FE

I period a week.

TRAINING FOR TRADE.1

EW thinking persons will refuse assent to the general proposition that it is time. English secondary education was organised and duly co-ordinated with those grades of education above and below it. Bearing in mind, however, that the majority of people do not fall within this category, it is well that writers of Mr. Fabian Ware's experience should now and then recapitulate the reasons which have led true educationists to devote their best energies to the task of persuading uninterested Governments to legislate in this direction. There is little that is new to the student of education in the volume before us, but it presents in a clear and striking manner the vivid contrast between the systematised national provision for education in Germany and France with the haphazard and chaotic congeries of schools-often individually excellent, it is truewhich is all England has in the way of graduated institutions for the training of her sons and daughters.

Why is Great Britain being beaten in the markets of the world? is a question that is being asked on all sides. Mr. Ware attempts to answer it by explaining how the German, French and American boys are trained to take their places in the factories and warehouses of their respective countries. Speaking broadly, it is here maintained that the fundamental factor in the success of the education of our trade rivals is the generous provision of secondary education which they have built up. Following in the steps of Matthew Arnold, Mr. Ware pleads earnestly and, we think convincingly, for the organisation of secondary education.

Like most enthusiasts, he is sometimes carried away by his earnestness. It is at least debatable whether it may be truly said that the develop

ment of the system of secondary schools marks at present with approximate accuracy the exact rank that a nation holds in civilisation." But if Mr. Ware succeeds in hastening the day when the broad generous education he describes is within the reach of all boys and girls likely to benefit by it, we are prepared to forgive him a few extrava

gances.

A serious weakness of English schemes of technical education is exposed. English men of science have pointed out repeatedly that Germany owes most of her success as a manufacturing nation to the excellence of her higher technical schools. The universal dissemination of a highly attenuated form of technical instruction such as our county councils have familiarised us with will do little to equip English workmen to compete on equal terms with German and American contemporaries. One or two institutions similar to the Royal Technical School at Charlottenburg would do more real good in this country than all the evening classes and short coures of lectures put together. Half-a-dozen thoroughly trained directors of labour, conversant with recent advances in technical science, would have more influence on English manufactures than an army of ill-educated workmen with a smattering of the elements of natural knowledge. With this view Mr. Ware seems to be in agreement, but we think that on the general question of what is comprised by technical education he is in error.

Like many other writers on education, Mr. Ware is prejudiced against the work which has been done by the old Science and Art Department. There is something contemptuous in his references to the "Schools of Science" and "Higher Grade Schools." To speak of the instruction in elementary science which is the distinguishing characteristic of the "School of Science" curriculum as technical education is to lose sight of the legitimate part which science must take in all wellbalanced systems of secondary education. In the past there may have been an undue importance given to science in these schools, but such preponderance is a thing of the past. This not withstanding, Mr. Ware rightly insists that no technical education which is not firmly founded upon a broad basis of general secondary education can accomplish what is expected of it. But in this general preliminary education science must take an honoured place.

Many other important questions are touched upon. Things will not be right in our secondary schools until all our schoolmasters and schoolmistresses are satisfactorily trained. More importance. must be attached to the opinions of educational experts, says Mr. Ware, and we agree, provided that great care is taken in the choice of the experts. In a free country, where all talk, a confusion is apt to arise between the man who has really learnt his business and the one who has a great deal to say about it. "They think they shall be heard for their much speaking" is as true in the educational world as it is in other walks of life.

EDUCATIONAL SLOYD IN THEORY AND IN PRACTICE.1

By GEORGE S. HODSON, M.A.(Cantab.).

"WHAT is Sloyd ?" asks the average person. He is met with a definition, more or less amplified, more or less correct; he is shown, perchance, a number of models which are referred to as "Sloyd models," and he hears, probably, a good deal about the "Sloyd knife" which is placed before him. Such is the experience of the majority of inquirers. And the result? Sloyd is "doing something with a knife to a bit of unseasoned wood" -this from the intelligent but uninterested Briton. Sloyd is "making things out of wood with a knife and some sand-paper " -from another, rather more interested. Sloyd "consists of a certain set of models" is the impression carried away by a third and the representative of the large majority, some of whom are under the belief that the set is made entirely with the knife, while others are doubtful on the point. The reasons for these widespread misconceptions of Sloyd need not concern us. Let me try rather to present, so far as may be possible within the space at my disposal, a just view of our subject, and such a knowledge of the essential features of the system as would enable one to say, unhesitatingly, whether any particular set of models is or is not "a Sloyd set."

