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of course, be able to do the work, and there must be a chance of continued employment. But, at least, the job is selected for the child, not the child for the job, which makes all the difference.

This requires, as a preliminary step, investigation of a very high order; quick, skillful selection of possible trades-the selection based on a real intelligence of the children's possibilities and needs; then, equally rapid, accurate, and intelligent investigation of the selected trades. For these investigations qualifications of a high order are necessary. Their high-water level is perhaps reached in the studies made by Miss Collet and Mr. Aves, of the British board of trade, for the London juvenile labor exchanges-not dull and wasteful repetition and enumeration, but close, intelligent observation, applied to an adequate number of establishments to answer the two questions: (1) Can the trade be included in the list? (2) Can the establishment be used as a place of employment for these children?

Needless to say, the most skilled investigator who is only an investigator is not only useless but probably misleading in these preliminary inquiries. The work is not pedagogical in any respect. It is a high grade of personal service rendered in what one might call a program of social treatment. It means obtaining the information about the trade; it means learning what the child wants; it means finding out what the parents' aspirations and plans are, and cooperating with them where possible, and explaining, where cooperation is impossible, why it is impossible; it means learning as well as may be whether the employment is “necessary " in any true sense. For example, a very considerable proportion of the children who have come to us-225 out of the 2,186 last year, of whom only 850 came directly from the school-have been returned to school, either to the one which had been left or to one which would serve the child's needs better. It means often, when the child's chances for better employment depend on instruction as to personal habits-cleanliness of hair in the case of girls, for example-giving the instruction which interprets those habits in terms that the child and the parents can understand. It means, if the child's physical condition is below normal, securing a week in the country, or the minor operation which is necessary. It means innumerable personal services which make it possible for the child to avail himself or herself of opportunities closed by barriers as slight as those I have mentioned.

Furthermore, it means following the child into his work and holding him to it. For these children are children; and if a Polish boy will not work next a Bohemian boy without fighting, the foreman may be willing to place them far apart from each other for a while at any rate, until they can be reasoned with. If they are placed in shops that seem good and the foremen mean to do right, the weight of the loads they carry may be lightened, the speed at which the work

is done may be lessened, and the condition of all the children may be improved because you were there to interpret the needs of some. Foremen are human. Many things that are wrong are wrong because attention has not been called to them; and things look very different to one's own eyes when one knows that an outsider is looking at them, 100. And this experience is good for the foreman.

So much for the value of the work from the point of view of the children. In my judgment this is only one side of its importance. It serves, by way of personal service, this limited group of children. From the point of view of learning what should be done by the school in the way of preparing all children who are going into industry it is invaluable. It is, in my judgment, not only a valuable method of investigation-it is the only sound guide to modifications of the school curriculum in that direction. There may be all the surveys in the world; you may ask employers what they want until the end of time; you may look at processes and repeat them in school shops; but you can not learn what demands are really made by industry on young persons unless you go with them through their experience in industry. On that account, the proposal that Chicago, a community where the organization of industry after the principles of the factory system, including the use of machinery and the subdivision of tasks, has been carried to an extreme, should adopt methods successful in Germany, where that development has been at a very different rate and in different directions-such a proposal seems to one who looks at the situation from a real knowledge of these children's experiences and prospects as nothing short of absurd. The school can learn in this way without abusing its trust what it can do to fit children for the industrial life into which they go, and at what point it must stand absolutely firm and say to industry it will do nothing to fit its children for conditions so far from humanwork “which a monkey could do, if it could be kept at it." It can learn by this placement and follow-up work, and only, in my judgment, by this work, skillfully done, honestly recorded, and courageously interpreted, what it needs for its own constructive advance and on what terms it will demand and then force concessions and modifications on the part of industry.

On such a basis, wise and well thought-out plans for changes in the curriculum can be made. The intelligence thus secured, the clarity of vision, adds enormously to the skill with which the more fortunate children who can "go through" eighth grade or even the high school will be handled. We have taken over many things learned from the care of delinquent children into the care of good children; many experiments with the subnormal point the way to more efficient service of the normal; and when I have been exasperated at much of the nonsense written about "counseling" eighth-grade and

high-school children, I have admonished myself to be patient and to remember that not very much could be expected even of principals in a community which had never had the chance really to look at the problem through the eyes of the children and young people it is honestly trying to serve.

D.-DEVELOPING PLACEMENT AND FOLLOW-UP WORK.

CHARLES MARTIN,

Director of Industrial Arts, Jewish Orphan Asylum, Cleveland, Ohio.

Some of the problems confronting proper placement and follow-up work are that (1) children drift aimlessly about from one position to another; (2) children are almost wholly lacking in any intelligent knowledge of the industries in the community; (3) child labor between the ages of 14 and 16 has practically no economic value to society.

