erary course of elementary and secondary education, which, as many critics claim, is ettirely too bookish. If the Office understands aright the phrase,We do not teach s trade" (and the language used by the directors of the St. Louis and Philadelphia schools in particular), so constantly used by the chief officers of these schools, it is as though a college president were to say, "We do not teach Greek to make Hellenists." The object of the work is training, in one kind of school of the mind and hand, in the other of the mind. In both the subject matter of instruction is not the end, but in the manual school this instruction has a practical value, at least to the intending mechanic, while it is quite a common place to say that Greek and other time-honored academic studies are only smattered in to be forgotten. In the second place, these schools are not fostering; they are not yet even boarding schools; but as educational institutions of a more practical and therefore better type, so it is claimed, place themselves boldly in open competition with other secondary institutions of the country. To the inquiries, then, as to the social standing of the pupils in attendance at these schools and their subsequent careers may legitimately be added a third, or, for the present purpose, the three may be looked upon as resolving themselves into the inquiries, Are those who are desirous of fitting themselves better for non-technical pursuits or for those called learned (see page 890, extract from catalogue of St. Louis School) following the course of these schools? Are pupils or guardians attracted by the educational advantages these schools offer, an abstract point of view, or by the industrial character of the course, a view essentially concrete and in unison with the practical spirit of a business community? The indelicacy of asking for information that would show the social standing of the pupils in attendance at these institutions is an insurmountable obstacle to soliciting it. Fortunately, however, for our inquiry the city superintendent of Cleveland gives sta tistics of the kind desired. The last class entering the manual training school of that city numbered 58, the members being pupils of the Central High School, with the exception of six. Three are orphans. The occupations of the parents are as follows: We have grouped these parents in order to obtain some percentages, but if the reader supposes that much time has been spent as to whether the occupation of a saloon-keeper has more affinity to that of a banker than to that of a druggist or to that of a mechanic he is very much mistaken; the arrangement is rough, and therefore our ratios are only approximate. Fifty-eight per cent. of the parents of the 55 boys were sons of business men-that is, men not following a technical calling; 20 per cent., including the porter and gardener, were mechanics; 13 per cent. were of the learned professions, and 9 per cent. were of a technical calling. Or, using dress as a basis of classification, 80 per cent. of the parents of the 55 boys were in all probability well dressed, and 20 wore common clothes while working. This shows that the manual training school of Cleveland is not by any means occupied with the education of the progeny of the "lower orders." We are, however, no nearer an answer to our inquiry as to the motives that have induced these parents to send or permit their children to attend the manual training school. The thorough going advocate of these schools as educative institutions might prefer to say that the manual training school, trained the mind through directing the hand to perform the mind's dictates, while the college trained the mind to comprehend language, and thereby the ideas of others minds. 2 In France the Écoles supérieures primaires are. In the high school of Philadelphia, then a city of about 200,000, there were in 1840 65 pupils whose parents were classed professionally thus: "Until lately," says John Stuart Mill,1 "all employments which require even the humble education of reading and writing could be recruited only from a select class, the majority having had no opportunity of acquiring these attainments. All such employments accordingly were immensely overpaid as measured by the ordinary remuneration of labor. Since reading and writing have been brought within the reach of a multitude, the monopoly price of the lower grade of educated employments has greatly fallen, the competition for them having increased in an almost incredible degree." The founder of the science of political economy remarks: "The wages of labor in different employments vary according to the probability or improbability of success in them. The probability that any particular person shall ever be qualified for the employment for which he is educated is very different in different occupations. In the greater part of the mechanic trades success is almost certain but very uncertain in the liberal professions. * * In a perfectly fair lottery those who draw the prizes ought to gain all that is lost by those who draw the blanks. In a profession where twenty fail for one that succeeds that one ought to gain all that should have been gained by the unsuccessful twenty." * The leaders of the manual training movement stoutly maintain the educational value of these schools, but it is a question if the patrons are not reasoning like Adam Smith or Stuart Mill. It is folly to deny that there is considerable discontent with the present system of education which, in its academic features, is an importation, and in the elementary grades, though indigenous, rather the adaptation of modern times3 of a system that had its origin during the seventeenth century among a remarkable people having as its only text-book the work whose momentary presence in the schools causes so much discussion now. As to the subsequent career of the graduates the Office has some statistics. Let us hear what Director Woodward has to say about the St. Louis school. It is thought the quotation is not too long for those who would know something of this subject: "The number of students attending the school last year was 230. The number who were graduated, receiving the diploma of the school, in June last was 52. Of those at least eighteen have entered Washington University or elsewhere as freshmen; a majority of these advanced students will become engineers, architects, or teachers. The school thus proves to be a most successful preparatory school for higher education. Those who have gone to work have scattered into a great variety of occupations, the greater number finding opportunity to profit by their knowledge of tool work and workmanship. The tendency towards responsible and lucrative positions is highly marked. The following list of occupations includes all the graduates of the first three classes-1883, 1884, and 1885: Foremen or superintendents Artisans: Pattern-maker, bricklayer, shoemaker with power machine, moulder, electrician Draughtsmen or architects ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 10 Machinists.. 