Manhattan Trade School for Girls, New York; New York (N.Y.); School management and organization
The problem is to find a way to unite the good teacher and the
successful worker. Such a combination appears at rare intervals. At the
present time the teacher who can adequately prepare young workers for
trade has to be taught while she is herself teaching. She may be chosen
from either the industrial or the educational field, if she has certain
qualities of mind and spirit, but she must now make up the points she
lacks, be it experience in trade or ability to teach. Supervisors need
special insight and capability, as they are called upon to investigate a
new and difficult field, to select from it the subjects needed, and
after that to organize education of a most practical kind. They combine
the duties of school principal, teacher, forewoman, factory
superintendent, and business manager. They must be willing to give
themselves to the cause, as they are responsible for the conduct of
their departments throughout the year, at night as well as during the
day, at least until they can train some one to whom they can delegate
some of their responsibility. They need a broad, cultural education and,
at the same time, interest and knowledge of the industrial problems of
the time, as well as experience in their particular trade. They must
have sympathy with the working people and their lives. It is evident
that such women are hard to find, and when found or when trained are in
demand by other institutions or in business life, in which places they
can command high salaries. All efficient trade teachers also are equally
in demand in workrooms, hence the school must compete with good business
salaries in place of the usual underpay of educational institutions.
In addition to the trade teachers, practical instructors in healthful
living and special secretaries needing social knowledge of various kinds
are also essential in the modern trade school for girls. Their training
adds to the director's responsibilities, for no one at present has the
knowledge and experience necessary.
The many problems connected with obtaining an adequate teaching staff
seem at present to have but one solution, _i. e._, the school has to be
its own training school for its faculty to a greater or less extent. One
source of assistant teachers has been found in students who have made
good in trade. Pupils of fair education who show skill and executive
ability in their department work and who later succeed in their trade
positions have already proved helpful when brought back to the school.
Such girls know the courses of instruction, their needs and
difficulties, and also the outside workroom demands. If they are given
some hints in methods of teaching, their success is greater. European
trade schools for girls have drawn many of the best teachers from the
student body and have organized teachers' training classes for them. A
course of regular training for trade pupil teachers should be given
later in American training schools to meet this situation.
Courses of Study
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