Clm JlQ>J£6A Boot. i t GopiglitK^. COPYRIGHT DEPOStn THE VOCATIONAL EDUCATION OF GIRLS AND WOMEN THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO • DALIAS ATLANTA • SAN FRANCISCO MACMILLAN & CO., Limited LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA MELBOURNE THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd. TORONTO THE VOCATIONAL EDUCATION OF GIRLS AND WOMEN BY ALBERT H. LEAKE INSPECTOR OF MANUAL TRAINING AND HOUSEHOLD ARTS, ONTARIO, CANADA AUTHOR OP INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION — ITS PROB- LEMS, METHODS, AND DANGERS AND THE MEANS AND METHODS OF AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1918 All rights reserved /L C / s'o o COPTEIGHT, 1918, bt the macmillan company. Set up and electrotyped. Published March, 1918. APR -4 1918 J. S. Gushing Co. — Berwick & Smith Co. Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. ©CLA492827 PREFACE This book is written as a companion volume to Industrial Education — Its Methods, Problems and Dangers, and The Means and Methods of Agricultural Education. Like those books it is addressed to the great army of men and women who are concerned with the education of that large majority of our population which receives its education in the lower schools, and depends upon that education for the develop- ment of cultural ideals and vocational aptitudes. It is intended to appeal to students in colleges and normal schools that offer courses in household arts and other vocational courses for women, to school superintendents and princi- pals, to directors of vocational schools, to social workers, to vocational advisers of girls and women, and to the growing number of lay readers who are beginning to study educa- tional problems and affairs. No attempt has been made to deal with that ever in- creasing number of professional occupations into which women are now entering, as this branch of the subject is not likely to be neglected, and it is felt that the education of the fourteen to sixteen year old girl is of more vital im- portance to the nation at large. At this time it is essential that we should not lose sight of the fact that the character of our people will depend even more in the future than it has done in the past upon the education we give to our girls and to our women. Notwithstanding the new avenues of V vi PREFACE employment opening up to them in industrial, commercial, and professional life, owing to reorganized schemes of edu- cation, lessening opportunities of marriage, and the with- drawal of men from industrial occupations, homemaking is and will become more and more the one industry the character of which will determine the caliber of the nation. Much has been done towards the vocational education of girls and women both for homemaking and industrial pursuits, but all educational programs have a tendency to become stereotyped, and to fail to respond to changed con- ditions and new demands. There comes a time when it is wise to take an inventory of what has been accomplished, to make plans for further progress in view of changed con- ditions, and to consider the obstacles that have to be over- come before that progress can be made. The aim of the book is to do this in the limited though very important field to which it addresses itself. The primary purpose of this work is not to make original contributions to the subjects discussed, though it is hoped that these are not absent. The purpose has been to pre- sent condensed and clear-cut statements of problems, ex- amples of various attempts at their solution, and critical estimates both lay and professional, in as impartial a manner as is possible, of their respective weaknesses and advantages. Little discussion of theory has been attempted. Care has been taken to give the authority for practically every im- portant statement of fact that has been made. Although the book deals mainly with the weaknesses of this branch of our educational system it is confidently hoped that a spirit of optimism pervades the work, an optimism based on the knowledge of progress and achievement in educa- tional affairs, inspiring us to greater efforts in the future. PREFACE VU The book is the result of many years experience in prac- tical work in manual training, household science, and in- dustrial education in general. The author has had particular opportunity to study school conditions at first hand in Great Britain, Germany, Sweden, United States, and in the government service of the Province of Ontario. I am under special obligations to the authorities whose works I have quoted so freely; to Miss E. King of the Library of the Department of Education, Toronto, whose courtesy, whose knowledge of current educational literature, and whose industry in searching for required material have been of great assistance ; to the Bureau of Education, Washington, whose admirable series of bulletins are abso- lutely indispensable to the student of education; to the authorities of those institutions who have so kindly loaned photographs; and finally to my wife, whose careful criti- cism, stimulating encouragement, and constant self-denial have rendered this work possible. Albert H. Leake. Toronto, November 1, 1917. CONTENTS List op Illustrations . . . . . . . xix GENERAL INTRODUCTION I. A Neglected Subject 1 II. Reasons for the Neglect op the Subject . . 2 1. Education for girls not considered necessary . 3 2. Sentiment against the industrial employment of women ........ 5 3. Industrial life of women thought to be short . 5 4. Girls must be trained for two vocations . . 7 III. HOMEMAKING WomEN's GREATEST INDUSTRY . . 8 IV. Talent for Homemaking 9 V. Women Must Work 10 VI. Conclusion 11 PART I EDUCATION FOR THE HOME CHAPTER I The Status op Household Arts Instruction I. Homemaking Not Considered a Gainful Occupation 15 II. Number op Women Engaged in Homemaking . 16 III. Definition of Terms .17 IV. History of Instruction in Household Arts . 18 1. Recognition and demonstration of its value . 18 2. Kitchen gardening 19 3. Teaching sewing ...... 21 4. Teaching cookery 22 ix CONTENTS V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. The Present Situation Changed Conditions in the Home A State Program for Education in the House- hold Arts ........ Encouragement of Vocational Education by Federal Governments ..... Report op the Commission on National Aid to Vocational Education ..... PAQB 22 23 25 28 30 CHAPTER II Household Arts Instruction in Elementary Schools I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. Introduction .... Household Arts Advocates . 1. The utilitarians . 2. The manual training advocates 3. The culturists . 4. The vocationists Two Forms of Household Arts Instruction Distribution of Cookery and Sewing Instruction Criticism of Instruction in Sewing 1. Lack of practical value 2. The exercise method . 3. Methods adopted in Belgium 4. Methods adopted in Boston Obstacles to Household Arts Instruction in the Schools ..... 1. Rapid industrial development . 2. Contempt for manual occupations 3. Insufficient attention in the training schools 4. Limited time in school schedules Teaching Cookery Without Special Equipment The Center System Character of Equipment 1. Absence of a coal or wood stove 2. Changes in Equipment Neglect of Laundry Work . 33 34 34 34 34 35 35 36 37 37 38 40 42 43 43 43 43 45 45 46 47 48 49 51 CONTENTS XI XI. Teaching Housewifery 1. Housewifery school in Toronto . 2. Housewifery school in Greenfield, Mass. . 3. Housewifery school in Park Ridge, N. J. . 4. Housekeeping centers in New York . XII. The Teacher 1. Preliminary training required 2. Training in service ..... XIII. Too Much Expected from the Schools XIV. Current Criticism of Instruction in Cookery 1. Waste of time ...... 2. Cooking in microscopic quantities 3. Principles instead of practice 4. Independence, initiative, and self-reliance not being developed ..... XV. The Family Meal, the Basis of Instruction XVI. Summary of Improvements Needed PAGB 52 53 53 54 54 55 57 58 58 59 60 62 63 64 64 67 CHAPTER III Household Arts Instruction in High Schools I. Obstacles to Household Arts in High Schools 69 1. Girls entering without knowledge of household arts ........ 69 2. The high school a college preparatory school . 70 3. The high school a finishing school ... 71 4. Household arts, not cultural or necessary . . 72 II. Center System not Common ..... 75 III. Unsuitable Equipment . . . . . .75 IV. Model Apartments for Teaching Household Arts 76 1. Washington Irving High School, New York . 77 2. Winthrop Normal and Industrial College, Rock HiU, S. C 80 V. Cooking in Family Quantities .... 81 1. Methods in Montclair, N. J 81 2. Methods in Sioux City, Iowa .... 82 3. Methods in Lucy Flower Technical High School, Chicago ........ 84 Xll CONTENTS PAGE VI. Household Arts Instruction without Special Equipment 84 VII. Spending Money, One op Woman's Chief Functions 85 VIII. Two Kinds of Household Arts Instruction Needed . 87 IX. Modern Methods 88 1. Lucy Flower Technical High School, Chicago . 88 2. Armstrong Manual Training High School, Washington 92 CHAPTER IV Household Arts Instruction in the Home I. Opportunities Offered in the Home II. The Cooperation of the Parent 1. Parent-teacher associations 2. Parents' days 3. Demonstrations 4. Luncheons III. School Credit for Work Done in the Home 1. Objections to home credit . 2. The Crete plan . 3. Home credit in FrankHn, Ohio 4. Home credit in Ames, Iowa 5. Other methods . 94 95 96 98 99 99 100 101 102 104 104 107 CHAPTER V Continued Education in Household Arts I. Introduction ....... 11. Organized Instruction Outside the School III. Home School of Providence, Rhode Island IV. Classes for Factory Girls in Boston V. Part-time Instruction for Housekeepers . 1. The Montclair experiment .... 2. The use of the factory organization . 109 110 110 113 114 115 117 CONTENTS XIU VI. VII. VIII. IX. X. XI. XII. XIII. XIV. XV. XVI. Necessity for Judicious Advertising 1. Methods in London, England . 2. Advertising to reach the housewife Evening Classes .... 1. Traditions of the day school 2. Changed methods of approach . 3. Unit course system . The Visiting Nurse The Visiting Housekeeper . 1. QuaUfications .... 2. Work of the visiting housekeeper 3. The visiting housekeeper in rural districts Movable Schools of Household Arts Short Courses Demonstration Trains . Women's Institutes and Home ferences .... Government Bulletins . Special Agencies 1. The press .... 2. Gas and electric companies 3. Department stores 4. Insurance Companies Private Organizations . Makers' Con PAGE 118 119 120 123 125 126 127 129 130 131 132 134 137 139 143 143 145 147 147 148 148 149 149 CHAPTER VI Household Arts Instruction in Prevocational, Hombmaking AND Trade Schools I. The Prevocational School ..... 152 1. Purpose, organization, and method . . . 154 2. Prevocational classes in Boston public schools . 156 3. Division of time in the prevocational school . 159 4. North Bennett Street Industrial School, Boston 160 5. Advantages and disadvantages .... 162 II. The Junior High School 167 1. The eight-four plan . . . . . .167 2. Break between elementary and secondary schools 168 3. Definition 168 XIV CONTENTS 4. Advantages 5. Adaptability to vocational training . III. HOMEMAKING TRAINING IN VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS 1. Manhattan Trade School for Girls 2. Milwaukee School of Trades for Girls 3. Shoreditch Trade School for Girls 4. Albany Vocational School .... IV. Schools for Homemakers .... 1. Stout Institute, Menominie, Wisconsin V. HoMEMAKING CoURSES IN AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES VI. HOMEMAKING SCHOOLS IN DENMARK VII. School for Training Maids in Denmark . 169 169 170 171 173 175 176 178 178 182 183 186 CHAPTER VII The Boycott of the Kitchen, or the Domestic Servant Problem I. Introduction 188 II. A Neglected Question 189 III. Dislike of Domestic Service 190 1. Greater opportunities outside . 190 2. Social stigma ....... 191 3. Long and irregular hours 193 4. Lack of sympathetic consideration 194 IV. An Old Problem 194 V. Mistress and Maid 196 VI. Making Household Service Attractive 197 1. Fair and just agreements 197 2. Standards of work and wages . 197 3. Time for rest, recreation, and culture 198 4. Definite hours fixed 199 5. Lessening of drudgery 200 6. Part of the general labor problem 203 7. Abolition of private employment agencies . 206 8. Work done outside the home 208 9. Mistresses with adequate knowledge . 208 10. Better trained maids . 209 VII. Cooperative Housekeeping .... , 212 CONTENTS XV PART II WOMEN IN INDUSTRY OUTSIDE THE HOME CHAPTER VIII General Considerations PAOB I. Women's Early Industries . .... 219 II. Women's Present Industries .... 221 III. Effect of War upon Employment op Women . 223 'IV. First Appearance of Women in Outside In- dustries 226 V. Early Vocational Education for Women . . 227 VI. Divided Opinions on the Employment op Women 229 VII. Trade Schools for Girls 230 VIII. Need for Investigation 231 IX. Vocational Training for the Fourteen-to-Six- TEEN Year Old Girl 234 X. Reasons for Leaving School .... 236 XI. Part-time Education 237 XII. Training for Some Industries Seems Impossible 239 XIII. The Educational Content of Industry . . 241 XIV. Organization of a Factory School . . . 244 CHAPTER IX The Problem of the Unskilled Worker I. What is a Skilled Occupation . . . . 250 II. The Modern Factory System .... 251 III. The Problem Common to All Countries . . 252 rV. Recruiting Unskilled Workers .... 253 V. Industrial Future of the Unskilled . . . 256 VI. Seasonal Nature op Women's Trades . . 257 VII. Remedies Proposed 260 1. Reduce the supply of unsMUed labor . . 260 2. Raise the school age to sixteen years . . 262 3. Continued education 263 4. Training away from unskilled jobs . . . 264 XVI CONTENTS VIII. The Earnings of Children .... IX. Adjustment of Industry to New Conditions X. Physical Training and Recreation PAGE 266 268 269 CHAPTER X Types of Schools and Organizations for the Vocational Training of Women I. Introduction 271 II. Differentiated Courses 273 III. Prevocational Schools 275 IV. Trade Schools 277 1. First trade school for girls in Europe . . 277 2. Trade schools for girls in London . . . 278 3. Manhattan Trade School for Girls . . . 281 V. The Teacher 292 VI. Disposal of the Product 298 1. Methods at the Manhattan Trade School for Girls 302 VII. Part-time Education ...... 303 VIII. Women's Educational and Industrial Union, Boston 306 CHAPTER XI Evening Schools I. Introduction . II. Attendance III. Types of Schools . IV. Essential Features 1. Prehminary survey 2. Kind of teacher . 3. Aid of practical business men 4. Business methods of advertising 5. Organization and registration 6. Admission qualifications 7. Practical interest of employer 310 311 313 314 314 315 315 316 317 318 319 CONTENTS xvii PAOB 8. Character of equipment . . . , ,319 9. Regularity of attendance 320 V. Unit Courses ........ 321 VI. Efficient Instruction a Complex Problem . 325 1. Variety of women's occupations . . . 325 2. Investigation of Women's Occupations . . 327 3. Lack of previous education .... 328 4. Length of the working day .... 329 5. Overtime 331 VII. Summary of Factors Contributing to Success . 332 CHAPTER XII Education for Office Service I. Introduction 334 II. Little Consideration Given to the Subject . 336 III. Results Judged by Numbers of Students . . 337 IV. Criticism of Graduates by Employers . . 339 1. Lack of elementary knowledge .... 339 2. Lack of personality 341 V. Commercial Education in Elementary Schools . 343 1. Previous education determines position in the office 345 2. What the elementary schools can do , . . 346 VI. Commercial Education in the High School . 347 1. Development of courses in Boston . . . 348 VII. Pupils Leaving before Completing the Course 351 VIII. Office Work Becoming Specialized . . . 352 IX. Private Business or Commercial Colleges . 353 1. Solicitation of pupils 354 2. Defects 356 X. Evening Commercial Schools .... 357 CHAPTER XIII Education for Salesmanship I. Methods of Selling Goods 361 H. A Pioneer School of Salesmanship . . _ . 363 1. Cooperation of the stores with the school . . 364 XVm CONTENTS FAGB 2. Objects of the instruction 365 3. Examinations . 366 III. Instruction in the Stores 368 IV. Part-time Instruction 370 V. New York State Factory Investigating Com- mission 371 VI. Instruction in Boston Schools .... 372 VII. Agreements between the Stores and the Schools 372 VIII. Training Teachers 373 IX. Physical Education op the Salesgirl . . . 375 CHAPTER XIV Vocational Guidance I. Introduction , . 377 II. Rise op the Movement 378 III. Varying Opinions 381 IV. Vocational Guidance in Edinburgh . . . 383 V. Placement of Elementary School Pupils . . 388 VI. Placement of High School Pupils . . . 389 VII. Information Needed Regarding Industries . 390 1. Wages 391 2. Other information needed ..... 396 VIII. Vocational Guidance in the High School . . 397 IX. Qualifications of the Vocational Adviser . 400 X. Conclusion 402 Bibliography 405 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE Chart Showing Number of Women Engaged in the Various Industrial Occupations 17 Household Arts Kitchen — Normal and Model School, Toronto ........ facing . 33 Saturday Morning Cooking Class — National Housewives' League, New York ...... facing . 54''^ Work in the Model Kitchen — Washington Irving High School, New York ...... facing . 77 Demonstration in Canning — Henry D. Cooke School, Wash- ington, D. C. . . . . . . . facing . 81 Girls Fitting Garments — Albany Vocational School facing . 152 Class in Homemaking — Albany Vocational School facing . 176 Class in MilUnery — Albany Vocational School . facing . 234 Chart Showing Seasonal Fluctuations in the Cloak, Suit, and Skirt Industry, New York 260 Chart Showing Activities of Women's Educational and Indus- trial Union, Boston ........ 275 Glove Making — Manhattan Trade School for Girls facing . 281 Operating Department — Manhattan Trade School for Girls facing . 291 ^ Class in Office Practice — Julia Richman High School, New York ........ facing . 334 • A Demonstration Sale — Women's Educational and Indus- trial Union, Boston facing . 365 - Chart Showing Difference in Wages Received by Girls with and without Training 394 ' X XIX THE VOCATIONAL EDUCATION OF GIELS AND WOMEN GENERAL INTRODUCTION I. A neglected subject. II. Homemaking women's greatest industry. III. Talent for homemaking. IV. Women must work. V. Conclusion. A neglected subject. The social, economic, and educa- tional demands of the twentieth century have forced into the realm of practical politics many questions that were pre- viously considered as the fantastic dreams of doctrinaires, theorists, and visionaries. Among such questions two stand out prominently: the position of women and the problem of industrial education. At first sight there seems to be no intimate relationship between these two questions, but on closer examination the connection becomes more ap- parent, and they really merge into one problem, which may be termed the " woman in industry." Until recent years the question of women in industry out- side the home was not considered worthy of discussion, and any discussion that did take place was directed towards keep- ing women out of industry rather than towards helping them to work satisfactorily in the occupations in which they were engaged. 2 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS One striking feature of the mass of educational literature that has been issued from the press during the last twenty years is the attention that has been given to the question of industrial education. Though its methods are still perhaps chaotic and in a state of flux, its necessity is no longer seri- ously questioned. In studying this literature one is im- pressed by the fact that remarkably little attention has been paid to the industrial education of girls and women. One can read thousands of pages without finding a single specific reference to the needs and requirements of the girl. Even in one of the most recent books the following passage occurs : " The discussion deals largely with the work that has been developed for boys. It is believed, however, that the prin- ciples apply also to the field of girls' work and it is hoped that this somewhat neglected side may receive some stimu- lus from this presentation."^ The basic principles which apply to the industrial train- ing of boys and men certainly apply to some extent to the training of girls and women, but the points at which their training should be differentiated are so many as to make the training of girls almost a separate problem. In a recent bulletin it is stated that " in the many reports published in the United States concerning industrial and commercial education in Germany, comparatively little space has been given to continuation schools for girls. This has been due to the relative unimportance of these schools in- dustrially and commercially compared with the schools for boys." 2 There are several reasons which make it advisable to study 1 Leavitt and Brown, Prevocational Education in the Public Schools. ' "Problems of Vocational Education in Germany." United States Bureau of Education, Bulletin, 1915, No. 33. GENERAL INTRODUCTION 3 the vocational education of girls and women as though it constituted a problem entirely different and distinct from that of the vocational education of boys and men. The proportion of women entering industry is constantly growing, and this gives rise to special questions as to the effect of this increasing employment on the conditions of home life and particularly on the rearing of children. The condition of women wage-earners is in many respects less satisfactory than that of men. Fewer skilled occupations are open to women, and they are entering the low-paid unskilled industries in larger num- bers. Those who enter the industries from fourteen to eigh- teen years of age may marry before they reach the age of twenty-five, and with this possibility before them they look upon their employment as a temporary makeshift and therefore are not anxious to learn then' trade properly. As a result of this they are able to command wages which aver- age only about one half those that are paid to men. The legislatures of the various states have long agreed that special legislation is necessary for the protection of working women, and the Supreme Court of the United States has declared that woman's " physical nature and the evil effects of overwork upon her and her future children justify legislation to pro- tect her from the greed as well as the passion of men." The National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education in 1912 appointed a special secretary for the con- sideration of women's requirements in the direction of legis- lation and education. All these facts tend to prove that the vocational education of girls and women needs considera- tion apart from that of men. Reasons for the neglect of the subject. Education for girls considered unnecessary. Until recent years extended 4 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS education for girls was considered neither necessary nor de- sirable. The gentlemen of the court of Charles II thought that women were educated enough " if they could spell out the recipes of pies and puddings the manufacture of which nature had intrusted to their tender mercies." ^ Accord- ing to Rousseau women were specially constituted to please men, and their training should be devoted to this end: '' To please men, to be useful to them, to make themselves loved and honored by them, to educate them when young, to care for them when grown old, to counsel them, to console them, and to make life agreeable and sweet to them, these are the duties of women at all times and what should be taught them from their infancy." And again he says, " A woman of culture is to be avoided like a pestilence, she is the plague of her husband, her children, her servants, her friends, everybody." ^ As late as fifty years ago it was not considered necessary to give girls much education. All the training needed for the performance of their household duties could be secured in the home itself, for there were then many household trades carried on which have since found their way into the fac- tories. The girl received thorough training for her life work and did not need specialization. Even as late as twenty years ago the rule for the future of the young girl was simple and bald in the extreme. She was directed to concentrate her attention first on getting married. If all her efforts failed to secure a husband, she tried school teaching, and if this in its turn failed, she could try work in another woman's kitchen. 1 "Women in Public Life." Annals of American Academy of Political and Social Science, 1914. » Darroch, Alexander, Education and the New Utilitarianism, quoted. GENERAL INTRODUCTION 5 Sentiment against the industrial employment of women. Notwithstanding the historical fact that woman has always been in industry, there is a traditional feeling that she ought not to be so employed, and this has accounted for a great deal of the neglect in her training. We have surrounded our girls with an atmosphere of unreality, and allowed our conduct to be dictated by principles which do not square with present conditions. We seem to have cherished the idea that we could teach them a little household science, music, fancy work, and other accomplishments, and by the time they had absorbed this, they would be ready to settle down in homes of their own, carefully protected for the remainder of their lives from the confusion and worry caused by the rush of modern industry. According to the latest census of the United States (1910) there were 8,075,772 women ten years of age and over, gainfully employed, representing 23.4 per cent of all the females of that age. This number does not include the women employed in their own homes. Each year many thousands of girls fourteen and fifteen years of age are enter- ing occupations which are doing nothing to fit them for fur- ther usefulness. When we remember these facts, we recog- nize that we are confronted with a condition and not a theory. Accepting the fact that in the present social and economic condition of society, girls in large numbers are, and will con- tinue to be, wage-earners, should not every effort be made to train them in such a way as to provide that their future usefulness will be increased rather than impaired ? The industrial life of women thought to he short. There is a widespread impression that the industrial life of women is short, and that it is only entered into as a temporarj^ ex- pedient until they marry. It is frequently stated that women 6 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS continue to be wage-earners for an average period of seven years only, and this statement has been accepted almost universally by advocates of industrial education. This assumption has influenced profoundly the character of all attempts to solve the problem. It will readily be seen that training girls who are to remain in industry for only seven years is a very different problem from training those who are to remain there for the whole of their working lives. Girls are unwilling to undertake long apprenticeship for a working life which they think will be short. Owing to this idea, the tendency is for young girls to enter upon unskilled work which brings them an immediate wage return but offers no opportunity for advancement. Widely as this theory has been accepted there is now reason to question its truth. How the idea arose is not clear, but that it was based on any statistical evidence is very doubtful. The Division of Education of the Russell Sage Foundation has now presented some evidence on the other side. Seven different occupations were chosen, and an attempt made to discover the ages of all the women who were employed in them in cities of the United States of over 50,000 population. The occupations were those in which the number of women workers exceeded one for every thousand of the population. The number of women engaged in these pursuits was 857,743. This was just half of all the women engaged in gainful employments in these cities. The seven occupations were housekeeper, nursemaid, laundress, saleswoman, teacher, servant, and dressmaker. More than half of those engaged in each occupation were over the follow- ing ages : housekeepers forty, nursemaids thirty-six, laun- dresses thirty-four, saleswomen twenty-three, teachers thirty- two, dressmakers thirty-one, and servants thirty-seven. GENERAL INTRODUCTION While the ages at which these workers entered industry could not be ascertained, it is fairly safe to assume that those who were working at the age of forty, thirty, and in the major- ity of cases at twenty-five, had been so engaged for more than seven years. The percentage of women belonging to the different age groups is shown in the following table : 10 TO 15 16 TO 24 25 TO 44 45 to 64 Yeaks Years Yeabs Years 65 Yeabs 11 Months 11 Months 11 Months 11 Months Housekeepers 15.7 44.6 32.9 6.8 Nursemaids . . 23.1 49 23.7 4.2 Laundresses . . 2.4 24.7 49.5 21 2.4 Saleswomen . . 5.7 55.2 34.8 4.3 Teachers . . . 29.5 58 11.7 0.8 Dressmakers . . 2.6 28.9 51.6 14.1 1.8 Servants . . . 4.1 40.8 42.8 10.8 1.5 From the above investigation the conclusion is warranted that if we educate girls only for the duties of ultimate mar- riage, and not also for those of industrial life, we are doing them a demonstrably grievous wrong. Girls must he trained for two vocations. The fact that girls must be trained for two vocations, — homemaking and in- dustry, — and, owing to the seasonal character of their indus- trial work, should in some cases be trained for three, has somewhat complicated the problem and led to the postpone- ment of attempts at its solution. Thus the education of the girl is a double problem. It must include training in two distinct vocations, neither of which can be considered suf- ficiently permanent to justify the exclusion of the other. Though the two vocations have some qualities in common, it cannot be said that training in one is adequate preparation for efficiency in the other. , 8 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS The education of the boy as compared with that of the gu*l is a comparatively simple matter ; for the boy, when he has once found himself, enters an industry to stay there as long as he is physically fit and industrially efiicient. The girl, however, may marry and become a homemaker for the remainder of her life ; or, she may be under the necessity of having to perform a double function, being compelled to support partly the home which she manages ; or, again, she may have to return to industry after having been engaged for some years in homemaking. All considerations there- fore point to the conclusion that a woman should be able to support herself outside the home, should the necessity arise for her doing so. This, of course, will be disputed, but the number of married women and widows in industry is too great to allow of any other conclusion. Homemaking women's greatest industry. The greatest industry in which woman is engaged is housekeeping or home- making. In the nimaber of persons engaged, it is ahead of all other occupations. According to the thirteenth census (1910) there are in the United States about thirty-one million women over ten years of age. Of these about one and a half million are working in shops and factories, and five and a half million are employed in domestic service. Of the re- maining twenty-four million no mention is made, since homemaking is not considered a " gainful occupation." Even when we make allowance for the woman who goes back into industry, and for the homemaker who is also a wage-earner, it remains true that homemaking is a trade for every woman, and the demand is universal. The home is still " woman's sphere " and probably for most women always will be so. It must not be forgotten, however, that the home of to-day is very different from what GENERAL INTRODUCTION 9 it was even twenty years ago ; that it is destined to undergo still further changes, and that efforts to p^erpetuate it on its traditional basis will very largely fail. Too many still look upon the household arts as the '' Cinderella " of the educa- tional family. When a girl positively cannot make progress with ordinary school studies as traditionally taught, she is put into the " cookery class." The fact is the domestic in- dustries are held in contempt by many women. This has gone so far as to attach a social stigma to domestic service. Talent for homemaking. It has been thought until re- cently that there was no need to teach this industry, since every girl acquired the ability to engage in it by instinct, directly the necessity arose. " The ability to cook is some- thing with which every girl is by tradition endowed. Theo- retically she acquires this ability either by inheritance or by instinct. No number of poor cooks seem to offset the belief that skill in this trade will always come at the call of neces- sity. . . . There exists a well-defined prejudice against * school-taught homemaking.' This, in part, is due to the same ignorance which once looked with suspicion upon the * book farmer,' but it is also due to the failure of instructors in household science to tie up with home conditions and to produce some proofs of efficiency." ^ A mistaken idea prevails among many people that the ability to use a needle is also the natural endowment of every girl. If this is the case, why do we have so many enter- ing our Normal Schools at eighteen or nineteen years of age, and so many grade teachers, who have to acknowledge that they are not able to teach sewing or to make the simplest kind of garment ? 1 "Cooking in the Vocation School." United StatesJBureau of Education, Bulletin, 1915, No. 1. 10 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS Notwithstanding the apparent popularity of household arts instruction throughout the various school systems it has had, for various reasons, very little influence on real home- making. At a meeting of the Cleveland Board of Educa- tion, February 28, 1887, the following statement was made : " We read in Public Opinion that a competent statistician has estimated that ignorant cooking and bad management in the provision of food waste $500,000,000 annually for the people of the United States." ^ Though this statement was made more than thirty years ago there is reason to believe that there is still a great amount of waste which adequate instruction could prevent. In view of the large number of women engaged in this industry and of its vital importance to the national life, radical measures must be taken to bring about a different condition. Women must work. Women are having a greater number of chances to work, but fewer opportunities to become really skilled workers. In many and diverse ways they are seeking to earn a living for themselves and often for others, either from choice or forced thereto by neces- sity. Women must work. It is not a time for us to stand aside and argue that woman's sphere is the home, even if that is an ideal to be held before us. The economic condition of numbers of females, particularly in the large industrial centers, is such that the daughters cannot remain at home. In the older countries of the world the number of women exceeds the number of men, while on this continent the num- bers are rapidly becoming equal. The following table shows the number of women to every thousand men in various countries : > "Art and Industry," Part II. United States Bureau of Education. GENERAL INTRODUCTION 11 United States . 943 Scotland . 1062.5 Denmark . . . . 1061 Hungary- . 1019 Belgium . . . . 1017 Italy . . . 1010 Holland . . . . 1021 Canada . . . 886 England . . . . 1067.6 Germany . . 1026 1 Ireland . . . . 1003.8 In some of the above countries the preponderance of women over men will be very largely increased as a consequence of the present disastrous war, and the functions of women will become more and more important the world over. Thus if we regard woman from the point of numbers alone, her im- portance warrants adequate attention being paid to her social, economic, and educational welfare. I'he continent of Europe is already faced with an entirely new set of problems in regard to the education of girls. A large number of occupations hitherto considered to be the ex- clusive domain of men have been thrown open to women, and in many of these they have proved that they are at least as efficient as men, while in some they have proved superior. It may be contended that these occupations are temporary only, but the existence of economic necessity and the fact that women have proved their competency will render a number of these occupations a permanent avenue for the energies of women. Conclusion. In conclusion two important questions are forced upon us : how can industry be so modified as to make it contribute to the healthy physical development of woman, and how can she best prepare herself for industrial occupa- tions under the new conditions that will obtain ? The first question must be answered very largely by legislation, trade unionism, and organization, and the second, by our educa- tional authorities in cooperation with enlightened employers. 1 Canadian Year Book, 1911, Department of the Census, Ottawa. 12 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS The whole subject is a wide one, and this treatment can only concern itself with the so-called non-professional occupa- tions. Owing to the many points at which it touches our na- tional life, it may be fairly considered as one of the most vital social, educational, and economic problems of the day. It naturally divides itself into two parts : first, the education of girls and women for the duties of the home and those occu- pations for which training for the home will provide more or less adequate preparation, such as the work of dietitians, caterers, lunch-room helpers, institutional managers, wait- resses, etc. ; and, second, education for industrial and com- mercial pursuits in general. The following pages deal to some extent with the above problems. PAET I EDUCATION FOR THE HOME CHAPTER I THE STATUS OF HOUSEHOLD ARTS INSTRUCTION I. Homemaking not considered a gainful occupation. II. Number of women engaged in homemaking. III. Definition of terms. IV. History of instruction in household arts. V. The present situation. VI. Changed conditions in the home. VII. A state program for education in the household arts. VIII. Encouragement of vocational education by federal govern- ments. IX. Report of the Commission on National Aid to Vocational Education. Homemaking not considered a "gainful occupation." Homemaking enjoys the proud distinction of being the one prevailing industry that is considered by the census authori- ties of various countries as a non-revenue-producing occupa- tion. English official returns go so far as to place married women among the " unoccupied," while the American author- ities exclude homemaking and housekeeping from the list of gainful occupations. The Philadelphia North American makes this interesting comment on the United States Census Report on occupa- tions : *' It is found that in ninety-three and a half per cent J of American homes no servants are employed. Of the nearly seventeen million families in the United States, only one mil- lion can afford to keep servants. This is a conservative esti- mate, since some fortunate housewives employ two or more , 15 16 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS servants. Probably where five well-to-do families are able to employ a servant, in ninety-five homes the mother does all the housework, yet under the law she is not classed among the workers, but swells the list of dependents." ^ The reasons for this anomaly seem to be the absence of any standard by which the value of the housewife's labor can be estimated, and the fact that its returns do not come to her in a weekly pay envelope. As a matter of fact, except in that very limited class of homes where abundant service can be supplied out of a large income, the wives responsi- ble for the management of the household often work harder and longer than the majority of the so-called wage-earners. Household labor will never be accorded the respect that is paid to the other industries until a proper and satisfactory wage scheme is devised for it. The girl who " stays at home " should have a definite allowance fixed. The house- wife by her labor and management contributes to the family income just as surely as does the man who brings in his weekly pay envelope. Number of women engaged in homemaking. Accord- ing to the census of 1910 there are in the United States more than forty-four and a half million girls and women. About twenty-five million are twenty or more years of age. Of these twenty-five million eighty per cent are married, and we may fairly assume that as large a proportion of the remainder will marry. The chief occupation of these girls will be house- keeping, and it will be housekeeping on small means, since the average income of a family in the United States, with all its colossal wealth, is less than $500 a year.^ ^ Quoted in Journal of Home Economics, August-September, 1916. * National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education, Bulletin, No. 18. THE STATUS OF HOUSEHOLD ARTS INSTRUCTION 17 The following chart ^ shows the number of women in the United States engaged in the different industrial occu- pations, and indicates clearly the great preponderance of homemakers. /o 20 iO 40 aomo 6 800. 000 ^■foo 000 8 000000 /e.eooooa Zt 000.000. In addition to the twenty-one million who are listed here as homemakers, it must be remembered that the 7,400,000 who are included as performing domestic and personal serv- ice are largely engaged in home activities. Definition of terms. At this stage it will be well to define our terms. In no subject of instruction has there existed greater confusion of terminology. The subject has received many names and no general agreement seems yet to exist. Owing to its adoption by the Lake Placid Conference on Home Economics and by its successor, the American Home Economics Association, the term " home economics " is very largely used. This conference, in 1904, adopted the following terms : " hand work " for elementary schools, "domestic science" for secondary schools, "economics" for normal and professional schools, " euthenics " (better living) for colleges and universities. With the exception of " home economics " these terms have not been adopted generally. ^ Puffer, Adams J., Yocati(mal Guidance. C 18 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS The distinction formerly drawn between domestic science (cookery, sanitation, household management) and domestic art (decoration, dressmaking, millinery, sewing) is rapidly disappearing, and the term " household arts " seems to be coming largely into use, particularly to describe the work done in the public schools. This term is used in several of the recently enacted educational laws, and has also been adopted by the National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education. As these laws will largely influence and control this teaching in the future, and as the following pages deal mainly with work lower than college grade, the term '' household arts " will be used as a comprehensive term to denote all branches of the subject. History of instruction in household arts. Instruction in household arts has had a long and varied history. Al- most from the beginning of any educational system for girls, various forms of ornamental needlework, such as samplers and embroidery, were taught as accomplishments, and they continued to be regarded as such for many years. George Eliot in Felix Holt speaks of Mrs. Transcome as " engaged in a little dainty embroidery — that soothing occupation of taking stitches to produce what neither she nor any one else wanted was then the resource of many a well-bred and unhappy woman." Recognition and demonstration of its value. The recogni- tion of the value of the household arts as subjects of school instruction was due almost entirely to private enterprise. Cooking and sewing were taught as early as 1668 to Indian girls by the Ursuline nuns at Quebec, but preparation for the duties of the household did not receive serious attention either in Europe or America till about 1870. In 1818 an address was presented to the New York Legislature by Mrs. THE STATUS OF HOUSEHOLD ARTS INSTRUCTION 19 Emma Hart Willard petitioning for a state grant towards girls' education equal to that given for the education of boys. In this connection a curriculum was outlined to include " domestic instruction." Mrs. Willard wrote : " It is believed that housewifery- might be greatly improved by being taught not only in practice but in theory. There are right ways of performing its various operations, and there are reasons why these ways are right; and why may not rules be formed, their reasons collected, and the whole be digested into a system to guide the learners' practice?'' ^ Before the educational authorities would admit the sub- ject into the schools its purpose and worth had to be demon- strated, and cookery lessons were given to public school children by various philanthropic bodies. It should be noted that the avowed purpose of the introduction of this subject was utilitarian and philanthropic. Those who pressed for its inclusion in the school curriculum were im- pelled by a realization of the bad and wasteful home man- agement then prevalent, to take steps which would lessen the evils to the community caused by the ignorance of housewives, particularly of the poorer classes. The children were gathered together by these benevolent organizations and instructed, first, in the elements of needlework, then in housewifery under the name of kitchen gardening, followed later by lessons in plain cookery. Kitchen Gardening. The term " kitchen gardening " was generally used to describe the training of children in do- mestic work, and this training was largely in the form of play. Toy utensils were used, and the operation was con- 1 "Education for the Home." United States Bureau of Education, Bulle- tin, 1914, No. 36. 20 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS ducted on a scale proportioned to the size of the utensil. The method was used with children five years old and up- wards, but was almost entirely confined to private organiza- tions and, perhaps unfortunately, has not been considered as of sufficient educational value to be adopted in the kinder- gartens of the public schools. The method was introduced in 1877 by Miss Emily Huntington of New York. The kitchen garden may be called the kindergarten of household arts instruction and was described by its founder in 1901 as follows : " Kitchen garden is a system by which children are taught the many little duties, which, when properly performed, go to make a home comfortable, except the cooking of food. The system is a combination of songs, exercises, and plays, designed in a thoroughly practical way to train a child in simple household work. It is divided into six distinct parts or occupations, each taking a month to master. They comprehend the following details : kindling fires, waiting on the door, bed making, sweeping and dusting, completely arranging a room, with the manipulations of a broom, whisk broom, etc. ; also all laundry processes from the preparation of the tubs to the polishing and folding; scrubbing; and laying a dinner table in the due order of courses. In con- nection with this a pricking lesson teaches in kindergarten style the parts of beef and mutton and how to cook and cut each. Last of all comes the mud pie play. Molding clay as a substitute for pastry and dough, the children knead bread, turn tiny rolls, cut out biscuits, and make pies. All the lessons are enlivened and emphasized with appropriate songs. Thus with the simple device of toy appliances for real domestic apparatus, the children acquire the order, precision, and neatness essential to household THE STATUS OF HOUSEHOLD ARTS INSTRUCTION 21 service. The age of the children taught varies from six to sixteen." ^ In one respect the kitchen garden method has a decided advantage over the household arts as ordinarily taught in the schools, and that is, it stresses general household duties. As will be shown later, the household arts have been largely restricted to cookery, or at most cookery and sewing, though they really include the following subjects in addition to the two mentioned : sewing, dressmaking, millinery, laundry work, housewifery, hygiene, sanitation, and the care of young children. Teaching sewing. As far as the public schools are con- cerned the movement for the introduction of sewing prob- ably started in Boston, where the girls are said to have spent time in sewing under their regular teachers as early as 1798. Permission was given for needlework in the primary schools in 1821, and in 1835 in the second and third classes in the writing school. Little was really done, however, until about 1865, when a seamstress and dress- maker were employed to teach an advanced class for half a day each week in the different schools. The materials for this work and the salaries of the teachers were provided by a private individual. In 1873 a teacher was employed to give her whole time, being placed on the same salary schedule as the regular teachers on the staff. In 1875 a special committee was appointed to supervise sewing in all the city schools, but the solicitor to the Board of Educa- tion reported that it was illegal to spend money for this purpose, and this expenditure had to be stopped. The work was not dropped, however, but was carried on for the ^ Huntington, Emily, How to teach the Kitchen Garden or Object Lessons in Household Work. 22 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS next twelve months by private funds until the Massachusetts Legislature in 1876 authorized local school committees to teach sewing. Up to the present time, however, sewing is far from being universally taught in the schools of either Canada or the United States, and in a number of those where it is now found it has been regularly introduced only within the last ten years. Teaching cookery. In 1874 Miss Juliet Corson organized cooking classes for women belonging to all grades of society, giving both public and private lessons. The first public lesson to working women resulted in the formation of mission classes in cooking for children, and about the same time the principal of Lasell Seminary (Auburndale, Mass.) invited Miss Maria Parloa to give a course of lessons to its students.^ The New York cooking school was opened by Miss Corson in 1876 with an attendance of two hundred for the first year. The school included not only a ladies' class but a plain cooks' class, children's class, normal class, etc. In the same year Miss Johanna Sweeney opened a cooking class in Boston, and various private cooking schools were established in different parts of the country.^ The subject was not introduced into the public schools, even of Boston, however, until 1885. Philadelphia, Providence, and Wash- ington rapidly followed the example of Boston, and to-day cooking courses are to be found in a large number of American cities, and the subject is gradually being extended to the schools of small towns and even villages. The present situation. The present position of household arts instruction in the United States is somewhat as follows : 1 School Training for the Home Duties of Women, Vol. 15, Part 1, Board of Education, London. 2 "Education for the Home." United States Bureau of Education, BuUetin, 1914, No. 36. THE STATUS OF HOUSEHOLD ARTS INSTRUCTION 23 definite organized courses were reported in 1914 by 252 colleges, 159 public normal schools, 2440 high schools, and 3082 cities, towns, and villages. Only a small part of this work is on a really vocational basis, but the general trend is now to emphasize the practical in all types of household arts work.^ Education on this continent is under provincial or state control, and the scope and extent of instruction in the household arts will depend largely on the provisions, made for it in the laws of the various provinces and states. Educa- tion for the home is specifically authorized by statute in the schools of every province of Canada, and of approximately three quarters of the states. All of the New England states, all of the middle states except Delaware, all of the southern states except West Virginia, Florida, and Alabama, all of the central states except Missouri and South Dakota, and all of the Mountain and Pacific states except Wyoming and Colorado have in one way or another authorized the teaching of household arts in their elementary schools, high schools, or both. Thirty-three states have authorized the teaching in elementary schools, and thirty-three states in secondary schools. Up to the present twenty-two states have author- ized the teaching of the subject in their rural schools. ^ Changed conditions in the home. Since the initiation of the movement for the introduction of household arts instruction into the schools, the character and condition of the homes for which that instruction was expected to prepare have materially changed, and it is very much open to question whether many of the methods of instruction 1 Report of the Commissioner of Education, 1914. Washington. 2 "Education for the Home." United States Bureau of Education, Bulle- tin, 1914, No. 37. 24 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS now in use have fully adapted themselves to those changed conditions. Methods in all school subjects tend to become stereotyped, and in many cases fail to adapt themselves to modern requirements. Until recently manual training af- forded a good example of such ossification, and the household arts have suffered from the same cause. Old theories and traditions of woman's work, education, and sf)here of in- fluence do not square with the necessities of to-day. " Do- mestic economy needs saving from its friends; it must be kept close to home needs; already it has been sterilized and schoolmasterized to the loss of its earlier worth." The demands made on the housekeeper by modern civiliza- tion have changed considerably in their character and are gradually becoming more complex. Skill, which was per- haps one of the main elements of instruction in the early days, is not now sufficient. In days not so very remote women actually produced the goods that were consumed in the home ; now they are responsible for the consumption of goods that are in the main produced elsewhere. They are now responsible for selection and not for production in the old sense. Much of the work that is now done in the schools must be directed towards training them as con- sumers rather than as producers. It is even more important for them to know how to select materials than for them actually to prepare so many things as formerly. It is es- timated that ninety-five per cent of the world's goods is actually purchased by women.^ Since the housewife usually does the buying for the family, it naturally follows that she controls the markets, not only the production of the goods but all the conditions surround- ing their production and distribution. She must be a good 1 Talbot, Marion, The Education of Woman, THE STATUS OF HOUSEHOLD ARTS INSTRUCTION 25 buyer, she must know prices, she must have a knowledge of materials and their fitness, she should know what it costs to produce things and where and how they are made. Owing to the lack of this knowledge " it is not strange that most women are the slaves of the manufacturer even to the extent of having the size of their hats and the shape of their bodies determined for them, or that shops are crowded with useless, tawdry, inartistic goods." ^ I When women have realized their responsibility in these matters and are adequately trained, we shall have no more adulterated foods, short weights and measures, and unsani- tary shops. It is precisely in these respects that the house- hold arts movement has failed to some extent to keep pace with the social and economic changes that have taken place during the last twenty years. We are living at a time of economic pressure. Our attention has hitherto been concentrated on efficiency of production, and consump- tion has been allowed to take care of itself. Now national economy demands that attention be paid to intelligent consumption, and the education of the woman who spends is a legitimate function of the household arts instruction to be given both in and out of our schools. A state program for education in the household arts. A state program of education for the home ought to receive the most careful consideration, and should include the following features : ^ (a) The inclusion of household arts instruction in every elementary school. (6) Adequate state supervision by an expert inspector 1 Talbot, Marion, The Education of Woman. 2 Adapted in part from ' ' Education for the Home. ' ' United States Bureau of Education, Bulletin, 1914, No. 37. 26 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS whose duties should include the promotion of general in- terest in the subject, as well as the actual inspection of the schools. (c) Household arts included as a part of the normal train- ing of every grade teacher in order that she may be able to teach the subject to her own pupils in the same way that she teaches any other school subject. The idea that effective instruction in household arts can be given only by the specially trained teacher has probably operated more than any other single cause to hinder its introduction into the schools of small towns and villages whose resources will not allow them to employ a special teacher. (d) Adequate training for specialists who are to spend their whole time teaching the household arts. One year of professional training has been found satisfactory for ordinary work, but teachers who intend to take supervisory positions should take three, or preferably four, years' training. (e) Special state or provincial grants until the work comes to be regarded as essential as the old-time subjects. These grants should be allocated in such a way as to encourage local effort. A lump sum without rigid conditions is never satisfactory. The grant should depend upon a satisfactory report from the state inspector.^ (/) A system by which small towns and rural districts, where the work is not sufficient to employ the whole time of one teacher, or whose resources do not permit them to pay the salaries of such teachers, may enter into a cooperative arrangement by which they can employ a teacher to spend a day or two in each place. The rapid extension of electric railway lines throughout the country now makes it possible 1 "Manual Training and Household Science Regulations." Ontario De- partment of Education, Toronto. THE STATUS OF HOUSEHOLD ARTS INSTRUCTION 27 to link up groups of schools for cooperative work of this character. No system which fails to make adequate pro- vision for its rural schools can be considered as even reason- ably efficient. (g) Household arts teaching should be encouraged in all high schools, and if not made compulsory should, at any rate, be offered as an elective. Considering the character of the equipment required in such schools, and the salaries that ought to be paid to teachers therein, the state grants for these schools could well be higher than those paid to elejEnentary schools. (h) Household arts should be given a place in the system /f of industrial education at least equal to that given to train- ing for industrial, commercial, or agricultural pursuits. The position of household arts as an industry for which training is necessary and legitimate must be fully recognized. {i) The subject should be given special attention in the seventh and eighth grades of the public schools. Pre vo- cational or junior high school classes can be formed for these grades without at all encroaching on the subjects which are considered fundamental to a general education. (j) To carry on the work after the close of the elementary school period, schools of a decidedly vocational character should be established. These schools will have to provide for several distinct classes of students — the woman manag- ing her own household, the young girl who assists her mother, the wage-earning houseworker or maid, and that large class of wage-earning young women who are at present engaged in other employment, but who desire to improve their skill in and knowledge of housekeeping with a view to future possibilities. (k) The higher institutions of learning should provide in- 28 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS struction of an advanced grade and make provision for all forms of research work relating to the household and its activities. (Z) An adequate system of extended education to reach those out of touch with the schools. This should cover the whole state, and all religious and philanthropic agencies should be engaged in it. Movable schools of homemaking, modeled perhaps on the movable schools of agriculture, are a necessity in most rural districts, and the work of visiting teachers as consultants may be developed in con- nection with the farm demonstration work in agriculture. In many cities visiting nurses and visiting housekeepers have been appointed with the object of preventing disease and improving home conditions. The need for work of this kind is probably as great throughout the rural districts. Encouragement of vocational education by the federal governments. Though education on this continent is, according to the constitutions, exclusively under the direc- tion and control of the different states and provinces, the national governments have assisted its extension and prog- ress in many ways without interfering unduly with its organization and administration. This has been done in the following ways : (a) By the Morrill acts establishing the land-grant colleges in 1862. A number of these institutions devote considerable attention to household arts instruction. (h) By federal grants for agricultural research, from the results of which the home has derived much benefit. Par- ticularly has this been the case in scientific investigations of nutrition made by the experiment stations and by the United States Department of Agriculture. (c) By the bulletins issued from time to time by the THE STATUS OF HOUSEHOLD ARTS INSTRUCTION 29 Bureau of Education and the Department of Agriculture. There has been estabHshed recently in connection with the f Bureau of Education a division of home education from which much may be expected, and specialists in home economics have also been appointed. (d) By the adoption of the Smith-Lever and the Smith- Hughes bills which offer financial assistance to the different states. The appropriation under the former bill begins at $480,000, increasing each year until it continues permanently with an annual appropriation by Congress of $4,580,000. As each state must make an appropriation equal to its share of this sum, it means that when the act is in full operation, more than nine million dollars a year will be available for extension work in agriculture and home economics.^ This law makes possible home betterment work in rural districts. The grants are intended to assist extension work only, and by this is meant instruction and practical demonstrations in agriculture and home economics to those not attending or resident in agricultural colleges. The Smith-Hughes bill provides for three separate ap- propriations, any one of which a state may accept. The first is for the training of teachers of agricultural, trade, industrial, and home economics subjects ; the second is for agricultural education including home economics ; the third is for education in trades and industries. For the training of teachers in all these subjects the measure proposes $500,000 the firstVear, increasing annually till $1,000,000 is reached the fourth year, and then con- tinued as an annual grant divided among the states in pro- portion to their total population. For education in agri- 1 Report of Commissioner of Education, 1914. United States Bureau of Education, Washington. rrr' 30 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS culture for boys and home economics for rural girls the measure proposes $500,000 the first year, increasing annually till $3,000,000 is reached the eighth year, and then con- tinuing as an annual grant among the states in the pro- portion their rural population bears to the total population of the United States. The Commissioner of Education is the executive officer of the federal board provided to ad- minister the fund. (e) The Canadian government, too, has assisted largely in the development of household arts instruction throughout the different provinces. This has been done through " The Agricultural Instruction Act," which received the Royal Assent June 6, 1913. This act provides for the distribution of ten million dollars in ten years, beginning with $700,000 the first year and increasing by $100,000 for four years, when the amount to be divided among the provinces will have reached $1,100,000, and will there remain until the end of the decade. Before division there are two provisions that have to be satisfied ; namely, one of a grant of $20,000 to the veterinary colleges and another of $20,000 to each of the provinces regardless of population. After deducting this $200,000 the remainder is to be divided yearly among the provinces according to population.^ The uses to which this money is put must be approved by the Commissioner appointed to administer the act and he has in every case sanctioned the allocation of considera- ble sums towards instruction in household arts through the schools and various forms of extension service. Report of the Commission on National Aid to Vocational Education. In January, 1914, the Congress of the United 1 "Agricultural Gazette of Canada," Nov., 1915. Department of Agri- culture, Ottawa. THE STATUS OF HOUSEHOLD ARTS INSTRUCTION 31 States created a commission '' to consider the subject of national aid to vocational education and to report their findings and recommendations." This commission is said to have done two very remarkable things. It conducted its investigations and sent in its report by the time set, and turned back into the public treasury one third of the $15,000 appropriated for its expenses. The Smith-Hughes bill referred to above was largely based on the findings of this commission. The following may be quoted as showing its attitude towards instruction in the household arts. " While approving of every possible means of extending the more scientific studies and research for the development of home economics, the commission feels that the particular need at the present time is for material which will reach down to the average girl who goes neither to high school nor to college but on whose training for the care of a home and family the future welfare of society will largely depend." The sympathetic attitude of the commission towards the subject and its definite recognition of homemaking as an industry make it difiicult to resist the temptation to quote largely. One more important statement may be given. " The problem of home economics training for the great mass of girls who spend their early years in stores, shops, and factories is also one for serious consideration and in- vestigation, and one that has yet hardly been touched, although perhaps it is more important and far reaching than any other. Especially needed are such studies as re- late to the purchase and care of clothing, the conservation of health, and the maintaining of efficiency through proper food and exercise, the planning of personal and household budgets, and the proper sanitation and ventilation of home 32 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS and workroom surroundings. Such studies as these and many others will be greatly needed in the development of part-time schools for girls who are already at work and would also be highly valuable in developing courses for young housekeepers who have not had the opportunity for such training in our schools.'* , yJ^A general review of the whole question of instruction in the household arts and kindred industries seems to point to the conclusion that the future is bright with promise. The time has come, however, when it is necessary to take stock of the general methods and organization in use, in order that the training now given may be extended, and made more efficient with a view of meeting the new condi- tions imposed by the changes in our economic and social organization. CHAPTER II HOUSEHOLD ARTS INSTRUCTION IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS I. Introduction. II. Household arts advocates. III. Two forms of household arts instruction. IV. Distribution of instruction in cookery and sewing. V. Criticism of instruction in sewing. VI. Obstacles to household arts instruction in the schools. VII. Teaching cookery without special equipment. VIII. The center system. IX. Character of equipment. X. Neglect of laundry work. XI. Teaching housewifery. XII. The teacher. XIII. Too much expected from the schools. XIV. Current criticism of instruction in cookery. XV. The family meal the basis of instruction. XVI. Summary of improvements needed. Introduction. The development of household arts in- struction in elementary school's has paralleled, to a great extent, that of manual training, and in many localities the household arts are classed as manual training and have shared in the odium that formerly attached to that term. The original underlying motive for the introduction of the house- hold arts into the schools was, as has been said, philan- thropic and utilitarian. Just as manual training was advo- cated on the grounds that it would give us better mechanics, so the household arts were urged because it was thought that D 33 34 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS such instruction would give us better housekeepers and homemakers. The fact that both subjects have largely failed to accomplish their original purpose has led to apathy, con- troversy, and opposition. Later, this original utilitarian purpose was somewhat strongly criticized, and the peda- gogical and social value emphasized. Household arts advocates. The advocates of household arts instruction may be now divided into four classes, and their varying opinions have influenced to a considerable de- gree the methods of organization adopted in different parts of the country. These four classes may be described as follows : The Utilitarians. The utilitarians insist that girls shall be given instruction in cooking, sewing, and general household management with the sole view of preparing the home- makers of the future for the duties which will fall to their lot. They ask that practical work in these subjects shall be placed in the curriculum, so that the large number of girls who leave school before finishing the elementary course shall have the opportunity of taking such instruction, and that the course shall have direct bearing upon the immediate economic ne- cessities of the pupil, the power to do things receiving more emphasis than the reasons for the processes. The manual training advocates. These expect the intro- duction of the household arts to bring about the development of rapid observation, training, and correlation of hand and eye by means of practice. They also hope to give added dignity to household labor and all the activities of the house- hold. It will be seen that these purposes are very much the same as it is now hoped to accomplish by manual training for boys. The Culturists. These insist upon the educational value INSTRUCTION IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 35 of the subject, entirely apart from immediate utility or from the possible acquirement of manual dexterity. It would be difficult to say which has hindered the extension of the subject more — the utilitarians or the culturists. A recog- nition of the fact that neither of these opinions is the right one has led to a conclusion which is really a combination of their two points of view. The Vocationists. These contend that the household arts form a distinct vocation for which training and preparation is needed. Formerly the term " trade school " was held in contempt, as it was thought that trade training excluded all liberal education, but now that conception is radically changed, and it is recognized that adequate trade training cannot be given without at the same time paying much at- tention to what is called culture. Cultural training and vocational training are not mutually exclusive terms. Each includes the other, and the newer view of household arts in- struction is based on the opinion that if it is to achieve its purpose, which in the main is home betterment, both ele- ments must be included, the emphasis being placed where it is demanded by the age, capacity, and condition of the student. It may be said with a fair degree of accuracy that at present the cultural aim dominates the teaching of household arts on this continent, and this aim forms the basis of much of the adverse criticism that is current. The new demand, not for lessening the cultural but for the stressing of the vocational, forced on the schools by the social and economic changes of the twentieth century, makes imperative certain changes in methods and organization which traditional academic prac- tice renders it difficult to accept. Two forms of household arts instruction. Household arts instruction in the elementary school may be divided into 36 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS two kinds. First, that form of the work which demands no equipment, or so little that it is within the capacity of the poorest school to secure, and second, that type of instruction which requires stoves, cooking utensils, and other apparatus often costing considerable sums. The first form includes sewing and general talks on house cleaning and sanitation, while the second includes what is now generally understood by cookery. It may be classified also according to whether a special teacher is or is not essential, but this division will be dealt with in a later section. Distribution of sewing and cookery instruction. In a recent investigation conducted by the Bureau of Education it was found that of 390 communities furnishing information as to the elementary school curriculum seven (two per cent) offer cook- ery alone and 165 (forty-two per cent) offer sewing alone, while 218 (fifty-six per cent) offer both cookery and sewing. The tendency thus seems to be, to offer both subjects, while if one only isprovided, sewing is the favored subject, doubtless be- cause little equipment is necessary and it can be taught by the regular grade teacher, and does not necessitate the em- ployment of a specialist. This tendency is shown also in the sequence or order of introducing sewing and cookery. Of 390 cases 134 introduced cooking and sewing simultaneously ; in seven cases cookery alone had been introduced ; and in twenty-four cases cookery first introduced had been followed by sewing ; in 165 cases sewing alone had been introduced, and in sixty cases sewing first introduced has been followed by cookery; that is, if cookery has been first introduced there has been a chance of 3.4 to 1 that sewing would be added, while if sewing was started first, there has 'been a chance of only 0.36 to 1 that cookery would be added. In the investigation above referred to it was found that INSTRUCTION IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 37 in the schools reporting, sewing was taught in the first grade in twenty schools ; in the second grade in twenty-five schools ; in the third grade in forty-five schools ; in the fourth grade in eighty-two schools ; in the fifth grade in 236 schools ; in the sixth grade in 345 schools ; in the seventh grade in 377 schools ; and in the eighth grade in 316 schools. It will thus be seen that sewing has been taught in all grades, but has been most commonly placed in the four upper grades, and of these more often in the sixth and seventh grades than in the fifth and eighth grades.^ The above figures lead to the conclusion that an impression exists that sewing cannot be taught satisfactorily to the lower grades, as it will be seen that only ninety schools report sew- ing as taught in the three lower grades. The experience of other countries does not bear out this impression. In Eng- land the subject is taught in every grade of the elementary schools and is compulsory. In all schools for girls and in all mixed schools sewing is on an equality with the traditional subjects of reading, writing, and arithmetic and has as much time devoted to it. In the primary schools of France, Ger- many, Belgium, and Switzerland the same conditions hold. In the Province of Ontario there is a course of study in use which provides for instruction in the eight grades of the ele- mentary schools. This syllabus has been in operation for some years, and where adopted is accomplishing the results desired. Criticisms of instruction in sewing. It now will be perti- nent to consider some of the more important adverse criti- cisms leveled against sewing as taught in the schools. Lack of practical value. Probably the most frequent ^ "Education for the Home." United States Bureau of Education, Bulle- tin, 1914, No. 37. 