Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-11-06
fPUB1IC EDUCATION.
The Report of the Commissioner
Made Today.
WORLDS FAIRS As EDUCATORS.
Publications in Progress or Already
Completed.
MEASURING THE CHILDREN.

The. annual statement of w. T. Harris,
commissioner of education, was transmitted
| to the Secretary of the Interior today. The
work of the bureau remains with the same
| organization as hitherto, namely, the d.
vision of correspondence and records, the
division Of statistics, the division of library
and museum, and the division of inter-
national exchange, for the comparative
study; Of national school systems. In
accordance with the desire of the National
Educational Association, the commissioner
of education assumed a large share of the
work for the preparation for the inter-
national congress of education, held at
Chicago last July. Preparations have also
been made for the study of the educational
! exhibits at the Columbian exposition from
all countries of the world and from all the
states Of the Union. 1t is an occasion of
Importance, especially owing to the changes
now in progress in educational systems
throughout the world. Worlds fairs have
exerted great influence upon the progress
of the mechanic arts ever since the first
one held at London in 1851. The South
| kensington Museum is the result of the
studies Of intelligent Englishmen upon the
causes Of superiority in the finish given
! to French goods. Anglo-Saxon nations
seem to have the great gift of devising
machinery with which to conquer nature.
/ In 1870 Gladstone estimated that the power
of 100000 British workmen, reinforced
| by machinery, created an annual product
OF manufactured goods equal to what the
| Soo0oo,OOo of workmen of the entire world
| could have furnished before 1750. But this
gifted race is found to lack aesthetic taste.
Its mind has dynamic rather than
| aesthetic tendency. Its products represent
| an immense amount of physical force, but
not so much of a high grade of intelligence
and taste. Strange as ii may appear, IL
| Is possible to elevate the productive power
OF the whole people in this way, and ii is
not necessary to have any ignorant or I'M
| skillful people reserved for the lower forms
| of industry. Machinery sets free larger
and larger number of workmen to ascend
| into those departments of labor devoted
| to the artistic finish of goods, to the crea-
ton OF means of luxury and to the more
| important ,yocations which have for their
| objects the, refinement and cultivation of
| the intellect and the extension of moral and
| religious education. Those who have at
| henrtr the snread of enlightenment and the
| elevation ,,of the masses have reason to re-
lolce az This spectacle.
| ..... .r-. Worlds Fairs.
| Worlds fairs have taught the new lesson
/ that it is Il matter of national concern to
| educate the taste of it's people by the es-
! tablisment of schools of art and design and
| by elementary art education in the peoples
schools of all grades. The movement .irst
pies through Prince AIbert's efforts IN Eng
/ land, and which resulted in the establish
ment of the South Kensington Museum and
J the system of special schools in industrial
AIT extended to this country soon after
| lslV. IN, i.B.l W alter Smith of the South
I AsGsaRg toa Museum was engaged by the
state Of Massachusetts normal in
Il spCetprN of art with view of improve
|, msRt an Industrial drawing throughout the
schools of tine state. 1t was claimed that
/ the pupil in the common schools got
| plenty or training in language studies, but
very little in the art of expressing his
| IDEAS with his hands. Manual training, II
was claimed, is just as important to The
| cultivation of the mind as the study of
, mathematics language or of science
| The course of lessons IN training the hands
was borrowed in part from the training
schools of Russia, the Imperial Training
School of ST. Petersburg and the Stro;onoff
/ School The industrial schools of northern
| Europe laid more stress upon the training
/ OF the hand and eye to accuracy and deli
4 cssey RI HE use of tools than to the cduca-
!, INN Bff Ursr aesthetic taste. Investigate ton
! tSsenpnthe dimes of education end social
) rri1at1E gy'2fhds been prosecuted with graf
4 lying results.
Measuring Children.
There has been also undertaken an orig
! mai investigation of the physical nervo=s
I and mental condition Of the public school
children of Washington, fer which meas
Urements have been made upon about s.
| 60 children. All of the above is the work
of Or. Arthur Macdonald. the specials.
| of the bureau Considerable space IS given
! to the statistics of the division of CORE
! spondence and records. The number of
! books in the library is % so. and the Num-
er,,eI pamphlets 10000 During the year
/ the, number of additions to the library was
The following named publications have
J al md ,nillh N iStr oil
| gal Education, Annual Report of tire Com
missioner OF Education for $3.50 Circular
of Information on Benjamin Franklin and
! the University of Pennsylvania, Shorthand
Instruction and Practice. Abnormal Man.
! History of Higher Education in Delaware
| History of Higher Education in Connect
cut, Report of the Commissioner for s,-sl,
Public Libraries in the United States and
| Canada, History of Higher Education in
| Iowa, History of Higher Education in Ten
nessee, and Spelling Reform.
| .. Other Publications.
The bureau has on hand awaiting publ
cation the following manuscripts: Eluca-
tiorIaI Histories CT West Virginia, Kansas
! Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Louisiana
| Rhode Island. Vermont, Maine, New Hanp-
shire, and Nebraska, summer Schools, Uni
| versity Extension, Kindergartens, Normal
Schools, Educa ton in the United States
! School House Sanitation, and Arlthmetical
| Text Books. The following are in course
! of preparation: History of Educational
| Benefactions in the United States. The Orr
| gin of Educational Movements and Insti-
| tutions in the United States, and their Pro-
moters, Story of the Common School, High
er Education of Women in Europe, Civil
| Service in France, Germany and Austria
| Physical Training in American Colleges In
dustrlal Education and Education AMI
| Crime. A request is made for q more lib-
/ eral allowance for printing The useful
ness Of the bureau depends entirely on
| what 1t publishes. The report is accomp,-
| MED by a blue print showing plans for a
/ building for the bureau of educa ton.
| The report of DIR. Sheldon Jackson On
| school and reindeer matters in Alaska, as
heretofore published in The Star. is gone
| over.