rosette

A History of the Amateur Woodworking Movement

A Decade-by-Decade Narrative of Amateur Woodworking in America From 1900 to 2000<

Chapter 4: 1921 - 1930


An Online Book -- Raymond McInnis -- Amateur Woodworker

 
Home
Contents
Appendices
Authors
Documents
Glossary Intro and Glossary Annexes
A B C D E F G H I J K L M
N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Narrative Chapters
Chap 1 Chap 2 Chap 3 Chap 4 Chap 5 Chap 6
Chap 7 Chap 8 Chap 9 Chap 10 Chap 11 Chap 12

Headnote for Manuals    Manuals by Decade
1900-before 1901-1910 1911-1920 1921-1930 1931-1940 1941-1950
1951-1960 1961-1970 1971-1980 1981-1990 1991-2000 2001-later

Email me at rgmc36@comcast.net

-- If you would like to enter into a discussion about anything you've read on my website, please click here

Chapter 4 1921 - 1930 4:8 Education Programs that Support the Growth of Amateur Woodworking

[under construction 7-4-08]

Back to Chapter 4


Checking  on "High School Movement" in 1920s



See Defining Industrial Arts




    Programmatic Confusion, Turmoil in Industrial Arts in the 1920's

    By the end of the second decade of the 20th century, the concept of manual training was greatly misunderstood. Given the turmoil in the 1920s -- pressure to change manual training came from many groups, professional and non-professional.

    First, manual training was largely overshadowed by the popularity of the vocational education movement. The promoters of vocational education -- rejoicing in the passage of the Smith-Hughes Act 1917 were anticipating that new legislation would encourage vocational education programs.

    Links to More on Smith-Hughes Act [make titled links]:
      http://hcl.chass.ncsu.edu/garson/dye/docs/smith917.htm

      http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/JVTE/v16n1/smith.html

      http://www.ed.gov/pub/VoEd/Chapter2/Part3.html

    Second, supporters of  vocational programs were encouraged because one outcome of World War I was a stress on  the importance of preparing vocationally proficient citizens. "Vocational education had an immediate purpose and, equally important, it had the financial means necessary to support this cause," Says Sredl, "Manual training, as the most popular of the manual training subjects at this time, had the remnants of a past glory".

    Third, With growing compulsory educa­tion laws, no longer was a high school education reserved for youth of the privileged class.

    Fourth, much confusion existed over terms employed to define vocational education programs. No one definite term used consistently to identify this education. In part, confusion came from the fact that manual training subjects were an amalgamation three European systems of manual education and one American movement.

    Literature contemporary to the time used three major terms interchangeably:
      (1) manual training, (2) manual arts, and (3) industrial arts,
    even though each term did in fact evolve from a different philosophy of manual education.


    (1) As we saw in Chapter 1, Manual training, developing from the Russian system of education, was a subject centered on the completion of specific exercises. The emphasis was primarily on skill development. Although defended through numerous arguments as a phase of general education, the value of this teacher-centered program was under much criticism from liberally-minded individuals.
    (2) Manual arts, a merger of (1) the sloyd system, which stressed the completion of projects or useful items and of (2) the arts and crafts movement, was project-centered although its supporters claimed that the child was given the opportunity to create and to express himself through the manipulation of industrial materials. Although the emphasis was also on the development of skill, the skills emphasized were hand skills and the project was the vehicle used to achieve objectives.

    Finally, (3) industrial arts, the result of critical examination of the former subjects, reportedly was devoted to the study of industry. While the project was still the vehicle used to obtain most of the objectives of industrial arts, its supporters stressed the individual differences of pupils and attempted to establish their program to allow individuals to express themselves independ­ently. This program was student-centered.

    Continued Growth and Confusion: Curriculum Goals, Teaching Methods, Program Terminology


    A major consequence of the multilateral existence of the manual training subjects was confusion, both professional and non-professional.
    Verne. C. Fryklund, an instructor at the State Teachers' College, Kearney, Nebraska, described the fluctuating views regarding manual training from its inception to its position in the early 1920:

      So much was said of the rigidity of early manual training without accompanying interest that another extreme took its place. . . . Progress was lost and the boy in the eighth grade was at liberty to make over again things that he had made in the sixth grade. . . . Next followed an extreme in inductive teaching, which completed the change; then the boy was allowed to make whatever his interest dictated, using a trial and error method with some individual instruction.

      Source: Verne C. Fryklund, "Lest We Forget," Industrial-Arts Magazine, 12 No. 5 May, 1923, pages 185-87.

      Fryklund, stressingthe absence of the application of scientific principles in the manual training approach, thought it encouraged waste in the use of materials.

