The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1921-07-01
ENGINEERING NO
LURE FOR YOUTH
Where Are Our Mechanics to
Come From? Asks the Amer
lean Society.

OHiCdSO.- Wn1cn is to Dlame-tne
BOY or the job? The boy of a few
years back always went through the
engineering stage of his ambitions.
1hat was just before the military ca
reer hit him, and years before he
yearned for the life of the big game
hunter.
The boy of 1921 seems to have
strayed off the track. He displays so
little enthusiasm in the life of the en-
elneer that it's becoming momentous
problem Members of the American
society of Mechanical Engineers are
worried over the question, Where are
our mechanics TO come from?
Apprenticeship no longer appeals to
the youth of today. Trade schools are
all right, but there are not enough of
them.
Inc solution appears to the society
TO be happy medium between the
school and the shOp-some of each, not
all out of books, nor all hard physical
work. When q middle course is per-
fected the engineers believe that the
boys interest in the science will re-
vive
Seventy per cent of the youth of
the United States lack the natural abil-
ity to go through high school, accord
Ing to H. E. Miles of the National As
ISOLATION of Manufacturers.
Mr.. Miles made the statement in q
plea for better cooperation of the in
dustries and the schools. He said that
of the 30 per cent that are able to
graduate from high school less than
half have ability enough to go through
college.
No Real Education
Half of the children of the country
leave school forever without any real
education" he declared. I'VE should
make equal provision for those who
cannot go to college by setting up for
wage earnerS and others in connection
with their employment or otherwise
the equivalent of high school and col
lege education adapted to their circum-
stances.
An authoritative investigation of g.
O45 high schools indicates that only
1000 of those investigated profess to
teach civics and only 1876, less than
per cent of the total, use accredited
texts, and these are used In the third
year of high school, therefore avail
able mostly to students destined for
college. In the remainder of the high
schools, social studies mean talks on
current events with Indifferent mate |
rial as basis"
Mr.. Miles, who has been conducting |
4 survey of the nations educational re-
sources and needs, said that proper op-
portunity for education has been de-
prived 3S,OOO,OOO persons, and that the
intelligence of the nation
stands indicted for that reason. He
praised the former German empire for
It's educational system, and declared
that, despite it's apparent disregard for
society as a whole, it has shown the
way toward real education.
Compulsory Schools.
by a survey of 105 of Germany's
leading industries, 65 per cent of the
men in foremost places in managerial
and technical departments were little
boys who quit school at
fourteen" added Mr. Miller. "They
grew up with the right sort of COM
pulsory continuation schools and later
selectively had special, technical train
Ing with the assistance of their en-
plOyers and otherwise. Most OF the
graduates Of Germany's technical col
Ieges served under the leaders from
work schools and higher vocational
Institutions of which there are prac-
tically none in democratic America"
Future leaders of American indus
try will be recruited from colleges and
linked together by CO.
operative educational system, accord
ing to Prof Dugald G. Jackson OF the
Institute Of Technology,
who supported the theory Of Mr.
Miles.