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AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



February, 1907 



Manual Training in Public Schools 



By Charles C. Johnson 



[HE task of learning how best to use one's 

 hands has become a science. It is called 

 manual training. Through it thousands oi 

 young people are finding out that there are 

 within themselves possibilities of achieve- 

 ment of which they never dreamed. With- 

 in the last five years manual training has 

 forged to the front with giant strides. Instead of being con- 

 fined to technical institutions, it has become part of the 

 everyday life in the schools of large cities. One result of this 

 is that in thousands of homes there is evidence of surprising 

 manual accomplishment, both decorative and useful. The 

 ranks of shop and professional workers are annually receiv- 

 ing recruits from this source, of a far higher 

 order of practical knowledge and ability to "do 

 things" than has hitherto come to them in the 

 form of beginners. 



Manual training, as the school pupil enjoys it, 

 does not develop the finished worker, nor is any 

 such pretense made. What it does is to enable a 

 pupil to find himself, and its chief purpose is really 

 the formation of a partnership of head, hand, and 

 heart. The aim of instruction in what is called 

 constructive work is to give the individual power 

 to work independently. Special effort is made to 



times the making of original forms is permitted, although in- 

 dividual models must be directly related to the object model. 

 Every effort is made to induce pupils to work out new forms 

 at home, because their interest in the tasks in hand is meas- 

 ured largely by the home work they are willing to do. Later 

 on, the attention of the pupils is taken up with basketry and 

 weaving, tasks to which they seem to bring the best thought 

 there is in them. 



The general manual training course in the New York 

 public schools extends over eight years, and includes drawing, 

 construction, and shop work. The first two years most of the 

 time is devoted to freehand representption of objects, simple 

 Illustrative drawings, constructive work with applications of 



A Carpentry Class Learning ihe Use of Tec is 



promote original creation and execution. Every new process 

 is taught with a view of giving the ability to use the knowl- 

 edge gained in the making of other forms. 



Contrary to general opinion, first steps in manual training 

 are not associated with shop M-ork — carpentry or mechanics 

 of any sort. In fact, the first three years the subjects of this 

 course are construction, design, illustration, object drawing — 

 all with the use of paper, splints, and pencil. Whenever pos- 

 sible, lessons in illustrative drawing supplement other lessons. 

 In grade 2B in the manual training course of the New York 

 public schools, for instance, the first step is to make objects 

 from paper by cutting, folding, and pasting some form for 

 furnishing a playhouse, such as an armchair or table. Some- 



decorative design, color, study 

 of pictures. In the third year 

 constructive work from draw- 

 ings is added. The fourth and 

 fifth year courses cover practi- 

 cally the same ground. The 

 sixth year includes freehand 

 drawing, memory or imagina- 

 tive drawings, simple compo- 

 sition, principles of construc- 

 t i o n drawing, constructive 

 work from patterns or working drawings, decorative design 

 and its application, color, study of pictures and other works 

 of art. 



The seventh year course takes up freehand drawing, prin- 

 ciples of perspective, memory or imaginative drawings, com- 

 position, construction drawing, principles of constructive de- 

 sign, ornament, decorative design and its application, color, 

 study of pictures and other works of art. At this point, too, 

 comes shop work, including the use and care of hack saw, 

 clane, chisel, brace and bit; use of nails and screws; applica- 

 tion of stains; making of simple, useful articles from indi- 

 vidual plans; application of decoration; or, in schools with- 

 out shops, constructive work from patterns or designs. 



