TRADE TRAINING DURING THE LAST YEARS IN SCHOOL
Between the end of the compulsory attendance period and the entering
age in most of the trades there exists a gap of from one to two years
which is not adequately covered by any of the present educational
agencies of the school system.
Two years ago the Ohio State legislature extended the compulsory
attendance period from 14 to 15 for boys and from 14 to 16 for girls.
The result has been to force into the first years of the high school
course a considerable number of pupils who have no intention of taking
the complete four year course, and who will leave as soon as they
reach the end of the compulsory period. That these pupils are probably
not getting all that they might out of the time they attend high
school is no argument against the present compulsory attendance age
limit, which should be raised rather than lowered.
The study of industrial conditions conducted during the survey left
every member of the Survey Staff firmly convinced that the industries
of Cleveland have little or nothing worth while to offer to boys
under 16. Very few of the skilled trades will accept an apprentice
below this age. The general opinion among manufacturers was
unfavorable to the employment of boys under 16. "They are more of a
nuisance than a help," said one; "they are not old enough to
understand the responsibilities of work." "They break more machinery
and spoil more material than they are worth," said another. In several
of the building trades apprentices must be 17 years old, as the law
forbids boys under this age to work on scaffoldings. The new workmen's
compensation law exerts a strong influence in favor of a higher
working age limit, owing to the greater risk of accident among young
workers.
The fact is that the law is still about one year behind the
requirements of industrial life. If a vote were taken among employers
who can offer boys the opportunity to learn a trade it would be found
that a large majority favor raising the working age to 16. Employment
before this time usually leads nowhere, and the pittance the boy earns
cannot be compared with the economic advantage he could derive from an
additional year in a good vocational school. The average boy who
leaves school at 15 spends a year or two loafing or working at odd
jobs before he can obtain employment that offers any promise of future
advancement. These years are often more than wasted, as he not only
learns nothing of value from such casual jobs, but misses the healthy
discipline of steady, orderly work, which is of so great importance
during these formative years of his life.
THE TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOLS
The two technical high schools, the East Technical and West Technical,
occupy an important place among the secondary schools of the city. At
the present time the two schools enroll nearly two-fifths of the boys
attending high school. The course comprises four years' work. In the
East Technical the shopwork includes joinery and wood-turning during
the first year, and pattern making and foundry work during the second
year. In the West Technical the first year course includes pattern
making and either forging or sheet metal work; and that of the second
year, forging, pipe-fitting, brazing, riveting, and cabinet making.
During the remaining two years of the course the student may elect a
particular trade, devoting about 10 hours a week to practice in the
shop during the last half of the third year, and from 11 to 15 hours
during the fourth year.
The proportion of pupils who graduate is small and the mortality
during the first two years is very heavy. This is due in part to the
fact that the type of pupil who leaves school early is more likely to
elect a technical course than an academic course. About 25 per cent of
each entering class drops out after attending one year, and 25 per
cent of the remainder by the end of the second year. By the time the
third year is reached the classes are greatly depleted and the
survivors as a rule are of the more intelligent and prosperous type.
Only a small proportion of them expect to enter skilled manual
occupations. Table 9 shows the distribution of the third and fourth
year students among the different trade courses during the first
semester of 1915-16.
TABLE 9.--DISTRIBUTION OF THIRD AND FOURTH YEAR STUDENTS IN TRADE
COURSES IN THE CLEVELAND TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOLS, FIRST SEMESTER,
1915-1916
Trade courses Students
Electrical construction 68
Machine work 52
Printing 28
Cabinet making 22
Pattern making 12
Foundry work 1
----
Total 183
That relatively few of these students will ultimately become
journeymen workmen is shown by the records of the boys graduated in
the past. The principal of the East Technical High School recently
sent a questionnaire to all the students graduated up to 1915, asking
for information as to their present occupations and their earnings
during the first four years after graduation. Of those who replied,
over 60 per cent either were attending college, or employed as
draftsmen or chemists. About 28 per cent were employed in the skilled
trades. The distribution in detail is shown in Table 10.
The data furnished by graduates as to their earnings during successive
years after leaving school supply still more convincing evidence to
the effect that the technical school graduate seldom remains in manual
work more than two or three years. The complete course gives them an
equipment of practical and theoretical knowledge that speedily takes
them out of the handwork class. The technical high schools are
primarily training schools for future civil, electrical, and
mechanical engineers. To the student who cannot afford a college
course they offer excellent preparation for rapid advancement to
supervisory and executive industrial positions, and for drafting and
office work in manufacturing plants.
