall learn some handicraft. The j^resent Crown 
 Prince is a joiner; one of his sons, if I am not mistaken, is a 
 bookbinder; and thus every member of that house who ascends 
 the throne of Prussia possesses, in addition to his military 
 and literary education, a purely manual education in some 
 mechanical art. 
 
 “ If skill in joinery is thought essential to the education of 
 a sovereign, whose bank account is kept good by the income of 
 estates and taxation, and the greater part of whose life is 
 devoted to military, governmental, and ceremonial affairs, it 
 would seem not extravagant to assume that a sovereign who 
 earns his daily bread in the dull routine of industrial toil 
 should be equipped with at least the rudiments of manual 
 training. Yet it is only within a very few years that the 
 question of supplying such an education to the fift}^ millions 
 of sovereigns who rule this countrv has even been mooted; its 
 practical realization, save on an experimental scale, is still in 
 the future.” 
 
 “ That some kind of manual training is desirable, simply as 
 a part of the general education of a child, and not as a prepar¬ 
 ation for any particular career, is generally held by the most 
 advanced thinkers of the day, and has long been conceded by 
 the practice of those who are able to afford it. Are not child¬ 
 ren whose parents have the requisite means constantly encour¬ 
 aged to engage in games and sports and the exercise of small 
 handicrafts, which train the hand and the eye, perhaps with¬ 
 out consciousness of effort on the part of the children? As 
 they grow older, does not every Christmas bring its quota of 
 carpenteis’ benches, printing presses, scroll saws, toy shij^s and 
 engines, etc., to develop the mechanical faculties of the boys, 
 while the girls are gradually initiated into the mysteries of 
 sewing, embroidery, etc. ? 
 
 “If such excercises, pursued as a pastime, are thought use¬ 
 ful and good, how much more valuable must they be when 
 pursued with method. The whole tendency of modern educa¬ 
 tion, since the davs of Froebel, is to introduce more and more 
 the training of the hand and the eye as a supplement to—nay, 
 as the very groundwork of the training of the mind. It is 
 
INDUSTRIAL TRAINING. 
 
 7 
 
 claimed, and the claim seems reasonable, that such an educa¬ 
 tion not only cultivates the skill of the member so trained^ 
 but that it aids materially in the acquisition of other knowl¬ 
 edge; that it develops observation; that it assists especially 
 the pupils who have little capacity for book-learning, but who 
 frequently have decided mechanical aptitudes, by developing 
 their latent faculties and giving them more self-reliance and 
 courage ; and the knowledge gained of materials and processes 
 is exceedingly useful to any one, whatever his future ])ursuit 
 may be.’'. 
 
 Professor Farnam alludes to the position taken by W. T. 
 Harris, in regard to the introduction of manual industry into 
 the school, and cannot understand what induces this eminent 
 scholar and educator to place himself in opposition to it. You 
 all know of W. T. Harris, for many years superintendent of 
 schools in St. Louis, and always considered the most reliable 
 authority in school matters in this country. Of course, I as 
 well as vou, regret most sincerely his being ojiposed to us 
 upon this important issue. Professor Farnam, citing in his 
 article what Mr. Harris has to say against the matter, makes it 
 his special task to refute him and does this successfully. 
 
 But I am glad to be able to tell you that the position taken 
 by W. T. Flarris is a rather isolated one. There are a great 
 number of men of science and others of standing, interested in 
 all matters pertaining to the education of the people, who 
 have, during the last year, taken the opportunity to visit and 
 inspect our Workingman’s School in New York, all of whom 
 have expressed to me, in a most enthusiastic manner, their entire 
 satisfaction with what thev have seen there. 
 
 C/ 
 
 Dr. Jose Castro Fernandez, son of the President of Costa 
 Pica, spent two weeks with us, studying every feature of our 
 school, providing himself with all available programmes and 
 copying our school, as it were, in order to reorganize the 
 schools in his country after the model thus obtained. In the 
 cooperation of manual work and brain work, he saw at once a 
 powerful agent for civilizing his countrymen, scarcely yet 
 touclied by any culture, and for counterbalancing the prevail¬ 
 ing tendency to bigotry and superstition. In the name of his 
 government, he made an agreement with us to send, at first, 
 fifteen or twenty boys from his country, at the age of about 
 twelve years, as pupils to our school, in order to be educated 
 there as teachers for the schools at their own home. 
 
