The industrial and commercial schools of the United States and Germany; a comparative study

Preface

THE conception of this work dates from the autumn of 1907, when the author was a member of the faculty of the State Normal School, Bowling Green, Ky. At that time, the author received a commission from Governor Beckham of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, " to investigate and report on the German School System to the State Superintendent of Public Instruction."

The study and investigation covered a period of two and one-half years.

Besides visiting the schools in all of the leading German States, the author enjoyed the exceptional privilege of pursuing a regular course on the purposes and methods of the continuation schools of Prussia, which course was given in the summer of 1909 in Berlin by Dr. Kühne of the Prussian Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

The results of this investigation were first published in Germany in October, 191 o, under the title, Die deutschen gewerblichen und kaufmännischen Fortbildungs- und Fachschulen und die industriellen und kommerziellen Schulen in den Vereinigten Staaten, Ein Vergleich (Leipzig). This work has been used as the basis of the present volume, though certain material additions have been made since the original issue.

VI

Preface

For the successful completion of his undertaking, the author is greatly indebted to many educators and officials in both Germany and the United States. He wishes to take this occasion to express his deep gratitude to the Baroness Elly von Rössing, who by virtue of her long connection with the celebrated Victoria Fortbildungs- und Fachschule of Berlin, was able to give most valuable assistance and counsel.

Vocational education has made great strides since the appearance of the German edition. To Professor Frank M. Leavitt of the University of Chicago the author is largely indebted for information on recent progress and the present status of vocational education in the United States.

In Chapter XIX. has been incorporated much of the material that the author contributed to the issues for February and June, 19 13, of the Elementary School Teacher.

The author is under many obligations to Mrs. Kathryne Handforth, who was formerly associated with the Massachusetts State Board of Education, for valuable suggestions affecting the arrangement of the manuscript and for the reading of the same.

F. W. R.

Syracuse, New York, September, IQ14.

Contents

PAG F.

Chapter I

The Character, Quantity, and Quality of THE Literary Education in the United States and Germany as a Basis for Industrial and Commercial Training . . i

1. The Public Schools in Germany . 3

(a) Length of a School Year, Number

of School Hours a Week. . 4

(b) Separate Instruction of Sexes. . 4

(c) Course of Study. ... 4

(d) Instruction after Completion of

the Public School Course. . 6

(e) Preparation of the Teachers. . 6

(f) Higher Schools. ... 7

2. Public Schools in the United States 8

(a) Organization .... 8

(b) School Attendance Laws. . . 9

(c) Enforcement of School Attend-

ance Laws. . . . .10

(d) Grades Reached by Children

before Leaving the Public Schools. . . . .13

3. Comparison with Germany . . 16

(a) Attendance. . . . .16

(b) Illiteracy of the two nations

compared. .... 23 vii viii Contents

(c) Comparison of the Teaching Staff

of the Two Countries. . . 25

(d) Goal of the Schools. ... 27

Chapter II

An Historical Sketch of the Beginnings of THE Industrial and Commercial Continuation Schools before the '"Seventies." 32

1. Continuation Schools a Sign of

Advancing Culture ... 32

2. The Transition of the Old Time

Sunday School to One of a More Literary and Industrial Type . 33 ■(a) Social Revolution. ... 34

(b) The Influence of Famine. . . 35

(c) The Antiquated Apprenticeship

System Superseded by a new Form of Technical Training. . 35

(d) Political Reorganizations, as well

as new Inventions, the Incentives of Innovation in Continuation School Development. 36

3. Brief Survey of the Development

OF the Continuation Schools in the Leading German States . 37 A. Württemberg . . . . -37

