A rn A —< 1 m 4 O 5 2 5 8 > 9 =^^ r— -1 3 •"iped below THE Constructive Interests OF Children BY ERNEST BECKWITH KENT, Ph.D. 75^3^ PUBLISHED BY TCcacbcrs Colleae, Columbia Xllnirersits NEW YORK 1907 V903 LB CONTENTS PREFACE I. THE FREE CONSTRUCTIVE WORK OF .50 SCHOOL CHIL- DREN Introduction Classification List of articles, boys . Changing interests The vitality classification Gift motives The more stable interests List of articles by classes Statistics of girls' work Statistics of materials PAGE I 16 22 24 26 27 29 32 34 41 II. THE EARLY INTERESTS AND EDUCATION OF 72 TAL- ENTED ENGINEERS Introduction 44 Method of tabulation 49 . Environment 51 Extent of mechanical environment 53 Fathers' occupations 57 Special interests and abilities 57 Ability in school work 58 Relative preference for studies 60 Constructive work during boyhood 62 Opinions regarding the value of manual training .... 70 Educational applications 73 Summary 75 PREFACE The school's obligation is no doubt to society first, and only afterward to the child; so that the curriculum in its broader outlines must be determined with a view to what society will require rather than to what will please the child. But in devel- oping the details, interests need to be carefully reckoned with. This is especially important with all of the more expressional subjects, whether manual training, design or English composi- tion. Society is certainly demanding acquaintance with indus- trial life, and any mere tool practice, no matter how formal, which will give the pupil some notions about industrial life and his fitness for it, is probably worth having in the school. But practice in inventing is worth infinitely more — in inventing new uses for old tools and machines, new economics of material, new applications of old principles. A child's inventiveness is never either trained or tested except while he is deep in some absorb- ing problem. The following study was a quest for additional data upon the question of what problems are the most likely to prove absorbing to children in the latter half of the elementary school period. It is the writer's hope that some of the sugges- tions which it developed may be found applicable and helpful in practice. /•■tr~^* THE CONSTRUCTIVE *^lNfEkESTS OF CHILDREN I THE FREE CONSTRUCTIVE WORK OF 150 SCHOOL CHILDREN Introduction A large number of studies upon children have given data which bear upon the subject in hand. The instincts and reac- tions of infancy and early childhood have been studied intensely by Baldwin, Perez and many others. Studies by Bryan, Burk, and Hancock have traced the general course of motor develop- ment and have shown the degrees of motor control normal to the different stages of childhood. Children's plays and games, as their most spontaneous form of expression, make the best single index to the general trend of interests during any given period and extended reference to certain studies of these will be neces- sary as we proceed. Most directly valuable of all is Dewey's account of the constructive interests which grow out of three successive mental attitudes or modes of attention.^ James makes constructiveness a special instinct which he says is as genuine and irresistible in man as in bee or beaver. "Whatever things are plastic to his hands, those things he must remodel into shapes of his own, and the result of the remodelling, however useless it may be, gives him more pleasure than the original thing. The mania of young children for breaking and pulling apart whatever is given them is more often the expression of a rudimentary constructive impulse than of a destructive one."- However important this constructive instinct may be, it clearly does not in any sense explain or constitute the motive of the bulk of that construction which forms so large a part of the '^Elementary School Record^ Vols. 1-9 Direct attention, focused wholly upon the outgoing activity itself; Voluntary attention, directed to the accomplishment of certain prac- tical ends; Reflective attention, concerned with ends which persist in the form of intellectual problems. "^Principles of Psychology^ Vol. 2, p. 426. lo THE CONSTRUCTIVE INTERESTS world's work. While constructive instincts may determine in a measure which men ai>e |p work in constructive lines, the actual motive for doing the work is an ulterior one; it is the utility of the things made and their power in satisfying human needs that causes their production. In other words, most con- struction is carried on as work and it is only within the limits of construction-play that we can class the constructive instinct as an important motive. But these instinctive activities to which James refers are constantly observed in small children and we need to trace through the years of childhood the gene- ral development of constructive motive from this instinctive one to a motive which, having little to do with processes and materials as such, rests in the distant purpose to be subserved by the product. Between these two extremes we may distinguish two inter- mediate stages. Following the instinctive activities with materials comes a time when certain fornjs of construction are attempted by the child not — or at least not wholly — because of the "besoin de creer"^ but from mere impulse to imitate the activities of adults. This results in his reproduction of con- structive activities among others— possibly more of these than of most others, but if so not necessarily because of reinforcement by "constructive instinct. " For while this may count some- what, the presence of certain tangible and dramatic elements in the constructivities of his elders would sufficiently explain the partiality which he shows for them at certain times. Gradually, however, this imitation construction ceases to satisfy and the construction comes to be carried on for definite ends, though not ordinarily of course for the utility ends of the adult, but the various play ends of childhood. The worker's point of view here is that of the adult so far as separation of means and end is concerned, for with both there is a definite need to be satisfied irrespective of any pleasure involved in the constructive process as such. On the other hand, it is generally very close to the earlier stages of imitation activity in that the ends themselves are often of an imitative sort. That is, while the construction is merely a means of obtaining play apparatus, ^Which Ribot says corresponds in the mental sphere to the "'besoin de la generation" in the physiological. Psychologie des sentiments, p. 323. OF CHILDREN . ii the play itself gets its main meaning and interest from the fact that it in turn is an imitation of some phase of adult life, the imitation element being simply pushed a little further away. We have then these four stages in the development of con- structive motive : 1. The instinctive. 2. The imitational. 3. The play-utility. 4. The adult-utility. We may now study these more in detail to determine as clearly as possible (i) just what forms of activity belong to each stage, (2) how definitely and how exclusively different purposes and their forms of expression belong to children of a certain age, and (3) what materials are best adapted to the realization of these purposes, the abilities of the children being considered. Any data gained regarding these points will be of direct assist- ance in determining what lines of constructive work best fit the different stages of elementary education. (i) It may be questioned whether the purely instinctive handling of materials should be called constructive in the ordi- nary sense of the word. James in the passage quoted suggests a fundamentally constructive motive for even the so-called destructive acts of early childhood. Groos takes exactly the opposite view, looking at these as responses to the fighting in- stinct.^ Perhaps it would be safer to call most of these efforts mere random responses to the general impulse to activity react- ing in the easiest way upon the most convenient material. This we may call the manipulative instinct as distinguished from either the constructive or destructive. In the following pages we shall use the word manipulation for activity of this sort, while the word construction will mean work (ordinarily synthetic in nature) carried on with reference to some end other and more remote than that of the mere sensations involved in the process itself. Along with this wholly sensational pleasure of pure manipulation there is probably the beginning of an in- tellectual pleasure, and from this side the activity might be called experimentation as well as manipulation— the child wants '^Play of Man, pp. 97-8. 12 THE CONSTRUCTIVE INTERESTS to see what will happen. But this shows no such strength as the other. Groos mentions another element, "pleasure in being a cause," which he thinks appears very early and which is re- sponsible for the way in which "moist sand is heaped up or dug away, snow tunnelled through or rolled into a great ball, sticks of wood piled, water collected in a pond, etc. "^ As to the period of this manipulation interest : Groos sug- gests no dates whatever in connection with the list of activities just quoted. With Miss Shinn's niece the "era of handling things" began in the sixth month.'