New Britain herald., 1915-05-15
C. '. Sn1ih GiDes In7usfry 5 P0Sifi0n IT Trade Education Says Connecticut Must Furnish Manufacturers Product
 As Capable As That of the German Trade
 Schools-State Educators in Session Here

1 the state fixed upon the subject of trade education.
 The board reasoned that it should have entire charge of these shops in order to protect it from the hostility Of interests opposed to his form of education. This hostility developed bu has been allayed by the boards carefulness in conducting the institu- ton.
 New Britain 10 Have Solution.
 Trade schools have been established in New Haven, continuation schools iTl Hartford, trade schools in Putnam to teach the arts of weaving and allied industries, and applications are now before the board for schools in Man chester, Torrington, and other cities for the establishment of similar schools.
 "New Britain has provided the m ost successful example of trade educa- tion and the state board of educa tion,' said MT. Smith, recognizing what the city has done in t,1e mat mater. has prepared to shut Up the state trade school in New Britain and, so far as it is possible to do so, to transfer it's teachers and equipment to the local authorities.
 "It is to be hoped.' he continued, that what we have done in New Britain will prove, to be the ultimate solution of the trade school question. The system that will be established here next spring will fit the boys and girls for tho ordinary affairs and cn1- ployInents of life"
 MT. Smith summarized the great benefits which German industry has derived from the trade schools which furnish capable men for all branches of industry.
 Stanley H. Holmes, superintendent of New Britafn's schools, presided at the meeting and introduced Mir. Smith and Professor F. F. McNary, direc- tor of vocational education in Spring field, the second speaker of the even ing session.
 Disagfees With Mir. Smith.
 Professor McNary began his talk by disagreeing with MT. Smiths atti-.. tude toward manual training in the schaols. He said he hoped never to see it9 vanish and explained that the aims of trade. education and manual training were different It did not seem to him, however, that any ar. guments were necessary at this period of educational advancement for either manual training or trade education.
 In speaking on the relation of trade training to the public school system, Professor McNary said that the statement was made recently at a school convention that eventually the public schools arc going to have nothing to do with trade training and that these are going to be taken over by employers organizations and labor unions. Either organization, said Professor McNary, had a special i'm terest in the trade training and the thing to be given consideration is the welfare of the boy and the girl. No state, he said, is going to permit the turning over of the boy and girl to any organization having special inter- est..
 Preyocatioslal School First Step.
 The speaker discounted the sugges- tion that the schoolmaster is going to spoil trade education. T don't be- lieve the businessman is worrying very much about that" he said. My difficulty has been in getting manu- faaturers interested in trade educa- tion and see no reason for seperat- ing trade education from the public school system because Of fear of what the school men may do to it.
 His solution of the problem of trade schools and prevocational schools was first to get the prevocational school work under way as an experiment and to develop the trade school after that problem had been solved. "The big problem he said, is not only to train the boys, but to place them in their. trades. It is quite pos sible to establish a big school and not be doing the latter. If we are going to expend the large per capita
 cost, we must show the public that l the boy is able to make use of his training commercially.''
 I The speaker said that New Britain
 is leading the state in trade educa- ton and other school systems are be- ting modelled after the systems estao- l lished here.
 Training by Means of digs. The greater part of Professor Me l Nary's address consisted of a discus sion of the problems he had encount- cred in operating the trade school in i Springfield. Perhaps the most in- l teresting feature of this was the ex- planation of the novel methods used l to give muscular sense training to the boys by mechanical means Stereop- ticon pictures were thrown on screen I to illustrate the different phases ot the methods. The beginners are not started on exercises, as has formerly l been the custom, but are at once set I to work on objects that will have l commercial value. Their motions are made accurate by jigs which guide I their tools
 Community's Industries Taught. I Professor McNary also suggested Ithat trade schools teach the boys how Ito do the work done i'll their own \ city. His suggestion was that the