The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-10-14
MANUAL TRAINING DESIGNATED
As One of the Needs of Ansonia's ,.s.- School System. s'Ss,@.

As One of the Needs of Ansonia's
 s.- School System. s3s,4. In personal letter to members of the Ansonia school board, Superinten- dent Arthur D. Call mentions manual training as one of the needs Of the An- sonia school system. It is not sur- prise that he should have included this in his list of wants" It would have been surprising had he omitted it. Teachers have been a little inclined to | fight against the introduction of this |comparatively new branch of school
 work, but educators who have drunk deep and who have sought methods for
 training and judgment and executive faculties have come to recognize a great many benefits in the adoption of man. uai training departments and to look upon them as not only important but
 essential.
 It is wonderful how many places in the United States are adopting manual
 training as a feature of school work,
 this year. Tn single issue of a recent
 issue of the "School Board Journal'
 the following place are named as intro-
 ducing this branch, either experimental ly or permanently, into the public schools: Council Bluffs, Ia.: Milledge-
 vile, Ga, Omaha, l..eb., Braddock, Pa, Springfield, Ill.; Salina, Kan, Winona, Minn. Saginaw, Mich., Minneapolis, Minn., Elgin, H., Wichita, Kan, and Ottumwa, Ia. This Is only small list, comparatively, but when it is given as made up rom separate news items and when it is considered what wide terri tory these places represent, it gives a fair chance to judge of the hold which this branch of school work has obtained upon the public.
 Manual training was denounced as foreign to school work, at first, but to- day it is considered a means of develop ing both muscle and mind,. cultivating the perceptive powers, developing accu- racy and the ability to think and to originate. It cultivates the powers of attention and concentration, keeps the blood stirring and the liver active. We might claim even more for it. but we might claim too much. Unfortunately. do a llgfiBKo ..ensiis i,oniCfekiiii 1t wont do everything. The teacher has to do little himself, and there is also let little for the pupil to accomplish. We do know, however, that manual training can get a hold on boys that no other line of school work can inter- est. It will attract some boys that are dullards in books and create within them an ambition, a gratifying feeling of self importance, a knowledge that he can make something" and a satisfac- ton because of 1t. The fact that it gen. crates within him the knowledge that he can create something, is the all im- portant one. Give a boy that much and you have given him key to unlock his future.
 It was only few years ago that man. ual training was looked upon as an ed- ucational fad. To-day, it has gone by that point. Unfortunately it is not a. panacea for all educational ills, but if is good enough so that we wish it might find place in every community in the country, especially in industrial centers where many children have not the hone of attaining extensive literary or pro- fessional education and must look for ward for the most part, to earning q livelihood with their hands. The coun- try is providing well for those who toll