Class I O i 4-3. Book_ &£ __ Copyright^! COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. asfoerjsitie Ctuicatfotrai jHoitogtap^ss EDITED BY HENRY SUZZALLO PROFESSOR OF THE PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION TEACHERS COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY THE PROBLEM OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION BY DAVID SNEDDEN, Ph.D. COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION FOR MASSACHUSETTS HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY BOSTON, NEW YORK AND CHICAGO <®bz ftitoet$tie pre$S Camfcri&0e V* C^io COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY ALL RIGHTS RESERVED v©CLA268256 INTRODUCTION It is life which trains men — life abounding in deeds and thoughts, among men and things. Wherever there is vital interaction between a mind and its world there is real education. Edu- cative power is, thus, broadly distributed. Its centres of influence are the social institutions — school, home, church, vocation, and neighbor- hood life. Together they bear the total work of training men, with all the economy and efficiency which comes through a division of labor. In pro- portion to the relative strength and weakness of their structures, they supplement and reinforce one another. This distribution of educative power among the social institutions is by no means a fixed division of burdens, set once and for all by tradi- tion or reason. The needs of society lay their heavy demands now upon one agent, now upon another. And in the shifting currents of social progress, some institutions once powerful are left weakened, if not helpless, while other institutions wax strong to meet the demands of the time. The homes of the urban industrial classes have iii . INTRODUCTION not the moral influence over children exercised by the family life of the farmer ; the church grips fewer members with its theological doctrines than it did a century ago ; the trades do less for their apprentices in the modern factory than they did when lodged in the household; the press has more influence ; libraries are more plentiful ; and the school has grown to be a modern giant where once it was a puny babe. The same old institutional forces beat upon the nervous sys- tems of men, but the relative distribution of their work has changed, and is changing. In all these variations of influence, one strik- ing tendency stands out clearly : As the agencies for incidental and informal education become in- capable of training men for their complex en- vironment, society, becoming increasingly self- conscious, gathers up the neglected functions and assigns them to the school, the one institution entirely under its control. As church and family life ceases to keep pace with the moral demands of our intricate social life, the problem of moral education becomes conspicuous in the schools. As the work and play of children, under the con- ditions of city life, become restricted so as to deprive them of robust physical activities in the fresh air and sunshine, the school is called upon iv INTRODUCTION to combat the danger with systematic physical training. As factory and shop employment be- comes specialized and scientific, and the system of apprenticeship fails to make good workmen, the obligation to train efficient employees is thrust upon the schools. Just now the shifting of vocational education from the field of industry to the school is the crucial problem of our school organization. The schoolmaster is confronted with the task of dealing with a problem alien to his experiences and contrary to his traditions. Our schools have always been dominantly cultural in their aims, but the new vocational training must be prac- tical. The old education, in order to maintain national solidarity, dealt with a common stock of facts, habits, and ideals necessary to all men ; the newer type of training, which is to supple- ment this traditional culture, is as variable and as specialized as men's occupations. A thousand difficult questions are raised that school tradition cannot answer. The schoolmas- ter must grope for his solutions in the few estab- lished facts of his new case and build new methods, which will often be radical departures from all that his conservative mind has known and revered in scholastic standards. In accept- INTRODUCTION ing responsibility for the vocational training of American children, the school plunges itself into a period of transition, in which old ideals are futile and new ideals but half -discovered. Clear think- ing, the great need of the moment, is obscured by the controversies that inevitably arise when two sets of traditions, born of two separate in- stitutions, are suddenly thrust together in a con- flict which dulls tolerance, increases vehemence, and destroys poise. Only slowly, and under care- ful leadership, are the fundamental lines of solu- tion laid bare. Already, however, the fundamental principles that must guide us in the organization of voca- tional education have been revealed. A broad social point of view, more inclusive than the nar- rower visions of either the traditional schoolmaster or the industrial leader, tempers local traditions, reconciles opposition, and constructs new poli- cies. A close study of experience at home and abroad in the matter of industrial training is con- cretely suggestive of what can and cannot be done in the domain of organization and teaching method. Such a measure of our educational ex- perience in vocational training, as may be con- servatively presented at the present time, is here outlined, with suggestive interpretations and vi INTRODUCTION clarifications of the necessary terminology. It is offered in the faith that it will be of practical assistance in leading both the public and the professional mind into safe channels of thought and action. THE PROBLEM OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION Some General Distinctions If we consider the educative process broadly, we discover that a variety of agencies contribute to it. Under ordinary circumstances, the child learns writing in the school, language in the home, religious ideas in the church, games on the play- ground, and practical skill in the workshop. The theatre, the newspaper, and the club also con- tribute to his stock of knowledge, ideals, and habits. Within limits, the educative function of these various institutions is specialized. In the home, the child acquires the fundamentals of moral training, as well as a variety of physical habits and accomplishments. The home being woman's chief workshop, the girl acquires there 'also the knowledge and skill that make for her eventual vocational efficiency. Some homes also contribute the manners, interests, tastes, and knowledge that we call culture. In the workshop or on the farm, the boy ordinarily acquires the kind of education that eventually fits him to earn i THE PROBLEM OF a livelihood, to be a producer. The school gives its share of education in the school arts (reading, writing, number, drawing, etc.), and the begin- nings of literature, history, and science, as ele- ments of culture. The playground gives not only skill and means of physical development, but on it are developed a variety of the habits and atti- tudes which are moral or social in their nature. The newspaper, library, and the stage give not only a range of knowledge, good or bad, but also contribute to the unfoldment of vocational and social ideals and appreciations. A further examination of the entire educative process will show that, as developed by each of the above agencies, it varies largely in degrees of purposivenessand artificiality. The child learns the family language through the simple and easy exercise of the instincts of imitation; the begin- nings of vernacular language require no salaried teacher. On the other hand, the teaching of Greek requires specially trained teachers, and a conscious adaptation of means to ends ; it pre- sents the aspects of an artificial and regulated process. The normal child on the playground, with no oversight, and no artificial direction, ac- quires a wide range of powers and knowledge ; but special instruction and appliances are neces- 2 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION sary to teach military drill or various forms of gymnastics. The teaching of reading is a pro- cess requiring usually much skill and conscious method ; but once the mechanics are acquired, the growth of reading habits and the acquisition of knowledge in this field may proceed to a certain extent without teachers in an environment of books and newspapers. The boy on the farm acquires many forms of vocational skill with prac- tically no conscious or purposive teaching ; but the metal-worker's art, and the engineer's know- ledge require careful and expensive education of an artificially organized kind. We thus see that a consideration of the educative process in any field requires that we consider the learning which is possible without expensive and purposive ad- justments (unorganized education), and that which in greater or less degree demands them (organized education). Again we may consider the entire educative process from the standpoint of the various ends or purposes which may be kept in view in select- ing and appraising means and methods. All ordinary education readily lends itself to a four- fold division in this connection, (a) There is the kind of education whose chief aim is to produce and preserve bodily efficiency, such as health, 3 THE PROBLEM OF strength, and working power. This we call broadly, physical education, (b) Next is the kind of edu- cation whose chief aim is to promote the capacity to earn a living, or, expressed in more social terms, the capacity to do one's share of the productive work of the world, (c) A third form of education is that designed primarily to fit the individual to live among his fellows. Religious education, moral instruction, and training in civics contribute to this end. (d) There is furthermore the kind of education that aims to develop intellectual and aesthetic capacities, apart from any practical use to which these may be put. This education is frequently designated by the term "cultural," but in a somewhat special sense of that word. The two last divisions, which contribute respec- tively to the improvement of social life and to the development of personal culture, will in this dis- cussion be grouped together under the general designation, "liberal education." That education whose chief aim is to fit for productive capacity will be designated as "vocational." What is Liberal Education f Historically speaking, a liberal education is that which aims to broaden the intellectual and emotional horizon of the individual, and espe- 4 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION daily in those fields that are not involved in the earning of a livelihood. Schools of liberal arts have always sought to remove youths for some time from the pressing necessities of practical life, and to open up to them the traditions, sciences, and arts which are part of the common heritage. We commonly associate the idea of liberal education with leisure, because some lei- sure is and has been necessary to its acquisition, and in the leisure periods of life liberal education finds its greatest opportunities for expression and application. It is the aim of liberal educa- tion to give mastery of those arts — reading, writing, number, drawing — which constitute the open doors to the world's stock of knowledge and ideals ; and to add the beginnings of those studies — history, literature, science, art — which contribute to the enlightenment and enlarge- ment of the individual, for the purpose both of personal gratification and enjoyment, and of giving him the outlook, the ideals, and the know- ledge which render him a better member of the social group to which he belongs. Liberal education may be interpreted as that which concerns itself with the consuming, as op- posed to the productive processes in life. Each individual uses in greater or less degree, accord- 5 THE PROBLEM OF ing to his cultivation and social capacity, the world's stock of literature, history, music, art, science, and human associations, as well as the embodiments of these in more material forms. It is the function of liberal education to teach persons how to use or consume to the best indi- vidual or social advantage the work of others. Liberal education is not primarily concerned with the making of the efficient producer, although it makes important indirect contributions to that end; but it is vocational education which aims to train the producer as such, and it looks pri- marily towards specialization. It has, as will be shown later, its own pedagogy ; and its methods may even be in opposition to those of liberal edu- cation. Those teachers and leaders, who have de- veloped for the world its systems of liberal edu- cation, have often felt obliged to preach a certain unworldliness to their disciples. To them, as to the religious devotees of all ages, the practical affairs of life were apt to be associated with something that was common and vulgar. The schoolmaster of the past not only was not a prac- tical man, but, to a certain extent, his success in his work depended upon his contempt for things practical. It was his mission to uphold the de- 6 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION sirability of those activities which are not con- nected with bread-winning, and which, at least from a short-sighted point of view, are even in opposition to it. The home and the shop, where the practical affairs of life controlled, were always calling the schoolmaster's followers away from him ; consequently, in time he grew to distrust them, and naturally to undervalue their part in the integral process of the development of the individual. In these later days, we have learned more about the psychological side of liberal education. We have discovered that, so far as large numbers of individuals are concerned, the truest form of liberal education does not consist in dealing with those things which are most remote from the practical affairs of daily life. But it nevertheless remains true that there lingers a considerable hostility, on the part of those who promote liberal education, to that teaching and those activities which are controlled by the obvious necessity of contributing to the world's practical