It should be clearly understood at the outset that in Sweden, the country of its birth, Educational Sloyd is but the youngest of a family of four brother Sloyds, descendants of a patronymic slöjd, the primitive significance of which is merely "skill" (of hand), "manual dexterity." As this skill was turned by the peasantry to the wise employment of spare time at home, to the production of useful articles for sale, or to the working of objects of ornament, so was it differentiated respectively as "Home," "House" and "Art" Sloyd, the three elder brothers of our "Educational" Sloyd, whose name indicates its mission as being the utilisation of manual skill in the service of

1 Abstracted by the author from "Educational Sloyd in Theory and Practice." (Geo. Philip & Son.) The illustrations are from the same source.

education. We in Britain know only this youngest brother, and it is generally referred to under the family name alone, so that, in following the common usage for the sake of brevity, I would be understood, in speaking of "Sloyd," to mean "Educational Sloyd." Further, it will be readily seen that manual skill may thus find outlet in many different materials, but as wood has been found to be the most widely suitable for educational purposes, I will deal only with Wood Sloyd (and with that branch of it known as Sloyd Carpentry), though work in metal or cardboard or other material would serve the purpose of exemplifying the fundamental principles of the system almost equally well, these principles being the same whatever the material.

Now these principles-and Sloyd is in reality but "a bundle of principles "-may probably be best understood if, instead of beginning with the usual definition and explaining it, we put ourselves in the place of a sloyder in the act of devising or building up a system of carpentry which shall be of service in the education of the young, that is, by synthesising our system instead of analysing it. Such an one would naturally begin by placing clearly before himself the objects or aims he has in view; he would then seek a working basis for his system and determine his method of procedure. Finally would come the choice of the principles which should guide him in the attainment of his ends.

The Aims of Sloyd.

Let us, then, first see what are the sloyder's aims. It will not be possible, within the scope of this short summary, to deal with all of these, but by choosing the more prominent of them we may see our subject in very fair perspective. They may be enumerated as follows:

(1) To inspire respect for honest, bodily labour. (2) To encourage independence and self-reliance. (3) To accustom to attention, perseverance, patience and

exactness.

(4) To develop the sense of touch, and to give general dexterity of hand.

(5) To train the eye to see accurately, and to develop the sense of beauty in form.

The Working Basis.

These, then, are the ends we wish to attain, and having set them clearly before ourselves let us decide upon our working basis. We have the choice of three. In the first place, there are a number of tools; in the second, certain operations which can be performed upon the material with these, termed exercises; in the third, objects which can be made by series of such operations and called models. Since the ends we have in view are educational, our choice must be in accord with the great educational maxim which says that instruction should proceed **from the easier to the more difficult, and from the simple to the complex." Experience shows that this can best be done by taking exercises as a basis, and at Nääs, near Gothenburg, at the Sloyd Teachers' Training School, founded by the generosity of a Swedish gentleman, Herr Abrahamson, and presided over by Herr Otto Salomon, the originator of the movement, the work is based upon a number of such exercises. The list contains eighty-eight, and these are graduated as carefully as pos sible in ascending order of difficulty and in conformity with the principle "from simple to complex” (i.e., according as they consist of a single operation or a definite and orderly series of such simple operations), and have been found to form an excellent working basis. It will be understood, of course, that the number and choice of exercises may vary to any extent.

Method of Procedure.

