A Report on Vocational Training in Chicago and in Other Cities
Chapter 8: Industrial Schools and Courses In Other Cities (concluded): Shop Methods, Academic Courses and Drawing. Wages of Former Students
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The preceding chapter attempts, among other things, to show the degree in which the particular schools and courses described may be regarded as "industrial" in character, as distinguished from schools of the conventional manual training type, (a) by giving lists of shop products. (b) by stating the use to which the products were put, (c) by giving the portion of school time which is devoted to the shop and to the academic work.
In this chapter the industrial character of some of these schools is still further shown by giving under I, below, a description of methods used in shopwork, and under II, some outlines of academic courses closely related to shop and industrial needs, together with a list of reference and text-books. Under III statistics are given on the wages of students from eight trade and technical schools compared with the wages of persons trained only in the industries.
I. INDUSTRIAL METHODS IN SHOPWORK
In a number of the intermediate industrial schools, special effort is made to introduce " industrial " methods and standards in the shopwork. Such methods include (a) the making of jigs to facilitate manufacture and to secure uniformity in the product, (b) division of labor to increase the skill and speed of the individual and the efficiency of the working force, (c) the appointing of students as group foremen and room foremen to develop leadership and organizing ability, (d) the use of cost and time cards and the assigning of a wage rate for students' work, and (e) the use of a checking system to fix responsibility for poor work. Especially good examples of the use of some or all of the above shop methods may be seen in the Factory School, Rochester, New York, in the Vocational School, Albany, New York, in the Trades School, Columbus, Ohio, in the Industrial School, New Bedford, Massachusetts,
(213) and in the optional industrial courses in grammar schools, Boston, Massachusetts. Detailed descriptions are here given of the methods used in the Boston and New Bedford schools.
1. In the Boston grammar school industrial courses,[1] pasteboard boxes were made.
The method employed was as follows: First a sample box was studied and careful note was taken of its use, of the material of which it was made, and of the details of its construction. Especial attention was called to the dimensions and to the need of obtaining accurate results, in order that all boxes might serve the purpose for which they were intended and also be alike.
Each boy then made one entire box, drawing, cutting, scoring, gluing, staying corners, pasting.
Next, by a brief talk, and with necessary demonstration, an explanation was given of the greater economy of employing "industrial methods."
Jigs were made for facilitating some of the operations and for securing greater uniformity in the product. The class was organized into different groups of from two to six boys each, each group performing one of the several operations involved in the making of the box or the cover. There were the box cutters, cover cutters, stayers, pasters, fitters and gluers. There were those who assembled, inspected, packed and counted the boxes, and there were the assistant teachers-foremen in embryo.
Of course, this was not all done in one lesson. By the time 750 of these boxes were made and packed, ready for the supply team, the boys had gained at least a glimmer of light on five points of superiority of this, the industrial method, over the method first employed: First, that there was greater economy in the use of material. Second, that much time was saved, since it was not necessary to lay aside one tool and hunt for another at the completion of a single operation. Third, that the skill increased very rapidly by performing the same operation many times. Fourth, that a standard of accomplishment in a given time was established, below which no self-respecting boy wished to fall. Fifth, that a "good" box could not be produced if any of the group of boys did "bad" work.
In passing, I must note and answer one objection which some advocates of "educational " manual training will make, namely, that the frequent repetition of the same movement is not educational, since it becomes practically automatic-a matter of the spinal cord. Be that as it may, the boys show an ever-increasing interest and delight in their work as they become more and more skillful, for there is a keen joy in mere accomplishment which is by no means a matter of the spinal cord, but of an intelligence which is much higher. It should also be noted in this connection that from time to time .the groups were changed, so that in the end all the boys had performed several, if not all, of the different operations.
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The second project was a box smaller and more finely constructed than the first. Sixteen hundred of these were made.
In speaking of the methods used in making the later projects, it is only necessary to note two points in which they differed from those first employed: First, in the earlier project the groups were chosen with reference to the ability of individual boys and the difficulty of the several operations. In the latter the groups were formed by taking the boys in order, just as they came, and a "foreman" was appointed for each group.
Second, a system of " check " was introduced, which made it possible to trace poor work to its author-thus fixing responsibility. After the completion of the second project some calculations were made to ascertain the increase of efficiency, and it was found to be about 400 per cent.
It is rather early to speak with certainty about the interest with which the boys will follow this work, but the indications are all extremely favorable. The boys do not seem to object to giving their work to the city, but rather appear to be pleased that they can contribute something to its support, and that, in these days, is of no small consequence. Interest seems to be awakened and held by the mere productive activity-by the industrial processes themselves, and it has not been necessary, thus far, to bring in the motive of ownership, which is prominent in the regular manual-training work. The boys were interested when the supply team called to transfer their boxes to the supply rooms. Some rivalry has been noted between different groups, and some boys have asked to be allowed to work at home.
