A Report on Vocational Training in Chicago and in Other Cities
Chapter 7: Industrial Schools and Courses in Other Cities (continued): Detailed descriptions
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Forty-three schools are described under I, below, classified as to types. All but four of the schools described were visited by the committee's representative. In the descriptions, matters of general organization, curriculum. entrance requirements, etc., are presented. To give an idea of the industrial character of the shopwork, lists of products are also included in cases where such lists were obtainable and were of general interest. Under II a statement is given of the present practice of seven cities in the matter of separate high-school buildings for manual training and technical courses.
I. INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS AND COURSES CLASSIFIED AS TO TYPES[1]
The schools and courses described in this section may be classified into the following six types
(1) Optional industrial courses for grades 6 to 8, inclusive, parallel to existing grammar-school courses, and not jeopardizing the pupil's chances of being graduated in the usual time.
(2) Industrial schools and courses for elementary school pupils twelve to fifteen years of age, which do not offer the possibility of graduation in the usual time.
(3) Preparatory trade schools for the years fourteen to sixteen.
(4) Trade schools proper, giving intensive training, beginning usually at the age of six-teen for boys and fourteen for girls.
(5) Technical and trade courses in high schools.
162)
(6) Cooperative courses of the day continuation type[2] and of the alternate-week type.
The first three types might well be grouped as "intermediate industrial schools and courses," since they are intermediate in the sense of being preceded by the first five or six elementary grades, and of being followed by advanced courses in industrial or other schools.
The schools not specifically mentioned as private schools are conducted under public auspices.
1. Optional Industrial Courses in Grammar School not Interfering with Regular Graduation
1. In grades 6 to 8, inclusive, of the public schools of Menomonie, Wisconsin, trade instruction of a rudimentary character is offered to a few classes in place of the usual courses in manual training. This work is being conducted as an experiment by the Stout Institute, a training school for teachers of manual training and domestic science. The same amount of time per week is given to the industrial work as is given to the usual manual training in Menomonie. The regular academic work is carried along with the industrial work.
The object of this experiment is to determine the value which trade instruction in the grammar grades, as a substitute for manual training, has to offer for general training or cultural purposes and for vocational preparation for pupils who must leave school at the end of the elementary period. The work was given for the first time in the year 1909-10.
(163)
The character of the courses is shown in a more detailed way by the following statement of the work:
| Grade | Courses offered | Number of Weeks | Minutes per week |
|---|---|---|---|
| VI | Problems in practical carpentry | 35 | 120 |
| VII | Practical repair work | 6 | 180 |
| Tin smithing | 12 | 180 | |
| Bricklaying and concrete-work | 18 | 180 | |
| VIII | Plumbing | 18 | 160 |
| Cabinetwork | 18 | 160 |
GRADE VI
Carpentry
Three houses were built in miniature. The smallest, three feet by five feet, is a two-story braced frame, with no inside partitions. The middle house, six by eight, is a two-story balloon frame, with staircase and closet on the first floor. The largest, eight feet by fifteen feet, is a three-room bungalow, with full headroom, with a chimney and fireplace put up by the bricklaying class, and with plumbing fixtures for the kitchen and bath installed by the plumbing class. The large house is to be shingled and clapboarded, upper floors are to be laid, two of the rooms sheathed and one of them plastered.
GRADE VII
Repair work
Each boy has set a small window, repaired a broken chair or other piece of furniture, refinished a chair, fitted a key to a door or drawer lock, sometimes repairing small parts of the lock, sharpened an axe or knife or a pair of shears or skates, cemented a dish or glued a broken article, polished a piece of metal, and soldered a tin dish. Most boys brought articles from home for repair.
Tinsmithing
Bending square corner, laying out and cutting to line, riveting straight joint, soldering holes, soldering straight joint, making soldered square tin box, riveting and soldering cylindrical tube, cutting and bending curves, making funnel, making tin dust pan with handle, making box with cover, making and joining of two square tubes at a 45-degree angle.
(164)
GRADES VII AND VIII
Plumbing, bricklaying and concrete work
Boys in grammar grades, and some in the last two years of the high school, worked together in plumbing, bricklaying and concrete work.
Plumbing included a study of iron pipe and fittings, the running of soil pipe with vertical and horizontal joints and a series of soldering exercises. Complete installation of school kitchen and chemical laboratory fixtures, including the setting up of individual gas stoves, sinks with necessary connections, an instantaneous hot-water heater for the kitchen and several lead-lined sinks for the laboratory. A good deal of structural and rail work was done with iron piping.
Bricklaying and concrete work included a study of systems of bonding, the building of walls and arches of brick and concrete, the building of brick chimneys and fireplaces. laying of pavement for a sidewalk, and considerable work with cement.
All the brickwork and plumbing for a small annex to one of the school buildings was done by pupils in these classes.
2. In Fitchburg, Massachusetts, a differentiated curriculum for grades 7 and 8, with one-third of the time given to work in manual arts, household arts and commercial studies, is offered under the auspices of the Fitchburg State Normal School to pupils from any part of Fitchburg who have completed the sixth grade. Four courses, as outlined below, are offered, the completion of any one of which admits to the high school.
In the Manual Arts Course 10 hours a week are given to drawing, designing, making and repairing.
In the Household Arts Course 10 hours a week are given to work in domestic art and science.
In the Commercial Course 5 hours a week are given to bookkeeping, business forms and procedure, business arithmetic and related design, and 5 hours to typewriting and handwork.
In the Literary Course 5 hours a week are given to a modern language, and 5 hours to drawing, designing, making and repairing, for the boys, and household arts for the girls.
In all courses 12 1/2 hours a week are given to English, mathematics, geography, history and science, and 7Y2 hours to physical training, music, general exercises and recesses.
The Literary Course is designed for those who expect to go on through high school and college. The other courses, while admitting to the high school, aim also to give a practical preparation for lifework to those who expect to leave school at fourteen years of age.
(165)
The school is in session 30 hours (60 minutes each) a week, and was opened for the first time in September, 1909, with 150 pupils. Two journeymen carpenters and one painter assist the regular manual-training instructors in directing the handwork of the boys. Ten cents an hour is paid to the boys for repair work done for the school outside of school hours.
A kitchen, dining-room and bedroom are provided for the work in homemaking. Following is a statement of handwork undertaken in the Manual Arts and Household Arts courses
Ordinary repairs
Faucets in the buildings repacked. Schoolroom desks and tables scraped and refinished. Setting glass. Lawn mowers taken apart, cleaned, oiled and sharpened. Window screens painted. Decayed basement floors relaid. Broken furniture glued. Chairs reseated. Rubber pads on the stairs taken up, turned and retacked.
Woodworking
Work benches, looms and sawhorses constructed. Assisted in making kitchen tables. Making teachers' desks for entire building. Building partitions and 300 lockers.
Painting and finishing
Steam pipes bronzed to match color of the walls. Floors oiled. Chairs for building bought in the white, finished and seated by pupils. Kitchen, dining-room, woodworking room and locker rooms painted. Work benches and teachers' desks finished Library room painted and papered.
Grading and walks
Work upon the grading, building of concrete walls and granolithic walks. Each boy has plotted the grounds and walks and taken levels under competent direction.
Household arts
The girls have made their needlebooks and workbags, their gymnasium suits and the bags to carry them in, also their caps and aprons for cooking. They have hemmed the towels for the kitchen, made covers for 18 typewriters, and for 170 bean bags to be used in games in the gymnasium They have repaired the flags for the school building, darned the rug in the reception room, and are to make overalls and jumpers for the boys to use in painting. They have cleaned the windows in the kitchen, dining-room and sewing-room, cleaned all the basins in the new building, and have reseated chairs.
(166)
Applied art for girls
Stenciling of designs upon workbags and needlebooks. Designing covers for and binding books and magazines. Crocheting table mats for diningroom and knitting washcloths.
The practical character of the work in typewriting is shown by the following statement
Typewriting
Copying of letters to industrial plants in various towns and cities of Massachusetts, asking for material for industrial exhibit. Original letters to school children in different parts of New England, telling of Fitchburg industries, and requesting replies concerning the industries of their cities. Copying letters to parents, explaining courses offered. Manifolding copies of poems and songs used in seventh and eighth grades. Copying bills for books, school supplies, and materials used at manual arts school. Practice in writing business letters and business forms. Typewriting language and spelling lessons.
3. In Boston, Massachusetts, optional industrial courses are provided in grades 6 to 8, inclusive, requiring five hours a week, but not interfering with the pupils' chances of being graduated in the usual time from the elementary school. The industrial work is substituted for the regular work in manual training, drawing and arithmetic. Four schools offer such courses in woodwork and bookbinding. One school has 140 pupils in these courses; another school has 75.
In the eighth grade of one of these schools, two of the five hours a week are given to free-hand and mechanical drawing, all bearing on the shop projects. In the free-hand drawing, illustrated catalogues of the shop projects were made, similar in character to catalogues of manufacturing firms.
Following is a list of objects made by one class in three years
In Grade VI
850 pasteboard chalk boxes for the Supply Department
1,700 pasteboard crayon boxes for use in elementary schools
500 pasteboard pencil boxes, cloth-covered, for use in high schools
710 Harvard covers for use in high schools
846 wooden sand shovels for use in summer playgrounds
167)
In Grade VII
34 portfolios for use in the Evening Industrial School
333 plasticine boards for modeling classes
266 wooden looms, 266 heddles, 522 shuttles-for the sixth-grade
weaving of the elementary schools
100 wooden specimen boxes for use in the Normal School
36 workboxes
6 wooden cases for the Evening Industrial School (begun)
In Grade VIII
Completion of 6 cases above noted
100 plasticine boards for modeling classes
4 window ventilators
24 wooden trays for cardboard-construction equipment
100 wooden bench hooks for the Supply Department
1,000 wooden bench stops for the Supply Department
600 specimen blocks for the Agassiz School
2,400 card-catalogue boxes for the School Department (begun)
In one sixth-grade class of 75 boys and girls in bookbinding, 500 books from neighboring school libraries were rebound and 2,000 stenographers' notebooks were made, in nine months, each pupil working four hours a week.
4. In the Washington-Allston Elementary School, Boston, Massachusetts, the industrial work takes the form of providing a complete equipment for a model five-room apartment, full size, adjacent to the regular school building. There are 600 boys and girls in this school, in grades 4 to 8, inclusive. Four hours a week are given to industrial work in grades 7 and 8, and two hours a week in the other grades.
