PRACTICE PLUS THEORY
THE demand for trained and experienced
men is never supplied. Most business
and industrial organizations find their
growth impeded by the dearth of such men.
To employ men trained by competitors
or by inferior organizations is expensive and
unsatisfactory. A man trained till he has
become valuable to his ``parent'' organization
is not likely to be equally valuable to other
organizations that might employ him at a
later time. In general, the most valuable
men in any organization are the men who
have grown up in it.
The man who is ``a rolling stone'' secures,
in a way, more experience than the man who is
developed within a single organization, but his
wider experience does not of necessity make
him a more valuable man. It is not mere
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experience that educates, develops, and equips
men, but experience of particular sorts, and
acquired under very well defined conditions.
``Scientific management'' has taken seriously
the problem of providing and utilizing
the most valuable experiences. But the viewpoint
of the leaders in this modern movement
is that of the employer seeking the most valuable
experiences for those employees whose
work is mainly mechanical, _e.g_. machine
tenders, stenographers, etc. Scientific management
has conclusively demonstrated the
fact that it is poor economy to depend upon
haphazard experiences for the development
of those employees whose excellence depends
upon the speed and accuracy of their occupation
habits. It has thus done great service
in demonstrating the kind of experience most
valuable in developing men for positions of
routine work. But it has done little for men
whose welfare depends upon judgment--in
making new adjustments and in solving the
new problems continually arising in all positions
of responsibility. It has left for others
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to consider the experiences most profitable
for developing executives.
_The most valuable experience in acquiring
an act of skill is frequent repetition in performing
the act_.
The value of the experience continues till
by frequent repetition the act has become so
mechanical that it is performed without attention.
Further experience has little or no
value.
On the other hand it is true that every
worthy calling demands forms of activity which
could not and should not be mechanized.
There are emergencies in every form of occupation
that call for new adjustments. The
ability to make such new adjustments depends
upon richness of experience and width
of view as well as upon skill in performing
the old processes.
The difference between a machine and a
man is that the man is capable of adjusting
himself to the changed situation, while a
machine cannot do so. The machine may work
more accurately and more rapidly than the man
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in routine work, but it is capable of nothing
but routine work. There is a need for much
experience to make the man approximate the
skill and accuracy obtained by a machine.
But there is also need of experience to develop
the man in that particular in which he surpasses
a machine, _i.e_. in a broad experience
that enables him to form judgments and hence
to make a multitude of different adjustments
when a need for a change occurs.
A machine is constructed to perform a
particular kind of routine work in a stereotyped
way, but so soon as there is discovered a
better way of performing this work the machine
is thrown to the scrap heap because it
cannot be adjusted to new requirements.
_Experience which renders human activity
machine-like is a form of experience that increases
the probability that the possessor will be
discarded and his work accomplished by the
introduction of some new tool or some new
method of work_.
Experience therefore which merely increases
the skill of action without increasing the width
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of horizon is necessary, but it is inadequate.
In addition to skill in routine work the man
should secure the broader experience that will
enable him to adjust himself to changed conditions
in his occupation and that will develop
the judgment necessary to enable him to
adjust his vocation to new demands. Every
form of occupation has many possibilities, a
few of which are from time to time discovered
to be significant. Advance in any sphere of
work depends upon the discovery of these
possibilities which the untrained eye of
inexperience does not detect. Although a broad
experience may enable the man to grasp the
possibilities of his occupation, it fails to secure
skill in the particulars that have already been
found to be important. While a broad experience
leaves a man incapable of present
competition, the narrow experience jeopardizes
his future.
The most valuable experience is therefore
one that equips the man to compete with the
skillful in the present and to comprehend his
task so that he may from time to time adjust
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it to new relationships. It emphasizes the
formation of necessary habits, but does not
neglect the development of the judgment.
Such an experience is both intensive and
extensive; informal and formal; mechanical
and theoretical; practical and scientific. Such
experience alone meets the demands of the
increasing complexity of industrial and commercial
life.
HOW MAY THE MOST VALUABLE EXPERIENCE
BE SECURED AND UTILIZED
_I. Haphazard Experience_
But little attention is given to providing
those experiences that most adequately prepare
one for commercial and industrial life.
