EVENING SCHOOLS AND SCHOLARSHIPS. 341 



man power into two groups, namely, one group which does all of the actual work with little, 

 if any, hope of promotion to an executive position, and another group consisting of the 

 graduates of teclinical schools to whom the first group impart a smattering of practical 

 knowledge in order that the second group may then do all the superintending and execu- 

 tive work. 



As I see Mr. Bailey's plan, it would eventually render any company following it able to 

 man its executive staff with trained men and educated from the start to finish in and by the 

 company. It might be argued that some of the men would leave the company and carry their 

 knowledge to a competitive company. I do not consider this important as compared with the 

 advantage of having executives who have a thorough comprehension of and sympathy with 

 the duties and life of the workmen in the shop and yards. 



I know of a recent instance where a man who served an apprenticeship in a plant and 

 went elsewhere, was brought back to it in an executive capacity and accomplished a decided 

 improvement in production over the best efforts of many highly trained and specially edu- 

 cated executives. Undoubtedly the results accomplished can be attributed primarily to the 

 bond between the workmen and the executive because he had been and was still one of them. 

 At the time this man served his apprenticeship no collateral educational advantages were 

 oft'ered by his company, and he had to acquire them in his own time and independently. 



The average success in after life of the graduates of technical schools would be very 

 much increased if a larger percentage of them were recruited from such apprenticeship 

 courses as outlined by Mr. Bailey. 



The only suggestion that I have to offer is that all concerned in putting such a plan 

 into effect must guard against losing sight of the fact that its fundamental purpose is to 

 make competent workmen, and that the educational features are in the nature of a reward 

 for effort on the part of the apprentice beyond that merely necessary to secure his jour- 

 neyman's certificate. Where such a system is in vogue, little, if any, preference should be 

 shown to technical graduates. If the education acquired by the latter before entering 

 practical work is of any merit to them or their employer, that merit should be demon- 

 strated and not conceded. 



Professor Lawrence B. Chapman, Member: — I am greatly delighted to hear this 

 paper by Mr. Bailey this afternoon, and as a college professor I can assure you all that the 

 universities will be very glad, indeed, to cooperate to the fullest extent in such a plan as he 

 proposes. 



Most of our students in college come to us without a clear vision of the field they pur- 

 pose to enter, and many of them depend upon the advice of students or others in choosing 

 their course at college. They generally are certain that they wish to study engineering, but 

 their mind is not made up whether they should take the course in civil, mechanical, electri- 

 cal engineering or naval architecture, etc. If we could have a class of men coming from the 

 shipyards who have had practical experience and a clear idea of what kind of work they would 

 be called upon to do, we could turn out a much better type of graduate. 



Careful attention should be given to the man's high school training and preparation, 

 however, so that he will have the proper preparation to enter college. 



I want to endorse the idea of practical training paralleling the theoretical training. The 

 course in naval architecture that we have recently started at Lehigh University has for one 

 of the requirements for the degree that the men must spend eight weeks in a shipyard on 



