The National tribune., 1882-08-12
Industrial Education.

The American Institute of instruction,
which numbers among its members some of
our leading educators, held its annual ses-
sion last week at Saratoga, n. Y, and among
the subjects discussed was that of industrial
training. The committee charged with the
consideration of the question made a report,
in the course of which they say that "there
slo.l. be incorporated in the present
aa1e for education broader provisions
.ag parting to youth the elements of
know dge and skill required in the indus
trial It's, not alone for the development of
these rts, but also as q part of general
system Of public education, having for its
obec training for citizenship" and recon-
laaad eaching from models, instruction in
chon Il and physical science, drawing, the
rse OF ,ools, etc. We heartily endorse these
recon lendations, and wish there were
.ao5 to hope for their speedy adoption
sac nth is that the present system of
school education in this country is
one-sided it is based on the theory
le head alone needs education, and
the fact that the fingers need train
veil. 1t shuts its eyes also to the fact
echanical talent is just as deserving
of culture as literary talent, and that the
trn ca1lcr1 foryI in M:
so that it does not by any means follow that
because lad shows no aptitude for book
learning he possesses no genius whatever.
There is good reason to believe, indeed
that the failure of our school system-where
it has failed-has been due to its one-sided
character 1t is well-calculated to train up
young men to be clerks, or accountants, or
teachers, or lawyers and for admission to the
professions generally, but it does not afford
the training necessary to an industrial career
The question has been often asked, "Why is
it that so many college-bred men can find
no more remunerative employment than
that of book-keeper, for instance, at five
hundred dollars year?" And it has been
suggested that they would have done much
better to have learned some trade. By way
of answer, it may be said that while the
effect of college training, as a rule, is to
develop the mental powers-and in that
respect can never be regarded as wholly
futile-it is only of practical value where it
is supplemented by business or professional
experience, and that so far as the learning
of a trade is concerned, the opportunities for
doing so are much less abundant than most
people suppose. Nearly all the labor unions
enforce stringent regulations as to the num-
Der of apprentices that shall be taken in
each shop, and it sometimes requires as
much influence to secure an apprenticeship
for lad as to obtain place under the
Government.
Practically, therefore, while the education
of the minds of our youth is made a govern
mental duty the education of their hands is
left to chance. Certainly this ought not to
be the case, and although the time may
never come when the teaching of distinct
trades will be recognized as within the
province of common-school education, the
opinion is undoubtedly growing that some
sort of industrial training ought to be af-
forded in connection with our system of
public instruction. 1t is a fact worth con-
sidering that almost all children display
taste if not talent for mechanics in their
simplest form. The first thing that boy
wants-and the most precious in his eyes
is a jack knife, and the next-a box of tools.
Why, instead of letting him make mere
plaything of them, should he not be taught
how to use them properly, and any natural
skill that he may possess be thus turned to
account?
Everybody knows that children are quick
to learn from personal observation and ex-
perience, no matter how slow they may be in
acquiring knowledge from books, and yet at