(a) Origin and Growth of the Move-

ment before the Dispensation

(c) The Royal Commission of 1853. . 38

(d) Continuation Schools for Girls. . 41

Contents ix

(e) Teachers . . . . -41

(f) Economic Conditions and Con-

tinuation Schools in their Reciprocal Relation. . . 41

C. Baden 44

(a) Character of the First Schools. . 48

(b) Attempts of the Minister of Edu-

cation to Foster Continuation Schools. .... 49

(c) The Moderate Results. . 50

(d) The Schools with Special Refer-

ence to Berlin. • • • 53

4. The Situation in General before

THE '"Seventies." ... 58

Chapter III

Industrial and Commercial Schools Since the Founding of the Empire. ... 60

1. Transition to a New Era. . . 60

2. The Condition of the Industrial

Schools About 1877. ... 66

3. The Development of Commercial

4. General Survey of the Laws in the

Leading States. .... 69

(a) Württemberg. .... 72

Contents

CHAPTER IV Distribution of Continuation Schools for

Boys, and Means of Support. . . 77

1. Württemberg. .... 77

6. Summary of the Various Modes of

Financial Support. ... 86

7. The Results of Compulsory Attend-

ance 87

CHAPTER V Continuation Schools for Girls. . . 89

1. Sketch of Their Historical De-

velopment. ..... 89

2. Present Day Demands. ... 90

3. The Necessity of Industrial and

Commercial Continuation Schools FOR Girls from the Standpoint of Statistics. .... 94

4. The Present Status of Industrial

Training for Girls. ... 95

(a) Württemberg. .... 95

Contents xi

PAGE

(f) In the Whole Empire. . .100

5. Trade Schools for the Furtherance

OF Home Industry. . . . 103

6. Compulsory Continuation Schools

7. Co-Education. . . . no

Chapter VI

1. Characteristics and Distribution

OF this Type of Schools. . .119

2. Attendance and Growth in the

Leading States. . . .121

(a) In Prussia. . . . .121 (i) Schools for Building Trades. 121

(2) Trade Schools for Metal

Workers. . . .121

(3) Pottery Schools and Art

Industrial Schools. . 123

(4) Trade Schools for the Textile

Industry. . . .124

(a) Higher Trade Schools for Textile Industry. . .124

(b) The Lower Trade Schools

for Textile Industry. . 125

3. Growth as Compared with Other

4. Opposition to the further Exten-

sion of these Schools. . . 128 xii Contents

PAGE

Chapter VII

1. School Buildings and Teaching

Apparatus ..... 130

(a) The Sunday School. . . . 132

(b) The General Continuation School. 132

(c) The Industrial and Commercial

Continuation School. . .133

3. School Hours. .... 142

(a) Sunday and Evening Hours. . 142

(b) Transition to Daytime Week-

Day Instruction. . . .144

Chapter VIII

1. Shall Teachers be Appointed for

Full Time or Part Time or Shall Men of Practical Experience BE Appointed? . . . .147

2. Organization for the Professional

Training of Teachers. . . 153

Chapter IX

Introduction to the History of the American Commercial and Industrial Schools 158

CHAPTER X Schools Established by Endowment. . . 161

1. New York Trade School. . . 161

2. Pratt Institute 164

Contents xiii

PAGS

3. Baron de Hirsch Trade School. . 167

4. Williamson Free School of

Mechanical Trades. . . .168

5. California School of Mechanical

6. The Wilmerding School of Indus-

7. The Hebrew Technical Institute. 178

8. Miller Manual Labor School. . 179

9. Webb's Academy and Home for

Shipbuilders. . . . .180 ID. Drexel Institute. . . .181

11. Spring Garden Institute. . . 182

12. General Society of Mechanics

AND Tradesmen. . . .183

13. Mechanics Institute. . . .186

14. Cooper Union. .... 187

15. Hebrew Technical School for

16. Manhattan Trade School for Girls 193

17. Comparison with Germany. . . 194

Chapter XVII

1. Early History and Methods of

Getting Pupils. .... 244

2. The Present Status of Business

Colleges, Commercial High Schools and Commercial Departments of High Schools, and Normal Schools. . . . 250

3. Some Comparisons Made with

(a) The Curriculum. . . . 256

(b) The Preparation of the Teachers. 260

(c) The Relation of Business Educa-

tion to Industry and Commerce. 261

Contents xv

PAGE

CHAPTER XVIII Transition to the Public Industrial Continuation Schools. ..... 264

1. Dissatisfaction with the Present

School System. .... 264

2. Enthusiasm FOR Industrial Training. 270

3. A Comparison of the Difficulties

Encountered in the Erection and Further Development of Industrial Schools in the Two Countries. . . . . .282

