A New Development in Evening Classes
NEWS AND COMMENT.
In Philadelphia where night classes have flourished for years, a movement has recently been set on foot to broaden and standardize the work in the different schools, and to bring it more prominently before the attention of the public. Representatives from the Y. M. C. A., Drexel Institute, Franklin Institute, School of Industrial Art, Spring Garden Institute, Wagner Institute, Temple University, with the Philadelphia Trades School and the Evening Public Schools of Philadelphia and Camden, met together last spring with the purpose of getting the schools better acquainted with each other’s work and gaining the cooperation of the employers of labor. Later, in order to avail itself of the wide resources of the Public Education Association of Philadelphia, the Conference organized as a section of that association, with its own officers, to be known as the “Industrial and Technical Education Conference of the Public Education Association”. The membership consists of educators and employers, and the object is the solution of some of the problems which arise in connection with the further training of young people who are forced to leave school to go to work before they have completed their education.
This combination has resulted practically in bringing together all the schools giving evening instruction. These schools, which are semi-private in character, have gone so far as to issue joint advertisements, through posters and through the public press. The posters have, with the consent of the employers, been placed conspicuously in all the large manufacturing and business establishments. Under the new arrangement the Public Education Association serves as a clearing house for information in regard to industrial and technical opportunities offered in all the schools throughout the city.
An important result of the conference was a meeting held on Monday evening, September 22d, of all municipal employes in Philadelphia, in the interests of advanced education. The object was to bring to the attention of the men employed in various departments of the city, the means by which they may equip themselves for positions of greater efficiency and higher responsibility. The opportunities now offered were presented in brief addresses by the heads of the departments and the officers of the conference, and by means of informal discussion with employes, suggestions were obtained as to the possibilities of enlarging the field so as more fully to meet their needs.
Genuine Vocational Training.
The school authorities of Lansing, Michigan, have devised a capital plan for keeping boys in the public schools, at the same time giving them a real vocational training. Any boy who has completed the eighth grade may enter for the “Industrial Cooperative Course,” or any boy who has completed one year’s work in any high school may take the course and begin his shop work at once. The course is of four years’ duration. The first year is all school work; the second year and every year thereafter the boys work in pairs, one boy being at the shop while his mate is at school. These boys alternate weekly, and in this way the jobs at the shop and the classes at the school run along smoothly without any interruption.
Every boy is given a trial of two months beginning immediately at the close of school in June. If he likes the work and shows aptitude for it, he continues the course; otherwise he drops out and if he chooses may take up some other course in the high school. This gives the boy an opportunity to find himself,?something quite generally lacking in the schools. The shop work includes instruction in all the operations necessary to the particular trade in which the boy is interested.
The boys receive pay for the time actually spent in the shop. For the first year in the shop (the second year of the course) they receive ten cents an hour, for the second year twelve and one-half cents, and for the third year fifteen cents. Their work in the shop covers a total of about 1650 hours a year. The value in money of this course to each boy is therefore $165.00 for the first year (the second year of the course), $206.25 for the next year, and $247.50 for the last year. The value in opportunity and efficiency would be very difficult to estimate.
It is obvious that this work offers a strong inducement for the boy to continue in school. The chance to earn money gratifies his natural desire for independence, and to some extent lifts from the shoulders of his parents the burden of keeping him in school. During vacation work is usually provided in the shops, which adds to the boy’s yearly income while keeping him occupied and off the street.
A strong feature of the Industrial Cooperative Course is the agreement entered into by the boy and his employer. If after the trial period of two months the boy is satisfied that he wants to learn the trade, his parents agree that he shall stick at it for three years, and the manufacturer on his part agrees to teach him the various branches of the trade designated in the agreement. The arrangement is mutual; each party is bound to give the other a square deal. It is a business contract to be respected; and only in those places where this written agreement between apprentice and employer is in force, has success been attained.
Upon the completion of the full course the boy receives a high school diploma signed by the school officials as well as by the superintendent or manager of the factory in which he has served his time. As a further token of the manufacturer’s appreciation of his faithful work the boy is given a purse of fifty dollars.
The course of study is as follows: First year (all school work), English and current events 5 hours, arithmetic 5 hours, algebra 5 hours, mechanism and mechanical drawing 13 hours. Second year (half time), English 5 hours, shop mathematics 5 hours, algebra and geometry 4 hours, physics 4 hours, civics 2 hours, mechanism and mechanical drawing 10 hours. Third year (half time), English 5 hours, shop mathematics 5 hours, chemistry 4 hours, first aid to the injured 1 hour, mechanism and mechanical drawing 10 hours. Fourth year (half time), English 5 hours, commercial geography and business methods 2 hours, physics, electricity and heat 4 hours, chemistry 5 hours, mechanism and mechanical drawing 10 hours, shop mathematics 4 hours.
The first year’s class, 1912-13, was made up of twenty boys. This year, 1913-14, twenty-five boys have applied for the course. Medical Milk Commissions and Certified Milk. This is the title of the first bulletin in the new departmental series of the U. S. Department of Agriculture. It is a contribution from the Bureau of Animal Industry, and is a revision of a previous bulletin on the same subject. The organization and objects of the first milk commission are described and the origin and meaning of “certified milk” are set forth. The word “certified” has been registered in the U. S. Patent Office and may only be used by a duly organized medical milk commission.
The first milk commission was organized in 1893. Since that time over 60 commissions have been established but nearly one-third of that number are inactive at present. About 125 dairies are engaged in producing certified milk and the daily production is nearly 25,000 gallons, an increase of 300 per cent in five years. While this seems a remarkable increase, it should be remembered that only about one-half of 1 per cent of the total milk supply of the country is certified. While the chief demand for certified milk is for infants and sick people, it further serves to teach the public the value of careful methods in milk production and the extra cost of absolutely clean milk.
The bulletin describes the equipment and methods necessary for the production of certified milk. It is pointed out that expensive equipment is not a necessity so much as a careful and unremitting attention to details. In 1907 the American Association of American Milk Commissions was organized. The methods and standards for the production and distribution of certified milk adopted by this association at its 1912 meeting are given in the appendix to the bulletin.
A Loan Library for Educators. The Pennsylvania State Board of Education has in process of organization a library on education for the use and benefit of teachers, superintendents and citizens of the state who wish to keep in touch with the latest and best thought on topics relating to modern educational movements, but who do not have immediate or convenient access to books or pamphlets touching these subjects. Teachers, superintendents and other school officers, lawyers, physicians, ministers, members of women’s clubs and other civic and professional or lay organizations are frequently called upon to prepare addresses or papers for public, civic and educational meetings, and are at a loss to know where to get authoritative matter to serve their purposes. Most private libraries to which access may be had are limited to books of a general character, or represent only the owner’s tastes and interests; public libraries are often inaccessible, and in many cases have little to offer on special subjects relating to the schools. To meet the apparent need of this wide circle of special educational interests, this library has been created. It is the purpose of the state board of education to make the largest and best collection of books, pamphlets, clippings and reference lists on general and special phases of education that it is possible to secure. Every form of practical school endeavor will be represented in the list of books and pamphlets. The following headings are suggestive:
The health of school children; the physical environment; school-house architecture; school sanitation and its relation to the pupils; household and manual arts; vocational, industrial and manual training; vocational guidance; school administration; moral education; school gardens; social center activities; education of defectives; agricultural education; playground activities; consolidation of schools; eugenics.
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