work. A man may not be trained as a bookkeeper, or a machinist, or a farmer, at the same time that he is learning to be a student and lover of music. For him who would indulge in the pleasures of literature, time must be set apart from the prac- 7 THE PROBLEM OF tical affairs of life. Too early devotion to bread- winning occupations, even as a learner, may deprive the boy or girl of the opportunities to open doors of science, art, literature, history, and social knowledge. Consequently, we may affirm that not only does the schoolmaster still inherit an opposition to vocational education, but within limits, his opposition is justified by the fact that liberal education and vocational education repre- sent somewhat different aims, and, historically speaking, involve different systems of pedagogy. As will be shown later, each contributes some- what to the other; but in spite of the demands of the practical man, the world needs more, rather than less, of liberal education, provided it does not close the door to ultimate vocational efficiency. What is Vocational Education f In vocational education, the choice of materials and methods is primarily determined by the ne- cessities of some of the numerous callings or groups of related callings, into which the workers of the world have divided themselves. That vo- cational education which is specialized to the pre- paration of lawyers, physicians, and teachers, we call professional ; that which is designed to train the bookkeeper, clerk, stenographer, or commer- 8 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION cial traveler, including business leadership, we call commercial ; that which is organized with ref- erence to the needs of the bricklayer, the machin- ist, the shoemaker, the metal-worker, the fac- tory hand, and the higher manufacturing pursuits, we call industrial education ; that which conveys skill and knowledge looking to the tillage of the soil and the management of domestic animals, we call agricultural ; and that which teaches the girl dressmaking, cooking, and management of the home, we call education in the household arts. In some form or other, vocational education is older than liberal education, for the simple reason that men have always had to have occupations involving more or less skill, by which they could earn a livelihood. In the primitive wilderness, the boy followed his father in hunting and fish- ing and, in time, by processes of imitation and suggestion, coupled with the learning which comes from trial and error, he became himself a fairly efficient hunter or fisherman. At the same time, the girl was at work with her mother, acquiring the simple arts of preparing food, dressing skins, and tilling the soil, which were the woman's con- tributions to the necessary work of the time. By and by, some of the arts became highly complex, and the processes of transmitting them from 9 THE PROBLEM OF father to son necessitated better organization. There grew up in the ancient crafts the system of apprenticeship, which directed and organized the efforts of the young learner. The apprentice- ship system, as inherited by certain of the great vocations of the Middle Ages, was undoubtedly the most perfect system of vocational education that the world has ever seen. From what has been said, it is obvious that other agencies than schools have long been re- sponsible for vocational education. The home was the first great instrumentality to this end. This was supplemented and, at times, succeeded by the systems of apprenticeship which have been mainly carried out, under the sanction of the law, by private or philanthropic agencies. Society has always recognized the very great necessity of some form of vocational education, but both the interests and capacities of those concerned have commonly made it possible to dispense with State control and support of it. Private and philan- thropic agencies have usually been sufficient. It is true that certain of the higher vocations have long been acquired under school condi- tions and, not infrequently, at public expense. The mediaeval universities had their professional schools of law, medicine, and theology. The mili- 10 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION tary education of leaders was long ago made a national obligation. Not a small part of the pre- paration of architects, artists, and, sometimes, literary leaders, has been deliberately assumed by governing bodies. In America, where private and philanthropic effort was not sufficient, even the national government has assisted in the found- ing of schools of agriculture and engineering — essentially schools of higher vocational education. Three fourths of a century ago, Massachusetts began to prepare at public expense teachers for the public schools, — a special form of vocational education. In all these instances, the State has stepped in to supply a well-defined need in fields where private effort did not suffice. The State did not do this for the sake of the individuals who were to be educated, but in its own inter- est, inasmuch as it greatly needed these highly trained leaders. But in another field, society early found public action necessary for the development of vocational education. There are those unfortunates — de- linquents, dependents, and defectives — for whom the home no longer exists, or for whom the home is a wholly insufficient instrument of education. First under philanthropy, and then under State action, schools arose for the purpose of giving ii THE PROBLEM OF what was conceived to be the necessary educa- tion for these classes. But liberal education was soon found to be inadequate, because it left the individual unprepared for the practical affairs of life : so in almost all cases, institutions attempt- ing the education of the orphan, the cripple, the deaf, the blind, and the young delinquent, have found it necessary to evolve vocational education. These institutions have done a remarkable amount of experimenting, and the results of their efforts, inadequate though they yet be, are worthy of pro- found study on the part of all who are interested in the general theory of vocational education. In another field, vocational education under school conditions has justified itself. At the close of the Civil War, the social life and organi- zation of the negro people of the South were in a badly disorganized condition. Family rela- tionships had been much impaired, and were frequently non-existent. In other words, the home as an agency of education, vocational or otherwise, was unable to perform its customary functions. Apprenticeship agencies had not de- veloped ; consequently, the acquisition of voca- tional skill and interest was not provided for among the negroes. The most successful schools that grew up to meet this need were those 12 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION which offered both liberal and vocational educa- tion, and in a sense made the latter the ground- work for the former. In the best negro schools of the South to-day, one will find many vocations taught in a very practical and effective manner, and it is generally conceded that the social ef- fects of this training are genuinely worth while. We may sum up by saying that the education whose controlling motive in the choice of means and methods is to prepare for productive effi- ciency is vocational; that vocational education, more or less unorganized and resting largely on native instincts and capacity, has always existed ; that it tends to be organized under school con- ditions only where special demands or necessities exist; and that from the standpoint of social necessity, vocational education given by some agency is indispensable. The Modern Social Need of Vocational Edu- cation under School Conditions It must be acknowledged that there is abroad in all civilized countries a growing conviction that vocational education should be better organ- ized and more efficient. If this conviction is well founded, it rests upon one or both of two condi- tions : Either the older agencies — the home, the 13 THE PROBLEM OF shop, and other forms of participation in pro- ductive industry — have lost their efficiency; or else the demands of modern life are changing, and imposing requirements which can be no longer met by these agencies. An analysis of the various types of productive effort will show that in some cases one, and in some the other, condition prevails ; while in not a few instances, the contemporary situation is the result, oh the one hand, of the decay, in old institutions, of vo- cational teaching, accompanied by a correspond- ing increase in the complexity and more scientific character of the industries themselves. It is a matter of common observation, for ex- ample, that the apprenticeship system in many trades has been rendered ineffective by the dis- appearance of the old form of industry in its complicated form. What is known as the factory method of production has to a large extent elim- inated the handicrafts in which apprenticeship had attained its better development. Specialized production prevents the shop from offering op- portunities for a rounded or efficient vocational education. On the other hand, the home as an educa- tional agency breaks down in those cases where the industry is centralized, and the growing 14 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION child no longer participates in the processes car- ried on in proximity to the home. Under more primitive industrial conditions, the weaver, the metal-worker, the baker, the cabinetmaker, the blacksmith, and the printer worked in or adja- cent to the home ; the boy early became an as- sistant and with alert instincts soon acquired a considerable insight and experience, which con- tributed a valuable foundation for subsequent study. But the urban home offers no such op- portunities ; the father goes far away to his work, and, from the boy's point of view, the most con- spicuous fact about the factory, is the sign of "No Admittance" over the door. Here we have a well-defined instance of the loss on the part of the home of its power to perform its part in the educational process. The farm furnishes an instance of another kind. It has always been regarded as a valuable agency in vocational education, because of the richness of experience, and the necessary obliga- tion for participation in productive industry to be found there. The farm'of to-day is, at its best, as effective as it has ever been to transmit from father to son the simple arts of agriculture and stock-management. But modern agriculture has tended to become IS . THE PROBLEM OF more than a simple art ; it is increasingly a field of applied science. The father of to-day may be fairly competent in the old type of farming, but be quite incompetent to convey to his son the scientific principles and practices on which the new and successful type of agriculture must rest. The tillage of the soil, the selection of seed, the rotation of crops, the destruction of insect pests, the harvesting and curing of various products, the feeding of stock, the packing and marketing of things to be sold, — all these involve more and more a kind of scientific insight and training, which can be acquired only under special condi- tions of education. Here the home has not de- clined in efficiency, but the demands of modern life are such that it can no longer meet the mod- ern need for vocational education. Everywhere the social worker is confronted by deplorable consequences of these develop- ments of the modern economic system. These are the incidents and not the necessary products of that system, however, and it would be the sheerest folly to desire to restore the old and less effective forms of production for the sake of the educational possibilities which they con- tained. Everywhere we see thousands of boys growing up through the critical years, with no 16 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION opportunity for effective training for a vocation. They enter the non-educative occupations only to emerge therefrom as handicapped, unskilled laborers. Everywhere under city conditions, we find girls less and less qualified to enter on home- making, because of the lack of educational op- portunities in this field, for the want of which the home can, in relatively few instances, be held responsible. The agricultural population of com- peting areas succeeds only in proportion as the opportunities for agricultural education have been made available to considerable numbers of those who choose this field of productive effort. In many lines of modern industry as practised in the United States, only the lower forms succeed, owing to absence of skilled labor. American manufacturers do not choose unskilled labor, but have been compelled, in many instances, to adapt themselves to it, wasteful and unsatisfactory though the process may be. The evidence that the old agencies of voca- tional education — the home, the shop, and other means of participation in productive industry — are no longer sufficient, could be multiplied. It is one of the certain social facts of our age. There can be little doubt that, in the process of social evolution, the time has arrived when voca- 17 THE PROBLEM OF tional, as well as liberal education must be con- ferred, so far as the large majority of people are concerned, by institutions especially devoted to this end. But these institutions must be schools. They must be specially organized for the pur- pose of this education, and they must select their courses and methods and teaching staff with this end in view. In other words, the period when vocational education must, of necessity, be car- ried on under school conditions has arrived, so far as the majority of callings are concerned, as it arrived decades ago in the matter of profes- sional education, which is only one division of vocational education. Should the State Support Schools for Vocational Education ? It is a significant fact that liberal education has attained its profound est development under the auspices of the State. As long as society in its corporate capacity refused to interfere in this field, liberal education was a matter for the select few — the so-called leisure class. We well know the history of the evolution of the State's support and control of liberal education. Prior to the Re- formation, the family and philanthropy (largely represented by the