2. At the New Bedford, Massachusetts, Industrial School [2] the shopwork aims to produce, among other things, what may be called " a constructive state of mind, by putting the pupil repeatedly through the whole process of planning, expressing and constructing some piece of work which is to be used, and at the same time to develop proper shop habits." The job-shop is taken as the general model for the shopwork, the academic work being largely determined by and centered about the work on a particular job.
Orders are sent into the office from the head of any department. In the office each job is entered on a job card. On this card is placed the name and office number of the job. The shop instructor takes this card to his office and enters on it the name and number of the boy to whom he assigns the job. The boy then rings in his time on the time clock. Since the card shows from what department the order came, he goes to that instructor to get further details, which are intentionally given orally. He then goes to the drawing room, presents his job card and is given a check, a piece of drawing paper. Oil this be draws the work, and then takes the drawing to the man who gave the order. If all right, from the standpoint of the man who wants the article, he takes his drawing to the shop instructor to be
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O. K.'d. Then he gets out specifications and stock and cost figures, or any other calculations which may be needed, on the same sheet as the drawing. When these are passed by the academic teacher, he reports at the shop, entering on his sheet time spent in this work as shown by his card.
He then makes the article or does the work, gets it passed by the instructor and returns his drawing sheet to the drawing supply room. There he writes a report on the work. When this is accepted by the English teacher the job is completed, and he rings out on the job card, turning that and the article (if possible) into the shop office.
Thus in this process the boy has planned and carried out a definite piece of work, and has incidentally got his English, mathematics and some ideas of economy, has been required to carry through a number of steps in proper order and has gone through the whole process of production.
II. DRAWING AND ACADEMIC COURSES RELATED TO INDUSTRIAL NEEDS
Practically all the industrial schools visited by the committee's representative are endeavoring to organize the academic instruction around industrial needs. Few of the schools, however, have gone far enough in these efforts to have definite and complete outlines of such work. This is due, in part, to the lack of appropriate text and reference books, and to a lack of time in the early stages of these experimental schools when many things need to be done.
Twelve schools were found which have developed " industrialized " courses in drawing and academic subjects to such an extent that outlines or descriptions can be here given which may be suggestive to others interested in this matter. These courses are described below, classified with respect to subject matter. In addition. courses in industrial history and civics in the continuation schools of Munich, Germany. are outlined under "history." A list of reference and text-books, obtained from instructors in industrial schools in this country, is given at the end of the section.
Mathematics
The following books and courses in mathematics have been brought out in close connection with trade and technical schools in order to supply the demand for mathematical subject matter closely related to shop needs.
1. Shop Mathematics,[3] by E. E. Holton, is based on the author's twelve years' experience as draftsman and shop foreman and on
(216) twelve years' experience in teaching in trade and technical schools. The chief feature of the book is the 38 lists of some 600 problems related to machine-shop practice. No attempt is made to explain mathematical theory or principles. Rules and formulas are given under each subject, with some explanation of their meaning and use. The book contains 211 pages, with over 62 illustrations of machines and apparatus, a list of 56 formulas, and a table of natural trigonometric functions. It is, perhaps, best adapted for use in technical high schools, after two years or more of mathematics have been completed.
2. A book of problems intended to supplement the usual algebra and plane and solid geometry of secondary schools, and the trigonometry of right triangles, has been worked out in the mathematic classes of Lewis Institute, Chicago, by Herbert E. Cobb, one of the instructors. The book is at present, November, 1910, in manuscript form, and contains over 1,200 problems, from one-half to two-thirds of which relate to laboratory and shopwork and engineering formulas. On the mathematical side these applied problems require the use of arithmetic, algebra, trigonometry of right triangles and a small amount of plane geometry. Considerable use is made of the graph in the solution of the applied problems. The remaining problems are of the geometry-algebra type, intended to interweave those subjects. Explanatory solutions of problems are given. and frequent explanations of the principles of science with some experimental work. The meaning and use of formulas are presented. Since the book is intended to be supplementary to the regular work in mathematics very little explanation is made of the mathematical principles involved in the problems.
3. Shop Problems in Mathematics,[4] by Breckenridge, Mersereau and Moore, is intended to provide the mathematics needed in the usual four-year high-school course in manual training. It should be useful as a handbook in the shops or as a supplementary- book in the mathematics classroom throughout the four years. In addition to the shop problems, and the rules and formulas required, some 80 pages are given to a review of calculation, and to an explanation of the mathematical principles involved in the use of formulas and in the trigonometric solution of triangles. The book contains 278 pages, with 162 figures and illustrations of machines and apparatus.
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4. The following course in mathematics is offered in the Cleveland Technical High School.
Secondary School Mathematics,[5] Book I, by Short and Elson, is used in the first year. This book covers about a half-year of algebra and a hall-year of geometry, with some arithmetic interwoven. Nearly all of the ten chapters contain supplementary lists of applied problems related to the science work of boys and girls.
