A Report on Vocational Training in Chicago and in Other Cities
Chapter 6: Industrial Schools and Courses in Other Cities: General Impressions
Table of Contents | Next | Previous
This and the next two chapters present the results of a study of present provisions for industrial education in twenty-eight cities, twenty-four of which were visited by a representative of the committee. For this purpose, a total time of six weeks and one day was spent in travel. fifty-six different schools being visited.
While making this study some opinions were naturally formed by the visitor of the value of the various kinds of schools and courses provided and of the means and methods used in carrying on the work. These general impressions are presented below. Forty-three schools are described in Chapter VII, classified as to types. A statement is also given in Chapter VII of the present practice of seven cities in the matter of separate high-school buildings for manual training and technical courses. Chapter VIII contains a description of methods used in shopwork, some outlines of drawing and academic courses and text-books, and statistics on the wages of former students.
Some General Impressions
The large number and great variety of experiments now being conducted in this country with industrial schools and courses, many of them started within the last three or four years, brings one at once to the conclusion that it is no longer necessary to rely solely on the experience of European countries for examples of what we need in this country. Of the cities visited. Boston has thus far made the most complete provision for vocational training at all points in the school course.[1]
The importance of intermediate schools
By far the most significant of the schools now established are the prevocational or preparatory trade schools and courses for the
(145) years twelve to sixteen.[2] For, in the first place, in the trade school proper, intensive training for boys is commonly begun at sixteen years of age, or later, and this fact makes it difficult for the trade school to secure many students or to retain them long after they have entered. The experience of Milwaukee and St. Louis is evidence of this condition. Most of the boys to whom the trade school might appeal come not from the high school but from a class who have been at work and earning money during the two years or more since they left the elementary school. The feeling of independence developed in these years out of school is often such that the boy does not appreciate the future advantage of training in a trade school and is unwilling to make the present sacrifice necessary to secure that training.[3] In the case of the trade school for girls the same difficulty does not arise because the training is begun at fourteen, and the course is shorter.
The trade school is also handicapped somewhat by the great expense for equipment and for the high grade of instruction needed. Moreover, some trades are disappearing under modern conditions of factory production, and it is, therefore, a question to what extent school training in these trades is worth while. The field for the trade school proper is undoubtedly important, but it is not so large nor so immediately pressing as that for the more elementary industrial schools and courses.
In the second place, neither the trade school (for boys) nor the technical high school can be so effective as the more elementary industrial schools in meeting the most important phase of the problem of industrial education in the public schools -namely, how to remove the great waste now caused by the large numbers of children who leave school in grades 6 to 8, at fourteen years of age, to go to work, although the industries offer little by way of training or advancement before the age of sixteen, and little by way of financial compensation.[4]
The immediate problem of industrial education in the public schools is, then, mainly, though not entirely, a problem of intermediate schools with their beginnings in grades 6 to 8. Such schools are able to discover the different vocational interests and abilities of pupils, to lay a foundation of industrial intelligence, and to give
(146) a measure of manual dexterity. Such schools and courses take the child before he starts to work and give him a training that will enable him to advance from unskilled or less skilled positions to positions requiring greater skill and greater industrial adaptability or intelligence.
It is just this adaptability, this power to advance, which is at present in greatest demand in the industries, because most of them do not furnish the necessary training themselves. It is this kind of training which will relieve the present industrial situation at the most painful point, in the crowded ranks of the unskilled and of those who now spend most or all of their lives at the monotonous and deadening task of merely- tending a machine which performs only- one of many processes entering into the making of a finished article of production. There is no objection to a boy- beginning to work at an automatic machine; but there is serious objection if he is compelled to remain long at that process.
