training. If the great majority of the children who will later enter
wage-earning occupations do not remain in school beyond the end of the
compulsory attendance period, and in addition over half fail to
complete even the elementary course, vocational training, to reach
them at all, must begin not later than the seventh grade, and if
possible, before the pupils reach the age of 14.




CHAPTER V

INDUSTRIAL TRAINING FOR BOYS IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS


In Chapter III the distribution of the wage-earners of the city was
outlined, mainly for the purpose of establishing a basis on which to
make a forecast of the future occupations of the children in the
public schools. Such a forecast is essential as the preliminary step
in any plan of vocational training to be carried out during the school
period, for the reason that without it a clear understanding of the
principal factors of the problem is impossible. The kinds of
vocational training needed by children in school, and how and where
such training should be given, must always depend in the first
instance on what they are going to do when they grow up.

The average elementary school in Cleveland enrolls between 350 and 400
boys. When they leave school these boys will scatter into many
different kinds of work. With respect to the future vocations of the
pupils, the average school represents in a sense a cross section of