ASSOCIATIONS

WILLIAM T. BAWDEN, Editor.

NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION.

The Los Angeles meeting marked the fiftieth anniversary of the organization of the N. E. A. It will rank as one of the most important meetings of the Association because of the adoption of the Charter and the successful bridging over of the trying period caused by the omission of the San Francisco meeting and the present disturbed railroad situation.

The tendency, so noticeable during the last decade, to give the school and its curriculum more of social content and to bring it into closer contact with social needs and conditions was markedly in evidence at all of the sessions. The Manual Training Department, the first representative of this movement to obtain recognition from the National Association, has this year to welcome as its allies two new Departments, the organization of which has been made necessary by the growing influence of this movement, and whose assistance will render possible a more thorough working of the field and more efficient and fruitful investigation. The department of Technical Education will confine its attention mainly to the field of higher education, and the Department of Agricultural Education will make special study of the rural school and agricultural college.

The attendance at the sessions of the Manual Training Section and the active interest displayed by all were most gratifving. Our most hearty appreciation is due the retiring President, Frank M. Leavitt, of Boston, for a well organized program with its timely discussions of problems urgently demanding solution and for the selection of speakers who from wide and successful experience were able to offer many valuable suggestions.

The first session, a joint session with the Art and Elementary School Sections, was held on Tuesday afternoon, July 9th. The general topic under consideration, "The Development of an Adequate Course of Study in Manual Training for Elementary Grades," was discussed from three main points of view: (1) that of the teacher of the manual arts, by August Ahrens, State Normal School, Warrensburg, Mo.; (2) that of the child-study specialist, by Professor Dresslar, University of California; (3) that of the school superintendent, by Charles H. Keyes, Hartford, Conn.

George W. Eggers, Chicago Normal School, was to have discussed the subject from the first point of view but was unable to be present. Mr. Ahrens who was on the program to discuss Mr. Eggers' paper kindly consented, on short notice, to fill the gap. "I would have you conceive," said he, "the main definite end of manual training for the individual to be the systematic training of the hand in construction work through the use of tools and the manipulation of materials, and the acquisition of facts and ideas that make for power and efficiency in social and industrial service." He emphasized content as well as training, and placed ways and processes above the finished product. The finished product is but the concrete approach to the end-an adequate course flexible and graded to suit the varying stages of the child's development. While ad

vocating due regard to the natural interests of children he affirmed that "The course will not grow out of fleeting, spasmodic, and temporary impulse or fancy of childhood into a fragmentary unrelated scheme of training, but temporary interests and needs will be wisely directed and shaped towards purposeful and permanent ends."

Professor Dresslar, who followed, claimed that manual training in its future larger and truer sense would mean learning how to enter into organized activity with the hand, whether in the use of tools or on the playground, on the farm or in the fishing-smack. He deplored the lack of depth and breadth of youthful experience that characterizes the children in our cities. The needs of children demand that their growth in consciousness be a direct result of the organizing and relating of sense stimulation through motor activity. As the feelings are in large measure the resultant state of consciousness growing out of the present state of muscular activity, manual training is to that extent emotional training and closely related to physical training. He pleaded for the mental enrichment of the work, giving the child greater power to feel, to think, and to express hinself. The natural normal child makes plain the relative values of the many varieties of work offered. We are too prone to force upon him some finely worked out scheme that we have evolved out of our own mature consciousness. He suggested a school farm as a necessary part of every city system.

