The Sunday tatler and Jersey City express. (Jersey City, N.J.) 1883-1886, 1886-02-07
INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION


Industrial education. such as we ar
contemplating, lin this county has hardI,
advanced beyond the experimental stage
hence, the literature in connection with ii
is necessarily meagre and fragmentary. L
presenting the subject to the readers Q
the TATTLER the object is not SO much t
theorize, as to collect together in read
able form an account of some of the ex
periments which have, and are being made
SO as to show, as far as possible, by q state
ment of facts, what has succeeded an,
what has not, what is practical and what i
not SO. OF the many efforts past ans
present. am trying 20 select those ex
periments which are types of class
might describe twenty Industrial establish
ments with 40 more advantage as to under
standing them, than if one was selecle,
and described, which embraced the feature
of the whole TIVE MY. In my last paper
selected San Jose, Cal. As it presents
curious phase of experiment, the idea wa
to teach one thing, and teach 1t we'll Thi
by itself is very fascinating and likely tc
strike the ordinary public fayorably. Ye
when that experiment was actually made
The very great success which it had, brok,
ap the institution. They taught all thei
boys to set type and pint. All their boys
were consequently printers and could gel
no work in convenient places. The plan
has been sold at one-ffth the original cos
and the experiment abandoned for the
present. Their highly intelligent Super.
intendent of Schools has presented plan
which is practical and cheap, and which
might serve as a model for efforts in what
we might term third class cities. In order
to make the matter as understandable as
possible, and to prevent misstatements
quote from their own reports and docu-
ments as far as they are available.
The next case which shall present
giving the necessary details-is the Indus
trial school at st. Louis. This is type Of
its class, and entirely different from the
experiment at San Jose. 1t has succeeded,
and in my opinion embraces all the essen
tial features necessary for school of
manual training IN cities of the first class.
will quote from lecture on industrial
education delivered at Milwaukee by Prof.
Woodward, who has charge of the whole
business at the St. Louis Manual Training
School. He says:
6 1t will be seen that the machine and
forge shops are in constant use from
O'cl Jck, until the close of the school, One
of the Woodworking shops is in use six
hours, and the other but two hours
The size of section varies with the
class. In the JUNIOR class twenty-four boys
are taught together. In shop, in drawing,
and in recitation, each of the two wood
working shops must therefore contain
twenty four benches and twenty-four speed
lathes. In the shop every boy has
a separate set of edge tools, for which a
lock- drawer is provided; for the care and
condition of these tools he is responsible
Other tools belong to the bench, anvil OF
lathe, and are common to the three boys
who are designed to the same place during
the different shop hours The school owns
all the shop tools, and furnishes all shop
materials.
ssThs instruction in practical mechanics is
given in the shops themselves. The tools
are given out one at time, and the pecu-
liarities of construction, care and use are
fully explained and illustrated. The ex-
ercises of . class are carefully devised to
contain the ..points logically arranged.
The instructor, at the bench, anvil or ma
chine executes the days lesson in the pres
ence of the class, freely using drawings,
explaining processes, and giving reas 5ns
for every step. He tests his work before
them, and teaches his pupils to be critical
and exact by being critical and exact him
self. The boys take notes, make sketches,
ask and answer questions till all ems
easy and clear they are then sent to their
places, and set to work themselves. Each
is furnished with the same tools and raw
material. The instructor watches their
progress, and gives thum help where he
sees that help is needed. A needless boy
is needless in the shop he misunderstood
the teaching he cuts off the wrong end of
his piece mistakes the right for tAe left !,
gets mortice upside down or inverts the
order of execution. The consequences of
such heedlessness are unmistakable when
embodied in wood or iron, especially when
q second supply of material has to be paid
for out of ones spending money. The
blunderer sees his blunder in a strong
light, and learns a most important lesson.
The shop work is most absorbing; the
boys are thoroughly alive, and generally
give the closest attention. 1t is easy to see
that through the two hours the exercises
are both moral aud intellectual. At a
specified time--and the execution of an ex-
ercise may cover single hour, or the shop
time of several days--the work is called in,
examined, criticised and graded.
s'All the shop work is disciplinary. The
scope of single trade is too narrow for
disciplinary purposes. Manual education
should be as broad and liberal, as intellec-
tual A shop which manufactures for the
market, and expects revenue from the
sale Of its wares, is necessarily confined to
salable work, and a systematic and pro-
gressive series of lessons is practically i'm
possible. If the object of the shop is edu-
cation, the student should be allowed to
discontinue any task or process the moment
he has learned to do it WE'LL. In a factory
boy is kept on what he can do best. In
factory intellectual life and activity are
MT aimed at. Everything is for the benz
eft of the business. In manual training
school everything is for the benefit of the
boy he is the most important thing in the
shop he is the only article to be put upon
the market. Near the end of his
course we require of each boy the execu-
ton of single project, which consists in
the making of complete machine, includ-
ing often the drawings and patterns.
SNOW word as to the relation which our
institution bears to the crafts in their most
frequent uses. During the total allowance
OF $50 hours, which, in the first year, every
boy of the class must devote to wood work,
the boys are learning some of the prelimi-
nary steps and essential features of several
woodwork trades. The sharpening of
chisels, gouges, bits, and planes the filing
and setting of saws I; learning to square up
and lay out work with precision the cut
ting of mortises and lemons the details Of
mailing, gluing, pinning and dovetailing
various kinds Of inside and outside turning,
chucking, fitting, ETC., etc. All these belong
equally to the cabinet-maker, the chair
maker, the pattern MAKER, the millwrlght,