[1]The two previous articles were published in the School Bulletin for July and August, 1906.
[1]The two previous articles were published in the School Bulletin for July and August, 1906.
The seeming contradictory statements made here must be interpreted in the spirit rather than in the letter, if the full meaning and significance of the trade school is to be grasped. Trades are taught as formerly. The point made is that while the trade school, per se, is doing its work, boys are, more and more, being trained for their trades in the so-called trades continuation schools and as apprentices in the shops. The latter form of training will be spoken of elsewhere in this section of the paper.
We have noted in following the work of the continuation school, that the attempt has been mainly toward the teaching of theoretical subjects, the practical lines being carried forward in the regular daily occupations of the individuals. Hence the trade is not held specifically in mind, although the desired end is always kept in view. In thetrade schools on the other hand, the work is largely of a practical nature, dealing with some particular occupation. The foregoing statement may be taken as fairly representing the Fachschule point of view, but it should be observed that while these schools are special trade schools, training for example iron workers, or joiners, or tailors, there is a differentiation within the general class. I refer to the Gewerbeschulen, where theoretical lessons are sometimes taught. These schools will be given mention in the secondary group.
Admission to the trade schools is gained usually at fourteen years of age, the length of each course covering a period of three years. The schools are in receipt of financial aid from both state and local governments.
To simplify our study, we shall consider only such institutions as deal with a single trade each, leaving the schools for the buildingtrades and the like, and those dealing with industrial art and drawing to be treated elsewhere. Specialization has been carried so far that the following lists of schools, each training for its own particular trade or calling, may be given. The list is arranged alphabetically and without reference to the relative importance of the various vocations, or to the number of schools. Such schools are now found pretty generally in the larger cities throughout the Empire. Some of these are day schools; some evening schools, and others again offer both day and evening courses and Sunday instruction.
Single Trade Schools
Some of the above named institutions are in certain localities styled apprenticeship schools. These train workmen and foremen of a minor degree. Shop work is offered, and in some cases pure and applied art as well.
The evening work of the so-called Artisans’ Schools of Berlin, are deserving of special mention. There are two such institutions, called respectively school number one and school number two. The first was established in 1880; the second in 1892. The aim of these schools is to give to tradesmen and apprentices in their leisure hours such a knowledge of drawing, the arts and sciences, as will find an application in their own lines of work.
The grade of instruction varies from quite elementary work to that for advanced students,the latter being obliged to present evidence of fitness before entering.
The following courses are offered, the figures indicating the number of hours per week devoted to each.
In addition to the foregoing, school number two offers:
The courses continue for two years.
It is interesting to note that whereas certain enactments are in force regarding the Sunday sessions of the Fortbildungsschulen, there are no such restrictions placed upon the Fachschulen, Sunday morning classes being held at the discretion of the school authorities.
Let us refer to our table of single trade schools as given above. The statements which follow have in most cases been taken from data relating to the schools of Berlin,and may be said to fairly represent the general existing conditions throughout the Empire.
In the school for bakers, instruction is given one day weekly for two and one half hours. The theoretical work (which in common with all such work in the regular trade schools, is related directly to the particular trade under discussion) is made up of chemistry and bookkeeping.
In the barbers’ and hairdressers’ schools, instruction is carried on six days each week, four hours daily, the school continuing six months of the year, covering the winter period. Each class receives fourteen hours instruction per week. While the bakers’ school is supported by the guild, the barbers’ school is jointly maintained by state, city and guild. The curriculum includes shaving, hair cutting, and hair dressing, wig making, and ladies’ hair dressing. A tuition of three marks is charged for theterm, in the case of apprentices, and six marks for journeymen; a charge five times as great is made for ladies’ hair dressing, and for the surgical lectures, ten marks.
The guild, state and municipality maintain the school for basketmakers and wickerworkers. Apprentices receive instruction free, four marks each semester being charged the journeymen and adults. Attendance is compulsory on the part of apprentices of guild members. Four hours work per week are given, on Saturdays. The annual expenses of the school, are about five hundred and fifty dollars. Four courses are offered, as follows: first, general basket making and wicker furniture; second, making of small wicker furniture; third, large wicker furniture; fourth, fine and artistic wicker working.
In the blacksmiths’ school the instruction is for two hours, one day each week. Theoretical work in horseshoeing, and drawingrelated to the course are taught.
