794 
Technical Education in 
[December, 
fying to all who have the cause of technical education at 
heart, but it must also prove to the attentive observer that, 
being the most natural, it will eventually become the best 
system of all. 
The second type of school includes those in which sys- 
tematic instruction in one or more handicrafts is given to 
boys who are still going on with their elementary instruc- 
tion. There appears to be one school of this sort in 
Paris, which is carried on most successfully as far as it goes, 
only about 12 per cent, however, of the pupils receive manual 
instruction. They work alternately at carpentering, wood- 
turning, forging, filing, chipping, and metal-turning for two 
years ; after which they specialise their work. They also 
receive instruction in modelling and technical drawing, and 
in the summer they visit the neighbouring factories. On the 
completion of the preliminary two years they are draughted 
off into one of the three special workshops in which model- 
ling and carving, carpentry and wood-work, and iron- and 
metal-work are carried on under the superintendence of 
master-workmen who have made the teaching of their various 
crafts a special study. One of the disadvantages of this 
type of school is, that the instruction given is professedly 
only preparatory to, and not a substitute for, an ordinary 
apprenticeship. In its favour it must be conceded that it 
shortens the long and useless years of apprenticeship, and 
thus helps the young worker to become a bread-winner. 
The third system is where the school and the workshop 
are placed side by side, so that the hours given to study 
should be co-ordinated with an equal number of hours of 
manual instruction. This type of school Prof. Thompson 
thinks is the apprenticeship school of the future. France affords 
two good examples of this class ; one the Paris Municipal 
School of Apprentices, where several distinct trades are taught ; 
and the Besan9on Municipal School of Horology, where clock 
and watch making alone are taught. Taking the Paris 
school first, we find that the apprentices are only ad- 
mitted between the ages of 13 and 16. They must also 
have a certificate showing that they have completed their 
elementary education, or else undergo an examination. In 
comparison with schools of the second type a larger 
amount of time is devoted to the workshops, which are here 
much more extensive and complete. The course is a three 
years’ initiation into the handicraft taught, and the majority 
of the pupils leave the school able workmen. The trades in 
which direct instruction is given are those of the carpenter, 
Wood-turner, pattern-maker, smith* fitter, and metal-burner. 