      Writing in the same magazine a month earlier, Arthur B. Mays, Associate Professor Industrial Education at the University of Illinois, called for a reappraisal of the aims and objectives of the manual arts, warning that the young teacher who undertakes to study the various statements of objectives is soon bewildered by the variety, vagueness and multiplicity of aims. The almost interminable lists of objectives which are sometimes submitted as the aims of a teacher frequently become amusing for they contain nearly all of the desirable human attributes, and on their face are impossible of attainment with all of the school subjects combined, and certainly no one subject can be held accountable for their realization.

      Source: Arthur B. Mays, "Enrichment of Manual Arts", Industrial-Arts Magazine, 12, No. 4 April, 1923, page 131

      An editorial in the Industrial Arts Magazine in January 1923 cited the confusion in industrial education terminology of the period:

      After all these years of discussion concerning the proper terminology for the field of vocational education, industrial education, industrial arts, manual training, etc., it is the most common thing to find the terminology wholly confused and frightfully misused. It  is not unusual to find the simplest forms of hand-work in the primary grades referred to by school people as "vocational work". . . Every cross-roads manual training shop is turning out "vocational work, " according to inspired reports. . . . The fact is that a lot of teachers became alarmed at the prominence given voca­tional education and widespread demand for it; they became ashamed of the old terms "manual training, " "manual arts," "industrial arts," etc., and took cover under the new and popular name of vocational education.

      Source: "The Misuse of the Term Vocational Education", Industrial-Arts Magazine, 12, No. 1 January, 1923, page 27.


    Regardless of the confusion over terminology, in the early 1920's, manual training programs seemed to increase in popularity and number. Perhaps a major reason for this movement was the increasing number of students who attended secondary schools in the 1920s.

    With growing compulsory education laws, no longer was a high school education reserved for youth of the privileged class.

    In the Biennial Survey of Industrial Education, 1926-28, Maris M. Proffitt of the United States Office of Education, reported:

      The student body of the secondary school is no longer the selected, unified group it once was -- and with the inclusion, in large numbers, of groups with different attitudes, aptitudes, and opportunities relative to life occupational interests -- a necessity exists for providing educational training with functional values corresponding to the group needs commensurate with the time, effort, and money expended.


    Source: American Vocational Association Committee on Standards of Attainment in Industrial Arts Teaching, "Standards of Attainment in Industrial-Arts, " Industrial Education Magazine, 31, No. 7 January, 1930, page 267.

    Four Methods of High School Shop Organization

    William E. Warner of The Ohio State University wrote of four methods of shop organization existing in the twenties.

      The first was the Ettinger Plan, named after Dr. William L. Ettinger, a former Superintendent of Schools in New York City. The principal characteristic of this organization was planned student activity in a selected number of "special or unit shops.

      The second organization, called the Gary Plan, was developed under Superintendent William Wirt of Indiana, and provided industrial arts experiences "under the direction of an experienced tradesman.

      The Russell-Bonser Plan, also known as the Industrial-Social Theory, was the third plan and featured "a series of general contacts with indus­trial materials in a 'general' or 'composite' shop. "

      The fourth method, the Pittsburgh Plan, combined the Ettinger and Bonser plans. Under The Pittsburgh Plan a student studied for one year in a general shop to discover his interests and then studied for the remaining time in a unit shop.


    Source: David Snedden and William E. Warner, Reconstruction of Industrial Arts Courses New York: Teachers College Bureau of Publications, pages 4-5.



     Source: Sredl, A History of Industrial Arts, 1920-1964. PhD Diss., Ohio St U, 1964

 

 

The 1920s is the Decade with the Greatest Amount of Growth in the Home-Workshop Movement

To illustrate that the 1920s is the decade with the greatest amount of activity toward the "home-workshop movement, (in the future) I will set out the results of the findings of several master's theses.

Parenthetically, what I find surprising is that, in spite, of the existence of master's theses, the several woodworker's manuals -- designed as textbooks for woodworking courses and that feature chapters dedicated to homeworkshop -- do not mention any correlational activity that attempts to assess, even chronicle, the homeworkshop movement: it is almost as if the people involved were working in office, side-by-side, but oblivious of each other's activities.

This section focuses on the following concepts, all of which, to a greater or lesser degree, helped generate the emergence of a cadre of men interested in amateur woodworking.] the project method, general shop, and household (or home) mechanics, the homeworkshop movement and the use of instruction sheets.

The Project Method

Much has been said about the "project method" of teaching.
See Michael Knoll's 1997 online article

The long and distinguished history of the project method can be divided into five phases:

1590-1765: The beginnings of project work at architectural schools in Europe.

