VOL. 6, NO.5 SCHOLARSHIP AND EMPLOYMENT RECORD 011 STUDENTS
93 1
SCHOLARSHIP AND EMPLOYMENT RECORD OF EVENING STUDENTS* JOHN C. OMENAND GUBERTB. L. SMITE,THEPOLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK
This paper gives the results of a study which was made of the scholarship in evening classes, and the employment during the day, of young men taking courses in chemistry and chemical engineering at the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn in the evening. These courses are of standard college grade and are taken for the purpose of fitting the students for professional work as chemists or chemical engineers. The study was a natural corollary of an investigation carried out in 1925-26 by a committee of the faculty of Polytechnic a t the request of the "Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education" on Cooperative Engineering Education.' As the Evening Session of the Polytechnic provides instruction for men employed during the day, some in technical positions and some in positions which may be termed non-technical, it was thought that a study of their scholastic and employment records might throw some light on the educational advantages of technical employment for the student of engineering and chemistry.
Method of Study I
._, 1
mi,
Records were available of the grades given tf these young men during the entire period of attendance a t the Polytechnic Institute. No attempt E was made to include scholastic records obtained elsewhere. At the Polytechnic Institute A indicates the highest standing. This grade is not generally given to more than 10% of the class. B indicates more than average achievement and C fair to average achievement. This grade is given to a large percentage of the class. D indicates failure to pass, with the permission to take a reexamination after suitable preparation. A large proportion of those receiving a D grade take the subject over again. The grade E is given for such a bad failure that the subject must in every case be repeated. All of the grades of each student were tabulated and the students divided into groups of A, B, C, and D students by the following method: An A student is one who has a majority of A's. A B student is one who has a majority of A's and B's. A C student has a majority of C's. A D student is one who receives a grade of D or E in most of his subjects and who is obviously failing in his scholastic work.
* Read before the Division of Chemical Education at the 76th Meeting of the American Chemical Society, September 12, 1928, at Swampscott, Mass. 1 Bull. No. 12 of the Investigation of Engineering Education, S. P. E. E,, May, 1927.
Info~mationas to age, years employed, salary, and character of employment was ohtained by means of a questionnaire which the students were asked to fill out. Salary was given either in the actual amount received or by means of letters with the following indication: Below $25.00 per week $25.CKM34.M)per week 835.00-345.00 per week More than $45.00 per week
D C ,
B A
Under "character of employment," "technical" indicates that a man is working in some capacity as a chemist, generally in a laboratory, although some of the young men were employed in plant work involving chemical processes. The evening courses at the Polytechnic Institute, as carried on, parallel the day courses as to content of the course and proficiency acquired by the students receiving the same grade. Full credit is given to evening students who transfer to the day courses for courses passed in the evening classes. Such transfers are often made. The actual time devoted to instruction in the evening in a given subject is generally somewhat less than that assigned to the equivalent day course. This is feasible because the evening student generally makes more rapid progress in a given time than the day student, probably on account of being older, more mature, and putting forth greater effort. Evetjng courses are generally given by the same professors and instructors who give the equivalent day courses. In general, the evening student takes only half as many courses in a year as the day student on account of the limited amount of time and therefore a four-year day course generally requires eight years for its completion in the evening. For convenience of study and comparison, the results of. this study have been tabulated, resulting in thirty tables. We first prepared tables using the actual number of students found in each category. These absolute tables are given under Roman numerals from I to XXX. We then calculated the percentage of students in each category and have these percentage figures in a column parallel with that giving the number of students. In each case two tabulations have been made. For instance, tabulation has been made for age against salary and salary against age. Summary of AIL Data While the total number of students for whom data was secured was 171, all of the desired information was not ohtained for all of the group as will be noted from the following tables:
VOL.6, No. 5 S C H O L A R AND ~ ~EMPLOYMENT P RECORD OP STUDENTS Years. at PolyUchnic
Scholarship B
A
Total no. Percent
C
D
N o grade
10 52 78 22 5.8 30.4 45.6 12.8
1
9 5.2
2
Total no. Percent
3
Salary
7
A
+T
6 14 25 19 26 6.7 15.5 27.8 21.1 28.9 21-22
-20
Total no. Percent
5
A@ 23-25
Over 4
3-4
71 27 23 41 43.8 16.7 14.2 25.4
Years Employed 1
933
B
'
C
D
21 16 25 16 27.0 20.4 33.3 19.3
Character of Employment 28-30
'
+30
54 18 22 26 40 13.7 16.3 25.0 33.8 11.2
Technical
Noo-technical
67 62.6
30 37.4
From these data i t would seem that the mortality among evening students is higher than that of day students. So far as grades show, their scholastic work is about normal. They are older than the average undergraduates and a majority are in technical employment. Almost half are earning 835.00 per week or over. Tabulation of Data and Discussion of Results TABLE I Years at Polytechnic 1
Scholarship
A B C
D
2
Pa
NO.