church) did good service in 18 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION this field, but after the Reformation, it was seen by those who were concerned in producing in society the largest number of able citizens, that the State itself must guarantee the opportunities for liberal education to all. Hence evolved the public school system, from its early beginnings in America and Europe into the magnificent in- stitutions of to-day. Under public support, were first offered the opportunities for the simple school arts ; but the public school system has gradually been extended to include all that which is now comprised under the conception of sec- ondary education, and in many parts of the world, also includes the higher, or collegiate stages of liberal education. The policy of the State in this field in all civilized countries has been distinctly opposed to the principle of individualism, or laissez faire. More and more the competition of public effort has made difficult, if not impossible, private activity in the conduct of schools. More and more, the schools, the teachers, the material equipment of elementary, secondary, and higher liberal education, have been made freely avail- able to the youth of the community. If the prin- ciple be called socialistic, the modern civilized State has committed itself certainly to a highly socialistic policy in liberal education, and it has 19 THE PROBLEM OF pursued this policy, partly out of regard for the individual, but largely animated by the spirit of the higher social self-preservation. During the same time, however, with reference to the education which could be called voca- tional, the modern State has, with certain excep- tions, followed if anything an opposite policy. It is true, as previously indicated, that there have been fostered public professional schools, normal schools, and those for the higher agricultural and engineering callings ; and that the State has made vocational education a part of its contribution to the education of the mass of helpless children 'of the community ; but, in all other respects, America and Great Britain, and to some extent the continental European nations, have only grudgingly recognized any obligation on the part of the State to lend its aid to a development of vocational education, as it does to that of other forms. Philanthropy has contributed to the es- tablishment of some schools and in certain direc- tions, as in commercial education, private effort for gain has been sufficient to procure some very re- spectable developments. On the whole, however, it seems to remain true that vocational education in schools under private or philanthropic effort will remain as circumscribed and partial as was 20 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION liberal education before the State entered the field. Within recent decades, the continental Euro- pean countries have increasingly assumed re- sponsibility for vocational education under State support and control. The story of this needs no elaboration here, but it is a fact that in Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, France, Norway, and Sweden, a great variety of schools with voca- tional intent have arisen, which claim and obtain substantial aid from the State. To a certain ex- tent, Germany has made the acquisition of voca- tional training an obligatory matter which the family may not disregard. In America there is a growing conviction, on the one hand, that vocational education under school conditions is a necessity for the great ma- jority of workers, and on the other, that these schools can be provided adequately only by State support. It is a generally accepted political prin- ciple that the State should not perform those functions which private effort can willingly and efficiently accomplish ; that the State should re- serve as its province those fields of human neces- sity where private and philanthropic powers are insufficient to the social needs of the time. It is from this point of view that the desirability of 21 THE PROBLEM OF State action in the sphere of vocational educa- tion must be judged. We have first to answer the question : Is vocational education a social ne- cessity ? and in the second place : Can other agen- cies than the State effectively carry it on ? A variety of keen social observers have practically come to the conclusion that State action is now- necessary under American conditions in this field. They are convinced that the safety of the State and the happiness of individuals demand a better vocational education than is now obtainable j they cannot see that the older non-school institutions are or can be made competent to this end ; they are convinced that, under the conditions as they exist in a large majority of callings, vocational edu- cation must be obtained under school conditions ; and they believe that these can be successfully developed, maintained, and controlled only by that agency which expresses the collective wis- dom and power of society, namely, the State. Types of Vocational Education For convenience of discussion, it is desirable to classify the callings, into which nearly all men and women enter, into five great divisions. 1 These are : — 1 In current discussion in France, a sixth division — the marine callings — is made. 22 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION (a) The professional ; {b) The commercial ; (c) The agricultural ; (d) The industrial, or those connected with manufacturing and the mechanic arts ; (e) The household. It is obvious that each one of these great di- visions possesses a number of distinctive charac- teristics. The professional callings are noted for the elaborate development of the educational means to be employed in them, and the length of time given to preparation for them. The com- mercial callings range from those into which girls and boys enter at the age of ten or twelve — street trading, department store work, and the like — to those which are, in themselves, quasi profes- sions. The agricultural group comprises a variety of specialized occupations, involving tillage of the soil, care of animals, and the like; also ranging in complexity from the relatively simple and un- skilled to those which involve almost professional capacity. The most complex group is that here called the industrial, — embracing the great va- riety of crafts, trades, and manufacturing pursuits. As is well known, these range from the highly specialized occupations, into which children, wo- men, and untrained men may enter with little or 23 THE PROBLEM OF no preparation, to the higher mechanical and en- gineering callings which possess an elaborate technique. The household arts division here em- braces mainly the group of callings that centre around the home, and is intended to exclude those processes which, like weaving, spinning, clothing- making, fruit -preserving, baking, and the like, have become separated from the home, and are to be classed as manufacturing occupations. The phrase "home-making," however, still implies the possibility of considerable attainment in ap- plied art and science, when these are involved in the preparation of food, dressmaking, the care of children, and, in general, the management of a home. In the interest of logical completeness, a sixth division should be recognized, as in France, to embrace the callings, like those of the fisher- man and the sailor, which have to do with the sea. For further convenience, we may consider various stages, or degrees, in the educational preparations for the above groups of occupations, corresponding to the terminology now used in liberal education : We may call that vocational training, which is adapted to persons of average capacity under fifteen years of age, "elemen- tary" ; and that which takes youths regularly from fifteen to eighteen or nineteen, "secondary"; 24 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION while that which presupposes an age more than eighteen, and corresponding attainments, may be called the "higher vocational training." Professional education is commonly classed as higher education; that is, it receives students after the completion of a secondary and some- times collegiate education ; but it is also true that, under some circumstances, the character of the elementary, and especially of the secondary stages, is determined somewhat by the probable requirements of the profession subsequently to be studied. We now have under school conditions higher agricultural education, and the beginnings of that of elementary and secondary grade, these terms being partly determined by the age of pupils con- cerned, and partly by the degree of intellectual advancement required before the vocational study may be taken up. In the commercial callings, schools are found for the higher, but only rarely for the lower levels, notwithstanding the fact that the bulk of workers are found in the lower grades of these callings. Certain specialized phases of commercial educa- tion, like bookkeeping, typewriting, and steno- graphy, have already been well developed under school conditions. 25 THE PROBLEM OF In the industrial group, the higher levels (if we may so classify the preparation for the en- gineering and technological occupations, which might also fairly be classed as professional) are already well supplied with schools. It is the aim of contemporary movements in the United States to supply more extended opportunities in the sec- ondary field, where wage-earners may be reached. In the household arts, there exist at the pre- sent time almost no genuine vocational schools, although there are widespread opportunities for some partial study and practice of these arts, as phases of liberal education. Pedagogical Divisions of Vocational Education Vocational education under school conditions presents a wide range of difficulties, many of which grow out of the peculiar pedagogy of the subject. It is well known that in vocational edu- cation, as carried on in the home and the shop, the strong feature is still to be found on the practical side ; that is, most of what the student learns, he learns by actual participation. The weak side of this vocational training is its absence of theory, its inability to give the student a com- prehension of the laws and principles involved. On the other hand, the school is peculiarly strong 26 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION in its ability to impart the theory or abstract phases of the vocation, but is only partially adapted under existing conditions to give concrete par- ticipation. In the study and practice which contribute to vocational efficiency, we may distinguish three aspects, each involving distinct pedagogical char- acteristics and special problems of administra- tion. To train the horticulturist, for example, it is necessary to give him a variety of practical experiences in working with soil and plants and with the problems of marketing. In addition, he may, and should, study those phases of botany, physics, chemistry, entomology, bacteriology, meteorology, economics, etc., which contribute useful technical information and principles. A further field of possible study is found in the history of horticulture and the practice of that craft in other parts of the world, the evolution of plant life, etc. The first group of studies and practices may be called the concrete, specific, or practical ; the second group, the technical ; and the third, the general vocational studies. In the preparation of the machinist, practical work will be suggested in connection with the use of the lathe, the forge, the drill press, and other tools regularly employed in that calling. 27 THE PROBLEM OF The technical studies will be found in drawing, shop-mathematics, the principles of mechanics, etc. The general vocational studies may consist of readings in the history of metal- working, the evolution of modern industry and the place of iron and steel therein ; in the potentialities of trade-unionism, industrial cooperation, and the like. For the youth who is preparing to work in a commercial calling, practical studies are to be found in the actual work of bookkeeping, type- writing, business practice, and salesmanship. Technical studies maybe derived from these; also German, higher mathematics, commercial law, etc., may be pursued as technical studies. General vocational studies may be found in the history of commerce, geography (which for some callings would be a technical study), readings about industry in other fields, and the evolution of transportation and exchange. In the study of home-making, the girl would, in the actual performance of household tasks such as needle-work, cooking, cleaning, nursing, and the like, find the concrete basis in experi- ence for complete vocational study. Related technical studies will be found in those phases, however simplified, of chemistry, physics, bac- 28 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION teriology, economics, architecture, and exchange, which contribute to the larger vocational effi- ciency. As general vocational studies, a variety of readings in the historic aspects of the household, the achievements of modern sanitation, the work of charity and philanthropy, and protective legis- lation suggest themselves. In existing schools where a complete voca- tional education is carried on, these three aspects are already found. In the training of teachers, for example, the practical work is found in the practice school, and other forms of apprentice- ship. Technical studies are usually found in the fields of applied psychology, method, and special studies in subject matter. The history of educa- tion, sociology, educational practices in foreign countries, and the writings and biographies of educational reformers constitute the general vo- cational studies. In the training of the physician, the dissecting-room, the clinic, and hospital prac- tice provide the concrete elements. Anatomy, materia medica, chemistry, and other studies supply the need for technical information and principles ; in addition, the history of medicine, medical sociology, and medical jurisprudence, as well as biology and psychology, may be regarded as general vocational studies. 