Technical education: what it is, and what American public schools should teach; an essay based on an examination of the methods and results of technical education in Europe, as shown by official reports

Front matter

Cornell University Library arV16400

Technical education: what it is, and wha

Cornell University Library

Chapter I. Page

Introduction. — Competition no longer Local, but World-wide. — Manufactures no longer Few and Rude. — Decay of Apprenticeship. — Labor, Rude, Dexterous, and Skilled. — Popular Education. — Natural Sciences a Part of Popular Education. — Drawing a Part of Popular Education. — How Time ie to be had for the New Studies. — Object of this Compilation. — The Manufactures of most Value , 1

CHAPTER n.

Value of Technical Instruction. — British Opinions expressed by Chambers of Commerce. — Letter to Lord Robert Montagu, M. P. — Foreign Competition in Hardware made in Birmingham. — Worsted Trade of Bradford. — Decline of Silk Manufacture in England. — French Testimony. — Views of Prof. Leoni Levi. — Replies to Lord Stanley. — Testimony of Mr. Samuelson. — Testimony of English Artisans 31

CHAPTER m.

Importance of Varied Education. —Literary and Scientific Training. — Report of Sub-Committee of French Imperial Commission. — Manual Labor. — Mission for the Succor of Apprentices .... 114

CHAPTER rV.

Special Schools for the Instruction of Apprentices. — Municipal School at Besanjon. — Apprentice Schools in Belgium. — Power-loom- Weaving. — School at Mulhouse 131

IV CONTENTS.

CHAPTER V.

PAGE.

Instruction of "Workmen. — Popular Lectures. — Museum of Industrial Products. — Reports of English Artisans. — TTniversal Primary Education 143

CHAPTER VI.

Drawing. — The French Imperial Commission. — Replies to Lord Stanley's Circular. — Testimony of English Artisans. — Testimony of J. Scott Russell. — Belgian Testimony. — Mistaken Study of the Human Figiire. — Geometry the True Basis of all Elementary Drawing, — Degrees in Teaching. — French Report on Drawing . 176

CHAPTER Vn.

Conclusion. — The Work must begin in the Pidmary Schools. — Cramming. — Variety and Alternation of Studies. — Room for Additional Studies. — Mental Discipline. — Thorough Instruction and Exhaustive Instruction. — Text-Books in Natural Science. — Course of Drawing for Common Schools. — Special Instruction . . . 251

TECHNICAL EDUCATION.

CHAP TEE L

INTEODUCTION.

The education required by a people is not a fixed quantity. That which is adequate for one generation or for one locality is not, necessarily, adequate for another generation or for another locality. It may be said, in general, that the education of a people should always conform to their necessities; that, as the conditions of life change, the education of a people should undergo a corresponding change : it may be one of degree or of character, or it may be a change involving both. The present is a time when those who have the shaping of popular education in America should consider anew the practical application of this simple truth.

For the American laborer, whether in the work-shop, in the counting-house, or on the farm, the conditions of life have, within the last fifty years, undergone a radical change, and of such a nature, that the laborer must now receive a vastly better education than he required one or two generations ago : otherwise he cannot advance himself as he should, nor even maintain his old position. This will be evident from a simple glance at three or four things which strikingly distinguish his present situation from his past.

Competition no longer Local, but WoeldwiDE. — First, the railroad, steamship, and telegraph have changed, in a marked degree, the condition of the American laborer. Before they came, the competition he had to meet was almost wholly local. If he did his work as well and as cheaply as those who went to the same church, or sat on the same jury, with himself, there was for him no need of further concern. He, and these neighbors of his, fixed the price of their products, .since they sold in a market from which all but local competition was virtually excluded. There is nothing of this now. Telegraphy and steam have made, as it were, one neighborhood of the whole world ; and the competition the American laborer must now meet, even at his own door, is no longer local : it comes from the ends of the earth. In a market admitting the competition of the

INTEODUCTION. 6

world, those who go to the same church, or sit on the same jury, cannot longer determine the price of their products. The world, of which they are but a part, settles that.

