The Labor enquirer., 1886-02-27

MUTUALLY a pCopiC llhC tuO hLuCIiCduS, 81
mechanical and industrial in their occu
pations. find that only about 10 pei
cent Of your school population actually
passes into the high schools; that prac.
tically at fifteen years of age the contents
of your primary and grammar schools
pass away into the various industrial oc.
cupations Of the country.
'Ifyou examine boy of twelve tt
fourteen years Of age, in our good, new
board schools throughout any of oul
large cities, you will find that he will. Al
that age, know as much about the ele
ments of science, natural philosophy,
simple mathematics, mechanical draw
ing, chemistry, electricity, magnetism,
and all these general elements of science
as many of your boys and girls do in the
high schools when they are sixteen and
seventeen wears of age. We are endeav'
oring to bring this national system O
education IN our country to a point
where it will be of use to the laborinp
classes chiefly, and we endeayor to teach
them those subjects that will have a
direct bearing on their future employ.
ments. Without teaching them trade
or any particular handicraf #, all the ten
dency of the teaching is to make them
either commercially success or indus
trially success, in the way of having
some scientific knowledge which they
can utilize as they pass into their various
occupations.
"We want to elevate and exalt the
idea of manual labor in England. We
do not want our public school system to
give the children of the working people
the idea that labor is low, uninterestlne
and vulgar. We want to avoid that by
giving them opportunity to take interest
in the great sciences that underlie all
our industries, and so imbue them,
through the instruction, with an intelll-
gence that will give them an enjoyment
of life unknown to their fathers.
II have observed and been informe1
that your boys and girls just developing
at the age for entering into occupations
involving manual labor, rather seek
what we call in England polite employ
ments-to be clerks, or. do some work
which does n OF involve ordinary manual
labor They find manual labor uninter-
esting and leave trade often when
they have commenced to learn it.
"The appointment of royal commits,
sion to inquire into the technical educa-
tion of all the countries In the world
arose out of the fact that in England we
have not many opportunities, nor insti-
tutions which afford to our working pop
ulation, or even to our middle classes,
the means of acquiring a knowledge OF
the sciences before thew enter the usual
occupation of industrial life. We have
felt for the last ten years, very acutely
as you know, the competition which has
sprung up in all parts of the world with
English industries, and it has been sup
posed by some public men that our man
ufacturer of the simplest kind would for
the future have to yield to higher class
of production if we are to hold our place
in the world as purveyors of clothing
and the various articles which we have
hitherto shipped from England, In con-
sequence we find Unnecessary to improve
the taste in all articles we manufacture,
and to bring to bear higher knowledge
ofthe scientific laws that underlie all
the industries, and to educate our people
into still greater skillSa skill derived
from a high intelligence"
On page 1,102, volume l, John Swinton
of New York is recorded as saying:
"I propose the establishment of gov
ernment industrial SCHOOLS and colleges
on the French system. A friend of mine
who arrived from France on Monday
gave me an an account of visit he had
made to the industrial schools and col
leges insFrance, where boys and glrlsare
taught by the government those mar.
velous industries in wood, iron, cotton,
wool, and all sorts of textiles whose won
derful industries which have made
France the purveyor of the world
in great lines of ware. The schools are
established, supported, and the teachers
appointed by the government. They are
free, and form substitute for the de-
funct system of apprenticeship. The old
apprentice system Of the middle ages,
which lasted until the introduction Of
the new economic forces, is dead beyond
hope of revival, and it must be sup
planted by some sort of industrial schools
in order to secure the supply of work
men which is not now furnished by the
country itself, but is got from abroad. |
am satisfied that the industrial arts must
be made a government business, and
there is nothing in the constitution to
prevent this"
On page 547, volume II, can be found
the Rev. Heber Newton, D. D., of New
York as saving:
"The necessity Of the states entering
the educational field is disputed by nc
one; but ifitis to educate children al
the public cost it is bound, I think, to SC
educate its wards that they shall return
to society the taxation imposed for thei1
education. Its justification in becoming