The strategic importance of schools and courses of this intermediate type can hardly be overemphasized. The high school has, of course, a distinct part to play -to provide technical training of a grade below that of the engineering college, for the increasing number of positions between that of the engineer on the one hand and that of the actual mechanic on the other. No o doubt some of these positions will be filled by those who rise from the ranks with no more special school training than that obtained from the intermediate industrial schools referred to. It is also true that graduates of technical courses of a high-school grade must for the most part acquire the necessary- practical experience by starting to work as actual mechanics. But it is the distinctive opportunity of the high school, and therefore its duty, to take advantage of the superior academic training of its students by preparing definitely for such intermediate positions. It should, of course, still be possible for the intermediate industrial school to articulate with the technical high school in such a way that students of the former may enter the latter school at appropriate points.[5]
In this connection attention should be called to the importance of having vocational advisers in the schools, to study the opportunities for work in the industries and the different interests and abilities of pupils, and to advise pupils and parents as to the best
(147) course of training to pursue, or the most suitable vocation to follow. Boston has one or more of such vocational advisers in each elementary and high school in the city.
There is still another type of industrial school not yet established in this country and only slightly developed in European countries, that seems to be greatly needed, namely, a day continuation school for persons at work in unskilled occupations. Commercial schools of this type are in operation in the Boston classes in preparatory salesmanship.[6] The Cincinnati Continuation School is for boys already apprenticed in a trade. In the unskilled occupations there is obviously a great need for day continuation schools giving instruction similar in character to that now offered in the prevocational or preparatory trade schools already referred to.
Factory apprentice schools
Three well organized apprentice schools in factories were visited - two conducted by the General Electric Company, at West Lynn, Massachusetts, and Schenectady, New York, and one conducted by the New York Central Railroad Company, at West Albany, New York. These schools are excellent examples of recent efforts of large establishments to provide an apprenticeship system to take the place of the old system, which is not suited to modern conditions of factory production.[7]In the first place, very thorough provision is made in the three schools mentioned to give the apprentice an all-around shop training. In the two schools conducted by the General Electric Company this training is provided for about half of the term in a separate training room with full factory equipment and on the regular commercial products of the company. The shop training throughout the apprentice term is in charge of a supervisor who gives his whole time to the apprentice school. In the West Albany School the shop training is given in the regular shops of the company under the supervision of .a shop instructor who gives his entire time to this work.
In the second place, instruction in drawing, mathematics and applied science is provided by these schools during working hours, and without loss of pay to the apprentices. This instruction is closely related to the shopwork. Especially interesting and sug-
(148) -gestive to public industrial schools are the courses in the West Albany School[8] in drawing and mathematics, which are organized entirely with reference to the needs of apprentices, and present the technic and the essential principles of these subjects, not in the abstract way of the conventional school course, but always by way of their applications to shop needs.
Undoubtedly, such apprentice schools as these have an advantage over the public trade school in that the instruction in the former is given under actual commercial conditions which the trade school can, in general, only approximate. Another very important advantage of the factory school is that it enables the boy to earn money while learning a trade. This is a very serious problem in connection with the public trade school, as already pointed out.
These factory schools, however, are essentially business undertakings, for officers state that even as a productive venture during the apprentice term they are not a loss to the company. It is probable that only the larger establishments can provide, without loss, such a thorough and comprehensive training. Unless, therefore, a much greater effort is made by manufacturers in general to provide a modern system of apprenticeship, it will still be necessary for this training to be provided, in part at least, by the public, either in a trade school or in some form of cooperative or continuation courses. Moreover, no matter how successful the factory apprentice school may be in giving intensive trade instruction beginning at the age of sixteen or later, it will still be necessary for the public to provide the proper training of a preparatory kind for the years fourteen to sixteen which are at present largely wasted, both to the industries and to the boys and girls.
Attitude of trade unionsDiligent inquiry was made in each city visited to ascertain from the school authorities the attitude of organized labor toward the industrial schools. In only one case was any opposition reported and that was in connection with a school supported largely by associations of employers. In many cases, union men serve on advisory committees for the industrial schools. In some cases, school authorities have submitted proposed curricula to the unions for criticism and suggestions. In Boston a representative of the State Federation of Labor made an investigation of the industrial schools, covering a
149) week's time, and returned a very favorable report. In general, it may be said that organized labor is not only not opposed to public industrial schools, but gives them its hearty approval and cooperation,[9] except where such schools are in danger of being controlled by employers.