29 THE PROBLEM OF From this analysis, certain conclusions may be drawn. In the first place, as regards the general vocational studies, it will be apparent that these involve methods and administration not unlike those found in the field of liberal education ; they are based largely on books, and have as their aim, the stimulation of ideals and vocational in- terests, rather than the acquisition of useful in- formation. From some points of view, these general vocational studies may be regarded as the luxuries of vocational education, although there can be no doubt that they have a direct usefulness because they stimulate the interests which tend to make a vocation attractive, and which undoubtedly broaden and prolong the pro- ductive life of the worker. In the second place, it may be noted that the technical studies as described, however they may vary for different vocations, may also be pursued largely under school conditions. To a large extent, these technical studies consist of art, mathematics, and science, in their various appli- cations. It will be noted, however, that in voca- tional preparation, not so much of pure science and its fundamental principles, as applications, are implied. Bacteriology, for example, as a gen- eral science, may be pursued by but few people, 30 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION but there are certain applications of bacteriology which every nurse, housekeeper, and farmer may, and should, learn. Meteorology is a difficult science, but from meteorology may be taken certain specific situations which may, and should, be taught to every farmer. The same principle applies in the case of mathematics, although its application is yet obscured by the traditions of teaching in this field. For vocational purposes, the mathematics needed by the machinist differs widely from that needed by the farmer ; how far the bookkeeper may need algebra in any way may be questioned ; and on the other hand, the housekeeper needs a form of applied mathematics essentially different from all of the foregoing. In the third place, the concrete or practical work as outlined above involves a pedagogy and administration fundamentally different from that found in most existing schools. It is at this point that the traditional forms of education practi- cally break down ; and it is in this respect that the problem of vocational education, especially in connection with the training of youths be- tween the ages of fourteen and eighteen, pre- sents its greatest difficulties. Modern experience, as well as theory, tends to demonstrate that vo- cational education which ignores or slights this 3i THE PROBLEM OF phase of practical training is largely futile. Fur- thermore, the same experience seems to indicate that the concrete and practical must not follow at a considerable distance technical and general vocational studies, but rather accompany, and in many cases, precede the same. The Order and Relation of the Pedagogic Stages in Vocational Education We have seen that, historically, the institu- tions which in the past gave vocational education were especially strong in the practical or concrete aspect of their subject, and weak in the more abstract phases. The home, farm, and shop have always provided an abundance of practical tasks and examples whereby to teach boys and girls the simple vocational arts. Under the apprentice- ship system, as fostered by guilds and govern- ments in the past, the courses in practical work were especially complete as respects length, com- prehensiveness, and thoroughness. On the other hand, the school has often been well equipped to give readily many of the the- oretic or more bookish phases of vocational prep- aration. Many types of complete vocational education have involved the cooperation of the two kinds of agencies. Evening schools, for 32 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION example, have often taken mechanics who are already employed, and have given them something of the drawing, mathematics, and science, which they might need to supplement the practical learn- ing of their craft. Correspondence schools have flourished owing to their ability to give to the employed worker just the facts in drawing, science, and other theoretical studies which he might need. To a large extent, the continuation work in the German schools is of this order. It takes various groups of boys and girls, who are employed in the trades, and gives to them the needed supplemental education. In England, a considerable range of what are termed engineering or higher mechanical occu- pations involve the requirement that stages of study shall be alternated with periods — some- times as much as a year in length — of actual apprenticeship in the industry itself. So wide- spread have been developments of this sort, that it not infrequently happens that educators and others think of vocational education solely in terms of the general and technical studies in- volved. This notion has received added em- phasis from the fact that the higher reaches of all vocations require relatively so much theo- retical preparation as to make it appear that 33 THE PROBLEM OF the theoretical study is the essential and vital part. It is becoming apparent, however, that a more satisfactory theory of the pedagogy of vocational education must be developed. So far as the rank and file of students is concerned, it is increasingly evident that the more abstract studies, when not intimately related with concrete practice, fail to work out into the results expected. The abstract studies are necessary, but they must accompany, or be preceded by, a consider- able amount of actual participation in productive work, to the end that genuine vocational effi- ciency may result. It is even apparent that those modified forms of participation, such as are often found in business schools, manual training schools and classes, agricultural schools, and household arts schools, are of little service in vocational education because of their remoteness from the conditions of genuine productive work. These courses and studies will undoubtedly be found to have value, when they are arranged to follow, rather than to precede, a considerable amount of actual participation: e.g., it is not impracticable that, for a young apprentice who is working under shop conditions, a certain amount of work de- voted to special exercises for the attainment of 34 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION particular types of efficiency might well be worth while. For the farmer's boy, who brings to the agricultural school a considerable body of expe- rience acquired under conditions of reality, the exemplification of modern processes as school ex- ercises may have decided value. It is, furthermore, becoming more and more evident that the technical studies, such as math- ematics, drawing, physical science, biological science, art, and the rest, have a genuine func- tional value in vocational education only when they are closely integrated with the educational results acquired through participation in the pro- ductive processes themselves. It is probably psy- chologically true that, for the average person, the study of these applied arts and sciences, quite apart from and anterior to any participation in the productive processes, is futile and unproduc- tive so far as vocational efficiency is concerned. Nothing can be more certain, however, than that the study of these same subjects, in close inter- relation with the productive processes, tends to expand rapidly the capacity of the worker. We may then base on these considerations a tenta- tive theory of vocational education. When the time arrives in the development of the boy or girl that he should seriously under- 35 THE PROBLEM OF take preparation for a calling, it is necessary that somehow and somewhere he should be able to devote a considerable time to actual participation in the concrete processes of the calling itself. He should get very near to reality, not only as regards the external characteristics of the work produced, but also as regards its market value, its rate of production, and the social circumstances attend- ant upon its production. Having thus come in- timately into contact with reality, he should have time set apart in which to study the more theoretical aspects of the calling. Here again, however, a sound theory would seem to require that mathematics, science, art, history, and other related subjects should not require such an order of presentation as to detach them from the ex- perience of the young worker. This has undoubt- edly been the vice of a great deal of the technical study carried on in schools for the purpose of supplemental education. Between the experience of the worker and the studies in the schools, there have been too few points of contact to serve to create true pedagogical efficiency. From this point of view, for example, in the making of the true agriculturist of middle rank, we should expect the boy to participate for a part of each day, or week, or month, or year, in the 36 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION actual productive work of the home or school farm. We should expect him to study, not gen- eral botany, but that botany which is naturally suggested by the conditions under which he works ; his study of fertilizers, from the chemical and economic point of view, should begin with the fertilizers which he uses and the conditions under which, in attaining practical results, he uses them ; his study of bookkeeping should grow out of the income and expenditure conditions under which the work in which he participates is carried on ; his study of physics should rest on the foundation of his actual experience. Similarly, in the making of the mechanic, we should expect the boy to go to work either in a school, a shop, or a factory, where he could begin at the simpler stages of productive work, and where, from day to day, his work should be squared up with the conditions of actual produc- tion. This phase of his training should be such as to require shop clothing, shop hours, shop as- sociations, the standards of shop production, and some knowledge, and perhaps some sharing, of the actual value of his output. Under the phases of this experience can be collected related studies in drawing, applied science, art, bookkeeping, economics, the ethics of trade-unionism, and all 37 THE PROBLEM OF the other studies which have a greater or less vocational significance. In the preparation of the girl for the specific work of home-making, a variety of opportunities for concrete participation suggest themselves. Already in this field, we have a considerable va- riety of technical studies ; but, in so far as these are ineffective at present, their weakness is due to the lack of correlation between them and the home experience on which they are presumed to build. The commercial callings now present, for cer- tain occupations, well-worked-out school condi- tions of participation, especially in typewriting and certain forms of bookkeeping. On the other hand, it is evident that we have yet by no means solved the problems of providing the right kind of experiential basis for a considerable range of the clerical occupations. It must be at once admitted that, for a great variety of vocations, we can yet hardly see how, under school conditions, the concrete basis of participation in productive work can be found. Cooperation of Agencies in Vocational Education The foregoing analysis suggests that in many fields, the most effective vocational education might be achieved by the systematic cooperation 38 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION of agencies. We already have, in the United States, for example, schools in which the boys give a part of the time — a half of each day, or alternate weeks — to shop-work in actual shops, and the remaining time to schools, whose theo- retic work is intimately connected with that of the shops. Where great manufacturing, trans- portation, or commercial agencies have developed private schools of their own, these schools have almost invariably been evolved so as to take the boys and girls who are already giving a consid- erable amount of time to the study and practice of the more practical aspects of the calling. It has already been shown that in England, the study of engineering callings requires part- time participation in productive industry. In some countries, in the marine callings, before the student may enter on theoretical study, he must have had a considerable time as an appren- tice in practice. In a large range of German intermediate tech- nical schools, one of the requirements for admis- sion is that the student shall have served one, two, or three years as a worker, and, as such, must have demonstrated his capacity for the further theoretic studies. Where correspondence work is successful, it is so mainly because it ap- 39 THE PROBLEM OF plies to a limited number of workers who have already achieved success along practical lines, and who, on the basis of that practical experi- ence, are able to acquire technical power. In some of the best work in household arts in Eng- land, the school and the home, or the school and the employer, now cooperate so intimately that the net effect is an integral vocational education. Some of the best continuation work in the United States practically accomplishes its results in the same way. It is, of course, not yet apparent how far this cooperative management is possible in various types of industry. The individualism of the Ameri- can employer and the lack of paternalistic attitude in the Government may make it impossible to achieve this form of cooperation, even if it were not open to objections on the grounds of its prac- ticability. If that should prove to be the case, it will undoubtedly be necessary, in the interests of complete vocational education, to develop facili- ties for the acquisition of practical experience in the schools themselves, and herein lies the great- est administrative difficulty to be encountered by these schools. To achieve this end, they must abandon a variety of traditions which are dear to schoolmasters and school administrators. The 40 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION proposed school must have the aspect of a shop rather than a school. In the length of day, shop surroundings, the disposal of product, the train- ing of teachers, and the maintenance of discipline, shop standards rather than school standards will have to prevail. So radical a departure will this be that many of the ablest students of the situa- tion are convinced that a separate system of administration from that of the schools of liberal learning may prove to be necessary, temporarily, at least. For a long time, we may expect so-called voca- tional education to tend to be theoretic and bookish, unless we frankly accept the notion that the study of theory must rest on and intimately blend with conditions which are eminently prac- tical. It will be seen that no one can yet prophesy what will be the type of vocational arrangement for any given industry. It may prove highly prac- ticable to bring private agencies into cooperation with the schools ; on the other hand, it may prove indispensable that the vocational school shall reproduce all the conditions, practical and theo- retical, necessary for the giving of complete vo- cational efficiency. We are still dealing with only the beginnings of these problems. 