The city and guild support the school for bookbinders. The students are both apprentices and journeymen. They work week day evenings and Sunday mornings. The purpose is not to produce tradesmen, but rather to make more proficient those engaged in some form of bookbinding, and to this end applicants must have had experience amounting to two years work before entering the school. All students must be grounded in the general elements underlying the trade before they are allowed to take up any phase as a specialty. No fee is charged the apprentices of guild members; others pay five marks per term; journeymen pay nine marks per term.
In the cabinetmakers’ school, all lines of work pertaining to the trade are taken up, drawing and designing for trade purposes; free-hand drawing; modeling, carving; properties of woods, etc. Instruction is givenweek day evenings and Sunday forenoons. Four marks are charged for the first term in the drawing course and for each subsequent term, two marks. The subjects taken up are: chemistry, free-hand drawing, projection, trade drawing, perspective and shadows, drawing from cast, modeling and wood carving, joinery. The school is under public control.
In most of the remaining trade schools, instruction is pretty generally given on week day evenings and Sunday mornings, the apprentices of guild members paying no fee, a small charge being made for outsiders. The support comes from city, state and guild in most cases. In the school for masons however, there is a preparatory course and also a carpenters’ course, the whole covering a three years term. In this school the instruction is thorough, covering plans, drawings and specifications; stone, brick, and wood construction; foundations, arches,staircases, roofs, and the like. Almost without exception in all these schools the winter attendance is greater than that in the summer.
Certain individual schools throughout the Empire deserve special mention, the Royal Fachschule of Iserlohn, the first in Prussia, being a notable example. Here handwork is combined with industrial art adapted to metal work. Boys who entered the trade were, in the early days of the school, found to be in need of both theoretical and practical work, so each has a place in the curriculum. The length of the course is three years, covering the trades of designers, wood carvers, moulders, founders, turners, chasers, engravers, gilders, and etchers. Here are taught drawing in all its branches; modeling in wax and clay; history of art and metal work; elements of chemistry and physics; mathematics; German. Practical work in the department in which the studentis engaged, is given, the student stating on entrance what subject he desires to take up. The time of instruction is from eight to twelve, in the winter season, and from seven to eleven in the summer. The afternoon session is from two to six. In the engineering trade school, three hours per day are devoted to ornamental drawing, German, physics and arithmetic. As the instruction is planned for working people it is largely theoretical.
The Reimscheid school is of the apprenticeship order. Attention is given the making of edge tools and such other implements as are manufactured in the district. All students take drawing and design as applied to iron work. They are made acquainted with the different kinds of iron work that can be carried on in the home; are schooled in the use of the tools made; learn regarding the markets at which they are sold, and the various methods of theirmanufacture. Thus a general understanding of the principles underlying his trade is given the boy and he becomes acquainted with the commercial side of his calling while undergoing the necessary preparation in manipulation. The theoretical work is given in the morning and what shop practice is offered is in the afternoon from two to seven. The tuition is twenty dollars per year.
The Pottery Trade School at Hohr Grenzhausen, Prussia, is under State control. There are day and evening classes, the former attended for the most part by the sons of manufacturers; the evening classes by men and women who are employed otherwise during the day. There are Sunday classes also. Decorated stoneware is given much attention. The day class boys enter with a fairly good knowledge of drawing and have perhaps attended the Fortbildungsschule. Drawing, descriptive geometry,modeling in clay and wax, new forms of vessels and original ornamentation, painting, designing and decorative art, manufacture of earthenware, lectures and study of collections, make up the curriculum. Any original model made becomes the property of the father of the boy, or of the person financially supporting such boy during his attendance at school. Two duplicates of the model must be left at the school. The courses are three years, daily sessions, Saturdays excepted. The fees are nominal, being only five dollars per year for the day classes, thirty hours weekly, and one dollar for evening work, two hours weekly. Pupils living outside the municipality pay six dollars per year for day instruction.
The Furtwangen, or Black Forest schools are made up of several divisions, giving rather a high class of instruction. Clock making, wood carving, and straw plaiting, are largely carried on.