 We have also been visited by many gentlemen and ladies from 
 different parts of the country, interested in educational mat¬ 
 ters, and have uniformly heard from them expressions of entire 
 
8 
 
 INDUSTRIAL TRAINING. 
 
 approval. Upon several occasions deputations have come 
 from other cities for the purpose of examining and reporting 
 upon the methods employed in our school. Not curiosity, but 
 a deep interest in our work, and a desire to adopt, as far a& 
 possible, its distinctive features, have attracted these friends, 
 toward our institution. 
 
 Before reporting to you the improvement we have made in 
 our school, since 1 last gave you an account of its working, I 
 will state, briefly, that in the City of New York a school similar 
 to our Workingman’s School has been established. I refer to- 
 the Hebrew Technical Institute. The principal of this school > 
 
 is Mr. Leipziger, a German-American. Although we must 
 regret the denominational character of this institution we 
 gladly recognize in it a furtherance of our cause. 
 
 It is, of course, of special importance to our object just now,. ^ 
 
 to make known our endeavors toward enlightening the public 
 in regard to the real facts relating to our movement; for what 
 most impedes the introduction of the same is its not being 
 rightly understood; clear the way for a better appreciation of 
 the merits of manual training and soon we shall have won the 
 da^L There was a time when prejudice impeded the introduc¬ 
 tion of the potato into Europe,—how do v e account for this- 
 seemingly strange fact? People mistook the ill-tasting berries- 
 of the potato-plant for its esculent tuber. A similar misunder¬ 
 standing counterbalances our efforts regarding the recognition 
 of the value of manual training. 
 
 Therefore, what we have to do for the better understanding 
 of the real merits of manual training, must at present be 
 limited to putting forward the principal features of our new 
 departure, to wit: 1st. Being of a creative nature, manual 
 training preceeds our object lessons. 2d. Our new method is- 
 not intended to prepare for a special branch of industry, 
 inasmuch as it underlies every kind of industry. 3d. The 
 fundamental principle in regard to the arrangement of the 
 objects for manual work is that of development, and is in close 
 connection with the intellectual work of the school; that is, 
 workshop and school-room are in close and systematic relation 
 with each other,—Avhat is taught in the school room is to be 
 wrought into a plastic form in the workshop, and what is here v 
 
 created is there to be taught in principle. 4th. Instruction 
 in drawing is in close relation to the exercises in the workshop. 
 
 Each object of manual labor is first to be sketched and then 
 carefully drawn. 5th. We must declare emphatically that our ^ 
 
 aim is not to predispose a pupil to a certain industrial pur.suit, 
 but only to be a help to him in finding out that sort of calling 
 most suitable to his mental and physical endowments. 6th. 
 
INDUSTRIAL TRAINING. 
 
 9' 
 
 We must lav stress on the fact, that we endeavor to include the 
 entire hninan being within oiir scope, that we intend to educate 
 the whole mass of the people and not those alone who may be 
 better endowed mentally by nature. 7th. We direct attention 
 to the fact that a well planned manual training, in connection 
 with mental training, is the only nat^iral proceeding in 
 educating children, because it corresponds with the progressive 
 development of their nature. 
 
 In regard to the working of our system in the New York 
 Workingman’s school, I am in a position to report progress in 
 these dilFerent directions, during the five years of its existence. 
 
 1st. There has been progress in selecting the proper material 
 for our workshop, a subject of great importance. We proceed 
 now according to the following scheme : first, we use clay 
 adapted to the tender hand of the child. After that, we use 
 paper, card-board, and leather. Our next step is to the use of 
 wood, beginning with the softest kind. Our last resort is to 
 the various metals, of which lead is chosen to start with. 
 Selecting thus the materials, our plan is simply adapted to 
 the plan followed by the instruction in natural history. 2d. 
 There has been progress in the selection of tools used. The 
 various tools we use are not resorted to indiscriminately, but 
 their use is wholly dependent on a preconcerted plan. We 
 start with the plain chisel, passing over to the knife, the 
 scissors and the saw. After these tools for filing and separ¬ 
 ating have been sufficiently used, we pass to the hammer, the 
 tongues and the screw. Having accomplished our purpose 
 through the use of these various tools, we resort to the steam- 
 engine. The different parts of it have to be represented in 
 drawing by the children, who afterwards inddel them and 
 finally put the parts together. Our most advanced class has 
 in the course of last year successfully operated with steam 
 poAver. The order in which Ave use our tools corresponds AAdth 
 the plan according to AAdiich the science of physics is genei*ally 
 taught. 3d. There has been progress in regard to the choos¬ 
 ing of appropriate objects on A\diich to Avork, starting A\dth the 
 simplest fundamental forms of geometry, passing from these 
 to the plain, constructing at last the solid in accordance Avith 
 the principles goA’eniing its formation and becoming acquainted 
 Avdth its cubical contents. In conclusion, the entire ground 
 passed over is revieAA^ed Avdtli reference to forms AA^e meet in 
 our daily life. 
 
