Career College Central

Subscribe at www.careercollegecentral.com 9 MCGRAW- HILL'S DEEP ROOTS In 1888, James H. McGraw, a teacher in upstate New York, purchased the American Journal of Railway Appliances. At the same time, John A. Hill was working as an editor at Locomotive Engineer. Over the next 15 years, the two men pursued their separate careers specializing in technical and trade publications. In 1899, McGraw incorporated his publications under the heading of "The McGraw Publishing Company." In 1902, John Hill followed with "The Hill Publishing Company." The book departments of the two companies eventually merged to form The McGraw- Hill Book Company, with John Hill as president and James McGraw as vice president. Upon the death of John Hill in 1916, James McGraw became president, and, in 1917, he merged the remaining parts of both companies to form The McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Inc. The McGraw-Hill Publishing Company published its first vocational textbook in 1919: "Mechanical Drawing for High Schools" by French and Svenson. The book is published to this day under the title "Mechanical Drawing: Board and Cad Techniques." This foundation, built upon the technical and trade publications of both McGraw and Hill, proved to be the basis of The McGraw-Hill Publishing Company's dedication to vocational job training. It is the foundation on which The McGraw-Hill Companies of today are built. The McGraw-Hill Companies have been involved in vocational training and career colleges, directly or indirectly, for nearly 130 years. As one of the few remaining American-owned educational publishers in the world, McGraw-Hill continues to serve the needs of students seeking job skills and better lives for themselves and their families. to deliver more practical education to both genders. And there were inventions created to meet the needs and productivity of businesses that all influenced the growth of the burgeoning new sector of education. e invention of shorthand was a major spark for the growth of career colleges. In 1888, the Gregg system was invented by Irish-born John Robert Gregg, and it was different from other shorthand systems. Gregg's "Light-Line Phonography" system used a phonetic alphabet, was based on the cursive movements of longhand and utilized brief forms of common words. Gregg later founded a publishing company in New York and a chain of Gregg Schools in London that were established to teach his shorthand system. Sixty-one years later, the Gregg Publishing Company was purchased by McGraw-Hill Publishing Company and became the division of McGraw-Hill devoted to vocational education. With a strong foundation in the career college sector, the Gregg Division of McGraw- Hill eventually evolved into the Career College Division of McGraw- Hill Higher Education, which now exclusively serves the needs of career colleges and their students. A major invention: 1868 Maybe the biggest revolution for career schools was led by the invention of the typewriter in 1868. e instrument brought about another major change in the American workforce as the enormous growth of business- related paperwork ensured that the time-saving typewriter was here to stay. Almost immediately, career colleges began adding courses in typewriting instruction to their list of programs. Women began flooding schools to acquire what was becoming an invaluable job skill. In many ways, the typewriter ushered in the transition from men to women in clerical positions in American businesses. Soon, typewriting, accounting and shorthand became the core courses in the business education curriculum in most career colleges. ey remained the bread-and-butter courses for many schools for decades — until the introduction of the computer. Look for more installments of the Heritage Series in future editions of Career College Central. Kevin Kuzma's feature writing, essays and short stories have appeared in The Kansas City Star, Urban Times, Review, Ink Magazine and Present Magazine. You can contact Kevin at kevink@imagine-america.org. KEVIN KUZMA CONSULTING EDITOR

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