1765-1880: The project as a regular teaching method and its transplantation to America.

1880-1915: Work on projects in manual training and in general public schools.

1915-1965: Redefinition of the project method and its transplantation from America back to Europe.

1965-today: Rediscovery of the project idea and the third wave of its international dissemination.

As Knoll's timeline shows, the Project Method has been used successfully for many generations, with all ages and grades, from the kindergarten to the college.

In manual arts the method has been used to a great-er or less degree throughout the entire history of the teaching of this subject, although the method has not always been recognized by this name.

It needs to be pointed out, though. that the general interpretation of the term "project" in shopwork -- meaning any article produced in the shop -- has no connection with the "project method" as here interpreted.

Rather than the output determining whether the product is a project, it is instead

the origin

the purpose

the approach

the relationships and attitudes of teacher and students


One of the standard teaching methods. the Project Method is a means for students
(a) develop independence and responsibility,

(b) practice social and democratic modes of behavior.


Genuinely a product of the American progressive education movement, it was described in detail and definitively delimited for the first time by William Heard Kilpatrick in his essay, "The Project Method", cited below. The Project Method, in other words, is an example of Critical Thinking. Also here.

Willaim Kilpatrick -- the colleague of Frederick Gordon Bonser -- argues that

"We understand the term project to refer to any unit of purposeful experience, any instance of purposeful activity, where the dominating purpose, as an inner urge,

    (1) fixes the aim of the action,

    (2) guides its processes,

    (3) furnishes its drive, its inner motivation."


Source: William Heard Kilpatrick, "The project method", Teachers College Record 19 1918, pages 319-335; see also Church & Sedlak, 1976; Cremin, 1961; Röhrs, 1977.


Laubach, in discussing the application of the Project Method in the industrial-arts program states that:

We might define `project' as an intellectualized, whole-hearted, purposeful unit of activity proceeding to completion in a social environment or natural setting.


Source: Laubach, M. L., "The Project Method of Teaching in Industrial-Arts Work," Industrial-Arts Magazine september, 1925.

Four steps of procedure in the development of a project are suggested by the author.

These are also pointed out by Kilpatrick in connection with projects of the so-called "producer type."

These steps are:
(1) purposing,

(2) planning,

(3) execution,

(4) judging.

Source:William Heard Kilpatrick, Foundations of Method New York:, Macmillan, 1925, pp.344-355.


In the light of the definitions quoted, recall that these four steps are to be taken by the student, thelearner, and are not specified for the teacher.

This understanding does not relieve the teacher of responsibility, just because the project method has been accepted. Nor does it mean that all methods of teaching previously discussed are to be entirely disregarded. Instead, it meant that, undeniably, the Project Method puts the student at the center, with the teacher the "stage­hand," so to speak, ready to assist in developing the performance. Further consideration of the four steps or stages of the project will make this point clearer.

The Purpose of the Project.

If the purpose for the work is to be proposed and planned by the student, then it means that the instructor becomes the guide, an inspiration, if you will, a lead for students to think in the right direction, rather than the one to announce the purpose for their thinking. "How" the student learns is equal to "What" the student learns.

In 1926, John Friese writes as follows:

    "It is just as much the duty of the junior high school teacher to imbue pupils with a worthy purpose as it is to teach subject matter. A teacher must be expert in both. Purposes must not only be recognized and accepted by the teacher, but also by the pupils. Unless the latter accept and appropriate the purposes as their own, this first important step in the project method will fail.

    Source: John F. Friese, Exploring the Manual Arts, New York: Century Company, 1926, page 267.
To illustrate, Ericson mentions this example: let's assume that a group of boys "realize a need" for a bicycle-rack on the school grounds. (In those days, bicycle-racks cous have been made of wood,too!) In reality some one else, probably the instructor, was the "instrument" that caused the students to "realize a need" for it, and assume the responsibility for constructing the bicycle-rack. The "inspiration", though, comes subtley from "behind the scenes", rather than from instructor.

In the setting of the Project Method, the outlook shifts dramatically, from what it might have been had the teacher announced that "a large bicycle- rack is our next project", to a context in which students take the initiative; otherwise it would not have been an example of the project method at all. "Whatever influence the instructor might have had, then, the purpose must come from the 'inner urge'; it must be 'whole-hearted'." [here]

The Plan of the Project.

Now, instead of the teacher making the statement, "I will furnish you a drawing for the rack tomorrow," which he might do under the purely imitative method, he will probably ask the class what the next step will be. Obviously they cannot begin to work without a plan. But theirs is the joy of planning, and one who has not witnessed the zest that young pupils will put into the planning process has missed some of his rewards for being a teacher. And who knows, after all, which is the most important factor to the majority of students, making the plans, or executing them?

