Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1916-11-02
lovvA's SCHOOLS
AND INDUSTRIES.
BY K. G. Smith.

The following address was de-
llivered Friday at the Iowa Fed
Grated Woman's club session:
Last year I spoke before this
district meeting on the general
subject Of vocational Educa-
tion. What l have to say this
morning is really continuation
|of what said at that time with
Ia few new ideas, due to more re-
cent developments.
1t is clear that the problem in
Iowa is not that of the congested
industrial center in which there.
are hundreds and thousands of.
workers in skilled and unskilled
trades, eager for specialized
training. We must recognize the
fact that Iowa is pre-eminently
agricultural, second commercial,
land third industrial. The bureau
OF industrial statistics shows ap-
proximately 10000 wage earners
lefnployed in the entire state of
Iowa. Compare this with 1872, 900
employed in the one city of Mil
waukee alone, and with a 900 in
the two cities of st. Paul and
Minneapolis. The Investigation
of Mrs. Anna L. Burdick Of Des
Moines has shown that the num-
ber of boys and girls under six
teen years of age employed in
industry is very small. Under the
present law no boy or girl under
sixteen can leave school and go
| to work without a permit. Mrs.
Burdicw, who is an authority on
this subject, says that the crying
need in Iowa today is the enforce
ment of this law and the provision
of some means of following up
the children who go to work at
this early age.
Should a law be passed com
Ipelling these IA to 16-year-olds
to attend special classes for one
half day per week and be paid
| for this time at regular rates it
would no doubt result in many
cases in preventing the child
from working before the age of
sixteen, in which case he should
be in school doing pre-vocational
or vocational work.
1t is my own opinion that sep
arate and specialized trade
schools are not advisable at the
present stage OF our industrial
development. I do believe that
more stress ought to be. laid on
providing instruction for boys
and girls and men and women in
Industry by means of the evening
school, the special shop and
Istore school, and the technical
Ishort course. l believe, also, that
where schools are situated in
manufacturing and commercial
lcenters some provision should be
made for pre-vocational work i'll
1.-The seventh, eighth and ninth
grades, now commonly known as
1.-THE junior high school, for the
Especial benefit of those who do
mot expect to continue through
thigh school and college The
work in the senior high school
or the tenth, eleventh and twelfth
grades, should be more strictly
Vocational for those who are not
pi eparing for college work and
Include some definite studies III
Vocational guidance. This work
should be handled by an expan-
sion of our present departments
of manual arts.
In order to make this work sue
cessful there should be closer
co-operation than now exists be-
tween labor organizations, en-
ployers and schools. In some
cities, notably in Sioux City, tho
relation between employers and
the schools is q close one. Such
q relation provides q definite out
ilet for high school trained pu-
lils who do not expect 70 continue
with . college course. The re-
IlAtiea tsswssn labor oresnisa-