WIReDSpace (Univ. of Witwatersrand)

Taylor, R.C.H.

1961 S Y M P O S I U M Page 61
THE EVOLUTION OF EDUCATIONAL HANDWORK
IN THE U.S.A.
by R. C. H. TAYLOR
'J'HE system of educational handwork now in 
vogue in the American secondary school is 
known as Industrial Arts. It has evolved from 
older systems originating in Europe and is felt 
to be better suited to the needs of a youngster 
growing up in a highly technological world. As 
the Transvaal Education Department is reshap­
ing its own programme on similar if less ambiti­
ous lines, an analysis of the new approach and its 
underlying philosophy becomes a matter of more 
than passing interest.
At the outset of this brief survey, however, I 
propose to outline early developments in this 
field, both in England and on the Continent, 
before discussing the nature and extent of the 
American break-away.
Most teachers in our secondary schools, irres­
pective of their specialised fields, have some 
knowledge of the subject which, here in the 
Transvaal, has been variously known as Wood 
and Metalwork, Handwork and Manual Train­
ing. It was patterned on the English system and 
in its earlier days was administered and taught 
by men whose training had been received there. 
The British influence has therefore been strong 
even though out teaching personnel is today en­
tirely indigenous.
Prior to the Industrial Revolution it was gen­
erally accepted, at least by the ruling classes, that 
the education of the masses should not extend 
beyond the requirements of their occupations. 
More knowledge would bring discontent, leading 
to revolt against privilege. In the ideal state the 
greater proportion of the citizenry should remain 
poor and ignorant, the better to serve the needs 
of their masters.
The Church crusaded for schooling, however, 
having as its objective a wider reading of the 
Bible. Parental opposition was formidable. 
Children were in every sense “ the gift of God”  
>n that their meagre earnings helped to maintain 
the household. Eventually a compromise was 
arrived at. The school would provide remunera­
tive activity while at the same time instructing 
the child in the art of reading. Thus the “ Schools
of Industry” came into being, paralleling the 
Ragged School Movement and paving the way to­
wards free and compulsory education for all.
Technical Schools
Britain’s struggles to achieve industrial supre­
macy during the 19tli century led to the establish­
ment of technical schools, which in their turn 
had considerable influence on the introduction 
of a system of educational handwork.
Earliest developments in this latter direction 
took the form of needlework for girls, introduced 
some time prior to 1850. Two decades later or 
so cookery entered the field, followed almost im­
mediately by drawing, compulsory for boys and 
optional for girls.
Woodwork was tardy in breaking through to 
the elementary school, though it had already 
gained a foothold in some of the public schools, 
notably Bedford Grammar and Uppingham. It 
was not until 1885 that classes were started at 
the Beethoven Street School, Chelsea, the proxi­
mity of which to Parliament resrdted in consid­
erable attention being focused on its pioneering 
efforts.
Public funds were, however, still not available, 
notwithstanding the recognition already given to 
both needlework and cookery. To break the 
deadlock the London School Board appealed to 
the wealthier Guilds for financial assistance. This 
was immediately forthcoming, and in the late 
eighties, under the direction of a committee 
drawn from both the School Board and the City 
and Guilds Institute, several manual training cen­
tres (so called because of their location relative 
to the group of schools each served) were finally 
established.
The success of the experiment was clear from 
the start. Authority finally capitulated and in 
1890 manual training took its place in the curri­
culum of the elementary school.
"Sloyd"
Paralleling these events in Britain was the de­
velopment in Scandinavia of a system of domestic
Page 62 S Y M P O S I U M 1961
handicrafts known as “ sloyd”  (the Swedish term 
is sldjd). In its earliest phases this was practised 
around the hearth during the long evenings of the 
Northern winter. Mothers and daughters occupied 
themselves with spinning, weaving, sewing and 
knitting while their menfolk, with simple tools, 
fashioned rakes, yokes and other useful equip­
ment for farm and home. In course of time 
their products found a ready market, many vil­
lages became famous for some particular craft.
With the introduction of power and the 
growth of organised industry the availability of 
a more stylish, factory-produced article brought 
a decline in sloyd. The process was aided by in­
creased activity in the lumber trade, drawing the 
menfolk to logging during the winter months. 
