Training Industrial Workers

Front matter

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Introduction

'Why not try education?'* is the question which must occur over and over again to one who studies the adjustments and readjustments of industry. The child in school must be brought to understand the industrial problems ahead of him» and no less the worker in the shop or factory must be brought to see that only through increasing enlightenment represented by education, will he be able to solve his life problems, increase his productive power, and make progress toward full stature as a citizen.

Putting industrial problems into the schools and putting education into the factory involve a high degree of co-operation among all the persons concerned. They must make contacts, get acquainted, and learn from each other. How can these contacts be found? Why are they necessary? What will happen to schools which do not co-operate with industry, and what will happen to industrial establishments whose workers have not the habit of studying and learning? These questions must impel serious thinking men and women forward to find the right relationships between doing and thinking.

Dr. Kelly's book is written to tell industrial managers and educational directors about the lessons which both school people and manufacturers have learned in shop and factory education, and to show how these lessons can be applied to particular establishments. He brings in review the successful accomplishments in vocational education, with the reasons for their success. He points out the need on the one hand for quick training in skill and on the other for the more fundamental education which shall give knowledge of the correct principles back of successful business and for the development of responsibility. Whether the reader wishes to find out the vi INTRODUCTION

theory back of successful plans or the actual way to begin, he will find his answer.

In numerous passages Dr. Kelly raises questions which only the future can decide: What will be the forms of co-operation worked out between schools and industry? What will be the legal aspects of education undertaken by the factory? What arrangements will be made to provide for the expense?

The question of public subsidies to encourage vocational education in factories is a difficult one, particularly when we realize that the incidence of assessments for such expense is not nearly so important a problem to consider as to determine who gets the final benefit and who ultimately pays the bill. Must we not agree that the test of whether or not a factory can afford to furnish educational opportunity is whether the expense can be covered by increased production or must be charged against the public in the price of the product? The public must inevitably pay the bill for education in the factory as well as in the school, and if the public refuses to pay because the cost is high and the returns are meager no establishment can long continue its educational activities.

Whether or not every factory should undertake to offer educational opportunity and how broad this work should be, can hardly be answered without further experimentation. It is safe to say at present, no doubt, what Dr. Kelly's book implies, that establishments using boys and girls imder the age of majority owe the state the duty of seeing that intellectual progress rather than early deterioration comes from the young worker's contact with industry. The continuation school in this country and the educational reforms now being instituted in England all point to the setting up of simple minimums required by law, and to be furnished impartially by all employers of labor — legislation, that is, against ignorance and inefficiency, exactly as we now have legislation against unsanitary conditions and accidents. Employers raise no objec-

INTRODUCTION vH

tion to inevitable improvements accompanying the advance of civilization, provided that the imposition of such improvements is well considered, gradual, and impartial. The demands of society have already led to the establishment of wage rates, industrial compensation, good conditions of work, as well as regulations regarding safety, heating and lighting, fire protection, cleanliness, and a host of minor matters.

Dr. Kelly's figures in the first chapter bring to our attention the fact that most industrial establishments are small. The obvious solution of the educational problem presented by this situation will be a single educational director for a number of small factories, a possibility as yet but slightly developed. In one small town an automobile mechanic was made into a vocational teacher by the public school authorities and held classes in his garage in the late afternoon and evening. It may be found possible to have an intimate co-operation which will enable a director to serve factories and schools at the same time, as a co-ordinator or instructor for a number of smaller industrial organizations. The appearance of such a teacher at a shop or factory which contains perhaps only ten or twenty men, even if for only two hours each week, would have a decidedly stimulating effect upon the establishment.

Industry and the public must jointly assume the full social responsibility which education involves. The company which educates its workers must face the possibility of progressive changes in the industrial system and must be willing to see these fimdamental amendments made if wisdom so decrees. On the other hand, the company which refuses to educate must face industrial upheaval and the solution of difficulties on no basis other than ignorance. The sincere student of education can propose no doctrinaire solution. His formula is, "Educate the management and the workers and help them jointly to solve such problems as the future reveals." In this connection it is interesting to remark that the two establishments in viii INTRODUCTION

which, so far as the author's knowledge goes, the workers know most about the affairs of the management, have no tendencies whatever toward the thing loosely called "industrial democracy." The workers in one of these companies know all about the income on the capital invested, the salaries of the executives, the costs of production, the purposes and plans of scientific management and the details of its operation, and the aims and proposals of those at the top. Knowing these things, they are willing to let the managers manage. Whether this same condition of affairs will obtain as we go forward with education, no one can prophesy. In any case, full knowledge is the most important form of "participation."

