INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION.
I have lifted at random from my table five yearly reports of institutions.
The first is that of the Conn. Hospital for the Insane at Middletown. By
reference to the table of occupations of persons admitted last year it
appears that more than thirty-four per cent. were of persons, the larger
portion of whom had never been educated in any regular method of obtaining
a living. Some of them had been accustomed to depend upon the precarious
results attending common labor, and some upon domestic labor, while others
were without any regular occupation. Probably some of these persons may
have had a measure of education in some occupation in early life, but if
so, this does not appear in the statistics.
The second is the report of the Hospital for the Insane at Taunton, Mass.
Of those who were admitted last year to this institution, it appears that
thirty per cent. would be included in the same general classes of the
population.
The third is that of the new Hospital for the Insane at Worcester, Mass.;
and of the admissions here last year, we find that more than forty-two per
cent. were from the above-named classes.
The fourth is that of the Western Pennsylvania Hospital, and of the
admissions here, thirty per cent. were of these classes; while an
examination of the occupations of those admitted to the Somerset and Bath
Asylum, England, shows that nearly forty per cent. were of persons
similarly circumstanced.
In these statistics I have included those persons who, in the reports, are
classed as _domestics_, _laborers_, and persons of _no occupation_. I have
not included wives of laborers, or persons whose occupation was
"_unknown_." I think it may fairly be assumed that, in the case of
laborers, those who dig and shovel and labor on the public works, or in
other places, under supervision, and in the case of domestics generally
throughout the country, not one in ten has ever had any training or
education in any special line of service before they undertook to earn a
living in following these avocations; that, in fact, they could not do any
thing else.
Possibly reports of other asylums might show statistics varying somewhat
from these, but I take it that these are sufficiently accurate for my
purpose, which is to show from what class of persons, so far as an
education in any of the ordinary employments is concerned, a very large
percentage of the admissions to our State hospitals comes. Without doubt
a still larger per cent. of the admissions to some of the county asylums
in England comes from this class of persons.
But so far we have shown only the per cent. the admissions of this class
sustain to that of all admissions to asylums. Their true significance will
appear only when we bear in mind the percentage this class of persons
sustains to the whole population. The whole number of domestics, common
laborers, and persons of no occupation, must be small as compared with the
whole number of persons above fifteen years of age, and from whom
admissions to asylums come. If, therefore, this amounts to more than one
third of all admissions, it must amount to a very much higher per cent.
than comes from any other class in the community to these asylums.
It may be proper to add to the above classes of persons the no
inconsiderable number who, throughout the States, are engaged as mere
operatives in our factories and manufacturing establishments. Many of
these are engaged, and have been for years, in tending to some portion of
machinery which is nearly automatic in its operations, and which requires
little or no special training or education on the part of the operative.
There might also be included, for my present purpose, that not
inconsiderable class whose education for any business has been only
partial, and who, with little previous training, have assumed the full
responsibilities of such business.
The fact that more than one third of all admissions to those State
hospitals which are located in the older portions of our country are from
those who have never been properly educated in any of the regular
occupations of life, is certainly significant, and I think will appear
more so as we proceed. This, however, is only one element or factor in
their condition, and it would be far from correct to conclude that this
lack of education is in all, or nearly all, the only cause of their
insanity. Doubtless many other causes have united in producing this
result, as in other classes of society; but in many cases these other
causes would have proved to be insufficient of themselves to effect such a
result.
The amount of brain irritation, and consequent stimulation; the worry and
anxiety attendant on the lives of the above-named classes of persons is
oftentimes very great, and that there may not result actual injury to the
brain, there can hardly be any thing of so much importance as an education
and training in some regular pursuit. Without this, the individual is left
at a large disadvantage in the use of all the ordinary means of success,
or even of securing a living by any honorable course of life; while,
having had such a training, he always has the consciousness of possessing
these resources; and not only this, but the brain remains in an
undeveloped and comparatively weak condition without it.
Mental operations have been more or less active, as this is a necessity
during the hours of consciousness, but they have proceeded in an
exceedingly limited sphere of thought; they have gone on day after day in
a few channels only, while the larger portion of that part of the brain
which is connected with thought, or, more accurately speaking, many of the
faculties of the mind, have been left in a comparatively undeveloped and
inactive condition. The result is similar to that which would occur if
only a portion of any other part of the system should be brought into
exercise, for instance, one hand or arm, while the remaining portion
should be left in an inactive state for a long period.