The planning will not be confined to the sketch or drawing for the article to be constructed, but will cover also kinds and amounts of material, and orders through which it may be purchased; as well as a com­plete analysis of the steps involved in construction, and perhaps the division of labor necessary; and the appointing of a foreman. This may include writing job-sheets.

Such procedure will obviously bring students in contact with many phases of life and occupations which they would not touch if the teacher were to take the leadership and direct the job on a commercial-pro­duction basis, using the students as helpers, and teach­ ing through direction and imitation. To be sure, the teacher must use his judgment with reference to the information that the students will be required to ob­tain for themselves. If he possesses tact and appre­ciation of this method, he will not allow overdifficult problems to destroy the interest of his pupils.

The objection raised by some that too much time is consumed by this method, with too little finished product turned out, is founded, usually, either upon a desire to show results and have fine exhibits, or upon years of trade practices and experience through which the teacher has become saturated with the cry of in­dustry that production must be stressed.

The Execution of the Project.

If the planning has been carefully done the opportunity will now pre­sent itself to see plans materialize, to see one's imagi­nation take form. Here, as under the previous steps, the teacher may and will be called upon to "show how," to demonstrate tool processes perhaps, and to offer suggestions with reference to methods of con­struction. These are all legitimate phases of his ac­tivities, provided that the students realize the need of his assistance.

Obviously, a project such as this would be based upon previous tool practice, obtained perhaps through imitative procedure. If the necessary skill is not pos­sessed, it will be folly to stand by and have the stu­dents develop bad habits in handling tools and fail in standards of workmanship, because of the feeling that the instructor must not interfere. Demonstrations of tool processes form the most reliable and direct way of enabling others to acquire mechanical skill. Such demonstrations, particularly on the individual-instruc­tion basis, become in such cases, a required phase of the steps in execution. Such teaching is sought after by the student in the same way as he obtains data from books and other sources.

Judging the Results of the Project.

By having an opportunity to judge their own work and that of others, students will achieve a better appreciation of the quality of their own planning and execution. To learn to evaluate one's own efforts in life is a valuable trait, and this can be accomplished without depreciat­ing the value of the teacher's judgment. As a matter of fact, students under normal conditions are eager to have the judgment of the instructor passed upon their work. A list of points under which such evaluation may be made is very helpful, and such a form can be made up by the class through a conference promoted and led by the teacher. Fig. 3 shows a type of "project" that has many possibilities for applying the suggestions de­veloped in this chapter.

Place for the Project Method.

The project method should receive consideration by shop instructors as one of special value. In the junior high school it offers distinct advantages over the imitative pro­cedure in that it stimulates the pupil to reason and solve his own problems. To quote again from Friese, "If manual-arts teachers would but experiment with problem-solving methods, including the project method, they would be surprised at the added zest which would be given to their own part of the shopwork.

Source: Friese, John F., Ibid., p. 274.

In the 1920s, in junior high school industrial arts programs, the project method was the most widely employed method of teaching. It was  credited as education where "the most prominent feature was some form of positive and concrete achievement."

As a "method", it featured four primary objectives: [the four points are from sredl and will be  paraphrased]

1) the undertaking always possessed a certain unity.

2) the learner himself clearly conceived the practical end or outcome to be attained, and it was always expected that this outcome was full of interest to him. . . .

3) the standards of achievement were clearly objective.

4) the undertaking was of such nature that the learner, in achieving his desired ends, would necessarily have to apply much of his previous knowledge and experience. . . and probably would have to acquire also some new knowledge and skills.

Regardless of highly regarded, this method had a downside: "Although the place of the project in this method of teaching was clearly defined, the project, not the pupil, was often the center of the indus­trial arts program". (Sredl,  History of Industrial Arts from 1920-1964, 1964, page 78.)

Sources: David Snedden, "The 'Project' as a Teaching Unit, " School and Society, IV, No. 90 (September 16, 1916), 420; Henry John Sredl,  History of Industrial Arts from 1920-1964.  Columbus, OH:  Ohio State University, 1964)

The General Shop

In IA in the 1920's, the general shop was still a "new" idea. It differed the traditional or unit method of teach­ing, because in general shop multiple activities were carried on simultaneously in one or more "laboratories".

General Shop Method organized classes on the following ideas: assigning groups of students to specific stations, with subsequent rotation through the different activities.

Each group was treated as a class, with instruction repeated, group by group, station by station, as needed.

In general, formal class instruction was not practiced. Why? Because experience showed that application by students of the lecture information was largely remote, with the implication that the instruction would need to be repeated anyway


Instructors at some institutions evidently attempted to solve some recurring learning issues through either/and individual oral instruction or written instruction sheets. [Examples of individual instruction sheets?]

