Lapas attēli
PDF
ePub

154. Problems in vocational education

vocational education.

Vocational education in schools is a comparatively recent develop- Status of ment, involving a large number of unsolved problems. Some of the questions raised by the vocational education movement have been formulated by the United States Bureau of Education as follows:

Problem 1. To what extent do studies designed for liberal education "function" [i.e. realize their intended ends] as to their content in various fields of vocational training? For example, do Latin, ancient history, and algebra "function" at all in the training of the physician for his vocation? Do mechanical drawing and science "function" in the making of the bookkeeper? Does the study of music and art make any recognizable contribution toward the efficiency, on the vocational side, of the machinist, the farmer, or the cook?

Relation of general or liberal to vocational education.

vocational

Problem 2. To what extent is it expedient and desirable that the When beginnings of systematic vocational education shall be postponed should until after a definite degree of general or liberal education has been education attained? For example, if we assume that pupils are required to begin? attend school until 14 years of age, is it expedient or desirable that from 12 to 14 a program consisting in part of vocational and in part of liberal education shall be made available?

Problem 3. To what extent and under what conditions do the results in skill, knowledge, appreciation, and ideals (or of practical experience in general) in one occupational field constitute an asset for entrance into another? To what extent can [these results] be utilized as a basis for systematic training toward another occup1tional field?

[For example]: (a) To what extent does expertness in running constitute an asset in learning to swim? (b) To what extent can a thoroughgoing education in the practice of medicine be utilized when the doctor wishes to become a farmer? (c) How far can professional competency as a bookkeeper be regarded as an asset when

1 From the United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Education. Bulletin, 1916, No. 21. "Vocational Secondary Education." Washington, 1916; pp. 143-144, 146, 151–153.

The problem of

transferring the results of vocacation.

tional edu

Some

examples.

Problem of dividing attention

between technical

and practical training.

At what
age should
home-making
education
begin?

...

the bookkeeper wishes to become a machinist? (d) If a man has been well trained as a machinist, to what extent can such training be drawn upon in equipping him to be a house carpenter? . . Problem 5. What, at any given stage of vocational training for the industrial occupations, should be the proportion of time and energy of the pupil given, respectively, to technical instruction and to practical training? Extreme and opposed examples of the problem under consideration are the following: In the making of a machinist, a boy beginning at the age of 14 might devote his first two years very largely to such technical studies as drawing, mathematics . . . and . . . give a minimum amount of attention to productive shopwork of a thoroughly practical nature. Between his sixteenth and eighteenth years the proportion of time given to his shopwork might be very greatly increased, with a diminution of the amount of attention given to technical work. On the other hand, a program of training might be devised by which during the first year he might give from 60 to 80 per cent of his time to productive shopwork, with relatively only a small amount of technical instruction related to it. In his later years the proportion of time given to shopwork might be diminished, and the proportion of time given to technical instruction might be greatly increased.

[ocr errors]

Problem 6. At what age is efficient homemaking education most practicable? It is quite probable that there must be differentiation of groups for homemaking education, according to age as affected by the occupations followed. For example, it may be doubted whether girls who from 14 to 21 years of age will be wage-earners in occupations not related to the home, and who will be living either at home as boarders or in boarding houses, can efficiently respond to vocational homemaking education until somewhat late in their wage-earning careers. In the case of girls not contemplating wage-earning careers, but who design to remain at home, systematic vocational education might well take place during the high-school period.

[ocr errors]

1 155. Wider use of the school plant

wider use

of the

school plant movement.

Formerly our public schoolhouses were open only during the The beginconventional school term, and for children of legal school age. Since nings of the the beginning of the present century, however, there has been a growing use of the school plant for community activities. This wider use of the school plant has increased the variety and scope of educational activities, and has greatly enlarged the number of individuals who come under educational influences. Some phases of this movement are treated in the following extract from a report of the United States Bureau of Education:

[To what type of social activities has the wider use of the school plant movement given rise?] The three most prevalent activities are some form of athletics, clubs for young people, and lectures, while the least common, as would have been expected, are the civic and the general social occasions. A school which is the scene of frequent mass meetings, banquets, and neighborhood parties has reached a completeness of socialization that is as yet not so very common. Athletics, club-work, and rooms for reading or quiet games are regular activities in 90 or more per cent of the cases reported. Lectures and entertainments, while . . . [prevalent], do not stand so high in regularity, because of their popularity in schools whose extension activity is still in its early and rather miscellaneous stage. Games and clubs are naturally not started until a series of meetings or events can be arranged. The high degree of regularity attained by social dancing indicates that it [occupies a strong position in the extension movement.] . . .

