THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL
In 1915 the Board of Education authorized the establishment of a
system of junior high schools in the city, and at the beginning of the
school year of 1915-16 the new plan was inaugurated in two schools.
The Empire Junior High School, situated in the eastern part of the
city, had an enrollment of about 700 children made up of seventh and
eighth grade pupils formerly accommodated in the elementary schools of
that section. The Detroit Junior High School on the west side had an
enrollment of about 400 pupils. No decision has yet been reached as to
whether the course shall include only two years' work, or three years,
as in other cities of the country where the junior high school plan
has been adopted.
A comparison of the course with that for corresponding grades of the
elementary schools shows some marked differences. Less time is devoted
to English in the junior high school and considerably more to
arithmetic, geography, and history. Mechanical drawing, not taught in
the elementary schools except incidentally in the manual training
classes, is given an hour each week. All boys receive one hour of
manual training a week against slightly less than one and one-half
hours in the seventh and eighth elementary grades, but they may elect
an additional two and one-half hours a week in this subject, together
with applied arithmetic during the first year, or with bookkeeping
during the second. Girls may elect an additional two and one-half
hours a week of domestic science, with bookkeeping. The manual
training for boys comprises woodwork and bookbinding.
SPECIALIZED TRAINING NOT PRACTICABLE
In the junior high school, as in the elementary school, the greatest
difficulty in the way of trade training for specific occupations lies
in the small number of pupils who can be expected, within the bounds
of reasonable probability, to enter a single trade. Hand and machine
composition, the largest of the printing trades, will serve as an
example. In a junior high school of 1,000 pupils, boys and girls, the
number of boys who are likely to become compositors is about five. But
to teach this trade printing equipment occupying considerable space is
necessary, together with a teacher who has had some experience or
training as a printer. The expense per pupil for equipment, for the
space it occupies, and for instruction renders special training for
such small classes impracticable. All of the skilled occupations, with
the exception perhaps of the machinist's trade, are in the same case.
An attempt to form separate classes for each of the eight largest
trades in the city would result in two classes of not over five
pupils, three classes of not over 10 pupils, and only one of over 13
pupils. The following table shows the number of boys, in a school of
this size, who are likely to enter each of these trades.
_Number of boys who will probably become:_
Machinists 36
Carpenters 13
Steam engineers 11
Painters 10
Electricians 9
Plumbers 7
Compositors 5
Molders 5
A GENERAL INDUSTRIAL COURSE
The members of the Survey Staff were, however, of the opinion that
through the system of electives in the junior high school, industrial
training of a more general type, made up chiefly of instruction in the
applications of mathematics, drawing, physics, and chemistry to the
commoner industrial processes, would be of considerable benefit to
those boys who, on the basis of their own selection or that of their
parents, are likely to enter industrial pursuits. A course of this
kind is outlined in following sections of this chapter.
The objections which may be brought against this plan are frankly
recognized. It takes into account only the interests of the industrial
group, comprising less than one-half of the boys in the school.
Unquestionably it would tend to vitalize the teaching of mathematics,
drawing, and science for the boys who enroll in the industrial course,
but it leaves unsolved the question of method and content of
instruction in these subjects for the boys in the non-industrial or
so-called academic course. Very possibly future experience may
demonstrate that the plan recommended for the general industrial
course affords the best medium for teaching science and mathematics at
this period to all pupils, in which case a differentiated course would
be unnecessary.
The organization of vocational training in junior high school grades
presents many difficulties which cannot be solved by a more or less
abstract study of educational and industrial needs. Experimentation on
an extensive scale, covering a considerable period of time, is
necessary before definite conclusions can be drawn as to the
limitations and possibilities of such work. It is with a full
appreciation of this fact that the following suggestive outline is
presented.
The purpose of the general industrial course is to afford to boys who
wish to enter industrial occupations the opportunity to secure
knowledge and training that will be of direct or indirect value to
them in industrial employment. It is not expected that by this means
they can be given much practical training in hand work for any
particular trade. The most the school can do for the boy at this
period is to bridge over for him the gap that exists between the
knowledge he obtains from books and the rôle which this knowledge
plays in the working world. It must not be assumed that the transition
can be effected merely by the introduction of shop work, even if it
were possible to provide the wide variety of manual training necessary
to make up a fair representation of the principal occupations into
which the boys will enter when they leave school. It is doubtful
whether, so far as its vocational value is concerned, shop work
isolated from other subjects of the curriculum is worth any more per
unit of time devoted to it than several of the so-called academic
subjects. This is particularly true of the two most common types of
manual training--cabinet making and forge work. Both represent dying
trades. During the decade 1900-1910 the increase in the number of
cabinet makers in Cleveland fell far below the general increase in
population. The blacksmiths made a still poorer showing. Both trades
are recruited mainly from abroad and the relative number of Americans
employed in them is steadily declining.