- How "synthetic" or at least how "analytic" the acts of that period might be would probably depend a good deal on the materials at hand. Perez says that they appear in all children from the age of eight or ten months.'' Probably only isolated cases will be found in which the activity is due wholly to this manipulation impulse, for the imitation factor begins to count very early. But the former persists for several years as an important factor in the child's relation to concrete materials and indeed many adults are affected by it in a degree, as is shown by their tendency to handle, modify aimlessly and play with any new material which may be presented to them. With the adult, however, this tendency is a mere survival and cannot be strong enough to in- fluence perceptibly his work, though perhaps it does his recreation. At what age it loses its influence on a child's more serious voluntary activities it would be difficult to say. (2) The "mud pie" is perhaps the most typical representa- tive of the transition to the imitation stage, or rather of the infu- sion of the imitation motive into the one preceding. Here is clear- ly a double pleasure in manipulation and imitation. Heretofore he has been contented to "heap and dig away" his sand, but now '^Play of Man, p. 99. '^Biography of a Baby^ pp. 141-161. 3A child of nine months, seated on the floor in the middle of a room, seemed like a creating and despotic deity in the midst of his playthings, and anything else that was given to him or that he could get hold of oy crawling along, — trumpets, drums, balls, paper, books, cakes, fruit, — were piled up together, ranged side by side, separated, put back higglety-pigglety, pushed away, fetched back again, hugged, kissed, gnawed, etc., etc., and all with bursts of joy which showed his imperative need of exercising his physical powers, of satisfying an ever new curiosity and of imitating. The First Three Years of Childhood, pp. 276-7. OF CHILDREN 13 he adds to the pleasure of modifying a plastic material, that of reproducing a household occupation. The pie is clearly not an end in itself.^ It is demolished as soon as completed or at least set aside to make room for another and another.- Building with blocks is perhaps the line of work that depends most exclusively upon the imitation motive — manipulation pleasure would seem sm;ill compared with that obtained from plastic materials, and the product is still nothing. This work retains the interest for a long period, probably because of its imitativ^e adaptiveness — because of the variety of things and activities which may be reproduced by means of blocks. Common observation and the general tendencies of kinder- garten practice combine in pointing to the kindergarten period of childhood as the one in which this motive has the longest and most direct connection with handwork. No one seems to have ventured any sharper definition of this stage. The gifts and occupations, so large a part of the kindergarten program, seem to be motived almost entirely by the combination of this manipu- lation and imitation interest. With the gifts there is no perma- nent product, and while occupation work does issue in a perma- nent product, this does not seem to be a large center of interest — except perhaps near the end of the course, when their occasional utilization in play forms the connection with the next kind of activity.^ (3) The play-end stage comes when these very crude imi- tations of adult activities cease to satisfy the child. To be sure, many if not most of the plays of the whole preadolescent period are directly imitative in ^The object has no conscious existence at the time save in the activity. The ball to the child is his game, the 2:ame is his ball. Dewey, Interest in Relation to Will, p. 16. ■^See Dewey, Elementary School Record, p. 49. Also p. 50 for sugges tion as to how the realization of ends should at first be developed. ^Compare Dewey : "The work of children of ages six and seven in- cludes activities which combine an immediate appeal to the child as an out- let of his energy with leading up in an orderly way to a result ahead. It thus forms habits of working for ends and controlling present occupation so as, by a sequence of steps, to accomplish something beyond. These habits may be gradually transferred to ends more consciously conceived and more remote." Elementary School Record. 14 THE CONSTRUCTIVE INTERESTS their method and motive.^ But the imitation becomes more refined, detailed and accurate, and consequently requires more highly specialized apparatus than hereto- fore. So the child can hardly help giving more or less attention now to making what might be called the tools of play-^the things necessary to the carrying on of this more definite imita- tion. Play houses, toy boats, furniture and weapons, dolls, dolls' clothing, etc., are made and used in this form of play. It seems accepted that this imitation type of play holds the in- terest until into the eleventh or twelfth year,^ and that it must influence constructive preferences seems evident — though how much or in just what ways we have no means of telling. But it is clearly within this period and generally in connection with these forms of play that we must look for the first real apprecia- tion of construction as means rather than end. It seems safe to say that during this period work is occasionally done with the adult-utility motive, and that the proportion of this work in- creases with age up to adolescence and beyond. On the whole, it can hardly be denied that our knowledge regarding these factors of constructive interest is exceedingly vague. This becomes particularly apparent when one attempts to give it any influence upon school work. About all we can really hold to is the conviction that in the development of con- structive motive the progress is through instinctive manipula- tion, imitative occupational work, and the making of play materials, to the making of things useful in the adult sense. We hardly know whether these attitudes are sufficiently differentiated to justify calling them stages, or, with any definiteness, at what age any one of them reaches its point of greatest influence, if indeed there is any such point clearly de- fined. We know little of how far sex affects motive in con- structive work. We have no data by means of which we can compare these stages with the various physiological and psycho- ^Outside of school a large proportion of children's plays are simply more or less miniature and hap-hazard attempts at reproducing social occupations. Dewey, ibid, p. 84. ^Johnson, Pedagogical Seminary^ Vol. 6, p. 519. Gulick, Pedagogical Seminary^ Vol. 6, pp. 137-8. OF CHILDREN 15 logical stages of growth established from other points of view. The following material is offered as a preliminary contribution of data upon such points. THE FREE CONSTRUCTIVE WORK OF CHILDREN IN TWO SCHOOLS A natural material for such a study of construction motives and interests was thought to be detailed knowledge of the vari- ous lines of constructive work done spontaneously by children of both sexes and the different ages. As an attempt to obtain such knowledge, papers headed as follows were given to 200 children from eight to sixteen years of age in the Horace Mann and the Ethical Culture Schools, both in New York City: — LIST OF THINGS MADE OUTSIDE OF SCHOOL DURING THE LAST TWELVE MONTHS By. Grade Agre .ys.. ^Brothers' ages_ .Sisters' ages Directions : Put down everything you can think of, no matter how small or simple. Ask your parents if they will help you to make the list as complete as possible. Made in what month Name of Article Of what materials? How large? What Whom for ? for? Remarks These questions, when all answered (as they were with 95 per cent of the articles listed), give what would seem to be a fairly clear idea of the main motives behind the making of an object, its purpose and its value to the child, and a considerable basis for judgment regarding the technical difficulties involved. One hundred and seventy sheets were returned filled out. Of these twenty-two children mentioned less than three articles made and their records were not computed with those of the rest lest they should have undue influence upon the averages. There i6 THE CONSTRUCTIVE INTERESTS remained one hundred and forty-eight sheets, sixty-three being from boys and eighty-five from girls. ^ The number of articles reported seldom exceeded ten, the average number being seven for the boys, and eight for the girls. Considering the age of the children and the chance of accidents to papers, it is hardly fair to assume that the 13 per cent of unreported cases necessarily represent lack of work or different work by those children. And the 13 per cent of meagre reports omitted from the tabulation give no indication of being fundamentally different from those of the 74 per cent studied. Still, strictly speaking, the study related only to that 74 per cent of the whole group which pays the most attention to handwork, or rather, reports the largest number of articles. It should be noted also that most of the children in these two schools remain till graduation, and thus are more alike in general ability than could