NOTE ON STATE LAWS IN RELATION TO MANUAL TRAINING.
Connecticut, in 1888, authorized and empowered school boards to introduce Manual Training in public schools.
Congress appropriated $8000 to Manual Training equipment in the District of Columbia in 1896.
In 1885 the State of Georgia passed a law authorizing and recommending school boards to introduce Manual Training in the public schools of the state. The law was simply a moral indorsement, and had little practical effect.
Indiana has a law authorizing the introduction of Manual Training into the public schools of all cities of 100,000 inhabitants or over.
Massachusetts passed an authorizing act in 1884, and on April 14, 1894, a law was adopted, section one of which is as follows:
“After the first day of September in the year eighteen hundred and ninety five, every city of twenty thousand or more inhabitants shall maintain as part of its high-school system the teaching of Manual Training. The course to be pursued in said instruction shall be subject to the approval of the state board of education.”
In 1887 New Jersey passed a law to encourage the introduction of Manual Training in public schools. The chief provision of the act was, that whenever any school district should raise by taxation, subscription, or both, a sum of money not less than $1000, for the establishment of Manual Training in such school district, the state should appropriate a sum equal to that raised by the district, to aid in the establishment of such school; provided that no one district should receive over $5000 in any one year from state funds. In 1888 this law was amended so as to include districts that should raise not to exceed $500, the state agreeing to duplicate the sum raised. The effect of this law was very marked in 1890, resulting in the establishment of a large number of schools.
In 1888 New York passed a law authorizing local school boards to establish Manual Training within their respective jurisdictions. The same law makes the teaching of Manual Training compulsory in normal schools, subject, however, to recommendations of the state superintendent of public instruction, which provision has practically nullified it.
Ohio has a law authorizing a tax levy of 5⁄10 of a mill for cities of a certain size, and 1⁄5 of a mill for certain other cities, in excess of other taxes; the sums so raised to be used for the purpose of introducing Manual Training into the public schools.
In 1895 Wyoming authorized school boards to establish Manual Training in the public schools.
In 1895 Wisconsin authorized the establishment of Manual Training in its public schools providing state aid for the same, but limiting the number to receive state aid to ten high-schools to be selected by the state superintendent of schools.
The best of existing state-aid laws is that of Maryland, enacted April 7, 1898. It is very liberal and will doubtless greatly stimulate the progress of the new education in that state. The Wisconsin law gives $250 to each of its schools per year, and the New Jersey law duplicates whatever the school board raises for that purpose. But the Maryland law gives $1500 to each school the first year, and $50 per pupil per year thereafter, up to the limit of $1500 per school per year—enough, probably, to pay the entire expense of the system. Following is the text of the statute:
“Whereas, The establishment of well-conducted and liberally supported schools, or departments, in one of the large graded schools or high-schools in each county of the state, for the development and training of the manual ability of pupils, must tend to supply a growing want in each county of the state; and
Whereas, It is especially the duty of the state to afford the best educational facilities to its youth in those technical studies which are directly associated with the material prosperity of its people; and
Whereas, It is for the best interests of this state that the colored population of each county shall have an opportunity for the establishment of separate industrial schools; therefore,
Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland, That it shall be the duty of the board of county school commissioners, when a suitable building, or room or rooms connected with one of the large graded schools or high-schools shall be provided by the county, or money sufficient for the erection of such building, or room or rooms, to accept the same (if, in the judgment of the board, there is any necessity therefor), and thereafter to provide for the maintenance of a Manual Training school, or Manual Training department, for said county, and the salaries of teachers and Manual Training instructors, out of the general school fund and the state aid hereinafter provided.
Sec. 2. And be it enacted, That whenever a Manual Training school, or Manual Training department, is opened in any county, the president and secretary of the board of county school commissioners of said county shall report to the secretary of the state board of education, and the state board of education shall, without delay, proceed to appoint the principal of the state normal school, or one of the teachers in said school, well qualified for such service, to visit the school and give a certificate of approval of its condition and the plan upon which it is conducted; and thereafter the president and secretary of the board of county school commissioners shall report to the comptroller the condition of the school, the number of instructors, and the number of pupils enrolled, on or before the twentieth day of January in each year.
Sec. 3. And be it enacted, That the comptroller of the treasury, after receiving the certificate of approval concerning the county Manual Training school, or Manual Training department, according to the provisions of the second section of this act, is hereby authorized and directed to issue his warrant upon the treasurer of the state for the sum of fifteen hundred dollars, payable to the order of the treasurer of the board of county school commissioners of the county filing the certificate of approval aforesaid, out of any moneys in the state treasury not otherwise appropriated, on the first day of October in each year, for the support of said Manual Training school, or Manual Training department.
Sec. 4. And be it enacted, That the county Manual Training school, or the Manual Training department and the school to which it is attached, shall be under the management and control of the board of county school commissioners.
Sec. 5. And be it enacted, That it shall be the duty of the board of county school commissioners of each county in this state, whenever a suitable building, or room or rooms connected with one of the colored schools of said county, shall be provided by the county to accept the same, if in the judgment of the said board there is any necessity therefor, and thereafter to provide for the maintenance of such member [number] of separate colored industrial schools as in their judgment may be needed, and the salaries of such teachers as may be required for that purpose shall be paid out of the general fund and the state aid hereinafter provided.