In the opinion of the Survey Staff a general industrial course should
cover instruction in at least the following five subjects: Industrial
mathematics, mechanical drawing, industrial science, shop work, and
the study of economic and working conditions in wage earning pursuits.
These may be offered as independent electives or they may be required
of all pupils who elect the industrial course. The details of
organization must, of course, be worked out by trial and experiment.
They will probably vary in different schools and from year to year.
INDUSTRIAL MATHEMATICS
Of the hundreds of employers who were interviewed by members of the
Survey Staff as to the technical equipment needed by beginners in the
various trades, nearly all emphasized the ability to apply the
principles of simple arithmetic quickly, correctly, and accurately to
industrial problems. Many employers criticized the present methods of
teaching this subject in the public schools. In the main their
criticisms were to the effect that the teaching was not "practical."
"The boys I get may know arithmetic," said one, "but they haven't any
mathematical sense." Another cited his experience with an apprentice
who was told to cut a bar eight and one-half feet long into five
pieces of equal length. He was not told the length of the bar, but was
given the direct order: "Cut that bar into five pieces all of the same
size." The boy was unable to lay out the work, although when asked by
the foreman, "Don't you know how to divide 81/2 by 5?", he performed the
arithmetical operation without difficulty. The employer gave this
instance as an illustration of what to his mind constituted one of the
principal defects of public school teaching. "Mere knowledge of
mathematical principles and the ability to solve abstract problems is
not enough," he said. "What the boys get in the schools is
mathematical skill, but what they need in their work is mathematical
intelligence. The first does not necessarily imply the second."
This mathematical intelligence can be developed only through practice
in the solution of practical problems, that is, problems which are
stated in the every day terms of the working world and which require
the student to go through the successive mental steps in the same way
that he would if he were working in a shop. The problem referred to
above is one of division of fractions. If we state it thus: "81/2÷5,"
the pupil takes pencil and paper, performs the operation and announces
the result. If we say, "A bar 81/2 feet long is to be cut into five
pieces of equal length; how long should each piece be?", the problem
calls for the exercise of greater intelligence, as the pupil must
determine which process to use in order to obtain the correct result.
It becomes still more difficult if we merely show him the bar and say:
"This bar must be cut into five pieces of equal length; how long will
each piece be?" Several additional preliminary steps are required,
none of which was involved in the problem in its original form. Before
the length of the pieces can be computed he must find out the length
of the bar. He must know what to measure it with, and in what terms,
whether feet or inches, the problem should be stated. Again, if we
say: "Lay this bar out to be cut in five equal lengths," another
step--the measurement and marking for each cut--is added. Many
variations might be introduced, each involving additional
opportunities for the exercise of thought.
It is through practice in solving problems of this kind that the pupil
acquires what the employer called mathematical intelligence. It
consists in the ability to note what elements are involved in the
problems and to decide which process of arithmetic should be used in
dealing with them. Once these decisions are made the succeeding
arithmetical calculations are simple and easy. In technical terms the
ability that is needed is the ability to generalize one's experiences.
In every-day terms it is the ability to use what one knows.
The work in applied mathematics should cover a wide range of problems
worded in the language of the trades and constantly varied in order to
establish as many points of contact as possible between the pupil's
knowledge of mathematics and the use of mathematics in industrial
life. Practical shop work is one of the best means to this end. The
trouble with much of the shop work given in the schools is that it
runs to hand craftmanship in which the object is to "make something"
by methods long ago discarded in the industrial world, rather than to
give the pupil exercise in the sort of thinking he will need to do
after he goes to work. Successful teaching does not depend so much on
the use of tools and materials as on the teacher's knowledge of the
conditions surrounding industrial work and his ability to originate
methods for vitalizing the instruction in its relation to industrial
needs.
MECHANICAL DRAWING
At the present time the junior high school course provides for one
hour a week of mechanical drawing. All the boys who may be expected
to elect the industrial course can well afford to devote more time to
drawing. For such boys no other subject in the curriculum, except
perhaps applied mathematics, is of greater importance. In many of the
trades the ability to work from drawings is indispensable and the man
who does not possess it is not likely to rise above purely routine
work.
