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Retyped by Karen Dyal
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Trades-School Director’s Report
Very few changes have been made in this department of the Reformatory in the year just closed. This statement is particularly true of the methods of instruction which are here used, and which, it is believed were radically different at the time of their adoption, from any of the then existing methods of imparting technical instruction to any class of young men.
That there was need for a radical departure, from the methods of instruction employed in manufacturing establishments and trade-schools, was apparent to all who were familiar with the class of youths committed to this Institution. They are shiftless and to a great extent predaceous in their instincts, with no desire to do labor of any kind but rather ruled by a passion to avoid labor and the earning of their daily bread by honest toil.
The normal youth on reaching young manhood expresses a desire to be taught some trade or profession which will insure him, when mastered, a competency sufficiently large to provide for the future needs of himself and those who may be dependent upon him. Their apprenticeship at their chosen trade or profession is characterized by an absorbing desire on the part of the youth to master every principle and detail of the processes taught. Fully absorbed not only in the processes he himself may be performing at any moment but also in all that is going on around him his keenly developed powers of observation assist him to select, from every operation performed by himself or his comrades, those principles which will be of value to him, when, as a skilled mechanic he is called upon to perform any or all of the mechanical operations required of the artisan. With such a spirit of enthusiasm for his work, dominating the normal youth’s mind, it is not only possible but practicable to teach him a trade by the
52 NEW YORK STATE REFORMATORY
methods in vogue in manufacturing establishments and technical schools.
In the former, haphazard methods of instruction too often prevail, and the youth, as an apprentice, is asked to make from the raw material, those finished products, which are a part of the output of the establishment and perhaps to perform the same operations repeatedly, the instruction he should receive being in a large measure subordinated to a desire on the part of the employer to obtain a maximum output at a minimum cost.
No record is kept, either of his progress during the different steps through which he passes or of the time that should be devoted to mastering the different processes and principles to be taught; and he is often kept on one operation long after he has become skilled in performing it, when the time could be spent more profitable by him on other operations involving new principles. Yet, in spite of these obstacles to his progress, coupled with the growing tendency of the day to make specialists of mechanics, the young man will, at the expiration of his three or four years of apprenticeship, have mastered enough of the principles of the trade to qualify as a journeyman. That he reaches the required proficiency is too often due to his own efforts and ambition, rather than to the desire and co-operation of his employer.
In the technical school, more strenuous efforts are made to teach each student the fundamental principles of each trade taught in the institution, and to more thoroughly familiarize him with the design and capacity of each machine used.
Graded courses of instruction have, in some cases been adopted, but, in many of them manufacturing is carried on (either for the institution itself or for outside parties) the result being that each student does not have equal opportunities, the work requiring the greatest skill being given to the most apt pupil, and the coarser work falling to the lot of his duller comrades. Such a system must necessarily result in slighting the training of those who need it most. No record is kept of his progress step by step, the quality of his work on the whole affording the basis upon which his percentage is made up. Under these conditions it is necessarily more or less a matter of guess work in qualifying a man, as it is impossible to tell at examination time,
TRADES-SCHOOL DIRECTOR’S REPORT 53
whether or not a student has been doing satisfactory work and making progress for the two or three months preceding the examination.
Working under the same conditions as his fellow in free life, the average inmate of this Institution would never advance beyond the first exercise to which he was assigned, and in many instances he would not even master that exercise.
This apparent lethargy and indifference is due to the fact that the ambition and enthusiasm, which characterize the work of his fellow in free life, is wholly lacking in the make-up of the average man confined here, as well as to the fact that their powers of observation are dead or nearly so; furthermore, it is practically impossible to develop these characteristics by ordinary methods as the inmates cannot be made to realize that it is absolutely necessary for their welfare to learn some trade as a means of insuring for themselves an honest livelihood, when released from the institution.
To arouse the ambition and a spirit of enthusiasm in the inmates, it was early made one of the conditions of release, on parole, that they make progress at the trade to which they were assigned on entering here and that they shall have mastered enough of the elements of the trade to enable them to earn a living when released.
The desire for freedom is a very strong one with a large majority of the inmates and this acts as an incentive to urge them onward to the accomplishment of what is required of them. For imparting instruction and to keep a record of their progress, a series of graded exercises is arranged, each one of which teaches some fundamental principle of the trade to which they are assigned. A given number of hours is allowed each individual to master the principles involved, at the end of which time an examination is held. If he shows satisfactory progress, a mark of 75% or more is given and he is advanced to the next exercise. If the work is unsatisfactory he is required to perform it again, and he is held on that particular exercise until such time as he performs it satisfactorily and thus gives proof of progress made.
One decided advantage of this system is that no inmate devotes any more time to mastering any one principle than is absolutely necessary. He is not kept at a lathe because he shows great aptitude for lathe work, as is apt to be the case in free life, but is advanced when proficient to the exercises involving other principles.