So true is it that certain trains of thought proceed only in limited
channels of the brain, that it is found in experience, that a change of
study from a subject which has long been under consideration, to another
which has not been, and which is of a different character, and which
requires combinations of memories and reasonings of a different order, is
almost equivalent to a period of rest. After a period of application in
the solution of mathematical problems, and the mind begins to weary of
this study, it may, with ease and pleasure be turned to the study of some
language; so that persons whose duties cover a wide range of thought and
subjects of diverse character, are frequently able to employ themselves
with ease more hours in the day than others whose occupations are more
uniform and less diversified in character. The law of health and strength
applies alike to all portions of the system, and requires a certain degree
of activity in all portions, else they remain in an undeveloped or weak
condition.
Besides, in the case of the brain and nervous system in general, this lack
of education in the direction of labor tends largely to produce too
frequent self-distrust and introspection. The individual has little range
of mental vision, or measure of that self-confidence which arises from
ability in skilled labor, and not having any training in those activities
and occupations of life which tend to develop and strengthen the nervous
system; and, consequently, being unable to engage in these with any degree
of satisfaction, if at all, is likely to pass into a state of
self-distrust, doubt, and, after a few years, actual inability to take on
any considerable measure of education of the nervous system.
It is, therefore, not surprising that, in the adult period of life, when
the care and responsibility of providing for others in addition to one's
self, come upon such persons; and especially when periods of uncertainty
and long-continued depression in the market of simple manual labor occur,
individuals so illy equipped and helpless amid the competitions of society
should become insane in large numbers. And I think it must be confessed
that there are in operation certain tendencies, in the progress of modern
civilization, which are at present very potent in their influence, as
against remedies for this condition; influences which tend to push out of
sight the individual, or merge him into a large whole, which moves forward
for the accomplishment of purposes, regardless of the individualities
which may fall out by the way.
In the strife and competition attending life in all our large towns and
cities, there have been developed new methods of conducting business, as
well as most of the occupations. Formerly the trades were conducted vastly
more by individuals, either alone or in small numbers. Work was done by
hand, and frequently at home, so that every father could easily have his
child or children, from an early age, in some measure under his own
supervision. The natural outcome of this was that children very often
followed avocations similar in character to those of their fathers, and
began to learn them early in life. Beginning thus early, though the
progress toward any considerable degree of proficiency was slow, yet there
resulted a symmetrical training and consequent strengthening of the
nervous system, during its growing period, which tended to render it
largely self-reliant, and was of inestimable value in after-life in
securing stability of action. In cases, too, where the children followed
other lines of employment, they were early placed in training for them,
while the influence of home-life was still strong, and before other habits
of thought and less definite and profitable purposes of life had become
developed.
In consequence of the great changes which have come to pass by the
introduction to so large an extent of machinery, and by the conduct of
almost all the trades and mechanical occupations by large numbers of
persons in the form of companies, it has become extremely difficult for
the young to have any special training for these vocations; there would
result too much trouble and inconvenience from their presence.[8]
What now has been substituted in the place of this home-training for
business occupations and trades?
One of the substitutes, indeed almost the only one, is that of the public
school. We have built palatial houses at the public expense in all our
large towns and cities, and into these the children flock by the hundreds,
at all ages from five up to eighteen years, and with the largest diversity
in reference to physical and mental constitution: the highly sensitive and
nervous, with the lymphatic and dull; the weak with the strong; those with
the largest mental capacity, with those who have but little. In other
words, routine education of the brain by means of books has taken the
place of that which was formerly directed to other portions of the system
and toward the more practical side of everyday-life.
The importance of such an education of the brain up to a certain period of
life, which may vary somewhat according to the individual, both in the
interest of the State and of the individual, is readily conceded; but
that it should extend beyond the period of thirteen or fourteen years, for
that large portion of the community which is to obtain a living by some
form of productive industry, is not so evident.
That the brain should have all the training and discipline it can receive
with a due regard to bodily health, till that period when the system
becomes capable of manual effort and of receiving education, is clear; but
from that time forward, why not have it educated in the line of its future
industry and activity, whatever that may be?
