Wage-Earner 
 
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P41 
 
 Darnell Ininmitij ffithrarg 
 
 Strata, JJew |jnrh 
 
 BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE 
 
 FISKE ENDOWMENT FUND 
 
 THE BEQUEST OF 
 
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 LC5256.G7 F49 
 
 The young wage-earner, and the problem o 
 
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THE YOUNG WAGE-EARNER- 
 
The Toung PP^age- 
 Earner 
 
 And the Problem of his Education 
 
 Essays and Reports 
 Edited by j! J. Findlay 
 With the Committee of the 
 Uplands Association 
 
 Sidgwick S»P Jackson, Ltd. 
 
 London mcmxviii 
 

 k 14, S'H'Z 
 
 1 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 At the Summer Meeting held during August 
 1917 in Bangor, the problem of Continued 
 Education proved of great interest ; it was 
 therefore decided to pursue the inquiry after 
 the Meeting closed. The Committee put to- 
 gether a statement (see p. 10 below) which 
 was issued in January 1918, and it was then 
 decided to extend the study to a further stage 
 by preparing a number of essays and reports. 
 These are now collected and submitted for 
 the use both of teachers and of the wider 
 public interested in educational reform. 
 
 The reader will bear in mind that the treat- 
 ment is not intended to be comprehensive 
 or exhaustive, but is designed to support a 
 distinctive point of view as regards the part- 
 time education of adolescents. The examples 
 chosen by the reporters may be said almost 
 to be chosen at random : they happened to 
 have come within our purview and * to be 
 apposite : the reader may take it for granted 
 
vi Introduction 
 
 that similar activities can be witnessed in 
 many other districts than the one which has 
 fallen under our notice. Our purpose is to 
 supply data, sufficient to secure a point of 
 view. Some omissions will possibly be re- 
 marked. Writing as several of us do from 
 Manchester, it might be expected that we 
 should give a leading place to Lads' Clubs, 
 but we have preferred rather to deal with 
 efforts which have not been brought so pro- 
 minently under public notice. A full account 
 of this Movement, from the pen of Mr 
 C. B. Russell, was published by the Board of 
 Education a few years ago, and a more recent 
 summary can be read in the British Association 
 volume called Manchester, igi^ (The Univer- 
 sity Press, Manchester), written by Councillor 
 Melland. 
 
 Our space has only permitted a scanty 
 reference to religious institutions, but here 
 again those who want to know 'the facts can 
 readily ascertain them. The Roman Catholics 
 maintain most active societies, of laity and 
 clergy combined, for the oversight of youth ; 
 the Jewish community often maintain clubs and 
 other social organisations : the Wesley Guild, 
 attached to the Wesleyan Methodist Church, 
 
Introduction vii 
 
 flourishes in most large towns and in many 
 smaller centres also. 
 
 In spite of these evidences of religious zeal 
 there can be no question that only a small 
 portion of the ground has been covered, 
 especially in regard to the new scholars, the 
 hitherto untouched massof young wage-earners, 
 who are the theme of Mr Jackson's essay. 
 And Professor Shelley does l not hesitate to 
 affirm that the Churches on the whole have 
 failed to realise the tragedy of the moral 
 o crisis which the war has exposed. A con- 
 firmation of this view is presented by the 
 results of an inquiry conducted during the 
 last month in a large town in Lancashire. 
 A Juvenile Organisations Committee 1 has com- 
 menced operations in this town at the instance 
 of the Home Office, and has collected full 
 information from every type of religious and 
 social organisation, including Bands of Hope, 
 Guilds, Boy Scouts, etc. The conclusion, 
 as reported so far, is that only one in five of 
 the young people between the ages of twelve 
 and eighteen are to be found in any kind of 
 voluntary association. 
 
 While the contributors to this volume are 
 
 1 See p. 1 14 below. 
 
viii Introduction 
 
 largely of the same mind in general policy, 
 some divergence may be noted in details, and 
 no effort has been made to ensure consistency 
 of exposition. We write as students, who 
 approached this new field of inquiry without 
 any prepossessions, and we submit these 
 first-fruits of our study to those who are 
 prepared to investigate the needs of the 
 young wage-earner with an unbiassed mind. 
 Apart from the extracts quoted in the 
 Appendix, all the contributions have been, 
 prepared by members of the Uplands 
 Association. 
 
 J. J. Findlay. 
 
 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 While this volume has been passing through 
 the press, the House of Commons has con- 
 sidered the Education Bill. Clause 10 as we 
 have printed it below has suffered some change, 
 and many reformers are inclined to reproach 
 the Government for making any concession 
 at all to those who claimed to speak on behalf 
 of manufacturing and agricultural industries. 
 Without an inside knowledge of the |orce of 
 the opposition which the Government had to 
 
Introduction ix 
 
 face no one can judge how far such reproaches 
 are justified. The main principles under- 
 lying Clause 10 are maintained, and at the 
 moment of writing there is every prospect that 
 they will be translated this summer into an 
 Act of Parliament. That is ajjreat achieve- 
 ment, and Mr Fisher's name will be associated 
 with it for all time. 
 
 The result of the changes is a postponement 
 of the introduction of compulsory part-time 
 schooling between 16 and 18 until seven years 
 from the " appointed day," instead of two 
 years, as was contemplated under Clauses 10 
 and 45 taken together : and a permission to 
 Local Education Authorities during this period 
 of seven years to reduce the attendance from 
 320 to 280 hours if they elect to do so. 
 
 The Government has added to Clause 10 
 a subsection relating to Works Schools which 
 provides that " A local education authority 
 shall not without the consent of a young person 
 require him to attend any continuation school 
 held at or in connection with a place of em- 
 ployment, and any such school shall be open 
 to inspection either by the local education 
 authority or by the Board of Education at the 
 option of those responsible for the manage- 
 
Introduction 
 
 ment of the school." These provisions are 
 the result, it appears, of friendly compromise 
 between the representatives of labour and of 
 the large manufacturers. The Reports num- 
 bered I. II. and VI. below will show how 
 necessary it was to determine by law the 
 status of this peculiar type of " non -provided " 
 institution. 
 
 The chapters that follow deal only with 
 wage-earners between the ages of 14 and 18, 
 who are henceforth to be legally described as 
 " young persons " ; a critic might fairly point 
 out that thousands of children earn wages 
 before they become young persons on reaching 
 the fourteenth birthday. For many reasons, 
 however, we have thought it well to confine 
 this volume to the problem of continued 
 education, basing our arguments upon the 
 psychology of adolescence. The relations be- 
 tween schooling and employment previous to 
 14 are equally important, and the discussions 
 now proceeding in the House of Commons are 
 of great moment ; but the proper treatment 
 of these would require us to expound the 
 psychology of childhood, and in particular 
 to consider how the practical outlook of 
 the child upon his environment affects 
 
Introduction xi 
 
 his relation to work and to paid labour. 
 Such a study would require a separate 
 volume. 
 
 Now that the Government Bill seems fairly 
 secure, the pages that follow will, we hope, 
 assist public opinion in answering the urgent 
 question which must now be answered — viz. 
 where are the teachers to be found? The 
 reactionaries who hope that the inevitable 
 postponement in adopting the new law may 
 lead to its being eventually dropped are relying 
 upon the scarcity of teachers as a weapon of 
 attack. Itf therefore becomes a matter of the 
 first importance for reformers to fix their 
 attention on this aspect of the problem. If I 
 may venture on a personal opinion, I would 
 prophesy that many of the teachers and super- 
 visors of the Young Wage-Earners will be 
 found in our citizen army. Puring the last 
 few months our soldiers have begun to realise 
 the possibility of educating themselves while 
 still wearing the King's uniform : if this 
 movement spreads, assisted by the Y.M.C.A., 
 by the universities, and by all grades of the 
 teaching profession, we may find when de- 
 mobilisation sets in that Education has become 
 a matter of real interest and pride among 
 
xii Introduction 
 
 soldiers and sailors : if so, these will furnish 
 an adequate supply of men and women ready 
 to serve the youth of England in days of 
 peace with a_ devotion and a loyalty equal to 
 that with which they have defended our 
 country amid the perils of war. 
 
 J. J. FlNDLAY. 
 
 12/A June 1918. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAOE 
 
 Introduction v 
 
 Passages from the Education Bill, 191 8 . . 1 
 
 The Part-Time Education of Wage-Earners 
 (Statement drafted by the Committee of the 
 Uplands Association) 10 
 
 ESSAYS— 
 
 I. From Home Life to Industrial Life : with 
 Special Reference to the Adolescent 
 Girl. By James Shelley, M.A., Professor '-" 
 of Education, University College, South- 
 ampton (2nd Lieutenant, R.F. A.) . . 17 
 
 II. The New Scholar. By S. F. Jackson, M.A., 
 Master of Method and Senior Tutor in the 
 Training College, Sunderland 33 
 
 III. The Passage from Elementary to Con- 
 
 tinuation School. By X. . 63 
 
 IV. The Young Factory Girl. By Emily 
 
 Matthias, M. A., Superintendent of Women 
 Employees, the Phoenix Dynamo Manu- 
 facturing Company, Ltd., Bradford, Yorks 77 
 
 V. Principles of Organisation. By J. J. 
 Findlay, M.A., Professor of Education, 
 the University, Manchester . . .101 
 
 REPORTS— 
 
 I. A Part-Time Day School for Young Em- 
 ployees (Birmingham). By K. Gwladys 
 M. Fry, Grove Lane Council School, 
 Birmingham 117 
 
xiv Contents 
 
 PAOB 
 
 II. A Commercial School in a Store. By Amy 
 G. Fox, B.A., Lecturer in Education, 
 University College, Southampton . . 127 
 
 III. Juvenile Employment and After-Care 
 
 (Bradford). By Amy F. Purvis, late 
 Lecturer in Education and Handwork in 
 the Training College, Bingley, Yorks . 135 
 
 IV. Working Girls and Trade Schools (Lon- 
 
 don). By Theodora M. Pugh . . -144 
 
 V. The Part-Time Education of Clerks 
 (Manchester). By Wm. Elliott, M.A., 
 Lecturer in the High School of Com- 
 merce, Manchester . . . 155 
 
 VI. Works Schools for Engineers (Man- 
 chester). By Winifred Hindshaw, M.A., 
 Lecturer in Education, the University of 
 Manchester . . . .162 
 
 VII. The Churches and the Young Adolescent. 
 By M. M. Mills, Head of the Women's 
 Hostel, West Ham Parish ; W. C. Watson, 
 M.A., Headmaster of Bell's Grammar 
 School, Colefbrd, Glos ; and J. J. Findlay 1 74 
 
 VIII. The Sons and Daughters of Farming 
 
 Folk. By J. J. Findlay . . . .191 
 
 Appendix : Three Notes on the Psychology of 
 
 Adolescence 201 
 
 Index 
 
 209 
 
PASSAGES FROM THE EDUCATION BILL 
 (JANUARY 1918) RELATING TO THE 
 EDUCATION OF YOUNG PERSONS 
 
 {For definition of " young persons" see Clause 42 below) 
 
 I 
 
 Clause 3. — (1) With a view to continuing 
 the education of young persons and helping 
 them to prepare for the freedom and responsi- 
 bilities of adult life it shall be the duty of the 
 local education authority for the purposes of 
 Part II. of the Education Act, 1902, either 
 separately or in co-operation with other local 
 education authorities, to establish and main- 
 tain or secure the establishment and mainten- 
 ance under their control and direction of a 
 sufficient supply of continuation schools in 
 which suitable courses of instruction and 
 physical training are provided without pay- 
 ment of fees for all young persons resident in 
 their area who are, under this Act, under an 
 obligation to attend such schools.' 
 
 (2) For the purposes aforesaid the local 
 education authority, after such consultation 
 with persons or bodies interested as they 
 
2 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 consider desirable; from time to time may, 
 and shall when required by the Board of 
 Education, submit to the Board schemes for 
 the progressive organisation of a system of 
 continuation schools and for the purpose of 
 securing general and regular attendance 
 thereat. 
 
 Clause 10. — (i) Subject as hereinafter pro- 
 vided, all young persons shall^ attend such 
 continuation schools at such times, on such 
 days, as the local education authority of the 
 area in which they„ reside may require, for 
 three hundred and twenty hours in each year, 
 or, in the case of a period of less than a 
 year, for such number of hours as the local 
 education authority, having regard to all 
 the circumstances, consider reasonable : 
 
 Provided that at any time after the expira- 
 tion of_five years from the appointed day the 
 Board of Education may, after such inquiry 
 as they think fit, and after consulting the 
 local education authority, by order increase in 
 respect of any area or part of an area or any 
 young persons or classes of young persons 
 the number of hours of attendance at continua- 
 tion schools required under this Act, and this 
 
The Education Bill, 1918 
 
 section shall, as respects the area to which, 
 or the young persons to whom, the order 
 applies, have effect as if the number of hours 
 specified in the order were substituted for 
 three hundred and twenty ; but no such 
 order shall be made until a draft thereof has 
 lain for not less than thirty days on the table 
 of each House of Parliament. 
 (2) Any young person— 
 
 (i) who is above the age of fourteen years 
 on the appointed day, or 
 
 (ii) who is above the age of sixteen years, 
 and either — 
 
 (a) has passed the matriculation 
 examination of a university of the 
 
 ^United Kingdom or an examination 
 recognised by the Board of Education 
 for the purposes of this section as 
 equivalent thereto ; or 
 
 (b) is shown to the satisfaction of 
 the local education authority to have 
 been up to the age of sixteen under 
 full-time instruction in a school re- 
 cognised by the Board of Education 
 as efficient or under suitable and 
 
4 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 efficient full-time instruction in some 
 other manner, 
 
 shall be exempt from the obligation to attend 
 continuation schools under this Act unless he 
 has informed the authority in writing of his 
 desire to attend such schools and the author- 
 ity have prescribed what school he shall 
 attend ; 
 
 (3) The obligation to attend continuation 
 schools under this Act shall not apply to any 
 young person — 
 
 (i) who is shown to the satisfaction of the 
 local education authority to be under 
 full-time instruction in a school re- 
 cognised by the Board of Education 
 as efficient or to be under suitable 
 and efficient full-time instruction in 
 some other manner, or 
 
 (ii) who is shown to the satisfaction of 
 the local education ' authority to be 
 under suitable and efficient part-time 
 instruction in some other manner for 
 a number of hours in the year (being 
 hours during which if not exempted 
 he might be required to attend con- 
 tinuation schools) equal to the number 
 
The Education Bill, 1918 
 
 of hours during which a young person 
 is required under this Act to attend 
 a continuation school. 
 
 (4) If a young person, who is or has been 
 in any school or educational institution, or 
 the parent of any such young person, repre- 
 sents to the Board that the young person is 
 entitled to exemption under the provisions 
 of this section, or that the obligation imposed 
 by this section does not apply to him, by 
 reason that he is or has been under suitable 
 and efficient instruction, but that the local 
 education authority have unreasonably refused 
 to accept the instruction as satisfactory, the 
 Board of Education shall consider the repre- 
 sentation, and, if satisfied that the repre- 
 sentation is well founded, shall make an order 
 declaring that the young person is exempt 
 from the obligation to attend a continuation 
 school under this Act for such period and 
 -subject to such conditions as may be named 
 in the order : 
 
 Provided that the Board of Education may 
 refuse to consider any such representation 
 unless the local education authority or the 
 Board of Education are enabled to inspect 
 
6 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 the school or educational institution in which 
 the instruction is or has been given. 
 
 (5) The local education authority may re- 
 quire in the case of any young person who is 
 under an obligation to attend a continuation 
 school that his employment shall be suspended 
 on any day when his attendance is required, 
 not only during the period for which he is 
 required to attend the school, but also for 
 such other specified^part of the day, not ex- 
 ceeding two hours, as the authority considers 
 necessary in order to secure that he may be 
 in a fit mental and bodily condition to receive 
 full benefit from attendance at the school : 
 Provided that, if any question arises between 
 the local education authority and the employer 
 of a young person whether a requirement 
 made under this subsection is reasonable for 
 the purposes aforesaid, that question shall be 
 determined by the Board of Education, and 
 if the Board of Education determine that the 
 requirement is unreasonable they may sub- 
 stitute such other requirement as they think 
 reasonable. 
 
 (6) The local education authority shall not 
 require any young person to attend a con- 
 tinuation school on a Sunday, or on any day 
 
The Education Bill, if it 
 
 or part of a day exclusively set apart for 
 religious observance by the religious body to 
 which he belongs, or during any holiday 
 or half-holiday to which by any enactment 
 regulating his employment or Jby agreement 
 he is entitled, nor so far as practicable dur- 
 ing any holiday or half-holiday which in his 
 employment he is accustomed to enjoy, nor 
 between the hours of seven in the evening 
 and eight in the morning : Provided that the 
 local education authority may, with the 
 .approval of the Board, vaiy those hours in 
 the case of young persons employed at night 
 or otherwise employed at abnormal times. 
 
 Clause ii. — (i) If a young person fails 
 except by reason of sickness or other unavoid- 
 able cause to comply with any requirement 
 imposed upon him under this Act for attend- 
 ance at a continuation school, he shall be 
 liable on summary conviction to a fine not 
 exceeding five shillings, or, in the case of a 
 second or subsequent offence, to a fine not 
 exceeding one pound. 
 
 (2) If a parent of a young person, by wilful 
 default or by neglecting to exercise due care, 
 has conduced to the commission of an offence 
 under the immediately preceding subsection, 
 
8 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 or has caused or connived at the failure on 
 the part of the young person to attend a con- 
 tinuation school as required under this Act, 
 he shall be liable on summary conviction to 
 a fine not exceeding two pounds, or, in the 
 case of a second or subsequent offence, 
 whether relating to the same or another person, 
 to a fine not exceeding five pounds. 
 
 Clause 12. — (i) The Board of Education 
 may from time to time make regulations 
 prescribing the manner and form in which 
 notice is to be given as to the continuation 
 school (if any) which a young person is re- 
 quired to attend, and the times of attendance 
 thereat, and as to the hours during which his 
 employment must be suspended, and pro- 
 viding for the issue of certificates of age, 
 attendance and exemption and for the keeping 
 and preservation of registers of attendance 
 and generally for carrying into effect the 
 provisions of this«Act relating to continuation 
 schools. 
 
 (2) For the purposes of the provisions of 
 this Act relating to continuation schools the 
 expression " year " means in the case of any 
 young person the period of twelve months 
 reckoned from the date when he ceased to be 
 
The Education Bill, 1918 
 
 a child, or any subsequent period of twelve 
 months. 
 
 Clause 42. — (1) In this Act, unless the con- 
 text otherwise requires; — 
 
 The expression " child " means any child 
 up to the age when his parents cease 
 to be under an obligation to cause him 
 to receive efficient elementary instruc- 
 tion or to attend school under the 
 enactments relating to elementary 
 education and the byelaws made there- 
 under ; 
 
 The expression "young person" means a 
 person under eighteen years of age, 
 who is no longer a child ; 
 
 (2) In the Education Acts the expressions 
 " employ " and " employment '* used in refer- 
 ence to a child or young person include em- 
 ployment in any labour exercised by way of 
 trade or for the purposes of gain, whether the 
 gain be to the child or young person or to 
 any other person. 
 
THE PART-TIME EDUCATION OF WAGE- 
 EARNERS 
 
 [Statement drafted by the Committee of the 
 Uplands Association) 
 
 The Uplands Association and its Committee 
 have been engaged for some time upon the 
 problem of Continued Education, and the 
 following paragraphs state very briefly their 
 conclusions — indicating the lines along which 
 they consider the working of the Government 
 proposals should move. 
 
 i. All programmes for continued education 
 should be based on a recognition of the changes 
 in mental outlook accompanying the onset 
 of adolescence ; e.g., a. novel restiveness in 
 regard to authority, often balanced by an 
 admission of helplessness and hence willing- 
 ness to submit to guidance ; the strength 
 of the sex instinct, which can be best " sub- 
 limated " by affording opportunities for club- 
 life wherever the home circle does not meet 
 the new social cravings of youth ; the forma- 
 tion of ideals, liable to rapid change, but 
 
 10 
 
Statement 11 
 
 possessing a strong hold on the sentiments, 
 and affecting the wage-earner's choice of 
 occupation. For while these changes char? 
 acterise all normal adolescents, the youth who 
 earns wages undergoes a special transforma- 
 tion as the result of his (partial) economic 
 independence. The sanctions of parental 
 control are placed on a new footing when the 
 boy or girl contributes materially to the family 
 resources ; a new set of feelings and attributes 
 are engendered in regard to the entire house- 
 hold. These feelings of emancipation react 
 also in many instances on his relation to 
 religion and to his city and country as well as 
 to his family and other associates. 
 
 2. Public Authority, in claiming control of 
 the adolescent up to 18, should therefore pro- 
 vide for individual knowledge of and interest 
 in each young person. This can best be done 
 by putting him under the care of a supervisor 
 or tutor. These officers, who would discharge 
 some of the functions of Juvenile Labour 
 Exchange officials, would not necessarily be 
 professional teachers ; they may be Scout 
 Masters, Club Workers, or Senior Sunday 
 School officers. School teachers would often 
 be available, especially those who have had 
 
12 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 charge of the young people while in the upper 
 standards of an Elementary School. 
 
 3. The class instruction (320 hours a year 
 is the actual amount proposed in the Bill) 
 to be imposed by Authority will often be 
 given directly by the Local Education 
 Authority, but (since its value is enhanced 
 when the youth can express his personality 
 through this means) it may partly be arranged 
 either in a workshop or in a Scout Troop, a 
 Girls' or Lads' Club, or a religious institution. 
 Such instruction should be recognised by, 
 and if possible aided by, the State ; attend- 
 ance would be regulated by the supervisor 
 or tutor, answerable to the Local Education 
 Authority and complying with its regulations. 
 
 4. The two upper standards of the Public 
 Elementary School, reorganised so as to 
 include all scholars who have reached the age 
 of 12, should be adapted to fit in with the 
 scheme of Part-Time Instruction and Super- 
 vision after 14 ; for the years from 12 to 14 
 constitute a time of transition from childhood 
 to youth. Thus an unbroken course of educa- 
 tion and tutorial supervision from 12 right on 
 to 18 would be possible, making more easy the 
 transition from full-time schooling to a life of 
 
Statement 13 
 
 wage-earning, and helping the child before 
 leaving school to find himself ^at home in the 
 society and under the supervision which will 
 continue with him throughout the period of 
 youth. 
 
 5. This re-organisation, involving the crea- 
 tion of a new department or section in 
 the Public Elementary School at the age of 
 12, would be of advantage in other ways. 
 Firstly, 12 is the age at which pupils 
 ordinarily leave the Public Elementary School 
 for the new experience of a Trade or Domestic 
 Economy School or a Secondary School ; for 
 those who are left behind some change of 
 school conditions is necessary, both in cor- 
 porate life and in curriculum ; the new condi- 
 tions can be extended and made effective 
 by reaching up to 18, providing what in 
 principle will be found to be Secondary Educa- 
 tion for the Wage-Earner. Secondly, as soon 
 as public opinion warrants the extension of 
 full-time compulsory education to 15, this 
 can be carried through without disturbing the 
 public system. 
 
 6. Many of the teachers in this reorganised 
 upper section of the Public Elementary School 
 would serve also' as supervisors or tutors to 
 
14 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 youth, but in any event they would co-operate 
 with the voluntary agencies through which 
 many young persons of both sexes will con- 
 tinue to find opportunity for development. 
 Whatever choice was offered to young persons 
 tq attend classes other than those provided 
 by the Local Education Authority, some part 
 of the attendance would usually be taken in 
 the provided classes, so that the link between 
 the youth and his earlier education up to 
 14 would-be maintained. 
 
 7. Curriculum. (1) The insistence in the 
 Bill upon physical training is to be welcomed, 
 together with the prospect of holiday or school 
 camps. All such pursuits should be associated 
 with a corporate life in which the maxi- 
 mum of freedom is permitted. (2) Techno- 
 logical instruction is a necessity, not primarily 
 to increase the wage-earning capacity of the 
 youth, but to enable him to find in his occupa- 
 tion something more than wages. So far as 
 possible the instruction should be associated 
 directly with the factory, the office or the 
 shop, and the instructor should have first- 
 hand acquaintance with the trade. Many 
 varieties of treatment will be necessary, 
 ranging from the lowest form of unskilled 
 
Statement 15 
 
 or repetition work to the elaborated crafts, 
 from solitary employment in a house or on a 
 farm to the thronged shops of a huge factory ; 
 but technological 'instruction is needed for 
 all without exception. (3) Some time must 
 be left over, if only a short period, for enabling 
 the youth to carry forward one or other of 
 the " liberal " studies in which he made a 
 start between 12 and 14. No cut-and-dried 
 scheme of compulsory classes in subjects 
 of general education should be imposed, but 
 supervisors should for some years be allowed 
 a free hand, affording to young persons a wide 
 freedom of choice among a variety of pur- 
 suits, subject always to the Local Education 
 Authority being satisfied as to steady attend- 
 ance and industrious application. 
 
 8. Selection of Teachers and Supervisors. 
 The choice of fit persons to take charge of 
 youth is by far the most important factor in 
 the problem. Many of these can be found 
 among the professional teachers now engaged 
 in Elementary, Secondary or -Technical 
 Schools ; especially those who by working ur 
 Continuation Classes have gained a first-hand 
 knowledge of wage-earning boys and girls. 
 A" few will be found among officers of the 
 
16 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 Juvenile Labour Bureaux ; others among 
 social workers such as are mentioned in para- 
 graph 2 above ; many of these are persons 
 who possess the requisite experience and 
 attainments. The demand will be great and 
 the resources scanty ; every welcome should 
 be given to voluntary effort, even if the 
 volunteers be not specifically " trained " on 
 certificated plans of training. All such super- 
 visors or tutors would act under the sanction of 
 the Local Authority, who, must be responsible 
 to the community for seeing that the law as 
 to compulsory attendance is complied with. 
 The fear of friction, whether arising from 
 denominational bitterness, from professional 
 jealousy, or from distrust of employer's 
 motives, should not be permitted to thwart 
 the great purpose of this national effort on 
 behalf of the youth of England. 
 
 January i()r8. 
 
ESSAYS 
 
 I. FROM HOME LIFE TO INDUSTRIAL 
 LIFE : WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE 
 TO THE ADOLESCENT GIRL 
 
 In such a time as this, in the midst of a heated 
 and gigantic conflict, it is difficult in the 
 extreme to maintain anything like a true set 
 of values in the national perspective ; the 
 mole-hills of the immediate present that 
 demand so much of our attention often hide 
 from our viev^, not only the clear blue of the 
 everlasting hills that mankind in times of 
 vision always sees at the horizon's bound, 
 but also the dangers of the dark middle 
 distance that must be reckoned with before 
 we can again lift up our eyes for the ascending 
 effort. So is it, I fear, with one of the gravest 
 of problems that will beset us when that 
 dark middle distance of peace is reached — 
 the problem of the nation's youth. In the 
 energetic solution of this problem lie not only 
 means whereby the vast social issues that will 
 b 17 
 
18 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 emerge upon the conclusion of war may be 
 rendered more manageable, but also means 
 whereby the nation will rise victor over the 
 destroying effects of war, if she is not to 
 remain for ever fallen. Let us face the facts 
 as we now see them, and consider them in the 
 light of conditions which peace may bring. 
 
 To understand the problem at all fully, it 
 is necessary to approach it from two sides, 
 the more important of which is the one which 
 is more apt to be neglected because it is 
 the less obvious. These two aspects are the 
 material and the mental ; and since our 
 legislators have not yet acquired the psycho- 
 logical habit of thinking, the neglect of the 
 mental considerations in dealing with sections 
 of the community has often brought trouble 
 where there need be none. The material side 
 of the adolescent problem is easily stated and 
 easily comprehended. Let us consider it first. 
 
 The nation, being engaged in such a gigantic 
 military struggle, has gradually been deprived 
 of its adult males in the production of food- 
 stuffs and war material, and has necessarily 
 fallen back on the old men, the women and 
 the adolescents. A very large percentage 
 of the youths and maidens of the country 
 
Home Life to Industrial Life 19 
 
 between the ages of 13 and 18 are engaged 
 in work outside their own homes (and often 
 far from them) at wages which are abnormally 
 high, owing to scarcity of other labour. 
 These adolescents are enjoying a spending 
 power beyond their wildest dreams of two or 
 three years ago— and to a great extent they 
 are exercising that power in a most irrespon- 
 sible way. They are not to be blamed for 
 this : they have not learned how to spend, 
 and it is to be expected that they will attempt 
 to realise some of the extravagant dreams 
 that characterise the improvident period of 
 youth. So that at the present moment we 
 can think of our young people as using up 
 their abundant energies in two directions : 
 first, in " doing their bit "—which is often a 
 long and tiring bit— and thus earning big 
 money ; secondly, in indulging in all the 
 many activities, enjoyments and luxuries 
 that money opens to them. From a material 
 point of view, therefore, the problem of youth 
 at the coming of peace does not seem to be 
 a very difficult one. All that appears to 
 be necessary when the fighting men return 
 to take back their work, and when, owing to 
 there being no further need of munitions, and 
 
HO The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 to there being a probable shortage of employ- 
 ment generally, still further young men and 
 maidens are thrown out of their industrial 
 occupations — all that seems on the surface 
 necessary is for the girls to go back to their 
 homes and for the youths to pick up odd 
 employment or go back to the position of 
 " learners " as before the war. True, they 
 will not have much money now for luxury — 
 but, we can hear the moral adult say, that 
 will be good for them. Where, then, is this 
 gigantic problem of youth that is to beset us 
 after the war, and for which we must prepare 
 with all haste ? The problem becomes clear 
 enough as soon as we consider things from the 
 mental and moral point of view. 
 