41 THE PROBLEM OF The Relation of Vocational Education to Manual Training In modern educational doctrine, manual train- ing occupies an intermediate field between voca- tional and liberal education. In the minds of many, who were originally influential in introduc- ing drawing, manual training, household arts, and mechanical arts, these studies were designed to contribute to vocational efficiency. By school- masters and educational administrators, their contributions to liberal education have been con- stantly exalted, and these subjects have been largely divested of vocational significance. It is undeniable that manual training, rightly con- ducted, is an important modern contribution to liberal education, and especially in proportion as the limitations of the home deprive the child of opportunity for experience in the field of con- structive and manual activities. Few will doubt that a wide range of contact with tools and the materials to which tools are applied, as found in the hand-work, bench-work, gardening, cooking, and in the machine-shop work of the modern schools, is exceedingly desirable. It is a fact, however, that the manual training so given is rarely controlled by the motive of voca- 42 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION tional training, and that it rarely results in any recognizable form of vocational efficiency. In its contributions to vocational education, it is more nearly comparable with the development which results from play and other forms of spontaneous experien ce-getting. The mechanic arts and technical high schools, which were originally expected to train the higher ranks of factory- and trade- workers, have gener- ally failed to achieve this end. These magnificent schools have been sought in increasing numbers by youths so situated as to be capable of an ex- tended liberal education. They have offered kinds of liberal education which function more vitally, in many cases, than do the classical studies offered by other schools. Manual train- ing, however, has seldom been more than an in- cident in such general education. Only a few hours of work a week, at best, have been al- lotted to it. The spirit of approach has been that of the amateur, or dilettante, rather than of the person interested in attaining vocational fitness. Only slowly has the work been removed from the field of amateurish effort. Much of the original manual training was affected by the arts-and- crafts movement, which is fundamentally im- portant to the consumer of products rather than 43 THE PROBLEM OF to the producer. Much of the household work was impracticable, when considered from the standpoint of household necessities. Through- out, it has been dominated by the ideals of liberal education rather than of vocation, and as such, it has in spite of a certain artificial character and a considerable disregard of pedagogic principles, made important contributions. It can hardly be doubted that a place of increasing importance is still reserved for manual training, as part of a liberal education. It will be remembered that liberal education functions in the avocational, as contrasted with the vocational side of life. For the prospective lawyer, gardening, cabinetwork, or pottery may be important and suggestive ac- tivities. A small amount of gardening would probably make all people more intelligent con- sumers. A vital form of constructive work in the manual training field will enhance the powers of all people to appreciate the material surroundings in which they must live. For girls, a wide range of activities can be de- vised on the manual training basis which will make them more judicious consumers. Further- more, a generous course in manual training ac- tively followed provides a variety of suggestions for subsequent choice of a vocation. Through it, 44 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION many boys will discover a bent, or capacity, along which a vocational education may be car- ried out. All this assumes that manual training, like the other factors in a liberal education, will be made progressively more vital ; will divest itself of formal and pedantic elements ; will cease to rely upon a discredited psychology ; and will take ad- vantage of fundamental instincts and interests in those to whom it applies. Manual training will be taken, not in the spirit of the vocational worker, but in that of the liberal student, think- ing of and comprehending the world in which he lives. It will preserve many of the elements of a high-grade play or avocation. If we assume that little distinctively vocational education will be found in the elementary schools, we may also assume that many pupils will be allowed even greater opportunities than are now available for the development of their capacities in the field of the industrial arts, studied mainly from the point of view of gaining variety and range of ex- perience, and a basis for the subsequent selection of vocational activities. During the high school period, it is highly probable that an increasing number of boys and girls will find in enriched manual training a 45 THE PROBLEM OF means of liberal education, such as now the tra- ditional studies can hardly be said to contribute. This enriched manual training will be more and more correlated with mathematics, science, art, history, and economics in such a way as to cause these to function more certainly as elements in a liberal education. Here again, as in the last section, it must be asserted that manual training and vocational edu- cation should be controlled by different purposes to a considerable degree, though each contributes measurably to the purposes of the other. If man- ual training is designed to give the breadth of experience, to evoke the interests, and to stimu- late the forms of appreciation desired, then it cannot be identified with the intensive and pur- posive character of vocational education. Vo- cational education must be carried on, as far as possible, under the conditions of a workshop. Manual training, as a part of liberal education, must not divorce itself from contemporary life ; but, on the other hand, it must be approached from the standpoint of the breadth and interest inherent in the true instrumentalities of liberal education. 4 6 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION Problems of Intermediate or Introductory Voca- tional Education While for many types of vocational education it will be possible to assume the completion of a high school course, it will probably remain true for a long time that large numbers of children, owing to predisposition, or the economic situa- tion in which they find themselves, will desire to make beginnings of vocational training shortly after passing the age of fourteen ; on the other hand, in many industries and commercial fields, children are not desired under the age of sixteen. It has been pointed out in the report of the Douglas Commission (of Massachusetts), as well as elsewhere, that the period from fourteen to sixteen is a critical one in the vocational develop- ment of large numbers of children. This is the period when economic necessity or ambition tempts children into callings which are tempo- rarily quite remunerative (in a relative sense for these children), but which are essentially non- educative. The development of factory produc- tion and business on a large scale has opened a great many avenues of this sort, which are tempt- ing to youth, but the outcome of which is the un- skilled worker. Intermediate vocational education 47 THE PROBLEM OF adapted to children from fourteen to sixteen, which should be practical and productive, and at the same time, lead towards profitable occupa- tions, is highly desirable, but its development at the present time is beset with difficulties and uncertainties. We know, for example, that in the industries, specialization is the rule, but during this introductory period, it would seem unde- sirable for pupils to specialize much in their work ; rather, from the theoretical standpoint, this introductory preparation should be broad, and, as far as possible, lead to fundamental forms of skill and comprehension of large principles. To reconcile this demand with the other require- ment previously mentioned, that the work should be productive and in accord with prevailing in- dustrial tendencies, is difficult. A typical ex- ample may be found in the shoe-manufacturing industry. This industry is now subdivided into nearly one hundred distinct branches, each one of which possesses some of the characteristics of a trade. Assuming that the specialized workers in this field usually begin at sixteen or seventeen, it is questionable if, at the age of fourteen, in commencing industrial preparation for this work, the young worker should be specialized ; on the other hand, how may the beginner engage in pro- 48 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION ductive work in this field which has a marketable significance ? There is also the very great administrative dif- ficulty of providing, under public school condi- tions, for a wide range of industries with their expensive equipment. The probabilities are that in time we shall discover a relatively small num- ber of groups of industries, in each one of which a sufficient scope and variety of projects can be evolved around which the future worker can per- form practicable and profitable operations, while, at the same time, getting a fundamental voca- tional training. We know that such groups of related industries exist. In the United States, for example, over a million workers are found in the wood-working callings. Many of these are extremely specialized but, at bottom, they rest on a few tool-forms — hand and power — and on certain general knowledge and experience with materials. It seems highly probable that boys of fourteen, when beginning their vocational train- ing, can be set to work on projects involving wood and wood-working tools in such a way as to produce a marketable product and that, by gradual intensification and specialization of effort, they can be made ready by the age of sixteen for more specific trade instruction in building, cab- 49 THE PROBLEM OF inetmaking, etc. A similarly large group of work- ers employ iron and steel, and the tools related thereto, as basal elements. Other great groups are found in the factory production of textile goods ; in the manufacture of textile goods into clothing ; in the minor metal industries (ranging from jewelry to tinsmithing) ; in the industries employing clay and furnace heat (glass, pottery, etc.) ; in the semi-mechanical industries, involv- ing the control of steam and other power-supply- ing agencies ; in the food-packing industries (in- cluding fruit, vegetables and meat) ; and several other divisions. It is also quite possible that a combination of public and private effort, in the form of coopera- tion discussed above, would enable the prospec- tive worker at the age of fourteen to get, in the factory, by passing from one specialized product to another for two or three years, a fundamental form of training and a wide range of experience, which would make the most satisfactory founda- tion for subsequent specialization. This discus- sion, of course, applies merely to the difficulties of giving the concrete or practical side of vocational training; the theoretical, or more abstract forms, are relatively easy of achievement. 