23

E.—ld

practical aim of this new school. Ido not hesitate to declare that it is one of the iiiosi popular works that can be executed at the present time, and I beg to add that it is a work eminently national. We shall by degrees succeed in organizing this description of instruction to suit ourselves, for we are powerfully assisted by the strong impulse of public opinion. Now, with reference to the development of this movement, there are a few statistical facts which I wish to make known to you in passing. Manual instruction is imparted in many other places in France to a less degree and at less expense than in our establishment of Vierzon. No fewer than four hundred villages and towns possess schools in which the idea of manual training is practically carried out; and all this since when, gentlemen? Since 1879. In 1879 there were forty work-schools which owed their existence more or less accidentally to the good-will of the municipal authorities, as a concession to public requests; and since 1879, without any other action on our part than tendering the hand to the expressed wishes of the communities, more than four hundred have been established on French soil. Finally, I wish to say that the matter involves a question of vast economical interest. To be sure France is a great laborious nation; she has won great victories in the peaceful domain of free European competition. But it is evident to all who look a little farther into the future that, as on other fields of battle, we must not repose on our laurels. We have here in Europe, round about us, at our gates, across the ocean, very dangerous competitors in fields of skilled labour. The articles we import from them, the reports furnished to us, and above all the sharp competition, we meet with on all foreign markets, must serve as a warning by no means to be neglected. Yes, on the industrial as well as on other fields of battle a nation may fall and decay ; on both, surprisals are not impossible. By exaggerated confidence, self-admiration, indolence on the part of the public powers, it may come to pass that we lose a superiority which has hitherto been incontestable. From this great danger our country must be protected by the spread of technical education. There is no more vital national interest, and I may here say and repeat, without fear of contradiction, it is time to set up again the workshop, that is to say, to regenerate our native country." The practical North Americans attach a most lively interest to the phases of this movement; technical instruction is given in the elementary schools of Boston. On my writing-desk I find an American publication entitled " The Manual Element in Education," by John D. Eunkle, Ph.D., reprinted from the forty-fifth annual report of the Secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education (Boston, 1882), in which the necessity of introducing industrial instruction into all schools, public and private, is ably demonstrated. The author writes as follows :"It is hardly worth while in this connection to consider how this element is to find its place in our educational system. Individual opinion may for a time have some influence in directing the current of thought upon this subject; but in the end the needs of the public will control. There is already a widefelt impression, if not conviction, that something of the kind is necessary ; and this conviction is most likely to find expression at first in special mechanic-art schools, in centres where the need is most felt. If these schools shall demonstrate their value, not only as training-schools for fitting students to enter upon certain lines of industrial activity, but also as schools for furnishing the needed mental discipline, then it seems reasonable to suppose that this element will become more general, and just in proportion to the value in which it is held by the educated and thinking public. The methods of teaching the manual element will become better settled through a larger experience, and there will not be the present lack of teachers properly trained for this kind of education. The revolution in the methods of teaching the physical and natural sciences now practically completed in the laboratory method, or the method of investigation as it may be properly called, is recognised, not only as the best for the acquisition of the required knowledge, but also as best for the discipline it imparts ; and in the same way the laboratory method of teaching the mechanic arts will gradually take its place as a practical, and at the same time a disciplinary, element in education. It is but a few years since the idea of introducing drawing into our schools as an element of general education seemed visionary, and yet to-day it is an accomplished fact in many parts of our country, and has been for a much longer time in many countries abroad. Drawing is now regarded by many educators as an established factor in elementary education, and destined to work its way into all classes of public schools. It was only after it was plainly seen that there is a wide distinction to be made between drawing as an art and the drawing which pertains to a specific industry of which the former can be considered only in the light of the most general preparation, that the art began to be regarded as a possible fundamental factor in a common education." I should like to add that it has been the same with drawing as it will be in future with manual instruction. In another place Dr. Eunkle gives his opinion of the influence of the new branch of education in reference to the condition of trade, in the following words : " But the change is gradually taking place in all countries, and all are preparing to meet it through some form of education. England, as is well known, has, during the past twenty-five years, by the introduction of a general system of elementary education, including drawing, and through special technical schools and museums, revolutionised many of her industries, particularly those involving artistic taste in design as well as excellence in manufacture. But in practical education in the mechanic arts, so far as I am aware, nothing has been done in England. In this direction France has long taken the lead, and has in the last few years awakened anew to the importance of the siibject. The introduction of the mechanic-art method of teaching, and the influence which this method is having in modifying the details of instruction in the various trade-schools, constitutes a new era in technical education in France. Austria is quite as rapidly, if not more so than any other country, substituting systematic mechanic-art instruction in place of the old apprenticeship system ; and, if she shall adhere to her present course, it is not difficult to foresee that in a few years she will rank among the leading industrial countries of Europe." While writing this report I have received a pamphlet containing the welcome news that in Austria they have decided to found the universal work-school. The title of this pamphlet is " The Austria Universal Work-school," by Heinrich, Count of Attems (Graz, 1885).