 Let us begin by casting back our minds to 
 the pre-war conditions of life of the adolescent 
 girl. Girls generally were attached to their 
 homes in a most intimate way ; a large 
 percentage remained wholly at home, and, 
 although a number went out to work during 
 the day, they lived at home — the centre of 
 their social being was their home — the unifying 
 factor in their thought was their home — the 
 standard in the light of which their judgments 
 of others were formed was unconsciously 
 
Home Life to Industrial Life 21 
 
 built up in the home circles — their manners 
 and morals were the result of home influence. 
 The home was the centre of their whole think- 
 ing and feeling being, which they carried 
 about with them, and which consciously or 
 unconsciously determined their actions out- 
 side ; it restrained the almost overpower- 
 ing instincts and emotions whose awakening 
 dominates the period of adolescence, and 
 implanted in their souls a model (although not 
 a perfect one) of that ideal home which they 
 themselves will one day found. It is vastly 
 important to our proper understanding of the 
 problem that faces us that we should grasp 
 the deep significance of this idea of the home 
 being the centre around which the whole of 
 the girl's life and thoughts revolved. Many 
 young women, especially those who enjoy the 
 pose of being considered " advanced," will 
 doubtless have laughed playfully at the seem- 
 ingly strait-laced remarks of their mothers, 
 who " can't understand what girls are coming 
 to nowadays " ; outside the home they may 
 have passed scathing remarks about Mrs 
 Grundy as impersonated by their parents ; but 
 in their heart of hearts they have always 
 worshipped that same goddess of the family 
 
22 The Young Wage- Earner 
 
 hearth, knowing intuitively that she repre- 
 sents the eternal demand of the instinct of 
 motherhood, of which the home is the shrine, 
 that the subservient instincts and interests 
 should not be allowed licence to parade as 
 ends in themselves. , Considered closely, we 
 shall find that this homing tendency of the 
 minds and bodies of our adolescent girls has 
 been the rock upon which the national morality 
 has been built. 
 
 The reader may now anticipate a declara- 
 tion that the proper place for the woman is 
 the home ; let no such thought enter the 
 reader's head, lest it work as a prejudice- 
 preventing the just consideration of what 
 follows. We are going to say no such thing. 
 We are not going to argue as to whether or not 
 such a thing as what we now understand by 
 home life is necessary to a nation's welfare — 
 that is beside the point. What we are going 
 to take for granted at the outset is that some 
 type of social method — not -necessarily the 
 particular form of society as at present con- 
 stituted (which is ultimately based on the 
 family), but some type of social organisa- 
 tion — is essential to human progress from the 
 very fact that it is inherent in the nature of- 
 
Home Life to Industrial Life 23 
 
 human reproduction. With this warning to 
 the reader not to anticipate our conclusions, 
 let us try to understand the change in the 
 mental and moral outlook of the adolescent 
 girl that has come to pass during the war. 
 Gradually as the girl has been absorbed in 
 the industrial effort that so greatly relies 
 upon her toil, being persuaded, as she is at 
 first, to offer herself so splendidly at the 
 nation^ demand, and afterwards (as the 
 glamour of the patriotic appeal wears off and 
 sne finds that war work is just the same 
 old drudgery as repetitive work has always 
 been) being held by the increasing wages ; 
 herded with other girls to live and work in 
 munition camps and Other places away from 
 home, and having no connection with home 
 life : gradually her thought strays to the 
 wider, freer existence that is bought ready- 
 made in our large towns-; she wonders why 
 she ever was foolish enough to spend her life 
 scrubbing and dusting the unused rooms of 
 home, she wonders how she ever could have 
 been satisfied with the little circle whose 
 centre was her family; her home begins to 
 creep down into a shadowy corner of her 
 thoughts and feelings, and it beconaes just a 
 
24 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 place to visit or to write to, a place that in 
 some odd, old-fashioned way is put into a 
 mental glass case, like a piece of antique 
 crockery to be kept and cared for with 
 affection and laid on a shelf out of the way. 
 The home no longer is the central controlling 
 factor in the life of the adolescent girl. This 
 is the vital fact which we must deal with. 
 Meanwhile we may consider that the centre 
 has shifted to the particular sphere of employ- 
 ment the girl is engaged in. She has probably 
 found congenial companions there. During 
 her leisure hours she has engaged in pursuits 
 which attract her more or less for their own 
 sakes, with little thought of anything but 
 just the pleasure of the moment. We know 
 from abundant evidence that under such 
 conditions, with the falling out of the •home 
 as the point of view from which life is seen, 
 there is a disastrous tendency for the mind of 
 the girl to lose all points of view, and for life 
 to become a non-moral, aimless round of seek- 
 ing for momentary excitement. All kinds of 
 moral pitfalls are open to a mind in such a 
 disorganised state, and, without lessening our 
 admiration for the magnificent way in which 
 the girls have played up to what the nation 
 
Home Life to Industrial Life 25 
 
 demands of them, we cannot shut our eyes 
 - to the evident loosening of adolescent morality 
 during the war. 
 
 We see so far that the national morality 
 before the war depended largely upon the 
 home being the centre of the life and thought 
 of/the future mothers of the nation. We see 
 that the present generation of adolescent girls 
 has lost hold to a great extent of home 
 influence and_has found its thoughts and 
 feelings bewildered by sudden access to a 
 wider but more superficial world. The ques- 
 tion we now have to ask ourselves is what 
 will happen after the war, when the means 
 of access to this big world are suddenly closed. 
 Is it possible that the mind that has wandered 
 so far, that has been diverted in so many 
 directions, will find it possible to return to 
 its narrow outlook and its restricted means 
 of self-expression ? This is hardly conceiv- 
 able. The gifl will find herself robbed of the 
 slight and temporary means by which some 
 kind of social centre was provided for her, and 
 before she can have found herself in her new 
 relations she will be thrown adrift without an 
 anchor that she wishes to use. Do not think 
 that the idea of national service is strongly 
 
26 The Young Wage- Earner 
 
 enough developed in her mind to keep her 
 moral being from becoming unstable ; this 
 may be so in a few cases, but with the great 
 majority now, as paid workers of the powers 
 that be, girls no more realise their position 
 as members of the State than the modern 
 domestic servant considers herself a member 
 of the family which she serves, or is wise and 
 thrifty in its cause. The adolescents have 
 been drawn into a mad industrial whirl, and 
 have found emancipation of a very complete 
 nature ; must we attempt to crush them back 
 to what they now regard as bondage ? Even 
 if we could do it, would it be wise ? Would 
 not their bitter and reckless struggle against 
 us make them the victims of a despairing 
 pessimism ? The real task of reconstruction 
 lies with them, and, as such, the adolescents 
 are the most important people of the present 
 State, and we must prepare them accordingly. 
 Materially the State of the immediate future 
 may be in rags, but there is no need for its 
 spirit to be poverty-stricken ; if only, by a 
 careful tending of the nation's youth, we 
 develop a. new social consciousness in the 
 individual which alone can bring forth the 
 spiritual riches we shall so badly need. The 
 
Home Life to Industrial Life 27 
 
 war has liberated vast effort, and has given 
 to youth the consciousness of unfettered 
 power ; a sense of importance has for the 
 first time been attached to its labour. If 
 we can but grasp all this liberated effort, 
 this feeling of power unshackled, and direct it, 
 or inspire it in such a way that it will seek 
 direction, into channels of usefulness and 
 , great endeavour for the State ; if we can set 
 burning in the mind of the nation's youth the 
 compelling idea of communal service: then 
 we shall have cause, amid all our sorrows, 
 to rejoice that the war has shaken off the 
 asphyxiating comfort of material riches, and 
 left us a wreckage from which a richer life 
 may rise. 
 
 The need for this inspiring discipline of the 
 adolescent was felt, especially in regard to 
 young men, before the war, and many tentative 
 attempts were made by individuals to meet 
 the need, mostly in connection with places of 
 worship; but as a whole the problem still 
 awaits solution. The existence of the problem 
 was seemingly evident to the Government 
 at that time, for proposals had already got 
 well forward for compulsory continuation 
 schools when war broke out and put an end 
 
28 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 to such efforts. But the problem before the 
 war was trifling compared with what it will 
 be immediately after the war, especially in 
 the case of girls ; and we now see that com- 
 pulsory attendance at so many evening or 
 day classes of a purely academic or technical 
 character does not really touch the problem 
 deeply. The main direction in which^effort 
 is needed is social rather than merely in- 
 tellectual ; what we have to do is to create 
 in the adolescent mind a centre for social 
 reference, and this can only be done by 
 elaborating an institution which will absorb 
 the thoughts and activities of the free or 
 floating portion of youth's existence ; an 
 institution in which ideals can flourish, in 
 which social experience can be gained, in 
 which the youth will pass a novitiate pre- 
 paratory to initiation into the full rights of 
 citizenship of the great commonwealth. The 
 Government is putting forward a Bill for 
 Continued Education, and we must see that 
 it is not interpreted in a rigidly scholastic 
 manner, as will doubtless be the tendency; 
 it must not be regarded as a critically in- 
 spected " requirement " which youth will 
 look upon as an infliction, giving to it a mini- 
 
Home Life to Industrial Life 29 
 
 mum of effort ; it must rather be considered 
 by religious bodies and , others interested, 
 working in sympathy with the Local Educa- 
 tion Authorities, as a generous official recogni- 
 tion of the bigger work that they will strive 
 to do. What' the Bill demands is so many 
 hours per year ; what the adolescent demands 
 (if he could voice the more or less unconscious 
 craving which possesses him) is an institution 
 that shall embody an ideal of social life and 
 absorb his whole being. The adolescent has 
 a great fund of social energy derived from 
 newly awakened instincts, and it will find 
 an outlet in one way or another. If we can- 
 not engage his sympathy in social good, he 
 will find expression in social evil. As evidence 
 of this seeking after social experience outside 
 the pale of the recognised efforts of society, 
 witness the gangs of hooligans who organise 
 themselves with most admirable discipline' 
 in large towns such as London and Glasgow. 
 The police know of them well enough to their 
 cost ! We can look forward, unless extra- 
 ordinary efforts are made, to the terrible 
 prospect of the country being overrun with 
 male and female hooligans in all grades of 
 society. If we do not provide means of 
 
30 The Young Wage- Earner 
 
 organising them along beneficent and positive 
 lines, then they are bound to organise them- 
 selves in ways which will cause infinite trouble. 
 
 Up to the present we have made a mistake 
 in trying mainly to hold up the moral life 
 to youth by negative means, by a series of 
 " thou-shalt-nots " : he is bursting with the 
 energy and desire to make a new earth, and 
 he is met with prohibitions. The Churches, 
 one can hardly help feeling, are largely to 
 blame. It is their business if it is anyone's, 
 but they have chiefly emphasised the import- 
 ance of the negative virtues. The divine 
 motherhood of the future — not a divine 
 virginity of the past — and the beauty of the 
 social life that motherhood brings with it, 
 and the beauty and the sternness and the 
 rapture of a full social preparation for ripe 
 adulthood-— these are the matters above all 
 others that should be engaging the attention 
 of the Churches at this moment when the 
 State is so busy with the mole-hills. The 
 future of the State is most surely what the 
 women choose to make it — it is in their 
 keeping. 
 
 In spite of their lamentable failure during 
 the war, I still have a strong belief in the 
 
Home Life to Industrial Life 31 
 
 power of the Churches, if they will but shake 
 off the lethargy that comes from mechanically 
 preaching a dead dogma in a century of un- 
 belief ; they should root their work in the 
 " will to life," the subconsciousness of which 
 is the very Kingdom of God within the young 
 people; the priests must find a conscious 
 external expression for this belief, lest they 
 stumble, blind and inarticulate, towards 
 death. 
 
 Whether or no the Churches are able to 
 rise to the demand of the times, it is impera- 
 tive that the State itself should solve the 
 problem in one way or another, in order .that 
 it may not fall to social and moral ruin. 
 The Education Bill for Continued Education 
 is a beginning, but it must not be suffered 
 to be put off or feebly interpreted. We 
 must insist on the same energy being put 
 into the work as into the rapid production 
 of munitions, for the social training of our 
 adolescents is the armament with which we 
 must meet the forces of social" disruption. 
 A solid phalanx of organised youth must form 
 an -impenetrable creeping barrage which the 
 threatening disintegration of the State cannot 
 approach. Granted that the important thing 
 
32 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 for the moment is the attacking of the mole- 
 hills — difficult ones, but still mole-hills — have 
 we not pioneers who can stand aside and 
 from a calm point of vantage take a mental 
 measure of the obstacles of the future and set 
 their engineers to work to attack the ominous 
 middle distance? Have we no faith in the 
 wisdom of our educationists, that the Govern- 
 ment leaves them so little freedom to act ? 
 Must Parliament be allowed to go on for ever 
 chattering so loudly and so long that it cannot 
 hear or spare time to heed the insistent cry 
 of the future ? Must Education Bills for ever 
 be left over till next session and then be 
 reduced to the anaemic state of undebatable 
 clauses ? In this matter wisdom lies as 
 much in the right choice of the time to do as 
 of the thing to be done ; and the right moment 
 to prepare the path along which youth may 
 safely travel when peace comes — is now. 
 To leave it till we are overwhelmed by the 
 'difficulties of the coming peace is to court 
 disaster, for we shall then be all knee-deep 
 in the slough of social conflict. 
 
 James Shelley. 
 
II. THE NEW SCHOLAR 
 
 We propose to deal in what follows with the 
 special case of one section of the boy and girl 
 population of the country. This section will 
 be affected vitally by compulsory continued 
 /education. If we take the whole of the 
 adolescent population of 13 to 16 years 
 of age, three groups or classes are dis- 
 tinguishable. Firstly, there is that relatively 
 small-section of boys and girls (what is said 
 of boys applies throughout, mutatis mutandis, 
 to girls) that proceeds to the full-time educa- 
 tion of the secondary school. Secondly, there 
 is another section whose members, though 
 they do not proceed to secondary schools, 
 are always ready to make use of any means 
 of part-time instruction that may be avail- 
 able ; such courses, for example, as are 
 already established in the ordinary " night 
 schools" and technical colleges. With these 
 youths home influence or natural curiosity 
 and inclination, or both together, are suffi- 
 ciently strong to lead them to whatever is 
 c 33 
 
34 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 going in the way of instruction and training. 
 This group also is numerically small, as may 
 be seen by comparing the number of boys 
 who leave the elementary schools in any one 
 year with the number who enrol in the 
 " night classes." 
 
 Thirdly, there is a group of boys and girls, 
 much more numerous than either of the above 
 —those, namely, who become wage-earners 
 at 13 to 14. They have, in the past, 
 made little or no use of the facilities for 
 continued education, so far provided. They 
 will be compelled, if the new Bill becomes 
 law, to attend some kind of school or courses 
 of instruction provided by public authority. 
 
 In the presence of these New Scholars 
 the educator is faced with a novel problem. 
 He is called upon to deal with a nature 
 responding to influences which are, it is taken 
 for granted, ruled out of the lives of pupils 
 in schools of any kind. In the bulk these 
 young people have never been brought within 
 the ambit of organised education ; they are 
 the lost sheep of the educational fold. Neither 
 singly nor in the masses should they be 
 judged by the youths of the second group 
 
The New Scholar 35 
 
 mentioned above. It is to be feared, indeed, 
 that most of the boys and girls who are 
 members of Scout Troops, Girl- Guide ^Associa- 
 tions, Boys' Brigades, Church Clubs and similar 
 organisations belong to the two groups we 
 have excluded — namely, the group that has 
 attended night schools voluntarily and the 
 group that goes to the secondary schools. 
 
 Of the group we are dealing with, only 
 the fringe has come into contact with any 
 organised means of education ; the mass 
 has remained beyond the reach of educational 
 effort. What are the reasons for this ? And 
 what bearing may these reasons have on the 
 problem of finding the best kind of training 
 for them ? < 
 
 THE SPECIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF THE YOUNG 
 WAGE-EARNER 
 
 The answer to such questions can be 
 formulated only after an examination of the 
 mentality of these youths and the special 
 conditions under which they live. It is not 
 much use pointing to the conditions of labour, 
 though these have a bearing on the general 
 question. Nor will the deploring of a lack 
 
36 The Young Wage- Earner 
 
 of proper parental control, or of a lack of 
 respect for learning, or of the want of an 
 ideal of thrift, serve our turn. Nor again 
 will mere criticism of the kind of mental 
 stimulus provided by continuation schools 
 and elementary schools, as so far constituted, 
 lead us to the roots of the problem. All of 
 these are indeed factors in the situation, and 
 should come under review in the establish- 
 ment of a scheme of national education. As 
 moralists or as social reformers, or as idealists 
 in educational theory, we can see plain reasons 
 for reform in all these directions. But they 
 all point to another factor which in greater 
 or less degree is complementary to them all. 
 It cannot be said that we have taken any 
 great pains to examine the mind and nature 
 of the boy and girl at this difficult age and 
 under the complex circumstances in which 
 they thrive. We might add that it is extremely 
 doubtful whether we have the courage to face 
 the real problem and to start with the con- 
 viction that education is a matter for the 
 individual soul. Questions of thrift and 
 edification, particularly from the point of 
 view of the worldly-wise, merely seem to 
 burke the issue. 
 
The New Scholar 37 
 
 We must take it that if these boys and girls 
 are to be compelled to come to school they 
 are to be treated with some degree of respect. 
 We want to serve them, to help them. We 
 can never do it by the high a priori road of 
 forcing upon them that for which they do 
 not feel, and cannot be made to feel, a need. 
 Anything less than an attempt to influence 
 their whole outlook is not worth our pains. 
 And we should not be turned aside from that 
 attempt by any undue deference to vested 
 interests, whether industrial or professional. 
 No section of society and no machinery of 
 administration has any claim whatever to 
 dispose of the time and interests of these 
 youths in any merely sectional way. They 
 have a claim to our best and to that of our 
 best which is best for them. 
 
 At all times and under all conditions the 
 mind and nature of boys of this age are elusive 
 and baffling to the adult. This is particularly 
 so for the teacher with a merely scholastic 
 outlook ; or for one who has to work to a 
 narrowly devised and formal scheme. To 
 the jealous tutorial mind the apparent way- 
 wardness of the adolescent, his persistent 
 
38 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 occupation with what is particular and per- 
 sonal, and his lack of logical stringency, is a 
 continual source of irritation and puzzle- 
 ment. It is not, however, that the mind and 
 nature at this age are more complicated and 
 subtle than they are later in life. On the 
 contrary, boys of 14 to 16 are in general 
 very unsophisticated and single-eyed. But 
 their mental nature is so simply organised 
 and so emotional that it is lacking in stability. 
 They act impulsively and from motives that 
 are largely unconscious. Their minds lack 
 the content and the established faculties that 
 experience alone can bring, ^.nd during these 
 years there is an outburst of a group of new- 
 born impulses that lead ultimately to a com- 
 plete reconstruction of the mental fabric. 
 It is upon the control and direction of those 
 impulses that almost everything of value in 
 adult life depends. "The question how best 
 to bring these impulses, with their co-ordinate 
 appetites and emotions, under control and 
 direction, is par excellence the problem of all 
 adolescent education. These appetites and 
 emotions cannot be destroyed, but they may 
 grow out of control or be driven into under- 
 ground, subconscious ways of acting. From 
 
The New Scholar 39 
 
 the educational point of view the positive 
 acquirement of particular kinds of knowledge 
 or of skill is incidental and accessory to the 
 main end of bringing these impulses under 
 organised control. Without centralised con- 
 trol in the individual nature, personality 
 is destroyed and the best part of social life 
 becomes impossible. 
 
 The main complications seem to be due 
 directly to the fact that the boy has become 
 a wage-earner, and so partially, and in some 
 cases wholly, self-supporting. Where, as in 
 the greater number of cases, he is a member 
 of a family, he contributes to the sum-total 
 of the family resources. And this contribu- 
 tion is accompanied by a tacit claim to the 
 privileges and status of the adult members 
 of the family. These " rights " are usually 
 allowed. They are not easy to define, but 
 they may be seen operating in most working- 
 class homes where boys and girls go to 
 work. At best the "sanctions" of parental 
 control are inevitably changed. And in those 
 families where the tie of the common roof is 
 not very strong, where family affection and 
 the sense of a founded home, of family pride, 
 
40 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 are absent or weak, parental control practic- 
 ally vanishes. There are many families of 
 which this is true. What little cohesion 
 there is while the children are absolutely 
 dependent on parental care and maintenance 
 disappears as they become able to fend for 
 themselves. There are, moreover, quite a 
 number of boys and girls who are not members 
 of a family at all. For others wage-earning is 
 taken as the opportunity for cutting adrift 
 from the family altogether. 
 
 In the average household where boys and 
 girls go to work at 13 to 14 we may see 
 what this readjustment involves. The move- 
 ment is reciprocal. The youth demands, not 
 formally, but none the less explicitly, to be 
 treated as a' senior. In such matters as food, 
 clothing, pocket-money and keeping hours, 
 he expects to be privileged, or at least to be 
 treated in a.new way. Leaving school is his 
 emancipation. His mother anticipates and 
 grants his demands, and the rest of the 
 seniors, where there are any, follow suit. 
 They expect him to behave as one of them. 
 With the usual amount of give-and-take, pre- 
 sumption and snubbing, he takes his place 
 as one of the props of the family. In short, 
 
The New Scholar 41 
 
 wage-earning boys and girls assume economic 
 and soqial independence and responsibility 
 earlier than youths who remain entirely de- 
 pendent on their parents. 
 
 This assumption of seniority is an important 
 factor in the mental outlook of the wage- 
 earning boy. Even where the actual wages 
 earned are small, the new force is present, 
 heightening the new-found sense of personality. 
 It tends to be stronger in its influence when 
 relatively high wages are earned immediately 
 upon leaving school ; for the contribution to 
 the household resources makes a substantial 
 deal of difference -in the weekly income. 
 And the boy is not slow to realise this. So 
 far as the home is concerned, he becomes a 
 person of some importance. Not infrequently 
 the mother, to secure the boy's good will 
 and to keep him attached to the home, makes 
 him an absurdly generous allowance of pocket- 
 money. In other cases the boy hands to his 
 mother just as much of his wages as he thinks 
 
 fit. 
 
 In general there is a heightening of the 
 sense of self-importance, self-sufficiency and 
 self-dependence. And these new feelings begin 
 to colour not only the youth's attitude and 
 
42 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 bearing towards the members of his own 
 family, but his outlook upon others about him. 
 He becomes touchy and sensitive to outside 
 authority, particularly if such authority is 
 imposed upon him meticulously and pedantic- 
 ally. Fathers and mothers at home, bigger 
 brothers and sisters, policemen, park keepers, 
 seniors in the shop and factory, and even 
 pastors and Sunday school and Guild leaders, 
 will bear witness to this. Essentially we 
 have a human creature who is mistrustful 
 of any person or institution that threatens 
 his freedom ; who instinctively resents and 
 despises the pedagogical attitude ; who is 
 continually fearful of repression. There is a 
 note of this even in those boys who, as we 
 have put it, mainly through natural inclina- 
 tion, attend " night school." But with those 
 it is latent and shows only at moments of 
 strain and friction between themselves and 
 authority. With our New Scholars there is 
 a set attitude of mistrust and apprehension 
 towards tutelage, particularly of the kind 
 associated in their minds with school and 
 school-life. There is a ground-swell of resent- 
 ment against being passive ; against being 
 talked at, being ordered about, and being 
 
The New Scholar 43 
 
 treated as a child. There is also a dislike 
 of what is taught in school. 
 
 THE REINFORCEMENT FROM SOCIAL USAGE 
 
 The majority of wage-earning boys and 
 girls will be found working in two types of 
 industry. Either they are employed in an 
 established industry, as in mines, mills and 
 iron- working shops ; or they are engaged in 
 more or less casual work and odd jobs — i.e. 
 in the well-exploited blind-alley occupations. 
 Under both conditions it is the accepted order 
 of things — it is an axiom in the parental 
 outlook — that boys_and girls go out to work 
 and to earn wages as soon as the law releases 
 them from the elementary school. The boy 
 now pays, at least in part, for his keep. He 
 goes on " board and lodgings " ; and, since 
 he pays, he has the privileges of independence. 
 The common conveniences of domestic arrange- 
 ments (determined largely by the factory 
 time-table) are to be observed. But outside 
 such accepted control there must be no 
 further interference. The youth may listen 
 to advice or even to reproof, but he no longer 
 renders the implicit obedience which he gave 
 
44 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 while dependent ; and his parents do not 
 seek to direct his movements or to choose 
 the company he shall keep. 
 
 All this applies, as we saw above, to the 
 youths in both types of industry. But 
 where the youth goes to a mill or factory, or 
 mine, or workshop, he goes to an occupation 
 that is definite and specialised. Now this 
 specialisation, under the conditions of modern 
 industry, is exceedingly narrow. The work 
 that has to be done is reduced largely to a 
 set routine. What has to be learnt can be 
 learnt completely and satisfactorily in doing 
 the job. Instruction of a utilitarian kind 
 about the work will not make it any more 
 absorbing, and will not result in any greater 
 skill or proficiency. The whole set and trend 
 of the environing circumstances is, in the 
 main, against inspiring a theoretical interest 
 in the work, or a desire for instruction in it. 
 The job is there, and will always be there. 
 That is enough. The youth graduates through 
 quite well-known steps, and, barring acci- 
 dents, he is sure of a living wage at the end of a 
 few years. The day's work done, he is free ; 
 no authority has the right to claim his time 
 or order his goings. 
 
The New Scholar 45 
 
 We have, then, two forces at work : a 
 personality that is uneasy with and even 
 hostile to external authority, and a social 
 outlook that condones, if it does not. excite, 
 that hostility. These influences are organic 
 with one another. The contempt for school 
 and schooling arises both from familiarity 
 and from ignorance. It must be remembered 
 that the experience qf many of these boys and 
 girls in the elementary school has not been 
 happy. The elementary school can stimulate 
 and satisfy the mental needs of the average 
 and conventionally - minded child ; it is a 
 poor place for the exceptional one, whether 
 below or above the average. It has been 
 devised and constructed on a narrow criterion. 
 Its curriculum and methods are still bound 
 to the traditional book-learning. In total it 
 is only a few of our boys and girls who find 
 a spiritual home in school. The remainder 
 are uneasy and unhappy, because they are 
 unsuccessful. Immense . as has been the 
 influence of the elementary school as a civilis- 
 ing agency, it is still lacking in the narrow 
 and formal appeal it makes to the energies 
 and interests of most children. This will not 
 be mended merely by raising the age of 
 
46 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 leaving to 14. Not a few of these youths 
 leave school before they have completed 
 the " standards." Even the intellectually 
 most alert, the least stupid in the peda- 
 gogical sense, pass from school before they 
 have any degree of free power in expression 
 or any ease in knowledge. This, is the case 
 of the best in the sense of the most suc- 
 cessful at school. But many, though they 
 remain till 14, will always be " backward " 
 pupils. They will never get further than the 
 fourth or fifth standard. The extension of 
 the school life now proposed will only serve 
 in many cases to intensify the sense of 
 hostility to schools and schooling. School 
 has been a bitter and benumbing experi- 
 ence, and when release comes an unpleasant 
 memory abides. At best, for many, it was 
 not an exhilarating influence. The acquire- 
 ment of knowledge in the set ways associated 
 with the tradition of school was a hard 
 and uncongenial task; and anyhow it had 
 been done badly. There was little of the 
 comfort of success, and the scholars will 
 not readily go back to repeat the trial. 
 They are, moreover, the children of their 
 parents. 
 
The New Scholar 47 
 
 AUTHORITY, FREEDOM AND DOCILITY 
 
 Let us restate the terms in which the 
 mental outlook of the new scholar should be 
 described. If there is one trait more notice- 
 able than another it is the instability and 
 incoherence of his character. He has no 
 defined interests, but, as a rule, a perpetual 
 ache for change' and adventure. He can 
 scarcely be entrusted with any task that 
 involves serious responsibility or thorough- 
 going accuracy. He cannot keep his mind 
 for any length of time on any end. His 
 physical powers are easily fatigued. He is 
 capable only of casual and disjointed tasks. 
 All this has been understood from the time 
 when formal apprenticeship and training in 
 any craft first began. It is the main reason 
 why apprenticeship usually begins not earlier 
 than 16. 
 
 But on the other hand, if he has these 
 negative qualities (from the adult standpoint), 
 he has the positive energies of social cohesion 
 and co-operation. The "herd instinct" is 
 strong within him, and it is no longer the 
 simple " gang-spirit " of the plays 'of the 
 smaller boy. It has a different and greater 
 
48 The Young Wage- Earner 
 
 place in his mental outfit and is a motive 
 force in his character. For it comes as part 
 of that immense group of impulsions that 
 break into life with the consciousness of sex, 
 with the heightening of self- consciousness and 
 of the sense of personality accompanying that 
 emotional outburst. 
 
 The assumption of potential independence 
 makes in the direction of short-circuiting those 
 feelings and tendencies which are distinctive 
 of adult and self-dependent personality. It 
 operates as a force tending to make the youth 
 free of the world at large. It brings nearer 
 the anticipation of some of the more serious 
 undertakings of life, ! such as courtship and 
 marriage. 
 