Has an Ohio farmer a fleece of wool to sell ? He meets in the market the wool-grower of Australia. Has a Minnesota farmer a bushel of wheat to dispose of? The return for it depends, more or less, on the crop in California, or along the shores of tlie Black Sea. Is the seller a cotton-manufacturer of Lowell ? He must compete with the looms of Lancashire. A Maine manufacturer of axes ? He must face the axemaker of Birmingham, whom he has, by the way, driven from the American market, while he successfully competes with him in the market of the world. Is it a Philadelphia builder of locomotives ? He feels the influence of Creuzot, though he may never have actually met a French locomotive on this side of the Atlantic. Is it an American ship-builder ? He knows, to his sorrow, that there are other builders on the Clyde. Indeed, there is scarcely one product of American industry, whose market-price is not now determined, in large degree, by the competition of the whole world; and this as the result, mainly, of steam-carriage and telegraphic communication. The more efficient these new instrumentalities become, the sharper will be the world's competition, reaching even the most secluded hamlet.

4 TECHNICAL EDTJCATIOK.

The destiny of tile laborer is, perhaps, more influenced by steam as a carrier than by steam as a producer ; for steam, especially when aided by telegraphic communication, is a great leveller in the world of industry. No levelling produces just the same pleasing effect for all. Take England as an illustration. Having established her manufactures when her insular position and sailcarriage gave her comparatively easy access to the European and other markets, she now finds herself everywhere confronted by products which the railway has brought from the manufacturing centres of interior Europe. While she glories in the railway achievements of her Stephenson, those very achievements have greatly diminished the vantage which was previously hers in tlie market of the world. But what of vantage she has lost through steam and telegraphy, she is now struggling to recover through a better education of her producing classes. By the same levelling process the American laborer is affected. Unless he does his best, he is liable to be driven from the market, even of his own town, by a producer who lives hundreds, perhaps thousands, of miles away.

Here, then, is one particular in which the life of the American laborer has undergone a decided change ; for him competition is no longer local, but world-wide.

INTEODCrCTIOjr. 5

Land once New and Fertile, now Old and Im- POVEKISHED. — Consider, in the next place, the land. When it was new, bone and muscle, vigorously exercised, were enough to insure an abundant harvest. Whatever was planted grew without stint ; nor were there a thousand pests to destroy the fruits of the earth. The American farmer, then, had little occasion for chemistry, geology, botany, entomology, engineering, to secure immediate and satisfactory results. As the remote result, however, of the stupid agriculture of the past, tlie present generation inherits vast tracts of impoverished, unproductive soil. It may be found everywhere, from the Atlantic seaboard to the Mississippi, from the Lakes to the Gulf. But little of the land which has been cultivated for two generations, now yields as well as it did forty years ago. Much of it, indeed, is returning to a state of nature.

The work of exhaustion still goes on. What is to check it ? for it must be checked. What is to restore the land already impoverished? for it must be restored. !N"o American farmer should consent to go into the market with wheat, corn, butter, cheese, mutton, beef, cotton, which have cost him more than the same things have cost his competitors. But he must do this, unless he puts into his work something more than bone "and muscle, something more than the equally stupid energy of reapers and steam-ploughs. There must be labor, indeed, but no wasted labor. That there may be no waste, the labor must always harmonize with the invisible forces of Nature, — those sleepless, ever-active giants with whom it is easy to work, against whom it is impossible for the farmer to achieve any thing. It is educated mind, working through bone and muscle and machinery, which is to restore the impoverished lands, and keep them at their highest point of profitable production, whatever that may be. In England that point is, for wheat, about twenty-seven bushels to the acre.

Here, then, is a second particular — diminished productiveness of much of the soil — in which a decided change has come over the life of many American laborers.

