Chapter 22 Chapter VI Industrial Training

Section 1 Unskilled labor is a relative term.We often don't think of skills as skills that we are familiar with.Mere manual skill loses importance more and more compared with general intelligence and vitality.General competencies and specialized skills. Having studied the causes which govern the growth of a large and strong population, we next consider the training necessary for the development of the industrial efficiency of the population. The natural vigor which enables a man to achieve great success in one enterprise is generally useful to him in almost any other.But there are exceptions.Some people, for example, seem naturally suited to artistic careers rather than to other occupations; sometimes a man of practical genius is almost entirely devoid of artistic sensibility.But a race of very strong nerves, under favorable conditions, generally seems capable of developing, within a few generations, almost any kind of power which it particularly values.A race which gained vigor in war, or in the cruder forms of industry, sometimes rapidly acquired superior intellectual and artistic faculties; and almost every new era of literature and art in antiquity and the Middle Ages was due to a very strong nerve. The nations of the world have had contact with noble minds before they developed a great taste for comfort and luxuries.

The growth of this taste in our own time prevents us from making the most of the opportunities which our greatly increased resources afford us, to use the highest faculties of the race for the noblest purposes.But perhaps the intellectual vigor of the present age, owing to the development of the scientific enterprise, appears to be less than it actually is.For, in art and literature, genius often achieves while it retains the allure of youth; but in modern science so much knowledge is required to create that a scholar loses his spirit before he is famous. but the true value of his work is not as often known as the value of a painting or a poem.In the same way the solid qualities of the modern artisan who manages machines are regarded as inferior to the meager virtues of the medieval handiworker.This is partly because we are apt to regard as trivial the advantages so common in our own time; and to overlook the fact that the meaning of the term "unskilled laborer" is constantly changing.

Before the second quarter. The very backward races cannot long sustain any kind of work; even the simplest of those which we consider unskilled, are for them comparatively skilled ones; Only after long-term training can they develop this spirit.However, where education is widespread, even occupations that require the ability to read and write may be included in the category of unskilled jobs.Next, in regions hitherto the seat of industry, habits of responsibility, of care and quickness in the handling of costly machinery and raw materials, have become common to all; It is said to be entirely mechanical and unskilled, and requires no significant human talent.But, in fact, I am afraid that not one tenth of the world's population now possesses the intellectual and moral aptitude, wisdom, and self-control required for such work: I am afraid less than half of the people who work.Even among the industrial population there are only a small fraction capable of many jobs which at first sight appear to be entirely monotonous.For example, the job of machine weaving seems simple enough, but it is divided into high and low jobs, and of those who occupy the low jobs, most do not have the "essence" required to weave several colors of cloth .The difference is even greater in industries dealing with solid materials, wood, metal or pottery.

There are several kinds of manual work, which require persistent practice in a certain class of actions, but this is not very common, and is becoming rarer every day: for machinery is constantly taking the place of such manual skill.It is certainly true that the general ease of use of the fingers is a very important factor of industrial efficiency; But this is mostly the result of nervous strength and self-control.It develops by training, of course, but most of it is perhaps of a general nature rather than peculiar to a particular occupation; just as a hockey player quickly learns to play tennis, a skilled Workers can often be transferred to other trades, and the loss of efficiency, if any, will not be great or long lasting.

Manual skill, so specialized as to be entirely irreplaceable from one occupation to another, gradually becomes a less and less important factor in production.Leaving aside the talent for artistic feeling and artistic creation, we may say that the superiority of one occupation to another, and the greater efficiency of the workers of one city or country than another, is chiefly due to Not the general superiority of intelligence and energy peculiar to a profession. Ability to remember many things at once, to have something ready when needed, to act swiftly and show tact whenever something goes awry, to be adaptable, firm, and dependable when changes in detail in a job done , always conserving energy for emergencies—these are the characteristics of a great industrial nation.These characteristics are not peculiar to any one trade, but are required by all trades; and if they cannot always be easily transferred from one trade to others of the same kind, it is mainly because they require some knowledge of the raw materials. Complemented by familiarity with special methods.