 On the whole there is reason to believe 
 that with wage-earning youths at this period 
 of life both natural disposition and environ- 
 ing circumstances tend to quicken the out- 
 break of this group of impulses. It is not 
 merely plausible, but in a great degree true, 
 that the majority of the boys and girls of this 
 class — if the term may be used — are the 
 children of that part of our population for 
 whom emotional life is less organised and 
 controlled than for those who have had 
 
The New Scholar 49 
 
 opportunities of more prolonged and persistent 
 social training. They mate earlier, with little 
 deference to future comfort, and without the 
 apprehensive circumspection that others take. 
 Many of them live under conditions which 
 tend to force upon their attention the outer 
 evidence of the sexual habits of adult society. 
 All this makes the period in their lives a 
 critical one. Sympathetic fellowship and 
 guidance are needed, and that authority 
 which is allowed spontaneously to an experi- 
 enced mentor for whom there is both affection 
 and respect. And, as such authority is felt 
 as needed, it is accepted gratefully and frankly 
 when it is of the right kind. But it is pre- 
 cisely at this critical juncture that the power 
 of, authority is weakened by the youth becom- 
 ing a wage-earner. Authority of the proper 
 kind, wisely used and persuasively imposed, 
 can do almost anything. Pedantry and 
 formalism, mere teaching and tutelage, can 
 do nothing but what is wrong and disruptive. 
 The best authority is parental. There is 
 scarcely any effective substitute. Here and 
 there we find a person with a genius for 
 friendship with youths at this awkward age. 
 But the faculty of securing the confidence of 
 
50 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 youths and stimulating them in the ways of 
 self-control and endeavour is not common, 
 though our resources in this direction, have 
 not been exploited. The best endeavours 
 of these natural leaders of youth are not 
 infrequently discounted by the disruptive 
 force of wage-earning. This tends to dissever 
 the youth from his membership of Guild or 
 Sunday school. And many if not most of 
 the youths we have in mind never come into 
 contact with such a source of stimulation 
 at all. 
 
 Wherever the authority of parents is wisely 
 exercised and genially accepted, the risks of 
 trouble and estrangement are reduced to a 
 minimum. Wherever parental authority is 
 rigid and exacting— wherever, that is, the child 
 has been brought up in unquestioning obedi- 
 ence and docility — the worst risks are avoided, 
 however unfortunate in other respects such 
 an influence may be. But in the majority 
 of cases it can scarcely be said that authority 
 of either kind is exercised. The tendency is 
 strongly in the direction of the youth becom- 
 ing a law to himself in his free time. He 
 begins to develop a private life of his own. 
 Of real home life there is little or none. The 
 
The Ne^Kr Scholar 51 
 
 house is where the boy gets his meals and 
 finds a bed — and this is true not only of boys 
 but also of girls. The. outlook is towards 
 the streets, of which they have the key. It 
 is there they " visit " one another, and seldom 
 under the regulative influence of an ordered 
 home. It is by what they see, hear and do 
 there (with the added excitements of the 
 picture-house and music-hall) that the social 
 instincts are directed and fashioned. They 
 become inveterate impressionists. And they 
 presently become incapable of enjoying the 
 tranquillity of ordered social amenities. They 
 resist sullenly or with truculence, according 
 to their dispositions, and always with a fine 
 disregard of the consequences of resistance, 
 any force that tends to detain them from the 
 lure they find in the streets. The master 
 passion is to run free. And for the most 
 part it is not denied them. The free life of 
 the streets gives them the only opportunity of 
 satisfying their impulses for social intercourse. 
 School, as many if not most of them have 
 found it, has been a house of repression. And 
 even those who were happy enough there, 
 and found themselves at home in learning, 
 look forward to " work " as a natural and 
 
52 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 inevitable change. But work turns out to be 
 dull, mechanical and tedious ! The family 
 roof is a shelter. But life throbs in the 
 streets ! It is there that the new-born social 
 instincts can find satisfaction. 
 
 In laying our plans for the continued 
 education of these youths, their dominant 
 desires should be appraised at their proper 
 value. We cannot take docility for granted. 
 The average English boy is rarely docile, and 
 the wage-earner most of all, when released 
 from office or factory, is, as we have seen, 
 quite the opposite of docile. Why then should 
 we expect that he will continue to attend 
 school ? We can coerce and compel attend- 
 ance, with the legal authority contained in 
 Clause 12, if we are sufficiently thorough in 
 using the police court or in stopping wages — 
 that is, we can compel the bodily presence of 
 these youths at our classes ; though there is 
 something of assumption even in this. But 
 the country will scarcely be satisfied with 
 compelled attendance. Unless we can find 
 some kind of an organisation and curriculum 
 that makes a positive appeal, our compulsion 
 is waste of energy and temper. 
 
 The whole bent of the mind and nature of 
 
The New Scholar 58 
 
 these boys and girls is to avoid external 
 control when presented to them in the form 
 of mere schooling. This feeling may be largely 
 unconscious.' But when it is challenged the 
 means of escape to freedom becomes the 
 absorbing object of thought. Under such 
 conditions formal instruction and merely 
 technical practice will produce no results 
 worth having. 
 
 Further, this attitude has hitherto been 
 acquiesced in, if not condoned, by those who 
 have admittedly the greatest right to coerce. 
 There is a solid mass of the population amongst 
 whom as between parent and youth it is under- 
 stood to be entirely at the option of the latter 
 whether he goes to continuation school or 
 not. The relation is significant of the attitude 
 of this large section of the population towards 
 school and schooling. In the industrial areas 
 the youths turn from the thought of going to 
 school. The parents are indifferent and do 
 not take it as their duty to insist on their 
 going. And we must remember that we are 
 becoming industrialised to the core. It is 
 for the youths of this section of the population 
 that part-time education is to be provided. 
 We cannot proceed upon the assumption that 
 
54 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 enactment will secure attendance at school, 
 much less continued " education," unless we 
 can devise " schools " in which these youths 
 will find a spiritual home. 
 
 Organisers should therefore lay their plans 
 on the assumption that the youth has no 
 felt need for schooling or for the kind of 
 improvement that schooling by tradition 
 stands for. He knows nothing about and 
 has had no foretaste of the joys of scholarship 
 even in the simplest sense, nor of real craft, 
 nor of art. He has, too often, the prejudices 
 of the ignorant against teachers as a superior 
 class, and the suspicion of being " exploited " 
 by attempts to improve his technical value. 
 
 It is not that the youth carries his pre- 
 judices and antipathies aggressively. But 
 they appear with the threat of coercion. And 
 if the coercion is unmeaning and arbitrary 
 it only serves to widen the gap between his 
 instinctive sense of what ought to be and 
 the hostile adult order of things. If there is 
 anything to be learnt from the past history of 
 " night school " it is that his desires do not 
 take him to those doors. 
 
 There is the further question whether it is 
 in the temper of English people to train their 
 
The New Scholar 55 
 
 youths in docility. So far, indeed, as the 
 immediate future is concerned, there is little 
 need to be apprehensive on this score. But 
 compulsion and coercion are too frequently 
 taken for granted. The official, organiser 
 assumes that the law will shepherd the flock 
 and on this assumption proceeds to " organise 
 courses of instruction." It is not a difficult 
 matter. We can arrange organised courses 
 and rack the theory of every occupation and 
 process in industry. We can peptonise every 
 craft into a graded series of laboratory 
 exercises. But it is quite another thing to 
 devise and create a medium in which a 
 sensitive and half-mute mentality will find 
 satisfaction and rest. This is the problem 
 and the quest. It is not that we should 
 seek to pack what information we can into 
 him in 320 hours in the year. Nor should so 
 much time be spent in doing in the sheltered 
 and abstract air of the class-room the work 
 he has to do in the factory and shop. While 
 we are about it, we may as well at least attempt 
 to provide the means through which his 
 nascent energies may cohere and develop ; a 
 centre about which his social instincts will build 
 a fabric of intelligent activities. Practical 
 
56 The Young Wage- Earner 
 
 arithmetic and mebhanical drawing taught 
 in a class-room will hardly do so much. 
 Certainly let us endeavour to reform both 
 the streets and the youth by taking him out 
 of them ; but this cannot be done by hustling 
 him into a class-room for eight hours a week. 
 
 TWO FALLACIES 
 
 We have assumed throughout, and warrant- 
 ably, that any scheme of education or training 
 must meet the main forces operative in the 
 mental nature of adolescents under the con- 
 ditions in which they live. School, as most 
 of these yqung people have known it, has been 
 a repressive influence. Work, looked forward 
 to hopefully as an emancipation, turns out to 
 be a worse repression, and becomes merely a 
 means of securing the freedom of the streets 
 after work hours. But, after all, the entrance 
 to whatever world they are to realise must be 
 through the gateway of their natural impulses 
 and appetites ; and it is these natural impulses 
 and appetites that have to be developed and 
 guided into the organised dispositions of a 
 permanent personal character. 
 
 From the educational point of view, two 
 
The New Scholar 57 
 
 persistent fallacies stand in the way of a 
 clear recognition of this simple and strictly 
 practical truth. Firstly, there is a widespread 
 and futile belief that continuation classes can 
 give to these youths an acquirement in learn- 
 ing or in craft that can be immediately applied 
 in their work. Secondly, and more plausibly, 
 that such classes can be used to give some 
 touch of interest to the dull and disjointed 
 tasks to which these boys and girls have to go. 
 We, cannot rely on notions of this kind. For 
 one thing, the work these people do, uniform 
 enough as it may be in its casual and dis- 
 jointed nature and in its insipidity, is, in 
 the aggregate, too various to be organised 
 into any curriculum that would meet the 
 special needs of each pupil. Something might 
 be done if centres were organised on a classi- 
 fication of trades and occupations. But the 
 strict limitations to a scheme of this kind are 
 fairly obvious. Again, every factory or works 
 might organise its own classes. But here 
 again there are obvious and insurmountable 
 difficulties. Not every works is big enough. 
 And there are many industries which do not 
 lend themselves to an arrangement of this kind. 
 There are factories and works (for example, 
 
58 The Young Wage- Earner 
 
 many distributive agencies and such industries 
 or part-industries as box-making and packing), 
 staffed mostly with young people, and par- 
 ticularly with girls, where there is nothing 
 whatever to be learnt beyond an easily 
 acquired manual dexterity. 
 
 Such occupations offer no material for an 
 educational curriculum. Neither virtue nor 
 discipline is to be found in work that resolves 
 itself into a meaningless repetition, that 
 becomes semi-automatic. We must all do 
 some of it. But the pity is that it occupies 
 so many youths for the strongest part of 
 their working life. Educationally, the best 
 possible thing that could happen for the 
 youths engaged in such tasks would be a 
 drastic restriction of the time spent in such 
 mechanical toil. 
 
 RESULTS 
 
 We have dealt throughout this essay with 
 one section of the adolescent population of 
 the country. Numerically large, it seems to 
 present certain special features due to forces 
 both of a psychological and of a socio-economic 
 order. Because of these features it calls for 
 
The New Scholar 59 
 
 special treatment. But, as it appeared one- 
 sided to judge the needs of these youths by 
 those of the few, so on the other hand it would 
 be one-sided to prescribe, for the few who are 
 anxious for the kind of instruction up to now 
 provided in night schools and technical 
 colleges, the treatment that is more suitable 
 for the needs of the many. After all, natural 
 curiosity and the enterprise of thrift must be 
 the first factors in the process of selection of 
 those youths who have the gifts and qualities 
 to profit by higher technical training. The 
 development of a method of selection of 
 candidates for such training, and its rigorous 
 application, is necessary in the interests alike 
 of those who have the nature to profit by it, 
 of the development of our industries and 
 crafts, and of technical training itself. There 
 is reason to believe that many of the youths 
 of the wage-earning class possess these powers. 
 These youths have to be selected and sent 
 forward. But there are many, as there are 
 also in the two groups of youths we excluded 
 from our review, who do not possess these 
 powers. There is no good reason for narrow- 
 ing our view of the needs of all to the needs 
 of the few. The whole of the wage-earning 
 
60 The Young Wage-Earner , 
 
 class of youths should not be regarded merely, 
 as constituting a huge preparatory school to 
 the " organised courses " that terminate in 
 the higher classes of the technical colleges. 
 There are other most worthy ambitions, 
 graces and accomplishments besides industrial 
 technology. The simple virtues of being 
 neighbourly, of spreading the light of one's 
 humour, not to mention the power of seeing" 
 the beauty of things, make more for social 
 coherence and solidarity than much technical 
 skill. These values deserve to be conserved 
 and increased, and many of the youths of 
 the wage-earning class seem to have the root 
 of these in them in a rich degree. 
 
 The reader who has followed this essay so 
 far maybe referred to the "Statement" on 
 pages 10 to 16 of this volume for the ground- 
 work of a scheme which seems to meet the 
 N situation. Corporate " club " life seems to be 
 an indispensable part of the future continua- 
 tion "school." Two further points of detail 
 may be touched upon. 
 
 "Some time must be left over" — i.e. be- 
 yond the time given to physical training and 
 technological instruction — " for enabling the 
 youth to carry forward one or other of the 
 
The New Scholar 61 
 
 ' liberal ' studies in which he made a start"" 
 between 12 and 14." Those studies should, 
 surely be those that can be treated under 
 the heading History. But this should be 
 history taught, not through text \ books, 
 but through literature, particularly through 
 romance and poetry. The mere mention of 
 song and poetry will exasperate the narrow- 
 sighted utilitarian. But it is for such revela- 
 tion that many youths ache and gasp. 
 
 The recruitment of fit persons to take charge 
 of these youths is a more difficult matter, 
 but it is not impossible. One fertile source 
 may be mentioned. There are in most of our 
 schools — we hope in this matter any distinc- 
 tion of grades may disappear — many teachers, 
 both mistresses and masters, who have in a 
 special degree the power of attracting the 
 confidence and friendship of boys and girls. 
 This personal gift may or may not be joined 
 with technical skill in instruction. The two 
 are not always found together. Both are 
 invaluable qualities. The quality we speak 
 of is a free gift in some natures, above and 
 apart from any merely pedagogical capacity. 
 Boys and girls turn instinctively to such 
 persons from sheer pleasure in their company 
 
62 The Young Wage- Earner 
 
 and confidence in their friendship. It should 
 be made worth while for such people to give 
 their time to the work of bringing together 
 groups of their pupil-friends and developing 
 what form of social structure they can. 
 They should be given a free hand : free from 
 the suspicion and embarrassment of officialism 
 in any form. They will not betray their 
 trust, and they should be trusted. 
 
 S. F. Jackson. 
 
*III. THE PASSAGE FROM ELEMENTARY 
 TO CONTINUATION SCHOOL 
 
 The adoption of a system of compulsory 
 education after the age of 14 would seem to 
 imply some modification of the curriculum 
 and organisation of the last two years in the 
 elementary school. 
 
 1. Let us see what the present conditions are, 
 for a boy who will leave an elementary school 
 on attaining the age of 14 and will thereafter 
 be under no compulsion to attend school. 
 (This note deals primarily with boys : some 
 modifications may be necessary to make it 
 apply to girls.) 
 
 At the age of about 4 the boy enters the 
 infants' department, whence at 7 or 8 he is 
 moved to the boys' department. Progress 
 for four or five years is fairly smooth, but 
 then disorganisation begins. 
 
 When he is about 12, the brighter of his 
 comrades — or, at any rate, those of them 
 whose parents are sufficiently far-seeing, and 
 
 63 
 
64 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 can afford to dispense with children's wages — 
 are transferred to a secondary school ; others 
 leave, to go to work or to junior technical 
 schools, at 13 ; he himself will leave on the 
 day he is 14, and this may fall at any time in 
 the educational year. 
 
 The last two years of the school course are 
 thus subject to constant interruptions, which 
 make it difficult to organise a syllabus of 
 study suitable for all -the boys in the upper 
 classes. There is also no very definite agree- 
 ment as to the purpose which the course of 
 study should have in view. One head teacher, 
 interested in local politics and in touch with 
 a large number of employers, will aim at 
 procuring good situations for his boys, and 
 will devote their school work mainly to 
 attaining greater proficiency in the elementary 
 subjects, such as arithmetic and writing ; 
 another, with some detailed knowledge of 
 local industries, will give opportunities of 
 acquiring scientific and technical knowledge 
 which will be of use later on ; another will 
 have more regard to the development of the 
 boy's individuality apart from his bread-and- 
 butter work, and in these last two years will 
 allow him as much freedom as possible to make 
 
Elementary to Continuation School 65 
 
 progress in those things that specially interest 
 him. But it is to be feared that a very large 
 number of teachers merely continue a text- 
 book instruction which is broken off short 
 when the boy leaves school. In some cases 
 the experiment has been tried of introducing 
 boys to evening classes while they are still 
 in the elementary school, in order that the 
 habit of attending these classes may persist 
 after the boys have gone to work ; but it is 
 not certain that the experiments have been 
 very successful, though their relative failure 
 may be partly due to a real lack of time for 
 attendance. 
 
 Under the conditions described above, it 
 is not surprising that during these last two 
 years — 12 to 14 — the school should, in a great 
 many cases, lose its hold over the boy. His 
 comrades have left, or are leaving ; there is a 
 lack of purpose in the school routine ; and he 
 himself is looking forward to his freedom — 
 or, at any rate, to the opportunity of doing 
 something on his own account. With this 
 weakening of the boy's interest in the school, 
 difficul^es of discipline arise. In the element- 
 ary school, the discipline has been fairly 
 rigorous ; but this rigour is riot suited to the 
 
66 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 boy of 13. If the number of boys of this age 
 in a school is small, their needs may be 
 partially met by giving them responsibility, 
 as monitors, for some of the miscellaneous 
 routine work of the school. But this has 
 not any very definite ultimate object ; the 
 immediate object is rather to give the boys 
 something to do while they are waiting. 
 
 2. The Bill proposes compulsory full-time 
 education up to 14 (which may possibly be 
 raised later on to 15) ; and also compulsory 
 education after that age, either full-time to 
 16 or part-time to 18. The full-time educa- 
 tion after 14 will be mainly in secondary or 
 junior technical schools, and similar schools, 
 to which boys will have been drafted at about 
 12 or 13 ; and with these we are not. concerned 
 here. The boys who will come under the 
 part-time provision will be those we have been 
 considering — namely, the boys who at present 
 continue at the elementary school up to 14 
 and then go to work ; and also those who, 
 under present conditions, go to work at 13. 
 
 How will the school life, during the period 
 12-14, be affected by the new conditions? 
 
 In the first place, it must have a more 
 
Elementary to Continuation School 67 
 
 ■ — — 1 
 
 definite purpose— namely, that of preparing 
 the boy not only for his occupation but also 
 for the further part-time schooling which he 
 will have to undergo before he attains the 
 age of 18. It is hoped that this schooling 
 will not be purely technical, in the sense of 
 bringing the boy into a relation of automatism 
 with his occupation, but rather liberal and 
 individual, so as to develop his interests and 
 his initiative ; though there is no reason why 
 this development should not, at any rate in 
 some cases, be based on the wider relations 
 of the occupation itself. 
 
 In the second place, the school life must 
 be made interesting, so that the boy, when he 
 goes to work, shall desire to " continue " his 
 education. It is true that compulsory attend- 
 ance is proposed. But the new provisions 
 will fail in their purpose if compulsion has 
 to be applied. The justification for continu- 
 ing to keep the boy under supervision after 
 he is 14 does not lie in the fact that the in- 
 tellectual equipment he has acquired by that 
 time is insufficient for his individual and social 
 life. It is rather that the main object of 
 education is to attain self-mastery, and that 
 experience shows that this has not been 
 
68 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 attained by the time the boy leaves the 
 elementary school. The success of a course 
 of education is to be measured not by the 
 knowledge or capacity acquired but by the 
 development of the power and the will to 
 acquire further knowledge and capacity. 
 These cannot be properly developed under 
 compulsion ; but compulsion after 14 will 
 be necessary if before that age the school life 
 has ceased to have an absorbing interest for 
 the boy. 
 
 3. The period from 12 to 14 thus acquires a 
 new significance. It is no longer the closing 
 portion of the boy's elementary school life, 
 but is a transitional period, during which we 
 must direct our attention to th^ life, inside 
 and outside the continuation school, which 
 is to follow it, and also must give the boy 
 the fullest opportunities of living his life in 
 the present. It may even be described as the 
 pivotal period of the boy's school life. 
 
 4. Ordinarily, at any rate in towns, the 
 elementary school and the continuation school 
 will be different organisations, Can the needs 
 of this pivotal period be met by keeping the 
 
Elementary to Continuation School 69 
 
 boy at the elementary school until he is 14 
 and then passing him on to the continuation 
 school ? If the boy is to continue under the 
 direction of the elementary school teacher, 
 some extension of the experience of the latter 
 will be required ; can this be achieved with- 
 out interfering with the work of the elementary 
 school ? And can the boy's environment 
 during this period be so effectively adapted 
 to his present and future conditions that at 
 the end of it he will pass naturally from full- 
 time attendance at the elementary school to 
 part-time attendance at the continuation 
 school, at the very same moment that he 
 passes to the new conditions of work ? - 
 
 All considerations seem to suggest that, if 
 the passage from elementary to continuation 
 school is to involve a change in the school 
 environment, it is better that this change 
 should be made at the beginning rather than 
 at the end of the transitional period, so as 
 not to coincide with the change from full- 
 time school to wage-earning. The following 
 seem to be the most important points. 
 
 (1) Each of these changes is a big one by 
 itself, and it is better to separate them. 
 
 (2) As the school work will have to look 
 
70 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 to the future as well as to the present, it can 
 be best directed by those who will have to 
 deal with the future. 
 
 (3) So far as the organisation of the elemen- 
 tary school is concerned, the real interruption 
 comes at the beginning of the period, when 
 boys are drafted off to secondary schools. 
 Ordinarily this is at 12 +, i.e. at the end of 
 the educational year in which a boy reaches 
 the age of 12 ; in some cases the experiment 
 has been tried of taking boys earlier, namely — 
 at nj+ or even at 11 +, but it is not yet 
 certain whether this is a success. For junior 
 technical schools, the age of commencement 
 is about 13 ; but there is a tendency, which 
 we heartily welcome, to make the education 
 in these schools less exclusively technical, 
 and this may lead to an earlier age of entry. 
 The course at present is ordinarily for three 
 or two years ; there would be no difficulty, 
 if the curriculum were widened, in extending 
 the course to the four years 12+ to 16 +, so 
 as to run parallel with the secondary school. 
 
 With so many boys leaving the elementary 
 school at 12 +, it is a short step to regard this 
 as the normal end of the school's life. The 
 curriculum of the elementary school could 
 
Elementary to Continuation School 71 
 
 thus be made more self-contained and more 
 purposeful. The school would take children 
 from about 6 to 12, preparing them for entry 
 at 12+ into a secondary or a technical school 
 —these would be very similar in character, 
 the main difference being that in the later 
 years the one would have a humanistic or 
 commercial and the other an industrial bias 
 — or into the wage-earners' school, which the 
 boy would attend full-time for two years and 
 part-time for four years. The limitation of 
 the age-range of the elementary school would 
 enable the teachers in these schools — of whom 
 it is probable that a much larger proportion 
 will in the future be women — to intensify 
 their knowledge of this period of the child's 
 life without narrowing their sympathies. 
 
 (4) For it is at about 12, rather than at 
 about 14, that childhood ends. One of the 
 aims of recent reform has been the prevention 
 of full-time employment before 14, or possibly 
 even before 15. But this is not because 
 there is any sudden change at that age. The 
 change has been taking place gradually, and 
 it is not until it is complete that the boy 
 has become sufficiently well-set, physically, 
 to stand the strain of full-time employment. 
 
72 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 As regards physical well-being, therefore, it 
 is in a sense true that the period 12-14 is a 
 culmination, and belongs to the elementary 
 rather than to the post-elementary school. 
 But in the development of the intellectual, 
 social and spiritual life, as well as of individual 
 initiative and power of self-control and of 
 control of others, it is a period of re-birth. 1 
 
 (5) The question of discipline and of punish- 
 ment is important. Light corporal punish- 
 ment in childhood, given immediately, may 
 often be useful as a corrective and sedative ; 
 and the older boy may sometimes need 
 chastisement, as something to remember. 
 But in the period 12-14 the organism is in an 
 exceptionally sensitive condition, and .punish- 
 ment of any kind — especially if it happens to 
 be regarded as unjust — may do irreparable 
 harm. On this ground alone the organisation 
 of the elementary school seems hardly suit- 
 
 1 Statements as to particular ages must, of course, be 
 interpreted broadly. It might or might not be found 
 desirable~that backward boys should stay in the elementary 
 school a year or so longer than the average boy. Girls 
 might leave the school earlier than boys. The determina- 
 tion of the age at which any particular child should leave 
 would be a matter for the medical officer and the psycho- 
 logist, aided by records of the rates of physical and mental 
 growth. 
 
Elementary to Continuation School 78 
 
 able. The restlessness of the boy tends to 
 find vent in acts which are harmless in them- 
 selves but are infringements of school dis- 
 cipline ; and the best way of preventing the 
 commission of < these school offences is to give 
 an opportunity for the development of new 
 interests. 
 
 (6) The life of the child as a member of a 
 school community would also be helped by 
 giving a longer period to what we may call 
 the post-elementary school. Esprit de corps 
 is not easily developed in a school in which 
 the pupil remains for only two or three years, 
 or even for four. years when the attendance 
 is limited to eight hours a Week ; on the other 
 hand, a too long stay in any one school is 
 apt to develop staleness. Under the organisa- 
 tion here suggested there would be about six 
 years in the elementary school, followed, in 
 the case of the young wage-earner, by six 
 years in the post-elementary school. Experi- 
 ence seems to show that this is about the 
 right length of the period to be spent in any 
 one school. 
 
 It is true that in the full-time secondary 
 or technical school the period would be 
 shorter ; but it is to be hoped that in these 
 
74 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 cases education would not cease absolutely at 
 16+, and there are good grounds for suggest- 
 ing that all boys ought to be under some sort 
 of supervision up to the age of 18. If the 
 curriculum in the secondary and in the 
 technical school were of a fairly liberal char- 
 acter, there would still be an inducement to 
 the boy, after leaving school, to continue 
 instruction of a more technical kind in evening 
 classes. 
 
 5. In suggesting that the change from the 
 elementary to the post-elementary school 
 should ordinarily be made at about 12 rather 
 than at 14, it is not intended to suggest that 
 an abrupt change is desirable in itself, or 
 that the boy on entering the post-elementary 
 school should in all cases make a complete 
 break with the elementary school. Such a 
 break, in fact, is to be deprecated ; and 
 means should be found for preserving some 
 continuity, at any rate in personal relations. 
 
 The means will depend largely on the 
 organisation of the elementary school. There 
 are three main types of school organisation. 
 The first, which is found more often in second- 
 ary than in elementary schools, is that of 
 
Elementary to Continuation School 75 
 
 specialist teachers. The second system is 
 that of organisation in standards, where each 
 teacher takes the boys who are working to 
 attain a particular annual standard. Under 
 the third system a teacher retains the same 
 set of boys from year to year. The first two 
 systems may be regarded as designed for 
 efficiency in instruction ; the third system 
 tends rather to develop the personal relation 
 between teacher and pupil. Where this latter 
 system holds in the elementary school, there 
 should be no great difficulty in keeping the 
 teacher in touch with his pupils for a year 
 or two after they have left ; in other cases 
 some special means would have to be devised; 
 
 6. In villages, and in the smaller towns, a 
 separate post-elementary school for wage- 
 earners would not be practicable ; and it 
 may be expected that this school will use 
 the buildings of the elementary school, and 
 have the same staff. This will avoid the 
 inconvenience of discontinuity, but it may 
 encourage the tendency to drift. What is 
 needed is that at the beginning of the period 
 12-14 there should be a definite change in the 
 relation of the boy to the school. Outwardly, 
 
76 The Young Wage- Earner 
 
 this will consist in regarding the boys of 
 13 to 18 as constituting a separate department 
 or institution. But what is more important 
 is to make the boy feel that with this transfer 
 there is a change in the attitude to him of 
 those about him and in the opportunities 
 offered to him. He should be given more 
 freedom in his school work, and the hours 
 of attendance at ordinary lessons should be 
 reduced.. The time thus put at his disposal 
 might be occupied in various ways. He could 
 be given responsibility, according to his 
 bent, either for conducting some small part 
 of the routine work of the school or for helping 
 younger children in their individual studies ; 
 but the spare time would mainly be devoted 
 to learning how to pursue knowledge for 
 himself, with the aid of simple apparatus and 
 of books of reference . Theneedof laboratories 
 for the performance of rough experimental 
 work (with apparatus largely made by the 
 pupils themselves), and of reference libraries 
 containing standard dictionaries and en- 
 cyclopaedias, is as great in the country as in 
 the towns. 
 
 X. 
 
IV. THE YOUNG FACTORY GIRL 
 
 The problem of the young factory girl is 
 largely one of adjustment. To fit into the 
 regular groove of factory life the wayward, 
 excitable, unstable, fanciful girl needs vision 
 and big-mindedness of a fine order on the 
 part of the employer, otherwise it is a case 
 of the butterfly and the wheel. The life in 
 the factory must " give." It is no longer the 
 bed of Procrustes to which perforce all who 
 come must fit. It has to form an integral 
 part of a living organism ; not a tiresome 
 adjunct to life, but a vital part of it. 
 
 The problem of the continued education 
 of the girl in the factory is far from simple. 
 We must consider what are her needs ; how 
 does factory life affect these ; how far can 
 it supply them ; what adjustments will have 
 to be made. The time has passed when a 
 ready-made scheme can be imposed from the 
 top. Continued education should not be an 
 excrescence — something built on to life— but 
 rather a reinterpretation of what is. Life 
 77- 
 
78 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 in the workshop has to be filled with greater 
 possibilities ; to receive the divine afflatus ; 
 it has to give scope for budding powers — 
 emotional, intellectual and physical. In short, 
 it must be life itself. 
 
