. Success
in specializing courses in night schools, as in day schools, requires
a large administrative unit. The possible variety of courses is in
direct ratio to the number enrolled. In a class of 200 carpenters
there would probably be, for example, 10 or 15 men who need
specialized instruction in stair-building. On the basis of the present
enrollment of 40 or 50 carpenters the class would dwindle to three or
four, with the result that the per capita teaching cost becomes
prohibitive.
The relatively small result now obtained is not the fault of the
schools, but is due principally to the fact that the great field of
evening vocational instruction is treated by the school system as a
mere side line of the technical high schools. The evening classes are
taught by teachers who have already given their best in the day
classes. The enrollment cannot be greatly increased so long as this
type of education is handled as one of the marginal activities of the
school system, manned by tired teachers and directed by tired
principals. It is a totally different kind of job from regular day
instruction and requires a different administrative organization, with
a responsible head vested with sufficient authority to meet quickly
and effectively the widely varying demands of its students. This will
require the speeding-up of administrative methods in the establishment
of courses and the employment of teachers, a freer hand for the
principals as regards both expenditures and policy, and most important
of all, the organization of all forms of continuation and night school
instruction under a separate department.
A COMBINED PROGRAM OF CONTINUATION AND TRADE-EXTENSION TRAINING
In considering the general conclusions of the survey as to what should
be done in the matter of trade preparatory and trade-extension
training in both day and night schools, it must be borne in mind that
these two types of vocational training are still in the experimental
stage. Their future development will probably involve a wide departure
from conventional school methods and the evolution of a special
technique through trial and experiment. At the present time we can
only formulate certain of the main conditions to which future advance
in these fields must conform.
First of all, it must be recognized that such work is a big job in
itself and cannot be successfully conducted as an appendix of the day
school. It is worth doing well, or it is not worth doing
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