THE VESTIBULE SCHOOL 
283 
in the shop itself and given over exclusively to the task of 
training incoming employees. Each of these methods has 
certain advantages and disadvantages. 
The first method has all the advantages consequent 
upon physical concentration. The centralized school 
makes it possible for one expert personnel worker to su- 
peivise the training of all novices, and thereby removes 
the diversities and inconsistencies which are sure to arise 
under a decentralized scheme. Second, it facilitates the 
process of trying novices out on different types of work in 
the event of their initial failure. Third, it serves as a kind 
of reservoir or safety valve by which to regulate the excess 
of workers in some shops and the shortage in ocher shops. 
Fourth, it acts as a reclaiming station to which old em 
ployees who have failed or outgrown their work can be 
sent for new instructions and encouragement. 
This method has its disadvantages as well. They 
appear in an analysis of the advantages of the decentral 
ized school. Under the latter scheme, the applicant, after 
having been tested and selected for a certain type of work, 
is at once sent to the shop in which this work is being 
carried on. There, at machines or benches reserved for 
that particular purpose, the applicant is immediately 
instructed in the exact work for which he is intended. 
The advantages of this method are as follows: First, the 
proximity of the pupil to the actual work of the shop en 
ables him to see at once what his environment and work 
are to be. If this environment and work are unsatisfac 
tory, the pupil will know it quickly, whereas if he is 
coached in a central school, at some distance from the 
shop and under slightly or considerably different condi 
tions, and then dislikes the shop to which he is sent, all 
the time spent on preliminary training becomes lost effort.