Put a young man in a woodshop, his handswork to the advantage of his brain and hebecomes a philosopher while thinking himselfonly a craftsman.—Jean Jacques Rousseau

In the fall of 2001, I was a brand newpart-time woodshop teacher in a newprivate high school, where I was given

the challenge and opportunity of creatinga woodworking program. With so manyshop programs closing throughout theUnited States, this was a rather unusualthing.Although I had some previous expe-rience with woodworking clubs and atArrowmont, a craft school in Gatlinburg,Tennessee, there is a difference between

teaching a short specialized course and thesustained teaching of continuous semestersof related work. I also quickly found thatthere is a great deal of difference betweenteaching adults with a strong interest in thesubject matter, and teaching high schoolstudents who really don’t know yet whetheror not they are interested.In October of that year, Jack Grube,

woodworking teacher at Pinkerton Acad-emy in Derry, New Hampshire, invited meto attend the first meeting of the New Eng-land Association of Woodshop Teachers; athis suggestion, I arranged visits along theway with the North Bennet Street School(NBSS) in Boston and with Paul Ruhlman

at the Buckingham, Browne and NicholsSchool in Cambridge, Massachusetts.While at the North Bennet Street

School, I was asked by Janet Collins, wood-working program director, “Do you knowabout Sloyd?” I had seen the word “sloyd”before, referring to knives sold in variouswoodworking catalogs. When I said, “No,not really,” Janet took me downstairs tomeetWalter McDonald,Associate Directorat the school. He showed me an old bookabout Sloyd and informed me that NBSSwas active in the late 1800s and early 1900sin promoting the Sloyd system of wood-working education over its rival,“the Russ-ian System.”Later in the day, when I visited

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Educational Sloydby Doug Stowe

The Early Roots of Manual Training

Paul Ruhlman at Buckingham, Browne andNichols School in Cambridge, Paulinformedme that his programwas roughlybased on the legacy of Sloyd and that eventhe old wooden building where he teachesis still called the “Sloyd Building.”But whatwas Sloyd? My brief discussions with Pauland with Walter McDonald gave me ahunger for more information. When Ireturned home from the conference, Ibegan research that has led me deep intothe history and theory of woodworkingeducation and, through a circuitous routeback to my starting point, The North Ben-net Street School.During the Philadelphia Centennial

Exposition of 1876,Victor DellaVos, direc-tor of the Moscow Imperial TechnicalSchool, exhibited a system of industrialtraining that was designed to move peoplerapidly from farm labor into jobs in indus-try. American educators were enthralled by

what became known as the Russian Systemof Industrial Arts: a specialized course ofinstruction in which students learned var-ious tasks based on the processes used inmanufacturing. These included classes inwoodworking, turning, metalworking,mechanics, and drafting, giving studentsbrief training in the various tools andman-ufacturing techniques of each discipline.Inspired by the exhibit of the Russian

System at the Philadelphia Exposition,Calvin Woodward, often called “the fatherof manual training,” founded the ManualTraining School of Washington Universityin St. Louis in 1880. He had been a physicsteacher and noticed that his students werehaving trouble thinking in three dimen-sions. He believed that working with thehands and actually making things wouldhelp. John D. Runkle, president of MIT inCambridge, also attended the PhiladelphiaCentennial, and was inspired to establishThe School of Mechanical Arts at MIT forthose students who desired to enter indus-try rather than become scientific engineers.Runkle believed that the shop experiencewould give his engineering students anupper hand upon graduation.While Run-kle andWoodward both sawmanual train-

ing as having benefit to thinking skills, itwas the promise of quick movement ofpeople into industrial employment that ledto a rapid expansion of woodworking pro-grams throughout the United States overthe next 50 years.Also in the late 1800s, a rival system of

manual training was brought to the UnitedStates and Great Britain and, again, theBoston area was an important locus for itsintroduction. Based on earlier work byFinnish educator Uno Cignaeus, OttoSalomon in Sweden developed a system ofgeneral education with woodworking at itscore.He called it Educational Slöjd; derivedfrom the adjective slög (“handy”), slöjdmeans “craft” or “manual skill.” In theUnited States and England, the systembecame known as Sloyd. While the termcan literally mean any type of handcraft,woodworking sloyd was seen as the form ofcraft most conducive to the desiredmental,physical, and moral development in chil-dren. Educational Sloyd was much morethat just the craft of working with wood. Itwas a well-designed system utilizing wood-working for specific educational purposes.Salomon created a training school forteachers of Sloyd in Nääs, Sweden in 1875,

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Early books about Sloyd by authors Gustaf Lars-

son, Otto Salomon, B.B.Hoffman, and S. Barter.

