Louisiana Polytechnic Institute - Lagniappe Yearbook (Ruston, LA)

Page 9 text:

(i) MECHANICS BUILDING. (2) MAIN BUILDING.

Page 8 text:

I girls’ dormitory.

Page 10 text:

The Louisiana Industrial Institute The school was established under authority of Act 68 of the General Assem¬ bly of 1894. The act provides for an institute “for the education of the white children of Louisiana in the arts and sciences, at which such children may acquire a thorough academic and literary education, together with the knowledge of kindergarten instruction, telegraphy, stenography and photography; of drawing, painting, designing and engraving, in their industrial applications; also a knowl¬ edge of fancy, practical and general needlework; also a knowledge of book¬ keeping and of agricultural and mechanical art, together with such other practical industries as from time to time may be suggested by experience, or such as will tend to promote the general object of said institute, to-wit: fitting and preparing such children, male and female, for the practical industries of the age.” While the school aims to train the mind through the hand to skilful partici¬ pation in the work of the world, thus making more efficient members of society, the students are given through head, hand and heart a clear vision of the larger meanings of life to the end that they may work with a mind in intelligent sympathy with their environment. The complete courses in academic studies presented and related to the industrial courses give to the graduates of the school the increasing earning capacity and the preparation for social efficiency which all public education should provide. This school differs from the ordinary college in that it aims to give an edu¬ cation with a vocational aim and purpose without ignoring nor in any sense dis¬ paraging the value of a general education. This school goes further than manual training—abstracting the principles of trades and teaching them—it teaches the processes of a given vocation from the ' first attack on the raw material to the last touches of the finished product, together with the theoretical foundations of the vocation. Hence it gives the worker a technical knowledge of the vocation and begins the development of skill in the practice of it. This school undertakes to teach not alone the fundamental pro¬ cesses of a vocation but its technique. It therefore lays chief emphasis upon giving to its students such practice as may bring them up to the point of expert¬ ness. It seeks to reproduce as nearly as possible the conditions of actual practice. In stressing industrial education we do not abandon the discipline of the mind, but appreciate that the real craftsman is more than his craft, and the true citizen is larger than the place he fills in the industrial life of his community. Hence academic courses are required with parallel industrial courses. 8