THE PHILOSOPHY OF MANUAL TRAINING. 779 



In the kindergarten it is self-directed play and work; in sloyd, 

 self-directed hand work ; in manual training, technical hand and tool 

 work that form the nucleus of method. In a rational education such 

 as I have tried to suggest, it must be self-directed work so arranged as 

 to develop the whole organism, and bring out the moral and aesthetic 

 and emotional and bodily sides of life quite as thoroughly as the 

 intellectual. 



To carry this scheme into effect will require a very radical dis- 

 position of the school days. If we assume that the college has. been 

 rationalized, and I believe that to be the case at Harvard, and at 

 other places where an elective course of study allows the freedom of 

 the unfolding spirit, then I should put it as one of the first requisites 

 of a sound system of secondary education that it should be broadly 

 and thoroughly preparatory to the college. All the children will 

 not go to college, but as we cherish the ideal of a liberalized and 

 cultured America, we want an increasing number of them to go, and 

 in any case we want the very best education possible for both classes 

 of children — for those who go to college and for those who do not. 

 And I should hold that either the colleges were gravely at fault, or 

 our ideals of middle-class life were gravely at fault, if one educational 

 path led to the one and another educa:tional path led to the other. I 

 can not, therefore, sympathize with that present tendency in public 

 education which is attenuating the culture side of our high schools, in 

 order that they may serve more immediate technical and commercial 

 ends. I can not feel that it is in the province of the public high 

 schools, or of the State that stands back of them, to turn out shop- 

 keepers, clerks, bookkeepers, or artisans. The community life is im- 

 poverished by such partial products, when it ought to be enriched by 

 the full measure of a human life. That education will be the best, 

 will be the most truly educational, which leads to the college, even 

 though it find the doors closed. 



I have expressed the hope that a deeper realization of the dignity 

 of human life will make the ripe culture of the college more increas- 

 ingly imperative for every child, and I believe that this result will 

 come about with the growth of the social conscience, and with 

 the increase of that spirit of brotherhood which is even now 

 appearing as a bit of leaven in our midst. I came up from the 

 subway the other day with that exultation in my heart which I 

 think the modern man feels as well as the Greek when he emerges 

 from the nether world into the open sunshine. At the mouth of the 

 pit a little figure was sharply outlined against the sky. It was the 

 figure of a mere child, a little boy. His face was pale and worn. He 

 was standing there drinking in the chill of the pit, attracted by the 

 hope of selling his papers. I could not help saying to myself: 



