8. Preliminary Discussion and Preparation for Shopwork.—Of course, no time card or assignment-record scheme can hope entirely to eliminate the necessary preliminary discussions and preparation. The author has found it of material help to meet the foremen of all the classes at hours other than their regular class hour and discuss such topics as "Securing Cooperation," "Instructing Workers," "Maintaining Cleanliness and Order," "Records and Reports," "Inspecting Work," "Routing Material Thru Shop," "Care of Stock," etc.
Details regarding construction and assembling should be worked out by the instructor beforehand, and also developed with the class as the work progresses. Care should be taken that plans are carefully made regarding the storage of stock and unfinished parts.
The old saying, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," is an old one, but a good one.
9. Bazaars, Toy Sales, Etc.—The plan of selling toys, that are made in the school shop, to the boys and girls of the school is a plausible one. It can very easily be accomplished in the form of bazaars, exhibitions, or school toy sales.
The writer has had a number of samples of different toys made and put on exhibition, and orders taken, requiring a deposit on each order. These were then turned in to the shop department and the toys made on the productive plan.
The boys in the shop would receive school checks, Fig. 7, for the total number of points that they earned for the semester. These checks could then be used by them towards the purchasing of any of the toys that were put on sale; a certain number of points required for the purchase of different toys.
Fig. 7. Credit check, based on number of points carved
This plan was made possible by adding on to the number of orders received an additional number equal to the number of boys in the shop. For example, twenty-four orders for toy milk wagons were received by a class of twenty-four boys. Then instead of making twenty-four toy milk wagons we doubled the number and made forty-eight of them. The price that was figured on for the twenty-four orders would more than cover the cost of material for the other twenty-four articles that the boys would be able to buy with their earned checks.