 To tliis scries of objects for manual training corresponds 
 the plan generally laid out for teaching mathematics. We 
 cannot value too higlily such a reciprocity in AA-orking. We 
 
10 
 
 INDUSTRIAL TRAINING. 
 
 have progressed also in tlie brancli of our artistic work, in 
 free hand drawing and modeling. In regard to this art I will 
 only add, that at the end of the school year we w^ere surprised 
 by observing how the pupils of the highest grade proved them¬ 
 selves capable, without any aid whatever, of modeling relief- 
 maps with clay from the maps drawn by themselves. 
 
 A particular featuiie of our course in modeling is, that our 
 pupils do not make their forms by taking away but on the con¬ 
 trary b}^ adding in order to represent the desired form. The 
 manner in which they proceed in adding the smallest particles 
 serves us as a criterion for judging the proficiency of their 
 workmanship. All our visitors have been pleased with this 
 way of proceeding in regard to modeling. 
 
 By experimenting in this manner something will always be 
 gained, so that at the end we shall have the satisfaction of the 
 triumph of our cause, - our new departure will become a fea¬ 
 ture of our public schools. 
 
 In conclusion, allow me to invite vou to oive vour consider- 
 ation to the following sentences : 
 
 As in the domain of moral life we recognize the fundamental 
 fact that moral experience must precede the deeper and truer 
 moral insight, so in the domain of the school, in the intellec¬ 
 tual training of the young, we make it our constant aim to let 
 the acquisition of knowledge, the apprehension of truth, grow 
 out of the experience of the pupils themselves. That method 
 of instruction vliich consists in cramming the heads of little 
 children with rules, definitions, abstractions, which they da 
 not understand and with facts which they cannot assimilate, 
 must be banished out of every school. AYitli unremitting zeal 
 must w^e stand guard in future that such a destructive method 
 may never ])ass the threshold of our schools. “Deed not creed,” 
 is the educational princijile to which we must adhere. First must 
 come the actual acquaintance with -things and processes, and 
 then the rule, the definition. First, the child must learn to use 
 its senses, to see for itself, to hear for itself, to obtain clear 
 impressions of the exterior world, to express its nature in 
 productive action, before we can lead it to systematic reflection 
 and to the formulation of its thoinrhts, and such truths 
 as are the result of the child’s own experience, come to 
 it through the exercise of its own senses, through the labor of 
 its own hands, it is not too much to say, will remain its last¬ 
 ing possessions, will be tinged with the child’s own individu¬ 
 ality, will partake of its own character and will, therefore, re¬ 
 tain an enduring place in its life. To sum up, whatever we 
 teach is deduced from the unchangeable nature of things them¬ 
 selves ; nothing is taught on mere authority, mere tradition. 
 
INDUSTRIAL TRAINING. 
 
 11 
 
 And now, ladies and gentlemen, permit me to elucidate 
 wliat I have just said by a single practical illustration. Let 
 us take for example a quadrilateral prism, like tlie one you see 
 in my band here. It is not difficult for even a moderately 
 good scholar to find the cubic volume of such a prism, but it 
 is difficult and for most persons absolutely impossible to in¬ 
 vent the formula by means of which we find the cubic con¬ 
 tents of the quadrilateral pyramid. Centuries have elapsed 
 before this result was reached by one of the greatest mathe- 
 mathicians, to find the cubic contents of a pyramid from the 
 prism by dividing the latter by 3. This result is generally 
 given to the scholar to be memorized and used in practice. 
 This the only means of solution is the reliance on mere memory. 
 How different is our method! Our children are taught to dis¬ 
 sect the prism in such a manner as actually to produce the 
 pyramid, and the side-pieces that have been cut off' are set 
 together so as to form 2 pyramids. Thus our children solve 
 the problem and discover the truth by their own experience, 
 their own exertion, and, instead of following blindly the author¬ 
 ity of their formula, deduce the ride through their own obser¬ 
 vation. Besides, the truth can be constantly reiterated and 
 strengthened by the re]ietit;ion of the ivork. The result of all 
 we attempt can therefore be expressed in the words of Come- 
 nius, the celebrated educator of the 17th Century, “ that men 
 must be taught to draw wisdom as much as at all possible 
 not from books but from heaven and earth, from oak-trees and 
 from beeches.” 
 
 I conclude my report witli the words of Pestalozzi.— 
 
 “ Eiiis muss in’s And’ie greifeii, 
 
 Eins (lurch’s Aml’i-e hliili’n mid reifeii.’’ 
 

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