INDUSTRIAL DEPARTMENT. TOPEKA, MUSIC HALL, July 14, 1886, 2.30 P. M. Prof. J. M. Ordway, of Tulane University, called the meeting to order. The secretary, Mr. W. F. M. Goss, being absent, Prof. W. C. Latta, of Indiana, was appointed secretary pro tem. In the absence of Prof. McAllister, Superintendent of the public schools of Philadelphia, who was to deliver an address on the "Progress of Industrial Education," Profs. Morrison and Sickel, of Philadelphia, were asked for statements concerning the work and progress of industrial education in their city. They reported the experiment, which was begun a year ago, a fair success. The work is directed by teachers employed especially for that purpose; there are now thirty-one teachers of sewing employed. Pres. Fairchild stated that he believed the only industrial educational work in Kansas was done at the State Agricultural College. There, besides the work in farming and gardening required of students in the second and third years of the course, there are shops for 150 students in carpentry, a printing office for 50 or more, a telegraph office for 35, sewing rooms for 75, kitchen and dairy for 25. In all of these, careful supervision leads to distinct and useful training. The student is required to give one hour a day to this training, and may give more under favorable circumstances. All young men must give one term to carpentry, and all young women must give one term to sewing. Prof. Ordway, of New Orleans, reported that manual training in carpentry had been successfully introduced into the preparatory department of Tulane University. They began with the higher class of people, and the work was popular from the first. The cause of industrial education is gaining ground in the South. The industrial work done in the public schools of the South is mostly directed by special teachers engaged for the purpose. Prof. Hoss, of Baker University, asked if agricultural education leads toward the farm. The underlying question was whether the love of the beautiful and cleanly does not lead from the plain industry to the various professions and callings of more delicate work-in other words, whether the boy does not turn to a calling that will allow the white collar and clean cuffs, rather than the sweaty shirt of the farmer. President Fairchild replied, showing that agricultural education does lead toward the farm and secures better farming. He read statistics concerning the students and graduates of the State Agricultural Colleges of Kansas and Michigan, and cited cases where seeming desertion from the ranks of the industrial classes resulted in benefiting these classes by giving them strong champions in the press, at the bar, and in the legisla tive halls. Prof. Walters, of Manhattan, endorsed President Fairchild's argument, and said there was no necessity of a boy being a boor because he was a farmer. The study of the natural sciences draws toward outdoor life, toward the farm, the garden, the woods, and the herd. An inquiry among the teachers of industrial schools resulted in a general endorsement of a statement offered to the effect that a moderate amount of manual labor regularly required of students is conducive to better work in the classrooms. TOPEKA, MUSIC HALL, July 15, 1886, 2.30 P. M. Prof. J. M. Ordway in the chair. Upon motion the President appointed a nominating committee of three to report names for officers of the industrial department for the ensuing year. Dr. George F. Magoun, President of Iowa College, was then introduced, who read an address upon "Manual Education from the other Side." The discussion following was spirited. present system The seven rep Dr. E. E. White, of Cincinnati, did not think that the of manual instruction would produce the desired result. resentative tools are not the things the graduates of our high schools are likely to use in their life work. The world needs tool-workers, but most of all, it needs thinkers and men of character. Dr. Stille, of St. Louis, thought that the results of industrial education in the United States were all that could be expected, and that the influence of manual labor in the formation of character was one of the main points in its favor. Europe is ahead of us in industrial education; in the line of trade schools as well as in higher, or polytechnic, work. I believe in the so-called "Russian Plan" of teaching the use of tools. Prof. Walters, of Manhattan, spoke of industrial education in Switzerland. A close study of experiments made by other nations might give us valuable hints in our search for the golden mean. All so-called trade schools of that country, as the school for watch-makers at St. Imier; the school for wood-carvers at Brienz; and the school for weavers at Trogen, started with the idea of teaching the respective trades during the main. part of the day, and giving the most necessary theoretical instruction in the off hours. The agricultural school of Hofwyl, founded in 1819,-the first agricultural school established-was likewise intended to be a mere manual labor school. But all of these schools have long since reduced the hours of work and increased the time given to study. On the other hand the many Gewerbeschulen, the federal Polytechnicum at Zurich, and the Ecole Industrielle at Lausanne, schools that were organized without considering the actual work in the shop as of much importance, have gradually introduced manual labor into their varied curricula. We must find means to educate both hand and mind. The nominating committee then presented their report, and in accordance with their recommendation the following officers were elected for the ensuing year :— President, J. M. Ordway, of Louisiana. Vice-President, J. A. Wickersham, of Indiana. Secretary, J. D. Walters, of Kansas. |