38 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS criticism heard is that the sewing as taught is of no practical use, and certainly its failure to connect with the home and actual needs has hindered its growth and extension. One parent says: '' I don't expect the girl to learn dressmaking, but if she were taught only to use a pattern, how much she could help me with the younger children's clothes and what a saving it would be ? Another says : " If the girl could only do some by herself without waiting for the teacher to tell her what to do next, what a help she would be to me. She has brought home a garment which she says she made, but when I have given her cloth to do the same at home, she can do nothing." " At a school in one of the poorest districts in Chicago, on a warm June day this summer, children were at their gymnastic work in the yard still sewed into the heavy woolen underwear they had worn all winter. At the same time in their beginning sewing they were working on pin- cushions, small bags, fancy holders, etc. There seemed to be no connection in the minds of the children between sewing and the idea of clothing, and yet these chil- dren were old enough to be making the actual underwear needed for that time of the year. It is not less knowledge that we need — less theory if you choose to call it so — but it is more knowledge carried directly into living." ^ The " exercise " method. The method still largely in use is the exercise method which has been so discredited in the case of manual training that it has been generally abandoned. Since sewing was introduced at about the same time as manual training, it was thought necessary in many cases to maintain parallelism between the two subjects, and though * Addresses and Proceedings of the National Education Association, 1914. INSTRUCTION IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 39 the method has been dispensed with in one case, it has been retained in the other. The various " stitch forms " dealt with as so many exercises are worked out on pieces of un- bleached calico about four and a half inches square to nine inches by five inches in size. Rows and rows of these stitches are practiced until the girl becomes fairly proficient. In the process she loses interest, becomes dull and listless, and looks upon the work as a task to be got rid of as soon as pos- sible. These pieces of calico are then fastened into a book, which is supposed to be retained by the girl and used as a reference book when the necessity arises. Unless the acqui- sition of the ability to make the stitches be followed by their immediate application to a garment or other useful article, simple though it may be, the method is decidedly unsatis- factory and works rather in the direction of prejudicing the girl against sewing than of encouraging her in its pursuit. An English observer, in describing this method in one of the schools of the United States says, " Thirty pieces of needlework must be completed within the two years ; as a consequence, very small samples of each stitch or of its appli- cation are possible, and the results as observed did not appear to be very satisfactory. The boys were interested, eager, and happy (at woodwork) ; the girls uninterested, bored, and rather careless. This introduction to * manual training* is succeeded in grades seven and eight by cookery for the girls and carpentry for the boys : the change of attitude among the girls was significant and striking." ^ No sane advocate of the cultural aim would contend that practice is not necessary, but it must be practice the applica- tion of which is apparent to the girl. After three or four » "School Training for the Home Duties of Women," Vol. 16. Special Reports, London, England. 40 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS stitches have been worked they should be appHed to a useful article. After this, one or two new stitches should be prac- ticed, and these and the ones previously learned again ap- plied. It is perfectly feasible to organize courses on this principle. The home applications should be stressed through- out, and mending and repairing, as well as making, should receive adequate consideration. Numerous courses have been drawn up for teaching sewing in the elementary schools, but very few of them pay any attention to this branch of the subject. Methods adopted in Belgium} The organization and meth- ods of teaching needlework in the Belgian schools offer us many useful suggestions. The general ordinance of Maria Theresa, published December 6, 1774, contains the follow- ing : " La ou il y a des ecoles distinctes, les filles seront instruites separement. On leur enseignera autant que pos- sible la couture, le tricot, et tout ce qui est convenable a leur sexe." But notwithstanding this it was not till 1879 that needlework was made compulsory in primary schools for girls. The needlework instruction aims chiefly at practical results directly applicable in the homes. The teacher dem- onstrates everything on a large scale before the class so that all may see; for instance, the knitting stitch in the lower standards is shown with large needles and wool of two colors, so that each row of stitches is distinguishable. In sewing, the different stitches are first demonstrated on canvas upon a frame with a large needle and thick, colored thread similar to the demonstration frame used in many American schools. After each stitch is learned it is practically applied. When pieces of work are too difficult for the lower standards 1 "School Training for the Home Duties of Women," Vol. 16." Special Reports, London, England. INSTRUCTION IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 41 to finish, they are completed by the pupils of the higher grades, in order to teach cooperation ; for instance, children's petticoats knitted in strips by the little ones are joined and put into a waistband by the children of the upper grades. All the work is done actual size and not on a reduced scale. Particular attention is given to mending in the schools of European countries. In the elementary schools of Belgium the practical mending of garments is taught from the fourth school year onwards. A '^ table of mending " drawn up by the teacher is posted in many schools, giving an account of the mending done by each pupil during the year, with the object of encouraging the bringing to school of torn garments from home and of overcoming the false shame some of the children feel in so doing. When opportunity offers, the lessons in other subjects are correlated with the lessons in needlework. In arithmetic the little ones calculate the cost of the wool that has been used; in the higher grades they are taught to calculate beforehand the cost of the stuff and materials, and also the comparative cost of the homemade and the bought article. Drawing and language are also correlated in the same way. One striking feature of the instruction given is the atten- tion that is paid to economy. The greatest care is taken to teach the pupils to waste nothing; scraps of material left over from the making of underclothing, for. example, are made into nightdress bags. Similarly with knitting, a prac- tical use is made of everything. Squares by which increasing and decreasing is learned will be joined together, feather- stitched, edged with crochet, and so made into a cot cover. A small practice piece of plain knitting made in the first year will be edged with crochet and made into a child's bib. 42 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS Methods adopted in Boston. In one of the Boston schools during the year 1914 a special class of twenty-four girls, from two eighth grades, who had shown special ability in this di- rection, was formed to take sewing on practical and trade lines. Two hours were allowed each week. After much plain sewing and machine practice, the girls selected and bought materials for dresses for themselves. Each girl made at least one dress, some made two, others three, and one girl made seven. The cost of the dresses when com- pleted varied from forty-five cents to $1.35. The time taken was from six to sixteen hours. Economy in buying and cut- ting were stressed. Two sales were held, the girls taking full charge. Two were chosen from their number for salesgirls, two for cash girls, two for bundle girls, and one for cashier. In addition to the practical character of the training, the results seem to have been that many of them placed their application to attend the trade school and the high school of practical arts the next September. In another school a " mending squad," consisting of three ^irls to each floor, calls out any girls who have buttons miss- ing or other minor defects in their dress. If a girl appears too often, she attends to the missing button after school. By comparison the defects were reported as follows : Oct. 10, 1913, June 8, 1914, 100 girls 10 girls 283 buttons 8 buttons 7 buttonholes 23 hooks 5 hooks 9 eyes 3 eyes Examples such as those cited above show, to some extent, what may be done towards linking up the subject with the INSTRUCTION IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 43 real needs of practical life without at all lessening the edu- cational value of the work. Obstacles to household arts instruction in the schools. The obstacles which have prevented the general spread of the subject throughout all the schools of the country may be stated as follows : Rapid industrial development. Systems of education find it difficult to keep pace with the rapid development of the country. In many cities the schools are congested, and the problem of building new schools is a constant one. In some localities the children can only attend school half of the day, owing to lack of the necessary accommodation/ and various schemes are being resorted to such as the Gary system in order to accommodate all the children. In many rural districts the length of the term, and the time the children attend, is so limited that subjects which it is thought may still be ac- quired in the home do not find a place in the school time-table. Contempt for manual occupations. There still exists in the minds of the majority of people the impression that learning acquired from books is the only avenue to culture and pros- perity. The value and dignity of manual occupations have not yet been universally recognized. The average parent is quite willing to admit that it is noble for his neighbor's boy or girl to work with the hands but not for his own, and this widespread contempt for manual labor has played a large part in the opposition to the introduction of handwork into the schools. Insufficient attention in the training schools for teachers. It is unfortunate from many points of view that the idea has grown up that all the different branches of the household arts require a special teacher who shall teach these subjects and nothing else in the school curriculum. There is no valid 44 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS reason why the ordinary grade teacher should not be able to qualify herself for the efficient and practical teaching of sewing, at least in the lower grades of the elementary school. In English schools sewing is a regular subject, and every girl taking the examination for the teacher's certificate is re- quired to pass in plain needlework just as she is required to pass in other subjects, and failure to do so means rejection. The Ontario course of study in needlework has been pre- viously referred to. With a view towards assisting the un- trained or partially trained teacher to carry out this syllabus, the education department of that province has issued a manual on sewing in which full instructions are given to the teacher regarding methods and class management. It is thoroughly well illustrated, every stitch form and its appli- cations being shown. This manual is being adopted in other provinces of the dominion and is of such a character that by its aid any teacher of ordinary ability can make an effective beginning in the teaching of the subject, and, as a rule, it is the beginning only that is required. As a matter of fact some of the best instruction in sewing is given by the regular grade teacher. It has been found that a much better all-round educational result is secured in the first six grades when it is so done. The grade teacher knows, or should know, the character and ability of the individual pupil much better than a teacher imported for one or two hours a week, and she can relate in a much closer way the work done in that subject with that done in the other sub- jects of the curriculum. The obstacles to this plan are usually to be found in large classes and the lack of training of the teacher ; but there is now a decided tendency to reduce the size of classes, and no teacher, in view of the greater at- tention that is being given to sewing in the training schools, INSTRUCTION IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 45 and the provision that is being made in summer schools, need remain without a fair knowledge of the subject. Limited time in school schedules. The limited time that has up to the present been allowed for the subject in school schedules has warranted the suspicion that it is only being played with. In the English and Belgian schools the time allowed for sewing is from two and a half hours to three hours each week, and in this length of time something worth while can be done. In the United States the time given to sewing each week in the different grades varies as follows: first, forty to forty-five minutes ; second, forty-five minutes ; third, forty-five minutes ; fourth, fifth, and sixth, sixty minutes ; eighth, seventy-five minutes. The table following shows the general tendency of time allotment for the subject : ^ No. OP Grade Schools Reporting Instruc- Shortest AND Longest Time Re- Median Number op Minutes Minutes Taken as Limits to In- Modal or Most Frequently Reported Time tion IN Grade ported IN Minutes Reported clude Half the Schools FOR Grades 1 20 20-100 40-45 30-60 2 30-60 2 25 20-100 45 30-60 3 30, 60 3 45 20-140 45 40-60 3 30, 40, 45, 60 4 82 25-180 60 45-60 3 30, 45, 60 5 236 25-450 60 45-60 3 40, 45, 60, 90 6 345 25-225 60 60-90 3 40, 45, 60, 75, 80,90 7 377 25-600 75 60-90 3 60,90 8 . 316 30-600 75-80 60-90 3 60, 75, 80, 20, 120 Teaching cookery without special equipment. The other branch of household arts instruction that is usually found 1 "Education for the Home." United States Bureau of Education, Bulletin, 1914, No. 37. 2 Includes 75 %. s Includes 50%. 46 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS in the schools is cookery, and as this generally necessitates special equipment, it is thought that nothing can be done without it, but even where no practical work is possible, much of the related theory may be taken with advantage. In the code for English schools there was included, for many years, a subject called " domestic economy." A regularjtext- book was used which included general talks and lessons on foods, sanitation, table service, hygiene, manners, and other kindred features of family and home life. In many schools in the United States an attempt has been made, with more or less success, to have practical work done at home, or in home kitchens, and the theoretical and descriptive work done in school. The connecting of the course in household arts with the home in this and similar ways is of such extreme im- portance that it will be dealt with in a separate chapter. It may be said here, however, that instruction in household arts need not wait for either special teachers or special equip- ment in the schools. The " center system." The branch of the household arts that needs special equipment is generally known as " cook- ery," though that term by no means denotes all the instruc- tion that should be given. The method usually adopted is that known as the " center system," i.e., a room is equipped in some central location, and different classes from various schools in the neighborhood attend in turn. This system has grown up in connection with manual training. It has nothing to recommend it except perhaps economy. Time is lost in going to and from school or home to the center and in many cases the subject is looked upon by the girls as out- side of, and different from, their regular studies. It is always better to have the center, if not attached to, at least in close proximity to an institution devoted entirely to education. INSTRUCTION IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 47 An inspector of household arts writes : " Probably the only case where household arts are struggling against petty, ad- verse, and malicious criticism is due very largely to the fact that that particular center is far removed from a school and is separated from other educational influences and discipline." When one and a half hours per week are devoted to the lesson a center will thus accommodate fifteen classes per week. A much better arrangement, however, is two classes a day of two hours each. This plan gives the teacher time to properly prepare her material, and to perform certain social duties which the efficient teaching of the household arts should include. Character of equipment. The equipment now in general use has received some adverse criticism : " We are too prone in the teaching of the domestic arts to run to elaborate equip- ment which it is utterly impossible to provide within the home of a working man or even in the houses of the middle classes." There is no doubt that this criticism contains a large measure of truth. The organization and equipment of household arts classes should have a very direct bearing upon the present and future home conditions of the pupils, and it is precisely in this direction that the equipment is de- fective. Of course, the conditions under which twenty-four girls work will have to be different from those of the home kitchen which generally provides space for only two or three, but the former should be made to approximate as closely as possible to the latter. In some schools in addition to the large kitchen to accommodate the whole class, there is pro- vided a small room fitted like a home kitchen with range, sink, cupboards, and pantry to duplicate the home condi- tions existing in the neighborhood. In one case this was accomplished by the adaptation of a large cottage in the 48 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS school grounds, formerly used by the caretaker. The living and the dining room were thrown into one, providing a lab- oratory kitchen, and the original kitchen of the house left as it was. Here three or four girls are deputed to work, largely on their own responsibility. They work out, under home conditions, lessons that have been previously taught in the laboratory kitchen. By a proper system of rotation each girl gets about six or seven periods a year in this kitchen. Absence of a coal or wood stove. One great defect in the majority of schools is the absence of a coal stove. A regula- tion refusing to recognize any school not so equipped should be made by state or provincial departments of education. Many of these schools are, of course, in towns where gas can be had, and for this reason a gas range only is provided, but from questions asked it is found that even in those towns, the majority of the girls use coal or wood stoves in their home kitchens. In very few cases is it found that the majority of the parents use gas stoves. As a recent writer has said : " Half the success in cooking by coal or wood lies in knowing how to make a fire and keep it right. And yet I have seen scores of teachers of cooking who could not make a coal or wood fire and keep it right to save their blessed souls.*' Many teachers object to the coal stove on account of the work it causes. One teacher of household science in a room fitted with a coal stove informed the inspector that she did not consider it her business, or that of the girls under her care, to keep it clean and in good working order but that of the caretaker, and the result was that the stove was in a very dirty condition. A coal stove requires entirely differ- ent treatment and management from a gas range, and for this and other reasons a coal stove should be placed in a household INSTRUCTION IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 49 science kitchen in addition to the gas range and individual gas stoves, before it can be considered properly equipped. Changes in equipment. The type of equipment in general use has become stereotyped, and while it is not desirable to make alterations for the mere sake of change, yet it is time to consider whether the type of equipment now in use is best calculated to give that all-round training which the require- ments of the modern home demand. There is no question now that trade training should be given under real conditions, and in ordinary household arts instruction the closer the conditions are made to approximate those of real life the more effective the work will be. Some go so far as to believe that the school will never teach cooking efficiently until the instruction is given under actual home conditions and in the home itself. They maintain that, at best, the school can only offer an imitation of home conditions and therefore can never be efficient, but, not to go so far as this, it may readily be admitted that some improvements in equipment are de- sirable in order to approximate more closely the home con- ditions. A new type of equipment is in use in a few institutions, and though this was definitely designed for purely vocational schools it offers many suggestions, and probably indicates the lines on which the remodeling of the elementary school equipment should take place. The new system is that known as the ^' unit kitchen." By this method the home kitchen is made the unit of equipment, the unit being re- peated as often as required to accommodate the number of pupils. These kitchens are small rooms like the ordinary tenement kitchen and are furnished with sink, stove, table, and the necessary utensils. They are built with three walls, leaving the front open so that the teacher may supervise the E 50 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS work in several kitchens by passing along the front of each. There should also be provided in the open space in front or in an adjoining room equipment for use when class instruc- tion or demonstrations are being given. ^ In a circular issued by the Belgian Minister of the Interior and of Public Instruction occurs the following passage relat- ing to equipment: "It is therefore advisable to establish the housewifery school for adults in premises resembling as much as possible in extent, arrangement, and furniture, those in which the girl will fulfil later her beneficent mission. To initiate her to household work in vast and luxurious surround- ings provided with perfect apparatus, is to expose her to bitter disappointment, even despondency, on the day when she must confine her activities and aspirations in a home as meager as that of a laborer or workman generally is. What is primarily necessary to a girl of the people is a domestic education really in touch with her future condition and not a so-called preparation in which the inevitable realities and demands of practical life are not sufficiently taken into ac- count." ^ A recent writer has admirably stated this question as fol- lows : "Is there over-refinement in some of the household arts training ? Are girls surrounded by such ideal conditions in the work in the school that they are unable to carry into their own homes the benefit of the instruction and the prac- tice ? Are our laboratories arranged with due regard to the conditions under which the girl must try the same project at home which was so successfully carried out in the class ? Is 1 "Cooking in the Vocation School." United States Bureau of Educa- tion, Bulletin, 1915, No. 1. 2 "School Training for the Home Duties of Women," Vol. 16. Special Reports, London, England. INSTRUCTION IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 51 there danger that the ideahzation of the process at the school may send the girl home, not only unable but unwilling in her heightened dissatisfaction to attempt its repetition ? Wher- ever this occurs is not the course of training open to the criticism that it has failed to adjust the pupil with the new asset, to the environment in which it is to be used? How far is this trouble when it exists due to the overemphasis of the scientific and artistic aspects of the subject and how far to a failure to understand that the real purpose of the work is to prepare the girl to make a better home out of the one she now has? Will this difiiculty ever be remedied until all those who give instruction in them have been so taught in the training schools as to realize that the largest purpose of each is civic and social betterment? " ^ It has been previously mentioned that instruction in household arts has been largely, and in some cases entirely, restricted to cookery and the equipment has been designed to that end. A modified form of equipment is to be experi- mented with in one of the Ontario schools. This is designed to enable what is called " housewifery " in the English schools, to be taught without providing an actual cottage or house. A very large room is fitted with six laundry tubs, with three wringers, accommodation for twelve girls at cooking, dining- room furniture, bedroom furniture in one corner of the room separated by a screen, and the necessary cupboards and utensils. The laundry tubs are provided with a cover which is intended to be used as a table, for cutting out patterns, dressmaking, etc. It is hoped that an equipment of this character will enable a much more general training to be given than can be offered in the usual type of cooking laboratory. Neglect of laundry work. A branch of household arts in- ^ Prosser, C. A., Industrial Arts Magazine, July, 1915. 52 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS struction almost entirely ignored at present is laundry work. In the English schools practically as much attention is given to this subject as is paid to cookery, and it is found that the subject has vocational, domestic, and educational possibil- ities. On this continent the subject has received little at- tention, owing to the prevalent impression that an elaborate and expensive equipment is required. This may be true in trade and technical schools, where it is usual to provide drying rooms and power equipment, but it is quite possible, and has been found practicable, to do very effective work in the ordi- nary school kitchen. In the regulations of the Ontario De- partment of Education an equipment is given costing less than S65, and indeed in one school excellent work has been done with an equipment costing only $22.30 in addition to the equipment usually found in every school kitchen. It is highly desirable that more attention should be given to this subject in both our elementary schools and in our high schools. Teaching housewifery. The subject of " housewifery " is gradually being introduced. The plan of teaching house- wifery is best shown by a typical example. The Man- chester (England) education committee owned two cottages near one of the schools. These houses were furnished and equipped suitably for a workingman's home. The teacher lives in one of the houses, and classes of twelve girls are taught at a time. All the practical details of household management are dealt with, including the buying and cook- ing of food, breadmaking, washing, mangling and ironing, cleaning, dusting, etc. By means of this provision about 120 girls will have the benefit of practical training. Simple lessons in hygiene and in the tending and feeding of young children are also given. To meet the requirements of the INSTRUCTION IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 53 English education department each girl is required to have previously received a course of lessons in cookery and laundry work. If the last six months of a girFs school life could be spent at such a center, in training for the duties of keeping the home, there can be no question that a vast improve- ment would be effected in the comfort and economy of home life, and such provision would probably have a decided tendency to prolong school life. Housewifery school in Toronto. A few notable examples of the same tendency on this continent may be now men- tioned. The city of Toronto has a housewifery center for public school girls. It is situated in a poor district and is largely attended by the children of Jewish parents. A large house, the property of the Board of Education, is used, con- sisting of three floors, on the upper one of which the janitor lives. The equipment is simple and cheap, though good of its kind. The staff consists of three fully qualified teachers — one for cookery and general housekeeping, one for sewing, and one for personal hygiene, care of children, and home nursing. The last-mentioned teacher, in addition to her normal qualifications, is also a trained nurse. Each girl at- tends the school half a day each week, and while it is recog- nized that this time is very short, it is all that the academic authorities can be persuaded to give; yet with even this limited time the effect of the training is being seen in the changed appearance of the girls and the improved conditions of the homes from which they come. Housewifery in Greenfield, Massachusetts. In Greenfield, Massachusetts, a cottage was purchased for grade use and a larger house for the use of high school students. In the grade cottage instruction is given to girls in the seventh, eighth, and ninth grades for one and a half hours each week. 54 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS The classes are divided into two groups ; the regular teacher gives instruction in sewing to one group, while the special teacher gives instruction in cooking and household manage- ment to the other group. Housewifery in Park Ridge, New Jersey. The schools of Park Ridge, New Jersey, a town of eighteen hundred people, have rented a two-story building, erected originally with two stores below and two four-room apartments above. One of the stores has been fitted for household arts and the other for manual training; the apartments are leased to teachers, and the whole is kept as a model house, the children doing the work, scrubbing the floors, making beds, serving lun- cheons, etc.^ Housewifery centers in New York. The Association of Practical Housekeeping Centers of New York is a philan- thropic association working, often in conjunction with the public schools, for the maintenance of model apartments where children, young women, and mothers may receive training in homemaking. The housekeeping center at 226 Henry Street, for instance, is now a part of the nearest public school. The pupils of that school, in groups of fifteen, fill the model home from nine in the morning till three o'clock in the afternoon, and the Board of Education pays the salary of the teacher. Public School No. 7 has, with the aid of the house- keeping association, actually built a model of a home in the school building. The kitchen, bedroom, living-room, and bath-room are fully equipped, and every week over two hun- dred girls study the problems of homemaking. Next door to Public School No. 4, Manhattan, an ordinary tenement-house flat has been equipped and made into a model homemaking 1 "Education for the Home." United States Bureau of Education, Bulle- tin, 1914, No. 36. INSTRUCTION IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 55 laboratory for the pupils. This flat was entirely furnished by the girls. The housekeeping center at 162 Sullivan Street has been for many years the model of that Italian neighborhood, and is now connected during school hours with one of the public schools four blocks away. Many of the other public schools have now such centers in connection with them. In every case the teacher is fully qualified and has had a thorough training.^ There are numerous examples to be found of such houses or apartments for the use of high school pupils, and these will be dealt with in a future chapter. The teacher. As in any other subject of the school cur- riculum the character of the instruction given will largely depend upon the standard set for the qualifications of teachers. In connection with household arts there are two courses open. The subject may be taught by the regular grade teacher or it may be regarded as a special subject to be taught by a special teacher. The latter plan is the one that is most common. The experience of the best educational authorities to-day seems to be that all subjects should be taught in at least the first six grades by the regular teacher, and indeed if the household arts are to be taught at all in a large number of our schools, they must be taught so. There are many striking examples of successful teaching by the grade teacher, particularly in the one-room rural school. Public attention at present, however, seems to be concen- trated on the special teacher, and the criticisms under this head are mainly directed against her. Generally speaking, the household arts teacher is too young and immature to have had any practical housekeeping ex- perience, and this prejudices the mothers of the pupils against her, which prejudice, even if not consciously expressed, often * Journal of Home Economics, February, 1915. 56 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS communicates itself to the children themselves. Not only is the teacher, as a rule, lacking practical housekeeping ex- perience, but she is also unacquainted with the requirements, the standards, and the potentialities of the homes from which her pupils come. Unless some means can be devised by which the teacher can gain this knowledge, much of the work will be ineffective, owing to false standards and over-refine- ment. The Wisconsin state inspector of domestic science says that " it must be admitted that the home conditions have not been changed to any great extent by our change in the educational ideals." ^ Mrs. Woolman says that " it is felt that the homes have not materially increased in effi- ciency through the school courses," ^ and also that " in spite of the time given to the household arts in many of the elementary schools a real knowledge of homemaking is not given." In a school of housewifery previously referred to the teachers have no opportunity to visit the homes except on Sunday afternoons, as the school is in a Jewish district, while the teacher of hygiene, home nursing, and the care of children is prohibited from visiting at all, as it is feared that she would clash with the regular school nurse. Owing to this lack of home knowledge, many of the methods adopted are at variance with the general practice of the homes from which the pupils come. The dietitian of Cook County institutions makes the following statement : "I had occasion a few days ago to visit a number of household economics departments in high schools. In one there was a typewritten lesson on table service. In this I found two statements. ^ The dinner napkin should be a yard square.' ' Paper napkins should never be used in the home.' These 1 Journal of Home Economics, October, 1915. » Consumers' League of Connecticut, Pamphlet No. 8. INSTRUCTION IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 57 were the standards set before girls in very moderate cir- cumstances who should have been taught instead the legit- imate use of the paper napkin, and a reasonable size of the linen napkin. In another school the sewing was done en- tirely by hand. Elaborate garments were made. Long seams were stitched by the laborious hand method. The teacher told me she did not wish a machine because hand work was the best. She had taken her girls to a children's store in the city, and there they had impressed upon them the fact that handwork brought higher prices and was more desirable than machine work. She endeavored to fix this as a standard for the home, taking no account of the value of time and labor. A false ideal, it seems to me, was put before such girls." ^ Preliminary training required. Instructors in household arts should be trained along three lines : (1) teaching ability, (2) knowledge of home conditions, and (3) technique. For the purely technical training of the teacher fairly adequate provision is made in different parts of the country. Many of the institutions devoted to this purpose are, however, lacking in one important respect : they do not provide ade- quately for what may be called professional training, i.e., the methods and practice of teaching. In the Province of On- tario, before the special household arts training can be en- tered upon, at least a second-class teacher's certificate must be obtained, and, in addition to this, a certain number of lessons have to be taught to public school pupils during the training. The tendency in the United States is to require at least two years of special training after graduation from a high school. The problems of the classroom are very differ- ent from those of the training school, and practice teaching ^ National Education Association Addresses and Proceedings, 1914. 58 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS is essential to effective training. The state should not recog- nize and approve any institution which does not make ade- quate provision for the necessary practice. It is a manifest injustice to pupils to place them under the instruction of an individual who has not been taught how to teach. Training in service. After a teacher has received all the training it is possible for any institution to give, she has still a great deal to learn, and, in fact, it may be said with truth that her training is only just beginning when she commences to teach. Much of her work lies in the homes and in the community, and much further study will be required. It is much to be regretted that a large number of our teachers fail to recognize this. Just as a teacher in a trade school becomes stagnant unless she keeps up active connection with her trade and its practice, so does the teacher of the household arts become ineffective in her class work unless she keeps alive to the possibilities and development of the community in which she lives. Too much expected from the schools. In all criticism of our schools and their methods, there is a tendency to expect too much, and not to recognize the conditions under which the work has to be done. This mistake has been made in connec- tion with the household arts. The girls are too immature, and household arts appeal to them as having a deferred value only. So long as girls leave school at fourteen or younger, though they may have been taught cooking both practically and theoretically, any one that knows anything about children will feel sure that most of what they have learned will be forgotten before they have an opportunity of putting it into practice unless it is reenforced by further instruction. Yet the training will not have been wasted. It will have shown the girl that her education has some connection with life, INSTRUCTION IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 59 and should have developed habits of neatness and exactness, and formed a constructive foundation upon which in later years it will be possible to build a body of knowledge which can be put into immediate use. ^' Briefly the school can do these things for the home : (1) Reenforce the natural interest of the child in the home and strengthen that home mindedness of the best type which centers the individual in the small kin group as the one endur- ing basis for her wider social relations. (2) Impart knowl- edge necessary for leading or sharing in the activities of the household as regards food, shelter, clothing, management, child life, thrift, and other household matters of importance. (3) Afford some practice in these activities where such prac- tice is necessary for learning, both by laboratory practice within the school and cooperation with the home. We must use the school route then as regards home betterment quite as we do for progress in any other field, because the child and the adult, too, are school minded." ^ Current criticism of instruction in cookery. The teaching of cookery as a branch of the household arts is now so firmly established throughout the country that criticism by oppo- nents is seldom heard ; indeed it may be almost said that it has no opponents except a few rural school trustees who object to it mainly on the ground of expense. The severest criticism comes from those who are heartily in favor of the subject, but who are anxious to see all cause of complaint removed and the subject made of real live worth and of direct benefit to the homes of the people. Let us now consider, with a view to the removal of their causes, some of the criticisms that experience has shown to be warranted ^ In many cases the criticisms 1 " Education for the Home." United States Bureau of Education, Bulle- tin, 1914, No. 37. 60 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS themselves will suggest the remedy. It is very much open to question whether any material improvement has taken place in the methods of household arts teaching during the past ten years. Teachers are reproducing, very largely, the methods they were taught in the training school. This probably does not apply more to household arts instruction than it does to the other subjects of the curriculum, but it at least deserves serious consideration when it is remembered that this partic- ular subject is supposed to be unhampered by tradition and age-long custom. Some of the defects in methods that have been pointed out by various critics are as follows : Waste of time. When a girl goes home and tells her mother that she has spent the whole of a lesson, lasting one and a half or two hours, in learning how to make a cup of tea or a slice of toast, either of which operations is performed in the home in less than five minutes, the mother is not likely to be impressed with the value of the instruction, and is apt to come to the conclusion that the time could have been better spent at the regular school studies. These cases are not fanciful, but actually occurred in a city of over four hundred thousand population. The parent does not stop to consider that much information has been given regarding the growth and production of the leaf, and other incidental topics, but bases her opinion on the visible results achieved. No one can seriously contend that lessons of this character are necessary. In the same locality a lesson was given, which included the making of a cup of tea, a sandwich, and apple sauce ; not, however, as the teacher said, with the object of saving time, but owing to her idea that it was not good to drink tea with- out eating something at the same time. Mrs. Woolman says : '' A student is allowed to take many INSTRUCTION IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 61 weeks in making an article which should be made in a few hours, or spends the part of the cooking period when the prepared food has gone to the oven in hit-or-miss clearing up, or in discussions of little value to everyday living. The systematic utilization of time should be one of the marks of a capable home manager." ^ Is there not too much time spent in washing dishes ? It has been found that the aver- age time spent in this operation in a class of one and a half hours in length is at least fifteen minutes. Assuming that forty lessons are given during the year, this means ten hours dishwashing out of sixty, or one sixth of the total time avail- able. It should be possible for a girl of average intelligence to learn all there is to learn about dishwashing in say two and a half hours. Add to this another two and a half hours to acquire dexterity. Is not the other five hours largely wasted from an educational point of view ? It must be admitted that at present no solution of this problem appears to be in sight. It has been presented to scores of household arts teachers and they see no way out. Much valuable time is also wasted in extensive dictation or copying of notes. Hours are often spent in this way. The sole use of notes should be to recall a lesson previously given, and this is best done by the use of proper headings, catch phrases, and careful arrangement. A much better plan than note taking is to have the notes and necessary recipes printed on cards punched for binding. At the con- clusion of the lesson the cards are distributed and taken home by the pupil. The work can be practiced during the week and the next lesson commenced with a rapid but thorough review. At the end of the year's work the cards are tied together, and the girl has a valuable collection of notes and * Consumers' League of Connecticut, Pamphlet No. 8. 62 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS recipes which may become of p^ermanent value. In some schools the notes are typewritten by the commercial classes. Considering the limited amount of time available, every effort should be made by both teachers and pupils to make the utmost use of it. Cooking in microscopic quantities. This is the ordinary practice in household arts instruction in the elementary school. It results largely from a desire to keep down the running expenses to the lowest possible amount, but in the desire to secure economy this practice has been carried to the extreme, and efficiency has been sacrificed. It is not surprising to find that girls will not go into raptures over practice stitches or cooking half a potato. In one class two girls were actually seen working on one tomato. This is surely economy gone mad. Besides using small quan- tities, the girls often work in groups of two or some- times four, thus further reducing the cost. This reduc- tion of cost has been brought to a fine art. Of 182 schools reported to the Bureau of Education the cost varied from one half a cent to fifteen cents. The median cost was two and a half cents, and fifty per cent of the schools paid from two to three cents per pupil per lesson for materials.^ In addition to the economic motive the difficulty of disposing of larger quantities of the cooked product has also contributed to the adoption of the " divided recipe." The Household Arts teachers of the country should now devote some time and thought to this problem — how to cook in family quantities, and economically and profitably dispose of the product. It can be done. In the English schools the girls take delight in disposing of their cooked material to the 1 "Education for the Home." United States Bureau of Education, Bulle- tin, 1914, No. 37, INSTRUCTION IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 63 teachers of the school, or In the households of the neighbor- hood. I have a vivid recollection of many times taking home a dainty lunch prepared by the girls in the cookery center attached to the school in which I was then teaching. In some schools, regular lunches are prepared and served by the girls, for the teachers. Others take orders brought from home by the girls or secured by them in the neighborhood. The disposal of the product affords a means of giving com- mercial training to the girls, which they otherwise would not get, and cooking in larger quantities may be made to carry itself, and really be less expensive than the small quantities now in general use. As long as the principle of each girl cooking only what she can eat on the spot is adhered to, so long will the instruction appear artificial, and lack that ele- ment of vital connection with real life that the introduction of the manual arts was supposed to inject into a dull and lifeless curriculum. Principles instead of practice. In much of the household arts teaching of to-day it is usual to introduce the subject with the more abstract underlying principles and to empha- size these at the expense of their more practical applications. The method adopted is very largely that which has been dis- continued in'the teaching of science, where the experiment is now conducted first and the principles deduced from the results of the experiment. For the children in the elemen- tary schools and the lower forms of the high schools, all such questions as the chemical content of the various foods, the bodily changes in the digestive processes, the required num- ber of calories for people at work and at rest, the relation of geometry to drafting, and many other kindred topics are out of place, as they cannot be utilized in the everyday experience of the child. Courses in cookery are generally 64 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS arranged according to the scientific principles involved or ac- cording to the method of cooking required, and both methods, while resulting in a course of study that is scientific and logi- cal, also result in a series of lessons that have little or no con- nection with the practical life of the child. Independence, initiative, and self-reliance are not being de- veloped. An observer of the household arts instruction that is being given throughout the country, cannot help being sur- prised at the uniformly good results that are obtained. It is seldom indeed that anything is spoiled. This, unfortu- nately, is not as a rule the result of good teaching or of skill, but rather the result of too much help being given by the teacher. The average teacher of household arts would think it almost a crime for a cake to be spoiled, or a pudding to be burned, and so to prevent this catastrophe she helps the girls at every touch and turn. Now while this is good for the product, it is bad for the producer. The girls who are receiving instruction must be left more alone to work out their own salvation. The family meal, the basis of instruction. A prolonged experience has led to the conclusion that if the instruction is to be used in the homes, there is no better method of ap- proach than the family meal, and this should be kept as the basis of instruction, and the work made intensely practical. " Reference has already been made to the over-technical and insufficient practice of much of the education offered. In part this is due to the ease with which the so-called technical subjects — pure or applied science, applied art, etc. — can be taught in accordance with the traditions of academic educa- tion. The most difficult teaching is that which, proceeding through practice on projects based upon the practical require- ments of life, leads into a mastery of the related and technical INSTRUCTION IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 65 knowledge. There is abundant evidence to show that for most students, such a method of approach, properly made, is the most effective that can be devised." ^ Using the family meal as the basis of instruction does not mean that the theory of the subject should be neglected. Theory and practice must go together; practice without theory becomes mechanical and "rule of thumb," while theory without practice is profitless for all practical pur- poses. It means a study of neighborhood needs by the teacher. The syllabuses drawn up for the teaching of household arts in various parts of the country are monot- onously the same — the same succession of lessons is found repeatedly. It matters not whether the pupils are well-to- do, live in the country or in the city, in a well-appointed home, in a cheap city apartment, or in the squalor of a city slum. All must have the same lessons because they are prescribed in the course of study. A study of neighborhood needs will lead to the differentia- tion of courses, not only between town and country but even between different sections in the same city. In most cities there is, of course, a difference in the standards of living in the different localities, and what is possible in the homes of one district is not possible in the homes of another. If the household arts instruction is to reach the home, this differ- ence must be recognized in the work that is given. Referring to the necessity for this method of instruction a writer in the Journal of Home Economics, the ofl&cial organ of the household arts movement, says, '' A girl may learn at school to make all the dishes found in the average cook book of 500 pages, which could really be condensed into a book of 50 pages, and yet not be able to get even the simplest ^ Journal of Home Economics, December, 1914. 66 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS breakfast on the table in a proper condition for service in a reasonable period of time." ^ Suppose the object in view is the preparation of breakfasts. A series of very short unit courses is given on the preparation of the different foods that compose the ordinary breakfast, such as cereals, toast, beverages, eggs, bacon. At the con- clusion of this series each girl is given a different menu, and prepares a complete breakfast. If this entails overnight prep- aration, the girl goes into the kitchen after school at four o'clock the night before. In one case the table was set the night before, and twenty girls served twenty different break- fasts and cleared away during the hour and a half allotted for the lesson. Of course the adoption of a method of this character presents difficulties, and would involve almost a revolution in much of the traditienal practice of our house- hold arts classes, but the difficulties in the way are no greater than those that confronted the pioneers in the introduction of the subject into the schools. Probably the main difficulty is the disposal of the product, but even this can be overcome. In many schools there are scores of children who would bene- fit by a substantial breakfast or lunch. Light lunches can be prepared for the teachers, and others, and sold at cost, and many other methods would suggest themselves once the scheme were adopted. Another method of giving practice in working in family quantities was adopted in some of the Boston schools during the year 1914. Special attention was paid to luncheon work in the eighth grade. Each week, one eighth grade class at- tends the household arts department for four consecutive hours, and prepares, serves, and clears a meal. The classes are divided into sections of ten, so that the girls may have 1 Journal of Home Economics, October, 1915. INSTRUCTION IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 67 the opportunity to work with larger quantities and receive more attention during the work. Menus are studied during the year, with special reference to cost and food value, and these luncheons give the girls the opportunity to put this knowledge to practical use. A few days before the luncheon a meeting is held, at the noon period, at which the girls discuss their choice of menu, being expected to keep within the limit of one and a half dollars for eight people. Two girls are appointed to do the buying, and are held responsible for supplies. Six girls sit at the table for luncheon. One acts as waitress and one as assistant waitress. The principal of the school usually attends as a guest. Menus and place cards are made by the girls.^ This subject will be further dealt with in connection with the high schools. Enough has now been said to show that the household arts instruction in our elementary schools is in need of improve- ment and that the time has come to subject the methods and organization adopted to close scrutiny with the view of making them meet present-day demands. Summary of improvements needed. The lines on which these improvements should take place may be summarized as follows : (1) Sewing and plain needlework should be placed in every school for girls from the earliest grades. This instruction should be given a decidedly practical turn, meet the needs of the district, and include mending and repairing as well as making. (2) Sewing, cookery, and general household management should form part of the curriculum in the training school for teachers so that all grade teachers may be able to teach these subjects to at least the girls of the first six grades. The sub- ^ Report of the Superintendent of Schools, Boston, 1914. 68 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS jects should be regarded as an integral part of the regular training course, and not as something special and foreign to it. In this training, special attention should be given to those forms of the work which can be taught without elaborate equipment. (3) The special teacher of the household arts should be required to have some household experience as a background, just as teachers of trade subjects are required to have had experience of the trade they teach. While in service, they should be given time and opportunity to make themselves acquainted with the needs of the district in which they work, in order that they may adapt their teaching to meet those needs. (4) The experimental and scientific method of teaching the subject should be subordinated to the practical, and the family meal taken as the basis of the instruction. (5) A new type of equipment is required in order that gen- eral household management may be taught in addition to cookery. (6) The methods of teaching should be changed with a view of eliminating waste of time, cooking in microscopic quanti- ties, and every means should be taken to develop initiative, independence, and self-reliance and the ability to take tem- porary charge of the home should the necessity arise. CHAPTER III HOUSEHOLD ARTS INSTRUCTION IN HIGH SCHOOLS I. Obstacles to household arts in high schools. II. Center system not common. III. Unsuitable equipment. IV. Model apartments for teaching household arts. V. Cooking in family quantities. VI. Household arts instruction without special equipment. VII. Spending of money one of woman's chief functions. VIII. Two kinds of household arts instruction needed. IX. Modern methods. Obstacles to household arts in high schools. The problem of effective household arts instruction is still more complicated in the high schools than it is in the elementary schools. This may be attributable to the following reasons : Girls entering high schools without knowledge of household arts. Owing to the comparatively limited adoption of these subjects, many girls enter the high schools without any previous training in the household arts. In the ordinary subjects of the curriculum these girls rank with the others, but when it comes to the household arts, a different classifi- cation has to be made. In the case of large high schools it is often possible to place the girls who have had no previous training in a class by themselves, but in the small high school this is not possible, and girls are found who have had one, two, or three years' previous training, working with those who have had none. In such instances the problem must be solved by the household arts teacher herself. In many 69 70 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS cases she will have to make two divisions of her class. In others it may be possible to avoid this. A rapid review of the instruction given in the elementary school will not as a rule do any harm to the high school student who has previously taken the work, and the girl who has not, par- ticularly if she has had home experience, will get so in touch with the work from this review that she may be able to gather up the threads and keep pace with the others. The high school a college preparatory school. The American high school has long been regarded as a college preparatory school. The influence of the college upon it has in the past almost entirely determined its courses of study, and all students, entirely regardless of whether they were to enter college or not, were forced to take a course the methods and purposes of which were to facilitate entrance into an institution whose doors they never intended to darken ! The student who wishes to enter college has still to be reckoned with. In connection with household arts in- struction there are, for these girls, two possible courses. All training may be postponed until the girl enters college, or one or two years of household arts instruction may be given as part of the college preparatory course. The extent to which the latter can be done depends, of course, upon the recognition given by the college to the work done in house- hold arts in the high school, and fortunately there is a de- cided tendency on the part of the colleges to allow a fair amount of credit. " In 1912 of 203 colleges giving the A.B. degree, not one of them prescribed that household science must be offered for admission ; but seventy-nine of these colleges will accept house- hold science if offered, and ten others will consider its accep- tance. In other words, eighty-nine out of 203 colleges recog- INSTRUCTION IN HIGH SCHOOLS 71 nize this subject, as now taught in high schools, as of suffi- cient educational worth to give it recognition alongside the older academic studies as authorizing entrance upon a col- lege course of standing, leading to the A.B. degree. Of the 114 colleges not recognizing household science for entrance, forty-five accept only men students, so that only sixty-nine of 158 academic institutions maintain a negative attitude, i.e., fifty-six per cent recognize household science for admis- sion. . . . The amount of weight given to household science in the usual requirement of high school studies is also sig- nificant. Of the seventy-nine A.B. colleges accepting house- hold economics for admission, thirty-one recognize not more than one unit, eighteen accept one and a half or two units, nine accept three, and twenty-one accept three and a half or four units or more. Only sixty-five of the 203 A.B. colleges do not recognize one or more vocational subjects for entrance and certain of the sixty-five will consider such subjects." ^ Even if a girl enters the high school with the express purpose of going to college, many circumstances may arise to prevent the accomplishment of that purpose, and if the plan be adopted of postponing all instruction till the college is reached, that girl will have been deprived of essential instruction in the household arts. The better plan, then, seems to be that at least one, and if possible two, years of such instruction be included in the four-year college pre- paratory course. The high school a finishing school. The high school is also a finishing school, and the tendency for it to become so is more and more apparent. It is fast becoming recog- 1 "College Entrance Requirements." United States Bureau of Education, Bulletin, 1913, No. 7. 72 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS nized that the high school must fit for all lines of activity — household, industrial, commercial, and agricultural, — and that in addition to preparing the one tenth for college, it must also give definite vocational training to the nine tenths that never go educationally beyond its walls. " We have been running our schools for a long time with a very in- complete shipping department. Our aim has been to ship all of our product to the college. We have sifted out about ninety per cent as culls, thrown them upon the waste heap, and packed the chosen ten per cent in de luxe wrappers of sheep skin and labeled them ' for college entrance.' The ninety per cent now demands attention. The waste product must be turned into profit." ^ If this ninety per cent is to receive adequate attention, other means must be taken than the usual four-year course now provided, as a large number of the girls leave before the completion of that course. " In our city high schools, for one hundred girls entering there are only seventy-five boys. During the high school course the boys are eliminated more rapidly, so that in the last year there are sixty per cent more girls than boys. Of one hundred girls in the first-year class thirty have left before the second year, twentj^-five more before the third, and fourteen more before the fourth. Roughly a third of each class leave before reaching the next higher class.'' ^ These facts and tendencies which are general throughout the country have led to the establishment of two-year courses in which the aim is distinctly vocational. Not cultural or necessary. There are, of course, still some who object to the introduction of the household arts into * Davis, Jesse Buttrick, A.B., Vocational and Moral Guidance. >"The Elimination of Pupils from School." United States Bureau of Education, Bulletin, 1907, No. 4. INSTRUCTION IN HIGH SCHOOLS 73 the high school. It is contended by some that the subject is not cultural and therefore should have no place in the curriculum of the high school. " We have too long divided labor into mental and manual, assuming that although both were necessary to society they were not both necessary to the same individual." ^ This view is rapidly disappearing, as is shown by the number of colleges that are prepared to give entrance credit. Others contend that the high school curriculum is already overcrowded and that it is not necessary to introduce this new subject, as the girls who enter the high school are from fairly well-to-do homes, the mothers of which are able to teach the subject to their own girls. But the day when girls were apprenticed to their mothers is past, and according to all appearances will never return. Even if the mothers were willing, they are generally not able to give such instruction. There has arisen a body of new knowledge; the demands of the twentieth century have entirely changed the character of the housekeeping, and the woman now needs a new kind of knowledge. Her function has become the selection of goods and the spending of money, and wise selection and economical expenditure depend upon many principles which have not hitherto been taught in our schools. " We no longer share the con- ception of a woman's whole duty held by our grandmothers. We do not applaud the mother or daughter who spends long hours in the kitchen, or who revels in turning the whole house upside down and inside out in that most bewildering and least methodical of all human inconveniences — the spring cleaning." There is also needed adequate knowledge concerning the 1 " Vocational Guidance." United States Bureau of Education, Bulletin, 1914, No. 14. 74 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS rearing of children, and this is not usually given to the girl by her mother. Of the two million children born annually, one in six dies before the end of the j&rst year ; one in three by the end of the fifth year — due solely to ignorance on the part of those responsible for the feeding of the child. ^ The only way this infant mortality can be lessened is by adequate knowledge which must be given to the girl before she leaves the high school. This knowledge is vital if our human re- sources are to be conserved. The principal of a Massachusetts high school, who was considering the introduction of a course in household arts, recently put a series of questions to the girls attending his school. The experiment is thus described : '' Twenty-six girls, members of the same class, were given a list of thirty questions. These questions bore reference to the girls' knowledge of household duties and the answers proved de- cidedly entertaining. Twelve of the twenty-six said they could make bread, eighteen could make cake, and all could make candy. Twenty-two girls had built a kitchen fire, twenty could cook beefsteak, and twenty asserted that they had cooked a full meal. It is disappointing to learn that not one girl of the entire twenty-six knew why new bread is not a healthful article of food, nor could twenty- four of them tell what the trap to a sink is. The making of starch was understood by twenty of the class, and sixteen said they could iron their collars and cuffs. Twenty girls could mend their clothes — at least that is what they claimed, — and seventeen had made shirt waists. When it came to trimming hats, there were thirteen girls who knew how, and thirteen who didn't know and hadn't tried to learn. i"The Education of the Girl." Wisconsin State Board of Industrial Education, Bulletin, 1912, No. 4. INSTRUCTION IN HIGH SCHOOLS 75 " The principal who framed this Hst of questions considers the answers a fair exposition of the domestic knowledge of the average high school girl. He asked the questions with a definite object in view. He wanted to be certain that domestic science was an advisable addition to the school studies. After the answers to his thirty questions were thoroughly considered he admitted that there would be no delay in establishing the new course. Perhaps it was diplo- matic on the part of the principal to avoid all mention of the true cause of the ignorance of the class as a whole — lack of home training and home encouragement." It will thus be seen that household arts instruction in the high school cannot be considered as unnecessary. That the average high school curriculum is overcrowded is true, but relief should not be sought by the omission of a subject so vital as the household arts, but rather in pruning down to essentials other subjects in the curriculum. The center system not common. The center system so largely adopted in connection with elementary schools is not generally adopted by high schools. Each school has its own equipment, and none but the students of the school are usually admitted. In the smaller towns in the various prov- inces of Canada the high school centers are also used for the children of the public schools, as by this means the whole time of a special teacher is employed and the room is used as much as any other classroom. While the equipment is the same for public and high schools, the course of study is, of course, different. Unsuitable equipment. The criticism applied to the equipment in the elementary school is also applicable to that in the high school, but perhaps to a less extent. The Canadian Royal Commission on Industrial and Technical Edu- 76 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS cation, in describing its visit to the High School of Practical Arts, Boston, says : " The Commission found that the old form of gas-stove burner placed around the room is discarded in this school, as the equipment is planned to be as nearly like the home equipment as possible. As a big stove could not be obtained, four ordinary ones were placed together in the middle of the room, so that^the girls step from the table to the stove and over to the sink, thus conserving energy by saving steps. The theory of the principal is, that teaching a girl to make a loaf of bread and calling it a lesson does not work. She has to make it till she can do it like playing the piano while talking over her shoulder ; you can't teach it like a lesson and go on to the next. About $350 a month is spent for provisions in the three kitchens of this school but this is not charged to the city, as the articles cooked are sold in the lunch room. The school does not cater for the lunch — it is an educational by- product and is sent down to the lunch counter and is sold for enough to cover the cost of material and waste.'* ^ Model apartments for teaching household arts. There are two marked tendencies in household arts equipment for high schools. The first is to provide a complete suite of rooms so that the instruction may be comprehensive, and include all the usual household activities, and the second is to include the school lunch room in the accommo- dations provided. The household arts are being leavened with the demand for real vocational instruction, and as this demand becomes more insistent, and as the girls are occupied with real projects, the school lunch room will be- come more and more a necessary adjunct to the effective ^ Report of Royal Commission on Industrial and Technical Education, Ottawa, 1913. INSTRUCTION IN HIGH SCHOOLS 77 teaching of the household arts. Whether viewed educa- tionally or practically, the household arts will never be effectively ,r taught until a real practical field is provided and the present largely artificial conditions removed. There is, however, a danger that these model apartments may become just as artificial as the school kitchens which they supplant. Another step must be taken before the conditions become actual. The girls must really live in these apartments and perform the duties of the household, as they occur from day to day. The ordinary model flat has a tendency to become cold and cheerless, as it is seldom lived in. One or two model apartments that are used in different communities will now be described. Washington Irving High School, New York} This apart- ment is of a somewhat different type from that ordinarily used and offers useful suggestions. The quarters were provided by dividing a large room about 50 feet by 20 feiet into the following rooms: bathroom, kitchen, pantry, dining-room, living room, bedroom, and nursery. The walls are made of composition board easily removed, so that the wall covering may be changed. There are two or more sets of furnishings for each room to suit the different color schemes. This method allows more attention to be given to furnishing and decoration than is possible in the usual type of apartment. All are open at the front facing a recitation room. The different rooms will now be described in detail. The living room is nine feet wide, and is provided with three sets of furniture — oak, mahogany, and green wicker. There are three plain rugs, two of mixed colors, four changes of wall coverings, and six sets of hangings. With these * Industrial Arts Magazine, May, 1914. 78 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS furnishings six different combinations of contrasted har- monies and fom* of analogous harmonies are made. The possibilities of a method of this kind in teaching household furnishing and decoration, it will be seen, are almost end- less, and points of contact and correlation with other school subjects which could not be otherwise secured are offered by it. Where the school is a mixed school, the manual training department can be made of great service in fur- nishing, equipping, and decorating rooms of this character. The dining-room is about the same size as the living room and is separated from it by a collapsible door, allowing the two rooms to be thrown into one when the necessity arises. Because of this close connection the color schemes of the two rooms are harmonized. Sets of mahogany and oak furniture including serving table and china closet are pro- vided. False windows are provided in most of the rooms in order to show their proper treatment with curtains. The nursery, seven and a half feet wide, is pjrovided with a child's set of furniture consisting of crib, bureau, table, chair, and washstand. The rug is washable. There are also a child's bathtub and four properly dressed dolls rep- resenting children of different ages, from less than a year to four years old. These are used in the lessons on the care and feeding of children. This room is decorated with a frieze about two feet in width, depicting scenes of child life and placed low enough to be readily seen by children. The bedroom, about seven feet wide, is provided with two sets of furniture. One consists of a natural ash bureau, chair, brass bedstead, and wicker shirt-waist box. The other is of white enamel. This is not a sunny room, and color schemes are used which increase the illumination under artificial light. INSTRUCTION IN HIGH SCHOOLS 79 The pantry is four and a half feet wide and is provided with the usual closets and shelves and a full complement of dishes. Swing doors are provided communicating with both kitchen and dining-room. The kitchen, eight feet wide, is provided with a combined kitchen cabinet and folding table near the sink and a small table near the pantry. A gas range and a fireless cooker are provided, and the floor is covered with linoleum, which is durable and easily cleaned. The bathroom is four feet four inches wide and is fur- nished with the usual bathroom fittings. The rugs, walls, and floor are washable. A few words as to the curriculum of this school appro- priately come in here. The girls are first taught the proper proportion of the income that should be allowed for the various fixed expenses. Attention is paid to buying. The girls are taught that they should know what they really need, standard qualities and prices, and where the goods may be obtained. Sanitation in regard to waste pipes, soil pipes, and house drainage is taken up, and the construc- tion and use of a trap are explained. Much attention is paid to the feeding and care of children, the special purpose of the coiu'se here being the training of the girl for efficient motherhood. The following subjects in home nursing are briefly considered : symptoms of contagious diseases, symp- toms of child's diseases not contagious, care of the sick room and the patient, changing the bedding and clothing, and first aid to the injured. The girls prepare complete meals, and serve them in the correct manner. Much attention is paid to furnishing and house decoration. A term's work in household arts consists of five months, and of this two months are devoted to work in the model apartment. There 80 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS are five forty-five minute periods each week. The average number in a class is thirty-two, which of course is far too many. It will be seen from the above brief outline that the work in household arts at this school consists of much more than the traditional cookery lessons, and the tendency thus shown is becoming general throughout the country. Winthrop Normal and Industrial College, Rock Hill, South Carolina. This institution has a practice house on the college campus. Though this college is of somewhat higher grade than the ordinary high school, the furnishing of its cottage and its organization offer suggestions, particularly in the du-ection of occupancy by the girls, thus making a real home out of what tends to be a place of demonstration only. The fur- nishings are simple and inexpensive, consisting of mission furniture, simple rugs, and white iron bedsteads similar to those used in the dormitories. Each senior student has two periods of eight days each in the practice house, and during this time she actually lives in the house with an instructor, going over to the college for the regular classes just as she would from her own home. Each group con- sists of eight girls and is divided into cooks and house- keepers. The chief cook has charge of the dining-room, kitchen, pantry, etc., with assistants under her. The chief housekeeper and her assistants have charge of the remainder of the house. Each girl knows her own work, and there is a system of alternation, so that at the conclusion of the eight- day period each girl has completed the whole work of the house, including even the care of plants and chickens. The girls plan the menus and entertain visitors to dinner on Sunday, and the chief cook and housekeeper are hostesses and preside. The cook's two assistants serve the meal, INSTRUCTION IN HIGH SCHOOLS 81 simply rising from the table to do so, thus showing how a meal can be properly served where there is no maid.