APPENDIX C. PRACTICAL PAPERS ON DRAWING, Comprising plans, programmes, and suggestions for the successful introduction of the study of drawing in public schools, by Professor Walter Smith, Art Master, State Art Director of Massachusetts, etc., etc. Public addresses to teachers by Walter Smith, and two lectures, one on the practical teaching of drawing and one on its direct relations to manual training, by Walter S. Perry, Supervisor of Drawing in Worcester, Mass. I. Introduction. II.-Letter from Walter Smith, State Art Director of Massachusetts, to John Eaton, LL. D., U. S. Commissioner of Education, suggesting plans for organizing instruction in drawing in State and city schools. 1875. III.-Plan and graded programme of instruction in drawing for the public schools of VI.-Two lectures on drawing in public schools, one delivered in Worcester before the Massachusetts Drawing Teachers' Association in 1881, the other at Saratoga, before "The National Education Association" in 1883, by Walter S. Perry, Supervisor of Drawing, Worcester, Mass. 515 I.-INTRODUCTION. The following papers are here brought together as comprising, in convenient form, such detailed information as will suffice to enable the educational authorities of a town or city system of graded public schools, to successfully introduce in all the schools such progressive instruction in drawing as was established in the schools of Boston and many other Massachusetts towns, under the direction of Prof. Walter Smith. It may not be without interest to compare the suggestions of Professor Smith embodied in the first paper, a letter to the United States Commissioner of Education, written in 1875, with his perfected programme, which immediately follows it, issued in 1880, after ten years of experience with the schools of Massachusetts. The programmes of studies, as arranged for Normal Art Schools, are given in the account of the Massachusetts Normal Art School.* The addresses to teachers upon the general topics of industrial art, while of direct utility to teachers, will also be found of value to all who are in any degree interested in the subject of household decoration; they are full of suggestions and embody the results of trained observation. The lectures by Mr. Perry can hardly fail of appreciation by all those engaged in the work of teaching elementary industrial drawing in the public schools. II.-LETTER FROM PROFESSOR SMITH IN REGARD TO INTRODUCING DRAWING IN STATE AND CITY SCHOOLS, 1875. BOSTON, MASS., January 16, 1875. MY DEAR SIR: I am happy to comply with your application and send copies of the circular and prospectus of the Massachusetts Normal Art School. Your other request that I should "show how a State, a city, a town, or even a village, should go to work so as to secure the best results in this matter of industrial drawing," is not so easy a matter; but I willingly offer a few suggestions, founded on observations and experience, neither lightly made nor of short duration. STATE ACTION. It may be interesting to consider what one State has done when we are inquiring as to what any State may do. What Massachusetts has done in the matter of industrial drawing is getting to be an old story here, but may not be so well known elsewhere, and I apologize for now referring to it, by the statement that to tell any story aright the competency of the narrator to understand its points is a matter of some consequence. Your application to me presupposes that I am a competent witness, and I comply with it as a matter of duty, in order to place on record a practical man's views, in opposition to the visionary criticism which the subject is receiving from mere theorists. Home-returned American travelers, Boston or Massachusetts men, whether * See chapter III, Part I, of this Report. accomplished art scholars like Mr. C. C. Perkins, or prominent artists like Prof. William R. Ware, or educators like Prof. C. C. Thompson, of Worcester, told but one story of their observations in Europe, viz: that the one industrial feature which Europe had, and Massachusetts lacked, was the skilled labor arising from art education. In coöperation with them, eminent educators like Mr. J. D. Philbrick considered the question both as to the possibility of introducing the subject into the system of public education, and the practical means of accomplishing it, if found to be both practicable and desirable. Much interest was aroused in the question, and a petition to the legislature was presented signed by many of the foremost men among the scholars, merchants, ministers, and others, requesting attention to the subject and legislation thereon. This petition was referred to the State board of education, which proceeded to obtain testimony from a considerable number of competent persons, all tending one way; that art education was possible, and was of much importance to the State, and of great commercial value as an investment. As a result of this there followed what I consider the most extraordinary piece of legislation ever passed in this or any other country, remembering the circumstances under which it was passed. This was the act of 1870, which took effect on its passage, and was approved May 16, 1870. It is too pithy and pregnant to be compressed in a description; so here it is entire: [Chap. 248, Acts of 1870.] "SEC. I. The first section of chapter thirty-eight of the General Statutes is hereby amended so as to include drawing among the branches of learning, which are by said section required to be taught in the public schools. "SEC. II. Any city or town may, and every city and town having more than ten thousand inhabitants shall, annually make provision for giving free instruction in industrial or mechanical drawing to persons over fifteen years of age, either in day or evening schools, under the direction of the school committee. "SEC. III. This act shall take effect upon its passage." [Approved May 16, 1870.] Remembering that until this time the subject of drawing had not been taught generally, and that the act took effect on its passage, and remembering also that no normal art school then existed in the United States in which teachers could be trained to teach drawing, and that only slight attention had been given to it in the regular normal schools, I do not think the expression "the most extraordinary piece of legislation ever passed" is wrongly applied to it; but after three years of observation upon its working, I may add, after the word "extraordinary," and the most fruitful piece of legislation, etc. The task of teaching drawing was, by the signature of the governor of Massachusetts, imposed upon every school-teacher in the State, and the cities and towns included by population in the act had to provide instruction in industrial drawing for adults before special instructors had been trained. This might at first sight appear arbitrary and unreasonable; the working of the law proves it to have been wise and reasonable. Of course it was impossible for every