Manufactures no longek Pew and Eude. — In the third place, the demands upon the American artisan have increased wonderfully. Fifty years ago it was a very limited variety of products required at his hands : to-day the variety is almost infinite, ranging from a tenpenny nail to an ocean steamship ; from a pair of spectacles to a telescope for exploring the most distant nebulae. But the change is not indicated alone by a wonderful increase in the variety of the manufactures. Eaw material and bone and muscle constitute a much

INTEOPTTCTION. 7

smaller part of tlieir value ; while skill and taste count for vastly more than they did when the shoemaker boarded around as well as the schoolmaster, and made the shoes and boots for the neighborhood. The house, and the furniture put into it, must have more of elegance and comfort. The fabrics of the loom must be more beautiful in design, and must show a higher finish, than in the days of homespun. More graceful forms must issue from the founderies, glass-works, potteries, and quarries. The ship must have a better model ; and its workmanship miust be finer in every part. Indeed, though the work of the American artisan is, as a whole, far behind that of some other portions of the world, yet there has been decided progress not only in the variety, but in the quality, of the products.

The progress in taste is largely attributable to the importation of foreign designs and designers. It may, however, be said generally, that the progress in American manufactures is due to individual effort and to the subdivision of labor. There has certainly been no united, systematic effort to produce skilled workmen, except so far as the literary education of the public schools has indirectly contributed to such a result. This indirect contribution has not been a slight one, however. The subdivision of labor has enabled the workman to learn one part of his business jnore thorouglily by remaining ignorant of all tlie other parts. He has thus become a more dexterous workman in a limited field, but not, necessarily, a more skilful workman ; that is, he knows no more, necessarily, but less; perhaps, about the underlying principles of his business, than he did when he served an apprenticeship, and got some knowledge of all parts of his business.

It is essential, then, that the American artisan receive a much better technical education than present opportunities permit. It is essential for him, individually, that he may hold his own with his' fellows ; it is essential for the capitalist who employs him, that he may hold his own in the market of the world : and so it is essential for the common welfare. It is only the skilled labor of the multitude which will suffice. It is not enough that there be a few men highly qualified for their work ; it is not enough that there be intelligent direction ; it is not enough that the artist work under the same roof with the artisan : director, artist, and artisan should be, as far as possible, united in the same person. The less tlie artisan resembles a machine, the better and cheaper will be the products of his labor. All this will be placed beyond question by the unimpeachable evidence which will be given in subsequent pages. It will be seen that it is not the pauper labor, but the educated labor, of Europe, "like that seen in

INTRODUCTION. 9

Creuzot, France, which America has good reason to fear. It will be seen that the cheapest of all labor is skilled labor, suqh as every State may secure by properly educating lier citizens.

Here, then, is a third particular — multiplied and improved manufactures — in which a decided change has- come over the life of a large class of American laborers.

Decay of Appeen'ticeship. — In the fourth place, apprenticeship has become almost wholly a thing of the past in America, and largely so in Europe. Yet there never was a more urgent demand for skilled workmen.

This decay of apprenticeship is mainly due to the subdivision of labor which is now observed in the manufacture of nearly all things, from pins to locomotives, because it is found to yield the best results. The use of machinery, the character of which is often such as to put an end to small enterprises, has promoted this subdivision by accumulating workmen in large groups. The beginner, confining himself to one department, is soon able to earn wages. This gratifies both himself and his parents ; and so he usually continues as he began. If, however, he wishes to become a master of his trade, and the employer agrees to instruct thoroughly, the latter is often tempted to keep his apprentice at work an undue time in the department he may have first well learned, and in which his labor is, consequently, profitable. If the employer does not yield to this temptation, then who is there to give the apprentice proper instruction, seeing that so many workmen usually work by the piece, and cannot afford to spend any time in the instruction of others ? Nobody. Thus it happens that the beginner usually confines himself to one department, and is only anxious to receive wages as soon as possible.

