Vocational work is sometimes concentrated in the high school, but this is reaching back scarcely far enough, since those who do not reach high school need help quite as much as the older ones, while those who expect to continue their training can do so better if they have some idea of the goal to be reached.
What are the options that the grammar-school teacher may present to the girls under her care?
First of all, as we have already said, the school records must be kept with care and discrimination, so that the teacher may know the girl to whom she speaks. With the records in hand, she will ask herself the following questions:
1. Is further training at the expense of the girl's family possible? Do the girl's abilities warrant effort on her parents' part to give her further opportunity?
2. Could the girl's parents continue to pay her living expenses during further training if the training were furnished at the expense of the state?
3. Could the girl obtain training in return for her personal service, either with or without pay?
4. Would the girl be able to repay in skill acquired the expense of her training, whether borne by herself, her parents, or the state?
Photograph by Brown Bros.
A flower-making class for girls of various ages. There is no reason why vocational work should not begin in the grammar school
Lines between obtainable work for the trained and the untrained girl are fairly sharply drawn, and the possibilities for each type must be clearly understood by the guide. If it is evident that training cannot be obtained before the girl must begin to earn, the choice is necessarily a narrow one. The factories in the neighborhood should be thoroughly studied, and, under the guidance of the teacher, girls should prepare detailed reports with respect to their working conditions. The "blind-alley" job should be plainly labeled, that it may not catch the girl unaware. Girls who must take up factory work should at least be enabled to choose among factories intelligently, and if possible should be fortified with an avocation that will supply them with the interest their daily task fails to inspire and that will provide an anchor against the instability toward which the factory girl tends.
Millinery class in a trade school. Where trade schools do not offer such training, there are opportunities for apprentice work for girls