Does the ability to work out some algebraic or geometrical process, or to
conjugate some verb, or decline some noun in the Latin language, or the
ability to speak German or French, or the study of music, very much assist
him who is to follow any of the ordinary businesses or occupations, unless
in exceptional cases? And would not the limited number who are benefited,
and who, in consequence, or partly in consequence, are able to push on and
enter other spheres of active life, be quite sure of finding the means of
doing so in other ways? These acquisitions may be well enough; indeed,
should be made essential for persons who are to follow such employments as
require mainly brain action alone. But in any country, these persons are
the few. There must exist the producing classes, and in almost any state
of society these must comprise by far the larger number, both of men and
women.
But not only is that part of the public education which is generally
obtained between the ages of fourteen and eighteen of little practical
value for the ordinary productive avocations of life, but I think it has a
strong tendency to unfit persons for entering upon these pursuits. The boy
and girl are inclined to think they have secured an education by means of
which they are entitled to a living in the world without manual labor, and
frequently look upon it as something tending to degrade them, and as
appropriate only for those who are ignorant. They have lived too long in
the atmosphere of book-learning, and the physical ennui of the
school-room, to be willing to undertake and thoroughly master the details
of a trade or avocation, and yet have been there too short a time for any
thing else. They may make an effort, however, looking toward some middle
course, and if any trade is selected they are unwilling to take sufficient
time to fully master it; they try to enter by some "short cut," while in
too many cases they prefer to depend on the precarious mode of simple
employment in any direction which, for the time, lies open to them. They
consequently are in danger, in process of time, of drifting into the class
of persons who have no regular occupation.
When viewed in the light of physiology, or of political economy even, the
State should educate her young in such a manner and to such an extent as
will tend to give the largest measure of health, both of body and mind, to
the individual, and make the most self-reliant and self-supporting
citizen, rather than give a smattering of algebra or music or astronomy,
the remembrance of which will be almost certain to fade into darkness in
less than five years after the individual enters upon the active duties of
any kind of work in life which does not require their practical use.
How far short of such a procedure she comes by her present methods of
education, may be inferred in some measure:
First, from the large numbers who, in all our cities and large towns, fail
in the conduct of any general business which may require much skill and
experience in its conduct.
Second, from the large numbers of foreign-born and foreign-educated
persons who are at present employed in most of the oldest and best known
manufactories throughout New England and indeed through the whole country,
the number being greatly larger, I understand, than of American-born
citizens.
Third, from the fact which has long been recognized, and in some degree
commented upon, especially by those who have longest had large
opportunities for observation, that during the last twenty or thirty years
there has been a rapid diminution in the number of those, especially of
the American-born, who apply at the manufacturing establishments to be
received as apprentices. While formerly more used to apply for such an
education than were required, now very few make such application, while
those who do, rarely desire to remain long enough to fully apprehend and
apply to practice the details of the industry.
Fourth, from the large numbers who have been educated in our common
schools, who are drifting around from place to place, and frequently
changing from one kind of business or occupation to another, not
unfrequently imagining that they are eminently qualified for some office
of a political nature, and dissatisfied if it is refused them, and unable
to succeed in any of the callings they may seek to follow.
Fifth, from the large numbers of that class which has no regular
employment nor any training for one, and which, at the present time,
furnishes so many admissions to our asylums.
Of the inestimable value of brain discipline alone for all that class of
persons who are to follow certain vocations, there can be no question; but
have we not been hugging the vain delusion, that because the rudiments of
book-learning are necessary for every person who is to become a citizen of
the Republic, therefore, something further in this direction would be of
still greater value to everybody? that, somehow or other, a smattering of
book-knowledge would enable everybody to get on in the world without hard
work? Have we not forgotten that an education of the nervous system in an
occupation, is also one of the brain, and often one of vastly more value
in the way of success and health in after-life? I fear that in our
appreciation of, and zeal for, the public-school system, where so-called
education is poured into the brains of waiting children by the wholesale,
we are in danger of forgetting the grand truth, that, after all, the vast
majority must earn their living, if at all, by honest labor, and that
these persons require such an education as will best qualify them for
practical industries.
