The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1902-12-05
Mr.. MATTER PROTESTS.
Continued from First Page.)

ed BY the public. They have not been
hampered by lack of funds or outside
; interference. They have a large and
able corps of instructors and offer
what seem excellent courses Of study
/ combined with the manual work. The
results have been most disappointing.
The courses are there with every ia
cility for making them a success, but
the boys and girls with few exceptions
prefer other courses in which manual
! work is not required. 4 prominent
member Of the Hartford Board of Edu-
cation, while on a visit to Boardman
: last winter. expressed to me great dis
! satisfaction with results attained, and
| regretted that conditions We're such
! that a school like BOardman could not
/ be maintained. In the report of the
State Bureau of Labor last year short
| apologize paragraph was given to the
manual training department of the
! Hartford school, the remainder of the
chapter being devoted to an enthusiast
tic account of BOardman and a record
! of its graduates.
| In this, as in many other instances,
( lack of success has been charged to
want of enthusiasm and appreciation
of manual work by the supervising
principal. That enthusiasm should die
out is not surprising, but the cause of
failure, lies, l think, far deeper.
In Cleveland, Ohio, there are high
schools with manual training depart
ments, but courses involving this work
have been almost complete failures,
and the Superintendent of Schools and
President of the Board Of Education
have each assured me of the intention
Of the school authorities, as soon as
possible, to start an entirely independ-
ent manual training high school.
In Cambridge, Mass, the Rindge
school was formerly the manual train
ing department of the English high
school adjoining, but results attained
were so poor that when the school, a
! few years ago, fell into the hands of
the city, it was at once made independ-
ent, and now stands in the front rank.
In Springfield, Mass, a combined
high and manual training school also
existed. The manual work succeeded
in a spasmodic way as an OPTIONAL but
manual training courses such as we
have at Boardman could not be made
to flourish, and the few boys and girls
who had the courage to take them suf-
fered social ostracism. DR.. Ballet as
soon as possible started an independ-
ent school which is now slowly but
steadily gaining ground and throwing
off the odium obtained through the old
connection.
| have naturally met many of the
men who have had experience in man
ual training schools throughout the
country, but I do not know of one who
advocates a Department Of manual
training" in a high school, except
where an independent school is impos-
sibe; and many are of the opinion
/ that, when impossible, manual training
should be left out entirely until condi-
tons change. AS an optional addition
to regular academic work, manual
work sometimes attracts many pupils,
, depending much upon the "atmos-
phere" created by the Principal or in
fluential instructors, and much also
upon waves Of feeling which periodi-
| cally sweep through schools. In such
schools it is difficult to predict the
number to be provided for, and except
ing where the variety of work is quite
limited, the cost per pupil is excesslVe;
but in every case results attained are
far inferior to what can be realized in
an Independent school.
1t is, I understand, the intention of
the Board to maintain the Boardman
and Hillhouse departments of the New
| Haven High school without making. at
present, any essential changes in the
courses. There Is to be one Supervising
Principal, with a Director Of manual
work, as at Hartford. Laboratory work
is to be carried on in the new building,
and other classes are to be held Wher-
ever most economical. In other words,
the school is to become departmental,
differing in no essential respect from
that at Hartford, excepting that Board
man enters the combination with mo-
mentum which it should take some time
to overcome. Will you, in fact, be able
to maintain Boardman as it Is and as
you wish? Without a dissenting voice
those with whom 1 have talked, and
who have had experience with the
working of manual training schools,
say no. We see no reason TO think you
will be more successful than any other
school in maintaining a course in which
manual work is an essential feature SO
long as this work is not required of all
pupils. At BOardman last year two
hundred and twenty boys were prepar-
ing to take the examination for en-
trance into the Sheffield department of
Yale. The Hillhouse school also has
large preparatory classes, The aca-
demic work in each must necessarily be
essentially the same, but the Boardman
boys in addition are obliged to give
many periods every week for four years
to manual work in it's various branches,
and to mechanical and free-hand draw
ing Is it reasonable to suppose that
when the two schools are combined the
latter can be induced to continue this
extra work? Can we also expect to
change social conditions and prevent
those who are not forced to work with
their hands from feeling socially very
superior to those who are? In my opin-
ion, a short time only would be needed
t. break up completely course now
including three-fifths Of BOardman
boys. Last fall the chairman of your
school committee informed a Boardman
instructor substantially that IF we had
known that your Scientific course was
to grow SO we never should have put
it in" This remark suggests many
questions, but if it IS still the feeling Of