The resultant breaking up of the traditional 
home-life of the peasant and its degenerative con­
sequences alarmed the authorities. In an endea­
vour to stem the tide sloyd schools were set up 
towards the middle of the 19th century through­
out Sweden and Norway. Initially their sole 
purpose was to revive and preserve indigenous 
handicrafts. The pupils were paid for their work. 
The basis of these schools was thus economic ra­
ther than pedagogic.
To Uno Cygnaeus, director of popular educa­
tion in Finland during the 1860’s, goes the credit 
for first exploiting sloyd in that country’s ele­
mentary school system, on principles laid down 
by Pestalozzi and Froebel. He postulated that 
handwork should be part and parcel of a com­
prehensive elementary schooling and taught by 
the class teacher rather than the specialist —  an 
ideal which is still accepted by seldom attain­
able in present teacher training schemes. Fin­
land thus has the distinction of being the first 
nation to make handwork compulsory in the ele­
mentary school. The boys learned woodwork and 
the girls needlework, instruction extending over 
several hours a week.
Meanwhile in Sweden in the ’seventies there 
was established at Naas near Gothenburg a sloyd 
school destined to exercise great influence on 
educational handwork throughout the civilised 
world. In its infancy it followed the accepted pat­
tern of the time. Under the direction of Otto 
Salomon young men were taught carpentry* 
turning, black-smithing, basket-making and lea- 
therwork, with an admixture of drawing, mechan­
ics, mathematics and physics. Maidens learned 
weaving, sewing and cookery. Seven hours of 
the day were devoted to the practical subjects and
three to the more academic. The course lasted 
two years with one vacation of two weeks.
The nation-wide demand for sloyd teachers in 
the schools of Sweden, however, soon brought 
changes at Naas. Salomon decided “ to turn in­
telligent artisans into school-masters” . Influenc­
ed by the theories of Cygnaeus he developed sloyd 
along pedagogic lines. His scheme provided for 
the making of useful objects in wood (consider­
ed to be the ideal medium) in a sequence of care­
fully graded tool processes, which at the same 
time provided a constant stimulus to the interest 
and enterprise of the child. Enrichment of edu­
cation was the cardinal principle.
Salomon’s school undertook the training of 
teachers in the techniques involved. Vacation 
courses were also offered and during the summer 
months attracted teachers from all over the world 
( it is on record that five South Africans made 
the pilgrimage). In a comparatively short time 
his theories were being applied in most civilised 
countries.
A third system to influence the Americans was 
that worked out by Della Vos during the late 
'sixties for the training of engineering appren­
tices at the Imperial Technical Institute in Mos­
cow. Systematic progression was maintained 
through a series of tool exercises proceeding from 
the simple to the complex. Although this train­
ing was starkly vocational it was based on peda­
gogical principles which still find general accept­
ance in modern schools.
The Russian method was demonstrated at the 
Centennial Exposition held in Philadelphia in 
1876 and this event is generally accepted as hav­
ing triggered off developments in the New World 
—  an odd quirk of fate indeed.
* * *
Industrial Arts
The American industrial arts system must be 
seen against its background —  the revolutionary 
industrial developments of recent years. The 
electric generator has grown from the primitive 
dynamo to the great alternator. Television, ra­
dio, the motor car and the aeroplane are all 20th 
century phenomena. Steel in its hundreds of 
forms has taken over from iron, and plastics and 
other new constructional materials from timber.
In the U.S.A. it is estimated that the techno­
logical progress of the last 25 years at least 
equals that of the previous 100. There are today 
more than 50,000 distinct spheres of employ-
1961 S Y M P O S I U M Page 63
ment, nearly 60% of which did not exist a half- 
century ago. The two largest fields are aviation 
and motor transport with electronics a close third.
Factors influencing employment at the present 
time include
(1 ) automation and other recent developments 
which tend to eliminate the skilled machin­
ist ;
(2 ) reduction of the working week to 35 hours, 
with a prospect of further curtailment;
(3 ) the almost universal availability of cheap 
electric power (whereas a century ago 85% 
of all work done was manual, the figure to­
day is less than 1 % ) ;
(4 ) increasing foreign competition, reinforced 
by a lower wage structure in the countries 
concerned;
(5 ) a constant movement by industry from its 
traditional strongholds into new areas, par­
