St. Paul daily globe., 1888-02-11
From the Committee on Manual Tram

A
port its views of it, and also of the ends
to be attained in the progress and eX-
tension OF tine present experiment.
| This report does not assume to be q
dogmatic answer to the many difficult
| questions which attend the introduction
OF manual training into courses of study
for public SchoolS-indeed the various
and conflicting opinions Of members of
the committee limit the extent of the
common ground upon which they could
agree. Its design is to direct public
attention to what the Board purposes to
| 40 In this department In the future, and
to elicit public discussion from which
| good may come.
| In the beginning it is assumed that
there Is entire unanimity as to the de-
Slrability OF making the instruction of
the schools practical, and that there is a
| strong public sentiment in favor of man
uai training as part of the course of
| study, although differences Of opinion
may exist as to the best means for CO.
ordinating the new with the old and
traditional training now in vogue. The
| thought for some time seems to have
been prevalent that our schools have too
much to do with words and the memor-
lZing OF symbols, and too little to do
with things: that the education of our
| youth should include training to ex-
| press thought by the labor of the hand
as well as to express it by language.
COinciding i'm these views, the COM
mittee gave little thought to the ques-
tion of the desirability of giving our
| pupils an opportunity for manual train
ing-indeed, the work already in pro-
gress had decided that question for our
clty-but passed at once to the consider
| atlOn OF the best means to accomplish
the end decided to be desirable.
We find that at present a room in the
basement of the High school has been
fitted up with benches, tools and neces-
Sary appliances to accommodate pupils
In woodwork. That pupils of the High
schoOl-fiYe classes of boys and three of
girls, numbering twelve pupils each
are admitted, the boys taking two les
sons of one and One-half hours each and
the girls one lesson of the same dura-
tion per week.
The committee were unanimously of
the opinion that two mistakes had been
made III the experiment commenced last
September. One in attaching it to the
High school as department where be-
lore courses OF study were full and thus
making work here additional to that
which i'll the Judgment of some was al
ready too heavy.
Manual training, if introduced prop
erly into our schools, must take the
place of something less important and
practical. One or two lessons per week
in shopwork taken by pupils who are al
ready pursuing an exacting course of
study will scarcely meet the end pro-
ton. AS now in operation, the manual
experiment has little opportunity
for future development or increased use
fulneSS.
1t seemed, too, that the appropriate
training for the girls was in the line of
household duties, the art of cooking and
the use OF woman'S universal imple-
ment," the needle. rather than the tools
of the carpenters bench.
AS to the ultimate future of the move
ments which is finding expression in
many manual experiments in the school
systems of our larger cities, it is be-
lfeved that courses of study will be
modified, that much that is unnatural
will give place to rational training.
Primary schools will train children to
observe and express their notions in
clay and with the pencil, as well as alb
| stractly in language. This will be the
manual training of the primary grades.
In schools between the primary and the
High school there will be less drill in
the technicalitieS of grammar, less
memOrizing of the details of geography,
less puZZling over distractions and
| more teaching which shall bring pupils
| into contact with material things and
forces, and which shall give them abil-
| lty not only to express thought by
language, but by the graphic and Great
| i've work of the hand. This will be the
| manual training Of these intermediate
| grades.
Tlien would come, the manual train
| ing school, which would admit pupils
| from the eighth or even lower grade
if eXperie nee should show it to be de-
| sirable, but at least at an age when they
could profitably take up the work of
! the school. In this school pupils who
| desire to advance Oh this line rather
| than to enter the High school would
take three years course of study. in
| Guiding the studies of English. mathe-
maticS and science, with two hours
| shop-work per day and one hour in
StructiOn in drawing.
The foregoing is an outline of what
| in the Judgment of the writer of this re-
| port, should ultimately grow out of our
experiment in manual training for the
benefit of the boys, although upon all
points the members of the committee
were not in accord.
1t is not a scheme which would turn
1t would not reVOlutiOniZe our school
system. 1t does not establish work
shop in each school building, but eco
nomically gathers from all the schools
those OF a proper advancement who de-
sire to complete the course in one school
where mental and manual training 20
on together. 1t answers those who ask:
Should not manual training be part of
a good education, whether that ednca-
tiOn be restricted to the common school.
or carried to the highest discipline of
technical schools and universities? by
pointing to the manual work i'm draw
ing, and applied kindergarten training
of the primary schools, to the original
designs and the constructive work in
different materials of the intermediate
grades. 1t recognizes the Importance
of carrying forward manual training
simultaneously with all other educa-
tional processes, but provides suitable
training for different grades, reSerying
shop work and the use of wood and
machine tools for pupils who have COM
pleted or nearly completed the gram
mar school course.
sented there would be no necessity of
large expenditures. The present facili-
ties, with those that will be furnished
by the addition to the High school, now
i'll process of erection, will answer for
the present, and the ideal manual
training school will be natural growth
and development of the work now i'm
progress, if it be properly fostered.
Having presented a possible, though
somewhat distant future of the work
under the charge of the committee, we
desire to present our recommendation
affecting its more immediate outlook.
For the remainder of the present
school year, we recommend the continu-
ance of the present order of things.
We recommend that this committee he
authorized to prepare and submit a
course of study covering q nerind of