Cooperative courses
Unions have gone on record[10] as being opposed to cooperative courses, on the ground that such courses put in the hands of employers too much power to do injury to the principles of unionism. It is true that cooperative courses do, unless properly safeguarded, put into the hands of employers power to control the instruction in various ways against the interests of pupils. But there is unquestionably a large field of usefulness for such courses, since they afford the boy an opportunity to earn money while continuing his education, and since they provide shop training under actual commercial conditions and the opportunity to relate the academic training closely and vitally to industrial needs. Surely such courses should be of advantage to employers and workmen alike. It is, therefore, to be hoped that experiments with cooperative courses will continue, that employers and workmen will soon see their usefulness, and that the public school authorities will see the importance of retaining sufficient control to direct these courses solely in the public interest, to secure the best possible training for the workers. As a matter of fact, no opposition on the part of unions is reported in cities where cooperative courses are established.
Cooperative courses now conducted in public schools may be classified into the following three types with respect to the time given to schoolwork:
First, what may be called the " seasonal type," as exhibited in the Chicago Apprentice Schools.[11] These schools are for carpenter apprentices who are required by the apprenticeship indenture to attend school three months a year during the dull season -January, February and March. While attending school apprentices receive from the masters the full wage called for by the apprenticeship indenture. These schools were started in January, 1901, and are the only schools of this type in this country, so far as the writer knows.
150)
Second, the plan of giving alternate weeks to school and factory, as in Fitchburg and Beverly, Massachusetts. Apprenticeship indentures are made in the Fitchburg course but not in the Beverly course. In both cities pupils are paid only for the work in the factory.
Third, the day- continuation type as found in the Cincinnati Continuation School. When this school was started, employers voluntarily agreed to cooperate with the school authorities by requiring their apprentices to attend the continuation school four hours a week without loss of pay. The Ohio State law, in effect in May, 1910, authorizes Boards of Education to require youths at work between fourteen and sixteen years of age to attend part-time day schools not more than eight hours a week.
A present, though perhaps not a necessary weakness of the cooperative plan should here be pointed out. When the shop training is left entirely under factory control it is open to the same objections that can be raised against the ordinary apprenticeship system - namely, that the shop training may be no broader than that offered by a particular establishment in which the work in some industries is highly specialized, and that the boy may be subjected to more or less exploitation by foremen or superintendents. The first objection may- be overcome by offering shopwork in school. This is done in the Cooperative Course in Lewis Institute, Chicago, and is being planned in the Cleveland and Cincinnati high schools. To overcome the second objection some form of supervision by school authorities of the shopwork in the factory is needed. In Beverly this is done by an instructor who spends the entire week in the factory with one group of boys, and the next week gives instruction to the same group in school in drawing, mathematics and science. All the boys work in one factory, in a training room set apart for this purpose. In the Cincinnati Continuation School one instructor spends at least two half-days a week visiting the eighteen factory shops. In Beverly, the shop instructor is paid by the employers for the time spent in the factory. In Cincinnati, the employers bear no part of the expense of the school.