^ These two types of apartments and others to be described later show that the plan is quite feasible when properly organized, and that there are certain branches of house- hold arts which cannot be effectively taught by any other means. Cooking in family quantities. Much that has been said in the chapter on elementary schools with reference to the preparation of the complete meal and cooking in family quantities applies here also, but the greater maturity of the girls, their nearness to the actual assumption of household responsibilities, and the longer time given to the work make it possible to devote much more attention to this feature of the work. There are two main obstacles to the adoption of this plan, first the disinclination of the teacher trained to give instruction along traditional lines, and, secondly, the difficulty of disposing of the products when large quantities are used. When the household arts teachers are prepared to devote as much thought to these questions as they have devoted to some others, other and perhaps more satisfactory ways of solving these problems will be discovered than those that have already been found. Even with the almost microscopic quantities now used there is often outcry amongst school trustees at the cost, and the problem resolves itself into one of securing quantity results at the small-portion cost. Methods in Montclair, New Jersey. Some cities have ap- parently solved the problem by making an alliance with the home. In Montclair, New Jersey, "on the day when bread- 1 "Education for the Home." United States Bureau of Education, Bulle- tin, 1914, No. 36. . G 82 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS making is scheduled the members of the class are permitted to take orders from the home for a certain number of loaves, at a price which covers the cost of the material. The girls are now cooking in sufficient quantities to duplicate home conditions, and consequently the training is worth while. At the same time the work is done at no cost to the depart- ment, and best of all there is no waste of good material. Incidentally the school receives two by-products which are of no inconsiderable value. In the first place, the home is very much interested in the girl's work and the plan tends to establish a very cordial relationship between the school and the home. In the second place, the department is stimulated to do its best. It would never do for a pupil in the domestic science class to report that the cook's bread is very much superior to her own." ^ In the schools of this city lunches are served to the teachers, and complete meals are served in the school dining-room. At one meal the meat course was roast chicken, and this was bought with the money obtained from a sale of tomato pickles made from tomatoes grown in the school garden. This question of alliance with the home will be dealt with later, but it may be said here that if fully developed and worked along right lines, the problem of working in family quantities would be solved, and the subject would lose none of its educational value, while at the same time it would gain elements of practicality that it now lacks. Methods in Sioux City, Iowa. Another method that has been adopted with considerable success in many places is the use of the school lunch room as a market for the products of the school kitchen. There are many difficulties in the way of this, but in spite of them all " the school lunch can 1 Indttstrial Arts Magazine, January, 1915. INSTRUCTION IN HIGH SCHOOLS 83 be made a desirable method of disposing of the products, if the food and not the girl is adjusted to the market/* ^ This method is well illustrated by the practice at Sioux City, lowa.^ The head of the household arts department is also placed in charge of the school lunch room and thus a large portion of the salary of a second executive head is saved. The greatest advantages of the plan are the saving of the cost of the raw material, and the practice given. In order that the girls may not be exploited two conditions should be laid down ; j&rst, that the girls should not be asked to prepare more of the product than is sufficient for families of four or five people, and second, that one girl should not be asked to do more of the dishwashing and other so-called " drudgery " than that which pertains to the kitchen of the house occupied by a family of small size. Each girl, then, prepares enough of the article for four people, thus getting practice in cooking and clearing up for a small family group. These family quantities are then combined and carried to the lunch room. The needed practice in table setting and serving is obtained by requiring the girls to prepare and serve a complete breakfast, luncheon, and dinner to the faculty, as well as to assist with several monthly dinners given by the department for the principals' club. The educational value of the subject is not sacrificed, and there is no repeti- tion in the articles prepared. Nothing is sacrificed for the sake of the market, and an even wider choice is allowed than is otherwise possible. The whole business side is managed by the commercial department of the schools and the entire plan is in successful operation in every school of the city. 1 " Cooking in the Vocation School." United States Bureau of Education, BuUetin, 1915, No. 1. > Industrial Arts Magazine, October, 1915. 84 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS The Lucy Flower Technical High School, Chicago. This school has a cafeteria in connection with it which is operated by a group of girls who buy all the materials required, plan the preparation and serving of the food, and keep all the necessary business records. At the end of the term the operators are expected to show a slight profit, which is ex- pended in some labor-saving device for the kitchen. The girl in charge for a certain week purchases the material in whatever part of the town she wishes. A second lunch room is maintained for the girls of the seventh and eighth grades, and this is also managed by one of the girls in train- ing. The business-like way in which these girls go about their work and the thorough understanding they have of all that they are doing are worthy of the highest praise. In the cafeterias of the Tacoma (Washington) high school every third-term girl has three weeks' practice in large- quantity cooking, in addition to three weeks' experience in preparing noon lunches for the teachers. Household arts instruction without special equipment. Teachers and many educational authorities hold the opinion that no effective instruction can be given in the household arts without an elaborate equipment, but high schools that have no separate household arts department may provide instruction closely related to the homes through the medium of other subjects already in the curriculum, such as chemistry, art, economics, biology, and physics. There are many features of the work not now touched upon which could be given adequate treatment by this method. " The chemistry course offered in the Los Angeles high school i's part of the home economics curriculum. This one- year course is designed especially for girls, and its purpose is to train them to be intelligent and efficient homemakers. INSTRUCTION IN HIGH SCHOOLS 85 To this end an attempt is made to develop a scientific attitude which will enable them to judge intelligently of household articles and supplies, independently of the claims of the manufacturers. It includes a semester's work in the third year as follows : a brief study of the principles of inorganic chemistry with special reference to physical and chemical changes, the atmosphere, water, fuels, and illuminants. Emphasis is placed on those parts of the subject having direct application in the home. A second semester's work is given in the senior year as follows: simple chemistry, food constituents, food values, and relative costs; food adulterants, common poisons and their antidotes; soaps and cleaning compounds; examination and care of tex- tiles; dyes and mordants." ^ Spending of money one of woman's chief functions. One of the chief functions of woman to-day is the spending of money and the selection of goods, and in very few of the household arts classes throughout the country are these changed functions of the woman recognized, and adequate attention given to those economic matters which vitally concern the household and the conservation of the income. For these reasons it would be advisable to introduce into high school household arts classes an elementary course in what perhaps might be described as applied economics con- cerned with the earning, spending, and saving of money. Professor L. D. Harvey, President of Stout Institute, Menominie, Wisconsin, in describing such a course, says: " The value of a broad training that will fit women to dis- charge the business of their household, that will assure them adequate results for money expended, and give them 1 "Education for the Home." United States Bureau of Education, Bulle- tin, 1914, No. 37. 86 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS better appreciation of values cannot be too strongly urged. The proper apportioning of the income among the different lines of household expenditure, the systematic keeping of household accounts, the selection of material for the house- hold, the organization and division of labor are all topics that should be considered in their economic relation to the management of the household." ^ In the course above referred to the spending of money is discussed under the following headings : I. Rights of the purchaser. (a) To buy articles that are as represented. (b) To buy articles uncontaminated by filth or disease germs. (c) To buy articles that are not produced under un- happy conditions capable of amelioration. II. Rights of the producer. (a) To produce articles under the best conditions possible. (b) To produce articles of a high standard of excellence. III. Some typical purchasers. (a) Ignorant of conditions of production. (6) Indifferent to conditions of production. (c) Unable to find out true conditions of production. (d) Lacking any intelligent study of the art of buying. rV. Principles to guide the purchaser. (a) Relation of the cost of living to the various lines of outlay. (6) Relation of amoimt of expenses to the size of the family pocketbook. (c) The responsibility of the purchaser to the producer. * Report of the Commissioner of Education, 1911, Vol. I. Washington. INSTRUCTION IN HIGH SCHOOLS 87 (d) The responsibility of the purchaser for the health, comfort, happiness, and character of the individ- ual members of the family.^ Though little attention has as yet been paid to this branch of the subject in the high schools, there are several courses of a broad type given in different universities of the country, and as educational reforms are sometimes brought about by influences generated from the top, there is hope that, in the not distant future, adequate attention will be given to these vital topics in our high schools. Among the most notable of these university courses may be mentioned " The Household as an Economic Agent " at the University of California, and " The Economic Position of Women " at the University of Chicago. The mere outline of the latter course is almost a liberal education in itself, and it offers to the teacher anxious to become acquainted with the rami- fications of her subject an almost invaluable list of refer- ences.^ Two kinds of household arts instruction needed. Ther^ are two kinds of household arts instruction, and in the or- ganization of courses we must distinguish rather sharply between them. First there is the usual type generally given in our high schools designed to teach the girl to ap- preciate and use the best things and methods in her own home, and to give a certain measure of what is still called, for want of a better name, " culture." The aim of the second kind of instruction is to prepare the girl to earn her living in some trade or profession which has grown out of the duties formerly performed in the home, such as trade 1 Report of the Commissioner of Education, 1911, Vol. I. Washington. * "Education for the Home." United States Bureau of Education, Bulle- tin, 1914, No. 38. 88 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS cooking, the various needle trades, nursing, and manage- ment of various institutions. Up to within recent years the dominating aim of the four-year course was cultural, and any technique or skill acquired was looked upon largely as a by-product, desirable but not essential. Its purpose is now being reconsidered and the vocational aspects are being stressed, particularly in the last two years. In addition to this, two-year courses are being introduced, the avowed aim of which is definitely vocational, though always associated with a certain amount of related academic work. Whether these two-year vocational courses should be placed in the high school or whether they should be relegated to special schools is not yet decided by educational experts. Both tendencies are apparent. Modem methods. Lucy Flower Technical High School, Chicago. A school recently established for the purpose of carrying out the more modern ideas with reference to the education of girls is the Lucy L. Flower Technical High School for Girls, Chicago, which was opened in September, 1911. The usual four-year course is offered, consisting in brief of the following subjects : 1. Household science, including laundry work, house sanitation and management, and household accounts; in- tensified training is given to those who wish to become institute workers, managers of kitchens and lunch rooms, invalid dietitians, and emergency workers. 2. Household arts, including plain sewing, millinery, embroidery, lace making, infants' and children's clothing, care of hospital and hotel linen, and interior decoration ; intensified training is given to those who wish to fit them- selves for supervising and special work; power and foot machines are used. INSTRUCTION IN HIGH SCHOOLS 89 3. Science, including chemistry and biology, taught with a view to understanding the needs and experience of daily life, as well as with the idea of gaining an insight into scien- tific method and theory. 4. Art with specialized work in costume, millinery, and embroidery designing. 5. English, both utilitarian and cultural. 6. Applied mathematics. 7. Geography, history, and civics with special reference to the needs of women in Chicago. 8. Physical education and physiology with the idea of improving health and of giving recreation and training in social requirements. 9. Music as a recreational and cultural study. Art, household art, and household science are required through the first two years of the four-year course, and in these and the other subjects, where the needs of the girl demand no differentiation, the instruction is on the same lines as that given in the other high schools of the city. At the beginning of the third year the pupil may elect as a major subject either art (composition and design), household art, or household science, and to this she devotes ten periods per week, or a quarter of her whole school time for the next two years. She continues to study English and other cul- tural subjects. American history and civics are required of all students in the fourth year; a year each in physics and chemistry is required of those who elect household science as their major subject. Art, household science, and household art are open to those who have selected other major subjects for the last two years of their course. Household arts instruction is given in the academic and cosmopolitan high schools of the city, and it may be asked 90 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS how the teaching here differs from that given in the Lucy Flower school. In the ordinary high school the time table requires four periods of laboratory practice, and three periods of prepared recitation each week. Household science is generally taken the first year, household arts the second year, household science again the third year, and household arts the fourth year. The Lucy Flower school requires five periods per week in both subjects for two years in the four-year course before choice is made of the major subject to be studied during the remaining years in the school. The stress during these early years is placed upon the practice rather than on the theory or the related science. Its aim is admittedly technical, and it is intended to be vocational in the best sense of the word. The specializa- tion provided for in the third and foiu'th years leads those who have artistic taste and ability to various forms of handicraft, such as costume designing. The girl who can sew well and has the ability to make tasteful and well- fitting garments has in her hands a sure means of earning a living. Along the cooking side a girl may fit herself to assist in managing a lunch room or institution kitchen. Much of this training is given through the medium of the lunch room already referred to, and the girl who can organize and serve a lunch satisfactorily to one hundred or 150 pupils has already a trade asset in her fingers. The girls have man- aged this so successfully that they have reduced the cost of a single substantial lunch to about ten and a half cents and have purchased out of the profits all the glass, silver, china, and kitchen utensils in use. Along the lines of domestic art all the curtains and table INSTRUCTION IN HIGH SCHOOLS • 91 linen used are made by the sewing classes, and through co- operation with the parental school the power machine room receives large quantities of material which is made up into sheets, pillow cases, towels, aprons, blouses, and night shirts. Undergarments and wash dresses are made for the children's aid society. The finished articles are handed back to the society for distribution to children who would be unable to attend school if clothing was not provided for them. The second striking featiu'e of the school is the two-year course which is offered. The work for the first year in this course is identical with that of the first year in the four- year course. A major subject is chosen at the end of the first year, and at present only two choices are possible, household arts and household science, though as the school develops it is intended to offer courses in salesmanship, typesetting, boxmaking, and other women's industries. The requirements in English, art, and the sciences are, of course, considerably less than those of the four-year course, and no foreign language is offered. The course is designed to enable a girl to equip herself with marketable skill and be fit for industrial employment by the end of the second year. In addition to the above courses of high school grade the school has a prevocational department which is dealing with the problems of the retarded girl in the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. For these, half year, one year, and one and a half year courses are organized. These courses are taken by girls who need training for immediate self-support. The courses offered are cookery, needlework, and machine sewing, with other trade work as required. Along with the trade subjects instruction is given in English, arithmetic, and other academic subjects. No girl less than fourteen 92 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS years of age is admitted from the fourth and fifth grades and none from grades six and seven less than fifteen.^ From the above brief description it will be seen that this school is attempting to solve three problems vital to the effi- ciency of industrial education for girls no less than for boys. These problems are : (1) To provide a four-year course of training definitely vocational and definitely cultural for those girls whose economic circumstances permit them to stay that length of time in school. (2) To provide a two-year course for girls of high school grade who are able to spend only two years in school after the completion of the elemen- tary course. This two-year course must result in immediate wage-earning ability. (3) To give short intensive courses to that large class of girls who are not able to enter a high school but who must go to work at the earliest possible moment. \W Armstrong Manual Training High School, Washington^ \D. C? This school provides both two and four year courses for girls and boys. The work provided for girls in addition to the usual academic subjects is sewing, cookery, dress- making, millinery, and laundry work. This is a school for negroes, but contains many practical features which are well worthy of imitation in all schools that profess to give vocational training. It is open to two classes of pupils: first, those who have finished the eight years in the grammar schools ; second, any colored person 16 years of age or over who desires special trade instruction. The vocational courses offered are intensely practical. In plain sewing and dressmaking the girls do real work, furnishing the * School Review, November, 1914. 2 Report of the Commissioner of Labor, 1910. Department Bureau of Labor, Washington. INSTRUCTION IN HIGH SCHOOLS 93 material themselves, and keep the product or sell it as they desire. They also have the opportunity of doing their own laundry work in the school. The school often gets requests from families for girls to go into their homes to do plain sewing or dressmaking. The girls often spend in this way several weeks at a time away from school. For such time they are credited on their school year, and are considered present in school. The millinery course aims to fit girls as helpers and preparers in trade shops. They do all the work of making, trimming, and renovating hats. The laundry department prepares the girls to do scientific laundry work, while the course in domestic science fits for domestic service as well as for home duties. A number of the girls enter domestic service upon graduation. They receive instruction in all kinds of cooking from preparing the simplest dishes to planning and serving a full course dinner. They serve noon lunches daily to the teachers and pupils of the school. I remember with great pleasure the luncheon served when I visited this school. The girls bought the provisions in the market, cooked the meal, and served it in the most efficient manner. Much of the current criticism applied to many schools certainly has no applica- tion here. In conclusion it may be said that the high schools have a great part to play in what may be called the vocationalization of household arts instruction. This they are recognizing, and in different parts of the country various means are be- ing taken to bring about that close connection between the instruction of the school and the requirements of home and industry which must be established if the subject is to justify its position in the schools. CHAPTER IV HOUSEHOLD ARTS INSTRUCTION IN THE HOME I. Opportunities offered in the home. II. The cooperation of the parent. III. School credit for work in the home. It has already been pointed out that one of the most serious defects in much of the household arts instruction is the lack of vital connection with the living home. That industrial education in mechanical pursuits is ineffective without adequate practice, and actual work under shop conditions has long been admitted, but it is doubtful whether even yet the same principle is regarded as applicable to household arts instruction. In this subject the living actual home, with all its varying conditions, is the workshop, and many thoughtful advocates of household arts instruction are convinced that until actual practice can be obtained in this workshop our instruction will fall far short of its goal. Opportunities offered in the home. " Until we recognize the limitations of the school, and resolutely turn our atten- tion to the opportunities offered in the home for supple- menting school work, our educational system as it concerns household arts courses will always be defective, visionary, and open to the criticism that we are not producing capa- ble and thrifty homemakers. No school will ever take the place of the home, and so long as the home shifts its respon- sibility for physical, moral, and ethical training to the shoul- 9^ HOUSEHOLD ARTS INSTRUCTION IN THE HOME 95 ders of young women who teach for a period of from but three to five years, and who are lacking in the practical knowl- edge of homemaking, our educational system will continue to be the subject of carping criticism from those who do not understand that economic conditions have been transformed in the last decade, and that while homemaking is no longer taught at home, the principles of homemaking taught at school must be practiced again and again in a real home, if the business of homemaking is to be learned. Why not secure that practice in the pupil's own home ? " ^ The cooperation of the parent. Difficult as the problem was of solution in regard to factories and workshops, it is still more so in regard to the home, but the difficulties are not insuperable. That this connection is desirable all are agreed, but there is considerable difference of opinion as to how it is to be best brought about. It is but a truism to say that the success of the school depends very largely upon the cooperation of the parent with the teacher, but nowhere is that truism more applicable than in the case of instruction in household arts, and it is probably true that no subject has had less of it. If this home connection is to be secured, the first step must be to obtain the active cooperation of the parent, which in this case means the mother. The teacher of household arts has a greater opportunity to] secure this cooperation than the teacher of other subjects. In geog- raphy, arithmetic, etc., there is often no ground common to both mother and daughter, but in connection with house- hold arts this is not the case. Generally speaking, the mothers are afraid of the household arts teachers. The teachers will do more effective work if they get to know the ^ Journal of Home Economics, October, 1915. 96 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS mothers, but how to obtain this necessary knowledge is in many cases a difficult problem. Where the " center system " is adopted a teacher may have fifteen classes of twenty-four pupils for one and a half hours each week. In the high school where the teacher instructs only the pupils from the one school the problem is somewhat easier, though even there it is not easy of solution. Generally it may be said that a system of actual visitation of the homes is im- practicable, though much can be done in this direction by a teacher who is willing to give up her " spare time " to the work. The schools have changed in their function and broadened in their scope, and it is desirable that teachers should develop themselves in conformity with modern ideas of the function of the school. Parent-teachers' associations. The first step for the teacher to take is the formation of a parent-teachers' association, in conjunction with the other teachers of the school. In some cases this has taken the form of a " Home Economics Club," but it is found that more parents are induced to meet, if the objects of the association are general, and con- cern the whole welfare of the child than if the association is formed to deal with a special subject. After the associa- tion has been organized it may be found possible and de- sirable in some cases to form a household arts committee, which the teacher might make use of in discussing her special problems. Here the teacher may get to know, not only the problems of the girl but also what is perhaps more important, the problems of the mother. She may learn how to make her teaching of real help in the home kitchen. The mother on her part will become more sympathetic towards the work of the teacher. She will be less inclined to drive the girl out of the kitchen when she wants to practice. HOUSEHOLD ARTS INSTRUCTION IN THE HOME 97 Parent-teachers' associations are being organized through- out the country in affiliation with the National Congress of Mothers and Parent-Teachers' Associations. This con- gress was formed in 1897 and is a national organization with state branches in about thirty states, with several hundred local mothers' circles, parent- teachers' associations, and other affiliated organizations which all together embrace nearly one hundred thousand members.^ The formation of these associations is not a difficult matter. The first requirement is an enthusiastic teacher who has been convinced that such an association is necessary. At the first meeting a simple constitution should be drawn up. The following is suggested by the National Congress : Article 1. Object and membership. The object of this organization shall be to bring the school and the home closer together, and thus work for the best good of the children. Any one interested in the welfare of childhood may become an active member. Article 2. Name and meetings. This organization shall be called the of the School and shall meet Article 3. This organization shall join the National Congress of Mothers. Dues of ten cents per member shall be forwarded to the congress in May of ^each year. Article 4. Officers. The officers of this organization shall be a president, five vice-presidents, a secretary, and a treasurer. Article 5. Committees. There shall be standard com- mittees on reception, mutual help, membership, and press. (To these might be added one on household arts.) The 1 "Education for the Home." United States Bureau of Education, Bulletin, 1915, No. 37. H 98 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS president shall be ex-officio a member of all standing com- mittees. The officers and the chairmen of all standing committees shall constitute the executive committee. Members of the committee of the state branch of the National Congress of Mothers may sit in conference with this committee but without a vote. At many of the meetings of these associations the girls attending the household arts classes serve light refreshments during the interval or at the close of the meeting and this always has a good effect. One superintendent of schools reports as follows : " Mothers' meetings have been held in ten of the school kitchens during the past year; bread made and baked by each girl in the class is exhibited at these meetings. The teacher puts a number on each loaf of bread when it is com- pleted, holding the name of the maker in reserve. Three of the mothers are selected as judges. The girl who has made the best shaped, the lightest, the best baked, and the finest grained loaf is considered the prize winner, although no prizes are offered. She is complimented on her splendid work and feels quite proud of her accomplishment. An informal meeting then takes place. Many of the mothers have spoken of the great help their daughters have been to them since they have attended the cooking classes. A simple collation consisting of sandwiches, small cakes, and tea made by the girls is then served." Parents' days. The parents of the girls attending each class should be invited to visit the school two or three times a year on the day their children are at work. On such occasions the parents will see that the teachers are but human. They will see the same mistakes made as they themselves make at home. Knives and forks will be dropped. HOUSEHOLD ARTS INSTRUCTION IN THE HOME 99 china will be chipped, and the cake may turn out a failure. After seeing all these things the parent will come to look upon the household arts teacher in a somewhat different light, and become much more sympathetic towards the work she is doing. Demonstrations. As a rule parents respond very readily to demonstrations given by the teacher. These may be held once a month, and should deal with the preparation of common foods. After the first demonstration the mothers themselves may be asked to suggest the subject for the next meeting. To these demonstrations the parents should be encouraged to bring their own problems for solution, and to enter into full discussions. The discussion of these problems will react on the teacher and will enable her to make her instruction more vital and real. The Saturday morning bake is an institution of many American homes, and one which puts to practical test the value of the school training. Home criticism of these experiments should be encouraged. In some schools the girls keep a notebook in which all household practice is entered and the criticism of the parent added. Luncheons. Frequent inexpensive luncheons may be given. Menu cards may be made by the girls and the prices of the different foods should be given. Much can be done by this means to eradicate the idea, largely held at present, that household arts instruction is of no use to people with limited means, and that it is generally extrava- gant. Directly the parents are convinced that the teachers are as much concerned with the high cost of living as they themselves are, a point of contact will have been established which will benefit mother, daughter, and teacher. School credit for work in the home. Notwithstanding 100 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS the elaborate equipments in many schools, it is perfectly obvious to all who have devoted any thought to the matter that nowhere can homemaking be so successfully practiced as in the home itself, and this conviction has led to the adoption of two plans. The first is known under the general name of " home credit " and consists of giving recognition in school for certain work done at home, generally under the supervision of the mother. Funds cannot be obtained in many of the smaller towns to introduce courses in manual training, cookery, sewing, music, etc. In 1914, 382 of these small places reported to the Commissioner of Education that they had not such courses in their schools because the boards would not or could not appropriate the funds. Home work for which school credit is given in these towns may take the place of regular courses in household arts, while other cities that are well equipped for teaching these subjects give credit for outside work in order that the child may work in part under real life conditions and not entirely under the artificial conditions of the school. The home-credit plan was not introduced primarily for instruction in household arts, but was intended to apply to any form of work done outside the school. Credit is given in many places for music, art, office work, Bible study, gardening, etc. Some schools give credit for any work done in the home, the parent being allowed to grade the pupils, while others allow credit for only such work as can be out- lined and supervised by the school authorities. Concern- ing these two types there is considerable difference of opinion. The plan was probably first introduced by Mr. Alderman, then State Superintendent of Public Instruction in Oregon, who lectured on the subject from the Pacific to the Atlantic. HOUSEHOLD ARTS INSTRUCTION IN THE HOME 101 Objections to home credit. The home-credit plan though strongly supported by some is not without its adverse critics. The chief criticisms offered may be enumerated as follows : 1. The standards of many of the homes in which the work will have to be carried on are low, and if the girl does the work, as she most likely will, in the same way her mother does it, old routine methods, which should be eradicated, will be perpetuated. 2. Giving credit for work in the home is apt to weaken the very thing for which the home stands — that spirit of mutual helpfulness which makes the home possible. It is offering payment for work which should be done gladly without any hope of reward. 3. Many mothers are not capable of passing judgment upon the method in which the work has been done. The Assistant Superintendent of Oregon, who was associated with the Superintendent when the plan was inaugurated, stated at the Department of Superintendence in 1914 that they would have to take back a great deal of what had been said and done relative to school credit for home work. 4. The plan places too great a temptation before the mother. It may happen that a high mark for home work may save the girl from failing to graduate, and no mother should be asked to grade her daughter's work when it may mean so much. 5. It is not possible to grade all girls alike. The easy- going mother will grade high, and equal justice to all is not done in the credit they receive. 6. The home-credit plan is no adequate substitute for laboratory equipment and skilled instruction. When in- troduced into cities and towns, it is apt to hinder rather than 102 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS to help the estabhshment of well-equipped departments in the school. The criticisms offered above all have some measm'e of validity, and until further developments show that they can be eliminated, educators can hardly be expected to give the plan their unqualified approval. Typical schemes formu- lated for the purpose of giving household arts instruction in the home and linking up its activities with those of the school are outlined below. To some of these the objections enumerated do not apply. The Crete plan. This is a method of teaching the house- hold arts by means of work carried on in home kitchens under the supervision of expert housewives, according to a curriculum drawn up by the educational authorities. It is a means of giving definite household arts instruction in places where the schools possess no equipment, but it may also be used effectively in giving the added home practice required in places even where there is an organized school course. The plan was introduced at Crete, Nebraska, about 1905 and has been in successful operation ever since. It depends almost entirely for its success upon the hearty sympathetic cooperation of the women in the town. Each of the selected women is asked to teach the preparation of some given article of food, and allow her own kitchen to be used for the purpose. In this way twenty lessons on different topics are provided. The girls attend the homes of the instructors at the time fixed, the lesson is discussed in the parlor or sitting room, and the girls take notes in the regular class method. The classes usually consist of six members, though ten is considered a better number. The instructor generally prepares the article, and sometimes cooks it in the presence of the girls. The classes meet at half past three, so that very HOUSEHOLD ARTS INSTRUCTION IN THE HOME 103 little time is taken from the ordinary school studies. They attend once a month, and the four years of high school are allowed for the completion of the twenty or more articles. A girl generally learns to cook about five articles a year, and is required to attend a class only once for each article, though she has the privilege of attending as many times as she wishes. After the lesson the girls are expected to try the recipe at home and are allowed to receive help from any source. Exhibitions and demonstrations are frequently held and the plan is strongly supported by both teachers and parents. The advantages of this plan seem to be as follows : 1. There is no expense on the part of the school for salary, equipment, or material, as the services are voluntary, the home kitchen equipment is used, and the product is used in the family. 2. The girls have an opportunity to visit many different homes and to obtain broadened ideas regarding household furnishing and management. - 3. The girls become interested in cooking, and relieve their mothers of many of the household duties, being able to take care of the house during holidays or in case of the sickness of the mother. 4. The mutual influence of the girls and the selected instructors is good. The Crete plan is best suited to towns and villages having a population of not more than three thousand, and is capable of considerable modification for rural districts. The de- velopment of the subject in such districts has been hampered by the cost of equipment and the difficulty of providing a special teacher, but with a plan of the above character these difficulties disappear. 104 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS Home credit in Franklin, Ohio. The schools in Franklin give credit for " any course that may reasonably take the place of manual training or domestic science as taught in the public schools." The home course in household arts outlined in that city is as follows : 1. A systematic course that shall include plain cooking, baking (bread, cake, and pastry), the proper care of the kitchen and utensils, and the proper setting and care of the table for meals. Such course should include the entire preparation of at least one meal a day for a definite period ; the meal to have a reasonable variety from day to day. The course should include, in part at least, the purchase of the food. 2. A systematic course in sewing that shall include plain sewing, patching, mending, and darning ; it must include the cutting and fitting of simple garments, and may include embroidery and fancy work. 3. The two preceding courses may be supplemented by systematic courses and training in the general care of the house, as sweeping, dusting, and scrubbing, the care of furniture, the care of the sick or of children, the care of flowers, chickens, etc. According to this scheme, credit is given upon the recom- mendation of a committee of women appointed by the superintendent, and approved by the board of education or its president. Application for such courses must be made in advance to the superintendent, and all details must be arranged with his approval. Home credit in Ames, Iowa. A very satisfactory plan has been worked out by the household economics teacher at the Iowa State College of Agriculture with help and suggestion from the Superintendent of Public Schools, HOUSEHOLD ARTS INSTRUCTION IN THE HOME 105 Ames, Iowa. It was thoroughly discussed in each parent- teachers' association in the town. The parents criticized freely, gave many useful suggestions, and most important of all offered their hearty cooperation. From a bulletin issued by the Superintendent the following particulars are gathered : ^ The plan was organized with the hope that it would prove an incentive for the girl to do at home some of the things she had learned in school, and thus carry into the home some new ways of working that would be the means of exchange of ideas between mother and daughter that would result beneficially to both. The following are the main regulations regarding the work : (1) A total of two credits may be earned by home work in home economics, the value of one credit being three hundred points. These credits will apply on high school graduation. (2) Fractional credit will be given for part work. (3) Enough work must be done to make one credit in order to have the work apply on high school graduation. (4) The work may extend throughout the student's four- year high school course. (5) General work should be reported each month, records being kept each week. (6) A grade of seventy-five per cent, or fair, is necessary for credit. The work is divided into three branches — cookery, general housework, and sewing. Two thirds credit is allowed for each, making up the total of two credits — six hundred points. In cookery the family recipe must be used (enough to serve six persons), and whenever possible a sample of the product is to be taken to the school for examination. The recipes, stating method and giving itemized cost to- 1 Industrial Arts Magazine, May, 1914, and Journal of Home Economics, April, 1914. 106 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS gether with a statement of the guardian or parent stating that the entire work was done by the girl, must accompany each dish prepared. Blanks are provided for this purpose. In grading bread or cake a score card is used and the product is taken to the school and marked by the teacher. To the girls who are taking, or who have completed, first-year cook- ery one third credit — one hundred points — is given. Twenty-two dishes are suggested ; of these, ten are required, five others may be chosen from the list. The required dishes receive seven points credit, the chosen dishes six. Twenty dishes are chosen for the second year and marked in the same way. General housework carried on for sixteen months gives the full two thirds credit ; for eight months, one third credit. The credits given for general work are twelve and a half points for one month. No credit is given unless a task is done for four weeks. The work in this branch consists of bed making, care of bedroom, helping with general house- work half an hour each day and one hour on Saturday. In sewing, any work from a prescribed list may be chosen and credit is given up to two hundred points. As before, the work is divided into first and second years. All the sewing is taken to school to be judged and score cards are used for this pur- pose. Additional sewing and handwork may be done by arrangement with the teacher who decides the points to be given for the work. It will be seen that the Ames plan has some decided and practical advantages over the haphazard method of any kind of work now in use in many places. The written state- ment required of each girl insures that she understands what she has been doing, and as the product is judged in many cases by the teacher and not by the parent, credit is allowed HOUSEHOLD ARTS INSTRUCTION IN THE HOME 107 for the excellence of the product and not for the time spent in its production. In the general housework the course is prescribed, but its method of performance is judged at present only by the parent. Perhaps as the course develops it may be found possible for the school to supervise this work also, or to establish standards by which the parents will be able to judge it with some degree of uniformity. The girls might also be required to make a statement describing the different operations and giving methods and reasons. One merit of this branch of the work is the required daily performance of certain tasks through a prolonged period. Other methods. One high school has attacked the problem in another way. It is planned that the graduating class of this school shall not attend the school sessions during the month of June. Each girl will remain in her own home, taking entire charge of the expenses and general work of the household during that month, while her mother makes visits, or sits at ease and observes her daughter's efforts, rendering as little help as possible. Each girl is visited every day by one of her high school teachers. The teacher gives advice and criticism if necessary, but as far as possible no one is to interfere with the actual self-directed work of the girl.^ The Rock Island, Illinois, High School has adopted an unusual plan in order to give practical application to the sewing. Twenty-six girls have made themselves responsible for clothing twenty-six little orphan girls in a local orphan asylum. The high school pupils visited the asylum, and each chose the girl for whom she wished to make the clothes.^ A novel plan is being worked out in Ogden, . The last six years of the public school courses are organized with * Popular Educator, November, 1913. ' Manual Training and Vocational Education, February, 1915. 108 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS a longer school day than usual, from 8.30 in the morning until 4.30 in the afternoon, divided into two sessions, one devoted to academic work and the other to industrial, social, and physical work; the academic work being put into one half day and the industrial into the other. Pupils who can show that they have better industrial, commercial, or house- hold arts work outside the school than is offered by the school curriculum may be excused from any part of the industrial half day to take their industrial work outside the school. A mother with a large family of children may need her daughter's help for an hour or two in the morning or in the afternoon. The girl may be excused for any part of the day for a time not exceeding one and a half hours without losing any of her academic studies. Before granting this conces- sion each case is carefully investigated, to make sure that the home has the proper attitude and that the industrial work which it offers is at least equal to that which is offered by the school. Those who cannot prove their case remain in the junior high school during the entire session of six hours. The industrial work which is done outside the school is accepted after due investigation as equal in value to that which others do in the school.^ Such, in general, are some of the methods that are being used to remove what is admitted to be one of the chief defects in our household arts instruction. A perfectly satisfactory solution has not yet been found. Each of the plans enumerated possesses points of excellence about which there can be no dispute, and it is possible that further ex- perimentation will evolve a plan which embodies these and eliminates the defects which educators have felt compelled to criticize adversely. 1 Report of the Commissioner of Education, 1914. Washington. CHAPTER V CONTINUED EDUCATION IN HOUSEHOLD ARTS I. Introduction. II. Organized instruction outside the school. III. Home School of Providence, Rhode Island. IV. Classes for factory girls in Boston. V. Part-time instruction for housekeepers. VI. Necessity for judicious advertising. VII. Evening classes. VIII. The visiting nurse. IX. The visiting housekeeper. X. Movable schools of household arts. XI. Short coiu-ses. XII. Demonstration trains. XIII. Women's institutes and homemakers' conferences. XIV. Government bulletins. XV. Special agencies. XVI. Private organizations. Introduction. The tendency of modern education is to lay the greatest stress on the education of the small child. The time has yet to come when educators will open their eyes to the fact that one of the great modern problems in educa- tion is woman, and how to fit her for the numerous addi- tional duties that are devolving upon her. The schools are engaged in educating the next generation, but the present generation deserves adequate consideration if better homes and efficient living are ever to be realized. The girls, young women, and homemakers who have left the recognized schools are greater in numbers than those who are enrolled on the 109 110 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS school registers, and the problem of educating these is even more vital, if that be possible, than that of educating those who are actually in the schools. Continued education in household arts has some advantages over that given in the schools ; there the benefit to the young girl is deferred. In the continuation school or class she is nearer to the time when she expects to be able to use the knowledge she is ac- quiring. She is more mature and is able to take greater ad- vantage of the instruction offered. Organized instruction outside the schooL Various forms of continued education and extension service have been in existence for some time, and have done and are still doing excellent work. Many of these are, however, organized by voluntary associations and have been somewhat of an in- formal and largely inspirational character, but now organized instruction for those outside the regular school population is being formulated by many educational authorities. Fed- eral aid is being given through the provisions of the Smith- Lever and Smith-Hughes bills, and several states, notably Massachusetts, are placing classes in household arts open to wage-earning women on the same footing as regards grants in aid as other industrial subjects. Continuation classes are intended for those who are not legally obliged to attend the ordinary day school, and as a rule are open only to these. They are of two kinds — day and evening — but the modern tendency is to substitute, as far as possible, attendance in the daytime for that in the evening. Several examples of such schools and courses will now be given. The Home School of Providence, Rhode Island.^ This school is situated in one of the poorest and most densely 1 Trowbridge, Ada Wilson, Vocational Education, Vol. 2, CONTINUED EDUCATION IN HOUSEHOLD ARTS 111 popvilated parts of Providence. It consists of an ordinary apartment and includes hall, living room, sewing room, dining room, two bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen, and base- ment laundry. The school and its objects were extensively advertised in the neighborhood. When the hour for open- ing the school approached, it is said that the children crowded the street in front of the home so thickly, that it was impossible for teamsters to pass. No girl could be ad- mitted under thirteen years of age, but the first week showed an enrolment of over 175 girls and an ever growing waiting list. The rooms were renovated and furnished by the pupils of the Technical High School. They selected the wall paper, planned the color scheme, selected the furniture, paint and floor stain, and made and decorated the curtains. The boys made picture frames, towel racks, ironing boards, and a cabinet for the bathroom. Many furnishings were left for the home school girls them- selves to complete. During the first weeks they hemmed tablecloths, napkins, dish towels, hung curtains and pic- tures, placed furniture, arranged the dishes, and became generally acquainted with the problem of cleaning and fur- nishing a new home. They now do all the work connected with the school except looking after the furnace. All the linen used in the school is washed and ironed by the pupils ; an average of over twenty-five dozen pieces are washed and ironed each month. There are three departments in connec- tion with the school — sewing, cooking, and general house- keeping — and a separate teacher is in charge of each. Each group consists of ten pupils, and thus a division of thirty pupils is able to attend at one time. One division attends on Monday and Tuesday afternoons from four to six o'clock ; a second, on Monday and Tuesday 112 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS evenings from 7.30 to 9.30 ; a third, on Wednesday and Thurs- day afternoons of each week, and a fifth on Friday after- noons. Friday evening is reserved for social gatherings. Sewing, housekeeping, and cookery are taken in consecutive lessons, coming back to sewing again on the fourth lesson. Each girl thus receives instruction in the work of all three departments. The sewing and cooking are of an intensely practical character and the equipment simple but adequate. The cooking is intended to give the girls a knowledge of the preparation of simple home food, and the serving of break- fasts, luncheons, and dinners to small families. The course in housekeeping includes all the ordinary household routine, and in addition talks on hygiene and on books. In hygiene the work embraces the care of the hair, teeth, complexion, and more intimate personal matters, and this experience has led the teachers to the conclusion that many things can be discussed in the home environment that it is impossible to approach adequately in the ordinary classroom. The work of the evening division differs in many ways from that offered in the afternoons. These classes are composed of working girls who are looking forward to having homes of their own in the near future, and accordingly much attention is given to the selection of furniture, effective ways of pre- paring and serving meals, and simple entertaining. As a part of their work the girls fitted up an attic room, selecting and putting on the paper, painting the woodwork, finishing the floors, making the box furniture and the curtains, and framing the pictures. The cost of materials and the proper division of income is dealt with, and as many problems as possible are given to teach the satisfaction that will follow in the practice of econ- omy, of buying only what can be paid for, and the intelligent CONTINUED EDUCATION IN HOUSEHOLD ARTS 113 joy of being inventive and resourceful. In every possible way the school has been put into direct cooperation with the homes. The care of children receives special attention, and the girls are encouraged to bring their home problems in millinery, dressmaking, or of any other kind to the teachers of the school for solution. The public library and the traveling library of the State Board of Education have supplied nearly two hundred volumes for the use of the school. A flower and vegetable garden has been planted under the direction of the supervisor of school gardens, and this is cared for by the girls. The commercial side is not neglected. The school sells its own product of bread, cakes, etc. ; and it is quite possible that some of the training so given will enable many of the young women to undertake similar work in their own homes, and thus render unnecessary their entrance into factories and the consequent neglect of the home which outside employment often brings about. Classes for factory girls in Boston. Another method of dealing with this problem is that used in Boston, for girls employed in factories. Several employers who are convinced that training of this kind is essential to the girls in their employment, permit them to attend classes during working hours. The director of continuation schools makes the following statement regarding these classes : ^ " The school committee has rented an apartment located conveniently for the employees of several candy factories, and has equipped the apartment with such furniture as could be provided by a young couple with small means. A very competent homemaker of practical experience has been placed in charge of this apartment, and she receives from the candy 1 "Education for the Home." United States Bureau of Education, Bulle- tin, 1914, No. 37. I 114 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS factories groups of approximately ten girls, who are per- mitted to attend during working hours without loss of pay. Sessions are of two hours each, conducted twice a week. The teacher in charge is now handling ^ve such groups. During the time when the classes are not in session the teacher visits the factories, and homes of her pupils. In- struction is intended to cover all the ordinary duties of a simple but well-managed home. These classes have been in operation for about two years and have been received with hearty support by both employers and the community." Part-time instruction for housekeepers. In the indus- trial training of boys and men the greatest developments of recent years have been in the direction of " part-time " education. By this means the work of the school is closely related to that of the shop. The student is allowed to spend half the day in school and shop alternately, or in some cases alternate weeks are so spent. This plan has suggestions in it for education for the home. The home is the factory of the housekeeper, and a combined plan of practice in the home and lessons in school might be expected to produce as gratifying results in this case as part-time instruction has brought about in the other field. Great difficulties have been experienced in working out a satisfactory plan of part-time instruction in connection with the shops, difficulties of or- ganization, control of output, one boy taking up another's job, and many others, but these have all been successfully overcome. In the case of the housekeeper no such practical difiiculties exist. She can generally arrange her work so that she can leave it at stated times, to attend daytime lectures and continuation classes ; and such classes have many decided advantages over the usual evening plan. There are many housekeepers who find themselves unequal to the tasks they CONTINUED EDUCATION IN HOUSEHOLD ARTS 115 have undertaken, and who would be quite willing to attend classes if they were held at a convenient time. This system of daytime instruction has been tried in a few isolated places, and the success achieved warrants its extension. In Rochester, New York, an afternoon course commenc- ing at four o'clock in '^health lessons for women" was organ- ized. Twenty-four lessons, each an hour or so in length, were given, and included such subjects as care of the child, first aid and emergencies, prevention and recognition of dis- ease, motherhood, nursing, making beds, bandaging, care of sick room, dietetics, nursing the invalid child,^and obstetrical care. The first twelve lectures were given by a woman physician, and the second twelve by a nurse. The Montclair experiment. The experiment conducted in Montclair, New Jersey, is worthy of note.^ Reference has already been made to the plan adopted in this city to give the household arts instruction in the schools more direct applica- tion to the home by cooking in family quantities. It was the success of this plan which suggested the idea that classes could be organized which would directly benefit the working house- keeper. Courses in household arts had been offered previ- ously, but had met with little success, probably owing to the fact that the housewife thinks she does not need a general course in cookery, and that she would have to spend her time in doing many things that she already knows how to do. The attendance at evening household arts classes is generally made up of young girls and prospective housekeepers. The mature housekeeper does not usually attend, though many of them are ready to admit that there are many things which they would like to learn if they could do so without wasting time. * Industrial Arts Magazine, January, 1915. 116 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS The following circular was sent into the homes of all the pupils of the schools : " Beginning Monday Jan. 19, 1914, the school department of Montclair will offer short unit courses in household arts for all those interested in such training. Some of the sug- gested courses are as follows : ten lessons each on bread, rolls, and biscuits; desserts; salads and salad dressings; canning and preserving; fancy cooking; invalid cooking; and six lessons on marketing. Each course is complete in itself. Membership in one class obliges no one to take the other courses. If the members of the class so desire, the instruction will be*given in the form of demonstration lessons. The classes will meet at any hour satisfactory to the students. A small fee will be charged to cover the cost of materials. Those wishing to join are requested to give their names to Miss Bridge, Miss Hasson, or to the superintendent of schools." Over two hundred women attended the first meeting. They divided themselves into groups, retired to different rooms, and discussed with the teachers plans for carrying on the work. The place and hour of meeting of each class was fixed to suit the wishes of the students so far as that could be done with- out interfering with the regular duties of the teachers. As a result of these conferences the subjects were somewhat changed and the courses became : theory of marketing and fireless cooking ; marketing with practical work in cooking ; salads and desserts, two courses; chemistry of foods with practical menus; bread and rolls; household routine. These courses led to the request that courses be offered for maids during the next year, and the housewives proposed to allow an additional afternoon off per week, provided their maids would use this time in taking the courses offered. CONTINUED EDUCATION IN HOUSEHOLD ARTS 117 Every high school that possesses a household arts depart- ment might extend its services to the community by offering the facilities of that department to housewives at any time it is not required by the regular students. Some schools have tried the plan of permitting housewives to attend the ordinary classes in homemaking subjects held in the school, but this plan has not been generally successful. Older women are disinclined to attend classes with young girls, and more- over the type of instruction suited to the latter does not meet the necessities of the former. Use of the factory organization. The United States Steel Company has introduced the model housekeeping center into its welfare work at the Lambert mine in the Connellsville district of Pennsylvania, and at Gary, West Virginia. The Winthrop Normal and Industrial College, Rock Hill, South Carolina, has organized work for the improvement of mill villages. This is carried on by " the special agent of mill village improvement in connection with the United States Department of Agriculture " and a special agent in charge of *' home-economics extension work in rural, school, and mill communities."^ An example of employers allowing their employees to at- tend such courses during working hours without loss of pay is that of the apartment for candy factory girls in Boston, pre- viously referred to. There is much need for instruction of this kind in many industrial communities, and usually the best approach is made through the factory organization. In one instance the " cook house " was used which a cotton mill had provided for the employees to use in cooking their dinner. The vocational school secured the use of this build- ^" Education for the Home." United States Bureau of Education, Bulletin, 1914, No. 37. 118 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS ing for one night a week. The women were invited to meet here, and cook their own supper. Two sample menus with their cost were given on the poster which was placed in the mill. The foreman took the names of those wishing to join, and more women applied than it was possible to accommodate. The women came directly from their work and cooked their supper under the direction of the teacher. The women themselves paid the cost of material which was never over twelve cents per person. The success of the class was most pronounced, and the women asked to have the class continued P^ermanently. The following sample menus show the kind of cookery in which these women were interested. They also show that the ordinary course in cookery would not have met their needs. Supper No. 1 Supper No. 2 Cheese pudding, Baked onions, Codfish in tomato sauce, Cereal Cold slaw, Peanut cookies, muffins, Dried apricot short- Coffee cakes, Cocoa Cheese pudding $0.48 Codfish in tomato sauce $0.30 Baked onions 10 Muffins 24 Cold slaw 15 Shortcake 20 Cookies 40 Cocoa 28 Coffee 28 Fuel _^ Fuel _J^ Total cost $1.10 Total cost $1.51 For "family" of 14, indi- For "family" of 14, indi- vidual cost $.08^ vidual cost $.11 Judicious advertising. The method of bringing continua- tion or extension classes to the attention of the women whose attendance is desired deserves some consideration. Judi- cious advertising is just as necessary in educational affairs as it is in business, and the sooner educational authorities 1" Cooking in the Vocation School." United States Bureau of Educa- tion, Bulletin, 1915, No. 1. CONTINUED EDUCATION IN HOUSEHOLD ARTS 119 recognize this, the sooner the efforts that are being put forth will meet with success. " The unwillingness to adopt aggressive methods of ad- vertising is a further reason for the failure of some evening industrial schools. . . . They have commonly assumed that to reach pupils they have only to make a statement in the newspapers or school department circular that certain courses are to be offered. They have seldom taken the point of view that they had education to sell, and that if they were going to do business, they would have to adopt the methods of publicity employed by such business concerns." ^ Methods in London, England. The industrial schools and classes of the London County Council are well known, and it may be useful to enumerate the advertising methods adopted by that body. Their general scheme of advertising may be stated as follows : 1 . The exhibition of a notice on the whole straight side of electric cars during September, and transparent tablets fixed inside the cars for the whole of the session. 2. The issue of subject posters sixty inches by forty inches, exhibited on railway stations, various properties of the coun- cil, such as parks, fire stations, etc. 3. The exhibition of bills outside all schools, announcing the date and opening of the classes. 4. The issue of district pamphlets giving particulars of classes at all the various polytechnics, technical schools, schools of art, commercial and science centers, evening schools, and trade schools. 5. The free issue by certain of the underground electric railway companies, and the South Eastern and Chatham ("•'1 Short Unit Courses for Wage-earners, Bulletin 159. Department of Labor, Washington. 120 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS Railway Company of one hundred and fifty thousand pocket cards, showing the institutions on the route of their respective railways, the subjects taught, etc., and the nearest station at which to alight. Similar arrangements are made with the General Motor Omnibus Company. 6. The issue of individual school posters. 7. The issue of card bills and double-demy posters for ex- hibition in the elevators of electric railways, in workshops, factories, offices, and other public places. 8. The issue of prospectuses and handbills for each particu- lar institution and evening school respectively. 9. The advertisement of technical institutions in trade journals, and art schools in art journals, and of both in the local press. 10. The issue of trade handbills for circulation among members of trade unions and federations. 11. The issue of literature, posters, syllabuses, and hand- bills. 12. The issue of special handbills advertising specific classes. In all, some two and a half million prospectuses, pamphlets, handbills, etc. are distributed each year. Notwithstanding this extensive advertising, the attendance at these classes is not considered satisfactory by the authori- ties, but Dr. Sadler states : ^ ^' I can find no country in which voluntary attendance at evening classes is so large in propor- tion to the adult population as it jis in England and Wales. Over forty per cent of the attendance in London is females." Advertising to reach the housewife. The above methods are particularly calculated to reach that large class of men and women who travel to and from their daily work, and are ^ Royal Commission on Industrial and Technical Education, 1913, Part 3, Vol. 1. Ottawa, Canada. CONTINUED EDUCATION IN HOUSEHOLD ARTS 121 more or less mixed up with the busy industrial life of a great city, but when it comes to the housewife, other means must be used. Posters do not go into the home, handbills are often thrown away unread, while many housewives do not read the advertising columns of the newspaper, with perhaps the exception of the bargain pages. It might not at all be a bad idea to print the announcement of these classes in the center of the bargain pages. One of the most effective means yet adopted is the personal circular, or circular letter sent through the mail. This, properly addressed, has a per- sonal appeal which is always read. Mailing lists may be made up from various sources, such as schools, churches, labor organizations, women's clubs, etc. Such circulars should con- tain all necessary information and render unnecessary any further enquiries. The following are copies of circulars that have been successfully used : COOKING AND SEWING CLASSES FOR WOMEN OF 1 (A) At the GirVs Department of the Trade School When If there is sufficient demand it is planned to open these classes January 5th. Where At the Girls' Department of the Trade School, 79 Broadway. For whom .... These classes are opened to any woman or girl over sixteen years old who lives in the city of Cost These classes are free. Session Each class meets once a week from three until five o'clock. The number of lessons is given after each subject. Product For the dressmaking classes you bring your own material and have what you make. The school furnishes the material for the cooking classes, but you can have what you make by paying what it costs. The classes in expert cleaning and fine ^ " Cooking in the Vocation School." United States Bureau of Education, Bulletin, 1915, No. 1. 122 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS laundry work will give you a chance to cleanse your own clothes. Teachers These classes will all be under the charge of women who are experts in the work they teach. Registration . . To register, fill out the attached blank and mail to the trade school, 79 Broadway. Additional blanks may be obtained at this office. A woman may regis- ter for any one of these courses or for more than one if she wishes. Admission to all these classes is . limited to fifteen to twenty pupils ; the preference will be g'iven to those who register first ; so register at once. You wiU be notified by mail if your ap- plication can be accepted, and the date on which the first meeting of the class wiU be held. No class will be opened unless there are at least fifteen applications for instruction in that subjeeft. Cooking for Housekeepers 1. Yeast, bread, biscuits, and rolls 6 lessons 2. Baking-powder biscuits and breakfast cakes .... 6 lessons 3. Pastry 6 lessons 4. Cake 8 lessons 5. Desserts 10 lessons 6. Breakfasts 5 lessons 7. Dinner-pail lunches 8 lessons 8. School-children's lunches 8 lessons 9. Sunday-night suppers 6 lessons 10. Simple family meals 8 lessons 11. Cooking for infants and invalids 8 lessons SjEWiNG FOR Housekeepers 12. Shirt waists 8 lessons 13. Fancy waists 12 lessons 14. Skirts 12 lessons 15. Unlined dresses 16 lessons 16. Underwear 10 lessons 17. Baby clothes 12 lessons 18. Children's clothes 16 lessons 19. Household sewing (bed linen, table linen, etc.). . 8 lessons 20. Mending and repairing 8 lessons 21. White embroidery 10 lessons 22. Use of sewing machine attachments 6 lessons Can you use the tucker, ruffler, hemmer, and binder which belong to your sewing machine ? 