be claimed for children of the same ages in public schools where so many are withdrawn before reaching the age of 14 years. CLASSIFICATION Five independent classifications of this material were attempted, the child's age being made in each case the basis of the tabulation. Of these the two most important dealt with the motive behind the making of the article, and the material of which it was made. The third tabulation shows the number of times that such distinctively art work as drawing, painting, etc. , were recorded, and the fourth shows the presence of an element which we will call "vitality" — the "go" which belongs to a toy water wheel or windmill, and is lacking in a tool chest or picture frame. Both of these really belong under the general iWhile a larger quantity of them would have been exceedingly desirable and easily obtained, it seemed important that the tabulating should not be delegated and that it should have the uniformity of one person's view-point. It is believed that a somewhat careful and detailed treatment of the data presented has more value as a preliminary study than the kind of work which would have been necessary with a larger amount of material. OF CHILDREN 17 head of motive but are tabulated independently of what appears to be the ruling motive of a project. The fifth tabulation was an effort to determine ihe part played by the school in suggest- ing the handwork done outside, but the information here proved too me.igre to be worth recording. It was difficult to determine what classification of the motives for making these different articles would be the most inclusive and fruitful. The utility class and the play class are the two which we are perhaps most interested in comparing. But while these are very geneml they do not seem to cover the whole field. Things made as gifts are often useful and often play- thiui^s, but the utility or play motive here involved is quite a different thing from that c^ntermg in the making of things for the child's own use. So the most logical basal division would secf-n to be into the two classes, made-for-self and made-for. others, each of which may be subdivitled into play and utility classes. This, however, is an incomplete analysis of the made- for-')thers section, for in addition to useful gifts and play gifts there are also those which are mere remembrances, and have no funher purpose. H )wever, our miin purpose is a quantitative study of the various forms of the play and utility motives already mentioned and of their reLitive importance in the different years or periods of childhood. So the smaller made-for-others classes were kept separate, not so much for their own significance as in order not to prejudice results in these main groups. The most practical though not the most logical primary division is into classes representing the play, the utility and the gift motives. The subdivisions of play motive are in general those already discussed, the two main ones being play-imitation in which the construction itself constitutes the game, and play-utility in which the purpose is to obtain tools of play. Several lines of work which were quite prominent and continuous were listed independently of these two classes. These were (i) the making of boats, (2) construction connected with animals (houses, traps, etc.), (3) the making and dressing of dolls, and (4) cookery. These are all particularly hard to separate into the two classes first mentioned. It seems to the writer, however, that in the making of boats, dolls and animal traps, the play-utility motive is the most general and prominent and that making animal i8 THE CONSTRUCTIVE INTERESTS houses belongs here also, though less completely, as the simple utility motive seems to enter rather more. Cookery is hardest of all to classify. It probably depends more largely upon the instinctive manipulation pleasure than any other line of pro- ductive work included in this study. At least, it will seldom be practiced voluntarily except by the children who do gain some of this kind of pleasure from it. But this motive will be greatly reinforced by that of play imitation in the case of younger girls and doubtless by the utility— or gustatory — motive with the older ones. Things made with the adult-utility motive were placed in two classes: that of "utility," containing the things made for the worker's own use, while such things made for others fall into the useful-gift class. The gift class as a whole was divided into the three of useful gifts, play gifts and gifts, the last including such gifts as are mere remembrances and without other value. It is evident that these classes must shade into each other with great delicacy at times, and that the attempt to take things which must represent such an interplay of motive, and place them in classes so simple and sharply de- fined is bound to raise some question as to the real value of such a study. It must be admitted that it was sometimes difficult to select one of two or even three classes for a given article. This, however, was far more often due to the fact that the article clearly represented a transition stage than for mere lack of in- formation about it. For example, does the building of a camp, hut to sleep in or the making of a real row-boat belong in the play-Utility or in the adult-utility class.'' They were finally placed in the former, but so far as the separation of means and end is concerned the adult view-point seems fully reached, and the utility class would seem to have an almost equal claim upon them. Then there were sometimes difficulties in classifying certain things which proved to be made by children of all ages and would thus seem to have some place in all three of these classes. Thus the making of a dam might mean anything from the mere play with water to furnishing the power for a large factory. But if we have in addition the statement that the dam was made in order to sail toy boats, then this particular dam stands out plainly as a member of play-utility class. With these articles some such cue to the motive was generally at hand so OF CHILDREN 19 that they were a less serious problem than the first one men- tioned, while the great majority of articles belonged quite clearly to one or another of the groups. The method of tabulating was as follows : Each article in a child's list was scored in that motive column which seemed most appropriate, then the child's record as a whole was formed by reducing the number of articles recorded in any one column to its percentage of the total number of articles recorded by that child. Thus two useful gifts in a sheet mentioning eight arti. cles, would give a weight of 25 per cent to that motive. The following is a sample record of a boy : No. 207. H. R. Grade V. Age, 10 yrs., 2 mo. No. of articles, 9. For animals 2 articles 22 per cent Play utility 3 33 Play imitation I II Useful gifts 3 33 Vitality 4 *' 44 " As no sheet containing less than three articles was included in the final tabulation, no one article could make a showing higher than 33 per cent in the individual child's record, while its average weight there would be from 12 to 14 per cent. Then a variety of age groups were formed and the aggregate of percen. tages was divided by the number of children in the group, thus giving an average per cent indicative of the rank of that motive within the group concerned. Partly as a check upon accidental results due to the small number of cases, six independent groupings were formed and averaged, three for each school. The first was into three groups, including ages 8-9 years, lo-ii years, 12.14 years respec- tively ; the second grouping was by periods of one year ; and the third by periods of six months. We may call these the groups by periods, the groups by years, and the groups by half-years. On the following page will be found the period averages of boys for each school and for the two schools combined ; the year aver- ages of both schools combined ; then the total averages for each school and both schools. The half-year and year groupings of 20 THE CONSTRUCTIVE INTERESTS the two schools separately contained too few cases to give any curves. The half-year groups of the schools combined devel- oped a few points of interest which will be mentioned later. The only material similar to this known to the writer is in Crosswell's study of games already referred to\ In a questionaire given to 10,000 Worcester school children he asks them to describe anything which they themselves have made. Wherever possible, I have tabulated his lists of articles according to the present plan. The results here, representing as they do a much larger number of children, furnish some in. teresting comparisons with our own general averages and with the relative frequency of the different projects shown in the article lists. These figures will be indicated as we proceed. The ages of his children not being stated, this material cannot, of course, help us on the genetic problems within this period. edagogical Seminary^ Vol. 6, 315. STATISTICS OF THE BOYS' HAND-WORK < > — • '-1 9i "^ V 'ii •^ l-B ^ '-■ H t: ■— o si ^ o o o r ^ 5^ s ~": Sid ■— ' H 2 H o -1 3 tfl rj_ ^• W D SJ SL 5r ^ 5' 3 H V, > > o < crq -^ ^li 'h ^ y p ^ a ^lOTQ -1 o O o ft! -J . 