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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 85

Teaching Trades in National Schools

page 11

Teaching Trades in National Schools.

So far but little has been done to teach trades to children in school, and it appears doubtful whether, as a general rule, there is any economy in doing so. Boys can generally be making themselves useful in their trade while they are learning to become skilled workers, and when this is the case it is sheer Waste to teach them trades in a school. The Commissioners, however, though they do not overlook this fact, are of opinion that some technical teaching may advantageously be given in connection with primary schools. One of their recommendations is—"That proficiency in the use of tools for working in wood and iron be paid for as a 'specific subject'; arrangements being made for the work being done as far as possible out of school hours. As to the experience on which this recommendation was founded, the following cases seem to afford the best illustration 1. The School of the Rue Tournefort, Paris.—"This school is the only primary school in France, so far as the Commissioners are aware, in which rudimentary trade teaching is combined with ordinary elementary instruction. From the ages of six to ten the children have three hourly lessons per week in manual work, Boys of ten and eleven are taught drawing, modelling, Carving joiner's work, and smith's and titter's work; whilst in their twelfth year of age the instruction is specialised, some taking' as their principal study modelling and caring, others joiner's work and cabinet working, others again forging and fitting; but all nave to devote a certain portion of time each week to the other subjects comprised in the complete course of manual work. The school hours are from eight in the morning to six at night, and in the highest class eighteen hour's per week arc given to manual work." page 12 It will be observed that the working hours are very long, but when it is considered how many hours are spent in that manual work, which is healthy exercise for school children, it will be obvious that there is not necessarily any over-pressure. 2. The Ambachts School, Rotterdam.—This school is of a more advanced type than that in the Rue Tournefort, Paris. It is rather technical than a primary school, but since it admits boys as young as twelve, and devotes more than half the day to book work, it may be considered in connection with elementary teaching. The course at this school lasts three years. The hours are from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. in summer, and from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m in winter. The mornings arc spent in the class-rooms, and the afternoons in the workshops. As soon as the boys have learnt the use of the various tools they begin to make small articles which have a marketable value, and thus realise that they arc working with a view to the commercial results of their labor. It has been found by experience that his being engaged on a bonâ fide piece of workmanship serves as a powerful stimulus to the pupil. The school has shops for carpenters, blacksmiths, metal-workers, fitters, and turners, cabinetmakers, masons, and stone carvers. At the time of the Commissioners' visit the young carpenters were carrying out a large order for the desks of a primary school; while the metal-workers were making locks, hinges, shovels, hooks, smiths' tongs, and coal scuttles. Particular attention is paid to drawing, which is made thoroughly practical. The boys begin with copying rectilinear and curved figures and simple ornament from casts. In the architectural course, as soon as they have acquired sufficient skill, they draw details of construction, and make measured drawings from actual work. In the advanced class they learn mechanical page 13 projection and simple perspective us applied to architectural details and parts of houses. The start consists of twenty-one masters and assistants, and there are 280 boys, the school costing about L2,500 a-year. It has been found that the lads on leaving school are readily employed, and generally earn more than apprentices who have been trained in the usual way. 3. Handicraft work in Manchester Board Schools.—In their first report the Commissioners recommended that exercises in the use of tools should be introduced into primary schools; and this suggestion has been already taken up in two of the Manchester schools, and is likely to be taken up by others. The teaching so far only extends to woodwork, and the system is so experimental that it is not entered in the time-table. The workshops are furnished with joiners' benches of the French type, costing L1 2s each. Two boys work at a bench, and the cost of the set of tools for each boy is Ll 2s 5d. Each school is provided with one lathe, procured from La Villette, at Paris, at a cost of Lg. The instruction is given before and during the usual school hours, and each boy works for one and a-half hours a day. There twenty-four boys engaged in one school and eighteen in the other, and it is found that they are eager to attend. The work is superintended by the School Board carpenter, who receives wages of L2 2s a week, and devotes about half his time to the instruction. The Commissioners seem satisfied that a good beginning has been made in Manchester, and declare there can be no doubt of the advantages of such a training in manual work. Probably the boys are better taught than they would be as apprentces; but whether these advantages outweigh the disadvantages of limited apparatus, the want of economy and of incentives to self-reliance inseparable from school page 14 teaching, to say nothing of the extra expense to taxpayers, will seem doubtful to outside observers. Except in cases where artisans cannot or will not instruct apprentices in the elements of their trade, it seems superfluous to teach these elements in schools. The proper function of technical education is merely to teach those things which, while necessary to make a man a good and intelligent worker, cannot be acquired in the shop. There is, however, one branch of technical education which may be introduced into all schools, and it is the most universally valued of all—drawing. In every technical school it holds a most important place. The high-class workman in almost every trade requires some knowledge of it. If properly taught, it has a high value for general educational purposes—a value that certainly should not be overlooked in these days when the tendency is to make memory count for all intellect, and the habit of observation for nothing. Under these circumstances, it is not surprising that first among the Commissioners' recommendations we find: "That rudimentary drawing be incorporated with writing as a single elementary subject, and that instruction in elementary drawing be continued throughout the standard . . . that drawing from casts and models be required as part of the work, and that modelling be encouraged by grant." Before leaving this part of the subject, it may be remarked for the comfort of teachers groaning under the multitudinous requirements of the syllabus that the report suggests a reduction in the number of subjects, to make room for drawing.