The five rooms include a living-room, dining-room, kitchen, bedroom and laundry. A garden is connected with the apartment building, and contains pear trees, cold frames and about fifty beds of various kinds of vegetables.
The equipment for the five rooms, made and installed by the pupils, includes wall coverings of burlap, draperies, shelving, built-in cabinets, and window seats ; and about $250 worth of furniture, including tables, chairs (some upholstered), beds, bureaus, stands, desks and desk sets, hall clock, etc.
The boys pounded putty into the holes in the old floors, and rubbed them with sand, and stained and varnished all the woodwork. The boys also made 24 stepladders to be used by the public-school janitors.
(168)
The girls made caps and aprons, and the linen articles commonly used in dining-room, kitchen and bedroom. The girls also do the washing and ironing. sweeping, dusting, cooking and cleaning, and make jellies, preserves and soap.
The courses in design and English are intimately associated with the handwork of the pupils.
5. In New York city manual training centers in elementary schools were opened during the year 1909-10, after regular school hours, from three to five o'clock afternoons, and on Saturday mornings, especially for pupils twelve to fourteen years of age who cared to come, but also for others.
2. Grammar Schools and Optional Courses - Abandoning Regular Graduation
1. In Cleveland. Ohio, an elementary industrial school was opened in September. 1909, for boys and girls who are at least two years behind grade, and who have either completed the sixth grade or have failed to be promoted from the sixth grade. The average age of pupils is 14.2 years, and most of them are either foreign born or have foreign-born parents.
The school is in session six hours a day and gives about half of the time to English. arithmetic, and geography-history, and half to shopwork and drawing. All classes are segregated, and no attempt is made to give the same subject matter to girls that is given to boys. The course is two years in length with a year or two for specialized work to be added if the need arises. No attempt is made to provide regular graduation from the elementary school in the usual time.
The boys have shopwork in wood and sheet metal, mechanical and free-hand drawing, and design. The girls have cooking and household art, machine and hand sewing, garmentmaking, mechanical and free-hand drawing, and design. The practical work for girls includes plain cooking, serving of meals, infant feeding, invalid cookery and preparation of the tray, care of kitchen and diningroom, house sanitation, laundrywork, home nursing, household accounts, and visits to markets and house-furnishing shops. In sewing, it is planned to include order work from institutions and from individuals.
Especially interesting work is done in this school in simplifying the conventional academic subjects of the elementary curriculum
(169) and in relating all that is offered very closely to the shopwork and to the industries. A detailed outline of the course in geography-history is given on pages 224-226 of this report.
The holding power of the school is shown by the fact that practically none of the pupils have left[3] although many have reached the legal limit of fourteen years.[4]
Comparison of the academic work done by the pupils in May, 1910, with that done in October, 1910, shows remarkable progress in these subjects. Teachers testify that the interest of the pupils in the modified schoolwork, and their confidence in themselves, are developing beyond their expectations.
2. In Boston a boys' vocational class of 20 pupils from the upper grades of one public school building is conducted by the North Bennett Street Industrial School (a social settlement school) in cooperation with the public school authorities. For admission to this class pupils must be at least thirteen years of age and must have reached the fifth grade.
A little less than half of the school time is given in the first year to woodwork, printing and drawing, and the remainder to closely related academic work.
A two-year course in general vocational training is planned, with the possible addition of a third year of more specialized and intensive trade training, with a six or even eight hour day. Work in metal is to be included in the shopwork for the second year.
The following outline of first-year work was given for the first time in 1909-10:
| Hours per Week | |
|---|---|
| Shopwork | |
| Wood | 6 |
| Printing | 2 |
| Mechanical and freehand drawing | 2 |
| Practical mathematics | 3 3/4 |
| English | 2 ½ |
| Spelling | 1 1/4 |
| Geography - history | 2 ½ |
| Reading - - hygiene | 2 ½ |
| Recess and general exercise | 2 ½ |
| Total | 25 |
170)
3. In two public elementary schools of Boston 10 hours a week are given to optional industrial courses in wood and elementary metal work. Because of the amount of time per week given to the work, pupils in these classes have little or no chance of being graduated in the usual time from the elementary school.
Among the objects made by the class in woodworking are 140 blackboard rulers, metal handles being made by the class in metalworking, and 50 kindergarten chairs.
In the class in elementary metalwork three of the 10 hours per week are given to drawing. Following is a detailed statement of work done by the 40 pupils in this class:
Equipment of shop for benchwork in metal, making over old benches and
installing simple tools, putting up shelves, etc.
General repairs in five school buildings in the district
200 cast-iron backs for high-school chairs, cleaned, drilled, fitted
and painted
18 boards, some brass-bound, and 6 clamps, brass or iron bound, for
bookbinding class
140 metal handles for blackboard rulers, the wood portion being made
by the class in woodworking
75 card receivers for high-school laboratory
300 checks for toolroom use
200 drawing needles for sixth-grade rooms
90 desk wrenches
90 sets adjustable side desk castings
Simple templets made. Grinding tools for shop; also hatchets, knives
and scissors for home use
3. Preparatory Trade Schools
1. The Factory School, Rochester, New York,[5] was the first industrial school in the State of New York to be conducted by local public school authorities under subsidy of the State. It was opened December 1, 1908, and offers a two-year course in preparatory trade training to boys who are at least fourteen years of age and who have finished the sixth grade.
The school is in session forty weeks in the year, 6 hours a day for five days in the week. Two-thirds of the school time is given to
(171) shop and drawing, and one-third to academic subjects, as shown in the following:
| Hours per Week | |
|---|---|
| Shopwork | 15 |
| Drawing | 5 |
| Shop mathematics | 5 |
| English | 2 ½ |
| Spelling and industrial history | 2 ½ |
There were 104 boys in the school in May, 1910, 26 each in the departments of cabinetmaking, carpentry, electricity, and plumbing. There was also a waiting list of over a hundred boys. The faculty consists of a principal and six teachers.
The cost of the school from December 1, 1908, to January 1, 1910, including the summer session, and not counting the State aid, was $61.64 per capita. Reduced to the basis of a ten-months' session this gives a per capita cost of $56.39. In figuring this cost, the following items only are included: salaries, material, drawing supplies, repairs, and a sinking fund of ten per cent of the equipment. The sum of $2,939.64, representing the value of the products made and the repair work done by the pupils for the Board of Education, was subtracted from the total cost of the school, $9,104.02, in arriving at the above per capita cost.
Cabinet making Department
This department is a complete little factory, with its gluing room, machine room, assembly room and finishing room
The equipment of the various rooms is given below:
Machine room (cost, $1,700)
Cut-off saw, 2 universal saw tables, band saw, planer, jointer,
horizontal borer, belt sander, grindstone, motors
Gluing room (cost, $250)
Glue heater, warming coil, glue rack, cabinetmakers' benches, clamps
and hand screws
Assembly room (cost, $200)
Cabinetmakers' benches, equipment of special tools, low assembly
tables
Finishing room (cost, $50)
2 cabinetmakers' benches
Low tables for lockfitting, etc.
Stain tables
Stain jars, brushes, etc.
(172)
In this department there is division of labor, the boys being promoted from one branch of the work to another as soon as a reasonable degree of efficiency has been acquired.
The following articles have been made:
200 bookcases
25 drawing tables
18 kindergarten tables
62 sawhorses
32 sand boxes
25 bench rests
25 drawing boards
15 miscellaneous articles
12 sewing boxes
200 looms
100 toy knitters
700 panels
Following is a list of articles now being manufactured:
25 large drawing boards
36 manual training benches
100 primary looms
12 umbrella racks
25 pillow looms, with heddles
50 bookcases, two designs, at $10
100 drawing kits
120 desk chairs
25 sawhorses
20 sanitary teachers' desks
50 sewing boxes
12 music cabinets
Any article to be included in the " line " of products must meet two conditions: (1) it must be something needed in the schools and which the Board of Education would otherwise purchase; (2) it must have educative value for the pupil. Many needed articles are rejected because the making of them would teach the boys little or nothing. The instructor of the department personally directs the work of the machine room and supervises the work of the other rooms largely through boy foremen.
Electrical Department
The electrical department aims to give to pupils a thorough course in sheet-metal work, in all branches of bell, telephone and light wiring, and the installation, operation and repair of A. C. and D. C. machines of all kind.
The equipment at present includes 20 benches, a telephone switchboard, D. C. and A. C. motors and generators. Cost, about $700.
Sixty-three jobs of electrical work were done in various school buildings of the city. Typical examples of this work were the replacing of a telephone, installing a buzzer, repairing gongs, installing lights, repairing fire alarms, installing spotlights, and repairing stereopticon.
Plumbing Department
The shopwork in plumbing includes tap and die work, joint wiping, the setting of all kinds of fixtures, gasfitting, and heating and ventilating. The cost of the equipment is about $300.
Carpentry DepartmentThe carpentry course covers all branches of framing and interior finishing, including stair building.
The cost of the benches and tools for this department would not exceed $200.
(173)
Supplemental Construction and Repair Work
A most valuable supplement to the shopwork of the school is the constructional and repair work performed by the boys in the various school buildings of the city. Daily calls come to the Factory School from the grammar schools of the city for all manner of repair and installation work. In the afternoon groups of boys are sent out to measure up spaces, make sketches of work desired, or locate trouble if apparatus is out of order. The next day these boys make drawings of the work to be done and bills of material needed A few days later, under an instructor or a boy foreman, they return to the school and complete the work.
The following are examples of repair work done:
In electrical work: repairing lights, telephones, fire gongs, motor; installing 5 horse-power motor and stereopticon lantern.
In plumbing: repairing closet tank, automatic tilting tank, broken water pipes, leak in flush pipe, sanitary drinking fountain, basin cocks; connecting gas plate, installing basin bowl, removing stoppage in basin waste.
In carpentry: building partitions in cellar, teachers' lockers, supply cupboards, porch, stormhouse; laying floors, moving of portable school building.
The holding power of the school is seen in the fact that of the boys in school in June, 1910, 67 per cent returned in the autumn, notwithstanding the fact that nearly all were entitled to a work permit.
2. The Vocational School for boys and girls, at Albany, New York, offers a four-year course, requiring 6 hours a day for 5 days in the week, one-half time being given to shop and drawing, and the remainder to closely related academic work. There were 100 pupils in the school, and 300 on the waiting list, in May, 1910. Most of the pupils enter from grades 6 and 7, and at the age of fourteen; some enter at thirteen years of age. The school was started in April, 1909.