Secondary School Mathematics, Book II, by Short and Elson, is used in the second year. This book contains the second halfyear's work in both geometry and algebra. Supplementary lists of applied problems for boys, at the end of the chapters, contain problems on pulleys, gears, speeds, roof trusses, weights and forms of nuts and bolts, strength of materials, stresses on beams, tapers, etc. The lists of applied problems for girls are mainly arithmetical and are based on the cost of materials for garments, the preparation (cutting) of materials, the percentage composition of foods, etc.
The mathematics of the third year, for boys, is machine-shop mathematics, and is studied in the machine shop, instead of in the mathematics classroom. For this course Holton's Shop Mathematics[6] is used.
For the fourth year the customary course in advanced or college algebra will probably be offered.
5. The Manhattan Trade School for Girls, New Fork city, has developed a course in industrial arithmetic, published in book form under the authorship of Mary L. Gardner and Cleo Murtland. The book contains 53 pages of problems classified with reference to the trades taught in the school, together with problems bearing on the textile industries. No attempt is made in the book to explain the arithmetical principles involved in the problems.
6. The Milwaukee School of Trades and the Cincinnati Continuation School are developing courses in mathematics covering the mensuration, the algebra and the trigonometry needed in the trades taught. In the Cincinnati school considerable effort is made to give the student an understanding of the mathematical principles involved in the rules and formulas used' in the shops.
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7. Hundreds of problems, closely related to shop needs, have been prepared for the apprentices of the New York Central Lines.[7] Some of the problems are general in character and are to be solved by all apprentices; others are related to a particular trade and are to be solved by the apprentices in that trade only.
The body of the course is arithmetic, including mensuration of plane and solid figures, but some attempt is made to introduce algebra, in a simple way, in connection with formulas. Problems on levers, gears, pulleys and strength of materials are also given.
The course is essentially a problem course, all theory, principles and rules being introduced through problems needed for solution in the shops. Practically all problems are clothed in shop language.
Drawing
1. In the New York Central Apprenticeship system a course in drawing is provided for each trade, specially adapted to the needs of that trade. No preliminary geometrical exercises are used. The drawings are entirely of objects used by the apprentices in the shops, geometrical principles being introduced when needed. Lettering is taught incidentally in connection with the title on the sheet. Blueprint instruction sheets are used, containing general directions, as well as specific directions for the individual drawings.
2. In the High School of Practical Arts for Girls, Boston, Massachusetts, drawing is closely related to the shopwork. Before a garment or hat is made in the shops, a design or working-drawing, giving full details, is made in the drawing-room, due consideration being given to the figure of the girl for whom the article is intended, and to the quality and kind of material to be used. After the article is completed in the shops, a final drawing is made, similar in character to the designs in fashion-plates and magazines. The artistic finish of these final drawings is noteworthy.
In domestic science the drawing is based on house-building, furnishings, decorations, etc.
History
1. The course in the history of boot and shoe making, outlined below,[8] was given in Brockton, Massachusetts, to fourth-year high
(219) school students, three periods a week for the regular school year. All students in the course had already taken one year in ancient history, one year in mediaeval, and one in English history, and were taking American history, two periods a week, along with the industrial history.
Footwear-of primitive people in all times and places. Sandals and moccasins. Materials and form.
Footwear-of civilized nations in ancient times. Orientals, Greeks and Romans.
Medieval Industries
Mediaeval manorial life. Manors as self-sufficing communities compared with New England farms in the seventeenth century. Shoes made in the houses or from leather tanned on the manor. A time of household economy.
Rise of towns. Markets and merchant guilds for trade. Masters, apprentices and journeymen for handicrafts. Craft guilds and their organization.
Thomas the Tanner, and Samuel the Saddler, as topics for original stories. Illustrations of medieval footwear.
Period of town economy.
Modern Industrial Life in the Fifteenth to the Eighteenth Century
Influence of foreign intercourse.
Influence of new colonial possessions of Europe as markets for home products.
Mercantile theories and their effect upon English industries. Large amounts of capital in hands of traders without technical training, who ventured to secure and hold distant markets for products made at home. Therefore, rise of domestic system, and a time of national economy.
Development of better means of communication, i. e., canals, roads and ships.
Modern Industry in the Nineteenth Century
Conditions in England, France, Germany and New England in 1815, 1850 and 1900, showing the transition from the domestic to the factory system of production during these centuries.
Illustrations taken from the silk and linen industries in Germany and Italy, the woolen industry in England and the boot and shoe industry in New England.
Factory system slow to develop in European countries, except in cases of new industries.
Discuss low price of labor there versus high price of machinery. Discuss, also, high prices versus high cost of labor.
American-made machinery and American factory organization being introduced.
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History of the Boot and Shoe Industry in the United States
Lynn, Randolph and North Bridgewater taken as typical centers.
