How to accomplish this depends upon the personality and training of the teacher. In dealing with the immigrants and the sub-normal children, the teacher must realize that she is an active factor in the development of the child; must realize that she is a friend to the child and must work with him and not over him. In a certain city the children, among themselves, were in the habit of speaking of their teachers as "biddies." The manual arts teacher approached a group of boys just in time to overhear them speak of "Biddie Brown," referring to one of the teachers in the building. The teacher said, "Now I know how you talk about me behind my back." One of the boys looked up and said, very innocently, "You are not a biddie, are you?" Evidently the boys regarded her more as a friend than a teacher. How to educate the Chinese, the Japanese, and the Koreans is still a problem to be very thoroly considered. Should we have separate schools or should they be allowed to enter school along with the other children? If they are sent to school at the proper age they are not a menace to the other children. The trouble comes only when they are much older than the average child of the grade, and require attention of the teacher to the exclusion of the other children. Their education for generations has been memorizing and imitating. They are very slow to speak English. Thru handicraft and the manual arts they may be reached, for their inherent love for the work makes them apt pupils. In their desire for information they will try to speak English and thus increase their use of the language. Let us consider those that are physically deficient. In cases of children having certain diseases of the eye, handicraft has no part; in dealing with other cases handicraft is beneficial, especially in nervousness and pseudonervousness. The teacher, by careful watching, may readily detect nervous defects. Certain kinds of handicraft will cause the nervous child to forget himself and thus gain control of his nerves thru habit. The excess of nervous energy in children of the motor type may be worked off in the exercises and freedom necessary in handicraft. The child with defective hearing will often gain confidence in himself when he finds one thing he can do as easily as the others can. Let me digress here and pay a tribute to our "school nurses," and the work they are doing. Bathing facilities have been introduced into the schools in many localities; the cleanliness resulting therefrom coupled with the beneficial effects of the nurses' attentions and remedies have made many an incorrigible child into a normal one. How many children leave school to help earn a living, leave for a part of the school year, work during vacations, or work after school hours in factories and stores. Most of these will, eventually, earn a livelihood by means of the hands. What shall we do to educate these to make them self-supporting citizens? Shall we teach them to think thru the use of their hands, think in terms of material and labor? Shall we acquaint them with the industries as far as their mental capacity will allow, or shall we teach them the regular branches with only a general reference to their work after leaving school. If one considers the number of children, especially of the foreign element, that leave before they reach the grammar grades, before they get enough of the rudiments to help them in life, then one sees that some provision must be made for this class. As much as is possible handicraft and manual arts, together with a knowledge of the industries of the locality in which they live, should be given them. In Los Angeles we are fortunate in having the ungraded room in some districts for a certain class; but not enough of them yet. Also those who are twelve and over are allowed the opportunity of the manual-training room. we are on the right track and running in the right direction. The feeble-minded are well taken care of in schools established for them in many places. Manual arts, handicraft, and domestic science occupy the greater part of the curriculum. We still have some left with us in the public schools. Shall we turn these adrift or make some special provision for them along the same lines as are used in the feeble-minded schools. The deaf are cared for in special schools and in our public schools as well. Handicraft and manual arts take a prominent place in their training. Thru these their vocabulary and ideas are increased. They are made happy, contented, and self-supporting. The Indians are being well cared for at the present time. As I look back to the school I saw on the Hoopa Reservation some years ago, and compare it with the Sherman Institute, I think that the Indian problem is very well settled. All honor to the men and women who have devoted themselves to this problem. DEPARTMENT OF ART EDUCATION SECRETARY'S MINUTES TUESDAY AFTERNOON, JULY 9, 1907 A joint session was held with the departments of Elementary Education and Manual Training. (For minutes see Department of Manual Training). WEDNESDAY MORNING, JULY 10 The department of Art Education met in the First Methodist Church. Joseph Scott president of the Board of Education, Los Angeles, welcomed the members of the department to Los Angeles. Miss Mary S. Morse, of Los Angeles, was appointed acting secretary. Eugene C. Colby, supervisor of drawing and manual training, for the state of New York and president of the department, delivered the presidential address on the "Aim of Art Education." The topic of "The Relation of Art Education to Everyday Life" was presented in papers by Miss Katherine L. Scobey of the University School for Girls, Chicago, Ill., who spoke from the culture side; and by Arthur H. Chamberlain, dean and professor of education, Throop Polytechnic Institute, Pasadena, Cal., who spoke from the utilitarian side. The president appointed the following committees: Katherine Ball, San Francisco, Cal. ON NOMINATIONS Frances Sterrett, Los Angeles, Cal. Katherine L. Scobey, Chicago, Ill. ON RESOLUTIONS A. B. Clark, Stanford University. Mary A. Woodmansee, Dayton, O. Emily O. Lamb, San Diego, Cal. The following took part in the discussion of the papers of the meeting: Katherine Ball, San Francisco, Cal.; T. A. Mott, superintendent of schools, Richmond, Ind.; Mrs. Edith Ingersoll, Evanston, Ill.; A. B. Clark, Stanford University, Cal.; Harriet N. Morris, San Diego, Cal.; T. L. Heaton, deputy superintendent of schools, San Francisco, Cal. FRIDAY MORNING, JULY 12 The department met in Berean Hall, Auditorium Building. A. B. Clark, Leland Stanford Jr. University, read a paper on "University Entrance Credits in Drawing." "Object Drawing" was considered in a paper by Edna B. Lowd, teacher of drawing, Los Angeles, Cal. The subject of the "Third International Congress on Art Education" to be held in London in August 1908, was presented by President Colby and discussed by several members. The Committee on Resolutions reported as follows: 1. Resolved, That school boards be urged to require the same preparation in time and quality from art teachers that is required of teachers in other subjects. 