Sec. 6. And be it enacted, That whenever any such separate colored industrial school or schools are opened in any county, the president and secretary of the board of county school commissioners of said county shall report the fact to the secretary of the state board of education, and the state board of education shall without delay proceed to appoint a proper person well qualified for such service, to visit the said school or schools and give a certificate of approval of its condition and the plan upon which it is conducted, and thereafter the president and secretary of the said board shall report to the comptroller of this state the condition of said school or schools, the number of instructors and the number of pupils enrolled during the school year last ended, on or before the 20th day of August in each year.
Sec. 7. And be it enacted, That the comptroller of the treasury upon receiving the certificate of approval concerning the county colored industrial school or schools, as aforesaid, according to the provisions of the sixth section of this act, is hereby authorized and directed to issue his warrant upon the treasurer of the state for the sum of fifteen hundred dollars, payable to the order [of the] treasurer of the board of county school commissioners of the county, upon the filing of the certificates of approval aforesaid, out of any moneys in the state treasury not otherwise appropriated, on the first day of October in each year, for the support of said colored industrial school or schools, and thereafter the said industrial school or schools shall be under the management and control of the said board of county school commissioners.
Sec. 8. And be it enacted, That no entire appropriation for the benefit of any Manual Training school, provided for under this act, shall be paid as authorized, after the first annual appropriation, unless said school have had an average daily attendance of thirty scholars for the preceding year; and in case said attendance shall fall short of said number, then there shall only be paid towards the maintenance of said school at the rate of fifty ($50.00) dollars for each scholar of its daily average annual attendance, to be determined by the report hereinbefore required to be made to the comptroller.
Sec. 9. And be it enacted, That no appropriation for the benefit of the colored industrial schools of any county, provided for under this act, shall be paid after the first annual appropriation, unless the average daily attendance at such school or schools shall have been, for the preceding year, at least thirty scholars; and in case said attendance shall fall short of said number, then there shall be paid to the treasurer of the county school commissioners maintaining said school or schools, only at the rate of fifty ($50.00) dollars a scholar, for the daily average annual attendance at the same, to be determined by the report hereinbefore required to be made to the comptroller.
Approved April 7, 1898.”
The report of the state superintendent of public instruction for Michigan, for the year 1897, shows that Kindergartens exist in the public schools of the following cities and towns: Cities of over 4000 population as shown by state census of 1894—Albion, Big Rapids, Cadillac, Calumet, Detroit, Escanaba, Grand Haven, Grand Rapids, Holland, Ionia, Ironwood, Ishpeming, Jackson, Menonimee, Mt. Clemens, Muskegon, Negamee, Niles, St. Joseph, Traverse City, West Bay City, Wyandotte—twenty-two cities of over 4000 population. The twenty-four cities and towns with less than 4000 population as shown by state census of 1894, and having Kindergartens in their public schools, are: Algonac, Alma, Au Sable, Caro, Crystal Falls, Dowagiac, Fremont, Greenville, Hartford, Houghton, Ithaca, Lake Linden, Lake View, Mancelona, Manistique, Montague, Morenci, Nashville, Pentwater, Reed City, Sand Beach, Stanton, Union City, Vassar. Such of these cities and towns as furnished reports will be found in the accompanying tables; from the others no data was received.
Two thoroughly equipped Manual Training schools are projected: one, to be in Pullman, Illinois, is to result from a bequest in the will of the late Mr. George M. Pullman, who left a large sum for its construction, and an annuity of $25,000 for its maintenance; the other school is to be built by the Calumet and Hecla Mining Company, at Calumet, Michigan. Both these schools will be free, and will probably become a part of the public-school system of their respective towns.
The legislature of Massachusetts in 1898 passed an act establishing a trade-school for weavers, to be located at Lowell, Massachusetts, provided the city would raise half the money necessary for its construction, the state to pay the other half. This is the first well-defined movement in this country to establish public trade-schools to teach the trades prevailing in the locality of the school. Europe has many such schools.
Manual Training in Russia.
There is, as yet, no established national school system in Russia. The school systems of Finland and other Russian dependencies are provincial and local. An imperial decree of March 7, 1888, however, contained an elaborate plan for elementary national education, in which Manual Training, Technical, and Trade education were given not only prominence but precedence. The doctrine of state aid to educational institutions is, however, fully and liberally recognized. Manual Training was founded in Russia in 1868, as mentioned in the first edition of this work, by M. Victor Della Vos, and revived and extended in 1884 by the then Minister of Finance, who sent two teachers to Naäs, Sweden, to take a six weeks’ course of instruction, and a workshop for boys’ hand labor was the same year established in connection with the Teachers’ Institute in St. Petersburg. In 1885 this was made a permanent feature of Teachers’ Institute work, and an annual grant of 3000 rubles ($1659) was voted; and in 1887 a course in metal work was added to this school. In 1888 three normal courses for instructing teachers in Manual Training were instituted and subsidized by the imperial government. One of these at Novaia Ladoga trains both city and country school-teachers; at Riga, city teachers only, while at Kiev only country teachers are trained. The instruction of teachers in Manual Training was also made part of the teachers’ institutes at Glookhov, Vilna, and Orenboorg in 1889. Besides these there were in 1890 eleven vacation institutes, training two hundred and fifty teachers for the work of imparting manual instruction. These teachers’ institutes, vacation and permanent (or normal schools), have increased rapidly and received rich subsidies from the imperial treasury. In 1891 the Russian Minister of War introduced Manual Training into all the cadet schools. The most recent available data indicate the introduction of Manual Training into one hundred and sixteen establishments, as follows: four teachers’ institutes, fourteen teachers’ seminaries, four intermediate schools, forty-four higher public schools, and thirty-four elementary common schools. A more recent report—which, however, is not at hand—is said to show remarkable developments in Manual Training in common and rural schools. A brief survey of technical and trade schools in Russia follows.