In some cases the general shop plan was used by rotating groups for a specified period of weeks in each of several unit shops.

Inevitably, with a more frequent use of the term, general shop began to soon assume additional meanings.

For example, Denman Kelley, an assistant professor of industrial arts at the Indiana State Normal School , noted two "general ideas" which the term general shop indicated.

First, the term implied


 
a round of shop activities by which a boy might spend some time, varying from three weeks to a year in each of several different shops. These shops would be the. traditional shops doing woodwork, plumbing, printing, forging or whatever other shop activities the particular school might be equipped to do. The 'general' idea would be in the fact that the student has had experience in enough different shop activities to give him a rather gen­eral industrial training without attempting to give him a high degree of skill and knowledge in any one line.


or the term could imply


 


a single shop equipped with the tools and machines of several different trades all of which are being taught at the same time.

Source:  Denman Kelley, "The General Shop as a Junior High School Activity, " Industrial-Arts Magazine, XIV, No. 5 (May, 1925), 171, as cited by Henry John Sredl, A History of Industrial Arts from 1920 to 1964, page 79.


In the 1920's the latter implication of the term was the more popular one and related to it were two subordinate philosophies. The first was based on a unit-type program and featured work in indivi­dual areas, such as wood or electricity. The second centered a-round projects which would involve experiences in more than one shop area and would necessitate the student's working in many areas before completing the project.

31 Denman Kelley, "The General Shop as a Junior High School Activity", Industrial Arts Magazine XIV, No. 5 (May, 1925), 171.

Comprehensive Versus Unit Approach.



One of the leading supporters of the comprehensive approach to general shop teach­ing was Earl Bedell, Supervisor of Vocational Education in the Detroit City Schools. He referred to the general shop as a physical setting and stressed that the term did not designate a course of study. He described a general shop as one which had a variety of equipment which will permit the carry­ing on simultaneously of activities in more or less widely separated fields, such as sheetmetal, woodwork, and electricity. Furthermore the activities are not taught as separate unit courses, but are organized into a com­prehensive, logical and coherent subject forming a well defined course of study. 33

Bedell listed a number of objectives, stated earlier by Dr. Franklin J. Bobbitt of the Los Angeles schools, which were "gen­erally accepted" as being descriptive of the general shop program of the time:

1. Ability to perform unspecialized activities about the house, basement, garage, yard, garden, motor car, etc.



2. Ability as a consumer to judge the qualities and values of the products of specialized occupations.

3. Ability, disposition, and habit of "observation" and "reading" of things in the world of productive industry as enjoyable and fruitful leisure occupations.

4. A proportional intellectual comprehension of the ?

33 Earl L. Bedell, "The General Shop--Its Function and Purpose, " Industrial Education Magazine, XXX, No. 5 (November, 1928), 168.

world of productive industry, of the specialized occupa­tional groups which compose it, and of tools, machines, raw materials, processes, products, etc. , involved.

5. Ability to choose one's vocation.

6. A disposition and habit of being. . . independent, active, and positive in one's home life and one's affairs in general; not dependent upon others, passive and negative.

7. A disposition and habit of holding one's practical labors to reasonably high standards of performance; . . 34

However, there were numerous educators and administrators opposed to Bedell's thinking. Clarence E. Howell, Supervisor of Industrial Arts in Lincoln, Nebraska , typified the supporters of the unit approach, stressing that:

The central idea is to combine within the four walls of one shop, experiences and instruction in various mediums and industrial processes. Thus we might consider a general shop in which there would be a unit of equipment for wood working, a unit for plumbing, one for automobile repair, and one for electrical work, all in the same room. 35

Advantages and Disadvantages of the Program.

Regardless of the program structure used in the one-room general shop, the approach had certain advantages as well as disadvantages. Howell specifically summarized the advantages; referring to the one-room general shop, he wrote ?:

34 Ibid.

35 Clarence E. Howell, "The General Shop," Industrial-Arts Magazine, XI, No. 7 (July, 1922), 261.

1. It provides varied experiences for the pupils.

2. It requires less room.

3. It requires less equipment.

4. It secures and holds better interest on the part of the pupil.

5. It enables the pupil to accomplish more in less time.

6. It makes sure that the pupil obtains a more varied experience while he is still in school instead of putting some of it off until he may have left.

In opposition to the above points, Howell cited six disadvantages:

1. Difficulty in securing and maintaining qualified teachers who are specialists in their lines.

2. Impracticability of trying to instruct or demon­strate to one group while the other units are hammering, sawing, and doing other kinds of noisy work.

