The following excerpt is from the Superintendent’s Report to the School Committee, which was printed in the School Committee Report for 1907 and reprinted in Beverly City Documents for 1907.
MANUAL TRAINING
Next in importance to the changes in the High School already mentioned has been the employment of a supervisor of manual training and the development and extension of manual training in both the High School and the elementary schools. The manual work previously done in the elementary schools, particularly in the lower grades, had received very favorable notice from the State Supervisor of Manual Arts and others, but no regular course of woodwork had been attempted and nothing except a little arts and crafts work had been attempted in the High School. The work in the elementary schools in all grades has been reduced to a schedule and systemized through teachers’ classes and supervision, wood-working introduced in the eighth grade and in the first year of the High School, mechanical drawing and art craft metal work systematically introduced in the High School.
As fast as the resources of the city warrant the expense, manual training in the High School should be extended to other grades, and should include wood turning and pattern making, molding, forging, and perhaps the use of machinist’s tools. For other details of the manual training, I would refer you to the report of the Supervisor, Mr. Naylor.
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