The technical schools at Moscow and St. Petersburg are imperial schools of university grade, richly endowed, and reputed to be the best equipped schools in Europe. The oldest and best technical school in Moscow below university rank, and making no attempt to teach trades, is the Komisarof Technical School, founded in 1865 by two railroad contractors. It now receives government aid, and has about four hundred pupils. The Society for the Promotion of Technical Education in 1873 founded a school called the “Mechanical Handicraft School of Moscow.” The government contributes $1000 per year to this school. There are five technical schools having a grade of academic work comparable with our high schools—the Komisarof Technical School of Moscow, mentioned above, founded in 1865; the Lodz, in 1869; Irkootsk, 1873; Kungursk, 1877; and the Omsk, in 1882. The five schools had 1052 students at date of latest available report. Trade-schools of grammar grade, twenty-three in number, had 2474 pupils. Of these schools three were established in 1868; one in 1871; two in 1872; one in 1873; one in 1874; one in 1875; two in 1877; one in 1878; two in 1879; one in 1880; two in 1883; two in 1885; three in 1886; one in 1887. Trade-schools of primary grade, sixty-three in number, with 2562 pupils. One was established in 1865; one in 1866; two in 1867; one in 1870; one in 1871; three in 1872; two in 1873; five in 1874; six in 1875; one in 1876; six in 1877; four in 1878; three in 1879; two in 1880; two in 1881; four in 1882; five in 1883; five in 1884; one in 1885; one in 1886; four in 1887; two in 1888; one in 1889.
Manual Training in Finland.
Finland was the birthplace of the man who first devised and practised that method of education known as Sloyd—a form of Manual Training.
Otto Cygneans, of Helsingfors Teachers’ Seminary, after a thorough study of Froebel and Pestalozzi (to whom he gives ample credit), originated in 1858 a system for carrying the education of the hand beyond the kindergarten into all grades of schools. To Finland also belongs the credit of being the first country to officially recognize the value of such education. Since 1866 (sometimes stated 1868) Manual Training (Sloyd) has been compulsory in all the elemental and normal schools of Finland. In 1896 there were four normal schools with 569 students, and 75,712 pupils taking Manual Training in the elementary schools of the cities. Statistics of rural schools are not obtainable. In addition to these, there were in 1896 forty-two separate and distinctively Manual-training high-schools, with 1030 pupils, besides eight industrial schools, with 56 teachers and 380 pupils. All are public schools. There are technical and trade schools of all grades, from the Polytechnic School at Helsingfors to the elementary trade and weaving schools. There are seven schools where navigation is taught, twelve weaving, dyeing, and sewing schools, supported wholly or in part by the government, fourteen elementary technical schools, five high-grade technical schools, and ten trade-schools other than weaving and navigation. Government aid is granted to all of these schools.
Manual Training in England.
The activity of Germany along the line of trade and technical schools, immediately following the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia, alarmed the people of England, producing in 1882 what has been termed a “Technical education scare.” The friends of Manual Training, acting upon this popular and commercial anxiety, secured the passage of the “Technical Instruction Act of 1889.” By the terms of this act the schools organized under it were not to be trade-schools; and the construction put upon the expression “Manual Instruction” makes the term practically synonymous with our term Manual Training. The following table shows the growth of these schools. The growth of cooking schools is also statistically represented in the table.
| Date | Manual Instruction Number of Schools | Schools of Cookery and Domestic Science | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Number of Schools Existing in Year Named | Number of Schools Estab- lished During Year Named | Number of Schools Existing in Year Named | Number of Schools Estab- lished During Year Named | Number of Pupils | |
| 1876 | .. | .. | 29 | 29 | .. | |
| 1877 | .. | .. | 125 | 96 | .. | |
| 1878 | .. | .. | 178 | 53 | .. | |
| 1879 | .. | .. | 223 | 45 | .. | |
| 1880 | .. | .. | 276 | 53 | .. | |
| 1881 | .. | .. | 299 | 23 | .. | |
| 1882 | .. | .. | 347 | 48 | .. | |
| 1883 | .. | .. | 420 | 73 | 1,251 | |
| 1884 | .. | .. | 541 | 121 | 7,597 | |
| 1885 | .. | .. | 715 | 174 | 17,754 | |
| 1886 | .. | .. | 812 | 97 | 24,526 | |
| 1887 | .. | .. | 921 | 109 | 30,431 | |
| 1888 | .. | .. | 1,086 | 165 | 42,159 | |
| 1889 | .. | .. | 1,355 | 269 | 57,539 | |
| 1890 | 30 | 30 | 1,554 | 199 | 66,820 | |
| 1891 | 145 | 115 | 1,796 | 242 | 68,291 | |
| 1892 | 285 | 140 | 2,113 | 317 | 90,794 | |
| 1893 | 430 | 145 | 2,419 | 306 | 108,192 | |
| 1894 | 677 | 247 | 2,634 | 215 | 122,325 | |
| 1895 | 949 | [136] | 272 | 2,775 | 141 | 134,930 |
[136] The number of pupils taking Manual Training cannot be given; as an indication, however, it may be said that the London School Board reports that in 1895, 30,508 boys were instructed in wood work in London schools alone.
