The Industrial Improvement Schools of Wuerttemberg - CONTENTS - TEACHERS COLLEGE RECORD VOL. v i i NOVEMBER, 1907 NO. 5 -- FORE WORD -- At the present time few matters pertaining to education have more significance for Americans than those which reveal the accomplishments of the modern German nation, and perhaps no feature of German educational progress means more to us to-day than that which pertains to vocational training. The memoir which is here printed is a study of the system of industrial and vocational schools in one of the smaller kingdoms of the German Empire. It sets forth briefly the economic conditions which hold in the kingdom of Wuerttemberg, the natural resources of the country and the system of transportation. It then traces the development in this environment of the system of industrial schools and the service which they render in the up-building and maintenance of the state. Such a study seems to me particularly opportune and the reading of this report answers the questions which the American is likely to ask. He desires to know how such schools arose, what the different kind of schools are, how the pupil is steered into them, and what part the vocational training plays in his preparation for life. In describing one of the smaller kingdoms of Southern Germany, Mr. Snowden has here made it possible for the American reader to understand and to trace the development of industrial education and the function which it plays in an agricultural and manufacturing state as he can only understand it by reading the actual story of some one of these states. -- PREFACE -- The report herewith presented is the outcome of some weeks spent in Wuerttemberg, during an investigation ofvocational training in Europe. Although many other states abroad have made noteworthy provisions to secure greater industrial efficiency, it is the t e r sbe lief that on the whole Wuerttemberg offers the experience most fruitful for our consideration at present. To be sure we do not have here a young giant of the democracies, rich in undeveloped resources, with the means within easy reach to recoup any youthful extravagances, but, rather, a tight-skinned monarchy that was in danger of paresis over a half-century ago, and almost as populous then as it is now. Moreover, fate had set it down in a hilly region that seems vastly more like a pleasant place to live in than a good place to get a living. Indeed, the fierce economic struggle of the early days drove thousands of Wuerttemberg citizens into permanent exile from the Fatherland. During the first five years of the last halfcentury the kingdom actually witnessed a diminution of sixty thousand in the total population. It was said that the country was overcrowded. Wuerttemberg had long been in the lead among the Teutonic states for general culture in education, a notable achievement, perhaps unappreciated abroad because of the political ascendency of Prussia. Still the population was too dense. Finally, those statesmen who had maintained that industrial efficiency makes its own elbow-room in the world were allowed to take such steps as would provide a broad vocational training for every one in the kingdom who could take advantage of the opportunity. Gradually but surely the country evolved within itself the elements of commercial stability and economic. independence that have placed it in the front rank of nations. The tide of 3 531Preface. 3 emigration has been checked, the population has increased rapidly, and the whole land shows evidence of general prosperity. Also there is more room than ever before. The story of this development, full of suggestiveness for America, is the theme of the following chapters...