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REJUVENATING THE SOUL AND ENHANCING KNOWLEDGE | DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY
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Design and technology were taught from an early date in the history of the Flensborg School, for 6
hours a week under the supervision of Headmaster Jón Þórarinsson. He had sailed to Denmark in the
summer of 1890 in order to learn about pedagogy and made a particular point of informing himself
about design and technology as part of school curricula and attended courses in this subject. On 6
December 1890 he gave a lecture on teaching design and technology in a meeting of the Icelandic
Association of Teachers. There he stated among other things:
“The intent is not to train the body for any particular
task, but to make it an obedient and beneficial tool for
the human spirit, to be able to resolve any task that
may arise. The intent is therefore not to produce diligent
carpenters, but to teach youths to attend to every
task in a diligent and enthusiastic manner, irrespective
of whether that task be of a mental or physical
nature.”
Following this lecture Headmaster Jón prevailed upon the Icelandic Association of Teachers to send a
petition to Governor Magnús Stephensen that would then be presented to the government with his
endorsement, recommending teaching this subject in Reykjavík. This proposal was in two parts, firstly
it was suggested that teaching would take place in Lærði skólinn, but alternatively it was recommended
that a school would be founded expressly for this subject. The Governor was more impressed with the
latter suggestion and submitted it to the government, which led to it being included in the proposed
budget to be decided by the Althing. To cut a long story short the Althing rejected the proposal but did
allocate a modest grant of 1600 krónur for two years which was to be used to start teaching this
subject at Flensborg School.