A venture in industrial education

Abstract

In recent years education has been developing along more practical lines than before. As a result, manual arts shops have bobbed up all over the country. Quite different from the original idea of education, to educate the already well-equipped few, is the current thought that believes in educating individuals for their life work in whatever paths they may follow. Whether education renders individuals happier by knowing or happier by earning, whichever of the two can make their lives happier, it is worth the undertaking. Theodore Roosevelt once said: Had I a son whose occupation was that of ditch digging, I would rather he have an education, for with an education a better ditch could be dug. With the idea in mind to prepare individuals for life, the Boyden High School has entered a field of education that is new to Salisbury, and in a way that may be of wider interest. In the first school month of this year plans were discussed with the students for the building of a manual training shop. Several plans were submitted. After the selection, the chosen plans were drawn, traced, and blue-printed; the spot was selected for the erection of the building, and the ground was staked off. The various methods of squaring a building were discussed. With everything in readiness, the students then made bills of lumber and presented them to lumber companies for bids. The bids were presented to the class, the lumber ordered, and the building of the foundation was soon begun. The students worked in groups of four and were detailed for duty with a corporal in charge. In a class of twenty, five corporals were elected to serve a month, and elections were held each month until the building was completed. For our first task in actual construction we studied the methods of laying, plumbing, and erecting a foundation. Then came the sleepers, studding, and joists, and finally the rafters. Along with each stage of the work came new problems, and each of the problems was discussed and studied in the class, both beforehand and during the construction. Utilizing the help of the students and making all possible cuts in the costs of building, we erected a shop 50 feet long, 20 feet wide, and somewhat over 10 feet in height, at a total cost of slightly over $400.