ticularly the agricultural South, with conse­
quent creation of ghost towns;
(6 )  an increasing demand for repair and main­
tenance personnel (as distinct from artisans) 
in the fields of radio, television, refrigera­
tion, heating, office appliances, motor cars, 
etc.;
(7 ) curtailment of the apprenticeship systeml 
except in such fields as tool and die making.
The effect of these trends is to compel the 
worker to train for new occupations, quite often 
at a fairly advanced age. He knows also that he 
must regularly enrol in night classes to keep 
abreast of technological changes. Industrial arts 
and vocational educators accept as part of their 
responsibility the training of the labour force in 
new spheres.
In the world of education first steps were taken 
in 1880 when Dr. Calvin Woodward, a professor 
of applied mathematics, established a manual 
training school at Washington University. In 
this he taught his students the use of tools in the 
construction of apparatus needed for their ex­
periments.
By the turn of the century a number of school 
workshops had been established for the teaching 
of woodwork and mechanical drawing.
In 1904 the term “ manual training”  was drop­
ped in favour of “ manual arts” . Some ten years 
later the name “ industrial arts”  was first used
and the programme of activities began to broaden 
coincident with the development and diversifi­
cation of industry. These early advances were 
contributed to by Dewey, Bonser, Richards and 
other American educationists, and mark the be­
ginning of the real break-away from the manual 
training system.
With the raising of the school-leaving age, too, 
the need arose for a programme of greater inter­
est and challenge than that provided by wood­
work alone. By the middle ’twenties, therefore, 
many schools were offering instruction in a 
range of subjects which included, in addition to 
woodwork and drawing, general metalwork, art 
metalwork, leatherwork, electricity and crafts, 
ih e  name given to this diversified programme 
was “ general shop.”
By 1930 auto mechanics and graphic arts (let­
terpress printing) had been added. Some schools 
also offered a home mechanics course, it being 
felt that the pupil should be familiarised with the 
materials and processes of construction of the 
modern home.
With the broadening of the programme less 
work was performed with hand tools and more 
with machines. About the same time, too, an 
increasing emphasis began to be placed by em­
ployers on the school’s responsibility for devel­
oping such qualities as honesty, self-reliance and 
resourcefulness rather than manual skill. These 
two factors appear to have had a very decided 
effect in influencing industrial arts away from 
older systems in which skill of hand is para­
mount. (Significantly, Dr. Ray Karnes, Profes­
sor of Industrial Education at the University of 
Illinois, in a recent setting out of desirable ob­
jectives, comments: “  ‘Skill’ will no longer be a 
dirty word in industrial arts.” )
The present official viewpoint is adequately 
if somewhat verbosely set out by the Board of 
Education of New York City, which describes 
industrial arts in the high school as “ a curricu­
lum area in general education, which seeks to 
develop knowledge, understanding and apprecia­
tion of our industrial civilisation through inter­
esting individual and group manipulative experi­
ences with a variety of materials, supplemented 
by readings, research and discussion.
“ Through these experiences good craftmanship 
and intelligent consumership are developed and 
democratic and effective citizenship is fostered. 
The programme provides for the development of 
muscular co-ordination, manual and machine
skills, consumer education, leisure time activi­
ties, and integration with other subjects through 
active learning and doing situations. It also pro­
vides learnings in related cultural, industrial, 
technical and vocational areas of value in trades, 
occupations and professions, and to consumers.
“ Industrial arts directly benefits the pupil who 
will gain his livelihood in industry. It indirect­
ly benefits the pupil who lives in an industrial 
society, giving that fuller understanding of the 
environment so essential to well adjusted living.
“ It applies the basic principles learned in che­
mistry, physics, geography and mathematics to 
real-life activity, making academic subjects more 
meaningful to the student.
“ It develops desirable attitudes and habits, 
creates opportunities for leadership and co-opera­
tion, giving all its participants a chance to share 
and work together in typical real-life situations.”
Impressions
My impression, based on visits to a number of 
schools in the States of New York and Connecti­
cut, is that the American teacher is succeeding in 
his main objective of aiding the child to under­
