CHAPTER XXV. INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION IN GERMANY, AUSTRIA, AND SWITZERLAND. CONTENTS.-Industrial education in Germany; Continuation or supplementary schools in Berlin; Practical training of apprentices in German-speaking countries. INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION IN GERMANY. When, in 1806, Napoleon defeated the army of Prussia, the Prussian Government, prompted by Queen Louise, resolved to regain its power and influence by quickening the intelligence of the people and awakening political consciousness and patriotic feeling by means of renewed efforts in systematic public education. The result was magical, and the effect is visible to-day in the record of achievements, beginning with the battle on the Katzbach and ending at Waterloo, and latterly at Sedan. Field Marshal Moltke justly said, "The schoolmaster has won our battles." When, in 1876, at the World's Fair in Philadelphia, Germany found herself beaten by other nations in the field of art and industry, the courageous German commissioner, Professor Reuleaux, cabled to Prince Bismarck: "Our goods are cheap. but wretched." This determined the governments of the twenty-six German states to try the Prussian manner of regaining lost ground by means of education of the people. The means of this were available owing to the enormous war indemnity paid by France. The result of this educational campaign in less than twenty years far surpassed the most extravagant expectations. The World's Fair in Chicago proved conclusively that Germany occupies a place in the front rank of industrial nations, and such books as "Made in Germany" show that that country is successfully competing with France and England in the world's markets. A few striking facts gleaned from the statistics in "Made in Germany" may prove the rapid growth of Germany's commerce. The intervals of time stated are not always the same in the following table: The steam tonnage of the German merchant marine has increased as follows: The effective tonnage (including sailing vessels) amounted to 4,214,385 tons in 1893 and 4,573,526 tons in 1894. This shows an increase of 8 to 9 per cent, while the increase of English tonnage during the same year was 3 per cent. Says Mr. S. N. D. North, the secretary of the National Association of Wool Manufacturers, in an article in the Forum: "The record of German progress is most significant. Applying the test usually applied, we find that German commerce has increased from $180,000,000 in 1850 to $815,000,000 in 1889, the percentage of increase being 350 as compared with 150 per cent of increase in British commerce. Admitting that these percentages are not a fair test, it must nevertheless be agreed that German progress has been much the faster of the two, and very much faster when we consider the relative disadvantages under which Germany started in the race. In twenty years Germany had doubled her exports and lifted herself to a point of vantage equal to that at which England started in 1846. In twenty years more she has attained an industrial development on a par with that of England in practically every line of manufacturing, in many lines surpassing it. German ambition sets no limit on the progress of the future, for it looks upon the development of the half century as merely preliminary and preparatory.” These facts are indications of the enormous industrial activity going on in Germany, an activity which has been developed chiefly since the Franco-German war. At first the various governments of Germany proceeded by setting afoot a number of inquiries into the causes of the evident inferiority, and found (1) that the requisite technical knowledge was wanting among the laborers, a knowledge which could be acquired only in suitable schools; (2) that every industry, if successful in the world's markets, relies upon the technical knowledge and ability accumulated in a community by years of skilled labor, not to say transmitted from father to son; hence that special excellence in any branch of industry is a result of both technical schooling and acquired skill. Instances are the cutlery industry at Solingen, the silk industry at Crefeld, the toy industry in Thuringia and Saxony, and the furniture industry at Berlin. The commissioners, examining into the causes of the German industrial decadence, agreed that the excellent results of the French textile industries and the great value of the product of French art industry were owing not only to great innate talents of French laborers, but also to their thorough and very appropriate schooling in designing and manual labor. This special education "for the pur pose" has been going on in France from the time of Colbert, the minister of finance during the reign of Louis XIV. Indisputable evidences of this were furnished by the various world's expositions, which opened the eyes of intelligent Germans to the inadequacy of the institutions for industrial education prior to 1876. It may be said that German industry thereupon took an upward start most gratifying in its results, since it was consistently planned and aided by the establishment of a large number of institutions for technical and industrial pursuits. These institutions are of a threefold kind: (1) elementary industrial schools, which prepare the broad mass of laboring people; (2) secondary industrial schools, which prepare the foremen and designers, and (3) higher institutions, like