"Handicrafts: By far, the largest group of activities in School Arts Book consisted of applied arts, manual arts, or handicrafts. There are a number of reasons why these activities were so numerous. One was a direct result of the scientific studies made of children’s interests and the increased emphasis that school reformers began to put on the need for activity in which visual and manual learning was paramount. A second was the practical emphasis placed on approaches to learning as a result of the social efficiency movement Art for art’s sake, would not have met with popular approval in an area of efficiency and common sense. Manual training and applied arts were terms often used interchangeably, and writers of the period often voiced the opinion that the teaching of craftsmanship would help to instill an appreciation of the importance of beauty in the manufacture of utilitarian objects. We saw this with John Frieze, who viewed the matter from the perspective of the manual training movement. But it is equally evident in Walter Sargent’s Fine and Industrial Arts in Elementary Schools (1912). A third reason for the popularity of crafts in programs of art and manual training was the arts-and-crafts movement itself, which was then at the height of its popularity in the United States. This was a major revolution in popular taste, especially that of the middle classes." (Effland, 1990)