494 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



because some girl friend sticks up her nose at the dirt and the aprons, 

 and calls the boys mechanics. And I should like to say in passing 

 that I think we do not sufficiently realize the importance of having 

 girls entertain high ideals of boyhood, and boys entertain high ideals 

 of girlhood, for sooner or later each sex is bound to be what the 

 other sex wants it to be. When I hear men running down women, 

 or women running down men, I always feel very sorry, but I feel 

 disposed to say : My friend, this may be so, but if so, it is partly your 

 fault. 



The average age of this composite group I should place at some- 

 thing over fourteen. The boys may enter at thirteen, and I am told 

 that in Xew England they commonly do so, but the work as at pres- 

 ent arranged is better suited to older boys. 



The curriculum is divided into five departments: 



1. The Humanistic, or Language Group. This includes Eng- 

 lish language and literature; French, German, Spanish, or Latin; 

 history, civics, and economics. 



2. The Mathematical Group. This covers advanced arithmetic, 

 plane and solid geometry, algebra, plane trigonometry, elementary 

 surveying, and bookkeeping, 



3. The Science Group. This includes physical geography, 

 biology, physics, chemistry, and an introduction to steam and elec- 

 trical engineering. 



4. The Drawing. This is both mechanical and free hand, and 

 includes instruction in clay modeling, in plant analysis for decora- 

 tive purposes, and somewhat of the history and practice of archi- 

 tecture. 



5. The Manual Training. This is the most distinctive part of the 

 curriculum, and includes wood work — joinery, pattern making, turn- 

 ing, and carving; vise work — chipping, filing, and fitting; smith- 

 ing; sheet-metal work; ornamental iron work, and finally the 

 machine-tool practice in constructive work. 



This is a very full curriculum. The studies are all useful, and in 

 the main well selected, but the amount of time that may be given to 

 each is somewhat limited. The principal criticism to which the cur- 

 riculum is open is indeed right here. It is not possible to offer the 

 full equivalent of the four-year course in three years, and give so 

 much of the time to the manual occupations. Let us look more 

 closely at the disposition of the day. It is commonly divided into 

 six periods of from forty-five to fifty minutes each. As there is no 

 school on Saturday or Sunday, this gives thirty periods a week in 

 which the curriculum must express itself. In the first and second 

 years of the course, half of each day is given to manual work — that is, 

 to tool work and to drawing; and the other half is given to the 



