WAYS OF LEARING THE TRADE 
 
 
because the school is setting its wage standard a little high. If 
they are slow, it is not difficult to understand the reason for 
it. In the first place, they are not always forced to hurry while 
in the school through stress of work for impatient customers. 
In the second place, they are learning to do things which are 
new and strange for young fingers, and in order to do their work 
right they must do it slowly. Whether or not the more ad- 
vanced pupils could be speeded up as they become familiar with 
the various processes is a question to be answered by those with 
an intimate knowledge of the trade school. As for the con- 
tention that trade school pupils are "behind the times," that,

too, seems not difficult of belief. There is, no doubt, a very 
real danger that a woman who teaches a fashion trade will, 
unless she guards against it, lose touch with the dernier cri of 
the workroom as she takes on more and more a part of the class- 
room atmosphere. As regards the criticism directed against the 
personnel of the teaching force, inquiry brings to light the fact 
that some, though not all of the teachers in the millinery depart- 
ment, have had that long and intimate experience with the trade. 
A perusal of sundry annual reports of the school shows that in 
many instances the teachers of millinery have been for years 
in the trade but have had no experience whatever in Boston 
shops, so that, no matter how expert they may be in their knowl- 
edge of the technicalities of the trade, they cannot impart to 
their pupils that knowledge of local methods, conditions and 
demands, which would be so valuable an equipment to the young 
milliner. At times the school has numbered on its teaching 
force milliners whose experience is limited to a year in some 
Boston establishment. One cannot but doubt the efficiency of 
the teaching which is based on such slender trade expe- 
rience. 
   On the other hand, the constant demand of milliners for trade 
school girls as well as the reports of milliners interviewed, af- 
fords abundant proof of the value placed upon the training 
by the trade. Again, the trade school girl is found to feel the 
difficulties of the trade, its short and uncertain seasons, its low 
wage, its irregularity of employment and its lack of continuity. 
The wider knowledge she has gained and the better preparation 
 
 
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