The Completed Article. Since the establishment of a school in a factory was the novel feature of the enterprise, he worked out a title based on this idea, with a sub-title presenting the striking results accomplished by the school. The completed article follows, with a brief analysis of the methods used in developing the outline.
TAKING THE SCHOOL TO THE FACTORY
| How Alien Girls are being Changed into Intelligent American Workers by Instruction during Working Hours | |||||||||||||
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In from twenty to thirty-five weeks an illiterate immigrant girl can be transformed into an intelligent, efficient American citizen, in this city, without interfering with the daily work by which she earns her living. Only forty-five minutes a day in a factory schoolroom is required to accomplish such striking results. | I. SUMMARY LEAD 1. Striking results Striking statement in two sentence to avoid unwieldy sentence. | ||||||||||||
This has just been demonstrated at the first commencement of the only school conducted in a New York factory. The classes have been held on one of the upper floors of the white goods factory of D. E. Sicher & Co., 49 West 21st Street, where the graduation exercises were held last Thursday evening. | 2. Commencement Timeliness brought out immediately after striking statement Address has local interest | ||||||||||||
Forty girls—Italians, Poles, Russians, Hungarians, Austrians among the number—received the first "certificates of literacy" ever issued by the Board of Education. Twenty weeks ago many of these young women could not speak English; many of them had never been to school a day in their lives. Every one present on Thursday night felt that this was indeed a commencement for these girls. | 3. Graduates Note concrete details Striking results emphasized by device of contrast Impression on audience of remarkable results | ||||||||||||
It is due to the instruction of Miss Florence Meyers, formerly a public school teacher, that the girls can now speak English, write good letters, make out money-orders, cash checks, and send telegrams. They have also been taught the principles of our government, the importance of personal hygiene, and the processes by which cotton goods used in their work are manufactured. | Teacher's name has local interest Additional concrete details of striking results | ||||||||||||
The school was organized this year at the suggestion of Dudley E. Sicher, head of the firm, in coöperation with the Board of Education, and has been under the supervision of Miss Lizzie E. Rector, Public School No. 4, Manhattan. | 4. School Principal and school have local interest. | ||||||||||||
What has been accomplished in this factory, which is the largest white goods muslin underwear plant in the world, will doubtless serve as an example to be followed by other firms. | 5. Example to other firms Veiled suggestion to readers | ||||||||||||
Its purpose the firm expresses in these words: "To hasten assimilation necessary to national unity, to promote industrial betterment, by reducing the friction caused by failure to comprehend directions, and to decrease the waste and loss of wage incidental to the illiterate worker." | II. PURPOSE OF SCHOOL 1. Firm's statement Statement in general terms | ||||||||||||
"When a girl understands English and has been taught American business and factory methods," says Mr. Sicher, "she doesn't hesitate and blunder; she understands what she is told and she does it. | 2. Head of firm's statement | ||||||||||||
"Intelligent employees do much better work than illiterate ones, and since we can afford to pay them better wages, they are much more contented. From a business point of view, the school is a good investment." | Statement in concrete terms | ||||||||||||
The instruction that has accomplished such remarkable results has been eminently practical. "There was no time to spend in teaching the girls anything but the most necessary things," explains Miss Meyers, "for I could have each one of them for only forty-five minutes a day, and there was much to be done in that time. | III. METHODS OF INSTRUCTION 1. Practical education Teacher's statement of her problem | ||||||||||||
"Here was a girl, for example, who could hardly say 'good morning.' Here was another who had never written a word in her life, either in English or in any other language. The problem was how to give each of them what she most needed in the short time allotted every day. This essentially practical training I organized under several subjects, each of which was broadly inclusive. | Problem concretely shown Statement of general plan | ||||||||||||
"When I undertook to teach letter writing, it meant teaching the English language, as well as writing and spelling. It meant teaching the geography of the country, the postal regulations, and the forms of business and personal correspondence. | 2. Letter writing | ||||||||||||
"In teaching arithmetic, I use money and show them how to make change by means of addition, subtraction, and division. I also ask them to keep personal expense accounts and to make out reports of the work that they do. | 3. Arithmetic | ||||||||||||
"Civics included American history, the lives of our statesmen—for these girls are so eager to be true Americans that they want to know about our great men—the origin of legal holidays, the merits of our system of government, the meaning of citizenship, and the essence of patriotism. | 4. Civics | ||||||||||||
