Thanks for this, Walter. There once existed Industrial Schools, and orphanages assigned older kids to intern in the community to learn a trade. Your post illustrates two points of that era and earlier: young adults living at home financially contributed to the household, and education prioritized technical, marketable skills. Today, we rarely see either. As a formally educated NYS educator. I've seen HS grads who can't tell time w/o a digital clock, balance a checkbook, compose a business letter, create a budget, understand loan repayment interest, change a tire, and add a portion of their earnings into to a savings account. Kids are shoved into colleges that lowered standards. Becoming a craftsman is no longer a viable alternative; it holds no social status. Yet, we're surprised that so many manual jobs are being outsourced? Barb Metro NYC Researcher [email protected] writes: > > http://brooklynhistory.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/bhs_v1973.6.430. > j > pg > > If the above URL breaks-up, then try: > http://tinyurl.com/3m3m7v7 > > Circa 1922, the above image shows students at the Brooklyn Continuation > School. > > In the early twentieth century, many boys and girls who could no longer > attend school because they needed to help their families earn income went > to > continuation schools, like the one pictured here, in order to learn > various > vocational skills, which would help them find work. Young people would > often work at a job in the morning and then take classes at a > continuation > school in the evening. > > Factory owners wrote hundreds of letters praising continuation school > programs as they promised to create more highly skilled workers. Boys and > girls > enrolled in separate programs, based on gender, in the same building. > They > studied woodworking, electrical wiring, type-writing, salesmanship, and > tailoring. Students from Brooklyn Continuation School (BCS) were in > particularly high demand as workers. BCS’s students were 97% employed in > industries > throughout the city and the school had the highest percentage of employed > > students in New York. > > BCS was located near the corner of Ryerson Street and Myrtle Avenue, > within walking distance of numerous elevated train lines. Each day > hundreds of > students would attend classes. Today, BCS continues to operate with a new > > name and location. Renamed George Westinghouse High School and located in > > Downtown Brooklyn, the school continues to offer hands-on learning in > addition > to the standard school curriculum of math, language arts, science, and > history. Mirroring the development of Brooklyn industry, the school > teaches > classes on technology management, eyeglass design and production, website > > design, and robotics. > > From: http://brooklynhistory.org/blog/ >