Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1908-02-14

the work necessary to the adeuuat e
supervision of rural or other schools
does it only at very great personal
sacrifice, a sacrifice that few persons
can afford to make.
The law, providing for the union of
towns for the employment: of a super
intendent of schools VINO mus. be
specially fitted for the work and must
give all his time to it. is one that holds
promise of much good for rural towns
Its general adoption would doubtless
be a most powerful factor for the
general Improvement of rural school
opportunities.
In many OF the rural communities of
the State there has been Il considera-
BILE decrease in the school population.
The consequent decrease in school en-
rollment has been so great, in many
instances. as to change, entirely, the
character of the schools.
Communities that once enrolled in
their schools forty or fifty pupils now
often find difficulty in keeping the at
tendance at the meager average Of
eight required by the law. 1t is no
unusual thing to find schools in which
a majority of the classes consist of a
single pupil working without any Of
that enthusiasm and interest inspired
by numbers and finding no oppor-
tunity for that measurement of power
with others so essential to Il testing
OF ability.
The terms manual training and in
dustrial education should not be con-
fused. They are entirely distinct from
each other and have little, if any, con-
nccti1n
Manual training has as its purpose
the education Of children through the
appeal it makes TO their motor activi-
ties. 1t i" essentially a part of the Gle
mentary school system.
industrial education is training for
the trades. 1t supplements the COM
mon school course in the same sense as
the high school and college courses,
but it has no place in that course.
While industrial education has no
place in elementary schools, it is COM
ing to be recognized that it must be
accepted as a part Of our broader edu-
cational system.
A transformation has taken place in
industrial lifo and methods. The ap-
prentice system has vanished. There
is now opportunity for thorough train
ing for very few trades. The high
schools and colleges are broadly cul-
tural in their work and it may be said
they offer the opportunity to the arti-
san as we'll as To the scholar.
The fact is. however, the man who
is to enter the shop feels that he
should be economiZing the time he
spends in his preparation by that kind
of education that his vocation will de-
mani of him. He is often impelled by
the immediate necessity of earning
his living to forego the advantages he
would enjoy, but which he believes are
not essential to his selected calling.
This necessity should not likewise
compel him TO forego that training
which will make him mere useful in
that calling.
The making of Z pair of shoes, gen.
Grafton since, was done by a single pair
OF hands. In the modern shoe factory
u pail of shoes passes through the
hands of nearly a hundred workmen
each making but a single part. What
is true of this industry is true OF
others. Each worker is a part of a
great machine performing only a
single task. The results of these
changes must be met, in part at least,
Dy our educational system.
Into all the great trades and indus
tries are to enter more than ninety
per cent of the product of the common
schools. If the efficiency of these
trades and industries is to be main
tanned at its highest point, then must
the economic value of each of their
workers be promoted to it's highest de-
gree.
This ideal Of education calls for the
enlargement of the opportunities to be
offered to youth. For only about ten
per cent of our common school gradu-
ates we are now offering opportunity
for more than the common school pro-
yides. We offer, in our high schools
and colleges. chance for special
training for those who wish to become
teachers, ministers, lawyers, physl-
clans and writer's and, to limited eX-
tent. to those who will enter business
pursuits.
In these high schools, we do very lit
tie in way of preparation for more
etficiene service in other employments
and for the development of the econo-
mic value of the worker.
Educa tional leaders have been even
slower than industrial leaders. both
EMPLOYERS and employees to recognize
this need of the majority. AS a wit
ness to this fact, it is to be noted that
great department stores have special
schools in which they train their work
ers. Leading industrial concerns or
ganizc their own schools for the de-
ve!opmcnt of a skill they find boys do
not possess when they come to them
from the public schools,
The educational leaders of this coun-
try have likewise been even slower
than those Of ether countries to recog-
nize tho necessity for this broader edu-
cational policy.
Throughout Europe are scattered
schools whose purpose is to correlate
academic work and culture with great
er industrial efficiency. The discussion
has especial application to New Eng
land and to our own State. because of
the nature Of their industries.
Two ideals should direct the educa-
tional policy of the State. The first is
- Ill. oanh child in, N tba I