 We do not want the 320 hours given by 
 the Act to be the means of imposing a 
 certain number of less&ns during working 
 hours. 
 
 The idea is not continued schooling, but 
 rather a reinterpretation of life as lived. We 
 have to put on one side the old " lettered " 
 ideal of education, so far as the young factory 
 girl is concerned. The intellectual technique 
 — the " tricks " — of education are no longer 
 needed, the ideal is to provide right guidance, 
 right fostering care for the young burgeon- 
 ing life, with its rich heritage of feeling, 
 aspiration and endeavour. 
 
 Thus the work of continued education need 
 not necessarily be in the hands of the peda- 
 gogue. The essential qualifications for the post 
 of supervisor will be a keen knowledge and love 
 of life. " The earth is mine and the fulness 
 thereof." The teacher of these young folk' 
 should be skilled to help in the realisation of 
 this ideal. 
 
The Young Factory Girl 79 
 
 How does the young girl entering the factory 
 adapt herself to the life there? What de- 
 mands does it make of her? How far can 
 the employer realise and carry out his re- 
 sponsibility to the young growing life ? These 
 are the real points at issue. 
 
 The evolution of social consciousness is 
 slow and difficult. School life, with its 
 emphasis on competition and emulation as 
 a motive, has done much to suppress social 
 feeling, yet in the young work -girl there is a 
 very marked social tendency. In the factory 
 this tendency has so far found scope not so 
 much in corporate organisation for the welfare 
 of the girls as a whole, but rather in somewhat 
 spasmodic efforts for individuals. 
 
 The appeal for a sick work-mate, for a 
 wounded soldier, for a girl who has had the 
 misfortune to lose her purse, is rarely made in 
 vain. It is to be noted that in every case the 
 girls are much more swayed by sentiment 
 than by reason. Here is a fine field for the 
 supervisor, to help on the development of 
 social feeling through the exercise of that 
 which is already there. As a body, the girls 
 have but little sense of corporate life— they 
 
80 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 need help. 1 It is of little value helping to 
 start social organisation in the works — games 
 clubs, rambling clubs, sick clubs, etc., etc. — 
 if the welfare worker is then to feel that 
 her work is done. How to find the happy 
 mean is the problem ; realising how much 
 
 1 Yet the feeling of fellowship is strong. Young people 
 are gregarious by nature : a friend to share one's secrets is 
 an absolute necessity. A girl discussing her previous job 
 at another factory will say first : " I liked the girls there ! "- 
 Many children of 13 welcome their entry to the mill, even 
 as half-timers, because of the comradeship there ; school 
 unfortunately has been repressive, and the bigger, freer, 
 less supervised life in the factory more than makes up for 
 the long hours of physical restriction and toil. In this sense 
 of fellowship the educator finds his best appeal. Unhappily 
 a commercial valuation of education has permeated all 
 classes. The working man as a rule has looked at education 
 from one of two points of view, " Will it pay ? " " Shall I 
 thereby become a manager ? " or " Why do I need education 
 to help me to be a coal miner or a navvy ? " This point of 
 view has prevented the working class from making educa- 
 tion into a social ideal. Education has not been the 
 avenue to increased enjoyment of life ; it has not been a 
 personal pleasure, valued for itself and for the sense of 
 personal power and personal enhancement that it gives ; 
 it has not meant the means to self-government or a greater 
 realisation of the responsibilities and joys of communal life. 
 Ignorance is the greatest of all anti-social forces. Starting 
 from this natural comradeship we arrive at the point when 
 the nation in the Whitley Report deliberately admits the 
 right of the workers to control to some extent their own 
 industry. It is this evolution of social feeling which con- 
 stitutes the true education in the workshops. 
 
The Young Factory Girl 81 
 
 the girls need help, and at the same time 
 refraining from a too apparent exhibition 
 of the supporting machinery. Youth begins 
 many buildings and leaves them half finished, 
 and so the landscape is strewn with ruins, 
 yet youth can be a Master Builder. 
 
 The supervisors, instructors, club leaders, 
 whatever the name or function may be, must 
 keep in mind the co-ordinating principle in 
 their many plans and schemes. The experi- 
 ments and trials are stuff of which great things 
 are made ; they are youth's prerogatives, and 
 out of them he builds his lasting structures. 
 It has been thought that welfare work in the 
 factory has been concerned with doing things 
 for the " good " of the "employees. It is 
 really an educator's job in so far as the 
 welfare worker provides opportunity for the 
 young employee to do things for herself. 
 But here is the crux of the matter— the girls 
 need help in the " doing." Given this partly 
 undeveloped sense of corporate life, shown" 
 in their spasmodic and temporary union for 
 objects which appeal direct to sentiment, the 
 problem is to see that the girls have a chance 
 to organise their own life to some extent. 
 
 The Little Commonwealth in Dorset shows 
 
82 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 what can be done in this respect. The guide 
 and helper must be there to see that the 
 ideas and aspirations of youth do not end in 
 their first budding, but are guided, pruned 
 and cherished until they fructify. 
 
 The girls at every turn ask for a leader ; 
 they do not want a master : though it is 
 astonishing what loyalty and affection they 
 will give to a " boss " who is merely fair to 
 them. The eagerness with which the girls 
 welcome a guide, or leader, gives the welfare 
 worker in the factory a firm footing. They do 
 not want one of themselves as leader, except 
 to a limited extent : for instance, the girl 
 who can sing or play well is always sure of a 
 following, but she can only go thus far, and 
 no farther. They ask for a leader who, as they 
 phrase it, " knows her place and doesn't 
 interfere." But their democracy needs a 
 strong Prime Minister. The leadership must 
 be steady and coherent and' applied to specific 
 ends. Factory life gives ample opportunity 
 for corporate life — from the organisation of 
 arrangements at meal-times to the evolution 
 of a shop committee. Girls need constant 
 practice in uniting together for social ends. 
 Thus the welfare worker can support the 
 
The Young Factory Girl 83 
 
 formation of games clubs, the organisation 
 of weekly concerts for wounded soldiers, etc. 
 But she must not be discouraged when she 
 finds the girls very ready to initiate the new 
 plan, but apt as time goes on to shirk the 
 steady work needed to carry on the scheme. 
 
 Girls respond to responsibility. Let all the 
 jobs in the shop be of the same type ; make 
 no demand of the girls beyond the perform- 
 ance of their particular job ; let the workshop 
 rules come from Olympus, so to speak, and 
 it will be little wonder to find that the girls 
 do not show esprit de corps. 1 But put girls 
 into positions entailing some responsibility ; 
 let them feel that they have some voice in 
 forming the rules which govern the workshop ; 
 give them some recognition for good service, 
 and they will feel that the work is theirs and 
 that it is up to* them to keep things going well. 
 
 1 The following incident offers a good illustration. There 
 had been great trouble in enforcing the Ministry of Munitions 
 regulation relating to the wearing of caps by the girls who 
 "work in the machine-shops. They were asked why they 
 objected to wearing these caps ; and they replied that the 
 caps in use were both heavy to wear and unbecoming in 
 shape. New designs were submitted to the girls, and their 
 suggestions asked for, until a design was evolved which 
 has proved satisfactory in all respects. There is no trouble 
 now in enforcing the regulation. 
 
84 The Young Wage- Earner 
 
 Each workshop should form its own tribunal. 
 Workshop morals should be largely the work- 
 shop's business; the older, more responsible 
 girls forming a committee to deal with the 
 minor troubles as they arise. Sick visiting 
 and relief, again, should be the business of the 
 girls themselves ; anything which will deepen 
 the sense of responsibility is giving the girls 
 exercise in living. 
 
 The long hours worked in the factory, the 
 necessarily unskilled character of the work, 
 make for a monotony which is soul-killing. 
 Real interest is lacking to a great extent, so 
 that time is made to pass more quickly by the 
 encouragement of illicit interests. Monotony 
 is at the root of the indecent talk and question- 
 able stories which go the round of the work- 
 room. The active, curious, straying mind of 
 the adolescent girl must be fed — if we provide 
 good meat for her she takes it with avidity 
 — but she must employ her powers, if not 
 legitimately then illegitimately. 
 
 Monotony, irresponsibility and fatigue are 
 the most immoral factors in the workshop. 
 After a long day of work, which in many cases 
 is merely repetitional in character, it is easy 
 
The Young Factory Girl 85 
 
 to see that the girl by way of reaction will 
 seek strong and crude pleasure. ^Esthetic 
 enjoyment asks for keen attention and mental 
 discrimination ; senses drugged by fatigue 
 and monotony need more violent stimulus. 
 Pleasure rather than enjoyment is her demand. 
 Wearied with work, the girl seeks the anodyne 
 of letting others amuse her. This endurance 
 of monotony is the most important adjust- 
 ment the factory girl has to make. 
 
 To make adjustments in order to achieve 
 some purpose recognised as worth while by 
 the individual is a highly educative process ; 
 but a forced adjustment to achieve a purpose 
 not desired with the whole "push" of the 
 girl's personality behind it is often deadening. 
 It is a case of internal versus external dis- 
 cipline ; the second type does not produce 
 character. 
 
 The first question from an educational point 
 of view that the employer is called upon to 
 consider is the reduction of strain and mono- 
 tony. How can the work be informed with 
 spirit ? How can it be made into work which 
 can be done with the force of intrinsic interest 
 behind it ? Much of the work will always 
 remain of a repetition type, necessarily dreary 
 
86 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 and monotonous, but girls are capable of 
 skilled and intelligent work if given the 
 necessary training ; they are also capable of 
 interest if the purpose of the work is explained 
 to them. It is remarkable how few of the 
 girls working on repetition parts know what 
 part their particular job plays in the whole 
 finished article. Intelligence must permeate 
 the whole of work or it becomes deadly. 
 Improvements in machinery, division and 
 distribution of work, shorter hours, and 
 instruction on the technical side would help 
 to obviate many of the objections that at 
 present exist. The difficulty of giving techni- 
 cal education is very largely increased by the 
 fact that, for the great number, factory life 
 is only an episode, something to take up time 
 until the girl marries. It is not worth an 
 employer's time to take much trouble when 
 he knows that the majority of the girls have 
 only a comparatively short factory life. 
 
 Again, it is cheaper for him to use the 
 unskilled type of labour ; but has the em- 
 ployer the moral right to aim a± the per- 
 petuation of cheap unskilled labour ? One 
 thing is certain. " Frills," in the way of 
 domestic economy classes, blouse-making, 
 
The Young Factory Girl 87 
 
 Morris dancing, etc., are superfluities until the 
 fundamental questions of the character of 
 the work itself are tackled. No society has 
 the right to condemn the future mothers of 
 the race to an eight or ten hours' day of 
 stamping out tin cans or of pressing and pack- 
 ing blacklead, with a sop to Cerberus in ^fche 
 way of a weekly gymnasium class or a story- 
 telling lesson. 
 
 Factory labour is repressive to a high 
 degree. Physically, it often denies that move- 
 ment and changeful activity which conduces 
 to physical harmony. Physical expression 
 of emotion is a necessity to youth ; it is 
 the primal form of self-expression. Denial 
 of this natural form of expression must of 
 necessity demand many adaptations which 
 cannot but have wide-reaching effects mentally 
 and physically. No wonder that when the 
 girls are " let loose " they behave in what 
 the general public may call an unseemly 
 fashion; but youth will out. Much of the 
 immorality of which the factory girl is accused 
 may be put down to sheer reaction. She is 
 drugged with monotony and long hours of 
 physical labour, and feels the need for a 
 strong and sharp stimulus. 
 
88 The Young Wage- Earner 
 
 The way to avoid trouble is to provide 
 rational natural methods of " letting off 
 steam," making for the preservation of the 
 normal balance. Unnatural restriction means 
 giving the girl a taste for caviare in the way 
 of excitement and pleasure. Thus the work- 
 ing day should be shortened and frequent 
 periods of rest given. Physical exercises (but 
 not of the academic joyless kind) should form 
 part of the educational programme. To re- 
 capture the joy of movement; to exult in 
 dancing ; to know the keen pleasure of the 
 game worthily and well played ; to feel the 
 joy of the healthy body : these are great 
 desiderata. It is of little value for the welfare 
 worker in the factory to organise a hockey 
 team when the only opportunity of play is 
 on a Saturday afternoon (a time when most 
 girls have their own social engagements) or 
 after a ten or twelve hours' turn in the works. 
 Such games may find their adherents, but 
 they are too much of an afterthought to be 
 of value. 
 
 To the adolescent girl many things quite 
 outside factory life prove of great and absorb- 
 ing interest. Home-making pursuits are very 
 popular. There is no doubt|that the young 
 
The Young Factory Girl 89 
 
 girl is " house-proud." She will spend hours 
 over an intricate crochet pattern, she spends 
 much of her leisure in making cushion-covers, 
 crochet lace and the like. Here surely are 
 impulses' that the educator cannot afford to 
 neglect. Development on to higher levels 
 from what already exists is the aim au fond 
 of all true educational practice. 
 
 This home-making impulse would make 
 practical lessons in housewifery very accept- 
 able. The works canteen might possibly be 
 the actual sphere of teaching cooking and 
 domestic economy, for there theory is not 
 divorced from practice. Planning out meals ; 
 economical methods of preparing food ; dish- 
 ing up and serving ; washing up, keeping the 
 kitchen tidy, could be done as part of the day's 
 routine. The lesson would derive part of 
 its value from the fact that it was actually 
 part of a necessary communal service. 
 
 The question how far the employer can 
 become the educator of youth needs very 
 careful consideration. Technical instruction 
 as given by certain well-known engineering 
 firms, such as the Westinghouse, 1 is distinctly 
 
 ' See p. 1681 
 
90 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 a piece of good business on the part of the 
 employer. But can- the employer make him- 
 self responsible for the general education 
 which is also designed by Mr Fisher's Bill ? 
 There is a great danger of the work-people 
 questioning the motives of the employer. 
 Some housing and education schemes pro- 
 mulgated by large employers have been viewed 
 with great suspicion by the employees. An 
 employer cannot play the part of a benign 
 providence. The general opinion of the 
 workers emphasises their desire to " get away 
 from the place." The factory with ramifica- 
 tions in the way of housing schemes and educa- 
 tional facilities can well become too absorbing, 
 too much of a microcosm. At present the 
 employer's part would appear to be limited 
 to the provision of right conditions of work, 
 short hours, avoidance of fatigue and strain ; 
 elimination as far as possible of operations 
 purely monotonous. He would aim at giving 
 the women time and opportunity for physical 
 exercise and social intercourse. True educa- 
 tion is to a large extent auto-education, and 
 the chief requirement is to give opportunity 
 for the girls to do things for themselves. To 
 put the matter briefly, it is the employer's part 
 
The Young Factory Girl 91 
 
 to see that his conditions are such as to allow 
 personality its true expansion and the social 
 spirit its right expression. The other parts 
 of education stand largely outside the influence 
 of the employer. Classes for general educa- 
 tion, and the supervision of these, are out- 
 side his jurisdiction. Technical education is 
 certainly his business, and as such should 
 form part of the day's work. The problem 
 is to make the ^daily work pregnant with 
 meaning and possibilities, something more 
 than a means of maintenance 
 
 The factory girl has a strong sense of what 
 in Yorkshire is called " fairation." She is 
 keen to resent favoured treatment of any 
 , individual, and yet at the same time she is 
 perfectly ready to admire and recognise those 
 qualities in a work-mate which mark her out 
 from the rest. 
 
 The girl who can sing, play or recite is 
 always sure of an appreciative and very 
 tolerant audience ; the will is taken for the 
 deed in most cases. She becomes at once a 
 favoured and much-sought-after person. But 
 let a foreman or forewoman show " favourit- 
 ism," and all are up in arms. They will not 
 hesitate to down tools on behalf of a fellow- 
 
92 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 worker whom they consider to have been 
 badly treated. A cry of injustice most easily 
 arouses indignation. This strong feeling of 
 standing by a fellow-worker is one of the 
 most encouraging characteristics of the work- 
 ing girl. 
 
 As is to be expected, the adolescent girl 
 takes up many causes with enthusiasm and 
 facility and lets them die with equal ease. 
 Older people complain that the girls " let 
 them down " when the former take up their 
 complaints or help them in carrying out pro- 
 jects. This is true to a large extent. It is 
 due to the fact that the natural fluidity of 
 interests characteristic of youth does not make 
 for stability. It is merely that a new point 
 of view comes very easily. Youth's fickleness 
 is mobility ; and youth is absolutely sincere 
 in the passing mood ; but the mood passes. 
 
 The young work -girl appreciates what she 
 calk " a good time." She shows a great 
 hunger for colour in every shape and form. 
 Bright dress is really loved for its own sake, 
 and is not adopted for purposes of allurement, 
 as is often alleged. Even in the dingiest 
 and most uncompromisingly ugly workshop 
 
The Young Factory Girl 93 
 
 the desire for colour and decoration will out. 
 There will be a few flowers in a glass ; a picture 
 post card or so ; almost always a mirror. These 
 young people are not restrained — they want 
 to laugh long and loud, they want to wear 
 pretty clothes, and they want brightness all 
 around them. They appreciate very fully 
 a beautiful room. Canteens and rest-rooms 
 should show really simple and beautiful lines 
 in colour ; such little things as growing plants 
 and window boxes make a vast difference to 
 aesthetic enjoyment, in their life as in ours. 
 Dullness is the arch-enemy of morality. Under 
 the present regime the wonder is that the 
 girls are as moral as they are ! 
 
 Girls are fond of excitement and enjoyment, 
 and where it can be obtained are quite content 
 and happy with its innocent forms. Where 
 boys and girls are employed side by side in 
 the works, there should be opportunity for 
 boys and girls to play as well as to work to- 
 gether. Tennis, cricket, dancing are admir- 
 able for the opportunities they give for rational 
 whole-hearted fun and enjoyment. It is a 
 vast mistake to prohibit the boys and girls 
 playing together. Give them leave to mix 
 together freely, and the old secretive atmos- 
 
94 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 phere is dispelled. There is none of the furtive 
 feeling left, when intercourse is free and jolly. 
 The worker amongst young girls must not 
 forget that they are often egotistic and vain. 
 They appreciate very fully the personal touch. 
 If they can once be convinced that their work 
 is valued, and that they really matter person- 
 ally to the people for whom they work, they 
 will give the best and most devoted service. 
 
 A workshop is proverbial for its gossip ; 
 girls like to " tell the tale." Stories grow to 
 Gargantuan dimensions in an astoundingly 
 short time. This seeming disregard for strict 
 truth proceeds to some extent from the love 
 of adventure, even although expressed in 
 words only. It is pleasant to create a sensa- 
 tion in the workshop — to be listened to with 
 interest and attention. As in other directions, 
 everything that makes for enhancement of 
 personality is welcome. The young girl loves 
 to try her powers, to use herself to the full 
 and experience all things. She does not want 
 to be told of experiences — she wishes to taste 
 and see for herself. This accounts for the 
 fickleness of youth — the interest in forbidden 
 things, the rather extreme and rather loud 
 
The Young Factory Girl 95 
 
 conduct. Yet with all the young girl's 
 curiosity she has au fond a strongly marked 
 moral sense. She will accept without question 
 the traditional and accepted " thou shalt not " 
 in matters of conduct. She places implicit 
 trust in the opinions of her teachers and 
 leaders on moral questions. She rarely shows 
 rebellion against the accepted canons of 
 morality, but she is often a rebel against 
 smaller restrictions of a material kind. She 
 presents an interesting paradox. All who 
 work amongst girls notice how in some respects 
 they will give blind obedience ; people com- 
 plain of their sheep-like character, in that they 
 follow any leader who is strong enough to 
 mark a decided line. Yet, on the other hand, 
 they show a sturdy independence of conduct 
 and action. The explanation may lie in the 
 fact that they grow into a life which is con- 
 tinuous ; they accept rules and traditions laid 
 down by others, and accepted by previous 
 generations of workers. Just as one can grow 
 accustomed to pictures on the wall, so that 
 they cease to . be a part of consciousness, so 
 a rule may be accepted unquestionably as 
 part and parcel of the natural order of things. 
 Maybe the charge that the girls are conserva- 
 
96 The Young Wage- Earner 
 
 tive is open to a similar explanation. They 
 have not stopped to value their values — they 
 have accepted things as part of the normal 
 order ; when the new idea is broached, they 
 are a little backward in accepting it. The 
 canteen workers say that it is with difficulty 
 that they persuade the girls to try any unusual 
 dish ; even this trifling proposal demands a 
 mental adjustment and disturbs the normal 
 course of events. 
 
 To make a new rule needs wary walking, 
 and the employer will find that his essentially 
 law-abiding employees may resent some 
 trifling innovation whilst accepting without 
 question many much more drastic regulations. 
 The young girl is prone to strain at gnats 
 and swallow camels ! 
 
 When the case is examined it is usually 
 found that the new rule may interfere with 
 some cherished right or privilege; it marks 
 something unforeseen, and appears perhaps as 
 an attempt to " boss " the girls. Young girls" 
 have a deep sense of justice. Let a case be 
 put to them clearly, let them have their say, 
 and it is surprising how easily they will fall 
 in with reasonable suggestions. 
 
 But, as we have seen, they do not like things, 
 
The Young Factory Girl 97 
 
 either pleasant or unpleasant, arranged for 
 them. Organisers often complain of the lack 
 of enthusiasm in the response the girls make 
 to well-planned efforts to amuse them. It 
 is of no use for an older person to plan out 
 courses which she personally thinks desirable 
 — let the initiative come from the girls them- 
 selves, and then let help be given in consolidat- 
 ing the plans thus set on foot. 
 
 Management and arrangement savour too 
 much of school r and of the far-away days of 
 economic dependence, and are consequently 
 resented. They will do things on request, and 
 may listen politely when asked to tea and 
 regaled with a piece of classical music instead 
 of the latest thing in fox-trots, but they will 
 not come again. They appreciate your effort, 
 and come " to oblige." 
 
 The good wage earned by the young factory 
 girl to-day is having a marked effect on 
 character generally. It has brought about a 
 much enhanced sense of personal value and a 
 correspondingly increased sense of personal 
 responsibility. She is rather more inclined 
 to resent parental government than before. 
 As an economic factor in the household she 
 
98 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 is a person of importance. There is a freer 
 atmosphere all round — it shows in her in- 
 creased freedom of speech and reliance of 
 manner and in her rather more pronounced 
 expression of opinions, likes and dislikes. 
 The old docile attitude has gone, and a much 
 more striving, eager and buoyant spirit has 
 taken its place. 
 
 More than anything else, perhaps, the 
 factory girl appreciates being trusted. She 
 resents being watched and questioned. To 
 the curious she presents a blank face, but to 
 anyone sympathetic she will volunteer her 
 confidence with little hesitation. Above all 
 she must be believed; to doubt her word is 
 to forfeit her trust for always. If things are 
 done for her she may be content for the 
 existing state of affairs to go on, but she will 
 become more and more inert ; if the onus 
 of doing is thrown on her personally she may 
 rise to great heights. Thus her path to 
 salvation lies on the road of her own activity. 
 
 There is no keener or more carping critic; 
 she sits aloof on the fence and watches others 
 struggle for her ; but let the game be of her 
 choosing and she will fight with the best and 
 be the kindest and most tolerant critic of 
 
The Young Factory Girl 
 
 her fellow-fighters. She understands clearly 
 the great virtues of kindliness, self-denial and 
 unselfishness. As we noticed, no appeal is 
 made in vain which has for its object the re- 
 lief of a fellow-worker. If a girl is unable to 
 work, it is quietly arranged that several others 
 divide up her work and so keep her job open. 
 A rigid and often narrow standard of right 
 and wrong is to be found in the workshop. 
 But the greatest practical sympathy is shown 
 to the sinner. 
 
 Summing up the whole position, it would 
 seem that the young factory girl is now in a 
 position where she craves food of all descrip- 
 tions—mental, physical, aesthetic and moral 
 food. She has the appetite, the proclivities and 
 the powers, and is but seeking the chance to 
 develop. The best the factory employer can 
 do is to give her essentially good conditions, 
 opportunity to assume responsibility accord- 
 ing to her powers, technical education so that 
 she may do the more intelligent jobs, sufficient 
 skilled and sympathetic guidance; and then 
 to leave her alone to find her own directions 
 of development. 
 
 Provision of opportunity is the keynote of 
 
100 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 the new educational schemes. The genius of 
 a country shows itself in the power and force 
 of its local institutions. No educational 
 scheme can be imposed from a remote centre ; 
 each township or district must work out its 
 own salvation on its own individual lines. 
 Inside each small community the same idea 
 must hold good for the individuals composing 
 it. Let the employer do his part by seeing 
 that his conception of right working con- 
 ditions is sound; let him give the fullest 
 opportunity for self-control and management 
 in each workshop ; let him see that the people 
 he puts in posts of authority have other 
 qualifications than mere ability to produce 
 maximum output ; and, above all, let him 
 see that the workshop is open to communica- 
 tion with the outside world, that he en- 
 courages all attempts made to render life 
 outside the factory as full and rich as possible. 
 
 Emily Matthias. 
 
V. PRINCIPLES OF ORGANISATION 
 
 i . In the preceding chapters thereader will have 
 grasped the foundation on which the argument 
 of this book is built : no scheme of education 
 is sound which disregards the disposition, the 
 psychology of the young people who are to 
 be educated. Having reached an under- 
 standing on that point, we can proceed to 
 consider the type of. organisation which will 
 meet the case. 
 
 The essence of the Government proposal 
 lies in the assertion of control over youth. 
 The machinery is described in terms of classes 
 and hours of attendance, but the youth (as 
 he himself will regard the situation) is to be 
 restrained from independence; although a 
 wage-earner he is still to be under orders. 
 Our view is that, if rightly handled, he will 
 not resent this control ; he is not yet mature, 
 and his nature, unless precociously perverted, 
 leads him to accept authority. As a matter 
 of history this control was always assumed, 
 alike in savage and in civilised epochs, until 
 
 IOI 
 
102 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 quite recent times. It has been widely re- 
 cognised how disastrous was the effect of 
 the industrial revolution on child labour: 
 historians have paid less attention to its effect 
 on the subsequent period of life ; they have 
 certainly noted that apprenticeship has de- 
 cayed, but they have neglected to study the 
 consequential effect on disposition ; by treat- 
 ing these immature youths as wage-earning 
 men and women, society has abandoned its 
 duty; " greedy for quick returns of profit," 
 we have reverted to a mode of life more suited 
 to the experience of young wolves or tigers 
 sent out to forage for themselves than of the 
 young of men who need and welcome the 
 guidance of their elders. 
 
 This point should be pressed home, for 
 the public are not yet alive to its importance. 
 One of the opponents of Clause 10 in the 
 House of Commons deprecated compulsion 
 on the ground that it 'would " sap parental 
 responsibility." But the compulsion exer- 
 cised over youth in earlier epochs has not 
 been mainly an affair of family control; 
 it was part and parcel of an entire social 
 convention, of religious obligation, of tribal 
 initiation. The authority of the parents was 
 
Principles of Organisation 103 
 
 only valid because universal opinion main- 
 tained the need for surveillance over youth. 
 When the demands of factory and workshop 
 for cheap labour swept aside this ancient 
 tradition, it destroyed the responsibility of 
 parents at the same time. By Clause 10 
 the State, acting on behalf of society, reasserts 
 a position to which every civilised people 
 must adhere unless it " sink back into the 
 beast." 
 
 2. Such is the principle. What kind of 
 organisation is needed to make it effective 
 in the world as it is to-day? If continued 
 education, as its name implies, were merely 
 a top-dressing to the successful system of 
 public elementary schools, there would be 
 no problem of organisation to consider. You 
 estimate the additional number of " children "; 
 you erect so many new buildings ; engage 
 so many new teachers ; train these perhaps 
 to teach new subjects ; you issue a new set 
 of regulations, select a few additional inspec- 
 tors to see that everyone does as he is told — 
 and presto / the thing is done, the youth of 
 England are compulsorily taught, and the 
 national duty is discharged ! 
 
104 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 Likely enough some of our energetic 
 administrators have already drafted schemes, 
 and these will come out of their pigeon-holes 
 as soon as opportunity permits. Boards and 
 Committees have been organising education 
 on such lines ever since 1870 : it should be 
 an easy job to turn out the slightly different 
 article now to be demanded ! 
 
 We willingly admit that such organising 
 talent is necessary, as a subordinate agency ; 
 but real organisation goes deeper : it demands 
 a novel mode of thought, the apprehension of 
 data which do not 1 lie ready in pigeon-holes. 
 A secretary drafting courses and syllabuses 
 forgets his own boyhood ; the energetic 
 woman inspector commanding thousands of 
 girls to learn domestic economy is far removed 
 from that strange, wayward creature of sixteen 
 that once represented her ! And yet, unless 
 these powerful persons can recall something 
 of the moods and passions which sway the 
 mind of youth, the mistakes they make will 
 be terrible. 
 
 In earlier epochs youth was left to the crude 
 but forceful control of a simple society ; 
 to-day we have to reassert this control in a 
 society which is complex and self-conscious. 
 