Types of activity

which figure in the move

ment.

extension season.

The length of the school extension season in the different cities The school varies greatly. In a few it lasts throughout the year; in a small number, October and April mark its limits; in many places it does not get well under way until some time in November, and gradually tapers off in March.

[ocr errors]

Brief mention only can be made of the growth in activities in public schoolhouses during the interval between the afternoon dis

1 From the United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Education. Bulletin, 1915, No. 28. "The Extension of Public Education." Washington, 1915; pp. 41-42, 49, 51-52.

Wider use
of the
school plant
before
6 P.M.

Letting regulations.

Generous

attitude of
the Joliet
(Ill.) Board
of Educa-
tion.

Activities which the

Board will favor and partially

support.

missal of classes and nightfall. In high schools this has long been a favorite period for meetings of student societies and athletic contests both in and out of doors, and now a similar practice has got under way in the elementary schools. . . . For example, in Grand Rapids, Mich., parochial classes in domestic science use the public schools on certain afternoons from 4 to 6 o'clock, and three times a week the parents' council meets at 3:30 P.M. In Evanston, Ill., a children's class in gymnastic dancing supported by membership fees, a children's orchestra, the room basketball teams, and several other pupil organizations keep school buildings open after the ordinary closing time. These are samples only of the miscellaneous afternoon occasions which are developing spontaneously in the schoolhouses of many cities. . .

The marked increase of late years in miscellaneous evening occasions in school buildings is largely due to the new spirit which has appeared in school letting rules. It does not pervade all of them, but each year sees an extension of its vogue. It is well expressed in the following regulations (published March, 1914) recently adopted by the Joliet (Ill.) Board of Education:

In order that the public school plant may serve a wider community use, the board of school inspectors will bear the expense of lighting, heat, and janitor service when the school is used for the following purposes:

(1) Adult clubs or organizations for the discussion of educational, civic, and community problems.

(2) Public lectures, entertainments, or indoor recreational or educational activities.

(3) Club work among young people literary, musical, dramatic, social-under supervision arranged by the school authorities. (4) Political discussions may be permitted when announced in advance, and equal opportunity given for presentation of both sides of the question, in accord with the American spirit of fair play....

156. The money value of education 1

is not

measurable

and cents,

The most valuable result of right education is the broadening, Education deepening, and refining of human life. This result can no more be measured by dollars and cents than can truth, self-sacrifice, and by dollars love; nevertheless, the material and measurable rewards of educabut it is tion should be made plain to those who are either inclined or obliged nevertheless important to judge an educational system in terms of money return. Anything to point out which will show that education promotes industrial efficiency and increases material wealth will help to secure the support of certain types of taxpayers and numerous classes of pupils. In the following extract the United States Bureau of Education discusses the money value of education:

its money

value.

in America.

An investigation of the educational advantages enjoyed by the Who's Who 8,000 persons mentioned in Who's Who in America, for the years 1899-1900, brought out the following facts: Out of the nearly five million uneducated men and women in America, only 31 have been sufficiently successful in any kind of work to obtain a place among the 8,000 leaders catalogued in this book. Out of 33,000,000 people with as much as a common-school education, 808 were able to win a place in the list, while out of only 2,000,000 with high-school training, 1,245 have manifested this marked efficiency, and out of 1,000,000 with college or university training, 5,768 have merited. this distinction.

modifying influences, the success

of the individual de

In interpreting the results of this study, as in the interpretation Despite of all of the following comparative studies of those who have education with those who do not have it, let it be understood that the remarkable superiority of the educated must not be attributed entirely to their education. Those who receive education are a selected pends largely lot to begin with. Their parents were, as a rule, persons of more than average efficiency, and hence were able to keep their children in school; they were more intelligent than the average, and therefore induced or required their children to remain in school. The child himself probably had more than average ability, else he would

1 From the United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Education. Bulletin, 1917, No. 22. "The Money Value of Education." Washington, 1917; pp. 15, 17, 23, 31-33.

upon

education.

« iepriekšējāTurpināt »