PATTERNS OF WORKERS EDUCATION
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only a small student body, and consequently must make careful selection
among the applicants. The wrong type of worker may wish to attend merely
because he is able to pay, or has few responsibilities to keep him near his
home. These opponents of resident programs believe that irrespective of the
calibre of the students, the course is limited in its scope. By necessarily absent-
ing himself from his home community for a limited period, the student, with-
drawn from his everyday activities, loses valuable contacts, and eventually
must expend special effort to readjust himself to his own community.

Community programs, on the other hand, are said to provide for all who
wish to study. Participation does not depend upon the ability of an individual
to leave his job, absent himself from his responsibilities, or meet traveling
expenses. Local projects are said to enable workers to join organizations and
study while continuing at work. Education therefore may be continuous and
coordinated with daily living, instead of being an isolated experience.

Many people believe that both extra-local and local workers’ education have
value. However, they state that when economy necessitates a choice, the lat-
ter for the most part must be selected. They point out that resident schools
must maintain buildings, pay traveling expenses for some students, salaries to
teachers, and provide facilities as well as room and board for an entire
school. Since students rarely are able to contribute financially, scholarships
must be raised. In comparison, groups which develop local workers’ education
have few expenses aside from the cost of instruction and materials. Classes
may be held in offices or in public buildings and students do not have exten-
sive traveling costs.

Analysts of the situation claim that when expenses are low, labor support
and control are more likely, and that the major contributors to resident schools
have been liberal sympathizers and certain community groups, as well as, per-
haps to a lesser degree, foundations and national labor organizations. For
these reasons, it is feared that the program will be weighted by the non-
labor contributors. Accordingly, trade unions fear that their needs will not
be met, and at the same time settlement houses and other organizations con-
cerned with unorganized workers wonder about the advantages for their
groups.

Because of these criticisms, resident schools are surveying their activities
and instituting some changes. They desire that organized labor be repre-
sented upon Boards of Directors and Advisory Committees; they have sought

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