wage earners. Every city in the country, at least of any size, needs to some extent at least just the kind of investigation that Worcester made before entering actively upon the task of establishing vocational schools of any kind. In addition the report is valuable and timely in pointing out (1) the relationship of the public schools to the problem of industrial efficiency; (2) the responsibility which the regular schools must assume for the vocational welfare of the retarded child who leaves the schools at or about the age of 14, below grade, undirected, and unprepared for life work; (3) the different questions, topics, or problems connected with the employment of girls, particularly those who are engaged temporarily in low grade, skilled, and unskilled industries which need to be investigated; (4) the method which should be employed in order to secure facts through the public school system, through the officer who issues working certificates, and through the factories in which the girls are employed; (5) the way in which an investigator familiar with the problems of industrial education draws conclusions from the data which have been gathered and shapes them into recommendations as to the kind of school and the course of study which the situation requires. Like all studies which have to do with young wage earners, this report adds, and adds in an effective way, to the information which has been so rapidly accumulated within the past two or three years concerning (1) the great army of young girls who go out to employment as soon as they have passed beyond the reach of the compulsory law; (2) the number of girls and women who are employed in undesirable industries; (3) the lack of opportunity for advancement and better wage earning which confronts the average female wage worker; (4) the low intellectual status and ideals of the typical factory girl; (5) the kinds of industries which retarded and backward girl pupils enter; (6) the instability of female as well as male workers in many industries; (7) the fluctuating character of their employment, and (8) the low wage which most of them are able to earn. Worcester is a typical manufacturing city. If there is any difference, its conditions are better than those usually encountered in the industrial centers of this country. The situation which this report uncovers there may be regarded as being on the whole no worse, certainly, than that to be found anywhere in industrial America. One of the most helpful things which this report does is to call attention to the fact that the character of the trade school established for girls in any city must be entirely dependent upon the conditions which it must face. There has been danger that, carried away by the splendid success of the Manhattan Trade School for Girls in New York and the Boston Trade School for Girls, places of less size and with far different problems might blindly duplicate the organization and the courses of study of these two institutions. The proximity of the three cities, particularly Cambridge and Somerville, to the city of Boston, and the intimate knowledge which Dr. Kingsbury and her associates had of the shops and factories in Boston and of the history and service of the Boston Trade School for Girls, made it possible for them constantly to point out the differences between Boston and the three cities which were investigated, and the differences between what Boston must do through its trade school for girls and what should be done by Worcester, or Cambridge, or Somerville. We need more reports like this, but to be effective they must be made by those who have had some contact with vocations and with vocational education. The demand for this kind of work is growing. Unhappily, there are few indeed who can combine with the investigator's skill the knowledge of what to investigate, how to investigate it, and how to interpret the facts gathered. The rapid development of vocational education and vocational guidance is opening a new field of social research. The harvest is ripe, but the laborers few. C. A. PROSSER, Secretary National Society for the A TRADE SCHOOL FOR GIRLS: A PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION IN A TYPICAL MANUFACTURING CITY, WORCESTER, MASS. PREFATORY NOTE. The movement for trade training for girls has been growing rapidly in Massachusetts since the first commission on industrial and technical education made its report to the legislature in 1906. In the fall of 1911 three cities-Worcester, Cambridge, and Somerville-were seeking State aid in the establishment of a public trade school for girls.1 The board of trustees of the independent industrial schools in Worcester and the superintendents of schools in Cambridge and Somerville headed the movement in their respective cities. The State board of education, as well as the local boards, realized the necessity of knowing local conditions and needs in each individual city before definite action is taken in establishing such a school. They faced three main questions when contemplating the establishment of a trade school: First, what is the need of a trade school for girls? Second, what kind of a trade school should be established? Third, what would be the probable number and the personnel of the prospective students of such a school? The answer to the first question necessitated a study of what girls are doing after they leave school, and the corresponding home conditions. The second question could be answered only after discovering where and what were the demands. for young girl workers. The third question required a knowledge of social conditions of the home, ambitions of the parents, and educational advancement of the children. The State board of education, therefore, called in the aid of a department of research for information along these lines. It was arranged that one investigator should spend the month of November in each of the three cities, believing that enough information could be secured within one month to meet the immediate problems which confronted the school authorities. Delays in securing the cooperation of the various assisting agencies, and the large field to be covered extended the study to 5 weeks in Somerville, 6 weeks in Cambridge, and 9 weeks in Worcester. 1 An act to establish the commission on industrial education, 1906, ch. 505, provides for State aid in the establishment of local public trade schools under certain required conditions of cooperation. 82453°-13-2 9 The field work of the investigator had two phases-visits to industrial establishments and visits to the homes of 14 to 16 year old girls who had left school to go to work in the past year. The short time allotted to the investigation necessitated the employment of shortcut methods, which might not be advisable in a more extensive study, but which proved sufficient to supply the needed information for the problems at hand. The knowledge of industrial conditions was obtained by visits to a representative number of typical establishments in the various industries of each city. The knowledge of social and economic conditions necessary to explain the large annual exodus of girls from the schools was obtained by the study of home and school conditions of one year's outgoing group, or only a part of the group in the larger city of Worcester. Moreover, the limited. time did not permit interviews with the girl herself. The home was visited, but the desired information was secured from the parent. The first step in the study of industrial conditions was to secure a knowledge of the women-employing industries and to choose representative establishments. This task was greatly simplified by the courtesy of Chief Whitney, of the district police, who granted access to the reports of the factory inspectors. Through these records it was possible to gain some conception of the size and importance of various establishments and to make corresponding selections. With such a basis, the type study may be said to represent conditions fairly. The initial stages of the investigation of 14 to 16 year old girls leaving school were worked out in the public schools. Several hundred individual schedules drawn up by the deputy commissioner of education were sent to the schools to be filled out by the teachers from the school records, in accordance with directions issued by the deputy commissioner. The investigator completed the schedule by visits to the homes. The reports of the investigation in the three cities reveal certain points of similarity and certain points of dissimilarity. The points. of similarity seem to prove that certain uniform conditions exist, and may, therefore, be accepted as typical of the educational and industrial situation throughout the State, especially as they are distinctly confirmatory of the conclusions reached by the commission on industrial and technical training in 1906. The points of dissimilarity prove the imperative need and value of local studies wherever trade training is contemplated. The fundamental facts which the similarity of conditions proves may be stated as follows: The large factories or mills are receiving the great majority of 14 to 16 year old girls who are leaving school to go to work in our State. |