An early Sloyd class at the North Bennet Street

School in Boston,Massachusetts. From Sloyd for

the Upper Grammar Grades by Gustaf Larsson.

ALLPHOTOSCOURTESYOFDOUGSTOWE

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and between 1880 and 1907 over 5500teachers frommore than 40 countries weretrained in the system.In 1885, Pauline Agassiz Shaw, a Boston

philanthropist, founded the North BennetStreet School, and in 1889 Mrs. Shawbrought teachers from the Nääs School tobegin a Sloyd program.Gustaf Larsson wasnamed director of the Sloyd program atNBSS in 1891 and, with the help of Mrs.Shaw, established an American school fortraining teachers of Sloyd. By 1903, Larssonestimated that the hundreds of teachers bythen trained through the program at NBSShad in turn taught 34,000 students. In addi-tion, Larsson published a quarterly newslet-ter called “The Sloyd Record.” In that pub-lication Larsson gave his address for corre-spondence as 39 North Bennet Street, theaddress of today’s school, and the Sloyd pro-gram continued there until 1909,when thatlocation ran out of space and Mrs. Shawraised money to build a new Sloyd Schoolnear the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.Gustaf Larsson also wrote a number of

books about Sloyd for American publica-tion, including Sloyd (1902), ElementarySloyd andWhittling (1906), and Sloyd for theThree Upper Grammar Grades (1909). TheBaronDeHirsch Trade School (1890-1935)in NewYork City was another strong advo-cate of Sloyd, and its superintendent, B.B.Hoffman wrote an important woodwork-ing text, The Sloyd System of Woodworking,published in 1892. Books by both authorsplaced emphasis on clearly delineating thedifferences between Sloyd and the RussianSystem. Both systems used the making of“models” as the core of the curriculum.Models were designed to increase graduallyin difficulty and complexity to correspondwith the student’s growth. Each level of

model was intended to present a consistentdegree of difficulty so that no individualmodel would be too difficult nor would itrequire assistance from teachers or others.One of the differences between the two

systems was in the choice of things to bemade in the woodshop. In the Russian sys-tem, as in industry, parts of things weremade that had no particular relevance tothe student, were not necessarily useful inhis personal life, and as in industry, mostoften represented only part of a workingwhole. In Sloyd, on the other hand,modelswere designed with the intent of being use-ful and relevant to the student and his fam-ily. According to Salomon,“Method in slöjdonly becomes educationally sound whenthe pupil, by constructing objects whichcan be used in everyday life, acquires thedexterity in performing the exercises as theyoccur… In choosing a series of models thebest plan is undoubtedly to consider localconditions and endeavor to make it exactlyrepresentative of articles which can be usedin the homes of the pupils. By this means,interest in the instruction given is betteraroused and maintained, not only in thepupils, but—and this is quite important—in the parents, and thus the bond betweenthe school and the home is strengthened.”Unlike the Russian system, Sloyd had as

its objective the overall education of thechild rather than the preparation of indi-viduals for the industrial labor force. Theunderlying idea was that the activities of thehands encouraged the development of thebrain and led the child to the expression ofhigher values, greater confidence, self-esteem, and a general respect for all typesof work, whether mental or physical. Asstated by Salomon: “It is usual (for Sloyd)to bring forward: pleasure in bodily labor,and respect for it, habits of independence,order, accuracy, attention and industry,increase of physical strength, developmentof the power of observation in the eye andof execution in the hand.”And unlike the Russian system, in which

students were introduced to craft skills afterthe basics of reading and writing were cov-ered in school, Sloyd was often introducedat the elementary school level, where it wasobserved that the development of handskills andmental capacity were concurrentand mutually reinforcing.It was suggested that Sloyd should be

taught by teachers rather than craftsmen so

Sloyd building at Buckingham, Browne and

Nichols school in Cambridge,Massachusetts.

