Mind and Hand: Manual Training the Chief Factor in Education

The cover image has been created for this text, and is in the public domain.
Yours faithfully Charles Henry Ham
By CHARLES H. HAM
BEING THE THIRD EDITION OF “MANUAL TRAINING, THE SOLUTION OF SOCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL PROBLEMS”
ILLUSTRATED
NEW YORK ⁛ CINCINNATI ⁛ CHICAGO AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY
Copyright, 1886, by Harper & Brothers. Copyright, 1900, by Charles H. Ham. All rights reserved. W. P. 5
The work of which this is the third edition has been before the public of this country, England, and all English-speaking countries since 1886—thirteen years. As it proposes a revolution in educational methods, it was not to be presumed that it would escape criticism. But, while the reviews of it have been numerous, they have, on the whole, been very generous. My most radical postulates have, however, been received by educators of the old régime with expressions of emphatic dissent. In presenting the third edition of the work I have, therefore, thought it wise to support the text with many high authorities in the form of foot-notes. As was to be expected, my analysis of Greek history and character provoked the severest criticism. It is regarded, indeed, as conclusive evidence of gross ignorance of the entire subject. To meet the charge of ignorance, I have made a large number of citations from Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, Plutarch, and others—authors consulted, originally, in the preparation of this part of the work. I may venture to observe, with due deference to those schoolmen who regard the ancient Greeks as an ideal people, that I have searched contemporaneous history in vain for evidence of the verity of this claim; and I am hence constrained to adhere firmly to the extreme views expressed in the text. And if these views are correct, it follows that the passion for Greek models in education is not only a mental dissipation, but a moral crime.
The other new notes are commended to the careful consideration of the reader, as the fruit of my added years of research and reflection.