(a) Attitude of Labor Organizations. 282

(b) Education for the Negroes. . 295

(c) Over Education. . . . 299

Chapter XIX

Control and Organization of the Schools in the Two Countries Contrasted and

1. Difference in Government. . . 304

2. In the United States. . . . 306

Chapter XXI

Importance Attached to Morals and Habits AS A Factor in the Industrial and Commercial School Development. . . 369

The Industrial and Commercial

Schools of the United States

and Germany

THE CHARACTER, QUANTITY, AND QUALITY OF THE LITERARY EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES AND GERMANY AS A BASIS FOR INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL TRAINING

GENERAL education is fundamental to industrial and commercial education. The former holds the same relation to the latter as does the soil to the harvest. Upon the plan, quantity, quality, and ideal of the first, the second must necessarily be constructed. One deals with books ; the other with life. One concerns itself with principles and theory ; the other with practice and application. Each is the complement of the other. We know well that the educational institutions of a people are reflections of its culture, civilization, and ideals. Germany has its own unique school type, which is the product of the environment and historic achievements of Central Europe for more than a thousand years, while that of the United States is the product of a combination of the culture of half a dozen European nationalities. It is very easy to realize that such a collection of forces and influences, transplanted to a new world, and under different geographic, climatic, economical, and sociological conditions would produce a school system entirely unlike anything foimd in the Old World.

To contrast and compare the industrial and commercial schools of the two countries, therefore, we must first outline the training that has preceded. As one government is a monarchy and the other a republic, the respective school systems are made to articulate in the scheme of government. The goal set for the child just entering school, the management of the sexes, and the great social, economic, and religious differences — all contribute to a material difference in the German and American school systems. Children trained under such diverging conditions will necessarily be in an entirely different frame of mind by the time they reach their fourteenth year, the age at which the greater part of those who take up industrial or commercial training begin their vocational studies.

Hence, before taking up the main subject, we shall trace the chief characteristics of German and American schools with special reference to the preparation that the children secure for industrial and commercial work. A detailed description of the public schools of the two countries cannot be given, and not even a complete criticism will be offered here. Yet there are certain underlying facts, ideals, and conditions so insistently obvious in both countries that a comparison of schools is impossible without due recognition of these features. To decide the advantage or disadvantage they exercise upon the industrial and commercial courses succeeding the public school course, and the influence they have upon the economic and social power of the nation is in certain respects an easy task, while in others the decision must be left to personal opinion.

I. The Public Schools in Germany. At the base of the whole gigantic German school system lie the "public schools," which were attended in 1900 by 8.9 millions or 90.8 per cent, of all the children between the ages of six and fourteen years. * The remaining 9.2 per cent, attended middle, higher, and private schools.

The middle and higher schools are not consecutive classes,^ but are parallel with the public schools. They are established in large cities only. A tuition fee is required, and the chief distinction is a division based on money and social position.

' Lexis, Das Unterrichtswesen im Deutschen Reich, vol. iii., p. 57.

" Tuition is free in the public schools of Prussia, while in the middle schools tuition is charged. In Saxony, on the other hand, tuition is charged in the public schools except in special cases of poverty.

Their curricula are arranged somewhat with a view toward a more direct preparation for the higher institutions. School attendance for all children between the ages of six or seven and fourteen years is compulsory, and the law is strictly enforced.

(a) Length of School Year, Number of School Hours a Week. The number of school weeks in the year, the number of hours for each grade, and the subjects pursued by the various grades vary slightly in the different states; also there are some differences in these respects to be noted even in the same state when a comparison is made between the city and the village schools. School is in session forty to forty-two weeks in the year, and the number of school hours in the week ranges from twenty to twenty-two in the lower grades and averages about thirty in the upper grades.

(b) Separate Instruction of the Sexes. As a rule the sexes are taught separately. However, in communities where the Catholic and Protestant religions are both represented, it is thought more important to separate the children on the basis of religious affiliation, even if by so doing it becomes necessary to establish co-educational schools because of the small number in attendance. ^

(c) Course of Study. According to Lexis (vol. iv.) the hours spent each week on the various

' Lexis, Das Volkschulwesen und das Lehrerbildungswesen, vol. iii., p. 109.

subjects and in the different grades are as follows :

-

LOWER

GRADES

MIDDLE GRADES

UPPER

GRADES with

with

with

with

with

with

one

more

one

more

one

more

teacher

than one teacher

teacher

than one teacher

teacher

than one teacher

Religion

5-6

5-6

German

II II

10-9

8-7

Drawing

—

I

Nature Study-

—

—

6(8)

Singing

I

I

I

Gymnasium ) Handwork j

—

30 (32)

The above table does not take into account the recent introduction of instruction in cooking for girls. Such instruction was given in the last grade" in 161 cities during the year 19 10, the average time devoted to such classes being four hours a week.

