The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1884-02-16
EDUCATIONAL.
Industrial and Manual Training
Schools Practically Considered
by an Experienced
Teacher.
Written Examinations---Thc study OF
Geography---IsOte Singing.
MANUAL TRAINING.

Supt. Rowland OF the public schools,
Chicago, has this to say in regard 10
manual training:
The rapid concentration of our popu-
lation in the cities and large towns, and
the great increase of indoor employ
ments consequent upon the almost uni
versal use of machinery, has changed
the whole character of our industries.
Our pupils. instead of returning from
the school TO the farm and the work
shops, as of old, now seek positions IN
commercial or mercantile lie, while
majority of our college graduates turn
to the legal or medical professions The
cause, in part at least, is not hard to
find. Our boys do not learn trades, be-
cause there are no trades to learn.
Division of labor, without the aid OF
any restrictive rules, has done away
with the old apprentice system. work
has become specialized, and the work
man of to-day, to be anything more
than IA mere tool, must have higher
mental training. Il more systematic
knowledge of principles. nicer and
more skllful touch than the Old methods
ever gave. Three years in the scientific
school will make our high-school gradu-
ate the superior, in nice and delicate
workmanship, of the veteran of the
machine-shop. The great respect paid
to wealth and the surroundings 1t per-
mts presents strong Inducements to
engage in trade; no man ever became
rich by the work of his hands alone,
and the prizes and honors of society
are rarely bestowed on the day-laborer,
and what more natural than that the
youth should eagerly seek those paths
by which the successful have won their
envied positionsP
Law and medicine are still regarded
as pathways to honorable distinction,
and they are to-day the only two pur-
suits in which the laborer is his OWL
master, an Independent citizen. AL
others are mere employees, with thell
hours of service and rate of wage:
determined by rules beyond their con
troll Even the small farmer has giveT
place To the hired laborer; the machine
: has crowded out the man, except a:
higher education shall enable oul
Young men to understand the inter
dependence of the different elements o
society, and the true relations of capt
tai and labor in promoting the bes
interests of ali. For success in all thu
: departments of mechanical industry
/, and art a correct and thorough train
r ing in drawing and design is a prime
requisite, aud is far from being mere
accomplishment in professional life
This would seem to be branch suited
n to the conditions of the schoo,-roonl
: and alike desirable for all. without dis
tinction of sex or social surroundings
r Even in the proper work Of the schoo
. itself, in geography, in history. and IL
all scientific study, familiarity will
The pencil and crayon is Indispensable
What other industrial education,
any, shall form a constituent part q
our school life, is an open question
d Nothing has yet been presented beyon
; \ few individual devices. which hav
= served 10 stimulate curiosity for tn
hour, but can hardly be deemed a
answer to the question. That scientiii