polytechnical and art schools, which prepare engineers and industrial leaders. Of course there were already in existence some schools of each kind previous to 1876; but the State governments now began to foster industrial education by subsidizing schools established for that purpose. The communities usually furnished buildings and adequate equipment, and paid for light and fuel, and the State would then defray a large part, and in many cases all, of the expenses needed for salaries of teachers. It was deemed unwise to introduce purely technical (industrial or agricultural) work into the common school, but efforts were made to draw into the sphere of influence of a systematic industrial training boys and girls who had passed through the common school; hence, all schools for special training admit only students over 14 years of age. An imperial law (that is, a law which is effective in all the 26 States of the Empire) prohibits the employment of children under 16 years in factories and workshops; hence arose the establishment of numerous "continuation or supplementary schools," designed to prevent the results of elementary school education from being lost, and to add industrial features which would be serviceable to the students in the choice of occupations or professions. These elementary schools are mostly evening or secular Sunday schools; in some instances they have developed into day schools. Many of these special schools, being situated in rural communities, are agricultural schools. Many communities have found it to be to their interest to make attendance at these schools compulsory for boys and girls between the ages of 14 and 16, and certain States make this possible by law. Thus the German child of the humbler strata of society is prevented from forgetting his early education before he takes up his life's work, and is systematically trained to work in directions that will lead to his ultimate selfsupport. In order not to injure the system by uniformity, the State leaves it to the com munity to determine what industrial features shall be taught, being fully aware of the fact that each industrial center has local needs not duplicated by any other. For the same reason this system of industrial schools is not under the jurisdiction of the minister of public education, but under that of the minister of commerce and industry. The agricultural supplementary schools are under the control of the minister of agriculture. This may in some instances lead to duplication of efforts, but the economic administration of the States in the German Empire prevents confusion in this direction by giving the supervision of such schools into the hands of master workmen of acknowledged skill, unblemished character, and local prominence. This much is submitted concerning the elementary part of the German industrial system of education. The State authorities were not satisfied with providing for elementary work; they also encouraged the communities to establish secondary industrial schools, chiefly "schools of design," in which drawing and mathematics claim threefifths of the time devoted to study. These "Gewerbe-schulen," all of which are day and evening schools, are found only in large industrial centers of the Empire. They have exerted an influence upon the laboring community far ED 9639 beyond anything expected of them. Each of these schools has a preparatory department with a one year's course. In this department the student is brought face to face with an almost bewildering variety of designs and occupations, at any or all of which he may try his hand. Soon he finds his favorite occupation, if he has not previously developed a special liking. Toward the end of the year he has, in most cases, a decided leaning in one direction, and the professors foster it by giving the pupil work to do that will help him on in his chosen specialty. One feature in the study of drawing is that there is no copying done; most of the work is from solids. Copies are sometimes placed before the pupils, but they are to be reproduced on a larger or a smaller scale. These schools rarely have workshops, but most of the students, being apprentices or journeymen laborers in factories or workshops, can make models at home or in the shop after designs made in school; and master workmen encourage this model making in their shops, for in most cases the results of new ideas and inventions benefit the place where they are made. Side by side with these schools of design there are actual "trade schools," also of a secondary character. These are not, like the "Gewerbe-schulen," schools of industrial art-that is, nurseries of invention and design-but are intended to directly aid the trades by shortening the period of apprenticeship and developing skill in manual labor. Naturally the mental work of these schools consists in mathematics, drawing, and commercial science, besides giving the various bearings of each trade taught. These advanced trade schools are found in industrial centers only. While higher agricultural, forestry, and mining schools are taken care of exclusively by the State, the trade schools are established by the communities and generously subsidized by the State. All the schools mentioned-(a) elementary industrial and agricultural schools (so-called supplementary schools), (b) schools of design for the industrial arts, and (c) purely trade schools-are specially designed to aid the community in which and by which they are