The work in applied mathematics should cover a wide range of problems
worded in the language of the trades and constantly varied in order to
establish as many points of contact as possible between the pupil's
knowledge of mathematics and the use of mathematics in industrial
life. Practical shop work is one of the best means to this end. The
trouble with much of the shop work given in the schools is that it
runs to hand craftmanship in which the object is to "make something"
by methods long ago discarded in the industrial world, rather than to
give the pupil exercise in the sort of thinking he will need to do
after he goes to work. Successful teaching does not depend so much on
the use of tools and materials as on the teacher's knowledge of the
conditions surrounding industrial work and his ability to originate
methods for vitalizing the instruction in its relation to industrial
needs.


MECHANICAL DRAWING

At the present time the junior high school course provides for one
hour a week of mechanical drawing. All the boys who may be expected
to elect the industrial course can well afford to devote more time to
drawing. For such boys no other subject in the curriculum, except
perhaps applied mathematics, is of greater importance. In many of the
trades the ability to work from drawings is indispensable and the man
who does not possess it is not likely to rise above purely routine
work.

In a drawing course for future industrial workers the emphasis should
be placed on giving the pupil an understanding of the uses of drawing
for industrial purposes, rather than on fine workmanship in making