The Making of a Trade School

by Mary Schenck Woolman

Health

The young wage-earner of New York is much handicapped by her poor physical condition; heredity, poor habits of life, and unsanitary homes show their effects upon her. The girls who come to the school are young enough to remedy many of their defects. In a few months they will be in positions demanding eight or more hours a day, in which they must strain every nerve and bend all of their energies to meet the standard brought about by trade competition. The Physical Department of the school studies the health of each girl and trains her to care adequately for it. The specific treatment needed by some of the students takes them many hours a week from their department work. While this has its disadvantages, it is felt to be more important to improve the physical condition than to develop skill alone when the health is too poor to stand the strain of exacting positions. It is often difficult at first to persuade parents that such close attention to health is necessary. The results, however, in the majority of cases have proved the wisdom of this procedure.

Immediately after entering the school and being assigned to a department each girl must report to the school physician. Beginning with the family history, a complete record of all the important events relating to her physical life is taken. She is closely questioned as to all bodily functions, and a careful record is kept of irregularities. Eyes, ears, teeth, nose, throat, and feet are likewise examined, and measurements are taken of height, weight, and the principal expansions. After the examination, instruction as to treatment is given, if any is needed.

The work in the gymnasium has three purposes: invigorative, reactive, and corrective. Every girl who is not restricted on account of physical defects takes the prescribed gymnastic work. Nor has this a physical effect only, for through the active games such qualities as judgment and accuracy, self-control, and the harmonious working with others are developed. Slow, uncertain, vague movements denote lack of mental quickness and strength. Motor activity, rightly directed, leads to poise of mind as well as of body. These girls live mostly in crowded localities of the city, where free exercise is unknown. The school aims, as far as possible, to supply the lack of wholesome outdoor life and give joyous active exercise. Talks on hygiene are a regular part of the work and aim: (1) to give each girl a knowledge of her body and of its functions which will enable her to care for her health in an intelligent manner; (2) to show her the relation of food and its preparation to her physical condition; (3) to establish in her mind ideals of correct living which can be made practical in her surroundings; and (4), recognizing the right and desire of every girl for amusement, to create a love for wholesome and simple pleasures that will take the place of the too strenuous and often unwise recreations which tend to undermine the health of the girl who works.

The Lunchroom and the Cooking Classes

From the opening of the school, hot soup, hot chocolate, or cold milk had been served daily, at two cents a cup, to those wishing to supplement the cold lunch which they had brought from their homes. The teachers also had an opportunity of buying a simple, hot meal which was prepared by one of their number, assisted by students who aided in the preparation, serving, and clearing away. At first the average girl felt she could not give much time to her trade training, consequently such time had to be devoted to making her able to command a living wage. The hope, however, that in the future the opportunity would come for offering increased domestic training was never forgotten. The opening at the school of a temporary workroom for unemployed women during the financial stress of 1908 provided them with regular work and pay. It was advisable also to serve nourishing lunches daily to these underfed workers. There was already a simple lunchroom in the basement of the school, containing such bare necessities as plain tables on horses, long wooden benches, a gas stove with four burners, a few cooking utensils, and a closet filled with inexpensive china. The complete cost of equipment had been $300.

The school was now, however, face to face with the need to feed daily more than 500 people—teachers, workers, and students—and yet no additional money could be spent for equipment. The necessity was so great, however, that in addition to the usual lunches a hot, nourishing meal was given daily to the hundred workers in the temporary workroom, for which they paid one-half of the price of materials.

With this inauguration of regular cooking it seemed especially desirable to take the opportunity of training at least some of the students in the selection, care, and preparation of food. The majority of these girls will be the mothers of the next generation, and yet they know nothing of food values or food preparation. This is evident from the daily lunches they bring and from their discussions in the class on hygiene. On the other hand, girls who can remain but a few months in the school have a serious need to face, that of self-support, for the wage for unskilled girls ($3.00) is not sufficient to live on with decency. The physical, mental, and moral future of these young girls demands that they should be able to make more than this pittance. In the few months during which the majority are in attendance both a trade training and a knowledge of cooking cannot be given, therefore the former must take the precedence. The school has been able to prove, however, that girls educated there can command a fair wage in trade, but that a longer time given to this training will enable them to obtain better positions and salaries. Hence an increasing number have been willing to remain longer, giving even a year or more to preparation. It was with this latter class that the time was ripe to offer some training in lunchroom cookery which could teach them what could be procured at low prices and yet be nourishing; how to prepare food at home, and how to use the hot table often found in an up-to-date factory. For this purpose, therefore, some simple additional equipment was installed and a daily menu was offered, comprising inexpensive, attractive, wholesome dishes, at the lowest possible cost. Many of the students care for so little variety in food that all of the necessary elements for building strong, healthy bodies are not supplied, hence they are under-nourished. They require encouragement to even try the food which is essential for improving their physical condition. The girls have taken great interest in their lunchroom cookery. They appreciate the inexpensive menus and admire the simple table decorations. Gradually they have given up spending their few pennies for poor fruit, cake, or candy at some cheap shop, and now purchase nourishing dishes cooked by the students at the school.

The cooking course connects directly with the talks on hygiene. The plan of work is the following: (1) Twenty girls are chosen at one time. These work in two groups of ten each, and for six weeks have daily one-hour lessons. This gives them thirty lessons, which is almost equivalent to what the public school offers in a year, but, being concentrated into daily work and practical use in the lunchroom, is of equal, if not greater, efficacy. (2) The students set the tables, cook a definite part of the lunch, dish the articles, prepare the counters, sell the various dishes, keep and report sales, and clear the counters afterward. The groups alternate in order that preparing food, watching its progress, and taking it from the stove may be done by all with a minimum loss of time from their trade instruction. (3) The selection of girls to take the course is made from (a) those who can remain long enough in the school to combine trade training with the simple cooking course, (b) those who have such poor health that a knowledge of what to eat and how to cook it is the first consideration, and (c) those who are already little housekeepers in their homes, as their mothers are incapacitated or dead.

After several months of experience it was felt that the six weeks of constant practice was well worth while. More elaborate courses of cookery would demand a more thorough kitchen equipment, entailing much expense, and would require students to remain a longer time in school. With the present arrangement they learn the most important cooking processes in a very practical way, and discuss the relation of food to themselves and to their families.