The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1909-10-15

mon school system, anu continueu +
along this line for years with most
unsatisfactory results. AT last it
dawned upon us that the system was
or at least only half prac-
tical; and that the education Of the
hand must 60 side by side with that /
of the brain or it was sadly deficient.
The teaching of Manual Training was
introduced with wonderfully marked
and most satisfactory results. The
General Government has been SO i'm
pressed with the success that it has
introduced the system among the In
dian schools of this country, in Alas
ka and in our new possessions OF |
Porto Rico and the Philippines. Many
OF the foreign nations have long rec
ognized the Importance Of industrial
training in our schools.
Technical industrial training Is
made more and more of in our higher
institutions of learning. Columbia
University is this year putting two
hundred thousand dollars into Do
nestle Science hall, thus making this
on par with its technical depart
ments in civil, electric and mining en-
gineering and in law and medicine.
i call attention to these facts simply
to show the growth Of sentiment in
favor of industrial training
Under the educational system of
our state governments we have be-
come SO welded to our old methods
that it has been but few years since
we have commenced to get out OF the
rut in which we have SO long travel
ed, and begun the introduction OF the
better system. This is now rapidly
spreading until the time is not far
distant when every school of sufficient
advancement will have its Manual
Training and Domestic Science de-
partment. I
It is not designed that the teach :.
! ing of Manual Training and Domestic
Science as introduced into our graded
and high schools should be technical
| in their nature any more than the
other branches taught in the same
grade are technical. The idea is to
| furnish that which will be of the
greatest benefit to the great mass OF
common people who are not able to
acquire more than limited educa-
| ton.
What can be more practical for the
duties and responsibilities of every
! day life than that girls should be
taught how to cook palatable, nutri-
! tious and healthful foods and how
to sew and cut and fit garments.
1 These are things that every girl
i should know how, to do, for they are
things of constant utility. Nearly
every one has to do them and should
know how to do them correctly The
! health, happiness and well being OF
the future generation depends on the
i present generation being taught these
accomplishments. But right here
some one says, chat is all right, but
! these things can be taught at home. :
| Admitting that, they can be taught at
4 home, which is not by any means al
ways true, the question is, would they
/ be? Undoubtedly in most homes chill
dren could be taught the rudiments
4 Of an education such as they nov
A learn in schools, but again, would
they be so taught?
Again, what would be more practi-
cal than the teaching of Manual
Training to boys? There are very few
boys who will not have frequent use
for just this kind of knowledge dur
ing life. This is more than can be
said of large part of what is now
taught above the fundamental princi
pals. How often think you the aver
age boy will have use for his higher
arithmetic, his algebra, his geometry
his Latin and many other branches
now being taught in the schools. AL
these are good, but once more | ask
are they of the most practical i'm.
portance?
The great problem with large
proportion of the human family Il
the SO called ''bread and butter prob
lem" It is to get the necessities Of
and as many of the comforts of life
as possible. The conditions at the
present time are very different from
what they were fifty or a hundred
years ago. Then nearly everything
was done by hand labor. Now ma
chimes are used to accomplish the
same results in all lines of industry
Hence general knowledge of the use
of tools in repairing and building
is far more necessary now then then
Z Such knowledge will add much te
the comfort and beauty Of homes, fol