An important feature of the supervision of the factory work is the opportunity it gives to bring the school instruction into close contact with industrial needs. In the Cincinnati Continuation School much of the schoolwork in drawing, mathematics and English is
151) based on the blue-prints and trade catalogues of machines used and products made in the factories. The following detailed statement of the method of coordinating school instruction with factory work, used in the cooperative course for engineers at the University of Cincinnati, will be of interest in this connection:[12]
Each class has a shop coordinator who is a college graduate acquainted with shop practice. He spends every morning at the university and every afternoon in the shops. His function is to make a direct weekly coordination of the work of the shop with the theory of the university. One afternoon, for example, he may be at the shops of a local manufacturing company, where he will observe the student apprentices at their work. He will know what they are turning out, their speeds, feeds and cuts, the angle of the tool, how the batch of work is ticketed, how the work is set up, the power drive everything important in connection with the operation. The next week these young men will be grouped together with their classmates for two periods in class, when he will explain the functions of the particular articles on which the students were working, in the machine which the local manufacturing company builds. He will take up all questions of speed, feeds, cuts, accuracy, etc. The ticketing of the batch of work is gone into, and the system of shop routing is explained. Ultimately all problems of shop organization, shop accounting, cost keeping, shop planning, power transmission, heating, ventilating, lighting, etc., are discussed during the six years' course.
In conjunction with this a card system is employed, by means of which everything the student does in the shop that exemplifies a theory taught in the university is called in detail to the attention of the teacher of the theory, so that when the student comes to that particular theory the exemplifications which he has had in his practical work in the shop are called to his attention. It will be seen, then, that out of the student's own experience is drawn much of his course in mechanism, thermodynamics, machine design, strength of materials, shop economics, etc.
"Industrialized" shopwork
As shown in the detailed descriptions in Chapter VII of this report, many of the schools visited are introducing a kind of shopwork more practical than that of the usual manual-training course. This is done by making products for sale to individuals or firms, by making equipment, apparatus or furniture for school use, and by doing general repair work in and around school buildings. In some schools, students are paid for work done. An effort is also made in the more elementary courses to introduce shopwork on materials other than wood, such as bricklaying, concretework, plumbing, tinsmithing, sheet metal, bench and vise work, electricity, forge and foundry.
(152)
In the more elementary industrial schools and courses[13] this more practical shopwork has great significance because it suggests a kind of work which might well be substituted for some of the present work in manual-training courses, even when these courses are given for general educational purposes instead of for strictly vocational ends. Interesting experiments in this direction are being conducted in the elementary grades of Menomonie, Wisconsin, Fitchburg and Boston. 'Massachusetts. In Menomonie actual tradework of a rudimentary- character is substituted for the usual manual training in some classes in grades six to eight. In New York city a committee of the Board of Education proposed " to improve the efficiency of the present shop system in our elementary schools by reorganizing the manual training from a vocational point of view so that it may bear a direct and immediate relation to the industrial efficiency of the children when they leave school."[14]
Manual training is at present largely formal and abstract in the sense that the processes, while fundamentally industrial in their nature, are to a great extent taken out of their industrial or social setting and are given to the pupil as a series of exercises or problems which to him have little significance beyond the fact that they are school tasks; they are part of a course he takes. No doubt, present courses in manual training have disciplinary value, in that they give training in muscular coordination, in the power to think, and in other ways. The superior value of the industrial courses referred to above, indeed the feature that makes them truly industrial, lies in the fact that while they are concerned with processes much the same as those of the conventional manual-training course, they present these processes in their industrial or social setting; the boy sees and feels that his work has commercial value, for it is not only usable but actually used and needed. The significance of his work in the work of the world is thus revealed to him. There is, apparently, no reason why the present disciplinary value of manual training should be lessened, indeed it should be deepened, by the introduction of some of the industrial work referred to.
The main point here in mind is that the practical kind of shopwork offered in the more elementary industrial schools visited has a much greater educational value than the manual-training work usually offered. Especially is this the case when products are made
(153) in large quantities, as in the Rochester Factory School, in the industrial courses in Boston elementary schools, and in other schools. In these schools the division of labor introduced in making projects in large quantities makes it possible to develop a spirit of cooperation and a sense of social responsibility largely absent from the more individual work of the conventional manual training type. Time and cost cards and checking systems also aid in this development. Such work acquaints the pupil with modern methods of manufacture and factory organization, and gives the opportunity to develop leadership and organizing ability by the appointing of group foremen, and to develop inventive genius in the making of jigs or devices to facilitate manufacture. The necessary technic - the manualtraining " exercises " - is all the more readily mastered as needed in the making of articles intended for real use, to fill a real need.