3. Difficulty of handling four distinct type-groups of work in the same room, at the same time, by one teacher.

4. Multiplicity of tools, equipment, and supplies to be kept up.<

5. Increased number of preparations for the teacher.

6. "Junk shop" atmosphere rather than that of any one industry. 36

Position of the General Shop Philosophy. William E. Roberts in his study of manual arts in the junior high schools reported:

The general shop as a factor in manual arts is certainly in the experimental stage, with ample reasons for ques­tioning its value where conditions made possible a dif­ferent type of organization. . . . The prevailing impres­sion of work in the general shop is one of confusion, disorder, and waste of material and equipment and of time and energy on the part of both pupils and teachers. 37

In spite of the multilateral viewpoints associated with the general shop, its popularity rapidly increased during the 192018, especially in junior high schools located in communities with small populations. There were two basic reasons for this. First, since the junior high school was considered to be an exploratory experience for the student, it was felt that a youngster could more readily ex­plore in one large laboratory comprised of materials, tools, and equipment representative of many industries. Second, many school systems could not afford unit shops for each major area of study      ' and consequently felt that the comprehensive general shop was the most practical solution to the economic problem. The general shop was also advocated by educators who argued that the general shop facility would prevent the vocational-type programs encountered in many unit shops.

Percy Angrove, State Supervisor of Manual Arts in Lansing Michigan, at the time wrote: The general or composite shop idea is being accepted quite generally in many of our progressive cities of me­dium size as well as in our smaller communities. In fact, there is a question as to whether or not it is possible to have successful tryout shop courses in the high school, without previously having allowed the pupils to have an extensive rather than intensive period of exploration in the intermediate grades. 38

Household Mechanics

Many attempts were made to broaden and enrich the manual arts subjects in the 1920s. One definite consequence of this activity was the growth of a program called, among other things, household mechanics. There appear to be a number of reasons for the growth of this subject whose name at times was used to identify the entire field of manual training. First, increasing attacks on the value of manual training as a general education subject prompted supporters to assume defensive positions while attempting to justify, super­ficially at times, the place of their subject. One product of this justification was a comprehensive subject designed to give students an understanding of products and materials utilized in the home; this subject was called household mechanics.

Early Beginnings. Although in the 1920's household mechanics was a popular term used to describe a multiple activity type of shop program, the idea originated in Eau Claire, Wisconsin , in 1908.

38 Percy Angrove, "Unanimity of Effort in Manual Arts, " Industrial-Arts Magazine, XII, No. 7 (July, 1923), 274-76.

As a result of the work of E. H. Harlacher, a graduate of the Stout Institute at Menomonie, it soon grew in popularity and approximately five years later was a firmly established course in the Detroit ele­mentary schools. By the middle 1920's "every boy in Detroit . . . [received] instruction in household mechanics.

39 Although Harlacher is given credit for the initiation of home mechanics in the school system, the program spread as a result of Fred L. Curran and his work on the higher education level at the Stout Institute. Probably the man primarily responsible for the spread of the program to the large cities was J. H. Trybom, Director of Industrial Education in the Detroit Schools.

40 Status and Content. In the early 1920's home mechanics courses were gaining popularity. C. A. Bowman and F. E. Justison of the Stout Institute described four particular situations in which home mechanics was being emphasized;

. . . first, as the small town's solution of the junior high school industrial-arts philosophy; second, as a means of providing shopwork for students in junior high schools in the larger cities not particularly in the industrial group;

39 Charles A. Bennett, "The Origin of the Home Mechanics Course," Industrial Education Magazine, XXVIII, No. 11 (May, 1927), 345-46.

40 Charles A. Bennett, "The History of Home Mechanics in Detroit , " Industrial Education Magazine, XXVIII, No. 7 (January, 1927), 211-12.

third, as one form of shop in which a variety of occupational work may be represented in the school in the larger city where it does not seem feasible to have a number of single activity shops; and fourth, it is being used in some places as the shopwork to give the part-time pupil in the vocational school who comes without any basis for intelligent choosing of occupational work.

41 As the popularity of the household mechanics program spread, so did confusion regarding it. Under the guise of household mechan­ics, almost every shop activity was justified. A superficial review of many programs reveals a theoretically ideal situation; however, a more intensive investigation indicates a thoroughly confused state of existence. Trybom described an operational program stating its purpose as giving to the "boy a thoroughly [sic] knowledge of the use and maintenance of the various household appliances, involving various kinds of repairs, so as to secure efficient use of these appliances. " The following twenty-five units composed the contents of this course: building materials, building construction, the city building code, sharpening tools, soldering, glazing, nails and screws, paints and varnishes, locks, hinges, furniture repair, the water supply, the range boiler, faucets, traps, flush tank, electric bells, house wiring,

41. A. Bowman and F. E. Justison, "Home Mechanics Instruction at Stout, " Industrial-Arts Magazine, XII, No. 12 (December, 1923), 454.

heating by electricity, motors, fuel, hot-air-furnace, steam-heating plant, hot-water heating plant, refrigerator.