According to the statistics in 1901 there were in Prussia:

In the cities In the country

Mixed Classes

9,337 60,385

Boys' Classes

1,341 3,969

Girls' Classes

13,255 3,995

' In many cities girls have instruction in cooking during the last three grades.

In Bavaria there were in the school year 1889- 1900:

6,318 Mixed Schools

115 Partly Mixed Schools

457 Boys' Schools

463 Girls' Schools

In the boys' schools there is a tendency to introduce increasingly the so-called manual training. In the city of Mannheim 40 per cent, of all the pupils that are entitled to such instruction have availed themselves of the opportunity. Two municipal schools in Berlin have introduced manual training since 1909. Kerschensteiner's workshops in Munich are deservedly famous throughout Germany, and it appears as if all other German cities will gradually follow this example.

{d) Instruction after the Completion oj the Public School Course. After the public-school course has been completed, practically all the boys and girls seek some kind of employment which will enable them to become as nearly self-supporting as possible. They still enjoy certain educational advantages in the continuation schools, which, if one except those resident in certain less densely settled land districts, are accessible to all. In this way education is prolonged two or three years. ^

{e) Preparation of the Teachers. In the elementary and middle schools, both public and private, we find teachers of practically equal qualifications,

' In some cities an attempt has been made to extend the continuation school period to cover four years.

all of whom have had at least six years of special training in what would correspond to our normal schools. '

(/) Higher Schools. The higher schools for boys are either humanistische Gymnasien, Realgymnasien y or realschulen, according to whether Greek and Latin, or only Latin, or neither Greek nor Latin but modern languages are taught. These schools have either six- or nine-year courses, and the pupils are received from a three-year preparatory school or from a private school. Aside from this, a certain percentage of the enrollment leaves the public school after four years in order to enter the higher school.

In the smaller cities we find the Progymnasien or Realprogymnasien. These institutions consist of five grades, and pupils are prepared to enter the first grade after the third or fourth year's attendance at public school.

Whether a child can attend a higher school

' In Bavaria and Württemberg, the teachers have but five years' training, but an effort is on foot which will eventually add an additional year. Then, too, the women teachers, who form 1 7/^% of the whole teaching force in Germany have not, as a rule, had a full six-year seminary training, inasmuch as their previous preparation was secured in a höhere Töchterschule, which has higher courses than the public school. In consequence, one notices that, on the average, the women teachers come from more affluent families than the men. But the tendency in this direction, too, is to make the preparation of the women uniform with that of the men. Seminars with six-year courses for girls who have just completed the public school course, are gradually superseding the older formsdepends largely upon the wealth and social position of the family. The particular division to which he is sent depends upon the ambitions of the parents, capabilities of the child, and the financial ability of the parents to pay for a longer or a shorter course.

In Prussia a new law was passed in April, 1909, affecting the higher schools for girls, which provided a uniform entrance requirement and made possible a large degree of elective work in the later years. After completing the lower grades and part of the middle grades a girl can enter a humanistisches, a Realgymnasien, or a Realschule (patterned after the boys'school), or she may complete a ten-grade higher school for girls, which will prepare her to enter a teachers* seminar (with four-year course) or a school for women {Frauenschule), a sort of higher continuation institution.

2. Public Schools in the United States, {a)

Organization. The whole school system in the United States lacks the uniformity of that of Germany. But in general one may say that the public-school system resolves itself into two divisions ; the rural-school system and the city schools. In the country the child usually enters school at the age of six, and no maximum age is fixed debarring from further school attendance. For that reason it is not seldom that one finds pupils in the rural schools who have reached their twentyfirst year. The majority of rural schools are not graded throughout; therefore, a pupil may be in several grades at the same time, according to his degree of proficiency in the several subjects taught. The graded schools have an eight-year coiu-s3, which prepares the pupil for entrance to a high school of a neighboring city or to the county high school.

