Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1938-09-23
The Training
Of Workers
For Jobs
School and Labor
Heads Need to
Get Together.
BY ANGELO PATRI.

YOUNG people are concerned about
their life work. They want to
know what their Job is to be. how
they are to get it, and how they should
prepare for 1t. We are trying to help
them by opening vocational schools.
That will help some, but 1t will not do
the whole business.
No school, in its very nature, can
give young workers complete knoWl-
edge Of their trades. Try as we will we
cannot be as realistic in school as in
dustry is in the shops. We can teach
theory and some practice and degree
of skill, all very elementary when the
question of actual work in the trade is
considered. There is another step to be
taken before the apprentice is ready for
work. Apprenticeship.
Trades are best learned by working
with skilled tradesmen or craftsmen
or artists. That is the way the old
masters learned their work. First what
instruction they could get at home, in
school, and then the years Of work with
the actual master in the field. We find
it difficult to get that instruction for
the boys and girls. Our methods of
work in industry do not leave much
room for learners. Mass production
does not lend itself to the instruction
Of beginners as general thing So
far the schools are about all that we
can offer young people. And they are
not enough.
Labor unions. guilds, societies that
control labor, will have to cooperate
with schools in order that apprentices
may be trained. These men and women
know how many workers the trade can
absorb. They know the standards re-
quired. They are masters of the tech
nique. Their knowledge and skill
should be placed at the service of the
younger generation of workers to the
end that they may enter the field best
suited to them, and with a maximum
of training for their work Schools
cannot do this alone. Nor can the
labor organizations. They must work
together.
Parents will have to give this choice
OF work more thought than they have
put on 1t up to now. Too many fathers
and mothers disapprove of trade work
for their children, thinking that it is
not good enough. That is altogether
beside the mark. A worker who has
mastered his trade is always in de-
mand and he earns better living than
the worker who has white collar job
in many instances. A good machinist
commands a higher salary than a
stenographer, and, as I see it, has
much more fun.
High school education leading to vo-
cational work is the best training for
young people who want to go into in
dustry. The better education they have
the better price they can command in
the market. Boys and girls who grad
uate from high school and vocational
high school, and serve an apprentice
ship with some skilled master, have a
stout hold on future security.
What we need most is the appren-
ticeship served under the supervision of
the recognized guild, union or trade
association. That is the next step that
those concerned with the training of
boys and girls for useful work must
study. Work is the inherent right of
every responsible citizen. It concerns
every one OF us. Cooperation between
labor and educational authorities is
essential to the training Of workers.
Some direct effort to bring that about
Is in order.