Shoemaking is New England farmhouses by fathers and sons, or by traveling cobblers. Particularly in Massachusetts.
Apprentices in the cities and the country until 1840.
Work of John Dagyr, in Lynn, and Josiah Field, in Randolph. " Bagmen " for merchant.
Vats and tanneries in the New England towns for local tanning.
" Ten-footers "-capitalist merchants who organized the " putting-out " or domestic system.
Development of the central shop.
Conditions of market for boots and shoes manufactured in New England in the nineteenth century.
Farming communities added shoemaking to their winter's and summer's work. Army contracts made a demand for extra production in 1812, 1848 and 1861- Australia and California provided new and relatively large demand= for brogans and for boots when mines were opened in the " forties."
Discussion of the means of transportation in 1830, 1850, 1865.
Conditions of finances in 1800, 1837, 1857 and 18.3. Effects of these financial conditions and means of communication upon the manufacture of goods.
Study of account books of manufacturers and grocers from 1800 to the present time.
Social and industrial history of North Bridgewater from 1656 to 1910.
The Boot and Shoe Industry Passes Into World Period
American-made shoes compete with foreign shoes. Hides used in America come from various parts of the world.
Spread of American-made machinery. History of the United Shoe Machinery Company.
The making and winning of foreign markets by American boot and shoe firms. Our consular service.
Question of " free hides " and " protected " shoes.
Twentieth-century Organization of Shoe Factories
Class visits in local factories.
Study of parts and processes. Study of kinds of mental and technical skill necessary for each process or machine. The work of the office in making up tags, and of the shipping room in marketing the boots. Advertising departments and devices.
Study of allied industries in Brockton.
Modern Problems Affecting the Boot and Shoe Manufacture
Trades unions, trusts and combinations, factory legislation in Massachusetts, factory " betterment " or " social " schemes, tariff, industrial education given by the State.
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Text and reference books used
Thurston: Economic and Industrial History, Part II.
Cunningham: Outlines of
English Industrial History.
Cheney: Industrial and Social History of
England.
Ashley: Middle Ages.
Otis Mason: Primitive Travel and
Transportation, Origin of Invention, etc., published by the Smithsonian
Institution.
Gulick: Life of the Ancient Greeks.
Preston and Dodge: Private
Life of the Romans.
Wilkinson: Egypt.
Bogart: Economic History of the
United States.
Coman: Industrial History of the United States.
Day: History
of Commerce.
Johnston: Ocean and Inland Waterways, and Railroad
Transportation.
Weeden : Social and Economic History of New England.
Dewey:
History of Finance.
Unwin : Industrial Organization.
Schloss: Methods of
Industrial Remuneration.
Bucher: Industrial Evolution.
2. The following outline of talks on printing, supplemented by prescribed reading in books of reference. was given in the Preapprentice School of Printing, Boston, Massachusetts, in the year 1909-10.[9]
1. Early methods of keeping records.
Picture-writing on stone and skins.
Invention of alphabet and writing; scribes, books, parchment, wax tablets,
papyrus rolls.
Illuminated manuscripts. Invention of printing by Gutenberg.
Facsimiles of early printing.
2. Developing and spread of printing over Europe to England after invention
of movable type.
Improvement in typemaking.
Improvement in press; Franklin.
Modern methods; cylinder press; linotype,
3. In the cooperative course of the Lewis Institute, Chicago, one day in the week is given to lectures on industrial history on the topics outlined below.[10] On the following day students are asked to write in class on the subject of the lecture.
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Topics in Industrial History
First Quarter (Feudalism)
1. The Manor.
2. The Guilds.
3. The Black Death. The Peasants' Rebellion.
4. Enclosures.
5. Break-up of the Guilds. Domestic System.
6. Paternalism. State regulation of industry.
Second Quarter (The Industrial Revolution)
1. Hargreaves, Arkwright, Crompton, etc.
2. Watt and the Steam Engine.
3. The Factory System.
4. Laisser-faire. Chartism. Corn-laws.
5. Factory Legislation.
6. Rise of Trade Unions.
Chief reference: Cheyney: Industrial and Social History of England.
Third Quarter (American History)
1. Industry in the Colonies.
2. The American Revolution.
3. Development of Agriculture.
4. Slavery. The Cotton Industry.
5. The Civil War.
6. Immigration.
Fourth Quarter (Present Aspects in United States)
1. Historical Sketch of the American Labor Movement.
2. Haymarket and Homestead Riots (Typical Conflicts).
3. Child Labor.
4. Labor Legislation.
5. Present Organization of Labor.
6. The American Federation of Labor.
Principal references
Coman : Industrial History of the United States.
Commons: Races and Immigrants in America.
Adams and Sumner: Labor Problems.
Mitchell: Organized Labor.
Spargo : Bitter Cry of the Children.
United States Industrial Commission, Vol. 17.
4. Industrial history and civics in the Continuation Schools of Munich, Germany.[11]
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For mechanicians' apprentices
Industrialism: History of manual work in general; development of the trade of mechanician in particular; individual important mechanical contrivances of ancient times and the Middle Ages (building of the pyramids, means of transportation, conducting of sieges, etc.) ; the most important of the ancient masters of mechanics (Chersiphron, Metagenes, Ktesibios, Archimedes) ; the development of mechanics with the advancement in the knowledge of physical laws (Galilei, Newton, Franklin) ; the development of mechanics during the last century (Watt, Stephenson, Fulton) ; the most important persons in the field of electrotechnics (Volta, Galvani, Oersted, Schweigger, Ohm, Faraday, Gramme, Ruhmkorff, Siemens, Bell, Edison, Schuckert) ; the chief fields of practical mechanics in our own times, their gradual dividing up into special departments; the protection of designs; allied industries; the most important features of the industry; examinations for journeymen and master workmen.
Citizenship: The communal organization; problems of the community; the handworker as a member of the community; his rights and duties; titular officials in the community; problems of states union; the manual worker as a citizen of the state; his rights and duties; titular officials of the state. The state constitution of Bavaria; the Bavarian government. The constitution of the German empire; its problems. Social legislation. Commerce and traffic in the nineteenth century, and their significance for the interests and welfare of the citizen. Value of the German consulates in foreign countries.
The citizen of the state in public life: Human society-the social and economic differences in it; their origin, necessity and present development. General social and general economic arrangements (lawmaking. maintenance of rights, security, culture and well-being). The participation of the citizen of the state in the advancement of the general interest of life. The advantage of living under states union. The economic and cultural position of Germany in the world. Supplementary matter from industrial laws, especially legal rules regarding machinery and the running of factories; directions for the prevention of accidents.
For jewelers' and gold and silver workers' apprentices
Industrialism: History of handwork in general; the development of the gold and silver smith industry in particular; the accomplishments of the ancient eastern peoples in this field, and their progress in the art up to the present time, especially that of the East Indians, Japanese and Chinese; the metalwork and ornaments of the ancient Romans; the development of the industry among the people of the north, and especially in the development of the ecclesiastical art work of the Middle Ages (enamel and filigree work). The influence of Italy in the Renaissance under Cellini. The German masters of that time (Jamnitzer, Eisenhoit and others). The importance of France in this field since the eighteenth century. The present condition of the industry, and the more recent advances (Tiffany, Lalique). Important places of manufacture of the past and present. Related industries. The
(224) present-day division of the work-the most important, from the industrial point of view. Journeyman's and master's examination. (As being closely connected with the industrial instruction, the pupil is introduced to the chief features of the characteristic forms of the productions of his industry.)
Geography-history[12]
1. In the Cleveland Elementary Industrial School[13]
I. Iron and Steel Industry
The age of steel
1. Iron ore: its value.
2. Distribution of ore in Lake Superior region.
3. Ease in mining with labor-saving devices; speed of steam shovel.
4. Transportation of ore from mines to boat; speed in loading an 8,000-ton ore boat; unloading.
5. Blast furnace. Description. Contents of furnace.
6. Connellsville coke. One hundred and forty-mile journey- to Cleveland.
7. Making of pig iron.
8. Making of wrought iron; its uses.
9. Steel: Bessemer converter.
10. Steel has revolutionized farming, war, transportation. Influence on railroads, bridges, buildings.
11. Location of iron and steel centers.
II. Lumbering
Wood
1. Structure: Pith; wood; bark.
(a) Pith: Center, soft, valueless.
(b) Wood: Sapwood, heartwood, value of each.
(c) Grain: Edges of annual rings. Woods of beautiful grains-specimens.
Value of grain in beauty and durability.
2. Value of forests: (a) Construction. (b) Buildings; furniture. (c) Pavements, fences. (d) Fuel; pitch; tar; turpentine. (e) Paper, hemlock bark, maple sugar, nuts, etc.
3. Lumbering: (a) The logging camp; time of going into woods; why? (b) Building of camp; life. (c) Control of streams. (d) Cutting, brushing, felling, branding. (e) Log-skidding; the ice road. (f) Banking ground and edge of river bank.
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4. Log-driving: (a) Time of year and conditions. (b) Hardship of rivermen's lives and dangers. (d) Control of stream, dams and log chutes. (d) A log jam and its dangers. (e) Sorting and rafting -the logs at the "boom." (f) Rafting logs to the sawmill.
Manufacture
(a) Making logs into lumber. Sawmill; location and kind of power.
(b) Location of boom for holding logs: Saw-room and its machinery; saw carriage; kinds of saws-circular, band, gang; dry kiln: planing mill.