cent
6 16 34 15
60 30.8 43.6 68.2
No.
Per cent
3-4
Per NO. *cent
over 4
Per
NO.
cent
1 20 20
10 38.4 25.6
Scholarship Years at
Poly
A
Per
technic
NO.
cent
1 2 3 4
6
8.4
3 1
13 2.4
over 4
B
NO.
Per cent
C NO.
Per cent
D NO.
Per eent
15 5 2
21.1 18.5 8.7
A study of I1 shows a steady decline in the percentage of D grades and a corresponding increase in B and A grades with increasing number of years' attendance a t Polytechnic. This probably results in part from the tendency of poorer students to drop out, leaving a larger percentage of successful students to make up the long-term group. It is experienced, however, in many individual cases that students do show a decided mi-
provement in ability with increasing number of years spent at Polytechnic. The proportion of C's remains constant. SCHOLARSRIP VS. YEARSEMPLOYED TABLE 111 Years Employed Scholarshh
Years
employed
1 2 3 3-5 6-7
Over 7
2-3 Per
1
No.
Per
No.
cent
A No.
Per cent
3
7.1 12
2
7.7
1
Per
B
Over 7 Per
6-7 Per
3-5
NO. cent
No. cent
cent
No.
C
D
cent
No.
Per cent
No.
Per cent
No.
cent
2 3 7 8 10
40 21.3 28 42.1 38.4
3 6 14 8 12
60 42.8 56 42.1 46.1
4 1 3 2
286 4 15.8 7.7
Per
! Table IV shows very little correlation between the number of years employed and scholarship. ThqL seems to be a slight tendency to better scholarship with increasing number of years employed. The same general tendency is shown by Table 111.
Scholarship
A
B C
D
A
B Per
D
C
Per
Per
No.
rent
No.
cent
No.
Per cent
No.
cent
1 10 7 3
20 40 17 37.5
7 6 1
28 14.6 12.5
2 5 14 3
40 20 34.2 37.5
2 3 14 1
40 12 34.2 12.5
Scholarship A
B
Per
Per
C
Sdaw
No.
cent
No.
cent
No.
A
1
4.8
2 2
8.3 10
10 7 5 3
47.6 50 20.8 15
7 6 14 14
B C
D
Per
D
Per
cent
No.
cent
33.3 42.9 58.3 70
3 1 3 1
14.3 7.1 12.5 5
Table VI showed a very marked correlation between salary and scholarship, 70.8y0 and 75% of the men receiving C and D salaries receive C and D grades in scholarship while only 49.9% of the B salary men and 47.6% of the A salary men receive C and D scholarship grades. It would appear from this that in giving the scholarship grades the same factors were taken into consideration as those which determine the salary grade. This is not always true of college scholarship grades. Table V would seem to show that the A scholarship men do not receive as high wages as the B scholarship men who seem to receive the highest salaries, 68Y0 receiving A or B salaries. The C scholarship men receive low salaries, only 31.6% receiving A and B salaries, while 50% of the D scholars receive A and B salaries.
Scholar shin
25-30 Per
+30Pu No. rent
22-24 Pcr No. cent
No. cent
TABLE VIII
Per
C
B
Age
No.
cent
No.
