New-York tribune., 1907-06-25
TRADE SCHOOL PUZZLE
Present Conditions Not FaUOrabJe
to Industrial Training.

Between the c.d-shouldering they receive from
labor unions and the parental tendency in some
ranks Of life TO look child as a financial asset
trade schools have hard TO hoe. according
10 DR. c. p Richards. of Teachers College. DT
Richards spoke on industrial Education" yester-
day morning ct the School of Philanthropy at No.
I05 East Zd street. lie announced himself an op-
timist hut he was constrained to admit that what
with the almost total disappearance of the ap-
prentice system and the paucity Of trade schoois
most boys and girls have to get into a trade by
some other method than by learning it.
There is new manner of Industrial education
just beginning to appear above the surface he
said, that of the shop school in connection with
manufacturing establishments The electric works
Lynn Mass. have one, and there arc several
others scattered through the country, but only
few. and only in large establishments.
The problem Of trade schools IS not educational
but economic The boy or girl who enters one
has give up the wage he she could earn out
side: IL would be a very small one, but very neces-
sary doubtless 10 the family, or else the parents
think it SO That is the chief reason why YOU can
number the trade schools in this country the
fingers Of one hand almost The Manhattan Trade
School for Girls. a pioneer institution, has been
seriously affected by this problem. and has ere
ated number of scholarships meet il. Another
difficulty the schools have TO meet is lack Of recog
milton Of their graduates. The graduate OF the
trade school is neither fish, flesh nor fowl He is
not recognized as a journeyman. and certainly he
The fear Of the labor unions that trade schools
will overstock the labor market is certainly IN
founded.
"A type OF industrial school that is very common
in Europe is the which gives instruction in
various lines connected with trade. as drawing and
designing. a school which provides technical
basis for later work These schools. TOO. are OF
immense help men alTsldy working but who
wish to advance in their trade. For most woIk-
men now have TO enter whatever trade they fol-
low by the side door, as II were. as a helper, or
something like that. They have no chance really
TO learn the trade For such these evening
schools the greatest blessing, and So too. are
correspondence schools
DR. Richards said there ought TO be more man
nal train IN he
than to satisfy the desire OF the children for
self-eXpresson.
In the last report Of the educational commits
sion IN Massachusetts, he said. 1t was stated
that there fifteen thousand children in that
state between the ages of fourteen and sixteen who
ha~ left school but were not IN any industry
There are forty thousand such children il New
York. Now these children, most of them did not
leave school for a pecuniary reason, but because
they were dissatisfied with school, they wanted to
get out into the world and accomplish something.
our hope lies believe in making normal trainIna,
IN public schools practical enough to satisfy the
children's desire for self-eXpression-
Few children leaving school before sixteen find
openings in any skilled trade They go TO work
messenger boys, cash girls in department stores,
things OF that sort: but employers in trades worth
knowing don't want young boys and girls under
sixteen
There is talk Of developing at the end OF the
public school course industrial school to give
the boys and girls two years Of training in some
trade The superintendent Of schools in New York
thinks the idea a good one, but doesn't know by
what means II could be carried out. That's fire.
INeulLy IlS case, ana ll4I why so many good
ideas are never carried out. Something OF that
kind is sadly needed It is needed 10 give men and
who do manual work that deeper
interest IN their work which is all that them
from becoming machines When man spends his
days doing certain thing in factory Il is
very deadening, unless he is able 10 COMPREHEND
the meaning Of the processes of which he is a part
the meaning Of the inventions and machinery by
which he IS surrounded. A thorough manual train
ing would give him this intelligent comprehension"
DR. Richards said It almost impossible for
boy 10 learn any one Of the building trades now
that the apprentice system has gone out IN the
old times the pupils Of the New York Trade School
were taken out TO work buildings but the
school by this incurred the enrnity of the labor
unions-an ennlity that has never died out
A man IN the audience wanted to know if there
were any trade schools Where tuition was free
There's the EiTnira Refornatory" suggested
Dr. Carl Kelsey, Of the University Of PENNSYLVANIA
but the inquirer did not take kindly to the
idea.