school-teacher at once to comply with the law, but it was possible to make a beginning, even if it only was the beginning of her own education in drawing; and though the cities undertook to have the subject taught in the evening classes for adults, it was with a sort of forlorn hope; yet forlorn hopes have sometimes won. But the necessity was upon both teachers and cities to do something, and as a consequence something has been done-done so well by many teachers in several cities that its possibility in all, and by all teachers, is proved beyond a doubt. In the absence of legislation any general action might have been indefinitely postponed, for even now there are a few places in this State where the school authorities have explained inaction by the remark that the law of 1870 provides no penalties for disobedience. If there had been no law at all, even if the sense of the community had been in favor of the new subject, it would doubtless have been observed by a still larger number of committees that there was neither a law to comply with nor a penalty for non-compliance. The very difficulty in which people found themselves brought about its own solution. That difficulty must have been foreseen by the men who framed and those whe passed the law, yet it was deliberately created; and to-day I believe that in this State we are nearer to the looked-for result of having a sound system of industrial art-education (and nearer by many more years than have elapsed) than if the statute had not been enacted and the subject left to public opinion alone. LEGISLATIVE ACTION ESSENTIAL. Voluntaryism in education may have many charms, principally sentimental ones, but I have lived in a country where it hindered and retarded national education for more than a quarter of a century, only to confess itself mistaken and join its opponents after a generation of mischief had been accomplished. The State of Massachusetts was nearer than many European countries to a good system of public instruction in drawing on the day after its statute of 1870 was passed, because it became the law that every child in the State should be taught to draw, whilst that is the case only in very few European States. It was faith in this view that brought me across the Atlantic, at a time of life when men are disposed to settle down on their work done and being accomplished, and my faith is being justified abundantly in the results I see every day around me. Now, with regard to State action for the encouragement and development of industrial drawing, it may be asked whether it would not be wiser for a State to establish schools of art, or industrial schools, or academies of art, or museums, and picture galleries, before passing a law requiring drawing to be taught in the public schools? My answer would be, no, for that was the mistake made by both England and France; and both countries have seen it and come at last, after wasting many years and losing much money, to something of the same sort, though not so complete in its effect, as that which in Massachusetts took effect on its passage, May 16, 1870, viz, the teaching of children in the public schools. By action in other directions than the public schools a State legislature might be led into serious and costly mistakes, but by simply requiring industrial drawing to be taught in all schools, the chances of mistake are slight. Other agencies will follow as they are needed, and the consequent increased general information upon the subject will greatly diminish danger of unwise legislation. SUGGESTIONS AS TO NEW LEGISLATION. There is, however, one provision which should be added to any new State legislation, viz: That all normal schools should be required to give instruction in elementary drawing, i. e., in free-hand drawing, and elementary design, plane geometrical drawing, model and object drawing, linear, perspective, and memory drawing; and that, after a year from the passage of an act to encourage industrial drawing, no student should graduate from a normal school who is unable to give such elementary instruction in drawing, and that after a certain period subsequent to the passing of the act, say in three years, no teacher subordinate to the rank of a principal should be appointed as a regular teacher in the public schools who cannot show some qualification to teach the above subject as required by the act. Free industrial evening classes for adults are perhaps harder to provide for by legislation than day schools. Here drawing becomes a specialty, requiring special teachers of experience, and they are difficult to obtain. In this State, draughtsmen, architects, and engineers have done good service as teachers, but the limitation of their knowledge to specialties upon which they are employed, and want of experience as teachers, must eventually hinder their usefulness in any class-room where a large number of students require a wide variety in the instruction. NORMAL ART SCHOOLS ESSENTIAL. The only remedy for the absence of teachers of drawing, trained in all the elementary subjects, is a normal art school, somewhat like that whose prospectus I inclose. This school was not established until the want of it had been severely felt; until, in fact, some of the towns and cities had said, "Either give us teachers of drawing, or repeal the act of 1870." Then the State established it. As I said in a previous letter, it must take some years before accomplished teachers of art can be trained in the school; but the great advance made by the students who have had one year's training, and are now engaged on their second year's work, is very encouraging. And I am glad to say the State is responding nobly to the cry for more room and better accommodation, made by the students, and is providing both. Now, I respectfully submit to you that the act of 1870, with its apparently unreasonable requirements, has created a general compliance with its intention, has created this normal art school, and will go on creating whatever else is necessary until drawing in the public schools of the State is as general as writing, and at least as profitable, and every branch of constructive industry is carried on by skilled mechanics whose taste and knowledge form the foundation of their skill. In examining the organization and arrangement of studies in this prospectus, let me, however, remind you that, to use a Saxon simile, we had to "cut our coat according to our cloth," and not strive after the unattainable. There were two difficulties we had to meet-want of room in which to study and limited means to pay for instruction. These came from the novelty of the experiment; but now that five hundred students have applied for admission and nearly half that number have been admitted the State will doubtless soon display her well-known sympathy with education, and provide handsomely for the needs of her industrial art students. When that has been done, there must be a sensible advance made upon what we consider rather good work |