ABSTRACT
The most remarkable fact about the present system of recruiting and training young workers for skilled industry is that in all essential points it is exactly the same as the method introduced more than 800 years ago for an entirely different economy. When this system was formalized by the Statute of Artificers in 1562 it was already old in practice. The earliest extant records of apprenticeship are private contracts between individuals which stipulate for a premium to be paid, or certain years of service to be given in return for specified teaching, and by the thirteenth century this type of contract began to be authorized and regulated by the Guilds. The education provided by the Guilds rested entirely on a domestic basis. Apart from his own sons the master craftsman might have only one apprentice who received board, lodging, clothing, discipline and instruction as one of the family. When he entered a household the apprentice passed under the protection of the Guild, which furnished a Court of Appeal against ill-usage or defective training, 1 and guaranteed ultimate attainment of mastership. When the Statute of Artificers was passed the objective was to make this method of training young workers uniform for all occupations. But this arrangement was not only a technical training, it was the only system of education that existed for the general population. It was the master's responsibility to teach his apprentices much more than his craft; by admitting him to his household he was expected also to initiate him into the customs of society and bring him up in ways of godliness.
