OCR Text |
Show The purpose of these departments is the training of Indian teachera for Indian schools, and it is confidently expected that many of these teachere will become sufficiently proficient in the profession to render them desirable as teachers in .other schools. It is gratifying to note the eagerness with which the Indian youth avail themselves of these opportunities for self help afforded by the Government schools, as well as to note the fact that even now in many instances Indians are teach-in. n. with marked success in Government schools. Agricnltural and indostrial training.->lu(.l~ :irtentioa is paid in the various sc,l~(~o~lAxn I g ri~tult~~arllndl iltdnstrial traiuing. The wisdom of ' thi3 is self evident. Ou tlleoue llaud it atl'ords an u~uortunitvto i~~c u l - cate respect and even love for work; it becomes th6 occasionfor much valuable experience to pupils, paves the way for effective self-help, and for the desire of home-making. On the other hand it relieves the monotony of the literary schoolroom exercises and ther,eby makes these exercises themselves more enjoyable and more profitable to the ~uails. This is more narticularlv the case in schools in which the ieicl~ers aml leaders (;f the lodistrial and agrirult~lral work bsvo 1ca111edt o labor 111 full ull~tyw, 11el.e the seboolroom 11us leal'ned to rake ir, illuhtrations from the farm and work.41011. ~ I I wI h~er e fbe f'd~m and workshop have learned to emphasize the practical value of the schoolroom lessons in their daily work. In manv cases. however, the farm and worksho*, are carried ou more ;IS a matt>r of business, that ia, for rlle p e c ~ ~ u iraes~ujlt s of the labor rather t l~aal~s a n~attero f edocatio~l. On many sel~oolf i~rmathfea rm-ers are merely t'drmers and ill IIO mils tencl~ers. They work for c.n)l,n, and use the boys as hands, making no effort to instri~ctth em as to the purpose and meaning of the work, caring in no way for their welfare, but only for the work that can be gotten out of them. School farm.-If the school farm is to produce valuable results in the lives of the boys the farmer who directs their work should look upon this as the chief end of his labors. He should instruct these boys con-cerninn the character and value of the different soils: ada~tation of theses'lils to the variuuscrops; the meansfor iavreasingi;n(l wiiutaiuing their tkrtility. He shuul(1 rxplaill to them the cbarncter, constr~~ction, autl unrnone of the ditierent tools and imulemeuts used iu c~~l~iration. giving {hem the meaning of every madipnlation in which they are engaged and the reasons therefor. In short, he should see to it that they do everything with full knowledge of the purpose in view aud of the adaptation of the means used for its achievement. If this is done, the farmer will be rewarded, not only by having at his disposal more intelligent, more eager, and therefore more efficient workers, but he will raise better and more abundant crops, and at the same time there will grow within him the assurance that, inaddition to hay, oats, corn, and wheat, heis raising more precious crops of intelligent farmers and laying the foundation for prosperous rural homes that will bless him as their chief benefactor. Workshop&.-Similarly, in manyworkshops, the harness-makers, shoe-makers, tailors, blacksmiths, carpenters, wagon-makers, painters, and so on, seem to beintent chiefly upon turning out alarge number of articles, and, consequently, are apt to fall into the stultifying methods of the factory, making of the boys unthinking pieces of machinery, ignorant of the meaning and purpose of their manipulations, intent, chiefly, on tilling up the time--mere toilers at jobs, not workmen with intelligent purposes and actuated by the artisan's interest. The foremen of all of these workshops should learn to realize that in |