Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 36.djvu/807

Rh the principal teacher of Sloyd, Director Salomon, unhesitatingly claims that its introduction into the public schools would be beneficial, directly promoting general health, and indirectly by facilitating the acquisition of other studies.

It has been claimed by many advocates of this system that it is better than most others, supplies a healthful training, without becoming on the one hand a mere trade, or on the other a mere theoretic study; that while it trains in general dexterity and promotes physical development, it at the same time strengthens and disciplines the faculties of the mind; cultivating the perceptives.



especially the senses of form and order; training the power of comparison, constructiveness, and concentration of thought; besides awakening a liking for manual labor, respect for manual workers, love for the true, and taste for the beautiful. Whatever may be said to the contrary, so much is certain that, if properly taught, Sloyd is a valuable means to education and an important complement to the ordinary branches of school studies. This is borne out by its phenomenal success in Sweden, its extensive adoption in countries where education is most advanced, as in Germany, France, and Great Britain, and by its growing popularity on this side of the Atlantic.