(c) The sawing operation: Carrying logs into mill from boom. Sawyers and saw carriage which holds log and carries it against rapidly moving saw. Drying and dressing. Sawdust and use. Piling in great stacks on docks or in yards.
Location of Forest Regions
1. Pineries: (a) Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont. (b) Northern Minnesota. northern Wisconsin, northern Michigan. (c) Western Washington, western Oregon, western California (especially redwoods), specimens.
2. Hardwoods: (a) Ohio valley; locate by States; conditions at present in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky. (b) States producing most of the hardwoods to-day; our outlook in this field. (c) Great value; industries dependent on it.
3. Yellow pines and cypress
(a) Yellow- pines: Value and uses of wood. Commercial use of sap. Ports of
export-Charleston, Savannah.
(b) Cypress: Method of lumbering in swamps; value; where wood is in contact
with water. States producing: Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida,
Virginia, North and South Carolina.
Marketing of Lumber
1. Lake boats-Duluth to Cleveland; trace journey.
2. Minneapolis-in heart of region. Center of raw material. Easy, cheap transportation. Waterfalls cheap power. Distributing center.
3. Lake ports engaged in shipping lumber.
Mapwork : Western ports; kinds of lumber; markets.
Forest reserves: Conservation of forests. Object of forest reserves. Work of government.
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III. Agriculture
Wheat (Correlate with breadmaking)
1. Widespread use in ancient and modern times-staff of life.
2. Varieties of wheat, and States raising it, and use: Winter wheat, spring wheat, durum.
3. Preparation of soil: Plowing-steam plow, sulky plow, gang plow; harrowing, planting-pictures of machinery.
4. Harvesting: Time and condition of grain. Old implements: Cradle, reap hook. To-day: Self-binder, steam header and
thresher.
5. Threshing. Flail, modern machine. Life on farm during threshing season..
6. Marketing grain
1. Hauling to grain elevators.
2. Grain-collecting cities of West and immense elevators.
3. Movement of wheat by rail: Northern Pacific, Great Northern,
Chicago, Milwaukee 8: Puget Sound.
4. Cities engaged in handling of wheat: Minneapolis as a
center, Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Louis, San Francisco, Seattle,
Tacoma.
7. Manufacture
Flour: Old methods of grinding, present patent roller process. A great flour mill-process explained with specimens. Flour production-cities.
IV. History
1. History of Cleveland.
2. Civics-the government of Cleveland in detail.
(a) Charter.
(b) Council and mayor, with respective duties.
(c) The departments.
1. Public service, with its subdivisions and work of each.
2. Public safety.
3. In study of industries, historical background introduced, for instance:
1. In commerce of Great Lakes, the history of Great Lakes,
beginning with French explorations.
2. In study of railroads-the history of the Union and Central
Pacific R. R., with the difficulties of the undertaking.
3. In lumbering, in the hardwood forests, Daniel Boone and the
early pioneers in Ohio Valley.
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Science
1. Industrial chemistry in the high school at Menomonie, Wisconsin.[14]
The first semester is devoted to a thorough study of the basic principles and phenomena. In order to cover this work in an adequate manner, it has been necessary to reduce the subject-matter to the fundamentals, leaving out much that is in the average text-book. This has resulted in one decided improvement-the elimination of much of the non-essential, theoretical work, likely to be so dear to the heart of the specialist and worth so little to the high-school student. During the second semester two lines of study are carried on. The girls study household chemistry and the boys have industrial chemistry. To facilitate progress, boys and girls are put into separate sections. In fact, they are segregated from the beginning, but this is more a matter of convenience than of necessity, as far as the work of the first semester is concerned.
The work in household chemistry may be grouped under three heads the chemistry of foods, of breadmaking, and of cleaning. The different classes of foods and their general reactions are studied. Whenever it is possible, the different food principles are extracted from the foods in which they commonly occur. For example, in the study of proteids collagen is extracted from bone and converted into gelatin. Tests are made on the solubility of syntonin in lean meat. Studies are made on albumin from eggs, casein from milk, and a proteid from some vegetable. In the study of sugars, glucose is prepared by the hydralization of starch which the student has previously extracted from potatoes. An effort is made to familiarize the student with the common foodstuffs and with the changes they undergo in cooking.
The work in breadmaking includes the fermentation process, a study of the necessary and favorable conditions for the growth of the yeast, with regard to food supply, moisture and temperature. In connection with the study of bread raised by the nonfermentative process, baking powder and soda are subjects of consideration. Tests are made for ammonium, cream of tartar, phosphate and sulphate powders. A cream of tartar powder is prepared, the best proportionate amounts of soda and tartrate being determined by experiment. The reactions of various acids, such as hydrochloric, lactic and tartaric, with soda, are noted; also the reactions of acid salts.
The chemistry of cleaning involves a study of the chemical nature of stains, such as grease, blood, paint, rust, ink, fruit, tea, coffee and grass stains, with the different cleaning reagents and their proper application. A kitchen cabinet of cleaning reagents is prepared and labeled as to composition and use.
