The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1909-06-04
cent Of the pupils leave school be-

CCAt VI tAS PuRAAo AOosS oSAOSA Nv
fore completing the grammar grades,
for the purpose of earning liveli-
hood with their owns hands. The
work which they then take Is not
carpentry, masonry, or like trade
which would tend TO advance them In
life. On the other hand, their high
est ideal for a life work is to be-
come a teamster or herder. They at
one enter upon that work, and, doubt
less. spend the rest Of their lives in
It, holding themselves to the same
narrow sphere with little or no OPP
portunity for betterment.
To turn to the other extreme,
many boys have, planted In them,
strong desires to go to large cities,
and get--it matters not what kind
Of position as long as It brings
pay. Here are the evil influences
by which the young boy Is strong
~ affected. and he Is then not able
/, give himself and the world all
that he might, had his early train
Ing beer Of the right kind.
Our schools propose to give the
boys and girls a training which will
make them (boys and girls) moral
" efficient and self-supporting; but
are we really doing IT? Is there not
something lacking? The child looks
upon the schools as an institution
very foreign to partical life. He sees
his father and other men earning
their living by manual labor by the
handling of concrete materials; while
the work given him In school pertains
only to the abstract something
which is difficult for him to grasp,
and In which he sees little Of practical
value.
It is more muscular training pre-
scented In very simple, yet vital man
ner, which we need, and It is just
at the age when the child enters the
grammar grades that this need is the
strongest. He has left that work
which appeals keenly to the simple
! child mind, and he is now about to
enter upon subjects which require
greater mental effort and strain; yet
from which he feels that he gets so
little that can readily be applied tn his
every day life. Just at this point in
the school work, then, he must have
something to rekindle his interest,
and to assure him of the real value OF
his work. Though 1t is value which
cannot, perhaps, be used in the pres
ent, it will lead to some future use,
and the child takes his first step to-
ward earning his own bread and
butter" as 1t were.
The. Manual Training given the
pupil in the first three grades forms
a splendid foundation for more adj
vanced work of this nature, which
can be made even more practical than
that Of the first years. The child
has learned how to use his hands and
! can handle his material with consid-
cradle ease. The making of one ar
ticle often suggests the possibility of
another; and thus the child Is lead
to see the growth Of many things
through one. @
/ AT first only very large forms and
| pieces Of work are put into the child's
understanding which his vision
can quickly grasp, and his little fns-
ers can handle without nervous
strain. Large designs are worked
with coarse needle and thread and
large objects are moulded from clay,
and through this exercise, the child
has attained a certain amount of
control over his muscles; at the same
time, making something which, when
finished, he can prize as his own.
AS the work advances, 1t involves
exercise for the finer muscles of the
hand and arm, and greater mus
cular control Is gained. Together
with the manual education comes the
mental. With more intricate motor
work is involved greater reasoning,
planning, originality, and the like.
In the fourth or fifth grade, the
child is ready for such work as in
wolves more perfect ease in the handl-
Ing Of materials. Just at this point
In his development, the work given
the boys deviates from that OF the
girls. The boys have learned how
to handle a needle, and would doubt
less be capable Of such sewing as they
might find necessary to do for them
selves. The boy has reached the age
where the man instinct appears very
lstrongly, and he will be inclined to
lose interest and rebel, If held to task
over wrok. which, as he says, was
made for girls. not boys.
Give the boy of this age knife