While this is to the present advantage of employer and employed, it is to the ultimate disadvantage of both ; for it is found that the workman who knows all the departments of his trade — knows the theory as well as the practice — will always do better work in any particular department he may devote himself to. Again : the workman who can do but one thing, or rather one part of one thing, has little chance for promotion. He also finds himself helpless, when, at some unfortunate turn, his limited specialty fails him ; and there is more frequently an excess of workmen in a subdivision of any industry than an excess in the industry as a whole. Furthermore, the use of machinery, instead of diminishing, rather increases, the artisan's need of thoroughly understanding his trade : unless he does, he cannot make the most of about the only chance (an increase of daily wages) which he now has for bettering his condition. Machinery having rendered individual enterprises so

INTRODUCTION. 11

expensive, tlie artisan has, in most cases, little cliance of ever becoming his own master. Twenty-five years ago, when there were, for example, more daily papers in Boston than now, and more shoe-manufacturing employers in New England, the industrious, frugal artisan working for wages had a reasonable hope that he might some day become an employer himself. That hope, as a stimulating, lifting power, must have been wonderfully productive of good. But what, in any department of industry, is there now to lift the workman, to stimulate him to greater exertion ? Virtually, nothing but a prospective increase of his per diem by doing more and better work, and by a merited promotion to some one of the many subordinate places of oversight and trust. He should, therefore, be provided with every means for improving himself as a workman, and qualifying himself for promotion. Apprenticeship having essentially departed never to return in its ancient form, something else must take its place in America, as its place has already been largely taken in Europe by special schools, and give the American artisan that technical instruction which he must have, or perish.

Here, then, is a fourth particular — the decay of apprenticeship — .in which a decided change has come over the life of a large class of American laborers.

Laboe, Eude, Dbxtbkous, Skilled. — It is thus seen, from the four particulars enumerated, tliat tlie times have decidedly changed for the American laborer; that it is now of the utmost moment for him, whatever his work, to be skilled in the full sense of the word; and that he cannot become thus skilled without instruction having such an object in view. But what is skilled labor and its value ?

All manual labor may be divided into rude, dexterous, and skilled labor. The first requires only, or mainly, the strength and patience of the stupid plodder. The second requires nice finish, and celerity of execution : but the work is all done by " rule of thumb ; " that is, in ignorance of principles. Subdivision of labor is specially favorable to the production of dexterous workmen. The third requires both dexterity, and a knowledge of underlying principles. It is theory and practice united ; and it enables the workman to adapt himself to new conditions, and always to do the best thing in an emergency, — to improve old methods of work, or devise new ones. It may be said, in general, that, while the rude laborer earns one dollar, the dexterous laborer will earn two dollars, the skilled laborer three dollars ; all working with their hands. In some varieties of labor, the difference is much greater than this.

For the rude laborer there is no hope of promotion ; for the merely dexterous laborer the prospect is limited :

INTEODUCTIOK. 13

but the skilled laborer, master of his business in theory and practice, may count surely upon advancement. In dull times the skilled laborer is the last to be discharged ; yet he is the one who has savings to rely upon, — the one who can most readily adapt himself to a new occupation.

There are but few kinds of labor, giving employment to comparatively few persons, which require only the rude strength of the steady plodder. Such stupid drudgery is the exception ; while labor requiring a greater or less degree of skill is the law. Frequently, indeed, labor is degraded to drudgery by reason of the stupidity with which it is performed. It ma.j, therefore, be justly said, that almost every laborer should possess skill ; the more skill the better. Even in sawing wood, spading earth, tending a cotton-picker, there is a philosophy, a best way to proceed, which the intelligent, but not the stupid, laborer is sure to discover and to

follow.