"Hygiene is another important subject. American standards of living, personal cleanliness, and sanitary regulations have to be emphasized. To aid in counteracting the effects of long hours at the sewing machines, we have physical culture exercises. Instruction in first aid measures is also given so that they will know what to do in case of an accident. The nutritive value of different foods in relation to their cost is discussed to enable them to maintain their health by a proper diet. | 5. Personal hygiene | ||||||||||||
"As these young women are engaged in making muslin underwear, it seemed desirable for them to know where cotton grows, how it is spun, where the mills are and how it is shipped to New York. After they understand the various processes through which the material goes before it reaches them, they take much more interest in their work, as a part of the manufacture of cotton goods into clothing." | 6. Cotton goods | ||||||||||||
The use of the telephone, the telegraph, the subway, surface lines, and railways is another subject of instruction. A dummy 'phone, telegraph blanks, the city directory, maps with routes of rapid transit lines, and the telephone book, are some of the practical laboratory apparatus and textbooks that are employed. | 7. Means of communication Method of presentation in this paragraph changed for variety | ||||||||||||
"We encourage them to learn for themselves outside of school hours many of the necessary things that we have not time for in the classroom," says the teacher. | 8. Study outside of classroom | ||||||||||||
To reach the schoolroom in which this work has been carried on, you take the elevator to the last floor but one of the factory building. There you find only a portion of the floor space cleared for tables and chairs. It is a clean, airy room with big windows opening on the street, made gay with boxes of flowers. | IV. THE SCHOOLROOM 1. Location Note effect of using "you" | ||||||||||||
Flags of many nations about the room appropriately represent the many nationalities among the pupils. On one wall hangs a card with the legend: Four things come not back: | 2. Decorations Note character of decorations selected | ||||||||||||
A photograph of Miss Jessie Wilson, now Mrs. Francis B. Sayre, occupies the space between the two windows. The picture was presented to the girls by Miss Wilson herself, just before she was married, when a party of them with Miss Meyers went to Washington to give her a white petticoat they had made themselves, as a wedding present. After Miss Wilson had shown them through the White House and they had seen her wedding presents, she gave them this signed photograph. | This shows enterprising spirit on the part of teacher, girls, and firm | ||||||||||||
A piano and a phonograph at one end of the room make it possible for the girls to enjoy dancing during the noon hours on three days of the week, and to have musicals on other occasions. | 3.Furnishings | ||||||||||||
Shelves filled with books line the walls of a smaller office room opening off the schoolroom. On two days of the week during the noon hour, the teacher read aloud to the girls until they were able to read for themselves. Then they were permitted to take books home with them. Besides this, they have been encouraged to use the public libraries, after being shown how to make out applications for library cards. | 4.Library | ||||||||||||
"One girl is reading 'The Promised Land,' by Mary Antin," Miss Meyers tells you, "and thinks it is a wonderful book. She was so much interested in it that I asked her to tell the others about it. Although a little shy at first, she soon forgot herself in her eagerness to relate Miss Antin's experiences. She told the story with such dramatic effect that she quite carried away her classmates. If we had done no more than to teach this girl to read a book that meant so much to her, I believe our school would have justified its existence." | Concrete example has "human interest," as related in the teacher's own words | ||||||||||||
Mary Antin herself accepted the girls' invitation to attend the graduation exercises, and made a short address. | Is this paragraph out of logical order? | ||||||||||||
The pupils' written work was exhibited on the walls of the room on the occasion of the exercises, and showed conclusively the proficiency that they have attained. | V. RESULTS SHOWN BY PUPILS' WORK | ||||||||||||
The greatest progress made by any of the pupils was probably that of an Italian girl. Before coming to this country, she had attended school and besides this she had been teaching her father at night whatever she had learned during the day. Her short essay on her adopted country read: | 1. Italian's theme and progress Example of greatest progress is put first | ||||||||||||
This country is the United States of America. It is the land of freedom and liberty, because the people govern themselves. All citizens love their country, because they know that this freedom was earned by men who gave their lives for it. The United States is in North America. North America is one of the greatest divisions of the earth. North America was discovered on October 12, 1492, by Christopher Columbus. | Note use of narrow measure without quotation marks for examples quoted | ||||||||||||
