trial education, superintendents of city schools, and others. These conferences were organized for the purpose of discussing certain special problems of industrial education and related topics, and of making the conclusions arrived at available to students of the subject by means of published reports.

(1) RAISING THE STANDARDS OF MANUAL ARTS INSTRUCTION IN THE

PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

The vital relation between the right kind of manual training in the public schools and subsequent industrial education has been emphasized constantly by the Bureau of Education since the beginning of its interest in these fields. For the purpose of studying certain phases of this relationship, a conference of specialists engaged in the training of teachers was held at Peabody College for Teachers, Nashville, Tenn., December 7-9, 1916. Twenty-two institutions, from 11 States, were represented.

The topics discussed included: (1) Analysis of the contacts with possible future vocations that should be represented in the manual arts work, as a basis for determining the task of the institution that is to prepare the teachers. (2) How wide a range of shop subjects may a superintendent reasonably expect one teacher to handle efficiently in combination? (3) To what extent should preparation for vocation be a motive in the work of the elementary school? (4) Definite standards for manual arts work, and means for testing the results of teaching. (5) Problems of practice teaching in preparing teachers of manual training. (6) Qualifications of teachers of manual arts subjects. The following conclusions may be noted:

(1) The development of the manual arts has made a real contribution to other phases of education, in that the units of construction. serving as units of instruction, are setting good examples of organization for other subjects.

(2) The whole development of the manual arts seems to be pointing toward a solution of the problem of vocational education. Inevitably the majority of boys and girls are going into other than professional occupations, and we must recognize the importance of the "prevocational" value of manual arts work in the elementary school. furnishing, as such work does, a basis for the education of the whole people much broader and more complete than has been hitherto available. To discover how to assist young persons in the adjustment to possible future vocations is one of the most important educational problems before us.

(3) It is important to distinguish clearly: (a) Manual arts subjects offered primarily for general educational purposes; (b) subjects of

fered primarily for the purpose of affording experience in practical activities fundamental to a variety of occupations, to be utilized as a basis for choice of vocation or of subsequent vocational courses; and (c) technical subjects offered primarily for the purpose of affording definite preparation for specific vocations.

(4) By opening the high-school shops during vacant periods to special classes of pupils of less than high-school preparation, the high schools should become the centers for whatever training is needed in many cities for some time to come.

(5) No manual arts teacher can reasonably be expected to teach more than two academic subjects in connection with the usual shop subjects demanded of him.

(6) The course of study in manual training is not to be thought of as simply a series of "stunts." The student should be confronted with a series of "problems" to be solved; and the solution of a problem should involve not only (a) study of materials, and (b) manipulation of tools and processes, and (c) the construction of some finished article, but also, and very important, (d) the planning and working out of the solution.

(7) There is need of more definite standards for measuring or testing the results of teaching, and for determining the progress of pupils in manual arts subjects.

(8) The work in manual arts affords a better opportunity for the preparation of lesson plans (in practice teaching) and careful analysis of processes and procedure than is to be found in any other subject in our training schools. Furthermore, through the emphasis on design an intellectual content has been put into manual arts work to the extent of making it stand out among all the intellectual studies.

(9) The tendency to employ teachers in manual arts and vocational subjects who are not properly qualified for the work to be undertaken is unfortunate, alike for the school, the teacher, the pupil, and the subject. Present methods of examining and certificating teachers, in some localities, are manifestly not adapted to insure the appointment of competent teachers of special subjects.

(10) It is worth while to call attention to the magnitude of the problem involved in producing a person who is a graduate of college, a broadly educated and cultured citizen, and at the same time a professionally trained educator, as well as a specialist in certain technical lines or in certain special vocations. In this we are attempting a tremendously difficult thing. There are involved here certain types of knowledge and skill that have never been required of the school-teacher heretofore; and, furthermore, these are to be measured by standards usually set up only in the various occupations concerned.

(2) POLICIES IN VOCATIONAL EDUCATION.

A conference of specialists was held in Indianapolis, Ind., February 23, 1917, to consider plans and policies in vocational education, and especially the types of investigation which should be undertaken.

(3) PREVOCATIONAL EDUCATION IN THE SMALL CITY.

A conference of superintendents of public schools in cities having a population of 10,000 to 25,000 was held in Kansas City, Mo., February 28, 1917, to consider the problems of prevocational education in the small city. Twenty-four States, the District of Columbia, and Canada were represented by superintendents, principals, and teachers. The general topic was "assisting pupils in the upper grammar grades to plan ahead." There were 371 cities in this population group according to the 1910 census, and the problem becomes complex when the great variety of conditions is considered. The small city can not expect to offer the same variety of work given in the larger centers, but if the State be taken as the unit, types of experience may be selected from the various industries of major importance, which aro especially emphasized in the community.