The boy who is to become a skilled workman
is compelled to ``pick up'' his experience as
best he can. The same is true of the boy who
aspires to a position as salesman, banker, or
manufacturer. Every employer seeks only
experienced men, and but few places are available
where such experience can be economically
and honorably secured.
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The youth without experience, desiring to
become a skilled machinist, may secure some
experience with machinery in a second-rate
factory during the rush season. Because of
his incapacity, he is laid off as soon as the rush
is over. Thereupon he applies as an experienced
machinist in a better shop. If he is
lucky, he may secure a position. If the supervision
is inadequate, or the demand for labor
unusual, he may retain his position for several
hours, or days, or even weeks. After years
of such distressing experiences, the youth succeeds
in ``stealing his trade.'' In the meantime
he has been an economic loss to his many
employers, and his experience may have depraved
his character.
The condition found in the industrial world
is no worse than that in the commercial world.
The selling force is recuperated by green hands.
In most selling organizations no instruction is
given and no experience provided except what
is picked up haphazard behind the counter or
on the road. Most new men fail, are dismissed,
employed by another firm and dis-
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missed again, etc. We have here nothing but
a struggle for existence and the survival of the
fittest in a crude and destructive form.
The burnt child avoids the fire, and his
experience is most effective. However, the
wise parent arranges conditions so that the
burn shall not be too serious. The machinist
who ``steals'' his trade profits greatly by his
mistakes, and the new salesman never forgets
some of his most flagrant errors. Such experiences
are practical, lasting, effective, but
uneconomical. But such experiences are of
necessity unsystematic and inadequate to
modern industrial and commercial demands.
_II. Apprenticeship Experience_
The waste in the Haphazard method of
securing experience in the industrial world
has long been apparent and has led to attempts
to provide systems of apprenticeships which
would enable the youth to secure educative
experiences with a minimum of cost to himself
and his employer.
In theory the youth who becomes an ap-
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prentice is bound or indentured to serve his
master for a period of years. During that
time the master agrees to see to it that the
apprentice practices and becomes proficient in
performing all the processes of the trade.
The employer (master) is rewarded in that
he secures the continuous service of the boy
for the period of years upon the payment of
little or no wages. Furthermore the apprentice
when developed into a journeyman is
likely to become a valuable employee. The
apprentice is rewarded for his years of service
by the practical experience which he has been
permitted to secure in actual work with all the
various processes involved in the trade.
Although the apprenticeship system has
many excellent points, it has been found
inadequate to meet the needs of modern commercial
and industrial institutions. At least
in its primitive form it is decadent in every
industry which has been modernized. All
forms of commerce and industry have become
so complicated and each part demands such
perfection of skill that an apprentice can
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scarcely secure sufficient experience in even
the essentials of the trade to render him expert
in these various processes. In short, the
traditional apprenticeship system is unable to
give either the general comprehension of the
industry or the skill in the specialized processes.
_III. Theoretical-practical Experience_
In contrast with the two methods discussed
above (Haphazard Experience and
Apprenticeship Experience) schools must be
considered as a method of providing experiences
preparatory to industrial life. The first
two methods secure skill, but the schools secure
learning. The first two might be said to
educate the hands and the latter the head.
The comparative advantages of these contrasted
systems is the theme of unceasing
debate. The man skilled in one thing can at
least do that one thing well. The man who is
learned but not skilled in any activity of his
chosen occupation is unable to compete with
the boys who at the expense of schooling,
``went to work'' in that particular occupation.
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An advanced general school education has
very distinct advantages. But skill in reading
Latin does not greatly increase one's ability
to read instruments of precision. Skill in
applying mathematical formul<ae> will not greatly
assist in estimating the value of merchandise.
A knowledge of general psychology will not
insure ability in selecting employees. Even
great proficiency in discoursing upon ethical
theories does not protect one from the temptation
to be dishonest in business.
Skill in one thing does not insure skill in
other and even in similar things. Learning
in one field is not incompatible with gross
ignorance in other and related fields. We
have discovered that skill and learning are
largely specialized, and accordingly we see the
necessity of acquiring skill and learning in the
particular fields in which the skill and learning
are desired. To meet these demands
various modifications in our schools have been
made. To meet the needs of training for the
industries we have the manual training schools,
industrial schools, trade schools, continuation
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schools, correspondence schools, night schools,
technological schools, etc. To provide the
appropriate experiences for commercial life
we have commercial schools, business colleges,
store schools, schools of commerce, etc.
