and handed down to sons or others to whom they have been taught through the old system of apprenticeship. In Germany the young mechanic, in many instances, still finishes his education by two or three years of journeymanship, which enables him to gain further knowledge and experience in his trade, and see something of the world before settling down to his life's work. But the change is gradually taking place in all countries, and all are preparing to meet it through some form of education. England, as is well known, has, during the past twenty-five years, by the introduction of a general system of elementary education, including drawing, and through special technical schools and museums, revolutionized many of her industries, particularly those involving artistic taste in design as well as excellence in manufacture. But in practical education in the mechanic arts, so far as I am aware, nothing has been done in England. In this direction France has long taken the lead, and has in the last few years awakened anew to the importance of the subject. The introduction of the mechanic art method of teaching, and the influence which this method is having in modifying the details of instruction in the various trade-schools, constitutes a new era in technical education in France. It is well understood that Germany still produces skilled mechanics, especially wood and metal workers, many of whom find their way to England and this country. But this is not due to the introduction of any system of manual education in this direction. When the older polytechnic schools, such as those at Karlsruhe and Stuttgart, were established, shop instruction constituted a part of their educational scheme; but it soon fell into disuse for want of some plan by which alone success could have been made possible; and the result is that the influence of all the German polytechnic schools is opposed to such education by any method. Even the trade-school at Augsburg, which ranked for many years with that at Chalons-surMarne in France, both in its methods and aims, has for some reason been discontinued. But apprenticeship still prevails, in connection with a thorough public education in schools more or less adapted to the needs of classes of students. Drawing and the elements of the sciences are taught to a large extent in view of their uses in industrial pursuits; various special schools exist for the education of artisans, such as the excellent Gewerbe-Schule of Stuttgart; but the manual skill must be gained in the practice of the trade, and not in the school. Austria is quite as rapidly, if not more so than any other country, substituting systematic mechanic art instruction in place of the old apprenticeship system; and, if she shall adhere to her present course, it is not difficult to foresee that in a few years she will rank among the leading industrial countries of Europe. In the foregoing I have included such schools as seemed to teach a special lesson in regard to the introduction of the manual element as part of a system of education. In addition to the remarks already made in connection with each, I wish simply to say in conclusion, that with but few pupils, so few that each can receive special instruction, a lack of system, or any system, may not be entirely fatal to some degree of success, any more than it would be to teach general, qualitative, and quantitative chemistry in the same laboratory; but no one would expect to get the best results. For large classes, on the other hand, special shops arranged for class-teaching become imperative. In the next place it is pretty generally admitted that, if only a general mechanic art training is desired, then shops arranged with this end in view are better than any manufacturing shops can be, whether considered on educational or economic grounds. Again, even in schools where manufacturing shops are part of the apparatus of instruction, it is becoming more apparent that a certain amount of preliminary or mechanic art training is necessary in order that the double aim of the shops, instruction and manufacturing, may both meet with reasonable success. While there may be special reasons, such as the expectations of the public, or the belief that no valuable teaching can be done except through manufacturing, why this department of instruction should demand greater opportunities for application in the school than other subjects or departments of engineering, I am persuaded that the manufacturing element will gradually diminish even in schools where it already exists, both on the grounds of economy, and because a mechanic art training will in general be found to better prepare the student to choose wisely, besides opening to him a broader career for the future. We sometimes see a formal argument made to prove the obvious proposition that an educated man makes a better mechanic than an uneducated one; and it is hence inferred that our public-school system, in many ways so admirable, and the result of so many years of labor and experience, is all that can be desired, and that any suggestion of a modification which may the better adapt it to the future needs of the large proportion whose education is finished even in the grammar schools, is in the nature of an attack upon the system. But this is by no means the case. The quality of the education may be of the very best; and yet the question may be asked, whether an education based mainly upon scholastic studies, with so much drawing and science as time will allow, is the best course for the largest number of pupils. It is sometimes thought that the reason why so many graduates of high schools seek positions as clerks, book-keepers, and other light forms of labor, is because these positions are thought more genteel than pursuits involving manual labor. This may be true to some extent; but I apprehend that quite as frequently the graduate asks himself, What can I do? what has my education fitted me to do? There is but one answer, and he acts accordingly as he ought; for, even if he wished to follow some trade or industrial pursuit needing special technical knowledge, he may not be able to devote the time and money necessary even if the conditions of apprenticeship were favorable. Suppose now that the same student had the opportunity during his school course, say till eighteen years of age, to go through a well-arranged series of mechanic art shops under competent instructors: what are the chances that upon graduation he would not enter upon that pursuit for which he felt himself best fitted, and which held out the best prospects, not only for the pressing present, but for the future? That a a course of education forms habits as well as tastes, is obvious; and it is unreasonable to expect that pupils educated almost exclusively through one set of closely allied subjects should show a partiality for pursuits with which these subjects have only the most remote, if any, connection. American boys and girls are not peculiar in this respect. The same tendency is noted and complained of abroad, when, in fact, it ought to be expected. What, then, is to be done? Will any thing short of educating the hands and head together answer? It might if manufacturing establishments would take young men after they leave school, and educate them in the quickest and best way. But this we are not to expect so long as it is hardly more for their interest to take them into the shop and teach them handicraft, than into the drawing-room to teach them drawing. In short, the time has come when if a young man wishes to follow a certain course he must so far qualify himself as to be of use to his employer, and thus to himself; and, as the State cannot afford not to educate its children, it cannot afford not to so educate them as to make them the most serviceable to the State as producers and citizens. But how can this be done at the least expense, and with the least change in our present public-school system? Obviously by utilizing our present educational facilities to the fullest extent, and not by pulling down in the hopes of building something better upon the ruins. It is also obvious that cities need this change more than the country, where almost every child is daily accustomed to some kind of manual labor on the farm or in the shop. In the city two courses are open, - either to build up an independent mechanic art school, or to attach a series of shops or laboratories to the high school. If the intention is to specialize this education, then an independent mechanic art school would best accomplish the purpose, and at the same time most probably more or less injure the high school by drawing away some of its pupils. If, on the other hand, it is thought that a proper manual element should enter into the education of all, then the shops would be attached to the high school, and serve to strengthen it by attracting students who now do not see any gain in the high-school course unless they have the college or some other particular end in view. Admitting that two threehour lessons per week for the four years would be as much time as would be needed for shop instruction, then a series of eight shops arranged to teach twenty-five in a section would accommodate twelve hundred pupils. It is plain that only the laboratory method would make it possible to teach this large number of pupils, and one such series of shops would be ample for a good-sized city. INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, BOSTON, Feb. 13, 1882. JOHN D. RUNKLE. |