AdvancedModels made by Sloyd students at the

North Bennet Street School. From Sloyd for the

Upper Grammar Grades by Gustaf Larsson.

that an understanding of the needs of thechildren would come first and foremost,but it was noted as well that proper execu-tion and teaching of the models requiredsome degree of training and skill in crafts-manship. In Great Britain, they had diffi-culty finding suitable instructors with boththe skill of the artisan and the method of atrained teacher, and 14-year-old boys whohad demonstrated a particular level of apti-tude for Sloyd were chosen as teacher’s aids.Naturally, there were critics. In Great

Britain, the use of knives in the classroomwas deemed dangerous and therefore unac-ceptable. Some educators believed thatsome of the models were overly simplistic.Others believed that making models wasoppressive and stifled personal creativity.Eventually, the rivalry between the Russ-

ian System and Sloyd faded, and the differ-ences in their origins and purposes werelargely forgotten and blurred under theterm “manual training.” Manual trainingthen became known as industrial arts, andnow is referred to in many remainingschool programs by the title Tech Ed, orTechnology Education—giving many

woodworking teachers, as a consequence,the additional responsibility of teachingnew computer-based technology.Otto Salomon, founder of Educational

Sloyd, chose not to dwell on the differencesbetween Sloyd and the Russian system,thinking, perhapsmistakenly, that the valueof manual training for the overall develop-ment of the child was proven and widelyaccepted. Writing in 1903, he observed: “Isee a system as a casting mould—necessaryduring the process of casting but that oughtto be thrown away and dismantled whenthe work-of-art has been cast. I believe thatthe so-called Nääs ‘system’ has had its day;it is in the past, not in the present, still lessin the future.While most of the principleshave become so universal that they arestated to be self-evident, even by personswho certainly would not like to promoteanything that comes out of Nääs, and thereis no further need for a Nääs-system in thedomain of manual training.”When school administrators could see

jobs resulting from a course of study,man-ual training programs thrived in the UnitedStates. Today, as more and more manufac-

turing jobs are moved overseas to benefitfrom cheap labor, it has become harder todefend those programs based on the shortterm goals of delivering trained employeesto waiting jobs.Ironically, the North Bennet Street

School was from its very inception focusedon the same objective as the Russian Sys-tem—preparing students for employ-ment—and one of the very strong assur-ances it gives today’s students is “Yes, youcan make a living doing this!” The systemof Sloyd, on the other hand, regardedwood-working in a broader light, as it fit with theneeds of the growing child in matters wellbeyond the simple aim of employment.One of the main points repeatedly

stressed by advocates of Sloyd was that itwas based on the sound educational theoryfrom the very long line of educational the-orists and the pioneers of early education.In his work Slojdskola and Folkskola, BookV, Otto Salomon outlined the full lineageof great minds and educational experienceupon which Educational Sloyd was based.Among them, Amos Commenius, consid-ered the father of pedagogy (the science of

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Making wooden boxes in Paul Ruhlman’s classroom at Buckingham, Browne and Nichols School in Cambridge,Massachusetts.

teaching), stressed the importance of man-ual training in general education. JeanJacques Rousseau, French philosopher said,“the great secret of education is to combinemental and physical work so that one kindof exercise refreshes the other.” FriedrichFroebel, originator of Kindergarten, placedmanual work at the center of instructionand grouped all other studies around it.The observations and example of these

early educators previewed the message ofmodern educators. John Dewey, one of theleading educators of the 20th century, wasa strong advocate of manual training as apart of general education, not somethingto be taught in isolation or as a separatecareer track. He believed that using thehands helped students develop better men-tal abilities. More recently, Howard Gard-ner’s theory of multiple intelligences haspromoted the understanding that, for manyof us, the use of the hands must be a partof the learning process. Current brainresearch shows that the brain continues tobe flexible even into adulthood, respond-ing through the allocation of cerebral cor-

tex space to the sensing and expressivedimensions of the human hand, confirm-ing what the early educators knew frompersonal experience and outlined in theireducational theories.It was generally believed by the promot-

ers of Educational Sloyd that woodworkingSloydwas far superior to other forms of craft,and B.B. Hoffman of the Baron De HirschTrade School in New York City published achart more than 100 years ago comparingand contrasting the benefits of various crafts,pointing out the clear advantages of wood-working Sloyd. Contemporary theories ofcontext-based learning tells us that we learnbest when we have direct application forwhatwe learn.Themeasuring used inwood-working provides a foundation for the use ofmath, geometry, units of measure and frac-tions in a way that they are understood tohave very practical applications becomingconcrete rather than abstract learning. Theuse of wood, a natural material from manydistinct species, invites a direct connectionbetween thewoodshop and the study of biol-ogy and the natural world.