Governmental aid to drawing and Manual Training, when incorporated in the curriculum of day grammar-grade schools, evening “continuation schools,” and teachers’ training colleges, is bestowed through the executive department, styled “The Science and Art Department.” Special attention is paid to training teachers in the teachers’ colleges, so that they will be able to give instruction in Manual Training. This is specially true to grammar-grade teachers. In 1894 56 teachers’ colleges were giving Manual Training to 4,434 teacher-pupils, the government granting $13,290 in aid of such training. In 1895, the science and art department, upon examinations aided 910 elementary Manual-training schools, giving instruction to 67,470 pupils; the amount of aid granted was $81,537.
In 1890 a law was passed empowering county councils to use the surplus from duties on liquor to aid Manual-training and technical schools. Many districts use the “liquor money” to establish purely Manual-training schools, attaching them to municipal technical schools. Generally, however, the “liquor money” goes to technical and art schools. The report for 1895 shows $5,699,046 applied by local authorities to technical instruction under the “liquor money” law. Scotland secured in 1887 a law empowering local authorities to levy a tax of a penny in the pound for the support of technical schools. In 1889 a similar law was passed for England. The Welsh law of 1889 organizing intermediate schools, recognizes and defines Manual Training. These acts led up to the “liquor money” law referred to.
The City and Guilds of London Institute, organized in 1876, is the principal private promoter of technical education in England. This organization has founded three schools of its own, besides aiding liberally similar schools in all parts of the kingdom. With the exception of the well-known South-Kensington school, the Manchester school, and the Birmingham schools, the technical schools of England, as well as its Manual-training schools and kindergartens, are of recent origin. Huddersfield Technical School, founded as a mechanics’ institute in 1841, is another exceptionally old and especially good school of its class.
Manual Training in Switzerland.
As each canton regulates its own school system, the federal constitution requiring only that education must be obligatory and free, the same diversity of conditions exists in the cantons of Switzerland that is found in the states of our own Union:—
Thus in the canton of Geneva, kindergartens and Manual-training schools are a part of the public-school system, entirely supported by public funds, and Manual Training is compulsory for all male pupils, in all grades of the public schools. The gradual advance from kindergarten work to primary, grammar, and high-school, makes a complete course in Manual Training in the schools of Geneva—perhaps the most complete to be found in any single public-school system. In other cantons, however, kindergartens exist generally as private institutions, aided by public funds and contributions from societies and individuals. The growth of kindergartens in Switzerland by years cannot be shown from any data at hand; the following table, however, shows the status at the date of most recent available data:
PUPILS AND TEACHERS IN KINDERGARTENS OF SWITZERLAND
| Canton | Number of Separate Kinder- gartens | Number of Pupils | Number of Teachers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zurich | 61 | 3,532 | 79 |
| Berne | 62 | 2,550 | 63 |
| Lucerne | 3 | 260 | 6 |
| Uri | 1 | .. | .. |
| Schwytz | 4 | 91 | 4 |
| Unterwalden | 2 | 85 | 2 |
| Zug | 5 | 188 | 6 |
| Freyburg | 10 | 912 | 10 |
| Soleure | 8 | .. | .. |
| Basel Town | 32 | 2,117 | 46 |
| Basel Land | 8 | 452 | 8 |
| Appenzell Outer Rhodes | 16 | 843 | 19 |
| Appenzell Inner Rhodes | 1 | 60 | 2 |
| Grisons | 2 | 80 | 4 |
| Aargau | 13 | .. | 13 |
| Ticino | 23 | 1,351 | 43 |
| Vaud | 160 | 4,000 | 160 |
| Valais | 3 | 249 | 3 |
| Neuchâtel | 36 | 997 | 36 |
| Geneva | 65 | 3,872 | 85 |
| Total | 515 | 21,639 | 589 |
Manual Training for boys was introduced into the Switzerland schools in 1884 by M. Rudin, who in that year instructed a class of forty teachers; in 1891 over one hundred teachers were taking a Manual-training course under his instruction. The following table shows the growth of Manual Training to 1889, or five years after its introduction. More recent data are unfortunately not available.