In a drawing course for future industrial workers the emphasis should
be placed on giving the pupil an understanding of the uses of drawing
for industrial purposes, rather than on fine workmanship in making
drawings. Seventh grade boys can't be made into draftsmen in three
years and if they leave school at 15 they are not likely to become
draftsmen. The ordinary skilled workman seldom has any need to make
drawings or designs, beyond an occasional rough sketch, but he often
has to work from drawings. To put it in another way, drawing to the
average workman is like an additional language of which he needs a
reading but not a writing knowledge. No doubt it would be well to
teach him to write and read with equal skill, but in the two or three
years most of these boys will remain in school there is not time
enough to do both.
INDUSTRIAL SCIENCE
In many of the trades an introductory knowledge of physics and
chemistry is of considerable advantage. Boys in the junior high school
cannot be expected to take formal courses in these subjects, but they
should not leave school without some acquaintance with them and a
knowledge of their relations to industrial processes. A fair equipment
should be provided for demonstrational and illustrative purposes. The
subject matter should be correlated as closely as possible with the
shop work, and the principal mechanical and chemical laws explained as
the shop problems furnish examples of their application.
In addition the boys should be taught the common technical terms used
in trade hand books. The man who expects to advance in his trade will
have to keep on learning after he leaves school. There are many
avenues of information open to him, and the school can perform no more
valuable service than to point the way to the sources of knowledge
represented by reference books, trade journals, and other technical
literature. Some of the popular magazines, such as "The Scientific
American," "The Illustrated World," and "Popular Mechanics" can be
used most effectively to bring home to the pupils the close connection
existing between the class work and the outside world of science and
invention.
SHOP WORK
It is difficult to determine the exact function of the manual training
shop work in cabinet making and bookbinding which figures in the
curriculum at present. That the work was not planned with vocational
training in mind seems clear from the action of the school board in
adding bookbinding to the course about the middle of the year. The
bookbinding trade is one of the smallest in the city, and there is
little probability that more than one boy among the total number
enrolled in both junior high schools will enter it after leaving
school.
Fully three-fourths of the industrial group will later be employed in
occupations where most of the work is done with machines or machine
tools. Even in the hand tool trades, such as carpentry, sheet metal
work, cabinet making, and blacksmithing, the use of machines is
constantly increasing. It would seem, therefore, that some
acquaintance with different types of machines would be of considerable
value to the pupils who may later enter industrial employment. The
number of boys who are likely to become machinists is large enough to
warrant the installation of a small machine shop. Repairing,
assembling, and taking apart machines should occupy an important place
in the shop course. Most boys are intensely interested in getting at
the "insides" of a machine, and the processes of assembling, with
their attendant problems of adjustment and co-ordination of mechanical
movements, afford opportunities for the best kind of practical
instruction. One of the great advantages of this type of shop work
lies in the fact that it consumes little or no material and is
therefore inexpensive; another is that a fairly extensive equipment
can be easily obtained, as any machine, old or new, will serve the
purpose and may be used over and over again.
The extent and variety of shop equipment will depend largely on the
resources of the school system. The more the better, so long as the
money is expended on the principle of the greatest good to the
greatest number, which means that the kinds of tools and equipment
used in the large trades should be preferred to those used only in the
smaller trades.
In order that the time devoted to shop work may yield its greatest
results, it is necessary that every lesson center around knowledge and
ability that will be of real subsequent use to the pupils. It must not
run to "art" and it must not be mere tinkering. Its principal value as
vocational training, in the last analysis, lies in its use as an
objective medium for the teaching of industrial mathematics and
science.
VOCATIONAL INFORMATION
During the second and third years all the boys who elect the
industrial course or who expect to leave school at the end of the
compulsory attendance period should be required to devote some time
each week to the study of economic and working conditions in wage
earning industrial and commercial occupations. A clear understanding
of the comparative advantages of different kinds of employment is of
the highest importance at this period of the boy's life. It seems to
be generally assumed that an adequate basis of knowledge for the
selection of an industrial vocation is an acquaintance with materials
and processes. Such knowledge is valuable, but making a living is
mainly an economic problem. What an occupation means in terms of
income is more significant than what it means in terms of materials.
The most important facts about the cabinet making trade, for example,
are that it offers very few opportunities for employment to public
school boys, and that it is one of the lowest paid skilled trades. The
primary considerations in the intelligent selection of a vocation
relate to wages, steadiness of employment, health risks, opportunities
for advancement, apprenticeship conditions, union regulations, and the
number of chances there are for getting into it. These things are
fundamental, and any one of them may well take precedence over the
matter of whether the tastes of the future wage-earner run to wood,
brick, stone, or steel.