Principles of Organisation 105 
 
 The duty of the organiser is first of all to 
 think and to philosophise ; only after such 
 reflection, only after a marshalling of all the 
 data, can he venture to propound a scheme. • 
 
 3. If the arguments of our previous chapters 
 are to be accepted, the basis of organisation 
 will be found in social relations, relations first 
 of all of adolescents with each other, and 
 secondly between the youth and his super- 
 visor. We do not despise intellectual fare ; 
 on the contrary, the youth will welcome it, 
 if presented in digestible form ; whether the 
 teaching be of a vocational trend or of a 
 " liberal " trend, he will have use for it. But 
 his education, in any rational view of develop- 
 ment, is largely an affair of social contacts : 
 and society is a matter of organisation, of 
 group life, planned on conditions framed to 
 achieve a moral purpose. 
 
 The reports presented in subsequent chapters 
 show that the right kind of oversight for 
 youth is already organised by many voluntary 
 agencies. Where a group of young people 
 are retained in the senior department of a 
 Sunday school ; where a foreman or master 
 craftsman has the fear of God before his eyes 
 
106 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 as well as the fear of competition ; where 
 a scoutmaster gives his leisure time to the 
 needs of his troop or a girls' club shepherds 
 a company of young women — in all such cases 
 we have organised effort on a voluntary basis. 
 If a careful survey in each area were made of 
 such agencies, it would be found that the 
 English people have done much to counteract 
 the evil effects of competitive industry ; and 
 if these agencies were now recognised by the 
 State and linked on to the machinery to be 
 established by law, they would not only be 
 improved in efficiency, but would secure the 
 services of many thousands of new workers. 
 For the partial success of these agencies proves 
 that to many men and women between the 
 ages of 25 and 50 occupation of this kind is 
 congenial ; no doubt in one aspect human 
 nature is self-centred and autocratic, but in 
 other moods it is social and philanthropic. 
 The youth of England has been and is being 
 saved from moral shipwreck by the good will 
 and devotion not only of professional teachers, 
 but of the laity. 
 
 4. The administrator may admit the value 
 of such influences but he will be reluctant to 
 
Principles of Organisation 107 
 
 give them a place in his schemes simply 
 because they are voluntary. A sharp line 
 has to be drawn in his opinion between the 
 public service of civic authority and the 
 irregular effort of volunteers. But the war 
 has taught us to think rapidly in these 
 matters, and a new theory of civic government 
 is being welcomed. We have special con- 
 stables, lay volunteers who fall into line and 
 help to preserve the peace ; and they provide 
 only one illustration of manifold co-operation 
 between lay and official service. We no 
 longer consider that the citizen has discharged 
 his duty when he has paid his rates and gone 
 to the polling-booth in November; if demo- 
 cratic government ends there, then democ- 
 racy is not " safe " ; our security is seen to 
 depend upon the number of citizens who 
 actually bear a hand in the discharge, however 
 humble, of civic duties. This is a founda- 
 tion principle of Reconstruction : when peace 
 comes we may drop some of the forms in 
 which the principle is exemplified ; it is not 
 likely that a volunteer constabulary will be 
 needed. But the larger vision of civic duty 
 must not be discarded, as a war measure, as 
 soon as the crisis has passed. 
 
108 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 As. regards education, the principle has 
 never been wholly lost sight of. In many- 
 districts After-Care Committees have done 
 good work ; many schools are still looked 
 after individually by managers or governing 
 bodies. We have never gone the lengths of 
 the administrative systems of Germany or 
 France where the machinery * of schooling is 
 left almost wholly to the official class, and 
 this is fortunate indeed, since education iff 
 its essence is a moral and spiritual affair ; 
 its life blood can only be sustained when the 
 people, the laity, take their share, not only 
 in the last resort as legislators or voters, but 
 in daily efforts as co-partners with the official 
 and the teacher. 
 
 Let us not shirk the difficulties : not only 
 do we encounter the fear of inefficient 
 irregular service, there is the fear of sectarian 
 strife such as embittered the progress of 
 English education for generations. The very 
 word " voluntary " still excites the wrath 
 of many stout educationists/ But even in 
 this unhappy struggle we seem to see day- 
 light. The combatants have not laid down 
 their arms, but they have come to terms : a 
 higher platform is attained ; the State will 
 
Principles of Organisation 109 
 
 welcome all its citizens to a share in national 
 service, and the cleric is also a citizen : he 
 -can do service to God and to his congregation 
 by accepting the conditions that the State 
 imposes on all who enrol themselves in its 
 ranks. 
 
 5. The Government proposals make no 
 allusion to these voluntary agencies, and 
 some disappointment has been expressed at 
 the omission. 
 
 _ One need not, however, be greatly perturbed 
 by the terms of the Act of Parliament. The 
 crucial time will come when the law has to be 
 administered, and we can anticipate pretty 
 fairly the procedure which public officials 
 will have to adopt. The official machinery 
 for the control of youth will centre round the 
 keeping of registers. Record must be made 
 right through the period from 14 to 18 of 
 three distinct sets of facts relating to every 
 young person. 
 
 (1) His employment and change of employ- 
 ment (all statistics and investigations 
 go to prove that frequent change is 
 the rule with the great majority) ; 
 
110 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 (2) His health and physical training ; 
 
 (3) His schooling. To these ought to be 
 
 added 
 
 (4) His social interests. 
 
 Now, so far as the mere recording and filing 
 of this information is concerned, the Local 
 Authority can easily fix Jip a suitable plant. 
 The Juvenile Labour Bureaux * are now work- 
 ing a system which can be readily enlarged. 
 But records are only of value if they are used ; 
 and it is evident that the four " sides " of the 
 life of these lads and girls should be studied by 
 one person and not by four separate agencies. 
 
 The Uplands statement therefore proposes 
 that there should be an organisation of tutors 
 or supervisors. Some may be in the service 
 of the L.E.A. as teachers or officials, but 
 many others would be voluntary workers. 
 
 About fifty young persons is the limit 
 of the number that any individual supervisor 
 can effectively take or get to know with 
 sufficient intimacy ; in some cases a much 
 smaller total would be advisable. The 
 analogy of secondary school experience is here 
 very much to the point. Many secondary 
 
 1 See pp. 135-143 below. 
 
Principles of Organisation ill 
 
 schools have a " house " organisation quite 
 distinct from classroom teaching : the house 
 master or house tutor stands in loco parentis ; 
 he does not necessarily teach the members 
 of his house at all, but he knows all about 
 them : they are in his charge for the whole 
 period of their school career. Such a " house " 
 is a corporate society, and in the same way 
 would things work out in the secondary educa- 
 tion of wage-earners : the supervisor would 
 usually ask to be put in tutorial charge of a 
 group of boys who already are in friendly 
 relation with him— perhaps as their Sunday 
 school teacher, or as their previous school 
 teacher by having had them already under 
 his charge in the public elementary school, 
 or as their scoutmaster, or as Y.M.C.A. 
 (Junior Department) secretary. How far 
 such a supervisor would actually keep the 
 registers on behalf of the L.E.A. one ought 
 not to forecast ; but, whoever kept them, he 
 would supply some of the material, he would 
 have access to the cards and would constantly 
 make use of them. 
 
 6. There is still an important body of 
 opinion which distrusts registration; the 
 
112 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 recent Act (February 1918), imposing the 
 duty of registration" on all boys of 15 years 
 of age and upwards, has been widely resented ; 
 there are fears lest the powers conferred by 
 registration may be abused for the purposes 
 of tyranny. So they may ; and so they will 
 be unless the friends of liberty recognise that 
 the complexity of modern life compels us to 
 organise and register for public and private 
 affairs alike. We can no longer dispense with 
 bureaux ; we must therefore use them for 
 social ends. Let us keep to the first point 
 made in this essay : that the youth himself 
 will feel the influence of public control not so 
 much through attendance at a class as through 
 the sense of dependence and obedience im- 
 pressed on him by the oversight of authority. 
 The business side of this oversight is repre- 
 sented by a register, kept up to date and 
 including all the facts , as to employment, 
 health and education, which are recorded in 
 order to comply with the law. One could 
 enlarge in many directions to indicate how 
 immensely helpful such supervisors can be- 
 come, working hand . in hand with a local 
 authority, affording the human touch, the 
 knowledge of personal idiosyncrasies which is 
 
Principles of Organisation 113 
 
 indispensable both to improve the industrial 
 efficiency and to develop the character of 
 young wage-earners; but the reader will be 
 able to fill in the outline here sketched. 
 
 7. Some time must elapse before the law 
 comes into operation ; and the interval can 
 be well employed in a survey of the ground. 
 With a moderate expenditure for a clerical 
 staff, it would be easy for a local authority 
 to compile a tentative register of the adoles- 
 cent population within its area, or of all the 
 boys and girls who will reach the age of 
 14 during the current year. With the co- 
 operation of social workers in the locality 
 every volunteer agency could be inscribed with 
 the names of persons engaged in the over- 
 sight of these youngsters and a record of the 
 methods which they employ. It would no 
 doubt be found that some such persons are 
 not fitted for larger responsibilities : a pre- 
 liminary survey would help to sift the grain 
 from the chaff; and it would enable both 
 parties, the official and the social worker, to 
 realise the nature. of their task and to devise 
 machinery adapted to its performance. The 
 country is indebted to the Home Office for 
 
114 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 having already set on foot the machinery by 
 which such a survey can be accomplished. 
 As an outcome of the Departmental Com- 
 mittee on Juvenile Employment (1916) there 
 are now at work in many large centres bodies 
 called Juvenile Organisation Committees. The 
 reader is invited to inquire as to the activities 
 of this Committee in his own area : Liverpool 
 has already issued a preliminary report, to be 
 had (price id.) from The Liverpool Council of 
 - Voluntary Aid, 10 Castle Street, Liverpool. 
 
 In some quarters doubt has been expressed 
 whether a sufficient supply of volunteers will 
 be forthcoming. Hitherto the supply has 
 been furnished very largely from people of 
 leisure and culture, and one anticipates that 
 these will be increased in number ; but it 
 should be borne in mind that the diminution 
 in hours of labour and the extension of 
 popular education are furnishing a further 
 supply of men and women such as have not 
 attended colleges or high schools but are 
 equipped with powers and sympathies which 
 fit them admirably for this service. Such 
 men and women are enlisted in increasing 
 numbers by the Churches, from the Salvation 
 Army to the Established Church ; some of 
 
Principles of Organisation 115 
 
 them, especially the young men, take to 
 politics ; if they do not possess the requisite 
 experience at the start they can learn ; no 
 one, indeed, however well educated, can enter 
 on social service without serving an apprentice- 
 ship. 
 
 Who would have ventured to prophesy, 
 before the war, that volunteers could be 
 enrolled in such numbers to serve as con- 
 stabulary, or to serve on the countless com- 
 mittees which now work from year's end 
 to year's end to assist government, both 
 central and local, in the multitudinous duties 
 imposed upon the nation in arms ! We shall 
 emerge from this war a new people, our ranks 
 desperately thinned, our pride chastened, but 
 our eyes opened to a new vision of what 
 democracy can achieve, not only in the 
 agonies of war but in the social arts of peace. 
 Church and Education, Labour and Trade 
 are seeking for new terms by which to express 
 their solidarity with national service. 
 
 We have broken with the past : it is the 
 coming race, the rising generation on whom 
 our hope is fixed. What can we give them 
 to restore thek faith and hope amid the ashes 
 of this war ? It is from sentiments such as 
 
116 The Young Wage- Earner 
 
 this that men and women are moved, in every 
 circle of society, to do what in them lies to 
 educate young England. If Germany through 
 an official system of schooling was able to 
 discipline and organise its people to achieve 
 the cruel purposes of a military empire, the 
 people of England can organise and sys- 
 tematise for a finer purpose. We have taught 
 the world the meaning and uses of political 
 liberty ; we can now extend the lesson and 
 learn, along with all lovers of liberty through- 
 out the globe, how to organise and co-operate 
 as a free people in the achievement of the 
 highest ends for which nations are created and 
 sustained. 
 
 J. J. Findlay. 
 
REPORTS 
 
 I. A PART-TIME DAY SCHOOL FOR 
 YOUNG EMPLOYEES 
 
 (CONDUCTED BY THE BIRMINGHAM EDUCATION 
 COMMITTEE IN THE STIRCHLEY INSTITUTE) 
 
 The visit paid to the school was of necessity 
 very brief — barely a morning session — and so 
 for a great deal of the following information 
 the writer is indebted to the courtesy of the 
 Headmistress. 
 
 • The school, which has now been in existence 
 about five years, is for girls of from 14 to 18 
 years of age, who attend for one session of 
 Z\ hours a week, either from 8745 to 12-15 
 or from 1-45 to 5-15. 
 
 The majority of the pupils are employed 
 by one firm, who make attendance at the 
 school a condition of employment, the time 
 spent in such attendance being paid for as 
 work-time. Some 3 \ years after the opening 
 of the school permission to attend for a second 
 117 
 
118 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 period per week-curing working hours, but 
 time thus spent not to be paid for — was 
 granted to any who might desire the privilege,, 
 and about one-third of the girls took advan- 
 tage of the opportunity presented to them. 
 
 Besides employees of this and three or four 
 neighbouring firms, there are enrolled 4 pupils 
 who have left the elementary schools but are 
 not at work, i who is employed in a shop, 
 and 1 engaged in domestic service. In this 
 connection it is interesting to note that some 
 young people seek employment with the firm 
 referred to in order to secure the privilege of 
 attending the Continuation School . In addition 
 to those already mentioned, the pupils include 
 eighteen girls over 18 years of age who are 
 still attending one half-day session a week, 
 their employers permitting their attendance in 
 working hours but not paying them for time 
 thus spent. At the request of certain of the 
 girls who desired -to pursue further some of 
 the subjects commenced in the Day School, 
 four evening classes, conducted by members 
 of the Day School staff, have been established 
 for their benefit under the auspices of the 
 Workers' Educational Association. 
 
 In normal times from 80 to 100 names are 
 
A Part-Time Day School 119 
 
 registered at each of the ten weekly sessions, 
 the maximum number in each class being 
 limited to 25. Under present conditions from 
 400 to 500 girls are attending the school. 
 
 An interesting and noteworthy feature of 
 the method of classification is that, while age 
 naturally forms the chief basis, there is within 
 this limitation a further subdivision based 
 upon "types of brain," as, for example, the 
 '* quick," the " slow," or the " subtle " type. 
 
 The teaching staff comprises six mistresses, 
 who are specialists in their own particular 
 subjects, but whose selection is also governed 
 by a regard for special aptitude in dealing 
 with girls in the adolescent stage. 
 
 At the commencement of each morning 
 session the girls assemble for a hymn and 
 short prayer, succeeded by a brief period of 
 silence. An address by the Headmistress 
 follows. On the day on which the school was 
 visited, this address — one of a series dealing 
 with " Girls and Women .in their Business 
 Relations " —dealt with the immense import- 
 ance of the individual in the corporate life, 
 and emphasised the dignity of labour regarded, 
 not as mere wage-earning, but in the light of 
 a service rendered to the community : just 
 
120 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 a simple straightforward " talk " to the girls, 
 related to their daily life and work, illustrated 
 from * their own everyday experiences, and 
 helping them to find a new significance in 
 the " common round.". 
 
 While dealing with this subject of more or 
 less direct ethical training, it might be men- 
 tioned that the Headmistress, as part of the 
 ordinary school routine, makes a constant 
 practice of receiving the girls alone in her own 
 room and engaging them in friendly conversa- 
 tion, considering such close personal inter- 
 course a most potent means of influencing 
 them, as, in this way, she gets to know 
 thoroughly each girl and to understand her 
 special problems and difficulties and so is 
 enabled to give effective guidance and counsel 
 according to individual need. 
 
 With regard to the curriculum, the formal" 
 subjects of instruction comprise, during the 
 earlier years, Arithmetic, Literature, History 
 or Physiology, and Drill ; during the last year, 
 when the pupils have attained to the age of 
 17, History, Literature, Drill and Infant 
 Care and Management (including some instruc- 
 tion in Sex Hygiene) as a preparation for 
 parenthood. 
 
A Part-Time Day School 121 
 
 Great attention is paid to Physical Training 
 throughout the course, three quarters of an 
 hour of every session being spent in the 
 gymnasium, where proper gymnastic apparatus 
 and correct costume are provided for the use 
 of the girls. 
 
 In all the teaching given much stress is 
 laid upon the fact that " hard thinking " on 
 the part of the pupils is absolutely essential 
 in order to counteract the mental lethargy 
 and brain torpor induced by long hours of 
 monotonous, mechanical labour ; hence, in an 
 attendance of only one session of three" and a 
 half hours per week no time can be spared for 
 " handwork," though it was stated that, 
 were a longer period available, handwork 
 of an interesting and educative character 
 would most certainly be included in the 
 curriculum, as there are undoubtedly pupils 
 who would benefit very considerably from 
 education of this type. 
 
 Lack of time, also, precludes any great 
 amount of direct aesthetic training, though 
 some dancing is included in the Physical 
 Exercises and singing is taken with the 
 younger girls. The principal indirect means 
 consists in the study of Literature. Literary 
 
122 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 taste and appreciation improve greatly, judg- 
 ing by the kind of books selected for private 
 and recreative reading during the earlier and 
 the later years of the course. 
 
 In order to cultivate the habit of independent 
 thought, previously referred to, the subjects 
 of instruction are, as far as possible, treated 
 "problematically." Thus in Literature, with 
 the older pupils, such social problems are dis- 
 cussed as occur in Adam Bede, such domestic 
 ones as the marital relation in Macbeth. Some 
 of the classes are studying European History 
 leading to a consideration of present-day 
 problems, and debates are held on burning 
 questions connected with industrial life: for 
 instance, last year classes resolved themselves 
 into a " Minimum Wages Board " and an 
 " Anti-Sweating Labour Meeting," and pro- 
 ceeded to discuss these matters in proper form 
 and with much spirit. " Home work, " occupy- 
 ing about half-an-hour a week, is insisted upon. 
 It was somewhat unpopular just at first, but 
 is now found to give an added zest to the work 
 generally and has proved of great assistance 
 in the development of the individual initiative, 
 resource and self -discipline aimed at through- 
 out. 
 
A Part-Time Day School 123 
 
 An account of the educational activities 
 of this institution could hardly be considered 
 complete without some reference to the social 
 side of the work. 
 
 The girls are encouraged as occasion arises 
 to make some corporate effort on behalf of 
 their own school, as, for example, the provision 
 of a library, or to assist some local or national 
 need, such as a Soldiers' Comforts Fund. 
 
 Social evenings, in which pupils, past pupils 
 and staff participate, are arranged from time 
 to time, the programme comprising dancing 
 and music and dramatic items contributed by 
 the girls themselves. 
 
 A flourishing " Old Girls' Association " is 
 in existence, including amongst its activities 
 a Dramatic Club, a History Study Circle, an 
 Infant Care Study Section and a Choir. 
 
 On one occasion, during a summer vacation, 
 a mistress organised a most successful holiday 
 party, and sixteen girls spent a memorable 
 week in Wales amidst surroundings and scenery 
 which made a deep and lasting impression on 
 many of these young minds. 
 
 Some readers, more especially, perhaps, 
 those present at the discussions on Continued 
 Education which took place at the last summer 
 
124 The Young Wage- Earner 
 
 meeting of the Uplands Association, may 
 ^e interested to know that the Headmistress, 
 who has had very wide experience in social 
 and educational work, giving her an intimate 
 knowledge of the outlook and the needs of 
 the adolescent girl, is strongly in favour of 
 compulsory attendance at the Continuation 
 School, holding that at this stage of develop- 
 ment there can be very little real " freedom 
 of choice," the girl being swayed by public 
 opinion in some form or other — home influence, 
 the opinions of personal friends or co-workers, 
 and the like— so that it is far better for the 
 directing force to be supplied deliberately by 
 those whose knowledge of life and its demands 
 on the one hand, and of the special character- 
 istics of adolescence on the other, render them 
 capable of giving wise guidance. Her opinion 
 has been strengthened by the fact that several 
 of her girls have stated their satisfaction that 
 they were compelled to attend the classes, as 
 otherwise they would never have wished for 
 further education. Freedom with regard to 
 choice of subject is permitted within certain 
 limits, this liberty being increased towards 
 the end of the course. Also such, studies as 
 that of literature are, to a very great extent, 
 
A Part-Time Day School 125 
 
 pursued along lines suggested or desired by 
 individual classes. As might be expected 
 with young people of this age, methods of 
 " dramatisation " are very popular. 
 
 One is naturally somewhat diffident of 
 expressing any opinion on work of so important 
 and far-reaching a character from the neces- 
 sarily inadequate knowledge obtained by such 
 a brief and partial survey, but even a casual 
 visitor could hardly fail to be'impressed by the 
 dignified bearing of the girls and the atmos- 
 phere of quiet and refinement which pervades 
 the whole school, or to realise the immense 
 amount of care and reasoned thought which 
 has been devoted to the organisation, and the 
 vigilance which is being constantly exerted 
 in regard to the further development and 
 extension of this pioneer work. 
 
 Note. — This report deals only with the Girls' School 
 of the Stirchley Institute. A Part-Time Boys' School is 
 conducted in premises near at hand but quite apart from 
 the Girls' School, and many other social and educational 
 activities are carried on. The largest firm which con- 
 tributes pupils to the school is the Bournville works owned 
 by Cadbury Brothers. Further information as to the 
 educational methods employed by this firm can be found 
 in a paper written by N. R. W. Ferguson, B.Sc, the 
 education organiser to these works. It appeared in the 
 
126 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 Conference on New Ideals Report (1917) and is reprinted 
 separately (price 3d. on application to the works) ; Cadbury, 
 Edward: Experiments in Industrial Organisation (Long- 
 mans, Green & Co.) may also be consulted. 
 
 K. Gwladys M. Fry. 
 
II. A COMMERCIAL SCHOOL IN A 
 STORE 
 
 (SELFRIDGE & CO. LTD.) 
 
 That a commercial house should establish 
 within its walls an education department, 
 with University women to help in its direc- 
 tion, signifies recognition of the value of 
 education in a business career. What does 
 such a house hope to achieve through its 
 education department ? That question may 
 best be answered in its own words. " Realis- 
 ing as we do the immense value of education 
 as a means towards personal effectiveness and 
 collective efficiency, we wish to encourage it by 
 every means in our power, and especially by — 
 
 " (i) Supporting the Government in their 
 efforts towards educational reform ; 
 
 " (2) Recognising a good education in those 
 who apply here for employment, and making 
 their entry possible, even though they may 
 not have had business experience, as long as 
 they have other essential qualities ; 
 127 
 
128 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 " (3) Carrying on educational work within 
 the store, with the objects of cultivating the 
 imagination and encouraging the initiative 
 of all sections of the staff ; of making them 
 thoroughly conversant with the science and 
 practice of their work, and thus immensely 
 increasing their value ; of so raising the 
 standard of knowledge and service in this 
 house that it will be known as a house of 
 experts, and do its share towards raising the 
 status of business life in this country and 
 making it recognised as a great profession." 
 
 It will be noticed that the emphasis lies 
 on the training of business experts. To this 
 the organisation at present mainly devotes 
 itself, while holding strongly that the best 
 expert work must be based on a sound liberal 
 education. Two sectionsof employees under 
 the age of 18 come within its jurisdiction — 
 the " students " and the " junior staff." 
 
 The Students are of three grades : " (a) Those 
 of 14 or 15 who have passed through an 
 'Elementary School to Standard VII. (initial 
 salary ten shillings a week) ; (b) Those of 
 15 or 16 who have taken the four years' course 
 at the Central Schools or have attended a 
 Secondary School (initial salary fifteen shillings 
 
A Commercial School 129 
 
 a week) ; (c) Those of 16 or 17 who have 
 been educated at a High School and have 
 studied for such examinations as the Senior 
 Local or London Matriculation (initial salary 
 £1 a week)." The period of training lasts 
 two years, but as the students are bound to 
 the house by no tie save mutual interest, they 
 may leave or be dismissed with the usual 
 notice. A careful record of the work of each 
 student is kept by the Supervisor of Students, 
 who sees that each is in the department for 
 which he or she is best fitted, and no student 
 is dismissed by the management without his 
 recommendation . Failure to find suitable work 
 for a student in some part of the store is 
 practically unknown. 
 
 Demonstrations in the art of selling are 
 given several times a week, much on the lines 
 of the lessons given to teachers in training. 
 Compulsory classes are held from g-15 to 
 10-15 a.m. in a classroom set apart and equipped 
 for the purpose. No student attends all these 
 classes, and the writer found it impossible to 
 obtain any estimate of the number of attend- 
 ances made each year, this being determined 
 by the needs of the individual student and the 
 demand madeby the Department on his or 
 
130 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 her services. The class at which the writer 
 was present took the form of a talk by a 
 member of the Education Department, respon- 
 sible for the selling efficiency of assistants, 
 on " The Science and Art of Selling." The 
 audience, consisting of twelve new-comers, 
 were free to contribute suggestions or ask 
 questions. The lecturer pointed out that, if 
 business was to be raised to the level of a 
 profession, two things were needed: a study 
 of the work, and the habit of thinking more 
 of what they were doing than of the money 
 they were getting. Responsibility to the public 
 requires an extensive knowledge of the article 
 to be sold and a realisation that the purpose 
 for which an article is wanted determines its 
 style. The time should come when no one will 
 be allowed to buy what does not suit her ! 
 The treatment of Selling as an art was made 
 the opportunity for much incidental teaching 
 of English, the inartistic character of such a 
 phrase as " young lady " being contrasted 
 with the dignity of service implied in the word 
 " assistant." Reference was made to the 
 " I-disease " prevalent in retail houses, and 
 a distinction was drawn between the power 
 of the individual assistant and the power of 
 
A Commercial School 131 
 
 the management to supply the customer's 
 needs. If those who sold regarded themselves 
 as hosts and hostesses, and their customers 
 as honoured guests, selling would become a 
 splendid form of public service. Apart from 
 this incidental (and very valuable) teaching 
 of the use of the King's English for all business 
 purposes, little is done in the way of literary 
 training, though a staff library is in course 
 of foundation and will, it is hoped, be widely 
 used. 
 
 Fortnightly lectures are given during the 
 winter at 6-50 p.m. It is hoped before long 
 to arrange for these during the morning. 
 The lantern is used for illustrative purposes. 
 This term the natural history of the silken 
 thread, its manufacture, and the development 
 of ancient and modern silk-weaving, are in- 
 cluded in the course. All students are obliged 
 to attend and to write essays on the subjects 
 of the lectures. A record of this work is 
 kept, and prizes are awarded, provided that 
 the general work of the student is satisfactory. 
 The prize-giving affords an opportunity for a 
 social gathering and is regarded as a means 
 of fostering the interest of the parents in 
 their children's careers. Twice a week during 
 
132 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 business hours the senior students attend 
 morning classes at the L.C.C. Central School 
 of Arts and Crafts for such subjects as design, 
 the history and production of fabrics, sales- 
 manship and advertising. A scholarship may 
 be awarded to a student of exceptional ability, 
 entitling the holder to a business trip to 
 the markets of the Continent in charge of 
 the buyer of the department, or to a course 
 of instruction in a business college. The 
 students have the free use of the House 
 Sports Grounds at Wembley Park. There 
 is a reference library within the store, and all 
 are encouraged to consult the Supervisor of 
 Students not only about any difficulty but 
 also about any matter of personal interest. 
 
 The Junior Staff comprises all boys and 
 girls, other than Students, under the age of 
 16. It is the duty of a special official, known 
 as the Junior Staff Supervisor, to see that 
 their' occupations do not develop into blind 
 alleys and to recommend the transfer of 
 juniors of special merit and ability to another 
 branch of the work, or to the body of students. 
 Attention is paid to physical fitness in the 
 sectional parades held every morning. Section 
 commanders are appointed from the juniors 
 
A Commercial School 133 
 
 themselves to give practice in handling their 
 fellows. A competent instructor takes simple 
 drill exercises with them, and the parade is 
 made to serve the opportunity for general 
 information and talks on work and deport- 
 ment. " Good form," rather than set rules, 
 is looked to for the achievement of results 
 in respect to punctuality and smartness in- 
 the case of the boys. Regular attendance at 
 parade is rewarded by instruction in shooting 
 at the rifle range at St Thomas' School. At 
 present the social side leaves much to be 
 desired, but plans for development are being 
 made. A dancing class has lately been started 
 for the girls and a football club for the boys. 
 It is hoped, too, that before long additional 
 mess-rooms and rooms for rest and recreation 
 may be provided as well as a canteen. 
 
 The prefects of the house are elected by 
 ballot to serve their department for one year. 
 As they form an integral part of the system 
 of the house they are chosen from the regular 
 staff and not from the students in training. 
 The Social Secretary is a kind of " ex-officio " 
 senior prefect, whose special work is to look 
 after the dress and appearance of all em- 
 ployees. She co-operates with and works 
 
134 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 through the prefects wherever possible, and 
 uses the magazine, The Key of the House, for 
 the purpose of developing good taste in dress. 
 
 Voluntary classes in languages are held, 
 but hitherto there has been little demand for 
 anything save French, the attempt to carry 
 on a Russian class having proved abortive. 
 
 It will thus be seen that the education 
 provided is mainly vocational, with some 
 attention to physical needs and the use of 
 the mother tongue, but not extending to the 
 so-called liberal studies. For education of this 
 latter type the house looks to the Government, 
 considering that it is doing its part in pro- 
 viding a thorough training on the business 
 side. 
 
 A. G. Fox. 
 
III. JUVENILE EMPLOYMENT AND 
 AFTER-CARE 
 
 (BRADFORD) 
 
 In the Statement on the Part-Time Educa- 
 tion of Wage-Earners (pages 10-16 above) 
 particular emphasis is laid on the point that 
 public authority in any scheme for continued 
 or part-time education should provide for 
 individual knowledge of and interest in each 
 young person. The statement proceeds to 
 suggest that this " can best be done by 
 putting him under the care of a tutor or 
 supervisor." 
 
