Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1915-02-03
TEACHING BOYS THE
VALUE OF ACCURACY
No Place for Guess Work in
Manual Training.
Lancaster Citizens Should See the
Classes While They Are
at Earnest Work.

There is scarcely citizen and tax
payer in Lancaster who will look on
with any other sentiment than that
of pride, if he will but pay visit to
the rooms occupied by the classes IN
manual training, over Ats store.
During class hours an average OF 70
youngsters may be seen engaged IN
serious occupation, as they study and
seek to put into actual practice the
principles,-the fundamentals of me-
chanics.
To make a perfectly fiat surface
to have the corners sharn and absolute
ly according to specifications to have
the work so that it may be measured
and tested, not guessed at-these are
some of the points sought to be at
tanned by manual training. And if
any of the citizens of Lancaster will
but take the trouble to visit the
classes he will be impressed with the
seriousness of the work, and the
genuineness of the instruction.
So, whether the boy who takes up
the work ever becomes carpenter,
or engages in other woodworking oc-
cupation, or turns to the pillow, or
gets behind a counter as a salesman,
his instruction is certain to be of
value to him in future life. He
has had drilled into him at the class
OF manual training that there is no
good to be attained by going through
life guessing at things. He has had
accuracy hammered into him in a
hundred practical ways. He has seen
it proved time and time again, that
there is nothing to be gained by guess
work. This lesson the youth may
not have demonstrated too often.
Sure the instruction at the home
should be more along the line of ac-
curacy than it is; but so long as home
training is deficient in this respect /;
so long as the home looks to the
system of education for everything
that is in reality Institutional, just
so long is vocational teaching of the
youth necessary to the course of in
struction.
Lancaster has now a weil-equipped
and well-managed school of manual
training. There are five classes,
and the boys are as earnest and as
enthusiastic as one would wish to see.
They are making simple things of
wood, but in the course of the work
they are taking on lot of instruc-
tion that will be of use to them
when they come to the practical
matters of life that are involved IN
the meat and bread problem. For,
after all, this meat and bread pro-
blem is a big one. and one that never
has been downed.
Mr.. Mathews, the instructor, has
had a thorough preparation for his
duties as teacher of actual work.
He was first a student in the Stout
school at Menomonie, and later was
in the department of manual arts in
Wisconsin University. On top OF
this, he had a natural aptitude fol
his work and is easy and happy in
his method of imparting instruction.
1t seems well that the introduction OF
the study to Lancaster boys fell tC
such capable hands as his.
Lancaster was bit late in getting
into the vocational game. Out OF
1O7 cities and villages in Wisconsin
only II have no manual training de-
partments. And practically all of
these have specially prepared in
structor in charge. A very few
have teachers who give a part OF
their time to this special work, and
in these it is safe to say that the
work is not entirely satisfactory.
What the boys do in these classes is
a matter of interest to every citizen,
whether he is a parent or not. AND
some of the things done in this class
room will be discussed in a sub
sequent issue of this paper.