New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1886-12-27
BIYDRAyCEs TO INDUSTRIAL EDUCATIOM

rtis inst "a we'll that whatever is done about
industrial education should be done AFTER due
investieation and with the fullest knowledge
of the question that can be obtained. In the
first place it must be remembered that the de-
mand is not a new one, and that number OF
experiments have already been male, "hiie
only n few of these have had successful resuits.
The ;dsa of giving all the boys and girls
trade has occurred to great many reople who
hava not asked themselves whether i'll truth
this rlan constituted remedy for the evils
which suggested it, There are, however, two
vital nonts IN be considered even after the by
nm means small difficulty of providing the
machinery for industrial education has been
overcome. These vital questions are, the in
cl,natiou of the scholars themselves, and the
avenues open to them when their education is
finished. Now it il one of the perplexing facts
Of the period that positive distaste for indus
trial occupations is prevalent among the
vouue. and what il still more embarrassing
is the sympathy OF large percentage OF
parent. with this feeling. Men who have
worked at some industry all their lives do not
want their children TO live in the same way,
anil therefore disapDr0ve OF industrial education
for them. They ssy:@ have worked nara
with my hands. NV son shall have an easier
time.r And 50 they desire that the sons shall
become clerks or bookkeepers or statesmen or
Office holders.
II ought to be notorious that the false and
foolish pride of parents is a principal factor IN
the situation which it is now sought to improve
by giving industrial education in the schools.
Absurd and impracticable as the public school
curriculum is in many respects, it is equally
certain that many parents approve Oh this very
impractca bity, precisely because they think
that instruction in matters OF which they are
ignorant must be particularly valuable. Tiey
want their children to reach higher plane
than they have occupied, and therefore they
do not wish them to stu ly those c,mnon-sense
branches the use Of which is clear to every
b ,dy. The children them selves inevitably fol-
low the parental bent, and soon begin to regard
industrial education as in some way degrad-
ing; no doubt holding that TO learn trade Is
virtually to undertake to practise it. These
are real difficulties, but they are not the only
ones When or if industrial education has
been had the question arises, How are the
new wOrkmen tn earn their living7 Ga enter
ing the world they discover that all the rules
of organized labor look tn the restriction of its
field Trades unirnis n has always done It's
utmost to prevent the extension of any indus
try. Its regulations regarding apprenticeship
prove this cOnclusively. No welcome, there
fnre can be expected for the young men who
learn trades at school, when they undertake to
put their knowledge in practice.
The labor theory being what it is, opposition
must be looked for whenever serious effort is
made to throw open the industries to all. 1t
is of course against public policy that children
should glow no in idleness or uselessness. But
the organized wOrkingmen cav that the eff ct
of giving all fradas will ha 4" CLINT tne labor
market, and so to reduce wages and iDJure the
condition Of labor all over the country. This
assumption may be all wronZ. bnt it Is the one
W hich prevails, and It must be reckoned with
when the subject of providing industrial edu-
cation is lin Ter consideration. Certainly it
would be very imprudent to go on recklessly
| and spend large sums in furnishing tie means
of this kind OF education. before ascertaIniag
| clearly whether those tor whom 1t was in
tended would accept and apply it, and whether,
supposing they accepted and applied it, they
would be permitted, wien their schooling was
over, to earn their living by it, 1t may be pos
| sble to overcome all these hindrances, but The
mode of doing so has not yet been discovered.
| and until il is the only wise course is to pro-
| coed cautiously and tentatively in the whole
matter.