established. The State, as such, does not establish them. They form no uniform system; no two of them have the same course of study, nor is the course of study of any of these schools intended to remain unchanged. It is changed as often as necessity and the demands of the locality require. Another feature of this movement for industrial supremacy is this: When skilled labor had been multiplied and the German nation began to be successful in industries in which formerly other nations had a monopoly, it was found necessary to find markets in foreign countries for goods which could not be consumed by the home market. Germany entered the lists in competing for the world's markets. The commercial leaders of the Empire, especially the great mercantile houses in Bremen, Hamburg, Lubeck, Frankfort, Munich, Cologne, Breslau, Leipsic, and Stettin, had foreseen the necessity of a trained army of commercial agents well versed in languages. Hence, simultaneous with the expansion of industrial education, a large number of commercial schools were opened which trained their students in languages, bookkeeping, and commercial science. Most of these schools have a study in their curriculum called "Waarenkunde" (knowledge of merchandise), which term means more than it conveys. It includes a study of modes and ways of shipping and transporting according to the wishes and needs of the customers. One instance may illustrate this: Flour is imported into Central America from Germany, instead of from the United States, simply because the shrewd German merchants adapt their mode of packing to the fact that the mode of transport in Central America is the mule's back; hence they send flour in narrow sacks several feet long, which can be slung over the mule's back. In other countries the millers still persist in packing flour in barrels or short sacks, both of which are inconvenient to transport in hilly Central America. These commercial schools of Germany train clerks for correspondence in almost any living language, and since Germany entered (in 1872) the list of nations which adopted the metric system, the weights and measures cause no difficulty in filling orders from abroad. England and the United States still adhere to their arbitrary measures, and hence the difficulty of rearranging the orders sent to English and American merchants expressed in terms of the metric system. There are commercial schools of three kinds in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland— (a) elementary, (b) secondary, and (c) higher. The elementary are found in connection with so-called “continuation schools" in cities; they are evening and secular Sunday schools. The secondary are mostly day schools, and the higher institutions, of which there are only a few in Vienna, Leipsic, Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Stuttgart, Frankfort, Zurich, Geneva, and Berne, are of world-wide repute and train commercial leaders. Germany alone had 247 secondary commercial schools in 1895, but less than 30 in 1871. Commercial schools in Germany have come into existence through the initiative of boards of trade in commercial centers, and were at first private schools. The communal government in many cases made them city schools, and the state government granted them subsidies, as it did industrial and agricultural schools. They have no uniform course of study, nor do they form a system of schools under professional supervision. In this respect the governments follow the policy adopted with regard to industrial and agricultural schools. The German states are primarily concerned about schools that give elementary education; next, each state establishes and maintains secondary schools that lead up to the university; and, lastly, it provides for higher education in universities and polytechnica. These state institutions all aim at general culture, and form the state school system. Technical, trade, industrial, commercial, and agricultural schools of lower and advanced grade are special schools which are independent of uniform regulations. Their establishment is left to the initiative of private citizens or the communities. When they show that they meet the local needs of the community and are likely to indirectly benefit the state, the latter is petitioned for a subsidy, which is rarely denied. This is the reason why we find a silk-weaving school in Crefeld and one in Saxony, and a braiders' school in Berlin, where much cane furniture is manufactured. In general, the foregoing statements hold good for Austria proper, and for Switzerland; both countries follow the policy adopted by the various German states. The 20 so-called small German states (Kleinstaaten) have a population of 5,761,057, and they maintained 2,437 special schools (industrial, commercial, and agricultural) in 1896. This does not include any of the six larger German states, Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, Wurtemberg, Baden, and Alsace-Lorraine, with a population of 46,485,502. Minute statistics concerning the special schools in these six states are not available at this writing. The 2,437 special schools (in states whose area and population taken together are like those of the State of Ohio) are classified as follows: Elementary supplementary schools, attended by boys over 14 years of age.. 2,047 218 54 Commercial schools 47 Agricultural schools... 34 Schools for female occupations (12 of these schools are of a secondary character) 37 |