Graduates of the school obtain credit in the apprenticeship system of the New York Central Railroad Company, at West Albany, New York, and in that of the General Electric Company, at Schenectady, New York.
In the home-making department a dining-room, bedroom, laundry, kitchen and living-room are provided. The girls prepare, serve, and manage the finances of the noon-day luncheon for the school, which is furnished to the students at cost. Pies, bread, etc., are also made by the girls and sold to private families. In the sewing work uniforms are made for the cooking class, overalls for the boys
(174) of the shop, curtains and various linen articles for the dining-room, bedroom, etc., and a number of flags for the city schools.
In the woodwork some of the boys make articles to sell to friends and neighbors, being paid a certain rate per hour for the work. The following is a typical list of other objects made in the wood shops
For the Board of Education:100 bookcases
100 plant boxes
100 sand tables
50 wooden guns for military drill
For the student's own use:
Incubators
Screens
Brooders
Clothes boxes
The holding power of the school is seen in the fact that of the 44 students promoted from second-year work in June, 1910, 50 per cent returned for third-year work, regardless of the fact that no provision was made for their advanced training. These students petitioned the Board of Education for advanced training and were advised to enter the general high school or to repeat the second year's work in the vocational school. About half returned to the vocational school and only one of these had dropped out by January, 1911; some entered the high school temporarily.
Following is the curriculum for the four years:
Present Course of Study
Giving better elementary school provision for the vocational needs of those likely to enter industrial pursuits.
| FIRST YEAR | |
|---|---|
| Corresponding to grade 7 of the elementary school | |
| Boys: | Minutes per Week |
| Shopwork-joinery and elements of woodworking | 600 |
| Drawing -freehand and mechanical | 300 |
| Practical mathematics | 225 |
| English literature and composition | 225 |
| Geography | 225 |
| Opening exercises, music, physiology and study | 225 |
| 1,800 | |
175)
| Girls: | Minutes per Week |
|---|---|
| Sewing-hand and machine, simple garmentmaking | 225 |
| Plain cooking and general housekeeping | 450 |
| Design | 225 |
| Practical mathematics | 225 |
| English literature and composition | 225 |
| Geography | 225 |
| Opening exercises, music, physiology and study . | 225 |
| 1,800 |
| SECOND YEAR | |
|---|---|
| Corresponding to grade 8 of the elementary school | |
| BOYS: | Minutes per Week |
| Shopwork - cabinetmaking and wood turning | 600 |
| Drawing- freehand and mechanical | 300 |
| Practical mathematics | 225 |
| English literature and composition | 225 |
| History and civics | 225 |
| Opening exercises, music, hygiene and study | 225 |
| 1,800 | |
|
GIRLS |
Minutes per Week |
|---|---|
| Sewing -- hand and machine, garment making, embroidery, textiles | 225 |
| Cooking (plain, fancy, invalid), housekeeping | 450 |
| Design | 225 |
| Practical mathematics | 225 |
| English literature and composition | 225 |
| History and civics | 225 |
| Opening exercises, music, hygiene and study | 225 |
| 1,800 |
176)
Proposed Course of Study
Allowing for special shop, laboratory and drawing-room practice along a chosen trade pursuit and thus making provision for the industrial interests which have been aroused in the two preceding years.
| THIRD YEAR | |
| Boys: | Minutes per Week |
| Special shop practice in patternmaking and foundry practice, or iron work, or electrical wiring and installation | 600 |
| Drawing - mechanical | 300 |
| Applied algebra and geometry | 225 |
| English literature and composition | 225 |
| Mechanics and electricity | 225 |
| Industrial history | 150 |
| - Opening exercises and unassigned | 75 |
| 1,800 |
| Girls: | Minutes per Week |
| Special work in millinery, or dressmaking, or domestic science | 600 |
| Design | 300 |
| Applied mathematics | 225 |
| English literature and composition | 225 |
| Practical physics relating to home | 225 |
| Industrial history | 150 |
| Opening exercises and unassigned | 75 |
| 1,800 |
| FOURTH YEAR | |
| Boys: | Minutes per Week |
| Special shop practice in patternmaking and foundry practice, or ironwork, or electrical construction | 600 |
| Drawing - mechanical | 300 |
| Applied algebra and geometry | 225 |
| English literature and composition | 225 |
| Chemistry relating to industry | 225 |
| Economics and industrial conditions | 150 |
| Opening exercises and unassigned | 75 |
| 1,800 | |
177)
| Girls: | Minutes per week |
| Special work in millinery, or dressmaking, or domestic science | 600 |
| Design | 300 |
| Applied mathematics | 225 |
| English literature and composition | 225 |
| Chemistry relating to home and industry | 225 |
| Economics and industrial conditions | 150 |
| Opening exercises and unassigned | 75 |
| 1,800 |
3. A four-year course in vocational and trade training, similar in general organization to the course in the Albany Vocational School, is in operation in the Vocational and Trade Schools of Yonkers, New York.[6]
At this school vocational and trade courses in machine shop and forge rooms are given in addition to courses in printing, cement construction, pottery, shoe repairing and the usual woodworking courses, for the boys, and courses in dressmaking, millinery and homemaking for the girls.
The school has an endowment of nearly half a million dollars, but is an integral part of the public school system, and is subsidized by the State. The trade school was started in October, 1909, with 35 boys; the vocational school for girls, in January, 1910, with 34 pupils, and the vocational school for boys, in April, 1910, with 52 pupils. The equipment for the trade school alone cost about $15,000.
4. Other vocational schools for boys, under subsidy of the State of New York, and similar in a general way to those at Rochester, Albany and Yonkers, are located at Buffalo and New York city. The one in New York city, School NO. 100, has a very complete equipment for machine, forge, plumbing and electrical work, as well as for the usual woodworking trades.
5. The Independent Industrial School, Newton, Massachusetts, offers a three-year course in woodwork, machinework, electricity, printing and sheet-metal work. For admission, pupils must be at least fourteen years of age, and must have reached the sixth grade (nine-year system). The average age at entrance is fifteen years.
(178)
The school is in session 6Y2 hours a day, 5 days a week, and 11 months in the year. About two-thirds of the time is given to shop and drawing. In the last year and a half of the course pupils are expected to specialize in some particular trade. Pupils may go from this school to certain technical courses in the high school.[7]
The school was started in the autumn, 1908, and is supported partly by State aid and partly by contributions from a private citizen. There are 45 pupils in the school, and three teachers. The per capita cost is about $100.
Nearly all the shopwork at present consists in the construction of such school equipment as it is possible for boys to make. Following is a statement of shopwork done from September, 1909, to June, 1910:
| Work done for the Industrial School | |
| 4 sawhorses | 1 blue-print frame |
| 11 drawing tables | 1 oilstone shelf |
| 20 boxes for electricity class | 1 rack for bits |
| 1 filing cabinet for office | 40 file handles |
| 12 desks and seats refinished | 12 chisel handles |
| 3 boxes for drawing-room | 18 switch bases |
| 7 stools for electricity class | 18 bench rammers |
| 3 sandpaper boxes | 18 rapping mallets |
| 18 ink-bottle stands | 18 trowel handles |
| 12 nail boxes | 3 doz. sprues |
| 5 waste-baskets | Built toolroom cases, etc., in machine shop |
| 40 feet of vise benches for machine shop | Lumber racks in woodworking room, etc. |
| 1 motor shelf and bracket | 3 stands for electrical work |
| Erection of timbers, shafting, etc., in machine shop | 5 stands for printing equipment |
| Patterns made | |
| 1 gas-forge plate | 1 gas-engine valve |
| 1 gas forge | saw gauge, 4 patterns |
| 1 motor frame | 1 shifter guide for band saw |
| 1 planer jack | 3 surface plates |
| 1 lathe attachment | 1 fly-wheel pattern |
| 1 pulley pattern | 1 piston pattern |
| Work done for other schools | |
| 2 filing cabinets | 1 aquarium |
| 1 sand table | 180 boards for clay modeling |
| 1 modeling table | 5 taborets for kindergarten |
| 300 paper boxes | 1 set of blocks for kindergarten |
179)
6. A preparatory trades school in Columbus, Ohio, for boys who are at least fourteen years of age, and who have finished the sixth grade, was opened in November, 1909. About two-thirds of the time is given to drawing and shopwork in printing and the woodworking trades. Courses in machine and electrical work will probably be added soon. The products of the shops are largely for school use and equipment. There were 64 students in April, 1910. The per capita cost is about $100.
7. The Hebrew Technical Institute[8] for boys, New York city, is a private institution, established in 1884, and offers a three-year technical course, including shopwork in the usual woodworking lines, and in machinework, visework on metal, practical electricity and related academic subjects. About half of the time is given to shop and drawing the first and second years, and two-thirds in the third year.
For admission, pupils must be at least thirteen years of age and must have completed the 7B grade. The average age on admission is nearly fourteen years. Two hundred and eighty pupils were enrolled in 1909-10. The per capita cost is $115.
A very complete record has been kept of the occupations and weekly earnings of 634 graduates of this schools.[9]
8. The Industrial School, at New Bedford, Massachusetts, offers a four-year course for boys, the first half of which is given to general vocational training, and the last half to specialized and intensive trade training. For admission, the minimum age is fourteen years, but no definite academic requirements are set. The average age on admission is 15 1/2 years.
The school was started in September, 1909, and operates under subsidy of the State, which pays one-half of the expense of maintenance. Sessions are 6Y2 hours a day for 5 days in the week, and 3Y2 hours Saturday morning. Nearly two-thirds of the time the first two years is given to shop and drawing. There were 65 pupils in May, 1910. The per capita cost is about $150, not counting the State aid
The work offered for the first two years is as follows. The
(180) numbers indicate the number of periods per week given to each subject:
| FIRST YEAR | |
|---|---|
| Mathematics | 4 |
| English | 4 |
| Shopwork, wood | 10 |
| Drawing | 6 |
| Physical science | 6 |
| Shopwork, metal | 10 |
| SECOND YEAR | |
| Mathematics | 4 |
| English | 4 |
| Drawing | 6 |
| Shopwork, wood | 10 |
| Shopwork, metal | 10 |
| Industrial history | 3 |
| Civics and citizenship | 3 |
All the academic work is very closely related to the shopwork. Boys work in both wood and metal shops from the beginning. Each year's work is intended to be a unit in itself, in the sense that nothing is taught in and- one year solely for its value in a later part of the course.
The shopwork L taken up almost entirely with the making of the equipment needed by the school. The work in wood includes the use of the common bench tools, lathework, patternmaking, etc. The work in metal includes benchwork, the construction, operation and adjustment of the common machines, and the elements of forging. Some of the methods used in the shopwork and in relating the academic work to the shopwork are described on page 214 of this report.
