The courses continue for two years.
It is interesting to note that whereas certain enactments are in force regarding the Sunday sessions of the Fortbildungsschulen, there are no such restrictions placed upon the Fachschulen, Sunday morning classes being held at the discretion of the school authorities.
Let us refer to our table of single trade schools as given above. The statements which follow have in most cases been taken from data relating to the schools of Berlin, and may be said to fairly represent the general existing conditions throughout the Empire.
In the school for bakers, instruction is given one day weekly for two and one half hours. The theoretical work (which in common with all such work in the regular trade schools, is related directly to the particular trade under discussion) is made up of chemistry and bookkeeping.
In the barbers’ and hairdressers’ schools, instruction is carried on six days each week, four hours daily, the school continuing six months of the year, covering the winter period. Each class receives fourteen hours instruction per week. While the bakers’ school is supported by the guild, the barbers’ school is jointly maintained by state, city and guild. The curriculum includes shaving, hair cutting, and hair dressing, wig making, and ladies’ hair dressing. A tuition of three marks is charged for the term, in the case of apprentices, and six marks for journeymen; a charge five times as great is made for ladies’ hair dressing, and for the surgical lectures, ten marks.
The guild, state and municipality maintain the school for basketmakers and wickerworkers. Apprentices receive instruction free, four marks each semester being charged the journeymen and adults. Attendance is compulsory on the part of apprentices of guild members. Four hours work per week are given, on Saturdays. The annual expenses of the school, are about five hundred and fifty dollars. Four courses are offered, as follows: first, general basket making and wicker furniture; second, making of small wicker furniture; third, large wicker furniture; fourth, fine and artistic wicker working.
In the blacksmiths’ school the instruction is for two hours, one day each week. Theoretical work in horseshoeing, and drawing related to the course are taught.
The city and guild support the school for bookbinders. The students are both apprentices and journeymen. They work week day evenings and Sunday mornings. The purpose is not to produce tradesmen, but rather to make more proficient those engaged in some form of bookbinding, and to this end applicants must have had experience amounting to two years work before entering the school. All students must be grounded in the general elements underlying the trade before they are allowed to take up any phase as a specialty. No fee is charged the apprentices of guild members; others pay five marks per term; journeymen pay nine marks per term.
In the cabinetmakers’ school, all lines of work pertaining to the trade are taken up, drawing and designing for trade purposes; free-hand drawing; modeling, carving; properties of woods, etc. Instruction is given week day evenings and Sunday forenoons. Four marks are charged for the first term in the drawing course and for each subsequent term, two marks. The subjects taken up are: chemistry, free-hand drawing, projection, trade drawing, perspective and shadows, drawing from cast, modeling and wood carving, joinery. The school is under public control.
In most of the remaining trade schools, instruction is pretty generally given on week day evenings and Sunday mornings, the apprentices of guild members paying no fee, a small charge being made for outsiders. The support comes from city, state and guild in most cases. In the school for masons however, there is a preparatory course and also a carpenters’ course, the whole covering a three years term. In this school the instruction is thorough, covering plans, drawings and specifications; stone, brick, and wood construction; foundations, arches, staircases, roofs, and the like. Almost without exception in all these schools the winter attendance is greater than that in the summer.