Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1914-12-07
RICHMOND BEHIND
OTHER CITIES IN
SCHOOL SUPPORT

Sttt6ai SiIiIS ibN
SCHOOL SUPPORT
Continued From First Page.)
city's yourg people shows that they
are engaged In the most varied sorts
OF work, ranging from actor to agent.
machinist to messenger, stenographer
to milllner. and blacksmith to boot
black. The study further shows that
a few occupations engage n large por
ton OF the young people. while the re-
mainder are scattered through a great
variety of different sorts OF work.
Facts rs to occupations were gath
cred from many hundred young men
and women less than twenty-one years
of age and at work. This study
showed that more than one-thlrd OF all
tho white young men are engaged as
clerks or statesmen. while the rest are
at work In great variety of indus
trial and mercantile occupations. OF
each FIVE white young women at work.
one Is steno8rapher one n sales
woman. and one an operative In n to-
bacco factory.
COLoRED OCCUPATIONS
ARE LESS VARIED
The occupations of the colored young
men and women are less varied than
those of the white Two-thirds of the
cciorcd young men are engaged in FIVE
occupations. They are porters team
sters, laborers, messengers and to-
bacco operatives. Similarly four-flfths
OF the coiored young women are en-
gagged In four occupations. They are
servants. laundresses. nurses and to-
bacco operatives.
There are no children under fourteen
years OF age employed in tho printing.
building and metal trades. and there
are comparatively few apprentices In
these trades. More than half of the
workers have received in Richmond
whatever training they have had. and
about three-fourths of them in Vir-
ginia.
Not only Is there relatively very lit
tie moving about from place to. place.
but there is very little shifting about
from occupation to occupation. About
AZ per cent OF the workers In these
trades have been In their present occu-
pations from ak to fifteen years, and
two-thirds have never been In any
ether occupation than their present
one
Practically none of the workers in
these trades became u wage Garner be-
fore the age OF fourteen; about seven
eighths of them began to work after
than one-half entered employment at
ter fifteen and under eighteen years Of
age
PROGRESS IsiPEDED by
LACK OF EDUCATION
Richmond workers come from the
elementary schools. The typical me-
chanic in these trades has had less
than seven years OF schooling, SO per
cent having received not more than
seven years Of any sort OF schooling.
Only six out Of sos had received as
much as eleven years OF schooling.
Much OF this SCHOOL attendance was in
ungraded classes In rural districts.
More than 60 per cent Of these work
ers reported that progress In their
trades Is, or has been. impeded by lack
of education.
The investigators round that the
wages OF Richmonds young people
shows four significant facts. First, the
earnings OF the boys are much larger
than those OF the girls. Second, the
earnings of the whites are larger than
those Of the colored. Third. among
white boys and girls. wages are COM
paratively low up to the age of eish-
teen. and then increase suddenly and
permanently. Fourth, among the col
ored boys and girls. earnings show but
slight increase with advancing age.
and this is especially true among the
girls.
All OF these findings. the report
holds. have important bearings on the
problems OF industrial education. They
emph al size the need of more and better
training for work. The fact that the
wages OF the young people are low up
to the age of eighteen, and that they
then increase rapidly, 1t Is pointed out,
indicates that in general employers
are unwilling to hire immature boys
and girls and that the best invest
ment that boy or girl can make from
fourteen to eighteen is to secure the
training which will enable him or her
to do tho best work and to earn the
largest wages after the age OF ciSh-
teen. 49,
MUST INCREASE AVERAGE
OF COMMON SCHOOLING
The study Of conditions In the schools
showed that the children who are thir-
teen and fourteen years old are scat
tered through the grades from the first
elementary to the third class In the
high school. Boys and girls at these
ages drop out Of school rapidly and
go to work The fact that more than
half Of them are In the sixth grade or
below in the city of Richmond indi-
Gates that many of them may be ex-
pected to leave school soon and go to
work with an educational preparation
so inadequate as to hamper them In
their vocations and seriously to reduce
their value to the community. One of
the most important problems in the
progress OF vocational education in
Richm ond, the investigators point out,
Is the increasing of the amount Of
common schooling secured by the aver
age boy and girl.
In Richmond. the survey reports, as
elsewhere, public education can be
bought and paid for. A perpetual prob
lem of the city is how. many of It's
oh to xI,lIli 70 oil, 20