The Printing Trades Volume 16 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1916 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER VI TRAINING BEFORE THE BOY LEAVES SCHOOL In the preceding pages we have indicated some of the educational qualifications essential to success in the several trades of the printing industry. They vary widely. There is little relation between the technique of hand-composition and the technique of presswork. The kind of instruction that would most directly benefit the pressman would be of small value to the bookbinder or the photo-engraver. There are few trade elements common to these different occupations. This condition has an important bearing on the problem of vocational training which will meet the needs of more than a single trade. The Elementary School Up to the end of the compulsory attendance period, school training, preparatory to entering the printing trades, must be of the most general sort. There are two reasons for this. The first is that only a few boys in the elementary schools are sure that they desire to enter the printing industry, and among these there are few indeed who have sufficient knowledge of industrial conditions to know which one of the 50 trades they desire to go into. The second and most important barrier that stands in the way of the establishment in elementary schools of trade preparatory courses for printing is that there are not enough boys in any one school to warrant the establishment of such special courses in that building. Most of the boys in our public schools were born in this country. In a few years they will be grown up. When they grow up they will be scattered through the different trades, professions, and industries in about the same proportions as are the American-born men of the population at the present time. One of the important facts repeatedly impressed upon the student of occupational...