9. The Vocational School, Springfield, Massachusetts, for boys who are at least fourteen years of age and who have finished the seventh grade (nine-year system) was started in September, 1909. A four-year course is offered, the first two years aiming at general vocational training, the last two at specialized and intensive trade training.
The school is in session 40 weeks in the year, 6 hours a day on 5 days of the week, and 4 hours Saturday morning. About twothirds of the school time is given to shop and drawing. The school
(181) is at present[10] using for its shopwork the equipment of the Springfield Technical High School. Fifty students were enrolled in May, 1910. The average age on entrance is fifteen years.
A one-story house for the use of high-school girls in the household arts course is to be built and furnished completely by students in the Vocational School and Technical High School.
10. The Pre-apprentice School of Printing and Bookbinding, Boston, offers at present a two-year course in printing to boys from grades 7 and 8 of one school, and a course in elementary bookbinding to boys and girls from the sixth grade of three schools. These classes are ultimately to be formed into an independent school in printing and bookbinding, open to pupils from all parts of the city.
In printing, the school sessions are 35 hours a week, about half of the time being given to instruction and practice in printing and related drawing, as shown by the following schedule of studies
Mathematics (5 hours per week) Fundamentals of arithmetic; industrial arithmetic; simple forms of bookkeeping and accounting
English (7 hours per week)
Compositions on business topics and current events; business correspondence; oral discussions
Industrial history (3 hours per week)
Growth and changes in industries; rise, growth and importance of printing; industrial progress; organizations of capital and labor; trades unions and their relations to industrial progress
Current events (1 1/2 hours per week)
As related to progress in industrial, educational, social and political life
Spelling (1 1/2 hours per week)
As used in business correspondence and in industrial and social life
Printing (15 hours per week)
Simplest kinds, suited to beginners, with such progress in subject matter and form as age and capabilities of students permit
Drawing (2 hours per week)
Form study and design especially adapted to printing and bookbinding
An outline of the instruction given in the history of printing is given on page 221 of this report.
(182)
Four hours a week are given to bookbinding. The work in binding in 1909-10 included the binding of 1.000 small notebooks, 100 teachers' manuals, and the rebinding of 500 dilapidated books from neighboring school libraries.
During the first year of the school, 1909-10, there were 26 students enrolled in printing, and 66 in bookbinding.
4. Trade Schools
A. Under Public Auspices
1. The School of Trades for Boys, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, offers intensive trade courses, two years in length, in carpentry and woodworking, machinework and toolmaking, and patternmaking, and a one-year course in plumbing and gasfitting. The school was originally conducted by an association of manufacturers, but was taken into the public-school system July 1, 190 7 , and is now supported by a special municipal tax, not exceeding one-half mill, in accordance with an act of the State legislature.
For admission, students must be at least sixteen years of age and must pass an examination in the elements of arithmetic and English, unless they are graduates of the eighth grade. Tuition is free to residents of Milwaukee between the ages of sixteen and twenty. Residents over twenty years of age pay $5 a month; nonresidents pay $15 a month. Students receiving free tuition pay $1 a month for material used. The average attendance in the day school in February, 1910, was 69 students. The per capita cost is over $300.
The school is in session 50 weeks in the year, 8 hours a day for 5 days in the week. and 4 hours Saturday morning. About threefourths of the time is given to actual shop practice, and the remaining time to drawing, shop mathematics and some incidental English. The drawing and mathematics are closely adapted to the trade needs, each trade being provided with special material for study in these subjects.
The shop products have thus far been mainly used for equipment, but action was recently taken by the Board of Education authorizing the sale of products on the open market at current prices. All the carpenter work and plumbing required in the remodeling of a factory building purchased for the use of the school has been
(183) done by students. The repairing, overhauling and reinstalling of the machine-shop equipment, partially destroyed by a recent fire, has also been done by students. For this work students were paid by the school at a rate per hour determined by their proficiency.
Because the School of Trades for Boys does not admit students under sixteen years of age, the school authorities are attempting to bridge the gap between fourteen and sixteen years by offering in the first two years of the high school industrial courses preparatory to the School of Trades. These courses include applied English, algebra, geometry, elementary science, business arithmetic, bookkeeping, and drawing, shopwork and visits to factories.
2. The Trade School at Worcester, Massachusetts, was started about February 1, 1910, with an equipment costing $30,000. The building, together with the lot on which it stands, cost $90,000. Four-year courses are offered in cabinetmaking and patternmaking and machinework. Plans are also under consideration to offer courses in bricklaying and other building trades.
The school year is divided into 4 terms of 12 weeks each, with a vacation of 4 weeks in August. New classes are formed each term. Eight hours a day are required, 5 days a week, and 4 hours Saturday morning for review work and to make up deficiencies. Students work in the school shops one week, and the following week in academic subjects and drawing.
The plan of spending one week in shopwork and the next in academic subjects and drawing enables the school to offer half-time classes in the academic subjects to boys at work who can arrange with their employers to absent themselves from work in alternate weeks. Three such pupils were enrolled in these classes in December, 1910.
Day continuation classes are also offered to boys at work who can arrange with their employers to attend one-half day a week. Fifty-eight pupils were enrolled in day continuation classes in December, 1910. The subjects taught in these classes are shop mathematics, English, drawing and shop instruction. The latter subject includes the study of gearing, belting, tapers, cutting speeds, construction of machine tools, methods of doing machinework, etc.
The minimum age for admission is fourteen years. The average age on admission was sixteen years one month for the first class admitted, and fifteen years,eight months for the second. One hundred and thirteen students were in attendance in December, 1910.
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The building has a capacity for 300 students. Graduates of the grammar school are admitted without examination; others must submit to examination.
The school is supported by the municipality and by a State subsidy of one-half the cost of maintenance. Tuition is free to residents of Worcester; non-residents pay tuition as fixed by the State Board of Education. The per capita cost is estimated by the manager to be between $125 and $150.
All academic work is closely related to the shopwork and to industrial needs. The following figure[11] gives the complete curriculum for the 16 terms of the four-year course, showing the point at which each subject is begun, and the number of weeks and hours per week allotted to each subject.
The value of shop products, made in the three months preceding May, 1910, was about $1,200. Of this sum, $700 represents the value of products made by 50 boys in about three months' time and actually sold. The value of the products sold is on the basis of $57 per boy for one year. The remaining $500 was the value of products made for school equipment. The total value of school equipment made by students up to December 1, 1910, was $1,634.50. The school hopes
(185) later to be able to pay students for work done on products that are sold.
A typical list of products made and sold by the school is here appended.
100 drill bases planed
1,700 drill blanks turned
Cutting several hundred gears
300 bronze bushings
120 binder pulley shafts turned and ground
100 reverse clutches, bored and turned
50 to 75 lathe tool posts, complete
Several hundred grinder spindles, complete
23 sets change gears.
12-inch lathes, complete
12 11-inch engine lathes, complete
120 heavy forged screws
3. The Philadelphia Trades School, opened in 1906, is supported by public funds, and offers day courses, three years in length, in carpentry, patternmaking, printing, electrical construction, plumbing and architectural and mechanical drawing. About fifty per cent of the school time is given to shop and drawing. The academic instruction includes mensuration and algebra, plane and solid geometry, trigonometry, physics, chemistry, industrial history, English and American literature, rhetoric, economics and commercial law. Correlation of the academic instruction with shop and industrial needs is not made in the academic classroom, but is attempted in shop sessions when the need arises. The shop products are not sold.
The school is open to graduates of the grammar school, but others who are at least fifteen years of age may be admitted. The average membership in 1909-10 was about 220 in the day classes. The first graduating class, in June, 1909, numbered 24. Within one year from graduation these 24 pupils were earning an average of $9.50 per week.
4. A Trade School for Machinists, Saginaw, Michigan[12] was opened in January, 1910, with 28 students over fifteen years of age. The school is administered by the public school authorities, but is supported in part by a private contribution of $2,000 for the first year's work. The present course of study is three years in length, about three-fifths of the time being given to shop and drawing. The school day is 5 1/2 hours in length.
(185)
5. The Manhattan Trade School for Girls, New York city, was conducted under private ownership from 1902 to September 12, 1910, when it was opened under the auspices of the public school system of New York city. While under private control it was supported by voluntary contributions. The description here given refers to its work under private control.
The school aims to prepare the youngest and poorest of women workers to be self-supporting in the shortest possible time. Girls are. therefore, admitted as soon as they can satisfy the requirements of the Child Labor Law of the State: namely, a minimum age of fourteen, and the completion of grade 5A of the public schools or its equivalent. Sixty-five per cent of the pupils came from grades below the eighth in the year 1908.
The trades taught[13] are dressmaking, millinery, power-machine operating on clothing and straw hats, novelty work and trade art. The novelty work includes the use of paste and glue in sample mounting, sample-book covers, labelling, tissue-paper novelties and decorations, the covering and lining of cases and boxes, jewelry and silverware casemaking, lamp and candle shade making. The work in trade art includes costume sketching, stamping and perforating. Drawing is closely related to all trade work. Students are urged to learn several lines of work so that during dull seasons in one trade other work may be open. Practically all of the shopwork is on actual commercial products which are sold to individuals and firms at market prices. The value of the products sold in the eighteen months from January 1, 1908, to January 1, 1909, was about $24,000.
The school is in session 48 weeks in the year, 5 days a week, 7 hours a day. About one-fifth of the time is given to academic instruction, including business arithmetic,[14] business English, industries and textiles, civics, ethics of trade, and cost of living. Fifteen minutes daily are given to vigorous physical exercises to furnish relaxation.
A six-weeks' course in simple cooking in connection with the noon luncheon is given to twenty girls at a time who work in groups of ten each.
One year is required in most cases for the completion of a trade course. A second year is offered for advanced work. Certificates
(187) to those who have completed a course are given only after satisfactory evidence is presented of successful work for at least three months in commercial shops. In 1909, 89 certificates were given. Tuition is free and financial aid is given to needy students.
The budget for the year 1908-9 was $49,000, including salaries, supplies, printing and maintenance. In that year 943 girls were enrolled. In May, 1910, there were about 270 girls in attendance. In the power-machine department there are 55 plain electric machines and 30 special machines for hemstitching, embroidery, etc.