Nor is the frequent repetition of a single process necessarily deadening, if pupils are transferred from one process to another at suitable intervals. Indeed, a degree of efficiency and a feeling of mastery are thus developed which are far from deadening. The experience of schools with this kind of work shows that it is not necessary to introduce the motive of personal ownership to quicken the interest of pupils.
Related academic work and drawing[15]
With this more practical industrial work an excellent opportunity is presented to motivate the other school subjects, to make the shopwork and the industries in general the center from which drawing and the academic subjects radiate. Some schools are doing this very successfully; only one school was found - a trade school - in which such modified academic work was not considered appropriate and was, therefore, not attempted. An interesting example of this kind of correlation is given in the methods used in the Industrial School, at New Bedford, Massachusetts.[16] The course in drawing in the apprenticeship system of the New York Central Railroad would be a revelation to many teachers who think it necessary to postpone the applications of drawing until a series of " exercises " on the use of drawing instruments and on certain geometrical problems is completed. In the New York Central course the applications of drawing to shopwork are presented from the beginning, the technic being mastered as it is needed in the applied problems. In
(154) arithmetic, mensuration and mechanics, this vital relation to shopwork is also maintained.
What is greatly needed in the academic work of industrial schools is a number of text and reference books dealing with academic matter closely related to the industries represented in these schools. At present it is necessary for teachers themselves to organize this subject-matter while doing the regular work of instruction. A few mathematical books of the kind needed have already appeared.[16]
Courses in citizenship and in industrial history could be made especially valuable in vocational schools, for by means of these subjects some of the most pressing social problems of to-day could be presented in a very direct and vital way. The continuation schools of Munich, Germany, have excellent courses in these subjects, each very closely related to a particular trade.[17] In this country very little has yet been done in this direction. Most of the industrial history now offered treats only of the general development of industry-the Industrial Revolution, the Guilds, etc. This is. of course, worth while, but it is likely to be more or less remote and abstract to the tradeworker. It would be better to start with the history of the particular industry or industries represented in a given school or community and then generalize. A very interesting example of such a course is the one in the history of the boot and shoe industry. in the high school at Brockton, Massachusetts.[18] In only two other schools was such a course found - in the Cincinnati Continuation School, in which some instruction was given in the history of the iron and steel industry. and in the Pre-apprentice School, Boston, in which lectures are given on the history of printing.[19]
The academic subjects now being developed in vocational schools are of considerable significance also because of the suggestions they offer for the reorganization of the academic subjects in the regular elementary and secondary school curricula. There is much discussion at present of the importance of simplifying the course of study, especially in the elementary school, and of eliminating some things altogether. The vocational schools may well serve as experiment stations to point out the direction which this simplification and elimination should take. In the Cleveland Elementary Industrial
(155) School a very conscious effort is made to work out a simplified course of study with this larger end in view.
It is frequently charged that the instruction in the elementary school is not suited to the abilities and interests of the pupils; that it is " fitted not to the slow child or to the average child, but to the unusually bright one."[20] Hence there are many over-age children in the grades, many who fail to be promoted and then lose interest and drop out of school. Many of these retarded children are present in the elementary industrial schools visited, and many teachers have testified to the remarkable progress made by these children under a kind of instruction which is suited to their interests and abilities. It is not too much to say that the regular elementary school has important lessons to learn from the work of these vocational schools.
Qualifications of teachersBecause of the newness of the industrial schools, teachers with proper qualifications for these schools are scarce-both in the shopwork and drawing and in the academic subjects. To a considerable extent, traditional standards and methods must be abandoned, especially in the academic subjects, and teachers must strike out boldly in the direction of industrial needs. Much of the conventional subject matter must be eliminated, partly for lack of time and partly because it is not suited to industrial needs. Much new matter must also be introduced. The different subjects of study must be unified as far as possible -mathematics must not be separated into water-tight compartments of arithmetic, algebra, geometry and trigonometry, but these branches must be interwoven into a single subject in close relation to its applications in science and in the work of the shop. All this requires a kind of ability and training not yet widely developed in teachers.
