INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 815 



study would be dignified and glorified as is every kind of truth, when 

 its true place and mission are discovered. 



Do I hear you say, " This is all very fine in theory, but impossible 

 in practice " ? " We can not get the apparatus we can not find the 

 teachers " ? 



As for myself, I have no time for building castles in the air which 

 can not be brought down to earth and built of solid material. Here 

 are a few facts of positive knowledge : For a few dollars a working- 

 room or corner can be fitted up where all necessary apparatus can be 

 made. There is no school whose boys and girls will not become enthu- 

 siastic in this kind of work, provided they have a little direction and 

 encouragement of the right sort. The necessary funds for a begin- 

 ning may be furnished by an exhibition, or by subscription of parties 

 to whom the subject has been properly presented. It is our very posi- 

 tive conviction that for a much smaller sum than most people imagine 

 there can be fitted up a school workshop in which the following re- 

 sults can be accomplished : 



1. There can be made all the apparatus necessary to give a most 

 excellent course in the elements of physical science. 



2. There can be made, wholly or in part, blocks, weights, etc., 

 whose use we have described. 



3. Old bottles, test-tubes, tumblers, etc., can be graduated for the 

 practical teaching of the liquid measures each pupil having his own 

 set of measures. 



4. Easels, rules, etc., can be made for use in drawing. 



5. Cases, shelves, brackets, etc., can be made for collections and 

 for beautifying the room. 



6. Pictures can be framed. 



7. There can be made most, if not all, of the needed gymnastic 

 apparatus, i. e., clubs can be turned, etc. 



In short, the pupils can do a very large part of the work of prop- 

 erly fitting up the school-room, and this work can be so planned as to 

 teach in the doing of it all the fundamental processes concerned in the 

 various industries that deal with wood and metal. All this could be 

 fitted into other lines of industrial work (sewing, modeling), and thus 

 might be worked out a consistent and comprehensive scheme of gen- 

 eral industrial training. Where are the teachers to be had? Let 

 those who are giving their best thought to the problems of education 

 first determine the sort of work that can and ought to be done in the 

 schools, then let them submit their plans to the people through press 

 and platform, and then reform the normal schools to suit the desires 

 and demands of the people thus instructed. Consider for a moment 

 what can be got out of a single piece of apparatus such as this system 

 of levers : 



1. There are the industrial processes concerned in its manufact- 

 ure, making a smooth surface, a straight edge, a good joint, dividing 