A Placement Secretary is employed by the school to secure positions for the girls, and to study conditions in the industries, so that the work of the school may be kept in touch with the needs of employers. In 1909, 90 girls were placed in positions in six months. The wages of former students in this school and in the Boston Trade School for Girls are shown in Fig. 7, page 233.
6. The Trade School for Girls, Boston, Massachusetts, was conducted under private auspices from 1904 to September 15, 1909, when it was taken into the public school system. While under private control it was supported by voluntary contributions. It is now supported by city taxation and by subsidy from the State, which pays one-half the cost of maintenance.
The school is much the same as the Manhattan Trade School in the general aim and character of the work. In the Boston school pupils are admitted between fourteen and eighteen years of age, but no definite academic requirements are set. The actual academic status, however, of entering students, has been higher for the Boston School than for the New York School, about 34 per cent of the students entering the former school in 1908-9 from grades below the eighth, as compared with 65 per cent for the New York school in 1908.
Trade courses about one year in length are given in dressmaking, millinery and power-machine operating on clothing and straw hats. A little over one-fourth of the school time is given to academic and other supplementary tradework shown below
Supplementary work (required of each pupil):
1. Spelling
Terms used in trade
2. Business forms
Trade problems, bills, accounts, etc.
(188)
3. Business English
Application for positions, ordering materials, letters to customers, descriptions of costumes, hats, etc.
4. Textiles
Processes of manufacture; judging kinds and qualities of materials; learning uses, widths, process, etc.
5. Industrial conditions
History of local industries, factory laws, hours of labor, ethics of business
6. Color study and design
Principles applied in copying and planning hats, costumes and other garments; judging good and poor design and color combinations; selecting materials in color schemes, and making designs for simple costumes and for braiding and embroidery
7. Personal hygiene and gymnastics
Care of nails, hair, teeth and skin Need of proper exercise, fresh air, food and clothing
8. Cooking
Planning, preparing and serving the daily luncheon; care of lunchroom, kitchen, dishes, closets, towels, etc.
9. Weekly assembly
Business talks by director or guests
The school is in session ?'Y2 hours a day, 5 days in the week, 12 months in the year. New classes are formed six times a year. Tuition is free to residents; non-residents pay $8 a month.
A Vocational Assistant is employed by the school to secure positions for the graduates and to study needs and conditions in the industries. Eighty-five girls were placed in positions in the year 1909-10, and the demand was so great that 200 could have been placed if they had been available.
Practically all the shopwork is on commercial products sold to individuals. The value of the products sold from September 15, 1909, to February 1, 1910, amounted to $1,790.61.'5. The per capita cost of the school is $126.13, on a twelve-months' basis and on an average membership of 226.16 On a ten-months' basis the per capita cost is $105.11.[15]
(189)
7. The Milwaukee Trade School for Girls gives a one and onehalf-year course in dressmaking, and a one-year course in millinery to girls who are at least fourteen years of age and who are able to pass simple tests in English and arithmetic. In addition to the shopwork, instruction is given in cooking and housekeeping, English, shop mathematics, industrial history, art and design, and physical culture.
The tuition and financial support for this school are the same as those for the Trade School for Boys.[16] The school is in session practically all the year for 5 days a week, 7 hours a day. About two-thirds of the time is given to shopwork. Some products are sold in the open market at current prices.
The cooking and housekeeping center about the noon luncheon, which is prepared, served and managed by the students, and furnished to them at cost.
B. Under Private Auspices
1. The Hebrew Technical School for Girls, New York city, offers a Manual Course and a Commercial Course, each eighteen months in length. About one-half of the school time is given to academic studies.
For admission to the Commercial Course students must have been graduated from the public grammar schools. For admission to the Manual Course students must have completed grade 7B, but preference is given to graduates of the grammar schools. The average age on admission is 14 1/4 years.
The school is not so strictly limited to trade-school work as are the Manhattan and Boston Trade Schools for Girls. In the Manual Course instruction is given in dressmaking, millinery, hand and machine sewing, embroidery, designing and drawing. Instruction is also given in history, English grammar, English literature, physiology, cooking, laundry work, housekeeping, physical culture and music. At the end of eighteen months graduates of the Manual Course may enter the dressmaking workroom and devote their entire time to commercial work, for which they receive a salary from the school. About 90 per cent of the products of the school are sold to institutions and to private individuals.
The school is in session the entire year from 8:30 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. In 1909 the average membership was about 400 students, with
(190) a waiting list of nearly 300. Two-thirds of the students were in the commercial course. The per capita cost for 1909 was about $125. The school is supported by voluntary contributions. The wages received by former students of this school are given on page 234 of this report.
2. The Williamson Free School of Mechanical Trades, located at Williamson School, Delaware county, Pennsylvania, offers courses, three years in length, in bricklaying, carpentry, stationary engineering, machinework and patternmaking.
The school was established in 1888 and has been very successful in turning out skilled mechanics. Ninety-five per cent of its 726 graduates receive at once from sixty to one hundred per cent of full journeymen's wages, nearly all receiving the latter in less than one year.[17]
For admission, students must be between sixteen and eighteen years of age and must pass examinations in academic subjects of grammar-school grade. The school secures a picked body of students because the candidates for admission largely exceed in number the capacity of the school. Tuition, boarding, clothing, etc., are entirely free. All students are indentured as apprentices for the full term of three years. The school year is eleven months in length.
About one-half of the school time is spent in actual shopwork the first two years. In the third year nearly all of the time is given to shopwork. The shop products are not sold. The bricklaying and carpenter work on several of the school buildings was done by the students.
Academic instruction is given in reading, writing, grammar, arithmetic, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, physical and political geography, United States history, English literature, physical science, physiology and hygiene, civil government, chemistry, elementary vocal music, theory of the steam engine, strength of materials, building construction, mechanical and free-hand drawing and estimating.
The average membership in 1909-10 was 235 students. The per capita cost, figured on the same basis as public school instruction, is about $125.
3. The School for Apprentices and Journeymen, a part of the Carnegie Technical Schools, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, offers courses,
191) three years in length. in four machine trades, including patternmaking, forge, foundry and machinework, and in six building trades, including bricklaying, painting, plumbing, heating and ventilating, sheet metal and electric wiring. From forty to fifty per cent of the school tune is given to actual shopwork.
Students are admitted to the above courses at a minimum age of sixteen years and with an intellectual preparation equivalent to a year or two of high-school work. An entrance age of seventeen to nineteen years is, however, stated as preferable to insure successful work in the school. The school year is 30 weeks, 5 days a week, 6 hours a day. Tuition for residents of Pittsburgh is $33 a year; others pay $43.
A normal course, and courses in mechanical drafting and stationary engineering, each three years in length, are also offered. The normal course aims to prepare teachers for manual training and trade schools.
The average membership in the above courses in the day school was 263 in March, 1910. The per capita cost is about $125. The school has graduated 90 students in the four years of its existence. The wages received by the graduates immediately after leaving school have ranged from $45 to $110 a month, the greater number receiving $65 to $70. The shop products are not sold; some are used for school equipment.
4. The National Trade Schools and Technical Institute (formerly Winona Technical Institute), Indianapolis, Indiana, offers two-year courses in printing, pharmacy-chemistry, molding and machinework, a one-year course in lithography, and shorter courses varying in length from three to nine months, in bricklaying, tilesetting and painting. The school of lithography has an excellent equipment valued at $23,000.
Practically no academic work is offered, except supplementary science instruction in the two-year courses. In molding, for example, shop lectures are given in the elementary laws of heat, combustion and gases; the physical and chemical qualities of molding sands; the mechanical and chemical properties of the different grades of pig iron and their mixtures; the methods of storing and checking patterns; estimates, prices and sources of materials.
In the machine shop, products are made for sale, and students are paid fifty per cent of the selling price for work done on such
(192) products. All foundry products are sold, and students in this course are paid for shopwork at the rate of 8 cents an hour at the beginning of the course. The foundry department is entirely supported from the sale of its products. The brick and wood work and the electric wiring for six houses in Indianapolis have been done by students of the Institute.
In the machine shop the cooperative plan is in use, a few of the students spending alternate weeks in commercial shops and in the school shops.
The school is supported by contributions from manufacturers' and employers' associations, by voluntary subscriptions and by a tuition fee of $100 in all departments. The minimum age for admission is sixteen years. No definite academic requirements are set for admission. About 250 students were enrolled in February, 1910.
5. The School of Printing, North End Union, Boston, Massachusetts, shows a very interesting contribution to the solution of the problem of the status of the trade-school graduate. A student on entering the School of Printing is regularly indentured to a master printer, the school term of one year serving as one of the five years in the apprenticeship term. A tuition fee of $100 is charged for the year in school. At the beginning of the second year the apprentice enters his employer's workshop and receives $9 a week for the first half-year, and is regularly advanced in half-year stages to $16 a week for the last half of the fifth year.
Students are admitted to the school at a minimum age of sixteen years. The sessions are 48 hours a week for 50 weeks. The school is under the supervision of a committee of master printers. The instruction embraces book, job and advertising composition, and platen-presswork. Eight students were enrolled in 1909. The equipment, capable of accommodating 15 students, is valued at $2,700.
6. The short-course trade school is well exemplified by the Baron de Hirsh and New York Trade Schools, for boys, and the Manhattan[18] and Boston[19] Trade Schools, for girls. All of these schools aim to give in the shortest possible time an intensely practical training sufficient to enable graduates to take positions as
(193) helpers or improvers and to advance rapidly to full journeyman status. A very small portion of the school time is given to academic work.
7. The Baron de Hirsch Trade School, New York city, offers courses, 5% months in length, in carpentry, plumbing, electrical work, machinework, house and fresco painting and sign painting. The shop products are not sold.
The sessions are 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. Nearly ten per cent of the time is given to drawing, mensuration and shop arithmetic. Tuition is free. The age requirement for admission is sixteen years. The average age on admission is 17 1/2 years. The per capita cost for 260 students graduated in one year was $132. The school is supported by the income from the Baron de Hirsch Fund.
8. The New York Trade School. New York city, offers day courses, four months in length, in plumbing, electrical work, fresco painting. sign painting, cornice and skylight work, sheet-metal pattern drafting, bricklaying. carpentry, steam and hot-water fitting. The shop products are not sold. No academic work is given. The school is supported by endowment and by tuition fees ranging from $25 to $45. The average attendance in day classes in 1909-10 was about 135.5. Technical[2] and Trade Courses in High Schools
1. The Technical High School, Cleveland, Ohio, opened in October, 1908, gives one-half of the school time to shop and drawing in the first three years, and two-thirds in the fourth year. The shopwork for boys in the first two and one-third years includes general courses in turning, cabinetmaking, patternmaking, foundry, forge and machine work. In the last part of the third year, and throughout the fourth year, specialization in a particular trade will be permitted, perhaps on the cooperative plan of one week in commercial shops and the next week in school. A course in practical printing and bookbinding will be offered as a fourth-year elective. The shop products are not sold; some are used for equipment.