At the present time, with woodworkingprograms being phased out in may publicschools, it may be useful to look back atSloyd to gain an understanding of how wehavemissed our course.While some privateschools like Buckingham, Browne andNichols School maintain woodworkingprograms in the spirit of Sloyd, secure inthe knowledge that theymeet the real needsof their students, the full potential of thewoodshop in broad-based general educa-tion is often not understood either by thegeneral public or by school boards andadministrations. In many public schools,the limited opportunities in woodshop arereserved for the students not going to col-lege, but Paul Ruhlman informed me thatmany of his woodworking studentsbecome engineers and architects. He fur-ther notes: “Here at Buckingham, Browneand Nichols School, the woodworking tra-dition goes back over 100 years. Wood-working education has been consideredpart of the Fine Arts Department. Designand mechanical problem solving areemphasized in the wood courses. The

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The workbench area in the Sloyd Building at Buckingham, Browne and Nichols school.

courses are not about learning a trade butlooking for ways to sense and explore thephysical world with one’s hands. A goodword for this is the word ‘haptic’ from theGreek haptikos, which means to lay one’shands upon. It is the sense of the world onegets from one’s hands.”From the beginnings of themanual train-

ing movement in the U.S., there has beenconfusion about the purpose and potentialof the woodshop. Unlike most parts of theeducational process,woodworking producestangible objects as evidence of learning, buteven in the days of Sloyd, Salomon warnednot to confuse the object being made withthe real purpose forwhich it wasmade:“Theobjects that the child makes are as useful asthosemade by the carpenter; but, unlike thework of the carpenter, the value of the child’swork does not exist in them, but in the childthat made them.”The real legacy of Otto Salomon’s work

may be yet to come, as woodshops re-invent themselves and integrate with otherareas of curriculum, enabling the wood-shop to step from the shadows of its indus-trial past into a clear understanding of howthe use of the hands not only gives shape towood, but shapes the character and pur-pose of the student as well.In the meantime, every woodworking

teacher in the country, whether in public orprivate schools, can point to his or her stu-dents’ growth in both confidence and char-acter. It happens every day.We see changesthat will be charted in real life, in commonsense, and in the willingness of our studentsto embrace the changes and challenges oftheir lives. Whether we are parents, teach-ers, administrators, or just regular everydaywoodworkers who may remember wood-working with our fathers or the projects wemade in 7th grade woodshop, it is good toknow and be reminded that woodworkingis not just about making things. Those whoare in positions of power and authority inour communities’ classrooms need to learnthe real lessons taught in Educational Sloyd.

If you have woodshops in your schools,keep them strong. If not, start one. If youare concerned about the expense, startsmall. The lessons taught by Sloyd suggestthat elementary school is the best time tobegin, and simple hand tools will providethe woodworking of choice.We have just completed our third year

of Woodworking at the Clear SpringSchool.We began classes at the high schoollevel, but inspired by Educational Sloyd, wenow have woodworking activities for allstudents, pre-school through 12th grade.The students of all ages take great pride andpleasure in their work.

Many, perhaps most, people never get anopportunity to do dovetailing, but everyhuman being, man or woman, may acquirefrom it the habit of doing well whateverhe/she is called upon to do.—Otto Salomon

TheNääs School, about 20miles outsideGöteborg,

Sweden is currently a conference and retreat center and

is no longer concerned specifically with the teaching

of Sloyd. It does have a library containing the books

and periodicals fromOtto Salomon’s original library,

which are cataloged and available for research.

Doug Stowe is a contributing editor forWoodworkmagazine.

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Unlikemostmanual training systems, Sloydwas rec-

ommended for elementary school,where—it was

recognized—students’brains were very actively

developing. From Elementary Sloyd and Whittling

byGustaf Larsson.

Woodcarving at the North Bennet Street School.