Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 41, Number 132, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 December 1909 — MANUAL TRAINING TO BE TAUGHT IN OUR SCHOOLS. [ARTICLE]

MANUAL TRAINING TO BE TAUGHT IN OUR SCHOOLS.

School Board Authorizes Trial Which Will Begin After Holidays In 6th and 7th Grades. Wood working for the boys and sewing for the girls will be taught in the Rensselaer schools beginning with Jan. 3d, when school will open following the holiday vacation which begins Thursday evening of this week. The school board has authorized an experiment in manual training that it is hoped will lead to a liberal adoption of that important and neglected part of the education of our boys and girls. The start will be meagre, embracing only wood working and sewing and in the 6th and 7th grades only f but if all works well it is probable that the work will be extended to the Bth grade within a few weeks and possibly to embrace other subjects. During the holidays two rooms in the basement of the new building will be fitted up for the wood work instruction, and enough room will be provided so that twenty boys can work at one time. Eldon Hopkins, the janitor, who is an experienced and extra fine cabinet worker, will have charge of the Wood work instruction, using as a text book “Bench Work in Wood” by Goss, with y hich he has been familiarizing hiifiself. Superintendent Warren has also been giving study to the work and Will aid Mr. Hopkins in planning the work. The girls will be given their work in theiij class roqans, under the direction of their regular teachers. For the present only two days each week will I e given to the study. The public in either wood or sewing work will not bo relieved of any other studies except on the days when the manual training studies are being taught. It is the beginning of what should prove a very great aid in our schools. It is successfully adopted in other and larger cities and is gradually working into the smaller places. Some boys and girls both rebel against a strictly literary education. If they can be interested in practical trade studies they will also be benefited in their other studies. It is a good movement and should have the encouragement of all parents.