Popular Education. — But there can be no such

general diffusion of skill among laborers, without a

popular education beginning in the primary school, and

having that for one of its objects. Hence it is quite time

American schools, instead of longer proceeding much as

they did forty years ago, recognized the change in the

social situation ; quite time they were so modified as, by direct intention, to educate the pupils more for skilled laborers, — farmers, artisans, merchants, manufacturers — than for the literary and professional occupations. When the best possible result of this kind has been secured, there will always be inevitable blockheads enough to do the inevitable drudgery of the world. They who oppose the systematic technical education of workmen, fearful that there will then be none left ignorant enough for drudges, need not be alarmed. Nor will a little early industrial culture be wasted, even on those who may become theologians or judges ; but rather it will do them good.

But how should the popular education be modified ? To-day it may be described as literary, — for the use of the head, and not for the use of the hands. Preserving its general character of fifty years agp, it does not bear directly upon the leading pursuits of the people. In the organization of many schools, and in the methods of instruction, there has been great change; but there has been very little change in the things taught, though a large increase in the quantity. The text-books for reading, spelling, arithmetic, grammar, geography, writing, have grown in number and size ; and much more time is devoted to each of these studies. Indeed, in nearly all the public schools of the land they occupy five-sixths of the pupil's time. Could the school-year

INTEODUCTION. 15

be doubled in length, twice as much time as now would be given to the studies enumerated, if the educational spirit of the past, which is, in the main, the American educational spirit of the present, continued to control the schools, as it does now control them with few exceptions. It would be more arithmetic, more geography, more grammar, more spelling, with no fundamental change of character.

There is, however, a growing tendency to modify American popular education, and to bring it into harmony with the age and the manifest demands of labor. What has already been well done in some parts of Europe, and what the other parts (notably England, so thoroughly alarmed by the International Exhibitions, beginning with the one in London in 1852) are making such zealous efforts to do, will doubtless soon be regarded by all Americans as, in the main, the proper thing for the technical education of American labor. It is with this technical education that European governments are just now specially concerning themselves ; and it is with the same thing that they who have the shaping of popular education in America must specially concern themselves during the next twenty-five years. In the present public-school system, with its strong literary features, they have a broad and excellent foundation upon which to build. No amount of instruction in science and art can fully compensate for lack of literary training, even when industrial results alone are sought.

Natural Science a Part of Popular Education. — This harmony between education and the demands of the age requires that the natural sciences, — like chemistry, botany, physiology, — which bear directly upon great industries, and otherwise tend to promote the common welfare, should form a distinguishing feature in popular education, — should be added to the present literary curriculum of the American public school. The whole people should not only be made acquainted with the leading principles and the more important practical applications of natural science, but they should be so instructed as to acquire, in good degree, the scientific habit of investigation and thought. The farmer has daily need of this knowledge in the performance of his routine labors; also daily need of this habit of investigation and thought in order to meet emergencies, — to meet the cases not laid down in the books, nor inherited through tradition. Lacking this knowledge and this habit of mind, he wastes his energies in a blind contest with the invisible forces of nature, and draws the most absurd conclusions, or no conclusions at all, from surrounding phenomena. For him labor degenerates into drudgery ; while profits diminish, rNTEODTJCTION. 17

or disappear altogether. Then there are many artisans who have urgent need of similar knowledge, and of a similar habit of mind. By the same things the kitchen, too, would be greatly profited ; cost of living would be reduced, yet people would fare better, and their years would be prolonged.

While, as it will be claimed, it is not the business of the common school to make specialists, — farmers, carpenters, accountants, engineers, cooks, — it is the business of such a school to teach at least the elements of technical knowledge, and to teach these elements to all. Such instruction, because of the discipline it affords, — like in part, in part unlike, that afforded by other studies, — is of indirect value to every one. It is also of direct value to the great body of the people ; for it is the universal European experience, that laborers cannot be satisfactorily educated for their work, unless they have first received, in schools for children and youth, not only literary instruction, but also instruction in the elements of technical knowledge, scientific and artistic. With a broad foundation of elementary instruction, and not otherwise, special instruction can be successfully added according to the requirements of each workman. Such is the universal experience of those European countries that have undertaken to educate workmen for their special pursuits.