The most interesting thing about this book is that it shows that there is no possibility of avoiding the education of industrial workers. In America there can be no escape from education and progress.

So far as the author is aware, this is the first comprehensive book on the subject of education in industry, and in that sense the book is unique and Dr. Kelly a pioneer in a neglected field. We have had good chapters on this subject, as witness Chapter VII in Dr. Kelly's book, "Hiring the Worker," and we have had books on the subject of industrial education from the standpoint of the school. The present book will serve as a guide to educational directors and personnel managers of industrial plants, to persons interested in vocational guidance and anxious to tie up their work with industries as well as schools, to students of educational sociology who recognize the part which industry has played and is about to play in the economic, social, civic, and spiritual progress of the country, and to all thoughtful participants in industry whether owners, managers, public officials, consumers, labor leaders, or workers.

John M. Brewer.

Cambridge, Mass.

Preface

Of the more than eight million persons engaged in industrial pursuits in the United States, not one-third have had a grammar school education. Those who have had any effective vocational training represent a much smaller proportion of the total. Although it is difficult to estimate the exact amount of the economic and social losses resulting from the lack of education or faulty education, it is quite certain that the aggregate is extremely large. The purpose of this volume is to indicate what some of these losses are, to point out the more important difficulties to be overcome in preventing them, and to suggest a practical program for future action.

It is essential that private manufacturing establishments should avail themselves of every possible opportunity to secure the ^assistance of public and private educational institutions. It is essential, on the other hand, that educators should continually modify their theories and methods in the light of the needs of progressive industrial concerns. To further a recognition and understanding of these mutual interests, the volume presents a survey of all the important types of schools and classes and illustrations of their work. An effort has also been made to point out the expedient scope of the functions of industrial education to be discharged by federal, state, and local governments, and to show what would constitute a reasonable division of responsibility between the public agency and the private enterprise.

As the work is addressed primarily to business executives who may not be closely familiar with the organization or management of educational affairs, and for whom the training of employees is a matter of immediate practical concern, the

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X PREFACE

treatment of educational agencies not directly under the control oi industry has been subordinated, and emphasis has been laid upon the training which can be accomplished within the plant.

Much illustrative matter has been included which is widely scattered through professional educational literature and not easily accessible to most business executives. On the other hand, owing to the limitations of the discussion, several significant educational developments, such as continuation schools, co-operative part-time classes, and trade schools, have had to be passed over with less extended notice than their importance merits.

The subject matter and conclusions are based upon personal visits to business concerns and schools in many different parts of the United States, numerous conferences with employment managers and school officers, extensive correspondence, and personal experience as principal of a technical high school and director of part-time courses in employment management. Among the many persons who have given assistance in various ways, special acknowledgment is due to members of the Division of Education and of the Bureau of Vocational Guidance of Harvard University, who have helped in collecting material and in revising the manuscript.

Parts of several chapters were first published in Industrial Management and in the Harvard Graduates^ Magazine. Through the courtesy of the editors, this material has been revised for presentation in the present form. The author is also indebted to the Federal Board for Vocational Education for permission to reprint portions of the bulletin entitled "Industrial Education and Employment Management."

Roy Willmarth Kelly.

San Francisco, California, September 15, 1920.

Contents

I Industrial Training and Present-Day Industry i

An Educational Creed for Industry Industrial Training Vocational Education Determining Responsibility Method of the Present Discussion Complexity of Industry

Size and Uecgraphical Distribution of Industrial Establishments One-Industry Towns Financial Resources Seasonal Fluctuations Steadying Employment Transfers Labor Turnover Short-Term Employees Unskilled and Qiild Labor A Typical Factory Unemployment Causes Remedies