Schools for Foremen
(Werkmeisterschulen)
The Werkmeisterschulen or schools for foremen, are quite prominent in the scheme of secondary instruction. The courses given in these schools are of a general character, for the most part practical, and the institution, as the name implies, fits men to occupy positions as foremen and overseers. Machine construction is the chief industry for which these schools train. The first school of this character was opened in 1855 at Chemnitz, Saxony. There are at present twenty-one schools of this class in the Empire. Sixteen is the regular age of admission. Candidates must have an elementary education on presenting themselves. Two years is the average length of course, including both winter and summer terms. A requisite for admission also is practical experience in the trade, hence little other than theoretical instruction is given.
To the objection made by some, to extending the course over two years of residence and of including the elementary branches in the curriculum (such opposition favoring a reduction in time given to preparation) the answer comes that the school should give a well grounded education, such as will fit the participant for all the functions of his social and industrial life. Fifty to sixty marks is charged yearly for tuition fees. Certain of these schools have both evening and Sunday classes, the tuition being twenty marks yearly for week day evenings, eight to nine forty-five, and Sundays, eight to ten in the forenoon.
Table showing location of schools for foremen:
| Anhalt | Dessau |
| Baden | Mannheim |
| Bavaria | Four Mechanische Fachschulen |
| Hamburg | |
| Prussia | Altona |
| Cologne | |
| Dortmund | |
| Duisburg | |
| Elberfeld-Barmen | |
| Gleiwitz | |
| Gorlitz | |
| Hanover | |
| Magdeburg | |
| Iserlohn | |
| Reimscheid | |
| Saxony | Chemnitz |
| Mittweida | |
| Leipzig |
The following data were compiled from tables appearing in the Report of the Commissioner of Labor of the United States, for 1902. The hours per week allowed each subject taught in the schools of machinery construction, at Duisburg and Dortmund, Prussia, are given.
| DUISBURG | DORTMUND | |||||||
| First Year | Second Year | First Year | Second Year | |||||
| First Half | Second Half | First Half | Second Half | First Half | Second Half | First Half | Second Half | |
| German language and law | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 2 | — |
| Arithmetic | 4 | 1 | — | — | 5 | 2 | — | — |
| Bookkeeping | — | — | — | 2 | — | — | — | 3 |
| Descriptive Geometry | — | 3 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Mathematics | 8 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 2 |
| Experimental Physics | — | — | — | — | 4 | 2 | — | — |
| Physics and Electricity | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | — | 4 | 3 | 3 |
| Experimental Chemistry | 2 | — | — | — | 2 | — | — | — |
| Penmanship | 2 | — | — | — | 1 | — | — | — |
| Drawing | 12 | — | — | — | 17 | — | — | — |
| Machine Drawing | — | 6 | 8 | 8 | — | 10 | 8 | 14 |
| Projection | — | — | — | — | — | 2 | — | — |
| Mechanics | — | 4 | 4 | 4 | — | 5 | 5 | 2 |
| Technology of mechanics, smelting and refining | — | — | 6 | 4 | — | 2 | 6 | 4 |
| Theory of machines | — | 6 | — | — | — | 6 | — | — |
| Steam boilers and hoist machines | — | — | 6 | — | — | — | 7 | — |
| Steam engines and hydraulics and small motors | — | — | — | 6 | — | — | — | 8 |
| Heating | — | 3 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Theory of building construction | — | — | 4 | — | — | — | 2 | 2 |
| Practice in the work shop for machinery construction | — | — | — | — | — | — | 4 | 4 |
| Estimated wages | — | — | — | 6 | — | — | — | — |
| First aid to the injured | — | — | 1 | — | — | 1 | — | — |
| Total | 36 | 36 | 37 | 36 | 41 | 43 | 42 | 42 |
The following table showing the occupations of one time students at three of the Prussian schools was compiled in April, 1898. This table may be found on page 883 of the Seventeenth Annual Report of the Commissioner of Labor of the United States.