We come next to our method of procedure, and again we find that we have a choice of three open to us. There is, first, the abstract exercise method, in which the exercises are taken and taught separately, or in simple combinations, as so many isolated or "abstract" exercises. The accompanying Plate I. shows such a series, consisting mainly of complex exercises known as "joints." Then we have the preparatory exercise method. In this the learner first works one or more exercises by way of practice, and is then put on to a model which contains these same exercises embodied in it. A visit to the Education Exhibition held at South Kensington in January, 1900, showed that this is the method favoured almost universally by the more important school boards of the country, and sets exemplifying it are probably to be seen in most of our larger towns. Finally, there is the plan of embodying the exercises from the commencement in models, choosing and arranging these so that the needful dexterity in performing each new exercise has been acquired in the working of the models leading up to it. This may be termed the model method and is shown in Plate II., which, it will be seen, is a Sloyd set of models. Now why does the sloyder discard the abstract and preparatory exercise methods in favour of this one? We again search our educational precepts and find-proceed from the concrete to the abstract. Here, then, is one reason for of the two it is the model which embodies the concrete idea, the exercise is merely an abstraction, and in doing abstract and preparatory exercises we are reversing the educational principle. Another and a very strong reason is based upon the sloyder's desire to inculcate in the child the habit of attention. Now the true stimulus of attention is interest, and the one varies directly as the other. The end which the child has in view is the completing of an object that is to be of use to himself or to a relative or friend, and anything that makes more distant the attainment of this end, in the shape of preparatory exercises or otherwise, to that extent diminishes the amount of interest, and this reacts detrimentally upon the process of the formation of the habit of continued attention. Yet another reason for discarding abstract and preparatory exercises is to be found in the attempt to inculcate exactness, both in thinking and in manipulation. For it is obvious that a child, when working at a mere abstraction

and upon a piece of wood which he knows will be thrown away sooner or later, will, as a rule, be neither so cautious in proceeding nor work so carefully as when he knows that a single thoughtless or careless manipulation will spoil the model which, to him, is the desired end. Finally, should he so spoil his work, which supplies the stronger incentive to patience and perseverance-two more of the sloyder's aims-a useful and eagerly-desired model, or an object which, when finished, is neither attractive, as a rule, nor useful? Obviously the model. The sloyder, therefore, decides to embody his exercises in models throughout, and will have nothing to do with either abstract exercises alone or preparatory exercises.

Principles.

The final step remains; it is to design a set of models in the working of which the educational results desired may be attained. This involves two distinct processes running side by side, viz:

(a) The choice of suitable models.
(b) The arrangement of the models.

It is obvious that this choice and arrangement of models must be carried out under definite rules, and that these guiding rules, or principles, will be determined by the educational nature of the results they are to be instrumental in obtaining. To do justice to these within the limits of an article so short as this must necessarily be an impossibility, but I may, at any rate, hope to outline them and the reason for their choice to such an extent as to enable some to steer clear of the gross misconcep tions of Sloyd with which one too often meets.

We will consider first the more important of the principles governing the choice of models. The first we will take may be thus stated:-The models should be serviceable, and their uses must be such as a child will readily appreciate. It will be seen that this principle carried into operation effectually prevents any one set of models from being able to lay claim to any such title as "the Sloyd set," or any one model to the designation "a Sloyd model," excepting in a local or relative sense. For objects which may be familiar and useful to any one child will be determined by that child's surroundings. The model, therefore, will vary not only with the country but even with the districts of any one country in which they may be designed for And why should the sloyder insist upon this principle of utility? Again, interest and its consequence, the habit of attention. A child working at an object which will be of no use to anyone when completed (see Plate 1.), and one making something useful for father" or "for mother "-which of the two will throw himself into the work the more completely? And which is the more likely to imbibe " respect for honest bodily labour" and the skilled work of the artisan?

use.

Our second principle of choice follows, as a corollary, from the first, viz. :-That each model must be a complete object in itself and not merely a part of something. For if a model be but a part, only, of a whole it cannot be "serviceable," since it lacks the complement without which it cannot be used for the purpose for which it was designed.

Thirdly, our sloyder chooses that a fair proportion of the models should contain surfaces whose outlines are free curves. This principle is of primary importance; it gives to Sloyd much of its educational value, and its inclusion may be fully justified. For outlines consisting of free curves must be worked under the guidance of eye and sense of touch alone-the rectilinear testing aids, such as the straight-edge and try-square, being necessarily useless here. From this it follows that the child, being unable to trust to mechanical aids, learns independence and selfreliance. The aesthetic side of his nature receives more complete training than it would were he kept entirely to objects of rectangular form. Finally, greater dexterity of hand and power

of accurate observation and comparison result from the more varied demands made upon the worker in the shaping of such models. The training of the eye to see accurately; the cultivation of delicacy in touch; the encouragement of self-reliance; the development of the sense of beauty in form; the acquirement of greater dexterity of hand; the calling forth and im provement of the powers of observation and comparison; these surely amply justify the sloyder in insisting upon the inclusion of models of curvilinear form in any set laying claim to the title "Sloyd."

Other principles of choice there are, but their lesser importance must condemn them to exclusion where space is

does the sloyder arrange his models? The first reads thus :-The series should proceea from the easy to the difficult and from the simple to the complex. Justification of such a fundamental educational principle in any educational matter is, of course, unnecessary. But it may be well to point out that its application here has nothing whatever to do with any properties of the models, whether of shape, size, form or what not. The procedure from easy to difficult and from simple to complex refers strictly to the order of the exercises upon which the series is based, as already explained.

A second principle says that the models should be so arranged that in the production of the early ones few tools and manipula

limited, save one, which may be shortly dealt with and whose demand for a place will readily be allowed. It may be put thus:-The series must afford a refreshing variety. A glance at the models in Plate II. will show this variety to a large extent-variety in size, from a little parcel-carrier, only 7 cm. long, to the round stick, 80 cm. in length; variety in the woods used-alder, beech, birch, fir, oak and pine; variety in shape and form; variety in their uses. To a child this diversity is a constant source of delight, and a powerful incentive to continued effort, and our sloyder thus again utilises the great educational force which lies in sustained interest.

So much for the principles of choice. On what principles

tions will be required, new ones being introduced gradually as the series progresses. The reason for this will be seen in the necessity for training a child to the overcoming of difficulties in such a way as to prevent him from being unduly discouraged by tasks beyond his powers for the time being, while he is, at the same time, compelled to put forth his powers of mind and body to conquer the new tasks thus continuously and judiciously put before him. The operation of the principle in any Sloyd set of models can only be seen on a careful analysis of the series-a somewhat lengthy operation. Such an analysis of the Nääs set shown in Plate II. has been made and represents in diagrammatic form the progressive introduction of the 88

exercises upon which it is based (and incidentally that of the tools also) as well as the exercises which occur in any one model, and a similar representation of any Sloyd set should show the same regularity in the matter.

The third principle of arrangement says that every model shall be so placed in the series that the necessary qualifications for doing it exactly and entirely himself are found in the child. That is to say, that the gradation should be such as to enable the child to proceed from model to model, doing the whole of each himself and accumulating in his progress the powers of body and mind necessary to the constructing of each model as he arrives at it, so that no particular one is found to be relatively more difficult than any one of its predecessors. This is one of the sloyder's ideals, but a minute examination of a series of models would be necessary in order to enable one to say whether it exhibited such a gradation. The above-mentioned diagrammatic representation shows that this principle is fully carried out in the Nääs set of models.

A fourth principle, and the last which we will take, says that modelled objects should fairly alternate with rectangular ones. A "modelled " object is one which takes final shape under the guidance of the eye and sense of touch, without, that is, the use of mechanical aids to test its form. The before-mentioned "curvilinear" models are such objects. The principle is, of course, based upon the need for variety in the maintenance of that self-propelling power, interest, and a glance along the lines of models in our Nääs set will show that it is fully carried out there.

Summary.

We have now followed our sloyder-albeit in a very sketchy manner-through all the stages of the work of construction of his system. We have seen his choice of exercises as a basis; we have remarked his decision to embody the exercises in models from the outset; we have noted the main principles which he lays down for his guidance in the task of choosing and arranging his models, and how his choice of these principles is governed by the educational aims he has in view. We may, therefore, shortly focus the system into an enumeration of its characteristic features; and these I would venture to offer as a touchstone, so to speak, of any Sloyd set of models, be it of Swedish, English, American or any other origin, whatever the number of its basic exercises, whatever the number of its models.

