Lexington gazette. [volume] (Lexington, Va.) 1871-1962, 1910-06-22

The Methods That Are Used In
the Schools of Germany.
CLASS ROOMS AS OFFICES.
The Pupils Are Divided Into Firms
That Garry on an Imaginary Trade
With Each Other-The Course From
Office 30, to Director.

No one will deny the fact that Ger
mans are among the kecneSt business
men in the world. And undoubtedly
one of the So reIS Of their succrss lies
III the fast that in German schools
boys are taught the practical details
Of business The writer recently re
turned from Hamburg after a years
course of education. and an outline of
the system of training boys in business
may be interesting
Ca my first days attendance | was
handed time table on which appear
ii. set out in formidable array, such
subjects AZ commercial correspond
ence. laws If bills of exchange. cur
rency. political economy and CONNER
cial law. none of which at the time
conveyed much 10 me and raised seri
Gus doubts In uy mind as TO whether
| should To- allie, Ia understand and ap-
preciate lat appeared to be most
abStruSc subjects
At . a. ~. S'sarp on the following day
the course bcgau. prefaced by cou-
pie of hours hard study. for the Ger
mans IRE giuttonS to work and think
nothing Of - twelve hour day. The
first course WAS called business train
ing" We worked in two spacious
rooms furnished as offices, each room
representing "A different business house.
These two firms carried on an imagi-
nary trade with each other, and the
routine adhered to was modelled exact
ly on the lines of first class business
establishment.
Each firm had director, and these
two were the most eminent students in
the academy. They had subject to
their management and control a COM
plete staff Of correspondents. short
hand writer's. typists. bookkeepers, etc
The whole was supervised by n mas
ter. TO whom reference was made in
case OF dispute or difficulty
On making my appearance / was in
formed that my services were I'm re
quest as an office boy. | was some
what taken back. not to say a little
Inundated. by the lowly position as
signed TO me. and gave the master 10
understand that | considered I was
qualified to occupy much better post
than that which he had chosen for me
He did not seem in the least perturbed
by my remarks. but said: "iou have
already made a mistake--a mistake OF
diplomacy. one OF the great maxins
Of business as taught here is to do
what you are told to do 1t at once and
do 1t we'll"
With that he handed me a pile of
envelopes and 4 long list Of addresses
and told me TO set to work addressing
I
good grace. the master coming round
from time TO time 10 inspect my work.
For two solid hours plodded on until
II n. m. when the course came to an
end. Then ! took the opportunity OF
going up TO the master again and ask
ing him II he did not really think
had been wasting my time I'm what
had been doing.
Not in the least" said he "In
everything. no matter how simple or
how difficult there Is always n good
deal TO learn II you have paid atten-
ton while you werc working YOU will
have learned something about the ge-
ography OF the German empire. for
each address contains the name of
some important town and province in
which it is situated and the name OF
some firm celebrated for some particu-
lar class OF goods"
This gave me food for reflection. AS
a matter Of fact had not paid the
least attention to what had been
writing; consequently had failed to
derive the benefit which it was the
masters intention should obtain from
what seemed to me nj the outset q
most senSclcSS task. On the following
day ! resolved to follow out the mas
ter's instructions to the letter. and
was surprised to find how interesting
the work became
! continued addressing envelopes for
two hours II day for a whole week. and
the next week received promotion.
| In this way | went through the whole
| routine. from Office boy to director.
and the experience which obtained
| in the various capacities has proved
invaluable TO me in business.
AS director ! had to sign checks. die
tate letters. enter into agreements with
the other firm with reference to the
sale and purchase of goods. keep an
eye on the money market. work out ar
bitrage calculations. draw Up and in
/ dorse bills OF exchange and bills Of
lading, make out periodical statements
OF affairs. allow or dispute amounts
placed to the debit of the firm on ac-
count Of general average losses and
generally supervise everything.
While we were thus drilled in practi-
cal work the theoretical side Of bust
ness was not neglected Lectures were
given at fixed hours. bookkeeping and