River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1904-09-08
EDUCATION FOR WORKERS.
Schools in Germany Which Give
Young Men and Women In
dustrial knowledge.

duStf1al hnOWleuRe.
The department of commerce and Ia
Dor is issuing a series of very interest
ing reports on industrial education IN
Germany. The latest one is from Dep
uty Consul Meyer, at Chemnitz, and
deals with primary Industrial contin-
uation schools. These schools are scat
tered far and wide, and Mr.. Meyer fur
nishes statistics to show that his branch
of education has been quite fully devel-
oped in Germany.
The industrial continuation schools
are the lowest of the industrial schools,
and ''cap the common school education
by giving the young men and women,
who must at once embark upon the task
of earning living, the rudiments OF
practical education" Attendance IN
most cases is compulsory. They teach
no particular trade, but maintain dis
tinctly general curriculums, and are val
liable to those who have not the where
withal to obtain higher Industrial ed
ucation. In describing the schools, Mr..
Meyer says:
"In order to offer the most convenient
time for instruction, these schools are
held largely in the evenings and on Sun
days. Such hours are extremely unfor-
tunate, but apparently unavoidable. The
student comes to his work tired from
the days labor and in a state of physical
and mental lethargy. A movement has
been on foot for some time to transfer
the periods of instruction, so far as pos
sible, to the daytime, but has met only
partial success.
FTn almost all of the industrial con-
tinuation schools the three great sub
jects of instruction are German, arith-
metic and drawing. There are woven in
with these fundamental branches sub
iects that possess value to local industry.
In the larger Industrial schools, which
include all the general industrial schools
of Baden as reorganized in 1868, geom-
etry, trigonometry, algebra, physics,
chemistry, natural science and mechan-
les are taught in elementary form. In
the great majority of schools these sub
iects are, however, omitted as being too
advanced.
"a very prominent feature Of the
work Of these continuation schools is the
giving of exhibitions, which occur in
many parts of the country periodically
every year or half-year. The purpose of
these displays of the work of the school
is two-fold, to incite the students to
greater effort in the competition for
prizes, which are frequently offered, and
to place before the public, and especial
ly before the employers of labor, exhibits
which illustrate the capacity of the stu
dents and the character of work done by
them. In these exhibitions are con-
densed the best results of the instruc-
ton given, and the character of the work
displayed may be accepted as fair cri-
terion by which to judge the efficiency
of the school and the capabilities of the
students. Not only do the students
learn to recognize and appreciate each
others abilities and powers, but the in
terest of the public is enlivened and
strengthened.
ct was in the second half of the last
century that the question of compulsory
or optional attendance at the general in
dustrial continuation schools was raised.
To-day that question seems to have been
answered in favor of compulsion.
''On January 2, 1902, Prussia had 1854
continuation schools, with 203, $50 stu
dents, of which ,095 were industrial con-
tinuation schools.
I'm 1900 Bavaria had 274 industrial
continuation schools, of which 225 were
Independent institutions and 40 were
associated with real schools. The to-
tai attendance was 39,247. Of the 274
schools $50 had compulsory attendance
and "a optional
''Saxony has A Industrial continue
ton schools at present. In 1899 there
were So of these schools, of which "a were
maintained by associations, 10 by local
political and school bodies, by guild,
and 1 by a private person.
I'm 1901 Wurttemberg had 235 industri-
al continuation schools for boys and Is
| for girls The former were attended by
1889 students and the latter by gu.
I'm 1902 Baden had As industrial
schools, with 1852 students, and SO in
dustrial continuation schools