THE SCHOOL WORKSHOP. AN enquirer into English methods of Secondary Education might possibly expect, on turning to an article on the School Workshop, to find it treated as an integral part of the curriculum and duly correlated with other branches of study. It is therefore necessary to premise that in the curriculum imposed on the Preparatory Schools by the Head Masters of Public Schools, and in the Entrance and Scholarship examinations by which their work is tested, all training of hand and eye is absolutely ignored, and that any instruction that is given in Drawing or in the Manual Arts must be given either as a recreation or in time filched from the study of paying subjects. The Workshop will therefore be treated here as a recreation, pure and simple, depending of course for its success, like all other recreations, on careful organisation. The chief aim must be to give thoroughly competent instruction and insist on serious work, and though a boy cannot in four or five years at a Preparatory School become a skilled carpenter, he may certainly learn enough to enable him to ride without further help a very delightful hobby, while he acquires a knowledge of construction which will be of practical value to him in after years. So organised, work in the shop has also a definite educational value, teaching perpetually the great lesson that patience and forethought with thoroughness and accuracy in every detail are necessary to the production of any good work. Careless or hasty execution, or miscalculation of measurements brings its own swift punishment, the material is wasted and the work has to be done again. The art of construction appeals to the creative faculty, and has a strong attraction for many boys, so strong that it will not be found necessary to make attendance compulsory,* and this no doubt contributes to the popularity of the workshop; but its attractiveness no less than its educational value depends absolutely on efficient organisation. The workshop which is handed over as a playroom to boys, in which they are left without supervision and direction, is foredoomed to failure. ORGANISATION. The success of a School Workshop depends less on the construction and equipment of the shop than on the prime essentials of a thoroughly competent instructor and sharp tools. *The writer has found that in the two Winter Terms the average number of boys on the Workshop list is about of the total number of the school. If a school is fortunate enough to have on its staff of masters a thoroughly competent amateur, it will no doubt be an ideal arrangement to place the direction of the shop in his hands, but few amateurs have carried their workshop education far enough to qualify them to act as instructors, and it is usually found necessary to employ a professional. A joiner should be selected rather than a cabinet maker. The methods of the two differ considerably in details. Speaking generally, the former works on sounder principles, and is not so apt to bestow his ingenuity on the concealment of construction. But the competence of an instructor extends far beyond his methods of work. He must be a man who can make himself respected and his shop a place of real work, and who can inspire boys with some enthusiasm and lead them on by suggestion to suitable attempts. Above all he must be able to show his pupils how to do a piece of work without doing it for them. In this as in other branches of instruction too much help is fatal to the pupil's self-reliance and so to his progress. It is not easy to find this combination of qualities in an instructor, but some shortcomings may be compensated if a member of the staff of masters interests himself in the work. I have mentioned sharpness of tools as the second great desideratum, because no good work is possible without sharp tools and because nothing is so difficult to teach to a boy as the sharpening of a plane iron; and as only the elder boys can be expected to attain any measure of success in this direction, the work has to be done for the majority by the instructor, and therefore the setting of plane irons is the necessary preliminary to every lesson in the shop. Many workshops owe their lack of success to neglect of this important condition. The workshop should never be overcrowded. Experience shows that one instructor cannot attend properly to more than from fourteen to sixteen pupils, and in the writer's opinion the class should not exceed twelve. If all are beginners, the number must be much smaller. It is advisable to distribute the beginners among the classes, as little can be done in the way of collective instruction. At the same time it is most necessary that every boy should be put through a regular course, and the following standards are suggested. Standard I-Straight sawing and true planing. Work Test.-Cut out a piece of deal of given size, and plane up true and out of wind. Thickness this, using gauge, and square the ends. Standard II.-Dovetailing-Learn to mark out; cut one set, large size, marked by instructor. Learn to set chisel and smoothing plane. Work Test.-Mark and cut one set of dovetails, or make a dovetailed box. Standard III.-Mortice and Tenon.-Drawer dovetails. Use of plough and fillister. Work Test.-Any piece of work selected by pupil which requires knowledge of the above. N.B. The use of the lathe and of carving tools is restricted to those who have passed the standards. It is not advisable to let a small boy begin work until he is tall enough and strong enough to hold down a jack plane. Many are anxious to begin earlier, but it is apt to result in disappointment and discouragement. It has been found useful to furnish each beginner with three chisels and a smoothing plane which he is encouraged to keep in good condition, and which form a nucleus of the collection of tools which almost every boy who takes to the workshop is anxious to possess. With regard to the kind of work which may be done by young boys, there is practically no limit to the variety, but it may be worth while, by way of suggestion, to set down a list of things made in a workshop of the kind during the last five years. LATHE. CONSTRUCTION AND EQUIPMENT. A plan is given below for a workshop for 12-16 boys. The total dimensions inside are:-Length 36 ft., width 16 ft., and height 10 ft., to spring of roof. The benches are four in number, with a long one under the window running the whole length of the building. The shorter benches are 8 ft. long, 2 ft. 9 in. wide, and 2 ft. 6 in. high (one for the carpenter's use is 2 ft. 8 in. high). Each is furnished with two iron vices of the "instantaneous grip" pattern, the jaws faced with hard wood. The space at one end allows for sawing-stools, stove, cupboard for tools, &c., and room is left at the other for a lathe. This is a most useful accessory to the workshop, in fact, an almost indispensable tool, but lathe work is not to be encouraged for its own sake, having little educational value in comparison with construction, and little artistic value in its more elaborate developments. The main windows of the shop should run the whole length of the building and should face towards the north for the sake of a steady light. The upper lights only are intended to open. The narrow windows on the opposite side are for the purpose of ventilation, and also run the whole length under the eaves. There should be a window at the end over the lathe, which requires a strong light. The door should be a wide one for the removal of large pieces of work. The tie beams should be stout enough to take a store of timber overhead, and a door should be made in the gable at one end to facilitate storing. It would be well to matchboard the rafters inside; this would protect the tiles, diminish dust, and add to the comfort of the building both in summer and winter. 1111 STOVE TOOL CUPBOARD. |