The choice of the last speaker of the session was indeed a happy one. Supt. Keyes in a brief address indicated the essential points as seen by the administrator and suggested a definite way of reaching something tangible. He claimed that the responsibility for the inadequacy of our courses rests on the superintendents and principals. They must see to it: (1) that proper time opportunity is provided for accomplishing something worth while; (2) that the course be placed, not only formally but through the spirit of the whole school staff, on an equal footing with the other subjects; (3) that no attempt be made to lay out the actual work before consultation with a manual training instructor, an art teacher, a master of child-study, a physical culture teacher, and an efficient grade teacher; (4) that they themselves are responsible for the proper correlation of educational endeavor and effective teaching, rather than fanciful and ingenious schemes for correlating subjects; (5) that they give adequate recognition to the environment of the school as a factor. We are not to dream of a uniform course even for one state; that would be both unwise and unfortunate. At the same time all courses must recognize the fundamental nature of the child. Following the suggestions of Supt. Keyes the Committee on Resolutions reported as follows: "Whereas, the cumulative work of the Department during the last two years in seeking a more rational statement of courses of manual training seems now to indicate a necessity for some definite work by a special committee: Be it therefore Resolved,-That the Manual Training Department of the N. E. A., now in session, recommend the appointment of a committee for the purpose of collecting data of the manual training work done throughout this country, that suggestive courses adaptable to various conditions found therein may be formulated by it. Further, be it resolved,-That this committee consist of three persons now actively engaged in manual training, with power to add to their number a superintendent of schools, a teacher of art, a child-study specialist,

a grade teacher, and representatives from such other departments as may be deemed advisable to increase the efficiency of its work. Further, be it Resolved,— That the committee be appointed by the President for a term of two years and be requested to make a preliminary report at the next meeting of the Association."

The resolution was adopted unanimously and the usual steps were taken to obtain an appropriation from the Board of Directors. The Board set aside the sum of $500 for the use of the committee. Later in the week President Leavitt appointed the following to act on this committee: B. W. Johnson, supervisor of manual training, Seattle, Wash., chairman; H. D. Brundage, Stout Training Schools, Menominie, Wis.; Miss E. E. Langley, School of Education, Chicago.

The second session was held on Thursday morning, the general topic under discussion being, "The Relation of Industrial Education to Public Instruction." Magnus W. Alexander, of the General Electric Co., Lynn, Mass., was unable to be present to present his paper on, "Industrial Training as viewed by the Manufacturer."

B. W. Johnson, Seattle, Wash., limiting his discussion to the high school as it exists at present, pointed out that during the first two years the students are too immature and too limited in general experience economically to undertake definite industrial training. We should see to it that during these years the students get the necessary enrichment of experience and gain in maturity so that with economy both to themselves and to society they can receive definite industrial training during the last two years. The first two years would enable the individual to discover his special aptitude and to lay a `general foundation for subsequent special work. The work should be closely related to the activities of the community. The girl should receive as generous treatment as the boy.

Jesse D. Burks, Teachers' Training School, Albany, N. Y., followed with a discussion of that most perplexing part of the problem, the later years in the elementary school and the transition to the high school in the case of the favored few or out of the school into the actual life of affairs in the case of the great majority. He emphasized the fact that our whole educational system is weakest just at this point, and set forth in the following propositions what he deemed a true statement of the situation and its remedy: (1) there is a widespread feeling among pupils and parents that the last two or three years of the elementary school course are of less practical value to children than the same years given to vocational pursuits: (2) investigation shows that under present conditions the years between the ages of fourteen and sixteen, whether spent in school or at work, are for the great majority of children wasted years so far as industrial efficiency is concerned; (3) the work of the last few years of the elementary school, like that of the traditional high school, disregards differences in native capacity and in prospective careers of pupils although these differences appear with increasing force at the very time when the children are passing through these years; (4) the systematic recognition of special aptitude in the organization of school work supplies the rational basis for secondary as distinguished from elementary education-the division between elementary and secondary education is at present made too late; (5) under an adequate system of secondary schools, boys and girls would be made conscious of their individual powers, and thus would be enabled to adjust themselves rationally, rather than

fortuitously, to the requirements of social life; (6) with proper data concerning the inheritance and personal development of individual pupils, it would be possible for teachers and school officers in co-operation with pupils and parents to determine with considerable accuracy the careers for which individuals are best fitted; (7) it may be assumed that, on the whole, chidren will remain in school as long as they and their parents regard it as distinctly to their advantage to do so and economic conditions do not prevent; (8) the conclusion clearly indicated by the foregoing is that adequate provision for vocational training beginning at about the sixth year of school would tend to prolong the school life and increase the vocational efficiency of the great mass of children, especially of those who enter industrial and domestic pursuits.

