St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1896-01-19
EDUCATION IN BUSINESS.

EDUCATION IN BUSINESS.
From everywhere comes the COM
plant that our system of school ed
ucation, with all it's merits, fails tc
edge that is required not only in the
transactions of business, but in the
initiatOry beginnings of a business
career entered by the boy or the girl
fresh from the schools. While this is
the general tenor of fault-ffnding there
has not, that we are aware of, been
any effort made to provide the needed
education, save as the private business
tainly none Of the business bodies,
those concerned in getting competent
assistance, have taken any effective
action. Men Of trade take the raw
youth and break him in," annoyed
by his ignorance and wasting time
and money in supplying that with
which the boy should have come
equipped.
OOlllSllliIS may We lIJln the
way other peoples have met and over
ccme or lessened this difficulty. A very
Interesting thing, in this connection, is
the address, published in the official
organ of the London chamber of COM
merce, Of Sir Albert Rollit on the oc-
eas;on of the distribution by Princess
Louise of the prizes awarded to the
students who had passed examinations
cation scheme of that body. The
chambers attention was directed some
years ago to two facts, first, that 35
per cent Of the employees in the bust
ond, that England was losing trade in
many foreign countries. Inquiring into
the causes, they found that there was
a want, among their own educated
youth, Of an adequate knowledge of
foreign languages. A minor cause was
a want of familiarity with the metric
system of weights and measures, gen
orally adopted outside Of England and
the United States. Another was a lack
of knowledge of the advances made in
the sciences where trade and products
were affected
The chamber at once began the con-
sideration of plans for remedying these
defects. They established prizes to be
awarded for proficiency in the topics
included in the examinations they pre-
scribed. They found the English
youth and school systems at first inert
and difficult to divert from customary
methods and studies. But they perse-
vered. They conferred with the head
masters of the schools They i'm
sity of charging their curriculum They
recalled how, in the sixteenth century.
Gfesham's college had $4,000 studenes
learning lessons in business and COM
merce, 4 fact on which Englands great
foreign trade was based. Their eff
forts succeeded. Endowments estab-
Hshed annual prizes The examina-
lions We're made practical, covering
L
established, the junior and senior; the
former dealing with the fundamentals
of a business education, the latter with
higher special subjects related to COM
merce and trade. Foreign languages
are taught so as to give collouuia]
proficiency.
Since 1880, 513 candidates have stood
for the Commercial Certificates" al
the chamber, and 276 have received
them. These graduates have found
places and promotion readily. The Ger.
tificate was recommendation. an evi.
dence of proficiency. The other cham.
bers of commerce in the kingdom ano
some in the colonies have followed the
example, and are giving young men g
practical training in business methods
The Marquis of Lorne responded TO,
Princess Louise and DIV cit on the nee6
of the work being done "It is re.
markable," he said, Ito find how Ions
our youth had been allowed to fight
with the bows and arrows of a classica
education, instead of being provided
with the repeating rife of modern
science and modern languages. Those
who had received classical educa tior
and been obliged to go out into bust
ness were frequently ignorant Of com
merclal terms or languag e-ignorant Of
the b c, and not only of the tech.
nical expressions" He was always
sorry, he said, fer the undergraduate
who was asked what discount" meant
and replied that it was title of foreign
nobility.
Is there not here matter for our owr
commercial bodies, the chambers 81
commerce and the commercial clubs
TO consider, inquire into and act on: