Principles and methods of industrial education for use in teacher training classes

Front matter

Class

Book

Copyright N°.

Contents

Introduction. By Charles A. Prosser v

I. The Value of Industrial Education .... 1

II. The Educational Needs of Trades and Industries 10

Chapter I

Education is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, institution responding to human needs. The ideal system of education has always been that which in the highest degree prepares one for the duties of life. This means in a general sense the development of the whole man, the physical, the intellectual, and the moral.

In the early ages education was given in the home, and was an intensely practical education. It was given in an informal manner, while the child was taught the usual methods of supplying the necessities of life, food, clothing, and shelter. Later when religion was organized, a special training for priesthood was introduced, consisting of a purely literary training on philosophy, literature, and science. This training was not provided in the home, but by special teachers, who taught this knowledge in a more or less organized form, and in a very formal manner. Thus we see the early development of the two types of education; the intensely practical, taught in a natural, interesting manner, under the direction of the home, and the purely literary, taught in a very logical and abstract fashion. Later, special teachers gave formal education in law, medicine, etc., and the term "education" was applied to any form of organized knowledge taught by formaj. methods usually in a building called a school. In order to distinguish between the type of education that trains the mind in general and that which trains for law, medicine, etc., the term "cultural" was applied to the former and "technical" to the latter. These two terms were used for many years. As the educational system became more complicated, with the various kinds of schools, the term "technical" lost its original definition, training directly for a career, and was applied to instruction that dealt with industrial arts. On account of this confusion, the term "technical education" is seldom used to-day in its broader sense. ' The word "vocational" has taken its place.

To-day we find four great divisions of education : physical, vocational, social, and cultural education. Physical education includes all forms of training and instruction, the controlling purpose of which is to conserve and promote useful development of the body and its capacity. Social education may include all forms of training and instruction designed to make better group living and activities; that is, all moral education, civic education, ethical training, and much of religious instruction. Cultural education includes all forms of education; that is, training and instruction designed to develop valuable cultural interests in such fields as art, literature, science, and history. Social education and cultural education are often considered jointly as " general education " or "liberal education." Vocational education includes all forms of specialized education.

General education aims to develop general intelligence, the power of appreciation in all common fields of utilization, and the ability to use languages, mathematics, scientific methods, etc., without reference to any specific calling: while vocational education has as its aim, to prepare for a specific calling, such as law, medicine, machinist trade, etc.

The occupations that men and women follow, that are productive and lead to self-support, may be grouped into six large classes, namely, the professions, the agricultural pursuits, commercial pursuits, trades and industries, and home-making and nautical pursuits. The divisions of vocational corresponding to the above occupations may be divided into these divisions : professional education, vocational commercial education, vocational agricultural education, vocational industrial education, and vocational home-making and nautical education.

Industrial education denotes the field of vocational education designed to meet the needs of the manual wage-earner in the trades and industries, and in the home. This education is given to persons over fourteen years of age. It is true that certain forms of hand-training, given to persons under fourteen years of age, may contribute to industrial efficiency; nevertheless it is not considered as specific trade training. 1

This volume will deal with the principles and methods of teaching involved in vocational industrial education; that is, the form of vocational education that prepares the individual specifically for some industrial pursuit or trade, such as a machinist, millwright, etc.

The different forms of hand-work given in the first six grades to boys and girls, paper-folding, picture-mounting, clay-modeling, whittling, weaving, needlework, and other constructive activities within the range of the experience of children under twelve years of age, are called "manual arts." The form of training and instruction, usually in wood and metal, sometimes printing and bookbinding, for boys between the ages of twelve and eighteen, is called " manual training." Corresponding to manual training for boys, a course called "household arts," "domestic economy," or "home economics," is provided, in some schools, for girls between the ages of twelve and eighteen. The course consists of a variety of practical exercises and experiences in 1 See page 181.

cooking and sewing, to give some practice and an insight into domestic operations. The above forms of education, manual and household arts training, are part of general education, and are provided to make pupils appreciate the value of industrial and domestic life.

At the age of twelve, about the sixth grade, a program of instruction and training is offered, to children who are not profiting by the regular course of instruction and are not going to college, to participate in a series of practical experiences relating to many vocations. This is not vocational education, but prevocational education, and assists pupils to sample different trade experiences, so that it will be possible for them to make an intelligent choice of occupation. Vocational guidance is a form of instruction and examination to present trade information and guidance to pupils over twelve years of age.

The conclusions from a number of surveys show that the great bulk of boys and girls leave school as soon as the law allows, usually at the age of fourteen, before completing the elementary course. This army of children is four times as large as the group which at approximately the same age enters the high school. About one of every six of these children has reached the eighth grade, one in every four has attained the seventh grade, and one out of every two, the sixth grade.

These pupils experience very little difficulty in obtaining work at a high initial wage in so-called "blind-alley" employments; that is, a work that requires little training and involves little thinking. Another important point is, that these pupils are very restless, drift from one occupation to another, and are idle approximately one half of the time. The so-called "skilled trades," such as the higher branches of metal and machine trades, the building and printing trades, do not care to receive children under sixteen years of age, because they have not the physical development to do consecutive or accurate work and require considerable supervision. Very few of the present elementary, and practically none of the evening schools, show any great assistance to this group of young people, in the training, discovery, guidance, and development of their capacities or preparation for the work they might or do enter. It is from this group that industry recruits its workers.

A very high percentage of the skilled workmen, foremen, and superintendents of industries and trades of this country to-day have been educated across the water, while the American boys occupy the ordinary clerical, mercantile, and a number of unskilled positions, at hardly a living wage. Whatever preparation the public school system is providing, for the training and development of young people for the work they are to enter, is given in the high school, where about three per cent of the pupils are found, and less than one per cent of those ever go into the industries as mechanics.

The progressive development of all trades and industries demands the training of a group of skilled workers who may act later as foremen. The future skilled workers must be trained. Industrial conditions to-day differ very greatly from those of earlier times. For example, trade and industry are more ambitious, more successful, and more scientific, than ever before. They have content that is worthy of study for itself. Years ago they were too simple for intellectual study. Now they require the highest form of mental study and demand the best intellects.

A glance through educational history will show us that the reason industry has not received a dignified place in the course of study of the public school system is due to the tradition from the Greek philosophers, who looked with contempt on manual work which was performed by slaves, workers, and tradesmen of the age, and purposely omitted from the schools any training along the line of utilitarian subjects. During the Middle Ages the same feeling existed; industrial education was apart from culture; one was a matter of apprenticeship and the other a matter of books. This state of affairs continued in England up to the nineteenth century, when the primary school provided the education for the industrial workers. Pupils were educated in the higher schools to be employers. People were expected to remain or continue in their station of life. Culture was the possession of the upper classes and had absolutely nothing to do with utility. During the last century the sentiment that the masses were expected to support the classes in their leisure, particularly in America, has passed away. The spirit of democracy has dominated our social system, so that to-day every man is expected to be a worker.

Vocational industrial education or industrial education may be justified on the grounds that a democracy means equal opportunities for all, that every one should be engaged in a useful occupation within reasonable bounds of age, health, and strength; that is, all persons of both sexes, not incapacitated or in school, should be working. Practically eighty -five per cent of the present workers — those who work for pay — are engaged in producing concrete material; about five per cent are engaged in professional service; the other ten per cent are in various forms of personal service. Life and health, and to a large extent discipline and character, must be derived from employment in the industrial and commercial fields. Any large number of men and women without training for some definite occupation, and not able to be producers, are apt to become a heavy burden on society, and often form a discontented class that threatens the existence of our Government. Society must provide means and training for the proper distribution of human talent, in order that every member may be assured of a living wage or salary.

Industrial education may be advocated because of the increased earning power it affords. The salary of a person may be determined by certain factors which may be divided into two groups, the individual and the organization. The individual group includes such factors as natural ability, proper development of the body, the development of honesty and morality, which are by-educational products of general education and industrial education. The factors that enter into the organization group are capital, up-to-date appliances, leadership, proper allowance for depreciation, etc. One of the chief factors that will increase the productivity of the individual is industrial education. Increased productivity means that the country as a whole will be able to increase the standards of living and the worker will be able to have some of the luxuries.

To summarize: It is in the interest of society, labor, and capital to have the most effective system of industrial education. Properly trained workers (labor) increase the production. From the workers' point of view physical energy and knowledge represent the workers' capital, and the greatest return to the worker, in addition to personal satisfaction, comes only through an efficient system of industrial education. Society profits when every member has rendered his greatest contribution.

1. What was the principal aim of formal education in the early ages in (a) Rome; (b) Athens; (c) Middle Ages; (d) United States, to-day?

2. What caused the change of the aim of formal education during the different periods?

3. State the division of education that each one of the following subjects represents:

(a) Manual training in the sixth grade. (6) Military drill in a high school.

(c) Recreation in an evening high school.

(d) Forging in a technical high school.

(e) First-year science.

(/) French in a classical high school.

(g) Civics in a community center.

(h) Roof -framing for house carpenters in an evening trade school.

4. What is the distinct meaning to-day of "technical education"?

5. What is the meaning of the term "vocational education" to-day?

6. What is the distinct meaning of "industrial education" to-day?

7. Name the class of education to which each of the following occupations belong:

(a) Sea pilot. (e) Dentist.

(b) Die-sinker. (/) A housewife.

(c) Market-gardener. (g) A chemist.

(d) Stenographer. (h) An expert accountant.

8. What is the meaning of "industrial efficiency "?

9. What is a "blind-alley" employment? Give a list of such employments.

10. What is a "producer," "consumer," and "non-producer" in an economic sense? Give an example of each.

11. Trace the stages of development of a steel boiler plate from the time it leaves the ground to the time it is installed as a boiler. Explain in terms of economics.

LIST OF REFERENCES FOR FURTHER READING

* References marked * are books of first importance. ** References marked ** are books of secondary importance.

* Brief Course in the History of Education. Paul Munroe.

(Description of the great educational movements.)

* Education. Herbert Spencer.

(Need of practical education. The utilitarian point of view.)

* What Knowledge is Most Worth. N. M. Butler.

(Need of pure academic education. The scholar's point of view.)

* Census Reports on Trade and Industry. United States Census Bureau.

Washington, D.C.

(Statistics showing the number of people employed in trades and industries.) ** Report of the Douglas Commission on Industrial Education. Massachusetts, 1906.

(A valuable report showing the need of education for children between 14 and 16.) ** Report on Industrial Education by the New York Board of Statistics. New York, 1908.

(A description of the trades and industries in New York State showing the educational needs of each one.)

** Laggards in Our Schools. Leonard P. Ayres.

(Statistics showing the large percentage of pupils who repeat grade work and leave school as soon as the law allows them.) "Economic Reasons for Vocational Education." J. F. Scott. Pedagogical Sem., June, 1913.

(Reasons for vocational education based on economics.)

Chapter II The Educational Needs Of Trades And Industries

Since industrial education is to train specifically for definite positions in the trades and industries, it is clear that to be effective it must function with their needs. The modern organization of industries and trades tends toward the uses of labor-saving devices and power machinery. This means a tendency toward standardization and specialization of products, which involve a large organization under one roof and one manager for purposes of economy. Every organization is divided into two departments : production (manufacturing) and the distribution (selling) phases. The production is carried on by an organization varying from a large to a small scale, composed of a manager, agent, or superintendent, overseers or foremen, section or second hands, and workers. The large establishments have in addition designers or draftsmen, testers or chemists, shop supervisors, and sometimes research engineers.

The manager or superintendent may or may not come from the ranks. In the past it has been possible for men lacking technical training, but possessing good common sense and business capacity, to rise to this position. This is not true to-day in a great many engineering establishments and large factories. Oftentimes he is a technically trained man who entered the industry direct from school as an assistant to the manager or superintendent. A manager or superintendent must have a great deal of foresight and will power. He must have initiative, an analytical mind, and executive ability; that is, he must be able to see clearly a

NEEDS OF TRADES AND INDUSTRIES 11

problem, its solution, and have the ability to put the solution into effect.

The progress of industries in the past has been due to the efforts of scattered inventors and workmen all laboring under great disadvantages. Manufacturers and tradesmen are beginning to see that there are numerous possibilities of applying different scientific discoveries that have taken place. Competition compels us to realize that all industries and trades have developed to a point where the working-out of theory and practice has become a science, and that the application supersedes the old "rule-of -thumb " method and demands the continuous employment of scientifically trained leaders in a bureau of research. The results of this bureau will tend to lower the cost of production by eliminating manufactory weaknesses, improving tools, and applying the principles of science to raw materials, waste products, methods, etc. It is for this reason that large corporations such as the General Electric Company have a research staff with a group of specialists working on new industrial problems. The group may include chemists, biologists, designers, metallurgists, mechanicians, etc., who have been trained in the scientific departments of the colleges.

A foreman usually comes from the ranks of workers. He is the job master, and as such must be able to get good work out of men. This means he must have good judgment of human values, handling men. In addition his outlook on life will be very different from that of the worker. He must have a habitual reaction to human reaction.

The skilled worker should have, in addition to a good physique, a clear mind capable of keen perception, and an inventive mind, which is often called ingenuity. The keen sense-perception should be such as to do very accurate work, dealing with measurements of a thousandth part of an inch. The skilled worker differs from the unskilled worker in the degree of mental versatility. He has acquired by experience a fund of information and skill so that he is able to form new judgments. The experience of the skilled worker is such that only recent trade experiences are available for ready recall. This is the principal reason why a skilled workman cannot leave his trade for any length of time without suffering a loss of skill.

Semi-skilled workers or machine tenders, etc., should have a good physcial development and quick time-perception, which is really the ability of being dexterous. Oftentimes they are physically sluggish, in addition to the general characteristic of slow mentality which may be due to the lack of good nutritious food or dissipation, or both. Any reflective action on the part of the semi-skilled worker retards his rate of production. These workers are generally recruited from the ranks of those who leave school, follow a line of employment with no prospects until they reach manhood, and then see a chance of getting an adult wage without going through the training necessary for the skilled positions. The worker is seldom called upon to meet a new situation, and his work never involves problems which cannot be solved from the limited range of his past experiences. This automatic and semi-automatic machinery develops a fatigue, which is a serious problem. Women are able to work in this way better than men, and do not show fatigue to as great an extent.

The unskilled class of workers usually represents the least intelligent part of the community. Of course there are exceptions, as in the case of bright young people who have become "blind-alley" workers or others who lack the sense of responsibility. In spite of the great increase in inventions, there are a great many processes performed by unskilled labor.

The occupations found in trades and industries may be roughly divided into the following groups :

NEEDS OF TRADES AND INDUSTRIES 13

Occupations requiring skill and trade knowledge. Occupations requiring skill and no trade knowledge. Occupations requiring trade knowledge and no skill. Occupations requiring neither skill nor trade knowledge, except in a very low degree.

There is a certain amount of industrial training that must be imparted to the group of men on the distributing phase of industry. The knowledge of the salesman of his product should be thorough, and at the same time should be very different from that of the mechanic. 1

A great many men and boys are injured and many die every year on account of injuries or the conditions under which they work. Experiments and careful questioning of injured people seem to indicate that most hand injuries are due to performing work on machines automatically, and because, without the intellect, the hand has no sense of danger until just at the instant the injury takes place. The assumption is that the hand proceeds automatically to correct the machines when they become jammed or caught, and unless the intellect becomes active, the hand is endangered and caught. The inclination of the workman to perform his tasks automatically has caused nearly all industrial accidents. If employees worked with their intellects fully concentrated upon their work, guards would not be necessary, for workmen would be awake to all dangers at all times. In many lines of work this concentration would cut down production more than fifty per cent. If the workman had to think of every move of his hand before acting he could not do more than half of his work. Therefore machinery must be both guarded and production decreased in order to obtain best results. A great many accidents and industrial diseases may be prevented by care, safety devices, and proper safe-

1 See page 207.

guards for the health of the worker. A specially trained expert called a "safety engineer" is usually employed to look after the welfare of the men and boys, teaching them how to avoid accidents and to prevent disease.

Every year many workers are released from the trades and industries on account of injuries received. These men and boys are often allowed to remain idle for the rest of thenlives. Very carefully prepared devices called "working arms" and "working legs" have been invented for injured men, to assist them in performing certain lines of work. In many cases the earning power of the injured worker has equaled that of the normal man.

One of the most serious problems to-day that confronts the industrial world is the discontent and unrest of the workers of the trades and industries. This is due in a measure to the overgrowth of the present industrial conditions of highly specialized work that has made the worker a mere attachment of a machine. Modern engineering has developed the machine part of industry at the expense of the human factor. To illustrate: Modern shop systems in general have been organized so as to allow to each machine a definite earning capacity that is expressed in the form of a daily or hourly machine rate. Machines represent the investment of large sums of money, and therefore must be kept at work all of the time in order to justify the expenditure involved in their purchase. If a machine, for any reason, is allowed to stand idle, the charge against it mounts up, and it becomes a burden instead of being a useful and productive investment. In the attempt to develop the efficiency of the machines, many manufacturers and tradesmen have lost sight of the fact that the worker is human and demands consideration.

The progressive manufacturers have seen this spirit of unrest growing among the employees and have attempted to assist them in various ways which are usually grouped

NEEDS OF TRADES AND INDUSTRIES 15

under a heading called "welfare work." A specially trained person called an employment manager is usually selected to employ workers and look after their welfare. This welfare work has failed in some cases because it conferred benefits upon a group of workmen, requiring and asking no service on their part. Experience shows that the average American workman is suspicious of an employer " bearing gifts." This same average American workman, however, is keen enough to engage cooperatively in any undertaking that is frankly advanced by the employer as of mutual advantage, as the establishment of an all-comprehensive employees' service department, such as locker-room service, physical examinations, dispensary dental service, sickness and death benefits, lunch-room service, banking and loan service, industrial education, and recreational facilities.

This cooperation will tend to develop a strong sense of loyalty between the worker and the organization, an esprit de corps similar to that existing between the apprentice and master, and to remove discontent among the workers. The average manufacturer seldom knows or sees his men, and therefore is not able to have the sympathetic understanding that he should.

Another great educational need is the training of the immigrant. The United States is just beginning to realize the great educational task before it, the education of at least thirteen million foreign-born people in this country, many of whom do not speak our language, do not come in contact with Americanizing influences, and are in a measure out of sympathy with the country's institutions. Heretofore we have looked to the traditional school system, the influence of social contact, and city life to mould the recent immigrant and his children into American citizens. These different agencies performed this work when the numbers of immigrants were not large, and were from Ireland, Scotland,

16 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION J

England, Sweden, etc., people who were more or less familiar with the institutions of this country. Within the last decade or two the numbers of immigrants have greatly increased, and many are from the remote sections of Europe, making the problem of assimilation greater than ever before.