The handwork for girls includes applied art, dressmaking, millinery, laundry, cooking and catering, with specialization allowed in the third and fourth years.
(194)
Preparation for college is not the dominating aim of the school. Four colleges; however, admit graduates to the college technical courses, on recommendation of the principal.
The academic subjects are not treated in the usual manner. The mathematics, for example, is taught more as a tool for use in the shops and in industry, than as an abstract science, and the various branches, arithmetic, algebra, geometry and trigonometry are interwoven into a single subject. The science courses are likewise treated as applied science. German is the only language offered, other than English. Outlines of the courses in physics and mathematics are given on pages 217, 228 of this report.
Since all subjects are treated largely with respect to their applications, and since the applications which are of interest and value to boys differ greatly from those which are of interest and value to girls, all classes in the school are segregated.
The school year is divided into four quarters of twelve weeks each, and new classes are formed each quarter.
All shop instructors have had more or less practical experience in commercial shops.
This school and the High School of Commerce, which was started in October, 1909, have been largely instrumental in bringing about an increase of 1,002. or 20 per cent, in the total high-school enrolment in Cleveland, whereas in the three years preceding the opening of the Technical High School, the enrolment in high schools had remained practically stationary.[21] In the Technical High School the enrolment in 1909-10 was 1,103.
2. The High School of Practical Arts for Girls, Boston, Massachusetts, is a part of the public school system, and gives a little over half the time to handwork, including applied art.[22] In the first year all students take the same work, which includes handwork in sewing, cooking and housewifery and applied art. In the last three years vocational courses are elected in dressmaking, millinery or household science.
(195)
The academic work is the same for all students throughout the four years, and includes English, history, mathematics, science, French and German. The school does not prepare for college.
Science and mathematics are taught largely through their applications to the home and industrial needs of the girls. In history special attention is given to the development of art and industry.
The school was organized in September, 1907, and is open to graduates of the grammar school. Three hundred and sixty students were in attendance in May, 1910. The number of applications for admission to the school in 1909-10 was double the number that could be accommodated. The shop products are not sold. The per capita cost for the year ending January 31, 1910, was $85.66.[23] The corresponding per capita cost of all normal, Latin and high schools in the city was $78.81.[24] The school sessions are 5 1/4 hours a day, 5 days in the week, for the regular school year.
3. In Cincinnati, Ohio, a Boys' Industrial Course and a Girls' Industrial Course are given in each of two high schools, which offer also the usual academic and manual training courses. [25]
In the industrial courses the usual four years' work in manual training, for the boys, and in domestic science and arts, for the girls, is completed in the first two years. For this purpose about fiveeighths of the school time the first two years is given to shop and drawing, for the boys. and to handwork, including applied art, for the girls. All classes are segregated. In the last two years the students specialize in some trade as apprentices in commercial shops or stores. under pay, spending alternate weeks in school and shop.
The courses are offered for the first time in 1910-11. The subjects of study and the distribution of time are shown in the following outline
(196)
| Boys Industrial Course | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First Year | Second Year | Third Year | Fourth Year | ||||
| English | 4 | English | 4 | Chemistry | 10 | History (industrial of US) and Civics | 5 |
| Arithmetic and algebra | 4 | Applied mathematics | 4 | English | 2 | Shop science and shop practice | 10 |
| Industrial geography | 4 | Physics | 4 | Applied
mathematics, shop problems and practice |
10 | Drawing | 10 |
| Applied mathematics and shop problems | 10 | ||||||
| Drawing | 4 | Drawing | 6 | Cooperative plan: Alternate weeks in shop and school |
Cooperative plan: Alternate weeks in shop and school | 10 | |
| Turning, pattern and cabinet making | 16 | Foundry, forge and machine | 16 | ||||
| Physical training | 2 | ||||||
| Girls Industrial Course | |||||||
| First Year | Second Year | Third Year | Fourth Year | ||||
| English | 5 | English | 4 | English | 4 | American history and civics | 5 |
| Arithmetic and algebra | Geometry and arithmetic | 4 | Physiology | 4 | English | 4 | |
| Applied art | 5 | Chemistry | 4 | Applied art | 5 | Applied art | 5 |
| Cooking | 4 | Cooking and household arts | 6 | Elect specialty | 20 | Elect specialty | 20 |
| Sewing | 8 | Millinery and dressmaking | 8 | Millinery, etc. Dressmaking, tailoring and art needlework; home economics; office training; salesmanship | |||
| Physical training | 2 | Physical training | 2 | ||||
| Music | 1 | Music | 1 | ||||
4. The Technical High School, Newton, Massachusetts, offers the following five courses:[26]
Technology-college Course, leading to colleges and schools of technology.
| Technical Course Extra Technical Course Fine Arts Course Commercial Course |
Not leading to college. |
Students in the academic high school, located near the Technical High School, may take optional courses in manual training in the Technical High School.
197)
In the Extra Technical Course for boys and girls the usual four years' work in manual training for boys, and in domestic science and art for girls, is completed in the first three years. For this purpose a little over one-half of the time is given to shop and drawing, for boys, and to handwork, including design, for girls. In the fourth year specialization in the shopwork is permitted. Individual pupils may arrange to do this specialized work in commercial shops on some kind of a part-time plan.
The Technical High School was opened for the first time in September, 1909, with 500 students enrolled. All shop teachers have had more or less experience in commercial shops. The shop products are not sold. About fifty per cent of the products the first year were used for school equipment, including T-squares, drawing-boards, suit-case toolboxes for individual students, drawer equipment, apparatus for physics laboratory, etc.
An outline of the subjects of study, and of the distribution of time, is herewith appended. The outline shows three applied academic subjects: in the third year, shop mathematics and mechanics; in the fourth year a course in arithmetic and accounts and a course in applied mechanics and steam.
EXTRA TECHNICAL COURSE
Purpose of the course: This course prepares for work in the productive industries.
| First Year | |||
| Periods | Periods | ||
| English | 4 | Physics Light machine and visework, ½ year Forging, ½ year Mechanical drawing |
5 10 4 |
| Elementary Science | 5 | ||
| History or arithmetic and algebra | 4 | ||
| Singing and physical training | 2 | ||
| Elect 1 group | |||
| Cabinetmaking and wood
turning Mechanical drawing |
10 4 |
||
| Biology and chemistry Household economics Design |
5 10 4 | ||
| Household economics Design |
10 4 |
||
| Second Year | Third Year | ||
| English | 4 | English | 4 |
| Geometry or history | 4 | Commercial geography and history | 5 |
198)
| Third Year Elect one group |
Stenography | 5 | |
| Typewriting | 5 | ||
| Shop math and mechanics Patternmaking and molding ½ year Machine-shop practice ½ year Mechanical drawing |
5 10 4 |
Bookkeeping | 5 |
| Cabinetwork | 6-10 | ||
| Forgework | 6-10 | ||
| Chemistry and
physiology Household economics Design |
5 10 4 |
Tookmaking | 6-10 |
| Patternmaking | 6-10 | ||
| General machine-shop practice | 6-10 | ||
| Fourth year | Machine or architectural drawing | 4-10 | |
| English | 4 | ||
| American history & government | 4 | Dressmaking | 6-10 |
| Arithmetic and accounts | 2 | Millinery | 6-10 |
| Elect 18-20 hours | Dietetics | 5 | |
| Algebra and geometry | 4 | Foods | 5 |
| Chemistry | 6 | Laundering | 5 |
| Physics | 6 | Catering and lunchroom practice | 6-10 |
| Physiology and hygiene | 4 | Design | 4-10 |
| Biology | 5 | ||
| Electricity | 6 | In place of a part of the elective requirements of this year, individual pupils may engage in approved work - of elective value - outside of school. | |
| Applied mechanics and steam | 4 | ||
| Trigonometry | 4 | ||
NOTE.-With the approval of the principal, a practical study of the elements of gardening and forestry may be substituted for a portion of the prescribed work of the first three years, and may be taken as a 6-10 period, elective in the fourth year.
5. The Technical High School, Springfield, Massachusetts[27] offers a technical course for boys, and one for girls, in which about one-half of the school time is given to shop and drawing, throughout the four years, with specialization in a particular shop in the fourth
(199) year. A house for the use of girls in the domestic science and art courses is to be erected on the school premises, It is to be built, equipped and furnished completely by the boys and girls in the high school assisted by the boys in the Vocational School.[28]
6. Afternoon industrial classes, Boston, Massachusetts, are offered in two high schools: in one, a course in jewelry and silversmithing is offered; in the other, elementary electric manufacturing. The courses were started in September, 1909. Admission is limited to students regularly enrolled in the high school who have had a year or two of drawing and manual training. Each student pays for the material used, and will own the product of his work. About four hours a week are given to this work, and regular credit toward graduation is granted.
In the class in jewelry and silversmithing 22 students were enrolled in May, 1910. The work consists of (1) drawing a design of the object to be made. (2) modeling the object in plasticine, (3) making the finished object in metal. Some of the products made were jewelry-boxes, paper-knives, pad-corners, desk sets with ornamental designs, scarfpins out of silver wire, necklaces, silver rings set with inexpensive stones, copper charms, inkwells, fobs, etc. The cost of this course is less than that of the regular manual training course.
7. In the high school at Menomonie, Wisconsin, elective courses, each two years in length, are offered in the third and fourth years in machine-shop practice, machine drafting, architectural drafting, plumbing and bricklaying. Seven and one-half hours a week, for the regular school term, are given to this work. The regular manual training, including cabinetmaking, turning, patternmaking and foundry practice, is offered in the first and second years. In the year 1910-11 a house was to be built for a citizen of Menomonie by members of the sophomore class in the high school. All the carpenter work for this house, and the bricklaying, plumbing, decorating, fitting, etc., is to be done by the high-school students.
8. In the high school at Muskegon, Michigan,[29] a three-year elective course in printing is given in grades 9, 10 and 11, requiring 1 1/2 hours a day for five days in the week. Thirty-five students were
(200) enrolled in February, 1910. The equipment, capable of accommodating 12 students at one time, is valued at $1,200. The students print school blanks, the school paper, physics exercises, etc.
