Shown here in the July 1943 issue of Radio Retailing Today are students in one of the successful radio courses offered by Sewanhaka Central High School in Floral Park, Long Island, New York.

In addition to the school’s 300 hour “pre-induction” course in radio, the class shown here is probably the “radio mechanics group,” which consisted of 20 boys and 7 girls building radio receivers. The school offered a four year electrical course which included radio, and also offered a class in light assembly, made up entirely of senior girls, in which special emphasis on soldering was stressed.

Owing to wartime labor shortages, local dealers made the most of the opportunity, and many students were employed by local radio shops, to the mutual advantage of both student and employer. While many trained employees were hired off by industry, one local dealer is quoted as saying that it was entirely pracical to secure the services of students after school or during vacations.

The article noted that the public school system was the nation’s largest business, and had the finest equipment and best teaching talent at their disposal. They provided the radio dealer with a solution to the critical labor shortage in the radio repair business.