The Paideia curriculum does not include vocational training for a well-considered reason. The first twelve years of schooling is the inappropriate time -- and school is the inappropriate place -- for learning marketable skills. The time for learning these technical skills is after basic education has been completed, as we explain in the subsequent chapter. But this conclusion must not be misunderstood: our objection is to specific job training, and not to general education in the manual arts. Hence, we do not advocate boarding-up the woodshops, typing rooms, and other workplace classrooms in the nation's schools. On the contrary, that which is taught at present in these facilities could be readily modified and turned into practical, truly educational courses. Indeed, we believe that such courses should be required of all students -- irrespective of their sex, career interests, or innate abilities.

But it is important for teachers and parents to remember that the teaching of crafts, mechanics, and the domestic arts is justifiable only as a contribution to learning, rather than as a direct preparation for future employment. This is true even if such general training improves the student's capacities in many lines of adult work. Acquiring skill in the manual arts is as much mindtraining as acquiring skill in the language arts.

After going through the Paideia Program, all young people should be familiar with the handling of basic tools and machines; all should be able to make simple, useful objects from wood and other common materials; and all should be able to make elementary repairs on household devices.

Clearly, the young man who cannot cook his own dinner, the young woman who does not understand the function of a car generator, the young person who does not know how to wire a light-switch are all at a considerable disadvantage in life. In the lower schools, young children can be taught to use common tools, to hammer a nail, saw a straight cut, sew on a button, or hem a garment. Beginning about age twelve or thirteen, and continuing throughout the last five or six years of basic schooling, students might be taught such things as how to replace a spark plug, change a tire, bake a cake, prepare a hot breakfast, and make simple repairs of home plumbing and electrical systems.

This list is merely illustrative. Any common skill that can be used by all in whatever careers they choose would be similarly appropriate. Certainly, safety (electricity, fire, protecting the eyes) and the care of tools (sharpening knives, handling electric saws) should be part of the school curriculum. A knowledge of the principles of tools can also serve as an excellent introduction to the physical sciences ("Why is a crowbar shaped the way it is?" "What is the physical principle behind the wrench?"). Besides, making things is a natural way to develop an understanding of proportion and other mathematical concepts, as well as of the relationship of form and function, which is a pedagogical link to the fine arts.

In addition to the obvious usefulness of the manual arts, the making of things brings its own satisfactions. One should learn to make things as the basis for appreciation of what is involved in anything that is well made. In the not distant future, high quality goods, services, and ideas will be America's most important product.

The central consideration is that whatever is taught should be a skill that will be needed by everyone in the brave, new post-industrial world. Typing is a prime example of such a skill. Because of the growing use of computers the ability to type will be required of everybody in school, at home, and on the job. It should clearly be the first manual skill taught. Age eight is not too young to begin, and since most children will have been playing with computer keyboards beginning in kindergarten, it may be impossible to hold them back from formal training until age eight!

How should these skills be taught? By coaching: there is no other way to learn them; they can be acquired only by doing, under the watchful eye of a patient coach.

Who should teach them? Ideally, they should be taught by members of the regular academic faculty and not by specialists. This would facilitate the integration of concepts from mathematics, economics, physics, and other relevant disciplines, as well as prevent invidious distinctions from arising among the faculty.

How much time should be devoted to the manual arts? An hour to two a week for three or more years should provide adequate time and exposure without greatly disrupting the inner-balance of the curriculum.

* The Manual Arts - Chapter 11, by James O'Toole from Mortimer Adler's "The Paideia Program: An Educational Syllabus." Macmillan Publishing, New York (1984)

THREE CHEERS FOR LEON BOTSTEIN

Three cheers for Leon Botstein who has both the courage and the intelligence to cut through all the breast-beating superficiality of the debate over the events at Littleton High School. Of course everything he says makes perfect sense and therefore we can all rest assured that there will be no serious response to it. Too many oxes would be gored: the educational establishment (from k through 12) whose power lies almost entirely in its capacity not to change no matter what happens; middle class, middle-aged suburban American parents who want their children to succeed and have a good life, but who resolutely resist facing the realities of their adolescent children; the public, the private, and the sectarian colleges and universities of this country, whose faculties know full well that much (most?) of what they do in the name of higher education is a waste of time and energy, but who continue to do it anyway because really thinking about and instituting serious higher education would require radically rethinking their own academic and intellectual careers; and the political establishment (composed of both parties and from the local through the state to the national level) which prefers to cater to the sentimental pieties of parents and educational institutions, rather than to exercise anything like real leadership in such a delicate matter. And, as the old saying goes, nothing succeeds like success, and don't we have the biggest, the most expensive, and the most successful educational system in the world? So there is no reason to tinker with it -- until, that is, something like what happened in Littleton shockingly reveals the hollowness of the whole structure. The defensive impulse of all concerned immediately avoids reflecting seriously about this structure by debating furiously the issue of gun control, the question of whether or not there were warning signs of trouble, the endless argument about the possibility of preventing such unpredictable explosions of violence, etc., etc.

Mr. Botstein, bless him, actually says something serious, thoughtful and reasonable about the structure of the public education system in this country. And he has the temerity to suggest the kinds of major changes that might make sense. Don't hold your breath waiting for any response from the political, educational or social institutions constituting and supporting that system.

Herman L. Sinaiko

VACLAV HAVEL: A CIVIL SOCIETY

Max:

For three years I have been involved in an effort to have Czech President Vaclav Havel visit Minnesota and speak. He did so on April 26 ion an event called the Vaclav Havel Civil Society Symposium. The event was planned and sponsored by The House of Hope Presbyterian Church, the University of St. Thomas, Macalester College, The Czechoslovak Genealogical Society International, The Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences, and Czech and Slovak Sokol Minnesota. This symposium, centered on Havel's ideas for a Civil Society, will continue in the future. His speech at the symposium is now available on the web. The URL is

http://www.macalester.edu/~colrel/havel/index.html

If you think this may be of interest to Center members, please pass it on.

Ken Dzugan

Dear Dr. Adler,

I am working on my doctorate in education at Teachers College, Columbia University and I'm writing my dissertation on the role of the school in communicating a moral outlook to young children. Although I have only read a small portion of your works, what I did read impressed me. I wanted to tell you how much I appreciate your thinking. You have tried to do an important task, which is to make deep and important ideas accessible without stripping them of their profundity. It is a worthy effort. The recent high school killings in Colorado are one of many reminders that our society is making a very unsteady and tortured transition into modernity (or a post-modern society as we are now inclined to say).

I think your thoughtful approach for integrating philosophical and spiritual reflection into our contemporary "discourse" continues to be needed. I look forward to reading more of your works.

Thank you for your contribution.

I hope you are well.

Sincerely,

Bob McNulty

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