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The Official Publication of The William Hood Dunwoody Industrial Institute

Vol. V

DECEMBER, 1919

No. 3

Dunwoody as a Touchstone

By DR. C. A. PROSSER, Director.

Through many ages men have had a curious belief in certain kinds of stones. They believed that when people touched these stones or rubbed themselves with them or wore them as charms, great benefit was obtained in one way or another. In time these peculiar stones came to be called touchstones, because when you touched them in any way they helped you.

One of the most familiar of these is the Blarney Stone in Ireland, which when you kissed it brought to you the gift of gab, the ability to talk wisely and entertainingly on any subject. The charms worn by savage nations are simply touchstones put on the human body to ward off evil spirits or give great strength or gain for the owner good luck.

In their love for Old Mother Earth the Greeks believed that a certain power came to them whenever they touched her, because when they did this they rebounded with renewed strength. One of the curious stories in the Twelve Labors of Hercules tells how Hercules on his way to get the golden apples from the garden of the Hesperides met a king named Antaeus, a very old, old man dressed in skins. Hercules who engaged in a desperate fight with him was of course much the stronger, but the old king was wiry, so that every time Hercules threw him to the ground Antaeus came back with renewed strength. In the struggle Hercules was almost overcome. It was not until he seized the old man and held him aloft in his arms so that he could no longer reach the earth

as a touchstone that victory came to the great hero.

There is a large amount of wisdom in the tale of the Greeks. Old Mother Earth is the source of all our wealth, and those who live close to her, dig into her, cultivate her, gain not only food but fresh air and strength and the homely virtues of life. That is the meaning of the "back to the farm" and "back to the garden" movements.

There is a sense in which a school like Dunwoody is a touchstone for the ambitious boy or man. From it the student gets the strength he needs for his work and his life as a workman and as a citizen.

In the class rooms at Dunwoody, day, part-time and evening, the ambitious student gains skill in the practice of an art and a knowledge that prepares him for a master of his calling. Any trade or pursuit remains on a low level except as training gives the worker an opportunity to improve his service and prepare himself to work efficiently for a larger wage and promotion. Out of the contact with the school as a touchstone the boy, before he goes to work at all, or the man, when he comes back for future training, gains inspiration and power. He gains inspiration because his ambition is quickened. He measures himself with other men and finds out where he stands. He becomes conscious of his own shortcomings and desires to improve himself so that he may stand better in the trade and hope for a better position. He becomes conscious of the dignity of his

calling and the worth of his services in proportion as the school as a touchstone offers to him a knowledge of the requirements of the trade and the theory which he must master if he is to have any power of growth and promotion.

Men cannot gain power or growth by work alone. Instruction in the technique, the technical requirements, the theory of his craft or his occupation are necessary also. He can no more expect to get ahead rapidly in this modern age without the help of training than he can pull himself from the earth by tugging at his own boot-straps.

The most gratifying thing about Dunwoody to my mind is the way in which it is serving as a touchstone for the wage workers

of Minneapolis and Minnesota. The day classes are now crowded beyond capacity and a long waiting list of boys is anxious to touch the magic stone of training, skill and knowledge before they go to work. The number of part-time classes is slowly increasing, in which the worker comes for a part of the day in order that from the class room he may go back to his work equipped by contact with the school for larger usefulness and power for the future. The evening classes of the institute are crowded with the workmen who, having gone to work, realize their shortcomings and are willing to make the sacrifice of evening study as preparation for the future.

All of these are building up a wage earning asset through the magic of the touchstone of study by the student and service by the school, which no one can take away from him, which "moths cannot corrupt, or thieves break through and steal." You can take away anything from a man in this world except his character and his ability to do a thing well. These live as long as he lives, and can be renewed by return to the school as a touchstone just as certainly as the strength of King Antaeus was renewed when he rebounded from the earth.

