Free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1888-1908, 1904-05-21
EDUCATIONAL EXHIBIT.
VALUABLE LESSONS TAUGHT AT
THE WORLDS FAIR.
Displays in the Palace Of Education
Show What Educators Are Doing
in United States and Fore
eign Lands

What the educational exhibit at the
universal exposition at st. Louis will
accomplish may in measure be esti-
mated by referring to some Of the prom
inent examples Of the past,
sThe Crystal Palace exhibition in Lon
don, in 1851, led to the establishment
OF the School of Industrial Art at the
South Kensington museum; the educa-
tional exhibit at the Centennial expo
sition Of 1876 led to the introduction OF
manual training in the public schools
CT this country, the introduction OF shop
work as part Of the curricuInm in tech
hical schools, and the beginning Of the.
training which has rendered possible the
rapid advance Of this country in arts and
crafts; the reorganization Of primary
education in France as result Of the
educational exhibit at the Paris expo
sition Of 1873; the rapid growth Of man
lal training and the industrial art In
struction as result of the impetus
given by the Chicago exposition Of 1893;
the action Of the French government in
arranging to send students annually to
this country for the study and investi-
cation Of our industrial and commercial
educational exhibit at the Paris expo
sition Of 1900.
The value of an educational exhibit
lies in the opportunity for comparison.
Methods Of administration, methods Of
teaching, equipment of schools and col
Ieges, courses Of study, with the demon
stratfon Of the theory which underlies
their construction and the results which
attend their enforcement, are brought
side by side from every quarter of the
globe for the investigation of the stu
dent
The exhibit of city or state, or
university, should have as its central
object the demonstration Of the value of
it's course Of study. The latter contains
the best thought and experience evolved
from the trials and experiments of gen
erations. 1t marks the differentiation Of
school systems and universities, and
should be made the chain to which every
item of an educational exhibit should be
attached for illustrative purposes. The
machinery Of an educational exhibit is
necessarily limited, and must consist in
general Of charts, photographs, printed
matter, maps, models, apparatus and
specimens. Thousands of dollars can
be expended to good advantage in the
mastery grouping Of facts and their
graphic presentation to the public eye.
The entire work Of a class in chem
ical laboratory, may, in a dozen photo
graphs, be accurately and completely
told. The school accommodation of a
city can be set forth in series of photo
graphs with perfect accuracy. One ex-
hibit differs from another in the skill
with which these photographs are COM
bined and made to tell the story.
One Of the great innovations in the
exhibit features of the st. Louis expo
sition has been the endeavor to make it
an exhibit Of processes. So far as pos
sible, this has been introduced into the
educational department. Laboratories
in operation, domestic science and man
| ual training schools where pupils are at
work, and the actual instruction of the
! deaf, dumb and blind will be special
features.
The object OF educational exhibit is
twofold; first; to secure a comparative
exhibit from all countries of the world
noted for educational effort; second, to
present thoroughly systematic exhibit
! of all phases Of education in the United
States