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

CantonNumber
of
Classes		Number
of
Pupils		Number
of
Teachers
Zurich1930513
Basel3255819
Saint Gall61228
Schaffhausen21202
Grisons2482
Thurgau2461
Soleure..401
Aargau1..1
Berne51755

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:

EstablishedInde-
pendent
Schools		Annexes
to
Other
Schools
Prior to 1878..26
18781..
18793..
188044
188196
188243
188326
1884310
1885211
188619
1887811
18881311
18891923
18902130
18912736
1892916
Total126202

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.