Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 2.djvu/375

 THE WORKING BOY 361

knacks to which the various parts of his trade have been reduced. Thus the evolution of the machine, while it rescues our product from the old charge of crudity, narrows both our men and our trades to the point at which any one trade is hardly worth having.

Accepting this shrinkage in the scope of the individual trade as inevitable at this stage of the industrial evolution, the question is, What, if anything, may be done by education to counterbalance its effects ?

The policy of training boys for one narrow trade cannot per- manently commend itself to thinking men and women, in an epoch of industrial change. On the contrary, the more special- ized the processes of commerce and manufacture become, the more must we insist on the education of all the thinking powers of all the workers. The more stupefyingly monotonous the manip- ulation which the machine prescribes, the more must all stress be laid upon variety and thoroughness in the training of mind, as well as hand, of all who are to tend machines. The greater the probability that the boy will be a motorman, merely press- ing a button ; that the compositor will be supplanted by the linotype and the tailor by the little girl at the machine, the more must the school do for all three that which their occupa- tions can no longer do for them, namely, teach them to think and live, and use all their faculties. The more precarious the position of the skilled man, the more must we demand of the schools versatility, thoroughness, and the effort to make valuable people of the whole body of children.

One thing the present situation does demand, a combination of alertness, adaptability, and self-reliance. Whoever watches any machine must have quick attention and avoid Blue Mon- day ; and when the occupation gives out, he must have enter- prise to find or make another opportunity.

We shall all agree that education can do much to meet the

of the working boy, now that the old apprenticeship is

gone and the new mechanical industry is in full swing. It is

only when we come to the question of methods of education