The Rice belt journal. (Welsh, Calcasieu Parish, La.) 1900-19??, 1909-08-27
INDUSTRIAL WORK.
WHY 1t Should BE Established In the
Pnblic Schools. Its Moral anu
Physical Va'ue..Cost OF pro'
posed Equipment.

The following article by Supt. j. "
Brown, clipped from the Donaldson
Vile Chief, setting forth reasons lot
the Introduction of manual tralnlpS
in the Donaldsouville high school, IS
applicable and to the point, ana Is
we'll worth the consideration OF every
school board throughout the state
1.-The past hundred years or less
has marked greater advance along
mechanical and industrial lines than
did the previous two Thousand years.
One hundred years ago we hao No
such things as cultivators, disc har-
rows. moving machines, seed planters
of various kinds, grain reapers, en-
gines, stationery and locomotlVe'
railroads with their hundreds or ol-
ferent mechanical contriVances, steel
suspension bridges, electric hnes'
cars, automobiles, motors OF various
kinds, telephone, telegraph, grapno-
nhone. electric street lights, and nun
dreds of other machines and devices
tended to save and facilitate labor
For more than two Thousand wears
before this time the world had gone
along with practically the same I'M
Elements and tools from generation
TO generation. This great field now
-, requires hundreds of thousands OF
new men each year, while formerly
-, the chief pursuits open were the pro-
i, fessions and agriculture.
~ ~ This great industrial age is not a
>, ., it's greatest height as yet, but yea'
: after year requires greater nomoe'
- Of men who must understand some
=. thing of mechanics. While PROBES
~ sions, with the exception of teaching
" perhaps are overcrowded, industrla
- men of training and ability are eager
,,s ly sought for.
~ "rhere are other reasons than thos
of monetary consideration tor the e.
Establishment of an industrial course
Everyone has observed the muscula
'0u activity of boys nearly grown; no
they delight in boxing, wrestling, ru'
;tv ming, climbing, etc., We know tro
IN. experience, also, that BOYS OF tn
ot age often dislike to sit at desk ds
his after day. They want TO DO som
nm. thing that appeals to them wor
,ss while. The tendency is the mo
be marked in some boys who may
oar bright and efficient in working wi
non machines or tools, yet are dull i'll
literary way. The present scho
nor. course offers little inducements
Tho BOYS of this class, who are often
ere the majority or should be, and tn
anv 90 through the school as dullar(
Mr.. afterwards to develop into highly 81
.;no cessful men along mechanical I'm
was Is IL nOG DIS ldlf w Pio'ioo 49,
on. suitable to them as to those OF lit
ion. airy turn?
a 1.-THE Donaldsonville high Sch'
most has body of alumni consisting
It of fifty or more; among them there
and been but seven boys. And yet
bur- boys who drop out when they re-
The the higher grades, are often as ca
ach- BILE as those who remain, but
pen- school course does not appeal TO IN
} per AS rule, they were boys who wan
the to do something with their muscles
dol. "The proportion of those who Ell
inn either business or the professl
O the mnst always be less than those
,bers work with hands as we'll as head.
provide no means whereby this lal