 The scheme at present in operation in 
 Bradford for the exercise of powers under the 
 Education (Choice of Employment) Act gives 
 many clear indications of the way in which 
 the principle of putting each young person 
 under the care of a supervisor can be brought 
 into practical operation. 
 
 In Bradford during the year ending 31st July 
 1917 about.. 5000 children— boys and girls— 
 135 
 
136 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 — — r ■ * 
 
 left Public Elementary Schools and took up 
 occupations. Had the Bill been in operation, 
 those 5000 children would have been com- 
 pelled to place themselves under some measure 
 of supervision after leaving the Elementary 
 School ; for eight hours a week the Bradford 
 Education Committee would have claimed 
 authority over them. But, in spite of the 
 fact that the Bill is not yet accepted, Bradford, 
 in common with other Local Education 
 / Authorities, has been, during the past five 
 or six years, taking account of, providing for 
 " individual knowledge of and interest in," 
 each of its young people after he or she leaves 
 the Elementary School and goes out into the 
 stormy world of wage-earning. 
 
 The Education (Choice of Employment) 
 Act was passed in 1910, conferring on Local 
 Education Authorities power to make arrange- 
 ments for giving to boys and girls under 
 17 years of age assistance with respect to the 
 choice of suitable employment. The Brad- 
 ford Education Committee drew up and put 
 into operation a comprehensive scheme for 
 exercise of this power. A special Juvenile 
 Employment Sub-Committee was formed, 
 consisting of 22 members recruited as 
 
Employment and After-Care 137 
 
 follows : — 12 members of the Education Com- 
 mittee, 2 representatives of the Chamber of 
 ^Commerce, 2 representatives of the Chamber 
 of Trades, 2 representatives of the Trades and 
 Labour Council, 2 representatives of the local 
 branch of the National Union of Teachers, 
 and 2 representatives of the Local Guild of 
 Help. 
 
 The Sub-Committee works in conjunction 
 with the Board of Trade at the Bradford 
 Labour Exchange. The department of the 
 Labour Exchange which deals with juveniles 
 has been established by the joint efforts of 
 the Board of Trade and the Bradford Educa- 
 tion Sub-Committee, and is called the Brad- 
 ford Juvenile Employment Exchange and 
 Bureau. 
 
 The work of the department is conducted by 
 two officials : (i) the Board of Trade's Juvenile 
 Officer, and (2) an officer who is appointed by 
 the Sub-Committee and acts as its general 
 secretary. The work of these two officials is 
 divided to some extent as follows : — The Board 
 of Trade's officer deals with the employer, 
 brings the work of the Exchange under the 
 notice of local employers, and registers noti- 
 fications of vacancies ; the Sub-Committee's 
 
138 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 -officer collects through voluntary workers, 
 and registers, information regarding the 
 children, their mental and physical ability, 
 and the employment for which they seem 
 suited. All this information is in tabular 
 form, and is kept at the Bureau. The two 
 officers are in constant communication, and, 
 before submitting to an employer the name of 
 any juvenile applicant, the Board of Trade's 
 officer, in all cases in which it is practicable, 
 consults the officer of the Sub-Committee as 
 to whether the employment offered is suitable 
 for the applicant ; and in any case he has at 
 hand all the Sub-Committee's information 
 regarding the child. 
 
 But this work of the Sub-Committee has 
 an intimate and personal side, the considera- 
 tion of which throws a flood of ( light on the 
 question of the supervision of wage-earning 
 youth. A scrutiny of the Sub-Committee's 
 method of collecting its information regarding 
 the youths and maidens of Bradford and of 
 the other work on their behalf to which at the 
 same time it devotes attention will enlighten 
 the scrutiniser. 
 
 In the first place all head teachers are 
 supplied with cards on which they are asked 
 
Employment and After-Care 139 
 
 to furnish information regarding each child 
 three months before he or she leaves school. 
 As the card shows, they report on the 
 child/ s mental ability ; standard reached in 
 the Elementary School ; physical condition ; 
 occupation out of school hours, if any ; 
 parents' occupation, etc. These cards are 
 received by the Sub-Committee's officer, and 
 the information is copied on a duplicate card, 
 which is lodged at the Bureau. 
 
 The actual work of " after-care," or super- 
 vision of the young folk after they have left 
 school, is put into the hands of District Com- 
 mittees. These Committees are composed 
 of teachers, Sunday school superintendents, 
 Scoutmasters, Boys' Brigade leaders, clergy- 
 men, and other persons interested in the 
 after-care of boys and girls. The members 
 of the Committee, who are known as District 
 Visitors, are asked to undertake a certain 
 measure of supervision of children who live 
 in their immediate neighbourhood. Each 
 Visitor is assigned a few streets close to his 
 (or her) own home, and the children who reside 
 in those particular streets are under his care. 
 It is arranged as far as possible that Visitors 
 shall be given children whose homes are only 
 
140 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 a few minutes' walk from their own, and it 
 quite frequently happens that the Visitor has 
 already been engaged in work in the neigh- 
 bourhood and is therefore well known to the 
 children allotted to him before they leave the 
 Elementary School ; he may have been their 
 teacher there or in the Sunday school, their 
 Scoutmaster or personally known to the child 
 or his parents in some other way. 
 
 When the Juvenile Employment Sub- 
 Committee's Officer receives from the head 
 teachers the cards relating to children about 
 to leave school, he forwards each card to the 
 particular Visitor whose area includes the 
 street where the child resides. The Visitor 
 is expected to pay a friendly visit before the 
 child leaves school and impress upon him and 
 his parents the desirability of choosing his 
 future Occupation with care, advise him and 
 his parents to call at the Bureau, and arrange 
 to accompany him if necessary. He is then 
 expected to pay a second visit after the child 
 leaves school and ascertain how he progresses ; 
 he will urge him to join an evening school if 
 practicable, to join a £lub, Scout Troop or 
 other organisation. Each Visitor is provided 
 with a list of young folks' recreative organisa- 
 
Employment and After-Care 141 
 
 tions in the district ; if he happens to be 
 himself a Scoutmaster he will try to get the 
 boy to join his troop and keep in touch with 
 him in that way, or the boy may be already 
 in his troop. 
 
 After a second visit the Visitor may find 
 that the child is well placed, his parents have 
 a wise regard for his future, and the child is 
 doing well ; in such cases he will cease to 
 " visit " in the official sense, but in other cases, 
 where boys or girls for any reason appear to 
 require particular attention, the Visitor will 
 endeavour to continue keeping in touch with 
 them and will report on them from time to 
 time to the Sub-Committee. The cards at 
 the Bureau are kept up to date, so that when 
 any child calls there the officer in charge 
 has at hand his card, which bears all the 
 available information. 
 
 There are at present 18 District Com- 
 mittees in Bradford, comprising a total of 
 407 visitors. The number of children assigned 
 to a Visitor varies according as his area is 
 scattered or the reverse. In addition there 
 are special Care Committees whose work 
 is to supervise feeble-minded and physically 
 defective children, and where such children 
 
142 The Young Wage- Earner 
 
 axe able to enter employment the visiting of 
 them is in the hands of the special Care 
 Committee concerned. 
 
 It is to be hoped that, when Continued 
 Education becomes compulsory, Local Educa- 
 tion Authorities will not overlook these volun- 
 tary efforts to care for youth, and especially 
 will not overlook the work of those who have 
 proved themselves successful in influencing 
 the adolescent wage-earner. 
 
 The latest effort of the Bradford Education 
 Committee on behalf of the city's adolescents, 
 should be noted. A Conference was called in 
 December 1917 of workers in all societies of 
 Bradford which promote the welfare of young 
 people. A Committee was appointed with 
 the object of drawing up a scheme for the 
 Federation of Young People's Societies in 
 the city. The objects of the Federation are 
 to encourage the establishment of play centres, 
 young folks' clubs and similar organisations 
 in districts which are not provided with them 
 at present ; to encourage the provision of 
 swimming baths, camping grounds, playing 
 fields, etc., and to receive, acquire or rent 
 property for these purposes ; and to arrange 
 for such educational facilities as may be desired 
 
Employment and After-Care 143 
 
 by any particular Association, etc. Such a 
 Federation must surely prove a valuable 
 supplement to the work of the Juvenile 
 Employment Committee. 
 
 Amy F. Purvis. 
 
IV. WORKING GIRLS AND TRADE 
 SCHOOLS 
 
 (LONDON) 
 
 i. The London County Council has during 
 the last few years attached increasing import- 
 ance to the organisation of Trade Schools for 
 boys and girls who pass out of the Elementary 
 Schools ; in these is provided a course of 
 instruction extending over two years, which 
 is specially arranged to prepare pupils for 
 entry into particular trades — to give a know- 
 ledge of the underlying principles of the trades 
 and a practical training in trade methods. 
 There is also opportunity for physical and 
 general education. The pupils give about 
 two-thirds of their time to trade work, and 
 the remainder is spent on such subjects as 
 English Literature and Composition, History, 
 Mathematics, Art or Science : these subjects 
 have a direct bearing upon the work the boy 
 or girl is going to pursue later— the arithmetic 
 will be of the most practical kind, and in- 
 dustrial history will be taught, special reference 
 
 144 
 
Trade Schools (London) 145 
 
 being made to the conditions of life in factory 
 and workshop. 
 
 These schools are run on secondary rather 
 than elementary lines, and the large amount 
 of practical combined with theoretical work 
 seems to give the pupils a self-reliance and 
 sense of responsibility which is not easily 
 found in either an elementary or a secondary 
 school of the ordinary type. They are open 
 on five days a week from 9 a.m. to 12-45 p.m. 
 and from 1-45 to 5 p.m. Most pupils spend 
 the dinner-hour at the school, for it is then 
 that they have opportunity for private talk 
 amongst themselves or with their teacher, 
 headmistress or headmaster. Various activities 
 are carried on — the school may have its Scout 
 Club, its Debating Society, exhibitions and 
 expeditions. 
 
 In some cases temporary premises have 
 been adapted and equipped as Trade Schools ; 
 in a crowded district the space is necessarily 
 somewhat limited, but the new school at 
 Lime Grove, Hammersmith, erected by the 
 L.C.C. in 1915, is spacious and beautiful ; 
 the panelled halls and gymnasium, the airy 
 rooms and gay corridors, must give a sense of 
 satisfaction to those who work there. 
 
146 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 2. The usual age for entry of pupils into 
 Trade Schools is 13+ ; the pupils having left 
 the Public Elementary School when they 
 have reached the 6th or 7th standard. Since 
 the course of study covers two years, this 
 results in a normal leaving age of 15 + . 
 If the scheme of Mr Fisher's Bill as now pre- 
 sented to the House of Commons is retained, 
 the future of these schools is difficult to fore- 
 cast. Under Clause 10 (2) (ii) (b) the pupils, 
 if they^-stay at the school till they are 16, 
 will be exempt from further schooling up to 
 18, and will thus receive a privilege which 
 those who commenced work at 14 will not be 
 allowed to share. On the other hand, it may 
 be felt both by parents and by employers in 
 certain trades that a slighter but more extended 
 course of education up to 18, with the pupil 
 earning wages right through, will produce a 
 better result all round than the Two Years' 
 Course of the Trade School as now established. 
 There are indications that this clause will 
 encounter opposition, for in many quarters 
 it is felt that all adolescents should be under 
 supervision up to 18 years of age, whether or 
 no they have had the privilege of whole-time 
 schooling up to 16 or 17 in a Secondary or 
 
Trade Schools (London) 147 
 
 Trade School. Those who support the Two- 
 Year Trade School as at present established 
 would be glad to co-operate in some plan for 
 partial education after the completion of the 
 Two Years' Course at 15+ or 16. It would 
 be possible for the pupils after entering on 
 wage-earning employment still to look upon 
 the Trade School as their headquarters, to 
 keep in touch with it as a corporate society, 
 and to return for advanced instruction 
 during a few hours each week until the 
 age of 18 is reached. The headmaster or 
 headmistress would continue to be regarded 
 as the friend and adviser of their former 
 pupils, and the institution would still afford 
 opportunity for recreation and social inter- 
 course. 
 
 _3. During the last two years an effort has 
 been made to utilise the Trade School organisa- 
 tion to meet the needs of a new type of pupil ; 
 it has been found, in anticipation of the 
 provisions of this Bill, that a certain number 
 of employers are willing to release their 
 wage-earners of 14 years of age to attend 
 classes for a few hours in each week : and 
 these are pupils of a type wholly different 
 
148 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 from those who have hitherto made full-time 
 attendance at the Trade School. A large 
 number of young Londoners — in fact, the 
 greater number of those who leave school at 
 the age of 14 — drift into unskilled employment 
 in factories and workshops: although the 
 girls are often called " learners," the learning 
 consists merely in acquiring knowledge of a 
 sewing machine, or of the operations involved 
 in filling bottles or pasting labels, and the 
 learner receives wages from the first day of 
 employment. An attempt has therefore been 
 made by the L.C.C. to provide instruction for 
 these boys and girls, and they have utilised 
 the Trade School for the purpose. At a 
 Conference of West End Employers held in 
 consultation with the Juvenile Advisory 
 Committee in September 1916 it was agreed 
 that girls between 14 and 16 years of age 
 should be allowed (without a deduction of 
 wages), three hours on two days each week, 
 to attend a Trade School, and that attend- 
 ance should be made a condition of engage- 
 ment by the employers. There are therefore 
 at the present time, attached to Trade Schools, 
 a number of young people who have entered a 
 trade as "learners" and are sent by their 
 
Trade Schools (London) 149 
 
 employers to receive instruction in drawing, 
 and general and physical education, as well 
 as technical training (so far as this can be 
 given apart from the factory). The scheme 
 is an experimental one ; it is too early to judge 
 of its success, for these learners are drawn to 
 a considerable extent from the backward 
 children of the Elementary School who re- 
 joiced to be rid of its fetters at the age of 14, 
 and some, though by no means all, return 
 unwillingly to lessons. There is a cleavage 
 between them and the girls of the Day Trade 
 School ; they feel themselves to be outsiders, 
 and the-whole-time pupils, if not the teachers, 
 regard them as such. In some cases an 
 attempt is made to work both sets of girls 
 together, but the "learners" are more back- 
 ward and less interested. Their interest is 
 centred in the shop to which they belong ; 
 it is the matron or forewoman of the work- 
 room, rather than the headmistress, who is 
 taken into their confidence. 
 
 This transition from full-time schooling to 
 a life of wage-earning and part-time schooling 
 presents unexpected difficulties. Suggestions 
 for overcoming these difficulties are made in 
 paragraphs 4 and 5 of the Statement printed 
 
150 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 on pages 10 to 16 of this volume ; they are 
 worth consideration . 
 
 4. In the case of boys, an increasing number 
 of firms require their young employees to 
 attend the classes which the L.C.C. is ready 
 to provide. At the Post Office Instrument 
 Factory, for instance, the boys receive techni- 
 cal instruction in the factory itself from skilled 
 instructors appointed by the L.C.C. and are 
 sent to classes held in the neighbourhood for 
 general and physical education. They are 
 required to spend eight hours a week under 
 instruction either in the factory or in the 
 schoolroom ; during five of the eight hours 
 they are paid, the remaining three hours are 
 made up by working overtime. 
 
 Sometimes the Labour Exchange will bring 
 pressure to bear upon an employer by refusing 
 to recommend his firm unless attendance at 
 classes for a certain number of hours during 
 the week is made compulsory. It may be 
 that both employer and employee resent such 
 a condition ; the boy may attend those classes 
 which bear directly upon the trade he is 
 following, but he has little interest in the 
 somewhat cut-and-dried scheme of general 
 
Trade Schools (London) 151 
 
 education presented in the English lesson, 
 and he seeks his pleasure elsewhere. The 
 success of the work depends to some extent 
 upon the sympathy of the employer, but 
 to a far greater extent upon the enter- 
 prise and enthusiasm of the educational 
 supervisor. 
 
 5. Interesting experiments are being made 
 in other directions. Messrs Reeves & Sons 
 (Artists' Colourmen) place all their girls of 
 14 years of age together in a separate room. 
 Here, in the " factory school," as it is termed, 
 under the care of a skilled forewoman, they 
 are taught the simplest methods of artists' 
 brush-making, and receive instruction on 
 various points connected with factory lif e 
 from the works matron, who is also the 
 welfare worker for the wiiole factory. The 
 work is carefully watched, and when girls 
 are sufficiently advanced they are passed on 
 to the regular brush-making department, and 
 learn there the more difficult parts of the 
 trade. The time spent in the factory school 
 —and during this whole period the girls are 
 wage-earners — occupies from six to nine 
 months. Last autumn Messrs Reeves & Sons 
 
152 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 agreed with the L.C.C. to allow the girls 
 working in the school to spend six hours a 
 week upon certain subjects, such as Physical 
 Education, Calculation, Needlework and 
 Drawing, which have no direct bearing upon 
 the trade. The L.C.C. provided the teachers 
 for these school subjects. As far as the girls 
 were concerned, the scheme worked most 
 successfully ; as the numbers averaged not 
 more than twenty to thirty, much more 
 freedom could be permitted and individual 
 attention given than in the ordinary class- 
 room. Unfortunately the scheme has had to 
 be abandoned for the present, owing to the 
 opposition of parents. A bonus is given to 
 those girls who make more than a certain 
 number of brashes a day ; the girl is paid 
 for the " lesson " hours, but she is not able to 
 increase her bonus by making brushes during 
 those hours ; we gather that the parents, 
 rather than lose the extra threepence or four- 
 pence a week, send the child to work else- 
 where. Pressure of Government work, and 
 the consequent necessity of keeping in the 
 firm's employ as many young girl workers as 
 possible, have resulted in the classes being 
 discontinued for the present. 
 
Trade Schools (London) 153 
 
 Messrs Crosse & Blackwell have estab- 
 lished a club in close connection with their 
 factory. When girls are engaged the firm 
 makes it a condition of service that they shall 
 attend classes held in the clubroom, and gives 
 eight hours a week from working hours for 
 this purpose. This is a new scheme, for it 
 was not until January 1916, when shortage 
 of labour made it necessary, that girls under 
 18 years of age were employed at the firm's 
 headquarters. The course of instruction (the 
 instructors being provided by the L.C.C.) 
 extends over two years, but it is hoped, that 
 girls who remain in the service of the firm for 
 the two years will continue to attend classes 
 in the club, which are being specially arranged 
 for them on one evening each week. The 
 girls have their midday meal in the club, 
 and here Christmas parties, gymnastic dis- 
 plays, etc., are held. The successful working 
 of the scheme is due to the close co- 
 operation of the matron, who is appointed 
 by the employers and looks after the 
 girls in the factory and in the club, with 
 the educational supervisor appointed by the 
 L.C.C. 
 
 An extension of some of the foregoing 
 
154 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 schemes so as to apply to those between 16 
 and 18 years of age, and to include a greater 
 variety of pursuits, would be on the lines of 
 Clause 10 of the Government Bill. 
 
 T. M. Pugh. 
 
V. THE PART-TIME EDUCATION OF 
 CLERKS 
 
 (MANCHESTER) 
 
 Considerable facilities for commercial educa- 
 tion have been provided by most Local 
 Education Authorities in the Evening Con- 
 tinuation Schools in England, but as the 
 majority of the pupils attending such schools 
 are between the ages of 14 and 18 it is clear 
 that, when Mr Fisher's Education Bill becomes 
 law, these schools will be vitally affected, 
 since it will be necessary for provision to be 
 made to provide instruction for 320 hours 
 each year in the day-time for young persons 
 of those ages, and in a city like Manchester 
 there will be many thousands who desire 
 commercial instruction. 
 
 1. The" Manchester Education Committee 
 
 has already anticipated to some extent the 
 
 changes that will be necessary under the 
 
 Education Bill, by opening, in October 1917, 
 
 i55 
 
156 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 a Municipal High School of Commerce. The 
 school is held in premises which have been 
 rented for the purpose in the heart of the city. 
 Full-time courses of instruction for one or two 
 years have been organised for young persons 
 (not less than 15 years old) who desire ulti- 
 mately to undertake responsible positions in 
 the business world ; but for our immediate 
 purpose it is more important to note that part- 
 time courses have been planned for young 
 persons in business houses who can arrange 
 to attend during the day-time. The staff of 
 the school consists of professional teachers who 
 have had experience in commercial educa- 
 tion, together with a number of business 
 specialists teaching in their spare time.' 
 
 There are 70 full-time and more than 
 300 part-time pupils in attendance ; and in 
 regard to the latter the principle of Mr Fisher's 
 Bill is already in operation. Many of the 
 part-time pupils, one-third of whom are 
 between 15 and 18 years old, have been 
 released by their firms in order to attend 
 special courses of study, and the number of 
 firms (at present 16) which are granting this 
 privilege is steadily increasing. 
 
 The school is open for six hours each week- 
 
Part-Time Education of Clerks 157 
 
 day except Saturdays, and young persons 
 attending from firms come either for a full 
 day or for two or three half-days. In most 
 cases not only have the firms allowed their 
 employees to attend the school without any 
 deduction from their wages being made, but 
 they have also paid the necessary fees. 
 
 On entering the school each pupil is inter- 
 viewed by the Principal and his course of 
 study is carefully arranged after considering 
 the nature of his occupation and his previous 
 training. Many of the firms are quite willing 
 to leave the arrangement of the courses taken 
 by their employees to the school authorities, 
 but in some cases firms have expressed a 
 desire to have certain subjects included, and 
 as far as possible their wishes have been met. 
 Reports are sent regularly to the various firms 
 concerning the progress of their employees, 
 and every opportunity is taken to associate 
 the instruction directly with the occupation 
 of the students. There have been "frequent 
 consultations between the school staff and 
 the representatives of firms concerning the 
 courses of study, and modifications have been 
 introduced from time to time. Though the 
 instruction of the part-time pupils is of 
 
158 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 necessity largely vocational, some time has 
 been found, mainly in the English lessons, 
 for study of .a more " liberal " character. 
 
 The Principal has recognised that, if the 
 scheme for the part-time education of young 
 persons is to be successful, it is necessary for 
 someone to have an intimate personal know- 
 ledge of each pupil ; and he has therefore 
 arranged that each member of the staff shall 
 act as supervisor for a certain number of the 
 part-time pupils, and these pupils know that 
 they can consult their supervisor at any con- 
 venient time concerning their work. The 
 supervisors endeavour unobtrusively to gain 
 the confidence of the pupils and to find out 
 their interests in life generally as well as those 
 arising out of their work. Though the part- 
 time pupils are taught in the main in separate 
 classes from the full-time pupils, it is hoped 
 that it will be possible for them to join in 
 some of the social activities of the school, 
 but it is too early yet to say how far this will 
 be possible. 
 
 2. This High School of Commerce serves the 
 needs of the entire city and neighbourhood, 
 and is linked on to a Lower -School of Com- 
 
Part-Time Education of Clerks 159 
 
 merce, which likewise looks for its pupils 
 to the whole area of Manchester, but gives 
 instruction of a lower grade and is only open 
 from 4 p.m. ; this restriction is necessary since 
 the classes are at present conducted in the 
 premises of the Manchester Grammar School. 
 The Lower School of Commerce is attended 
 by some 1500 pupils between the ages of 16 
 and 18, and it is probable that when com- 
 pulsory part-time education comes into force 
 this institution will have premises of its own 
 in the centre of the city and will provide part- 
 time instruction in the day-time. 
 
 3. Just as in the heart of the city there are 
 full-time day classes (established October 1917) 
 and evening classes, so there are in the various 
 outlying districts evening commercial classes, 
 which will in the future either be transferred 
 to the day-time or be reduplicated ; and the 
 Manchester Education Committee hopes to 
 provide opportunities for full;time commercial 
 instruction during the day. in each district 
 of the city. A beginning in this direction 
 has already been made. In September 1917 
 a Junior Day Commercial Department or 
 " School " was opened for the Cheetham 
 
160 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 district in North Manchester in connection with 
 one of the Public Elementary or " Central " 
 schools. The aim of this Junior Day Com- 
 mercial School is to give a sound preliminary 
 training for commercial life to boys and girls 
 who have passed an entrance examination 
 equivalent to -Standard VII. and are at the 
 time of the examination between 13 and 14^ 
 years of age. The courses of study extend 
 over two years. The work of the upper 
 standards of the Cheetham " Central " School 
 has^een modified to some extent in order to 
 link it up closely with that of this Junior Day 
 Commercial School. . Many of the pupils pass 
 directly into the Junior Commercial School 
 after attending for some years the lower 
 classes in the Cheetham " Central " School 
 itself, and thus their capabilities and char- 
 acters are well known to the staff, most v of 
 whom are regular members of the staff of 
 the " Central " School. Two special teachers 
 for commercial subjects have been appointed. 
 At present there are 120 pupils attending this 
 Junior Day Commercial School. It is probable 
 that this school will help in the part-time 
 instruction of young persons until 16 years 
 of age at least. 
 
Part-Time Education of Clerks 161 
 
 Though neither the Junior Day Commercial 
 School nor the Evening Continuation Classes 
 are meeting exactly what the Education Bill 
 proposes, the experience gained in them will 
 enable the Local Education Authority rapidly 
 to establish a scheme of suitable commercial 
 instruction in the daytime for 320 hours each 
 year. 
 
 The Director of Education for Manchester 
 has recently said that in establishing these 
 commercial schools there is no intention merely 
 to turn out efficient typists, efficient short- 
 hand writers and the like, for it is necessary 
 to look at* commerce in a much broader, 
 bigger and more generous way than that, and 
 to get away from the idea of a school for 
 purely commercial mechanical purposes. 
 
 (Further particulars concerning the Muni- 
 cipal High School of Commerce can 'be 
 obtained on application to the Registrar.) 
 
 Wm. Elliott. 
 
VI. WORKS SCHOOLS FOR ENGINEERS 
 
 (MANCHESTER) 
 
 i. The Works School of Hans Renold's Ltd. — 
 Hans Renold's is a well-known Manchester 
 firm of engineers, in peace-time producing 
 the Renold Chain, but now largely Occupied 
 on munitions. The works stand outside the 
 smoke area, near the garden suburb of Bumage, 
 where a good many of the workpeople live ; 
 others come by train to the local station from 
 other outlying districts, or by car and bus 
 from the town. The one-storeyed buildings 
 are planned in such a way as to leave the 
 country-side unspoiled. They are bright and 
 well looked after ; jessamine grows on ,the 
 walls ; and there is plenty of air and light. 
 
 The effect of such conditions upon young 
 workers is obvious, and from the point of view 
 of health there is considerable advantage, in 
 having a school within the works. The wear 
 and tear of journeys into Manchester to one 
 of the Junior Technical Schools is avoided, 
 
 163 
 
Works Schools 163 
 
 and more leisure for meals and recreation is 
 available. 
 
 The Works School for Apprentices has been 
 in existence only since October 1917. It is 
 under the direction of the Employment Depart- 
 ment, the manager of which (being responsible 
 for admission, rate of pay, transference, dis- 
 missal and general welfare of every worker) 
 takes a keen interest in its development. 
 There is a special teacher, Who has, however, 
 some other official duties ; and in addition 
 a visiting teacher, lent by the Education. 
 Committee, for English. 
 
 Of the apprentices about sixty are under 
 16 years of age, and a similar number over 16. 
 All are being trained as engineers, but at 
 present it is only the boys under 16 who are 
 in the school. On admission they must have 
 passed through Standard VII. or its equivalent. 
 They are classified after an Entrance Examina- 
 tion, and grouped in three classes. Generally 
 speaking, they are bright lads, though the 
 bottom class is said to contain some weak 
 members. A new course begins at Easter; 
 and a " waiting class " for new admissions is 
 contemplated. One day a week, seven hours, 
 is spent in the school. The subjects taken 
 
164 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 are science (physics and mechanics) ; mathe- 
 matics (including practical mensuration) ; 
 drawing and woodwork, English, drill (one 
 group at a time). The work done is not 
 strictly vocational, but might be called 
 " pre- vocational," certainly with a bias in 
 the direction of the boy's future employment. 
 The handwork is closely connected with 
 mathematics; constant use of the metric 
 rulers helps to familiarise the metric system. 
 The " English " period is mainly concerned 
 with questions of industry or of citizenship. 
 Classes are small, and a good deal of individual 
 attention is possible. 
 
 When the present writer visited the school, 
 a class of boys was at work in a large bright 
 room, engaged on practical problems of men- 
 suration. They had space and opportunity 
 for moving about at will, and showed the 
 alertness and concentration of active interest. 
 A young trained pattern-maker was present, 
 as well as the teacher, giving individual help. 
 Note-books were examined ; elaborate notes 
 are not demanded, the teacher preferring to 
 train the boy's judgment as to what record 
 is necessary in regard to processes and results. 
 
 Again, only a small amount of home-work 
 
Works Schools 165 
 
 is given — about an' hour a week ; probably 
 here some extension might be made. 
 
 It is felt that the boys appreciate modern 
 social and industrial history. In connection 
 with a similar course at the Openshaw Junior 
 Technical School a boy observed : " We don't 
 learn about kings and battles here, but how 
 the country is governed, and- the life of the 
 People." (The capital P was emphatic !) 
 It seemed that more ambitious work might 
 well be attempted in English ; the boys will 
 soon exhaust books of " outlines," and feel 
 the need for fuller and more concrete ex- 
 pression of the workers' life and thought. 
 -The course is, however, in its early stage, and 
 is capable of much development. Dramatic 
 production might be encouraged by the general 
 atmosphere of the works, where many social 
 clubs meet and where lectures and discussions 
 are frequently held. The human interest 
 of sueh a community is stimulating. An 
 elaborate system of reporting on special forms 
 facilitates supervision and criticism on the 
 part of the management. About two-thirds 
 of the apprentice-scholars* we were told, are 
 making satisfactory progress. Progress, in- 
 deed, is expected. 
 
