NATURE OF THE WORK.

The kind and variety of the work offered afford a partial indication of the extent to which the aims are being attained. If the culture aim dominates, one would expect to find wide variation in the work and the courses of long duration with more or less study and recitation accompanying the shop and laboratory work. If, on the other hand, the strictly vocational aim dominates, it would be

11% Vocational

Cultural
39%

Pre-Vocational
50%

FIG. 1.-Distribution of cities as to dominant aim in manual arts and homemaking subjects, 112 cities (44 cities not reporting).

natural to find greater specialization and the greater portion of the work done in the shops and kitchens, all of it capable of application, more or less directly, in the trades and occupations. Work of a prevocational nature would possess in less degree some of the characteristics of both the cultural and vocational, but would be general in character and extensive in its scope. Some light is thrown on the nature of the work in terms of present practice by Tables 2 and 3.

TABLE 2.-Nature of work and where offered, 142 cities (14 cities not reporting).

The figures in Table 2 represent cities offering the stated kinds of work in each of the grades and in the high school. The totals represent the sum of all the courses offered in any kind of work in all grades and in all cities.

In order to make the figures for each grade comparable with those of other grades, there must be a common base. The total number of cities reporting (142) was used as the base for computing the percentages given in Table 3. Each per cent was computed to the nearest whole number.

TABLE 3.—Figures of Table 2 reduced to percentages, based on 142 cities.

The variety in the kinds of work offered is an important fact to be gained from the tables. The fact that there are five kinds of work found in every grade and in the high school should also be noted.

Table 3 shows how the emphasis varies from grade to grade for the various lines of work. These facts are represented more clearly in figure 2.

From Tables 2 and 3 and from figure 2 the following general facts may be gained:

1. Many different kinds of work are given in the different grades, but those receiving the most attention are sewing, joinery and cabinetmaking, cooking, paper folding, cutting, etc., cardboard construction, and raffia and basketry.

2. The following kinds of work are offered in every grade and throughout the high school: Cardboard construction, raffia and basketry, weaving and textiles, clay, plasticine, etc., and sewing. These subjects are not given equal emphasis in each of the grades, however.

3. Paper folding, cutting, etc., joinery and cabinetmaking, cooking and sewing are the only kinds of work given in over 50 per cent of the cities reporting.

Kinds of work 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 I III IV Paper folding, etc.

Over 50% 26-50% Z11-25%-10% Not offered

FIG. 2.-Percentage of cities offering work in different grades, 142 cities.

4. Grade eight is not only the grade in which the greatest emphasis is placed on manual arts and homemaking subjects, but it is the only grade in which every kind of work in these subjects is offered. The first high-school year ranks second in amount of emphasis and in variety of work.

5. The kinds of work receiving the least amount of attention are: Art metal, jewelry, printing and bookbinding, foundry, and concrete construction.

6. If the sanction of present practice be accepted, the following kinds of work are approved in

Grades 1 to 5.-Paper, cardboard, raffia and reed, weaving textiles, clay and plasticine, and sewing.

Grades 6 to 8.-Knife and coping saw, joinery and cabinetmaking, cooking and sewing.

Grades I and II.-Leather stamping, etc., joinery and cabinetmaking, wood turning and pattern making, cooking and sewing.

Grades III and IV.--Machine shop, forge shop, cooking, sewing, and millinery.

In a general way these deductions should be of value to superintendents and supervisors who contemplate introducing the manual arts and homemaking subjects into their courses of study. To such persons the figures of Table 3 may serve as standards for the selection of material for courses of study and for the proper distribution of that material throughout the grades and the high school. No attempt has been made to analyze the kinds of work reported. The details vary greatly in different localities. Even though designated by the same name in all the grades, there may be great variation in kind and amount of work done in the same subject. in the different grades. Certainly the work with clay in the first grade differs much in character from work with the same material in the last year of the high school. A similar adaptation to the age and needs of pupils may be found in the other subjects. These details of variation can not be shown except in the general way indicated in the tables and figures.

TIME GIVEN TO THESE SUBJECTS.

It is generally conceded that when the work in the manual arts and homemaking courses is not correlated with other subjects it is better to have longer periods, even though fewer in number, than to have several short periods per week. The number of periods per week varies in different cities, and according to grades. In several cities the time is not distributed by periods in grades below the fifth. The work in manual arts and homemaking courses in these cities is taught incidentally and correlated with other subjects. The distribution of cities on the basis of the number of periods per week given to manual arts and homemaking subjects is shown in Table 4 for 56 cities.

TABLE 4.—Number of periods per week, 56 cities (100 cities not reporting).

The median number of periods per week indicates the tendency to have fewer periods in the grades and a larger number in the high school.

Before the number of periods per week can have much significance, it is necessary to know something of the length of the periods. Table 5 represents the distribution of cities according to the total number of minutes per week given to the manual arts and homemaking subjects in 125 cities.

TABLE 5.-Distribution of cities with reference to number of minutes per week given to manual arts and home-making subjects, 125 cities (31 cities not reporting).

This table should be read: Of the cities giving less than 45 minutes per week to the manual arts and home-making subjects, there are 12 in the first grade, 10 in the second grade, etc. In the first grade the middle 50 per cent of the cities give from 53 to 91 minutes per week to these subjects, the median being 69 minutes; in grade 2, from 54 to 96 minutes, with the median at 70, etc.

Figure 3 shows graphically the median amount of time given to the manual arts and home-making subjects, as well as the limits between which the middle 50 per cent of the cities fall. The extremes above and below the middle 50 per cent are not shown in this figure, but may be found by referring to Table 5.

The heavy vertical lines represent the time given in the middle 50 per cent of the cities reporting. The short horizontal lines represent the median number of minutes in these cities. The gradual rise in the median line after the fourth grade and the very abrupt rise after the eighth grade are significant. It must not be forgotten that in 25 per cent of the cities the time is greater than that represented by the black lines, and in 25 per cent of the cities it is less than here represented.

It is evident from Table 5 and figure 3 that there is great diversity in the amount of time given to these subjects. The number of minutes per week ranges from less than 45 to over 600. The limits