Perhaps the most gratifying of all things connected with Dunwoody is the growing number of boys and men, many of them former students, who after going to work, have

the vision and ambition to give up their employment for a period and return to the day school as a touchstone where they can get the thing they need as the way out to promotion and happiness in a shorter time than through the usual courses of the evening or part-time school. There are certain and sure rewards for all those willing to make this kind of an effort and a sacrifice. Dunwoody is particularly anxious to encourage in every possible way ambitious boys and men to take this best method of advancing themselves in their chosen occupation.

WATCH US GROW.

THE NIGHT SCHOOL.

Students of this wonderful institution be

longing to units Nos. 1, 2, and 3 of electrical department have organized a social club. Mr. Eyres has been elected president; Mr. Hammar, vice-president; Mr. Engstrom, secretary; and Mr. Guinn, treasurer.

On November 26th we had a splendid plate dinner at Dunwoody Cafeteria. There was plenty to eat, good music and stories galore. After eating we "smoked up," called the meeting to order, and by popular vote it was decided that the club be known as The Dunwoody American Club.

The meeting was adjourned and we moved to the clubroom where games of bowling, pool and billiards were played.

We expect this little club to benefit us in numerous ways. It will train us to get up and talk intelligently to men of our own vocation on subjects of interest, to discuss any difficulty that may arise in our work, to give some new idea that any one may experience in his line of work and last, but not least, to have a good time with business and quite frequently to forget "shop" and enjoy the pleasures of living in a clean, wholesome man

ner.

My advice is for some of the students who enrolled in our class the first of the season and have dropped out, to re-instate themselves so as to derive the benefits of the school and club together.

CHAS. R. SCHRYVER.

Organization and Administration of a Vocational School

By H. W. KAVEL, Asst. Director.

Probably few people realize the nature of the demands made on a vocational school or the problems involved in organizing courses to meet these demands. A vocational school differs from the ordinary school in many respects.

First of all, its aim is to offer training to people for definite wage earning occupations. This eliminates general courses and substitutes specific courses. It means a course in machine shop mathematics as applied to the machine shop problems instead of general mathematics. It means chemistry applied to live problems in the bake shop instead of general chemistry. It means shop training in a specific trade and, often, in a subdivision of the trade, such as pressman in the printers' trade, rather than general shop training in several trades, such as the term manual training implies.

Second, the vocational school deals with the people as they are, giving credit for what they have and supplementing this with what they need to fit them for a particular job. People, as they are when the apply at the door of the vocational school, include:

(a) Young men who come directly from other schools, from eighth grade, high school, college, from fifteen to twenty-five years of age, and with little or no trade experience.

(b) Young men who come directly from the industry with from eighth grade to college training, who have had trade experience in varying degrees.

(c) Men who have had limited schooling but wide trade experience, from twentyfive to forty years of age.

(d) Men handicapped as a result of the war, with varying educational attainments and trade experiences, to be retrained to en

ter industry, and who, in the near future, will be succeeded by civilians who have been handicapped in industry, a movement which is now under way as a result of recent legislation.

(e) Men of widely differing natural abilities, which are even wider than the differences in schooling and of which previous schooling is only a partial index.

(f) Men with a wide range in aims, though taking the same course. One man takes a unit as final preparation, another man takes it as a link in the chain.

Third, the vocational school admits people in some courses every six months, some every month, and some every week. If the vocational school is to meet the needs of the people, schedules for courses must be made flexible so as to admit students when it is possible for them to attend.

Fourth, the vocational school, to serve the largest number of people who apply for training, must have a variety of courses, including: Day, evening, part time, dull season, and correspondence schools, varying in length from one week to two years; short intensive courses for mature people, with a back-ground of trade experience, who come from the industry. to prepare for the next step up, sometimes foregoing wage earning, sometimes during a slack in the trade, sometimes sent by their employers; and longer courses for young men preparing to enter industry or for those with trade experience who can forego wage earning to take further preparation.

The easy thing to do and the conventional thing to do is to select from the large group by limiting the membership to only those who can be grouped together in a course on the basis of similarity in age, schooling, and experience, and to deal with only these. No

vocational school can do this and meet the needs of the community.

The problems involved in dealing with these seven variables-schooling, trade experience, age, time of entering, length of

course, varied natural abilities and range of student aims and some of the successes and failures in handling these problems will be discussed in a series of articles in THE ARTISAN.

