CHAPTER VIII

Trade-preparatory and trade-extension training for boys and men at work

Several forms of trade-preparatory and trade-extension training for apprentices and journeymen workmen are carried on in the city.  Probably the most effective work done in the teaching of boys after they have entered employment is found in manufacturing establishments which maintain apprentice schools in connection with their shops.  There are two excellent examples of this type of instruction in Cleveland—­the apprentice schools conducted by the New York Central Railroad and by the Warner and Swasey Company, manufacturers of astronomical instruments and machine tools.

The Warner and Swasey Company school was established in 1911.  The course covers a total of 560 hours, extending over a period of four years.  The apprentices attend the school four hours a week for 35 weeks each year.  The time allotment for the various subjects included in the course is shown in Table 11.

In 1915 there were 65 apprentices enrolled in the school, most of them from the machinist’s trade.  The sessions are held during working hours in a room in the factory fitted up with drawing tables and blackboards.  No shop equipment is used.  The purpose of the course is to develop a body of trained workmen competent to take positions in the factory as foremen or heads of departments.  Less than one-tenth of the total time of the course is devoted to the study of shop practice.  Standard textbooks are used in the teaching of mathematics.

TABLE 11.—­TIME ALLOTMENT IN THE APPRENTICE COURSE GIVEN BY THE WARNER AND SWASEY COMPANY, CLEVELAND

Subject                                                  Hours
Arithmetic                                                   35
English                                                      65
Mechanical drawing                                           70
Shop practice                                                40
Algebra                                                      70
Geometry                                                     40
Trigonometry                                                 30
Physics                                                      70
Materials                                                    35
Industrial history                                           35
Mechanics, strength of materials, and mechanical design      70
—–­
Total                                                   560

The enrollment in the school conducted by the New York Central Railroad is about 140 boys, nearly all of whom are machinists’ apprentices.  They are divided into three classes, the members of each class attending the school four hours a week.  About two-thirds of the time is devoted to mechanical