The following experiment is chosen from the work on soapmaking:
Dissolve 15 g. of potassium hydroxide in 120 c. c. of water and pour half of this into a porcelain evaporating dish of at least 500 c. c. capacity; add 60 c. c. of water and 50 g. of tallow. Boil this solution for three-
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quarters of an hour, carefully replacing from time to time the water which has been lost by evaporation; then add the remainder of the solution of potassium hydroxide and boil at least an hour more. Water should be added as before, but the volume of the liquid may be allowed to decrease about one-third. Cool. What are the properties of soft soap? Use? Add 20 g. of salt, boil for a few minutes and allow the liquid to cool. The soap will rise to the top, and the glycerin, excess of lye and salt will remain in solution. Write chemical equation representing reaction for formation of soap.
The industrial chemistry for the boys covers a study of clays and brickmaking, cements, mortars and glazes, the sources and preparation of illuminating gases, fuels, the softening of water and tests of its parity, bleaching and oxidizing agents, the extraction and clarification of beet sugar, making of matches, the denaturing and quick vinegar processes, alloys and amalgams, covering the preparation of brass and solder, preparation of common compounds, manufacture of pigments and inks, blowpipe analysis of some native minerals, electrolysis and electroplating, preparation of varnishes and stains, a little work in photography and some agricultural chemistry. In this course certain basic work is required of all. Beyond this there is some individual adaptation of experiments, so that each pupil does not personally conduct work in all of the subjects indicated
The following experiment is chosen from the study of fuels:
To determine the fixed carbon in coal. Heat about 2 gm. of pulverized coal in a porcelain crucible closely covered as long as any smoke is given off. Weigh. To what is the loss of weight due? What remains in the crucible? Heat the remainder, with cover removed, in a blast flame until all the carbon is burned out. Weight. The second loss in weight represents the fixed carbon in the coal. The incombustible remainder is ashes. Compare your results with the following table:
| Water | Volatile Matters | Fixed Carbon | Ash | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lignite | 18.00 | 20.00 | 50.90 | 10.20 |
| Bituminous | 1.97 | 38.60 | 54.15 | 4.10 |
| Cannel | Undet. | 37.20 | 61.60 | 1.20 |
| Anthracite | 3.09 | 4.28 | 83.81 | 8.18 |
Compare the retail prices of the above coals and their fixed carbon content. Would this hold true if we lived in a coal-mining district? Why? Coke has a high carbon content. Its price is relatively low. Why?
2. Physics in the Technical High School, Cleveland.[15]
Throughout the work, both for boys and girls, the laboratory apparatus is of the simplest, much of it being made in the shops of the school, and the laboratory work aims to make clear to the student the principles of physics
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BOYS' PHYSICS
First term: mechanics, 12 weeks.
Second term: sound, 2 weeks; light, 2 weeks; heat, 8 weeks.
Third term: electricity, 12 weeks.
Mechanics
1. Machines with special reference to the boys' shop experience. Problems from the shops. Applied problems in transmission of power by belts, gears, etc., width of belts for given power transmission, finding delivered horse-power by Prony brake. The definitions are in engineering terms and the engineering units of power, work, energy, and others are given as needed, after the appetite for them is aroused.
2. Parallel forces and parallelogram of forces. Much rich material for this part of the work has been furnished by the foreman of a telephone-line construction gang and by a firm building bridge and roof trusses.
3. Dynamics, accelerated motion, falling bodies, kinetic energy, curvilinear motion, treated rather briefly and in engineering units, are given in a comparatively simple manner.
4. Fluid (liquid and gas) pressures, gas laws and specific gravity.
5. Strength of materials. Stresses and strains, elasticity, elastic limit, etc. Tensile, transverse, compression and shearing strength are treated. The material and proportions to be used in furniture and machine design are computed so that no part will be loaded with needless weight, and yet every part will have a reasonable safety factor for its maximum load.
Sound and Light
A brief course in the fundamentals, with explanations of the most common phenomena.
Heat
Special attention is given to the coefficient of expansion as applied to patternmaking, foundry practice and steam engineering. Indicator cards are made for steam engines. Gas engines are studied in correlation with the making of gas engines by boys in the machine shop.
Electricity
The course in electricity differs widely from the usual course in this subject. Most text-books follow the historical line of development, that is, spend most of the time in studying frictional and static electricity, and devote little to the many applications of the present day. The boy usually has a magnet, a battery and a toy motor long before he reaches high school. This line of interest is followed in this course.
1. The magnet and magnetic field as shown by iron filings.
2. Revolving a loop of wire in the magnetic field, cutting the lines of
force, the simple D. C. dynamo.
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3. The electromagnet, same field set up by a coil, with its many applications, three type cells, open-circuit, closed-circuit and storage.