The city schools have a regiilar eight- or nine-year course, called grammar school. Entrance to the grammar school is sometimes preceded by attendance at a kindergarten, which is not always connected, however, with the public schools. After a pupil has completed the grammar school, he is prepared to enter high school, which extends over a period of four years. In the larger cities a certain percentage of the pupils attend private grammar schools and private high schools, but the enrollment in these private schools is steadily declining as compared with the enrollment in the public schools. ^

(b) School Attendance Laws. In 1906, thirty-seven of the forty-six States of the Union had a law establishing compulsory attendance upon public schools. At that time twenty-one States required school attendance after the eighth year of age, and sixteen after the seventh year of age.

The duration of compulsory school attendance varied in the several States. Maryland had the shortest, a period of four years; Connecticut and

' In the year 1905 the attendance at public high schools was 722,692, and upon private high schools 101,753.

Illinois the longest, extending for over a period of nine years. In 1910, ten States required school attendance six years; twelve States, seven years; and eleven States, eight years. '

The number of months during which school is in session varies from two to ten.

(c) Enforcementof School Attendance Laws. But in many States this law is not strictly enforced. ^

' 1906 Report of Commissioner of Education, vol. ii., p. 1271; "Unfortunately, the actual average period of school attendance in our country falls far below its legal measure. From estimates continued for several years in the Bureau of Education it appears that the average number of years of schooling in elementary and secondary schools supported by public taxes is equivalent to 4.69 years of 200 days for each individual of the population. In the South Atlantic division it falls to 3.25 years of 200 days each, and in the South Central division to 2.91 years.

"If this average degree of schooling were the actual experience of every child, it might, indeed, suffice to keep down illiteracy which still threatens us from the colored population of the South, from the native white population in regions poorly supplied with schools, and from foreign-born white laborers coming into the States most highly favored with schools and colleges. But this average, as we know, conceals a much lower degree of school attendance for a large proportion of the poorer children."

^ A superintendent of one of the large school systems in Kentucky told me personally that he had attempted to have the compulsory attendance law enforced, but he was requested by the board of education not to carry out the law as it would bring more children into school than the buildings could accommodate, and that the city had, under existing conditions, enough expense in affording instruction for those that attended voluntarily. A prominent school president from Mississippi wrote to me recently that it would be impossible to pass a compulsory attendance law in his State, and that such law could not be enforced if it were passed. A short extract from the State Superintendent's report for the State of Kentucky shows clearly the laxity in the enforce-

Character, Quantity, and Quality ii

Considering all young people between the ages of five and eighteen years as the gross school poptdation, in 1906 we find 16,641,970 pupils of all ages enrolled in common schools. This is 70.43 per

ment of the laws for compulsory school attendance and gives a picture of school conditions prevailing in the whole State. Supt. Crabbe says: "The State, with commendable liberality, has been expending two millions or two and a half millions of money annually for teachers, yet the results show: That no schooüiouses were building except in rare cases. That the so-caUed buildings were without furniture and equipment. That there were no libraries. That more than half the children of school age never went to school at all, and that half of those enrolled in school were so irregular in attendance as to render their schooling nil. That eight-ninths of the teachers were untrained. That there was practically no supervision, and that in general, the schools and the quality of the schooling have not become better and their product has not been satisfactory. What's the trouble? The trouble is that the people of the school districts have been pauperized by reason of this big sum of money given by the State and the local community has failed to raise a single dollar for its own schools."

Another excellent illustration of the laxity of enforcement of the law may be cited. Kentucky law requires that children in the country attend eight weeks, and in the cities the full term, and also fixed, on the parent, a penalty of $5 to $20 for failure to obey the law. All children come under this law until they are fourteen years of age, unless they have completed the eight grades of the elementary school. Since 1902, Kentucky has also had a child-labor law. Both laws make it possible for the superintendent to get the children into school. Yet with what laxity these laws are enforced is shown by the careful statistics compiled by Annie A. Halleck, who reports in the Courier Journal for January 27, 1908, that there were in Louisville in 1908, 30,064 children between the ages of seven and fourteen. On this number only 25,293 were enrolled in school. This shows that there were 4,771 children in Louisville of an age requiring their attendance at school, who were enrolled in no kind of school cent, of the total. During that year, 1905-06, the average daily attendance of those enrolled was 70.38 per cent., and the average length of the school term was 151 days. Therefore, the average number of days attended by each pupil actually enrolled was 106.' and the average number of days' schooling for every child from five to eighteen years of age in 1905-06 was only 74.1 days.