We may, therefore, use the term general ability to denote that talent and general knowledge and wisdom which are in varying degrees common to all advanced industries; Familiarity with methods and methods can be classified as specialized competence. The third section is general education and industrial education.apprenticeship system. Most of the general ability depends on the environment of childhood and adolescence.The earliest and most powerful influence in this respect is that of the mother.Then there is the influence of the father and other children, and in some cases the influence of servants.As he grows older, the child of a worker learns a great deal from what he sees and hears around him; We must consider in some detail the influence of these families when the child of the parent has all the interests at the beginning of an independent life.But we can now turn to the more general effects of schooling.

We need say little more about general education; though even general education has a greater effect on the efficiency of industry than it appears.It is true that the children of the working classes are often obliged to stay out of school after they have learned but a rudimentary knowledge of reading, writing, arithmetic, and drawing; Better than practical work.But progress made in school is important not so much for its own sake as for the capacity for future progress which schooling confers.For a really high general education enables a man to use his best faculties in business, and to use the business itself as a means of furthering his education; though general education has nothing to do with the details of particular trades: that is the province of industrial education. .

The fourth quarter continues. Industrial education has likewise increased its purpose in recent years.Industrial education in the past meant nothing more than the imparting of manual skills and a rudimentary knowledge of machinery and methods, which an intelligent man soon learns by himself when he begins his work; Though, if he has learned the work beforehand, he may at first earn a few shillings more than a man who does not know it at all.However, such so-called education does not develop talents, but somewhat hinders the development of talents.A youth acquires knowledge for himself, he has educated himself in so doing; he will make better progress in the future than a man who goes to this old-fashioned school.However, the development of industrial education has been able to correct its shortcomings; its aims are: first, to enable people to use their eyes and fingers normally (although there are already signs that general education is taking over this work, which belongs to general education is appropriate); secondly, to impart technical skills and knowledge and methods of research useful to specific occupations but seldom properly acquired in the course of actual work.Remember, however, that every advance in the precision and usefulness of automatic machinery narrows more and more the range of manual operations which place great emphasis on the use of the hands and eyes; It is growing day by day.

According to the best English opinion, industrial education for higher industries should, like general education, be constantly aimed at the development of talents.It should be built upon the same foundations as a well-established general education, but should be further elaborated into special subjects for the benefit of particular trades.Our aim should be to add scientific training--in which the countries of Western Europe are ahead of us--to the boldness and tenacity of energy and practical instinct which, if youth had not been spent in factories, Such energies and instincts are seldom exuberant; and we must always remember that a young man learns more by himself by direct experience in a well-regulated factory than he is taught by the standard method of a teacher at a technical school. , is more useful to him and stimulates his intellectual activities more.

The old system of apprenticeship, not quite suited to modern conditions, has been abolished; but a substitute is needed.In the last few years many of the ablest manufacturers have begun to establish a culture of having their sons successively work in the various parts of the business which their sons will eventually manage; but this ingenious Education is available only to the few.The branches of any great modern industry are so numerous and varied that it is impossible for employers to ensure, as in the past, that every young man in their care learn everything; confuse.But it does not seem impracticable to revive the apprenticeship system with a modified form.

