MANUAL TRAINING IN SCHOOL EDUCATION. 499 



Instruction, states " that the half-time children of the town of Keigh- 

 ley, numbering from fifteen hundred to two thousand, although they 

 receive less than fourteen hours of instruction per week, and are re- 

 quired to attend the factory for twenty-eight hours per week in addi- 

 tion, yet obtain at the examinations a higher percentage of passes than 

 the average of children throughout the whole country receiving double 

 the amount of schooling." This answers the objection so often raised, 

 that the curriculum of elementary schools is already overcrowded. 

 Possibly it may be with literary studies, but not with practical work, 

 and the combination of the two will go far to correct the tendency to 

 over-pressure inherent in our system of payment by results. 



As a general rule, children should be required to have passed the 

 fifth standard before being admitted into the shop. They should 

 receive two lessons a week, and each lesson should be of about two 

 hours' duration. No fixed rule can at present be given as to the num- 

 ber of children who can be taught by one instructor. For convenience 

 of supervision the shop should be fitted for the accommodation of not 

 more than twenty-five children. On starting a class, each pupil re- 

 quires more individual attention than later on. A class of beginners, 

 therefore, should not consist of the full complement of children. 

 Where the same shop is used for bench-work and lathe-work, it will 

 be found that a double lathe will occupy four pupils, that eighteen 

 can be accommodated at three carpenters' benches, each of not less 

 than fourteen feet six inches in length, while two may be engaged in 

 sawing. Besides the benches and lathes, the school should contain a 

 large blackboard, a cupboard, which is better than boxes for holding 

 tools, and a grindstone. 



In estimating the expense of adding this subject to our elementary 

 school course, we have to consider the cost first, of equipping the 

 workshops ; second, of the material used ; third, of the teaching. 



Supposing a shed or some other room to be found, which can be 

 used as a workshop, the cost of equipping the shop with benches and 

 with the necessary tools need not exceed thirty shilling for each pupil's 

 place, and the workshop can be used by different sets of pupils at differ- 

 ent times. Moreover, a shop need not be fitted at once with the full 

 complement of benches ; for, after a time, the more advanced pupils 

 may be employed in making some of the additional fittings required. 



The cost of material is inconsiderable. The children soon learn to 

 construct various articles for their own homes, which, on payment of 

 the cost of the material consumed, become the property of their par- 

 ents. Some, too, might be employed in making models and other ob- 

 jects, including certain workshop-fittings, which might be purchased 

 for the use of other schools. At the same time, care must be taken 

 that the work is always subordinated to the educational purpose of 

 the instruction. 



Of the actual cost of the teaching no very exact estimate can as 