MANUAL-TRAINING CLASSES IN SWITZERLAND
| Canton | Number of Classes | Number of Pupils | Number of Teachers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zurich | 19 | 305 | 13 |
| Basel | 32 | 558 | 19 |
| Saint Gall | 6 | 122 | 8 |
| Schaffhausen | 2 | 120 | 2 |
| Grisons | 2 | 48 | 2 |
| Thurgau | 2 | 46 | 1 |
| Soleure | .. | 40 | 1 |
| Aargau | 1 | .. | 1 |
| Berne | 5 | 175 | 5 |
Classes in Manual Training are reported from the cantons of Vaud, Neuchâtel, Appenzell, Freyburg, and Glarus; but statistics are not given. Manual Training for girls has been an integral part of the public schools of Switzerland for many years, and in practically all of the cantons this instruction is obligatory. The instruction consists in knitting, sewing, mending, cutting, and fitting, with lectures on house-keeping, and was introduced into the schools rather for its industrial use than in recognition of its educational value. Switzerland early recognized the importance of technical instruction and the development of artisan skill. The Municipal School of Art at Geneva was founded in 1751, and is intended as a school for working-men. It is the oldest in Switzerland. The working-man’s school at Berne was founded in 1829, and, though a private institution, it is subsidized by the federal government. The Polytechnic School at Zurich was founded by the federal government in 1854. The Industrial School in that city, founded in 1873 by a society, is subsidized by the city, canton, and federal government. “The Tecknikum” of Winterthur, probably the most complete of its class of schools, was founded as a cantonal institution in 1873. The most extensive are the technical institutions for the education of working-men. The government began the establishment of these at the beginning of this century. By 1865, ninety-one had been established; in 1889, eleven hundred and eighty-four of these schools, having 26,716 pupils, were reported. Trade-schools have sprung up everywhere, adapting themselves to local industries and common needs. The School of Watchmaking, at Fleurier, was founded as a private institution in 1850, but has been municipal property since 1875. Municipal Schools of Watchmaking exist at Chaux-de-Fonds, 1865; St. Imier, 1866; Locle, 1868; Neuchâtel, 1871; Bienne, 1872; Porentruy, 1883, is a municipal and state school, as is also that at Soleure, 1884. The Trade School for Women is a private institution of Basel, founded in 1879; that of Berne, in 1888. These schools are founded by Societies for the Advancement of Public Utility, and teach women the millinery and dress-making trades, and give instruction in household work, and all the means by which women can become self-supporting. The societies have also founded numerous House-keeping Schools, and Schools for Domestic Servants.
No attempt is here made to give a complete list of Switzerland’s trade-schools, or the efforts being made to advance the skill of her artisans. It is but proper, however, to mention the latest efforts to overcome the difficulties growing out of the decline in apprenticeship. In 1884 the Mannheim Trade Unions asked for a committee of investigation into the condition of the small trades. The committee reported, recommending the adoption of a suggestion received from the Karlsruhe Trades Union. It was in effect, that master-workmen who are willing to train apprentices systematically, according to regulations prescribed by school authorities, shall be aided by the state treasury. In 1888 Baden appropriated 5000 marks per annum for this purpose, and in 1892 twenty-two trades, or one hundred and twenty-two workshops, having one hundred and eighty apprentices, were subsidized. In 1895 the appropriation was increased. In 1898 the federal government of Switzerland adopted the plan and purposes to greatly extend it. The result of this is, practically, that every skilled master-workman who desires may become to a certain extent a public-school teacher, and every factory or workshop is, or may become, a school-house.
Manual Training in Germany.
The officials of the regular school systems of Germany, while for some years past active in advancing trade-schools, have never recognized Manual Training as worthy a place in the public schools, except as regards female handiwork, which is everywhere a part of the course in grammar and high schools for girls. Individuals, and “societies for the promotion of practical education,” must therefore take the initiative in Manual Training, and this results either in private schools, or in persuading municipal or state authorities to annex a Manual-training department to some public school.
Of the 328 Manual-training schools for boys existing in 1892, 126 were independent schools, and 202 were annexes attached to other educational institutions of various kinds. Special societies maintain 50 schools and 72 annexes, of the above total, while municipal authorities maintain 70 schools and state authorities 66 annexes. The growth by years since 1878 is shown in the following table:
| Established | Inde- pendent Schools | Annexes to Other Schools |
|---|---|---|
| Prior to 1878 | .. | 26 |
| 1878 | 1 | .. |
| 1879 | 3 | .. |
| 1880 | 4 | 4 |
| 1881 | 9 | 6 |
| 1882 | 4 | 3 |
| 1883 | 2 | 6 |
| 1884 | 3 | 10 |
| 1885 | 2 | 11 |
| 1886 | 1 | 9 |
| 1887 | 8 | 11 |
| 1888 | 13 | 11 |
| 1889 | 19 | 23 |
| 1890 | 21 | 30 |
| 1891 | 27 | 36 |
| 1892 | 9 | 16 |
| Total | 126 | 202 |
In 1892 there were 285 teachers and 7374 pupils in the independent schools; 363 teachers and 6841 pupils in the annexes, or 648 teachers and 14,235 pupils in both. While something had been done in Germany in the way of trade-schools prior to that date, the general interest and official zeal was created by the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia in 1876, when Professor Reuleaux cabled to Bismarck, “Our goods are cheap but wretched.” The various states began to inaugurate the educational system that had made the manufactures of France so superior to those of her competitor, and from 1879 to 1890 over 50 trade-schools were established in Prussia.
