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IV 87*7
LD3907
.S3 Seehof, Jesse, 1899-
1942 Handicraft curriculum for dull normal i
• S4 pupils; its importance in crime pre
vention... Uev; York, 1942.
vi,436 typewritten leaves. 29cm.
Pinal document (Ed.D.) - New York
university, School of education, 1942.
Bibliographies: p.422-436.
AC9463
Shea' ms;
Xerox University Microfilms, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106
THIS DISSERTATION HAS BEEN MICROFILMED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED.
Pinal Docomenfs *
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Accepted, Pat
HANDICRAFT CURRICULUM FOR
DULL NORMAL PUPILS
Its importance in Grime Prevention
JESSE SEEHOF
Submitted in partial fulfillm ent of the
requirements for the degree of Doctor of
Education in the School of Education of
new York University
1942
r
PLEASE NOTE:
Some pages may have
indistinct print.
Filmed as received.
University Microfilms, A Xerox Education Company
I look upon my work as unique in our time, as
necessary for it, and as salutary for a ll tim e. . . .
I have no complaint whatever that others should think
differently; I can end lire them; I even can - as I have
proved - live with them; but I can not have with them
the same aim, the same purpose in life . However,
this is not my fault, but theirs; 1 do not cut them
off, they do it themselves. - Proebel.
ii
AS9463
PREFACE
The scope of human knowledge Is illim itable; the student must
confine his activities to a mere segment of it. Thus the physician does
not presume to offer advice to the physicist, nor does the concert pi
anist attempt to conduct a cooking column. Even within each narrow
field the plethora of data confronting the student enforces further
departmentalization; the physician who has devoted his life to the study
of heart ailments would be unable to interpret the encephalograph as
teadily as the cardiograph.
The education of the citizen depends on the sk ill and knowledge
of many specialists; a ll too frequently it happens that those who con
tro l his destiny at one period of his life are unaware of the influences
that play upon him at another tim e. And it is because of this division
of supervision into discrete sections that one problem at least of human
activity has not been solved - the ever-present burden of crime.
The author believes that it is necessary to construct two
bridges before this problem can be solved. One lie s within the realm
of pedagogy and serves to demonstrate to academically-minded teachers
the potentialities of the, to them, unknown science and art of handi
craft; the second connects the isolated areas of pedagogy and law, its
objective being to bring to the teacher a picture of the 'bad* boy as
he w ill be in days to come, and to acquaint the judge with the road
the delinquent has already trod.
iii
So controversial are the issues Involved in attempts to remedy
crime conditions that the committee of educators sponsoring this thesis,
Dr. Robert X. Speer, Dr. ^Frederic M. Thrasher, Dr. Brian E. Tomlinson,
was w illing to accept it only as a contribution to program, and requested
that note be made that this acceptance did not necessarily mean its
approval of the assumptions or theories herein presented.
ddxe w riter is willing to have his thesis tested. Be believes
that experimentation w ill prove his bridges to have been firm ly constructed
and that their use w ill lead to a land of happier childhood for dull
normal boys.
iv
CONTENTS
PART I. SETTING
Chapter Page
1. Slum Area: 1930 .............................................................. 2
2. Children of the Slum s.................................................. 8
PART II. THEORY
3. The Pirst T h esis............................................................. 18
4. The Second Thesis ....................... 25
5. The Third T hesis............................................................. 33
6. The Fourth T h esis................................. 50
PART I II . SURVEY
7. Crime Causes and Cures ......................................... 71
8. Handicraft Through the Ages . . . . . . . . . 105
PART IV. TRIAL
9. Guiding P rin cip les....................................................... 114
10. An Experiment in H appiness.................................... 129
PART V. PEDAGOGY
11. The Teacher .......................................................152
12. Teaching the Three R *s.............................................. 160
v
13. Health Education ..............................................................180
14. The Handicraft Curriculum ............................216
PART VI. CURRICULUM
15. Working With Wood.................................................................230
16. Paper, Paste, and Paint .................................................255
17. Prom Clay to Concrete . . . . . . ....................... 283
18. Cloth C ra fts........................................................... 299
19. Leather Craft . . . • ...................................................308
20. Metal Craft ................................................. 315
21. Basketry and Weaving.................................................. 323
22. Block Printing .................................... 346
23. Music Education.....................................................................355
24. Nature Study and Nature C ra fts.............................. 368
25. Masks and M arionettes................................................. 397
PART VII. FUTURE
26. A rticulation ............................................................... 414
Bibliographies .................................... 422
PART I
SETTING
What a person is to be is not predetermined.
Let the influences mold him in one way, and
he is created a saint; in another, and he is
made a worker of iniquity.— Bobbitt.