50 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION The Problem of Women in Industry Any discussion of contemporary industry must take account of the fact that, under modern eco- nomic conditions, women are to an increasing extent drawn away from the home and into other productive callings. It has been pointed out by some clear-sighted writers that, to a large extent, women have simply followed the industries away from the home, as these have been organized more and more under factory conditions. It is well known, of course, that textile manufacture, garment-making, food-preserving, and industries like baking and brewing have been detached from, the home, leaving it relatively poorer in indus- trial opportunity. From the social point of view, it must be expected that all women, as well as men, will somehow and somewhere be producers, it being assumed, of course, that home-making is one of the productive callings. It is, therefore, not unnatural that women should be found in increasing numbers in the industries, but a peculiar problem arises in con- nection with their education therefor. The fact is, that while enormous numbers of girls and young women may be expected to take up wage-earning careers, it must also be expected, in normal so- 5i THE PROBLEM OF ciety, that large numbers of these will become home-makers after a few years in wage-earning callings. Among factory populations, it is a well- known fact to-day that the great majority of girls begin as wage-earners at from fourteen to six- teen years of age ; that they continue as such for from five to eight years, after which they marry and, if conditions are at all prosperous, they devote themselves henceforth to home-making. Only under economic conditions of severe stress is it necessary that a woman, who must care for children, is obliged also to supplement that re- sponsibility with work outside the home ; and this is a condition which it must be the aim of social effort to disapprove, and reduce where pos- sible, in the interests of the well-being of the home and its children. We now see, therefore, the twofold character of the education which must be designed for large numbers of women : they must be prepared, as it were, for two careers, the first of which will continue for a few years only ; the other of which must be prolonged and for which a proper edu- cation is highly desirable. Under primitive con- ditions, the wage-earning career of the girl was usually spent in some home where she continued to learn the arts that would subsequently be of 52 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION service in her own home. Under modern wage- earning conditions, it can hardly be said that the girl who becomes a worker in the factory, de- partment-store, or the clothing-making establish- ment, is getting therefrom even a small part of the equipment that will help her in home-making ; as a matter of practical experience, it is known that during this period she may be positively unfitted as regards the thrift and practical quali- ties required in the home - maker. Already a few vocational schools for girls have been estab- lished, having reference to the wage -earning callings. As a part of liberal education, increas- ing attention is given in all types of schools to preparation for household occupations. For the girl so situated as to be able to take considerable part of a general secondary education, the oppor- tunities for training for the household seem some- what promising, but, for that large number who desire, or who are obliged to begin wage-earning shortly after fourteen years of age, the opportu- nities for satisfactory home-training seem to be very limited. It has been suggested that this problem will, to some extent, be solved by ac- cepting what seems to be a present tendency of the industries to put the girls into highly special- ized occupations, requiring little or no educational 53 THE PROBLEM OF preparation ; and to provide these same persons, by extension classes and otherwise, during the wage-earning period, with some training for home- making. To an increasing extent, it seems prob- able that the protection of the law will be thrown around the working girl, as regards hours of labor, physical conditions, and, it may be expected, op- portunities for necessary continuation education. It certainly seems impracticable to deprive girls from fourteen to twenty of the opportunities for wage-earning ; on the other hand, it is certainly undesirable that, during this period, there should be no preparation for home-making interests. Society will undoubtedly require that the two functions become harmonized, to the end that the welfare of the individual and the soundness of society may at the same time be conserved. Problems of Agricultural Education Great interest attaches at the present time to agricultural training, as a phase of vocational education. America is peculiarly adapted to the agricultural pursuits, and it is increasingly evident that it is socially wholesome for the State to have a considerable number of its members in this field of productive work. It has been previously pointed out that education for the agricultural 54 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION callings is no less necessary than for the trades, and that the increasing application of science makes greater demands on the technical side of this training. The administrative problems of agricultural education are, however, somewhat peculiar. In manufacturing areas and cities, where the population is dense, the specialized in- dustrial school is feasible ; in rural areas, if the youth are to remain at home, it becomes an administrative problem of great difficulty to pro- vide the special facilities for agricultural educa- tion. The American rural community has not only developed a system of elementary education, but has, almost everywhere, in recent years, provided the opportunities for secondary education in the liberal arts. Now that agricultural education is also demanded, the question arises as to whether it can be integrated with the existing liberal arts schools, rather than organized on a separate basis. It will later be shown that for many types of vocational education, a certain amount of separa- tion in administration from the ordinary school system is necessary, in order to insure a suc- cessful development. In the case of agriculture, however, it must be remembered that the boys and girls come usually from farm homes, where 55 THE PROBLEM OF a certain amount of home vocational training, or, at least, the opportunities for it, still exist. Some careful students of the subject insist that if, in an ordinary high school, a department of agri- cultural training under competent direction be organized, and if the work be so conducted as to take advantage of the concrete experience ob- tained in the home and on the farm, excellent results of a vocational kind will follow. On the other hand, it is feared by many of those genu- inely interested in agricultural education, that the liberal-arts atmosphere of the high school will tend to make of the agricultural education an unsubstantial article, formed largely in imitation of the other studies ; that, in spite of good inten- tions, it will tend to become bookish and unreal ; that the older theory of correlating cultural and vocational education will be the undoing of the latter. From this point of view, general agricul- tural education can be carried on only in the sepa- rate institution which is more farm than school, and in which the conditions of practical partici- pation in productive work form the controlling element in the total programme. Both forms of organization are at present having experi- mental development, and it is quite possible that within a few years, we shall know, on the basis 56 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION of practical results, what is desirable. It is not impossible that a place will be found for each form of organization. The high school, with an agricultural department, may prove to form an excellent institution for almost any rural com- munity, where cooperation with home activities is practicable ; and on the other hand, this type may be supplemented, for somewhat older chil- dren, by a centralized institution, whose oppor- tunities for vocational training will be more con- centrated and effective, and which shall, by short courses and special opportunities, give the kind of training which is impossible to the first. Problems of Administration The administration of American education is commonly democratic and local, by which is meant that ultimate control lies in the hands of repre- sentatives of the people, and the units of admin- istration are small rather than State-wide. From what has already been said, it is evident that vo- cational schools, under public support, will pre- sent many points of difference, if not of contrast, to schools now in existence, which were founded to perpetuate and develop the traditions of liberal education. Such schools must approximate shop conditions in their arrangements ; their hours per 57 THE PROBLEM OF day, and days per week, must gradually approach those of productive industry, rather than those of ordinary schools; the clothing must be that adapted to practical work ; and the teachers must be, primarily, efficient workmen and, secondarily, trained in the art of teaching and controlling young people. It may well be questioned how far education of this sort may require special administrative machinery for its conduct, direction and inspec- tion, both as respects lay boards, on the one hand, and its expert managers and teachers on the other. It is feared, and not unjustly, that boards of education accustomed to the traditions of liberal education may allow the vocational training to become bookish and impractical. Men engaged in productive industry and who, therefore, com- prehend some of the limitations and necessities of the training required for practical efficiency, may well be excused for their present distrust of superintendents of schools and principals as ad- ministrators of these vocational types of educa- tion. In time, it will undoubtedly prove true that men of capacity as school administrators will come fully to understand the philosophy of vocational education, after which they will become compe- tent as directors of the same. In the mean time, 58 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION it is a practical and pertinent question, how far vocational education should be separated from liberal, in administration. It is generally agreed that the vocational school should develop amid its own surroundings, in order that it may preserve its contact with pro- ductive industry. Furthermore, it is generally agreed that a vocational school or system of schools should have, either as a board of control, or as a board in an advisory capacity, a body of persons who, as employers, employees and inde- pendent workers, should have a close contact with productive industry of the type concerned. It may be found administratively feasible to allow the ex- isting boards of education, and the boards which provide support, to oversee, in a general way, the vocational schools, provided opportunities can be developed whereby the advisory committees can stand in some effective relation to the admission of students, the selection of teachers, and the determination of the practical pedagogy of the school. A somewhat similar question arises with regard to the expert direction. Should the mana- ger of a vocational school who must be, prima- rily, an administrator in sympathy with vocational education, be under the same general direction as are the heads of other schools ? In some places, 59 THE PROBLEM OF a superintendent of schools can be found, who has correct perspective and insight regarding vocational education ; in other places, the super- intendent is dominated by academic traditions, and finds it practically impossible to enter into sympathetic connections with the aims and meth- ods of vocational schools. The question of inspection, or State super- vision, presents like difficulties. From the stand- point of general administration, it is highly de- sirable that all general educational forces should be unified in one State body, acting through a single general agent ; on the other hand, this again may fail to guarantee the sympathetic and practical oversight which is necessary for the evolution of a true vocational education. The difficulty may be solved by the creation of sup- plemental advisory boards, and by the employ- ment, under the State Board, of one or more ex- perts to direct vocational education as specialists, who shall act in a coordinate capacity with other experts. The probabilities are that the American States will refuse to erect a complete, independent ma- chinery for the conduct of vocational education ; that, on the other hand, in all States, there will be attempts to introduce, in professional and ad- 60 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION visory capacities, experts and bodies of laymen who may be expected to preserve a sympathetic attitude towards these newer types of schools, and to promote the ends for which they exist. To entrust vocational schools entirely to those familiar with the administration of liberal educa- tion only, will undoubtedly often prove unwise ; on the other hand, to endow both expert and lay bodies with definite responsibilities, and to re- quire that they cooperate effectively with indus- trial and other agencies having a special contact with and interest in vocational schools, will tend undoubtedly to give the maximum of efficiency. Miscellaneous Problems Several other special problems will appear in connection with the organization and conduct of vocational education : — (a) It has been already pointed out that the practical work of the vocational school should conform approximately to the prevailing condi- tions of industry. This also involves the idea that the output should have a market value, and that it should be disposed of, partly to the profit of the school, and partly to the profit of the individual worker. It should be quite clear that the motive of the student can be greatly 61 THE PROBLEM OF stimulated by this procedure, and that it is so- cially uneconomical to have students in this work confine their efforts to unproductive exercises. But the disposal of product presents many dif- ficulties. A part of it can doubtless be absorbed into the public utilities of the community, as, for example, in wood-working shops, where book- cases and other forms of furniture can be made for use in local public schools. In some schools, repair work comes into this category. Agricul- tural schools, with boarding facilities, supply a considerable amount of the food stuffs and tools necessary to their work. On the whole, however, these methods of disposal will doubtless prove inadequate. It will be necessary that the product of the school find its way to market, in competi- tion with the output of the industries. This form of disposition will require exceedingly careful management, in order that the advantages of the school may not be used to the detriment of producers outside. In any event, it would seem that the total output of such schools must be so small as to present but a small element of danger in this connection, provided the market- ing is so carried on as not to disturb prevailing market rates. (b) Vocational education will have to be varied 62 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION in kind, according to the variety of callings for which preparation is given. It would also appear that it must be varied in degree and aim, in order to adapt it to the varied capacities and economic needs of those who seek it. This means that preconceived notions as to length of courses and organization of work must give way to the necessities disclosed by experience. It must be recognized that it will be desirable to maintain short courses for workers already in the industries, and these may partake of a highly specialized char- acter. Young men who have been farming for some years may desire six-weeks or three-months courses in the technical aspects of poultry-raising, bee-keeping, and the like. Such short and inten- sive technical courses are already occasionally found, and are exceedingly valuable. Again, it may happen that a man already employed in a manufacturing industry may desire a short and intensive course in the use of some particular tool or process. These short