Drawing, writing, and reading.

COURSE OF STUDY IN THE INFANT SCHOOLS-Concluded.

Children from 2 to 5 years.

Making cubes, balls, etc., as play mo.
saics. Explanation of simple pictures
(animals and common objects)-Mak-
ing combinations of lines with small
sticks. Representation upon the slate
of these combinations; description of
common objects. No exercises in read-
ing, properly called.

Arithmetic. Familiarize the child with the terms one,
two, three, four, five, one-half; count-
ing up to 10. Mental calculation with
the first ten numbers.

Children from 5 to 6 years.

Combinations of lines.- Representation of
these combinations on the slate or paper in
ordinary crayon or in colors.-Small origi-
nal designs upon checkered paper.- Repro-
duction of easy drawings made by the
teacher.-Representation of the most sim-
ple and usual objects.-First exercises in
reading. First elements of writing let-
ters, syllables, and words.

First elements of oral and written enumera-
tion. Simple exercises in mental arith-
metic. Addition, and subtraction, up to
100. Study of the first ten numbers, and
of the expressions half, third, quarter.-
The four operations with numbers of
two figures.-The metre, the franc, the
litre.
Familiar conversations and simple prepara-
tory exercises, serving particularly to
evoke a habit of observation in the children
by causing them simply to remark the most
casual phenomena and the various configu
rations of the territory.

Anecdotes, tales, biographies, drawn from
the nation's history, accounts of voyages,
etc., illustrated by pictures.
Singing in unison in two parts, learned ex-
clusively by ear.-Play, marching, drill,

etc.

Folding, weaving, plaiting, making combinations on paper or canvas with different colored woollen yarns.-Simple knitting.

An inspection of the manual work done by children in an infant school at Armentières, in the north of France, shows that sound ideas of elementary manual training there prevail. One hour a day is the time usually allotted to this kind of work. The children seem to take the greatest interest in what they do.

The programme of courses of study as outlined in the preceding pages is very closely followed in all the infant schools of France.

Charitable, quite as much as pedagogical, considerations influenced the original creation of infant schools. Now they are recognized as a most useful preparation to primary education, and the attention paid to the moral discipline and mental and manual instruction of the child predominates over the charitable idea.

The latest statistics available for the infant schools in connection with the public educational system of France are for the academic year 1886-'87. At that time there were 3,597 establishments giving instruction to 543,839 pupils.

ELEMENTARY PRIMARY SCHOOLS.

The elementary primary school represents the intermediate stage in the public educational system. The child enters usually at 6 and remains until 13 years of age. There are four grades in these schools, viz., for children between the ages of 5 and 7, 7 and 9, 9 and 11, and 11 and 13.

The official programme of courses of study includes instruction in

the following subjects: Hygiene and cleanliness; ethical training; gymnastic and military exercises; reading; penmanship; French language; history; geography; civic instruction; arithmetic; geometry; elements of physical and natural science; agriculture and horticulture; and singing. The official programme is followed almost uniformly and with only slight variation throughout the country.

We give in detail so much of the official programme as relates in any way to manual training.

Manual training for boys.

Manual training for girls.

Ornamental drawing.

COURSE OF STUDY IN THE ELEMENTARY PRIMARY SCHOOLS.

Children from 5 to 7
years.

Simple exercises in
braiding, folding,
and weaving.-
Cutting and ap
plying pieces of
colored paper to
geometrical de-
signs. Small bas-
ket work.-Com-
binations of col-
ored wool on can-
vas or paper.

Small exercises of
the Frcebel sys-
tem: weaving,
folding, braiding.-
Simple works in
knitting.

Combinations of
lines: represen
tation of these
combinations On
the slate, with a
pencil on paper, or
with touclies of
colors; small de-
signs of invention
on checkered pa-
per; reproducing
very simple de
signs made by the
teacher.--Repro-
senting very sim-
ple common ob-
jects.

Children from 11 te 13 years.

Combined exercises of designing and modelling: sketching objects to be executed, and constructing objects after the sketches, or vice verza.Study of the principal tools used in wood work.-Practical exercises.Planing, sawing, and simple joining.-Nailed boxes and joining without nails.-Wood turning-very simple objects.-Study of the principal tools used in iron work. Exercises in filing, smoothing, or finishing of rough objects from the forge or foundery. Knitting shirts, vests, gloves.Stitching cloth. Quilts, plaits, buttonholes, mending garments, darning. Knowl edge of cutting and finishing simple garments.-Knowl edge of simple domestic economy and kitchen work, washing and repairing linens, the needs of the household, the garden, and poultry yard.Practical exercises at the school and at home. First notions of geometrical drawing

on

of

and elements perspective.--freehand drawing.Drawing of purely geometrical ornaments from print or from relief: mouldings, eggshaped ornaments, ogees, beads, den tils, etc.-Drawing from print or from relief ornaments whose elements are taken from the

COURSE OF STUDY IN THE ELEMENTARY PRIMARY SCHOOLS-Concluded.

Children from 11 to 13 years.

vegetable kingdom: leaves, flowers, fruit, palms, foliage, etc.-Elementary notions of the orders of architecture illustrated on the blackboard by the teacher (3 lessons). - Drawing of the human head: its parts and proportions.-Geomet rical drawing.Execution on paper by means of instru ments, the geomet rical figures which in the previous course had been made on the blackboard. Principles of coloring with even tints.-Reproducing designs of plane surface and light relief decora tions: panels, church windows, tiling, inlaid flooring, ceilings; finishing some of these with India ink and coloring. Representation by means of geometrical lines of geometrical solids and of simple objects such as framework, and pieces of earpentering, exterior stone dressing, iron work, most ordinary furniture.etc.; employment of colors for indicating the nature of the materials. Coloring plans and charts.