Some of the German states, notably Saxony and Würtemberg, had early established trade-schools. In 1837 three royal labor-schools were established by the state of Saxony; one in 1838, and two in 1840. Special schools for instruction in weaving, embroidery, and lace-making were established; one in 1835, one in 1857, one in 1861, one in 1866, and one in 1881. Of the 32 trade-schools in Saxony seven have been established since 1886. In the 20 “Kleinstaaten” or so-called small states of Germany there were, in 1895, 218 trade-schools having 2047 pupils. Practically all of these have been established since 1879. The city of Berlin in 1895 reported 21 trade-schools with 8992 pupils, 332 teachers, and expenditures (exclusive of state aid) for these schools of $129,102; besides $80,339 spent for trade education in so-called “continuation” schools. In February, 1897, the number of students attending these schools in Berlin was 14,750, or 1 per cent. of the population.
It will be interesting, in view of the antagonistic attitude of the school authorities to the introduction of Manual-training methods in public schools from kindergartens up, to note how long Germany will follow the trade-school experiment of France, without learning, as did France, to fit her boys for the trade-schools by putting their little hands to school in the kindergarten, the primary school, and so on through grammar and high school; so that by the time the trade-school comes in to differentiate and accentuate special skill, the boy will have learned equally the use and control of muscle and of mind.
The highest results of trade-schools upon a nation’s manufactures, and therefore upon its exports and its wealth, cannot be realized until the Manual-training school has furnished the educated hand as raw material for the trade-school to work upon. The nation that begins with the trade-school first will have a long and expensive lesson to learn. France learned it. Will Germany require as long and expensive a tuition? Germany has, however, the advantage, in that many of her private citizens, and “societies for practical education,” are, as usual, far more intelligent than her school authorities.
Manual Training in France.
The thorough reorganization of the public schools of France by the law of June 16, 1881, renders any reference to the prior system unnecessary here.
By this law primary education was rendered absolutely free; and by the law of March 28, 1882, compulsory education for all children between the ages of 6 and 13 years was established. The law of October 30, 1886, systematized the public schools, classifying and grading them, and fixing a curriculum. Kindergartens admitting pupils from the ages of 2 to 6 years were made general by this law, and in 1886-87 there were 3597 kindergartens with 543,839 pupils. In 1895 this number had grown to 4734 kindergartens, 714,734 pupils, and 9199 teachers, all women.
The government programme contemplates that Manual Training proper shall begin where its elements in the kindergarten leave off, and be continued throughout the four grades of primary instruction. But the full purpose of the law seems slow of realization, for in 1890, four years after the passage of the law, only 400 shop-schools of primary grade had been established, 101 of these in Paris. Manual Training has been compulsory in all public high-schools of France since 1886. These may be either independent schools or classes annexed to an elementary school. In the latter case they are called cours complémentaires. In 1886 there were 16,217 boys and 5150 girls in public high-schools; in 1895 there were 21,996 boys and 8660 girls, a rise of 35 per cent. for boys and of 68 per cent. for girls in the ten years.
In the cours complémentaires there were 11,518 boys and 5223 girls in 1895, an increase of 37 per cent. for boys and 26 per cent. for girls over the figures for 1886. This result was not, however, accomplished at once. There had been the usual struggle for Manual-training schools before the law of 1886 made them universal and compulsory. The school authorities of Paris introduced sewing into the public schools in 1867, and in 1873 M. Salicis began the introduction of Manual Training into what we would term grammar-schools. Shops were annexed to the boys’ school in the Rue Tournefort in 1873. From that time until the general law of 1886 the growth was gradual. There are in France a large number of Manual Apprenticeship schools. They are a kind of primary trade-school. Prior to 1880 various cities, as Paris, Havre, Rheims, etc., had founded apprenticeship schools. Private schools of the same character had been established by individuals and industrial associations. The law of 1880 organized these efforts, assimilated all these institutions, and brought them under the control of the public. The tendency to bring all industrial institutions, whether classical, manual, trade, or technical, under control of the state has been very marked since 1880 in France, and still more so since the law of 1886. Of the six industrial and house-keeping schools for girls in Paris four were founded by the city; the others were private institutions absorbed by the city—one in 1884, the other in 1886. They are of high-school grade, and, in addition to general domestic economy, teach special trades to women, such as millinery and artificial flower work. The nation maintains high-class trade and technical schools in all industries important to her commerce. And there can be no doubt that the excellence of her manufactures has its origin in the large number, variety, and excellence of her free schools. The National School of Watch-makers was founded in 1848 by the government of Savoy, and reorganized by the French government in 1890. The National Schools of Arts and Trades, four in number, are the oldest and most important of the public institutes of technology and trades. The first of these was founded as a private institution in 1780, and became national property during the First Republic. The second of these schools was established in 1804, the third in 1843, and the fourth completed in 1892. These schools instruct fully in the mechanical arts, the purpose being to educate at public expense thoroughly equipped superintendents and masters of workshops for industrial establishments. Such, too, is the purpose of the Central School of Arts and Manufactures at Paris, which, founded as a private institution in 1829, became the property of the state in 1857.