1 • 1 o. • c ! -1 (T> n 3 O C^ 10 4>. OO CC4i- -' t/i 00 W o-c - - ■M v^ — O ~J -C^ IJ t^ to OJ vO vO O^ (.n « O O l-rn.^ \0 on ^J 10 ""J vO CN -■ OO^J C/0 O Un OJ 10 4i CO C^,t-n to OO !jj OJ U1 OO w Ol o Oj — ►H OJ ^a — to sO o o -t^ Oo to o -^ - O ^ -t- to — on -vj ^ - -4 o 4i O N to — 4^ -vl oo 4^ cn o I-n 10 O on to on O to O - ~-J - OJ 4i 4:^ - to Un 4^ U on 4-. 4^ ^ O o o to to 4>- ^4 to O Oi to 4» OJ OJ - ^I Kj-t 4^ o o OJ 00 <.n ^ to IVI o ^J vO Oj to 4^ to OJ •^ --J il CC 10 on — 5! o' cr o* n o* 3 crq THE CONSTRUCTIVE INTERESTS LIST OF THE ARTICLES MENTIONED BY BOYS. BOTH SCHOOLS Play-imitation, 59 articles : Spears, swords, etc. 10, theatres 8, houses 5, docks 3, chairs 3, claywork 3, beds 2, cranes 2, windmills 2, elevators 2, derricks 2. Wild West show, cave, card-board monkey, acorn pipe, Indian head-dress, cannon, camera, spoon, railway track, Indian village, saw-mill, brush, mud-pie, paper pasting, telephone, mask, bridge, i each. Play-utility, 188 articles: Boats 64, for animals 28 (13 traps and 15 houses), wagons 12, balls 11, bows and arrows 9, houses 9, kites 5, bean shooters 5, guns 3, tents 2, bean bags 2, whistles 2, stilts 2, sleds 2, water- wheels 2, derricks 2, elevators 2, dams 2, toboggans 2. Swing, bridge, show-house, ring-toss, tennis-poles, gunpowder, cave, bathing-chute, paddle, lead-cannon, high-jumping poles, basket-ball goal, torpedo, reins, whip, scrap-book, "wether vain," fishing tackle, fish-nets, mask, jumping-jack, camp-bed, i each. Utility, 45 articles : Picture frames 6, boxes 3, tool chests 2, pen wipers 2, book covers 2. Hen-coop, basket, braid, shooting-blind, loom, clothes-rack, wand, flower-box, paper-cutter, candle-holder, easel, pen- holder, pen-rack, book-case, ruby lamp, sail-boom, tray, calendar, book, "sew clothes," caning chair, tooth-brush holder, stamp book, card printing, type making, camp sign, ladder, stone bridge, pin cushion, camp hut, i each. Gift-utility, 72 articles: Baskets 14, boxes 5, picture frames 4, calen- dars 4, mats 4, match boxes 3, book covers 3, brackets 2, paper knives 2, pen wipers 2, pen holders 2. Scrap book, thermometer back, book, bib, lamp shade, book mark, match scratcher, table, sleeve board, letter rack, "monogram frames," blotter, breast pin, sponge bag, foot stool, soap box, "burnt work," "paper weight," hat, fei-nery, chicken nest, doiley, corn-pop- per stand, sofa pillow, hammock, Christmas tree stand, whist counter, i each. Play-gifts^ 14 articles: Doll's chairs 2, doll's hammocks 3, boats 2, Rolling pin, dart, doll's house, reins, knotted cord, doll's bedding, hunting knife, i each. Mere gifts, 12 articles: Easter cards 5, valentines 4, paintings 3. Painting and Drawing. Mentioned by 12 boys. Looking first at the three columns of Table I which repre- sent the total averages, it will be seen that with one or two exceptions the records of the two schools are very close together. With five of the fifteen motive elements recorded they are only I per cent apart, and with five others only 4 per cent apart. So the averages of the two schools seem to offer a fairly good basis for a quantitative ranking of these various interests during this OF CHILDREN 23 six or seven-year period of childhood taken as a whole, Assum. ing that we are justified in looking at this period as a unit, we may conclude that nearly half of a boy's voluntary construction projects will be things to be used in his play and that some three-tenths will be articles of real use (two-tenths for use by others against one-tenth for his own use). Of the work devoted to play it appears that one-fourth to one-third of the articles within this group will be boats, while a rather even one-tenth of them will relate to animal life. It is further shown that roughly a third of the whole, and a much larger part of the play division, have the element which we have named vitality. Croswell's study^ furnishes material for an interesting com- parison at this point. It includes lists of 10,000 articles re- ported to be made within a group of 4000 boys. How many of them mentioned things made is not stated. These articles, clas- sifiedin the rough way possible with no data except their names, give to — Utility I per cent. Dolls I per cent. Play-imitation 2 per cent. Play-utility 96 per cent. and furnishes a rather startling evidence of the conservativeness of our own play record. The contrast is an indirect suggestion of the relative intensity of these different motives, for Cross- well's request to "describe anything you have made" was only one among a number relating to different subjects and would likely elicit only the most important and best remembered pro- jects, while our own request to "mention everything you can recall no matter how small or simple," might better from this point of view have been omitted as it has doubtless resulted in the recording of more or less that has very little comparative interest. A comparison'of the two tables suggests very strongly that if the relative intensity of these different construction motives were measurable the result would give a far larger place to the play-utility type of work than is indicated by considera- tion of the mere number (44 per cent) of articles. - How far the 96 per cent of the Worcester boys might vary with age we have no means of knowing. "^Pedagogical Seminary^ Vol. 6, p. 315 24 THE CONSTRUCTIVE INTERESTS There remains, however, the question, —is there sufficient unity to these six years of boyhood to give value to such analysis of it as a single period, or are the intercuts of its different p irts so diverse that this lump average of the whole has no meaning for any particular part and cannot in the least degree sei"ve as a guide to school practice? This must be determined by compari- son of the sub-groups formed on a basis of age. If diversity appears we shall need to subdivide the period into divisions con- taining the greatest possible degree of homogeneity, defining them and meisuring their differences so fir as pissibl-. We shall quote from the figures for the combined schools, wi;h which it will be seen that the separate records of the two schools largely agree, calling attention to the discrepancies as they occur. The division by ye irs allows only ten cases to a group, so that perfectly smooth curves here could not b.^ ex- pected, but it is valuable in showing the limits of \'ariability within the larger groups, where the results are much more uni- form. It will be seen that, while a number of interests remain at about the same level for the whole time covered and one or two fluctuate irregularly, the four in the following table show a dis- tinct rise or decline: Changing Interests Age 8-9 lo-ii 12.14 9 10 II 12 13 14 Play imitation 27 20 5 29 19 20 10 4 3 Play utility 29 48 51 3^ 5J[ SO 45 39 69 Utility 5 6 20 5 7 5 21 25 6 Useful gilts 34 20 14 21 26 14 II 15 15 While the directions of these changes are what one would expect, the figures give some meisure of their extent. Pliv- imitation decreases quite evenly from year to yeir. If similar figures were available bearifig up m this element in th ' sixth to eighth years, it would doubtl 'ss prove very strong there. Tiiat the reports of the eight-year-olds sh'»w an amount less than th it at 9 years should not be thought to weaken the argument seri- OF CHILDREN 25 OLisly, both because there are only three of them and because beifig in aclv.uice of their age at school they would likely be pre- cocious in respjct to these interests also. Although a waning interest, it seems to b" a not unimportant element in the work of the period from Q-12 years. The twelfth is evidently the transi- tion year s'lowing 10 per cent here between 20 per cent in the eleventh and 4 per cent in the thirteenth. There is an almost identical difference between the lo-ii year period and that of 12- 14 years, one which is fully supported by the separate tabula- tions of the two schools. The play.uiility interest increases, though not with the regul irity of the curve just noted, though it is doubtless mainly responsible for the decline of the play.imifation interest. Its maximum of 69 per cent at fourteen years should be qualified by the fact th it there were only seven boys of that age. The geiierd tendency, however, is evident and its decline, like its beginning, would seem to occur outside the age limits of this study. Th e other two most changing interests are those of utility. Tait tie utility (for self) cl IS-; wix:s, whilithatof the useful gifts wauL'S, would suggest a reaction between them. However, the figures in detail do not correspond closely enough to demand that position, and there is nothing in common experience to sug- gest t!iat children in any direct way transfer their interests from making useful things for others to the making of useful things for the n^elves. The way in which the extreme figures of the play.iirdtation and uiility columns counterbalance each other would give m nre reason for claiming a direct transfer of interests here, and this wouM suppoi t the idea of a sequence of develop- ment through play-imitation, play-utility and utility. The reasons for the diminuti' m in useful gifts are not so easily determined, coming in the twelfih to fourteenth years during