For the shopwork, teachers are needed who have had practical experience in commercial shops, and who also know how to teach. The combination is hard to get. It is especially difficult for men with years of practical experience in commercial work to adapt themselves to the work of teaching the younger pupils, unless they have much native ability in this direction. Of the shopwork observed by the writer, the poorest in technical finish was done by boys under the instruction of expert mechanics with years of expe-
(156) -rience at the. trade. Such instructors are too likely to be satisfied with a poor quality of work from the pupils on the ground that they are too young to do better. On the other hand, some of the best quality of shopwork observed was done by grammar-school boys under the instruction of women who could teach. Under present conditions, the right kind of a shop instructor, especially for younger pupils, can perhaps be most readily obtained by adding to the equipment of a trained teacher some practical experience in commercial shops. Some teachers are now preparing themselves in this way. The practical mechanic obtained from commercial shops is more likely to succeed with older pupils in advanced courses.
Separate buildings for industrial courses
There is much discussion as to whether industrial courses should be offered in separate buildings with a principal and teaching staff devoted exclusively to this work, or whether such courses should be given in the same buildings with general courses, and under the same principal and teaching staff. On the one hand it is urged that the separate building and teaching staff is necessary if vocational courses are to reach their full development. Many academic principals and teachers, it is claimed, are not yet in full sympathy with this work, and have not the qualifications necessary to give the vocational courses a distinctive aim. The industrial course should have the advantage of a distinctly industrial atmosphere and routine which can not readily be secured in the conventional school. On the other hand, it is argued that separate industrial schools would tend to produce a social stratification of pupils and parents which would work against the principles of a democratic society.
In most of the cities visited the more advanced industrial courses in public schools are in separate buildings. Optional courses in grammar schools are, with one exception, not in separate buildings. Of the preparatory trade schools all but one are in separate buildings. Trade courses proper are, with two exceptions, in separate buildings. In high schools, the tendency in large cities is, on the whole, to offer technical courses in separate buildings.[21]
There seems to be no good reason why industrial courses, at least the more elementary courses, should not ultimately be offered in the same buildings with other courses. Surely the conventional schoolwork could profit greatly by close association with industrial
(157) courses. Moreover, in small communities it might be financially unwise to establish separate buildings for this purpose.
Whether academic principals and teachers are in sympathy with industrial education is a matter to be determined in a given case; if they are not, it is more than likely that the experiment will not succeed in that instance. It is of the utmost importance that industrial courses should preserve their integrity, that they should be really industrial if they pretend to be. In the present experimental stage of this work the separate school, with a teaching staff concentrated upon and consecrated to the problem in hand, could be of great service in developing a content and method for industrial courses. In the larger cities such instruction could, no doubt, at first be offered both in regular buildings and in separate buildings. When industrial education is once thoroughly established, with a definite content and method, it should not be impossible to unite the various educational efforts into a single system so as to preserve a proper social balance.
Industrial education for girls
Four types of industrial education for girls were found in public schools, as follows:
(1) Home-making courses in elementary grades. Four hours a week in the Washington-Allston School, Boston [page 167] ; ten hours a week in Fitchburg, Massachusetts [page 164].
(2) Preparatory trade schools for the years fourteen to sixteen, giving half of the school time to dressmaking, millinery and household science-the Albany Vocational School [page 173], the Cleveland Elementary Industrial School[22] [page 168], and the Vocational School at Yonkers, New York [page 177].
(3) Trade schools proper, beginning at fourteen years of age, giving most of the school time to intensive trade training, and comparatively little to homemaking and academic subjects. New York city [page 186], Boston [page 187], and Milwaukee [page 189]. Dressmaking and millinery are taught in all these schools. The New York and Boston schools offer in addition power machine operating on clothing and straw hats and (in New York only) novelty work and trade art. The courses are from a year to a year and a half in length.
