The copper era and Morenci leader., 1914-02-27
MANUAL TRAINING DE-
 APARTMENT IS POPULAR
Satisfactory Progress is Made by Manual Training Department- Possibility that New Branches Will Be Included in Com
 ing Months.

1 The manual training department of the city schools is proving very ac- ceptable in results to the patronage, the visible results of the handiwork of the pupils being especially pleas ing to the parents and teachers. From the results thus far obtained many of the patrons appear to be desirous of having the school board include at an early date additional courses of instruction along these practical lines. Among the additions which will possibly be made probably for operation during the next school year are forging and lathing. Also it is possible that printing and journ- alism, practical, will be taught. Perhaps many of the schools pa irons will be surprised to learn that nearly two hundred children of the city are now enrolled in the manual training department, these children coming from all grades above the fifth, and ranging in eges from twelve to twenty years. The daily increas- ing interest manifested by the pu- pills is encouraging to Prof. Sellars, the teacher in charge of this line of instruction. However, the large number of pupils is demanding that assistant teachers be employed, the work becoming unwieldy because of the preponderance of learners.
 Five distinct and practical trades are taught the pupils. all of whom enter the department of their own voli tion, thus not subserving the more important general and basic branches to the limited character of the manual training branches. The trades specifically taught by Prof. Sellars are mechanical and architec- tural drawing, carpentry. plumbing, and cabinet making.
 Of interest in connection with this work is the fact that fifteen girls are numbered among the one hun dred and ninety-one pupils embraced in the classes. The girls, while de- noting interest in the more mascu- line work of their brothers, are principally taught basket making and the art of brass decoration.
 That the results are practically ob- tained is to be deduced from the fact that the cabinet making department pupils have already produced splendid examples of household furniture, as we'll as furnishings for office use. Several homes of the town now con- tain the furniture made by the boys of the cabinet making classes, and all who view the results are interest ed in the skill displayed. Especially in the mission styles do the boys ex- cell, the straight lines and simplicity of this class of furniture being ex- Etensively aught this season by Prof. Sellars. Within a short while, the students of plumbing will give their parents a practical demonstration of their skill in this line, preparing to install without professional assistance number of plumbing fixtures in the rooms of the school building, these being fixtures that were not included in the work of the builders. Sewer age appliances and wash basins will be among the plumbing accessories which the boys will place in the buildings, and in workmanlike man. ner.
 | The proponents of manual training are of the opinion that many of the scientific branches which have for long been taught only by text in the | schools of the country can be more plainly presented to the pupils by the systematic and coincident in- struction in manual training. Es- pecialIy in all branches of mathe- in practical building and drawing of assistance, the minds of the pupils being attracted by the illustration of the fact that the rules embodied in the text books can be plainly illus trated by work of their own hands. Originality is wonderfully developed by the systematic teaching of manual training, which is in many instances applied, or practical, mathematics.
 While it is realized that the old and accepted branches of comprehen- sive knowledge will maintain their proper supremacy, yet manual train ing, apart from the fact that it's systematic instruction will equip the learner for practical existence, has a discerned position in the training of the pupil in lines of systematic oDd increased thought