Electricity, like every science, presents two\nphases to the student, one belonging to a theoretical\nknowledge, and the other which pertains\nto the practical application of that knowledge.\nThe boy is directly interested in the practical use\nwhich he can make of this wonderful phenomenon\nin nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is, in reality, the most successful avenue by\nwhich he may obtain the theory, for he learns the\nabstract more readily from concrete examples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is an art in which shop practice is a greater\neducator than can be possible with books. Boys\nare not, generally, inclined to speculate or theorize\non phenomena apart from the work itself;\nbut once put them into contact with the mechanism\nitself, let them become a living part of it, and\nthey will commence to reason and think for themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be a dry, dull and uninteresting thing to tell a boy that electricity can be generated by riveting together two pieces of dissimilar metals, and applying heat to the juncture. But put into his hands the metals, and set him to perform the actual work of riveting the metals together, then wiring up the ends of the metals, heating them, and, with a galvanometer, watching for results, it will at once make him see something in the experiment which never occurred when the abstract theory was propounded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He will inquire first what metals should be used\nto get the best results, and finally, he will speculate\nas to the reasons for the phenomena. When\nhe learns that all metals are positive-negative or\nnegative-positive to each other, he has grasped a\nnew idea in the realm of knowledge, which he\nunconsciously traces back still further, only to\nlearn that he has entered a field which relates to\nthe constitution of matter itself. As he follows\nthe subject through its various channels he will\nlearn that there is a common source of all things;\na manifestation common to all matter, and that all\nsubstances in nature are linked together in a most\nwonderful way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An impulse must be given to a boy’s training. The time is past for the rule-and-rote method. The rule can be learned better by a manual application than by committing a sentence to memory.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n