MANUAL TRAINING 



3638 



MANURES 



ical drawing is required. Technical high schools 

 are practically vocational schools in which stu- 

 dents receive thorough industrial training. 



Purpose. The first manual training school in 

 America was opened in Saint Louis by Dr. 

 Calvin A. Woodward as a department of Wash- 

 ington University. The work was so successful 

 that similar schools were opened in other large 

 cities. The purposes of the school opened in 

 Saint Louis, as set forth by Dr. Woodward, 

 were: 



"(1) To furnish a broader and more appropri- 

 ate foundation for higher technical education. 



"(2) To serve as a developing school where 

 pupils could discover their inborn aptitudes 

 whether in the direction of literature, science, en- 

 gineering or the practical arts. 



"(3) To furnish those who look forward to in- 

 dustrial life opportunity to become familiar with 

 tools, materials, the methods of construction and 

 exact drawing, as well as with mathematics, ele- 

 mentary science and ordinary English branches." 



In the grades manual training was for several 

 years considered to be essentially a culture 

 study. Its chief purpose was "to develop the 

 child by developing the brain and increasing its 

 control over materials through the hand and 

 the eye." It trained the pupils in observation, 

 strengthened the will and afforded opportunity 

 for making practical applications of such studies 

 as arithmetic and drawing. Manual training 

 has always been regarded as a means of ex- 

 pression and this is perhaps the strongest claim 

 that can be made for it as a culture- study. 



Be this as it may, from its introduction into 

 the public schools of Boston in 1882, it was 

 gradually extended over the country, and at the 

 beginning of the twentieth century there was 

 scarcely a city of 8,000 or more inhabitants that 

 did not include manual training in its course 

 of study. Practically the same courses were 

 found in all schools. Since these courses were 

 based upon the needs of cities they were not 

 well suited to the smaller towns or to rural 

 schools, and the work was not encouraged in 

 these places. 



Recent Changes. The rapid development of 

 American industries and the consequent growth 

 of cities are making necessary radical changes 

 in both the courses of study and methods of 

 instruction in the public schools, and since 

 1910 vocational training, or pre-vocational train- 

 ing, has been emphasized more than manual 

 training, though by some educators the same 

 meaning is applied to both terms. The chief 

 difference between vocational and manual 

 training lies in the end sought. Vocational 



training has for its purpose the fitting of the 

 pupil for entering upon an occupation, while 

 manual training seeks the complete develop- 

 ment of the pupil without special regard to the 

 occupation he may choose. Vocational train- 

 ing would train a boy to make boxes, that he 

 might earn his living by making boxes. Manual 

 training would use box making as a means of 

 giving the boy a knowledge of the material 

 used and skill in the use of the tools employed. 

 The value of manual training in rural and 

 consolidated schools, provided the course is 

 adapted to the needs of the boy on the farm, 

 is almost beyond estimate. He finds he must 

 know how to use many tools and to acquire 

 sufficient skill in their use to enable him to 

 repair his tools and implements, mend his har- 

 ness and cut and solder sheet metal. W.F.R. 



Related Subjects. The reader of this discus- 

 sion of manual training is referred to the fol- 

 lowing articles for related information : 

 Carpentry Industrial School 



Domestic Art School Garden 



Gardening Sloyd 



Gary School System Technical and Indus- 



Household Arts in trial Education 



Education Vocational Training 



Industrial Art 



MANURES , ma nures ' . When plants grow 

 they obtain their food partly from the air and 

 partly from the soil. The soil constitutes a 

 receptacle for the materials plants require for 

 their growth. Every plant is its own chemist 

 and can be trusted to take care of itself, if the 

 necessary materials, in a suitable condition to 

 serve as food, are placed within its reach. But 

 the materials thus extracted by the plant from 

 the soil ought to be replaced, for otherwise the 

 soil will lose its fertility and become incapable 

 of producing any more crops. Any substance 

 which is applied to the soil in order to restore 

 or increase its fertility is technically a manure. 



Farm, or Barnyard, Manure. Manures are 

 divided into natural manures, and fertilizers, or 

 commercial manures. In this article it is in- 

 tended to deal with natural manures as dis- 

 tinct from fertilizers, which are treated else- 

 where in these volumes (see FERTILIZER). In 

 the latter article a great deal of information 

 about the requirements of growing plants, and 

 the best kind of manures suitable to the nature 

 of the various soils and of the various crops, is 

 given. 



Its Value in Agriculture. The most impor- 

 tant of the natural manures is farm, or barn- 

 yard, manure; this means the excrements of 

 farm animals. Farm manure contains all the 



