44+ THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



that complete education of the faculties which, it is the function 

 of a manual training school to accomplish. 



In glancing at the several schools of this character which have 

 been established in America, one must admit that the artisan 

 spirit is more prevalent than the educational. The fact is to be 

 deplored. It means that unless the advocates of the higher po- 

 sition are alert and vigilant, the fine opportunity for broader 

 culture offered by manual training will be lost in mere technique. 

 The man-element will go under, and the world of things will 

 again rule. 



The chief claim of manual training, it must be repeated, is 

 not mechanical. It is spiritual, the development of character ; and 

 while its success in this direction can not always be judged from 

 the standard of formal scholarship, there are other and very ready 

 tests which are infallible. Conduct is a sure gauge of the stuff of 

 which a boy is made. No better index of the moral atmosphere 

 of a school can be found, I think, than its discipline. The boys 

 in a manual training school are not yet old. The younger among 

 them are only thirteen or fourteen years, and to boys of this age 

 there are special temptations to disorder in the freedom and move- 

 ment of the laboratories. To maintain order among three hun- 

 dred of these active young spirits without appealing to their fear 

 of consequences, or to other vicious motives, would not seem an 

 easy task. Yet it is accomplished in a highly satisfactory manner. 

 There are plenty of noise and life, it is true, and a fair share of fun, 

 but this seldom goes beyond wholesome bounds. As far as possi- 

 ble the order of the school is left to the boys themselves. Certain 

 customs are observed as a matter of convenience, but there are no 

 formal rules for conduct. The boys know perfectly well what is 

 right, and they are encouraged to do it because it is the right, and 

 not because they will get into trouble if they do otherwise. As 

 little personal authority is exerted as possible. The inexorable 

 law of right is taught as a principle, to which both teacher and 

 boy must conform. It is a high ground to take, but it works — as 

 all appeals to the better nature of a boy generally do. It is pos- 

 sible that this abnegation of authority robs the professorial chair 

 of some of its dignity, but there are better levers in the world 

 than this. The friendly, even affectionate, comradeship between 

 teacher and pupil which takes its place, is the source of a deeper 

 influence and of a more profitable intercourse. 



It is felt by those imbued with the new idea of education that 

 punishment, however judiciously applied, is an inadequate and 

 superficial thing, and represents at best misapplied energy. 

 Nature has placed an indissoluble bond between cause and effect. 

 Wrong conduct is so surely followed by natural punishment that 

 it seems a presumption on the part of a teacher to attempt to 