23. Embroidery for gowns 10 lessons CONTINUED EDUCATION IN HOUSEHOLD ARTS 123 Cleaning and Fine Laundry Work for Housekeepers 24. Washing blankets and flannels 4 lessons 25. Laundering shirt waists 4 lessons 26. Fine starching and ironing 6 lessons 27. Removing stains 6 lessons 28. Cleaning 6 lessons 29. Cleaning solutions 4 lessons Application Blank Date Name Address Occupation Courses desired (give both name and number) (B) At the Housekeeping Center, 96^ View Street Do you want to know How to cook How to sew Meat ? Shirt waists ? Vegetables ? Dresses ? Soup? Skirts? Bread ? Underwear ? Cake? Children's clothing? Breakfast ? Household Dinner ? Mending ? Supper ? Sewing ? These classes are for you. They are free. If you wish to belong, come and put your name in Thursday or Friday, 26th and 27th, 3 to 4.30 p.m. Evening classes. Even if all those who find it possible to attend during the daytime take the instruction offered, there still will be a large number who have not been provided for. This number will include all those young girls and women who are engaged in what we called, by way of distinction, the wage-earning occupations. For these, there is no other resource in the present economic condition of society but attendance at evening classes. It may be at once admitted 124 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS that such classes have many decided disadvantages, and the objections urged against them are even more potent when appHed to classes for women than when applied to classes for men. Pages might be written stating the objections that have been urged against evening schools, but no useful pur- pose would be served thereby. The following, however, may be quoted as summarizing this aspect of the question : " The evening school problem is a real bane to industrial education, and is not confined to any one country or to any one people, but is common to all the world. It is inherent in no particular system, but finds its origin in an unavoidable condition of life. It is unfortunate but apparently irre- mediable. It has received the close attention and earnest thought of the most enthusiastic and conscientious promoters of the new education. It has very likely come to stay. Not until we enjoy a universal prosperity can opportunities of education be open equally to all. The disadvantages of evening schools are numerous and are easily patent to any interested observer. Intellectual application on Sundays, or in the evening when the body is exhausted with a day or week of physical employment, leads to overexertion, and is apt to arouse a feeling of repulsion in the learner towards the study which robs him of well-earned repose. It has also been suggested that Sunday study of industrial subjects inter- feres with church work, and leads to a neglect of religion and higher moral thinking. Furthermore, evenings and Sundays together offer too few hours for proper systematic instruction." ^ The time may come in the distant future when evening classes will be dispensed with, but in the meantime they are ^ " Industrial Education and Industrial Conditions in Germany," Bulletin No. 33, Department of Commerce and Labor, Washington. CONTINUED EDUCATION IN HOUSEHOLD ARTS 125 necessary, and while working for their abolition let us en- deavor to make them more effective, and to remove many of their admitted defects. When the manufacturer can be made to see that the improvement of the conditions under which his employees live means an increase in their industrial efficiency, then he will be willing as a business investment to allow his " hands " time to acquire the knowledge which will enable them to make that improvement. When he is con- vinced of this, he will be willing to allow the girls and women in his employment to attend properly organized household arts classes during their working hours without loss of pay. In the welfare work which is becoming more common in large industrial establishments, there are signs that instruction in all that pertains to the home is being more regarded as having a direct relation to industrial efficiency. Now, admitting that evening class instruction in household arts is at present both necessary and unavoidable, let us con- sider the means to be adopted to make it more effective than it is at present. Traditions of the day school. It is essential that the tradi- tions of the day school be laid aside. Unfortunately these traditions have been allowed to a large extent to govern evening class procedure. The methods that are supposed to be suitable for the sixth, seventh, and eighth grade girl, for example, group work and cooking in microscopic quantities, are not necessarily suitable for those who are much older and have had more experience. The teachers of the evening classes are generally the teachers of the day classes, and too often the lessons of the day schools are repeated in the evening schools without the slightest variation. It is not generally recognized that these evening school students have entered on a new life since leaving the day school, and that they need the 126 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS guidance, the knowledge, and the treatment appropriate to that Hfe. The lack of housekeeping experience has been referred to in connection with household arts instruction in the elementary schools, and it is even more detrimental here, and the teacher should adopt every means possible to ac- quaint herself with the home conditions of her students. One class in four might very well be set apart for the dis- cussion of the individual problems of the students, or the teacher might devote a certain time to the private discussion with each student of her own peculiar problems. Changed methods of approach. Changes must be made in the method of approaching the subject. The usual method at present in use is the " general course in cooking," which attempts to give the girl or woman a very general idea of the whole activities of the household. This may be suitable as an introduction to the subject for the girl of fourteen or six- teen years of age, especially if she has had no previous training in the elementary school, but such a course does not take into account the skill and knowledge that many of the girls at- tending evening schools have obtained by actual experience. The general course also assumes that all attending the classes have the same requirements ; while as a matter of fact, notwithstanding the similarity of the household arts, there are only small groups with common needs. Voluntary stu- dents will not attend classes unless they are given what they need, and not what the teacher thinks they ought to need. " The chaotic state of the work in some of the evening indus- trial schools has been due to the fact that the schools have not clearly understood the purpose of the work. Many schools have regarded the evening work for women, for example, as uplift work ; they have failed to realize that the fundamental aim of evening work for women should be to increase their CONTINUED EDUCATION IN HOUSEHOLD ARTS 127 efficiency as workers either in the trade or in the home. Or again they have not understood the purpose because they have not known what factors in any given case enter into efficiency." ^ Unit course system . The best means yet discovered of han- dling this situation is the ''unit course system." The short- unit or brief course is an intensified form of instruction de- signed to serve in a limited number of lessons the specific needs of a particular group of students. Each course is com- plete in itself. One great merit of the unit system is its flexibility. It is able to meet the requirements of the house- wife who needs assistance in some particular phase of her work, but is not able to take an extended course, and it also meets the needs of the one who is willing and able to take a complete course, as by taking units enough a well-rounded training may be obtained. The flexibility of the system may be illustrated as follows. If the letters A B C D represent different stages in the usual school course, the only point at which the student can enter is at A. If she wishes to enter at C, she must pass examinations on A and B. If these letters, on the other hand, represent unit courses, a pupil may enter at any position of A B C D for the instruction required and still, if she wishes, complete the whole course A B C D B C D A C D A B D A B C In the general course in household arts many individual lessons fail to appeal to certain pupils, and these feel that their time has been wasted. In the unit course method the ^ "Short Unit Courses for Wage Earners," Bulletin No. 159. Department of Labor, Washington. 128 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS student gets exactly what she requires. The following are sample unit courses which may be used for part time instruc- tion in homemaking for housekeepers. These courses are only suggestive, and this is in no sense a complete list of work which may be given in this subject. The courses themselves and the number of lessons in each should be arranged to meet the needs of the pupils.^ Meat 8 lessons Soups and stews 10 lessons Left-overs 8 lessons Meat substitutes 16 lessons Fish 6 lessons Clams and oysters 5 lessons Vegetables 8 lessons Bread and rolls 6 lessons Muffins and quick bread 5 lessons Cake 8 lessons Cookies 6 lessons Cold desserts 6 lessons Hot desserts 6 lessons Frozen desserts 5 lessons Pastry 6 lessons Salads 8 lessons Sandwiches 4 lessons Eggs 4 lessons Canning and preserving 12 lessons "Dinner pails" 6 lessons School children's lunches 6 lessons Sunday night suppers 8 lessons Breakfasts 5 lessons ' Fireless cooker and paper-bag cookery 6 lessons Kosher cooking 10 lessons Italian cooking 10 lessons Infant feeding 5 lessons Meals for children from 2 to 6 years old 5 lessons Cooking for invalids and special diets 8 lessons Marketing 6 lessons Table setting and serving 4 lessons 1 "Cooking in the Vocation School." United States Bureau of Education, Bulletin, 1915, No. 1. CONTINUED EDUCATION IN HOUSEHOLD ARTS 129 In the state of Massachusetts short-unit courses for women have been conducted in thirty-nine different subjects, and the number is constantly being added to. The visiting nurse. There are signs that our educational and municipal authorities are beginning to look upon train- ing for right living and good homes as one of their legitimate functions. The school physician and visiting nurse are well known in a number of large cities. Service of this kind has also been extended to dentistry. Nursing was originally one of the household arts, but it has become specialized, and has left the home, together with a number of other trades and professions. There is no doubt that a visiting nurse can con- vey a much-needed type of instruction into those homes into which she is allowed to enter. The way to a parent's heart is usually through attention to the child, and the conserva- tion of human resources is just as much a function of govern- ment as is the conservation of natural resources. The work of the school nurse has been somewhat hampered by the general idea that her work is a species of charity. Many families are intensely proud, and bitterly resent the imputa- tion that they belong to the needy class. The plan by which visiting nurses are now being introduced on a self-support- ing basis by charging a small fee to the individual family will probably admit the nurse into a greater number of homes, and thus widely extend her usefulness. Human resources could be conserved in no more satisfactory manner than by adequate attention being paid to the rearing of children and their proper care during both health and sickness. The proper function of the visiting nurse is not to take the care of the patient out of the hands of the mother, but to give her such actual instruction as will enable her to look after the patient, and satisfactorily carry out the orders of 130 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS the doctor. She has, however, perhaps a greater function than attention to the sick, and that is the giving of informa- tion which will prevent disease, and thus avoid the economic loss to the nation which disease and sickness always entail. The visiting housekeeper. The visiting nurse should al- ways be followed by the visiting housekeep^er. The work of the nurse has shown that in many cases the fundamental difficulty is general ignorance of the household arts, and here the work of the visiting housekeeper comes in. The nurse and the housekeeper should work in the closest cooperation. In many cases the visit of the nurse not only demonstrates the necessity for some instruction from the housekeeper, but also paves the way for her visit. Such housekeepers are al- ready at work in about twenty cities, including Chicago, Boston, Cambridge, Detroit, Cleveland, Brooklyn, New York, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, Kansas City, and a number of others, but their employment is by no means general even in towns and cities, while in rural districts it is almost unknown. It is perhaps unfortunate that the majority of these officers are employed by charity organizations, and that at present they are largely untrained women. This work is as educa- tive and probably more far reaching than that done in the schools and should be carried on by trained women under the control of the educational authorities working in conjunc- tion with the sanitary authorities of the various cities, and under properly constituted legal warrant. The employment of the visiting housekeeper is a means of reaching many homes and families that cannot be reached in any other way. An- other woman's kitchen has been described as the most inac- cessible of places, and the success of the work will depend almost entirely upon the training and tact of the person em- ployed. CONTINUED EDUCATION IN HOUSEHOLD ARTS 131 Qualifications. The woman who undertakes this work will require wide information along technical lines. She should have thoroughly grasped the theories and ideals that are included in a thorough study of the household arts, and above all she must acquire the faculty of eliminating all that is not essential to their application. She must be able to teach the ordinary household processes in the home of a busy woman in the simplest and most expeditious way. The average mother will not try to repeat anything which seemed complicated and difficult at the time it was first shown to her. Cooking and general housekeeping methods will have to be reduced to the simplest processes before they will be readily adaptable to this kind of work, and along these lines there is still opportunity for much experimentation. The course taken during the training of the visiting housekeeper must be an all-round course rather than one in which specializa- tion plays an important part. " She will have to know about the sanitary care of the house, the essentials in personal and sex hygiene, the proper care and feeding of the family, the wisest use of the family income, the easiest way to keep house- hold accounts, the right way to launder, how to market, and how to take care of the food when it is purchased, the choice and care of hygienic clothing, and the simplest schemes for attractive house decoration. She must know how to show a family the way to get as much fresh air as possible into a house, and how to make the family want fresh air and enjoy it. She must be ready to teach the proper use and care of the plumbing, and she will have to know whether the plumbing has been installed according to law, or whether there are defects which should be reported and remedied. While inspection will be a minor phase of her work, still she should be quick to notice any violations of 132 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS the city sanitary code, and should see that legal standards are observed." ^ Work of the visiting housekeeper. The following extracts may be given from the annual reports of charitable organi- zations employing visiting housekeepers, as they indicate clearly the character of the work to be done.^ United Charities of Chicago Report, 1912. " Ignorance of homemaking on the part of both father and mother is becoming more and more apparent. Training the family in homemaking is fundamental in good case work. The best way is through the visiting housekeeper. She teaches the woman in her home how to cook with her crude utensils and simple food materials, and repeats her visits until the lesson is learned. She shows the mother how to buy wisely, to understand food values, the importance of cleanliness and fresh air, how to divide her income, how to interest and instruct her children, how to repair clothing, etc." Cambridge Associated Charities Report, 1913. " Our ambi- tion is to show clearly what constructive work one worker can do, that later we may find a public eager to employ four such workers, one in each district. Cooking lessons are only a part of this work. Hygiene, making over of old clothes and buying new ones wisely, proper care and discipline of children, marketing, value and use of different kitchen utensils, the care of fuel — all these need to be also included. It is igno- rance in all these practical matters that is the cause of ineflB- ciency in so many families." Detroit Associated Charities Report, 1913. " The visiting housekeeper work was started in December, 1912, because * Journal of Home Economics, February, 1914. »/6id., April, 1915. CONTINUED EDUCATION IN HOUSEHOLD ARTS 133 of the extremely improvident and in some cases harmful way in which the grocery orders were used by the poor. The visiting housekeeper in eight months of her work covered by this report had made 383 calls, giving 174 lessons in 133 families. Besides doing the reconstructive work in the homes of the poor, teaching them to plan and prepare nourishing and pleas- ing food, to clean windows, floors, and woodwork, make and repair clothing, and even cane chairs, she has taught invalid cooking in the homes of the patients of the visiting nurses, and followed the babies' milk fund nurses with instruction to the mother as to the preparation of cereals, stewed fruits, etc., unknown arts to the foreign woman. She has also pre- pared well-balanced and economical menus and grocery or- ders for the use of the Associated Charities workers. She has also established classes where older girls in her families can be instructed in methods of food preparation adapted to their circumstances." New York City Report, 1914. " In the homes the good re- sults are shown in five definite ways: family expense sys- tematized, family dietary revised, dietary for children fur- nished, general standard of living decidedly raised and health of family improved. A real transformation which promises to be permanent has taken place in 799 homes through the instruction of our four visiting housekeepers, one sewing teacher, and two dietitians." Cincinnati Associated Charities Report, 1911. "It is the business of this specially trained young woman to go into the most disorderly and poorly kept homes, to try to bring order from chaos. She helps the mothers wash, scrub, and clean thoroughly, if they promise to keep things decent thereafter. She teaches the housewife how to cook plain foods in the most palatable manner, how to save, by cooking 134 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS the same kind of food in various ways, and by utilizing the scraps ; cooks meals herself as object lessons ; goes marketing with the buyer of the family, teaches her how to buy so as to obtain the greatest nutritive value at the least cost ; plans the menu for each day in the week, substituting cereals, pure milk, etc., for black'coffee, leathery pancakes, and various indigestible or expensive foods frequently selected by house- wives who are ignorant of the art of domestic economy. She shows them how to make new garments or repair and make over old ones. She instructs them in the rules of hy- giene, and arouses whatever latent pride they may have in the appearance of their children and their homes. In many instances she has helped them bridge over the chasm be- tween dependency and self-support and has become the household divinity in several homes. She has conducted two neighborhood centers or classes where housewives come to learn cooking, sewing, and other household arts." The visiting housekeeper in rural districts. Unfortunately, at present this work is largely restricted to urban districts ; and we are apt to look at the large towns and cities and think they are the whole of the United States, while as a matter of fact the rural population form 53.7 per cent of the total population. The county representative or visiting farmer has been for several years an established institution and has proved his usefulness beyond question. Such agents are now located in more than one thousand counties out of the three thousand in the United States. Their work has proved that the place for an effective demonstration is on the farmer's own farm and not on some model farm backed with all the financial resources of the state. It is reasonable to sup- pose, in the case of the household arts, if the expert can obtain entrance into the individual home, and show how better work CONTINUED EDUCATION IN HOUSEHOLD ARTS 135 can be done there with the equipment the farmer's wife has, greater success will be achieved than if the demonstration is made with the supposedly ideal equipment of the schools. The crux of the whole problem is '* getting in," but the rural household demonstrator is really in a better position to obtain entrance into the home than the visiting housekeeper in the towns. The county agent has paved the way, and the social life in smaller communities is more intimate. The tomato clubs, canning clubs, sewing contests, etc., now so largely a feature of rural organizations, may all be utilized in obtaining such entrance. The housewife is naturally conservative and sensitive about her methods of managing the home, but there are few homes either rich or poor that do not need the advice of an expert. The work of the visiting housekeeper in rural districts will be different in many ways from that of the visiting house- keeper in towns and cities. It should be remembered that the problems of country women must be solved by country women. To appoint a woman to do this work who has not had actual experience of country needs and requirements is to court failure. Even in tenements there are often found con- veniences that are unknown in the farm home. The average farm woman has to work harder and with worse tools than the woman in the same social scale in the town or city. A young man in a class studying "country life and problems" in order to make this point clear gave a summary of his mother's daily routine of work at one particular season of the year as follows : ^ 1. Rise at 4.30. 2. Prepare breakfast while men milk the cows. 1 "Studies in Rural Citizenship," Canadian Council of Agriculture, Winnipeg. 136 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS 3. Leave dishes, hurry to the cellar, get cold water from a distant well to chill milk, carry out sour and skimmed milk for pigs, calves, and chickens, wash milk vessels and carry out to sun. 4. Hurry, feed poultry. 5. Hurry, wash dishes. 6. Hurry, gather fruit and vegetables for dinner. 7. Prepare the same for table. 8. On certain days churning, baking, washing, and iron- ing are done. 9. Feed poultry. 10. Prepare dinner. 11. Wash dishes, sew or mend, put up fruit or vegetables. 12. Get supper, wash dishes, look after poultry and milk, and work in the garden. 13. Scrub the kitchen on certain evenings after the family has retired in order to prevent " tracking the floor." 14. Retire about 10 p.m. Most city houses are provided with a heating system, running water, and electric or gas lighting. These are un- known in many country dwellings. House planning in towns, though still bad enough from the woman's point of view, is much better attended to than in the country. The barn and the drive shed is generally considered as of more importance than the house in which the wife has to work, and for these and other reasons the work of the visiting housekeeper in the rural districts will be as much concerned with household equipment as with household management. As an example of what may be done in this direction take the following : ^ The better farming section of the North Dakota Experi- * Journal of Home Economics, June-July, 1915. CONTINUED EDUCATION IN HOUSEHOLD ARTS 137 ment Station is now employing a visiting housekeeper to go into the individual homes. Attention at present is concen- trated upon (1) effective arrangement of working equipment in the kitchen, with a view to saving time and energy; (2) encouragement and aid in purchasing the best labor- saving devices suited to the particular needs of the individual ; (3) better sanitation, including cisterns, water systems, and methods of sewage disposal. It is felt that many of the problems of the rural housekeeper will be solved by placing in the rural home many of the conveniences that are generally found in city homes. No better use can be made of the Federal grant provided under the Smith-Lever and Smith- Hughes bills than the training and support of visiting house- keepers for rural districts. Movable schools of household arts. The American Asso- ciation of Farmers' Institute Workers adopted the following resolution in 1906 : " That this association, appreciating the importance of providing more systematic instruction in agri- culture, hereby expresses its approval of the movable school of agriculture as an instrument for this purpose." The general adoption of such schools and the success they have achieved have led to the conclusion that the same methods applied to the household arts might meet with the same suc- cess. The movable school is instruction of a systematic character extending over a week or more, given by properly qualified teachers, at points variously distant from the cen- tral institute. Such schools are not suited for pioneer work, as before they can be successful the demand for them must be created. In creating this demand, the women's institutes can play an important part. A variation of the movable school idea is a series of weekly lectures or demonstrations, properly organized, such as are given by the Ontario Depart- 138 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS ment of Agriculture. As the time of the school is short, every means should be taken to make the best use of it. The gen- eral course is often too diffuse, and it is probable that the unit method applied here would accomplish much more. The classes should be kept small and the time should not be wasted on note taking, as the students who are likely to at- tend are not generally able to take notes, except in the form of straight dictation, and this is an inexcusable waste of time. A printed syllabus of each lecture with a list of references and other material that can be obtained by the students should be prepared in a form which can be kept for future use. The teacher, of course, must be fully qualified and in full sympathy with country life. The time of the instructor should not be wholly taken up with actual teaching. She should have part of each day for visiting in the homes. It is a debatable question which of two methods should be adopted in this extension teaching of the household arts, each student using the home kitchen for her equipment and the lessons being given in the form of demonstration lessons, or the actual cooking being done in class, much after the manner in which the subject is taught in the high school. If the equipment found in the school kitchen is similar to that found in the homes of the district, if the cooking can be done in family quantities, and if the class instruction be supplemented by supervised home practice later, the second method is probably the better. Many state universities carry on extension work of this character. Instructors are sent out for one or two weeks to a certain locality, passing at the end of the fixed period to a similar school in another locality. Some schools have one instructor only, and in these, as a rule, special attention is given to work on foods ; there are others provided with two CONTINUED EDUCATION IN HOUSEHOLD ARTS 139 or more instructors and in these, of course, much more can be done relating to general household management and clothing as well as to cooking. In the two-teacher schools it is usual to provide a class for girls of high school age as well as for housewives. The arrangements are usually made through some local organization, such as women's institutes, and this organization is asked to make itself responsible for a satisfactory attendance, a certain part of the expenses of running the school, and the equipment and accommodation for carrying on the class. These schools should make some attempt to keep in touch with the students after the conclusion of the classes. They should be made acquainted by the college with the newer developments. A follow-up system similar to that used in the best business houses might be adopted. When a stu- dent's interest has been properly aroused, she is not content with attending one school, but keeps up her reading and generally attends the school the following year. A super- vised reading or correspondence course should be provided between the school periods in order that interest may be kept up and an authority provided to which the student may ap- peal for help in solving various household problems that crop up during the year, and which could not be dealt with during the limited time the schools are in session. Short courses. Many young women and housekeepers who have attended movable schools have been induced to take the next step, and attend one of the numerous short courses. These courses are offered by various agricultural colleges, or agricultural departments of universities, and are generally held in the winter when the farmer's wife is relieved of much of the outside work which has to be done at other seasons. The movable school is a step in advance over the 140 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS women's institutes and homemakers* conferences, and the short course, lasting on the average about twelve weeks, enables much more work to be done than the movable school. As a rule no entrance conditions are imposed, and all over eighteen years of age with a common school education are ad- mitted. The tendency now is to offer instruction extending over more than one season, and thus while each short course is complete in itself, attendance at several provide a well- rounded course in the whole subject. A course lasting for seven weeks is given at the University of Missouri. Its aim is stated to be that of ^^ supplying a type of training similar to that furnished to young men in the short-course in agriculture. With this end in view we have selected from our regular course those subjects which bear most directly on home life, and have adapted them to the needs of the short-course student. These have been supplemented by courses in agriculture in which the women might be interested, such as dairying, poultry raising, and home gardening." ^ Cornell University offers a three months' course open to all persons over eighteen years of age, dealing with the follow- ing subjects : foods ; home sanitation ; home management ; sewing and drafting ; and art in the home. As the farmer's wife is usually held largely responsible for the dairy, poultry and garden, courses are offered in these subjects. Special short technical courses in canning and preserving, laundry management, dressmaking and millinery are being developed in the hope that many girls may be able to engage in work of this character on a commercial basis without leaving the farm. * "Education for the Home." United States Bureau of Education, Bulle- tin, 1914, No. 38. CONTINUED EDUCATION IN HOUSEHOLD ARTS 141 In addition to the work being done by the agricultural colleges and universities, many secondary schools such as the county agricultural high schools and the congressional dis- trict high schools are providing short courses in household arts for girls, as well as agricultural courses for boys, and as these schools develop, the necessity for such work in the colleges will probably diminish and they will be able to devote their attention to work of real college grade. Demonstration trains. In agricultural extension work much use has been made of the demonstration train, and in many of these the household arts have been well represented. It is not the mission of the train to give much definite formal instruction, owing to lack of time and other limitations, yet they have done much good, and aroused the desire for further information. Interest in them does not wane. At first they were looked upon as a rather absurd fad, but even in states where they have been in operation for ten years or more the enthusiasm and interest increase rather than diminish on each successive visit of the train. They reach a class of dwellers in rural districts that apparently can be reached by no other means. In many cases the great railways cooperate with the colleges and universities in running the trains. In 1912 four agri- cultural trains were taken over the lines of three railway companies at a small expense to the state of West Virginia. Lectures were given to 17,400 people, ninety-eight stops of one and a half hours each being made in twenty-nine counties. The routes, occupying twenty-two days, covered 11,074 miles. The trains, consisting of three lecture coaches for men and one for women and children, together with a baggage car, were furnished free by the railway company. In North Carolina the farmers' institutes are running 142 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS household arts trains with the idea of benefiting the woman on the farm. They are fitted simply with a gasoline stove and a few ordinary cooking utensils, and illustrated charts are hung along the sides of the car. The cars are run through the rural section, and fully qualified teachers give simple lectures on various problems of household management, special emphasis being laid on sanitation, hygiene, and the care of children. The Colorado Agricultural College in 1914, in cooperation with the colonization department of the Santa Fe railway lines in Colorado, ran a train of six cars and coaches, two of which were devoted to the household arts. One vestibuled coach was reserved for lecture work, and cooking demonstra- tions on " Variety in the preparation of cured meats and dairy products " were given by an instructor from the col- lege, assisted by a senior student. These were preceded by a talk on " Practical methods for curing meats on the farm." A space of forty-five feet was allowed for household arts exhibits, and this was occupied by cases each forty-eight inches long, by thirty inches wide, by six inches deep, and so mounted that the center of the case was on a level with the eye. These exhibits were intended to suggest methods of home improvement, and the condition of the average rural home in Colorado was the standard kept in mind. Owing to the prohibitive cost of models, suggestions for water supply, waste disposal, lighting, heating, and ice plants were not exhibited, and for these topics, suggestions were confined to a bulletin board announcement of descriptive literature dealing with those subjects. Many of the exhibits took the form of models made to scale. The exhibit included wall finishes and wall coverings, floor finishes and floor coverings, ventilating devices, and the CONTINUED EDUCATION IN HOUSEHOLD ARTS 143 metal weather strip, the proper equipment of the bed and bedroom, desirable and possible equipment for cleaning, miscellaneous devices and conveniences for the kitchen and work table, the housewife's tool chest, house-dresses for the housewife and garments for the small child, a set of pantry shelves properly equipped, and a bookshelf containing a ten dollar library, catalogues of which were available for free distribution.^ There are many districts, of course, that trains cannot yet reach, and for these other methods will have to be de- vised. For such communities, the Tuskegee Institute has fitted up a wagon known as the " Jessup " agricultural wagon drawn by two mules. While this wagon is principally de- signed to improve farming conditions, the household side is not entirely neglected. It should be possible to make use of this method in many isolated rural districts that cannot be reached by any other means. Women's institutes and homemakers' conferences. Other forms of extension work in household arts with which farmers' institutes, colleges, and other organizations are concerning themselves, are women's institutes and homemakers' confer- ences. The farmers' institute is a one, two, or three days' conference usually organized by the state college or depart- ment of agriculture. Ever since their initiation, women have attended the conferences, and in some cases special sessions have been organized for them. In many states and prov- inces separate institutes for women are now in active opera- tion. The institute meetings are not usually concerned with definite instruction. The time over which they extend is too short for this. Their purpose is largely inspirational, 1 "Education for the Home." United States Bureau of Education, Bulle- tin, 1914, No. 38. 144 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS and their efforts are still needed in arousing interest and stim- ulating progress. When this interest is aroused, they can be followed by the movable school or the short course. There is a marked tendency now, however, to make even the two or three day institute the vehicle of some definite instruction. In connection with the farmers' institutes of Illinois there is a department of household science which is managed by its own officers. Related to the Illinois institutes is the Illi- nois Girls' State Fair School of Domestic Science. This is a two weeks' school, held in the women's building on the state fair grounds at Springfield. Each county sends one repre- sentative; a fee of ten dollars is charged for board; the students live in the building and the whole service is per- formed by them. The building accommodates 102 students. A lecture is given daily by a nurse, and two demonstration cookery lessons by the principal of the school. Women's institutes have been developed in the Province of Ontario to a much greater extent than elsewhere. There are 843 institutes in active operation throughout the Prov- ince and the number is constantly growing. In these in- stitutes there has long been a feeling that the work was not definite enough and was altogether too discursive. In order to remove this defect, series of ten or fifteen lessons in cook- ing, sewing, and home nursing are now being given. A fee of two dollars is charged for each course and twenty-five cents for a single lesson. These have proved so successful that they are being gradually extended, and it is hoped that at no distant date they will cover the whole of the province, and the idea is gradually spreading into the other provinces of the Dominion. Each class consists of at least twenty-five pupils. The provincial department of agriculture provides all the equipment except the tables, chairs, and a cookstove, CONTINUED EDUCATION IN HOUSEHOLD ARTS 145 and is also responsible for the salary of a well-qualified teacher.^ The farmers' week is an institution of many of the col- leges and universities, and in connection with these there has been organized, in some cases, " farmers' wives' week." Sometimes a conference is organized independently, and is known by various names, such as ''housekeepers' confer- ence," ''school for housekeepers," or "week's course in home economics." The University of Texas offers a one week's program. The University of Illinois offers a two weeks' program, and immediately after this, extension courses in cooking and sewing of four weeks in duration are provided, thus offering opportunity for more extended study. Women's institutes and homemakers' conferences have not concerned themselves entirely with woman's place in the home. They have considered also her place in the community. They have established libraries, placed pianos in halls and schools, introduced tomato and canning clubs, improved the schools, established rest rooms, and entered into many other forms of social service which have for their object the general im- provement of social conditions. Government bulletins. Mention should be made here of the publication of bulletins by government bureaus and pri- vate institutions. The United States government is prob- ably the largest publisher of educational literature in the world, and large numbers of bulletins and pamphlets are is- sued by colleges, universities, and experiment stations. It is estimated that the federal department of agriculture alone issues annually more than twenty-four million copies of bulletins and circulars, and many of these deal with home 1 Annual Reports, "Women's Institutes." Ontario Department of Agriculture, Toronto. L 146 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS conditions and the work of the farmer's wife. The list in- cludes bulletins on food and dietetics, the house and its con- veniences, management of the household, hygiene, and many other topics. The Bureau of Education also publishes many bulletins on the household arts with particular reference to their introduction into the public schools. The most com- plete and authoritative publications yet issued on the subject are the four bulletins on " Education for the Home," issued by that bureau, and with the creation of the new division of home economics the probability is that these publications will increase in number and value. Many colleges make the issue of bulletins a regular feature of their extension service. Editions of thirty thousand to fifty thousand have been circulated by the state college of Oklahoma, the University of Minnesota, and Cornell University. The Cornell reading course for farmers' wives now includes about thirty-five different titles. As these bulletins are generally limited in circulation to the state issuing them, their usefulness is somewhat restricted ; and it should be possible to make arrangements by which one state may reprint the bulletins issued by another. An arrangement of this character has been made in the case of the different manuals issued by the Ontario Education De- partment. There are no general statistics available to show the extent to which these bulletins are read. As a rule they are written in the simplest non-technical language, though, here and there, there is a tendency for the specialists who write them to forget the character of the audience to whom they are intended to appeal. When these bulletins are written in the form of a connected narrative they should conclude with a summary giving plain and concise directions for carrying out the principles involved. The bulletin offers CONTINUED EDUCATION IN HOUSEHOLD ARTS 147 a means of reaching many thousands of housewives that could not be otherwise approached. In order that they may be most effectively used they should not be distributed indiscriminately. They should be sent only where there is need, and the mailing lists of the colleges and departments should be revised frequently. Special agencies. There are other special agencies not usually considered as educational institutions, which are affording real practical assistance to the busy housewife in need of help. Interest in problems concerning the home has grown so rapidly that many of these agencies have been stimulated to use their natural outlets to give assistance. Many of these efforts are frankly advertising schemes, but none the less they are proving of real service. Amongst these agencies are newspapers, gas and electric light companies, department stores, and insurance companies. The press. There are many magazines devoted to woman's work in the home, but only a very small percentage of these reach the actual homemaker. There are few homes, how- ever, into which the daily newspaper does not enter, and the articles and recipes published by it are providing needed assistance. The influence of articles showing how house- wives must stretch the income to meet the increased ex- penditures for food by learning how to substitute foods of equal nutritive value for those which economic conditions make prohibitive, cannot fail to be good. A feature of most newspapers is the daily market quotations, and the housewife who makes a practice of budgeting her expendi- tures finds these of great assistance. Many schools in various parts of the country are making use of the columns of the newspapers in order to bring necessary and timely informa- tion to the notice of the housekeepers of the neighborhood. 148 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS Gas and electric companies. These companies send out demonstrators to give instruction in the use and care of the various ranges. They show how to operate and care for them and explain the dangers of explosion and shock. Literature, containing recipes and methods of economical use, is freely distributed. Demonstrations are given on the cooking of the various foodstuffs, and every effort is put forth to make the use of the various appliances satisfactory to the purchaser. Instruction is given in the use of the carpet sweeper, vacuum cleaner, electric washing machine, and other labor-saving devices. Model rooms are set up to exhibit proper lighting effects and the advantages of electric heating and other elec- tric appliances, and in the effort to make sales, much informa- tion is given. When the sale is made, the companies do not cease their efforts, but are ready at all times to send com- petent persons to solve difficulties that arise in actual household use. Many of these companies publish monthly magazines in which valuable information is given. Department stores. The department stores through their demonstrations, displays, and exhibits make a strong appeal for the attention and instruction of the housewife. A food exhibit does not only show the preparation and serving of food but by means of lectures and pamphlets gives the house- wife a very clear conception of the possibilities and uses of the food demonstrated. Model apartments are fitted up, and the persons in charge are ready to give advice and sug- gestions as to furnishings, decoration, lighting, etc. Series of lectures are given on " cooking," " thrift," *' budgeting," " dress," '* food and feeding," etc. Free classes are held in sewing, crocheting, and all kinds of fancy work, and the stores are constantly reaching out in new directions. It used to be the fashion to sneer at all these efforts and call CONTINUED EDUCATION IN HOUSEHOLD ARTS 149 them " advertising dodges " ; but it is coming to be recognized that though their primary purpose is to advertise the store and its products, yet by their means information is reaching the people, and that this information could hardly be given in any other way. Insurance companies. Some of these publish free maga- zines containing such articles as *' School Children and their Needs," '^ Johnnie's Shoes " (calling attention to the possibility of taking cold from wet feet), ''Just Flies " (calling attention to the danger of the fly as a transmitter of disease) . Booklets and circulars are distributed. One on milk advo- cates cleanliness in all stages of its preparation. In connec- tion with one company a visiting nurse is maintained who instructs the policy holders in the principles of sanitation and hygiene. A booklet on " The Child " gives brief infor- mation about the child from the period of incubation to the third year of its growth. Directions for living and sleeping in the open air are given in another booklet distributed by the company. The suggestions given are simple and in- expensive and calculated to help those who would like to use what they have at hand in making an outfit for outdoor life. Private organizations. In addition to the organizations mentioned, there are many others which have for their main object the improvement of home conditions. Space will not allow of their being mentioned here. In every state and province we find the department of education, the de- partment of agriculture, the agricultural college, and many private and semi-private associations all taking a hand in the business of training the housekeeper so that she will be able to improve home conditions. One of the most impor- tant of these associations is that known as the General Federa- tion of Women's Clubs. This is a union of the various local 150 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS women's clubs throughout the United States in state and national federations. Over 8876 local clubs are directly affiliated with the national federation, and 7253 local clubs are affiliated with the state federations. The membership of the federated clubs is approximately seven hundred and fifty thousand. The organization was formed in 1889, but it was not till 1903 that household economics was made one of its important divisions. The federation at that time took over the work of the National Home Economics Association, which was organized in 1893. In 1904 a direct appeal was made to the federated clubs to promote in every possible way the introduction of the household arts into the public schools in their districts, and this has since been one of the leading planks in the club platform. In 1912 the following program was recommended : " the extension of the scope of home- economics work to include not only household activities, but also the related social and economic studies ; the use of the uniform term ' home economics ' instead of various other generic titles; cooperation in establishing social centers in urban, suburban, and rural communities ; assistance for rural women and aid in forming rural clubs ; the discouragement of lectures, associations, and exhibits that are commercial rather than educational ; the establishment of ideals as to food, clothing, and shelter; cooperation in securing college- entrance credits in home economics." ^ Many of the local clubs, while not neglecting what are called cultural subjects, are giving consideration to the actual prob- lems of the working housekeeper. The daily routine is being considered with reference to the best means of economizing time and labor. Discussions have been held on the Sunday 1 "Education for the Home." United States Bureau of Education, Bulle- tin, 1914, No. 37. CONTINUED EDUCATION IN HOUSEHOLD ARTS 151 program, the routine of wash day, baking day, cleaning day, etc. All together, the work the federation is doing for nation-wide home betterment cannot be overestimated. This federation of women's clubs points the way to a much- needed next step, which is the federation of all the different associations for home betterment. *' While excellent work has been done by the different federal agencies in furnish- ing information and advice to the country on vocational edu- cation, the service has been very greatly hampered by a lack of funds. There has to some extent been a lack of close intimate cooperation between the different departments and bureaus in gathering and using the material. There seems to be more or less overlapping and duplication of effort not conducive to the best results." ^ While the above was written with reference to government agencies it is just as applicable, or perhaps more so, to the numerous associations working for the improvement of home conditions. There is already constituted a body which would be well able to coordinate these different associations, and that is the vocational education division of the Bureau of Education. This division has a branch for home economics with two specialists in charge. Increase these officers and make a substantial addition to the funds appropriated for the work, and this division would be able to so federate the different agencies that waste of time and money would be avoided, and the results accomplished would be much more commensurate with the efforts that are being put forth. ^ Report of Commission on National Aid to Vocational Education, Washington. CHAPTER VI HOUSEHOLD ARTS INSTRUCTION IN PREVOCA- TIONAL, HOMEMAKING, AND TRADE SCHOOLS I. The prevocational school. II. The junior high school. III. Homemaking training in vocational schools. IV. Schools for homemakers. V. Homemaking courses in agricultural colleges. VI. Homemaking schools in Denmark. VII. School for training maids in Denmark. Until very recently school systems were organized and courses were drawn up on the assumption that the needs of the boy and the needs of the girl were identical and could be best met by a study of the same subjects, but the sub- jects were chosen, and their content and extent determined, almost entirely with reference to the supposed needs of the boy. This assumption dominated the entire system from the kindergarten to the university. It is now admitted that differentiation is necessary, but this differentiation in materials, means, and methods has not yet been satisfac- torily worked out. The prevocational school. Experiments are now being conducted with a type of school and class which is being called '' prevocational." These experiments are the re- sult of a public demand that the money spent on our educa- tional systems shall bring in more adequate returns in the way of effective lives and industrial ability, and also of the 152 '3 H H "A OTHER TYPES OF SCHOOLS 153 conviction that the large sums spent on industrial education have not yet resulted in reaching the large majority of boys and girls who leave school either from choice or necessity at thirteen, fourteen, or fifteen years of age to enter into wage-earning pursuits. From the investigations conducted by Professor Edward L. Thorndike ^ the amount of elimination, based on the registration of the several grades, is as follows : grade four, ten per cent; grade five, sixteen per cent; grade six, 20.6 per cent ; grade seven, twenty-six per cent ; grade eight, 32.5 per cent. Only about a third of all the children graduate from the elementary school, according to the above estimates, but it is only fair to say that the accuracy of Dr. Thorndike's figures have been disputed by Dr. Ayres, who finds that the " general tendency of American school systems is to carry all of the children through the five grades, half of them to the final elementary grade and one in ten to the final year of the high school." ^ Even the conclusions of Dr. Ayres are serious enough, as they force us to conclude that a large number of children never reach the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. It is these pupils that the so-called prevocational school is in- tended to reach. The term prevocational describes a type of general edu- cation which it is hoped will lay a better foundation for real vocational courses than is at present laid by the tra- ditional school course. Like the term " manual training," the term prevocational is perhaps open to some objec- tion, but it is not often possible to find a word immediately 1 The "Elimination of Pupils from School." United States Bureau of Education, Bulletin, 1907, No. 4. 2_ Ayres, Leonard P., Laggards in our Schools. 154 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS that will accurately describe the newer movements in edu- cation, and by the time such a word has been found, the original word has become so intrenched in popular usage that all attempts to dislodge it fail. The objection raised to this term is that it is likely to give the public the idea that the schools to which it is applied are professing to do what they really are not doing. Many are likely to think that it means specific preparation for a definite vocation, when in reality it does not of necessity mean anything of the kind. A pre vocational course is one which really pre- pares for vocational courses rather than for an actual vo- cation, and this distinction should be borne in mind. It should be remembered also that many of the children who take prevocational courses will get no other form of in- dustrial or vocational training and that to these, prevo- cational courses should be vocational. Purpose, organization, and method. These are well de- scribed in a circular issued by the Seattle board of educa- tion. From that circular the following is quoted : ^ " The establishment of industrial or prevocational courses of study in several of the elementary schools was authorized by the board of directors several years ago. The classes organized in these new courses have been very successful. Reports received indicate that pupils have shown a greatly increased interest in school, and have done work of a higher rank than ever before. " These courses of study relate much more to the industries for the boys and to household arts for the girls than the ordinary school course. Many parents desire to give their children the advantage of taking a course of study that provides for a training in these useful occupations, and a * Leavitt and Brown, Prevocational Education in the Public Schools, OTHER TYPES OF SCHOOLS 155 study of their economic and efficient application in life. They believe that such a course will furnish a much more satisfactory preparation for the duties of life than that af- forded by the regular academic course. It will also furnish an adequate preparation for a higher education. " In every school there are some boys and girls who prefer studies that employ their hands, and who have greater apti- tude in such studies than their fellows. They advance in their development by what they do, rather than by what they hear. They are practical-minded. Many such chil- dren drop out of school as soon as the law permits, not from lack of ability, but because the school fails to fit its pro- cedure to their particular needs. The establishment of these classes in industrial arts is an attempt to fit the school to the wants of this class of pupils. " These new courses of study also provide a more practical prevocational training for a class of boys and girls in the public schools, who will receive the greatest benefit from in- struction which will the soonest prepare them for training in a definite vocation. Such industrial classes are not sub- stitutes for a trade school, but for those who desire it they will lead more quickly and surely to apprenticeship in busi- ness or trade than the regular classes, while those pupils who desire to continue their study either in the high school or special schools are prepared to do so. "The school day is five hours, which is the same as for the other grade-school classes. Three hours of this time are spent upon the ordinary school studies, modified to suit the end aimed at in this plan, and two hours are devoted to the industrial and household arts — shop work and mechanical drawing for the boys; cookery, sewing, design and drawing for the girls. Separate classes are provided 156 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS for boys and girls because of the difference between their courses. "The industrial work for girls will consist of plain sewing, repairing, garment cutting and fitting ; the study of house- hold linens, and other fabrics used in the home ; the use of the sewing machine; class talks and discussions regarding clothing, its style, costs, and methods of manufacture, the sweatshop, trades and vocations for women; hygiene and home sanitation. There will also be the study of plain cooking, properties of foods, economy, table service, sanita- tion, laundry work, care of the home, etc. Class talks upon related topics of home life and its obligations, domestic serv- ice, income and expenditure will be a feature of this work. "The rank of these courses will correspond to the seventh and eighth grades of the usual school course, and will re- quire two years for completion. At the end of the two years pupils completing this work, who choose to continue their school studies, may enter the high school upon an equal footing with pupils entering from the regular academic courses. " This course is open to any boy or girl thirteen years of age or over, who has completed the equivalent of the present sixth grade, provided that the parent or guardian makes a written request that the pupil take the industrial course and the principal of the school last attended by the pupil approves the request. The number of pupils in each in- dustrial class is limited to twenty-four boys or twenty-four girls." Prevocational classes in Boston public schools. It will now be pertinent to describe one or two typical experiments that have been conducted along the line of prevocational classes. Such classes are now (1914-15) being conducted in twenty-two OTHER TYPES OF SCHOOLS 157 Boston public schools. The Washington Allston school was established in 1909, and as it has been in successful operation since that date it may be regarded as something more than an experiment. Alterations were made in the annex of the school, and the schoolhouse department supplied an equip- ment to enable the pupils to finish and furnish a working- man's home, and then to carry on the common household activities. The purpose of the work is to teach the pupils how to design and construct the material part of the home, and then to study how the best home life is made. The schoolhouse department did all the heavy work. It cut out one partition and built in another, put in four win- dows and laid new floors in two rooms, installed a kitchen sink, four laundry tubs, a coal range with hot water, and built three closets. It then supplied lumber, burlap, and painters' supplies, sewing material, and the ordinary house- hold kitchen equipment. Work was then begun with this new material. The walls were painted, the floors finished and dressed, and the furniture for five rooms was made by the boys. The work of the girls consisted of sewing the burlap used on the walls of two rooms, making the sheets, pillow cases, and coverings for the beds, making curtains, dishcloths, towels, and dusters. They also hemmed table- cloths and napkins, and worked monograms on them. The housekeeping activities are carried on in a very practical way. The gu"ls cook, wash, clean, iron, dust, decorate, and arrange, and all the while think about what they are doing and have a reason for everything they do. In addition to this work in housekeeping much attention is paid to cookery and serving meals. The girls make tables of costs of staple articles. They preserve fruit in large quantities with the cost estimated. They plan the cooking 158 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS and serving of meals for from six to twenty people, and work out the exact cost of each meal. The meals and lunches are sold to the teachers in the school. The following is an illustration of a table of equivalents as worked out by the pupils : Milk eight cents per quart = two cents per cup. Corn meal four cents per pound = one cent per cup. Granulated sugar six cents per pound = three cents per cup. Chocolate forty cents per pound = two and a half cents per square. Cocoa twenty cents per half pound = one quarter cent per teaspoon- ful. Rolled oats ten cents per package = one cent per cup. Baking powder 45 cents per pound = one quarter cent per tea- spoonful. A sample lunch for six persons with the cost worked out is as follows : Creamed Salmon : 1 can salmon $0.22 1 pint milk at 8^ per quart 04 2 tablespoonfuls butter at 40^ per pound 02^ Mashed Potatoes : 1 quart potatoes at 96^ per bushel 03 One half cup of milk at 8?f per quart 01 3 tablespoonfuls butter at 40 ji per pound 03f Baking Powder Biscuits : 3 cups flour at 4^ per pound 03 6 teaspoonfuls baking powder at 42^ per pound 03 2 tablespoonfuls lard at ISjzf per pound Olf 1 pound of butter at 40 j^ per pound 05 1| cups of milk at 8 ^ per, quart 02^ Tapioca Cream : 2| tablespoonfuls tapioca at lOjif per package 01| 3 cups of milk at 8^ per quart 06 2 eggs at SQi per dozen 06 i cup of sugar at Q \ / V 1 \ \ / / 1 f / \ / \ / \ / eo 70 \ / \ A / \ / \ r K / V. 60 > / ■> J L / \a y so ^ / — — V - dO — — — - so 20 10 1 1 1 ^ 4, e^ /s ^ /6 £0 _ e4 ,2a ^32 ^36 ^40 Jt4 ^48 52, 170 ISO ISO 140 130 no no 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 ^ti^ffus* ^^pttPibcr October filo^efnter Oectmber January ^eb'var^ Mare/* Afiri/ May Jane Remedies proposed. The remedy generally proposed for this condition of things is the industrial training of the girl in order that she may become a skilled worker. It has already been pointed out that in innumerable processes no skill is required. Far more important and far-reaching than the lack of skilled workers is the lack of opportunity to use skill in the various industries. The problem cannot be solved by the production of more skilled workers, unless at the same time we increase the opportunities for using skill, and this is an industrial problem rather than an educational one. Reduce the supply of unskilled labor. The first requisite in solving this question is to reduce the supply of unskilled labor, and this can be done in two ways : (1) by enforcing the present laws regarding compulsory attendance, and THE PROBLEM OF THE UNSKILLED WORKER 261 (2) by raising the age of compulsory attendance to sixteen years. The Commissioner of Education reports that of twenty-five miUion children of school age (five to eighteen) less than twenty million are enrolled in school, and that the average daily attendance does not exceed fourteen million for an average school term of less than eight months of twenty days each. The average attendance of those en- rolled in the public schools is only 113 days in the year. In ten states less than two thirds of the school population are enrolled. In seventeen states less than two thirds of those enrolled are in average daily attendance. In twenty states the average length of a school term is less than one hundred days. In forty-two states the average attendance is less than one hundred days, in nineteen states less than seventy-five days, and in five states less than fifty days. From these figures we can only come to two conclusions, either that compulsory laws do not exist in regard to ele- mentary education, or that if they do exist they are not enforced. It is sometimes said that, in view of the life for which the girl is to be trained, we need a new type of teacher. Perhaps this may be true, but we also need a new kind of attendance ofiicer, one who will without fear or favor en- force the laws and secure the attendance at school of every child in his district, regardless of whom it may offend. When the existing laws are enforced, then, and not till then, will it be justifiable to raise the age of compulsion to sixteen years. Notwithstanding all our educational surveys and propa- ganda, the average parent has yet to be convinced that edu- cation for the girl beyond fourteen, and sometimes even up to fourteen is not a waste of time as far as wage-earning power is concerned. It is folly to go on expecting that we can change 262 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS this attitude of the parent by moral suasion. The law must be invoked and the employment of children before reaching the age of sixteen be made illegal. When this can be done, the question naturally arises as to the type of education to be given in the two years thus gained. These two years must be devoted to studies along prevocational and voca- tional lines, the methods of which have not yet been fully worked out. Hopeful experiments in this direction are now being made, and there is reason to believe that from some of these experiments a scheme will be evolved which will meet the needs of a large majority of the girls, who for various reasons are not able to proceed to higher institutions of learning. Raise the school age to sixteen years. Assuming that the present laws can be rigidly and impartially enforced, and that education of a satisfactory vocational type can be evolved for the years fourteen to sixteen, the raising of the age to sixteen is quite justifiable. Two main objections are urged against this, the first being that it would cripple a large number of the industries that now employ little girls to do their unskilled labor; and the second is, that it would inflict great hardship upon a large number of parents who need the earnings of these young children. With reference to the first objection it may be said that young human life is too precious and too vital to the future welfare of the nation to be cramped into a mold to meet the demands of subdivided, highly specialized, and com- mercialized industries. The industries should exist for the girl and not the ghl for the industries, and until this view is recognized the education of our girls will not be such as is demanded by a real civilization. There is even more justification for raising the age in the case of the gu'ls than THE PROBLEM OF THE UNSKILLED WORKER 263 there is in the case of the boys. The girls are the future wives and mothers of the race, and upon their physical perfection, state of health, and poise of mind, the future of that race depends more than it does upon the commercial success of our industries. That this future of the race is imperiled by the too early entry of young girls into indus- tries will not be questioned by those who know anything of the conditions under which much of their work is done. Girls should be prohibited by law from all trades which menace their physical and moral well-being. The trades remaining should be carefully selected on the basis of labor demand, opportunity for advancement in efficiency and remuneration, their effect upon womanly instincts and domestic tastes ; and in the trades thus selected they should receive as careful training as that given to boys. Continued education. Some states, such as Wisconsin, have already made a beginning in the direction of continued education for the fourteen to sixteen year old girl. Here they have a measure of legal compulsion for the permit worker fourteen to sixteen years of age and the power to levy a tax of half a mill on each dollar of the assessed value of the city to support the work. It is found that these permit workers are " practically all poor readers, poor spellers, inaccurate in their mathematical processes, and apparently without the general knowledge which they would be reasonably expected to possess in view of their age and years in school." ^ About four hours a week are given to this work from the employers' time, and that without loss of pay. This is justifiable on the ground that such continued education makes the em- ployee more intelligent, and thus of greater value to the employer. In addition to such compulsory classes there ^ Industrial Arts Magazine, August, 1914. 264 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS are other classes of a voluntary character, such as classes for saleswomen. In Milwaukee a class of young women from the department stores attends school, one half of each day for a period of three months, and is taught by an expert saleswoman who has been specially trained for this work. In addition some of the teachers go out to the stores to meet larger groups of clerks for the discussion of their store problems. If measures such as these were generally adopted, the transition to compulsory education up to sixteen years of age would be rendered easier of accomplishment. Training away from unskilled jobs. The unskilled occupa- tions to which we have been directing attention are, in normal times, always overcrowded, and there is apparently no need of training in order to obtain sufficient workers. At present there has not been discovered any body of re- lated study in arithmetic, drawing, science, art of any kind, that can be given to these workers that will make them more skilful, as in the majority of cases it is speed and not intelligence that is required. Hence the problem is, in nearly all cases, to train them away from the thing they are doing over towards another occupation, or away from illiteracy, or near illiteracy, and towards self-improvement, or deal with them through some kind of educational recrea- tion. Dr. Miinsterberg, in his book Vocation and Learning, says : " The ideal fulfillment of the economic work of the nation ought to be the inspiration for every one who does a useful piece of service even in the humblest posi- tion. . . . The toiler's attention may be absorbed by the unpleasant drudgery of his labor or by the pleasant gain at the week's end, but in his deepest mind he ought never to forget that he is helping along that wonderful work of economic achievement which gives worthy meaning to his THE PROBLEM OF THE UNSKILLED WORKER 265 industrious days. . . . Paths of ideal achievement are open before every one, poor or rich, well versed in high studies or trained by humble education, in the metropolis, and on the farm, boy or girl. And whoever feels the need of the ideal fulfillment will gain enduring happiness in his vocation, whether he be the director of the company, or the office boy, whether she be the college president or the kitchen girl/' No system of education or course of instruction that was ever yet planned, or ever will be planned, can accomplish the impossible. What " enduring happiness '' can there be in stuffing olives in bottles for nine and a half hours a day? What " paths of ideal achievement '' by sorting onions for the same length of time? In addition to the unpleasant character of much of the unskilled work, it is characterized by extreme monotony and excessive speed. A catcher in a cigarette factory during a day of ten hours will catch and examine from 130,000 to 150,000 cigarettes, and in hand packing of cigars it is said " the movements soon become mechanical so that the packer keeps her hands and body moving unconsciously even when she is not packing." ^ The report from which the above is quoted is full of in- stances of such extreme monotony and speed. In the confectionery industry it is found that a hand dipper must coat about fifteen pounds, say 720 pieces, of cream candy with chocolate per hour, or one piece every five seconds, to earn fifteen cents. A girl to earn six dollars a week in the paper box industry must paste paper strips on the sides of six thousand boxes or one every half minute. 1 "Women and Child Wage Earners in the United States," Vol. 18. Department of Commerce and Labor. 266 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS To earn $6.50 a week a shirt maker must join the backs and fronts of 5208 shirts.^ An inspector of boxes in a box factory inspects thirty thousand boxes a day, looking for twelve separate defects on each box. Her wage is six dollars a week.^ The time must soon come when the conditions as to speed and hours of women workers will be regulated by stringent laws as the true relation between fatigue and efficiency becomes better known. It is very hard for a girl engaged in these and kindred occupations to think that she " is helping along that won- derful work of economic achievement which gives worthy meaning to industrious days." The only satisfaction ever got out of work of this character is the weekly pay envelope, and too often that is miserably small. Let us frankly recog- nize that there is little pleasure to be got out of such jobs, and while endeavoring to give these workers a wider out- look outside their jobs, make every effort to train them away from them. The earnings of children. The argument that the earn- ings of these young children are needed by their parents is not borne out by the facts in a large number of cases. It is difficult to discover the exact situation owing to the fact that no one as yet has accurately determined how to either measure or define economic pressure, and in most investiga- tions yet conducted the statements of the parent and the child are the only sources from which data have been secured. There is a wide divergence in the results of these investiga- tions. Take the following as illustrating this difference of opinion : ^ Report of New York State Factory Investigating Commission, 1915, Vol. 1. Albany. s Ihid., Vol. 5. Albany. THE PROBLEM OF THE UNSKILLED WORKER 267 " Three hundred and eighty out of a total of 530 or seventy- two per cent left school on account of economic pressure." ^ " That ' money was needed ' was volunteered generally as a reason more than any other and a real need for the child's earnings often exists." ^ " A table is given showing that out of a total of 620, 186 or thirty per cent left school because of economic pressure." ^ " Of 214 families studied fully one half the girls were not forced to curtail their education and fifty-five per cent were living in really comfortable homes." ^ " Forty per cent of these families declared they wanted their children to remain in school and what is more tragic, sixty-six per cent of them could have kept them there. Those who left school from necessity were 2450 out of 5549 (forty- four per cent)."