Drawing a Paet op Populab Education. — Tliis harmony between education and the demands of the age also requires that drawing should hold a conspicuous place in popular education. Both for the peculiar culture it imparts, and for its practical uses, it should be taught in every public school. As the result of extended and careful investigations, made from time to time, for the purpose of determining the character of the education requisite to produce skilled workmen and promote industrial welfare, European governments now lay greater emphasis upon drawing than upon any other study. Indeed, it holds so prominent a place in the education of the people of most European communities, that it maj' be said, roundly, to constitute a fourth part of all the education the artisan receives. And yet even in France, where the artisan has for some time been well educated in drawing, it is regarded of vital importance that the present instruction in drawing be increased, and made of still better quality. Indeed, the evidence places it beyond question, that, in Europe, the welfare of the individual artisan, of manufacturing establishments, of whole communities even, may be justly attributed to instruction in drawing. As drawing has no particular home, it may render to American industry services equally valuable. The whole people should not only be made acquainted with its leading principles and more

IKTEODTJCTION. 19

important industrial applications ; they should be so instructed as to acquire, in good degree, artistic hahits of mind and manipulation.

Almost every thing that is well made now is made from a drawing. In the construction of buildings, ships, machinery, bridges, fortifications, nothing is done without drawings. It is not enough that there be draughtsmen to make the drawings : the workmen who are to construct the objects required should be able, without help, to interpret the draiwings given for their guidance. This they cannot do without instruction that acquaints them with the principles on which the drawings are made, and so trains the imagination as to enable it to form from the given lines a vivid mental picture of the object required. The workman who lacks this knowledge and this ability, as it is probable that nineteen-twentieths of American artisans now do, must work under the constant supervision of another, doing less and inferior work, and receiving inferior wages. But it is also essential that the workman himself be able to make at least a rude working-drawing, whenever, as frequently happens, an emergency requires it.

Furthermore, it is not enough that the artisan be able to make an object, and to make it expeditiously; not enough that his workmanship be of the highest order. There are thousands of things whose commercial value

20 TBCHNICAIi EDUCATION.

depends mainly upon their beauty, for which the world is always so willing to pay. This beauty may be in the form of the objects themselves, or in the applied decoration, or in both. However strong a piece of carpeting may be made, however exquisite may be its finish, an ugly design will ruin its sale. It is the design, no less than the quality of the workmanship, that determines whether or not an object from the furniture factory, from the glassworks, or the pottery, shall sell for more than the cost of the raw material. It is the same with Nature's products. The beautiful horse is preferred to the one equally serviceable, but homely. Indeed, beauty has a commercial value almost unlimited. But wherever the beauty is found, — in the shape of the object or in the decoration, — it is mainly due to form; and so its principles and their applications are best learned by persistent practice in drawing.

It is not enough, however, that there be special designers. In most departments of industry, the workmen who are to reproduce given designs in the form of commercial products cannot do this successfully, unless they have received such a training as to give them an artistic taste and the power of artistic manipulation. This training they must have, if they are simply to reproduce given designs ; but they also need it, that they may be able themselves to modify the given design (as

INTRODUCTION. 21

it is often necessary to do), the better to adapt it to the object required, or to the material of which it is made. The evidence, indeed, leaves it in no doubt that the artisan should receive an artistic training (the more of it the better), of which drawing should constitute the chief element. The best results have been secured, where the one who designed and the one who executed were the same person ; the next best results, where the one who executed had received an artistic training. It may be accepted as a general truth, the more of an artist, the better the artisan ; for the work will ever tell of the workman. Hence it is of the utmost importance that instruction in drawing should go far beyond exercises in mere copying ; that the principles of good design should be thoroughly taught ; and that the pupils, from an early age, should be systematically trained in the pleasant and intellectually stimulating production of original designs.