632 



NATURE 



[February 4, 191 5 



schools and voluntary schemes of co-operation be- 

 tween employers and educational authorities do not 

 really touch the huge problem. The only effective 

 way to train the rising generation of skilled 

 workmen after leaving the elementary schools is 

 to have half-time in the workshop and half-time at 

 the technical school between the ages of fourteen and 

 eighteen. In the words of our friend, Mr. J. K. 

 Reynolds, the solution of the problem is " Half-time at 

 the right time." Good health and physique are as 

 necessary to the skilled workman as is the technical 

 knowledge applicable to his trade, and the youth 

 should have the opportunity of obtaining this technical 

 knowledge without detriment to his health. In other 

 words, he should be allowed to attend suitable courses 

 of instruction for periods of suitable length within the 

 normal working day. 



Half-time in the workshop and half-time at the 

 technical school is certainly ideal, but possibly at pre- 

 sent it is not practicable. At least some modification 

 of this arrangement must be adopted to enable young 

 workers to attend day courses on three or four half- 

 days a week, and thus get the necessary continued 

 education during the daytime. Only a small propor- 

 tion of the young workers of the country attend 

 evening schools in spite of all the inducements offered 

 and all the encouragement given, and no one would 

 assert that they derive the greatest benefit from their 

 attendance. The result would be infinitely better if 

 the youth spent sixteen to twenty hours a week during 

 the daytime at the technical school and the remainder 

 of his time at the works. 



If England is to maintain her place in the world as 

 an industrial and commercial nation, she will have 

 to adopt this method of teaching trades to her boys. 

 Other nations are doing a great deal in this direction. 

 We must do more than they because we have more at 

 stake, and we must act promptly and boldly. Legis- 

 lation is necessary ; it must be made the duty of the 

 employer to allow to the employee the time required 

 for continuing his education according to the require- 

 ments of the trade or business which the boy enters. 

 The need for a further limitation of juvenile labour is 

 urgent, and it is equally necessary to place employers 

 of labour under statutory obligation to enable young 

 persons under eighteen years of age who are in their 

 employment to attend courses of technical and general 

 instruction at certain hours of the daytime when they 

 are not too tired bodily and mentally to profit from 

 the instruction. An Act of Parliament limiting the 

 hours of employment for all young persons under 

 eighteen and placing that limit so low that there 

 shall be ample time during the norrnal working day 

 for attendance of the voung people at suitable courses 

 of instruction is required. 



The Leaders of Industry. 



An army requires^ capable leaders, and there must 

 be in connection with the training of an industrial 

 army opportunities for the selected few to become 

 successful leaders of industry. For these no education 

 can be considered too good. A thorough training in 

 the secondary schools and the universities, combined 

 with adequate experience in a workshop or factory, is 

 necessary. Science now plays so important a part in 

 industry that more vigorous efforts than hitherto must 

 be made to secure the highest and most suitable educa- 

 tion and training for capable youths, and the future 

 leaders of industry in England must be induced to 

 equip themselves for competition on equal terms with 

 the more highly trained young men of other 

 nationalities. 



The value of a thorough general education in the 

 secondary school and university cannot be overstated, 



NO. 2362, VOL. 94") 



and full technical knowledge of the particular industry 

 is equally necessary. The training of the young men 

 must be practical as well as theoretical; actual experi- 

 ence in the workshop or factory is as important as 

 the scientific training at the technical college or univer- 

 sity, and service in a recognised office, workshop, or 

 factory must be compulsory for a period either before 

 or after the college course, or during the continuance 

 of the college course. The period of training for the 

 men who are to fill the higher posts in industry should 

 be at least for a period of six or eight years, in order 

 that the student may have time to develop his powers 

 of thought and to obtain a complete knowledge of 

 the theory and principles underlying the industry, 

 together with a first-hand knowledge of the processes 

 of the industry obtained by actual contact with it in 

 the workshop or factory. 



Some of the highest posts in industry will be filled 

 by men who, in the first instance, enter the works 

 as youths, and who on account of their unusual 

 capacity force their way through the various grades 

 to fill positions of responsibility. It is of the greatest 

 importance that opportunity should be provided for 

 youths of proved ability to secure the education and 

 training required of those who fill the highest posi- 

 tions in industry if for financial reasons their parents 

 are unable to provide that training. In this connec- 

 tion a duty falls upon the local education authority 

 to make special provision for the benefit of such 

 youths. Scholarships must be provided to enable 

 young workers of proved ability to attend day courses 

 at the technical college or university for three or four 

 years in order that they may obtain a professional 

 training that will prepare them to fill posts of greater 

 responsibility in the future. 



In the past, England has had too few specially 

 trained leaders of industry. To organise industry, 

 men, shrewd, enterprising, and with full knowledge 

 regarding the application of scientific methods in the 

 development of industry are required. For these men 

 there must be a most comprehensive and thorough 

 education and training on the solid foundation of a 

 good general education. They must have a sound 

 knowledge of the mutual relation of science and in- 

 dustry and an intimate knowledge of their particular 

 industry in order that all problems may be attacked 

 systematically and on a scientific basis. Men of prac- 

 tical capacity and trained thinkers, endowed with the 

 power of applying their knowledge to the practical 

 necessities of industrial processes are essential in the 

 industrial army, and the absence of a comprehensive 

 scheme for the training of such men must prejudice 

 the future of our country. 



Commercial Army Necessary. 



It is not sufficient to have a w'ell-equipped industrial 

 army ; there must be markets for the products of 

 industry. The goods produced must be sold, and we 

 must have, therefore, a commercial army as well 

 trained and equipped for the work of distribution as 

 the industrial army is for the work of production. 



It has often been stated that England is deficient 

 in what is usually called technical education, but we 

 must frankly acknowledge that she is infinitely worse 

 off in regard to commercial education in spite of the 

 development of this type of education during recent 

 years. 



The United Kingdom still ranks first among the 

 commercial countries of the world, with its enormous 

 annual imports and exports. Its immense home trade, 

 and its great shipping trade. We not only carry the 

 whole of our own commodities, but we do an enor- 

 mous amount of carrying for other countries. In view 

 of these facts it is strange that commercial education 