courses may either take the part-time form, or may involve the worker's taking a furlough from his employment. Private efforts, like those of the Young Men's Christian Association, already give many suggestions as to the feasibility of these short courses. It will be evident that, as vocational education develops 63 THE PROBLEM OF and schools become equipped, a constantly in- creasing range of opportunities will present them- selves for useful service. (c) In view of the fact that the technical stud- ies, in a satisfactory form of vocational educa- tion, must be closely related to the practical, it is evident that we still lack, to a large extent, the text-books and other guides necessary to this end. In fact, it may prove necessary that in each school, to a considerable extent, special syllabi, or text-books, be worked out, adapted to the local conditions. It will be apparent to any ob- server that the correspondence-schools, business- schools, and similar organizations have already worked out a variety of appliances of this kind. It may be expected that when within these schools the teachers have fully grasped the ped- agogy involved, a large variety of syllabi and other helps will appear which will assist any teacher in finding problems and studies adapted to his local situation. (d) It has been noted above that care must be exercised in developing vocational education that market conditions be not disturbed. It will also be evident that such schools present prob- lems in connection with the labor market as well. In certain industries, the organization of labor 6 4 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION has succeeded in producing certain standards of compensation, the further maintenance of which appears to be dependent on a limitation in the supply of workers offering themselves. Specific situations will doubtless arise in which vocational schools may operate, if improperly managed, to break down prevailing rates of compensation. Here again, however, the larger social need must control, and the administrators of such schools must so organize their efforts as not to inflict undue hardship on existing employment. The controlling social need must be the supply of opportunities for vocational education to as many boys and girls as possible, in the convic- tion that the presence in society of a very large number of well-trained workers will redound to the benefit of all society. Subject to this con- trolling principle, special adjustment must be made, wherever possible, to prevent hardship. The Support of Vocational Education Experience already demonstrates that voca- tional education will prove to be expensive. Where part-time schemes do not succeed, the equipment of independent schools will prove costly. Under any circumstances, the teachers will be obliged to have a combination of practical 65 THE PROBLEM OF and theoretical training, which will make it necessary that they be paid more than skilled workers in the fields from which they come. These teachers, again, can handle effectively only relatively small groups of students, and it may be expected, therefore, that the annual per capita cost of genuinely vocational education will range from $75.00, at the lowest, to several hundred dollars, as a maximum. It may be anticipated, of course, that for large numbers of workers, a course less than four years in length will be sufficient. The expenditure for these lines must be looked at from the social point of view, and as a form of social investment. A given commu- nity may well expect to receive back far more than this outlay in the shape of the increased productive capacity of the workers turned out. Owing to conditions promoting mobility in American labor, it has become customary for workmen to move easily from one community to another. If workmen stayed in the place of their birth and education, a given community could expect to find its wealth increasing proportion- ately, if it supported vocational schools, but there is no guarantee that the workman trained in one community will remain there ; consequently, it becomes desirable and just that the larger ad- 66 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION ministrative units should contribute something to this form of education, since the benefits of it spread over the larger area. To this end, it is becoming recognized that the State, as a taxing unit, should contribute something — if not fully one-half — to the cost of maintenance of these vocational schools. In fact, it may be asserted that the National Government itself could legiti- mately be called upon to aid this form of edu- cation, since the general migratory tendency of laborers carries them constantly beyond State bounds. The National Government already con- tributes to vocational education of a higher, or semi-professional level, in the engineering or agricultural callings. From the administrative point of view, it is desirable and expedient that it should contribute to work still farther down the line. Those who are interested in the expansion of vocational education must tend constantly to in- terpret it as a productive and justifiable form of social investment. It must be pointed out that already the American public expends upon a number of relatively unproductive lines of activity vastly greater sums than are expended for edu- cation. The actual cost of the liquor consump- tion of the American people is probably three or 6 7 \ THE PROBLEM OF four times as great as that of education. The outlay for tobacco is commonly supposed to be about equal to the cost of all forms of public in- struction. Another field of expenditure, which can hardly be described as being as socially pro- ductive as education, is advertising ; yet the total outlay on it is in excess of that for all forms of education. Owing to imperfect systems of taxation, the burden of supporting either liberal or vocational education seems often to be an especially heavy one. The fault is to be found, not in the actual cost of such education, but in the imperfect dis- tribution of its burdens. Communities must be made to realize that the total amount of social outlay for education is even now but an insig- nificant part of the total social expenditure ; and that, on the other hand, that outlay is probably one of the most effective forms of expenditure yet devised. Constant insistence on these notions will, in the course of time, bring about reforms in taxing methods, devices for the reduction of wasteful expenditure, and a fuller appreciation of the value of expenditure for education, liberal and vocational. 68 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION The Teaching Force It is by this time fully obvious that the problem of supplying teachers for vocational schools differs largely from similar problems in other departments of education. For many years, in Europe and America, attempts have been made to recruit the teaching force in vocational schools, from people trained along academic and pedagogic lines. In nearly all cases, this attempt has failed, mainly because such teachers lacked concrete and practical experience with industrial conditions. However well-intentioned, they were not able to keep themselves in touch with the actual requirements of productive industry. It is generally agreed to-day that a successful teacher in a vocational field must be primarily equipped as a practical workman. To this equipment of habit, skill, and knowledge, it is highly desirable that he should add as much pedagogic ability and general culture as possible. In the training of such teachers, therefore, it seems probable that for a long time society will have to endeavor to pick from the field of young workmen and others who have served a successful apprenticeship those who manifest some teaching ability, or ambition to enter this field. These maybe given 69 THE PROBLEM OF a short course of training in theoretical pedagogy and, possibly, some beginnings in the practice of teaching. It is already obvious, of course, that there must be many types of vocational education and, consequently, there must be many sources of practical work from which teachers are to be drawn. Whether it will prove practicable to assemble skilled young workers in a central institution for the purpose of giving them their pedagogic train- ing is not now apparent. At first, it may prove feasible to have short courses or institutes in which practically trained men and women of some teaching aptitude can be gathered for the purpose of learning something of the art of teaching. The building up of a teaching force for the vocational schools ought not to prove an insurmountable problem when once the charac- ter of the field is recognized. These teaching positions may be made to pay somewhat better than the positions of skilled workmen along commercial, industrial, and agricultural lines. The permanency of the position and the agree- able character of the work should prove added attractions. It is improbable that we shall, for a long time, see training schools that will endeavor to comprehend the entire range of training for 70 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION • this field, including the stages of apprenticeship ; on the other hand, it may be expected, as voca- tional schools develop and succeed, that in the student body of each, there will appear young workmen with teaching capacity, and these may gradually be directed toward preparation for teaching as a career. At bottom, the question of supplying teachers is one of sufficient com- pensation ; given a satisfactory financial basis, it will not prove at all impossible to find many in- telligent young workmen who will gladly take up this work. The Relation of Vocational to Cultural Education Much confusion of thought exists as to the relation of vocational to cultural education. This is natural, in view of the attempts that have been made to carry on vocational education by the same administrative machinery, and along the same pedagogic lines as the well-established forms of liberal education, but it is necessary to recognize that the two forms are largely un- like as regards aims, administrative machinery, and pedagogic method to be employed. Both have something of a common basis in certain studies like reading, writing, number, and ele- mentary drawing ; even in the case of these stud- 7i THE PROBLEM OF ies, however, so far as the rank and file of workers are concerned, there relatively early ap- pears the possibility of differentiation of aim ac- cording as the vocational or the cultural purpose is to control. Certain phases of liberal education, like history, civics, geography, science, and mathe- matics, may have contributed something of the knowledge and ideals which later come to be of vocational significance, but these must be looked upon as by-products, and, to a considerable ex- tent, as accidental elements, from the point of view of strictly vocational training. It was formerly supposed that any study, seri- ously pursued, resulted in a certain amount of mental training which could be employed in any field, related or unrelated to that study. Under the influence of this idea, it was believed that the study of higher mathematics or of foreign language resulted in a development of certain intellectual powers, and that these powers could be readily applied when vocational pursuits were undertaken. From the standpoint of modern psy- chology, this doctrine has been much discredited. It is probably true that liberal studies pursued with interest do result in some powers which may have vocational application ; it is much more probable, however, that the vocational success, 72 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION which has so often attended those who have had the advantages of higher education, has been due rather to native ability which the institutions of higher education have been successful in select- ing and putting into relief. It is true that liberal education, as formerly carried on, did suggest means, or contribute to preparation, for certain callings more than to others. It is a common belief that persons with secondary or college education turn more natu- rally to the clerical, or commercial, than to the industrial callings. There is good ground for be- lieving that many of the studies designated as liberal find their strongest justification in the elements which they contribute to professional training. From this point of view, it might justi- fiably be said that a liberal education is essen- tial to certain kinds of vocational success, but a more correct interpretation would be that some of the so-called liberal studies are in reality vo- cational. But any discussion of this subject must involve a clear recognition of the fact that liberal edu- cation primarily has to do with art, music, liter- ature, foreign language, history, geography, natural science, and social science, from the standpoint of the individual as one who is to learn 73 THE PROBLEM OF to appreciate, on a broad scale, the world in which he lives. For most individuals, these studies have little or nothing to do with voca- tional efficiency, which is something to be at- tained by specialized endeavor, and along lines determined by its needs. All attempts to make the subjects of liberal education yield vocational efficiency are destined to fail, because to a large extent, such effort will result in depriving them of their true significance as factors in a liberal education. Even such subjects as mathematics, science, and drawing, when pursued in the gen- eral sense, may lend themselves only slightly to vocational application, especially in view of the modern tendency towards specialized production ; on the other hand, these subjects may very well be pursued for vocational purposes, in which case the choice of material and method will be controlled mainly by the ends of vocational effi- ciency. It is clear, however, that the aims of liberal education can be to some extent realized through the measures adopted for a generous vocational education. This result maybe achieved in several ways. Vocational pursuits, by drawing upon the instincts of construction and upon creative ten- dencies, may develop thinking interests and mo- 74 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION tives in related studies. In practical life, we often find this in the active interest which is de- veloped in the study