THE VESTIBULE SCHOOL 
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into the selection and retention of an employee. One of 
these is the effect of novelty. A new employee who is 
plunged suddenly into a totally new environment is very 
likely to lose his confidence and to become discouraged 
to the point of giving up his work. This tendency is more 
marked in women and girls than in men. The training 
school should be conducted in such a way that the new 
employee is placed, from the outset, under the encourag 
ing care of a sympathetic instructor. The presence or 
absence of a sympathetic instructor in an enormous num 
ber of cases is the difference between success or failure on 
the part of the new employee. Again, a new employee 
plunged into the midst of the work which he is intended 
to do is likely to become discouraged when he sees the 
great difference between his own clumsy efforts and the 
highly skilled actions of the experienced workmen who 
surround him. A training school shields a new employee 
against such a damaging contrast until his own skill more 
nearly approaches the skill of those with whom he is 
destined to work. Again, a preliminary period of training 
makes it possible to instruct the new employee in the cus 
toms and practices of shop work in general. For example, 
he can be taught the meaning and use of the lot system, 
how to make out a time ticket, how to make a claim for 
short pay, how to arrange for absences, and numerous 
other details which play so important a part in making 
the employee feel at home in a shop. 
Finally, the presence of a vestibule school removes the 
necessity of hiring applicants for the immediate needs of 
the moment, and thereby makes possible a much wiser and 
more farsighted selection. Under the present system, it 
usually happens that some office or shop suddenly needs a 
stenographer or a group of operators, and needs them at