^ " Out of this number 330 (fifty-two per cent) gave lack of money as the prime cause of leaving school." ^ " On the basis of the government's standard of income only twenty per cent of the children had to leave on account of economic pressure." ^ " Only twenty-seven per cent of the families were believed to require the earnings of the children, while seventy-three per cent apparently had no such economic need." ^ 1 "A Plea for Vocational Training." The Survey, August 7, 1909. 2 "The Working Girl from the Elementary Schools in New York." Charities and the Commons, February 22, 1908. 3 " Condition of Women and Child Wage Earners in the United States," Vol. 7. Department of Commerce and Labor, Washington. 4 "A Trade School for Girls." United States Bureau of Education, Bulle- tin, 1913, No. 17. 6 Report of Massachusetts Commission on Industrial Education, April, 1906. « Talbert, Ernest L., Opportunities in School and Industry for Children in the Stockyard District. ' Report of Superintendent of Schools, New York, 1912. 8 Survey, August 9, 1913. 268 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS It will be seen that the estimates in these investigations vary from twenty per cent to seventy-two per cent. The variations are probably caused by the different methods of the investigators and the varying conditions in the different locali- ties in which the investigations were conducted. Where hardship is really felt by the withdrawal of the child's earn- ings, this hardship might be avoided, or considerably lessened by scholarships or maintenance allowances. This plan has been found to work well on a limited scale in the Manhattan Trade School for Girls, New York, and the Boston Trade School for Girls. The state would be fully justified in mak- ing such allowances. The fact that the child's earnings are needed in some cases is often due to the fact that several members of the same family are engaged in unskilled labor, the wages for which are low. Thus the problem of the un- skilled meets us at every point. Adjustment of industry to new conditions. When the supply of unskilled labor fails, industry will accommodate itself to the change, and by a process of readjustment find different work for those who are now employed in monoto- nous, soul-wearying tasks. The time when every worker will be able to find congenial employment is far distant. We cannot make sorting pickles, work in packing houses, more ideal to the workers by telling them how the onions grow or how the beast is fed; but shorter working hours must come, and this will give more leisure, and it is out of this leisure that the worker may find the " paths of ideal achieve- ment." For these workers we must have education for leisure or as it has been aptly called " avocational educa- tion." The mind which is allowed to remain stagnant will grow weeds, and thus become dangerous to the national life. It must be remembered that the operations in which many THE PROBLEM OF THE UNSKILLED WORKER 269 of these workers are engaged become so mechanical that they are performed like the working of a machine, and re- quire no thought or mental process of any kind on the part of those engaged therein. The mmd and mental powers of the operator must be trained outside the industry in which she is engaged. The demand on the part of the public for vocational training is not only a challenge to the schools to give it, but it is a challenge more especially to the industries to provide oppor- tunities for the workers when the training has been given. As Dr. J. H. Finley, Commissioner of Education for New York State, says : " It is a challenge to each industry as to what it has to offer each boy or gu-1 whom it invites into its factory doors. A challenge to show a clean bill of health with respect to all such factors as opportunity for advance- ment, educational content, wages, hours, and hygienic conditions. If industry has been so developed that it leads to intellectual degeneration in its workers, it then becomes the duty of the state to correct and counteract the evil." Physical training and recreation. Classes for physical education and recreation are needed to counteract the wear- ing influence of monotony. The physical exercises should be different for those girls engaged in work that requires a standing position from those provided for girls engaged in work requiring a sitting position. Folk dancing, recrea- tional games, and physical drill to music could be made of great use. Considerable attention should also be paid to personal hygiene, and the amount and kind of food to main- tain efficiency. Many girls who will not attend classes for serious prolonged study may be reached through clubs, social settlements, and other organizations of a kindred nature, and where the school is used as a social center much 270 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS may be done in this connection. Entertainment and recrea- tion is the main object of those who attend such classes, but, if properly handled, this may be made instructional and educational without interfering with the recreational char- acter of the work. Examples of activities of this kind are dramatic clubs, reading and story-telling clubs, embroidery clubs, fancy work clubs, etc. The moving picture machine may be made use of. The best literature is now being dramatized for this machine, and many famous classics are being introduced to the people in this way. The use of this means of education has hardly yet been touched. If the conditions portrayed above are only partially true, it becomes clear that no system of vocational education can be considered complete that does not provide training, though perhaps of a different kind, for the unskilled and low-skilled worker, as well as for those in the more highly skilled occupations. CHAPTER X TYPES OF SCHOOLS AND ORGANIZATIONS FOR THE VOCATIONAL TRAINING OF WOMEN I. Introduction. II. Differentiated courses. III. Prevocational schools. IV. Trade schools. V. The teacher. VI. Disposal of the product. VII. Part-time education. VIII. Women's Educational and Industrial Union, Boston. Introduction. The problem of the vocational education of girls and women is, as has already been pointed out, a twofold one, and this twofold purpose cannot in practice be sepa- rated. For the sake of convenience the question of instruc- tion in household arts for the purpose of training efficient housewives has been dealt with separately, and will not be further referred to here ; but it must be remembered that in every school of whatever type, for the industrial training of girls, this instruction must be given a place, and that in many cases this instruction may be given a definite industrial value which may be made of direct use for wage-earning purposes outside the home. The problem is still further complicated by the fact that owing to the economic position of woman as the consumer of the world's goods and the spender of her husband's money she should be given, whether she is to be a wage-earner or 271 272 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS not, a knowledge of the industrial conditions under which, and the processes by which, the world's goods are produced. When the woman recognizes her responsibilities as a con- sumer, when she refuses to buy goods that are produced under insanitary conditions and by sweated labor, many of the in- dustrial conditions of which we now complain will be removed and the problem of vocational education much simplified both for girls and boys. There are many groups of girls that have to be dealt with. Here we have a girl who has left school as an illiterate, and needs training in the elementary branches of a general edu- cation, so as to give her civic and domestic intelligence. Another is engaged in an unskilled occupation who has abil- ity for millinery or dressmaking and ought to be trained away from her job in a textile mill and fitted for the other work. Another has ability to take high school subjects, and is able to take the usual high school course leading either to college or the higher vocations. Another is engaged in some automatic process in a shop or factory with neither the ability nor desire to rise out of it, and should be given such directed recreation as would palliate the effects of her deadening em- ployment. It cannot be denied that, in general, courses of study have been organized solely with reference to the needs of the boys attending our schools. The first recognition of the fact that girls were girls, and, as such, needed, in some cases, a different curriculum, came with the introduction into the courses of study of manual training for the boys and household arts for the girls. The practical working of this principle has been strongly influenced by the conviction that for girls, as well as for boys, there was needed in the last two years of the elementary course a type of industrial training which on TYPES OF SCHOOLS 273 the one hand would prove a good introduction to the work of the trade school proper for those girls who were able to take such training, and on the other would give to those girls who were obliged to go to work immediately on leaving the ele- mentary school some ability to make a more intelligent choice of an occupation in those cases where choice is possible. Differentiated courses. In one of the public schools of New York City (No. 62, Manhattan) three courses were recom- mended for girls — academic, commercial, and industrial, which last included dressmaking, millinery, pasting, and novelty work or work on power machines. At the beginning of 7A grade the pupils are divided into three sections accord- ing to the course they wish to take. In the industrial course they devote nine weeks to each branch. These courses are designed to give the girl merely an insight into the different vocations in order to disclose her bent. Another experiment along the same lines is an industrial course for girls in the seventh year. This consists of two di- visions — academic and practical. In a year's course of one thousand hours, five hundred hours are devoted to academic work consisting of arithmetic, English, history and civics, geography, music, physical training, and hygiene. The practical course is divided into four groups as follows : (1) sew- ing — dressmaking, lampshades, millinery ; (2) machine oper- ating — embroidery, garments, straw ; (3) pasting— sample mounting and novelty work ; (4) domestic science — cookery, laundry, housekeeping. The time spent on this course is five hundred hours, and each girl works in each of the groups for ten weeks. If a girl shows special aptitude for any particu- lar line early in the term, she is not required to take all the other groups, but is at once directed to a school where she can specialize along that line. If a girl works through the whole 274 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS course, she will thus get a glimpse of each of the four main groups of work in which women are engaged and be able to discover to some extent in what branch she has the greatest aptitude. Another example of such differentiated courses is found in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. The State Normal School offers to pupils from any part of the city, who have completed the sixth grade, the choice of four courses with one third of the time given to manual arts, household arts, or commercial studies. In the manual arts course (boys) ten hours a week are given to drawing and design, making and repairing. In the household arts course ten hours a week are devoted to work in domestic art and science. In the commercial course five hours a week are given to bookkeeping, business forms and procedure, business arithmetic and related design, and five hours to typewriting and handwork. In the literary course five hours a week are given to modern literature, and five hours to drawing, design, making and repairing for the boys, and household arts for the girls. In all courses twelve and a half hours a week are given to English, mathematics, geography, history, and science, and seven and a half hours to physical training, music, general exercises, and recesses. The literary course is designed for those who expect to enter high school and proceed to college. The other courses, while admitting to the high school, aim also to give a practical prep- aration for life work to those who expect to leave school at fourteen years of age. The school is in session thirty hours a week. The work in the industrial department is of a very practi- cal character. In household arts, while leading directly to the home, the work is of such a nature that it may be ex- pected to lead to many occupations in which women are TYPES OF SCHOOLS 275 engaged outside the home. Women are entering the field of food manufacture and service to such an extent as to open up many other lines of work for which girls can be trained, and in the near future it may be expected that the household arts courses in our schools will be given a more industrial and wage-earning trend, just as the manual training courses are now being modified in this direction. The work in type- writing has consisted in copying letters to industrial plants in various towns and cities, asking for catalogues and industrial exhibits, original letters to school children in different parts of New England, describing Fitchburg industries, and request- ing replies giving the same information regarding their cities, copying letters to parents explaining courses offered by the school, and various other kinds of practical work. Courses of the above character have the decided advantage of giving some definite industrial training, at the same time they prepare for high school ; thus leaving open the way to a higher education should a change in the circumstances of the family make this possible, or a change in the views and purpose of the girl render it desirable. Pre vocational schools. The type of school we have next to consider is the prevocational school. Most enlightened employers are now agreed that the boy or girl of fourteen to sixteen years of age is not an industrial asset, and that ef- forts should be made to keep them out of industry, and if this is to be done, other means than those now provided by the traditional high school must be evolved. A school of the prevocational type should take the girl at fourteen years of age and give two years' specific vocational training, the last of which might be specialized training in her self-chosen trade or industry. Such classes are not yet established in large numbers. Examples are to be found in Rochester, Albany, 276 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS and some towns of Massachusetts, but the courses in them are yet centered around the activities of the home and, outside perhaps dressmaking and millinery, do not attempt to pre- pare for specific industries. If these schools were generally established, they would probably reach a large number of boys and girls who now leave school at the age of fourteen, and supply a training that would give a better equipment to enter industrial life at six- teen. Such schools take their pupils at an age when the question of wages is not generally so important as later, and many parents would be willing to support their children at school for one or two years if convinced that practical benefits would follow. Herein lies the crux of the whole matter. The parents must be convinced that financial benefit will result to the future wage-earner before they will be willing to sup- port such schools. The employers who profess to believe that the girl of fourteen is not desirable in the factory must be willing to back up their belief by higher wages to the girl of sixteen, and the conductors of surveys could not do better than direct some of their attention to the greater wage-earn- ing capacity of the trained worker and show, if such can be shown, and we confidently believe that it can, that in a num- ber of years the total earnings of the trained greatly exceed those of the untrained. In the present economic condition of society sermons on the text ''Education for education's sake" fall on stony ground. There are many trades in which women are engaged for which training could be given, such as engraving, photography, millinery, garment making, embroidery, laundry work, cooking, institutional and lunch-room management. These subjects should be taught as trade subjects, and no form of glorified manual arts will meet either the needs of the pupils TYPES OF SCHOOLS 277 or of the industrial world. A prevocational school is, pri- marily, for the purpose of enabling pupils to select a vocation and secondly, to partially acquire it. They must be taught correct business methods, and not be allowed to dawdle and play with industrial elements or they will leave the school with false ideas of industry and of the part that economy of time and effort plays in the industrial world. Trade schools. Probably the most important type of school for the real vocational education of girls is that known as the '' trade school." This was once used as a term of con- tempt, as it was thought to imply a type of training fit only for those who were not competent to enter a high school, but the contempt has now been outlived, and even the high schools are giving considerable attention to the vocational element in their curricula. If conditions were ideal, perhaps no girl would ever need to attend a trade school with the idea of engaging in practical industry outside the home, and no girl would be allowed to enter a trade school under six- teen years of age, but conditions are not ideal, and many trade schools are forced by economic conditions and the needs of their constituents to admit girls at fourteen or even younger. Trade schools for boys have long been in existence, but trade schools for girls are not so old. Several of the schools now established were begun under private auspices, and after they had demonstrated their usefulness were incorporated into the public school system. The first trade school for girls in Europe. This was estab- lished in 1865 and is known as the Bischoffsheim^ school, situated in Brussels. Its main work is the teaching of the ar- tistic trades, and much attention is paid to drawing and paint- ^ "A Glance at Some European and American Vocational Schools." Con- sumers' League of Connecticut. 278 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS ing. Girls are admitted as young as twelve years, though but few of this age are found in the school. The school specializes in the making of artificial flowers. The equipment is said to be so simple that it would be easy to introduce this industry for girls into American cities. The whole outfit occupies one medium-sized light room, and consists of several long plain wooden tables, two alcohol lamps, a glue pot, and a few small tools for each girl, fresh flowers in vases for models, and the materials out of which the flowers are made. A draw- ing is first made of the flower and of each part of the flower, and colored in exact tints, and from the drawing the artificial flower is constructed. Each girl learns how to mix the dyes so as to produce all kinds of neutral tints, and keeps a book of drawings and a notebook in which the method of making each flower is written down in detail. The flowers are sold to the stores, each girl receiving what is paid for her work. This school is a notable example of simple equipment thoroughly adapted to its purpose. Trade schools for girls in London. The day trade schools of the London (England) County Council are an excellent type. One of the best known of these is that at Blooms- bury.^ This is known as an all-day or pre-apprentice trade school, and was originally established by private enterprise as the Westcot Tailor Shop, and trained fifteen girls at one time. In 1907 it was taken over by the educational authori- ties of the city of London and incorporated into its system of schools. The purpose of the school is to fit girls for skilled employment and to offer improvement courses for those al- ready in the trade. Apprenticeship in the trades in the locality covers a period of two years (generally without inden- 1 "Some Trade Schools in Europe." United States Bureau of Education, Bulletin, 1914, No. 23., TYPES OF SCHOOLS 279 tures) and the school gives this apprentice training in the same length of time. The industries will not take a girl under sixteen, but she can enter this school at fourteen and in two years is able to enter the trade with two years' training and no apprenticeship to serve. The entire direction of the school is in the hands of the London County Council, subject to the approval of the National Board of Education. The total annual cost of run- ning the school is twenty thousand dollars and is made up by a grant from the National Board of Education, a small amount from fees, and the balance by the London County Council. The fees are two dollars each term, of which there are three in the year. Scholarships, based on the wages that would be earned in the trade, are offered to assist needy parents to allow their girls to take the training. The courses are so arranged that the graduates of the school may enter the trade at the beginning of the busy season. The following trades are taught: corset making, ladies' coat tailoring, ladies' skirt tailoring, dressmaking, millinery, photography. These Were chosen because they appeared on inquiry to offer good prospects, to show a steady demand for competent hands, while not providing means within themselves to meet the demand, and to lend themselves to classroom work. The school accommodates 175 students. Every student has to serve a probationary period of three months, and at the end of the first year the parent or guardian is required to sign a declaration that it is his intention to have the child use the training for employment in the trade after graduation. No child is allowed to continue whose parent fails to sign this declaration. The probationary period is largely used for the observation of the girl as to her suitability for the trade she has chosen, and the school not only trains 280 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS the girls for the industries, but carefully selects them, and thus many misfits are avoided. About two thirds of the time is given to actual trade in- struction on commercial work, and one third is devoted to the continued general education of the pupils in English, arith- metic, drawing, and hygiene, and physical exercises. This instruction is not the same for all, but is differentiated accord- ing to the trade taught. All the work of the school is con- ducted on a commercial basis. Orders are taken from private persons interested in the school, and the charge made covers the cost of the material and one third the market value for the making, which is decided by the teacher, who has had working experience in the trade. The school is open for each trade seven hours a day, five days a week, and forty-two weeks in the year. In addition to the day school there is also a continuation school department and there was originally an evening school department. The fees for these classes are graduated ac- cording to the earnings of the student. If she is employed in the trade, she is admitted without charge, on presenting a certificate from her employer ; if not, she is charged two dollars a session if earning over six dollars a week ; if she is earning less than six dollars the fee is one dollar per session. The experience of the evening department in connection with this school is interesting. The hours in the trades taught are usually nine, and the authorities of the school consider that girls working these hours cannot reasonably be expected to attend evening classes. The continuation school teaches dressmaking and millinery from 5.45 to 7.50 on two evenings per week, an apprentice wage being paid by the employer while the girl is receiving instruction, but the employers as a whole are not enthusiastic over this department. The Courtesy of Manhatlan Trade School for Girls. Glove Making. TYPES OF SCHOOLS 281 wage of a girl without training is for the first year 2^. Qd. to 3s. per week and for the second year 5;?. per week ; but no difiiculty is found in placing all graduates of the school at 10s. per week, and in many cases 125. has been received. Before a girl is placed, the applying employer is visited by the trade teacher, and unless conditions are satisfactory a girl is not sent. Each girl is carefully selected for the work required. The success of the graduates is shown by the fact that employers with whom the graduates have been placed apply to the school again and again for employees. There is a consultative committee of employers in con- nection with the school, but no organized placement depart- ment. The general direction of the school is in the hands of an advisory board, composed of men and women from the various trades. The entrance requirements for the day school are that the student must be at least fourteen years of age and have passed the seventh standard (junior fourth) of the general elementary school. There are other schools of this type throughout the city of London, and all the work is done under shop conditions, is kept in close touch with the trade world, and is far removed from the traditional aspect of a school. Manhattan Trade School for Girls. A school which has at- tracted world-wide notice is the Manhattan Trade School for Girls, New York — the first trade school in America for girls fourteen years of age. Every writer on the subject of indus- trial education has pointed to Germany when he wished to cite an example of what America should do in the way of training its workers, and it would be almost impossible to find any treatment of the subject which does not eulogize the system adopted in that country. There is more justifi- cation for using this school m the same way. It is purely a 282 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS product of the American continent, and has blazed a trail. Its history and organization are typical of American con- ditions, possibilities, and requirements, and offer us many lessons and suggestions which we. cannot afford to ignore. Probably more has been written in magazine articles and edu- cational periodicals about this school than about any other school on the American continent. The materials for this sketch are drawn from two personal visits to the school in the early days, the Making of a Trade School by Mrs. Woolman, its first director, many magazine articles recording the impressions of various visitors, and the last annual report of the school. The school began its work in November, 1902, in a large private house which was equipped like a factory, and could comfortably accommodate 100 pupils. The trades selected centered round the needle, the paste brush, and the sewing machine. The school began with twenty pupils, but in a few months one hundred were on the register and others were applying. In June, 1906, new premises were purchased which could accommodate five hundred girls. The school arose out of a social study of the conditions of working girls in New York City. This investigation led to the following conclu- sions: (1) that the wages of unskilled labor are declining, (2) that the supply of skilled labor is inadequate, (3) that the condition of the young inexpert girl must be ameliorated by the speedy opening of a trade school for those who have reached the age to obtain working papers, (4) that if public instruction could not immediately undertake this, then pri- vate initiative must do it. The school began its work under great difficulties mainly arising from the following causes : first, employers were preju- diced against such schools because girls formerly trained TYPES OF SCHOOLS 283 in them had not given satisfaction when brought face to face with actual trade conditions, second, the parents felt they could not afford to send their children to school beyond the compulsory period. But these difficulties were gradually overcome as the girls demonstrated the worth of their train- ing in actual practice, and were able to take home a larger pay envelope. ^ The selection of the trades to be taught was made after five months' investigation in the factories, workrooms, and de- partment stores of New York City. The occupations chosen employ large numbers of women, require expert workers, do not provide facilities for training within themselves, pro- vide a chance to rise to better positions, and pay good wages ; and favorable physical and moral conditions prevail in the workrooms. Plans were made so that the workers in a sea- sonal industry could be enabled to shift to an allied trade when their own was slack. The most skilled operations were found to require the use of the sewing machine, foot and elec- tric power, the paint brush, the paste brush, and the needle, which last tool affects over one half of the women wage- earners in New York City. Academic training is given as part of the trade instruction with the object of developing industrial intelligence, and such physical training is given as medical inspection shows to be necessary. " It was soon discovered that girls entering the school know arithmetic in an abstract way, but are at sea when asked to meet the ordinary trade problems. They are inaccurate in reading and copying, they cannot write a letter of application, conduct correspondence, make out checks, or keep simple accounts. They are ignorant of the laws already made which concern them, or of their own re- lation to future laws. They have no ideals in trade life. 284 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS They need to see the relation of their chosen trade to the country, their own work to their employer's success, the effect they may have in bringing about a better feeling be- tween the employer and the wage earner. A practical, imme- diately available business education is absolutely essential to make workwomen of executive ability. Therefore specific instruction in arithmetic, English, history, geography, and civics was planned to supplement and enrich the trade courses." The school authorities believe that the question of health is of supreme importance and that many New York girls are handicapped by poor physical condition. Each girl entering the school is studied individually, and the treatment she needs prescribed for her. Though this takes many hours a week from the department work, it is felt that the gain in health, physique, and power to stand the strain of the work- room more than compensates. Regular gymnastic practice forms part of the regular work, and particular attention is paid to the eyes, ears, nose, throat, and feet. Talks on hygiene aim to give the girl the knowledge to keep herself in perfect physical condition. The product of the three departments falls into three grades : (1) practice work, which not being up to the standard is ripped up and used again; (2) seconds — fair work, not quite up to the school standard for trade work (this is sold to students at cost or to needy institutions) ; (3) trade work up to the regular commercial standard (this is sold ^,0 the trade or to private customers at regular market prices). This feature of the school work, entailing as it does the handling of money, varieties of orders from outside fac- tories, workrooms, and private customers, is considered a val- uable feature. The school is constantly urged by the trade TYPES OF SCHOOLS 285 to increase its order work, but it has adhered to its original policy of taking only the amount needed for educational pur- poses. The success of a trade school depends very largely upon the disposal of the students after graduation. Can they find positions and can they make good in these positions are vital questions, and if the answer to either is in the negative, the school cannot justify its existence. From the initiation of this school attention has been paid to the placement of the girl. At first the heads of the different departments at- tended to it, but as the school grew, other methods had to be adopted. An arrangement was made with the Alliance Employment Bureau to place the girls when they were ready to leave the school. This was only a temporary ar- rangement until the volume of business was great enough to warrant the opening of a bureau in the school itself, which was done in October, 1908, when a placement secretary was en- gaged. This bureau serves as a means of connection and communication between the school and the trades on the one hand, and the school and its former pupils on the other. It also assists in a material way in gathering data about trade conditions which are helpful to the several departments in their conduct of work, and in deciding school policies. The information gained by it prevents the school from wandering into all kinds of by-paths, which are not of direct value to girls who must become wage-earners. Criticisms from employers as to the way in which the girls are trained, ajid reports from the girls themselves as to weak places in their preparation are of the greatest value in keeping the school up to trade requirements. The work of the placement department proceeds along four main lines : interviews with girls and employers, trade visits 286 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS of investigation, following up in keeping track of the girls after they are placed, and the keeping of various records re- garding the girls and their employment. Each girl is entitled to one position from the school without fee, and such posi- tion is supposed to be held two months to count as one place- ment. After the first placement the fee is twenty-five cents down, and twenty-five cents when the position ha§ been held two weeks. No fee is charged to employers. In placing a girl, the secretary gives her (a) a letter in- troducing her to an employer and (b) a blank form on which she is asked to report at once to the secretary whether or not she has taken the position, and again at the end of the week, stating what wages she is receiving. If the girl is under six- teen years of age, the letter to the employer calls his atten- tion to an extract from the labor law stating the time and the number of hours which fourteen to sixteen year old girls are permitted to work. The girl is given a list of instruc- tions as follows : *' The Manhattan Trade School requires no fee for placing you. It intends to see that you get as fair a chance to earn and to learn as your trade offers and your ability permits. In return it asks you two things : 1. In case your position proves unsatisfactory Do not ' walk out.* Instead, report your complaint to us and wait for our reply before leaving. After receiving that reply you are entirely free to follow its advice or not as you see fit. 2. Prompt reports. (a) A postal on the day you are sent to a place, saying whether or not you have taken the position. (6) A postal one week later reporting hours, wage, and general conditions. (c) If 'laid off' (no matter what the reason), report to us immediately ; in person if possible ; by mail if not. (d) Prompt return fully filled out of any blanks sent to you. TYPES OF SCHOOLS 287 A failure to comply with these requirements means loss of oppor- tunity for you, with great inconvenience to us, and if persisted in, results finally in an inability on our part to assist you as we would like to do." After the girl has been successfully placed, she is carefully followed up. Most good occupations for girls are seasonal, and the frequent " lay-offs " caused thereby make it almost impossible for a young girl to adjust herself to industrial con- ditions without assistance. This assistance the school stands ready to give for as long as the girl needs it, or until she is firmly established in her trade, and has gained sufficient maturity and experience to take entire care of herself. During the year 1914-15 nine hundred and forty-two ap- plications were received from employers requiring girls. By trades these applications were as follows : Dressmaking 537 MiUinery 34 Lamp shades 38 Sample mounting 11 Novelty 38 Clothing operating 176 Straw operating 22 Miscellaneous 64 Art 4 A large number of girls who go to work at fourteen years of age are in actual need of the wages paid, and early in its history the school found that if it was to get the girls to attend for training, some kind of aid was necessary. At first this aid took the form of a scholarship paid at the school every week in equal amounts to each student. Then a month's apprenticeship without pay was required, and the girl given a dollar a week during her second month. This amount was increased each month according to the skill 288 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS and spirit shown in the work. The maximum amount a student could receive in one year was one hundred dollars. Later a further change was made, and a plan developed whereby the need of the girls became the only basis upon which money was given. No girl is ever permitted to leave the school because of poverty if she has aptitude for her work. A student aid fund is now provided by the Manhattan Trade School Board, so that all girls who are too poor to attend without financial help may continue in the school until their training is complete. During the year 1914-15 one hundred and forty-five girls were aided by this fund, the amount ranging from car fare to the approximate wage which the girl would earn in an unskilled job if she were obliged to go to work. In 1910 the school was incorporated into the New York public school system, and became a free public school. Though the school has now been removed from private con- trol, its founders, who were the pioneers for the entire coun- try in making trade training possible for young girl wage- earners, have not lessened their interest, and are still giving financial assistance in certain phases of the work which are not as yet supported by public funds. Ever since the school was taken over by the city, the Manhattan Trade School Board has paid the salary of a physician to make physical examination of all trade school girls; has con- tributed from five thousand dollars to seven thousand dollars yearly to maintain the student aid fund ; has given the equip- ment for the sale room ; has loaned free of charge about four thousand dollars' worth of equipment used in the trade depart- ments, and has assisted in supporting several new experi- ments besides giving much of the personal time and attention of its members towards promoting the work of the school. TYPES OF SCHOOLS 289 The trades now taught in the school are as follows : dress- making, millinery, clothing machine operating, straw machine operating, embroidery machine operating, sample mount- ing, novelty case making, lamp-shade making, French edge making, and cooking. Each trade course requires one year except that in millinery. A short course in lamp-shade and candle-shade making is included, as the seasons in millinery are short, and the girls who learn both trades can secure steadier employment. Most girls who apply for admission to the school have their minds definitely fixed upon learning a certain trade, but fre- quently they choose a line of work which they are not able to pursue, and as there is still a very general feeling on the part of elementary school principals and teachers that the trade school is a refuge for their dullest girls, a probationary period of five months is now provided, after which girls who prove unfit may be excluded from the school. It is found that a large number of girls who imagine they wish to learn a trade, find the immediate wage return offered by an unskilled job too tempting to be resisted, and so drop out of school before the end of the probationary period. Like many other features of the school, the plan of cer- tification is unique. The requirements for a certificate or diploma are as follows : (1) a minimum attendance of two hundred days at the school, comprising 1400 hours of instruc- tion ; (2) completion of the regular course m any given trade with a satisfactory report from the employer. If a girl's school record is not entirely satisfactory when she is placed in a position, a longer period in trade is required before she is given her certificate, or if her employer's report for the first three months is not acceptable, she is allowed to try again, and as soon as her employer is willing to report her satisfac- u 290 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS tory, she is eligible for her diploma. It will thus be seen that the trade school diplomas differ from other diplomas as they certify not only to the school accomplishment, but also to the ability to use that accomplishment in trade and practical life which should be the final test of the work of any school. At the opening of the school September 14, 1914, there were 461 girls in attendance who had started their trade courses during the previous year. The new admissions during the year 1914-15 were 1196. The average enrolment for the year was 659 and the average attendance 610, being ninety per cent of the total enrolment. The ages of the girls admitted during the year were as follows : eight per cent below fourteen (all graduates of the elementary schools) ; forty-one per cent between fourteen and fifteen ; thirty per cent between fifteen and sixteen ; sixteen per cent between sixteen and seventeen ; five per cent over seventeen. Like all trade schools that have yet been established, Manhattan finds the question of withdrawals a very serious one. The following table gives details concerning this feature of the work of the school : 386 completed their course and were placed. 79 came for trade tests only, and left as soon as the tests were completed. 313 left to go to work without completing their courses. 57 left because of illness. 49 left to return to other public schools or to enter business schools. 27 moved from the city. 40 were dropped for inability or inefficiency. 60 left because they were needed at home. 60 left for miscellaneous or undetermined reasons. Of those who dropped out without completing their courses the majority did so during the first six months. TYPES OF SCHOOLS 291 272 remained less than one month (79 of these came for trade tests only). 179 remained more than one and less than three months. 128 remained more than three months and less than six months. 106 remained more than six months and less than one year. Of these it may be said that a considerable number tried the trade school as a means of last resort, and would probably never have entered at all, if a satisfactory system of voca- tional guidance and prevocational training had been es- tablished in the elementary schools. A number of them dropped out to work temporarily, and returned to the school later to complete their courses. The character of the instruction is largely individual. The classes are so arranged that girls may enter at any time, complete the work of each grade as rapidly as their abilities will permit, and pass on to the next. In each trade the work is divided into steps leading from simple beginnings to the more complex, and the pupils advance from table to table, from room to room, or from machine to machine, in accord- ance with their own efforts. Each table, room, or machine has its special tasks to which a certain time allotment is given, so that girls who cannot accomplish the allotted tasks in the assigned time soon recognize that they will be more than- a year in completing the course. Those who do the work of each step in less than the allotted time are given credit for such time as they save, and may therefore com- plete the course in less than a year. Certain definite stand- ards are also set, which if a girl does not reach she is kept back and expected to repeat the work ; and if the results of her efforts show no fitness for the trade, she is urged to choose some other. The fullest records of each girl's work are kept, from the day she enters the school, and these results are used in plac- ing girls and deciding for what positions they are best fitted. 292 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS Many of the problems mentioned in connection with Man- hattan are common to all trade schools, but this school has done a national service in showing how they can be solved. There are two problems that have not yet been dealt with — the kind of teacher required and the disposal of the prod- uct. These will now be considered. The teacher. The question of the teacher is one on which the success of the trade school very largely depends, but in this country we have an unfortunate habit of placing the cart before the horse, and developing our machinery in ad- vance of our men ; we build our battleships before we have officers to command them, and very often we establish trade schools before we know either the kind of teachers we need, or where they are to be obtained. There is not the slightest doubt that the demand for teachers is bringing in many of the unfit, and positions in such schools are quite commonly filled by persons with more enthusiasm than knowledge of the business, as well as by inefficient persons from other occupations who seek an asylum in the service of the schools. The National Commission on Vocational Education believes " that the development of vocational education along right lines both for agriculture and the trades will depend largely upon the ability to secure and maintain well-trained teachers who have a thorough and practical knowledge of their sub- jects." 1 Communities are inclined to mistake an elaborate building with a high-sounding name for an educational idea. In this case we have made the error of trying to create in ready-made fashion our special schools. We first construct a pretentious building and gratify local pride by calling it " the finest ^ Report of Commission on National Aid to Vocational Education, Vol. 1, Washington. TYPES OF SCHOOLS 293 technical school on this continent " ; we select a principal who has made himself popular through lodge, politics, society, or church ; we select teachers from the local corps with little thought of fitness for special work, and we admit all and sundry to the new building without any selection on the basis of vocational fitness. Up to the present three kinds of teachers have been used in connection with trade instruction : 1 . The professionally trained teacher, who has been trained in a normal school or college in the science of educational pedagogy with no special reference to industry and generally with no knowledge of trade. 2. The one who has served her time to a trade in all kinds of shops, and knows thoroughly the conditions and require- ments of industry, but who has little or no knowledge of how to manage classes, or how to impart instruction. 3. The one who combines in some measure the qualifica- tions of both the above classes. The trained public school teacher cannot teach trades by being given a short training in trade processes, for that short training cannot possibly give her adequate knowledge of business requirements and workshop conditions, such as wages paid, opportunities to rise, slack seasons, sanitary and moral conditions connected with each occupation, and labor problems generally, which is absolutely essential in order that she may become a successful trade teacher. More- over, she is apt to be " academically predisposed " and largely unable to treat the required subjects in any but the traditional educational method. On the other hand, it is equally true that the trade worker who has industrial experience alone cannot make a suc- cessful teacher. Her viewpoint of the training required is 294 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS apt to be narrow. She is apt to regard the labor problem as a one-sided affair in which the so-called interests of labor are solely concerned and to ignore the rights and require- ments of the employers. She is apt to overemphasize the product rather than the producer, and to think of the rapid completion of the job, rather than of the development of the girl. For particular work she is apt to choose the girl who can turn out the work well and quickly, rather than the one who needs practice in it in order to become efficient. If the above is a true statement of the case in regard to both kinds of teachers, it follows that the problem is either to evolve a type which shall combine the qualities of the good teacher with those of the successful worker, or that both kinds of teachers are necessary. The manual training movement has passed through somewhat the same stages with regard to the question of teachers. In the early days the men were taken directly from the trades and placed in charge of the manual training classes. When this method proved unsuccessful and brought manual training into dis- repute, various institutions undertook to give both pedagogi- cal and technical training. This proved partially success- ful. The next step was to insist on the possession of the teacher's qualification before giving the technical training, but now it is fast being recognized that the trained teacher who has served an apprenticeship to a mechanical trade either before or after securing his professional training makes the best manual training teacher. The question of providing teachers for trade schools is, however, somewhat wider than that of providing teachers for manual training schools. In the former schools many kinds of teachers are necessary. There must be supervisors and directors of the various trades looked upon as wholes. TYPES OF SCHOOLS 295 forewomen to direct the school shops, trade instructors to teach the speciahzed processes on which the various trades are built up, assistants to attend to various minor matters in the workroom, art teachers who have had certain experi- ence in designing for the trades required, and academic teachers who know something of the conditions of the work- ing world. The ideal state of things will be achieved when all these teachers know both how and what to teach. There are many problems connected with the question of obtaining an efficient and adequate teaching staff for the trade school. One authority believes that the trade school itself will have to be its own training school for its faculty, to a greater or less extent. Another argues that the needs of the trade school are best served by having both kinds of teachers — those who have been trained in various schools such as the Pratt and Drexel Institutes and Teachers Col- lege, and those who have been trained in the trades, but that both types need supplementary training in order to deal more adequately with trade teaching. In all trades there is a certain amount of elementary work, for example, the first stage of the dressmaking trade is ele- mentary sewing, and the girl must be taught the use and care of the machine and other tools, the names and uses of the different stitches, certain underlying principles of garment construction, and in this fundamental instruction the expe- rience has been that the good teacher trained in an efficient institution is more successful than the teacher whose experi- ence has been that of the trade only. She understands how to analyze her work and to give explanations and demon- strations to the girls in a way that is readily understood. She therefore possesses many qualities which are essential to training girls in these fundamentals, and if these qualities 296 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS were supplemented with greater knowledge of industry it is believed that she would be more successful in handling the A B C^s of trade instruction than the worker from the trade. Looking at the question from all points of view, it seems to be the inevitable conclusion that the teacher has an equipment for vocational training that we cannot afford to ig- nore. Experiments are now being successfully conducted by Simmons College in cooperation with the Women's Edu- cational and Industrial Union of Boston in supplying the defects of the teachers along trade lines, by giving trained teachers an actual experience of several months in trade workrooms so that they may understand more clearly the demands that are likely to be made upon their pupils by prac- tical industry. Courses of this character do not, and should not, try to make trade workers of the teachers, but' should aim to give a general knowledge of the methods and condi- tions of the shops and trades their pupils are likely to enter. On the other hand, the trade worker, in most instances, will have to be taught how to teach. The trade teacher does not readily recognize the school character of the shop any more than the teacher recognizes the shop character of the school. The trade teacher fails in many ways to understand the edu- cational problems involved. She knows whether the work is good or bad, but she rarely knows how to criticize it, or how it may be improved. She is apt to handle the girl just as she would in trade. She discovers which girl can do a piece of work best and keeps her at it, because in this way she can secure the most remunerative results. All her life she has been trained to use the girl in the workroom in such a way as to make the most money for her employer, and it is difi&cult for her to change her point of view, and to realize TYPES OF SCHOOLS 297 that the commercial element in school work is merely a means to an end, and that the producer must come first, and the product second, in her consideration. One source of assistant teachers is former students of the schools who have made good in trade. European trade schools for girls have obtained many of their best teachers from among former students, and have organized teachers' training classes for the purpose of instructing them how to teach. Every trade school should hold weekly conferences of all its teachers for the purpose of discussing specific prob- lems, and for the analysis of the instruction required for the different processes in each trade. Method in academic edu- cation has been organized to death, but method in industrial training has hardly yet been born. Most industries can be split up into elements, and when properly analyzed, a satis- factory method of teaching these elements may be evolved. In the working out of such analyses weekly conferences of the teachers and the trade workers will be found to be most use- ful. The report of the National Commission on Federal Aid to Vocational Education recognizes the importance of this question and has recommended that there be appropriated for the training of teachers of agricultural, trade and indus- trial, and home economics subjects the sum of $500,000 for the fiscal year 1915-16 ; $700,000 for the fiscal year 1916-17 ; $900,000 for the fiscal year 1917-18 ; $1,000,000 for the fiscal year 1918-19 and annually thereafter. When these sinews of war are available for the purpose, classes and courses will be established for the training of teachers in the requirements of trade, and trade workers in the art of teaching. The Commission also recognizes that trade experts are generally earning better salaries than those 298 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS paid in the schools, and are recommending substantial grants in aid of salaries in order that the most competent may be attracted to the field of vocational teaching. Disposal of the product. In the practical operation of the various trade schools for girls that have so far been established, no question has aroused greater controversy than that of the disposal of the product. If the training given is to be effec- tive, that is, if it is to be applicable to industry, the work turned out must meet the conditions of the commercial world, and be such as would be able to compete successfully in the open market. The objections that have been urged against the practice of turning out a salable product are in the main as follows : 1. There is grave danger of exploiting pupils and of estab- lishing a false aim for the school through too great a desire to make a good financial showing in attempting to make the school " pay its way." 2. Competing manufacturers will be antagonized by the invasion of a private market by a public corporation. 3. Organized labor will be similarly antagonized by the fear that the labor market may be overcrowded. It is said that the aim in any school determines the content and the methods of instruction, and that if the aim is the pro- duction of material things the pupils in that school will be sacrificed to the production of the material. The success of several schools for girls such as those in Boston, New York, Milwaukee, and Worcester should be sufficient to disprove this argument. These schools from their inauguration have fol- lowed the practice of making a commercial product for sale, and the ideals of these schools are as high as those obtaining in many of the higher institutions of learning. The idea of creating a false aim is a relic of the old academic tradition TYPES OF SCHOOLS 299 which believed in " education for education's sake " and did not admit that it had any connection with earning a liveli- hood. These schools cannot be made to pay if the term is used as ordinarily understood, and no sane advocate or di- rector of trade schools ever attempts to make them do so. Look at the conditions. The students are very largely — probably ninety per cent of them — unskilled workers and are there for the sole purpose of learning the trade. They must be advanced step by step from one process or set of principles to the next, and the moment they are able to apply those principles independently, they are sent out to give to some employer the benefit of the knowledge and skill they have acquired. Would any manufacturer attempt to run a busi- ness on such lines and expect it to return a profit in dollars and cents ? There are two sides to these schools, the com- mercial and the educational, and any attempt to make the school pay would overemphasize the commercial side, and not be in the best interests of the students for whom the schools exist. Manufacturers who know anything about the practical working of these schools have no fear of competition. Any intelligent manufacturer knows that a skilled mechanic can make an article in one tenth the time that he could teach a child to make it, and that therefore there is no profit in such a business. The Worcester Trade School says : "We have had more difficulty in keeping local manufacturers informed that we were in existence, than we have had in avoiding competition with them. The amount of work re- quired in any community to keep a trade school supplied is not likely to be more than a single day's work in a year for the shops in the same trade." The opposition of organized labor to this plan has been 300 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS very greatly magnified, and what opposition does exist is very largely due to ignorance of the present-day method of these schools, and some unfortmiate experience in the past. With greater knowledge of present conditions the opposition may be expected to disappear. The terms '' scab hatch- eries " and " half-baked mechanics '' formerly applied to boys' trade schools are now not often heard. The labor element requires that everything that is done shall be open to inspection at any time, and that a trade shall be thor- oughly taught. At present they judge of the efficiency of a course almost entirely by its length. It should be the busi- ness of trade school advocates to show that, owing to sys- tematic organization and investigation, the time necessary to learn a trade is considerably less than it formerly was, when it had to be picked up in a succession of shops. There are of course difficulties in the way of selling the products of the trade schools, but whatever they are the difficulty of overcoming them is more than compensated for by the educational and industrial benefits to be derived by the adoption of the plan. The advantages may be sum- marized as follows : 1. The pupils are more easily interested in something of definite use. The average girl finds it difficult to interest herself in abstract exercises which are not to form part of a finished product. The principle of interest in education has long been accepted, and is at the basis of most educational theories and practical life. There is no reason why, in the new education, the principle should be abandoned. 2. There is the greatest value in the fact that the work is to be inspected by outsiders. The teacher, knowing the girl, and being human, is apt to excuse careless work because the girl was tired or deficient in some way, but the customer TYPES OF SCHOOLS 301 expects value for her money. Her criticism is quite im- personal, and it does not matter to her what the condition of the girl was when the work was done. If the girl is working on things for herself, she is apt to say, " It will do " or " I don't care " ; but for a commercial product this at- titude will not suffice, as the goods must be kept up to a trade standard. Occasionally goods which have not been brought up to the highest standard are sold as " second quality goods." Generally speaking this is not wise, as the required standard is thus rendered more difficult of achievement. 3. Modern industry is such that two factors are of prime importance — speed and quality. Speeding up is one of the worst features of industry, and many will say that in school the girl should not be speeded. The speed meant, however, is not that kind of speed. The rush that makes a girl ner- vous and tired has no place in a trade school. Here speed is required to set a standard for the work. With a com- mercial product the work must be got out on time, and in this process the girl gets an idea of legitimate speed. This will mean a little of the scientffic management that is be- coming the watchword of industry — the elimination of lost motions. Speed introduces a healthy idea of rivalry and competition. One girl measures up against another. Any trade school which ignores the question of speed is de- priving the girls of the opportunity of acquiring a valuable trade asset. 4. Even when the greatest economy is exercised, the ex- pense of running these schools will necessarily be high. The rate-payers are entitled to as economical an administration as is consistent with the best training, and to allow girls to perform what might be useful operations on useless prod- 302 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS ucts seems so unreasonable that no one would consider it for a moment, were it not for the fancied opposition of capital and labor. Some will say why should not the girl furnish the material and keep the articles she makes, thus relieving the school of the expense ; but the variety of material required to give the necessary training is too great id allow of this being done. Method at the Manhattan Trade School for Girls. The dis- cussion of this question may be concluded by a description of the method of dealing with the problem at the Manhattan school. The school does not regard the commercial aspect as an end in itself. No order is taken by the school unless it serves the educational requirements of a class, nor is any girl allowed to repeat processes merely for the sake of pro- ducing goods for sale. As approximately four fifths of the trade school program is devoted to trade practice, it is quite evident that a large amount of material is used. When the necessary principles and processes can be taught by al- lowing the girls to make articles for themselves, it is done, and one month of the year is spent in this way, so that the girl may have experience in purchasing materials, planning, cutting, designing, etc. During the year 1914-15 the following articles were made by the trade departments : Dressmaking — all grades, including children's clothing, underwear, plain and elaborate gowns 9,415 i Electric power machine operating — aU grades, including i clothing and embroidery 9,909 * Straw machine operating — all lands of straw hats 6,240 Millinery — all grades, including the making of flowers and other trimming, frames, hats, etc 2,698 Pasting — including the making of lamp shades and novelty boxes 3,253 Total 31,515 TYPES OF SCHOOLS 303 The school has, by careful management, not only covered the cost of the materials used in the trade classes, but also the cost of all supplies for the academic, art, and physical classes, the cost of all repairs to machinery and equipment, and cer- tain repairs to buildings, the cost of equipment in an annex ($1200), and the cost of all new equipment needed for the school ($1,766.44). In the lower grades where the work is elementary, and the girls are not proficient enough to make salable articles, the cost cannot be covered, but in the ad- vanced classes, where the work can be sold at market prices, the gain above the cost of material is more than sufficient to make up for this loss. The income from sales from Sep- tember, 1914, to July, 1915, was as follows : Department Credit prom Sales and Stock on Hand Cost op Materials Net Gain Loss Dressmaking Millinery $12,287.94 559.95 1,157.35 3,650.50 $5,742.69 645.10 516.27 2,203.79 $6,545.25 641.08 1,446.71 $85.15 Pasting Machine operator .... 1 Total $17,655.74 $9,107.85 $8,633.04 $85.15 Owing to this feature of the school's work, the cost of the trade school can be estimated in salaries and maintenance of building alone. Space will not allow of a description of three other equally successful trade schools for girls, — Boston, Milwaukee, and Worcester, — but an examination of their methods of organization and management will repay careful study. Part-time education. Schools of the t}npe above described 1 Seventeenth Annual Report of the Superintendent of Schools, New York. 304 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS for the education of girls are comparatively rare, but even if they were developed to the full, it is probable that they would under present social and economic conditions reach only a very small proportion of the girls who are at work between fourteen and eighteen years of age. The only pros- I pect of further education beyond that which is now required by law for the mass of children at work is some form which will not preclude wage-earning at the same time. At this period of life the young worker is in the greatest need of guidance, instruction, and discipline, but she has been aban- doned to the shop and the factory. Part-time education for these girls is an economic necessity in order to realize upon the investment that has already been made in the elementary school. If once the child is lost sight of educationally at this period, it is difficult to induce her to " go to school " after a lapse of time. The educational chain should never be allowed to be broken. Various refer- ences have been made to solutions of the part-time problem in the chapter on the unskilled worker. There are four main purposes which may be served by part-time schools : first, trade extension for the " next step up " within a given in- dustry. Unfortunately this purpose of part-time schools will not affect a large proportion of the children, for most of the industries in which they are engaged provide nothing but unskilled work, from which there is no step up. The second purpose is that of providing trade preparatory courses for those employed in these occupations, so that they may enter other and more desirable industries when they are of sufficient age. The third purpose is that of providing general improvement courses. There are many occupations in which promotion depends perhaps more upon general intelligence than upon any special mechanical skill or ability, and from TYPES OF SCHOOLS 305 the viewpoint of the future welfare of the state as well as the benefit of the individual worker the general intelligence of the future voters should be raised. The fourth purpose should be the provision of home economics courses for those girls who are engaged in industry, until such time as they have to take charge of homes of their own. This instruction should be given in the time of the em- ployer. Of course, it may be said that there are evening schools which these young workers could attend, but expert medical opinion and the experience of social workers both agree that to force immature girls under sixteen years of age to attend evening schools after a long day's toil would result in more physical injury than educational benefit. The National Commission proposes a grant from the fed- eral treasury of five hundred thousand dollars (1915-16) increasing to three million dollars (1923-24) for the salaries of teachers of trade and industrial subjects and of these amounts it recommends that not less than one third be expended on part-time schools. Schools benefiting by this grant are required to provide at least 144 hours of classroom instruction, and the hope is expressed that by arrangements with the industries this amount of time may be considerably increased. This instruction is best given by allotting a cer- tain number of hours a week during the school year but it may also be given during dull periods of seasonal trades. When a girl under sixteen is not at work in the industries or assisting at home, she should be in school. The success of any plan of part-time instruction depends almost entirely upon the attitude of the employers. The instruction will have to be given during what is called the employer's time, and with no reduction in wages. The manufacturers have here an excellent opportunity of putting 306 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS to the proof their oft-declared interest in industrial education. It should not be a difficult matter to so organize the indus- trial force that sections of the juvenile workers might be al- lowed to attend school at different times. Many employers are willing to do this, but others are not, and in order that all may be on a business equality in this respect the attend- ance will have to be made compulsory. Women's Educational and Industrial Union, Boston. A type of organization which has probably done more than any other single institution " to promote the educational, industrial, and social advancement of women" is that known as the " Women's Educational and Industrial Union " of Boston. This was founded in 1877 by a small group of earnest women who had large vision and great courage. At first through lunch rooms and food and handwork sales- rooms they sought to offer means of self-support to home workers. Through various committees they endeavored in every possible way to improve the condition of all women with whom they could establish connection. The original purpose still remains, but the Union is now a social-educa- tional institution, broadly constructive and using the re- sources of scientific research and investigation in improving the condition of women. The Union employs three hundred workers and gives employment to about five hundred women as foodshop producers and handwork shop consigners. In April, 1877, there were forty-two charter members. In De- cember, 1914, there were 4640 members. Even a general idea of the work of the Union cannot be obtained with- out an enumeration of the different departments now con- ducted. These are : Appointment bureau. This is a department of vocational advice and appointment, and was the first bureau of this TYPES OF SCHOOLS 307 character for women to be established in the United States. This department cooperates with many similar bureaus in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Richmond, and has the assistance of a chain of committees in many leading cities. In 1914, 514 placements were made and 489 women were vocationally advised. Various investigations are made, and the results published regarding vocations for women. Be- ginning September, 1914, a year's course to train vocational advisers was planned in cooperation with Simmons College, (1) to provide a knowledge of methods of industrial in- vestigation and use of statistics, (2) to supply the necessary training in applied psychology, and (3) to afford a means for the practical application of principles and methods studied. Department of research. The purpose of this department is to study industrial conditions affecting women and chil- dren; to train young women as investigators; and to publish the results of its studies for the betterment and protection of women workers throughout the state. Three fellowships of five hundred dollars each are maintained. Eight intensive studies have been published— some in coopera- tion with the United States Bureau of Education, Department of Commerce and Labor, and the Massachusetts State Board of Education. School of salesmanship. This consists of a class for sales- women from the Boston department stores, and a normal class for teachers of salesmanship. The class for saleswomen — established in 1905 — is conducted in cooperation with eight department stores which send pupils to the school for a course of three months without loss of pay. Six hundred and twenty-two saleswomen have been trained in this school. Similar schools have been started by business firms with the Union's assistance, in various parts of the country. Thirty- 308 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS one graduates of the normal class now hold responsible posi- tions as educational directors in mercantile establishments, or as vocational teachers in high and continuation schools. Normal class of industrial needle arts. This is a course for training teachers for trade schools. Vocational training to supplement college courses. These are offered by every department of the Union. Lunch rooms. Two lunch rooms are conducted in differ- ent parts of the city. At one of these an average of nine hundred persons is served daily, at another five hundred. Over six thousand pupils are served daily in the Boston high schools. There is also conducted a salesroom with hot food a specialty, a bakery approved by the Consumers' League, an ice cream plant, and a summer tea house. The food shop. Cakes, breads, pastries, jellies, preserves, and candy are made for the shop by women in their homes, or by the Union's own departments. All food is approved by a jury of experts, and the conditions under which it is made are inspected at frequent intervals by a physician regularly employed. The shop aims to help the inexperienced home worker by advice and practical illustration to attain a high standard in production, sanitation, and business manage- ment. The handtvork shop. This department is a permanent and beautiful exhibit of the best handwork of to-day, consisting of copper, brass, enamel, house furnishings, needlework, basketry, pottery, gowns, coats and hats for children's and infants' wear, etc. Hat and gown shops. These are business shops prepared to fill orders promptly for distinctive gowns and hats. They were originally established to give trade school girls an op- portunity to work under business conditions as a supplement TYPES OF SCHOOLS 309 to their school training. They now serve as laboratories for industrial needle arts normal students. Law and thrift department. This was organized originally to investigate and settle cases of working women's wages unfairly withheld. The department now gives legal advice of the most varied kind to men and women. During the year 1914-15 more than 469 legal aid cases were handled. In connection there is an industrial credit union, which is a co- operative association for the saving, investing, and lending of money. There is also a social work department, the children's players, and a free reference library. It might be thought from the numerous activities mentioned that the Union is a commercial undertaking. The commercial features are only utilized as an aid to its social and educational work. The cost of the Union's educational and social service for the year 1913-14 was $52,517. The industrial departments earned $33,409, leaving $19,108 to be met by membership fees and donations. Thus the industrial departments earned more than sixty-three per cent of the entire cost of the social- educational work of the Union. CHAPTER XI EVENING SCHOOLS I. Introduction. II. Attendance. III. Types of schools. IV. Essential features. V. Unit courses. VI. Efficient instruction a complex problem. VII. Summary of factors contributing to success. Introduction. Evening schools are a form of continued education which has long been in existence, and probably there is no branch of our educational system that has yielded such poor results for the efforts that have been expended. These schools were the first result of the early nineteenth century movement for better educational opportunities for the working population, and later for increasing the efiiciency of the workman. The first purpose of these schools was to continue and supplement, and sometimes to provide, elementary education for those who had not had, or who had neglected, early educational advantages. To-day they are looked upon as an essential part of any scheme of educa- tion — either industrial or academic — that aims to reach all the people. In an ideal state of society evening classes would probably be unknown. They owe their existence to the present economic and social condition of the community which seems to be unavoidable. When we enjoy universal pros- 310 EVENING SCHOOLS 311 perity, and when the problem of earning a living does not absorb so much of our time and energy, educational op- portunities will be open equally to all. After a hard day's work of eight, nine, or ten hours, neither mind nor body is in a fit state to undertake any further work, either intellec- tual or mechanical. This is generally admitted, and there is a tendency to prohibit, inferentially, attendance at evening classes for those who are under sixteen years of age by making it compulsory for such children to attend part-time classes during the day. Attendance. Evening classes for men have not been generally successful in retaining for any lengthy period the boys and men they enrol, and the classes for women, ex- cept perhaps those in cookery, millinery, and dressmaking, have been no more successful. The attendance at evening schools is regarded by most authorities as unsatisfactory. The percentage of attendance varies, but as a general rule half the enrolled students complete about one half of the possible attendances. The variation is from twenty to sixty per cent according to local conditions and the character of the instruction. In the evening classes of the city of London (England) it is considered that forty thousand pupils out of 130,000 are ineffective. Their enrolment and subsequent withdrawals destroy classes wholesale, rendering useless the efforts and organizations provided for their instruction and spreading want of confidence among the staff as to the value of all or any effort. An examination of class registers shows even in the case of many classes which survive, that their personnel changes so much that class teaching becomes impossible, and good students therefore suffer and become indifferent. Evening class work represents one continuous struggle 312 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS against poor attendance during the greater part of the session ; and thus energies which might otherwise be directed into purely educational channels are partially dissipated in the struggle with idle or indifferent students. It is a struggle to preserve the attendance at a satisfactory levels and thus keep the classes alive. It is this continuously anxious effort that makes evening school work so arduous and so dispirit- ing. The strain of anxiety as to falling attendance has driven many responsible teachers and assistants to spend too much time and care in the mere whipping up of laggard students, who possibly under better class conditions might need less incentive to good attendance and mental activity. It is quite possible that less solicitude for mere attendance and more attention paid to program of work, presentation of subject, and general class management might secure better attendance. In 1847 six evening schools were opened in New York for the first time with a registration of 3224 pupils and the average attendance was only 1224. By 1850 this difference had not diminished, and the school authorities employed persons to visit the absentees to discover the causes of absence. But this plan accomplished little and it was abandoned. In 1865 the defects in the schools were care- fully analyzed, in view of the fact that the numbers always declined after the first few weeks. It was found that too many young children were admitted whose presence kept young men and women away. Pupils were also admitted who were attending the day school. In 1866 registration began a week in advance, no boys under fourteen and no girls under twelve years of age were admitted, a responsible person was required to accompany and vouch for all ap- plicants and other improvements were made. Yet notwith- EVENING SCHOOLS 313 Standing this, in 1887 the registration was 20,645 and the average attendance 6796. In 1910-11 the total number of men and women registered was 111,996 while the average attendance was 41,207. Of the 83,145 registered in elemen- tary schools 13,000 stayed a week or less. In 1912-13 forty- five per cent of the total attendance were women and girls.