Mr. Ham, without doubt, had a strong influence upon the late George M. Pullman, which led him to provide, through his will, for a Manual-Training school for the children of the city which he built.
Manual-Training schools are now maintained in almost every city in the Union. Much remains to be done before Manual Training takes its true place in education. The majority of these schools now in existence are for boys who have graduated from the grammar school, which leaves the years between six and fourteen with little or no hand-work. Thus the most important period for brain-growth through hand activity is neglected.
The future of Manual Training is to introduce hand-work as the principal factor in the first four years’ work, to be continued in the four years of the grammar grades, and correlated with all other subjects. Indeed, the ideal is to introduce Manual Training in all courses of study, from the Kindergarten to the University, inclusive.
The patrons of Cook County Normal School owe to Mr. Ham the establishment of Manual Training in connection with the primary grades of the school, nearly fifteen years ago; for without the practical aid he gave it, it could not have been accomplished at that time. The children—indeed, all the people of this country—owe him an immense debt of gratitude for his heroic championship of hand-work.
Manual Training gives a true dignity to labor; it calls attention to the place of hand-work in human progress, and as civilization goes on it will have a higher and still higher place in the hearts of the people.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
THE IDEAL SCHOOL.
Its Situation. — Its Tall Chimney. — The Whir of Machinery and Sound of the Sledge-hammer. — The School that is to dignify Labor. — The Realization of the Dream of Bacon, Rousseau, Comenius, Pestalozzi, and Froebel. — The School that fitly represents the Age of Steel.[Page 1]
CHAPTER II.
THE MAJESTY OF TOOLS.