The Place of the High School in Commercial Education
It is a commonplace that European countries, and especially Germany, have in the last decade been striving with particular earnestness to make their schools perform a function in the training of business men. England, France, and Belgium have perhaps not been overenthusiastic n the attempt, but they have been by no means inactive; and while they have not kept pace with the strides of Germany, it is yet true that each country has made distinct progress. In England, owing to the comparatively backward state of the whole educational system, the problem is particularly difficult. And consequently, so far as day instruction isconcerned, only the merest beginnings of an adequate system can at present be discerned. In all of the Continental countries of importance, however, commercial education, both in quality and in quantity, has gone far beyond the elementary stages. Very naturally we look to Germany for the most significant ventures in this new field of educational endeavor, for enterprise in this direction is merely in harmony with the theory of German education. Those who have read Dr. Cooley's highly instructive report on foreign schools are familiar with the general plan and scope of commercial education in Germany. For my present purpose it is sufficient toemphasize one striking difference between the German system and our own. Relatively speaking, no great progress in commercial instruction has been made in the German secondary schools. Training of this kind is provided chiefly in the schools of continuation and of college grade. Of the former there are hundreds. They are everywhere, supplementing the business experience of the youth, as he gets it in actual employment, with thoroughgoing instruction in business affairs. The German continuation school has its counterpart in this country in our evening instruction but is far superior to anything we are able to do here, partly owing to the hold which the business school has on the German youth, and partly because to compel the attendance in day schools of pupils actually engaged in
- DOI
- 10.1086/252201
- Volume
- 21 (3)
- Pages
- 209-220
- Language
- en
- Export
- BibTeX
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