which timi the social instincts are thought to be coming to the fore. In fact the large percentage of these useful gifts during the eirlier years i-; itSvdf rather surprising. The results wiih the girls se^m to throw a little liglit on this point. It will be seen latT th it their proportion of useful gifts is much higher thr »ughout, with a general average of 40 per cent against that of 20 per cent for the boys. Girls seem in general to be more 26 THE CONSTRUCTIVE INTERESTS amenable to suggestion than boys, and the boy's attitude seems much more like that of the girl before the age of eleven or twelve than it does afterwards. It will be seen by reference to the lists of articles that the useful gifts tend to be of a conven- tional sort— calendars, picture frames, match-boxes, and such things as a child would hardly think of making except through direct suggestion and imitation. These are the things most likely to be suggested by the elders to a child as a means of satisfying his craving for doing something he knows not what, or as a means of keeping him busy. So it might be held that the utility element as such is not a large one in the motive for the making of these more or less useful gifts during the ages 8- II, and that the motive is rather the general instinct toward constructiveness manifested along suggested lines. However, it is a matter of common observation that the desire to give pre- sents reinforces this motive strongly in many cases, even with very small children. To the relative importance of these motives such figures furnish no clue. The Vitality Classification This is independent of the others and gives a fairly definite quantitative statement of a constructive tendency, the existence of which would be sufficiently attested by common observation — the tendency to make things that will "work,'' "go," "do something." . Ages 8-9 lo-ii 12-14 9 10 II 12 13 14 8-14 Vitality 22 ^ 41 25 35 40 35 32 58 33 It is thus seen to belong to from one-quarter to one-third of the articles made. It might be questioned whether the increase is due to development of the taste itself or merely to increase of power for satisfying it, but the latter seems to the writer the more probable explanation. Its distribution, too, is striking. Only eight boys, four in each school, fail to record at least one OF CHILDREN 27 article falling within this class, thus making it the most widely diffused element of motive — that of play in general excepted — which our analysis of these returns discovers; for to the useful- gift class, which stands next, there are twenty-five boys who contribute nothing, and thirty-seven record nothing in the utility column. The Gift Motives Ages 8-9 10- 1 1 12-14 9 10 II 12 13 14 8-14 Useful gifts 34 20 14 21 26 14 II 15 15 20 Play gifts 2 2 6 I 3 4 10 3 Mere gifts 3 4 2 3 3 7 2 2 3 Total gifts 39 30 22 35 30 24 14 27 17 26 The sub-divisions here have only a negative value. The gift element in the motive is doubtless altogether dominant in all three, so that the question into which sub-group the article falls is a very incidental matter. The play gift may be looked upon as a useful gift in the fullest sense so far as the maker's motive is concerned. The doll's bed made for the small sister may in a much more real sense be called a useful gift than the match.scratcher made for an uncle. We may, however, give the name of "serviceableness" to the common element in these play and adult forms of utility, and this is almost invariably present in the children's gifts here recorded. The mere- remembrance gifts, consisting largely of drawings, Easter cards, etc., are seen to be generally less than one-tenth as numerous as those having more or less of this serviceableness, so it would seem that the child likes to do something definite for the person concerned as well as merely to give expression to the feeling of friendship. The division into play and useful gifts may be made to serve another purpose. The so-classified "useful" gifts are al- most invariably for adults while the play gifts of course go to children. However explained it is an interesting and rather surprising fact that even including the mere gift with those of 28 THE CONSTRUCTIVE INTERESTS play, many of the former being also intended for children, they are seldom more than one-half as numerous as those made for adults, and sometimes one-eighth of the latter. The figures are as follows: Ages 8-9 lo-ii 12-14 9 10 n 12 13 14 8-14 Gifts made for adults 39 20 14 21 26 14 11 i5 15 20 Gift made for children 5 6 834104122 6 This very striking preponderance of making for adults may be looked at in various ways. It may be that the question hi\s no relation at all to that STATISTICS OF THE JGIRLS' HAND-WORK H 13 ►r ftJ r-^OOOO. .Z ^ S: : 5-: : 5= ? ?3 9 (/I H M ^J M OJ 00 Oj O M «vi -vj o^ M ~ KJ l-n >- OJ OJ O — O \0 t-n OJ ^ ^j to to -t' 2 > >l c; o < (r? R a^n fft rr P SJ rt :j(r? -1 o o >-l^ n - n rr C • d D- : cr -^ (T n •-I 3 OJ 4:- -O OJ to vO 4i. 4>- O 4>. - OJ "H 4^ OJ •^ Cn 00 so o S- cr o O o_ u> -P- 4i t^ 4^ 00 O vO \0 >J N OJ OJ Kl ■c>- to 00 ? „ OJ 1^ 4i- O -t^ — u-i ^J 00 0\ " "^ - ~-J tJ OJ 00 to 00 00 o o o ijy \lj\ en N „ O 4^ O vO 4i. -^ 00 N 00 o 0^ 00 v6 • c/; o o ^J "vl 4- - OJ -O OJ OS ■2 4^ — 4» 4^ OJ OJ 00 O 9 „ oi 4^ t>i to K> 00 00 to u — OO „ S: ^1 to o c^ OJ OJ OJ 'tn j; o ^3 CC - o o o 0^ lyl ^J = 00 v6 n o IJ OJ 4i LO <^ 00 ^ 00 4:^ OJ OJ to 00 vO 9 „ U) *. 4^ c> OJ ^4 -■ to 4^ vO o to OC 00 to iLfl ^ « Xn Ln »-n JO r en CO B* O % 5' tyi OJ ^J "- •-' OJ „ OJ 4^ OJ Oi OJ to OJ OJ Ol -0- OS O to Oj 4^ 4^ o 4:^ OJ IJ OJ to O to 4». " I- *. to 00 i-n 00 0=1 r- 36 THE CONSTRUCTIVE INTERESTS LIST OF THE ARTICLES MENTIONED BY GIRLS. BOTH SCHOOLS Utility, 75 articles: Baskets 7, collars 5. hats 5, pen-wipers 4, ties 5, box- es 3, shirt waists 3, skirts 3. aprons 3, trimming hats 3, mats 3, purses 2, pillows 2, pen cushions 2, picture frames 2, night gowns 2, dresses 2. Napkin ring, table cover, doily, pillow case, quilt, guimpe, glove case, "patches," darning, wash cloth, "made my bed during summer," address book, sachet bag, pencil slip, stockings, slippers, school bag. Useful Gifts ^ 380 articles : Doilies 48, baskets 27, picture frames 13, pin cushions 13, sewing bags 10, "embroidery" 10, calendars 10, pillows 9, mats 6, needle cases 6, silk bags 6, pen wipers 5, tidies 5, handkerchiefs 7, collars 5, babies' garments 5, slippers 4, pillow cases 4, book-marks 4, dish towels 4, napkin rings 3, books 3, wash cloths 3, napkins 3, towels 3, dusters 3, capes (crocheted) 3, sachet bags 3, picture mounting 2, book cov- ers 2, card cases 2, glove cases 2, match-scratchers 2, glove menders 2, nap- kins 2, Christmas tree decorations 2, stockings 2, towels 2, shaving-paper holders 2. Apron box, shawl, stamp case, picture easel, iron holder, copper bowl, curtains, toothbrush case, hair receiver, handkerchief case, hat, shirt waist, blotter, envelope, tapestry, portfolio, shaving case, neck tie, clipping holder, postal holder, jewel bag, bib. <7zy/j-, 34 articles : Valentines 21, Easter cards 6, Christmas cards 3, Easter eggs 3, gilded clam-shell i. Play-utility, 282 articles : Dolls and dolls' clothing 162, boats 6, ani- mals 3, bean bags 3, balls 2, houses 2, whistles 2, bows and arrows 2, jump- rope handles,pop-guns. Play -imitation, 10 articles: Making flowers 2. Tent, flag, dish, napkin rings (for nobody), chair, barn, hay wagon, doll's cap (What for ? "to do something." Whom for? The ash barrel.") The doll is evidently the center of practically all of a girl's play-construction. It is doubtless motived in the earlier years by what was called in the case of the boys the play.imitation in- terest, and later becomes the counterpart of the boys play-utility work. The lists of articles as well as the percentages show how very few toys, not directly connected with doll play, are made by girls of any age. The boat and animal classes, so prominent with the boys, are almost negligible with the girls. The figures point to a definite decrease in this sort of con- struction and its disappearance at about fifteen years. But the two schools differ very widely in their doll records : OF CHILDREN 37 Ages 8-9 lO-ii 12-14 15 8-15 Horace Mann School 18 23 8 13 Ethical School 56 36 26 25 Both 34 32 17 24 The Ethical Culture School thus shows )i early three times as much doll-handwork throughout with the maximum of 54 per cent in the first period, while in the Horace Mann School it is only 23 per cent with the children of lO-ii years. ^ The play totals of boys and girls show striking differences both in size and direction of change. Age 8-9 lo-ii 12-14 15 : 9 10 II 12 13 14 15 : Av. Girls 43 43 26 10 : 48 44 40 25 30 22 10 : 34 Boys 56 68 55 : 56 66 70 55 43 76 : 59 The boys' play.construction, nearly always more than half of their work, reaches 3-4 in the fourteenth year, while that of the girls, always less than half, drops to 22 per cent and 10 per cent in the fourteenth and fifteenth years. As the doll and play elements weaken, those of utility take their place and the making of useful gifts is seen to be the lead- ing occupation of these girls, though here again there is a difference between the schools. This work increases with the age of the girls as clearly as it decreases with that of the boys. Utility Age 8-9 lo-ii 12-14 15 9 10 II 12 13 14 15 Girls 32 36 45 58 32 32 39 59 36 44 58 Boys 34 24 14 — 21 26 14 II 15 15 ^These curves agree in a general way with that of the period of general doll interest as given by Hall and Ellis: ''The doll passion seems to be strongest between 7 and 10 and to reach its climax between 8 and 9. . . . Girls often play with dolls regularly till 13 or 14, when with the dawn of adolescence the doll passion generally abates." Pedagogical Seminary, Vol. 4, pp. 156-7. 