The fact that Columbus, one of her countrymen, had discovered the country in which she and her father had found a new life, doubtless appealed to her keen imagination. | Is this comment by the writer effective? | ||||||||||||
That a Russian girl appreciated the lessons she had received in the value of opening a dime-savings account, is indicated by this composition: I must save money out of my earnings to put in the bank. I know that money is safe in the bank. To deposit means to put money in the bank. Cashing a cheque means changing a cheque for money. | 2. Russian's essay on saving | ||||||||||||
How practical lessons in personal hygiene may be emphasized in connection with the teaching of composition was illustrated in an essay of a Polish girl written under a picture of a woman combing her hair: | 3. Polish girl's essay | ||||||||||||
She wished to comb her hair. She takes the comb in her hand. She combs her hair. She wishes to brush her hair. She takes the brush in her hand. She brushes her hair. She combs and brushes her hair every morning. She washes her hair often with soap and water. | |||||||||||||
The pathetic eagerness of one woman of forty to learn to read and write was told by Miss Meyers in connection with one of the pieces of work exhibited. | 4. Woman of forty and her work | ||||||||||||
"She was an old woman; at least she seems to me to be over fifty, although she gave her age as only forty," explained the teacher. "She couldn't read or even write her name. Despite her age, she begged for a long time to be permitted to enter the school, but there were so many young girls who desired to learn that they were given the preference. She pleaded so hard that finally I asked to have her admitted on trial." | "Human interest" appeal heightened by quoting teacherverbatim | ||||||||||||
"It was hard work to teach her," continued Miss Meyers as she pointed to some of the woman's writing. The first attempts were large, irregular letters that sprawled over the sheet like the work of a child when it begins to write. After twenty weeks of struggle, her work took on a form that, although still crude, was creditable for one who had never written until she was over forty. "Her joy at her success was great enough to repay me many times over for my efforts to teach her," remarked Miss Meyers. | Progress in penmanship could not be shown by quoting exercise | ||||||||||||
The exact cost to the firm of conducting the school, including the wages paid for the time spent by the girls in the classroom, has been itemized by Mr. Sicher for the year just closed, as follows: | VI. COST OF SCHOOL 1. Expense to firm | ||||||||||||
| Short table of figures is comprehensible and not uninteresting | ||||||||||||
The Board of Education, for its part of the school, paid out $560 for the teacher's salary and for supplies. This was an expense of $14.80 for each pupil. | 2. Cost to Board of Education | ||||||||||||
The entire cost for educating each one of the forty girl workers, therefore, was only $31.60. | 3. Entire cost per pupil | ||||||||||||
That this money has been well spent is the opinion of the employer, for the school work increases the efficiency in the factory sufficiently to make up for the time taken out of working hours. | 4. Returns outweigh cost | ||||||||||||
"I would rather have these girls in my employ whom I can afford to pay from ten to twenty dollars a week," declares Mr. Sicher, "than many more whom I have to pay low wages simply because they aren't worth higher ones. From a business point of view, it saves space and space is money." | Head of firm's statement given to convince readers | ||||||||||||
That the result has been what the firm had anticipated in establishing the school is shown by the following statement which was made on the commencement program: "It is the present belief of the firm that the workers who have been thus trained have gained from 20 to 70 per cent in efficiency." | VII. SUMMARY CONCLUSION 1. Results quoted from program Note appeal of "efficiency" to practical readers | ||||||||||||
How much the girls themselves have gained more vital to them even than efficiency was very evident to everyone who looked into their faces as they received the certificates that recognize them as "Literate American Citizens." | 2. Impression given by girls Note patriotic appeal in closing phrase, which was a happy choice. | ||||||||||||
Another Article on the Same Subject. This commencement at the factory school furnished another writer, Nixola Greeley Smith, with material for a special feature story which was sent out by a syndicate, the Newspaper Enterprise Association, for publication in several hundred newspapers. Her story contains only 375 words and is thus less than one fifth the length of the other article. The author centers the interest in one of the pupils, and shows the value of the school in terms of this girl's experience. The girl's own account of what the school has meant to her makes a strong "human interest" appeal. By thus developing one concrete example effectively, the author is able to arouse more interest in the results of the school than she would have done if in the same space she had attempted to give a greater number of facts about it. Unlike the longer article, her story probably would not suggest to the reader the possibility of undertaking a similar enterprise, because it does not give enough details about the organization and methods of the school to show how the idea could be applied elsewhere.
