Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-12-29

Professor C. W. Woodward, Pre- ltdent of the ST. ,,
Louis Manual Training school. bearing date No
vember D. 1855. This leaiiet called attention to
the general misunderstanding OF terms, and spe-
cially recc mmended that the word qsdltstridl be
dropped out Of use)
shall therefore take il Tor granted that after
all, industrial training, asused in the programme
to-day, means simply manual training, il it
means anything, and that manual training
means training il the use OF tools.
AS ia the terms used, so also in the aims and
purposes OF this proposed addition to the public
school system, and in the results to follow its
incorporation, do its advocates widely differ
And in this want OF definiteness, this disagree
ment and vagueness. both as to what is meant
and the results sought, lies the chief difficulty
in discussing the question from this side
In this Indebtedness the incorporation find
means FOR shifting quite readily from position
in which they may find themselves weakened,
or from which they may have been dislodged.
TO another and another, until finally they get
back again 10 this first position.
Among the claims set uD fog this incorpora-
ton, are:
/ That this training should be for physical
culture and development. That such training
is necessary 70 develop the muscles of the hand
and arm and other parts of the body. That is,
that mammal training should be introduced as a
kind Of gymnastics
>. That il is necessary rs preparation for
earning living. That as most children must
eventually earn their living by some kind of
physical labor or handicrait they should, there
lore, be taught the elements OF some trade, or
given training in the use of tools. That manual
training should be incorporated as an element
of bread-winning.
3. For intellectual training, because dealing
with material things benefits, expands and en-
mobiles the mind.
4. For no one or all of these, but for general
welfare. L spite of the public schools the col
leges, universities denominational schools
even churches there is still much in society
that is not right-there are still to be found
loafers, hoodlums, liars, thieves, gamb ers Sab
bath-bIeakers, drunkards, opium fends and the
| like therefore the public schools have failed
| of their mission, and hence there should be an
| nexed to, migrated upon, or incorporated III
these schools something which will be a cure
all and this is found in manual training shop
work or, whatever il may mean-industrial
training
While those who advocate the incorporation
of ii into the public school system differ widely
as to what Is, and as to what is the special OBJ
| ject OF 1t, they are quite unanimous thatd ought
| 10 be Incorporated and with unanimity quite
| as noticeable indulge in wholesale Remuneration
| OF the school system as it is-iis aims purposes
methods and results. Professor Leipzger. one
of the leading spirits, says in the New York
Journal Of Education " The three Rs, if no in
| dusfrial education goes with them, are apt 10
| produce fourth R-rascaism
Our present public school system is unscien
tihc-it fails to iuculcate resp ct for honest toll
and industrial pursuits, but on the contrary re-
| suits in breeding contempt for them.
| II is not suited 10 our times. 1t has come
| down through the last Two or three hundred
years with little change. Gifts age is a fault let
| me suggest right here that we have from these
| gentlemen upon the platform, in essays and
at t acher7 institutes, no more jugg ing with
the names OF Milton, Comenius. Rousseau, Pes
| talo,Zi and Froebel-all of the long ago.
This wholesale denunciation OF our public
| schools by the press, the pulpit and even some
times by public school men themselves, has pro
duced feeling that some sort of change should
| be made, and upon this vague feeling OF DIS
| trust, and the claims set up for manual training
or industrial training-wlth purpose still more
| vague-rests the popular favor in which that
! kind of training appea 10 be held
| 1t Is upon another erroneous assumption
| that he ella m manual Training is based 1t
| Is, that upon coming 10 school pupils have not
| the use OF their hands; that they can't handle
things; that they know moth .ng OF the nature of
| WOOD, and iron, and stone, and cloth, and that
| they are not acquainted with work Of course
young children, say under twelve or fourteen
| years of age, can have no great degree of skill
| in any of these directions, and their knowledge
| of material things must be slight But we must
| all believe that they know more of material
| things and nave more skill in the use of their
muscles than anything else. Up to the school
| age their whole lives have consisted of percep-
| ton by the senses and physical activity. All
| the knowledge they have has come to them
| from seeing and handling things What they
| lack, and what they get nowhere else, as a rule
except at school, Is mental training. Here they
get acquainted with books aad here they have
| or should have, opened up to them the treasures
of knowledge which lie stored away in them
| and are taught how to extract that knowledge
Try to ind out among your pupils who are the
| most skilliul in the use of their hands, who
know most of work, and you will find them to
| be, because of their home Surroundings and of
| the course in life they will in all probability
follow, those who are most in need OF intellect
| ual training in school-tkose who must get
| there, if anywhere, and in the short time they
| can be in school, all the training and stimulus
| they viii ever get in that direction.
Again, the demand for incorporating manual
| training upon our school system comes, not
| from the masses, not from the patrons of the
| schools, not from the parents OF the pupils, not
| from the laborers and artisans of the country
! but from theorists, reformers and the like men
who themselves know little or nothing practi-
calIy OF manual labor, but are anxious to lit the
| masses for their sphere" And these claim
| for this incorporation a solution of all social
| Problems-a cure for all social evils.
| 1t is recommended as a cure Tor strikes for
failure in business; for political dishonesty: as
| mental stimulus as a conseryator of language
and the chief means of its enlargement; as q
remedy for selfishness aud its attending evils
As for example, Chas. II. Ham in his work en-
| titled Manual Training Solution of Social and
| Industrial Problems" says:
| I" A system OF education consisting exclusively
OF mental exercises promotes selfishness. be-
cause such training Is subjective. Its effects
| flow inward they relate to self All mental ac-
I quirements become part of self, and so remain
| forever, unless they are transmitted into things
| Though the agency of the hands. > Man
| ual training, on The other hand. promotes al
| truism, because 1t Is objective. rs effects flow
| outward: they relate not to self but to the
human race. The skilled hand con feIs benefits
| upon man, and each benefit so conferred exerts
the natural retiex-moral influence of good
| act upon the mind of the benefactor"
| Felix Adler, one of the great apostles of this
| training, says: And now | would point out
| how the occupations OF the work shop and the
atelier, combined, tend to establish in the mind
OF the pupil an unselfsh and impersonal stand
ard of valuation which win prepare him admir-
| ably for the truer moral estimates of life. 8
| His work is devoid of any pecuniary value. 1t
! being true or in being beautiful. And habit
/ IS thus formed of judging things in general ac-
| cording 10 their intrinsic value, rather than
most insensibly, the analogy of the work per.
formed on outward objects viii be applied to