Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-06-30
EDUCATING BOYS
FOR BUSINESS LIFE
Growing Popularity of the CONNER
cial Courses in the High Schools
Because of Demand for Youths
With Training.
By DOROTHY COLBY

j. the local commencements OF this month
| is the fact that almost one-third OF the high
school graduates of Philadelphia are pre-
pared to enter the business world after So
curing diplomas in the commercial course.
For years this percentage of students taking
advantage of the training offered in bust
ness subjects has been steadily increasing,
and the forecast for the fall shows that fully
so per cent. Of the pupils entering the high
schools will be enrolled in the commercial
course.
"a practical educatlon"-that is the watch
word now. For many generations the chosen
few have been put through a time-honored
course in Latin, Greek and mathematics,
the studies absolutely essential to the maxi
Ing Of cultured" individual, and those
who did not have time for IL went to work
instead of to school, It was the preroga-
tive Of the gentleman, not Of the masses, to
be educated. Even now most OF the colleges
and universities refuse to admit candidates
without a certain amount of preparation in
those subjects AS result but small pro-
portion OF those entering the grammar
schools ever graduate, a still smaller num-
ber ever enter the high schools. and but
comparatively few Of boys and girls get be-
yond that point.
A growing sense Of dissatisfaction with the
public school system, excellent as II is, has
led to remarkable change in tho character
of the courses Of study offered. How many
of us realize the breadth and extent and the
far-reaching results of these changes? They
have been made chiefly within the last dec
ade in response to q growing demand, and
the eagerness with which parents and chill
dren have seized these opportunities proves
their necessity beyond doubt.
Education to Fit the Individual
There are still many who deplore the hor-
ror of "commerciallsm" in education These
individuals hold the old classic ideal-that
education and culture necessarily mean
study of the Greek and Roman classics, plus
mathematics, and some literature that has
stood the test of time. That a person may
be totally untitled by nature either to study
or to make use of these studies in later life
matters little. So much the worse for you,
they imply. IL you aren't born rich enough to
go through college. The masses may go to
work or seek private schools which it is to
be hoped they can pay for.
This was the old attitude toward educa-
ton. The new idea is to make education
fit the Individual, not the individual fit the
education. Many are the opportunities now
offered in the public schools for those who
want special training to At them for their
life's work. Chief of these in the girls
schools is the commercial course, which fits
a girl to be stenographer. boolSkeeper,
typist clerk or private secretary
That there was crying need for such a
course of study is proved by the fact that
the number choosing 1t has steadily in
creased. To take one school as typical OF
what is happening in all schools 1t is inter-
IN ba wi hri Of az
The school here selected had enrolled In
May, 1913, 99S pupils of whom 262, or almost
one-third, were taking the commercial course
The proportion rose slightly in September of
the same year, and in January, 1914, III out
of a total of 1889 were registered CONNER
clal, or over half the pupils OF the school.
The same proportion holds at the present
time and for the class which is to enter in
September, 1916 And yet many say we
should not give the vocational training In
our public schools,
People Get What They Pay For
These figures prove that the fight, so nobly
championed by Miss Emily L. Graham, for
merly of the old Commercial High School for
Girls, at Broad and Spring Garden streets,
for practical studies in all Philadelphia high
schools, was great one for the children OF
Philadelphia's taxpayers. They no longer
pay for higher education of which they
cannot take advantage. The opponents of a
thoroughly democratic form of education
must see clearly that whether they approve
or not it is welcomed by the citizens OF the
community.
Nor are those who receive the education
the only ones who beneht directly by the
change. Business men all over the city ap-
preciate the superior qualifications OF the
high school graduate. who has not only a
more complete and well-rounded business
training but who has also much better
general education than the usual applicant
who presents herself at his office door. In
deed. he often finds an inexperienced high
| school graduate more able and ht to do his
work than many stenographer OF so-called
"experience" Moreover. he need not feel.
as is so often the case. that he is paying
for the training OF his stenographer, be-
cause she is already trained before he en-
| cages her.
So we see that education may indeed meet
the needs OF the people Boys are ftted for
the trades and professions with manual
training and shop work. and girls for the
| trades suited to them. including even such
| practical things as dressmaking and milli-
merry and household management Every
/ parent should now realize that his child can
secure a practical and useful as well as a
cultural education in the eity's public schools;
that by the study OF Philadelphia govern
ment and industries and community elyies
ne win probably be iner and better citizen
later in life more intelligent, perhaps. and
alive 70 the interests OF the community he
lives in, and better able TO make a success OF
his life than many boy or girl trained In
the old style Above all It should make
him realize also the unguessed possibilities
OF truly great ana democratic education