4. The action of two fields, the galvanometer and D. C. motor and the modern switchboard instruments.
5. Modern forms of electric lamps, power consumption, light and efficiency of each.
6. A. C. generator, induction coil and transformer.
7. The modern three-phase alternator with its distribution system.
8. D. C. motors, induction motors.
9. Static electricity, T-ray, wireless, etc.
GIRLS' PHYSICS
The girls physics begins the first term with heat instead of mechanics. Heating and ventilating, temperature in various methods of cooking, influence of heat and moisture on different textiles, refrigeration, etc., with a little mechanics worked in, as required, furnish a term's work.
The second term sound and light, with a little mechanics incidentally introduced. The effect of different artificial lights on the color of fabrics and the effect of color decorations on light and dark rooms in the home are considered.
In the third term the applications of electricity in the home are especially emphasized and many of the modern electrical appliances are tried out, their current consumption measured and cost computed.
Reference and text-books
In conversations with instructors in the various schools visited by the committee's representative, an effort was made to find out what books were used by the instructor in organizing the academic subjects around the shop and industrial needs. The following list of books was obtained in this way:
MATHEMATICS
1. Machine Shop Calculations, by Fred H. Calvin, published by the Hill Publishing Company, 505 Pearl street, New York.
2. Mechanical Engineer's Handbook, John W. Wiley & Sons, New York.
3. Kent's Formulas in Gearing, Browne & Sharpe Manufacturing Company, Providence, Rhode Island.
4. Elementary Algebra and Mensuration, by Carl S. Dow, American School of Correspondence.
5. Castle's Workshop Mathematics, Macmillan Company, New York.
6. Duncan's Applied Mechanics, Macmillan Company, New York.
7. Tables for Engineers and Business Men, University Press, Knoxville, Tennessee.
8. Useful Information for Business Men, Jones & Laughlin, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
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9. Handbook of Arithmetic and Geometry, for apprentices of the Fore River Shipbuilding Company, Quincy, Massachusetts.
10. Ludlow Textile Arithmetic, C. R. Kaplinger Company, Springfield, Massachusetts.
11. A number of pamphlets containing formulas for mechanics, published by the Industrial Press. 49-55 Lafayette street, New York.
HISTORY
1. Coman's Industrial History of the United States, Macmillan Company, New York.
2. Thurston's Economic and Industrial History for Secondary Schools, Scott. Foresman & Co., Chicago.
3. Bogart's Economic History of the United States, Longmans, New York.
4. Dopp's Place of Industries in Elementary Education, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
5. American Inventors and Inventions, D. Appleton & Co., New York.
6. The Story of Iron and Steel, D. Appleton & Co., New York.
7. A pamphlet on the early development of the silk industry, published by the Brainerd & Armstrong Company.
GEOGRAPHY
1. The Geography of Commerce and Industry, Educational Publishing Company.
2. Day's Commercial Geography of the World.
3. Carpenter's Geographical Reader of North America, American Book Company, , New York.
4. Adams' Commercial Geography, D. Appleton & Co., New York.
5. Olin's Commercial Geography, American Book Company, New York.
CIVICS
1. Foreman's Civil Government, American Book Company, New York.
2. Dunn's The Community and the Citizen, D. C. Heath & Co., Boston.
III. WAGES OF STUDENTS FROM TRADE AID TECHNICAL SCHOOLS
Figures 6 to 11, following, give the wages received by students from eight trade and technical schools, compared with the wages of persons trained only in the industries. In so far as the statistics for the industrial schools are not affected by selective factors such as family influence and economic status, the figures 6 to 11 show the superior value of training received in industrial schools over training received in the industries alone.
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Fig. 6 is taken from Person's Industrial Education, and is based on statistics gathered by James M. Dodge, from employees in the Link Belt Engineering Company, the Dodge Coal Storage Company, and similar lines of business. The records of trade-school trained mechanics are from about twenty-five employees who had received their training in the Wïlliamson School of Trades [see page 190].
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Fig. 7 is taken from an article by Florence M. Marshall, in Charities and Commons, October 5, 1907.
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Figure 8 is drawn from statistics taken from the President's Report
of 1909
Figure 9 is taken from an article by Susan M. Kingsbury, in the Report of the Massachusetts Commission on Industrial and Technical Education, April, 1906. The statistics of boys with technical-school training are of students from the California School of Mechanical Arts, San Franscisco (a four-year trade school), and from the Technical High School, Springfield, Massachusetts.
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Fig. 10 is drawn from statistics furnished by the principal, Edgar S. Barney.
Forty-two per cent of the students from the Hebrew Technical Institute who have been out of school ten years or more are holding positions as foremen, superintendents, or proprietors, according to a statement of the principal.
Fig. 11 is taken from the report of the New Jersey Commission on Industrial Education. The statistics on the Newark Technical School are based on returns from 226 graduates.