-20 20-21 22-24 25-30 +30
2 1 2 4 1
10 4.5 4.8 8.3 5.5
6 6 9 18 8
20 Per No. cent
*
Scholarship A
-
20-21 Per No. cent
Per cent
30 27.3 21.4 37.5 44.4
No. '
9 11 23 22 7
D
Per cent
45 50
54.8 45.8 38.9
Per
No.
cent
3 4 8 4 2
15 18.2 19 8.3 11.1
From Table VIII it appears that the group of 22-24 years are the poorest students, only 26.2% receiving A or B grades, the largest percentage of C's and D's being found in this group. Improvement is noticed with the younger men, while the oldest group above 30 shows the best scholarship, 49.9% having received A or B grades. This comparison is made with scholarship and two groups, one of which is engaged in technical, the other in non-technical employment. Table X shows that the group which is technically employed maintains a decidedly higher scholarship, 42.8% of this group against 32.4% of the other group receiving A or B grades. Table I X does not show this relation because of the inequality of the number of the two groups.
SCR~LAR~HIP VS. CHARACTER OR EMPwYAIENT TABLE IX Character of Employment Scholarship
NO.
A B C D
4 23 29 7
Techmica1 Per cent
Non-technical NO. Per cent
66.7 74.0 63.0 63.6
2 8 17 4
33.3 26 37.0 36.4
TABLE X Scholarship B
A
Char. of em.
Tech. Non-tech.
C
No.
Per cent
No.
Per cent
No.
4 2
6.3 6.4
23 8
36.5 25.8
29 17
-
D Per
Per
cent
No.
cent
46 54.8
7 4
11.1 12.9
Table XI shows that the evening students a t Polytechnic have in many cases been employed a good many years before coming to the Polytechnic. For instance, 84.2% of those who have spent one year a t Polytechnic have been employed more than one year, the periods ranging from two to seven YEARSAT POLYTECHNIC VS. YEARSEMPLOYED
T*BLEXI Years EmlJoyed 1 Years at Poly.
1 2 3 4
over 4
2-3 Per
per NO. cent
NO.
6 15.8 1 7.1 0 0
6-7
3-5
NO.
cent
7 18.4 4 28.6 2 10 1 4.4
9 5 10 5
cent
NO.
Per cent
23.7 35.7 50 21.7
.7 2 3 6
18.4 14.3 15 26
Per
Over 7 Per
No. rent
9 2 5 11
23.7 14.3 25 47.9
TABLE XI1 Yews at Polytechnic 1
Years
bmplwed
3-5 6-7 over 7
No,
9 7 9
2 Per cent
31 38 8 33.3
NO.
5 2 2
3-4 Per
over 4
Per rrnt
No.
cent
No.
Per cent
17.3 11.1 7.4
10 3 5
34 4 16.7 18.5
5 6 11
17 3 33 3 40.7
years. The other groups show similar conditions. This does not necessarily mean that these young men worked as long as this before seeking more education. Many of the evening students a t Polytechnic have taken evening courses a t other evening schools in the metropolitan area.
YEmS AT POLYTECHNIC VS. SALARY TABLE XI11 salery B
A
Years at
Per
Poly.
No.
2 6 3 10
1 2 3 4 over 4
D
C
Per
Per
Per
cent
No.
cent
No.
cent
No.
cent
5.6 46 21.5 66.7
7 2 5 2
19.4 15.4 35.7 13.3
15 3 5 2
41.7 23 35.7 13.3
12 2
33.3 15.4 7.1 6.7
1
1
TABLE XIV Yews nt Polylechnic I Salary
2
per cent
No.
No.
.
3-4
Per cent
Per cent
No.
Over 4 Per
No.
cent
Table XI1 shows that a small proportion of the men began their evening work a t Polytechnic before they secured employment. Table XI11 shows a very decided trend toward increase in salary with increase in time spent a t Polytechnic. Only 25% of the men having one year a t Polytechnic receive A and B salaries, while 80y0of the men who have spent over four years a t Polytechnic receivp A and B salaries. This is also shown by Table XIV. YEARSAT POLYTECIINIC VS. AGE! .