The habit of aimless drifting from one position to another is especially true of those children who leave school before they complete the elementary grades. They lack intelligent supervision, and are often tempted by ease, fairly good wages, and a sense of independence to crowd those occupations which require no skill and promise no future. Their moral and intellectual powers are weakened. Their school knowledge is soon dissipated, and they become unfit either for employment or for further education. Their parents are without adequate knowledge to guide and advise them. Too often they feel concerned mainly in having the children "earn something" at the earliest possible moment. The immediate wage is considered rather than the development of the child's best gifts.

The years between the ages of 14 and 16 are not productive to the industrial world, because the boy or girl is immature physically, mentally, and morally. Grit, mental energy, endurance, and power of concentration are not yet trained and developed. In order that the public-school system may develop placement and follow-up work, it is essential that the pupil be properly developed physically, mentally, and morally to enter the world of labor. It is necessary that the pupils have careful supervision, and training between the ages of 14 and 18-these years that are so vital for the formation of character and for the production of skilled and efficient workmen. Children should be guarded against exploitation. They should have healthy surroundings, just treatment, legal working hours, and an opportunity to advance in an employment that is congenial and that will provide a living wage without overwork. This guidance and protection should continue until they are established as self-dependent earners in the world of labor.

Many opportunities are open to the public-school system to assist in the solution of the problems incident to proper placement and follow-up work. Teachers have the opportunity for careful study of the personal characteristics of each pupil. A permanent record of these characteristics can be used as a basis for the placement and follow-up work. The school studies and shopwork are vitalized by direct contact with the occupations of the community, thus aiding the pupil to realize the value of the school studies and their close relationship to the world of labor.

Some of the necessary requirements for the development of intelligent placement and follow-up work in the public-school system are (1) Securing a permanent record of the child's personal characteristics and special aptitudes; (2) educational guidance during the school life of the pupils in order that they may be given the proper opportunity to develop physically, mentally, and morally; (3) offering the pupils opportunities for continued education after they have entered the world of labor; (4) imparting to the pupils a knowledge of the world of labor, especially a knowledge of the principal occupations of the community; (5) securing the confidence and cooperation of the public; (6) the establishment of a juvenile employment bureau under the direct control of the school board and working in cooperation with the industries.

Estimates of the pupils' personal characteristics and aptitudes should be based on careful study and should cover a long period of time. They should represent the combined judgment of the school medical officer, and of the teachers who come in contact with the pupil. The school medical officer should enter on the pupil's card the general nature of the employment suited to the pupil, with special remarks as to unsuitable occupations. These records, containing the decisions of the medical officer and the teachers, would place the pupil in one of the broad classes of occupations and thus assist in the choice of a vocation or employment. This record-card system would lessen the habit of aimless drifting and would decrease the number of misfits in the world of labor.

Efficiency and success in one's work are largely dependent upon knowing one's ability and adapting oneself to environment. An opportunity should be given to the pupils to discover their dormant powers before they are compelled to leave the shelter of the schoolroom and take their place among the world's army of workers. A system of differentiated courses in a commercial or industrial school for seventh and eighth grade boys would aid the pupils in discovering their mechanical, commercial, and artistic tendencies. At least half the school time should be devoted to laboratory and shop work. With the discovery of the pupils' tendencies would come a definite 46693°-14-5

aim in life. The primary importance of such a commercial industrial school is that it would give the pupils the opportunity to try themselves out in different kinds of work. Such a school would aid the pupils who are compelled to leave school at the age limit, and also aid those pupils who are trying to decide whether they will enter the academic, commercial, or technical high school.

The influence of the public-school system should go with the pupil into the world of labor. The pupil should be impressed with the fact that his education does not end with his school days. He should be taught the value of using leisure time for studying as an asset for future advancement. He should be informed by lectures and educational charts as to the opportunities that the community offers for continued education. Stereopticon lectures and a course in economic history and geography dealing mainly with the occupations and their requirements are helpful.

Parents, as a rule, are willing to cooperate if they are convinced that further schooling is worth the sacrifice that they are required to make. They should be advised as to the occupations for which their sons and daughters are best fitted when they leave the school and as to the chances of earning good wages. Employers of labor should be educated as to the aim and efforts of the publicschool system's placement and follow-up work. By reporting vacancies, stating the requirements, rate of wages, and future prospects, by suggesting ways of closely relating the industries and school studies, they can give valuable aid. As a rule, the employers of labor are willing to cooperate with the public-school system. The cooperation of churches, social settlements, boys' and girls' clubs, Young Men's Christian Associations, and Young Women's Christian Associations are also valuable.

The juvenile employment bureau should be under the direct control of the school board, with offices in the board of education building. The details of its organization would depend upon the local conditions. Its duties are to advise and to follow up the young persons in their occupations; to keep the educational system in close touch with the local industries; to collect and promulgate general information in regard to industrial conditions. The director at the head of the employment bureau should be appointed by the school board. The advisory committee should be composed of representatives of educators, representatives of public bodies, of trade associations, and of employers of labor. There should be counselors representing the various schools. If teachers are used as counselors, they should be properly trained, and they should have time for the work. Volunteer men and women workers, representing the different industries of the community, are needed to follow the young persons into the industries and to give them advice and supervision,

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