THE VESTIBULE SCHOOL
28l
in psychological examination he must still be able to deal
with his pupils in a sympathetic and understanding fashion.
In order to conduct the various courses of study
contained within the school curriculum, he must have a
knowledge of the principles and methods of education.
Added to this, he must be experienced in the methods
of office work in order that he may continually adapt
the work of the school to the changing needs of the
office.
Besides fulfilling the three principal purposes outlined,
the vestibule school contributes toward the solution of
employment difficulties in several other ways. In the
first place, such a school can serve as a center to which
clerks already employed can be sent to brush up on some
particular operation. Frequently, an employee becomes
discouraged with his work, or his supervisor becomes dissatisfied
with him, and it appears that the employee is to
be lost to the company. If such an employee is sent into
the training school, a little supplementary coaching, or a
trial at a different kind of work, may result in a renewed
and valuable worker, good for another period of contented
usefulness. In the Larkin Company, the manager of the
school alone is authorized to discharge an office employee.
If the services of an employee are unsatisfactory, the
school first of all tries to bolster up that employee or fit
her for some other kind of work. In this way, a great
conservation in human material is effected and the labor
turnover is materially reduced.
Such a school can further act as a safety valve or a
shock absorber for the office as a whole. Frequently there
is a surplus of help in one part of the office and a scarcity
in another part. The office vestibule school can equilk
brate this condition by serving as a center from which
