Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1898-10-27

extened to the eighth grade girls, who
have two periods a week, with two
years course in the high school, when
more time is devoted to the kitchen.
And even younger girls will soon be
introduced to cookery. There is a din
ing room. On six big tables they learn
to prepare the raw materials, and they
learn to build a wood fire and get the
best results from coal.
Girls in White Aprons and Caps.
Each girl has her locker and when
! the class is rohed in white aprons and a
white widow-like affair on their heads
they are calculated to carry despair to
the most hopeless bachelor In the
demonstration room there are sinks,
and hot and cold water. The girls learn
to plan a meal; they learn food values,
and the physiology of foods; chemical
changes. and where to look in an ami
NAL for the meat they wish to get The
| girls become accomplished with the
needle and the sewing machine. Even
little tots of years perforate card
board, and by the time they reach the
seventh and eighth grades they are
ready for quite difficult work. They
learn to cut and make dresses; they
make their own graduating gowns, and
Boys Who Understand an Engine.
In the building are a number of fire.
proof vaults for the safe keeping of val
uables. There are steam engines to fur
nish the power, and for the boys to
study. The ventilation of the building
is by the fan system. Sanitation and
| hygiene are consulted at every step,
and given a large place in the curricu-
| ct ic
which may be turned over to the local
militia company if deemed expedient.
| Kindergarten rooms afford instruction
for those children whose homes bring
them within the district. Others find
equally good instruction in the ward
schools. In the central (high) and the
upper grades housed therein, and in
| the connecting training school between
| 600 and eco youths receive instruction.
Now what does this hand and eye
| training do for the youth of Menomo-
| ME? In the case of the girls it plain
| ly teaches them useful thngs--to cook
and sew. But why should the boy who
| is to become a lawyer or a preacher
| spend time in casting metal or turning
| out doorknobs? In the first place most
boys are not to enter the learned pro-
| fessions. They are to take up the
trades and arts calling for some me-
chanical cleVerness. This the school
gives them. For some reason a COM
mencement day of high school is re-
garded as a jublation. But there is
another side-a pathetic side. A city
like Madison of $4,000 people puts on
| carnival colors.
What for? To see forty or fifty youth
| who can say II have finished my
course" But where are the ninety and
nine. Nine-tenths Of school children are
said to fall out by the age of IA. Why?
| Because the curriculum further on has
| nothing but culture" for them--desir-
| able but not intimately related to the
bread and butter problem; and for the
great mass OF boys and girls, not at
| tractiVe.
Here manual training steps in. Put
that restless boy into a woodworking
room with competent teacher Give
| him a lathe to operate Let him feel
he is creating something, and he be-
comes interested, awakened, amenable,
manly. Manual training keeps boys
longer in school. From one city it is
reported the attendance of boys in the
high school has increased one-third.
| The Claims of Manual Training.
| book and algebra fail to reach. The boy
| who recites "HoratiuS at the Bridge
| ceases to be the whole thing" and
! the girl who sat listess and embar-
raised because others could eX-
| eel her in literature finds praise await
| ing her for her sewing or her cooking.
| Manual training keeps boys out of mis-
| chief both in and out of school. The pu-
| pills are so in earnest that mischief and
| fooliShness seem out of place. The
| student generally has an auxiliary lab
| oratory at home where he spends
| good share of his spare time. Manual
| training stimulates a love for truth and
| simplicity; it gives correct notions of
| things, relations and forces; it explains
| mathematics and science; it aids boys
| in choosing an occupation; it dgnifies
mechanical occupations; it brings the
manually trained employer to appreC-
| ate labor; it stimulates invention; it in
| creases the bread winning and home
making Of the boy, for he becomes a
handy "tinkerer."
Such are the claims for the supple
mentary instruction of manual train
ing schools like the Stout project in
Menomonie.
The design of such schools is not to
tc8Cn lTdNtS. lHcIe dIe, however, III
some cities trade schools. and it would
| he no surprise to see Senator Stout
| establish such an institution in Wis
consin, Good roads is also a reform
dear to his heart. His practical view of
| things is shown by a plan he has in
reserve to provide instruction through
a well-trained expert in country dis
trcts, each community to experiment
on a given stretch OF road-not to build
an expensive. ideal road. but to better
the road they already have. Competi-
tive tests should spur them to excel
lence. 4 travelling library OF pictures
works of art Of the better class-is his
method of Frightening the lives of coun-
try people who live in remote districts.
He is eagerly expecting the election of
Superintendent Harvey of the Milwau-
kee normal school. in the confidence
that he will crystalline into practice the
Unexplained reform of abolishinE the
cithC