Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 2.djvu/372

 THE WORKING BOY.

THE essential point to be kept in mind in the discussion of trade and technical education is this, that ours is the epoch of industrial instability, by reason of which the working boy of today needs not so much any one trade, as that combination of qualities which will enable him to turn with facility from one occupation to another as each, in turn, is supplanted in the course of the industrial evolution.

The epoch of trades was the epoch of industrial stability. When the apprentice married the master's daughter and inherited the stock and goodwill, and everything went on from generation to generation as in the case of the Elzevirs, whose craft descended from father to son, to grandson, to great-grandson, it was well worth while for the lad to leave school early and pursue the "three R's" only in the intervals of gaining his daily bread. His future was assured.

Ours being the epoch of industrial instability, of shifting and change, the point is to recognize the law of change and adapt our scheme of education to it, so that the processes of industrial evolution may no longer bring surprise and disaster. Nay, more, the problem of the schools today is, so to equip the chil- dren that they not only meet unharmed the changes which will surely make up their industrial life, but contribute their share to render these changes beneficent. This our present education fails to do ; and the introduction of new machinery, therefore, brings unmeasured harm to tens of thousands of skilled working- men and their families. By way of illustration, it is only neces- sary to point to the compositors, the railway engineers, and the tailors.

The introduction of the linotype into the newspaper offices of Chicago, while it increased the size of the great dailies, threw a large number of skilled workmen out of employment. Many

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