^ Though the problem has persisted since the inauguration of evening schools and classes, it must not be thought that serious attempts have not been made to solve it. Many superintendents, inspectors, and other educational experts have devoted their best attention to the matter, and yet the problem baffles solution. It may be that the efforts have been too much concentrated, and in our desire for numbers we have ignored other vital factors. " Principals might well continue to consider the problem of attendance, not in terms of numbers or tenure, but by the indirect and more efficient method of a discussion of the best methods of teaching. It is a great mistake to seek the attendance of pupils on any basis, or by any method, except the simple and effective one of making the school experience so inter- esting and so valuable that the pupil must realize its worth.'' 2 Types of schools. These may be classified as follows: 1. Schools for providing general education for those who lacked or neglected early opportunities, and for those who have the ambition to proceed to higher schools. The edu- cation given in this type of school is sometimes, but more often not, directly related to industry. Its purpose is gen- eral improvement and the development of civic and social intelligence — citizen making. 2. Trade preparatory schools intended for the develop- 1 Van Kleeck, Working Girls in Evening Schools. « Fifteenth Annual Report of the Superintendent of Schools, New York. 314 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS ment of industrial intelligence, and to give some elementary ideas of different trade processes. 3. Trade extension courses, the aim of which is to give instruction which will enable the worker to advance in her chosen trade. 4. Various courses in cookery, dressmaking, millinery, etc., intended almost entirely for home use. To these, perhaps, may be added a fifth class, " trade changing courses,'* the purpose of which would be to give instruction to those who are engaged in an uncongenial or low-paid occupation and wish to change. Unfortunately there is in many localities a regulation which prohibits the entry into trade courses of those who are not actually engaged in the trade. Schools of the first two types should gradually disappear as systems of education become developed and the economic condition of society improves, but there will always be necessity for the third class, while industry is so organized that the ambitious worker cannot get the necessary instruc- tion and knowledge while engaged in her daily labor. The National Commission restricts the aid it recommends to evening schools to those of this type. Essential features. Evening schools have certain gen- erally recognized defects. The recently new-born or perhaps re-born interest in industrial education has stimulated investigation and pointed the way to certain reorganiza- tions and improvements which, in various localities, are now being put into effect. Let us consider some of the more prominent features that should be included in a well-organized scheme of evening schools. Preliminary survey. It is now generally understood that to establish industrial schools of any kind without a pre- EVENING SCHOOLS 315 liminary study, undertaken to discover the needs of the workers and the industries in which they are engaged, is to court failure from the beginning. This is particularly true of evening classes for women. When classes for women are proposed, it is generally assumed that there is an urgent demand for courses in cooking, dressmaking, and millinery, their traditional occupations. As far as dei&nite training for wage earning is concerned these classes are not success- ful, and any girl who attends them expecting to get much assistance in the trades of millinery, dressmaking, or catering is apt to be disappointed. This question of the need of detailed surveys before the establisliment of schools has been previously dealt with, but their need is perhaps more urgent in the case of evening schools than it is in the case of day schools. Kind of teacher. If teachers with trade knowledge and experience are necessary in day schools, they are even more so in connection with evening schools, for there the students are mature, already engaged in the trade, and have gen- erally enough knowledge to detect shallowness and lack of skill on the part of the teacher. The teacher employed should have an attractive personality, for this feature ap- peals more to women than to men, and the pupils are more apt to discontinue their attendance if they do not like a teacher. She must be acceptable also to the employers. The salary paid must be adequate. Many classes have proved unsuccessful, owing to the salary paid not being high enough to secure teachers of attractive personality and possessing the necessary skill and experience. Cheap labor is un- desirable. Voluntary teachers are not generally satisfactory. Aid of practical business men. Teachers and educational authorities are conservative, and frequently resent outside 316 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS aid and suggestions in regard to the organization and man- agement of schools. Owing to this attitude, many schools have failed to secure the sympathy of the community, but if these evening schools are to achieve their full purpose, the aid of practical business men must be secured. There are many points where this aid is essential, but it is particularly valuable in selecting instructors, judging the suitability of the proposed courses, finding out the real needs of the indus- try and obtaining the assistance and cooperation of various organizations. This interest of the business man is generally best secured by means of an advisory board, and by giving the members of this board a certain official standing. Owing to their position on this board, they will not be likely to feel that they are " butting in." In the case of classes for women the board should be composed largely, if not entirely, of women. This plan of an advisory board is now being gen- erally adopted, but controversy has arisen over the question as to whether it should have any executive capacity or not, but the general consensus of opinion seems to be that where the expenditure of public funds is concerned only the elected representatives of the people should have executive power. The advisory board, if composed of carefully selected persons with practical knowledge of the trades taught, can do its best work by offering advice and suggestion. Business methods of advertising. Teachers have long rested under the imputation of not being good business men, and to some extent this imputation is perhaps warranted. In the establishment of classes business methods of adver- tisement should be used. When a manufacturer wishes to introduce a new product, he resorts to judicious advertising. The success of the department store has been due very largely to advertising, and the woman who goes to the evening school EVENING SCHOOLS 317 goes to buy instruction just as surely as she goes to the de- partment store to buy a dress. The school should be ex- tensively advertised by placards and circulars widely dis- tributed among prospective students. Some posters that have been used in the factory have contained a space at the end for the indorsement of the firm. The circular letter having the personal individual touch has been found of great service. The circulars should give simple, definite information and should be self-contained ; that is, they should not require on the part of the student any further applica- tion in order to secure necessary information. Addresses illustrated by the optical lantern have proved useful, and now that the moving picture show is found on almost every corner, why should not this be used ? Pic- tures of various industries in actual operation, girls and women at work, the interiors of schools, posters and products of the schools might well be shown. Use should also be made of the local press in the literary as well as the advertising columns. The editors of these papers will generally be pleased to insert well-written articles on the work the schools purpose to do, and will call attention to the schools in their editorial columns if asked to do so. Organization and registration. On the night fixed for the opening all the organization should be complete. Each girl should previously have received a card stating the room she is to enter, the materials she is to bring, and the work she is to do. This, of course, means preliminary registra- tion, which should include much more than merely taking the name and address. At this time as much as possible should be found out about the pupil, and the information made use of in placing her in a class best suited to her ability and her requirements. The majority of the students who f 318 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS attend evening schools are a little hazy as to their needs and require expert guidance as to the course it is best for them to follow. If a card index system is used, and it has great advantages, such information as the following should be entered : name, address, age, occupation, name of firm by whom employed, previous education, experience in trade, and purpose in attending. This should be retained as a permanent record, and contain space for entering additional data such as character of work done in the school, reasons for leaving, changes of employment, effect of the school training upon wages received. Reliable data on this last point is urgently needed. Admission qualifications. There is much difference of opinion as to what qualifications for admission should be imposed. The purpose for which the instruction is given will to some extent govern this. The age of admission to trade preparatory classes may be from fourteen to sixteen. In trade extension classes it may be placed as high as seven- teen. This will probably mean that the pupil has had one year in the industry, and has a background of trade ex- perience which will give her the ability to decide what she needs in order to progress in the industry. Admission to the classes should be restricted to the age set, and to those actually engaged in the industry. The students in each class should be as far as possible of the same average ability, both educationally and mechanically, in order that the self- respect of the student may not be wounded by having to appear more ignorant than her fellows. To an outsider this point may appear trivial, but those who have had to do with the practical working of these classes know how important it is. If there is a wide divergence in the ability of the students, the instruction has to be brought to the EVENING SCHOOLS 319 level of the average. In this case it is too advanced for the dull student to understand, and too simple for the bright pupil to profit by, and so both cease their attendance. Practical interest of errqdoyer. These classes cannot be successful unless the pupil receives some direct benefit from the instruction given, and in the eyes of the worker direct benefit means promotion, which again means an increase in her wages. It is here that the cooperation of the employer must be secured. If the employees are trained efhciciitly, the employer will soon recognize the value of the training. The needs of the employer should be studied, and frequent visits be paid to his plant by the authorities of the school. The employer should be notified whenever any of his em- ployees register, and he should be kept informed as to their progress, and consulted as to their needs. But the employer also has his duties in connection with this matter. The average worker is not yet fully convinced that the employer aflvocates industrial training from any other than personal and selfish motives. It woukl not be wise to discuss here whether this opinion is, or is not, warranted. Whether warranted or not, it will not be removed until the employer shows something more than an academic interest. This he can do by giving preference in employment to students attending the school, by making attendance and progress a factor in promotion or increase of wages, by paying part or all of the fees when such are imposed, or by aHowing the pupils the equivalent of the time they spend at the classes without loss of pay. If the employer does not see his way clear to do some of these things, then the classes will not be as successful as they ought to be, and the interest he professes in vocational training is questionabk^. Character of equipment. The equipment must be satis- 320 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS factory. Equipping trade schools is generally looked upon as an expensive matter, and in this connection much money has been wasted. The possibility of some sympathetic manufacturers allowing sections of their shops to be used at night for the purpose of giving instruction deserves con- sideration. If the teacher of a class happens to be the fore- man of a shop, this should not be a difficult matter to arrange. At any rate, whatever the plan adopted, the equipment must be ample for the needs of the students. The equip- ment of the ordinary day school for teaching the household arts is not at all suitable for teaching trade work. The equipment must be of the same character as that provided in the shops of the trade being taught in the school. Pupils cannot be retained if the equipment is not ample and suitable. A girl employed in the dressmaking trade entered a class in business English and bookkeeping, rather than the class in dressmaking, and when asked why, she said, '' I knew more than the teacher, and I could never get at the machine. I had to sew everything by hand. I could get more done at home." A stock girl in a department store left the evening school because '' she could run up two or three corset covers on the machine at home while she was making one at school by hand." ^ Regularity of attendance. The pupils should be required to attend regularly, and be given to understand at the commencement of the session that they will be expected to give satisfactory reasons for all absences or be dropped from the roll. Absence for three or four successive nights without satisfactory reasons being given should automati- cally remove the pupil's name from the register. The only reasons recognized should be sickness and having to work 1 Van Kieeck, Working Girls in Evening Schools. EVENING SCHOOLS 321 overtime. In the case of pupils having to come long dis- tances a stormy night might be regarded as a valid excuse. The number in each class should be strictly limited. A shop instructor cannot teach satisfactorily more than fifteen, and the other classes should be limited to twenty. When the number of applications is too great to be accommodated, a waiting list sometimes steadies the attendance, though a waiting list in connection with a trade school is never a permanent feature; for if the girls cannot get what they want when they want it, they will go somewhere else, take the next best thing, or give up the idea altogether. In many cases a deposit fee, returnable on making a cer- tain percentage of the attendance, has been found to have a good effect. The problem of poor attendance is of such antiquity that we have fallen into the error of accepting it as a matter of course. The authorities look upon it as unavoidable, and to be accepted without question. This attitude has infected the students, and they have come to look upon it as their right to absent themselves whenever they please. When this attitude of the students can be removed, the attendance will improve. It will be far better to have small schools filled with earnest pupils than to at- tempt to give efficient instruction to a large number who are indifferent and only attend when they have " nothing else on." Unit courses. One of the important things upon which the success of the school depends is the character of the course offered. Up to the present, this has had more to do with the comparative failure of evening schools than any other single cause. Courses have been organized to be com- pleted in two or three years, mainly on the day school plan, while as a matter of fact there are few evening schools that 322 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS can hold their pupils for even one year of twenty-two weeks. In a course continuing for two years, the pupils only get in the first year the introductory work as it were, and be- come dissatisfied. They cannot look towards its comple- tion. It is now recognized that the two- or three-year course of study applied to evening schools has been almost a com- plete failure as far as the large majority of pupils is con- cerned, and a radical change is gradually being brought about. This change is the most far-reaching reform that has been made within recent years, with reference to the training of the industrial worker. It is the adoption of what are known as '' unit courses." ^ These are short courses designed to teach a specific thing, and to teach it thoroughly. Each course does not attempt to cover much ground, but what ground is covered is covered well. By taking a sujSBcient number of unit courses a large amount of ground may be covered, while if the training has to be stopped, what has been learned is of immediate practical value, and is not merely introductory to something else to be taken next year or some time in the future. The student who enters an evening class usually does so with a definite purpose, and for these the so-called general course logically and educationally arranged is not suitable, as the student has not usually the ability to select the parts that may be immediately useful and probably would not be allowed to do so if she had. The unit course teaches a definite thing that has been found by practical experience to be useful in the trade. It is drawn up by trade workers who know the needs of the trade, assisted by educationists 1 "Short Unit Courses for Wage Earners," Bulletin No. 159. Depart- ment of Commerce and Labor, Washington. EVENING SCHOOLS 323 who have had experience in arranging courses. It leaves out all extraneous matter and conserves the time of the pupil. How necessary it is to conserve this time and put it to the best use is seen when it is remembered that evening class instruction is maintained in many localities for only twenty weeks. For a majority of girls and women with home, church, and social duties, and the need for recreation, attendance for even three nights a week is a hardship and in many cases impossible. Suppose the pupil should con- tinue for four years, the entire time would amount to only 480 hours or forty-eight working days of ten hours each. But in actual practice the time is much less than this, and in view of the fact that the schools do not hold their students, it is clearly absurd to organize the work in continuous courses almost the whole of which must be taken before much bene- fit can be received. The short course recognizes this situation, and meets the difficulty of early withdrawal, by making the unit so small that the pupil will be able to complete it within the time the school can probably hold her, and by dealing with one specific thing in each course. The instruction is complete, as far as it goes, and therefore is much more effective. In addition to giving some specific knowledge, the short unit course tends to keep the pupil longer in school. Experience of these courses shows that the pupil is encouraged by the accomplishment of a definite piece of work, and is likely to return for the next course. The success of the unit course depends very largely upon the most careful grouping. Each member of the group must have the same need, and the content of the course is determined by the need of the group, and the requirements of the industry in which they are engaged. For instance, instead of a general course in 324 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS cookery, one unit course might consist of eight lessons in bread making for beginners, and another, five lessons in the same subject for the experienced housewife. The following scheme gives samples of unit courses as used in Rochester, New York. Dressmaking and Plain Sewing Mending, patching, darning, remodeling, and renovating of wearing apparel 12 lessons Household Hnens, sheets, pillow sUps, hemming towels, damask hemming, marking and repairing hnen 12 lessons Plain sewing, aprons, undergarments 36 lessons Shirt waists 12 lessons Shirt waists, suits, and one-piece cotton dresses 24 lessons Layettes (with home work) 12 lessons Children's garments 24 lessons Fancy neckwear, jabots, collars, berthas 12 lessons Advanced dressmaking, fitting and making of waists, gowns, and coats 36 lessons Buttonhole and eyelet making, sewing on buttons, hooks, and eyes 12 lessons Power machine operating 12 lessons Skirt making 24 lessons Drafting system 36 lessons Millinery Drafting and blocking of buckram shapes 12 lessons Covering and trimming of buckram frames 12 lessons Making of buckles, cabochons, etc 12 lessons Ribbons, flowers, novelties, etc 12 lessons Wire frames, sewing braid, and trimming 24 lessons Children's milhnery 12 lessons Renovating and remodeling old hats and trimmings 12 lessons General Homemaking Household sanitation and chemistry 72 lessons Pubhc sanitation 12 lessons Pure foods and pure food laws 12 lessons Household appUances 36 lessons Home nursing and care of children 12 lessons Laundering and house care 6 lessons EVENING SCHOOLS 325 One great merit of the unit system is its flexibility ; it meets the needs of the student who requires help on some particu- lar phase of her work, but who is not able, or does not wish, to take a complete course, and also of the person who wishes to take a complete course, as by taking units enough a course can be got as complete as one wishes. Any pupil can enter the course at the point of her greatest need, obtain the help she requires, and then withdraw if she wishes ; if she has other needs she has only to return and take up other courses. In short, it may be said that the unit course system is capable of such adaptation that it is calculated to meet the needs and requirements of all classes and groups of students and fulfill the various conditions imposed by the limitations of evening class instruction. Efficient instruction a complex problem. The complexity of the problem of evening school education for girls and women is not yet thoroughly understood. The three great difficul- ties to be grappled with are those relating to diversity of oc- cupation, low educational attainments, and hours of labor. As early as 1858 the New York Board of Education called attention to the need of industrial education owing to the changing conditions of women's work.^ In that year it was estimated that eighty thousand women were engaged in wage- earning occupations — mostly in factories in that city. The report of that year noted the fact that the invention and im- provement of the sewing machine had thrown large numbers of females out of employment, and advocated the replacing of male clerks in retail stores by women and urged the necessity of training girls in evening schools for these occupations. Variety of women's occupations. In the year 1910-11 an investigation was made by the Russell Sage Foundation into 1 New York Board of Education, Annual Report, 1858, p. 189. 326 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS the condition of the girls and women attending the evening schools of New York City, and from the results of that in- vestigation most of the following particulars are gathered. In the year the investigation ^ was made, thirty-three public night schools were organized for women only, and forty-two others admitted both men and women. Nearly fifty thousand women, chiefly wage-earners, were enrolled in these classes, and the questions on the investigation cards issued were answered by 13,737 girls. Of these cards 13,141 were filled up accurately enough to be used for tabulation purposes. The girls who attend the evening schools come from office, factory, store, or home. They are engaged in a long and varied list of occupations with high skill required for a few, but with endless monotony, drudgery, low wages, and long hours characteristic of many. Of the 13,141 girls who filled out the cards 4519 were em- ployed in manufacturing, 4505 in trade and transportation, 193 in professional, and 520 in domestic and personal service. These are very broad divisions and really give no idea of the occupations in which the girls are engaged. This classifica- tion is based largely on the product. If the process were the basis, the number of occupations would be very much greater. The following table shows the occupations of the women who reported as being engaged in transporta- tion and trade : Stenographers and bookkeepers 1813 40.3% Clerks and office workers 1745 38.9% Employees in stores, including saleswomen, packers, cashiers, stockkeepers, messengers, etc 709 15.7% Cashiers (other than in department stores) 56 2.6% Buyers, shoppers 36 .8% Proofreaders, copyholders 13 .3% Miscellaneous (collectors, agents, etc.) 7 .2 ^ ^ Van Kleeck, Working Girls in Evening Schools. EVENING SCHOOLS 327 The following table shows the principal occupations in mechanical and manufacturing pursuits ranked according to the number of women employed : Dressmakers and seamstresses. Tailoresses on men's and women's clothing, including vest makers. Artificial flower and feather makers. Milliners. Embroidery and lace makers. Bookbinders. Paper box makers. Makers of women's neckwear. Tobacco and cigar factory operatives. Confectioners. Workers on knit goods. Workers on silk goods. Workers on hair goods. Metal workers. Shirt, collar, and cuff makers. The information disclosed by this investigation shows that these evening school girls were employed in at least one pro- cess in all but three of the twelve large industrial groups listed by the New York State Department of Labor. From this, the conclusion is inevitable that if instruction is to touch the real problems of wage-earning women, much more must be done than to give lessons in sewing and cooking and those occupations in which women have been tradition- ally employed. It will also be seen that much investigation and experimentation is needed in order to develop courses of instruction which will meet the diverse needs of the various groups attending these schools, and it will probably be dis- covered that the system of unit courses will be the best method of giving the instruction required. As industry has been divided and subdivided, it is probable that instruction given to train for it will have to follow the same course. Investigation of icomen's occupations. There is no subject, 328 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS perhaps, upon which the general public is more ignorant than of the occupations in which women are engaged. The first actual investigation of the trades in which women are occupied in an American city was made by Miss Butler/ and Pittsburgh, of all cities in the world, was chosen as the scene of that investigation — a city which not one in a thousand would have looked upon as one in which large numbers of women were engaged. Here women were found in food production, in the stogy industry, in the needle trades, sale work, telephone operating, and the cleaning industries, all of which perhaps may be looked upon as traditional women's industries, and do not cause much surprise. One would, however, hardly expect to find '' women molding metals, shaping lamps, and making glass," " girl thread makers at the screw and bolt works," and women fashioning sand cores in foundries, and yet they are found in these, and in many other unusual occupations. What was done for the women of Pittsburgh by Miss Butler was done for the fifty million workers of the United States by the Department of Commerce and Labor. The results of that investigation, published in nineteen volumes, makes astounding revela- tions, and there scarcely seems to-day an industry in which women are not employed. Lack of previous education. The results to be accomplished by evening schools depend to a very large extent on condi- tions outside the schools, over which they have no control. One of these conditions is the previous education the girls have received. It is the custom of the grade teachers in the elementary schools to complain of the lack of knowledge of her pupils, owing to the inefficiency of the instruction received in the previous grade, and much has to be discounted be- 1 Butler, E. B., Women and the Trades. EVENING SCHOOLS 329 cause of this professional attitude on the part of the teacher. In the case of evening schools, however, impartial investiga- tion seems to show that there is an undoubted lack of pre- vious education in the pupils attending, due probably to four causes : inadaptability of the course of study to the future occupation of the girls, limited amount of schooling, ineffi- ciency of teaching, and dullness of pupils who left day school because unable to keep up to the class. This lack of previous education is shown in an interesting way by the spelling used to fill up the cards issued in the investigation previously referred to. Here are a few samples : " ledes dresses," " papar bosces," " wilomaker " (willow maker), 'Hoker" (tucker), ''exzaning," ''ladies' underware"; " operator " was spelled aprether, apertergn, upraitter, apreter, apraider, aperater, apraider, and appairating ; "efren- ret" (arithmetic); ''grigofrie" (geography). One girl was employed in a " book bondary," another was employed in a ** deportment store," and another called herself a " sail lady." While it is not wise, perhaps, to regard spelling as a test of general intelligence, and notwithstanding the fact that some learned men, even including university students and professors, cannot spell, yet a reasonable amount of accuracy in this respect may be fairly regarded as some measure of the previous education received. The facts disclosed show that, either a radical reform in elementary education is necessary, or that some part of the evening work will have to be de- voted towards making up its deficiencies. This lack of the fundamentals of education is the universal experience of all those who have had to do with the organization of evening schools and is recognized as being one of the chief hindrances to their success. Length of the working day. The third difficulty to be dealt 330 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS with, is the length of the working day, which makes it in all cases difficult, and in many cases impossible, to attend eve- ning classes. Many labor conflicts have been fought on this point. Physiologists, scientists, and reformers have all pointed out the dangers to the commonwealth of forcing men and particularly women to work for an undue length of time. Fortunately there is a decided tendency, the world over, to shorten the working hours, and what justice and philanthropy has not been able to do, the law is now stepping in to accom- plish. The opposition to the shortening of the working day is growing less and less, but, of course, there are still those who point to the '' good old days " when women worked " from early morn till dewy eve," forgetting that two new factors — monotony and speed — are now domi- nating the majority of women's occupations. In any discussion of this subject it must be remembered that attendance at evening classes represents the worker's use of her leisure time, when, as a matter of fact, rest and recrea- tion are needed to prevent a loss of vitality, and, in many cases, a drop in the earnings of the next day. It may be said, of course, that a change of occupation is as good as a rest, but the untrained mind and the jaded body cannot appre- ciate this and craves complete rest or the stimulus of excite- ment. In addition to the actual length of time spent in the workroom, there must be added the time taken in getting to and from work. In large cities this is often a very serious item. Here is the way one girl, a floor hand in a petticoat factory, spent her time, and this case is typical of many others. Her actual hours of work were from 8 A.M. to 6 p.m. She left home at 7.10 a.m. In the mornings and evenings, she swept and dusted the workroom. During the day she ran errands in the factory, except during the half hour allowed for EVENING SCHOOLS 331 lunch. She reached home for supper at 6.45 P.M., leaving for night school at 7.15. She returned home again at 10.15. Thus during four days in the week she had no leisure time between 7.10 a.m. and 10.15 p.m. In November she dis- continued her attendance. Under conditions such as this it is almost criminal to expect a girl to attend evening classes. Of 1049 girls sixty-two spent an hour or more in transit, and only eight spent less than half an hour in going to and from work. In work, transit, and evening school four days a week, some of these fourteen and fifteen year old girls spent not less than ten hours a day, only seven less than twelve, while ninety-five were away from home twelve to fifteen hours out of the twenty-four. Two others exceed even that number. These Were all mere children, who from every point of view should have been engaged in recreation and healthful exercise. Many others beyond the age of sixteen have per- sisted in their attendance at evening schools, notwithstand- ing the excessive hours of labor. This is a situation generally recognized, and no useful purpose would be served by multi- plying instances. Overtime. It is not only the regular hours of work that make attendance difficult. After a pupil has enrolled and attended for several nights, she is liable to be called on for overtime work, and thereby be forced to discontinue her at- tendance altogether. In the report for 1912-13 of Dr. Albert Shiels, District Superintendent in charge of evening schools in New York City, the results of an inquiry made concerning the reasons for irregular attendance are given. In seven of the evening high schools 1362 pupils gave reasons for leav- ing before the close of the session, and of these 542, or nearly 40 per cent, stated that " night work including overtime " was responsible. In evening trade school the same reason 332 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS was given by 299 out of 1006. In evening elementary schools, in classes for foreigners, cards sent out to two hundred who had left, brought replies from 159, of whom 105 said they were working overtime. A group of pupils whose combined absences during the term had amounted to 865 evenings was questioned as to the reasons, and overtime work was given as the cause of absence on 324 of the 865 evenings. It is gratifying to note that throughout the country there is a manifest tendency to reduce the hours of labor by legisla- tive enactment, but in many of the laws being enacted too many exceptions are allowed, thus providing loopholes of escape for unscrupulous employers. It is one thing to place a law on the statute book and another to provide machinery for its adequate enforcement. In this latter particular many of our labor laws are defective. Summary of factors contributing to success. In conclu- sion, the factors on which a thoroughly successful system of evening schools depends may be summarized as follows : 1. An elementary education of sufficient breadth and suitable content upon which to build the further instruction to be given in the evening schools. 2. An efficient system of part-time education for girls from 14 to 16 years of age until the compulsory age can be raised to 16 years. 3. Restricting the age of admission to evening schools to not less than seventeen years. 4. A business organization of publicity, in order that the classes may be brought to the attention of those for whom they are designed. 5. A course of study divided into short units so that each student may get what she immediately needs and can put to use. EVENING SCHOOLS 333 6. Teachers of attractive personality and practical skill, who know the trade conditions that must be met by the pupils. 7. Such industrial conditions in the daily work of the stu- dents as will enable them to enter and continue the classes without undue fatigue of mind or body. 8. An efficient equipment in the schools that will give suffi- cient practice to all students. 9. Careful grouping of classes so that those of the same average ability, and having the same needs, may be taken together. 10. Consideration by the employer of the work done and skill acquired — in the way of increased wages, privileges, promotion, etc. 11. The management of the schools by an advisory com- mittee of educationists, employers, and employees who will be competent to give advice on all that pertains to the wel- fare of the school and its pupils. 12. A '' follow-up " committee which shall make it its busi- ness to follow the girls into industry, and to help them in all cases of emergency with advice, etc. 13. A vocational guidance department which shall give some measure of advice and assistance to girls selecting and changing employment. 14. Attention should be paid to the physical and recrea- tional side of the life of the girl. CHAPTER XII EDUCATION FOR OFFICE SERVICE I. Introduction. II. Little consideration given to the subject. III. Results judged by number of students. IV. Criticism of graduates by employers. V. Commercial education in elementary schools. VI. Commercial education in the high school. VII. Pupils leaving before completion of the course. VIII. Office work specialized. IX. Private business or commercial colleges. X. Evening commercial schools. Introduction. The extent to which education for the various branches of that great industrial division " trade and transportation " has grown and its great importance to the industrial life of the community is little recognized. During the past fifty years women have appeared as a constantly growing factor in the commercial world. In 1870 there were twenty thousand women thus employed, forming only 1.1 per cent of the total number of women working for wages, but in 1910 there were 1,167,908 women employed in trade, trans- portation, and clerical occupations, which number formed 14.6 per cent of all the women gainfully employed in the United States. These women were employed mainly in two divisions — clerical occupations (593,224), mainly office serv- ice, and trade (468,088), mainly salesmanship. The fol- lowing table shows the increase in the number of women 334 EDUCATION FOR OFFICE SERVICE 335 employed in business in the United States from 1870 to 1910: Total Num- ber Gain- fully Em- ployed Percent- Number in Percent- Number in Percent- Ybak age OF In- Trade and age OP In- Office age OF In- crease Transport crease Service crease 1870 1,836,288 20,383 8,023 1880 2,647,157 44.2 63,058 209.3 30,344 278.2 1890 3,914,571 47.9 228,421 262.2 113,261 272.0 1900 5,319,397 35.9 503,347 120.4 245,517 116.8 1910 8,075,772 51.8 1,167,908 132.2 573,135 133.4 1 From this table it will be readily seen that the percentage of increase is much greater than the percentage of increase in the total number of women employed. The importance of commercial life may also be measured by the number of students in the various private and public commercial schools. The Commissioner of Education in his report for 1914 states the number of commercial students in public and private high schools and in private commercial colleges to be 346,770. But this number is admittedly in- complete, as only 704 out of the thirteen hundred commer- cial schools made returns. The Commission on National Aid to Vocational Education estimates that from fifty thou- sand to one hundred thousand students are not tabulated. Of course these figures do not include the now not inconsider- able numbers of children in grades seven and eight who are taking elementary commercial courses in prevocational and other schools. " Commercial pupils constitute at least one fourth of all high school pupils, ten times as many as there are agricultural students, five times as many as there are ^ "The Public Schools and Women in OflBce Service." Women's Edu- cational and Industrial Union, Boston. 336 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS students of domestic arts, and nearly twice as many as are found in all our educational institutions." The numerical importance of the subject is perhaps better shown by reference to particular cities. Nine of the eleven Boston high schools in 1914 offered commercial courses. In these nine general high schools 5832 girls were enrolled in 1913, of whom 3699. or 63.4 per cent, elected one or more technical commercial subjects — phonography, typewriting, or bookkeeping. The proportion electing these subjects in the different schools varies according to the type of neighbor- hood. In the most congested districts more than eighty per cent elected commercial subjects, as compared with about fifty per cent in the suburbs.^ In Chicago 31.5 per cent of the total number of students enrolled in the high schools elect a commercial course, and nineteen thousand pupils are enrolled in the forty or more commercial schools.^ Little consideration given to the subject. Though the subject is so important, even when considered from a numeri- cal point of view alone, it has up to the present received little consideration. The air is full of surveys and investigations into almost every branch of our educational system, but commercial education has been left severely alone. Com- mercial education is of course vocational education, but the usual treatment of vocational education does not include commercial education within its scope. The present con- dition of commercial education throughout the country is due to a natural growth, and is not owing to any artificial stimulus. Few grants have been allotted to it, no active 1 "Public Schools and Women in Office Service." Women's Educational and Industrial Union, Boston. 2 "Vocational Training in Chicago and in Other Cities." City Club of Chicago. EDUCATION FOR OFFICE SERVICE 337 propaganda has been engaged in, and little encouragement has been offered in many districts ; yet notwithstanding this, it has progressed until it almost dominates the secondary school system, and is beginning to invade even the elementary schools of the country. Even the Commission on National Aid to Vocational Education, while recommending grants for almost every other form of vocational education, leaves commercial education to look after itself as far as grants to schools and courses are concerned. The Commission says : ^ " Although there is a general feeling that the quality of com- mercial education might be improved, the reports from the country seem to show that there is no great scarcity of trained workers of this kind. The Commission believes that the National Government should give substantial encour- agement through studies, investigations, and reports, which analyze conditions in commerce and commercial pursuits, and in this way furnish expert information for use in courses of instruction and methods of teaching commercial subjects." Results judged by number of students. Owing to the absence of investigation and criticism of this particular branch of our educational system, it might fairly be con- cluded that commercial education is so efficient in meeting the needs of commercial industries that investigation and survey are not necessary. As a matter of fact we have been blinded by numbers. We are inclined to the'opinion that if the classes are filled good and efficient work is certainly being done. We have mentally compared the comparatively small numbers attending industrial and technical schools with the large numbers taking commercial courses, and have concluded that all is well. This is generally the verdict of the schools 1 Report of the Commission on National Aid to Vocational Education, Washington. z 338 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS themselves, but that this conclusion is not warranted is at once shown when we make even the most cursory inquiries of the industrial establishments into which the graduates of these schools and classes enter. The demand that education should be practical and should definitely train for vocations has been made for many years, and the introduction of commercial subjects was the first concession made by the schools to that demand. When the subjects were introduced, there were no competent teachers, and untrained, inexperienced, and often illiterate men were taken into the schools. As a consecLuence, the subject suffered and the terms " commercial teacher," " commercial course/' and " commercial student " became terms of contempt. The subject has long outlived this stage, but it has been so busy firmly intrenching itself into the school system that it has not had time to consider its connec- tion with practical business affairs. It has been neglected and ignored by the business community, which may therefore blame itself for the conditions of which it so loudly complains to-day. Every subject in the school curriculum can be improved by criticism from without, and a subject taught in the schools from any other point of view than the meeting of life's needs and requirements is bound sooner or later to fall into disre- pute. This is strikingly illustrated by the revolution that has occurred in the methods of manual training as now taught in the schools. The recent propaganda for industrial educa- tion has completely changed the character of manual training in many instances, and it is now undergoing a process of being made over, is being given a more vital connection with real life, and as a consequence has disarmed the criticism leveled against it. This change would never have been made had EDUCATION FOR OFFICE SERVICE 339 it been left to the schools alone. Commercial education is in need of much the same kind of medicine. The require- ments of the business world must be considered, and the whole subject readjusted to accord with the demands of business. Criticism of graduates by employers. Let us now consider the criticisms passed by employers upon the product of the commercial schools. It does not concern us just now whether there is a valid answer to these criticisms or not. It may be that in many cases there is, but the fact remains that if grad- uates of commercial schools are to secure and retain positions in the commercial world, they will have to meet the require- ments of their employers. The City Club of Chicago con- ducted an investigation into vocational training, and quite logically included commercial education within its scope. During that investigation three hundred lists of seven ques- tions bearing on different phases of the subject were sent to leading merchants, tradesmen, employment agents, the large department stores, railroad offices, and mail order houses, and the following particulars are gathered mainly from the replies received. The defects pointed out fall into two broad classes : first, what may be called lack of knowledge and defects of instruction ; and second, what may be called the personal equation — the lack of certain qualities and characteristics which are essential to success in the business world. Lack of elementary knowledge. More than eighty-six (86.2) per cent of the employers have difficulty in obtaining em- ployees. Sixty per cent of the replies state that pupils who have taken commercial studies in the high schools are not efficient as clerical or office employees, and 80.6 report that pupils who have taken these subjects in private commercial colleges are not efficient. When these employers were asked 340 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIKLS to state the most striking defects, there was a most wonderful unanimity. Amongst these defects the following are given, deficient general education, poor penmanship, inability to figure easily and correctly. Two quotations may be given. " The most noticeable defects are bad penmanship and ab- solute ignorance of business methods. Apparently the high schools pay little, if any, attention to good penmanship, although in the matter of bookkeeping, card indexing, or record work of any description the ability to write a rapid, neat, and legible hand is a sine qua non. It is safe to say that at least seventy-five per cent of the students who graduate from Chicago high schools are indifferent penmen." Another writes, " With over twenty years actual experience in hiring pupils from the Chicago public schools, I would say that two of the greatest defects with which we have to contend in this class of employee is the miserable penmanship, and lack of ordinary arithmetic." With reference to arithmetic another employer writes that it is not so much lack of knowledge as the lack of knowing how to apply this knowledge. After reading through many pages of such criticism as the above, and consulting with many employers, one comes to the con- clusion that it is not lack of business knowledge but lack of elementary training that is complained of. The business men can hardly expect the graduates of the schools to be experts, but they have a right to expect that those whom they take into their employ shall have a thorough grounding in writ- ing, English, and arithmetic. Given this, many of them say that they can soon " lick into shape " any " green " girl who comes into their ofiices. The Cleveland Girls' Bureau inserted an advertisement forty-two times in the local papers.^ In answer to this 427 ^ Eaton and Stevens, Commercial Work and Training for Girls. EDUCATION FOR OFFICE SERVICE 341 replies were received — ten applicants for one place. The following are two of the letters received in reply : Cleveland, O 11/24/13 Dear Sir or Madam I am a grad of Hodge School at the year of 1911. I am also a grad of the Ohio Business College that is of Bookkeeping and I am nearly through sten about a month more. I am 18 yrs old and have had one months experience. Yours truly (Signed) Miss A Cleveland, 0, Oct 17, 1913 Dear Sir In referrence to your want ad in the Press, I am eighteen years old and a graduate of the Edminster Business College 3028 W 25th Street having completed a full coarse of bookkeeping and stenog- raphy. Have had no experience yet and am there for unable to say just what I am worth. Hoping to receive your favorable reply, I remain Yours truly (Signed) Miss M M These letters are by no means exceptional. Lack of personality. In addition to the lack of elementary knowledge complained of by nearly all the employers, and the lack of knowledge of office requirements complained of by many, serious fault is found with the personality of the girls who seek employment. '' Not thorough in anything," " lack of intelligence," '^ poor training and deportment," " as to deportment, good manners, and polite address these seem to be entirely forgotten and even tabooed," " too busy with chewing gum and the powder puff " are some of the criticisms made in this respect. Even in those schools, and they are many, that have developed successful and efficient courses, this feature has not been considered as coming within the scope of legitimate instruction ; yet if the girls are 342 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS to be successful, this demand of business men for an attractive personality cannot be ignored. The term " attractive personality " is difficult of definition. It does not mean good looks. It is a broad term covering per- sonal appearance, polite manners, appropriate dress, correct attitude towards the work of the office and fellow workers, and many other things. One employer defined an efficient stenographer as " one with adequate technical training, a knowledge of appropriate business dress, and a serious ap- preciation of the confidential character of her work." ^ It should be the business of the schools to give instruction on these points, intangible though some of them are ; for many a girl after obtaining a position has lost it through inatten- tion to some detail entirely unconnected with her technical ability. That such training is necessary is shown by the fact that the Kansas Civil Service Commission announces that in the examinations for employment under that body thirty points will be given for personal appearance and demeanor. Stenography, typewriting, grammar, spelling, and penmanship count for the remaining seventy. These criticisms offered by business men probably have a great measure of truth in them, but in order to show that they are made in good faith, business men must do something more than find fault with the schools ; they must actually take part in the training the schools offer. If the schools are to be improved, business men must aid in the process. From the point of view of commercial education, business is something more than business, and the schools have many functions other than those that were formerly supposed to attach to them. Neither can succeed without the closest 1 "The Public Schools and Women in Office Service." Women's Educa- tional and Industrial Union, Boston. EDUCATION FOR OFFICE SERVICE 343 connection. The schools must become business institutions and the business institutions must become schools. Commercial education in elementary schools. Perhaps it seems somewhat ridiculous to talk about commercial edu- cation in elementary schools, but on closer scrutiny it will be seen that it is here that a beginning must be made. Of course it is but a truism to say that all vocational education depends upon the foundation that is laid in the primary schools, but trite as it is, it needs repeating again and again until its im- portance is recognized. True as the statement is in regard to vocational education in general, it has special application to commercial education. No matter what the special technical qualifications of a girl in office service may be, un- less the arithmetic, spelling, and English are satisfactory no position can be retained. Some instruction of real worth can be given in the prevoca- tional schools, and differentiated courses are now being or- ganized for grades seven and eight. Such courses are being tried out in New York and many other centers where the course of study is being adapted for children — largely girls — intending to enter business life. In New York ^ those taking this course are required to attend school one hour longer a day than those taking the regular school course. This plan might be followed with decided advantage in all seventh and eighth grade classes, since in this way not only would more work be done, but also the transition between school and industry would be less abrupt. The object of these courses is to afford the pupils an opportunity to un- derstand the simpler business transactions, and to give them the ability to perform the routine work of the ordinary office. A joint committee of the Chicago Association of Commerce 1 Report of the Superintendent of Schools, 1914. New York. 344 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS and the Chicago Board of Education, in a report made in 1913, strongly urged that prevocational training should begin in the seventh and eighth grades. They recommended that it should consist partly of " a narrow intensive drill on speed and accuracy in handling figures, spelling the vocabulary of business letters, simple punctuation, and correct English expression as the necessary fundamental education, without which even an ofiice boy cannot hope to attain future use- fulness." ^ The courses that are being organized are not for the pur- pose of making efficient stenographers, typewriters, or book- keepers, as the immaturity of the pupils would render this impossible. Their purpose is to lay a good foundation, to give the pupils some ideals of service, some knowledge of the requirements of the office, to inspire with some ambition, and then to advise them to continue their education and prac- tice in the evening schools, so as to be ready to accept more responsible positions when their age and ability will warrant them so doing. The position of the girl entering industry directly from the elementary school is not an enviable one, and while the girl entering commercial life is, perhaps, in a better position than the one entering the factory, yet she is much less to be envied than those who have received higher education. As the course in the seventh and eighth grades, specially designed for commercial work, becomes further developed, it may be that the criticisms now made of the ele- mentary school graduate will disappear, and that when spe- cial attention is given to the graduates so trained, the minor positions in offices may be satisfactorily filled by young girls until they gain experience and knowledge to fit them for 1 Report of the Commissioner of Education, 1915. Bureau of Education, Washington. EDUCATION FOR OFFICE SERVICE 345 the higher positions. Many business men would prefer the girls to grow up in their own offices, if they could obtain them with adequate elementary training. The conclusions arrived at in the Cleveland survey are not peculiar to that city. Investigations made in Chicago and Boston reach practically the same conclusions. Previous education determines position in the office. The Girls* Bureau of Cleveland obtained records from 428 office girls, which number is divided into three classes : the grade school, including those whose preparation is eighth grade or less ; the partial high school, which includes those who have spent some time in the high school, but have not graduated ; and the high school graduate. From an analysis of these rec- ords the following conclusions are drawn : 1. Children from the elementary school form the large majority of those getting the smallest wage. 2. Of those receiving no advance after two years* experi- ence, grade school children are in the large majority. They do not even appear in a comparison of workers receiving an advance of four dollars or more in the same length of time. 3. Grade school children change about in office positions much more frequently than the other classes. 4. Grade school children include nearly one half of all those who abandon office work for other vocations, and in factory work, which represents the greatest retrogression in the scale of employment, they reach by far the highest per- centage.^ As a matter of fact business offices are clogged with unfit girls. At fourteen or fifteen years of age, a girl with inade- quate training and an abridged English education goes into a business office to earn five or six dollars a week. Of course, ^ Eaton and Stevens, Commercial Work and Training for Girls. 346 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS she is unable to punctuate, spell, or type correctly. For several years she drifts from one job to another, never well paid, never promoted. She is the despair of her employer and becomes discouraged, bitter, or indifferent. What the elementary schools can do. In closing this section of the discussion let us summarize the work the elementary schools can and ought to do. 1. Thorough training should be given in spelling, arith- metic, and English in the lower grades. It is not so much the amount of work done in these grades that counts, as it is the thoroughness with which it is done. This recommendation may seem to some to be going back to the days of the " three R's," but while not at all advocating this, a prolonged experi- ence convinces me that the basis of most of our educational troubles lies in the fact that the elementary work is not satisfactorily done. The average teacher is satisfied if she has " covered " the course as laid down in the official syllabus, but this is not enough. It must be done in such, a way that it will never be necessary to do it again. In this connection it should be said that the course of study is at fault. It deals generally with too many side issues, and before it can be covered satisfactorily it must be pruned to essentials. 2. Courses must be more generally provided for grades seven and eight, having for their object the laying of a definite foundation for office work. The work here should be done, in the last year at any rate, under conditions which approxi- mate closely to those of real business. The conditions to be faced should be clearly pointed out, the limitations of the training given be emphasized, and the pupils encouraged in every possible way towards further education, the financial advantages of which should be clearly shown. EDUCATION FOR OFFICE SERVICE 347 3. No girl should be allowed to enter an office at fourteen or fifteen years of age and then be lost sight of. Every edu- cational department should have an efficient vocational staff whose duty it should be to keep in touch with the girl until she is satisfactorily placed in a position where she can earn a living wage and at the same time have opportunity to pro- gress. There might well be a law to require the parent or employer to report to the school authorities every change of occupation until the child has reached the age of at least sixteen. Commercial education in the high school. It has already been said that commercial education was the first concession the schools made to the demand for a practical connection be- tween school and business. Inspired by the success of the " business colleges" and the demand they created, the public high school first tacked on to the regular academic courses an occasional course in bookkeeping, shorthand, or typewrit- ing. Two, three, four, and occasionally five-year courses have all appeared in the history of commercial education, and two-year courses are again being introduced, with the idea that they will be able to compete with the private business college so called, but, notwithstanding all that the public high schools have done and are doing, the private institu- tion still dominates the field. In Cleveland, for instance, the public schools are educating approximately only ten per cent of the boys and girls entering day commercial schools and courses in that city in a given year. The re- maining ninety per cent are patronizing private, parochial, or philanthropic institutions.^ In Chicago in 1909-10 there were 5236 children in the public high school commercial courses and nineteen thousand (estimated) were in the private * Eaton and Stevens, Commercial Work and Training for Girls. 348 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS colleges.^ Other cities show much the same results, but with the estabHshment of improved courses in academic high schools, and the organization of special commercial high schools, this lead is being gradually reduced, and the private colleges are being forced to rely on the elementary schools for their students. Development of commercial courses in Boston. The char- acter and development of commercial courses may perhaps be best shown by a description of the method of procedure in Boston, which might fairly be called the city of educational experiment.^ In 1897 and 1898 commercial courses were introduced into the day high schools, and offered to all boys and girls who wished to take them. Special instructors were engaged for bookkeeping, stenography, and typewriting. These courses were two years in length and provided a be- wildering array of subjects. In the first year the following were required : English language and literature, ancient his- tory, phonography, penmanship, commercial forms, com- mercial arithmetic and bookkeeping, botany, drawing, music, and physical training. The second-year subjects were Eng- lish language and literature, medieval history, modern history, phonography and typewriting, elements of mer- cantile law, bookkeeping, commercial geography, zoology, physiology and hygiene, drawing, music, and physical train- ing. Two high schools reported 117 students (of whom seventeen were boys) taking the course out of a total of 1635 students. This number does not include schools in which the number of pupils was less than fifty. In October, ^ "Vocational Training in Chicago and Other Cities." City Club of Chicago. 2 "The Public Schools and Women in OflSce Service." Women's Educa- tional Industrial Union, Boston. EDUCATION FOR OFFICE SERVICE 349 1899, stenography and typewriting were reported in seven Boston high schools. Other cities introduced a longer course of training, ranging from three to four years. One of the agents of the Massachusetts Board of Educa- tion in his report for 1898-99 states his belief that the three- year course is best, and that the fourth year would be more profitably spent in actual business employment than in the schools. Three- and four-year courses remained until 1908, when the course was made four years in length. In 1911 the pendulum swung again and an attempt was made to return to a two-year course of study ; and an ^' intensified clerical course " was introduced into one of the high schools, one of the avowed purposes of which was to compete with the best business colleges. A large number of girls flocked into the course, but only twenty-five seem to have been on the roll in 1913. Twelve came directly from the elementary school, six had been one year, and four two years in the high school, previous to taking the commercial course. Three attended the course for one year and then went to work. The two-year course is still retained in one or two schools for girls who can spend only a short time in school. These courses may be completed in even less than two years if satisfactory work is done. The instruction is mainly in stenography and book- keeping. Practical office work is offered to these girls as clerical assistants in the ofiices of the grammar schools, and this practical application of classroom instruction is proving most valuable. The situation had become so serious by 1913 that two in- vestigations were conducted under the Assistant Superintend- ent of Schools " to determine, not by opinion, but by carefully verified data, the educational needs of those who enter busi- ness and whether the commercial schools of to-day are meet- 350 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS ing the needs." ^ One of these investigations was conducted by the Chamber of Commerce and the other by the Women's Educational and Industrial Union. Some of the main con- clusions reached by the two investigations may be sum- marized as follows : 1 . There are so few men occupied or needed in stenographic positions (in Boston) that it is not worth while for many boys to take training for work of this character. The practice of stenography is essentially a girls' occupation. 2. The value in terms of earning capacity of a high school education is clearly demonstrated. The high school gradu- ate makes more rapid advancement and quickly passes the one who has not gone beyond the primary schools. 3. The technical subjects most used in business which were taught in schools were ranked as follows : penmanship, men- tal arithmetic, bookkeeping, typewriting. 4. The commercial educator must be acquainted with business demands and see that the student has a capacity and equipment to meet them. 5. A four-year high school course should be insisted upon for all who can avail themselves of it and a fifth-year course of intensive training should be developed. 6. Intensive courses in evening schools for those who have gone to work are of great importance. 7. Cooperative office and school service should be devel- oped, giving pupils an opportunity to work in business oflSces and to get an understanding of the conditions and require- ments of actual business. This cooperative arrangement would react on the school and keep the courses close to the business world. The commercial courses in the high schools of Boston ^ Report of the Superintendent of Schools, 1914. Boston. EDUCATION FOR OFFICE SERVICE 351 have been remodeled largely on the findings of these com- missions. Pupils leaving before completing the course. Commercial courses in general high schools have proved unsatisfactory. That this is the case is shown by the large number of pupils who drop out before completing the course. Of the 6536 pupils in the commercial courses in the Chicago high schools in September, 1905, only 1470 were graduated four years later. This is a loss of 77.5 per cent for the four years.^ The attendance at the business colleges is largely made up of these pupils, and may be partly owing to their general dissatis- faction with the courses in the academic high schools. Four hundred and ninety-one pupils in the ten Chicago high schools wrote on the theme, "Why do Pupils leave the High School ? " and of these 341, or 69.5 per cent, gave as a reason, "to go to business college." Two hundred and ninety-six, or 60.2 per cent, gave as a reason the fact that they saw no connection between their high school work and their future vocation. The tendency is now, particularly in the large cities, to establish separate commercial high schools; but in the smaller towns and cities, the commercial work will have to be done in the academic high school, and if these courses are to be effective for their purpose, they must be given a definite close contact with business, which they have hitherto lacked. The majority of the teachers who are in charge of the business courses are academically trained, and have had no practical acquaintance with business affairs. Owing perhaps to this, the courses contain much that, while academically useful, has no direct application to actual business. In industrial 1 "Vocational Training in Chicago and Other Cities." City Club of Chicago. 