158)
(4) Four-year courses in high school, giving from one-half to two-thirds of the school time to handwork, including applied art, with specialization in the latter part of the course in dressmaking, millinery and domestic science. In the Boston High School of Practical Arts specialization is permitted in the last three years, in Cleveland and Cincinnati in the last two years, and in Newton. Massachusetts, in the last year [see pages 193196]. In Cleveland, Cincinnati and Newton. some form of cooperative work. alternating between school and industrial establishments, will probably be offered in the last year or two of the course.
With reference to the segregation of boys and girls the above schools may be classified as follows
(1) In separate buildings exclusively for girls: the Boston High School of Practical Arts, and the trade schools in New York, Boston and Milwaukee.
(2) In the same buildings with boys, but classes segregated in academic subiects as well as in handwork: the Albany Vocational School, the Cleveland Elementary Industrial School, the Yonkers Vocational School, and the Cleveland, Cincinnati and Newton[23] Technical High Schools.
(3) In the same buildings with boys, and classes not segregated in academic subjects: the Washington-Allston School, Boston, and the Fitchburg Grammar School.
A strong tendency toward segregation is noticed in the above schools - in only two cases are the boys and girls in the same classes in academic subjects. In most cases the boys and girls are in the same buildings, but meet in separate classes for the academic subjects and for handwork. Such separation is, no doubt, called for by the fact that the subject matter in the classes for girls differs greatly from that in the classes for boys.
In general, it may be said that provisions for training in industrial occupations are not yet as fully developed for girls as for boys. There are many reasons for this. Some educators still have the more or less sentimental idea that training for girls should prepare only for homemaking, ignoring the fact that many must and do work for a number of years outside of the home. Training in home-
159) -making must, nevertheless, be included in industrial education for girls, as well as training for a trade or other occupation, and this two-fold phase of the problem introduces complications.
The problem of deciding what trades should be taught to girls is a difficult one. At present dressmaking and millinery are the main trades taught in public industrial schools. The opportunities in industrial occupations are not as great for women as for men. Girls with the necessary academic training are more likely to enter commercial pursuits, which are in general more attractive in working conditions and in a financial way.
Nevertheless, many girls do enter the various factories, having left school at fourteen years of age in grades below the eighth. They start to work at unskilled or only slightly skilled occupations. The wages are low, little opportunity is presented in some lines for training leading to advanced positions, and yet the demand for skilled workers is in some cases great. The problem of industrial education for girls who leave school in the lower grades at fourteen years of age is just as important as the corresponding problem for boys. Girls as well as boys at this age need training which will develop the capacity for promotion. For the girls, trade training of either the preparatory or the intensive type may be begun at fourteen, while for the boys the intensive training is commonly postponed until sixteen.
The whole question of women in the industries needs thorough study to ascertain what the present conditions and opportunities are, and what. the possibility is of improving these conditions and opportunities, and of opening new opportunities, by appropriate training. The New York and Boston trade schools have done excellent service in this direction. The experience of these schools shows that conditions may differ widely in different communities, not only in the kinds of industries present but also in the conditions prevailing in a given industry. To decide what trades should be taught in a trade school for girls it is, therefore, important to study the industries open to women in a given community to ascertain which employ large numbers of women; which industries require skilled workers; which offer the opportunity of a steady rise to better positions; which do not adequately provide the necessary training themselves; which pay good wages for reasonable hours of work; which are conducted under proper physical, sanitary and moral conditions; which provide work the year around, and, in the case of seasonal trades, what
(160) opportunities exist for the worker to use the dull season in one trade for work in another trade. Moreover, this close study of the industries must be continued after the trade school is started, in order to adjust the instruction to the changing conditions in the industries due to the change in fashions and to the introduction of new machinery.
