19
Arts and crafts 18
Millinery 18
Electricity and magnetism 16
------
Total 1,489

The policy of the schools is to form a class in any subject for which
a sufficient number of students make application. Only a small
proportion of the pupils attend more than one year, and the mortality
from term to term is very high, although the tuition fee plan insures
fairly good attendance during the term. The data collected by the
survey indicate that the average length of attendance is approximately
two terms--the equivalent in student hours of less than three weeks in
the ordinary day school.

Most of the men who enroll in night school classes need a course of at
least two or three years. All but a few, however, insist on having
their supplementary training in small doses. Frequently they want
only specific instruction about a specific thing, such as how to lay
out a certain piece of work or how to set up a particular machine
tool. They want to secure this knowledge in the shortest possible
time, and very few want the same thing. A course of two or three years
does not appeal to them. Another difficulty is that their previous
educational equipment varies widely, and some are not capable of
assimilating even the specialized bit of trade knowledge they need
without a preliminary course in arithmetic. As the personnel of the
classes changes to a marked degree from term to term, the courses
undergo frequent modifications. Apparently the teachers and principals
have made a sincere effort to adapt the instruction to the demands of
the men who attend the schools, but the fact is that the difficulties
inherent in such work make it impossible to organize the classes on
any basis except that of subject matter, which means fitting students
into courses, rather than adapting courses to the needs of particular
groups of workers.

The enrollment is far below what should be expected in a city of
nearly three-quarters of a million inhabitants. The total number of
journeymen, apprentices, and helpers from the skilled manual
occupations, receiving trade instruction in the night schools, is
considerably less than one per cent of the total number in the city.

A large enrollment is necessary for efficient administration