The beginning of the shorter story was doubtless suggested by the presence at the exercises of Mary Antin, the author of "The Promised Land," who addressed the girls. The first sentence of it piques our curiosity to know how "the promised land" has kept its promise, and the story proceeds to tell us. The article, with an analysis of its main points, follows:
WONDERFUL AMERICA!
THINKS LITTLE AUSTRIAN WHO GRADUATES FROM FACTORY SCHOOL
| "The promised land" has kept its promise to Rebecca Meyer! | I. STORY OF REBECCA MEYER |
| Eight months ago an illiterate Austrian immigrant girl, unable to speak or write English, went to work in a New York garment factory. | 1. Striking statement beginning Note effective use of device of contrast |
| To-day, speaking and writing fluently the language of her adopted country, proficient in other studies, she proudly cherishes the first "certificate of literacy" issued by a factory—a factory which has paid her for going to school during working hours! | Second and third paragraphs show striking results in one concrete case. |
| It was Rebecca Meyer who received this first certificate, at the graduation exercises held on the top floor of the big women's wear factory of D.E. Sicher & Co. It was Rebecca Meyer who delivered the address of welcome to the members of the board of education, the members of the firm, her fellow employees, and all the others gathered at these exercises—the first of their kind ever held in any commercial establishment, anywhere! | 2. Commencement Note that Rebecca is the central figure Dash used to set off unique element |
| "Isn't it wonderful!" she said. "When I came from Austria, I hoped to find work. That was all. How I should learn to speak the English language, I did not know. It might take me years, I thought. That I should go to school every day, while I worked—who could dream of such a thing? It could not be in any other country except America." | 3. Rebecca's statement Slightly unidiomatic English is suggestive |
| Dudley E. Sicher, head of the firm, in whose workrooms a regularly organized class of the New York public schools has held its sessions all winter, stood smiling in the background. Mr. Sicher is president of the Cotton Goods Manufacturers' Association. It was he who conceived the idea, about a year ago, of increasing the efficiency of his women employees by giving them an education free of cost, during working hours. | II. STORY OF THE SCHOOL 1. Origin of school Note method of introducing head of firm |
| "One of the first and most noticeable results of the factory school has been a marked decrease in the friction and the waste of time caused by the inability of employees to comprehend directions. A girl who understands English, and has been enabled thereby to school herself in factory methods and conditions, doesn't hesitate and blunder; she understands, and does. And what then? Why, higher pay." | 2. Results of school Statement of head of firm |
| No wonder Rebecca Meyer is grateful for the 45 minutes a day in which button-sewing has given place to study—no wonder she thinks America must be the wonderland of all the world! | III. CONCLUSIONRebecca again made the central figure Appeal to reader's pride in his country. |
Articles Composed of Units. The study of the two special feature stories on the factory school shows how articles of this type are built up out of a number of units, such as examples, incidents, and statistics. A similar study of the other types of articles exemplified in Chapter V will show that they also are made up of various kinds of units. Again, if we turn to the types of beginnings illustrated in Chapter VII, we shall find that they, too, are units, which in some cases might have been used in the body of the article instead of as an introduction. Since, then, every division of a subject may be regarded as a unit that is complete in itself whatever its position in the article, each of the several kinds of units may be studied separately. For this purpose we may discuss five common types of units: (1) examples, (2) incidents, (3) statistics, (4) scientific and technical processes, and (5) recipes and directions.