SLOYD: ITS AIM, METHOD, AND RESULTS. 785 



natural activity, it permits him to engage in work so arranged as 

 to lead him to discover the principles to be taught, to apply his 

 knowledge, and thus obtain a useful training. 



The instruction is on the inductive plan, mainly through prac- 

 tical exercises, but in part oral. Class instruction is used only 

 when general directions must be given, as when commencing a 

 class, explaining the use of tools, position, etc. Otherwise, indi- 

 vidual instruction is employed, it being found to yield the best 

 results ; but, as the pupil advances, the teacher's aid becomes less 

 necessary. 



The training consists mainly in performing certain exercises 

 calculated to give general dexterity, promote health and strength, 

 and at the same time develop the perceptive faculties, ingenuity 

 of construction, concentrated attention, love of exactness, and ar- 

 tistic taste. 



The exercises, though necessarily varying with the require- 

 ments of different localities, must embody the leading principles 

 of the system ; be conducive to health and development ; pleasing, 

 so as to interest the pupil ; varied, so as to exercise the various 

 faculties ; and graded, so that the pupil may, with the mere guid- 

 ance of the teacher, pass from the first and simplest to the last 

 and most difficult. 



Series of objects or models made of wood (Figs. 1 and 2) are 

 used to illustrate the exercises. These models, though varying 

 according to localities, must always represent useful articles ; be 

 of pleasing forms, in which curved lines largely enter ; be varied, 

 so as to demand variety of skill ; and be systematically arranged, 

 so that each subsequent model requires an exact copy of the pre- 

 ceding. All careless work must be excluded, as also polishing 

 and painting, in order to secure the more thorough workmanship. 

 The tools comprise all the essential ones used in carpentry as the 

 knife, the hammer, the center-bit, the try-square, compasses, saws, 

 files, planes, etc. The work-room must be spacious, airy, and 

 well lighted, and the work-benches should turn, so that when 

 the pupil is at work the light shall fall on him chiefly from the 

 left side. The teaching should not be intrusted to others than 

 those who have natural qualifications for the work, have been in- 

 structed in the science of education, and trained in the system 

 of Sloyd. 



The courses of instruction must necessarily depend on circum- 

 stances, but the instruction falls naturally into three stages, viz., 

 an elementary, an intermediate, and an advanced course ; or, more 

 simply, into an elementary course for children, and an advanced 

 course for older pupils. In any case the period of instruction may 

 be made to coincide with that of the common school. 



What relation Sloyd bears to other systems of manual training 



VOL. XXXVI. 50 



