New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1886-06-20
AN EXPERIMENT.
THE SUCCESS OF THE ST LOUIS MAMMAL
TRAINING SCHOOL,


ator remarked that the responbe origin of the
labor troubles is to be found the public schools;
that they teach both too much and too little. The
explicit meaning of this assertion to DO that
the public schools have impaired to the mass of orr
youth enough to sharpen their wits, and not sh
to give them balance sef-'iirection. Teachers
are stirred with something of this feeling and there
has been no time during the last twenty yea1
when the methods of public education have been
more earnestly questioned than the present.
The st. LOUIS Mammal Training school, which is q
member of the Washington University system is
regarded pioneer ID the particular field oil its
theory and experiment. SO much so thlt its
director Professor e. NJ. Woodward. during tho
past year been invited to New-fOrk. Boston. PhIa-
dephia and other principal cit les to explain its
prir ,ipes and workings. Professor WoodN ards
system is believed to be present in other organize
tons such as the Training School Of Toledo, Ohio;
Professor AdIer's Manual School IN New-York; tho
College of the City of New York and the Gramercy
Park Tool Association. But Professor Wood ward
holds n decided advantage in the age of his ex-
pertinent and in the scope OF its application. HIS
is not a free school, nor charity school. lie has
not undertaken to solve directly the problem.
How shall poor boy he so educated as to start at
once to make his livingp but rather, How shall
any boy rich or poor be fitted for the actual duties
of life including that OF getting his living, IN
more direct and positive manner than is done in
the ordinary American schools The value of his
experim ent appears quite as much In It's success
with the sons of wealthy parents-boys who are
not compelled to earn their living by hand-work-
as in the case of those wholly dependent on their
own exertiOns.
The Manual Training School does not propose TO
abolish the regular literary curriculum but to add
to and complete it by putting to school the whole
boy-brains legs, eyes, arms and fingers. The
training of the eye and hand is indispensable to
complete education OF the brain, and is therefore "a
necessary for those who not going to he artisans
as for those Tho are There Is q close connection
between brain thinking and hand-doing.
thought must pass from I be brain into the hand.
aud through the band into action or form before IL
can he tested thought, clear thought or
practical! thought. Observation and judgn ent eau
only be properly trained through the training Of
the hand-this is the theory The object sought is
not the training of the fingers to eXpertness in
special trades; but the simultaneous training OF
those mental faculties and physical organs which
are involved in and enter into the successful work
ing of all trades; the production, noe OF special
but of general, craft or cunning. There Is no
inauiry made of the boy of fourteen as to what
particular trade he has liking or bent for; but
his mind and hand are accustomed to such use of
chlsels, gouges, bits. planes, saws; and to such
operations of mailing, guing, dOvetailing JOIN
ing. turning, welding upsetting. temper
me- chilling. etc.-incudng the drawing of all
forms to be executed, that he is better able to ind
out his bent or natural adaptation. and when he
enters upon his chosen speciality he becomes pro-
fcient or expert in incredibly short time,
usually in one-quarter OF the time spent by the
ordinary apprentice.
The Manual Training School of ST. Louis holding
to the prciple that manual training is essential to
the right and iull development of the human
mind" is old enough to dem0nstr tie TO some
extent its claim. The literary part OF the course
grades with tho ordinary high school. Latin aud
French are present optional branches. Physical
science pred0minates to the exclusion of natural
science other than botany. Each pupil has three
daily rectatiOns, one hour OF drawing and two
hours of shop practice On the three hoors the
recitation and tue shops are on opposite stiles
of the hall. The machinery of the shops Is driven
! by Cor.iss engine on the first f0Or When an
| hour has been spent in mathematics physics
mechanics. botany or literary study and rec tatlon,
! the class is turned over to the shops The boys
doft their coats and don their aprons. Each boy
has his set of tools which he must keep III ORDER
| They come to the benches athes aud forges with
all the zest and exhllaratlon of "a baseball game
They demonstrate most beautifully that their
work is play and their play work They reap an
Intellectual gain by the immediate assimilation OF
knowledge; and by rpenlng knowledge INTO
brain work with healthfu exercise; a moral gain
by acquiring habits OF industry, and an exalted
idea of be dignity of hand Tney are not in
danger of either intellectual physical vertigo,
and their legs arms ana eyes are not gwen over 10
the devil OF ldeness or mischief. They will never
be strikers or boycotters The exhibition exercises
of these c.osIng days present the drst-year boys,
with saws and cnlsels making nortses lemons aud
dovetails; with lathes. fasllonlng maels, or or
namental cups alter their OWN ircehand drawings
The secOnd-year boys are forging chains and
simple tools. and are moulding with TASKS or with
ireehaud IN plaster. The tbTd-year class shows It's
/ .lrtl in hIUl lis %
and steel; IN temperng and pol,hlng Inc
products of the ears work are systematically
arranged, from the simplest yood JOINT To the most
finished piece OF iron shaftlng, with perfect
nangr-unlUn. Cabinet boxes with inlaid woods;
perfect balls composed OF as many as thirty two
pieces jack-pianes mallets. gauges. black>lnlths
tongs, cold chlscls. taps Tor cutting thieads-all
mad. by the boys-are admired by parents ana
visitors, aud appauded By expert mechanics ~
equal the products of trst class Skill \ steam
EN- CINE, whose construction IN parts mad before
seen. machine of four-hVrse power. with live by
SIX Inch cylinder aud occupying space OF but
three hi Oh by less than two lect square on tho
loor. with polish almost equal To eectro-piate IS
now spinning III a rapid and bew!tchiug litt. Not
less admirable Is the presentation OF mechanical
frechand and perspective drawing
These are the products let 1t be remembered, OF
bows who come mostly from families IN easy CIR
cumstances. Many OF these boysl observed rolling
on nickel plated bicycles dowrA he asphalt pave
mcnt from the West End. rreld at my eibo",
who has suffered intellectual DYSPEPSIA Tor u
quarter of a century FROM Overlooking his nina
with nnassmilated food and whose legs aud arms
still guIltess OF any useful practical results
alter withdrawing his del gLtet eye from th's
scene of ideas in motion. says: Old fellow, we
we're born aud schooed thirty years too socn. But
"A conservative and critical observer. on the othef
hand asks: What good does the boy gel from
making this finely joined piece OF Skating unless
he follows the trade Of machnstV lie should
have asked long ago what good the college student
gets from geometry, calculus, mensnraton or tiieo,
nomeiry, who does not enter the profession oi cNu
engineerR The intimacy between hand achieve
ment and mental requirement tiouha mahiiesuy
pronounced III tracing the work OF Individual boys.
The boy who was forward i'll freich ana matue-
MATES was quite rs forward IN drawing aud III
hand-w work in wood and iron. AMT the dull boy,
who does not take to memorSing or arithmetic,
and whose father has sent hun To one school alter
another only to discourage both TINS boy hnu, MS
| ri',.t Mace IN the Manual Training School. Hero
h. finds a now MnN of interesting and ArOllslhS MS