Years at
25-30
+30p.r
Poly.
NO.
cent
1
7
9.6
over 4
9 23
20-21
2%24
Per
NO, cent
Per NO. cent
23 31.5
16 21.9
19 48.7
10 25.6
NO.
-20
Per cent
NO.
TABLE XVI Years at Polvtechnic 1
-
,
2
Age
NO.
Per Cent
-20 %21 22-24 25-30 +30
18 9 16 23 7
78.3 40.9 37.2 42.6 38.9
3-4
Per
N ~ . cent
4 5 10 6 1
17.4 22.7 23.3 11.1 5.5
.
NO.
1 7 7 6 1
Per cent
Over 4
NO.
.
Per cent
Per
rent
Undoubtedly salary increases in general with age so that the increase in salary noted in the preceding paragraph may be due to increase in age SALARY VS.YEARSEMPLOYED TABLE XVII Salary B
A
Years
em~loyed
3-5 6-7 over 7
Per
C
Per
D
PC?
PFT
NO.
cent
NO.
rent
NO.
cent
NO.
cent
4 4 12
17.4 33.3 54.5
6 3 5
26 25 22.7
7 3 5
30.6 25 22:7
6 2 0
26 16.7
TABLE XVIII Years Ernfiloyed . . 2-3 per No, cent
1
Salary
Per No. cent
3-5 No.
over 7
6-7
Per
cent
per cent
No.
No.
Per
cent
with years a t Polytechnic. Table XV gives this comparison. Comparing Table XV with Table XI11 it will 'be noted that there is no such decided increase in age as there is in salary. F a instance, the percentage of each group over 25 years old from one year a t Polytechnic to over four years YEARSAT POLYTECHNIC VS. CHARACTER OP EMPLOYMENT
TABLE XIX Character of Employment Years at Polg.
NO.
1 2 34 over 4
20 11 17 19
Technical
Non-technical Per cent
NO.
Per cent
50 73.3 89.5 79
20 4 2 5
50 26.7 10.5 21
TABLE XX Ycers at Polytechnic Char. of em.
2
1 per
No.
Tech. 20 Non-tech. 20
Per
cent
No.
cent
30 64.5
11 4
16.4 12.9
3-4
No.
17 2
Per
over 4 Per cent
cent
No.
25.4 6.4
19 5
28.3 16.1
are, respectively, 41.l%, 26.8%, 31.5%, and71.7%, while the corresponding figures showing the percentage receiving A or B salaries are 25%, 61.4%,
57.2%, and 70%. This would seem to indicate a decided influence of education as well as age upon earning capacity. Table XVII and XVIII show a rather uniform increase in salary with EMPLOYED vs. AGE YEARS TABLEXXI Age 22-24
25-30
Years employed
+30p.r No. eent
Per NO. cent
.
Per
NO. rrnt
20-21
-20
Per
Per NO. cent
NO. cent
6 100 3 25 1 4.2 3 16.6
1 3 7 3 3
25 29.2 16.6. 11.5
TABLEXXII
. Years Employed 2-3
1
Per
Age
No. cent
-20 2&21 2%24 2530 +30
6 46.1
3-5 Per NO. cent
Per
NO, cent
3 23.1 3 18.8 6 27.3
1 7.7 7 43.7 8 36.4 8 25.8
s7 Per NO. cent
3 3 6 6
ovcr 7
Per NO. cent
23.1 18.8 27.3 19.4
3 18.8 2 9.1 17 54.8 4 100
the number of years employed, although thereare quite a few exceptions where high salaries are obtained after only a few years' employment and, on the other hand, low salaries are earned by many young men who have had long experience. For instance, in Table XVIII 4.8y0 of the group CHARACTER OP EMPLOYMENT VS.YEARSEMPLOYED TABLEXXIII Character of Employment Years employed
No.