This paper would not be complete without some mention of the system of apprenticeship in vogue in Germany. The Lehrwerkstätten or apprentice shops play a considerable part in the industrial life of the Empire. In some instances they are maintained in connection with the trade schools, or again, are semi-private or separate shops. The apprenticeship shops on the one hand, and the continuation schools upon the other, are doing much of the work formerly undertaken by the trade schools proper. While manufacturing upon a larger scale is recognized as possessing advantages over the smaller productive plants, it has seemed wise to hold to the handicrafts, in a measure at least. The apprentice system helps to preserve the traditions and sentiments of the German people, by handing down these handicrafts. The associations, vereins, and guilds of past time, are to-day, through the aid of legislation,coming to the fore, and bringing with them many boys trained in the shops under the masters. To show the power and scope of the guild, and in some cases it is incumbent upon a community to form a guild whether or no, let me give the following quotation:
“Persons carrying on trades on their own account can form guilds for the advancement of their common trade interests. The object of the guild shall be:
1. the cultivation of an esprit de corps and professional pride among the members of a trade;
2. the maintenance of amicable relations between employers and their employes, and the securing of work for unemployed journeymen and their shelter during the period of their nonemployment;
3. the detailed regulations of the conditions of apprenticeship and the care for the technical and moral education of apprentices;
4. the adjustment of disputes between guild members and their apprentices, as contemplated by the law of July 20, 1890, concerning industrial arbitration.”
The shops offer about the same lines of work as do the private concerns, aiming however to be more systematic and to cover a wider scope. It is asserted by some that the instruction gained in the shop is superficial, and not to be compared with that obtained from the traveling master-workmen. When the shop is connected with some enterprise or manufacturing interest, a master-workman has one apprentice only under his charge, for which he receives from the state some thirty-five dollars yearly, the boy being given board, lodging and proper training. The master must have attained the age of twenty-four years, and must fulfil certain technical qualifications. The instruction is practical in the highest degree and thus follows the lead of the trade schools in letterand spirit. The fees are mainly paid in by guild members, and those not members even, provided such reside in the district and are connected with the trade for which the school stands. Local and state aid is furnished. While the period of apprenticeship may extend over four years, three years is the usual term.
Art Trade Schools
The various types of institutions taken up under this head are of an intermediate grade, standing half way between the trade school on the one hand and the higher technical institutions upon the other. Indeed, they contain many elements in common with the lower group, their scope however being broader and more general or indirect, theoretical work finding a place in their curricula. Owing to a similarity in the instruction given, several classes of schools seem to demand a hearing under this section. We shall begin with the more general trade schools omitted from our previous study.
The schools for the building trades, of which there are a half hundred in the Empire,are very similar in character throughout. The Munich school, established in 1823, was the first of its kind. Their aim, as indicated in the title, is the giving of training in the trades connected with the various building operations. The majority of these schools offer a course two years in length. The age of admission is fourteen to sixteen years. It is a requisite under some boards, that applicants have had practical experience in the line to be followed, at least two half-years and in some cases two full years, before entrance to the school. They must have also a fair general knowledge of their own language, and of reading and writing as well. The candidate must be a graduate of the Volksschule or must subject himself to an examination. The fees in these schools vary from fifty to two hundred marks per year. These are day sessions only. The governing power is in some cases vested in the municipality, frequentlyin the State, and again in private enterprise.
While those who go out from these schools may, some of them at least, follow the trades as regular laborers, others again are qualified as master-workmen and leaders in their craft. Construction in wood, stone, iron and metals; laws of building; modes of heat, light and ventilation; plumbing; interior fittings; these and other occupations are taken up. The sessions of most schools extend over the winter months only, the students being actively engaged in their several trades during the summer season. These schools holding continuous sessions, are sparsely attended during the summer. When theoretical work is given, such subjects are included as bookkeeping, descriptive geometry, physics and mechanics, German, free-hand and mechanical drawing, design, principles of architecture. The practical programme comprehends a study of building materialsand the procuring and working of the same; relative strengths and adaptability to purpose; models of construction; ornamentation; architecture and design; estimates; chemical properties of materials; supports, trusses, arches and the like. In the more advanced institutions, algebra, surveying, mechanics, study of machines and chemistry may be added to the theoretical list given, while the practical studies are more intensive, and of a somewhat higher order. Special departments for engineering, (Tiefbauabteilungen) preparing men to occupy positions as superintendents, managers of public works, construction directors, etc., are sustained in some instances.
Such schools are of an inferior engineering type, and deal with problems of advanced work as related to the construction of roads, water works and railroads; municipal engineering; bridge construction; electro-technics.The theoretical lines are similar to those pursued in other courses.