42 Household mechanics became a term to denote a kind of general shop as the decade progressed. E. L. Shoenike, an instruc­tor of home mechanics in Wisconsin, and Roy R. VanDuzee, a super-visor of industrial arts in Wisconsin , wrote;

Widespread adoption of the general-shop idea in the teaching of industrial-arts activities by the schools throughout the country has been very rapid. . . . The teaching of the several kinds of work simultaneously amounts to the con-ducting of several classes or groups at the same time and, therefore, requires a different teaching technique than has been employed in the teaching of a traditional shop class. Home-mechanics teaching due to the unusually large range of tools and materials used is one of the general shop courses, which if taught effectively, requires careful planning as to selection of content, shop organization, and methods of teaching.

43 By the end of the decade, household mechanics and its related terms were used as synonyms for the manual education subjects.

The Dalton Plan of Education

One of the principal experimental programs implemented in American schools during the third decade of this century was the

42 J. H. Trybom, "Household Mechanics," Industrial-Arts Magazine, X, No. 5 (May, 1921), 174.

43 E. L. Schoenike and Roy R. VanDuzee, "The Teaching of Home Mechanics," Industrial Arts and Vocational Education, XIX, No. 6 (June, 1130), 205.

extra citations to work in:

Arthur, Orville. The Home Workshop Hobby IEM 37: 184. 1935

Cramlet, Ross C. "The Home workshop" Industrial Arts and Vocational Education 24:14a February 1936.

Cramlet, Ross C. "Teacher and the Home Workshop" Industrial Arts and Vocational Education 24:287 October 1936.

Collins, Frederick A How to Ride a Hobby Appleton, 1935

Everhart, Frank M. A survey of the industrial arts libraries in junior and senior high schools with an enrollment of 200 or over# located in the western half of Iowa Unpublished thesis. Library, Iowa State College Iowa. 1933.

Greenbie, Marjorie B The Arts of Leisure 231-238. McGraw Hill 1935.

Hall, Sam F. Leisure time and industrial arts. Industrial Education Magazine 38:84-88.

Hardin, Robert A. "Leisure-Time Aspects and Value of Woodwork" Industrial Education Magazine 38:143-144 1936

Iowa State Planning Board. Committee on Population and social trends. The Iowa Community: Its Progress With Special Reference To Recreation And Leisure Time Activities June 1935.

Kittle, Dean P. Activities and Equipment Found in the Home Workshops of 60 Boys Lima Ohio thesis Iowa State College, Iowa. 1935

Kennan, [Keenan?] Claude Overstreet. Home Shops of Junior High School Boys thesis Norman Oklahoma 1930 Norma, Okla. 1934.

Lampland, Ruth. Hobbies for Everybody P. ix, 378-383. Harper Bros., 1934

Lee, Joseph. Play in education 180-181 NY Macmillan Co. 1929. Lies, Eugene T. "The new leisure challenge of the schools" pp 3-34. National Recreation Association, NY 1933

Matt, H. D. A survey of the industrial arts libraries in junior and senior high schools with are enrollment of 200 or more located in the eastern half of Iowa. Unpublished thesis Library Iowa State College, Ames, Iowa, 19??

Maurev, Joel F. "Industrial Arts and Leisure-time activities"Industrial Education Magazine 37: 262263.1935

Norse, Workshop Aide in Repairs. Mason City Globe Gazette, Builders and Owners Page, April 20, 1935.

Smith, L. C. "Shop Work as Stimulating Recreation". Hygeia 11:404-405. 1933

Sylvester, Charles W. Vocational Education's New Deal Industrial Arts and Vocational Education 24: 27. 1936. Thurman, L N "Home Workshop for Boys", IEM 36: 253 1934.

Van Horn, D.R. "Workshop for the Home". House and Garden 54:56 1928? 54:86. 1928

Verrill, A. Hyatt. The Boy's Book of Carpentry. p. 240-241 Dodd, Mead & Co., New York. 1931.

Wood, N. Boy's Workshop. Funk & Wagnalls Co., New York, 1923.

The Use of Instruction-Sheets

Now considered one of the standard means of employed in shop teaching, Instruction Sheets (IS) make possible changes in shop organization and layouts that allow a variety of mechanical activities in woodwork classroom schools in place of the old program activities. The value of IS is not doubted, and it is puzzling why the introduction of IS into woodwork courses took so long.

