TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 381 
elementary subjects might be taught, and on the boy’s parents 
showing his indenture or engagement in any craft with the view 
of becoming a craftsman, such engagement being approved by the 
Board, the lad should be allowed to follow his calling for the 
remainder of the day. Through the Science and Art Classes, 
probably not as at present administered, all specific subjects should 
be taught them in the evening. 
One advantage of this would be the influence the School Board 
would have over the apprenticeships of many crafts at their 
commencement; for parents would be anxious to get such an 
apprenticeship exclusion from specific subjects, thus saving time 
and money. But the. greatest advantage of all would be the 
gradual introduction of the youth from his school-days to his 
apprenticeship duties. 
Education in the larger sense ought to be continuous. Already 
we have seen the advantage of head and hand work going together ; 
the one training stimulates the faculties for the other. The 
present system of finishing a boy complete in his mental training, 
then suddenly turning him into a workshop where he is only 
required to exercise his manipulative faculties, is wrong in theory 
as it has been found inconvenient in practice. In France, this 
experiment of introducing the youth, boy or girl, gradually to the 
practice of a craft, for a short period at the commencement of the 
apprenticeship, has been found to be useful. 
We have noticed that the old apprenticeship has passed away. 
Even the old crafts have lost their once definite boundaries, and 
dozens of novel occupations, each requiring special knowledge, have 
cropped up. All the assistance technical education has in this 
country (except in the case of a few large firms who have technical 
schools attached to their establishments) is given at the wrong end. 
No provision is made for giving technical education. There is 
elaborate provision for testing technical knowledge, but none for 
technical skill, which is far more necessary. 
The all-important point in connection with the efficient teaching 
of technical and scientific subjects is that practice should go hand 
in hand with precept. 
It may not be out of place to enumerate the efforts made in this 
country for the assistance and advancement of technical education. 
First we have the Science and Art Classes of the Committee of 
Council on Education, which give elementary and advanced 
