CHAPTER V

CONTINUATION SCHOOLS

I. The Shop vs. the Trade School. Whether the trade school or the shop is the best place to learn a trade is an open question. We have the word of Dr. Kerschensteiner that "a shop or factory cannot produce a good mechanic. Nearly all of them lack sufficient variety in scope or range and quality of work to enable them to do so. Furthermore, many of them are not prepared to impart to their apprentices what they know themselves." 1 A similar opinion is expressed by Mr. Alexander, of the General Electric Company, West Lynn, Massachusetts. Speaking of the apprenticeship system in connection with so-called "corporation schools," he says: "We should welcome the development of this phase of industrial education, but with a jealous eye should watch its progress, and courageously voice our protest, if it tends to gravitate toward narrow

1 The Organization and Management of Trade Schools, by John M. Shrigley, National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education, 1908.

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selfishness instead of legitimate protection of the industries," or offers "merely a surface polish of trade training rather than a thorough treatment of the whole problem." That is, the corporation is likely to train its employees to become expert in some one process of a trade or in the handling of a single piece of machinery; but it cannot be expected to care very much about the personal development of the worker from the humanitarian or social point of view, or to be interested in teaching him the whole trade merely for his own good. It is in the educational business simply because it pays to have men and women properly trained to carry on the business.

On the other hand, it is contended by some that the place to learn a trade is in the trade itself; because the school cannot provide the conditions of industry. Thus, Mr. F. W. Thomas, Supervisor of Apprentices of the Santa Fé Railway System, says: "There is nothing that will ever take the place of an apprenticeship. There is no trade school or training school in the country that will turn out young men or boys who are capable of entering a

1 Bulletin No. 13, Part II, National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education, 1911, p. 54.

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shop and competing with the average mechanic; while they may be taught considerable 'booklearning,' their practical instruction must of necessity be limited. There is nothing that will take the place of practical experience." That there is truth in this statement is obvious when you apply it to the teaching profession. The normal school and the training school are very useful in their way, but they cannot produce the finished teacher. They have their model and observation schools, where the candidate tries his hand at teaching. But conditions under which he works are artificial and not at all like those of a real school. The very best graduates of a training school are not able in the beginning to compete on equal terms with the experienced members of their profession. They begin with the lowest salary and require much assistance from the principal. Not until they have had five or six years of experience can they hope to become artists.

II. The Continuation School. Since then the corporation or shop is not equipped for teaching and has more interest in the welfare of the business

1 Bulletin No. 13, Part II, National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education, 1911, p. 67.

than the welfare of the apprentice; and since the trade school is relatively inefficient on account of its artificial environment, a third mode of training apprentices has been devised which possesses the advantages of both the preceding plans and avoids all their disadvantages. This is the so-called continuation school, or part-time system, by which the learner is employed in the trade at regular wages, but is permitted or required to attend a trade school for a certain stipulated number of hours per week in the daytime. In this way the pupil has real shop experience and at the same time gets the benefit of the broader theoretical training which aims to make him an efficient worker and a good citizen. The plan has the additional merit of making the apprentice self-supporting while he is learning his trade. If he devotes all his time to school, he is an economic burden to his family. If he devotes all his time to the trade, his broader intellectual and civic training is liable to be neglected. Here we have, therefore, the ideal arrangement for the most efficient and most economical production of skilled artisans.

A continuation school is a school for persons engaged in useful employment which gives instruction

supplementary to such employment. In this country we find three types of this institution:

1. Schools for profit, examples of which are correspondence schools, commercial schools, and some trade schools.

2. Endowed schools, examples of which are Cooper Union, the Ohio Mechanics' Institute, Pratt Institute, the Ranken School of Mechanical Trades in St. Louis, and the Williamson School in Pennsylvania.

3. Public schools.

III. The Part-time System in Cincinnati. — 1. The Engineering College.1 - In 1906 Professor Herman Schneider, Dean of the College of Engineering, University of Cincinnati, introduced his wellknown plan of coöperative education. The University belongs to the city and is entirely supported by taxation. The course of study is so devised that the student works alternate weeks in the college and at the manufacturing shops of the city. The classes are divided into two sections, so that when one section is at the shop, the other is at the university. The length of the course is six years. During the summer

1 Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 33, P. 50.