The major and epoch-making inventions in industry have hitherto occurred almost exclusively in England.Now, however, other countries are also competing for inventions. The excellence of the common schools of the Americans, the variety of their life, the exchange of ideas among the different nations among them, and the peculiar conditions of their agriculture, have manifested an indomitable spirit of research; In the process of extremely powerful advancement.On the other hand, among the German middle class, and even among the working class, the popularization of scientific knowledge, combined with their proficiency in modern languages, and their habits of school travel, enabled them to keep pace with England and America in mechanics, while in They are leading the way in applying chemistry to many aspects of business. The fifth section continues. There are, indeed, many kinds of work which can be done as effectively by uneducated workers as by educated ones: and the higher disciplines of education, except for employers, foremen, and a comparatively small number of skilled workers, No immediate use.But a good education confers great indirect benefits even to the common worker.It stimulates his mental activity; it acquires in him habits of study; it makes him wiser, quicker, and more reliable in his daily work; it enhances his style of life both during and outside working hours; It is therefore an important means in the production of material wealth; at the same time, even if it is regarded as an end in itself, it is not inferior to anything that the production of material wealth can contribute to. On the other hand, however, we must seek a part--perhaps a great part--of the immediate economic benefit which the nation derives from improvements in the general and industrial education of many.We are to give weight to those who originally belonged to the working class, but still more to those who have risen from humble beginnings to high skilled laborers, to become foremen or employers, to extend the scope of science, or to increase the wealth of the nation in arts and letters. The laws governing the birth of geniuses are inconceivable.The children of the working classes probably do not have as much a percentage of the highest natural talents as do the children of those who have attained or inherited high positions in society.But the manual labor class is four or five times as numerous as all the other classes put together, so that more than half of the best geniuses born in a country will belong to them; get results.It is a waste most injurious to the growth of the wealth of a country, to let a genius who happens to be of humble birth be idled away in humble employment. No change can contribute to the rapid increase of material wealth so much as the improvement of our schools, especially of the secondary schools, if this improvement can be combined with a general system of scholarships; Progress gradually until he has received the best theoretical and practical education that the present age can afford. Much of the achievements of the free cities of the Middle Ages and of modern Scotland can be attributed to the talents of working-class children.The same lesson can be drawn even within England: where England is most advanced it is where the greatest proportion of the leaders of industry are the sons of workers.For example, at the beginning of the industrial age, social disparities were more pronounced and more entrenched in the south of England than in the north.In the South of England there is a somewhat hereditary spirit of social classes which prevents the laborer and his sons from rising to leadership; and the old family lacks that flexibility and freshness which only nature, and not social interest, can supply.This spirit of hereditary social classes was mutually supported by a lack of fresh blood among the leaders of industry; and much of the decline of the southern English cities, so far as living memory can remember, is to this cause. . Section VI Art Education. An education in the arts is in a slightly different position from an education in hard thinking: for the latter often makes for strength of character which the former often fails to do.The development of the artistic talents of men, however, is a most important end in itself, and becomes a chief factor of industrial efficiency. What we are dealing with here is almost entirely the discipline of fine arts which depends upon the eye.For although literature and music contribute as much, and more, to the fulfilment of life as this science, their development does not directly affect or depend on the methods of business, manufacture, and skill of the artisan. The skilled workers in Europe in the Middle Ages and in the Eastern countries today are known for their creativity, but I am afraid it is not as good as it is said.Oriental rugs, for example, are full of grandiose imaginations: but if we study the many samples of fine art from any Conceptually there is no difference. But in modern times, with its rapid changes—some caused by fashion, some by favorable movements of industry and social progress—everyone is free to create new situations, and each must roughly on his own talents; for there is no slow-maturing public criticism to guide him. However, this is not the only or major disadvantage of art design in our time.There is no good reason to believe that the child of the common workman in the Middle Ages was more artistically creative than the child of the common country carpenter or blacksmith at present; Genius is expressed in his writings, encouraged by competition in guilds and elsewhere.But the modern artisan is apt to take up mechanical management; and though the faculties he develops will be more solid than the taste and imagination of his mediaeval predecessors, and will after all be more conducive to the greatest progress of mankind, these Talent does not directly contribute to the progress of art.If he feels himself to be of higher ability than his colleagues, he may try to gain a leading position in the management of a trade union or other organization, or to pool a small capital and grow out of the trade in which he has studied.These are no base ends; but if he had done what he did, and endeavored to create immortal works of art, his ambitions would have been higher, and the world would have been more beneficial. It must be admitted, however, that he would have great difficulty in doing so.The transience in time of the changes in the methods of decoration which we now