The schools to which we have just referred illustrate well the statement made in a previous connection, that the grade of instruction rather than the character of the subjects taught, determines the classification of schools into groups. Three classes of trade instruction have just been mentioned, and might well be styled lower, middle and upper schools for trade teaching. Another point of interest lies in the fact, that while we have been speaking of theoretical and practical subjects as forming the curricula of the schools for the building trades, the distinction should rather be drawn on the line of traditional book subjects and applied or laboratory practice. Practical work, per se, is not carried on in the school. Thus we have a close connection between theory and practice; more closely perhaps than is found to exist inother trades.
The following table shows the distribution of building trade schools throughout the Empire, the cities in which such schools are located being given.
The Werkmeisterschulen or schools for foremen, are quite prominent in the scheme of secondary instruction. The courses given in these schools are of a general character, for the most part practical, and the institution, as the name implies, fits men to occupy positions as foremen and overseers. Machine construction is the chief industry for which these schools train. The first school of this character was opened in 1855 at Chemnitz, Saxony. There are at present twenty-one schools of this class in the Empire. Sixteen is the regular age of admission. Candidates must have an elementary education on presenting themselves. Two years is the average length of course, including both winter and summer terms. A requisite for admission also is practical experiencein the trade, hence little other than theoretical instruction is given.
To the objection made by some, to extending the course over two years of residence and of including the elementary branches in the curriculum (such opposition favoring a reduction in time given to preparation) the answer comes that the school should give a well grounded education, such as will fit the participant for all the functions of his social and industrial life. Fifty to sixty marks is charged yearly for tuition fees. Certain of these schools have both evening and Sunday classes, the tuition being twenty marks yearly for week day evenings, eight to nine forty-five, and Sundays, eight to ten in the forenoon.
Table showing location of schools for foremen:
The following data were compiled from tables appearing in the Report of the Commissioner of Labor of the United States, for 1902. The hours per week allowed each subject taught in the schools of machinery construction, at Duisburg and Dortmund, Prussia, are given.
The following table showing the occupations of one time students at three of the Prussian schools was compiled in April, 1898. This table may be found on page 883 of the Seventeenth Annual Report of the Commissioner of Labor of the United States.
One of the most interesting groups of trade schools are those for the promotion of the textile industry in its various aspects, there existing at the present time no less than seventy-nine such institutions. The fourfold classification of these schools which follow, seems to be in accordance with the spirit of the work attempted.
First; the superior weaving school (Höhere Webschulen).
Second; the secondary weaving schools (Webschulen).
Third; the apprentice shops for weaving and knitting (Webereilehrwerkstätten).
Fourth; instruction by traveling or itinerant masters. (Wanderlehrer)
Not only does Germany rank high in the character of her textile schools, but instruction is exceedingly wide spread. Then again all lines of the industry are taken up,from the most elementary to the most technical processes known. It will thus be seen that men are trained for the lower as well as for the higher branches of the art. In the highest classes of institutions weaving is almost exclusively carried on. The general Government assumes the control of these schools notwithstanding that in the beginning, many such institutions were put on foot through the initiative of associations and guilds. In each of the several classes the work is both theoretical and practical. The age of admission is usually fourteen years and the course of two years duration.
The Webschulen train, not for specialists as do the schools just mentioned, but rather aim to turn out foremen and bosses. The apprenticeship shops come more closely in touch with the workmen of small means and those using hand machinery, while the Wanderlehrer schools are moveable. In thelatter instance, the home becomes the school when the teacher is present; that is a competent instructor is employed to travel from place to place, visiting the small factories or home manufacturers, and giving such instruction as he deems wise and necessary. Much good work is still done in the rural homes of Germany, and through the means mentioned the standards are kept up.
The work of these textile schools is largely specialized, depending upon the the location of the school. In some localities wool, in others linen or cotton, or again in others silk will be given the chief attention. Both theory and practice have a place in the school instruction. Work in the various courses includes a study at first hand of the materials used, cost of production, relative values, various processes of manipulation, chemistry, drawing, designing, painting, lectures on fabrics, elementsof weaving and machinery used, and original design and practical work.
The distribution of textile schools is shown in the following table.
The Prussian superior textile schools are located as follows:
The Berlin textile schools may be taken as fairly representing the higher and more completely equipped institutions of this class. The age of admission is sixteen years, a secondary education being necessary to entrance. Several courses are offered as follows:
There are day, evening and Sunday classes. The accompanying table shows the subjects taught in each course and the number of hours given to each subject,reckoned on the basis of the entire length of course.
