58 Technical Education. 



lated by trade guilds, and a knowledge of the trade was 

 considered a mystery, jealously guarded by the members of the 

 guilds, who were masters of the mystery — craftsmen or handi- 

 craftsmen. In modern times the printer's "devil" has outwitted 

 the craftsmen by exposing all their secrets. In rural districts 

 masters were not so much specialists as all-over men. A smith 

 was a blacksmith, locksmith, nailer, farrier, and perhaps horse 

 doctor. A carpenter was also a joiner, wheelwright, cabinetmaker 

 and millwright. Their factories or workshops were their own 

 homes, in which the apprentice often resided, or, at all events, 

 was brought into daily personal contact with his master, and 

 was thereby enabled to acquire a thorough knowledge of his 

 trade. But the development of manufacturing machinery, 

 with the consequent erection of large manufacturing concerns, 

 and the concentration of skilled labour into large towns, 

 destroyed the apprenticeship system ; and to-day the youthful 

 apprentice is passed into a factory, like a sheep into a paddock, 

 to do the best he can for himself. He has no immediate 

 responsible master. But as extensive factories and large estab- 

 lishments of all kinds have become an absolute necessity to keep 

 pace with the progress of our manufacturing industries, and as 

 the principle of a division of labour must be acted on to secure 

 excellence and economy, it is quite manifest that the system of 

 apprenticeship, which cannot be dispensed with, must be 

 modified to meet the requirements of modern industrial opera- 

 tion. The apprentice should, in fact, be technically educatedj 

 or he cannot acquire in the workshop or factory the skill that 

 is required by the refinement of processes, and the straining 

 after excellence and perfection in every detail of our modern 

 industries. In this sense we must look on technical education 

 as a system, and not as a mere branch of education— a system 

 that directs every stage of the pupil's educational career, so 

 that he may be prepared to efficiently discharge the duties of 

 life and maintain the struggle for existence. Adopting this 

 view of technical education, it is evident that as a method or 

 system of education it can be applied to our most elementary 



