Evening star., 1918-02-17
4HATTSBURG" FOR
BUILDERS Of SHIPS
First School of Kind Now Un-
der Way at Newport
News.
HTEAcHING" IS TAUGHT
ny JAMES II. COLLINS.


BY JAMES II. COLLINS.
well, what can we do for your
asked the gray-haired shipyard super
intendent- He was distinctly reserved
and skeptical about this young man
from Washington.
..It's the other way about" said the
young man from Washington I have
been sent here to see what I can do
toward helping you get more men, ana
help them do more work.
"How much experience have you had
in shipyards?" asked the superinten-
dent.
"About fve minutes now" was the
candid reply from the young man from
Washington. 'sThis is the first shipyard
Z ever visited"
the superintendent, testify. W nat 40
you think you can teach me about ship
buildingc"
Not a single thing" admitted the
young man from Washington. was
sent here to help you teach other men
what you know about It
The veteran shipyard mans manner
changed instantly.
well. now, that IS sometnlng amer.
ent." he said Come right in and sit
down and tell me about it, If you can
do that you will be mighty heipIui
around here"
School at Newport News
And thus the first step was taken
some months ago in securing pupils for
one of the most interesting soca.ona.
schools in this country-the instructor
training center of the Emergency Fieet
Corporation at Newport News. Va:
This school is known as the SHIP
builders Plattsburg." 1t is operated py
Uncle Sam in big shipyard where the
din of chipping and riveting is heard
twenty-four hours a day. 1t undertakes
to teach only one thing-teachlng-
Most Industrial training schools teaen
trades, and many persons still thlnk
that this school teaches shipbuilding.
But if you were to apply for its course
of instruction you must be compe
tent Shipyard worker to be admitted,
and the more you already know about
sh;nbuilding the better Its students
range all the way from rlveting fore
men to shipyard superintendents, ana
from the practical man VINO cannot
read to the vice president ana s.ock-
holder in a shipbuilding corporation.
This school is part of the vast detal
orga nization which we have found nee
essary to build up before we can oullo
ships to win the war Before we were
b,rild shipyards and man them. 1t was
discovered that shipbuilding had be-
Come almost disappearing INDUSTRY
compared with other American inous-
fyies and that the number of men ca
pable of teaching shipbui1ding trades to
other men, for the purpeseaef mpi-
plying our ship workers by many ths
sands. was limited. How were We 70
tackle this job under the pressure OF
war the destruction of German suoma-
rines, and the urging of speed. speed,
and still more speed by Congress and
the American people? That question
was quietly answered by the Emer-
gency Fleet Corporation experts.
Teacher From New England.
CD in New England there was a voca-
tional Instructor who had never stepped
into a shipyard in his life. But he was
4 teacher, trained in the arrangement
of technical knowledge SO it could be
most clearly and quickly laid before
others. Summoned to Washington, he
drew up plan demonstrating that our
new shipbuilding industry needed the
teacher even more urgently than the
workman just now. So he was prompt
1y put to work in the industrial train
ing section. and within Few weeks
assembled at Newport News his first
class. made up Of fifty pupils sent from
shipyards up and down the Atlantic
coast.
rev OF tnem came WlllluSly-STOWn
men do not like to go to school any
more than boys. All came with a GER
tain skepticism. saying, in effect. well.
here I am, but you have certainly got
to show me-"
The first lesson in this school is one
of analysis. The instructors are ex-
tremeiy careful not to tell any of their
pupils anything about shipbuilding. for
what the practical shipyard man him
self knows is to be made the basis of
obstruction. Some of them are experts
IN cutting, fitting and riveting plates
onto steel ships. others in drilling and
roaming. others in chipping and calk-
ing and still others in carpenter work
on both steel and wooden ships. Most
of them are steel-ship men, and, as
something like 200 different trades
and crafts must be enlisted to build a
modern steel ship. the instruction is as
diversified as it is interesting and prac-
tical
First School of Its Kind.
This is the first time in the history of
American industry. it is said. that
skilled mechanical workers have been
sent to school to be instructed as teach
ers in their own trades. 1t is also the