These schools have rendered invaluable
service and are rapidly increasing in number,
yet they do not provide either the skill or the
learning which should be possessed by the
employee.
_IV. Practical-theoretical Experience_
The weakness of the Haphazard and Apprenticeship
methods of securing experience
is twofold: (1) They cease too early. So soon
as the man really enters into his occupation his
education ceases. (2) They are too narrow,
they fail to provide experiences that give proper
perspective; they do not give adequate
theoretical comprehension of the work being
accomplished from day to day; they do not
develop the judgment.
The weakness with the Theoretical-practical
method of providing experience resembles
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the weakness of the Haphazard and the Apprenticeship
methods in that it ceases too
early. It ceases _*before_ the individual begins
his life work. It may have the special weakness
of not being closely organized with the
vocation for which it is assumed to be a preparation,
hence of being impracticable.
The Practical-theoretical form of providing
experience is based on two assumptions: The
first assumption is that the practical and the
theoretical should be equally emphasized;
that they should be closely organized; and
that the theory should be deduced from the
practice. The second assumption is that the
educative processes should continue so long
as the man is engaged in his occupation.
A concrete illustration will make clear the
difference between the four different methods of
acquiring experience as given above.
During the present summer vacation I have
been spending a few weeks in a boarding house.
Some previous boarder had bequeathed to the
house an intricate Chinese block puzzle.
During this summer one lad in the house spent
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eight hours in solving the puzzle. He worked
by the Haphazard method, trying blindly, till
he just happened to get it right. The next
attempt did not take so long, but it was many
days before he could solve the problem rapidly.
As soon as the lad had learned to solve the
puzzle, my son watched him solve it many
times, and kept trying to do it as he saw it
done. My son learned to solve the puzzle in
perhaps two hours by thus watching another
and then trying it himself. He was employing
the Apprenticeship method, and his education
was accomplished in one fourth the time required
by the Haphazard method.
In the boarding house was an expert mechanical
engineer. He took up the task of
solving the problem and was most scientific
in his procedure. He figured out the principles
that he thought might be involved,
tried them, and immediately abandoned methods
that proved unsuccessful. He was able
to solve the puzzle in a half hour. Later trials
were all successful and rapid. He knew just
how he had solved the puzzle, and therefore
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did not have to experiment or take chances on
later trials. This engineer employed the
Theoretical-practical method of learning.
The engineer volunteered to instruct me in
the problem. I took up the blocks and began
trying to unite them. As one difficulty after
another arose, I was given instruction in the
principle for overcoming it. No principle
was presented to me till I had faced a situation
demanding that particular principle. The
practice and the theory went together, and so
far as the instruction was concerned the practice
preceded the theory step by step. I was
therefore employing the Practical-theoretical
method. As a result I was enabled to solve
the problem in fifteen minutes. Furthermore
I knew just how I had done it and could do it
again and could apply the same principles
to other puzzles.
A comparison of these results is most instructive.
The lad who went at it blindly by
the Haphazard method required eight hours
and even then did not analyze out the principles
that would help him solve later prob-
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lems. My son, who employed the Apprenticeship
method, accomplished his task in two
hours but discovered no principles. His work
was blindly mechanical. The engineer worked
according to the Theoretical-practical method,
completed his task in thirty minutes, and understood
perfectly what he had done. By employing
the Practical-theoretical method I was
enabled to accomplish the task in fifteen
minutes and to understand also how it was
done.
Whether I have in mind my own development
or that of my employees, if I am seeking
to utilize the Practical-theoretical method of
capitalizing experience, I am confronted with
two problems: (1) How shall I secure or
provide the requisite practical experiences?
(2) How shall I secure or provide the appropriate
theoretical interpretation of such experiences?
During recent years in the educational,
industrial, and commercial world serious attempts
have been made to answer these two
questions, and the results are most significant.
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The College of Engineering of the University
of Cincinnati believes that it has solved
the problem for certain fields of activity by
``co<o:>perative courses.'' In these courses the
students spend one week in some manufacturing
plant and the next week in the college.