2. Resolved, That an important question for consideration next year be the correlation of the subjects of art and industrial education. 3. Resolved, That the art teachers of this department indorse the plan of the exhibit of American art at the International Congress of Art in London in 1908, and that we recommend individual financial support of the same. 4. Resolved, That a committee of three, with power to increase their number, be appointed by the chairman of this meeting to correspond with educators concerned and to recommend reasonable university entrance examinations in art, the report to be made to this department in 1909; and further that an appropriation of thirty dollars for the correspondence expenses of such committee be requested from the General Association. A. B. CLARK, MARY A. WOODMANSEE, At the suggestion of Superintendent W. H. Elson, of Cleveland, O., the following addition was made to resolution 4: "The committee is to co-operate with other committees doing similar work, such as that of the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. The resolutions, thus amended, were adopted and the following committee appointed: A. B. Clark, Leland Stanford Jr. University, California. Henry T. Bailey, North Scituate, Mass. Miss Florence E. Ellis, Supervisor of drawing, Cleveland, Ohio. The nominating committee reported: For President-George W. Eggers, Chicago, Ill. For Vice-President-Miss Mary A. Woodmansee, Dayton, Ohio. These nominees were elected and the meeting then adjourned. MARY S. Morse, Acting Secretary. PAPERS AND DISCUSSIONS THE AIMS OF ART EDUCATION IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS E. C. COLBY, STATE DIRECTOR OF DRAWING AND MANUAL TRAINING, NEW YORK The evolution of the art feeling in this country has been nourished and advanced by the rise and development of industrial activities. During the war for independence, art was latent among the people, and the dormant germs of art only budded when the new republic looked to its own genius for the production of those things necessary for its advancement. And so the mills and the factories, the foundries and machine shops come into being, calling for the creative faculties of the mind expressed in graphic and plastic art. The builder needed his architectural drawings, the machinist his plans, the household-decorator his designs, and training was necessary to produce them. In the fine arts, the portrait- and landscape-painters, striving for expression, felt the need of training, and were obliged to seek it abroad. There was no real art education among our people in those days of primitive energies. It had not entered into the minds of our educators that this training was so important in the fostering of our industries, and was still more important in developing the conscience and character of our citizens. It has been truly said that Education must prepare the individual for life in society. It must teach him to imagine, that is, to form new combinations from the material supplied by observation and reflection, for imagination is responsible for all progress in art or in science, in industrial or commercial enterprise. It must give him a knowledge of what has been done and thought in the past. The child must be taught to see that there is more in life than the mere struggle for existence. He must be given ideals by which he can judge, by which he can guide his own actions, and in which he can find rest from the cares and temptations of everyday life. Until recent years drawing in our public schools was a specialty, unrelated to the other subjects in the curriculum. It was introduced into the schools of New England as a result of an industrial need without any thought of developing the mental powers of the child. In the course of time, however, the necessity for unification in the school curriculum became apparent to educational leaders, and efforts were made to place drawing on an educational rather than an industrial basis and to place it in the same rank with other studies. But the reform was encompassed by many difficulties. It was necessary to develop the aesthetic value of the subject, to bring the child to the appreciation of the beautiful in works of art, nature, and his own surroundings. In a word it was necessary to develop all of the educational possibilities of art instruction and to so correlate it with the other subjects taught as to prove its value in placing the child in a proper relation with his environment, develop his mental powers, and form a solid basis for special work in the extensive fields of pure and applied art. Toward this end we are working at present, and much has been accomplished notwithstanding many obstacles encountered. When the subject was introduced from a foreign country by those who did not understand our conditions and needs, it was looked upon with suspicion by the people, ridiculed by artists, and by many regarded as a useless fad. But these obstacles to the development of art education have, to a large degree, been overcome. Educators and artists have watched the steady progress of new methods in art training with approval, and in response to public sentiment on the subject many well-equipped art schools for the training of teachers have been established. Almost all of our larger cities now have directors of drawing and manual training, and teachers are expected to be prepared to teach these subjects according to the latest and most advanced methods. It is now more generally understood by the people that the ideal art instruction in the schools serves to develop the latent talent for drawing, designing, constructing, illustrating, painting, and also, what is more important, to develop mental power, securing accuracy of observation and power of comparison, the ability to plan new combinations of objects and of thoughts, and the attainment of individuality of thought and expression. It brings the child new ideals and a new sense of the beautiful in nature and in art. Carlton Noyes says, In its essence and widest compass art is the making of a new thing in response to a sense of need. The very need itself creates, working through man as its agent. This truth is illustrated vividly by the miracles of modern invention. The hand of man unaided was not able to cope with his expanding opportunities; the giant steam and the magician electricity came at his call to work their wonders. The plow and the scythe of the New England colonist on his little farm were metamorphosed into the colossal steam driven shapes, in which machinery seems transmitted into intelligence, as he moved to the conquest of the acres of the great West. First the need was felt, the contrivance was created |
