Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1889-10-17
Industrial Training.


into the Wilmington high school is an
innovation of very great importance.
Though apparently entitled to stand on
the same footing as agricultural eduos-
ton, which has been literally fostered
by the general government for many
years past, there is widespread dispo.
sition to look upon the new departure
inaugurated here yesterday as rather
promising experiment than o demon
strabie advance in keeping with the
spirit, progress and demands Of the
times, To this It might be answered
that in the larger cities of our own
country, notably in Philadelphia, the
advantages of training the whole boy"
the hand as we'll as the brain, have been
conclusively shown within the pasttw or
three years, while in Germany the trade
schools (Gewerbe have been per.
manently established as an officially REQ
ognized, directed and promoted depart
ment Of public education.
What has been generally commended
as one of the best definitions Of our pub
lie school system has been expressed by
Horace Mann IN these words: "Under
our republican government, it seems
clear that the minimum OF education can
never be less than such as is sufficient to
qualify each citizen for the civil and
social duties he will have to discharge !;
sut,b nm adtcation NO toaobaa tha ;aa;
vidual the great laws of bodily health as
qualities for the fultillment Of parental
duties; as is indispensable for the civil
functions OF the witness or the juror;
as is necessary for the voter in municipal
and national affairs, and, finally, as is re-
quired for the fai.hful and conscientious
discharge of all those duties which de-
yolve upon the inheritor of q portion OF
the sovereignty OF this great republic. !"
1t has long been apparent that no currinu-
lum which doals exclusively with the
mentality of the pupil can measure up
in completeness to the requirements
of this definition. Something more
than bodily health and intellectual train
ing is needed to quality each citizen
for the civil and social duties he will
have to discharge" He needs to be
inducted as well into habits OF industry
and the rudiments Of earning an honest
livelihood. Tbs growth OF education has
made this advance necessary. century
or two ago the possession OF feir
amount of book knowledge was in itself
sufficient capital to ensure its posssssor
lucrative employment Good scholars
were not too numerous to find good
situations. But to. day it is different, aud
the mere book-worm is often less fitted
to earn livelihood than the illiterate
boy who knows how to use his hands.
In rural communities this has long since
been recognized, and the government has
taken upon itself by liberal appropriations
towards the founding and equipment Of
agricultural colleges, to supplement
mental with industrial training of those
who are to be the progressive tillers OF
the soil. In like manner, the government
provides school ships for the industrial
training of the boys who are to be fitted
for the conduct of its naval marine, and
had not our high tariff ard suicidal ship.
ping laws swept our commercial marine
from the ocean, we should very probably
ere this have had similar school ships fnl
the training of young ssamen for the
merchant service. So that the principle
of industrial training is not n novelty
even in this country; it is only the doing
for boys in our cities and towns the same
thing that has been done for the boys Of
rural districts-prepariug them to earn
their livelihood as artisans that consti
tutes the innovation; an innovation tia
has been made more urgently necessary BY
the decadence of the apprentice system
It is not 10 be expected that cur higt
school pupils will come out Of tire,
years course, of an hoar or two per dsy
devoted to manual instruction, as prac
tical carpenters, blacksmiths and ma
chinists, but the most OF them will &C
qniTe sufficient familiarity with the hand
ling Of tools TO fl them for doing some
thing more than rough laboring work
They will have acquitted fair iusigh
into the intelligent adaptation OF wouC
and metal to the practical uses of liz
and they will have discovered for then.
selves iu which direction their indiyidua
aptitudes lead. The natural blacksmith
mschinist, carpenter, cabinet-nRksr, NC.
will each have shown his bent; vii
have found out what he can do best
and, what is generally equivalent
What kind of work he likes bes
to do. And it is easy to see that thi
preliminary training will open the wa,
for such boys to become masters of tn
trades they may elect TO follow. The
will have fitted themselves to become
preferred body of gppre nticea, and u &c
tiacate OF high school graduation vii
become passport to the considerable
OF tho manufacturer who has yacancie
for b0yB "under instruction arwhatayo
the term may 80 hat implies the CON
pletion Of course thoroughly beglr
: While even to one who doea not loo
, forward 10 an artia9u's career, the know
. eds5 he will piok up If tue practict
a handling OF tools will cone useful
him in many ways, even though he elet
10 become a physician, q lawyer, or
!, worker in any department Of THAT "
i. term the learned professions, 10 b
/ handY-to know now TO use ones hand
!, as vol as ones nrain-is qrailicatio
o that, even though exercised only for pc