352 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS education it is now accepted as an axiom that the teachers must be men who have had actual shop experience, and surely the same principle should be applied to commercial subjects. Steps should be taken to keep the teachers alive to the changing conditions of business life. The pupils, moreover, must be given the opportunity to come into contact with the ordinary routine of a business office. This may be af- forded by holiday apprenticeships, part-time courses, or occu- pations on Saturdays, when the schools are not in session. The medical student, the normal student, the pupils of the trade school are now all given opportunities for practice under working conditions. The business houses must fur- nish these opportunities. Model banks, offices, and like paraphernalia in the schools themselves are more or less of an artificial character and cannot be expected to do the work required. There are, of course, many difficulties in the way, but obstacles as great have been overcome in connection with industrial education. The plan has been satisfactorily worked out in connection with salesmanship instruction in the Boston schools. Office work becoming specialized. Office work and busi- ness practice is becoming specialized in much the same way as industrial operations, and this feature will have to be considered in the organization of courses. A large retail organization in Boston showed two hundred different kinds of jobs or unit occupations in which one or more individuals were employed, and it is probable that commercial education will find its greatest and most practical development in the organization of unit courses such as are being extensively used as a method of industrial education. An excellent example of a specialized commercial high school is the Clerical High School of Boston, established in EDUCATION FOR OFFICE SERVICE 353 1914. The following are the unit courses of study proposed for this school : Course Preparing for Office Service This course is available for girls who have completed two years of high school work, and consists of the following subjects : book- keeping, office practice, commercial arithmetic, commercial law, penmanship, and business English. Course Preparing for Stenography and Higher Clerical Work This course is available for girls who have completed three years of high school work, and consists of the following subjects : short- hand, typewriting, penmanship, business arithmetic, English, book- keeping, political geography, and office practice. Course Preparing for Secretarial Work and Bookkeeping This course is available for young men and women who are high school graduates, and consists of the following subjects : (a) (for secretaries), stenography, typewriting, business correspondence, office practice, commercial procedure; (b) (for bookkeepers), book- keeping, use of office machinery, filing devices, commercial arithme- tic, commercial law. Students in each of the above courses are advanced as rapidly as their progress will permit, and are given certifi- cates when they have satisfactorily completed the courses without regard to the length of time required for completion. Private business or commercial colleges. One of the most striking features in the history of the development of com- mercial education is the increase in the number of private " commercial colleges " and the number of pupils they, for various reasons, attract from the public school system. The American commercial college is probably unique; nothing exactly like it is to be found in other countries, and nowhere else has private enterprise been allowed to so monopolize a public function. In 1910 the high schools reported more 2a 354 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS than one third (34.8 per cent) and the private commercial schools more than one half (57.7 per cent) of the students in commercial subjects in the United States, and although since that year the numbers of the commercial students in the public schools have increased and the numbers in the private colleges have decreased, the numbers in the latter are still very great. Solicitation of pupils. As these schools are under no public control or inspection, the methods of their organization and equipment, their courses of study, and the qualifications of their teachers are difficult to obtain. The great charge made against the business colleges is, that they solicit pupils and parents in order to gain students. The Chicago report states " that the solicitor for the business colleges is a serious evil in the community." The attempt to gain pupils is not in itself a thing to be deplored ; indeed, if the ordinary school system injected into its organization some of the business enterprise shown by the " colleges," it would be better for all concerned. It is the methods employed that are to be con- demned. In many cases the solicitors work on a commission basis, and usually they have not had any kind of training to fit them for the responsible work of advising children or their parents. They are usually more concerned in securing pupils than they are in telling the truth. The maturity or fitness of the pupil concerns them little. In attempting to secure these pupils misrepresentation, if not downright lying, is often resorted to. Pupils are guaranteed situations at the end of the course. The success of exceptional students is made use of, and by these and other means pupils, even from the fifth grade and upwards, are induced to leave the public schools to take a course in some business college. A Chicago EDUCATION FOR OFFICE SERVICE 355 high school teacher states : "In our city these business schools obtain complete lists of pupils in each of the upper grades, as well as of the pupils in the high schools (one cannot say how) and their solicitors canvass these families thoroughly and re- peatedly, setting forth the advantages of a course in a business school and the loss of time in attending high school. This work would not be so effective as it is if they were not able to convince parents and pupils that the business college offers a short cut to wage earning." Evidence to this effect is not only given by teachers, but also by pupils. In ten high schools spread throughout the whole of the city of Chicago 565 pupils out of 862 gave as a reason why more pupils do not enter the high schools, the work of the business college agent. One pupil writes : "School pupils who have a chance to choose between high school and business college are generally encouraged to attend college by men who entice them before they graduate from the grammar school, so they are turned from high school. There is no one going from house to house telling of things they have in high school and people don't bother to find out. I would have had this same experience only that my father, being a well-educated man and holding a good position, knew different, and I was compelled to go to high school." It is just here that the high school could afford to take a leaf out of the book of the commercial school. The high schools should make more effort to advertise effectively what they have to offer to the child who is at the end of the ele- mentary school course. It is only in this way that the efforts of the agents of the business schools can be counter- acted. Any advertising that is done at present by the high school consists simply of a dry statement of the courses, 356 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS which conveys nothing to the average parent. Compare this with the elaborate catalogues issued by the business schools, illustrated by attractive pictures, often fanciful, of students, successful graduates, buildings, and equipment. Many reputable proprietors of business colleges condemn these practices, but feel compelled to make use of them, owing to the fierce competition of other schools. One such proprietor says : *' Business college training in Chicago is in large measure a failure because of soliciting children and employing teachers who lack training. Poor foundation, poor teachers, and textbooks which produce the largest cash dividend are not conducive to efiicient ofl&ce help. I will welcome the day when every young man and woman who needs and wants commercial training can get it without having to pay the fee charged by special schools." It is estimated that the citizens of Chicago pay $1,425,000 in tuition to such schools. It must be remembered that these schools are under no restriction by any educational authority, and the parents have no guarantee that their children are working under even fair sanitary conditions. Overcrowding and bad ventilation are common. These mat- ters should surely be a concern of the law, and no such school should be allowed to receive pupils until it has con- vinced the educational authorities, on the one hand, that the proposed course is satisfactory, and, on the other, the health authorities that the working conditions are such as will insure a healthy environment. It should also be made a punish- able offense to make false statements or misrepresentations in order to lure children to these schools. Defects. The defects of the average private business col- lege may be thus summarized. It should be said, however, that there are many institutions to which the strictures do not EDUCATION FOR OFFICE SERVICE 357 apply. Some have done a necessary and useful work not hitherto performed by any pubHc organization. 1. No attention is paid to age, preparedness, or desirabil- ity of admission of individual pupils. 2. Pupils are retained for the sake of the fee after their unfitness is discovered. 3. Overcrowding in classrooms with too many pupils to a teacher. 4. Bad grading as to age, previous preparation, and abil- ity — all pupils being included in one class. 5. Untrained and inexperienced teachers. 6. An unsatisfactory curriculum, ignoring general educa- tion and sufl&cient office practice. 7. An atmosphere subversive of business ideals. 8. Unscrupulous methods of solicitation. 9. Absence of an official standard of education, and lack of all supervision except by an interested proprietor. Evening commercial schools. Much that has been said with reference to evening schools in other sections of this study applies here also, and no part of our educational system deserves more intelligent handling than the evening com- mercial high school. In no other department do the students attend with such a definite purpose as they do here, and the night schools should not be looked upon as an afterthought or a sideshow in our educational organization. The problems of the evening school are somewhat more complicated than those of the day school. Girls attend from different motives, from varying occupations, and with different degrees of preparation, and all these factors have to be considered. Here are found girls who work in offices during the day and who wish to supplement their previous training, girls who work in stores, factories, and domestic service and have to 358 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS struggle with very elementary principles. A canvass of five commercial evening schools in Boston shows the occupation of 861 girls to be as follows : Office service 349 40.5% Manufacturing processes 230 26.7% Mercantile service 103 12.0% Domestic and personal service 23 2.7 % At home 137 15.9% Miscellaneous. 19 2.2% The previous schooling of these same girls is shown as follows : High school graduates 96 11.1% High school non-graduates 319 37.0% No high school training 444 51.5% Unclassified 2 0.3%^ The method of procedure adopted until recently has been that of the day school, — two, three, and four year courses, — and no method could have been better designed to dis- courage those who attend the schools for a definite commer- cial purpose. The goal is too remote and the sustained effort required is too great. Many of the students are unable to do certain portions of the work, and are reluctant to take up any. These are often discouraged soon after they begin. On the other hand if they were allowed to pick and choose the information desired, they would be able to accomplish some definite piece of work. This can be done by the method of unit courses previously referred to. These con- sist of from ten to twenty two-hour lessons, depending on the character of the work. First of all the subject is plotted out into large general divisions, such as bookkeeping, mercan- tile office appliances, commercial law, advertising, etc., and » "The Public Schools and Women in Office Service." Women's Educa- tional and Industrial Union, Boston. EDUCATION FOR OFFICE SERVICE 359 then each division is divided into unit courses, by taking a suflBcient number of which a complete course in any one divi- sion is obtained. These courses also offer great opportunity for employers to assist in this work by outlining to school authorities the courses they need, and to show their active interest and appreciation by giving preference and promotion to the girls who have taken these courses and obtained the diplomas. The adoption of these intensive unit courses will necessitate more than ever the employment of teachers who have a thorough practical acquaintance with the branch of the busi- ness they are required to teach. In conclusion it may be said that the measures required in connection with the evening commercial schools are as follows : 1. The introduction of a thoroughly flexible curriculum in the form of carefully organized unit courses. 2. Revision of the texts used with special reference to their suitability for their purpose, e.g., the acquirement of business English. 3. An extension of the night school term. Private business schools run for the whole year, and the public schools must meet them on their own ground. Provision must be made for the student to make reasonably rapid progress so that she may see that she is " getting somewhere," before becoming discouraged. 4. Efficient registration by which the pupil's previous training, her requirements and ability, may be gauged in order that the best service may be rendered to her. 5. The appointment of teachers, with training and experi- ence, who shall be required to keep themselves alive to the changing conditions of business. 360 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS 6. The provision of satisfactory and sufficient equip- ment. Students cannot get sufficient practice on the type- writer without an adequate number of machines, nor can adults do satisfactory work in desks designed only for children. CHAPTER XIII EDUCATION FOR SALESMANSHIP I. Methods of selling goods. II. A pioneer school of salesmanship. III. Instruction in the stores. IV. Part-time instruction. V. New York State Factory Investigating Commission. VI. Instruction in Boston public schools. VII. Agreements between the stores and the schools. VIII. Training teachers. IX. Physical education of the salesgirl. Methods of selling goods. One great avenue for the em- ployment of girls and women is salesmanship. More than two hundred thousand of them are occupying positions as clerks and saleswomen in various types of mercantile es- tablishments in the United States. Within recent years the character and methods of retail selling have been revolution- ized. It was formerly the practice to make a profit, regard- less of whether the customers were satisfied or not. The present system of one price for all was unknown. Goods were marked with secret marks known only to the seller, and the best saleswoman was the one who could obtain the highest price, and the price first asked was generally higher than the one she expected finally to obtain. An article once bought, the transaction was regarded as closed and the idea that " a bargain was a bargain " was rigidly ad- hered to. If when the article reached home the customer 361 362 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS was not satisfied, nobody suffered but the buyer, and the merchant did not consider himself obligated to remove the dissatisfaction of the purchaser. He deserved to be cheated, because he was not sharp enough to detect flaws and defects, which it was his business to discover. To-day all this is changed. One price is made to all for the same class of goods. The price of an article does not depend on the ability of the purchaser to pay, and there is no room for haggling or bargaining within the organization of any reputable store. Goods are now universally changed if the purchaser is not satisfied, or the purchase price is re- funded if the customer wishes. This policy was inaugurated by John Wanamaker more than 40 years ago. On May 6, 1876, he opened his two-acre store in an old freight de- partment of the Pennsylvania railway company, and many merchants predicted his failure; but the new store was to do business with the public and not with other traders, and the public appreciated the new methods because 1. The store would not importune any one to buy. 2. The prices of goods were put down at the beginning to the lowest point they could be sold for, and there was no underground way to get them. 3. The goods were genuinely trustworthy. Seconds were not sold for anything but seconds, even if people could not tell the difference. 4. A sale could be canceled and money got back easily by return of what failed to please.* The policy thus inaugurated now dominates the business of retail selling, and if the transactions of a merchant do not result in profit to the customer as well as to himself success in any large way cannot be expected. " Service to cus- ^ Golden Book of the Wanamaker Store, Philadelphia. EDUCATION FOR SALESMANSHIP 363 tomer " is now the only method of building up a business. The buyers from all stores meet and mingle in the same markets. They have access to the same sources of supply, and all buy on much the same terms. Prices are the same in all stores, and generally speaking one store is distinguished from another only by certain features of its service. All this goes to show that successful retail selling now demands the highest kind of service to the customer, and this cannot be given without a well-trained, courteous, and intelligent sell- ing force. Competition has forced this question to the front, and it is now recognized that the saleswoman is the point of contact between the customer and the store, and upon the impression she creates depends the estimate the customer forms of the store and its service. Her appearance, intelligence, courtesy, personality, knowledge of stock, and ability to adapt that stock to the needs and requirements of the customer are vital factors in giving a right and lasting impression. Many of the qualities which a saleswoman should possess may be gained through the right kind of instruction. A pioneer school of salesmanship. One of the most successful pioneer schools for the training of saleswomen is the Union School of Salesmanship of Boston, organized by the Women's Educational and Industrial Union in coopera- tion with five large department stores of the city. Mrs. Prince, the Director of the school, began her experiments by interesting the store superintendents. As was to be ex- pected, they were very skeptical as to the necessity or feasi- bility of training saleswomen. They asked for proof that the scheme she proposed would work, and that it would re- sult in greater efficiency. In order to prove that a trained woman could sell more goods, and handle more customers 364 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS successfully, Mrs. Prince entered a store and took a place behind the counter. At the end of the day she had made a splendid record, and had beaten every one of her competi- tors, selling three or four times the amount of some. The practice was continued on other days, and in other stores, and the results were always the same. Cooperation of the stores with the school. At first the school was carried on without connection with any business house, but under these conditions it did not attract the kind of girl wanted in the stores. It was then that Mrs. Prince secured the interest of the stores, and the five contributing firms agreed to allow the pupils one day a week in the stores in order to secure the necessary business contact. For this service one dollar was paid. The next step taken was the formation of an advisory committee, consisting of the super- intendents of the five stores. This committee agreed to allow the girls half time in the store and half time in the schools, paying three dollars a week for the store work. Afterwards the girls were given full pay (six dollars) and al- lowed three hours a day for three months for training. The girls are selected from the store by the director of the school. They attend from 8.30 to 11.30 every morning except Mon- days. At the end of the three months, if the girl's work is satisfactory, she is given a permanent position in the store at the initial wage of six dollars. At present there are over six hundred graduates of the saleswomen's classes, and the record of their progress has been most encouraging. Out of a total of 195 graduates inter- viewed in 1913, 145 had received a wage increase during the year. Thirty-four of them had been advanced two dollars a week, eighteen had been advanced three dollars a week, six had received a weekly increase of four dollars. For the EDUCATION FOR SALESMANSHIP 365 remaining eighty-seven, wages had been increased all the way from fifty cents to fourteen dollars a week. Fourteen of the graduates held executive positions with wages ranging from nine dollars to twenty-five dollars a week. Objects of the instruction. The instruction given is intended to accomplish the following objects : 1. To develop a wholesome attractive personality. In this connection a study of hygiene is made which includes daily menus for saleswomen, ventilation, bathing, sleeping, exercise, etc. 2. To give familiarity with the general system of stores : sales practice, store directory, business arithmetic and forms, lectures. 3. To increase knowledge of stock : color, design, textiles. 4. To teach selling as a science : discussion of store experi- ences, talks on salesmanship, demonstration of selling in the class, salesmanship lectures. Representatives of the firms give practical talks on such subjects as " How to show goods/' " Trifles," " Textiles," " Service to customer," " Customer's point of view," etc. Demonstration lessons are conducted like the practice teach- ing in normal schools. Real customers, representing differ- ent types, buy real articles. At the end of the sale the one who has made it is allowed to criticize her own work, the customer states why she did, or did not, buy the article, and the whole matter is summed up by the director.^ For ad- mission the girls must be at least eighteen years of age, and have had a good fundamental education. Some of the store superintendents admit that three well-trained saleswomen 1 National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education, Bulletin No. 13. •' Vocational Training in Chicago and Other Cities." City Club of Chicago. 366 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS can manage a counter better than six indifferent ones, and the well-trained with good salaries cost the store no more than the indifferent six. The school keeps in closest touch with the stores, and after pupils have attended the school for six weeks the superintendents of the stores from which the pupils come are asked to estimate the value of the in- struction given, and to offer suggestions in regard to special points in the training of the individual students. The instruction is thorough in every way, and has a decided cul- tural as well as a direct educational value. The following are the questions sent by the director of the school to the store superintendents : Will please answer the following questions in re- gard to Miss considering her work when she entered the salesmanship class in comparison witli what she is now doing, 1. Is her personality more interesting and attractive since she entered the school? 2. Does she comprehend the store system and apply its rules more exactly ? 3. Does she make out her sales slips more distinctly, accurately, rapidly ? 4. Has she developed power of initiative during the training? 5. Does she keep her stock well, neatly, attractively, and with full linos ? 6. Does she know her stock, — what she has, and how to talk about it, — advertised goods, lines in competing stores, etc. ? 7. Has she an easy manner with all types of customers? If not, what particular type does it seem hard for her to approach? 8. Is she energetic and business-like in her work and attitude? 9. Is she more willing to work anywhere in the store whenever need arises? 10. Suggestions : Please note here any special points which need emphasis during the final weeks of training. Signature Date Examinations. The efficiency of the instruction is tested by regular examinations. The following are typical exami- nation papers in " textiles " and " salesmanship." EDUCATION FOR SALESMANSHIP 367 Examination in Textiles 1. Describe in detail a single raw fiber of each of the four tex- tiles studied. What advantage for manufacture has each? 2. How do woolens and worsteds differ in raw material, treat- ment, and finished product? Give two examples of each. 3. a. Name three hair-bearing animals and the textile material made from their hair. 6. Name three vegetable fibers and one material made from each. 4. Give all the tests you know for a good piece of cotton sheet- ing, dress linen, broadcloth, taffeta. 5. Which of the four textile fibers are raised but little in this country ? Why ? 6. What is meant by "natural color" in linens and silks? Give two examples of natural colored silks and one of natural colored linen. 7. a. Compare cotton and linen as to durability, cost, and beauty. h. What is meant by warp, plain weave, sizing, live fleece, wool, spun silk? 8. Where is the greatest amount of the raw material of cotton produced ? Where is the greatest amount of the raw material of wool pro- duced ? Where is the greatest amount of the raw material of silk pro- duced ? Where is the greatest amount of the raw material of linen pro- duced ? Where is wool raised in the United States? Where is wool manufactured in the United States? 9. Tell all you can of the "boiling off" process in the manufac- ture of silk and the "weighting" which usually follows it. 10. Name materials, class of fiber (animal or vegetable), and give talking points of samples in the envelope supplied. Examination in Salesmanship 1. a. State ten cases in which it is necessary to have the signa- ture of the floor manager. h. What is the purpose of the sales slip ? 2. Suggest three ways of finding out the price a customer is will- ing to pay. 3. a. Describe in detail an interesting sale which you have made or lost lately, and tell why you think it resulted as it did. h. Analyze the sale. 4. Name at least three things you can do to save time in mak- ing a sale. 368 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS 5. If you have a customer who has always worn a certain type of suit quite out-of-date, how are you going to sell her an up-to-date suit, and make her feel satisfied after she has got it home ? 6. Give four reasons why a firm reduces the price of merchandise. 7. Give an outline showing how some article from your own stock is handled from the time it reaches the receiving room until it is delivered to the customer. 8. What do you mean by selling or talking points ? Give at least five talking points, and if possible more, on the following : a. an article froni the stock you are now selling. 6. an apron used in the demonstration sales. c. a bureau scarf from the handwork shop. 9. Name ten principles of good salesmanship which you have learned from the demonstration sales. 10. What do you consider the greatest need in your department and why ? What can you do about it ? ^ Instruction in the stores. The Wanamaker stores in Philadelphia have for many years conducted regular classes for the younger employees. These are held twice a week and all must attend, the girls and junior boys from 8.30 to 10 o'clock in the morning, and the senior boys from 6.40 to 9.30 in the evening. The course of study consists of the common English branches, commercial geography, ethics, and knowl- edge of business forms. Regular textbooks are used, and the classes are taught by experienced public school teachers. This instruction had a humble beginning in a class in arith- metic designed to remove the ignorance of the boys in addi- tion, subtraction, and the making of figures. These classes have developed into the John Wanamaker Mercantile In- stitute, which has since become the American University of Applied Commerce and Trade, and is chartered by the state of Pennsylvania. Some department stores depend largely upon lectures on store topics to their employees. These are delivered at stated periods by various high officials. Such subjects as ^ Butler, E. B., Saleswomen in Mercantile Stores. EDUCATION FOR SALESMANSHIP 369 the following are chosen: ''approach," "deportment," " lookers," " system," " directing customers," " suggestive selling," "loyalty," "courtesy," "enthusiasm," "time," "cooperation," "errors," "advertising," "service," "in- direct advertising," "industry," "knowledge of merchan- dise," " care of merchandise," " wastes in business," " store directory and store system." In many cases the educational value of these lectures is further increased by furnishing to each sales person a bulletin on the subject of the lecture for preservation and further study.^ There is no department of the store where effective in- struction cannot be given. In some stores courses of lessons are given to bundle wrappers. The beneficial effect of such instruction cannot be questioned. After sixty little cash and bundle girls from a department store had attended a half-day-a-week continuation school for a few weeks the employer who had greatly resented their going said : " You have made these youngsters over. They have now an en- tirely different conception of the store and its opportunities." Many stores in various parts of the country are recognizing the desirability of giving such training to their employees, both for the sake of the individual saleswoman, and for the business itself. In order that this instruction may be placed on a satisfactory basis educational directors have been appointed by various firms in Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, New York, Newark, Philadelphia, and San Francisco. In fifteen stores of the above cities nine of these officers are women. The function of the director is to organize and carry out a course of training suitable for the employees of the store, and * " Service Instruction of American Corporations." United States Bureau of Education, Bulletin, 1916, No. 34. 2b 370 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS to supervise the selling force. In many stores he takes over the functions of the sales manager, and in others those of the buyers. In others, as for instance the store of Marshall Field and Co., he is also in charge of employment and wel- fare work. This is said to be the ideal arrangement, for then the responsibility for engaging the right kind of people, for training them eJ0&ciently, and for providing proper working conditions is centered in one person. He then can correlate it so as to produce the best results. Part-time instruction. The possibilities of part-time instruction in salesmanship are very great. The New York Factory Investigating Commission reports that there is in the normal store a certain amount of what may be called " dull time." The early hours of the morning are generally slack since the bulk of the trade does not arrive before ten o'clock, and in some stores the hour is still later. Some of this time is needed by the employees for the care of their departments, but a certain portion of it could very well be spared for instruction resulting in a positive gain to the individual and to the business. The number of employees required to serve a department during the rush hours is greatly in excess of those needed during the remainder of the day, and owing to this it should be quite possible to arrange a series of shifts for instructional purposes. Properly organized training courses can be made to accom- plish three definite objects : (1) to bring the individual up to a minimum standard, (2) give such increase in efficiency as shall receive increase in wages, and (3) fit for the " job ahead " or the " next step." The girl of exceptional ability may be trusted to look after herself, and will rise without any special attention being paid to her. It is the average worker who requires this instruction. The New York Board of EDUCATION FOR SALESMANSHIP 371 Education in conjunction with six department stores have established classes for the fourteen to sixteen year old em- ployee. These classes are under the control of the board, and are taught by regular certificated teachers. The stores provide the necessary classroom and send certain of the boys and girls to attend during store time. At present the in- struction given in these classes is in the main a continuation of the elementary school subjects taught with special refer- ence to their application to department store work. New York State Factory Investigating Commission. The report of this commission makes the following recommenda- tions : 1 . There is need for vocational training in the department store. The difficulty of securing competent workers, the lack of those properly qualified for promotion, and the special knowledge required for efficiency in the various occupations indicate that this need exists. 2. There is a wide field for this kind of training, as shown by the number of employees and the variety of occupations in the business. 3. The industry depends largely for its new workers upon the untrained boy or girl who leaves school between fourteen and sixteen years of age. 4. Store organization is such that there are opportunities to give the necessary training. 5. While there are a number of training schemes in opera- tion, they are confined to relatively few occupations and have not yet been developed to the point where they fully meet the needs of the industry. 6. The analysis of the business into departments and occu- pations shows that in each type of employment there is a cer- tain definite content of knowledge or manipulative skill, or 372 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS both, for which training can be given. In certain places this content of knowledge is considerable, and must be acquired by the efficient employee. Instruction in Boston schools. Instruction in salesman- ship is given a place in the continuation and high schools of Boston, and its introduction is directly traceable to the in- fluence of the Women's Educational and Industrial Union of that city. Such courses are now organized in nine of the high schools, and there are over three hundred girls taking them. An arrangement has been effected by which the girls may get store experience on Saturdays, Mondays, and during holi- days. In January, 1914, a director of practical work in sales- manship was appointed to coordinate commercial work in general high schools with practical work in a group of co- operating stores, and as this director is also acquainted with the conditions of work in the different schools, she is able to harmonize the work between the store and the school, so that the minimum of confusion may result. The director also organizes the technical salesmanship courses given in the schools, and supervises the teachers of those courses. The teachers are required to be persons who, by business experi- ence and training, are qualified to give the necessary in- struction. The success of courses of this character depends almost entirely upon the kind of positions the girls can se- cure and retain, after training, and the placement and follow-up work carried on by the director has an important function in this connection. Agreements between the stores and the schools. It is only when such schools and courses have the hearty coopera- tion of the stores for which they are preparing, that they can hope to succeed. This cooperation must be active and not passive, and definite agreements should be entered into EDUCATION FOR SALESMANSHIP 373 between the schools and the stores, in order that there may- be no possibiHty of misconception or misunderstanding. Too often courses have been organized without any thought having been given to the destination of the students. Train- ing students who cannot be absorbed into the industry is a great economic waste. The vocational schools must be supported by the industries for which they train. An almost entirely new departure is being made with re- spect to trade agreements of this character by which the trades and industries are to support the vocational courses in the Dunwoody Institute and in the Girls' Vocational High School, Minneapolis. These agreements are of various types. One provides that the employers and unions are to require all apprentices during three years of their apprenticeship to attend at least five days a week an all-day school at the Dunwoody Institute for two months of the dull season of the trade in which they are engaged. Arrangements are made with the employers that they shall pay half the usual wages while attending the school. One half the time spent in school by the apprentice is to be devoted to the practical work of the trade, and one half to technical and academic work. One of these agreements is with the department stores and is of a very broad character, providing for all emergencies that may arise, and safeguarding the interests of both employer and employee.^ Training teachefrs. As has been previously pointed out, the success of such schools and classes depends very largely upon the kind of teacher employed. The teacher of sales- manship must combine business and store experience with teaching ability. She should have maturity of judgment and a large vision of the social and economic significance of the ^ The Indv^trial Arts Magazine, September, 1915. 374 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS work, always remembering that the girls under her charge need training for right and happy living through the ability to perform their daily duties, either in the store or any other vocation into which they may enter. The demand for teachers of salesmanship in department stores, continuation and high schools has become so great MORNING Monday Selling in depart- ment stores Tuesday Study of mer- chandise and store system in cooperating stores. Supervision of store work of pupils in sales- manship school Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday Observation and theory and practice of teaching the fol- lowing subjects in the sales- manship school : Textiles Color and design Hygiene Salesmanship English Merchandise Economics Arithmetic Daily conferences with the director on the morning's work. AFTERNOON Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Selling in de- partment stores Economics Industrial history Education Textiles Applied psychol- ogy Education Textiles Textiles that a training class for teachers has been established by means of cooperation between the Women's Educational and Industrial Union School of Salesmanship and Simmons Col- lege, Boston. The students spend Monday in selling goods in various department stores, the mornings of the remainder EDUCATION FOR SALESMANSHIP 375 of the week in observing the theory and practice of teaching in the Union School of Salesmanship, and the afternoons in technical courses at the college. About thirty graduates of this class are at present engaged in teaching salesmanship in department stores and in vocational classes in various parts of the United States. The schedule of classes is given above. The work, with its many ramifications, done by the Union School of Salesmanship is graphically shown by the chart on opposite page. Physical education of the salesgirl. The connection be- tween health and efficiency has been recognized in a general kind of way for some time. Efforts are now being made in factories and other industrial concerns to improve work- ing conditions, and by so doing to conserve human ener- gies. The question, however, is a much wider one than the provision of satisfactory working conditions. The health of the individual largely determines her eflficiency, and her efficiency is of vital concern to the store. Several large firms now give a medical and physical examination to ap- plicants for employment, and a periodic examination to their employees. The necessity of a periodic examination of the individuals composing the sales force has been clearly shown by the findings of a recent examination of seventy-five saleswomen in New York, of whom seventy-eight per cent suffered from scoliosis, sixty-three per cent from exaggerated curves of the back, thirty-seven per cent from thoroughly bad backs, twenty-eight per cent from leucorrhea, twenty-one per cent from pronated feet, eighteen per cent from heart weakness, eighteen per cent from severe pain at menstruation, and eight per cent from painless flat foot. Although the aver- age age of these seventy-five young women was only twenty- 376 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS six years, but eight per cent had good backs and only twelve per cent were in good physical condition. The stores which are engaging in this work are seeking to remedy discovered defects by the issue of bulletins, prescrib- ing corrective exercises, dental care, provision of rest rooms and gymnasiums, instruction in personal hygiene, lunch rooms in which proper food is served, and the provision of suitable recreative facilities. This work is not entered into from philanthropic motives but as a purely commercial proposi- tion, as it is found to yield adequate financial returns derived from the greater efficiency of the sales force. CHAPTER XIV VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE I. Introduction. II. Rise of the movement. III. Varying opinions. IV. Vocational guidance in Edinburgh, Scotland. V. Placement of elementary school pupils. VI. Placement of high school pupils. VII. Information needed regarding industries. VIII. Vocational guidance in the high school. IX. Qualifications of the vocational adviser. X. Conclusion. Introduction. The federal, provincial, and state govern- ments on this continent have within recent years engaged themselves very largely with what has been called the " conservation of natural resources." This phrase is used to express foresight and restraint in the use of physical sources of wealth, such as land, soil, water power, woods, minerals, fisheries, etc., and of the goods produced from these natural resources. The term has not yet been interpreted to include human resources and institutions, but there is as much need for the one as there is for the other. Great as has been the waste of natural resources, it is probable that the waste of our human resources has been still greater, and the modern movement for vocational guidance and assistance may be looked upon as a movement for the con- servation of our human resources. 377 378 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS Rise of the movement. The movement arose owing to a widespread impression that the majority of our boys and girls leaving school, and the parents of these children, were guided by no sound principles in their choice of occupation, other than the immediate wage received, and that they gave no thought to the future prospects of the industry. New nations have always been prodigal in the exploitation of their resources, both natural and human. In the past if a wrong calling was chosen or no choice was made, the wealth of opportunity and abundance of resource furnished a fair chance of getting a living. Just as the fertility of the soil and the extent of our forests seemed limitless, so human opportunity seemed to present itself at every turn, and a worker could afford to transplant herself many times be- cause conditions were so favorable. But the economic conditions which made this possible have changed, and a choice once made cannot now be altered without loss and waste. The United States, like many of the crowded European countries, has come to that point in its economic history when it must pay adequate attention to the elimination of waste if its people are to be fed, clothed, and sheltered. Haphazard choice with its consequent failure, waste, and change cannot any longer be ignored or allowed to go on unhindered. In the last analysis the suitability of the oc- cupation, and the efficiency of the worker, are the foundation of individual and national success. How to secm-e this suitability with a reasonable amount of certainty, and still preserve to the individual the right and the opportunity to improve her condition, is the problem with which vocational guidance must concern itself. There is ample evidence to prove that in the majority VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE 379 of cases occupations are not chosen, but are simply drifted into. '' Boys (and girls) find themselves in their vocation as the result of custom, heredity, propinquity, or accident, far oftener than through deliberate or conscious choice." ^ Among the answers given to the question, '' Why did you choose your present occupation ? " occur the following : *' Because that is what the other girls were doing." " Be- cause I happened to get a job at that trade." " It was the first thing I saw." One parent said : " There are so many girls hunting for jobs that we thought that she had better take the first she could get." In a vocational school in Rochester, New York, all of the boys who entered from a certain school ^ wished to take up carpentry because one boy, who was a leader, came from that school and took up carpentry. From another, every boy wished to be a plumber and in a short time the school had more plumbers on hand than could be properly placed in good positions. Voca- tional selection became a game of " follow the leader." There are many localities where whole sections of the people at first sight seem doomed from birth to enter one occupa- tion, and that occupation is the prevailing one of the district. In the early days of the vocational guidance movement it was contended that vocational education should aim to fit for the local industries only, and that vocational guidance should guide young people into those industries. It seemed to be generally assumed that most people stay where they are born, and therefore the greatest good would be done to the greatest number by giving them preparation for the work that is the predominating industry of their localities. But that this is contrary to the fact is shown by Dr. Ayres who 1 Proceedings of National Child Labor Committee, 1910. 3 Survey, December 20, 1910. 380 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS points out ^ that the workers of the United States are a migratory lot. Of 22,027 thirteen-year-old boys in the public schools of seventy-eight American cities only 12,699, or a few more than half, are living in the places of their birth. Only one in six of the fathers of these boys is living in the place where he was born. It will thus be seen that vocational guidance is something more than guiding the chil- dren into the industries of the locality in which they may happen to be living at any particular time. Vocational guidance is no new thing. Wherever there are growing boys and gu'ls they have always received ad- vice, more or less interested, more or less wise as to the occupations that they should enter. There was a time when the average child was willing to take advice, but like the " man from Missouri," the child now wants to be shown. For many years vocational guidance has been given in various ways though it was not dignified by that name. The movement had attained such proportions in 1910 that in that year a national conference was called in Boston, and in New York City in 1912. At this latter convention a committee was formed to arrange for a convention in 1913, and to consider the formation of a permanent organization if this seemed advisable. As a result of the deliberations of this committee the organization of the National Vocational Guidance Association was completed at Grand Rapids, October 21-24, 1913. At first sight it would seem that the organization of a new society was not necessary. We have the National Education Association, Child Labor Com- mittees, Consumers' Leagues, and many others, more or less concerned with the same problem, but after careful in- 1 "Vocational Guidance." United States Bureau of Education, Bulle- tin, 1914, No. 14. VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE 381 vestigation it was concluded that no existing organization was in a condition to do the work the new society proposed for itself, and which needed immediate attention. In the words of the constitution of the society " the objects of this association shall be to promote intercourse between those who are interested in vocational guidance ; to give a stronger and more general impulse and more systematic direction to the study and practice of vocational guidance; and to cooperate with the public schools and other agencies for the furtherance of these objects." It will be noticed that the association does not, and perhaps wisely, attempt to define what vocational guidance really is. In a report of the Superintendent of Schools for New York ^ it is stated that *' this modern movement for vocational guidance is still little more than a body of good intentions without any clarified plan. To different minds and in different cities the phrase carries almost opposite suggestions for plans." This general haziness still exists to a considerable extent, but order is being slowly evolved out of chaos, and experiments are being worked out in several cities which are doing much good and which may eventually result in the formulation of definite policies and plans. Varying opinions. Probably there is no subject con- nected with educational advancement and propaganda upon which greater differences of opinion exist than this of vo- cational guidance. Some still believe that the problem is almost entirely one of placement, that is, guiding individual boys and girls into suitable employment. Others think that at present there is a state of general ignorance among teachers and parents, and that they are in the most need ^ Fourteenth Annual Report of the Superintendent of Schools, New York. 382 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS of vocational guidance. Many believe that a careful and systematic study of the industries is needed in order that vocational counsellors may have an adequate knowledge of the conditions into which they send boys and girls. It is coming to be recognized by all, that many industries must be greatly modified before any organized agency, having for its object the real welfare of both the children and the industries, can assume responsibility for the employment of children in them. There are some who are convinced that employers as a class are as much in need of vocational en- lightenment as any of the other parties involved. There are those to whom vocational guidance means the col- lection and distribution of information, and giving advice and suggestion based on that information, impartially to all con- cerned ; and there are still those who believe that vocational guidance is but another form of vocational education. These various opinions have dictated different lines of action. In some localities stress is laid on one phase, and in other localities the emphasis is placed on another. It may be said that all phases are necessary, and that all, and perhaps others not mentioned, must be included in any well- rounded scheme of vocational guidance. Many American authorities strongly deprecate guiding boys and girls into the industries as now organized. We are told that vocational guidance " does not mean selecting a pursuit for a child nor finding a place for him." In Eng- land the associations formed for the purpose of vocational guidance have taken the form of '' Apprenticeship and Skilled Employment Associations," and '' labor exchanges," managed by boards of trade and boards of education, have been established by law. One of the functions of these is said to be " finding definite and suitable openings for the VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE 383 children." On the other hand the following occurs in the report of a vocational guidance survey made in New York ;* " A system of vocational guidance which would mean finding jobs for children under sixteen would be not only futile, but dangerously near exploitation, however well meant the intention might be. The facts show that broadly speaking there are no jobs for children under sixteen which they ought to take. Employers' remarks in regard to children under six- teen add to this impression. ' We don't want boys and girls under sixteen.' 'They are too young.' 'We have no time to train them.' ' They waste too much material.' ' They are not ready to learn anything until they are sixteen.' " It is a delightful theory that boys and girls should not go to work until they are sixteen years of age, but it is a theory only. We are faced by the solid fact that scores of thousands of children leave school at fourteen or younger and do go to work, and no amount of theorizing will alter the fact. It is a condition we have to grapple with and not a theory. Let us all work for compulsory education and its enforcement, until sixteen years of age is reached, and some part-time education till eighteen, but in the meantime let us not doom thousands of children to enter industry with blind eyes with- out advice, assistance, or suggestion. Vocational guidance in Edinburgh, Scotland. In the British Isles the bodies referred to above are doing re- markable work. One of the most efficient of these advisory and placement schemes is that which has been evolved in the city of Edinburgh.^ In this city the advisory, place- » Fourth Annual Report of the Factory Investigating Commission, New York. 2 ' ' The School and the Start in Life." United States Bureau of Education, Bulletin, 1914, No. 4. 384 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS ment, and continuation school activities are all centered in the offices of the Edinburgh School Board. The bureau for vocational assistance was established in 1908, and a law was passed to allow money to be spent from the school funds for its organization, but no special sum was appro- priated. The organization of continuation classes was placed in charge of the new bureau, thus recognizing the connection between continued education and leaving school at fourteen. The first effort of the director of this bureau was to call the attention of those leaving school for work to the op- portunities offered by the continuation classes. In 1910 the Board of Trade opened a labor exchange, and with two agencies in the field there was much danger of overlapping. The need for a working arrangement between the two bodies was "obvious both from the point of view of economy of public money and from that of healthy civic and industrial organization." A memorandum was drawn up and a satis- factory agreement reached between the two bodies. In that memorandum the functions of a juvenile employment agency are stated as follows: 1. Advice to juveniles as to the pursuits for which they are, by ability, character, taste, and education, suited. 2. Advice to juveniles as to the opportunities which exist in the various occupations. 3. Collection and promulgation of general information in regard to industrial conditions. 4. Registration, i.e., bringing into contact the employer with a specific position to offer, and the juvenile suited for and desiring such a position. 5. The supervision, in certain cases, of the juvenile after he has obtained employment, so that he is induced to take VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE 385 advantage of all educational facilities applicable to his work and is advised as to the various steps in his industrial career. 6. The keeping of the system of further education in real touch with the industrial needs of the locality. It was at once admitted that numbers one, five, and six are the sole concern of the educational authorities. Number three (the collection of information) was definitely allotted to the labor exchanges. Number two (giving information as to industrial opportunities) was argued in the memorandum for the board of trade on the one side and the board of educa- tion oh the other and the conclusion was reached that the balance of argument lay in favor of placing it under the educational authorities. In regard to number four a com- promise was arranged to the following effect. The registra- tion clerk and machinery remained part of the organization of the labor exchange, but was to be housed in the same oflBce as that of the bureau, thus establishing the closest coopera- tion between the two. The plan is worked as follows. Under the Scotch Act school boards may fix dates for leaving school. Several weeks before the next fixed date each head master (principal) fills up cards giving particulars of age, physical ability, and grade in school. The cards also contain the opinion of the teacher as to the occupation for which the pupil is suited and notes as to proposed employment, suggestions for fur- ther education, and spaces for general remarks. These cards are sent in to the education officer, who files them for future use. The parents of the pupil are often invited to an evening meeting and addressed by members of the board and the teachers, on the subject of vocational choice. Cir- culars are sent to those who do, and to those who do not at- tend these meetings. 2c 386 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS A large number of the boys and girls come to the board office to follow up the card. A visit is &st paid to the ex- change officer's room, and the card is stamped with the reference number of the occupation desired. The candidate then passes to the educational officer, where a general talk takes place on aims and prospects. After this the boy or girl is definitely registered for a particular kind of employ- ment. Employers are informed of the joint arrangement, and their cooperation requested. Both officers make sys- tematic visits to factories to study industrial conditions to gain ideas for the improvement of continuation classes and to inform the employers of the facilities for supplying them with suitable workers. The following is a copy of one of the circulars issued. Thoughts for a Girl on Leaving School 1. Consider what you are best fitted for ; ask your parents and your teacher what they think. 2. Choose healthy work ; remember that domestic service offers food, home, and comfort as well as work and wages ; that it is the training for the future home Ufe of the woman and that, with char- acter and ability, it will command good wages in any part of the country. 3. If you prefer a trade, choose one in which you will be likely to find employment anyivhere and at any time ; learn it thoroughly so that employers will value your services. Do not change from one thing to another without good reason. 4. Stick to your school to the last possible moment, and make good use of it ; later on you will see better than you do now how much the school work has helped. And "keep it up" by going to a continuation school when you leave the day school. 5. Remember that in the continuation schools you can receive instruction in subjects which are directly related to the various occupations open to girls and young women, and also the domestic training which will enable you to discharge with intelligent interest the responsible practical duties of the home. 6. If the work you take up is not satisfactory, stick to it till you get something really better. In any case come back to the school and tell your teacher how you are getting on. VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE 387 7. Be brave and cheerful in whatever work you choose. You will find nothing perfect ; but perseverance and hard work during the first few years will make the rest of life more easy. 8. The educational information and employment department, 14 Cornwall Street, is open daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (Saturday 10 A.M. to 12.30 P.M.) and on Monday evenings from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. You can there obtain — free of charge — advice and information as to suitable employment and further education, and through the agency of the department you may obtain employment for which you are fitted. In the summer of 1910, before the plan had been long in operation, the school board made an investigation into the different kinds of employment open to young children in order to gain a clear idea of the range of industrial oppor- tunity, and of the type of schooling required in the different occupations. This shows a list of sixty-seven different occu- pations open to boys and forty- three open to girls. A copy of this census has been supplied to the schools, besides a series of booklets for boys and girls. A copy of the hand- book, "Occupations for Girls," is sent to each girl nearing the leaving age. One of the main features of this scheme is the encourage- ment of attendance at evening classes, and the success is shown by the fact that during the last six years the enrol- ment has increased by 189 per cent. In its report on the work in Edinburgh the Scotch Education Department says : " Good organization, the cooperation of the educational authorities, and a public opinion increasingly alive to the importance and necessity of the work, have combined to secure a very rapid development of the continuation class system in Edin- burgh. The Edinburgh School Board maintains a position in the front rank of enlightened educational authorities by the unstinted exertion and enterprise with which it has grappled with the very difficult problems of continued education." 388 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS The placement of elementary school pupUs. The fact cannot be disputed that a large number of children leave school at fourteen years of age or younger to earn wages in some form of industrial occupation. Shall we allow these children of fourteen to drift into blind-alley or dead-end jobs because we think they should not be in industry? It is not a question of placing them in the best jobs; it is a question of placing them temporarily in the least demoral- izing jobs. The girl should be assisted in finding her first job and supervised in her early working life. If this su- pervision or follow-up work can be brought about, it will have two very desirable effects ; first of all, it will probably result in sending many of the children back to school instead of into industry, and it may lead them out of the unskilled job to others with some prospect of advancement through the encouragement given to continued education. Indeed it may be said paradoxically that the best placement work is that which dissuades the child under sixteen from enter- ing industry at all. If a girl, however, must go to work at fourteen years of age, let us give her the best advice our limited knowledge of in- dustry renders possible, and keep oversight of her until she is so trained that it is possible for her to take the next best job. Placement of children at fourteen years of age, with- out an adequate follow-up system, may do considerable harm. Placement of these children depends on two things; first, knowledge of the industries to which it is proposed to send them, and secondly, accurate data about the children them- selves. The first will be dealt with later. With regard to the second, the collection of data should begin the moment the child enters the elementary school, and by the time the girl has passed through the school, there should be available VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE 389 a complete record of her educational history, and any par- ticular aptitude she has shown. With such information available the character and ability of the girl would be ac- curately known, and reliable advice based on this knowledge might be more safely given. Placement of high school pupils. The question of the placement of the girl who has had one or two years in the high school does not present such undesirable features. During the early years of the high school course it is pos- sible to give definite information and instruction, by the use of which the student herself will be able to exercise a wise choice of an occupation. The whole organized voca- tional movement is really the outgrowth of the attempts by one teacher to help his students to choose and secure work. The High School Teachers' Association of New York^ through its student's aid committee took the lead, and by 1908 there was in each day and evening high school a teacher or committee of teachers to help students to de- cide what vocation to choose, and also to teach them how to enter it. These committees stated their objects to be as follows : " In order that local committees and the teachers of the several schools may be better prepared to help pupils who leave school to fit themselves to their environment, the gen- eral committee has planned to collect and make available information regarding — 1. The necessary and prescribed qualifications for enter- ing the skilled trades and learned professions in this city. 2. The opportunities which are furnished to the young people of this city for acquiring these necessary qualifica- 1 Twenty-fifth Annual Report of Department of Commerce and Labor, Washington. 390 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS tionSj the time usually required, and the expense to the in- dividual of qualifying himself. 3. The restrictions which are placed by labor unions and professional bodies upon candidates who desire to enter the several skilled trades or professions. 4. The average remuneration, and the relative permanency of employment which a properly qualified person of either sex may expect in each of the skilled trades, the learned professions, and the commercial pursuits in which young people are usually employed." If a student is obliged to begin work with inadequate equipment for the vocation she has decided upon, the coun- selors have arranged in some cases to secure for her three or four successive positions in each of which some part of the necessary training may be secured. Each of these is held until its contribution towards the training required has been mastered. By attendance at evening schools the aca- demic part of the training is secured. When our knowl- edge of the industries is more complete, it may be found that a plan of this kind will furnish opportunities for immediate wage earning, provide for future advancement, and solve many of the problems of the employment of the fourteen year old girl. Information needed regarding industries. The New York report above referred to says : " It is useless to attempt to guide children into ' vocations ' before we have more information. Neither the vocational guidance survey, nor any other organization has adequate information at present about the demand for workers, or the opportunities for and conditions of work and training in the twenty largest indus- tries, not to mention the legion minor ones." * Without 1 Fourteenth Annual Report of the Superintendent of Schools, New York. VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE 391 agreeing with the statement that " it is useless to attempt to guide children into vocations " there can be no doubt that more information about the industries is urgently needed. That this need is now recognized is shown by the numerous industrial and educational surveys that have been and are being made in different communities. After the survey has been made, the next step is to get the information that has been gathered into the hands of the people for whose benefit it has been collected, in such a form that it can be easily digested and applied to their needs. It is very ques- tionable whether even the information already available reaches those for whom it is really designed. Many of the surveys are published in such a logical, scientific, technical form, that even if they got into the hands of the majority of the parents, they would not be understood. What is wanted is a series of small pamphlets giving the essential facts — pay, promotion, working conditions, demand for labor, continuity of employment, training required, etc., in such a way that can be understood by parents and pupils. Bulletins of the character of those published by the Girls' Trade Education League of Boston are calculated to be of the greatest assistance in making a wise choice. Wages. The first question asked by both pupils and parents concerning any industry is. What wages does it pay ? At the risk of being accused of being mercenary and material- istic it must be admitted that this attitude is praiseworthy and legitimate. The mistake that is made by the average parent is that of looking for immediate returns. One great function of the vocational guidance movement should be to give reliable information upon the financial side of the in- dustry, and to show clearly that the time spent in further training actually pays in dollars and cents, and that the earn- 392 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS ings of the girl with a longer training are much greater when the aggregate is taken into account, and spread over a num- ber of years, than those of the untrained girl. Germany is often quoted as the example we should follow in vocational education, and it would be thought that here we should find some definite data showing the relationship between wages and training, but " two well-known educators who have made special search in Germany for such information write that they have never been able to find any." ^ Of course in a country where caste and class lines are sharply drawn, where the vocation of a boy or a girl is largely fixed by social rank, and where the educational system is so stringently regulated by compulsion, it is per- haps not necessary that such information should be given in order to convince the parent, but on this American con- tinent where every parent, every young man or young woman is free to choose, such information must be given if an intelligent choice is to be made. It need hardly be said that there are other tests of the value of vocational training besides that of money value. The saving of a child from blind-alley and dead-end occupa- tions, protection against unemployment, the development of a happier and more contented industrial life, training for efficient citizenship, and the guidance of youth into lines of work for which they are best fitted are all part of the purpose of vocational guidance, but these are objects towards which the parent and pupil must be educated, and wage-earning capacity is the best method of approach for the average parent and pupil. Let us now take some examples of the kind of information on this subject that is best calculated to ^ Fourth Annual Report of the Factory Investigating Commission, New York. VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE 393 appeal to the parents and children and that must be pos- sessed by the one who attempts to give vocational guidance. " The average annual earnings of women over sixteen years of age in the shirt factories of New York is $327 ; the aver- age earnings of over three hundred stenographers employed in the several departments of the city governments of which the pay rolls were examined was $954. These women se- cured their appointments because of their special training. Their income for their work is over six hundred dollars a year more than the income of the factory woman referred to. At the age of twenty-five a woman can also secure such an annual income for life by a cash payment of twelve thou- sand dollars to a life insurance company. This means that a thorough training in English, stenography, and typewriting is worth as much in this market as the annual income of twelve thousand dollars." " The average annual earnings of 401 nurses in the city service is $760. The average annual earnings of over twelve thousand women making women's clothing according to the census bureau is $398. " The four years spent by a girl in high school and the two years in a nurses' training school enable her to earn $362 a year more than the sewing woman earns. The sewing woman could increase her annual income by $362 if she would buy an annuity in a life insurance company which would bring her $362 a year. This annuity would cost her over seven thousand dollars in cash. The special training of the nurse girl must be worth this seven thousand dollars." ^ The following extract is taken from the fifteenth annual report of the New York City Superintendent of Schools. " A 1 "Choosing a Career for Girls." Circular of Information published by Student Aid Committee of High School Teachers' Association, New York. 394 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS girl called Anna B. had drifted about for nearly two years from one unskilled job to another and never earned more than six dollars a week. The family, a large one, was in wretched circumstances and was being assisted by the Charity Organization Society. The girl was sent to the Manhattan Trade School and the small wage she was earning was paid to the family by the student aid fund of the school. The girl completed her course in operating, and in less than a year and a half made at piece work in the busy season as high as thirty-five dollars a week. In twenty-three weeks during the winter she made over six hundred dollars at straw operat- ing, and when the busy season was over she was scarcely out of work a day before she found a position at embroidery operat- ing at a weekly wage of nine dollars. She was changed from a discouraged unskilled worker to a happy, contented, skilled one, rejoicing in the fact that she needed help from none and as she herself said " was the main support of her entire family." The following chart shows in graphic form the difference in wages with and without training : S StO-V -'***-'*^ /as? tese S4SS fSfiS //."^ /as' s.ee sss WAGes orG/ms mm TffAiwN& /S r*y4/7^ Of jAo£ VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE 395 Dr. Nathan C. Schaeffer, State Superintendent of Public Instruction for Pennsylvania, works out the result as follows : ^ " You will find the value of a boy's time at school by sub- tracting the earnings of a life of uneducated labor from those of a life of educated labor. If an uneducated man earns one dollar and a half a day for three hundred days a year he does very well. If he keeps it up for forty years he will earn eighteen thousand dollars. An educated man is not usually paid by the day, but by the month or year ; you will admit that one thousand dollars a year is a low average for the earnings of educated labor. For forty years you have forty thousand dollars as the earnings of the educated man. Subtract eighteen thousand dollars from forty thousand dollars and the difference of twenty-two thousand dollars must represent the value of a boy's time spent at school getting an education. The same method of calculation can be applied to the workman who has acquired enough knowl- edge to master the details of the job ahead, and the result- ing increase in wages multiplied into years amounts into a goodly figure." A word of caution may be uttered here. Care should be taken that wrong inferences be not drawn from information of the above character. The money value of longer attend- ance at school obtained by comparing the incomes of those who have remained to the end of the high school period or some- what beyond the grades, by comparing the incomes of persons in different social positions and engaged in wholly different lines of work is apt to lead to erroneous conclusions, but at the present stage of the vocational guidance movement, the above data are the only kind available. It is probably 1 Annual Report of the United States Commissioner of Education, 1913. 396 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS quite safe to conclude that prolonged education secures entry into more remunerative employment, and that training the unskilled worker makes it possible for her to leave the un- skilled job and enter more attractive and more remunerative employment. Other information needed. There is, of course, much in- formation other than that concerning wages which it is es- sential should be known in connection with the industries, and most vocational guidance associations consider the col- lection of this information one of their chief functions. The Girls' Trade Education League of Boston is carrying on this work with great success. This organization investigates all occupations employing young girls, paying special attention to the conditions under which they work, their wages, the possibility of advancement, whether seasonal or steady, and other features which determine the character of the industry. Success not only depends on the industry but on the girl her- self, and this the league recognizes by investigating the quali- ties of mind and body needed for success in any given occu- pation, and what general training is required. As this in- formation is gathered, it is made available for those whom it is intended to benefit. The league conducts a vocation office and endeavors to help the girl decide upon the particu- lar work for which she is best fitted. After a girl is placed, she is not lost sight of for at least a year, as it is not always possible to place a girl at once in a position that will be per- manently suitable. The bulletins published by the league are models of what such publications should be. Bulletins have been published on " Telephone Operating," " Book- binding," "Stenography and Typewriting," "Nursery Maid," "Dressmaking," "Millinery," "Nursing," and " Salesmanship." Space will not allow of any of these being VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE 397 reproduced in full/ but the following account of the one on bookbinding may be given. The headings of this bulletin are Nature of the Work; Processes — folding, pasting, gathering, collating, sewing, which are the parts of the forwarding and finishing done by girls; Training required and how secured; Qualifications required in the girl ; Positions and Pay ; Opportunities for Advancement; Conditions of the Work; Suggestions for a Girl Choosing this Vocation ; Report of Massachusetts Board of Health on Sanitary Conditions, etc. ; Number of Persons Engaged and List of Reference Books. When all the chief industries in which women are employed are treated in this manner, it will be possible for some judgment to be exercised in deciding what occupation to follow. Vocational guidance in the high school. Some little work towards vocational guidance may perhaps be done in the elementary schools in grades seven and eight, particularly with those taking differentiated or so-called prevocational courses, but the opportunities here are very limited, owing to the immaturity of the children ; but the opportunities offered in the high school, particularly in the last two years, are much greater, though even here it is much to be doubted whether some of the methods in use are really effective. In some places the students are required to fill up a " self -analysis " chart, which is a most difficult proposition for even a mature man or woman to undertake. A practical experiment in vocational guidance has been carried on in De Kalb Township High School, Illinois, for a number of years. De Kalb ^ is a manufacturing town of ten 1 Twenty-fifth Annual Report of Department of Labor, Washington. '"Vocational Guidance." United States Bureau of Education, Bulle- tin, 1914, No. 14. 