The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-03-19
TRADE SCHOOLS
SCHEME TO CRAB
WORKERS MONEY
Boycotted by Garages
and Electric Shops
by a Worker Correspondent

CHICAGO, Ill. (By MaiD Cap
italist newspapers and magazines
carry a great deal of advertising of
so-called trade schools" all over the
country but the center of these insti-
buttons is Chicago where they flour
ish like mushrooms. Thousands of
ambitious but uniformed men come
here every year, often with all their
savings, and take courses in these
schools" In the great majority of
cases there is only disappointment
and heartbreak at the end of such a
course.
This writer took course at the
Greer College of Auto and Electrical
: Engineering two years ago. For 5000
was promised complete instruction
in all phases of automobile mechan-
les and complete course in electri-
city. The school boasts of its equip
ment but the motors, automobile
parts, etc. used for the training are
mostly taken from old junked cars.
You are told that the cost of the
! course is the only expense you'll have
I but you find it necessary to buy eX-
| pensive books. You are told you
need no tools. Because | paid cash l
was presented with a kit of tools
The instructors are burdened with
large classes and it is impossible for
them to give each student proper
worth five dollars, they said These
tools were all the cheapest possible,
being the kind sold in Kresge's five
and ten cent stores.
Class Too Large.
attention, conscientious, tho 1 admit,
some Of the instructors are.
The big lighting system of the
school is bad and ventilation on some
floors vile. Many of the toilets are
often in a foul condition.
Some of the students feeling they
have been "gypped" by the school
steal everything they can lay hands
on.
A stranger not knowing Chicago
often allows the school to find a
lodging for him. And as the landlords
for many blocks around these schools
reap rich harvest that never ends
for the suckers pour in in a never
ending stream, from all over Amer
lea and Canada and even Latin Amer
lea.
SIG for Room.
I was assigned a room at four dol
lars week which l had to share
with three other students, each pay
ing four dollars a week also. So
that the school was making SIG a
week for the over-crowded room,
which anywhere else in the city could
have been rented for four dollars a
week. The school claims you can get
board for seven dollars a week but
/ found that in order to obtain any,
thing to eat it was necessary to pay
eight or nine dollars.
You are not told of the difficulties
of completing your course and no
matter what kind of man you are
they promise to make an expert"
out of you. If you have money
! enough to finish and get diploma, =
| you will find it worse than useless
in getting a job in Chicago, for there
is kind of unwritten law among
the garages and electrical firms here
never to hire graduates of trade
schools. If you want to be hired be
sure not to show your diploma"
Fake Employment Bureau.
The Greer School maintains a fake
employment bureau" which, after
being sent on number of fruitless
wild goose chases after jobs that do
not exist, the student learns to let
severely alone.
In enrolling you sign an ironclad
contract and unless you pay in full
you will find yourself denied admit