The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-12-20

cal simply to distinguish the school
work from the actual shop work.
School in Every Shop.
"In each shop of this company, all
the way from the Great Lakes to the
Pacific coast, and down to the Gulf of
set aside, dedicated and known as the
apprentice school room, and in these
schools the boy is required to spend
two hours a day, two days a week,
where he is taught free-hand and me-
chanical drawing, practical shop arith-
metic. the simpler elements of mechan-
les and certain geography and history
relating entirely to the road.
1.-The school rooms are furnished with
drawing tables, blackboards, cabinets,
models, maps and other pharaphernalia
common in an academy or college lee
ture room A technical and practically
educated man presides over these school
rooms, and is known as the apprentice
school instructor His services, as well
as the school room, a set of hrst-class
drawing instruments, drawing table,
stationery, ETC., are furnished the ap-
prentice absolutely free. Furthermore
the apprentice is paid his regular rate
while attending school. The instruction
given the boys while in the apprentice
school room is Individual; boy just
completing his apprenticeship and a
youngster Just starting out may be
no class instruction, and. the boys are
not treated as a class. but each boy is
instructed individually, and as an in
dividual unit.
.'There is no punching of boys to-
gether, rushing the duller and slow boys
over the course, or holding back the
quick, energetic boys, but each boy
progresses Just as fast, just as rapidly
as his ability or capacity will permit
and each individual must be thoroughly
familiar with the work at hand before
he is allowed to proceed to some high
er branch or more difficult work. NO
text books are used, but standard les
son sheets, written and printed in the
office of the supervisor of apprentices
are sent to each of the various schools.
These lessons are simple, and to you
may appear smilingly simple, but they
are prepared with the idea of teaching
and drilling the boy along certain
line giving him what he actually needs
in the trade he is learning, leaving out
all foreign subjects, and trimmed OF all
frills. Each lesson refers to some part
of a locomotive, car, shop tool or some
feature common to railroad work
LAS an illustration, all problems In
fractions are of a denomination found
on a machinist's scale, that is, 54ths'
32ds, Sths, 4ths, etc. Mechanics in rail-
or 13ths of inches. Our drawing les
sons, both mechanical and free-hand,
like the problem sheets, are taken from
some part of an engine or car or shop
tool. We simply desire these boys to
be taught how to draw these parts,
chanical drawing or, blue print We
care nothing about his ability to draw
q tree, a horse, or a wagon. Everything
taught him in school has some direct
bearing on the trade he is learning
to fix his mind and keep it engaged on
A. IL 10 n l.
ing a boy subjects foreign to his trade.
giving him lessons in drawing OF objects
other than those with which he is
familiar and with which he daily comes
in contact, tends to make his mind
wander. and oftentimes makes him dis
satisfied with his vocation.
Apprentice school instructors are
selected with great. care. AS rule,
young men are preferred to older ones
as there is a greater tendency FOR
younger instructors to mix with the
boys and to become part of them,- join
with them in the organizations of their
teams of sport, and really become a
part of their lives; an apprentices boy
feels much freer in talking with young
er apprentice instructors than he does
with older ones. These apprentice school
instructors are young men thoroughly
educated, in college, university and
shop, and are thoroughly familiar with
the standard practices and uSageS OF
the mechanical department.
THE function of the school room and
of the apprentice school instructor is to
teach the boy to use his brains along
with his hands and eyes, to reason out.
and to understand the work of the shop
as he progresses. The apprentices are
required to work in the shop like any
journeyman, but they have the advant-
age of having first class, skilled me-
chanic to instruct and guide them In
the smaller shops there is a man desig-
mated as shop instructor for each de-
partment, or one for each twenty-five
or thirty boys, whose entire time is
devoted to the boys. Any other duties
given him to do must be subservient
to his duties as shop instructor. He
first teaches the boy the various parts
of a machine, and the functions of
each part; he teaches the boy how to
chuck a certain piece of work in the
machine, how to set his cutting tools,