Northeastern University - Cauldron Yearbook (Boston, MA)

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Ofte (ttaul nm, 1917 of many such young men, for it obviously would enable them to finance their education by the returns from their outside work. Furthermore, in such an educational plan, unless it extends for more than four years, which seems to me undesirable for many reasons, only the essential subjects, required in the profession, can be taught, hence such entrance requirements as the modern languages, his- tory, literature, etc., do not seem to be necessary and hence can be omitted. Under these conditions many stu- dents could easily prepare to enter such work by taking special high school subjects in the last two years of their course. On the other hand, to carry on work of engi- neering character and grade, requires a mental maturity that is not ordinarily found in students younger than high school graduates, and so while the specific, scholastic requirements might be reduced to such fundamental sub- jects as English Composition, Mathematics and Physics, the general requirements in regard to character, demon- strated capacity, and maturity of mind, must be very rigid for such an entrance basis to be efficient. The foregoing considerations led to the basis adopted for entrance to the School, namely, graduation from a high school, or its equivalent, and entrance examinations in English, Mathematics and Physics, supplemented by a careful consideration of the candidate ' s fitness, as deter- mined by our inquiries in regard to his personal character, ability, attitude toward study and work, as furnished by school officials, employers, and others with whom we com- municate in regard to him. It should be borne in mind that we are fully impressed with the desirability of a broad, general education, and the inclusion of general subjects in any college curriculum, but in a course of this kind it is felt that the fundamental object is to fit the stu- dent to occupy a definite position in a very limited time, and hence only the necessary training can be given thoroughly. Another, and very important, advantage in such part- time education, is the opportunity it affords the student to find himself. The combination of school studies and practical engineering, brings home to the student, in a way accomplished by no other means, just what his chosen life work is to be, and early shows whether he has made the right choice, or not. Our experience has de- monstrated that this is one of the greatest advantages of this type of education for a large number of men. Being, then, in hearty sympathy with the idea, having the neces- sary conditions for carrying it out, and not being ham- pered by traditions, or unsympathetic committees, it was decided to give the plan a trial. The next move was to get some engineering concerns to agree to take our students on the part-time basis. Through the efforts of the organization then known as Boston — 1915 the following firms were persuaded to take our students : The Boston Elevated Railway Co., The Boston and Maine Railroad Co., The Boston and Al- bany Railroad Co., and The Boston Consolidated Gas Co. The next work was to get out a prospectus, which was done in typewritten form, and sent to about fifty high

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Of tie OJautfinm, 191 7 Sjiaturg uf tlje QJ u-nueratiue S rijinil uf Engineering f O fully understand as unusual an idea as that car- I I ried out by the Co-Operative School of Engin- eering, it is necessary to recognize certain funda- damental educational conditions, which naturally are not given much consideration by the average person. Thus it has seemed desirable, and necessary, to pre- face this brief history of the School by some general remarks, which, I hope, may serve to explain the reasons for certain things we are doing, which differ from some of our preconceived ideas of higher education. In the spring of 1909 I was appointed Dean of the Evening Polytechnic School of the Department of Edu- cation of the Association and, as part of my duties, was also to take charge of all technical courses offered in the day, the first of which were to be started in the fall of that year. Before the opening of school in September, the pros- pectus of a proposed part-time engineering school, about to be started by a mid-western Association, came to my attention, and gave the starting impetus to the idea which since has developed into the Co-Operative School of En- gineering of Northeastern College. Upon looking into the courses already offered in the Polytechnic School, and those contemplated for the day school, it was found that the essential subjects of en- gineering work were either already being given, or would be in the fall, and that by a combination of day and evening courses we would be justified in starting Co- Operative Courses in Civil, Mechanical and Chemical En- gineering for high school graduates. For several years, previous to taking up the work in the Department of Education, I had taught in high schools, and had been greatly impressed by the large per- centage of students who were graduated from the high school and were unable, for various reasons, to continue their education to fit themselves for specific positions in the community. Two of the greatest obstacles were : First, lack of money, and second, lack of the complete preparation that the colleges and technical schools re- quired. To attend college for four years required from $800 to $1200 capital, for tuition and books alone, and a student had to plan all his work for four years in high school with this end in view. It was practically impos- sible for one to start on any course, save the college preparatory one, and get the required work done ade- quately for admission to college. This condition natur- ally resulted in a great many, who took the commercial, or general courses, on entering high school, and later found their ability and finances to be such as to justify a college, or technical training, being debarred from such further education because they could not make up all the requirements demanded by the higher institutions. The part-time plan of engineering education seemed to me to be a great stride in the direction of taking care

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She (Eautormt, 191 7 schools in, or near Boston. At last in the fall of 1909 the courses opened with eight students ; two taking the Civil Engineering Course, who were assigned to the Boston and Albany Railroad Co., two taking the Mechan- ical Engineering Course, who were placed with the Boston Elevated Railway Co. ; three others taking the Mechan- ical Engineering Course, two of whom went to the Bos- ton and Maine Railroad Co.. while the third was em- ployed by the Boston Consolidated Gas Co., having as his alternate the eighth student who took the Chemical En- gineering Course. The men worked in pairs, alternating between the School and the employing firms at one week- intervals. At school they took Drawing, Chemistry. Physics, and English in the day, and Mathematics and Surveying in the evening. Thus the first year of work started with four students in school, who exchanged places with the other four at the close of each weekly period. There were in all, four instructors, who taught on a part-time basis, coming in only at the regular hours for each subject, either day, or evening. From the first the plan demonstrated its capacity for successful opera- tion. The students made excellent progress with the em- ploying firms, and at school showed the capacity for hard, intelligent work that is so essential an element of success. During this first year the Association Building on Boyl- ston Street was destroyed by fire, and the school work was omitted for a short period. Soon, however, we started again in temporary quarters at the Boston Young Men ' s Christian Union, and later were housed at Ashbur- ton Place. The headquarters of the students at this latter place was a small room about ten feet by six feet, on the top floor, which was just capable of holding four desks crowded closely together, with the four chairs for them, and a very small table for the instructor and one chair. The blackboard was about five feet by four feet in area. By the late spring of 1910 we got out a small printed prospectus of about sixteen pages, which was mailed to about one hundred high schools and, in addition, I visited many of the high schools to personally explain the work we were doing. In the fall of 1910, the courses opened with about thirty-eight students, two more part-time instructors, and several more firms employing the students. By the close of that year, it was demonstrated that the idea was not only entirely feasible, but met an absolute need in the community, that was cared for by no other agent. As a result, the Co-operative Courses were changed to the Co-Operative School of Engineering, with myself as Dean, and have since been continued on that plan. Thus in September, 1911, the School opened for the first time as a complete entity, with about sixty students, eight part-time instructors giving courses in the day, the evening work for the men reduced to only two subjects, and several more firms employing the students. Also an additional Course, Electrical Engineering, was added to the curriculum. 1912 and 1913 saw still further growth in the enrollment, and the spring of 1913 saw the first