The closing session of the Department, a joint session with the Department of Indian Education, was held on Friday morning. Three very suggestive papers were read. Elbert H. Eastmond, Brigham Young University, Utah, discussed "Rational Art and Manual Training in Rural Schools." He dealt with work, aims, method, and materials, mainly from the elementary side. His photographs of work from various schools in Utah were very suggestive. M. Friedman, Haskell Indian Institute, Kansas, gave a general idea of the special adjustments necessary when presenting the work to Indian boys and girls. Miss R. M. Hodge, Los Angeles, discussed the value of the work in dealing with the immigrant child-from southern and south-eastern Europe, the Orient, and Mexico and the sub-normal or physically deficient. This paper closed the session.

Jesse D. Burks, Albany, N. Y., was elected president of the Department for the ensuing year.

JAMES COLLINS Miller,

Throop Polytechnic Institute,
Pasadena, Cal.

THE SOCIETY FOR THE PROMOTION OF ENGINEERING EDUCATION

The Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education held its fifteenth annual meeting at the Case School of Applied Science in Cleveland, July 1st to 3rd, 1907. The program dealt very largely with technical school problems of such a nature as to be hardly of interest to Manual Arts teachers.

On Wednesday morning, Calvin M. Woodward was called to give the report of the Committee on Industrial Education. He prefaced his report by announcing that what he had to say could hardly be called a report of the Committee, but a statement of his own personal opinion. He heartily endorsed manual training in the secondary schools as the greatest step in industrial education. It serves to train the youth for work in industrial fields and is the best feeder of the higher technical school. Thus the modern product is both theoretic and practical. The engineer who can both plan and execute is the most important asset of the manufacturer. Manual training has another important result in making the schools attractive and worth while.

The advanced trade schools founded by corporations, with a broad education as a prerequisite are also to be encouraged.

There are two classes of boys whom the secondary schools do not reach, and for these provision should be made. First, those who from taste or necessity, nearly 85 per cent. never enter secondary schools. Upon these, the greatest influence should be brought to bear to enter either a manual training or classical school or a vocational school. Each boy should be free to choose his school. The manual training school is the ideal in which one third of the time is given to mechanic arts, two thirds to cultural studies. The vocational school, giving two thirds of the time of mechanic arts is educationally narrower than the manual training school.

The second class of boys includes those from 18 to 24 years of age who have had little industrial education and are working through the day. To these should be offered the privileges of the mechanical plants of the schools, during the hours when the equipment stands idle. Such could be of advantage in night schools. Professor Woodward mentioned a Sunday morning school in St. Louis, in which he was personally interested, and which proved very popular.

Mr. Woodward's talk was supplemented by Professor Williston of Pratt Institute, a member of the Committee, who enumerated without particular comment the movements in industrial education throughout the country.

The topic of the day which excited the most discussion and comment was The Co-operative Engineering Course at the University of Cincinnati, presented by Professor Herman Schneider, for the University and Chas. S. Gingrich of the Cincinnati Milling Machine Co., for the manufacturers. In introducing his subject, Professor Schneider said that he was reading this paper at this time under protest, as he would prefer to present it three years hence. The Cooperative course has been in operation but one year and the experiment is new. The course covers six years and includes all of the university work taken by the pupils of the regular four-year technical course, and a thorough experience in the practical shopwork in all of the various departments of the Cincinnati Milling Machine Co. The shopwork alternates week by week with the classroom work through six university years, and is continuous during the summer. The boys receive daily wages increasing until a maximum of 21c per hour is reached in the sixth year. While their wages at first are not sufficient to pay all expenses, they have the opportunity of borrowing from a loan fund, all of which with careful planning they can repay by the end of the six years.

The advantages of this course to both the employer and the young man are apparent and manifold. The manufacturer secures men of a high type, trained to fit the particular needs of his shops-men who can design with a knowledge of details, as well as execute. The young man early gets an intimate knowledge of business methods, manufacturers' processes, good address and broad sympathies through a close association with labor conditions and attitudes, a uniform development for life-finally, the essentials making for good citizenship. What is possibly more material, he can at the close of his college course, command a salary large enough to be attractive to him.

Mr. Chas. E. Downton gave an interesting account of what the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Co., is doing towards the education and social betterment of its employees, through special apprenticeship courses and co-operative societies. H. E. R.