stand the predominantly technological world in 
which he finds himself and of which he will 
later become a full citizen. The simple processes 
of the school workshop are being effectively pat­
terned on the more complex processes of indus­
try, even to the extent of mass production and 
the setting up of pupil personnel organisations 
which include, for example, a shop superinten­
dent, tool foreman, materials foreman, etc. This 
identification with industry is in fact real and 
consistent to a degree which by our standards 
takes it right into the field of vocational train­
ing (which of course it is not), modern indus­
trial methods and organisation being duplicated 
as far as this is practicable in the educational 
institution.
Considerable attention is devoted to the role 
of the worker and his remunerative prospects in 
all spheres, as well as the problems of the con­
sumer in the selection, use and maintenance of 
the industrial product.
Much importance is attached to individual and 
group planning and the solution by the pupil of 
problems which interest him. Pupils are trained 
at a fairly early stage to work semi-independently, 
making good use of instructional material found 
in the workshop library or provided by the tea­
cher. There may consequently be wide diversi­
fication in the class programme. While a series 
of projects may be undertaken at the bench this 
is not per se regarded as industrial arts. More­
over, manipulative work is not considered essen­
tial at every stage and part of the programme may 
lake the form of experimental work in science, 
electronics, etc. In the lower classes the explora­
tory aspect predominates, with excursions into 
the fields of woodwork, metalwork, textiles, cera­
mics, printing, electricity and transportation.
Several factors contribute materially to such 
success as the scheme has achieved. Firstly, there 
is in this course (and I believe in others as well) 
no terminal examination. The school admini­
strator is consequently free to adopt a programme 
of his own devising, having due regard to the 
special skills and aptitudes of his teaching staff, 
and the needs of the community. The latter, of 
course, under a system of direct taxation for 
educational needs, exerts considerable influence 
in this direction.
Then the size of classes is limited. In New 
York, for example, the State Department of Edu­
cation lays down a maximum of 24 pupils. Work­
shops must provide at least 75 sq.ft, of floor 
space per pupil. In the more well-to-do areas 
this figure may rise to 125 sq.ft.
Whether the Americans are entirely happy 
with their system is a moot point. There is evi­
dence of some doubt as to whether the present 
superficial coverage of a very wide content area 
has not been overdone in the prevailing enthusi­
asm for exploratory experiences. A faint nos­
talgic longing for the ordered progress of a well- 
planned manual training course is sometimes dis­
cernible. In the light of this it will be interest­
ing to watch future developments in this country. 
There seems no reason why, profiting by the er­
rors of the past, we should not succeed in ham­
mering out an approach which incorporates the 
best in both systems and meets with the techno­
logical and aesthetic needs of our youth in abun­
dant measure.
•  Please write to the Editor if you can make 
suggestions to improve Symposium. Ideas 
about future contributors or contributions 
are always welcome.


English

The evolution of educational handwork in the U.S.A.

This paper starts with the study of participation patterns in different neighbourhoods in
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residents have to resort to other means, sidelining in particular their ward councillor, to be heard. We question the reasons for this lack of bottomup dialogue, focusing on the figure of the ward councillor as a supposedly key link between residents and local government, but however not able to play his/her role. We contest the dominant vision that the failure of participatory democracy in South Africa is the consequence of a lack of training, education or democratic culture, and we argue that both the limited power of ward councillors in Council, and the lack of incentive for fostering their accountability in front of voters, make local democracy institutions dysfunctional. More broadly, we question the lack of importance of participatory democracy in the ANC and in the government agenda, despite the political discourses claiming the contrary

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The evolution of educational handwork in the U.S.A.

Local Councillors: scapegoats for a dysfunctional participatory democratic system? Lessons from practices of local democracy in Johannesburg.

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