The use of IS range all the way from using them as a complete substitute for -- on one hand -- all personal instruction to -- on the other hand -- simply an auxiliary to instruction.

In the box below are the first two paragraphs from Paul V Woolley
's 1925 Bibliographic Guide, Notice that while Woolley makes no no mention of Instruction Sheets as a significant aid to individual instruction, their usefulness is strongly implied.

    PREFACE

    Several years' experience teaching and supervising academic as well as shop subjects, has convinced the author that to be effective and successful in any line of work one must be able to find the information needed when one wants it and to do it quickly. For the busy teacher, particularly, both in the class room and in daily preparation, it is often hard to ascertain the several references he should read and present to his pupils.

    Often we do not know just where to send a pupil to find the answer to his question, or just where to make our assignments for outside reading and special reports. It is, therefore, the author's aim in the production of this book to provide a real time-saver as well as a reliable means of helping teachers and students to higher success in the field of woodworking.

    Source: PAUL V. WOOLLEY, A Guide to the Study of Woodworking: A Handy Reference for Woodworkers, Teachers and Students of High Schools, Colleges and Industrial Schools PEORIA, ILLINOIS: THE MANUAL ARTS PRESS, 1925

    Woolley was Head of the Department of Manual Arts Filson High School Muncie, Indiana.

    Read more here


It was in the concept of the General Shop where IS were used most extensively, their use not confined to that particular type of classroom organization.

The general shop is a broad group of educative IS activities embracing technics of shop organization and teaching methods which enables a community, whether large or small, to present a unified core of content, based on life needs, as summarized in these aims: developmental experience interpretive of the major phases of the world's industrial work, "handy-man activities," consumer's knowledge and appreciation, guidance, hobbies, social habits, and (for a very small per cent) vocational preparation.

Source: Newkirk and Stoddard, The General Shop Peoria, IL: The Manual Arts Press, 1929, page 19
(Unfortunately, fulltext version not yet online)

Ericson argues that IS should be employed in many types of schools or shops, as part-time continuation schools, evening classes, in the unit shop of the junior high school, and in all-day trade-preparatory classes.

IS have limitiations. While such sheets constitute a most valuable teaching device, IS are not intended to supersede all other forms of instruction. IS required considerable preparation, with the work by students organized with this specific method of teaching in mind.

Deftly applied, IS replace oral instruction. When the instruction-sheets are properly. Written, and properly used, they offer a number of advantages as a method of instruction, among which may be men­tioned the following:

The box below reprints a fragment from Verne C Fryklund's article on the success of introducing instruction sheets into woodworking courses in the 1920s:


    ... [T]he newer philosophy of education ... [was] the shifting of the emphasis from class instruction supplemented by individual instruction to individual instruction supplemented by class instruction. Attempts were made at first to solve the problems of class instruction by means of individual oral instruction, but the method imposed considerably more work upon an already busy teacher. Since the period of the World War many forms of written instruction sheets have appeared in an effort to improve the efficiency of instruction.

    Source: Verne C. Fryklund, "Instruction Sheets and Principles of Teaching," Industrial Arts Magazine 16, no. 2 February 1927, pages 41-44.

Advantages of Instruction-Sheets in Shop Teaching:

frylund_thumb_mold_IS_1936

    1. Instruction-sheets are a means for offering a greater variety of work in the shop. Such variety could not be covered by individual personal instruction.

    2. They save time of the teacher. The time so saved can be used effectively in perfecting organization, and in other phases of the work.

    3. They save time of students that would otherwise be used in waiting for attention of the instructor.

    4. Interest of students is maintained, because they can proceed with the work without waiting for demon­strations and personal instructions.

    5. They furnish printed directions to be followed. Success in a great number of occupations depends upon ability to understand and follow directions set forth in this way; consequently the practice is of high importance.

    6. Students are left on their own resources in carrying out the work. The habit of "leaning on the teacher" at all times does not produce an adequate sense of independence. Our schools are now being criticized by industry for failing to develop initiative and self-reliance.

    7. Instruction-sheets are of great value as an aid to and follow-up of the demonstration. They eliminate the need for copying directions, and thus enable stu­dents to concentrate upon the processes demonstrated.

    They also serve to establish uniform checking levels in the progress of the work.

    8. If standard instruction-sheets are used, it is likely that they are better organized with reference to pro­cedure and other material than would be the oral instructions of the teacher.

    9.They assist the teacher who might not be expert mechanically with reference to all phases of the work. Such shortcomings on the part of the teacher are unavoidable in the early stages where a great variety of operations is covered.