"I left school at fifteen, with a fair hold on the three R's, and beyond this my education in 'manual training' had been good. I knew all the forest trees, all wild animals thereabout, every kind of fish, frog, fowl, or bird that swam, ran or flew. I knew every kind of grain or vegetable, and its comparable value. I knew the different breeds of cattle, horse, sheep and swine. I could teach wild cows to stand while being milked, break horse to saddle or harness; could sow, plow and reap; knew the mysteries of apple-butter, pumpkin pie, pickled beef, smoked side-meat and could make lye at a leach and formulate soft soap.Elbert Hubbard is best known as founder of the Roycroft Shops. The Roycroft Creed was taken from John Ruskin: "A belief in working with the head, hand and heart and mixing enough play with the work so that every task is pleasurable and makes for health and happiness"."
"That is to say, I was a bright, strong, active country boy, who had been brought up to help his father and mother get a living for a large family. "I was not so densely ignorant--don't feel sorry for country boys; God is often on their side."
This blog is dedicated to sharing the concept that our hands are essential to learning- that we engage the world and its wonders, sensing and creating primarily through the agency of our hands. We abandon our children to education in boredom and intellectual escapism by failing to engage their hands in learning and making.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Elbert Hubbard
Elbert Hubbard was the author of a number of books and as leader in the Arts and Crafts Movement was an advocate of the manual arts:
Sounds like the words I heard my 4-H woodworking club open up with....the 4-H pledge......heart hands health..etc.. I wonder if they borrowed the words from him?
ReplyDeleteAnd the Roycroft Campus still lives on, about 15 miles from here in East Aurora. Their craft show is an amazing one to attend.
ReplyDeleteMario