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Page 28 text:
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MANUAL TRAINING IN THE GARY SCHOOLS Manual Training is any school occupation, the pur¬ pose of which is the development of manual skill, or dexterity. Secondary aims should be, mental power through intelligent manual doing; application of ideas obtained through various sources; an appreciation of art and good workmanship; a respect for manual labor; and the development of character that results in conscien¬ tious effort to do one’s best. On the above basis our manual training in Gary is organized. The work begins with the kindergarten where the ordinary kindergarten occupations are car¬ ried out. We are continuing the work begun in the kindergarten through the child’s whole school life. As the child grows and his skill of hand is developed he is given new materials, new problems, and new and more complex tools with which to work. In the pri¬ mary grades the child’s great problem is to master his own hand and fingers independent of any tools. The struggle for mastery of the hand continues through¬ out the school work and should continue through life. The human hand, guided by human intelligence is a marvelous piece of mechanism. This remarkable machine, the intelligent hand, coupled with man’s pro¬ pensity to use tools, is the chief characteristic of human¬ ity. What could we do without hands! Or, what a hand¬ icap, if our hands were continually in use to help sup¬ port the weight of our bodies as is the case with the lower animals. Or, given the hands as we have them and no tools whatever, what could we accomplish? Man is a tool using animal. With tools he is the whole thing; without tools, he is nothing. With tools he can discover the mi¬ crobes that may infest the air we breathe or the food we eat, or he can explore distant worlds. He can weigh a mark upon a piece of paper or he can lift massive weights and carry them where he will. He can travel quickly by water, land or air. With tools and intelligence he can do everything; without tools he can do nothing. The fact that man is a tool using animal, and that intelligence and a skilled hand are the chief characteristics of humanity is the basis upon which a course of school work should be based. A school course which neglects any one phase of a child’s development is faulty. His intelli¬ gence must be developed; his hands must be trained in skillful doing; his moral growth must be looked after; and his physical growth and health must receive proper attention. We must not overlook the fact that any school work which tends to develop either the moral or physical in the child can not help but react WHERE THIS ANNUAL WAS PRINTED on his intelligence for growth in mental power and intensified knowl¬ edge, while a pupil can give all his time to book study and the acquisition of knowledge and with it derive no profit whatever for his phsyical or moral self. In fact it is more apt to result in a decided disadvantage to his physical growth, and may react to the detriment of his morals. We can, therefore, apply the patent medicine reason for manual train¬ ing—it is bound to do some good, and it is hardly possible for it to result in anything harmful. , There are other reasons why we should have manual training work in school. The fact that 95 per cent of our population make their living through the use of the hands is good reason for giving a fair portion of the school time to the training of these organs for their future work. With the industrial work in school we also hope to lead pupils to see that after school days are over and they are up against the proposition of bread and butter that the work of the 95 per cent who live by skill of
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Page 29 text:
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hand and exercise of muscle are not in any sense engaged in an undigni¬ fied calling. They must grow to see that the work is important, requires intelligence, is dignified if well done; and that with it they will have a life of health, happiness and contentment which too often the other 5 per cent do not have. We must grow into the habit of finding our pleasure in our work. In the lower grades of school the work consists mostly of simple problems worked in clay, paper, card board and weaving material. Be¬ ginning with the fifth grade the boys’ manual training time is given to wood work in the shop until his ninth year when his time, is given mostly to metal work during the next year. Through these grades the amount of time given amounts to forty five minutes per day for every day he is in school. In the shop the boys are supposed to gain a fair knowledge of wood working tools and to acquire a reasonable amount of skill in their use. During the tenth year he will gain some knowledge of tools and material in metal work. This work brings the average boy. to the age of sixteen. He is now old enough to begin thinking of .the,work he is to take up when his school days are over. Up to this time his manual work has been very general. The average boy has had nothing definite in view. In the twelfth year if he takes up manual work, it must be with something definite in view. He must begin an apprenticeship for some trade and apply himself dil - igently to that end. The present year we have given opportunities in printing, cabinet work and painting. There have been twenty pupils in each—the printing and cabinet making departments—while ten have re¬ ceived instruction in painting. As soon as the demand warrants it, other special lines of work will be offered, such as, plumbing, wiring, mason¬ ry, machine fitting, etc. A most interesting feature of our manual training work during this year has been the organization of the boys of the cabinet making de¬ partment into a business corporation, an account of which follows, writ¬ ten by Edward Olson, a member of the class. G. e. w. ■ HIGH SCHOOL FACTORY BY EDWARD OLSON On February 18, the cabinet-making class met and organized as a company. This organization was effected for the purpose of teaching boys at an age when they learn quickly the manner in which a business is started and conducted. Many young men leave school with little or no business training and probably enter into mercantile pursuits knowing little of the fundamental principles of business; but given this opportun¬ ity of learning how a business is managed success will be more easily obtained. Some will enter mills or factories and knowing the way in which a factory is run will be better prepared for advancement from the bottom of the ladder to the top, and so help bring about the fusion of capital and labor. Others will seek the bar or political honors and their knowledge of parliamentary law will aid them in their work. Those present at the meeting of the cabinet making class subscribed for 54 per cent of the stock. The officers and directors elected were: Edward Olson, Pres., Walter Behn, Sec., Charles Borton, Treas., Amos Thatcher, Cecil Allen, Richard Much, and Weyman Alger. Articles of Incorporation and By-Laws were drawn up and adopted. It was decided that the 6 per cent of the treasury gtock should be sold at fifty cents a share, par value ten dollars. Amos Thatcher and Richard Much have the exclusive sale of the stocks and report that the stocks are being sold so fast that the price will advance to two or three dollars. The treasurer, Cecil Allen, reports that the financial condition of the company is very favorable. The sales department, consisting of Eugene Knotts and S. Moe, have a large number of orders on hand that are to be filled after school hours by the boys who are paid twenty cents an hour in real cash. The profits of these jobs go into the treasury to pay dividends on the stock. In this department an entirely new idea is being carried out in teach¬ ing cabinet-making. The boy has a voice in the management of the company by being a stock holder, director or officer of the company; he learns cabinet-making under the supervision of an expert cabinet-maker; he gains a knowledge of factory management and bookkeeping, for this company is run in the same manner as any other factory is conducted; he practices parlimentary law in the stockholders meetings. The directors’ meetings are held every Friday and are conducted in a strictly parliamen¬ tary procedure; business and factory affairs are discussed and acted A painting department has been created in charge of Mr. Messick and Weyman Alger was elected superintendent. A statement of the Gary High School Factory for March issued by the bookkeeping department showed that the cabinet making class of the school is more than paying its way by a margin of twenty-five dollars for the month. It is our highest ambition to establish a system in this school that will be used as an example to other schools for the training of boys so that when they reach manhood they will make men that will be worth something to themselves and to society. This company has been incor¬ porated for a term of ten years and we earnestly hope it will continue for twenty years.
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