The Evening School

By M. R. BASS, Principal, Evening School.

The Evening School is continuing to receive new applications for the various courses. To date there are over 1,900 students enrolled in its seventy classes. Quite a large number of the students have completed unit courses and have received credit for this work. Certificates will be issued at the end of the school year to all students, who satisfactorily complete any unit course. It appears that quite a large number of the Evening School students will be in line for diplomas at the end of this semester as quite a number of them have attended our Evening School classes in previous years.

There are a number of students who do not realize the importance of securing a certificate or diploma from Dunwoody Institute. Most employers recognize the Dunwoody certificate or diploma and are very anxious to see that their employees are given credit for the work, which they may take in the Evening School. We have one case of an employer who allows his men to leave work early and pays them for their time in order that they may get to class on time. We also have several cases in which employers pay the Dunwoody registration fee for their men. This is certainly a mark of interest displayed by employers and is surely an indication that they are anxious to recognize the man who is trying to get ahead in his work.

Some of the courses are full to capacity and we still have men on the waiting list. Some of these classes are in machine shop work, automobile and welding. A few students have left the school due to the fact that they are working nights or have left the city and as fast as vacancies occur they are filled up by students on the waiting list. By the

first of the year it will be possible to handle quite a large number of men in all branches of the work offered in the Evening School because a number of the men will have completed unit courses by that time.

Two general mass meetings were held last month for the Evening School students, who were enrolled in the Monday and Tuesday night classes. night classes. The object of these meetings

was to point out that Dunwoody is doing much for them and that we wish to increase their spirit in the work by offering them the advantages of the gymnasium and other free facilities. Moving pictures are now being shown in the gym on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 6:45 to 7:15. These films are of an industrial nature, showing the manufacture of various articles. There are also several reels of a travelogue nature, which have proven very interesting to the men. Gymnasium classes are being organized and students are taking hold of the work very nicely.

Christmas vacation will begin on Monday, December 22, and will continue until Friday, January 2. There will be no Evening School classes held during this vacation period and students should govern themselves accordingly.

The following unit courses will begin in December:

AUTOMOBILE.

Dec. 4,1919-A-2. Transmissions, Clutches and Steering Gears.

10 Lessons

Study of transmissions in general; transmission gears and lubrication; Owen magnetic transmission; general study of clutches, includ

ing cone clutches, multiple disc and dry-plate types; the external contracting clutch; threeplate clutch; relining and adjustment of cone clutches; general study of steering gears, including wheels and tie rods; aligning wheels and study of steering gear mechanisms. Dec. 15. 1919-A-3.

Engines and Lubrication.

30 Lessons

Comparative study of theory and operation of the two- and four-cycle engines; six-cycle operation, the differential piston type; study of semi-Diesel and Diesel principles and operation; crank-case construction; crank-shafts, types and construction; engine bearings; flywheels; connecting rods and bearings; fitting bearings; study of cylinder types, T-cylinder, L types, valve-in-the-head engines; study of valves and valve construction; valve areas and lifts; vale grinding; timing; removal of carbon; pistons, types and construction; piston rings, leak-proof types; valve tappets; cam shafts and cam gears; pump and piping; thermo-syphon cooling; study of radiators; radiator repairing and lubrication of the entire

car.

Dec. 16, 1919-A-3.

Same as Above.

Dec. 17, 1919-A-3.

Same as Above.

Dec. 10, 1919—A-4. Carburetors.

10 Lessons

Study of principles of carburetion; fuels; distillation and refining of fuels; heat values; history of carburetors; theory of carburetors; mixing valves; carburetor construction, floats, inlet valves, air valves; jets; single jet type; double jet type; multiple jet carburetors; metering pin types; compensating jets; manifold construction and its effect on carburetion; effect of firng orders; velocity of gases; heating devices; jacketing; two-cycle carburetors; kerosene carburetors; study of commercial types such as Holly, Schebler, Stromberg, Stewart, Zenith, Master, Kingston, Rayfield and others.

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