Schools of Mining, such as the one at Houghton, Michigan, are located, one at Paris (National High-school of Mines); one at St. Étienne (School of Mines); and schools for master miners at Alais and at Douai. The National Conservatory of Arts and Trades, founded by the National Convention in 1794, began in 1819, under special ordinance of the government, gratuitous courses of instruction upon the application of the sciences and industrial arts. It is to industrial education what the College of France is to classicism and “pure science”—whatever that may mean. No attempt is here made to give a complete list of the trade and technical schools of France, whether public or private. They are exceedingly numerous, and cover every phase of industry. The purpose here, however, is to call attention to the fact that France began with trade-schools, and, after a hundred years of experimenting with trade and technical institutions, she reached the wisdom embodied in the laws of 1886 and 1890, which provide for the training of the hand of the child in the kindergarten and continuously throughput the school age, thus furnishing aptest possible pupils for her higher trade and technical institutes, and the greatest possible development of skill for her industries. The character of her manufactures shows the importance of the scholar in industry.
Manual Training in Italy.
Discussions in 1882 and 1885 led to an official adoption of Manual Training in normal schools in 1892, when twenty selected teachers were given one month’s gratuitous training. In 1893 Sloyd was made obligatory in the practice department of all normal schools. In 1893, 34 men and 34 women teachers were taking the Manual-training course at Repatrausone. The school authorities in Italy acting upon the English idea of teaching Manual Training to the teachers first, and so interest them that they will introduce Sloyd into the elementary schools of their districts.
Beyond the statement that Manual Training was experimentally taught to 400 pupils in Genoa in 1892, no data is at present obtainable as to the success of this plan. There are 194 industrial schools, seeking to teach special industries. In 1887 there were 419 technical schools, of more or less importance, and 74 institutes of secondary technology. With the exception of the Aldini-Valeriani institute in Bologna, founded in 1834, and the Scuola Professionale at Foggia, established by the state in 1872, the trade and technical schools of Italy seem to be of recent origin.
Manual Training in Belgium.
The law of July 1, 1879, reorganizing the public-school system of Belgium, made kindergartens a universal and integral part of the public schools. Children are admitted at 3 years of age, remaining till seven. “At Brussels, Liege, and Verviers, experimental transition classes exist, which prolong kindergarten methods in the primary grades, the Manual-training exercises of Froebel reappearing in the primary schools, and there developing into some simple form of actual hand labor, with paper, pasteboard, or clay. The results have been very satisfactory.” In 1891 the city of Liege reported 4717 children attending public kindergartens. A normal school for training kindergarten teachers is maintained at Liege. In 1890 Belgium maintained 1042 kindergartens having 104,760 pupils. The movement to generalize Manual Training in the public schools began in 1882, took definite shape three years later, and by 1887 the state made Manual Training obligatory in all state normal schools, sixteen in number. Fifty cities also reported Manual Training established in their public schools in 1888. The more recent reports, while not given much to statistics, show satisfactory growth in the system. Schools of apprenticeship and of trade have received more encouragement in Belgium than Manual Training has in the schools of grammar and high-school grades.
Apprenticeship schools to teach lace-making to the indigent peasantry were established by the state as early as 1776. With the introduction of machinery, and the expansion of industries, the character of these schools was changed. Abuses grew up. Academic tuition was abandoned for work, and the schools practically turned over to financial interests of the exploiters of the labor of children. A reorganization occurred in 1890 when the state subsidized some forty of these apprenticeship schools, and abolished many others.
Trade-schools of every variety, from the schools for fishermen at Ostend and Blankenberg to the famous trade-schools of Brussels, abound in Belgium. While these schools are for the most part private schools, they are usually subsidized by the city or local government. The industrial school at Ghent is a technical school of importance founded in 1828. That at Tournay was opened in 1841. These are the oldest schools of their type in Belgium. A new impetus was given to these schools in 1885, and from that date many have sprung up in all parts of the country, the local industries determining the character of the trade-schools. The trade-school at Ghent, established in 1890, is the best expression of modern methods, as distinguished from the early ideas represented by Tournay. This school was overcrowded with pupils in 1892. The state grants a subsidy of 6000 francs ($1158), and the province also aids the school. In 1889, 54 industrial schools were reported in Belgium. In 1872 a house-keeping school for girls was established by M. Smits, of Couillet, the first of its kind in Belgium. In 1890 there were 160, and in 1892, 250 such schools, and classes in house-keeping attached to other schools. Practically all of these were either public schools or free classes in private institutions.
Manual Training in Austria.
In Austria no attempt is made to combine in the same institutions the discipline of shop-work and the academics of the public schools. The first shop-school was established in Vienna by a private association, August 10, 1883. The second followed, February 16, 1887. In 1884 a normal school for the training of Manual-training teachers was established. At Budapest a Manual-training school was organized by private initiative in 1886.
The municipal statutes almost immediately required one such school to be maintained by each school district, and in 1889 there were in the twelve districts sixteen such schools. One unimportant trade-school dates back to 1871; but with the exception of the work done in Vienna and Budapest, and a few so-called “continuation schools” and trade-schools, nothing of importance was done by Austria until 1896. The activity of the empire since the latter date has been directed towards the establishment of apprenticeship schools.
