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.