of physics by one who has become vocationally interested in mechanics, electricity, or steam. At the present time, many women find their most active motive for the study of chemistry in the necessities suggested by in- vestigation and practice of the home-keeping arts. It is well known that youths and men who have made some beginnings in scientific agricul- ture, pursue a wide range of studies and reading in their endeavor to grasp the principles under- lying that subject. Not a few teachers who have become devoted to their work find in their pro- fessional interests sufficient motives for extensive studies into the evolution of educational prac- tices. Girls who are studying dressmaking be- come interested in the possibilities of color com- binations. Economic history becomes especially significant to the person who has had some con- tact with the commerce of the present time. These and many more possible examples suggest that the beginnings in vocational study may in- spire interests and motives which carry the student far over into the field of liberal education, with a degree of vital appreciation, which could be procured in no other way. 75 THE PROBLEM OF Again, it frequently happens that a child has lost all interest in the more abstract studies of the school, and, for him, participation in active constructive work may be the means of inspiring intellectual activity which, in turn, becomes dis- tinctly an aspect of liberal education. Examples of this are familiar to all teachers who have had to do with vocational education in trade schools, reform schools, and business colleges. In still another direction, vocational education may contribute largely to the aims of liberal edu- cation. It has been previously indicated that one large factor in liberal education is the socializa- tion of the individual ; that is, bringing him into sympathetic and perceiving relations with the rest of the social life about him. Civic education has this as its chief aim, but to a large extent morality and civic efficiency rest on economic foundations, and for many persons, economic ac- tivities are the best approach to the insight here suggested. In connection with productive work, the virtues of thrift, honest effort, cooperation, and the like, can be more successfully imparted. It is not improbable that, for a great many boys and girls, particularly those not endowed with the higher idealism, this, under the right teach- ing, may be made the most effective approach 7 6 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION to an efficient and vital education in" civic re- sponsibility. Liberal and vocational education are not identi- cal, and have only certain elements in common ; they aim in essentially different directions, and their valid aims can be realized only by making allowance for this difference. On the other hand, some of the studies which contribute to liberal education may be so handled as to give a basis, or approach, or means of choice to subsequent vocational education. For many persons, a vital vocational education, resting on concrete founda- tions and making due allowance for expansion into the related fields of science, art, history, economics, and civics, may become an exceed- ingly effective means of liberalizing the minds of several types of boys and girls, and especially those least capable of abstract thinking or social idealism. The Types of Schools t The question is frequently raised as to the distinctions among various types of schools as now found. It must be acknowledged that in this field great confusion of terminology still pre- vails. Among the terms now in use are these : manual training school, household arts school, 77 % * - » THE PROBLEM OF technical high school, mechanic arts high school, industrial high school, manual training high school, industrial school, trade school, interme- diate industrial school, etc. It will be evident that the confusion of terminology with regard to these schools rests upon a more fundamental confusion as to processes, methods, and aims. Manual training, as has been shown, is essen- tially part of the scheme of liberal education, in spite of the designs of some who were instru- mental in introducing it. It has suffered pecul- iarly from the psychological fallacy of formal discipline. It was long ago seen that the practice of many crafts involved, or required, extensive motor (mainly hand) training. Therefore, said the nai've theorist of the past, let us train the hand. But there are scores of kinds of hand-training, and the attainment of one kind of dexterity does not guarantee another, else would baseball and bicycle-riding be most useful forms of manual training. To-day we still call a variety of concrete work in the grades "manual training," but in some quarters, the term " industrial training," or " industrial arts," is used by preference. Under the head of industrial arts should be in- cluded those studies which, employing manual and constructive, or other methods, are aimed 78 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION primarily to give appreciation, taste, and insight, but without being designed to secure proficiency in vocation. A corresponding range of liberal studies would be the household arts, and another, the agricultural arts. It is not impossible, indeed, that a group of commercial studies, as elements in liberal education, could be differentiated in the same way. It was previously noted that the manual train- ing, technical, or mechanic arts high schools origi- nally had an implicit vocational purpose, which has largely failed of realization. With but few exceptions, these schools are essentially con- trolled at the present time by the aims of liberal education ; in some cases, more of manual train- ing is given, and it is not impossible that in time some of these schools may develop into true vo- cational schools. In few instances, they aim to secure a considerable degree of proficiency in the technical, as opposed to the practical studies attending certain vocations; for example, they give the training in mathematics, mechanics, and drawing, which might, when coupled with prac- tical proficiency, produce a high-grade mechanic. Owing, however, to their inversion of the peda- gogic order of approach to these studies, which is deemed essential to vocational efficiency, it is 79 THE PROBLEM OF a question whether they can ever be called, in the true sense, vocational schools. As far as they are vocational, they are so only for a group of occu- pations which, like architecture and engineering, still involve largely the capacity for abstract thinking and organization. Trade schools, in large variety, already exist in the United States, usually under philanthropic or private direction. Commonly, these have well- defined, practical aims, and, owing to their cir- cumstances, their work commonly functions as designed. In a considerable number of instances, trade schools, like the apprenticeship system which they are designed to replace in whole or in part, receive the students at approximately the age of sixteen, and give them from six months to four years of intensive practical and technical training, as preparatory to practical industries. Intermediate industrial schools are those de- signed to take children at or near fourteen, and to give them the beginnings of vocational train- ing for groups of related occupations, or for spe- cialties. They do not assume to give trade train- ing, but a practical preparation therefor. A new form of apprenticeship has in recent years made extensive progress in American in- dustry. In this, the apprentices are put in charge 80 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION of teachers who supervise their training and guar- antee such a conduct of their practical work and theoretical studies as will produce wide vocational efficiency. The factory or workshop becomes the school, time is set apart for theoretical studies, and the student is engaged mainly in productive work. This form of vocational education may be adapted to certain industries, but it is not certain that it will be able to assume the disinterested attitude of the publicly controlled forms. Conclusion The demand for vocational education under school conditions is a widespread one, and is rooted in the social and economic changes of the age. Rightly organized, vocational education will prove a profitable investment for society. The pedagogy of this education will differ widely from that evolved for liberal education, and especially in respect to making practice, or participation in productive work, a fundamental element. Vo- cational education must be so conducted as to contribute to the making of the citizen, as well as the worker. In the course of the development of a progressive social economy, we may expect it to be made obligatory upon every individual to acquire a certain amount of vocational educa- 81 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION tion, just as the present tendency of legislation is to prevent any one from remaining illiterate. Vocational education is not in conflict with liberal education, but is a supplemental form, and may be expected to reinforce it. OUTLINE I. SOME GENERAL DISTINCTIONS 1. The variety of educational agencies I 2. Variations in the purposive character of education 2 3. Variations of educational aims 3 II. WHAT IS LIBERAL EDUCATION? 1. Liberal education is for culture and civic capacity. 4 2. Apparent opposition between liberal and practical training 6 III. WHAT IS VOCATIONAL EDUCATION? 1. Definition 8 2. Various agencies contributing to it 10 3. Partial development in schools 10 IV. MODERN SOCIAL NEED OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 1. The lessening influence of other agencies . . .13 2. The application of science 15 V. SHOULD THE STATE SUPPORT VOCA- TIONAL EDUCATION? 1. Development of liberal education under schools . 18 2. The increasing participation of the State .... 21 VI. TYPES OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 1. Five main types 22 2. Stages within these types 24 83 OUTLINE VII. PEDAGOGICAL DIVISIONS OF VOCA- TIONAL EDUCATION 1. Three main stages — the concrete, the technical, and the general 26 2. Illustrations 29 VIII. THE ORDER AND RELATION OF THE PEDAGOGIC STAGES IN VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 1. The concrete character of home and apprenticeship teaching 32 2. The tendency of the school to teach abstract studies 32 3. The theoretical as growing out of the concrete studies . 34 IX. COOPERATION OF AGENCIES IN VOCA- TIONAL EDUCATION 1. Examples of part time teaching .38 2. New system of schools may be needed 40 X. THE RELATION OF VOCATIONAL EDUCA- TION TO MANUAL TRAINING 1. Manual training as liberal education ; as modified toward vocational ends ; as combining liberal and vocational ends 42 2. Manual training and vocational education must be kept apart 46 XI. PROBLEMS OF INTERMEDIATE OR IN- TRODUCTORY VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 1. The youth from fourteen to sixteen ...... 47 2. The effects of the specialization of industry ... 49 84 OUTLINE XII. THE PROBLEM OF WOMEN IN INDUSTRY i. The two kinds of career usually open to each woman 51 2. Education for wage-earning and for home-mak- ing . . . 52 XIII. THE PROBLEMS OF AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 1. Improvements 54 2. Types available $$ XIV. THE PROBLEMS OF ADMINISTRATION 1. The demands for special administration .... 57 2. Suggested adjustments 59 XV. MISCELLANEOUS PROBLEMS 1. A valuable product from work 61 2. Varieties of courses 62 3. The making of text-books 64 4. Regulation of labor supply 64 XVI. THE SUPPORT OF VOCATIONAL EDU- CATION 1. Its cost 65 2. The necessity of state aid 66 3. Its justification as a social investment 67 XVII. THE TEACHING FORCE 1. The necessity of practical experience 69 2. Special professional training 70 XVIII. THE RELATION OF VOCATIONAL TO CULTURAL EDUCATION 1. Their common elemental ideas of mental training . 71 2. Possibilities of combining the two forms .... 74 85 OUTLINE XIX. TYPES OF SCHOOLS 1. Varieties of types .•...77 2. Criticisms and definitions 79 XX. CONCLUSION The fundamental character of vocational education 81 @fce ftitoerpibe $re££ CAMBRIDGE . MASSACHUSETTS U . S . A Ktoettfi&e cmwatfonal iftonostajtyg Editor, Henry Suzzallo, Professor of The Philosophy of Education, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York. NUMBERS READY OR IN PREPARATION General Educational Theory EDUCATION. An essay and other selections. By Ralph Waldo Emerson. Ready. THE MEANING OF INFANCY, and The Part Played by Infancy in the Evolution of Man. By John Fiske. Ready. EDUCATION FOR EFFICIENCY, and The New Definition of the Cul- tivated Man. By Charles W. Eliot, President Emeritus of Harvard University. Ready. MORAL PRINCIPLES IN EDUCATION. By John Dewey, Professor of Philosophy, Columbia University. Ready. OUR NATIONAL IDEALS IN EDUCATION. By Elmer E. Brown, United States Commissioner of Education. In preparation. THE SCHOOL AS A SOCIAL INSTITUTION. By Henry Suzzallo, Professor of The Philosophy of Education, Teachers College, Columbia University. In preparation. Administration and Supervision of Schools CONTINUATION SCHOOLS. By Paul H. Hanus, Professor of Educa- tion, Harvard University. In preparation. CHANGING CONCEPTIONS OF EDUCATION. By E. P. Cubberley, Professor of Education, Leland Stanford, Jr. University. Ready. Methods of Teaching SELF-CULTIVATION IN ENGLISH. By George Herbert Palmer, Professor of Philosophy, Harvard University. Ready. ETHICAL AND MORAL INSTRUCTION IN SCHOOLS. By George Herbert Palmer, Professor of Philosophy, Harvard University. Ready. TEACHING CHILDREN TO STUDY. By Lida B. Earhart, In- structor in Elementary Education, Teachers College, Columbia Univer- sity, bo cents, net, postpaid. Ready. TYPES OF TEACHING. By Frederic Ernest Farrington, Asso- ciate Professor of Education, University of Texas. In preparation. MANUAL TRAINING IN THE GRADES. By Edwin R. Snyder, Professor of Education in the State Normal School, San Jose, Cal. In preparation. Price 35 cents each, net, postpaid. Except Teaching Children to Study, bo cents, net, postpaid. HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY Boston New York Chicago JUL 11 1910 One copy del. to Cat. Div. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 020 773 2 26 ■'-:■'■'■ ■" •.-.. . ■". 8 - .■;;'.'.■:;■':'•