The industries of this country are employing these immigrants to perform highly specialized, semi-skilled, and unskilled work. In iron and steel manufacturing east of the Mississippi River 57.7 per cent of the employees are foreign-born: in bituminous coal mining in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Alabama, Virginia, and West Virginia, 61.9 per cent of the employees are foreign-born: in woolen and worsted manufacturing in the North Atlantic States, 61.9 are again foreign-born; in clothing manufacture in New York City, Rochester, Baltimore, and Chicago, 72.2 per cent are foreign-born; and so on. Probably two thirds of the construction and maintenance work of the railroads and railways has been done by the foreign-born workman. In addition most of the general street and road construction has also been carried on by the recent immigrants. 1

An examination of the work performed by these people shows that it is not educational. They are in the employer's hands from eight to twelve hours a day, and when they get through with the day's work they are too tired to receive definite instruction for Americanization.

1. Draw a diagram showing the organization of

(a) Cotton mill.

(b) A large electrical plant.

(c) General machine shop.

2. What are the qualities necessary to be a research chemist in a rubber factory?

1 Report on the Education of the Immigrant, U.S. Bureau of Education.

NEEDS OF TRADES AND INDUSTRIES 17

3. What are the qualities necessary to be a high-grade die-sinker?

4. Why cannot young men between the ages of 14 and 20 be classified as to their future ability to serve as foremen?

5. What callings in industrial trades lie between the professional engineer and the skilled tradesman?

6. What are the qualities necessary for a man to be a foreman of a machine shop?

7. What are the qualities that distinguish a lathe hand from one who sells lathes?

8. What are the qualities necessary for a man to be a general manager of a large electrical plant employing 6000 hands?

9. What are the necessary qualities to become a good draftsman in a shipyard?

10. Name the trades and industries that require a large number of unskilled workers.

11. Should industrial education be given to the group mentioned in question 10?

12. WTiat are the economic advantages of a highly specialized trade?

13. Is there any tendency to limit the differentiation and specialization that is going on in the trades and industries?

14. Name some occupations that cannot be entered during youth.

15. Name occupations that depend upon juvenile help.

16. Is there any place in the trades and industries for a so-called "handy man with tools."

* The Modern Factory. George M. Price.

(The organization of a factory showing the different classes of workers.)

* Education for Industrial Workers. Herman Schneider.

(A very interesting study of the work performed by the different classes of workers.)

* " Business Men in the Making." F. M. White. Outlook, Aug. 26, 1911.

* Practical Safety Methods and Devices. George A. Cowee.

(Need of practical safety methods to protect the workers.) ** Workers and the State. A. A. Dean.

(A system of industrial education is as necessary as professional education.)

* Betterment, Individual, Social and Industrial. E. Cook.

(Methods to improve the working classes.) ** The Spirit of Youth and Industry. Jane Addams.

(The relation between the habits of youth and the needs of industry.)

CHAPTER in

HOW MEN HAVE BEEN TRAINED FOR TRADES AND INDUSTRIES IN THE PAST

The history of the training of young people for the trades and industries in the past will assist us materially in solving the same problem to-day. Of course we must bear in mind that we cannot transplant any of the institutions of the past and expect them to meet the problems of to-day, because conditions of the past and the present are very different.

As far back as the time of the Roman Empire men were selected to build and destroy bridges, water-supplies, and fortifications. Every well-organized army had its group of bridge-builders, etc., called "engineers." Later they laid out campaigns, made plans to defend or attack forts. In order to do this work they invented implements of war, engines, etc. In time of peace they constructed waterworks. When the duty of constructing roads, waterworks, arches, etc., was left to the civil authorities, the expert was called a "civil engineer," to be distinguished from the "military engineer." Later experts on the steam engine were called "mechanical engineers." In like manner the term "electrical engineer," "sanitary engineer," "mining engineer," etc., arose. Engineers in England at first received their knowledge through the world of experience aided by advice from older men. As time went on opportunity was provided for the training of engineers by means of an apprenticeship of seven years to an old established engineer. The fee usually paid depended upon the reputation of the engineer. Most of the practical training was received through experience in the field, and the theoretical and scientific knowledge was imparted by the engineer in the office two or three months of the year.