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The standard of work here adopted is as high, if not higher than that attained in free life, and every inmate must reach this standard before he is passed on to the next exercise. By this method it is possible to impart a great amount of knowledge, with a minimum expenditure of time, and to keep a careful record of each man’s progress, from the day he enters the class until the day he graduates from it.
The law which went into effect January 1, 1897, prohibiting manufacturing in State Penal Institutions, threw a large number of inmates who were engaged during the day in the Industrial Department, out of employment. To furnish employment for these men, day classes were organized in every department of the Trades-School with the exception of the clothing-cutting, stenography and type-writing, word-turning and machine wood-working classes, which continue to hold evening sessions as usual. Instruction had previously been given in conjunction with the production of commercial wares, but under the present arrangement no manufacturing is carried on, and the time of the men is wholly occupied in receiving trade instruction. Sessions of two and one-half duration are held five days per week in addition to the two-hour sessions held Monday and Thursday evenings. The drawing classes meet on Wednesday evenings as usual.
The length of the courses has been increased in nearly every class, from 300 to 700 hours of actual instruction, day sessions having made this extension possible. On this basis, eleven months instruction is provided in each trade.
In addition to the above, whenever the equipment will permit, enough additional exercises are being incorporated in the outlines, to extend the period of instruction sex months, thus making the total time required to complete the course about seventeen months. By this arrangement it is possible to provide those men who stay here longer than one year, additional instruction at the trade to which they were originally assigned, and it must necessarily tend to make them masters of one trade, rather than novices at two or more.
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Two new classes have been organized during the year, namely, in color-mixing and stone-masonry. The former was organized for the benefit of the pupils in the painting classes and started with a membership of sixteen. Sessions of the class are held one afternoon per week. The course of instruction teaches the characteristics and analysis of pigments, and each pupil performs the actual operation of mixing.
Altogether thirty-one colors or tints are treated in the course, all of which are produced by the pupils. It is believed that this instruction will be very beneficial to hose receiving it, and that it will better equip the members of the class for lucrative positions in free life.
For the stone-masonry class a graded series of exercises (similar in character to those of the other departments of the Trades-School) have been adopted which give the pupils opportunities of becoming familiar with the dressing and laying of stone for all kinds of building operations. This class is of especial benefit to the members of the brick-laying classes, as the work of both is somewhat closely allied in free life.
On the morning of September 1st, the Institution was visited by fire and the one-story building in which the blacksmith, steam-fitting, plumbing and tin-smithing classes met, was completely destroyed. This misfortune necessitated the abandonment of these classes temporarily, but the new buildings in the west yard replacing those destroyed by fire a year ago, are rapidly nearing completion, and soon after the opening of the new fiscal year, it is believed the last three of the above named classes will be provided with temporary quarters in one of these. The ruins of the fire are being rapidly cleared away and work on the reconstruction of the new building will be commenced immediately and a very few weeks should see all of the above named classes in their new class rooms, better equipped than ever before to continue the work of trade instruction, so suddenly interrupted by the fire.
Many of the classes are badly crowded at present, but on the completion of the buildings in the west yard, these classes will be re-arranged and some of them moved to these new buildings. By this arrangement ample provision in the way of room will be made for all.
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In the following table the average attendance at the sessions of the
different classes is given, together with the number of men paroled to
employment at the trades learned here. The figures in the last column of
the table give the number of men who were unable to obtain such employment
at the time of parole. These men are released to temporary employment at
other labor, but obligate themselves to obtain work at their own trades
at the earliest opportunity.
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| Baking |
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| Barbering |
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| Book-binding |
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| Brass-smithing |
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| Brick-laying |
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| Cabinet-making |
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| Carpentry |
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| Clothing-cutting |
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| Cooking |
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| Color-mixing |
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| Electricity |
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| Etching |
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| Frescoing |
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| Hardwood-finishing |
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| Horse-shoeing |
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| House-painting |
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| Iron-forging |
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| Machine Wood-working |
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| Machinist |
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| Moulding |
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| Photography |
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| Plastering |
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| Plumbing |
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| Printing |
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| Shoe-making |
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| Sign-painting |
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| Steam-fitting |
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| Stenography and Typewriting |
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| Stone cutting |
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| Stone masonry |
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| Tailoring |
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| Telegraphy |
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| Tin-smithing |
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| Upholstering |
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| Wood-carving |
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| Wood-turning |
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| Total |
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The outlook for the future is bright indeed. With the rearrangement of the classes, outlined above, completed, better facilities than ever will be provided for the continuation of the work so well begun and so far advanced, and more and more attention can be given to that perfection of detail which results in developing an ideally efficient organization.
D. A. MCCONNELL.
