APPRENTICE TOOLMAKERS AND MACHINISTS I r TJ
opinion of this boy, after seeing his work for a month, was
such as to raise his rank from tenth to fifth. If the indications
given by the tests are reliable, this boy will rise still
higher in the opinion of the foreman. There were several
similar cases. In one, the foreman’s original rank was
e 'ght, his subsequent rank four, and the rank in all the
tests four. Another man was ranked by the foreman first
as five, then as twelve, and by the tests as eleven. Still
another was twelve, then eight, and six in the tests. The
decided trend was to confirm the value of the ranks which
had been obtained on the basis of the tests. The eleventh
man according to the foreman was twelfth according to
the tests; the first, first; the tenth, ninth; the second,
third, etc. In brief, the testimony of the tests, given
^mediately by a half hour’s examination, was a remarkable
forecast of what the opinion of the foreman-instructor
^as to be after having known the men and trained them
Pensively for a period of several weeks.
No conclusive decision as to the value of these tests can
h e based upon only twelve cases. However, it is almost
^possible to obtain a large number of apprentices who
have been trained under uniform conditions, for an equal
^ en gth of time, by the same instructors. Preliminary to
l he experiment under discussion we had given seven
te sts to over two hundred apprentices in two of the largest
Manufacturing companies in the country. However, the
difficulties encountered in obtaining a uniform ranking of
fach apprentice were so great that it was practically
^possible to compute the significance of the tests. The
lri tensive-training shop presented greater uniformity of
c °nditions than had so far been met with.
^ addition to the day shift there were two evening
Masses. The pupils in these classes were tested and the