Manual Training in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark.
From Finland the new educational ideals developed by Otto Cygnaeus spread to Sweden, and thence to the world at large. Dr. Salomon of Naäs introduced Manual Training (Sloyd) into his school in 1872, and in 1878 there were 103 Sloyd schools in Sweden. In 1879 there were 163; in 1880, 234; in 1881, 300; in 1882, 377; in 1883, 463; in 1884, 584; in 1885, 727; in 1886, 872; in 1887, 991; in 1888, 1167; in 1890, 1278; in 1891, 1492; in 1892, 1624; in 1893, 1787; in 1894, 1887; in 1895, 2483; or an increase of 2380 in 17 years. In 1877 parliament voted $4000 per annum to advance Sloyd instruction; in 1891 this was increased to $30,000 per annum, in addition to amounts given by provincial authorities, agricultural and private societies, and parish authorities. The Naäs seminary for the instruction of teachers of Sloyd (Dr. Salomon’s school) reports that 2627 teachers of Sloyd had been taught between 1875 and 1896. In the Sloyd teachers training-school at Stockholm 573 women instructors were taught in the years from 1885 to 1897, inclusive. There are 32 evening and holiday schools, which in 1895 received a subsidy of $12,060.
There is no definite data on Manual Training in Norway earlier than 1889, though Sloyd had doubtless been introduced from adjacent countries prior to that time. By law, however, Sloyd was made compulsory in all city elementary and intermediate grade schools in 1892, and optional in village schools. In 1891, $5060 was given as a subsidy for teaching Sloyd in 178 schools. The number of students in rural elementary schools in which Sloyd is optional is given at 236,161; number of students in city schools where Sloyd is compulsory, 58,871.
In 1883 the first Danish Sloyd school was established. The Copenhagen Seminary for instructing teachers of Sloyd was established in 1885. In 1888, 46 schools reported Sloyd courses with 2000 pupils under instruction; this number in 1889 had grown to 59, and in 1896 to 114. Of this latter number 30 are regular Sloyd schools; the others educational institutions having Sloyd as a part of the course. In 1890, $4368 was appropriated to further the introduction of Sloyd into the schools of Denmark. In this connection must be mentioned the “Home Industry” schools of Denmark. Not less than 500 of these schools exist, generally attached to other schools, and supported by 400 societies for promotion of home industries and by state aid. It was the powerful advocacy of these schools by their champion, Clauson-Kaas, that delayed the introduction of Sloyd into Danish schools until 1883, when the influence of Professor Mikkelsen began to gain the ascendency. Not only was Clauson-Kaas a powerful man in his advocacy of these home industry schools, but equally vociferous and partisan in his opposition to Manual Training or Sloyd as a means of education and intellectual development. In the terrific strife of partisan school-teachers as to what constituted education, the schools of Denmark not only deteriorated but were wellnigh closed. That the home industry schools had their use is witnessed by the fact that practically every Danish housewife is not only an expert needlewoman and house-keeper, but expert in all those arts that go by the name of female handicraft. Grade schools and technical education have not developed greatly in Scandinavian countries. Sweden has two important schools for weaving, the Eskilstuna school for metal-workers, and four technical schools. Norway has two schools for teaching the wood-carver’s trade, two of carpentry, a school for mechanics, three technical schools, and four industrial schools for women. Apart from the numerous schools of home industries, difficult if not impossible to classify, Denmark has a trade-school for shoemakers, and one of considerable importance for watch-makers.
Manual Training in the Netherlands.
The normal course in the Netherlands includes Manual Training for boys, it being the intention to teach teachers first, and to establish Manual Training in the schools later. There are a large number of trade and apprenticeship schools, the government taking far more interest in these than in Manual Training. In 1895 there were twenty “Ambachtscholen” (for training tinners, carpenters, and dyers), with 2295 students. There are forty-eight industrial schools.
Manual Training in Argentine Republic.
January 13, 1896, a commission was appointed to report a plan for the introduction of kindergartens and Manual Training into the public-school system. In 1897 the report was made, and its recommendations were enacted into a law going into effect January 1, 1898. The introduction of Manual Training is to begin with the national colleges, sixteen in number, with 2629 pupils; the normal schools, thirty-five in number, with 1770 pupils. Ultimately under the law Manual Training will be adopted in the 3749 elementary schools, having 264,294 pupils, though no statistics are at hand showing to what extent this has been already accomplished. The papers presented before the commission which sat through February, 1896, were upon the importance of kindergartens as a basis for Manual Training; Manual Training as a means of education; Manual Training from the hygienic standpoint, etc. Some speakers favored industrial rather than Manual-training schools, but the commission reported that the system of Sloyd used at Naäs, Sweden, with certain modifications to suit local conditions, was the proper one to adopt. The kindergarten system recommended is purely Froebelian. From one of the papers read before the commission it is learned that Manual Training is a recognized part of the course of instruction in the national colleges of Uruguay, and to some extent in its elementary schools. Definite data for Uruguay schools are not, however, at hand.