In many instances the weaving schools have in connection with them departments for dyeing and finishing. In such cases much attention is given to color blendingand harmony and to chemistry as well.
Extended mention will not be made of the Gewerbeschulen, as the point of distinction between such schools and the Fachschulen was set forth under the last section. They partake of the character of trade schools, but are more general in their tendencies. While both theoretical and practical work are given, the former is not always applied theory, the Gewerbeschulen being based upon, what we in America speak of, as the educational side of trade instruction. These schools are attended by boys and men fourteen to twenty-four years of age,—individuals representing the various trades. The courses cover a period of three years. Both State and local moneys go to the support of these schools.
The Gewerbliche Fachschule of Cologne is somewhat distinctive. It instructs chieflythe sons of tradesmen and superior artisans. There are three departments in the school:
First—that of engineering and architectural drawing.
Second—modeling department.
Third—the department of decoration, housepainting, etc.
The session covers both winter and summer months, the winter term, as in other cases, being the better attended. Other typical Gewerbeschulen are located at Grenzhausen and at Reimscheid. Applicants for admission must have prepared in the Volksschule or elementary school. The programme comprises the German language, French, English, literature, plane and descriptive geometry, physics, chemistry, drawing, mechanics, machine construction. The preparation here obtained fits the participants to enter the higher schools, or to act as foremen and masters. These schools also lead up to the industrial schools of Bavaria, of which we shall now speak.
The industrial schools of the Bavarian Kingdom stand out as a distinct class of educational institutions. Here, since 1872, there has been a clean cut system, presided over by a Minister of Education. While the quality and character of the work done are quite similar to that taken up in the secondary schools elsewhere, the institutions are in some respects more exactly defined and supervision and instruction in the schools of weaving, woodcarving, basketmaking, pottery, violin making, etc., is frequently superior to that in some other locality.
The age of admission is sixteen years, two years being the usual length of course; the education of the Real-Schule is a requisite, or failing this, an examination must be taken. In 1901-1902 the Munich schools had an enrollment of 241 students, distributedas follows: mechanical engineering 124; chemical engineering 27; architecture 62; commercial 28. The graduates are fitted to occupy positions of trust and prominence in the various industrial pursuits of the country and to enter the technical colleges.
The Industrieschulen of Bavaria are four in number, located at
they having been established in 1868. Advanced courses are offered in mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, building construction, and commercial education. The school at Würzburg is of a somewhat superior order, although secondary in its tendencies, machinery construction and electro-technics being given attention.
In the mechanical engineering course the following subjects are studied:
In the chemistry course the curriculum is made up of
The building construction course offerslanguage, mechanical drawing and architecture.
Higher Technical SchoolsTechnische Hochschulen
We have at this point in our study reached the schools of highest rank offering training of a technical character, called variously technical high schools, technical colleges, or polytechnics, the Technische Hochschulen. These schools are not high schools in the sense that the term would be applied to our American institutions, but are rather schools of collegiate grade, ranking in fact, as the title indicates in the university class. While not exactly comparable to our engineering schools, they approach more nearly these than they do any other of our American educational institutions.
Before the beginning of the century just closed it was apparent to some German minds more far seeing than the rest, thatschools of a higher than secondary rank must be inaugurated to offer training in the sciences; give opportunity to show the application of science to the arts; and prepare young men to grapple with scientific industrial problems such as were constantly springing up. Should the university attempt such work? An effort was made looking toward this end. It was at once evident that here was not the place to begin. The university was an institution in and of itself. Its methods, curriculum and aim were fixed, owing to long established customs. It had a certain work to perform, its own peculiar function to fulfill, and traditional and classical tendency were too strong to be checked in their movement, or to allow a branch stream to flow in and thus add to or modify the existing content.
The war for industrial supremacy, between England and Germany particularly, was a prominent factor leading up to theestablishment of technical schools in the latter country. Germany saw the necessity for heroic action, and her people, anxious to improve from the standpoint of her industries at home not only, but that they might rival and surpass their neighbors across the “Silver Streak” readily took up the cry for advanced scientific training. This then was the object of the Technische Hochschulen:[2]
“They were intended to secure for science a foothold in the workshop, to assist with the light of reasoned theory the progress of arts and industry, till then fettered by many a prejudice and hindered through lack of knowledge; on the other hand, they sought to raise that part of the nation engaged in industry to such a love of culture as would secure to it its due measure of public respect.”