The Expanded and Annotated My Life and Work

THE HENRY FORD TRADE SCHOOL
The Henry Ford Trade School (Highland Park, Michigan) offered 
an outstanding model that could easily apply to modern secondary 
schools. It was not merely a vocational school, as one might conclude 
from the phrase “trade school,” but a college preparatory school. Its 
graduates could command wages higher than those of many college 
graduates or, if they chose, go on to college themselves. Additional 
information is available from the Henry Ford Trade School Alumni 
Association at http://www.hftsaa.org.
The production of useful articles was among the key aspects of the 
Ford trade school. This not only made the school self-supporting, it also 
applied the motivation concept of task identity. The students’ realiza-
tion that they were actually making parts for Ford cars, as opposed to 
producing items that would simply be thrown away, doubtlessly helped 
to hold their attention.
* * *
I am not in sympathy with the trade school as it is commonly organized—the 
boys get only a smattering of knowledge and they do not learn how to use that 
knowledge. The trade school should not be a cross between a technical college 
and a school; it should be a means of teaching boys to be productive. If they 
are put at useless tasks—at making articles and then throwing them away—
they cannot have the interest or acquire the knowledge which is their right. 
And during the period of schooling the boy is not productive; the schools—
unless by charity—make no provision for the support of the boy. Many boys 
need support; they must work at the first thing which comes to hand. They 
have no chance to pick and choose.
When the boy thus enters life untrained, he but adds to the already great 
scarcity of competent labour. Modern industry requires a degree of ability 
and skill which neither early quitting of school nor long continuance at school 
provides. It is true that, in order to retain the interest of the boy and train 
him in handicraft, manual training departments have been introduced in 
the more progressive school systems, but even these are confessedly make-
shifts because they only cater to, without satisfying, the normal boy’s creative 
instincts.

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192  •  The Expanded and Annotated My Life and Work
To meet this condition—to fulfill the boy’s educational possibilities and 
at the same time begin his industrial training along constructive lines—the 
Henry Ford Trade School was incorporated in 1916. We do not use the word 
philanthropy in connection with this effort. It grew out of a desire to aid the 
boy whose circumstances compelled him to leave school early. This desire to 
aid fitted in conveniently with the necessity of providing trained tool-makers 
in the shops. From the beginning we have held to three cardinal principles: 
first, that the boy was to be kept a boy and not changed into a premature 
working-man; second, that the academic training was to go hand in hand 
with the industrial instruction; third, that the boy was to be given a sense of 
pride and responsibility in his work by being trained on articles which were 
to be used. He works on objects of recognized industrial worth. The school 
is incorporated as a private school and is open to boys between the ages of 
twelve and eighteen. It is organized on the basis of scholarships and each 
boy is awarded an annual cash scholarship of four hundred dollars at his 
entrance. This is gradually increased to a maximum of six hundred dollars if