Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-09-07
MILTON r. STAUFFER
On OpportunitIes In Business

THERE have never been more or better
L opportunities in American business for
the Thoroughly trained and capable worker
than at the present time. says Milton r.
Stauffer. dean of the School OF Commerce
at Temple University, nor has the demand
for such trained workers ever been so great.
"The day has passed." said Dean Staufer.
"when the young man can learn the routine
Of business by beginning Mt the bottom ana
working up. He must not only Know tne
commercial methods Of one particular bust
ness, but he should also have an understand
ing of accounting, civics, commercial law,
economies, commerce and transportation,
finance. insurance. merchandising, sociology
and political science. When n young man
knows at least something of these things. as
in which he expects to engage, he Is Wei
fitted to meet the intense competition which
he will find in every line of endeavor today.
Practical Business Helps Also
"But we have found in our own expert
ence that young man is better off at the
close of four years course for having had
some practical work in business. Four years
ago, in our own school, we organized sys-
tenn of the higher courses. giving the high
school graduate the means and opportunity
of obtaining the degree of bachelor Of science
in commerce CB. S. c. by having morning
sessions. We gave the full time curriculum,
beginning, at 8 a. NJ. and closing Mt noon.
'"This meant the doubling of our faculty,
as we could not repeat the course in the
afternoon, nor could we ask those students
who preferred the morning to wait until the
afternoon for certain lecture to be given.
The object of this move was to help the
young man of limited means.
ITO further this We organized an indie
pendent service bureau and made canvass
of the, firms Of the city, and, 80 far as we
were able placed all the young men in posi-
tons where they would have to work only
oft ha a Ind
already found that the trouble was that
where a man had to work all day and 60 to
school in the evenings he never had the time
to prepare his work for the next day.
Value Of Practical Training
But, MS l said, the value of practical
training must not be underestimated. We
got this idea of combining theoretical and
nroctical training from the evening law
classes, In which we have never had single
failure to pass the examination before the
State Board of Examiners, because all the
men get practical training while they are
pursuing their studies.
For some reason there is widespread
sentiment among business men and many Of
the leaders of large business affairs that
the university trained man Is not much good
in business. This may to certain extent
be true of the young man who gets nothing
but theoretical knowledge from his uni
versity training, and it is probably true that
"A large number of the most successful busi-
ness men of the country have not had
university course.
But it Is emphatically not true of the
young man who combines his theoretical
knowledge with some practical experience
in business no matter whether the business
in which he gets this practical training Is
the same as that which he intends to enter
or not This young man is thoroughly pre-
pared for the work which lies ahead of him.
Not Enough Student Workers
i,lo
of successful business man, theoretical
training and practical experience, proved
more successful than we had thought possi-
ble. We have not had nearly Il sufficient
number of students whom we considered
fitted for practical work to fill the demands
which have been made upon the supply by
the firms of the city.
'"There have been n number of changes in
positions caused by the demands Of modern
business development. One Of the most
striking of these is secretarial work. In our
school this Is a four-year course. and we
cannot begin to fill the demand for them
Tbe most of secretary is a development Of
the old stenographic position, and places the
stenographer today on an equality with the
accountant.
also lost In the development of modern busi-
ness conditions, and to hold what was for
merly such a position now a man must be
moi a bookkeeper but an accountant. The
routine stenographer position shows very
strong signs OF being lost In the same man
ner, and she must stand In the same relation
as the accountant by doing less routine work
and be able to assume greater measure Of
responsibility for her employer.
1iThe modern schools of business are also
Hndins that Y Is better to make some i'm