6. Co-operative Schools and Courses
A Day Continuation Schools[30]
1. The Day Continuation School, Cincinnati, Ohio, is supported entirely by the public school authorities and offers supplementary instruction to about 200 apprentices from 18 different machine shops who give four hours a week to this study, during working hours, without loss of pay. The students are divided into nine groups, each group meeting one-half day a week for 48 weeks. The course is four years long, corresponding to the regular apprenticeship term. No toolwork is given in school.
The course of study is as follows:
For first-year apprentices
Shop arithmetic
Geographic relations of shop materials
Making and reading drawings
Much reading, spelling, writing
For second-year apprentices
Objective geometry
Iron, its manufacture and founding
Shop conventionalities and their necessity
Composition on shop topics; lives of industrial leaders
For third-year apprentices
Algebra
Physics
Foreman's question box
History, literature and civics
For fourth-year apprentices
Trigonometry
Physics
Shop practice
Debating; man as wage-earner and voter
201)
The school was started in September, 1909. Two teachers are employed. One teacher is allowed two half-days a week to visit shops, consult with foremen, and gather practical shop problems. The manufacturers furnish blue-prints and catalogues of machines for the students to study. The cost of the school is about $2,000 a year.
The following quotation from the superintendent's report gives an idea of the value of the work.
In most cases the output of the boys in the shops is greater than when they worked full time. Their attitude toward their employer, the foreman and the machine is wholly changed. In the school the boys show commendable progress and a remarkably earnest and serious spirit. The boy just entering this apprenticeship appreciates it least, but a few weeks of shop life change his attitude toward the school, as with the older boys a few weeks of the school change their attitude toward the shop. When the boys return to their shops they are quizzed by the workmen and foremen, and the lessons given in the school are quite generally discussed in the shops. Many of the workmen express a desire to have the advantages of such schooling.
It is believed the number of manufacturing firms now cooperating will be doubled when the school is properly housed and a sufficient staff of teachers is appointed.
An extension of the continuation-school idea is contemplated. There are at least 15,000 young people under twenty years of age now at work in commercial and industrial lines in this city who would be greatly benefited by having an opportunity to continue their schooling. The evening schools reach about 5,000. At least 10,000 need looking after.
The Women Teachers' Club has a capable committee now at work to see what can be done for girls. It is hoped that by next September we may have the demand for a continuation school for young women in stores and factories [31]
2. Day continuation classes in Boston, Massachusetts, are provided by the public school authorities for young men and women already at work whose employers permit them to attend the classes during working hours. without loss of pay. The courses offered, with the time schedules, are as follows:
| Shoe and Leather - Tuesdays and Thursdays | 3 to 5 PM |
| Dry Goods - Mondays and Fridays | 3 to 5 PM |
| Preparatory Salesmanship | |
| Boys - Tuesdays and Thursdays | 8:30 to 11 AM |
| Girls - Wednesdays and Fridays | 8:30 to 11 AM |
202)
Each course at present is ten weeks in length. The only expense assumed by the School Committee is the salary of the Director, and the rent, care and furnishing of the rooms. An advisory committee for each of the industries concerned assumes the responsibility of securing experts in the industry to give the instruction.
The courses were started in April, 1910. In the dry-goods and in the shoe and leather courses the instruction is given solely by employers and experts in the industry. In the courses in preparatory salesmanship the instruction is given by one of the publicschool teachers, especially fitted for the work, supplemented by talks by heads of departments and experts in various dry-goods houses. It is planned to develop instructors from the present student body to take the place of the experts now giving the instruction. An outline of the courses of study is here given.
Shoe and Leather Course
The production and distribution of leather; tanning processes; leather manufacture; recognition of kinds, grades and comparative values of leathers; manufacture and classification of shoes; commercial arithmetic; commercial geography; commercial correspondence; salesmanship; efficiency training.
Dry-goods Course
Fibers; cotton and cotton goods; wool, worsteds and woolens; silk and silk fabrics; linen and linen fabrics; recognition and comparison of mixed fabrics; simple tests for determining quality; coloring materials and color preservation; shrinking; mercerization; non-inflammable fabrics; care of stock; commercial arithmetic; commercial geography; commercial correspondence; salesmanship; efficiency training.
Preparatory Salesmanship
Commercial correspondence; facility in oral and written expression; store arithmetic; sales-slip practice; sources of merchandise and its distribution; raw materials; textiles; penmanship; color and design; hygiene; practical talks on the fundamental principles of success; salesmanship.
The various lecturers bring large quantities of material to the classes for illustrating their talks. This material includes leathers, shoes and fabrics in all stages of manufacture. They also make considerable use of the blackboard. All these lectures are stenographically recorded and kept for future use. Reports are made to employers on the progress of the pupils.
Persons over eighteen years of age are not admitted to the class in preparatory salesmanship. The ages of the students in the other
(203) classes range from fifteen or seventeen to twenty-eight or thirty. Each class is composed of from forty to fifty students. A few are college graduates, but the majority have not been graduated from the high school.
Additional courses are under consideration for bank clerks and for persons in the wool industry.
3. The School of Salesmanship for Girls, Boston, Massachusetts, is conducted by the Vv omen's Educational and Industrial Union in cooperation with five department stores. Each store sends six students from its regular force to the school for the course, which is three months, daily except Monday, from 8 :30 to 11:30 A.M. The full wage, $6 or more, is paid by the store to the student while she attends the school.
The purpose of the course is: (1) to teach right thinking toward the work as a profession and arouse a feeling of responsibility; (2) to develop a pleasing personality; (3) to instil a regard .,for system and cultivate a habit of attention to details; (4) to instruct in those subjects which increase knowledge of goods to be sold.
The subjects taught are:
Salesmanship, which includes discussion of store experience, demonstration of actual selling in class and lectures by representatives of the firms interested.
Hygiene, which includes study of daily menus, ventilation, bathing, sleep, exercise and recreation.
English, including spelling and business forms.
Arithmetic, which includes sales-slip practice, business arithmetic, business forms and cash account.
Stock, which includes a study of the nature of cloths, and processes of manufacture, color and design as applied to ribbons, display of goods in showcase, etc.
Practical talks by representatives of the firms interested, experienced salespeople, buyers, customers and superintendents, are given twice a week to the class on subjects such as " The Department Store's System and the Saleswoman's Place in It," " How to Show Goods," " Trifles," " Textiles," " Service to Customers," " Customer's Point of View."
The demonstration sales are conducted like the practice teaching in normal schools. Real customers, chosen because they represent different types, buy real articles. The sale is watched by the class,
(204) notes being taken of strong and weak points. When the sale is finished, the one who has made the sale is allowed to criticize her own work, and then the class criticizes, the customer tells why she did or did not buy the article, and the whole is summed up by the Director.
As far as possible, the classwork is correlated; the drawing is a store plan or a design for a costume; the note-book work required gives material for English, including spelling, names and addresses, punctuation, penmanship and store English (and French) ;when the girls are sent to the stores for samples, salesmanship, color, designs, textiles are studied. The manner of the salesman in giving the sample is observed and reported, the color and design are used in the color lesson, and the material in the textile work. If the textile being studied is wool. one of the store lectures at that time will be on wool or woolen goods.
The school was started in 1906. An advisory committee representing the cooperating firms aids in determining the policy of the school. For admission, girls must be at least eighteen years of age and must have a good fundamental education. Ninety students were graduated in 1909.
The attitude of the cooperating stores toward the school training is shown by the fact that some superintendents already admit that three well-trained saleswomen can manage a counter better than six indifferent ones, and the well-trained, with good salaries, cost the store no more than the inefficient six.
4. The importance of providing day continuation schools for those at work in unskilled industries justifies the insertion at this place of the following statement of the organization and curriculum for such schools in Munich, Germany.[32]
District Continuation SchoolsFundamental Features
a. Attendance is for those who have spent eight years in a weekday school. This course comprises two years; the total compulsory school attendance is therefore ten years.
b. Attendance is required of all boys who are compelled to attend a Sunday vocational school, and who live or work in Munich provided they
(205)
do not attend any other vocational school or are not for some good reason excused from compulsory attendance.
c. Instruction in the district continuation schools is given on weekdays.
d. Courses of instruction are given in the following subjects:
| Hours of instruction | ||
| Courses | Class I | Class II |
| Religion | 1 | 1 |
| Composition and reading* | 1 | 1 |
| Arithmetic* | 2 | 2 |
| Life and citizenship | I | 1 |
| Gymnastics and gymnastic games, swimming | 1 | 1 |
| Manual training and drawing | 2 | 2 |
| * The number of hours in composition and arithmetic is interchanged in alternate weeks | ||
Subject Matter
a. Religion. The instruction is prescribed by the church authorities.
b. Composition, with reading. Through the course in composition the pupil should acquire the ability to write the most important private and business letters and papers correctly as to grammar, syntax and orthography.
Class I. The private letter: Communication to members of the family, to relatives and friends concerning the life and experience of the pupil, also on school topics. Asking =or and giving information, help wanted, applications for work; advertisements, price inquiries, ordering of goods and labor: different forms of letter writing.
Class II. Labor contracts. bills, receipts, complaints, excuses, testimonials, recommendations; compositions about debt relations, buying on credit, promissory notes, requests and demands for payment of bills, discounts; written communications to officials. Dian- notes from the pupil's daily experiences. Various forms of bills of lading. The instruction in reading, together with that in life and citizenship. aims to aid the moral and general education of the pupils, and to instil in them pleasure and taste for good literature. For this reason the school library is to be used. From time to time a complete work of the German classical period is to be read. The selection of the reading is in the hands of the teachers.
c. Arithmetic. The instruction in arithmetic should give the pupil an understanding of how to conduct a household properly; it should awaken in him a desire for economy, and give him a suitable facility in industrial arithmetic.
Class I. Arithmetic necessary for the home and business of a trade worker: Earnings of a workingman by hours, days, weeks, months and years; the daily, weekly, monthly and yearly expenses of a single person and of a family; wage book, household-account book, balance for the month, for the year, savings accounts and interest, estimates for buying and selling, loss and gain, rebate, business expenses.
(206) weeks.
Class II. Bills relating to taxes and insurance. Simple problems on surfaces and solids in connection with manual training. Drafts and checks. Simple bookkeeping for a business during one month.
d. Life and citizenship. This instruction aims to give the pupil an insight into a rational mode of living. Therefore it teaches hygiene, the problems of life in vocation, community and state, and above all it teaches those things out of which the pupil gains a knowledge of the necessary interrelations of the interests of all classes and vocations.
