The Most Important Civic Raw Material: Educating Cincinnati’s Industrial Citizens in the Early Twentieth Century

The Most Important Civic Raw Material': Educating Cincinnati' s Industrial Citizens in tbe Early Twentieth Century JEFFREY HAYDU and educators believed that they had crafted a modern system of y the second decade of the twentieth century, Cincinnati employers education for industry. Cincinnati machine tool manufacturer Ernst DuBrul boasted of the city' s vanguard role at the 1906 National Association of Manufacturers'meeting. The city,he told assembled brisinessmen,was well on its way to integrating into a single system the various levels of industrial training. DuBrul went on to itemize the tiers of a new educational hierarchy. Public schools provided all students with some basic, allpurpose manual training;trade schools turned out skilled wc,rkers ;continuation schools upgraded some craftsmen into foremen; technical schools produced superintendents;and,at the pinnacle, universitylevel technical training programs served our managers and businessmen."Civic pride may have gotten the better of DuBrul when he claimed that Cincinnati was on the cutting edge 4% S of education reform. There is no doubt, however,that vocational training in Cincinnati had come a long way in the nineteenth century from mechanics' training to industrial education. In fact, for much of the nineteenth century, leaders at the Ohio Mechanics Institute had championed educational programs befitting the citizenmechanic of republican tradition. Their early twentieth century counterparts adopted a more frankly utilitarian approach 43 7*r-DV Fjf tailoring education to the demands of industry. They also assumed,in contrast to the republican tradition,that various ranks in the industrial hier- Ernst DuBrul portrait archy had different educational needs. This transformation in the character of ftc} m Tbe Business Men' s industrial training is familiar to historians of education,as are its alleged causes, Club, 1902. Cincinnati Mitseu, 11 Center. Cincinnati above all the technological demands of modern industry and the demise of Historical Society Library republicanism: But was this supposed transformation so complete as it seems? Perhaps not. In fact,elements of the republican tradition remained alive and well in the thinking of many employers about industrial education. Indeed, the goal of vocational training remained not just to enhance human capital SPRING 2005 55 THE MOST IMPORTANT CIVIC RAW MATERIAL' but also to mold the city's " most important civic raw material." 3 Individual students then would gain moral character as well as useful skills,and industrial education woiild have civic as well as econ() mic benefits. But there had been a change by the turn of the century in the cc,litent of that nioral character and the perceived relationship between civic and econoinic communities. Technical issues, as well, while they nlay have posed problems for employers, hardly uaraiiteed that eniployers would solve them. The reason is that a properly b educated industrial workforce is what economists call a public good, and as with other public goods, free riders tiiay put it out of reach. The generic solutioii for this dilemma in cc, Ilective actioii is trust,and for Cincinnati eliiployers 01»le 1111 ) Ort. ili t sou rce o f tr ust lay in republ ica 11 ism,a civic ideology and practice that remained central to industrial education in the city. ncii}tiati nianutacturers and master craftsmeti founded the Ohio Mechanics Institute iii 1828 to advance " the best interests of the liiehanics , maiiufacturers, . ind artis. 711s, by the niore general diffusion of useful knowledge. The institute offered regular classes, periodic popular lectures,and a library to encourage wholesome reading and relaxation. These prograins aililed tc,equip young men fc,r selfimprovement by combining educatioii in " Niathematical and Physical Sciences" and " Operative Mechanics" r In with ethical instruction in " History,Metaphysical and Moral Sciences. this uplifting work, the Institute joined siniilar institutes in Worcester,1ynn , Wilmington,Providence,and other iiidustrial cities: How did OMI le: iders envision the goals of industrial education? For one thing.they would have found the very idea of education specific to industry to be pernicic,us. The welltrained worker, according to early OMI printed prc, grains, was intended to be a republican producer,a man who combined artisanal skill, economic independence, and equal citizenship. No clear line divided a man's occupational worth from his civic virtues. Nor did OMI educatois...