166 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 After 16 the training in the works takes up 
 the whole week, but boys are encouraged to 
 go to the evening classes at Technical Schools 
 in Manchester or Stockport. Here again 
 careful reports are forwarded monthly as to 
 attendance and work. From this time to the 
 close of the apprenticeship at 21, the four 
 main types of worker become differentiated — 
 skilled engineer, " tradesman," senior skilled 
 machinist and clerk. Both manager and 
 teacher know the boys well ; indeed, with the 
 present numbers, the question of individual 
 relations is fairly simple. The school is a new 
 experiment, and has favourable auspices. 
 
 In such a works, it should be noted, beyond 
 the question of training the selected boy 
 worker lies the larger and in some senses more 
 complex problem of the unskilled. 
 
 There is a large amount of unskilled women's 
 work, fluctuating of necessity. About 500 
 of the workers in this firm are girls under 18. 
 So far nothing has been possible by way of 
 provision for their continued education. They 
 of course take part in the social activities ; 
 some attend evening classes. Of the Second- 
 ary school girls now employed in the office, 
 ten, aged between 16 and 18 years, attend the 
 
Works Schools 167 
 
 High School of Commerce l one day a week. 
 In their case again the problem is manageable. 
 Should the Education Bill become law, the 
 manager thinks that one-fifth more employees 
 would be required to make possible the adjust- 
 ments necessary for liberating all the young 
 workers in accordance with these new educa- 
 tional demands. 
 
 The Works School with its pleasant con- 
 ditions may act as a stimulus towards a solu- 
 tion of the larger problem. But it is difficult 
 to conceive how it could be extended to cover 
 the needs of the unskilled. The boy appren- 
 tices represent an intellectual elite ; their work 
 would seem exacting to slower brains. The 
 type of teacher likely to appeal to them might 
 naturally show little patience with the repeti- 
 tion worker. Moreover, the subjects would 
 need reconsideration. The boys understand 
 the bearing of their studies on their future 
 career, and on the general work of the place. 
 This wider view could not be expected for some 
 time from the unskilled girls. 'The boys seem 
 proud of the firm, and the firm of the boys. 
 The Works School from both sides is readily 
 seen to be important. The instruction of the 
 
 1 See p. 156. \ 
 
168 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 unskilled workers would be a new type of 
 enterprise. Whether the management would 
 feel this new enterprise to be worth while, 
 and whether the new material would be best 
 provided for in the works or elsewhere, are 
 matters for consideration. Even less com- 
 fortable conditions might well be compensated 
 by occupations in which the young workers 
 were vitally interested and not " unskilled." 
 
 2. The Westinghouse Works School. — The 
 " British Westinghouse Electric and Manu- 
 facturing Company " is a very large engineer- 
 ing firm. Its buildings cover a great area of 
 the industrial district along the Ship Canal, 
 where within our memory the woods of 
 Trafford Park stretched. Trains, tram-cars 
 and motor engines pant past everywhere. 
 Glimpses of the canal and the masts of ships 
 appear now and then ; and the strange lights 
 at dusk and dawn are often wonderful. 
 
 " Industrial efficiency " is proclaimed every- 
 where. The Westinghouse was originally an 
 American firm, but has been under British 
 directorship now for some years. A sym- 
 pathetic official who is chiefly responsible for 
 the supervision of the apprentices explained 
 
Works Schools 169 
 
 their system of training, and afterwards con- 
 ducted us to see the Works School. Of the 
 400 apprentices, about 350 attend classes in 
 the school, giving five hours a week to educa- 
 tion. There are five classes ; in the first three 
 general education, with a pronounced in- 
 dustrial bias, is undertaken ; then comes a 
 " link class," in which the boys with a special 1 
 bent towards mechanics or electricity are 
 sorted out and instructed in the technical 
 principles of their branches of work ; the 
 highest class receives a course of two years' 
 training in special trade classes in the theory 
 of the processes which are carried out in the 
 shops. At about 20 years of age the boys 
 will have completed the different courses ; 
 up to the close of their apprenticeship at 21 
 they continue to attend the school for an 
 hour and a half each month for the purpose 
 of studying and discussing work processes. 
 Thus the period of training goes considerably 
 past 18. The classes are small, the lecture- 
 room accommodating about twenty boys. 
 
 One official is concerned with the general 
 organisation of the work and is in close touch 
 with all matters concerning the boys. In the 
 teaching he is helped by a number of lecturers, 
 
170 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 university graduates employed in the works 
 either in the higher processes or in supervision 
 of output. As they are on the premises, 
 arrangement of the time-table is feasible 
 though complicated. The bias of studies is 
 naturally towards science and mathematics. 
 An attempt is made to give some account of 
 social development. On one visit we saw 
 some interesting" notes on prehistoric times. 
 On the practical side the boys receive training 
 under foremen as demonstrators, twelve being 
 assigned to each instructor. 
 
 The general supervisor is an enthusiast and 
 speaks of the boys with obvious pride. He 
 pointed out that in time past boys had been 
 encouraged to go to evening technical classes, 
 but that only the 10 per cent, of marked ability 
 and ambition did so. By establishing this 
 school, the firm is also able to give instruction 
 to the 90 per cent, of apprentices who will 
 become workmen — fitters, moulders, turners, 
 pattern-makers and so on ; all of them, how- 
 ever, be it noted, skilled workmen. 
 
 The 10 per cent, with special ability are 
 not overlooked. They may secure scholar- 
 ships for the part-time day course at the 
 Technical College in Manchester, and in some 
 
Works Schools 171 
 
 cases may attend evening technical classes. 
 One boy has taken a university scholarship. 
 
 During the last twelve months an interest- 
 ing experiment in self-government has been 
 made. A Council of sixteen or seventeen 
 boys, with its own chairman, secretary and 
 treasurer, meets to discuss and deal with 
 affairs concerning the apprentices. At first 
 questions of social life and sports were in 
 view, and a summer camp was organised. 
 Later the Council's range has been extended 
 so that it acts as a tribunal as regards man- 
 agement of conduct in the works. The boys 
 elect their own chairman, and act with great 
 efficiency on the mornings when their class- 
 room becomes a Council Chamber. One of 
 their activities is The Trade Apprentice, a 
 magazine recording social events, especially 
 those of interest to the Trade Apprentices 
 Association ; it also contains articles, in some 
 cases contributed by the lecturers, on " Science 
 in Fiction," " The Wheels of Industry," and 
 other topics for the serious boy reader. A 
 study of the magazine certainly conveys the 
 impression of intimacy and good-fellowship 
 between apprentices and lecturers ; there are 
 caricatures and parodies, and accounts of 
 
172 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 football matches, with the usual jokes at the 
 expense of the staff. 
 
 Football is possible on a large scale in the 
 Traffold Park fields not yet devastated by 
 works. The Westinghouse has a Social Club 
 House in the fields at some little distance from 
 the business centre. 
 
 Football stands for the boys' physical train- 
 ing, but the management would be prepared 
 to introduce Swedish exercises if required 
 under the new Education scheme. The super- 
 visor is alive to the importance of educating 
 the possible new masters in industry. Clearly 
 a great deal is being done for these young 
 aristocrats of the labour world. 
 
 But in addition rises the problem of the 
 1200 boy workers in the shops who represent 
 unskilled labour. It is felt that they should 
 be educated also. The Works School, how- 
 ever, has not been devised in their interest, 
 and under present conditions could hardly be 
 adapted to them. Something is actually done 
 for the repetition worker upon nuts and bolts, 
 and lectures upon the whole story of the gun 
 and the importance of the various parts are 
 given. Workmen are encouraged to act as 
 " godfathers " to the boys in their tasks. 
 
Works Schools 173 
 
 Considering the large number of boys con- 
 cerned, it would seem possible for the Local 
 Authority to organise a system of central 
 classes in such an area. 
 
 There are also the women workers. Already, 
 owing to special war conditions, a class has 
 been arranged for the women graduates and 
 for matriculation pupils from High Schools, 
 who are engaged on draughtsmanship and 
 mathematical calculations. They are receiv- 
 ing a short period of intensive training, and 
 the relative proficiency of the younger girls 
 has been remarked upon with interest. Very 
 different is the case of the girl unskilled 
 workers whom we saw at their machines, 
 and upon whose intellectual range the young 
 experts commented very unfavourably. If 
 their work awakens no mental interest and 
 no feeling of personal responsibility, then the 
 continued education of the younger girls 
 should have another kind of approach, and 
 might best be planned by an authority of less 
 bewildering and magical efficiency than that 
 which orders their industrial life. 
 
 Winifred Hindshaw. 
 
VII. THE CHURCHES AND THE YOUNG 
 ADOLESCENT 
 
 I. PARISHES AND CLUB ORGANISATION 
 
 All the reports so far presented are concerned 
 either with efforts covering definite educa- 
 tional areas or with single examples of educa- 
 tion and training associated with an industry: 
 When we turn our attention to institutions 
 based on religious or philanthropic motives, 
 the difficulty of selection increases. A Church 
 must look after its young people in some way 
 or other, if the community is to continue in 
 permanence ; but it may supply them with 
 a good deal of spiritual oversight and oppor- 
 tunity, without making any special provision 
 which we may distinguish as educational. 
 Thus a Senior Sunday School or a Young 
 People's Service is educational in the widest 
 and best sense of the word, but, having regard, 
 to the lines on which education has been 
 developed and systematised in our epoch, 
 we do not classify such opportunities as 
 
 i74 
 
The Churches and the Adolescent 175 
 
 educational. The Churches themselves re- 
 cognise the distinction ; and in some cases the 
 supporters of a Church, both clerical and lay, 
 draw a sharp line, and exclude from their 
 province all social opportunities which are 
 not definitely designed for spiritual edification. 
 This is a logical and consistent view ; it 
 simplifies the problems of pastor and flock; 
 it simplifies, too, the functions of public 
 education authorities, and of other so-called 
 " secular " institutions designed to attract 
 the interest of young people. But a logical 
 and simple policy is not always sound; it 
 can only be trusted when it covers all the data, 
 and in this case it fails to reckon with the 
 specific nature of youth. A grown man finds 
 it easy to separate his life into compartments : 
 he can be an active member of his Church or 
 Chapel, and, quite separately, play a good 
 game of golf; to suggest that his golf club 
 should be linked up with the spiritual organisa- 
 tion would, be absurd. And yet thousands 
 of football clubs, Scout troops, debating 
 societies, guilds, etc., designed for young 
 people under 18, are associated with religious 
 communities; and no one cavils at such 
 association. The studies of adolescence 
 
176 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 presented in earlier pages of this book explain 
 why the young people welcome the union of 
 secular and spiritual. They are growing into 
 a new mode of life, and have not yet attained 
 our adult capacity for holding apart the 
 different strands of the week's experience. 
 The youth is claimed by home ties, by his 
 factory, by his religion, by his associates and 
 their common pleasures : if two or three of 
 these divergent interests can be identified in 
 the same social circle of companionship and 
 leadership, he finds life more harmonious and 
 jess distracting. And so the Church is able 
 to step in and gather round itself various 
 forms of group life to which young people are 
 attracted, especially in cases where the home 
 circle already " belongs " to the Church. 
 
 Two types of institution are to be dis- 
 tinguished, according as the original stimulus 
 comes from a single Church itself, or from 
 some larger external organisation. 1 Of such 
 organisations, the Boy Scouts Association is 
 among the best known ; almost every religious 
 community, from Roman Catholic to Methodist, 
 
 1 In Birmingham we have an example of an intermediate 
 type. See articles in The War and the Citizen, edited by the 
 Rev. G. B. Code, Head Missioner of the Birmingham Street 
 Children's Union. (Hodder & Stoughton. London, 1917.) 
 
The Churches and the Adolescent 177 
 
 welcomes the formation of a Scout troop by 
 its young adherents, who thus show their 
 loyalty not only to Scout Law but to the 
 Church. As a world-wide organisation the 
 Scouts profess no creed except the widest and 
 most catholic ; but any individual troop may 
 be strictly limited to the membership of one 
 confession. This alliance between the in- 
 stitutions of religion and an institution for 
 adolescent training is a triumph of organisa- 
 tion. A similar alliance meets the needs of 
 girls, in the Girl Guide movement. 
 
 There exist also an immense variety of 
 institutions of the first type, in which the 
 stimulus has come from the broad policy of 
 an individual Church ; the report on pp. 180- 
 190 below affords illustrations of these. 
 
 There are still, however, many parishes in 
 which doubt is felt as to the extent to which 
 social and recreative groups«should be included 
 within the sphere of Church activities, even 
 when educative efforts, in the narrower sense 
 of the word, are added to the programme of 
 recreations. In such cases the clergy, while 
 abstaining from starting their own clubs, often 
 give a welcome to other organisations. In the 
 case of girls, for instance, junior branches 
 
 M 
 
178 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 of the Girls' Friendly Society, or the Girl 
 Guide companies referred to above, seem to 
 be very effective as an adjunct to a parish. 
 Inquiries concerning Girls' Clubs in the east 
 of London go to show that a good many 
 are not directly connected with any parish, 
 although in most cases the workers are ex- 
 pressly identified either with the Church of 
 England or with some other religious body. 
 
 On the other hand, many large parishes" 
 in congested areas expend both money and 
 time in maintaining clubs for adolescents. One 
 such parish is here taken as an illustration. 
 Like others, it has its junior and senior clubs 
 for working girls. 
 
 The juniors (girls up to 16) flock to the 
 club soon after leaving school. They do not 
 take to the idea of self-government through 
 committees of their own choosing, for they 
 do not yet know what they want ; if they 
 choose a committee they will not obey it ! 
 They are, on the whole, disorderly ; they like 
 to chase one another about and let off steam ; 
 they have no respect for buildings and little 
 for people, although they are full of good 
 feeling for the older folk who come to look 
 after them. Their monotonous factory work 
 
The Churches and" the Adolescent 179 
 
 tires them and leaves them empty of interest. 
 A few of the quiet type will read books, but 
 the majority prefer dancing or singing— and 
 their taste in songs is not ours ! So the out- 
 sider can at first merely look on, keeping 
 herself ready to provide help when these 
 junior members get accustomed to the environ- 
 ment and begin to feel the need of self- 
 government. Any attempt to repress them 
 or to. produce orderliness, though it may seem 
 the easier and more direct course, will only 
 have the effect of driving away those who are 
 most in need of that which the club life can 
 give. 
 
 The seniors (over 16) are much more 
 amenable to discipline, but in reality the girls 
 of this age present a more difficult problem. 
 Some of the roughest of them are not members 
 of the club. After the life of the streets, to 
 which they are already accustomed, club life 
 seems tame ; and the majority of those who 
 have joined the club are not of their " set." 
 Among those who do attend, government 
 by committee is getting established. The 
 Club has been open three nights weekly, and 
 classes have been held in drilling, dancing, 
 singing and first aid ; dancing being the most 
 
180 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 popular. There are opportunities for quiet 
 occupations for those who prefer them. Those 
 who want advice in sewing their clothes 
 can get it ; others play games, read books, or 
 walk and talk unceasingly. They are keen to 
 compete against other clubs, and to carry 
 all the insignia of an organisation — a badge, 
 colours, etc. 
 
 It is very clear that in such a parish the 
 Local Education Authority should look to 
 these clubs fpr the supply of tutorial super- 
 vision, and that the hours given during the 
 day-time to " secular " instruction should be 
 organised in close co-operation with the leaders 
 and social workers of the Club. 
 
 M. M. Mills. 
 
 J. J. FlNDLAY. 
 
 2. NONCONFORMIST CHURCHES IN LONDON 
 
 Note. — This Report has been written after exchange 
 of views with certain leading Nonconformist workers among 
 young people, but is not in any sense authorised or 
 sanctioned as an expression of their opinion, 
 
 Illustrations of work which, we think, 
 might be incorporated in the programmes of 
 Education Authorities can be found in some 
 
The Churches and the Adolescent 181 
 
 of the Free Churches in any town, and often 
 in country districts. Co-operation with the 
 Education Authority in providing Continued 
 Education may take three forms : (a) pro- 
 viding instructors for individual adolescents, 
 or for quite small groups who by temperament, 
 lack of interest", want of training, or other 
 cause, are unlikely to benefit by the ordinary 
 classes arranged by the Education Committee ; 
 (b) (in a few cases) undertaking, in addition to 
 (a), to occupy the whole or the main part of 
 the 320 hours in the case of certain young 
 people ; (c) supplying supervisors responsible to 
 the L.E.A. for the right use of the 320 hours. 
 
 It is evident that many Churches which 
 might assist in (a) cannot co-operate in (&), and 
 need not in (c). Provided that a fair pro- 
 portion of the supervisors in an area belong 
 to, or have friendly relations with, Noncon- 
 formity, assistance under (a) will in many 
 cases be all that is expected or desired. 
 Bloomsbury Baptist Church, Shaftesbury 
 Avenue, and Crossway Central Mission, New 
 Kent Road, illustrate the position. 
 
 At Bloomsbury (Rev. Thomas Phillips, B. A.), 
 in addition to distinctive religious study, and 
 to W.E.A. and Boys' Brigade work, which 
 
182 The Young Wage- Earner 
 
 we may pass over, the following activities 
 are typical: — French class (20 students, 
 mixed) ; Shakespeare group (12) ; psychology 
 (8 boys) ; physiology (30 girls). These groups, 
 and other interests, attach to the Church over 
 100 young people between 16 and 21. In 
 addition there is a Girls' Guild, with numbers 
 varying between 40 and 60, consisting of girls 
 from the streets of 13 to 16 years. 
 
 The Church lays itself out to attack its 
 adolescent problem by the small group system. 
 I saw four admirable rooms, large enough for 
 twenty people, small enough for two or three. 
 One is used as a reading-room, and is fitted 
 with expanding book-cases. The rooms can 
 be thrown into two by removing connecting 
 partitions, and with the' large central hall 
 three large groups can be arranged for simul- 
 taneously. But Mr Phillips believes in the 
 small group. " In addition to the four smaller 
 rooms," he cheerfully said, " we can use this 
 room and the next." If a President of the 
 Baptist Union will give up his own study and 
 his secretary's office to accommodate a fifth 
 and sixth group, we need not seek further 
 assurance that he believes adolescence needs 
 this type of organisation. 
 
The Churches and the Adolescent 183 
 
 The leaders or teachers of the study groups 
 are well qualified. A Secondary school mistress 
 teaches physiology; a research student from 
 the University of Wales (a M.A. of- London), 
 the Shakespeare ; a qualified French-speaking 
 teacher, and in his absence the pastor of the 
 neighbouring French Protestant Church, 
 French. Mr Phillips himself leads the psy- 
 chology group, and a Bible and discussion - 
 group of fifteen lads of 16 to 18 years. These 
 two are groups of working lads. The latter had 
 just asked for a talk about prayer : could it 
 affect the question of war and peace ? and 
 for another upon questions of spiritualism. 
 Work is hampered by the war, but Mr Phillips 
 assured me that normally there is practically 
 no limit to the group work he can arrange. 
 
 Bloomsbury could offer a home (a) to small 
 groups of adolescents who find the restraint 
 of large classes too irksome ; {b) to those with 
 out-of-the-way interests. It is, e.g., unlikely 
 that any L.C.C. class in psychology would 
 attract or be conveniently accessible to such 
 youths as Mr Phillips draws to the subject, 
 and it is not easy to conceive an L.C.C. dis- 
 cussion class such as his. Yet a supervisor 
 might well discover, here and there, young 
 
184 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 people whose minds could be set working in 
 these groups, whom class instruction on usual 
 lines does not grip. 
 
 Crossway (Rev. Herbert Kenward) runs 
 classes in cookery (8 or 9 members) ; dress- 
 making (20) ; basket work (10) ; metal work 
 (10) ; electrical study (6) ; first aid (15 to 
 20) ; shorthand (16) ; singing and elocution 
 (20) ; junior and senior swimming clubs for 
 boys and girls (20 in each) ; junior and senior 
 boys' gymnasium (20 each) ; junior, inter- 
 mediate and senior girls' gymnasium (25, 25 
 and 30) : all for ages from 12 to 17. Teachers 
 are voluntary, and, except the physical in- 
 structors or instructresses, do not hold special 
 diplomas. In some cases the instructor 
 teaches his own trade {e.g. metal work). I 
 omit many activities for older or younger 
 people, though a reading circle (5 or 6 seniors 
 over 18) may be mentioned. There are five 
 rooms suitable for small groups, six larger 
 (for, say, 30 people), and two large halls for 
 gymnastic or other large groups. Here again 
 work is hindered by the war, but normally 
 Mr Kenward could without difficulty extend 
 the number of classes conducted in small 
 groups. 
 
The Churches and the Adolescent 185 
 
 In each case I gather (i) that a heed not 
 met by L.C.C. classes is felt to exist ; (ii) that 
 the method found effective to meet this need 
 is that of the small group, especially in in- 
 tellectual work ; (iii) that a wide variety of 
 interests must be met ; (iv) that results are 
 so encouraging that multiplication of groups 
 would willingly be attempted. I think I 
 may say that proposals for co-operation with 
 the L.E.A. would at least be Sympathetically 
 received. 
 
 It will be noticed that Bloomsbury inclines 
 to intellectual interests, Crossway to manual, 
 technical and physical. It seems to me that 
 Bloomsbury might do excellent work under 
 
 (a) of my first paragraph; while Crossway, 
 with the addition of reading circles and other 
 groups for liberal studies, might act under 
 
 (b) — e.g. girls at the cash desk, or helping 
 at home, might spend their eight hours a - 
 week wholly at the Mission. A supervisor 
 might have his office at both Churches, not 
 to confine his attention to the students attend- 
 ing there, but so as to work in the closest 
 touch with the ministers in charge. 
 
 It may safely be said that denominational 
 Objections will not be raised by any Non- 
 
186 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 conformist parents to such arrangements for 
 their children's education. From the stand- 
 point of the Churches concerned this " part- 
 time education " would be regarded in the 
 case of some young people as comprising 
 the whole connection between them and the 
 Church. In other cases, where with parental 
 consent the young people wished to join in 
 the worship and religious activities of the 
 Church, it would be looked upon as part of a 
 closer and more continuous connection. In 
 this event so many character-forming pur- 
 suits are opened out by a progressive Church 
 organisation that this form of education seems 
 the most balanced, complete and intimate 
 of all forms at present available for a large 
 proportion of young wage-earners. 1 
 
 Finally, as to provision of workers. A 
 difficulty arises if the study is to be 
 wholly conducted in the day-time, be- 
 fore 7 p.m. Non-professional men teachers 
 
 1 On Church organisation for this purpose I may refer to 
 " The -Church and the Adolescent Problem " ( Wesleyan 
 Methodist Magazine, September 1914) ; and The War, the 
 Church and the Adolescent (Bale Sons and Daniellson, 6d.). 
 Oil the relation between Sunday work and weekday activities, 
 "Intermediate Department Teaching" {Wesleyan Methodist 
 Sunday School Magazine, 1914. J. Williams Butcher, Ludgate 
 Circus Buildings, E.C.). 
 
The Churches and the Adolescent 187 
 
 or group leaders will be scarce ; but many 
 women are thoroughly competent. They 
 should be sought out and convinced of their 
 competency. I am sure that in numberless 
 cases the enthusiasm and common-sense of the 
 lay person is a greater impetus to adolescence 
 than the special knowledge and technical 
 skill of the professional teacher hampered by 
 conditions of class organisation. Both pro- 
 fessional and lay teachers are needed : the 
 question is how the two types can be employed 
 in co-operation — a question wholly personal 
 and local, to be answered on the spot by the 
 supervisors and those working with them. 
 
 Finding supervisors is the most delicate 
 task of all, but I am sure that Churches of all 
 denominations have the right men and women, 
 if only they can draw them into the work. 
 The Churches should, in this view, make it a 
 special objective to discover and introduce 
 to the Local Education Authority men and 
 women qualified for these posts, who, if 
 appointed, will work with professional teachers 
 and others specially chosen for this very 
 special work. They will be appointed, not 
 because of their religious profession, but on 
 account of their power to handle and influence 
 
188 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 young people ; and proof of their fitness will 
 be sought in the work they have already done 
 in their own town. They will be public 
 officials who are also, but not officially, 
 members of a Church : but they will engage 
 in this enterprise because they deem it an 
 expression of their Christianity, and because 
 their Church in calling them, and they in 
 responding, recognise that the opportunities 
 created by the Act are a direct challenge to 
 organised religion. If Education Committees 
 can be persuaded to vest wide discretionary 
 powers in these officials, and to appoint them 
 in such numbers that they can cope with the 
 individual problems presented to them, it 
 must be difficult for suitable people to resist 
 the call. 
 
 The Churches will need to attack the question 
 upon two sides, on the one hand surveying 
 their resources and mobilising their reserves 
 of potential teachers and supervisors ; and 
 on the other hand working to create such a 
 state of public opinion as will ensure that 
 sufficient supervisors, sufficiently trusted, are 
 appointed by the Local Authority. On both 
 sides much persuasion will be necessary. On 
 the one hand, people well fitted to act as 
 
The Churches and the Adolescent 189 
 
 leaders of small groups or as tutors in special 
 studies are often unconscious of their powers : 
 they will need persuading that their help 
 is necessary and valuable. Educated people 
 throughout the country will have to be 
 brought to realise the magnitude of the teach- 
 ing task projected by the Bill, and the im- 
 portance of what is now regarded as informal, 
 amateur teaching, both intrinsically — because 
 of its informality, its freshness, its spontaneity 
 — and~ circumstantially — until the teaching 
 profession can adjust itself in numbers and 
 method to the new situation. English society, 
 embraces no organisation so well qualified 
 to pursue and demonstrate this thought as 
 the Church. On the other hand, Education 
 Authorities must ensure that assistance is 
 efficient. For this, as indicated -before, they 
 must rely upon their supervisors, accepting 
 their assurance that the best arrangements 
 practicable have been made to bring each 
 adolescent into contact with the teachers 
 and studies most likely to inspire him and 
 draw him out. 
 
 Material considerations involved in employ- 
 ing teachers and supervisors, as well as in 
 details of co-operation, are matters for 
 
190 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 adjustment by Board of Education, Local 
 Authority and Church ; and success will 
 depend upon the reasonableness of all three. 
 Notwithstanding difficulties, I dare to believe 
 that, if the sympathy of Education Authorities 
 equals that of certain representative Free 
 Churchmen with whom I have exchanged 
 views, some form of experimental co-operation 
 will not be impossible to achieve. 
 
 W. C. Watson. 
 
VIII. THE SONS And daughters-of 
 FARMING FOLK 
 
 The reports presented in previous chapters 
 offer illustrations of efforts in active operation 
 at the present time, efforts which may be 
 expanded in the near future, but not super- 
 seded ; we trust, on the contrary, that they 
 will be made part and parcel of the National 
 System. But they are all found in the 
 cities : when we turn to the country-sid& the 
 field is barren. The great majority of children 
 in rural districts cease their schooling at 
 12 or 13; apart from what is provided in 
 Sunday schools, there is practically nothing 
 to hold them after Standard VI. is attained. 
 Night schools are kept going in a few of the 
 larger villages, but the numbers in attend- 
 ance are so small as to be negligible. It 
 would be consistent with the plan of this 
 volume to omit further reference to village 
 life, since our chief object is to present the 
 reader with evidence of educational enter- 
 prise : but the problem is too important to be 
 191 
 
192 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 disregarded'; the progress of rural England 
 is vital to national well-being, not wholly or 
 chiefly in order to grow corn and cattle, but 
 to grow a finer race of men and women ; we 
 therefore offer a short chapter in order to 
 elucidate the main points at issue. 
 
 i . One cannot forecast the amount of opposi- 
 tion which will be forthcoming to Clause 10 
 from the representatives of Agriculture in the 
 Houses of Parliament. There will be resist- 
 ance even to the extension of the leaving 
 age to 14 ; there will be still more resistance 
 to the obligation of partial attendance from 
 14 to 18. On the other hand, it will be a 
 grave calamity if any section of English youth 
 is exempted from an obligation which by its 
 very nature should be universal in its opera- 
 tion. The basic principle of the law is to 
 be sought in the need of youth for comrade- 
 ship under supervision up to 18 years of age : 
 if any home is so isolated that a youth cannot 
 go several times a week to a class, he can at 
 any rate go once a week to a tutor and can 
 undertake some supervised study ; or he 
 can for a short period in each year be released 
 wholly from the farm and attend all day long 
 
Farming Folk 193 
 
 as he used to do when a little boy— thus putting 
 in thirty hours a week for a few weeks at a 
 period of the year when the farm can spare 
 him most easily. 
 
 2. While we urge the importance of enforc- 
 ing the national obligation, we cannot deny 
 the strength of the case presented by the 
 farmer. He says, quite rightly, that the Bill 
 is a townsman's Bill, planned to cope with the 
 disastrous conditions of civilisation produced 
 by city life. These conditions happily do not 
 affect the farmer's boy : he lives in fresh air 
 and gets abundant physical exercise, as well 
 as practical experience which is an education 
 in itself. The cities, as the chapters of this 
 book show, are ready for the Bill, since they 
 already possess resources both social and 
 technological on which the nation can rely. 
 The country-side has no such resources ; its 
 schools are not even equipped with teachers 
 adequate to hold boys arid girls up to 14. 
 