Manual training commences where the pupil left off with it in the infant school, and is continued throughout the whole four grades of the elementary primary establishment. The instruction outlined for the highest division-for pupils from 11 to 13 years of age-would naturally call for workshops. Unfortunately these are not always forthcoming, as only a comparatively few communities have been publicspirited enough to provide them (a). It is unfortunate, especially in view of the fact that many children having completed their period of compulsory education, are drafted off by their parents into situations without having a chance to pass through the advanced primary school. A two years' course of workshop manual training, such as is prescribed by the official programme, would be of immense service to those who take up industrial occupations. No doubt students of this age are too

a In France the communes must supply the land and erect, the school buildings, which always remain local property. The state pays the salaries of the teachers.

young to receive conspicuous profit in connection with any particular trade, but the knowledge of how to use tools, the dexterity of the eye, and suppleness of the hand, the ability to fashion even the simplest object after a drawing, would serve them well no matter what they did. in after life.

Manual training in this grade of schools is being considered more and more a necessary complement to a sound general education rather than as a practical end. As this view becomes more widely understood, municipalities hitherto deterred by ignorance or indifference will make adequate provision for following out the official programme in its entirety. It is perhaps unfortunate that the courses of study are already so heavy that the only time left for the workshop is from half-past five to seven in the evening.

Generally speaking, the manual training courses for boys comprise two groups. The one consists in exercises destined in a general way to unloose the fingers and to teach them dexterity, agility, rapidity, and accuracy of movement; the other, graduated lessons in modelling, serving to complement corresponding studies in mechanical drawing, and particularly designing in connection with industry. For the girls, besides cutting and sewing, a certain number of lessons and amount of advice are given not only upon domestic economy, but on morale, with a view of inspiring a love of order and a taste for housekeeping and to hinder the acquisiton of frivolous and dangerous ideas.

From the infant schools to the advanced primary schools the following materials are utilized in the manual training courses: Straw, willow shoots, paper, thin cardboard, twine, wire, sheet iron, wood, iron, zinc, copper, modelling clay, pottery clay, plaster, chalk, and sandstone.

Manual training means from the beginning to the end a technical daily lesson, the theory of the immediate work to be performed being particularly emphasized. It means, also, free-hand and mechanical drawing, the sketching of common articles of manufacture and of their separate parts in plans, cross-sections, and elevations according to scale.

MANUAL TRAINING IN ELEMENTARY PRIMARY SCHOOLS FOR BOYS, PARIS.

In 1873 M. Salicis, until his death general inspector of manual training for France, conceived the idea of introducing manual training in the elementary primary schools. Workshops were then constructed in connection with the boys' school in the rue Tournefort, forming a sort of annex. The city has ever since given 16,000 francs ($3,088) annually to pay for the necessary materials as well as the force of workmen teachers engaged to give the instruction.

Contrary to the general practice which admits only pupils from 11 to 13 years of age to the workshops, the children enter here at 8. All do mechanical drawing and model work.

In order to have more time for the shop the students of the higher division (from 11 to 13 years) spend an hour longer each day at school. This division passes three hours daily in the workshops, and is divided into five sections, each of which spends one week alternately at carpentry and wood turning, metal turning, forging and fitting, modelling and moulding, and wood and stone carving.

The children in the class immediately below (9 to 11 years) spend one hour daily in the shop, working alternately on wood and iron. Modelling is done in a special class.

The youngest boys (8 years of age) devote two hours per week to the shop, working also alternately upon wood and iron, and the same length of time in modelling. The implements used by them are simply the rasp, the file, and the saw.

A primary school teacher who has himself been instructed in manual training during his course at the normal school is in charge of the workshops. Under him are placed five skilled workmen, a carpenter and joiner, a wood turner, a metal turner, a blacksmith, and a fitter, who direct the practical efforts of the pupils.

This institution is unique amongst schools of a similar grade in Paris. It was not accepted as a model for the rest, when in 1880 manual training was introduced more generally. The commission having charge of the matter decided not to make, as it were, elementary trade schools, but to provide manual exercises in the workshop for the most advanced division only and to give to the instruction the character of a sort of gymnastics for the eye and the hand.

These views are embodied in the programme of studies already given and now in force. It seems probable, however, that another change will soon be made, for the whole subject has been recently carefully and thoroughly studied by a commission of experts at the head of which is M. Duplan, the subdirector of primary instruction for Paris. The principles adopted can not fail to have great weight coming from such high authorities. They are as follows:

1. Manual training in schools should be considered as a means of general education. It is besides an indirect preparation for the exercise of different occupations because it teaches the method of handling tools.

2. Manual training should be above everything else methodical; it should comprise gradations and synthetic exercises. In order to encourage personal effort, competitions should be organized every two months between the more capable scholars. The greatest liberty should be allowed in the execution of the task imposed by the instructor.

3. Drawing being the base of manual training no object should be made without a full sized drawing of it having first been made by the student. The pupils should be familiarized with the use of scales, cross-sections, and perspectives.

4. Manual training should be obligatory to all pupils.

5. Instruction should be given in the class room and in the workshop.

S. Ex. 65-15