Bridgewater State University - Alpha Yearbook (Bridgewater, MA)

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Page zo NORMAL OFFERING -:Volume xr Manual Training. Walter Sargent, Director of Dmfwing and Manual T1'az'n1'fzg, Boston, Mass. HE purpose of education is to fit people for the world in QQ which they are to live, so that, to the fullest degree of 1 their capacity, they may understand it, be efficient forces in it, and enjoy it. An important part of human development has come through constructive work, through industries, through dealing at first hand with actual materials. To plan any useful piece of construction and carry it to completion so it is suited to its purpose and is a creditable piece of workmanship, requires clear thinking, and a concrete use of arithmetic, so exacting and necessary that mere book problems seem like phantoms in contrast. A childwhose arithmetic is occasionally put to the test of someshop problem where the results of mistakes are indicated, not by marks on paper, but by pieces of wood that will not fit, is aroused to a new sense of the reality of mathematics and its necessity in the world's work. He has a new incentive to accuracy. Q Manual training impresses upon students two important truths : I. That persistent effort is required to carry an idea to completion in material. i p ' 1 2. That in spite of discouragement, sustained effort, carefully planned, will usually bring success. The realization of these two things is an essential part of education and it is difficult to see how it can be developed without actual ficontact with materials. I I A child who thinks that hasty, thoughtless sawing and planning will produce a creditable box, soon learns his mistake. If he has a, skillful teacher the result will not be discouragement but a desire to do the sort of planning and shaping that will result in a satisfactory box. He approaches a new piece of construction in a soberer spirit, with a realization of the

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Volume XI NORMAL OFFERING Page 19 course of lectures was by Prof. Arnold Guyot, who came over with Agassiz, who revolutionized the teaching of geography in this country by teaching that geography is the study of the earth as the home of man. On Tuesday evenings once a fortnight the students had a social gathering at the house of the Principal, and on alternate Friday evenings we had our Lyceum meetings, with debates by the young men, and the Normal Offering a paper sustained by the women. These were live meetings. Most of the students boarded in the families of the village at two dollars a week. They roomed in chambers mostly. Some were so lofty that they had attic chambers which looked out upon the front view of life, while some had to be content with the posterior view. A few boarded themselves. Some of the men roomed in Bachelor's Hall, and some formed a Club and Madam Loring cooked their meals for them. Physical exercise was not neglected though we had no gymnasium. The students knew the names of all the streets, and knew all the roads for miles around, and many a, lesson on nature study was learned in their long walks. Carver's Pond in those days was noted for its lilies and snapping turtles. Lover's Lane, a cart path through the woods from Bedford Street to South, across the acreage now known as New Dublin, was distinguished for its scenic beauty. Round baseball was a regular game in the spring, and genuine football, without any toggery or rooting, was a vigorous fall game in which the ball was kicked sky-high. The school was an Institution even then though it was only eight to nine years of age. Institution is the act of setting up g establishment. It was an organized body of persons for the distract purpose of educat- ing teachers. An institution is built upon the men who found it. In this case the first members of the State Board of Education and the first Principal of the school. He was a man of heroic temper, an ardent lover of truth, with keen insight and great analytic power, a'man of faith and prayer, a ripe scholar, who gave hinzsrof to his work, and the word fail was not in his vocabulary. Thank God for the Bridgewater spirit of progress, of enlargement, of culture, of devotion, of service, of inspiration, which has quickened so many thousands of young lives. It has been the animus of the Institution from its very beginning, and is marching on to multiply its achievement.

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Volume XI NORMAL OFFERING Page 21 effort and time that will be required to complete it, but with a confidence begotten of experience, that he can do it well. This is a very different sort of confidence from that which undertakes athing with the idea of finishing it with little effort because there has been no experience with the difliculties of shaping material. Manual training thus brings a sympathetic appreciation of the intelli- gence and labor entering into the planning and executing of the world's industrial work. Manual training also gives opportunity for a practical use of design. It should emphasize the truth that good design is not merely ornament added after a thing is made, but consists of the following elements : I. Well related proportions and shapes of necessary partsj 2. Excellent workmanship. 3. Such decoration as will unobtrusively emphasize the shape, structure, or significance of the object. Much of the beauty of a constructed object is in the relation of proportions of the necessary parts. For example, the greatest element of beauty in the front of a house is the relation of height to width, and the spacing of the windows and doors within the area. The feeling of satisfaction that arises because a piece of work is skillfully done is another large element in aesthetic pleasure. The addition of decoration helps, but is a much less important element than the other two. Manual training of the right sort is a necessary part of education for all, whatever the future occupation is to be. It also is the beginning of industrial education. The efficiency of any school system that does not include the manual arts may reasonably be questioned.