The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1903-04-24
MANUAL TRAINING
And the Tuskegee Institute Discussed

And the Tuskegee Institute Discussed
by Woman's Club Saturday.
Ina paper on manual Training" at
the Woman's Club last Saturday, Mrs.
Langerwisch told how In days past a
boy worked on the farm In summer;
In the spring and fall learned some
trade such as carpentry, shoemaking,
blacksmithing; and In the winter he
went to school. This training pro.
duced keen, strong, energetic men.
AS times grew better and the divi.
sion of labor came In, the time OF
school increased, the learning of a
trade in spring and fall was crowded
out, and eventually the farm work OF
summer followed 1t. And yet we have
not made our school training any less
purely intellectual than when 1t occu.
pied only the winter weeks. 1t neg.
lects every organ except the brain.
But education, II 1t Is to fit the child
to have sympathy with the present
civilization, must fill him with desires
for service to mankind, and that edu.
cation must be the best that prepares
the individual to fill his place as a
member of the social whole.
Without technical education or
manual training the laborer OF the
future cannot hope to rise above the
grade OF a piece Of machinery. To
avert this the school must inculcate
the dignity of labor. When we have
done this there, will be thousands of
graduates with grand passion for
mechanical pursuits; boys with more
curiosity on the expansive force Of
steam than on the subject Of Greek
roots; with a stronger desire to dis
cover a new secret in electricity than
to carry off a prize for the best Latin
grafton.
This paper was followed by paper
on "Tuskegee Institute" by Miss
Deane. This paper showed the club
how Booker T. Washington is apply
ing educational principles In the most
practical ways among the blacks Of
Alabama. 1t is located about lao
miles from Atlanta, Georgia. There
are thirty trades taught by actual
work.
Booker Washington was born slave
in Virginia, but got an education at
Hampton. He began his school July
IA, 1881, by gathering in thirty un-
taught negroes into an old shanty.
He soon found that the negroes needed
to learn how to work with their hands
and how to care for their bodies as
much as they needed to learn books.
He found to do this he must have a
plantation with few old buildings.
He borrowed money and bought one
hundred acres. AS new scholars began
to come he needed more buildings.
There were good clay pits on the place.
Thus the first lessons were in brick
making. When the bricks were ready
they made houses OF them. The other
young men worked the land, raising
corn for food and cotton to sell.
Nothing has been bought that could
be raised at the school. In ten years
Tuskegee school has grown from 100
acres and thirty pupils to $500 acres
and one thousand two hundred pupils.
The young women do all the house
work and in addition, they are taught
understanding, dressmaking, mil
linery, nursing, poultry raising, dairy
work, the care Of fruit trees, flowers
and lawns.
Horse shoeing. Condition Of the
shooting. floor. How to make the fire.
Name and use of tools. How to make
and strike on horse shoe. Name and
size of shoes and nails used. How to
file a shoe, trim foot-a and clinch shoe,
besides special lessons in fitting to
different shaped feet for different
travelling.
The course is just as systematic in
each trade, as 1t is In the academic
work.