ary condition to
successful training for wage-earning. Vocational training is not a
means for the prevention of retardation, but retardation is a most
effective means for the prevention of vocational training.

CHAPTER VI

THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL

In 1915 the Board of Education authorized the establishment of a
system of junior high schools in the city, and at the beginning of the
school year of 1915-16 the new plan was inaugurated in two schools.
The Empire Junior High School, situated in the eastern part of the
city, had an enrollment of about 700 children made up of seventh and
eighth grade pupils formerly accommodated in the elementary schools of
that section. The Detroit Junior High School on the west side had an
enrollment of about 400 pupils. No decision has yet been reached as to
whether the course shall include only two years' work, or three years,
as in other cities of the country where the junior high school plan
has been adopted.

A comparison of the course with that for corresponding grades of the
elementary schools shows some marked differences. Less time is devoted
to English in the junior high school and considerably more to
arithmetic, geography, and history. Mechanical drawing, not taught in
the elementary schools except incidentally in the manual training
classes, is given an hour each week. All boys receive one hour of
manual training a week against slightly less than one and one-half
hours in the seventh and eighth elementary grades, but they may elect
an additional two and one-half hours a week in this subject, together
with applied arithmetic during the first year, or with bookkeeping
during the second. Girls may elect an additional two and one-half
hours a week of domestic science, with bookkeeping. The manual
training for boys comprises woodwork and bookbinding.

SPECIALIZED TRAINING NOT PRACTICABLE

In the junior high school, as in the elementary school, the greatest
difficulty in the way of trade training for specific occupations lies
in the small number of pupils who can be expected, within the bounds
of reasonable probability, to enter a single trade. Hand and machine
composition, the largest of the printing trades, will serve as an
example. In a junior high school of 1,000 pupils, boys and girls, the
number of boys who are likely to become compositors is about five. But
to teach this trade printing equipment occupying considerable space is
necessary, together with a teacher