10 6 5 4 6 Ticket agent Engineers-mechanical, civil, or mining Manufacturers....... 4 1 6 Total............. 101 "Over a year ago the average monthly wages of those in the above list who were earning regular wages was about $74. Their average age at that time was twenty years. "In the higher classes of this university I am daily brought in contact with graduates of the Manual Training School, aud I have abundant opportunity to observe their mental and moral characteristics. My observation confirms the unanimous verdict of my fellow professors, to the effect that manual training is almost indispensable as a preparation for higher scientific or professional training. It gives great power of close examination and logical analysis. It encourages habits of precision and system in planning and executing tasks. It makes many things possible in the laboratory and class-room which would otherwise be almost out of the question. When a student turns to his draughting in Political Economy, B'k II, Chap. xiv, Sec. 2. Wealth of Nations, B'k I., Chap. x, Part 1. In an article entitled "L'Éducation Hygiénique et le Surmenage Intellectuel" (Revue des Deux Mondes, 15 of May, 1887, number) Monsieur Rochard, of the French medical academy, remarks: "Each step that civilization has made, each conquest realized in the domain of intellect has been signalized by another addition to the programme of the schools." struments and to the bench, lathe, or anvil as naturally and with as much confidence as to his table of logarithms or his dictionary, he cccupies a vantage ground which his fellows are quick to recognize. "As to the ability of our graduates to step to the front in the line of practical mechanics, I take the liberty of quoting from the letter of the general foreman of a large system of railway shops, sent in answer to an inquiry as to the outcome of manual training: "As an employer, I will say for several of the manual training school boys I have working for me, that they will in one year accomplish as much as the ordinary boy (who has not received the training the manual training school gives) will in three. For example, I have two boys working side by side, one from the school and the other an uneducated boy; the former has been working here nine months, while the latter has been here over three years, and to-day the boy from the school will do better, cleaner, neater, quicker work by far than the other boy. One boy learns the trade by imitation, while the other learns it by reason and study. The boy from the school is more precise and neat about his work, grasps a new idea more readily, looks upon the new features of the business with greater intelligence, and is better able to direct others and to bear responsibilities. He has better command of language and can impart to others the ideas he wishes them to obtain. When a difficult point arises the school boy will labor with it until he conquers it, while the other boy will study a while, then give it up. Were I to need a clerk. apprentice, or draughtsman I would and do give the Manual Training School boys the preference, because I get much better results with less trouble.'" "I am tempted to add, as a final word, the testimony of a graduate himself (one out of two hundred) and the work he is doing. He says: "The principal part of my work is the making of wood and brass patterns and coreboxes, and keeping them in order; I also do the greater part of the drawing for the shop: but I am by no means limited to these, as, for the last three or four days of each month, I am called to help get work out, and to help Mr. Jones figure, etc. *** I usually get the work that is out of the ordinary line.' In the Chicago Manual Training School 19 of the 49 graduates of the first class, that of 1886, are attending higher technological schools, principally the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sibley College, Cornell University, and Purdue University. Of the 55 students who have withdrawn from the Baltimore school all but six are following mechanical pursuits. At the Philadelphia school about 20 per cent. have gone to colleges, 10 per cent. have returned to pursue special courses, and about 50 per cent. have engaged in some business in which mechanical skill and drawing is the essential requisite. With these figures before us we cannot resist the conclusion that the graduates of these schools are apt to follow a mechanical occupation, and the question arises whether this tendency is due to the technological training received in these schools. We have given, on page 870, the analysis of the statistics of the Erie, Pa., high school for the twenty years last past, in which the principal sees a proof of the falsity of the charge that the public schools are educating their pupils to dislike working with their hands; and we will now give the statistics as to the vocations followed by the 600 graduates of the Philadelphia high school from 1843 to 1846, attempting to classify them under two heads: It will be observed that the clerks, that much-abused class, compose about 35 per cent. of the whole number as far as ascertained. It will also be noted that about half of the whole number labor with their hands. To such the technological training of the manual training school would have been of more or less value. The total number of graduates from the several schools has been 589, of whom 275 graduated in June, 1888. Turning to Table 78 we find that the number of pupils enrolled, is of males, 3,246; of females, 293. Comparing the statistics of the schools reporting for the year 1886-87 and for the year under review, excluding the statistics of the New York college department, there has been a net increase of 493 in enrolment. Of this increase the Baltimore school has contributed 328 pupils, due to causes