 The farmer's position is therefore a pretty 
 strong one : he has always been regarded as 
 reactionary in matters of schooling, but he can 
 fairly reply that what is offered to his children, 
 or to his labourers' children, is not worth 
 
194 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 while ; its general effect has been to -remove 
 country boys and girls to the city. If, as some 
 allege, 1 this migration io the city is inevitable, 
 then the farmer has a still stronger case against 
 the teacher. Why should he bear the cost 
 of educating children to be used up in city 
 industries ? If the only effect of schooling is 
 to increase the discontent of country children 
 with country life then we can scarcely blame 
 the farmer if he abides by his distrust. 
 
 We cannot accept any description of farm 
 work for boys and girls which ranks it at the 
 level of " blind-alley " employment in cities, 
 for these last are vagrant- and often unwhole- 
 some both for body and mind ; nevertheless 
 the argument from the rural point of view is 
 sound, and was to some extent admitted by 
 the Consultative Committee in 1909. 2 The 
 real reply must be based on the adoption by 
 the country of a new attitude towards agri- 
 culture as a whole. The agricultural revival 
 
 1 See the acute criticism by Mr Pullinger, Director of 
 Education for Wiltshire. " For 50 per cent, of country 
 lads in normal times, agriculture is a blind alley." - (Choice 
 of Employment Conference, leaflet published by the Board 
 of Education, 1917, as Circular 1012.) 
 
 2 Report on Continued Education [Cd. 4757]- 2 vote- 
 rs. 6d. each. 
 
Farming Folk 195 
 
 involves the nation in a policy of " protection " 
 which does at least three things : it brings 
 more money to the farmer and the labourer ; 
 it increases the demand for labour ; it increases 
 the demand for a more intelligent type of 
 labour. In return for these benefits the 
 nation can fairly require the farmer to make 
 some sacrifice : a portion of the enhanced 
 profits must be returned for the good of the 
 children. The nation is interested in the 
 agricultural revival, it is prepared to pay more 
 for its food, not only because our safety from 
 submarines is thereby secured but because 
 we are concerned, in the national interest, for 
 the education of country folk : the return 
 we expect for our sacrifices on behalf of 
 agriculture is the growth of a finer race of 
 countrymen and countrywomen ; we are glad 
 if farming folk are better off when we who live 
 in cities pay more for milk and mutton ; but 
 they must spend part of their new capital 
 on their children, whether these abide in the 
 village or migrate to the town. 
 
 3. The first line of reform is to promote the 
 general social and intellectual vigour of the 
 country-side . During the last two years efforts 
 
196 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 have been made to organise Women's Institutes 
 somewhat after the Canadian model ; such 
 plans should be associated with the village 
 school, which would thus become a social and 
 recreative " centre " for adults as well as for 
 boys and girls up to 18. At least two well- 
 qualified teachers, one of them a man, should 
 be found in each such centre, occupied only 
 partially in the teaching of little boys and 
 girls. Clearly, if this transformation of the 
 country-side is to be the chief aim, a new type 
 of rural teacher must be created. The teachers 
 must be the comrades of farmers, clergy and 
 all other enlightened folk in the promotion 
 of the agricultural revival ; teachers by pro- 
 fession but farmers by taste, liaison officers 
 between the culture of the academy and the 
 toils of the farm-yard. 
 
 Hence the second line of reform looks to the 
 creation of a new race of country teachers. 
 The existing training colleges are incapable 
 of such a revolutionary adventure ; the best 
 they can do is to offer a course with a " rural 
 bias," which in practice has meant academic 
 specialisation in rural botany or chemistry, 
 with perhaps a course in gardening. The 
 Consultative Committee reported against any 
 
Farming Folk 197 
 
 attempt to establish a new type of training 
 to suit country conditions : but although in 
 many respects their conclusions were admir- 
 able, it must be remembered that they were 
 all city people, who did not realise, as the 
 nation is at last beginning to realise, what the 
 renewal of life on the country-side can achieve. 
 They doubted, for example, whether a college 
 established to train young men and women 
 to be farmers as weJU as teachers would find 
 students willing to take the course ; or, sup- 
 posing they were induced to come into the 
 country, whether they would devote their 
 lives to rural service. They forgot that at 
 all times there has been a counter-migration, 
 " back to the land " ; that there have always 
 been a few, both young and old, who prefer 
 to be poor in a village rather than well off in 
 a city : some who follow this stream do so 
 for reasons of health, others because their 
 tastes incline them countrywards. 
 
 Since the war began this tendency has been 
 strengthened by causes which we need not 
 pause to describe : a right perspective of the 
 situation can only be attained when we view 
 agriculture as a mode of life which concerns 
 the city as well as the country-side. The 
 
198 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 revival concerns the whole nation ; it is not 
 only an affair of farmers and landlords. Hence 
 if a rural county were to establish a thorough- 
 going farm college for teachers, seeking for 
 its students chiefly in the cities, it would soon 
 have a long waiting list. And its success would 
 depend not only upon the willingness of 
 county authorities to give a generous support 
 to the teachers but also upon the leadership of 
 a staff devoted heart and soul to the welfare 
 of the English village. 
 
 4. The third line of reform is concerned 
 with rural science and technology. In this 
 matter the Board of Education has already 
 made a fair start. It recognises that the 
 upper standards of village schools must offer 
 the boys and girls a curriculum more in 
 touch with the needs of their occupation ; and 
 this not only in farming proper, but in the 
 various subsidiary crafts (including tools and 
 machinery) which are necessary to the new 
 agriculture. On this account alone the village 
 school will need to be strengthened ; and when 
 the burden of Continued Education is imposed, 
 no one can question that it will need to be 
 transformed, as we have said, into a social and 
 
Farming Folk 199 
 
 technical institute served by more than one 
 teacher, and competent to take the lead in 
 the new era which, one would fain hope, will 
 soon transform the forlorn aspect of our de- 
 populated rural areas. 
 
 For let it be well understood that the 
 agricultural revival is a necessary feature in 
 any sound scheme of reconstruction. Its 
 design is not to grow more wheat (although 
 that has proved, in this disastrous epoch, to be 
 necessary) but to grow finer men and women. 
 The city needs the country : County Councils 
 and Borough Councils may ignore each other's 
 policy, but the nation is beginning to realise 
 what we have lost by creating a gulf between 
 the two. Men of wealth seek to bridge this 
 gulf for themselves and their families, but the 
 industrial revolution has prevented the people 
 at large from combining the benefits of urban 
 and of rural life. The foundations of a new 
 system of rural education can only be laid 
 by reversion to the first principles of human 
 nature : these appeal to us for space and open 
 air, as foundations not only for health but 
 for art and morals ; and for simple honest 
 labour as the foundation on which the child 
 begins to understand his place in the world. 
 
200 The Young Wage- Earner 
 
 Agriculture is not a trade ; it is a life experi- 
 ence : those who share its gifts, even in a small 
 degree, are close to the fountain-head of 
 reconstruction. 
 
 J. J. FlNDLAY. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 THREE NOTES ON THE PSYCHOLOGY OF 
 ADOLESCENCE 
 
 [The following are extracts from notes which were sent 
 some years ago to the editor by a Christian minister whose 
 name is reserved only because he is in India and permission 
 cannot be secured in time. They have been found to be 
 exceptionally helpful Co a class of students to whom they 
 have been read : and although they were written offhand 
 in a letter, without any thought of publication, we believe 
 that they will be accepted as a unique contribution to a- 
 most difficult theme. 
 
 The only text-book of an elementary kind which treats 
 of these themes is Slaughter: The Adolescent (Allen & 
 Unwin). Dr Slaughter's chapters well repay careful study, 
 and may be regarded as an expansion of much that is set 
 out in the earlier part of this volume. The notes that 
 follow treat of themes on which Dr Slaughter's exposition 
 needs supplementing.] 
 
 i. Choice and Habit 
 
 There is one characteristic of the juvenile mind 
 which is cardinal in all considerations of how to 
 treat child or youth. It is strongest in the child 
 period, but extends into the adolescent years and 
 has an important bearing on the problem of the 
 instinct of reserve of that period. 
 
 The characteristic is that the child expects to 
 be ruled — recognises itself as subject to authority — 
 and, so far from resenting its subjection, feels it 
 natural and helpful. This view of the juvenile's 
 
 201 
 
202 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 position is extensively ignored to-day ; sometimes 
 it is even repudiated. . . . That severity of a past 
 generation went a little way beyond nature ; this 
 tenderness of a present generation is wholly in the 
 teeth of nature. For surely the cardinal fact about 
 the young of any species is its dependence : its 
 normal attitude is one of accepting, not of selecting ; 
 in spite of all the theories of the rights of individuality, 
 it is largely moulded from without. ... If we fail 
 to train it, for instance, in such and such habits, in 
 order that when adult it may be free to adopt or 
 reject them by intelligent choice, then we shall find 
 that we have trained it to the habit of going habit- 
 less, and so given as real a bias as any that active 
 training could have given. Or ignore a subject 
 (Art, say) in order that the child, when grown up, may 
 come to it without prepossessions ; and you find 
 that you have taught it a great indifference to the 
 subject and inflicted a great incapacity for it. 
 When the lad faces life he 'will do so — in spite of all 
 efforts to leave him free — fettered by a complete 
 outfit of habitudes, acquired tastes, prepossessions, 
 aptitudes, etc. ... It is not merely futile to try 
 to leave the child untrammelled out of respect for 
 its present and future individuality ; it does serious 
 harm to the child-nature to call upon.it for frequent 
 exercise of choice. It is surely an outstanding fact 
 of the psychology of childhood and adolescence 
 that the instinct of freedom, the claim to choose, 
 is almost dormant in the normal child, and even 
 during adolescence is only slowly emerging. The 
 child will have its likes and dislikes ; it may be wilful, 
 
Appendix 203 
 
 and even rebellious. But it recognises the assertion 
 of its own will to be rebellion ; it will not dispute the 
 lawful authority of parents and masters even while 
 trying to resist or evade it. Where its tastes and 
 desires assert themselves in conflict with authority 
 it is not so much by self-conscious exercise of choice 
 and exertion of will as by unpremeditated ebullition of 
 feelings which it has not yet identified with its ego. 
 
 This quiescence of the faculty of choice is a wise 
 provision of nature ; for during these years the 
 faculty is little needed, and the energy of the child's 
 being is left free to be spent on development in other 
 directions. . . . The fashion of to-day in the training 
 of children seems to be to arouse their faculty of choice 
 by perpetual appeals to it. . . . This precocious 
 development of the choice faculty seems to me to 
 do very great harm among the present generation 
 of young people. ... It accounts, I believe, for a 
 great deal of the nervous strain which children of 
 the middle and upper classes so often show. . . . 
 The normal child finds it much easier to have life 
 planned for him and be told what to do than to 
 have to look at alternatives and search within himself 
 for reasons for preferring one of them. And there 
 is moral mischief as well as physical and mental 
 strain. Under this abnormal treatment the child 
 is forced to discover its ego; that naturally would 
 remain hidden., for years, and it finds that the 
 grown-ups mysteriously refrain from exerting the 
 authority it expects them to use ; the consequence 
 is that it becomes self-conscious, self-centred" and 
 self-willed — a complete egoist. 
 
204 -.The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 2. Religious and Sexual Excitement 
 
 We will consider two sections of the problem 
 " How to treat the Adolescent " : the sections which 
 urge (i) that the adolescent's instinct of reserve 
 should be scrupulously respected, and (2) that he 
 should be shielded from " religious excitement," 
 as being, among other things, contributory to sexual 
 excitement. . . . Let us take the second point 
 first. 
 
 The fact that the adolescent is intense about 
 everything indicates that, at this stage, intensity 
 is natural and good, not (in normal natures) harmful. 
 To forbid religious excitement to him is to forbid 
 religious development — during the very period when, 
 as all Students of the spiritual life agree, very im- 
 portant processes of spiritual development are to be 
 expected. Of course, excess of excitement is possible, 
 and, in some temperaments, has to be carefully 
 guarded against ; but I protest against the view, 
 far too common among educationists, that whenever 
 the adolescent has been stirred to religious excite- 
 ment he has been wronged. The wrong is rather 
 when he is allowed to pass through the adolescent 
 period without being stirred to religious excitement. 
 
 As regards the relation of religious and sexual 
 excitement, it is undeniable that there is some sort 
 of affinity between the two. (Their relationship is 
 that they are in some sort alternative satisfactions 
 of certain cravings of our nature. The sexual im- 
 pulses of the adolescent, on the mental and aesthetic 
 
Appendix 205 
 
 plane, have a large element of the mystical, of 
 aspiration after the ideal.) Is this affinity a reason 
 for averting religious excitement from the adolescent, 
 lest it should run over into the adjoining sex region ? 
 This is a possible danger, though not nearly so 
 serious a danger in the case of the adolescent as of 
 the adult, since excitement is the native air of the 
 adolescent and he can hold more of it, so to speak, 
 without overflowing than the adult can. But the 
 same fact suggests a more serious danger in the 
 opposite direction: Repress the religious tendencies 
 of the adolescent — or even merely fail to encourage 
 them, on the ground that excitement will attend 
 them — and there > is a very real risk of diverting into 
 the sexual region the instincts and cravings that 
 would have found natural expression in religion. 
 There are few natures, if any, in which the capacity 
 for the spiritual (the ideal : the antithesis of the 
 material conception of life and being) is not ready 
 to assert itself and respond to cultivation during 
 adolescence. One of three things happens. It is 
 permitted expression — even crude expression — 
 through the various idealisms which youth invents 
 for itself, and, most helpfully, through religion ; 
 or, if circumstances are adverse, or the spiritual 
 tendency is weaker than the normal, it atrophies, 
 and the lad develops into a blankly materialist man ; 
 or, if the spiritual instinct is strong and the religious 
 expression natural to it is denied, it will turn to the 
 lower mysticism oi sex for the satisfaction that it 
 should have found in the higher mysticism of 
 religion. 
 
206 The Young Wage- Earner 
 
 3. Adolescent Reserve 
 
 To come now to the question of what is due to 
 the adolescent's instinct of reserve. 
 
 It is a very real and important fact of adolescence 
 — this shrinking from invasion of his personality. 
 Yet it does not follow that the lad is to be left severely 
 alone to "find himself." There are two important 
 ways of acceptable access to him. 
 
 First, though shy, he is keenly conscious of his 
 need of enlightenment and guidance, and while he 
 would resent having it intruded upon him ad hunc, 
 as it were, he is alertly ready to give attention to it 
 if it "happens his way without being avowedly aimed 
 at him individually. He is hungry, but will only 
 feed as the birds do, when the crumbs are scattered 
 and the scatterer is out of sight. Hence the method 
 for parents, teachers, pastors to follow is to take 
 care that in unobtrusive ways — by books, sermons, 
 companionships, family example and conversation 
 etc.- — there is plenty of sound guidance, on the subjects 
 a lad is awaking to at this time, within his reach. 
 So long as he can look on it — the sermon, book, etc. 
 — as addressed to lads in general, he will not resent 
 it. Attention to it is his own act, not something 
 forced upon him; and even if he does not follow 
 the guidance he will at any rate have given it its 
 full chance of influencing him. It needs much skill 
 and wisdom thus to surround youth unobtrusively 
 with the stimuli, restraints, explanations, warnings, 
 attractions, that fit these critical years ; yet the 
 need is so serious, and they themselves are so con- 
 
Appendix 207 
 
 scious of it (though so shy about it), that no pains 
 should be spared to supply it. To do nothing at all 
 because they insist on being let alone is to let them 
 starve because they will not feed from your hand. 
 
 Second, although the adolescent's attitude is, in 
 general, one of strict reserve, and of extreme sen- 
 sitiveness against attempted intrusion, yet there 
 come times in his years of " storm and stress " when 
 he desperately wants a confidant. The crisis may 
 be a religious one, or intellectual, or at another 
 time in regard to social relationships or life ambitions. 
 At one time and another^ in regard to one depart- 
 ment of his developing life and another, when the 
 storm reaches its climax, the longing to unbosom 
 himself and to have the help of an understanding and 
 sympathetic senior often becomes overpowering. 
 The attempt to force his confidence, even at such a 
 time, would very likely be resented. Even if you 
 go half-way to meet him, he may shrink back into 
 his shell. Yet he will be immensely helped, and 
 grateful, if at such a crisis you can just make such 
 imperceptible approach as will enable him to break 
 through the barriers and cast himself upon you. 
 For the adolescent, at such a crisis, to find no one in 
 whom he may confide with utter unreserve is at 
 least as great a misfortune as to be having his reserve 
 perpetually assailed by unwise intruders. The lesson 
 of this for his seniors surely is, that they should so 
 demean themselves as to make the lad feel that they 
 would be " the right sort " — understanding and 
 sympathetic — if he should ever want to confide in 
 them. To win this position with a lad — a position 
 
208 The Young Wage-Earner 
 
 he very likely does not know that you hold, till the 
 need comes upon him — requires prolonged care and 
 pains. To refrain from interference, though good 
 within limits, is very incomplete without positive 
 action, and action making as constant and serious 
 demands on mind and character as are made at 
 any stage of the relations of age and youth. 
 
 . . . The lad during those critical years is seldom 
 open to approach by way of special treatment 
 directed to his particular situation. ... If he has 
 been allowed to grow normally, he is still prepared 
 to take it as a matter of course that his life should, 
 in the main, be ordered for him by his seniors. 
 Towards the close of the period he comes to look 
 for growing freedom, concessions in the direction of 
 self-government ; but in general he still expects to 
 be governed, and indeed finds a (dimly realised) 
 comfort, amid the perplexities that are beginning to 
 throng upon him, in having a large part of his life 
 prescribed for him by authority. Quiet, regular 
 maintenance of authority is one of the resources 
 of the " storm and stress " period. It limits both 
 the area and the violence of the storms. The boat 
 is steadied in the rapids if it enters them with the 
 momentum acquired in smoother waters and if the 
 oars still rise and dip with precision. Moreover, 
 under the stamp of authority, the lad will accept 
 much direction that he might resentfully reject if 
 it were offered to him as advice. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Adolescence, io, h, 17-28 
 Adolescent, attitude to parents, 
 20-24 ; control of, 11, 49, 101, 
 102, 109, 112 ; effect of war 
 on, 20, 23, 24, 27 ; girl, 20-30, 
 77-99; mistrust of authority, 
 42, 44, 53 ; population, 33, 
 113 1 psychology of, 20-27, 
 37-42, 45, 47. 56, 77. 79, 82, 
 91, 92, 94"99» 10 1. 105, no, 
 124, 201-208 ; shyness and 
 reserve, 206-208 
 After-care, 108, 138, 139 
 Agriculture, revival of, 191, 192, 
 
 195-200 
 Amusements, 97 
 Apprenticeship, 47, 102, 163-173 
 
 B 
 
 Board of Education, 2, 3, 4, 
 
 5. 6, 7, 8, 104, 190, 198 
 Board of Trade (Bradford), 137, 
 
 138, 139 ; (London), 150 
 Boy Scouts, 35, 176-177 
 Business firms, education of 
 employees by — 
 
 Cadbury Brothers, n 7-126 
 Crosse & Blackwell, 153 
 Hans Renold Ltd., 162-168 
 Post Office Instrument Fac- 
 tory, 150 
 Reeves & Sons, 151 
 Selfridge & Co. Ltd., 127- 
 
 134 
 Westinghouse Electric and 
 Manufacturing Company, 
 168-173 
 
 Camps, holiday, 14, 123, 171 
 
 Canteens, 89, 93, 96 
 
 Churches, influence on adoles- 
 cent, 30, 31, 174-190 
 
 Clubs, 12, 35, 60, 80, 83, 106, 
 133, 140, 153, 171, 175-180 ; 
 federation of, 142 ; State re- 
 cognition of, 12 
 
 Continuation schools, 36, 60, 68, 
 69, 78, 117-126, .' 127-134 ; 
 attendance at, 2, 3, 4, 7, 52- 
 54, 67, 68, 124 ; curriculum 
 of, 14, 15, 61, 120, 121 ; estab- 
 lishment of, 1, 2 ; home-work, 
 122, 164 ; social character of, 
 28, 29, 60, in ; teachers for, 
 15, 61; voluntary agencies, 
 relation to, 14, 16, 107-109, 
 113-115, 138, 181 
 
 D 
 
 Democracy, 107, 113, 116 
 District Visitors, 139-142 
 
 Education, 36, 38, 39, 90 ; 
 aesthetic, 121, 122 ; full-time, 
 33 ;_ extension of, 13, 66, 69, 
 71 ; part-time, 10, 28, 29, 31, 
 33. 34. 66, 67, 69, 71, 77, 103, 
 
 "7-135' 147-15*. 156-159. 
 186, 192, 198 ; vocational, 91, 
 i°5. 134. 144. 158. 164," 169 
 Education (Choice of Employ- 
 ment) Act, 1910, 135, 136 
 
 209 
 
210 
 
 Index 
 
 Education authorities, local, i, 
 
 , 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 12, 14, 29, rio, 
 
 ! in, n2, 113, 136,. 155, 163, 
 173. 175. i8i„j,85, 187-189, 
 
 ■ 199 ; Bradford, 135-143 ; 
 London, 144, 148, 150, 152, 
 153 ; Manchester, 155-161 
 
 Education Bill, Jan., 191 8, 1-9, 
 28, 31, 90, 101, 108, 113, 136, 
 146, 155, 188 
 
 Elementary schools, 33, 36, 45, 
 46, 63, 70, 71, 74, 75, 79, 103, 
 136 ; rural, 193-200 ; upper 
 standards of, 12, 13, 63-76, rg8 
 
 Emotions, 38, 48, 204-205 
 
 Employers, 79, 82, 85, 86, 89, 
 90, 91, 96, 99, 100 
 
 Employment, 6, 9, 71, 109 
 
 Esprit de corps, 73, 83 
 
 Industrial life, boys and girls in, 
 
 43. 44. 57. 5 8 I girts m - z 3. 2 4. 
 77-100; effect of war con- 
 ditions on, 25-27 ; revolu- 
 tion, 102, 103, 199 
 Instruction, 1, 11, 12, 55, 65 ; 
 choice of subjects of, 15 ; 
 liberal studies, 15, 57, 61, 64, 
 67, 74, 105, 158, 182-185 ; 
 technological, 14, 33, 44, 54, 
 57. 6 7> 74. 8 6, 89, 99, 185 
 
 J 
 
 Juvenile employment bureaux, 
 no, J35-143 ; Departmental 
 Committee on, 114 
 
 Juvenile Organisation Com- 
 mittees, 114 ; Liverpool, 114 
 
 Factory life, 106 ; of girls, 77- 
 
 100, 1F9-121 
 Family life, 29, 21, 39, 40, 97, 
 
 102 
 
 Games, 88, 93, 172 
 H 
 
 HABIT, 2OI-2O3 
 
 Health, no 
 
 Home life, girls, 20-22 ; change 
 of attitude tor 23, 24 ; in- 
 fluence on, 20-22, 33, 39-44, 
 
 50. 51 „. 
 Home Office, 113 
 Hooligans, 29 
 Housewifery, 89 
 
 Independence, 43 ; economic, 
 41 
 
 Labour, conditions of, 35 
 
 M 
 
 Monotony, 84, 85, 87, 90 
 Morality, 30, 31, 84, 85, 87, 93, 
 95, 105 ; national, 22 
 
 O 
 
 Organisation, roi, 103, 106-108, 
 
 in, 169 
 Organisers, 97, 104, 107, 113 
 
 Parental control, 36, 39, 40, 
 
 49. 5o-53. 97. IC, 2, i°3 
 Parents, 21 ; duty in relation to 
 
 continuation schools, 7, 8, 53 
 Patriotism, 19, 23, 25, 26 
 
Index 
 
 211 
 
 Physical training, i, 88, 90, no, 
 
 iai, 132, 133, 172, 184, 185 
 Punishment, 52, 72 
 
 R 
 
 Reconstruction, 26, 107, 199 
 Registration, in, 112,' 138, 139 
 Religion, 183, 186, 204-205 
 , Responsibility, parental, 102 ; 
 
 youthful, 41, 47, 66, 83 
 Rural science, 198 • 
 
 Salvation Army, 114 
 
 School, a Commercial, 127-134 ; 
 night, 33, 34, 54, 65, 155, 191 ; 
 post-elementary, 72-76 ; tech- 
 nical, 33, 64, 66, 70, 71, 74, 
 165, 166, 170 ; secondary, 33, 
 64, 66, 70, 71, 74T110, in; 
 Sunday, 42, 50, 105 ; Trade, 
 144-154, 156, 159-161 ; Cheet- 
 ham Central, 160 ; Lime 
 Grove, Hammersmith, 145- 
 149 ; of Commerce, Man- 
 chester, 156 ; leaving age, 13, 
 
 45 
 Self-consciousness, 48, 203 
 Self-government, 76, 80-84, 97, 
 
 99, 100, 171, 178-179 
 Seit, 38, 48, 49, 204-205 
 Skilled work, 86 
 Social, aspirations of adolescent, 
 
 10, 28, 29 ; relations, 105 ; 
 
 tendencies, 22, 39, 47, 49^52, 
 
 62, 79, 80, 90, 102, 105, 106, 
 
 no, 115, 122, 123, 133 
 
 Special constables, 107 
 
 State, 26, 30, 31, 108 
 
 Stirchley Institute, 117 
 
 Supervisor, n, 13, 15, 16, 78, 79, 
 81, 82, 105, no, in, ii2;"i29, 
 132, 134, 151, 158, 168, 169, 
 170, 172, 181, 1S3, 185, 187, 
 188, 189 
 
 Town life, attractions of, 23, 52 
 
 Tradition, 95 
 
 Training, business, 128-134, 155 ; 
 
 technical, 59, 99, 170 
 Training colleges, 196, 197, 198 
 Tutors, 11, 13, 15, 16, no, in 
 
 U 
 
 Uplands Association, 10, 60, 
 no, 124, 135, 149 
 
 Voluntary Aid, Liverpool 
 Council of, 114 
 
 W 
 
 Wage-earners, ii, 34, 35, 39, 
 40, 41-43. 59, 60, 69, 73, 97, 
 101, 102, 113, 117, 138 
 Wages, 19, 23, 41, 52, 97 
 Welfare supervision, 80-82 
 Workers' Educational Associa- 
 tion, 118 
 
The Uplands Association. 
 
 ESTABLISHED 1915. 
 
 COMMITTEE 1917-1918. 
 
 Chairman 
 
 J. J. FINDLAY, Professor of Education, University, Manchester ; 
 
 Miss T. M. PUGH, Highgate, N. ; 
 JAMES SHELLEY, Professor of 
 
 Education, University College, 
 
 Southampton, 2nd Lieut. R.F.A. ; 
 W. F. SHEPPARD, Berkhamsted, 
 
 Herts, Treasurer; 
 W. C WATSON, Headmaster, Bell's 
 
 Grammar School, Coleford, Glos. 
 
 Miss A. G. FOX, University College, 
 
 Southampton ; 
 S. F. JACKSON, Training College, 
 
 Sunderland ; 
 Miss V. M. NAIRN, Richmond Lodge 
 
 High School, Belfast; 
 J. R. H. O'REGAN, The College, 
 
 Marlborough ; 
 
 <AND 
 
 Miss ,M. M. MILLS, 134 Portway, 1 Miss A. F. PURVIS, late of the 
 West Ham London, E. 15; Training College, Bingley, Yorks 
 
 I (Q.M.A.A. Corps). 
 
 Secretaries 
 
 AIMS OF THE ASSOCIATION. 
 
 (1) To provide means of active study and co-operation for 
 persons (and especially for parents and teachers) interested in 
 educational reform — that is, in the reform of school life and teaching. 
 
 Note. — The Association is not concerned with criticism of the public ad- 
 ministration of education, or with any form of political or religious agitation. 
 
 (2) To associate such persons by means (*) of a Summer Meet- 
 ing, and opportunities for study or conference at other periods 
 of the year ; (b) of a Circular as the organ of the Association. 
 
 (3) To publish, as occasion seems to require, principles of re- 
 form in education. 
 
 Note. — Membership of the Association does not imply acceptance of any 
 declaration of principles drawn up by the Committee. 
 
 [Three reports have been published, in addition to the present volume.] 
 
(4) To take active steps towards the practical working out of 
 principles of reformed education, (a) by reporting in the Circular 
 any efforts in schools and other institutions where such principles 
 are being adopted or tried; - and [b) by endeavouring to set on foot at 
 least one school in close connection with this Association. 
 
 OPEN-AIR EDUCATIONAL TRUST. 
 
 A Trust, taking the form of a limited liability company, with dividends 
 limited to 5 per cent., is in process of formation in order to establish an 
 institution where some of the aims of the Uplands Association may be put 
 into practice. A farm of sixty-nine acres has been purchased in North 
 Cheshire ; the Uplands Summer Meeting will be held there from 30th July 
 to 16th August, 1918 ; and it is intended to open a country house for 
 children on the same premises in the autumn. 
 
 Parents and teachers interested in educational reform and desirous of 
 aiding the work of this Trust are invited to take up one or more shares. 
 The land and the farmhouse and bungalows erected on it afford good 
 security for the capital (^4000 or .£5000) which is being raised. 
 
 Inquiries, both as regards membership of the Association and the 
 Educational Trust, to be addressed : 
 
 To THE SECRETARIES, __ 
 
 134 Portway, West Ham, London, E.15. 
 
THE RIVERSIDE PRESS LIMITED, EDINBURGH