Saturday, November 10, 2007

I have had a busy week dealing with publishers, all good news. I am starting a new book and DVD for Taunton Press about making rustic furniture. The contract should be ready next week. Fine Woodworking has agreed to publish some of my projects for kids as a regular feature on the Fine Woodworking Website. And in addition, two box making articles I wrote for Fine Woodworking will be published in the spring and summer, so I am busy packing boxes to ship them to Connecticut for studio photography.

Now, in honor of boxes, wooden boxes, the objects that got me into writing and publishing in the first place I will share a few words of Dr. Felix Adler from an address delivered before the National Conference of Charities and Correction, Buffalo, New York 1888:
By manual training we cultivate the intellect in close connection with action. Manual training consists of a series of actions which are controlled by the mind, and which react on it. Let the task assigned be, for instance, the making of a wooden box. The first point to be gained is to attract the attention of the pupil to the task. A wooden box is interesting to a child, hence this first point will be gained. Lethargy is overcome, attention is aroused. Next, it is important to keep-the attention fixed on the task: thus only can tenacity of purpose be cultivated. Manual training enables us to keep the attention of the child fixed upon the object of study, because the latter is concrete. Furthermore, the variety of occupations which enter into the making of the box constantly refreshes this interest after it has once been started. The wood must be sawed to line. The boards must be carefully planed and smoothed. The joints must be worked out and fitted. The lid must be attached with hinges. The box must be painted or varnished. Here is a sequence of means leading to an end, a series of operations all pointing to a final object to be gained, to be created. Again, each of these becomes in turn and for the time being a secondary end; and the pupil thus learns, in an elementary way, the lesson of subordinating minor ends to a major end. And, when finally the task is done, when the box stands before the boy's eyes a complete whole, a serviceable thing, sightly to the eyes, well-adapted to its uses, with what a glow of triumph does he contemplate his work! The pleasure of achievement now comes in to crown his labor; and this sense of achievement, in connection with the work done, leaves in his mind a pleasant after-taste, which will stimulate him to similar work in the future. The child that has once acquired, in connection with the making of a box, the habits just described, has begun to master the secret of a strong will, and will be able to apply the same habits in other directions and on other occasions.

Or let the task be an artistic one. And let me here say that manual training is incomplete unless it covers art training. Many otherwise excellent and interesting experiments in manual training fail to give satisfaction because they do not include this element. The useful must flower into the beautiful to be in the highest sense useful.

1 comment:

  1. Anonymous7:02 AM

    How nice to see Buffalo getting a mention, back from when this was a wealthy and vibrant city. These days it's still vibrant, but not in any way wealthy. And how well Dr. Adler makes the point about the different parts coming together and each one teaching a lesson.

    Mario

    ReplyDelete