The conference resulted in the following conclusions: (1) A larger amount of time is necessary for prevocational work than is now usually allotted to manual training or home economics in the grades. It is, further, not only a question of time, but of what is done in the time, hence (2) conditions must resemble those of industry with respect to materials, methods, and speed. A more formal procedure in the school is necessary, however, because of teaching large numbers. (3) The teacher has the responsibility of selecting the "type" experiences, and his success in this depends upon his knowledge and insight. Upon the superintendent rests the responsibility of selecting teachers who can do the job. (4) The equipment now used for manual training and home economics may be used for prevocational work, but there must be a wider range of work than is possible in woodworking and cooking and sewing in a 90-minute period weekly if the work is to be truly worth while as a basis for intelligent choice of future vocation.

(4) FEDERAL AID UNDER THE SMITH-HUGHES ACT AND THE PREPARATION OF TEACHERS.

A conference of specialists was held at the University of Missouri, December 13-15, 1917, to consider the general question of Federal aid under the Smith-Hughes Act, and the preparation of special teachers. Eighteen institutions engaged in the training of teachers in 12 States, as well as three State departments of pubiic instruction, were represented. The topics discussed included: Federal aid

under the Smith-Hughes Act for the preparation of teachers of trade and industrial subjects; curricula for the preparation of teachers of the manual arts; present conditions in respect to practice teaching; a proposed program for practice teaching; problems connected with the examination and certification of special teachers; content of technical courses of study in the intermediate or junior high school. The following conclusions may be noted:

(1) The selection of properly qualified candidates for the teachertraining course is an important matter. Many difficulties will be obviated, and the line of action in specific cases will frequently seem more clear, if it be recognized that no individual may claim an inherent right to teach. The burden of proof, so to speak, should rest on the individual. He should be required to demonstrate his fitness for special service, rather than simply permitted to pursue an expressed desire to secure a position.

(2) New machinery and a new basis for the examination and certification of teachers are urgently needed. These should include means for testing and evaluating: (a) Vocational experience; (b) education and professional training; (c) personality; (d) ability

to teach.

(3) For some time to come the scheme should include some effective provision for the training of teachers in service.

(4) Adequate time must be allowed in any curriculum in order to prepare teachers who will be competent to teach and do the given line of work.

(5) The institution should define more clearly (in terms of prospective teaching position) the aim or goal which it is proposed to assist the student to attain as the result of following any given curriculum.

(6). Observation and practice teaching are essential factors in the preparation of every teacher, and adequate provision should be made for them in normal-school curricula.

(7) It is more important to have a supply of the teachers needed in these new types of school than it is to enforce and perpetuate traditions in the matter of teachers' examinations and certificates.

(8) The discussion of the last topic on the program served to emphasize the following advantages and disadvantages of a school program involving a large number of "acquaintance courses," designed to afford the individual pupil opportunities for shopwork in each of several vocations:

Advantages.— (a) Wide vocational acquaintance; (b) remarkable basis for the cultivation of appreciation; (c) gets the interest of pupils in real work.

Disadvantages. (a) Danger of lowering standards of workmanship (compared with a program attempting fewer lines of shop

work); (b) technical processes in all lines necessarily confined to the beginning stages; (c) impossible to pursue any one line to mastery; (d) difficult to obtain teachers qualified to conduct the variety of shopwork proposed, especially in a small school or system.

(5) EXAMINATION AND CERTIFICATION OF INDUSTRIAL TEACHERS.

In order to consider the problems of examining and certificating industrial teachers, a conference of specialists was held in Philadelphia, February 22, 1918. Nineteen States and the District of Columbia were represented. The general topic was "Preliminary suggestions as to desirable basis and machinery for the examination and certification of special teachers." The following conclusions may be noted:

(1) Measures which depend on industry to supply teachers readymade, or approximately so, must be regarded as merely temporary, and the machinery necessary for detecting such prospective teachers should not be permitted to determine the ultimate forms which such measures should take.

(2) A teacher capable of doing the job effectively represents an individual of a high type, who is already making a distinct success of the vocation in which he is engaged. To divert such persons into the work of teaching will require the payment of adequate salaries.

(3) Tests to be applied must be free from the defects of existing plans for examining and certificating teachers.

(4) Existing methods of examination should be modified so as to include adequate tests of personal characteristics.

(5) Suitable use should be made of practical tests and demonstrations of skill and ability of various kinds.

(6) It is essential that provision be made for examiners who are themselves competent in the field covered by the examination in each case, and whose ratings will thus command confidence and respect in that field.

(7) Every plan for examining and certificating teachers should be supplemented by a systematic and efficient plan of probationary teaching and training in service.

THE CONTINUATION SCHOOL.

One of the noteworthy factors in recent progress in vocational education is the continuation school. During the past decade a number of the States have enacted legislation encouraging the organization of schools of this type. Massachusetts, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, especially, have developed strong systems of continuation schools on a state-wide basis.