38 THE CONSTRUCTIVE INTERESTS The evidence for this increase with age is, however, somewhat weakened by the 59 per cent which appears in the twelfth year with its 14 girls, when that of the fifteenth year is only 58 per cent. This may be taken as showing a considerable degree of variability in individuals without wholly contradicting the direction and degree of development indicated by larger periods which contain 20 or 30 cases each. It is in the useful things made for one's self, however, that we find the most noticeable increase with age and the one strik- ing agreement between the records of boys and girls. Age 8.9 10- 1 1 12-14 15 9 10 II 12 13 14 15 Girls 9 9 17 32 7 9 4 13 18 20 32 Boys 5 6 10 — 5 7 5 21 25 6 It would seem that there is a very marked turning to this kind of work at the twelfth year, and with both sexes. If the making of bread, cake, etc., wer^ included here, as it probably should be, this increase with age would be for the girls still further accented. Reference to the class list will show that with the girls as with the boys it is here that the largest proportional variety of project occurs, and that about half of the things men- tioned are articles of clothing, most of the others being also needle work of one form or another. The drawing and painting recorded by girls is seen to be even less than that of the boys though very close to it. Age 8-9 10- 1 1 12-14 9 10 II 12 13 14 Gen. Av. Girls Boys 3 4 3 4 3 4 3 3 4 4 6 2 3 3 8 4 2 5 3 4 This sex similarity in pure art is very far from holding good in respect to applied art. For a very large part of the doilies, pil- low covers, embroidery work, etc., which constitute so much of OF CHILDREN 39 the girls' work, evidently includes a considerable art element, while there is comparatively little of the boys' work which shows any special thought about or interest in the art side. The sex differences here sh(nvn may be summed up as fol- lows . (i) The toy is the boy's leading product and the useful gift that of the girl. (2) Doll play is the center of nearly all of the girl's play- construction, while with boys the doll hardly appears at all al- though there is in the earlier years some of the play.imitation construction which has a certain resemblance to doll play. (3) The girl's play construction as a whole is always less than half of the total and decreases with age, the boy's is more than half and tends to increase somewhat up to the age of four- teen at least. (4) The useful-gift class, while holding about a third of the articles with both sexes under ten years, decreases to one- sixth with the boys while increasing to nearly half with the girls. The element which we have called vitality appears in 33 per cent of the boys' projects and in only 2 per cent of the girls'. In addition to these differences of underlying purpose in con- struction, it is further to be noted that where the motive is the same, the things made with the work and materials involved are radically different; — e. g., although boats seem to belong exclusively to boys and dolls to girls, both seem to be rooted in very much the same sort of play instinct. As will later be shown, the boy depends very largely upon wood as his material and the girls upon cloth. The only marked similarity in materials or projects appears in the class of useful gifts which with both sexes contains quite a number of calendars, picture frames, and, most notably, baskets. These facts regarding sex differences would point toward an almost complete separation of boys' and girls' handwork from the ninth year up — so far as the question of interest is con- cerned, which of course IS far from the only consideration in planning a course of study. However, such a conclusion is limited by the fact that we do not know how far external sug- gestion has given form to the work which we have studied. Of course an element of that must be present in every case. The 40 THE CONSTRUCTIVE INTERESTS fact that this suggestion is accepted and built upon voluntarily by the child is evidence that it meets some innate need, but is no evidence whatever that any one of a hundred other lines of work if suggested would not meet the same need as well or even better. So while these records show the suitability of certain kinds of work, they do not prove any other work unsuit- able except in so far as it may appear that the suggestions for the other work were actually received and refused. If then we can assume that boys and girls do build upon the same body of suggestion, the exclusion of articles not made by one or the other sex will be evidence against the naturalness of that type of work for that sex. If we take the view that they build upon radically different suggestion foundations, we can draw no con- clusions about the unsuitability of a line of work from the mere fact of its omission. Upon this question it is to be said on the one hand, that the environment of boys and girls of these ages is practically identi- cal, that they see, hear, and read about the same things in home and school, in city and country, and that consequently the widely separate elements of that environment which boys and girls select for reconstruction in play must have a peculiar adaptation to innate needs which are fundamentally different in the sexes. From this point of view these records support a de- mand for decided sex differences in school handwork, i. e., so far as the question of interest is concerned. On the other hand, it may be said, and with considerable force, as it seems to the writer, that while both boys and girls have the same environment there is at pres- ent a pressure of suggestion from without that has almost the force of law, and that this, rather than in. stinctive tendencies, is the reason why a boy becomes so early ashamed to sew or to play with dolls, and a girl feels it unlady-like to saw a board or sail a boat. The children were asked to state the ages of brothers and sisters in the hope of ob- taining light on this question, but in this we were disappointed. Common observation furnishes isolated cases in which girls once started do supposedly boys' work with much enthusiasm, groups of boys have been known to become deeply absorbed in acquir- ing a knowledge of "camp cooking," etc. But only experiment OF CHILDREN 41 in giving to each sex the other kind of work under conditions peculiarly favorable to it in respect to suggestion can determine the actual importance in education of the sex differences so cleii'ly shown in the above records. For the present, these must be regarded as bearing only on the question of what kinds of work will appeal to either sex, not on that of what kinds of work will not. The Materials Used Table III shows the same articles grouped on a basis of material, within the same age groups. As in the motive classi- fication, the unit is not the number of articles but the per cent of articles of a given material, on the total number of articles reported by that particular child. It will be seen that the attempt has been made with the threj most general materials, wood, cloth, and paper, to dis- tinguish artick'S made by combination of different parts, from those which may be made out of a single piece of the material; e. g., rabbit houses, sail boats, shirt waists, sewing bags, paper dolls' furniture, etc., are placed in the construction class (i), while a whittled out arrow or paper knife, a doily or a paper book mark, would be placed in the non-construction class (2). Papvr used for mere drawing and painting was not recorded in the ''paper" class. The class "metals" includes, in addition to I he few which were wholly of metal, those in which metal other than nails and screws was used as an important material. These tables have little significance on the genetic side, the only regular variations with age being those which might have been pretty safely prophesied in advance, —f. ^., for the boys:(i) Increase in constructive wood work coupled with a decrease of the non-constructive; (2) Marked decrease in use of paper — 19 per cent, 13 percent and 10 per cent for the age- periods— most of the decline being in the non-construction class; (3) Decrease in the use of cloth— 10, 6, 4 per cent by periods; (4) An increase from i to 11 per cent in the use of mctcils, though the two schools vary widely here. With the girls we find (i) much the same decrease in the use of paper as STATISTICS OF THE BOYS' HAND- WORK 3 - -I 0.35 ^i (v^w -f»- t^ 4^ Oi^ QGQ fj SU P 13 TJ "O <^ (T) fP 000 000 ^ > > r. < m Pi -«iii rr &3 &J rt n.W 1-^ a" : 3 ifi -1 10 >- -^ ^ -vO vO " CO 4". « M -^ ON to 00 00 •0 B" ST 0\0J W tn «« en vO C^^I to 4^ VJ 9 M ■ OJ i-ityi OJ -t>- -1^ ^J M (^ en 4>- OJ en 00 to to N