398 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS thousand people, with definite agricultural, commercial, and professional elements. In this school it was found that thirty per cent of the students had made no choice of an occupation. Twenty-three per cent of all the students or about fifty per cent of the girls were going into teaching (the Northern Illinois State Normal School is located in the town) ; ten per cent chose bookkeeping and stenography; eight per cent chose agriculture; about five per cent engineering; then in small groups came the machine trades, music, and a number of scattered occupations. In this survey twenty- four different occupations were represented. A study was next made of the community, and the teacher of manual training went from shop to shop in the endeavor to obtain answers to the questions on the industrial blank that had been drawn up. The commercial teacher did the same with reference to commerce. It was found that in almost all cases better results were obtained from the shop foremen than from the heads of the business. The greatest value of this survey conducted in unostentatious fashion was that it gave the teachers definite knowledge of the town as an industrial community. One of the greatest hindrances to vocational guidance has been found to be the ignorance of the teacher with regard to the world's work. A simple survey of this character would do much to remove this ignorance and would place the teachers in a position to rely upon facts, and not theories, when advising pupils. The principal of the school planned to meet the upper classes once a week to talk over the industrial conditions relating to the choice of an occupation. The students are told that their decision should rest upon two things : first, knowledge of themselves and their abilities, and second, knowledge of social conditions. The main purpose of these VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE 399 general talks is said to be to give a " bird's-eye view " of in- dustry. After a general talk the industrial groups are studied in detail, with special reference to the industries of the local- ity. The instruction is made as concrete as possible, illus- trations being taken from actual life, magazines, and news- papers. A scrapbook is made from this material, and it is often found as a result of these talks that a pupil changes his decision, having previously chosen a vocation upon insufficient knowledge. For addresses and talks of this char- acter there is a mine of unused material in the commercial travelers who periodically visit most towns, and who, owing to poor railway connections, often have time on their hands. These travelers are often men who have made good in trade, they know their own work thoroughly, and are in possession of much information concerning the occupations of others. The second part of the work deals with personal character- istics, or, as it is called, "applied ethics.'* Such qualities as personality, involving voice, dress, manner, courtesy, tact, efficiency, upright character, loyalty, etc. This is not only vocational guidance, but it is moral guidance also. The possibilities of a plan of this kind, particularly in the small high school, are very great, and it may be found that this plan or a modification of it will be found feasible in the higher grades of the elementary school. Some such plan is necessary there, as it is only when this work is brought right down to the elementary school that it will materially affect the mass of the industrial workers, and benefit that large number who never enter a high school. In the future science may discover certain psychological tests that will demonstrate the fitness of boys and girls for certain employments, but as yet the chief methods used are character analysis and reliance upon more or less imperfect 400 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS knowledge of the industries, though some little has been done in the other direction.^ Qualifications of the vocational adviser. The only other feature of this work that can be dealt with here is the train- ing of persons so that they will be able to offer real vocational guidance. Advice is cheap, and it is much to be feared that vocational direction has been given without sufficient atten- tion being paid to vital factors. One writer has said : " I wish all vocational guiders were compelled to be situated as I was — that they were forced to bear the expense of their fail- ures to * guide right ' the boys and girls who apply to them for direction. If this condition could obtain universally, I am sure that those who undertake to become * experts ' in this particular calling would be quite careful how they en- tered upon this profession as a means of livelihood.'* When it is remembered that upon the soundness of the counsel given the permanent welfare of the individual largely depends, it will be readily seen that to assume re- sponsibility for such counsel is no light task, and the per- son who assumes it should have certain definite qualities and training. She should have the necessary information about the industries, experience in dealing with the individual, an attractive personality, and a certain capacity for construc- tive research. She needs information about the industrial world, and an insight into the character of the people en- gaged in it. This industrial world is now of so complex a char- acter that no one person can be expected to know all about it ; but by a system of grouping, first into the large divisions and then into the major subdivisions, a fairly accurate idea may be obtained of the whole field. " The fundamental elements ^ "Vocational Guidance." United States Bureau of Education, Bulle- tin, 1914, No. 14. VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE 401 involved in the larger groups of occupations and their more important subdivisions the vocational counselor should know as the analytical chemist knows the elements, the fam- ilies of elements, and the compounds of these elements and families of elements." ^ This problem is of course compli- cated by the constantly changing character of the industries. New inventions are constantly driving out whole groups of workers. The sewing machine changed the character of the needle trades. The typewriter revolutionized the character of office work, and now the dictaphone is threatening to lessen the demand for stenographers. It is futile to counsel 100 people to enter an industry that can only absorb twenty- five. "A statement in the Millinery Trade Review, the offi- cial journal of the trade, after quoting census figures showing that in 1890 there was one milliner to 323 women fifteen years of age and over, and in 1900 one in 285, adds that if the manual training schools and technical institutions con- tinue to turn out milliners in the next ten years as they have in the last decade, there will be one milliner to every one hundred women in the not far distant future." The vocational counselor must also know men and women. She must know how to make records and tests of the individ- ual, and how to interpret them correctly when made. She must have a background of experience of young people in their homes, in their work, and in their social intercourse, and perhaps above all she must have common sense, than which nothing is more uncommon. In view of the fact that nothing changes more frequently than vocational conditions, the counselor must be capable of making and directing such research work and surveys ^ "Vocational Guidance." United States Bureau of Education, Bulle- tin, 1914, No. 4. 2d 402 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS as will keep her in closest touch with current movements. She should also be able to devise new methods of inquiry and new methods of using the information obtained and bringing it to the people for whom it is intended. Looked at from all points of view, the conclusion is inevi- table that the vocational counselor cannot do her work with- out professional training. In the past the vocational guid- ance movement has followed to some extent the vocational education movement, in that schools were established before teachers were trained. But now it is being admitted that training for this profession is necessary, and college courses are being offered for vocational counselors. Such a course is provided by the Boston Union in cooperation with the vocational bureau, and the Tuck School of Finance and Busi- ness Administration at Dartmouth is offering a course for department managers to consider the problems arising in connection with the examination, employment, and training of a staff of employees. The vocational counselor, properly trained, will be able to bridge the gap between the industrial world and the schools, and thus bring about a readjustment of social and economic conditions which will do much towards giving us a happy, efficient, productive, and contented people. Conclusion. The above treatment of the subject has con- cerned itself, designedly, with the vocational guidance of girls into industrial and commercial pursuits or the so-called non- professional occupations. In so doing it has followed the path the movement itself has almost exclusively taken. Herein lies a real danger. In so restricting itself there is a possibility that many girls may be almost forced to enter industrial and commercial fields, who have the aptitude and capacity for other kinds of work, and who, if wisely guided. VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE 403 might enter them with individual profit, and to the benefit of society in general. There may be need for many of these girls to enter some occupation which will offer immediate results in the way of financial returns, but this occupation should be regarded as temporary, to be continued only until such time as the opportunity presents itself to enter the occupation for which the girl has the greater aptitude and capacity. It should always be remembered that vocational guidance must have as its first and perhaps only aim the welfare of the individual and through the individual the well-being of the community. The movement is intended to benefit in- dustry only so far as the success of the individual reacts upon the industry in which she is engaged. There are many difiiculties — social, educational, economic, and psychologi- cal — in the way of the evolution of wholly satisfactory voca- tional guidance, and there are not to be found at present many striking examples of complete success, but the important bearing the subject has upon the welfare of the common- wealth justifies the further investigation and experimenta- tion necessary to evolve completely successful plans for bringing about that ideal state of affairs where every in- dividual shall find herself in the occupation in which she can best earn a living for herself and perform the greatest service to society. It is to be hoped that in the future much more attention will be given to this important subject of the vocational edu- cation of girls and women than has been devoted to it in the past. The field is broad and the opportunities are many. No attempt has been made to exhaust the subject, and many phases of it have scarcely been touched upon, but the hope 404 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS is expressed that what has been said may direct more atten- tion to the question and that the examples cited will point the way to fm-ther efforts to materially improve the condition of the industrial worker, whether she be employed in the home, the store, the office, or the factory. BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. BOOKS RELATING TO THE SUBJECT GENERALLY Ayres, Leonard P. Constant and Variable Occupations and their Bearing on Vocational Education. Russell Sage Foundation. Discusses the distribution of industries throughout the United States. Laggards in our School. Charities Pubhcation Committee, New York. 236 pages. A study of retardation and elimination in city school systems. Bureau of Education, Washington, D. C. Annual Reports of the Commissioner, especially : 1908. Chapter 12. Industrial Training. 1911. Introductory Statement — Vocational Training. 1912. Chapter 10. Progress in Vocational Education. 1913. Chapter 6. Progress in City School Systems. Chapter 11. Progress in Vocational Education. 1914. Chapter 1. General Survey of Education — Vocational Education. 1915. Chapter 9. Vocational Education. 1916. Chapter 9. Vocational Education. Bulletin No. 25. 1913. "Industrial Education in Columbus, Ga." A description of the methods taken to introduce vocational courses into two schools of this city. Includes A School for Children of Mill Operatives, The Industrial High School, Vocational Courses, Home Economics, Dressmaking and MilH- nery. Textile Arts, and Business Training. Bulletin No. 29. 1915. "The Extension of Pubhc Education — a Study in the Wider Use of School Buildings." A description of various activities, including those of girls, carried on in pubhc schools outside of the regular school hours. Department of Commerce and Labor, Washington, D. C. Bul- letin No. 162. "Vocation Education Survey of Richmond, Va." 333 pages. 405 406 BIBLIOGRAPHY A survey made by the National Society of Industrial Education in cooperation with the Richmond Board of Education. Boston. Annual Report of the School Committee, 1912. A report made to the "fathers and mothers of Boston," giving a popular account of aU the educational efforts of the city educa- tional authorities. BuRSTALL, Sarah A., and Douglas, M.A. Public Schools for Girls. Longmans, Green, and Co. 302 pages. A series of papers on the aims, history, and schemes of study of pubUc schools for girls. Darroch, Alexander, M.A. Education and the New Utilitarian- ism. Longmans, Green, and Co., New York. 169 pages. Contains chapters on Two Ideals of the End of Woman's Educa- tion, and The Place of the Domestic Sciences in the Education of Girls. Dean, Arthur D. The Worker and the State. A Study of Educa- tion for Industrial Workers. The Century Co., New York. 355 pages. In addition to a comprehensive and scholarly treatment of the whole subject the book contains a valuable chapter on "Women in Home and Industry." Dooley, Wm. H. The Education of the Ne'er-do-well. Houghton Mifain Co., Boston. Deals with the problem of the large number of boys and girls of limited ability who have to leave school early. Evans, Arthur M. Vocational Education in Wisconsin. Com- mercial Club of Chicago. A series of articles prepared for the Chicago Record-Herald. Gillette, John M. Vocational Education. American Book Co., New York. 303 pages. Discusses the educational and psychological theory underlying vocational education. Divided into three parts as follows — The Educational Renaissance, Social Demands on Education, and Methods of Socialization. Leavitt, Frank M., and Brown, Edith. Prevocational Education in the Public Schools. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston. OutUnes in a readable form the lessons to be learned from a number of experiments that have been conducted in various cities. Deals with boys and girls between twelve and fifteen years of age, and offers suggestions for classes of what the authors term the "prevocational type of pupil." BIBLIOGRAPHY 407 LuTZ, R. R. Wage Earning and Education. The Survey Com- mittee of the Cleveland Foundation. 1916. 208 pages. One of the twenty-five sections of the report of the education sur- vey of Cleveland. National Society for the Promotion op Industrial Education. Bulletin No. 16. 309 pages. Contains articles on "The Training of Teachers," "Debatable Issues in Vocational Education," "Conservation of the Next Generation j" and "Cooperation between Schoolmaster and Layman." Bulletin No. 18. 261 pages. Deals with Vocational Education in Michigan, Vocational Guid- ance, The Short Unit Course, Plans for Surveys, Vocational Education for Women and Girls, Chambers of Commerce and Vocational Education, and Part-time Schools. Bulletin No. 19. A special report on the selection and training of teachers for state- aided industrial schools. Bulletin No. 23. *' Evening Vocational Courses for Girls and Women." Treats of trade extension courses, vocational homemaMng courses, household arts and recreational courses, and gives samples of various record forms that have been successfully used. Seath, John. Education for Industrial Purposes. Education Department, Toronto. Describes schools and systems in England, Scotland, France, Switzerland, Germany, United States, and Ontario. The schools were personally visited by the author. Talbot, Marion. The Education of Women. University of Chicago Press, Chicago. 255 pages. This book was written owing to "the behef that current discus- sion of educational aims and methods does not adequately take into account the needs of girls and women." It is divided into three parts : Women's Activities, — past and present. The Educational Machinery, and The Collegiate Education of Women. A very scholarly treatment of the subject. Vocational Education, National Aid to. Report of the Com- mission on. 2 vols. 63 Congress, 2d Session. A comprehensive investigation into the need for federal grants to the different states in order to promote vocational education. Contains much valuable material. 408 BIBLIOGRAPHY "Vocational Training in Chicago and Other Cities." City Club of Chicago. 315 pages. An analysis of the need for commercial and industrial training in Chicago, and a study of present provisions therefor, in compari- son with such provision in twenty-nine other cities together with recommendations as to the best form in which such training may be given in the pubhc school system of Chicago. 2. HOUSEHOLD ARTS Bevier, Isabel, and Usher, Susannah. The Home Economics Movement. Whitcomb and Barrows, Boston. Deals with the beginning of education for girls in the United States, of the development of home economics courses from the state colleges of agriculture and from cooking schools, and the beginnings of the work in the grade schools through extension of the " kitchen garden." Board of Education, London, England. Special Reports on Educational Subjects. Vol. 15, "The Teaching of Domestic Science in the United States." 374 pages. Vol. 16, " The Teach- ing of Domestic Science in European Countries." 352 pages. These two volumes offer a most comprehensive and thorough treatment of the whole subject of "school training for the home duties of women." Boston. Annual Reports of the Superintendent of Schools. AU contain much useful material along the new lines of educational effort. Bruere, Martha B. and Robert W. Increasing Home Efficiency. Macmillan Co., New York. 318 pages. Advocates the application of business and factory methods to the management of the household. Discusses budgets, labor- saving devices, markets, public utilities, schools, the avenues of investment, and many other features of the scientific manage- ment of the home. An exceedingly useful book. Bureau of Education, Washington, D. C. Annual Reports of the Commissioner of Education, particularly : 1908. Chapter 13. Home Economics. 1911. Chapter 8. A School for Homemakers. 1912. Chapter 12. Purpose, Methods and Results of the Parent- Teacher Cooperative Associations of the National Congress of Mothers. BIBLIOGRAPHY 409 1914. Chapter 13. Education for the Home. Chapter 16. Education for Child Nurture and Home Making outside of Schools. 1915. Chapter 12. Home Economics. Chapter 14. Home Education. 1916. Chapter 16. Home Economics. Chapter 17. Education in the Home. Bulletin No. 10. 1912. "Bibhography of Education in Agricul- ture and Home Economics." Entries 1-377 deal with agricultural education. Entries 378-578 deal with home economics education. BuUetins (1914). No. 36. "Introductory Survey. Equipment for Household Arts." No. 37. "The States and Education for the Home; Rujal Schools; Elementary Schools; Normal Schools; Technical Institutes ; Various Agencies and Organizations." No. 38. "Colleges and Universities." No. 39. "List of References on Education for the Home; Cities and Towns Teaching Household Arts." These four bulletins form probably the most comprehensive study of the whole household arts movement yet pubUshed. The list of references is particularly valuable. Bulletin No. 1. 1915. "Cooking in the Vocational School." A comparison of the usual school methods with those that should be adopted in the vocational school. Describes a new type of equipment approximating that of the home kitchen. Caelton, Frank Tract. "Domestic Science or Household Economies." In his Education and Industrial Evolution. Macmillan Co., New York. CooLEY, Anna M. Domestic Art in Women^s Education. Scribner's Sons, New York. Deals with the methods of teaching domestic art, and its place in the school curriculum in the different types of schools. Domestic Science. Crete Plan. Department of Public Instruc- tion, Lincoln, Neb. Outlines a plan for giving household arts instruction in the home. The plan is particularly suitable for small towns, villages, and rural schools not possessing equipment. Evans, Frank. "Domestic Science — facts and figures." South- ern School News, January, 1917. The writer argues that domestic science is not suited for the 410 BIBLIOGRAPHY grammar grades as it is too difficult. It belongs to the high school. The course should cover two years, and the students should be graded in it. Hamilton, A. E. "Babies in the Curriculum." Journal of Hered- ity, September, 1916. Tells of a baby adopted by a girls' camp, who taught the girls more about mothercraft in a few weeks than they would have learned in as many years of the ordinary domestic science course. "Home Science in Various States of the Union." A series of articles appearing in Good Housekeeping, New York. Commencing January, 1910, and continued throughout the fol- lowing months. *' Household Arts in Education." In "Cyclopedia of Educa- tion," edited by Paul Monroe. Macmillan Co., New York. Contains a short bibhography. Indianapolis. Survey for Vocational Education. Vol. 2, "A Study of Housekeeping." A comprehensive and valuable study of more than 2500 homes. Stresses strongly the business side of housekeeping. KiNNE, Helen. Teachers College Record. Vol. 10, 1909. Colum- bia University. Equipment for the teaching of domestic science. A comprehensive, 'well-illustrated article : contains 31 illustrations of model rooms and equipment, and 33 diagrams of floor plans, etc. ; includes a useful chapter on portable equipment. Leake, Albert H. "The Woman on the Farm." Chapter 12 of M'eans and Methods of Agricultural Education. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston. National Education Association. Addresses and Proceedings, 1914. Discuss general educational problems including "the status of women," "canning clubs," " prevocational work," "home economics," "girls' club work." New York City. Annual Report of the Superintendent of Schools, 1914. All these reports are valuable. This contains information on prevocational training, sewing, cookery, evening schools, vocational schools and vocational guidance. Pattison, Mary. Principles of Domestic Engineering. The Trow Press, New York. 310 pages. Attempts to show that BIBLIOGRAPHY 411 by the use of business methods, and labor-saving machinery it is possible to diminish housework by one half and thus allow the housewife time to develop intellectually and socially. Ravenhill, Alice. Household Administration — its place in the higher education of women. H. Holt and Co., New York. The preface says "the object of this book is threefold: (1) It endeavours to define the importance and scope of household administration in the twentieth century. ... (2) It seeks to demonstrate the necessity of an adequate preparation for all those who assume the responsibility of such administration. ... (3) It gives prominence to the fact that the domestic arts are no collection of empirical conventions to be acquired by imitation, or exercised by instinct." Richardson, Bertha Jane. The Woman who Spends. A Study of her Economic Function. Whitcomb and Barrows, Boston. A recognition of the woman as the chief spender of the world's income and an appeal to the conscience to exercise this function wisely. Rose, Mary Schwartz. Feeding the Family. 450 pages. Macmil- lan Co., New York. The purpose of the author has been to provide a guidebook to good nutrition for the numerous housewives who prepare over a thousand meals each year. The special food needs of the different members of the family are considered. Salmon, Lucy M. Domestic Service. Macmillan Co., New York. The subject is approached as part of the general labor problem, and the book represents the first real attempt to treat it from the historical and economic rather than from the personal standpoint ; the author suggests that the solution of the problem Ues in the recognition of its professional aspects. Young Women's Christian Association. Report of the Commis- sion on Household Employment, 1915. An investigation into the conditions of 299 self-supporting young women: 112 in household work, 137 in factories, 15 in depart- ment stores, and 35 in offices. Contains much suggestive material. Bulletin No. 2. "The Road to Trained Service in the House- hold." Contains the conclusions drawn from the above report. 412 BIBLIOGRAPHY 3. INDUSTRIAL OCCUPATIONS AND TRAINING Adler, L., and Tawney, R. H. Boy and Girl Labor. Women's Industrial Council, London, England. Deals with boys and girls as unskilled laborers, the half-time or partial exemption system, bUnd-alley occupations and legisla- tive remedies. Bureau of Education, Washington, D. C. Bulletin No. 17. "A Trade School for Girls." An investigation into the needs and possibiUties of the industrial training of girls and women in Worcester, Massachusetts. Bulletin No. 23. "Some Trade Schools in Europe." Describes typical trade schools in seven European countries and makes special reference to trade schools for girls. Bulletin No. 33. "Problems of Vocational Education in Ger- many." Deals with methods adopted in the attempt to train the unskilled worker. Department of Commerce and Labor, Washington, D. C. Bulletin No. 122. "Employment of Women in Power Laundries in Milwaukee." A study of working conditions and of the physical demands of the various laundry occupations. BuUetin No. 123. "Employers' WeKare Work." A description of the methods adopted in about fifty establish- ments to provide pleasant and hygienic working conditions and to afford faciUties for the recreation and education of employees. Bulletin No. 147. "Wages and Regularity of Employment in the Cloak, Suit, and Skirt Industry." Outhnes plans for the education of workers in the industry. Bulletin No. 159. "Short-Unit Courses for Wage Earners and a Factory School Experiment." Lists short-unit courses in various trades and occupations, and discusses their appHcation to trade extension work in part- time and evening schools. A valuable bulletin. Bulletin No. 180. " The Boot and Shoe Industry in Massachusetts as a Vocation for Women." A comprehensive study of all features of the industry. Contains a section on the methods of learning the trade. Bulletin No. 193. " Dressmaking as a Trade for Women in Massachusetts." BIBLIOGRAPHY 413 Contains chapters on Evolution of the Trade in the United States, The Dressmaking Trade of To-day, Industrial Condi- tions in the Trade, Irregularity of Employment, Overtime, Wages and Earnings in Boston, Teaching the Trade, Summary and Outlook, and a BibHography. Twenty-fifth Annual Report of the Commissioner of Labor. Contains chapters on Girls' Industrial Schools and Vocational Guidance. Condition of Women and Child Wage Earners in the United States. Cotton Textile Industry. Men's Ready-made Clothing. Glass Industry. Silk Industry. Wage-earning Women in Stores and Factories. The Beginnings of Child Labor in Certain States. A rative Study. Conditions under which Children Leave School to Go to Juvenile Delinquency and its Relation to Employment. History of Women in Industry in the United States. History of Women in Trade Unions. Employment of Women in Metal Trades. Employment of Women in Laundries. Infant Mortality and its Relation to the Employment of Mothers. Vol. 14. Causes of Death among Women and Child Cotton Mill Operatives . Vol. 15. Relation between Occupation and Criminality of Women. Vol. 16. Family Budgets among Typical Cotton Mill Workers. Vol. 17. Hook-worm Disease among Cotton Mill Operatives. Vol. 18. Employment of Women and Children in Selected Industries. Vol. 19. Labor Laws and Factory Conditions. The above nineteen volumes form the most comprehensive study yet made of the condition and prospects of women and girls in industry. It did not, however, include household service within its scope. Bulletin No. 175. "Summary of the Report on Condition of Women and Child Wage Earners in the United States." This gives in condensed form the findings contained in the above nineteen volumes. A very useful summary. Vol. 1. Vol. 2. Vol. 3. Vol. 4. Vol. 5. Vol. 6. Lc Vol. )mpc 7. Work. Vol. 8. Vol. 9. Vol. 10. Vol. 11. Vol. 12. Vol. 13. 414 BIBLIOGRAPHY Butler, Elizabeth Beardsley. Women and the Trades. Chari- ties Publication Committee, New York. This volume is one of six forming the report of the Pittsburg survey and was the first survey of the occupations open to women in an American city. Some of the chapters are Workers and Workrooms, Food Production, The Stogy Industry, The Needle Trades, The Cleaning Industries, Metal, Lamps, and Glass, Miscellaneous Trades, The Commercial Trades, The Social Life of Working Women, Summary of Industrial Condi- tions. Contains a short bibliography. Saleswomen in Mercantile Stores. Survey Associates, New York. An investigation into the working conditions in department stores in Baltimore, in regard to comfort, hours, wages, seasons, benefit societies and training. "Conditions of Saleswomen in Cincinnati Mercantile Stores." Consumers' League of Cincinnati. Deals with general store conditions — hoHdays, overtime, pay, hours of labor, and prospects. "Condition of Wage-earning Women and Girls." Connecticut State Bureau of Labor. Treats particularly of saleswomen in general and ten-cent stores, telephone operators, and workers in hotels. CooLET, Edwin G. Vocational Education in Europe. A report to the Commercial Club of Chicago on the visitation of typical vocational schools. Chapter 16 deals especially with industrial schools for girls. Factory Investigating Commission, Albany, New York. Report in five volumes. Vol. 1. Industrial Education and Wages. Vol. 2. Investigations into conditions in mercantile estabUsh- ments, the skirt industry, paper box industry, confectionery industry. Vol. 3. Deals with vocational training, and its wage value in the paper box and candy industries and in department stores. "Glance at Some European and American Vocational Schools." Consumers' League of Connecticut. Gives the results in a popular form of an investigation into some typical schools in Germany, Belgium, Holland, England, and the United States. Hedges, Anna C. Wage Worth of School Training for Girls. Teachers College, Columbia University. BIBLIOGRAPHY 415 This book has given rise to considerable controversy. The attitude of the author is summed up in the following quota- tion, "Trade schools for the majority belong to the past when preparation for trade was needed. Operations can be learned in from a few hours to a few weeks and are best taught in the factory whose special methods and machines are not adapted to school conditions." "Industrial Education." Report of a Committee of the Ameri- can Federation of Labor. 1912. Deals with the subject generally and contains chapters on indus- trial education for girls and vocational guidance. "Industrial Home Work in Massachusetts." Labor Bulletin of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, No. 111. 1914. Gives the results of an inquiry made in cooperation with the Women's Educational Union, Boston. Contains chapters on the problems of home work, analysis of conditions in home work industries, and detailed reports of various industries. A valuable, well-illustrated bulletin. "Industries in Public Education, The Place of." National Education Association, 1910. The report of a committee of eighteen members. While deal- ing largely with boys' work, that of girls is not entirely neg- lected. Lasblle and Wiley. Vocations for Girls. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston. Contains chapters on salesmanship, stenography and typewriting, the telephone operator, work in a manufacturing establishment, cooking, nursing, sewing and millinery, teaching, library work, domestic service, etc. Massachusetts Commission on Industrial and Technical Education, Report of. 1905. One of the pioneer reports which still retains much of its original value. "Massachusetts Independent Vocational Schools." Bulletin of the Board of Education, No. 5. 1914. Gives full information regarding the different types of schools — • full-time day schools, cooperative day schools, part-time schools, evening schools. National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education. Bulletin No. 4. "Industrial Training for Women." The subjects dealt with are: The Changed Position of Women 416 BIBLIOGRAPHY in Industry, What Trade Teaching is Accomplishing, Sug- gested Schemes for Industrial Training. Bulletin No. 9. Contains papers on How to Conduct a Trade School for Girls, and Woman's Work in Industrial Education. Bulletin No. 10. Contains addresses on Industrial Education for Women, and The Education of Girls. Bulletin No. 13. " Trade Education for Girls." Deals mainly with education for the needle trades and depart- ment stores ; the method of training teachers for trade schools is also discussed. New York. Seventeenth Annual Report of the Superintendent of Schools, 1915. Especially the section on "Preparation for Trades." North Bennet Street Industrial School, Boston. Annual reports. Contain much interesting and valuable information concerning experiments in vocational education. Perry, Lorinda. Millinery as a Trade for Women. Longmans, Green, and Co. Gives a clear analysis of the organization, processes, seasons, wages, and educational conditions of one of the most compli- cated trades. The advantages and disadvantages of the trade are clearly shown. Van Kleeck, Mary. Women in the Bookbinding Trades. Survey Associates, New York. A patient and careful investigation into the conditions of the bookbinding trade, and women's employment therein in New York. Deals with wages, home conditions, irregularity of employment, overtime, and teaching girls the trade. Working Girls in Evening Schools. Survey Associates, New York. Gives an extensive view of the workers in the many fields of employment represented among the women who attend evening schools in New York. Deals with occupations, hours of labor, previous schooling, relation of evening schools to vocational training, irregularity of attendance, and some problems of industrial education. An appendix gives the results of a similar investigation in Philadelphia. "Vocations for the Trained Woman." Women's Educational and Industrial Union, Boston. BIBLIOGRAPHY 417 "This book is the outgrowth of a conviction that many women who are unfitted for teaching drift into it because it is the vocation with which they are f amiUar — that many who make poor teachers might become able workers if wisely guided into other fields. To suggest to such women some lines of work now open to them and the equipment which they shall have to justify a hope of success in any given line is the purpose of the eighty-three papers which make up the book." 4. VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE (See also Industrial Occupations and Training) Bloomfield, Meyek. Youth, School, and Vocation. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston. Deals with the theory of vocational guidance, the methods adopted in Europe, and offers very definite suggestions for carrying on such work. Contains a very complete bibliog- raphy. Readings in Vocational Guidance. Ginn and Co., Boston. The best literature available at present on this subject is to be found in various magazines and addresses. This book is a collection of the best of these that have yet appeared. Bureau of Education, Washington, D. C. Bulletin No. 4. 1914. "The School and the Start in Life." An account of the methods adopted in Great Britain and Euro- pean countries to direct boys and girls at the end of their school period towards those vocations to which they seem best fitted and to assist them in finding profitable employment. Bulletin No. 14. 1914. "Vocational Guidance." Contains the papers presented at the organization meeting of the Vocational Guidance Association in 1913. Bulletin No. 21. 1916. "Vocational Secondary Education." Contains a valuable chapter on the relationship between voca- tional education and vocational guidance. Davis, Jesse Buttrick. Vocational and Moral Guidance. Ginn and Co., Boston. The subjects dealt with are vocational and moral guidance in the public schools, the vocationaHzed curriculum, vocational counseling, and the problem of placement. Gives a plan of organization of such work for cities. 2e 418 BIBLIOGRAPHY Department of Labor, Washington, D. C. Twenty-fifth Annual Report of the Commissioner of Labor. Chapter 15. Vocational Guidance. Dodge, Harriet Hazen. "Survey of Occupations open to the Girl of Fourteen to Sixteen Years." Girls' Trade Education League, Boston. This survey was designed especially to meet the numerous in- quiries of teachers, vocational counselors, and social workers as to what the girl can do who seeks wage-earning in the earliest years in which the law aUows her to engage in it. Preface. GowiN, E. B., AND Wheatley, W. a. Occupations. Ginn and Co., Boston. Part 1 stresses the importance of a life motive and describes a method of studying an occupation to determine its desirability. Part 2 describes in detail various occupations. Part 3 offers suggestions as to securing a position, and gives a hst of helpful books on occupations. Hollingworth, H. L. Vocational Psychology, — its Problems and Methods. D. Appleton and Co., New York. Contains a chapter on the vocational aptitudes of women. Keeling, Frederick. The Labour Exchange in Relation to Boy and Girl Labor. P. S. King and Son, London, England. Deals with labor exchanges which are British Government organizations for finding suitable employment for boys and girls. Contains a useful bibliography. Leake, Albert H. Industrial Education, Its Methods, Problems, and Dangers. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston. Chapter 8. Vocational Guidance. McKeever, Wm. a. Training the Girl. Macmillan Co., New York. The preface expresses the hope "that the volume may serve as a brief compendium of methods, devices, and ideals for girl training." The book is divided into four parts — industrial training, social training, vocational training, and service train- ing. Puffer, J. Adams. Vocational Guidance. Rand, McNally Co., New York. Eighteen chapters. Deals with all forms of vocational guidance and the methods to be adopted. A comprehensive treatment. Taylor, Joseph S. A Handbook of Vocational Education. Mac- millan Co., New York. BIBLIOGRAPHY 419 Gives a general view of the whole subject, including vocational guidance. Trades for London Girls and How to Enter Them. Appren- ticeship and Skilled Employment Association. Longmans, Green, and Co., New York. Suggests various openings possible to London girls. Points out the distinctive features of various trades, the best means of entering them, and the kind of education required and how to get it. 5. COMMERCIAL EDUCATION Allen, Frederick J. Business Employments. Ginn and Co., Boston. This book deals with the business employments that are open to youth, discussing in detail the opportunities on the business side of manufactures, trade, and finance. It is based upon the studies of the vocation bureau of Boston, Bureau of Education, Washington, D. C. Bulletin No. 25. 1916. "Commercial Education." A collection of valuable papers. Bulletin No. 34. 1916. "Service Instruction of American Corporations." Gives an account of the methods taken to instruct employees in various department stores, telephone companies, and other industries. Bulletin No. 9. 1917. "Department Store Education." By Helen R. Norton. School of Salesmanship, Women's Educa- tional and Industrial Union, Boston. An excellent bulletin giving an account of the training methods developed at the Boston School of Salesmanship. Commercial Education. Monographs on Education in the United States. Published for the St. Louis Exposition. Gives a good historical account of the development of the private business college. Eaton, Jeanette, and Stevens, Bertha M. Commercial Work and Training for Girls. Macmillan Co., New York. Particularly full and good on the methods employed by pri- vate commercial schools to secure pupils. Deals comprehen- sively with office work and the kind of training required therefor. Bibliography. 420 BIBLIOGRAPHY Herrick, Cheesman a. The Meaning and Practice of Commercial Education. Macmillan Co., New York. Explains the purpose and describes the work of commercial schools. Treats commercial education from various points of view and shows that it is a result of present economic conditions and a natural step in national development. Gives curricula for schools of various grades. Bibliography. Hoover, Simon Robert. The Science and Art of Salesmanship. Macmillan Co., New York. Interesting, useful, and comprehensive. Indiana State Board op Education. Survey for Vocational Education. Bulletin No. 21. Vol. 1. Contains recommendations concern- ing commercial work, recommendations for courses of study and work in salesmanship. Gives an occupational analysis of departmental and specialty store work. Bulletin No. 21. Vol. 2. Contains a section on salesmanship. Bulletin No. 18. Occupational information concerning mercantile traffic, mercantile sales, telephone service and office service. Bulletin No. 19. Contains a section on retail stores. Kahn, Joseph, and Klein, B. J. Principles and Methods of Com- mercial Education. Macmillan Co., New York. Consists of three parts : Principles of Commercial Education ; Special Methods in Commercial Education ; and Special Prob- lems in Commercial Education. An authoritative and scholarly work. National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education. Bulletin No. 20. Contains chapters on Fundamentals in Educa- tion for Department Stores, The Work of the Departmental Store Education Association, Training for Salesmanship, and The Health of the Department Store Worker. Bulletin No. 21. Report of the MinneapoUs Survey for Voca- tional Education. Contains a chapter on What Vocational Education is needed for Office Work. "Public Schools and Women in Office Service." Women's Educational and Industrial Union, Boston. The chapters are Introductory, The PubUc School and its Prob- lems, Character of Office Service, Wages, Home Life and Re- sponsibilities. Thompson, F. V. Commercial Education in Public Secondary Schools. World Book Co., New York. School Efficiency Series, edited by Paul H. Hanus. INDEX Ability to adapt : 237. Academic results : influenced by vo- cational training, 160. Academic training : at Manhattan Trade School for Girls, 283. Adjustment of industry to new con- ditions : 268, 269. Advantages : of prevocational classes, 162-167; of selling trade school products, 300-302. Advertisements: answers to, 341. Advertising: judicious, 118; methods in London, 119, 120; to reach the housekeeper, 120, 121 ; circulars used for, 121, 123 ; for evening schools, 316, 317. Advisory boards for evening schools : 316. Advocates of household arts : 34. Agreements between schools and stores : 372. Agricultural colleges : homemaking courses in, 182. Agricultural Instruction Act: Can- ada, 30. Aid of practical business men : in evening schools, 316. Albany vocational school : 176, 177. Allowance for the girl who "stays at home": 16. Ames, Iowa : home credit in, 104, 105. Answers to advertisements: 341. Apartments for teaching household arts: 76-80. Applications of employers : for girls from trade schools, 287. Apprenticeship and skilled employ- ment association : 206, 382. Arithmetic : lack of knowledge of, 340. Armstrong Manual Training School, Washington : 92, 93. Assistance to household arts by Canadian Government : 30. Associations : of parents and teachers, 96-98 ; for befriending young serv- ants, 199. Attendance : at schools in the United States, 261 ; officer, new type of, needed, 261 ; at evening classes, 320, 321, 387. Ayres, Dr. Leonard P. : 153, 254, 379. "Banner of the Constitution" : 228. Basis of instruction : family meal as, 64-66. Belgium : economy in teaching sew- ing, 40 ; methods of teaching sew- ing in, 40, 41. Beverly, Mass. : first spinning mill at, 227. Bischoffsheim school in Brussels : 277. Bloomsbury: trade school for girls at, 278-280. Bookbinding: as an industry for girls, 240 ; bulletin on, 397. Boston : teaching sewing in, 21, 42 ; working in family quantities in, 66 ; classes for factory girls in, 113, 114 ; prevocational classes in, 156 ; Washington Allston School, 157 ; North Bennett Street Industrial School, 160, 161 ; spinning craze in, 227; "Boston Courier," 229; high school commercial courses in, 336 ; development of commercial courses in, 348, 349 ; Clerical High School, 352, 353 ; Union School of Salesmanship, 363 ; instruction in salesmanship, 372; Girls' Trade Education League, 396. 421 422 INDEX Boys : courses mainly organized for, 152, 272 ; fourteen year old, not in- dustrial assets, 275. Bulletins : government, 145, 146 ; issued by Girls' Trade Education League, Boston, 396. Bundle girls : instruction of, 369. Business : women in, 335 ; methods, ignorance of, 340 ; changing condi- tions of, 352. Business colleges : 353 ; solicitation of pupils by, 354, 355 ; in Chicago, 356 ; defects of, 356. Cambridge: 223; Associated Chari- ties, report of, 132. Canadian Agricultural Act : 30. Center system : 46, 47, 75. Certification by Manhattan Trade School for Girls : 289. Changes : in character of housekeep- ing, 33 ; in methods of approach- ing subjects, 126, 127 ; needed in evening commercial schools, 359. Character of instruction : in Man- hattan Trade School, 291. Cheney, Howard : 252. Chicago : business college training in, 356 ; report to City Club of, 165 ; United Charities, report of, 132 ; commercial courses in, 336 ; Lucy Flower Technical High School, 84. Children : earnings of, 266, 267. Choice of occupation : reasons for, 379. Cincinnati : Associated Charities, report of, 133, 134. Circulars : used for advertising, 121, 123 ; to store superintendents, 366 ; used in Edinburgh, 386. Classes : evening, 123, 124 ; for saleswomen in Milwaukee, 264. Clerical High School, Boston : 352, 353. Cleveland Girls' Bureau : 340. Clubs : federation of women's, 149, 151. Coal or wood stove : absence of, 48, 51. College : credit for household arts in, 70, 71. Commercial schools : students in, 335 ; in Boston, 336 ; in Chicago, 336 ; results of, judged by num- bers, 337 ; elementary, 343-345 ; high, 347 ; development of, 348, 349 ; pupils leaving, 351 ; sepa- rate, 351 ; evening, 357 ; unit courses in, 358. Commission on National Aid to Vo- cational Education, 30-32. Conservation of human resources : 226. Continued education in household arts: 109. Consumers : women as, 24. Contempt for manual occupations: 43, 44. Continuation school : Ohio law, 238 ; planning of, 239. Contract with employer : 238. Cookery : teaching, 22 ; and sewing instruction, distribution of, 36, 37 ; taught without special equipment, 45, 46 ; teaching, criticism of, 59, 60 ; waste of time in instruction in, 60, 62 ; in microscopic quanti- ties, 62, 63. Cooperation : of the parent, 95 ; in housekeeping, 212-215 ; of stores with schools, 364. Coordination between schools : 239. Copenhagen: school for training maids, 186. Corson, Miss Juliet : 22. Courses of study : Washington Ir- ving High School, 79 ; Lucy Flower Technical High School, 88-91; mainly organized for boys, 152, 272 ; differentiated, 273. Credit for household arts instruction in colleges: 70, 71, Crete plan of household arts instruc- Tion : 162, 103. Criticism : of sewing instruction, 37- 42 ; of cookery instruction, 59, 60 ; effects of on manual training, 338 ; of curriculum from outside, 338. Day school : traditions of, 125, 126. Definition of terms : 17. De Kalb Township High School: vocational guidance in, 397-399. Demonstrations : 97. Demonstration trains : in West Vir- INDEX 423 ginia, 141 ; in North Carolina, 141 ; in Colorado, 142, 143. Demonstration wagons : 143. Denmark : homemaking schools in, 183-186. Department stores : 149 ; in New York, 258. Detroit : Associated Charities, report of, 132, 133. Differentiated courses : 273 ; in New York, 274. Disadvantages of prevocational classes : 162-167. Disposal of product: 63, 298, 303; at Manhattan Trade School, 284. Divided opinions on employment of women : 229, 230. Domestic science : 17 ; and domestic art, distinction between, 18. Domestic service : 188 ; a neglected question, 189 ; dislike of, 190 ; social stigma of, 191, 192; long and irregular hours of, 193 ; an old problem, 194 ; old rules for, 195. Dress and waist industry : in New York, 241-247. Dun woody Institute, Minneapolis : 373. Earnings of children : 266, 267. Economics : 17. Economy in teaching sewing in Bel- gium, 40. Edinburgh : vocational guidance in, 383-387 ; circulars issued in, 386 ; evening class attendance in, 387. Education : considered unnecessary for girls, 3 ; of women, Rousseau on, 4 ; of the next generation, 109, 110; content of industry, 241 ; of girls leaving school in New York, 255, 256 ; continued, 263 ; for edu- cation's sake, 276 ; part-time, 103 ; lack of, 328 ; for office service, 334 ; for salesmanship, 361 ; directors in stores, 369. Eight-four plan : 167. Efficient instruction in evening schools : 325. Electric : and gas companies, assist- ance of, 148; washing machine, 211 ; irons, 202 ; dishwasher, 203. Elementary schools : household arts, instruction in, 33 ; elimination of pupils from, 153 ; and secondary schools, break between, 168 ; com- mercial education in, 343 ; children from, get lowest wages, 345 ; com- mercial education in, 346 ; place- ment of pupils from, 388. Elimination : from high schools, 72 ; from elementary schools, 153 ; of waste, 378. Employees : shifting of, 259. Employers : practical interest of, 319 ; in need of vocational enlighten- ment, 382. Employment agencies : abolition of private, 206. Employment of women : divided opinions on, 229, 230. Entrance credit for household arts in colleges: 70, 71. Equipment : character of, 47, 48 ; changes in, 49, 50 ; new type of, 49, 51 ; unsuitable, in high schools, 75, 76 ; for evening schools, 319, 320. Euthenics : 17. Evansville vocational survey : report of, 170. Evening classes and schools : 123, 124, 310 ; attendance at, 310-313, 320; essential features of, 314; survey before establishing, 314, 315 ; teachers for, 315 ; aid of practical business men in, 315, 316 ; advisory board for, 316 ; advertis- ing, 316, 317 ; organization of, 317, 318; registration at, 317, 318 ; ad- mission to, 318 ; interest of em- ployer in, 319 ; equipment for, 319 ; unit courses in, 321-325 ; working girls in, 326 ; lack of previous edu- cation in pupils of, 328, 358 ; fac- tors contributing to success of, 332 ; commercial, 357 ; occupa- tions of commercial students of, 358 ; commercial, improvement in, 359. Examinations : at School of Sales- manship, 367, 368. Exercise method of teaching sewing: 38^0. Exploitation of young workers : 383. 424 INDEX Factors contributing to success of evening schools : 332, 333. Factory: classes for girls, 113, 114; organization, use of, 117, 118; in- vestigating commission. New York, 240 ; organization of school in, 244. 245 ; system, the modern, 350 ; employment, unskilled, 250 ; mo- notony of work in, 251. Family meal : the basis of instruc- tion, 64-66. Family quantities : cooking in, 81. Farmers' week : 145. Federal governments : assistance to vocational education, 28-30. Federation of all agencies: 151. Financial reasons for leaving school : 267. Finishing school : high school as a, 71, 72. Finley, Dr. J. H. : 269. Fitchburg, Mass. : differentiated courses in, 274, 275. Four-year course : aim of, 88. Franklin, Ohio : home credit in, 104. Fluctuation of employment : 260. Functions of juvenile employment agencies : 384, 385. Gainful occupation : homemaking not considered a, 15. Gallatin, Albert : 226. Gas and electric companies: work of, 148. Girls : training for two vocations, 7 ; who stay at home, allowances for, 16 ; entering high school without knowledge of household arts, 69 ; trade schools for, 230, 231 ; leav- ing factories, 257 ; courses of study not organized for, 272 ; fourteen year old, not industrial assets, 275 ; completing courses in trade schools, 290 ; leaving trade schools before completing course, 291 ; Bureau of Cleveland, 341 ; Trade Educa- tion League of Boston, 396. Government bulletins : 145, 146. Grade teachers : sewing taught by, 44. Graduates : criticism of, by em- ployers, 339. Grants in aid : recommended by Smith-Lever Bill, 29; by Smith- Hughes Bill, 29 ; by National Com- mission, 305. Greenfield, Mass. : housewifery school at, 53. Hamilton, Alexander: 226. Handwork: 17. Health instruction : at Manhattan Trade School for Girls, 284. Hedges, Anna: 251. High schools : household arts, in- struction in, 69, 84, 85 ; obstacles to household arts instruction in, 69 ; as college preparatory schools, 70 ; as finishing schools, 71 ; elimi- nation from, 72 ; center system not common in, 75 ; unsuitable equipment in, 75, 76 ; apartments for teaching household arts in, 76 ; commercial education in, 347 ; as- sociations of teachers in, 389; pupils of, 389. History of instruction in household arts : 18. Home : changed conditions in, 23, 24; opportunities offered in the, 94 ; School, Providence, R. I., 110- 113. Home credit for school work: 99— 108; in Franklin, Ohio, 104; in Ames, Iowa, 104, 105; in Ogden, 107, 108. Home economics : 17. Homemakers : conferences, 143, 144 ; schools for, 178. Homemaking : woman's greatest in- dustry, 8 ; talent for, 9 ; influence of household arts instruction on, 10 ; not a gainful occupation, 15 ; number of women engaged in, 16 ; training in vocational schools, 170, 171 ; courses in agricultural col- leges, 182 ; schools in Denmark, 183-186. Household arts : influence of instruc- tion in, 10; history of instruction in, 18; demonstration and recog- nition of value of, 18 ; present posi- tion of, 22, 23 ; state program of instruction in, 25-28; instruction INDEX 425 in elementary schools, 33 ; advo- cates, 34 ; two forms of instruction in, 35-38; limited time given to, 45 ; teacher of, 55, 56 ; instruction in high schools, 69 ; girls entering high schools without knowledge of, 69 ; not cultural or necessary, 72, 73 ; lack of knowledge of, 74 ; in high schools without special equip- ment, 84, 85 ; university courses in, 87 ; vocationalization of in- struction in, 93 ; instruction in the home, 94; parents afraid of teachers of, 55, 59, 95 ; Crete plan of instruction in, 102, 103 ; con- tinued education in, 109 ; movable schools of, 137-139 ; short courses in, 139-141. Household service : making attrac- tive, 197 ; fair and just agreements for, 197 ; standards of work and wages, 197, 198 ; time for rest, recreation, and culture, 198, 199 ; definite hours for, 199, 200 ; part of the general labor problem, 203, 204 ; as a business, 207 ; work outside the home, 208. Housekeeper, the visiting : 130 ; qualifications of, 131 ; work of, 132 ; North Dakota Experimental Station, 137. Housekeeping : changed character of, 24, 73 ; part-time instruction for, 114-116; at Washington All- ston School, Boston, 157; co- operative, 212-215 ; standardiza- tion of, 215. Housewifery : teaching of, 52 ; school in Toronto, 53 ; school in Green- field, Mass., 53 ; school in Park Ridge, N. J., 54; in Manchester, 52 ; centers in New York, 54, 55. Housewives : work of, 16 ; Montclair League of, 207 ; classes for, 209. Hiunan resources : conservation of, 377. Improvements in the organization and teaching of the household arts : 67, 68. Independence ; not being developed, 64. Indianapolis : permits to work in, 254, 255. Industrial employment of women: sentiment against, 5. Industrial future of the unskilled, 257. Industrial life of women thought to be short, 5. Industrial occupations : numbers of women in, 17. Industrial school : North Bennett Street, Boston, 160, 161. Industrial training : method in, 287. Industries : modification of, 11; women's early, 219, 220 ; training for some, impossible, 239 ; educa- tional content of, 241 ; monotony and speed in, 265, 266. Initiative : not being developed, 64. Instruction : in history of household arts, 18; outside the school, 110; by insurance companies, 149 ; to girls leaving trade schools, 286, 287 ; part-time, in salesmanship, 370. Insurance companies : instruction by, 149. Investigation: need for, 231, 232; in Troy, 232; in Grand Rapids, 232 ; in New York, 233 ; into com- mercial education in Boston, 349, 350 ; of industries, 382. Irregularity of attendance : at eve- ning schools, 311, 312. Junior high school : 167 ; definition of, 168 ; advantages of, 169 ; adaptability to vocational educa- tion of, 169. Juvenile employment agencies : func- tions of, 384, 385. Kingsbury, Dr. Susan M. : 233. Kitchen : gardening, 19, 20 ; boycott of, 188. Kleeck, Van, Miss : 240. Knowledge : of household arts, lack of, 74; general, 243; trade, 243; technical, 243. Laundry work: neglect of, 51, 52; teaching of, in Ontario, 52. Leaving certificates : 238. 426 INDEX Leaving school : financial reasons for, 267. Lectures on store topics : 368, 369. Length of the working day : 329, 330. London : methods of advertising in, 119, 120 ; Shoreditch Trade School for girls, 175, 176. Lucy Flower Technical High School for Girls: 84, 88-91. Luncheons : service for, 83 ; school, 99 ; recipes for, 158. Maids : school for training, 186, 187 ; and mistress, 196 ; better trained, 209 ; part-time instruction for, 210. Maintenance allowances : 268. Manchester: housewifery school at, 52. Manhattan Trade School for Girls : 281-291; trades taught at, 283, 289 ; academic training at, 283 ; health instruction at, 284 ; disposal of product of, 284, 302 ; placement of girls by, 285, 286 ; instructions to girls leaving, 286, 287 ; applica- tion of employers for girls from, 287; student aid fund, 287; cer- tification by, 289 ; completing courses at, 290; leaving before completion, 291 ; character of in- struction at, 291. Manipulative skill : 244. Manual occupations : contempt for, 43, 44. Manual training teachers : kinds of, 294. Markets : controlled by women, 24, 25. Men and women : comparative num- bers of, 11. Mending squad in Boston schools : 42. Menomonee : Stout Institute of, 178, 179, 180, 182. Methods : of teaching sewing in Bel- gium, 40, 41 ; of teaching sewing in Boston, 42 ; in Montclair, 82 ; in Sioux City, 82, 83 ; in prevoca- tional schools, 154, 155 ; in indus- trial training, 297 ; of selling goods, 361. Microscopic quantities : cooking in, 62, 63. Migrations of United States workers : 380. Milwaukee; trade school for girls in, 173, 174 ; classes for sales- women in, 264. Minneapolis : survey, 237 ; Dun- woody Institute, 373. Mistresses : and maids, 196 ; with adequate knowledge, 208. Modification of industry : 11. Molineux, William : 228. Money : spending of, 86. Monotony : of factory work, 251 ; and speed in industry, 265, 266. Montclair: part-time classes in, 115, 116; housewives' league, 207; classes for maids, 211, 212. Mothers' meetings : 98. Movable schools of household arts : 137-139. Miinsterberg : "Vocation and Learn- ing," 264. Murtland, Cleo : 241. National aid to vocational education : 30, 31, 32. National Commission on Vocational Education : 292 ; grants in aid recommended by, 297, 305. National conferences on vocational guidance : 380. National Vigilance Association : 206. National Vocational Guidance Asso- ciation : formation of, 380 ; objects of, 381. New York : cooking school, 22 ; housewifery centers in, 54, 55; Washington Irving High School, 77, 78 ; associated charities, 133 ; Manhattan Trade School for Girls, 171-173 ; factory investigating commission, 240, 257, 371 ; dress and waist industry of, 241 ; girls leaving school in, 255, 256 ; depart- ment stores in, 258 ; differentiated courses in, 273 ; evening schools, 312. Nurse : the visiting, 129, 130. Objections : to raising school age, 262, 263; to selling products of trade schools, 298. INDEX 427 Obstacles to household arts instruc- tion : 43 ; in high schools, 69. Occupations : definition of skilled, 250; of evening commercial stu- dents, 358 ; drifted into, 379. Ofiices : education for, 334 ; women employed in, 334 ; lack of elemen- tary knowledge of employees, 339 ; previous education determines po- sition in, 345 ; clogged with unfit girls, 345. Ogden : home-credit in, 107, 108. Ohio : continuation school law of, 238. One-process workers : 234, 235. Ontario : teaching laundry work in, 52 ; women's institutes, 144. Opinions on vocational guidance: varying, 381. Organization : of prevocational schools, 154, 155; of a factory school, 244, 245; of evening schools, 317, 318. Overtime : 331. Parents : cooperation of, 95 ; associa- tions of teachers with, 96; visits to schools by, 98. Park Ridge, N. J. : 54. Parloa, Maria, Miss : 22. Part-time: instruction for house- keepers, 114-116; education in Ohio, 237; education, purpose of, 303, 304 ; education, time for, 305 ; education, attitude of employers on, 305 ; instruction in salesman- ship, 370. Penmanship : poor, 340. Permit workers : 263. Personality : lack of, 341 ; attractive, 342. Philadelphia: Wanamaker store in, 362. Philanthropic bodies : work of, 19. Physical education: of the salesgirl, 375 ; and recreation for the un- skilled worker, 269. Placement: by Manhattan Trade School for Girls, 285, 286 ; of ele- mentary school pupils, 388 ; of high school pupils, 389. Practice : principles instead of, 63, 64 ; house in Winthrop Normal and Industrial College, 80. Press : assistance of, 147. Previous education determines posi- tion : 345. Prevocational classes : 153, 275-277 : at Lucy Flower Technical High School, Chicago, 91 ; objections to name, 154 ; purpose of, 154, 155 ; division of time in, 155, 159, 160, 161 ; work for girls in, 156 ; in Boston, 156; influence of, on academic results, 160 ; advantages and disadvantages of, 162-165. Prince, Mrs., Director of School of Salesmanship : 363. Principles instead of practice : 63, 64. Private employment agencies : aboli- tion of, 206. Private organizations : 149. Probationary period at trade schools : 279. Producers : women as, 24. Product: disposal of, 63, 284, 298- 303. Prosser, C. A. : 241. Providence, R. I. : home school of, 110-113. Public school teachers for trade schools : 293. Qualifications : for admission to even- ing schools, 318 ; of vocational ad- visers, 401, 402. Raising school age : 262, 263. Rapid industrial development: 262, 263. Rearing of children : knowledge of, needed, 74. Reasons for leaving school : 236. Recreation and physical training for the unskilled worker : 269. Reduction of supply of unskilled labor: 260, 261. Registration at evening schools: 317, 318. Regularity of attendance at evening schools: 320, 321. Responsibilities of women : 25. Richmond : survey, 252. 428 INDEX Rochester : school of domestic science and art, 178. Rousseau : on education of women, 4. Rural housewife : work of, 135, 136. Russell Sage Foundation: 237; in- vestigation by, 326. Sadler, Dr. : 239. Salesmanship : education for, 361 ; pioneer school of, 363 ; instruction in stores, 368 ; instruction in Bos- ton, 372. Salesgirl : physical education of, 375 ; point of contact between store and customer, 363. Schools: New York cooking, 22; Lucy Flower Technical High, 84, 88-91 ; Armstrong Manual Train- ing High, Washington, 92, 93 ; Home School, Providence, R. I., 110-113; movable, 137-139; pre- vocational, 152-156 ; North Ben- nett Street, Boston, 160 ; Wash- ington Allston School, Boston, 157 ; junior high, 167 ; Manhattan Trade School for Girls, 170-173; Milwaukee Trade School for Girls, 173, 174 ; Shoreditch Trade School for Girls, 175, 176 ; Albany Voca- tional School, 176, 177 ; of domes- tic science and art, Rochester, 178 ; Stout Institute, Menomonie, 178- 181 ; of homemaking in Denmark, 183-186 ; for training maids, Co- penhagen, 186 ; of housewifery, Toronto, 53, Greenfield, 53, Manchester, 52, Park Ridge, N. J., 54, New York, 54, 55 ; Washing- ton Irving High School, New York, 77, 78; Winthrop Normal and Industrial College, 80; home- makers, 178 ; coordination of, 239 ; prevocational, 275-277 ; reasons for leaving, 236 ; too much ex- pected from, 58, 59 ; luncheons in, 99 ; methods in, stereotyped, 24 ; and stores, agreements between, 372 ; credit in, for work in the home, 99-101 ; household arts in- struction in elementary, 33 ; sec- ondary and elementary, 168. School of salesmanship : objects of instruction in, 365; examinations in, 367, 368. Schmidlapp Bureau : 238. Seasonal nature of women's trades: 257. Secondary schools and elementary schools: 168. Self-reliance not being developed : 64. Selling goods : methods of, 361. Sewing : 21, 22 ; and cookery instruc- tion, distribution of, 36, 37 ; lack of practical value of, 37, 38 ; exer- cise method of teaching, 39, 40 ; method of teaching in Belgium, 40, 41 ; Ontario manual on, 44 ; taught by grade teachers, 44 ; neglected in training schools for teachers, 43, 44. Shifting of employees : 259, 269. Shoreditch Trade School for Girls: 175, 176. Short courses : at University of Mis- souri, 139, 140 ; at Cornell Univer- sity, 140; at secondary schools, 141. Simmons College, Boston : training trade school teachers at, 296. Sioux City : methods in, 82, 83. Skill : manipulative, 244. Skilled occupations : few open to women, 3 ; definition of, 250. Smith-Hughes Bill: 29, 31. Smith-Lever Bill : 29. Somerville, Mass. : 234. Speed and monotony in industry : 265, 266. Specialization of ofl&ce work : 352. Spelling a measure of previous edu- cation : 329. Spending money : woman's chief func- tion, 85. Spinning craze in Boston : 227. Spinning mill at Beverly, Mass. : 227. Standardization of housekeeping : 215. State program of instruction in house- hold arts : 25-28. Stores : cooperation of, with schools, 364 ; instruction in, 368, 369 ; and schools, agreements between, 372 ; educational directors in, 369. Student aid fund : 287. Students in commercial schools : 335. INDEX 429 Sumner, Dr. Helen : 226. Survey : before establishing evening schools, 314, 315; in Richmond, 252. Sweeney, Johanna, Miss : 22. System of unit courses : 127, 128. Teacher : of household arts, 55, 56 ; lacks home knowledge, 56; pre- liminary training of, 57 ; training in service, 58 ; for trade schools, 245, 292, 296 ; for evening schools, 315 ; for commercial classes, 351 ; of salesmanship, training, 373, 374. Terms : definition of, 17. Thorndike, Dr. Edward L. : 153, 254. Time : division of, in prevocational schools, 155 ; waste of, in cookery instruction, 60. Toronto : housewifery school in, 53. Trade changing courses : 314. Trade extension courses : 314. Trades taught at Manhattan Trade School for Girls : 283, 289. Trade schools : 230, 231-277 : Mil- waukee, 173, 174 ; Shoreditch, 175, 176; Albany, 176, 177; Man- hattan, 170-173 ; first in Europe, 277; in London, 278-280; New York, 281-291 ; teachers for, 292 ; three kinds of teachers in, 293; training own staff, 295; prepara- tory, 313. Trade teachers: qualifications of, 245 ; defects of, 296. Trade workers as teachers : 293. Traditions of day school : 125, 126. Trained and untrained : different wages of, 393-395. Training : away from unskilled jobs, 264 ; need of, in department stores, 371. Two-year course : aim of, 88. Union School of Salesmanship : Bos- ton, 363. Unit courses : 122-128, 140, 141 ; in evening schools, 321-325 ; in evening commercial schools, 358. University courses in household arts : 87. Unskilled worker : 249 ; a common problem, 252; in Germany, 253; where obtained, 253, 257; indus- trial future of, 256, 257 ; reduction of supply of, 260, 261 ; training away from unskilled jobs, 264; physical training of, 269. Untrained and trained : different wages of, 393-395. Ursuline nuns at Quebec : work of, 18. Utilitarian advocates of household arts instruction, 34. Various groups of girls to be trained : 272. Visiting nurse, the: 129; qualifica- tions of, 130; work of, 132; in rural districts, 134-136 ; of North Dakota Experiment Station, 137. Vocationalization of household arts instruction, 93. Vocational adviser : qualifications of, 400-402. Vocational education: of women a separate problem, 2; assisted by federal governments, 28-30; re- port on, in Chicago, 165 ; National Commission on, 292 ; for the four- teen to sixteen year old girl, 234, 235. Vocational guidance: 377; rise of, 378; into local industries, 379; no new thing, 380 : National Asso- ciation for, 380 ; varying opinions on, 381 ; another form of voca- tional education, 382; in Edin- burgh, 383 ; in elementary schools, 388 ; in high schools, 397 ; its ob- ject, 403. Vocational Schools: homemakmg training in, 170, 171 ; Albany, 176, 177. Vocational survey. New York: re- port of, 235. Wages paid : 391-395. Waltham, Mass. : 227. Wanamaker store, Philadelphia : 362. War: effects of, on employment of women, 223-226. Washington Allston School, Boston: housekeeping activities at, 157. 430 INDEX Washington Irving High School, New York : apartment in, 77, 78 ; cur- riculum of, 79. Waste : of time in cookery instruc- tion, 60 ; elimination of, 378. Watertown : girls leaving factories in, 257. Willard, Mrs. Emma Hart : 19. Winthrop Normal and Industrial College, 80. Women: in industry, 1, 219; gain- fully employed, 5 ; industrial life of, thought to be short, 5 ; must work, 10; and men, numbers of, 11 ; numbers of, engaged in home- making, 16 ; as consumers, 24 ; as producers, 24 ; control markets, 25 ; responsibility, 25 ; institutes for, 143-144 ; federation of clubs for, 149-151 ; early industries of, 219, 220 ; present industries of, 221 ; gainfully employed, 222 ; ef- fects of war upon employment of, 223-226 ; first appearance of, in industry, 226 ; early vocational education for, 227 ; divided opin- ions on employment of, 229, 230 ; seasonal nature of trades for, 257 ; variety of occupations for, 325- 327 ; in business, increase of, 335. Women's Educational and Industrial Union: Boston, 306. Worcester, Mass. : 234. Work certificates : 238. Workers : unskilled, 249 ; migrations of, 380. Working day : length of, 329, 330. Working girls : in evening schools, 326. Printed in the United States of America. ' I ^HE following pages contain advertisements of other Macmillan educational publications TEXTBOOKS IN THE HOUSEHOLD ARTS Foods and Household Management Cloth, i2mo, illustrated, jgo pages, $i.io Shelter and Clothing Cloth, i2mo, illustrated, 2^^ pages, $i.io By Helen Kinne, Professor, and Anna M. Cooley, Associate Professor of Household Arts Education in Teachers College, Columbia University. These books are intended for use in the course in household arts in the high school and normal school, whether the work be vocational or general in its aim. Both volumes will prove useful in the home as well, including as they do topics now so significant to the homemaker — the cost and purchasing of foods and clothing, the cost of operating and the management of the home, and questions of state and city sanitation vital to the health of the individual family. "Foods and Household Management" treats specifically of foods, their production, sanitation, cost, nutritive value, preparation, and serv- ing, these topics being closely interwoven with the practical aspects of household management ; and they are followed by a study of the house- hold budget and accounts, methods of buying, housewifery, and laun- dering. It includes about i6o carefully selected and tested recipes, together with a large number of cooking exercises of a more experi- mental nature designed to develop initiative and resourcefulness. " Shelter and Clothing " treats fully, but with careful balance, every phase of home making. The authors hold that harmony will be the keynote of the home in proportion as the makers of the homes regard the plan, the sanitation, the decoration of the house itself, and as they exercise economy and wisdom in the provision of food and clothing. THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK BOSTON ATLANTA CHICAGO SAN FRANCISCO DALLAS Household Accounting By W. A. Sheaffer, West Division High School, Milwaukee, Wisconsin List price, 65 cents The management of the home is a business, and the modern homemaker, no matter how modest, should be trained for the job. To make a plan consistent with the income, and then to work the plan with the help of simple records of expenditures and simple systems of keeping accounts is the true basis of good management in the home, as it is the basis of sound business in every enterprise. Although the purpose of this book is to teach system and order in household accounts it does not provide any elaborate system of bookkeeping nor does it presuppose any previous knowledge either of bookkeeping or accounting. The basis of the study is economic and the methods and forms of the busi- ness house are modified to suit the needs of the housekeeper. Simple systems are described and illustrated and many prob- lems and exercises are suggested. Therefore no special sets of blanks and forms are necessary. Since systematic expenditure always leaves a surplus saved, the author tells fully of wise ways of banking and investing the family savings ; he tells how to manage a charge account ; how to take the household inventory ; how to keep club or society accounts ; how to invest in various types of insurance. Two chapters at the end of the book are devoted to legal points that the home manager should know. THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK BOSTON ATLANTA CHICAGO SAN FRANCISCO DALLAS OFFICE PRACTICE By Mary F. Cahill, Chairman of the Department of Stenography and Typewriting, and Agnes C. Ruggeri, Instructor in the Department of Stenography and Typewriting, Julia Richman High School, New York City. Clothy i2mo, illustrated, 2^j pages, go cents A textbook of unusual value to commercial courses for teach- ing system and despatch in all the practices of the modern business office. The book treats fully the handling of the in- coming and the outgoing mail, the principles and practice under- lying various methods of filing, courtesy and efficiency at the telephone, intelligence in the use of the telegraph service, speed and precision in the use of office machines and the intelligent use of business directories and reference books. While the book is not designed to give instruction in the stenographic outlines nor the technique of typewriting, it does give suggestions, in the section on Outgoing Mail, as to the placing of the letter, the mechanics of the typewriter, making inclosures, and many other matters of good office practice. There are groups of suggestive exercises at the close of the discussion of each general topic and the book is planned to give classroom practice in all the duties that fall to the clerk in a modern office. THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK BOSTON ATLANTA CHICAGO SAN FRANCISCO DALLAS IN MACMILLAN'S COMMERCIAL SERIES General Editor: President Cheesman A. Herrick of Girard College Salesmanship By Robert Simon Hoover, High School of Commerce, Cleveland, Ohio Cloth, i2mo, illustrated, ipj pages, ys ce»f5 A straightforv^ard presentation of the principles of sell- ing, especially adapted to the use of commercial classes in high schools. It presents the psychology and the ethics of square dealing and gives general principles of salesman- ship rather than specific directions for certain cases most of v^hich might never apply to any other. The illustrations of principles have been drawn from the experience of live salesmen in all lines and they add defi- niteness to the discussion. The book is full of suggestions also both for the indoor salesman and the traveling man regarding his personal appearance, habits and conduct, his mental attitude and his control over various external cir- cumstances that affect his customer and the success of his canvass. THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK BOSTON ATLANTA CfflCAGO SAN FRANCISCO DALLAS