WHAT SHOULD BE ADDED TO ELEMENTARY BRANCHES? 271 
*O=- 
‘as 
18 
I'S 
1 
sh 
oy 
ey 
Sh 
ee 
28 
as 
he 
Cc. 
18, 
ce 
es 
{1- 
ue 
St 
1e 
n= 
on 
ne 
f 
al 
nt 
OL 
e 
-h 
LO 
ne 
e 
Hf 
J 
16 
of 
dy 
,f 
shis country were very skillful in certain kinds of handiwork. But the 
‘ndian had no civilization for us to copy ; the Chinese civilization is not 
superior to ours; and what American city has an industry which it would 
se profitable for all the children of the city to learn ? At Waltham, Mass., 
watches are made ; would it pay to teach all the children of Waltham the 
watchmaking trade ? Could they all be employed in that business? and 
loes any one there make a whole watch, or only a particular part of a 
watch ? If the children of a farmer could all be taught farming in the 
schools, would they all become farmers, and would it be best to make 
‘armers of them all ? And as to the ““race characteristics,” what pecu- 
iarity of race is .thliere which, imported into this country, should be 
oropagated in the public schools ? If there is such a peculiarity, is not 
shat the very thing which should disappear in the American citizen ? 
Cahensleyism is the last thing which the public schools should encourage. 
The answer to the thesis, then, is that no study should be added to the 
slementary course because it meets the industrial needs of a locality, or 
favors the race characteristics of any people. 
Public education should aim at development and culture only; and the 
manual and industrial, and any other element, should be adopted only so 
ar as it can be shown to contribute to this development and culture. 
I'he work in any one of these lines belongs to special schools. and for 
such schools the need is a sufficient warrant. 
For the purposes of this development and culture, though not for local 
industrial needs, there are various branches of study which may profitably 
be added to, but which should not displace, the essentials already named. 
These quite generally are objective and concrete. They are embraced 
under the general terms Nature Studies, Physics, and Forces. They 
should be tanght objectively, from the overflowing abundance of the 
seacher’s knowledge, through a lively interest aroused in the child, and 
aot as tasks from dry text-books; in this way they may supplement and 
rivify instead of supplanting the essential branches. There is a world of 
interest, pleasure, profit, in botany, in entomology, in zodlogy—the birds, 
the fishes—and in the rocks. The study of life in all its forms, in any of 
its forms that may be observed ; the noting of facts, the inferences, and 
she recording of these facts and inferences—this study is unsurpassed as 
a means of culture. The mechanical powers are seen in every motion of 
daily life, and in all the business that goes on. The elements of physics 
are a branch of study equal to the one just named. The forces of nature 
—gravity, light, heat, electricity, chemical affinity, not in the theory so 
much as in the practical manifestation—these should be added, in the 
Incidental way already pointed out. 
This list is long enough to introduce the discussion, but it is not 
exhaustive, and the essential branches may be broadened indefinitely. For 
example, language may include literature; but this enlarging and this