Class I. Relation of an apprentice to his work and master, apprenticeship indenture. Instruction in deportment: Conduct at home, in school, on the street, in society, toward superiors, employer and master. Hygiene
Structure of the human body in general; nutrition; injurious and nutritious food; respiration and blood circulation; care of the skin, mouth and teeth; dwelling and clothing; work and recreation; care of habits and the nerve system. First aid to the injured. The most important causes of disease; value of cleanliness.
Class II History of handwork in general. The old guilds. Present status of the trades. The present trade unions. Division of labor. Working for wages. Importance and value of every kind of honorable labor to the individual, as well as to the community and nation. The community, problems of the community-, social and economic institutions, rights and duties of a citizen of the community, positions of honor and trust. The state, problems of the confederation of states, the Bavarian government, duties and rights of a citizen of the state, positions of honor and trust. The German empire, foundation and constitution, problems of the empire, social laws, trade and commerce in modern times, German colonies, value of consuls in foreign lands.
e. Gymnastics, games and swimming. Gymnastics, with games and swimming, aims to rectify the one-sided muscle development, which is often acquired by unskilled labor, and developed into awkwardness and clumsiness. Agility and skill is developed, and a sense for order and relationship to the whole fostered. It shall awaken healthy ambition, exercise the will and self-discipline.
Classes I and 11. In the winter semester will be given exercises on apparatus, such as wands, dumbbells, ladders, horizontal and parallel bars, as well as weight lifting. The work is to be given on a gradually advancing scale. During the winter semester athletic games are emphasized, as baseball, etc. After a course of dry swimming, which is given in the gymnasium, methodical instruction is given at the different bathing places of the city.
f. Manual training, with drawing. Instruction in manual training develops appreciation of manual work and the joy in craftsmanship, and brings, as far as possible, unskilled laborers or those without any occupation into the class of skilled labor. Above all, it aims at exactness in the work, helps the pupil to understand the raw materials most frequently used in industry, as wood and iron, and the use of tools. Instruction in drawing is closely connected with manual training. For those pupils who have not had
(207) instruction in drawing before entering the continuation school, a short introductory course is provided which familiarizes the pupil with the use of ruler, angle and drawing instruments. The subject matter includes straightline plane figures and ornamental figures with circular forms. Working drawings of shop products are also made. Sometimes scale drawings are undertaken. The shop projects are sometimes made from blue-prints. Those pupils who have had manual training in the last year of the grade school are given training in both wood and iron, and therefore change workshops after the first year. All other pupils are taught in only one line for two years, parents making the selection.
Woodwork: Class I. Raw material in its essential characteristics. Tools for clamping, measuring and working. Processes of sawing, planing, drilling, chiseling, etc.; making of exercises and simple, useful articles. Class II. The most important European and foreign kinds of wood; defects and diseases of wood; wood as an article of commerce. The common wood joints. Table and chair joints. Simple, useful articles.
Metalwork: Class I. Raw materials, production, the most important characteristics. Tools for clamping, measuring and working. Processes of marking, cutting, filing, planing, thread-cutting, bending, drilling, etc. Making of exercises and simple, useful articles. Class II. Further consideration of raw materials. Processes: More advanced work than in Class I, then threadcutting, cold bending, riveting, grooving, soldering, etc. Simple, useful articles.
B. Alternate-week Courses
1. The Beverly Industrial School, Beverly, Massachusetts, offers, in cooperation with the United Shoe Machinery Company, a course of instruction in the machinist trade. The students spend alternate weeks in school and factory. The school-day is 8 hours, with Saturday holiday, and no home lessons. Factory hours and discipline are the same as for regular employees.
Fifty students are enrolled and are divided into two groups. The machinist-instructor for each group teaches that group in the factory one week, and the next week teaches the drawing, mathematics and science to the same group in school. Regular high-school teachers also give instruction in English, civics, industrial economics, business forms and practices, etc.
In the factory the student works on the regular factory products - shoe machinery - the raw material being furnished by the factor-. The product of the student's work is inspected by regular factory, inspectors and is put into the company's stock. One-half the regular piece-price for all his product that passes inspection is paid to each student by the factory; the other half is devoted to the maintenance of the shop.
(208)
The factory furnishes the shop equipment and pays the salary of the shop instructor while he is in the shop. In case a profit should accrue to the factory from the sale of products made by students, over and above the cost of maintaining the factory shop, such excess profit is to be devoted to the support of the school.
The school was started in August, 1909. For admission, pupils must be at least fourteen years of age and must have completed the sixth grade. The minimum age for admission will probably soon be raised to sixteen years because of the immaturity of the boys of fourteen and fifteen. No apprenticeship agreement or indenture is made. The school is under subsidy of the State, which pays one-half the annual cost to the city.
2. The cooperative course at Fitchburg, Massachusetts, is a four-Year high-school course, the last three years being arranged so that each pupil spends alternate weeks in factory and school. The first year of the course is spent entirely in school. For admission, students must be graduates of the grammar school.
Seven firms, manufacturers of machinery, originally entered into the plan, requiring regular three-year apprenticeship indentures to be made with the students, by which they are to receive for the shopwork 10 cents an hour the first year, 11 cents the second, and 12 1/2 cent: the third year. Later the school authorities threw the industrial course open to all who could satisfy the entrance requirements, no matter at what kind of work they were engaged the week out of school. 1-lost of the boys are paired in such a way that when one of the pair is at school the other takes his place at the factory. But in some cases employers are willing to get along without a substitute for the week spent by the boy in school.
All the boys work in the summer. The school year is 20 weeks in length. Twenty students are enrolled in the first year of the course, 20 in the second, and 20 in the third. The instructor in charge of the course spends from 5 to 7 hours a week visiting the students in the factories. Two of the students are sons of union men.
The schoolwork is applied as closely as possible to industrial needs. It includes English, current events and industrial history, arithmetic, simple algebra, geometry and trigonometry, mechanism of machines, physics and chemistry, commercial geography, civics and American history, business methods, drawing. In science and mathematics applications are taught rather than theory.
(209)
II. SEPARATE HIGH SCHOOLS FOR TECHNICAL AND MANUAL TRAINING COURSES
In the matter of separate buildings for technical and manual training courses in high school, present practice shows many variations. In the seven cities mentioned below there seems to be on the whole a tendency to make a distinction between manual training courses and technical courses, and to offer the former in all high schools, but to give the latter in separate schools only. This tendency seems to be based on the view that technical courses, since they aim definitely at vocational training and require for the shopwork a larger portion of the school time than manual training courses. should receive the benefit of a school atmosphere given over largely and definitely to vocational training, and that such an atmosphere can be best developed in a separate technical school. Manual training, on the other hand, since it aims at the general education of the individual through the hand, regardless of his vocational future, should be given in all schools.
1. In St. Louis manual training is offered in all high schools. No distinctly technical courses are offered.
2. In Chicago a four-year course in manual or technical training is given in each of three high schools. In each of the remaining high schools it is planned to offer two years of manual training, although this plan has not yet been completely carried out. Two-year vocational courses are offered in all high schools for the first time in 1910-11.
3. In Cleveland all manual training of high-school grade is being concentrated in one or two buildings, where it is being intensified, one-half to two-thirds of the school time being allotted to shop and drawing. The manual training formerly given in other high schools is being discontinued, on the ground that sufficient time can not be given to it in academic high schools to produce satisfactory results.[33]
4. In Boston only one high school offers four years of manual training, and this school is shortly to be transformed into a distinctly technical high school for boys, offering preparation for industrial pursuits but no preparation for college or higher technical institutions. Two high schools offer afternoon industrial courses. Five
(210) outlying high schools offer not more than two years of manual training. Six academic high schools centrally located offer no manual training. The High School of Practical Arts for Girls is a distinctly technical school, in a separate building, and offers no preparation for college. The experience of Boston shows, according to a statement of the superintendent, that courses in domestic science and in household arts do not attract nearly so many students when given in the regular academic high school as when given in a separate high school as at present.
5. In Newton, Massachusetts, there are two high schools, one a technical high school for boys and girls, the other an academic high school without manual training equipment, and located near the technical high school. Students in the academic high school may go to the technical high school for optional courses in manual training.
6. In New York city (all boroughs) all but three of the nineteen high schools offer the general high-school course, four years in duration, with electives in commercial subjects in the third and fourth years. Of the three high schools not offering the general course, two are exclusively commercial high schools, for boys only, and one is devoted solely to manual training for boys. In the latter school a four-year industrial course is offered, in which a large part of the time is given to shopwork. Five high schools offer only the general course. Eleven high schools offer, in addition to the general course, a three-year commercial course, a three-year technical course for girls, or a four-year manual training course for boys.
7. Cincinnati affords a very interesting organization of technical, manual training and academic courses all in the same high-school building. There are three high schools in the city. Two of these offer for the first time in 1910-11 eight courses of study divided into two groups
(1) Academic Courses, including the usual General, Classical, Domestic Science and Manual Training Courses.
(2) Technical Courses, including the Commercial, Boys' Industrial, Girls' Art and Girls' Industrial Courses.
The third high school offers at present only the General and Classical Courses.
The first group of courses provides general culture and prepares
(212) for colleges and professional schools. The second group leads directly to vocations.
The Cincinnati school authorities recognize the objections which can be raised to the plan of having technical courses in the same building with academic courses, and under the same principal and teaching force. The following quotation from the Eightieth Annual Report of the Superintendent shows that definite steps are being taken in the organization of the high schools to overcome these objections.
1. The principal, the administrative officer of the whole school, and in authority over the heads of departments.
2. Heads of departments. The Boys' Technical or Industrial Course, the Girls' Domestic Arts Course, and the Commercial Course should each have a head. To the head of a department each student in that department would report. He would be the adviser also of the teachers of the special staff tin conjunction with the principal) and would be supervisor of all work of the group of students in his department. It would be the duty of the head of the department, say of the Commercial Course, to keep in touch with business interests in the city, to keep the course of study abreast of the needs of business houses, and to suggest suitable positions for his students.
The staff of teachers and instructors. These should be organized in departments under the above heads, and when appointed it should be with reference to their fitness for the special department. If a teacher conducts classes in two departments, the work done in each department should be under supervision of its respective head. Teachers not in sympathy with a commercial or industrial course should not be permitted to teach students in such a course in any subject. This is highly important if the courses are to preserve their integrity and are not to be made a mere blind or decoy to lure students into other courses. If we offer a commercial course, the course must be what it pretends to be, and it must be taught by expert teachers who believe in it, and there must be no proselyting into other courses.
