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Manual Training
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Maker in doing their part of the world’s work and lending a helpful
hand to those weaker or more ignorant.
One great reason why physical work is looked down on is the
slipshod, unthinking way in which it is often performed. It is done
from necessity, not from choice. The worker puts no heart into it,
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and he neither preserves self-respect nor wins the respect of others.
Manual training should correct this error. It should develop habits
of accuracy and thoroughness.
Students should learn tact and system. They should learn to
economize time and make every move count. They should not only
be taught the best methods, they should be inspired with ambition
constantly to improve.
Such training will make the youth masters and not slaves of work.
It will lighten the lot of the hard toiler, and will ennoble even the
humblest occupation. Those who regard work as mere drudgery, and
settle down to it with self-complacent ignorance, making no effort
to improve, will find it indeed a burden. But those who recognize
science in the humblest work will see in it nobility and beauty, and
will take pleasure in performing it with faithfulness and efficiency.
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