1 2 3 3-5 6-7
5 10 16 13 21
aver 7
Per cent
Non-technical No. Per cent
71.4 76.9 55.2 81 77.7
2 3 13 3 6
Technical
28.6 23.1 44.8 19 22.3
TABLEXXIV Years Erngloyed . ~
1 NO.
cent
2-3 Pa NO. cent
Tech. 5 Non-tech. 2
7.7 7.4
10 15.4 3 11.1
Char. of
em.
Per
6-7
3-5 No.
Per cent
16 24.6 13 48.1
No.
Per cent
13 20 3 11.1
ovcr 7
Per
NO. cent
21 32.3 ' 6 22.2
earning A salaries have worked only three years, while 20.8% of the group which is earning C salaries have worked more than seven years. Table X I X as well as Table XX show a decided tendency toward entering technical employment in connection with education a t the Polytechnic. These tables also indicate that by no means all students leave non-technical employment. Undoubtedly, chemistry is often studied for its cultural value and interest in the subject. Tables XXI and XXII give the relation between age and years employed. These tables show great variation between the age a t which this group of young men started working. Many of them evidently started working SALARY VS.AGE TABLE XXV solnry A Age
NO.
C Per cent
No.
Per cent
TABLE XXVI
Salary
+%r No. cent
25-30 Per No. cent
22-14
Per
No.
cent
2W21 Per No. cent
-20 No.
Per cent
when quite young and later found the means and opportunity offered by the Polytechnic to continue their education. Tables XXIII and XXIV would seem to indicate a strong tendency for young men to remain in the kind of employment in which they started as there seems to be very little change in the percentage of those in technical employment with the number of years employed. Tables XXV and XXVI show a fairly close correlation between salary and age. The relation is very much closer than between salary and years of employment. Apparently age is a much more important factor than experience with this group of young men. Tables XXVII and XXVIII would indicate that age has no influence on the character of the employment as between technical and non-technical work.
Tables XXIX and XXX indicate that the young men in technical employment are receiving somewhat higher salaries than those in nontechnical employment. For instance, in Table XXX, 30.9% of those in technical employment receive A salaries, while only 17.3% of those in non-technical employment receive A salaries, and a much larger perAGEvs. CHARACTER OR E M P L O ~ N ~
TABLE XXVII Character bf Employment
'
Teehnieal No. Per cent
Age
10 12 16 25 2
-20 20-21 22-24 25-30 +30
No"-technical Per cent
No.
76.9 66.7 72.7 75.7 50
3 6 6 8
23.1 33.3 27.3 24.3
.
2
50
TABLE XXVIII A "ee Char. of em.
-20
20-21
Per
NO. cent
NO.
Tech. 10 15.4 Non-tech. 3 12
22-24
Per
NO.
cent
12 18.5 6 24
.+%.
2630
Per
Per
cent
16 24.6 6 24
NO, cent
NO. cent
25 38.4 8 32
2 3.1 2 8
centage of the non-technical young men 'receive D salaries than those in F tcchnical employment. This is very interesting in view of the rather widespread impression that technical men are poorly paid as compared with those in other employment. This is certainly not true of the young men attending the Polytechnic Institute. vs. CHARAC~ER OF EMPLOYMENT SALARY TABLE XXIX
Character of Employment Salary
NO.
A
Technical per cent
17 10
A
Non-technical NO. per cent
4 6
81 62.5
19 37.5
TABLE XXX Salarv Char.
of em.
Tech. Non-tech.
B
A
Per
NO.
cent
17 4
30.9 17.3
NO.
10 6
Per
C
D
cent
NO.
Per cent
No.
cent
18.2 26.1
18 7
32.7 30.4
10 6
18.2 26.1
Per
Conclusions
It is realized that these data are not extensive enough to enable one to draw broad conclusions. They do, however, show interesting tendencies and are therefore considered worthy of recording. The more important tendencies shown by this study are as follows: (1) Technically employed students do better scholastic work as evidenced by their grades than do non-technically employed students. (2) Technically employed students receive better salaries than the non-technically employed students. (3) Age is the most important factor in determining a student's earning capacity. (4) Students with good scholastic grades receive higher salaries than students with fair or poor scholastic grades.
