Page:International Library of Technology, Volume 89.djvu/10

 PREFACE

The International Library of Technology is the outgrowth of a large and increasing demand that has arisen for the Reference Libraries of the International Correspondence Schools on the part of those who are not students of the Schools. As the volumes composing this Library are all printed from the same plates used in printing the Reference Libraries above mentioned, a few words are necessary regarding the scope and purpose of the instruction imparted to the students of—and the class of students taught by—these Schools, in order to afford a clear understanding of their salient and unique features.

The only requirement for admission to any of the courses offered by the International Correspondence Schools, is that the applicant shall be able to read the English language and to write it sufficiently well to make his written answers to the questions asked him intelligible. Each course is complete in itself, and no textbooks are required other than those prepared by the Schools for the particular course selected. The students themselves are from every class, trade, and profession and from every country; they are, almost without exception, busily engaged in some vocation, and can spare but little time for study, and that usually outside of their regular working hours. The information desired is such as can be immediately applied in practice, so that the student may be enabled to exchange his present vocation for a more congenial one, or to rise to a higher level in the one he now pursues. Furthermore, he wishes to obtain a good working knowledge of the subjects treated in the shortest time and in the most direct manner possible. iii