As in other trades, all workers and prospective workers need a general knowledge of industrial conditions. They would greatly benefit from a better understanding of the supply of labor, factors affecting prices, organization of workers, industrial legislation, the relative importance of the field of employment in different industries, the nature of important industrial processes, and the like. At the present time there is little opportunity for gaining such information either before entering any specific line of work or afterwards.
For certain small groups within the clothing industry there are needs in the way of technical training that are important and at present unsupplied. Training in applied mathematics, drafting and design would be of benefit to a considerable number of employees who are occupying or working towards advanced positions.
A large proportion of the women workers need skill in hand sewing. Before girls enter the industry they should have careful and systematic training in plain sewing stitches, sewing on buttons and other fasteners, and button hole making.
Machine operating is the most important occupation in the industry, and employs more women than any other occupation in the city, except perhaps dressmaking. After a careful study of the characteristics of this occupation and the various conditions affecting it, the survey reached the conclusion that there should be established by the school system a trade course for prospective power machine operators.
In the elementary schools manual training sewing is given in the fifth and sixth grades. It consists of one hour a week of hand sewing taught by a regular grade teacher or sometimes by teachers of domestic science or other special subjects. The aim is to give the girls a knowledge of practical sewing which may be of use to them in the home. In five of the elementary schools hand and machine sewing is taught by special sewing teachers. About four per cent of all the seventh and eighth grade girls in the elementary schools receive this instruction. In the technical high schools the sewing course covers four years work. During the first two years all girls are required to take plain hand and machine sewing three and three-quarter hours a week. In the third and fourth years they may elect either millinery or dressmaking, and special courses in these subjects are provided for girls who wish to prepare for trade work. The aim of the sewing course as stated in the outline of the East Technical High School is "(1) Preparation for efficiency in the selection of the materials used in sewing and the construction of articles relating to the home and family sewing: (2) laying the foundation for courses in college, normal school, or business school." A two year elective course in sewing is provided in the academic high school as a part of the home economic course. The aim of this sewing, which is called domestic art, is stated thus: "Problem--my personal appearance is one of my chief assets. What can I do to improve it?" Dressmaking and millinery classes are conducted in the night technical high schools to teach girls how to make their own clothes and hats.