THE TRADE SCHOOL is an institution that has come into existence almost entirely since the mid dle of the nineteenth century. The industrial conditions produced by an era of quantity of pro duction and division of labor have developed the real problem of the trade school. In the days of the old guilds, when both production and exchange were in the hands of the master workman, the natural provision for trade train ing was found in the apprenticeship system. As soon, however, as the master-workman ceased to be both merchant and craftsman, the apprentice began to lose his natural position in the indus trial order. In most trades the master-work man has developed on one side into the director of an industrial establishment, or has become the foreman of a large number of workmen. From this situation, and from the fact that the special ization of labor in most trades dependent upon machinery renders any comprehensive training in such trades under ordinary conditions imprac ticable. and also because of the restrictive regu lations of trades unions as to apprentices, arises the modem demand for the trade school. Manual dexterity and knowledge of processes are natu rally the primary object in such schools. Ex amples of this kind of school, in spite of a general notion to the contrary, are not numerous even on the Continent of Europe.
In Germany and Austria it is considered un wise to introduce purely technical instruction into the period of the common school, so that all schools for technical training admit only pupils more than fourteen years of age. Beside the Gewerbeschulen, of a secondary grade, are the Fachschnlen, or schools which deal with the train ing for some one special trade. These schools are distributed in industrial centres throughout the two empires according to local needs. In some of these schools the courses range from two to four years, and include instruction in drawing, elementary mathematics, science, and the tech nology of the particular trade. From the nature and range of instruction, many of these would be more properly classified as technical schools, and even in the cases where the object is simply to combine the elements of a general education with the training of a craftsman, the length of time required prevents any large attendance of the artisan class. The actual effect is conse quently to train a few foremen and superior workmen, rather than to feed the ranks of the large army of workers. Tn some of the large cities, notably in Berlin, numerous evening trade classes are maintained, which afford the learner already apprenticed at a trade most practical opportunities to increase his skill, as well as to broaden his knowledge. In Belgium several dis tinctive trade schools exist, among which those at Tournay and Ghent are prominent. To these schools are admitted boys from thirteen to six teen years old, who spend three years in the prac tice of a particular trade, together with study of general branches and drawing. Trade schools for girls have also received much attention in Belgium. Tn certain special trade schools in
Belgium the experiment of paying the pupils for coming to the schools, in order to compensate for the loss of wages, has been made.
But it is in France that the question of train ing for the trades has received the greatest of ficial attention and that the organization of schools for such training has reached the highest point. By the law of 1880. provision was made for the establishment of Ccoles manuelles d'ap prentissage as a distinct class of the ecoles+ pri nmires superieures. These schools were intended either to prepare for or to shorten the period of apprenticeship, and were placed under the joint control of the Ministry of Public Instruction and the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. In them workshop training plays a prominent part. but a liberal amount of general instruction is also given during the three years' course. Pupils are ad mitted when twelve or thirteen years old. By an administrative blunder, the feature of the law of 18S0 creating such schools remained inoper ative until 1888, except in Paris. where the mu nicipality early equipped and developed three successful trade schools, one for wood and metal working, one for furniture-making, and one for the book industries. After 1888 apprenticeship schools began to appear in the provinces, hut in asmuch as no common progrftnnue has been de fined, the amount of practical instruction varied considerably, and in many cases was far too small to serve as a substitute for apprenticeship. In 1892 the failure of these provincial schools to fulfill their intended function led to a new law, which provided that all the eeoles primaircs pro fessionelles, in which practical work formed an important part, should be made into a new class of schools called ecolcs pratiques de commerce ou d'industrie, to be placed under the sole control of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. The organization of such schools, in which the amount of practical instruction is increased to thirty or thirty-three hours a week, represents a delib erate attempt to establish a comprehensive sys tem of primary trade schools under State control. In Switzerland the State and municipalities support numerous trade schools, mainly for watchmaking,in which the training. both practical and theoretical, is of a very thorough character. Another feature connected with trade training in Switzerland, and one that has to some ex tent been copied in Germany, is a system of apprentice examinations supervised and sup ported by the State. These examinations in many cantons are made obligatory upon every appren tice, and consist of an examination held at the end of the term of apprenticeship upon the prac tice and theory of his trade. The trade school can hardly be said to have gained a foothold in Great Britain, where the sentiment almost universally prevails that the shop is the only proper place for learning a trade.