CHAPTER IV

CO-OPERATIVE WORK

By co-operative work is meant the system at present in operation in a
number of the New York City high schools by which certain students,
who are taking vocational courses, work in pairs alternating between
school and position. Generally one student spends a week in school
while his comrade is working in the office or shop. At the end of the
week the two students change places, the student in the shop return¬
ing to school and his place being fiUed by the student who has had a
week in school. Positions for students in factories, shops, and offices
are found by the co-ordinator, a special teacher in each high school.
The selection of the student to fill a position is also made under his
direction, and careful supervision of the student's work is a part of
the co-ordinator's duty. The employment is more or less related
to the class-room work.

In the Seventeenth annual report of the city superintendent of
schools for 1914-15 in the section on part-time co-operative and con¬
tinuation classes. Associate City Superintendent John H. Haaren
closes his part of the report with his conclusions under ten headings.
The following seemed of special importance from the standpoint of
the present study:

The experience of less than a year with the co-operative system
seems to prove the following:

6.  That the time spent by co-operative students in employment
does not necessarily prolong the period of high school attend¬
ance for graduation.

7.  That the plan provides a means by which pupils who would
otherwise have to leave high school may continue their educa¬
tion.

9. That the student is keener and more alert in his school work
after entering upon the co-operative course.
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