permit is as harmful as the extent to which they spread over the area of ​​the world; The changes in the world, more scattered his hasty and hasty efforts.It is a work not well suited to the artisan working with his own hands; and therefore the common artisan now feels it better to follow rather than lead.Even the great skill of the Lyons weaver now manifests itself almost entirely in the inheritance of a power of delicate handwork and a fine sensibility for colour, thus enabling him perfectly to realize the ideal of the professional designer. The increase of wealth enabled men to buy all kinds of articles to suit their tastes, while the durability of these articles was regarded as a secondary matter; therefore, in all kinds of clothing and furniture, it became more and more popular that the sale of things depended on the style. .The influence of the late William Morris and others, plus many British designers from the East— Persian and Indian masters of colour, in particular, received instruction which, by the French themselves, brought certain kinds of English fabrics and ornaments to the first rate.But in other respects, France is second to none.It is said that some British manufacturers who have maintained their position in the world will be driven out of the market if they still rely on British styles.This is partly due to the fact that Paris' leadership in fashion is a result of its traditionally keen and meticulous taste for women's clothing.Parisian designs will be in keeping with the fashions to come, and sell better than designs of equal authentic value from elsewhere. Thus, though industrial education cannot directly increase the supply of genius in the arts much more than it can in science and business, it will keep many natural talents in the arts from being rendered useless; It is all the more necessary for this purpose of industrial education to resume the training of a large-scale education. Section VII education as national investment. We can therefore draw the following conclusion: The wisdom of spending public and private funds on education cannot be judged by its immediate results alone.It would also be advantageous to see education simply as an investment in which most people have opportunities much greater than they would normally take advantage of themselves.For by this means many who would otherwise die in obscurity were given the head-start needed to realize their latent powers.Moreover, the economic value of one great industrial genius is sufficient to pay for the education of a whole city; for a new idea, like Bessemer's chief invention, increases the productive power of England by as much as the labor of a hundred thousand men.Inventions in medicine—like Gener's or Buster's—enhance our health and our ability to work, as do scientific research in mathematics or biology, even though it may take many generations to show the increase. The effect of large material welfare, the help they give to production, is not as direct as the former, but the importance is the same.All that is spent on providing higher education for the majority of the population over many years is more than repaid by producing men like Newton or Darwin, Shakespeare or Beethoven. Economists have no immediate interest in practical matters than the principle of how the expenses of children's education should be distributed between the state and parents.But however much the parents may pay, we must now consider the conditions which determine the strength and will of the parents to bear a part of this cost. Most parents are keen to treat their children as their own parents have treated them; and perhaps even a little better if they find that their neighbors happen to have a higher standard.But for parents to go any further than this in their treatment of their children, besides disinterested moral qualities and ardent affection--both of which are perhaps not uncommon--some habits of mind are required--which is not very normal.Its habit of clearly anticipating the future and of treating distant events as having almost as much importance as immediate ones (that is, discounting the future at a low rate of interest) is a chief product of civilization, as well as its Primarily, it is seldom developed except among the middle and upper classes of the more civilized countries. Section 8 Mobility is increasing both between and within grades of occupation. Parents generally bring up their children to employ them in their own class, so that the whole supply of laborers of any class in one generation is largely determined by the number of those in that class in the previous generation, but in that class Within itself, there is greater mobility.If the benefits of any one occupation in the class exceed the average, the young people move rapidly into it from other occupations in the same class.The vertical flow from one class to another is not very rapid or large; but when the interests of one class increase in proportion to the difficulties of work it requires, the laborers of youth and adulthood are numerous. An influx into this class will begin in twos and threes; though the inflows may not be many, they will be large enough to satisfy the growing needs of the laborers of this class. We shall not examine in more detail at a later stage: first, the impediments which conditions at any place and time impose on the free movement of labourers; Seduce to change his career or train his wife for a career different from his own.But what we already know suffices to conclude that, ceteris paribus, an increase in the income derived from labor raises the rate of growth of labour; Increase the supply of labor.Assuming that the state of knowledge, the state of ethical, social and domestic customs, is fixed, the vigor of all peoples, if not their numbers, and of any profession in particular, can be determined in the following sense Say Yes has a supply price: A certain level of price is required to keep the aforementioned numbers and vigor constant; a higher price is required to increase them; a lower price is required to decrease them.Economic causes, therefore, operate in governing the growth of the population as a whole and the supply of labor in any particular class.But the influence of economic causes on the size of the population as a whole is mostly indirect; it occurs through the ethical, social, and family habits of life.For the habits themselves are slowly but deeply influenced by economic causes, and in ways that are somewhat inexplicable and impossible to predict.