Technical instruction in elementary and intermediate schools : a paper read before the Society of Arts, Wednesday, May 23, 1883 / by Philip Magnus.

  • Magnus, Philip, 1842-1933.
Date:
1883
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Technical instruction in elementary and intermediate schools : a paper read before the Society of Arts, Wednesday, May 23, 1883 / by Philip Magnus. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    17/18 page 15
    Mr. E. C. Robins, a member of the Council of the City Institute, said Mr. Magnus had presented an ex- cellent risu7tie of the whole subject, from the infant school to the University, in connexion with technical education, the true meaning of which was to teach more about things themselves than could be conveyed by mere language ; words represented the thought in their minds, but the things which the words repre- sented were more important, not only for artisans to understand, but for the professional men who de- signed for them. The knowledge of principles gained in the workshop went far beyond mere book learning, and he hoped the system referred to by Mr. Magnus would be largely carried out, and the sooner they could get it introduced by the School Board into elementary education, the better for them all. Mr. D. Walker, Practical Instructor in the Tech- nical Classes at King’s College, said the time and attention which Mr. Magnus had given to these sub- jects was well known. For 15 years he had himself been foreman in large factories, and had numbers of apprentices in his charge. He found that the general education of the youths had a great influence on their success in learning their trade. For the last ten years he had been training men in the higher classes of mechanical work, and had found good results from the teaching. Hardly any comparison could be made between those who learned in that way and the ordinary workmen in manipulative skill, as the former were far in advance of the others. Mr. Magnus had sketched out a cumculura which had been advocated by many professors. In Leeds, where students entered works to pass through the ordinary articled pupils’ career, their time had in this way been, in some cases, reduced. He did not agree with beginning work of this kind too early, and he thought there was not much gained by boys commencing it before they were 13 years old. There was a possibility of going too far in that direction, looldng at their experience from the Continent. The Rev. Mr. Pearson, member of the School Board for Hackney, said they had many practical evidences of the interest which this subject was beginning to excite among the public. Scholars should be taught to use their hands with dexterity, and the system of giving object lessons should be further extended. He had brought the subject forward at the School Board, though unsuccessfully, but he was glad to say Dr. Gladstone had taken it up, and a committee had been appointed to consider it. He hoped they would have the assistance of Mr. Magnus, Professor Silvanus Thompson, Mr. H. Trueman Wood, and other gentlemen like them, who would help in this excellent work. Such know- ledge, if given to men—and particularly to women— would Vastly increase their happiness. He regretted that no lady members of the School Board were present, as they would no doubt have supplied the omission, so far as the discussion of the subject, that the technical education of women had not been dealt with. The Chairman referred to the importance of the subject to the industrial activity of England, as well as to the literary and professional classes who would be benefitedby it. He could not help feeling, however, that there was great difficulty in introducing much technical teaching in the way of handicrafts into our schools as they were at present organised. The time at teachers’ disposal was so limited, and the curriculum of subjects under the Code so extensive, that it would be difficult to find an opportunity to teach what might be called handicraft. In France, though the hours of study were longer, handicraft instruction had to be given to the boys before the ordinary school studies commenced, and after they were over; and it seemed impossible, therefore, that it could be given in England without a veiy material extension of school hours. But he heartily agi'eed with Mr. Magnus in the necessity for model drawing being made the ground work for technical instruction in schools. Another subject greatly required was mathematics, which should be taught instead of physiology and other subjects which teachers were so fond of talcing. They were rendered almost useless in consequence of actual demonstration being prohibited by the Code—a model might be used, but a sheep’s eye or bullock’s heart could not be brought for dissection, to show what the things taught really were. Teachers should be instructed to teach mathematics, both geometry and algebra. Some people would have technical schools mainly schools of science, and others advocated the ex- clusive teaching of manual dexterity. He was not competent to say which was the better method, but his inclination was rather to side with hir. Dixon in saying that, up to the age of 16, the object should rather be to give the boys a groundwork of prac- tical knowledge. At Oldham, where the science school had been mainly founded and supported by Messrs. Platt Brothers, who took a great interest in the industrial education of the people, Mr. Platt had told him they would rather their apprentices came to them without any practical knowledge, so that they might learn from the beginning, without having to correct wrong ideas which they might have got from a somewhat smattering kind of teaching. Some fifteen or twenty years ago, at the works in the north of England, German chemists were usually found, but now the giadual growth of scientific teaching in England had resulted in English chemists being more generally employed. No doubt great progress had been made in the last few years in practical scientific teaching. Of course the School Board should endeavour to carry out these objects, but they were not so free to do what they desired as people supposed, and they did not yet dare to build in London proper drawing class-rooms,
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3