In 1905-06, in cities containing a population of 8000 or more, 18.4 per cent, of the grammar school pupils attended private schools and the daily average of attendance of this group is, therefore, imknown, but the average attendance for those in the pubHc school was 77.7 per cent, of the enrollment. The average length of the school term was 185.9 days, and the average number of days attended by each pupil was 144.5.'' In all villages below 4000 population and in the country districts there were enrolled out of the gross sixteen and a half million school population a Httle over eleven million, and the average number of days attended by each was eighty-seven. ^

Educational facilities in the Southern States are especially inadequate.'' President Claxton made the following report at the meeting of the Southern Educational Association held in Atlanta, December 29, 1908:

whatever. Furthermore, it was not possible to determine whether they were on the streets, at work, or in their homes.

' 1906 Report 0} Commissioner of Education, pp. 293-302.

» Ihid., preface. * See page 10 of this thesis.

All our Southern States have no effective legislation for compulsory attendance, thanks to our democratic form of government! In spite of our short school year, only about 40 per cent, of all pupils of school age receive instruction of any kind whatsoever. In these States the children actually attend school forty-five days yearly, and the whole number of days of school attendance amount to about 675.

{d) Grades Reached by Children before Leaving

the Public School. The same condition holds true

regarding the percentage of children completing

the grammar and later the high schools. The

following cities have been chosen promiscuously

to illustrate the degree of education attained by

those enrolled.

Percentage Completing Sixth and Eighth Grades in Typical Cities

Los Angeles, Cal. . .

Madison, Wis

Boston, Mass

Covington, Ky.. . .

Dayton, Ohio

Philadelphia, Pa. . .

Spokane, Wash.. . .

Wheeling, West Va

Lynn, Mass

Memphis, Tenn . . .

Denver, Colo

Lexington, Ky . . . .

Paducah, Ky

Cincinnati, Ohio . . .

Chicago, ill

45-6

% Completing

% Completing

Sixth Grade

Eighth Grade

26.3

These averages were computed from the 1905-06 Report of the Commissioner of Education of the U. S. A. If in the compilation of this table, cognizance had been taken of the number who receive no instruction at all, the results would be more unfavorable still.

Commissioner Draper of New York reported the school attendance of twenty-five cities, selected at random in 1908, to be as follows:

Grades Reached by Pupils Enrolled in 25 New York Cities

First...

Second .

Third. .

Fourth .

Fifth . . .

Sixth. ..

Seventh Eighth .

Number of Pupils Per Cent

24,410

17.524

17,028

15.918

14,395

12,464

10,152

8,517

Few states in the Union have a better school system than New York State.

Regarding the attendance at high schools, we quote further from Commissioner Draper :

It is interesting to know what the corresponding figures are for the United States. For the year 1904- 05, the last at hand, the total attendance upon high schools in the United States was 876,050. The percentage of years was, — first year, 43 per cent.; second year, 26 per cent. ; third year, eighteen per cent. ; and fourth year, thirteen per cent.^

^ Draper, Our Children, Our Schools, and Our Industries.

The majority of high-school students are girls, and the percentage of girls that graduate (more than two to one) presents a still greater proportion over the percentage of boys that are graduated. ^

I confess that it startles me to find that certainly not more than two-fifths and undoubtedly not more than one-third of the children who enter our elementary schools ever finish them, and that not one-half of them go beyond the fifth or sixth grade.

In a late report of the Bureau of Education we note the same problem discussed.

How many of the children entering the elementary school reach the high school? This question is propounded many times a year to the Bureau of Education. For several years this Biu-eau has estimated that from 21 to 23 per cent, of the children who enter the schools will reach the high school. An estimate based upon the figures for 1903 and 191 1 increases this percentage to 24.45 per cent.^

It is hardly less surprising to find only about one-third of the pupils who go to the high schools remain beyond the second year, and that only about onesixth of those who enter remain to graduate.