Weekly Watertown leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1908-1909, 1908-12-25
UNIVERSITY
TEACHES TRADES
University Extension Offers Substi-
tutes for the Old Apprentice
ship System.

Until a generation ago the young
men who were trying to learn trades
were apprenticed to men who had be
come successful in the calling. and
were given definite instructions by
these men in return for their work.
During the last few years the system
of apprenticeship has been abandoned
and the results have been disastrous
in many ways. Young men have often
gone into shops and commenced work
at machines and have remained at
these machines until they became
merely automatonS, and were beyond
the age when they could learn new
lines OF work easily. There has been
a constant complaint on the part of
manufacturers that they could obtain
plenty of unskilled, cheap labor, but
found it difficult to obtain as much
skilled labor as they needed.
When it has been necessary in many
great shops to secure fOremen. the en-
blowers have had to go to other shops,
or to technical schools for help. This
has made the workmen dissatisfied,
and in many cases they have felt that
their employers were not interested in
their welfare, when in reality the en-
ployers would have been glad to pro
mote men from the ranks of their
employees if they could have afforded
to do so.
Practical Instruction Given.
Under the system established and
maintained by the University of Wis
consin through its Extension Division
10, Wv I'm I,
structorS who not only have the tech
meal knowledge, but who have also
had practical experience in shop work
and know the conditions, and who have
developed ability as teachers. When
one of these instructors goes to visit
a class in a large shop he spends a
half day in the plant. He goes from
one student to another and watches
his work and gives him suggestions
which will make him a better work
man. When he finds that young man
has learned all he can at one machine
or at one line Of work he goes to the
office and suggests to the employer
| that two men who have each acquired
| all they can at the machines or work
| which they are doing shall exchange
work. When he finds a young man
| who gives evidence of some of the
| qualities of leadership he suggests tC
| the employer that they give him a
| somewhat more responsible position.
| He also aids the young men by loan
| ing them books and journals for col
| lateral reading, and does all in his
| power to stimulate ambition, and to
| show them that by wider education
! they can secure better opportunities,
| This personal contact of a strong man
| with the students as individuals, and
| in their classes, aided by the stimulus
| given by their class room work III
| spires an altogether different attitude
| toward their studies from that shown
| by the isolated student of the ordinary
| correspondence schools. The best evi-
| dence of the value of this work is
| given by the enthusiasm of the stu
| dents and employers.
Valuable Bulletins Published.
Among the methods used by the Uni
versity Extension Division of the Uni
versity of Wisconsin to disseminate
| valuable information among the people
| in all parts of the state, is the publ
! cation of bulletins, monographs, and
| circulars upon subjects Of great prac-
! teal value which have been investi-
gated by the members of the faculty,
| or by the various departments OF the
! general government, or the state gov
eminent, or even by foreign govern
ments. The information gathered
| from all or any of these sources by
| the University of Wisconsin is care
| fully summarized in compact and
| popular form and published in a bul.e-
| tin for free distribution among the PEG,
! pie to whom it will be helpful.
Comparatively few of these bulletins
| have yet been published, but a large
number are in process of preparation.
| Something of the range of knowledge
which these bulletins will cover is
| shown in the titles of those already
| issued: Debating Societies Organiza-
! ton, Procedure; Prevention and Cure
| of Tuberculosis; Frosts in Wisconsin,
! Occurrence, Prediction, Methods of
| Protecting Crops; Method of Resusci-
| tating People Partially Drowned, or
! Suffering from Electric Shocks; Meth
DDS of Protecting Trees Against Bfs-
| eases; The Fireless Cooker.
| This method of disseminating infOr-
nation is used IN connection with the
! lectures on practical subjects which
are given by University professors in
| various parts Of the state. For in
stance when a lecture is given upon
| tuberculosis, and the means Of prevent
| ing and curing 1t, a very practical
| brief circular is put into the hands of
each one who attends, which states
! briefly the rules and methods which
| should be followed by person who is
| healthy or wishes to guard against in
| lection, the rules of conduct for one
who already has the disease, and for
members of families and communities
| in which tuberculosis patients are re
| siding