already explained.1 The statistics contained in Columns 8 and 9 would seem to show that the attendance was maintained quite evenly during the year, although large increases are noticed at the Cleveland and Philadelphia schools. The very valuable statistics of the public school systems, known as average attendance, not being attainable here, these questions (the captions of Columns 8 and 9) were asked in hope that the answers would show, approximately at least, the variation of attendance during the year. Thus it will be observed that the enrolment of the Chicago school (Column 6) is given as 202, the same as the answer to Column 8; that the same columns and Column 9 show 130 enrolled at the Hebrew Technical Institute and 90 present December 1, 1887, and 110 June 1, 1888. The New York City College department had 198 enrolled and 176 present December 1, and 158 June 1. Philadelphia returns 289 enrolled during the year and 326 present June 1, 1888. Suppose the Office were inclined to satisfy the craving after "per capita" expense, not for purpose of convenience in comparing an institution at a specific date with its record, but for purposes of comparison with other schools, ought it to take, in the case of the Hebrew Technical Institute, for instance, "The total number enrolled excluding duplicates," that is, 130, or 90, as given in Column 8, or 110, as in Column 9, giving respectively $100, $144, and $117 as the per capita cost? It is the same with the fine schools of Chicago and Philadelphia, although the variation is by no means so large. TABLE 79.-Manual Training Schools, Finances and Property Values. b Other expenses, $1,691. c The amount of subscriptions. (2,229) 700 693 1,064 1,661 d The interest from the Girard fund for 1887 was $1,228,189, of which $446,992 were expended on the college. € Books, $900. 1,200 6,500 3,000 1,200 0 (d) 7,344 0 이 071, 902 0e3, 793 14, 025 (2,229) 14, 314 8, 498 Remarks on Table 79. Of the several columns in which are given the receipts of manual training schools the two devoted to the amount received from municipalities and from tuition fees are the most interesting. Considering the public schools only, Philadelphia stands first with an appropriation of over $19,000, 73 per cent. of which was expended in salaries; at the Baltimore school, 69 per cent. of the $16,000 appropriated were expended for salaries, excluding that of the principal for reasons already noted under Table 75. The expenses of the Baltimore City College-the city high school-for the year 1867 were $35,293, of which 78 per cent. were for salaries. For the same period the amount paid for salaries in the Manual Training School was about 60 per cent. of the total amount ($11,000) expended, and the cost of material for lessons in the shops, 5 per cent. This matter of proportionate expense will be again taken up. The very large appropriation made for the Cleveland school must also be noted. Of the schools charging tuition, the St. Louis and Chicago schools are preeminent by reason of their receipts from this source, the latter being the only manual training school, precisely speaking, that reports an endowment. Of the $1,945 (Column 8) received by the Chicago school, $1,763 were given by the Chicago Commercial Club to supply a deficit, and, as before stated, the Cincinnati Commercial Club pays half of the expenses of the school in that city. The Hebrew Technical Institute is entirely supported by subscriptions. No gifts or bequests have been made to this class of schools. Of the expenditure for new buildings, the amount expended at Philadelphia and at the Miller Manual Labor School, where forging and foundry work have just been introduced, are noteworthy. Comparing the amount paid for salaries in the Chicago, Baltimore, St. Louis, and Philadelphia schools, and bearing in mind that the principal's salary of the Baltimore school ($2,400) is not included in the amount paid by that school, it is noticeable how little they vary. These schools are complete institutions, not departments of a high school or college, and now are fully equipped for work. If these figures can be generalized upon it may be said that the annual cost of the teaching corps of a manual training school falls somewhere about fourteen or fifteen thousand dollars. It must be admitted, however, that the Hebrew Technical Institute pays a third less than this, but as the course has recently been extended, additional instructors may be required. The Cincinnati Technical School, also complete in itself, may be said to have just gotten fully under way. Considering the same schools as above, the annual cost of materials used is between seven and nine hundred dollars annually. The reader will readily see that if the cost of teaching in an institution containing 10 students were $10,000, the per capita cost of teaching would be $1,000; and if in the same institution, with the same teachers, there were 100 students, $100. In brief, not to expand so obvious a thought, before such a per capita becomes of value it is necessary, especially when the amounts are comparatively small, to have, as a standard, the per capita of some school, ideal or real, where the teaching is perfection and the attendance just what it should be, and even then it would be necessary to compare the facts of observation, as well as the averages. But the cost of the material annually used, although not entirely free from error, has an individuality about it that does not belong to the teaching of a member of a class. Comparing the number of pupils (not the average attendance be it understood) enrolled in the manual training department (Column 12, Table 78) with the cost of material used, the following per capitas are obtained, so varying as to defy generalization: In the foregoing division we have examined a species of educational influences which is brought to bear upon the pupil by placing in his hands the implements of mechanical labor. We have seen that this education of a pupil by his using tools has been a development, a compromise between the theories of an educational philosopher and the practical system of teaching the principles of the mechanic arts inaugurated by a Russian engineer. We have examined the opinions of those who contend for the introduction of this education as such into the public schools and the view of an opponent, while attempting to find what one side desires and the other opposes. But we have |