84: TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 



but to the being able to pass examinations successfully ; 

 especially if encouragement is given to the mischievous 

 delusion that brainwork is, in itself, and apart from its 

 quality, a nobler or more respectable thing than handi- 

 work such education may be a deadly mischief to the 

 workman, and lead to the rapid ruin of the industries 

 it is intended to serve. 



I know that I am expressing the opinion of some 

 of the largest as well as the most enlightened employ- 

 ers of labour, when I say that there is a real danger 

 that, from the extreme of no education, we may run 

 to the other extreme of over-education of handicrafts- 

 men. And I apprehend that what is true for the ordi- 

 nary hand-worker is true for the foreman. Activity, 

 probity, knowledge of men, ready mother-wit, supple- 

 mented by a good knowledge of the general principles 

 involved in his business, are the making of a good 

 foreman. If he possess these qualities, no amount of 

 learning will fit him better for his position; while 

 the course of life and the habit of mind required for 

 the attainment of such learning may, in various direct 

 and indirect ways, act as direct disqualifications for it. 



Keeping in mind, then, that the two things to be 

 avoided are, the delay of the entrance of boys into 

 practical life, and the substitution of exhausted book- 

 worms for shrewd, handy men, in our works and fac- 

 tories, let us consider what may be wisely and safely 

 attempted in the way of improving the education of 

 the handicraftsman. 