O^ M 00 -^ 000 41. « w On~-J ~J 00 in Oj OJ OJ <-n ~vj OJ ^ O^CiOOO 0- 4^ OOvO OJ ^J 9 ^J « M — OJ OJ en ^ « en 4^ oovo « to 4i. (.rnyi -' Z » 04^ to to to to ■^ 00 v6 W P a; nr vO OJ U> -^ ^j ^j M en -vj to 4^ OJ to 1-1 - --4 9 ■VI J». ^4 4». l-n « 4>. ^1 ^ en 4>. OJ ^I en to 4k OJ -vl -vl to 00 4^ vj -vj 4^ - to On ^ OJ -^ «OJ 00 oe^) en 1- 4^ •vIOJ 4>- OJ vj to " to to to 11 M OJ OJ ^ to 4»- ONsO ^ - vj " Oj en -< OJ OJ •^ en to 4^ -OJ 00 00 ON to OJ OJ ^0 to tJ ~vl ~^ 4»- 4>- >0 OJ On On OJ OJ Oen « to sO ^ ~J U\ en vO OJ ON ^ vj 4^ STATISTICS OF THE GIRLS* HAND-WORK p ■95 OJ M ^J O \0 o *. OJ tyi oj o-c- \0 IJ i,>j •^ ~J 00 en sO OO QQQ 0*0 o ^'t;'t3 o o o o o o ^J OA M y, > > r. o < OQ g -1 rt rr ft'if" n> SJcr? n o o f» D crq 7) C ; 3 • cr : rt -1 1^ i 00 00 ^ OJ -P- Ln ^ J>- 00 sO 9 J^ 4^ M OO OC O oo - „ „ O vO o n oolW 3* CO - a* 3 ^ 3* 44 THE CONSTRUCTIVE INTERESTS with the boys — 25, 14, 11 per cent; (2) Something of an in. crease in the use of cloth— 46, 51, 55 per cent (not fully sup- ported by the separate record of the Ethical School). Since all but one of these changes rome within a range of 10 per cent, the general averages may be taken as fair indica- tions of the relatixe suitability of these different materials to the needs and powers of the children during this whole period, and they offer direct suggestions of some value regarding the comparative attention to be given in the school room to work in these different materials. These points hardly require detailed comment, being sufficiently suggested by the figures themselves, as are also the differences between boys' and girls' materials. Materials. General Averages dj -— jr: , ^ ^ '~[ >^ ri ^ U u Boys 42 13 55 8 6 14 5 I 6 4 4 5 10 Girls 3 3 4 II 15 39 13 52 8 9 5 II. THE EARLY INTERESTS AND EDUCATION OF 72 TALENTED ENGINEERS Introduction It will hardly be questioned that the lines of school hand- work now in use give some general motor training which is of value to the child, and some knowledge of tools, materials and processes which is different in degree or quality from what he would otherwise acquire ; or that these various acquisitions, skill, knowledge, inventiveness, aesthetic appreciation, habits of social action, and the like, so far as developed thereby, would increase somewhat the child's value to society. But this is probably as strong and definite a statement as would meet with general acceptance. As to the extent of such re- sults, we have no definite knowledge, and there is the widest difference of opinion regarding their rel.itive values as compared one with another or with the regular school subjects. Eich of these elements of value is exalted as the main purpose of the work by the adherents of one or another system. More numer- ous still are those who hold the opinion that any and all of these values are too insignificant in comparison with the regular school studies to justify their entrance into the curriculum. We may as well admit that we know little about the real social significance of these aims and less about the efficiency of the means used to obtain them. We have no positive evidence that the school handwork affects a child's general motor control seriously, or even appre- ciably. We do not know whether or how far the el ments of knowledge which a child gains through handwork differ in kind or degree from those gained through an equal time given to observation and study. We know very little of the relationship between the lines of ability required or cultivated by handwork and those which belong to the other school subjects. The known facts here are so few that one need consult only his personal 46 THE CONSTRUCTIVE INTERESTS taste and inclination in deciding whether to go with him who says that 'it is the best general student who excels in con. structive work, or with him who claims that it is just the boy stupid at his books who will lead his class in these more con- crete and practical lines. The situation is the same in regard to the specifically economic values of manual work. We do not know whether the adult efficiency of men in any walk of life is affected appreciably by the handwork now found in the school, and can only guess at the comparative importance from this point of view of the different kinds of work now in vogue. It would indeed seem probable that if the manual work were much increased and specialized it would materially affect the future efficiency of those children who are destined to earn their living in the manual occupations, and it might perhaps have equal signifi. cance for those who are to become industrial leaders and organ- izers. But the school, in this country at least, has not dared to offer enough special work to justify the expectation of any such results in a marked way, for lack of knowledge as to what children ought to receive it. Any way of ascertaining in ad- vance what children would or should enter industrial occupa- tions would probably make possible advantageous adaptations of their early education. Such problems will doubtless become subjects of serious study, and when this is done we may expect results regarding all of them such as will have decided influence on educational practice. Tests will be devised which will develop facts regarding the influence of handwork upon general motor ability and its efficacy in developing constructive insight, inventiveness, and the like; the correlations of skill and success in manual lines with ^those in other lines may be easily determined; following the later records of children from different types of schools would give suggestions as to the influence of the curriculum on choice of occupation ; a study of the boyhood characteristics of men in different occupations ought to indicate ways of judging what type of occupation a given child would incline to choose when grown, and furnish suggestions regarding what sort of specialization at school is desirable;— or at least it would prove the impossibility of any such fore-knowledge. The following OF CHILDREN 47 section deals with material of this last sort bearing upon a single set of occupations. The desirability of a considerable opportunity for specializa- tion was admitted after a long struggle so far as the colleges were concerned, and more recently secondary schools have also been developing an elective system. But in connection with the elementary school the question has hardly been discussed, in this country at least, the assumption being that this period must be given wholly to lines of work which are supposedly essential to all callings alike. This is however an assumption rather than a proved fact, and the possibility of advantageous specialization within these school years seems at least a question worth considering. Perhaps the broadest basis for any specializa- tion here would be the division of the children into two classes; those who are to engage in constructive and mechanical occupa- tions, and those who are not. In this case the problem of selecting the right pupils for industrial occupations and of giv- ing them the right kind of special training, is at present identi- cal with the general specialization problem as regards the ele- mentary school. The class of workers-with-materials apparently would need to be divided into : (i) those who in subordinate positions perform the actual operations upon the materials, and (2) those who invent new methods and processes and suc- cessfully organize industrial effort. The present study deals only with this second class, and is a consideration of facts regarding the boyhood environment, education, activities, and interests of men of marked con- structive talent, with a view to determining what boyhood characteristics, if any, give promise of constructive talent in the adult, and what elements of education and experience, if any, regularly precede the manifestation of this ability in the adult. While one would expect the main significance of such study to lie in its answer to the question of how definitely and in just what ways boyhood may be expected to indicate adult abilities, still it would be a rather extreme emphasis upon innate equip- ment as the only factor in the production of genius which would find no suggestions for education in the facts about to be ex- amined regarding the boyhood of these engineers. Even Gal- 48 THE CONSTRUCTIVE INTERESTS ton, whose Hereditary Genius gives such striking evidence in support of the view that men having certain types of inborn gen- ius are bound to attain ultimately a given degree of such suc- cess regardless of environmental influences during childhood/ dismisses mechanical talent with these words : "I do not, however, see my way clear to making- a selection of eminently gifted engineers because their success depends in a very great degree on early opportunities.""