TABLE 10.--DISTRIBUTION BY OCCUPATION OF CLEVELAND TECHNICAL HIGH
SCHOOL GRADUATES
Occupation Number
Attending college 111
Draftsmen 51
Electricians 33
Machinists 32
Chemists 8
Pattern makers 7
Cabinet makers 6
Printers 3
Foundrymen 1
Unclassified 32
----
Total 284
The output of the schools falls into two main divisions: those who
leave at the end of the second year or earlier, and those who
graduate. The records show that most of the pupils who reach the third
year complete the course, but nearly half drop out during the first
and second years. The benefit they obtain from these two years'
attendance is problematical. The course was designed on the basis of
four years' attendance, and the work of the first two years is to a
considerable degree a preparation for that of the last two.
The principals of both schools are fully alive to the disadvantages of
the course for the large number of pupils who drop out within a year
or two, and admit that such students would derive greater benefit from
more practical instruction aimed directly toward preparation for the
industrial trades. Both believe that the only practicable solution is
a two-year trade course in a separate school, covering a much wider
range of shop activities than the present high school course.
To the only alternative--the institution of a short course within the
technical schools to be conducted either as a part of or
simultaneously with the four year course--they present objections of
considerable weight. They point out that a preparatory course for the
trades and a preparatory course with college as the goal differ not
only in length but in kind. The work in mathematics for the future
civil engineer, for example, must conform to college entrance
standards and involves an amount of study that is quite unnecessary
for the boy whose aim is to become a carpenter or machinist. The first
needs a thorough course in algebra, geometry, and trigonometry; the
second needs industrial arithmetic, with only such applications of
higher mathematics as may be of use to him in his trade. The same
principle holds with respect to other subjects.
What boys who expect to enter industrial occupations most need at this
period is instruction that will be of practical value to them for
future wage earning. It is doubtful whether high school courses which
have been formulated in the first instance to prepare pupils for a
college course can furnish such instruction and it is still more
doubtful whether the trade training required by the future mechanic
and the broader preparation required for the professions can be given
effectively in the same school.
A TWO-YEAR TRADE COURSE
It is the opinion of the Survey Staff that a separate school in which
direct training for the industrial trades is emphasized would result
in more profitable use of the pupils' time and probably induce many of
them to remain in school up to the apprentice entering age. Such a
school, with a curriculum embracing vocational training for all the
principal trades, would easily command an enrollment sufficient to
justify the installation of a good shop equipment and the employment
of a corps of teachers qualified by special training and experience
for this kind of work. Even if only one-half the number who enter the
skilled trades each year attended the school, the enrollment would
reach at least 800 boys.
A trade school of this kind would relieve the first and second year
classes of many pupils that the technical high schools do not want and
cannot adequately provide for. The minimum entering age should be not
less than 14, and no requirement other than age should be imposed.
This would draw part of the over-age pupils from the grades and take
from the junior high school a certain number of boys who could profit
by the greater amount of time given to shop work in the trade school.
A good many will stay only one year, and every effort should be made
at the time of entrance to learn the intentions of the pupil. If it
seems fairly certain that he will not remain longer than a year he may
well omit such studies as have no direct bearing on the trade he
wishes to learn. The courses should follow the lines laid down in the
general industrial course recommended for the junior high school, but
with a greater proportion of the time devoted to practical shopwork.
As the number of pupils for each trade class would be relatively
large, a closer correlation could be effected between the academic
subjects and the work in the shops than is possible in the junior high
school.
Both general and special courses should be provided. Many of the
pupils will wish to specialize on a particular trade. Others who have
not yet reached a decision need a general course that will give them a
wide range of experience with materials and processes. The
organization of classes should be planned so as to permit transfers,
whenever desirable, from the general to the special courses, or
vice-versa.
By the time the pupil has reached the second year he usually will
settle down to steady work on the trade he selects, although here
again the organization should be sufficiently elastic to allow
transfers when there seems to be good reason for making them. It is to
be expected, however, that nearly all the pupils will devote their
time during the second year to practice and study limited to single
trades. The success of the school in holding boys to the age of 16 or
17 will depend on its ability to convince them that the extra time in
school is a paying investment, and this cannot be done unless they
stick to one line of work.