The age-herald., 1902-03-10

ton. This Is em1nently true III lhe h6h
 school department. Concentration Of ed-
 ucational forces and equipment results
 in economy of maintenance and efficiency
 of service. When a high school building
 is built, it should be built. not for Bir- | mingham as 1t is; not even for the Great
 CT Birmingham which should be, and
 which the next legislature will probably authorize. but for the still greater muni-
 cipality which is imminent and inevlta-
 ble.
 | A Pathological School.
 "The spirit of the Birmingham district l Is decidedly industrial. In this great sym
 phony of diversified interests the funda- mental and dominant note must ever be
 that of intelligent labor. To ignore this
 industrial spirit in our industrial institu- l tions is to separate the school from the | life of the people. While the school in US | curricula and its processes should always l embody the higher and nobler ideals or l our civilization, it's complete isolation | from the active and executive syheres or
 society is unwise and unfortunate. therefore submit that the high school provided for the Birmingham district should embody the technical and manual training features In short, 1t should be a technological high school, adequately equipped to give practical instruction in the elements of those trades and occupa- tons that are based upon wood and
 metal and provided with facilities for training in the leading industrial and l mechanical arts. I do not mean by this | an institution built upon any sordid or mercenary idea. I do not mean trade l school designed to fit young men and
 women for any specific trade or occupa- l hItt manual l school in which the clements of the chief | industrial occupations of life are gen.
 eralized. In such an institution the com
 mon elements of all the arts industries
 and occupations could be concretely pre- | scented. These common elements, by the | way, are not so numerous and the stu l dent could thus m aster at least the al- | phabet of the mechanic arts The educa- l tional value of an institution of this char
 acter, 1t must be remembered, is in in | verse ratio to its commercial value. As | the commercial value attached to the fin
 ished product of the institution increases, l its educational value to the boy decreases.
 The central aim of the technological
 school is the education of the boy. In
 the trade school the education of the boy
 Is limited to a single occupation or trade.
 Commercially the trade school stands 1 higher than the technological school but | l sition It Is but step from the trade
 school to the factory, where the empha- l sis is placed, not on the boy, but on the 1 finished product. The boy counts for nothing here except as he produces com | mercal values The factory represents l the commercial elem ent at it's maximum 1 and the educational element at it's mini
 mum value The technological school l places the emphasis upon the training of I Al. ,-1-t t.., 1 cupation but for power over the common | clements of many occupations Skill in l single occupation does not require 1 broad intelligence; 1t may bring more inn l mediate results commercially. but it makes an automaton of the boy and re- duces him to the condition of soulless machine. When a process is pushed to
 such point that it may go on indefinite | ly without brain work it's commercial value may be enhanced, but its educa- ! tive value is minus zero. The aim of the l technological school, its contradistinction
 from that of the trade school, is the de-
 velopment of the pupil on the executive | and practical side of his nature by means
 of a course of diversified and progressive
 exercises, which will give him familiarity
 with the tools of many occupations and
 mastery of the underlying principles of
 many industrial pursuits.
 Too Narrow in Scope.
 | T do not undervalue the work of the | traditional high school. The education 1t
 provides in Latin Greek, Mathematics,
 History and English is valuable acuui- | sition and splendid foundation for
 professional career. I hold it to be true | nevertheless that some of the criticisms
 upon 1t are well founded. It is too mar
 row in its scope. too bookish and seden- l tary in it's work. and too negative and | oppressive in its disciplinary activities l While limiting its mission to formal cul- l ture, it restricts thought to certain mar
 row channels and leaves important brain
 tracts undeveloped, or subject to chance
 and individual caprice. While it recog-
 nizes the principle of learning by do- l ing, it restricts the doing to certain
 abstract mental processes. and fails to
 relate these processes to the material
 and industrial clements of life. Think l ing without doing and doing without | thinking are the two extremes or our
 social life. Our traditional high schools
 and colleges produce too many men that
 may be characterized by the first extreme | thinking without doing and our manu-
 featuring industries and trades are | training too many whose life consists 1 in doing without thinking.
 The former extreme is fruitless and
 profitless; the latter is mercenary. sor- did and prutalizfng. The object of the
 Pathological School is to unite the thinking and the doing: to develop the
 boy on the executive as well as the re- fiective side. It does not abandon the culture idea of our traditional schools, but so relates it to the practical elc- ments of life that it may become fruit ful and productive to the individual and to society.
 An institution such as l have here at tempted to describe. l regard as the
 greatest need of our city and district I believe that the realization of this ideal is not only possible but practicable shall not attempt here to outline plans | or to suggest the means for it's accom- | plishment. l shall leave the subject to | the combined wisdom of the board of | education and the people, trusting that | they may not cast it aside without the | serious consideration its importance de | mands. While the economic value of
 such an institution to our city and state will be incaculabe it's greatest value | will be reaped in the quiclened energies | of the people, and in an enlightened and
 moral citizenship"
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