^ Such an admission — or assumption — from such an authority would in itself seem a sufficient warrant for the attempt to ascertain just what the early opportunities are which produce eminently gifted engineers. The following material was obtained by m:^ans of a question- naire which is reproduced on the following page. It was sent to one hundred leading members of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. As a suggestion regarding the decree of ability here repr.2sented it mavbe stated that some half-dozen ('if those who replied) are millionaires, two of them many times such. It was estim.ite.i that the li^t included no one who, if salaried, would receive less than $7,500, while the average salary-rate was placed at $12,000. Occupation Inhi^hf yJ^^^'>'ji'J^^^) At what age did you enter upon it? Did you choose it then because it seemed necessary? Because it seemed the most profitable? Because of likin.^^ for just that kind of work? Where was your home durin^ boyhood? Country Village Town(0':-™-J City With what lines of mechanical work were you thrown into close contact, if any? iQalton, Hereditary Genius, pp. 37-49. 2 " « « p. 323. OF CHILDREN 49 In what lines of ability or taste were you considered exceptionally gifted dur- ing this period? Please number the following studies in the order of your preference for them as a boy: Arithmetic History Geography Literature Science In which ones was your work exceptionally good? ' " " " " poor? At what age did you leave school ? What kinds of handwork did you do previous to your 17th year, and at what ages respectively ? Were you much or comparatively little interested in this work?. Did father or mother possess exceptional manual skill ?. Father's occupation ? ... If you can recall them, please mention below, six things made or built by you previous to your 17th year? If vnable to recall agf^pliasc at ate Velicetv uhut years : e. g. 8-llil2-14-15-16- Article Age Approx. Size Purpose Remarks so THE CONSTRUCTIVE INTERESTS How far in your judgment did the doing of such work as a child affect your choice of life work or your success therein ? If your experience has led you to any conclusions respecting the place of handwork in the Elementary School, will you please indicate them on the other side of this sheet. Method of Tabulation Of these loo men, 22 were found to reside in Greater New York, and these were selected as a test group with the hope of making the returns absolutely complete within its limits. A second letter to the six who ignored the first was all that proved necessary to accomplish this. Thus the New York group repre- sents the full 100 per cent of returns, and is valuable as a check upon the results to be obtained from the whole body of returns, which included 72 replies. As will be seen, however, the two classes agree very closely ; sufficiently so to justify the assump- tion that the percentages would not differ sensibly if the returns were complete, /. e-, that the 28 who failed to reply did so for accidental reasons and not because of any fundamental differences with respect to the characteristics we are to study. The names were also separated into three groups thought to represent somewhat different types of mechanical ability, group A including 'those whose success was primarily due to ex- ceptional constructive and inventive ability as such ; group B, those who combine large constructive ability with the ability required to organize and conduct successfully a large con- structive or manufacturing enterprise ; and group C, men whose success, although "along strictly constructive lines, has been due primarily to their powers of organization rather than to their scientific or mechanical ability. The differences between these classes are not large nor regular, but the results are given in this form as helping to show the limits of variation within the group as a whole. The fact of such similarities, joined to these differing types of talent, suggested that the boyhood characteristics which were found common here might have no special application to men of engineering ability but might belong to men of similar talent in OF CHILDREN 51 almost any occupation. As a test of this, thirty men equally successful as lawyers were asked to answer the same set of ques- tions. The results will be given beside those of the engineers. While all means failed to extract replies from more than nine of the lawyers, these returns seem worthy of some regard be- cause they are so uniformly negative in regard to the mechanical element in their make-up. It would doubtless be the most un- mechanically minded of this group who would be the least likely to attempt to answer such questions, so that it seems fair to as- sume that we have here the records of that part of the thirty which possesses the strongest mechanical interest, and that the completereturns would show (if possible) still less of the charac. teristics of the engineers than do those of the nine lawyers who replied. Their reports are tabulated in the same manner as those of the engineers and are given in a parallel column. Though so meagre, they seem to the writer a suflEicient indication that the early evidences of mechanical talent are not to be found to any extent in boys who are to become talenteJ lawyers. Whether the lawyers or the engineers are the more highly specialized type, cannot be determined without a study of still other pro- fessions. As the New Yorkers were distributed quite evenly through these three classes, it was necessary to make, in reality, six separate classes instead of three. The results with these classes support the general averages in most cases and are not recorded separately in the text. The figures are in every case the percent- ages of answers upon the total number (of sheets returned) within that class ; in other words, each class record reads as if based on 100 replies. ^The number of replies in each main group is as follows : A 19 New York (complete) 22 B 30 Lawyers 9 C 23 Total 72 52 THE CONSTRUCTIVE INTERESTS These retuns may be considered under the heads of (i) en- vironment, (2) special interests and abilities, (3) the handwork actually done by them, (4) their views and opinions regarding the place of handwork in the school. Environment Under this head we may consider the information regarding loca!ion of home, parents' occupation, personal contact with constructive and mechanical work, etc. The percentages show the number living in country, city, etc. Total N. Y. A B C Lawyers Farm 21 18 16 23 17 Village 12 14 5 20 9 II Town 26 9 21 23 35 City 53 78 58 43 61 89 If the distribution of the population at the time of the boyhood of these men b- taken into account, the contrast between city and country is still further heightenerl. Only three of them are under forty years of age, ai^d the average age is estimated at between fifty-five and sixty. S ) their boyhood would center m a general way about the yar i860. At that date the cities of this country contained 16 per cent of the population.^ This 16 per cent apparently furnished 51 p.'r cent of the mechanical en- gineers of the grade of ability which we are considering. As the proportion of urban population has doubtless more than doubled since that time (being 22 per cent of the whole in 1880 and 29 per cent in 1890)^ it is seen that merely upon a basis of numbers to select from the city's present advantage over the country in furnishing these men is very much increased. Add to that the undoubted fact that it is on the whole the best of the country population which the city has been adding to itself dur- ing these forty years, an 1 we cannot but conclude that the pro- portion of talented engineers-to.be who are now living out their ^Mayo Smith, Statistics and Sociology, p. 369. 21 bid. OF CHILDREN 53 boyho'id on the farm is far below this 21 per cent, and that the cities are at present producing far more such than the 53 per cent of i860. Whatever may be the present situation, the fact that forty years ago the large city furnished 53 per cent of such men as against 21 per cent from the country contrasts strongly with widely held views concerning the exceptional value of farm and c )untry life as education, anJ concerning the quality of mind that it develops. In so far as this type of ability is held to be a thing inborn, these figures indicate that the city succeeded several decades ago in winning the 1 irger proportion of the best blood— the best, that is for this i)urpose. Regarding their bear- ing on early opportunity as a factor in the production of' mechanic.il ability, one would have said that this would be just the kind of ability to profit in a peculiar degree from the environment and experiences of farm and country life. Think- ing of its varied contact with the physical world, its demands of all sorts for amateur construction, building repairs and the like which must often be met by novel and ingenious uses of the tools and materials lying at hand, one would b^ quite likely to con- clude that this life would be far the most effective in develop- ing an acquaintance with materials and a versatility in discover- ing and adapting means to ends which would count in an excep. tional degree toward a constructive or mechanical career. Evidently, however, the farm has no great significance here. It would seem either that erivironment is an unimportant factor compared to inb )rn genius and that the city has sometime since possessed itself of the families that contain most of the genuises, or else that, advantageous as the country environment appears to bo, the city somehow surpas> 14 / 6 7 IS 49 N. Y. I St 2nd 3rd 4th 5th ^5 36 o 5 O 45 18 14 5 9 14 14 2