In saying this much in reference to our public-school system, I am fully
aware that I am approaching a subject and calling in question principles
which have been supposed long settled, at least so far as this country is
concerned. The system of education has become one of great power and large
significance, especially in all our cities and large towns. The cost of
that in the city of Boston alone, was, last year, more than three millions
of dollars, and that of New York and other cities correspondingly large.
The disposal of such a vast patronage has become one to be sought for by
interested persons; while the introduction of new school-books every few
years proves to be sufficiently remunerative to secure large fortunes to
those interested.
The question of expense, however, is of little importance as compared with
the results of the system in the way of qualifying the subjects for the
duties of life, and when this is considered, I am persuaded that a
considerable portion of the sum now used could be better used in some
other method; and I would, therefore, venture to suggest whether, instead
of supporting public schools as they are now constituted for all classes
of boys and girls between the ages of thirteen and sixteen or eighteen
years, at so large an expense, it would not be better both in the interest
of the State and of the individual, so far as the future health of the
body and mind, and consequent ability for self-support are concerned, to
make some provision whereby future citizens could learn, at least, the
elemental steps in some mechanical or business calling?
By beginning thus early, the highest skill in any occupation or calling
may be best attained. The nervous system grows into the strength requisite
to conduct it in all its diversities much more readily and thoroughly
while in its years of growth, than is ever possible in later years. The
occupation at this period becomes, so to speak, wrought into the texture
of the nervous system, constituting, as it were, a part of it, so that in
after-life it is conducted with much less friction and mental anxiety than
would otherwise be certain to exist; while the discipline which comes to
the brain in the process of learning, should be of quite as much value as
may come from other modes of education.
There can be little doubt that statistics would confirm the statement,
that a large majority of those men who attain to success in almost any
mechanical occupation, are those who began their education in this way,
while young; the large majority of inventors in any kind of machinery are
those who have thoroughly mastered the details of the kind of work to be
done, in early life; while, on the other hand, the larger number of those
who fail, are persons who have not been carefully educated in the pursuits
they have chosen to follow.
The inferences to be drawn from the above considerations would appear to
point in one direction. There can be no doubt that the irritation
attending the conduct of a business or employment which has been only
half-learned, and the disappointments which come from failure and
recognized inability, have largely to do with creating instability of
brain-action, and consequent insanity. If, therefore, we desire to do any
thing toward diminishing the large numbers from these classes which now
require care and treatment in asylums, one of the most efficient means of
accomplishing this would be some such change in the course of the public
system of education, as would enable these persons to qualify themselves
for self-support by various modes and kinds of labor.
The same principles apply equally to _domestic service_. This, certainly,
is one of the most important kinds of labor when regarded in relation to
the comfort, happiness, and health of society, while its indirect
influence upon family-life is, perhaps, greater than that of almost any
other. Probably there exists no other source of so much irritation,
discomfort and dissatisfaction, in home-life as the utter inefficiency of
domestic service in this country. Perhaps no one cause has more largely
contributed toward creating a dislike for family-life, and a tendency to
seek hotels and boarding-houses. There is no one more potent influence in
creating dyspepsia and ill-health of various kinds than illy prepared
food, leaving out of consideration the loss of enjoyment which would come
from its use when skilfully prepared.
But the irritation and consequent ill-health are not confined to one party
in the contract; they come to both sides. The poor, uneducated, and
ignorant servant has perhaps done the best she knew how to do; indeed, it
has been her desire and for her interest to do so, but with no previous
training, or with the little that could be obtained while at service with
wages, what could be expected except failure during the first few years,
with consequent worry, anxiety, and ill-health? It would be as
unreasonable to expect a person who had never been educated as a
cabinet-maker to make good furniture, as to expect food nicely prepared,
and a house well cared for, by a person who has not had the means of
learning how to do this kind of labor.
Success and ease in the conduct of all kinds of labor are the largest
promoters of health and happiness, and yet society goes on satisfying
itself with having established public schools in which Bridget may make
any proficiency in book-learning she may prove herself capable of, fondly
dreaming, that somehow or other, this kind of education, _if it only be
carried far enough_, will make good cooks and efficient housemaids; while
schools in which persons could be thoroughly educated for these most
important duties, could be established and conducted in all our large
cities at a very trifling expense. The results in the way of mental
health, as well as convenience and happiness, would, I believe, prove to
be of inestimable value to society.