This weekly alternation of practical and theoretical
is kept up for six years. The number
of students in the college and the number of
workers in the manufacturing plant is kept
constant by dividing each group of students
into two sections which alternate with each
other, so that when one section is at the college
the other is at the shop. The college teaches
the principles that are necessary for understanding
and solving the problems arising
from week to week in the shop. As the Dean
of the college expresses it, ``It aims to teach
the theory underlying the work, to teach the
intent of the work, to give such cultural subjects
as will tend to make him a more intelligent
civic unit.'' It is thought that such
co<o:>perative courses could be arranged by
schools of different ranks of advancement and
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that the students could spend their alternate
weeks in almost any class of industrial or commercial
institution of importance.
One of the most conspicuous attempts to
provide Practical-theoretical experiences of an
educative sort is that of the General Electric
Company of West Lynn, Massachusetts. This
institution has provided a corps of instructors
and rooms devoted exclusively to instruction
within the plant itself. The theoretical instruction
is assumed to be perfectly co<o:>rdinated
with the practical. In fact the young
apprentice spends much of his time almost
daily in constructing commercial articles and
under the same conditions that will confront
him in later years. His theoretical instruction
is thus planned to help him to accomplish
his practical task more quickly, perfectly, and
with more perfect understanding. The training
is so broad that the graduate is prepared to
become an industrial foreman in any mechanical
establishment.
The John Wanamaker Commercial Institute
of Philadelphia is a school conducted
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within the store and for the benefit of the
employees of the store. In this school theoretical
instruction is given that is designed to
give the principles underlying commercial
life. The results are said to be most gratifying
both to the employer and the employees.
The Practical-theoretical form of education
is not limited to the apprentice or to the new
employee but is equally valuable to the expert,
the oldest employees, and the employer.
This fact is taken advantage of most wisely
by the National Cash Register Company.
This company provides instruction suited to
the needs of all its salesmen, whether they are
new and inexperienced or whether they are the
oldest, most efficient salesmen. By means of
letters, books, demonstrations, and conventions
the salesmen are constantly provided with
educative experiences and are kept from the
narrowness and lack of progress so characteristic
of men in the commercial life after they
have become thoroughly established and relatively
efficient in their work.
In keeping with this modern tendency to
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supplement practical experience with theoretical
interpretation, we find a very pronounced
increase in the utilization of all agencies that
interpret and enrich the daily toil. Men who
are fully employed (_e.g_. journeymen and salesmen)
have realized the necessity of some form
of theoretical instruction to enable them to
profit by their daily practical experience.
This fact is almost pathetically demonstrated
by the multitudes who are seeking for such
instruction through correspondence and evening
schools. Every progressive engineer,
teacher, physician, and lawyer keeps abreast
of the best thought of the day by means of
frequent conventions, conferences, books, and
periodicals. The experience secured from such
agencies is essential to progress; only by such
agencies can he learn the latest and most perfect
interpretation of the experience of his
professional life. Likewise the non-professional
man engaged in commerce or industry
finds the modern world to be so complex that
mere practical experience is no longer adequate
to enable him to meet the demands made
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upon him. The theoretical training of his
youth (even though it include the college and
the technical school) is totally inadequate to
interpret for him the new relationships which
arise from day to day. He needs a theory
that grows out of his practical experience and
that enables him to understand and to improve
upon his practical work. The most common
means for providing him with such experience
he finds in his conventions and informal conferences
with his peers and in his trade
journals and technical books.
There is no warfare between theory and
practice. The most valuable experience demands
both, and the methods of procuring
the most valuable experience in business and
industry demand that the theory should supplement
the practice and not precede it.
The environment most conducive to securing
and utilizing the most valuable experience is
in the work-a-day world. But this is the very
environment in which men become engulfed
in the practical and neglect the theoretical.
To the extent to which men thus neglect the
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theoretical do they lower themselves and class
themselves with mere machines, and so hasten
the day when they shall be discarded. Whether
we be apprentices or experts, employees or
employers, we are all in a similar condition.
In every case advance is dependent upon
the proper utilization of practical and theoretical
experiences--upon the practical experience
which is adequately interpreted.