studies were made of the leading
industries of the city for the purpose of determining what measures
should be taken by the public school system to prepare young people
for wage-earning occupations and to provide supplementary trade
instruction for those already in employment. The studies also dealt
with all forms of vocational education conducted at that time under
public school auspices.
TYPES OF OCCUPATIONS STUDIED
Separate studies were made of the metal industry, building and
construction, printing and publishing, railroad and street
transportation, clothing manufacture, department store work, and
clerical occupations. The wage-earners in these fields of employment
constitute nearly 60 per cent of the total number of persons engaged
in gainful occupations and include 95 per cent of the skilled workmen
in the city. The survey also gave considerable attention to the
various types of semi-skilled work found in the principal industries.
Each separate study was assigned to a particular member of the Survey
Staff who personally carried on the field investigations and later
submitted a report to the director of the survey. Each report was also
subjected to careful analysis and criticism from other members of the
Survey Staff before it was finally passed upon by the Survey
Committee. Mimeographed copies were sent to representatives of the
industry and to the superintendent of schools and members of the
school board and their criticisms and suggestions were given careful
consideration before the Committee and the director of the survey gave
their final approval to the publication of the report. The value of
the work was greatly enhanced through the ample discussion of the
different studies from widely diverse points of view secured in this
way. The industrial studies were carried through under the direction
of the author of this summary volume.
THE SURVEY STAFF AND METHODS OF WORK
The reports of the studies relating to vocational education were
published in a series of eight separate monograph volumes. The names
of the reports and the previous experience in educational and
investigational work of each member of the Survey Staff are as
follows:
"Boys and Girls in Commercial Work"--Bertha M. Stevens; teacher
in elementary and secondary schools; agent of Associated
Charities; secretary of Consumers' League of Ohio; director of
Girls' Bureau of Cleveland; author of "Women's Work in
Cleveland"; co-au
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