(1) There must be no preparatory exercises as such.

(2) Every model must be a complete object in itself and not merely a part of something.

(3) There must be a fair proportion of models containing surfaces whose outlines are free curves.

(4) The models must be objects of utility and whose uses the child may appreciate.

(5) The gradation in difficulty (based upon the exercises) must be such that a child may do every model, in its order, entirely himself.

These five points may not be exhaustive, but they are sufficient for all practical purposes; and the first four are such simple tests that they may be applied at a glance and by a person having no knowledge of woodwork whatever. Any set of models which satisfies all of these requirements establishes a claim to the title of "Sloyd," and no set which is wanting in one or more of them can be rightly so named.

Seeing that Sloyd is inseparably connected in the public mind with the knife, any exposition of the system should deal with the subject of its introduction among the tools generally used by sloyders. But this is only a very slight sketch of the system, and I can only allow myself one remark upon it, and that is, that the knife is no more essential to Sloyd than is any single

exercise or any one model. Certainly, its use is advocated by sloyders, and with much reason, but a sloyd set of models may perfectly well be devised in which the knife has no part. (And the same may be said of sandpaper, which, in the minds of many, is inseparably connected with the system.) With the killing of the fallacy, so commonly held, that this is impossible, and the general realisation of the fact that models do not constitute Sloyd but are only the concrete expression of the Sloyd principles, the greater part of the opposition which the system still encounters in this country would melt away.

MOUNTAINS AS RAIN-PRODUCERS.

ONE of the common examination errors in geography mentioned by Mr. Chisholm in the February number of THE SCHOOL WORLD referred to the way in which rainfall is produced by mountain ranges. The general impression seems to be that the atmosphere behaves like a sponge, and that when a wind strikes against the side of a mountain range the moisture is squeezed out of the air like water from a sponge and falls as rain. It is almost unnecessary to say that this is a complete misconception of the function of mountains as regards rainfall, and it is largely due to loose or unqualified statements in textbooks. The air may correctly be likened to a sponge, so far as its power of taking up more moisture depends upon the amount of moisture already present, just as the ability of a sponge to absorb water depends upon its condition of wetness, but beyond this the analogy does not hold good. Teachers may therefore very well consider whether an illustration which is so fruitful in incorrect ideas is not better left out entirely if its limitations are not adequately explained.

A paper by Mr. W. H. Alexander in the Monthly Weather Review, published by the United States Weather Bureau, describes the facts as to the exact relation between rainfall and mountains, and as we believe many teachers of physical geography are interested in the subject, a summary of the contribution is given below. It will be noticed that the cause of rainfall on the windward sides of mountain ranges is shown to be the expansion, and consequent cooling, of air forced into higher levels by the mountain. This is the cause which teachers should take pains to explain.

The amount of moisture which a given quantity of air will hold depends upon the temperature and pressure of the air. When air is saturated with moisture a slight fall of temperature causes the moisture to be given up; but whatever the humid condition of air-whether much water vapour or little is present -some of it is given up when the air is cooled below a certain temperature-the dew-point-at which the proportion of moisture present saturates the air.

This condensed vapour will appear either in the form of fog, snow, rain or dew, depending upon other conditions. Condensation is essentially the rushing together of the surplus molecules of aqueous vapour, forming small drops of water or crystals of ice, which become visible as fog or cloud. The tendency of these minute drops is to fall to the ground, but the upward air-currents are generally quite sufficient to sustain them until the drops grow to a larger size, when they are precipitated as rain. When the condensation is very rapid the upward currents are also rapid, and the raindrops are likely to be large. Of course snow is formed only when the temperature of condensation, namely, the dew-point, is below freezing.

Precipitation, therefore, depends upon a falling temperature, and the primary question is, how may this be brought about? The most common and effective ways, and in the order of in